340                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
L---~--l---l                                               __----                     .---_l_                            - -
              INCISION AND SEPARATION                           still be one, and frdm the common root it must needs
                                                                develop along organic lines. The ordinance is, therefore,
       Mankind was created an organism. It is not like the      repeated after the flood,' when rhe organism of the race
angels a mere numberless throng though with a certain has been cut down almost to its root, and Noah has be-
likeness and order among them. It is a race, made of come heir of the new world. Also after the flood man
one blood and created in a common  roat, the first man must obey the ordinance of God with regard to the na-
-4dam. From this common root the entire race develops. tural and physical development of the race. He must
There is, therefore, a living unity, a community of life,       multiply, and through God's sustaining providence he
a unity in origin, a oneness of physical and psychological receives  tlie power to obey this ordinance of the Most'
makeup and also  j belonging together.       No individual      High.  ,But this is not all. If the organic development
human being can live and have being in complete isola- of the race is to be realized, mankind must nor only mul-
tion from the organism. He is, `in and by himself,. not a tiply, but it must also spread out over the face of the
complete whole, but rather part of an organic whole, earth and fill it. For the earth and its  fulness, with its
which he serves and by which lie is served and sustained. different zones and *different conditions, is so prepared,
But this organic character of the race also implies a           that it must serve this manifold development of the race
*manifold  variety in the midst of and on the basis of this     along organic lines. Man is related to the earth. The
unity of origin and life. Mankind was created with an earth is adapted to him. He is of the earth earthy,  de-
almost endless variation of mental and physical distinc- pendant upon the earth, though created to subdue it. And
tions. Although in his physical makeup man always re- his place in the earth exerts its influences upon him and
veals  the,  same general features, yet not one individual upon his development.            It needs no argument, that
human being is identically the same as the other. There         climatic conditions exercise a profound influence upon
are differences af stature, differences of expression, dif- physical and, psychological. conditions of man, upon his
ferences with regard to'the shape of the body and the           mode of living and development. People of the frigid
lines of the face and of the head. -And corresponding  to       zdne couId  not be the same people in a tropical climate.
this variation in respect to physical makeup there is also      And what is true of climate is equally true of many other
an endless diversity and multifariousness of psychological factors that must be taken into account when we con-
and spiritual characteristics. There is diversity of mental sider the development of rhe human race. There is the
power and inclination; there are differences of character difference between those that live in a mountainous dis-
and gifts and powers, so that no man is the exact re-           trict'and  those that  Jive in the fertile plain. There is
production of the other in a psychological aspect. And in       also the difference between those rhat live far inland and
close connection with this diversity of powers and talents,     those that inhabit the countries suriounded  by the seas.
inherent in the race, there is difference of attainment and     The various conditions of the earth's surface' and its
development. These detailed differences and variations climate have a profound influence upon the condition and
among individuals group themselves together in broader organic development of the human race. And because of
features, so  that one nation differs from another nation       this iact, it is the purpose of God, that mankind shall not
and one tribe is distinct from another. It is always man        be confined to a single area or country, but that they
who becomes manifest in all these differences; it is shall scatter over the face of the earth. As the race must
always the human race with its peculiarly. human char-          develop along organic lines and as  the inherent powers
acteristics that is perceived in its unity, even through the    and talents of the race must become manifest; and as the
most diversified manifestations, but  it. is also true, that    whole earth is adapted to this organic development, it is
the unity of the organism reveals itself in a rich variety      God's will that man shall replenish and. fill the earth.
of features, characteristics and attainments.                   Certainly, this organic development, after sin and grace
   It is according to the original ordinance of the Creator.    have entered into the world, must be made  subserpient
that man shall develop  .organically.  Though made of to God's purpose with His covenant-people, for He
one blood, and though there is a tie that `naturally binds      divided the earth and the nations with a view to  the
the entire race together, yet the inherent powers and           place His people should,have  in it. The natural develop-
talents of the organism must develop and organically ment must always serve God's purpose of election and
brought to light. For that reason the Lord of creation          reprobation, the purpose of the realization of His cove-
blesses man in the beginning and announces to him that          nant. But this does not change the fact, neither does it
he must multiply and replenish the earth. The `one man          make it a matter of common grace,  thar it is God's will.
must become many, though also the many  mu+ still be            that in connection with various conditions in the earth,
one. And although because of sin the development ac-            the race of man shall multiply and fill the earth.
cording to the ordinance of creation is undoubtedly                Directly opposed to this purpose and ordinance of
marred and stunned, yet sin does not destroy this original Jehovah was the attempt of the multitude of men in the
purpose of God. Also with sin having entered into the           valley of Shinar. Perhaps the inherent tendency of the
world, and death thru sin, the human race must still            race to divide and separate, even as branches of a tree
develop and multiply. Though spiritually rhe race will deviate from the trunk and from one-another, had already
henceforth no more be one but two, yet naturally it will        become manifest. At least, they seem to express the fear


                                                              THE  STANDXRD   B E A R E R                                                                                    341
           -..-                         -..._......._  -.-"-^"   ..___........  ---- . . .  .._-.  ^.      -_-                                           "-" -.... ^^. ._- -.....---
           in the words : `iLest we are scattered." At any rate, their                                   self and to conquer the world by an arm of flesh, that is
           purpose is to remain together and to impose a unity t~pon                                     eager to maintain itself over against the living God.
           the race that is not in harmony with the purpose of the                                       This is evident from the defiant note in the description of
           Xost High. They plan to build a great city, the capital,                                      their intended tower, whose top must reach to heaven.
           no  doubt; of an equally great kingdom, as we have sur-                                       This does not necessarily express that they  c:onceived  of
           mised under the leadership and acknowledged supremacy                                         the insane purpose to storm the heavens, but it certainly
           of Nimrod the mighty rebel. hnd the city is to have  a                                        expresses the insolent pride of their heart. That tower
           great tower, whose top will reach unto heaven, a per-                                         was  ro be the symbol of their power and genius. But if
           petual symbol of the& pride and power, and at the same                                        this concentration of these Babelites is conceived in sin
           time a great center and means to preserve their unity and with a sinful purpose, the kingdom that shall thus be
           and keep them together as one. These men were aware                                           established will be a  widked kingdom,  a great organiza-
           of the ordinance of God, for God had revealed it unto                                         tion, concentration and fedgration  of wickedness, a rising
           Noah explicitly. They were conscious of their calling to                                      in rebellion of the sinful race  wirh concentrated effort and
           multiply and to replenish.the earth. If they had nor re-                                      power against God and His people. It will be a pre-
           membered. the ordinance of the Most High in this regard,                                      mature realization of the kingdom of  rintichrist.               The
           the very nature of things would teach them, for the very                                      result will be, that soon the people of God will have no
           tendency to develop and  ro scatter already became visible.                                   place in the world and the church of the living God will
           But  here they put  6th the determinate attempt to op-                                        have no standing-room on earth. In rhe third place, it is
           pose God's counsel, to thwart His purpose and to prevent also evident that, since the sphere of development will be
           division and separation of the race along organic lines of narrowed, the time of development will be shortened and
           development. That this very attempt is possible is due history will be very brief. If the race succeeds to remain
           to the fact, that rhe whole race is of one language and of                                    together and to prevent their being scattered over the
           one speech. Language has not as yet been divided. But                                         earth, the development will be limited, will be chiefly
           for this sinful attempt it would not have been divided as                                     along one line, and it must needs follow. that along that
           it is today. ;ikd when sin shall have been destroyed, rhe                                     single line, the race will soon be ripe ior final judgement
           multitude which no man can. number, though gathered                                           once more. Sin ,will not necessarly  develop faster than it
           out of every tongue and nation and tribe of the earth,                                        would otherwise,, but it will develop along one and  the
           shall again be of one speech and  lan,guage.                          But `before same channel. The measure  df iniquity to be filled will
           the building of the tower of Babel there was one universal be smaller, than in case the race develo@s  organically in
           language, perhaps the very language Adam had spoken, all its power, and because the measure is smaller it will
           though even it had been marred because of sin. This                                           be more speedily filled. Finally. the purpose of God with
           fact constituted a basis for their conceived unity and                                        regard to His church will be thwarted. For it is God's
           organization. -4nd thus they prepare to oppose the ex- purpose to gather out of many nations and tongues one
           press counsel of  rhe living God and prevent their being peopIe  into the organism of the body of Christ. No doubt
           scattered over the earth.                                                                     the natural development of the race in different tribes and
              If their purpose is realized and their end is atta'ined,                                   branches must serve the p&pose of the Most: High with
           the results will be various. In the first place, it is evident                                respect to that body  of Christ. .Uso in this respect rhe
           that the organic development of the race in the earth will purpose and. counsel of God would be opposed and
           be' stunned and restrained. For it is evidknt. that a de-                                     thwarted.
           velopment of the race under the same conditions and in                                           But, of  cdurse, this may not be.' The Lord is in the
           the same part of the earth will leave many of the powers heavens and He does all His good pleasure. His counsel
           and talents &tent, that would otherwise have to be exer-                                      shall stand forever. He sits in the heavens and laughs at
           cised and become manifest. In the second place, there                                         rhe vain attempt  6f insolent men to oppose Him in His
           will be more concentrated effort and  del-elopmcnt  and, power. So He does in this case. He comes down from
           for a while at least, within the limited sphere of develop-                                   heaven and makes vain the attempts of men that are
           ment, a stronger unity, a great concentration of power in                                     mighty in their own estimation and place an arm of flesh
           one spot and upon the same ends in view. It is also very in opposition to the power of the Most High. He makes
**         eviclent. rhat this unity, once achieved, will he entirely an incision and forces men apart. He does so by con-
           controlled<by  the principle and power of sin. For in the fusing rhe language while they are busy executing their
           first place, it is  evi'dent  that not the people of God, but design. This  ch,ange'in   lan%guage,  whereby the earth, at
           the wicked world conceived of this grand object to con-                                       first of one speech and one language, was divided, is not
           centrate and to remain unitecl  in one body. The plan was to be conceived as a gradual development as some men
           conceived by the power of genius, but also under the con- would interpret, but as a sudden and powerful and mira-
           trolling power of the principle .of sin. In the second place,                                 culous intervention of God, whereby men, that were of
           this is clear from the entire narrative in Gen. 11 :l-9. The                                  one speech and language of a sudden could cotnmune
      '    entire purpose is worldly, is against the Most High. They                                     with one-another no more. To be sure, it is not necessary
           were desirous of  achieving.fame, of making a name for to suppose, nor even probable, that in that one moment
           themselves. There is in it all a passion for glory, ro exalt all the different languages, as we know them today, were


342                           ,   ,.-.THE   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                                          -_            - -                        1_____1_
called into existence. Many of  the languages that are           great and universal kingdom. Henceforward the sinful
spoken today are very closely related and members of one         world shall be a kingdom divided against itself. For as
large family. The incision that was made into the one            each-nation separately strives to attain the purpose that
speech at the occasion of the building of the tower of           could not be attained in Shinar's valley, nation rises
Babel continued to have its effect in later periods and          against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there
developed into greater detail of diverse tongues. Prob- are wars and rumors of war. And as long as this separa-
able it is rather, that the larger divisions into the differ-    tion and division and conflict continuous the kingdom
ent families of languages were created at that occasion.         of Antichrist cannot come and the man of sin cannot
                                                                                                            *
Of course, modern higher criticism relegates the entire          reveal himself in all his power. In the meantime this
narrative of Gen. 11 to the sphere of myths and legends.         development of the race in different  nations.along  organic
But it does so on the basis of its own preconceived no-          lines, as it is today, serves God's purpose with regard to
tions and without proof or argument. One becomes ac-             the realization of His church and covenant. For out of
customed to this method of infidel criticism, because it         every nation and tribe and tongue He gathers His church,
employs it so uniformly. And modern philology finds              and the elect are combined into the one great body of
that the narrative of the confusion of tongues "conflicts        Christ Jesus. The diversity of nations and tongues must,
with its findings. It claims that the existing differences       of course, serve the riches of the body of Christ. For in
of language among men are the result of slow and grad-           that new organism, realized according to the eternal
ual change, due to various  influences'of  place and time.       counsel of God each individual and group of individuals
But in this conclusion it states more than it can prove.         must take their own-proper place. Presently, from these
Modern investigation of the development of human                 nations shall the entire-multitude, which no man can
speech succeeded to an extent to explain the minor modi-         number, be gathered and shall constitute the glorious
fications of human language, but has as yet found no ex-         harmony of the new and heavenly Jerusalem. Then all
planation for the larger divisions into the Shemetic, clivision  and separation shall cease forevermore. Tliere
Aryan and Turanian families., These deeper incisions shall be no more separation because of diversity of lan-
are undoubtedly to be traced to the miraculous interven- guage. All shall speak the same language, the language
                                                                                                   .-
tion of the Lord in the plain of Shinar. We may further of the new kingdom, the speech of heaven. And,  g=ath-
draw the inference, that corresponding to this change of ered into one harmonious whole, in their everlasting
tongue, there was a change in mental conditions. For,            Head, Christ Jesus, they shall serve God day and night
as has been pointed out by others, speech is the ex- in His temple. Then the tabernacle of God shall be with
pression of man's inmost thoughts, the manifestation of men. In that tabernacle of God's covenant there is unity,
his soul and mind. The change that was caused by God's- because there is communion and peace with God. What
powerful intervention at the occasion of the building of men attempted in sinful rebellion but could not and never
the tower of Babel, therefore, really presupposes a deeper shall be able to accomplish, God will accomplish when He
change of soul, of the mind. Neither is it too far fetched shall perfect  His kingdom and covenant and gather all
to trace the greater differences, even in physical appear- His elect from the four winds of heaven. Then He shall
ance and makeup, that exist between the races as we be all in all.
know them today, in part at least, to the incision made                                                                   H. H.
in the valley of Shinar. Powerfully the Lord intervened.
As men desired to achieve their own end in opposition to
the counsel of God, the Most High revealed that His
counsel shall  stand,  and that He will do all His good               DIEN HIJ LIEFHEEFT, KASTI JDT HIJ
pleasure. He brings to nought the devices of vain men
to accomplish His own purpose. And as these vain                     De Heiland verbindt de gebrooknen van hart,
devices of men, when they conceived of the great city and              En  richt tot  zich op die er  vielen.        p
tower, were to prevent their being scattered over the                Met olie der vreugde geneest Hij de smart;
earth and to establish a mighty kingdom of man; God                    Hij leeft, en is `t Leven der zielen !
by His power did scatter them and mightily separated
the race into families, each seeking their own proper place          Hij geeft en Hij neemt; maar `t verlies wordt gewin,
in the world.                                                          0, komt dan en lofzingt d' Algoede!
   It, is evident, that this was not a matter of grace,              Eerst troost en bemoedigt de kus zijner min,
neither was there any restraint upon the development of                Dan heiligt en loutert zijn roede.
sin imposed by the confusion of tongues. Only the race
was forced into new channels of development, and these               De ontelbare  schare,  die staat voor den troon,
same organic lines of development sin would needs fol-                 Kwam  eens uit de ,"Groote Verdrukking."
low in the future. This development is such, that a pre-             286 6lijft het voor allen  : door `t kruis naar de kroon
mature unity and world-kingdom is prevented for the                  Door tranen naar `t  La.nd der  Verrukking!
time being. .The power of antichristendom that is in the
world cannot realize its needed unity and establish its                                                  1  `J.  J L. Ten Kate


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           347

            THE TYPES OF SCRIPTURE                             never thirst; but the water that I  shall give him shall
                                                               be in him a well of water springing up unto everlasting
                   The Garden of Eden                          life." So this tree, It was a life source and as such
   One of the institutions of Paradise, so it was pointed      served as a sign or symbol of God, the ultimate source
out, was the tree of life. This tree was good for food,        of all life-the Lord God, by whose word man liveth.
and nourished man's frame at its fountain head. It was         And this tree was eminently capable of rendering this
capable of maintaining in man the powers of an end-            service since it maintained in man his powers perpet-
less life. However, man soon forfeited his privilege of        ually. This tree, then, as do all things creatural, showed
eating of the fruit of this tree. He did so when he ate        man knowledge of God and uttered speech day by day.
of the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge of good        And the speech which it uttered was that God is the true
and evil, whereupon disobedient  &an was expelled from         bread of life. For this reason the trees of life constituted
the garden of Eden. And the way of the tree of life was        the inner sanctuary of the garden which means that they
kept by the cherubim with the flaming sword, which             were very closely associated with God. In this grove it
turned every way. But there was also the promise of            was, that He communicated with man. To dwell in the
a seed which should gain the'ascendency over the malice        grove of the trees of life meant to dwell before God's
of the devil. It was declared unto fallen man that life        face. To eat of these trees was expressive of, the desire
eternal would again be his portion. But he was made            to be nourished by Him.
to look for the promised good from new quarters, for              The tree of life, then, was a symbol of God. All
the way of the tree was kept. Thus the tree of life be-        things creatural are that, in a greater or lesser degree
came the symbol of grace and the schoolmaster training         for the reason that upon every creature God impressed
the believers to, Christ. These are the matters upon           something of His own image. Thereupon the poet could
which we dwelt in our previous essay.                          sing, the heavens declare the glory of God and the firma-
   However, in respect to the tree of life, there are still    ment sheweth His handiwork. So the tree of life. It
other matters to which we should show regard. We shall         was made to appear for the purpose of exhibiting unto
now retrace our steps and institute an inquiry into the        man that he lives by the word which proceeds out of
full meaning of this tree and attempt to lay hold on its       the mouth of the Almighty.
s,ignificance  in its relation to man both as an inhabitant       Yet ir would lead to confusion to apply the term
of the haunts of the Garden and as an exile.                   sacrament to this particular tree. For this word is being
   The Garden of Eden was a garden of life. Every              used to signify those signs the institution of which was
thing radiated vitality. Every tree was there laden with       necessitated by sin:
food. The productions of the Garden were nourished by             We may feel assured that Adam, in rhe state of right-
streams of water flowing through  ir and keeping it in         eousness, understood the speech of creation and in par-
perpetual healthfulness. And numerous animals roamed           ticular the speech of the tree. To maintain the contrary
amidst its bowers.                                             is equal to maintaining that holy man regarded the tree
   Eden was the garden of a life of delight. The glories       as an independent source of life and hence, as a second
of God was upon every creature. And there was peace.           God, In that case  -4dam-was  an idolator. But idolatry
The.  wolf and the lamb dwelt together, and the leopard        and sinlessness of life and conduct do not go well
laid down with the kid ; and the calf and the young lion       together. We conclude that the ears of holy man were
and the fatling together. And the inhabitants of the gar-      attuned to the speech of the tree of life.
den were not made to tremble by the voice of God thun-            But what was there which compelled man to conclude
dering marvelously. Instead, there was the cool of the         that the tree of life was but a channel or vehicle of power
day in which the voice of God walked in the garden.            and vitality and that the ultimate fountain of life was
To live  there,was  a joy.                                     God? The knowledge that this tree as well as, every
   Also the tree of life which, stood in  the midst of the     other tree of the garden was a creation of the Almighty
garden was a tree of life, and that in a very unique sense.    and that the ultimate source of power is God. The tree
It did what  ~0 other tree could do: it nourished man's        pointed to its Maker as all things creatural do, and aided
frame in such a way as to maintain  in him the powers          man in contemplating God as the true bread of life.
of an endless life.  `Its fruit was very invigorating, it         Further, this particular sign was accompanied by
nourished and stimulated man and gladdened his heart           rhe spoken word. There was that other tree-the tree
as no other tree did.                                          of knowledge of good and evil, concerning which the
   The tree of life was a life source. To be sure, its         Lord God had said, The- day that thou  eatest  thereof
life giving properties had been created and were being         thou shalt surely die. Hence, eating from the tree of
maintained by God who is the ultimate fountain of all          life, man lived. Yielding to the temptation of  .eating
life. Yet in a creatural sense this tree was a life source.    from this other tree, man died. Add to  &is that man
There are, among things creatural fountains. Scripture         was#aware  of the fact that these  two trees were the handi-
even compares regenerated man to a fountain of living          work of the Almighty. Armed with this knowledge he
water. Said He to the woman of  Samaria:  "But who-            could not escape the conviction that-of life, God's will is
soever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall       the creative, and of death the necessary cause. Having


348                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                          I_ -._.-.- "".

been brought in contact with the, two trees and having                as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body"
heard God  speak,  man knew now that he lived by every                (I  Car.  15:37,  38).
word that proceedeth out of the mourh of God.                               In fine, depraved man hates God-and sets Him aside
       [Let us attend to this last assertion. It is found in          and deifies  the means and instruments of God including
Deut. 8:3 and reads, And He humbled thee. and suffered                himself. And the wicked one then says in his heart,
thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna. which thou                   My power and the might of my hand hath gotten me
kneweth not, neither did thy fathers know ; that he might             this wealth.      In respect to the manna, however, there
make thee know that man doth not live by bread only                   were, no known means to be deified.           This corn  was
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of                 made to rain from heaven. Hence we read, "And he  '
the Lord cloth man live. This  particuln`r  utterance of              humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger and fed thee
God and the event which it signifies  is a divine protest.            with manna, which thou knowest  not, .neither did thy fathers
All the thoughts of the wicked are that there is no God.              know"  (Deut. 8 :3).
He refuses to admit that God is the efficient cause of the                  Bur Adam, in the state of righteousness, cannot be
appearance, existence and subsistence of things creatural             charged with the sins described above. But he assigned
and in particular of the bread which he eats.  In other               creation, and in particular the  tree of life, to irs proper
words, depraved man declines to acknowledge that every                place.    He heard its speech, uttered day by day and
good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh             glorified God.
down from the Father of lights. Bread the wicked sub-                       Now the Garden of Eden and in particular the trees
stitutes for God and worships as God. To counteract                   of life constituted the sanctuary of Paradise. There God
this lie the Lord God fed his people while in the desert              dwelt. Hence. if man would live, he must abide in' the
with manna. Its appearance means that God had de-                     garden, he must dwell in the presence of God for to
parted from His usual way of providing his people with' live apart from God is death.' Man must ear of the fruit
&XI. For we do not read that the manna  was- a product of the Garden and in particular of the fruit of the trees
of the soil of the desert.  t That is to say, all indications         of life. Eating of these trees was at once an act of faith.
thar this food was  of the herb. yielding seed after its kind.        The act indicated that man recognized and desired God
are lacking. It is asserted, on the other hand, that the              as the true bread of life. And as often as man entered
Lord rained this food from heaven. "`Then said the Lord               the garden so often did he enter the sanctuary of the
God unto Moses, Behold I will rain bread from heaven                   I..ord God where the beauties of the Lord were exhibited
for you"  (Ex.  lG:-!). The rationalist sets aside this scrip-        unto him. And pressing on ro the center of the garden
ture and insists that this food was a product of.the wild-            he stood in the presence of his God. As often as he ate
erness. He identifies the manna  wirh  the esudation of               of the fruit of its trees he said, Thou art my God.
the Tamarisk and other trees. still collected in the desert                 However, from the very outset man's faith in and his
of Arabia. He who is bent on honoring the Sacred Rec-                  love for God were put to a tesr. For in the garden there
r>rd.  will reject this view. The manna was rained from               was that other  tree-&e  tree of knowledge of good and
heaven and for this reason its  appear'ance  could serve              evil. From the Sacred Record one may gather the  foJ-
to demonstrate that man lives because God speaks or lowing data relative this tree. "And out of rhe ground
so wills. For in providing his people with this food He                made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant
did  .not avail Himself of the husbandmen among Israel.                to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in ,
He did not set them to work tilling the soil. for there                the midst of the garden and the tree of knowledge of
was no soil to be tilled. To the contrary, rhis food was              good and evil. And the Lord God commanded the man
rained from heaven. It was clearly demonstrated unto                  saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely
the people that bread, this bread together with its nour-             eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
,ishing properties is  a creation of the Almighty. Having thou shalt not eat of ir, for in the day that thou eatest
been made to see that bread is God's handiwork, the                   of it, thou shalt surely die. Now, the serpent was more
Children of Israel know now that if it nourishes them                  subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God
it does so because God so wills, because the  -Almi,ghty               had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God
speaks. Thus it was  exh`ibited  unto them that bread is               said, Ye shall not eat  of- every tree of the garden? And
but  a'vehicle  of strength?  ;1 means, and that the  source           the woman said unto the serpent,'  We may eat of the
and  smtainer   of life is God. In a word, they were made              fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the
to see that man lives  by'every  word which proceedeth                 tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said,
out of the mouth of God.                                               Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
       This does not mean that God is not the author of                And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely
footI,  which is the product of `the soil. For the soil and            die: For God does know that in the day ye ear thereof,
its tiller together with rain and sunshine are His crea-               then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God,
tions as  well.     And the soil,  tqo, produces only when             knowing good and  evi1.       And when the woman saw
God speaks. "And that which thou sowest,  thou soweth that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant
not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance             to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise,
of wheat, or of some other grain : but God ,nive$h  jt: a body         she rook of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                            *                   349
                                                                       ___I"                                             -             -     
unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the                     Let us now institute an inquiry into the character,
eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that                function and purpose of this tree and attempt to account
they were naked: and they sewed tig leaves together and             for its name. What was the character of the tree of
made,themselves aprons. And they heard the voice  of                knowledge of good and evil? In ascertaining this  mat-
the Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day ;             rer we should attend to the folloCving.     Man is forbidden
and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence              to eat of this tree. Hence, to eat of this fruit is evil in
of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. And                that God's command is then being set aside. To refrain
 the Lord God called unto Adam and said, Where art                  from eating of this tree is good since in this case the
thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden,  and            divine injunction is being observed. This tree, then,
 I was afraid, because I was naked ; and I hid myself.              demonstrates unto man what is good and what is evil.
And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast               More precisely, it was a positive and objective exhibi-
 thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that               tion of knowledge of evil {To eat of the tree) and a nega-
thou shouldst not eat? And the man said, The woman                  tive and objective exhibition of knowledge of good (to
 whom  ,thou  gavest to be with me, she gave me of the              refrain from eating). In  orher words, the appearance of
 tree and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the                 the tree meant that man was now in the possession of
 woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the                   an objective standard of good and evil and for the reason
 woman said,.The serpent beguiled me and I did eat. And             that to this tree was attached the divine injunction not to
 the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast              eat of its fruit. In this sense did the tree teach man what
 done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above             is good and what is evil for which reason it was called
 every beast of the field  ; upon thy belly shalt thou go,          the tree of  rhe  knowledge of good and evil.
 and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I               It must not be supposed, however, that this tree was
 will put enmity between thee and the woman, and be-                the only objective standard of good and evil which man
 tween thy seed and her seed ; it shall `bruise thy head            possessed. There were other such standards. Man was
 and thou shalt bruise its heel. Unto the woman he said,            commanded by God to be fruitful and to multiply and
 I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception;             to replenish the earth, and to subdue it:  and to have
 in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire          dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl
 shall be  ro  thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.            of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon
 And unto Adam he. said, Because thou has harkened                  rhe  earth (Gen.  1:25). God also enjoined man to keep
 unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of         and to dress the garden  (Gen.  2:lS). And finally,  man
which I commanded thee saying, Thou shalt not eat. of               was commanded to eat of every tree of the garden, in-
 it : cursed is  .the ground for thy sake ; in sorrow thou shalt    cluding the tree of life (Gen. 2 :16).
eat of it, all the days of thy life ; Thorns also and thistles         It appears, does it not, that the mandate to refrain
 shall it bring forth unto thee; and thou shalt eat  rhe            from eating of the forbidden tree was but one of several
 herb of the field ; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat        commands. Now each command serves man as an objec-
 bread, till thou return unto the ground  ; for out of it           tive standard of good and evil. Hence, even though man
 wast thou taken: for dust thou art and unto dust thou              had not been forbidden to eat' of the tree of the knowl-
 shalt return (Gen.  2:9, 17-Gen. 3 :l-20). And the Lord            edge of good and evil, he nevertheless would have been
 God said, Behold the man is become as one of us, to know           in the possession of a standard of good and evil. The
 good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and            command to eat of all the trees of the garden and in
 take also from the tree of life and live forever. There-           particular of the tree of life, was there. Hence, to eat
 fore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of                of this tree was an act of obedience. Not to eat must
 Eden,. to till the ground from whence he was taken"                be regarded as disobedience for ir meant going contrary
 (Gen.  3:2ij.                                                      to the express command of God. Hence, also the tree
    The above Scriptures yield the following: (1) The               of life (to  confine  ourselves to this  tree) was an objective
 tree, so it appears, was called the tree of knowledge of           exhibition of the knowledge of good and evil.
 good and evil. (2) It was situated in the midst of the                Yet there is a difference between these two trees re-
 garden as well as the tree of life. (3) The Lord God               garded as signs of knowledge of good and evil. The tree
 forbade man to eat of its fruit with penalty of death.             of life was a positive exhibition of knowledge of good (to
 (4) Man nevertheless eats. (5) Man's eyes open, he dis-            eat of the tree) and a negati<e  exhibition of knowledge of
 covers that he is naked. He became  as#God  knowing                evil (to refrain from eating). The tree of the knowledge
 good and evil. (6) The eating of the forbidden tree was            of good and evil, on the other hand, was a positive  ex-
 a great sin, as is evident from the following: (a) The             hibition of the knowledge of evil (to eat of this tree is
 serpent is cursed above all the beasts of the field, (b) The       sin) and a negative exhibition of knowledge of good (not
 ground is cursed. (c) The woman's sorrows are greatly              to eat of-the tree is good).
 multiplied and her conception. (d) Man must now eat                    We must even go a step further and insist that even
 his bread in the sweat of his brow. (e)  ;He is expelled           though Adam had received none of the commandments
 from the garden of Eden and prohibited from eating of              referred to above, he would still have known good and
 the tree of life.                                                  evil, It must be borne in mind that man was  CGWM


      3.50                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
               ._-_.                                                   .-                                    I_  -__-_   - -   _ _ _ _ _
:     a rational moral being, equipped with an apprehension,           in the dark., Plnd this darkness is in turn a result of
      notion or sense of God and of good and evil. Consequently        their apostacy. Natural man refuses to serve God as he
      as soon as man is made to face God's handiwork he says           ought, according ro God's own standards.           `Depraved
      in his heart, "There is a God, and this God I must serve,        man sets up his own standards of good and evil and
      praise and obey and also God's creatures (including my           according to these self-made standards he shapes his
      fellow man) must I love. Man knows, then, that it is             conduct. And with that conduct of his he appears before
      good to praise God and that to ignore Him is evil. Such          God and he expects to see God kneel down before him
      a-t-e the plain teachings of the apostle Paul.  "For the         and say, Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter
      invisible things of him from the creation of the world           rhou into the joy of thy Lord. But God says, Away
      are clearly seen, being understood by the things that with thee, thou worker of iniquity, I know thee not.
      are made, even his-eternal power and Godhead so that                But the point that we are making is that the invisible
      they are without excuse. Because that, when they knew            things of God, clearly seen and being understood by the
      God, they glorified him not as God . . . . (Rom.  1%)"           things that are made (general revelation) is sufficient
      And the preceding verse reads: "For that which may be            to-awaken in man his moral sense and his apprehension
      known of God is manifest  in them;  for God hath  shewed         of God. And Adam, to be sure  was-no exception.  &4nd
      it unto them."                                                   this means that, aside from the commandments referred
         The apostle asserts that man knows God even though            to above (special revelation) Adam knew God. He knew
      he is without a special revelation. The invisible things         he should- serve and cleave unto God. Hence, Adam
      of God are clearly perceived from the things made. And           knew good and evil. To deny this is equal to denying
      man understands these things for they are made manifest          the moral responsibility of such as are not enveloped by
      in man.  Man knows that this God whose glory and                 the lighr of special revelation.
      power the things made, reveal, must be served. Yet                  But Adam in the state of righteousness had more
      ,,wicked  man serves Him not. Because of this knowledge,         than a general revelation. He was also given a special
      however, man is held responsible for his apostacy, for           revelation. But aside from the light of special revela-
      the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all             tion which was made to shine in Adam's heart, there is
      ungodliness.                                                     still a vasr difference between this first man and the
        Further, even though man may not be in the posses-             gentile, walking in darkness. Adam not only knew God,
      sion of the ten commandments, inculcated upon Israel             he loved Him also and desired to serve him. But the
      from the summit of the mountain, he nevertheless is              gentile, walking in darkness, though he knows God, yet
      aware of it that he has a duty toward his neighbor. "For         hates God and refuses to serve Him. "Because  thatj
      when the gentiles which have not rhe law, do by nature           when they knew God, they glorified him not as God,
      the things contained in the law, these having  not the           neither were thankful ; but became vain in their imagina-
      law, are a law unto themselves; which shew the work of           tions, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing
      the law written in their hearts, their conscience also           themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed
      bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accus-         the glory of the  uncorruptible  God, into an image made
      ing or else excusing one another . . .  (Ram.  2  :14,  15)."    like unto corruptible man" (Rom.  121-23).
         This passage must not be interpreted to mean that                But Adam, however, besides being enveloped by the
      the law of God is engraved upon the tables of the heart          light of a general revelation, was also privileged ro bask
      of the natural man (Kuyper, the exponents of the theory          in the genial warmth of the light of a special revelation.
      of common grace). For it is emphatically asserted that           As was already pointed out, Adam was in the possession
      the gentiles do not have the law. However, they do shew          of the spoken word of God which came to him in the
      tFre  work  of the law written in their hearts. Now it is        form of commandments. There were several such com-
      exactly the business of the law to accuse or condemn             mandments, as we have seen. He was commanded to
      the guilty and to excuse the innocent. The-gentiles are          eat of rhe trees of the garden but forbidden to eat of
     ' engaged in this work. They accuse or else excuse one the tree of `the knowledge of good and evil. Adam was
      another, rhereby giving evidence that the work of the law        further commanded to keep and to dress the garden an(l
      (not the law) is written in their hearts. For this work to have dominion over the inhabitants of the earth.
      of accusing or excusing one another is at once the work          These words, spoken by the Lord God, lie within the
     .of the law and must be regarded as .an exhibition of the         province of  special revelation.  And man, in the state of
     `morality and the rationality of the gentile. It indicates        righteousness was in the need of these words. They pro-
      that sin did not succeed in destroying in man  his moral vided him with ways and means for giving expression
      sense. or apprehension. for God and for good and evil.           to his love and devotion for God in a very specific and
      Thus the gentiles, compelled to do without the light of          concrete form. These words served to  give unto man's
      special revelation, do nevertheless apprehend God, good          service form and shape and also content. They served
      and evil. They knew good and evil in that they are               him as SO many channels of self-expression. They have
      aware of ir that to serve God is good and that to ignore         to do with the  how  and the what of man's service and
      Him is evil.                                                     devotion and at once provide him wirh so many stand-
         However, as to what constitutes good and evil and             ards for good and evil. The presence of these words
      a worship acceptable in God's sight, they are very much          mean that God'not only revealed unto man that he must


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             351
                                                                                                                               - -
     serve Him (God), but also how he shall serve. Adam                 knowledge of good and evil. His eating of the fruit of the
      is requested to keep to a certain path. These words,              tree of life must go hand `in hand with a rejection of the
      then, supplied what general revelation failed to furnish.         fruit of the forbidden tree. Doing so man is then  de-
         Let us now apply ourselves to the special  ,revelation         -claring that he lives only by every word which proceedeth
     given unto Adam. It is not necessary to repeat its con-            out of the mouth of God and that the tree of life is no in-
      tents. It was constituted of the several words or com-            dependent source of vitality-no second God. For this
      mandments of God. In respect to this revelation the               reason the tree of life together with the other trees with
      question arises why it was that God singled out this one          the exception of one, were not called trees of  the knowl-
      particular rree and called it the tree of knowledge of good       edge of good alrd e&i. There was only one tree known by
      and evil. This question is in order since also the tree of that name-the tree to which had been attached the nega-
      life and, in a certain sense, every tree made to grow in          tive commandment not to eat of its fruit.
      the garden, must be regarded as an objective exhibition              Thus we have presented at least one of the reasons
      of the knowledge of good and evil. Why, then, did the             why this particular tree, in distinction from all the other
*     Lord God attach this name to the one tree only? It is             trees of the garden, bore this name. There is still another
      not at all difficult to discover the reason for the applica-      reason to which we shall come presently.
      tion of this name  to.~this  particular tree. `The knowledge         The tree of knowledge of good and evil, in virtue of
      it demonstrated was unique as to its character. It was            the prohibition, in which it was involved, was eminently
      knowledge which man may not verify by means of his                capable of testing man's faith in God. Let us illustrate
      senses, in particular, by means of his sense of taste. Man        this matter. A father bids his son, let us say, of seven-
      was. simply requested to take God's word for it that the          teen years, to take his place at the table supplied with
      eating  of the fruit of this tree was evil and would result       an abundance of wholesome food. That son is bidden
      in death. In other words, Adam must believe God. He               to eat and he does so. It is plain that a command of this
      must refrain from experimenting with this tree for the            kind is no test of that son's faith in his father. Nor can
      purpose of verifying God's statements. He was asked to            this command serve to exhibit the willingness or the
      believe  that the testimony of God was true. This testi-          unwillingness of the son to carry out the father's man-
      mony must be sufficient to convince him that if he eats           dates. For the lad is very hungry. He craves food. He
      from the fruit of this tree he will come to grief., The           knows that he is greatly in the need of it, and that what
      knowledge, therefore, of which this tree was a symbol is          is set before him is good. He will eat without being *told
      not secured by means of an experimentation. To the con-           to do so. It would be a great trial to this son if he were
      trary, it is the testimony of God given a place in man's          forbidden to eat.
      heart and transformed there into a conviction. It is a                Adam knew, from experience, that the fruit of the
      kind of knowledge to which is applied the term faith.             trees of life was very good. He greatly desired that
         Let us now attend to the knowledge of which, let us            fruit. If it had not been for the presence of-the tree of
      say, the tree of life was a sign. Adam, let me repeat,            knowledge of good and evil, the command to eat of the
      was also commanded to eat of the fruit of the tree of life.       tree of life would have been no test of his faith in God.
      "And the Lord God  commanded the man saying, of every                 But supposing this father should forbid that son of
      tree of the garden, eating  thouash.&   eut"`(Gen.   2:16). It    his to leave the house for a week, adding that if he did
      is plain that man was  bidden to eat  of the trees of the         so he would for certain come to grief. A prohibition of
      garden and also of the tree of life. Hence, to eat of the         this kind serves to test rhat son's faith in his father as
      fruit of this tree is good and eating, man shall live, And        well as his willingness. to hearken unto his father's words.
      the fact that after the fall the way of the tree of life  is. And that for the reason that the prohibition may appear
      kept, plainly indicates that man had eaten of this fruit          very capricious. Its reasonableness was not made plain
      and `had discovered its nourishing properties. As often           to rlie son. It is possible that he may begin to regard
     - as man ate of this tree he experiences the wholesome             it as unjust -and finally set it aside and leave the house.
      and invigorating effect of its fruit upon his frame. Hence,       On the other  h.and, if this son keeps to the house, we
      God's statement relative this tree was constantly being           know then that his faith in his father is very strong. If
      verified by man's experience. The nourishment which he            that son does as he was bidden he shows that he is very
      derived from this fruit was a testimony to the effect that        capable of obeying on the basis of his father's testimony.
      God had spoken the truth.  1Man's discovery was that                  For the reasons mentioned above, the command to
      this tree was indeed good for food. Man's own experi-              refrain from eating of the forbidden tree served to test
      ence told him that the food values of this tree were such          -4dam's  faith in the Lord God, and his ability  ro obey
      as to be greatly desired. This tree, then, may be re-              for the sole reason that God had spoken. To Adam the
      garded as a symbol of that knowledge which is the prod-           prohibition seemed arbitrary. When he looked at the
      uct of an experiment. It is not the kind of knowledge fruit, he could not understand why he should die if he
      which may be signified by the term faith. Consequently,            ate. For the tree was good for food and a desire  ro the
      the moral worth of the act of  .eating  of the fruit of this       eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise. He was
      tree was not very great except that the eating of it im-           forbidden, we repeat, to  ,experiment  with the tree. He
      plied a conscious rejection of the fruit of the tree of the        must endorse the testimony of God and refrain from eat-


      3.52                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R---                            - --.-" .-.- "..".._-- .._ -

      ing for  t-he sole reason that the Lord God had said  SO.            which depraved man places in rhc room of God and wor-
      This prohibition, it is plain, is admirably suited to put            ships as God. Scripture has more than one name for
      to a test Adam's faith in God. Add to this that it worked            this anti- or pseudo-god, viz.,  the arm of the wicked,
      no hardships on him. It was but one tree from which                  which shall be broken (Ps.  37:17)  ; man and flesh (Jer.
      he was forbidden  ro eat. There was still an oversupply              17 5) ; bread (Luke 4 :3 j ,; chariots and horses (Ps. 20 :7) ;
     of fruit.                                                             antichrist (1 John  2:lS)  ; the man of sin and the son of
              The prohibition, then, not to eat of the forbidden tree,     perdition  (2 Thes.  2:4)  ; mystery of iniquity (2 Thes.
      made necessary the exercise of faith. Faith is the con-             3:7) ; Babylon (Rev. 14 :8) ; mammon (Mat. 624). Hence,
      viction that the things which lie beyond rhe reach of our            the two trees exhibit the antithesis God and pseudo-god,
     observation, the things unseen, are nevertheless there.               light and darkness, good and evil. The presence of the
      Faith may be identified with these realities and there-              two trees meant that Adam was made to choose either
      upon substituted by the  t&-m  knowledge. What were                 one of the two powers represented by the trees.                 It is
      the unseen realities with which Adam had to do? The                  true that the tree of knowledge alone exhibits the anti-
     grim reality that the eating of the forbidden tree will              thesis. The positive exhibition of ligh or good, however,
     result in death and the glorious fact thar the Lord God              is the tree of life and in a sense, every tree of the garden
     is the true bread of life. It  is, these things upon which           with the exception of the tree of knowledge of good and
     Adam must lay hold. Then he knows.                 And of this       evil.
     knowledge, the tree growing the forbidden fruit, was a                   It did not take long before the tree of knowledge of
     sign. Hence, it was called rhe tree of knowledge of good             good and evil became unro man a stumbling block. The
     and evil. While Adam believed, God was unto him a liv-               serpent entered the garden and persuaded man to eat of
     ing reality and he knew God.                                         the forbidden tree.       The serpent's argument is well
         The tree of -knowledge of good and evil was located              known. "Ye shall not surely die, for God cloth know
     in the midst of the garden as well as the tree of life. "And         that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be
     the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the                   opened and ye shall be as gods knowing good and evil."
     fruit of rhe trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the            The manner of approach of the devil is at once a demon-
     tree which is in the  midst  of  the  garden, God hath said,         stration of his cunningness. He refrains at the outset
     ye shall not eat of it" (Gen.  22, 3). Since both trees              `of accusing God of deception. Instead he sets out with
     occupied a place in the midst of the garden, the distance            a  question.     "Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of
     separating them cannot be very great. The position of                every tree of the garden.`* It is clear that rhe devil's pur-
     the two trees means that both good and evil were con-                pose is to make the divine prohibition  seem unjust and
     stantly being brought to the attention of man. As often              oppressive.     God's statement, Of all the trees of the gar-
     as he ate of the tree of life he did so in the near vicinity         den thou mayest freely eat, is substituted for, Thou may-
     of the forbidden tree. If man would eat of the tree of               est not eat of every tree. The serpent sets out very
     life he must pass by and reject the forbidden fruit. For             cautiously. He is about to blaspheme God. Before he
     of both trees he was not permitted to eat. It is plain,              does so, however, he must know the  rhoughts   of the
     then, that, due to the presence of the forbidden tree, the           woman's heart and her attitude toward the divine prohi-
     act of eating from the tree of life was. at once an act of           bition.. Now Satan is a creature. Hence, he cannot read
     faith. For it implied a rejection of the forbidden fruit,            man's mind nor penetrate into the recesses of  man"5  heart.
     and amounted  .to a declaration that the testimony of                The woman musr reveal herself to him and that by means
     God was being believed. Each time man ate of the tree                of the spoken  word. She must be made to' talk. "Yea,
     of life he was rejecting evil and embracing the good.                hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the gar-
     The tree of knowledge, it is plain, compelled man to                 den? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may
     choose ever again, either good or evil, either God or not-           eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit
     God. In a word, rhe presence of the tree of knowledge                of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath
     meant that man must walk by faith or die.                            said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it lest
         The presence of this tree, then, brought into sharp              ye die." And now Satan responds by railing at God. He
     relief both good and evil, God and not-God. It meant                 contradicts God's statement and accuses him of decep-
     that good was being contemplated as the opposite of evil,            tion. He makes it appear as if God is depriving man of
     and evil as the opposite of good. Man's notion of good               some higher good for the purpose of safeguarding his
     and evil is much clearer now than it would have been                 own interests. Amazing. How dare the devil blaspheme
.    if the tree. of knowledge had not been there.            Hence,      God in  .the presence of this friend of God- Was not
     when he finally chooses evil he does so very consciously.            this woman God's friend? She was not, at rhis juncture.
     In this sense did the tree of knowledge teach man both               Fact is that her soul was filled with disgust. The divine
     good and evil. It sharpened up  man"5  mind and com-                 injunction had aggrieved her. This is plain from her
     pelled him-to serve God consciously.                                 response.      Attend to her reply and observe that the
        Let it be repeated that the tree of life pointed to God           woman has distorted  Godls  words. God said, Of  ull  the
     as the true bread of life. The tree of knowledge of good trees  of the garden ye may freely eat. The woman said,
     and evil may be regarded as a representation of all that             We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. It is


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   R E A R E R                                          353
--..^.- ^ ..^. ^--"  ..-                                                    - - -                                    -       -
plain that there is a conscious attempt on the part of the             PROHIBITIONISME EN CALVINISME
woman to reduce rhe blessings of God to a minimum.
Further, God said, Of the tree of the knowledge of good             Wet  - naar beweerd wordt  -  ziehzelf  regeerende
and evil, thou shalt not eat of it. To this the woman            Amerikaansche volk kromt  zich  heden ten dage onder
added, Thou shalt not touch it. This addition indicates          den geese1 der drankprohibitie, die het, door het  stem-
that the woman is bent on making the commandment of busprofetisme, over zichzelf heeft ingeroepen te kwader
God appear very offensive. It is plain that she is dis- ure, en die met steeds meer geweld, soms op de vrije
satisfied with God.                                              ruggen van banketteerende gedecolleteerde dames en  for-
   The serpent is very quick to perceive that the woman          meel gekleede representatieve heeren, maar het meest
has lost her faith in God. He knows, now, that the tech  we1 op die van andere belastingbetalenden en van
woman will permit him to assail God.  ilnd so she does. `t gewone volk neerzwiept en striemt.
"Ye shall not surely die," saith the devil. And the woman           Naar het heette was een draconisch en totaal verbod
believes----the devil.      It means that she, too, begins to    van drinken  het beste middel om de verfoeilijke kroegen *
shake her fist in God's face. Facing God she  says."you          of beruchte saloons uit stad en land te bannen, en om de
lie." For God knows (thus the serpent continues) that natie ongekend vrij en gelukkig te maken.
in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall.be  opened,         En over den zegen door het gouvernementsdrankver-
. . . . . . Again the woman agrees. She turns to the             bod gewerkt voor land en volk  roemen  de  "droge"  orga-
tree and fixes her eye upon its fruit. And the fruit was nen gestadiglijk in het binnenland, en schetteren voort-
pleasant to her eyes. It was good for food, she saw. A           durend propagandisten onder socialist, methodist en cal-
tree to be desired to make one wise. And she takes of            vinist in Nederland geestdriftiglijk.
the fruit thereof, and eats, and gives also unto her hus-           Terwijl  de nieuwsbladen hier, naast de rapporten van
band with her, and he doth eat and without talking back,         politic- en justitie-departementen, niet anders clan  toe-
so it seems.                                                     neming van ondeugd en misdaad, ongeluk en ellende,
    When man ate of the forbidden tree he committed a            melden.
heinous sin against God. We will not engage in a de-
tailed delineation of the various elements constituting the         In  verband  met de totdusver  nog niet gelukte droog-
event of the fall of man. Doing so we would be passing legging van de Vereenigde Staten (want in den wijclen
beyond the limits of the field which we are cultivating.         polder hier stijgt telkens het grondwater naar boven, en
It is our business, however, to point out the meaning and        door alle dijken  heen sijpelt het  "geestrijke"  vocht sterk
the implications of Adam's deed.                                 door, zoodat honderdduizend vingers niet genoeg zijn om
    Let us set out with the assertion that the statements        de lekkage te stoppen)   - wordt nog steeds hevig gepre-
of the devil have the appearance of truth. For what he           dikt en gepleit, en te dringender aangeperst naarmate de
predicted happened. Man's eyes were actually opened.             ondoeltreffendheid  der droogheidshandhaving luider
And we may hear the Lord God saying: "Behold man                 spreekt voor het publiek: voor de weldadigheid en christe-
is become like one of us to know good and evil. But,             lijkheid der prohibit&, en gewezen op de wettigheid van,'
though the statements of Satan have the appearance of            en de onderworpenheidsplicht  aan, de  drankverbodswet-
being true, yet are they pregnant  &th bald lies. Satan          ten, die, helaas, gemaakt zijn tot fundamenteele stutten
denies that man will die when he eats. He assures him            van de nationale,samenIeving.
that the opening of the eyes and the knowing of good and            En tegenover het buitenland,  en tot alhier aankomen-
evil constitute a higher good, in reality, however, the          de informeerende bezoekers uit andere  landen,  wordt door
opening of the eyes and the knowing of good and evil             drankbestrijdersbondbestuurslid en door de groote meer-
constitute a great evil. They turn out to'be the earmarks        derheid der diverse predikanten van de overtalrijke kerk-
of spiritual death. Satan lied to man and deceived him." genootschappen in ons godsdienstig vaderland, nog maar
In our next article these matters will be further deline-        altijd geroemd op de effectiviteit van de sedert ruim zes
ated.                                                            jaren   geleden  begonnen wettelijke "drooglegging."
                                                  G.  M. 0.         Een bekend spreekwoord zegt:  "Wat men wil gelooft
                                                                 men graag," niet waar?
                                                                    En derhalve kunnen we aan vele dames en heeren, die
                    CHRISTELI  JK LEVEN                          in de van boven bevolen geheelonthouding van sterke
              Die behouden wil, zal  derven  ;                   dranken,  waaronder ook wijn en bier zijn begrepen, de
         1      Maar  die geven  wil, behoudt,                   eenige voorwaarde zien voor het komen tot aardsch geluk
                Ja, vermeerdert honderdvoud.                     en hemelsche zaligheid, hun  eenzijdig,dwepen (en  fana-
              Om te leven moet men sterven;          *           tisme is altijd eenzijdig) met het achttiende amendement
              Waar een kroon hangt, rijst een kruis ;            der Grondwet, en met de akelig mishandelde Volstead
                Elke dood is weergeboorte;                       act, niet AL te kwalijk  nemen.
                De uitgangsdeur een ingangspoorte ;                ?%aar  wat o. i. niet over het hoofd te zien is, en niet
              `t Graf, portaal van  `t Vaderhuis!                verschoonbaar kan  worden  geacht, is de houding van
                                          J. J. L. Ten Kate      velen,  die  zich Calvinisten noemen en Gereformeerde


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     Vol. III, No. 16                                            MAY 16,  1927                                  Subscription Price, $2.50

                                                                              Christ! Since Thou didst kindle the  fire of a new love
                 MEDITATION                                                   within our hearts, we abhor our former enmity; since
                                                                              Thou didst light the new light of life within our minds,
                                                                              we abominate our natural darkness. Even as we formerly
                        DELIVER US FROM EVIL                                  cherished sin and embraced her children, so now we abhor
                                                                              them. Our Father, Thee we love and it is our delight to
                             And  lead us not into temptation, but de-        do Thy will, to keep Thy precepts, to walk in Thy way,
                           liver us from evil.-Matt. 6:13.                    to manifest Thy glory, to sing Thy praises, to dwell in
                                                                              Thy tabernacle. . . .
          Our Father !                                                            A profound abhorrence of darkness and corruption we
          Who art in heaven!                                                  know within our hearts.. . .
          Thou alone art God; over all things in all the wide                     But, our Father, we are weak and inclined to stumble
      domain of the universe, in earth and heaven, yea in the                 in the way !
      dark depth of the abyss. Thou art supreme in power,                         And about us are a thousand evil forces that would
      sole sovereign, subjecting all to the sceptre of Thy do-                lead us astray and cause us to depart from Thee and from
      minion , . . .                                                          the way of Thy testimony. back into the old service of
          To Thee, to none other, we turn and cry for help and                the devil.. . .
     protection, for preservation and deliverance, as we are in                   Within us we feel that sinister power of darkness,
      the midst of the world, surrounded by strong and dark                   operating for our destruction.      For the body of  this
      powers and sinister forces, that stand in spiritual oppo-               death we still carry with  us,  and we are not  as yet per-
      sition against Thee, and, therefore, against us  ; that  would          fectly delivered from the power of evil lust. Even though
      seduce us and lure us back into the realm of corruption                 Thou didst liberate us from the law of sin and death, and
      whence Thou didst deliver  LIS.                                         though with joy of heart we may confess before Thee,
          And, Father, we beseech Thee, that Thou wilt not that our inmost heart longs for Thee, the living God, yet
      lead us into temptation, but preserve us and deliver us                 we know that other law in our members, that would
      from evil!                                                              always sediice  us and make us turn about and cast long-
          Evil we hate because Thee we love and we know that                  ing glances back at the city of corruption from which we
      Thou abhorrest evil and that darkness cannot dwell with                 have  been=$berated.  When we would do good, evil is
      Thee. Not always, our Father, we remember it in shame                   always neS>.  . . .
      and humiliation before Thee, could we speak thus,                           And  withotit  us there is the dark and evil world!
      neither is it of our own nature that we may profess  tr.                    There is the power of the devil and. his host, plotting
      loathe sin and to detest corruption. For wrath's children               and lurking, going about as a roaring lion, seeking to de-
      and corruption's offspring we are by nature, and before                 vour us!
      Thou didst save us we cherished and indulged  ,in  pollu-                   The mighty host of darkness!
       tion. `Our mind was darkened and `we knew not the                           It threatens and foams, when  ..we would do good, to
      light ; our will was perverse and loved not the good ; our              frighten  us  away from the way of Iight and life; it
      heart was hostile and we yearned not after Thee and Thy beckons and entices, it encourages and offers, us its
      good commandments. Darkness was our proper sphere,                      friendship and good will, its glory and its gold, its pro-
       corruption was our mother and her children were our tection and advantages, when we would do evil. It mocks
      friends and companions. Enchained by sin we were and                    and reproaches us and fills us with shame and humilia-
       we knew not our slavery; under death's dominion we                     tion, when we'do let our light shine and would stand for
      were held and knew not our misery. But how different the cause of the living God in the midst of the world; it
      it all became by the power of Thy grace in our Lord Jesus               approves when we stumble and blunder in the way and


 smiles when we become unfaithful and companions of              ing, is nothing hut Thy instrument for to accomplish
  them that do evil and love iniquity. . . .                     whatsoever Thou didst appoint? Did not all that dark
     Father in heaven, we know the power of that world           host of hell that nailed Thy holy child Jesus to the ac-
 and its  terriblk prince, and of all the dark host of  the      cursed tree, Herod  and Pilate, Judas and the Sanhedrin
 abyss !                                                         prevail against Him only because they must needs do
     And we realize how weak we are.                             whatsoever Thy counsel had beforehand determined and
     Helpless we feel ourselves apart from Thee over Thy hand 4irected?  We know, Father, that Thou holdest
 against that wicked power. But we know that Thou art            the devil and his angels, all the power of the  ivicked
in the heavens. Thou always doest all Thy good  plcas-           world, and of our own sinful heart, in Thy almighty
 ure and nothing can prevail against Thee.. . .                  hand. We are assured that Satan cannot plot and his
     To Thee we turn.                                            angeis  cannot stir: we believe that the world cannot foam
     To  Thee we look up and pray:                               and rave and that its sword cannot strike, its fire cannot
     Lead us not into temptation !                               burn, its gold cannot glitter, its glory cannot attract and
     Deliver us from evil!                                       entice? its siren's song cannot deceive, its power can
     Abba,  Father !                                             neither inspire fear nor confidence; yea. we trust fhat
                                                                 our own sinful heart cannot deliberate,, that our minds
     Our Father!  i                                              cannot think and our will cannot choose and determine,
     Lead Thou us. but not  intb temptation!                     but at Thy command and under Thy overruling direc-
     Nay, Father, as we pray thus. we do not foolishly           tion . . . .
 charge Thee with evil.                                              Father, our Father, Thou Ieadest and controllest all
     We know that of Thee we are not tempted. Thou art           things !
 the absolutely holy and the spotlessly pure. Thou art a             Thou alone !
 light and there is no darkness in Thee.  Evii  is eternally         We may not, we cannot, we will not, we dare not
 abhorred by Thee and darkness cannot approach Thee. ascribe power to the devil and his host, to the world and
 Thy constant wrath issues forth against all that is vile        its inhabitants,, to sin and corruption and hell, apart from
 and polluted. Thou art, therefore, Thyself beyond  all          Thee. . . .
 temptation and canst not be tempted with sin.                       Hence, to `Thee we commit all.
     Neither dost Thou tempt any man. . . .                          To Thee we turn with our sinful heart; to Thee we
     Humbly and sorrowfully we confess before Thee, that         flee with all the power of the world and the wiles of the
 by our own sinful nature. by the lust of our ff esh shining devil and,the way of temptation ; and acknowledging Thy
 in  our.sinful eyes, 6y the pride of our life we are enticed    sole sovereignty over all, and confessing our own weak-
 and tempted and led astray. K'ot with Thee but with us ness and helplessness, we pray:
 is the inclination  ancl the desire to sin.    Not Thee but         Lead us, but not into temptation! .
 ourselves we charge and condemn. And humbling our-                  Father, our Father, supreme!
 selves before Thee we pray in contrition of heart and
 mind that Thou wilt graciously forgive and in boundless             Gracious Father!
 grace blot out  all our transgression.                              Who art merciful to whom Thou willest and whose
     When we fall and stumble the guilt is ours: when we         powerful grace is sufficient to liberate us to the full.. .
 stand and walk steadfastly the grace is  Thin?.                     Deliver us from evil and from the power of the evil
     Ours is all the shame : Thine is all the glory !            one !
     But, our Father, we know, too, that Thou alone art              We ask not that Thou take us out of the world, and
 leader in all the wide domain of the world.                     remove us from the scene of the battle of Thy kingdom
     Sole governor art Thou.                                     before the battle is finished, and in it we have served Thy
     For Thou art God and there is no God beside Thee. purpose.. . .
 Thine is all the power and the dominion forever and                 We know that it is Thy good pleasure that we should
 ever.                                                           be to the praise of Thy glory in the midst of a world that
     We firmly believe that nothing happens and nothing lieth in darkness and evil. By Thy grace and word we
 can befall Thy children but by Thy determinate will and         have learnt to understand somewhat the calling where-
 under Thy almighty and all-comprehensive providence.            with Thou hast called us, that we should be children of
     Supreme director, ultimate cause of all that is and light in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation,
 becomes and ever shall be, Thou art. And although Thou a royal and holy priesthood to proclaim and show forth
 art never author of sin or source of corruption, we know        the virtues of Thee, who didst call us out of darkness
 that Thou art its sovereign and that it can accomplish          into Thy marvelous light. For so, Father, it has seemed
 nothing but at Thy bidding. Do we not remember that             good in Thy sight. We know that the battle must needs
 the devil had no power against Thy servant Job but ac-          be fought, that tight must needs shine in darkness, even
 cording to Thy counsel and by Thy sovereign will? Did           though darkness does not comprehend it, that the world
 not thy apostle learn in the way of patient and humble          must needs hate us even as they hate Thee, that temptn-
 prayer, that even an angel of Satan, beating and  buffet-       tions and trials must needs come.


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                            363
-.I .._ --.ll___ ..__I__ .  ..__.  -----^                      _"." _..._._^  -- .._...__. .__....-.......__..                                    -             -
   -4ntl  we are assured, our Father, that these cannot                                                           DE VADERNAAM
harm us, if Thou dost lead us. We know that the fire of
trials and the heat of the battle can but strengthen and                       Wij, menschen, houden van mooie namen en titels.
sanctify even as silver is purified by fire. . . .                      We+,  een kind begint met al aanstonds bij zijn  ge-
   We pray not that Thou wouldest dismiss us from                       boorte voor 6ns mee te brengen den hoogsten en schoon-
Thy service  in the world, neither that Thou wouldest                   sten  titel, dien we - we denken  nu alleen aan ons, man-
remove us from the battleground before we have served                   nen  -  dragen kunnen: den volheerlijken  naah van
*Thy  purpose with  us.  We ask no leave to put off the                 "Vader."
armour  and to pur down the sword.                                             Onze God draagt  66k den Vadernaam. `En in dien
   But, Father, we ask for victory. . . .                               naam ligt de rijkste openbaring Zijner heerlijkheid, beide
   We pray, that Thou wilt continue to lead us, even if van Zijn majesteit en van Zijn liefde. Ook in namen als
it must be through trial and battle and temptations. For Heere en  Koning,  en welke meer ons Hem in Zijn  sou-
we do not know the way and we do not trust in self. W e vereine en almachtige heerschappij  doen  kennen,  ontmoe-
pray, that Thou wilt preserve  LIS  by Thy power and the                ten we de oneindige grootheid van Zijn Wezen. Doch in
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, even if we must face the                nog rijker glans dan in Zijn almachtige kracht, waardoor
enemy and be made the object of his attacks. For we                     Hij over alles heerscht, ontdekt Hij zich voor ons hierbij.
possess no strength to fight  and overcome, and we would                dat Hij is de grond en oorzaak, dat Hij is de Vader aller
not rely on an arm of flesh. We pray, thar in all the way               dingen.
Thou wilt hold our hand and lead us, teaching us by                            Nog rijker is die Vadernaam - zooveel rijker als lief-
Thy Word and Spirit, and leading LIS in the way everlast-               de edeler is dan macht  - gelijk de Heere hem legt  op de
ing, for our sinful heart is prone to wander, and our feet              lippen   v2in Zijn  volk. Maar boven den Vadernaam Gods
do often slip. We pray, that, when Thou  Ieahest  us, it                in dezen dubbelen zin gaat nog die, waarmee  -alleen  de
may never be necessary for Thee so to lead us into                      eeuwige en eeniggeboren Zoon van God hem noemen
temptation, rhat we are abandoned to the pride of our kan, en waarin zich ontsluit de verborgenheid der eeuwi-
heart and the lust of our flesh, that to the temptation we ge generatie. . . . Daarin  schitrert de volle heerlijkheid
yield, that in the battle we are defeated. We pray, that onzes Gods als oorzaak en als liefdembeide  . ., . .
even in the midst of temptations and through them, Thou                        En van den weerglans dier heerlijkheid maakt God
wilt strengthen us and fill us with Thy grace, causing us               ons, Zij,ne kleine en nietige schepselen, maar die Hij een-
to be confirmed in our faith, to be quickened in our love,              tiaal,  schiep naar Zijn eigen beeld, de dragers,  als Hij
to be established in our  hopet to grow in the knowledge                ons  Vader  van  kinderen maakt. We zijn  Zijn  beelddra-
and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.                                     gers  66k als, we door gave en talent  Vader  werden van
    Father, deliver LIS from evil . . . .                               iets, dat onze geest bedacht, en daarna onze hand  ver-
    Cleanse us more and more,from  the evil within us and               werkelijkte  ; of als we, door ontferming gedreven, een
deliver us  from the body of this death. Fill us with the               kind, dat ons vreemd was, tot her onze aannamen. Doch
sanctifying grace of the Spirit of our `Lord Jesus Christ.              Hij maakt het ons in nog veel rijker zin, in dat heilig
Give us light ro know Thy will. love to will Thy will,                  mysterie van den band des vleesches en der liefde,  tus-
strength to do Thy will. Thus sanctifying and consecrat- schen ons en ons eigen kind.
ing  us,  deliver us,  toot from the wiles of the devil, from                  Voor wie dit verstaat,  ligt er in den  zoeten   vader-
the seductions of the world and grant us grace always                   naam  m&&r dan een wereld van aardsche  weelde.                                  Hij
to stand and to persevere. . . .                                        hoort er hemelmuziek in, die hem toejubelt de eere van
    Father, deliver us, for evil we hate and Thee we love!              beelddrager  zijns Gods  te zijn.
    Give us victory at lasr!                                                                                      K. Fernhout, "De Man die den Heere
    Graciously prepare the day and for that day prepare                                                           vreest," pag.  180.
us, when the last dark spot shall have been cleansed away
from our sin-stained soul, when the law  of'sin shall never-
more operate in our members.
    When `we shall see Thee as Thou art and know Thee                                                               COMMUNISME
even as we are known, and dwell in Thy tent forever.. . .
    To serve Thee in perfection, day and  nighr,  in Thy                                                          Ginds onder zoden
perfected temple !                                                                                                  Of marmeren zerk,
    Abba, gracious Father, who art in heaven                                                                      Doet bij de dooden
    Deliver us from evil. we pray.                                                                                  De ontbinding zijn werk.
    r\men,  yea,  :lmen!                                                                                            Heeren  en  slaven,
                                                      H. H.                                                         Boozen  en braven,
                                                                                  \Vijzen,  dwazen, klein en groot,
                                                                                           Alles slaapt in  `t slijk der graven  -
             Kies jong de welgebaande wegen!                                      Spotter van ouds  - , Communist is de Dood!
             LiTant  vroege godsvrucht, vroege zegen.                                                                                    J. J. L. Ten Kate


366                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
-._____.  "-- _.____....  ^ ---..-..                                                                                 -        -

             GOD'S COUNSEL AND MAN'S                               reformed convictions by Pelagians of every color and
                    I~ESPONSIBILITY  (*)'                          kind, has been revived against us, the indictment already
                                                                   mentioned, that we deny and destroy the accountability
       My subject for tonight  is  a difficult one, as all will    of the rational creature, more particularly of man, be-
admit. The reason for its choice on my part must not be            cause of our presentation@ of the truth of election and
sought  in its novelty,  for the problem it presents  has          reprobation.    I will answer the indictment and prove
been in  men's minds as long as they have contemplated that it is false. Secondly, I desire to restate the Scriptural
the relation between God and man, the divine and the               presentation of this matter, in order to show that we have
human. And at all times the thoughts of men have been              the very Word of God as our foundation in our concep-
divided on this subject and radically opposite solutions           tion of .God's relation to the deeds of men, good or evil.
have been  ot%ered of the implied problem. On the one              This will surely fill us with confidence over against the
hand there have been and there still are those that are            attacks of our Arminian opponents. And lastly, I will
always careful to defend and maintain the freedom and              also attempt to penetrate as far into the mystery as pos-
extol the dignity and majesty of man, regardless more or sible and to obtain at least some conception of the solu-
less of the effect such an attempt would have upon their tion of the problem presented by the subject. It may not
conception of God. On the other hand there always were             be possible to arrive at an ultimate solution of the mys-
those, although they were generally fewer in number,               tery; this does not remove the fact that we may at least
that were chiefly concerned about the vindication of the be able to see the correct conception of the relation be-
sovereignty of God. And it may be added immediately                tween God and the accountability of His moral creatures.
that generally the former brought the indictment against           Let me then:
the latter, that they destroyed the responsibility of man,              I. First state the problem as such.
were of a single-track mind, and that this single track of             II. Secondly call your attention to the solutions
their thinking ran in the direction of determinism. It is                      that are offered.
the old  controvery between Paul the apostle, as he de-               III. Offer you my own conception of the matter in
velops the truth in Romans 9, and his opponents there                          the light of Scripture.
mentioned ; between St. Augustine and Pelagius ; between
Gottschalk and his persecutors; between Calvin and the                1. It is not necessary now to dwell at length upon the
semi-pelagian representatives of the Roman Catholic significance of the counsel of God and to enter into a de-
church; between Gomarus and Arminius and between                   tailed, discussion of the Biblical representation of God's
their respective followers in our own day. It cannot be eterna1  decree. It is, let me remind ourselves of it, no
said about the subject I have determined upon for this mere dead plan, even as an architect draws a plan with
evening, that it is novel, though its difficulty will readily      detailed specifications of a proposed structure; but it is
be admitted.                                                       the eternal will and mind of God with regard to all things
    Nor did I determine upon a discussion of this subject,         in time and eternity. The counsel of the Most High, said
because I flatter myself and would have you expect, that           our fathers characteristically, is the living  counselling
a complete and ultimate solution of it may possibly be             God.  -As far as definition and circumscription is con-
attained, a solution in the sense that all mysteries con-          cerned, let this suffice. But we must call attention to cer-
nected with ir have been cleared away and our eager in- tain attributes of that counsel of the eternal God, that
tellectual eye can penetrate to the very bottom of the             have a direct bearing upon its relation to the accountabil-
matter. It stands to reason, and we ought never hesitate ity of the moral creature. First of all I wish to recall
frankly to confess it, that when we deal with the infinite         that this counsel is all-comprehensive. It does not only
God, we may probably by faithful and prayerful effort, in          imply the things that are made, but as they are created at
the light of His own revelation to us, succeed to make             the beginning. Such is the nature of an architectural plan.
the veil recede, that divides the incomprehensible from            The architect can probably determine in detail how the
the realm of things comprehended by our intellect ; it will structure that is to be raised shall be, but he cannot de-
only be to make us see, that there are always deeper termine what shall become of the building; its history
depths in the Most High and that unto all eternity we and destiny lies beyond his control. But such is not the
shall not fathom Him, whose name is Infinite.              And case with God's counsel. When Scripture teaches us that
somewhere  McCosh reminds us, that it may be well to               it is all-comprehensive, it signifies that God from eternity
exercise our mind upon such problems as these, if it bear          counselled how things should be created at the beginning,
no other fruit than to make us humbly confess our in-              how they should develop in time, and what should be
significant smallness over against the eternal One. So, I their eternal destiny. And this must be understood in
would kindly request my audience not to have their                 its strictest sense. It implies that every creature, great
expectations in this regard at too high a  pitch, for dis-         and small had its shape and history in this eternal divine
appointment might very well be the result.                         decree  ; that, therefore, nothing happens in earth or in
       But my reason for the choice of this subject is three-      heaven, in the light or in darkness, with respect to brute
fold. First of all I remind you of the fact, that the old          creation or to God's moral creatures, but it has all been
accusation, always brought against people of strictly              determined from before the world was. Secondly, I call


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                            367
         _______..__-_             _.....___......_"   ..__."  -    _---         ..^ .._._                --lll_l_--  .._........._. ..-.......^._
attention to that attribute of God's counsel, which nega-              account, if we are to see the seriousness of this problem.
tively expressed we call its irresistibility and positively            For God did not only freely and with absolute sover-
denoted is the absolute efficaciousness of God's decree.               eignty determine all things in  *His eternal counsel, but
God is in the heavens and He performs all His good                     He Himself also executes that counsel and does all His
pleasure. Nothing ever withstood His counsel or ever                   good pleasure. He rules and directs  ali things to their
shall be able to thwart it. Every drop of rain surely falls            destiny by His providence. And this providence of God
according to that counsel; every sunbeam shoots its                    is His omnipresent and omnipotent power. He is with
golden shaft into the wide expanse of space in harmony                 and around and in every creature of whatever form or
with God's decree. Every tree grows, every flower blooms,              nature it may be, brute or rational, moral or otherwise.
every heart beats, every child is born and every being                 This omnipresent power of God is the controlling force
breathes its last, every mind thinks and every man moves,              of the whole universe, so directing all things that they
yea every angel sings and every devil rages according to               must co-operate to the realization of the end the Lord has
this determinate will of God. It is irresistibly executed in view. God guides the sun in its course through the
in all the wide world. And lastly I want to mention the                heavens. He brings the rain and the sunshine, He is the
immutability, the unchangeableness of the counsel of the               continual cause of all things. He also directs and con-
Most High. What is determined from eternity is fixed                   trols the mind and will of man in their deliberations and
forever and nothing can induce the Lord, whose name is                 decisions. Very well, but this, even though it does not
I Am, to alter His will or to change His mind. With                    essentially alter the question, brings it to us with more
absolute certainty and unchangeableness the entire course              force and concreteness : How can the moral, rational
of the whole universe, and of every last creature in de-               creature be held accountable, so that he will receive
tail, is fixed from before the beginning of all things.                reward or punishment, according to what he has done,
   Now, in that whole of the divine, eternal and un-                   whether it be good or evil, if God is really the deepest
changeable scheme of the universe and its destiny, there               and determining cause, by His almighty will controlling
are intellectual, moral, rational beings, beings that are              and directing the frail will of man to His own purpose
responsible, accountable to God and are treated as such.               a n d   e n d ?
What does that signify? What is a moral being? It is                        What makes the problem so serious is, of course, the
a being with a will, a rational will of his own, a being,              existence of evil, both moral and physical. Of course,
who is not simply determined, but who in a sense, in                   principally the problem would exist, even if never sin
some way, also determines himself. He is a being, that                 entered into the world and death through sin.                       For
not simply develops and grows, like a tree ; whose move-               though man never did anything but what is acceptable in
ments are not simply determined from without, like that                the sight of the Lord, the question still would be, how in
of at stone rolling down the mountainside; but who acts,               the light of God's eternal counsel and almighty Provi-
who performs deeds, of his own choice, determinately,                  dence, this good man could be accountable and receive
consciously, willingly and rationally. It is a being that              credit and reward for the good deeds he performed. But
stands in a certain relation to the law of God, who knows              the seriousness, the practical weight and pressure of the
God and His will and who determines from within his                    problem is aggravated nevertheless by the fact of the
own attitude to that will of the Most High. He is, there-              existence of evil in the world. Sin entered into the world.
fore, in this respect like God, though in a creaturely way             Deeds are committed that are, from a spiritual-ethical
and measure, that he wills and thinks and acts, and thus               point of view contrary to the will of God and that provoke
becomes the author of certain deeds, for the which he is               His anger and just wrath. There are ungodly men and
accountable to God because he is a creature. And he is                 evil spirits, that stand with all their nature in opposition
so accountable and responsible, that he will be brought                to and in conflict with the holy will of God. And they
into judgment for all he thought and willed and did, and               are held accountable for this morally corrupt state of their
will receive from God according to what he did, whether                nature and for the wicked deeds rhey commit. And be-
it be good or evil. The question now arises: How is all                cause they are held responsible, there is in the world also
this possible, if we maintain the all-comprehensiveness                physical evil, suffering and death as the wages of sin.
and efficaciousness and immutable character of the coun-               Now, especially with a view to these facts, the problem
sel of God? If all things are determined by the Most                   we are dealing with assumes a very grave aspect. For
High from eternity, then the deeds of these moral crea-                not only does the question arise and urge itself upon us:
tures are by God determined, unchangeably determined,                  How can God punish His moral creatures, if we must be-
efficaciously determined. And if his inmost thoughts and               lieve rhat even in their sinful deeds they accomplish His
deepest desires as well as his external acts are so fixed              counsel, yea, that He is the controlling power `in it all?
from eternity, how can rhat moral creature still be free,              But the other question also follows: How is it, that God
and being free be also accountable for his own deeds?                  is not the author of evil in its moral sense, if He is the
HOW can God judge the creature for what He fixed Him-                  cause of all things and, even when wicked men sin, exec-
self? That is the problem.                                             utes His counsel? Thus we must state the problem.
   But this is not all that must be said about the subject.                 II. Now in attempting to solve this problem, it is
There is still another element rhat must be taken into                 destroyed by many, because either the absolute  sover-


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 _I ______  ~_^  .._                        .._-_ 111-- ..-...._ -              .___...                                     -       -

 eignty of God or the moral agency and freedom of man                  difference between good and evil, all moral self-determi-
 is denied. In the one case we lose God; in the other we               nation on the part of man; all consciousness of account-
 lose man; or they are really both destroyed by merging ability must needs cease, if pantheism were true. Pan-
 them into one.                                                        theism destroys the problem we are discussing, because
     Pantheism must needs deny and destroy all moral                   it has neither a personal God nor a personal man.
 freedom and responsibility, even as it denies the person-                Not otherwise it is with all materialistic conceptions.
 ality of God and His essential distinction from the uni-              Materialism denies the existence of spirit as a distinct
 verse. A%zcording  to this conception, God is the world               substance. All is matter,  and' outside of matter nothing
 itself. The being of God and the essence of the world                 exists. Matter is the sole God; that is, if you wish to
 are one. He does not exist beyond and outside of the                  speak of a God at all. It is the gospel of the flesh, the
 essence of the world, but  He is only in the world and                theology of mammon. Man is only material, not spirit-
 this in such wise, that there is no distinct divine and dis-          ual. The soul of man is not a distinct spiritual being, an
 tinct creaturely essence.  *He is the soul, the reason, the           entiti; what we call soul is nothing but the sum-total
 spirit of the world ; and all the visible and material uni- of so-called psychical phenomena, and these are nothing
 verse is His body. We need not say more to make plain,                but the results of his material existence functioning.
 that this view destroys the personality of God, His will-             "The  soul does  not  enter into the human foetus like an
ing and conscious activity. He works not by the de-                    evil spirit into one possessed, but is the product of the
 terminate counsel of His will, but by the necessity of His            brain's development, just as muscular action is produced
 own nature. The world is no{ the product of His creation by the development of the muscles, and secretion by that
 but the necessary development of the divine Being, an                 of the glands. To assume the existence of the soul which
 outflow of His essence.  ,Xt is not directed by an all-wise           uses the brain as an instrument with which to work as it
 Providence, but it `develops according to the necessary pleases, is utter nonsense" IVogt, "Physiologische
 evolution of God's Being itself. And destroying as it                 Briefe," quoted by Christlieb, "Modern Doubt and Chris-
 does the distinct personality of God it also must  needs             tian Belief"  1). 146). "Man is produced  from  wind  and
 deny the individuality of the human soul. Man's soul                 &hes.  The action of vegetable life called him into exist-
 is only a part of the All-soul, his  reasori is only a wave          ence. Man is the sum of his parents and his wet-nurse,
 of the universal reason, and as the waves of the sea are of time and place, of  mind and weather, of sound and
 only born aloft by the heaving bosom of the ocean of light, of food and clothing; his will is the necessary con-
 which they are a part, without any determining action of sequence of all these causes, governed by the laws of
their own, so man's activity, his thinking and willing and            nature, just as the planet in its orbit and the vegetable
acting, his  jay and sorrow, his pleasure and pain, all these         in its soul. Thought consists in the motion of matter, it
are only the manifestations of the experiences and evolu-             is a translocation of the cerebral substance; without
tions of the world-God. On this basis there is no dis-                phosphorus there can be no thought: and consciousness
tinction between good and evil, for all alike are the out- itself is nothing but an attribute of matter" (Moleschott,
flow of the being of God, necessary phases in the im-                 `(Der Krieslauf des Lebens," in  idem p. 146).  "We are
mutable stream of blind development.          On this basis           what we cat," as Feurbach expressed it. I need not say,
there is, further, no personal relation between God and               that if man is nothing but a sort of chemical factory,
man  ; I cannot say to Him "Thou" for He is no person.                there is no moral freedom and responsibility at all. Then
I cannot know Him, for He is no object of knowledge in good and bad actions, courage and cowardice; love and
distinction from me; I cannot love Him, speak to Him,                 hatred, righteousness and unrighteousness, are merely
obey Him and trust in Him. And thus pantheism de-                     natural phenomena, the result in us of chemical changes,
stroys the problem and can neither speak of a counsel of              which we cannot possibly control and for which we can-
God nor of responsibility of man. For God's counsel im-               not be held accountable. The most important question,
plies, that all things are and develop, not by a certain              with respect to certain actions of man, good or evil, is
necessity of the  being  of God, but by the necessity of              after all, what you feed him, and this should be the
His sovereign and all-wise will.  And man's responsibility            supreme care of all education and training. For what a
needs the conception of two persons in a certain relation man eats he is, and all his thinking and willing are no+-
to each-other, of two minds and two wills, a divine per-              ing but the products of material and chemical changes.
son and a human, the former sovereign, the latter serv-               -*Ul our actions are as necessary as the growth of the
ing, the former commanding, the latter obeying. We must leaves on the tree and the blooming of the flower in
clearly understand this. For our dispute with pantheism springtime. Man is subjected to the blind and tyrannical
is by no means, as some would present it, that all things             govefnment of matter. Again we say, we have no dis-
happen with necessity; we also believe that the Lord de- pute with materialism on the ground that it teaches that
termined all things from the beginning, and that He still             all things occur with necessity; but as we find the neces-
does so by His almighty providence. But while the pan-                sity of things in the wise and intelligent will of an ab-
theist derives all things with causal necessity from the              solutely good God, materialism finds it in the cold des-
being  of God ; the reformed man finds the cause of all in            potism of blind matter. With regard to the subject under
the intelligent  will and  cozrnrel of a personal God. All            discussion we may say, that materialsm has no problem


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                            369
                                                                                                                      l__-

  because it has no spirit, no mind and will, either in God         higher unity exists. The will of command is related to
  or man. Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die !                our responsibility; the will of God's counsel has respect
     But the problem is also destroyed in still another way.        to God's government of all things. And these two run
  It cannot exist for all that follow the deistic line of think-    parallel as far as eye can see, and all attempts to pene-
  ing. In a sense deism is the very opposite of pantheism.          trate more deeply into this mystery are necessarily futile.
  The latter believes only in a God that is imminent in the         We have this objection against this prevalent view, that
  world, the former conceives of Him as being only trans-           there is in it not even an attempt to gain a conception of
  cendent above the world  ; for pantheism God and the              the relation between God's counsel and man's responsi-
  world are essentially inseparable, while deism teaches            bility. Nor does it eyen try to express itself with regard
  that God and the world are not only distinct in being, but        to the proper conception of the relation between the two,
  that they are absolutely severed. God's counsel implies           though certainly it must be admitted, that God's counsel
  that He drew a plan of the world as it should be created,         and the moral freedom of man cannot be co-ordinated,
  it does not imply' the detailed conception of the govern-         even though we should ultimately not be able to reconcile
  ment of the world.  Tn fact, God is the personal Creator them. Besides, in practice this view often leads to a
  of the world, but He is not in the world by His almighty          certain Arminian presentation of the matter. It is em-
  providence to preserve and to govern it. The machine of           phasized, that  we have to do with the will of command;
  the world is finished and now runs according to its own           the doctrine of God's counsel is relegated to an almost
  laws and by its own inherent power; the ship of the               forgotten place, and a practical Pelagianism is the result.
  world is built and launched and now sails on the wide             It is not infrequently these very people  that are first to
  ocean of  his&y without its builder; the clock is con-            ring alarm when in their estimation one would seem to
  strued and wound and now runs without the hand of its             over-emphasize the truth of God's absolute sovereignty.
  maker. Such is cleism. You understand, that deism. with              III. Of course, if we would penetrate into this prob-
  relation to the will and moral freedom of man is Pelagian-        lem as deeply as possible and attempt to arrive it some
  ism and Arminianism. It is the exaltation of man over conception of the relation between God's sovereignty and
  against his Creator, the maintenance and vindication of man's accountability, we must not philosophize, but plant
  human majesty. Man, in all, his thinking and acting is            ourselves four-square on the Word of God and derive all
  absolutely free and there is no control or direction or co-       our knowledge from it alone. Now, it is not necessary
  operation on the part of God. His will is as sovereignly          For me in this connection ro prove that the Word of God
  free as the will of God. The latter does in no wise  de-          teaches that every man is responsible to God for all his
  terminl the former. If there is a counsel of God, it can-         deeds. The soul that sinneth, it shall die; God rewards
  not be absolute but must be conditional. God in making            the good and avenges Himself upon the evil-doer; and
  His eternal plan of the universe was conditioned by the we must all carry away according to what we have done
  freedom of his moral creatures. Election means that from in the body, whether  -it be good or evil. Neither is it
  eternity God saw who were willing to believe and to per-          necessary to quore the Word of God with regard to  the
  severe and them He chose to glory. Reprobation signi- truth of God's counsel as such, or of the providence of
  fies nothing but the eternal will of God to reject them of        God in general. For He wdrketh all things according to
  whom He knew that they would not believe and walk in              the counsel of His  wiI1, and not a sparrow falls to the
  the way o< light even unto the end. Man is free and de- ground,  tieither  a hair from our head, but according to
  termines the history of the world as far as his own actions       His overruling providence. But I will quote the Word of
  make history.    The absolute sovereignty of the Most             God, to show that His counsel is executed in and  rhat
  High is denied. God is placed outside of the doors of             His providence overrules even the deeds of men, whether
  His own house and is not allowed to intervene in the life         they be good or evil. In other words, I will show beyond
  and acts of him who is now sovereign within that house,           a shadow of doubt, that we may not present the matter as
  the glorious man!     Also on the basis of this view we if God's overruling counsel and man's responsibility must
  have no problem as regards the counsel of God and the             simply be placed side by side, co-ordinately; but that the
  responsiblity of man, but we rid ourselves of the prob- latter is scbordinate  to the former. I would like to make
  lem by discarding God! And this price is certainly too            the distinction between God as first cause and God as
  high and precious! I am bold to say, that if in the attempt       author, and maintain, that God is the cause of all things,
/ to solve the problem we must lose either, God or man,             the deepest cause also of the deeds of men, whether they
  then let us keep God,, and lose little man.                       be good or evil, though He is not their author. And,
     Lastly, to come a little nearer home, I call your at- pray, do not stand aghast at this statement, for it is in
  tention to that view, that is satisfied to leave the counsel      principle always accepted by people of  feformed faith.
                                                                                                                   _  _.
  of God and the responsibility of man stand side by side           We may not have two determining causes of things; to
  as an irreconcilable contradiction, though in the faith,  ' postulate them means that we fall back  into  ancient
  that what seems contradictory to us, is not in conflict           heathen dualism. It is not true that God is a cause and
  with each other in God. These speak generally of two              the devil is also a cause, co-ordinate with and  inde-
  wills in God, that cannot be brought into a higher unity          pendent  from God; but it is thus, that God is also the
  as far as our understanding is concerned, though this             determining cause of the devil and of all his works. Such


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     is the doctrine, which has always been reformed, of the         was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowl-
     first cause and second cause. But in order to be free           edge of God to be crucified by wicked hands, Acts  223.
     from the blame and avoid the indictment, or enervate it,        I could multiply these examples. But it is sufficient. On
     that  .we are given to strong language and to over-em-          the basis of Scripture I can make this first statement,
     phasis of the matter, we will quote Scripture. I will call      that God is the firsr cause, also when men are moral
     your attention to that significant word of Prov. 21 :l "The     agents, it makes no difference whether for good or for
I    king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of       evil.  ,Man's freedom and responsibility may not be co-
     water; he turneth it whithersoever he will." Certainly,         ordinated with God's counsel and providence. The former
     if the Lord turns the king's heart at will, He overrules        is subordinate to and dependent on the latter. For God
     and directs rhe issues of that heart, his will and mind,        is God and man is but'a very little creature, even though
     his thoughts and all his desires. And if it is true of the      he is a moral and responsible agent. All his deeds, his
     king's heart it is equally true of every other heart of men.    thoughts and counsels are so overruled, are so absolutely
     But  let us rather immediately inquire of Scripture re-         controlled and directed by the Lord to tiis own end, that
     garding the most serious side of this question, namely          man is but the axe in the hand of the Most High. God is
     God's relation to man's evil deeds and those of the devil       the chief determining cause even of the deeds of men.
     and his host. Turn with me to the history of Job. Must          There are no two or more determining causes in the
     not the devil obtain permission from the Lord before he         world, co-ordinate to one-another but God is God alone
     can accomplish his evil purpose? And what does the man          and He is absolute sovereign. Our God is in the heavens.
     of God say, when the devil through the means of  Chal-          He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased, Ps. 115 :3.
     deans and  Sabeans!  wind and fire, made Job poor and              Of course, this gives us a conception of the proper
     miserable? "The Lord hath taken away." The devil and            relation between the sovereign God and man, the moral
     his instruments were after all but instruments in the           agent; but it does not quite solve the problem. Two
     hand of the Lord.  He  took away! Was not the Lord the          questions must yet be answered, to see a  Iittle light on
     first cause of all the evil inflicted on Job, though devils     this subject. The first question is: How  can man be re-
     and men were responsible agents? Turn with me to the            sponsible? To answer it  ro a certain extent, at least, wc
     history of Ahab, when he is about to go out to war with         must ask this other question: What is responsibility?
     the Syrians, and Micah is interrogated as to the Lord's         Does moral accountability presuppose sovereign freedom
     counsel? What is the word of the Lord by the mouth of           and moral independence ? If that is the case, we must
     Micah? That the Lord sent a spirit of error, a lying            come to the conclusion that man is no responsible agent,
     spirit into rhe heart of the prophets of Ahab to persuade       for such sovereign freedom he never did possess, not even
     him through these false prophets to go and  faI1 at before the fall in paradise. Even as for his bodily exist-
     Ramoth-Gilead! Who was the first cause of this lying            ence he is from moment to moment dependent on the
     prophecy in the mouth of the false prophets, though He          living God, thus it is no less with his spiritual, intellec-
     was not the author of it? God, the Most High, the cause         tual, moral life. He is always creature. When we assert
     of all causes. I Kings  22:20  ff. Who sends wicked Simei       that man possesses freedom, we must add, that in his
     to curse David? The Lord and none other, II Sam. 16:lO.         freedom'he is dependent, utterly dependent. But it is not
     What do we read of the sons of Eli? That when their             true, that accountability requires an absolutely and sov-
     father weakly admonishes them because of all their ereignly free agent. But it does require that man is the
     wicked deeds, they hearkened not unto the voice of Eli,         conscious and rational and willing subject of all his ac-
     because the Lord would slay them! I  ,Sam. 2  :25. Who          tions, that he does things because he wills them and
     hardens Pharaoh's heart, that he may not listen to  the         chooses them. A slave, forced by his master by brute
     voice *of the Lord and exalt himself against the  riving        power to do what is against his will, what he hates to do,
     God? Who darkens the mind of the heathen and makes              is not responsible for his actions. But a man, consci-
     them foolish, so that they kneel down before man and            ously and willingly committing sin, or performing what
     beast and creeping things? Who makes the heart of               is good, remains accountable, no matter how his deeds
     wicked Israel fat and their eyes blind, that they may be-       may be overruled otherwise, by the counsel and provi-
     come ripe for destruction? The Lord, Ex. 8  :15; Rom.           dence of the Most High. Thus, then, we would answer
     1  :Z, 28. Is.  6 Or, pray, turn your attention to that         the first question. Man is responsible, because he always
     heinous sin by which the Lord of glory was nailed to the        remains the moral, the conscious and willing subject of
     accursed tree. What do the company of God's people,             all his deeds. Judas  betraw  the Lord because he wills it.
     to whom Peter and John return, after they had been re-          Not for one moment does he feel compelled by an out-
     leased by the chief priests and elders, confess? Listen. ward force, that urges him against his own will and choice
     "For of a truth against Thy holy child Jesus, whom Thou         to deliver his Master into the hands of sinners. Neither,
     hast anointed, both  Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the let me add, was any such external compulsion exerted on
     gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together. Judas. And because this is rhe truth, Judas is the re-
     `For to do whatsoever Thy hand and Thy counsel de- sponsible agent, the author of his sin, and God's judgment
     termined before to be  done"  Acts  427,   25, The Lord as well as his own conscience condemns him. The leaders


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                      371
 ll_.llll" . . .._                                                                                                   -               -

of the Jews condemn and crucify Jesus. In committing            ourselves safely in the hands of Him, who only is the
the crime, they act consciously and willingly. There is         cause of all things!
no conflict between the choice of their heart and the deed         I have" said.
they commit. When Jesus is suffering they have all                                                                        H. H.
their hearts desired. Neither do they feel that a power,
foreign to their own will, compelled them to commit the            (*) Lecture-delivered under the auspices of the English Men's
                                                                Society of the Fuller Ave. Prot. Ref. Church, Grand Rapids. Mich.
crime. . Hence, they are the authors of their sin. And
they are subject to the righteous judgment and con-
demnation of God. Pontius Pilate delivers Jesus, will-                         NEWTON EN VOLTAIRE
ingly and consciously. Nothing compels him to commit
the crime. He may deceive himself and act the inno-                Al onze lezers  weten zeker  wel, dat Voltaire,  gestor-
cent, but this is only the more a manifestation of his evil     ven in 1787, een der grootste vijanden van `t Evangelie is
conscience. Thus it was no different with regard to the         geweesr. Newton was een groot natuurkundige, die o. a.
first sin of Adam in paradise. There was no external            de wet der zwaartekracht heeft ontdekt. Hij was oak  een
force which made it compulsory for Adam to sin against          getrouw lezer van den Bijbel, en heeft een werk geschre-
the choice of his own will. It was his own, morally free,       ven over de profetie van Daniel en een over de Openba-
act.  A&d  thus it is with all the acts of men. However         ring. Hij stierf in 1727.
true it may be, that God's counsel shall stand, and that           In een dezer werken schreef Newton `t volgende: "Bij
the Most High doeth all His good pleasure, even through         de vervulling van eenige profetiin zal zekere wijze van
the deeds of men, never is the moral consciousness and          vervoer,,  thans onbekend, door  mens,chen  van dien tijd
accountability of man destroyed. God is the cause, but worden  uitgevonden, waardoor 50 mijlen in  66% uur zullen
man is the author of his deeds.                                 afgelegd   worden   ;  dat zal  worden  voorafgegaan door een
   The second question that must be asked is : But what         ontwikkeling des verstands en der wetenschappen, welke
then does God determine and how does He so co-operate           door onze  eeuw niet naar waarden zou kunnen geschat
with men, that they always perform His counsel?  TO             worden."
this I answer first of all, that God never intervenes be-          Natuurlijk moest de ongeloovige spotter Voltaire hier-
tween the will of man and the deed. His determining in- over zijn wijsheid luchten.
fluence does not interrupt the action of the will, its mani-       Hij schreef: "Ziet, wat van dien grooten geest van
festation and execution. In other words, never does the         Newton geworden is, sedert hij op zijn ouden dag in het
Most High so control the deeds of men, that He forces           boek, dat men den Bijbel noemt, is gaan studeeren 1 Hij
them to commit what they do not will to commit or to            heeft er zoodanig zijn verstand bij verloren, dat hij ons
perform. The thoughts and desires and deeds of men              wil  doen gelooven  aan zulke wonderbare  dingen  van het
remain always their own. God stands behind it all, be-          menschelijk  vcrstand, dat dit het geheim zou ontdekken,
hind the mind, behind the will, behind the heart of man,        om 50 mijlen in  den  uur af te leggen. Arme man, welk
to turn it as  rivers of water, whithersoever He  ,wiIls.       een wartaal  !"
;Ynd secondly, I would answer, that the Lord does this             Dat schreef Voltaire.
through His Holy Spirit. The manner of this operation              Maar de tijd heeft Newton schitterend  gerechtvaar-
of the Most High is a mystery to us. We cannot'trace            digd en de dwaasheid was aan de zijde van den ongeloo-
the ways of the Infinite. But this must be said, never-         vigen  Franschen filosoof.
theless, that it is the Spirit of God that convicts men of
sin, and that binds the responsibility of every man upon
his own  heart. For  that reason it is impossible that man                  "NAMEN ZI JNE KLEEDEREN"
should ever lose the consciousness of. his responsibility.
God justifies Himself. He justifies Himself in the cross,         Vermogend goud dat, om uw glans gepreezen
both as to the condemnation of the world and the re-              Uw dienaars kluisterd, en had mij ook  we1 eer,
demption of the elect. He justifies Himself in the con-           Ge-vangen, mij zal na dees tijd veel meer
science of every man, convicting the world, because they                            Den naakten Jesus wezen.
believe not in Christ and bringing His people to confes-
sion and humiliation before Him. And He will justify              Na dat ik dien had in mijn oog  gekregeh,
Himself in the day of judgment? when all deeds  of men            Straks was den  Amethysr  bezwalkt en  `t zonk
shall be manifest and irrevocably and undeniably be               Xl wat so vooren preuts en pragtig blonk,
bound upon the conscience of every man.        And all will                         Voor `s naakten Jesus *zegen.
confess that God is just and overcomes when He judges.
Only thus may we conceive of this problem, though we              `k Laat hem, dien `t-lust, nu groote schatten delven,
admit that  e'ven  so we cannot fathom the ways of God.           `k En wensch  geen scepter nog geen groot gebaar
For only thus is it possible to maintain that God is God          Van  magt, geen pragtig kleed van Jesus; maar
alone, that He doed all His good pleasure. And even with                            Den naakten Jesus zelven.
sin and evil, with the devil and his host, we can commit                                                     J. Lodensteijn


