           3

                j  MO                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                             WHAT NEXT?                          3 :l-6. Some time ago a preacher accused mc of not
                                                                                 being a Calvinist. `Of course not,' I replied, `I never
                I            In a recent issue of Grace nnd Glory Dr. De Haan    claimed to be a Calvinist? I am a Christian.' `Yes,
                       placed a writing upon which we feel constrained to        yes,' he said, `I know but don't you believe in John
                1 comment. For the article abounds in statements fitted CaIvin?' I answered, `No, for the Bible says, `Belleve
                     i to confuse and perplex'the  uninitiated reader. What in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.'
                     1 is more, problems are raised to which solutions are       Yon can't tack a man's name on my religion.' *\Vell,
                       given which in truth are no solutions at all, but rather but,' he said, `don't you believe like Calvin believed?
                     the  vituparations  of one who would gain for himself `That is different,' I replied, `in the main I  belie,;e just
                       a lone place in the lime-light even at the expense' of like he did because he believed on the same Lord Jesus
                       the reputation of tthe church of Christ. Finally, "the that I believe on, but I `positively refuse to be called
                       time will come," says the apostle, "when they will not by his name.' Yet many people think it is a  gL*eat
                     : endure sound doctrine ; but after their own lusts shall honor to be called a Calvinist, or. a Lutheran or a Wes-
                     : they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears ; leyan. Very good but, `There is no other name under
                       and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, heaven by which men must be saved than the name
                       and shall be turned unto fables" (II Tim. 4 :3).          Jesus.' This following of a man or a set of creeds or
                             The above-cited time is upon us. Those who will dogmas is the cause of all the divisions in the body of
                     not endure sound doctrine are with us in great  num-        which Christ spake when He prayed, `That they all
                     b&s.        Their slogan happens to be, "No creed but might be one.' Yet see the divisions there are and the
                       Christ." To such, sad to say, De Haan appeaIs  in his feeling that exists between many of them. The argu-
.' article, and that for reasons known best to him. Let ment that we are the church militant and that the dif-
     .~                us give his article. It reads as follows:                 ferent denominations are like different companies and
                             "In no department of theology has there been so armies of the same nation is an argument that only
                     ; much confusion and vagueness as in the matter of          the blind and the silly will use. If the United States
                       authority; Many people are wondering and rightly had an army that practiced mutiny like the professing
                       so, just what they are to believe and whom they are       church is doing today she would not last 50 years. The
                     to believe in the face of many self-styled authorities      fact that the church here is a militant church does not
                       that have arisen throughout the ages. They are in a mean that we are a mutinous church. Who then is
                       maze and are asking the question, `In view of the fact right? Where shall we find our authority and know
                       that there are so many churches, and denominations that we are on the right track?
:                    all claiming that they are right and most everybody           "By many teachers it is taught  that the church is
                     : else wrong, whom are we going to believe?" There          the final authority and the interpreter for the indi-
                     : is the Catholic church with its two divisions and then vidual. Foremost among the ranks that teach that is
                       there is the Protestant church split up into some 1360 the Roman Catholic church which says that the church
                       sects and denominations and all of them claim to have     (the Roman  CathoIic church) is the authority and
                       the truth. Now it is very evident to any one that can     therefore lay members of the church need not study
                       still think that all these differing groups cannot be the Bible or worry about `interpretations' for the
                      wholly right. Only one can be right. Which one is it? church takes care of all that. But the Roman Catholic
                       The Catholics say they are right, the Baptists claim church is not the only one. The leaven is spreading
                       they are ; the Methodists believe they are and so on among the Protestant churches as well. We hear men
                       ad finitum. Now one thing is sure, that of the 1300       quoting the Standards of the church and the teachings
:                      Protestant denominations at least 1299 are partly of the Fathers far more often than the invincible
                       wrong and possible the whole 1300. I am not ready to Word of God. They tell us that the Holy Spirit leads
                       say that any of them have all the truth. The  pos-        and directs her in the formulations of her creeds and
                      sibility is that all of them are wrong in some points doctrines. The Spirit, they say, abides in the church
                      :at least, All these denominations are based and built and speaks through her and therefore the deductions
                       upon some interpretatiodof the Word and hence their of its councils and synods must be taken as authori-
                      separations. Hence, one .is called Calvinistic, another tative. But dear me, we know that these councils
                       Wesleyan, and others Lutheran and so on signifying have made grave mistakes in the past and we fear will
                       that they are built upon the principles laid down by continue to make them. If the Spirit speaks through
                      -ithese men whose name they bear. Now that is indeed the church then will some one pray tell me through
                      a sad condition. When we build merely upon what which church? What church do you mean when you
                      men have thought of the Word instead of upon the say The Church. Surely, you cannot mean any one of
                      Word itself it leads to confusion and error without the 1300 different denominations. They have in many
                      exception. These men were fallible and made mistakes. cases given different and conflicting interpretations of
                      A little reading of history will soon prove that. And the same passages. To say that all these were led by
                      quoting their interpretations as the f?.nal authority is the Spirit would mean that the same Spirit told one
                      basing your beliefs on men - and men are fallible.         group one thing and another group something else. In
                             "I refuse to be called by a man's name. See I Cor. a recent church periodical we read that the church was


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                  441

        L;he interpreter of the Bible. Again we ask, What           So far De Haan.
       church? Which one?                                           In offering our comment, we set out with project-
           "The church is the body of the Lord Jesus Christ ing the real question the author of the above-cited
       and through this body He speaks and accomplishes His article raises. It should be made to read, "HOW rn~y
       will. This body is found everywhere. It is not limited a person or group of persons come into the possession
       to any denomination or creedal  statement of any partic- of an infallible interpretation of the Word of God."
       ular body. It is composed of individuals everywhere Mark you, infallible is he incapable of erring. A writ-
       that have been born again by the Word and the Spirit ing, or an interpretation is said to be infallible when it
     `:; and it is through these that the. Spirit speaks and     cannot  be in error. Only he with unfailing ability to
       interprets the things of God. ' Failure to recognize this lay hold on the incorporated idea is able to supply us
       causes confusion and doubt. The church is a term that with expositions partaking of the character of the in-
       to many people means nothing because the visible or- fallible. De  Haan, then, will tell his readers how they
       ganization of religion has been confused with the real may become the happy possessors of an interpretation
       church. The church is not a denomination or a build-      (better still, exposition or exegesis) of Holy Writ, un-
       ing nor a group of people that are bound by religious failingly correct. True, in the aforesaid article the
       ties. The simplest form of THE church is `where two question,  as I formulated it,  does not appear.. Dr. De
       or three are gathered in His name.' Notice that it is Haan's formulation reads : "What then is our author-
       in His name. Not in the name of a man or a set of ity?" From the current argument of the article it is
        Standards or under a certain form of church polity or evident, however, that the author uses the term  autlbor-
       government. It is `wherever two or three gather in ity  as the signification  of unfailing trustworthyness OP
       His name.' Whatever the views of these two or three absolute reliability. Trace with me, for just a short
       may be on certain nonessentials, if they are born again distance, the path of the author's reasoning and be
       and come together in His name, there He is present to convinced. "The church," so he reasons, "is divided
       bless. It has nothing at all to do with denominational into some 1300 denominations." "All these denomina-
*       walls and teachings and it follows that an isolated tions are build upon principles laid down by the men
        church or denomination is not the final authority, for whose name they bear (Calvin, Luther, Wesley and so
        all of them differ among themselves.       Oh that we on) ." "This is indeed a sad condition for these men
       might forget these fences that we have built and be so were fallible and made mistakes." Conclusion : All
       absorbed in the great task of winning souls for Christ these denominations are as to their basic principles;
        that all others would fade into insignificance. We may creeds and dogmas fallible, that is, liable of being in
        learn a lesson from the Iowa farmer that said, `Yes,     error.
        we have fences between our farms, but we grow the           The following link in the chain of reasoning is con-
        corn so high that we can't see the fences.' May God      stituted of two questions. They read: "Who then is
        give us grace to follow that example.                    right? Where shall we find our authority and know
           "The question naturally arises, Where then is the we are on the right track?" And the author's answer
        authority if it is not vested in the church or in any     (with which, of course, we are in full agreement) :
        creedal  statement or set of dogmas that the church "Neither any one of nor the sum total of the 1300 de-
        has adopted?' The answer is clear, `The sword of the nominations, but the Word of God." The author, how-
        Spirit which is the Word of God.' That is our only ever, realizes that he who sets himself to the task of
        rule of faith and of practice. `All Scripture is given applying to a creed or creeds the test of the Word of
        by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for God must know and understand the Word. Such's one
        reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteous: must have extracted from the letter of the Word the
        ness that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly embodied truth and be supplied with what he deems to
        furnished unto all good works' (II Tim. 3  :16,17). The be a reliable exposition or, exegesis or, as De Haan
        Word of God, the Scriptures are the only final author- expresses it, interpretation of the Word. Who is to
        ity and everything which is contrary to that must be be the interpreter? To whom shall I turn for a trust-
        rejected. There is a curse pronounced upon those that worthy explanation of Holy Writ? Attent,  now, to the
        `wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction.' Well, author's  azIswer. Says he: "Not man, that is, not the
        but now the question is raised as follows, `We agree church, not any one of nor the sum total of the 1300
        that the scriptures are the final authority but there are denominations, not organized religion is capable of
        so many interpretations of that Word. One says this interpreting Scripture, for the 1300 denominations
        and the other that. Who is right? The Scriptures are have in  msny cases given differing and conflicting in-
        right, and nothing else. How shall we know which is terpretations of the same passage, and thus have
        the right interpretation? By following the leading shown themselves up or being fallible, that is, liable to
        and the guiding of the Spirit. He is the Interpreter. error. In a word, the interpreter of Holy Writ `is
        No man but the Spirit of God. What we need for the the Holy Spirit. Hence, we should follow the leading
        correct understanding of the Word is not mere doc- and the guiding of the Spirit. Doing so we will know
        trinal statements and interpretations but we need more which is the right interpretation.
        wisdom  from  the Spirit of God,"                          I Let us now draw a conclusion or two. De Haan in-

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

sists that the interpretations, creeds and dogmas of the     (the church as institution) and directs her in the
church, being fallible and, for this reason, "leading to formulation of her creeds and doctrines. The Spirit,
confusion and error without exception," should be set they say, abides in the church and speaks through her
aside. If so, it must follow that we may be satisfied and therefore the deductions of her councils and
`with nothing less than an infallible interpretation of synods must be taken as authoritative." That such is
Holy Writ. Further, in urging the believer to turn not De Haan's  view is evident from the following ex-
from the fallible church (as if this were possible) to traction : "But dear me, we know that these councils
the infallible Spirit - the Interpreter of the Word  - have made grave mistakes in the past and we fear will
De Haan plainly proceeds from the assumption that he continue  .to make them. If the Spirit speaks through
submitting himself to the guidance of the Spirit, is by the church will some one pray tell me through which
the Spirit infallibly led into  all truth. It is plain that church? In a word, the Spirit does not speak through
we were not misrepresenting De Haan. when we said the church as institution, but only through the church
that the question which he (we believe unwittingly)          in its unorganized from.
raised is, "How may the believer become the recipient           Says he: "The church is the body of the Lord Jesus
of an infallible interpretation of the Word?' We are Christ and through this body He speaks arui acconz-
of the conviction that it was not his purpose to raise plishes  His w&X." It is plain to us, now, why De Haan
this question ; that, in other words, De  Haan failed to styles himself and  his  flock  Undenominational Calvary
sense the implications of the current argument of his Church.  Deno&ation,  according to De  Haan, is a
article ; failed to realize,  fmally, that he had reasoned term signifying organized Christianity. Well then,
himself into a tight place or snare, rather, from which whereas the Spirit cannot be counted upon to abide in
he can extricate himself only by cheerfully admitting a Christianity that is organized, and whereas Chris-
that the above-cited article of his is a conglomeration tianity of today and of yesterday is and was organ-
of much nonsense. More of .this presently.                   ized, it follows that it must do and had to do in the
   What could have induced De Haan to reason and past without the guidance of the Spirit. Fact is, so
write as he did? Evidently he strove to weave a line De  Haan reasons, that from this Christianity the
of thought yielding. the conclusion : Dr. De Haan is the Spirit has departed to take up His abode in me and my
only reliable and trustworthy Bible expositor the city flock, we being undenominational. Astounding !
of Grand Rapids knows of. Hence, hear him. From                 It is  pIain  that the article we  criticise  is sheer
his article it is evident that such was his striving. For    propaganda.    What about it? some one may inter-
he informs his readers that he who builds upon prin- polate. There is this about it. If De Haan were what
ciples laid down by some fallible man, and follows man- he pretends to be - the saints infallible guide to
made creeds and dogmas is engaged in  a  sad business ; heaven, an infallible builder; if he were doing what he
that the thing to do is to build upon the Word; that         pretends to be doing - following the Spirit instead of
not fallible man but the infallible Spirit is the Inter- a so-called man-made creed, supplying his flock with
preter to which we should turn; that, finally, the expositions of the Word, unfailingly correct, - we,
church, Calvin, Luther, in a word, man, are incapable too, would hail him as God's great gift to the church
of interpreting the Bible, they being fallible. De Haan      of the twentieth century. Fact is, however, that De
is careful to add that he himself is not engaged in the Haan's  pretentions are false. He is no infallible guide
above described sad business ; that nobody "can tack to heaven. His expositions are not unfailingly correct.
a man's name to* his religion ; that he believes in the He is not doing without a creed. He and his flock do
Lord Jesus Christ instead of following a creed ; that        not constitute a representation of unorganized Chris-
then only interpreter of Scripture he recognizes is the tianity.
Holy Spirit." What will the unthinking man in the               De  Haan, therefore, is a pretender. The article he
pew and the uninitiated reader say? He will say in wrote is amazingly deceptive. The elements of thought
his heart, "All hail De Haan  - the Spirit-filled man; entering into the make-up of the basis of its current
the one man building upon the Word ; able to supply argument are fallacious. These thought-elements put
me with a reliable, yea infallible interpretation of into form would read: (a) The Holy Spirit interprets
Scripture, as his Interpreter is the infallible Spirit of Scripture not  through the instrumentality  of the saint
God. Bless the Lord, I have found at last a man of but apart from him. Hence, the saint's expositions
God."                                                        are not representative of the fruit of his exegetical
   Let me furnish some more proof for the contention labors, but the exclusive finding of the Spirit. So De
that De Haan would have men hail him as .G!rand Rap-         Haan reasoned when he wrote: "He - the Spirit, -
ids' only guide to heaven. De  Haan, in his article dis- is the Interpreter. Not man, but the Spirit of God."
tinguishes between the church as institute which he The other of the above-mentioned thought-elements
styles organized Christianity, and the church as organ- reads, when put into form, as follows : (b) The Spirit
ism - the body of Christ. He maintains that the view infallibly leads the saint into all truth. Both proposi-
to the effect that the Spirit dwells in and sneaks tions are palpable fallacious. The Spirit, let it be re-
through the institution, is untenable. Says he: "They peated, is indeed the Interpreter of the Word. He in-
teIl  us that the Holy Spirit speaks through the church terprets, however, not apart from, but through the  in-


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                    443
                                                                                                                 -_
strumentality of the church. His operations in this Hence, imperfections will cleave unto what the Spirit
body consist in His empowering those in whom He           accomplishes through the instrumentality of a part-
abides to lay hold on and to sense the truth incor- ially sin-darkened mind. Fact is then, that individual
porated in the letter of the Word ; to extract from       believers, synods and church councils have, do and will
Holy Writ its current truths; to give to these truths     continue to err; Groups of Christians will continue to
proper form; and to elucidate and to systematize them.    differ among themselves as to what may be the truth
In interpreting Scripture, then, the Spirit identifies embodied in a particular scripture. However, the sit-
Himself with the saint, avails himself of his  regenl     uation is not nearly as hopeless as Dr. De Haan would .
erated,  sanctified and enlightened mind, so that the have his readers believe. Though councils have erred,
final product is the work both of the saint and of the    there is, nevertheless, such a thing as a creed of Chris-
Spirit. The church, however, is active merely as the tendom which every group of believers have, do and
Spirit's instrument so that her exegetical labors must will continue to regard as the expression of their con-
be placed in a class with good works ordained before      victions. Dr. De Haan's  manner of speech, sad to say,
by God "that we should walk in them." It will not do, was framed for the purpose of destroying men's faith
then, to say that not man, not the church, not the        in every ecclesiastical body but his own.
saint but the Spirit of God is the interpreter of the        The question has often been asked why, if creeds
Word.                                                     are not unfailingly correct, the church cannot be satis-
   Because the Spirit is so operative in the church, tied with Scripture and does not keep to its utterances.
we have creeds. A creed, then, is the Word of God Why, with Scripture at our elbow, appear before men
made to pass through the consciousness of the church with a fallible creed? And the answer is ready: To do
and of the individual believer. Or, a creed is the truth the former is to shirk a God-imposed duty. The church
of God laid hold on by the church and made to reach shall love the Lord its God with all its mind. Doing so,
the outside world through the channel of the enlight- it extracts from Scripture the current truth;penetrates
ened consciousness.                                       into its meaning, casts it into proper form, keeps it
   The Spirit, however, does not infdlibly   lead the before the eye, and lovingly embraces the correspond-
church into all truth. That is to say, His operations do ing reality. It is labors such as these  tha.t gave us
not render it a body incapable of erring, a body our creeds.
absolutely reliable as an interpreter of truth. It           God wills that the church be so engaged. He, there-
is, then, not the way of heaven to provide the saints     fore, causes the heretic to appear, who, by his lie stim-
with a testimony to the effect that their creeds are      ulates the church to action. Encountering the lie, the
absolutely reliable reproductions of current scriptural church searches Scripture for the opposing truth and,
truths. These creeds, therefore, are not unfailingly having found this truth, casts it into a form that will
correct. Not that any one article of our confession expose the lie and vindicate the truth.
may not be in full agreement with truth. As far as           A creed will not be a literal reproduction of the
we can judge, it is. However, what is lacking, is the phraseology of Scripture. For a creed is the formula-
seal of heaven. The only book we hold to be infallible, tion of a truth which in Scripture is without a specific
that is, incapable of erring, is the Bible. We do not form. To illustrate, according to the `Word of God,
consider "of equal value any writings of men, however God is only one, the one single Essence, in which are
holy these men may have been, with those divine three persons, really, truly and eternally distinct, ac-
scriptures, nor ought we to consider custom, or the cording to their incommunicable properties ; . . . . .
great multitude, or antiquity, or succession of times     This phraseology is altogether foreign to Holy Writ.
and persons, or councils, decrees or statutes, as of The embodied truth however is, according to our con-
equal value with the truth of God, for the truth is       viction, current in Scripture. We need the above-cited
above all ; for all men are of themselves liars, and more formulation of the doctrine of God. For the heretic
vain than vanity itself" (Art. 8).                        may profess to believe in the Bible from one of its
   The Spirit leads, then, but not infallibly. The covers to the other. To cite Scripture to such a one
fallibility of the church, however, is no reflection on will avail us nothing. The truth must be placed be-
the work of the Spirit and can no more be laid to His fore him in a form which he cannot evade.
charge than the imperfections cleaving the believer's         Having projected and appraised De Haan's  basic
good works. The partial unreliability of the labors of fallicies,  let us now direct our attention to some of the
the church is due to indwelling sin, and not to any de- thought-elements constituting the superstructure re-
fect inherent in the operations of the Spirit. The        posing upon this basis.
power to lay hold on and to sense the truth of God is         Says De Haan: "This following of a man or a set
peculiar to the new man. Hence, in that degree that of creeds or dogmas is the cause of all the divisions in
the believer is zealous in mortifying his members upon the body of which Christ spake when He prayed, `That
the earth, and in putting on the new man which is they may all be one.' " It is a crime, then, to follow a
renewed in knowledge after the image of him that set of creeds. According to De Haan, the thing to do
created him, will he be mighty in the Scriptures. Re- is to follow the Word and to believe in Christ. Fact is,
liable exegesis is a matter of progressive sanctification. however, that he, following the Word of God is, of

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

 necessity, following a creed; that the Word and the the church, the sinner, the saint, heaven and hell. In
 creed, I call mine, cannot be placed in a justaposition ;    a word, let him divest himself of his creed. Fact is,
 that Dr. De Haan, as well as those whom he takes to          he cannot do it. And why not? Because the truth he
 task, has, must have, his creed. Let us make our apprehends is truth he believes. It constitutes the
 meaning clear. The existence of the Christian creed contents of his faith - his creed. What we believe and
 betokens, as was before said, that the church of the         know to be true, constitutes our convictions and the
 past, perusing the pages of Holy Writ, tabulated and latter are a part and parcel of us, interwoven, so to
classified its findings, and, having thought its way into say, into the very texture of our soul. Men die for
 the truth circulating through each class, cast it (the their convictions. Rather than deny the constituency
 truth) into a specific and orderly form. It is the of his living faith, the saint permits himself to be
 church thinking its way into the revealed mysteries affixed  to the stake. Only in the event our convictions
 of heaven, that gives us the Christian creed. The weaken and die, only in the event we no longer believe
 essence of this creed, then, is truth, - sensed, ab- what we formerly believe, so that the written creed to
 sorbed, comprehended and formulated.          D e   Haan, which we could point as the expression of our beliefs is
 mark you, urges his readers to forsake the Christian no longer ours, a part and parcel of us, can we set
 creed. He even denies its very right of existence for that creed aside. Dr. De Haan claims to have done so.
 it is the cause of divisions in the body of Christ. He Supposing we are uncharitable enough to take his word
 has it, then, that the church sinned when it brought for it, what should have to be our conclusion? That
 before its eye and cast into form the truth placed in the God and Christ of Christendom is no longer his ;
 its posession. Sensing and formulating the revealed that he no longer confesses that God is one in essence,
 truth of God, is a criminal engagement. Yet De  Haan,        yet nevertheless distinguished in three persons ;
 being a minister of the Word, spends much of his time that Christ and likewise' the Holy Ghost is true
 doing the very thing for which he takes the church of and eternal God. These are some of the proposi-
 Christ to task. And on the Sabbath one may find him tions entering into the make-up of the Christian creed
 imparting unto his hearers the fruits of his researches. which De  Haan professes to have discarded. If the
 If he were consistent, would he not close the doors of       God and Christ of the creed we quote is no longer his,
 his chapel and return to his former profession? But pray, who, then, is his Christ, who his God? It is as if
 we will pass this by for the moment. De  Haan informs I hear De Haan replying: "The God and Christ of the
 his readers that he himself does the thing he recom- Bible." Indeed, but let De Haan bear in mind that
 mended, to-wit, turn from creed to Scripture. We may such, too, would be the reply of the Russellite, who,
 assume that the Scriptures he searches ; that he will nevertheless, insists that the doctrine of the trinity of
 ponder the apprehended truth in the attempt to sense the Godhead well suited the dark ages which it  hel.:>ed
 its meaning and realize its implications. These pre- to produce ; who labels this doctrine Trinitarian non-
 liminary engagements of his having been brought to sense, taught by gray-haired professors in theological
 a successful issue, he tabulates his findings. The fin- seminaries; .who declares, further, that God is a soli-
 ished product he calls a sermon. Pray, what else is tary being from eternity unrevealed and unknown;
that sermon of his but a creed - his'creed,  - appre- who, finally, defines Christ as a man forever dead, and
 hended, comprehended and formulated truth? This denies Him to have been a combination of two natures,
 creed De  Haan follows. With it he appears before his -human and divine. Supposing this Russellite knocked
 flock and pleads for its acceptance.  Is De  Haan fol- at the door of De Haan's  church seeking admittance.
 lowing a creed? Indeed he is, if not the creed of Chris- How would De  Haan go about hindering him from at-
tendom then his very own. What is more, De  Haan is taching himself to the brotherhood of which he (De
 a mere. man and fallible, that is, capable of erring.        Haan)  is pastor? By asking the intruder to confess
 Hence, that creed of his is man-made and as fallible         his faith in the God of Scripture? Doing so and no
as the creeds which he pretends to have disposed of as more he would be opening wide the doors of his church
 so much thrash. Yet this man who is following his to those of the faith of Pastor Russell. In order to
very own, man-made. and fallible creed, rails at his successfully check the advances of this Russellite, De
fellow-Christians, not of his flock, of course, for fol- Haan should have to avail himself of the terminology
lowing a man-made, fallible creed. Amazing! Did we of the Nicene creed and  define his God as a being one
say to much when we said that De Haan's  manner of in essence, yet nevertheless distinguished in three per-
speech,.was  so framed as to destroy men's confidence in sons.
every ecclesiastical body but his own? I think not.              Dr. De Haan  may complain that I fail to do him
    "Creeds," so De Haan remarks, "are the cause of justice. He may say, "I do believe with all my heart
all the divisions in the body of Christ." Let Christen- in the God which the Nicene creed reflects." If so, he
dom, then, he means to say, cast them on the  scrape-         should refrain from posing as one who forsook and
heap. Just so. But let De  Haan then take the lead.           refuses to follow that creed. For to believe in the God
Let him divest himself of that man-made, fallible creed of a creed is to believe and adhere to that creed.- Now
of his own making. Let him undo himself of, let us it so happens that the two verbs adhere to and forsake
say, his millennium. views, of his views of Christ, Cod, signify two contrary actions. One cannot adhere to


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          445

     and at once be forsaking the same thing.                     face in the above-cited question smack of Roman&m.
        The question, nevertheless, remains what De  Haan         Creeds (including our Catechism) are, as De  Haan re-
     could have had in mind when he appeared before his marks, and as we repeatedly emphasized, man-made
     readers with the statement: "You can't tack a man's and therefore fallible. The statement: "We do not
     name to my religion." Fact is, that, today, De Haan          have to look up all the scriptural references" seems to
     has before his mind and regularly preaches the great indicate that its author has set aside his Bible and
     truths of Christendom. How did he come into the placed in its room his creed ; that he fails to apply to
     possession of these truths? Does he mean to say that his creed the test of God's Word; that, finally, he uses
     he entered upon his ministerial career an absolute the Heidelberg Catechism as a license for laziness. The
     stranger to the teachings of the great creeds of the         Christian creeds, let it be repeated, are man-made and
     church ; that as far as he was concerned, these creeds therefore liable to error. Hence, the attitude assumed
     did not exist, but that, approaching Holy Writ abso- toward them  w~ust be critical. The Scripture references
     lutely empty minded as far as the contents of these should "not only be looked up" but be given most care-
     creeds are concerned, he, by diligent and persistent ful attention and be studied with persevering diligence
     study of the Word, actually succeeded in apprehending,       until all doubts as to whether these references do in-
     single handedly, the entire body of truth of which deed yield the truths incorporated in the creed, have
     these creeds are a formulation? If so, he succeeded in been dispelled. The task of verifying the creeds of
     accomplishing in a few brief years what it took the          Christendom devolves upon every believer. To lay
     church of Christ many  centures  to accomplish. We hold on the fruits of the labors of the church of yester-
     know, however, that such are not his accomplishments.        days, without asking questions, is to follow blindly our
     For De Haan is no miracle-man. The truth of the mat- fallible spiritual ancestors. To do so is, we are con-
     ter is, then, that he is seated at the feet of those same    vinced, a great sin before heaven. We are ever pre-
     church fathers whom he publicly derides; that at reg- pared to blindly follow the infallible God but for
     ular intervals you may see him setting out for such fallible man we, must be on our guide, no matter who
     localities as Nicea, Dordrecht and Geneva. That is to        he may be. The Christian creeds may not have the
     say, it was these creeds, he publicly dares to disown, effect of rendering one a less ardent student of Scrip-
     that brought before his eye the great truths circulat- ture. To the contrary, they should stimulate interest
     ing through Scripture, that opened those eyes of his         in the study of the Word of God.
     to the mysteries of God's Word, that furnish him with           What now is the value of the Christian creed?
     the terminology he needs to give adequate expression What may be the advantages accruing from its posses-
     of his faith. Scripture likens the Word of God to milk. sion? These questions have already been answered.
     The teachings of the great creeds of the Christian           Christian creeds are the great storehouses of truth'
     church (organized Christianity, if you please) is this mined from the Word by the church; the depositaries
     same milk assimilated by the church  - our every of the fruits of the labors of centuries. Creeds, then,
     mother. This mother upon whose breast De  Haan re-           are priceless possessions, for they enable the student
     posses and at the fountains of whose paps he nourishes       of Scripture to apprehend in a comparatively brief
     his mind, he publicly smites in the face.                    space of time, the great truths circulating through
        A bulletin of a ccrtxic church here in Grand Rap- the Word of God ; they furnish the watchers on Zion's
     ids puts the following question: "Do we appreciate walls with the phraseology they need to successfully
     what our forefathers have done in giving us answers combat the thief, who, in entering the sheepfold, avoids
     tom these important questions (the questions, namely, the door; creeds, finally, enable the believer to give,
     put by our Heidelberg Catechism) in such a simple            when called upon to do so, a specific, concise~and  or-
     and condensed statement that it is easily understood,        derly statement of the hope that is in him.
     and we do not have to look up all the Scripture refer-          To be sure, the sentiments coming to the surface
     ences and formulate our own answers?' This ques- in the question put by the bulletin of a certain church
     tion greatly agitates De Haan, as is evident from his in Grand Rapids, are to be denounced. However, the
     comment which reads: "Read that over again and see sentiments Dr. De Haan gave vent to in his article are
     what it means. How we ought to appreciate what our equally as repulsive. The author of the above-cited
_    forefathers have done for us in giving us the Cate- question and De Haan represents two extremes. The
     chism so that now we don't have to read the Scrip- former seems to have cut loose from Scripture and to
     tures ourselves. How thankful we should be that we be living entirely out of tradition, accepting uncritic-
     don't have to read that Bible any more but that it has ally the findings of our spiritual antecedents. De Haan,
     all been mapped out for us by men that were probably on the other hand, urges his readers to break away
     just as fallible as we are. Dear readers, do you see         from that which has been handed down to us by the
     what that means. One would not believe, that a thing church of yesterdays to ignore, avoid and disown the
     of this kind could be true unless one saw it with his        truth-structure that already stands.
     own eyes. Yet that is what we have come to." So far
     De Haan. I agree, the sentiments coming to the sur-                                                     G. M. 0.


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                      451
men. Er komt in den weg van zonde en genade schei-
ding, de scheiding, die God Zich had gedacht en die                  SKETCHES ON THE DEVELOPMENT
Hij had gewild van voor de grondlegging der wereld.                               OF DOCTRINE
Dat aldus uit natuurlijk oogpunt  Ben, maar uit  geeste-
lijk-zedelijk oogpunt in tweeen  liggende menschelijk                               AMYRALDISM
geslacht ontwikkelt  zich nu naar Gods, bestel  antithe-
tisch op den bodem dezer wereld, met alle middelen, die          The history of doctrine emphatically teaches that it
in en door de schepping van Godswege  aan dat  ge-            is hard for sinful man to maintain the truth that the
slacht ten dienste worden  gesteld, met regen en zonne-       Most High is really sovereign and free in the matter
schijn, huis en have, geld en  goed,  verstand en wil, of salvation and in the dispensation of His grace. That
gave en talent, en dat we1 zoo, dat de kern zich ontwik-      God is merciful to whom He wills and hardeneth whom
kelt als kern, de bolster als bolster, het koren als koren    He wills is not a doctrine after the vain imagination
en het kaf als kaf. En als straks de voleinding komt of sinful man. It seems hard to him. It is character-
dan komt ook de scheiding van hetgeen  zich aldus heeft istic of sin to oppose God, to dispute His sovereignty,
ontwikkeld.                                                   to dethrone Him. The carnal mind is enmity against
   Daarom zijn de  dingen  opzichzelf dan ook geen ge-        God, it is not subject to the law of God, neither, indeed,
nade. Zij zijn niet anders dan middelen, die God ge-          can be. The natural man would sway the sceptre him-
bruikt en die ook de mensch gebruikt. Omdat de laat- self and he vainly imagines, that he is able to rule and
ste ze gebruikt, daarom is hij verantwoordelijk. En           participate in the government of the universe. And,
omdat God ze gebruikt, daarom voert Hij Zijn raad therefore, we need not be surprised that the sinful
uit, tot handhaving en bevestiging van Zijn Verbond heart does not appropriate the truth of sovereign pre-
en Kerk en tot verwerping aller goddeloozen, In het destination but rises in opposition against it.
eerste geval is alles genade, niet alleen  voorspoed,            Were the saints perfect this opposition to the truth
maar ook tegenspoed, niet alleen gezondheid, maar ook of sovereign grace certainly would not be found among
krankheid, niet alleen overvloed, maar ook gebrek, niet them. Living from the faith in Christ Jesus the people
alleen leven, maar ook dood, want alle  dingen werken of God are ready to confess that it w"as in no wise and
mede ten goede dengenen, die God liefhebben. Maar to no extent their own free will, a certain willingness
ook, in het laatste geval is alles vloek en toorn ; dood.     on their part, that prepared them for the reception of
maar ook leven ; krankheid, maar ook gezondheid ; grace. The new man is glad to know that it was
tegenspoed, maar ook voorspoed. Want ook in het almighty, irresistible, free and sovereign grace that
prachtige huis van de goddeloozen is de vloek des Hee-        called him out of darkness into God's marvelous light.
ren.                                                             But the Church is not perfect as long as she is in
   Ik heb over dit onderwerp meer te zeggen, maar this world.
dit antwoord is eigenlijk reeds te lang. Dit zal dus             There is chaff among the wheat. It is not all Israel
moeten wachten tot een volgend nummer.                        that is known by that name.
                                                  H. H.          And the true saints of God are not perfectly deliv-
                                                              ered from the power of sin in their members. They
                                                              have but a small beginning of this new obedience.
                                                                 Hence, also the Church repeatedly departs from the
                       HET GEBED                              truth of predestination.
                                                                 Periodically there arise leaders who sound the
          Bid veelmaals in eenzame oorden                     trumpet and call the Church to return to the whole-
          Klaag vrijmoedig God uw smart                       hearted confession of this fundamental truth. It is in
          `t Hart ziet Hij niet in uw woorden                 such periods of doctrinal revival that the truth is de-
          Maar de woorden in uw hart.                         veloped and that confessions are formulated.          T'he
                                                              Church in such periods ascends the mountain-peaks
          Geen gekniel, geen zucht, geen traan,               of faith and from there reflects the full light of truth
          Geen gelofte ziet Hij  aan,                         of God in Christ Jesus.
          Maar als we in Zijn Zoon gelooven,                     But just as frequently these periods of strength of
          Hoort Hij ons in gunst  hier boven.                 faith and clarity of vision are followed by times of
                                               GELLERT        weakness and decadence. And it is a striking  phe-
                                                              nomenom, that in such periods of doctrinal indifference
                                                              and apathy, one of the first doctrines to be tampered
                                                              with and soon to be denied is the dogma of God's sov-
               Het hemelruim, d' azuren boog,                 ereign grace.  t
               Bewolkt of wolk'loos voor ons oog,                It appears to require spiritual effort for the
        Of fonk'lend  `s  nacht door sterrenpracht,           Church to maintain herself on the height of faith from
        Verkondt en prijst Gods scheppersmacht.               which she may glory in the absolutely free and  sover-

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

eign grace of the Lord ; a spiritual effort she seems un- able man and knew how to defend himself. The Synod
able to sustain for a long time in succession.              acquitted him. This was in 1637. Seven years later
   Hence, these periodical relapses into Pelagianism, he was indicted once more and summoned before the
the glorification of man.                                   Synod of Clarenton, but with the same result. Yet
   At the Synod of Dordrecht the truth had been another time he was examined on suspicion of heresy
maintained and restated, that salvation is not of man, by the Synod of  Loudun  in 1659. But Amyraut was
but of God alone. Though it cannot be said of the never formally condemned, no matter how many of the
Canons  of  Dordrecht  that they draw the severest  line ablest Reformed theologians were convinced that his
of Reformed truth; though it is without reasonable views departed from the accepted faith. He died in
doubt' that even at that famous Synod there were            1664.
other influences at work than the mere desire to ex-           His views were really two-faced, like the  well-
press the truth of sovereign grace ; and though, .con- known Janus-head of the old Romans.
sequently, the declarations of the Canons, are not             Perhaps this feature accounts largely for the fact
always as concise and specific as they might be; yet,       that he was never formally condemned and always
the Church at that Synod maintained the truth, that knew to maintain his position in the Church. If you
we are saved by grace, through faith and that not of        would look at the one face of. this Janus-head it ap-
us, it is the gift of God.                                  peared Reformed in every feature ; but as it turned its
   But it was not long before an attempt was made to second face to you, it appeared a perfect reproduction
bedim the light that shone so brightly in 161%`19.          of Arminius.
   Not only did the Remonstrants continue to pro-              lt was not  atall unlike the present official stand of
pagate their views and disseminate their doctrines, but the Christian Reformed Churches in our own time and
also within the Reformed Churches there soon arose a country.         Let an Arminian attack a Christian  Re-
new movement to obliterate the lines drawn by the `formed minister and accuse him of restricting the gos-
Synod of Dordt.                                             pel message to a `few and he will answer, that he
   The attempt was made by a certain school to main- firmly believes that God seriously wills the salvation of
tain a general and well-meaning offer of grace and sal- all `men and, therefore, offers it to all. On the basis
vation and to show that such a general offer of grace of this phase of his belief he can declare and preach,
was quite compatible with the truth of  ele$ion and that God does not limit the salvation in Christ, but
reprobation.                                                freely offers it to all without distinction. But you are
   The school that made the attempt was that of standing by when he thus answers the objectionof the
Amyraut or Amyraldus.                                       Arminian and you now object to that he is not Re-
   Hence, our title above this sketch:  -4myraldism.        formed; `for that the Reformed faith maintains that
   And the name for the view, though you need not God's grace is particular and that Christ died for the
remember it, but may be interested to know, is Hypo- elect only. And immediately he turns about and as-
thetical Universalism.                                      sures you, that he firmly believes in the doctrine of
   Mdise Amyraut was born of distinguished parents election as developed and set forth by the Synod of
in 1596 at Bourgueil, France. His parents belonged to Dordt and incorporated in the Canons.
the Reformed Church.  Mo'ise  received an education            It is the head with two faces.
and, as so many in his day, at first devoted himself to        You indict the one face and the head turns about
the study of law. But later he became interested in and shows you the other.
the study of theology, especially through the instru-          Thus it is with hypothetical universalism, the doc-
mentality of reading Calvin's Institutes. He entered trine of a hypothetical universal grace, as set forth by
the academy at Saumur, France. His ability as a stu- Amyraldus.
dent soon became evident and in 1633 he was appointed          It was an attempt to combine a conception of uni-
professor at the same school.' And  not, only did  ,Amy-    versal or common grace with the Reformed doctrine of
raut distinguish himself as a student, but  .he also predestination.
proved to be an able and attractive teacher and under          Amyraut really proceeded from the conception of a
his leadership the school soon flourished., Students will in God to save all men.. God seriously wills the
from all parts of Europe now flocked to Saumur  to'be       salvation of every man, he taught. For there is in
instructed by Amyraut. But. before long his views God a desire that all men may repent and thus be
began to arouse suspicion, and it was whispered that at saved. If all men would only repent, no purpose in
Saumur a doctrine was taught that departed from the God would stand in the way of their salvation. And,
Reformed faith as declared by the Synod of Dordt. of course, if this if-clause is duly emphasized, who
These whispers developed into open denouncement of could possibly deny it? Surely, the penitent heart is
his doctrines, when in 1634 he published a treatise on never rejected by the Lord. Whoever seeketh shall
the subject of predestination. He was fiercely attacked surely find and to him that knocketh it shall be opened,
from many sides. Nay more, he was formally accused and he that cometh  unto, Him He shall in no wise cast
of heresy and summoned before the Synod of Alencon off. But, Amyraut further taught, it is from this will
to give account of his views. But Amyraut was an or desire in God to save all men, that the decree of


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        453

atonement issues forth. Earnestly willing that all men,       that they are born from a desire to soften the sharp
who would come to repentance, should be saved, God            lines of the truth of predestination, that as a result,
determined to open a way of sal"vation  `for them. He         they tamper with the doctrine of election and reproba-
decreed to give Christ as an atonement for sin, and tion, that for a while they desperately attempt to main-
this atonement would be sufficient to save all men, if tain what is in reality an impossible standpoint, which
they only will repent. This is God's universal decree however, must sooner or later be abandoned in order
of salvation, issuing forth from His love and desire to then to embrace openly the Arminian profession.
save all. In this sense, then, atonement is universal.           The trouble  .is, that the two decrees of Amyraut's
The death of Christ is a revelation.of  God's love to the discovery are impossible in God. If God seriously wills
whole world, to every man. And it is on the basis of `the salvation of all men, will He not decree to do all
this universal deeree of God, that Amyraut could con- He can to satisfy that desire to save them? And why,
ceive of the possibility of an offer of grace on the part then, should He limit His own power of salvation to
of God to all men, well-meaning and serious. When the sending of Christ into His atoning death for the
God approaches all men with the offer of salvation, salvation of all men, on condition of repentance? Why
and this He does in the preaching of the, gospel, He should He not also decree, if He seriously wills the
does so from His ardent desire to save every man.             salvation of all, and if He knows, as He surely does,
   Of course, in this Amyraut plainly departed from that man of himself can never come to repentance, to
the Reformed faith. For the ordination of Christ to give regenerating grace to all men and the power of
be offered up as a sacrifice for our sins, did not flow faith and repentance to every human being? On the
from a will in God to save all men. He purposed to other hand, if, as Amyraut taught, in the subsequent
save His people and ordained Christ as the Head of decree God determined to give regenerating grace not
them. Neither is there in the cross a mere possibility to all but to some, He simply decreed not to save all,
of salvation for all on condition that they repent, but though He is powerful to save them. Surely, the
the atonement of the cross is the sure and unchange- moment you place yourself on the standpoint of this
able satisfaction for the sins of all the elect and for second and particular decree God is no more willing
theirs only. Repentance is necessary, while it is itself to save all, for He is still powerful but decrees not to
a gift of God, to appropriate this satisfaction and be- do it. And thus you conceive of an irreconcilable con-
come possessed of it subjectively, but it is not the con- flict in God, according to which the one will destroy;:
dition of that satisfaction itself. Christ paid the debt the other, a conception that is really blasphemous,
for al1 His people and objectively they are surely" justi- though it is not meant to be.
fied in His blood. The doctrinal of a hypothetical de-           Yet the views of Amyraut were substantially
cree and of a conditionally universal atonement really adopted by many. There are some Baptists that find
destroys the possibility of vicarious atonement alto- satisfaction in them; many Congregationalists that
gether. For if Christ conditionally paid for the sin of embraced them as well as many U. P. ministers of the
all, He satisfied with certainty for none. And if He Church of Scotland ; and they are also adopted by the
satisfied with certainty for none  His death was no           New School Presbyterians of America.
payment for our sins whatsoever and `His death is no             We may add to this, that principally it is this view
vicarious satisfaction. Hypothetical universalism  is a of hypothetical  ~ universal grace that is officially
serious error, indeed.                                        adopted by the Christian Reformed Church in the
 But, on the other hand, Amyraut attempted to save Three Points declared by their Synod in 1924. They
himself from the indictment of Arminianism, by main- also proceed from the same conflicting two wills of
taining, that man is of himself incapable of accepting God. They also teach, that God is gracious to all in
this offer and of coming to the required repentance. the offer of salvation, well-meaning on the part of God,
And yet, this repentance is the  indispensible  requisite to all that hear the gospel in the outward sense of the
for salvation. God knew this, of course. He has from word. Hence, they also maintain that on the one hand
eternity before Him the fact that man  "oq'himself  will God seriously wills the salvation of all men, while on
not and cannot come to repentance, is  mcapabie  of ac- the other hand, man, being dead in sin and misery,
cepting the. salvation God in His  .hypothetJcal. ,decrees    cannot accept the proffered salvation and God bestows
so seriously wills. And knowing this God particular- the grace of repentance and faith only on the elect.
izes the f&t, hypothetical, universal .decree- into the Really, Amyraldism has become the official creed of the
second, certain and unconditional;  ,and particular  ;de-     Christian Reformed Churches in America.
tree of election, which follows in .order the decree..of         Historically, however, there is a difference betweer-
atonement and in which God freely am&sovereignly the time of Amyraut  ,and our own day.
determined to give regenerating grace and the power              In the seventeenth century it was Amyraldism that
of repentance to some, namely, to the elect only.             was repeatedly called on the carpet by the Reformed
   Thus after all the effect is the same as if Amyraut Churches to give account of itself, though the latter
had never taught the first and universal decree at all. never developed strength to condemn the former; but
For only the elect are saved and the others are damned. in 1924 it was Amyraldism that sat in judgment over
   The trouble with such views as that of Amyraut is, men that maintained the strictly Reformed  concep-

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

tion of the truth and the former at that time was
strong enough to indict and condemn the latter.                            SWEEPING GENERALITIES
   And having condemned the view of Reformed min-                 Thus, sad to say, must be characterized the reply
isters, and these ministers refusing to submit to the         of Rev. H. Bultema to my attack upon his "seven
Amyraldistic declarations of the Synod, the Christian simple proofs" for the Pre-view, that were discovered
Reformed Churches cast out the ministers and all that to be no proofs at al.
agreed with them.                                                 I do not like to characterize his article in this
   Such is the true origin of our Protestant Reformed          fashion. I made a serious attempt to discover any-
Churches.                                                     thing else than sweeping statements, general state-
   We still hope and pray, that the Christian Re- ments without argument, without logical ground, with-
formed Churches may receive grace to see the error of out even any appeal to Scripture in Rev. 1~. Bultema's
their way and acknowledge it. But we do not have reply  ; but I failed. The brother soars in lofty skies
much hope. When one departs from the clear path .of but never comes down to terra  firma. He generalizes,
the Reformed Confession the way soon declines  steeply employs very strong language, disdains the A-mill-
and hopelessly into the slippery paths of rankest ennial view, condemns it as absurd, expresses that it is
Arminianism.                                                  only the result of hodge-podge exegesis, and finally,
   And the downward rush is clearly visible !                 strange to. say, expresses his readiness to debate the
                                                    H. H.     question at any time and place with me in public !
                                                                  With regard to the Iatter challenge I say: strange
                                    -                          to say.
                                       .                          Perhaps the Rev. Bultema forgot, but I did inform
            BENEATH THE CROSS OF JESUS                         him at the time the  Classis  of the Reformed Churches
            Beneath the cross of Jesus                  c     gathered in Garfield Park Church, that I intended to
            I fain would take my stand,                       attack his position and asked him to reply.
            The shadow of a mighty Rock                           Perhaps it escaped the notice of our brother, but  f
            Within a weary land,                               was already debating the question with him.
            A home within the wilderness,                         Time: right now.
            A rest upon the way,                                  Place: The Standard Bearer.
            From the burning of the noon-tide heat,               And right now it is the Rev. Bultema's turn to
            And the burden of the day.                         speak. He can do so in Grace: and Glory, and we prom-
                                                               ise him to publish his arguments. But the so-called
             TJpon that cross of Jesus                         Reply he published in the May-issue of Grace  and Glory
            Mine eye at times can see                          does not contain one single argument. I attacked his
            The very dying form of One                         "seven simple proofs" ; Rev. Bultema does not speak
            Who suffered there for me;                         one single word in defense of them. I pointed out the
            And from my smitten heart with tears,              fallacy `in the logic based upon the dream of many
            Two wonders 1 confess, -                           Premillennialists, that one who is not .Pre must be
            The wonders of His glorious love                   Post; the Rev. Bultema does not make a single attempt
            And my own worthlessness.                          to show that this position is at all tenable. I pointed
                                                               to Scripture and attempted to show the wrong exe,
             I take, 0 cross, thy shadow                       gesis of many a text as explained by Premillennialists;
             For my abiding-place ;                            in his "reply" the Rev. Bultema does not refer to t.he
       *     I ask no other sunshine  t,han                    Word of God even once. Therefore, I will not waste
            The sunshine of His face ;                         the good pages of THE STANDARD BEARER to publish
             Content to let the world go by,                   that article.  I will simply state briefly its contents
            To know no gain or loss,                           and for the rest advise our readers to secure a copy of
             My sinful self my only shame,                     the May-issue of Grace and Glory, so they may check
             My  glory all  - the cross!                       up on my synopsis of the article and judge for them-
                                                               selves, whether I am doing the Rev. Bultema an in-
                                                               justice by Characterizing the entire article, hardly
                                                               without the exception of a single  sentence as an ac-
                  UIT DE SNIPPERMAND                           cumulation of sweeping generalities.
       Bidden, - maar zonder de hand aan den ploeg,               My synop,,;a  follows :
       Is dat voor `t Christelijk leven genoeg?                   1. The Rev. Bnltema was quite aware of the exist-
       Werken, maar zonder het oog op den Heer,                ence of A-millennialism. However, in many cases .it
       Daalt daar  we1 zegen des hemels op neer?               looks as much like Postmillennialism as a  kipei re-
       Werkend gebeden en biddend gewerkt,                     sembles a hoenderai. And the, theology of American
       Zoo wordt uw hand en uw harte gesterkt.                 Premillennialists is preposterous.


                                     T H E   STAND'ARD  B E A R E R                                                   455

   2. A-millennialism is absurd from an exegetical outside of the Reformed Churches;  witbin these
viewpoint. Pre's consider it a negligible quantity.          churches I would still consider their views a cancer.
   3. A-millennialism is unscriptural and incon- And so, Rev. Bultema's good hope to convert me into
sistent. It does not believe in the verbal inspiration a Pre is surely vain.
of the Word of God with application to Israel,                  For the rest I will not answer all the general state-
Prophecy, the Apocalypse. While it admits the liter- ments, insinuations, indictments, untruths, that appear
alness of predicted curses it refuses to apply the same in the "Reply" of Rev. Bultema. Even as the article
standard of interpretation to predicted blessings. It of Rev. Bultema does not shed one single ray of light
allows no tme and place for the realization of those         upon the truth, so my answer to the article would not
prophecies that speak of a turning of the nations :o         advance the truth of the Word of God at all. Hence, I
Christ. Its hodge-podge exegesis will never do.              consider it perfectly useless to answer.
   4. Pre is just the thing. It is thoroughly theo-             Let the Rev. Bultema come down from the  Pre-
logical. It is a strong bulwark against evolution, clouds to solid earth.
modernism, criticism, social service, Romanism and              Let him soberly, on the basis of Scripture, reply to
apostacy  in every form. A-millennialsm leads to these.      my articles. Let him plainly show his readers and
Passages that do not fit in its scheme thev just pro-        mine, that I was mistaken, that his "simple proofs"
nounce difficult and put them aside. Thus it paves the for the Pre-view are proofs indeed. And let him cease
way for rationalism and Romanism.                            to use big and general phrases without ground or
   51 With much love he accuses A-millennialists that reason.
they have neglected the entire subject of Eschatology.          If the Rev. Bultema refuses to admit, that I was
Pre is scriptural and consistent. A-millennialism is already debating the question with him, if he insists
only a view and nothing more. The Rev. Bultema is on keeping the honor of challenging to himself, very
willing to debate this question with Brother Hoeksema well. I hereby accept the challenge. The time is right
at any time and place publicly. The Rev. Bultema has now. The place is THE STANDARD BEARER and Grace
good hope of making a  l're out of Rev. Hoeksema.            and Glory.
Formerly he denounced Rev. Bultema as a cancer, now             And Rev. Bultema will now be the first speaker.
he has the highest esteem for Premillennialists.                                                             H. H.
   Thus far my brief outline of the "Reply."
   One would expect at least some proof for all these                             ---
sweeping statements, but for it one would search in
vain.                                                                      OPWEKKING TOT BIDDEN
   I will close with a few remarks.
   The Rev. Bultema writes that I called him a cancer               Wat hinderpalen hij ontmoet
on the floor of the classis, at the time his case was               Die naar genade's troon zich spoedt :
pending. It is extremely difficult to deny this quota-              Wie van het bidden kent de kracht
tion by someone else of a spoken word. But 1 am                     Heeft dikwerf naar die plants gesmacht.
rather confident, that Rev.  Bultema"s  quotation is cer-           `t Gebed is `s  levens harteklop,
tainly false as it appears in his article. I never de-              `t Gebed klimt Jacob's ladder op  ;
nounced him, but his views. If I used the word                      Wet oefent het geloof gestaag,
cancer, I surely must have referred to the propagation              Trekt zegeningen naar omlaag.
of Pre-views in Reformed Churches. With relation
to the Reformed faith I considered the Pre-view a                   Geen strijd meer, waar verflauwt gebed ;
cancer. And I have not changed my view on the mat-                  Wet bidden  `t zwaard des Christens wet;
ter one whit. If the Rev. Bultema were member and                   En Satan heeft, als hij moet zien
minister of our Protestant Reformed Churches and                    Den zmakst geloov'gen op zijn knien.
make the same propaganda he tried to make in the
Christian Reformed Churches a few years ago, I                      Als Mozes ophief hart en hand
would offer him the same determined opposition.                     Was d' overmacht aan Isrel's kant;
I now gladly admit, that the case of Rev. Bultema                   Maar zonken xijne handen  neer,
was not treated correctly from a Church-political                   Was Amalek de sterkste weer.
viewpoint by  Classis Muskegon. And in as far as                    Hebt  gij geen woorden ! - denk eens goed  :
I consented to their  violaton  of the principles                   Gij hebt een woorden-overvloed,
of Reformed Church Polity, I gladly apologize. At the               Wanneer gij met uw jammerklacht
time I surely did not know what Reformed Church                     Urns naasten oor vult dag en nacht.
Polity is. I was instructed by Prof. Heyns, and,
naturally, my views on this matter were corrupted.                  Werd half die adem voor "t gebed
But doctrinally (and my opposition to Rev. Bultema                  Tot God gebezigd, o ik wed,
`was chiefly of a doctrinal nature), I stand where I                Dat meer de juichtoon op zou gaan:
stood then. I can have respect for Premillennialists                "Hoort wat de Heer mij heeft gedaan."

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

                                                            He is to submit to reproach and suffering and death;
                THE CORNER STONE                            but the hour that was to see Him exalted because of
   "Did ye never read in the Scriptures," said Jesus this,  .and proclaimed to be the head of the corner, was
to His opposers, "The stone which the builders re- to see Him coming also in judgment. He was to arise
jected, the same is become the head of the corner? of His place ; He was to poor contempt upon His de-
This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our        spisers ; utter desolation was to come upon the city
eyes."    Christ quotes here from the 118th Psalm, a and people of the Jews. The stone was to fall upon it,
psalm familiar to the Jews as pointinGthroughout  to        and it was in truth a very grinding of that land to
their Messiah; so familiar, that it was from it that powder when every vestige of its ancient institutions
those salutations were taken by which Christ on His         was swept way, its people perished in multitudes, and
entry into the city had been hailed by the common           the remnant, scattered all over the earth, was as the
people two days before, as well as those hosanna's to dust which the wind drives to and fro.
the son of David which the children had repeated the           What Jesus was to the Jews, He is in certain sense
next day in the temple, the echoes of which must still      to all. Primarily and mainly, He is set before  us as
have been ringing somewhat unpleasantly in the ears the one and only true and broad and firm foundation
of the chief priests and the rulers.                        on which to build our hopes. A firm foundation, suq-
   Jesus wishes by this quotation to carry on as it         taming  the weight of the whole church, - a broad and
were the prophesy of the parable ; to show what would       firm foundation. Such is Christ to all who go to Him
be the doom inflicted upon the perpetrators of that         in humility, in simplicity, in childlike trust, resting
dark deed, the murder of the Father's only and well-        upon Him and upon Him only for their forgiveness
beloved son. That Son was to be Himself the inflictor and acceptance width God. But such He may not be,
of that doom; but as He in the parable was dead, and He is not, to all. The very stone, so elect and precious
could not be represented as a living agent, the image to some, to others may be a stone of stumbling and a
of the vineyard is dropped, and another is introduced,      rock of offence. There before us all, in the broad high-
fitting in, however, with the other,  - the rejectors of way of life it lies. It will bear now unmoved and un-
the stone being the  same with the husbandmen of the provoked any treatment that you may give. But it
vineyard. The chief priests might have some difficulty shall not remain so forever, and woe to him who,
in seeing how it was that in speaking about the corner- having despised and rejected it through life, shall see
stone .Tesus was but carrying on the same history a it darkening above his head, decending  to crush. It
step or two beyond the point at which the parable, by were better for that man that he had never been born.
the necessity of its structure, had stopped. Any such                                                     G. M. 0.
difficulty was at once removed by Christ's dropping
for a moment all allegory, all imagery: "Therefore, I                                         -
say unto you, "The kingdom of God shall. be taken from
you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits                           LIJDENSTROOST
thereof." They can mistake no longer; the kingdom                    Bloedt de wonde, vlijmt de smart,
is to be taken from them ; as the occupants of the vine-                `k Blijf tech op genezing  hopen  ;
yard, they are to be rejected. But is this all? Does                 Ware ook elke deur verspard,
this exhaust their doom? What about that doom may                       Eeuwig staat de  toegang  open
this new image of the stone convey? "Whosoever shall                 Tot Gods hemel, tot Gods hart!
fall on this stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever
it shall fall, it shall grind him to powder." First the              Waant niet, dat mij God verstiet,
stone is passive, suffering all kinds of rough usage to                 Nu Hij mij zooveel doet lijden:
be heaped upon it, revenging itself the while for all                Liefdk spaart  de roede niet -
the insults  offered  by causing those who offer them to                AIs Hij ophoudt met kastijden,
stumble over it, and fall and be broken. But at last,                Zeg dan, dat Hij mij verliet!
as if invested with some inner living power, or as if                Niet in `t vreugdelicht alleen,
lifted and wielded by some invisible but all-powerful                   Meest in tranen komt Gods zegen,
hand, it becomes active, gets into motion, lifts itself              Zij versmelten `t hart van Steen.
up, and with crushing weight descends upon its de-                      Levenwekkend stroomt de regen
spisers and grinds them to powder. Such was Christ                   Door de weeke  voren heen.
to that commonwealth of the Jews, to that proud
theocracy of which the men before Him were the                        Harde lessen geeft Gij mij,
head. By the great Architect He had been laid of old                    Maar ik heb ook veel te leeren.
in Zion,  t*he chief foundation of the great spiritual               Loutrend  blaakt Uw medelij  ;
edifice to be reared out of the ruins of the fall. For                  Slechts `t onreine zal `t verteren -
many a generation He had been a stone of stumbling                    Heer, Uw slaan is artsenij !
and a rock of  offence.  All these wrongs of the past                                                 MELANCHTON
 He had passively borne, and now in His own person Vertaling van Ten Kate.


                               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
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                                                                        city, demanding that they be lifted up, for the King to
                                                                        enter. He alone is Israel's King. For He  *had chosen
                                                                        Israel as His people, not because of any superiority on
                                                                        their part, but in His sovereign grace and for His own
                                                                        Name's sake. He had delivered them from all the
                    THE ENTRANCE OF THE KING                            power of the enemies, for He is mighty in battle, this
                           Lift up your heads, 0 ye gates; even lift    King of Israel. He had given them His precepts and
                         them up, ye everlasting doors; and the         established with them His covenant, that they might
                         King of glory shall come in.
                           Who is  this   King  of glory? The Lord      be His people and He their God and King. And in the
                         of hosts, He is the king of  gIory.            land flowing with milk and honey `He had prepared
                                                    -Psa"  Z&:7, 8.     them a place for their habitation, where they might
    The Lord of glory, the King shall come in !                         dweI1 securely under His reign and He might live
    Lift up your heads, 0 ye gates ; lift them up, ye                   among them. The King had chosen Jerusalem as the
everlasting doors !                                                     place of His habitation, more particularly He had
    A festive hour of great joy it was for the Church chosen Mt. Zion for the establishment of His throne.
of the old dispensation, when first these words of the On Mt. Zion He would dwell. There He would show
poet were chanted by the joyous procession that had forth His power and majesty. From its summit He
swept up the hillside and having reached the summit would rule over His people, give them His precepts
of Mt. Zion stood before the mighty gates of the old                    and  bIess them . . . .
citadel.                                                                   And now the kingdom was established.
    The psalm, perhaps, was sung by a double chorus,                       Long the enemy had still dwelled among them in
the one within the fortress, the other advancing, with the land, even. after the people had first been led into
the ark of the covenant in their midst, on the slopes of their rest. EspecialIy  in cities and strongholds had the
Mt. Zion. As they reach the summit the ascending foe succeeded to maintain its power. But with the
choir chant the first part of these poetic words, con-                  ascent of David, the man after God's heart, to the
taining a summons to those within to open the gates, throne, the Lord had given them victory over all their
yea, to lift the lintels of those gates, so the lofty and foes. Even the fortress of the Jebusites had now been
exalted King of glory may have entrance into the captured. The Lord had manifested Himself as the
citadel : Lift up your heads, 0 ye gates ; lift them up, One Who is faithful and true and realizes His prom-
ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come                  ises unto His people, as the One mighty in battle and
in! Then, in answer to this peremptory summons vanquishing. every foe of His people. He had revealed
sounds the question from within the gates: Who is                       Himself as the King of gIory,  indeed !
this king of glory? And again the answer is given                          And now He enters into the place of His majesty:
somewhat impatiently by the procession waiting out- He is represented by the ark, the visible representa-
side of the gates: The Lord of hosts, He is the King tion of His majesty and power.
of glory!                                                                 -And the hoary gates of the ancient citadel must
    None other than Jehovah, the mighty God of hosts,                   even be lifted up !
the Immutable, Who is of HimseIf  and possesses the                        For when the ark enters into the City of God, the
source of His glorious Being in Himself; Who is from Lord of hosts establishes His throne on Mt. Zion  ; the
everlasting to everIasting  the same, unchangeable in Kingdom of God is founded among God's people.
Himself and without shadow of turning in  Es rela-                         It was the commencement of a blessed common-
tion to His people, Whom He had chosen, is the King wealth.
of glory, Whose heralds here stand at the gates of the                     For the ark of the covenant, that is now brought
                                                                                                       .a


458                                    TH.E  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

up to Jerusalem, to Mt. Zion, with festive procession, name above all names, at the right hand of the Most
is not only symbol of God's throne, it is also the very High.
heart of the temple. Around it soon would arise the              Christ Jesus is the King of glory, the Lord and
Most Holy and the Holy Places, together with the              David in one, Immanuel, God with us, the central real-
court, with its altars and candlestick and table of ization of all the old Ample  could ever express. God
shewbread. And thus completed the temple would be of God, yet servant, King under God, yet God Him-
the embodiment of the covenant-idea: God dwelling self. He is the King of glory, the glorious King, for
among. His people. Not as an oriental despot would He was exalted from the blood and mire of the battle-
this King of glory reign over His people, but as a            field, through His resurrection and ascension to the
Friend among friends He would dwell among them place of heavenly majesty and universal power . . .
and lavish upon them all the blessings of His fellow-            Long these gates of the heavenly city had been
ship and love.                                                closed, for by reason of sin our nature could not enter.
   And thus Zion rejoices, and rejoicing God's people Between us and the  g1orious  Kingdom, that was to be
sing: Lift up your heads, 0 ye gates ! Lift them up, established by this mighty King, stood the entire
ye everlasting doors !                                        powerful host of the enemy, of guilt and sin, of death
   Let the King of glory enter in ! Let the throne of and hell. But this King of glory proved Himself the
our God be founded!                                           Lord, mighty in battle. He met the foe. From His
   Our mighty King-friend stands before the gates !           place of glory this Lord had descended upon the battle-
   Let His Kingdom now be established !          =            field of our nature. Though He deemed it no robbery
                                                              to be equal with God, He had humbled Himself into the
                                                              form of a servant. And in that form of a servant He
   A  gladsome  day it was for the Church!                    had met the foe in deadly conflict. They barred the
   But even on that day the words of the poet did not         way into the Kingdom, ordained for Him and His
enter upon their full and final realization.                  people by the Father, these foes of sin and death, of
       For hoary with age though these gates of the  Jebu-    the devil and his hosts, and He must needs vanquish
site stronghold might be, it was only with a view to          them, before He could enter into His glory and receive
better things to come, as a shadow of other gates, far His dominion. And what a battle it had been ! A con-
more glorious still, that they could be called everlast- flict, the like of which was never witnessed before ! A
ing.                                                          warfare of righteousness against unrighteousness, a
       Oh, surely, the joy of the procession that wound its battle of Life with death, in which the very Prince of
way on the hillside of Zion to its summit was real, for Life, the King of glory, the Lord mighty in battle, left
in a very real sense God dwelled among His people in His earthly Iife on the battlefield, shed His lifeblood in
the old dispensation. Yet the reality was veiled in conflict with the foe, descended into the depth of Hades
shadow, and the shadow' pointed to better things to and Hell! . . . .
come. The earthly Mt. Zion was a shadow of the                   But a conflict it had been, out of which He had
heavenly, the place at His right hand in the highest; issued forth with complete victory on His side.
the Most Holy Place was only a shadow of the inner               Guilt was wiped out.
sanctuary above, where the Most High dwells in                   Sin was hopelessly bereaved of its power, a van-
heavenly beauty and glory ; the ark was only a picture quished foe.
of His throne of glory, the temple an earthly form of            Death was killed. Prison was captured.
His covenant-fellowship, David a figure of Him                   The head of the Devil was crushed.
through Whom the Lord, mighty in battle, would give
His people ultimate victory over all their foes . . . .          And the battle finished, the mighty Lord of glory
                                                              remained alone on the battlefield, the glorious power of
        And, though these shadows served the old dispensa- His resurrection radiating from His appearance. About
tional people of God to live in hope, yet reality was not Him lie the vanquished powers of darkness. The way
yet; though even these shadows were glorious and  full        into His Kingdom is cleared. He gained a right to
of blessed significance, yet all the inperfections that enter into highest gIory as the King of His people, the
were necessarily peculiar to shadows also character- mighty One of Israel. And He ascends from the battle-
ized them.                                                    field, into the inner sanctuary, to the highest place of
        To what better things, then, did these shadows glory and power at the right hand of God. The King
point forward?                                                of glory! The Lord mighty in battle !
        What other and more glorious everlasting gates           From that throne of His Father He will reign, and
were lifted up to let a King, the King of glory in?           God through Him. He will reign in might over all the
        The everlasting gates are the doors of heaven, the world, over all his subjected foes, that even now are
King of glory is none other than our blessed Lord, and loath to admit utter defeat. And He will reign through
the words of the poet were fulfilled in a higher and          the  bIessed power of His grace and Spirit in the hearts
more glorious sense of the word, when He ascended of all His own.
into the heavens-to  receive  His place of power, His            The Kingdom of heaven is come! God dwells with


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         4.59

us, through Christ, in the Spirit. The tabernacle of and dishonour, carrying about with us this body of
God is with men !                                          death Corruptibleness did not yet put on incorruptioAl
    Well may Zion rejoice as He ascends from Mt. and this mortal did not yet put on immortality. Ce-
Olivet and sing, with far more blessed significance sides, we are still in the world, and in the world we
than the festive throng that once climbed the slopes have tribulation. Although in Christ we have the  vi+
of Mt. Zion:                                               tory, in the flesh we are often defeated ; and though we
    Lift up your heads, 0 ye gates! Lift them up, ye are citizens of a glorious and heavenly kingdom, in the
everlasting doors !                                        flesh we still suffer. The new heavens and the new
    That the King of glory might come in !                 earth, in which all that is of sin and death shall have
                                                           vanished forever, are not yet.
    A festive day it was, when the ark was placed with-       The battle still rages . . . .
in the walls of old Jerusalem.                                Though we live, we still die!
    Far more gladsome  was the day, when Christ Jesus,        And the King of glory, the Lord mighty in battle
having fulfilled all things and conquered every foe, must still come! Come into His Kingdom! Come to
ascended up to His place of glory at the right hand        perfect all things !
of. God.                                                      And He is coming!
    For a better day had dawned with this significant         Coming all the while and coming quickly !
event, a day of victory and blessing. The shadows had         Coming to complete His glorious Kingdom. He is
passed away and reality had come. The Lion of Judah's coming in all the events of this present time, in the
tribe, the Root of David had received the Kingdom, calling of the elect and the gathering of His Church
had entered into His power. He is now in heaven and to complete His body, coming in war and in peace, in
has all power in heaven and on earth. He rules over fruitful and barren years, in plenty and in famine, in
all and has a name above every name that is named. floods and pestilences, in earthquakes and upheavals,
And He establishes His throne of grace in our hearts. in the filling of the measure of iniquity and the prep-
Having overcome the powers of death and hell for us, aration of the man of sin, the son of perdition, coming
He also vanquishes the enemy within us and actually to judge the world in righteousness, to save His elect,
delivers us from all the power of the devil. Having to establish His kingdom, coming with haste to avenge
shed His lifeblood to wash away our guilt forever and those that cry unto Him day and night . . . .
ever, He also washes and cleanses our souls from the          He will come, finally, even as He ascended up, on
guilt of sin. And having condemned the power of sin the clouds of heaven, and all the host of heaven with
in the flesh, He also overcomes that power in our in- Him, to purge the world, to give His final sentence
most soul, cuts our bonds in which we are held by upon the righteous and the unrighteous, to glorify His
nature and liberates us through the law of the Spirit people and give them to partake in His victory as they
of life.                                                   participated in His battle through His grace and to
    Having entered into the sanctuary in heaven, and perfect the tabernacle of God with us . . . .
having established His throne, and having received the        He will enter into the final and eternal manifesta-
Spirit, He now enters into the sanctuary of our hearts, tion of His blessed Kingdom.
breaks down the throne of the devil, and establishes          Then; who shall ascend the hill of the Lord with
His own rule, the throne of His grace in our inmost        Him?
being.                                                        Who shall enter with Him into that tabernacle of
    And thus He makes us citizens `of His Kingdom, God?
subjects to His rule, friends of God, serving Him in           He that is of clean hands and of a pure heart,
willing obedience.                                         washed by His own blood, cleansed by the power of
    A blessed day has dawned with the ascension of His grace through faith in Him!
our Lord into the highest.                                    Thus the joyous shout of God's people, rejoicing at
    Yet, even so ultimate reality has not been reached. the entrance of the Lord into His Kingdom, when He
    The words of the inspired poet of the old dispensa- ascends up on high, is also still a sigh of hope, as they
tion, who composed this precious hymn, have not en- expect His final coming, His entrance into the per-
tered upon their final fulflment.                          fected Kingdom.
    The King of glory did not yet enter into the last         Lift up your heads, 0 ye gates ! Lift them up, ye
realization of His Kingdom and the tabernacle of God everlasting doors! Let the King of glory, the Lord
is not yet fully with men. Still things are imperfect mighty in battle enter in, let Him come just once
in form, though in principle they have attained to per- more !
fection. As citizens of His blessed Kingdom we are             We are expecting Him, we are looking forward to
still imperfect. There is as yet but a small beginning His final coming! And knowing that no iniquity shall
of the new obedience, according to which we are wholly enter with Him into His Kingdom, we are keeping our
subject  to Jehovah, our covenant God in Christ, within garments pure in the midst of the world !
our hearts.     Sin still harasses us from within and          Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly! Even so, Amen !
from without. And physically we are still in weakness                                                     H. H.
                       .


-`:  7
 !  i1 464'                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
        1
                                                                         But which of them had faith enough to make the trial
                                  THE LEPER                              -to break through the legal fences imposed, and go
        f       In describing our Lord's first circuit through into any of the cities in which Jesus was, and throw
             Galilee, the Evangelist tells us that they "brought unto himself upon His sympathy for succor? One  such
             Him all sick people that were taken with divers dis- there was - the first of those so afflicted who Ventur-d
             eases and torments, and those which were possessed to approach the Lord ; and his case on that account was
             with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those selected for special record by all the three Evangelists.
             that had the palsy ; and He healed them."                   He came to Jesus when "He was in a certain city." He
                How many and how varied were the cures affected had never seen the Lord before, or seen Him only at
             within the course of this first  itineracy of our Lord .a distance, among a crowd. He could have known or
             can only be conceived by remembering how numerous heard but little more about Him than what the voice
             were the towns and villages through which He passed of rumor had proclaimed. Yet so soon as he  recog-
             and how large the population with which, one way or nizes Him, see with what reverence he kneels and war-
             other, He was brought into contact. Remembering ships and falls on his face before Him, and hear how
             this, we may believe that within a week or two after        he salutes and pleads: "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst
             His first departure from Capernaum more healings make me clean." Perhaps Jesus had never seen a
                       ted than the whole put together, of which man prostrate himself in His presence as this man did.
                       fit record has been preserved in the  foul        Certainly, Jesus was never before addressed in words
                                                                         so few and simple, yet so full of reverence, earnestness,
                     e was one form of disease, however, wnich  is faith, submission. He called Jesus Lord. Was this
             not noticed in St. Matthew's compendious description the first time Jesus had been so addressed? Sir, Rabbi,
 )           - a disease peculiar enough in its own character, but. Master - these `were the terms in which Andrew,
             to which an additional pecularity  attached from the and Nathanael and Nicodemus, and the woman of
             manner in which it was dealt with by the Mosaic law.        Samaria,  and the nobleman of Capernaum, had ad-
             However infectious, however deadly, however incur- dressed Him. None of  them  had spoken to Him as
             able, no disease but one was held to render its victim this Ieper did. If, indeed, the miraculous draught of
             ceremonially unclean. Such uncleanness was stamped fishes by which Peter had been finally summoned away
             by the law upon the leper alone. This strange, creep- from his old occupation had already occurred, then it
             ing, spreading, loathsome, fatal disease appears to         would be from his lips that this title was first heard
             have been selected as one form of bodily af%ction  to coming, when he fell down at Jesus' feet exclaiming,
             stand, in the legal impurity attached to it, and in the "Depart from me for I am a sinful man, 0 Lord."
             penalty visited.on that impurity, as a type of the deep,    That, however, is uncertain; but though it were true,
             inward, pervading, corrupting, destroying malady of how much had Simon to elevate his conception of
                                                                         Christ's character, - how little this leper. Cne won-
                Among the Jew the leper was excommunicated.              ders, indeed, how far he had got in his idea of who this
             Cut off from the congregation of the people, he had Jesus - this healer of diseases  - was. All that we
             to live apart, enjoying  only such society as those can know is that he choose the highest title that he
                cted with the same disease could offer. He had to kne,w of, and bestowed it on Him. "Lord, if thou wilt,
                  upon his person the emblems of sorrow and of thou can&" No hesitation as to the power; no pre-
                       d to wear the rent garments which those sumption or dictation as to the will. Upon that free
                        were weeping for the dead ; to shave his will, upon that ahnighty  power he casts himself. "Lord,
                       keep it bare as those must do who had if thou wilst, thou canst make me clean." Jesus in-
                       e dead - himself the living dead, for whom stantly went forward  - went close to him - put forth
         , those emblems of mourning needed to be assumed. His His hand and touched him. His disciples hold back;
        `1 face half covered, he had to go about crying,  "Un- a strange shuddering sensation passes through the
 .:`I clean, unclean," to warn all others off, lest they should hearts of the onlookers, for, by the law of Moses, it
       i  :! come to near him.                                           was forbidden to touch a leper. He who touched a
       ,I       From what we know of the prevalence of this dis- leper himself became unclean. Yet at once, without
       ! ease, it may be beheved  that there were many Iepers            hesitation at the time - without acting afterwards
        in Galilee when our Lord made His first journey
        I                                                                as if He had contracted any defilement or required anY
        1 through it  - gathered here and there into miserable purification - Jesus lays His hand upon one who was
       " J and small communities. Even Among these the tidings "full of leprosy," and He says to him, "I will, be thou
       : of the wonderful cures that were being effected  wouId          clean." We loose a little of the power and majesty
        i:: circulate, for the segregation was not so complete as of our Saviour's translation. Two words were spoken
             to prevent all intercourse ; and when the poor exiles the answer the echo to the prayer; two of the verJT
 :  _j; from their fellows heard of many being healed whose words the man had used taken up and employed bY
        E complaints were as much beyond all human remedy as Jezus in framing His prompt and gracious reply. No
        1 theirs, the hope might spring up in their hearts that petition that was ever presented to Jesus met with a
        j the great Healer's' power extended even to their case. quicker, more complete, more satisfactory  response-
.;,,4                                                                                                                                 ..>


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEAREk,                                                     465

If our Lord's conduct in this instance was .regulated  by already oppressing Him, and. thus the hampering of
the principle which we know so often guided it in the His movements, and the obsorption of too much of
treatment He gave to those who came to Him to be              His time in the mere work of healing. F'or straight-
cured, great must have been the faith which was met way, though charged to keep silence, the man when he
in such a way. The readiness which Jesus had dis- went from Jesus could not restrain himself, but began
played to exert His power may partly have been due            to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter,
to this being the first case of a leper's application to      inasmuch as great multitudes came together to be  .,
Him, and to His desire to show that no legal barrier          healed of their infirmities, and Jesus could no more
would be allowed by Him to stand in the way of His            openly enter into the city, but was without in desert
stretching forth His hand to heal all that were dis-          places, and withdrew Himself into the wilderness, and
eased. Yet the manner and the speech of the leper             prayed.
himself attest that he approached with no ordinary                                                              G. M;`O.
reverence, and petitioned with no ordinary faith. And,
according to his faith, it was done unto him imme-                                                                        i
diately. As soon as the words: "I will, be thou clean,"
had come from the Saviour's lips, "the leprosy de-                                     BEROEPEN TE:
parted from him and he was clean."                               Doon,   Ia., Cand. J. De Jong.
   Did any further  coloquy  take place between the              Sioux Center,  Ia., Cand. L. Vermeer.
healed and the Healer? When, quick as lightning,                 Hull,  Ia.,  Gaud. C.  Hanko.                                      I
through the frame the sensation passed of an entirely           Rock valley, `la., Cand. A. Calllmenga.
                                                                Pella-Oskaiotisa,   Ia., Cand. L. Vermeer.
recovered health - when he stood up before the Lord,            Byron Center,  l&&h.,  `Cand. L. `Vermeer.
not a sign or symptom of the banished leprosy on his            RooseveIt  Park, Grand Rapids,  Mich.,  Cand. B.  Kok.
person - did no thanks burst from his grateful lips?            Waupun,  Wis.,  Cand. B.  Kok.
Or did our Lord say nothing to him about another heal-          South Holland, IX., Cand. J. De Jong.
ing which He was both able and willing to effect? We            Hudsonville,  Bfich., Ds. G. Vos.
                                                                                       _`I
are not to infer that nothing of the k&d occurred be-
cause nothing is recorded. The Evangelists have pre-
served alone the fact that, whatever words may have
. passed between them, Jesus was in haste to send the                    Wat zou tech de kratiht dier mannen,
leper away, and in doing so gave him strict command                         Wat de hoop dier vrouwen zijn,
to tell no man, but to go instantly and show himself to                  Die bij al de aardsch' ellende,
the priest, and  offer  the gifts that Moses commanded                      Tech zoo kalm en rustig zijn?
-the five birds and the cedar wood, and the scarlet
and hyssop,  - the means and instruments by which                        Velen hunner lijden smarten,
the purification of one declared free of leprosy was to                     And'ren  wordt de ziel doorboord;                                 :  `-
be effected, and, relieved from the ban that had been                    Maar bij al dit bange strijden,                                      `:
laid upon him, he was to. be reinstated in the posses-                      Wordt geen klacht van hen gehoord.,                               :". "I
sion of all the common privileges of society and citi-
zenship. It is quite possible that, knowing the opposi-                                                                                  i
                                                                         Ja, zij kunnen alles dragen  ;
tion which was. already kindling against Him, Jesus                         Zelfs in d' allergrootsten nood,
may have desired that, without throwing out any hint                     Zal hun Meester hen bewaren,
of what had occurred which might precede Him by                             Die verwon de hel en dood.           "             '
the way and prejudice the judge, this man should re-
pair as quickly as possible to the priest upon whom it                   Wilt gij veilig gaan door `t leven,
devolved judicially to declare that he, so recently a                     * Gaan ook door de doods-Jordaan?
man full of leprosy, was now entirely free of the com-                   Kom tot Hem met al uw zonden
plaint. It would be a testimony that they could not                         En gij zult in vrede gaan.
well gainsay, if the fact of the departure of the
leprosy were attested by the acceptance of the officer's                 Hoe de storm ook moge  woeden,
gifts and his re-admission into the congregation of                         Op de reis naar d' eeuwigheid,
Israel. To prevent any possibility of this ratification                  Jezus is de trouwe Stuurman,
of the reality of the cure being refused, Jesus might                       Die hen altijd veilig leidt.
have enjoined silence and as speedy a resort as possible
to the priest; the silence in such circumstances and
with such a view prescribed, to last only till the desired
end was gained. It-would seem, however, from the re-
sult, that a more immediate object of the Saviour in             In  Christus  ontmoet de zondaar God  als Vader, en
laying this injunction upon the leper was to prevent God den doemwaardige als zijn door Jezus' zelf ver-
the influx of a still greater crowd than that which was loste en in Hem verkorene.


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       469
                                                                                   ,
minisme. Dat is zeer gevaarlijk. Dat strijdt ook met mensch der zonde, en wordt de mate der  ongerechtig-
de werkelijkheid van het leven. Zoo werkt de natuur- heid vol en ons geslacht rijp voor het oordeei.                -
lijke mensch niet. En de Schrift leert juist in het ge-         Wij hebben nog &en brief meer van Marnis..  Do&
heel niet, dat God zoo zou inwerken op een  boozen           dien  hopen  we een volgende keer te plaatsen.
boom, dat hij  we1 boos blijft en  tech goede vruchten                                                    II. H.
zou voortbrengen. Neen, genade maakt altijd eerst
den boom  goed  en verwacht dan goede vruchten.
   Wat nu de stuiting der zonde betreft, die persoon,,
die- dien brief aan Marnix schreef over dit onderwerp,
had het nog niet zoover mis, al verklaart dit lang alles                        WHAT NEXT?
niet. Hij bedoelde natuurlijk te zeggen, dat God ook                              (Continued)
alle goddeloozen en duivelen in Zijn geweld houdt, zoo-
dat ze de booze intentie niet altijd tot uitvoer kunnen         In this article we complete a task begun in a pre-
brengen. Er is geen inwendige stuiting van het pro-          vious writing - the task, namely, of exposing the
ces der zonde,  maar   we1 dikwijls een verhinderen van fallaciousness of De  Haan's  reasonings.' Having at-
de uitwendige daad, op een bepaald moment en in  be- tended to the main argument circulating through his
paalde omstandigheden. De Heere God doet dit door article, we now direct our attention to  certai,n  isolated
allerlei middelen. Marnix zal wel willen toestemmen, statements.
dat dit, zoo opgevat, geen scheiding inhoudt van den            We again quote: "This following of a man or a set
zondaar en zijne zonde. Maar tegen de theorie der            of creeds or dogmas is the cause of all the divisions
stuiting van zonde door gemeene gratie geldt allereerst in the body of which Christ spake when He prayed
alweer, dat er nergens zooiets in de Schrift  geleerd        that they all might be one. Wet see the divisions there
wordt,  schoon  de Schrift juist  we1 leert, dat ook de are and the feeling that exists between many of them."
ontwikkeling der ,zonde door den Heere in vaste  banen          Upon this above-cited selection I have already com-
wordt geleid en Hij daarom alle booze machten onder mented  (se,e  my former article). My comment, how-
Zijn geweld houdt, mede naar Art. 13 van onze  Ge-           ever, was not complete. To what was given, I wish to
loofsbelijdenis. In de tweede plaats mag  worden  op- add a remark or two. To begin with, the above cita-
gemerkt, dat zulk een theorie strijd tegen heel het leven tion constitutes, as was before said, a plea for the
en de werkelijkheid der sprake Gods in de  historic  en erasure of the lines of demarcation, setting off the
in de natuur. Nergens merkt ge van eene stuiting various distinct groups of protestants. Whereas the
van een zich op organische wijze ontwikkelend leven constituency of these lines, so De  Haan reasons, is
ook maar iets. En ook leert de geschiedenis juist, dat conflicting thought as incorporated in each group's
het zondeproces altijd doorgaat. Maar eindelijk bant creed, the erasure of these lines is a matter consisting
zulk een theorie  tech ook niets om daardoor nu goede in the putting away, by each group;of the creed that
werken van den  totaa1  verdorven mensch  t,e  willen divides. The truth of the matter is, however, that the
verklaren. Wat totaal verdorven is, wordt door stui- charge to the effect that creeds divide cannot be@lodged
ting niet beter. Ge kunt een leeuw .wel achter  de tra- against the. great creeds of Christendom. That, to
lies zetten,  maar hij wordt daardoor geen lam en doet illustrate, God is the Father, Almighty, the Maker of
ook niet als een lam. Ge kunt een doornstruik we1 tel-       heaven and earth; that Jesub Christ, is His only begot-
kens bij den wortel afsnijden, maar daardoor wordt ten son, our Lord: Who was conceived by the Holy
de doorn geen lelie.                                         Ghost, born of the virgin Mary : suffered under Pontius
    Neen, oak hier moet de organische gedachte niet Pilate ; was crucified, died and buried ; descended into
uit het oog worden  verloren. Adam lag aan den wortel hell ; rose again, the third day, from the dead  ;' ascended
van ons geslacht. Hij beging ook een wortelzonde, de into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand `of God the
voile vrucht waarvan  alleen  gezien kan worden  aan het Father Almighty; that from thence He shall come to
ten volle zich ontwikkelende geslacht. Daarom volgt judge the quick and the dead; that the Holy Ghost is;
ook de ontwikkeling der zonde dit otganisch proces  van that there is, further, a holy catholic church: the com-
de ontwikkeling van ons geslacht. Niet elk mensch munion of saints ; a forgiveness of sins ; a resurrection
doet alle zonde, zou dit ook niet kunnen doen,  maar hij     of the body ; and a life. everlasting, - are so many
zondigt in overeenstemming met'zijn eigen plaats in declarations to which every believer will subscribe.
het organisme. Hij doet dit naar karakter en aanleg,             True, the visage of the church (visible) is marred
naar gave en talent, naar tijd en omstandigheden,  oak       by many a deep furrow appearing when distinct
in  verband  met zijne aanraking met anderen, met  op- groups of believers voiced their differing convictions.
voeding en onderwijs. En hij doet dit met alle midde- Nevertheless, the sum total of these various dissimilar
len, die hem ten dienste staan. Hij is daarin natuur- groups show a not to be ignored agreement, at once the
lijk we1 op allerlei wijze beperkt, maar er is geen zede-    tangible exhibition of a hidden unseen oneness., Let
lijk.determinisme  en het proces  der zonde wordt niet us enlarge on this matter a little. The distinction 8tie.n
 gestuit. Ook wordt de natuurlijke mensch niet eenigs- and unseen church is a distinction  well made and
 zins verbeterd. En langs  die~n weg komt  straks de necessary. For the church worships an umeen  Christ.


Jl.$!)                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

Likewise such spiritual forces as faith and love  - protestant.               `Likewise, the Christian scientist, the
forces constituting the tie between the believers and           Morman, the Pelagian and the Modernist. Each has a
their unseen Head, cannot be laid hold on by the phys- creed of his own. Would De Haan have the Modern-
ical organs of sense. Faith, love and hope, however,            ist, the Christian Scientist, the Spiritualist, the `De
assume  n tangible form, when the church confesses its Haanist, the Calvinist, the Lutheran and the Methodist
Saviour, witnesses for the truth and lives the truth for set aside their differences and unite on a common
which it witnesses. True, the confessions of the vari- basis? Would this be possible? Not at all. For, set
ous distinct groups, being the formulations of truth aside these differences and no materials remain from
having passed through partially  sin-darked  minds, which to construct a common basis. Let us make our
bear the earmarks of sin. Their sum total is disfigured meaning clear. The Modernist defines God as a being
by more than one internal disagreement. However, like having no existence apart from the universe. The
truths similarly expressed, circulate through them all.         Modernist, then, identifies God with the universe. He
The front of the church universal is to a degree united.        maintains that the two are one. The Rev. De Haanist,
And this visible unity is at once the tangible exhibition the Calvinist, the Lutheran and the Methodist, on the
of an unseen? oneness. It is not true, as one of the            other hand, maintain that God LZO~S  exist apart from
editors of  The Banner  states, that the church  imhiblr:       the universe, that God alone is eternal and that the
is o'~;~e but that the church  v~isibk is d,ividcld. On~ncss    creation of the universe is a historical fact. What
and unity are the attributes of the visible as well as should have to happen if the De Haanist and the Mod-
of the invisible church. The seen church, however, is,          ernist should decide to come under one roof? Each
to a degree, divided. So, too, the unseen church. It should have to eliminate from his definition of God
cannot be otherwise, for the divisions penetrate the the thought-element with which the other is not
surface. Their beginnings must be sought in the very agreed. The clause setting forth God as a being having
sub-soil of men's souls. They are, therefore, at once ,YZO existence apart from the universe should have to
visible and invisible. Nevertheless, the church as to           be set aside. Likewise the clause defining God as a
both its above-cited aspects is  essentially ope  and un- being  zoho  cloes exist apart from the universe. This
divided. The divisions which remain are due to in- common basis, then, might contain no clause describing
dwelling sin. They will not disappear until Christ the relation God sustains to His cosmos. The amalgam-
shall have perfected His body. The divisions in the ation once having been effected, De  Haan should have
church universal, then, are not ideal. Hence, it is the to erase the particular scripture which declares that
God-imposed duty of the sum total of believers to strive "In the  b,eginning  God created heaven and earth."
to come "into the unity of faith, and of the knowledge Doing so, he would soon encounter the curse of heaven.
of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the meas-           But aside from this, what positive elements would re-
ure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." It is the main upon which the parties involved could take their
duty of every saint, once more, to labor for the mend- stand? None whatsoever. For to deny that God is
ing of the breaches in the church of Christ and for the         one with the cosmos and to deny that He is a being
removal of the deep lines that disfigure her visage.            existing apart from the cosmos is to deny the very
Such should be our strivings, though we know, before- existence of God. A God who is neither a being exist-
hand, that these strivings of ours will be crowned with ing apart from the cosmos nor a being identical with
but at best a partial success. The perfected church is the cosmos, is altogether unthinkable.
the exclusive accomplishment of Christ. It will appear             De Haan may reply that he is well aware of the
simultaneously with the new heaven and the new earth, fact that a union between such disparate groups as the
coming down from God out of heaven - the holy city,             De Haanists and the Modernists is impossible; that
the new Jerusalem, prepared as a bride adorned for what he had in mind is a fusion of such groups as the
her husband.                                                    De Haanists, the Baptists and the Calvinists and the
          Unity, then, should be our ideal, the goal toward     like. Very well. But does not De  Haan realize that any
which we all should be pressing on. EIow should we go attempt on the part of these groups to come under the
about realizing this ideal? What are the measures same ecclesiastical roof and to take their stand on some
that should be taken. Not those, surely, advocated by common floor would involve them in difficulties similar
Rev. M. De  Haan. But let us, for the present, drop to those cited above? Let us make our meaning clear.
this line of thought and return to the complaint of De Each group has its creed. It is as if I again hear De
Haan lodged against the Christian creeds. Creeds, so Haan  saying : "Indeed, but let them set their creeds
De Haan insists, are the cause of the divisions in the          aside. Let them forget their differences and build on
body of Christ. It was pointed out, however, that the the Bible." Just so. Let us follow De Haah's advise!
creeds of Christendom show a remarkable agreement and see where it leads to. The creed to which-the Cal-
and are, therefore, indicative of the essential unity of vinist adheres asserts among other things that since
the body of Christ. Nevertheless, creeds do differ. "baptism is come in the place of circumcision, infants
And if De Haan was using the term protestant as the are to be baptized as heirs of the kingdom of God, and
signiiication  of every non-catholic, these differences are of His covenant." The creed to which De Haan cleaves
great. For the Spiritualist is a non-catholic, hence, a maintains, on the other hand, that baptism is a sac-


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        471

 rament which may be used by adults  on,&.  Each group        whom he publicly derides. But  what we  mean to
 (the De Haanists and the Calvinists), would they unite, bring out, however, is that if the De Haanists and the
 shall have to set aside the thought-element to which Calvinists should continue to read Scripture as they
 the other is opposed. The Calvinist shall have to prom- had been reading it in the past, nothing would  !se
 ise never again to as much as mention infant baptism gained by each group discarding its creed and return-
 before the De Haanist will lock arms with him. The De ing to the word.               Each would reproduce what
 Haanist, on the other hand, agrees to keep silence re-       it had set aside and the division would remain, as
 specting adult baptism. Hence, if you should appl'oach       real and deep-seated as ever. But it may be that the
 the new brotherhood resulting from the fusion of the kind of union De Haan has in mind is one which re-
 De Haanists and the Calvinists with the question,            quests the groups implicated to keep silence concern-
 "What is your view respecting the sacrament of bap- ing their differing convictions, but at the same time
 tism?" the reply would have be, "We profess neither permits them to privily beIieve  what they please. De
 infant nor adult baptism." `However, to refuse to bap- Haan shall have to admit that a union of this kind is
 tize either the infant or the adult, is to refuse to bap- one not worthy the name, is one both unreal and for-
 tize at all. It is plain that the kind of union De Haan bidden. Unreal, because the differences are not re-
 pleads for is possible only when the two last named          moved but merely suppressed. Forbidden, in that
 groups set aside not merely infant baptism, not merely every believer shall embrace and live the truth as he
 adult baptism, but the entire sacrament, or, to express sees it. He not doing so, deals dishonestly with God
 ourselves in more general terms, the kind of union De and self. Such a one is damned, as he denies what he
 Haan pleads for becomes an accomplished fact when holds to be the truth.
 the groups involved set aside the truth at stake. I am          The trend of the Protestantism of today is toward
 pretty sure that De  Haan will  concide  that a union organization. But let the promoters of this amalgam-
 effected at the cost of truth is one cursed by God.          ation process  &T about their business like honest men.
    De  Haan may again interpolate that I failed utterly Let them refrain from training men's mind to decry
to sense what he was aiming at. He may say, "To be the creed as the bane of Christendom, and the divisions
 sure, `a union effected at the cost of truth is one for- in the church as due to the operations of the Divine
 bidden by heaven.     Hence, the setting aside of the curse. Let them freely admit that a creedless church
 thought-elements that divide is but an introductory is a nonentity; that no man is without a creed; that a
step.    What the groups should do, thereupon, is to creed, the contents of which continues to dwell in
turn to the Word of God and determine what this in- men's hearts cannot be disallowed; that he sacri-
fallible book has to say about baptism. Having done           ficing his convictions  - his creed  - in the interest of
 so, the groups involved would be in the possession of church union, will not be held guiltless, in  that  he
a common basis, as Scripture speaks but one language." commits a heinous sin ; that the fusion of two or more
To this we reply that Scripture, to be sure, speaks but disparate groups is a counterfeit, is feigned, false and
one language. However, De Haan knows right well unreal, if the groups united continue to cleave to the
that according to the De Haanists this one  Inngun,clc! is creed that must but cannot be forgotten. Let those
 that only adults may use the sacrament of baptism;           prcimoters,  finally, refrain from interspersing their
and that according to the Calvinists this  ona  lnngungc      speech with such  misIeading  sayings as No crec;d bxt
 is that infants are to bc bccptized.  Fact is, then, that    Christ or Azvay with the creed and back to Scripture.
 Scripture, as understood by the De Hcumists,  speaks "Nobody can tack a man's name to my religion." Such
one language, and as understood by the Calvinist, an- tomfoolery ! If De Haan no longer follows the fallible
other. And the language of Scripture as understood creeds of Christendom, he follows his very own, man-
by the De Hamist is hb creed,: and as understood by made, fallible creed. And to distinguish that  creed
. the Calvinist, his c-reed. And both the Calvinist and of his from every other creed he must needs tack to it
the De Haanist insist that they build upon the Bible the name  De  Ham  Is De  Haan, then, no man? "I
and are being led by  t,he Holy Spirit. And as far as follow no creed but built upon Scripture." Indeed, but
both are able to judge, they are. Yet, as De Haan re- De  Haan should know that he who builds upon Scrip-
marked, either the Calvinist or the De Haanist must ture, follows a creed. And that for the simple reason
be in error. Both cannot be right. Who is right? To that what .I build upon is truth CIS I discern it. This
this De  Haan replies, "He is right who permits himself latter is my man-made fallible creed. My apprehen-
to be led by the Holy Spirit.`" However, the Spirit, as sion and comprehension, that is to say, my creed, marks
was before said, does not interpret Scripture apart the extent of my approach to the Word of God. What
from, but through the instrumentality of the saint. I follow and act upon is never this Word KS  N&Z but
What is more, the operations of the Holy Spirit ren- the Word as I understand it, that is, my creed. Hence,
ders no saint infallible. Hence, De  Haan shall have no one can discard his creed -- his conception of the
to admit that as a teacher, as an interpreter of Scrip- truth incorporated in the Word - to build upon the
ture, he is as fallible as Calvin and Luther, as the Word as such. Truth, then, and my conception of  the
organized Christianity which he despises. He shall truth, cannot be placed in juxtaposition. What can
have to admit that he may be wrong as well as those happen is that I, Ioosing faith in my particular con-


4 7 2                                  T,H,E  STAND.ARD   B E A R E R                                            .-
ception  of the truth, embrace what. I deem to be a ter of progressive sanctification. In the degree that
better and more correct conception of the truth. 1Ic~e,     the believer is holy, in that degree will he be able to
it is plain that the saying, No creed,  Scripture only is sense revealed truth and to lay hold on and delight in
of a kind that he will use who schemes to wean men's the corresponding unseen realities. Hence, the first
minds away from the truth to attach these minds to          step in the right direction is taken when the believers
his own inventions. Let me explain. Christian creeds, "mortify their members upon the earth ; fornication,
as was before said, are the great storehouses of truth uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence,
mined by the church of the past from the Word of God.       and covetousness, which is idolatry . . .  " "When
As long as the great creeds of Christendam are held         they put off, further, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy
in honor and believed, the church is pretty safe. The       filthy communications out of their mouth . . . " The
devil knows this. To him, you may depend upon it, appetite for and the ability to absorb and to masticate
these creeds are dreaded documents. Would he gain truth are his who has put on the new man, renewed in
men for his lies, he must first detach them from these knowledge after the image of him that created him.
creeds.     His first move is to destroy men's faith in By laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocri-
them by decrying them, through the instrumentality sies, and envies, and ail evil speakings, the believer
of his agents, as the ruination of Christendom, as the stimulates his desire for truth and for God. With keen
cause of all the divisions in the church. Thereupon he appetite for truth: the believer will now apply him-
invents and has preaihed  some such pious sounding self with persistent diligence to the study of the Word.
phrase as,  Ncc  creed, but Scripture only.  The pious      He will do so, for being spiritual, he must see more of
but ignorant man in the pew responds with a  Just  SQ,      God and know more of His will. His efforts will be
back  to  Scripture.  In this may Satan makes it pos- crowned with success. He will grow up in Christ in
sible for himself to gain a hearing. And under the all things. Such is the course the church must follow
pretense of leading men back to Scripture, he directs       if it would come to the unity of faith. Only a union,
them to his lies.    Without realizing what they do, men so caused, will be tolerated by God. The erring be-
pass in their thinking not from creed to Scripture but lievers must grow in truth. Doing so, their eyes open
from the creed of Christendom to the creed of the Iying to their errors. What the church wants and needs is
prophet. Satan is subtle. But, to return to the mat- a union that is the result of this growth and none
ter of church union, let these promoters, once more,        other. .lf, instead of railing at the creeds of Christen-
deaI fairly with men. Let them admit that a union dom, De Haan would impress upon his readers that
between the De Haanist and the Calvinist, or between they must be pure of heart if they would see God and
the De Haanist and the Modernist is possible only in that only when they see more of God will they draw
the event the De Haanist turns Modernist or the Mod- cIoser together, he would be planting in their hearts
ernist turns De Haanist. If, on the other hand, both        right thoughts.
remain what they were and yet profess to be able to            The above stipulated program if carried out would
live together under the same roof, it is because convic- surely yield some wholesome fruit. There would be a
tions have weakened and died. The promoters of church general  trek  on the part of  thP  tmt?  icj~ople of God  in
union should not fail to call men's attention to `this.     the direction of truth; and a simultaneous drawing to-
When analyzed, this so-called broad tolerance of which gether of the divided ranks of Christendom. The  r
so many love to yrate,  turns out to be a mixture of truth would again become the great rallying point. The
sheer indifference to truth, ignorance and unbelief. It wolves in the sheep fold of Jesus Christ, encountering
is easy for us to be tolerant when we have no convic- the holy indignation of the revivified (true) church,
tions.     It is this broad  toIerance  that renders alto- would either voluntarily retreat or be cut  of? from the
gether possible the contemplated church union of this       body by the body as so rnany rotten members. The
day.                                                        thinned-out ranks of Christendom and the changed
: j.L But for a11 this, unity, as was before said, should aspect of the church, would be the evidence that a
be our ideal, the goal toward which we should all be house-cleaning campaign had indeed been in progress.
pressing on. Again the question: How should we go              Laying  aside nil mnlicr, says the apostle. Let me
about realizing this ideal? The answer is simple say, in passing, that it was malice that deposed the
enough. Not by denying our creed, or by disallowing Revs. H. Hoeksema,  I-3. Danhof and the undersigned.
our convictions, not by the practice of that broad toler- Persisting in nourishing a powerful grudge, those in
ance which God cannot otherwise but denounce, not power lost, gradually, their taste and regard for truth.
by agreeing to come under the same roof with those          With eyes filIed with beams, and, hence, with vision
with whom we are at variance, but by putting forth dimmed, judgment impaired, taste for trust destroyed,
an untiring and persistent attempt to move ever closer it is no wonder that they could purposely adulterate
to the truth. The divisions in the church of Christ the truth in order to render it obnoxious to those or
will disappear in the degree that the sum total of be- to him, rather, whom they would see leave.
lievers increase in the knowledge of God. There is a            What may have induced Dr. Rev. M. De Haan to
unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God.      severe the tie binding him to the Reformed churches:'
As was before said, this growth in knowledge is a mat- Let  h.im search his heart diligently for the answer.


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   R E A R E R                                     473

According to .his very own testimony, it was creed or forms meet with the approval of heaven ; that the body
creeds that wedged him loose from these churches. of believers need, therefore, put forth no efrort,  to de-
 But let him remember that it was his creed as well as velope  a single form of manifestation --- a form exhib-
 the creed of that society from which he withdrew, iting that there is but "one body, and one Spirit . . .
that enters into the make-up of this wedge. De Haan one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father
 seems to loose this out of sight. His creed, too, I say. of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you
 The creed asserting that infant baptism is  unscripz al1 (Eph. 4  :4,  5, 6). Such seem to be the sentiments
tural, and that adult baptism, only, is in agreement clustering about the term pluraformaty.             However,
with God's Word. Let De  Haan do the thing he advo- upon them, we feel assured, God in heaven frowns.
 cates: let him remove this wedge, set aside that creed True enough, the body of Christ projects itself into a
 of his that divides. As was before said, he  CIVL and multiplicity of forms. However, their sum total does
may not do it, as long as he is of the conviction that his not constitute a unity, a harmonious whole, the grand
creed asserts the truth. Let De Haan desist, then, from realization of a divine idea, eternally before God's
advocating the impossible and the forbidden thing. mind. To the contrary, these forms militate, the one
Let him, henceforth, deal honestly with his readers, against the other, at least to a degree. Hence of all
and inform them that the presence of the various these forms there is but one of which I can and do say
wedges is due to sin, to the short-sightedness of the that it has, according to my conviction, the sanction of
partially sin-darkened mind of the believers, his own God. And in so far as these forms disagree with this
mind included. Let him tell his readers how a union, one which I deem proper, do they constitute, so I am
pleasing unto the Lord, may be effected. Not by each convinced, a departure from the truth and have, there-
group setting aside a creed. of which it is convinced fore, no right of existence. What each distinct group
that it (this creed) sets forth the truth (this is Satan's of believers should do, then, is to assure itself, by
method) ; but by each believer and group of believers diligent and persistent study, that its peculiar form of
adopting as their program of life the one cited above. manifestation is the one in which Christ would have
Let us remember that the union approved of by heaven His body be seen. Armed with this conviction, each
is one effected by the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, group should voice an  honorabIe  and dignified protest
coming to its own in the lives of the saints.        The against the form of which it is convinced that it repre-
devil, on the other hand, -would unite men on the basis sents a departure from the truth. The resultant con-
of his lie. Let us take care that, captivated by such troversy would be productive of good fruit providing
pious-sounding phrases as, No creed but  Scripture, we the wayward believer were sufficiently spiritual to
do not give the devil a lift by training men to regard       admit, when shown, that he errs. But whether thisJ..--
the creeds as such as the source and cause of all the fruit wouId  be forthcoming or not, the duty of every
ills of the church. Not the creed as such but the creed believer is to persistently champion the truth as he
that sets forth ,the lie, is responsible for the divided sees it, and to denounce the lie whenever and wherever
ranks of Christendom. In order that this creed may encountered.            The sentiments grouping themselves
be detected and removed, every believer and each dis- about the term  pluraformnty  constitute the smoke-
tinct group of believers should take to hand his creed screen behind which ease-loving, timid, and unprogres-
 and, instead of submitting it to the flames,  think his sive ministers and theologians, endeavoring to obscure
way into the incorporated truth. Thereupon the Scrip- their deficiencies and their calling, love to repose. We
tures should be studied with persevering diligence, by should strive to establish unity, the kind of unity sanc-
each individual, by each group, by each succeeding ,tioned  by heaven. The divided front of Christendom
generation. And if it should appear that the creed is not in agreement with the moral will of God, though
to which we adhere is in error, the truth involved we know that this front will remain more or less di-
should receive a new and better formulation. Let De vided until the great day of the Lord. The Lord will
 Haan,  then, apply to his creed the test of God's Word. not hold him guiltless who acquieces  in these states.
And if for him the one language of Scripture continues Let, then, each distinct group make sure, by adopting
to be that only adults may make use of the sacrament and vigorously executing in God's strength some such
 of baptism, very well, let him cleave to his conviction,    program as that stipulated above, that the divided
 by all means, and enter with those who differ from front of the church is not due to its neglect.
him in an honorable debate. And if neither he nor his
 opponent will yield, the thing to do is not to set aside
convictions, but to wait until Christ appears to decide         There is still a statement or two, appearing in De
 the matter.                                                 Haan's article, to which we must attend. De Haan in-
    The closer union of all believers is the thing that forms his readers that whereas there  is no  other  nams
 all of us, by God's grace, should be attempting to effect. under heaven by which  .men must he saved than the
 The phrase, Pluraformity  of the church (`universal), is mzrne  JGWS, he `- De Haan - believes not in Calvin
 a well known one. It signifies that the one body of as some do, but in Christ. So he leaves the impression
 Christ assumes a multiplicity of forms in its differing that those who desire to be known as Calvinist, do not
 creeds and church formations; that all these various believe in Christ. In commenting upon these vitupara-

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

tions we set out with the remark that De  Haan ought Lord Jesus Christ. Look round about you honestly
to know that he instills in the hearts of his readers         now and see what men are taught to believe.            Are
wrong thoughts of those who attach to their creed the         they taught to believe certain forms or a Person? Are
name of the man or the group of men who more than they urged to study the book of the Person of the Lord
others succeeded in apprehending the truth embodied Jesus Christ or is the emphasis on the deductions of a
in the creed, and in giving to that truth the proper          church or group of church fathers concerning the
form. He calling himself a Calvinist merely desires to Word?" So far De Haan.
have men know that he apprehends the truth as did                According to De  Haan,  then, that formalism, work-
Calvin, and that Calvin was instrumental in opening ing the ruin of so many churches, is  "bclicrving
his eyes to truth to which those eyes of his might a set of doctrines or crl?eds."  What amazing nonsense!
otherwise have remained closed. As was before said,           What is a formalist? One who rests in mere outward
what we follow -is not truth as  such  but truth dis-         forms of religion. He is the man who thinks of his
cerned. The latter is our creed, man-made and fallible.       partaking of the Lord's Supper, of his attending divine
It bears, whether we admit it or not, the name of the services add the like, as so many good works upon
discerner, whoever he may be. That creed of ours, if which he can buiId  for eternity. He is one who merely
exclusively the fruits of our very own researches, may assents to the truth without embracing the corres-
bear our very own name. Now if all believers read             ponding reality. Ask the formalist if he believes that
Scripture alike, there would be no necessity of attach- the blood of Christ is, and that this blood cleanses
ing the name of the discerner to our creed. The truth from all sin, and he will say, indeed. Yet he refuses
of the matter is, however, that Calvin read Scripture to be sprinkled by this bIood, and thinks that mere
different than did either Luther or Wesley or even De assent to the truth will secure for him a place in
Haan. Because I desire that men know that 1 adhere heaven. Hence, though De  Haan discards every creed
to t,he truth as discerned not by De Raan but by Cal- of Christendom (if this were possible) he may still be
vin, I attach to my creed the name of Calvin. And if facing, on the Sabbaths, pews filled with formalists.
De Haan would not be known as a Russellite, or as a           Believing  cl creed  is a brand of formalism, if that faith
Unitarian or the like, he shall be compelled to attach        is mere assent to the truth of which the creed is a
to his discernment of the truth, the name of the man          formulation. Let De Haan remember, that believing
or the group of men whose discernment of the truth Scripture may be amounting, on the part of some, also
agrees with his but differs from that of either Pastor to a mere assent to the truth. If I believe Scripture
Russell or of the Unitarian. Further, De Haan shall           but fail to take refuge to the Christ whom the Word
have to admit that every man's discernment of the             describes, I perish. The preacher who rails at the
truth is fallible. Whose name, if not that of man, then, creeds of Christendom is diverting men's minds from
could we attach to our creed? Surely, not that of God. the real cause of all the ills of the church.
       We believe in Calvin and ive believe in Christ. So,       If I believe the truth embodied in the creeds of
t,oo, do we love God and our neighbor. However, we            Christendom, and at once embrace the realities which
do not believe in Calvin cfs 206 believe in Christ. We these creeds depict, I am saved.
believe in Calvin as one who was empowered by God's              Let us put that statement of De Haan to a test.
grace to discern the truth. We believe in Christ as           My creed asserts, among other things, that the faithful
our Saviour and Redeemer. Hence, we can believe in Saviour Jesus Christ satisfied, with His precious blood,
Calvin and at once in Christ.                                 for all the sins of His people, and delivered them from
       Wrote De Haan: "In some circles the spiritual, life the power of the devil; and so preserves them that
of the church is being crushed out between the upper          without the will of their heavenly Father, not a hair
and the nether millstones of modernism and formal-            can fall from any of their heads; yea, that all things
ism. (True enough, G. M. 0.) It seems very odd that must be subservient to the saints, and that God, by
these two that seem so diverse on the surface should          His Holy Spirit, assures them of eternal life,  and
conspire together to bring the church to the condition makes them sincerely willing and ready, henceforth,
described in Rev. 3 (the Laodicean church). Yet the to live unto Him. Answer to the first question of the
fact cannot be denied. Practical and doctrinal modern- first Lord's day of the Catechism. We invite De  Haan
ism has devitalized great numbers of churches while to publicly declare, if he dare, that one who assents to
many of the remainded are sinking into a brand of the truth of which this answer is a formulation, and is
formalism that is appalling to behold."                       willing to belong with body and soul both in life and
       What now, according to De Haan, is this brand of       death, to the Christ which this Lord's day describes, is
formalism into which so many churches are sinking? not saved. Let De  Haan  publicly declare that this
The answer is contained in the following statement Lord's day is not a correct formulation of a scriptural
from his (De  Haan's) pen : "Wrong emphasis has truth, and at once explain how it would be possible
crowded out the emphasis on the  person of Gh~kt and for one to trust in Christ if denying what this Lord's
the  uuthodfj  of the Holy  Spirit. Salvation is not be- day asserts. How would I know anything about the
lieving a set of doctrines or creeds or things as such.       Lord and be able to trust in Him, if I had not in my
It is believing on  3  Person. And that Person is the possession  a doctrine of the Christ? De Haan, then,


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        475

must desist from placing the creeds of Christendom is, to organize. Said the apostle: "He that descended
and the God and the Christ whom these creeds set            is the same also that ascended up far above all
forth, in juxtaposition. I cannot possible do without       heavens, that He might  fill all things. And he gave
the former. I believe the creed, that is, am convinced some, apostles ; and some, prophets  ; and some, evangel-
that what the creed declares is true, and thercfom  sub- ists ; and some, pastors and teachers ; for the perfect-
mit myself to Him whom that creed reflects. Let Fe ing of the saints, for the work of the ministry,  fok
Haan, finally, explain how the above creed could work the edifying of the body of Christ . . . . (Eph. 1  :ll,
the ruin of the church.                                     12) 13).
    De  Haan defines a creed as follows: "The deduc-           The Spirit refuses to dwell in organized Christian-
tions of a church or a group of church fathers concern- ity? The very reverse is true. He will not dwell in a
ing the Word." From this definition it is plain that group of professing believers who refuse to organize;
De  Haan  h,as not clearly before  h.is mind what the ,who neglect to choose them pastors and to submit
Christian creeds are.                                       themselves to those, chosen.
    Once more. "Oh that we might forget," so De                De  Haan may reply that what he had in mind was
Haan wrote, "these denominational fences that we            not the local organized group but the confederation of
have built and be so absorbed in the great task of local organizations such as the classis and the synod.
winning souls that all others would fade into insig- Indeed, but will De  Haan explain to us why a confede-
nificance.    We may learn a lesson from the Iowa           racy of this kind must do without the Spirit? Is it not
farmer that said, `Yes we have fences between our           the duty of the church universal to present, as far as
farms but we grow the corn so high that you can't circumstances allow, a united front? It is the very thing
see the fences'." At first flush, this quotation appears for which De  Haan in his article pleads. Yet, a few
to be packed full of the sublimest wisdom. In reality, lines further he gives his readers to understand that
however, it sets forth the wildest kind of nonsense. the larger organization cannot count upon the guidance
These fences of the figure are the representations of of the Spirit. Does De Haan rejlly know whereof he
the points of differences, between each group's creed. speaks? Oh that he would know! He would not write
To forget or set aside these differences is to set aside    and speak as he does.
truth as discerned by each distinct group. I-Iow could         De  Haan makes the statement,.further,  that organ-
these various groups, having set aside truth, grow corn     ized Christianity has nothing  t.o do with the two 01'
or, dropping the figure, win souls for Christ? What         three gathered in His name (the real church}. Fact
kind of corn would that be these farmers were grow- is, however, that organized Christianity is the two or
ing? How shall they preach if there be no message,          three organized.
and how shall they believe if there be no preacher?            Fprther, De Haan maintains that the church (or-
   Further, De  Haan gives his readers to understand        ganized Christianity) is no authority. Let us see.
(see his article as it appeared in the preceding issue      What is authority? And the answer, The right  an'd
of this publication) that the Holy Spirit refuses to the capacity to preach the Gospel and, thus, to  aclmin-
dwell in organized Christianity; that He abides in the      ister unto the spiritual needs of Christ's sheep. Now,
two or three.  T.,et us analyze these sentiments. The       then, if organized Christianity is no authority, that is,
local congregation, De Haan should know, is a repre-        has neither the right nor the capacity to preach the
sentation of organized Christianity. Any,group of be-       Word, should not De  Haan, who constitutes a part of a
lievers are said to organize when they choose them local organization keep silence and  yeturn  to his
pastors and elders and willingly submit themselves to       former profession?
the object of their choice. The resultant product is           The truth of the matter is that the church (organ-
known as an organization, and is constituted of the         ized Christianity) though an authority, is not the
pastors and the flock to whom the former are legally        absolute and infallible authority. We have only one
and spiritually related. Dr. De  Haan and his flock such authority, to-wit, Cod.
constitute such a body of which he is pastor. For De           Finally, De Haan, in his article, takes protestant-
Haan to say that the Spirit dwells not in organized         ism to task for its Romanistic tendencies. The state-
Christianity is equal to him saying that the Spirit ment occurs : "It is Catholicism under another name."
dwells neither in him nor in his flock. Well, he ought Very well. Strange to say, however, De  Haan, in that
to know. We know, however, that this cannot be said he poses in his article as an infallible guide to heaven,
of every local group of organized Christians.       The sets himself up as the pope of protestantism. Here we
Pentecostal converts at Jerusalem had, under the            have another case of the black pot chiding the kettle
supervision of the apostles, organized. And in this for its blackness.
group the Spirit certainly dwelt. Of its deacons we            Herewith we have said our say. We believe that
read that they were men filled with the Holy Spirit.        ignorance is chiefly responsible for the article of De
    The `Holy Spirit dwells not in organized Christian-     Haan. However,.it  is ignorance of the deadliest kind.
ity? Impossible. For this same Spirit instructed the        God forbid that I or anybody else should not, out of
apostles to urge believers with whom they were thrown love for God's cause and out of a genuine concern for
in contact, to choose them pastors and teachers, that the well being and safety of His people, dwelling  with-

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

, in De Haan's  reach, label that vile concoction of his                 II-PET PRE-MILLENNIALISME
 poison. Any one deeming it his duty to assert himself
 as a reformer of the church, should make sure that he          De hieronder volgende rede werd door  ondergetee-
 knows and has correctly diagnosed its ailments and is kende op verschillende plaatsen gehouden, ten tijde
 capable of applying the correct remedy. Otherwise van het kerkelijk conflict, dat ontstond door de uitgave
 such a one does much more harm than good.                   van het boek Marnnnthn,  geschreven door Ds. H. Eulte-
                                                G. M. 0.     ma. De kwestie mag ook thans niet van belang  ont-
                                                             bloat geacht  worden.  Daarom laten we de rede  bier
                                                             Ietterlijk volgen, zooals we haar destijds uitspraken.
                                                                I. De theorie van het duizendjarig rijk is, vooral
                                                             in onze Amerikaansche wereld,  bet best bekend onder
          Komt, laat ons voortgaan, kind'ren,                den naam van het Millennialisme, een term die we dan
            Want d' avond is nabij ;                         ook gemakshalve in het vervolg zullen  bezigen. Het
          Het stilstaan kan  licht hind'ren                  woord "millennium" is feitelijk precies hetzelfde als
            In deze woestenij.                               ons Hollandsch woord Duizendjarig Rijk, alleen  met
          Komt,  sterkt opnieuw den moed!                    dit verschil dat het eene puur Latijn, het ander puur
            Den wandelstaf geheven                           Nederlandsch is. Hetzelfde mag gezegd van het woord
          Om hemelwaarts te streven ;                        Chiliasme, een term die ook dikwijls wordt gebezigd en
            Zoo wordt het einde goed.                        die van het Grieksch afkomstig is. Gemakshalve  zul-
                                                             len we dus in het vervolg spreken van het millennium
          Wij reizen met elkander                            en het millennialisme. Tot recht verstand echter  van
            Wij wand'len hand aan hand;                      de zaak, hebben we eene onderscheiding we1 in het oog
          D' een zij tot troost den ander ;                  te  vatten  en voor de aandacht te houden. Alle  millen-
            Op weg naar `t Vader-land                        nialisme, namelijk, is niet gelijk. Ge hebt allen  de on-
          Zijn wij als broeders  Een !                       derscheiding we1 hooren noemen,  tusschen pre-millen-
             Geen strijd om beuzelingen,                     nialisme en post-millennialisme. Het laatste, namelijk
            Daar Eng'len ons omringen,                       post-millennialisme, is de naam voor de beschouwing,
          En zweven om ops  heen.                            die aanneemt, dat de Heere Jezus zal wederkomen  na
                                                             het millennium, nadat het duizendjarig rijk op aarde
          Treedt  moedig voorwaarts, kind'ren,               geweest is. Er zal door den invloed  van het Evangelie
            De reis kort op naar `t graf ;                   en allerlei Christelijke propaganda in deze bedeeling
          Wij zien den- afstand mind'ren,                    een tijdperk aanbreken, dat gekenmerkt  zal zijn door
           Ras valt ons  `t reiskleed af;                    de algeheele overwinning van het Christendom. De
          Nog slechts wat meerder moed !                     kennis des Heeren zal over de geheele aarde verspreid
            Wat rustiger en blijer,                          wezen, en het glorierijke koninkrijk van Christus  zal
            Van aardsche  banden vrijer,                     de opperheerschappij hebben in de wereld. Met an-
          Gestreefd naar  `t eeuwig  goed!                   dere woorden, het post-millennialisme neemt  aan, dat
                                                             het koninkrijk niet zal worden  opgericht door de komst
                                  -                          van Christus, maar omgekeerd, dat Christus  zal weder-
                                                             komen, nadat het koninkrijk zal zijn opgericht. Daar
          Geen aardsche  macht  begeeren wij ;               tegenover staat  echter  het pre-millennialisme, dat  ge-
            Die gaat welras verloren !                      heel de eerstgenoemde beschouwing verwerpt,  verkon-
          Ons staat de sterke Held ter zij,                  digt dat er in deze bedeeling geen hoop is voor het
            Die God ons heeft verkoren.                      koninkrijk van den Heiland, en dat het millennium
               Vraagt gij Zijn naam? zoo weet,               eerst zal worden opgericht, nadat de Heiland zal, zijn
               Dat Hij de Christus  heet,                   verschenen op de wolken des Heeren, dat Hij juist met
               Gods Eengeboren  Zoon,                        dat bepaalde doe1 zal komen, om namelijk het vrede-
               Verwinnaar op den troon !                     rijk op aarde te stichten en den Antichrist voor zijn
            De zege is ons beschoren.                        aangezicht  te verdoen. En het is over deze laatste be-
                                                             schouwing dat we bepaaldelijk tot u spreken in dezen
          Gods woord houdt stand in eeuwigheid               avond. Het is deze beschouwing, die in onze Ameri-
            En zal geen duimbreed wijken                     kaansche  orthodoxe wereld als in de lucht zit, het is
          Beef, Satan ! Hij, Die ons geleidt                 deze beschouwing, die ook in  Maranatha   wordt  verde-
            Zal u de vaaa doen  strijken!                    digd.
               Delf vrouw en kind'ren `t graf,                  Wat dan houdt deze beschouwing in? Het Iigt we1
               Neem goed en bloed ons af,.                   in den aard der zaak, dat alle voorstanders van het
               Het brengt u geen gewin,          +           millennialisme, in den zin waarin wij thans daarvan
               Wij gaan ten hemel  in                        spreken, op lange na geen eenstemmig antwoord geven
            En erven  koninkrijken  !                        op de vraag, wat het eigenlijk inhoudt.     Niet dat we


