                                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                         343
                      -_.__              - - - -                       __--                              -                 ---r----..-.----
de  mapier  van de werking dezer genade aangaat, die  IS                                  SYNOD'S SCRIPTURAL PROOF FOR THE
niet onweerstaanlijk  : want daar staat van velen  geschre-                                        THREE POINTS EXAMINED
ven, dat zij den Heiligen Geest wederstaan hebben. Hand.
7 en elders op vele plaatsen." .                                                                          "But I say unto you, love your enemies,,
   Zie,  Iezer,  dit laatste is                                                                           bless them that curse you, do good to them
                                       ket  pmtje   van artikel 4  d&r                                    that hate you, and pray for them which
liemonstrantie.  Dit  tech Iaat ten slotte alles in  handen                                               despitefully use you, and  *persecute   you;
van den vrijen wil. Het is alles genade  in.Christus!                                                     that ye may be children of your Father in
                                                                                ZOO                       heaven: for He maketh His sun to rise on
had de Remonstrant gesproken. De mensch kan van                                                           the evil and upon the good and sendeth
zichzelf niets  docn, dat  waarlijk   goed  is! Maar  nu keert                                            rain on the just and on the unjust."
                                                                                                                                   -Matt.   5:44, 45)
hij het plotseling om en spreekt met een gansch andere
stern, de stem van Pelagius.                              .1                              We purpose to attend, in a series of articles,  $0 the
   Want zie, zoo zeg de Remonstrant, dit  C&e puntje, various scriptures quoted by Synod in suppdrt of the
of de mensch die genade, waardoor hij bet goede weer zal three points. Each point was linked  up  with certain
kunnen   doen, zal ontvangcn of niet ontvangen, dat  hangt scriptures from which it (the point) was held to be an
van hem zelven  af,  - dat  PCne puntje  poet blijven  ge-                             extraction. The above text is one of the six scriptures
handhaafd.  Hij kan die genade weerstaan.                              Hij kan yielding, according to Synod the doctrine incorporated
haar  ook niet  weersta&.   Dat' ligt  aan hem. Zoo  ligt in point one which reads:
clan, zij het ook met dit eene kleine puntje alles weer in                                 "Concerning the favorable attitude of God toward
tle  macht des mcnschen. De Heilige Geest klopt  aan de                                   mankind in general and not `only toward the elect,
(Icur  des  harten, biedt de genade in  Christus  aan. . . . op                           the Synod declares that it is certain, on the grounds
voorwaarde,  dat de mensch de deur opendoet.                                              of Sciipture and the "Confession, that there is, besides
   De knop van die deur  cles  harten zit  aan den  binnen-                               the saving grace of God, shown only unto the chosen
kant.                                                                                     unto eternal life, also a certain favor or grace of God
    De mcnsch moet  openen.                   ,.I                                         which He shows to all creatures."
   Hij kan  openen  of dichthouden.                                                       We observe, to begin with, that Synod failed to. state
   Want  cle genade is wederstandelijk.                                                the real issue which is:
    Dat  is  Remonstrantsch. Aan het einde dezer  arti-                                      "Resolved that there is, besides the saving  gra'ce
kelen spreken ze dus oak  wee: uit, dat de mensch  we1                                    of God, shown only unto the chosen unto eternal life,
goed kan  doen.  Hij kan naar de stem van Jezus Iuisteren.                                also a certain favor or grace of God  which he shows
Hij kan naar de genade verlangen. Hij kan zijn eigen                                      to the reprobate wicked."
hart  willen overgeven. Hij kan aannemen of verwerpen.                                    The question  is. then : "Does God show favor to the
    M'aar, ofschoon dit laatste niet met zoovele woorden reprobate?"' Sinod's  answer was an unmistakable yes.
staat uitgedrukt in de Drie  Punten, het zit er  we1 in.                               This  is evident, it said, from the  quoted  Scripture-pass-
    Immers de genade  wordt aangeboden, welmeenend, ages. Among the scriptures quoted  4s  Matt.  54, 45.
van Gods  zijde: En de algemeene werking des Geestes                                   Let us attend closely to this scripture. Jesus' reasoning
verbetert den mensch.  Hij zal  tech die genade  we1  kun-
                                                                  -                    is clear. In the act of addressing his followers, he directs
nen aannemen?                                                                          their attention to the trials awaiting them. There will
    En  oak al staat het er niet  met zoovele woorden, het be persecutions. The enemies will hate and curse. May
wordt  we1 gepredikt.                                                                  the followers of Christ eihibit a hateful spirit of revenge?
   , Van vele kansels mag  men. het hooren: het  is  alles                             &Iay they retaliate with curses and ill-treatment? Shall
gcnade, maar  $j moet die genade ook  willen!                                          they give like for like? This Jesus expressedly forbids
    En immers, zelfs door het  lvodernisme   heen  leidt de when. he says: "Love your enemies, bless them that
Gemeene  Gratie nog voorbcreidend tot de  openbaring  der curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for
bijzondere genade !                                                                    them which despitefully use you and persecute you. Do
                                                                       H. H.           so that you may be children of your Father in heaven-
                                                                                       for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and upon the
                                                                                       good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust."
                                                                                       Jesus' `reasoning is clear. The Children of God  have
   Op den 12den  Mei  hopen.  z o o   d e   H e e r e   w i l   e n   s i j  Ieven,
once geliefde ouders,                                                                  their enemies- the wicked by whom they  are hated
                                                                                       and persecuted for Christ's name sake. God, too, has
                        H E N D R I K   K O O I S T R A
                                       en                                              His  enemies  - evil and unrighteous persons, ill-deserv-
                DIRKJE   KOOISTRA,  geb. Dykstra,                                      ing. Nevertheless, God causes His sun to rise upon them
                                                                                       and sends them rain.        It is plain from the preceding
 (1049 Sigsbee St.. Grand Rapids,  Mich.)  hunne veertigjarige
echtvereeniging te herder&en. Dat de Heere hen nog vele  jaren                         clauses and from the parallel passage in Luke that the
voor elkandcr en voor ons moge  sparen, is de  wensch en bede                          sent rain and the risirig sun of which Christ speaks must
van hunne  dankbare   kinderen en kleinkinderen,
                                             Mr. en Mrs.  K. Jansen                    be regarded as exhibitions of God's love and pity for  ill-
                                             Mr. en Mrs.  M. Boelens                   deserving sinners. The passage in Luke reads: "But
                                             H. Rooistra  en  Verloofde
                                             Mr.  en  Mrs. C. Kooistra.                love your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for


I

     344                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   R E A R E R
               -"-."-_  _-.-_."ll_",-.. .   - - .-_                 __-.-_--.           .--...-       -........ "-- ..____ - .._ "^^ .._ _l__l..- ._._ -._
     nothing again; and your reward shall be great. and  ye             :ind yet, horrible to say, the exponents of common grace
     shall be children of the highest; for he is kind unto the          laud the wicked one's love  as  a blessed and holy product
     unthankful  and to the  evil. Be  ye therefore merciful            of the Spirit of God.
     `as your Father is also merciful."                                     The plain teachings of the scriptures in question is
            Christ would have us  knbw,  then that God loves His then that whereas  Cad loves his enemies -- the  .vile and
     (elect) enemies  - the vile and condemnable sinner. Of condemnable sinner, His children shall love theirs.
     this love also temporal blessings signified by rain and                The love  o.f God for the ill-deserving and  l;ondemn-
     the rising sun constitute a tangible manifestation.                `able (elect) sinner constitutes the great theme of Scrip-
            Likewise shall the children of the Highest love those ture. The concrete manifestation of the love is the Christ
     that hate them. This love  ,they  too shall exhibit. So and the cross. Says John: "In this was manifested this
     they  do- these children  - when they bless them that love  of God toward us, because that God sent his only
     curse, do good to them that hate. This love only pleases begotten son into the world, that we might live through
     God. For it is His gift. and is set in motion by His law him,, (I John  49).                  Every conceivable gift of  love-
     written in  the believer's heart. It images and partakes of both temporal (rain and the rising sun) and eternal bless-
     the nature of that pure and glorious love wherewith He ings  - reach the sinner through Christ as a channel. All
     (God) first loved them. The believers are workmanship was merited  by Him sent to be the propitiation for our
     of God. Their love for the enemy, therefore, is at once sins.
     an exhibition of the glories of Him who made  them-                    Whereas, then, God so loved the (elect) sinner, by
     of Him of whom they are born.                                      nature His enemy, he, this sinner, is in turn enjoined
            The Children of God-the new man  -&11y   really             by His Father in heaven to love them that persecute
     loves. Says the apostle: "Lie riot one to another, see- him (the redeemed). Doing so, the Most High calls
     ing that  ye have put off the old man with his deeds.              him His child for radiating a  loye like unto that of his
     And have put on the new man, which is renewed in Maker - a love that suffereth long and is kind  ; a love
     knowledge after the image of him that created him . . . . that envieth not, is not puffed up, doth not behave un-
     Put on, therefore, as  the elect of  God, holy and beloved, seemly, seeketh not  her own, is not easily provoked,
     bowels of mercies, kindness . . . , And above all these            thinketh no evil. rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth
     things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness."          in the truth: a love that beareth all things, believeth all
                                           (Cal. 3  :lO, 12, 13)        things, endureth all things.
         The other  zide  of this pure love from heaven seen                As one ponders upon the injunction  "Love   you
     alike in God and in His children, is a holy hatred for the         enemies, bless  them  thrrt curse  you,, questions arise. (1)
     wicket1  mhrj oppose and ark unlike God. Of this love and          What is the character of this love? (2) Whereas they
     hatred we shall have more to say in the sequence.                  to be loved and blessed persecute the children of the
        There is also another kind of love and hatred-the most High, and are, therefore, at once the enemies  of
     love of the sinner for those who Eove him; the hatred of           God; and whereas such may not be loved, does not  this
     the sinner for those who hate him. Says Christ: "Ye precept of Christ involve -his followers in a difficulty?
     have heard it said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and Can they love and hate the same persons? (3) Blessing
     hate thine enemy . . . . If you love them that love you, the wicked, the believer necessarily blesses  the repro-
     what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the bate. May this be done? (3) Whereas the  sun  rises
     same  1" (Matt. 5  :43,  47.)                                     upon the reprobate wicked and whereas God sends them
        The sinner, then, loves them that love him; hates rain also, do not these words of Jesus prove conclusively
     them that hate him. This love, when analyzed, turns that God shows favor or grace to the reprobate wicked ?
     out to be sheer selfishness, yea cruelty.  The love of the            Let us reply. Humanity can be classified. Classified
     wicked and his hatred as well is incited and set in action        according to election and reprobation, the members of
     when the neighbor does  him  well. Wherher  or no the the human race fall into two  groups:  the  elect  and the
     neighbor loved does well to God is a matter of no con- reprobate.              Another division is that of  wicked  and  cot-
     cern to the wicked one. The determining factor, then. wicked  or just. Stil,l  another division is that of my  friends
     is not men's attitude toward God and God's law, but and my  ,not-friefzds   or  enemies.
     men's attitude toward self. The measure is' not God,                  As to the first division,  t-he group elect God loves. The
     truth, goodness, holiness but self. Christ needless to say, reprobate He hates, The elect sinner God loves while
     denounces the love of the wicked for the neighbor. This yet a sinner and an enemy.' Says the apostle: "But
     love is not worthy the name. Let the neighbor loved               God commendeth his love toward us in that while we
     oppose the wicked one and cross his path.  It then ap- were yet sinners, Christ died for us. For if, when we
     pears that the other side of his love is not holy disgust         were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death
     and righteous indignation but anger, wrath, malice, blas-         of his Son, much more being reconciled we shall be
     phemy, filthy communication out  nf the mouth, false- saved by his life"  (Ram. 5  :S, 10).
     hood, envy, strife, hatred and  murder,  stinking pride               The reprobate wicked one, God hates absolutely:
     and idolatry. Such is the love of  WY  old man of sin. "For the children being  .not yet born, neither having


done any good or. evil, that the purpose of God accord-             It is evident that the prophet hates the wicked, in-
ing to election might stand,  not  of works but of him cluding the elect wicked. The believer hates the  elecr
that  calleth; it was said of her, the elder  shali serve the    wicked as a historical phenomenon engaged in serving
younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau          the devil and the flesh. For the elect, however, he prays.
have I hated"  (Kom.  9:11, 13).  I have loved you, saith           As for the reprobate wicked, the prophet prays for
the Lord. Yet ye say, wherein hast thou loved us? Was            their destruction. "`Let them melt away as waters which
not Esau  `jacob's brother? Saith the Lord: yet I loved run continually . . . . Let them be cut in pieces as a snail
J'acob and hated Esau,  :tnd laid his mountains and his          which melteth, let every one of them pass away" (Ps.
heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. F&-s :7-K!). "Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not.
Whereas Edom saith,  Iye are impoverished, but we will and make their loins continually to shake.                     Pour out
return and build the desolate places  ; thus saith the Lord      thine indignation upon them, and let thine wrathful anger
of Hosts, they shall build, but I will throw down; and           take hold on them. Let their habitations be desolate;
they shall call them the border of wickedness, and, the          and let none dwell in their tents" (Ps.  69:23-28). In
people against whom the Lord hath indignation for- fine, the terms  wicked  and  fust are indicative of the per-
ever" (Malachi 1 Z-4).                                           sons upon whom the believer focuses his hatred and love.
   Thus the plain teachings of Scripture are that elec-             We now come to the third classification, namely, that
tion and reprobation are indicative of the course of God's of  my friend  and my  Bet-fpiend   or my enemy. The be-
love and hatred. The question arises whether election            liever is admonished to love these enemies of his who
and reprobation determines the direction and  goa! of the persecute him. Love them he shall as  w.elI  $s his friends.
believers love and hatred. That is to say, do& the fol- The child of rhe highest, let it be repeated,  has,many
lower of Christ bestow his love upon the elect only or enemies-wicked persons hating, persecuting him for  I
does the injunction,  Love  thy  enemies  apply also to the      the sake  ot Christ name. These he shall love. They are
reprobate wicked engaged in persecuting the children of h.iJ  enemies. They are, however, at once God's enemies
the most High? The unregenerated elect as well as the for they harass His people, and taunt God. Now it is
reprobate wicked is dead in sin and a child of disobedi- the plain teachings of Scripture that the children of God
ence. The children of God cannot, therefore, distinguish shall hate God's enemies. Says the poet: "Shall I not
between the ungodly elect and the reprobate wicked. hate rhose who hate thee?" Thus the enemies of God,
Whereas the believer shall love the wicked persecuting who are the wicked must be hated. Yet the child  cf
him, it follows that he loves the reprobate wicked. He the highest shall love these wicked persons  as his
does so. however, in his ignorance. So God will have             enemies. But can the believer be hating and loving the
it, for He refrains from making known unto the believers         same person? He can in that the believer's hatred is
who the reprobates are. The believer, however, may not not malice and murder but a righteous indignation. The
knowingly bless and pray for the rejected or the repro-          concrete exhibition of this hatred is a denunciation on
bate wicked. it is plain that election and reprobation           the part of the believer, of the wicked  one's evil deeds:
does not determine the direction of the course of the the refusal to come under the wicked one's yoke; a re-
believers love and hatred.                                       jection of his entire scheme of life; the refusal to know
   Another classification was that of wicked and  not- him as a friend and associate; the declaration to the
wicked or just. God loves the just and. some wicked,             effect that the wicked one shall depart; the refusal to
namely the chosen ones. The children of God, however.            sit with the wicked and finally the announcement that
love the just and hate all the wicked. Says the poet: he, the believer, will keep the commandments of his God.
"I had better be a doorkeeper in the house of my God,               The other side of this hatred is a love which expresses
than to  dwell  in the tents of wickedness" (Ps.  ~84  :lO).     itself in a prayer for the wicked  onefs  salvation  ; in deeds
"I have hated the congregation of evil doers ; and will which promote the  .wicked  ones well-being; in words
not sit with the wicked" (Ps.  26~5).  "Depart from me           which bless. In a word, the love of the righteous for the
ye evil doers; for I will keep the commandments of  my           wicked one expresses itself in the prayer that God may
God" (Ps.  119:lS). "I will set no wicked thing before           be glorified in and through the wicked prayed for and
my eyes ; I hate the work of them that turn aside  ; it blessed. The righteous' love for the wicked expresses
shall not cleave to me. A froward heart shall depart             itself in an aversion to his corruption. Thus it is clear
from me. I will not know a wicked person. Who  so                that this love and this hatred are  not"of such a character
privily slandereth his neighbor, him will  I cut off; that their expression would involve one  in hopeless con-
him that hath a high look and a proud heart will I not           flict. The believer loves rhe wicked one as his personal
suffer. Mine eye shall be upon the faithful of the land,         enemy. Loving him he blesses and does him well. The
that they may dwell with me. He that walketh in  a               believer hates the wicked one as  G;od's enemy. There-
perfect way, he shall serve me. He that worketh deceit           fore he behaves toward him (the wicked one) in a man-
shall not dwell in my house; he that telleth lies shall          ner described above.
not  tarry in my sight. T will early destroy all the wicked,        The love o,f the believer for the wicked is not a yearn-
of the land; that I may cut off all wicked doers from            ing to draw nigh unto him to delight in his person. in his
the city of the Lord" (Ps.  101:3-g).                            thoughts, in his deals and aspirations. Such love the


346                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
____._                   -.-._I_  ..__ --  _._....._  -                      I__                                                         ..-.---A-
believer bestows upon God and His children only. If lowed soon after this malediction; but. they also contain
this was the manner of love of the believer for the wicked                   an allusion to the privations and sufferings which await,
one, he could not be hating him in a manner described                        after death, those who have found their happiness in this
above.                                                                       world. In verse  26 it is more particularly the Pharisees
       In the judgment day Christ will make  a separation                    and Scribes, who were so generally honored in Israel, that
between the goats and the sheep. The believer will then Jesus points out as continuing the work of the false pro-
learn to know the reprobate wicked. Knowing them phets. These four woes would be  incompatable with the
he, the believer, will be hating them only with a holy spiritual sense of the terms  poor,,hungry, etc., in the beat-
zeal expressing itself  iri a prayer for the destruction of itudes." So far Godet.
the wicked.                                                                     Anybody approaching these  vgrses  (Luke 6 :24,25,26)
       Thus we have set forth the character of the believer's with an unbiased mind will be ready to endorse the above
love for his enemies. We have also found an -answer exposition. Upon those laughing ones Christ pronounces
to the question how the children of God can be hating four woes. Upon them rests God's curse. Reprobated
the wicked as God's enemies while loving them as their                       are they. And subsequent history proves that  God%
own personal enemies.                                                        curse rested upon them even before they were transported
       Let us now direct our attention to the question into hell. For this curse began to be realized, in a very
whether the group signified by the term evil and unright-                    marked degree, in the great national'catastrophe, namely,
eous include the reprobate wicked. The Synod of 1924                         the destruction of Jerusalem. These laughing ones were
was of the conviction that Christ spake of the repro-                        not members of that group pronounced blessed by Christ.
bate wicked as well as of the elect when He said that                        Our Saviour excludes from this group these scorners
the most High was kind to  the unthankful. Fact is, how- which proved to be reprobated. Upon them God empties
ever, that the near surroundings of these texts  ao contain                  the vials  elf His wrath. This means that He shows `them
data compelling the expositor to let the scriptures in ques- no mercy. In respect to these He is not compassionate.
tion apply to the elect only. `Luke  6 contains a passage                    It  f6llows, therefore, tliat the terms unjust, unthankful
which reads : "But woe unto you  t&at are rich for ye                        and evil do not signify the reprobate.
have received your consolation. Woe unto you that are                                                                                    G,  X I .   0 .
full for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now
for ye shall mourn and weep."  Codct's commentary on
these utterances reads  as follows: "Jesus here contem-
plates in spirit those adversaries who were sharpening                                                 I N   M E M O R I A M
against him only  j&t before  (versell)  the sword of per-
secution : the rich and powerful at Jerusalem, whose                            Heden,  den  12n April,  IL,  behaagde   bet den Heer van leven
                                                                             cn  do&  mijnen  geliefden echtgenoot,
emissaries surrounded Him in Galilee. Perhaps at this
very moment He  pe>ceives  some of their spies in the                                                 R .   T R I E Z E N B E R G ,
outer ranks of the  concgregation.         Certainly it is not, as
such, blessed. A  ,Nicodemus  and a Joseph of Arimathea                      na een langdurig lijden tot  Zich tc  nemen,  in den ouderdom van
                                                                             54 jaar.
will be welcomed with open arms as readily as the poor-
est man in Israel. Jesus is dealing here with historical                        Zwaar valt ons dit verlies, maar hij sticrf  in  het  volte  hc-
                                                                             wustzijn, dat hij de heerlijkheid inging. Dat is  cmze  troost.
facts, not with moral philosophy. Hc takes the fact  as                                                                        Mrs. R. Triezenberg,
it presented itself .to Him at that time. Were not the                          Grand Rapids,  Mich.
rich and powerful, as a class, already in open opposition
to His mission ? They were thus excluding themselves
from the kingdom of God. The fall of Jerusalem ful-
filled only too literally the maledictions to which Jesus                       De Hollandsche mannenvereeniging, "De Heere  Is Onze
                                                                             Ranier," van de First Prot. Ref. kerk te Grand Rapids,  be-
gave utterance on that solemn day. The  `ple6%,   except                     treurt het verlies van een harer  leden,  breeder
only which we can only render by  but  (verse  24)  makes
the persons here designated an exception as regards the pre-                                         R .   T R I E Z E N B E R G .
ceding beatitudes.-The  term rich refers to social posi-                        Hij  he&  zijne 
tion, full to mode of living. The expression                                                        krankheid met zeer  veeI  geduld  en  eenswiI-
                                                           you that laugh    lendheid met den Heere gedragen, en  ging verlangend naar dc
descrities a personal disposition. All these outward con-                    ruste die er overblijft voor Gods volk de eeuwigheid in.
ditions are considered as associates with an avaricious                         Moge zijn heengaan ons tot heilige jaloerschheid  verwek-
                                                                             ken en trooste de Heere Zijne  aehtergelatene  weduwe met de
spirit with injustice, proud self-satisfaction, and a profane                vertroosting des Heiligen Geestes.
levity, which did indeed attach to them at that time. It                        Resloten werd een adres van rouwbeklag  aan de weduwe te
was to the Pharisees and the  Sadducees more particularly                    zenden,  deze advertentie in de Standard Bearer te  plaatsen en
                                                                             hiervan mededeeling te  doen in de  notuIen.
that these threatenings were addressed.-And now this                                _ Namens gcnoemde Vereeniging,
from Godet: "The terms hunger and weeping were liter-
ally realized in the great national catastrophe which  fol-                                                                      G. Schaafsma, Voorz.
                                                                                                                                 W. Roster, Seer.


      3.50                                          T H E   STANDARD   B E A R E R
                                               --___.._                ..-- "I___-_-  . .._. - ..-.                       --.-...

      nu  zulk gcdoe anders dan een nabootsen van de wereld-                     THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA
      sche schouwburgen?  Ik aarzel clan ook niet om het als
      goddeloos  te brandmerken. En het is flauw ook.  Als ik                      The Church That Lost Its First Love
      nu  "met  alle  geweld  tooneelkunst wilde hebben, welnu,
      dan ging ik (als het God niet verhoede) naar Sioux City                              (Continued from page 312)
      en kon daar tenminste een werkelijke vertooning zien.
      Geen Gereformeerde namaak,  Ik weet niet of er nog                 We are,  then,  in view of the very serious condition
      gcopend en gesloten is met gebed. Nog  CCn zaak zullen of the Church of  Ephesus not at all surprised, that the
      we even aanstippen en dan hoop ik dat ge zult  weten Lord approaches that Church in this letter, addressed to
      dat, hoewel Sioux Center geheel gereformeerd heet,  tech her, with a most significant admonition to repent and do
      de kracht der godzaligheid veelal vreemd is. Of weet the first works. No doubt, also with regard to this
      ge het niet, dat Juda Ephraim nu al zeven  jaren  be- admonition we may remark that it is addressed first of
      nauwd heeft en dat Ephraim Juda benijd heeft. In deze all to the angel of the Church and the office-bearers that
      plaats,  waar, naar menschelijke berekening, het  Gerefor- must watch over themselves and over the flock. But in
      meerde leven en belijden zou'kunnen bloeien zooals  ner- and through them He also admonishes the Church as a
      gens anders,  bier brandt nu al  jaren een der grootste whole. And not only does he urge them to turn and
      Hoeksche en Kabeljauwsche  twisten  der Chr. Geref. repent and do the first works, but He also shows them
      Kerk. En was  bet nu maar een werkelijke  godsdienst- the way to such true conversion: "Remember whence
     strijd,  maar  dat is het niet. Men vecht en scheldt en eet thou art fallen  !" The Church must recall former days,
      elkaar op om geld en  steenen en eer. In  CCn woord: het the days of her first love. Oh, it is altogether possible,
      is een onverkwikkelijk  schouwspel. Daaruit vloeide dan that the influence of the dead and unspiritual element
      ook al  voort, dat de eene Christelijke school nu  v66r becomes, for a time, so strong and overwhelming, `that
      eenige  weken  publiek verkocht werd  en' de andere kwijnt even the true Spiritual Israel submit to its carnal and
      en gaat sterven als de Heere niet spoedig de harten zijner deadening power. They do not want such a condition
      kinderen  verteedert en hun zaad weer als voorheen  naar of dead orthodoxy and dead works. For a time they also
      luid van Zijn Verbond laat opvoeden.                           raised their voices in protest against this tendency to
         De werelcl? Natuurlijk is de wereld hier in Sioux emphasize mere doctrine and works without faith and
      Center.     A&en maar, de wereld openbaart  zich hier love. But after all they became accustomed to the con-
      anders dan  op andere plaatsen. Ze  heeft hier een  gerc- dition. Their voices were silenced. They gradually for-
      formeerd mom op het gelaat. Ze zit in de kerk. Ze got how it used to  be,..when  the congregation was still
      psalmzingt en  "lofzingt" mee.  Ze vergiftigt het  Ieven characterized by a true and warm spiritual life. The
      der kerk,  zc bezoedelt  bedektelijk  leer en belijdenis en past did not live before their  .consciousness anymore.
      Ieven.     Zc  zegt hier met Jozefs  broederen:   "Wij zijn With the dead element of the Church they had grad--
      vroom," maar in het hart bruischt de  haat tegen God, ually'sunk into a deep spiritual slumber. Thus gradually
      tegen zijn Bondsvolk, tegen zijn Woord en Wet. Maar rhe true spiritual note was lacking everywhere. It was
      alles'  bedekt,  ~66 bedekt, dat nls wij in de kerk of  cate- missing in the preaching of the Word as well as in  the
      chisatie van de wereld spreken, de  kinderen  opzien en instruction of the youth. It disappeared too, from the
     hun de vraag op het aangezicht  ligt bestorven: "Wat  be- pastoral work. If I may speak for a moment in modern
      doelt Dominee met die `goddelooze wereld.' W e   gien terms, when the  ange1  of the Church or the elders went
      haar niet. Waar is ze?" En Satan grijnslacht.                  through the congregation in their annual work of visit-
                                                                     ing the families, the subject of personal faith and growth
     Intusschen is de  Wilde   w i n d   w a a r v a n   i k   g e w a g in spiritual life and in the knowledge and grace of the
      maakfe  overgegaan, in sneeuwjacht  ,en stormgeloei. Wet Lord was hardly touched. Such questions as whether
      is. verre na middernacht.  We1 te  rusten, vrienden.  Mis- the services were faithfully attended, whether the
      schien  fluistcr ik nog  we1  eens  weer.                      Church-papers were read, whether they contributed to
                                                                     the earthly support of the Church, questions that had
                                                           G. VOS    reference to the external life of the members, were cer-
*        Sioux Center,  Ia.,  4-13-5'5.                              tainly asked. But personal assurance of faith and in-
                                                                     crease in sanctification were matters that were generally
                                                                     lefr unmentioned. To make confession of faith before
                                                                     the consistory was  practicalIy  like passing an examina-
                               A T T E N T I E !                     tion in dogmatics. Everywhere the spiritual note was
                   .     '                                           missing. And the real heart of the congregation had
         Indien er zijn die hun Standard Bearers wenschen te gradually grown accustomed to this state of things. And-
      laten inbinden, die gelieven  zich te vervoegen bij L.  Yon- now the Lord shows them rhe way to true repentance
      ker, 1042 Logan Street.                                        and conversion. The angel and the members must recall
                                              Frank Prins, Treas.    those_  first years, when all were filled with the love of


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                            ,351
~- __.....____                             ___"  .._..----  -                 __                             -__._._._ "--
Christ, and when all was aglow with ardent spiritual life,       to the Church, it is evident that He does not refer to
when the members could bear testimony to one  another            His final coming in the clouds of heaven and for  fi'nal
of their personal participation in the grace of Him, that judgment  of the quick and the dead, but to  a'coming  for
loved them unto death. And picturing to their mind               judgment in the course of the history of the Church
once more that former state of affairs in the Church, they       of Ephesus. The Church will cease to exist as a living
must be filled with  %n earnest longing to restore the           manifestation of the Body of Christ in the world. Out-
Church to that former state, from which she is now               wardly she may perhaps remain for a time. But the  lift
fallen. Thin& "must change. In preaching and teach- of the Lord shall be wanting and a shining light she
ing and pastoral work as well as in the. communion of            shalI  be no  &ore. She will simply develop into one of
the members mutually this element of love and true               those dead Churches of which we can see so many round
spiritual life musr receive due emphasis once more. Not,         about us in our tnodern times, churches that still bear
indeed, as if the Church must now fall into the other the name of a Church, but have lost all the essentials
extreme of false mysticism ; not as  i:f she must neglect of a true representation of Christ's Body; churches that
the truth; but while remaining strong in the truth she are no more in reality than mere worldy human
must return also to her first love and do the first works.       societies, without the truth and without the light of
The life of the congregation must proceed once more life. The Church" of Ephesus will die, if she `does not
from the root of the true love as it is in Christ Jesus          repent. She will become a false Church. With her love
her Lord.                                                        of Christ she will lose her hold of the truth, her power
   So important this is that the Lord threatens the to cast out evil men, her works, her all. And notice
Chprch with extinction if she will not repent. Signifi-          that this threatened judgment is entirely in harmony
cant in this connection is first of all .the manner in which     with the condition of the congregation. A Church that
the Lord announces Himself to the congregation. He loses her first love is doomed to die, for the simple rea-
it is, Who holds the seven stars in His right hand and           son that she  divorc&  herself from the source of her life
Who walks in the  mid& of the seven golden candle-               in her Head Christ Jesus. And, therefore, we may well
sticks. In other words, the stars, that is, the angels or take to heart this admonition which the Lord addresses,
the ministers and pastors are His gift to the congre- first of all to the Church of Ephesus, but  aIso to the
gation. Only when He gives them are they truly minis-            Church of all ages, also to us. It is true. that by the
ters of the  Wqrd. He it is Who by His Spirit must               grace of God we may adhere to the truth, even to the
equip them with all spiritual gifts and power to enable truth as was denied in the well-known three points of
them unto the work in His vineyard unto which they               19.X.  But let us beware to refrain from all boasting,
are called. This is a truth which cannot be too strongly and to watch and pray, that  we may not fall into the
emphasized also in our own day. There is no theo- error of the Church of Ephesus. We emphasize the truth.
logical school that is able to furnish the necessary minis-      rt is. well. The truth must needs be emphasized. TO
ters of the Word to the Church in the world. Certainly,          depart from the truth is to seek the ways of death. But
training, thorough training in the knowledge of the mere  knowiedge of the truth is not sufficient. Only if
Scriptures is necessary and valuable. But  the'Lord must our knowledge is true spiritual knowledge of the Lord
give the angels of the Church nevertheless. He  alone            Jesus Christ, rooted in His  love-can  we expect to live.
holds the seven stars.. All their ability they receive He that hath ears to hear let him hear what the `Spirit
only through Him. If He does not give angels to  "the            saith unto the churches!
Church, there may be false teachers and seekers of self;            But the Lord does not close this letter with a word
but never will she have pastors and ministers  thai are of judgment and warning, but with a most comforting
able or willing to seek the real and eternal welfare of          promise to those that are faithful and will fight the
the flock of Christ. Besides, also the Church has her good fight  even  to the end. He introduces this word
life in Him. He walks in the midst of the seven candle- of comfort and encouragement. with the well-known:
sticks. That they are candlesticks, lights in the world, "He that hath an ear let  hiti hear what the Spirit saith
is only through Him. Very essential, therefore, for the unto the Churches.". Not all have ears to  he&. even
Church is her living fellowship with Christ her Head. in the visible Church of Christ in the world. Only they
If she separates from Him, if  her life becomes divorced         that have been efficaciously called out of darkness into
from His life, she must understand that there is no life His marvelous light can spiritually hear and understand
and no light for her. Already in this announcement is and heed the call. To these, to this spiritual essence of
implied the warning, that if the Church continues to             the Church, the Lord now addresses Himself. They
depart from her first love, death and darkness can be must hear. They must arise and recalling former days
the only result. But this threat is enforced by the  dire& must insist that the condition of the Church shall change.
announcement of judgment, if she does not repent: "I They must insist upon a change in the tone of the preach-
come'to thee and will remove thy candlestick out of its ing, in the character of the instruction that is given, in
place.", The meaning of these words is perfectly plain.          the nature of the pastoral work, in the entire life of the
The Lord addresses the Church as her King and Judge. congregation. They must demand that the congrega-
When the Lord in this connection speaks of His coming tion repent of her dead works and return to her first


  553     *                                T    H    E       ST.4NDARD   BE;\RER
                   --_ ll-___-._"..- ..II_________-I........   "."         _--..____lll_.             --  ..__-  -.-  .._
  love. This will not be easy. They must expect oppo-                 in Paradise the first. For after all, the first Paradise
  sition from the part of the dead element in the Church.             was of the earth earthy,  bur the Paradise of God that
  .% bitter fight it may become for them.  a battle in which          is to come is of  heaveh.,heavenly.  When that better clay
  they will have to suffer much. For worse enemies than               dawns, we shall walk, bearing the image of the heavenly,
  carnal Israel the true spiritual Israel has none in the             in everlasting perfection as friends of God in His taber-
  world. The bitterest fight is always being fought  ivithin          nacle. And in  that tabernacle God through Christ  shall
  the walls `of the Church. Hence, they that have ears                give us everlasting life in His communion. Of this eternal
  to hear  .and will repent and insist upon a  rhorough               life  in the everlasting tabernacle of  God  the Lord speaks
  reformation of the Church must expect opposition from               in this word of promise. Oh, surely, to him that  over-
  those that belong to the Church nominally, but have no              cometh the Lord also here grants in principle that he
  part with her true spiritual life. They must expect  don-           may eat of the tree  of life which is in the midst of the
  tempt and derision, hatred and persecution. First the               Paradise of God. :\n unspeakable solace it is to him that
  angel. if he does repent, will have to experience this              also now he may enjoy the communion of God's fellow-
  enmity from the dead element. Then also they that ship and have the peace that passeth all understanding.
  with him are placed over the flock of Christ. They may              But this is only a foretaste. Soon the dark night of
  have to Suffer according to the flesh. Perhaps they will            struggle and suffering is past, is past forever. And
  be deposed from office, even as was our own lot for the then the eternal morning dawns, the morning of ever-
  very same cause. Outwardly they may have to suffer lasting vircory and joy. Then we shall be perfected and
  defeat. But if they will be faithful to the end, they have          see the beauty of the Lord our God in His temple for-
 aothing to fear. For the Lord encourages them with                   ever and ever. And forever and ever we shall be satis-
  the beautiful promise : "To him that overcometh will I              fied with His presence, eating of the tree of life that is
  give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of            in the midst of the new Paradise. Let us, then, hear
  the paradise of God."                                               and heed and be comforted and encouraged. The battle
     In Paradise the First there was a tree of life. It               may be  hard,  bur  the victory is glorious. And the suffer-
  stood in the midst of the garden. That garden of Eden               ing of this present time is not worthy to be compared
  was God's dwelling place with man on earth. It was, with the glory that shall be revealed in us! It is of grace
  His tabernacle, His temple, wherein God blessed man                 that it is given us in the cause of Christ, not only to
  with the fellowship of the covenant of His friendship. believe in His name, but also to suffer wirh Him. And
  The midst of the garden was, so to speak, the holy of               if  we suffer with Him we shall also be glorified together!
  holies. There God dwelled. There Adam could meet He is faithful that promised! And powerful to accom-
  his God, could speak with Him as a friend with his                  plish all He ever promised!
  friend. There was life and joy for :idam.  God's covenant-                                                                         H. H.
  friend. There he had life in the true sense of the word.
  There also was the tree of  life. That tree was a sacred
  sign and symbol between God and Adam, that the latter
  could have life only in God's covenant-cbmmunion.                      Op den 7cn  Mei  hopen onze geliefde Ouders
  Surely, it was also more than that. It was also the means                                    A L B E R T   H E E T H U I S
  to perpetuate and sustain Adam's earthly existence and                                                        en
  life. But it was also  a sign of God's covenant to Adam.                            D E R K J E   H E E T H U I S ,   g e b .   Pastoor,
  Ke could eat of that tree only as long as he stood right            hunne  56jarige  Echtvereeniging  te herdenken.
                                                                         Zij de Heere hun tot  hulp  en sterkte in de toekomst gelijk
 with God. He could not reach the tree unless he could                zij dat ook mochten ervaren in het verleden, is de  wensch  van
  meet his God. And he could not meet his God unless                  hunne dierbare  kinderen Harry Meyer
  he stood in righteousness and holiness. Only as the                                                   Bertha Meyer, geb. Heethuis
  friend of God and enemy of the devil, therefore, could                                                Peter Heethuis
                                                                                                        Sadie Heethuis, geb.  Helmhold
  he eat of the tree of life, which was in the midst of the                                              Fred  Svtsma
 garden. But still more.  -The tree of life was also an                                                 Jennie  Sytsma,  geb. Heethuis
                                                                                                        J. H. Geurkink
* image of better things to come. For the earthy is an                                                  Harriet Geurkink, geb. Heethuis
  image of the heavenly. Paradise the first is an image of               Grand Rapids,  Mich.
 better Paradise  rhat is to come, when all the  weary.night
 of this present struggle and battle shall have passed away.             Den  tweeden   Mei  hopen  wij met onze  Quders
  and all things shall have been made new. It is a picture                                     C O R N E L I S   J O N K E R
  of the  perfected fellowship of God's covenant in the                                                        en
 eternal Kingdom, in the new heavens and the new earth,                                      T E E T J E   JONKER-Blom
  in which righteousness shall dwell forever.             Then the    hunne 50-jarige Echtvereeniging  te herdenken.
  tabernacle of God shall be with men as it was never                    Van 3  uur tot  5  uur des namiddags wordt er "Open House"
                                                                      gehouden  om  aan de verdere  familie  en vrienden en kennissen
 before. For the first  covenant was broken only to be                de gelegenheid  te  geven om hen ook  te  b"ezoeken.
  maintained and perfected in God's everlasting covenant                 De Heere zij verder met hen op hunnen levensweg.
 of grace. Better things are coming than ever were, even                                                                         D e   Kinderen
                                                                         1055 Tamarack Ave., N. W., Grand Rapids,  Mich.


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                    3.53
                                                  _---.--- ^...,_._..I.._. ^__-_..-_-           _-.._ - ..." .._-... -.-.-_-.. _.-.. -.

    ANTITHESIS,  SYNTHESIS AND DUALISM                                   old. IIt is already developed among thi heathen nations,
                                                                         especially of Persia and Egypt. Neither causes it sur-
   It is not many years ago that it was a rather generally               prise that dualistic philosophies and religions are  dcvel-
accepted principle with Reformed people, that in this                    aped among the nations. The existence of good and evil
whole life, in every sphere of life in the midst of the                   is a fact  patenr to all. The belief in some god is also
world, the Christian was called to assume an  gntithetical               as universal as the human race. `Atheism was never seri-
attitude towards the world of darkness. For what did ously accepted by men, because in the heart of no man
righteousness and unrighteousness have in common? Or                     does God leave Himself without witness that He is.  iZnc1
what concord is there between Christ and Belial? The                      thus thinking people came face to face with tne  very
natural man minded the things of the flesh, and  the car-                serious question: how must we  exhlain the relation
nal mind is enmity against God, it is not subject to the                 between good and evil on the one hand and God on the
law of God, neither, indeed, can be. Hence, he cannot other. The conclusion they drew was that there  were
see the Kingdom of C;od and will not seek God, but loves                 two primal causes, the one the cause -of good, the other
the darkness rather than light.  But the spiritual man,                  of evil; two gods, a good and an evil. They could not
who has been renewed by  the Spirit and grace of God,                    find unity between the two. In what way the esistencc
according to the inner man of the heart, lives from the                  of good and evil, both physical and moral could bc
new principle of regeneration and reveals himself as a                   explained  ii-om one god, they did not see. iZnd so they
child of light. It is, therefore, not his calling to leave               accepted the awful theory of a double deity. These two
the world, but to live the whole of life from a different                gods were at war with each other in the world. And the
spiritual-ethical principle than the natural  mari.        He  iS hope of these dualists was that they believed that the
in the world but not of the world.           *                           good god would ultimately  tiiumph over all the forces of
    Of late this principle of the antithesis has generally               the evil good and the light would have the victory. Not
been denied or silenced into oblivion. For a time those                  so seldom they applied these dualistic views to the ,world
that were not at all in favor of the antithetical life-view              as they saw it. Sin and suffering as they  saw it, are
still pretended to defend it, only claiming, that in this                inevitably connected with life in the flesh, with matter:
present time the antithesis is never absolute but only                   while all that is good was connected with spirit. And
relative in actual manifestation. It is absolute in spirit- thus they arrived at the dualism between matter and
ual principle, but by virtue of the operation of a common                spirit. The spirit was good and was created by the good
grace there is also a certain practical synthesis in this                 God, matter was evil and was either itself the eternal
world between the children of  light and those of dark-                  source of  eyil,  or was created by the evil god. Hence.
ness.  But lately one does not hear any more, even of                    salvation consisted in fleeing from things material, that
this so-called relative antithesis. The antithesis is for-               the spirit might rule and have the victory. Asceticism
gotten, both in theory and in  prac,tice.                                offered the best practical rule of life. Crucify the flesh  m
   Of course, this  chan'ge  of  viexvs and convictions does that sense of the word.. was the slogan. Flee from the
not alter the facts. Light and darkness are still anti- present world, chastise the body, and you shall be saved.
thetical with relation to each other; righteousness and                  The  more  you  deny life to the body and to the things of
unrighteousness are still mutually exclusive  ; Christ and               the body, the better and the more effectively  you  fight
Belial still refuse to be combined and united in fellow-                 the evil god.
ship of friendship. And. still it is this principle of the                     It cannot be denied, that at a very early date this clunl-
antithesis that must needs dominate the entire life of the               istic view made an attempt to gain entrance into  the
Christian in this world. He must fight the good fight Church of Christ.                              Already the apostle Paul warned
even unto the end and it is given him of grace in the against it in his epistle to the Colossians  (1120-22). He
cause of Christ not only to believe in Him, but also to                  speaks of the rudiments of the world and of being sub-
suffer with Him. Then, and then only, may  he,%expecr                    ject  to ordinances. He mentions these commandments
that he will also be glorified with Him.                                 and ordinances of men as expressed in the slogan : "Touch
    What is meant by the antithesis? And,  first of all,                 not, taste not, handle not." The  sarqe tendency became
what is the antithetical  lifeview  in distinction from Dual- manifest somewhat later in the asceticism of men that
ism ? The term antithesis as such signifies contrast,                    withdrew into the desert and lived for years on lonely
opposition. -And  as we use the term iYe have reference to pillars, to seek the most absolute seclusion from the world
the contrast, the opposition between light and darkness, conceivable and overcome the power of the  flesh. And
between gobd and evil, between God and the devil,                        the same dualistic principles  lie at the basis of Roman
between the Church and the world. But it cannot' be                      Catholic monasticism.  They  leave the world and recede
denied that there are not a few, who, while they speak                   into the solitude offered behind the walls of convent or
of the antithesis in this ethical-spiritual sense of the word,           monsstery  as the height of godliness in  this world and
really have a dualistic conception of the relation between               the most effective way to save one's soul.                        Chastise-
God and the devil and, consequently, of the relation                     ment of the body was  a matter of, at least a  means
between the Christian and the world. Dualism is very                     to. sanctification.          Celibacy was holier  .than the


  354                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
  --.-1  .__. --"-  II_____--_-  .-._. ..__ - ..- . .._ - "...--
  married life. All because the material world and the life God alone. He is not the supreme good in comparison
  of the body itself was conceived as the seat of all evil          with other good, but He is the sole Good and the Foun-
  and the victory of the spirit was the triumph of the*good.        tain of all good that is. God is God and God is good.
     Now, although it cannot be denied, there are even              There is no power apart and independent from Him. And
  today many people who conceive of the opposition                  there is no evil, no darkness in God. This is really the
  between God and the devil in this dualistic way and,              most fundamental principle of all the Word of God, the
  therefore, create a dualistic relation between the Church starting point of all true conceptions.'
  and the world, while they imagine they are speaking of               In the second place, we must remember, that God
  the antithesis, the latter has really nothing in common           determined to reveal Himself unto the glory of His  l&lost
  with the former except the appearance, the semblance of           Holy Name. To reveal His glory  is the  maive and pur-
  things. You know as well as I, that many people think pose of all His counsel, of His everlasting good pleasure.
  in terms of dualism, while they speak of the antithesis.          For He made all things for His Own Name's sake, even
  They begin to speak of God and Satan, as if the two were          the wicked unto the day of evil. And He raises Pharaoh
  eternal and were two independent sources, the one of for no other purpose than to reveal His power and glory
  Good, the other of evil. God creates a good world  ; the          through Him. Hence, God in His counsel determines to
  evil makes it evil; for a time there is a battle, caused          reveal the glory of His  L\Tame antithetically, to manifest
  by the fact, that God determines to regain the world and          the glory of His  .Being  on the dark background of, in
  restore it to its original goodness and purity, and finally,      contrast with, in opposition to evil. He determines from
  after a long struggle, God has the victory over the devil.        everlasting not only to reveal that He is Truth, but to
  and the latter is banished to everlasting punishment,             do this in opposition to the lie; not only to manifest that
  together with the wicked. Such is often the presentation          He is Righteousness, but to accomplish this in opposition
  of this matter. It is principally dualistic.  *4nd it is  a. to Unrighteousness; to reveal that He is Holiness, but
  poor and gloomy life-view. For, first of all, it is an attack     in contrast with corruption. In a word, God in His coun-
  upon, at least a denial of the  ,absolute Godhead of God sel conceives of the antithesis, that is.. the revelation of
  and postulates a power next to Him, that works inde-              His glorious light-Being, full of grace and truth, in anti-
  pendently of Him. And, secondly, this power of evil, thesis to darkness full of horror and the lie. That He
  the devil and his host may ultimately be subjugated and           loves the truth and hates the lie, that He loves righteous-
  defeated, in the meantime they accomplish much evil, ness and holiness and hates unrighteousness and corrup-
  cause much suffering and create a good deal of everlast-          tion, that is what the Most High determines in His ever-
  ing destruction in the work of God. And the proper anti-          lasting counsel to make manifest. So that we must cer-
  thetical view differs from this dualism principally and in        tainly maintain that in His eternal counsel God has willed
  many respects. Dualism postulates two *primal- causes,            the darkness and all that is connected therewith, but
  two gods, the antithesis starts from the fundamental              always in such a way, that He conceives of it as an
  principle: God  is  God and He alone. There is no God             object of His hatred and displeasure, that the glory of
  beside Him.      Dualism presents the present relation            His Name may be extolled. Never does darkness appear
  between  the,good  and evil as a duel, in which the power in God's counsel as the object of His love and pleasure.
  of evil gains many temporary victories; the antithesis            He has no pleasure in sin and corruption. But neither
  knows of no such thing, but maintains that God at all             may we explain the existence of evil as independent from
  times executes His counsel and that the powers of dark-           God's  eterna1 will and decree. For our God is in the
  ness certainly serve His purpose and nothing else. Dual- heavens; He doeth whatsoever He pleases.  And God's
  ism conceives of the end of,all things as merely the defeat       counsel shall stand, He shall accomplish all His good
  of evil and a restoration of the original state of things;        pleasure. And the evil which God conceives in His coun-
  the antithesis emphasizes that all the operation of the           sel always serves the purpose to enhance the glory of
  powers of darkness must serve to lead all things to a             His Name.
  state of glory and bliss that could otherwise never have             In the third place, we must recall, that for this pur-
  been reached.                                                     pose God wills a people of His covenant, that shall exist
     Let me, then, briefly, draw the antithetical line.             to the glory of His Name and whose sole purpose  is  to
     God is a light and there is no darkness in Him.  l!Je          shew forth His praises and to manifest His glorious  vir-
  alone is God and He is good. His very being is good, and          tures. They must be partakers of His nature and life.
` evil cannot come forth from Him. He is righteousness.             they must be bearers of His image, they must be vessels
  justice and truth, love and holiness and purity, the abso-        of His light, manifestations of His righteousness and
  lute Good in Himself. -4nd in Him there is no unrighteous-        truth, of.His `Holiness and grace and love. For the reali-
  ness, no corruption, no lie, no evil. That is why God is          zation of the counsel of God, they must be of His party.
  beautiful and glorious. And as the Triune God He lives And since it was God's eternal purpose to reveal this
  the life of the most glorious and blessed, eternal covenant-      glory antithetically,  as  over against the darkness of the
  fellowship in Himself. He exists of Himself and by Him-           lie, unrighteousness and corruption this power of dark-
  self, and apart from Him there is nothing that has any            ness must be there in the vessels of wrath and the chil-
  being. He is not the greatest among all gods; but He is           dren of light must be brought into closest connection


1I
                                                 T  II  E S `I' A N D A R D     I3 E  X R E R                                        355
      .-.--." __. -".- -..  ..-.-."  -_-             - --.-._ -                _"  --..~- _-._...............__  -    I__ .._._..
      with them, in order that they may manifest the light and second Adam, stands behind the first man. He estab-
      condemn the darkness, stand for the truth and condemn lishes and maintains His covenant by putting enmity
      the lie, walk in holiness and love and condemn corruption between this people in Christ and the seed of the devil.
      and enmity of God. Thus God conceives of the vessels of hnd  so, it is, rhat although by nature Adam can bring
      mercy and those of wrath, that the former may reveal the forth only children of wrath, corrupt in sin, through the
      glory of God's virtues over against and in opposition to power of grace, he also becomes the father of a new race,
      the powers of darkness. Thus is God's eternal purpose. the spiritual seed of the woman. But, again according to
      For He is the potter and we are the clay. And it is His God's counsel and for the purpose of the antithesis, not
      sovereign prerogative to make  knoivn  His power and all the natural children of Adam are also children of the
      glory in vessels of honour and of dishonour, and to raise       promise and of grace. `The covenant as maintained in
      Pharaoh for the purpose of revealing the glory of His           Christ does not include all, but only those whom  God  -
      infinite Name. Such is the counsel of electron and repro- has chosen and given to His Son from before the foun-
      bation. They are not two coordinate parts of God's coun- dation of the world. The development of the race hence-
      sel, but the iatter serves the former. Reprobation serves forth follows the line of election and reprobation, of the
      both to bring out the glory of election and to lead in a seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. ,And thus
      way of opposition and sin God's covenant to highest con- you have the beginning of rhe historical development of  '
      ceivable glory.                                                 the antithesis. Adam becomes the progenitor of two
          Such is the idea of the-antithesis.                         peoples, the elect and the reprobate, the righteous and
         Thus God executes it in time.                                ungodly. From a natural point of view they have all
         He creates Adam, the first man and makes him of His" things in common. They are both part of the natural
      party, His covenant friend. He creates him in His own organism in Adam, of rhe same flesh and blood. They
      image, in order that He may truly know his God, live            have the same natural life, the. same body and the same
      with Him in covenant-fellowship, and serve Him in love          s&l, the same mind and will, the same talents and pow-
      with all his heart `and mind and soul and strength. He is       ers. And they live in the same world. They till the
      God's prophet, to know Him and glorify Him in praise            same soil and receive the same rain and the same sun-
      and adoration; He is God's priest, to love Him and to           shine, they work in the same factory and often at the
      consecrate himself to Him with all things  ; and he is, king same bench.- N,ot infrequently they live in'the same home
      under God to have dominion over  al earthly things in           and are most closely related from a natural point of view.
      the Name of his God and according to His ordinances.            They develop the same institutions, are subjects of the
      But he must be such antithetically. It is his calling to be     same state, members of the same society, speak the same
      of God's party over against darkness. Hence, the tree of language as members of the same nation, and even are not
      knowledge of good and evil is placed in paradise the first.     so infrequently members of the same Church. In a word,
      Hence, the devil is permitted to appear on the scene,           from a natural point of view they have all things in com-
      whose name is slanderer and adversary, all according to         mon and live in the most close relationship conceivable.
      God's counsel. Thus the forces of opposition were cre-          But all this is nothing more than the battleground upon
      ated, and it was Adam's calling to be God's  covenant-          which light and darkness clash, upon which the powers
      friend, to maintain the name and glory of his God in of sin and grace develop and come to manifestation. For,  ,_
      opposition to the powers of darkness. Henceforth he although these two peoples have everything in common
      could no Ionger serve God without also opposing the from a natural point of view, rhey have nothing in com-
      devil. Eut the first man falls and violates God's covenant,     mon from a spiritual-ethical point of view. Although
      all according to the determinate counsel of God. By his they are alike as long as you view them from the view-
      fall in sin he becomes wholly corrupt and darkness, so          point of their relation to this world and to earthly things,
      that his mind and will is enmity against the living God.        they stand opposed as soon as you view them again in
      There is no good left in him. AI1 is unrighteousness and        their relation to God. For the natural children of Adam
      corruption. And standing as the head and father and root        live from the principle of enmity against God. They are .
      of the entire race, he can nevermore bring forth a clean        children of darkness. PLnd they reveal and develop their
      thing out of an unclean. His children,  as he brings them life from this spiritual point of view everywhere, in all
      forth, will be like him, dead in sin and misery, seed of the `spheres and with all the means of this present life. Their
      devil, who henceforth is their spiritual father. He will        main spiritual principle is always that they set themselves
      bring forth a race, that consists of children of wrath  by. against God, with all their powers and talents and means
      nature and whose desire it is to do the will of their father    and institutions. They do not seek after God and they
      the devil.                                                      do not  folloW after righteousness. They are of this world.
         .Yet, God maintains His covenant. For in `His counsel        And not seeking after the city rhat hath foundations, they
      He had chosen His people in Christ and determined that seek to establish a kingdom of the world, separated from
      in the second Adam they should be perfected, after they         God and His Christ, in which the glory of sinful man may
      had fought the good  fight This covenant God establishes be enhanced. But the children of grace are principally
      immediately, for according to God's counsel, Christ the different. They have a new life, the life of regeneration,


 356                                     T H E   ST;iNDARD  B E A R E R
        _--. _^ ..--- i.-        ._~ _ _-- ..___ - . ".-.- ^
 the life  of  the\ risen Christ. And. from the principle of man of himself is only a sinner and he cannot do anything
 this new life they develop and manifest themselves in            good while he is inclined to all evil. But common grace
 every  sphere of life. They serve God and they reject            improve's upon him, to such an extent that he can still
 Mammon.      They  lol-e Christ and they hate the devil.         do much good, even though it is no good that saves him.
 They walk as children of light and they coridemn the             ln all the spheres of life that pertain ro this present world,
 ungodly works of darkness. And they shew forth the in the home, in the state, in society, in business and com-
 praises of Him who called them out of darkness into His          merce, in science and art, he lives from this principle of
 marvelous light. Such is their calling. It is God's pur-         a common and general and temporal&grace and is able
 pose with them. It is not their calling to gain the whole        to will and to think and to accomplish much good. Eut
 world for Christ, neither is it their calling to leave the by means of another, a special grace, God saves the sin-
I world, but to be in the world, in all the  ,world, in every     ner, uproots rhe evil principle within him and prepares
 sphere of rhe life of this world, on the whole of its battle-    him for final glory. So that while the ungodly live from
 ground, only living from the principle of grace and the          the principle of this common grace in the world, the
 life of regeneration, according to the Word of God. Such         godly  live both from this same principle of common
 is the anthithesis. And living as children of light the          grace and that of particular or saving grace.
 darkness will hate them and will employ the powers and              It is not difficult to see, where lies the fundamental
 means of darkness to overcome them. Outwardly  they error of this conception. It after all looks upon this
 may also seem to be submerged in the battle and to be            entire  presetit history as an interval which has been
 defeated by the powers of darkness, even as Christ on            necessitated because of sin. God's purpose is to perfect
 Golgotha. But spiritually they have the victory. They Ihis present  creatio,n,  not to perfect and glorify His cove-
 are  of,.God's party. God fights His battle thru them.           nant thru the deep way of sin and grace. For a time this
 And God thru Christ will give them the ultimate victory,         purpose is frustrated thru the power of the devil and sin.
 in the day when all the powers of darkness  shal1 only           But God carries it  thru and reaches it in spite of the
 prove to have worked together for the most glorious attempts, of the devil. And not only that this world has
 revelation of the  Xame of the Most High!                        its history and development according to an original pur-
    II. Now this antithesis is denied in more than one pose as it would have been without sin,, but He also
 way. It is denied first- of all by the pernicious doctrine       restores the original perfection of the whole creation.
 of Common Grace. ,4lso this theory attempts to offer a           ,411. this is accomplished by the power of common and
life-view of the things of this present time.- Its funda-         special grace. Strange though it may sound, but the
 mental conception is after all, that rhe devil struck a hole     theory of common grace is dualistic after all. It dares
 into the work of God as He originally formed it and              not conceive of sin as nothing but a means for the real-
 wouId have destroyed it, were it not for the intervention        ization of God's covenant and the development of His
 of common grace.  lf God had not intervened thru the counsel to the glory of His Name. Hence, it also con-
 power of common grace. so is the supposition, man would          fuses God's providence, whereby He maintains and pre-
 immediately have been sent into eternal death and  dc-           serves all things, so that the sphere and battlefield for
 struction and the whole world would have returned to             the principles  of sin and grace may be provided, with
 its original state of chaos, or perhaps been  annihilafed.       grace. What is after all nothing but means, for the
 But God prevents this devilish scheme. He carries ungodly  ro develop as ungodly and become ripe for de-
 through the original purpose of creation. This world             struction, and for the godly to reveal themselves. and
 must develop. The powers of this world must be brought develop as children of light, is considered as grace and
 to light, may not be destroyed by sin. Not until all the         lovingkindness of the Lord, common to all. And what is
 forces  .of the world have been developed and it has be-         after all only sin, as soon as it is judged in the light of
 come manifest how beautiful a world God formed in the. the law of God, is called good.
 beginning, can the world be destroyed to be replaced by             But we, are not so much concerned with the criticism
. the final restoration of paradise lost. For this purpose        and exposition of the errors of this conception as with
 God sends a twofold grace, a temporary grace and an              the clear fact, that it destroys the antithesis. If it is
 eternal, a general and a particular.      By virtue of the       true, that in this present life and with a view to their
 former, which is God's lovingkindness over all men, the          earthly development God  is  gracious to all, and has a
 righteous and the wicked alike, human life is preserved          covenant of friendship with all men, what  businesS  have
 and not immediately destroyed, the curse is tempered in          we not to be friends with those to whom the Lord is
 its tendency to destroy, and the  earth'and  its fulness are     gracious? Certainly, the outcry of the poet must be
 preserved. Moreover, the power and  progresg  of sin are         eliminated from Scripture: "Should I not hate Lord rhat
 checked. If this general  &-ace had not come man would hate thee? I hate them with a perfect hatred  !" God is
 have been wholly a child of darkness, a pronounced               the friend of all, be it only for the present and with a
 enemy of God. only.committing sin and nev'er doing any- view to the affairs of the present time. We have no busi-
 thing good.  Ile..would  have been wholly like the devil.        ness to be enemies of those that are in this life the friends
 But now it is different. True, it is maintained, the natural     of God. Besides,  do we  ,not live from a common principle


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                            357
                          .."     "..._^^ -."..-.- - - -."_.._--                    .-....__ ---___ I________
  of life in this world? The world does good. Not saving              DE HERAUT OVER DE GEMEENE GRATIE
 good, it is true, but good in  the sight of God. It does so
  from the grace of God wrought in their hearts by the                 Dr.- A. Kuyper, Jr., die dit jaar de hoofdartikeien in  I
  Holy Spirit of God. Shall we then separate ourselves de Heraut  schrijft,.  wijdt ook enkeie artikeien  aan de
 and condemn the good and lovely works  of  the world? kwestie der Gemeene Gratie. Het is biijkbaar niet  des
 l&o2 but we shall rather unite with them, and do things doctors doe1 om in verband met deze kwestie iets nieuws
  in common. Together we can labor for the building up te  leveren, of er eenig meer iicht over te ontsteken. Hij
  of the home, of society, of the state, of commerce and            doet dit aithans  n:et. Op een wijze, die iemand nu juist
 industry, of science and art. It is only a matter of tradi- niet onder den indruk brengt van het groote gewicht der
 tion that we still have Christian Schools. The school zaak,  dorscht de schrijver het  stroo, dat reeds door zijn
 also belongs to the sphere of common grace. The calling geieerden  Vader  eerder werd uitgedorscht in drie iijvige
 of God's people to live from a different principle than the        deeien, nog eens weer over. Het is  clan ook niet, omdat`
 world is denied. The anthithesis is absolutely destroyed ! we den  lezers van ons biad iets nieuws kunnen mededee
  We may be  in  the world and of the world both, for to- we  onzen  lezers iets nieuws kunnen mededeeien, dat
 gether we live of the power of common grace!                       we de aandacht op deze artikeien vestigen. Ook  biijkt
     But this is not the only way in which the principle of we1 uit des doctors artikeien, dat men in het oude vader-
the antithesis is destroyed. It is denied just as well, by land in het geheel geen notitie zelfs neemt van hetgeen
  ail those movements that would separate themselves from door ons over deze zaak ten beste werd gegeven. Niet
  the world in the sense that they would go `out of the aisof wij dit anders  hadden  verwacht. Wij verstaan het
  world.    It is `Dr.  Kuyper's repeated assertion that  you zeer  wei, dat men in Nederiand  volkomen  zeifgenoeg-
  must choose between his view and that of ail Dualism zaam is. Het is  nu eenmaal door een  tier groote  mannen
  that would live a separate existence, and create a separate geieerd, dat er Gemeene Gratie is. Het werd door hem
  field and sphere of life for the godly and the ungodly. in "een  monumentaai  werk"  uiteengezet, hoe we die
  Yet, this is not the case. The dualistic philosophy con- Gemeene Gratie ons hebben te.denken. En nu is er  na-
  fuses the battleground with the battle that must be fought tuurIijk.Gemeene  Gratie ! Wie daaraan  dmft te  tornen
  on it. It conceives of the battlefield itself as evil. Sin is telr eenvoudig niet mee. Dat verstaan wij zeer  wei. Zoo
  inseparably bound up with the things of this present is men nu eenmaai in Nederiand. Op zijn best heeft men
  time and with our life in the body. Hence, they that een iaatdunkend woord voor u,  ais gij ook meent, dat
  adhere  to this  vi&w.  would leave the world as much as ge  d6 Heiiige  Schrift kunt verstaan en moet verschiiien
  possible. They do not want to be in the world. They van enkeie groote  mannen.  Wij bekiagen onszeif daar
  would  Iike to  gjther the people of God  oii a separate dan ook niet  o\;er, maar  we1  -.de geieerde  mannen  van
  island, in a separate state and separate them from ail con- Nederland, die op zulk een wijze in een eigengemaakte
  tact with the ungodly. They would flee out of the world. theorie vastroesten en  aile verdere ontwikkeiing  eenvou-
  They would seek refuge in monasteries and convents, in dig onmogelijk  maken.  En wetenschappelijk is het zeker
  order to avoid ail contact with sin. They would  li+e in niet, om maar door te gaan en te schrijven aisof er  nu
  deserts and holes, in order to be safe. But also this is tech werkelijk niets anders geieverd ware !
  wrong. Not only is it a meie delusion that we can escape             Doch de reden,  waarom we de aandacht  wilden   vesti-
  conflict with the powers of darkness by separating our- gen op de artikelen van Dr. A. Kuyper Jr. is, dat ze bij
  selves literally and locally from the world, for the simple vernieuwing aantoonen, hoe onhoudbaar de theorie der
  reason that we carry the powers of darkness with us in Gemeene Gratie is en hoe men tevergeefs in de Heiiige
  our own flesh and heart,  - the antithesis is within us; Schrift zoekt naar een grondsiag  voor deze Phiiosophie.
  but it is also a fleeing from the batiiefield and an attempt      We willen daarom enkeie aanhaiingen doen uit des schrij-
  to frustrate God's purpose with  us.  It is  th5 purpose of vers artikeien en aantoonen, dat ook Dr. A. Kuyper, Jr.,
  God that light may shine in the darkness  .and that the de  dingen   tech niet  goed  voor de aandacht heeft.
light may condemn the darkness. That purpose cannot                    Schrijver leidt zijn onderwerp in  als voigt:
  be reached by a dualistic flight from the world. Ail dual-          "Ware er niets bijzonders gebeurd, dan zou,  onmidde-
  istic tendencies would have us not only not be of the iijk na den zondeval  van Adam en Eva in het Paradijs,
  world, but neither would they have us in the world!               het oordeei Gods ten voile zijn ingetreden en de straf
     Hence, we must maintain the antithetic view of life des Heeren in voile zwaarte op den mensch zijn  neder-
  and the world. God establishes His covenant with  LIS gekomen. Dat wii  zeggeq dan zouden Adam en Eva
  antithetically. We cannot serve Him without rejecting den dood gestorven zijn, niet slechts den geesteiijken
  and fighting mammon. In the world and not of the world, dood, maar ook den iichameiijken  dood,; niet siechts den
  living in all the domains of life, but from the principle of tijdelijken dood, maar ook den eeuwigen dood. Juister
  light,  cohdemning the darkness, such is the purpose of gezegd, van een tijdelijken dood ZOLI  geen sprake geweest
  God with His people and our calling, till the victory is zijn, en de eeuwige dood naar  lichaam  en ziei zou  aan-
  won !                                                             stonds zijn  ingetreden. En heel de Schepping Gods  ZOLI
                                                       H.  II.      van haar glans en heerlijkheid beroofd zijn geworden,


 THEA REFORME ONTHLY MAGAZINE published by
                         THE REFORMED FR                BLISHING  ASSOCIATION, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN





                                               Entered  w second class mail matter at Grand Rapids, Michigan

      Vol.  IV, No. 16'                                             MAY 15, 1928                                    Subscription Price, $2.50

                                                                               provide honour and glory, a name and fame; to be poor
                                                                               is to be despised and forgotten . . . . .
                                                                                   Blessed are the rich !
                                                                                   Such is the slogan of the natural mind.  Fiches he
                                                                               craves, for the possession of the treasures of the world
                            THE RICH POOR                                      he will toil and deny himself; to gain the whole world
..j;.:*  .
.;                                                                             he will gamble even with his soul !
                              Blessed"are  the poor in spirit, for theirs
                            is the kingdom of heaven.-Matt.  5:3.                  In the world there is no benediction upon poverty;
                                                                               there is no kingdom for the poor...
              How strangely paradoxical is this benediction upon                   But how different it is in the kingdom of heaven !
the disciples of the Lord!                                                         There the poor are blessed !
              Blessed  `are the poor ! And again, these poor- are                  The poor only.
       blessed because `they are rich and are possessors and heirs                 They are the only possible subjects of that kingdom.
       of the glorious kingdom of heaven !                                     Only the poor in spirit can claim possession of the king-
              How foolishly contradictory, how wholly incompre- dom of heaven.
       hensible, how utterly impossible this beatitude must seem                   Not they who proudly boast of their own riches can
       to the mind of this world, to the natural mind, the mind enter there. Not they who vaingloriously brag and blus-
       of the flesh ! How inconceivable it is to him, whose riches ter that they are rich and enriched and in need of nothing
       and treasures are in the earth and who measures true will end the gate of that kingdom open unto them. They
       blessedness by the criterion of this world, that the poor are outside. They cannot see the kingdom. They may
       can be pronounced blessed and that a kingdom could                      exult in their own righteousness, but it is of no avail for
       possibly prosper and flourish whose subjects are without them to enter. They may appear with imaginary treas-
       resources, a multitude of poor beggars !                                ures of holiness and good works, as a claim on that king-
              The natural mind craves riches, earthly riches.                  dom of heaven it is of no value. They may truthfully say,
              Not the poor, but the rich, the man of wealth and                that they prophesied in the name of the Lord, that they
       great possessions, is the proper object of benediction. For             cast out devils, that they accomplished many wonderful
       to be rich is to possess power and influence; the man of works, that, in short, they possess sufficient riches to
       wealth has access to all the pleasures and enjoyments of                purchase a foremost place in the heavenly kingdom, they
       the world ; while the poor man is deprived and destitute will remain still outside and from within they must hear
      of all the world offers. In the world the rich man can                   the final : Depart, I knew you never!
       obtain all that can satisfy the flesh, all the luxuries and                 Riches, spiritual riches of self, are of no account in
       conveniences are  .his for the buying; the poor man may                 the kingdom of God.
       toil and labor in the sweat of his brow; only to provide                    In the sphere of that kingdom it is not true that the
       for himself and.his the measure of wheat for a penny and                rich are blessed.
       the three measures of barley for a penny. The rich man                      Blessed are the poor, the poor in spirit.
       speaks and the poor man obeys; the rich man frowns                          Theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
       and the poor man trembles; the rich man smiles and the                      Theirs alone.
       poor man feels himself blessed-. . . .                                      Blessed are the poor.
              Blessed are the poor!                                                For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
              How utterly insane it sounds in the language of the                  No, not the socially poor, not those that are poor
       world !                                                                 according to the world, poor in earthly treasures,. are
              Riches is independence ; poverty is slavery. To be rich meant by this benediction.
       is to lord it; to be poor means to be in servitude. Riches                   Certainly it is hard for the rich man, for him that


362                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                                         _-
hath many treasures, to enter into the kingdom of God. .            Poor in spirit! Ah. but who is an exception  ro this
The riches of this world so blind his eyes, so lay claim description?
to all the affections of his heart, so crowd his mind and           None; no, not one!
all his thoughts and the love of his whole soul is so firmly        Is there, then, blessedness in this poverty ?
fixed on them, that it is only with extreme difficulty that         God forbid! It is our misery, the cause of our deep-
he parts from them to seek, that his eyes are opened to see est woe!
the heavenly, the enduring and eternal riches of the king-         By reason of it we are subjects, not of the kingdom
dom of heaven. How hardly shall a rich man enter! It of heaven, but of the domain of darkness and hell!
is easier for ~a camel to go through the eye of a needle !         Neither is it the meaning of this first of the Lord's
   This painful operation by which the love of his heart beatitudes.
must be torn away from the riches of this world, in order          Nay, but the poor in spirit are they, that are spirit-
to enter into the better kingdom, the poor man knows            ually poor in themselves, that are consciously poor and
not . . . .                                                     naked and miserable and in need of everything. They are
   All things being equal, it is easier, for the latter than those who realize their own poverty and are willing to
for the former to enter.                                        confess it.
       But the kingdom is not naturally for the socially           Thus it is not with all !
poor. As well as the rich, he is by nature a subject of the        For such is man's darkness that the very darkness he
kingdom of darkness and he cannot see the kingdom               calls light; such is his perversity of mind and will that in
of God.                                                         his very iniquity he will boast of his rjghteousness;
   Neither does a state of earthly poverty in itself lead to    such is his misery that in his poverty he feels himself
the riches of Christ. Riches may make proud and haughty rich, in his bonds he imagines himself free, in his naked-
and selfsufficient; poverty can, apart from grace, only         ness he thinks himself clothed and though dead he imag-
embitter and harden the heart against God. The rich ines that. he lives. Proudly he glories and. boastfully he
and the poor alike are, by nature, outside of the kingdom       speaks: I am rich and enriched and have need of
of heaven. Riches do not necessarily exclude, for what nothing!  .`. . .
is impossible for man is with God entirely possible; pov-          Never will he bend the stiff knee or lower his haughty
erty does not induce a man to seek the kingdom, for the         head to go begging for spiritual riches which he claims to
natural mind is enmity against God, rich or poor . . . .        possess of himself.
   But blessed are the poor in spirit!                             But how different this all becomes, when the light of
   Again, not as if there could be blessedness in want of grace dawns in that dark soul ! When the Spirit of our
spiritual richness, such as love of God, blessed fellowship     Lord Jesus Christ enters into our hard heart to break  ir,
with Him, perfect righteousness and holiness, light and operates in our proud mind to humble it,  instiIls within
life, peace  and. eternal joy. Such, indeed, is spiritual our hateful nature a new love and kindles a new light. . . .
poverty, poverty of spirit. For man was formed by God's            Then the proud head is bowed down with shame, the
own fingers, and by God's own breath was his spirit boastful tongue is silenced in `humiliation, and we know
formed within him. He was made after the similitude of with sorrow of heart and confess in true contrition:
the living God, clothed with righteousness and holiness,           I am blind and destitute, naked and poor!
endowed with true knowledge of his Maker, designed to              God be merciful ! And fill me with Thy grace !
live the life of God, to be righteous as He is righteous,          Then we are poor in spirit.
holy as He is holy, to know even as he is known, and to            And blessed are we !
live in blessed fellowship of friendship with the Most
High. He is a spiritual soul. To be filled with spiritual          Blessed  7 why?
gifts is, for him, to be rich; to be destitute of righteous-       Because to the poor is the kingdom of heaven!
ness and holiness and love and light is, for him, to be in         The Kingdom of heaven is the kingdom that comes
poverty. But in this sense all men are poor. For all have       down from heaven, to dispel the darkness of the kingdom
sinned and come short of the glory of God. All have lost of the devil and to establish in its stead  rhe reign of
the beautiful gifts with which the Creator endowed us God in Christ in heavenly beauty and perfection.
originally; all have lost their knowledge and are filled           It is the kingdom, the coming of which was announced
with the darkness of the lie  ; all have lost their righteous- from the beginning, ever since the light of righteousness
ness and instead are filled with all iniquity, hatred of        disappeared in Paradise the First, and the darkness of
God and of one another, perversity of will and hardness sin and corruption and death enveloped  rhe  world. It is
of heart. All have lost their holiness and are stained with the kingdom that was the hope of all the saints that have
all corruption and impurity, to follow after the lust of the gone before, the cloud of witnesses that, for the hope of
flesh and the pride of life. All are miserable and naked that kingdom, and by virtue of the kingdom-life they
and blind and perverse, filled with a thousand evil lusts carried in their bosom, were satisfied to be pilgrims and
and  .desires, dead in sin and misery, children of their strangers in the world and to forsake the pleasures and
father the devil , . . .                                        treasures of Egypt. It is the Kingdom that was and ever


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
 _"..." -..... "..-lllll-...^.-.-                          ___ ^^ ---.--.............---.                                          363
 approached; the Kingdom that came in the Person of                  He shall bring to light the riches of the poor in spirit,
 Tmmanuel, God with us, that was founded in His blood when He shall reveal the glory of the everlasting King-
 as the Kingdom of righteousness, that was  prinicipally             dom in them and shall make them possessors of the eter-
 realized in His resurrection and ascension and exaltation           nal, incorruptible inheritance !
 at the Right Hand, as the Kingdom of glory, that came                    Rejoice, then, ye poor in spirit, that musr always
 down out of heaven from the exalted Christ, when He again confess that in yourselves ye are destitute of all
 poured out His Spirit, as the Kingdom of grace  ; and spiritual riches.
 that is still coming, till it shall appear in the full  splen-           Rejoice, for your Lord is rich.
 dour of its beauty in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ,                  Rejoice, for yours is the kingdom of heaven!
 when He shall come again on the clouds of heaven, to                     And blessed are ye, blessed forever!
 make all things new and to establish forever and ever                    Hallelujah !
 the tabernacle of God with men ! . . . .                                                                                 H. H.
        It is a kingdom of spiritual blessings ; of the bless-
 ings of grace, of forgiveness and peace, of righteousness
 and holiness, of love and joy, of covenant-fellowship and                          ONWARD TILL THE DAWNING
 eternal life . . . .                                                      In the service of the Master
         It is the Kingdom in which the King supreme  is                          Our days are passing by,
 Father and the subjects are children . . . ,                              Thro' shadow and sunshine
        A kingdom of everlasting and profoundest love!                            We're marching to our home on high.
        In that Kingdom the blessings are only for the poor                Our Leader unto us is calling:
 in spirit, for them that are empty and destitute in self.                        "Come on! be not dismayed,
 For the bounties of that Kingdom are all in the Head                      For I, ever I am
 and they are all of grace. No man can bring anything                             Before thee, be thou not afraid."
 into that Kingdom. All the. righteousness and glory of
 self must needs remain outside of that Kingdom, for it                    Often while the battle rages:
 is the purpose of the King, that no flesh shall glory in His                     While skies above us frown,
presence. Of God, through Christ, by mere and sovereign                    While weak and discouraged
grace do the blessings of that kingdom  flow upon, yea,                           We all but lay our armor down,
into all the subjects . . . .                                              We hear our great Commander saying :
        Nothing of self; all of Him . . . .                                       "I fought the fight for thee !
     Such is the fundamental law of the kingdom of heaven.                 I suffered and  canst thou
        Hence, it is only for the poor in spirit. They are poor.                  Not bear the cross a while for me 2"
They know that they are poor. They have learned to
empty themselves, that they may be enriched by Him                         When our marching days are over,
only.                                                                             When war and strife shall cease,
        They  ure blessed, for the kingdom  is theirs. Already             When victors triumphant
they partake of the grace of that kingdom, of the king-                           We rise to hail the Prince of Peace,
dom-light and life. Their very poverty of spirit is evi-                   ?hen we shallsee Him in His beauty,
dence, that the power of that kingdom enlightened their                           Shall look upon His face,
mind and humbled all their pride. Rlessed, too, they are                   And praise Him forever
in their very poverty for it is the sole disposition and                          Who loved and saved us by His grace.
state of heart and mind, created by God's almighty grace,                                                (By Chas. H. Gabriel)
in. which they can be receptive to the spiritual blessings
of that kingdom.                                                                             BEKENDMAKING
       The kingdom of heaven is theirs now.                               Dinsdagavond, `5 Juni, om  7:45 vergadert het  Cura-
        Hence, they are blessed !                                   torium der Theologische School in het kerkgebouw der
       Such is the blessed comfort of the gospel  for,,the  poor     Eerste Protestantsche Gereformeerde Kerk te Grand
#in spirit!                                                         Rapids,  Mich.
       And they shall be blessed !                                       Jonge  mannen  die begeeren om opgenomen te worden
        For, though the kingdom `is, it is also coming ! Though als student  aan onze School,  worden  op deze vergadering
they are citizens now, they shall also become  crtizens. verwacht.
For now, though glorious citizens of an heavenly and                     De aspiranten  moeten  voorzien  zijn van een bewijs
everlasting kingdom, they still walk as strangers in the van lidmaatschap van een onzer gemeenten en tevens
world, often despised and poor, often mocked and perse-             van een aanbeveling van hun respectieven Kerkeraad.
cuted.  Of them the, world is not worthy !                                                   Namens het Curatorium,
       But the Lord, the King is coming!                                                            S. G. SCHAAFSMA,
       And His reward is with Him ! And when He comes                                                 Waarnemend  Secretaris.


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 -       -                                  - _.. "lll_.-_..".-^".l"..^  ".____-___ -    -      ..-.  "..__                       367
                                                                                                                                   _.._
 SYNOD'S SCRIPTURAL PROOF FOR THE THREE                                 ungodly  the term  reprobate wicked  we shall-have to read  :
                          POINTS                                        `?l!Ie  who justifies the reprobate wicked."  This render-
                                                                        ing, however, must be set aside as it is not in agreement
      The question with which we were engaged in our pre-               with the abundant testimony of Scripture to the effect
 vious article is whether the group signified by the terms              that the elect wicked only are justified. In a word the
 eOvil  and unrighteous.  include the reprobate wicked. Let             exegete must deal fairly with Scripture.
 it be a settled matter in our minds that this question must                 It is plain that he, taking hold of any text in which
 be faced by him bent on giving reliable exegesis of the                the term in question appears,' must keep before his eye
 scriptures in question. Fact is that such terms as  evil,              that its  signitiation  is not fixed . In each instance must
 ~njzrst  and  wicked  are terms with a varied signification.           the exegete face the question anew to which group the
 They do not always signify the same group. There are                   term must be made to apply.
 texts where the term wicked signifies the  elect  only. Rom.                Bearing these things in mind, let us approach once
 4:5, But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him more the words of Jesus we were considering Mat& 5 :44,
 that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for                  45; Luke 6  :35). In these selections, as was said, the
 righteousness; Rom.  5:6, For  `when  we were without                  Heavenly Father is presented as dealing kindly with and
 strength in. due time, Christ died for the ungodly.                    blessing unjust, unthankful and unrighteous personswith
      Whereas Christ died only for those whom the Father His rain and rising sun. Examining the near and far
 gave Him, and whereas they and none other are justified, surroundings, of these texts we discover that God does
 it follows that in the above texts the term ungodly desig-             not assume an attitude of favor toward the reprobate
 nates the elect wicked and them only.                                  wicked. To the contrary, it is the plain teachings of
      In the following scriptures the term ungodly mani-                Scripture that the reprobate wicked  is  one whom the
 festly signifies the reprobate wicked. Ps.  1:5, Therefore             Lord opposes, against whom He hath indignation for
 the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners               time and eternity, that is for ever and ever. "Was not
 in the congregation of the righteous  ; Ps. 9  :6, `Upon the Esau Jacob's brother? saith the Lord: yet I loved Jacob,
 wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and  a                And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heri-
 horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup ;             tage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. Whereas
 Ps.  28:3, Draw me not away with the wicked and with                   Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return
 the workers of iniquity  ; Ps.  37:20, But the wicked shall            and build the desolate places; thus saith the Lord of
 perish, and the enemies of the Lord as the fat of lambs:               Hosts, They shall  buiid,  but I will throw down ; and they
 they shall consume  ; into smoke they shall consume                    shall call them, The border of wickedness, and The
 away; Ps.  104:35. Let the sinners be  consumeil out of the people against whom  l&e Lord' hath indignation for ever
 earth, and let the'wicked be no more.                                  (Mal.  1:2 a, 3, 4.). Keil is right in insisting that the
      It is plain that in these selections the wicked are the meaning of these words must not be weakened down into
 reprobate. For the elect do stand in the judgment; upon loving more and loving less. God's love for Jacob and His
 them the Lord rains not snares, fire and brimstone. They hatred for Esau are two opposite dispositions. This is
 perish not, neither are they consumed out of the earth.                evident from the fact that God's dealings with the one
      Finally, there' are texts in which the term ungodly brother stand apposed in every respect to His behavior
 must be made to apply to both the elect and the  non-                  toward the other. The Israelites, though having passed
 elect. Rom.  3:9, What then? are we better than they?                  through a period of oppression and homelessness, were
 In no wise, for we have before proved both Jews and                    restored to their old home and prosperity returned. As
 Gentiles to be under sin ; as it is written, There is not to  theEdomites,  They shall build but the Lord will throw
 one righteous, no, not one. They are all gone out of the down ; the desolation will continue for ever. Every at-
 way, they are together become unprofitable; there is                   tempt to restore its fortunes will end in dismal failure.
none that doeth good, no not one.                                       Such treatment is an exhibition of divine hatred, not of
      It appears, then, that such words as ungodly and a lesser love.
 wicked  are significations (a) of the elect; (b) of the                    Further, the Lord hated Esau as an idea in  the coun-
 reprobate;  (c) of both the reprobate and the elect. The               sel of good pleasure. Says St. Paul: "For the children
 matter to  b.e investigated in each instance is to which of            being not yet born, neither having done any good or
 these groups the terms under consideration must be evil, that the purpose of God according to election might
 made to apply. For an answer, the exegete, bent on giv-                stand, not of works but of him that calleth, it was said
 ing reliable exegesis, will consult the near and far sur-              unto her, The elder shall serve the younger as it is
 roundings of a text. That is to say, he will not construe written, Jacob have I -loved, but Esau have I hated"
 these terms in such a way that the text in which they                  (Rom. 11-13.)
 appear is made to yield a thought in conflict with the                     Esau's inferior position was indicative of Divine ha-
 outstanding doctrines of Holy Writ. Let us take by                     tred, which in turn must according to the apostle be
 way of illustration the scripture reading:  "He (God) who identified with Esau's rejection. Rebecca was informed
 justifies the ungodly." Placing in the room of the term                of this state of affairs before Esau's birth. Hence, his


 368 -                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D  BEARER                              ~ . .._ - _... ".I____
 rejection was a matter settled before he had done any           inflamation, and with extreme burning . . . . . And thy
 evil, and the determining factor was not Esau's per-            heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the
, versity but God's own good pleasure. Fact is, then, that earth that is under thee shall be iron. The Lord shall
 the Lord had indignation against Edom from eternity.            make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven
     The godless Esau of time-the concrete manifestation         shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed
 of an eternal decision; the product of the womb of Divine       (Deut.  28:1-Z).
  providence-is hated by the Lord. The Edom cast                    Thus it appears that in the Old Dispensation, the
 down; the repeated frustration of his every attempt to- favor of the Lord assumed concrete form; that obedience
 ward restoration was, according to the prophet, a  dis- and material prosperity went hand in hand. Likewise
  playal of divine fury, descending upon his head in the         apostacy and material want, disease and disaster. The
  shape of an endless chain of national disasters. That no fruit  of-the body and the fruit of the cattle and of the
  mention is made of Edom's disappearance into the abyss         land constituted, in  &t day, Divine speech to the effect
  of eternal death must be explained from the fact that. that the righteous dwell in the light of Jehovah's counte-
  in the old dispensation temporal prosperity was indic-         nance. For it should be born in mind that only when
  ative of Jehovah's favor unto the just. Likewise was           Israel hearkened unto the voice of the Lord, did it pros-
  temporal disaster a token of God's hot displeasure.            per. Temporal blessings, then, were to the devout Jew
   A selection taken from one  ,of Moses' addresses will the signs that the eye of  ,God rested upon him with
  prove this. "And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt pleasure. Whereas he forsaking Jehovah came to grief,
  hearken diligentiy unto the voice of the Lord thy God,         the Jew knew that the connecting link between the favor
  to observe and to do all his commandments, which 1 of Jehovah and his temporal well-being is obedience. Thus
  command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set          he was made to see that Divine love, obedience and
  thee on high above all nations of the earth : And all these prosperity go together.
  blessings shall come upon thee and overtake thee, if thou         It  .must not be supposed, however, that the fruit of
  shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God.  Bless-      the cattle and of the land were, to nations other than
  eil. shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be      Israel, significations of Divine good will. The truth
  in the field. Blessed shalt be the fruit of thy body, and of the matter is that Israel-and Israel only-together
  the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the with the good land of Canaan yielding miraculously when
  increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed the nation hearkened unto the voice of Jehovah, was a
  shalt be thy basket and thy store. Blessed shalt thou be type of the heavenly Canaan, of its citizens and their
  when thou  comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when           spiritual well-being. God had incorporated his instruc-
  thou goest out. The Lord will cause thy enemies that           tions in things earthly. The things tangible-  the things
  rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: They       that can be seen and handled-were `made to serve as
  shall come out against thee one way, and flee before           the carriers of God's eternal thoughts. So it was with the
  thee seven ways. The Lord shall command the blessing fruit of the land and of the cattle. Significations they
  upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou  settest    were of a higher good -the blessings of the Kingdom
  thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee-in the land of Heaven -blessings to which the redeemed fall heir.
  which the. Lord thy God giveth thee . . . . . And the Lord        Edom, too, was a type of that race-the reprobate
  shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy        wicked-against whom the Lord hath indignation for
  body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of ever. His never ending national disaster was a picture,
  thy ground, in the land which the Lord sware unto thy so to say, of the woe of the inhabitants of hell. As
  fathers to give thee. The Lord shall open unto thee his Israel's prosperity was a type of a higher and spiritual
  good treasures, the heaven to give the rain unto thy good, so Edom's woe was indicative of a greater evil
  land in his season, and to bless all the work of thy hand:     overtaking those in whom the Lord hath no pleasure.
  and thou shalt lend unto many nations and shalt not With the advent of Christ, the dispensation of shadows
  borrow. . . . . .                                              ended. That a man is rich is no sign today that he
     But it shall come to pass if thou wilt not hearken unto     pleases God. Poverty and adversity are no invariable
  the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all tokens of Divine indignation. Fact is that today the wick-
  his commandments and his statutes, which I command ed often prosper, while poverty is often the portion of
  thee this day, that all these curses shall come upon thee, the righteous. The present and the past state of affairs
  and overtake thee: Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and       has its causes, chief of which is that the purpose of the
  cursed shalt  .thou be in the field. Cursed shalt be thy       caIling.of Israel was the creation of a type or picture.
  basket and thy store. Cursed shalt be the fruit of thy Canaan and Israel laden down with temporal good and
  body, and the fruit of thy land, and the increase of thy shielded from the fury of a hateful-world by their  rheo-
  kine, and the flocks of thy sheep . . . . The Lord shall       cratic King-the Lord God-were but so many features
  make the pestilence cleave unto thee from  0.8 the land of a grand picture of a higher reality-the new heaven
  whither thou goest to possess it. The Lord shall smite and the new earth with its glorified inhabitants. Now
  thee with consumption, and with a fever, and wirh an Christ and His Kingdom constitute the living reality
                               .


j-                                         s

                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         369  "
      __----.--  .._. ".--            -           .---^...^  ..__.                             - - -
      depicted. With His coming, therefore, the picture was           woe attending the desolation wrought by the hatred of
      destroyed. The Israelitish nation was completely dis-           God operative in his life. Whar are the corresponding
      persed and scattered over the face of the earth, and the        realities? Corresponding to Edom's desolate and wicked
      good  land-of Canaan reduced to a wilderness. The saint         borders is that strange and terrible region known as dark-
      with much fruit of the cattle and of the land, being one        ness where men weep only and gnash their teeth in
      of the features of the picture, had to go.                      sheer hatred and frenzy. Answering to the Edom im-
          Today the citizens of the Heavenly Kingdom do not           poverished is the reprobate deprived of every conceiv-
      constitute the rich of this world. The earth and its  ful-      able blessing. Edom's woes are the woes of the wicked
      ness is the treasured possession of the Canaanites-the          pitching themselves against God.        *
      wicked. The true citizens of the Kingdom hunger and                Attending to the notices of Scripture respecting
      thirst for righteousness, and look for the city that hath       Edom, two things stand out clearly: (a) The reprobate
      foundations.                                                    wicked, instead of being blessed, labor under the divine
          The point is then that the obedient Israelite who pros-     curse ; (b) Today material prosperity is no guarantee that
      pered, knew thereby rhat he dwelt in the light of Jeho-         the prospering one dwells in the light of God's counte-
      vah's countenance. Poverty, disease and adversity were          nance.
      unto the wicked significations of Divine indignation. So           We are now ready, once more, to face the question
      it was with Edom. His desolate places were concrete             whether the group denoted by the terms unjust and un-
      and tangible manifestations not of a Divine love less           thankful include the reprobate wicked. Whereas it is
      ardent, but of Divine hatred.                                   plain that Christ spake of a rain and a rising sun that
          Finally, God's hatred for Esau was not an emotion           bless him to whom this rain is sent and upon whom this
      repre.ssed,  confined, so to say, within the chambers of        sun is made to rise; and whereas the reprobate wicked
      God's heart. The very contrary is true. The divine in-          bear in their person the curse of God, it follows rhat the.
      dignation was made to leave God's heart to envelope and         term unthankful does not signify both the  reprobate  and
      permeate Edom's entire  existance.  It was operative in         the elect but the elect 06nly. This settles the matter. The
      his life, ever at work impoverishing and throwing down          exponents of the theory of common grace must not
      his rebuilt desolate places.                                    marshal these words of Jesus  ro  the  defence  of their
          Who, acquainted with and understanding the notices          theory.
      of Scripture respecting Esau, would care to maintain that          We may now direct our attention toward some of the
      he, notwithstanding his reprobation, was the blessed of objections urged against the above exegesis.
      the Lord; the object of a lesser love and actually blessed?        (a) We are told that rain is sent to the reprobate
      No one, I should think.                                         wicked as well as to the elect; that the sun is made to
          Edom, as was before said, was a type, a picture of an-      rise upon the former as well as upon the latter. Hence, it
      other reality-the kingdom of darkness with its chief--          is argued, the one is being blessed as well as the other.
      the devil. It is expressly stated that  Edom"s desolate            (Reply) That every rain is no blessing and cannot
      places shall be called the borders of wickedness. Now           very well be regarded as a gift of love, the exponent of
      a picture made to give one' a notion of a certain reality       the theory of common grace shall have `to admit even
      must reproduce that reality. There must be correspond- on his own position. A rain rhat inundates fields render-
      ence between the  picture_and  the thing depicted. So           ing them unfertile,-would the opponent say of this rain
      it musr be with Edom and the reprobate race of which            that it is a gift of love and a boon to the reprobate
      he was the type.                                                wicked? Indeed not. Well, then, also our opponents
          It should be born in mind, however, that Edom, aside        must face the qeustion: Whar are the elements consti-
      from being a type, was a reprobate. It means that the           tuting a blessed rain? All are agreed that this rain must
      state and experiences of Edom are at once the state and         be a gift of God' love. What further enters in? `Ac-
      experiences of every rejected one. Th Lord hates him as         cording to the opponent this rain must, in addition to
      well as Edom. Against rhe reprobate the Lord hath               being a gift of love, be timely and sufficient so that the
      indignation for ever. God's hatred for him is not a less        land upon which it falls yields a harvest. Such a rain,
      ardent love, or a suppressed emotion destined to be ex-         according to the opponent, deserves to be called a bless-
      hibited only in the day of Judgment and in the there-           ing. We remark, however, that though a rain blesses the
      after, but a terrible power ever operative in the repro-        land of a reprobate and yields him a harvest, it (the rain)
      bate's life ; permeating and enveloping his entire  exist-      does not bless him (the reprobate), in that he fails to
      ante; ever at work throwing him down.                           respond with praise and in that this rain, instead of
          As a reprobate, however, Edom was a type of the king-       bearing him interest in heaven, stimulates his pride and
      dom of darkness. Not the Divine hatred as such but its          rebellion. What is more, even the devastating rain turns
      peculiar manifestation and operation in the Life of Edom        out to be a real blessing unto those who love God. It
      constitutes him a type. The typical elements were the           is plain that the character of a rain does not enter in
      impoverished Edom ; his land made desolate; his country when an answer is being sought to the question, What
      constituting, as it did, the borders of wickedness; the         renders a rain blessed? The truth of the matter is,  rhen,

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

that a rain deserving to be called blessed must, in addi-       does the Lord see? That they  .are all gone aside, are al-
tion to being expressive of God's favor, actually bless         together become filthy; that there is none that doeth
the recipient.                                                  .good, no, not one (Ps. 73).
       Does rain actually bless the reprobate wicked one?          Scripture further asserts that God judgeth,. and that
Indeed not. Why not? In answering this question we              righteously, the wicked (Ps.  135), Verily, He is God that
set out by reaffirming that the reprobate wicked do             judgeth the earth  ; (Ps. 9). "0,  the; enemy, destructions
prosper. In the words of the psalmist, there are no             are come to a perpetual end: and thou hast destroyed             *
bands in their death. Their strength is firm. They are          cities; their memorial is perished with them. But the
not in trouble like other' men ; neither are they plagued       Lord shall endure forever: He hath prepared His throne
with other men. The wicked do receive rain and their            for judgment. And He shall judge the world in  righteous-
fields yield bountifully.     The storehouses of the rich       ne+rr, He shall minister judgment to the people in right-
fool in the parable were unable to accommodate the  har-        eousness."
`vest. The fool was compelled to enlarge his barns. The            Holy Writ informs us that the Lord having judged
wicked then do prosper. We see it before our eyes. They         the wicked inflicts punishment upon them in this life.
dwell in mansions, are attended by many servants and            Says rhe apostle: "For the wrath of God is  revealed  from
adorned in costly raiment.                                      heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of
       Is the good rain and the resultant harvest actually a    men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; because that
blessing unto him, the reprobate wicked one? Let` us see.       which may be known of God is manifest in them. For
How do the wicked respond when God sends them a                 the invisible things of him from the creation of the world
good rain? Isaiah has the answer. Says he: "Hear, 0             are clearly seen; being understood by the things that are
heavens and give ear, 0 earth : For the Lord hath spoken,       made, even his eternal power and Godhead" (Rom. 1:
1 have nourished and brought up children and they  h.ave        18-20).
rebelled against Me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the             Again it appears that according to the Scriptures, God
ass his master's crib: but Israel does not know, My peo-        is judging, pronouncing guilty and inflicting punishment
ple doth not consider. A seed of evil doers, children           upon the wicked,  ~ZOW,  in this life ; that his wrath is in-
that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they          deed an ever present power, operative in the person and
`have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they          life of the reprobate wicked one.
are gone away backward." Isaiah  1:l-I. Fact is then               Ler us now attend to the notices of Scripture respect-
that when God nourishes the wicked, they (the wicked)           ing the constitution of this punishment inflicted. And
respond with rebellion. That is to say, there is a causal       changed the glory of the uncorruptible God . . . . Where-
reiation between the good rain sent and the wicked's            fore God gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts
rebellion. Says the psalmist (Ps. 73) : "There are no           of their own hearts,  `Ram.  1:22, 23 ; Who changed the
bands in their death ; but their strength is firm. They are     truth of God into a lie . . . . For this cause God gave
not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued           them up unto vile affections; Rom. I  :25, 26; And even
like other men. Therefore,  pride compasseth them as a          as they did not like to retain God  in their knowledge,
chain; violence covereth them as a garment. Their eyes          God gave. them up to a reprobate mind, to do things
stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could         which are not convenient: Being tilled with all unright-
wish. They are corrupt, and speak  wickedIy concerning          eousness, fornication, wickedness . . . . ; The face of the
oppression : they speak loftily. They set their mouth           Lord is against them that do evil to cut off the remem-
against the heavens ; and their tongue walketh through          brance of them from the face of the earth, Ps.  34:17;
the earth."                                                     Jehovah is far from the wicked . . . . Prov. 15  :29 ; But
       In the above selection the absence of bands in death,    the wicked are like the troubled  &ea which cannot rest,
the firm strength of the wicked, the absence of trouble         whose waters  c&it:   up mire and dirt. There is no peace,
and plague, the fatness and abundance are linked up with        sayeth my God, to the wicked, Isaiah  57:20, 21.
the manner in which the wicked behave toward God and               The wicked, then, are punished in this life. God does
man. The good with which God. fills his life occasions          not know them and is far from them. They have many
his evil deportment.                                            sorrows, have no peace and are like a troubled sea. They
       Let us now take a step ahead and honestly answer are foolish, vain in' their affections. They are beastly.
the question: What attitude does God assume toward              These woes and states it is which constitute, according
the wicked and proud of heart. Does he wink at their            to Scripture, the punishment of the wicked-a punish-
conduct or does he inflict punishment? We must go to            ment incessantly being measured out to them from the
Scripture for an answer. God  (Ps; 121) neither slumbers        cradle to the grave and ever thereafter. With this the
nor sleeps. He  ,is keenly aware of all that is happening.      instruction of our catechism is in full agreement. Q. 10,
Nothing  escapes his eye. Hence, the Lord observes the          Will God suffer such disobedience and rebellion to go un-
conduct  of the wicked. The Lord looked down from               punished? A., By no means ; but He is terribly dis-
heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any        pleased with our original as well  a? with our actual sins;
that did  undersiand and seek God (Ps. 14). What now            and will punish them in his just judgment  temporally  and


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  eternally, as he hath declared, "Cursed is every one that          Finally, the so-called doctrine of the  well-meati
continueth  not in all things, which are written in the blessing  is in violent conflict with Scripture. Holy Writ
  book of the law to do them."                                    teaches rhat the  well-meant blessings  are  meant for  evil.
     Whereas,  then, the relation which the sent rain and "Until I went in the sanctuary of God," says the psalm-
  the rising sun, in short the prosperity of the wicked sus- ist, "then understood I their end. Surely thou didst set
  tains to his pride and rebellion is that of  catise and         them in slippery places: thou  castest them down into
  effect, and whereas the proud wicked one is made ro bear,       destruction" (Ps. 73). "When the wicked spring as the
  even in this life, the punishment--the Divine wrath-in grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish;
  his person, it follows that the sent rain and the rising it is that they shall be destroyed forever" (Ps.  92  :8).
  sun are no actual blessings but  act@ curses indeed. The           This is in perfect agreement with the scriptural
  exponents of the theory of common grace musr and do             notices respecting Esau. The sent rain, as an actual
  admit it. Says Rev. H. Kuiper (brochure p. 13) "It is           curse, is a signification of divine wrath.
  true that they (the wicked) turn the blessings of God              Let us now direct our attention to one or two more
  into curse for themselves, because they despise  these objections raised against our explanation and application
  riches of His goodness."                                        01 Christ's words.
     We said, and all shall have to agree, that a rain, and          (Objection) The enemies to be  lbved  are wicked and
  a rising sun, deserving to be called blessed, must, in hence unjust and unthankful persons. Whereas the ene-
  addition to being a gift of God's love, actually bless the      mies which Christ's followers shall love are the unjust
  recipient. That is to say, it must be an actual blessing. and the unthankful, it follows that if the unthankful are
  Whereas it is plain from the various notices of Scripture the elect only, the words of Jesus cannot be practiced
  rhat the rain sent to the reprobate is an actual c&se, and by the believer as he knows not who the elect are.                          _
  whereas the rain of which Jesus spake in the sermon on             (Answer) The believer is not asked to love the  elect
  the mount is clearly meant as a blessed rain, it follows dzmzkfu&  but his enemies. Them he knows for they are
  that the unthankful and evil to whom this blessed rain his persecutors; His persecutor may be a reprobate.  Tf
  is sent cannot include the reprobate. Such will be the so, the believer, not being aware of his reprobation, loves,
  conclusion of him taking the trouble to examine the near him. Such is God's will. If not, He would have revealed
  and far surroundings of the words of Jesus in question. His children who the reprobate  .wicked  are.
     We wish to remark in passing that whereas the pros-             (Objection} If God loves and favors elect unjust per-
  perity of the wicked is, even according to the admission sons only, the believer cannot take his Father in heaven
  of the exponents of common grace, an actual curse, it is as an example as the elect are unbeknown to him (the
  but fair and honest that our opponents speak not of God's believer).
  blessings but of His  intended  blessings unto the repro-          (Answer) The believer takes God as his example not
  bate. Rev. I-I. Kuiper (brochure p. 13) seemed to sense by loving the elect wicked only but by loving his ene-
  this. Says he, "It is true that they (the reprobate) turn mies. Doing so, he is a child of the most High who also
  the blessings of God into a  curs"e for themselves . . . . .    loves His enemies the elect wicked.
  Bur Scripture  does not teach that these blessings are             Thus we  have explained the words of Christ in the
  meant  for evil, and that they flow from God's wrath."          light of their near and far surroundings. Having done
     The question arises whether we may speak of God's so, it appears that these words are no proof for the theory
 intended blessings. Certainly not.      The doctrine that of common grace.                                           G. M. 0.
  God's  r'ain and sunshine, though actual curses, are never-
  theless meant as a blessing necessarily implies that the                          `T CHRISTENPAD
  Lord God is nor having  His way ; that things: turn out gat waant  g-e, o mensch, met lust bij lust te  zwelgen?
  differently than He had planned  ; that the Lord reigneth Wat is `t genot met zijn aanloklijkheden?
  not;  that it is not He who maketh history. This doctrine Wat doer vermaak, dan steeds  zich zelf verdelgen?
  of. the  well-meant blessing,  so-called, excludes God from `t Verwoest  zich, ja, en dien het streelt  meteen.
  the moral world  ; lifts Him out of history and sets Him in Wet leed alleen, het leed heeft kracht van heeling ;
  a corner. The doctrine deprives the believer of all com- God schenkt het hem, Wien Zijn gena  bewaakt.
  fort. For if God is not having His way what does it Bedroefden, juicht in deze uw lotsbedeeling!
  avail me that I with body and soul, both in life and death, Neen, voor geen zoet heur bitterheid verzaakt!
  am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Saviour Schroomt op uw weg geen pijnlijk voetdoorpriemen,
  Jesus Christ; who with His precious blood hath satis- Geen  wilden  tak, die kleed of voorhoofd scheurt,
  fied for all my sins. He cannot deliver me from all the Maar  `t oog gevest op  Jezus' geeselstriemen,
  power of the devil and so preserve me that without the Dank Hem alleen, wiens gunst ze u waardig keurt!
  will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my Is `t  nacht voor ons, eens zal de morgen rijzen;
  head; yea, that all things must be subservient to my sal- Geen aanstoot meer  belemmert-dan ons pad,
  vation, for He is not having His way. It is plain thar the En heel uw ziel zal Gode dank bewijzen
 theory of common grace is sheer Deism, yea, in its deep- Voor elke wond en bloed- en tranenspat.                          4
  est sense Atheism.                                                                                     -W. Bilderdijk


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aangelegd op de  "Gratis Specialis," en dienen moet om                REV. J.  K. VAN  BAALEN  AND MARK  ltj:g-21)
 Sions bloei te bevorderen.
    Als Schriftbewijzen voor deze thesis  worden  door den            The Banner  of the Christian Reformed Churches has a
 referent aangevoerd plaatskn  als Genesis  31%;  II Sa-           rubric known as For the Sunday School,.in  charge, at  pres-
 muel 5  :11  ; I Koningen 5  ; en Handelingen 17  :28.            ent, of Rev. Van  Baalen. His task is to explain each
    Genesis  31:24 werd hierboven reeds onder de oogen             week for the coming Sunday the Scripture lesson. In
 gezien. Deze plaats handelt over het door God  verbie- The Banner  of-March  10, 1928, he comments upon Mark
 den  aan  Laban, in een droom des  nachts, om Jacob, die          16 :9-20, as follows :
 heimelijk van hem gevlucht was, leed te berokkenen.                  "The Scriptures state, `he that increaseth knowledge
    Natuurlijk de God van Abraham, Isaac, en Jacob                 increaseth sorrow.' The present lesson may well prove
 waakte hier over Zijn volk in Jacob begrepen ; in Jacob, that this is true of him who increaseth biblical knowl-
 dien Hij liefhad en verkoren.                                     edge also.
    II Samuel 5  :ll gewaagt van de hulp, die  Hirami'de              ."I suppose that I may take for granted that my read-
 koning van Tyrus, aan koning David zond, om David een ers know the difference between so-called  higher criticism
 huis te bouwen; gelijk diezelfde Heidensche koning ook            on the one hand, and textual criticism on the other. The
 Salomo later behulpzaam was met het bouwen van den                first places itself above Scripture, and, denying the
Tempel des Heeren.                                                 special factor of plenary inspiration, looks at the con-
    En Handelingen  17:28 leert ons dat God de Schepper tent of Scripture with a critical eye. This is the spirit
 en Onderhouder is van het menschelijk  g.eslacht,  gelijk         the orthodox Christians of various shades strongly re-
                                                                   pudiate. We deny any man or group of men the right
 ook de kennis van dat almachtige feit niet geheel bij de
 volkeren buiten Israel `was uitgedoofd.                           to say that any passage of Scripture could not have been
                                                                   written by the finger of God because they think the
    Onze Gereformeerde  vaderen maakten ook  we1 mel-              contents of such passages cannot be true. This is plac-
 ding van deze Schriftwaarheden, maar begingen  tech niet ing man's reason above Scripture; it is refusal of the
 de dwaasheid om deze naflikkerende vonkskens van het              pioud heart to receive the Word of God with meekness
 door den gevallen mensch verloren Beeld Gods,  Gemee-             when it runs contrary to one's own ideas.
 ne Gratie te noemen, gunst van God, liefde des  Eeuwi-               "Textual criticism, however, is an altogether different
 gen en Heerlijken, kwistig rondgestrooid  aan Hem  vijan-         matter. It is a well known fact that the original copies
 dige, niet in Zijn verlossingsplan begrepen, zondaren,            of all the Bible books, the so-called autographa, have
 aan Hem vloekende en Hem  verachtende.  stervelingen, been lost since time immemorial. In their stead we have
 kinderen des doods en der duisternis.                             many copies made during the early centuries. These
    Noch hebben zij  Hirams hulp  aan David en Salomo              copies naturally vary somewhat since they were made
 een  proeve,  een bewijs, geacht te zijn, dat Gods genade,        by hand, and copying a book without making mistakes
 altoos vrij  tech,  zich zou hebben gesplitst in een  "alge-      is an extremely,difficult work. Textual criticism, there-
 meene"  aan alle menschen geschonken waardoor zij nog             fore, is a branch of theology taught in every Reformed
 heel aardig een poos op aarde zouden toeven en van Zijne          theological school. It goes without saying that of a text
 Liefde genieten, maar  tech ten slotte ter eeuwige  ver-          of which two or three different readings exist in the man-
doemenis zouden weggevoerd  worden  daar immers Zijn               uscripts, only one can be correct, while chances are that
 toorn, naar de Schriften op hen blijvende was, en zij tot         not one is correct, but that the original reading has been
 den dag der  slachting  intusschen werden vet gemaakt en          lost with the original copy. The part of textual criticism
 bewaard.                                                          is to determine which of the various readings may be the
    Wat een gruwelijk spel van  "genade"   tech.                   original one. While we cannot enter here into any details
    Gode zij dank, die in Zijn Woord, dat altoos  recht en as to the methods followed by these theologians, we would
 waar is en  goed,  van dergelijke kromme zaken geen  ge-          remind the reader that on the whole the variations are
 wag maakt, zulk een "theologisch" uitvindsel niet kent. slight and that no doctrinal truths are involved. How-
    Heel  deze, erger dan dwaze, "Gemeene Gratie"  theo-           ever, there are a few passages in the New Testament
 rie is een uitvindsel van menschen, die de Schrifuurlijke where several verses rather than a single word are in-
 anti-these  aan een kant  hebben.  gezet, omdat zij niet  lan-    volved. Mark  16:9-20 is one of these. There seems to be
 ger paste in hun stelsel van synthese met de wereld,  on-         abundant evidence that these verses in their totality are
 der de  kwalijk  begrepen of ten minste opgeborgen leuze spurious ; that is that they do not belong in the Gospel,
 van "Nederland te herwinnen voor het Calvinisme" en and were not written by Mark. Dr.  Warfield  gives the
 "de wereld veroveren voor Christus."                              external and internal evidence for the spurious character
                                                                   of these verses on pp.  199-204  of his  Textual Criticism  of
                                                                   the New Testament  (1899, 6th edition). To me his argu-
                      (Wordt vervolgd)                             ment seems very strong. I found this out only recently;
                                                                   and you will at once perceive why I increased sorrow:
                                                  G. V. B.         I shall no longer be able to quote Mark  16:16 as a proof


     376                                      T H E   STANDABD   B E A R E R
                                    .._-                                                                                   .I__
     text when teaching my catechetical classes the doctrine ,_prove  from some other Scripture that they contain the
     of baptism."                                                      truth ; while as to the other verses in that periscope,
            "It may be asked what is the good in  -presenting  such    why, John, we have those stories far more elaborate in
     matters in notes .on a Sunday School lesson. This I               the other gospels. And we shall believe them, and teach
     shall proceed at once to point out. First of all, honesty them, too."
     is the best policy always and ever. One does not gain                  "Thus, esteemed reader, I thank you for bearing'with
     by ignoring facts, piously covering  attaihed knowledge           my little theological digression, and I beg you to bear in
     by speaking as if the facts did not exist. The truth should       mind that nothing but plain honesty has forced me to
     be number one. Secondly it will be seen that all the              inflict upon -your innocent mind such a nasty truth."
     stories that are briefly alluded to in these verses, Mark         Thus far, Van  Baalen.
     16:9-20, may be found, even more detailed, in the other                The reverend set out  b; informing his readers that
c    gospels.  The facts, therefore, are not denied, even though       they know, so he supposes, the difference between
     Mark may not have narrated them. Hence, I would ad-               higher criticism on  the one hand, and textual criticism on
     vise our Sunday School teachers, to study these incidents         the other. Yet he deems it necessary to describe the
     from Matthew, Luke and John. There they occur as                  engagements of both and compare rhose of the one with
     originally written by these apostles. Then go ahead and           those of the other. The critic known as the  higher  "looks
     just tell them. I would not however, take in the ascen-           at Scripture with a critical eye and denies the factor of
     sion also. One would get too much material for one brief          plenary (meaning full, complete) inspiration. Any scrip-
     Sunday hour. Thirdly (and now I come to the important             ture not in agreement with his (the critic's) standard of
     point), while the incidents referred to in the supposedly         truth is denied and its place in the Canon challenged.
     spurious closing verses of Mark all have happened and             In a word, then, the higher critic reduces the canonicity
     may be read with profit in the other gospel accounts,             of the contents of Holy Writ to a logical conclusion
     there are two verses in this portion  that  do not occur          drawn from a premise of his (the critic's) own making,
     anywhere else in the Bible. and these verses teach some- applied for the purpose of determining whether  or  no
     thing that is very strange to say the least. They are the Scripture examined should be permitted to retain its
     the verses 17 and 18. Here, you will notice, it is said as a      place in the Bible. Such  engagaments. involve a denial of
     sign of faith rhat believers shall be able to do all sorts of     pIenary  inspiration. Necessarily so. He subscribing to
     miracles. From Dr.  Warfield  I learn that Christian the dogma of inspiration regards the Bible as a singular
     Scientists have appealed to this passage to prove that            book, as one of its kind in that it was written by God
     their so-called healings must be true evidence of and part        Himself  thiough the instrumentality of human agents
     of their genuine Christianity  (Counterfe'it  Miracles, 1918, unto whom He imparted the truth He desired  pubIished
     p. 302). And from our own Rev.  Wassink  I recently and whom He (God) impowered to reproduce the truth
     learned that  a  faithhealer,  taking the text on its face        in such a way that the final production partakes of the
     value, attempted to take up a poisonous serpent, and . .  =       character of infallibility. He regarding the Bible as the
     was bitten. So here you see at once the difficulty of             infallible word of God will, of necessity refrain from
     ignoring facts. Take things for granted, reason from              challenging the veracity of its contents. Such a one will
     Mark  16:9-20, and you must do  o&e of two things. Either submit his entire self to the Word. , The higher critic,
     you serenely ignore the difficult 17th and 18th verses and        on the `other hand, refused to permit God to decide the
     talk on the rest (in that case you are not quite honest,          contents of His own Book and to determine what is
     a policy by which the author of Mark's Gospel is poorly           truth. Such a one exalts himself mightily and from giddy
     served} or you maintain verses 17 and 18 with the rest            heights looks  dawn upon God and His Word to judge
     until . . . . until you happen to  ,meet  a bright scholar who    both according to- standards of his own invention. The
     has picked up some magazine on `Christian Science from            proper order is reversed in that the higher. critic refuses
     a railroad station, and he says, `Tut tut, teacher, why           to be taught by God and is bent on teaching God. This
     don't you tell us about those snakes and about healing            is his folly. For, fact is that no one can teach God
     rhe sick? Are you fraid to tackle the subject because             knowledge, for He is God. His intelligent will is the
     your Christianity cannot stand the test of  Jesus' require- efficient cause of the existence and subsistence of things
     ments?' Qr, perhaps (and worse still), your smart pupil           that be, Himself excepted. He created, preserves and
     still listens and goes home with the impression that governs all things according to His holy will, so that
     teacher is afraid to face the music, and that, after all, nothing happens but by His appointment. He keeps all
     Christian Science is  iight. Do you see now the value of          things so under His power, that not a hair of our head,
     being honest, even as a Sunday school teacher or writer?          nor a sparrow can fall to the ground without His will.
     Should anyone in yaur adulr class raise such a problem,                God makes history. The events of the day are but
     you just tell him. Since men of learning (meaning,  Of the realization of His eternal deliberations. He brings
     course, Drs. Hort and Warfield, not the Rev. Van  Baa-            to pass what He has spoken ; He does what He has
     len) assert that there-is an abundance of evidence that purposed. His counsel stands and He will do all His
     these verses are not genuine, we shall not take much good pleasure.
     stock in the statement of verses 17 and 18 until you              ,    God is rhe cause of the various phenomena in nature.


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                                              T H E   S,TANDARD   B E A R E R                                             377
     -.--"  I ^" ..^_.            __ll""..              _-.."-_.-_                 .-.".                            - - -
                                                                                                                     .
     He covereth Himself with light  is with a  @rment.  He Under the providence of God, this word was rewritten
     stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and  Iayeth the      many times and all the books of the New Testament as
     beams of His chambers in the waters. He maketh the well, so that the Church, as early as the  fourrh  century
     clouds His chariots, and walketh upon the  ways  of the came into the possession of numerous manuscripts of
     wind. The foundations of the earth are laid by Him, the New Testament. Indeed, so great is their number
     that it should not be removed forever. He covers it as to constitute an astonishing phenomenon. Fact is
     with the deep as with a garment : The waters stood above       rhat no other'  ancient.book or books has so well been
     the mountains. (Ps. 104.)                                      preserved.
          Since God is creator of things that be, and the cause        These are- the matters which Rev. Van  Baalen  placed
     of the events of history, it follows  th$t things creatural    before his readers. As was before said, he was dealing
     do not serve God as so many sources or vehicles of with facts. However, the disappearance of the autographs
     information and wisdom.       God observes and inspects, constitute no serious disadvantage. The errors creeping
      but having done so He knows no more than He did in, although defacing the Word of God, did not render
      before the inspection was made. For the things made it untrustworthy and unreliable. The thought, conveyed
     are His handiwork. Of the speech of creation He is the         by the autographs was not defaced beyond recognition.
     author. Wherever He turns, He beholds the. image- of              Let us hear  Warfield and Hort on the matter. Their
      Himself impressed by Him upon the works of His hands. comment reads as follows: "On the other hand, if we
           Thus the sum total of things made, plus the things compare the present state of the New. Testament text
     being made to transpire, do not teach God knowledge.           with that af any other ancient writing, we must render
     Man and the angel cannot teach God. Being creatures the opposite verdict, and declare it to be  mar.velously
      they need to be taught. Neither is there another God correct. Such has been the care with which rhe New
      at whose feet our God placed Himself to be informed. Testament has been copied-a care which has  doubtiess
      It must be than that God's knowledge is original with grown out of true reverence for its holy words-such
      Himself, and at once self-knowledge. Knowing Himself, has been the providence of God in preserving for His
      He knows all there is to be known, and taught by none Church in each and every age a competently exact text
      is the teacher of all.                                        of the Scriptures, that not only is rhe New Testament
           As to man, he is mere creature., Hence, he must be unrivalled  among ancient writings in the purity of its
      taught, informed,  toId. Being equipped with capacities text as actually transmitted and kept in use, but also in
      for knowing, he can be taught. Placing himself at the the abundance of testimony which has come down to us
      feet of God he will know. He has no knowledge original for castigating its comparatively infrequent blemishes.
      with himself.  WhHt he knows is a  gjft of  God. If man       The divergence of its current  t&t from the autograph
      refuses to listen to the speech of God it is night in his may shock a modern printer of modern books; its won-
      soul. There is but one fountain of knowledge-God. derful approximation to its autograph is the undisguised
      Man must be taught by Him.                                    envy of every modern reader of ancient books . . . .
           The so-called higher critic refuses to be taught. He The great mass of the New Testament, in other words,
      will teach God. Nis great sin is that he regards himself      (I am still quoting Warfield) has been transmitted to
      as a fountain, a source instead of an empty vessel need- us with no, or next to no, variation ; and even in the most
      ing to be filled by God.                                      corrupt form in which it has ever appeared, to use rhe
           What, now, is so-called lower or textual criticism? oft quoted words of Richard Bently, the real text of
      According to Rev. Van  Baalen it is altogether a different the sacred writers is completely exact . . . . nor is one
      matter. It is occasioned by the fact, says he, rhat the       article of faith or moral precept either perverted or  j
      original copies of the Bible books disappeared at a very lost . . . . choose as awkwardly as you will, choose the
      time immemorial.  .In their stead, we have many copies worst by design, out of the whole lump of readings,
      made during the early centuries. Rev. Van  Baalen B. B. Warfield, Textual Criticism of the New Testament,
      asserted a fact when he informed his readers that the         pp. 14, 15.
      original copies of the Bible books disappeared at a very          From the above quotation, it appears that though the
      early dare. To simplify matters let us confine ourselves autographs have been lost, there is, nevertheless, no
      to the first gospel, that of Matthew. True it is that the cause for alarm. Though variations occur, the New
      Gospel according to Matthew, known as the autograph, Testament text is nevertheless, marvelously correct  in,
      was lost. Perhaps, says Warfield, the brittleness of the      that, in the providence of God, the autographs have
      papyrus upon which Matthew wrote his thoughts and been copied with great care. Though variations occur,
      the constant use to which it was put, combined with the the real text of the writer is, for all that, completely
      evil fortunes of  a persecuted Church and a piety  .which     exact. Such is the verdict of  Warfield.
      knew nothing of the  s&redness  of relics, to destroy             Whereas, rhe New Testament text, though having
      them very rapidly.                                            reached the Church of subsequent centuries through  the
            The sacred Word of God, however, did not vanish channels of numerous manuscripts, is  nevertheiess
      with the disappearance of the so-called, autographs. competently exact, the disappearance of the autographs


  378
  --m.".- _._                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                  --"-_---".^~-
  is a distinct advantage. The numerous manuscripts              sources, even those that are singular  ro a singular docu-
  taken. together constitute one grand testimony to the ment of infinitesimal weight as a witness, and even
  effect that the autographs actually appeared and existed. those that effect such very minor matters as the spelling
  Let me drive home the point by means of an illustration. of a word. Dr. Ezra Abbot was accustomed to say thar
  Supposing someone should place in our hand a letter about nineteen-twentieths of them have so little sup-
  reputed to have been written  500 years ago by a certain port that, although they are various readings, no one
  John Henry. What the missive asserted respecting its would think of them as rival readings ; and  nineteen-
  author and date of appearance would, very likely, be twentieths of the remainder are of so little importance
  placed in a class with dubious testimony by many of us. that their adoption or rejection would cause no appre-
  But supposing this letter, though having disappeared, had ciable difference in the sense where they occur. Dr.
  been rewritten some 2000 times and that the various Hart's way of stating it is that upon about one word in
  transcriptions were still with us and showed a wonder- every eight various readings exist supported by sufficient
  ful agreement. Would not the joint testimony  have  as evidence to bid and pause us look at it; that about one
  much and even more weight than the lone testimony of word in sixty has various readings upon it supported
  the one letter, had it been preserved? It would. So it         by such evidence as to render our decision nice and
  must be admitted that the joint testmony of the numer- difficult; but that  SO  many of these variations are trivial
  ous transcriptions of let us say Paul's letters has as much    that only about bne word in every thousand has upon it
  weight as the single testimony of the autograph had substantial variation supported by such evidence as to
  it not been lost. Let us not, however, draw wrong con- call out the efforts of the critic in deciding between rhe
  clusion. Anybody bent on disbelieving  the joint  testi- readings." B. B. Warfield, Textual Criticism of the New
  money of the transcriptions would do so on the basis Testament, pp. 11, 12.
  of a possible forgery. This is indeed the ever'  reoccur-s        Let us attend closely to the last statement. "Only
  ing argument of the radical (lower not higher) critic, one word in every thousand calls out the effort of the
  rejecting large portions of God's Word.       Further, let critic in deciding between the readings.,' One  in every
  no one suppose that the believer, should he have to rely thousand  There are then, in the New Testament only
  upon the single testimony of the autograph instead of some hundred and eighty words to which the  c&tic
  upon the joint testimony of the transcriptions, would deems it worthy to devote his effort. And even these
  not believe. The truth acts as a magnet drawing the variations are of such a character as to leave, to express
  child of God to it. It does so whether it be conveyed to       ourselves in the words of Hort, the original text compe-
  him by means of a lone autograph or transmitted through        tently exact.
  the channels of various transcriptions.                           Now the lower critic  is dne who makes it his business
         Let us now take up the matter of so-called lower to determine which of two or more readings is in `agree-
  criticism. It is a fact that the transcriptions show a ment with the original text or autograph. When thus
  variation as to form. Let us hear  Warfield on the mat- at work he is engaged in a legitimate business. His
  ter. Says he: "When we attempt to state the amount task is  to  reproduce, as far as is possible, the, original
  of corruption which the New Testament has suffered text. He  must.penetrate,  if he can, to the autograph.
  through two millenniums, absolutely instead of thus Textual criticism is, to be sure, a branch of theology.
  relatively, we reach scarcely more  ititelligibIe results. The believing lower critic must not be accused of set-
  Roughly speaking there have been counted in it some            ting himself up as a judge over God's Word. To  the
  hundred and eighty or two hundred thousand  `various contrary, before that Word he bows.  Aware that this
  readings,- that is various variations in existing docu- Word, having reached  .the Church rhrough the channels
  ments . . . . But we must guide against being misled of numerous transcription, was defaced and marred
  by this very misleading statement. It is not meant that somewhat, he- labors to restore and mend; to remove
  there are nearly two hundred thousand places in the the spots and blemishes from the transcriptions in order
  New Testament where various readings occur; but only that rhe Word may reappear in all its glory.
  that there are nearly two hundred thousand readings all           The rationalist, on the other hand, denies that the
  told; and in many cases the documents so differ among great God ever had a Word. His aim is not to restore
  themselves that many  are' counted on a single word. and mend but to destroy the  .Word of God. It is clear
  For each document in turn is compared with the one what the lower critic's duty is respecting the some hun-
  standard, and the number of its divergences ascertained; dred and eighty worth-while variations. He shall school
  then these sums are themselves added together, and the himself to single out that reading nearer or next to
  result given as the number of actually observed  varia- the autograph.
. tions. It is -obvious. that each place where a variation          The believing critic, so engaged, works according to
  occurs is counted as many times  `over not only as dis- a method which we shall not now describe. This critic,
  tinct variations occur upon it, but also as the same           further, shall he work at all must equip himself with a
  variation occurs in different manuscripts. The sum standard. What is this standard? The Word of God
  includes moreover, all variations of all kinds and in all dwelling  richty in him or, to express it otherwise, the


I                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                            379
          _^--".-                                 -l--l__                            _."..^.^^^^  _ _....._..l.-_llll_l...  "..^,    -.-.-_l_ll_.l-.l
          image of Christ exhibited by the scriptures impressed every "ketter  heeft zijn letter." Scripture is even being
          upon his soul. With this image in his eye, the critic will       quoted in support of the theory of common grace. His
          know how to amend and reconstruct the disfigured Word final reason for rejecting these verses is that they speak
          of God.                                                          of things which do not happen today and therefore never
             It is plain that the critic must be a believer in order       happened. So he reasons. So Floyd Darrow, who rejects
          to be constructive. Only when his attitude toward the every  .miracle in Scripture reasons. The removal from
          Word is that of one who loves God, is it safe for him Scripture of the section in question or any. other section
          to proceed.                                                      or sections, is the work not of a believing lower critic
             Rev. Van  Baalen  goes on to say that there are a but of a higher critic. This ought to be plain enough.
          few passages in the New Testament where several verses The believing lower critic, we said, aims to mend, recon-
          rather than a word is involved. Mark  16:9-20  is such a struct the defaced Word of God. Herein he differs from
          passage. There seems to be, says Van  Baalen, abundant           the higher critic who aims to destroy the Word. He who  *
          `evidence that these verses in their totality are spurious  ;    lifts out of the Canon entire sections is engaged in
          that is that they do not belong to the Gospel and were           destroying the Word of God.
          not written by Mark. The evidence is given by  War-                 Let us now show where the so-called higher critic
          tield. Van  Baalen deems his argument strong.                    ends up.  McGiffert  discredited-the authenticity of the
             Warfield  decided in favor of the omission of this pastoral epistles (the two epistles of Paul to Timothy)
          passage for the following reasons: (a) The whole                 for the following reasons:
          weight (such is War-field's conclusion) of external evi-            (1) ,It is impossible to find a place for their historical
          dence is for omission  ; (b) The transcriptional evidence composition and the historical situation they reflect in
          leads to the same conclusion, that is to say,  Warfield          the life of Paul, as we know it from the Acts of the
          succeeds better in accounting for the insertion of this apostles.
          selection than for its omission; (c) The internal evidence          (2) The conception of Christianity  .found in these
          excludes these verses from a place in Mark's Gospel. letters is unpauline and clearly represents a latter  devel-
          Says the learned critic: The  "but  that opens verse 9 does tjpment.  They contain indeed some Pauline ideas, but
          not introduce anything adverqative to verse S. The new these are exceptional.
          specification of time in verse  8 is surprising, after verse        (3) The Church organization that is reflected in
          2. The word  first  looks strange here. The identifying these letters points to a latter age.
          description of Mary Magdalene in verse 9 is very remark-
          able after verse 1. Every  appearance,-.in  a word, goes            (4) The false teachers and teachings to which the
          to show. that the author of the gospel did not write epistle refers are evidently second century  Gnostics  and-
          verses  9-20.                                                    gnosticism.
             Van  Baalen  has his own reasons for rejecting the               (5) The most weighty objection is, however, that
          selection in question. In the passage  ,occur two verses the style of these letters differs from that of the Pauline
          that do not occur anywhere else in the Bible and teach epistles to such a degree as to imply divergence of
          something that is very strange, to say the least. They authorship. Quoted from Prof. Berkhof's New Testament
          are the verses 17 and  18, which read: "And these signs Introduction.
          shall follow them that believe: in my name shall they               We present from this work one more selection: "Yet
          cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; and it is especially on the strength of internal evidence that
          they shall take up serpents ; and if they drink any deadly these Epistles have been attacked. J. E. C. Schmidt in
          thing, it shall not hurt them ; they shall lay hands on          1804, soon followed by Schleiermacher, was the first one
     .    the sick and they shall recover."                                tosast doubt on their genuineness. Since that time they
             Van  Baalen raises the objection that these verses do have been rejected, not only by the Tubinger school
          not occur again in Scripture, as if only those scriptures and by practically all negative critics, but also by some
          repeated at least once `should be recognized. Further,           scholars that usually incline to the conservative side,
          they teach, says he, something very strange, to say the such as Neander . . . . ; Meyer . . . . ; and Sabatier.
          least. The higher critic, according to the reverend, is While  tthe majority of radical critics reject these letters
          one who looks at Scripture with a critical eye. He has unconditionally, Gredner, Harnack, Hausrath, and MC
          no scruples in rejecting a passage if he deems its con-          Giffert believe that they contain some genuine Pauline
          tents untrue. It appears that Van  Baalen  is this critic. sections; . . . .
          Verses 17 and  18 he rejects on the grounds that accord-            One thing is plain: to set as judge over Scripture  is
          ing to his conviction he deems their contents untrue. a very hazardous way of passing time. One begins with
          These texts are objectional to him for still another rea- a portion and ends up with denying entire books of the
          son : The Christian Scientist quotes them in support of his      Bible. And why should not not be thus? To assail an
          lie.  Hence,.they  should be removed. If we should remove        entire portion differs not from denying an entire book
          from Scripture every text quoted by the heretic, our of the Bible.'
          Bible would we reduce to very small proportions. For                                                                             G. M. 0.


                                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        383
                "" ._._-. I^- .-.......-       ..____--      -                       _-.-----.
god  aan van eigen maaksel; men schuwt er  bet  licht, en                   If we believe it
meent  dun  nog allerverlichtst te  zijn!                                   We shall receive  it-
    En de misdaad  ijoelt door de straten ! En de  dolle,                   Faith in His word  shallhave  its reward.
duivelsche, losgelaten pret (alleen om brood en spelen)                      Who  c-an divine it?
wordt nagejaagd door oud en jong; niet het minst door                       Who can define it?
de jeugd, die  zich over het paard voelt getild door de                     Marvelous hope through Christ, our Lord.
ontaarde "oudheid"  ; en welke jonkheid niet naar `den
Schepper vraagt, maar  zich wil "uitleven" en anders  snel                  There is no sorrow
sterven, naar hartelust spillende  goed en bloed, kracht en                 In that tomorrow,
gezondheid,  bet  heden  en de toekomst!                                    And we are told no night shall be there  ;
   Terwijl binnenslands, spuwend op socialist en com-                       Joys that forever
munist, en met de boeien rammelend of met de banzweep                       Flow like a river
klaar staande, men glimlacht internationaal tegen den                       With all the ransomed we shall share.
buitenlandschen socialist of den  rooden  handelsagent.
   Als het handelsbelang  maar  kan  worden  gediend, en                    We shall have a new name in that bright land,
het imperialisme, als onafscheidelijke vriend van het                       When, thro' grace, before the great King we stand
kapitalisme en het groot-industrialisme, zijn grijpklauwen                  There in all its beauty His face we shall see
slechts kan uitslaan naar meer roof, altoos meer roof!                      And shall reign with Him thro' eternity.
   En in hoogmoed heeft men God gezegend, vaarwel                                                          (Chas. H. Gabriel.)
gezegd. We redden het immers  we1 zonder Hem, al
spreekt proklamatie en boodschap nog van een  Voorzie-
nigheid, een "Providence" ; dien wij ons zelf hebben  ge-
maakt, die het werk onzer eigen vingeren is; en dien wij                                         GALILEE
op het altaar des vaderlands  `hebben geplaatst, dat wij                    I  love to think of Galilee
bewierooken met  onzen  eigen, stinkenden trots !                                 Where Jesus lived, and loved, and taught
   En och, in de hutten der  armen, ook in het rijke Ame-                   Of all its mountains, hills and sea
rika zoo overtalrijk; en in de  holen der onderwerelden                           Where His great work of love He wrought ;
van de metropolen broedt nijd en wrok en wraak op revo-                     df Bethlehem, that lowly town
lutie en bloedstorm!                                                              To which the shepherds made their way,
   Ondanks officieel arbeidsrapport, dat het tegendeel be-                  When by the angel they were told                '
weert, verteert de werkloosheid ook in ons land zijn  tien-                       That He was born  ;--O blessed day !
duizenden en millioenen, die kanker van het moderne
leven !                                                                     I love to ponder o'er His words,
   Sluit  -4merika zijn  poorten al  dichter voor  landver-                       Who spake as no man had before,
huizer en vrijheidszoeker.                                                  Or shall, till sun and moon grow pale,
   Terwijl de bodem om bcwerkers vraagt, om ploegers                              And even time shall be no more.
en zaaiers.                                                                 I think I see His beaming face,
   Ook  waren  rampen  van allerlei aard,  watervloeden en                        When from the Jordan up He trod,
tornedos,- aardbevingen en  branden  en  scheepsongeluk-                    And hear the voice from heaven that cried:
ken, niet minder ons deel dan van andere  landen  der                             "Behold ! behold the Lamb of God !"
wereld.
    En nog zucht het Mississippi dal, en roept om  hulp  en                 I see Him sleeping `mid the storm;
bescherming! Desondanks kan ook hier, naar het  schijnt                           I hear Him saying "Peace, be still  !"
bet Congress niet vaardig. en prompt ordenen, en steun                      What kind of man must He have been,
verleenen, of de bedorven politiek is er bij gemoeid en                           Since wind and sea obey His will !
wenscht haar  schimmel  ook dit "volkswerk" te  hechten.                    But, hark! A prayer falls on my ear:-
                                                            G. V. B.              "Forgive them, Father, for they know
                                    (Slot  volgtj                            Not what they do!"-The pleading words
                                                                                  Of Christ, the Lord, who loved me so.
                                                                                                           (Chas. H. Gabriel.)
                            A NEW NAME                                       \
     Beautiful story,                                                        PROGRESSIVISM AND CONSERVATISM
     Fragrant with glory,                                                  Then we note a faction which holds a direct opposite
     Promise of God while time shall endure;                            position. There are those who claim to be conservative,
     Guerdon af duty,                                                   although they actually are hyper-conservative. Conser-
     Golden with beauty,                                                vatism certainly does not mean that we may not make
     And as the heavens eternal and sure.                               use of the things of this world. "The earth is the Lord's,


384                                      T - H E   STANDA R D   B E A R E R

and the  fulness thereof." However, we may not abuse                 the past with  coniempt, or  merely.as  it is; bur he looks
these things. We certainly have received sufficient light into the  future trying to see how it shall unfold itself
in the word of God to be able to discriminate between                in eternity. And because of this the conservative hates
virhat may or what may not. It is not conservatism  t.3              this present world as it is, Christ has stipulated a nec-
look with disdain upon a brother or `a sister, who in-               essary principle, for out of Him does this new life prin-
dulges in singing psalms accompanied with organ  rriusic,            ciple  er&tia$,t.V  Conservatism retains only that which
and who does not go about in dress apparel equivalent                has manifest&%  W&If as an emanation from that prin-
to that of our great-grandfathers. :A stern look and  ;1             c i p l e .
frown indicating the most  serenc,sctiousness  is  ofteil                 Our calling is to preserve that which we have in
deceitful. It happens that such  symus  minded folk are              Christ, and therefore we must become one with this new
often conceited at their lowly+  state, and that, too,  fs           life principle`. In this light conservatism is a real force
sin. Besides, to be ostentati&s as to the mode of speech             of life. The past with its rich inheritance should live as
along religious lines and to make constant use of the                with renewed energy and ideals. Upon the foundation
tone of advice and admonitions, is abominable in the                 of the past are we able to build toward true progressive-
sight of the Lord, and is therefore *sinful. A prayer                ness. Let the past rejuvenate the present because of
offered in simple words from the heart, is much more                 the  Inca;nation, then alone will we have real progress,
plejsing to the Lord than an  array of beautiful sounding            and then alone are we really conservative.
phrases in a tone which makes the soul of the listener                    The principle of retrogression is  m&-e  safe than that
stand in awe  ai to the verbosity, but which is void of              of progression, if progression means denouncement or
true humiliation before God. This manner of being con-               subversion. If we are to hold our own in the midst' of
servative is  .to misinterpret  t&:truth about the matter.           this world, it is safer to hold to that which is than to
  Thus far we have seen t&t if we are to be conserva- modify it to suit the desire of the unregenerate. If modi-
tive in the real sense of the word, we must first of all             fication is necessary and expedient, it should be done in
retain or preserve that which exists. That is, we  may* the light of Holy Scriptures and prayerful consideration
never cast away the past and what the past has brought by those who are filled with the spirit of  God, God for-
us as worthless. The glorious truths of the word of                  bid that we should ever denounce the. truth merely to
God will stand the test of the ages, therefore, we must              satisfy  s'mful inclinations.
retain and preserve them. Conservatism, however, does                     Rather refrain from being instrumental in  co!rupting
not mean to hold tenaciously to a conceited notion of                the truth of God's word; than to be called progressive
human-invented ideas, laws, customs and modes of liv-                in the connotation of the enlightened twentieth century.
ing which have tainted Christian life. Even Jesus hurled                  Rather to take the name of a  "staunch conservative"
His anathemas against that notion of Super-piety of the              than to be hailed in the courts of the cultured spiritual
Pharisees who held steadfast to the letter of the law                anarchist, who indeed have invaded the church of Jesus
while refusing to live into the spirit of it. Conservatism           Christ.
does mean to preserve, but this does not imply that that                  Rather to be looked down upon with. disdain by the
which has been preserved may not be modified in har-                 pedple of this world than to lose our soul.
mony with the revelation of God. It is the profoundest                    Rather for a time to have material poverty and hold-
 duty of the'church, both to God  and~.to  its members, to           ing to  the'truth of God's word than materially wealthy,
hand the past over to future genkrations in an unadul- called progressiveness, with no future but eternal perdi-
terated form, but radiating with new life.                           tion.
       Christianity does not merely live in beautiful thought,                                              A. C.  BOERKOEL.
 but has rooted itself through its eternal factor in the
 real. It is a revelation of the Invisible, -but in what is
 perceptible. It is the revelation of the Eternal, but in                                   30-JARIG   H U W E L I J K
 time. Ir is this which makes Christianity superior to
 any other form of religion, for from it emanates the                     Den 7den Mei, j.l., herdachten onze geliefde ouders,
 stream of life. Christianity is only to be viewed in the                                   JOHN C. CAMMENGA
 light of the Incarnation. For this is the fountain of her
 strength and power. And because of this eternal trurh                              BEATRICE  CAMM%NGA, nee Bergspa,
 can conservatism be in real harmony with Christianity.               het  heuglijke   feit, dat de Heere hen een  dertigtal   jaren  te'zamen
       The  .essential  difference between false conservatism         liet in een gezegend  huwelijk.
                                                                          Geve de Heere dat zij nog  jaren gespaard mogen blijven'voor
 and conservatism proper is that the first holds to the elkander, hunne  tinderen, en Zijn koninkrijk. Dit is de  wensch
 past as it is, while the latter holds to what is as it shall         van hunnc  dankbare kinderen:
                                                                                         . Abraham C. Boerkoel,
 be in Christ that  is in the resurrection. This is  also                                  Mrs. Abraham C. Boerkoel, nee Cammenga;
 true of mere shallow progressiveness `and progressive-                                    John  J. Cammenga, Jr.,
                                                                                           Mrs. John J. Cammenga, Jr., nee Redder:
 ness proper.                                                                              Andrew,
       The true  conservati+e  tries to get at the root of things                          Peter,
 as they are manifested in Christ. He does not look at                                     Sebastian Thomas,
                                                                                           en kleinkind, John Milton.


