                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B ' E A R E R                                    55  i

het voorwerp, dat het bereikt, en  werpt  het beeld van                    THE POOL OF BETHESDA
het voorwerp op het oog van dier en mensch. In het
licht zien wij het licht. In het licht zijn  hemel  en            Could we ascertain what the feast was to which  :
aarde, menschen dier en plant Ben in gemeenschap met Jesus went up, and at which he healed the man beside i
elkander. In het licht is het leven der schepping Gods.        the pool of Bethesda, it would go far to settle the  ::
   Daarom is dan ook dit physisch licht tegelijk  voor-        question as to the length of our Lord's ministry ; but
,waarde  en beeld van een hooger licht, op welks bezit after all the labor that has, been bestowed on the in- :
de mensch is aangelegd. Want immers het eeuwige vestigation, it remains still uncertain whether it was i
Woord, dat het licht der wereld en in de wereld is, de the Passover, or one of the other annual feasts. If it :
uitstraling en openbaring der gedachten Gods in Zijne was the Passover  - as, upon the whole, we incline to
schepselen, was ook het leven der menschen. Zijn licht think it was, as John mentions three other Passovers,
straalde in het kenvermogen van den mensch. En one occurring before, and two after this one - Christ's
door dat licht, waarvan de zondige mensch nog slechts ministry would come to be regarded as covering a
een klein overblijfsel heeft, kon hij niet alleen de  din-     space of about three years and a half; if it were one
gen opvangen, door middel van het stoffelijk licht, op         or the other lesser festivals, a year or more, according
zijn oog en de schepping Gods waarnemen. Dat kan to the festival which is fixed upon, must be deducted
in zekeren zin ook het dier. Maar bij dat hooger licht from that period. This much at least appears certain,
kon hij ook de dingen  kennen en de gedachten Gods             that it was our Lord's second appearance in Jerusalem
nadenken en lezen in de schepping. Maar tevens is dat after His baptism, and that it occurred at or near the
licht der schepping ook beeld van het licht der liefde,        close of a year, the most of which had been spent in
dat door den Heiligen Geest in onze harten  uitgestort         Judea. On the occasion of the second visit, Jesus went
wordt, zoodat wij God in liefde kunnen kennen, Zijn one Sabbath-day to walk through the colonnades that
leven in ons dragen,  in kennisse Gods gemeenschap were build round a large swimming bath, called the
met Hem hebben, Zijne liefelijkheden  kunnen  aan-             pool of Bethesda. Tradition has for many years
schouwen en straks kennen zodals we ook gekend zijn. pointed to a large excavation 360 feet long, 130 feet ;
                                                      H. H.    broad, and 75 feet deep, lying outside the north wall
                                                               of the Harem enclosure, and near to St. Stephan's gate,
                                                               as having been the pool. The peculiar character of  its,
         KENNISGEVING  AAN DE BROEDERS TE                      masonry established the fact that it must have ,been
            -HUDSONVILLE  EN OMSTREKEN                         intended originally as a reservoir for water.. At one
                                                               of its corners there are two arched openings or vaults*
   Donderdagavond, 8 Nov,  hoopt  de fmancieele com- extending backward to an unknown distance forming
mittee van THE STANDARD BEARER eene vergadering te             part, it may have been, of the porches of which the
`houden,  met de broeders aldaar, in de Hudsonville Evangelist speaks. These porches, on the day on which  i
Protesting Church.                                             Jesus visited them, were crowded. They formed one,
    Doe1  `der vergadering is om een blik te slaan in het of the cities resorts ; and besides numbers of others,
beloop  van den Vaandel-Drager ; de onderscheidene that frequented them for the ordinary use of the
plaatsen die hij bezoekt, het aantal lezers, enz.              waters, there lay around a great multitude of the blind,
    Als hoofdspreker zal optreden Mr. J. Doezema, the halt, the withered, waiting for the moving of the j
manager van de Reformed Free Publishing Associa- water. If we accept the account given in the forth  v
tion.                                                          verse of the fifth chapter, the moving of the water, and i
                          Namens den Penningmeester,  '        the healing virtue temporarily bestowed upon it during !
                                                     F. P.     the period of its commotion, were due to angelic
                                                               agency.
                                                                  Wandering through the crowded porches, and look-
         Neen, Heer ! ik wil van U niet scheiden,              ing at the strange array of the diseased waiting there
           `k Blijf  d' Uw' altijd! blijf Gij de mijn'!        for the auspicious moment, the eye of Jesus rests on
         Uw liefde moet alom mij leiden,                       one who wears a dejected and dispairing look as if he
           Uw leven moet mijn leven zijn;                      had given up all hope. Thirty-eight years before the
         Uw licht moet schijnen in mijn huis :                 powers of life and motion had been so enfeebled that:
         Bij kruis naar kracht, en kracht naar kruis.          it was with the greatest difficulty, and at the slowest;
                                                               space, he could creep along the ground. His friends:
         Dan blijft mijn ziel voor U gewonnen,                 had got tired, perhaps, of helping him otherwise, and!
           Dan wint mijn ziel door U in kracht ?               as their last recourse, had carried him to the porches
         Het werk, in needrigheid begonnen,                    of the pool, and  Ieft him there to do the best for him-
           Wordt dan in heerlijkheid volbracht !               self he could. And he had done that best often and
         Wat in de winds'len sliep, ontbot,                    often, yet had failed. Every time the troubling of the
           En komt in `t licht, en rijpt voor God.             water came, he had made the effort, but every time he:
                                                      N. B.    had seen some one of more vigor and alertness, or bet-

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

ter helped, get in before him and snatch the benefit          said ; nothing more to have passed between the two;
out of his hands. Jesus knew all this; knew how long but the short sentence, what a light it threw upon the
it had been since the paralytic stroke first fell on him ;    distant past  - reminding the man that it had been to
how long it was since he had been brought to try the          the sins of ,h.is, youth that he had owed the eight and
efficacy of these waters; how the expectation of cure, thirty years of infirmity that had followed; and what a
at first full and bright, had been gradually fading from solemn warning did they carry as to the future  - re-
his heart. To rekindle the dying hope, to fix the man's minding him that if, on being restored to strength, he
attention on Himself, Jesus bends over the bed on should return to sin a'still worse thing than so many
which he lies, looks down at him and says, Wilt thou          years of bodily infirmity might be in store for him.
be made whole? Were the words spoken in mockery?              Jesus gives this .warning  and passes on. Recognizing
That could not be; a glance at the speaker was suffi-         Him at once as He who had cured him beside the pool,
cient to prove it. But the question surely would not          the man inquires about Him of the bystanders, and
have been asked had the speaker known how helpless            learns now who He is. And he goes and tells the Jews ;
was he to whom it was addressed. He said, "I have no          not, let us hope, from any malicious motive, or any
man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the           desire to put an instrument into the hands of Christ's
pool, but while J am coming another steppeth down             enemies. Considering when and how he had so long
before me." As he gives this explanation, he looks up been lying, he may have known so little of all that had
more earnestly into the. stranger's face - a face he          recently happened, as to imagine that he was at once
had never seen before - and gathers a new life and            pleasing the rulers, and doing a service to Jesus, by
hope from the expression of sympathy, the look of             informing them about his cure. But it was no new
power that countenance conveys.                               intelligence that he conveyed. The Jews, we presume,
   "Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and          knew well enough who had effected this cure. But it
walk." The command was instantly obeyed. The cure was the first instance in which they had heard of Jesus'
was instantly complete. The short time, however, that healing on the Sabbath-day  - of itself in their eyes a
it had taken for him to stoop and lift the mattress on violation of its sanctity ; and as it would appear that,
which he lay, had been sufficient for Jesus to pass on,       not content with this offense, He had added another in
and be lost among the crowd. The stopping, the ques- ordering the man to carry on that day a burden
tion, the command, the cure, all had been. so sudden, through the streets - a thing strictly and literally
the man had ,been  so taken by surprise, that he doubts       prohibited by the law - it may have gratified the Jews
whether he would be able to recognize the stranger if to be able to convict Jesus of a double breach of the
he saw him again. Lifting his bed, and rejoicing in Sabbath-law by direct and indubitable evidence from
the new sensation of recovered strength, he walks the man's own lips. You can Imagine the secret though
through the city streets in search of his old home and malignant satisfaction with which they got and
friends. The Jews - an expression by which, in the grasped this weapon, and at once of defense and of
Gospel, John always means, not the general commun- assault; how they would use it in vindicating their
ity, but some of the ecclesiastical heads and rulers of       rejection of Christ as a teacher sent from God, for,
the people - the Jews see him as he walks, and ,say           could God send a  msn who would be guilty of such
to him : "It is the Sabbath-day ; it is not lawful for flagrant breaches of the law? How they would use it
thee to carry thy bed." No answer could be more in carrying out those purposes of persecution already
natural, as no excuse could be more valid, than that          brooding in their breasts.
which the man gave when he said: "He that made me                Their hostility to Jesus, which had been deepening
whole, the same said unto me, Take up they bed and            ever since His daring act of cleansing the temple, now
,walk." His challengers.do  not ask him anything about reached its height. From this time forth  - and it
,the healing - as soon as they hear of it, they suspect deserves to be especially noted as having occurred at
,who the healer was - but fixing up the act in which so early a stage, inasmuch as it forms the key to much
the breach of the  Sabbath+lay,  and `as if admitting the of our Lord's subsequent conduct - they sought to
validity of the man's defense, in throwing the responsi- slay him, because He had done those things on the Sab-
bility of that act upon Him who had ordered him to            bath-day. But though the purpose to slay Him was
do it, "They ask him, What man is that which said unto        formed, it was not expressed, nor attempted to be car-
thee, Take up thy bed and walk?" He could not tell,           ried out. Things were not yet ripe for its execution.
and  so-the conversation by the wayside dropped.              Jesus might be convicted as a Sabbath-breaker, and
   Soon after the healed man is in the temple,  thank-        all the opprobrium of such a conviction be heaped upon
`ing God, let us believe, for the great mercy bestowed        His head ; but as things then stood, it would not be
upon him. Jesus, too, is there ; but they might have          possible to have the penalty of death inflicted. upon
passed without the healed recognizing the healer. It          Him on that ground. They must wait and watch for
was not the purpose, however, of our Lord that it             an opportunity of accusing Him of some crime which
should be  so: Finding the man among the  worship-            will carry that penalty even in the eyes of the Roman
pers, He says to him,"`Sin no more lest a worse thing Judge.
come unto thee." Nothing more seems to have been                 Though not serving them much in this respect,


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEA,RER                                         57

they have not to wait long till, in their very presence tionship forbade it that the Son ever could or would
- so that they have no need to ask for other proof - assert for Himself any such independence of the
Jesus commits a still higher offense than that of violat- Father as the creature, in its willfulness and sinful-
ing the Sabbath. Aware of the charges that they were ness, is apt to assert for itself. But though all such
bringing against Him as to His conduct at the pool of separation and independence of council and of action
Bethesda, He seizes upon some public opportunity is here precluded, so complete is the concert that what
when He could openly address the rulers ; and in an- things soever  the Father doeth the same doeth the Son
swer to the special accusation of having broken the likewise. Some things that the great Divine Master
Sabbath, He says to them, "The rest into which my Workman does, a superior scholar may copy or imi-
Father entered after the work of creation, of which tate. But Jesus does not say, what things the Father
your earthy Sabbath-rest is but a type, was not one does, the Son does other things somewhat like them;
of inactivity  - of the suspension, cessation of His but the same things and whatever things the Father
agency in and over the vast creation He had formed.      doeth, the same doeth the Son, and doeth them like-
He worketh on still ; worketh on continuously, without wise, i.e., in the very same manner, by the exercise of
distinction of days, through the Sabbath-day as the same power, for the furtherance of the same ends.
through all days, sustaining ; preserving, renewing,         In. far greater works than that simply of healing,
vivifying, healing. Were this work divine to cease, will the unity of action between them be made to ap-
there would not even be that earthy Sabbath for you pear. One of these greater works is that of quicken-
to rest in. And as He, my Father, worketh, so work I, ing the dead, by the incommunicable .prerogative  of
His Son, knowing as little of distinction of days in my the Creator. This prerogative the Father and the Son
work as He. By process of nature, as you call it. - have equally. As He wills and by His will, the Father
`that is, by the hand of my Father - a man is often quickeneth; so, too, does the Son. The highest form of
cured on the Sabbath-day. And it is only what He life is that which is breathed into souls spiritually
thus does that I have done, and my authority for doing dead. The life is of the Son's imparting equally as of
so is this, that I am His Son."                          the' Father. It comes through the hearing of Christ's
   Whatever the  difficulty the men to whom His word'; through a believing in the Father as He who
offense of the alleged Sabbath-breaking was offered, sent the Son. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour
may have had either in understanding its nature or is coming and now is, when the dead - the spiritually
appreciating its force, one thing is clear, that they dead - shall hear the, voice of the Son of God, and
did at once and.most  clearly comprehend that in speak- they that hear shall live. Another work peculiar to
ing of God as His Father in the way He did, Jesus was Divinity is that of judging; approving, condemning,
claiming to stand to God, not simply in the relation- assigning to every man at last, in strict accordance
ship of a child, such a relationship as that in which with what he is, and has been, and has done, his palce
we all, as the creatures of His power and the preserved and distiny. Who but the all-wise, all-just, all-gracious
of His providence, may be regarded as standing - but God is competent for such a task?          But that task in
in that of a close personal, peculiar.  sonship belonging the outward execution of it, the Father has devolved
to Him alone, involving in it, as all true  flliation does, upon the Son, giving Him authority to execute it, be-
unity of nature between the Father and the Son. It cause He is not simply the Son of God, in which char-
was thus that the Jews understood Jesus to speak of acter He needs not such authority to be conveyed to
the Father and of Himself, when He so associated Him ; but because He is also the Son of man, and it is
Himself with the Father, as to imply that if His in that mediatorial office with which He is invested,
Father was not a breaker of the Sabbath in healing that He is to sit upon the Throne of Judgment at the
men upon that day, neither was He, His Son ; and so last day, when all the inhabitants of the earth shall
they sought the more to kill Him, because He had not stand before His tribunal. Should this, then, be a sub-
only broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was ject for marvel? For the hour was coming, though not
His own Father, making Himself equal with God.           yet come, when all that are in their graves shall hear
    If the Jews had misunderstood Jesus, what was         Christ's voice and shall come forth ; they that have
easier than for Him to have said so ; to have denied done good to the resurrection of life, and they that.
and repudiated the allegation that He had intended to have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation.
claim anything like equality with God? Instead of Having thus unfolded the great truth of the unity of
this, what does Jesus do? He goes on to reassert, to will, purpose and action, between the Father and the
explain, and to expand what had been implied in Son, Jesus ceases to speak of Himself in the third per-
the expression He had employed. Anything like such son, and proceeds onward to the close of His address,
distinction between the Father and the Son as that the to speak in the first person, and that in the plainest
One would or could judge, or will, or act independently way, of the testimonies that had been borne ,to Him,
of the other  - without or against the other - He that of the Father, that of John, that of His own
emphatically repudiates : "Verily, verily, I say unto works, that of the Holy Scriptures, all of which these
you, the Son can do nothing of Himself"; "I can of my Jews had wilfully rejected. Now the accused becomes
own self do nothing." The very nature of the rela- the accuser. Now He who had been charged as a Sab-

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

             bath-breaker, rises to the height of that very  erevation     ing Himself front to front with  the Jewish rulers. -4t
            which they had regarded Him as a profane and blas- first the question between them seems to refer only to
            phemous man for venturing to claim: and He tells the right keeping of the Sabbath. Had Jesus as a man,
      ; these unbelieving Jews, as one knowing the hearts of as a Jew, broken the Sabbath-law in curing a man
           i men and entitled to judge and exercising that very            upon that day? Had He broken it in telling the man
            authority with which, as the Son of man, He had been He healed to carry His bed through the city? Had the
      I clothed  - He tells them that they had not the love of Jews not misunderstood, overstrained the law; sticking
            God in them, nor His word abiding in them ; that they to its letter and violating its spirit? These were  grave
      did not believe Moses when he wrote of Him; that                     questions, with which, Jesus afterward did deal, when
      t much as they reverenced their Scriptures, they only on another Sabbath He volunteerend another cure. But
            believed in them as far as they tallied with their own         here Christ waives all lesser topics  - that among the
            thoughts and fancies. Still further He declares that rest, of the right interpretation of the Sabbath-law  -
      ; there was this great obstacle in the way of their re- and uses the antecedent circumstances as the basis on
            ceiving one who came to them as Jesus did, in the name         which to assert, and then amplify and defend, the
      1 of the Father's will, that they were all to busy seeking truth of His true and only son-ship to the Father. His
            after the honor that came from men minding earthly            ministry in Judea was now about to close. Aware of
      I things, and seeking not the honor that came from the              the design against His life which had now been
      one only living and true God; attributing thus all their formed, and wishing to baffle for a season, He retires
      : perverseness to, moral causes, to co-operating within,            to Galilee. But He will not leave Jerusalem till He
            over which they should have had control; this being has given one full and public testimony as to who and
      ! their condemnation that they would not come to Him what He is, so that the Jews, in continuing to reject
      that they might have life.                                          Him, shall not have it in their power to say that He
      j            If Jesus were but a man, what are we to make of        has not revealed His Sonship  nor expressed to them the
            such a discourse as this? What are we to make of the real grounds upon which their opposition to Him is
      i first part of it, in which He speaks of the Father and based.
      j His connexion with Him? What of the second part                      Such was the special drift and bearing of the
      !-..of it, in which He speaks to the Jews and of their treat- address of Jesus as originally delivered to the Jews.
      ; ment of Him? We know not which would be the worst,                                                            G. M. 0.
      I  - if this  were  but a man speaking of the Creator,
      / and to his fellows. ' It can only relieve him from the
      ( guilt and profane assumption toward God, and  un-                           STEMJHEN  UIT  HEY!  WESTEN
      1 licensed liberty with man, to believe that Jesus was                 Meestal  wacht ik tot het  stille avonduur,  vooraleer
      ; really that which the Jews regarding Him as claiming ik er mij toe zet om een weinig te fluisteren yoor de
      j to be, the Son of, the equal with, the Father, whom all           lezers  van ens blad. Misschien werkt de verbeeldings-
      men should honor even as they honor God.                            kracht we1 beter des avonds dan overdag : ens wereldje       ,
               But let us attend once more to the circumstances           wordt dan zoo klein ; er is minder dat afleidt ; ook
      ' under which this discourse was spoken, and to the  ob-            brengt de avond veelal stilte en rust. In elk geval, dan
      1 ject which, in the first instance, as at first delivered, it is het de tijd voor gezellig verkeer of rustig gesprek.
      ! was intended to serve. Jesus voluntarily, intentionally,             Kom, stook dan uw kachel nog wat op, trek uw stoel
      j created the occasion for its delivery. The miracle here           naderbij, steek een versche pijp op of haal de breikous
           - the healing of the impotent man at the Pool of               uit het korfje - ik heb behoefte om nog eens weer met
      i Bethesda - was a wholly secondary or subordinate u te praten.
      / matter, intended to bring Christ into that relationship              Toen  ik u de laatste maal sprak, dreigde er sneeuw
      1 with the Jewish rulers, which called for and gave its             te  zullen vallen.  Edoch,  we hebben daarna hier een
           fitness and point to this address.      Why did Jesus der schoonste "Indian Summers" gehad, die ge u  den-
      j choose a Sabbath-day to walk in the porches of Beth- ken kunt. Maar die is ook weer voorbij, en vandaag
           esda? Why did He do what only on one or two occa- was het echt herfstweer: guur, kil, regenachtig. Met
           sions afterwards, He did, instead of waiting to be ap-
      i                                                                   najaar is nu werkelijk aangebroken.
            plied to, I-r-nnself  single out the man and volunteer to        Uit een zeker oogpunt is dit een zeer  goed   najaar.
      ' heal him? Why did He not simply cure the man, but Alles wijst er heen,  dat de boeren  een zeer goeden  oogst
           bid him also take up his bed and walk? He might have zullen binnenhalen of al gedeeltelijk binnengehaald
      ; chosen another day, and then, in the story of the cure,           hebben. Beide het  kleine graan ("oats" en "barley")
      ' we should have had but another instance added to the en de "corn". hebben den geheelen zomer er rijk  voor-
      j many of the exertions of our Lord's Divine and  be- gestaan; het kleine graan is geoogst en gedorscht; en
 r neficent power. He might have simply told the man                      de  wagens  staan reeds klaar om  .den langzamen oogst
 1 to rise up and walk, and  none could have told how the van de "corn" te beginnen. En zoo zachtjes aan vullen
 / cure had been effected, or turned it into any eharge.                  zich de kribben en schuren met duizende "bushels" van
 / He chose that day and selected that man, and He laid goud-gele  mai's. Zeker, over het geheel genomen, is er
 [ on him the command He did, for the purpose of  bring-                  een uitnemende oogst in Sioux en Lyon counties.
1,

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

neer de sneeuw  valt, hoopt  men klaar te zijn en heeft leave the impression of mental and moral superficial-
dus Sioux Center kerk en pastorie.                           ity. Nor is his appearance deceiving, for Pelagius is,
      En eindelijk Hull, onze eigen gemeente. Hier, indeed, a man of scholarly attainments. He is  well-
evenals in de andere gemeenten, gaat alles naar versed in all the learning of that time, thoroughly con-
wensch. We zijn door den Heere gezegend en genieten          versant with Greek literature and theology, and, be-
Zijn bijstand. We  hadden  nog gehoopt, dat er  wel-         sides, acquainted with the language and theology of the
licht enkelen terug zouden komen, die hier vroeger be-       Latins. Yet, with all his scholarschip and acquaintance
hooren, maar ook in dezen geldt, dat de Heere alleen with theological tenets, Pelagius is not a man of pro-
weet wat goed  voor ons is. We hebben een twintigtal         found thought nor of deep religious or moral experi-
gezinnen en zijn de catechisatien  begonnen met een ence. Lofty flights of contemplation. and spiritiual
vijftigtal  leerlingen.  Behaagt het den Heere om ook vision he neither had the power nor the desire to take ;
uit het zaad der gemeente de oogen te  openen voor de and the deep and dark ways of life, the .depths  of a
waarheid, die ons lief is, dan kan de gemeente uit de soul's experience out of which it cries in anguish of
gemeente groeien. De geschiedenis heeft ook altijd grief and true repentance to the living God, he had
geleerd dat dit ook de meest gezonde groei is. We zijn never known. His way had been rather smooth and
in Godes hand met al onze gemeenten. Dat Hij ons             even. Experimentally he had only scanned the merest
allen genade schenke om te blijven staan bij de  waar-       surface of life. The horrors of sin he had never tasted,
heid, dat het alles enkel en alleen het werk Zijner ge- what it meant to be in the power of death and of the
nade is. Dan hebben we niets meer noodig dan een devil he had never spiritually understood ; nor, on the
hart dat Hem kent, Zijn Woord bemint,  Zijn volk lief- other hand, had he ever tasted that the Lord is graci-
heeft. Dan hebben we niet tevergeefs gestreden. En ous and the joy of a soul delivered from the law of
wat ik hierboven zeide omtrent onze studenten wil ik sin and death and from the anguish of hell had never
herhalen: Ze brengen ons volk iets dat verzadigt.            been the object of his experience.
Zij er voor al onze jongens  veeI  gebed, dat het zoo           Though nothing can be asserted with certainty of
moge blijven ook in de toekomst. En zij het onze bede, the earlier life of Pelagius, of his home and childhood
dat Hij ons leide  aan Zijn trouwe Vaderhand. Dan is surroundings, his education and walk as a youth,, it is
h e t   goed.                                                generally surmised that he hailed from Britain and he
                                               w. v.         is known as the British monk. There may have been,
                                                             in those days, still a connection and, perhaps, consider-
                                                             able correspondence between the British monasteries
         SKETCHES ON THE DEVELOPMENT                         and the Eastern Church.        There, in the Eastern
                      OF DOCTRINE                            Church, the important doctrine of sin and grace had
                            II                               only been very partially and imperfectly developed.
                                                             The question that had occupied the mind of the Greek
                 AUGUSTINE   AND  PELAGIUS                   Church fathers had rather been how to oppose to the
      It is the year of our Lord four hundred and eleven.    Pagan naturalism a system of Christian morality and
      Somewhere in the sunny regions of Numidia in the persistent effort had been to place man, the Chris-
Northern Africa (is it in the historically renowned tian man, as an independent moral center over against
Carthage or in the city of Hippo, where Augustine            or in the midst of the natural forces of the universe
occupies the episcopal seat?) two men meet each other, and as a free and responsible agent in relation to God.
whose names are destined to go down in the history of The freedom of man's will had been emphasized. The
the Church and are never to be forgotten again by all        power of sin and death, it had been admitted, is, indeed
that are interested in the truth and in the history of strong, the will is weak and perverted ; the forces of
the development of doctrine.                                 evil and of temptation by the world, sinful flesh and
      If tradition may be trusted in the matter these two the devil are well-nigh overwhelming, but even so man
men are of equal age, in fact, legend has it, that they      remains a free agent and it was emphasized that sin is
are born on the same day, though in two widely dis-          always his own deed. And it is to be understood that,
tant and vastly different parts of the world. They are where such persistent efforts were made to maintain
both in the late fifties, approaching the three score the freedom of the will of sinful man and such shyness
years, from where on men prepare themselves for the was evinced to call him totally depraved and dead
last stretch of life's journey and Christians begin to through trespasses and sins, the profounder question
look forward with more fervent hope to the house not of God's grace and absolute predestination could not
made with hands, eternal in the heavens.                     even be allowed a place in the consciousness of the
      The one, who calls himself Pelagius, is a man of Church. And Pelagius may well have been influenced
scholarly.appearance  and suave manners. And one is at an early period of his life by these doctrinal tenden-
easily induced to feel a certain liking for this man, cies of the Greek Fathers.
even though it cannot be denied that his apparance,             From Britain, if the British monk he was which he
manners and mode of conversation unmistakably is reputed to be, Pelagius went to Rome, the city once

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

  famous and glorious as the heart of a mighty world-         with its literary style. Here also, he reveals to us in
 empire, but in the days  .of which we are writing nigh       his  Confessions,  which are noted for their spiritual
 unto destruction, the city, too, that was destined to sincerity and depth of life, he joined a company of
 b=ome the center of another power, ecclesiastical in         licentious young men and for a time lived in dissipa-
 nature, but also lording it over empires and bringing        tion and immorality. Finding no rest, neither seeking
 mighty monarchs to their knees before it, the power          it in the proper way, he joined the sect of the Man-
 of the Roman Catholic Church. In Rome, for a cer- icheans, whose ascetic tenets rather than their dualistic
 tainty, Pelagius was during the first decade of the fifth philosophy appealed to young Augustine, but the  con-
 century of our era, although again it cannot be  ascer- trast between whose moral teachings and their  actuai
 tained exactly at what time he came to that city. There life finally filled him with disgust, so that he severed
 he met and conversed much with a circle of men that his connection with them in the year 333. After
 zealously tried to propagate the principles of Greek having filled different positions, chiefly as professor
 Theology, with Rufinus, Paulinus, Severus and other of rhetoric, he received the appointment of professor
 ardent disciples of the same school. There also he           in Milan.    There he listened to the preaching of
 wrote a commentary on the epistles of Paul, an exposi-       Ambrose and in the year 386 was converted and bap-
 tion of the very views which would soon cause so much tized. He finally became bishop of the Church in Hippo
 disturbance and controversy in the Church, especially Regius, a city about twenty miles in a westerly direc-
 in the Church of the West. There, finally, he was tion from' Carthage. There he died in the year 430.
 joined by one of his most ardent disciples, Coelestius          His whole life, no doubt, had been adapted to form
 by name, who, being more outspoken  than'his  master, "him for the chief purpose of his life, the significant
 soon would be instrumental to kindle the fire of the         place he was to occpy in the history of the Church.
theological controversy, that led to the condemnation His early bringing up by his profoundly pious mother,
 of Pelagius and his views. With this disciple he left his study at Carthage and the sinful period of his life,
 Rome in the year four hundred and eleven for North- his temporary connection with the dualistic sect of the
 ern Africa. And so it happens that in some part of          Manicheans,  - all these factors co-operated to cause
 Numidia we meet him in conversation with Augustine. his naturally contemplative and profound mind, when
    For the other of the two men we introduced to our once he was converted, to reflect upon the deep and
 readers is none other  than the greatest of the Church serious problem of sin and  grace,  to make him profess
 Fathers in the West, Aurelius Augustinus. The latter with all his heart, that man is naturally depraved, that
 is, as to his person and life, in almost every respect his condition is hopeless in itself and that nothing but
 the very opposite of Pelagius. If of Pelagius we know free and sovereign grace can possibly translate him out
 next to nothing, except for the ten or twelve years that of darkness into the marvellous light of God.
 he appears on the stage of ecclesiastical history (after        Pelagius and Augustinus !
 the year four hundred and twenty he mysteriously dis-           What a contrast!
 appears from the historical horizon, no one knows               And yet, it appears, that when these two, so widely
 whither), the life of Augustine may be described different men, met somewhere in Numidia in the year
 almost in detail. If the former was a man of scholarly four hundred and eleven of our era, there seems to
 attainments, the latter could not boast of thorough have resulted no immediate conflict. What was the
 erudition. While the life of Pelagius undoubtedly had subject of their conversation we do not know. But it
 been even and without serious disturbances, that of could hardly be conceived that these two would meet
Augustine, from a spiritual viewpoint, had often each other, without touching upon the important ques-
resembled a tempest-swept ocean. And, lastly, while it tion in regard to which they assumed opposite posi-
could not be said of Pelagius that he was, either men- tions, the problem of sin and grace. And, perhaps, it
tally or morally, profound, Augustine's mind could not is a safe conjecture, in the light of subsequent history,
rest till it had penetrated into the mysteries of the that even in this first meeting with the bishop of Hippo
truth, and his heart found no peace till it had found the the British monk, suave and careful, knew how to
peace that passeth all understanding..                       hide his real convictions, afraid to elicit a controversy
    Augustinus was born on November 13, 353  AD.             with this mighty Christian thinker of the Latin
He was the son of a heathen father, Patricius by name,       Church.
but of a very sincere Christian mother, whose name,             For in this respect Pelagius appears to have resem-
Monica, is still living in the fond remembrance of those bled the Arminians of a later date.  ' He was careful to
mothers that are concerned about consecrating their express h.imseIf and, when called to give account of his
children to our covenant God.       His birthplace was views before ecclesiastical assemblies, was  an  expert
Tagaste, a city of Numidia in Northern Africa, but in        in the art of clothing his convictions in language that
his sixteenth year his father, pleased with his son's        would disarm even the most orthodox of his opponents.
early attainments, sent him to Carthage, to complete            But they would meet again, these two; Pelagius
his studies. There he began, for a while to search for the naturaiist,  the Deist, the moralist, the humanist,
the truth, and even began to study the Bible, which,         the defender of the freedom and goodness of man ; and
however, he ,soon  abandoned because he was disgusted        Augustinus, the theologian, the spiritual man of God,
                                                                                                    .


64                                       T'8E  ST'AI$DARD   B E A R E R

the profound and zealous servant of the Iiving God,             DANIEL,  ZIJN  BETEEKENIS ALS  PROFEET
defender of His sovereignty and glory. They would
meet again, if not in personal conference, yet on the           In Calvijn's Commentaar op de Profetie van Daniel
battlefield where spirits clash; where light and dark- is een brief ingevoegd, dien de groote hervormer des-
ness fight, where truth and error face each other in tijds richtte  aan de verdrukte en vervolgde  Protestan-
open conflict.                                               ten in Frankrijk. In dien brief schrijft Calvijn onder
      God forms, according to His counsel, men to serve meer ook het volgende:
the purpose unto which He has raised them up.                   "Dit is een der doeleinden van het gezicht, dat ons
      This is true not only of His faithful servants, that Daniel heeft verklaard. De Steen,  waardoor die konink-
are of His party, and to whom it is given of grace, not      rijken werden verwoest, die tegen God in verzet waren
only to believe in Christ's name; but also to suffer with getreden, was niet door de hand eens menschen ge-
Him ; but also of the agents of the powers of opposi-        vormd; en ofschoon hij ruw en ongepolijst  was, tech
tion, through whom  offences  must needs come, but for werd  hij een groote berg.  Ik meende, dat gij er  be-
whom it had been better that a millstone were hanged hoefte aan hadt, hieraan he&nerd te worden,  opdat
about their neck and they had been drowned in the            gij kalm  moogt blijven temidden van dreigenden  don-
depth of the sea.                                            der, terwijl de waterlooze wolken verdwijnen, wegge-
      He separates Paul from the womb to become His          vaagd, door hemelsche hand. Het ontgaat mij niet, om
witness to the gentiles; but He also raises up, in His nu maar te zwijgen van de vervolgingsvuren in de laat-
own sovereign way; the men that oppose the gospel he ste dertig jaren  ontstoken, dat gij in de laatste zes
preaches, in order that the truth may be the more maanden veel hebt  moeten doorstaan. Hoe dikwijls
clearly maintained and developed. He created and in kwam het wild gepeupel tegen u op en hoe dikwijls
due'time called Augustine, but he also, even though it werd gij aangevallen, soms met  steenen  en dan weer
be in a different sense, raises up Pelagius.                 met zwaarden ! Hoe hebben uwe vijanden tegen u
      And, though the one be from the coasts of Britain samengespannen, en hoe hebben ze uwe vreedzame
and the other from the sunny regions of Northern samenkomsten verstoord door hunne plotselinge en
Africa, he brings them together for His purpose, for         onverwachte aanvallen  van geweId ! Hoe werden som-
the conflict, for the development of the truth revealed migen gedood in' hunne woningen, anderen bij den
in His testimony and the' furtherance of the gospel. weg; terwijl de Iichamen uwer dooden als een schouw-
 , Pelagius may succeed, by means of a verbal spel werden rondgesleept, uwe vrouwen verkracht,
skirmish, to blindfold the synods in the East and to velen uwer gewond en zelfs uwe zwangere vrouwen
disarm his accusers and escape condemnation of his doorboord, hare woningen geplunderd en verwoest !
views, the final outcome will be, that error is clearly      Maar  ofschoon nog vreeselijker  dingen  u voor de deur
distinguished from the truth and that, in the end, the       zouden staan, opdat gij als Christus" echte discipelen
latter is victorious.                                        openbaar moogt worden,  in de wijsheid Zijner school
      For soon after this personal meeting with August- onderwezen, tech moet ge alles aanwenden, om te voor-
ine the British monk leaves for Palestine.                   komen, dat de woede der goddeloozen, die zoo  uitzin-
      But his more outspoken disciple  Coelestius remains niglijk handelen, u zou ontrooven die bezadigdheid en
in Carthage, where as early `as  .the' year four hundred kalmte door welke alleen ze tot hiertoe zijn verwonnen
and twelve he is convicted of the following errors :         en verslagen. En indien de  lange  duur der vervolgin-
      1. That Adam was created mortal so that he gen u terneer zou drukken en doen  verffauwen,  houdt
would have died even if he had never fallen into sin.        dan deze heerlijke profetie voor de aandacht, waarin
      2. That the sin of our first father had its injurious de  toestand  der Kerk zoo naar de werkelijkheid  getee-
effect only upon him and not at all upon his descend- kend is. God toont daarin den Joden, wat worstelin-
ants.                                                        gen en zorgen, wat troebelen en moeiten hun wachtten
      3. That, therefore, all infants are born in exactly van af het einde hunner ballingschap  en hun blijden
the same state and condition as that of Adam before terugkeer tot  aan de komst van Christus."  (Comm. op
the fall.                                                    Daniel, I, p. 71; naar het Engelsch.)
      4. That, since it is not through the death or the         In dit schoone  woord van Calvijn is metterdaad het
transgression of Adam that the whole race dies, it is eigenlijke oogpunt aangegeven, waaruit het boek
neither on account of the resurrection of Jesus Christ Daniel ons Gods Raad openbaart, het  oogpunt  van
that all must necessarily live again.                        waaruit ook wij in deze Iezingen enkele grepen wen-
      5. That the law guides into the kingdom of heaven schen te  doen uit deze heerlijke profetie.  Aan een
as well as the  gospeh                                       volledige behandeling van het boek  valt natuurlijk in
      6. That there were men who lived without sin be- enkele lezingen  niet te denken.   Zulk een  doe1 hadden
fore and apart from the coming of Christ.                    we ens dan ook niet voorgesteld. We1 moet echter  den
      To which may be added, to give the Pelagian  tenets    inhoud   dezer lezingen  geplaatst   worden  in het  licht
completely, that grace is not absolutely necessary to        van het  geheel. En daarom  moeten wij allereerst
lead to holiness, and that grace is given to men aceord-     eenigszins  verstaan het bepaalde  doe], waarop  zich de
ing to their merit.                             H. H.        profetie  van den ziener  aan Babel's hof  wil  richten.
                     I


                                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         69

                 geboden  aan Gods lijdend en worsteiend volk. Doch der  potentaten,  dat daarom de  macht  der wereld niets
                 wie dit laatste heeft, kan ook Daniel verstaan. Gods tegen hen zal vermogen. En het wordt bereikt in de
                 voIk gaat straks donkere tijden tegemoet. Wet moet verklaring der droomen van Nebukadnezar, van het
                 van, die tijden `iets weten,  opdat wanneer zij komen schrift van Belsazar, en van de gezichten, die den pro-
               ,,: i bet niet verbaasd sta, maar gelooven  moge. Het moet feet  worden getoond. En het wil niet alleen  het volk
               ):straks  een donkeren weg door naar de eeuwige over-        van de ballingschap, maar ook ons het lied der over-
                 winning. Ret moet op dien donkeren weg het licht der winning op de lippen leggen. Want nog is het einde
                 profetie hebben, opdat het niet in duisternis wandele, niet. De duisternis van den tijd  v66r Christus' eerste
                 maar  zich er van verzekerd mag houden, dat alle  din- komst, herhaalt  zich in een niet minder donkeren tijd
                 gen medewerken ten goede en dat aan het einde van voorafgaande  aan den tijd van Zijn wederkomst. Een
                 dien bangen  weg de heerlijkheid wacht. Daarom moet Iaatste  bange worsteling wacht de Kerke des Heeren
                 Daniel profeteeren. Daarom moet hij ook zoo scherp ook thans nag. Doch Daniel's profetie strekt  zich uit
                 de toekomst teekenen. Daarom moet hij de bange wor- tot in de verre toekomst, ja, tot in de eindelijke heer-
                 steling teekenen, die aanstaande is, opdat Gods volk lijkheid der eeuwigheid. En zij geeft ons de verzeke-
                 niets vreemds overkome.                                    ring ook nu, dat wie getrouw  is tot den dood, de kroon
                     En hij moet dit doen met een dubbele strekking. des levens zal ontvangen.  De wereld met al haar macht
                 Aan den eenen kant moet hij tegenover de overwinnen-       en glorie, met al haar woede en overwinning voor een
                 de en Gods volk verdrukkende wereldmacht  aankondi-        tijd, gaat voorbij en  gaat straks, gaat zeer spoedig,
                 gen  haren  zekeren ondergang. Ook terwijl zij  zich voor eeuwig ten onder. Wees  dan lankmoedig, broe-
                 verheugt over eigen overwinning en den ondergang ders, verwachtende de toekomst des Heeren. Want
                 van Jeruzalem, terwijl zij nog staat in de glorie van dan, als Hij wederkomt, zal voor den goddeIooze  en de
                 haar macht,  moet ze het weten,  moet het Woord van goddelooze wereldmacht een eeuwigen  nacht, voor het
                 den God des Verbonds tot haar gericht  worden,   dat volk van Gods Verbond een eeuwigen en blijden dag
                 niet Jeruzalem, maar zij  zal ondergaan, en dat ze ook aanbreken ! Dan zal er nooit meer nacht zijn !
                 in  dat ondergaan `zal  moeten  belijden, dat de Heere                                                    H. H.
                 God is en den God des hemels eere moeten geven. Hij,                                                 ,
                 die alle dingen  weet, Die het einde aankondigt voor                                                                   !
                 het begin, Die  we1 Zijn volk tot Zijn eigen  doe1  een                 THE CHURCH IN SARDIS
                 tijdlang in den smeltkroes der verdrukking kan wer-
                 pen, Die daartoe ook de  machten  der  wereld  en der                            (Continued)
                 duisternis gebruikt als Zijne instrumenten, Hij doet          II. Let us observe that, although the condition of
                 ook aan de wereld weten,  dat Zijn zaak, hoe hopeloos      the church in Sardis is miserable. indeed, yet it is not
                 zij ook schijnen mag voor het oog der wereId,*de  over- hopeless. The congregation as such may still be con-
                 winning zal hebben, en dat de wereldmacht het  onder-      verted from her evil way and be turned in a different
                 spit zal delven. Maar aan de andere zijde, moet Daniel direction. First of all there are in the midst of the
                 ook deze zeer donkere tijden der toekomst teekenen, church a few faithful, members that have not at'all
                 om Gods volk te verzekeren van die eindelijke over- defiled their garments ; and further, there are also
                 winning. Wist het niet van tevoren, dat de overwin- those that are not entirely devoid of true life, though
                 ning der heerlijkheid slechts door een weg van lijden the light of their life seems to be threatened with ex-
                 en bange worsteling te behalen is, het zou soms  rade-     tinction and they are about to die. Hence, the Lord
          /      loos staan en on&omen  in het lijden. Nu is het anders. comes to them with His admonition. Regarding this
                De worsteling en het lijden werden aangekondigd, admonition we may notice that there is a good deal of
                 maar altijd zoo, dat ze leiden naar de heerlijkheid en similarity between it and the one addressed to the
                 de overwinning van Gods  zaak.  En daarom, terwijl church in Ephesus, at least in respect of form. To
                 Daniel's profetie  aan den eenen kant de machtige the latter the Lord had written: "Remember, there-
                 koningen der  wereld   alle oorzaak van roem  wil  ont- fore, whence thou art fallen." To the church of Sardis
                 nemen, legt hij den getrouwen, die verdrukt worden in it must be written: "Remember, therefore, how thou
                 de wereld om Gods Verbonds wil, temidden van lijden hast received and didst hear." And principally there
                 en smaad en hoon het overwinningslied op de lippen,        was some similarity between the church of Ephesus
                 opdat ook daarin de getrouwe God des Verbonds ver- and that of Sardis. The one had lost its first love and
                 heerlijkt mag  worden.                                     was in a precarious condition because of this loss ; the
                     Dit  doe1 wordt bereikt door alles, wat we vinden in other was dead, and might have been a further devel-
     '  ' Daniel's profetie. Het wordt bereikt door zijn  persoon           opment of the former. A church that loses its love is
     /           en naam  aan het hof van den koning van Babel. Het naturally bound to die. Hence also the similarity in
r                wordt bereikt door de  wonderen  der verlossing van the form of the admonitions. Both are urged to re-
/                hem en zijne drie vrienden, zoodat duidelijk wordt, dat member something, to recall their former state, in
                 Gods volk in den brandenden oven niet omkomt, dat de order that the recollection of that past condition may
                 muilen der leeuwen hen niet kunnen verslinden, omdat appeal to the life that is still remaining and the
                 ze een verbond hebben met den oppersten Potentaat          church may come to repentance. There was a time

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

that things were different in Sardis ; a time when forefront in this connection nevertheless. This  self-
they heard the gospel of truth gladly and eagerly ap- announcement suggests to the church what will hap-
propriated the grace there is in Christ Jesus; a time pen if they do not repent. He will withhold the seven
when they received and heard and were obedient and Spirits, and the church losing its living  connection,~,2
filled with the zeal of the kingdom. That former state with the True Vine will die. And thus it is with the..&,,
                                                                                                                  .+.?;rK:&
they must recall. They must draw a comparison be- seven stars. It was especially in connection with the %
tween the past and the present, and come to the con- deadness of the angel that the church hastened to
sciousness of their fast degradation. Sardis is in need death and destruction. The Lord holds the seven stars.
of a revival, not in the modern sense but in the healthy He controls them. If they, therefore, do not repent
way. She is in need of a revival that will be of per-    the Lord will remove the star from their midst, and
manent effect. They must repent, keep what they the light of truth shall shine upon them no more. Be-
have, and return to their former state of faith and      fore they are aware of it the Spirit shall have de-
works.                                                   parted, the star shall have been removed, and the
      At the same time the admonition is enforced with church shall have ceased to exist!
an earnest warning of judgment to come if they do not       III. But even this  e&tle cannot be closed with
repent : "If therefore, thou shalt not watch, I will threats of judgments. There are also in Sardis a few
come as a thief and thou shalt not know what hour I names that `have not defiled  their garments, and the
will come upon thee." Most generally the figure of a Lord concludes with beautiful and comforting prom-
thief is explained as referrjng solely to the sudden- ises to them that are faithful. The Lord knows them
ness and unexpectedness of the coming of Christ for by name, and they distinguish themselves from the
judgment. And this idea is no doubt implied in the       rest in that they have not defiled  their garments. It
figure, as is partly expressed in the addition: "And is plain that the term "garments" in this connection is
thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee." not  8 employed to refer to the garb of righteousness in
If they keep on slumbering and sleeping, if they fail    Christ, for the expression : "That have not defiled  their
to heed the admonition to watch, the Lord will be upon garments" implies that all the members of the church
them before they are aware of it with His judgments. possessed them, but the difference was simply that
But even thus'the idea of the thief in his coming is not some had defiled, others had not  defiled  their gar-
fully expressed. A thief's aim is not to appear unex- ments. We rather refer the symbol `to all that is im-
pectedly in order to inspire you with fear, but much plied in our outward connection with the church of
rather to sneak into your home unnoticed, do his work, Christ in the world, with our outward profession of
take your valuables along with him, and disappear as Christianity. In this general and outward sense, all
secretly as he entered. While he did his work you kept the members of the church in Sardis had their gar-
on sleeping, and you never noticed his presence. Thus ments. %ven as the soldiers of the same army all
the Lord threatens to come upon His unwatchful wear the same uniform, so the members of the church
church. He will come as a thief. Unawares He will in Sardis were garbed in the garments of the church.
visit the congregation with His judgments. While He But the lives of many of the members had not been to
is doing His work they will never notice His presence. the honor of the garments they wore. By their sinful
All their valuables He will take away from them, the walk they had stained their uniforms. They had in
star and the Spirit, and they wilI never notice that He no way distinguished themselves in their lives from
has been in their midst. They will sleep on and die in the soldiers of  satan. However, this had not been the
a swoon. For that the judgments with which the Lord case with all. Some there were, even though they were
will visit the church will consist exactly in removing but few, that had remained faithful, that had mani-
all that is valuable and essential to the congregation is fested themselves in the midst of the world in full
plain from the manner in which Christ announces harmony with their garments, that had been loyal to
Himself to Sardis. He says: "These things  saith He their confession of the name of Christ. A difficult
that  bath the seven Spirits of God and the seven position they must have occupied in the church of
stars." We will remember that also in the first chap- Sardis. The others were dead and sleeping, these were
ter these same expressions occur in application to the watching and alert; the others were amalgamating
King of His church. He possesses the seven Spirits with the world, these were willing to be peculiar peo-
as the Mediator of the New Covenant. Through the ple, and refused to be transformed according to the
Spirit He dwells in His church, it is through the seven likeness of this world. How it must have filled them
Spirits that the church is His Body. It is through that with holy provocation to see that their angel was dead
Spirit that the unity between Him as the Head and the and did not bring them the Word of life! How it
church as His Body is established. As such the Lord must have saddened their hearts to see that the church
now appears to the church of Sardis. Truly, there is was fast asleep and nigh unto death. Besides, as is
a suggestion of hopefulness in this introduction, for if always the case, these few faithful must have been a
the Lord hath the seven Spirits He can give. life to reproach to  ,the rest of this apostate church. It may
His church and cause them to-keep what they have. be hard sometimes to bear the reproach of the world,
But the idea of warning and judgment appears in the - from her you after all do not expect anything else.


    w
,.  .:I
1&;*                                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              71
                 But a thousand times more grievous it is to live in the Father. They have confessed Him, He shall confess
                 midst of those that wear the garments of Jesus and to them. They have owned Him, He shall own them.
                 .,bear their reproach ! Yet, in the midst of all these      And as their names are read from the book of life,
     jl  `obst&les  they had overcome and remained faithful;                 Jesus shall confess that they are His, that they belong
                 $hey had not defiled their garments!
            $'                                                               to His sheep, that for them He sheds His life blood,
    .:;:s .A"       To these faithful and to all that overcome Jesus         and that they have a right to enter into His inherit-
                 comes with a most glorious and beautiful promise. It ance ?
                 is threefold. First Jesus promises that they shall walk         He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit
                 with Him in white garments; secondly,. that their saith unto the churches! What doth the Spirit say?
                 names shall not be stricken from the heavenly roll ;        Watch ! Many a church has fallen asleep in our day,
                 thirdly, that He, Jesus, shall confess their names be- and together with its minister is on the verge of death.
                 fore His Father. The general idea of this promise Many a church has wiped out all distinctions between
                 refers, evidently, to the eternal life and glory of be- itself and the world, and its members are defiling their
                 lievers. But the particular form in which it is pre- garments. Watch,' therefore! Keep your garments
                 sented is adapted to the peculiar condition of the faith- pure. Abide in the truth. Be faithful unto the end,
                 ful in Sardis. They had not defiled their garments, so that no one may take your crown !
                 they shall walk with Him in white garments. White                                                          H. H.
                 garments are the symbol of purity and holiness as well
            as of perfect victory. And, therefore, Jesus promises
                 to those that overcome, that do not defile their gar-                   CALVIN IN THE LIGHT OF
            ments in the midst of the world, that in the end they
            shall be perfectly delivered from all sin and defilement                         THE THREE POINTS
            and live with their Lord in glory forever. The cer-
            tainty of the realization  .of this promise is further              This is the  first quotation of  The  IsmZtutes,   by
            expressed, when the Lord adds in the second place               which Synod attempted. to assert that it would add
            that their names shall not be blotted out of the book strength to the argumentation as contained in Point I.
            of life. Also in this expression there is a reference to Fact is, that in this quotation nothing can be ascer-
            the condition of the church in Sardis. In Sardis there tained as to any favor or grace manifested to His
            were members of whom it seemed as if their names creatures in general. No  dkduction can possibly be
            had been in the book of life but blotted out. In reality attained from it, which in the least intimates or con-
           this was not so. For the book of life was written be- veys such a doctrine. The very opposite is implied.
           fore the foundation of the world and contains no other The argument of the quotation is that God uses the
           names than those that are chosen to eternal life. But reprobates as agencies to manifest His glory in the
           historically it appeared, as if there were members of development of truth. Of a general favor or grace
           the church in Sardis whose names had been written in             Calvin does not make mention, and he had no idea at
           that book formerly. They were baptized in the name all to assert such a contradictory action. This becomes
           of the Triune God ; they had received and heard the              evident when Calvin continues his discourse, which we
           gospel of grace with joy; they wore the garments of are about to quote. It appears strange that the com-
           Christ's army in the world. But they had defiled mittee of Synod, which formulated the Three Points
           their garments, and it had become evident that in and their substantiations, never continued Calvin's
           reality their names had never appeared in the book quotation. Calvin continues with a "But."  Is it pos-
           of life. And, therefore, the Lord as it were suggests            sible for the Committee to have overlooked the con-
           that their names were stricken from the roll. Even clusion of the matter? For men of learning, it seems
           as the deceased were  stricken  from the city roll by the not. But then. . . . ! The following paragraph states
           civil magistrates, so these dead members in Sardis are the very opposite from what Synod intended to prove.
           pictured as stricken from the roll of life in heaven.            It reads:
           But the names of the faithful shall remain. Such is                 "But, lest anyone should suppose a man to be truly
           the promise. Glorious assurance! If we do not defile happy, when he is admitted to possess such powerful
           our garments we have the promise that in the hour of energies for the discovery of truth relating to the
           judgment, when the books shall be opened, our name elements of this world ; it must likewise be added that
           shall be found written in the book of life. There shall all that faculty of understanding and the understand-
           be no anxious suspense in that hour on the part of the           ing which is the consequence of it, is, in the sight of
           faithful. When the books are opened they shall not God, a fleeting and transitory thing, where there is
           stand in breathless expectation, waiting to see not a solid foundation of truth. For the sentiment of
           whether their names are written in the book of life,             Augustine with whom, as we have observed, the Mas-
           but they shall know. And finally, in close connection ter of Sentences, and the Schoolmen have been con-
           with the idea of their names being written in the book           strained to coincide, is strictly true that as the grat-
           of life stands the third element of this promise,                uitous or supernatural gifts were taken away from
           namely, that Jesus shall confess them before  His                man after the fall, so these natural ones which  re-


72                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                      j
mained have been corrupted; nor that they be defiIed no more entitled to be  classed  tcmo'ng  virtues, than
in themselves as proceeding from God, but because those  virtues  twhich   commenly  deceive mankind by
they have ceased to be pure to polluted man, so that he      their algi,ity and similitude of virtues" (italics mine).
can obtain no praise from them."                             Calvin's conclusion of the matter is very clearly stX&$?l-~
      From this quotation it is evident that Synod's at- in the above quotation. These external, seemingly  good;.,;F7]
tempted proof has been obliterated and torn asunder. acts of men, commonly called virtues, cannot  possibiy$@
Its language is lucid and clear, an added exposition of be called such, in as much as their source is corrupt
us would obscure its thought.        Judge for yourself and polluted. It is evident, therefore, that Synod has
whether Synod had any right to call upon Calvin for also in this respect misquoted and misinterpreted Cal-
support in the matter.                                       vin. Hence, this quotation of Calvin does not add very
      There is a second quotation of  The Institutes  in much strength to Synod's argument.                Supposedly
verification of Point I, Book III, Chapter XIV, 2:           Synod followed "the path of least resistance," by re-
      "We see how He (God) confers many blessings of fusing to interpret Calvin fairly. Synod should have
the present life on those who prabtise virtue among made Calvin say what he meant, and not what it
men. Not that this external  ,resemblance  of virtue thought would be expedient for him to say.
merits  the  lease favor from Him (italics mine) ; but          The Second Point, by which Synod tended to prove
He is pleased to discover his great esteem of true the doctrine(  ?) of common grace to be Reformed in
righteousness, by not permitting that which is external the historical sense, has for central' thought that God
and hypocritical to remain without a temporal reward. restrains sin in all men by the general working of His
Whence it follows, as we have just acknowledged, that Spirit. Translated freely from the Acta Synodi  1924,
these virtues whatever they may be, or rather images Article 132, it reads :
of virtues, are the gifts of God ; since there is nothing       "In regard the Second Point, having reference to
in any respect laudable which does not proceed from the restraining of sin in the life of the individual, as
Him."                                                        well as in that of the community, Synod declares that
*- *Also from this quotation it is evident that Synod there is such a restraining of sin according to Scrip-
stretched  its imagination by attempting to prove that ture and Confession. This is evident from the quoted
God bestows favor or grace upon the reprobates. It passages of Scripture and of the Nederland Confes-
is clear from this quotation that Calvin desires to state sion, Articles 13 and 16, in which is taught that God
that man, created in the image of God, has retained by the general working of His Spirit, without renew-
such in essence after the fall. Man remained a rational-     ing the heart, restrains sin in its uninterrupting
ethical creature, notwithstanding the  fall.into  sin, and ebullitions, by which life in the community has re-
because of it he can do no otherwise then to manifest mained possible. Besides, it is evident from the quoted
that which he is.                                            statements of Reformed authors, of the developing
      Calvin states further, that "God confers blessings period of Reformed theology, that our Reformed
of the present life on those, who  practise  virtue among fathers also maintained this point of view for some
men." Now, what is to be proven is that Calvin main- time." This last sentence is added to strengthen the
tains that there is a possibility for reprobates to be argument. Synod only makes quotations of two Re-
truly virtuous. If such can be proven, then Synod has formed authors in substantiating the versity of this
gained its Point as far as the argument is concerned. Second Point.
If you will but continue to read, where Synod's quota-           It is our intention, also in regard to this point, to
tions discontinued, then you will notice the impossi- find the truth of Synod's quotation of Calvin. We
 bility of a `fair representation of the matter. Book earnestly desire to remain honest in divulging and
 III, Chapter XIV; 3:                                        analyzing the quotation of Calvin, in order to put
      "Nevertheless the observation of Augustine is Synod's argument in its proper light. We will discuss
strictly true that all who are strangers  ,of the religion very briefly in outline form this Second Point; next,
of the one true God, however they may esteemed we will attempt to answer the question, whether Cal-
 worthy of admiration for their reputed virtue, not  only vin in Synod's quotation of The Institutes means the
 merit no reward but are rather deserving of punish-         same thing as Synod does.
 ment because they contaminate the pure gifts of God                             (To be continued)
with the pollution of their heart. For though they are                                          A. C. BOERKOEL               .
 instruments used by God for the preservation of
human society, by the exercise of justice,  continuence,
friendship, temperance, fortitude, and prudence, yet                               E E N E   B E D E
they perform these good works very improperly ; be-             Komt hier eens de tijd dat ons werk is volbracht,
ing restrained from the commission of evil, ;Izot by a          Ret leven vol zorg en verzoeking ons wacht;
sincere attachment to true virtue, but either by mere           0 leer onzen voet in Uw wegen dan gaan,
ambition, or by  self love, or by some  irregulaj  d&           Oprecht in `t geloof en getrouw aan Uw vaan.
position. These actions, therefore,  being  corrupted  in                    Hoor,  hoor, Jezus, Heer !
i their very source by the impurity of their hearts, are        En zend vol ontferming Uw zegen ons neer !            ..-


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               Vol.   v,  No.  4                                                         NOVEMBER 15, 1928                                             Subscription Price; $2.50

                                                                                                                   He has not truly and profoundly realized what is
                            MEDI.TATIION                                                                     really war, what is its real nature, where lies the root
                                                                                                             whence it grows, what is the source whence it origin-
                                                                                                             ates, who only considered the horrors of the battlefield;
                                                                                                             who tried to discover the peculiar grievances of nation
                                 BLESSED PEACEIMAICERS                                                       against nation, that was the occasion of some partic-
                                               Blessed are the  peacemakers, for they                        ular conflict; who deplores the existence of armaments
                                             shall be called the children of God.                            and standing armies and bewails the fact that all
                                                                                     -Xatt.  59.             swords are not beaten into plowshares and the spears
                      Peace and peacemakers !                                                                into pruninghooks. He has never seen war, who merely
                      Words that are apparently  filled with a magic-power considered its external aspect, its occasion and instru-
         even for the children of the world in our modern times ! ments, its destruction and suffering. And he cannot
                     Ah, peacemakers are the men, the world earnestly succeed to bring peace to the world, who would hanish
         seeks, men that are endowed with wisdom and courage war by destroying war-tools, by reducing armies, by
         to liberate the world from the power and misery of creating federations and worldleagues  ard by attempt-
         war!                                                                                                ing to settle particular disputes before wor2;&courts.
                      War is hell, said one of the world's great men, who                                          There is a war of which all the misery and horrcr of
         might speak from personal experience. War is hell, say the battlefield is but the outward manifestation, a war
         all the world's children today, as they recall the history of which all the conflicts between individuals, classes
         of the  latest world-struggle, when nations flew at each or nations are but so many signs, that is.the  source  of
         other's throat, mac@ess  and hatred reigned supreme, all wars and which must needs be made to cease, before
         and the soil of the old world was drenched with the any hope of peace can even be entertained.
         1ifebIood  of millions. War is hell, and he, will be decked                                               It is the war in man's heart !
         with honors  and  be crowned the liberator of mankind,                                                    It is the spiritual power of corruption, caused by
         who will deliver us out of that hell.                                                               sin, the power of spiritual death, causing men to hate
                      It would seem to be true as soon as one would make one another  I
         but the merest attempt to visualize the tragedy of                                                        It is, to get to its deepest root, that awful operation
         war. When one tries to imagine the horrors of the of death in man's heart through whi$h he is an enemy
         battlefield, the raving madness of armies in action,                                                of God, a friend of the devil, a rebel, a revolutionist in
         the cunning deviltry of the devices invented for one heart and soul . . . .
         another's destruction, the devastated fields and ruined                                                  Nan is no peacemaker. And he shall not be called
         cities, the roar of cannon and the glitter of bayonets,                                             a child of God by nature. And he is not: blest.
         the groans of the wounded, the oaths, the curses, the                                                    A warmaker  is he!
         prayers, the mourning widows and heartbroken moth-                                                       And a child of his father the devil he shall be called,!
         ers, the suffering of soul and body caused by war, the                                                   Cursed are the warmakers, for they shall be called
         furious devil-passions displayed, who, then, would not children of the devil!
         be inclined to agree with that brief characterization:                                                    And such are we by nature ! Warmakers against
         war is hell? War, of whatever nature, of all descrip- God !
         tion, of man against man, of class against class, of                                                     `Therefore, warmakers against one another  !
         nation against nation, is dreadful, horrible beyond all
         description !
                     Yet, it would be more nearly true if the saying                                              Blessed  are  the peacemakers!
         were turned around, if men would say: hell is war!                                                       What, then, is peace, and how is it made?                            .


74                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
      ,4nd in what manner are we, if warmakers we reafly     rebellion, between God and the devil.  Nor could there
are  in heart and mind, changed into peacemakers ?           be a relation of mutual toleration, each respecting the
      God is the God of peace ! He is such, supremely,       othefs rights and privileges. Darkness has no rights,
by and in Himself. For peace is harmony, that har- the devil has no privileges, God only has all the right.
mony that can only exist between parties united  `In true And for that right  of-the Most High the Prince of
and perfect love. And such harmony is, indeed, of God. Peace comes to battle, knowing that peace cannot come
For-in the Trinity of His Persons there is never separa- till the power of death and hell has been overcome and
tion, and in the unity of the Blessed Three there is righteousness and life has been led to victory. He
never discord. Peace, sublime, perfect peace exists be- battles and suffers in the conflict. ,411 the horrors of
tween Father, Son and Holy Ghost, peace that is rooted war, all the.  anguish of soul and agonies of body ever
in the love which is an attribute of His adorable `Being. experienced by man, concentrate on Him, all the waves
No conflict  ever disturbs, no disharmony ever mars the of aflliction troubling the sea of human life roll over
perfect life of God. There is no war in God, for there His soul, threatening to overwhelm Him, to swallow
is no darkness in Him. There is no disagreement of Him up in the fierce conflict. But He overcomes. He
thought, there is no clash of will, there is no conflict of meets guilt with righteousness, corruption with holi-
aim, there is no strife of contending emotions, but only ness, rebellion with obedience, pride with meekness,
unity, concord, harmony, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, darkness with light. He sacrifices Self and atones. He
always, eternally willing and thinking alike and seeking pours out His blood and satisfies. He enters into death
one another in love. God, indeed, is a God of peace !        and brings life. He descends into hell and brings
      ,411 peace must needs have its source in Him.          heaven. He casts Himself into the thick of war and
      There is no independent well-spring of peace beside brings peace.. . .
Him, there is no source of peace in man.                        The God of peace made peace in His Son, the peace
      To be separated from Him is to live apart from that is rooted in love and based on righteousness and
Peace, to rebel against Him is to be in conflict with that will flourish in the light.. . .
very Peace, to hate Him is to hate Peace, to expel Him          He makes peace, also in our hearts!
from our lives is to invite war, strife, unrest, discord,       For with us is war, hatred and rebellion, and being
battle within and battle without, conflict between the warmakers by nature, we would never unite under the
various powers of the soul, contentions between soul banner of the Prince of Peace by our own choice.
and soul, between group and group, in society, among Surely, when the agonies of actual battle between
the nations, everywhere. . . .                               nation and nation tear the very heart of humanity, we
      The wicked is like the troubled sea. There is no virtuousIy  make ourselves believe that we are peace-
peace for him ! Al1 because there is war between him makers and that we seek the world's peace. But we
and the God of peace.                                        deceive ourselves. And while  n-e preach peace among
      But that sole Source of peace opened itself unto us the,, nations we would  stiI1 crush the Prince of. Peace
and lavished the streams of its blessings upon us, even and crucify qirn again!
after we had become enemies of the living God.                  But God makes peace, pours the Spirit of the Prince
      The God of peace maketh peace ! And He does so of Peace out into our hearts, breaks the spirit of pride
`alone. There is no one with Him. Peace is not a mat- and rebellion within us, downs the throne of sin and
ter of treaty between God and us; it is a matter of hatred in our hearts, spreads abroad the Iove. of God
actual harmony, a profound spiritual reality, a very and thus brings peace, the peace of the soul that  seek-
real unity created by Him. For the God of peace had eth after God, the peace that passeth all understand-
thoughts of peace before the world was, thoughts of ing....
peace with regard to all His people, whom He loved              And as He accomplishes this marvelous work
and ordained that they should be made like unto the within us, we become poor in spirit and mourn, meek
image of His dear Son to the praise of His glory. And and humbIy bow in true sorrow over sin and love of
these eternal thoughts of peace, of love and covenant God's righteousness, hungry and thirsty after the
friendship, of communion and harmony of life and aim righteousness of the kingdom of heaven, merciful in
between Himself and His  peopIe,  He manifests to us  in the experience of mercy, pure of heart and hating cor-
time. He realizes them in His only begotten Son. The         ruption, peacemakers. . . .
God of peace sends the Son into the world as the Prince         For with that peace in our hearts we seek and make
of peace, to make peace, not by persuasion, neither by       peace in love. Peace with God and peace  Rith one an-
treaty, but `in the way of a fierce conflict in which He     other.
leaves the battlefield drenched with His own  precious          Blessed are the peacemakers  ?
blood, but whence He issues forth the victor, the enemy
completely vanquished and that forever! There could
be no peace, where there was no peace. There could              Blessed, yes, blessed they are!
be no treaty between light and darkness, between life           The very fact that they are peacemakers causes
and death, between purity and corruption, between them to be blessed.
righteousness and unrighteousness, between peace and            There is no blessing in making war. For, surely,


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                            75

 the warmaker  must needs carry in his own heart the             But we are saved in hope and look for the final adop-
 unmistakable testimony that he is a child of the devil.      tion unto children, to wit the redemption of our bodies.
      The Prince of W7ar is he. For he is the Prince of          When that  fmal adoption comes we shall be called
 Darkness and in darkness there is the lie, unrighteous- children of God !
 ness and corruption, pride and hatred, self exaltation          The God of peace shall call us such and reveal us as
 and rebellion. War is the devil's very existence. There such ! He shall adopt us as brethren of the Son, as
 is no peace in him even as there is no light in him. He heirs of God, as His dear children, before all the world!
 is the very personification of conflict, the author of          Before the holy angels and the fallen spirits.
 war; he lives to fight the living God in the proud delu-        Before all our enemies !
 sion of his own heart. And the spiritual father is he           Forever !
 of a generation of warmakers, hateful as he, rebellious,                                                    a  H.
 haughty, corrupt as their father, bearing his image. . .
      There is no blessing in that! Surely, cursed are the
 warmakers, because they bear the testimony in them-                          D E   SCHEPPIIVGSWEEK
 selves that they are called children of the devil.
      Neither can the very opposite blessing at all be           De Heere heeft alle dingen met wijsheid geschapen.
 ours except in the measure that we are peacemakers Daarom is dan ook niet alleen het voltooide  werk der
 and walk in the way of peace. For that blessing is that schepping eene  schoone  openbaring van deze wijsheid
 we shall be called children of God. Called children of       Gods, maar is deze wijsheid Gods ook duidelijk op te
 the God of peace, Whose image we then bear, Whose merken in de volgorde, waarin de schepselen tot  aan-
 life we then live, Whose love we then taste, Whose fel- zijn  worden  geroepen in de scheppingsweek.              Niet
 lowship we then enjoy. Called such, ,not, indeed, by alleen is  er klaarblijkelij k de orde te bespeuren, dat de
 men, surely not hailed by the world, that continues to schepselen, die dag na dag geformeerd  worden,  van de
, seek peace where there is no peace. Be not deceived ! lagere tot de hoogere opklimmen, zoodat ten slotte in
 For the world will not crown with glory and deck with den mensch het sluitstuk der gansche schepping ons
honor them that really seek peace and preach it in the        wordt getoond, maar ook is er deze orde, dat de  woon-
 blood of the Lamb; they will revile and persecute you,       plaats voor de levende schepselen eerst  .bereid  wordt,
 they will falsely speak all manner of evil against you, om dan aan de  laatste  het aanzijn te schenken. Er is
 they will persecute and kill you,, all because they want allereerst  de scheiding van wateren  boven en wateren
 no peace, that it may become evident that peace they         beneden  en de schepping van het uitspansel des hemels ;
 do not seek. Nay, but called children of God by the          daarna het te voorschijn roepen van het droge uit den
 God of peace Himself! Called such within the sanc- oeverloozen oceaan, die de gansche aarde bedekte ; ein-
 tuary of your own heart, when in the midst of outward        delijk het uit de aarde  doen  voortspruiten van gras en
 troubles and battles and strifes, in the midst of temp- kruid en boom, waardoor de aarde eerst een woonplaats
 tations and persecutions, of suffering and tribulations, wordt voor het levende schepsel. En dan keert de
 reviled by men and rejected by the world, you are Heere  zich naar de hemelen, om aldaar in het uitspan-
 aware of the voice of the Spirit of the Son, witnessing se1 de lichten te formeeren, die dag en  nacht zullen
 with your spirit that you are children of God and cry- regeeren. Terwijl dan eerst, als alle  dingen  alzoo  zijn
 ing within you : Abba, Father !                              toebereid visschen en vogelen,  dieren en den mensch
      It is His peace, the peace which the Prince of Peace worden  geschapen, om in lucht en water, in veld en
 left with us, which He pours out into our hearts, the woud, en wat den mensch aangaat, in het Paradijs, te
 peace that passeth all understanding!                        tieren en zich te ontwikkelen.
      It is the peace, by the power of which u-e are well        Op den  tweeden  dag schiep de Heere het firmament,
 able to endure all the trouble and suf&ring  of this pres- dat scheiding maakte tusschen de wateren  boveri en
 ent time.                                                    beneden.  Wij lezen daarvan het volgende: "En God
      You shall be called children of God !                   zeide: Daar zij een uitspansel in het  midden der wate-
      There is not only a present, there is a still greater ren ; en dat make scheiding tusschen  wateren  en wate-
 future blessing in that blessed promise.                     ren. En God maakte dat uitspansel, en maakte  schei-
      For now, indeed, we are children of God and the         ding tusschen de wateren,  die onder het uitspansel zijn
 Spirit of adoption we do possess. But the final adop-, en  tusschen  de  wateren,  die boven het uitspansel zijn.
 tion is not yet. The children of God still appear as En het was  alzoo.  En God noemde het uitspansel
 strangers in the world and by the world  ,are often called hemel. Toen was het avond geweest en. het was mor-,
 children of the devil ; the heirs of God and coheirs with    gen geweest, de tweede dag," Gen. 1:6-8. Men lette er
 Christ are more frequently dispossessed and appear as op, dat ons hier met nadruk wordt gezegd, dat de Heere
 most miserable beggars and vagabonds in this present op den  tweeden  dag het firmament maakte. Wij stellen
 age  ; they are not yet fully clothed with the garments ons de zaak liefst zoo voor,  dat hier op den tweeden
 that is becoming the children of God, but must fre-          dag niet .voor het eerst scheiding gemaakt werd tus-
 quently go in rags . . . .                                   schen de  aarde  en de hemelen en tusschen de  wateren
 r    They  are not yet home ?                                boven en beneden.  maar dat we1 het uitspansel gescha-


                                                 THE;  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          `79

                      CHRIST AMONG THE DOCTORS                           consistency of all that the Evangelists have recorded
                                                                         of Christ, with such empty and unmeaning tales. They
               Up among the, hills of Galilee, in a basin sur- do more. These gospels were written by Christians,
            rounded by swelling eminence, which shut it in on by men who wished to honor Christ in all they said
            every side, lies the little village of Nazareth. Its name about Him ; by men who had that portraiture of His
            does not occur in Old Testament history.  Josephus           character before them which the four Gospels supply;
            never mentions it, though he speaks of places lying all and yet we find them narrating, as being in what
            around it. Its inhabitants were not worse than their seemed to them entire harmony with that character,
            neighbors, nor exposed on account of their character that when boys interrupted Jesus in His paly, or ran
            to any particular contempt, yet Nathanael, himself a against Him in the street of the village, he looked upon
            Galilean, could say, Can there any good thing come them and denounced them, and they fell down and
            out of Nazareth? so small and insignificant was the died. It was said by some one,that  the conception and
            place. It was here, as in a fit retreat, that the child- delineation of such a character as that of' the man
            hood, youth and early manhood of our Lord passed Christ Jesus, by such men as the fishermen of Galilee,
            quietly and unnoticed away. These thirty years of the would have been a greater miracle than the actual
            life of the Son of God upon this earth, how deeply hid- existence of such a man. In these apocryphal gospels
            den from us do they lie. How profound the silence re- we have a singular confirmation of that- saying: we
            garding them which the sacred writers preserve  - have the proof that men better taught, many of them,
            a silence all the more remarkable when we consider than the apostles even when they had the full deline-
            how natural and strong is our desire to know some- ation of the manhood of Jesus in their hands, could not
            thing, to be told something of the earlier days of any       attempt a fancy scetch of His childhood without not
            one who, at some after period of his life, has risen to      only violating our sense of propriety, by attributing to
            distinction. But all that here is told us of the first Him the most puerile and unmeaning displays of divine
            twelve years of our Savior's life is that the child grew,    power, but shocking our moral sense, and falsifying
            waxed strong in spirit, was  filled with wisdom, and the very picture they had before their eyes, by attrib-
            that the grace of God was upon Him. Had any of uting to Him acts of vengeance.
            these wonders which attended His birth had been re-             Joseph and Mary "went to Jerusalem every year
            newed, had anything supernatural occurred in the of the Passover." The Mosaic law required that all
            course of those years, we may presume it would have the male inhabitants of  Judea should go up three
            been related or alluded to. Nothing of that kind, we times yearly to the capital, to keep the three great
            may infer did happen. Outwardly and inwardly the festivals of the Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles.
            growth of Jesus under Mary% care at Nazareth, obeyed A latter Rabbinical authority had laid an injunction
            the common laws under which nothing could ruflle, that upon women to attend the feast of the Passover. Liv-
            simple truthfulness which nothing could turn aside ; ing as they did in so remote a part of the country, it is
            beyond that love which was always ready to' give back probable that the parents of our Lord satisfied them-
            smile for smile to Mary and the rest around, and to go       selves with going up together once yearly to Jerusa-
            forth rejoicingly its little errands of kindness within lem ; Joseph thus doing less, Mary more than the law
            the home of the carpenter ; beyond that wisdom, which,       required. When Jesus was twelve years old, Joseph
            wonderful as it was, was childlike wisdom still, grow- and Mary took Him up with them to Jerusalem. He
            ing as His years grew, and deriving its increase from had then reached that age, when, according to Jewish
            all the common sources which lay open to it; beyond reckoning, He crossed the line which divides childhood
            the charm of all the graces of childhood in their full       from youth, got the new name of a son of the Lord,
            beauty and in their unsullied perfection  - there was and, had He been destined to any public office,  wouId
            nothing externally to distinguish the first twelve years. have passed into the hands of the Rabbis for the higher
            So we conclude from `the absence of all notices of them instruction which their schools supplied. Jesus, how-
            in Scripture.    Of the void thus left, however, the ever, had received no other instruction than the village
            Christian Church became very impatient. Many at- school, attached to the synagogue at Nazareth, had
            tempts were made to fill it up. In the course of the supplied, and was destined to no higher employment
            first four centuries numerous pseudo-gospels were in than that of the trade His father followed. The pur-
            circulation, a long list of which has been made up out pose of Joseph and Mary in taking Him up with them
       /    of the references to them which occur in the preserved to Jerusalem was not that He might be placed at the
            writings of that period. Some of these gospels are` feet of Gamaliel, or any other of the great distin-
            still extent, two of them entitled the gospel of the guished teachers of the metropolis, but simply that
            Infancy; and it is very curious to notice how these He might see the holy city, and take part with them
            succeeded who tried to lift the veil which covers the        in the sacred services of the Passover.
 1          earlier years of Christ. One almost feels grateful that `       There a new world opened to the boy's wondering
 It         such early attempts were made to fill up the blank eys. With what interest must He have looked around,
            which the four Evangelists have left. They enable us when first He trode the courts of the temple, and gaze4
1           to contrast the simplicity, the naturalness and the upon the ministering priests, the altar with its  bleed-
1/


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ing sacrifice and rising incense, `the holy place and the known, may have told ; some sacred design may still
sacred shine that lay behind the veil. The places, too, have been cherished. Where was their child, and what
of which we shall speak immediately, where youths of had heppened unto Him?
His own age were to be found, would not be left un-             You may imagine what a night of sleepless anxiety        j
visited. What thoughts were stirred within His               followed their discovery at the first nightly resting
breast by all these sights, it becomes us not even to        place of the caravan. Mid-day saw them back in the
attempt to imagine. The key is not in our hands with city. It is said to have been after three days? search
which we might unlock the mysteries of His humanity they found Him if we count the day of their return as
at this stage of its development. He has Himself so one of these three, there would still be one entire day's
far unveiled His thoughts and feelings as to teach us fruitless search. There may have been two such days
how natural it was that He should linger in the holy - days of eager inquiry everywhere throughout the
city, and under the power of a new attraction feel for city, in the house where they had lived, among all
a day or two as if the ties that bound Him to Naza-          those with whom they had had converse or connec-
reth and to His home there were broken.                      tion. At last they find the lost one, not in. the courts
      The seven days of the feast went by.- It had been of the temple, not in any of those parts of the edifice
a crowded procession from Galilee, which Joseph and consecrated to public worship, but in one of those
Mary had joined. Galilee was then, as  Josephus  in- apartments in the outer buildings used as a school of
forms us, very thickly populated, studded with no less the Rabbis. Among the Jews at this period, each
than two hundred and forty towns, containing each fif- synagogue had a schoolroom attached to it, in which
teen thousand inhabitants or more, sending forth in the rudiments of an ordinary education were taught.
the war with the Romans an army of no less than one Besides, however, these schools for primary instruc-
hundred thousand men. The separate companies which tion, wherever there were ten men in a position to
this crowded population sent up at the Passover time         devote their whole time to this purpose, a room was
to Jerusalem would each be large, and as the youths          build for them, in which they carried on their pupils
of the company consorted and slept near one another in a11 the higher walks of the sacred learning of the
in the course of the journey, it is less surprising that,    Jews. These constituted the schools of the Rabbis,
on leaving Jerusalem to return to Nazareth, Joseph and formed an important instrument in the support
and Mary should during the day have missed their son, and extension of that system of Rabbinism which be-
who had stayed behind, nor have become aware of His came after the ruin of the temple, and the extinction
absence till they sought for Him among His compan- of the pubhc worship, a new bond of national union,
ions when they rested for the night. The discovery and the great distinctive feature in the character of
was a peculiar distressing one. What if some over- modern Judaism. There were three apartments em-
sight had been committed by them? If they had faiIed         ployed in this way attached to the temple. It was in
to tell their son of the time of the departure, if they one of these that Joseph and Mary found their son. He
had failed to notice whether He was among the other was sitting in the ordinary attitude, and engaged in
youths before they left the city? They had such con- the ordinary exercises of a pupil in the middle of the
fidence in  ths& child, who never before in a single doctors, hearing them and asking them questions -
instance had done anything to create anxiety or dis- the Jewish method of education being chiefly catechet-
trust; they were so sure that He would be where, as          ical - the pupil Himself sometimes answering the
they thought, He ought to be, that they had scarcely question put, and astonishing His hearers with His
felt perhaps an ordinary degree of  parential  solicitude. wisdom. When this strange, rude-looking, bright-look-
And where could He now be? What could ,have hap- ing, solemn-looking, Galilean boy first came in among
pened to Him? Their eager inquiries would probably them, was it the wisdom He then showed which drew
soon satisfy them that He had not fallen aside by the the hearts of some of these Rabbis to Him, and-let
way, that He had never joined the returning travelers, them, as if anxious to gain a scholar who might turn
that  He must have remained behind at Jerusalem. But out to be the chief ornament of their school, to take
with whom? For what? He knew no friends there Him in and treat Him tenderly? Was it with them, in
with whom to stay. Had some accident befallen Him? the room they occupied in the outer temple buildings,
Was He detained against His will? Did any one at that the two nights in which Jesus was separated from
Jerusalem know the secrets of His birth? Were there His parents were spent? The tie, whatever it was,
any who still sought the young child's life?  Herod between Him and them, is now destined to be broken,
was dead ; Archelaus was banished ; the parents them-        never to be renewed.
selves had not been in Jerusalem since the time they            Joseph and Mary find Him in the midst of them.
had presented the infant in the temple. It was not           Joseph is too much astonished to say anything, nor is
likely they should be recognized  ; none of their friends    it likely that Mary spoke till He had gone with her
at Nazareth knew about the mysteries of the concep-'         apart; but now her burdened mother's heart finds
tion and the birth. They had thought there was no            utterance.    "Son," she says to Him, "why hast thou
risk in taking Jesus with them, but now their hearts thus dealt with us?" words of reproach that were new
are full of dark forebodings; some one may have              to Mary's lips. Never before had she to chide that


                                    ` T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        81

child. Never before had He done anything to require ward indication or evidence, either to  Himself  or
such chiding. But now, when it appears that no acci- others of the nature of His Sonship  to God -then how
dent had happened, no restraint had been exercised, surprised must Mary have been when in the. temple
that it had been of His own free will that Jesus had       and by that answer to her question, Jesus informed
parted from His parents, and was sitting so absorbed her that He knew all, knew whence He was, knew for
by other persons and with other things, she cannot what He came, knew that God was His Father in such
account for such conduct on His part. It looks like a sense that the discharge of His business carried with
neglect, and worse ; like- indifference to the pain which it an obligation which, if the time and the season r-e-
He must have known this separation would cost them. quired, overbore all obligation to real or reputed
"Son," she says, "why hast thou thus dealt with us? earthly parents.
Behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing."         But whether it came upon Mary by surprise or not,
  Innocently, artlessly, childishly, in words which, was there no object in letting us and all believers in
though not meant to meat the reproach with a rebuke, the Saviour know as the record of this incident does,
yet carried. with them much of the meaning and effect that Jesus was thus early and fully alive to the singu-
of the words spoken afterwards at the marriage-feast larity of his relationship to God? Conceive that it had
at Cana, Jesus answers, "How is it that ye sought me?" been otherwise ; that these thirty years had been veiled
`could you Mary believe that I would act under other in an impenetrable obscurity; that not one single
than heavenly guidance ; could you allow the idea of glance had been given of how they passed away ; that
my being liable to any risk or danger simply because our first sight of the man Jesus Christ had been when
I was not under your eye or care ; do you not know,        He stood before John to be baptized in the waters of
were you not told whose Son I truly am ; and should
not that knowledge have kept you from seeking and the Jordan, and to receive the Holy Ghost descending
sorrowing as you have done: wist ye not, that wher- upon Him. How natural in that case had been the,
ever I was I must have been still beneath that Father's impression that it was then for the first time, whxthe
eye and care - whatever I was about, I must have voice `from heaven declared it, that He knew Himself
been about that Father's business? Mary, you have to be the Son of God ; that it was then, when the Spirit
called me Son, and I acknowledge the relationship ; you first descended, that the Divine associated itself in close
have called Joseph my Father; that relationship I dis- and ineffable union with the human.
own ; my own, my only Father is He in whose house             Then had those thirty years appeared in a quite
you have now found me, whose will I came on earth          different light to us ; then had we conceived of Him as
to do ; about whose matters I must constantly, and         living throughout their course the simple common life
shall now henceforth and forever be engaged.'              of a Galilean villager and craftsman. But now we
   It is this consciousness of His peculiar relationship know, and we have to thank this narrative of St. Luke
to God, now for the first time, perhaps, fully realized, for the information, that if not earlier, yet certainly at
that we catch the true meaning, and can discern some- his twelfth year, the knowledge that He and the Father
thing of the purpose of this early, only recorded inci- were one, that the Father was in Him, and that He
dent in the history of our Lord's youth. Mary we are was in the Father, had visited and filled his Spirit, had
told, understood not the answer of her son. With the annuated and regulated His life. With what a new
knowledge that she possessed, we can scarcely imagine sacredness and dignity do the eighteen years that in-
that she had any dif3iculty in at once perceiving that tervene between this incident; and that of His public
Jesus spake of His Father in heaven, and comprehend- manifestation to Israel become invested, and what new
ing in so far at least the meaning of His words. But lessons of instruction do they bring us ! At the bidding
there may have been a special reason for Mary's sur- of a new impulse, excited within His youthful breast
prise here - the difficulty she felt of comprehension by this first visit to the temple, He broke for a day or
and belief. It cannot readily be imagined that she two all earthly bonds, and seems lost amid the shadows
herself had told her child during the first twelve years of the sanctuary, observed with the higher things of
of His life, or that any one else had told Him, of the Him who was worshipped there. But at the call of
mystery of His birth. From the first dawning of con- duty his hour for public service, for speaking, acting,
scious intelligence, He must have been taught to call suffering, dying, before  ali and for all, had not yet
Joseph father, nor had it outwardly been commun- come. He yields at once to the desire of Joseph and
icated to Him that he was only His reputed father, Mary, and returns with them to Nazareth ; becoming
that He had no earthly parent, that His true and only subject to them, burying, at is were, this great secret
Father was God. If that were the actual state of con- in his breast; emscruting to wail, submitting to all
nection between Mary and Jesus up to the time of this the restraints of an ordinary household, putting Him-
incident in the temple ; if she had never breathed to self once more under the yoke of parential authority,
Him the' great secret that He was none other than the taking upon Him all the common obligations of son, a
Son of the Highest; if there had been nothing as she brother and a neighbor, a friend, a Galilean villager.
knew there had been not, in the quiet tenor of the life
which for twelve years Jesus lived, to afford any out-                                                 G. M. 0.


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                            85

  thans.    De menschen drijven  handel  met elkander, alle tijdelijke  dingen,  om het volk Zijner gunst een
  geven ten huwelijk en worden  ten huwelijk uitgegeven, plaats te geven in Zijn eeuwigen tabernakel.
  genieten  van de uitvindingen van kunst  en wetenschap,                                                       H. H.
  spelen op harpen  en orgels  en vieren feest. Het puur
  menschelijke zal dan zijn hoogste ontwikkeling hebben
  bereikt. Maar de Antichrist zal zich met al zijn macht                  THE CHURCH AS INSTITUTION
  keeren tegen den Christus  en Zijn zaak en Zijn volk.              THE  COMPONENT  PUTS OF THE INSTITUTION
  Maar hoe klopt dat nu met elkaar? Zonder gemeene
  gratie, zoo werd  OILS geleerd zou er geen samenleving           The matter with which we shall deal in this essay
  mogelijk zijn. Had God de zonde niet gestuit, dan  had-       is the special (bizondere) in distinction from the char-
  den de menschen elkander vermoord. Dan was het een ismatic office and that of all believers. The special
  vreeselijke wereld geworden. Maar nu wordt die stui- or peculiar office (that of elder, deacon and minister
  tende werking ingetrokken. En ziet nu, er is nog of the Gospel) enters into the very essence of the
  samenleving. De menschen vermoorden nog elkander church as institution. It shall have served its purpose
  niet, ofschoon ze  we1 de  kinderen  Gods vervolgen, zoo-     with the second advent of Christ. As to the charismatic
  .als ze  altijd  gedaan hebben. En er is een zeer hooge office, it disappeared with the passing of the apostles.
  bloei van het menschelijke leven, ofschoon men zich The office of all believers, as was before said, enters
  stelt tegen den levenden God en den God des hemels into the make-up of the spiritual essence of the body of
  tart.                                                         the church. It is, therefore, eternal.
      Wil eindelijk Dr. Kuyper ook eens zeggen,  wat hij           The` creation of the special or, better still, the
  tegen heeft op de volgende voorstelling, waarin  geen peculiar office  `is a matter of sacred history. Calling
  stuitende werking der gemeene gratie een plaats heeft the multitude of the disciples unto them, the apostles
  en ook geen behoefte is aan eene willekeurige intrek-         instructs it (the multitude) to look among them seven
  king dier stuitende werking? Adam Iag aan den wor- men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wis-
  tel van ons  menschelijk  geslacht. Hij beging ook een dom whom they (the apostles) might appoint over the
  wortelzonde. Die eene wortelzonde draagt hare vruch- business of serving tables. Acts 6:1-6.  This passage
  ten in gansch ons geslacht en dat  we1 naar de mate van is regarded as a record of the origin and institution of
  de ontwikkeling van ons geslacht. Adam kon niet alle the office of deacon. As to the elders, we gather from
  zonde  doen. Hij kon de Antichrist niet  worden,  ook the notices of Scripture that from the very beginning
  niet afgedacht van eenige werking der gemeene gratie. no church was without them. Paul chooses for the
  De zonde ontwikkelt  zich naar de mate dat ook ons            various churches he visits elders. Acts  14223. This
  geslacht zich ontwikkelt. Ieder zondaar zondigt met same apostle warns Timothy to suddenly lay hands on
  de gaven en krachten en talenten, met de middelen en no man. I Tim.  5%. The elders were appointed by
  naar de omstandigheden, die hem ten dienste staan. laying on of hands. "For this cause" wrote Paul to
  Hij doet dat op zijn eigen plaats, in zijn eigen tijd, Titus, "I left thee in Crete, that the things lacking thou
  naar eigen  aanleg  en karakter. Dit gaat voort naar mightest go on to set right, and mightest appoint in
  vaste wet, totdat in het geslacht de eene zonde van every city elders as I have ordered" (Titus  1:5). Holy
  Adam  zich zal hebben ontwikkeld in de voldragen Writ sets forth the various duties constituting the
.  .vrucht.  Dan is de mate der ongerechtigheid vol. Dit special office. The minister shall feed the flock over
  proces  gaat door onder den invloed van den toorn which the Holy Ghost made him overseer. The elders,
  Gods van den hemel, die de zonde niet stuit, maar juist in the words of the Form, must be diligent in the gov-
  uitdrijft, opdat de zondaar openbaar worde zondaar te ernment of the church, which is committed to them,
  zijn en rijp worde voor het oordeel; en onder de wer- and to the ministers of the Word. They shall be as
  ,k.ing  der wet der zonde en des doods van binnen. Daar-      watchmen over the house and the city of God, faithful
  door komt het, dat niet ieder mensch  alle  zonde, doet, to caution and to admonish every one against his ruin.
  maar juist die zonde, die in overeenstemming is met They shall take heed that purity of doctrine and godli-
  zijn aanleg, kracht, gave en talent, met den tijd, waar-      ness of life be maintained in the church of God. "And
  in hij leeft en de omstandigheden, w&arm  hij verkeert. ye deacons," so the Form continues, "be diligent in col-
  Hij zoekt daarbij zichzelf te redden en te handhaven lecting the alms, prudent and cheerful in the distribu-
  in zijn goddeloosheid, niet alleen  als individu, maar oak    tion of the same: assist the oppressed, provide for the
  in verband  met de gemeenschap. Daardoor is het, dat true widows and orphans, show liberality unto all men,
  er bij hem nog een zekere betrachting is tot de  deugd        but especially to the household of faith." These vari,ous
  en de uiterlijke tucht, waardoor er zelfs nog allerlei        duties, let it be repeated, are so many special or rather
  humanistische liefdadigheid kan  worden betoond in het peculiar tasks assigned to those only vested with the
  menschelijk leven. Maar Gods  verbolgenheid   werpt           special office. Not that the common member may not
  hem steeds dieper  in het slijk der zonde en  des ver-        relieve the distress of the poor. He may and does so
  derfs. Zoo gaat het  proces  voort, totdat het zijn hoog-     but not in the capacity of one vested with the special
  tepunt  zal hebben'bereikt, de mate der ongerechtigheid ofFice and as the official agent of Christ.
  is VOW gemaakt en de Heere een einde za1 maken  aan              However, the apostolic churches were blessed with

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

an office of still another sort  - an office known as          Salute all them that have the rule over you.. . . Heb.
charismatic. The prophet of I Cor. 14 was one clothed 1397, 24.
with it.     From the utterances of the apostle we may            Let us approach the matter from another angle.
gather that he (the prophet) was not one vested with Concerning that organization, so we wrote in a former
the special office. The prophets so the apostle advised article, many questions arise.. Among others: Why is
shall speak two or three, and the other may judge. a community of believers ordered to organize, to pro-
Him to whom anything is revealed in the meantime, ject itself, so to say, as an institution? And the an-
shall first hold his peace. They may all prophesy one swer is ready: For the purpose' of exhibition the
by one, that all may learn and all be comforted. I Cor. peculiar properties of Christ and His body. This is at
14:29-31.  These prophets, it seems, were called not least one of the aims. Any ecclesiastical institution,
immediately by Christ, nor by the congregation, nor not serving this purpose, is of a kind disapproved by
by the apostles but directly by the Holy Spirit, who Christ. The institution, then, must display the peculiar
gifted and prompted them to assert themselves as properties to the body. This body, so Holy Writ has
teachers in the assembly of the saints. They disappear it, is.at once a kingdom of which Christ is king as'head
as was said, with the passing of the apostles. There and the believers subjects constituting at once the body
are no more such prophets this day.                            of their King. Hence, the body organized  - church as
      Another kind of office and one that should have institution  - must be made to exhibit these features
been mentioned first, is that of the apostles. One of of the body of the church. A group of believers, then,
its peculiarities is that it rendered those vested with it bent on pleasing Christ, organize, that is, engage in
infallible in their preaching and writings. There were the election of office-bearers and esteem those selected
but twelve such apostles.                                      as Christ's official agents and organs vested by Christ
      Finally, there is the office of all believers. Every with the right to rule His church as its (the church's)
believer is anointed king, priest and prophet by the           organs. It is this relation of supremacy on the part
Spirit of Christ. The character, rights and duties of of the office-bearers and subordination on the part of
this office are matters to which we directed our atten- the members of the body of the church that constitute
tion in a previous article.                                    a group of believers an institution partaking of the
      In this essay it is the peculiar office with which we character of a kingdom.
deal - the office, namely, of elder, deacon and minister          Not many today would subscribe to the above view.
of the Gospel.                                                 Most men will frown upon the conception that the
                                                               o&e-bearer is one set by Christ over His church  -
      We succeeded in establishing, we trust, that the be- one whom Christ vests with the right to function as
liever constitutes one of the component parts of the Ibis official ambassador so that he rejecting him rejects
Church as institution; that the particular engagements Christ. The church, so they will have it, is a mere
of the saint who joins himself to the Church must be society (Collegialism, Indepedentism) . Its office-
thought of as an individualization of the office of all        bearers must be thought of as comprising a board or
believers; that the  latter  in this particular form is, as committee made to appear for the purpose of executing
to its character k'wkrechtelijk  or institutionnl.             the resolutions which the congregation may be pleased
      Let us now institute an inquiry into the relation to make, and of functioning as presiding officers when
which those vested with the special  office (that of the latter assembles. Now there is an essential differ-
minister of the Gospel, deacon and elder) sustain to ence between a society and an ecclesiastical institution
the common members of Christ's Church and to Christ. of which the parts are so related as to constitute a
Having completed our inquiry, we shall at once have kingdom. There is, once more, a vast difference be-
succeeded in singling out the kind of institution into tween the status.of  the office-bearer of such an institu-
which Christ would have His body project itself in this tion and the status of the presiding officer and  *of the
dispensation.     The relation which the office-bearer executive committee of a society.
sustains to the body of the Church is that of king and          These are matters to which we purpose to direct
subject; of ruler and those ruled. Such is the plain our attention in the sequence. Let us return to the
teachings of Scripture. For if a man know not how tJ matter at hand. He vested with the special or peculiar
rule his own house, how shall he take. care of the office is one who rules, teaches, blesses and comforts
church of God, I Ti.  35. Let the elders that rule             with  divine authority.
well be counted worthy of double honor, especially                Our next observation is that the office-bearer func-
they who labor in the word and doctrine, I Ti. 5:17.           tions as an organ of the body over which he is set. In
Remember them which have the rule over you; who addition he is at once the official organ of Christ,
have spoken unto you the word of God ; whose faith chosen and sent by Him and capacitated by His Spirit
follow, considering the end of their conversation, Heb. - one through whom Christ functions at least to a
13 5'. Obey them that have the rule, over you, and sub- degree as the king-priest-prophet of His  bddy. In fine,
mit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they the members of the body of Christ constitute together
that must give account, that they may do it with joy,          with their office-bearers an organized body assuming
and not with grief: for that is unprofitable to you . . . .    as an institution the form of a kingdom. Its office-


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              87

bearers are its official organs and at once the organs prophesy; to another discerning of spirits; to another
of Christ through whom He officially rules and teaches divers kinds of tongues ; to another the interpretation
His body. Christ  ,as head is the absolute monarch of of tongues ; . . . . I Cor. 12%10. Fact is, then, that the
His church, organically related to both the church and church is a body of a high spiritual type capable of
its office-bearers. ThZ latter, though  org3ns of the nourishing, ruling, administering unto itself and of
congregation, are at once responsible to Him from functioning as the king-priest-prophet of Christ in this
whom they receive the right of rule. The line which world. This body and every member in particular does
they stretch out as'rulers,  the word which they bring so. There is, so it appeared, an office of all believers.
as prophets and the blessing which they bestow as           However, right now we are interested in the particular
priests are all Christ's.                                   or special (bizonder) office, that, namely, of elder, dea-
   It may be well to furnish at this juncture the vari- con and minister of the Gospel. Fact is that, though it
ous elements constituting the above view with a scrip- is the duty of every believer to, let us say, feed himself
tural basis. The proposition to the effect that he          with the word of God and declare by word and deed
clothed with the special office occupies a position of the virtues of his God, Christ, nevertheless assigns to
authority relative the congregation, has, so it ap- some believers the special task of functioning in a spe-
peared, the firm support of Scripture. That, further, cial sense as rulers, teachers and priests of his body.
such a one is organically related to Christ is a basic So it is the special task  .of, let us say, the minister of
truth and recognized as such by every enlightened and the Gospel to devote his entire life to the investigation
earnest Christian of Reformed faith. Surely, every of God's Word and feed the flock of Christ. So it is
believer in every capacity is a branch of the true vine the special task of the missionary to function as
Christ. So, too, as one vested with the special office,     Christ's official messenger to the heathen. At the
he can do nothing out of himself. The light he emits proper juncture we purpose to elucidate upon the char-
as office-bearer is kindled and replenished by Christ.      ratter  of the special office in its relation to the office of
Finally, that he vested with the special office functions all believers. To return to the matter at hand, the
as the agent and organ of Christ remains unchallenged question arises, From where does Christ derive the
in Reformed circles.         -                              materials for this special oflice? And the answer is
   However, the proposition to the effect that he           ready, From the circle of the members of His body  -
clothed with the special office is at once the organ of the congregation. He can do so in that, so it appeared,
the body of the Church, some of those arrayed against He renders by His regenerating and sanctifying grace,
us have attempted to disprove. In doing so they set spiritually dead yet elect sinners a holy and enlightened
themselves against a basic scriptural truth. That the body, composed of such baptized into one body and
special office is indeed an organ of the congregation is made to drink into one Spirit; composed, once more, of
the plain teachings of Holy Writ. The Church, accord- such who have an unction of the Holy One and need
ing to. St. Paul, is, as well as the human organism, a not that any man teach them. For the anointing they
body with many members, I Cor. 12:17-21.  Now the have, teaches them of all things, and is truth and is
peculiarity of a body is, so it was explained in a former no lie, and even as it has taught them it shall abide in
article, that its members are organically related to it them. Fact is, then, that essenticrlly each member is
and at once its organs. And it is most evident from capable of attending to the duties comprising the spe-
the utterances of the apostle that he insists we adopt cial office. Christ, then, need not pass by His body
this view of the matter. Says he : "For the body is not when selecting materials for the special office. It is the
one member but many. If the foot shall say, Because believer, the member of the body of the church whom .
I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore    Christ selects and vests with it.
not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am         The question is now in order whether the believer
not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of vested with the special or peculiar office functions as
the body? . . . If the whole body were an eye, where an organ of the church. He does so in that this office
were the hearing? If the whole body were hearing,           is an affair set by Christ in the Church. Upon this
where were the smelling ?` But now hath God set the phase of our subject we purpose to dwell at  some~
members every one of them in the body, as it has length in the sequence.
pleased him, I Cor. X:18. It is plain that the term           These views were championed some years ago, by no
member, in this passage, is being used in the sense of one less than Prof. F. M. Ten Hoor.  We present the
organ. Further, the church is constituted a body and following selection :
the believers its members or organs by the Spirit of            "Als hoofd der gemeente verzorgt Hij (Christus)
Christ, dwelling in it (the body) and in every member haar, en dit doet Hij door de ambten, en inzonderheid
in particular, and giving to one member the word of door het ambt van de bediening des Woords. Ook deze
wisdom ; to another the word of knowledge by the same dienaar des Woords staat niet  10s op zichzelf in, naast
Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another of boven de gemeente. Hij is zoowel met Christus  als
the gift of healing by the same Spirit; to another the met de gemeente organ&h  verbonden. Christus dient
working of miracles by the" same Spirit; to another         de gemeente, niet als haar knecht maar als haar hoofd.

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

Hij doet dit op middellijke wijze. De dienende  organen in the first analysis the task of and inheres in
zijn in de eerste plaats de herders en leeraars. Chris- the body. Take, to illustrate, the organism man.
tus gebruikt hen als  ,middelen om de gemeente uit het The task of my lips and tongue is to praise God. How-
woord te voeden en te versterken. Zij moeten zich ge-          ever, whereas I am an organism, of which my mouth
heel en al door Christus  laten gebruiken. Zij mogen and tongue-are but so many organs, the task and duty
in geen enkel opzicht tegenover Hem onafhankelijk to praise is not first of all that of my tongue and lips
zijn en 10s op zichzelf staan, want dan houden zij op          but that of me the organism. That is to say, this task
zijne  organen, zijne dienaren te zijn. Wet ambtelijk          does not inhere in my tongue and lips but in me the
gezag, waarmede zij in de gemeente optreden, is aan            organism so that even if I should loose my lips and.
Christus ontleend. Zelf moeten  zij als geloovigen uit tongue, the task and duty to praise God would remain.
Hem geboren zijn. Sl mat aan hen is als dienaren van           However, I praise with and by means of my tongue
Christus  moet uit  Christus  zijn. Zij dienen met de          and lips. So, too, the task constituting the special,
bevoegdheid van Christus,  met de waarheid van Chris- office - the tasks, namely, of ruling, of teaching, of,
tus, door de kracht van Christus, met het  doe1 van administering the sacraments, of. proclaiming the
Christus. Zoo zijn zij  dus zijn  organen,  die Hij door       Gospel to all creatures - is a task assigned in the fn-st
zijn H. Geest gebruikt om zijn werk in de gemeente te instance to and inheres in the body of the church and
verrichten.                                                    in every member in particular,, This body was en-
      "Staat  de bedienaar van het Woord alzoo in orga-, joined by Christ to rule, to teach, and to investigate
nisch verband met Christus, anderzijds is er ook een and study the Word of God. "De Heere wil," so
verband  tusschen hem en de gemeente. Als lichaam wrote Prof. Ten Hoor some years ago, "dat wij Hem
is hij reeds in den gewonen  zin een orgaan der gemeen-        met alle krachten dienen zullen, en dat wij dus ook  m,et,
te, doch als ambtsdrager is hij het in een bizonderen alle kracht  denken zullen om Zijn Woord te verstaan.
zin. Het ambt is een instelling in de gemeente . . . .         De  Kerk moet studeeren.
Omdat het ambt eene instelling van Christus is, waar-             "Opzettelijk zeggen wij hier: de  kerk,  omdat wij
door Hij werkt,  wordt  de ambtsdrager een orgaan van ook hier weer de organische opvatting op den voor-
Christus, en omdat het ambt ingesteld is in de gemeen-         grond  moeten  plaatsen. De arbeid der kennis Gods is
te en dus bij haar behoort, -wordt de drager van dit           de arbeid der kerk. Haar zijn de woorden Gods toe-
ambt een orgaan van de gemeente. Uit dit tweevou-              vertrouwd. Zij is in de wereld de pilaar en vastigheid
dig  verband van het ambt, eenerzijds met  Christus  en der waarheid. Haar is de Heilige Geest gegeven met
anderzijds met de gemeente, volgt dan ook, dat Chris- het doe1 haar in de waarheid te leiden en haar de waar-
tus den persoon  voor het ambt niet buiten de gemeente heid te doen verstaan. Dit is geen arbeid die de kerk
om kiest, maar door middel van het orgaan der ge- slechts mag, maar die de kerk  moet  doen. Van Gods-
meente. Wij gelooven dat wij van de gemeente en wege is, zij daartoe verplicht, en in den dag der dagen
mitsdien van God geroepen zijn." .                             zal zij rekenschap moeten geven op welke wijze en in
                                                               hoeverre zij dezen arbeid heeft verricht.
      Our next observation is that the special office (that       "De geheele kerk, alle lidmaten als geheel is dit
of elder, deacon and minister of the Gospel) inheres, in werk door God opgelegd. En daaruit volgt dat geen
the first instance not in the office-bearer but in the         enkel lidmaat  zich  aan dezen arbeid onttrekken mag.
body whose organ he is.                                        Alle lidmaten zijn van Godswege verplicht om in  min-
      The church as institution, it was said, is at once       dere of meerdere mate daaraan mede te werken. Elk
the body of Christ and this of necessity as the institu- lidmaat moet zelf zooveel mogelijk van de kennis Gods
tion is the body organized. The terms orga&m and               uit de Heilige Schrift in zijn bewustzijn opnemen . . . .
institution we need not define nor do we now explain              "Er is velerlei arbeid door God aan de kerk opge-
the things these terms signify, as this has been done          dragen,  en Hij heeft deze arbeid verdeeld onder alle
in an essay appearing in a very recent issue of this           iidmaten. Dit blijkt uit de verscheidenheid van gaven,
magazine. Let us once more direct our attention to the         die Hij  aan de onderscheidene lidmaten heeft gegeven.
proposition to the effect that the church - the local          Ook voor de arbeid aan de theologie heeft Hij aan som-
institution or congregation  - is a body, an organism.         mige lidmaten  bizondere gaven gegeven. En door deze
And then we observe, to begin with, that, whereas the gaven zijn zulke lidmaten door God zelf aangewezen
church is a body and whereas those vested with' the            on  zich  aan deze arbeid meer bizonder te wijden. (The
special office (that of deacon, elder and minister of the      professor has reference here to ministers of the Gospel
Gospel) are so many organs of the body of the church, and professors in theology  - whose special task it is
this special office is of necessity, the office of the body    to study and to preach the Word of God. G.  3X. 0.)
and not that of him inducted into it.             That is         "We1  zijn dezen de  hoofdorganen der  kerk voor dit
to say, the special office  ,inheres in the body of the        werk des Heeren, en we1 behooren zij geheel de kerk
church (de gemeente) . This follows from the  z~ry             te leiden in dezen arbeid,  doch de arbeid als zoodanig
nctture   of the case. For the  Gemeente  is a body, an        is de taak van de kerk in haar geheel. Zelfs geen enkel
organism, the peculiarity of which is exactly that             lidmaat heeft het recht om er rich aan te onttrekken.
the task performed by any one of the members is                Doch de dienaren des Woords moeten meer bizonder


                                      THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             89
                                 .
deelnemen  aan dit werk. Hunne roeGna  is om te ar- only those inductedinto it exercise the rights and per-
beiden in het woord en in de leer . .: . *`(De Gerefor- form the tasks constituting it.
meerde Amerikaan,  Jaarg. IV, No. III, p. 102,103).              Now the view to the effect that the special office
    The study and proclamation of the Word, then, are inheres in the body of the church, is being challenged
tasks assigned to and inhering in the body of the today by certain divines both here and in the Nether-
church; So, too, do all the tasks comprising the special lands. Let us quote once more from the deliverances
office.                                                       of Prof. Volbeda. "Nu heeft het Hem (Christus) be-"
    And once more: "Het (the particular office) is," so       haagd  Zijn  macht door menschelijke  organen  uit te
wrote.Prof. F. M. Ten Hoor some years ago, "eene in- oefenen. Daartoe heeft Hij in  zijn kerk ambtsdragers
stelling van Christus  in de gemeente . . . . Het ambt, ingesteld tot hare leiding en regeering.
dat is de bevoegdheid om van Christuswege en met zijn            "Vandaar dat kerkrechtelijke  macht  niet in de  ge-
gezag een bepaalden arbeid in de gemeente te  verrich-        meente  kleeft  om dan door haar direct of indirect (dat
ten, is door  Christus  in de gemeente ingesteld, en  aan,    is door de ambtsdragers aan wie zij deze in haar inkle:
haar vastgemaukt. Net ambt behoort bij de gemeente. vende macht  zou overdragen) uitgeoefend te worden.
Het komt dus niet van buiten af tot ons, maar  wij wor- Want indien de gemeente zelve, op independentische
den in het ambt, dat in de gemeente is, ingezet. Allen wijze, rechtstreeks  macht  uitoefent, zoo wordt te kort
in organisch verband met de gemeente zijnde, kan men gedaan aan het bestel van Christus waardoor Hij amb-
dus in het gemeentelijke ambt komen" (De Gerefor- ten instelde. (We are in full agreement with this last
)meerde  Amerikaan, jaarg. IV, p- 336).                       statement.-G. M. 0.). En indien de ambtsdragers de
    And finally : "Deze (the peculiar offices) zijn in elke macht `van' Christus  uitoefenen, dan bestaat er geen
gemeente door de apostelen ingesteld. Onder hunne reden om aan te nemen dat deze macht  kleeft in de ge-
leiding kwamen  zij in de gemeente zelve op. Zij  onder- meente die haar tech niet uitoefenen mag . . . .
stellen de gemeenten. Het gewone . (peculiar) ambt is            "Die geestelijke macht is niet kerkrechtelijk van
inhaerent  irk de gemeente, en niet in den persoon  en aard. Daarom kan de gemeente  aan de ambtsdragers
wordt niet met hem van buiten af aan de gemeente toe-         de ambtelijke kerkrechtelijke  macht  niet overdragen.
gevoegd (Rome). Doch  bet is ook geen instelling van De gemeente bezit haar niet. Wat zij niet bezit kan zij
de gemeente zelve, maar van Christus. De gemeente is ook  niet overdragen. Wij komen derhalve tot deze
door  Christus  aangesteld tot profeet,  priester en  ko- stelling : De ambtsdragers ontvangen kerkrechtelijke
ning. Door de eenheid met Christus  heeft de gemeente macht (1) van Christus  die de machtsvolheid bezit en
deel  `aan  zijn ambten. Doch het ambt staat `boven de behoudt ; (2) door (pers)  , het reeds ,bestaande  ambt,
gemeente en met  omgekeerd" (F. M. Ten Hoor,  Com-            (buitengewone omstandigheden uitgezonderd) . (Zie
pendium, p. 252).                                             K. O., Art. 4, 22, 24.) " Acta der Synode,  1926, pp. 319,
    Now an office in Scripture (see my former article)        320.
is a divinely conferred task constituted of the follow-          Rev. G. Hoeksema recently gave utterance to iden-
ing elements : (a) the task as such ; (b) the conferred tical sentiments : "Now.in the light of all this, the con-
right to perform it (the calling) ; (c) the divine act of tention of Dr. A. Kuyper that ecclesiastical power in
capacitating (the anointing) him to whom the task is the first instance resides with the brotherhood, and not
assigned. Such are the elements constituting the with the office-bearers, is seen to be erroneous. Eccle-
special office. Whereas it inheres in its entirety in the siastical power means authority to govern the church
body of the church, it follows with unrelenting logic in the name of Christ. The people never have that
that the right and ability to perform the tasks con- right in our system. They may never govern them-
stituting it, as well as the tasks as such, inhere in the selves. . . . And if the power to rule the church is
body. Such indeed are the plain teachings of Scrip- never in the hands of the brotherhood, it cannot by
ture. The body of the church and not the clergy as a them be given into the hands of the officers. The
disconnected college of individuals was enjoined to, let people can vote. This is a right that may not be denied
us say, preach the Gospel unto all men. And this body them. But they cannot through that  vote, transfer
is eminently capable of performing the various tasks ecclesiastical power from themselves to the officers,
assigned to is. For it is a body, an organism spirit- For you  simply  cannot give to others what you do  nat
ually mature, capable, therefore, of attending to its possess." Quoted from Can a Classis Depose a Con-
affairs. For the indwelling Spirit of Christ teaches it sistorg, p. 84.
all things.                                                      There is much in these selections with which we are
    We wish to emphasize that the body of the church in full agreement. True it is that the people may never
and every member in `particular has the right as well govern themselves; that they do not through the vote
as the spiritual ability to perform the task assigned to transfer ecclesiastical power from themselves to the
it by Christ. It goes without saying that the right to office-bearers. This is by no means our view as we
perform a task is given in the  calling  so that the body purpose to make clear in a following essay. We do
called has of necessity the right.                            maintain, however, that the peculiar office inheres in
    However, we again wish to emphasize that although the body of the church. This the two divines, whom
the special office inheres in the body of the church we last quoted, deny.


90                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R         .
      Both Volbeda and G. Hoeksema, then, take the posi- on the Sabbath when the minister is absent. But this
tion that of the right to govern, the organized body of is another matter to which we purpose to attend at the
the church is not the seat ; that this right or power does proper juncture.
not inhere in the congregation. Let us now lay hold                The right of rule, then, involves the other rights.
on the impli&ations  of this view. The right of rule is Volbeda and G. Hoeksema maintain that this right does
but one of the sum total of rights constituting the            not in the first instance inhere in the body of the
special office. In addition there is the right to teach, church. If not, no rights whatever do. That is to say,
exercised by the prophet, and the right to bless and to if the church is not Christ's official king, neither is it
comfort those who mourn - a right exercised by the His official priest and prophet. Deny the right or power
priest in the church of Christ.                                of the church to rule and one denies its right to teach
      These rights are so related that he appointed to and to function as priest. Further, if it has not these
exercise any one of them must needs exercise them all. rights, it has no calling, for the right or power to rule
Let us make our meaning clear. The elder in the church and to teach are given in the calling. Finally, if the
is vested with the right of rule. It means that he, as church has no calling, why should it be maintained
the official organ of both Christ and the church faces that it was capacitated by the Spirit of Christ to walk
the congregation with the request that it adhere to the worthily of a calling. If it is not the calling of the
line he stretches out. That line is not one of his own church to function as Christ's king, priest and prophet,
making but the Word of Christ entrusted unto the con- pray, what may then be its calling? Can these brethren
gregation. To. rule, then, is to face the body of Christ tell us?
with the request to adhere to the Word. The elder does             Further, if the peculiar office does not inhere in
so when applying censure to a delinquent member. the body of the church, he vested with this office is no
However, he must do more than face the offender with organ of the church, but a foreign addition superim-
the divine request, Thou shalt. The mandates of Christ posed upon the church. This, by the way, is Roman
must be explained.. The Word must be administered, Catholicism of the purest wool, to use one of G.  Hoek-
and the error of the way upon which the sheep gone sema's own expressions.
astray set out,  e,xposed. Finally, the erring one must            It appears, then, that the seemingly innocent propo-
be comforted and blessedin the event he repents. This, sition to the effect that the peculiar office does not
too, is the duty of the elder. The point is that the           inhere in the brotherhood is extremely objectionable.
right of rule involves the right to teach and to com-          It amounts to a denial of the spiritual maturity of the
fort;  that the elder is at once the prophet and the church, of its special calling. According to this view
priest; that if these rights were not his, he could not the clergy is the church and the church with the excep-
rule. Sin envolves the intellect, the will and the heart. tion of the clergy becomes a secular institution.
The elder must administer to the entire man who errs.              That the truth incorporated in the proposition to
As prophet he (the elder) appeals to the erring one's the effect that the organized body of Christ in distinc-
mind, as king to his will, as priest to his heart.             tion from the clergy is the seat of the right and author-
      As it is with the right of rule, so it is with the right ity to function in this world as the official  king-priest-
to teach and to bless and comfort as priest. The min- prophet of Christ in this world is a truth of great im-
ister of the Gospel is the prophet in the church. Both portance for still other reasons ; that, though the body
as the organ of Christ and of the body of the church is the seat of this right, it, nevertheless exercises it in
he explains and proclamates the Word. When he and through the official organs  - the office-bearers  ;
speaks, however, he. does so with the authority of a that the organs of the church are at once the organs
king under Christ and his Word is at once a Word of of Christ - these and other matters will be dealt with
comfort. Hence, he functions at once as prophet, as in a following essay. In a word, we purpose to explain
king and as priest. Likewise the deacon, who admin- our view and at the same time expose the tenets of
isters as an organ of both Christ and the church unto Independentism and  Collegialism.
Christ's poor. Pie does so with the authority of a king
iunder  Christ. He comforts, too, with authority, and                                                        G. M. 0.
the word of comfort which he brings renders him both
prophet and priest. Fact is, then, that the elder is not
merely a king, the minister of the Gospel a prophet,                                  VBAGEN
and the deacon a priest. The elder is official  king-
priest-prophet. So, too, the minister of the Gospel and            Broeder B. D. van Grand Rapids,  Mich, schrijft
the deacon. We may and must distinguish between the ons als volgt :                               *
-three. Separate them we cannot. However, the elder                    Geachte Redakteur  :-
(excels as a ruler in the church, the minister of the
Gospel as teacher, the deacon as one who comforts the              Zou u mij, als lezer van den S. B. ook eenig licht
poor and mollifies their distress. Let no one conclude kunnen geven over wat  we1 genoemd is de Heilsorde?
,now that the elder or the deacon should be permitted Wat komt in volgorde eerst en hoe moet ik mij  bet
to occupy as the official ambassador of Christ the pulpit       oorzakelijk verband denken?


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         95

en aieer ge klaar zijt om uwe kinderen  het verkeerde          lmmers is de keuze tusschen ongeloof en xx-at we
van zulk onderw-ijs te doen zien en gevoelen, ge geen zouden  willen noemen afwijkend geloof niet moeilijk.
tijd overig hebt om ze te doen genieten  van  d&gene,       Bij de eersten ontvangt ons zaad niets goeds en veel
wat ze zoo zeer van noode  hebben. Waarbij nog komt, kwaads. Bij de laatsten een weinig w-at de algemeene
dat in ons druk leven er tech al bitter weinig ten koste    beginselen van Gods Woord betreft.
wordt gelegd, omdat de tijd ontbreekt,  aan opvoeding          Zoolang we zelf niets hebben, houden we ons vast
rondom den huiselijken  haard.  Daarom juist is het         aan de  be&aande  Chr. school.
onderwijs van zulk groot  belang  en verreikende  betee-       Want het is beter iets dan niets.
kenis. Maar  daarom is het dan ook, dat we met .het                                                        w. v.
onderwijs onzer kinderen  niet zoo lichtelijk mogen om-
springen  en  waar, we ze  aan anderen  moeten toever-
trouwen ons  wel. de vraag mogen stellen: door wie                      CALVIN v TI-IE LIGHT OF
avorden  ze onderwezen en wat is de inhoud `van het                         THE THREE POINTS                              r7
onderwijs  ? We hoorden  we1 eens deze zaak berede-
neerd op de volgende wijze:  "Ik leer mijn  kinderen                              (Continued)
naar den eiseh des Verbonds  en wat ik er in krijg moet        We may  sayf at the very beginning, of this discus-
ten slotte het verkeerde op school kunnen wederstaan." sion, that Synod  has,made  a bold attempt to elude the
Welnu, dat klinkt verbazend goed,  maar is de zaak niet minds of the church members as to the real historical
waar het-omgaat. Wie zoo leeft, beantwoordt niet  aan worth of Calvin's quotation. We hasten to say that
de roeping hem opgelegd. Want dezelfde persoon  die we would not dare to conceive of the possibility that
aldus spreekt zou er tech nooit aan  denken  om voor Synod purposed to make any false pretentions in be-
zijn  kinderen  vriendjes en vriendinnetjes te zoeken, half of truth. We can conceive, however, that in order
wier opvoeding tehuis het kenmerk droeg van  spot-          to attain its objective, namely, to construct some state-
ternij met het heilige. En we hoorden nog .nimmer,          ments by which sooner or later the pastors involved
dat een kind van God, vader of moeder zijnde, zijn          might either voluntarily resign their offices, or to
kroost aanraadde om de sterkte der opvoeding eens           depose them, it had to lend itself to peculiar methods
op den proef te stellen door zich in kringen des onge-      of fairness. Synod's committee of prea-advice hastily
loofs te  begeven.  Zoo  loopt de  lijn  niet;  het zou ook gathered its material, without carefully considering its
niet kunnen. Pas nu ditzelfde eens toe op de plaats, worth. Indeed, haste makes waste. It is pitiful, to be
die uwe kinderen  innemen op school, en ge gevoelt, dat sure, to attempt to build a castle on sinking sand. But
ook  clut niet kan, Naar een school waar men mijn God terrible for them who dig a pit for others, not know-
niet vreest, Zijn gebod niet eert, mijn kind de begin-      ing that the ground on which they stand is quickened.
selen dezer waanwijze en  goddelooze  wereld  aanprijst        Synod's declaration in the Second Point amounts
en de Vorst des duisternis wordt gediend, kan noch          to this: God, by general working of His Spirit re-
mag noch wil ik mijne kinderen  sturen ; zoo spreekt        strains sin in the individual. This indeed is a very
Gods knecht.                                                important thesis. We will discuss this doctrine(  ?) in
   Maar wat dan?                                            the  right of historically Reformed truth.
   Zijn dan de Chr. scholen beter?                             It is specifically stated that this general working
   Is het dan niet  waar,  dat ook daar almeer en meer of the Spirit, does by no means work inwardly, by re-
van wordt gezegd, dat zij op het breede terrein der         newing the heart. Hence, this is no thought for argu-
Gtimeene  Gratie  staan?                                    ment. Fact is that God does work with His Spirit in
   En is het niet evenzeer waar,  dat juist zij die ons a general way in the hearts of men (Synod's concep-
om der waarheid niet meer wilden  de scepter in handen      tion), which checks him from committing the sin,
hebben?                                                     which otherwise he had to commit. To be sure, there
   266 zijn de feiten en we haasten ons om te  zeggen,      is no statement in Synod's declaration that possibly
dat  wat ons betreft ook wij voor  zulke  scholen niet man's respect for law, his patural  sense of shame for
kunnen strijden. We zijn met  lamheid geslagen en selfish reason, his aptitude to have a virtuous life
verwachten met het oog op die bestaande inrichtingen which is intensified by a feverish desire to receive
geen verandering, nu niet en nooit.                         honor and praise of men, checks the manifestation of.
   Een eigen school zooals ons die werd voorgesteld  in astrocious  sins. Roman 2  :14 has not been taken in
bet nummer van 15 Sept. `25 blijft ons ideaal  en daar-     consideration. But all this certainly has nothing to
voor hopen we mede te strijden, ook ten koste van vele do with the general working of His Spirit. We sup-
moeilijkheden. En op de vraag of de Chr. scholen beter pose, that the fact, that man is a sane being, is be-
zijn dan de publieke antwoorden we  bevestige@ ze cause of the general working of the same Spirit, other-
xijn beter.                                                 wise this world would consist of insane creatures.
   Ze zijn beter, om eens de woorden te gebruiken,          Such a supposition, to be sure, is very silly indeed, and
waarmede men onze leiders oficieel  betitelde, oak al yet it is the logical consequence of the truth of the
hebben we dan met mannen  te doen  die "afwijkende"         Second Point. For, why it is impossible for Synod to
broeders  zijn.                                             conceive of the truth of "lumen  `natuYalis,"   which


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         every individual has retained after the fall? As long foollowing:  Does  Calvin  actually teach in this passage
         as man is a rational-ethical being, by virtues of this that there is a general working of the Holy Spirit,
:        natural light, he cannot possibly act any differently which restrains sin in every individual  so as to make
i/       from what he does. Every individual has a conscience, life in the community possible? Re-read if you will
:        which is somewhat of ,g`uide as to what' is ethically the passage in question, and you will note that Calvin
1        legitimate. ~B-ut the fact that the conscience Tvitnesses    has no summary or concluding statements, which in
/        and guides does not prove that such is the genera1 the least intimates the contention of Synod. In the
         working of the Holy Spirit. You can never identify the first place, Calvin contends that there "are persons,
         acts .of the conscience.with  the working of the Spirit. who from the mere dictates of nature have devoted
      Here you must  apply Roman  2:14.  Hotvever;  Synod their whole  live to the pursuits of virtue." This is in
I        has made such a misleading identification. The fact perfect harmony with the truth of -Roman 2:14,  and
t that some men are not permitted to commit actually is therefore simultaneously in contradiction with the
        the sins which were thought out, is because there are declaration of Synod. For Synod contends with the
      + @ various reasons Fhy they do not commit themselves to is a general working of the Spirit necessary in the
F        such heinous manifestations of their thoughts. The pursuit of a virtuous life. This does not coincide with
         sole reason why men do not commit  themseives  is per- the truth. Calvin contends the very opposite. Too
         sonal aggrandizement. And for a11 this Synod had no bad that the committee of Synod did not notice this
         eye. %e are quite certain that. Synod has been, too, .contradiction.         Calvin contends in the second place,
         assuming in  resoIving  upon this Second Point.              that "these examples seem  (italics mine) to teach us
               In order to establish the truth of this Second Point, that we should not consider human nature totally cor-
         Synod called also upon The Ins&%&es for verification. rupted." "These examples" having reference to those
         Synod's quotation from The lnstittites you will find in persons who are in pursuit of a virtuous life. How-
         Book II, Chapter III, 3. There you read:                     ever, Calvin makes no definite statemtn as to claim
               "A question, nearly the same as we have aiready        that there is no such a thing as total depravity. Who-
         answered, here presents itself to us again. For in all ever, Calvin makes no definite statement as to claim
         ages there have been some persons, W/LO  porn the merrz      Institutes  is reading something, which is not there
         &ictates  of  rLature  (italics mine),  <have devoted their and which could not possibly be the implication. All
         whole lives to the pursuits of virtue. And though many that is stated is that, from a mere human point view,
         errors might perhaps be discovered in their conduct, it would appear  - seem - as if man was not totally
         yet by their pursuit of virtue they  afforded  a proof, corrupted. Read if you will Book II, Chapter III, 2.
        that there was some degree of purity in nature.. . . Here you will find that Calvin substantiates his con-
         These examples, then Seem  (italics mine) to teach us viction that men  is totally corrupted. Says he: "But
         that we should not consider human nature to be totaIIy       the soul immorsed in this gulf of iniquity, is not only
         corrupted, since, from its instinctive hiss, some men the subject of vices, but tota,lly destitute of everything
         have not only been eminent for noble actions, but bave that is .oood"  (italics mine). Moreover, The  Institutes
         uniformly conducted themselves. in a most virtuous would be a contradictory piece of nonsense, if Calvin
         manner through the whole course of their lives. But would deny in one paragraph, what he infers in the
         here we ought to remember, that amidst this corrup- foregoing. The argument of the Second Point is to
         tion of nature there is some room (italics mine) for assert that in as much as there is a restraining of sin
         Divine grace, not to purify it, but  internaily  to re- by the general working of the Holy Spirit, it is evident
        strain its operations, for should the Lord permit the that this keeps man from being totally corrupt. The
        minds of  aIf men to give up the reins to every lawless       contention of the Second Point is that man is capable
        passion, there certainly would not be  an  individual in of withholding (checking) the execution of his sinful
        the world, whose actions would not evince all the thoughts with the aid of the Holy Spirit; hence, it
        crimes, for which Paul condemns human nature in cannot possibly be true that he is as bad as Scripture
        general. . . . There is no furious beast, that would be paints him. Synod made a dogma of its resolution,
        agitated with such ungovernable rage; there is no whereas Calvin's statement has not even the possi-
        river, though ever so rapid and violent, that would bility of a fact.
        Foyerflow  its boundaries with such impetuosity. In his                                        A.  C.  BQERKOEL
        <elect,  the Lord heals these maladies by a method which                        (To be Concluded)  '
        we shall hereafter describe. In others, He restrains
        %&em, only to prevent their  ebullitions  so far as He
        sees to be, necessary for the preservation of the uni-                LECTURE - REV. 33. HOEKSEMA
        verse."
               After reading the above passage of The Institutes       Subject : NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S IMAGE-DREAM
        the  Synodical  committee of Prea-advice deemed it  suf7j
         ficient to be used as a corroboration of the argument                     Thursday, Nov.  3.5, at  7:45.
         of Point  II. .The question for us to  answer  is the Fuller Ave. Pro. Ref. Church.                Enghsh language.


