                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   a                                       103

     BAVINCK GEWANTROUWD OM HET "NIEUWE"                                                THE SABBATH

        Men is in onzen  kring bang voor al wat nieuw is, hoe-         The matter to which we are now applying  ourself  is
     we1 het nieuwe ook van God kan zijn.                           the universality of the Sabbath.  ,As is well known the
        Een man als Prof. Bavinck  wilde   zich  niet  anti-the-    position of many is that the Sabbath is peculiar to the
     tisch stellen tegenover de moderne wereld ter  wille van       Old Testament dispensation and that with the advent of
     die moderne wereld zelf, en omdat hij overtuigd was dat        Christ and the ushering in of the new day the Sabbath
     de wil van  Zijn Vader ook in dien  modernen  tijd werkte      was among the things which decayed, waxed old and
     en  aan den Gereformeerde een plaats ter woning en ter         vanished. Those holding to this view have their scrip-
     arbeid had aangewezen.                                         tures. Rom.  145, One man esteemeth one day above
        Hem is zelfs het verdriet niet gespaard gebleven van        another: another esteemeth every day alike'; let every
     in eigen kring gewantrouwd te  worden.                         man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that observ-
        Van zekere zijde werd eens gezegd, dat Prof. Bavinck        eth the day, observeth it unto the Lord. Gal.  4:10, Ye
     tech eigenlijk niet anti-revolutionair was.-J. J. B., Jr., in observe days and months and times and years.
     de Overtoomsche Kerkbode van  5 Dec.,  1926.                      Before attending to the meaning and significance of
        (De vette letter in dit vreemde Gereformeerde stukske       the Sabbath we thought it well to dispense with the
     is van  ons.+G.  V.  B.                                        question whether or no the Sabbath was designed to be
        Het is meer gezegd, dat Prof. Bavinck synthese zocht,       a law unto the saints of both dispensations.         In our
     waar anti-these eerder als Schriftuurlijk en christenplich-    previous article we saw that there is plenty of evidence
     tig werd geleerd.)                                             that the Sabbath, having been instituted at the very
                                                                    dawn of history, was known and observed by the saints
                                                                    of the period ending with the deluge, and by the Patri-
                                                                    archs. This alone is sufficient to establish the universal-
                                                                    ity of the Sabbath. Pushing ahead our researches we
r                    THE CHRISTIAN LIFE                             happen upon data which proves  conchrsively  that the
                                                                    Church of the New Testament continued to keep holy
       Wouldst thou take the gauge of the Christian life,           one out of seven days, and that there was no such thing
                                                                    as an abrogation of the Sabbath with the termination of
            And measure it out by rule?                             the Theocracy.
       Wouidst thou plane it down, circumscribe it,                    Let us now continue at that point where we broke off
            And define it in some school?                           in our previous article. We arrived at the conclusion
                                                                    that the law of the Decalogue was honored above the
                                                             .      other laws. We concluded with saying that when from
       But there is no plummet can reach its depths;                the manner in which the laws of the Jews were delivered,
           No foot that can scale its heights,                      and from the language of the sacred writers respecting
       No painter its varying features paint,                       them, we turn to the laws themselves, and consider their
           No poet its pure delights.                               nature and designs, we discover further proof of their
                                                                    diversity,. and that they fall under two distinct classes.
                                                                       One class, consisting of ceremonial and political regu-
       Its mystical grace is grace of its own,                      lations, were like some of the ordinances of Christianity,
                                                                    manifestly provided, not for all time but for the period
            And springs from a mystic Fount;         ,              of the particular economy to which they were attached
       Now in the valley it makes its wal,                          and adapted. As the Lord's Supper would not have been
           And now it ascends the mount.                            appropriate to the circumstances of the Jews, so neither
                                                                    would the Passover have been congruous to those of
                                                                    Christians . And what is true of the Passover is true of
       Believe in it, trust it with all thy soul,                   the whoiedewish ritual which was suited exclusively to
           And love it with all thine heart;                        a certain people that stood in special relation to God and
       Seek it where others have sought it out,                     had extraordinary functions to fulfil. With the enlarge-
           And learn what they can impart.                          ment of the Church and the cessation of the Theocracy,
                                                                    the authority of these rites came to an end. This fact
                                                                    we read in the utter inapplicability of the ancient priest-
       But he who knows, and who loves it best, *                   hood and sacrifices to a period when the substance of
                                                                    these shadows has been realized. We read it in the im-
            Will ever declare to three,                             possibility that a system which demanded a yearly
       It is all a wonder, a miracle,                               resort to Jerusalem for worship, and the suspension of
           And always a mystery.                                    agricultural industry at certain times, and various other

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

 peculiarities, should be practiced by men scattered  over       many years of their subsequent history from much of the
 the earth. Xnd yet these rules were as really binding toil of other men.
 while their occasion lasted as any of the most enduring            The Sabbath was also  an appointed day of spiritual
 commandments. They were founded on the one great improvement? a day of spiritual rest. Was now the soul
 law of love to God and man, in which Christ has ex- more precious, and its salvation and improvement more
 pressed all human obligations. Their underlying prin-           important in Judea than in any other part of the world -
 ciples are truth and righteousness. The  b'Iosaic  ritual       in the days of Moses than in those of Abraham or of
 was another form of the eternal Gospel, Circumcision            Christ? A more spiritual economy would rather imply
 and the Passover pointed to the same great facts of re- the necessity of greater attention to "the things that
 demption as do Baptism and the Lord's Supper. And               belong to our peace." Bur how would this be possible
 the judicial law was characterized by perfect equity, by        without a Sabbath? It is easy to talk of the freedom
 a merciful regard to the stranger, rhe widow, the father-       from restraint, and the liberty secured by Christianity,
 less, and even the lower animals. The change which              but unless we have a day and a place for religious duties,
 befell these laws was not the annulling of the principles       this liberty cannot be  ,enjoyed.  Christians, as much as
 involved but the specific application of these principles       the good men of a former epoch have found that a day
 and of certain auxiliary arrangements.                          for dismissing from their minds all secular business and
        The other class of laws - those of the ten command-      cares for directing their thoughts to the things that are
 ments - are evidently of such a nature as to be adapted         above, is indispensable to their preparation for a future
 and necessary not to rhe Jews alone, but to men of all          world.
 countries and times. If it was right for the Jew to have           The Sabbath in short was a day of sacred service in
 no God but the one living and true God; to employ no            the honor of God its almighty and gracious Author.
 images in his worship ; to serve Him in spirit and in           Having rested from His work of creation, God blessed
 truth; to spend one day in seven in resting from ordi- *and sanctified the Sabbath-day. Rut the creation of the
 nary work and in sacred engagements ; to honor parents ;        world by rhe Lord God is a fact which respects not one
 to have respect to the life, purity and property of himself     nation only, but mankind, and the belief of. which is fun-
 and others, and to shun all covetous desire  - the same         damental to all true religion. If it was the duty of the
 things must be right for the Gentiles. If rhese com- Jews to remember their Creator, no less was it the duty
 mands were holy and just; and could not be violated             of the patriarchs, and no less is it the duty of men now.
 without sin and injury as regarded the former, they are         If the one stood in  need.  of the knowledge of God as the
 plainly as holy and just, and the transgression of them Maker of all things, and required the Sabbath as a means,
as truly deserving of blame and punishment in the. case          equally were these blessings indispensable to the others.
 of rhe latter. If they are good to the one, it is impossible    If the Sabbath of old times was marked more than
 to conceive how they are not good to the other. They ordinary days by typical shadows of a coming Saviour,
 are in fact the laws of God unto every human being. And is it- reasonable to conceive that there should be a day
 this indeed is generally admitted as to nine of these to remind us, by its returning rest and meditations, of .
 commandments. The only question respects the fourth,            the great redemption - a> work which like the creation,
 which some hold to be of a number of Jewish rites, and          concerns men of every time and class, and is much more
 doomed to share their fate.                                     glorious than any other work or deliverance of the Al-
        But what is there in the law of the Sabbath to make      mighty? How comprehensive in itself, and how decisive
 it an exception? It provides rest from labor. Its very of rhis, as of other questions on the subject, is the saying
name signifies a ceasing from work.. Other days are in           of Christ, "The Sabbath was made for man."
 contradiction  ro it called working days. "Six days shalt          But the proof of the permanence of the Decalogue is
 thou labor and do all thy work: but the seventh day' is         completed by the fact of the declared `obligation of its
 the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do        precepts under both dispensations. Formally given from
 any work, thou nor thy son nor thy daughter,  rhy man-          S,fnai, it had been the rule of man's conducr from the be-
 servant nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle nor thy            ginning  . In the history recorded in Genesis we find
 stranger that is within thy gates."" `But for six thousand      traces of the knowledge of all the ten commandments.
 years man and beast have been subject to exhausting             The offerings of  ,4bel, Noah and others, and the lan-
 labour. Did the Jews need a day of rest more than many          guage to Abraham, "I am the Almighty God, walk before
 others both in ancient and in present times? Is Christi-        me, and be thou perfect,"' prove that these persons were
 anity less merciful to toiling man and his weary beast          acquainted with the obligation to worship and serve the
 than `was any preceding dispensation of religion? Cer-          one living and true God. That the use of images in
 tainly not. Fact is thar the law of rest contemplated a         worship was- forbidden appears from Jacob's exhortation
 much wider range of application than the people of Pal-         to his family to put away strange gods. The reverential
 estine. This also appears from the little labor which for       regard to the divine name which is required in the third
 forty years after the proclamation of the law from Sinai        commandment is implied in the practice of administering
 they had to perform, and from  rheir exemption during           an oath, and in the respect for promises thus solemnized.

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

 The honor due to parents was acknowledged in the con-          mitted the oracles of God." The Gentiles and the Jews
 duct of Noah's sons, as also in their father's prophesy        are supposed by the apostle to be under law, known,
 concerning the consequences of Ham's behavior, and in          indeed, in different degrees, but known nevertheless to
 the obedience of Isaac to Abraham, and in other in-            both. The law both Jews and Gentiles transgress. And
 stances. Cain was condemned for taking the life of his         thus the apostle proves that both Jews and Gentiles are
 brother, and was conscious of his guilt, while at the com-     all under sin.
 mencement, again, as it were? of the new world after the          It is not questioned that the Jews were under the
 flood the law forming the sixth in the Decalogue was           law of the Decalogue. It only remains then to inquire
 impressively renewed. The indignation of Jacob's sons          whether we have evidence that its obligation descends to
 on account of the dishonor done to their sister the            Christians. In more than one respect is it true that they
 father's resentment of the cruelty by which they avenged       are delivered from the law given to Israel.     With the
 the deed, and the conduct of Joseph, with his words,           political part of that law, except as regards its eternal
 "How can I do this great wickedness,' and sin against          principles of morality, they have no concern. They are
 God?" showed the authority of the seventh as well as of freed or rather exempted from any obligation to observe
 the sixth. The protest of Joseph's brethren against the        the Levitical ceremonies. And there is a sense in which
 charge of theft indicated that both parties           were     they are delivered from the Decalogue itself, but deliv-
 acquainted with the precept which says, "Thou shalt not ered in a manner that binds them the more strongly to
 steal." The same knowledge on the part of  Laban  and          its requirements. The law of. the ten commandments,
 Jacob is proved in the matter of stolen images.        The     proclaimed from Sinai, was, as it had been since the fall
 ninth precept was known even to Pharaoh, the contem-           of man, a law of condemnation and curse as well as a
 porary of Abraham,  .as is evident from the fact that he       law of liberty. It is so under the dispensation of the
 rebuked the patriarch for not adhering to the truth in         Gospel. Thus the apostle Paul says, "Cursed is every
 representing his wife as his sister.     And kings are  re-    one that continueth not in all things written in the book
 .ported  to have been punished for their covetousness. It      of the law to do them;" and thus the apostle James,
 might be reasonably concluded from the preceding in-           "Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in
 stances of respect for nine of the commandments that the       one point, he is guilty of all." No one was more stern in -
 Sabbath law was in force.  Rut we are  "not left to this       preaching the terrors of the law than the Saviour him-
 inferential mode of ascertaining the  f,act, there being self.  lZnd what was the purpose of all this? It was that
 none of the precepts of the Decalogue presented in so full     sinful men might be delivered from the condemnation
 detail as the fourth is presented in the narrative of the      and curse of the law, and brought to obey its precepts,
* original appointment of the day of sacred rest.               the very precepts, for the transgression of which they
   But not only were the patriarchs under the divine were condemned, but which are still their rule,  as'unbend-
 law - the same law which after their time was formally ing as ever, yet rendered practicable and attractive by the
 given to their  descendents.  The heathen, who were not        Saviour's atonement, love and grace.  "We are delivered
 within hearing of the thunders of Sinai, and the great         from the law, that being dead wherein we are held, thar
  voice of the Lawgiver, were under law to God. The we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the old-
 apostle Paul in the epistle to the Romans classes them         ness of the letter. What shall we then say? Is the law
  with the Jews, as  composmg  that world which is              sin? God forbid. The law is holy and the commandment
  throughout guilty before God, and charges them with           holy, just and good. I delight in the law of God after
 every variety of sin. But where no law is, there is no         the inward man."
  transgression. Yet they knew that those who commit               That Christians are under the law of the ten com-
  such things as "unrighteousness, fornication, wicked- mandments is the doctrine of the New Testament.
 ness, covetousness, maliciousness, hatred of God, pride, "Think not," said Chr&t, "that I am come to destroy the
  disobedience to parents," and other sins, are worthy of law and the prophets: I am not come to destroy but to
 death. "For when the gentiles which have not the law,          fulfil. Whosoever, therefore, shall break one of these
 do by nature the things of the law, these, having not the      least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall
 law, are a law unto themselves ; which show the work of        be called the least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoso-
  the law written in their hearts, their conscience also        ever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called
 bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile ac-          great in the kingdom of heaven." That our' Lord here,
 cusing or else excusing one another." They are indeed under the expression "kingdom of heaven," refers to the
 said to be without the law. That is to say, they, were         Christian. dispensation is certain. He and John the
 destitute of the knowledge of the will of God as con-          Baptist announced that dispensation under the same
 tained in the sacred oracles. "He showeth his word unto phrase, "the kingdom of heaven is at hand." And that,
 Jacob, his statutes and judgments unto Israel. He has          in the last instance, he speaks of the law of the  Deca-
 not dealt so with any nation. What advantage hath the logue is manifest from the subsequent words of his ser-
 Jew? Or what profit is there of circumcision? Much in mon, in which he proceeds to expound and enforce some
 every way: chiefly, because that unto them were com-           of its precepts, vindicating them from the perversions by


 106                                     `THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

  which the Jews had corrupted them. He does not specify          equal to maintaining that man is no longer under obliga-
  every one of the commandments; but a general proposi-           tion to love God and man.
  tion respecting a law, illustrated by a few examples, must         The language of the apostles, in like manner, recog-
 be understood as involving a principle applicable to all         nizes the permanence of the Decalogue. In applying the
  the particulars of the law. The Sabbath is not men-             fifth commandment to the children of Christian parents,
  tioned, neither is the fifth commandment. Our Lord,             and enforcing it by its ancient promise of long life, the
 however, takes other opportunities of freeing both from          apostle Paul has no idea that the language  in  the  land
 Jewish additions and abuses -- the fifth in the case of the      made the precept a merely Jewish one, as originally
  person who, that he might be exempted from the duty of given, but clearly regards it as one embracing the Gen-
 applyi-ng  his property in aid of his parents, called it         tiles as well as the Jews - the time to come as well as
 ccwban  or something devoted to God ; and the `fourth in         the time then present. The apostle also recognizes the
 numerous instances. It is a striking confirmation of our         obligation of the ten commandments in the epistle to the
 views that our Lord never does honor to any ceremonial           Romans, when he says, `<DO  we make void the law
 enactment by freeing it from the glosses of the scribes.         through faith? Crod forbid; yea, we establish the law" -
        On various other occasions did our Lord so speak and      when he declares the law to be holy and the command-
 act as beyond all doubt to teach us the continued obliga-        ment to be holy, just and good  ; and when he expressly
 tion of the Decalogue. Thus, when the young man asked            enjoins specific precepts of the law. And also this word
 what good thing he shall do that he might have eternal           from the pen of the apostle: "For we are his workman-
  life, Jesus replied, "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the    ship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which
 commandments  ;" and then in answer to another question          God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.`*
  inquiring what these were, said, "Thou shalt do no              These good  works  are performed according to a certain
  murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt              standard  - the standard of God which is the law. But
 not steal, Thou  shah  not bear false witness, Honour thy        these good workes the Christian performs because he is
 father and thy mother, and, Thou shalt love thy neighbor         God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto  good
 as thyself." Here  live of the commandments are speci-           works.    "But he is not saved by works, lest he should
  fied, and affirmed to be binding. Our Lord's purpose            boast, but by grace through faith; and that not of him:
  was to show the individual his real character, and.it  was      it is the gift of God" (namely this faith).
  sufficient for  this end, to set before him a part of the          The apostle James also enjoins the law upon the
law. But by this selection he has attested the authority          saints of the New Dispensation. "Whosoever shall keep
  of the whole Decalogue. Our Lord teaches the same               the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty
  doctrine to the lawyer who asked which was the great            of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said
  commandment in the law, when He said, "Thou shalt also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet
  love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy          if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law."
  mind, with all thy soul and with all thy strength. This         The principle here implied would warrant equally the
  is the first and the great commandment. And the second          statement, "He that said, Honour thy parents, said also,
  is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.       Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Now if thou
  0141  these two commandments hang all the law and the           do no dishonour to thy parents, yet if thou profane the
  prophets." As in the language to the young man, He              Sabbath, thou art become a transgressor of the law." And
  had summed up the precepts of the second table in love          finally this word from the apostle Paul:  "Put on there-
  to our neighbor, so here He comprehends the whole               fore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of
  Decalogue in love to God and man, declaring as plain as         mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-
  language could declare it that every one of the ten com-        suffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one
  mandments continues in all its ancient authority. How           another; if any man have a quarrel against any : even as
  can it otherwise be maintained of Christ that he atoned         Christ forgave you, so also do ye" (Col. 3 :3-14). Mercy,
  for the sins of the elect of the New Dispensation and,          kindness and love, etc., are, as was said, the eternal prin-
 by his obedience to the law, merited for them eternal life,      ciples embodied in the law of the ten commandments.
  if this law lost its binding character with the cessation of    Thus it abundantly appears that this law did not lose its
  the theocracy?      Had this happened there would have          binding character for the Christians of the New Testa-
  been no sins to atone for, because where there is no law        ment Dispensation. And as the law of rest is one of the
  there is no sin.  -4nd whereas Christ earned life eternal       number of the ten words, it follows that this law, too, is
  by attending to the precepts of the law it follows that He      still in force.
  would have lacked the opportunity to merit this life had           The obligation of observing the seventh  day as the
  the law lost its binding character for the elect of the         Sabbath has ceased. This is conclusively established by
  "latter day."     And finally, the eternal principle incor-     a great variety of evidence to which we `shall attend in
  porated in the decalogue is, according to the speech of the sequence when applying ourself  to the circumstances
  Christ, love to God and the neighbor. Hence to proclaim         responsible for this change of day. We are now engaged
  the abrogation of the law of the ten commandments is            in proving the universality of the Sabbath. Our next


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           107

step therefore is to sound Scripture respecting the propo-    and had broken bread, and eaten and talked a long
sition that the believers of the New Testament Church         while, even till break of day, so he departed. And they
observed a periodical day of rest. That these believers brought the young man alive and were not a little com-
set aside a day for rest and worship appears from the         forted" (Acts  Xx:6-12.  Let in addition the following
incidents of Christ's second visit to his assembled fol- facts be noticed. The Christians at Troas came  together
lowers. "And after eight days his disciples were again        or assembled together, the common phrase for  church-
within, and Thomas with them. Then came Jesus, the            meetings in the New Testament. As Peter talked with
doors being shut, and stood in the midst and said, Peace      Cornelius, "he went in and found many that were come
be unto you. Then said he to Thomas, reach hither thy together."  (Acts  10:27)  "Now in this that I declare unto
finger, and thrust it into my side : and be not faithless but you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the
believing" (St. John  20:26, 27). Here  we'have  plainly better but for the worse. For first of all when ye come
a stated day of religious convocation, and that the first tog&her  in the Church, I hear that there be divisions
day of the week. That they had not been so met for a          among you" (I Cor.  11:17,  18). If therefore the whole
period of seven days is evident from the statement, "And      Church be come  toge$her  into one place, how is it then
after eight days again his disciples were within." On brethren? when ye come  together  every one of you hath
His part the Lord shows regard to this day. He absents a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath an revela-
Himself from His disciples for a whole week, and by tion, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto
appearing among them a second time on the first day of        edifying (I Cor. 14 :23,26). Not forsaking  the assembling
the week, and in the scene of worship, expresses, in the      of yourselves together, as  the manner of some is (Heb. 10:
most emphatic manner, His approval of the order, both         25). "Further they came together  to break bread."  That
as respects the time and the engagements of this infant similar language in Acts 27:35 refers to an ordinary meal,
Church.                                                       appears from the previous advice from the apostle to his
   Thus, too, the apostle Paul and his friends tarried at     fellow voyagers, who had fasted for fourteen days, to
Troas seven days, and the first day of the week is men-       take some food, as it was for their health; from the
tioned on which the disciples came together to break words  : "Then were they all of good cheer, and they also
bread, or on which the apostles preached to them (Acts        took some meat;" and indeed from the occasion and the
2O:T).  We may presume that it was in like manner to          persons so employed. Nor do we doubt that in one or
hold public fellowship with the Christians in Tyre, and       two instances, besides, the reference in such language is
to preach the gospel, that his sojourn there, too, was for    to the same thing. But when it is said, "They continued
the same period as thus related: "And finding disciples,      in the apostle's doctrine and fellowship, and breaking of
we tarried there seven days: who said to Paul through bread and prayer," and when they came  together to eat
the Spirit, that he should not go up to Jerusalem. And        bread,  there can be no question that the observance of
when we had accomplished those days, we departed and          the Lord's supper is to be understood. It was a meeting
went our way" (Acts XXI  :4, 5). The sacred observance        for the public celebration of divine ordinances at which
of a day of the week and in particular the  first  day,       the apostle was present and preached. In a word,  the
extends over a wider space than Jerusalem, and to a later coming togetJSer was the ordinary practice of the brethren
time than that of the events there that have been men-        at Troas. The use of a common expression for Christian
tioned. We alluded to the apostle Paul's conduct at worshiping assemblies determines this, while it is to be
T&as as a case in which other days are allowed to pass        observed in corroboration of the view, that it is not said
by unnoticed, and public religious services are post-         that the apostle, as he did in the case of the elders at
poned till the first day of the week should come `round.      Ephesus, called the members of the Church together but
But his whole proceedings there, with those of the that upon the  Fr.rt day  of  the week,  when the  disciples
Church, are justly regarded as very clearly pointing to       came together  to break bread, Paul preached unto them
a day of religious services, and again the first day, as a    ready to depart on the morrow." If the case now de-
Christian Sabbath. The narrative is as follows: "And          scribed does not intimate that the.Christians  at Troas at
we sailed away from  Philippi  after the days of unleav-      least were in the custom of keeping holy a day  - the
ened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days,         first day - of the week, we know not what the narrative
where we abode seven days. And upon the first day of can mean, or what other terms could more clearly convey
the week, when the disciples came together to break           the facts, The statement is the more conclusive that the
bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the incidents are so natural in `their expression. And what
morrow; and continued his speech unto midnight. And           different custom from that at Troas  - prevailing as it
there were very many lights in the upper chamber, where       was at so great a distance from Jerusalem, and well nigh
they'were gathered together. And there sat in the win- thirty years after the date of the first Christian assembly
dow a certain young  ,man named Eutychus, being fallen - can we suppose to have prevailed in any other part of
into a deep sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and the Christian world?
was taken up dead. And Paul went down and fell on                Let us now present the scriptural evidence for a
him and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves ; for change of the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day
his life is in him. When he therefore was come up again       of the week. In the first epistle to the Corinthians it is


thus written : "Now concerning the collection of the            of the Redeemer's advent, but honored under the name
saints, as I have given order to the Churches of Galatia.       and sanction of the Lord Jesus Christ.
even so do you. Upon the first day of the week let every           The first day of the week came to be thus received
one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered           and observed as the weekly holy day by divine authority.
him, that there be no gatherings when I come" (I Cor.           And this for the following  reasonings:-
1G:l). The first day of the week is never before men-              First-The  existing prepossessions in favor of the
tioned but as the day of the Redeemer's resurrection,`and       seventh day. It was natural that the Jews should have
of religious assemblies and business. These are its only        strong  attachmen&  to the whole Mosaic system, which
distinctions - the  only marks by which it is discrimin-        was of Divine appointment, which was that of their
ated from the other days of the week, and by which we           fathers, and hallowed in their minds and hearts by its
are to know its character. We are fully warranted by            antiquity, glory and so many tender recollections.  WOW
this history, therefore to regard it as a sacred day. And       difficult, accordingly was it for the apostles to believe
here we are made acquainted with the important fact. that all distinctions between Jews and Gentiles had
that it was well known in this its only character by the        ceased. The apostles had to bear much with their con-
Corinthian and Galatian churches, if not also by all "that      verted brethren.    And yet, while they were permitted
in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our           for a time ;to respect the former distinctions of meats and
Lord, both theirs and ours," to whom with the Christians        days, we do not find any evidence in the New Testament
at Corinth, the epistle is addressed. The writer takes it that they refused to keep holy the first day of the week.
for granted that all Christians observed it as a holy day.         Second - The regard which Jehovah has to his wor-
The prescription of benevolent contributions to be made ship, and his rejection  .of  .human  interference in its ap-
on it  - not once or twice? but constantly  - is only in        pointment and regulation. Of this we have sufficient
harmony with its nature. The seasons of worship were            evidence in the second commandment; in the charges
anciently  .sanctified by such gifts and offerings  (Deut. repeatedly given to add nothing to his words ; and in
16:lO).    Our Lord asserted the doing of good as an the condemnation and punishment of such persons as
appropriate duty of the Sabbath-day.         The frequent Nadab and Abihu for  offering strange fire on His altar,
periodical return of such a day tends to promote benef- jeroboam for devising a religious feast of his own heart,
icence, and to impart principle and regularity to its exer- the  anti-Christian  power that should think to change
cise.                                                           times and laws. That the apostles and early Christians
    The expression "Lord's day," in Revelation 1  :lO, is should of their ciwn accord abandon the seventh day, and
justly regarded as a decisive testimony to the Christian institute the first as a day to the Lord, would be to sup-
Sabbath. "I was in the spirit," said the  -Apostle  John. pose that their Master had permitted them to violate the
"on the Lord's day." This latter expression corresponds order of His own house and to teach for doctrines the
with the phraseology of the Old Testament. "A Sabbath commandments of men.
 to the Lord,"  "The Sabbath of the Lord thy God," and             Third - The abundant provision made for regulating
still more with the Saviour's language, "The Son of man         all the observances of religion. Jesus had before His
is Lord even of the Sabbath day." The designation of ascension "given commandments through the Holy Ghost
"Lord" in the New Testament is usually to he understood unto the apostles," and commissioned them to teach man-
of Jesus Christ. We read of the word of Christ, the             kind "all things whatsoever He had commanded  them."
 ministers of Christ, the Lord's table, the cup of the Lord,    And the word of the apostle to the Thessalonian Chris-
the body and blood of the Lord, the Lord's supper. the          tians show the  atithority  under which he acted in his
 Lord's death, and so we read of the Lord's day. He has preachings and writings: "We beseech you brethren and
appropriated a day unto himself; but as. his word, his exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as you have received
 ministers, his table, his death, are for the benefit of his from us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye
people,  to be Applied, however, in securing that end, ac-      would abound more and more. For ye know what com-
 cording to  .his prescription  - so it is with His day.        mandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus"  (I Thess.
 Which day of the week that is cannot be reasonably 4~1,  2). From several parts of the New Testament we
questioned. The apostle refers to it as well known to the learn that in acting and ordering as we have seen one of
 churches of Asia. He knew that the first day of the week them did in reference to the first day of the week? they
 was the day of the resurrection and the visits of his Lord are to be regarded as ruling our conduct, their ordinances
 - the day held as sacred by the churches of Troas,             and commandments being those of their master and
 Corinth, and Galatia - and by.the  simple mention of its       Lord (Acts 15  24,  23; Luke  10:16;  I Cor.  4:37; I John
 name as the Lord's, he, or  rathe?  the Spirit of God, has 4:6; Gal. 49-l 1). How was it possible, therefore, to ap-
authorized us to conclude that "the first day of the week"      point the churches to assemble for worship on that day,
 and the "Lord's day" as expressions which denote the           to encourage the practice, or to induce believers to,follow
same day. His testimony, moreover, proves that the day it, if they had not received of the Lord how to teach and
 was not only honored by the Christian churches and by act in this important matter?
 himself, after the lapse of nearly a century from the time        Fo~lrth  - The apostles' censure of observance of days.
                    .


             .


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              109

The Galatians were rebuked for this conduct. "But now,              RUIM TWEE BILLIOEN  DlOLLAR  JAARLIJKS
after that ye have known God, or rather are known  cJf                 VOOR HET ONDERWIJS UITGEGEVEN
God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly ele-
ments whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Se                 In een rapport overgedragen  aan de National League
observe days and months and times and years.              I am    of Compulsory Education (Nationaal Verbond van  Ver-
afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in             plicht Onderwijs), die onlangs te Cincinnati in Ohio een
vain." Now it is impossible that inspired men should              Restuurssamenkomst  hield,  werd door Dr. Frank M.
both condemn the observance of days, and yet observe              Phillips, het hoofd van de Afdeeling Statistiek van het
them themselves, and encourage by their words and deeds           Bureau van Onderwijs in de Vereenigde Staten  mede-
the practice, unless the two things were distinct  -  uti-        gedeeld, dat  "Oom  Sam" jaarlijks voor elk kind van de
less, while other days were set aside, the first day of the       ongeveer  25,OOCl,ooO   kinderen  in de  hublieke  scholen een
week had come into authorized and sacred use.                     som van gemiddeld $100 uitgaf voor het onderwijs en de
   Fifth - The events and blessings which have attended           opvoedinge van  *de  "spes patria", of in het geheel eene
this day. If `the ancient Sabbath was attested by extra- som van twee duizend millioen dollars per jaar.
ordinary occurrences, not less the new. The day of the               Het schoolbezoek was in de laatste paar  jaren  ietwat
Redeemer's resurrection was a day of marvels. It was              beter geworden, volgens dienzelfden statisticus.
also a day of blessing, when he announced peace,                     Er  waren in het land dertig millioen kinderen  op een
breathed on his disciples the Spirit, gave them their com-        leeftijd van tusschen de vijf en zeventien  jaren,  en  daar-
mission, and held with them the most  condescendin'g.             van gingen er vijf en twintig millioen ter publieke scho-
intercourse. It was on the first day of the week that He          len en 2,5OO,OOO  naar private scholen.
removed the doubts of one of their number. it was on                 De rest  waren thuisblijvers.
the first day of the week, when the Christians were all              Onder de bevolking van de publieke scholen  waren
with one accord in one place, that the Holy, Ghost came           vier millioen leerlingen van de dusgenaamde "high
down, an event so great in itself, and so fraught with            school".
good to his Church.  On this day the first Christian ser-            Een aantal steden in het land was  op de uitgaven
mon was preached; thousands were converted, the Church            voor het onderwijs  aan het besnoeien gegaan, en in  an-
was fully formed, and the Lord's supper publicly cele-            dere plaatsen was men genoodzaakt geworden om te be-
brated. It was on the Lord's day that the Apostle John zuinigen, daar er geen voldoende geldmiddelen voorhan-
was in the spirit, heard a great voice as of a trumpet, saw       den waren.
the glorified Saviour in the midst of the churches, and              Er  waren gemeenten of districten. waar men $30 tot            +
was commanded to write the things which he had seen, $40 per kind uitgaf voor schoolopvoeding, terwijl in  an-
the things that then were and the things that should be           dere plaatsen de kosten van onderwijs tot $175 voor elk
thereafter. And it has been on the Christian Sabbath kind opliepen . . . . . .
ever since, that the greatest good has been done to                  Wat krijgt men nu voor al dit geld, vragen wij.
(elect) mankind, by that word and grace which have                   Betaalt  bet, zooals de doorsnee-Amerikaan zegt, die
covered so many regions of the earth preparing human              alles met het oog van een driftig zakenman beschouwt,
beings for heaven.                                                tot het kerkelijk  leven en den godsdienst toe.
   What, now, is wanting to the evidence of the univer-              Wij betreuren het in de eerste plaats,  - dat  weten
sality of the Sabbath and that the day from which the             onze lezers wel,  - dat de opvoeding van het kind in
Christians cease from labor, and  worship  their Divine           en door het gezin, met goedvinden der ouders die hun
Saviour, is the first day of the week, is truly the Sabbath       plicht niet meer inzagen en die verzaakten, geheel over-
of God, the Lord's  .day?                                         genomen werd door de school.
                                                  G. M. 0.           Een christelijk, een voor  "bet burgerlijke" behoorlijk
                                                                  familieleven  zelfs, is een zeldzaamheid geworden in de
                                                                  wereld.
                                                                     Een gezinsleven, waar de Heere trouwelijk wordt ge-
                  TWEE MUSCHKENS                                  diend en Zijne rechten en inzettingen worden   geeerd  bij
                                                                  de onderlinge verhoudingen, wordt niet veel meer gevon-
Twee muschkens  worden  om  Cen penningsken verkocht:             den in "de gekerstende  landen",  zelfs niet meer in  krin-
         Tech telt de Vader  ze  allen;                           gen die nog kerksch heeten of zich gereformeerd noemen.
En midden  in de sneeuw, waar `t hong'rig snebjen zocht,              Het is ons tot groote droefheid, dat de duizenden
         Doet Hij Zijn kruimkens vallen.                          millioenen, hierboven genoemd,  worden   besteed  in en
                                                                  aan scholen, waar de  kinderen  NIET  worden  opgeleid
Gij,  armen, zijt  getroost !  `Uw  Chi is groot en  goed  :      voor hun toekomstig leven in de vreeze des Heeren;
         Gij moogt Zijn kind'ren heeten . . .                     NIET gewezen  worden  op den Heiland der wereld,  ge-
Wat  Vader heeft er ooit zijn vogelen  gevoed,                    komen om zondaren zalig te  maken;  NIET leven in een
         Zijn  kinderen  vergeten?                                sfeer,  waar  l-ret WOORD GODS beginsel van alle weten-
                                         -J. J. L.  t. K.         schap is, en van alle wijsheid het begin en het einde.
                  .


 1 1 2                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

  die ook medeleven het Nieuwe Wereld leven en het  mo-                         THE INSTITUTION OF MARRIAGE
  derne wereldgebeuren gadeslaan, die evenals de Ooster-
  sche volken, ieder op hun  beurt,  door Europeesche kolo-             Thus we have completed our refutation of nearly all
  niale mogendheden werden uitgebuit, z6b ook menigmaal              of Lindeboom's arguments. A few remain which we shall
  onrechtvaardig werden behandeld door overwinnende,                 pass by for the reason that in the light of what was writ-
  hen verdringende, en geldgierige  machten, welke dan               ten their deceptiveness must be apparent to all.
  ook  ; en die nu wereldwijs zijn gemaakt en we1 onderwe-              A few remarks by way of conclusion.              The en-
  zen zijn in allerlei gouvernementsscholen waar  Christus           franchisement of the female members of the congrega-
  en Zijn Waarheid en Zijn Liefde gebannen zijn bij` de              tion is a matter of  great weight and worthy of careful
  lessen, -- achting kunnen hebben voor en begeerte kun-             attention.    However, Dr.  1:. Hepp recently asserted that
  nen koesteren om deze "christenen" te gelijken, bij wie            the various matters entered into the Agendum of the
  van een "Navolging van Christus" niet het minste                   Synod of Groningen were, all of them, of secondary im-
  wordt bespeurd?                                                    portance. "Vrouwenkiesrecht" is one of the matters listed.
          Moet ook bij hen van zelf niet het  idee  post  vatten,    Hepp has it then that this matter is of small weight.
  dat hun eigen vaderlijke godsdienst, zeden en gewoonten, The four commissaries were manifestly of the same
  nog zoo "bad" niet zijn, daar de christelijke bleekgezich-         opinion for the report which they submitted to synod
  ten, die hen vroeger beroofden van hun  bergen  en  bos-           plainly shows that they slighted the task assigned to
  schen, van hun jachtvelden en vischwateren, het  zich              them  - the task, namely,' of determining whether Holy
  immers tot een groote eer rekenen om b.v. den  titel van           Writ sanctions giving unto the woman the right of vote.
  een Indiaansch opperhoofd te  dragen  of met een  hoofd-           The only likely explanation of their lethargy is that they
  tooisel van arendsvederen vereerd te worden  als een oor-          thought of the matter. submitted to them as being of
  logvoerende Roodhuid dat droeg  weleer; en voor hun                minor importance.
  kinderen, kleine en groote, jongens en meisjes, er naar               The failure on the part of Dr. Hepp and the four
-  jagen,  dat zij de Cherokees en de Pottawatamies nadoen           commissaries to sense the import of the matter of "Vrou-
  in padvinderij en boogschieten en  kampvuurbijeenkom-              wenkiesrecht" plainly shows that these watchmen on
  sten en bijgeloovige plechtigheden, en wat niet al meer ?          Sion's walls have fallen asleep. Their morbid drowsi-
          En staan in werkelijkheid, wat eerbied voor des naas-      ness has already born serious consequences. TCI begin
  ten leven, familiezorg en huwelijkszeden, respect voor             with they failed (the four commissaries) to supply synod
  anderer eigendom betreft, `wat waarheid. en eerlijkheid in         with the materials it needed to take a stand. Conse-
  zaken aangaat, die arme, Heidensche Roodhuiden en on-              quently the synod of Groningen did nothing. It thereby
  wetende Indianen, niet menigmaal veel hooger in de  prak-          left. the impression*that  Lindeboom scored a victory over
  tijk van het leven, dan wij verwaande en huichelachtige            those opposing his proposition and so indeed he did not,
  "christenen", die feitelijk met alles den spot drijven wat         however, because he has the truth on his side but because
  vroeger als heilig en onschendbaar werd aangemerkt; en             of the failure on the part of his opponents to apply tliem-
  die slechts leven en streven nu naar  her botvieren van            selves in earnest to their task. The final outcome may
  onze lusten en het met grijpvingers graaien van goud ?             be the inauguration of the pernicious practice for which
          Het Christendom van heden  heeft reeds lang zijn eere      Lindeboom took up the cudgel. That is to say,  Linde-
  weg !                                                              boom's views  may now gain the  ascendency  and the
          En wij vreezen, dat de "Filistijnen" nu niet, zooals       woman admitted to the church voting booth. Should
  weleer  onder Israel, eerlang de misbruikte "ark des  ver-         this happen, the church will be deprived of its Spirit and
  bonds"  zullen  terugbrengen binnen Ranaan, omdat God energy and thrown into confusion.                      The induction of
  hen plaagde !                                                      "Vrouwenkiesrecht" into the circle of the institutional
                                                     G. V. B.        life of the Church must be viewed, then, with the gravest
                                                                     concern for it will mean the demoralization of the
                                                                     Church.
                                                                        Why would the enfranchisement of the woman bear
                             LECTURE                                 these dire results? The answer is ready: It is God's will,
                                                                     as has been shown, that the marital tie remain intact in
          Thursday, Dec. 15,  7:45 P.  M., Rev.  I-I.  Hoeksema      every province and sphere of life. The enfranchisement
will deliver a lecture, the Lord willing, in the First Prot-         of the woman implies a severing of this tie within the
                                                                     circle of the institutional life of the Church, and is, there-
  estant Reformed church of Grand Rapids,  Mich., car.               fore, in conflict with the revealed will of God. Should
  Fuller Ave. and Franklin St. Subject:                              the Church, then, render its voting booth accessible to
                                                                     the woman it would be setting aside an ordinance of
                            OUR BIBLE                                God. Anyone showing a disregard for divine ordinances
                                                                     invariably comes to grief. The wages of sin is death,
          All invited !               *                  "           i. e., moral decay and degeneration. Sin is punished  tiith


                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D  BErZRER                                                    113
                                                                                                                              .     -
sin and the Church need not think that it forms  an                      taught the world that a house divided against itself can-
exception to this rule. This appeal to  the afflictions of               not stand.
the man who tramples upon the ordinances of God is                          What now is the basis of true unity between'man and
not meant as a  "dooddoener,"  i.  e.! as a knock-down                   wife? How may this unity be preserved? The moralist
argument, a mere silencer or clincher. The ordinances                    quoted above has a solution. One must marry his double.
of God are right. In them the Lord God incorporated                      Fact is, however, that no two people are so nearly alike
His wisdom.          His ordinances, precepts and judgment               as to temperament, views and hobbies that one is the
exhibit His glory and perfection. Thus we  may read in                   double of the other. God does not make people that
Psalm 119, "Thy testimonies are wonderful" (v&se 129).                   way.
This psalm throughout extols the perfection and glory                       The trouble is that when this moralist tabulated the
of the law of God.            Those who keep them are pro-               various causes of the inability of two people to get along
nounced blessed. The poet will declare with his lips all                 together she refused to place upon the list the vileness
the judgments of God's mouth, `He rejoices in the way                    of man's nature and his refusal to `heed and to practice
of God's testimonies as much as in all riches. He will                   the ordinances of God for marriage. Her wisdom, con-
meditate in God's precepts. He will delight himself in                   sequently, is worldly and therefore foolishness.
God's statutes. His prayer is that his eyes may be opened                  Scripture says that the natural man and the natural
that he may behold wondrous things out of the  law of                    woman are unrighteous. -4ccording to Scripture they
God (verses 13-18).                                                      do not understand. They seek not after God, are gone
       Also the divine ordinance of the headship  of the man             out of the way, are become unprofitable and do no good.
relative the wdman  is perfect and wise as is evident from               Scripture has it that their throat is an open  sepulchre,
the benefits accruing from its observance  - the bene-                   that with their tongues they use deceit and that the
fits, namely, of unity and co-operation between man and                  poison of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is  full of
wife. We may aver without fear of contradiction that                     cursing and bitterness.     Their feet are swift to shed
unity grounded in the fear of the Lord is the firm basis                 blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways. The way
of a successful marriage. Where this unity is lacking it of peace have they not known. There is no fear  of God
will not take long before the parties concerned will be                  before theii eyes (Rom. 8 :ll-18). `The natural man and
petitioning the court to annul the marital contract. True,               the natural woman, says Scripture, are filled with un-
a man and wife, living in perpetual strife may desist from               righteousness, fornication,     wickedness,    covetousness,
taking this step out of consideration for  the children or               maliciousness.    They are full of envy, murder, debate,
out of dread for the scandal attending a scene in court,                 deceit, malignity.     They are whisperers, backbiters,
or because both parties desire to retain their standing in a haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of
Church which forbids divorce except on Biblical grounds.                 evil things, disobedient to parents, without understand-
However. if they should follow the inclinations of their                 ing, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implac-
heart they would soon seek relief in divorce.                            able, unmerciful (Rom.  I  :39-31).
                                                                            It takes considerable courage, I know, to endorse the
       Even the moralist in the world tells us that unity and            above elucidation of the vileness of man's nature. and
co-operationeare  essential to a permanent marriage. Only                appear with it in the pulpit and in the world. `When the
recently one of their number wrote: "The best advice                     fear of man is in our hearts instead of rhe fear of God we
that I can give any man or woman who  wants to be                        prate about common grace and assure the ungodly in the
happy though married is to marry in their own class.                     church pew and in the world that  all this corruption is
By this I mean to marry some one as nearly like them-                    confined to the lower regions of the soul of the wicked
selves as possible. Some one who has the same taste,                     one and that as to his conscious life he is after all a noble
habits, who likes the same kind of cooking they do and                   specimen.     Fact is, however, that the above description
who looks at life from the same point of view.                  Marry    is true to the entire man. The Word of God, so we once
your double, not your opposite. So shall you save your-                  wrote, unclothes the sinner, strips him of every virtue
self from a lifetime of quarreling and arguing over trifles,             and sends him naked to Christ. Woe unto him who
and make of matrimony a harmonious duet. The peopie                      stops that sinner on the way to adorn him in the beauti-
whose society we really enjoy most are those who like                    ful garment of common grace.
to do the things we like to do, who are interested in the                   Fact is, then, that the bride and the bridegroom on
same subjects that we are interested in, and who ride                    their way to the altar without Christ are altogether vile,
the same hobbies that we ride. Love is a tough proposi-                  inclined to all the evils enumerated above and hate God
tion. it  will  stand a lot of punishment, but it  will not sur-         and each other. JVill two such people carry on well
vive the perpetual clash  oj  diferent  personalities and tem-           under the same. yoke?  Ttiey  will not. Hatred and  true
peraments, and  w&n  husbands and wives get so that  t&y                 unity do not go well together.
have to gumshoe around practically every subject  fc-y  fear
of                                                                          But, someone may interpolate, is their no unity in
       starting something, it is  all over  but the  ditiorce.`.'        the world? Do not many so-called worldly marriages
   The above piece of worldly wisdom contains elements                   present a remarkable degree  of harmony and co-opera-
of truth.       Observation and experience has Long ago                  tion? To this we reply that there is unity in the world.

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

 Satan actually succeeds in establishing harmony in the             communications out of your mouth"  (Cal. 3). Thereupon
 ranks of godless humanity. Ile has his kingdoms of which           he `cites the virtues of the new man renewed in knowl-
 he is' prince. Christ could have had them had He con-              edge of the image of Him that created him.
 sented to worship Satan. There is unity in the ranks of               The two laws, then, insuring unity between husband
 two or more bandits on their way to rob a bank - unity             and wife, may be expressed by the two terms, submission
 as to plan, purpose, motive, temperament, disposition, and rule - a rule permeated by love, compassion, kind-
 outlook upon life, attitude toward the world. It is a              ness and mercy. The moment the man and the `woman
 godless unity, however.                                            set them aside, co-operation between them ceases, peace
        But, someone may ask, are not many an ungodly man           and harmony make a hasty exit, the family is thrown into
 and woman joined together by a beautiful marital love? confusion and its life degraded and demoralized. One
The love of an unregenerated person is a part of him                cannot set aside the ordinances of God and get away
 and, consequently, totally corrupt. It flourishes in fair          with it.
 weather but will stand no punishment, so that when                    Now, the family is the unit of the Church. Hence, the
 either one of the parties steps on the other's toes the            demoralization of the family necessarily means the de-
 injured one spits out the curses  of  which the mouth is           moralization of the Church. The fruits, then, which will
 full.                                                              be plucked from the practice which Lindeboom would
        True unity is found in Christ only. Being in Him the see inducted into the Church, is the corruption of both
 man and the wife will have the same outlook  up&                   the life of the family and of the Church.
 life, will assume the same attitude toward the world,                 Someone may still be objecting that the  views  to
toward heaven and hell, God and Christ. There will be which we are addicted would, if practiced, reduce the
 unity of thought and volition. However, no two people              woman to a puppet. Our reply to this objector (con-
 are so nearly alike that the one may be said to be the             scious, I hope) is that he must not quarrel with us but
 double of the other. Moods, views and dispositions vary.           with the Lord.    The relation of subordination and
 Furthermore, Christ did not furnish His subjects with a supremacy on the part of the man and the woman in their
 precept for every minute detail of life. Much is left to           relation to each other is not of us but of the Lord.
 the judgment of His followers. Hence, there is still               Further, it is not at ail true that the woman is reduced
 much room for a clash of ideas. Yet, it is the will of             to a puppet when  showmg  submission. Has not this
 God that man and wife shall present a united front.                objector discovered by this time that submission is a
 There must be co-operation and a harmonious working                universal law of life? To begin with, Christ submits
 together between the two parties to the marital compact.           Himself to  &God. The Church submits itself to Christ.
 This unity and co-operation is realized in the life of the Then there is the injunction: (I Pet.  5:s) Likewise ye
 man and the woman, in their relation to each other when            younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of
 the wife submits herself to the will of the husband and            you be subject to one another. In the state the subjects
 when the husband is permitted to function as the head              submit themselves to the magistrate. In the family the
 of the woman. This, let it be repeated, is- God's method           children obey the parents. Even partners in business
 for establishing and maintaining concordance between who, as to their legal status are each others equals, must
 the two.                                                           be subject to one another if the compact shall endure.
        However, when man fell, so we wrote in a former                The only persons who live  a  life of the highest  pos-
 article, he became the victim of stinking pride. He is by          sible,harmony  withour being subject the one to the other,
 nature selfish, cruel and self-centered. Hence, the man are the three Persons of the Trinity. We, mortals, must
 is standing there with a club over the head of the woman,          practice submission or we perish. The refusal on our
 providing he has sufficient nerve, and the woman on her part to submit to one another and unto God our Maker
 part refuses to recognize the  headship of her husband. is the cause of all our woes. To bow goes against our
 Such are the state of affairs. Only when the man and               grain in that we are  p,roud.  Hence, rhe admonition: Be
 his partner `have been brought under the renovating and            clothed with humility.
 sanctifying influence- of the Spirit of Christ, will they           Submission does not mean that those who submit are
 show a willingness to conform their marriage to the pat-           dealt with as minors. The husband does not come to the
 tern presented to them in God's word. The practice of wife with a precept for every task. There is a sphere in
 the precepts of the Lord relative to marriage requires             which she must be left alone and permitted to develop
 humbleness of mind, `meekness, bowels of mercies, kind- her individuality. And that sphere according to Scrip-
 ness,  longsufiering,  a willingness to forbear and to forgive,    ture is the  horn?. Read with care Proverbs 31. Do not
 and charity on the part of both the man and the woman.             fail to notice verse 31 which asserts that not the wife
 Now, these virtues are the  prbperties  not of the old but but the husband is known in the gates, where he sitteth
 of the new man. Such are the plain teachings of Scrip- among the elders of the land.
 ture. Says the Apostle Paul: "Lie not one to another,                 Our next remark concerns the brethren across the
 seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds."           sea.    Amazing it is that the synod of Groningen was
 The apostle enumerates these deeds.        "But now ye also        unable to silence Lindeboom by exposing the fallacies
 put off all these, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy of his reasonings.                                    G. M. 0.


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Vol. IV, No.  G                                          December 15, 1927                                     Subscription Price, $2.50

                                                                       with praise and adaration and sent messages of joy into
          ME'DITATION                                             II the hearts of many; yet, there had been no room for her
                                                                      .and' Him in the inn of the City of David ! From afar
                                                                       great  and wise men had come, guided by one of heaven's
                       NUNC DIMITTIS                                   luminaries, to pay their homage to this Wonder-child, to
                                                                       worship and bring their  gifrs  ; yet the very theologians
              Lord, now lettest thou thy servant de-                   of Jerusalem seem ignorant of the greatest of events and
           part in peace, according to thy word. For                   remain scholarly unconcerned even when their attention
           mine eyes have seen thy salvation.
                                     Luke  229, 30.                    is called to the birth of the  Greats King!            Shepherds
                                                                       visit the stable and worship at the manger and have
    Nunc dimittis !                                                    their hearts filled with unspeakable joy by rhe sight of
    Now lettest  thou thy servant depart in peace, accord-             this child; yet bloody  Herod sends his cruel servants to
 ing to thy word!                                                      murder the babe in which he beholds a possible rival.
    A strange, wonderful scene these words call before the                 rZ world - full of coneast!
 imaginationof one who knows the Scriptures. Old Simeon,                   And,  after all she had already experienced since the
 gray haired and bowed down with  th6 burden of many                   heavenly messenger had announced to her that she
 years, about to disappear from the stage of things earthy,            would become the Virgin-mother of the Son of God, it
 sustained and kept from descending into the grave only by             can hardly have taken her by surprise and causedqa&on-
 the power of hope and the promise made unto him by the                ishment with her to see this aged man lift her infant
 Holy Spirit ; holding up in his arms what appears a mere              Son in his arms and worship and give thanks for this
 babe and nothing more, a few weeks old, weak and help-                child as rhe ground of his perfect peace and readiness to
 less; and having his eyes raised heavenward, worshipful,              depart.
 shining with the happy contentment of satisfied desire                    For after all, that very Child was the strangest para-
 and realized hope - he it is that utters these words of               dox of all! He was a child of Mary, of her flesh and of
 joyful gratitude and complete readiness to depart from                her blood; a child like other children, yet He was the Son
 all the world may have to offer: Now  lettest rhou thy                of  *God, Whose outgoings are from everlasting. He was
 servant depart in peace!                                              only a few weeks old now, a mere infant; yet He was
     MarveIous  contrast! Old age and infancy, one ready               eternal; He  is before the world was; He was a depend-
 to sink into the grave, and one scarcely begun to travel              ent and helpless child ; yet He is Almighty God; the t?n-
 life's way; and the departing one apparently fully satis-             caused Cause of all. He appears in the weakness of
 fied and at resr at the sight of this little babe, the gray-          human flesh and is subject to all our woes and infir-
 haired man fastening all his hope on a merest infant!                 mities; yet He is the Lord of glory! He is presented in
     So the world is full of contrasts at that point of time           the temple and is under the law; yet He is Sovereign
 when the Word becomes flesh, when the Son of God                      supreme, the King of kings, Lord of the law! Great,
 unites Himself inseparably with human nature.                         indeed, is the mystery of godliness! God appeared in rhe
     Near this strange scene of the aged  Sirneon  and the             flesh !
 infant Jesus stands Mary, silent and with many questions                  And old Simeon was led by the Spirit. The `Holy
 in  her eyes, her heart filled with wonders upon which                Ghost was upon him.  By the Spirit he was led into the
 she ponders but which now she cannot comprehend  -                    temple, guided towards this child. Through the Spirit
 herself a wonder as may be expressed in the apparent                  he carried in his heart the assurance that he would not
 paradox : the `Virgin-mother ! Still a virgin, yet mother !           depart and see death before he had seen the Lord's
 A few weeks ago, when her Wonder-babe was born, all                   Christ, the Anointed One, that would deliver Israel;
 heaven was astir wirh joy and its inhabitants broke forth             that would redeem him . And it is the same Spirit that

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

 now opens his eyes to see, that, of all the children that         aged Simeon that peculiar feeling of unrest that is
 are brought into the temple, points out this Child as the         caused *by the promise almost realized, by the signs of a
 realization of Israel's hope.                                     hope that is very near and fast approaching . . . .
        Thus he views the Child, with his eyes enlightened            All things procIaimed.to  the hoping Israelite that the
 to see the Wonder of Jehovah's grace in the infant he             time of fulfilment could not be far.
 holds in his arms. And seeing the Wonder that was the                The Holy Ghost  h&d wrought the assurance in
 object of his waiting hope, he is ready to depart with the        Sirneon's heart that he would not depart till the promise
 peace that passeth all understanding in his heart.                he had seen.
        Lord! now  lettest  thou thy' servant depart in peace !       Now it is peace.       .
        Thy word is fulfilled.                                        The hope has seen its object. The Lord realized His
        Nunc dimittis !                                            Word. :jnd the servant is satisfied that the Lord's house
                                                                   is well ordered; His eyes have beheld the salvation of
        In peace!                                                  Jehovah.
        The peace of the servant of the Lord.                         Now  lettest Thou, Lord, Thy servant depart in piece!
        The peace, resulting from the assurance that all is           In the peace of hope fulfilled!             *
  well with the house of the Lord in which he is a servant.
        The blessed peace that is rooted in the knowledge,            Nunc dimittis !
 that the Word of God is being fulfilled, that the salva-             Now  lettest  Thou Thy servant depart.
 tion  o'f the  Lord' is being realized, that God's counsel is        In peace according unto Thy Word of promise given.
 being fulfilled, that God's people are being saved.                  Simeon spoke for himself. He could not depart till
        Of such peace old Simeon is speaking . . . .               he had seen. be could not die in peace till he had beheld
        Very old he was. The years of his life are not men-        the living Saviour. Now he was all prepared.
 tioned, but it was only by the pow&-  of a special promise           But Simeon spoke, too, for the entire old dispensa-
 that he was still living. The common limit of three score         tion  Qf which he was a child and which he still repre-
 and ten or four score years had long been past. Bowed             sented. Considered in this light the scene in the temple,
  down with years was Simeon . . . . . .                           the picture of the old man holding in his arms the babe
        And the servant of Jehovah he had been by His grace.       Jesus, grows in beauty and significance. For here the
 Just and devout, a true spiritual Israelite was he. And           promise touches its own fulfilment, the old dispensation
 being such he had labored and struggled with all true             holds the new in its arms, the shadow reaches UP to the
 Israel, and in the midst of the hard battle he had looked         body that cast it and it is satisfied to disappear now
  forward to the consolation of Israel, to the coming of           reality has come !-
 Him that should redeem the people of God and restore all             ,Like Simeon the old dispensation lived by hope. And
 things. And it had looked dark for Zion these last years.         like the old man holding the Child in his arms, the old
 The plaything of the nations God's people had been.               dispensation and all that belonged to it was about to die.
 The sceptre seemed departed from Judah. Zion groaned              With hope written in all its features the old covenant
 under foreign dominion. Israel had been oppressed, till           faced the future, stretching itself towards one that was
 it seemed as if the people must perish before the promises        to come and that would be able to fill alone the place of
 of God had been fulfilled. Religiously there was much             all the shadows. Did not the very temple point to the
 apostacy from the faith of the fathers, many made com-            coming of Him Who would forever unite God and man
 mon cause with the gentile oppressors of God's people.            in the unity of His Person? Did not the High Priest of
  Many more were held in the clutches of a dead and cold           the old dispensation witness by his appearance and func-
 formalism, that mistook the shadow for the reality. And           tioning that he was no more than a.shadow  while reality
 few were the faithful; easily numbered were those that            was still to come? Did not all the prophets cry for the
 anxiously looked forward to the better day of which all           great Prophet from among His brethren and like unto
. . the prophets had spoken and toward which  all. the  sha-       Moses? Did not all the kings that ever swayed Judah's
 dows painted . . . .                                              sceptre look forward and raise the expectation of Him
        To these belonged old Simeon.                              that could hold the sceptre forever and ever? Did not all
        Oh, he believed the promises ! He could die and            the blood of bulls and goats loudly complain that it was
 depart in the sure faith that Jehovah's promises would            not sufficient to blot out transgression and wait for the
 not fail!                                                         shedding of the one Blood that once and for all would
        There was in his heart not the unrest of doubt and         atone for the sins of the people? . . . . .
  unbelief.                                                           Oh, how the old dispensation had frequently strug-
        But there was the unrest that is always in the strong gled and suffered in that hope ! How often it had seemed
  hope, in the fervent longing for the realization  of the         in the history of Israel as if it would disappear from the
 promise. That promise itself was laboring for its  fulfil-        stage of history before the Lion of Judah's tribe would
 ment  in the world. That promise itself could find rest           have appeared to redeem Israel and glorify it forever!
 only in its own realization . . . . .                             It had been hated by the nations from without. It had
        And thus there had developed in the breast of the          been torn by apostacy from within. It had  sufXered  and


I


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                         123
     -    -    .
     groaned; it had submerged in the floods of captivity and               They see it, even as it will be, when that same Child
     emerged again. Nations had scourged it even since the              shall appear again, then in glory and as Lord of lords and
     captivity, had plowed upon its back.                               King of kings  ; when He shall make all things new,
          And, now, like old Simeon it  was at the point of raise the inglorious bodies that have been entrusted to
     death . . . . .                                                    the dust, create new heavens and a new earth and mani-
          It was about to disappear forever from the stage of           fest His Kingdom and God's covenant in heavenly glory
     history. For it was a mere shadow of its former glory              forever !
     that Israel now possessed.  T&e  .temple  appeared out-                And, seeing it, they depart in peace.
     wardly splendid but the holy place was empty and the                   And as the hour of their departure draws near they
     ark of the covenant was gone. The priesthood still func-           may well be satisfied, as in Christ their eyes behold the
     tioned but it had become a plaything of the foreign                salvation of the Lord. And with the light of assured
     power. ,%nd the hand that held the sceptre of Judah was            hope in their eyes they may say, indeed, with Simeon ,of
     directed by foreign dominion.                                      old :
          Israel seeme? dying . . . . .                                     Now  lettest Thou Thy servant depart.
          But it could not die in peace until Shiloh had come!              In peace, blessed peace.
          The shadows could not vanish till reality they had                The peace of salvation  reaIized!
     touched !                                                              Peace eternal !                                    H .H.
          Then, when the Hope of Israel had appeared and the                                      -
     promise of Jehovah had beeri  fulfilled Israel had served                       LOOF DEN HEERE, MIJNE  ZIEL!
     its purpose, the old dispensation with all it signified                                       (Ps. 103 :l)
     might depart forever.                                              `k Zing een lied, Hem ter eer, die mij vrij heeft gemaakt.
          And old Simeon lifting the babe Jesus in his arms             `Die mijn hart heeft vernieuwd en mijn banden  geslaakt,
     is the old dispensation holding in its arms for a moment           Die mijn oog heeft verhelderd en opwaarts gericht,
     the object of its hope.                                            Die uit duidter mij stelde in Zijn wonderbaar Iicht.
          Simeon speaks for himself, but no less for the entire
     old dispensation when with his eyes lifted heavenward, `k Was met zonden bevlekt - Gij ontzondigdet mij !
     thankfully, he expresses the deep satisfaction of his soul         `k Lag in angsten  des doods-maar mijn leven werdt Gij !
     as he bears in his arms the realization of his hope:               Toen mijn ziele  aan  `t stof en den dood was verkocht,
          Mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, 0 Lord!                    Heeft uw machtwoord weerklonken en  - `t heeft  over-
          Now  lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace !                            mocht.
          For Thy Word is fulfilled !
                                                                        Dies  looft  U mijn lied; daarom prijst U mijn hart,
          In peace Thou  lettest Thy servant depart!                    0 mijn Heer en mijn God, die mijn Vrijmaker werdt!
          Thus, finally, Simeon may speak for all the departing         Van de machten  der zonde en des doods werd ik vrij  -
     servants of the Lord, as they cling to the Word become             Hallelujah ! Mijn licbt en mijn leven zijt Gij !
     flesh.                                                                                                           J. H. G.,  J.H.z.
          Without Him they could neither live nor die in peace.
     Does not transgression testify against them and does not                                      ROEPING
     a veritable stream of iniquity overwhelm their soul out-                                     (I Cor. 7  524)
     side of Christ Jesus? Could they, then, depart, even the
     holiest of them, in peace, perfect peace, with the record                         Gij hebt de taak ons aangewezen,
     of innumerable sins pressing upon their soul; with the                              Den  plicht  ons opgelegd.
     memory of things that should never have been done                                 Door ons te  volgen,  zonder vreezen.
     but were committed, and other thiiigs that should have                            Gij hebt ons werk ons uitgelezen;                   .
     been done but were omitted clinging to their mind ; with                            En wat Gij wilt, is  recht.
     the thought of having to appear, when departed, before
     the tribunal of Him that judge&  every man according to                           In onze roeping,  Heer ! te blijven,
     his work righteously - could they depart from time into                             Dit smeekt van U Uw kind.
     eternity in peace?                                                                O! laat ons op geen golven drijven
          No, but their eyes see the salvation of the Lord . . . . .                   Van e i g e n lust; elkaar niet stijven
          They see the salvation of Him Who keepeth covenant                             In wat het vleesch bemint.
     and truth with them that fear Him in Christ Jesus. They
     see it as it was already accomplished by that very babe,                          Maak ons getrouw in `t kleine. Leere
     once held in the arms of Simeon, when He shed His Iife-                             Uw Geest ons waakzaamheid !
     blood for the sin of His people and blotted  .out all their                       Dat nooit ons hart i&s groots begeere,
     transgression, when He was raised and exalted and filled                          Maar U door trquw en ootmoed eere,
     by the Father with all the blessings of salvation . . . . , .                     ' Tot volgzaamheid  bereid  !
          And seeing it they have peace and depart . . . .                                                           Y. D. M. M.


130                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   R E A R E R

handen  getrokkcn kunnen warden; zie het woord van                                           THE SABBATH
Christus  bij johannes 10: Niemand zal ze uit mijne hand
r&ken."                                                                   Having presented  the evidence for a universal  Sab-
       Tot zoover zou de gewone  lezer  misschien niet veel            i:)ath, let us now direct our attention to the institutipn  as
kwaad in dit srtikel bespeuren en schijnt het  te  willen              such. The matters to which we shall now attend may
vasthouden  aan de volharding der heiligen en de  onmo-                be grouped under the following headirigs: (a) The sab-
gelijkheid van een afval dier heiligen. Het kwaad  sche-               bath `of Paradise; (b) The sabbath of Canaan ; (c) The
mert er we1 reeds door. Immers wordt'ons in `dit artikel               sabbath that remaineth to rhe'people of God.
feitelijk te kennen gegeven, dat het van onze bereidheid                  In the first section of the fourth chapter of the epistle
ten strijde en van onze begeerte afhangt of we de genade               to the Hebrews these various sabbaths constitute the
der volharding zullen ontvangn. Maar men moet  tech                    subjects of a series of propositions from which the holy
nog oplettend lezen om dit kwaad hier te vinden. Chris-                author concludes (verse 7) that there remaineth a rest to
tus  tech houdt de zijnen staande en niemand kan ze uit                the people of God. In the preceding chapter those des-
Zijne hand rukken!                                                     ignated brethren are cautioned to take heed lest there be
       Maar het slot van dit artikel is duidelijker en stelt de        in any of them an evil heart of unbelief, in departing
leer der volharding der heiligen tenminste diqputabel.                 from `the living God.      They shall exhort one another
In  dat slot heet het:                                                 daily while it is called today; lest any of them be hard-
       "Maar.of  ze door nalatigheid het beginsel  van  h'un           ened through the deceitfulness of sin. For they are made
zijn in  Christus  niet kunnen verlaten, de  tegenwoordige             partakers of Christ if they hold the beginning of their
wereld  weer aanhangen, van de heilige leer hun eenmaal                confidence steadfast unto the end ; while it is said, Today
gegeven afwijken, de goede conscientie verliezen en de                 if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the
genade verwaarloozen, dat zou eerst nader uit de Schrift               provocation. For some, when they'had heard, did provoke :
moeten  onderzocht zijn, eer wij het met volle verzekerd-              howbeit not all that came out of `Egypt by Moses. But
heid onzes gemoeds zouden kunnen  leeren."                             with whom was he grieved forty years? Was it not with
       Hier dus eindelijk een openlijk  tornen   aan de volhar-        them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilder-
ding der heiligen en daarmede aan de vastheid der zalig-               ness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter
heid.                                                                  his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see, the
       Dit slot mag vreemd klinken in het licht van hetgeen author concludes, that they could not enter in because of
eerst werd beleden in hetzelfde artikel. Ze zullen nimmer unbelief.
door de verleiding des Satans uit Christus'  handen   kun-                The brethren shall therefore fear, lest a promise being
nen  worden  getrokken. Niemand zal ze uit Zijne hand                  left of entering God's rest, any of them should seem to
rukken.       En  tech  aan het einde van hetzelfde artikel            come short of it. For unto the brethren was the gospel
wordt de geheele volharding der heiligen in twijfel  ge-               preached as well as unto them (who fell in the wilder-
trokken!  Maar ook hier vinden wij dezelfde  dubbelzin-                ness) whom the word preached did not profit, not being
nigheid, die alle leugen kenmerkt als ze tracht te spreken mixed with faith in them thar heard it.  -4nd verily (the
in  termen aan de waarheid ontleend en zich in het kleed               brethren} which have believed do enter into rest . .  1 . .
der waarheid wil vertoonen.                                            They do so according to a promise confirmed by a divine
       Ik  meen, dat uit onze bespreking van deze artikelen oath: As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter
genoegzaam is gebleken,  tlat het waar is, wat we onder                into my rest. The author, it should be noticed, repro-
den titel van ons opstel schreven: Listig Gesteld.                     duces rhe divine declaration to the effect that the unbe-
       ZOO  is het met de vijf artikelen der  Remonstranten.           lievers who fell in the desert might not enter the rest,
En hoe het in dit opzicht staat met de Drie  Punten,                   to assure the believing brethren that this-rest they shall
hopen  we, D. V., een volgenden keer te zien.                          enter. This can be done since the declaration to the effect
                                                         H. H.         that unbelievers do not enter in, is equal to the assertion
                                                                       that believers do.
                                                                           God swore, then, in his wrath that the obstinate Jews
                                                                       in the desert should not enter his rest although the works
                          I N   M E M O R I A M                        of creation had been finished long ago from the founda-
       Het behaagde den Heere den 9cn October,  1927, om tot Zich      tion of the world. `LFor he spake in a certain place of the
te nemen  Onze  geliefde   moeder, behuwd-  en  grootmoeder,           seventh day in this wise, And God did rest rhe seventh
                                                                       day from all his works" (verse 5). And in this' again,
                  Adriana`Kostelijk,  geb. Molenaar,                   "If they shall enter my rest." The author, then, again
                                                                       inserts the divine declaration to the effect that the unbe-
in den ouderdom van 73  jaa,r en  5 maanden.                           lieving Jews of the wilderness were not admitted into the
       Dat zij bij haren Heiland mag zijn waarnaar zij steeds  ver-    rest and that (by implication) it will be entered by be-
Iangde, is onze troost in ons  gemis.                                  lievers. Seeing, therefore, it  remaineth;  so the author
                                             Namens de Kinderen.       continues, that some must enter therein, and they to
                                                                       whom it was first preached entered not in because of

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

unbelief: again he limited a certain day, saying in David,     were shut out, God, after so long a time (four hundred
"Today after so long a time; as it is said, Today if ye        years) says in David (to Israel) : "This day, This day
will hear his voice harden not your hearts."' The author's     if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts (but
meaning is clear.    Whereas, so it is reasoned, some          believe and enter into rest). Whereas this rest was
(those who believe) must, according to the divine plan,        preached to the people of Israel by the Lord God through
enter this rest, and whereas those to whom it was first        the instrumentality of David it follows from the very
preached entered it not, the Lord many years later again       nature of the case that it was not that of Canaan. For
said to Israel, in and through David: "Today, Today if         the rest of Canaan had long ago been entered into. To
you will hear my voice, harden not your hearts." And           express ourselves in the words of the holy author: "If
then the author goes on to prove that those whom the           Joshua had given them rest then would he not have
Lord in David admonishes to hear and to hearken will,          spoken of another day." Hence, whereas some (those
if they believe enter a rest other than that (the rest of      who hear and harden not their hearts) must enter into a
Canaan) which Joshua had given them. His proof is              rest other than that which God entered after having
that the Lord speaks of another day. "For (verse  8) if        created heaven and earth, and-other than that having
Joshua had given them rest, then would he not after-           been given them by Joshua; and whereas it was not
ward have spoken of another day." That is to say, in           entered into by the unbelievers of the wilderness, it
that Joshua had not given unto Israel real rest the Lord       follows that a rest remaineth to the people of God. It is
said unto this Israel that if  today  it would hearken it      the rest which Christ entered after having completed his
would enter His rest. Today, then, is that other day and       redemptive labors. This rest to which the believers fall
it is at once the day in which Israel was enjoying the         heir at the return of Christ (the sabbatism of heaven)
rest given them by Joshua. It necessarily follows that         they now possess as a primordial good.
there remaineth a rest to the people of God (verse  8).        Let us now direct our attention to the Sabbath of
From the following verse it is plain that this rest is that    creation. This rest began when God finished His works.
of Jesus Christ which He merited and entered after             It ended when man fell.      Then it happened that the
having finished His redemptive labors. "For he that is         Almighty entered upon the performance of another great
entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own        task, namely, that of executing His counsel of redemp-
works as God did from his."                                    tion. This is evident from the notices of Scripture. Im-
   Let us now periphrase this scripture. The author            mediately after the fall, God declared what He would
admonishes his readers to take heed lest they through          do, namely, put enmity between the serpent and the wo-
unbelief come short of the promise: being left of enter-       man (Gen. 3 :15) or as the apostle Paul has it, reconcile
ing  in'to rest. To add strength to his warning he directs     all things unto himself by Christ  (Cal.  1:3).      This
the attention of his readers to the fate of those who  by      accomplishment scripture repeatedly refers to as God's
reason of their unbelief fell in the wilderness. There- work. "I must work," says Christ,  "the works of him
upon the author asserts' that, according to the divine         that sent me" (John 9 :4). And the author of the epistle
declaration confirmed by an oath, those who hear do            to the Hebrews asserts that "He who entered into  his rest
enter the rest. In view of the fact that the rest of Canaan    ceased from his own works as God did from his." Now
had been entered by the generation following those to          the works of Christ were at once God's works.
whom the warning is directed might inquire whether
there remaineth a rest to the people of God. The antici-          What was the measure of the rest of creation? Was
pated question the author answers in the affirmative.          it prolonged over a period of years? The sacred historian
There remaineth a rest to the people .of God. He reasons       leaves the impression that the Sabbath of creation was
thus: The believers do enter rest, presented (in the form      of short duration. The events of Paradise seems to fol-
of a type  - the rest of Canaan) to the obstinate Jews         low in close succession. The creation of the man and
who perished in the wilderness. The rest entered into          the woman and the naming of the animals by Adam are
by those who hear is not that which followed the com-          all events of the sixth day. Thereupon the sacred his-
pletion of the works of creation, for these works were         torian lets follow the event of the fall. Whereas God was
finished from the foundation of the world. The issuing         contemplating another great work, why should He pro-
rest had been entered by the Lord God; That preached           long the rest of Paradise over a period of many years?
unto the unbelievers in the  w'ilderness  was a promised          Further, man's disobedience signified a cessation of
good, still to be entered both by God and His people.          rest on the part' of God. It follows then that the fall
This is the idea incorporated in the assertion: "although      must have been an event of a sabbath day. Whereas no
his works were finished from the foundation of the             good reason can be given why God should  `have pro-
world." Thus a rest other than that of which the ces-          longed the rest of Paradise it may be assumed that the
sation of God's works of creation was the beginning was        fall was an event of the very first sabbath.
preached unto the Jews of the desert. Whereas God                 God, so one may read in Gen. 2 ~3, blessed the seventh
decreed that some (the elect  - those who hardened not         day and sanctified it. Day is  a word signifying a unit of
their hearts) should enter His rest  ; and whereas those       time. Now time is the duration of the things created.
to whom it was first preached (the unbelieving Jews)           The term day, then, must be regarded as a signification


                                                   *,Q
132                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

of the things of that day, the finished works of God  - lijl&edrijf en leven, om zijn booze plannen zoo te  kun-
the earth and its fulness.                                      nen uitvoeren.
       The seventh day, these works, God blessed. The word         En dat  alles na zoovele eeuwen van Christendom, na
bless when applied to God denotes a deep and abiding            duizenden  jaren van  "theologische"   wetenschapsbeoefe-
love for the object receiving the benediction. The word         ning, Bijbelverspreiding, en Zondag aan Zondag preeken
signifies, further, that upon these objects God bestows         en kerkgaan !
His love and by a volitional act on his part causes them           En het is niet alleen de afschuwelijke zaak van Benja-
to thrive and to prosper . He whom God blesses is made          min en Mary Purnell die u,  als ge den Heere vreest en
to dwell in the  iight  of God's countenance. Having fin-       Christus  Jezus  liefhebt, bedroeft en pijn doet en ergert,
ished His works God smileA,  as it were, upon the finished      maar er bestaat zooveel  van allerlei menschenvond op dit
product. It is the delight of His heart, and that because       gebied, "kerkelijk" bedrog, en lage hartstochten in het
it shows forth His own glory. That work is now blessed          godsdienstig leven, dat het u waarlijk niet moet verwon-
and kept in healthfulness upon the day in which God             deren, dat Upton Sinclair eenige  jaren   geleden  in zijn
rested.                                                         boek "The Profits of  Reli&ion,,  deze  dingen   terecht
                                                G. M. 0.        striemde en geeselde; al onderscheidde hij niet  genoeg-
                                                                zaam tusschen waren  en sdhijngodsdienst, tusschen echt
                                                                en  valsch  Christendom  ; en al  kept hij voor zichzelf niet
               RELIGIEUZE KARBONKELS                            de verzoening met God door het dierbaar bloed van Jezus
                                                                Christus, den Zoon van God, den Middelaar Gods en der
       De tekst der beslissing, die  rechter Fead van Michi-    menschen.  -
gan onlangs heeft genomen in het circuit court te  Ben-
ton  Harborj   Mich.,  inzake het  rechtsgeding door den            Er zijn al wat religieuze karbonkels opgekomen in de
Staat Michigan gevoerd tegen de  hoofden  van het  be-          laatste  tijden.
rucht geworden "Huis van David,' aldaar, de dusgenaam-              Er  v;ertoonden  zich heel wat booze zw.eren  en kwaad-
de  `Xolonie  van Ware  Israelieten,"  waarvan de  leden        aardige puisten  aan het Iichaam van het  "christendom"
door den  siuwcn  en gemeenen Benjamin Purnell, en diens        in de vorige en de tegenwoordige eeuw, zoowel in Europa
bijzit Mary,  waren bijeen  v&gaderd als te behooren tot        als in Amerika.
de "l&,OCQ"`wie  naar het lichaam en naar de ziel onster-           En nu mogen door het rijp worden  van en opengaan
felijkheid en eeuwige zaligheid door iijn tusschenkomst         dezer  karbonkels  heel wat vuil uit het lichaam  worden
werd geschonken, heeft nog eens weder, ook in de  niet-         verwijderd dat anders op een verschillende wijze  $e  ge-
kerkelijke  pers, de aandacht gevestigd op de religie,  op      zondheid misschien erger had bedreigd; het bewijst tech
den godsdienst; en op de  personen  en sujetten die van         wel, dat er danig aanwezig was in het bloed en er veel
de vonkskens in den mensch  "door  Gods  gena$e   over-         kwade stoffen  daarbinnen een uitweg zochten.
gebleven," van de onkunde en de lichtgeloovigheid van               Naar ons inzien is Romeinkn 1:18 tot 32 ook  we1 een
vele "christelijke" Heidenen, en verdwaalde  mannen en beeld der waarheid van  onzen  verlichten  en machtigen
vrouwen, gebruik hebben  weten te  maken  tot hun eigen         tijd !
voordeel, ter voldoening hunner  "geestelijke"  ambities,           Wie twijfelt ook onder Gods kinderen  aan de eeuwige
of ook van hunne vleeschelijke lusten.                          waarheid van het Woord des Heeren, al schudt de wereld
       Bij "King Ben," die  zich "de  2evende;Engel"   noem-    ook sterk en plechtig soms het hoofd over ons?
de,; die  als een Middelaar en Zaligmaker van zijn  volk            Men moge al aanvoeren, dat elke eeuw hare zwart- e.n
optrad; die  zich als een god  liet beschouwen en  erken-       dwarskijkers had,  alsmede "lamenteerende  Jeremia's,?
nen ; kwam ten  slotte  het brutale bedrog  *en de drieste      hare  "teekenen'`-profeten en  "oordeelen,`-zieners  (en wij
vuilheid van zijn ondernemen al te zeer aan het licht  om willen  DAT nietrontkennen  natuurlijk), daarmede is niet
langer onbesproken te blijven.                                  gezegd, dat deze eeuw  niet  de kenmerken bezit van war
       En het is een deugd te weten  nu, dat hij ontmaskerd     de heilige Apostel Paulus  in zijn dagen reeds zag, en hij
werd, en onschadelijk werd gemaakt voor het vervolg. ons profetisch  als teekenvoorbeeld in de perspectief opgaf.
       Maar  alles samen genomen, weet men niet te zeggen,          En de waarheid van II Petrus 2 verzen 1 tot 3 zal oak
wat meer bevreemdt: de lange duur dat deze bedrieger heden  ten dage door niemand die zijne oogen open heeft,
 en wellusteling zijn smerige praktijken kon volhouden en wijsheid verkreeg doordat hem des Geestes  licht   be-
 en in de wereld rondgaan met zijn "Bijbelsche" propa-          scheen, in twijfel  worden  getrokken.  -                  .
 ganda en  "Hemelsche',  Boodschappers,  (jf de  ongeloof-          Joseph Smith en Brigham Young onder de  Mormo-
 lijke domheid en onbegrijpelijke lichtgeloovigheid van         nen  ; John tSLlexander  Dowie en andere "Zionisten" ;  Me-
 vele menschen, die te goeder trouw en met eerbied voor vrouw Blavatsky en Annie Besant; Mrs. Eddy en Mrs.
 hun "Redder" vervuld, al hun have en  goed,  hun lijf en       White; Mrs. Katherine Tingley met hare  Oud-Tibetaan-
 ziel  overgaven  aan een tloartrapten, slechten en luien       sche Boedhistische Theosofie, en Mrs. Aimee McPher-
 kerel; die  tech ook weer zekere kennis van het  wonder- son met haar "Four Square Gospel" tooverij; het  Spiri-
 iijke menschelijke hart moet hebben gehad, en goed moet        tisme van Elise van Calvar en van Sir Conan  Doyle; het
 hebben rond gezien in zekere kringen van  bet:  mensche-       nieuwste optreden,  als een moderne Elia en een  Nieuw-


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                        137

   Telkens eens de werking van licht en schaduw op het III. THE GLORIFIED SAV'IOUR IN THE MIDST
gebied van het godsdienstig  leven  van dorps- en  stads-                       01F THE CANDLESTICKS
menschen te zien, en de afbeelding dan te  .vergelijken  met
het origineel dat Gods Woord u geeft te aanschouwen, zal                 T e x t ,   Rev:  1:9-20.    I, John, your brother, and
                                                                      partaker with you in the tribulation and kingdom
volmakend werken en God verheerlijkend.                               and patience which are in Jesus, was in the isle that
   Wij wenschen  ccNeveldijk"  in vele  handen.                       is called Patmos, for the Word of God and the
                                                                      testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the
   En verlangen  naar een voortzetting dezer schetsen.                Lord's day, and I heard behind me a great voice as
                                                   G. V. B.          of a trumpet saying, What thou seest write in a book
                                    --                               and send it to the seven churches: unto  Ephesus
                                                                     and unto Smyrna and unto Pergamum and unto
                                                                     Thyatira, and unto Sardis and unto  Philadelohia  and
                                                                                                                      r-     ~~-~
                                                                     unto Laodicea.
              GEDACHTENWISSELING
                                                                         And I  turne,d  to see the voice that  spak)e with me.
                                                                     And having turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks:
                             Rock Valley, Nov. 30, 1927              and in the midst of the candlesticks one like unto a
                                                                     son of man, clothed with a garment down to the
                                                                     foot and girt about the breasts with a golden girdle:
      Waarde Ds. Hoeksema !                                          And his head and his hair were white as white woo&
                                                                     white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;
   In  verband  met de Drie  Punten,  aangenomen op de               and his feet  were  like unto burnished brass, as if it
Synode van 1923, kom ik tot u met het volgende verzoek:              had been relined in a furnace; and his voice as the
                                                                     voice of many waters. And he had in his right hand
   Ik ben lid der Chr. Ger. kerk te Rock Valley, Iowa, en            seven stars; and out of his mouth proceeded a sharp
het is naar mijn meening zoo gesteld, dat er nog nooit               two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the
                                                                     sun shineth in his strength.
iemand is geweest die eens uiteengezet heeft wat  tech
eigenlijk de genade is die God bewijst  aan de verworpe-                And when I saw him I fell at his feet as one
                                                                     dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying,
nen in de prediking  des Evangelies.                                 Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living
   Ik heb tweemaal een commissie gehad van mijn  ker-                one and I was dead, and behold, I am alive  forevcr-
                                                                     more, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.
keraad, die, nadat ik hen had gevraagd of ZIJ mij dat                Write, therefore, the things which thou sawest, and
niet eens even konden duidelijk maken,  ten antwoord ga-             the things which are and the things which shall come
                                                                     to pass hereafter; the mystery of the seven stars
ven: "Neen, Lems, dat kunnen wij niet."                              which thou sawest in my right hand and the seven
   Nu kwam Ds. Geerlings met een ouderling op huisbe-                golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels
                                                                     of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks
zoek, en ik heb  aan mijn Ds. gevraagd, of hij dat niet              are seven churches.
eens  Wilde  probeeren. Hij gaf mij ten antwoord, dat het
duidelijkste bewijs te vinden is in Hebretn 6, verzen 4,           Thus far we studied together the general introduction
5, 6 en 7. En Judas 1 vers  iz. Ds. Geerlings  zeide,  dat of the book of Revelation, or its superscription and the
bet daar tech zeer duidelijk staat. Op mijn vraag, of hij introduction `of the apostle John, who receiqed'  this rev-
dat dan eens uiteen wilde zetten, welke ik  driemaa1  ge- elation; the former telling us of the contents and nature
daan heb, kreeg ik telkens ten antwoord: "Ja, dat is het, of the book, the manner in which it reached the church,
zooals het daar staat."                                         and the practical purpose of the book; the latter consist-
   Maar dat blijft maar duister voor mij en ik zou graag ing of a significant salutation to the churches, a glorious
willen  weten  of u dat niet eens duidelijk uiteen Wilde zet- adoration.of the Lord Jesus and a most solemn assurance
ten in de Standard Bearer. Als het dan 266 is als het er of His  coming in glory. Now we are approaching  the+
staat, wat staat er dan en als het er dan niet staat, dat main body of the book itself and the numerous visions
het genade is, maak dan eens duidelijk wat er we1 staat, and varied revelations it presents to our consideration.
want licht is in dezen zeer gewenscht. Ik vraag  u dit          In the text quoted above we have the beginning, the
niet,  omdat  ik  achter  Ds. Geerlings' rug om eens iets in first part of the first vision, a vision that extends from
het publiek wil zeggen, want ik heb hem verteld, dat ik u the ninth verse of the first chapter to the end of chapter
zou vragen en dan kan hij ook  we1 eens met  u van  ge- three. It really contains two main parts. First it calls
dachten wisselen.                                               our attention to the vision of the glorified Christ walking
   U bij voorbaat dankend voor de l moeite,                     in the midst of the golden candlesticks and commission-
                           Uw broeder in Christus,              ing John to write in a book the things he saw; and sec-
                                              BAS LEMS          ondly it contains the sevenfold message which John must
                                                                deliver to the seven churches of Asia. In our text we
   Note voor broeder Lems.                                      find the former, namely the manifestation of the glorified
   Uw brief kwam een beetje te laat om er in dit nummer Christ in relation to His church as well as in connection
nog een antwoord op te geven.                                   with the things that must shortly come to pass.                      It is
   Ik ben echter  blij eens iets van u te hooren en ik hoop preceded by an explanation of the circumstances under
in het volgend nummer met een antwoord  u te kunnen which the vision was received by John. Even as the
dienen. Het zou metterdaad  mooi  wezen  als uw leeraar prophets of the  oId dispensation were wont to give a
eens  Wilde wisselen van gedachten. Ik geef hem bij voor- rather elaborate description of their calling to the
baat reeds mijn verzekering, dat hij met alle liefde ruimte prophetic office, so John in our text tells us how and
daarvoor beschikbaar zal vinden.                     H. H.      under what circumstances he first received the revelation


138                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARER
-_-                           ..-
of the future. He was on the lonely little island of  Pat-     by the Lord's day John refers to the clay of the Lord's
mos, a forsaken little isle, rocky and bare in the midst       resurrection, the first day of the week, set aside as a day
of the sea, not far from the coast of Asia `Minor. He tells    of special worship and consecration to take the place of
us that he was there on account of the Word of God and         the old dispensation seventh day sabbath.. And when
the testimony of Jesus. This may imply that he was             John tells us that he was in the spirit we must not think
sent there to preach the Word of God and be a witness          of the Holy Spirit, for that would have but little sense;
of the Name of Jesus; or it may mean that he was there         but rather must we understand that he was in a state of
for the very purpose of receiving the Word of God in the       prophetic, spiritual ecstasy, so that as it were he was sep-
form of this book of Revelation; or it may signify that        arated from the world of sense and prepared to receive
he was banished as an exile by the power of the world          the vision of spiritual things. For we believe that in the
for the sake of the Lord and his testimony. The last           visions which the apostle is privileged to see in the future
mentioned possibility would seem  mbst probable and            there is actually something objectively real. It was not
acceptable. In the first place, this is the most natural       entirely subjective, not merely consisting of spiritual
significance of the phrase: "for the Word of God and the       states of the seer, but the object that was presented to
testimony of Jesus."      Most generally this implies the      his view was of such a nature that mere material eye
idea of true martyrdom. In the second place, this seems        could not perceive, and that, therefore, a translation in
to  ,be implied in the manner in which John introduces         the spirit was necessary to prepare John to see. In this
himself, namely, as the brother and partaker with the          state, then, of prophetic ecstasy, John tells us that he
church in the tribulation and the kingdom and patience         hears a voice, instructing him to write what he sees in a
which are in Jesus. This would seem to imply that the          book., and send it to the seven churches that are men-
time of this writing was a period of persecution for the       tioned by name. And when he turns  "to see the voice
church of Christ, and that John, partaking in the gene,ral     that spake with him"' he beholds the v&ion  of:
tribulation and persecution of the church, was banished
to the isle of Patmos.      And, in the third place, this        THE GLORIFIED SAVIOUR IN THE MIDST
would harmonize with the records of secular history,                         OF THE CANDLESTICKS.
which informs  us  that about this time the power of the
world in the person of the emperor Domitian raged with            Let us consider:
fury against the followers of Jesus, the despised sect of        I. CHRIST AS THE  EX4LTED  PRIEST-KING.
the  Nazarenes.  And, therefore, we  con&de that John
was on the island of Patmos, about the year 95 or 96 A. D.      II. THE CHURCH HIS  G.LORY AND PROPERTY.
as a martyr ior the name and the testimony#of  Jesus his       III. HIS MESSAGE OF COMFORT TO JOHN AND
Lord.                                                                THE CHURCH.
   But the Lord, who is Prince of the rulers of the earth
and causes also their counsels to work together for the           I. It will be observed immediately that in this vision
good of His church had different plans. And though             there are two elements. In the first place there is the
the worldly power had exiled the aged apostle with a           element of the golden candlesticks, of which it is most
view to silencing forever his faithful testimony, the Lord     natural `to assume thar they were standing in a circle
transformed his lonely and secluded isle into the spot that around the Saviour ; and in the second place, there is the
served as an oracle for the revelation of one of the most      vision of the glorified Redeemer Himself, whom John
beautiful and important parts of Holy Writ. Without            describes `in detail. To begin with the latter, what a
any doubt this island of the apostle's exile, where nothing    wonderful appearance He is! On the whole He made the
but wild nature surrounded him from day to day, where          impression of a being, overwhelming in glory and bright-
he could witness the terrible symbolism of the restless        ness of appearance, for He was as the sun shineth in his
sea, listen to the monotonous music of its waves beating       strength. It is only after John has become somewhat
the rocky shores of his abode, where, moreover, he could       accustomed to the glory of this wonderful being, that he
obtain an unobstructed view of the heavens and his ob-         is able to describe Some of the details of the vision.
servation of the four corners of the world was arrested        Gradually he begins to notice that this being presents the
only by the horizon, this forsaken abode was undoubtedly       general appearance and likeness of a son of man, of a
naturally fit to be the scene of the prophet's visions and     human being. His head and His hair, so he notices
revelations, offering a natural background for these further, were white as white wool, as white as snow.
revelations and visions, and being conducive to make the       Out of his mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword
apostle susceptible to receive them. There, then, John         and in his right hand He held seven stars. His feet were
was, and he tells us that he was in the Spirit on the          like unto burnished brass, his eyes reminded one of
Lord's clay. By the day of the Lord in this connection         flames of fire, while his voice was like the roar of the
we must not understand the final day of judgment, for mighty waves beating against the shore, when the storm
although the term is applicable to that day as such, this      sweeps them into fury. His garments consisted of a long
interpretation is by no means in accord with what imme-        robe, stately and majestic, rolling down to the feet, and
diately follows. Much more natural it is to accept that        about the breast He wore a golden girdle, glittering in


                                                                 .
                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D  BEhRER                                                  139

 the general brightness and glory of His appearance. Such       In Daniel VII it is exactly His glory and dominion that is
 is the general description of the vision.    And we ask        connected with, this phrase, "one like unto a son of
 naturally, What is the significance of this marvelous ap-      man." In that passage the prophet describes him  as.
 pearance?                                                      approaching the Ancient of Days for the purpose of re-
   * In order to arrive at a correct interpretation of the      ceiving his everlasting dominion, for Daniel could but see
 whole it will be necessary first of all to make careful        this glory as still being future. But here on Patmos the
 study of the details in the description, that then we may      vision speaks of the realization of the prophecy of Dan.
 combine them into their proper synthesis and obtain a          VII. Naturally so. Already the one like unto a son of
 conception of the whole. Certain it is from the outset,        man had approached the Ancient of Days at the moment
 that here we have the appearance of the Saviour from a John receives this vision; already the suffering Servant
 certain definite point of view. The vision has a specific      had obeyed even unto death, had entered into His herit-
 meaning, means to present  the'Son of Man in a definite        age from Jehovah, had risen to glory, had been exalted to
 light, and every detail of the vision must undoubtedly         the right hand of Power; already He had received his
 serve to emphasize that one particular idea. The out-          everlasting dominion. And, therefore, as such He here
 standing features we may take as our starting point in         appears, as the King in glory, having received His do-
 explaining the vision. First of all it cannot but impress      minion from the Ancient of Days. And in the third
 us immediately that this glorious Being is described as        place we draw the inference from a comparison with the
 `*one like unto a son of man." The expression is familiar passage in Daniel, that He here appears as being author-
 to us all, for Jesus was fond of that name during the          ized and powerful to judge. When Daniel beholds Him
 days of His public ministry on earth. But not only             judgment is about to take place; it is just before the
 from the lips of the Saviour Himself have we listened to       judgment is begun that the Son of Man receives His
 this wonderful Name, but also in the Old Testament we          dominion and power. And, therefore, comparing the two
 already meet with the same phrase "son of man" and             passages from Daniel and Revelation 1, we come to the
 "one like unto a son of man." The expression as it oc-         conclusion that the Saviour here appears in all His glory
 curs here is most probably derived from Daniel  VII:13,        and power and authority as King-Judge.
 13. There we read: "And, behold, there came with the                 As a second striking feature we may call your atten-
 clouds of heaven one like unto a eon of man, and he came tion to the whiteness of his head and hair. We point to
 even to the ancient of days, and they brought him near         this feature now because also in this description there is
 before him.    And there was given him dominion and            an unmistakable reference to the portion quoted from
 glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples and nations and      Daniel VII. In the ninth verse of that chapter we read:
 languages should serve him. His dominion is an ever-           "I beheld  till, thrones were placed and one that was an
 lasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his           Ancient of Days did sit: his raiment was white as snow
 kingdom that which shall not be destroyed."  `If we com-       and the  hair of his head was like pure wool." The ref-
 pare this passage with the one before us and remember erence is clear. The whiteness of the hair is becoming
 that the phrase "one like unto a son of man" finds its         the Ancient of Days and is symbolic of eternity, And,
 origin most probably in the portion quoted from Daniel,        therefore, when our text speaks of that same feature in
 the following inferences seem perfectly justified. First of    conection with the King-Saviour, it refers to Him in His
 all we observe that in this phrase we have a reference to      divine nature, for as such He is the eternal One. In
 the Lord from the point of view of His human nature.           Daniel the Ancient of Days is not the one like unto `a
 He  &as truly man, and as such He was also called the          son of man but God; here, however, it is the saviour
p Son of Man. That in the vision He is not definitely that is described in these terms. The difference, there-
 called the Son of Man, but described as one like unto a        fore, is that in Daniel the Son of Man and the Ancient
 son of man, makes no difference. John surely does not          of Days are two separate persons; while in our passage
 mean to infer that He was no man in reality and that He        they are represented as one. And again this difference is
 only resembled man.      The form of expression must fully in harmony with the difference in dispensations.
 rather be attributed to the overwhelming, even stupe-. When Daniel wrote the Word had not yet become flesh,
 fying glory of His appearance. Because of this glory it        when John received his vision the Incarnation had been
 is only gradually that John beholds the general appear-        realized. God and man. divine and human nature had
 ance of a human person and that he expresses himself           been united in One Person, the Person of the Son of God,
 in these words: "one like unto a son of man." In them, and the Ancient of Days could therefore appear in  -the
 therefore, we have a special reference to Christ as the        vision as being at the same time the "one like unto a son
 Son of Man, to Him from the point of view of His human         of man." The two visions of Daniel have here merged
 nature, as the human Servant of God. However, and              into one; Christ is here presented to our view as being
 this is our second observation, the* same comparison           both the Son of Man and the Ancient of Days - God and
 with the passage from Daniel leads us to surmise that          yet man, divine and yet truly human, infinite and yet
 He does not here appear as the  SuBering  Servant, but         finite, and then from the point of view of being the King-
 as the Glorified King, that has already entered into His Judge. The vision before us pictures the God-man as the
 inheritance and received His kingdom from the Father.          glorious King that has entered into the heritage from

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

Jehovah, that has received His dominion, everlasting and         that possesses power and authority both over His church
imperishable, authorized to judge and to realize the corn-       and over the world that'opposes His people and kingdom.
pletion of his power and dominion.                                   But there is still more. The vision, evidently, does
      In the light of this general observation it will not be    not present Jesus as the great King only, but also as
difficult to comprehend the rest of the symbolic details         the High Priest busy for us in the sanctuary.  This
in the vision. In the first place let me ask your atten-         latter idea is expressed in His apparel, for He is clothed
tion to His eyes like a flame of fire. This refers in the        with a garment down to the foot and girt about the
first place to the penetrating omniscience of this mighty        breasts with a golden girdle. The old-dispensational
king especially in relation to the things of the kingdom         High Priest wore a long robe or upper coat called the
of  satan. The kingdom of evil is a kingdom of dark-             robe of the ephod. It is evidently in this long  high-
ness and those that love iniquity love the secrecy of            priestly garb that the Lord manifests Himself to John in
darkness. Over that evil world, and over every evil thing        this vision.    The fact that the garment is pictured as
this glorious Son of Man shall sit in judgment and his           hang&g down to the foot indicates that he is not ready
judgment shall be final. Nothing shall escape His atten-         to bring sacrifices of blood. The great sacrifice has been
tion. No evil deed or thought or plan, no wicked device          brought and finished. On the other hand, the fact that
shall remain hidden, for his eyes, flaming like fire pene-       He still wears the golden girdle indicates that, although
trate the darkest corner of the kingdom of evil and bring        the bloody offering has been finished, yet this High
to light every hidden thing. Under  the glare of these           Priest is engaged in active ministration in the temple.
eyes every hidden thing is clearly exposed. Besides, they The Old Testament High Priest would wear that girdle
are also symbolic of His holy wrath. As they expose              only as long as he was actively engaged in the ministra-
and bring to light the hidden things of wickedness, they         tion of the sanctuary; immediately after his work was
sparkle with just and holy anger and prophecy revenge            finished he would lay it aside. And thus we obtain a
and punishment upon the evil-doer. Somewhat the same             beautiful picture of the Lord and Saviour, as He has
idea is expressed in the symbolism of His feet. They indeed, principally finished His work on the accursed tree
appeared like burnished brass as it were  refined in a           of  Golgotha:  yet is still busy as our High Priest and
furnace, the text tells us. Also this feature adds to the        Intercessor to represent our cause with the Father. Some
general impression that here we have the vision of the           have found a point of difference wirh the Old Testament
Saviour as the great King-Judge. With these feet, like           high priest in the detail that the Lord appears with the
burning fire, He will tread down the enemies of His king-        girdle about the breasts, but this does not seem to har-
dom and treading them down He will consume them in               monize with the facts. The high priests as well as the
His wrath. We further notice that his voice is as the            common priests wore their girdle about the breast and
voice of many waters, surely, not the monotonous and             not about the loins. But a real point of distinction is
soft murmur of the quiet sea, but the  roaring*tumult  of        that in the vision our High Priest wears a girdle of gold
the storm-swept deep, when wave after wave breaks                while the ordinary girdles of the high priests were of
against the rocky shore of John's solitary prison-island.        fine twined linen and purple and scarlet, the golden glit-
It is  tile voice as of thunder, the voice of power, the         ter of the girdle here once more reminding us of the
voice of wrath becoming the mighty Judge of the world            royal character of this High Priest.
that here appears before the apostle whom Jesus loved.              Thus the picture is complete. The Saviour appears in
And lastly our attention is called to the sharp two-edged        the vision both as the mighty King-Judge and as the
sword that proceeds out of His mouth. The sword in               great High Priest in rhe sanctuary. As the King-Judge
Scripture is symbol of authority in the first place. In          He is pictured before us when  John describes Him to us
Romans XIII the apostle Paul says of the powers that             as the One like unto a son of man and the ancient of  *
be: "but if thou do that which is evil be afraid, for he         days, whose head and whose hair are white as pure
beareth the sword not in vain: for he is a minister of           wool, white as snow; whose feet are like burnished brass
God, an avenger for him that doeth evil." And, there-            refined in a furnace and whose eyes are like a flame of
fore, in this symbol of the sword we have again.an  indi-        fire, while a sharp two-edged sword proceeds out of his
cation of the power and authority of Christ as the King-         mouth and His voice rolls as the thunder of many waters.
Judge, whereby He maintains Himself and His sov-                 And as our High Priest He stands before us when we
ereignty over against the wicked evildoer and opponent           pay attention to His long priestly garb indicating that
of His Kingdom.        Evidently, however, the power or          His sacrificial work is just finished, while He is still
sword whereby this King will maintain Himself and                busy in the sanctuary of our God as is indicated by the
punish evil-doers is merely the power of His Word. For           golden girdle about the breasts.        As King-Judge He
in the first place we read in scripture of the Word as           rules and guides and guards His church throughout the
being a sharp two-edged sword, and in the second place           ages, makes His people a kingdom and priests unto His
in our text the sword proceeds out of the mouth of the           God and Father, protects them and is their defense
Judge. All these details, therefore, corroborate the gen-        against the enemies.    As Judge He shall separate the
eral impression received at the first, that the Saviour here     t&es from the wheat, root out all evil and all that loves
appears to John as the great and mighty King and Judge,          darkness and give the reward of grace to all His faithful


  people. l3ut He is also the King-Judge of all the world,        of rhc Trinity. .Hut seven is the symbol of the completion
  for He is the Prince of the rulers of the earth and con-        of all that God does in time to realize the glory of His
  trols all things. Noth'mg can prevail against His power,        Name through  ihe completion of His kingdo'm. It con-
  nothing can evade His authority. It may seem often in           tains the numbers three and four, the number of the
  this dispensation that Satan is the highest sovereign of        Godhead and the number of the world. At the same time
  this world, more than a semblance of power and externaf         it is rhe number of the hallowed day, the climax and
  show this devil-reign is not.    Reality' is that Christ is     completion and consecration of all the works of God. It,
  Sovereign. He has dominion which is everlasting and             therefore, is the number of completion especially with a
  perisheth never, a dominion to which.all  that are in the       view to the glory of the kingdom. For the same reason
  earth and in hell must absolutely submit. He shall judge        it is used to denote the fulness and completion of fhe
  the nations and all the enemies of His kingdom and              church of Christ as His Body and Kingdom, and  that
  people He shall tread down by those mighty feet, flaming both as to its existence at any period of this dispensation
  and glaring like burnished brass refined in a furnace. as well  3s to its  -finished  whole at the end of time.
  0 church of the King, behold Hi? in all the glory bf His        Throughout the ages seven is the number of the fulness
  mighty appearance and let it inspire  you  with strehgth of Christ's Body. Hence, when ]ohn is commissioned to
  dnd courage to be faithful unto death. As He appeared           write to the seven churches that are in Asia, these seven
  on  Patmos   so He stands before you today!        Still He churches no doubt actually existed at his time. They
  stands there as your High Priest, remembering you con-          are no mere fiction, but historical churches. Only seven
  tinually before His Father in the sanctuary above. Still        are chosen, because in this number there is a symbolic
  He stands there as your mighty  E;ing,  in the midst of         indication  of. the church of Christ in general; and rhese
  trouble and confusion, in the midst of tribulation and          special seven. congregations are chosen because they were
. distress, leading and guiding you,  contrb'lling  your  ene-    undoubtedly prepared by Almighty God through Jesus
  mies, protecting and guarding you against all that  is          Christ so that they might constitute together a picture
  evil till the day of His coming. Look upon that mighty of the church in general, as it exists in this dispensation
  King of yours in times of persecution, when the world           with its perfections and defects, its strength and weak-
  hates you because of the Word of God and the testimony          ness, its features of commendation and of rebuke. And
  of Jesus. Look upon Him and let it be an incentive to           thus it is also to be explained, thar in the sevenfold mes-
  confess His most glorious Name esen  when all that is in        sage, addressed to the seven congregations in Asia not
  this world seems against that Name and those that con-          only they but also the entire church of all climes and of
  fess it! Look upon your faithful High Priest; let that          every age is pictured and admonished, blessed and threat-
  long robe waving down to the feet of your Saviour               ened with the judgments of the Great King.             It: is
  assure you that your guilt is removed and your sins are         especially through the employment of the number seven
  all forgiven !    Let the golden girdle be the symbol of        that we are in a condition to realize: the message to the
  your boldness to enter into the sanctuary above, where          seven churches is a universal message to the church of
  He is interceding for His people, praying for the Bride all ages, concerns us as directly as it did rhe churches of -
  He loves! Daughter of Zion, behold thy King and be              Asia.
  comforted in the midst of wars and rumors of wars !. He            In the second place the church is symbolized in the
  is thy strong Deliverer!      Surely, He will do justice        figure of the seven golden candlesticks, standing most
  upon earth and establish His kingdom everlastingly and          probably in a circle around the appearance of the  Saviotir.
  no power on earth or in hell is able to prevent the com-        By this symbol we are, of course, immediately reminded
  pletion of His glory.                                           of the seven-shafted  candlestiCk  that was  foutid  in the
     II. But we must hasten on. For not only of the               Holy Place of the old testament temple. In that holy
  great King and High Priest does our vision present a place there were found the altar of  incen.se,  the table of
  picture, but also of the church that is  .His property and      shewbread and the golden `candlestick. The last men-
  glory. This church is presented to us as the seven              tioned piece of temple-furniture consisted of a perpendic-
  churches that are in Asia, as the golden candlesticks in        ular shaft, with three arms on each side  a11 bending
  the midst of which the King is walking, and as the stars        towards the shaft in the center. The lamps of this can-
  that are. in His right hand. Throughout we feel that            dlestick had to he kept burning continually, every night
  here we have symbolism that must be understood would            and all through the night, symbolic of the fact that Israel
  we understand the significance of the whole. First of all       was the light of God shining in the darkness of the world
  it may occupy our attention that repeatedly there is men-       to the glory of its covenant Jehovah. Here, in our text,
  tion of the number seven. There are seven churches              as Jesus Himself explains they are a symbol not of the
  to which John must write, there are seven candlesticks          people of God of the old dispensation for they had served
  in the midst of which the Saviour is walking, there are         their purpose in history, but of the church of the New
  seven stars in the right hand of the King. And as we            Testament day. These seven candlesticks symbolize the
  have discussed before, there are also seven spirits that        church as the light in the world, they visualize the
  are before the throne. Seven is not the holy number, for words of rhe Lord to his disciples:  "Ye are the light of
  that can be said only  uf the number three, the number the world." A light, the light of the world the church is

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

     not because  she' possesses light in herself, but because of     fo address in a concrete letter such an abstract idea.
      her communion with her Head, Jesus Christ, through              No more than I can send a letter to the "spirit of the
      the Spirit. And, therefore, she is called to let her light      age," no more would it be possible to write to the spirit
     shine to God's glory in the midst of the world and in            of the church in that sense of the word. And still others
     every sphere of life. We may notice further that there           have applied the expression simply  ro  the overseers or
     are two points of difference between the golden candle-          ministers of the  variotis  congregations.     It seems but
     sticks in our vision and the lamps in the holy place of the      j&t in the first place to remember that the symbol of a
     old testament sanctuary. In the first place it may be ob-        star as such denotes a light that is conspicuous yet sub-
     served that the seven shafts of the latter all stood in a        ordinate. Further we should also bear in mind that in
     straight line, while in our vision the seven candlesticks        the Word of God the term used in the original for angel
     ark evidently standing in a circle around the figure of          (Malakh, Angelos) does not always refer to one of God's
      the Christ, beautifully symbolizing a characteristic dif-       spiritual servants in heaven, but may also simply.denote
     ference between the two dispensations. The church in             a messenger or servant of God performing some impor-
     the old dispensation was confined to Israel from the time        tant function in church or kingdom. Referring evidently
     of its calling. But in the new dispensation the church           to John the Baptist, Malachi prophesied: "Behold, I send
     has become universal, gathered. from every nation and            my angel and he shall prepare rhe way before me." And
     tribe and tongue. The church now sheds` its light not            finally, as we have remarked already, we must remember,
      within the narrow limits of one single nation but to the        too, that John is commanded to write to these angels of
     remotest regions of the earth. And secondly it may also          the seven churches. All these considerations establish
     be noticed that in the figure of the Old Testament candle-       it beyond all reasonable doubt that the angel of the
     stick there was a visible connection between the various         church in this case is first of all a human individual, rhe
     shafts or arms of the lamp, while in our vision the  con:        overseer or elder, or in our language the minister of the
     nection  is an invisible one, for each of the seven can-         congregation. These are the stars not because the church
     dlesticks stands by itself, outwardly independent of the         receives its light only and absolutely from them, for the
     others.     The outward national tie of Israel's theocracy       Spirit dwells in the church in general, but because they
     has disappeared and has become a purely spiritual one.           are called to enlighten the church of Christ as to the
     It is by the power of faith that we stand in spiritual           truth of God in a special way. But this is not all. These
     communion first of all with Christ our Head. From Him            stars, these angels or ministers in this connection must
     we derive through faith our light, and that by means of          not be separated from the church over which they have
     the seven spirits that dwell in Him as the Head and in           been placed, but must be taken in connection with the
     us as the members of His Body. And in the second                 latter. They are the representatives of the church. For
     place it is by that same power of faith that we are con-         it is plain that John does not write to the seven angels
     Ltiected  mutually in  the fellowship and communion of as such, but through them ro the seven churches that are
     saints. Finally it may be said, that the fact that these         i n  I 4'
                                                                            sla.    He addresses the angels but writes to the
     candlesticks are golden indicates the preciousness, the          churches, he sends the letters to the stars, but as being
     glory and the incorruptibleness of the church of Christ          representative of the entire church.       Christ, holds rhe
     which He has bought with His own precious blood. The             seven stars in His right hand, but in them is symbolized
     church is more precious than the finest gold, it is as           not merely that he controls and guards the angels of the
     glorious as this noblest of metals and it perishes never         churches but ihrough them also the entire church.
     for it is the Body of the glorious King that stands in the          Thus, then, we have considered the two separate ele-
     midst of the seven candlesticks.                                 ments of the vision, the appearance of Christ as the great
            And, finally,  methinks  the church is also symbolized    and mighty Priest, King and Judge and as the High
     from a certain point of view in the seven stars Jesus            Priest over the house of God; and the vision of the
     holds in His right hand. Not directly but indirectly also        church as symbolized in the seven churches of Asia, the
     this figure applies to the church. Jesus* own interpreta-        seven golden candlesticks and the seven stars. In con-
     tion is that these seven stars are the seven angels of the       clusion we must still devote a few moments to consider
     churches. But there is a controversy as to exactly what          the unity and the connection between the two. This
     is meant by these seven angels. Some have taken the              connection is indicated in the first place by the fact, that
     expression in its most current sense and maintain that           Christ is in the midst of the candlesticks  ; symbolizing that
     it refers to the guardian angel of every congregation.           He is the Source of their light. Withdraw that central
     But rhis would not seem a very plausible explanation for         figure and the candlesticks cannot shine. It is only in the
     the simple reason that it is difficult to conceive of the        brightness of His glory that they are lights in the dark-
     possibility of John's writing a letter to one of these           ness. We are dependent upon our Head, according to
     guardian angels of the church. Others have idealized             His own words: "Without me ye can do nothing." In
     and spiritualized the term and maintain that the expres-         the second place His being in the midst of the candle-
     sion refers to the peculiar and distinctive "spirit" of each     sticks in that long robe undulating to his feet, also indi-
     congregation, to its spiritual idea. But also this inter-        cates our relation to Him as our High Priest and Inter-
     pretation is impossible since it seems quite inconceivable       cessor. Already the work of atonement is finished and
t


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   R E A R E R                                            143
 -

 now He is in the sanctuary of God as our High Priest            reassuring word of comfort : "Fear not !"
 and Intercessor to pray for us. Ir is in Him and in Him            Why not? First of all because He was dead. The
 only that God considers the church. And finally, it pic-        Lord calls the attention of John and of, the church as it
 tures Him to us as being in the midst of the church as          were to that gracefully undulant robe, waving down  ro
 our great King and Protector. In Him is all our strength        the foot, as a sign that His sacrificial work of atonement
 and glory, in Him is all our safety and protection, for He      is all finished.  I was dead, He says. And because I was
 is King, the  lirsr and the last, and all the world is sub-     dead  there is no reason to fear. Those sins you feel,
 ject to His power. This intimate connection is indicated        rising up mountain high before your consciousness at the
 also by the fact that He holds the seven stars in His           sight of my presence are all atoned for and washed away
 right hand. The right hand is the symbol of power, and          in my blood. Your guilt has been removed and therefore,
 the stars are the symbols of the ministers and overseers        there is no reason  ro fear.  I am your Saviour and your
 of the church as representing her. And, therefore, we           Redeemer! But still more. Though He was dead yet
 have in this symbol the glorious visualization of the           He is the living one and lives forevermore. The power
 words of our Lord that no one can pluck them out of             of death could not'prevail against Him. He was victori-
 His Hand. The churches are His property and He holds            ous-and that for all his people, for His entire church.
 them. Having bought them with rhe precious blood of             And now the keys of death and of Hades have been de-
 His own body, He will not fail nor forsake them. In the livered into His hands! He opens and shuts and no one
 midst of tribulation and distress the church may rest           can say: What doest thou? Think of it, our King, our
 assured that she is safely upheld by the right hand of          mighty Lord, our great High Priest, who atoned for our
 her powerful and glorious King, and that the gates of           transgressions, who loved us and loosed us from our sins,
 hell shall not prevail against her!                             the Bridegroom of the Church, He and He alone holds
      III. There still remains the consideration of the          the keys of death and Hades ! Fear not, then, 0 Church
 comforting and encouraging words John receives from             of God, Bride of Christ. There is no reason to fear.
 the Saviour : "Fear not, I am the first and the last, and       Thy King and Bridegroom is mighty to deliver even
 the living one and I was dead, and behold, I am alive           from the bonds,of death ! Now and forever He is mighty,
 forevermore! And  J have the keys of death and of               for He is the first and the last, the Ancient of Days. Be-.
 Hades  !" These words I say are addressed first of all to       fore rhe world was He loved, till the end of the world,
 John. For he had need of them in the first place. The           yea into all eternity His love shall envelop and bear thee
 overwhelming glory of the appearance of the one like            up! No enemy, no' world, no death and no hell can pre-
 unto a son of man caused him to fear and tremble with           vail against you, for He, your King, `holds the keys of
 astonishment, so that he tells us that he fell at his feet      death and of Hades!
 like one dead. Small wonder, indeed, that he did. For              Having thus quieted the fear on the part of John the
 in the first place the vision was before him so suddenly        Lord gives him his commission.  "Write,  therefore, the
 and unexpectedly! It was all so strange. Never had he           things which thou sawest and the things which are and
 beheld the Saviour in the fulness of His glory as now.          the things which shall come to pass hereafter." No
 He had seen Him in the state of His deep humiliation,           doubt in these words we may find a general characteriza-
 he had also been privileged to obtain a glimpse of Him          tion of the entire contents of the book of-Revelation. In
 o.ccasionally  after His resurrection, but never had he seen    the first place "the things which  ,,thou sawest" refer
 the Lord after He had been exalted at the right hand of         back to the vision we have just discussed. John must
 power and had received His dominion from the Ancient            also make record of it, and not merely begin his book
 of Days. And, therefore, the sudden manifestation of the        with the letters ro the seven churches. "The things which
 glorified Christ had a stupefying effect upon him even in       are" may be understood as meaning: the present exist-
 his condition of spiritual ecstasy. Rut there was also a        ing things and relations in the church and in the world.
 subjective reason for this fear on the part of John. No         And the expression : "the things which shall come to pass
 doubt, he realized at a glance that this was the manifesta-     hereafter" refers evidently to the future of the things that
 tion of the glorified Christ in His authority to judge. He      are. Only, in our estimation it is less correct to base on
 stood face to face of a sudden with the Judge of heaven         this word of the Saviour a sort of mechanical division of
 and earth! And just as quickly he felt the sinfulness of        the book before us, as if the things that are must be
. his own  conditfon.    Even as the prophet Isaiah at the       sought in chapters II and III, and rhe things that must
 sighr of the Holy One falls down and cries/out:  "Woe           come to pass hereafter are revealed in the succeeding
 unto me for I am undone  !" so also John, of a sudden           chapters. In the first place, it may be remarked that the
 confronting the Judge in His holiness falls at His feet as      things which are, even if first referred to the seven
 one dead. But the same fact holds true for the church in        churches as they existed in John's time are not entirely
 general. Even as we are discussing the vision of this           present but equally much future. As already indicated
 glorious and holy Judge we realize that in ourselves we         these seven churches are selected to serve as a symbol.
 would not be able to stand in His presence.        We are       and type of the church in general throughout this dis-
 inclined to fear at His coming.        And, therefore,  b&h     pensation. And secondly, it is not true, either, that the
 now and at the day of his coming we have need of this           things that must come to pass hereafter are to be isolated


 fron? the present. History is typical of itself in its  vari-      vermoeid  en  helast  zijn, werd ons verzekercl, dat  alle
ous  phases and therefore,  repeafs itself.  The  things  re-       menschen vermoeid en  belast zijn. Omstreeks   denzelf-
 corded in the book of Revelation occur time  and again ;           den tijd hoorde ik een student die versch  bij Prof. Heins
 occur most probably with greater clearness and  i&id-              vandaan kwam, die zich letterlijk  uitputte om het woord
 ness  and emphasis as time goes on, till the  day arrives          allen bij her eerste deel van het vers te plakken opdat het
  that our Lord shall return in glory to usher in the new           werd gescheiden van - die.aermoeid en be/ast .sijn.
 and eternal dispensation af his eternal kingdom. And,                 Het  algemeene  aanbod van zaligheid ten bewijze van
  therefore, most surely, in the book of Revelation are             GemPene  Gratie, was de gedachte  waarmee men een tekst
  recorded the things that are and the things that shall            als bovengenoemd durfde  ontlecli_gen.        En was de  stich-
  come to pass hereafter, but according to the idea ex-             ting g-root? `Met verscheidenen sprak ik die  teleurge-
 pressed in the words of a- well-known hutch poet:                  steld huiswaarts keerden, daar hun de  t&St, dien  ze
                  In  `t Verleden  1,igt het  Heden,                anders  uit dat teedere  woord  van Jezus  putten, werd
                  In het  Nu was  Worden  zal.                      ontroofd.
     Behold, He  `cometh with the `clouds and every eye                     De eenigste manier om hier het aanbod .van rust voor
  shall see Him! He  cometh as pictured in the vision we            de ziel  algemeen  te  maken  is natuurlijk,  om alle  men-
  have now discussed. Not as the suffering Servant but              schen vermoeid en belast voor te stellen. Maar nu wordt
  as the glorified Son of Man. What shall be our attitude           straks van denzelfden kansel gepreekt uit Hebreen  waar
  to that glorious Priest-King and Judge?, Shall we trem-           de vrome  patriarchen een beter, namelijk. een hemelsch
  ble at the appearance of those flaming eyes, those brazen         vaderland verwachten, en dan wordt gezegd, dat de
  feet, that sharp two-edged sword ? Shall we shudder wereldling tevreden  is  met  -dit aardsche, en hij gaarne
  with fear at the resounding of that voice as many waters,         God den hemel  wil laten,  zoo hij slechts de aarde kan be-
  rolling like thunder through creation?           Or shall love    zitten,  enz. Rlaar nu wordt zoo'n dogma tech we1 lastig,
  drive out fear in our case and shall we be able to heed           is `t  niet?
  his words of comfort and encouragement: "Fear not, for                    In Matth. dorsten  allen   r,aar iets hoogers  dan de
  I was dead and I am the living one, the first and the last.       wereld biedt, en zijn ze ongelukkig en ontevreden, arm,
  I live forevermore and  hive the keys of death and of             enz., en in Heb. dartelen die wereldlingen daar heen. htm
  Hades  !" "Kiss the Son lest He be angry and ye perish            buik tot hun God gemaakt hebbcnde, de inbeeldingen
  in the way  !"                                                    des  harten  te boven gaande,  zich om God  noch Zijn  gc-
                                                        H. H.       bod bekommerende; levende alle clagen vroolijk en prach-
                                                                    tig.
                                                                            Doch zoo kan het  er tegenwoordig  we1 door in de
                    I N G E Z O N D E N                             Chr. Geref.  Rerken,   c-loch.   waar  meet het  heen?   Mo_cht
                          Lastige Dogma's                           de Heere nog vele slapcnden  wakker schudden, opdat ze
            Geachte  Redacteur !                                    beseffen wat er gaande is!
     In  onzen  van dogma's  warsen   tijd, kan men,  zooals                Dankend   voor  verleende"  plaatsruimte. verblijf ik, de
  ge weet, soms allerlei zoogenaamde  preeken aan een ,tekst        uwe,
  verbinden. zoodat een Gereformeerd mensch er met  ver-                                                          .R. VAN TIL
  bazing naar luistert. Men heeft dan in  vele Amerikaan-                   Frerriont, Mich.
  sche kringen zoo weinig systeem. dat ieder eenvoudig
  leert, wat hij wil. Doch bij de dogma-arme buren steekt                                       -     -     -
  de Chr. Geref. Kerk tegenwoordig al zeer gunstig af.
  Niet uit den boezem der kerken voortgekomen, maar ver-                            Middelen om  iemand boos te  maken
  wekt door Dr.  Jansen's  medestanders, en  voorrgebracht
  op ontijdige wijze, hebben de  Chr. Geref. Kerken naar                    Drie middelen zijn er  om iemand, die een  zaak  voor-
  Roomschen trant drie jonge  dogma's  voortgebracht. Men           staat   vari gewicht, die een eigen  meening  heeft welke
  is zeer vroolijk geweest over hun geboorte,  tech heeft           niet aangenaam is  aan de meerderheid, boos te  maken
  moeder  soms wat last van die kleintjes in haar werk. Im- of als boos  voor te stellen. Men geve allereerst iemand,
  mers, nu moet men den tekst dien men wenscht te verkla-           die  voor een ernstige overtuiging  opkomt,  te  Gerstaan,
  ren, aanpassen bij de theoricPn  van algemeene genade  en         dat de zaak die hij vaorstaat heusch niet  \rdn  zooveel
  verwante   lievelingen,  en in sommige gevallen was dat belang  i s .
  waarlijk een uitkomst. B.v. een der tegenwoordige leiders                 Al verder beantwoorde men zijn argumenten niet
  preekt sedert de vermaarde Synode over Matth.  1128:              met tegenargumenten, maar met een honigzoete verma-
  "Komt herwaarts tot Mij  allen  die vermoeid en  belast           ning tot verdraagzaamheid.  Als hij dan nog niet boos
  zijt, en Ik zal u rust geven." `De prediker verzckerde  mij,      genoeg is  verbluft  men hem door de verzekering, dat
  dat hij voormaals die tekst niet aandurfde, maar   nu wist        men het in den grond met hem eens is, en zegt dan, dat
  hij  wellten   kant hij er mee  Liit  moest. `De uitnoodiging     het tech cigenlijk zaken  zijn, die niet van zooveel  gewicht
  van  Christus  werd door hem  algemeen   gemaakt  en  daar        zijn.-Prof.  I. Van Dijk in  "Franciscus  Gomarus"   (Jubi-
  de uitnoodiging duidelijk wordt  bepaald   tot  degenen   die     leum Academia Grongingia).
       .


