so                                                T H E   STANDARD.BEARER
           ,____ __I _..._ 1.             -..-                                I__^.                      --.-_                  -
      Y E   A R E   T H E   L I G H T   O F   T H E   W O R L D         world man faces the earth and its fulness. His slumber-
                        Let your light so shine before men, that        ing notions are enlivened. The mind registers the object
                      they may see your  *good  works, and glorify      seen, which means the birth of an idea in that particular
                      your Father which IS in heaven.                   soul. Thus the ideas present in man's soul are images
                                                     --Matt.  5 :16.    and conceptions of things perceived. And the perception
      The Christian's emitted light, so it was asserted, is of the thing objective accounts for the presence of the
his inner life, exhibited unto men by word and deed,                    corresponding image in man's  soul. The spoken word
which in turn constituted the works seen by men. The is a sound signifying the object seen, and the correspond-
term work, then, is not merely a signification of the                   ing concept. Man, then, associates certain sounds with
activities of the hand. It is the plain teaching of Scrip-              certain objects. The origin of speech cannot be explained.
ture (see page 239 of The Standard Bearer) that the All we can say is that God taught him how to talk.
entire man, according to body and soul, is duty bound to                   Man not only possesses the faculty of perceiving in-
glorify God. When God regenerates a sinner, He  calls                   dividual objects  - those which present themselves to his
into existence a man,  -  the  ne*w man. This man has a view-he is, in addition equipped with the power of dis-
mind, a will and a heart. Lacking any of these he would                 cerning the relation which the things perceived  SUS-
not be a  man. All the organs of self-expression, so we                 tain to each other. He can, further, distinguish between
wrote, must be placed in the service of the new man. For one thing and another, and deduce inferences from
the whoZe man must be revealed. Such are the plain teach- known facts. That man has these powers means that he
ings of Scripture. "Wherefore lift up  the hands  which is a creature created in the image of God. When these
hang down, and the  feeble  kned  (Heb.  12:lZ).  "Then faculties function man perceives harmony, order, pur-
the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the pose and design in the universe. He then is compelled
deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap to conclude that there is a God. What, now, constitutes
as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing" (Isaiah  35:s'              man's apperceiving mass? His conceptions, his con-
6). "I thought on my ways and turned my  feet  to Thy                   cepts, his deductions and the discovered relations. And
testimonies" (Ps.  119:59).         "I have refrained my  feet          it is plain that the basis of  man? knowledge is sensory
from evil ways that I might keep Thy word,' (Ps  11921).                perception. For man is a physical and sensuous being.
"So our  e?;es wait upon the Lord our God until that He His mind can work which such things only which can be
have mercy upon us" (Ps.  123  2). "And my tongue shall visualized. We are aware and convinced of the existence
speak of Thy righteousness and of Thy praise all the day                of things spiritual and invisible. Define and know them
long,' (Ps. 35  25).                                                    as such, we cannot. Neither does man penetrate into
      The wicked, on the other hand, place their organs of              the essence of things seen and touched. Man is per-
self expression in the service of the carnal -man. "Their               mitted to know just enough to be able to sense that he is
throat  is an open sepulchre  ; with their tongue they have             facing a world of mysteries. This goes to show that man
used deceit ; the poison of asps is under their lipr : Whose was made to praise, adore and worship - the great God.
mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their  feet  are The man who refuses to worship, because he does not
swift to shed blood.. . . ; there is no fear of God before understand, is a conceited fool. Such a one is voluntarily
their eyes"  (,Rom. 3  :13-18).                                         and consciously deceiving himself. When he sits with his
      Let  us now devote our attention to the relation which            feet under a table supplied with God's bounties, mys-
the word of God sustains to the life and the emitted light teries and things incomprehensible do not disturb him.
of the Christian.                                                       This only happens when he'occupies a church pew. For
      The Word is the means by which the Holy Spirit it is a fact that the germination and the subsequent
develops Christian consciousness. It is the Word, fur- process of growth of the wheat from which this fool's
ther, which constitutes the contents of Christian con- bread is made is an occurrence which he cannot enter
sciousness. Finally, the Word is the mould in which  the with his mind. Yet he nourishes his frame with bread,
sanctified life is shaped, and from which it takes form. and asks no questions. But he recoils from feeding his
The emitted light, in  tine,  is the new man, reproducing soul with heavenly bread, and that because he does not
the Word written upon the tables of the heart.                          understand. The cross of Christ is to him foolishness.
      We set out by asserting that man is creature. Hence                  Man has knowledge of God. In view of the fact that
he must be told, informed, taught. He has no knowledge                  God, being a Spirit, is invisible, and in view of the  fact
original with himself. What he knows has been taught that sensory perception is the basis of all man's knowl-
him. Had the Omniscient One refused to speak, man  -                    edge, how is it to be explained that man knows  God2  It
every man - would be walking in darkness.                               pleased Him to supply His creature, man, with a tangible
      Man's mind, at birth, is, in a certain respect, like unto         and perceptible exhibition of His glories. The earth and
a clean slate. Upon a clean slate is found not one writ-                the fulness thereof,  - the things which can be seen and
ten word or symbol. So the mind, at birth, is devoid of felt  - were, including man himself, created in the image
ideas. Man is born, not with certain innate ideas but of God. To a degree all things creatural bear the image
with the faculty of sensory and mental perception, plus a               of the Creator. Hence. in things seen, man beholds the
sense or notion of the things perceived. Coming into the glories of his `Maker.


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D  :BEARER                                                   4531
_l_l_.llll.............-.  -_I__ -..___              __.__..__.._  - .._..._..-
    Let us illustrate this matter. The Lord came down                 ception lies at the basis  CJf  our knowledge of God. We
upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mount`. And Mount                see the tree of life, the tree of the knowledge of good and
Sinai, so we read, was altogether on a smoke because the             evil, the first Adam and the serpent, the waters of the
Lord descended upon it in fire.  ,4nd the smoke thereof              deluge, Egypt  - the house of bondage  - and the slaves
descended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole                   working there. We see the Red sea, the desert, Canaan,
mount quaked greatly. Now the smoke and the black-                   the priest, the altar, the lamb and the blood of sprinkling,
ness and the fire was not God. It is asserted that God               the tabernacle and the temple, the ark, the mercy seat
was in the  iire. The smoke and the fire and the tempest             and the cloud, Israel, the king and the prophet, the exile,
taken together was a tangible and perceptible exhibition,            the return. We see finally the Christ: Scripture records
by analogy, of the avenging justice of God. The people               and explains these concrete and perceptible things and
beheld not the wrath of God as such, but its emblem.                 events linking them up with spiritual and eternal real-
   The highest concrete exhibition of the glories of God ities. Scripture also describes these realities as such.
is Christ Jesus. The appearance of Christ made it pos-               It does  SO,  however, in terms which are the significations
sible for man to see and to handle the life made manifest.           of things which can be seen and handled. And if we
Says the apostle, That which was from the beginning.                 would pass beyond the things perceptible and draw nigh
which we have heard, which  WC have seen with our eyes,              unto God, we must believe even though we see not.
which we have looked upon, and our hands have han- Doing so we are blessed. The Bible, then, is the written
dled, of the word of life. For the life was manifested, and word bringing within the reach of those who believe the
we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto  you                things invisible, the eternal and incomprehensible Spirit,
that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was - God  - almighty, righteous, good, perfectly wise, the
manifested unto us (I John 1  :l, 2).                                overflowing fountain of all good, whom the believer con-
   Likewise are the benefits derived from the death of templates,  loves?  serves and adores as his Father in Christ
Christ presented to us by means of concrete and per- Jesus. For the great God will dwell with those who bow
ceptible things. The life in Christ may  bc contemplated before His word. "Such may hide under the shadow of
as bread, as wine, as water, as milk.                                His wings" (Ps.  17~5).
   It is plain that also our knowledge of God and of                       Let us now see how this word is related to the
spiritual things in general begins with sensory percep- believer's light. The lamp of the body, says Christ, is
tion. However, God is infinitely greater than His handi- the eye. Therefore, so He continues, when thine eye is
work. Hence, the things creatural cannot furnish us single, thy whole body is also full of light; but when thy
with an adequate knowledge of the Creator. Nor can eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness (Luke 11:31).
finite man know God as He knows Himself.                             The term body must be made to apply to the entire man
  The things creatural plus the events of special revela- -body and soul. The two together constitute the organ-
tion constitute the glass through which we see darkly. ism of man. This organism perceives. It is equipped
When that which is perfect is come we shall see face to              with an eye. The eye is the soul, more specifically the
face. The seeing face to face must be made to apply to heart or mind plus the physical instrument of sight, viz.,
that act of God whereby He reveals Himself unto those the physical eye. When the mind and the eye function
made perfect in a way, and by a means compatible with                properly the subject, man, sees. The images of the objects
their glory. It cannot be that in the state of glory God without are thrown upon the retina of the eye. The
need not reveal Himself nnto those dwelling  in His sensory  neurones  become active, which activity consists
house. For those made perfect are corporal, though in certain chemical reactions running here and there in
glorified beings. Further. compared with God they, too, the visual area at the back of the brain. Thereupon the
are less than a  drop in the bucket. Hence, they are in soul reacts upon and becomes conscious of the images
the need of  a  revelation.                                          present upon the retina of the eye and the result is that
   &fan,  then, is an inferior being as compared with God.           the subject sees. Here again we have happened upon a
God must condescend to man's level when He talks to mystery  - an occurrence which God only comprehends.
man about His glorious self. He does so in that He The eye  - the conscious  soul  plus the  physica eye  -
chooses as the mediums of self-revelation such things as functioning properly, is the burning lamp of the organ-
lie within the range of man's sensory and mental percep- ism, man. When this lamp burns, the whole body is full
tion.    But these mediums of revelation, being things of light. It is safe, now, for such a one to proceed. "He
creatural, are greatly inferior to God. For this reason can do so without stumbling. Objects far and near are
they cannot, we repeat, furnish us with an adequate                  clearly perceived. Such a one can choose his way to
knowledge of the  -4lmighty. The knowledge they do good advantage to himself. If the eye, however, is bad
convey, however, is reliable and complete. Necessarily the organism is without a luminary, and the body is full
so, for the concrete and tangible mediums of revelation              of darkness. On the other hand, when the eye is single
are things creatural called into existence by the  Almighty.         the body is full of light. It should be noticed that Christ
created by Him in such a way as to declare his thoughts.             does not say that in the latter case the body is enveloped
   What, now, is the Holy Scripture? Let  us  set out                by light. There is a reason why the Savior expresses
answering this question by reasserting that sensory per-             Himself as He does. For the images are not impressed


I     492                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                ..-_ -____ .-.-" ..-. 111111...                 --^                  -    -           -       -
      upon the soul as upon the photographic plate of a camera.                    is devoid of spiritual sight. Although being conscious of
      The latter is a  senseless, lifeless thing. Man, on the other                the light of heaven, he lacks the capacity to compre-
      hand, is a living  or<ganism  endowed with the faculty of                    hend it.
     ' perception. The soul perceives, reacting upon the light                        If we wish to know what the carnal man with the evil
      images  received and the result is sight. The light we                       eye  is? we should attend to his program which reads as
      walk in is the light apprehended. The body, apprehend-                       follows :
      ing the light, is full of light.                                                "The association's plans for the future are to launch
             However, the assertion to the effect that the "light of               a drive in the south, where,`" as Mr. Hopwood  said in his
      the body is the eye" applies in the final analysis to higher                 interview, "they shall swallow the church whole, espe-
      consciousness or perception. This latter is the conscious- cially to attack two states - Tennessee and Mississippi
      ness of the soul that the things seen are the emblems of                     - where the teaching of evolution in the public  schoold
      eternal realities  - God and the kingdom of heaven. This                     is forbidden by law; to build up the Junior athletic asso-
      higher consciousness, together with the lower sensory ciation; to establish in the principal cities, weekly forums
      perception, constitutes the lamp of the body. No man is                      similar to the Ingersoll forum, which meets each Sunday
      without this lamp. Every man is born with a notion                           in New York; to combat the Roman Catholic church's
      (besef)  or God, enlivened when he faces the things seen.                    views on evolution; to spread information about preach-
      Then man is aware of the existence of God.                                   ers who are blamed for crimes." "The first college atheist
             Christ, however, is speaking of the lamp of that body body to be organized in the United States through the
      enveloped by the light of special revelation, as contained                   influence of the four A's we read, was at the University of
      in Scripture. Holy `Writ is the word accompanying the Rochester, Rochester, New York. The students there
      symbol. The eye of which Christ speaks is the con- chose as their name, `The Damned Souls,' a name which
      sciousness of him brought in contact with the unseen has been copied in other colleges. Picturesque names
      world as it is presented to the mind by Scripture. Hence, are popular, and we find chapters named, `The Society
      the apperceiving mass of this eye is greater than that of of the Godless,' in New York, which is part of the
      him compelled to do without the Word.                                        national organization known as the Junior atheist league,
             Now this eye, says Christ, may be single, that is, pure,              `God's Black Sheep'; in a Philadelphia high school, `The
      holy or bad in the sense of sinfully corrupt. Let us attend,                 Devil's Angels' ; Los Angeles, `The Circle of the Godless' :
      first of all, to the corrupt eye or consciousness. In the University of Wisconsin, `The Legion of the Damned,'
      diseased consciousness the truth rationally perceived is whose head is called the `Satanic Majesty'. The beliefs
      held in unrighteousness. The man with a diseased eye, which the high school and college students are encour-
      refuses to glorify the God of which he is conscious, but                     aged to consider by the inspirers of the movement, we
      changes the glory of God into an image made like unto                        read may be summarized as follows: `There is no God.
      corruptible man, and to birds, and to four footed beasts,                    The idea of a virgin birth is laughable. There is no
      and creeping things. He changes the truth of God into heaven and no hell. Religion is worship of the super-
      a lie. He refuses to retain God in his knowledge or con-                     natural and should be abolished. The church is a dan-
      sciousness. In a word, the natural man insists that the                      gerous institution.    Here are some of the statements
      eternal and spiritual realities, of which he is conscious,                   made by the leaders of the organization: `Gods are like
      are a lie and do not exist. He refuses to think of the                       gowns  - in style today, out of date tomorrow.. . Per-
      things spiritual, he banishes them from his mind. He                         haps some day the bewhiskered Jehovah will no longer
      does so because he is corrupt and loathes the things                         be `Big Bad Bill'. Atheists believe there is only one life,
      spiritual. Whenever he permits the truth to pass before and  SO  we live to get all there is  out of it, instead of
      his mind's eye it is to ridicule and to deny and to pro-                     being soft-soaped along on the hope that there is another
      nounce it a lie. Further, the truth arouses in him all his                   one off in the skies some place where everything will be
      latent hatred for God. hnd, finally, it is the things seen perfect" (Quoted from the "Christian Journal"). Thus
      which count with him. To these things he clings. The                         the carnal man with the wicked eye thinks and speaks.
      things earthy constitute the God who is worshiped and                           When the sinner is brought under the benign influ-
      adored. In a word, the eye of the natural man is dis-                        ence of the (special) grace of God, his eye is healed.
      eased, corrupt. He will not and cannot comprehend, in Then does he comprehend the light from heaven. In the
      a spiritual sense, the light which shineth in the darkness. regenerated consciousness the truth is held as righteous-
      Cbnsequently, his soul is full of darkness and he walketh                    ness. The man with a single eye delights to retain God
      in darkness.                                                                 in his knowledge. He admits that the eternal realities
             The evil eye of the carnal man,  so it appears, is his                are there. He directs his attention to the things above.
      totally depraved faculty of perception.  Because his eye                     He looks for a city which hath foundations whose builder
      is  evil the truth appears to him to be a  lie?  and the lie the             and maker is God. And he prays: "Open Thou my
      truth. The lie he consciously loves, and the truth arouses                   eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law.
      his fierce indignation.      He refuses to think upon the                    I am a stranger in the earth: hide not Thy command-
      things above, and directs his attention to the things be- ments from me. My soul cleaveth unto the dust.
      low. Hence, although possessing the  iight of reason,  he                    Quicken Thou me according to Thy word" (Ps. 119).


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         493
                                                                         _____I___--
    We should also notice the effect of the truth  upon                               GOD KNOWS
the sub-conscious life of the believer. The believer per-
mits  the truth to dwell in his mind and heart. And the                 Thou knowest them that trust in Thee!
indwelling truth is the magnet drawing unto itself the                    What precious words, 0 Lord, are these
entire sanctified man. It arouses in him the subcon-                    Here let Thy suffering children flee,
scious sanctified life. All the latent love and light of the              When  struggbng mid life's mysteries.
heart is enlivened by the word. The indwelling word is
the seed having fallen in good earth. The seed springeth                For to our childish minds, Thy will
up and bringeth forth food a hundred, sixty, and thirty                   Looks  ofttimes hard, and passing strange  ;
fold. The seed springing up draweth into itself from the                Loving, we doubt and fear Thee still,
earth the elements necessary for growth. The earth is                     And long Thy wondrous ways to change.
in the plant. So the word springing up, draweth into
itself from the heart the sanctified life. The man, his
soul, his heart, his strength, his love, his life in a word,            Not thus, we cry, would we assail
the whole man is in the seed which springeth up. And                      That saintly soul with blow on blow;
the fruit which appears is the man projected in the words               3ot thus should Sorrow, stern and pale,
which he speaks and in the deeds which he performs. I t                   Put forth her hand and lay him low.
is plain that if there were no word there would be  no
fruit.                                                                  What needs he, Lord, of pain and smart?
    What, now, constitutes the light of the believer? The                 To Thee is he not consecrate?
regenerated and sanctified perception plus the truth com-               His joy, his hope, his all, Thou art,
prehended, plus the sanctified life which the truth as a                  Ever on Thee he loves to wait.
magnet draws unto itself. Every organ of self-expression,
the eye, the hand, the foot, the ear must be placed in the              Oh, dearest Lord, Thou knowest best!
service of this light  - for men must see it. Then men  -*                Thou knowest them that trust in Thee !
the men able to comprehend the pure light from heaven                   Blessed the soul, yea doubly blest,
- will glorify God.                                                       When Thou dost try its constancy.
    It is plain that one of the constituents of light is the
word. If there were no word there would be no light.                    Upon the soft and crumbling stone,
Letting one's light shine is equal to confessing the name                 The sculptor spends a passing hour;
of Christ before men. A failure to confess His name and                 He strikes immortal blows alone
to practice His commandments is equal to placing our                      When chiseled marble feels his power.
light under a bushel. It is plain that the believer cannot
do without the word. To that degree that the word                       hnd when the ore is rich and rare,
dwells richly in us, to that degree will one be in this dark              The miner strikes and strikes again  ;
and sinstricken world a shining light. The word minus                   Labor and toil he need not spare,
life, however, is dead orthodoxy.                                         He never can exhaust the vein.
                                                    G. M.  0.
                                                                        Thou knowest, Lord, a stone to choose  -
                                                                          Worthy the labor of Thy hand;
                                                                        Thou fearest not the tool to use,
                        IN  MEMORIAM                                      That gives it shape at Thy command.

   The Ladies' Aid Society of the First Protestant Reformed             Thou knowest many a hidden mine
Church at Grand Rapids,  Mich., mourns the loss of one                    Where Thou  canst enter at Thy will  ;
                                                             of  its
members. The Lord took unto Himself, on July 18, at the age             Treasures of faith therein are Thine,
                                                                          Worthy of e'en the Masrer's skill.
of 53 years,

                 MRS. MARTIN DE GOEDE.                                  Oh, Lord! we will not stay Thy hand,
                                                                          With folly's questions, folly's tears;
    Her hope was in Christ. We express  herewxth our sincere            Thy ways we cannot understand  -
sympathy and pray that the God of mercy, who manifested His               Forgive our weakness and our tears.
grace so plainly in the life and during the suffering of the mother,
may  richIy comfort the bereaved husband and son.                       Move on in Thy mysterious way,
                                                                          We'll stand aside Thy work to see  ;.
                                   Mrs. F. Bergman, President.          Faithful the work, and blessed they,
                                  Mrs. M. Zuidema, Secretary.             Who cannot trace but trust in Thee.


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                                                 Entered as second class mnil matter at Grand Rapids. Michigan

Vol. III, No. 22                                                     AUGUST 15, 1927                                                  Subscription Price, $2.50

                                                                                          The  knowiedge of it is the calm assurance and firm
          M E D I T A T I O N                                                         confidence that you will have the final victory over sin
                                                                                      and death, over the powers of darkness and hell. For it
                                                                                      is God's eternal and immutable mind and will of love
                                                                                      concerning you. It is the knowledge of a love that was
        ASSURANCE THROUGH DILIGENCE                                                   in no wise determined by your righteousness  aor by any
                         Wherefore the rather, brethren, give digacc to               beauty of attraction on your part to which it responded,
                    make your calling and ckction  sure . . . II Pet. 1:IO.           but that arose from the unfathomable depths of His
    Saved by grace !                                                                  heart, Who alone determines all things according to the
    What blessed assurance !                                                          counsel of His will. It is, for that reason, the knowledge
    To know that we are His own, unchangeably His                                     of a love that is itself unchangeable as God's own heart,
 own, with body and soul His own, for time and eternity                              faithful and firm as a rock in the midst of the battering
"His property, His beloved, not because of works, neither                             waves of a tempestuous sea. It is the knowledge that.
 because of superior excellence, but because of His own                               before you saw the light of the world, He gave you as a
 free and sovereign grace ! . . . .                                                   precious possession to His only begotten Son, and that,
    What other knowledge and confidence is comparable                                 therefore, you are one with Him, inseparably one with
 to the unspeakably joyous certainty of mind and heart,                               Him, that you were one with Him in His cross, whose
 that our names were written in the Book of Life, by the                              blood washed away  the sin of the world, one with Him in
 Hand of immutable Love, before the mountains were                                    His resurrection, which spells righteousness and eternal
 born and the foundations of the earth were laid? It is                              glory for all that are His own, one with Him in His exal-
 an assurance above all things precious, for the posses-                              tation in heavenly glory and power, so that with Him
 sion of which we may well sacrifice all the gold and silver                          you are set in heavenly places. . . .
 that perishes, for the enjoyment of which we may well                                    It is the  knoxledge that in the unfathomable recesses
 lay down our earthly life.                                                           of eternity an Unchangeable Mind, an infinite wisdom,
     Make, brethren, your election sure  !.                                           so ordained all things that are and rhat ever will be,
     1'0~~ election !                                                                 that all things must work together for good to them
     The Lord God ordained some to life, not all. He pre-                             that love Him, to you . . . . .
 destinated some to be conformed according to the image                                    It is the ground of all your comfort, your strength in
 of His Son, not all. He chose from among men, and                                    battle, your courage amid danger, your patience in suf-
 appointed some to become partakers of His own nature                                 fering, your confidence to persevere, though the flesh is
 through Immanuel, God wirh us, not all. He set aside                                 weak . . . . .
 for them, whom He chose, the blessing that they should                                    Your election is your all !
 live His own life, enjoy His  most intimate fellowship,                                   Certainty of election !
 dwell in His very tabernacle in His eternal presence,                                     Happy confidence !
 walk  .in His own light and be clothed in everlasting
 glory and honor. Some He thus favored, not all. For                                       Our election sure !
 others, according to His sovereign righteousness, are                                     Oh, for the possession of that knowledge !
 orda?ned  to destruction, vessels of wrath, whose names                                   But is it not vain to imagine such assurance possible?
 are written in the Book of Death. Your election is not                               Will not, as we strive to attain to its possession. the
 merely the certainty that the doctrine of election is true                           desired object forever elude our approach, even as the
 and firm, but the blessed confidence that your  own per-                             foot of the rainbow  tnocks  hitn that would approach to
 sonal part is with those some, and not with these others.                            rouch it?
     Your election !                                                                       IS  not the certainty of our election too profound a


                                                               ARD  B E A R E R

mystery for  us to  fathom, too exalted a knowledge for us called  them  from chains to liberty. from hatred to  love,
to attain? Must we not, as we  cannor look into God's           from corruption to holiness, from death `co Iife, from hell
Uook of Life, restrain our impatience and bridle our to heaven . . . . .
eagerness as sinful and be satisfied to stumble  and               Election and calling ! Such is the order in God's own
blunder onward on our  .pilgrim's  journey with an always       counsel, an order which we can never follow to certainty.
uncertain hope, till the hour of our deliverance from              Calling and election ! Such is the order  trf our ex-
things earthy and imperfect may  ,find us still faithful        perience. In that order make them sure!
and persevering in the battle, still striving for the              Through the certainty of your calling attain to the
goal? . . . . .                                                 confidence of your election.
    Or will, upon our most earnest and constant entreaty,          For if He calls whom He predestinated, then the
the Lord of life and death perhaps send Gabriel, that called are elect!
standeth before Him, or Michael. that battles for his              Brethren, rather make your calling sure . . . . .
people, or even possibly appear Himself to  LE.,  that He          And through your calling your election . . .
may declare to us the secrets of His everlasting counsel,          Blessed assurance !
and assure us by heavenly revelation that our names are
written there from before the foundations of the world?            Brethren, give diligence !
Or, if such hopes and expectations were too bold and too           Be zealous to make your calling and election sure!
assuming on the part of us, insignificant and sinful               Let the matter have all your attention, let it be the
creatures, shall we seek the loneliness of a solitary cell,     object of your most serious endeavor, today, tomorrow,
separate ourselves from things mundane, and with chas-          continually . . .  _
tisement of the flesh ponder and search till we have dis-          Rather,  brethren, give diligence.       Rather than be
covered the secret things of God concerning  LIS  and we        barren and unfruitful in the knowledge of Jesus Christ
know, that we have a part with them He favored? . . . .         our Lord, rather than to lack all things that characterize
    .X1.11 such hopes and attempts were vain, indeed!           the Christian's calling, rather than to be blind so that  you
    For the secret things are for the Lord our God, but         cannot see afar  of?, and to forget that you are purged
the things revealed are for us and for our children!            from your old sins, rather than all this, give diligence
    No, we shall not separate the matter of our election,       and exert all the power that is in you, to make your call-
isolate it from all the rest of God's work and will con-        ing and election sure . . . .
cerning us, in order then to discover the certainty of             Apparently strange comparison !
our part in it. Such were vain. We shall not attempt               Yet perfectly in harmony with the truth and all
to open the book of God's own mysteries, which in His           spiritual reality. if only rightly understood.
infinite wisdom He has hid from our sinful eyes. Such              `For your election must be made sure through  the:
were wicked curiosity. .I knowledge of our election. a          certainty of your calling.
certain confidence that  our  names are written in the Book        And to the certainty of your calling, to the blessed
of Life, thus attained in the way of supernatural  revel;-      assurance that  you  are now a child of light by God's
tion or idle and vain pondering were, even if it were pos-      own gracious calling, you cannot attain merely by vain
sible, worse than doubt and uncertainty, well capable to        recollections of past conversions and idle speculations on
induce our sinful flesh to indulge in sinful carelessness       vivid experiences in former years.        Perhaps you can
and spiritual indolence. Such ways  fo assurance and            speak of them. Perhaps  yotr  were called in so marked a
confidence regarding our personal election are forever way from the darkness of a life of sin and enmity against
closed.                                                         God, that you ldve to point out the very spot where,
    But we shall make, together with our election, also         that you vividly remember the very day and hour when
our calling sure !                                              the Lord visited you by His wondrous grace. Perhaps
    Calling and election, they two are one . . . .              . . . . for not all are thus  suddenli and vividly called, and
    Election and calling, that is the source, this the          Paul's conversion is not to be preferred to Timothy's
fruit . . . . .                                                 But even so you cannot obey Peter's injunction and heed
    For whom He  bath predestinated, them He also               his admonition to make your calling and election sure
called . . . .                                                  by merely. referring to that past hour of grace and indi-
    He called them by the marvelous voice of His Spirit         cating  the exact place where it all occurred . . . .
within, and by the blessed call of the gospel without:             Certainty with no other ground is much exposed to
called them out of the horrible darkness of sin and of          the wiles of the devil.
death, in which they blindly groped by nature and were             Time will blur the memory of it.
dead in misery, haters of God and of one another, to His           The accuser of the brethren will cast shadows of
tiarvelous light, in which they see the hopelessness of         doubt over the reality of it.
their own misery and the beauty of His forgiving and               Neither is such assurance, living merely on the past,
delivering grace in Jesus their Lord and Redeemer, in           healthy and spiritually sound. For it is not the fruit of
which they walk as children of light, as friends of God,        the diligence to make our calling and election sure, of
longing to do His will and keep His commandments:               which the apostle speaks in his admonition.


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                    507
--                               __- ..__ ^ ._..... ^..^ ..- - .._ - .-.. ""-.__._    ._-_  --_--   .__.._                 --  -.._--  - _... l_l__
      ;\lone it cannot stand as the ground of our assurance.                                       DOORGAANDE UITZUIVERING
      And it may be accompanied, and often is, by failure
to remember that we have been cleansed from our old                                       Het is  om meer dan  CCne  reden  niet aangenaam voor
sins !                                                                                ons als kleine. nog jeugdige en, uit het oogpunt van tien-
      Oh, certainly, blessed it is to know that once we were                          schelijke krachten en middelen beschouwd, ook  nag
called from darkness into light, that the Lord did break                              zwakke kerkengroep, dat we herhaaldelijk weer krachten
our hard heart, that He did bend our stiff  knees, that                               moeten verliezen en telkens weer de teleurstelling  moe-
He downed the pride of our natural existence and  taqht                               ten ervaren, dat menschen,  mannen  die bij ons  stonden
us to bow in contrition and humiliation of heart and                                  en met ons streden voor de zaak des Heeren,  afvallen,
mind before Him, till we were assured that our  sins,were                             ons verlaten, ontrouw  worden   aan de zaak, waaraan ze
washed away in the blood of the Lamb and that we might                                zich anders zoo  geheei eigener beweging  hadden  gewijd
be called the children of the Most High! Rut that                                     en waarvoor ze zoo met heilig enthusiasme schenen  ver-
calling in the past, if it were genuine indeed, could be                              vuld h wezen.
only' the beginning of a  con$ant struggle to walk  as                                    In de eerste plaats is de ervaring zelf een bittere.
children of light . . . . .                                                               Want men  lcert de menschen kennen.
      And only by bearing constantly the fruit of our calling                             Mannen,  waarop men  vroeger vertrouwde,  waarop
can we  ma&e our calling and election sure.                                           men "huizen  zou  bouwen",  komen thans voor u te staan
      For, brethren, He that called us is holy: and unto                              in een gansch ander  licht. Menschen, van  iYie  men eerst
holiness we are called !                                                              vastelijk geloofde, dat de zaak des Heeren hun ernst
      Hence, brethren,' rather give diligence !                                       was, en dat ze zich  aan die zaak wijdden met  geheel hun
      Strive in holy zeal, through the grace of God that is                           hart en al hunne krachten, ziet ge thans in een  licht,
in you, to add unto faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge,                            waarin ze  zich voor uw oog vertoonen  als zwakke,  naar
and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance pa-                                    eigen  belang jagende, eigen zaak en eer op het oog  heb-
tience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness broth-                            bende broedertjes.  Ze  hadden   `tens een  roeping en zoo
erly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity.  For?                               plots  vie1 die  roeping weg ! Och, gaven ze nog grondige
pray, of what avail would it  be? and what ground of                                  redenen op  voor hun  doen, kwamen ze nog eerlijk en
assurance regarding your own election would there be                                  rond voor den dag, de zaak stond in een eenigszins ander
in it, if you could speak of revelations  and past recollec-                          licht.     Doch zoo maar wegvallen, zonder  verantwoor-
tions of grace and mercy, and of most'wonderful conver-                               ding,  stil,  zonder  opgaaf van redenen! Het is,  als men
sions, if for the present your life mere barren of the                                eerst weer zulk eene ervaring heeft opgedaan, eene bittere
fruits of grace? Vain were, indeed, your faith, false your                            teleurstelling.
pretended certainty and assumed confidence, doubtful                                      In de tweede plaats verspreidr men op die wijze ook
your election. But if these fruits of the Spirit mark your                            geen  goed gerucht bij degenen, die buiten staan.
way and characterize your walk, even though it is all                                     Er zijn  tech al velen, die gaarne een kwaad gerucht
very imperfect and mixed with sin, appearing like wild                                van ons hooren en die er op  azen  om bij ons eens een
roses blooming in the midst of the weeds of the  maysh,                               relletje te zien, die  zich  eigenlijk  in  onzen ondergang
they are fruits, constant fruits of your calling, and                                 zouden verblijden. Getuige' hiervan de verhaaltjes, die
through the assurance of your calling you will  qake your                             men van ons weet op te disschen en te verspreiden,  zon-
election sure . . . . .                                                               der dat er ook slechts een schijn van grond voor  be-
      The way of sanctification is the  sole way to the staat. En natuurlijk, is er dan eens werkelijk iets, is er
assurance of our calling and election.                                                oneenigheid onder de broederen, kunnen sommigen het
      And the way of sanctification is a way of struggle and                          dan in  onzen  kring niet uithouden, dan wardt  alles  breed
strife, a way of self-denial. and battle.                                             uitgemeten, in het donkerste  li&ht gesteld, en dan moet
      Therefore, brethren, rather give diligence, strive with                         de zaak het ontgelden.          En  als we dan de zaak  des
all the power of the grace of God, that is in you.                                    Heeren liefhebben, dan grieft dat. Dan drukt bet u voor
      That you may walk the way of light, which is the way                            een oogenblik terneer en weegt het u loodzwaar op de
of your calling.                                                                      ziel.
      Then you will stumble nevermore !                                                   Dan, eindelijk, we hebben zoo  groote  hehoefte  aan
      In that way there is assurance!                                                 werkkracht.
      .4nd joy eternal!                                                                 De arbeid is zoo veelvuldig en het  veld wordt steeds
                                                                    H. H.             breeder. Er is behoefte  aan predikers, zooals  we1 bleek
                                                                                      uit de onderscheidene beroepen, die werden uitgebracht
                                                                                      op de enkele broeders, die candidaat gesteld  worden  om,
                                                                                      zij  bet dan ook slechts voor een jaar, te dienen in het
           Keep my heart steadfast, dearest Lord                                      ambt. Hudsonville beriep.  Waupun  beriep. Munster
                For earth's allurements shine,                                        beriep.     Alle drie  gemeenten in het  Westen beriepen.
           And bid me turn mine eye away'                                             Er is behoefte  aan arbeiders in het herderiijk werk, in
                From looking into Thine.                                              de catechisatien.       Er is eigenlijk ook behoefte  aan  mede-


j
          510                                                 T H E   STAND`IRD  B E A R E R
          -l.."l- l_--_.-l..ll_. "..-~ ..- -- --...-... -_                  "...^__        - -   .._-..__                              -
                      THE  TYPOLOGY  OF- SCRIPTURE                                     dan ook in een boek staan, het  rechte   begrip ontbreekt
                                                                                       nag" ("Van `s Heeren  @-dinanti&,"   Dee1 II, p. 207).
                            The Institution of Marriage                                   However, that the higher soul-life of the man and that
                                                                                       of the woman differ is the plain teachings of Scripture.
              Another institution of Paradise was the ordinance of St. Paul asserts that man is the head of the woman (I
          marriage. The assertion of St. Paul to the effect that the Cor.  11:3). It follows, therefore, that man was so con-
          head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman                       stituted by his  &faker as to be able to function as head.
          is the man; and the head of Christ is God - this assertion He was not only appointed but made head. And his coun-
          places the marital relation in a class with the things                       terpart and helper  - the woman  - was made helper.
          partaking of a typical-symbolical character. The ordi- "And the Lord God said, ir is not good that man should
          nance of marriage, therefore, belongs to that department be alone; I will  mke  him a helper" (Gen.  2:lS).
          of theological science which we are investigating. Let us                       The man and his helper, then, do differ. Again, what
          direct our attention to this institution, instituting an is this difference? Says the Apostle Peter, "Likewise ye
          inquiry into its character, origin,. apd symbolical mean-                    husbands' dwell with them according to knowledge, giv-
          ing; attending at once to  its decay and restitutioq.                        ing honor unto the wife as the weaker vessel. . . . (I Pet.
                 Marriage is  a union. The parties united are a man                    3:7). O f   t h e   two - the man and the woman  - the
          and a woman. The first marital union was effected by                         latter is the weaker vessel. It is not thus, then, that the
          the Lord God. The parties united were the man and                            woman, in distinction from her counterpart, is passive,
          the woman of Paradise. United they constituted one                           receptive and individualistic and thar certain faculties of
          flesh and the original cell of human society.                                mind possessed by the man are lacking to her. The
                 Marriage, let it be repeated, is a joining together of a              woman as well as the man perceives, thinks, reasons,
          man and a woman. The resultant coalition Scripture imagines, wills, desires, loves and hates. Activity, energy
          denominates one flesh The divine assertion, "I will make and productivity are names of properties belonging to the
          for him (the man}  a  h&per as in front oj  or  as over against              higher soul-life of the woman as well as to that of  the
          tim" implies that the parties joined were similar yet dif-                   man. In a word, the woman possesses all those various
          fered the one from the other. And  thk elements con-                         qualities peculiar to the species  man. She is of man's
          stituting the differences are of such a kind as to render                    kind. For she, too, was created in the image of God.
          either incomplete and unproductive without the other.                        Surrounded by the animals, Adam perceived that he was
          On the other hand, the man and the woman constitute                          quite alone. He  failed  to discover among these creatures
          one  flesh when joined together.                                             his counterpart  - one that stood over against him, his
              The man and the woman do differ physically. Also the                     opposite. For the animals were not of his kind. His
          higher soul-life of the one differs from that of the other.                  helper is the woman, taken out of him and standing as
          Yet it is not an easy matter to say  just what this differ- over against  l+m. The woman, then, is endowed with a
          ence  is. It is said that the soul of man exhibits a higherde-               higher soul-life of a kind possessed by  ma&. Irrespective
          gree of activity and productivity than the soul of woman.                    of this basic similarity, however, the two do differ. The
          It is maintained further that such terms as receptivity                      man is the stronger vessel ; the woman, the weaker. And
          and passivity designate the peculiar properties of the                       the term weaker vessel  must be made to apply to the entire
          higher soul-life of the woman. It  is  a fact, however, that woman. -4ccording to Scripture, then, the man is the
          man is also receptive and passive. He is influenced and                      stronger, the more powerful of the two, also as to his
          acted upon as well as the woman. If not, he were no higher soul-life. He is therefore the head, i.e., the leader,
          creature. What is more, receptivity is necessary to the teacher, comforter, defender and preserver of the woman.
          growth of the soul. And the soul of the  woman?  too, is                        There are also other differences between the higher
          active and productive, as well as passive and receptive.                     soul-life of the man and that of the woman. Differences
          What, then, may be the difference between the higher of such a nature that the one is incomplete without the
          soul-life of the two sexes? Says  Geesink, "De nieuwere                      other. The junction of the soul of the man and that of
          zielkunde heeft daarop (op de vraag naar her kenmerkend                      the woman constitute a complete whole.
          verschil tusschen het hoogere geestesleven der beide  ge-                       The man and the woman were joined together by the
          slachten) dan ook metterdaad nog geen algemeen  gel-                         Lord God. "God our Father, after He had created heaven
          dend en daarom bevredigend antwoord, gegeven.  We1                           and earth, and all that in them is, made man in His own
          hebben hare beoefenaren, om dit verschil  aan te duiden,                     image and likeness, that he should have dominion. over
          vele klinkende woorden uitgedacht.                   Zij spreken van the beasts of the field, over the fish of the sea, and over
     I    individualiteit   en  universalit&;  van  activiteit  en  pa.rsiviteit;      the fowls of the air. " And after He had  create'd  man He
          energie en receptiviteit; van leiding en navotging;  van krach-              said, "It is not good that man should be alone, I will
          tigheid  en  ontuankelijkheid;  van  bewustc  en  onbewuste                  make him an helpmate for him. And rhe Lord caused
          werkzaamh.eid;   van  bewuste  deductie  en  o-nbewuste   induc-             a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept; and He
          tk;  van  wil  en  bewustzijn;   in al welke tegenstellingen  dan            took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh thereof. rZnd
          eenerzijds her mannelijke, anderzijds het vrouwelijke of the rib which the Lord God had taken from man, made
          zieleleven zou uitkomen. Dan hoe  mooi zulke woorden He a woman, and brought her unto the man" (Gen.  2:18,


                                                                                                             ______.z-   ---

I




                                            T H E   SThNDARD   EEARER                                                           5!1
     ,.l_lll-.-- ..." . ..-- -            -----.-..--                  ._ _- .._-_ "-_                                -.-._.-.-
     21,  22). Marriage, it is plain, is a divine institution. For         The man, let it be repeated, is the head and  reprc-
     the Lord made unto Adam his wife, brought and  gave              sentative of the wife and of the family. And the Lord
     her Himself to him to be his wife.                               God continued to recognize him as head. The Lord
         Let us now attend to the character of this union. It negotiates with him when instituting His covenant with
     is a union involving the entire man and the entire woman.        the chosen families of the earth.  To  Abraham  and Noah
     The soul as well as the body of each was joined to that          directly did the Lord God deliver His words.
     of the other. For the man is the head of the woman, as               The composers of the form for the administration of
     Christ is the head of His bride - the church. Hence, the         baptism had an eye for this tiuth. The last of the three
     man and the woman of Paradise constitute a  spiritual-           questions constituting the exhortation to the parents
     ethical as well as a physical oneness. The binding  ties         reads as follows: "Ten derde, of gij niet belooft en u
     were a holy conjugal plus a higher spiritual love like           voorneemt, dit kind,  als her tot zijn verstand  zal gekomen
     unto the love binding together the citizens  c~f  the king-      zijn, waarvan gij vader of getuige zijt . . . . `* (We quoted
     dom of heaven. For more than one reason it is very               from the Holland text for the reason that the English
     important that we distinguish between these two binding version is a corruption of the original. The translators
     ties. According to Christ the glorification of the sancti- struck out the term father and in its room placed the term
     fied sinner will mean the disappearance of the former parent).  The mother, then, was not mentioned, for the
     (conjugal love). The children of the world, said  Chris:,        reason that she was regarded as being represented by her
     marry, and are given in marriage. But they which shall           head and counterpart  - the man. His answer was at
     be accounted worthy to obtain that  wor'ld, and the resur- once her answer. In other words, the husband and rep-
     rection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in            resentative of the woman appeared before the face of
     marriage : Neither can they die any more: for they are           God with the promise of his helper to the effect that she,
     equal unto the angels  ; and are the children of God, being      ho,  will see her child, when it comes to years of discre-
     the children of the resurrection (Luke 2025, 26). The            tion, instructed and brought up in the aforesaid doctrine.
     higher spiritual love - the spiritual tie - will abide unto      It is plain that our fathers cannot be charged with setting
     eternity. In Adam and Eve and in the sanctified man and          aside the mother. The fact that the English translators
     wife these two ties are blended into one in,such  a way as       corrupted the original test, and the fact that so many
     to constitute one binding tie.                                   show disgust when  the form is read correctly indicates
         What was the status of  *Adam and Eve in the mar-            only too plainly that the doctrine of the  headship  of the
     riage state? The man of Paradise was create3 the head            man has fallen in disrepute.
     of the woman. She was created the helper of the man.                 The man, once more, is the head and representative
     Such are the plain teachings of God's  \Vord. Said the           of the family. The woman was given him to help  him
     Lord, "It is not good that man should be alone, I will           function as king, priest, and prophet in the family. She.
     make him a helper over against him" (Gen.  228). Rut I           too, is king, priest, and prophet; not, however, above or
     would have you know that the  head of every man is               next to, but in and under her man. The redeemed (in-
     Christ; and the head  of the woman  is  tAe   man;  and the      cluding the woman) are kings and priests in Christ. So
     head of Christ is God. Neither  was the man created for          the woman is king in the man.          The sinful striving
     the woman  ; but the woman for the man  (`1  Car.  11:3,10).     of the sponsors of woman suffrage is to emancipate
     According to the speech of God the woman was given               the woman and place her next to, yea, above
     unto the man as a helper and the man was made the head           the man.            The real objective of the suffragette
     of the woman. . This was the status of the man and the           is to gain the  ascendency over the man.             Hence,
     woman in their relation to each other, even in the state         she insists on being admitted to the voting booth. In our
     of integrity. For the term  helper,  or body, is the correla-    own reformed circles there can be found those who think
     tive of the term head.                                           it proper and right that the ballot has been placed in rhe
        What may be the basis of the status of the man and            hands of the woman. It is maintained that the woman
     the woman in their relation to each other? This ques-            may now function as  a-real helper to the man. She may
     tion was answered by the Apostle Paul. `iFor the man is          now aid him in placing' in positions of authority good
     not of the woman: but the woman of the man" (I Cor.              men. This advantage would accrue from the enfran-
     11  :S). The efficient cause of the  headship  of the man is     chisement of the women if the bad women were pro-
     the almighty will of God by whom the man and the                 hibited from voting; if good men and women constituted
     women were created.                                              the majority of the number voting; if, finally, the good
        The man, then, was created the head, i.e., the king.          women were willing to vote as the good men do. These
     priest and prophet of the family. "The father (to quote          conditions, however, do not prevail nor could they be
     from an article of Rev. H. Hoeksema) sums up in himself          created. At least the principals in the movement known
     the unit of life, the family before God and stands in its        as woman suffrage have shaken off the rule of the man.
     midst and at its head as before God."' The family is the They demand that their  S&K be given the right to assert
     cell from which all government organically developed.            themselves as independent units at the polls.         Every
     The family developed into the clan and the clan into the         student of God's Word knows right well that such a
     tribe, of which the father became the head, elder and            striving on the part of the women is in violent conflict
     judge.                                                           with the plain teachings of Scripture.


512                                                                 T H E S T A.  .N  D  A R  D B E  A R E R
_-._ --..__----_l_ ".. ," ^ ..-............-......-....-...-"."-                                   -_"---._.                    -          -..-~-
       Herewith  we have provided an answer for the  yues-                                ever hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cheriseth
tion whether a woman can take advantage of her. enfran-                                   it, even as the Lord the church; for we are members of
chisement and still remain on friendly terms with Scrip- His body, of His flesh and of His bones. For this cause
ture. It is plain that she cannot, unless she would per- shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be
mit herself to be instructed as to how she should vote, joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
co-operate with her husband at the polls and vote  as  he This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ
does. It is clear, however, that the woman who submits and the church. Nevertheless, let every one of you in
to the will of her husband at the polls is refusing to take particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife
advantage of the rights conferred upon her  - the right, see that she reverence her husband."
namely, to assert herself as a free and independent unit                                     It is not our purpose to give a detailed exegesis of
at the polls. And just this is woman suffrage. It is also the above passage. Let us single out some of the more
plain that submission on her part at the polls means that important elements. The husband is enjoined to love his
she will be engaged in a useless and superfluous kind of wife, and the wife in turn must honor, reverence and
work,  when she votes. The result will be a doubling of obey her husband. The latter is not told in so many words
the number of votes cast, pro and con. Consequently that he shall rule nor is the woman admonished outright
nothing worth while will be achieved.                                     The women, to love her husband. In the address to rhe man it is love
should they co-operate, might better remain at home and which receives the emphasis. When the apostle addresses
save those to whom was assigned the task of counting                                      the wife he emphasises honor and reverence. It must not
votes time and labor.                                                                     be supposed,  hotiever, that the apostle fails to impress
       The real suffragette scoffs at the idea of submission.                             upon the mind of the husband that he shall function as
She has certain aims which she hopes to achieve by vot-                                   head. Nor does he neglect informing the wife that she is
ing as she pleases. It is plain that the injection (if this                               duty bound to love her husband. The point is that in
were possible) of Christian principles into the movement                                  doing so the apostle fails to employ the term love when
known as woman suffrage means the frustration of the                                      addressing the woman, and the term rule when delivering
very purpose responsible for its inauguration.                                  Let no    his instruction directly to the man.           H e   perqaits
one. be deceived by the absurd and nonsensical ar,gument                                  the emphasis to fall elsewhere for the reason that he
that the real helper of the man is the woman who con-                                     means to combat the sinful egotism of both the man and
sents to co-operate with him at the polls.                                                woman in their relation to each other. When man fell he
       May the women vote? The God-fearing woman ob- became the victim of stinking pride. He refuses to bow
serving the injunctions of Christ, does and may vote in                                   before authority for he imagines himself to be lord and
her representative, the husband. But for this she need                                    master of all he surveys. The sinful tendency of his
not go to the polls. For her representative, is there. His heart is to exalt himself above God and his fellow man.
wish and decisions are at once hers. It is only the  rebel-                               These he would make his footstool. His place, so he
iious  woman who needs to go to the polls and vote. For images, is upon the throne. If the apostle had used the
between her will and the will of her husband there is                                     term rule, when addressing the man, he would have been
conflict. She will have her way  - at the polls. So much adding fuel to the fire. And his very purpose is to quench,
for woman suffrage.                                                                       by means of his instruction, this fire. The apostle knows
       Let us now return to the main thread of the essay.                                 that the man is standing there with a club over the head
It was established on the basis of Scripture that the man of the woman. He is also aware of the fact that the
is the head of the woman, and that she was made a help- woman by nature refuses to recognize  {he  headship  of
mate for him. Let us now see (to express ourselves in the  ma;. Hence, Paul exercises great care in the choice
the language of the form for the confirmation of mar- of his terms. The man, consequently, is urged to love
riage) how each is bound to behave respectively toward                                    his wife, and the wife is told that she shall submit herself
each other according to the Word of God. We present to her husband.                                             However, even though the apostle
the following selection from the epistle to the Ephesians. avoids the term rule he nevertheless enjoins the man to
"Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as                                      function as head- as king, priest and prophet of the
unto the Lord. `For the husband is the head of the wife woman. But in functioning as head the husband must
even as Christ is the head of the church; and he is the                                   be actuated by love. When asserting himself as head
savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject                                   he must be engaged in giving unto the woman a tangible
unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands exhibition of his love for her. In other words, the hus-
in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as  Christ                                 band must take Christ as his example and use, as did
also loved the church, and gave Himself for it; that He Christ, his  headship  as an outlet for his love for his
might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water wife.  ,Christ,  so the apostle asserted, is also head of
by the Word, that He might present it to  :Himself   a                                    His bride, the Church. He is her king, priest and prophet.
glorious church, not having spot,  or wrinkle, or any such When Christ functioned as head He gave unto His bride
thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. a tangible exhibition of his great love for her. As head
SO  ought men to love their wives as their own bodies.                                    He loved the Church (His bride) and gave Himself
He that Ioveth his wife; loveth himself. For no man yet                                   unto it. For her Christ shed His blood. For her He


                                      T H E '   STANDA.RD  BE.?rRER                                                      513

endured the cross, despising the shame. He did so as            placed in authority above her, namely her husband.
head, as king-priest of his bride, in order that He, as the     Honor is the sanctified love of her heart exhibiting itself
king-prophet-priest of His beloved-the Church  I', in, a willingness to recognize her husband as her head.
might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water Obedience is the love of her heart expressing itself in
by the word, that He might present her to Himself, a a willingness to submit herself  ro  her king and prophet.
glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such When the woman obeys she listens when her husband
thing; but that she should be holy and without blemish.         speaks, takes- his instruction to heart and as his partner
In other words, the Church is the body of Christ. Of            and helper aids him in the execution of his plans. Only
that body He is the head. He proved that he actually            when her head would compel her to do things which
loved the Church, His bride-as his body; that He her Christ could not sanction will and must she refuse
loved it unto death. So  c-ugti men to  love their wives  ns    to submit.
their  opwt   bo&e.r. For so Christ loved His Church. Now          Let no one object, now, that the above view of the
the wife is  rhe  body of her husband. He is her head.          institution of. marriage implies an annihilation of the
How can it be otherwise than that the man should love           woman's person, mind and will. We would direct the
his wife. For no man yet ever hated his own flesh;              attention of the objector to the fact that Christ is also the
but nourisheth and cherisheth it.                               head of His bride, the church, His body. But are those
   Christ. so ir appears,  placed,  His  headship  in the constituting that body reduced to nothings  ? Not at all ;
service of His great love for His bride, body., Church.         but in Christ they grow, unto a perfect man, unto the
His rule  is  a rule of love. When, as prophet, He  ap-         measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ (Eph.
proaches His bride with His word He is moved by love. 4.13). Christ maintains the individuality of those whom
-And as priest He loved unto death. When He functions           He  engrafts in Him, and sets in action their mind and
as head, as king, priest, prophet, of His bride, it is to       will. He does so in that He feeds the members of His
save, to protect, to preserve, to deliver, and to prepare       body with His own precious Self, empowering them to
her for her place in His  Farher's  house. And when this        contemplate and desire Him as the Word made flesh, as
shall have been accomplished He shall appear upon the           the one whose glory is as of the only begotten of the
clouds of heaven to present unto Himself His glorious           Father, full of grace and truth. By faith the believers
Church.    So  ,i. e. in like manner! ought men to love         are made one with Christ. But that faith is no blind
their wives. This does not mean that the man must               force. It is rather the entire man seeking, thirsting and
duplicate Christ's conduct toward His Church. This              hungering for the Christ? whose flesh he eats and whose
he need and cannot do. But  ir  does mean that as head          blood he may drink. And Christ redeems him to God by
he must conduct himself in such a way that his  headship        His blood, and makes him unto God a king and priest.
will image the  headship  of Christ. To begin with, he          A%nd he, the redeemed, reigns on earth. Xnd as a king
too, namely the man, must place his  headship  in the           and priest in and under Christ the entire man grows and
service of his love. His rule must be a rule of love.           comes to bis own. For he has been faithful over few
\,i'hen he approaches his wife with his word of instruc-        things. He, therefore, is made ruler (under Christ:) over
tion he, too, must be moved by love. When he func-              many things. Ir  is plain that Christ does not treat His
tions as king, prophet, priest, of his wife it  sho,uld be      subjects as minors, as those who are not of age. They
to save, to protect and preserve her.  Xs head he, too,         are given abundant room and opportunity to expand in
must love his body, the wife, unto death. Such an atti-         Him.    For He makes them rulers over many things
tude is altogether foreign to all tyranny and despotism.        (Matt. 25  :31).
There is no danger that the man who so loves his wife              So, too,, the wife is in the husband. She is not re-
will stand there with a club over her head or will reduce       duced, however, to a mere nothing. Joined to  her hus-
her to a slave. This man will be making it easy for  rhe        band by ties of  fair11 and love she  gro\vs in him. and
godfearing woman to honor, reverence her husband and            being faithful is made ruler over many things  and thus
to submit herself to his will. On the other hand, let the       she becomes the glory of the man.
despotic and tyrannical husband remember that he is a              Let us now, at this juncture, institute an inquiry into
stumbling block even to the noblest of women. The               the origin of the marriage state.  %Iarriage,  let it be
cruel and unreasonable husband occasions his wife's             repeated, is a divine institution. "And the Lord God
stumbling. Let him remember that the Lord will not              said, It is not good  rhat  man should be alone; I will
hold him guiltless.                                             make him a help mate for him.  .%nd the rib, which the
   Let us now direct our attention to the manner in             Lord God had taken from man, made He a woman, and
which the wife should behave. herself toward her hus-           brought her unto the man. So God created man in his
band. She shall honor, obey and reverence or fear him.          own image, in the image of God created He him: male
The terms fear and reverence, as the apostle uses them,         and female created He them (Gen.  1:27;  2  :18, 22). It is
are the synonyms of love. It is not the fear of a slave         plain that man was created head of the woman, and the
for his master which is meant, but the sanctified fear of       woman in turn was made a helper to the man. And
the godly woman for her head, the husband. This fear            from the very beginning, even in the state of integrity,
is the sanctified love of her heart for him whom her God        the two constituted one flesh, one body, the cell. The


514                                              T H E   STXNDARD  B E A R E R
l_.l_" ._.,.. _ ..." ..-......_                      -..---                                                                   -.^- -       -         -
various elements, then, constituting the institution of                or oneness as to being which is the basis of the  ethical-
marriage were already present before the fall: the man                 spiritual unity in God. The Father loves the Son through
and the woman; the  headship   of the man; and the join-               the Holy Ghost. There is in the divine being a single-
ing together of the two by the conjugal tie.                           ness of purpose and design. Conflict between the three
       There are those who maintain that before sin made               persons is impossible and inconceivable. To either deny
its appearance, the woman was man's equal juridically,                 the one divine essence or to postulate in the divine being
and that the  headship  of the man dates from the fall. It             but one person means to destroy the ethical-spiritual
is  held that the woman  was  made man's helper  us  over              unity in God.
against him. Verse  20 of the chapter in which the expres-                Of this life of fellowship and friendship in the Divine
sion occurs plainly indicates that what is meant is that              Being the Christian family is an image. Further, the
the woman was of man's species.  .4dam  failed to dis- juction of man and wife is an image of the union between
cover among the animals one of his kind. And thereupon                Christ and His bride, the church. This phase of the sub-
the Lord God made the woman and brought her unto                      ject will receive adequate treatment in a following essay.
Adam.  -And  he sees in her his mate for he says, This is
now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. He senses                                                                        G    .       M.  .O.
that the woman corresponds to himself; that she is his
counterpart.                  However, even though the woman is of
man's kind she must nevertheless honor man as her
head. For the very reason that she is of man's kind  -  a
creature like him created in the image of God  - can she                                         K E N N I S G E V I N G
be his body and he her head. It will not do at all, there-
fore, to appeal to this particular divine utterance in  sup-             Door dezen  laten wij bekendmaken dat er Dinsdagavond, 13
port of the view that the woman either before or after                September, 1927, wederom een jaarvergadering gehouden  zal
                                                                      worden   van  de "Ref. Free Publishing Association",  i'f  een  der
the fall or both was and is, in a juridical sense, man's              localen  van de  FulIer  Ave. Protestant church.
equal.                                                                   AIsdan  zai Mr.  G. Van Beek van  Kalamazao  een toespraak
   Then, too, there are those who aver that conjugal love             tot ons houden.
was altogether foreign to the man and the woman in                       Tevens  zal er  gelegenhkid   worden  gegeven om ons  lidmaat-
Paradise. This cannot be. For it would mean that the                  schapsgeld te  betalen.
marital affections as such are evil, and that they cannot                Tndien  e; zijn  Czoowel in  als buiten Grand Rapids) die ook
                                                                      lid onzer vereeniging wenschen te  worden, correspondeere men
be the property of a sinless nature. If such were the case            met ondergeteekende, en hij  zal  u met inlichting dienen.
it should have to be maintained that marriage is an insti-               Wij verwachten ecn getrouwe opkomst om wederom regeling
tution of the devil, and then marriage could not  possibly            te  maken voor een  volgend  jaar en ook  5 nieuwe bestuursleden
serve as an image of the marriage of the Lamb. In fine,               te kiezen uit de volgende nominatie:
to substract from marriage the marital tie and the  head-             0. van Ellen, Grand Rapids               J. Klaver, Grand Rapids
                                                                      J. Doezema, Grand Rapids                 R. Doezema, Grand Rapids
ship of the man is equal to maintaining that, before the              R. Newhouse, Hope Church                 P.  v. d. Gugte, Kalamazoo
fall, there was no such thing as an institution of mar-               J. v. d. Laan, Grand Rapids              R. Van  Dellen,  Grand Rapids
                                                                      L. J. De Koekoek, Kalamazoo
riage.                                                                                                         hi. De Goede, Grand Rapids
     We are quite ready now, I think, to point out the                                     Namens het Bestuur,
symbolical meaning of the institution of marriage.  &Ian                                                 .4RTHUR  `WYMA,   Seer.
and wife together with the offspring constitute a unity                                                         711 Delaware St., S. E.
                                                                                                                            Grand Rapids,  *Mich.
which is at once an image of the triune God. According
to the Word of God we believe in only one God, the one
single essence in which there are three persons, namely,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Sbn is
the only begotten of God, begotten from eternity,  co-
essential and co-eternal with the Father, the express                                    BEKENDMAKINGEN
image of His person. and the brightness of His glory,
equal unto Him in all things. The Holy Ghost, from                       Het duratorium vergadert, D. V., 30  Aqugustus,   7:45
eternity proceedeth from the Father and the Son. He is                I?.  M., in de basement der Fuller Ave. Kerk, Grand Rap-
in order the third person of the trinity; of one and the ids,  Mich.
same essence, majesty and glory with the Father and                      Jonge  mannen,  die als studenten  aan de Theologische
the Son and therefore is the true eternal God.                        School wenschen te  worden  opgenomen, vervoegen  zich
     There is then but one divine essence, and the entire             bij die vergadering van het Curatorium. voorzien van
essence is born by each of the three persons.               There een getuigschrift van hun kerkeraad.
being but one divine essence there can be but one mind                   Zij die geldelijken steun verlangen hebben  zich tevens
and one divine will.                 In this one mind and will the    te vervoegen bij de vergadering der  Classis, 31  A.ug.,
Fa.ther  thinks and wills as `Father, the Son as Son, and             2 P.  M. in de Fuller  :4ve, Kerk.
the Holy Ghost  as  Holy Ghost. It is this metaphysical                                                          G. DE JONG,  Seer.


