                                                T H E   STANDABD   B E A R E R                                                  2-17

          Christus  Jezus hem in het- diepst zijns  harten   aan-
     ~grijpt, kracht van nieuw leven hem in de ziel  start,                              SACRIFICIAL WORSHIP
          zijne natuur, scheef en verkeerd staande door de zonde,              He perusing the pages of the third volume of this
          weer recht zet tegenover God, wordt de duisternis ver-       magazine will happen upon a series of articles bearing
          anderd. in  licht, de vijandschap in liefde, de geest des the title, "The Typology  of Scripture," signed by the
     opstands verbrijzeld en veranderd in een geest van oot- author of this essay. In this article we again set our-
          moed en, nederigheid des harten  en. brengt de aldus selves to the cultivation of this particular theologicai
          goed  gemaakte boom weer goede vcuchten voort. Maar science.               The matters thus far dealt with are: (a)
          tenzij iemand  alzoo door den Geest Gods wordt  weder-       Paradise ; (b) The two trees (the tree of life and the
          geboren blijft  ,hij ganschelijk onbekwaam tot eenig tree of the knowledge of good and evil) ; (c) The temp-
          goed en geneigd tot alle kwaad.                              tation and the fall  ; (d) The cherubim and the flaming
                                                           H. H.       sword ;  (e) The Sabbatical institution  ; and (f) The
                                                                       institution of marriage. The matter to which we now
                                                                       direct our attention is: The origin of sacrificial sacri-
                                                                       f i c e .
                               SALVATION                                       The first sacrifice the sacred historian recorded was
                                                                       that of Cain and Abel. That Adam and Eve had pre-
     s           Salvation is God's own design                         viously been seeking God through this channel of com-
                   To save poor fallen man,                            munion is certain if for no other reason than that the
                 It is a wondrous gift Divine,                         sacrifice is mentioned as a matter of fact in the history
                   A gracious heav'enly plan.                     t    of the  Iives  of their offspring. However, Cain's and
                                                                       Abel's sacrifices are the first we read of. The silence
                 Salvation is the work of God                          of Scripture respecting this rite until these brothers
                   Through His beloved Son,                            attained to the season of manhood, in conjunction with
.                Who came on earth and shed His blood;                 the fact that nowhere do we read that these sacrifices
                   By Him the work was done.                           were brought in response to an express command of
                                                                       God; have, led some to conclude that the sacrifice was
                 Salvation is by blood alone,  -                       of human invention instead of divine origin. We pur-
                   None can approach to God                            pose to show in the sequence that this view is weighed
                 Except in Jesus Christ, and own                       down by serious objections  ;. that it places its exponents
                   lTis through the poured-out blood.                  before certain phenomena not to be explained on the
                                                                       basis of their theory ; that, consequently, the only
                 Salvation is a work of grace                          tenable view and one in agreement with Scripture and
                   Which God alone begins,                             with God's methods in general is that, in approaching
                 Through Him Who took the sinner's place,              God through the blood of a slain victim, the antedi-
                   When lost and dead in sins.                         Iuvian saints were acting upon a divine suggestion ;
                                                                       that, therefore, the spectacle of these saints entering
                                                                       the sanctuary of God by this blood can only be satis-
                 Salvation, is of God alone,                           factorily explained'on  the basis of some form of reve-
               He quickens rebels dead,                                l a t i o n .
                 And such His love and mercy own,                              Let us set out by tracing the path of reasoning
                 ' And praise for blood once shed.                     .leading,  so it is supposed, to the conclusion constituting
                                                                       the view we challenge. The advocates of this view
                 Salvation is for ever too, -                          choose as their point of procedure primitive man's con-
                   All those redeemed by blood                         ception of God. It is said and in truth that the ancient
                 Are in Christ Jesus, made anew,                            worshipper thought of God as one whose wrath had to
                   For ever near to God.                                    be appeased, whose favor had to be won and whose
                                                                       friendship had to be solicited. What was supposed to
                 Salvation is for sinners lost  I                           render this friendly intercourse possible was that the
                   The broken hearted may                                   deity, so it was thought, differed but relatively from
                 Come now to Him ;  - great was the cost                    His worshippers. He is a God of the same stock as
                   To open such a way.                                 man, one with dispositions, passions and appetites
                                                                       identical to the creature. Hence, he needs, so it was
                                                                       held by these semi-barbarian devotees, food ; is pleased
                 Salvation is for those who see                        as any earthly chief would be, with a gift; is kindly
                   And know their lost estate,                              disposed to those who made them and grants his favor
                 That  Jesus Christ is all their plea,                 ,to the donor. Such are at least in part the findings of
                   Themselves  they loathe and hate.                   a rather recent science (comparative religion) respect-
                                                     Selected.         ing primitive man's conception of God. These  observa-
                                                                       ,

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

tions are correct. However, he interested in knowing sinner, then, has his unknowable God whom he dreads,
what the natural man does with God and what he              and his baals to whose defense he will arise and to
thinks of Him should consult Scripture. This book whose honor he will throw a dance. He avoids God and
furnishes us with all the data needed. What.is  more courts the friendship of devils. So, indeed, does Scrip-
this data is absolutely reliable in that it is constituted ture characterize the worship of the heathen. Never-
of a record of the observation of Him who  under-           theless, .to play safe he erects an altar to the unknown
standeth man's thought afar off. According to the God. If this state of affairs is lost sight of the findings
testimony of Paul, man became vain in his imagina- of the cultivators of the science of .Comparative  Reli-
tions and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God gions are seen to be at variance with the testimony of
into an image made like to  corrupible  man, and to Scripture respecting the pagan's conception of God and
birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Rom. the attitude which he assumes toward God. Scripture
1:23. Tracing the thought of the chapter it is clearly avers that the natural man and in particular the
discernible that this section of the apostle's treatise is heathen avoid God as he would some loathsome disease.
a record of the process of the moral and spiritual de-      Fact is, however, that this same pagan may be seen
;generation  of the fallen race. The apostle, however, seated at the table of his god on the occasion of a sacri-
tabulates only the outstanding features of this process.    ficial meal. There is no conflict here if one but remem-
Man, once fallen, continues or rather is made to sink bers that the God shunned and sought is in each case a
ever lower. Each drop is related to the succeeding one different deity. The refusal to consistently admit that I
as sin and punishment and thus the entire process pre- the God which the natural man seeks and serves is a
sented as a display of divine wrath.                        distortion, the product of a sin-darkened heart, ex-
   How the natural man from Adam down to the pres- plains why in most Reformed circles of our day natural
ent wills to think of God may be further inferred from man's religion is being lauded as a credit to its de-
the criticism Christ brought to bear upon his prayer.       votees.
Said Jesus to His disciples: "But when ye pray use not          So, then, did primative man will to think in his
vain repetitions as the heathen do: for they think that fallen state of God. What he thought, constitutes the
they shall be heard for their much speaking" (Matt. 6 :     first link in the chain of reasoning yielding the view
7, 8). This vain repetition of words on the part of the     that sacrificial worship was a human invention. What
petitioner represents an attempt to induce the deity to may be the second one? And the answer is ready: The
give ear to his cries and to grant him his wish. This at- dispositions and psychical states corresponding to this
tempt in turn signifies that, according to this peti- man's conceptions of God. Primitive man is known to
tioner, the seat of the moving and determining prin- have been  filled with fear and dread for the super-
ciple of God in action is man ; that the standard of natural powers. Then again tradition shows him up
divine conduct is not an eternal counsel expressive of as one entertaining* the most friendly feelings for his
the supremely wise mind of God but the notions of a deity, even holding him in high esteem and disposed
short sighted and sinful creature. What God will do is to do him homage and to honor him. These dispositions,
determined by the influence which man may be able to states and attitudes, so it is averred, set him to think-
exert upon Him. Further God, so it is thought, is           ing how he might appease the dreaded God whose
ignorant of the state of affairs of His creatures. He power he feared, or solicit the favor of the deity to
must be informed and therefore the heathen prays.           whom he  feIt himself attached, or express his esteem
   According to Scripture, on the other hand, there is for the god he honored. His mind hit upon the sacri-
none like God. He declares the, end from the begin-         fice. So it happened that when he desired the divine
ning, and from ancient times the things that are not protection and favor, he would dedicate the first fruits
yet done, does all His pleasure, brings to pass what He of agriculture or a portioh of what was to be sown. If
spake,  and does the thing He purposed (Isaiah $6 :9- the motive was to render himself commendable to the.
11). Hath mercy on whom He will and hardeneth deity, he would appear. with a chosen animal slain at
whom He. will (Rom. 9 :17).                                 the altar.
   Scripture teaches us further that the fallen human          Such are the cogitations of some addicted to the
thinks of God as a being to be feared, dreaded and "human invention" theory of the origin of the sacrifice.
hated. But would the heathen call upon and solicit, as Our comment is that the above-described sacrifices were
Christ presents them as doing, the friendship of a God indeed human inventions. There is, however, no mate-
whom they hate? To this we reply that man either rial correspondence between them and the rite of sacri-
characterizes God as the Unknowable One and forth- fice as instituted by God. The feelings from which they
with dismisses Him, or draws the Exalted One down to arose are degrading to the believer and an abomination
his own sinful level by changing His glory into an in God's sight. The view we challenge applies only to
image of like to corruptible man. Before this God he the type of sacrifice brought by the Cams, by them of
bends his knee. The former conduct shows up the sin- whom it was said that there hands were full of blood.
ner as one who, being at odds with the Almighty, in-        It applies, the view in question, to the worship of the
sists that there is no God. The latter conduct is that heathen.
of one yielding to an innate impulse to worship. The            Cain's sacrifice was prompted by motives, arose


                                     T H E STANDA'RD   B E A R E R                                                249

from feelings and was the expression of itonzeIjti&s         with the  iecognition  on his part that the shed  blood
that rendered his worship essentially heathen.' He constituted the only channel of communion, the only
refused to recognize the fact of sin and conSeq&ntly         avenu6  of approach to God. This element was not Iack-
the necessity of being covered by the blood of Go&`8         ing in Abel's sacrifice. Cain's sacrifice, on the other
lamb. With t,he fruits of agriculture he would appease hand, failed to measure up to these requirements. `Unto
God, buy his friendship and render himself agreeable it, therefore, the Lord could have no respect. The
in God's sight. This type of worship is, to be sure, a former was ready to receive from God a gift by whose
human invention.                                             blood he knew he had to be covered if he would stand
    In fine, the above mentioned science fails to account in the judgment and enter the sanctuary of God. The
for the kind of sacrifice approved by the Lord God in        latter felt no need of a gift of this kind. Thinking
His Word. The first duty devolving upon him setting himself rich, he would enrich God by the fruits from
himself to this our task is to inform himself as to the      God's own fields.
kind of sacrifice Jehovah sanctioned. This information          Of greater importance is the question of the theo-
is ours for the seeking as the divinely approved sacrifice logical conceptions constituting the groundwork of the
constitutes one of the outstanding themes of Scripture.      rite in question.    Here again Scripture is our only
True, Holy Writ says next to nothing respecting the          source of information. According to Holy Writ, the
character of Abel's offering. However, the fact that         mode of thought entering into the make-up of this
Israel's sacrificial worship was an institution of the basis, defined God as a Being of perfect rectitude who
same God who had placed His  se&l  of approval upon the      without fail causes sin to return to the transgressor
offering brought by Abe1  necessitates the conviction in the form of guilt and punishment, as a bking of that
that there could be no essential disagreement. Both profound wisdom capable of divising ways and  means
must have signified essentially the same realities, sat- for throwing about the condemnable yet chosen sin-
isfied the same needs and served as the vehicle of essen-    ner His everlasting arms- of mercy, as a Being, finally,
tially the same divine instruction. Hence, the char- capable of a love able to pardon and cleanse the guilty
acter of the sacrificial worship of the primitive (antedi- and filthy culprit and to prepare for him a place in
luvian) church may be known from the testimony of            His (God's) house. That God at the very dawn of
Scripture respecting the meaning and significance of history was already engaged in declaring  unt8 His
the ritualism peculiar to the worship engaged in by church these glories of His is most evident from the
the covenant people. Attending to this testimony the various notices of Scripture. In that very moment
discovery is made that the sacrifices brought by the         man swore off his allegiance to God, the revelation of
primitive church (Abel and his spiritual kin) is an wrath from heaven commenced. Its operations were
altogether unique phenomenon, an affair which, as to being experienced and observed. Having eaten from
the idea incorporated in it as well as to the r&gious        the forbidden tree, man fears God. The voice of the
feelings and dispositions from which it arose,  dif?ered     Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day, fills
radically from its distortions which one happens  upon       his soul with dread, and he flees and hides himself from
when entering the company of the Cainites.                   the presence of his Maker amongst t,he trees of the
   The divine approved  sacriiice  was, as to its out- garden. Another exhibition of the punitive righteous-
ward visible form, a bloody transaction. Respecting ness of God was man's confusion of mind occasioned by
the specific acts in which the sacrifice involved the the consciousness of his nakedness. He fears that his
worshipper before the flood, Scripture says next to body will exlzose  to the eye of God the corruption of his
nothing. Was there from the very beginning an altar soul, and therefore attempts to cover his person with
upon which the blood of the animal devoted was leaves. Then there was the spectacle of the cherubim
sprinkled and its flesh arranged and subsequently with the flaming sword keeping the way of the tree
burned?    Abel in distinction from Cain who appeared of life, of the sanctuary of Paradise. It taught man
before the face of the Lord with the fruits of the that this tree was accessible to the righteous  only and
ground, is merely said to have brought of the  firstlings    that he with unclean hands may not enter the ho&
of the flock. Noah, so we are told,  builded,  upon leav- place. The sword with its revolving movements and
ing the ark, an altar unto the Lord and took of every flaming brightness served as an emblem of God's
clean beast and of every clean fowl and ofFered  burnt       avenging justice. The purpose of its suspension had
offerings upon the altar. Gen. 8:21.  Did the transac-       been to exclude man from the regions of life and to
tion at first, however, merely consist in the victim be- suggest to him the necessity of redemption.
ing made'to  pour out its blood before the face of the          The cherubim, further, were emblems of the re-
Lord? The silence of Scripture respecting the build- deemed kosmos returning to its Maker through re-
ing of altars till after the Rood can certainly not be       deemed humanity. For these creatures were consti-
held to warrant the conclusion that the altar was un- tuted of forms representing the higher types of crea-
known to the church before the flood. However this           tural life - man, the ox, the eagle and the lion, and
may be, the eIement  gaining for the bloody sacrifice thus gifted .with human intelligence, the latter con-
divine acceptance was the shedding of blood before the tPolling  the animal forms engrafted upon the human
face of the Lord by :L broken hearted sinner together        body.    The cherubim serve God,  dw@l  about   His

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

  throne, and are exceedingly active in the interest of         Let us now ask what might have been the meaning
  their Maker. They extol1 His virtues and set them-         incorporated in the sacrifice? This question has already
  selves against His. adversaries. There were still other been answered. We may repeat our answer. The sin-
  manifestations of the above-cited glories of the Lord      ner worthy of death may approach God through the
  in the period under consideration. Man had heard God       innocent blood of a sIain victim and feel assured that
  curse on the day of his fall. He had been given a          he finds favor in God's sight. The sacrifice, then, pro-
  tangible demonstration of its operations,  - in his ex- claimed a God of superlative righteousness and bound-
  pulsion from the garden, in the shame he experienced less love seeking His lost ones through the blood of
  upon the discovery of his nakedness, in the thorn and      His lamb.
  the thistle that grew, and in the wanton ungodliness of       What, finally, may have been the feelings prompt-
  the seed of the serpent. Man, however, had also been       ing this sacrifice? A deep sense of guilt; the feeling,
  made to listen to a proclamation of a promise of re-       I am unclean ; a craving for divine pardon; a thirsting
  demption. We refer now to the announcement of the          for righteousness; a longing for God, coupled with the
  mutual animosity of the two seeds. "And  I will put recognition that the depraved sinner's only way of
  enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy approach to God is through a blood that cleanses from
  seed and her seed: it shall bruise thy head, and thou      all sin, and with the conviction that he entering the
  shalt bruise its heel" (Gen. 3  :15). What we have sanctuary by this way will be fed with mercy and sat-
  here is a revelation of the course of events unto the isfied with God's blessed image.
  end of time.    There shall be two seeds involved in          Such, then, were the feelings from which the  God-
  perpetual strife.    The seed of the woman is assured      approved sacrifice rose. These feelings, together with
  the victory.    It shall gain the  ascendency  over the their mode of expression, - the outward rite as such,
  malice of the devil. Here, then, is the promise of a plus the incorporated idea, together with the theo-
  royal priesthood, an holy nation, a  peculiar   Feoplc  set- logical basis upon which this rite was made to rest,
  ting forth the praises of Him who called it out of dark- constituted the divinely approved sacrifice. Move the
  ness into His marvelous light. The nation being holy, sacrifice from this basis, empty it from the  above-
will of necessity be opposed to that which is opposed cited incorporated idea, maintain that he who offered
  to  Go& It is plain that immediately upon the fall was devoid of the above-cited dispositions, and all that
  God began to train His people to contemplate Him as remains is the empty shell, a meaningless transaction
  their gracious Redeemer. To what extent was the            no longer deserving to be called a sacrifice at all but
  church at this period made to see the implication of rather the mere butchering of an animal. To define
  these divine instructions? When Cain was born, Eve the outward visible rite as such, without incorporat-
  jubilantly exclaimed : "I have gotten a man with the ing in the definition its meaning, is equal to defining
  Lord." It goes to show that the speech of Jehovah a word without giving the idea signified. If all that
  together with the other mediums of divine instruction is meant by sacrifice is the killing of an animal, we
  had instilled in her understanding heart right thoughts concede at once that man began or at Ieast would have
  of God, and had centered her mind upon a man - a begun to sacrifice on his own initiative as well as he
  man with Jehovah  - destined to triumph over the           began to kill his fellow-man without any instruction
  seducer. She erred, however, in regarding Cain as the coming to him from without.
  promised seed. The sacrifice, too, was a valuable             It must not be supposed that the God-astranged
  source of information relative the gracious intentions science shows regard only to the outward form of the
  of God. It clearly demonstrated that the sinning soul rite in question when defining it. Fact is that these
  shall die, that without the shedding of blood there can descriptions as well as ours are extended beyond the
  be no remission of sin, that, finaliy, man though de- mere form of the rite to what is held to be the embodied
  praved walks in the light of Jehovah's countenance if idea. Whereas the heathen sacrifice is t,he incorpora-
  he recognized as the channel of communion the inno- tion of a lie, the embodied idea is of a kind concerning
  cent blood of a slain victim. Of Abel it is said that,     which it must be said that its birth-place was the
  offering by faith, he obtained witness that he was *perverted  mind of some human. Science shows an
  righteous. This faith surely had a content consti- unwillingness to admit that the God-approved sacrifice
  tuted, it must have been, of the promises thus far of Scripture was a unique phenomenon. It is placed
  given. The witness respecting his righteousness was in a class with those brought by the heathen and traced
  at once a testimony of God's great love for him un- back to common origin.
  worthy yet chosen vessel. It appears, then, that, even        The sacrifice of the antediluvian church, however,
  at this early date, there was plenty of evidence of must be placed in a class by itself as being of divine
  Jehovah's gracious designs  - evidence laid hold on and origin. The incorporated idea as well as the  theolom
  understood by the called of that age. It was these lov- constituting its basis were, as we have seen, matters
  ing designs that constituted at once the reason and of divine revelation. It was a tangible exhibition of
  the inseparable basis of the sacrifice. To move this       the very wisdom of God. The basis on which it rested
  rite from these basis is to render it an  absoluteiy       as well as the theology embodied in it was constituted
  meaningless transaction.                       :           of truth concerning which the apostle said: "Eye bath


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        2, 5i

not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the we regard as constituting the basis  upan which  th.e
heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for sacrificial worship of subsequent periods was erected.
them that love Him"  (I Cor. 2  :9). An examination            This rite, then, as to its form and essence, was eveI
of the entire literary output of the pagan world will          before God's mind and at the appointed time revealed
bear out this statement. Where besides in Holy Writ to man from heaven.
do we happen upon a God seeking the condemnable                   What is more, this God-approved sacrifice was the
yet chosen sinner through the cross and taking him to          first one made in history. It was brought, for the first
His heart? Of this Gospel the sacrifice of the Old time by the Lord Himself, on the day of man's fall. It
Dispensation was shadow. Whereas the form of the precedes, therefore, the human inventions of the  Cain-
rite in question must have been of God as well as its          ites and the heathen in general. These inventions,
essence - the two cannot be separated - it follows             then, must be regarded as distortions of the original
that the sacrifice in its entirety was of an origin divine.    sacrifice as instituted by God. The science referred to
   Fact is, however, that nowhere do we read in above, reverses the order and insists that this rite as
Scripture of the exact institution of this rite nor are executed by the Old Testament church was a modifica-
we told that the primitive church in sacrificing did so tion of this same rite as practiced by Israel's neigh-
in response to a divine command. There is a recorded bors. The religioh of the latter nation, so it is averred,
fact, however, which has to do with our subject, and is based on the broad religions of humanity. Such
which may be perceived as instilling in man's mind voices may even be heard in so-called Reformed circles.
right thoughts respecting the manner of approach to So we may read in a certain production as follows:
God. The fact to which we refer took place at the "Of course, I agree wholeheartedly with all those be-
close of God's interview with our first parents after lieving scholars who contend that the religion of Israel
the fall : "-4nd unto Adam also, and to his wife, did the was essentially different, positively unique, in a class
Lord God make coats of skin, and clothed them." As entirely by itself. The essence of Israel's religion Iay
was before said, man's consciousness of his nudeness in the covenant of grace, which God established with
disquieted his mind.     He feared lest his uncovered no other people on the face of the earth . . . .
body should give indications of the evil thought hous-            "I am afraid, however, that some well-meaning
ing within. He covers himself with leaves to get re- Christian teachers and students, in their debate with
lief to his uneasy feelings. The discovery was made, critics, have been overshooting the mark. That is, of
however, that a covering of this kind failed to silence course, a poor policy.
the accusing voice of evil conscience and to hide the             "I mean this: `In their anxiety to prove the unique-
shame of the  filthy  soul, so that when God called, man ness of Israel's religion, they have been to ready to
fled. God Himself comes to the rescue. "In His ad- deny obvious resemblances between it and other reli-
mirable wisdom and goodness," to use the words of the gions. In other words  - and now we hitch up with
Confession, "seeing that man had thus thrown himself our subject  - they  haye too largely ignored the plain
into temporal and eternal death, and made himself fact that God, in the establishment of the covenant
wholly miserable, He was pleased to seek and comfort of special grace, took His starting point in common
him, when man trembling fled from His presence, grace. Israel's religion was built on the broad founda-
promising that He would give His Son, who should be tion of the wiginn religion of humanity in the fanz-
made of a woman, to bruise the head of a serpent, and          ilies of Adam ct;nd Noah, in the races of Seth and Shem.
would make him happy." Of this promise God im- Therefore these attributes of God which are revealed
mediately gave to man a sign and placed upon it His in nature, as His omnipotence and omniscience, are
divine  sea1 when He made coats of skin to clothe them more prominent on the pages of the Old Testament
with. Clothing, so obtained, had necessitated the giv- than in the New. That also explains it that God
ing up of life on the part of an inferior yet innocent adopted for the religion of His chosen race some forms
living creatuqe.  Its death, then, was needed, to allay already in existence elsewhere, as the rite of circum-
man's fear. This act of covering man's bodily shame cision for instance. Thus Bavinck reasons in his lec-
must be regarded as a declaration on the part of God ture on our subject" (R. B. Kuiper,  As To Being  Rc-
to the effect that He cancels and removes the sin that formed). For a full refutation of this stand, see our
was causing the uneasiness, so that in the covering of articles in the third volume of  THE  STANDARD  BEAREE.
his flesh, man receives a sign of the gift of God's               We single out the statement: "Therefore these at-
gracious pardon. That the speech of God incorporated tributes of God which are revealed in nature, as His
in this act of His was laid hold on and understood by omnipotence and omniscience, are more prominent on
the church of that day is evident from the notice of the pages of the Old Testament than in the New." To
Scripture to the effect that by  faith Abel offered a be sure, God has and does reveal Himself unto all men.
more excellent sacrifice than Cain, who, being a child The heavens declare the  gIory  of God unto all human-
.of nature, was unwilling to discern the meaning of the ity. The invisible things of God are clearly seen from
acts and symbols of God done and caused to appear the creation of the world. Rom. 1. That which may be
for the comfort and instruction of His people. In fine, known of God is manifested in all men. Rom.  1:18.
the act of God consisting in His covering man's shame Fact is, however, that the natural man holds this and

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

all truth in unrighteousness. His God, his sacrifice,          type of religion.  It is  a religion in which ethics  are
his worship, in a word his entire religion is seen as :?       substituted for the religious ideal of relations between
hideous distortion of the revealed truth of God and.           God and man. It is a religion without a clearly defined
for this reason an abomination in God's sight. This            object of worship, for in the matter of worship earthly
so-called "original religion of humanity," therefore,          parents are placed on the same level with God, the
could not possibly serve as a basis for Israel's religion.     Creator of heaven and earth. It is a religion that
It is nothing short of blasphemy to say that the. hbly         knows very Iittle about sin and absolutely nothing at
and righteous God  t.ook  His starting point in these a.11 about a Saviour. It is barren in spiritual attitudes.
religions.                                                     Personal prayer is almost entirely lacking. Sacrifice
    Let us listen to the testimony of one who recently and confession of sins are purely a matter of ritual.
made a study of these religions:                               Fellowship with God is not even an ideal, to say noth-
    "There need be only one thing said in criticism of         ing of its not being an accomplished reality . . . . .
primitive monotheism, and that is that it was not con-         Confucianism has no absolute standard of right and
sistently  monistic..    As far back as authentic history      wrong: Confucius himself did not hesitate to tell  a lie
sheds any light upon it, it appears as a distorted form,       in an emergency. Confucian ethics never climb the
sometimes as a mockery of the worship of one God. It. heights of `requiting good for evil  ; when that principle
was a government monopoly. The common man could                was suggested to Confucius, he is said to have replied:
have no fellowship with God. The occasional flashes of `What, then, would you have left with which to requite
truth it shows, as for example in the solstitial prayers good?' . . . . There is no more severe criticism of
and in the worship upon the altar of heaven, seem to           Confucian ethics than that which is found in the social
indicate that we have in Chinese  mon@heiqn  only and political conditions of the land of China today . . .
remnants of what was once a lofty and glorious reli-              "Ancester  worship . . . . cannot be called an up-
gion. The heart of it was gone, and there is only cere- lifting force. It is idolatry. To be  sure  it is an idol-
mony left." Let us brake off here to remark that the           atry of a more subtle kind than that which usually
glorious religion referled to is the true religion of the go& by that name, but it is idolatry nevertheless. And
true God with which the church set out in history, and because of its subtle nature  a more dangerous form of
of which the above-cited monotheism is but  a horrible idolatry than that which bows before wood  and stone.
carricature.  We again quote :                                    "Buddhism does not honestly face its big problems;
    "Animism does not appear ns a separate religion            it sidesteps them by the simple expedient of denying
today, but insofar as it shows traces of its influence         the reality of the material world. It ignores rather
in other Chinese religions, it is manifested as a reli- than overcomes the world. According to Schweitzer,
gion of fear instead of love. With all its emphasis on the Buddhist is supposed to live in a world of pure
the powers of evil, it shows no satisfying way out.            spirituality. "The Indian idea of the divine is that it
There is no spirituality about it, not even a high             is a pure spiritual essence. It is the ocean into which
ethical idea. Its influence has'been  degrading; it had        man, tired of swimming, wishes to sink.' Buddhism
hindered material as well as spiritual progress; and           is a poverty-stricken religion. Its God is mere empty
has bluated the finer sensibilities. of those who have         spirituality. It is a mysticism which makes man lose
come under its influence.                                      his individual existence in a god that is dead.' And
    "Taoism has departed from the relatively high ideal thus it `attains to an ethic in words only, but not to an
of itsfounder, and is today of the earth, earthy.       (It    ethic of deed' (43.1). In a world that is carnal, the
always was that, G. M. 0.) It seeks the final satisfac-        character of man's reactions to that world are not of
tion in harmony with the powers of nature, rather vital importance" (From  Chinese Altars  fo thr Un-
than in the fellowship with the God back of nature. It known  God by Rev. De Korne, p. 105).
is grossly idolatrous and deeply superstitious. It has            In fine, a study of these religions yields but one
no lofty views of God nor of the destiny of man, and conclusion that the true religion with its  true worship
its only dynamic for keeping men from sin and from and sacrifice was h.ere I'lrst; that all the rest is :k de-
excess is the fear of the tortures of hell. It has not         parture from this original type.
had the courage of its own convictions, for it has made                                                      G. M. 0.
many concessions Buddhist and Confucianists prac-
tices, and thus  couId  not be expected to produce  :X
strong type of religous life in its devotees. It is a reli-
gion which schemes to outwit evil spirits, and knows                      Plengt geen tranen om de vromen,
nothing of a child-like approach to the Father of our                        Die de dood u heeft ontroofd!
spirits.                                                                  Zij zijn tot het  hei1 gekomen,
   "The limitations of Confucianism fall under two                          .Waar  hun ziel aan heeft geloofd.
heads: first, as a system of religion, and, secondly, as                  duichend zijn zij opgevaren
a system of ethics.                                                       .rJit des levens Wilde baren;
    "To the extent that we can speak of present-day                          In het  stille Vredes-Land
Confucianism as a religion, it certainly is not a high                       Voerde hen. de Vaderhand.


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                      257
baar  zou zijn  voor de wet.  .Het  is zooals Groen van
Prinsterer schreef : "De minderheid geraakt onder het                SKETCHES ON THE DEVELOPMENT
onweerstaanbare en  afschuwelijke  despotisme van de                             OF' DOCTRINE
meerderheid."      En daaraan helpt Mr. Dykstra mede.                   LUTHERANISM  ON SIN AND GRACE
Daarvoor ijvert hij. Niet voor de wet van God, maar
voor den wil der menschen is hij vol vuur, als hij zoo          We now turn our attention to the period of  the
ijvert voor de Prohibitie.                                   Reformation and, of course, first of all to that phase
   Nog iets.                                                 of the Reformation that was inaugurated through  th.e
   Als wij wijzen op het verkeerde van die wet, iets,        instrumentality of the man Martin Luther.
dat ons  goed  recht is en waardoor wij volstrekt niet in       There is a wide and profound difference between
verzet komen tegen de door God over ons gestelde the Lutheran and the Calvinistic phase of the Reforma-
Overheid, dan zijn wij geen helpers en handlangers van tion, even as there is little in common between the
bootleggers en hijackers, maar staan wij hen juist character of Martin Luther and that of John Calvin.
tegen. Zij  tech zijn met de prohibitie-wet  goed  in hun Of the two phases the latter is undoubtedly the more
schik. Ik houd mij verzekerd, dat Gov. Smith in de profound, doctrinal, systematic; the former was char-
laatste verkiezingen de stem van de heeren bootleggers acterized by action and impulse, was of a more prac-
en hijackers niet op zich heeft vereenigd. Deze tech         tical nature.
was tegen de prohibitie. En de bootlegger en hijacker           Luther himself, whatever different and contradic-
verstaat wel, dat zijn bestaan van die wet afhangt. Als tory impressions one may receive of him from differ-
de prohibitie-wet wordt ingetrokken, houdt zijn bestaan ent writers, was undoubtedly a man of action, of a
ook op. Dan verdwijnt hij vanzelf.                           sanguineous  and impulsive character, the man who by
   Nu, wij zetten hier het  pun&urn.                         his nature and personal history was well equipped
   En wij zouden gaarne  vernemen  met welke  grond-         with those powers that were required for the mighty
beginselen van Groen van Prinsterer Mr. Dykstra het task of sweeping away from between the soul and its
werkelijk eens is.                                           Saviour the overpowering structure of the institute
   Geen  groote woorden, please, maar duidelijke  bewij-     of the Romish Church.
zen.                                                            Such was the task the Lord had assigned to him.
                                                   H. H.        And for this task he was endowed with the proper
                                                             talents and trained in the school of his rich experience.
                                                                He was, by birth, a man of common people. He
                                                             was born in Eisleben in 1483. His parents were poor,
                        NET KRUIS                            belonged to the peasant-class and his father was a
         Het ridderkruis des Christens is                    slate-cutter by trade. However, his father evidently
                 Geen schitterend metaal  ;                  was not of the conviction that his son would necessarily
         Maar tegenspoed en droefenis,                       have to follow the same trade he practiced. Martin
                 En een geduld van staal.                    was first sent to the Latin School at Mansfeld, then
                                                             studied law at Magdeburg and Eisenach and finally
         "t Is Jezus' kruis. Als hij het torst,              finished his course at Erfurt in  15QS.  However, at
                 Hij houdt het voor gewin;                   an early age he was troubled by the tremendously
         Doch `t zit niet boven pp de borst,                 significant question: How can a sinner be justified be-
                                                             fore God? It became the question of his life. It left
                 0 neen, er binnen in.                       him no rest. He asked the Church and he tried her
         Hij wankelt niet, hoezeer het knelt,                answers, but found no satisfaction and was left with-
                                                             out peace, even after he chastised himself almost to
                 En `t hart er onder bloedt :
         Hij weet  tech wie het zoo bestelt,                 death. He abandoned law and entered the Augustinian
                                                             convent at Erfurt. There he found a Bible, typically
                 En wat het werken moet.                     chained to the wall. and covered with dust. He read
                                                             that a man is justified by faith ,without the work of
         Hij' draagt het slechts eerikorten  tijd,           the law. But he did not understand. The truth of
                 En,  als een onderpand
         Der kroning van den aardschen strijd,               this gospel did not dawn upon his soul till later. It
                                                             was after he had been ordained priest and after he
                 In `t Hemelsch Vaderland.                   had been appointed professor of theology at the uni-
                                           (Naar Spitta.)    versity of Wittenberg, on his return from a most dis-
                                                             appointing pilgrimage to Rome, that he remembered
                                                             the words and that the joyous message they conveyed
         Of ik eens daar Hem aanschouwe,                     resounded in his soul: the righteous shall live by faith.
            Hem, Wiens liefde `t al volbracht.               He understood, he believed, he applied the truth to
         Die me omringde met Zijn trouwe,                    himself, he appropriated it and the truth made him
            Die mij steunde met Zijn kracht!                 free. This change in the soul of .Luther  was the in-


25 8                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R '

ception  of the Reformation.    It was the spark that could, indeed, perform a certain civil righteousness, but
would presently start a world-wide conflagration.         that even this is sin in the sight of God. Writes he:
   The breach with the Church, that stood in the way "This is a false saying and derogatory to Christ, that;
of men's entering into the Kingdom of God, was occa- men do not sin in doing the precepts of God without
sioned by the sale of indulgences on a large scale, a grace," (Apologia Confessionis). Even in as late a
scheme devised by the Pope to supply funds for the creed as the Formula of Concord it is stated: "We
building of the St. Peter's Church in Rome. An espe- believe that by how much it is impossible that a dead
cially s'hameless monk was commissioned to sell these body should vivify itself and restore corporal life to
receipts for the forgiveness of sins, past, present and itself, even so impossible it is that man, who by reason
future, in the territory where Luther labored as of sin is spiritually dead, should have any faculty of
preacher and teacher. The Reformer was indignant.         recalling himself to spiritual life."  ,4nd in harmony
He prepared his famous ninety-five theses and nailed with this conception of the state of the natural man,
them to the door of the castle church of Wittenberg,      Luther held that salvation is of the Lord only and
where the next morning the people would gather for        maintained the truth of unconditional predestination.
worship. From this event the Reformation is dated.        This is true, at least, of his earlier period. Later he
It was the thirty-first of October of the year fifteen seems to have departed somewhat from this faith. He
hundred seventeen. Still, even in these theses Luther began to speak of a universal design of salvation on
did not iritend a break with the Church. Rather did the part of God and of the possibility of final apostacy
he purpose to voice his protest against the abuses of from the true faith. And though it must be admitted
the Church, especially against the corrupt sale of in- that he never formally retracted his earlier views on
dulgences. But the wedge was driven nevertheless, predestination, it is evident that these latter notions
that would presently separate the churches of the Re- are contradictory to the truth of sovereign election and
formation from the corrupt mother Church at Rome.         reprobation.
It was driven deeper and deeper. In the period from          It is always thus.
1517 to 1521 Luther passed through an inevitable             The human desire to be able to preach that God
process of spiritual development, till it was perfectly wills that ail men shall be saved frequently was the
clear to his own mind, that `he had broken with the       cause of apostacy from the truth of the Word of God.
Church of the papal power and supremacy. He wrote For a time the attempt is made to maintain the dilemna
and debated, he burned the papal bull. issued against that God wills and that He does not will the salvation
him and refused to recant before the diet of Worms        of all. Alongside of the line of particular grace a
in 1521.                                                  totally different line of God's universal design of salva-
   The Reformation was an accomplished fact.              tion is drawn. But soon it becomes evident that such
   Luther labored, preaching and teaching, translat- a position is ambiguous and untenable. And the ulti-
ing the Bible into German and writing, till the Lord mate result is that the truth of predestination is de-
took him away and he breathed his last in the town of nied and Pelagianism is once more ushered into the
his birth in the year 1546, putting his sole confidence Church. .
in the grace of the Lord Jesus by the faith that a man       You may see this development in the Christian
is justified by faith without the works of the law.       Reformed Churches of our own day. They seriously
   In his earlier years Luther strongly maintained try to maintain that God offers, well-meaningly, that
the Augustinian view of unconditional predestination.     is, with a desire to save, salvation to those whom He
His own spiritual experience had strongly impressed       decreed not to save. The standpoint is, of course, im-
him with the scriptural truth that the natural man is possible. Also in those Churches rank Arminianism
of himself incapable of doing any good. He has no         will be the ultimate outcome.
freedom of will to do good and he is unable to co-op-        Such was the development in the Lutheran
erate in the matter of his own salvation. He is dead      Church.
in sin and misery. When Erasmus, the humanist, who           If with Luther the departure from the truth of
well knew the corruption of the Church, but who loved predestination is not pronounced and formal, the
luxury and leisure too much to come to the support Lutheran Church denied this doctrine definitely.
of the Reformer of Wittenberg, was finally persuaded Already in the Formula of Concord we read: "Christ
to take sides against Luther, he attacked him on the calls all sinners to .Him  and promises them rest. And
question of the freedom of the will and the total de-     He earnestIy wishes that all men may come to Him
pravity of the natural man. But Luther replied' by        and suffer themselves to be cared for and suc-
emphatically and vehemently reiterating' his views on cored . . . . As to  t.he statement `Many are called
the matter. Even Melanchton, gentler of character but few are chosen' it is not to be understood that
and more cautious in his expressions, though he in-       God were unwilling that all should be saved, but the
clined to the synergistic view of the salvation of the cause of the damnation of the ungodly is that they
sinner through Christ, denied that man could do any do not hear the Word of God . . . . so that He cannot
good without the grace of God. It is interesting to accomplish His work in them." Especially from the
know that the latter taught that the natural man latter part of this declaration it is evident that in the


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                            259

matter of salvation .God is made dependent on the will
of man. Reprobation is denied. If man does not hear                                   STEMMEN  UIT HET  WESTEN
the Word of God, it is impossible for God to work in                      `k Zag maar negen en twintig  personen  officieel
his heart. Grace is not irresistible. Man may, ac- bijeen. Ze waren  te zamen geroepen en vertegenwoor-
cording to this same Formula of Concord, be totally digden  slecht vijftien kerken. Dat is al. Het kleine
depraved and dead in sin, so that it is quite impossible aantal regeerde ook de toeschouwers. Die waren  ook
for him to recall himself into life. He may and does al  niet vele. Een handjevol  volks. Als we `t zelf niet
need the grace of God. But he must be disposed to ruchtbaar gemaakt  hadden, had er geen haan naar  ge-
hear the Word of God. And whether he is disposed kraaid,  dat er een Classis zitting zou hebben. Ter elf-
is a matter that depends on his own will. ,In deepest der ure kwam het in een klein Westersch weekblad.
sense salvation depends on man, not on the Lord.                       Misschien in twee. `k Betwijfel het of het  we1  Ben-
   But although this would seem the inevitable con- maal  overgenomen zal worden.                          Waarom ook? Wie  j
clusion the same Formula of Concord also teaches, kent nu .ook die Protestantsche Gereformeerde Ker- ;
that the grace of God is sovereign in the conversion ken? Ze zijn zoo klein. Telden ze inplaats van vijf-  :
`of a sinner. Man does not co-operate with God in his tien, twee honderd of duizend kerken, dan ware het  (
salvation, thus it is declared, until after his regenera- wat  anders.  Maar nu! Neen  hoor, de  Classis   werd  /
tion and conversion. `Of course, it is evident that the geconstitueerd verklaard, verrichtte stillekens haar  1
various declarations in this creed are in conflict with werk, verdaagde, verdween ; en we vertrokken met.  i
one another. They cannot all be true. Either, God stille trom. Als ge  u de kerkgenootschappen alle te  !
is sovereign in His grace and then the sinner's condi- zamen voorstelt als een groote zee, dan vormde onze i
tion can never make it impossible for Him to work in +ssis geen merkbare rimpeling op die grootsche wate- :
the heart of man ; or the sinner can resist that grace ren toen ze kwam en zat, fungeerde en niet meer was.                        \
of God and then the latter is not sovereign.                           Erken het  maar  gerust: we  worden  niet meegeteld bij     (
 Lutheran theologians certainly reject unconditional de machtigen en grooten. We zijn zoo  &in., zoo  nictig,
predestination and speak of an election on the basis of zoo gering in de oogen der menschen.
foreseen faith. The following is a quotation from                         En niet alleen dat we niet  vele  waren,  maar we  '
Quenstedt, a well-known Lutheran theologian: `We waren  ook al niet vele wijzen  en mxstnndigen  naar  het j
have been elected to eternal life in consideration of vleesch. Last er nu eens  Ben of twee onder  ons geweest 1
faith foreseen as  finally apprehending the merit of zijn met meer dan gemiddeld verstand begiftigd; de i
Christ." This is plain language. And if election was rest waren  tech zeker heel gewone menschen: boeren
on the basis of foreseen faith, it is no election. Man, meest, ook eenige ambschtslui  (de eene iets hooger dan
then, determines God even in His eternal decree.                       de ander in naam of rang of stand) benevens  nog een :
   And such are the views of the Lutherans today.                      paar  ontijdig gepromoveerde leeraren. Doch  zelfs  ook
                                                        H. H.          zij, met hun meer dan  gemiddeld  verstand, die twee  1
                                                                       leiders, zijn bij lange na de verstandigsten niet dezer ;
                                                                       tegenwoordige wereld. Ik stel me voor, dat er duizen-
                                                                       den zijn die hun gemakkelijk de baas zijn in  weten-
                       IN MEMORIAM                                     schap en kennis ; in voorzichtigheid en scherpte ; in
Bet behaagde den Heere op den  19den   Februari,   Ll., tot            schitterende bekwaamheid, kunde en geschiktheid ; in
Zich te nemen, door den dood,  onze  geliefde Moeder,  Behuwd-         genie en vindingrijkheid. Er zijn veel grooter geesten
en Grootmoeder,
                     JOHANNA  HOEKSEMA,                                dan zij, die we onze leiders noemen. Dus uit het  oog-
                                                                       punt van de wijsheid dezer wereld, verwondert het ens
in den ouderdom van 72 jaar en 8 maanden.
   Het verlies van haar, die altijd zulk ecn groote plaats  in-        ookal niet, dat Hull ens gemakkelijk kon bevatten en de
nam in ons  leven,  betreuren wij met smart naar het vleesch.          tienduizenden niet te hoop liepen vanwege ons vergade-
Maar de Heere heeft onze harten  vertroost en wij zien haar na         ren, zooals men zou  doen, b.v., bij een  Hi&arch&h
in de hope des eeuwigen levens.     Daarop ziende zijn wij meer        Congres  waar  bisschoppen pronken en kardinalen
dan overwinnaars.
                                 De bedroefde kinderen,                schitteren.
                                   Mr. J. Veldman                         Neen, we  waren  niet  vele, ook niet vele wijzen, en
                                   Mrs. J.  Veldman-Boeksema           nog minder vele machtigen of edelen. `k Geloof niet,
                                   Mr. A.  Hoeksema-                   dat er veel blauw bloed bij was ; niemand onzer droeg
                            '      Mrs. A. Hoeksema-Vos                een wapen  in `t schild of s&reef zijn naam naar  oud-
                                   Rev. H. Hoeksema                    Hollandschen  adel.. Men vond ter  Classis verleden
                                   Mrs. H. Hoeksema-Kuiper
                                         En zestien  kleinkinde%en.    week geen wereldsche edelheid, verhevenheid, voor-
                                                                       treffelijkheid.    Ook  waren  wij gespeend  aan alle
                                                                       machtsbetoon. Wat zou tech zulk een hoopje amech-
    Het gebed maakt heldhaftig; trouwens,  wie  ge; tige  Joden kunnen? Voor geen onzer of  allen  te zaam
woon is voor den grooten  C&d te staan, die zal niet siddert men.                         Neen, niet vele machtigen, niet  vele
bevreesd zijn te staan voor zulke kleine lieden als de                 edelen vergaderden in `t kerkje te Hull.
grootste menschen  zijn.                                                  `k Geloof ook niet, dat we er ons veel van aantrek-
                                                                              .
                                                                                                                                        I


                         A   R E F O R M E D   S E M I - M O N T H L Y   M A G A Z I N E
                   PUBLISHED BY THE REFORMED FREE PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN


                                                                                           Communications relative to con-
                                                                                           tents should be addressed to Rev.



Vol. v, No. 12                                       MARCH 15, 1929                             Subscription Price, $2.50

                                                                 testimony; they deliver Him to the fury of the mob,
           MEDIT,4TION                                           of the world, of the soldiers, though there is no guile ;
                                                                 they buffet Him, spit on Him, smite Him with reeds,
                                                                 crown Him with thorns, plow His back with cruel
   THOU THAT DESTROYEST THE TEMPLE!                              scourge-stripes, though I3e neuer did evil ; they sur-
                                                                 render Him to `be crucified in the midst of evil-doers,
                    And they that passed by reviled Him          though they found no guilt in Him!
                  wagging their heads, and saying:  2x0~
                  that destroyest the temple, and buildest it       Now He hangs there, a reproach to the Church, to
                  in three days, save thyself. If thou be the    the world, to unnumbered foes, that rejoice in His
                  Son of God, come down from the cross.
                                         -Matt.  27:39,  40.     downfall . . . .
                                                                    A number of people followed from Jerusalem. And
       "My words a cause for scorn they make,                    gradually the curious mob is increasing in number,
        The lip they curl, the head they shake,
        And, mockmg, bid me trust the Lord                       both from those that received the fast-spreading news
        Till He salvation shall afford.                          of Jesus' condemnation in Jerusalem and from visitors
                                                                 that arrive from elsewhere on this main road leading
   Thus, centuries before the bloody scene on Calvary fromthe North to the Holy City. But t.here is neither
was enacted, sang Israel's inspired poet.                        pity nor awe in their words as they reveal the thoughts
   And historical circumstances, no doubt, were such, of their hearts in respect to the cross of the Man of
that he was able to sing these woeful lines with appli-          sorrows !
cation to himself. Yet, principally, he sang because                Some stay to behold and mock ; others pass by to
the Root of David was in him, of that Root he was, in cast a  causual glance and jeer! all scoff and taunt and
the midst of all his own suffering and reproach a pre- spit their venom . . . .
figuration, and the Spirit of that Root Whose shadow                And though they know it not, they are the full
he was urged him from within to bewail His shame                 realization of this other lamentation of their own in-
and suffering.                                                   spired singer :
   Now, here on Golgotha, the full reality of the im-                   "Unnumbered foes would do me wrong,
plication of the twenty-second psalm is revealed. The                    They press about me, fierce and strong,
Root of David has come. And, what is more, "His                          Like beasts of prey their rage they vent,
hour" has arrived. Not until "the hour" could the                        My courage fails, my strength is spent."
forces of darkness have power over Him ; now He is
delivered into the hands of sinners and numbered with
the transgressors. And the -rapidity with which the                 Ha ! Thou that destroyest the temple!
history of Jesus' suffering is realized is a sign of the            The biting sarcasm came from the lips .of those
bitterness of the hatred  t.hat had so long been re-             that passed by !
strained in the bosom of the enemies. The powers of                 Who they were and whence they came we know
darkness, the fury of hell, all the forces of the world          not. Perhaps they were Galileans, perhaps they were
are let loose upon Him, and they fall upon Him with from the dispersion ; more than likely they had come
a fury that would tear Him asunder. In a few hours from far to celebrate the Old Testament Passover in
it is all finished. Events follow one another in rapid           the Holy City and knew not that for this they were just
succession. The way from Gethsemane to Calvary is a little too late, seeing that the end of the law was here
quickly traversed. They take Him and bind Him, on Calvary and that the real passover  was being killed
though there is no accusation  ; they try Him and con- on this bloody tree . . . .
demn Him, though there is neither indictment nor                    But passers-by they were, and this speaks volumes!

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

    Cold-blooded natures, that could pass by the hor- by, who how jeered : Ha ! thou that destroyest the
rible spectacle of three fellow-men bleeding to death temple1 . . . . .
and writhing in agony, without being nailed to the              No, not as a destroyer, but as rebuilder of the
spot in dread amazement! Superficial natures, that temple had He announced Himself!
could, behold without considering, that could judge             They, we are, sinful man is a temple-destroyer.
without investigating, that could accept the judgment        For the temple is the House of God, the dwelling of
of their wicked leaders without inquiring, and pass by       God with Man, God's covenant of friendship. To know
the scene of Messiah's condemnation, of the cross of         Him and to be known by Him, to love Him and to be
Jesus, whom they know {who did not know Him?) as             loved by Him, to be consecrated to `Him in willing
one, who had  t.raversed  the country, now for three         service and to be blessed by Him, to enter into His
years, doing good, healing the sick, curing the blind        communion and dwell in His tent, to walk with Him
and the deaf, the maimed and the lame, raising the           and to talk with Him,  - that is the temple of God, of
dead, comforting the sorrowing, feeding the hungry           which, after all the building made with hands, as it
and preaching the Kingdom of heaven ! Tndiff erent stood in the Holy City of old, was but a figure and
natures, that could pass by the death-struggle of the        shadow. That real temple we destroy. For we are
Innocent, of Whom no man could recall that ever He           by nature covenant-breakers, enemies of God, who
had done evil, without calling to account, those that        mind the things of sin and death, who depart from the
committed this murder! Blind followers of blind              ways of God and follow after the Prince of darkness to
leaders, that passed on into the City of the Shadows,        do his will, always destroying the temple, violating
while reality was here ! . . . .                             God's covenant, unwilling and, incapable of dwelling
   And thousands  Iike them to-day, always, follow-          in His presence, . . . .
ing the leadership of superficial rationalism, pass Cal-        And so the Lord had said: destroy ye this
vary with a  casua1 glance.         They consider not and    temple! . . . .
know not and pass on into the shadows, the shadows of           He would rebuild it!
hell! . . . .                                                   Such was the first lie, with which they attempted
   But, though they consider not they jeer; and              to seal His condemnation.
though they pass on without investigation, they judge ;         And, secondly, He had not spoken of the palatial
and with a  wagging of the head they express the only        edifice on Mt. Zion, which was but the shadow-temple;
pity they know : the poor fool !                             but of His body, of Himself, for He was the real temple
   And they rail on Him and blaspheme Him and em-            of God. The essence of the temple, God dwelling with
phatically subscribe to His condemnation as if they us, was realized with and in Him. Was He not Im-
knew :                                                       manual, the Son of God come into the likeness of sin-
   Ha ! thou that destroyest the temple ! . . . .            ful flesh? Were not God and man united in Him as
   Save thyself! Come down from the cross!                   never before, in unity of divine Person? And as such,
    If thou be the Son of God !                              wouId He not rebuild the house of God that was lay-
                                                             ing in ruins as far as we were concerned and always
                                                             kept in its state of desolation by our sins and iniqui-
    Thou, that destroyest the temple !                       ties ?Was He not rebuilding that temple even now and
    With this perversion of the truth they seek, with they did not know it? Indeed, God was in Christ
their wicked leaders, to justify the crucifixion of the      reconciling the world unto Himself. Here, on the
Innocent !                                                   accursed tree of. Calvary the foundation is laid for
   A lie it was in a double sense.                           the new and everlasting temple of God, even while
    For, first, the Lord had never said, as they imply,      they are destroying the old temple in His flesh, but
that He would destroy the temple, but that He would they realize neither that they themselves are destroy-
rebuild it, if they would destroy. The declaration was       ing the old house, nor that He is already laying the
first made, when He had cleansed the house of wis            groundwork for the new.
Father and driven out the thieves and robbers, and              And presently He will raise the superstructure of
the leaders, who profited from this thievery in Father's that glorious and eternal House of God !
house, had demanded a sign of His authority to do               For, having laid the foundation of righteousness,
these things. And as a sign of His power and right to        of the righteousness of God in His own precious blood,
cleanse the temple the Lord had witnessed that He            having fulfilled all obedience in His awful death, He
could and would rebuild the temple if they destroyed will have license to perfect the temple. From the dead
it. The words had been perverted and, thus perverted,        He will be raised, into heaven He will be exalted, with
had been brought as a testimony against Him, when He         the Spirit He will be filled and He will raise the temple
was tried before the High Priest and they found              till it will stand in all its beauty of perfection in the
nought wherein to condemn Him. And in this per-              everlasting tabernacle of God with men ! . . . .
verted from the testimony had been repeated and                  But the leaders, in whose very ears the words were
picked up by the mob and  tlzru  them by these  passers-     spoken, were blind because of devilish hatred. Their


                                       T H E   ST'ANDARD   R E A R E R                                             267

hearts were hard and their eyes darkened, so that they bloody tree than the one they sarcastically suggest:
could not see.                                              He cannot, He is powerless, because He is not the Son
   And the superficial passers-by, that accepted the of God!
judgment of their wicked rulers, were as blind as they.        How terrible is the' darkness of sin !
   They are destroying the temple ! And while they             For change now the viewpoint and consider the
destroy it, He is already rebuilding it!                    truth and behold the reality of things and the fatal
   But they know not. And so they jeer, like brute fallacy of their sarcastic argument is immediately
fools signing their own destruction.                        apparent. Confess that we are the destroyers of the
   Ha ! thou that destroyest the temple !                   temple of God, because of our sins and transgressions
   Come down from the cross!                                and the depravity of our wicked nature ; that this
                          -       -                         temple of God could never be rebuilt but on the founda-
                                                            tion of the perfect righteousness of God; that this
   Come down !                                              foundation of the perfect righteousness of God could
   If thou be the Son of God !                              never be laid but by such a sacrifice as could perfectly
   How terrible a mistake is their conclusion as they satisfy the justice of God ; that such a perfectly satis-
mockingly express it !                                      fying and, therefore, atoning sacrifice could never be
   Perverted as is their judgment, when they cast in offered by you and by me, by men, by angels, by any
His teeth, that He would destroy the temple, so errone- creature, because our blood would not be precious
ous is the conclusion they sarcastically draw with re- enough, because our death would not be deep enough
spect to Him that is suspended before their eyes on to. pay for the sin committed against the most high
the accursed tree of Calvary.                               Majesty of God ; because our wicked nature would
   Do not mistake their sarcasm! When they repeat           never be willing to bring the perfect sacrifice if it could
the words of the Tempter in the wilderness and on the and because we would be swallowed up in eternal
pinnacle of the temple: "If thou be the Son of God,"        death if we were willing . . . .
they mean. that He is not ! With the devil it had been         And  gou also understand, that none but the Son
an appeal to what the Tempter knew Jesus is : the Son of God could bring that sacrifice, could shed that
of God. A bold challenge it had been, that He might         blood, could taste that death, that WOI& fully satisfy
reveal the power of His Godhead by choosing the way the justice of the Most High; that could lay the
of disobedience to the Father. And who can doubt,           foundation for the everlasting tabernacle of God with
that. behind the jeers of this furious mob of mockers,      men !
railing at the Man of Sorrows, there is still the same         You realize, that it is another power than the
Tempter that personally attacked the Servant of might of men and the wicked forces of darkness, that
Jehovah in the wilderness, still taunting Him to for- keeps this Man of Sorrows to the bloody tree ; that
sake the cross, to leave the terrible way of obedience there is another reason than that which is expressed
in suffering and come down to show His power? And in the sarcasm of these superficial passers-by that re-
who does not realize, that this jeer was one more frains Him from descending now upon His mockers.
dagger-thrust in the heart of the bleeding Saviour, The reason is infinite, unfathomable love, the love of
aggravating the burden of His passion? But, though God to His own, the love of the Saviour to the Father
this were the purpose of the Tempter, his ~instruments      that sent Him and to the people that were given
are not conscious of his designs. They do not intend Him . . . .
to make Him reveal His power, but to declare that He           Then you part with the jeering passers-by !
has none. Their purpose is not to provoke Him to               You confess your sin at the foot of Calvary's cross
come from the cross, but to assert that He cannot.          and pray : Lord, if thou be the Son of God, do not come
They. do not appeal to the power of His Sonship  that down! For only Thy blood can atone for my sin !
He might save Himself from the accursed tree, but           And only in Thy death  can the temple be rebuilt
sarcastically they emphasize that He is not the Son which I destroyed ! Save not Thyself, but me ! . . . .
of God! . . . .                                                Nay, rather, you jubilantly repeat the language of
   There is argument in their sarcasm !                     faith: He is the Son of God and because He is He will
    He does not come down because He cannot come            not come down !
down ; and because He cannot come down He is not                And because, being the Son of God, He did not
the Son of God ! . Thus runs the devilish logic of their come down but shed His precious life-blood, He is the
bitter jibe !                                               rebuilder of the temple and laid the foundation in His
    It is the argument of the blindness of sin!             blood !
    For being blind to the fact, that they  are destroy-        ln that temple He made me a living stone ! To
ing the temple and still firming  that He is the de- the praise of His glory !
strayer  ; being willingly ignorant of the truth that           Lord, Son of God, thanks that Thou didst not come
He is even now rebuilding the temple they destroy, down !
they cannot possibly conceive of another, of a deeper,          H a l l e l u j a h !   I
of a totally different reason for His clinging to the                                                        K.  H .

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

            JESUS BEFORE CALAPHAS                           doctrine ; questions fair enough, and proper enough as
                                                            to their outward form, yet captious and inquisitorial,
   The Jews regarded their day as beginning at one          intended to entangle, and pointing not obscurely to the
sunset and ending with the next. This interval was          two main charges to be afterwards brought against
not divided into twenty-four. parts or hours of equal       Him, of being a disturber of public peace, and a teacher
and invariable lengths. They took each day by itself, of blasphemous doctrines.
from sunrise to sunset, and each night by itself, from         First, then, about His disciples: Annas  would like
sunset to sunrise, and divided each into twelve equal to know, what this gathering of men around Him
parts or hours; so that a Jewish hour, instead of being,    meant; this forming them into a distinct society. By
at it is with us, a fixed measure of time, varied in its what bound or pledge to one another were the mem-
length as each successive day and night varied in theirs bers of this new society united; what sacred instruc-
at different seasons of the year. Neither did the Jews tions had they got; what hidden objects had they in
e begin as we do, reckoning the twelve hourse, into view? Though Christ might not reveal the secrets of
which the day and night were respectively divided,          this combination, yet, let it but appear - as by `His
from midday and midnight, but from sunset to sun- very refusal to give the required information it might
rise; their sixth hour of the night corresponding thus be made to do - that an attempt was being made to
with our twelve  o'cIock,  our midnight; their sixth organize a confederation all over the country, how
hour of the day with our twelve o'clock or midday.          easy would it be to awaken the jealousy of the Roman
There were but two periods of the year, those of the        authorities, and get them to believe that some insurec-
autumnal and vernal equinox, when, day and night tionary plot was being hatched which it was most
being exactly equal, the length of the hours in both desirable at once to crush, by cutting off the ring-
were exactly the same with our own. It was at once leader. Such we know to have been the impression
of these periods, that of the vernal equinox, that the so diligently sought to be conveyed into the mind of
Jewish Passover was celebrated, and it was  upun the Pontius Pilate. And Annas  began by trying whether
day which preceded its celebration that our Lord was he could get Jesus to say anything that would give a
crucified. it was close upon the hour of sunrise on color of truthfulness to such an imputation.               Pene-
that day that Jesus was carried to the Praetorium, to trating at once this design of the questioner, knowing
be examined by the  Roman  Governor. Assuming that thoroughly what his real meaning and purposes were,
He entered Gethsemane about midnight, and remained the Lord utterly and indignantly denies the charge
their about an hour, the interval between the Jewish that was attempted thus to be fastened to Him;
seventh and twelfth hour of the night, or between our Neither as to His disciples, nor as to His doctrine,  -
one and six o'clock of the morning, was spent in the        neither as to the instructions given to His followers,
trial before  Annas and Caiaphas, both reckoned as nor as to the bond of their union and fellowship with
High Priests, the one being such cEe $uTe,  the other, one another, had there been anything of the  concealed
de  facto. They seem to have been living at this time or the sinister; not one doctrine for the people with-
in the same paIace  into the hall of which Jesus was        out, and another for the initiated within; no meet-
carried immediately after the arrest. It was in this ings under cIoud of night in hidden places for.doubt-
hall, and before Annas,  that Jesus was subjected to ful or dangerous objects. "I spake," said Jesus to this
that preliminary informal examination recorded in the first questioner, "openly in the world; I never taught
eighteenth chapter of the Gospel of St. John. He was in the synagogue and in the temple, whither the Jews
to be formally tried, with show at least of law, before always resort; and in secret - that is, in the sense
the Sanhedrin, the highest of the Jewish courts, but in which I know that you mean and use the term -
this could not be done at once. Some time was needed have I said nothing."
to call the members of that court together, and to con-        But now the questioner must have rolled back upon
sult as to the conduct of the trial. Annas  was there himself a question, which  telIs him how naked and
from the first, awaiting the return of the band sent        bare that hypocritical heart of his lay to the inspection
out to arrest the Saviour. His son-in-law Caiaphas of the Questioned: "Why askest, thou me?" Put that
was in all+ likelihood by his side, both eager and ready question,  Annas,  to thy heart, and let it answer thee,
to proceed. But they could not act without their if it be not so deceitful as to hide its secrets from thine
colleagues, nor pronounce any sentence which they own eyes. `Why askest thou me?" Art thou really
might call upon the Roman Governor at once to ratify so ignorant as thou pretendest to be ; thou, who, hast
and execute. Whilst the messengers, however, are had thy spies about me for well-nigh three years,
dispatched to summon them, and the members of the tracking my footsteps, watching My actions, report-
Sanhedrin are gathering,  Annas may prepare the way ing My words? "Why askest thou me?" Dost thou.
by sounding Christ, in a far-off, unofficial, conversa-     really care to know, as these questions of thine would
tional manner, and may perhaps extract from His seem to indicate? then go, "ask them which heard Me,
replies some good material. upon which the court may ,what I have said unto them: behold they know what
afterward proceed. Calling Jesus before him, he puts I have said." A boldness here, a touch of irony, a
to Him some questions about His disciples and His stroke of rebuke, which, perhaps, our Lord might not


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                      273

have used, had it been upon his seat and in his office as evil; but if well, why smitest thou Me?"
president of the Sanhedrin that the High Priest was             "Think," says Chrysoston, "on Him who said these
speaking to Him; had it not been for the mean ad-            words, on him to whom they were said, and these
vantage which he. was trying to take of Him ; had it         words will, with divine power, cast down all wrath
not been for the cloak of hypocrisy which, in trying to      which may arise within thy ,soul."
take that advantage, he had assumed. We shall see               But now at last the council has assembled, Caiaphas
presently at least, that our Lord's tone and manner          has taken his seat as president, and they may go more
were somewhat different when the more formal trial formally to work. Their object is to convict Him of
came on. Christ's sharp answer to Annas protected some crime which shall warrant their pronouncing
Him  - and perhaps that was one of its chief pur- upon Him the severest sentence of the law. That the
poses  - from the repetition and the prolongation of appearance of justice may be preserved, they must
the annoyances. It seems to have silenced the High have witnesses ; these witnesses must testify to some
Priest. He had made but little by the way of in- act or speech of Christ, which would involve Him in
terrogating his prisoner, and he wisely gives it up.         that doom ; and as to any specific charge, two of these
Whatever resentment he cherished at being checked witnesses must agree before they can condemn. They
and spoken to in such a manner, he restrained himself would have got plenty of witnesses to testify as to
from any expression of it, bidding the hour when all         Christ having within the last few days openly de-
the bitter pent-up hatred at the Nazarine might find nounced themselves, the members of the Sanhedrin, as
fitter and fuller vent.                                      fools and blind, hypocrites, a very generation of
   But there was one of his officers who could not re- vipers ; but to have convicted Christ upon that count
strain himself, who could not bear to see his master         or charge would have given to their proceedings
thus insulted,  and who,  in the heat of his indignation,    against Him the aspect of personal revenge.       They
struck Christ with the palm of his hand,  - some for-        could have got plenty of witnesses to testify as to
ward official, who thought in this way to earn his           Christ's having often .broken and spoken slightingly
master's favor, but who only earned for himself the          of ordinances and traditions of the Pharisees; but
unenviable notority of having been the first to begin there were  Sadducees  among their own members, and
those acts of inhuman violence with which the trial the council might thus have been divided. They could
and condemnation of Jesus were so largely and dis- have got plenty of witnesses to testify as to Christ's
gracefully interspersed. Others afterwards came for- frequent profanation of the Sabbath; but how should
ward to mock and to jostle and to blindfold, and to they deal with those miracIes,  in or connected with the
smite and to spit upon our Lord, to whom He an-              performance of which so many of these cases of pro-
swered nothing; but, whether it was that there was           fanation of the Sabbath had occurred? They are in
something in this man which made our Saviour's di%culty  about their witnesses. They bring forth
words to him peculiarly needful and peculiarly appro- many; but either the charge which their testimony
priate, or whether it was that at this early stage of        proposes to establish against Christ, comes not up to
the proceedings Jesus was using the same freedom the required degree of criminality, or the clumsy testi-
with the servant which He had used with the master,          fiers, brought hastily forward, undrilled beforehand,
-when he inflicted the first stroke, and said to Jesus,      break down in their witness giving. Two, however, do
"Answerest thou the High Priest so?"  - Jesus did            at last appear, who seem at first sight to agree ; but
not receive the stroke in silence. He answered the when minutely questioned as to the words which they
question by another : "If I have spoken evil, bear wit- allege that more than two years before they had heard
ness of the evil; but if well, why smitest thou Me?"         Him utter about the destruction of the temple, they
Best comment this on our Lord's own precept: "If thy report them differently, so that "neither did their wit-
brother smite  .thee on the one cheek, turn to him the ness agree." The prosecution is in danger of breaking
other also" ; and a general key to all like Scripture down through want of sufficient proof.
precepts, teaching us that the true observance of them          All this time, the Accused has observed a strange
lies not in the fulfilment  of them as to the letter, but silence - to His judges an unaccountable and provok-
in the possession and exhibition of the spirit which ing silence. He hears as though He heard not  -
they prescribe. How much easier would it be when cared not - were indifferent about the result. It is
smitten upon the one cheek, to turn the other for the more than the presiding judge can stand. He rises
second stroke, than to be altogether like our Lord in from his seat, and, furing his eyes on Jesus, says to
temper and spirit under the infliction of the stroke.        Rim, "Answerest thou nothing?" Hast thou nothing
More difficult, also, than any silence to imitate that to say?  - no question to put, no explanation to offer,
gentle answer. The lip might keep itself closed, while *as to what these witnesses testify against thee? Jesus
the heart was burning with anger. But it was out of returns the look, but there is no reply ; He stands as
the depth of a perfect patience, a gentleness which silent, as unmoved as ever. Baffled, perplexed, irre-
nothing could irretate, a condescension which stooped,       tated,  the High Priest will try yet another way with
even while smitten, to remonstrate, that the saying Him. Using the accumstomed  Jewish formula for ad-
came : "If  1 have spoken evil, bear witness of the          ministering an oath - a formula recited by the judge,


274                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                     -
and accepted without repetition by the respondent  - csecuted upon Him, He cannot be the Messiah, He
"I adjure thee," said the High Priest, `%y the living must be a deceiver; and so he lets the matter take its
God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the course.
Son of God." Appealed to thus solemnly, by the first         The pronouncing of the sentence from the bench
magistrate of His nation, sitting in presidency over      was the signal for a horrible outburst of coarsest
the highest of its courts, our Lord keeps silence no violence in the hall below. As if all license were theirs
Ionger. But it is in words of wonder that He rephes       to do with Him what they liked - as if they knew
to the High Priest's adjulation. He sees quite through they could not go too far; could do nothing that their
the purpose of the questioner. He knows quite well masters would not approve, perhaps enjoy  - the men
what will be the immediate issue of the reply. Yet who held Jesus (for it  wouId seem they would not
He says, "I am" ; I am the Christ, the Son of the trust Him, bound though He was, to stand there free
Blessed ; "and ye" - ye who are sitting there now as before them), began to mock Him, and to buffet Him,
my judges, - "ye shall see the Son of man sitting on and to spit upon Him, and to cover His eyes with their
the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of hands, saying, as they struck Him, "Prophesy to us
heaven." It is our Lord's own free and full confession, who it is that smitest thee." And many other things
His public and solemn assertion of His claim to the blasphemously spake they against Him." How long
Messiahship, and  Sonship  of God. The time for all all this went on we know not. They had to wait till
concealment or reserve is past. Jesus will now openly, the proper hour for carrying Jesus before the Roman
not only take to Himself His own name, assume His         Governor arrived, and it was thus that the interval
office, and assert His Divine prerogatives, but in doing was filled up ; the meek and the patient One, who was
so, He will let those earthly dignitaries, who have the object of all this scorn and cruelty, neither an-
dragged Him thus to their tribunal, before whose swering, nor murmuring, nor resisting, nor reproach-
judgment-seat He stands, know that the hour is com- ing. There was but one man in all that hall to look
ing which shall witness a strange reversal in their with loving, pitying eyes on Him who was being
relative positions, - He being seen sitting on the seat treated thus ; and, in the words which that spectator
of power, and they, with all the world beside, seen penned long years thereafter in the distinct lonely
standing before His bar, as on the clouds of heaven island, we may see some trace of the impression
He comes to judge all mankind.                            which the sight of the greatsufferer made  - "I, John,
   The effect of this confession, this sublime unfolding who also am your brother and companion in tribula-
of His true character, and prophesy of His second tion, and in the kingdom and  patience of  Jesus
coming, was immediate, and though extraordinary, not Christ."
unnatural. The High Priest, as soon as he drank in           The malignant antipathy to Christ cherished by
the real meaning of the words which fell on his aston- the hierarchial  party at Jerusalem had early ripened
ished ear, grasped his mantle, and rent it in real or     into an intention to cut Him off by death. It was at
feigned horror, exclaiming, "He hath spoken the beginning of the second year of His ministry that
blasphemy." Then rose up also the other judges who        He healed the impotent man at the pool of Bethesda.
were sitting round him, excited to the highest pitch,     "The man departed, and told the Jews that it was
each one more eager than the other, to put this ques-     Jesus which had made him whole. And, therefore, did
tion to the Accused, "Art thou the Son of God?" to the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay Him, be-
all of whom there is the same answer as to Caiaphas,      cause He had done these things on the Sabbath day.
"I am," "What further need, then," says the presi- but Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto,
dent of the court to his fellow-judges, "have we of and I work. Therefore the Jews sought the more to
witnessses? Now ye have heard His blasphemy. What kill Him, because He not only had broken the Sab-
think ye?" "What need we,"they  say to him, taking bath, but said also that God was His Father, making
up his words, "any further witnesses? for we ourselves Himself equal with God" (John 5 : 15-18). So far from
have heard it out of His own mouth." And they "an- repudiating  this interpretation of His words, Jesus
swered and said, He is guilty of death." The unanim- accepted and confirmed it; enlarging the scope, with-
ous judgment of the court is delivered, and the sen- out altering the nature of what He had said about the
tence of death pronounced.                                Father, claiming not only unity in action, but unity
   Is there not one among all those judges within in honor with Him. So vengeful in their hatred did
whose heart there rises some strange misgivings  @ he the Jews of Jerusalem become, that Jesus had to seek
dooms this man to die ; not one whom the calmness, safety by retiring from  Judea. In the course of the
the serenity, the dignified bearing of the Lord, as He    two years which followed, Jesus paid only two visits
made the great revelation of Himself before them, to the metropolis, and both were marked by outbursts
have impressed with wonder and with awe? Perhaps of the same implacable animosity. His appearance in
there is; but the tumult of that vehement condemna- Jerusalem at the feast of Tabernacles excited such an
tion carries him away ; or if any inward voice be         instant and intense spirit of vindictiveness, that one
pleading for the Accused, he quenches it by saying of our Lord's first sayings to the Jews in the temple
that, if Jesus really submit to such a sentence being     was, "Why go ye about to kill me?" So well known


                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                   276

was the purpose of the rulers that it was currently       ten have deliberated how they should proceed if they
said, "Is not this He whom they seek to kill? But, lo, once had Him in their hands. And when He was at
He speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto Him. last before them for formal trial, and they were eager
Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very to get Him condemned, they had not for the first time
Christ?" (John  `725, 26). Hearing that such things to consider what charges they should bring against
were said, the rulers sent their officers to seize Him, Him, and by what evidence the charges might be sus-
but failed in the attempt to get Him into their hands.    tained. Witnesses of all kinds were within their easy
Then they confronted Him in the *temple,  and openly reach, nor had they any scrupIe as to what means they
charged Him with bearing a false record of Himself: took to get from them the evidence they wanted. But
A strange dialogue ensued, in the course of  whmh,  in- with all their facilities, and all their bribery, they
stead of retracting anything which He had formerly couid not substantiate a single charge against Jesus
said, or attempting to explain it away, Jesus not only which would justify them in condemning Him. Why,
exalted Himself above Abraham, in whom they when they found themselves in such difficulty, did they
boasted, but declared, in language which they could not summon into their presence some of those who had
only understand as an assumption by Him of Divine heard Jesus commit that kind of blasphemy, upon the
prerogatives : "Before Abraham was, I am," So ground of which they had twice, upon the spur of the
exasperated were they when He said this, that they moment, attempted to stone Him to death? Testimony
took up. stones to cast at Him ; and had He not made in abundance to that effect must have been lying ready
Himself invisible, and so passed through the midst of to their hands. It seems clear to us that the first and
them, they would, in the heat of the moment, and with- earnest desire of the members of the Sanhedrin was to
out troubling themselves about any formal trial, have convict Christ of some other breach of their law, suffi-
afflicted upon Him the doom of the blasphemer. Having cient to justify the infliction of death; and that it was
lingered for a few days longer in the neighborhood of not till every attempt of this kind had failed, that, as
Jerusalem, wrought a memorable cure on the man born a last resort, the High Priest put our Lord Himself
blind, and delivered that memorable discourse which upon `His oath. In the form of adjuration which he
John had preserved to us in the tenth chapter of His employed, two separate questions were put to Christ:
Gospel, Jesus again retired from the capital. On His      the one, Whether He claimed to be the Christ; the
return, two months afterwards, at the feast of Dedica- other, Whether He claimed to be the Son of God. These
tion, He was met as He walked in the temple in Solo- were not identical. The latter title was not one which
mon's porch, and with some show of  -candor and either Scripture or Jewish usage had attached to the
anxiety, the question was put to Him, "How long dost Messiah. The patent act of blasphemy which our Lord
thou make us doubt? if thou be the Christ tell us was considered to have perpetrated in presence of the
plainly."    Jesus did not tell them so plainly as they council was not His having asserted His Messiahship,
desired, about His being the Christ, but He told them but His having appropriated the other title to himself.
plainly enough, as He had done before, that He was When, after Christ had given His  first affirmative re-
the Son of God. "I," said He,  " and my Father am ply to the complex challenge of Caiaphas, the other
one." Then the Jews took up stones again to stone judges interfered to interrogate the prisoner, they
Him. Jesus answered them, "Many good works have dropped all allusion to the Messiahship. "Then said
1 showed you from my Father: for which of these they all, Art thou then the Son of God?" and it was
works do you stone me? The Jews answered Him, upon our Lord's reassertion that He was, - upon that,
saying, For a good work we stone thee not, but for and that alone, that He was doomed to death as a
blasphemy ; and because that Thou, being a man,           blasphemer. For it was perfectly understood between
makest Thyself God." Again our Lord had to protect the judges and the Judged, that, in thus speaking of
Himself from the storm of their wrath by retreating Himself, Jesus claimed a peculiar, an intrinsic affinity,
to  Persea.  The message from the mourning sisters - oneness in essence, knowledge, power, and glory,
recalled Him from this retreat. The raising from the with the Father. His judges took Jesus to be only
dead of a man so well known as Lazarus, in a village man, and  Iooking  upon Him as such, they were so far
.so near to Jerusalem as Bethany,  produced such an right in regarding Him as guilty of blasphemous pre-
effect that a meeting of the Sanhedrin was summoned sumption. In this, then, one of the most solemn mo-
to deliberate as to what should be done. The design ments of His existence, when His character was at
which they had so long cherished, they now more de- stake, when life and death were trembling in the bal-
liberately than ever determined to accomplish: "From ance, Jesus, fully aware of the meaning attached by
that day forth they put counsel together to put Him to the judges to the expression, claimed to be the Son of
death" (John  11:53). Though hurried at last in the God. He heard, and heard without explanation or
time and manner of its execution, it was no hasty remonstrance, sentence of death passed upon Him, for
purpose on the part of the members of the Jewish no other reason whatever but His making that claim.
council to put our Lord to death. The proposal of On any other supposition than that of His having
Judas did not take them by surprise, the arrest in the been really that which His judges regarded Him as
garden did not find them unprepared. They must  of- assuring that He was ; on any other supposition than

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

that of His true and proper Divinity, this passage of
the Redeemer's life becomes worse than unmeaning                             GANSCH ISRAEL  ZALIG
in our eyes. There would be something more here                 Want indien gij afgehouwen zijt uit den olijfboom,
than the needless flinging away of life, by the absence
of all attempt to remove the misconception (if miscon- die van nature wild was, en tegen nature in den goeden
ception it had been), upon which the death sentence olijfboom zijt  ingeent;  hoeveel temeer zullen deze, die
had been based. If only a man, if not the co-eternal, natuurlijke takken zijn, in hunnen eigen olijfboom  in-
                                                            geent  worden?  Want ik wi1 niet, broeders! dat u deze
co-equal Son of the Father, in speaking of Himself                                                                         "
as He did before that Jewish council, Jesus was guilty verborgenheid onbekend zij (opdat gij niet wijs zijt
of an extent, an  audacitym,  an effrontery of  preten-     bij uzelven) , dat de verharding voor een deel over
Con, which the blindest, wildest, most arrogaat reli- Israel gekomen is, totdat de volheid der Heidenen zal
gious enthusiast has never exceeded. The only way ingegaan zijn. En  alzoo zal geheel Israel zalig  wor-
to free His character as a man  ,from  the stain of such den; gelijk geschreven is: De  Verlosser  zal uit Sion
vanity and presumption, is to recognize Him as the komen en  zal de goddeloosheden afwenden van Jacob.
Son of the `Highest. If the Divinity that was in Him            Zoo schrijft de Apostel  Paulus in Rom.  11:24-26.
be denied, the humanity no  Ionger  stands stainless.           Het is een eigenaardig verschijnsel, dat zij, die
   But we believe in both, and see both manifested in meenen, dat de Heilige Schrift een herstel  van Israel
the very scene that is here before our eyes. Now, with als natie leert, en die, in verband  met en ter verdedi-
the eye of sense we look on Jesus as He stands before ging van die meening er altijd zoo sterk den nadruk op
this Jewish tribunal. It is the man of sorrows, de- leggen, dat wij de  Heilige  Schrift  letterlijk  moeten
spised and rejected of men ; treated by those lordly lezen en verstaan en dat wij God op Zijn Woord moe-
judges, and the brutai  band of servitors, as the vilest ten aannemen, moeite schijnen te hebben, om een  Iuttel
of felons, the very refuse of the earth. Again with woordje in bovenaangehaalde tekst recht te Iezen en te
the eye of faith we look upon Him, and He seems as if verklaren, een woordje echter,  dat, ofschoon klein en
transfigured before us, when, breaking the long kept schijnbaar onbeduidend,  tech van de grootste beteeke-
silence, He declares, "I am the Son of God, and here-       nis is tot recht verstand van hetgeen de Heilige Schrift
after ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hier  leer%. Wij hebben het oog op het woordje  alxoo
hand of power, coming in  the.clouds  of heaven." From aan het begin van vs. 26. Meer dan eens hadden  wij
what a depth of earthly degradation, to what a height gelegenheid om op te merken, dat zij, die leeren, dat
of superhuman dignity does Jesus at once ascend. And het Joodsche volk als zoodanig nog een heerlijke toe-
is it not striking to notice how He himself blends His komst wacht en dat het in zijn land zal terugkeeren en
humiliation and exaltation, His humanity and divinity, hersteld worden,  dit luttele woordje dxoo gaarne ver-
as He takes to Himself the double title, and binds it to    anderen en lezen alsof er stond dam. Ze lezen  dan de
His suffering brow : The Son of man ; the Son of God ?      verzen 25 en 26 in verband  met elkander als volgt :
                                              G. M. 0.      "Want ik wil niet, broeders, dat gij onwetende zijt,
                                                            opdat gij niet wijs zijt bij uzelven, dat de verharding
                                                            voor een deel over Israel gekomen is, totdat de volheid
                                                            der Heidenen zal ingegaan zijn. En  clan zal geheel
                     NAAR  HUB                              Israel zalig  worden." `Tech  staat dit er niet en het
                                                            springt zelfs  in het oog, dat het er zoo niet staat. Want,
         Wat mij bangst en pijnlijkst heugde,               nadat de apostel in vs. 25 gezegd heeft : "totdat de vol-
           Is voor goed  in slaap gesust.                   heid der Heidenen zal zijn ingegaan," verwachten we
         In mijns Heilands sabbats-vreugde,                 eigenlijk, dat hij zal voortgaan en zeggen: en dun zal
           Vind ook ik de zoetste rust:                     gansch Israel zalig  worden. Des te meer is het opval-
                                                            lend en springt het in het oog, dat hij dat doet, maar
         Ruste voor mijn krank geweten,                     in plaats daarvan nu zegt: En ULOO zal gansch Israel
           Ruste voor `t onroerd gemoed.                    zalig worden.    En  tech, in weerwil van het opvallende
         `k Voel het, "s Vaders kind te heeten,             van dit woordje hier, blijven velen, die voor de Jood-
           Is het eenig-zalig  Goed  !                      sche natie gaarne een toekomstverwachting hebben,
                                                            hier  lezen  dun.  Zoo sterk is dit verschijnsel, dat we
         Daar eens volgen Hem de Zijnen                     meermalen over deze kwestie gesproken hebben met
           Tot in `t eindeloos verschiet.                   menschen, die niet  wilden gelooven, dat op deze plaats
         In den Lof der Serafijnen                          werkelijk niet geleerd wordt,dat  Israel zalig zal wor-
           Menk ook ik mijn Sabbats-lied !                  den,  nadat de volheid der Heidenen zal zijn ingegaan,
                                                            tot de tekst door henzelven nog eens overgelezen werd.
                                                            Ook Rev. J. Vander Werp in het pamphlet: Why Not
                                                            %mply   Take  God at  tiis  Wwrd   maakt  zich  aan deze
   Des menschen  lof is als de wijn in `t  glas: Ze         fout schuldig; en dat nog we1 nadat hij eerst de woor-
smaakt zoo wel, maar: ze bedwelmt ons ras.                  den van den tekst  volledig en letterlijk had  aange-


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           279

 olijfboom, waarin zij ingeent zijn, geen plaats meer is
 voor de afgebroken takken. Ook de Joden kunnen weer                    THE GENERAL OFFER OF GRACE
 worden   ingeent   up hunnen eigen olijfboom. Dat dit             The committee on absolution  afllxed  to its written
 kan is eigenlijk het voorrecht der  Joden onder de report a footnote the contents of which unmistakably
 nieuwe bedeeling. Want zij zijn beminden om der proves that he reasoning from two contrary proposi-
 vaderen   wil. En zoo  bloeit  nu de olijfboom, waaruit tions implicates himself in much nonsense.                "It is
 eerst zoovele takken  waren  afgehouwen, heerlijker known," so the note reads, "that in the period of the
 dan ooit weer op en spreidt hij  zijne takken uit tot Reformation this constant anxiety concerning one's
 aan de einden der aarde. Voor een deel kwam de  ver- salvation was rare among the believers . . . . Their
 harding over Israel, totdat de volheid der Heidenen zal conception of the gospel was that of the canons of
 xijn ingegaan. In het ingaan van die volheid der Hei-          Dordt; as a general, sincere offer of salvation. Those
 denen had die gedeeltelijke verharding zelfs haar  doel.       who received the gospel by faith believed that they
 Maar ook uit dit gedeeltelijk verharde volk  worden            were heirs of salvation and, like the  jailor at Philippi,
 tech weer geroepen tot de zaligheid van den Christus,          tasted the joy of salvation. Did not the Scriptures
 dien zij eens verwierpen. Welnu, niet daarna en niet assure them that as many as have received Christ have
 dan, maar  &zoo wordt gansch Israel zalig. Geheel in received the right to become the children of God ; and
 overeenstemming met de toepassing, die de apostel in that whosoever believes in Him has eternal life?
 het vorige hoofdstuk gegeven had aan de profetie uit              "But conditions changed. The Arminians attacked
 Hosea,   leert hij ook hier, dat gansch Israel is, niet het    those who were Reformed with the contention that
 Joodsche volk en dat de zaligheid van Israel niet mag          their idea of a particular atonement conflicted with
 worden gezocht in zijn wederoprichting als natie ; their conception of the gospel as an indiscriminate
maar dat Israel bestaat uit geroepenen uit Jood en offer of salvation. From a human viewpoint this must
 Heiden tezamen en dat hunne zaligheid daarin bestaat,          be conceded. But rather than acknowledge the exist-
 dat ze  ingeent   worden op  QQn en denzelfden olijfboom,      ence of an apparent conflict, and desirous of defending
 waarvan de wortel ligt in Christus Jezus. Zoo worden           the Reformed teaching as being perfectly consistent
 Israel en Juda  e&n volk en  trekken ze tezamen  pp            even from the viewpoint of human logic, many
 onder een eenig hoofd naar het hemelsch Kanaan.                orthodox people sought refuge in the theory that the
                                                   H. H.        gospel is offered only to the elect."
                                                                   Let us pause here and proffer our comment. The
                                                                above selection makes mention of an apparent  co@lict
         LECTURE BY REV. H. HOEKSEMA                            between the doctrine of particular atonement and the
                                                                conception of the gospel as an indiscriminate offer of
     Subject : "The Little Horn."                               salvation. Is there in truth a conflict? Let us see.
     Time : Thursday, March 21.                                 The above selection asserts and correctly so, that the
      Place: Fuller Ave. Prot. Ref. Church.                     indiscriminate  offer of salvation is the assurance that
      English language. - All welcome.                          as many as have received Christ have received the
                                                                right to become the children of God ; that whosoever
                                                                believes in Him has eternal life. The particular doc-
           Ik wandel voort door weer en wind,                   trine of atonement defines God as One Who decided
               En draag getroost  mijn last.                    to seek in and through the cross the condemnable yet
           Hoe ruw ik soms het reispad vind,                    elect sinner only ; and by implanting in his soul a living
                Ik houd aan God mij vast.                       faith empower him to transport himself into Christ
           Al scheurt de distel soms mijn voet,                 and be saved. Bay, according to whose logic do these
               De Vader maakt het  goed.                        two doctrines so  defined  clash? There is no conflict
               Wat slagboom  mij ook stuit',                    here. Why do the authors of the above selection, then,
               De weg gaat tech vooruit,                        prate of an apparent conflict? We present the follow-
                En voert door strijd en kruis                   ing explanation. We set out with the assertion that
               Naar huis, naar `t Vaderhuis !                   the particular doctrine of atonement does indeed mili-
                                                                tates against the aforesaid authors' conception  of the
           Bij wijlen is het koud en kil:                       indiscriminate offer of salvation. These men have it
                De sneeuwvlok dwarrelt rond --                  that the announcement to the effect that those who
           Maar `t is een onweer van April,                     believe have life eternal, implies a willingness on
                Dat Lente's komst verkondt.                     the part of God to save all - reprobate and elect alike
           Hoe m&r het dreigend water wast,                     - to whom this message in the Divine providence is
                Hoe QQr Gods hulp verrast !                     brought.    True, the footnote from which we quote
                En zwijgt het somber graf,                      nowhere asserts that God wills to save every individual
                God breekt de stilte eens af                    brought in contact with the gospel message. That the
                Door. englenharpgeruisch :                      authors of this note are nevertheless addicted to this
                `k Ben thuis, in `t Vaderhuis                   view follows from the fact that they prate of a  contra-

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

diction between the offer and the particular atonement. as God who would have gathered Jerusalem's children.
Statements found in other publications of theirs prove True enough, the Divine person was the subject of all
that our deduction was  we11 made. "Neither," so wrote the human volitions of the man Jesus. From this it
one of their numbers some few years ago, "can you           does not follow, however, that God as such willed to
maintain the sincere offer of salvation to  all who hear save Jerusalem's inhabitants. A parallel case is. the
the gospel, unless you accept the truth which is formu- sufferings of the human Christ. Though the subject
lated in the first point of Synod. If God assumes no        of these experiences was the Divine Person, this Per-
attitude of favor to the unthankful and evil, He cannot son, nevertheless, as such did not suffer. In fine, it was
sincerely offer them the blessings of redemption. `He       Christ as the last in the line of the Old Testament
has most earnestly and truly declared in His Word           prophets who lamented over Jerusalem's persistent
what will be acceptable to Him: namely, that all who        disobedience.
are called (by the gospel) should comply with the              "Er-is," so wrote Prof. Berkhof in a rather recent
invitation.'     It is true that God has from eternity publication of his, *`nag een plaats in de profetie van
chosen some to eternal life, and rejected others.. But      Ezechiel, waar de Heere  dezeIfde  gedachte in nog ster-
it is just as true that He sincerely offers salvation to    ker taal uitspreekt, waarin Hij ze zelfs met een eed
all who hear the gospel. The fact that we, with our bevestigt, nl.,  Ezech.   33:ll: `Zoo waarachtig als  .Ik
finite minds, cannot fully harmonize these truths leef, spreekt de Heere HEERE, zoo Ik lust heb in den
should not make us hesitate to accept both. Both are dood der goddeloozen. Maar daarin heb Ik lust, dat
clearly revealed in Holy Writ.                              de goddelooze  zich bekeere van zijnen weg en  leve.
    "There is no one here in this audience who can Bekeert  u, bekeert u van uwe booze wegen, want waar-
say, `God hates me.' Suppose you know that you will om zoudt gij sterven, o huis Israels?' Zijn dat geen
ultimately be lost; even then you could not say, `God woorden van teedere ontferming, waarin een Vader
does not care for me.' The gospel,we  preach is a gospel zijne afwijkende  kinderen  smeekt om terug te keeren
for sinners - for all sinners. It is glad tidings also tot het vaderhuis en tot het Vaderhart? Beluistert gij
for you.        God has no pleasure in your death, but      daarin ook  maar eenigszins de stem der  haat? En
therein that you turn and live. He hates your sins,         wijst niet Jezus' weeklage over Jeruzalem in dezelfde
but He does not hate you. He invites you to come to richting?  Runt gij  u iets  denken,  dat in roerenden
Him and be saved. That very fact will make your weemoed deze klacht overtreft ? `Jeruzalem,  Jeruza-
punishment doubly deserved if you should be lost. lem, gij die de profeten doodt,' etc." One more selec-
You will never be able to say: `I have not tasted God's tion from the same author: "Er is nog een plaats die
goodness and grace ; I have never experienced His           hier in aanmerking komt, nl. Rom.  2:4, waar wij
love.' You will have to say: `I have spurned His love, Iezen: `Of veracht gij den rijkdom zijner  goedertie-
rejected His grace ; and now there remains for me a renheid en verdraagzaamheid en lankmoedigheid, niet
righteous judgment, a  well deserved wrath whose wetende dat de goedertierenheid Gods  u tot bekeering
flames will burn forever and ever.'                         Ieidt? De apostel  richt  zich hier tot de goddelooze
    " `0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killeth the Joden,  die een gansch verkeerde  conclusie  trokken uit
prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto her. de goedertierenheid, die God hun bewees. Zij  felici-
How often would I have gathered thy children together teerden zichzelf, en besloten uit de zegeningen, die zij
even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings,       dagelijks ontvingen, dat God zeer goed met hen inge-
and ye would not' " (H. J. Kuiper, The Three Points of nomen was  als zonen Abrahams, zoo  goed  zelfs, dat
Common Grace, p. 16).                                       Hi-j hun goddeloosheid niet strafte,  doch hun  voort-
    It should be noticed that Christ's lamentation is durend  we1 deed. Zij vormden een  te  lage gedachte
quoted in support of such statements as, "God hates no van de goedertierenheid Gods, en toonden  zich  onver-
one," and, "He invites every sinner to come to Him schillig betreffende het heilig  doel, dat God er mede
and be saved."         According to Kuiper, then, the       had. En hoe corrigeert de apostel hunne gedachte nu?
lamenter is Christ in His Divine capacity. He has it Zegt hij tot hen: Gij vergist u geheel, want in de zoo-
that God willed to gather Jerusalem's children under genaamde zegeningen, die gij ontvangt, openbaart God
His wings but could not because of the unwillingness niet zijn liefde, maar zijn haat jegens u; zij zijn wezen-
of these children. But, someone may interpolute, if         lijk vloeken die op uw hoofd nederdalen? Niets van
Christ is God how can the conviction be escaped that        dat  alles.  Zijn vraag houdt in, dat de  Joden  geheel
it was God who wept. To this we reply that  Re wept naar waarheid veronderstelden, dat God hen nog altijd
as He suffered  and died, to-wit, in the assumed human zegende. Hij deed hen waarlijk nog altijd  deelen in
nature. Because of the personal union between the           den rijkdom zijner goedertierenheid en  verdraagzaam-
Divine and the human Christ, the subject of the ex- heid en lankmoedigheid. Maar zij vergisten zich geheel
periences of the man Jesus was the Divine person of         in de verklaring van dat feit. Die verklaring moet
the Saviour. The fact, however, that Kuiper asso-           gezocht worden  in het doel, dat. God met deze open-
ciated the Scripture in question with a paragraph baringen  zijner liefde beoogde. En wat was dat doel?
having to do  .with the triune God indicates only to Om de goddelooze Joden  dieper  in het verderf te stor-
plainly that according to His conception it was God ten? Neen,  maar  hen tot bekeering te leiden" (L.


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                      281

Berkhof,  DC  Ilrie  Znunten in  A&  Declan  Gerefor- only to the meek and broken-hearted, or  only  to those.
mew, p.  25).     For  :t refutation of Prof. Berkhof's who believe and repent. One had no right to believe
abominable exegesis of Paul's words see my articles that the promise of the gospel was meant for him un-
on the subject,  Prof. Berkhof us  Exegete.  In the above less he discovered in himself the evidence of the saving
selections the professor arose to the defense of the operations of the Holy Spirit and of divine election.
proposition that God is gracious unto the reprobate And to guard against all deception on this score it was
sinner.    He appeals, it will be noticed, to Christ's necessary for such an inquirer to scrutinize his heart
lamentation and to an utterance of Ezekiel and draws closely in order to be sure that his penitence was gen-
the conclusion that in these Scriptures God begs the uine. Such an investigation naturally resulted in fear
reprobate sinner to be converted. In the latter selec- rather than faith - at least in those who were truly
tion the professor literally asserts that God purposes contrite, who felt the weight of their sins and who for
to convert this sinner. Het heilig  doei! Gods is niet om that very reason should have rejoiced in the assurance
de goddelooxe Jodcn  dieper in  hct verderf te  storten       of forgiveness. Constant doubt and fear was the in-
mu.ar hen tot bekeering  te leiden.                           evitable result of such a conception of the gospel."
   Finally, in a recent lecture given in Chicago, Let us pause here.
Kuiper informed his audience that God wills to save              We single out this sentence: "One had no right to
the reprobate.                                                believe that the promise of the gospel was meant for
   True, then, is it not, that according to our oppo- him unless he discovered in himself the evidence of
nents the so-called indiscriminate offer of salvation the saving operations of the Holy Spirit." The prom-
implies a willingness on the part of God to save every ise of the gospel is that he who believes had eternal
individual hearing the gospel.         This offer so inter- life. According to the committee, then, one shall be-
preted is indeed in conflict with the particular atone- lieve that he is the possessor of eternal life  though he
ment of Christ, according to which God wills to save discovers in himself no evidence of the operations of
His chosen ones only.                                         the  Holy  Spirit. Let us hear Bavinck on the matter:
   The committee incorporated in its footnote a state- "Volgens de Gereformeerde belijdenis had  Christus
ment made by the late Prof. Bavinck in his dogmatics niet voor alle. menschen, hoofd voor hoofd,  doch  alleen
and thereby made it appear as if its interpretation of voor de uitverkorenen de zaligheid verworven; maar
the so-called indiscriminate offer of salvation had the die uitverkorenen worden in de Schrift niet bij name
sanction of this theologian. Fact is, however, that the genoemd, doch het Evangelic wordt gepredikt aan allen
dogmatics appealed to denounce the view in question zonder  onderscheid en allen  worden  tot gelooven geroe-
as unreformed. We quote: "Al verder is daarom die pen en verplicht. Niemand  kan en mug dus beginnen
prediking des Evangelies  ook niet ijdel of onnut. Als te gelooven,  dnt  Christus   voor hem  voldaan  heeft  on
God uit onkunde of onmacht door de algemeene aan- dat  zijne  xonden  vergeven  zijn.  Maa~   wijl het  Evan-
bieding  *~r~erkeli$%  a&r  zligheid bedoelde,  dun werd gelie xcgt,  dnt allen die gelooven, de vergeving en het
zij indardaad o*nnut en ijdcl. Want hoe weinigen zijn leven ontvangen, mag hij eerst in geval hij geloofd, uit
het  bij wisn dit doe1 wordt bereikt. Dan sluit zij ielve het  geloof tot het bexit der  verge&g der  zonden  be-
cene  antinomic  in,  die ter oplossing tot steeds verdere sluiten" (Dogmatiek  IV. p. 105).
afdwaiing van de Schrift verleidt.         Want  indien de       The committee, so it appears from the above extrac-
wil en de  bedoeling  Gods,  indien de  voldoening   vu.n tion, stands opposed to introspection. The sinner be-
Christus   volstrckt   algemeen  is, dan moet de  aanbie-     lieves that life is his though he knows not whether he
ding des heils ook zonder eenig beperking algemeen transported himself in Christ from whom this life is.
zijn. En wijl zij dat blijkbaar niet is, komt men er dan         In the following paragraph, strange to say, the com-
toe om met de oude Lutheranen de geschiedenis in het mittee insists that there must be spiritual introspec-
nangezicht te weerspreken en te beweren, dat door de tion and close self-examination  "as a means of guard-
apostelen het Evangelie ann alle volken gebracht is, ing against self deception ; but if this is the end of our
en met vele nieuwere theologen eene  Evangelie-predi-         quest for the blessed assurance of faith'instead  of a
king ook nog aan gene zijde des grafs aan te nemen, mere beginning or pre-requisite, if it does not issue in
of erger nog met het  rationalisme  en  mysticisme  te looking away from self to Christ and to the sure prom-
gelooven, dat de wet der natuur of het inwendige  licht ise of God, the fear will remain." So far the com-
genoegzaam tot zaligheid is. Hoe verder men  echter mittee.
op deze wijze, in strijd met de historie, de  roeping uit-       We are,  oft course, in full agreement with this last
breidt, des te  zwakker,  krachteloozer en ijdeler wordt statement. One brought under the influence of God's
zij. In qualiteit en intensiteit wordt verloren wat men grace looks to himself in search of good fruit. If
schijnbaar in quantiteit en uitbreiding wint. Het con- found he concludes, "I am a good tree." But though
flict tusschen Gods bedoeling en de uitkomst wordt hoe the fruits of repentance are present, faith is weak.
langer hoe grooter" (Bavinck, Dogmatiek, vol. IV, p. There is no rejoicing in the hope of glory. What
7). Comment is unnecessary.                                   message should the pastor bring to this disquieted
    The committee in its footnote continues as follows: soul? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will
"It (the gospel) was preached as an offer of grace be saved ; eat His flesh and drink His blood and you


252                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   EEARErL

have life in yourself.         This doubting one, however,
will be sure to reply, ."T dare not eat and drink for I                         NOG EENS: DE PROHIBITIE
know not whether the Christ is meant for me." What                      remand vertelde ons, dat  uit zekeren hoek ons blad
should the pastor of this soul reply? Should he an-                  reeds bestempeld was geworden met den naam van
swer this one, "Believe, brother, believe. Do eat and "wet." Als men daarmede nu niets anders bedoeld,
drink for such is Christ's command.". If he would be                 dan dat wij metterdaad van overtuiging zijn, dat de
of any aid to this sheep of his he must point out to                 Prohibitie-wet  tegen Gods Woord is en door ons wordt
him that, whereas he hungers and thirsts for righte- beschouwd als pure willekeur der meerderheid en  dat
ousness, the heavenly manna which God caused to wij van de Prohibitie-beweging geen heil verwachten
descend from heaven, and the pure water from the en ook niet willen  toegeven, dat iemand strijdt voor
rock, are meant for him in that Christ himself said,                 de beginselen van  Kuyper  en Groen van Prinsterer
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righte- die ijvert voor deze beweging, dan stemmen wij toe,
ousness for they shall be filled."                In a word,  t,o    dat die naam ons met  recht  is gegeven.
strengthen the weak in faith, the pastor shall have to                  Zou men daarmede  echter  bedoelen, dat wij zelf
preach a Christ who dwells near the broken-hearted, ijveren voor wetsovertreding  en steun bieden aan boot-
invites those who are weary to come to Him and receive               leggers en hijackers, dan heeft men het glad mis.
rest; and those who thirst to drink from the waters                     Wij eeren gaarne de overheid en onderwerpen ons
of life. In fine, the gospel shall have to be preached om des gewetens wille,  zoolang  zij niets van ons
in such a way that the weary and heavy laden, the eischt, dat met Gods Woord in strijd is:
blind, the lame and the poor, the penitent and broken-                  Maar het eeren dergenen, die het overheidsambt
hearted clearly perceive that the Christ and the ful-                bekleeden, en der vele anderen, die zoo ijveren om
ness dwelling in Him is meant for them. And this is Amerika droog te krijgen en de Prohibitie-wet  ge-
what the committee denies.             It maintains that con- handhaafd te zien, wordt er niet gemakkelijker  op.
stant fear and doubt will be the result of such a con-               als men leest, dat de heeren wetgevers zelf en vele  lei-
ception of the gospel. At the same time it defines' the ders der droogmakings-beweging zelf hun slokje wel
offer of salvation as the promise to the effect that only lusten  en ook we1 drinken.
those who believe ?lave sternal life. Is not he preach-                 En dat dit een feit is, werd in de laatste dagen we1
ing this promise offering the gospel to the elect only? openbaar bij de behandeling van een wetsvoorstel door
To be sure. Fact  is,  that the committee sanctioned and             den Senaat in Washington, toen  zoo nu en dan eens
at once condemned the one type of preaching.                         even het gordijn werd opgelicht  en openlijk in de bla-
                                                      G. M. 0.       den geschreven werd, dat Washington een der "natste"
                        (To be continued)                            indien zelfs niet de natste stad is in geheel de Unie !
                                                                     De een schrijft, dat Washington zoo nat is, "dat het
                                                                     Met&"  ; een ander, dat de stad door en door nat is
                                                                     van vergiftige sterke  dranken en dat deze zoo openlijk
                        IN MEMORIAM                                  worden  verkocht op vele plaatsen als suiker in een
   Het behaagde den Heere door den dood tot  Zich te nemen,          kruidenierswinkel; een derde, dat er niet minder dan
den 19den  Februari,                                                 342 zulke plaatsen zijn in Washington, waar ieder, die
                 MRS. J. HOERSEMA-I3akema.                           ma& geld heeft zonder moeite en zonder gevaar kan
   De dierbare moeder van onzen President, Ds. H. Hoeksema.
   Daar ook wij als vereeniging deelnemen in het verlies,            koopen, wat hij lust bij de fiesch of bij het glaasje!
hopen wij dat de treurende familie  door Gods genade zich moge       Deze onthullingen  werden'  gedaan terzelfder tijd, dat
troosten iu het blij vooruitzicht van het salig wederzien in het     de vroede  vaderen  een wetsvoorstel in behandeling
Vaderhuis daar boven, waar geen scheiden meer  wezen  zal.           hadden,  om de straf op de overtreding der Prohibitie-
Waar  Christus  alles  zal zijn en in  allen.                        wet zoo te verzwaren, dat iemand bij eerste overtre-
       Namens de Hollandsche  Vrouwenvereeniging "Weest een          ding vijf jaren  gevangenisstraf of tien duizend dollar
         Zegen" van de Prot. Geref. gemeente,                        boete of beide kan  worden  opgelegd! In verband  met
                              Mr. S. Bijlsma, Vice-President         de behandeling van genoemd voorstel had er een debat
                              Mrs. J. Cammenga, Seer.                plaats tusschen de Senaatsleden Reed en Borah, de
                                                                     eerste van Missouri, de tweede van Idaho. Reed sprak
                                                                     tegen het wetsvoorstel. En in den loop van zijn speech
                  GEEN SCHIJNHEILIGE                                 bracht hij  dingen   aan het  licht, die verbaasd  doen
        `k  Haat uit den grond van mijn gemoed                       staan. Hij sprak van het huichelachtige van den man,
                 Het farizeesch gebroed.                             die droog stemt en nat drinkt, van het verachtelijk-
        Hun zalvend woord, hun stem zoo zoet,                        lafaardige van hem, die zijn medemensch naar de  ge-
                 Is `t die, mij walgen doet.                         vangenis zendt, terwijl hij zelf sterke drank van hem
        Volg liever `t voorbeeld, waarde neef,                       ontvangt, en den  afschuwelijken  hypocriet, die onder
                 Dat ik gestaag  u geef.                             een vroom masker zijn ambt  tracht te behouden door
        Daar `k nimmer op mijn voorhoofd schreef                     v&jr de Prohibitie te ijveren, terwijl hij zelf de wet,
                 Hoe vroom ik altijd leef.                           beide naar den geest en naar de letter overtreedt. Hij


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         283
sprak van de Democratische Conventie verleden jaar
gehouden te Houston, waar ieder zoo droog was als een                        NQT ON THE FENCE.
kameel in de woestijn van Sahara, maar de leden  waar-             A I~EMILLENNIAL  RESURRECTION  OF  THE
van,  31s  ze in hunne hotels arriveerden, aangaande de                            RIGHTEOUS?
bepaalde kamer werden ingelicht, waar sterken drank
te bekomen was. En ook sprak hij van de Conventie               The first "simple" proof from Scripture that ought
te Kansas City, waar de leiders der Prohibitie den to induce all serious Bible-students to believe in the
hotel-jongens van zeven tot tien dollar betaalden voor Premillennial coming of Christ runs as follows:
een pint zulke slechte whisky als geen respectabele  Mis-       a. Christ at His coming shall raise the dead.
souriaan zou willen drinken  ! .Hij beweerde voorts, en         b. This resurrection shall take place before the
er was niemand, die hem tegensprak, dat ieder, die een millennium. For "the rest of the dead lived not again
klein beetje verstand heeft en zijn oogen open heeft,        until the thousand years were finished" (Rom. 20  :5).
we1 weet, dat hij binnen het uur aan huis of kantoor         Hence, according, to Pre-millennialism, there is here
genoeg whisky bezorgd kan krijgen om een aantal              mention only of the resurrection of the righteous.
zijner vrienden uit den Senaat feestelijk te  onder-          c. Conclusion: Since Christ comes to raise these
houden ! En hij sprak uit, dat wie den moed had, om dead and these dead are raised before the millennium,
te zeggen, dat de Prohibitie-wet ooit was gehandhaafd,       it is evident, that the coming of the Lord must itself
de waarheid tegenstond en opzettelijk  loog tegenover be before the Millennium.
bet Amerikaansche volk. En aan het slot van zijn rede           We admit, this looks simple.
gaf hij  als zijn oordeel te kennen, dat  bet een onmoge-
lijke zaak was, om de Prohibitie-wet te handhaven.              But let us look into the matter with the text of
   Nu verstaan we  wel, dat het niemand  verontschul-        Rev. 20 before us.
digt, indien hij dit slechte voorbeeld van leiders en           The question that must decide whether the alleged
wetgevers volgt. Wetsovertreding is strafbaar en de proof is actually furnished in the above argumentation
Christen zorge, dat hij geen aanstoot geve. Hij worde is: Does Revelation 20 really teach that there shall be
in het gezelschap van bootleggers en hijackers niet  ge-     two resurrections, in the sense that different groups
vonden.                                                      of people shall be raised (the righteous and the
   Maar als men dit alles leest, gaat het respect tech       wicked) with a period of one thousand years inter-
we1 een beetje weg, ook al tracht men met den besten         vening? If so, there is a millennium to be expected.
wil ter  wereld het te behouden,  voor de leiders en         If not, there shah be no millennium and the coming
vroede vaderen,  die de wetten  maken of oak op aller-       of Christ is neither P.ost nor Pre.
lei wijze op de wetgevende machten  invloed uitoefenen.         Our answer is most `emphatically, that Rev. 20
Het komt mij voor, dat het goed  zou zijn, als Mr. Dyk-      teaches no such two resurrections at all. We would
stra zijn artikel, waarin hij spreekt over menschen,         adduce the following grounds for this conviction:
die den bootlegger en den hijacker helpen, nog eens            1. What Rev. 20 calls "the first resurrection" in
schreef en  dan met toepassing op anderen. Hij heeft vs. 5 is clearly described in vs. 4. The statement of
nu overvloed van stof.                                       vs. 5: "This is the first resurrection" refers to what
   En ook is het ons een bewijs, dat men maar zeer has been said in vs. 4. In answer to the question: what
weinig ernst maakt met de droogwet. Zooals we eer-           is the first resurrection? we must, therefore, read vs.
der schreven, ieder gevoelt wel, dat de Prohibitie  .iets    3. Now, does vs. 4 speak of the bodily resurrection of
tot zonde stelt, wat voor God geen zonde is. Misbruik        the righteous ? On the contrary it speaks of the glory
van sterken drank is zonde, zoowel  als te veel eten of the faithful in heaven, where they reign with Christ
zonde is. Maar nergens geeft de Heilige  S&rift te before the resurrection of the body. It speaks, not of
kennen, dat matig gebruik van sterken drank ook te a bodily resurrection of a certain group of people,
veroordeelen valt. De zonde is in den zondaar, niet while another bodily resurrection of a second group is
in de  dingen.  En daarom zal het nooit  gel&ken om to take place a thousand years later, but of a certain
eerbied af te dwingen voor de droogwet.                      stage in the glorification of the saints. Their entrance
   Dat bewijzen de leiders zelf. Als ze geen eerbied into glory immediately after death, when their earthly
hebben  voor hunne eigen  wetten, hoe  zullen  ze dan house of this tabernacle is dissolved and they shall
verwachten, dat de burgerij het we1 heeft?                   inhabit the house not made with hands, in which they
    Er  komena   r-an ook hoe langer zoo meer, die de        shall partake of the glorious reign of Christ at the
dwaasheid der Prohibitie-wet beginnen in te zien. De         right hand of the Father, - "this is the first resurrec-
praktische gevolgen  zijn  geheel  anders, dan velen  zich tion." For proof you but have to read the text of vs.
die  hadden  voorgesteld.                                    4: "And I saw thrones and they sat upon them, and
   En het is onze overtuiging, dat men het best den judgment was given unto them ; and I saw the souls
bootlegger en hijacker uit den weg krijgt, door de           of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus
Prohibitie-wet in te trekken.                                and for the word of Cod, and which had not  wor-
    En dan houdt ook  di!it huichelen althans op.            shipped the beast neither his image, neither had re-
                                                H. H.        ceived his mark upon their foreheads, or in their

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

hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thou-       first  yroup  of people  that are physically raised from
sand years." This is the first resurrection.                the dead, second in "the second death" must refer to
   The Premillennial view with its claim that we must a second group of #people  that have  died. Zt is evident,
take God at His Word and interpret Scripture liter- however, that this is not the case, for the context
ally, certainly does not live up to its claim and prac-     plainly shows, that "the second death" refers to the
tice what it preaches, when it deduces from these final stage of death in hell. The first stage, from our
words a physical resurrection.                              earthly viewpoint, is physical death in the grave  ; the
    a. Because it makes of "the souls of them that second death is eternal death, the casting of body and
were beheaded for the witness of Jesus" resurrected         soul in hell. The Premillennial interpreter must admit
saints, persons with body and soul. And this cannot this. But if this is true, it must also be admitted, that
be the meaning. We know, that Premillennial inter- first in "the first resurrection" does not refer to a cer-
preters appeal to the fact, that the word so&s  is used     tain group of people that are bodily raised, but to a
figuratively in Scripture for persons, a part, according first stage in the glorification of the saints, that stage,
to a well-known figure, expressing the whole. But we namely, that is reached when their earthly house of
answer that it is peculiar of this figure, that in such this tabernacle is dissolved and they shall enter their
cases the noun is always accompanied by a numeral. heavenly homes to reign with Christ in glory. Then
When we read that eight souls were saved in the ark, all is plain. What is the first death for the wicked is
that all the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt the first resurrection for believers. What is the second
were seventy, that there were two hundred and sev- death for the wicked, to be cast into hell body and soul,
enty-six souls with Paul in the ship, there is no one,      is the second resurrection for the righteous, to enter
who does not understand the figure. Souls may signify into the heavenly and eternal kingdom, after  theil
persons, whenever a numeral modifies it. But in Rev.        bodies shall have been raised in glory. And this is in
20~4 the numeral is lacking. Besides they are not harmony with vs. 4, as we interpreted it above.
simply called souIs,  but the souls of people. How would       b. Revelation 20 does not speak of a second resur-
it sound if Scripture informed us, that the souls of rection at all. Neither does any other passage of
Noah and his sons were in the ark? That the souls of Scripture. The chapter does, however, speak of the
the sons of Jacob came with him into Egypt? Finally,        ,physical resurrection of ~11 the dead in vs. 13: "And
in Rev. 20:4 they are emphatically described as the the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death
souls of  the  dead. They are the souls of them  that . and hell gave up the dead which were in them ; and
were  beheaded!  Surely, Premillennialism does not they were judged, every man according to his work."
practice, what it preaches, when it interprets the text There is no mention here of any special class of people.
to mean the resurrected righteous. And we leave it          but of all the dead. This verse is the only passage in
to our readers to decide, whether we do not rather the chapter that speaks of any bodily resurrection at
"take God at His Word" when we say, that these souls all. Evidently, the bodily resurrection of all men, the
of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, one final resurrection is meant. But this takes place
refer to the saints in heaven with Christ before the. after the thousand years. If the thousand years must
bodily resurrection.                                        mean a millennium on earth, then the bodily resurrec-
   b. Besides, if Premillennialism insists on a literal tion of all men must surely follow it.
interpretation of Rev. 20, what right has it to claim
that vss. 4 and 5 teach a bodily resurrection of all the       c. That the Scriptures teach in plain language the
righteous ? Literally it speaks only of those saints simultaneous resurrection of alE man, cannot very well
that were killed by Antichrist in the latter days. It be denied if we take God at His Word in John 5 :28,
must needs hold, that even of the righteous only com- 29: "Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming in Ehz
paratively very few will have a part with this first        which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
resurrection of theirs. The millennium will not have and shall come forth; they that have done good unto
many citizens, for if their view is correct and they the resurrection of live, and they that have done evil
take Scripture literally, only very few will be raised unto the resurrection of damnation."           If Scripture
before the millennium to reign with Christ.                 here does not plainly teach that the righteous and the
   2. The rest of this chapter of Revelation teaches wicked shall be called out of their graves z'n one a&
rather plainly, that by the "first resurrection" is not the same hour, and not in two different hours with
meant the bodily resurrection of the righteous, but a thousand years intervening, we confess, that we cannot
certain stage in their glorification:                       read the Word of God.
   a. This is evident from a comparison of the state-          3. The only apparent  difhculty  that remains is
ments : first resurrection and second death. The latter the statement in vs. 5: "But the rest of the dead lived
statement is found in vs. 14. It is sound hermeneutics not until the thousand years were finished." This
to claim that these two statements constitute a con- statement surely refers to the wicked in distinction
trast and must be interpreted according to the same         from the souls of the righteous that reign with Christ
rule and by the same method. If first in "the first in glory. But it seems to imply, that they shall also
resurrection" must be so interpreted as to refer to a live at the end of the thousand years. And the millen-


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       285

 nial interpreters like to emphasize this difficulty. We
 answer, however :                                                                 ONS BLAD
     a. That the statement simply means; that while                                       II
 the righteous in Christ live after their physical death,
 the wicked were in the state of death.                         Zooals we in ons vorig opstel schreven, was de  eer-
     b. That, if the Premillennial interpreter would ste  reden voor onze  actie,  om  n.l., tot het uitgeven van
 nevertheless press his objection and maintain, that the een eigen blad over te gaan, de onheusche behandeling
 statement implies, that the rest of the dead shall also der  Wuchter  Redactie en die der "Publication Com-
 live after the thousand, years are finished, he proves mittee" (der  wucltter)  ten opzichte der beide leeraren
 too much, for this  dif&ulty  turns against his' own H, H. en H. D.
 view as well. Mark, the text does not say: the rest. of        De stukken, door hen opgezonden, ontvingen ze
 the dead were not raised ; but: the rest of the dead terug met den eisch dat, indien ze deze geplaatst
 lived not. And even the  Premillenialist  would not wenschten te zien, er zaken uitgelicht moesten worden,
 maintain that in the resurrection of the body the iets dat natuurlijk niet kan zonder  schade  aan het  ge-
 wicked                                                      schrevene te berokkenen.
            shnll live. He would, therefore, himself have
 to explain the very difficulty he creates to bring it          En  tech  waren  ze antwoord schuldig  aan hunne
' before us.                                                 tegenstanders die inmiddels niet stil zaten maar alles
     Hence, it is our conviction on the basis of what deden om, indien immer mogelijk, genoemde  mannen
 seems to us a far more consistent interpretation of onschadelijk te maken.  Hun invloed diende gefnuikt
 Rev. 20 than that of  Premillenialism,  that the first te  worden  want het was den tegenstander duidelijk
 resurrection is the state of the glorified saints in        dat, van tweeen  Ben: of H. D. en H. H. zouden de toon
 heaven, before the coming of Christ and the bodily ttan blijven geven in de Kerk en dan we1 266, dat vooral
 resurrection. The saints now sit on thrones and reign de leer van Dr. Janssen er uitgebannen zou worden,  of
 with Christ. The thousand years are this dispensa- men zou hen er uit  moeten drukken, hoe dan ook.
 tion. There is no millennium. Christ's coming is  A-           Het  scheen een ongehjke  strijd. 0, zeker, de  z.g.n.
 millennial.                                                 "Vrienden-Leeraren" stelden zich aan alsof  ze homo-
     We are not at all on the fence:                         geen waren  met onze mannen, dat geloofde dan ook een
     And the first simple  BibleAproof  for  t.he Pre- ieder die een weinig meeleefde in' de dagen voor de
 millennial coming of the Lord proves to be no proof Synode van 1924 ; maar de geschiedenis heeft het  in-
 at all.                                                     tusschen  we1 anders geleerd. Ze stonden, wat het
                                                 H. H.       "menschelijk"  oordeel  betrof, alleen. Alleen tegenover
                                                             een zeer groote meerderheid en geen middelen van  ver-
                                                             weer.
                                                                De tijd is gekomen, zoo sprak Ds. H. H., dat we
                                                             zelf iets  moeten  doen  in  verband  met onze stukken
                   MIJN BIJBEL EN IK                         rakende de beginselen. Welnu, dit woord was nauwe-
                                                             lijks gesproken, of, ziet, drie  avonden  later, op den
 Steeds reisden wij samen : mijn Bijbel en ik,               achtsten April 1924, kwamen een 15-tal mannen samen
 Mijn ziele ten zegen den booze ten schrik ;                 om met elkander plannen te beramen om te komen tot
 In winter en zomer, als `t ruw was en kalm,                 een vereeniging, die, wat de  financieele zijde der zaak
 Steeds was hij mijn vriend, en mijn lamp en mijn betrof, onze voorgangers te  steunen.  De  plaats der
      psalm.                                                 samenkomst w<as de pastorie van Ds. H. H., Eastern
                                                             Ave., Grand Rapids, Mich.
 Steeds reisden wij samen: mijn Bijbel en ik,                   Ds. H. H. ging voor in gebed en na de zaak,  waar-
                                                             om het hi~~r van avond ging, toegelicht te hebben be-
 Sinds grijsden mijn haren, en dof werd mijn blik            sloten  alle aanwezigen  zich te organiseeren tot een
 Doch nooit vond ik dierbaarder boek of gezel,               vereeniging die zich ten doe1 stelde om met alle eer-
 `k Voel me arm  als ik zonder mijn Bijbel het  stel.        lijke middelen de beide broeders predikanten te  steu-
                                                             nen in de verbreiding der Geref. beginselen.
 Kritiek noch  gespot voerde zijwaarts mijn schreden;           De volgende  personen  waren  aanwezig :
 `k Zag de uitkomst bij and'ren: voor brood kreeg men           Van Grand Rapids: J. H. Van Tuinen, G. Vos,
      Steen,                                                 J. H. Vander Vennen, J. Koster,  P. Ezinga, C. De Jong,
Vaak: listig gespannen, ontkwam ik den strik,                E. Groenhout, A. Wyma, R. Timmer, 0. Van Ellen,
 En nog zijn wij  samen: mijn Bijbel en ik.                  Wm. Verhil.
                                                              Van Kalamazoo:
 In U, trouwe makker, vind `k al wat `k behoef;                 R. Wolthuis, J. C. Moerman, E. Onder de Linde,
Of `k zwak ben, dan sterk, of `k blij ben dan droef,         J. Post.
Tot  `t einde  der reis, tot den dood'lijken snik,              Uit dit  15-tal werd een "Voorloopig Bestuur"  be-
Wij. blijven te samen: mijn Bijbel en ik.                    noemd en we1 als volgt :


