                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           9

   THE  INSTITUTION OF CHRIST'S  CHtiRCH                     its induction into the vocabulary of the dogmaticism is
                                                             rather recent.
                 The Office of All Believers                    What is the o.#%  of all ,believers?  What is the task
 In our previous article we attempted to disprove or tasks constituting it? What is its character, form
the proposition to the effect that, in the event the be- and  quality? In what department of life was it in-
lievers join themselves to the Church as institution,        stituted? That is to say; is it a civil, political, muni-
the office of believers remains non-institutional. Let cipal or ecclesiastical affair? Is it a judicial, minis-
us now enter upon a more positive development of the terial, executive or legislative office? Is it any one of,
matter. In doing so we adhere to the following all of or none of these? Let us attempt an answer. We
scheme: (1) The signification of the term  ofice; set out with the remark that, as the term signifies, the
(2) The office of believer; (3) The character of this office of all believers must be common to every believer.
office ; (4) The particular office (that of minister of the Perusing the pages of Scripture we discover that it is
gospel, of elder and of deacon) ; (5) The office of be       altogether proper to speak of an office common to
lievers and the particular office compared.                  every saint. God's Word informs us that the believers
    (1)     The term office, as was before said, is derived in the capacity of prophet-priest-kings present their
.from  the Latin obfacio meaning to do or to make and bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God,
signifies, in the first place, the task or work to be Rom. 12 :l ; offer up spiritual sacrifices, I Pet. 2 :5 ;
done. However, the task is meant to be assigned to a show forth the praises of Him who hath called them
person or group of persons for performance and thus out of darkness into His marvelous light, I Pet. 2:9;
the term  ofice designates this work or task as meant to let their light so shine before men that they (the men)
be assigned that it may be performed. He receiving may see their good works and glorify their Father in
the assignment or appointment is said to be vested heaven, Matt. 5:16.  Such are the tasks constituting
with an office.                                              the believers' office. They have a right to perform
    The scriptural signification of  ofice are words this work for to the doing of it they are called, Eph
meaning respectively to exercise power, to look after, 4 :I; and capacitated by the Holy Spirit, I John II:20 ;
to care.for, to be set over, faith, trust, place, to work I Cor. 6:19, etc. Further, one glance at these tasks
and to serve.                                                tells us at once that this office is one with which the
    The essential elements entering into the make-up believers are vested for time and eternity.
of an office are the tasks as such and the conferred            Again, as to its instrumental cause and quality this
right to perform it.                                         office is, to be sure, a spiritual one. It is this, in that
    From the point of view of the character of the it is the product of the operations of the Spirit of
power or right conferred,  offices  are of two kinds:        Christ who purges the elect yet spiritually dead sinner
 (a) Those constituted of `the task and the right to from. all his sins, fills him with the benefits accruing
rule. An office of this kind elevates one vested with it from the death of the Saviour ; works in him both
to a position of superiority in relation to those ruled. the will and the doing; and empowers him, the sinner,
                                                             unto a life of service and praise. Further, as to its
 (b) .The offices not belonging to this class are such as
leave those vested with them on a plain with their fel- quality, the performance of the tasks constituting this
low men.                                                     office is spiritual, that is, holy. It cannot be otherwise
                                                             for the Spirit worketh both the will and the doing and
     Still another classification is possible. The sum this life of *praise  is the projection of the new man.
total of offices may be grouped according to the various         The office of all believers has a meritorial cause
departments of life in which each is instituted. So we       (how could it be otherwise?) which is Christ. He it is
speak of civil, political, municipal, military and ecclesi- who merited for those whom He loved unto death the
 astical offices.                                            sacrifice of praise as well as the right and the ability
     However, we have not yet succeeded in laying hold to praise. We are now standing in the presence of a
 on the implications of an  office  as Scripture conceives most vital truth. Let me single out the second third of
 of it. According to Holy Writ an office is a task, duty it. Christ merited for us the  right  to serve and to
 or charge of a sacred nature conferred by God Him- praise our Maker and Redeemer. "But as many as re-
 self, and is constituted of the . following elements:       ceived him, to them gave he power  - exousia, right,
 (a) The task as such; (b) The right to perform it; privilege  - to become the sons of God, even to them
 (c) The Divine act of making capable (the anointing)        that believe on his name" (John 1:12). "Blessed are
 him to whom the task is assigned.                           they that do his commandments, that they  may have
     Having made these preliminary remarks, let us           exousia - right - to the tree of life, and may enter
 now put forth an attempt to lay hold on the truth about in through the gates of the city" (Rev. 11:14). ' Fact
 the ofice of all believers. We  set out with the remark is then that all have not the right to become the sons
 that the term  o@e  of  all believers  or  office  of  every of God, the right to the tree of life, to life itself, to
 believer is found neither in our Form of Unity nor in serve and praise and to glory, in fine, to the benefits
 Scripture. Neither does it occur in any of the articles derived from Christ's death - benefits - including
 constituting our Church Order. Its make as well as           (we say this in reference to the scriptures quoted)


10                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
faith and the capacity to do His commandments.               resisting the prince of darkness. This essentially one
Where, then, does the so-called well-meaning offer of office, however, assumes various forms. Upon a writ-
grace to every individual brought in contact with ten enumeration of some of these forms one happens
Christ in the Gospel appear? Can God offer to any in Bavink's Dogmatics.                  The  passage  reads: "Hij
one such  ,things to which, according to Divine  pre-        (Christus) heeft voor  allen  (alle geloovigen) den H.
appointment, he has no right? In fine, the ofice of all Geest verworven, die in alle geloovigen als  zijn tempel
believers  is a thing merited for those whom God woont, Hd. 2 :l?, I Cor. 6 :19, Eph. 2 :22, enz., zoodat
pleases to behold in Christ.                                 zij, met dien geest gezalfd, een heilig, koninklijk pries-
      Once bestowed  - this office - the believer retains terdom zijn, I Petr. 2 :5, 9; profeten die de deugden
it ever. The right and the capacity to praise and            Gods verkondigen, Zijn naam belijden, en alle  dingen
serve his Redeemer are permanently his. The life to weten,  Mt. 8 :38, 10 :32, I Joh. 2 :20, 27; priesters, die
which he falls heir is life eternal. If the chambers of hunne lichamen  stellen tot een levende,  ,heilige,  Gode
the heart of the redeemed one ever cease to reverberate welbehagelijke offerande, Rom.  12:1, I Petr.  2:5, 9,
with eulogies sung in honor of the triune God, it will       Hebr. 13 : 14, Op. 1:5, 6 :10 ; koningen die den goeden
be because that which is born of the Spirit became the strijd strijden, zonde en wereld en dood overwinnen en
victim of corruption. However, the new man cannot eens met Christus  heerschen zullen, Rom. 6 :12, 13, I
deteriate, for whosoever is born of God'doth not com- Tim. 1:18,  19, II Tim. 2:12, 4:7. `1 Joh. 2:13,  14, Op.
mit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot 1:6, 2 :26,3 :21, 20 :6, en daarom den naam van Chris-
sin, because he is born of God (I John 3 :l) . It follows tenen, gezalfden,  dragen,  Hd.  11:26; 26  :28. I Petr.
then that of the office of all believers, that is to say,    4  :16. Deze profetische, priesterlijke en koninklijke
of the task as such and the spiritual ability, right and werkzaamheid van de geloovigen mag de uitoefening
duty to serve and to praise, the believer can never          van een ambt heeten . . . . Zij zijn het zout der aarde,
deprive or divest himself. The act of and the ability het  licht der wereld en hebben in en ten opzichte van
to praise is a part and parcel of the new man, emission      de kerk bepaaldelijk een  drieerlei  taak. Ten eerste
of the light kindled within him, the new man projected, zijn zij verplicht zich bij de kerk te voegen. Zij staan
fruit of the good tree. As to the right and duty to          niet op zichzelf,'  maar zijn leden van het lichaam van
praise, they are eternally his, to be executed and per- Christus  en hebben dus de gemeenschap daarmede te
formed every unit of time of his existence and in every zoeken en te onderhouden. Ten andere zijn zij in die
conceivable department of life which he may enter, gemeente geroepen tot allerlei werkzaamheid, tot het
and in every institution of which he may be a part. aanleggen der gaven ten nutte van anderen, tot het
The force of the thought embodied in the last two            medelijden en het zich verblijden met de broederen, tot
clauses will be better felt in  the.sequence.                het bezoeken van de samenkomsten der geloovigen, tot
      Though unable to divest himself of the right; duty het verkondigen van des Heeren dood, tot het opzicht
and spiritual ability to execute the  oBce  which he houden op elkander, tot het dienen en uitdeelen in
holds, the believer is, nevertheless, constantly being barmhartigheid, enz. En eindelijk zijn zij elk op zijne
tempted to neglect this duty, deny  by  his conduct this wijze en in zijne mate ook tot formatie en reformatie
right and hide his spiritual ability. That is to say, no der kerk verplicht. Als er ergens  ter wereld geloovi-
longer wishing to be seen, the Church  - God's city of gen zijn, en er bestaat geen gelegenheid, dat dienaren
light - can descend from the summit of the hill to the van elders de verkiezing tot de door  Christus  ingestelde
valley below. The believer can put under a bushel his ambten leiden en de verkozenen de handen opleggen,
light instead of letting it shine before men or, drop- dan hebben zij zelve het recht, om samen in den naam
ping the figure, he can cover his light by his vices. To des Heeren ambtsdragers te verkiezen en  te ordenen"
do so is to commit a heinous sin. He shall let shine his     (Geref.  Dog., Dr. H. Bavinck, p. 412, vol. IV). To.          ,
light before men. It is his calling  - his right and these various particular tasks could be added numerous
duty  - to execute  his office from morning until night others. Life is very complex and detailed. Its duties
and from night until morning, at home and abroad, are many, So, too, its departments with their numer-
in private and public, in the home, at the office and in ous places to be filled. The believer takes his place in
the shop, in low and high places, as employer and em- life - the place assigned to him by his God - to walk
ployee, as parent and child, king and subject, states- worthily of the calling wherewith he is called.
man and citizen, in fine, in e$ery capacity, everywhere         It all means that the Christian parent and teacher
and always.                                                  engaged in training the child in the way in which it
      The office of all believers, that is, the right and    should go, is executing his  ofEce of all believers. Like-
duty to serve and to praise is as to its essence single. wise the child of light in the shop at work at.his bench ;
That is to say, the term office in, the expression  ofice    the Christian doctor administering to his patients ; the
of all believers is the signification not of many but of believing statesman attending, in a manner agreeable
essentially one task only. To serve is to praise and he to the will of God, to the affairs of the state ; the be-
who praises declares the virtues of his God. He doing lieving farmer cultivating by faith and to the glory of
the latter is by the very light which he emits con-          God, his land ; the member of the institution of the
demning the world, fighting the good fight of faith and      Church electing office bearers or inaugurating with


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             11

     his fellow Christians a reformation,' the anointed one cial office of functioning as ruler of Christ's Church,
     of the Lord functioning as elder in the Church  of. is spiritual.
     Christ. So we could continue. These all, each in his              Though the office of all believers cannot be so dealt
     place, execute the office of all believers.                    with, the fact remains that it is vitally related to everzj
        The question is now in order whether the sum total          particular task or office of life. The truth of the mat-
     of all these the various particular calling or tasks of ter is that every particular task, providing it be an act
     life enter into the makeup of the essence of the office of faith, must be thought of as a particular form, mode
     of believer. It cannot be. For then this office will of expression, individualization or particularization of
     largely cease as soon as the entire Church is trans- the one single office, namely, that of believer. That is
     ported into heaven, in that most of these tasks are            to say, the act or task of, let us say, electing office-
     peculiar to .this present mode of existence only.              bearers in the Church is, providing it be a work of
        Neither may we regard each particular task as con- faith, and  done with an eye singled to God's glory and
     stituting an office of all believers; Doing so, we should honor, a particular form, mode of expression or indi-
     have to speak not of  office (singular) but of  ofices         vidualization of the office of all believers, the office,
     (plural) of all believers. However, there is but one           namely, of praising and serving the great and the
     oflice with, it is true, a three-fold aspect. The believer glorious triune God. And so it is with every particular
     is a king-priest-prophet.                                      task of life. It means that he engaged as a believer in
                                                                    the election of such oflicers, serves, honors, praises and
         Can it be that we should reserve the term  ofice of glorifies his God. Such a one is letting shine his light.
     all  believem  for certain tasks only? Some (among Fact is, then, that the relation every particular task
     others  Prof..Volbeda)  seem to be of the conviction that sustains to that of all believers is that of form and
     this can be done. The special office of minister of the essence; that of the particular and the general. Hence,
     gospel, deacon and elder is then said to be a kerkrech- this office can neither be ranked and classified with or
     teiijke, that of all believers, spiritual. However, a placed over against any one particular task of life.
     classification of this kind is, weighed down by serious What is more instead of disappearing, it  - this office
     objections, To begin with, it seems to imply that the - is destined to reappear in the new heaven and earth
     special office (that of minister, deacon or elder) is of in new and unheard of forms  - forms congruous
     the same rank as that of all believers, which it is not. with the glorified mode of existence of the redeemed  -
     The former is destined to disappear. The latter is and individualize,, particularize itself in a manner
     eternal. The former was instituted with a view to the agreeable to the glorified state of the elect.
     well-being of the Church. The latter enters into the               We are  no$v quite ready to give answer to such
     make-up of the very essence of the Church. In fine, the questions as : Is the special office (that of minister,'
     special office is, so it appears, of a lower rank than that deacon and elder) kerkrechtelijk, or spiritual or both?
     of all believers.                                              Is such an engagement as the election of office-bearers
         Further, the contention to the effect that the special kerkrechtelijk? And finally, is the believer a part  ,of
     office (that of minister, deacon and elder) is  kerkrechc      the institution of Christ's Church? The answers are
     telijk  versus spiritual is untrue in that it implies that ready: The special office, being a particularization of
     this office is without a spiritual back-ground. What the office of all believers and a particular exhibition of
     is more, a contention of this kind amounts to  a  denial the operations of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the
     of its spiritual, that is holy, quality. The truth of believer, is, for these  very  reasons  spiritual. As a
     the matter is that the act of ruling the Church of Jesus pam%xdarixation   of  the  o&e of  all believers  it is at
     Christ in the capacity of .elder  is an engagement of one kerkrechtelijk. In other words, the task of ruling
     which the Holy Spirit is the workman. He, inducted the Church of Christ in the capacity of elder is, as to
     into this office must be blameless, the husband of one its individual form and particular mode of expression
     wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hos- kerkrechtelijk  ; and as to `its essence, spiritual. Hence,
     pitality, apt to teach; not given to wine, no striker, not the believer, so engaged, executes a kerkrechtelijk and
     greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not a spiritual office yea, the spiritual office of all believers.
     a covetous ;`one that ruleth well his own house, having            So, too, the task of electing office-bearers. As to its
     his children in subjection with all gravity. . . . not a particular form and mode of expression, it  is kerkrech-
     novice.. . . etc. (I Tim. 3 :l-7). Finally, the classifica- telijk. It is that because the task of electing officers is
     tion we criticize is objectionable for still other reasons a good work of the believer, an extention of the new
      (see my former article).                                      man who is a member and therefore a part of  ,the in-
         The question still remains to what class the office stitution. For this reason he who insists that the task
     of all believers belongs. And the answer: to none in question is non-institutional, excludes from the
     whatever. It defies all classification. Neither can this       Church as institutio`n the believer, and is compelled to
     office be singled out and placed over against the sum conclude that the Church as institution is constituted
I    total of or any one of the various particular tasks of of the clergy only. Further, the task of electing offi-
I    life.
I             It will not do for e.xample  to say that the office cers is as to its essential property spiritual. The be-
     of all believers in distinction from, let us say, the  spe-    liever so engaged is at once executing in the Church
                                *

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

the office of all believers. It appears then that  where-                                     GOD  WERKT
as the task of ruling the Church and that of electing
office-bearers are so many particular exhibitions of the                    God is een eeuwiglijk werkend God, Wien al Zijne
one single office, namely, that of all believe&, this lat- werken niet  alleen van eeuwigheid bekend zijn, maar
ter office is also kerkrechtelijk.                                       Wiens werken in Hem ook eeuwiglijk volmaakt zijn.
      Finally, whereas every particular task of life is an Want de Heere is de Rotssteen, Wiens werk volkomen
individual exhibition of the  ofhce of all believers, it is, Deut. 3.2 :4. En naar het woord des Heilands  : "Mijn
will not do to speak at least of the essential difference Vader werkt tot nu toe en Ik werk oak." En al de vol-
between any one of these tasks and that of all be- maaktheden, die Zijn goddelijk  Wezen kenmerken,
lievers.. We may, however, institute an inquiry into moeten  naar de Heilige Schrift  ook worden  toegeschre-
the difference between the individualization of the ven  aan Zijne werken.  ZooaIs God is, zoo zijn Zijne
office of all believers in those vested with the special werken. Daarom hebben we ons er dan ook wel voor
offices (minister, deacon and elder) and in those who te wachten, dat we ons aan den eenen kant met inbeel-
are common member of the Church as institution. The den, dat de Heere God eigenlijk begonnen is te werken
difference is that the former is one of rule, the latter toen Hij in den beginne den hemel  en de aarde schiep,
one of subjection. That is to say, the elder is the ruler terwijl er voor dien beginne niets anders was dan een
in the Church ; the member, the one ruled. This, how- dood, in Zichzelven  arm en ijdel of nietsdoend God ; en
ever, is a new phase of our subject and has to do with aan den anderen  kant, dat we de beperking en onvol-
the relation which the two parts of the Church as in- maaktheid,  die  ens werken aankleeft niet trachten toe
stitution sustain to each other, To this matter we te passen  op het werken van den Eeuwige. Doen we
hope to attend in a following essay.                                     het eerste,  dan stellen we de volzaligheid Gods  afhan-
                                                      G. M. 0. +         kelijk van het schepsel, want dan is Hij eerst door
                                                                         Zijne werken in den tijd, door het bestaan der wereld
                       AVONT-SANGH                                       buiten Hem rijk geworden en komen we vanzelf tot
                                                                         den ijdelen waan, dat de Schepper aan het schepsel be-
        Het  licht  is wegh, den avond is gekomen                        hoefte heeft en dat de mensch door zijn werk iets  ,san
        De nacht  die heeft den  hemel  ingenomen                        den levenden God zou kunnen toebrengen. Doen we
               De wereld overheert.                                      het laatste, dan krijgen we een Zichzelf ontwikkelen-
        Ons kranck gestel dat krijght  nu  slapens lust                  den God, die in den weg van Zijn werken langzamer-
        En watter leeft, begeeft zich tot de rust,                       hand rijker en grooter wordt en in die werken eigen-
               Sie ! hoe het al verkeert.                                lijk eerst Zichzelven vindt en  kent. Ons werken tech
        Almachtigh God en Schepper  aller   dingen,                      is gebonden  aan de wetten  van tijd, verandering en
        Wij gaen een lied ter uwer eere  singen;                         afwisseling,  wij beginnen  met een werk en eerst na
               Ontfangh  doch ons gesangh!                               ingespannen arbeid bereiken wij zijn  voltooii'ng  en
         Gij hebt, o Heer ! tot  heden  ons gespaert;                    gaan wij de ruste in van ons voltooide werk. Boven-
         En ons verschoont in onsen broosen aert,                        dien werken wij nu dit en dan weer dat. Nu werken
               U zij voor eeuwigh  danck.                                we met het hoofd, dan met de hand. Nu denken we,
         Gij die het land met duyster gaet betrecken,                    dan besluiten we, dan weer handelen  we. Ons werk is
         Wil  tech vooral ons snoode  sonden   decken                    nimmer volkomen en daarom ook nimmer volmaakt.
                Met  Uw genade-kleet ;                                   Moeite en arbeid, verlies van krachten en het  herwin-
         En brenghse nit in uw gestrengh gericht                         nen ervan in de ruste; zijn aan onze werken onafschei-
         Want dat wij oyt verliesen onsen  plicht                        delijk verbonden. Zoo  iS het  echter  met den Heere
               Is ons van  herten  leet.                                 onzen God nimmer. Hij is in Zichzelven volkomen
                                                                         volzalig en heeft  aan het schepsel geen behoefte. Zijne
                          DEAD  l&H                                      werken   zijn  van  eeuwigheid   tot  eeuwigheid   volmaakt
             "They   are  dead  fish  which  are  carried   down  the    in Hem en met geheel Zijn oneindig Goddelijk  Wezen
          stream."                                        Th.  M.        is Hij eeuwiglijk en onveranderlij k werkende. Als de
      Living fish may go with the stream at times, but dead              werkende  is Hij ook de eenvoudig en de onverander-
fish must always do so. There are  plenty   of  such  in  all            lijke God. Er is in Hem geen verandering  noch scha-
waters: dead souls, so far as the truest life is concerned,              duw van omkeering. En daarom is Hij dan ook als de
and these are always drifting, drifting, drifting as the                 eeuwig werkende tevens de eeuwiglijk rustende God,
current. takes them.        Their  first inquiry is- what is             die nooit moede of mat wordt en die Zich eeuwiglijk
customary? God's law is of small account to them, but                    vermaakt  in Zijne werken, die volmaakt  zijn in Hem.
the unwritten rules of society have a power over them                    Alleen bij deze belijdenis valt alle beteekenis, die het
which  they  never   think  of  resisting.        Is this a right        schepsel in zicbzelf  voor God zou hebben, ten eenen-
 state to be in? Each one of us must give an account                     male weg. God is alles en wij zijn in onszelven niets.
for himself before God: should not each one act for him-                 En het is alleen de waanwijze ijdelheid der zonde, die
 self? If we follow a multitude will not excuse the evil                 zich kan inbeelden, dat wij  Gode, ooit iets zouden kun-
 nor  diminish   the  punishment.                                        nen toebrengen. Neen, Hij alleen is de overvloeiende


                                         TKE  S T A N D A R D   R E A R E R                                          17

 in de Predestinatie alles gaat om Cbristus en de Ver-                      MARY AND  ELIZAEWXH
kiezing, zoo gaat in heel de wereld alles om de Predes-
tinatie. AlIes is middel in natuur en geschiedenis tot                            (Luke 1:26-56)
verwezenlijking van Gods Verbond, langs de antithe-               In the sixth month - half a year from the time
tische lijn van zonde en genade, van verkiezing en ver-       when, within the holy place at Jerusalem, he had stood
werping. Daarom is er dan ook geen mogelijkheid van on the  right side of the altar of incense and announce
algemeene genade. Zooals in de natuur de vruchtbaar-          to the incredulous Zacharias the birth of the Baptist
 heid des bodems, regen en zonneschijn beide kaf en - the angel GabrieI  was sent to an obscure Galilean
koren, tijdelijk in organisch  verband met elkander village to announce a still greater birth, - that of the
doen  groeien, zoodat echter het kaf nooit  iets anders       Divine Redeemer of mankind. As we open then the
wordt dan kaf, en het koren dtijd rijpt als graan, zoo first page of the history of our Lord's earthly life, we
doen in deze wereld ook  alle  dingen  den goddelooze come at once into contact with the supernatural. The
groeien als het kruid, echter nooit anders dan godde-        spirit-world unfolds itself; some of its highest inbab-
looze;  maar ook den rechtvaardige bloeien als recht-        itants become palpable to sense, and are to take part
vaardige, hem rijp makende voor de eeuwige en hemel-         in human affairs. In the old patriarchal and prophetic
sche schuur.                                                 ages angels frequently appeared conversing with Abra-
    Zoo  ontvaugen  we eenigszins een inzicht in de  eeu-    ham and Hagar and Lot and Jacob ; instructing in
wige en onnaspeurlijke wijsheid Gods, zooals ze van their ignorance, or comforting in their distress, or
eeuwigheid bij Hem geweest is en is in het welbehagen        strengthening in their weakness Joshua and Gideon,
van Zijnen wil. Christus  om Hem, de Gemeente om and Elijah and Daniel and Zechariah. Excluding, how-
Christus, en alle dingen  in den hemel  en op aarde om ever, these instances in which it was the Angel of the
Christus  en Zijne Gemeente! 0, diepte des rijkdoms,         Covenant who appeared, the cases of angelic mani-
beide der wijsheid en der kennis Gods! Hoe ondoor-           festation were comparatively rare, and lie very thinly
zoekelijk  zijn Zijne oordeelen, en onnaspeurlijk Zijne      scattered over the four thousand years which preceded
wegen ! Want wie heeft den zin des Heeren gekend? the birth of Christ. Within the half century that
Of wie is Zijn raadsman geweest? Of wie heeft Hem embraced this life we have no more instances of angelic
eerst gegeven en het zal hem wedervergolden worden?          interposition than in all the foregoing centuries of the
Want uit Hem en door Hem en tot Hem zijn alle din-           world's history. At its opening and at its close angels
*gen!  Hem zij de heerlijkheid in der eeuwigheid, Amen.      appear as taking a special interest in events which had
                                                 H. H.       little of outward mark to distinguish them. Gabriel
                                                             announces to Zacharias the birth of John, to Mary the.
                    ONVERDIENti?                             birth of Jesus. An angel warns Joseph in a dream to
  Gij kIaagt om `t hard en droevig lot,                      take the young child down to Egypt. On the night of
      Te  zwaar  haast, om te dulden?                        the great birth, and for the  first time on earth, a mul-
  `t Is vreemd niet waar, de heilige God,                    titude of the heavenly host is seen. In the garden of
      Slaat U. zoo vrij van schulden? !                      Gethsemane, an angel comes to strengthen our Lord in
                                                             His great agony. On the morning of the resurrection
  Gij  klaagt  dat velcn, boos en zwart,                     angels appear now sitting, now standing, within and
      In  denken,  handlen,  spreken,                        without the sepulchre, as if they thronged around the
 Zoo vroolijk, luchtig, vrij van smart,                      place where the body of the Lord had lain. When from
      Het hoofd omhooge steken ! ?                           the top of Olivet the cloud carried the rising Jesus out
 De duivel, nijdig om zijn lot,                              of the apostles' sight, two angles stand beside the
      Reproeft zijn schepper en zijn God                     apostles as they gaze so steadfastly up into the heavens,
 Van zijnen hoogen troon te stooten,                         and foretell his second coming. Nor did they withdraw
      Om eigen aanzien te vergrooten.                        from human sight when the ministry of our Lord had
                                                             closed.    Mingling with the other miraculous agency
 En als gij nu dien  duivel  vraagt,                         whereby the kingdom of Christ was established and
      Waarom hij `t eeuwig vonnis  draagt                    extended, theirs appears. An angel releases Peter,
 Dan lijdt hij onverdiende  slagen,                          commissions Philip, instructs Cornelius, smites  Herod,
      Dan moet hij `t vonnis schuldloos  dragen   !          stands amid the terrors of the shipwreck before Paul.
 Gij ziet nu wel, mijn arme vriend,                             Is there ought incredible in this? If these be in-
      Ook Satan heeft geen straf verdiend!                   deed a worId  of spirits, and in that world Christ fills
 En  tech ook hij moet `t  dragen,                           the place our faith attributes to Him; if in that world
      En hem ook helpt geen klagen!                          there be an innumerable company of angels ; if the
                                                             great design of our Lord's visit to this earth was to
 Ik raad u,  spiegel   u  aan hem;                           redeem  our sinful race to God, and unite us with the
     0, Iuister  tech niet naar zijn stem ;                  unfallen  members of this great family  - than it was
 Wie tot den Satan neigt zijn ooren,                         not unnatural that those who had worshipped around
     Gaat naar Gods  recht  met hem verloren.                His throne should bend in wonder over His cradle,

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

stand by His side in His deep agony, roll away the           man, a carpenter. Mary, too, we have reason to be-
stone rejoicing from His  sepuichre  and attend Him as       lieve, was also of the royal stock of David ; yet in so
the everlasting doors were lifted up, when triumphant humble a condition of life as made it natural that she
over death and hell, He resumed His place on the             should be betrothed to Joseph. This betrothal had
eternal throne. When the Father brought His first taken place, and the new hopes it had excited agitate
only begotten into the world, the edict was, "Let all the youthful Mary's heart. She is alone in her dwell-
the angels of God worship Him." Shall we wonder              ing, when, lifting up her eyes, she sees the form of the
than that this worship, in one or two of its acts, should    angel, and hears his voice say unto her: "Hail, thou
be made manifest to human vision, as if to tell us what that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed
an interest the incarnation excited, if not in the minds art thou among women." To Zacharias he had spoken
of men, in another and higher branch of the great            at once by name, and had proceeded without prelude
community of spirits?          From the beginning angels to deliver the message with which he had been charged.
were interested spectators of what transpired on earth.      He enters more reverently this humble abode at Naza-
When under the moulding hand of the great Creator            reth than he had entered the hoIy  place of the great
the present economy of material things was spread temple at Jerusalem. He stands more reverently be-
forth - so good, so beautiful - they sang together, fore this youthful maiden than before the aged priest.
they shouted for joy. When sin and death made their He cannot open to her his message til he had offered
dark entrance, angels stood by, hailing the first beams her such homage as heavenly messenger never paid to
of light that fell upon the darkness, welcoming the any member of our race. Is it any wonder that saluted
first human spirit that made its way into the heavenly to by one who, wearing, as in all likelihood he did, our
mansions.         The slow development of the divine pur- human form, was yet unlike no man she had ever
poses of mercy in the history of human redemption,           seen, "Mary should have been troubled at his saying,"
they watched with eager eye. Closer to our earth they - troubled, as she felt the privacy of .her seclusion
gathered, still more earnest was their gaze as the Son thus invaded, and looked upon that strange, unearthy,
of the Eternal, prepared to leave the glory He had with yet most attractive form which stood beside her? She
the Father that He might come down and tabernacle            is not so troubled, however, as to hinder her from
as a man among us. And when the great event of His casting in her thoughts "what manner of salvation this
incarnation at. last took place, it looked for a short should be." She receives the salutation in silence, with
season as if they were to mingle visibly in the affairs surprise, with awe, with thoughtful wonder. In sym-
of men, and of that new kingdom .which  the Ancient pathy with feeling depicted in her alarmed yet inquir-
of days set up. It was the Son of God who brought            ing countenance, Gabriel hastens to releave her fears,
these good angels down along with Him. He had me- and satisfy her curiosity. "Fear not," he says, after
diated not only between us and the Father, but between a brief pause. "Fear not, Mary"; the very  famihar
us and that elder branch of the great commonwealth mention of her name carrying with it an antidote
of spirits, securing their services for us here; prepar-     against alarm. "Fear not, Mary; for thou hast found
ing us for their society hereafter. He had taught them favor with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in
to see in us that seed out of which the places left          thy womb and bring forth a son, and shalt call his
vacant by the first revolt in heaven are to be fllled.       name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called the
Already the interchange of kindly offices had com-           Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto
menced. Though since He himself had gone they had Him the throne of His Father David: and He shall
withdrawn from human vision, they had not with-              reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His
drawn from earthly service under the Redeemer. Are kingdom there shall be no end."
they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister         There was scarcely a mother in Israel, in those
to them who shall be heirs of salvation? Who shall days, who did not cherish it as the very brightest ob-
recount to us wherein that gracious ministry of theirs ject of desire and ambition to be the mother of the
consists? Who shall prove it to, be a fancy that as they promised Messiah. Mary was a mother in Judah, and
waited to bear away the spirit of Lazarus to Abra- the man to whom she was betrothed belonged also to
ham's bosom, they hover round the death-bed of the that stock from which the Messiah was to spring. Per-
believer still, the thread of their footstep, stroke of haps the hope had already dawned that this great
their wings unheard as they waft the departing spirit honor might be in .store  for her.           Her devout and
to its eternal home?                                         thoughtful habits had made her familiar with the old
           "The angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city prophecies that foretold the Messiah's advent, and
of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a with the manner in which His kingdom was there
man, whose name was Joseph, of the house of David ; spoken of. Obscure and mysterious as much of what
and the virgin's name was Mary." Little information Gabriel said may have appeared to her, she seems at
is given in the Gospels as to the previous history either once to have apprehended that it was of the birth of
of Joseph or Mary. He, we are told, was of the house the great Son of David that he was speaking. She
of David, of royal lineage by direct descent; but that       does not ask, she seems not to have needed any in-
line now fallen so low, that he was but village trades-
      `                                                      formation on that point. Nor does she hesitates to ac-


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D '   B E A R E R                                     19

cept  as true ah that Gabriel had declared. She puts        She might, in self-vindication, relate what Gabriel had
indeed a question which, if its meaning had not been told her, but how many would believe her word? What
interpreted by the manner in which Gabriel dealt with voucher could she give that it was actually a heavenly
it, and by the subsequent conduct of Mary herself, we messenger she had seen, and that what he had said
might have regarded as akin to that of Zacharias ; as was true? Many a distressing fear as to the future,
*indicating  that she, too, had given way to incredulity. - as to the treatment she might receive from Joseph,
But hers was a question of curiosity, not of unbelief;      the shame, the scorn to which from other quarters she
a question akin, not to the one `which Zacharias put        might be exposed, - might have arisen, if not to check
about the birth of John, but to that of Abraham about her faith, yet to hold her own acquiescence in the will
the birth of Isaac, when he said to the angel, Whereby      of God in timid and trembling suspense ; but strong in
shall I know this? a question implying no failure of the simplicity and fulness  of her trust, she puts all
faith, for we know that Abraham staggered not at the fears away, and committing herself into the hands of
promise through unbelief, but expressive simply as a Him whose angel she  bebeves  Gabriel to be, she says:
desire for further information, for some sign in con-       "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it into me ac-
formation of his faith. He got such a sign and re- cording to thy word."
joiced. And so with Mary: her question, like the               Let us notice one other element in Mary's faith:
patriarch's springing not from the spirit of a hesitat- its humility, its complete freedom from that undue
ing unbelief, but from natural curiosity, and the wish thought of self which so often taints the faith of the
to have the faith she felt confirmed. Her desire was most believing. Wonderful as the announcement is,
granted. She was told that the Holy Spirit should that a child born of her should, by such  meraculous
come upon her, that the power of the Highest should conception as Gabriel had spoken of, be the Son of the
overshadow her, that the child, afterwards to be born       Highest,- should be a King sitting on the throne of
was now miraculously to be conceived. And as a sign, David - His kingdom one that should outrivd David's,
this piece' of information, new to her we may believe,      of which there should never be an end,  - Mary
was:given,  that her relative, the aged Elizabeth, was harbors no doubt, raises no question, thinks not, speaks
also to have a son. Her question having been an-            not of her own unworthiness to have such honor con-
swered, and the manner of the great event so far re-        ferred on her, or of her unfitness to be the mother of
vealed as to throw her back simpIy on the Ijromise and such a child. As if one so unworthy of the least -of
power of God, Mary says:  "BehoId  the handmaid of          God's mercies had no right or title to question His
the Lord ; be it unto me according to thy word." What doings, however great a gift it pleased Him to confer,
a contrast here between Zacharias and Mary ! The she sinks all thoughts of self in thoughts of Him, and
aged man had been taught from childhood in one of says : "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto
the schools of the prophets, and must have been fa- me according to thy word." A finer instance of simple,
miliar with  all those narratives and prophecies which humble, childlike, unbroken trust, we shall scarcely
might have prepared him to believe, and he had be- tid in any record, human or divine. "Blessed," let
sides the experience of years to give power to his trust us say with her cousin Elizabeth, "is she that believed :
in God. iMary  was of humbler parentage; her oppor- for there shall be a performance of those things which
tunities of instruction but meagre compared with his ; were told her of the Lord." "Thou hast found favor,"
hers, too, was the season  of  inexperienced youth; her said Gabriel to her, "with God."
faith was as yet unfortified by trial. What he was             Her errand accomplished, Gabriel withdrew; and
asked to believe was unlikely indeed, and altogether after the brief and exciting interview, Mary was left
unlooked for, yet not beyond the powers of nature.          in solitude to her own thoughts. The words she had
What she is asked to believe is a direct miraculous so lately heard kept ringing in her ears. She tried to
forthputting of the great power of God. Pet the, old enter more and more into their meaning. As she did
priest staggers, while the young maiden instantIy  con- so, into what a tumult of wonder, awe, and hope, must
fides.                                                      she have been thrown. She longs for some one with
    In Mary's immediate and entire belief of the angel's whom she can converse, to whom she may unburden
word, a far greater confidence in God was, shown than       her full mind and heart. There is no one near to
could have been shown by Zacharias, even had he re- whom she can or dare lay open all her secret thoughts ;
ceived Gabriel's message as she did, without a sus-         but she remembers now what Gabriel had told her
picison or a doubt. She who, being betrothed, proved about her kinswoman Elizabeth, who may well be en-
unfaithful, was by the law of Moses, sentenced to be        trusted with the secret, for she, too, has been placed
stoned to death, and though that law had now fallen         in something like the same condition. Eager for sym-
into disuse, or was but seldom literally executed, yet pathy, thirsting for companionship and full commu-
she who was deemed guilty of such a crime stood ex-         nion of the heart, she arises in haste, and departs for
posed to the loss of character, and became. the marked the distant residence of her cousin, who lives amid the
object of public opprobrium. Mary could not  fati at        far-off hills of Judah. It is a long - for one so young
once to perceive, and to be sensitive to the  misconcep-    and unprotected, it might be, a perilous journey;
Cons and the perils which she should certainly incur.       nearly the *whole length of the land - at least a hun-


I 20                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

 dred miles to traverse. But what is distance, what are Him. Royal though her lineage, hers had been a low
 dangers to one so lifted up with the exalted hopes to estate ; her family poor in Judah ; she among the least
 which she has been begotten. The hundred miles are in her father's house ; but in His great grace and in-
 quickly trodden ; joy and hope make the long distance finite condescension the Lord had stooped to raise her
 short. She reaches at last the house in which Eliza- from the dust, to set her upon a pinnacle of honor, and
 beth resides, and, with all due respect - such as is         gratefully and gladly will she acknowledge the hand.
 due from the inferior in station, the junior in years  - that did it. "For He hath regarded the low estate of
 the salutes the wife of the venerable priest. HOW filled His handmaiden." And how high had He exalted her.
 with wonder she must have been, when instead of the The angel had called her blessed at Nazareth. Eliza-
 ordinary return to her salutation, Elizabeth breaks beth, in the city of Judah, had repeated his saying ;
 forth at once with the exclamation, "Blessed art thou but Mary herself rises to the full conception and full
 among women" ; the very words which the angel had acknowledgment of the honor of the Lord had put upon
 so lately spoken in her astonished ear; "and blessed is her. "For behold," she says, "from henceforth, all
 the fruit of thy womb." She need not tell her secred  ; generations shall call me blessed." But it fills her with
 it is already known. What a fresh warrant this for no pride, it prompts to no undue familiarity with God,
 the truth of all that Gabriel had said. It comes to con- or with His great name. She knows to whom to attrib-
  firm a faith already strong, but what might, perhaps,       ute this and every gift of grace, and in the fullness of
  otherwise have begun to falter. It did nat waver in a devout and grateful reverence, she adds: "He that
 the angel's presence ; well-timed, then, the kindly aid is mighty hath done to me great things ; and Holy is
 which the strange greeting of her cousin brought with His Name."
 it, supplying a new evidence that there should indeed           So much about herself and all that the Lord had
 be a performance of all these things which were told done for her; but now she widens the embrace of her
 of the Lord.                                                 thanksgiving and praise, and losing all sense of her
        "And whence is this to me, that the mother of my      individuality, her virgin lips are touched with fire, and
 Lord should come to me?" If in Mary we have one of as  poetess and prophetess of the infant church: she
 the rarest exhibitions of humility towards God, of en- pours forth the first triumphal song which portrays the
 tire acquiescence in his will ; in Elizabeth we have a general character of the Gospel kingdom then to be
 rare instance of humility towards others, the entire ushered in.
 absence of all selfish, proud, and envious feelings.            In those strains there breathed the Spirit at once
  Elizabeth leaves out of sight all the outer distinctions of the Baptist and of Christ; of the two children of
  between herself and her humble relative, forgets the the two mothers who stood now face to face saluting
 difference of age and rank, recognizes at once, and un- one another. It is the voice of him who cried in the
 grudgingly, the far higher distinction which had been wilderness, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make
 conferred by God upon Mary, and wonders even at the straight in the desert a highway for our God: every
  fact that to such a home as hers the honored mother valley shall be exalted, and every hill shall be made
 of her Lord should come. But now the same Spirit             low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the
 which had enlightened her eyes, and filled her heart, rough places plain ; and the glory of the Lord shall be
  and opened her lips to give such greetings to her revealed." It is the voice of Him who openeth His  _
  cousin, comes in still further measure  upon Mary, and mouth on the mountain side  of' Galilee, and said,
 to the wonderful salutation she gives a still more won- "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the king-
  derful response in that strain of rapt praise which the dom of heaven. Blessed are the meek: for they shall
  Holy Catholic Church has ever treasured as the first inherit the earth Blessed are they which do hunger
  and fullest of our Christian hymns.                         and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled."
        It divides itself into two parts. Rising at once to Do  we not recognize the very ministries both of John
  God as the source of all her blessings, her soul and all    and of Jesus in the words: "He hath showed strength
  that was within her being stirred up to bless Him, she in His arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imag-
  celebrates, in lofty strains of praise, the Lord's go&      ination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty
  ness to herself individually. "My soul doth magnify from their seats and exalted them of low degree. He
  the Lord." The Lord had magnified her, by His grace hath filled the hungry with good things ; and the rich
  had made her great, and she will magnify the Lord. he hath sent empty away. He hath holpen his servant
  The larger His gift to her, the larger the glory she will Israel, in remembrance of His mercy; as He spake to
  render to His great name. "MY spirit hath rejoiced our Fathers, to Abraham and to His seed for ever."
  in God my Saviour." She hails the coming Saviour,                                                          G. M. 0,
  as one needed by her `as by all sinners, and embraces
  Him, though her own Son according to the flesh, as her            Count up thy mercies, child of clay  -
  God and Saviour ; glorying more in the connection that                Recount them o'er and o'er;
 she has with Him in common with the entire multitude               Yet  canst thou tell, in life's'short day,
 of the redeemed, than in that special maternal rela-             The sounds upon the shore, oh child?
 tionship in which she has the privilege to stand  to                   The sounds upon the shore?


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             21

           THE CHURCH ABOUT TO DIE                                   the seven churches of Asia were such as to form a
                                                                     gradual climax, the last being the most perfect of all,
                    And to the angel of the church in Sardis         we will be sadly disappointed. The reverse rather is
                  write :
                    These things saith he that hath the seven        true ; at least, the two most miserable manifestations
                  Spirits of God and the seven stars: I know         of the church are still to be considered. First we are
                  thy works that thou hast a name that thou
                  live&  and thou art dead.. Re thou watch-          presented with a picture of the church in Sardis, a
                  ful and  estabhsh  the things that remain          most gloomy spectacle ; then we may for a moment  &rd
                  which were ready to die: for I have found
                  no works of thine  perfected before my God.        comfort and joy in the consideration of the churches
                    Remember,. therefore, how thou hast re-          in Philadelphia, faithful and true, though small in
                  ceived and  drdst hear: and keep it and re-        numbers ; but the end of the series gives us the sick-
                  pent. If, therefore, thou shalt not watch,
                  I  will  come as a thief,  and thou shalt not      ening record of the church in Laodicea, become pro-
                  know what hour I will come upon thee.              verbial because of its morbid condition. There is, no
                    But thou hast a few names in' Sardis
                  that did not defile their garments; and            doubt, prophecy in this arrangement. For it is true,
                  they shall walk with me in white for they          we do not conceive of these seven churches as repre-
                  are worthy. He that overcometh shall be
                  arrayed in white garments, and I  will  in         senting seven consecutive periods in the history of the
                  no wise blot out his name out of the book          church in general; nevertheless, we think too that
                  of life,. and I will confess his name before
                  my  Father and before his angels.                  there is a reason for this arrangement, a reason that
                    Be that hath an ear let him hear what            cannot be found merely in the geographical situation
                  the Spirit saith unto the churches.
                                               - R e v .   8:1-6.    of these churches. By addressing the seven churches
                                                                     in this order the Lord, no doubt, means to indicate
    In the picture we have thus far received of the that we may not expect a rosy future for the church
church of Jesus of this dispensation it is rather dif- in this dispensation, no gradual advance toward per-
ficult to determine whether the good or bad elements, fection and glory, but much rather degradation and
the attractive or the more repulsive features were debasement, as the time approaches that the Lord
more predominant. There is of course some light, shall return in person.
there is even a good deal of light in the picture ; but                 In the passage we are about to discuss we tid a
on the whole it must be admitted that there is also a picture of Sardis, or the Church about to Die. We con-
good deal of darkness. The church of Ephesus was in sider :
many respects exemplary, the type of a strong church,
strong in the truth, strong in works, firm in discipline;                 I. Its General Condition,
but it was losing its love, and after all what is a                      II. The Threatened Judgment,
church without its love to God and His Christ?                          III. The Promise to the Faithful;
Smyrna, indeed, is from a purely spiritual point of                     I. Let us notice in the first place that the custom-
view an ideal church. She receives no rebuke at all.                 ary words of commendation and praise, with which
But she is the church in tribulation and her position Jesus generally opens His address to' each of the
in the world is by no means enviable. Pergamos had churches is entirely wanting in the letter to Sardis.
been strong and faithful even in the midst of persecu- Evidently,  EIe has nothing favorable to say about this
tion; but now she was in imminent danger of being congregation. It is true, there are also in Sardis a
led astray by the false doctrine of  the.Nicolaitans,  and few names left that have not defiled their garments,
she was lax in discipline. And Thyatira offered the and these are worthy of highest praise, but this applies
aspect of an attractive congregation, filled with warm to them as individuals, the church as a whole has no
devotional life; but her spiritual life was being severed part in this praise. Immediately Jesus begins with
from the objective standard of the Word of God and the strongest terms of rebuke and condemnation: "I
the danger was not at all imaginary that she would know thy works, ' that thou hast a name that thou
become a prey of the enemy. And, therefore, in many livest, but thou art dead." The term "works" does
respects the church of Christ in the world presents a not simply refer to their outward lives, to their actual
most beautiful aspect; but there is also another side, good works in the midst of the world, but is employed
which reminds us of the fact that the church in this to denote their entire condition, inward as well as out-
dispensation does never reach her perfect state. And ward. And that entire condition Jesus circumscribes
those that approach the church and her members in in the brief but awful sentence: Thou hast a name
this world with the demand of perfection, and con- that thou  lives& but thou art dead! Two possibilities
demn her because she is in so many respects still im- present themselves in connection with this expression.
perfect, may learn. an important lesson from the seven- First of all it is possible that the word "name" in this
fold picture of the church in the first part of Revela- connection is to be understood in the sense of reputa-
tion.                                                                tion, fame. In that case the Lord here describes the
    Neither will the three churches whose inward con- entire church of Sardis as one that had a good reputa-
dition we are still to study add to the bright side of tion, whose fame was spread abroad as being a live
the picture in a preponderating measure. If perhaps church of Christ, but that was dead in actual fact. The
we expected that the order in which John must address second possibility which also has been suggested is

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

that the Lord addresses in the first  pIace  the minister    And to the outside world she appears to be the most
of this congregation, and that he plays upon the proper      alive church conceivable. But to Jesus who knoweth
name of the angel of the church. The name of the             the hearts and the reins it may very well be evident
minister signified life, according to some ; Zozimus has that there is no true life of Christ in such a church at
been especially suggested as his probable name. Now          all, so that she has a name that she is alive but in
the Lord should mean to say, that although the angel         actual fact is dead. So a church may seem alive be-
of the church had such a name that signified life, yet       cause of apparent piety. She is mystically inclined,
he was dead. And, of course, although first the angel        and always testifies of that sweet spiritual communion,
of the church is addressed, yet his condition is re-         of the good times she has with the Lord. And at bot-
flected in the life of the entire church, so that  aIso the tom all such super-piety may be nothing but selfish-
latter was about to die. At first sight the latter ex- ness and sentimentality, so that even such a church is
planation may seem rather arbitrary and far-fetched,         to the Lord well-known as being dead. Once more, in
but upon closer consideration we reach the conclusion all such cases and more a church may seem to be ,alive
that, in part at least, it is the more preferable. In the and have a reputation of being a good congregation,
 first place, it cannot be denied, that although also in     while in reality there is a lack of real life. But this
this letter the Lord addresses the entire church of cannot  be*said  in regard to the church of Sardis. She
Sardis, yet the personal warning to the angel is  thru- could neither boast of her doctrinal soundness, nor of
out more prominent than in the other epistles. The           her practical works, nor of her mystical attractiveness.
whole church is dead, but he especially and first of all.    And, therefore, she cannot have had much of a reputa-
The whole church must awake and watch, but he espe- tion at all. And we rather think that the sentence:
cially. It is above all his duty as minister of Christ.      "I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou
The whole church must strengthen that which is about art alive but thou art dead" must be applied in the
to die, but also this belongs to the special duty of the     first place to the minister of the congregation. Not
angel `in the first place. In a word, we receive the necessary it is to assume that there is a play upon his
impression that, indeed, the whole congregation is in a proper name in this address. As angel of the church,
most deplorable condition, but that the angel of the because of his veiy office and position in the church he
church bears especially the blame for this condition.        would naturally have a name that he was still alive,
In the second place, it is important to note that in this though in actual fact he was dead. And under the in-
same epistle the word "name" is used once more,  evi-        fluence of his labors in the church the latter must also
dentIy not in the sense of reputation but as referring have gradually fallen  asIeep and at the moment when
to proper names, when the Lord instructs John to this letter was addressed to her stood on the brink of
write: "Thou hast a few names in Sardis that did not         destruction.
defile their garments."        Naturally,    this would         As angel of the church, then, the minister in the
strengthen us in the conviction that also in the first       first place had a name that he.was  alive but was dead.
instance the word is employed in the same sense. Be- I think we must remember that this epistle is
sides, it is rather difEcult to conceive that the church     addressed to him, and that also the severe indictment
of Sardis could have a name that she was alive, if we of being dead is brought against him as angel of the
consider her actual condition. It is, of course, possibIe    church. He is dead as such, he is dead as minister, he
that a church have a name with the outside world             is dead in his work, in his capacity as ace-bearer in
that she is alive while in actual fact she is dead. She the church of Christ. Not probable it would seem to
may be strong in certain aspects and emphasize cer- us that the words have any further significance: They
tain phases of Christian life which make her appear as must not! be taken in the strictest sense of the word
a real active church, while there is nevertheless a lack and applied to the inmost principle of his life. It is
 of spiritual life. It may be, for instance, that she is not necessary to assume that the angel of the church
 firm in the truth and strong in its confession, and that    was personally devoid of the life of regeneration and
 she emphasizes the need of continual instruction in the that he never had part with Christ. If that had been
 doctrine of the Word. A beautiful characteristic of the case the Lord would not have approached him with
 any church, indeed. But in spite of this emphasis on His admonitions as He does. He still is not hopeless.
 the truth, so that the rest of the church would consider The Lord comes to him to wake him up out of his
 her strong and alive, such a church may very well be indolent slumbers and calls him to watch over his
 dead with cold intellectualism and represent the em- flock. He still enjoins him to strengthen that which is
 bodiment of a dead faith. Or again, to refer to an about to die. But although that true principle of life
 aspect of the church more frequently occurring, per.- may have been present `in his heart, that very life
haps, in our own time, a church may seem alive because seemed dead. Even as you sometimes meet with per-
 of her works. In that case she is always busy, busy sons in daily life, of whom you say that they are
 in works of mercy, busy with all sorts of social work,      dead for the simple reason that they reveal no ambi-
 she appears to be a very influential element in the         tion, seem to have no ideals and aspirations, so also
midst of the `world and she rather emphasizes that           this angel of the church in Sardis was dead with
 Christianity must be a practical force in the world.        regard to his entire manifestation of life. He acted


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                     23

as if there were no spiritual life within him. .He left on a vacation. If you would have taken the trouble
the impression that he was really dead. No spark of to peruse the congregational records you would have
life that could ignite life's fire in others proceeded     met with a considerable number of names, about whom
from his person, there was nothing inspirational about no one in consistory or congregation could give you
the man. If I may place him for a moment in one of         any information ; another number that never attended
our modern churches and picture him as a modern services  ; a third group that never celebrated the
minister, I would say that he showed a lack of interest Lord's Supper; and finally there were also some that
in all his labors.  In his preaching he was dead. In       still showed some signs of  life but that were fallen
his instruction of the youth he was dead. In his pas- fast  asleep. True, there were also in Sardis some
toral work he was dead. During the week he found           faithful, that *had not defiled their garments, but of
little or no interest in the searching of the Scriptures these we will speak later. In general the church was
from the which he had to feed the flock. And when          in a dying condition and life was scarcely noticeable.
he appeared in the pulpit on Sunday, he had no mes-           Hence, the Lord writes to this church: "Be watch-
sage to bring.' His little sermon lacked contents, and ful and establish the things that remain, which were
because he himself was aware of the  .insignificance  of about to die, for I have found no works of th.ine,per-
his message he lacked even the courage to speak with fected before my God." Of course, in this last ex-
conviction of faith. In a monotonous, sing-song tone pression the Lord does not mean to come with the in-
he would preach and when finally he had reached the dictment that the church of Sardis was not perfect,
end of his sermon he uttered his "Amen" with a sigh had not reached a state of perfection in every sense,
of relief, glad that it was all over with again. In the for such an indictment could be brought against all
Bible classes for the youth of the church it was'the       the churches.    In this, dispensation of imperfection
same story. Lazily he would listen as the catechumens      the works of the church will never be full in the
recited the lesson they had committed to memory and strictest sense. No, but in the first place it implies
without adding a word of instruction in explanation that some, perhaps' many of the works which were
of the lesson he would dismiss them. In his pastoral expected also of the church of Sardis were wanting
work he was most negligent of all. House visitation. entirely, were not performed at all. The church must
was never done. Sick  wisitation  but rarely. Most of perform the works necessary for its own maintenance
the members of the church were dead and buried be- and establishment, must preach the Word, must in-
fore he ever called on them. And if it did happen that struct the youth, must administer the sacraments,
the angel entered into the home of a sick member, he       must be busy in the works of mercy. The church must
generally sat mute, not being able to find the words of be a witness in the world, must send out its mission-
true comfort and life. In a word, the angel of the aries, must proclaim the gospel of truth to the utter-
church was dead in his entire manifestation, and           most parts of the world. Perhaps it is not too severe
shamefully he neglected his duty.                          to think that none of these works were performed by
   If such was the condition of the angel of the           the congregation of Sardis. The number of their
church, who had to instruct the disciples of Christ, works was not full. And what they still did was per-
who had to feed the flock with the Bread of Life, who formed so  half-heartedly,  that it was characterized by
was to be their example and leader; whose duty it was      an apparent lack of life and interest. There works
to admonish them to watchfulness, to strengthen them were not found full before God. But  still more. If
in the battle, to head them in their spiritual warfare we consider that the faithful in the church of Sardis
and lead' them on to victory, - do you wonder that         are described as those that did not defile their gar-
the same description applies equally  weII to the whole ments, the inference is surely justified that the rest
congregation ?    Such was evidently the case. The had defiled  their garments and lived in open sin. How
church of Sardis was in deep slumbers, was about to could it be different? In a church with so little life,
die. There was no conscious life. Do you expect that yea, with most of the members dead already and the
the church of Sardis would trouble itself at all about     rest about to die, could anything else be expected than
doctrine? Not at all. She was too far gone. She that a spirit of worldly-mindedness should also reveal
found too little interest in the Word of truth. Do you itself? And, therefore, also with a'view to their works
dare to assume that this church was rich in works? it is not true that they appeared alive, for they were
Again this would be inconceivable. Life was not dead in their entire manifestation in the midst of the
noticeable in the congregation. She was fast asleep. world.
Her general description is found in the words: "But           A  miserabie  picture, indeed! A dead minister and
thou art dead." Not diflicult it is to give the picture    a dead congregation ; most of the members actually
of a modern church of Sardis. Perhaps they com- dead and the rest about to die ; in their life trans-
menced with three services on the sabbath, then came       formed according to the principles of the world in the
down to  only two, and  finally because of lack of in-     midst of which they lived ; no love for the truth, no
terest the church-doors were opened only once on the enthusiasm for the work of the kingdom,  - such
day of the Lord. During the hottest season the church appears to be the condition of the church in Sardis at
was closed for weeks in succession and the angel was       the time this epistle is addressed to them! A condi-


                                                                                                                                     .
 24                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   *BEARER
                                                                    . r
tion  ihat was due in the first place to the deadness of                            Glory be unto our glorious High Priest, whose per-
the angel of the church upon whom rested a heavy                                 fect life and sin-atoning death is so sweet before the
responsibility. But also the congregation was guilty.                            Divine Majesty that the Lord is well pleased for His
-4nd hence, it is also to the church as a whole that the                         righteousness' sake, and accepts us in Him with our
admonition is addressed :  YRemember,  therefore, how sweet savor.                                                            C. H. Spurgeon.
thou  hast received and didst hear, and keep it and
repent. If, therefore, thou shalt not watch I will come                                              WAT  T'E MIJDEN IS
as a thief and thou  shalt. not  know, what  hour  `I will  :
come upon thee."              ;.'
                              L                                                     De moeder van den beroemden John Wesley schreef
                                                 *        H.  H'                 eens aan haar zoon, die haar gevraagd had welke verma-
                       (To be continued)                                         ken geoorloofd en welke ongeoorloogd  waren  het  vol-
                                                                                 gende:  "Wanneer  gij te oordeelen hebt, mijn zoon, over
                       EXODUS  33 :18-23                                         het geoorloofde of raadzame van eene uitspanning of
                                                                                 vermaak, neem dan dit tot regel: `Al wat uwe rede  ver-
            Wijs ons, Heer ! de diepe klove,                                     zwakt; wat de teederheid van uw geweten nadeel doet ;
       l
              Waar wij in de schaduw staan,                                      wat uw gemeenschap met God verstoort; wat uw  be-
            Tot Uw hand de  glansen  doove,                                      geerte naar geestelijke  dingen  vermindert;  - in  C&r
              Die Gij voor U uit doet gaan.                                      woord, alles wat de heerschappij van bet vleesch over den
            Geef Uw schitt'rend  licht geen vrijheid,                            geest bevordert; alles wat u niet opleidt, maar  a.fleidt,
              Die het zondig hart benauwt.                                       zij  u tot zonde, hoe onschuldig het op  zich zelf zij of  u
            Laat de  gloed van Uw habijheid                                      foeschijne.
              Meer gevoeld zijn dan aanschouwd.                                                   " `Bewandel geen  wegen,
                                                                                                    Al schijnen zij  recht;  __
            In de steenrots, half verscholen,                                                       Alvorens te vragen:
  .           Wachten wij U van omhoog,                                                             Wat God er van zegt  !'  "
            Veilig  voor de vuurge kolen
              Van Uw aldoordringend oog.
            Zie, hier staan we in heilig vreezen:           ,  '                                  HET WATER DES LEVENS
            Roep nu, met  Uw zachtst geluid,
            Al de grootheid van Uw  wezen"                                                      `Uw dorstenden, Heer ! genoten
              Voor onze ooren menschlijk uit!                                                     Van `t water,  dat, Gij  gaaft.
                                                      E.  v: 0.                                 De bron, uit de rots gesproten,
                                                                                                Heeft stroomen uitgegoten,
                SULPHUR IN THE INCENSE                                                            En  alle  ziel  gelaafd.

               `Wow often  cio we mingle  sulphur with our in-                                  0 Steenrots van ons vertrouwen
            cense!"                                       Th. M.                                  Onwrikbaar vast en sterk!
                                                                                                Hoe diep is de we1 gehouwen,
       A strong expression, but most sadly true. When we                                        Wier aadren nooit  verflauwen,
offer prayer, is there not at times a sorrowful mixture                                           Besproeiend heel Gods Kcrk!
of self-will,  petuIance,  and impatience? Does not unbe-
lief, which is quite as obnoxious as brimstone, too often                                       0 Christus! ten  allen  tijde
spoil the sweet odor of our supplications  ? When we                                              De Rotssteen, nooit vermoeid !
offer praise, is it all pure spices after the art of the                                        0  Burg-t  Uwer  Kerk, ten strijde!
heavenly apothecary? Do not self-laudation and pride                                            Wat vreugd, dat uit Uw zijde
frequently spoil the holy frankincense  and,myrrh? Alas,                                          Gods  Geest bij  stroomen  vloeit!
we fear that the charge must lie against us, and force us
to a sorrowful. confession.                                                                              BEKENDMAKINS
       A`s the priests of God, our whole life should be the
presentation of holy incense unto God, and yet it is not                             Op Donderdag, 18 October, zal, D. V.,
so. The earthly ambitions and carnal  lustings  of our                                                  DS. H. HOEKSEMA
nature deteriorate and adulterate the spices of our lives,
and Satan, with the  stlphur  of pride, ruins the delicate                       de eerste van een series lezingen houden in de Fuller
perfume of perfect consecration.                                                 Ave.  Protestantsche Gereformeerde  Kerk te  Grand
       What grace the Lord displays in accepting our poor,                       Rapids,  IMich.
imperfect offerings ! What rich merits abides in our                                 Aanvang 7 :45 P. M.` '                   Hollandsche taal.
Lord Jesus Christ! What sweet savor beyond expres-                                   Voor nadere  aanltondiging  zie  bet volgend nummer
sion dwells in Him, to drown and destroy our ill-savors,                         van "The Standard Bearer."
                                                                      .: :$;
and to make us accepted in the Beloved.                                i.> ;:
                                                                       ,&:"
                                                                      &f;.                                                       De Commissie.
                                                                      :;iy::;
                                                                      :$$.'
                                                                    ,a


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Vol. v, No. 2                                                    OCTOBER 15, 1928                                            Subscription Price,  $2.50

                                                                                  sepulchres, beautiful to look at, within full of dead
                                                                                  men's bones and uncleanness?
                                                                                       But when the heart is clean one is wholly pure !
                                                                                       The heart is the very center of our being from a
                                                                                  spiritual viewpoint. Deeper it is than our thoughts
                PURITY AND SEEING  GOD                                            and desires, than all our conscious life. From it are
                                Blessed are the  pure  in heart for they          the issues of life. It is the ever-springing fountain of
                            shall see  God.-Watt.  5%                             all that becomes manifest of us in our entire conversa-
             God be merciful to me,                                               tion. It is the incessantly operating workshop of all
             On Thy grace I rest my plea ;                                        our life produces. There, in the inscrutable depth of
             Plenteous in compassion, Thou,                                       our heart, are determined the nature and spiritual
             Blot out my transgressions now;                                      direction of all our plans, counsels, thoughts and medi-
             Wash me, make me pure within,                                        tations, of our Iongings and yearnings, of our volitions
             Cleanse, 0 cleanse me from  my,sin.                                  and desires, of our aims and aspirations. All our sor-
                                                                                  row and grief, our joy and our gladness issue forth
    Such may well be the prayer that must be pressed                              from the heart as their inmost center, their motive-
from our heart and must needs flow from our lips in power, their determining principle. It is not subject
humble contrition of spirit, before we could even con- to the counsels of our mind, but these are subject to it;
template to appropriate the riches of blessing and it dues not obey the commands of our will but de-
grace this sixth beatitude would bestow upon the sub- termines these. The moral and spiritua1 state of the
jects of the Kingdom of heaven.                                                   heart determines the direction of our whole life. As
    The pure in heart are blessed.                                                our heart is so are all its issues. As the heart is so
    And their blessedness consists in seeing God  !'                              are we. If the heart is corrupt and spiritually sick, so
    The blessedness ,would  seem to be of so exalted and must needs be all our thinking and willing, our longing
purely heavenly a nature as to be far beyond our reach, and desiring, our seeing and hearing, our speaking and
so lofty in character that the very contemplati'on  of it acting, our whole walk and conversation. And if the
fills our heart with awe. And the spiritual virtue and heart is pure, we are wholly clean, within and without,
characteristic of the recipients of this heavenly bliss, clean before the sight of the living God !
which is mentioned in the beatitude as an indispensible                               And he that would participate in the precious
prerequisite to obtain the blessing, would seem so im- blessing pronounced in this sixth beatitude must be
possible of attainment as to make us despair of even pure of heart !
approximating it.                                                                     To be pure is to be free from all elements foreign
    Purity of heart !                                                            to the nature of anything. We may speak of pure air,
    Not a certain relative purity of outward appear- when a refreshing shower of rain removed from it the
ance, a purity of the face, of the surface, that reaches particles that accumulated in it during the oppressive
no deeper than human eye can see and penetrate ; but heat of the day. Thus also we say that gold is pure,
of our inmost self, extending into the deepest recesses when it has been refined and all foreign elements have
of our soul, into those depths of our nature and life                            been separated from it. And, in a spiritual sense the
which even our own eye never explores, so that we are heart is pure, when it is delivered from the foreign
clean even before God's searching and scrutinizing element of sin and is able to serve the purpose unto
eye.. . .                                                                        which it was created, to concentrate the whole life of
    To be pure without is of no avail. For what else the man in whose breast it lives and p&sates,  on the
would it mean than that we are but whitewashed love of the living God. For man was made after the

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

image of the Most High, to know Him aright,  to love            he is striving, at least, to purity and daily approximat-
Him fervently, to be holy and blameless before Him ing the ideal of perfection, but it is only because in the
and to be blessed forever in His presence. And it was night of his corruption he cannot see the very dark-
the purpose of the heart to be such an ever-springing ness of his natural condition and the impurity of his
fountain of knowledge of God, of righteousness and own heart. For the heart is deceitful, who shall know
holiness, of love and friendship, to bring man into             it? He that sayeth he hath no sin deceives himself;
living fellowship of friendship with the Holy One, the light is not in him.
that he might see Him, know Him and enjoy Him for-                 Or how would the Ethiopian change his skin and
ever. But sin is the foreign element in that heart.             the leopard his spots? Far more impossible it is for
With sin in the heart the mind is darkened, the will is         the natural man to purify himself from the defilement.
perverse, the desires are unholy and unclean. But the and corruption of his own heart.
pure heart is free from this foreign element of sin and            Nay, but we may expect to find them in the King-
is the fit sanctuary for the Spirit of the living God. . . .    dom of heaven. For in that Kingdom there is the life-
      It is a .light-center radiating its shafts of light in sphere of Jesus Christ. There is the blood of the
manifold beauty in the direction of the Holy One. A Redeemer, that cleanseth from all sin ; and the pure of
well-stringed and perfectly tuned harp, from which heart are first of all those that have their hearts
the breath of God may elicit purest music to the glory sprinkled by His blood ; that walk about in garments
of the Most High. . . .                                         washed in the lifeblood of their great Deliverer. There,
      Pure in heart! See God': The superficial heart in the sphere of the Kingdom of heaven, is the Spirit
and mind may inadvertently think to appropriate this of our blessed Lord, Who died for us and was raised
benediction for himself.                                        again, in Whom the mighty power of God wrought
      He, who truly knowing himself in the light of life,       irresistibly unto salvation, Who was exalted into the
examines his own heart, will first humbly pray:                 highest heavens, to the glory of the right hand of God,
             "Make me pure, Thy grace bestow,                   Who was filled with the Spirit and Who through that
              Wash me whiter than the snow."                    Spirit returned unto His brethren, given Him by the
                                                                Father, that He might dwell with them, in them, renew
                                                                them,  fill them with a new and heavenly life. That
      For who are these pure in heart?                          Spirit begets them again through the resurrection of
      Surely, in our search for them we would look in           Jesus Christ from the dead. It is He that enters into
vain among the children of men as they are in them- the deepest root of our life, into the darkest recesses
selves, by nature.                                              of our soul, into the inmost chamber of our heart,
      For we are an unclean race, and who can bring a           dissipates the darkness, dispels the night of sin, and
clean thing out of an unclean? The poison of sin was sheds into it the new and blazing and purifying sun-
instilled into the heart of man, of humanity, from the light of the love of God in Christ Jesus . . . .
beginning.      As it came forth from the hand of its              The children of the Kingdom are the pure in
Maker it was good, pure, undefiled, well fitted to serve heart . . . .
the purpose of its creation, all its parts perfectly               But are they?
adjusted and its strings well-tuned to extol the praises           Would they not confess to exactly the contrary?
of God, to produce the sweet music of the love of God.          Do they not  find within themselves much uncleanness
It was facing God ; it opened itself toward Him even and darkness, much hatred and enmity, much that
as the slumbering flower unfolds its sepals to open its lusts after the things of the flesh, of the world, of sin
calyx at the quickening touch of the morning-sun.               and corruption? Are not they those who complain
God's knowledge shed its light in it and cheered it; with the apostle in grief and bitterness of soul that
Gods love was poured forth into it and quickened it; they do not what they would but find themselves doing
God's righteousness and holiness filled it; God's own what they would not? Do they not humble themselves
image beautified it; God`s life nourished it and gave it in dust and ashes in the consciousness of their impurity
health and vigor. But it turned about and closed itself of heart and is not the cry wrung from their very in-
to the influence of the living God ; it opened its inmost most soul : 0, miserable men that we are ! Who shall
recesses, at the poisoned whisper of the murderer from deliver us from the body of this death?. . . .
the beginning, to all the darkness and corruption of the           True, indeed !
lie. The blazing sunlight of the day no more streamed              The pure in heart in this life have not attained to
forth into it; the horrible darkness of the night of perfection and to the perfect victory.
death filled it. The heart of man, of humanity, of all             Still more, they never realized how  inpure  they
men in the one man, had become sick, desparately sick were, till they became pure, they never noticed their
and deceitful, corrupt and impure. . . .                        darkness till they were called into the marvellous light
      Since that beginning of corruption we would look of God!
in vain for the pure of heart among the children of                 But they are pure in heart nevertheless, pure in
our race.                                                       Christ and because He lives in them. Pure they are in
      A man may profess that he is pure, that of himself the innermost principle of their heart and life. And


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 27

because this principle of purity must needs be main- grace of our Lord Jesus Christ longs and strives up-
tained for a little while within the impurity of our ward for that perfection. In that hope he struggles
former nature; because they live the life of Christ, onward and presses forward and fights the battle and
the pure life, for a season in the flesh, it must needs       purifies himself even as He is pure. That hope bears
reveal itself in sorrow over sin and a hearty desire to him up in sorrow and trouble ; for that hope' he counts
live not only according to some, but according to all         all things but dross; strengthened by that hope he will
God's commandments. . . .                                     gIadly surrender all and lose his own life, that he may
   And, therefore, these pure in heart are character- find the life that is hid with Christ in God. : , .
ized by all the Lord mentioned before of the children              He shall see God i
of His Kingdom in the world.                                       Oh, he sees Him here! For His beauty is reflected
   They are the poor in spirit, the mourning ones, the in the. Word of His testimony, the revelation of Im-
hungry and thirsty after righteousness, the merciful.         manuel, God manifested in the flesh.                    And by His
   These are the pure in heart.                               Spirit he knows Him and sees Him and loves Him by
   And they are blessed.                                      faith, and seeks His communion, and cries: Abba,
   For they shall see God !                                   Father !
                                                                   Yet, all is still in part.
   See God!                                                        For he sees as in a glass darkly.
   Behold Him; Whom no one ever saw!                             But he shall see Him.
   Look upon the beauty of the Lord in His very tab-               When all that is of sin shall have vanished forever,
ernacle !                                                     when all that is in part shall have been done away and
   To what dazzling heights of blessing does the Lord that which is perfect shall have come, when in no
here lift the hope of the citizens of His Kingdom in wise we shall bear the image of the earthy anymore
the world, of His struggling brethren in the flesh !          and shall in heavenly perfection bear the image of the
   And yet, how perfectly harmonious are these two:           heavenly, see with heavenly eyes and hear with heav-
purity of heart and seeing God !                              enly ears the things revealed in the heavenly taber-
   The natural man does not desire to see Him. The nacle, where God Himself is the Light and the Lamb
ungodly believes in God and he trembles.           Surely,    the candle, then, o then, we shall see Him face to
there is a sense in which he shall also see God, shall        face  f. . . . .
meet Him, shall stand before Him. But never shall he                For here is the distant reflection of His face ;
be able to look upon His face and to behold the beauty        there is His face in glory !
of the Lord in His holy temple. Rather will he cry out             Here we behold Him as in a glass darkly; there we
in vain to the rocks to fall upon him and to the hills to     shall see Him as He is!
cover him from the face of Him that sitteth upon the               For we shall be like Him ! In perfected purity!
throne. For God is pure, spotlessly pure and holy.                 Looking forward to that blessed day we may con-
And, therefore, there is nothing in the heart of the tinue the journey of our pilgrimage in hope, singing
ungodly that longs to see Him and to look upon His            even through the weary night:
face.But how different is this with the pure in heart !                           "When I in righteousness at last
  . The inmost principle of his life longs for God, for                               Thy glorious face shall see,
His presence, for His fellowship, for His love and                                 When all the weary night is past,
friendship, for the knowledge of Him that is life in-                                And I awake with Thee
deed. He knows the profound truth of the song:                                     To view the glories that abide,
                                                                                   Then, then I shah be satisfied !"
             "To live apart from God is death,
                `Tis good His face to seek ;                                                                             HI H.
             My refuge is the living God,
                His praise I long to speak."                            HET LEVEN VERWINT DEN DOOD
                                                                                  `t Leven kon niet ondergaan,
And, therefore, the blessing and the blessed belong                               En de dood mochti niet regeeren:
together; the blessing realized is the proper sphere                                Jezus, heerlijk opgestaan,
for the blessed to live in. Even as the fish is free in                             Moest in alles triumfeeren.
the water, even as the eagle is in its proper element                             Zult Gij, uit het graf verrezen,
when freely it can spread its wings and swoop aloft                               Ook mijn troost  en redder wezen!
in the blue and clear sky, so the pure in heart cannot
be truly free, cannot truly find rest, till he sees God.                          0 Rabboeni ! Heiland ! Heer !
For to see God is to be  filled with His knowledge, is to                         0 mijn Meester, Licht en Leven!
behold the beauty of His praises and wonders, is to                                 `k Heb U uit den &-afkuil  weer;
love Him; to be near Him, to taste that He is good, to                              Alle droefheid is verdreven.
live the perfect life of the blessed fellowship of His                            Laat mij, knielend  aan UW voeten,
covenant. And all that is within him through the                                  Juichend,  dankbaar U begroeten.

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

           IN GOD'S LIGHT WE SEE LIGHT                         revelation.       However, the word of comparison is
                                                               omitted, likewise the things compared and the term
       The student of Scripture immediately perceives light (of the sun) used as the signification of divine
that the above declaration is a passage taken from speech. This is done, in that sunlight is an image of
Holy Writ. The last half of Psa. 36  :9 reads : "In Thy the reveIation  of God. Not the former, however, but
light shall we see light." For this highly important the latter is the  true  light. The things earthy are but
yet, to natural man, disdainful truth, we desire your the likeness of things heavenly. Holy Writ insists
attention.     In the Psalm from which the inspired that they are that. Of Christ the Lord from heaven,
statement under consideration is taken, the prophet common bread, water, milk and wine  are  so many
elucidates upon human depravity and Divine mercy.              figures. So, too, the lion, the lamb, the sun in heaven
As to the wicked one, there is no fear of God before and the morning star.
his eyes. For he flnttereth himself in his own eyes,              To return to our subject, had the prophet expressed
until his iniquity be found to be hateful. The words the things compared, his statement would have read:
of his mouth are iniquity and deceit, he hath left off "As we see light in the light of the sun, so do we see
to be wise and to do good. He deviseth mischief upon light in thy (God's) revelation." However, before the
his bed ; he setteth himself in a way that is not good :       statement in question can be made to yield the thought
he abhorreth not evil.                                         it is meant to convey, we shall have to account for the
       On the other hand, the mercy of the Lord is in the repetition of the term  light  and inquire whether it'
heavens: and his faithfulness unto the clouds. His denotes in both instances the same idea. Having at-
righteousness is like the great mountains: His judg- tended closely to the essential property and function
ments are a great deep: the Lord preserve+ man and             of physical light (the light of the sun) we are pre-
beast. Excellent is His lovingkindness. Therefore the pared to say that the term repeated signifies the same
children of men put their trust `under the shadows of idea viewed from a slightly different angle. The ex-
His wings. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the pression  thy Zight is the signification of the word or
fatness of His house, and He shall make them drink speech of God. The term  light  of the clause do  13re  set
of the river of His pleasures. For with Him is the light signifies the speech of God regarded as the vehicie
fountain of life: nnd in His light shall we see light.         of knowledge respecting the things of which God spake
       Such are the thoughts of which this Psalm is the The truth, then, incorporated in the assertion to the
written record. The assertion to the effect that  "jiti        effect that in God's light we see light is that he, willing
Nis (God's,) light one sees light" is not of a kind im- to take a position in the light of God's Word, knows  -
mediately understood. The embodied truth, however, God, himself, the earth and the fullness thereof. Such
is at least to those whom taking refuge under the              a one has understanding and is wise. To the exploita-
shadow of His wings a self-evident one.         Its other tion of this vital truth, Psa.  119 is given. We present
side is that man, in his knowing, is absolutely de- the following selections: "0 how love I thy law. It is
pendent upon God. Now the vehicle of thought is the my meditation all the day. Thou through thy com-
spoken and written word. The latter is the mould mandments hast made me wiser than my enemies : for
into which thought is cast and transported from mind they are ever with me. I have more understanding
to mind. This mode or form of expression must be than all my teachers : for thy testimonies are my medi-
understood ere it will yield the truth conveyed. The tation. I understand more than the ancients, because
thing for us to do, then, is first of all to attend to the     I keep Thy precepts . . . . Thy word is a lamp unto my
form of the divine declaration to the effect that we feet, and a light unto my path" (Psa. 119 :9'7-100, 105).
see light in God's light. Our first comment is that this          Let us now engage in an exposition of this truth.
particular speech is figurative, and the figure partakes         The following scheme represents our manner of ap-
of the character of the metaphor, or of the abridged proach :
simile. Simile is a form of comparison in which one
thing is likened to another. It is usually introduced              (a)    Physical light and physical sight  ;
by like or (GS, or some other word of comparison. In               (b)    The light of revelation ;
the sentence, "Roderick fought  like  a lion,`,' we have a                (1)     How related to physical light and sight ;
simile. When we say,  "He,  was a lion in the fight," we                  (2)     Discerned by both the natural and the
have a metaphor. For the words expressing likeness                                spiritual man ;
are omitted.  Elementary Guide to Literary                                (3)     The natural and the spiritual discern-
                                                 Criticism,
Painter,  p. `71. A metaphor, then, is a figure of speech                         ment compared and the points of con-
by which one word is employed for another of which                                vergence and divergence tabulated ;
it is an image.                                                           (4) The natural and the spiritual eye or
                                                                                  sight ;
       When the Holy Spirit said by the mouth of the               (c)    The wise and the fools ; who they are
prophet that "we see light in God's light" He (the                        (1)     According to the standard of God ;
Spirit) was comparing things; employing one word                          (2)     According to the standard of the world.
for another of which it is an image. The things com-
pared are the light of the sun and the light of divine             As to physical light - the light of the sun - it is


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   .BEARER                                             33

one of God's mysteries, incomprehensible, yet known. the latter is the chief agent, it may be produced by the
We observe its quickening power in the shoot action of many causes. This view is in full agreement
urging its way upward through the earth's crust; in with the testimony of Scripture to the effect that the
the bud unfolding itself and liberating its sweet fra-         appearance of the sun was preceded by the creation
grance; in short, in the entire changed aspect of God's of the light.
creation in springtime. The rainbow declares the                  But what is there about light that renders it a fit-
beauty of the light; the song of the bird at dawn, and ting figure of the light of the word of God? And the
the mirth of the child at play its power to gladden. I f answer is ready: physical light is the agent of vision
the light should disappear for, let us say, a space of in that it conveys to the eye the images of the objects
a single week, that section of the earth lying in the          which it envelopes. As an aid to the understanding of
path of the sun's summer beams would resolve itself this phenomena, light must be thought of as a fluid or
into an inhabitable wilderness. AU vegetation would liquid of marvellous  subtility (known to the scientist as
die. Rivers and lakes would soon become solid masses ether)  fiZling  all spaces. As the wind, playing upon
of ice. A great gloom would settle down on mankind,            the surface of the sea, urges its waters against the
and this earth would be converted into a region of rocky coast, so, too, the medium called ether, set in
death.                                                         motion by the, action of the sun, beat against the vari-
   However, only in certain seasons and in  certaih            ous objects of vision. Further, the waves of the sea,
sections of the earth is the effect of the light of the sun    hurled by the motion of the wind upon the shore, re-
as described. The tropical sun burns and smites.               bound far out into the sea. This reversed course of
`Against its brilliant rays men must shelter themselves the water-wave is known as the undertow  7 the cur-
or they perish. Such is the power of the sun and its rent under the surface flowing in opposite direction to
light. Yet it is not the sun we worship for it is but a the surface. Likewise do the objects of vision (trees,
creature made and replenished by Him whom only buildings, etc.) throw back the light-waves striking
men shall praise - the great and glorious God. We against them. Finally, think of the rebounding water-
worship Him of whom the sun is a fitting emblem,  - wave as a liquid capable of receiving and retaining
our Lord Jesus Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, the the impress of the shore against which it beat. To him,
Morning Star who quickens, purges, gladdens and them, having taken his position at some distance from
beautifies by the beams of His grace those given Him the shore, the mass of water would return in the shape
by the Father, but smites and vanquishes those who             of a water-image corresponding to the shape of the
imagine vain things and rage ; who take counsel to-            rocky coast, and the observer could perceive in the
gether against the Lord and His anointed and say:              wave the shore. So, indeed, does the rebounding  light-
"Let us brake their bands asunder, and cast away wave receive and retain the impress of the objects
their cords from us."                                          against which it beats and, striking the eye of the ob-
   According to Genesis the creation of light was an server in the form of, a light-image, conveys to him an
event of the first day while the sun did not appear till image of the object perceived.
the forth. What is more, its appearance, so the Sacred            As the agent of sight is the light, so the organ of
record has it, marked the beginning of the succession sight is the eye. The light-images of the object per-
of days and nights. The sun, then, does not emanate ceived, thrown upon the retina of the eye, disturbes
light, nor is the regular succession of the days and the       the sensory neurons - which disturbance sets up
nights dependent upon'its appearance and disappear- chemical action in the visual area in the back of the
ance. "According," says Godet, "ah superficial minds, brain, whereupon the perceiving soul fashions a con-
from Voltaire, the genius of sarcasm, to the pygmies ception of the object seen. It means that the subject
of the &ogres  of Delemont, can never sticiently  ridi- sees ; that the light has entered his soul ; that, to ex-
cule the follies of the Mosaic record. If they were more press ourselves in the words of Ch&,  the whole body
dispassionate, they would perhaps say that, however is light. Vision, needles to say, is another of God's
ignorant, Moses may have been of their heights of mysteries. For our conceptions are not the products of
science, he had two eyes as well as they; and they chemical action in the visual area, or so many creations
would ask how can he, too, compose a story so contrary of the soul. The awakening of consciousness cannot
to the most obvious probabilities. The fact is that the be ascribed to the disturbance of the sensory neurons.
results of modern science, still ignored by the savants        Perception itself is an act of the conscious mind. The
of Delemont, render a striking testimony to the truth soul of man sees not the light-image thrown upon the
of the Mosaic record, and to the astonishing wisdom retina of the eye, but the object outside of him. Hence,
which characterizes it."                                       the figure of the water-wave is at best a very imper-
                               l

   What is light? The phenomena used to be ex- fect one.
plained on the supposition that it is a material fluid            However this may be, light as the agent of sight
of extreme subtility emanating in particles from the t&nspo&s  to the mind knowledge of the things phy-
sun. Today it is held to be an established fact that           sical that lie within the range of observation. $32 is,
light is an undulation or vibration of an independent together  with the object enlightened, the external prin-
medium cailed ether set in motion by the sun. Though ciple  of knowledge, the medium of communication  be-

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

tween the physical world and the mind. Hence, he            this light. Mt. Sinai, to illustrate, was altogether on a
who would know the things physical outside of him  -        smoke because the Lord descended upon it in a fire.
the things that can be felt and seen - must take his And the smoke thereof descended as the smoke of a
stand in the path of the light as it is reflected by the    furnace and the whole mount quaked greatly. Phy-
object desired to be known. Standing in the light, then, sical light merely conveyed to those at the base of the
we see light, that is have knowledge of the things en- mount the image of smoke and fire. The natural (sin-'
lightened.                                                  ful (rational eye, observing and contemplating the
      Light presents to us still other marvels.             phenomena, concludes that the mountain was shaken
      Light is beautiful and its beauty is either wholly by  vulcanic eruption. He standing in the light of the
or partially exposed by the very objects enlightened Word of God - light spiritual - declares the phen-
and transported in the form of light-images to the eye. omena to be a tangible and perceptible exhibition, by
We think now of the vapor of the rainbow, which en- analogy, of the avenging justice of God.
lightened refracts that is breaks up the one white light       We distinguish, then, between physical light and
of the sun into its constituent colors - red, orange, the light of God's Word - light spiritual ; and between
yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.                     (a) purely physical, (b) natural (sinful) rational,
      Our final observation is that light remains an in-    (c) and spiritual-rational perception. The matter of
visible quantity until it meets with a physical object purely physical light together with its corresponding
able to reflect it. Call to mind a burning head-lamp physical sight has already been explained.
of an automobile at night. The rays of light emitted           Let us now" lay hold on the matter of light-spiritual
are especially visible where they strike against the        - the light of God's Word, light enveloping heaven,
side of yonder building. If the atmosphere is free earth and hell. There is then a word of God, transport-
from dust no light is seen in the space between the         ing to the rational eye of every man coming into the
distant building and the lamp.                              world, a knowledge respecting the world unseen  -
      Such, then, are the peculiarities and the behavior God, heaven and its fullness, Christ and the cross,
of and the service rendered by light. Light, let it be death and the grave and hell ; a knowledge respecting
repeated, is the agent of sight. Its organ is the eye the earth and its fullness ; man, his state, origin, des-
which if single comprehends the physical light.             tiny and purpose. In fine, this light surrounds and
                                                            lightens all things, exposing them in their true aspect.
      Man's vision, however, is not merely physical. He        Physical light, it was explained, remains an unseen
has, in addition, a rational eye true enough corrupt and quantity until it meets with a concrete object able to
carnal unless healed by the Spirit of Christ. The high- reflect it. So, too, the light spiritual. It is in the need
est tokens of man's rational perception or rationality and actually has a reflector, namely, the Logos; and in
is his awareness of God and his moral sense. Man's the fullness of time the Word incarnate. Says John:
awareness of the existence of God is the proof of his "That (the Logos) was the true light, which lighteth
unique ability to sense values and discover relations every man that  cometh  into the world" (John  1:9);
and causes - an ability constituting him an image The Logos, however, reflects light as one who is at
bearer of God. Man's rational eye John in his. Gospel once light in. Himself, for He is very God. Neverthe-
calls light. Of it the Logos is the source. John  1:4.      less, the Son being the brightness of glory and the
      Light, we saw, is the agent of sight. Without light, express image of His (God's) person, is He through
there can be no sight even though the eye be single. whom God speaks. How does the Logos speak? Says
So then the rational as well as the physical eye, shall it John : "All things were made by him ; and without him
function, is in the need of light. It must be furnished was not anything made that was made. . . . He was
with materials wherewith to work  - materials inter- in the world and the world was made by him. ;. . "
related and embodying a logical idea waiting to be dis-     (John  1:3, 10). "We believe with the heart, and con-
covered by the rational eye. Such materials are there fess with the mouth, that there is one only simple and
and permit of a division in two distinct classes. The spiritual being, which we call God . . . . " (Art. 1 of the
one is constituted of this earth and its fullness, and of Confession). There is, then, but one Divine Being,
the latter, such as can be approached directly by means mind, will, power, wisdom, love. Though one in essence,
of the senses. The other class is comprised of the He is, nevertheless distinguished in three Persons.
things of the other world  - the things invisible:          The Son as one of the three individualizations  of the
heaven and its fullness and hell. This classification, one blessed Being, made all things. Being the Logos,
we know, is faulty. Yet it will do.                         He incorporated in all things the wisdom and glory
      The connecting link between the soul of man and of God; made all things in such a way that they exhibit
the things physical is physical light. The medium and declare the eternal thoughts of God. All things,
bridging the distance between man and the other world then, the earth and its fullness  - must be thought of
is the word of God  - light spiritual. However, the as the crystallization of ideas eternaily  before God's
things constituting the first class are enveloped by the mind. . . .
light of the Word of God as well. They can be known             Says the prophet: "I will praise thee ; for I am
in their true aspect only by him taking a position in fearfully and wonderfully made ; marvellous are thy


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        35
works . . . . My substance was not hid from thee,           light of revelation) there is, to be sure, an intimate
when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in         connection. Physical sight and light are of necessity
the lowest parts of the earth" (Psa. 139  :14, 15). What    the beginning of all our knowledge. For man is a
is true of the miniature universe man, is equahy  true      sensuous being; he lays hold on such things only which
of the cosmos. It is an orderly system: opposed to. can be visualized. How then can man know God  - a
chaos. It is fearfully and wonderfully made: a marv-        Being spiritual and invisible? It pleased Him to fur-
ellous work, curiously wrought. It is the incorporation nish His rational creatures with a tangible and per-
of a logical idea, and exhibits great wisdom  - the         ceptable exhibition of His glories. As was pointed
wisdom, power and glory of its exalted Maker, so that       out, the things seen and felt exhibit His wisdom and
the heavens declare the glory of God ; and the firma- power. Hence, the things seen are the stepping-stones
ment sheweth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth to God. The superb concrete exhibition of His virtues
speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is Christ and the cross. His appearance made it pos-
is no speech nor language where their voice is not          sible for us to see and handle the life made manifest.
heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth,        Says the apostle: "That which was from the begin-
and their words to the end of the world, Psa. 19 :l-4.      ning, which we have heard, which we have seen with
   "We believe," says the Confession, "that the same our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands
God, after He had created all things, did not forsake       have handled, of the word of life. For the life was
them, or give them up to fortune or chance, but that manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and
He rules and governs, and, we may add, sustains them shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the
according to His holy will so that nothing happens in Father, and was manifested unto us" (I John 1 :I, 2).
this world without His appointment . . . . "                   So, too, the benefits accruing from the death of the
    The Logos, then, is in the world, and, upholding Saviour are presented to us by means of things per-
what He made, stabilizes and perpetuates its speech, ceptible. The life in Christ may be contemplated as
at. once His speech, and by it lighteth every man that      bread, wine, water and milk. It appears, then, that
corn&h into the world. "For the invisible things of our knowledge of God and of things spiritual and in-
Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen,        visible begins with sensury  preception,    In the things
being understood by  the things that  are made, even seen, God embodied His thoughts. Things earthy are
His eternal power and Godhead ; so that they are with-      the images of a more glorious world. And it is the duty
out excuse. . . . " "Because," so the preceding verse of man to lay hold on this world, reflected by the sum
reads, "that which may be known of God is manifest total of things earthy. What applies to the bread and
in them : for God hath shewed  it unto them," (Rom.         wine in Holy Communion, namely, that we should not
1:20, 19).                                                  cleave with our hearts unto the external bread and
    However, "God, who at sundry times and in divers wine, but lift them up on high in heaven, where Christ
manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the          Jesus is our advocate, at the right hand of the heavenly
prophets, hath in these days spoken unto us by the          Father . . . . applies to all things earthy. This, how-
Son" (the Word incarnate, G. M. 0.) (Hebrews 1 :i) . ever, carnal man refuses to do.
"He came unto His own" (John  1:ll). He, Christ,               What, then, is his attitude toward the light emitted
came and gave us by the word He spoke, by the life          by Christ? Scripture answers this question for us.
He lived and by the Spirit He merited, a fuller and         To begin with, the true light lighteth him, John I:9 ;
clearer revelation of the glory and wisdom of God. As this  right is manifest in him (the ungodly one), he
the faitful Witness, He spake of many things: of the clearly sees and understands it, Rom. 1:19,  20 ; seeing
sorry plight of those for whom He laid down His life ;      they see, and hearing they hear, Mark  4:12.  These
of Himself as the true Lamb of God that taketh away scriptures must be made to  appIy to carnal man's
the sin of the world ; of the cross He bore ; of the        natural (sinful) rational eye with which he sees and
Father's house where many mansions are ; of the in- lays hold on the logical idea incorporated in the speech
heritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth of the Logos and of the incarnate Word. To begin
not away, - an inheritance ,reserved  for those kept with, the world made by the Logos is, as was before
by the power of God through faith unto salvation said, a  marvehous  work, exhibiting great wisdom, har-
ready to be revealed in the last time. He informed mony and order. Facing `it, the spontanuous  ejucula-
us of the Father's good pleasure of reconciling by tion of his (the ungodly's) soul is: "There is a God,
Him, after having made peace through the blood of alwise and almighty whom I should serve and revere."
the cross, all things unto Himself, whether they be Likewise the speech of Christ, it is  - contrary to the
things in earth or things in heaven. There is then a contention of t.he exponent of the theory of common
speech of the Logos, incorporated in and declared by grace who discovers in this speech many a contradic-
the world He made (general revelation) ; a speech tion - a reasonable, rational, most logical word.  ,True
uttered by the life He lived ; by His own personal lips enough, the unbeliever would not have it so. He in-
and by the lips of His chosen agents. Christ is the         sists on prating about the absurdities in which the doc-
light of the world, emitting spiritual light.               trine of, let us say, the Trinity envolves us. Fact is,
    Between purely physical and spiritual light (the however, that every doctrine of Christendom is  su-

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

perbly rational. And the carnal mind being rational,          his house upon the sand, and said it would stand for
senses, though he will not, that the, truth is agreeable ever.
to reason. He grasps the idea conveyed. And Christ               Paul. in depicting the plight of the carnal man,
purposely spoke in  parabies  that seeing he should see compares him to one drunken with wine when he says :
and hearing hear. That is to say, this particular mode "But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day
of speech, brought into bold relief the truth and drove should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the chil-
it home with such power as to confuse' infuriate and          dren of the light, and the children of the day: we are
completely disarm the antagonist. In a word, Christ not of the night or of the darkness. Therefore let us
made those assailing Him see and feel the point. Tn- not sleep, as do others ; but let us watch and be sober.
deed did they see and hear. In the parable of the             For they that sleep sleep in the night.; and they that
sower, to illustrate, the Pharisee is made to see that        be drunken are drunken in the night"  (I  Thess. 5  :l-
the attitude he assumes towards Christ's words is due 7).  The term  sobriety  of this passage signifies the
to the depravity of his heart. The ungodly see and            spiritual alertness of the child of the light respecting
hear. That "there is none righteous, no not one; that the things of the Spirit. He is one keenly aware of
there is none that understandeth, and seek after God ;        the approach of the day of the Lord. For such a one,
that all are gone out of the way and become unprofit- this day does not come as a thief in the night in that it
able ; that there is none that doeth good, no not one"        is expected. The term drunkenness, on  theother hand,
is speech capable of being understood by  all who read.       is the signification of the wicked one's carnal indiffer-
Likewise that "When the wicked spring as the grass,           ence respecting the things that shall soon come to pass.
and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish ; it is Strong drink, if taken in sufficient quantities, will
that they shall be destroyed for ever" (Psa. 92 :7). So,      stupify man's sensibilities. While in this state he is
too, the word: "I lay down my life for 1iy sheep.`" The dull of mind so-that even the most startling disclosures
ungodly see and hear.                                         fail to arouse him. He hears and sees yet fails to un-
      However, carnal man does not perceive and under- derstand. So, too, does the message of either doom or
stand, Luke  4:12. The light shineth in the darkness, bless fail to impress the spiritually diseased soul. He
and the darkness comprehended it not, John  1:5. hears in much the same way that one will listen to the
Though he (the carnal man) knows God, he glorifies report of the death of an unknown one. The matter
him not as God. Neither is he thankful, but becomes is forgotten the next minute. The carnal man, then,
vain in his imaginations, and  .his foolish heart is dark-    is dead to the things of the spirit, and incapable of
ened. Professing, himself to be wise,  ,he becomes a sensing and appreciating their value. To what may
fool, and changes the glory of the uncorruptable God his spiritual lethargy be due? To a deep-seated hatred
into an image made like to corruptable man, and to for all things holy. Hence, he stands with his back
birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things,           toward heaven, which, as far as he is concerned, does
Rom. 1: 21-23.                                                not exist. Yet is he without excuse. For, though not
      Carnal man though seeing does not perceive and understanding and apprehending the light, he sees and
understand. This verdict must be made to apply to hears.              Why, we wonder, do the exponents of the
his lack of spiritual vision and understanding, so that theory of common grace insist that the maintenance
the question arises: What is spiritual sight. And the         by the Almighty of the reprobated one's carnal rational
answer: Spiritual sight signifies the believer's sense perception is an exhibition of His (God's) favor.
of spiritual values. It is the power to contemplate the Surely, they shall have to admit that it would have
things revealed  - God, Christ, the cross and the             been better for such a one, had he been deprived of
Father"s  house, in short, salvation with ail that it im- this hearing and sight.
plies as constituting a good, to be greatly desired and          Man, then, fails to perceive, to understand. That
appropriated. The one with understanding, sees hell, is, he is unwilling to hear the truth about God, himself
death and the grave, sin, judgment, Divine wrath and and God's eternal purposes respecting His handiwork.
curse as so many realities necessitating a Saviour and The  pure.light  from heaven is an eye-sore to him. He
a Shelter. He, therefore, puts his trust` under the           shuts it out of his soul and this is his fatal mistake.
shelter of God's wings and is abundantly satisfied with For man is creature. He must be taught by the Lord
the fatness of His house and is made to drink from God, Who only knows, or he comes to grief. Carnal
the river of His pleasures.                                   man, however, refuses to receive God as his Teacher.
      To the ungodly, on the other hand, the things con-      Shutting Him (God) out of the world and himself in
stituting for the believer the highest possible good, are it, he kindles a  fire, compasses himself about with
without value and substance. The carnal man has no sparks, and walks in the light of his own fire and in
sense of spiritual values. The existence of what he the sparks he kindled, Isa. 60 : 11. The fire in the light
                                                              of which the wicked one walks is the truth of God
sees and hears he denies, and shuts heaven out of his         changed by him unto a he, Rom. 1:25. The emanation
heart. All his thoughts are that there is no God. He of his own diseased heart, it (this light) is the vehicle
is of the type of the fool in the parable who indifferent of a false, grotesque, distorted and incongruous image
as to the hurricane which he knew would come, built of actual existence, fact, truth, reality ; a misrepresent-


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           37

ation of God, of heaven and hell, of things earthy, of Physical light, we observed, is seen because it meets
Christ and the cross, of man and his nature, origin,         with an object able to reflect it. So, too, the pure light
purpose and destipy, in short, of all things. Yet the        from heaven radiated by the Father of light, it is seen
wicked one loves these fantastic images, and signifies being reflected by the Word in the world and in Scrip-
their sum total by some such names as phylosophg,            ture. The Christ, by the speech falling from His lips,
metaphysics, wisdom. It is, however, the wisdom of by the life He lived, by the works, He performed, ex-
the world, deemed foolishness by God, but common hibits so majestically the power, wisdom, holiness, love,
grace by our opponents. The carnal man, insisting mercy and compassion of Him Who sent His Son into
that he sees aright,  refuses to leave his house on fire     the world to be a propitiation for all our sins. The
and perishes in the flames. Therefore he is a fool.          Christ, then, is a perceptable and tangible exhibition
    He who would see light, that is, know and live,          of the light. "In this," says John, "was manifest the
must walk in the light emanating, not from the foolish       love of God toward us, because that God sent His only
and wicked heart of the worldly wise, but from the begotten  Son into the world, that we might live through
Logos, the incarnate Word. In Him walking in this            Him" (I John  4:9).
light there is  .none  occasion for stumbling. For he           Will the redeemed ever be permitted to focus their
then walketh in the light of God. For Christ speaketh eye directly upon God the source of Light? No more
not of Himself, He seeketh not His own glory. His            than man can gaze directly at the sun in heaven with-
doctrine is not His, but His that sent Him, John 17:16,      out impairing his vision, no more can we directly be-
17. He speaks whatsoever he hears. This light, then, hold God and live. Yet shall the pure in heart see
is a correct and reliable image of God and His  .eternal     God. They see Him now through a glass darkly. They
thoughts so that he comprehending it knoweth God shall see Him face to face. The present mode of revela-
and all things.                                              tion will give way to one of a most glorious type ex-
    The child of the light comprehends the light. For hibiting to the glorified sense organs of the redeemed
him only the light is shed. Such are the plain teach- God's face. As it is, they behold, as did Moses (Ex.
ings of Holy Writ. We present the following selection 33:23) God's back parts.
in support of this assertion. "The light is sown for
the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart"            In Thy light we see light. Because we insisted
(Psa. 97 :11)  .                                             that it is so, the brethren in the Christian Reformed
    I% Thy light we see light. To see light one must Church bade us leave. It means that the truth em-
take a position in it. To do so, signifies, to be sure, a bodied in the above divine saying is being challenged
changed attitude toward God, a heart brought under in that Church. The wisdom of the Synod of 1924
the benign influence of His grace. For the light ex- incorporated in the three points is not light radiated
hibits all the glories of God's blessed being, reflects by a fire kindled by God but by man.
His mind, discloses the meaning of the cross and ex-            It takes much grace to glory in the fact that
poses, finally, the sinner in all his wanton ungodlyness.    only in God's light we see light. He doing so is one
Hence, he coming to the light is one who has passed          found at the feet of Christ, one empowered by Christ
from death to life, one humbled, one with a heart whase to tell the world that its wisdom is foolishness with
pride has been thawed out by God's grace;one  hunger-        God. By nature we love the `light of our own fires
ing and thirsting for Him whose glorious being the and dread much the reproach of the world, and there-
light reflects.                                              fore shun that place at Christ's feet. Yet that is were
    WC see light in Thy light. To see, comprehend light. we belong if we would know and live. May God place
What does it mean? Physical light, we said, throws           and keep. us there as individuals, as a school and as
upon the eye an image of the object, it envelopes and churches.                                           G. M. 0.
the soul forms a conception agreeable to the object
perceived.    The light has entered the soul, and the                                Kercken
whole body is light. So do the pure of heart receive De Bye nict alleen syn came&ens  can bouwen
into their souls the pure light from heaven as reflected Dat elck verwondert  is die fraeyheyt aan te schouwen,
by the Word. It means that they are alive to the real- Maar mede is de Wesp  so constlick in die  saeck
ities corresponding to this light and sense their value ; .Us hadde se gebruickt of snoer of winckelhaeck.
that these realities constitute their treasure, a price- Gelyckewel, die  kent den aert van dese beyden,
less pearl for which they sell all ; that, finally, the be- Die  sal se lichtelyck en claerlyck onderscheyden;
liever is light and radiates light into the glory of Him Want dat de  Bye geeft,  011s smakelyck verheucht,
in Whom he is light. Such a one, according to the            Maer is. een Wespen nest en vinde niet dat deucht,
estimation of God, is wise. For the flash of lightning Het gaet op desen slach oock onder ons te wercke:
on the horizon and the meaning of distant thunder Gods  dienaers niet alleen en bouwen syne kercken,
speak to him and to the fool as well of an approach- Maer  oock de leugengeest  syn kercken  hebben  wil,
ing storm. Unlike the fool, however, he acts accord-         We1  cierlyck in het oog; - doch  hier is het verschil,
ingly and builds his house upon a rock.  "                   Dat met den hemels-dou  de C&n  ons herte vocdet,
   Further, we see the light reflected by the Word.          De ander het vergif der sicken  legt en broedet.

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

        SKETCHES ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF                       strife and battle with those that love not the truth and
                         DOCTRINE                            frequently with hardships and suffering, it has been
                                                             elicited from the Word of God and systematized and
                       I. Introduction                       expressed in definite formulas, creeds and symbols,
          T                                                  And not only is this true of the more general doctrines,
           HAT  DOCTRINES  DEVELOP  HISTORICALLY             adhered to by all that claim a right to the name of a
       In the early issues of  our  STANDARD  BEARER articles Christian, but the members of a certain Church ought
appeared that purported to set forth the development to be acquainted more or less thoroughly with those
of doctrine throughout the history of the Church of speciiic truths, that are embodied in their own Con-
the New Dispensation. Scarcely, however, was this fessions. To be specific, our Reformed people ought
work begun when it was discontinued and its author to be familiar with our Reformed Forms of Unity and,
disappeared from our ranks. We now purpose to in a general way at least, know the contents of the
resume the same, though it be in a different form. For Heidelberg Catechism, the Belgic Confession and the
it is not our purpose in these articles to present our        Canons of Dordt. It is not the privilege or calling of
,readers  with a scientific, theological treatise, to write a select few to know these articles of faith. They are
a consecutive series on the History of Dogma, whether not the possession of the clergy, nor were they com-
along the historical or along the doctrinal line of de-       posed as a rule of faith only for the divines of the
velopment. Rather is it our purpose to select certain' Church. They are the possession of all, and every
 doctrines, as they are embodied in our Reformed Con- Church-member is supposed to subscribe to them, when
 fessions and trace their development through history he confesses in that particular Church his faith. And,
 in a manner that may be enjoyed by all that are inter- therefore, we may  we11 emphasize the need of doc-
 ested in the knowledge of the truth. We purpose, trinal instruction. There are many, indeed, that
 therefore, to write neither history nor doctrine but,, vehemently protest against dogma and doctrinal in-
 as the general heading of this department suggests,          struction, by which, as they allege, Church is separated
 sketches.  If, therefore, the reader just detests his- from Church and barriers are raised between various
 tory, he need not turn away in disgust from these            denominations. And they would have us discard doc-
 pages, for they will not. be filled with a conglomeration trine and creed alike, and simply return to Scripture,
 of facts and dates and names of places and persons,          in order to derive all our spiritual knowledge solely
 which no one could possibly enjoy or remember. And and directly from it. But with whatever show of
 if he feels a natural aversion to theological hairsplit-     piety and semblance of sagacity such advice may be
 ting, he need not omit these articles, for they do not       given and such allegations be made, the truth is, that
 intend to offer a host of fine theological .distinctions  by it betrays ignorance of God's work in the past and a
 which no child of God can possibly live. Our intention total lack of understanding and appreciation of the
 is to write just mere sketches of a historical-doctrinal labors and struggles of the Church in years gone by,
 nature, and by sketches we mean something in a gen- on the part of him who makes such assertions. The
 eral, popular form, which we can all read and under- `truth is, of course, that the Church exists and develops
 stand and enjoy and by which all may be benefited. organically. The Church of today is only a living part
 The word sketches rather makes usthink of a few days of the Church in the past. In the past as in the present
 roaming through the country, or of a trip through the the Holy Spirit  dwehed  in the Church, enlightening
 mountains with the intention to select certain scenes her mind and leading her in a11 the truth. The fruit
 and beauty spots and to draw hasty outlines of them, of this guidance of the Holy Spirit and labor of the
 that may be finished at a more convenient time, choos- Church we possess in our doctrinal and confessional
 ing for our purpose here a river, meandering  t.hrough       heritage. And he, who, while ignoring all this labor
 the woodland, there a mere cluster of trees, mirrored and struggle of the past, would turn to Scripture
 by, the pond, yonder a deep and quiet mountain-lake,          directly, as if never  any truth had been elicited from
 surrounded by whispering pines. A sketch is a pic- it in the past, acts like the member of the body that
 ture, it is something that easily interests, it is gen-       refuses to be part of the whole and claims existence
 eral in form. Thus we will attempt to draw historical-        for itself independent from the body. And the prac-
  doctrinal pictures, roaming through the fields and           tical result is deplorable. The ignorance that is dis-
 woods, traveling over the mountains and descending played in those circles, where confessions and  dot-'
 into the deep ravines  o,f past theological thinking, for trines are contrabande,  not only from a doctrinal and
 the purpose of tracing somewhat the origin of the             confessional point of view, but even with regard to
      doctrinal heritage we received from the fathers.         Scripture they claim to study directly, is indeed
         Such a study cannot be fruitless.                     astounding. And, therefore, we cannot easily over-
         Of course, it is important, first of all, that we be- estimate the importance of doctrinal instruction,
      come acquainted with the heritage itself. It cannot be through which, entirely in harmony with the organic
      overemphasized, especially in our day, that the Church development of God's Covenant and Church in the line
      in general must be acquainted with the truth as, by      of generations, the precious heritage of the truth of
      hard and incessant labor, accompanied with continual God's revelation is preserved and transmitted from


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          43

age to age. Reformed ministers shall do well to exert trine would be impossible ; now it is not, such a history
all their power and influence in this direction, in order is but natural. Scripture is the organic-historical rev-
that the Church may consciously possess the treasure elation of the truth as it centers in Christ, the Word
of the substance of her faith.                               become flesh, Immanuel,  God with us. All. the truth
    But, although the study of doctrine itself, the con- the Church now consciously possesses or ever will pos-
scious appropriation itself of the heritage of the           sess as long she is in the world, is deposited in that
fathers is of prime importance, an investigation into        written Word of God. But it does not present it in
the history and development of the various elements in systematic, dogmatic form. The mind of the Church,
the substance of our faith is also replete with instruc- however, appropriating that truth by reflecting upon
tion and interest. Sueh a study yields more than one the Scriptures, is so constituted, that it cannot rest
advantage.                                                   till it has logically conceived of these truths embedded
    First of all it will surely be an aid to a better and    in the Holy Scriptures. "It has been, therefore, in
fuller and more thorough understanding of those  ,doc-       obedience to a natural and normal impulse that the
trines that are embodied in our own confessions. Even        Church in all ages has attempted a construction of
as we will understand and know the details of a cer-         Christian doctrine" (Sheldon,  History of Christian
tain structure more fully if we follow its construction Doctrine, I, p. 3). In this labor of attempting a logical
step by step, as it was built according to the original      and systematic construction of the truth of Holy Writ,
plan, so we will learn to appreciate and understand the Church had the assurances  of the guidance of the
those doctrines which at the present are accepted by         Holy Spirit, Who dwells in her and leads .her into all
us, more thoroughly after we have traced their devel- the truth. And it is the conjunction and co-operation
opment somewhat through the course of history. To            of this threefold factor, the revelation of God in
understand our country, its form of government, its          Christ as we possess it in Scripture, the guidance of
customs and traditions, one must study American his- the Holy Spirit in the Church and the normal tendency
tory. To have a clear conception of the importance           of the mind of the Church to attempt a logical  con-
and implication of our doctrines, one must surely struction.of the truth, that make for the History of
study them, but is also greatly benefited by investigat- Doctrine.' And a study of this history certainly will
ing their history. The truth of this will be  felt im-       yield the benefit of a clearer and profounder under-
mediately, if we apply these statements to our own standing of the doctrines embodied in our Confessions.
recent history. The Three Points, adopted by the                Besides, such a study will bring into boIder  relief
Christian Reformed Churches in 1924 certainly may be before our believing consciousness the positive and
understood in their falsity and subtle errors, also by orthodox historical line of doctrines as developed in the
those that are not acquainted with the history of them.      past.
But how much easier to understand are they for our              The Church of the present certainly must, in a doc-
own people, who are not only acquainted with the his- trinal sense of the word, take its stand on that positive
tory of these Points, but know that history by experi- historical line. We must be, in the healthy sense, con-
ence ! They can trace them to their source. They know        servative and historically  confessionaL     It seems to
,what influences were at work in the formulation of me, that this position involves especially three ele-
them. They still remember the circumstances `under ments. In the first place it implies that we may not
which the Church gave birth to them. Then, too, they separate ourselves from the past and attempt an indi-
are acquainted with' the immediately  preceding history vidualistic reconstruction of the truth, while ignoring
of the  danssen struggle. And thus they are able to and treating with disdain all the labors of the Church
understand the contents of these Points of doctrine,         of the past.  I Such is false progressivism. It would
not  o&y in the abstract and by themselves, but in the condemn any statement of the truth merely on the
interesting and instructive `light of their history.         ground that it is old and traditional. Such a position
   Thus it is with respect to every point of doctrine        is  faIse because it refuses to recognize the unity of the
in our Confessions.                                          Church of all ages and the guidance of the Holy Spirit
   They all had a history.                                   in past centuries. And in opposition to it, we assume
   They are the result of a long struggIe  to attain to      the standpoint, that the past must surely be our basis,
the truth, a struggle often against false doctrines and that we gratefully accept the results of theological
heresies of every kind. For Scripture is, indeed, at         thinking and Iabors performed by the Church that is
once the source and the sole criterion of every doctrine     now triumphant, and earnestly try to make our home
of the believing Church, but itself is not a Creed,          in the doctrinal mansion they have raised for us. We
neither a system of theology, nor a handbook in Dog- do not lay a new foundation and raise a new structure
matics. A doctrine is a definitely formulated truth but live in the house they built. In the second place,
which is as such (in the sense in which we take it           however, this position certainly implies that we also
here) officially accepted and sealed by the Church,          assume a true critical attitude over against their labors
whetfier  by the Church in general or by a certain           and earnestly endeavor to distinguish and separate
Church. But the Word of God is not a catalogue of            the true from the false. In the ultimate sense Scrip-
such formulated truths. If it were, a history of doc-        ture is and always must remain our final court of  ap-

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

peal, our sole standard and criterion, by which  all the      cient precision and definiteness must be restated, even
word of men must needs be judged. Doctrines, in the though it is possibly superfluous to add that this ought
form in which they present themselves to us, are to be done with the greatest precaution. And, thirdly,
human statements of divine truths. This would involve this true conservative position also implies, that it is
no difhculty  and danger if the Church militant were our serious endeavor to develop the true positive line
 only perfect and infallible. But this is by no means. of the truth; To assume that the Church of the past
the case. The Church of Christ in the world is and            did speak the last word, did express all there is to be
always was imperfect in a double sense of the word.           expressed, is to become stagnant and dead. Doctrines
In the first pIace there were in the midst of her always      must be living. They must needs continue to grow
those that had no part in her spiritual heritage, did         and increase in riches of conception. The structure in
 not partake of her'life, her faith and hope and love.        which we live is not completed. It is our calling to
 They were Israelites'according to the flesh, not accord- labor for its completion. Taking our position on the
 ing to the promise. They were Babylonians within the true and positive historical line of the truth and sep-
 gates of Jerusalem, These, however, exerted their in- arating from it, in the light of Scripture, whatever is
 fluence upon her life, and particularly upon the devel- not in harmony with the truth, we must press on and,
 opment of her faith and doctrine. They did not dis- deriving our material from the same source of Holy
 cern spiritual things spiritually. They did not per- Writ, must strive to develop the truth as it is in Jesus.
 ceive the truth, neither did they love it. Their deepest As long as our knowing is in part and we see as in a
 motive was enmity against God, and their real purpose glass darkly, this work must needs continue. Soon we
 was to pervert the truth as it is in Christ. Even in shall no more gaze into the glass but turn about and
 the earliest Churches of Apostolic times these evil men see face to face to know even as we are known. Till
 were present in the Churches.  *But they did exert then the struggle and labor must be carried on.
 their influence. They took part, often with keen in-            To accomplish this we must remain acquainted
 terest, in controversies and doctrinal debates. Not in- with the history of doctrine.
 frequently they occupied places of importance-and in-           For it brings the  .Church of the present into a
 fluence in the Church. And they often werehelegated living communion with the past and it is able to guard
 to gatherings of great doctrinal significance, and had       us against  superficiahy  condemning or disdainfully
 and made use of the opportunity to impress their own ignoring what God wrought through His now tri-
 type of conceptions upon the dogmatical conclusions of umphant and gIorified  Church. It strengthens us in
 such ecclesiastical gatherings. But, in the second place, the assurance that the truth as we may possess it .in
 the true spiritual children of the Church are not per- our Confessions is the truth, indeed, when we discover
 fect but imperfect saints. They are not free from sin that these Confessions are in harmony with the posi-
 except in principle. They are sti.lI liable to error. And tive historical line of the development of the truth. It
 not only are they subject still to error and deceit be- reveals to us, how the wisdom that is from below
 cause of the imperfection of their knowledge, but sin always opposed the truth and combatted the positive
 frequently dominates their will and desires and their faith of the Church and it makes us acquainted with
 secret motives. They are not always inspired by pure the methods employed and the arguments used by this
 motives when seemingly they struggle to attain to and power of false philosophy. It enables us to discern
 to maintain and preserve the truth. Personal ambi- the true and distinguish it from the false, and it warns
 tions, honor of men, hatred and jealousies, sad though us against a repetition of the same errors that were
 it may be to express these things, certainly entered in made in past ages of the Church's history. It shields
 and were not conducive to a clear and pure expression us against  the tendency of our own conceit, through-
 of the truth as it is in Scripture. The truth is some- which we easily imagine that we are actually  advanc-
 times perverted by the Church to satisfy personal            izlg the truth, while we only repeat what had been
 ambition and give vent to personal hatred. How true developed  long ago. And it is an incentive to labor for
 this is we may verify from our own experience, if we tile perfection  of the doctrinal structure, on the basis
 only recall the Synod of Kalamazoo of the Christian          of the past and along the lines revealed in the Word
 Reformed Churches in 1924. But as it is today, so it of God.
 was also in the past. And because of these factors                                                                       H. II.
 always entering into the development of doctrine, the                             -         -    -         ,
 Church of the present must needs assume a healthy                  DANIEL,  ZIJN  PERSOON  EN  ROEPING
 critical attitude and never forget, that not the tenets
 of men but Holy Writ is her sole infallible rule for is het onderwerp  van de lezing door Ds. H. Hoeksema
 faith and life. While dwelling in the structure of doc- in the Fuller Ave. Kerk, 18 October as.
 trines raised by the Church of the past, we neverthe- Aanvang 7 :45.                                             Hollandsche  taal.
 less always investigate and criticize the building, caus-
 ing the light of the Word to shine into every nook and         Enkele stukken  moeten geheel of gedeeltelijk  blij-
 corner.    What is false must be separated from the          ven liggen,  wegens gebrek aan plaatsruimte;                    a
 truth. What was not stated correctly or with  sti-                                                              DE REDACTIE


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R              '                          47
dige  gewaarwordingen kunnen verhaien. Hier staat ning van Jeruzalems schuld als onze schuld en belijde-
er een weifelend met Ben been op de brug en met  &en       nis daarvan voor den Heere, en een wandelen op de
been in Jeruzalem, angstig de drommen nastarend. oude paden der waarheid, strijdende den goeden  strijd.
Een ander is ten halve erover gestrompeld, maar van Dan komt er zeker sieraad voor as& en een kroon der
harte gaat het niet; en hij rust steunend op de leuning overwinning: door  U  a&en!
der gemeene gratie,  terwi.jl zijn oog soms voor-, soms        Diepe duisternis ligt over ons Sioux Center.  Ik
achterwaarts  blikt. Zij  lieten het toe, dat die brug schrok, toen  ik op de klok keek. `t Is v&r, zeer v&r na
daar kwam. Ze  kwamen  soms halfslachtig,  moppe-          middernacht. Het is eigenaardig, ik heb eigenlijk  &k
rend aandragen met een plank of een tonnetje  draad-       niet gefluisterd. Alles wat ik hoorde is het krassen
nagels. En wanneer een zeer kleine minderheid van van mijn pen en soms hoorde ik ook dat `met. `k Ga
Sian's wachters met geweld het bouwen wilden  keeren, slapen en roep u  allen  een onhoorbaar  goeden   nacht
lieten  ze het toe of hielpen mee (in de nchterhoede, be- toe, vrienden.
dektelijk)  die getrouwen te verdringen. En het resul-                                                    G. V.
taat is, dat ze hun kracht kwijt zijn. Wie herinnert
zich niet sommigen dier ouden of bijna ouden, hoe ze
vroeger aan gene zijde der brug in Jeruzalem's straten                     C O N T R I B U T I O N
zoo wonderschoon de liederen Sion's zongen I Zij kweel-             `CALVIN IN THE LIGHT OF THE
den en kwinkeleerden in zoete zangen van die groote                           THREE POINTS
liefde Gods voor zijne uitverkoren Sionieten! Ze gin-
gen rondom Sion, telden hare torens, beschouwden  aan-         Ever since the Synod of the Christian Reformed
dachtiglijk hare paleizen en vertelden het van gesiacht Church of 1924, there has been considerable agitation
tot geslacht, hoe God groot was in Sion. Zij haatten       in the camp of the defenders of the Three Points to
de God haters; zij ijverden tegen Filistijn en Moabiet.    propagate the idea that the formulation of these Points
Ze streden trouwelijk op de muren van Jeruzalem.           was based upon historically Reformed truth. In order
   En nu ?  Ik  herken sommigen hunner bijna niet          to substantiate  tms statement, the foremcst of the de-
meer. Door hun toedoen, dwalen Jeruzalem's  doch-          fenders searched the writings of the various reformed
ters in Edom rond en ze noemen God goed %k in de           theologians from the sixteenth and the seventeenth
landpalen der Filistijnen. Hun gezang, hetwelk  voor-      centuries and of later date. Many lectures have been
heen Gods volk  zoo bekoorde, is veranderd in een valsch devoted to prove that the action of the Synod of 1924
geschreeuw, vol van nare dissonanten. Hun frissche         was in conformity with the historical development of
,kracht zijn ze kwijt. De drieste, jonge goddeloozen Reformed theology. It stands to reason that in these
hebben hun de troffel en het zwaard uit de  handen ge-     lectures much use has been made of statements found
rukt ; en @j bouwen anders. Die jongen bouwen  bak-        in Calvin's  InstitUtes,   the work of Van  Mastricht,
ken, die geen water houden en keeren het zwaard tegen and in those of others. The Synod at least, in order to
Gods lieveiingen. En die ontrouwe ouden zien het - prove its contention, called for support upon the writ-
zij staan er bij - zij verroeren zich niet. Zij schreien ings of these theologians. Some quotations have been
niet om de afval die groot werd. Hun naam is wacht- made which you will find in the Acta Synodi  of 1924.
hond, maar ie bassen niet.                                    It is not our intention to give you a detailed thesis
   Zou ons hart daarover niet bloeden? Zouden wij          of Calvin's teachings in re the Points in question. We
met schreien om de breuke der dochter Sions. 0 ! neen, desire to meet Synod upon its own ground bs attempt-
denk niet dat,  waar  wij verjaagd en verdreven van ing to prove that the quotations of Calvin really have
verre staan, zouden  rdepen: ha, ha. Dat doet geen         nothing to do with the issue, and by showing that the
rechtgeaard Sioniet. Jeruzalem's zonde is onze zonde. intended quotations do not contain the whole truth of
Ook mede door ons is de getrouwe stad een hoer  gewor-     this Reformed theologian. It appears somewhat de-
den. Wij bidden den Heere, dat Hij geve schuldbesef plorable, and not very scholarly, to have to fail so mis-
en bekeering, terugkeer tot den Heere. Wij vragen, of erably in the attempt to use these quotations of the
het Hem believen moge, het schuim op het allerreinste Institutes  properly, and yet not to be able to dis-
af te zuiveren ; wij smeeken Hem, Zich te troosten over    criminate the truth  which they contain.     No doubt
Zijne wederpartijders,  zich te wreken  aan Zijne  vijan- most of us will recall that our "Editor-in-Chief" has
den. Opdat er terug keere onze  Richters als in het called our attention to the fact that Synod  - through
eerst,  en onze raadslieden als in den beginne.            its committee  - has quoted statements from Van
   En nu weten  we, dat allen zulIen  niet wederkeeren, Zonde  en Genade, which in turn were quotations taken
a&  zullen  niet weenende hunne zonden belijden.           from the late Dr. A. Kuyper's Gemeene Gmtie,  and the
Nochtans zal Jeruzalem gebouwd  worden,  en  hat  volk     Synod condemned the brethren in question upon a
zal een getrouwe stad genoemd worden. De Heere der statement of its greatest supporter. It is evident,.
heirscharen  zal al zijn welbehagen  doen. Worde er therefore, that if Synod made this unpretended( ?)
slechts bij ons gevonden geen bitterheid, geen spot, and unpremeditated ( ?) error in this instance, there is
geen  hoogmoed, want ook wij zijn stof en leem; alleen no reason why it should not have made many others.
dit Worde gevonden en dat door Gods genade: erken-         To maintain that Synod is infallible; as seems to be


48                                     T H E S T A N D A R D '   B E A R E R

the tendency, is to identify its decisions or declara-           The reprobate is God's instrument or agency to
tions with the Word of God. The Pope may attempt further His cause. The manifestation of His glorious
to stigmatize his declarations as being infallible, but,      kingdom is revealed also `by the damnation of those
surely you must be a Pope to do so.                           who are rejected. Nevertheless, God reveals unto them
       The first of the Three Points, as restated in its      truths which find their source in Him, because Re is
final formulation in the Acta  Synodi  1924, Article 12,      the truth. But so far as this revelation is concerned,
reads in a free translation as f0UOWS  :                      they (the reprobates) are used as mere agencies to
      . "The Synod declares that, in regard the favorable     cause its development. This, however, shows that as
attitude of God toward humanity in general, it is de-         far as the reprobates are concerned, they do not at all
termined according to Scripture and Confession that           become the recipients of God's favor or grace. This
besides the saving grace of God shown only to the elect is an entirely different matter. Subjectively the rep-
to everlasting life, there is also a certain favor or grace robates are never conscious of this favor, and objec-
of God, which He manifests to His creatures in gen- tively they  .cannot become the recipients of this favor
eral." It is evident that the emphasis of this first since God retains His identity. Blessings for the rep-
Point is: that God manifests a certain favor or grace         robates have eternal value, be it for the aleviating of
to His creatures in  generaI.  This means, then, that         their punishment, and this, too, is absurd.
cosmological creation is not implied as being the reci-          Synod seemed to think that it could quote Calvin
pient of this favor or grace of God. Very explicitly it to substantiate its claim. In so doing, it quoted The
is stated: "Zijn schepselen in het algemeen." With Institutes,  Book II, Chapter II, 16:
creatures (schepselen) are implied all rational beings,          "Nor is there any reason for inquiring what inter-
therefore excluding all other of God's creation. The course with the Spirit is enjoyed by the impious who
rational creatures are divided into two classes. The are entirely alienated from God. For when the Spirit
one contains the elect, the other is comprised of the         of God is said to dwell only in the faithful, that is to
reprobates.                                                   be understood of the Spirit of sanctification, by whom
       The argumentation of Synod appears, in the light we are consecrated as temples to God Himself. Yet it
of scriptural truth, very strange indeed. Does the de- is equally by the energy of the same Spirit that God
claration not state that the elect alone are the recipient    replenishes, actuates, and quickens  a11 creatures, and
of the saving grace of God? and does it not, in the sec- that, according to the property of each species which
ond place, state that there is a grace in general of          He has given it by the law of creation. Now, if it has
which the elect as well as the reprobates are the reci- pleased the Lord, that we should be assisted in physics,
pients ? But what do the reprobates not receive in logic, mathematics, and other arts and sciences, by
conjunction with the elect? Of course,  S,ynod  would the labor and ministry of the impious, let us make use
answer :  how prepostorous, for they (the reprobates)         of them ; lest if we neglect the use of the blessings
receive damnation. But how can this be harmonized therein fully offered  to us by God, we suffer the just
with the truth of the first Point? Should it really be punishment of negligence."
necessary to have the elect share in the same grace                              (To be Continued)
with the reprobates? Is saving grace not all  sufhcient                                          A. C. BOERKOEL.
for time and eternity? Would God withhold from His
owu the necessities of Iifo, in order to grant them these                                                    l 
blessings in conjunction with the reprobates? Let us                           IT CANNOT LAST
put it in the language of Synod. Does God manifest                      Weary now it is, and must be,
 His love for the elect by granting them saving grace,                    A.11  my Sky is overcast ;
 and does He then at the same time withhold some of                     But no cloud can be eternal,
 His love, which He desires to manifest to them in con-                   This one cannot always last!
junction with the reprobates? Rather absurd.
        If the gifts of the Spirit are a manifestation of               Drearily the storm is beating,
 God's favor or grace upon the reprobates, it follows                      Chilling rain is falling fast;
 that such gifts must have eternal value. God does not                  I am wet, and cold, and cheerless;
 do anything without a purpose, neither does He be-                        But it cannot always last.
 stow His favor upon those whom He has rejected from
 eternity. God is immutable, and being that He co.<-                     Walls of granite, stern forbidding,
 tainly maintains the identity of His act of predestina-                   Separate me from the past,
 tion. God is God, arid because He is such He cannot,                   That was erst so glad, so joyous; -
 and neither is there any proof for such statements,                       But they cannot always last!
 bless and curse the same individual at the same time.
 We  know  from Scripture that whatever the reprobates                   And what sorrows lie before me
 receive is for their damnation. If the contrary of this                   In the future drear and vast;
 truth were held, then to be sure, the reprobates would                  Ah ! I know not ! But it cheers me
 receive blessings, and these have eternal value.                          That they cannot always last.


