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

Hem te lijden. Want zij  worden  gered uit en  ver-
heeriijkt in weerwil van deze tegenwoordige booze                                THE TWO SEEDS
wereld. En nls ze in de zaak van Christus, dat is van            `In our previous article under the above caption we
Gods verbond tijdelijk uit  genade  met Hem hebben dwelt at length upon the divine utterance to the effect:
mogen Iijden en strijden, zullen zij ingaan in de eeuwi-      "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman
ge overwinning, die Hij voor hen heeft behaald en in and between thy seed and her seed ; . . . . (Gen.  3 :
Godstabernakel  kennen zooals ze ook gekend zijn.             15).    The term enmity, so it was pointed out, is the
                                                    H. H.     signification of a bitter' strife expressive of mutual
                                                              hatred and ensuing in the destruction of the seed of
                           .-                                 the serpent. The matter especially emphasized was
                                                              that the hatred of the seed of the serpent for the seed
                    INGEZONDEN                                of the woman, as also the wound this seed shall inflict
             Geachte Redactie !                               (thou shalt bruise its heel) are, as well as the  ascend-
                                                              ency which the seed of the woman shall gain over the
       Mogen we aangaande ons antwoord aan Ds. A. J.          malice of the serpent, matters of which the almighty
Brink, zooals dit werd geplaatst in  THE  STANDARD will of God is the necessity. However, there is this
BEARER van 15 April een kleine correctie indienen? Bij        important difference to be noticed. Though the neces-
voorbaat dank.                                                sity, God is not the source and author of the animosity
       Met "deze onderstreepirig is van den redacteur K. and evil dispositions of the serpent and his seed. To
of Brink" bedoelden we te  kennen  te geven, dat we the contrary, the serpent's malice is the expression of
hetgeen er direct boven stond niet gecursiveerd  wensch-      a sinful hatred the source of which is a depraved heart.
ten. Het spijt ons, dat we dit er niet dadelijk aan heb-      On the other hand, of the enmity of the woman and her
ben toegevoegd. We  hadden dit  moeten   doen.   r Dit        seed, God is the Workman. That this seed opposes
ter voorkoming of  weffneming  van mogelijk  misver-          Satan is due to its being born of God and to its con;
stand.                                                        stantIy experiencing the sanctifying influence of the
                                            P. AUKEMA         indwelling Holy Spirit.
                                                                 The serpent shall have a seed  - the wicked  - of
                                                              which he is the father and hence the progenitor. That
                                                              the relation which Satan sustains to the wicked is that
                           N O T I C E                        of father, is the teaching of Scripture. Says Christ to
       D. V.  hoopt  de  Classis te vergaaeren op  Woens-     those rejecting Him, Ye are of your father the devil,
dagnamiddag, 5 auni 1929, te beginnen om 2 uur.               and the lusts of your father ye will do.        He was a
   De vergadering wordt gehouden in, het kerkgebouw murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the
van de Eerste Protestantsche Gereformeerde Kerk te truth, because there is no truth in him. When he
Grand Rapids,  Mich.                                          speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar
   Men gelieve stukken voor het Agendum te zenden             and the father of it. John  8:44.  Whereas Satan is
aan den Stated Clerk.                                         solely a spiritual being, it follows that according to the
                                   S. G. SCHAAFSMA, S. C.     flesh his seed, as well as the seed he opposes, is the off-
                                                              spring of the woman. That is to say, with the excep-
                                                              tion of the ego, the entire human organism  - its mate-
                                                              rial substance, its nature together with the sinful qual-
                ViLDDAG  OP VIERDEN  JULI                     ities of this nature,, is the indirect offspring of the
  `Voorloopige mededeeling dat we ook dit jaar, ,D. V.,       parents of the human race. The human ego or spirit,
een velddag  zullen  houden. Zullen we niet  allen  op- we believe, is a direct gift of God. At any event, the
trekken?                                                      devil is the father neither of the human organism nor
       Maakt dan geen andere  plannbn.  Voor verdere of its sinful qualities. The ethical polution of mankind
kennisgeving zie volgende Standard Bearer nummers. originated in the soul of our first parents and was
                                                              transmitted by them to  their posterity.
                                          DE COMMISSIE                                                    "Whereas, as
                                                              by one man sin entered the world, and death  .by sin ;
                                                              and so death passed upon all men . . . " (Rom. 5 : 12).
                                     -                           The question remains in what sense Satan is the
                                                              father of the wicked. A clue to the correct answer is
                           N O T I C E                        found in the above-eited words of Christ. When the
   Will members or subscribers that are and have              devil speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is
been in arrears with subscriptions, kindly take care of a liar, and the father of it. The relation, then, the
same in the near future or notify the treasurer of their      devil sustains to the lie is that of father, so that the
inability to pay at this time. Otherwise THE STAND- meaning of this speech of Christ can be none other
ARD  BEARER  will be discontinued.                            than that the lie is original not with man but with
                                            THE BOARD         Satan, ,that he was the first to cherish it and to regard
       ."            -.


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                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          345

     its realization as the highest possible good. Hence,          and principle. As Satan, so man, he would be like the
     when he speaketh a lie, he spcnkxth  of himself. What         Most High, exalt his throne above the stars of God:
     may it have been that captivated Satan's heart and sit upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides
     fired his imagination? The answer is found in the of the north: ascend above the heights of t.he clouds.
     epistle of Jude. The angels, so this epistle informs us,      Natural man as well as Satan, opposes and exalteth
     kept not' their rule or first state but left their  abode.    himself above God. Both, reason God out of their lives
     Jude  1~6. Add to this that the word by which the             and out of their world and set up a kingdom destitute
     serpent induced man to eat from the forbidden tree of all that is called God.
     was, And thou shalt be like God, and the conviction               There is not only an identity but even a oneness
     cannot be escaped that the failure to keep his state,         of aim, purpose and ideal here. The devil and his
     was the other side of a diabolical attempt to usurp seed constitute a confederacy  of  which the former,
     God's place in heaven. His rebellion was the exprese-         however, is the master mind and the unifying force.
     sion of a lie, the extention of a thought-structure the       Ye will do, says Christ, the lust of your father. The
     chief and highest mansion of which he had assigned wicked, then, are in the power of the devil and do his
     to himself. For, what he coveted was the homage due bidding. The highest possible boon is to be delivered
     to God alone. He would have transferred all his king- from his power.
     doms to Christ, had the latter but worshipped him.                The woman, too, shall have a seed differing from
     The state of affairs as conceived of by Satan, then, is       that of the serpent as to its spiritual make-up. Where-
     not in congruity with God's conception of what is as those constituting the seed of the serpent descend
     right and proper, so that the devil imagines and re-          from the woman, it follows that the term ssed of the
     vells in the lie. Whereas the lie is not of God, Satan,       womccn  signifies a select group. It is doubtful whether
     when he speaketh the lie, speaketh of his own.                Eve surmised that the promise implied a selective
        The questions remains, why Satan should be called process ; that not the whole of her off-spring would be
     the father of the wicked? And the answer is ready:            brought under the influence of grace and be made
     Because he transported from his own consciousness             to part company with and to oppose the serpent and
     into that of man the lie he had fabricated. Said he to his henchmen; that, in other words, the spiritual kin
     t.he woman, Thou shalt be as God knowing good and             of the serpent was to be recruited. from her very off-
     evil. Man, quick to respond, ate of the forbidden tree spring. At any event, Eve rejoiced when Cain was
     and in doing so set himself up as his own master by           born, and her joy arose from the conviction that the
     placing in the room. of God's standard of truth, his birth of this son of hers signaled the beginning of the
     own. It was Satan, then, who fructified with his lie fulf%lment  of the promise of salvation. In fact, it did
     the woman's lust enticing and drawing her away.               so but not in a manner she expected as is evident from
     Then, when her lust had conceived, it brought forth           her jubilant exclamation, "I have received a man with
     sin: and her sin, when it was finished, brought forth Jehovah." Eve was not wanting in faith but her faith
     death. For this reason, and in this sense, Satan is the lacked knowledge. She was, therefore, due for a bitter
     father of the wicked and the latter his seed, his off-        disappointment.    For as Cain attained to the season of
     spring.                                                       manhood, he began to assume such an attitude toward
         It must not be supposed that Satan withdrew from things holy as to show himself up as the spiritual kin
     man after having tempted him in the garden. lf so, of the devil. His spite and hatred were fanned into
     Paul would not have warned us against his wiles. F&t          a white heat by the pious life and testimony of the
     is, that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but saints, and in particular 0% Abel, with whom he was
     against principalities, against powers, against the thrown into contact and in whose circles he in the first
     rulers of the darkness of the world, against spiritual        period of his life moved.
     wickedness in high places. Eph. 6:X?.  The influence             Attending to the careers of Cain and Abel we dis-
     which the devil is capable of exerting upon the hearts cover that each was the commencement, pledge and
     of men is so great as to render him the very prince of        type of a seed, the former of the seed of the serpent,
     darkness. He still incites men to imagine a vain thing,       the latter of the seed of the woman. Between these
     to take  counse1  and to set themselves against the Lord two brothers God was seen to set enmity culminating
     and against His anointed, to break their bands in murder occasioned by His rejection of Cain's sacri-
     asunder, and to cast away their cords from them, in           fice and by His having respect to that of Abel. The
     a word, to realize the lie which he pIanted  in man's facts in the case are these: "Abel was a keeper of
     soul at the very dawn of history.        Hence, he who sheep, and Cain was a tiller of the ground. In process
     wishes to stand, says the apostle, against the wiles of of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit
     th.e devil shall put on the whole armor of God. Eph.          of the ground an offering unto the Lord.  Abel  did
     6:ll.                                                         likewise. But the offering he brought was not of the
        That the natural man is an off-spring of the devil         fruit of the ground but of the firstlings of his flock and
     in the sense explained above, is evident enough. The of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto
     two are alike as to the ethical qualities of their nature.    Abel and unto his offering: but unto Cain and his offer-
     There is, further, an identity of aim, purpose, ideal         ing He had not respect. And Cain was very wroth and


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his countenance fell. And the Lord said unto Cain,              son is not far to seek. His sacrifice, as was pointed
why art thou  wrath? and why is thy countenance out in a preceding article, was essentially pagan. Abel
fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? was ready to receive from God's hands a gift by whose
and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And blood he knew he had to be covered if he  .would stand
unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over in the judgment and enter the sanctuary of God. Cain
him. And Cain talked with his brother: and it came felt no need of a gift of this kind. He refused to ad-
to pass when they were in the field, that Cain rose up mit that he was poor and blind and naked but, think-
against his brother, and slew him" (Gen.  4  :2-8).             ing himself rich, he would enrich God by the, fruit of
        Guided by these facts we are able to give a reliable    God's own fields. Cain, then, spurned and despised
delineation of the character, dispositions and attitudes the bloody sacrifice. He did so because he denied the
of each of these brothers. For, to begin with, the mode fact of sin. Hence he hated the God who proclaimed
of thought entering into the make-up of the ground- by the instituted sacrifice, the depravity and the  con-
work of the sacrifice, detied God as a being of perfect         demnableness of man. Pet he sought to procure the
rectitude who without fail causes sin to return to the approval and the good-will of God. Hence he brought
transgressor in the form of guilt and punishment; as            of the fruit of the ground, but discovered, however,
a being of that profound wisdom capable of devising that God could have no fellowship with one despising
ways and means for throwing about the condemnable the divinely ordained channels of communion. God,
yet chosen sinner His everlasting arms of mercy ; as a so we are told, had respect neither to Cuin nor to his
Being, finally, capable of a love able to pardon and            sacrifice. His offering was an abomination to the
cleanse the guilty and filthy culprit and to prepare for Lord. It seems to me that the exponents of the theory
him a place in His (God's) house.  .And the feelings of common grace ought to sense that this rejection of
which had to prompt the sacrifice to which Jehovah              Cain as well as of his proffered gift closes the door
would have respect, was a deep sense of guilt; the feel- to their philosophy.
ing,  "I am unclean"; a craving for divine pardon ; a              Cain, instead of correcting his error and instead of
thirsting for righteousness  ; a longing for God, coupled humbling himself before God, becomes very wroth and
with the conviction that the depraved sinner's only ,vent his wicked ire upon the saintly Abel. It need
way of approach to God is through a blood  ,that                not surprise us that he did so. For Abel was, so to
cleanses from  all sin and that he entering the sanctu- say, the walking altar of Jehovah; a product of God's
ary by this way will be fed with mercy and satisfied grace ; a living testimony to the fact that the way of
with God's blessed image. The bloody sacrifice was              blood is indeed the only avenue of approach to God.
meant to demonstrate that the sinning soul shall die,           Having entered the sanctuary by this way, he had
that without the shedding of blood there can be no seen God. Hence, being one of God's pure of heart, the
remission of sin, that, finally, man though depraved clash between him and that vain and haughty-spirited
and  condemnable walks in the light of Jehovah's                brother of his, was inevitable. The very light which
countenance if he recognizes as the channel of com- Abel emitted was a denunciation of the evil ways of
munion the innocent blood of the slain victim.                  Cain, and his very friendship of God enmity with his
        Abel's sacrifice measured up to the above stipulated brother.
requirements. For it is said that  hy &aith he offered a           As to the details and immediate occasion of Cain's
more excellent sacrifice than Cain. Heb. 11:4. What crime, Scripture preserves a silence. All that we are
else can this lzlean  th.an  that the theological concep- told is that he talked with his `brother. What this
tions entering into the make-up of the groundwork of speech may have been is not stated. Yet we surmise
the sacrifice were to Abel the representation of truth that it had to do with the moral principles which Abel's
dwelling in his heart ; and that the feelings and dis- mode of worship enunciated, - principles most dis-
positions prompting the saints of the old dispensation dainful to the carnal Cain. This talk, we may assume,
to sacrifice were indeed his. Whereas the sacrifice as partook of the nature of a hard and cruel speech such
brought by Abel, was the expression of the above-cited as the wicked are wont to utter when the pure light
convictions and dispositions, it was a most excellent           from heaven as emitted by God's saints exposes their
one: to it dehovah  had respect, and by it he obtained evil deeds. That such was the character of Cain's
a witness that he was righteous. That is to say, Abel speech we gather from the notice found in John's
received from heaven a testimony to the effect that epistle. It reads, "For this is the message which ye
the divine pardon had become his priceless possession have heard from the beginning that .we should love
and that he had found favor in the sight of God. And one another. Not as Cain, who was of the wicked one,
the speech reverberating through the chambers of his and slew his brother. And  wherefor  slew he him?
soul was, Jehovah is my salvation ; in Him do I put my Because his own works were evil and his brother's
trust. With Abel, then, the seed of the woman makes righteous" (I John 3 :12). It is also certain that the
its appearance.                                                 notice to the effect, "And Cain talked with Abel,"
        Cain, on the other hand, was a child of the devil,      signifies a prolonged intermittent verbal assault last-
as is evident from the scriptural notices  concerning           ing perhaps many days, - an assault which finally
his sacrince.  To it the Lord had no respect. The rea-          culminated in murder. "And it came to pass, when


                                    TRE  S T A N D A R D   BEARER                                                    347

they were both in the field, that Cain rose up against themselves. So, defying the curse of heaven, Enoch,
Abel his brother and slew him." What may it have             Cain's son, builds a city and thus founds a new corn-
been that brought matters to this tragic end? It must monwealth. The motive is fear. The purpose is to
have been Abel's stern but well-meaning and kindly mollify the evils of a guilty conscience. Jabel, the
words of rebuke which he was wont to direct against          seventh from Cain, is listed as the father of all such
Cain's sinful neglect and defience of heaven ; the dig- as handle the harp and the organ. He is a man skilled
nified silence  *he maintained when railed at by his         in music, - the artist of the tribe. In this society was
brother, - a silence speaking volumes - coupIed  with found, further, the artifier  in brass and in iron. How-
his persistently keeping himself to the divineIy  insti- ever, the high point of defience was reached by Lamech
tuted channels of communion.                                 who as his "Ode to the Sword" indicates, trampled
   Whereas Cain had been told that he would be ac-           under foot, as seemed good to him, the authority of
cepted in the event he did well, his crime can only be       heaven and the rights of men and by deeds of violence
explained from a lordly contempt and a deep-seated           attempted to bring heaven and earth alike under his
hatred for the glories of God as exhibited by his re-        sway.
demptive methods.                                               In fine, Cain and his descendants constitute a type
   The voice of Abel's bIood  cried unto God from the of that portion of humanity which falls in with the
ground. Cain is made to appear before the tribunal           schemes of the serpent and seeks to preserve, strength-
of God and forthwith sentenced. He is cursed from en and maintain itself by bringing into play and de-
the earth which opened her mouth to receive his broth- veloping its own unhallowed resources.
er's blood. He shall be a fugative and a vagabond               The unhappy fate of Abel seems to have stunned
in the earth. Accusing conscience immediately puts           for a season `Eve's faith. She had, in the process of
him ill at ease, destroys his peace of mind, renders him time, come to regard Abel as the precious gift of
a victim of a thousand fears and peoples the earth with Jehovah, destined to gain a victory over the malice of
imaginary yet to him real enough avengers. For he the serpent. His violent death at the hands of his
says to the Lord, "Every one that findeth me shall slay      brother must have filled her soul with grave appre-
me."    Cain, however, is marked by the Lord lest any hensions respecting the  fulfilment  of the promised
one finding him should kill him. True enough, his life good. It may be this blighted hope that accounts for
is spared. Yet the career remaining to him is that of the name (Abel - breath, vanity) by which this first
a fugative. Its outstanding feature is a nervous rest-       martyr of Christendom is known in sacred history.
lessness of which the chaff chased by the wind, is the The name, then, should be associated not with his
fitting emblem. Cain's existence is prolonged. How- birth but with his death and may be pressive of the
ever, his life, henceforth shall be a living death, for he feelings of disappointment which his fate awakened
must roam the earth as the very personification of the       in the bosom of the parents. Eve's faith recovered it-
curse  of heaven, as the testimony of the stern fact that    self again, for when Seth was born she exclaims, "God
God is sure to wreak vengeance upon those who de-            hath appointed me another seed for instead of Abel,
spise His name and spoil his people. And yet the ex- whom Cain slew." Thus there were again two seeds.
ponents of the theory of common grace will prate of                                                     G.  M. 0.
this prolonged life as the seal and token of divine
favor. Astounding!
   Cain, instead  of  showing repentance, went out
from the presence of the Lord to take up his residence                             N O T I C E
in a region far removed from the society of the saints
and the emblems of God's mercy. Nowhere do we read              Ret Curatorium der Theologische  Schooi  onzer
of him again bringing of the fruit of the ground as an       Kerken  hoopt,  D. V., te vergaderen te Grand Rapids,
offering to the Lord. He has done both with God and Mich., op Dinsdagnamiddag,  4 Juni 1929,  om  2:3(X
His people. The question may arise, why he sacrificed           De vergadering wordt gehouden in het kerkgebouw
at all? For the same reason that there are always a van de Eerste Protestantsche Gereformeerde  Kerk.
sufficient number of people on hand who make it a               Op deze vergadering bestaat gelegenheid om zich
point to cultivate for  seIf%h motives the society of aan te melden  om opgenomen te worden  als student aan
the big man of influence and of means. What in all           onze School.
such instances is sought is not the man but the means.          Adspiranten worden  er aan herinnert, dat men moet
The substance and the friends of the son in the parable overleggen aan het Curatorium :
simultaneously disappeared. So, too, Cain. He looked            1. Een bewijs van lidmaatschap van zijn  respec-
upon God as a sort of handy man around the house. tieve kerkeraad.
Hence, he attempts to solicit His services with some            3     Een aanbeveling, eveneens van den kerkeraad,
fruit. As soon as Cain discovered, however, that God         hem'aanbevelende   om  als student te  worden   opge-
refused to condescend to his sinful level, he leaves. He nomen.
and his posterity will now show God that they can do                         Namens het Curatorium,
very well without him, that they are  suflicient unto                                     S. G. SCHAAFSMA, Seer.


3`18                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                                            he did not as boldly as Coornhert express and publish
           SKETCHES ON THE DEVELOPMENT                      his views. The public first began to feel a suspicion
                       OF DOCTRINE                          with regard to the soundness of their pastor, when at
               ARMINIUS  AND ARMINUNI~M                     about this time of the controversy he preached a ser-
                                                            mon on Rom. 7 :11: "For we know that the law is
        As universally renowned as are the names of spiritual; but  I am carnal, sold under sin." In this
Augustine and John Calvin because of their develop- sermon he is alleged to have expressed Pelagian views
ment and maintenance of the truth of free and sov- of the natural man. But Arminius was a careful man
ereign grace, so generally known and famous is the and an able scholar, and he knew how to quiet the
name of t.he Dutch theologian, Jacobus  Harmsen,  who fears of the people and to cause the troubled waters of
Latinized his name, according to the custom of that public opinion to subside. Entirely to conceal his real
time, into its more familiar form, Arminius, as the         convictions, however, was, of course, impossible, for
man who introduced anew the view that the atone-            Arminius was minister of the Word and called upon
ment of Christ was universal in intention, the effect to expound his views of the truth, and many of his
and application of which depends ultimately on the          people were quite able to recognize a heresy when they
will of man instead of being the gracious gift of God       heard one expressed, especially on the truth of Pre-
to those whom in sovereign grace He  chose from destination.               And so greater alarm was caused by
eternity. Wherever preachers and teachers oppose the Arminius when he preached a sermon on Rom. 9.
bitterly hated "necessarian" view of salvation the name     Howover,  in spite of the fact that he must have real-
of James Arminius is held in high esteem as a pro-          ized, that in his own mind there was a conflict with
found theologian and devoted Christian. And, did he         the accepted view of the Reformed churches, he always
still live to appreciate his influence, he would be able, maintained that he was in full harmony with the Cate-
no doubt, to count millions as his followers. For, not chism  and the  Confession, although probably he would
only among those who openly profess to believe in the express things in a somewhat different form than
freedom of the will and the ability of man to ap-           usual. And in spite of the fact that a heavy cloud of
propriate his own salvation, but also with those who        suspicion was hanging over his head at that very time,
formally profess the faith as Augustine and Calvin yet he was appointed professor of Theology at the
developed it form the Word of God, he would find thou- University of Leyden. There Gomarus also labored
sands of disciples.                                         to prepare young men for the ministry, and Gomarus
   Arminius was born at a time when the Reformed was of sound Reformed views and a Supralapsarian.
faith was being taught and developed and in a coun- In a conference which took place between the two men
try, the Protestant population of which was largely         before Arminius entered into his new field of labor,
following the great teacher of Geneva, if history may the latter, however, satisfied Gomarus and they became
be trusted in this matter. One year after Guido de colleagues. Of course, this could not last. Arminius
Bres composed his Articles of Faith, now our Nether-        soon began to develop his views and instilled them
kw.d Confession ; three years before the Cntechism  that    into his students, not only in his lecture-room, but
is now famous the world over was published at Heidel- especially in private sessions with his students at his
berg; and four years before the great Reformer of home. Naturally, Gomarus became his strong and
Geneva  fInished  his life's work, Arminius was born in determined opponent. Neither could the controversy
Oudewater, the Netherlands. When he was fifteen be kept within the walls of the school and soon all the
years of age he entered the University of Leyden to         country was in a turmoil. Many conferences were
study Theology where he graduated in 1582 at She age held to accomplish a reconciliation between Gomarus                  '
of twenty-two. He then continued his studies in and Arminius and to settle the dispute in a peaceable
Geneva, where Beza, worthy disciple of Calvin, was way. Even as late as 1609 a meeting was called to
lecturing at the time on the epistle of Paul to the  Ro-    remove the disharmony. But all was in vain. And on
mans. After a visit to Paclua and Rome he returned Oct. 19 of that year Arminius died.
to the Netherlands in 1587 and the following year he           Let us believe his friends, who tell us that Arminius
accepted a call as minister of the divine Word in Am- was of a meek and quiet Christian spirit. Besides, we
sterdam. There a controversy was raging between the may well believe that he was an able scholar. He was
Supralapsarian and Infralapsarian conception of Pre- well-educated, always refined in manners and appear-
destination. At the same time the well-known  Coorn-        ance ; in this respect, perhaps, frequently offering a
hert had openly questioned the doctrine of election and favorable contrast to Gomarus, who did not always
reprobation. Arminius, whose stand on the matter of succeed to control his temper. He must have been an
`Reformed truth no one doubted as yet, was asked to attractive teacher, who knew how to inculcate his own
refute the views of Coornhert and his associates, and views into his students. For he exerted a deep and
the Amsterdam minister accepted the invitation. How- lasting influence on the hearts and minds of many.
ever, as he set himself to accomplish this task and         Yet, after all is said, it cannot very well be denied that
made study of the question at issue, he more and more       he was not honest before the Church he served, first
felt himself inclined toward the departing view. But as minister then as professor. Secretly, not openly he


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       349

worked. Knowing that he departed from the Reformed pIoy in order to make them efficacious, or whether
faith he claimed against his own better knowledge,           their effect were dependent solely on the  `use made of
that he was in harmony with the accepted standards of them by man? And in answer to this question
the Church. He may have been meek and gentle. Let Arminius would surely say, that God on His part re-
us grant that he dreaded ecclesiastical controversies.       vealed that He earnestly desired the salvation of all
But spiritual honesty does not seem to have been one         men, and that, therefore, He gave to all men equally
of his virtues. He practiced deception to avoid trouble. the means af grace. These means of grace, then, con-
And he led many astray.                                      stituted a wellmeaning offer of salvation on the part
   The following propositions express the views of of God to every man. And our fathers would surely
Arminius on the subject of salvation by grace.               condemn this conception, as they actually did in the
   1. That God ordained Jesus Christ to be Mediator.         &nom of  Dordrecht,  III, IV, B, 5.
This first statement could not very well meet with op-          4. That God, foreknowing who would believe and
position. In this general form it might be subscribed        repent and who would not, foreordained particular per-
to by all who embraced the Reformed faith. One might, sons unto salvation. In this last proposition Arminius
of course, object to the very vagueness and ambiguity        finally expresses rather clearly his view on predestina-
of the proposition. And especially in a time of con-         tion. No, he did not deny the fact of predestination
troversy one would probably inquire somewhat more as such. He believed in election and reprobation. Of
deeply into the specific meaning of such a doctrinal course, how would anyone be able to deny this and still
statement. But Arminius preferred to express him- maintain that he believed the Word of God? But he
self in terms as general as he could find. And as the offered a different explanation of those passages of
proposition stands no one could possibly raise any  oh-      Holy Writ that speak of election and reprobation. God
jection  against it.    For, surely, God ordained *Jesus     foresaw from ail eternity who would accept the Lord
Christ to be Mediator.                                       Jesus Christ and God's conditions of salvation. These
   2. That God determined to accept in Christ all            He chose. And He aIso foreknew  who would not accept
penitent and believing sinners; to condemn all that these conditions but remain impenitent and unbeliev-
remained impenitent and unbelieving under the preach- ing. These He rejected. So that the counsel of God
ing of the gospel. Even this second statement, when          utterly depends on the will of mere man.      .
considered all by itself, apart from the fact that a con-       The death of Arminius in 1609 could not stop the
troversy was raging about the question of predestina- controversy. By that time he had too many followers.
tion, could not very well be gainsaid. Is it not true,       The Arminian views were preached from many a pul-
as a matter of fact, that God did, indeed, determine         pit and taught in many a school. And on the whole
that all that believe in the Son have eternal life, while the Arminian party were protected by the States and
all that disobey the Son should not see life, but have       political powers. They developed their views. In 1610
the wrath of God abide on them? Surely, this is the they offered the following articles as a Remonstrance
truth. And it is equally true, that many preachers,          and an expression of their beliefs.
who profess to believe the Reformed doctrine of pre-            1. That'God  by an eternal, unchangeable purpose
destination and sovereign grace, never enter any more in Christ Jesus, His Son, hath determined out of the
deeply into the subject, but prefer to leave it in this      fallen, sinful race of men, to save in Christ, for
general form. This was true in the days of Arminius Christ's sake and through Christ, those who, through
and it is true today. But, of course, if you wouId de- the grace of the Holy Spirit shall b&eve in this His
sire to obtain  a more specific statement of the truth,      Son, Jesus, and shall persevere in this faith and obe-
you would soon find, that a further explanation of the dience of faith, through this grace even unto the end;
proposition by Arminius himself would expose it as a and on the other hand to leave the incorrigible and un-
serious departure from the Reformed truth. For he            believing in sin and under wrath, and to condemn
would explain it as his `conception that ultimately it them as alienate from Christ, according to the word of
depended on the will and choice of the natural man           the gospel in John 3  536: He that believeth on the Son
whether or no he would believe and repent, and that,         hath everlasting life, but he that obeyeth nbt the Son
therefore, the counsel and will of God were determined       shall not see life, the wrath of God abideth on him;
by the will of man. Not God but man is sovereign, ac- and according to other passages of Scripture also.
cording to Arminius' way of thinking and teaching.              To the superficial reader this would sound rath&
    3. That God ordained the means of grace unto sal- orthodox, yea eve-n rather strongly expressed. Did
vation. To  be sure, this also is so evidently true, that the article not speak of an eternal and unchangeable
no one would think of denying the truth of the state-        counsel? Did it not plainly state that it was only
ment as it stands. And yet, one begins to feel the drift through the grace of the Holy Ghost that one would be
and tendency of the propositions of Arminius, when able to believe and to persevere in faith and obedience?
he reads this. He would naturally want to know of And yet, the counsel of God was here made dependent
Arminius what he understood by means of grace and            on the will of man. For after all the Remonstrants
whether they were to be conceived, according to his          here taught that God determined to choose to saiva-
conception,  as  means which the Holy Spirit must  em- tion those that  woulp believe and to reject those, that

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

would not believe.        And although apparently the here express in the strongest terms, that salvation is
Arminians here made faith a gift of God's grace, yet solely the work of God by grace and that one without
soon they would explain that God bestows this gift of grace can do nothing that is truly good, yet they would
grace only on them that would prove themselves worthy add, that man must show himself worthy of this grace
by using well the natural light they all possessed. The and  inzlined to receive it. For the grace of God, they
second proposition is more clearly a departure from would say, is not irresistible. And this they express
the truth:                                                    plainly in the following article:
       2. That agreeably thereto Jesus Christ, the Savior         4. That this grace of God is the beginning, con-
of the world, died for all men and for every man, so          tinuance and accomplishment of all good, even to this
that He has obtained for them all, by His death on the extent that the regenerate man himself, without  pre-
cross, redemption and the forgiveness of sins; yet so,        venient, assisting, awakening, following and co-oper-
that no one actually enjoys this forgiveness of sins ex- ative grace, can neither think, will nor do good, nor
cept the believer, according to the word of the gospel        withstand any temptations to evil ; so that all good
in John 3 :16 : For God so loved the world that He qave deeds and movements that can be conceived must be
His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on ascribed to the grace of God in Christ. But, as re-
Him should not perish but have everlasting life ; and spects the mode of the operation of this grace, it is not
in the first epistle of John 2 :2 : And he is the propia-     irresistible, in as much as it is written concerning
tion for our sins and not for our only, but for the sins      many that they have resisted the Holy Ghost, - Acts
of the whole world.                                           7 and elsewhere in many places.
       Of course, even upon reading this article one might        There you have it. The saving grace of God is not
argue, and many at that time did argue, that after all        irresistible.    This implies, of course, that man can
it made very little difference, whether one confessed         accept this saving grace and reject it, and that it
that Christ died for His people only or for every man         ultimately depends on his will, not on the will of God
and'for the whole world, head for head. Did not the whether he is to be saved or not. And what according
article state plainly, that only the believer obtained        to their way of thinking is true of the beginning of
this forgiveness of sins? In actual effect, then, there       grace in t%e heart of any sinner, is equally true of the
was no difference at all. Why, then, carry on such a continuance of that grace and the perseverance of the
heated controversy about so  insignficant  a matter?          saints in that faith and its obedience:
But they who understood and loved the Reformed                    5. That those who are incorporated into Christ
truth emphasized, that in this article the truth of by a true faith, and have thereby become partakers of
particular atonement was denied, nevertheless and that        His life-giving Spirit, have thereby full power to strive
it opened the way for the Pelagian heresy of the free against Satan, sin, the world and their own flesh, and
will of man. Besides, some felt, that the denial of to win the victory, it being well understood, that it is
particular atonement would lead to the denial of the          ever through the assisting grace of the Holy Ghost;
vicarious death of the Saviour altogether. For, surely, and that Jesus Christ assists them through His Spirit
if Christ died for all in general, He died for no one in in all temptations, extends to them His hand ; and if
particular and His death could not be a payment of only they are ready for the conflict and desire His help,
our debt and a satisfaction for our sins. The third and are not inactive, keeps them from falling so that
article sounded very Reformed :                               they by no craft or power of Satan can be misled, nor
   3. That man has not saving grace of himself, nor plucked out of Christ's hand, according to the word of
of the energy of his free will, as he, in the state of his Christ, John 10  :25: No one can pluck them out of my
apostacy  and sin, can of and by himself neither think, hand. But whether they are capable  throtigh   negli-
will nor do anything that is truly good (such as saving cence or forsaking again the first beginnings of their
faith eminently is) ; but that it is needful that he be       life in Christ, of again returning to this present evil
born again of God in Christ, through His Holy Spirit,         world, of turning away from the holy doctrine which
and renewed in understanding, inclination or will, and was delivered them, of losing a good conscience, of be-
all his powers in order that he may rightly under- coming devoid of grace, that must be more partic-
stand, think, will and effect what is truly good, accord- ularly determined out of the Holy Scriptures before
ing to the word of Christ, John 15:5: Apart from me           we ourselves can teach it with the full persuasion of
ye can do nothing.                                            our minds.
   Surely, in this article the truth  of. the total de-          Apparently the question of the perseverance of the
pravity and impotence of the natural man to save him- saints is left an open question in this article. For they
self or to contribute anything to his salvation, is so        request that tbis must first be more fully determined
plainly and emphatically put, that even the Synod of out of the Scriptures before they can teach it with
Kalamazoo in 1924 might take a lesson from the ,their  whole heart.                  In reality, however, they really
Arminians. Only when one considers this article in denied this perseverance of those that once received
the light of the preceding, and, especially in connection the grace of God in their hearts, by making the con-
with what follows, can one understand the deception tinued aid of Cod dependent upon the readiness and
that is practiced here. For although the Arminians            willingness of the people of God themselves to fight


                                    T H E .   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                      351

 the battle and to continue in the way of the obedience tijd. W7el zal er ook van zulk een scheut uit den wortel
 of faith.                                                  geen verwachting zijn. Maar de Heere doet wonderen,
    The history of the Arminians and their doctrine en die scheut uit de wortelen van den afgehouwen
 teaches us, that one may to a great extent maintain tronk van Isai zal heerlijk opbloeien en zich in wonder-
 the appearance of being Reformed, that he may assert lijke levenskracht openbaren. De oorzaak hiervoor is,
 in very strong terms some of the truths dear to those dat Hij de Gezalfde des Heeren is, de Knecht des Hee-
 that love the Reformed truth, and yet in actual fact       ren bij uitnemendheid.  Daarom zal dan ook de Geest
depart from the faith of the fathers and the truth of des Heeren op Hem zijn, en door dezen Geest des Hee-
 the Word of God.                                           ren zal Hij bekwaam zijn, om Koning te zijn en onder
    Let us beware of these wolves in sheepsclothing!        God als Knecht des Heeren te regeeren tot in  eeuwig-
                                               1-I. H.      heid. De Geest, Dien Hij zal ontvangen is'de Geest der
                                                            wijsheid en des verstands, Die Hem vervullen zal met
                                                            de kennis des Neeren en Hem zal onderwijzen in de
                                                            dingen,  die bij God te  doen  zijn. Het is de  profeten-
               GANSCH ISRAEL  ZALIG                         Geest. Oak is Hij de Geest der kennis en der vreeze
    Om de bepaalde verzen, die uit Jes. 11  worden          des Heeren, waardoor Hij den Heere Zijn God in liefde
 aangehaald, door hen, die zoo gaarne vasthouden  aan       zal kennen en gemeenschap met Hem hebben, en  zich
 eene aparte toekomst voor het volk der Joden als natie, in volkomene gehoorzaamheid  aan den God Zijns
 te verstaan, is het noodig, dat in het kort onze aan-      Ievens  zal kunnen toewijden. Hij is de Priester-Geest.
 dacht  bepaald wordt bij den inhoud van het hoofdstuk En eindelijk is Hij ook de geest des raads en der
 in zijn geheel. En dan treft het  ens, dat de  profeet     sterkte, zoodat Hij zal weten hoe te regeeren en te han-
zijn vergezicht begint bij de eerste komst van Christus,    delen en de kracht daartoe ook zal ontvangen. Hij is
 die door hem wordt beschreven als het opkomen van ook de Konings-Geest. Hij  zal dus  volkomen  toegerust
 een rijsje uit den afgehouwen tronk van Isai en het zijn als de Gezalfde des Heeren, om Zijn Koninkrijk te
voortkomen van een scheutje uit zijne wortelen. Van- vestigen en daarin te regeeren, als de Knecht des Hee-
 daar uit ziet hij dan eerst den Koning van het Messi-      ren. Zijn rieken zal dan ook zijn in de vreeze des Hee-
aansche vrederijk, beschrijft hij voorts dat rijk zelf,     ren.  Geheel zijn verstand en wil en hart zullen  door
om eindelijk te spreken van de vergadering van het die vreeze des Heeren worden  beheerscht en in al  zijn
volk, dat als onderdanen in dat rijk den grooten richten zal Hij door de vreeze  des Heeren worden  ge-
Koning zal erkennen. Reeds uit dit dgemeene over- leid en onderricht. Daarom zal Hij dan ook niet  rich-
zicht van het geheel moet we1 duidelijk zijn, dat de ten naar het gezicht Zijner oogen en niet bestrnEen
profeet   bier  een Koning ziet en  &en volk. Er wordt      naar het gehoor Zijner ooren, maar Hij zal de armen
hoegenaamd geen onderscheid gemaakt tusschen twee en zachtmoedigen met rechtmatigheid  richten  en  alle
verschillende volken, het eene waarvan onder  Jezus'        goddeloozen der aarde verdoen door den adem Zijner
koningschap zou staan, het andere niet. Ook worden          lippen.    Gerechtigheid en waarheid zullen de gordel
er niet twee verschillende rijken beschreven door den Zijner lenden  zijn en door haar zal Hij altoos vaardig
profeet,  een aardsch en een hemelsch, een tijdelijk en zijn ten gerichte. En het behoeft geen betoog, dat hier
een eeuwig. Het is een rijk, Ben Koning en een volk,        de  Christus ons wordt geteekend, zooals  Hij in den
dat door den  profeet  wordt waargenomen door zijn weg van volkomene gehoorzaamheid en voldoening aan
profetisch oog.                                             het  recht  Gods den grondslag  legt voor Zijn eeuwig
    Hij begint dan met een beschrijving van den Koninkrijk, om dan in dat Koninkrijk te regeeren,  als
Koning. Deze zal uit Davids huis zijn en op den troon       de gehoorzame Knecht des Heeren, Die volkomenlijk
van David regeeren. We1 gaat dat huis van David eerst verricht de  dingen,  die bij God te  doen  zijn.
een droevige toekomst tegemoet, want het wordt in den          Daarop  volgt. dan zonder eenigen overgang, in de
tekst vergeleken bij een afgehouwen tronk en een wor-       verzen 6 tot 9, de beschrijving van het rijk des vredes,
tel van een boom, die met den grond gelijk werd ge-         dat onder dezen Vredevorst zal opbloeien. De profeet
maakt. Er zal van dat huis van David geen verwach-          beschrijft hetgeen hij ziet als volgt: "En de wolf zal
ting meer zijn. Zijn levenskracht  zal verteerd  schij- met het lam verkeeren en de luipaard bij den geitenbok
nen. Zijn heerlijkheid, waarmede het eens bloeide,  zal     nederliggen; en het kalf en den jongen leeuw en het
zijn geweken. Zooals men niet verwacht, dat een boom mestvee tezamen, en een  Mein jongske zal ze drijven.
weer zal opbloeien, nadat hij tot den grond toe is afge-    De koe en de berin  zullen  tezamen weiden ; hare jongen
kapt, zoo zal er geen verwachting meer zijn, dat de zullen tezamen nederliggen en de leeuw  zal stroo eten
troon van David zal hersteld worden  en weer in heer-       gelijk de OS. En het zoogkind zal  zich vermaken over
Iijkheid zal kunnen  worden  opgericht.  Tech  zal die      he% ho1 van een adder; en een gespeend kind zal zijn
afgehouwen tronk Ieven  en ook leven openbaren. Want hand uitsteken in den kuil van den basilisk. Men zal
immers het eigenlijke leven van dien wortel  is Chris-      nergens leed doen,  noch verderven op den ganschen
tus zelf. .Hij is de wortel Davids. En die wortel kan       berg mijner  heiligheid;  want de aarde zal vol van
niet sterven in der eeuwigheid. Hij zal uit  bet  ge-       de kennis des Heeren zijn, gelijk de  wateren  den bodem
slacht Davids voortkomen op den door God bestenzden         der zee bedekken."

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

            THREE MORE "SIMPLE PROOFS" *                   apostle mentions no millennium at all. Nay, still more
                                                           disconcerting for the writer of these simple proofs it
    The second "simple proof" for the premillennial must be, that there is no mention of a millinmum  in
coming of the Lord quoted and appropriated by Rev.         the entire epistle in which the text quoted occurs.
H. Bultema. in the first number of Grnce  ancl Glory,,        Hence, this simple proof is no proof.
runs as follows: "When our Lord returns He will de-           What is the mistake of the writer who imagined
stroy Antichrist whose work is on this side of the mill- that things were so simple? This, that he knew of only
ennium, II Thess. 2% If so, His coming must be two possible views: the Post-millennial and the Pre-
PRE." The reader will notice that also this second         millennial view of Christ's coming. If you examine
"conclusive proof" attempts to convince us by a syllo- his argument you will agree that you can recast it in
gistic form of reasoning. The proof consists of two the following form:
premises and a conclusion. Thus:                              A. The Lord will destroy Antichrist at His com-
    A. The Lord will destroy Antichrist at His com- ing.
ing.                                                          B. Hence, the coming of the Lord cannot be Post,
    B. The work of Antichrist is before the  millen-       for Antichrist will not do his work after or during
`nium.                                                     the millennium.
    C. Hence, the coming of the Lord is before the            C. Christ's coming must be Pre.
millennium.                                                   Now, this is a serious mistake. For there is the
    It will be evident to our readers, that the con- A-millennial conception. It is ours. We believe in no
clusion is true if the propositions A and B are true. millennium at all. We believe that Christ will come
The conclusion surely is binding, providing the two to establish His kingdom of eternal glory. And if you
premises can be proven.                                    take into consideration this third possible view, this
    Now as far as we are concerned, it is especially second simple proof is without force. It is enervated.
the second statement, the proposition under B that         We could express our view in this form:
requires Scriptural proof. The first assertion, under         A. The Lord will destroy Antichrist at His com-
A. we accept. We, too, believe that the Lord will de- ing.
stroy Antichrist at His coming. The whole argument            B. Antichrist will be destroyed immediately be-
hinges on the second proposition. If it is true, we        fore the establishment of the eternal kingdom of glory.
grant the writer that the coming of the Lord must be          C. Hence, the coming of Christ will be A-millen-
Pre.                                                       nial. There will be no intervening millennium. The
    Does he furnish proof for statement B?                 eternal state will be inaugurated with His coming.
    He quotes II Thess.  2:8: "And then shall that            The third "simple proof" suffers the same fate the
wicked one be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume moment you analyze it. It is given as follows: "Our
with the -spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with Lord's return to this earth with His people will come
the brightness of His coming."                             immediately after the Great Tribulation, which is to
    What proof, if any, is there in this text? It estab- take place before millennium, Matt.  24:29-31.  If so
lishes that the  tist proposition is true, the one under His coming must be Pre."
A. ' For it teaches that the Lord shall destroy Anti-         Again, we have here the same syllogistic form of
christ at His coming. But we need no proof for this reasoning as in the preceding proofs. You can present
statement in order to convince us that the Lord's com- this third proof in the following way:
ing shall be Pre. What we needed is proof for the             A. The Lord will come immediately after . the
second proposition. We, too, believe, as we stated, Great Tribulation.
that by the coming of Christ the power of Antichrist          B. The Great Tribulation is before the millen-
shall be destroyed. Many passages of Scripture will nium.
prove the truth of this view. But we need more. The           C. Hence, the Lord's coming is before the millen-
writer needs more. He did not mean to prove that the nium.
Lord's coming would be before the destruction of Anti-        Also with regard to this syllogism we remark, that
christ, but that He would come before the millennium. the conclusion is evidently binding, providing the two
To accomplish this he must needs prove that the work premises A and B are true. And again we state that
of Antichrist will be before the millennium, or to put we have no dispute with the writer about the first
it in plainer terms, he must show us, that a millennium    proposition. We, too, believe that there will be a great
will follow the work of Antichrist and his destruction tribulation, in which no flesh wouId  be saved and even
at the coming of the Lord.                                 the very elect would be deceived if it were not that the
        This he does not do.                               days would be shortened. And we, too, believe that
        The second proposition he does not prove. There this great tribulation will terminate in the coming of
is not an item of proof in the text, that a millennium the Lord. Upon the scene of this terrible tribulation,
will follow the destruction of Antichrist. Still more, we believe, the Lord will come, to destroy the enemy,
there is not an item of proof for such a view in the       to deliver His people and take them with Him. But
entire chapter from which the text is taken.        The what must be proven in this argument is, that the


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I
     3 5 6                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

     great tribulation of those days will be before the mill-         This third "simple proof" is no proof at all.
     ennium, or to express it more correctly, that a millen-           The fourth proof is weaker than the preceding if
     nium will follow that great tribulation and the coming this is possible. It is the following: "The church is
     of the Lord. The second proposition, the one under B called to suffer with her Lord, John 15:X9-21, and this
     requires proof.                                               will continue until she is taken out, II Thess. 1:7-10,
         Does the writer furnish this required proof? Again,       before the millennium. If so, His coming must be
     he quotes from Scripture. The passage he refers to Pre."
     reads as follows: "Immediately after the tribulation             There is, in the first place, a view expressed here,
     of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon which has nothing to do with the argument as such,
     shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from but to which we must call the attention of our readers,
     heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken :       because we consider it unscriptural and deceiving. The
     And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in view we refer to is that the faithful of the Church will
     heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth not suffer in the great tribulation immediately before
     mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the coming of the Lord. The Church will suffer, in-
     the clouds of heaven with power and glory. And `he            deed, all through this dispensation. But they that are
     shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, watching and expecting the coming of the Lord, will
     and they shall gather together his elect from the four be taken out before the period of the Great Tribulation
     winds, from one end of heaven to the other."                  in the days of Antichrist. The Lord will, take them
       It is plain that the writer's first proposition is          out in the rapture and they shall be with the Lord in
     proved in this text, for it tells us of the coming of the the air, while the rest of the elect shall be in the Great
     Lord immediately after the great tribulation of those Tribulation. Now,. this view we consider, first of all,
     days. But we needed no proof for this first statement. is thoroughly unbiblical. Just read Matt.  24:14-31  and
     There is no doubt in our mind-about it.                       see for yourselves, whether the Lord intends to make
              But how about the second proposition that needed any distinction between those that shall be in the great
     all the proof? If there is anything in the text with tribulation of those days and those that shall not. The
     regard to it, it rather disproves it. The whole descrip- same is true of Mark 13 :9-27. And again the same im-
     tion of the darkening of the sun and moon and of the          pression is given in Luke  21:8  ff. In the second place,
     falling of the stars from heaven, and of the gathering this view is unworthy of the Christian because the
     of the elect from the four winds of heaven, shows us          Word of God always presents it as a cause of joy and
     plainly, that here we have a picture in a few words glory that the Church may suffer with the Lord, never
     of the end of the world. That coming of the Lord will as the result of unfaithfulness. And in the third place,
     not be followed by a millennium on the earth, but by the view is deceiving and dangerous, because it would
     the new heavens and the new earth and the eternal leave the faithful people of God unprepared for the
     kingdom of glory. It pictures the end of all earthly          day of tribulation. The Lord forewarned His people
     things.                                                       of the days of tribulation, because they must be pre-
              And really the same mistake that lies at the bottom pared and not deceived. They must put on the whole
     of the preceding arguments is also evident here: the          armour of God and be able to stand in the evil day.
     writer argues, that if the coming of the Lord is not But the Premillennialist assures the faithful people of
     Post it must be Pre. We may recast his argument as God that they need not expect to be in that terrible
     follows :                                                     tribulation, for the Lord shall take them out of the
         A. The Lord will come immediately after the great world just before those awful days and they shall
     tribulation.                                                  safely be with Him in the air while Antichrist accom-
              B. The great tribulation will not be Post-millen- plishes his dreadful work and fills the measure of ini-
     nial.                                                         quity. Hence, we hold that Scripture teaches nothing
              C. Hence, it and the coming of the Lord must be of the kind. We do not believe in this rapture.
     Pre.                                                             But even apart from this error, the argument does
              But we believe in neither Pre nor Post but in A.     not hold. Again it would convince us be means of a
     And from the A-millennial viewpoint we may present syllogism,, as follows :
     the argument as follows:                                         A. The suffering of the Church will end in the
              A. The Lord will come immediately after the rapture.
     great tribulation.                                               B. This rapture is before the millennium.
              B. That great tribulation will be immediately be-       C. Hence, the coming of the Lord will be Pre-
     fore the end of the- world.                                   millennial.
              C. Hence, the coming of the Lord will be A-mill-        Also here it is true, that even from the writer's
     ennial, for no earthly kingdom will be established after point of view the force of the argument depends en-
     the destruction of all earthly things.                        tirely on proposition B. Even though we do not be-
              And let the reader judge whether our B, or the B     lieve in the rapture to take place some time before the
     of the writer of the simple proofs is supported by the        coming of the Lord, the argument itself depends on the
     text in Matt, 24:29-31.                                       question, whether there will be a millennium shortly


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   357

after this rapture. This the writer proposes t6 prove                 guilty I  protise to apologize  &en at this late date. But I do
by the text from II Thess. 1:7-10: "And to you who                    not recollect anything of what Rev. Bultema writes to be the
are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall                  truth. Hence, I `shall have to ask him for an explanation of his
be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in                    statement with proof of my guilt. As the case stands now, I
                                                                      must most positively deny the truth of Rev. Bultema's allega-
flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not                   tions and indictments. And if he is unable to comply with my
God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus                   request for explanation and proper proof, I must ask him to
Christ: who  -shall be punished with  everIasting  de-                correct his false statements. - H. H.
struction from the presence of the Lord, and from  t]he
glory of his power: when he shall come to be glorified                                       -
in his saints, and to be admired in all them that be-
lieve (because our testimony among you was believed)                                           ONS BLAD
in that day."                                                                                       V
    Is there any proof here for the proposition that a
millennium shall follow the rapture? We answer that                      De eerste jaarvergadering der R. F. P. A. werd
there is neither any mention of a rapture, nor of a                   gehouden den 22sten Sept. 1925 in een der  vergader-
millennium. Also here the apostle simply speaks of Iokalen der destijds ons toebehoorende, oude, Eastern
the coming of the Lord at the end of this dispensation,               Ave. Chr. Geref. kerk.
and this coming will be final. After this coming there                  Bestuursverkiezing, die bestuursverandering  bracht,
will be no millennium, but simply  t.he eternal state of              "speeches" by onze redacteurs, betaling  der contribu-
glory in the perfected covenant and kingdom. And ties,  waren  de werkzaamheden voor dien avond.
again, also in this fourth so-called simple proof, the                   Meerderen sloten zich aan en de vereeniging breid-
writer makes the same mistake, namely, of not  taking ge zich met negen en vijftig uit.
into consideration the possibility of an A-millennial                    Er gingen  stemmen op voor meer leesmateriaal en
view. Also here his argument is essentially this:                     de wensch  werd geuit om de S. B. tweemaal per maand
    A. The coming of the Lord will be shortly after te  doen verschijnen. Reeds was deze zaak door het
the rapture.                                                          bestuur besproken op zijne vergaderingen gedurende
    B. The rapture is not Post-millennial.                            den zomer  van 1925. Vooral Ds. H. D. gevoelde zich,
    C. The coming of the Lord cannot be Post and bp de bestuursvergaderingen, telkens weer gedrongen
must be Pre.                                                          om dit onderwerp te berde te brengen. We kregen
    Now leave out your millennium altogether, as does weleens den indruk alsof voor "onze beweging" bier-
the A-millennial conception and the stringency of the mede  alles op het spel stond. Indien we het niet direct
argument is gone. You then might state the matter as                  deden, nogaleer het eerste jaar was verstreken, dan
follows :                                                             zouden de gevolgen niet uitblijven, zoo sprak men. In
    A. When the Lord comes He will take His saints                    dezen liet bij (H. D.) zich niet zien van "zijn  besten
into eternal glory.                                                   kant." Het moest, het zou gebeuren, wie niet wilde
    B. This glorification of the saints will mark the zooals hij het zich voorstelde kon er van opaan, dat
inauguration of the heavenly and  eterna1 kingdom.                    hij het mikpunt werd van allerlei steken. En of ge nu
    C. Hence, Christ's coming will be A-millennial.                   al inbracht dat we tech niet te overhaastig moesten
    But, surely, proof is lacking and lacking absolutely werken, dat we  tech ook rekening moesten houden met
thus far. The matter is not as simple as the writer                   de vereeniging, die het blad financieel steunde, dat we
and Rev. Bultema who quotes him would have us be- moesten wachten totdat we iets ofi&eZs hadden van
lieve.                                                                de "Editorial `Staff," het hielp alles  -Gets. Wie niet
    Neither are we perched on the fence between Pre- meeging en deed gelijk hem bevolen werd, werd  uitge-
millennialism and Post-millennialism, as Rev. Bultema kreten  voor een "power behind the throne." In heel
wrongly pictured us. And he does not have to be                       eenvoudige taal beteekende dit, dat de troon Ds. H. H.
afraid that we will fall off and hurt ourselves badly, so             was en de eigenlijke ophitsers, die hem opwarmden,
that he will have to feel sorry for us.                               waren  voornamelijk twee leden  der Publ. Comm.
    And Rev. Bultema, who hails from the Reformed                        Verstaan hebben we het nooit waarom er zooveel
Churches and is acquainted with the A-millennial ha&t gemaakt werd voor de twee-maandelijksche  ver-
view, ought to know better than to present the matter                 schijning van de S. B. Plaatsen we de feiten naast
as quite so simple.                                                   elkander  echter  en. werd het ons gegund eens hardop
                                                       H. H.          te denken  dan spreken de feiten voldoende en zoudt ge
                                                                      heel gemakkelijk een oorzaak kunnen vinden voor het
                                                                      drijven van wat we schreven. Maar hardop  denken
   *)     A friend brought us a written quotation from some issue     gaat niet, want dan komt ge ook nog bij het  beoordee-
of "De Bereer " in which Rev. Bultema presents us as having, in       len van motieven uit.
some fox-like'way  and with a fox-like purpose, requested and            Wet werd ons we1 duidelijk dat "till was not well in
attempted deliberateIy  to have a part in his, the Rev. Bultema's,
t.rial,  a few years ago. I would like to know when and in what       Denmark."
way we made ourselves guilty of such a thing. If I am actually           Onaangenaamheden van denzelfden aard deden

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

                                                                        God's will to cause such a beautiful variety of saints
1                       OBJECTIONS TO THE SPIRIT                        to be the stones for that marvelously beautiful temple,
                                 OF OXJR AGE                            which is to complete the church of Jesus Christ. In
                 A first glance at the heading of this article will     this respect too: "Les id&s marchent" (principles
          undoubtedly be the cause for the reader to cast it aside. make a determined progress), is an undeniable truth.
          It may appear as if this article might contain nothing For the objection to the "Spirit of the Age" from the
          but an expression of the most profound pessimism,             point of view of the worldly individual is antithetical
          gloom and bold asceticism. We may, however, at the            to that of the Christian, to be sure.
          very start assure the reader that the author does not            But the fact that these objections are purely suS-
          consider himself to be a victim of either of these            jective, does not mean that they are therefore not real.
          maladies. Especially, if by a pessimist is meant one They must be real, otherwise you must philosophy the
          who complains of everything as being for the worst.           reality of thought out of existence. An objection may
          And yet, to be honest, this topic is, born from the fact not be `public opinion, but that makes it therefore no
          that the author desires to face the realities of life as      less real.
          they appear to him. It is the purpose of these articles,         It follow&  that if the objections to the "Spir;t of the
          therefore, to reflect on these realities, and to face them Age" are to be worthy of any consideration at all, that
          in order to note our obligation amidst all this  con-         the author must be thoroughly acquainted with the
          glamaration of  malid notions and evil contentions.           same "Spirit." This appears almost impossible, for
          However, these articles are not to be a mere enumera-         we are not the source of truth. In the ultimate sense,
          tion of old tabous, or of burdensome instructions, or therefore, no one is better judge. of the "Spirit of the
          of moral conventions, or of cramping orthodoxies. We          Age," than God alone. He only is able to search the
          will attempt to be constructive in dealing with the ob-       inner, the deepest recesses of the heart. `He with in-
          jections as such. Eut it is impossible to be construc-        finite wisdom scrutinizes every movement in the spirit-
          tive if you have avoided to take note of that which is        ual world. He knows; since He is God, and He alone
          destructive and dangerous. It is, therefore, but rea-         is omniscient. If then this is true, and it is, we
          sonable to destroy the rubbish, and that which is a           should immediately have to discontinue this article.
          menace before any constructive work can be accom-             But in as much as God has given us His revelation, and
          plished. We may say for the consolation of those who          the "testimonium Spiritus  Sancti" (the testimony of
          expect these articles to be filled with cheer and exube-      the Holy Spirit), we are to use as criterion, to weigh
          rant optimism as to the future, that their expectations       our objections; His revelation. With a spiritual eye
          will not be satisfied. We are no  post-millenialists,  and    we are able to discern, or at least should be, the truth
          we cannot see very great hopes in anticipating any-           from the untruth, the real from the supposed real, the
          thing worthwhile thru' the effect of "common grace";          rational from the sophisticated, etc., etc. Hence, our
           a thing absurd in itself.                                    objections should be weighed in the balance of God's
                 It is very proper before submerging into the sub-      revelation, in order to put them in the light of-  truth.
          ject, that we should define our terms. The term "ob- Our task is therefore not a hopeless one.
          jection" is derived from the Latin verb: "obiacere,"              In defining our conception of the "`Spirit of the
          which in  t.urn is a composition of the infinitive            Age," we certainly can be brief. We stated that an
           "iacere'" and the prefix "ob." "Iacere" means : to hurl,     objection is a condition which manifests a disharmony
          to cast, to throw; and the prefix  "ob" means: against,       with the spiritual, social and ethical concepts of an
          opposite. Taking the word in its cornpositive form,           individual. That is, that outside of the individual
          you have as the otymology of the word objection, to           there is something which causes his subjectivity to
          hurl in opposite direction, or to hurl against. It is         reset in such a way as to manifest his dislike or his
          therefore something which is detestable and contempt- displeasure toward that same object. The objection
           ible. For only that which you detest you cast or throw to be sure is subjective, but the cause for the objec-
           away. An objection, therefare, is something, which tion need not necessa:rily be that. The "Spirit of the
           finds no conformity with your world and life view; Age" is not an individual's - subjective - reaction.
           hence, it is in disharmony with your spiritual, moral, It is the cause for the reaction, but not the reaction
     :     and social concepts. Now it is altogether true that          itself. Besides,  ,the "Spirit of the  Age" is no mere
           those things which are not in conformity with your           world and life view; it is more than that. For to say
           world and life view, are purely subjective.       For it that it is an individual's world and life view is pre-
           cannot be that two individuals, as far as the objec-         posterous. It may be the summation of various world
           tions are concerned, have the same conception of the and life views. Moreover, neither is the concept the
           realities, or have the identical world and life view.        "Spirit of the Age" identical to the concept "Public
           It may be true that Christians may have like objec-          Opinion."     It is more than all superficial notions of
           tions, but these can never be identical in character,
           and that is because there are no two individuals that Public Opinion.
           think alike. Moreover, this would be incongruent with                            (To be continued),
           the organism of the church, inasmuch as it has been                                             A. C. BOERKOEL


                                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  reIative  to con-
                                                                                                  tents should be addressed to Rev




     Vol. V, No. 16                                            MAY 15, 1929 .                          Subscription Price, $2.50

                                                                        and watch, he might surely expect a sentence of .death
                                                                        in court martial, for the safety of the army depends
                                                                        on his vigilance. He must, then, assume an attitude,
                                                                        of constant apprehension, must not persuade himself
                                                                        that the enemy is far away, but he must watch as if
                   CHRISTIAN VIGILANCE                                  he may expect the enemy every moment. All his senses
                           Be sober, be vigilant; because your  ad-     must be keenly on the alert, so that he may be able to
                       versary the devil, as a roaring lion walketh
                       about, seeking whom he may devour. Whom          detect the slightest sign of approach by the enemy.
                       resist steadfast in the faith.                   And for that reason he must above all be sober. He
                                               -1 Peter  ,553,   9a.    may not be given to wine and strong drink, for in a
.       Watch and pray !                                                state of intoxication his senses would be dulled, his
        That you fall not into temptation !                             judgment beclouded and he would be unable to scent
        Willing, indeed, is the spirit, but weak islhe flesh.           the danger before it were too late.
     And remember, that there is an adversary, always on                   He must be sober and vigilant.
     the alert, constantly watching for his opportune. mo-                 The Church of Jesus Christ in the world is such a
     ment, when you may not be on your guard, seeking, if camp in the midst of an hostile land, or, if you please,
     it were possjble  to devour you.                                   a walled city, surrounded by the hosts of the foes of
        Like an army encamped. in the enemy's country,                  God and His Christ. The city consists of the living
     s&rounded by foes that may always lurk in the vicin- members of the body of Christ, or those, that have
     ity, that are awaiting the proper time for &tack,  is the          been called out of darkness into the marvelous light
     Church of God in the midst of the world, Such an army              of God, in order that they might be a royal priesthood,
     may not know the exact whereabouts of the enemy, it a elect race, a peculiar possession unto God, and their
     may not be acquainted with all his movements, it may calling it is to  shew forth the praises of `Him that
     be totally ignorant of his plans of campaign, but it may called them and gave them a place in the Kingdom of
     be certain of this one thing: the foe will be looking His dear Son. And in that living city every heart of
     for the most favorable moment and, if possible, launch every citizen is a gate, a possible avenue of approach
     a surprise attack.                                                 through which the foe might enter the city and destroy
        And, because of these conditions, sentinels are it. And. the foe is always watching, is constantly on
     posted at various points of the camp, to watch for any the alert, to make his attack at a point that is not
     signs of the approach of the enemy, to sound the alarm suEciently  guarded, that is left unprotected and de-
     the very moment there seems to be danger of an at-                 fenseless for a moment,' in order that he may enter
     tack, to guard the army against the constantly immi- and destroy and devour the citizens.
     nent danger of a surprise attack in which it would                    And because the Church is so situated, there fol-
     not be fully prepared to meet the foe and might be                 lows a double calling.     She must appoint special
     overwhelmed before it could be ready for the battle. watchmen,  whose special and official duty it is to stand
        Such sentinels must above all be vigilant.                      guard over the walls of the city and warn the citizens
        To be sure, they must also be fully armed, for they of the attack of the enemy. But it is also the `calling
     must be prepared to defend themselves and meet the of all the citizens to watch the individual gates of
     foe in the conflict should he be suddenly upon them.               their own hearts, that the enemy may not launch a
     But their chief calling is to stand guard, and to be               surprise attack and enter the city. All must stand
     faithful to this calling they  must be vigilant.  They             guard, all must be on the alert. And only when the
     may not fall asleep on their post. Should a sentinel               Church possesses such faithful sentinels, standing
     be caught asleep while he was supposed to stand guard guard over the entire city, and when alI the citizens

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

are constantly watching for signs of the enemy, may and that must be obeyed in the gpiritual  world, certain
she consider herself safe in the midst of the world, the it is, that the devil in person cannot appear  every-
enemy's land.                                                where on the scene of battle at the same time. Even
       Hence, the admonition comes to all: be sober, be as in the old dispensation he returned from walking
vigilant !                                                   to and fro in the earth, when he had called  specia1
       Never think the enemy far, for that moment he         attention to God's servant, Job, so our text telIs us,
would surely be upon you!                                    that also now he still walks,about. But he is not alone.
       DO  not allow yourselves to  fall into a spiritual    The host of evil spirits are his army. And with tYtem
slumber, for you would only awake to the sad reality he is powerful to attack the Church of the living God
that the enemy had entered the gates of the city.            in the world.
       And, therefore, be sober. Do not become  .intoxi-        Powerful he is, because he is the Prince of this
cated with the wine of this world, causing you to be         world, and in this world the Church militant must
unsteady in your faith and walk.                   +         temporariIy  exist. Its prince is he, not as if he had
       Watch and pray!                                       ever gained any real sovereignty, for nought he can
                                                             claim as his own, nor is there any reality to his
                                                             assumed power and majesty. God is always God and
                                                             the devil can but execute His counsel. But he gained
       How necessary an admonition!                          entrance in the heart of man, who was created the
for the enemy !                                              king-servant in the world under the Most High. Spir-
       Be sober, be vigilant, be constantIy  on the lookout itually, ethically the devil rules in the hearts of men.
       Necessary, first of all, because of the constant ac- They do his will. For they separated themselves in
tivity of the enemy, an enemy, whose power and cun- wanton disobedience from the God of heaven and
ning are not to be underestimated, whose hatred of earth, violated His covenant, and became friends and
the Church of Christ is deeply rooted and deadly as servants of the devil. Through them the devil has
poison.                                                      many means at his command. The gold and silver of
       The enemy is your adversary the devil!                the world, the pIeasures  and treasures of the earth,
       Powerful is he. Be not deceived by the modern the wisdom and power of men, worldly name and fame
philosophy about him, as if he were really not a per- and glory, power and honour, they are means he can
sonal being at all, but merely another name for the          employ to bribe the citizens of the City of God into
vague and indefinite power of evil in the world. There submission and surrender to him. He is abIe to com-
is nothing that pleases him more than that you deny mand the sword-power of the world, to open prison-
his very existence. For there is nought that  cpuld          doors, to erect scaffolds and stakes, in order to terrorize
better -suit his purpose and more enable him to  over- you into self-subjection. He can take your liberty,
wheIm  your soul and the gates of Zion, than the false your daily bread, your very life away from you, if you
and fatal imagination, that this  powerfu1  adversary refuse to surrender. He can trample your name into
is only a blind force, without will and intellect, without the dust and heap upon you all the reproach and cut-
cunning and device. No philosophy is better suited to ting mockery of the world, making you a spectacle.
put the Church to sleep and to cause her to relax her        He is able to marshal1 all the forces of false doctrine
vigilance. No, the devil is a personal adversary. A and vain philosophy against the City of God, and de-
mighty being and glorious he was created in the world ceive her into opening her own gates to his host, so
of spiritual things, and a mighty being he became in that she welcomes him into the very City of God ! He
the service of evil. No blind power is he, but  acun-        commands institutions, states, schools, pulpits . . . .
ning enemy, who is possessed of a  definite purpose,            Powerful is he, indeed!
who carefully lays his plans and works accordingly,             And an adversary of the living God, of His Christ,
who is able to spy you out and discover the weakest of His Cause, of His Church in the world he is.
point in your life, the gate of the City of God that is         His very name is Satan, Adversary.
most exposed and may most easily be entered . . . .             Bitterly he hates God and all that is of Him. For
       Powerful is he, too, because he is not alone, but he loves darkness, and hates the light; he loves un-
has command of a veritable host of evil spirits, the righteousness and bates righteousness; he loves cor-
spiritual forces of wickedness that have left their ruption and hates holiness ; he loves the lie and hates
place with him. They fight on his side. They are the truth; he loves evil and hates the good. And God
motivated by the same principle of enmity against is good. He is a light and there is no darkness in
God as he. They are subject to him. They work under Him ; righteousness and holiness and truth is He. The
his command. They obey his orders. They enhance supreme Good and the Fount of all good is God. And
his power. For, however powerful and great the devil He revealed His light in the Beloved, Whom He sent
may be personally, he is not almighty, nor is he omni- into the world, that He might glorify His Father in
present.      He  walketh about. Though we know very h.eaven.  Therefore the devil hated Him, even as he
little of the laws that constrain the spiritual beings hated the Father. And as a roaring lion he sought to


                                        T I I E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       363  /
   L                                                                                                                               1
devour Him. All the powers of darkness he gathered                 All the more so, because you must not  apply  the  i
against  Him, all his cunning and ingenuity he ex-              figure of the roaring lion with respect to the devil in
hausted upon Him. But devour Him he could not. He               every detail.
could deliver Him over into the mockery and cruel                  True, he is the roaring lion in that he would devour
hatred of evil men, his servants ; he could, for an hour,       the children of Zion. Not as if he. cared to kill them
his own hour, appointed him by God make Him a spec- and to refuse them a place in this world. Persecution
tacle before the eyes of all the world,; he could plant         is for him only a means to an end. Nay, but he would ;
the accursed tree for Him on Calvary's  bray and lead devour them spiritually. He would shake their faith,
Him into death and the grave ; but he could not sub- he would deprive them of their hope, he would confuse
ject Him unto himself and press Him into His service. them in their minds and extinguish the fire of the love
Nor could he destroy Him. For His soul was not left of God, kindled by grace in their hearts. He would
in hell. He arose in power and glory, the Victor over drown them in the things of this world and deprive
sin and death and hell. The roaring lion failed and them of the inheritance of the saints. To devour the
was vanquished by Him whom he would have de- work of God in them, that is his purpose. A roaring
voured . . . .                                   .              lion is he in this hunger after the spiritual life of the
        The Man-child was taken up to God and His throne !      saints ; and in his manifest hatred of all that is God . .
        Him the devil can attack no more.                          But not always is he a roaring lion in his methods.
        But the Church is still in the world. And the           He does not always announce himself as would the lion
Church is the manifestation of the glory of Christ, of roaring for prey. Sometimes, to be sure, he does mani-
the grace of God in Him, the City of God, in which fest himself in his true appearance. When he fails in
God dwells in Christ, and through which He reveals all his enticing methods, when even the offer of all the
the beauty of His covenant and the glory of His grace. kingdoms of the world fails to seduce the children of
  And the devil hates that Church and her members, the kingdom to unfaithfulness toward their God in
according as they are manifestations of the glory of            Christ, he will literally roar in hatred and kill with the
the Father through Christ in the world. He watches sword and burn at the stake and shed the blood of the
her and seeks to devour her members.                            saints, even as He did shed the blood of Him Who loved
        How proper an admonition, then, to be constantly them unto death. But not always does he thus an-
watching !                                                      nounce his coming and purpose and reveal himself in
        Be sober and vigilant!                                  his true character. He knows how to come as a woIf
                                                                in sheepsclothing, as an angel of light. He can make
                                                                himself appear like the lamb; he can speak like the
                                                                lamb and act like the lamb ; he can speak of righteous-
        Watch and pray !                                        ness, peace, truth . . . .
        Always be spiritually sober!                               For he, too, wants to make the world better . . . .
        Necessary the admonition is, too, because of the           How necessary, then, to be sober and always vigi-
very condition of the Church in the world.                      lant !Not, indeed, as if the devil could succeed to devour
        Were the power of darkness entirely outside of the members of Zion, to destroy the City of God. They
the gates of the City of God, the danger would not be are well-preserved in the power of God. No one can
so imminent, the constant need of the Church to be              pluck them out of the Father's hand.
reminded of her calling to watch and to be sober would             The faithful are perfectly safe.
not be so great.                                                   But it is the Father's will to fight His battle, not
        But such is not the case. Zion militant is not per- without us, but through us.
fect. The power of darkness enters into her very                   He preserves us by His power, truly, but through
walls. For sin still dwells in the flesh of its citizens. that faith, which is His gift, and whereby we lay hold
And that power of sin within her often seeks alliance on that power of the Almighty in Jesus Christ our
with the power,of darkness outside of her gates. It Lord, whereby we may stand in the evil day, fight the
hankers after the things of the world. It loves the good fight and be preserved unto the day of victory.
world's favor and fears the world's  dispIeasure ; it In that faith, that relies not on self, but on Him that
loves the world's treasure and dreads to be deprived wrought it in our hearts we must resist the onslaught
of them  ; it is vain to seek the world's glory and loathes     of the devil. And to resist we must know the enemy
the world's reproach; it would follow after the world's when he comes. We must be prepared to meet him.
pleasure and avoid the world's suffering. It is easily             And to be prepared we must watch.
lulled to sleep, or persuaded, instead of watching to              Be sober and vigilant!
keep the enemy outside of the gates of Zion to open                                                             H. II.
them wide and make a common cause with the foe . . .
        HOW  needful, then, is the admonition : be sober, be                         -----i---
vigilant !
          .  _.I

                                                                                                                              I

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

              THE                                              Jehovah. Christ as well as Enoch ascended to heaven
                      ANTEDILUVIAN WORLD                       by a more direct course than by which the saints in
       In our former essay attention was directed to the       general are made to reach their ultimate destiny.
two kinds of seed - that of the woman and that of the          Enoch's translation served, as was said, to assure the
serpent  - to which Eve gave birth. We were wit- church of that day that for such as do walk faithfully
nesses of the struggle between the two commence- of the calling wherewith they are called, awaiteth a
ments of each seed (Cain and Abel)  - a struggle cul- crown of life. So, too, Christ, He is our flesh in heaven
minating in the murder of Abel. It was noticed how and thus the sure pledge that "He, .as the head, will
Cain having drenched the ground with the innocent also take to himself us, His members . . . . " How-
blood of his righteous brother, is made to appear be- ever, viewing the person, the life, the labors and the
fore the divine tribunal and forthwith sentenced ; that character of Christ near at hand, we discover, of
he thereupon went out from the presence of God and course, important points of divergences between Him
took up his residence in a region far removed from and His typical replica.              Christ was incomparably
the society of the saints, where he brings forth a seed greater than Enoch. He was very God and at once
after his kind - a seed seeking to establish itself upon God's lamb who rendered a perfect service and thus
the earth by bringing into play and developing its own atoned for the sins of His people. The relation He
unhalIowed  resources.                                         sustained to His brethren was of a kind that made it
       With the violent death of Abel the holy seed was possible for Him to assume responsibility for their
made to suffer a temporary eclipse.         It reappeared transgressions and to bear their curse. The way that
however, in Seth, who became the father of a line the took Him home led over Calvary with its cross and
members of which were men of piety, who, unlike the through hell and the grave so that He is now the
offspring of Cain, trusted in God and abode in His exalted king unto whom was given all power; the great
presence.                                                      priest who accomplishes in the heavenly sanctuary the
       In this line were two individuals of singular piety.    service. However, focusing our eye upon `Christ, we
Of Henoch and Noah it is said that they walked with discover that the graces which He possessed and which
God. The friendship between them and Jehovah was rendered Him altogether lovely in the sight of God,
exceedingly close. They were privileged to see more also adorned the lives of such as Abel, Enoch and
of God than the others, and to hear His voice more Noah. These lives, therefore, were so many prefigura-
distinctly. They confessed His name and championed tions of Him who is the root and principle of .&he holy
His cause in this world as the others did not. That            seed and without whom this seed could not have come
both were men of God of remarkable zeal is evident             into existence.
from the fact that the record of their prophetic labors           Let us now direct our attention to the remarkable
was incorporated in Scripture.                                 and significant course of events leading up to and
       The substance of Enoch's message is found in the necessitating. the deluge. The first phenomenon to
epistle of Jude. "Behold," he was wont to declare, which we call attention is the swift decay of the pre-
"The Lord cometh with ten thousands of saints, to diluvian race. In approximately fifteen hundred years
execute judgment upon all . . . . " (Jude 14). So, too, it  filled the cup of iniquity to the very brim and so
Noah, he is known in Scripture as the preacher of thoroughly corrupted itself as to completely forfeit its
righteousness. II Peter  7:5.                                  place on the face of the earth. That this race was
       In agreement with their singular piety, both these remarkable for its extreme wickedness is evident from
saints were peculiarly honored.        Noah becomes the the references to it in the epistles of the apostles.
father of a new race  an&Enoch  is the only one of that Placing its members in a class with the ungodly en-
age of whom it is recorded "that he was not for God countered in his day, Jude describes them as, "clouds
took him". Gen. 5:23. He was ushered into the very             without water, carried about by winds; trees whose
presence of God, raised to a still higher elevation of fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up
life, and thus made to attain to the priceless posses- by the roots ; raging waves of the sea, foaming out
sions of the reward of the just, without seeing death. their own shame, wandering stars, to whom is reserved
       His translation was at once an event of the greatest the blackness of darkness for ever." Enoch prophe-
significance for the church of that epoch. It assured sied of these, saying, "Behold the Lord cometh with
the saints of that age that God was on their side, and ten thousands of saints, to execute judgment upon all,
that they might look ahead to a day when they, too,            and to convince all that are ungodly among them of
would be brought into closest proximity with Him in all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly com-
whom they trusted.                                             mitted, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly
       Enoch was a type of Christ. Both occupied a sinners have spoken against him. These are mur-
unique place in the society of which they constituted murers, complainers, walking after their own lusts,
an integral part. Both walked with God and thus and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, hav-
were in an extraordinary degree zealous as witnesses ing men's persons in admiration because of advantage"
of the truth and as the champions of the cause of              (Jude 12-16). This same race is again brought into


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        369

relief by Peter as disobedient, when once the  long-        things shall continue as they were . . . r In a word,
suffering of God waited in the days of Noah when the the message from heaven awakened in their hearts a
ark was in preparation, I Pet.  8:20. According to          fierce recentment.    instead of falling in with God's
Christ the men before the flood took no notice of the       Yes they placed over against it their No and loved and
signals of impending doom. Until the flood came, they lived the vain thing they had imagined. To these
"were eating and drinking, marrying and given in scoffers the word was a savor of death unto death. In
marriage. So, too, shall the coming of the Son of man this manner than did the Spirit remonstrate with the
be." It will find the world in the grip of profane in- world before the flood. However, the ear of this world
difference. The world before the flood, then, was seen was not attuned to the voice of God reaching it through
to suffer a swift descent into the pit of sin and ungod- the above-cited channels. Its  defience  of heaven be-
liness.                                                     came more marked in the degree that the speech of
    Yet,  ,wonderful  to say, the exponents of the theory the Spirit grew in distinctness. It is this testimony
of common grace are able to discover in this race the of the Spirit that accounts, in part, for the swift decay
earmarks of the so-called restraining grace of God. It of the aforesaid race.
is said that, had this grace not operated in that day,          It is thoroughly Reformed'to say that of the  above-
the degeneration would have taken place even at a described rapid degeneration the will of God was the
more rapid rate.    The Scripture, which is held to necessity ; that the wanton ungodliness of the world
teach that the Spirit of God was so operative in that       before the flood was a matter of divine providence and
day, reads, "And the Lord said, My Spirit shall not constituted an integral part of the counsel of God. Let
always strive with man for that he is flesh" (Gen. 6 :      us hear Calvin on the matter of the relation sustained
3). `However, the English equivalent of the verb found by God to sin. Says he: "Bovenal moet het bij ons
in the original is not strive  but contend with, so that vaststaan hetgeen Salomo  zegt,  dat God alles gewrocht
the text should. be made to read, "My Spirit shall not heeft om Zijns zelfs wil, ja ook den goddelooze tot den
always content with (twisten) man." Without a doubt, dag des kwaads;  Ziet hier dewijl de beschikking van
this notice of the engagements of the Spirit, signifies alle  dingen  in Gods hand is, naardien de  macht  bij
at once the prophetic labors of such outstanding figures Hem berust  ter zaligheid en ten doode,  zoo verordent
as Enoch and Noah, through whom, says the apostle           Hij het door Zijnen raad en wil' zoo dat er onder de
(I Pet. 3 30) the Spirit of Christ preached unto the menschen geboren worden  die van den schoot  af eenen
disobedient of the prediluvian age. What  t.he sub- gewissen dood zijn toegeeigend,  om door hun verderf
stance of their preaching was, has already been te dienen tot verheerlijking van Zijnen naam. Zoo
noticed. It was a denunciation of t.he wanton ungodli- iemand hierop zegt,  dat hun door de voorzienigheid
ness of that age supplemented by a prediction of a day Gods geene noodzakelijkheid wordt opgelegd,  maar
of divine vengeance. So, then, did God content with dat zij veeleer onder die voorwaarde door Hem gescha-
men, to-wit, in the same manner in which He contends pen zijn, omdat Hij hunne toekomstige boosheid ge-
with man of every age. The speech of God, however, zien heeft, zoo  zegt hij  we1 iets,  maar  niet de zaak ge-
is laid hold on by the wicked and held up to scorn.         heel.    Indien God alleen  tevoren de uitkomsten zag
Noah's message was. The men with whom he con- van der menschen handel, zonder die naar Zijn goed-
tended  scoft. They said, "Where is the promise of his vinden te besturen en te regelen, dan zou niet zonder
coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things       reden  de vraag in het  midden  worden   ,rrbracht,  of
continue as they were from the beginning of creation. Zijne voorwetenschap iets vermocht tot de noodzake-
For this they willingly were ignorant of, that by the Iijkheid van dezelve. Maar indien Hij de toekomstige
word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth dingen  om geene andere oorzaak tevoren ziet, dan om-
standing out of the water and in the water: whereby dat Hij besloten heeft dat zij  alzoo  geschieden zouden,
the world that then was, being overflowed with water zoo is het tevergeefs dat men twist over de voorweten-
perished. . . . ". (II Pet. 3 3-5). The meaning of this schap, wanneer het bekend is dat alle dingen,  veeleer
scripture is clear. Enoch and Noah preached the com- volgens Zijne  bepaling  en naar Zijn believen  plaats
ing of the Lord in judgment. Noah's specific message' hebben" (Inst., Vol.  IL p. 520). And this also from
was, "The Lord will bring a flood of waters upon the the same writer, "Zij (the Pelagian) ontkennen dat
earth to destroy all flesh." To this the mockers of his het met uitdrukkelijke woorden staat uitgedrukt, dat
day responded, "It shall not happen, for all things con- het door God is besloten geweest, dat Adam door zijn
tinue as they were from the beginning of creation." afval zou on&omen. Alzoo  diezelfde God, van wien de
Their speech implied a denial of the operations of the S&rift getuigt, dat Hij doet wat Hij .wil, het edelste
providence of God so that what they meant is that all zijner schepselen tot een twijfelachtig einde geschapen
things  of themselves  continue as they were . . . These had. Zij zeggen dat hij eenen vrijen wil had om zich
scoffers, then, insisted on separating God from His eenen staat te.verkrijgen,  zooals hij goed vond ; maar
handiwork and on conceiving of the universe as self-        dat God niets anders bepaald heeft dan met hem te
subsisting. So doing, they fabricated the premise that handelen naar verdienste. Indien men zulk een  smake-
would yield the lie to the effect that in the future all    loos verdichtsel voor waar aanneemt, waar  zd dan

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

blijven die almacht Gods waardoor Hij naar Zijnen term, "willing perm+ssion,  be made to signify anything
verborgen raad, die geen oorzaak buiten Hem heeft, less, the matters signified are certainly not in agree-
alle  dingen  bestuurt. De  S&rift roept uit dat  alle ment with truth. But what we would like to have
menschen in den persoon  van eenen mensch aan den our opponents do is to explain to us how God can will-
eeuwigen dood zijn onderworpen, en dsar dit aan de ingly permit a rapid progress (to use the milder term)
natuur niet kan  worden  toegeschreven, zoo is het  geens-    or development of sin and at once be checking the prog-
zins duister dat het voortgekomen is van den  wonder-         ress. From a logical point of view this is impossible.
lijken raad Gods . . . . Het is we1 een vreeselijk be- And our opponents admit it. They add, however, that
sluit ik beken het; nochtans zal niemand ontkennen, this anti-rational truth ( ?) is found in Scripture and
dat `God tevoren eer Hij den mensch schiep, geweten that with God all things are possible. However,
heeft  welken uitgang hij hebben zal, en dat Hij het they have never succeeded in proving that their
daarom tevoren heeft geweten dewijl  I<ij het door theory has the support of Scripture. Let any one
Zijn besluit in dier voege bepaald had . . . . Ik zal         of our opponents (ministers, professors)  .face an
dus niet aarzelen eenvoudig met Augustinus te belij-          audience with a complete, correct and faithful
den, dat de wil van God de noodzakelijkheid der din-          elucidation of the doctrine of predestination, the
gen is, en dat hetgeen Hij wil noodzakelijk moet ge-          determinate counsel and the providence as defined
schieden; gelijk de  dingen,  die Hij tevoren gezien by such men as Calvin and Brakel, let him,
heeft waarlijk geschieden  zullen."  Comment is not thereupon, set up against the background of the afore-
necessary. The current thought of the above citations said elucidation, the real issues in which the  thought-
is that the counsel was the necessity of the first sin of structure, called common grace, involves one, and we
man and, by implication, of every sin ever committed.         assure this opponent that any intelligent layman in
Such, too, is, of course, the current thought of Scrip- that audience of his will insist that the Reformed con-
ture. We call attention to a passage found in one of          ception of the relation God sustains to the reprobate
the prophetic discourses of Isaiah. "0 Lord, why and to his state and condition, cannot possibly be
hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened reconciled with the theory of common grace. This lay-
our heart from thy fear?" (Isa. 63 :17). A very strong man will, subsequently, part company either with Re-
statement indeed. One in which the Lord is presented formed truth or with the above-cited theory. This
as causing His people and hence every wicked one, to very thing is being done by former members of mine.
err. Applying the above doctrines to the swift moral          The point is that the leaders of thought, in the circle
decline of the world before the flood, our opponents          which we left, succeed in giving' to their theory the
as good Reformed theologians define, as well as we, appearance of truth by distorting our views, by re-
the moral decay of this world as a matter of the oper- fraining to disclose the real issues in which their
ations of providence. With their eye upon the pages theory involves them, and by distorting or preserving
of Holy Writ they shall have to concede - and so they a silence respecting such truths as militate against
do - that the antediluvian wicked were made to                their theory. Plenty of proof for these statements
err by the Lord God ; that He hardened their hearts           can be extracted from Rev. H.  Kuiper's   The Three
from His fear and thus urged them on along a path Points of Synod, from Prof Berkhof's brochure, and
leading to utter ruin. How it is possible for God to be from such articles as recently appeared in De Wachter
so active without either implicating Himself in the above the signature of Ds. Brink.
sins of those hardened or rendering them irresponsible           If anyone wishes to.sense how impossible it would
machines, must remain, and it may be forever, unan- be for God to at once necessitate and check the prog-
swered. The fact remains, however, that Scripture ress of sin, let him call to mind a lifeless object re-
defines God as the primary cause (not author, origin)         posing upon an absolutely level surface and then let
of the waywardness of the wicked. I repeat, these are him inquire whether he could at once be pushing
settled matters in Reformed circles. Is not one of the ahead this object and retarding its progress. It sim-
elements entering into the basis of Dr. Hepp's Inter- ply cannot be done. What is more, if the object can-
national Calvinism the proposition to the effect that not gather momentum so as to keep on moving for ever
"God de zonde wilde en bedoelde?" True, some may so brief a space of time, independent of the one urging
object to the term  came or necessity and prefer to say it forward, there can be no progress to be checked.
that God de xonda  willend toelaat. If the term  wil.Zing     Applying the illustration, it at once becomes evident
permission be made to signify that one of the elements that God, in that he is God, cannot check the progress
entering into the makeup of the determinate counsel of sin. For sin is no substance but the ethical quality
of God is a decision to the effect that sin shall appear of man's psychical powers. Whereas these powers are
and be made to serve the purposes of God ; if, further, original not to man but to God, man, in his capacity
the term in question is used to signify that the wicked, of sinner, cannot possibly gain  momen$um  so as to
to use an expression of Calvin, come forth out of the         progress independently of God. There is, then, no
womb of God's providence, it (this term) is no milder progress to` be checked. If so, God should first have
than the words ccvusc  and necessity. If, however, the to give unto man an existence independent of Himself.


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           371

This He cannot possibly do. It may sound very pious
to say that all things are possible with God. In the           EEN WEINIG MINDER DAN DE ENGELEN
,mouth  of our opponents, however, this saying is a            Onder dit opschrift verscheen er in De Heruut,  No.
most impious one. It is equal to saying that man's 2665, een Schriftoverdenking van de hand van Dr. A.
life need not be perpetually replenished by God, and        Kuyper Jr., waarop we het der moeite waard achten
that man's powers are original to himself.                  de aandacht onzer lezers te vestigen. De bekende tekst
   Our opponents strengthen themselves with an ap- uit den brief aan de  Hebreen  luidt als volgt : "Maar
peal to the article on the providence of God. It reads wij zien Jezus met heerlijkheid en eere gekroond, die
in part: "This doctrine (of the providence) affords us      een weinig minder dan de engelen geworden was, van-
unspeakable consolation, since we are taught, thereby, wege het lijden des doods opdat hij door de genade
that nothing can befall us by chance, but by the direc- Gods voor  allen  den dood smaken zou." En in dit
tion of our most gracious and heavenly Father; . . . . tekstwoord  worden  we verwezen naar Ps.  8:6: "En
being persuaded, that he so restrains the devil and  all hebt hem een weinig minder gemaakt dan de engelen
our enemies that without his will and permission they en hebt hem met eer en heerlijkheid gekroond."
cannot hurt us."                                               Er zijn in genoemde Schriftoverdenking verschil-
   What is meant here is that all the move- lende elementen van verklaring, die naar onze over-
ments of the devil and of the wicked are under tuiging niet juist zijn. En waar deze elementen juist
the complete control of God. He determines and directs ook om dogmatische redenen van groot belang  zijn,
all their movements. To this, of course, we heartily wiIlen we hierop kortelijks onze kritiek uitoefenen.
agree. The checking of sin, however, is a different mat-       De hoofdzaak, waarop we willen wijzen is, dat de
ter. What the opponent means by it is that the Spirit of geachte schrijver het : "een weinig minder gemaakt
God directly and immediately is so active in the heart dan de engelen" verklaart als doelende op het lijden en
of the reprobated one as to repress or confine his sin to sterven van Jezus. Door dat lijden en sterven werd
the subconscious regions of his soul, and as to render de Heiland een weinig minder gemaakt dan de enge-
the volitions and thoughts of the conscious man noble len.  Laat  de schrijver zelf spreken:
and pure, yea, sinless. Gen. 8:21 reads, however, that         "Het geldt eerst den mensch, die in zonde gevallen
God "saw that the wickedness of men was great in the is, dat hij tot straf voor zijn wanbedrijf minder dan
earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of de engelen gemaakt is. Adam in het Paradijs was
his heart was only evil continually." The opponent in- koning   in  de schepping Gods, en  alle  dingen   waren
sists that what the Lord God meant to say is that every hem onderworpen, en de engelen stonden tot zijn dienst
imagination of the thoughts of his heart  would be evil in den hof van Eden.
continually  if it were not for the operations of common       "Maar de zondaar is van zijn koningsglorie beroofd,
grace. Man is not actually evil, so it is said, but in- de kroon is hem van het hoofd gerukt, en hij is minder
clined, prone to evil. Let us hear Calvin on the terse.     dun de engelen, minder dan een dienstknecht gewor-
"Moreover, since God here declares what would be the den.
character of men even to the end of the world, it is           "En de gevallen mensch zou tot in  alle eeuwigheid
evident that the whole human race is under sentence minder dan de engelen gebleven zijn, minder dan een
of condemnation, on account of its depravity and dienstknecht. Ja, hij zou zelfs algeheel in de macht
wickedness. Nor does the sentence refer only to cor- en onder de heerschappij van de gevallen engelen  ge-
rupt morals ; but their iniquity is said to be an inmate komen zijn, indien God de Heere niet bijzondere be-
iniquity, from which nothing but evil can spring forth. moeienis der genade met hem gehouden had.
I wonder, however, whence the false version of this            "Zonder  die reddende genade zou de mensch, die
passage has crept in, that the thought is: prone to tot zijn straf minder dan de engelen geworden was,
evil; except, as is probable, that the place was thus nooit met eer en heerlijkheid gekroond zijn, maar met
corrupted, by those who dispute to philosophically con- smaad en schande.
cerning the corruption of human nature. It seemed to           "Doch  de Zoon des menschen is bezocht en Hij is
them hard that man should be subjected, as a  slave of ook een weinig minder dan de engelen gemaakt. In
the devil of sin. Therefore, by way of mitigation, they dien weg is Hij met eer en heerlijkheid gekroond, en
have said that he had a propensity to vices. But when in die heerlijkheid doet Hij deelen  allen  voor wie Hij
the eternal judge thunders from heaven, that his Zijn ziel tot een rantsoen gegeven heeft.
thoughts themselves are evil, what avails it to soften         "De zondaar, die van God genade ontvangt, wordt
down that which, nevertheless, remains unalterable? begenadigd omdat zijn Heiland, die  zich voor hem tot
Let men, therefore, acknowledge, that inasmuch as een Borg stelde in den eeuwigen raad des vredes, zich
they are born of Adam, they are depraved creatures,         zoo diep vernederd heeft, dat Hij een weinig minder
and therefore can conceive only sinful thoughts, until dan de engelen geworden is.
they become the  new  workmanship of Christ, and are           "In deze lijdensweken mogen we daaraan denken.
formed by his Spirit unto a new life."                      Het is de uitdrukking van de zeer diepe vernedering
                                            G. M. 0.        van den lijdenden Borg.
                                                                                                            .._-


3'76                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

        Ik  zou mij  echter niet kunnen voorstellen, dat
iemand helder en bewust uit het beginsel der wederga-                                       PETER AND  *JOHN
boorte zou kunnen leven, zonder de gebreken dier Kerk                         The repetition of the miraculous draught of fishes
te zien, noch ook, dat iemand de gebreken dier Kerk `was nothing else than a symbolical renewal of the com-
zou kunnen zien en tech in haar verband  blijven. Zoo mission given originally to the apostles, intended to
iemand zou aan de afgoderij van de mis, aan de ver-                        teach them that their first calling to be fishers of men
eering der heiligen, aan de biecht en wat dies meer zij,                   still held good. There was one, however, of the eleven
zeker niet mede kunnen doen. Hij zou moeten  breken. for whose instruction that miracle was intended, whose
Dat schijnt mij onvermijdeiijk toe.                                        petition toward that apostolic commission was peculiar.
        Overigens houd ik mij met dergelijke vragen liefst He had taken a very prominent place among the
niet bezig,  omdat het uiterst moeilijk is om over alle twelve, had often acted as their representative and'
toestanden in het werkelijke leven een beslist oordeel spokesman. But on the night of the betrayal he had
te velleq wij over het geestelijk-inwendige niet kun-                      played a singularly shameful and inconsistent part.
nen oordeelen en de vraag, zoo gesteld, ook geen prak-                     Vehement in his repeated assertion that though all
tisch nut heeft. Liever zou ik dan ook de vraag beant-                     men should forsake the Master he never would, though
woorden, en dat  we1 met alle beslistheid bevestigend, of thrice warned, he had thrice over, with superfluous
zoo iemand ook verplicU  ~071. zijn om met de Roomsche oaths, denied that he ever knew or had anything to do
Kerk te breken. Dit kunnen we met alle vrijmoedig-                         with Jesus. How will it stand with Peter if that apos-
heid zeggen. De Roomsche Kerk is de ware Kerk zeker tolic work has to be taken up again? Has he suffici-
niet. En ieder kind van Cod is verplicht zich bij de                       ently repented of his sin? Will he not, in the depth of
zuiverste openbaring van Christus' Kerk te voegen. that humility and self-distrust which his great fall has
En dit is ook van toepassing op hen, die zoo goed  we-                     taught him, shrink from placing himself on the same
ten, dat de Drie  Punten niet overeenkomstig Cods level with the rest? Does *Jesus mean that he should
Woord zijn, dat de Christelijke Gereformeerde Kerk in reoccupy the place from which, by his transgression,
1924 getrouwe kinderen  Cods heeft uitgeworpen en he might be regarded as having fallen? Singling him
getrouwe dienaren heeft afgezet, en tech in die Kerk out when the morning meal by the lake-side was over,
blijven. Of dezen daarom geen wedergeboren en be-                          Jesus said to him, "Simon, son of donas,  lovest th.ou
keerde  kinderen  Cods kunnen zijn, is een vraag, waar-                    me more than these, thy brethren, my other disciples
over wij niet  willen oordeelen. Maar dat zij verplicht do `1" What a skilful yet delicate method, without sub:
zijn die Kerk, de zonden waarvan zij zoo goed  besefien,                   jetting him to the painful humiliation of having his
te verlaten en zich bij ons te voegen, dat staat voor ons                  former denials of his Master exposed and dwelt upon,
vast. En dat prediken wij hun ook. Doen zij het tech                       of testing and exhibiting the trueness and deepness of
niet, om welke redenen dan ook, dan zondigen zij daar-                     Peter's  repentence. Will he repeat the offense; will he
mede tegen den Heere hunnen Cod.                                           again compare himself with the others; will he again
                                                              H. H.        set himself above them; wiI1 he renew that boasting
                                           --_.-                           which was the sad precursor of his fall? `How  touch-
                                N O T I C E                                ingly does his answer show that he perfectly under-
        D.                                                                 stood the involved reference to the past: that he had
               V.  hoopt  de  Classis te vergaderen op  Woens-
dagnamiddag,  5 Juni 1929, te beginnen om  2 uur.                          thoroughly learned its humbling lessons. No longer
        De vergadering wordt gehouden in het kerkgebouw any comparing himself with, or setting himself above
van de Eerste Protestantsche Cereformeerde Kerk te others. He will not say that he loves Jesus more than
Grand Rapids,  Mich.                                                       they; he will not say how much he loves. He will offer
        Men gelieve stukken voor het Agendum te  zenden                    no testimony of his own as to the love he feels. He will
aan den Stated Clerk.                                                      trust his deceitful heart no more. But, throwing him-
                                     S. C. SCHAAFSMA, S. C.                self on another's knowledge of that heart which had
                                                                           proved better than his own, he says: "Yea, Lord thou
                                                                           knowest that  I love thee."
        Zoo  de Heere wil en zij Ieven,   hopen  onze geliefde  ouders,       Our Lord's reply is a most emphatic affirmative re-
                               K. TIGCHELAAR                               sponse to this appeal. It is as if he had said at large:
                                     en                                    "Yes, Simon Barjona, I do know that thou lovest me;
                       J. TIGCHELAAR-Sybesma.
den %&ten  Mei hunne vijf en twintig jarige echtvereeniging  te            I see, too, that thou wilt make no boast of thy love;
herder&en                                                                  neither in that nor in anything else wilt thou set thy-
        Dat de Heere hen nog vele jaren  voor elkander en voor ons         self above thy fellows; by the pressure of this probe
moge   sparen,  is de wensch  en bede van hunne dankbare   kinde-          into thy throbbing heart it has been seen how true and
ren                                                                        deep thy penitence has been,. how thoroughly it has
                                                             Jennie        done its work in humbling thee. And now, that thou,
                                                             Sadie
                                                             Donald        and these thy brethren, may know and see how readily
        Hudsonville,  Mich.                                                i own and acknowledge thee as being to me all thou


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D B E A R E R                                          377

ever wert, I renew to thee this great commission ; I re-     within the function of the shepherd. But let us not
instate thee in the apostolic office,-`Feed my lambs!'  "    here fashion to ourselves a perfect ideal of what the
   Peter was not asked a second time whether he loved spiritual shepherd is, or ought to be, and then imagine
more than the others; but as three times He had that each undershepherd of the great Christian flock is
warned, and three times he had denied, so three times        bound, in some degree, to realize in his own person
will Jesus reinstate, restore. Can we wonder that and his own work, each separate attribute, each sepa-
Peter was grieved when, for the third time, the general      rate mode or class of activities, which go to constitute
question, Lovest  thou me, was put to him? It was not the model that we have constructed. The work of the
the grief of doubt, as if he suspected that Jesus only Christian ministry was, in the apostolic age, almost
half believed his word, but the grief of contrition,         wholly evangelistic, aggressive. There was not the call
growing into a deeper sadness at the so distinct allu- or the opportunity then for the exercise of many of
sion to his three denials, in the triple repetition of the those gifts, which came afterwards consecrated to the
question. With a sadder and fuller heart, in stronger cause of Christ, to the advancement of His kingdom.
words than ever, he makes the last  avowel  of his love:     Yet, even then, there was no one fixed course, which all
"Lord thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I apostles, and all presbyters, and all elders, and all dea-
love thee."                                                  cons were alike called upon to follow. Had we the lives
   In the Creek tongue, the language in which this and labors of all the twelve apostles before us, I am
conversation between Christ and Peter is recorded,           persuaded that we should be as much struck with the
two different words are used for the one translated diversity, as with the multiplicity of their operations.
love, two different words for the one translated feed,       Very different, as, in a single instance, we shall pres-
and two different words for the one translated  sheep. ently see, were the characters, the dispositions, the
We may believe that in that dialect of the Hebrew capabilities of the twelve men whom the Lord Himself
which was spoken by Christ, from which the Creek selected as the first propagators of His religion upon
itself was a translation (for we are to remember that earth; and room was found for all these differences
only in one or two instances have the actual words           acting themselves out in the different spheres of labor
spoken by Jesus been preserved), there was some way selected by; or assigned to them. So is it, so shall it
of making the same distinction of meaning which is be still, in the labor of individual Christians, in the
expressed in the different words for love, and  feed and work of the Christian ministry. Cod has scattered
sheep. It would be quite out of place to go further among us a great variety of gifts, has set us were a
here into such a topic. The result is that Jesus first great variety of services may be rendered. As there
asks Peter whether he cherished to Him a love, spir- are many members in one body, yet all have not the
itual, holy, heavenly ; that Peter declines using the same office; so neither have all the true members .of
term which Jesus had employed, and contents himself Christ's mystical body the same office to discharge.
with speaking of a kind of affection, simpler, more per- "Let not the hand then say to the eye, I have no need
sonal, more human; that Jesus first commits the feed- of thee, nor the head to the foot, I have no need of
ing of the lambs to Peter, than the general guidance thee." Let not those who are engaged in one kind of
and oversight of the whole flock that he had purchased       Christian work criticise or condemn those who are en-
with His blood ; and that finally He returns to the          gaged in another. Let each of us do the best we can
simple idea of feeding, as applied to this whole flock.      with the kind and amount of the talent entrusted to
    Of more importance is it to notice (as supplying         us ; let each of us try to do that which both naturally
the room for this variety) the change of image of that and immediately comes to our hand, not judging one
of the fisher to that of the shepherd, as representing another; "for who art thou that judgest another man's
the apostolic or ministerial office. Had it been solely servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth," but
as fishers of men that Peter and his brethren had been not to thee.
described, as the business of the fisherman is to get           There is, however, one common, universal, indis-
the fish into the net, and draw them safe to land, so it pensable qualification for all genuine Christian work
might be thought that the one office of the spiritual        - a supreme, a constraining love to Christ.         Once,
fisherman was to bring sinners to Christ, to get them twice, thrice, is the question,  "Lovest  thou me" put to
safe into His arms. A true yet contracted idea of the Peter; and once, twice, thrice is an affirmative reply
scope and bearing of the ministerial office might come given, than the injunction follows: "If thou  lovest me,
thus to be entertained. It is very different when that as thou lovest me, then feed my lambs, feed my sheep."
of&e is presented to us under the idea of pastorate.         And the first, the second, the third pre-requisite for all
A much truer, because ampler conception of its mani- true feeding of the lambs, the sheep of the Saviour's
fold privileges, responsibilities, means, duties, objects, flock, is attachment to Himself  - a love to Jesus
is thus acquired. Oversight, guidance, care, protec- Christ running over upon all who, however weakly, do
tion, provision, these of the most varied kind, as yet believe in Him. The want of that love nothing can
adopted to all the conditions, exposures, wants of all supply ; not mere natural benevolence, which in the
the separate members of the flock, are all embraced sight of God is cruelty, in that, though it may lead its

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

possessor to do much to promote the happiness of him what He does for no other of the twelve - He will
others, may win for him their gratitude and good-will,        reveal the future so far as to let him know by what
but will not teach them to labor directly and supremely kind of death it should be that he should glorify Cod
for their spiritual and eternal good ; not the mere sense - to let him know that the opportunity would be at
of duty that may secure diligence and faithfulness, but last afforded him of making good the words which he,
wll leave the work done, under its exclusive prompt- too, hastily and boastfully had spoken. "Verily, verily,
ings, sapless and dry. It is love-inspired, love-animated I say unto thee, when thou wast young thou girdest
labor, which Jesus asks for at our hands. That we             thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest; but when
may be able, in any degree, to realize it, let us carry thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands,
the love which He kindled within our souls, day by and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither
day to the undying fire that burns in the bosom of our thou wouldest not." The explanatory clause which is
Redeemer, to have fresh fuel heaped upon it, to be re- introduced here, creates the impression that there had
kindled, refreshed, sustained, expanded. To know and been a break or interruption of the discourse. From
to believe in the love that Christ has to us, to feel our-    verse twenty, it would appear, too, that Jesus had
selves individually the objects of that love, to open our made some movement of withdrawal. These two cir-
hearts to all the  ballowed  influences which a realizing cumstances combine in inducing the idea, that when
sense of that love is fitted to exert - this is the way to our Lord said to Peter, "follow me," he meant simply
have our spirits stirred to that responsive affection to that he should go along with Him as He now retired.
Him, which gives to all Christian service purity and          If, however, the words of the nineteenth verse were
power.                                                        spoken in immediate connection with, and in continua-
       "Simon, Simon," our Lord said to Peter before his      tion of what is recorded in the eighteenth, then, in
fall, "Satan hath desired to sift thee as wheat, but I saying, "follow me," our Lord might have had in His
have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not; and when eye the very words of Peter about following Him to
thou art converted" -- converted, Jesus means here            prison and to death, and have meant, in using them,
not in the ordinary sense of the term, but recovered,         to say, "When thou shalt be old, and another shall
restored  - "then, strengthen thy brethren."         That seize upon thee and bind thee as they seized and bound
strengthening of the brethren formed part of the shep- thy Master in preparation for His crucifixion, then,
herd's office, now anew committed to Peter; and what Peter, follow me, through the cross to glory."
a lesson he had got in the treatment which he had him-           It is very difficult, owing to the briefness of the
self received at the hands of the Chief Shepherd, as to gospel narrative, to picture to our eye the scene which
how that office should be discharged. The prayers, the followed. Did Jesus, as He said, "follow me," arise
warnings, the look of love, the angel's message, the          to depart, and was Pater in the act of following when
private interview, the conversation by the lake-side  - he turned and saw John following also? Did John
these all told Peter of the thoughtfulness, the care, the     mistake so far the meaning of Christ's word and act,
kindness, the pitying sympathy, the forgiving love, of as to consider himself equally with Peter called upon
which he had been the object. Thus had he been                to follow; or was it of his own motion, and without
treated by Jesus; and let him go and deal with others         any real or imagined invitation that he was acting?
as Christ had dealt with him.                                 Bowever  it was, Peter, his mind full of the many
       So far in what Christ had spoken, whilst there was thoughts that the pre-intimation of his death had ex-
much that was personal and peculiar to Peter, there cited, turns and sees John by his side. His own fate
was much also that had a wider bearing. But now the had been foretold ; what, he wondered would be  Johns.
Lord has a word which is for Peter's ear alone. The beloved disciple had once, at his suggestion, put a
"Whither I go" (He had said to  b.im in the upper question to their Master about the others ; now he will
chamber) "thou  canst not follow me now, but thou put a question about John - a question of natural and
shalt follow me afterwards"; and Peter had said in of brotherly curiosity, yet somewhat out of place. He
reply, "Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I am k had resumed to rapidly his old position, and his old
ready to go with thee to prison, and to death; I will hasty and forward ways. Jesus will not become a
lay down my life for thy sake." These words of the fortune teller, to gratify even a friendly inquisitive-
apostle, though sadly falsified the night when they ness. He puts a check upon the unbefitting inquiry,
were spoken, still were to hold good. Peter did follow and yet, singularly enough, even in rebuking He an-
his Master, even unto death. He did lay down his life wers it. "If I will that he tarry till I come, what is
for Jesus' sake; crucified as the Lord had been. Know- that to thee? follow thou me." Each man's path, as
ing this, and knowing that he needed all the encour- each man's duty, is separate and distinct. What the
agement which could be given him, to fortify him to lot of another man may be, has nothing to do with the
meet the martyr's doom, not only will Jesus in that           regulation of thine individual course. What is it to
private interview in the resurrection day wipe all his thee, Peter, whether John's destiny shall be the same
tears away, and now in the presence of his brethren or different from thine? The thing for thee to do is
reinstate him in his apostolic office, but He will do for not to turn aside to busy thyself with his hereafter,


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       379

but to occupy thyself with the duty that lies imme- Boanerges,  t.he Sons of Thunder. We are not told,
diately before thee to discharge. What is that to thee? however, the reason why this title was bestowed on
follow thou me. But if I will that he tarry till I come:      them,  - it may have been derived from something
Only imagine that Jesus was other than divine, and            peculiar in the father rather than in the sons.  Noi
how arrogant the assumption here of His will regulat- can we allow the bestowal of an unexplained and  am-
ing human destinies, fixing the time and the manner bigious epithet to outweigh the whole drift and bear-
of His disciple's death ; Deity incarnate alone was en-       ing of the gospel narrative, which speaks so much of
titled to use such language: "If I will that he tarry till    the meekness and modesty and gentleness and  retiring-
I come." When dohn wrote his gospel, that saying of ness of John. But let us not confound John's yielding
Jesus was not understood. Some regarded it as im- gentleness with that spirit of easy complience  which
plying that John would never die. The beloved disciple shuns all contest, because it does not feel that there is
himself saw only so far into its meaning that it con-         anything worth contending for. Beneath John's calm
tained no direct assertion of that kind, but further he       and soft exterior there lay a hidden strength. In the
did not then see. Perhaps afterwards,' when he saw mean  vulger strife of petty earthly passions, John
all the apostles die  lout before, and witnessed, as only might have yielded when Peter would have stood firm.
he did, the destruction of Jerusalem, of which Christ But in more exciting scenes, under more formidable
had often spoken as identified with His coming, - tests, John would have stood firm when Peter would
perhaps at that time, forty years after the meeting by have yielded. This was proved on the night of the
the lake-side, he remembered the words that his Master ,arrest,  and the day of the crucifixion.       .And there was
had spoken, and wondered as he perceived how remark- latent heat as well as latent strength in John. As
ably they were fulfilled.                                     lightning lurks amid the warm, soft drops of the sum-
   Next to the absence of all notice of our Lord's mer shower, so the force of a love-kindled zeal lurked
mother, few things are more remarkable, in the narra-         in his gentle spirit. The Samaritans might a thousand
tive of the period after the resurrection, then the times have refused to receive himself  into'their  dwell-
silence respecting John. One of the earliest visitants        ings, and it had stirred no resentment in his breast;
at the sepulchre, present at both the evening inter-          but when they contemptiously  refused to receive the
views at Jerusalem, the disciple whom Jesus loved is Master to whom he was so ardently attached it was
neither spoken of or spoken to. This is the only case more than he could endure. He joined his brother
in which he meets our eye, and he appears here rather James in saying, "Lord, wilt thou that we command
in conjunction with Peter than with Jesus. In the fire to come down from heaven, and consume them?"
account of our Lord's ministry, though John was fre-          - a solitary outbreak of resentment but seldom felt,
quently associated with Peter, it was as one of the two or if felt, habitually restrained ; yet that single flash
sons of Zebedee, the tie to his brother James being reveals an inner region where all kinds of vivid emo-
then obviously a stronger one than that to Peter. But tions lived and moved and had their being.
from the hour when the two entered together the hall             Nor let us confound John's simplicity with shallow-
of the high priest, a singular attraction appears to ness. If it be the pure in heart who see God, John's
have drawn these two men together. The brotherly              was the eye to see further into the highest of all
tie yields to one which has become still stronger, and        regions than that of any of his fellows. If it be he that
instead of its being Peter and James and John, it is          lovefh who knoweth God - for God is love, John's
now Peter and John who are seen constantly in com- knowledge of God must have stood unrivalled. We
pany with one another. This is all the  more,singular,        reckon his as belonging to the highest order of in-
when one considers how unlike t.he two were in natural tellect ; not analytical nor constructive ; the logical
character, in original disposition.                           faculty, the reasoning powers, not largely developed;
    John was born a lover of repose, of retirement.           but his quick bright eye of intuition, which, at a
Left to himself, he would never have been an ad- glance, sees farther into the heart of truth than by the
venturous or ambitious man. Even in his very motion stepping-stones of mere argumentation you can ever
there had been rest. Had he never seen the Saviour,           be conveyed. There were besides under that calm
he would have remained quite contented in the occupa- surface which the spirit of the beloved disciple dis-
tion to which he had been brought up. To sit upon the         played to the common eye of observation, profound
sunny banks of that lovely inland lake mending his and glorious depths.  .The writer of the gospel and the
nets, his eye straying occasionally across its placid         epistle is, let us remember, the writer also of the
waters, or lifted to the blew expanse above ; - to take       apocalypse; and if the Holy Spirit chose the human
his accustomed seat in his fishing-boat, to launch out vehicle best fitted by Himself for receiving and trans-
by night under these burning heavens, and sweep over mitting the divine communication, then to John we
the well-known haunts, would have been enough for must assign not the pure deep love alone of a gentle
him; he neither would have desired nor sought for heart, but the vision and the high imaginative power.
change. It may seem to militate against this idea of             Peter, again, was born with the strongest  contitu-
John's character that he and his brother were called          tional tendency to a restless and excited activity. He


35-m                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

could not have endured a life of monotonous repose.                                  ONS BLAD
He was a child of impulse ; he would have been a lover
of adventure. Had he never seen the Lord, one cannot                                      VI
think of him as remaining all his life a fisherman of
Galilee ; or, if the natural restraints of his position           Zoo was dan ons blad met den tweeden jaargang al
kept him there, even in that fisherman's life he would heelwat gegroeid. We waren  begonnen met een maan-
have found the means of gratifying his constitutional delijksche uitgave van zestien bladzijden druks de  eer-
biases.      The great natural defect  of Peter was  the ste maand, het tweede nmmner  leverde ons twee en der-
want of steadiness, of a ruling, regulating principle          tig bladzijden. En in de Meimaand van den tweeden
to keep his moving along one line. There was a strong jaargang verscheen hij tweemaal per maand, iederen
contrast in natural character and disposition between keer met vier en twintig bladzijden; gevuld met  stuk-
Peter and John. Yet, these were the two  of  all the           ken ter onderwijzing, ter voorlichting en die meerder
twelve, who finally drew closest together. The great           licht verspreidden aangaande beginselen, die  zoolang
day of Pentecost wrought a great change in them both, onder het stof' verscholen  hadden gelegen.
and by so doing linked them in still closer bonds. The            Hij, de S. B., maakte en maakt  hogal verre reizen:
grace was given them which enabled each to struggle in ons eigen land, Europa en Zuid-Afrika.
successfully with his own original defects, and to find           Het bestuur besloot met het oog op de  administra-
in the other that which he most wanted.                        tie een tweetal  broederen, S. G. Schaafsma en M. De
                                                   G. M. 0.    Goede, toe te voegen aan de Publ. Comm. Deze zouden
                                                               als "finance committee" fungeeren en den "Manager"
                                                               en "Treasurer" bijstaan in hun werk en vervolgens, in
                EEN  DANKBARE   PELGRIM                        verband met inkomsten en uitgaven, het bestuur met
                                                               hun  advies dienen. Beiden"  zijn mannen van. het vak
           `k Heb lang geleefd, en veel gesloofd,              en der zake kundig; zij werkten (werken) mede, dat
             `k Ben oud en grijs en af;                        de zaken beter en langs "business" lijnen  liepen. Er
           Nu doe `k met een hangend  hoofd,                   was "room for improvement."
             De laatste reis naar `t graf.                        Zoo stond het in den zomer van 1926. Alles liep
           Al buigt zich ook mijn grijze kruin,                goed  ; het blad verscheen geregeld twee keer per
             Mijn harte dat geniet;                            maand ; de gelden  kwamen in ; ens volk ontving iets
           Want `t zingt nog, als in vroeger tijd,             waar het behoefte aan had.
             Het oude pelgrimslied.                               Als we nu eens  terugzien, in verband met het ont-
                                                               staan en voortbestaan van ons blad, dan kunnen we
           Ik reken op geen enk'len dag;                       niets anders concludeeren: het is boven alle  verwach-
             Wat zou ik, oude mensch!                          ting gegaan. De nood was ons opgelegd. Het scheen
           Ik weet dat ieder oogenblik                         dan ook, dat ieder op zijn plaats, met genoegen zijn
             Mijn uurtje komen kan.                            deel  aan den arbeid verrichtte.
           Maar  tech geen nood ! ik reken vast                   Er kwamen voldoende artikelen in, zelfs moesten
             Op Gods beloftenis;                               de ingezonden stukken, wegens gebrek aan plaatsruim-
           Ik weet, dat Hij ook in den dood                    te, menigmaal blijven liggen tot gelegener tijd. De
             De "Ja en Amen" is.                               vreugde was  echter  niet van blijvenden aard.  We1
                                                               scheen alles naar wensch  te. gaan, voorspoed ons deel
           Mijn oog verflauwt, `k zie haast niet meer,         te zijn, maar de werkelijkheid was geheel anders.
             Wat voor de voeten ligt ;                            Het feit lag er, dat de meerderheid onzer schrij-
           En als ik in mijn Bijbel lees,                      vers  aan verschillende  dingen  samen  moesten werken.
             Dan  schemert  mijn gezicht.                      Ze stonden aan het hoofd van een nieuwe beweging,
           Maar `t oog van mijn geloof ziet klaar,             die al hun tijd en krachten vroeg. Naast hunne ge-
             Voorbij het verste strand:                        meenten,  hadden ze ook nog te arbeiden voor ons blad
           IIet zalig Paradijs der rust,                       en op en voor de school onzer kerken. Voeg hier dan
             Het hemelsch Vaderland.                           nog bij, de vele redevoeringen door hen gehouden en
                                                               het is overbodig te zeggen, dat al hun tijd in het teeken
           Geen verre tochten doe `k nu meer;                  van werken stond en met werken werd versleten. Naast
             Het reizen is gedaan ;                            hen stonden een tweetal  jeugdigen, die, pas van school,
           Doch zonder steunen  op mijn staf,                  niet veel meer dan beginnelingen waren,  maar die met
             Iian ik volstrekt niet gaan !                     een beginners plaats  zich niet tevreden  wilden  stellen.
           Weldra valt `t somber reiskleed af ;                Geholpen door  andesen meenden  ze werkelijk, dat  ens
             De laatste reis - zij wacht !                     kerkelijk wereldje om hen draaide. En dat was  r;iet
           `k Wordt bij mijn afscheid, eer ik `t weet          zoo. Opzichzelf genomen beteekende dit niet veel, had
             Door Jezus thuis gebracht.                        een der leiders er zich maar niet voor laten vinden  om

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

leen dan, als de Heilige Schrift zelf aangeeft, dat. dit
duidelijk is. Feit is, dat het over do symbolicchc  VX-                 OBJECTIONS TO THE SPIRIT
klaring van sommige gedeelten der Heilige Schrift in                          OF OUR AGE
het artikel, dat ik schreef niet ging, maar we1 over
het perspectief in de profetie. Dat is gansch iets an-          In a positive sense we may say, that "the Spirit of
ders dan symbolische verklaring. Wij beweerden, dat the Age" is the general expression of human thought,
de millennialist dit perspectief niet ziet en niet wil.      and the manifestation of its actions. It is the sum
Dat beweren wij nog. En als hij dan aan het verkla-          total of all the emotions, volitions, appetences, and in-
ren gaat, houdt  hij  zich vast  aan de star-letterlijke     clinations of the most profound human thought. It is
verklaring der profetie.  Dat doet ook Ds. Vander the expressed manifestation of the religious, social,
Werp. Bewijzen daarvoor hebben we reeds geleverd             ethical, and political life of humanity. It is the gen-
en zouden we nog veel meer  leveren  kunnen.                 eral expression of the conception of God, the world,
       4. Dat Ds.  VanderWerp hiertoe ook aanleiding and humanity itself, and their respective relation-
geeft door den aanmatigenden titel van zijn boekje,          ships. This expression of humanity is objectively real.
waarin hij feitelijk  allen,  die zijn methode van Schrift- It is more than a mere mode ; it is a reality, which
verklaring niet kunnen aanvaarden beschuldigt, dat zij       lives on with an ever fervent desire to retain its iden-
God op Zijn Woord niet  willen gelooven. De  schrij-         tity. To deny the reality of it, is virtually denying
ver, die er zoo over valt,  als hij wordt voorgesteld als    the existence of humanity as such.
iemand, die de star-lette*rlijke  verklaring der Heilige        With this in mind, we are able to summarize our
Schrift wil, moest tech ook eens bedenken, welk een chief objections to that manifestation of human
grove beschuldiging hij in dien aanmatigenden titel thought and aspiration. Humanity certainly has its
allen  kinderen  Gods naar het hoofd slingert, die het ehullitions. Practically every generation has its out-
met hem niet eens zijn. In elk geval kan ik dien titel       bursts, whichgive a certain bright hue to the time in
niet anders verstaan dan door het als de bedoeling van       which they are manifested. It is also evident that
den schrijver te aanvaarden, dat hij tegenover anderen       these ebullitions are more grave as time goes on. There
de  letterlijke  verklaring van Gods Woord wil.              is no restraining possible, in as much as there is a con-
                                                             stant evolution or development of sin. There is a pro-
       5. Dat ik echter  liever had gehad, dat Ds. Vander    nounced progression visible. The outbursts are more
Werp eens op den inhoud van ons schrijven, in de arti-       severe,. vehement, and dangerous ; notwithstanding
kelenreeks onder het hoofd:  Cmsch  Isrccel  Zdig,  ware the fact that they all differ in character and manner
ingegaan en had aangetoond, waarin onze verklaring of manifestation. If it were possible to conceive that
der Heilige S&rift niet deugde en wij God niet op Zijn       there is a state of neutrality in this respect, then to be
Woord gelooven. Doch  miss&en zal hij daartoe later sure you would have to conceive of a state of non-
nog we1 een poging wagen.                                    existence, which is death. For where there is life there
                                                H. H.        is either progression or retrogression. If you maintain
                                                             that there is a certain restraint in human thought,
                                                             then you would have to conclude that you are holding
                                                             to a post-millennialistic conception of life. Now to be
                                                             sure, it is a contradiction of the truth to maintain that
                        N O T I C E                          the world is getting better. We sincerely belief, taking
       Het Curatorium der Theologische School onzer in consideration the truth of scriptures, that the world
Kerken hoopt,  D. V., te vergaderen te Grand Rapids,         is progressing rapidly in the development of sin, the
`Mich., op Dinsdagnamiddag, 3 Juni 1929, om 2 :30.           culmination of which is the Anti-Christ, and the final
       De vergadering wordt gehouden in het kerkgebouw catastrophy  in the last day.
van de Eerste Protestantsche Gereformeerde Kerk.                 We are conscious of the fact, that there is a pos-
                                                             sibility in articles of this nature to become extremists.
       Op deze vergadering bestaat gelegenheid om zich       But, if an extremist is one who holds the utmost pos-
aan te melden  om opgenomen te worden  als stud.& aan        sible views, then there are two possibilities open for us.
onze School.                                                 In as much as the kingdom of light and that of dark-
       Adspiranten  worden  er  aan herinnert, dat men ness are antithetical realities, we cannot be anything
moet overleggen  aan het Curatorium:                         else, but extremist. We must as  "conditio  sine qua
       1. Een bewijs van lidmaatschap van zijn  respec-      non" (a necessary condition) be antithetical in our
tieve kerkeraad.                                             concepts. On the other hand, however, we may not
       2. Een aanbeveling, eveneens van den kerkeraad, and do not desire to be extremist in the sense that we
 hem aanbevelende om als student te  worden   opge-          would become extremely ascetical or boastful pessim-
 nomen.                                                      ists. We must always hold our object of criticism in
                                                             the light of God's revelation ; then we are not liable
                  Namens het Curatorium,                     to become sophisticated in our conception of the truth.
                               S. G. SCHAAFSMA, Seer.                                           A. C. BOERKOEL


