5     3    2                             T H E   S"TANDARD   B E A R E R
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                   CHRISTIAN EDUCATION                               for the Christian of the Reformed type, not sufficient to
                                                                     know that his sins and the sins of his children have been
     In Sept., 1916, we delivered before the congregation            washed away in rhe blood of Christ Jesus, and that now
of Holland Fourteenth St. which we were then serving,                he and they are marching heavenward. On the contrary,
a sermon on the subject of the Christian Education of                his covenant-God did save him, in order that with His
the children of God's covenant. As rhe time is again                 children he might be to the praise of His glory, here in
approaching, when Catechism-classes and schools are re-              the Church-militant and in the midst of the world, and
opened ; and as, moreover, the question of a  covenant-              presently in the glory of heavenly perfection. He must
education remains principally the same, only, perhaps,               fight the good fight.    He must walk in the precepts of
becoming more serious and urgent as the years go by,                 His  covenantGod.  He must reveal himself as a child
we thought it not unsuitable to publish the entire ser-              of light in every sphere of life. Now, this conviction has
mon, as we preached it at that time. It is on the text               a definite influence upon his conception of the task of
from Deut.  6:7  : "And rhou shalt teach them  diligentIy            education.     Were it different, it might be an irrelevant
unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou                  matter to him, as to what sort of education the child
sittest  in thine house, and.when  thou walkest by the way,          might receive to help him through this world, as long as
and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."                  he is saved. But entirely different it becomes if also the
     The sermon here .follows  :                                     salvation of your child is in your view only the means
     That education of the child is one of the most impor-           to the highest aim: the glorification of the Most High.
tant subjects that can possibly demand our consideration,            Then you will aim in your education at the perfect man
is a truth, that is clearly realized, not only by the Chris-         of God, knowing the will of his God for every sphere of
tian, but still more so by the children of the world.                life and for every step he takes upon the path of life,
Especially is this true of our own age. Witness the many             and you will take care that in his life he is well equipped
books that are published on the subject, the many maga-              with a clear and concise knowledge of all the precepts
zines that see the light and that are devoted particularly           of the Most High. And since for the Reformed Christian
to educational problems, the large sums of money that                the subject of the education of his children is so highly
are spent, the laws that are enacted, the edifices that              important, we thought it very appropriate to devote our
are raised  - all in the interest of education. On rhe               discussion to this topic this morning and in connection
importance of education in general, therefore, we are                with the words from Deut.  65 to speak to you on:
entirely agreed.
     But there is more, and I may  safeIy limit this statement.         THE LORD'S COMMAND  IZEGARDING  THE
For I am  entireIy  safe in saying that we also agree that           INSTRUCTION OF OUR CHILDREN.
our children ought to have a Christian education. There is
no one that would deny this, apart now from the question                I. IN RESPECT TO THE MATERIAL OF THAT
as to the character this Christian education ought to                         INSTRUCTION.
assume.         For as Christians we all agree that we are not          II. IN REGARD TO THE TIME FOR THAT
satisfied to know that our children receive an education                      INSTRUCTION.
of the world and for this world, but we confess that we                 HI. IN REGARD TO THE BASIS OF THAT
are pilgrims, that we are travelers to another city, and                     INSTRUCTION.
that, somehow, the education of our children must be
related to that other city that is in heaven.           I repeat,       I. I think we will all agree if we define education, in
therefore, that as Christian parents we cannot be indiffer-          the sense in which we are dealing with that subject this
ent with regard to the religious instruction of our chil-            morning, as the impartation to the child of knowledge
dren. Religious instruction they certainly must have, and            regarding his material and spiritual relation in the world.
they must be brought up in the fear and admonition of                With this all education has to do. We bring children
the Lord, our covenant-God in Christ Jesus.                          into the world. And when these children come to con-
     Once more I will limit this statement and maintain,             sciousness, that worId  is strange to them if they are not
that as Reformed Christians we will also insist that our             informed about their relation to the same. But to the
children must receive a religious education of a `very               Christian this is not enough. No, there is not only a
marked type. That we agree on this is evident from the               world, but there is also a God. And the child must also
confession we repeat every time we offer our children                learn to see his true relation to that God. In short,
for Baptism.         We promise to bring them up  "in the            principally the education of the child must give him an
aforesaid doctrine, or help or cause them to be instructed           answer to the question : Who am I? Who am I in rela-
therein to the utmost of our power." Now this is very                tion to the world in which I live ? Who am I in relation
significant. For this doctrine is the Reformed doctrine.             to my God? And thus education becomes the transmit-
And one of the characteristic features of the Reformed               tance of such  knowIedge  from generation to generation.
faith is, that it confesses that all things' exist for the           But when our text says: "Thou shalt teach them unto
glory of God, that even our salvation is not the uItimate            thy children," it uses in the original a word for teaching
end of all things, but that it is a means to an end. It is,          that places the nature of education in a very  pecu1Za.r
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light.    The word  really means in  the first place  "to       separated from that  101-e.    The Christian possesses but
sharpen," and is used for instance to denote the sharpen-       one life.    And that whole life must be consecrated to
ing of a sword. From this basic idea it further derives         the Lord his God, who redeemed and delivered him. In
the meaning "to sharpen the tongue," and further to use         other words, all the time and everywhere in the midst
pointed speech, to express oneself definitely and concisely,    of the world or in the Church, in the home or in society,
and in this sense it is finally used to denote the idea         he must reveal himself from the principle of the new life
of teaching.    To teach according to this idea is to           he received from his covenant-God by grace. Thus we
sharpen in.  Znscherpen,  the Dutch would say. Educa-           promise and confess it in our Baptism-Form so beauti-
tion according to this conception must not be vague or          fully and truly, when it says, that our part of the cove-
indefinite, but sharp and concise. So definitely was this       nant is, that we love the Lord our God with all our mind
idea of conciseness conceived of as essential to education,     and heart and soul and strength, and walk in new obedi-
that to the view of Scripture, to teach meant actually          ence before Him. To know, therefore, and to keep the
the same thing as to express something clearly and              precepts of the Lord our God and to acknowledge no
sharply to the understanding of the child.                      other precepts than His, that is our covenant-religion.
   The question, then, is, what must be taught according        But  if  this is true, then it is also clear, that we must
to the words of our text? What is the material of this          teach these precepts and none other to our children. For
instruction ? -4nd our text tells us: "Teach  them  unto        the Lord established His covenant with us and our chil-
thy children." Tn the words immediately preceding our           dren in the line of generations. With us and our seed
text the man of God says to the people: "And there words        the God of our salvation raises His blessed covenant. We
which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart."         and our children are His covenant-people.  ,4nd,   *here-
In our text he refers, therefore, once more to these words,     ,fore, very logically the man of God comes to this injunc-
and he enjoins the children of his people that they shall       tion: "And thou shalt teach them unto thy children." In
also teach them to their children, to the seed of the           all our life, at home or at large, in the Church or in the
covenant. Nor is it difficult to  find out what is really       world, we have to do with the precepts of our God and
meant by "these words". They simply refer to the law            we acknowledge but one Lord. These precepts are the
of the covenant-God, as has been delivered unto  Israel         rule of our thinking and willing, of the life of the soul
before, and as is now repeated by the man of God sum-           and of the body, our guide according  to which we desire
marily, as they are about to enter the promised land.           by the grace of God to walk in every sphere of life. But
and as he is about to leave them. -411  the precepts of then, it is evident, that also these precepts must constitute
Jehovah the parent must teach definitely and concisely          the subject-material of all our education, and that it is
to his children. And these precepts are again expressed         quite impossible to conceive of any sphere  or  branch of
in principle in the fifth verse of our chapter where  the       instruction from which these precepts of our God may
prophet says to his people:  "Xnd thou shalt love the           or can be excluded. If, therefore, you ask : What, accord-
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,         ing to Scripture, must be the material in which our
and with all thy might." In brief, Scripture, here as well      covenant-children are instructed? We answer without
as throughout, knows but of one kind of actual religion.        hesitation : The precepts of the Lord our covenant-God
It is the religion of obedience.  =\nd again the Word of        with relation to every sphere of life.
God knows of but one kind of obedience, it is the obedi-           II. That such is actually the conception of the words
ence from love. Obedience and love are for that very            of our text  is  evident. Let `us ask the question: Row
reason often used promiscuously in Scripture, seeing            much time must be devoted to this instruction in the law
that they may signify the very same thing, and rhe one          of the Lord? A few hours, say, every day? Or must
without the other is inconceivable. For this reason,, it        this instruction in the precepts of Jehovah perhaps be
is to the obedience of God's  covenant-people,  that the        limited to the Sabbath-day? Shall we transfer the bur-
man of God refers in the text. The natural man does             den of this injunction to the preaching in the church and
not know the love of God, for his mind is enmity against        to the Sunday-school? And is it sufficient, if in addition
God, and he walks in darkness. But God's people, the            to all this the children receive an hour's instruction in
people the man of God is here addressing, have been             the precepts of the Lord in catechism during the week?
saved and redeemed by the power of His grace. They              Listen. The text says: "thou shalt talk of them (these
areoncemore His covenant-people. God cleansed them and          precepts) when thou  sittest  ,in thine house and when
forgave all their iniquities. God delivered them and formed     thou walkest by the way, and when thou risest up and
them to be a people unto Himself. He spread abroad in           when thou  liest down."        Now, this is expressing the
their hearts a new love, the love of God in Christ Jesus.       thing figuratively,, but very concisely and unambiguously.
In that love they must obey the Lord their God and keep         It simply tells us that we must instruct our children in
His precepts. This obedience must be an obedience from          the precepts of the Lord all the time and  everywhere.
the love of their whole heart, with all their mind and          in the home and outside of the home, and that there is
soul and strength. For mark you, Scripture knows of             no `education that has nothing to do with the law of the
no division of our life, one part for the exercise of this      Lord. That is simply all. Always, in the home and out
obedience in covenant-love and another part entirely            of the home. from morning till evening, Israel must in-


533                                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
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struct his seed in these yrccepts of Jehovah. There  was                         directly in the home, and someone else  for what it learns
nothing else for the young covenant-child to learn out-                          in the school, and again someone else for what it learns
side of that law of God. Nothing else might the parent-                          in the catechism and in the Sunday-school, but you are
teacher have in his mind but to instruct the child in that                       responsible always and everywhere.               Not as if these
law. And, therefore, it is perfectly clear, that our text                        other persons that teach your children have no responsi-
deems the instruction in that law all-sufficient. That                           bility. Surely `they do. But their responsibility is en-
does not mean that the young Israelite might learn                               tirely different from yours. You are responsible for all
nothing but the  law* of the ten commandments, learn                             that your child is taught, responsible before God. Of
nothing but how to sing the songs of the fathers, how                            course, we realize that this was far easier in the time of
to celebrate the solemn feasts, and how to bring his                             Moses and the children of Israel than in our modern
sacrifices and tithes. No, the Jew of old did not know                           times. Life was so much more simple. The parent was
of such a narrow conception of religion and of the law                           not so busy from morning till night, that he could find
of God. But it meant that the Israelite, always and                              no time to personally instruct his children in the precepts
everywhere, had to live according to the will of God, and                        of God. And Iife was not so complicated, not so exact-
that for every sphere of life .he had to teach his children                      ing, the child did not have to learn so much, all things
those same precepts.                                                             were more simple than they are to-day. And for that
       Notice, in the second place that all this time, the                       reason the education in the home was either the only or
parent is held responsible for the training of his children.                     the main education the child received. And the parent
Moses does not at all address the congregation of the                            could realize directly his responsibility for the instruction
people of God in general, but emphatically he  speaksin  the                     of his children. But this is now entirely different. The
singular. He addresses the individual parent.,. Thou shalt                       parent, at least the father, is not at home from the time
teach them unto thy children. Thou shalt talk of them.                           that he rises up till the time that he lies down, the mother
etc. Education is therefore, the duty of the parent and of                       is too busy or at least often makes herself too busy if
no one else. And this stands to reason. In the first place                       she is not, and time for direct instruction by the parent
there is no one that has more right, more God-given                              is  actualIy insufficient. Besides, if the parent did have
right to the child than the parent. Education determines                         just as much time as the Israelite of old, he would not
to a large extent what the child shall be in the future.                         be able to instruct his children in all the necessary
How it shall think and act. And surely there is no one                           branches of education. * And the result is that we have
that has more right to determine this than the parent.                           now the school, the catechism, the Sunday-school, where
But especially is this so with the covenant-parents. They                        one person systematically instructs many of our children
are the believers, and they are the ones that are  heId                          at the same time.       Especially in the school the child
responsible, and that express the promise before God                             receives the  lion-shue of his education. The school it
and His congregation time and again that they shall see                          is that trains the child, that practically shapes him, and
to it that the children are educated according to the doc-                       the words of the teacher have more authority for him
trine of the covenant. They, therefore, have the'duty to                         than any other. And the result is that we begin to feel
educate' their children, and no one else has that obliga-                        and to act more and more as if we were not  responsible
tion as they have. The parent according to the words                             for that part of the education of our children. And that
of our text must educate his children always and every-                          is a mistake. All these institutions are  mereIy  exten-
where, in the home and outside,  from morning till eve-                          sions of the home, the teacher is merely the servant of
ning, in the commands of the most High. It is, therefore.                        the parent, and even as the boss always remains respon-
not true at all that the parent can educate his children                         sible for the job his servants perform, so the parent is
at home- in the precepts of the Lord, and that he can                            absolutely responsible for the education of his  chiIdren
excuse himself for the rest and say that he can do no                            by the teacher. The parent, also now, must instruct
more, that he has fulfilled his duty, and lived up to his                        his children in the precepts of the most High, always and
promise.        No, that does not at all finish his task. The                    everywhere, for those precepts control our entire life.
parent must also educate his children outside of  the                            And if the teacher, the parent employs, cannot reasonably
home. In the catechism and in the school? on the street                          be expected to do this, it is the parent that is and remains
and in every other place, it is the parent whose duty it                         responsible for that instruction. And thus it is with the
is to educate his children.                        He may perhaps perform        entire system in which the child lives. From morning
that duty through someone else, that is his servant, but                         till night the parent is responsible. The literature the
that does not make any difference. Not the teacher,                              child reads, the,places  he visits, the friends he associates
private or public, has any duty regarding your children,                         with,  the recreation he enjoys, in a word, the entire
the duty to educate them is yours, and it can only                               sphere of his life, must be dominated by the law of the
become the duty of the teacher, by your employing him.                           Lord, and the parent is responsible that in that sphere
   And from this  follow,s  in the second place that you                         the child is trained and very definitely instructed in the
are responsible for all that your child is taught. It                            commands of the Lord.
is not thus, that you  are responsible for what it learns                           Let US apply this for a moment. How is our  instruc-


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 tion in comparison with this injunction? How is it in our       when  we visited you in your homes, the education in
 homes? Are we obedient in this respect? Are  WC talk-           our public schools is good enough! According to what
 ing about the precepts of the Lord, when we rise and            standard do you call it so, my brother and sister? Ac-
 when we lie down, so that our children hear them? No,           cording to the standard of the Word of God? God tells
 that does not mean, that we do as a certain doctor told         us  that in the home, and without, the children must be
 us not long ago, his father always did, who said nothing        instructed in the precepts of the Lord. And that no
 to his boy but: "Johnnie, Johnnie, think of that never          one but you is responsible for this education. That this
 ending eternity  !" from morning till night. No, that is        education in the commands of the Lord must not be
 sickly. Surely, it is good also that we early impress our       vague, but must be pointed and definite. I ask you this
 children with the truth that time is short, and that            morning to go to your God and honestly tell Him, that
 eternity is coming, but the fear of eternity must not be-       you are living up to this precept in this respect, and that
 come the principle of their religion, for that is absolutely    your child is educated, not once in a while, but from
 wrong. No, but do we speak of the precepts of the Lord          morning till evening, and everywhere, in the precepts of
 ip the good and healthy way, so that our children learn         the Lord. No, we need not talk about our public schools.
 from us definitely, how they must walk in the way of the        But this you know as well as I do, that they receive no
 covenant? Do we ever talk with them about their bap-            covenant-education, that they cannot receive a covenant-
 tism? Ever speak to them about the joy of the assur-            education in those schools. And, your children must
 ance that they are covenant-children, but also of the           have a covenant-education and nothing less. For this
 heavy responsibility that because of that covenant rests        is the injunction in the words of our text, that in the
 upon them, to walk in the way of the covenant? In a             home and without, from morning till evening the children
 word, do your children receive the impression in your           must be brought up in the precepts of the Lord for every
 homes that the precepts of the Lord are dominating              sphere of life.
 there? Or are material things predominating, perhaps               III. But, I hear someone remark, this command was
- the one thing that receires attention? Do you, when you        g5ven  to Israel of old and not to the people of the New
 are with your children, perhaps leave them alone and            Testament. Many laws and commands are given in the
 read the newspaper? Or talk about parties and picnics           old testament that are obsolete, that are not at all ap-
 and outings and automobile rides, and nice dresses, or          plicable to the days of the new dispensation, and this is
 about the homely face of the new neighbor-lady, about           one of them. And we, of course, frankly admit that the
 the new hats you saw in church, and the faults of brother       first statement is true. There are, indeed, many laws
 so and so. In a word: what is the sphere in which your          given in the 0. T. that have no direct value, no binding
 children live in the home? What is the literature you           force for our day.        But it is not  true, that commands
 allow them to read? Is also that  &terature  based upon         as we have  di&&ed  one this morning also belong to
 and permeated by the precepts of t'he Lord ? Where are          that category. This temporal and passing character of
 your children when they are not at home? Who are their          the 0. T. laws is true only of those that applied to the
 friends? Is this entire sphere such, nay, I will not say        particular dispensation of Israel, in their religious and
 that they gradually drift away from Christianity in gen-        civic life. There were laws regarding their religious life,
 eral, but yet such that they become alienated from their        laws regarding sacrifices and feasts,  ihat have passed away
 own church circle? Kemember, it is you that are respon-         with the coming of Christ, that have lost their binding
 sible as parents, from morning till night, responsible          force, when the Lamb of God was sacrificed on Golgotha,
 that your children are instructed and brought up in the         and the veil rent in twain. There were also laws that
 precepts of the Most high.                                      applied to the particular civic life of the theocracy  of
    And how is it when you walk by the way? In other             Israel, and also'they have lost their particular force with
 words, how is the education of your  chiIdren  outside of       the passing away of Israel as a nation. But this is not
 your home life? Do they come to catechism regularly?            true of those laws that dealt with general subjects, that
 And when they come are they well prepared? Are you              gave precepts in regard to life in general. And such a
 co-operating with us also in this respect? Especially in        subject is the subject of education.       The education of
 respect to our young people, and still more especially in       our children is not something that applied to Israel aIone
 respect to our young men,  I would urge you: See to it          but that is general in its character. And what is more,
 that they are educated in the precepts of the most High.        the basis of this command is not found iti something that
 And to some of you directly, I would come and remind            is applicable to Israel alone, but that holds as well for
 you of the fact that Catechism again starts. Some of            the people of God of all ages.
 you, alas, already are old enough to assume your own               In the first place, we find that this command is based
 responsibilities, and still you have not confessed your         upon and brought into direct connection with the cove-
 God as your personal Lord. Remember, we expect you              nant-relationship of the people of God. God. has estab-
 in the class. Do not withdraw yourselves from the in-           lished a covenant with Israel as a nation, thus the man
 fluences of the precepts of God. And finally, parents,          of God has told them in the chapter preceding ours.
 how is the education of your children in the school?            In that covenant God had promised to bless them and
 Oh, I hear many of you say, as you have also told me            to give them Canaan  for an everlasting possession. But


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     He also had  His demands.  The  people  had received           everywhere.     hnd since conditions are such that un-
     blessings from their  C~~WXIant-~cJd.   He had delivered       doubtedly you will have to entrust a large part of your
     them from the house of bondage, and He would give them         education to others, there we again come to you and
     the land of the promise, but there was also another side.      s a y : Send them there where you know that they re-
     The people were in duty bound to walk in the way of            ceive a covenant-education, an education in the precepts
     the covenant and to love the Lord their God with all           of the Lord. Send them to our catechism regularly
     their heart, and with all their mind, and with. all their      and do not neglect it, send them also to our Christian
     strength. >.4nd from this same covenant obligation fol-        schools, where you  know that they receive the education
     lows also their duty to educate their children, always, in     they must have.
     the fear of the Lord, so that also they may know His pre-         And finally, also today, the Lord our God is one Lord.
     cepts, understand their covenant-relation, and learn to        Also today He is Lord pver all.           Lord not only in the
     walk in the way of that covenant that God has established      church, but Lord also in the state, `Lord also in social
     with them.                                                     life, Lord in our home life, Lord in the life of our educa-
        In the second place, the general character of this          tion. And for that very reason, also today His precepts
     covenant-education is based upon a general principle           are valid for every sphere of that life. But if this is so,
     also. It might be remarked, as we have heard it so often       then it is also clear, that the child.must learn to see and
     that instruction in the law of the Lord is sufficient if       honor those precepts, for all those spheres. And  that
     it is given in the home and in the catechism, in the home      those precepts must form the very basis of his education.
     and in the church, but that school education has nothing       Religion must not be something that is added to our
     to do with it.    And again upon the basis of Scripture        life, but it must be the heart of our life. Religion must
     this must be denied. The principle of such a statement         not be something that  is  added to our education, but it
     is wrong. God told His people of old that they should          must be the heart of our education, the precepts of the
     educate their children from morning till night and every-      Lord must be the basis from which our entire education
     where in the precepts of the Lord.       And why? Be-          must proceed. And, therefore, we come once more to  m
     cause in the immediate context we read that the Lord           you upon the basis that the Lord our God is one and
     our God is one Lord. He is Lord, Lord over all. Lord           only Lord over all, we come to you as your pastor,
     over every sphere of life. His precepts cannot be ex-          anxious about your  qiiritual  welfare, anxious that also
     cluded from any sphere. Therefore, Israel had to edu-          your children shall be educated in the fear of the Lord.
     cate his children only in His precepts. Not in one part        and enjoin you to be faithful, in the home and to talk of
     of life the precepts of the Lord, and in another part these    the precepts of the Lord to the children God has given
     precepts excluded, but in all life, these precepts acknowl-    unto you, from morning till night. definitely and sharply,
     edged. :Ind thus also with our preparation for that life.      to be faithful in regvd to the catechism classes that are
     Not the precepts of the Lord in one part of the educa-         presently'to begin again for the coming season, faithful
     tion and another part nothing to do with this law of           in.regard  to the education the child receives in the school,
     God. But-all our education permeated with the precepts         and to send them to that school, of which you are  ccr-
     of the Lord. *And  this holds true to-day as well as in the    tain that they will receive a covenant-education. Then
     time of Israel. Because the Lord our God is one Lord.          we have hope, also for the future.            For then we have
        ;Uso we are a covenant people. Every time when              the promises of God for His faithful covenant-people.
     we come with our babes before God and His congrega-            that He will continue to bless us and our children, as His
     tion, we confess that we have an eternal covenant of           people, and we shall walk before Him in childlike obedi-
     grace with God. We confess, that in that covenant God          ence, subjects of His kingdom, in the home, in the
     gives to us and to our children all the blessings of sal-      church, in society, and in the great land in which God
     vation, we confess that also our children are really in        has given us a place, acknowledging His one and only
     that covenant of grace. that they are partakers of grace,      Lordship.
     that they are sanctified in Christ, that they are members                                                                  H, H.
     of  His body, that they are children of God, heirs  of.the
     kingdom and of the covenant. And every time we confess
     that it is our side of the covenant to walk in new                                `S HEEREN WOORD
     obedience from true love of that covenant-God that has
     so richly blessed  LB. And every time you, therefore,                       Laat des Heeren Woord  u laven!
     promise that you will to the utmost of your power, teach                      Laat het schijnen voor uw voet!
     your children the way of the covenant, and that you will                    Zelfs de bange  nacht der graven
     help and cause them to be instructed therein.  You sec.                       Wordt verhelderd door zijn gloed.
     that same basis still exists, the basis of the covenant,                    Blijf aanbidden en gelooven!
     for we are a covenant-people.      And upon that same                         Sta  LIW  besten  schat niet af!
     hasis  we come to you with the same word of God and                         Last  u `s waerelds  haat  niet rooven
     say : Ye  shall teach them unto your children and tall;                       Wat  u  `s hemels liefde gaf! .
     of them in your home and outside of your home and                                                          J.  J.  L.  Ten Kate


                                       T H E   S T A N D  /-1RD  BEi'i.RER                                              545

            THE TYPES OF SCRIPTURE                             spraak  van Gods  `Woorcl  in strijd is,  tech meencn  depu-
                                                               taten  als  conclusie  van hun underzoek naar  wat de Hei-
                   The Institution of Marriage                 ligc Schrift ons Ieert  we1 te mogen uitspreken:
                                                                  "le, dat van een goddelijk recht of roeping  der vrouw
    In my former article I devoted some thought also to        om  aan de verkiezing deel te nemen uit de Heilige
 that phase of the subject of "The Institution of Marriage"    Schrift niet blijkt ;
 known as "Woman  +%&rage"  or  "Vrouwenkiesrecht".               "2e, dat, voorzoover de Heilige Schrift ons  mededee-
 The view presented was that the enfranchisement of the        lingen geeft aangaande de medewerking der gemeentele-
 woman is not sanctioned by Scripture. This view is            den bij de verkiezing der ambtsdragers, blijkt dat de
 shared by the majority of reformed Bible students. Here       Apostelen daartoe alleen  de mannen  hebben opgeroepen;
 and there, however, one will hear a dissenting voice. The        "3e, dat de aanwijzingen, die de Heilige Schrift ons
 late Rev. J. Groen was an ardent supporter of Woman           geeft aangaande' de plaats en de taak der vrouw in het
 Suffrage. And Dr.. Hepp of the Netherlands informs the        midden  der gemeente, en waarbij door den Apostel zoo
 readers of his weekly (De Reformatie, May 6, 1927) that       sterk de nadruk  wdrdt  gelegd op de orde, bij de  schep-
 Ds. C.  ,Lindeboom  of Amsterdam, although opposed to         ping ingesteld voor de verhouding van man en vrouw,
 what he (Lindeboom) correctly denominates `de  on-            eer pleiten tegen dan voor het toekennen van het  stem-
 christelijke emancipatie-beweging die zich tegen de ordi-     recht   aan de vrouw, omdat de vrouw daarbij als gelijke
 nantien Gods keert', nevertheless insists that women who      van den  man optreedt en haar stem zelfs de beslissing zou
 are members of the Church deserve to be permitted to          kunnen geven ;
 co-operate with the  &en in the election of Church offi-         "4e, dat deputaten daarom oordeelen, dat onze Gere-
 cers. It is difficult to see how anyone, opposed to the       formeerde Kerken den veiligsten weg hebben gekozen
*emancipation of the woman, can be of the conviction door zich te houden aan het voorbeeld door de Apostelen
 that this very woman, in her capacity of church-member        bij de verkiezing der ambtsdragers gegeven en het stem-
 is, in a legal sense, man's equal. However this may be,       recht alleen  aan de mannen  toe te kennen."
 the question whether the woman, who is a member of               The four commissaries appeal to the following scrip-
 Church, should be granted this right has developed into       tures: Acts, 1 :15-26,  And in these days Peter stood up in
 a Iive issue in the Reformed Circles of the Netherlands.      the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names
    Permit me to present the facts in the case as I            together were about a hundred and twenty) Men and
 learned to know them from the articles of Dr.  V. Hepp.       brethren, the Scripture must needs have been fulfilled,
 In the Church of Zandvoort were found  a group of mem-        which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake be-
 bers advocating the enfranchisement of women in the           fore concerning Judas, which was guide to them that
 Church.  It would seem  thit this element constituted the     took Jesus .  _ . . Now this man (Judas> purchased a
 majority of the membership as it was this Church which        field with the reward of iniquity  ; and falling headlong,
 placed the matter upon the table of the Synod. A com-         he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed
 mittee of five was appointed. To'this body was assigned       out . . . . Wherefore of these men which have companied
 the task of determining whether or no Scripture grants        with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out
 to the woman in the Church the right to take part in          among us . . . . must one be ordained to be a witness
 the election of church officers.     Members of the com-      with us of His resurrection. And they appointed two,
 mittee are Prof. H. Bouwman, Ds. T. Ferwerda, Prof.           Joseph called Earsabas who was surnamed  Justus, and
 Dr.  H. H. Kuyper, Ds.  M. Meijering and Ds. C.  Linde-       Matthias . . . . Acts  6:1-6. And in those days when the
 boom. The committee has completed its task and handed         number of disciples was multiplied, there arose a mur-
 in its report.      In his weekly Dr. Hepp supplied his       muring of the Grecians against the `Hebrews, because.
 readers with a synopsis of the contents of this report.       their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.
    It appears that the members of the committee could         Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples
 not agree. Consequently the document which it shall           unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should
 submit to synod is a combination of a report and a            leave the word of God, and serve tables. Wherefore,
 memoir.  Of the latter Ds. C. Lindeboom is the author.        brethren, look ye out among  you  seven men of honest
 The report is the product of Bouwman, Ferwerda,  Kuy-         report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom whom we
 per and  IMeijering.                                          may appoint over this business . . . . And the saying
    Let us first direct our attention to the contents of       pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen , . .
 the report. It asserts that its authors, having carefully     Whom they set before the Apostles: and when they had
 attended to those Scriptures bearing upon the matter at       prayed they laid their hands on them.
 hand, conclude: Nu is het zeker  waar,  dat een  uitdruk-        These scriptures constitute a record of the event of the
 kelijk verbod  `aan de vrouw om mede te  stemmen  in de       election of an apostle and of seven deacons. The four
 Heilige Schrift niet gevonden wordt, zooals dit  we1  ge-     commissaries (Kuyper, Bouwman, Ferwerda and  Meije-
 schiedt ten opzichte van het  leeren en regeeren,  maar       ring) are of the conviction that the women took no part
 al kan daarom niet gezegd  worden,   dat het verleenen        in these elections. This, so they maintain, is evident
 van het  stemrecht  aan de vrouw met een stellige  uit-       from the fact that those whom the Apostle enjoins to do


546                                    `I-  I-1 E  S  T A N D A  R  D B  E  A\.  R  E  R
-_.----                                                                                                        -"-_----

the appointing  are ntltlressed by him ;LS ~zen and brethrec      rich tegcn  de ortlinantic 00~1s keel-t;  en dat de gecstclijlce
And in these days Peter stood  up in the midst of the             invlocd, dien de yrouw  heeft uit te oefenen voor den wel-
disciples and said, Men and Brethren . . . . Acts I  :16).        stand der kerk, naar hetgeen de Heilige Schrift ons leert,
Again, upon the occasion of the election of the seven             door gehecl andere middelen moet worden  uitgeoefend."
deacons (Acts  li:l-6) it is the  bretjtre~t  who are  told to       To the delineation of +the above propositions the four
select from their number seven men of good report                 commissaries devote considerable space, LVe quote the
(wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men             following :
of honest report). The four commissaries aver that the               "Te meer nog meenen deputaten tot dit  advies   ge-
appellatives  men and brethren  and  brethren  do not include     rechtigd te zijn omdat naar hun  oordee1  de tijdsomstan-
the women. Such, so they say, is the case only in the             tligheden, waarin we leven, de invoering van het  vrou-
epistles.                                                         wenkiesrecht in de kerk niet wenschelijk  maken,   zelfs
       The four commissaries maintain that their exposition       nog afgedacht van de bezw*aren   aan de Schrift ontleend.
of the above scriptures is in harmony with Paul's teach-          Ze komen daarmede toe aan het tweede deel van de task,
ings relative to the position of the woman in the Church.         door de Synode hun opgedragen, n. 1. om te onderzoeken
They are cognizant of the fact that in Christ the woman           in hoeverre die tijdsomstandigheden de invoering van het
is man's equal as in Him there is neither man nor woman           vrouwenkiesrecht wenschelijk  maken  of niet.  Het kan
(Gal. 3  28). This equality, however, must be confined            kwalijk  ontkend  worden,  dat ook thans, evenals in de
to the benefits derived from the death of Christ  - in            dagen der Apostelen een sterke strooming ontstaan is
which benefits the woman is made to share as well as om de vrouw, gelijk men het noemt, te  enancipeeren,
the man. Even so, the man is the head of the woman;               d. TV. z. haar op elk terrein, zoowel voor het staatkundig
which  headship  was not rendered void by the advent of           en burgerlijk als voor het kerkelijk leven, als gelijke van
Christ.      Such are the teachings of Scripture.  "But  I        den man te  laten  optreden en  dar deze algemeene  geesy  '
would have you know, that the head of every man is                tesstrooming van  onzen  tijd niet  alleen  geen rekening
Christ ; and the head of the woman is the man ; and the           houdt met hetgeen Gods TNoord ons leert aangaande cle
head of Christ is God (I Cor. 11 : 3). The wife shall             verhouding van man en vrouw, maar  zelfs  bewust  zich
submit herself to her own husband (Eph. 5 :22; Col. 3 :18:        tegen de ordinantie door God gesteld, keert. En al  ont-
Titus 2 5 ; I Pet. 3 :l). From this ordinance of creation         kennen deputaten allerminst, dat door deze beweging ook
it follows that the woman, aside from the marital state,          bestaande misstanden zijn weggenomen . . . .  tech mag
may exercise no dominion over the man or place herself            dit het oog niet  doen sluiten voor de verkeerde en  on-
as his equal next to him. Her place is under the man.             schriftuurlijke beginselen, waarvan deze beweging  uit-
This is evident from I Cor. 11 :lO which asserts that the         gaat . . . . Zelfs al zou het vrouwenkiesrecht op zichzelf
woman ought to have a power on her head, that  is?  a             niet ongeoorloofd wezen,  dan zouden de tijdsomstandig-
covering, in sign that she is under the power of the              heden  het nog niet raadzaam  maken, dit thans in te
man. Then, too, she must keep silence in  the Churches:           voeren,  omdat daardoor voedsel zou worden  gegeven aan
for it is not permitted unto her to speak (I Cor.  14:34)..       een beweging, die  tegCn  Gods Woord ingaat."           Let us
In 1 Tim.  2:11, 12 the \v.v'oman is forbidden to  t&h. The       stop here.
woman's task is that of a serving love. Her field of labor           Dr. Hepp feels certain "dat allen  het er we1 over eens
in the Church should be enlarged. She should be given             zullen zijn, dat deputaten hierin een doorwrocht stuk
a place in the Sunday school and be permitted to function         werk hebben geleverd." Fact is,  however!  that the stabil-
in the capacity of evangelist. Both as evangelist and as          ity and the thoroughness of the work done by the four
teacher she should be content to function as man's                commissaries are not at all apparent. Their report will
helper. In a word, more should be done to unfold and              fail to furnish the approaching synod with the materials
develop the calling of the woman. When the woman                  needed to refute the arguments of Ds. Lindeboom. Com-
takes part in the  eIection  of church officers she does so       pared with the memoir of Lindeboom, the composition
not as man's helper but as his equal. Enfranchised, she           of the commissaries is an inferior piece of work. Of the
could even gain the  ascendency  over the man.            This    two, the memoir is the more convincing. In the  Geref.
happened in Switzerland.        The members of a certain          Kbl.  Dr. C.  Eouma  (of the Netherlands) asserts: "Wie
church had congregated for the purpose of calling  a              de redeneering en argumenteering van Ds. Lindeboom
minister. The group met was constituted of women as               met aandacht heeft  .gevolgd,  zal onder den indruk  zijn
the men had failed to appear. Consequently the joint              gekomen,  `dat hij in zijn betoog  zeer  sterk staat. De  Sy-
will of the women predominated. So far the four com-              node van Groningen zal hard werk hebben, om, de beide
missaries.      Herewith they completed what  I-Iepp  is          redeneeringen naast elkaar leggende, aan een van beide
pleased to call "het principieele  deel of their task.            het  recht van gelijk toe te kennen. Neemt ze de  con-
   The four commissaries have still other objections of           clusies der deputaten  aan, dan zal ze  aan het  weerleg-
a more practical nature. They maintain  "dat de  invoe-           gen van de bezwaren en uiteenzettingen van Ds.  Linde-
ring van dit  vrouwenstemrecht  onder de tegenwoordige            boom  een  heele  k&f hebben." An assertion of this kind
tijdsomstandigheden niet zonder gevaar  zou  wezen  met           goes to show that the  deliverences  of Lindeboom made
het  oog  op de onchristelijke  emancipatie-beweging,  die an impression. This does not at all mean that Lindeboomi


                                     -.       T  I-1 E  S  `.I:  14  N D A Ii D B E  ~1 R E  j2                                                                547
                                                                           ...ll_lll               _l-._.----...^..-"   __-  - - -   -....... .._ ._^......  ""-"..

in  zijql bctoog  zces  .sterlz  slaal.    Considci-131  by  itself his     lijk volhardenclc in  bet  bid&n  en  smecken,  met de vrou-
memoir is lacking in strength. The arguments prcsenterl                     wcn en Maria, de mocder  van Jezus  en met zijne broede-
are fallacious and can easily  1.~ undermined.                Neither       ren." Petrus  trad, \:ers  1.5, blijkbaar op in dezelfde opper-
are we agreed with Bouma when he maintains that "de                         zaal, als van te voren  gesproken was (vers 13). Hij deed
synode van Groningen aan het weerleggen van de bezwa-                       dit  in  deselfde dagen.  Het Grieksche woord hier voor
ren en uiteenzettingen van Ds. Lindeboom een  heelc                         dezelfde  gebruikt wijst op een zeer nauwe verbinding
kluif zal hebben". It is our conviction that the four com-                  met wat  onmiddelijk  voorafgaat.                     Bedoeld  worden  de
missaries will experience no difficulty in exposing the                     dagen,  toen  de vrouwen blijvend  bijeenkwamen  tot  vol-
fallacies of Lindeboom's reasonings which they now                          hardend gebed  om den Heiligen Geest.
know. Only they must sit down and think matters                                 Dat uit de aanspraak van Petrus in vers 16,  Avannen
through and make sure that they are fully equipped with                     Breeders,  zou blijken, dat  alleen  de aanwezige  mannen
The Word as a sword.                                                        tot het  verkiezingswerk  werden opgeroepen, kan evenmin
    This much is plain : the matter of the enfranchisement                  worden  toegegeven als dat in het  Broeders  van Hand 6:3
of the woman in the Church has developed into a live                        de aanwijzing zou liggen, dat de  menigte  dir  discipelen,
issue in the reformed circles of the Netherlands. Dr.                       vers  2,  clie geroepen werd tot verkiezing van diakenen,
Hepp writes : "In de pers werd tot nog toe, onder  het-                     alleen uit mannen  zou hebben bestaan.
geen mij onder de oogen kwam, volstaan met een  objec-                          Immers, wanneer de apostelen  zich  richten  tot de
tieve  weergave of van een except van wat in beide                          g e h e e 1 e gemecnte,  zijn zij gewoon, deze steeds aan te
memories opgemerkt werd  ; en van critiek, of van een                       spreken met  "breeders"; zie Rom.  1  :13,  7:1, 10  :I,  I Cor.
besliste keuze, onthield men zich in den regel; al hebben                   2:1,  3:1,  4:6,  lO:l,  112,  12:1,   1.5:1,  58,  16:1.5  en vele  an-
vcrschillende classes en kerkeraden zich met de meerder-                    dere plaatsen. Slechts  dAn   worden  door hen  de  zusters
:heid homogeen verklaard ; waartegen dan weer het andere                    uitdrukkelijk genoemd en aangesproken, als zij iets heb-
feit staat,  dat  er ook  stemmen   opgaan,  die op uitstellqz   aan-       hen te zeggen dat speciaal  haar geldt. Van de aanspraak
dringen en andere, die in de  rich&g,  welke Dr. Lindeboom                  "broeclers en  zusters" bedienen zij  zich nooit.  .Altijd
voorstaat,  een beslissing  wenschen."                                      gaat bij hen de man voorop, wordt de vrouw in den man
    It appears that a certain number, how large we know                     hegrepen. 266 b. v. in de adressen en zegengroeten der
not, were unable to resist the apparently cogent reason-                    zendbrieven : den heiligen,  Rom. 1  :7, Ef. 1  :l, Fil. 1  :l ;
ing of Lindeboom. Even Dr. Hepp is  of the conviction                       den geheiligden in  Christus   Jezus,  1  Cot-. 1  2,  `waar  zij
"dat er ook in deze Memorie [that of Lindeboom] heel                        steeds den mannelijken geslachtsvorm gebruiken, evenals
wat studie  zit."       It is plain that if the author of the               in de groetenissen  aan het slot. Met is de geheele  ge-
Memotie  is not  effectil:cly  silenced, he will continue to                meente,  oak haar vrouwelijke  leden, die zij onder den
lead men astray.                                                            naam van "broeders" of andere woorden in mannelijken
    Let us now direct  our attention to the contents of                     geslachtsvorm saamvatten.  Zij begrijpen de vrouw in
Lindeboom's Memoir. To begin with. Ds. Lindeboom                            den man, maar niet met de beddeling,  haar "op te lossen"
maintains that the conclusions at which the four com-                       in den man en zoo haar eigen recht en plicht, haar werk
missaries arrive to the effect that Scripture rather op-                    en eere te  miskennen.  Wat in Efeze 6 gezegd wordt tot
poses than favors the enfranchisement of the woman in                       de vaders,  vers  4! de dienstknechten, vers  5, de heeren,
the Church - is unwarranted.                He maintains that the           vers 9, geldt  tech  zeker  Sk de moeders, de  dienstmaag-
Scriptures which they appeal to throw no light on the                       den, de  vrouwen? Is er  we1  CPne  \-ermaning,  met  "broe-
matter. Such is the case with the selection from the                        ders" ingeleid, die niet tevens tot de zusters  wordt   ge-
first chapter of Acts (verses  526)  inasmuch as  the                       richt? Als b. v.  Paulus, Ef. 6  :lO, zegt : "Voorts, mijne
lot was used to determine which of the  twa men ap-                         broeders, words krachtig in den Heere", of, 1 Thess.  5:
pointed should fill the vacancy caused by the apostasy                      2.5 : `%roeders, bidt  voor  ens,"  ZOLI  hij dan ook niet  aan
of Judas.  I.,indeboom  seems to ignore the fact that the                   de vrouwelijke gemeenteleden hebben gedacht? Wie  zal
selection was made from a duo made by the disciples or                      op grond van Jac. 5  9:  "Zucht  niet tegen elkander,
brethren. It is plain that the reason why he refuses to                     broeders  !" met ernst durven beweren, dat dit  zuchten
admit this passage is not valid. He seems to sense this,                    den zusteren w&l geoorloofd is?
too, for he makes another attempt to disqualify the                             Indieh uit Hand. 6 iets valt af te leiden voor de vraag,
passage.     He maintains that the group in the midst of                    die ons bezighoudt, dan pleit dit v66r  het deelnemen der
which the election took place was constituted  of women                     vrouwen  aan de verkiezing. Tn  rers  5 lezen we: "Dit
as well as of men. For "`ten eerste worden  in vers 15 de                   woord behaagde  aan al de menigte, en zij verkoren  Ste-
aanwezigen nader  omschreven  sls  een  schure wan omtrent                  fanus,  enz." `Vergelijk hierbij Hand. 1423: "En als zij
honderd en ttintig personen  melk woord schare ,in den regel                (de apostelen) hun in elke gemeente met opsteken der
gebruikt  wordt  vnor een menigte bestaande uit  mannen                     handen  ouderlingen verkoren hadden  . . . ."; hier is zelfs
en vrouwen.                                                                 geen sprake van de "broeders", maar ran de gemeente,
  En ten tweede (so he continues:) mag niet  worden                         waartoe mannen  en vrouwen behoorden.
voorbijgezien het  verband,  waarin  vers  15 staat tot vcrs                   Wat o. i.  Ales  afdoet, is: dat van de in de  Gerefor-
14,  waar gezegd wordt: `LDezc   allen   waren  eendrachtig-                meerde  Kerken  ten onzent gebruikelijke wijze van  ver-


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                                                                                 have to wait. There will be no period that he shall be
            M E D I T A T I O N                                                  found naked. The very  moment  he shall have to  leave
                                                                                 his earthly house, he shall find the heavenly mansion all
                                                                            - prepared for him!
                                                                                     And not only does he speak of his own certitude with
          E A R T H L Y   T E N T   A N D   H E A V E N L Y                      regard to that heavenly mansion of glory, but he invites
                                M A N S I O N                                    the entire church of Christ Jesus to make the glorious
                                                                                 confession their own: We know, that when our earthly
                             "Far  WC know, that if our earthly house of
                           this  tabernacle   wcrc  dissolved, we have a         house of this tabernacle is dissolved we shall have a house
                           building of Cod, an house not made with               with God!
                           hands, eternal in the heavens" (11 Cor. 5:1].             An house, not made with hands! An house eternal  1
     From an earthly tent to an heavenly mansion!                                An house in the heavens!
     From a frail and  weak: limited and perishable sub-                              When we die  WC only move!
 sistence in the flesh to an abiding home of glory!                                   From earthly tent to heavenly mansion!
     Such is the transformation the children  of God expect                           What blessed knowledge !
 when the grim power of death comes to ruin and dissolve
 their earthly frame! And of the certitude that this last                             WC know!
 transformation will bring them to an eternal home  oi                                Our earthly house shall be dissolved.
 glory, they are taught to speak and to sing in the words                             :It must bc remembered, that it is the children of God,
 of our text!                                                                    born not of flesh nor by the will of man, but by the
     For mark you, when the text says:  if our earthly                           Spirit of Christ, that are here glorifying the hour of their
 house of this tabernacle were dissolved, it does not intend                     death.
  to infer that this is questionable. The apostle is not here                         They are speaking of their present existence as an
  thinking of the possibility or of the probability, that per-                   earthly house.
  haps his earthly frame will never have to be dissolved,                             And to that earthly house  belongs their entire out-
  seeing that the Lord will appear again to transform him                         ward man as distinguished from their inward man in
 and all the church into glory before death will break down                       Christ Jesus. For they were  begot& for the second
  his earthly house of this tabernacle. He is speaking of                        time, thru the resurrection of their Lord from the dead.
  the hour of death, of the moment when the  tent of his                         And now they live a new life, even as they have become
  present subsistence shall finally be rolled up to leave                        new creatures. That new life is their real life. It is from
  behind nothing but the black ashes remaining, where                            above. It is heavenly. And from the viewpoint of their
  once burnt the hearth-fire of his earthly life, in the  desert-                inner man, of that new and heavenly Iife, they regard
  sands of his pilgrim's path.. . .                                               their outward man, their present existence in the body
     That end will certainly come!                                               and they call it their earthly house.
     The moment when the Grim Detroyer shall lay his                                  To that earthly house, surely, belongs the body and .
  earthly house in ruins he certainly expects!                                   all that is inseparably  reIatcd  to the life of their body.
     Only he glorifies the day !                                                  In that body their life is limited and fenced in on every
     He anticipates its approach with joy!                                       side. They see with earthly eyes and with them they
     For he knows, that when the one house is destroyed                           perceive only earthly things. They hear with earthly
  he shall not be naked, he shall not be found without a                          ears and it is only earthly sounds they hear. They are
  dwelling, but shall enter into a mansion far more desir-                       dependent upon earthly things for rheir very subsistence,
  able than this earthly house ever could be! That abiding                        and they cannot  transcend  them as long as they live in
  house of glory shall be found prepared. He shall not                            this earthly house. Earthly bread they must eat, and

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

earthly `water they must drink. With a thousand ties                  It is a  piIgrim's  tent..  .,.
 they are bound to things earthly as long as they dwell               It is not forever!
 in the body. In the body they live an earthly life.  TO              And he that dwells in it looks forward to the day
it belong the ties of earthly fellowship and love. For           when the end of the journey shall be reached, when the
thru the body they are related to father or mother, to           earthly house shall be dissolved, when the tent shall be
man or wife, to brother or sister, to friend and companion.      folded up forever, and when he shall be allowed to leave
In the body they must labor and toil and live all the life       it, tent and pilgrim staff and all.. . .
of the world.  . . .                                                  The earthly house is transient.
    To that earthly house belong the sufferings of this               Presently it shall be dissolved!
present time. For these are inseparably connected with                We know!
their life in the body. The travailings of pain, the pangs
of sorrow and grief, the sighs of mourning, all these be-             We know!
long to their earthly house of this tabernacle. It is in              That we have an house with God!
this earthly house that they struggle and fight the battle,           An house not made with hands, eternal in the
that the hostile world reproaches and persecutes them,           heavens !
brings upon them tribulation and affliction for Christ's              To that heavenly house belongs first of all the glory
sake . . , .                                                     of the state in the house of many mansions, a glory rhat
    Still more.                                                  shall be ours immediately upon the dissolution of our
    Sot only the body, but all that belongs to the life of       earthly tabernacle.
the body is implied in this earthly house of this taber-              For there will be no moment of nakedness.
nacle.                                                                The very moment our earthly pilgrims-garb is cast
    When the Christian dies, much more takes place than          off and laid aside, the festive robes of glory shall be cast
mere separation of soul and body. He leaves behind               about our shoulders.
much more than the mere life of his physical existence.               The exit of our earthly house is also the entrance of
    The inward man in Christ leaves the entire outward           our heavenly mansion.
man of the body of this death!                                        The sigh of death will merge into the song of eternal
    To that earthly house in which, for a time, the inward       life !
man dwells as in a tent, belongs for that reason also the             Oh, how, just how that life will be, when the inward
sinful nature, the body of this death. For in his first          man shall enter into glory to be with Christ, before the
birth he was born in corruption and he was. a child of           Lord of life and death shall come to have the final victory
wrath. The power of sin enslaved him, the service of             also over mortal bodies, no tongue may be able to express
sin enticed him, the lusts of the flesh he accomplished.         and no pen may describe. There may be many mysteries
And although in his second birth he was in principle             here and many questions. But we know that it will be
made free from the law of sin and death, yet the very            glory and nothing but glory. Negatively it will be per-
movements and operations of sin are still in his members.        fect liberation from all sin and imperfection, from all
And as he travels his pilgrim's way he often stumbles            the power of the devil and of the world, from all  battIe
and is often put to grief because of the tempting power          and struggle, from all pain and sorrow and grief and
of that sin that is still operative in his members. What         trouble. And positively it will be the perfection of holi-
he wills he does not, and whar he wills not he finds him-        ness and bliss. It will be the perfect victory. It will be
self doing. And because of it he often groans while he           perfect communion with our ever blessed God. It will
travels onward in his earthly tent: Who shall deliver me         be unfailing nearness to Christ, our beloved Redeemer.
from the body  uf this death?. . . .                             It will be fellowship unmarred with all the saints that
    To that earthly house belongs the whole world of             have gone before. It will be to know as we are known,
darkness and sin, with which he must needs come into             to see face  r0  face.. . .
contact as long as he dwells in  rhis earthly tabernacle.            It will be a dwelling in God's tent, a walking with
Now that world glitters and seduces, now it offers its           Him in perfected friendship . . . .
pleasures and its treasures, again it threatens and raves,           But this is not all.
all the while purposing to lead astray and to bring to               For while we enter this eternal house in the heavens
grief the new man in Christ. . . .                               the moment our earthly house of this tabernacle is dis-
    In brief, that earthly house is the entire present state     solved, it is not at that same moment completed.
of the inner man of the Christian, with all its limitations          To the perfected house in the heavens belong also our
and imperfections, with all its temptations and sinfulness,      resurrection bodies. For they shall be raised. They shall
with all its battles and struggles, with all its troubles and    be raised in glory. A body weak and inglorious, corrupt-
afflictions, its pain and sorrow, its grief and woe, its         ible and earthy was laid aside to be dissolved.      13ut   a
groanings and tears, its cries for forgiveness, its sighs        body strong and glorious, incorruptible and heavenly
for deliverance, its defeats and victories, its resolutions      shall be raised. A body natural was put into the grave:
and failures . . . .                                             a body spiritual shall be raised. For as in this earthly
    That earthly home is a tabernacle. . . .                     house we bear the image of the earthy, so we shall also


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                 555
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bear the image of the heavenly in our heavenly house             smitten, pursued, bearing about in the body the dying
eternal. Then we shall see with heavenly eyes and hear           of the Lord Jesus.. . .
with heavenly ears and  .walk   in. heavenly glory, free             The things that are seen are not the object of our
from the limitations of things earthy, in the midst  of  hope.
things heavenly !                                                    But we look for the things that are not seen, the
      To the perfected house belong all the saints that have     things that are eternal. For we know that if our earthly
been chosen in Christ. The glory of that house is not            house of this tabernacle shall be dissolved we shall have
perfected till the last one  `of God's chosen people shall       an house with God, not made with hands, eternal in the
have entered. For only when all the children are home , heavens!
is the house of many mansions perfected.                             Wirh our eye on it we take courage to fight the battle
      To that heavenly house belong the new heavens and          to'the finish!
the new earth in which righteousness shall dwell. Then,              With the hope eternal in our breast, we take up the
when all things shall have been completed, and the               staff of the pilgrim once more, determined to finish the
groaning creature shall have been delivered from the             journey, as strangers and sojourners in the world.
bondage of corruption to partake in its own way of the               For we know, not only that the eternal house of
glorious liberty of the children of God, when all things         glory awaits us in the end.
shall  have been made new, then the heavenly house'shall             But also, that our present light  afflicti,on  must work
be perfect, and God shall spread His tabernacle over all 1        for `us an exceeding weight of glory !
      What glorious transformation !                                 We  know! And the knowledge tills us with joy even
      The earthly house is perishable, the heavenly not           in the midst of grief!
made with hands !                                                    Blessed certitude !
      The earthly house is a house of sin and imperfection,                                                                                H. H.
the heavenly is a mansion of holiness and perfection !
      The earthly house is a dwelling of suffering and
groaning; the heavenly abode is a house of perfect                                                     BEDE
blessedness and joy !                                                     Eenig Wijze en Eeuwig Ware.!
      The earthly house is transient, the heavenly eternal!                  Neem mij  elken  blinddoek af!
      We know!                                                            Dat mijn ziel dien vrede ervare,
      Oh, what blessed knowledge!                                            Dien geen arme wereld gaf!
                                                                          Breek een di-oom waarover "t waas leit
      We know!                                                               Van een schitterend bederf!
      Oh, yes, we know I                                                  Ruil mijn dwaasheid voor Uw wijsheid!
      We know because of the resurrection of Jesus from                      Leer mij leven eer ik sterf!
the dead ! He was dead and He lives.  I-Ie died for  US                                                                    J. J. L. Ten Kate
and He lives for us. He arose with a life that is not of
this earth, earthy, but of heaven, heavenly. He went
before as the Captain of our salvation. His resurrec-                                     GODS BESLUITEN
tion, His exaltation to His place in the highest  heav,ens,
there to prepare a place-for us,, is a sure pledge that we          Gelijk als in een kblk, een steentje  valt  te gronde,
shall follow Him!                                                   het water werpt terstond een ringsken  in het ronde,
       We know, because in our earthly house of this taber-         en van het eene komr een ander schieten uit
nacle we groan. And we groan because we long to be                  waervan  een ander straks en weer een ander spruit,
delivered and to be where Father is, where Christ is,
where His glorious people are, where perfected holiness,            zoodat in korten tijd de oogen daarop dwalen:
perfected friendship, perfected communion are; where it             de grootte noch  `t getal niet kunnend achterhalen. -
is light and where no more darkness shall be. And we                Zoo gaat het ook met mij, o groote God en  Heel-:
long to be delivered and aspire after that perfect light,           van toen  mijn tong begon  te stamelen Uw eer.
because there has been begotten within us a new life, a
new man, the inner man, that is born from above. And                Het eene denk ik na, het ander valt mij inne;
thar new man is the beginning of the resurrection-life of
J                                                                   Uw wijsheyt, IJw gericht,  Uw waerheyt, Uwe minne,
     esus. It can never die. It shall never perish. It must         omringen mij te zaam in  C&en  oogendag :
proceed from glory to glory. When it leaves the earthly
house of this tabernacle there must be a house eternal
awaiting it in the heavens ! . . . .                                en wil ik van het een of `t ander doen  gewag,
                                                                    Uw raad en Uw besluit mij zoo geheel verslinden,
       Yes, we know!
       And nothing less than the certain knowledge would            dar ik daerin noch  grond noch  oever weet te vinden.
                                                                                                                                  Jacob Revius
satisfy.
       For here we are pressed on every side, perplexed,                    (Nederl. predikant en dichter  uit de ISde  eeuw)


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                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 563
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     geheel ons hart en met al onze krachten, cn om  als het                     t THE  TYPOLOGY  O,F SCRIPTURE
     volk des verbonds den  goeden  strijd te strijden tot het
     einde toe. Altijd naar den Schriftuurlijken regel, dat het                          The Institution of Marriage
     `geheel van het organisch bostaan van Gods kerk in de
     wereld genoemd moet worden  en behandeld  overeenkom-                  The report of the four commissaries together with
     stig het karakter van den uitverkoren kern. En wie het              the memoir of Ds. C. Lindeboom furnished the  mate-
     tech anders doet, verongelijkt de gemeente en handelt               i-ials for our previous article.       Lindeboom defends
     niet naar Gods Woord.                                               the proposition that the enfranchisement of the `women
        Over de praktische beteekenis van dit alles een  vol-            in the church is scriptural. His defense is apparently
     gende keer.                                             H. H.       strong. Fact is, however, that the conclusion at which
                                                                         he arrives is unjustifiable. In this article we purpose to
                                                                         expose the fallacies of  Lindeboom"s  reasonings. True
                           OPWEKKING                                     it is that the Synod of Groningen, now in session, also
                                                                         will attend, before it dissolves, to this matter. But this
     Wees needrig  (ja `t is plicht) ; maar moedig in `t belijden,       need not prevent us from laying hold on his views. For
     En wakker, waar `t  u voegt voor JEZUS' eer te strijden;            in the first place, the question whether the women in the
     Draag eigen spot en smaad, maar heilig steeds Zijn Naam             church should be admitted to the church voting booth
     In vlekkeloos gedrag en waar  `t ook in  betaam.                    constitutes one of the phases of our subject. Further.
     Belag de dwaasheid van  den Tijdgeest niet; `t bevechten            Lindeboom has placed  his  tindings  upon the book  mgr-
     Des vijands is de plicht  van wakkre legerknechten.                 ket. Hence, they have become public property.  FinalIy,
     Ja,  rusten.  we ons, omgord met Waarheid. tot den strijd,          Lindeboom's views have been circulated in our own cir-
     Waartoe we in Christus' bloed bij `t doopbad zijn gewijd;           cles, brought to the attention of as many as read "The
     En schutten wij `t  geschut der pijlbus van de logen                Reformatie."    It is a fact that his reasonings impress
     Op `t  schild  van `t waar  geloof, hoe zwermdicht  aange-          many as being very cogent. Even a man like Dr. C.
                                                         vlogen.         Bouma of the Netherlands was  unabIe  to resist them.
     De  heIm  del;  zaligheid  dekk' `t opgeheven hoofd ;               To that degree that this happens in our own circles to
     Geen zwaard ontbreekt den arm waar `t hart oprecht ge-              that same degree will it be maintained that we err in our
                                                               looft.    articles. That would mean thaf w.e have written in vain.
     ,Maar  bidden, smeeken we, en bewaken  we ook onszeIven  !             Is not the synod capable of dealing with Lindeboom ?
     De Booze deinz'.voor `t oog, zijn toevlucht is het delven;          To this we reply that it is not at all certain that this
     Hij werkt in duisternis, en ondermijnt den grond ;                  body will take a firm stand. For some are of the opinibn
     Dan waggelt, duizeft zelfs, die schijnbaar zeker stond.             that the issue is not important. Fact is, however, that
     Beproeven we of wij staan op `t ware rotsgesteente,                 the question as  to whether the women in the church
     `t Nooit wanklend fondament van Jezus' keurgemeente ; should be admitted to the voting booth is one of
     En dat geen overmacht van `t opgestaan Heelal                       most  vital importance. The enfranchisement of the
     Verweldigen, of van zijn Wortel scheuren zal.                       woman in the church means the disintegration and de-
                                                     Bilderdijk          terioration of the institutional life of the church. This
                                                                         will be made plain in the sequence.
                                                                            In this article, let it be repeated, we wish to prove
                            DE EENIGE                                    that the conclusions at which Lindeboom arrives are
               (Tokkeling  van Melanchton's  harp)                       unwarranted. This can best be done by returning to and
                                                                         working on our theme - The Institution of Marriage -
              Wat ben  ik, en wat heb ik, Heer?                          until we shall have laid hold upon the whole truth. It
              Wat Gij mij maakt en geeft, niet meer!                     will be easy to detect, in the light of this truth, the flaws
              Zoo neem dan mij en `t mijne weer !  -                     in the, views of Lindeboom.
                                                                            Let us pick. up the thread where it was broken off.
              Verdwijnt elk ander aangezicht,                            The particular phase of our subject upon which we were
              Uw hemelsch oog, vol liefde en  licht,                     working is the symbolism of the marriage state. The
              Blijve eeuwig op mijn ziel gericht!                        ideal marriage is a symbol of the life lived by the triune
                                                                         God. Marriage is also a symbol of the union between
              Ontbind me in `t uiterst oogenblik !                       God and Christ, and of Christ and the church. "And I
              Ontneem den bleeken dood zijn schrik,                      would have you know that the head of every man is
              En  - love U nog mijn jongste snik!                        Christ; and the head of every woman is rhe man, and
                                                                         the head of Christ is God" (I Cor.  11:3).
              U volgt mijn hart op alle  paan!                              The union of the man and the woman is the ectype,
              De zeilsteen trekt het ijzer  aan:                         imaging the original.         The triune God; the union
              `k Zal  achter   U ten  hemel gaan.                        of God and Christ, and of Christ and the church
                                           J. J. L. Ten Kate             constitute respectively rhe originals, the models.  The


334                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
. ""._____--.__  . ..-.                  _......_ ^_^^...                                                              _I-

features of the ectype were patterned after those of the           that of the man, that of the woman and that of the child
archetype. It will profit us to view both the former and           or children. They are distinct, the one from the other
the latter at close range (as close as Scripture permits).         and assume over against each other an objective relation.
Having done so we should be able to discern that the               The man is characterized husband in his relation to the
ideal marriage is indeed a semblance of loftier and more           woman, and father in his relation to the offspring. The
glorious unions. With this semblance in our eye it will            woman is wife to the man and mother of the offspring.
be safe for us to make certain deductions  relative  to the        And the latter is known as son (or daughter) in his rela-
character  of the institution of marriage, the status              tion to the man and the woman.
and the reciprocal duties and responsibilities of the man             The three - husband, wife and child  - are one.
and the woman in their relation to each other. Further,            They possess the same being and nature not. however,
knowing that marriage, shall it be pleasing to God, must           as to totality and number but as to kind (Gen. 3  :18).
resemble things heavenly, and equipped with a knowledge            And the Lord said.. .  ., I will make him a helper as  over
of the semblances we will be able to detect, with little           against  him. The three are organically one. The woman
difficulty, any departure from the ideal.                          is out of the man and the child is the offspring of both
       The Janctified  family - the union of the man and the       the husband and the wife (Gen.  11:21,  22).
woman and the offspring  - is an image of the triune                  The organical oneness of (sinless) nature (it should
God and the life lived by the Father, the Son and the              be borne in mind that we are dealing with the marriage
Holy Spirit in their relation to each other. Let us first          reIation  as untainted by sin) is the basis of an ethical
direct our attention to the archetype. God is  ore as to           spiritual unity between husband, wife and child (I will
D&g, essence. In the one Godhead are three moods of                make him a hel$tir as over against him j. The three are
existence which we designate person, but which in Scrip-           close friends. The one is loved by the other. They are
ture are called Father, Son and Holy Ghost respectively.           of the same mind. There is a singleness of purpose ; an
Each person is the one, true God and possesses the same            absence of conflict and strife. It is clear that the sanc-
divine essence as to totality and as to number. The one,           tified family is indeed an image of the triune God.
singIe essence, then, exists in each of the three Persons             It should be kept in mind, however, that the family,
who are, therefore, distinct but not divided. There is             constituted of creatures, is an image and not a replica
but one Godhead, one divine mind, will, power, common              or reduplication of God.     Hence, it differs essentially
to the several Persons.                                            from the triune God. The husband, the wife and the off-
       In the one Godhead, let it be repeated, are three moods     spring are  organically,  but not metaphysically one. The
of existence which we designate person. They are  dis-             three do not possess the one single essence. The oneness
tit%& the One from the Other, insofar as the One assumes           of essence and of nature is a unity not as to number but
over against the Other an objective relation. The One is           as to kind. Hence, the husband, the wife and the off-
spoken to and loved by the Other. However, the Three               spring are not only distinct but also metaphysically
think, will, love and desire in the one single mind and            divided.
will, respectively, as Father, as Son and as Holy Spirit.             In that degree that the family exhibits an  ethical-
       The unity of essence is at once the basis of a spirit-      spiritual oneness, in that degree does it image the triune
ual-ethical unity between the Persons. The Three are               Gad. And the basis of this unity is the sinless nature,
close friends. The one is loved and desired by the other.          common to the various members. The family whose mem-
They think and will alike. Conflict and strife in the              bers are dead in sin can be no image of God.
Godhead are impossible and inconceivable.                             But the marriage relation is an image of still other
       The three, then, are metaphysically  an< spiritually        heavenly unions. God, so the apostle avers, is the head
one. The ground of the unity of essence is the works.of            of Christ and Christ is the head of the church. These
God  ad  intra  called generation and spiration. The gen- two unions constitute two of the main themes of Scrip-
eration of the Son is that eternal and necessary deed of           ture. Hence, we may view them at close range. It will
the First Person of the Trinity whereby He, in the same            profit us to do so as the  headship  of God and that of
Being, is the ground of the existence of the Second Per-           Christ are the models after which the  headship of the
son like unto His and whereby He causes this Person to             man in his relation to the woman is patterned. With the
share in the possession of the entire divine essence.              lineaments of the archetype in our eye we should be able
       Likewise is  thi: spiration of the Spirit that necessary    to trace and even construct when necessary the features
and eternal deed of the Father and the Son whereby                 of the ectype - the marriage relation.
They, in the same divine essence, are the ground of the               Let us now show regard to the union of God and
existence of a Third Person like unto Theirs and whereby           Christ.     We shall direct our attention to the parties
They cause this Person to share in the possession of the           united and thereupon institute an inquiry into the char-
entire divine essence.                                             acter of the union. The first party to the union is God -
       Let US direct our attention to the ectype - the family.     the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. The sec-
There is, to be sure, a striking analogy. Also in the fam-         ond party is the Son of God in the capacity of mediator
ily we meet with the number three: the man, the woman              - the Christ. The parties united, then, are the triune
and the offspring, presenting three moods of existence,            God and the Christ.      To regard the name  God as  a


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   H E A R E R                                            565
~                                _......._._.  --_-___--  -      _---~.-.-__l                            --._l_l_____--
signification of the Father only, means to exclude the                Mary, suffered under Pontius, was crucified, dead and
Holy Ghost from the compact and to lower the legal                    buried and dcccnded into hell, rose again from the dead
status of God the Son  us such to that of a servant. This             and ascended into heaven and now sitteth at the right
may not be done. The Son is God from everlasting unto                 hand of God the Father Almighty.
everlasting also as to His legal status. True, He "made                  The  headship of God, then, implies that the Word
Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form                  became flesh; that this flesh constitutes together with
of a servant, and was made in  the likeness of men: and               God a oneness, whose principal and ruler is God. It is
being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and              plain that `it will not do to say with Godet that "deze ge-
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross"              dachte van ondergeschiktheid van Christus als wezen,  dat
(Phil. 2 :7,S>. However, the Son is servant in the human              van eeuwigheid bestond, voigt uit de woorden  Zoon  cn
Christ. The humiliation was an experience of the human                Woord"  (Godet, Corinthe,  p. 4%). The life lived by the
Jesus. Only because of the close union between the per-               triune God is a covenant Iife of the highest possible type
son of the Son and the assumed human nature, may it be                for the reason rhat the one Person is, as to His legal
said of the Son that He humbled Himself and became                    status, the equal of the other.
obedient unto death. The second party to the union                       As was already mentioned, the Son of God is, as
then is the Christ, the incarnate word. True it is, that              mediator, in the assumed human nature, subordinate to
the Son is Mediator from eternity. Refore His incarna-                God. Such are the plain teachings of Scripture.  "The
tion .He functioned through the instrumentality of the                kings of the earth," so  one may read in Psalm 2,  "set
symbolical-typical apparatus of the old dispensation, and             themselves and take counsel together against the Lord
before the foundation of the earth His human nature was               and against His anointed (Christ). They say, Let us
ideally  presscnt.                                                    break their bands asunder and cast away their cords.
     Let us now attend to the character of the union.                 But He (God) that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh:
God is the head of Christ. We should know that nowhere                the Lord shall have them in derision. He shall speak
does Scripture assert that God is the head of the church,             unto them in His wrath and vex them in His sore dis-
oy that God the Father is the head of God the Son as                  pleasure."     "Yet, says the Lord, have  I  set my King
such. He is the head of Christ. The parties to the com-               (Christ) upon my holy hill." With no word of transition
pact are God and the Son of God in the capacity of                    the poet nom passes from the word of the Lord to that
Mediator. It must be, then, that the term head, as ap- of Christ. "I (Christ) will declare the degree: the Lord
plied to God, presupposes that mysterious, altogether hath said unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I
unique junction between God and the man Christ.  The                  begotten thee. Ask of me, I shall give unto  $hee the
assumed human nature  - the human Jesus  - is the                     heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of
personal property of the Son of God, the person of the earth for thine possession."
the Christ who in turn possesses with God the one,                       It should be noticed that the Lord speaks of Christ as
single essence.       This juncture is without a parallel. His anointed king. From the Lord this king shall receive
It has no replica among creatures. The person of the                  the heathen for an inheritance. From these utterances it is
Christ who possesses the one, single, divine essence is               clear that Christ is subject to God.
at once the person of the assumed human nature.                Be-       In Isaiah 49 God calls Christ His servant. "And he
cause of this junction God and Christ constitute an aito-             said, it is a light thing thar thou shouidest be my servant
gether  unique oneness.                                               to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved
     Of the two parties to the union God is the principal.            of Israel."    That the utterance applies to Christ is
As to His legal status He is superior to the man, Christ.             evident from the sequence: "I will give thee  .for a light
It cannot be otherwise since the latter is a creature as to           unto the gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto
His human nature. Not only the man Christ but ail men                 the ends of the earth" (Isaiah 49  6). See further Isa.
are the subordinates of God. There is a  diEerence,  how-             52:13-15;  Isa. 53. According to Christ's own testimony
ever.  I'n virtue of the mysterious junction between the              He is the subordinate of God who came to do the Father's
man Christ and God, the latter is the Sovereign of Christ will. Replying to the Jews He said: "For I came down
as head.                                                              from heaven not to do mine own will but the will of Him
     God, however, is head not only of the  man  Christ               that sent me" (John  628).  Upon another occasion He
but also of the divine person of the Saviour. In view of              informs His hearers that He received from His Father
the fact that the person of Jesus is God the question                 the commandment to lay down His life that He might
arises how this can be. Can God the Son lower his legal               take it up again (John  10:17,  19).
status? Can He dethrone Himself? No, indeed.  Facr                       Christ, further, recognizes God as His teacher.  His
is, thar the Son of God humbled Himself in the assumed                doctrine is not his own but his thar sent him (John 7 :13).
human nature. And as this nature  is  joined  to  the per-            The Son can do nothing of himself but what he see*&  the
son of the Son it follows that its status and experiences             Father do: for whatsoever he doeth these also doeth
are at once those of the Son of God. In view of this                  the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and
close junction ir is altogether correct to say that God the           showeth him ail things that himself doeth: and he will
Son was conceived by the,Holy  Ghost, born of the virgin              shew him greater works than these that ye rnay marvel


566                                      T H E   STAND.4RD   R E A R E R
--____  ---.------.                            ." ..- ~.."__ll__                                                   -_111

(John 5 :19, -70). He even confesses that He can do noth-           reprove with equity for the meek of the earth (Isa.  11  :
ing of himself (`John 5  :19). In days of trouble when              3-4).
buffeted by the enemy He sought the Lord and cried with                 It appears that it is altogether proper to denominate
His voice unto God. "Be not far from me," so He prayed,             God the king, prophet, priest of Christ. For He rules and
"for trouble is near and there is none to help. Many bulk           teaches the Christ and empowers Him to function as the
have compassed mc : strong `bulls of  Bashan  have beset            redeemer of the lost sheep.
me rotind. They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a                  Ever did He permit Himself to be taught and  gov-
ravening and roaring lion. I am poured out  Iike water              erncd by the Father. His confession was that He could
and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax:            do nothing of Himself. It was His meat and drink  tt)
it is melted in the midst of my bowels.. . . But be not             do the will of Him that sent Him. Xot once did He
far from me  0 Lord: 0 my strength, haste thee to help              display a spirit of revolt. Even in the darkest hour His
me. Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from                 prayer was : `(Not My will but Thy will be done." And
the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth;                God in turn testified that  Chrisr was the beloved Son
for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.              in whom He was well  pIeased.
1 will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst                 Once more, Christ and God constitute a oneness of
of the congregation will I praise thee" (Ps. 22).                   which God in a metaphysical and judicial sense is head.
   Christ. then, knew God as His son and shield. True               From this it follows that the work of redeeming the elect
it is, the Lord smote, afflicted and wounded Him for our            slaves held captive was a work performed by God as
transgressions and bruised Him for our iniquities. How-             well as by the Saviour. So Scripture plainly teaches.
ever, the  `way of suffering led to glory. The Lord gave            The Word became flesh.  It.was God the Son who came
grace and glory and withheld no good thing frdm Him                 into the World in order that we might have life through
that walked uprightly.                                              Him. It was God's blood which flowed and which now
   It is clear that God is the head of Christ. As head              serves as a covering for the sins of those born of Him.
He ( God) rules, teaches and loves the Christ.                         and finally, as one whose head is God, is Christ the
       Let it be repeated that God  as head  rules, teaches         Prophet-Priest-King of those whom the Father gave
and loves the Christ.        It means that He as  head  i.s         Him. It follows then that God is their  Prophet-Priest-
Christ's prophet, priest and king. Someone may  inter-              King supreme. He instructs and rules His people and
polare that it is doubtful whether the terms  proplzet  and         officiates at the altar in behalf of them in and through
priest  can be made to  apply to God. Let  us'see.  God is          Christ His servant.    -And of His sheep Christ is Prophet-
the supreme monarch of the universe.         For He is the          `Priest-King in God. In a word the work performed by
almighty Creator and in Him all things live and move                either is at once a work performed by both since Christ
and have their being. In a spiritual-ethical sense God is           and God are one.       Nevertheless there is a division of
king supreme of His people. For they are His work-                  labor. The task of bearing our sins upon the tree was
manship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which             a task performed not by God as such, but by Christ.
God  bath  before ordained that they should walk in                    Let us now enter upon the second phase of our sub-
them (Eph. L' :10). God is also Christ's king and in addi-          ject, viz., the headship  of Christ. The .%postle lvould have
tion His prophet and priest. To be sure we shall have               us know that as God is the head of Christ so Christ is the
to alter somewhat our definitions of the terms prophet              head of every believing. man.. The term  head as applied
and priest before we can apply them to God. In Scrip-               to Christ in relation to every man implies that He and
ture a prophet is one who speaks forth by divine inspira-           the man (every man) constitute an organic unity. Let
t'ion the counsel of God. Such a one is God's mouthpiece,           us attend to the implications of the junction. rt implies
God is no prophet in the sense that He declares unto men            in the first place that Christ and the man possess the same
the thoughts of another. It cannot be for He is God.                nature not as to number but as to kind. Our nature
He makes known unto men, in particular unto Christ.                 Christ assumed. He and we are branches of the same
His own thoughts and deliberations. Hence, He is the                tree,  - the human race. The junction  between  Christ
prophet of Himself.                                                 and every man implies further that also from an ethical-
   -4 priest in Scripture is one who officiates at the altar.       spiritual point of view the natures of the parties to the
Christ did so, and by His own blood He entered into the `union are the same. That is to say, is sinless. If ir were
holy place obtaining eternal redemption for us. God did             not thus, this junction could not be. Finally it is this
not offer  Hi.mself  for Christ and in His stead. Impelled          sameness of nature which, on the part of the man, is
by love He did, however, give Himself unto the Redeemer             the (creatural) source of two spiritual ties called faith
in the Holy  Spirir. Upon Christ the Spirit rested - the            and Iove, binding the man to Christ.         The man and
Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel           Christ, then, are organically one. Says Jesus: "I am the
and might, the Spirit of knowledge and. the fear of the             vine and ye are the branches" (John 15 3).
Lord. And He became quick of understanding in the                   . This sameness of nature or organical unity also in-
fear of the Lord so that He judges not after the sight of           cludes a sameness of  wiI1 and mind. Says Christ: "And
His eyes neither reproves after the hearing of His ears. `the sheep hear his voice : and he calleth his own sheep
But with righteousness  does  El& judge the poor and                by name, and Ieadeth them out.  ;\nd when He putteth


                                              T H E   STAXD.%RD   ` B E A R E R  '                                                       567
                                ._.....  -  ._. --  .._ --.      --._-                     -.-                                   _--___

forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep                      The scripture upon which  WC are dwelling contains
follow him: for they know his voice'" (John  10:3.  1).                    a difficulty. The apostle asserts that  the head of  every
   Christ and every man, let it be repeated, constitute an                 man is Christ and the head  of eyery  woman is the man.
organical unity.    Of this unity Christ is the organic                    The question arises whether Christ is not the head of the
head. Whereas all things were made by him, things in                       woman. To this we reply that He is indeed. The man
heaven and things in earth, visible and invisible, whether                 is no mediator between Christ and rhe woman. He can-
they be thrones or dominions, or principalities or powers :                not be for he is a mere creature. He did not, in the name
all things were created by him and for him ; and whereas                   of Christ, officiate at the altar in behalf of the woman.
he is before ail things and by him all things consist; ant1                He entered  not  the most holy place with his blood  as  a
whereas it pleased the Father that in him all fullness                     corering  for her sins. The man is not the righteousness
should dwell  (Cal.   1:16, 17, 19) it follows that he, the                and the sanctification of the woman, but Christ is her
head is the very life of his body. -- every man. Says                      head as well as that of the man.
Christ: ",%bide  in me and I in you, as the branch cannot                     The words of the Apostle do mean,  howevei, that in
bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more                 respect to certain phases of Christ's mediatorial labors
can ye except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the                    He, Christ, is the head, the Prophet-Priest-King of the
branches: He that abideth in me and I in  him: the same                    woman indirectly, that is, in and through the instrumen-
bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do                        tality of the man. Herewith we have entered upon  a
nothing" (John  15  2-j).                                                  new phase of our subject.
   The new man, being a branch of the vine Christ, is                                             To be continued.
out of Him and bears His image.                                                                                             G.  W. 0.
   The term  ' head signifies that Christ  as  to His legal                                                    .
status is the superior and juridical representative of His
body - every man. `4s head He is the eternal Prophet-                                TE  DRAGEN.  ZONDER KLAGEN
Priest-King of His people, and as such rules, teaches man
and officiates in his behalf at the altar.                                                 Te  dragen  zonder klagen,
  The union between Christ and the Church is constituted                                     en stil zijn onder leed,
of elements which are altogether unique to this union.                                     in dagen van veel slagen,
The juncture is of such a character that the guilt of the                                    als God ons tegentreedt;
elect became the property of the head, and His righteous-                                  niet knorren en niet morren,
ness  and innocence in turn, was imputed unto the mem-                                       niet bitter onder smart,
bers of His body. The husband? too, is head and rep-                                       niet  innerlijk  verdorren
resentative of the wife. Yet she is not held responsible                                     van `t moegetobde hart,
for his sins. It is evident why Christ is presented to us                                  niet stenen en niet weenen,
in Scripture as the second  lidam. He, too, was the                                          om ons verstoord geluk
juridical head and representative of mankind in the sense                                  niet in de ziel versteenen
that by him sin entered into the world, and death by sin.                                    door  iegenspoed  en druk  J -
.Xnd so death passed upon all men in that  all have                                        DAT is den mensch niet eigen,
sinned. But not as the  offence,  so also is the free gift:                                  D.4T kan niet aangeleerd, --
for if through the  offence of one many be dead, much                                      "t is door gena te krijgen
more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is                                       voor die `t van God begeert!
by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many                                          Te  dragen zonder klagen
(Rom. 5).                                                                                    en  s&l zijn onder `t leed,
   It follows that the advantages accruing from this                                       schenkt op ootmoedig rragen,
junction are altogether unique. Christ is our wisdom,                                        God, die ons lijden weet.
righteousness, sanctification and redemption.                  Further,                    Hij zal ons nooit begeven
this juncture is the basis of the permanency of the cov-                                     in strijd en storm en nood,
enant of grace. Christ cannot sin for He is very God.                                      Hij is DE ROTS in `t leven,
Hence, the elect cannot fall from grace as they consti-                                      bij `t naadren van den dood!
tute His body. Whosoever is born of God  carrot commit                                                   N.  N. - Uit "Timotheus"
sir; for his seed remaineth  in  him;  and he cannot sin  he-
cause he is born of God (I John 3  :9).
   tlnd finally, the union between the redeemed and God                       Wij kennen de  dingen   omdat   zij zijn: maar zij  zijn,
is closer and more intimate than the junction  between                     omdat God ze gekend  hecft. De leer van de schepping
the sinless Adam and God. The believers constitute the                     aller  dingen  door  bet  Wool-d  Gods,  is de verklaring  van
body of Him who is very God. Christ assumed the                            alle kennen en weten, de onderstelling van de correspon-
nature of the elect and glorified it.           It is this glorified       dentie  tusschen subject en object.
nature which now forms the connecting link between                                                                    Dr. H. Eavinck
God and man.                                                                                   in "Christelijke  \Vereldbeschouwing"


568                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   BE4RER
               -  ..^-.-.....-_.              _____-_-..--                     --.--_                                 - - - -

  A. DYKSTRA, THE BIBLE, AND THE PUBLIC                            for Christ. This would be acting contrary to the injunc-
                                    SCHOOL                         tion of our Lord to the effect that His disciples shall let
                                                                   their light shine. True it is that Christ commanded His
       In a recent article, appearing in "The Christian Jour-      disciples to go into all the world and preach the Gospel
nal,"' A. Dykstra deplores the fact that (to express our-          to every creature (Mark 16  :15).       Dykstra, however,
selves in the words of Dykstra) our Christian friends              would press the public school into the service of religion.
(i. e., Dykstra's friends) who for reasons of their own,           He would use this institution as a means for spreading
are also of the opinion that our public schools should be          the Gospel of Redemption.
godless schools, with God's revelation to mankind ban-                He would use the public school as a means for in-
ished. These friends, so the author continues, should              culcating upon the rising generations of our nation the
ask themselves `the question, "are we really in good com-          creeds of Christiandom.       In this way the  :1theist, he
pany with the Atheists who purpose to drive or keep                claims, would be held at bay and the nation saved for
the Bible out of our public schools as the best means to           Christ.       Dykstra, then, would place the Bible in the
destroy religion? If they understand their business, do            public school. What is more, he would see the contents
we really know what we are doing?" These questions                 of this book presented to the minds of the pupils from
should be considered by those of our Christian people              the point of view of the orthodox Christian. He would
who seem to be afraid that God's Word should enter our             place upon the curriculum of the public school the Re-
places of public education. Like Queen Esther could nor            formed creed. This is evident from the fact that the
be safe, even in the palace of a mighty king, when  hei-           rising generations must be placed beyond the  rea.ch of
people were to be destroyed, so we cannot be safe if we            the Atheist who denies such doctrines as the virgin birth
have no moie love for Christ and His `cause than to have           of Christ. Hence, the pupil who leaves school to take
religion limited to our'small circle and leave this nation         his place in life must be well versed in the foundation
with its great educational institutions as an open field to        truths constituting the Christian creed.
the Atheists and their organization.            (What a strange       Dykstra, in a word, would convert the public school
linking together of disparate events and things, Ophoff.)          into a bulwark against Atheism. However, if the law-
How can we really sing: "Christ shall have dominion                making department of our government should legislate
over land and sea," if we are willing to surrender our             in favor of Christian instruction in the public school,
own nation to the forces of unbelief without a struggle?           provision should have to be made for the children of
We cannot answer this question by saying: Christ will              those parents opposed to the Christian religion. This
take care of His o>vn  cause, - for Christ said: "Ye shall         element should be exempted from paying school tax and
be my witnesses." When the Atheist boasts that he can              be granted the right to erect and maintain its own
teach a student in less than four years,  "that the whale          schools.       For compulsory Christian instruction would
did not swallow Jonah; that the Bible is a record of               mean that the refusal on the part of parents to send their
questionable value, and that God Himself can be argued             children to public Christian schools were a statutory
away," then it is time for the Christian to sit up and ask         offense, a violation of the law. The transgressor would
himself the question: What am I `doing for my Lord and             be prosecuted. The government would be engaged in
King. So far Dykstra.                                              prosecuting and exterminating heretics. And this is for-
       Several of the above assertions we endorse. We              bidden by Christ. Said He:  "&Iy kingdom is not of this
agree that the insistence on the part of these Christian           world: if My kingdom were of this world, then would
friends to the effect that the Bible has no place in the           My servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the
public school places them (these friends) in a  formal Jews: but now  is  My kingdom not from hence" (St.
sense, in a class with the Atheists. The  sta;ement  was           John  18:36).  The followers of Christ must keep their
made, we suppose, for the purpose of shocking these hands off the Atheist and the Liberal. His sword is the
friends to the remoter resources of their finer sensibil-          Word of God. He wages a spiritual war.
ities. These friends need not be alarmed. Dykstra seems               It is plain that the godless or christless public schools
to forget that he who gauges human conduct must  nol               must be tolerated. Place the Bible and the creed of
fail to instirute an inquiry into motives. Let us see if           orthodox Christianity upon the curriculum of the public
we can shock Mr. Dykstra. In respect to such acts as               school and the government shall have to maintain  non-
eating, drinking,  waIking and talking, etc., Mr. Dykstra          Christian schools for that  eIement  opposed to the Bible
must also, in a formal sense, be classified with Atheists and to the Christian  reIigion.  We may feel assured that
for the reason that both he and the Atheist walk, talk             the  non-Christian  schools would become very numerous.
and eat. He will object that the motives prompting him             Their number would soon exceed the number of Christ-
to eat differ radically from those of the Atheist and that         ian public schools. Dykstra shall have to admit this.
for this reason the classification must be set aside as            For even within the church a vast number of men and
being extremely superficial. Just so.                              women are setting aside the foundation truths of  th::
   We are also at one with the assertion that the attempt          Christian religion.
on our part to confine our religion within the boundaries             It is plain that the public school with a Bible would
of our own small circles would indicate a lack of love             be no bulwark against Atheism, for the reason that its


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                       569
     -._l__l"  ..-                         . -                                 _..-..-.-".-___ ..__ - ___ ________.____.". ..." ^-... _-. __-
     doors should remain wide open in order that those who                                 INGEZONDEN
     desired to leave might do so.
         It is clear that nothing would be gained by making            Geachte Redactie van den Standard Bearer: --
     the public school Christian unless the government would           Alhoewel ongaarne, kom ik nogmaals tot  u met het
     forbid the unbeliever and the Atheist to take their chil-      vriendelijk verzoek om  eenige  plaatsruimte in ons  blad,
     dren from this school. And this the government may not The Standard Bearer, naar aanleiding \-an het een en an-
     do. Dykstra shall have to admit that it is well to leave       der in verband  met de onverkwikkelijke geschiedenis die
     the public school be.                                          we doormaken en wat hier en elders in den laatsten tijd
.        Dykstra places those not at one with him in a class        is voorgevallen. Bij voorbaat mijn hartelijke dank.
     with the Atheists.       A very superficial classification.       We zullen niet op alles in bijzonderheden kunnen let-
     Motives are ignored. The  Xtlieist is for keeping the          ten,  noch  op  alles  wit overigens  we1  vermeldingswaard
     Bible out of the school because he hates God. Dykstra's        zou zijn. Er zijn  echter  sommige  dingen,  die eenige op-
     friends, for the reason that the battle is a spiritual one.    heldering van noode  hebben. We  willen  nu ook niet zoo
     The weapons employed are not the sword of the magis- zeer  letten op dingen  in verband  met onze eigen censuur
     trate and the club of the police, but truth, righteousness,    kwestie, want we hebben reeds eenigen tijd geleden  aan-
     the Gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of        vrage gedaan om onze attestaties. De maat  was nu meer
     salvation, the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of       dan vol, na al de verdraaide en onware  voorstellingen, in
     God.                                                           het publiek door Ds. Dnhof, op de gemeentevergadering
        Finally, according to Dykstra, the nation can be saved      alhier uitgesproken, waar  hij  alleen het woord  mocht
     for Christ through the preaching of the Word. It can.          voeren, waar niemand gelegenheid had  om maar  C&I
     providing the men, women and children of this land  of         vraag te  doen. En nadat mij gebleken is, dat hij  den-
     ours are elect of God. If not, the Word unto this nation       zelfden weg had bewandeld  te Grand Rapids en hoe  hij
     is a savour of death unto death. The Atheists to which         ten slotte, hier in Kalamazoo, inplaats van Ds.  Ho'ek-
     Dykstra directs our attention are people who mock  the         sema te woord te staan ons allen, die de vergadering van
     God and the Christ of Scripture. . The Word had the            15 Juli belegd hadden,  publiekelijk  heeft belogen, als zou-
     effect of awakening in them all their latent hatred for        den zij  allen  staan onder kerkelijke behandeling en hen
     God and His Anointed. The attitude which men and               heeft uitgescholden in  boozen  gemoede  voor  revolutio-
     women of our land assume toward the God of Scripture           nairen, (waardoor hij  zich heeft schuldig gemaakt  aan
     ought to convince Dykstra that the people of  this'nation      een voor de burgerlijke wet strafbaar feit) is het  mij,
     do not constitute one of God's chosen races. The masses        door dir alles meer dan duidelijk geworden, dat men,
     plainly show that the Christ of Scripture is not desired.      inplaats van te leven naar de wet van  Christus  en naar
     A vast number in the church are repudiating the founda-        c:len aard des geestelijken levens door te strijden tegen
     tion truths of the Word of God. Dykstra's optimism is          de  zonde,  door het bewandelen van  zulk een weg  zich
     false.                                                         ambtelijk heeft ontaard, zich in dienst heeft gesteld, zoo-
         Nevertheless the people of God shall continue to wit-      we1 leeraar als kerkeraad, van den Vader  der leugens en
     ness for Christ. They shall let their light shine, which       dat, om eigen kwaad,  in het verleden bedreven,  goed te
     light will be comprehended by such as have been brought        willen  prahn. En daarom zouden we diegenen in den
     under the benign influence of the (special) grace of God       kerkeraad,  waar we overigens alle respect voor hebben,
     and by none other.                                             willen  toeroepen : Broeders, het is voor u nu geen kwestie
         In view of the amazing apostacy in the church it would     meer of men zijn ambt  we1 mag neerleggen,  doch het is
     seem that Dykstra is living in a dream world -.- the prod-     voor ulieden een kwestie geworden van roeping,  daar gij
     uct of his own" imagination.                                   mede verantwoordelijk zijt voor wat er geschied is. Ds.
                                                    G. M.  0.       Danhof trad op in de gemeentevergadering onder ulieder
                                                                    jurisdictie, alsmede zijt ge indirect verantwoordelijk voor
                                                                    war hij in Grand Rapids gezegd heeft en waarover  gij,
                      BLINDE STAATSZUCHT                            Gode zij dank, nog verontwaardigd  waart.  En datzelfde
                                                                    zou ik, ofschoon niet in  denzeIfden  zin,  allen  in de  ge-
               -------_-                                            meente van Ds. Danhof  willen toeroepen. Het praatje :
               Zoo velt de zeis de korenaaren,                      "Ds. Danhof preekt  tech  goed," dekt uwe lading niet
               Zoo schudt een bui de groene  blaaren,               voor God. Die  dingen  zijn in de geschiedenis van  Chris-
                 Wanneer het stormt in  `t  wilde  woud.            tus' Kerk  we1 meer voorgevallen, ofschoon de  wandel
               Wat kan de blinde staatszucht brouwen,               niet in overeenstemming was met  zulk  preeken:  en de
               Wanneer ze raast uit misvertrouwen!                  zonde tegen het negendk gebod is evengoed zonde  als
                 Wat luidt zoo schendig, dat haar rouwt?            tegen de andere geboden van Gods heilige wet.
                                                                       We zeiden reeds, dat we niet zoozeer zouden Ietten
                                          J. van den Vondel         op onze eigen censuur kwestie. Tech wil ik nog,  van-
                           Uit: Gijsbrecht van Amstel, Rei van      wege een  prikkel daartoe, dit zeggen, dat we nog weder
                           Klarissen en  Herodes' kindermoord.      een documentje hadden  ontvangen met de rnededeeling,


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  573
_.__._           .__^ .._. -- . -               -_--____-........   -~  "--.-...___-_                                 _^.._." -   -

                THE PENITENT THIEF                                known and felt it sooner, it might have saved him from
                                                                  hanging on that cross  - that over and above the con-
     Strange, certainly, that among those who rail at Jesus       demnation of man which he had so lightly thought of,
at such a time, one of those crucified along with him             and so fearlessly had braved, there is another and
should be numbered. Those brought out to share to-                weightier condemnation, even that of the great God, into
gether the shame and agony of a public execution, have            whose hands, as a God of judgment, it is a fearful thing
generally looked on each other with a kindly and in-              for the impenitent to fall.
dulgent eye. Outcasts from the world's sympathy, they                 "And we indeed justly." No questioning of the
have drawn largely upon the sympathy of one another.              proof, no quarreling with the Iaw,  no reproaching of the
Since they were to die thus together, they have desired           judge. He neither thinks that his crime was less heinous
to die at peace. Many an old, deep grudge has been                than the law made it, nor his punishment greater than the
buried at the gallows-foot.  R'ut here, where there is            crime deserved. Nor do you hear from this man's lips
nothing to be mutually forgotten, nothing to be forgiven,         what you so often hear from men placed in like circum-
nothing whatever to check the operation of that common            stances! the complaint that he had been taken and he
law by which community in suffering begets sympathy;              musr die,  whilst`s0  many others, greater criminals than
here, instead of sympathy, there is scorn; instead of             himself, are suffered to go at large unpunished. At once
pity. reproach. What called forth such feelings, at such          and unreservedly he acknowledges the justice of the
a time, and from such a quarter? In part it may have              sentence, and in so doing, shows a spirit penetrated with
been due to the circumstance that it was upon Jesus               a sense of guilt. And not only is he thoroughly con-'
that the main burden of the public reproach was Hung.             vinced  of his own guilt, he is as thoroughly convinced of
Bad men like to join with others in blaming those who             Christ's innocence. "We indeed justly"  - for we re-
either are, or are supposed to be, worse men than them-           ceive the due reward of our deeds - "bur this man hath
selves. And so it may have brought something like relief.         done nothing amiss."      Little as he may have seen or
may even have ministered something like gratification             known before of Jesus, what he had witnessed had en-
to this man to find that when brought out for execution!          tirely convinced him that His was a case of unmerited
the tide of public indignation directed itself so  exclus-        and unprovoked persecution; that he was an innocent
ively against Jesus - by making so much more nf whose             man whom these Jews, to gratify their own spleen, to
criminality, he thinks to make so much less of his own.           avenge themselves in their own ignoble quarrel with
Or is it the spirit of the religious scoffer that vents here      him, were hounding to the death.
its expiring breath? All he sees, and all he hears  - those          .But he goes much further than to give expression
pouting lips, those wagging heads, those  -upbraiding             mereIy  to his conviction of Christ's innocence -- and it
speeches  - tell him what it was in Jesus that had                is here we touch upon the spiritual marvels of this extra-
kindled such enmity against him, and too thoroughly               ordinary incident. Turning from speaking to his brother
does he go in with that spirit which is rife around the           malefactor, fixing his eye upon, and addressing himself
cross, not to join in the expression of it, and so whilst         to Jesus, as he hangs upon the neighboring cross,  he
others are railing at Jesus, he too will rail. It is difficult    says, "Lord. remember me when thou  comest  into thy
to give any more satisfactory explanation of his conduct,         kingdom." How came he, at such a time, and in such
diflicult  in any case like this to fathom the depths even        circumstances, to call Jesus Lord; how came he to
of a single human spirit; but explain it as you may, it           beIieve  in the coming of his kingdom? It is going the
was one drop added to the cup of bitterness which our             utmost length to which supposition can be carried, ro
Lord that day took into his hands, and drunk to the               imagine that he had never met with Jesus till he had
very dregs, that not only were his enemies permitted              met him that morning to be led out in company with
to do with him what they would, but the very criminal             him to Calvary. He saw the daughters of Jerusalem
who is crucified by his side, deems himself entitled to           weeping by rhe way  ; he heard those words of Jesus which
cast such reproachful sayings in his teeth.                       told of the  speaker"s  having power to withdraw the veil
    But he is not suffered to rail at Jesus unrebuked, and        which hides the future  ; he had seen and read the title
the rebuke comes most appropriately from his brother              nailed above the Saviour's head, proclaiming him to be
malefactor, who, turning upon him says, "Dost not thou            the King of the Jews; from the lips of the passers-by,
fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?"              of the Chief Priests, the elders, rhe soldiers, he had gath-
"Dost not thou fear God?" -- he does not need to say,             ered that this Jesus, now dying by his. side, had saved
Dost thou not fear man  ? for man has already done all            others from that very death he is himself about to die, had
that man can do.  But? Dost not thou fear God? He                 professed a supreme trust in God, had claimed to be the
knows then that there is a God to fear, a God before              Christ, the Chosen, the Son of God, and he had seen and
whose bar he and his brother sufferer are soon to appear;         heard enough  ro satisfy him that all which Jesus had
a God to whom they shall have to give account, not only           claimed to be he truly was. Such were some of the
for every evil action that in their past lives they have          materials put by Divine Providence into this man's hands
done, but for every idle word that in dying they shall            whereon to build his faith; such the broken fragments of
speak. He knows it now, he feels it now,  -`had he                the truth loosely scattered in his way. He takes  rhem


574                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
              . -^...-                lll__... I___-..-.-  ..-.._ --11.---i.-  ..__.-..-.                       ..._-I___-

up, collects, combines; the Enlightening Spirit shines            the kingdom reached, Jesus wouId think of him amid the
upon the evidence thus afforded, shines in upon his               splendors and the joys of his new kingly state. Doubts
quickened soul; and there brightly dawns upon his spirit          of a kindred character have often haunted the hearts  of
the sublime belief that in that strange sufferer by his side      the penitent, the hearts of the best and the holiest; but
he sees the long-promised Messiah, the Saviour of man-            there were two things of which he had no  doubr, that
kind, the Son and equal of the Father, who now, at the            Jesus could save him if he would, and if he did not, he
very time that his mind has opened to a sense of his              should perish. And it is out of these two simple  eie-
great iniquity, and he stands trembling on the brink  of          ments that genuine faith is always formed, a deep, per-
eternity, reveals himself as so near at hand. so easy of          vading, subduing consciousness of our unworthiness, a
access. His faith, thus quickly formed, goes forth into           simple and entire trust  in Christ.
instant exercise, and, turning to Jesus, he breathes into            It has been often and well said, that whilst this one
his convenient ear the simple but ardent prayer, "Lord,           instance of faith in Jesus formed at the eleventh hour is
remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom."                   recorded in the New Testament, in order that none, even
       The hostile multitude around are looking forward to        to the last moment of their being, should despair,  - there
Christ's approaching death, as to that decisive event             is but this one instance, that none may presume upon a
which shall at once, and forever, scatter to the winds            death-bed repentance. And even this instance teaches
all the idle rumors that have been rife about him; all his        most impressively that the faith which justifies always
vain pretensions to the `Messiahship.         The faith of        sanctifies; that the faith which brings forgiveness and
Christ's own immediate followers is ready to give way             opens the gates of Paradise to the dying sinner carries
before that same event; they bury it in his grave, and            with it a renovating power; that the faith which conveys
have only to say of him afterwards, "We hoped that it             the title, works at the same time the meetness for the
had been he that should have redeemed Israel." Yet here           heavenly inheritance. Ler a man die that hour in which
amid the triumph of enemies, and the failure of the faith         he truly and cordially believes, that hour his passage
of friends, is one who, conquering all the difficulties that      into the heavenly kingdom is made secure; but let a
sense opposes to its recognition, discerns, even through          window be opened that hour into his soul, let us see into
the dark envelope which covers it, the hidden glory of            all the secrets thereof, and we shall discover that morally
the Redeemer, and openly hails him as his Lord and                and spiritually there has been a change in inward char-
King.  Marvellous,  indeed, the faith in our Lord's divin-        acter corresponding to the change in legal standing or
ity which sprung up so suddenly in such an unlikely               relationship with God. It was so with this dying thief.
region; which shone out so brightly in the very midnight          True, we have but a short period of his life before us,
of the world's unbelief. Are we wrong in saying that.             and in that period only two short sayings to go upon;
at the particular moment when that testimony to Christ's          happily, however, sayings of such a kind, and spoken in
divinity was borne, there was not another full believer           such circumstances, as  ro  preclude all doubt of their
in  thar divinity but this dying thief? If so, was it not a entire honesty and truthfulness; and what do they reveal
fitting thing, that he who was never to be, left without a        of the condition of that  man"s mind and heart? What
witness, now when there was but one witnessleft. should           tenderness of conscience is here, what deep reverence
have had this solitary testimony given  ro his divinity at        for God ; what devout submission to rhe divine will ; what
the very time when it was passing into almost total               entire relinquishment of all personal grounds of confi-
eclipse; so nearly wholly shrouded from mortal vision?            dence before God; what a vivid realizing of the world
There were many to call him Lord when he  rose tri-               of spirits; what a humble trust in Jesus; what a zeal for
umphant from the tomb; there is bur one to call him Lord          the Saviour's honor ; what an indignation at the unworthy
as he hangs dying on the cross.                                   treatment he was receiving?      May we not take that
       But let us look upon the prayer of the dying thief not     catalogue of the fruits of genuine repentance which an
only as a public testimony to the kingly character and            apostle has drawn up for us; and applying it here, say
prerogative of Jesus, but as rhe prayer of individual,            of this man's repentance,  - Behold what carefulness it
appropriating faith; the earnest, hopeful, trustful  appli-       wrought in him; yea, what clearing of himself; yea,
cation of a dying sinner to a dying Saviour. His ideas what indignation; yea, what fear; yea, what vehement
of Christ's character and office may have been obscure;           desire; yea, whar zeal; yea, what revenge! In all things
the nature of that kingdom into possession of which he            he approved himself to be a changed man, in the desires
was about  ro enter. he may have but  imperfectly under-          and dispositions and purposes of his heart. The belief
stood. He knew it, however, to be a spiritual  kingdom   :        has been expressed, that in all the earth there was not
he felt that individually he had forfeited his right  of ad-      at that particular moment such a believer in the Lord's
mission to its privileges and its joys: he  believed   that it    divinity as he; would ir be going too far to couple with
lay with Jesus to admit him into that kingdom. Not                that belief this other, that in all the earth, and at that
with a spirit void of apprehension, may he have made              moment, there was not another man inwardly riper and
his last appeal.          Tt may have seemed to him a very        readier for entrance into Paradise?
doubtful thing, whether, when relieved from the sharp                "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy king-
pains of crucifixion, the suffering over, and the throne of       dom," Loud and angry voices have for hours been ring-


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                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARER                                                   575
                                                                                                                        -          -

  ing in the vexed ear of Jesus  - voices whose blas-                work, work so strange for an earthquake  tc:, do -- it
  phemy and inhumanity wounded him far more than the                 opens not a new grave for  the living, it opens the old
  mere personal antipathy they breathed.           Amid these        graves of the dead  ; and as the third morning dawns,
 harsh and grating sounds, how new, how welcome, how                 from the opened graves the bodies of the saints arise
  grateful, this soft and gentle utterance of desire, and            with the rising body of the Lord  - types and pledges
  trust,* and love!     It dropped like a cordial upon the           of the general resurrection of the dead, verifying, by
  fainting spirit of our Lord, the only balm that earth came         their appearance in the Holy City, the words of ancient
  forth to lay upon his wounded spirit. Let us, too, be.             prophecy: "Thy dead men shall live, together with my
  grateful* for. that one soothing word addressed to the             dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that
  dying Jesus, and wherever the gospel is declared let these         dwell in the dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs,
  words which that man spake be repeated in memorial                 and the earth shall cast out her dead." And as Jesus
  of him.                                                            would not rise from the sepulchre alone, so neither will
     "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy king-              he enter Paradise alone. He will carry one companion
  dom." He will not ask to be remembered now; he will                spirit with him to the  pIace of the blessed; thus early
  not break in upon this season of his Lord's bitter anguish.        giving proof of his having died upon, that cross that
  He only asks that, when the sharp  pa'ins of his passion           others through his death might live, and live for ever.
  shall be over, the passage made, and the throne of the             See, then, in the ransomed spirit borne that day to Para-
  kingdom won, Jesus  will? in his great mercy,  then  think         dise, the primal trophy of the power of the uplifted cross
  of him. Jesus will let him know that he does not need              of Jesus! What saved this penitent thief? No water of
  to wait so long; he will let him know that the  Son of             baptism was ever sprinkled upon him; at no table of
  man  hath  power.  even on earth, to forgive sin; that the communion did he ever sit: of the virtue said to lie in
  hour never  cometh  when his ear is so heavy that it can           sacramental rites he knew nothing. It was a simple be-
  not hear, his hand so shortened that it can not save; and          lieving look of a dying sinner upon a dying Saviour that
  the prayer has scarce been offered when the answer did  it; And that sight has lost nothing of its power.
  comes, "Verily, I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be               Too many, alas! have passed, are still passing by that
  with me in Paradise."                                              spectacle of Jesus upon the cross; going, one to his farm,
     The lips may have trembled that spake these words;              another to his merchandise, and not suffering it to make
  soft and low may have been the tone in which they were             its due impression on their hearts; but thousands upon
  uttered; but they were words of power,  -  .words which            thousands of the human race - we bless God for this -
  only one Being who ever wore human form, could have                have gazed upon it with a look kindred to that of the
  spoken.      His divinity is acknbwledged: the moment it is        dying thief, and have felt it exert upon them a kindred
  so, it breaks forth into bright  and  beautiful manifesta-         power.    Around it, once more, let me ask you all to
  tion. The hidden glory bursts through the dark cloud               gather. Many here, I trust, as they look at it, can  say,
  that veiled it, and, in all his omnipotence to save, Jesus         with adoring gratitude, He loved me; he gave himself
  stands revealed. What a rebuke to his crucifiers ! They for me; he was wounded for my transgressions, he was
  may strip his mortal body of its outward raiment, which            bruised for mine iniquity; he is all my salvation, he is all
  these soldiers may divide among them as they please;               my desire. Some may not be able to go so far; yet there
  his human soul they may strip of its outer garment of              is one step that all of us, who are in any degree alive to
  the flesh, and send it forth unclothed into the world of           our obligations to redeeming love, can take - one prayer
  spirits. But his kingly right to dispense the royal gift of        that we all may-offer  : and surely, if that petition got SO
  pardon, his power to save, can they strip him of that?             ready audience when addressed to Jesus in the midst of
  Nay, little as they know  it! they are helping to clothe           his dying agonies, with certain hope of not less favorable
  him with that power, at the very time when they think              audience may  we take  it up, and shaping it to meet our
  they are laying all his kingly pretensions in the dust.            case, may say, Now that thou hast gone into thy king-
  He will not do what they had so often in derision asked            dom, 0 Lord, remember me.
  him that day to do  - he will  not come down from the                 Yet once more let the words of our Lord be repeated,
  cross - he will not give that proof of his divinity ; he           "To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise." But where
  will not put forth his almighty  power   by exerting it            this Paradise ; what this Paradise?       We can say, in
  upon the world of matter. But on this very cross he                answer to these questions, that with this heavenly Para-
  will give a higher proof of his divinity: he will exert that       dise into which the redeemed  ?t death do enter, the
  power, not over the world of matter, but over the world            ancient, the earthly Paradise is not fit to be compared.
  of spirits,  ,by stretching forth his hand  and  delivering   a    In the one, the direct intercourse with God was but occa-
  ~0~1  from death, and carrying it with him that day into           sional; in the other it shall be constant. In the one, the
  Paradise.                                                          Deity was known only as he revealed himself in the
     "Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou  he with             works of creation and in the ways of his providence; in
  me in Paradise." Jesus would not rise from the  sepul-             the other, it will be as the God of our redemption, the
  chre alone; he would have others rise along with him.              God and Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus, that he
  Xnd SO, even as he dies, the earthquake does its allotted          will be recognized, adored, obeyed - all the higher moral


 576                                           T H E   STANDAKD   B E A R E R
 ---_.._-...   - -                    -^-".                 --._                                                                 - -
 attributes of his nature shining forth in harmonious and               organiseerd zonder kerkeraad en met  twee  aclvocate~z
 illustrious display.         Into the earthly Paradise the             (niet batten.)     De kerkeraden van Doon en Sioux Center
 Tempter  entered;  from the hcavenlp he will be shut out.              waren daar met al hun  leden   ; nadat al de werkzaamheden
 From the earthly Paradise sad exiles once were driven; verricht  waren zijn de leugcns gekomen;  om 3  uur  heb-
 from the heavenly we shall go no more out forever.                     hen wij hun  latcn  weten, dat  ze komen moesten en half
 Still. however, after all such imperfect and unsatisfying              vijf zijn  ze gekomen. Dit zijn de naakte fciten;  ~$0 is
 comparisons, the questions return upon us, Where, and                  het geschied. Wij moesten  actie bcginnen..  Op de  ge-
 what is this Paradise of the redeemed? , Our simplest and              meentevergadering van 8 Dec. zeide B. J. D. : "Dit wordt
 our best answers to those questions perhaps are these -                de Tweede Chr. Geref. kerk, wij kunnen mortgages  ne-
 Where is Paradise? wherever Jesus is. What is Para-                    men op de gebouwen." Er werd gcvraagd:  "Maar wat
  dise? to be forever with, and to be fully like, our Lord.             dan met de notes ?" "`0, dat zijn personal notes, die moe-
 We know  - for God has told us so, of that Paradise of                 ten de personen, die ze geteekend hebben, betalen  !"
  the redeemed  - that it is a land of perfect light; the day              Ziet  u wel, in welke benarde positie wij  kwamen  te
 has dawned there; the shadows have forever fled away.                  staan? Daarom die vergadering in Perkins.
  It is a land of perfect blessedness J no tears fall there ; no           Velen die dit lezen,  zullen zeggen: wat  waren  die
 sighs rise there; up to the measure of its capacity, each              B. J. D. en zijn kerkeraad tech klanten! Ja, vrienden, dat
  spirit filled with a pure never-ending joy. It is a land of warcn ze.  lMaar hoe zijn ze dat geworden? Hoe zijn ze
  perfect holiness; nothing that  defileth  shall enter there,          op dien weg gekomen? Wij zullen schrijven wat wij
  neither whatsoever loveth or  maketh  a lie.            But what      weten, een ieder oordeele dan voor zichzelf. Het was in
  gives to that land its light, its joy, its holiness in the sight      het laatst van Juni, 1926, dat wij op een Zaterdagavond
  of the redeemed.?  it is the presence of Jesus. If there be           bij Ds. B. J. Danhof waren.  Hij gaf ons een brief te lezen
  no night there, it is because the Lamb is the light of that           van zijn oom, Ds. H. Danhof. In dien brief noemde Ds.
  place: if there be no tears there, it is because from every           H. D. het nummcr der  S. B. van 15 Juni "the Hoeksema-
  eye his hand has wiped off every tear. The holiness that              bluff." Hij adviseerde B. J. D. om geen strangers op de
  reigneth there is a holiness caught from the seeing him               pulpit te laten en, indien mogelijk, ook niet in  Doon, Ia.
  as he is. And trace the tide of joy that circulates through           Hijzelf  zou  we1 zorgen voor Kalamazoo. Hoe die raad
  the hosts of the blessed to its fountain-head, you will find          en dat advies  is uitgevoerd, weet iedereen.
  it within that throne on which the Lamb that once was                     Wij gaan hier eindigen, (niet omdat  wij geen stof
  slain is sitting. To be with Jesus, to be like Jesus, to love         meer hebben, wij konden  we1 een lijvig boekdeel schrij-
  and serve him purely. deeply, unfailingly, unfalteringly -            ven, ~~1s  wij  wilden  schrijven over leege armenkas en
' that is the Christian's heaven.                                       bouwfondskas en  vele andere  dingen)  maar wij  denken:
        I love, says one, to think of heaven; and as I  repeat          dit is vooreerst genoeg.
  the words, they will find an echo in each  Christian"s                    De uwe voor  recht en waarheid,
  heart: -                                                                                                         ED. DYKSTRA
  "I love to think of heaven; its cloudless light,
  Its tearless joys, its  recognitions,  and its fellowships                               THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
  Of love and joy unending: but when my mind anticipates
  The sight of God incarnate, wearing on his hands                           Wouldst thou take the gauge of the Christian life,
                                                                                          And measure it out by rule?
  :1nd feet and side marks of the wounds
   Which he for me on Calvary endured,                                       Wouldst thou circumscribe it, and plane it down,
   All heaven beside is swallowed up in this;                                             And define it in some school?
  -And he who was my hope of heaven below                                    But there is no plummet can reach its depths;
   Eecomes  the glory of my heaven above."                                                No foot that can scale its height;
                                                       Selected.             X0 painter its varying features paint,
                                                                                          No poet its pure delight.
                        CORRESPONDENTIE                                      Its mystical grace is grace of its own,
                                                                                          -And springs from a mystic fount.
                                          Perkins,  Ia., Aug.  22.           Now in the valley it makes its way,
           Wij zijn al vaak van plan  geweest  om iets  te schrij-                        And now it ascends the mount.
   ven in de Standard Bearer. Tot nog toe is het altijd bij
   van plan zijn gebleven.                                                   Believe in it, trust it, with all thy soul,
           Bij ondervinding  weten  wij, dat  B. J. D. met zijn                           And love it with all thine heart;
   kerkcraad het niet nauw nemen met het negcnde gebod,                      Seek it where others have sought it out,
   maar dat de heeren  Post en Bouma nu ook nog in de S. B.                               And learn what they can impart.
   valsch  getuigen. nu loopt het tech werkelijk de spuigaten                But he who knows and loves it best,
   uit.                                                                                   Will ever declare to thee,
           Het is van a tot z gelogen, als  zij  zeggcn in  vr.  15,         It is all a wonder, a miracle,
   S. B. Aug. 13, dat er in `Perkins, Ia., een gemeente  is ge-                           And always a mystery.


