f


                                      137  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           151

                                                                     plainly, was not His point of view., The matter upon
               THE CHRISTIAN AND THE WORLD                                                                                ,.
                                                                     which He was discoursing was not the conspicuousness
          The phrase "of the world" denotes the relation of the Church or the individual Christian as  such, but
      which the Church sustains to the world; It signifies the duty of this church to render itself conspicuous by
      that the Church was given to the world as light; that letting its light shine. The Christian, being light, must
      this light must shine, in order that men (the elect) may emit light, may not cover his light by his vices. Doing
       glorify God.                                                  so, he places himself under a bushed.
          "A city set upon a hill cannot be hid, Neither do,            By others it is maintained that Christ meant to
       men light a candle and put it under a bushel but on a caution his people against retreating from the affairs
       candlestick ; and it giveth light unto.all  that are in the of the larger world into the smaller circle of their own.
       house. Let your light so shine before men, that they Doing so, they place their light  udder a bushed, come
      may see your good works and glorify your Father down from the crest of the hill to the valley below. The
      which is in heaven." The Church, then, is a city. believer, Christ is supposed to have meant to say,
       Scripture frequently calls the church a city. ,"There         should cast him in the deep stream, or take his seat
      is a river, the streams of which shall make glad the in high places, enter, let us say, politics, engage in big
      city of God" (Ps. 46  :4). "Great  is the Lord, and business, join the union, in a word, mount himself
      greatly to be praised in .the .city of our God, in the. upon the candlestick. If one of the gifted God's people
      mountain of His holiness. Beautiful for situation, the could persuade his countrymen to elect him president'
      joy of the `whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the sides of        of our own United States of America, the angels in
      the north, the city of the great King" (Ps. 48  :12).          heaven would rejoice, so it is argued.
      Abraham is said to have looked for a city that hath                                                      For this part&
                                                                     ular disciple, having been raised to the  aforesaid-
      foundation, whose builder and maker is God (Heb. 11:           height, would be shedding his light over the vast ex-
      12). But ye are come unto Mount Zion, unto the city            panse of our land from one of its borders to the other.
      of the living God, the heavenly Jer`usalem  . . . (tieb.
      12 :22). And I John saw the holy city; new Jerusalem,             It is altogether possible that such a one would be
     coming  down  from God out of heaven, prepared as a hailed by men a`s a great light. It is a matter of doubt,
      bride, adorned for her husband (Rev. 21:2).                    however,  wh.ether the light radiated would continue to
          The church a city, the people of God, a distinct .be the light of Christ. The world refuses to come to
      commonwealth, a disparate society, constituted of such this light, so that this particular disciple might soon
      as have been redeemed to God by the blood of the Lamb. conclude that he had better place his pure light of
      out of every kindred, tongue, people and nation - a heaven under a bushel, would he get along. Be this &s
      chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a it may, it must not be supposed that Christ was urging
      peculiar people, whose King supreme is God.                    His'disciples  to make themselves conspicuous in the,
          This city cannot be hid, as it sets on a hill. Cal- aforesaid sense when He said,  f'Let shine your light."
      vin's commentary on this utterance, reads as follows:          This, of course, is no plea for the view that the be-
      "This means,  that..they   (the apostles and the  pastoxs).    liever may not take a hand in helping to run the affairs     .
      ought to live in such a manner, as if the eyes of all          of the state, that he may not hold office. The question
      were  tipon them. And certainly, the more eminent a confronting us in respect to the  matier  at  hand, is
      person is, the more injury he does by bad example, if whether Christ in this particular discourse or in any
      he acts  .improperly.   .Christ, therefore, informs the other' discourse of His, urged His followers to seek
      apostles, that they must be careful to live a devout places of prominence in this world. Fatit is, no such
      and holy life, than  uriknown persons of the co-on             admonition ever passed from His lips nor from the
      rank, because the eyes of all are directed on them, as to lips of His servants - the apostles. Paul does say:
      lighted  candles ; .and that they must not be endured,         "And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own
      if their devotion and uprightness of conduct, do not business, and to work with your own hands as we
      correspond to the doctrine of which they are min- commanded you; that ye may walk honestly toward
      isters . . . . After having taught the apostles that, theni that are without, and that ye may have lack of no
      in consequence of the rank in which  they.  are placed,        man" (I Thess. 4 : 14, 15). And again : "Now we .com-
      both their vices and their virtues  are  better  known mand you brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus
      for good or bad example, he now enjoins them to so. Christ, that ye withdraw yourself from every brother.
      regulate their life, as to excite all to glorify God."         that walketh disorderly, For yourselves know how ye
          The assertion that all eyes are upon such as do ought to follow  us  : for we behaved not `ourselves dis-
      occupy positions of prominence and that the vices and orderly among you  ; neither did we eat any man's bread
      virtues of such persons are better known for good or for naught; but wrought with labor and travail night.
     for bad example,  and  that, finally such persons should,       and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of
     ,for that reason, be careful to live devout lives is all you ; Not because we have not power; but to make our-
      very true in itself. However, such are not the senti- selves an example unto you to folloui us. For even
      ments circulating through Christ's words. Such, very when we were not with you, this we commanded you,

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

      that if any would  n,ot work, neither should he eat . . ."                              hide his light by projecting that part of self which
       (II Thess. 3 :6-13).                                                                   ough to be put off, to-wit, the old man of sin. And the
             Here the believer is told how he should conduct church, likewise, ceases to be seen when it looses sight
      himself as a member of society. He may not lead a of its calling, and involves itself in the secular affairs
      shiftless life, eating the bread of another. But no- of this life. Ascending the hill to its crest,  coming-
      where in Scripture is he told that he should contend from under the `bushel to mount the candlestick are
      with his fellows for a place in the limelight for the processes constituting the other side of the mol%ifica-
      reason that the world may know he is on earth. The tion of earthly members. In a word, the church is the
      matter Scripture stresses is godly conduct. To let our city on the hill when it preaches and lives the Word,
      conversation be in heaven is the great injunction of the and the burning candle mounted upon the candlestick
      Lord. "If ye be risen with Christ, seek those things is the emblem of the believer whose conversation is in
      which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right heaven.
    hand of God. Set your affections on things aboye,  not                                        The city on the hill cannot be hidden. A church
      on things of the earth. For ye are dead and your life emitting its light will not fail to attract attention to
      is hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is  our. itself. By the wol"ld, this city is cursed ; the walking
      life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him altars of Jehovah despised. The prophets were, Christ
      in glory. Mortify therefore your  members which are was. So, too, His  followers,~especially  in the first few
      upon the earth . . . But now ye also pu,t off these:                                    centuries of our own age. The eyes.of  the wdrld were
      anger, malice, wrath, blasphemy, filthy communica- upon the disciples of Christ of that day. For they let
      tions out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing shine their light. Were they men of high estate, these
      that ye have put off the old man with his deeds . . . .                                 disciples? Not according to the testimony of the
      Aut on therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, apostle which reads : "For ye see your calling brethren,
      bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meek- how that, not many wise men after the flesh, not many
      ness, longsuffering, forbearing one another and forgiv- mighty, not many noble are called : but God hath  chosen
      ing one another, if any man hath a quarrel against the foolish things of the world to confound the things
      any; even as Christ forgave you, so also ye do" which are mighty" (I Cor.  1,:21, 26). It was these
      (Cal. 3) .                                                                              foolish men after the flesh, men devoid of power,
             Once more, a city on a hill cannot be hid. A city ignoble and weak things who in that  day attracted to
      will not be passed by unnoticed. Not in Christ's day themselves the attention of the world.
      at least when travel was slow and dangerous and the                                         History cannot.once be appealed to in support  of the
      attending difficulties many. A city spied in the dis- contention that the candle on the candlestick is the big
      tance was `therefore a welcome sight. Behind its walls and useful man to whom the world will lend an ear and
      the weary wayfarer would retreat for the  night and be for whom it makes room. The joint testimony of his-
      safe against the prowling beast. Add to this because of tory is that the city on the hill is the persecuted church,
      its position alone, the city set on a hill is most con- constituted of such as had trials of cruel mockings and
      spicuous so that it cannot in truth be hidden.
                                                       . .  - __--_-_..  _.. ._    In-the.
_,  __~_,  ___- _ : -^ -- - ----_  -. .-- _ ^_- ._,                                           _s_o_urgings,  yea,.molreover  of bonds and imprisbnments.-  -- ---.
      last  mstance,  however, it was God's city of light on The light of the church shines brightest when its mem-
      earth - the chtirch - that Christ had before His eye, bers are men of low estate, occupying humble places.
      so that the thought circulating -through His speech There is a reason then whi the Bible turned out to be
     must be, then, that the church, by reason of its emitted a written  recoril  of God's message to a persecuted
     light, is as conspicuous as a city set on a hill. The in- church, to a church buffeted by a world incensed by the
      dividual Christian is here enjoined to render himself living testimony of the just.
      noticeable not by seeking places of prominence in the                                       Let  your  light shine.  A very necessary admonition.
     world, but by radiating the light kindled within his For the inhabitants of the city on the hill may, be
      bosom by the Spirit of Christ, in that particular station tempted to hide their light under a bushel for more
      in life where Providence placed him. It is a mistake, than one reason. As was said, the light emitted in-
     then,.to appeal to the aforesaid Scripture in support of censes the adversaries of the Lord, who, infuriated  by
     the contention that the believer should aspire to a seat the light lay siege to the city of God. In order to
      in Congress or join himself to a labor union in order pacify the wolves without, the citizens of the city of
     to provide himseIf  with.an  opportunity for letting shine God may be tempted to obscure their-light. This may
     h i s   l i g h t .                                                                      not be done.  Let shine your light.
            Christ'does  not say, it should be noticed, that the                                  There may still be another reason why believers
     burning candle and.the city cannot be @idden. Had He should want to render their light inconspicuous. It
     said so, He would not have added, "Let your light so may happen that the crave to again sit at the fleshpots
     shine."         The burning candle can be placed under a of Egypt becomes strong. In the  `city on the hill
     bushel, and the city might have sprung up in the valley. are no fleshpots, but the manna from heaven, good for
     As the measure in this ease would hide the candle, so food, and the pure water from the rock.  IXowever,
     the hills would hide this city. The believer, too, can virhen in a carnal mood, the citizens of the celestial city


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 153

 go to weeping and say: "Who shall give us ftesh to eat.       heaven, and  devohred  them (Rev.  21:9$.
 We remember the  flesh which we did eat in Egypt                 Let your  light  slzine.  Light is life revealed. Let
 freely, the cucumbers and the melons, and the leeks your light shine that men may see your good ?.t,;o?ics.
and the onions and the garlic: but now our soul is All `the organs of self-expression are involved in this
 dried away.: there is nothing at all, besides this manna command, - the tongue, the hand, the eye, the foot.
 before our eyes." However, these fleshpots and  cueum- All must be placed in the service of the new man in,
 bers, and leeks and melqns  and onions and garlic thrive order that this man may shine forth. "Wherefore lift
 in Egypt. The Egyptians must be pacified, their favor up. the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees"
 won, before they `can .be expected to admit the' citizens     (Heb. 12  :!2). "Then the  eyes  of the blind  .shall  be'
 of the aforesaid city to their fleshpots; This is done. opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be .unstopped.
 Light are placed under measures and. simultaneously Then shall the lame mun leap as a hart, and the tongue
 the Egyptians lauded as a people of `superior virtue, of the dumb sing" (Isa. 35 :5, 6). "I thought' on my
 shaming by the fine moral quality of their deedsmany ways and turned` my feet unto my. testimonies" (Ps.
 a citizen of the kingdom of heaven. The Egyptians are ,119 :59). "I have refrained my feet from evil ways
 told, further, that they are the blessed of the Lord. that I might'keep thy  word:' (Ps. 119  :21). "So our
This flattering speech has its desired effect. The wrath ,ejTes wait upon the Lord our God until he have mercy
 of the  ,ad'versary  subsides. The long standing  feu.d upon us" (Ps. 123 :2). And my tongue shall speak of
 comes to an end. Light and darkness lock `arms and thy,righteousnesa  and of thy praise all the day long"
 make for the coveted fleshpots. With` the aid of the          (Ps. 35 :28) .
&oodwill and support of the Egyptian, the citizens of              "And glorify thy Father in heaven." The. light
 the city of light  prosper*  grow fat, become famous and em&ted  attract& %eti, as well as it repells, - al&r&s,
 the world deems them worthy. But let it be born in draws those foreknown before the world's foundation.
 mind. that while the flesh was still between their te'eth,    ,By the light of the.  ctitirch  Christ draws all
 ere it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was kindled men - su&h He .loved unto death ..- to Hir&ei?. These
 against the people, and the Lord smote the people with men, and none other, glorify God, so thtit this Scrip-
 a great pleague. Num. 11:33.                                  ,ture can neither  be quoted in support of. the view that
    Cucumbers and melons and leeks and onions and the reprobate wicked, as a result of having been
 ,garlic 7 it is all good food. Howev`er,  if not a gift of brought under the influence of Common  .grace, glorify
 grace, if secured at the expense of a principle, we die Gpd when they see the good. works of Christ's  fol-
 while we eat. "And while the flesh was yet between lovirers.
 their teeth . `. . the Lord smote the people with a very         The light shed, finally, is the believer returning to
 great plague." If the flesh and the cucumbers and the God whose workmanship he is. The  goqd deeds done
 onions a;nd, the garlic are ours because of bur having image the glories of God. He, then, is glorified.
 obscured our light, vrie may feel, assured that we shall                                                        G. M. 0.
 come to grief.
    Seated at the Egyptian fleshpots, the citizens of the
 city of light feel ill at ease, as is evident  from their
 attempt to compel Scripture to  sanei+ their  tipward                                   WACHTEN
 climb. VITe, so they say, are the light of the world.  A
 city on a hill may not be hid. Nor do men light a                        Mijn Heiland, ik wacht op Uw zegen,
 candle `and put it under a bushel but upon a c&ndlestick.                  %Zie uit naar Uw hulpe, mijn God!
 Hence, we have found our place. Forsooth, a nauseat-                     l+eidt  Gij mij op donkere wegen,
 ing distortion of Christ's words, indicating a shifting                    Ik weet in Uw hand is mijn lot.
r&i emphasis` from heavenly to earthly treasures, ++d
 the  10~s of both the desire and the inclination to serve                `k Wil  hopen,  en  uitzien, en wachten,
 as heaven's channel for heaven's light. True, it takes                     Tot  eens mij  Uw  licht weer verschijnt;
 courage and means self-denial. For "this is the con-                     Geeft Gij  to&den strijd niet de krachten?
 demnation that light is  come into the, world, and men                     Sterkt Gij niet `t geloof, als `t verkwijnt ?
 ioved darkness rather than light, because their deeds
 are  evf!. For every one that doeth'evil hateth. the                     Ik steun  ?p mijns Heilands erbarmen ;
 light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should                  Ik weet het, Hij hoort naar mijn stem;
 be  reprolied. But he that doeth truth cometh to the                     Ik leg mij ter neer in Zijn armen;
 light,  ihat his deeds may be made manifest; that they                     Ik wacht, `k tiacht  gedurig op Hem !
                                                                     .
 are Jsrrought in God" (John 3 :19, 20). And the holy
 city shall they tread under foot forty and two months
 (Rev. 11:12). And they wknt up on the breath of the              Het stof ,keert  wederom tot de aarde als bet geweest
 earth, and compassed the camp of-the saints about and is en de gee& keert weder tot God die hem gegeven
 the beloved city: and  ?ire came down from God out, of hedft.

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

                   CHRIST  AND GRACE                          ing. better things than that of Abel. This very plainly.
                                                              is the thought circulating through the  fgllowing  Scrip-
        That Christ. is the channel. of every conceivable ture. "For ye are not come unto the mount that might
 blessing that heaven bestowes, that no grace..can  reach be touched and burned with fire, nor unto blackness,
mankind except through Christ, `is one of the truths .and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, ,.
&rculating`through  Scripture from one of its covers to and the voice of the words ; which voice they that heard
the other. To begin with, the very message  .of the entreated that the word should not be spoken to them
symbols of Paradise is that the sanctuary  - that cen- any more: For they could not endure that which was
ter from which all grace radiates - is accessible to the commanded, and if so much as a beast touch the moun-
pure of heart and to none other; that for the' sinner,- tain, it shall be stoned and thrust through with a dart :
therefore, the way  to..the  Holiest is the way dedicated and so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I ex-.
by Christ, the way that  lead&h through the veil. For ceedingly fear and quake :. But ye are come unto Mount
this reason, the region of the altar upon whose horns Zion, unto the city of the living God, the'heavenly Jeru-
the blood of the sacrificial victim was stroked, was the salem, and. to an innumerable company of angels, to.
place where the pious Jew might consider himself the general assembly and the church of the first born,
blessed. Here he was pardoned and fed with the which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of
mercy of Jehovah. Abraham was told that in .him all all, and to the spirit of just men made perfect. And to
the families of the  .earth  would be blessed for the very Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to. the
reason, surely, that he and Christ were so related.that blood of sprinkling, that speak&h  better things than
to ,be-in the one is to be in the other. On the great day that of Abel", (Heb. 12  :18-24).
of atonement the highpriest entered;in  agreement with           Sinai, then, was a mountain with a most terrible
the instruction of the law, the Holiest with blood           aspect. By its blackness, darkness and tempest, the.
whidh, when sprinkled upon the mercy seat secured for emblems of the avenging justice of God, it was fitted
him the right and privilege of blessing, in the name of to keep at a distance the assembly at its base. Mount
Him dwelling between the cherubim, the waiting as- Zion, on the other .hand, is seen to radiate, so to speak,
sembly without.                      *                       the good will of God. It is a mountain therefore fitted
   -Moses is enjoined to set bounds unto the people by its inviting aspect to encourage those who come to it
round about Mt. Sinai. They are warned.to  take heed to petition the living God for the grace merited by the--
unto themselves that they go not up into the mount or Mediator whose residence this region  be'came. How-
touch the border of it, for whosoever touches this           ever, He seated upon the throne of the former was seen
mount shall surely be put to death,  - stoned or shot to frown upon those assembled at His feet. From the
through, whether it be beast or man, it shall not live. `throne of the latter, on the other hand, proceedeth a
He breaking through unto the Lord to gaze, shall pure river of water of life. For it is the throne of
perish. It was these restrictions to which the prophet God  und  of  the.Lamb.   Rev.  22:l. Nevertheless, with
alluded when he prayed: "Who shall ascend into the the people assembled at the base of Sinai, God enters
holy hill of the Lord? He that hath clean hands, and into a covenant relation. To this .people.  He publishes
a .pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul to vanity, His law. Jehovah is very exacting. He failing to con-.
nor sworn deceitfully. `He shall receive the blessing firm all the words of this law will be cursed. Nothing'
from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his but a perfect obedience satisfies,. so that .this people
salvation" (Ps. 24 :3, 4). The sinless man, then, may would have come to grief, had it not been covered by
approach God to be blessed.                                  the blood of the expiatory sacrifice - a blood typifying
   All have sinned., `There is none righteous, no not Him appointed to bear eventually its curse.
one. There is none that understandeth, there is none            The Divine Occupant of the throne of Sinai, com-
that seeketh after God. Rom. 3  :9, 10, 11. Of all men, pelled by the native purity of  His,being   to destroy the
there was but one whose heart was pure, whose hands. transgressor despising the blood - such is; to be sure,
were clean. .Of Him it is, therefore, reported that He the speech of the blackness and the tempest of Sinai.
entered the Holiest, not by the blood of goats or calves,    It is a speech to which the prophets  of. the Lord time
but by his own blood, and thus gained for those for and again gave utterance. "The. Lord is in his holy
whom  IIe obtained redemption a free access to the city temple, the Lord's throne is in heaven: His eyes be-
of the living God, -Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem hold, His eyelids try the children of men . . . The
with its throne of grace, its Mediator of the new cove- wicked and him that loveth violence His soul hateth,
nant, and the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better Upon the wicked He shall  hain snares, fire and brim-
things than that of Abel: Into the hallowed precincts stone and a horrible tempest; this shall be the portion
of the sanctuary above, then, the condemnable sinner of their cup"  (Ps.  11:5, 6). Their sorrows. shall be
may venture. For here is the blood of sprinkling, multiplied that hasten after another (Ps. 16  :4). Thine
The summit of Mount Sinai, on the other hand, was a          eyes shall find out all thine enemies: thy right hand
region closed to the assembly in the valley below. For shall find out those that hate Thee. Thou shalt make
on the crest of this hill there was not that blood speak-    them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger: the


                                     T H E   STANDA,RD  B E A R E R                                                        159

Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire Son shall not see life ; but the wrath of God abideth on
shall devour them.     Their fruit shalt thou destroy him (John 3 :36). For the wrath of God is reveaied
from the earth, and.their  seed from among the children from heaven against  ali ungodliness and unrighteous-
of men. For they intended evil against thee ; they ness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness
imagined a mischievous device, which they are not            (Rom.  1:18). If any man love not the Lord Jesus
able to perform. Therefore shalt thou make them turn Christ, let him be cursed, the Lord  cometh  (I Cor.
their back, when thou shalt make ready thine arrows          16 :22).
upon thy strings in the face of them  (Ps.  21:9-12)   ._        On the other hand, Scripture contains a mass of
Because they regard not the works of the Lord nor testimony yielding the doctrine that `the Lord knows
the operations of his hands.. He shall destroy them his predistinated ones, of themselves dead in sin and
and not build them up (Ps. 28 :5). Many arrows shall altogether ill-deserving, yet pardoned, quiikened  and
be to the wicked (Ps. 32 :lO) . The face of the Lord is cleansed in Christ. These the Lord loves, blesses.and
against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance enters into His habitations. He will not suffer their
of them from the face of the earth (Ps. 34 :16). But soul to famish; blessings are. upon their head ; their
thou, 0 God, shalt bring them down into the pit of de-       memory is  bl.essed  ; their desire is granted; their  hope
struction: bloody and deceitful men shall not live out is gladness ; the way of the Lord is strength to them :
half their days . :  . (Ps. 55  :23). But thou 0 Lord, they shall never be moved ; no evil shall happen to
shalt laugh at them, thou shalt have all the heathen in them.
derision (Ps. 59  :8). But God shall shoot at them with         There can only be  one answer to the question what
an arrow ; suddenly shall they be wounded. (Ps: 64 :7).      it is that makes it possible for the Lord to love and
But God shall .wound  the head of. his enemies, and the bless those who of themselves are as ill-deserving as
hairy scalp of such a one that. goeth, on still in his the wicked.  yhom He destroys, to-wit, the blood of
trespasses (Ps. 68 :21). How are they brought into Christ.
desolation, as in a moment; they are utterly consumed           The above-cited Scriptures and events teach that
with terrors. As a dream when one awakeneth; so 0 the only way of approach to God's heart is the way that
Lord, when. thou awakest shalt thou despise their im- leadeth through the veil; that every conceivable bless-
age (Ps. 73 :19, 20). Shall the throne of iniquity have ing nzust reach the sinner through Christ; that God
fellowship with thee,  v&h frameth mischief by a keeps `at a distance and destroys those whom He re-
law? . . . And he shall bring upon them their own fuses to behold in Christ. If Christ, then, according to
iniquity and shall cut them off in their own wicked- His very own testimony died only for His sheep, how
ness ; yea; the Lord our .God shall cut them off (Ps. 94 : can it be maintained that God assumes an  attitucle  of
20, .23). Clouds and darkness are round about him; favor toward, and blesses the. (reprobate) wicked?
righteousness and judgment are the habitations of  hi,is Yet  such is the contention of the exponents of the
throne1 A fire goeth before  .h.im, and  burn&h  up  his .theory  of common grace.
enemies round about . . ._ confounded be all thee that                                                        G. M[: 0.
serve graven images, that boast themselves of idols . .
(Ps. 9'7 :2, 3, 7). Surely, thou wilt slay the wicked, 0
Lord (Ps.  139:19). All the wicked will he destroy
(Ps.  145:19). For the froward is anabomination to                                      DE TAX'
the Lord . . . The curse of the Lord is in the house
of the wicked . . surely, -he scorn&h  the scorners . . .                 Als `t stil is in den avond .
shame shall'be the promotion of fools (Prov. 3 :32, 35) ;                 En `t dorp prevelt niet meer,
The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him . . . .                    Gaat aan den koelen hemel
as the wicked passeth, so is the wicked no more . . . .                   Een tak nog zachtjes  heen  en weer.
the years of the `wicked shall be shortened . . . the ex-
pectation of the wicked shall .perish  . . . The wicked                  Als alles slaapt in  bet dorp
shall not inhabit the earth . . . the froward tongue                      En de donkere daken staan strak,
shall be cut out (Prov. 10  :27, 31). The way of the                      Beweegt door den sterrenhemel
wicked is an abomination to the Lord (Prov.'  12 :9) D                    Zachtjes die zwarte tak.
The Lord is far from the wicked (Prov. 15  :19). Every
one that is proud `in heart is an abomination to the
Lord  (F%ov. 16  i5). But the wicked are like the                         En als alles zwijgt in mij,
troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast  LIP                 En alle leven is weggeveegd -
mire and dirt. There is no peace, say&h my God, -to                       Is `t of diep in  mijn ziel
the ,wicked (Isa. 57 :20, 21). God is jealous, and the                    Zoo een zwarte tak zachtjes  beweegt
Lord revengeth, and is furious ; the Lord will take                                         -Adama  van Scheltema
vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath
.for his enemies (.Nah.  1:2). He that believetli not the       Uit : "Eenzame liedjes."


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        161

     niet wil, wordt hij  niet anders dan een slaaf der zonde         SHOULD THE TESTIMONY OF AN ATHEIST
     en hij diem  een afgod.
             En eindelijk dwingt hem het getuigenis aller din-                          BE BELIEVD?
     gen rondom hem en zijne eigen betrekking tot hen, om
     een god te zoeken en ergens zijn vertrouwen op te ves-           Recently a conflict in law arose which drew an at-'
     tigen. Want alles verkondigt hem, hoe diep afhanke- tention  as wide as the entire country. In' a North
     lijk hij is. Hij is afhankelijk van alle  dingen,  tenzij    Carolina murder trial, the presiding judge - M. V.
     hij zijn afhankelijkheid van God alleen wil erkennen. Barnhill - is reported to have held that the avowed
     Het hoogsteschepsel  in de wereld is ook het diepst af- atheism of Mrs. Miller, wife of the defendant, "was
     hankelijk. Hij kan zichzelven we1 een oogenblik God proper material for her impsachment,  as a witness." .
     noemen, maar van alle kanten `dringt het getuigenis op "If I believed," he is quoted to have said, "that.life  ends
     hem aan, dat hij geen bestaan heeft in zichzelven. Hij with death and there is no punishment after death, I
     kan niet alleen zijn. Heel de schepping moet hem dra- would be less apt to tell the truth." And for this,
     gen. Hij is afhankelijk van de lucht die hij inademt, Judge Barnhill is severely being taken to task by lib-
     want hij heeft zijn adem in zijneneusgaten; hij hangt erals and conservatives alike. `Some of the criticism
     af van het .water,  dat hij drink& van het brood, dat hij    being brought to bear on the stand he takes is inter-
     eet, van de aarde, waarop `hij loopt, van het licht der esting. Judge A. M. Stack, in part of the state declared
     zon en der maan, van de wolken, die den regen doen            (so The LiiIerary Digest reports) "that a man's char-
     druppelen, van boomvrucht en veldgewas, van vee en acter is made up of his acts and his conduct, and you
     Vogel en visch. Alles verkondigt-hem, dat hij afhanke- cannot impeach him for what he believes." Most true
     lijk is, nietig, een stofje  aan de weegschaal, een druppel it is that a worldly judge who makes it  .his business to
     aan den emmer. En nu is het zeker niet waar, dat deze impeach or call in question the testimony of a witness
     afhankelijkheid en het besef er van het wezen is van for what this witness believes, is overstepping his
     alle ware religie. Maar  wel' is het een feit, dat de bounds, not however, for the reason advanced by Judge
     mensch, die zich onafhankelijk Wilde verklaren van den Stack. Can it be true that a man's character `is made
     levenden God,  zich aanstonds afhankelijk weet van.  alle up of his acts and conduct? To begin with, character
     dingen. Hij, die als God  Wilde zijn, is niet als God, is a term of a most doubtful signification. Derived
     want het behoort tot het  Wezen  Gods, dat Hij in Zich- from the Greek, it means literally to scrape, cut, en-
     zelven de eeuwig-Zijnde is en daarom de Algenoegzame- grave. The term then is used to signify  ,the peculiar
     in Zichzelven, van niets afhankelijk. En daarom iigt qualities impressed, according to Judge Stack, by acts
     het  we1 in den aard der zaak, dat deze kleine en booze and conduct on a person so that this person gradually
     mensch;die  geen oogenblik bestand  heeft in zichzelven, becomes what his deeds are purported to be. What is
     op ,wien .van alle zijden het getuigenis aandringt, dat manifestly meant is that a good conduct, persistently
     hij afhankelijk is, in dat besef van afhankelijkheid adhered to, indelibly impresses its good qualities upon
     zich een god zoekt, zoodra hij God verlaat. Hij wordt the soul with the result that this soul, or person, other-
.    _  zeer...be&3%   &o&n&enaar.   _  _  .,__  -                -wise. bad, gradually-identifies itself with these qualities.  _..-
             God of afgod, zoo is de keuze.                       and ceases to be had. Character, then, stands for a
             En wij weten,  dat een afgod hiets is in de wereld. kind of self-induced regeneration. What man is de-
             Hij heeft oogen, maar hij ziet niet; ooren heeft hij, pends upon what he  chases  to do with himself. It
     maar. hij  hoort  niet; een mond heeft hij, maar hij ought to be plain that the conception circulating
     spreekt niet; een neus heeft bij, maar hij riekt niet; through the aforesaid reasoning cannot be swung in
     handen  heeft hij, maar hij kan niet tasten;  voeten heeft line with Biblical modes of thought. If goodness is a
     hij, maar hij kan niet loopen.                               quality super-imposed upon an originally bad soul by
             Die een afgod  maakt; is hem gelijk. Hij is minder right conduct, it follows that this conduct is not, at
     dan niet en ijdelheid.                                       least in the first stages, the issue of this soul. Accord-
             En alleen hartveranderende, oogen-verlichtende, ing to sound psychology, however,  condu&  is a  pro-
     ooren-doorboorende `genade kan den zondigen mensch je&ion  of the inward man. If not, it must be `bon-
     van deze dwaasheid verlossen, verlost Gods volk van de ceived of us a thing apart, some kind of external
     macht dezer ijdelheid.                                       attachment devoid of moral quality. We do not deny
\            Israel, vertrouw gij op den Heere !                  that a certain act often repeated will eventually de-
             Welgelukzalig, is hij, die den God Jakobs tot zijne velop into a kind of personal custom which seems to
     hulpe heeft !                                                become a part and parcel of the  man.. As a dog can be
                                                        H. H.     taught tricks so a man by sheer will-power may, for
                                                                  various reasons, force himself to adhere to a certain
       `p                                                         program of behavior. The merchant knows that if he
     Program. to be given by the Boys' Society "David" on would build up a trade, he must win the confidence and
             New Year's evening. Rev.  Hoeksema will deliver good will of men by square dealing and courteousness.
             a speech on "The Young Man David."                   He therefore makes it a point to put up an honest

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

   front. Any deceit is practiced  &der cover of secrecy. corners, went much  up  to the temple, were liberal
   ,A desperate effort is  .made to be polite and engaging. givers, fasted and tithed; yet within they were full of
   3,`eatures are screwed up into one of these permanent corruption as the graves whose exteriors they resem-
   smiles. But that this yoke under which  this merchant bled. And that worldly good conduct as well as proper
 came and chafes will so react upon his soul that he speech eventually turns the sinner inside out is plainly
  ' becomes honest in his inward parts is, contradicted by taught by the epistle to the Hebrews. "It is impossible
   Scripture and by what we all know of man from ob- for those'who were once enlightened, and have tasted
   serving him when, in spite of himself, he acts the part of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the
   of the kind of a man he in truth is.                             Holy Gbost, And have tasted the good word of God,
          There is no such thing as charact&  in this sense. and the powers of the world to come . . . .  "  (Ileb.
   We do not mean to deny, of course, that the 5 :4, 5). This tasting of the heavenly gift, and of t.!le
   soul of man is not effected by what it wills to hear, word and of the powers to come went hand in hand
   to do,. to hear and to keep before its eye by means of with an apparently good conduct, with church .going,
   the organs with which it is equipped - the eye, the and prayer and sacrifice and the like, for it is'said of
   ear, the hand and the foot. What we  maintain  is that such that they repent. Yet do, they crucify to. them-
   right conduct of the above-cited kind will not replace selves the Son of God afresh and .put him to an open
   a,heart  of stone for a heart of flesh, that good behavior' shame.
   will not desolve the filth of man's heart.. Yet such are             Character building, at least in the modern sense,
   the  claimB  of your modern character builders.                  is a nonentity. What happens is that God almighty im-
       This does not take away, as was before said, that plants in the soul a new life principle, which, when
   man is greatly effected by what he wills to see, hear coming to its own, crucifies in the strength of the Re-
   and, do, that words and deeds react upon the soul by deemer the very man that your modern schoolmaster
   which they are projected, and rouse its latent ptissions.        attempts to buil.d up.
   Says James, "And the tongue is a fire, a world of ini-               Scripture, however,  do& speak of the Almighty
   quity.; so is the tongue among .our members, that it writing his laws upon the table of' the (elect) sinner's
   defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the  coiuse heart. A heart so treated, however, is one in whom the
 . of nature ; and it is set on fire by hell" (James 3 :6). Almighty implants new and hollowed life forces, so
   The tongue, here, is representative of the entire ap- that the outcorn;  is a new man exhibiting the glories
   perceiving mass of the wicked one, which, when pro- 6f God. This man does not identify itself with good
   jected as a whole or in part before his mental vision, qualities engraved upon his person and thus develop
   sets on fire, to express ourselves in the words of James, eventually into his moral reverse. To the contrary,
his whole nature, that is, incites the unhollowed this man retains its identity and is put on in exchange
  `dormant ardor of his being, so that in this state  he is for the old man of sin which, we repeat, is crucified.
   capable of crimes from which he  .otherwise  recoils. This net? man, properly nourished comes unto a per-
   When the government of our own United States de- fect man, unto the measure of the stature of Christ.
_.- ..clared  war -upon,.  .&y-any, -our people. at,.large  -were-- .-This only is -character -building-in- the -true sense.    -_-  - -
   outspokingly pro-German. However, by means of a                      In fine, if by character is meant moral quality  im-
   war propaganda, circulated by the Press, our officials pressed upon the soul by conduct, action or speech, .
   succeeded in faning to a white heat the latent malice there is no such thing as character. Moral quality is
   lurking in every man's bosom, that brought down a not be impressed upon the soul in the aforesaid  man-
   torrant of .maledictiop  upon the head8 of the Germans. ner.
   For the adversary -it meant the `birth of a new foe set              But. aside from this, the statement that character is
   in motion by a powerful grudge.                                  made up of conduct alld actiqn and not of faith must
       Fact is, then, that conduct, behavior, the things of be called in question. For if character, or the moral
   sight and of hearing, instead of altering the moral WalitY Of man's nature, covers his conduct but not his
   qualities of a soul, awaken in and draw out of man convictions it would follow that the latter are no part
   what is in him. So Scripture has it. "As new born and parcel of him but conduct only, that convictions
   babes," says the apostle, "desire the sincere milk of the are no index to the moral qua&y  of nattire,  that con-
   `word that ye may grow thereby." The idea is that the du(*t,  iinz!!y,  need not be supported by conviction in
   new principle of life, implanted in the soul by the              order to be honest and true.
   Spirit of regeneration comes to its own when given the               This same judge is quoted as saying that "a man
   proper nourishment. -4nd unto him devoid of life the can believe anything and still be truthful and honest."
   good word of God is a savor of death unto death.                 Let us see. On6 truthful is full of truth, stores siway
       That worldly good conduct has no other effect on the truth in his mind and heart not as so much  in-
   the corrupt soul is likewise the plain teachings of formation but as priceless gems. It is certain that
   Scripture.. The Pharisees were people with a clean even Satan's mind is a storehouse of truth. He may
   aspect, so much sd, that  they  resembled the exteriors know  more of the, content of Scripture and more of
   of a white-washed grave. They. prayed long on street God than many a believer. When tempting Christ, he


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                163

even took the word of, truth upon his foul tongue. Yet the truth be taken as the signification of a speech' in
Satan is not tmthfzd. A truthful ma.n is in addition. a agreement with reality or fact. However, it stands to
lover  of truth.  Of what truth? Of such truth that reason that the chances for falsifying the fact, event,
when loved can be taken as an index to the moral qual-         or reality encountered, are as great as self-interest is
ity of man's nature. This truth is God as we see Him varying, so that, from the very  nattire of the case,
in the face of Christ.  Only they loving Christ are small value can be attached to the testimony of one
truthful. He hating Him is a liar. Truthfulness, then, who fears not God.
is  .another  word for holiness, purity or heart.                 It is another question, however, whether the tes-
   The truthful man, then, is he who has before his            timony of an Atheist should be stricken from a court
eye, and adores Him, Who is the truth. This the carnal record because of `a disbelief in God. The  qtlestion
minded will not concede. Nevertheless, that to be truth- must be answered with an unmistakable no, and this
ful, one must be a lover of God, is a view reposing on for the following reasons. It is not the business-of a
solid ground if the testimony of Scripture be believed.        court of justice to institute an inquiry into  d man's
It is a'view, further, attested to by the various reasons      faith. For to the secret chambers of the soul it has no
they whose thoughts are that  .there  is no God, will ad-      excess, so that it deals with the faith of the heart only
vance for telling  ,the truth, such reasons as self-in- in so far it can be proven from the speech `of the wit-
terest, or fear for the arm of the law, convenience,           ness inspecting the matter at hand, that in witnessing
profit, self-respect or pride. If the existence of God he was incapacited by his faith, of whatever nature, to
be denied, there can be no other reason why one should         correctly reproduce what his ear heard and his eye
choose to speak the truth, than one of these, most of saw. The judge must be content to deal with the in-
which are decidedly base and none ,of which is suffi- ward man only in so far  this man exposes himself to the
ciently lofty  to be associated with truthfulness. Self-       eye of the court by his word and deed. What the court
interest, convenience or profit will prompt  eden  the may and must do is to demand of the witness, even
devil to tell the truth. As for sinful pride, it is the        under oath, that he speak the truth and inflidt upon
virtue ( ?) responsible for the snob. I know there is the      him punishment in the event his testimony, `when sub-
idealist among the ungodly who will tell you that he           mitted to a test; turns out to be false. But, someone
adheres to truth even in his speech, for truth's sake.         may interpolate, is not the court who rejects the wit-
But tell me, what truth remains worth loving, if the ness of an chvowed Atheist confining its appraisal to
existence of him who is the inclusion of all that is true, the outward  man? To be sure  hk is. However, the
lovely  and good, be denied. The contention, then, that great difiiculty  is that the court has no way of varify-
one can believe as he pleases and still be truthful, is        ing the Atheist's testimony that he is an Atheist. The
false. Love for God is the only disposition or energy of man may be lying. On the other  hand, a testimony re-
the soul that can possible be associated with  $mthful-        specting some event or happening of the day or year
ness. Besides, it is a hollowed viytue that powerfully c,an be tested and varified. What is more, a man may
moves the soul to be truthful in its speech. In fact,          be a Atheist and nevertheless deny that he is one in
such 10~~ or_fz@h.-c~~npt  .lie, gs.it @ _a pa@ and pa2r@ _ case .h.& testimony 
                                                                            -  --_  -. on- yhi& let .us .s_y, his-very
                                                                                                                 .           life
                                                                                                                            _        _
of that man born of God, so that the sentiments cur- depends, will be called in question, if he exposes to the
rent in the following selection must also be set aside court the sorded beliefs of his heart. The court should
as false. "`Religious belief, or disbelief, has nothing know, then, that a confession of faith cannot, for the
whatsoever to do with justice. There is no possible aforesaid reasons, serve as basis for either receiving or
rc!ation  between them per se . . . Usually speaking, a rejecting testimonies. What is more, if an Atheist can-
person who has searched his own beliefs to the extent not be believed, how can his testimony that he is an
of rejecting conventional religion has the highest moral Atheist be believed? Would not the court, to be con-
concepts of his own, no `matter how wrong any of us sistent, be compelled to conclude the very opposite and
may regard his thinking"  (Muson   Telegruph   as quoted admit his testimony? Would not the Atheist be found
by The Litermy  Dfgest) . Can a man have high moral among that group of witnesses professing to be good
concepts if God, whose moral code includes all that is         believers, and if so, what means could the court device
high and lofty, be set aside ? If it be interpolated that for detecting in this group the liar?
the high morality of God can be separated from His                Further, an Atheist may distort on the witness
eternal being and esteemed as something apart, the stand,  !.;y speech, facts and events encountered. How-
question arises why anyone should want to'reject Him' ever, there is no man, who, in the capacity of a witness,
and yet clasp to his bosom the high morality l3e stands may not find himself exposed'to, and yield to the temp-
for? There is but one answer, to-wit, hatred for the tation of falsifying the truth. For the court to dis-
very sanctity circulating through His morals. He, then, credit testimony on the basis of belief comes danger-
who says that he hates God but loves His moral code ously close to being religious persecution.
must be told that he lies.                                        The Charlotte Observer, however, arises to the de-
   However, self-interest and the like will prompt even fense Judge Barnhill, thus.:
t&e Atheist to tell the truth,.  if. the expression  tell&g       !`A man who does not believe in God or in the  nec-


     i


            3.64                                     THE.  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

            essity of living by the commands of God stands in no                      CALVIN,  BERKHOF  AND H. J. KUIPER
            fear of any punishment hereafter if he violates an oath.
            Such a man could not be depended upon to speak the                                   A  COM~AFSSON
            truth, after he had taken the oath, unless to speak the                                      V        I
            truth should happen to suit his purposes. It is  ,the
            duty of the court to ascertain the truth. The majority              Once more I will call the attention of our readers
            of men can be depended upon to speak. the truth, be- to Calvin's conception of the preaching of the gospel
            cause they hold their oath sacred. They know that to and its significance for those that are not saved, not
            violate an oath is a crime before God, and that God will        elect, for the reprobate.
            surely punish violations of His Commandments. `Ben                  Not as if it is strictly necessary to adduce .more
            Wells stands in no fear of God, because he doesn't be- proof for the statement, that Berkhof and Kuiper have
           lieve there is a God. It is therefore reasonable to  pre- departed from Calvin and from the historically Re-
           sume that he would not feel it incumbent on him to formed line of doctrine, when they teach that God is
            speak the truth, unless by so doing he could forward gracious in the preaching of the gospel to all that hear,
           his. own purposes. The question of religion or non- seeing the gospel is a well-meant and  gracious  offer of
          belief on the part of the witness had no bearing upon salvation to all.               I believe that I have furnished
           the issue at all. Undoubtedly the only' thing. that in- abundant proof in the quotations we heretofore pre-
           fluenced the court was whether or not the  man- in ques- sented to our readers.
           tion could be depended upon to speak the truth. The                 But. I can foresee the possibility of someone's at-
           answer is obvious."                                             tempt to enervate my argument, by emphasizing the
               Most true it is, that such `a man (an Atheist) could fact, that the Genevan Reformer,' nevertheless, also
           not be depended upon to speak the truth after he had speaks of general offers of salvation, of mercy, of the:
           taken the  .oath, unless to speak the truth should hap-' Gospel. It might be alleged, that one could not very
           pen to suite his- purposes. The same must be said, well gainsay the apparent contradiction between  Kui-
           however, of many more men who. are  no  ch.vowed per and Berkhof on the one hand and Cc&& ns far us
           Atheists, It is likewise true, further; that it is the          I did note him on the other; but that I did not, fully
           business of the court to determine, not whether a man           quote him on this subject, and that there are also other.
           co&d be, but whether he is speaking the truth. And              passages which plainly reveal that the great Reformer
           this'the  ,court  does `and must do, we say it again, not       of Geneva also maintained another line of doctrine and
           by instituting an investigation into beliefs, but by taught that there is a general well-meaning offer of
           submitting the testimony reaps&&  the matter nt hamd salvation on the part of God to all men without distine-
           to a test by comparing it with the testimony of other tion. In this way the deceitful impression might be
           witnesses, or by a rigid cross examination of the wit- `left that Calvin too believed in two lines of truth, flatly
           ness himself.                                                   opposed to each other and mutually exclusive and called
                                                               G. M. 0.    this a mystery. It has become rather general and cus-
                                                                           tomary in. the Christian Reformed Churches-to  appeal-----
                                                                           to this mystery in order to hide the old Arminian error
                                                                           which it, nevertheless, defends. Jan Karel  van Baalen,
                            ' THE  SPEWAD TABLE                            in the days when he in company with others exerted
                    Where'er I be, Lord, spread for me                     himself almost above his power to have us expelled
                    Thy table with its holy fare,         +                from the communion of the Christian Churches, em-
                    Then, though my lot be slenderness,                    phasized that I ran on a single track and warned
                    And. my tent but the wilderness,                       against the danger of doing so, himself teaching that
                    Full amply plenished I shall be                        we must run on a double track. For the reader that
                            Since Thou art there.                          does not remember and is not in a, position to verify
                                                                           this statement, I will quote Van Baalen's  very words on
                    And wilt Thou break the bread for me?                  this point :'
                    For me pour out the sacred wine? .'                        "For what is the case? The Holy Scripture is not
                    And as we eat and drink wilt Thou                      single  tmck.  It is double track. There are two lines
                    Renew in me the holy vow,                              running through Scripture, parallel to each other, like
                    And  fill me with new love for Thee,                   the two tracks of a train. The one track is that of
                            Since I am `Thine ?                            election and reprobation. It is the line of God's secret
                                                                           decree.
                                                                             "But the other line is that of God's revealed will
                                                                           and of the accountability of man. `Who will that all
              Een menschelijk hart is als een schip olj eene woe&e         men shall be saved.' "
           zee, hetwelk door de stormwinden van de vier streken               You see the intent of such teaching. On the one
j          der wereld gedreven wordt.                                      hand is God's secret will, implying that only the elect


                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   BE'ARER                                           165

       shall be saved and that man can do nothing to effect are lost. On this they agree. But, these men would
       his own salvation. But on the other hand there is the explain, that is only one side of the truth. That is
       revealed will teaching that God will that  all men shall the one track on which your train of truth must run.
       be' saved. And the text is quoted in the same sense         But there is another side. Your train must also run
       and with the same purpose as it was quoted at all times     on another track. And the other side of the truth is,
       by all Arminians: "Who will that all men shall be that God does not will that all men shall be saved but
       saved."                                                     with firm and tied decree has limited forever the num-
          .And this deceitful teaching which is nothing but ber of that shall be saved. That is the other track. And
       Arminianism under cover of the Reformed Confession if you tell them that this is the Arminian track and
       and, therefore, all the more dangerous, is not only the your train can never run in two opposite directions at
       doctrine of Van  Baalen.  It is the doctrine of the the same time, they assure you that such is neverthe-
       Churches. It is the view that, as far as the Reformed less the truth. Only it is a mystery.
       Churches in our country is concerned, has found its             Now, then, the question is : does Calvin answer the
       chief defender and protagonist ,in Prof. Heyns. And objection, raised against the doctrine of election and
       it is very general.                                         reprobation from the general preaching of the gospel
          Now, it might be possible for someone to make the in the same way? Let LIS continue to quote him:
      attempt to show that Calvin also held, this  double-             "To this pretended difficulty of Pighius, therefore, I
      track-view of the truth. For he does speak sometimes would briefly reply, that Christ was so ordained the
       of a general offer of mercy and of the Gospel. And          Saviour of the whole world, as that He might save
      lest this mistake be made by someone who does not those that were given to Him by the Father out of the
      want to hear the truth, we will quote him on this sub- whole world, that He might be the eternal life of them
      ject once more. First of all the following from pp. of whom He is the Head ; that He might receive into a
      93 ff.:                                                      participation of all the blessings in Him all those whom
          "One reason, he says, (Calvin is writing against         God adopted unto Himself by His own unmerited good
      Pighius here)' why he `cannot believe .in particular and pleasure, to be His heirs. Now which one of these
      special election is because Christ, the Redeemer of the solemn things can our opponent deny?"
      whole world, commanded the Gospel to be preached to             Here, therefore, the Reformer begins to answer his
      all men, promiscuously, generally, and without distinc- opponent by emphasizing the doctrine of particular
      tion. But the Gospel is an embassy of peace, by which redemption. once more. Pighius had asserted that by
      the world is reconciled to God, as Paul'teaches. And the preaching of the gospel as an embassy of peace  the.
      according to the same holy witness it is preached that world is reconciled to God. Calvin answers in effect:
      those who hear it might be saved."                           yes, but the whole world does not mean all men indi-
         Such was the difficulty or pretented difficulty of the vidually and without distinction, but the world of the
      Pelagian Pighius. And the reader will recognize im- elect, those whom God gave unto Christ out of the
      mediately that here we touch upon the very heart of world. Then he continues:
      the question, in dispute between Berkhof, Kuiper, Van           "IIence,  the Apostle Paul declares this prophecy
--                      -. .__    `* -. 7 -.
      Baalen;  CX and us. Pigmus obje&ion  to the do&me            of Isaiah-to be fulfilled--in %li?ist: -`Behold;.-1  and--the-
      of predestination concerned the preaching of the gos- children whom the Lord hath given Me,' etc. Accord-
      pel. That preaching is general, promiscuous and with- ingly Christ Himself declares aloud: `All that the
      ,out distinction to all that hear. But how can it be if Father giveth Me shall come to Me, and him that com-
      you believe in the doctrine of predestination? If God eth unto Me I will in no wise cast out' (John 6 :3'7).
      saves only the elect, what is the sense of the general       And again: `Those that Thou gavest Me 1 have kept
      preaching of the gospel ? Nay, the objection is more and none of them is lost but the son of perdition' (John
      serious still : the gospel is an embassy of peace to men.    l'i  :12). Hence we read everywhere that. Christ diffuses
      By it God wants to save men. By it the world is recon- life into none but the members of His own body. And
      ciled to God. It follows, therefore, that  grace.must be he that will not `confess that it is a special gift and a
      universal, at least as universal as is the preaching of special mercy to be engrafted into the body of Christ,
      the. gospel:                                                 has never read with spiritual attention Paul's epistle
          Now Van  Baalen,  Berkhof, Kuiper and others to the Ephesians. Hereupon follows also a third im-
      would answer: we admit all that you say about the portant fact, that the virtue and benefits of Christ are
      preaching of the gospel. It is an embassy of peace on extended unto, and belong to none but the children of
      the part of God to all that hear, it is a well-meaning       God."
      and gracious  offer  of salvation to men promiscuously,         Here. Calvin takes pains to establish from Scrip-
      "The Gospel I preach is a gospel  ,for sinners, for all ture, over against the objection of Pighius, that what-
      sinners," says Kuiper. ?Vho will that all men .shall ever he may allege, he cannot deny the truth of partic-
      `be saved," quotes Van Baalen.  And Berkhof appeals ular redemption. This must needs be established first
      to the passage from Ezekiel to show that God seriously of all. However the general preaching of the gospel
      wills and seeks the salvation of all, even of those that may have to be explained, this must stand, that  salva-

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

tion is not meant for all, `and that it is not granted unto      offer does not convey the meaning it would seem to
all, but unto the children of God only. And these  are express in our present day English. It is a translation
the elect. But. this being firmly established the. Re- of the Latin : offere,  which means : to set forth, to bring
former is ready to answer to the objection of Bighius to the attention of someone. In a footnote elsewhere
and continues as follows :                                       in the book (p. 31) the Rev. Henry Atherton calls at- .
       "Now that the universality of the grace of Christ tention  to this same fact. I verified his remark and
cannot be better judged of than from the nature of the find that it is well sustained.'
preaching of the gospel there is no one who will not                But what, according to Calvin is the principle of
immediately grant."                                             this setting forth of salvation to all?
       This we probably had not expected from Calvin.             Is it an unconditional expression on the part of
We would brobably  have expected him to write, that God, that He will save all? Is that the' nature of the
you could not draw any `conclusion from the genera1 preaching of the Gospel ? Can one say: The gospel I
preaching of the gospel with respect'to the universality .preach is a gospel for all sinners? Or is the very nature
of salvation in Christ at all. In fact, that is exactly and contents of the preaching of the gospel particular?
what our opponents allege. The preaching of the gospel That is the question Calvin here raises. And he an-
is one thing. The grace of Christ is quite another. swers it in the negative. Outwardly the gospel is
The contents of the gospel concerns all. It is a well- preached, indeed, to all that hear. Yes, but it is a
meaning offer of salvation to all without distinction on preaching the contents of which cannot even be per-
the part of God, to all, namely, that hear the gospel.           ceived or understood but by faith. And such is the
These are the two lines you must maintain. They are very declaration of the gospel itself. For the Scrip-
the two tracks on which your train must run. But you tures  do not say, that the gospel is a well-meaning offer
cannot reconcile them. You cannot draw any con- of salvation on the part of God to all men. The Bible
clusion from the nature of the gospel and its preaching nowhere uses such Arminian language. Nay, it is no
with  regard.to  the universality of salvation. We have offer, but a power of  `God unto salvation. And it is a
a mystery here. And you must not enter into the deep power of God unto salvation, not to all, but to those
things of God. They are secret! The revealed things that believe.
are for us and our children. `And these revealed things             Such, then, is the Gospel. It is the general. procla-
are, according to `Van Baalen : "Who will that all men mation of `a particular salvation. Just as we always
shall be. saved." But Calvin does not reason in this emphasized, a presentation Berkhof attempted to ridi-
way. There are, for him, no such two contradictory cule. He may now ridicule Calvin.
lines and opposite  tra?ks in the Word of God. That is              And the Genevan Reformer declares that on this
why he can write: I grant, and everyone will imme- question the whole matter turns.
diately grant,  .that the universality of the grace of              See this and you have no difficulty. It is true, that
Christ can be judged of no better than from the nature the universality of the grace of the Lord may be judged
of the preaching of the gospel. But he does not leave from the very nature of the preaching of the gospel,
the question here. He explains further:
                           .._- ._.. __~---.      I~..         -_p.rovided.  this-is-rightly .understoo.d,.  Salvation is,&-- --:
---- crYet~o?22ii~fiinge-&e  whole question turns. If wi deed, just as universal as the preaching of the Gospel
see and acknowledge, therefore, the principle on which declares it to be. "Only, in this preaching there is no
the doc`trine of the Gospel offers  salvation to ,all, the unconditional offer of salvation, but the declaration- of
whole, sacred matter is settled at once. That the gos- a power of God unto salvation only to such as believe..
pel is, in its nature, able to save all I-by no means deny.         Now, then, Calvin concludes :
But the great question lies here: Did the Lord by His               "And farther, as it is undeniably manifest that out
eternal counsel  ordain  salvation for  nil mm? It is of the multitudes whom God calls by His outward voice
quite manifest that all men, without difference or dis- in the Gospel very few believe, if I prove that the
tinction, are outwar&  curled,  or invited to repentance. greater part of these multitudes remain unbelieving
and faith.      It is equally manifest that the same             (for God deems none worthy His illumination but
Mediator is set forth before all, as He alone Who can whom He will), I obtain, thereby, the next conclusion,
reconcile them with the Father. But it is as fully well that the mercy of God is offered (set forth, H. H.)
known that `none of these things can be perceived or equally to those who believe and to those who believe
understood but by faith, in fulfilment  of the apostle's not, so that those who are not divinely taught within
declaration that `the Gospel is the power of God unto are only rendered inexcusable, not saved. Some make
salvation to  every  one that believeth';  Then; what can a  .distinction  here, holding that the gospel is saving to
it be to others but the savor of death .,unto death? as         all as it regards  its  power to  sccz)e,  but not in its effect
the same apostle elsewhere powerfully expresses him- of snuing. But they by no means untie the knot by this
self,?"                                                         half-way argument. We are still rolled back to the
    Here the  R.eformer  explains the principle on which same great question point, whether the same power to
the doctrine of the Gospel offers salvation to all.             believe is conferred upon all men. Now Paul assigns
    Let me explain in passing, that in Calvin the word the reason  whzj all do not obey the Gospel. He refers


                                           TH'E  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   '                                            3.67

  us to the prophet Isaiah: `Lord, who hath believed  out           the gospel must needs be a savor of death to some, a
  report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?' means to render them the more inexcusable, where
  (Ram.  -10 :16). The prophet, here astonished at the does the grace  df God enter into this preaching by
 fewness of those who believe, seems to cry aloud, that means of the outward sound without the inward voice
. it was a thing of the highest shame and reproach that,            of the Spirit?
  while the Word of God was sounding in the ears of all                 Will not Berkhof or Kuiper or both answer, please?
 men, there were scarcely any hearts inwardly touched                   You can do so in The Banner, if you prefer. Better
 by it ! But that so awful a depravity in man might not still, you may have all the space you desire in THE
 terrify the contemplators of it, the  Apbstle  Paul after- STANDARD  BEARER. I say better, because all of our
 wards intimates, that it is not given to  nil thus to be- readers surely do not read The Banner,  and it would be
 lieve, but to* those only to whom God manifests  Him- expedient that all' acquaint themselves with  your re-
 self (vs. 20). In a word the apostle in this chapter in- plies.
 timates that any effort or sound of the human voice will               I have  show? you, that you have departed from
 be. ineffectual, unless the secret power of God work in the historically Reformed line, as begun anew and more
 the hearts. of the hearers. Of this fact Luke places powerfully than before him developed by John Calvin.
 before our eyes a memorable proof, who, after he had                   You cannot deny  the. truth of what I have written.
 recorded the sermon preached by Paul (Acts 13 :48)                 Of this I am convinced in my mind.
 says, `And as many as were ordained to eternal life                    If you should still think that in any respect I have
 believed.' Now why was not this same doctrine of misrepresented either you or Calvin, will you show our
 Paul received with the same mind and heart by all who              readers in what respect I made such a mistake?
 heard  it? Luke assigns the reason  atid  defines the                  And if I have presented the matter fairly and
 number of the receivers: `As many as were ordained truthfully, will you not acknowledge that you have
 to eternal life believed.' The rest did not believe be- erred ?
 CCLUS~  they were not ordained to eternal life. And who               The matter, you will perceive, is a very serious one.
is the giver of the disposition of the heart but God                In the first place, for the same teachings as'are con-
 alone ?"                                                           tained in  the book Calvin's  Cnlvinism  you have perse-
     Now, this entire passage is very significant for our cuted LIS, and you did not rest until we were expelled
 controversy, because of more than one reason.                      from the communion of your Churches. At the time
     First of all .it is a denial of the statement that there you became friends even of those that were your  ,ene-
 are two- lines on Holy Writ that cannot be reconciled, mies to unite with them in expelling those that were
the mystery that God wills that only the elect shall be your friends and brethren in'the faith. And you  are
 saved and that He earnestly expresses His will to save responsible.                   Responsible before God, before Whose
 all men. Calvin must have nothing of sue11 mysteries.              judginent-seat  we will have to appear together.  Bnt
 When he is placed befqre  the objection that the general this is not the worst. You have assumed leadership
 preaching of the gospel cannot be maintained in the in the Church to introduce the Arminian Three Poim;ts,
 light of the doctrine of particular redemption, he does            the first of which is so plainly condemned by the teach-
.-&L.  avbid tlie.argum-nt;-but  .efiteTs iEta..ifs.  ~~~~ y.+&.    ings dB John CEilviri. ~7Xiid  %he %KaZhX$;  a ltirg3'-@i;t--  - --
 Neither does  he. end up with irreconcilable contradic- of them, already strongly inclined to turn into
 tions which he calls mysteries, but he explains the                Arminian paths, as you well know, have followed you.
 matter and shows the harmony of God's counsel and                  For i&e&  following and their further deviation from
the preaching of the gospel.                                        the truth of the Word of God you are responsible. So
     Secondly, the passage is a plain denial of the view            serious is this matter.
 that the gospel is a message of peace to all without                  And, therefore, I charge you before God, that you
 distinction. It is a power of salvation to them that be- may not keep silent.
 lieve only. Though the outward calling is general, the                It is your solemn duty to make plain so that all can
 preaching is conditional and particular, nevertheless.             understand, that it is the teaching of Calvin, that God
     Thirdly,  the above quotation is significant, because in the preaching of the Gospel is gracious to all, and
 it is a plaili' denial, plain, that is, to all who will per-       that this preaching is a well-meant offer of salvation
 ceive and understand, of the statement that the preach-            to $1 that hear the Gospel.
 ing of  the gospel is grace also those that perish: The               And if you cannot. do this, it is your duty to
 Reformer emphasizes that it is a savor of death unto acknowledge, that you depart from Calvin, and that in
 death to such, whose hearts God does not inwardly 192$ you would have thrown him out of your Churches
 touch. He expresses himself very clearly, moreover,                as you did us !
 when he says, that the gospel is ppeached to them that
 do not believe, so that they might be rendered inex-
 cusable, not saved. Evidently,. @is is God's purpose,
 according to Calvin, with the preaching of the gospel                 In conclusion I cannot refrain from showing what
 to them that are lost. But if so, if the preaching of              Calvin thinks of Van  Baalen's  doctrine, that God wills


 `1.68                                   T H E   +  S`T'ANDAR.D   `BEA'RE'R

 that all men shall be saved. Pighius as well `as .Van              And a little later Calvin explains the text adduced
 Baalen quoted this text, and so we are in a.position  to        by Van  Baalen  for the proof of his "other track" as
 know, how Calvin would have answered this gentleman, referring to orders of men, rather than to individuals.
 with whom we would otherwise rather  not  trouble                  But I think that more than. sufficient proof is
 ourselves. any further.                            ,F>          adduced to establish the position that John Calvin does
          Calvin writes :                                        not sustain the position of the Christian Reformed.
          "The difficulty which, according to Pighius, lies in Churches when they express in their first point that
 that other place of Paul,. where the apostle affirms that the external preaching of the gospel is a manifestation
 `God will have all men to be saved and come unto the of God's grace to all that hear this preaching.
 knowledge of the truth (I Tim. 2 :4), is solved in one             I have some other remarks to make with regard to
 moment and by one question, namely,  How  does God certain features of the book that was reprinted and.
 wish all men to come to the knowledge of the truth?             published. by the Sovereign Grace Union. But these
 For Paul couples  this salvation and this coming  to the concern a slightly different subject and, therefore, will
 &nowl&dge  of the truth together. Now I would ask, did be published, the Lord willing, under a different head-
 the same will of God stand the same from the begin- ing.
 ning of the world or not? For if God willed or wished                                                          ' H. H.
 that His truth should be known unto all nzen, how was
 it that. He did not proclaim' and make known His .law
 to the Gentiles also? Why did He confine the light of
 life within the narrow limits of Judaea? And what                                  "ONE  DAY AT A TIME"
 does Moses mean when he says, `For what nation is
 there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them,  `as the        One day at a time with its failures and fears,
 Lord our God is `in all things that we call .upon Him With its hurts and mistakes,, with its weakness and
 for? And what nation' is. there so great that hath                  tears,
 statutes and judgment so righteous as all this law, With its portion of pain and its burden of care  ;
 which I set before you this day?' (Deut. 4 :7,. 8). The One day at a time we must meet and must bear.
 Divine lawgiver surely here means that there was no
 other nation which had statutes and laws, by .which  it         One day  at, a time to be patient and strong,
was ruled like unto that nation. And what does Moses             To be calm under trial and sweet under wrong;
 here but extol the peculiar privilege of the  rage of Then its toiling shall pass and its sorrow shall cease ;
 Abraham?  To. this responds the high  encomium  of It shall darken and die, and the night shall bring.
 David, pronounced on the same nation, `He hath not                  p e a c e .
 dealt so with any nation ; and as for His judgments,
they have not known them?  (Ps.. 147  :20). Nor must One day at a time - but the day is so long,
we disregard the express  rea.son  assigned by the Psalm- And the heart is not brave, and.the  soul is not strong;
ist,  Because the Lord loved their fathers,_therefore  He Oh Thou pitiful Christ be Thou near all the way;
chose their, seed after them`  (l&t>`%)  . And why Give courage and patience--and strength-- for- the -day;----
                                                                                            :
did God thus choose them? Not because they were `in
themselves more excellent than others, but because               Swift  cometh  His answer so -clear and so sweet :
                                                           it
pleased God to choose them `for His peculiar people.' "Yea I will be with thee, thy troubles to meet;
What? Are we to suppose that the apostle did not I will not. forget thee, nor fail thee, nor grieve ;
know that he himself was prohibited by the Holy Spirit I will not forsake thee, I `never will leave."
from preaching the word in Asia, and from passing
over into Bythinia? But as the continuance of this Not yesterday's load we are called to bear.
argument would render it too prolix, we will be con- Not the morrow's uncertain and shadowy care ;
tent with taking one position more: that God after Why should we look forward or back with dismay?
having lighted the candle of eternal life to the Jews            Our needs, as our mercies, are but for the day.
alone, suffered the Gentiles to wander for many ages in
the darkness of ignorance ; and that, at length, this            One day at a time and the day is His day ;
special gift and blessing were promised to the Church: He hath numbered its hours, though they haste or
`But the Lord shall rise upon thee; and His .glory shall             delay,
be seen upon thee' (Isa. 60 :2). Now let Pighius boast His grace is sufficient, we walk not alone ; .I
if he can, that God willeth all men to be saved! The As the day, so the strength, that He giveth His' own,
above arguments, founded on the Scriptures, prove                                                              Selected.
that even the external preaching of the doctrine of Sal-.
vation,  which is very far inferior to the illumination
of the  .Spirit,  was not made of God common to  all REMEMBER THE PROGRAM OF. THE BOYS'
men" (Calvin's Calvinism, pp. 103, 104).                         SOCIETY "DAVID" ON NEW YEAR'S EVENING


                                             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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                Vol. VI, No. 8                                      JANUARY 15, 1930                               Subscription Price, $2.50

                II                                                                     How  in the terrible desert the' forces of hell had
                                                                                   been marshalled and set in array against them ! Step
                                                                                   by step they had been followed by the devil and his host.
            ,'  II                                                               II determined upon their destruction. Now the opposing
                                                                                   power had come against them in the form of hostile
                                     SAVING  ME$IEs                                hordes, now  it. had employed the wicked factor of
                                       It is of the Lord's mercies that we are     carnal Israel, the reprobate, in, whom. God had no
                                     not consumed, because His compassions fail    pleasure but that were of- Israel, that had been de-
                                     not.                       -Lam. 3  :22.      livered with them out of the house of bondage, that
                      The Church of God in the midst of the world!                 with them passed through the Red Sea and were bap-
                       Existing in the midst of a thousand powers that are tized into Moses, that with them ate of the spiritual
                calculated to destroy her, yet never consumed !                    bread in the wilderness and drank out of the spiritual
                       What an amazing spectacle !                                 rock that followed them. Oh, how they had made
                       It is like the sight Moses beheld, when at the moun- Israel to sin! How they had rebelled against the Most
               tain of God his wonderment was excited by the appear- High, despising the bread from heaven, provoking the
                ance of the flame in the midst of the bush, while the Angel of the Lord to anger, expressing their preference
                latter was not. consumed.                                          for the carnal pleasures and treasures of Egypt, com-
                       Such is the wonder on which the prophet is reflect- mitting idolatry and adultery. How they had invoked
                ing, sitting on the ruins of the beloved City of God, the fierce operation of the wrath of God upon them,
               grief-stricken and overwhelmed with sorrow because
-    ._,                                                                           that threatened to consume them, now striking them
                                                                                                                                   -.  -...
                of the downfall of the. daughters  of Zion, and `contem~           down by the sword, now laying `them prostrate  m the?-
                plating this marvelous phenomenon he cries out: It is desert by fiery serpents, now kindling `the fire of God
               the mercies of the Lord that we are not consumed, be- among them, now having them swallowed up into very
                cause His compassions fail not!                                    hell ! And how, finally, their unbelief had proved them
                       What fearful history'the poet is recalling to his own incapable of entering into the'promised inheritance and
               mind, when he utters these'words !                                  the anger of the Lord had caused all that generation
                       From the very moment the old dispensational peo- to pine away in the wilderness ! . . . .
               ple of God began to appear in the midst of the world                   What a history !
               it seemed as if all the powers of darkness had been let                Yet, they had not been consumed !
               loose upon them, to.harass  them, to deny. them but the                .Had it been different during all those years that
               smallest place in the world, to blot out their very exist- they had been in possession of the .land flowing with
               ence and swallow them up. It had been thus in the milk and honey?
               house of bondage, the country that, at the first had                   On the contrary, they had been the object of hatred
               been a haven of refuge to them, but soon, proved to be by all the surrounding nations and the powers of dark-
             the furnace of affliction in which they were well-nigh ness had left them scarcely a moment's peace. From
               consumed. How the cruel scourge of slavery had lashed within the ungodly element among them had continued
               their backs and subjected them to bondage, how the to corrupt their way before the Lord and had made
               fierce ravings of the hostile world-power had perse- Israel to sin and to violate the covenant of Jehovah.
               cuted their very children unto death! How they had No nation had been as corrupt as they. Round about
               suffered and' groaned under the burden of oppression them the nations served their ,own gods, but Israel
              till it seemed they'must needs be annihilated ! Yet,`they            committed whoredom with every idol under heaven.
              were not consumed . . . .                                            Their children they had caused to pass through the fire,


     I! 170
/                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
       their temple they had defiled, their priests had been        unto heaven. And no' different it is in the new dis-
       corrupt and their prophets had proclaimed lies unto pensation. It must needs be so. For from the very
       them according to their own hearts' desire. And'those dawn of history the Lord began to realize;  His Word:
       messengers of Jehovah that showed them the way of I will put enmity between thee and the  :woman, be-
       salvation they had persecuted and killed. And the tween thy seed and her seed ; it shall bruise thy head
       Lord had revealed His wrath upon them, and had and thou shalt bruise its heel. And as it was with
       caused them to walk in the delight of their sinful Israel in Egypt, in the awful desert, in the Promised _
       hearts, till the day of reckoning, so frequently an- Land, thus it is with the Church'of all ages : the hostile
       nounced by faithful prophets, had finally arrived . . . powers attack the people of God both from within and
           And now Jerusalem was destroyed, the temple. was from without . . . .
       burned, the people of God's choice were scattered into,         `For the Church is not perfect.
       foreign lands and strange lords had dominion over               All is not Israel that is of Israel.
       them !
           What a terrible history that of the people of Go:1          The dividing line that divinely discriminates be-
       had been !                                                  tween elect and reprobate cuts through the very midst
          Yet, they were not consumed ! Not even now!              of the camp. of the saints.                 .
           The remnant still remained ! The Church of God              And this carnal element within the sphere-of God's
       had not been exterminated.                                  covenant leads the Church astray, frequently would
          Amazing spectacle !                                      surrender her to the powers of darkness. Now it is the
                                                                   . demand to introduce the very pleasures of Egypt into
                                                                   the life of the Church; now it is the attempt to sub-
                                                                   ject the Church to the very spirit of the age ; now it
          Burnt severely, yet never consumed!                      is the temptation of a mere form of godliness while
           Cast frequently into the furnace of affliction, yet the power thereof is denied ; now it is all sorts of winds
       never destroyed !                                           of doctrine, ,vain philosophies of mere man, that would
          Always attacked by the hostile powers of darkness, betray the Church of Jesus Christ to the  .power  of op-
       from within and from without, yet never annihilated! position. And.  frequently she is  enticed'to  bow before
          Thus the ,wonder  presented itself to the mind of the idols that are thus. erected before her,, i Often  she
       the lamenting prophet of Israel, when he bewailed the       goes `astray, leaving the path of truth. and righteous-
       calamities that had befallen his people; And in this ness and wandering in ways of error, of  worldly-
       wonderful history of the Church of the old dispensa- mindedness, of ,lust and pleasure and the service of
       tion not typical of the experience of the Church of all mammon. And more than once it appeared, as if the
       ages ?                                                      powers of darkness had triumphed and the Church .had
          It could not be different.                               been swallowed up by the darkness of superstition, un-
          For it was the Lord's pleasure to save a Church belief, carnal lusts and pleasures. Yet, she.was  never
       unto Himself from the midst of a ,fallen .aqd ,corrupt
                                 .._ ___^. --                      consumed . . . .                                 -- . . __._ _ .._. .._ ._ _
       race. -With that race the chosen people of Jehovah are        From without the openly hostily world raved
       organically one by nature. With that race they. go against her.
       down into the darkness of sin and death, when the first         Now the enemy sang sweet siren's songs and the
       man Adam wilfully turns his neck to the Most High devil appeared as an angel of light, sweetly enticing,
       and heeds the voice of the Prince of darkness. With liberally offering all his kingdoms, the power. and
      that race they are by nature allied to him who is a might, the glory and wealth, the honor and goodwill
      murderer from the beginning, subject to death and con- of the world at its best. Now he madly shook the very
       demnation, dead in trespasses and sins, enemies of foundation-stone of the Church denying that Jesus is
       God, worthy in themselves of God's consuming wrath. the Christ, gainsaying His coming in the .flesh, mock-
      Yet, although with the human race they fall into sin .ing the blood-theology of the cross, casting -the veil of
       and death, they are not consumed.                           doubt. and agnosticism over the reality of the resurrec-
          The Church is called out of the world !                  tion. Again he fumed and raged against the faithful,
          For the Son of God gathers unto Himself out of the opened prisons and dungeons  forthem, threatened with
      sinful human race those that the Father gave Him the bloody sword, erected scaffolds and stakes ; and the
      and are chosen unto eternal life.                            Church was cast into fiery furnace of fierce persecu-
          Yet, they are also in the world!                         tions . . . .
          And the world hates them.                                   Yet, in spite of these hostile attacks from within
          The powers of darkness never leave them a mo- and from without, notwithstanding her frequent back-
      ment's rest. As it was with people of Israel, thus it sliding and many departures from the way- of God's
      was with the Church of the pre-deluvian world, thus it covenant, the Church was never consumed . . . .
      was in the period famous for its attempt to establish           Still stands the Church. The wonder of all history.
      a world-kingdom around the tower that should reach               All things pass away.


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R '                                             171

     Nations rise and fall. But we are not consumed!           faithful, though their faithlessness renders them a
     Marvelous phenomenon  !-                                  thousandfold. unworthy of His mercy . . . .
                                                                   And this abundant and eternal compassion mani-
                                                               fests itself in countless mercies, acts of mercy, whereby
                                                               He delivers the people of His choice.
     And what may be the reason?                                   The `prophet speaks of these mercies,  -using  the  ..
                                                                                                                                            .._
     What may be the explanation of this historic  .&on- plural.                                                                                              ' .
                                                                                                                                            ;,  :.
                                                                                                                                              1, :.
 der of the Church, always attacked yet never subdued?             And while doing so he is thinking of all the ;mighty ;  -:.
     Is there in that Church some inherent strength, deeds of deliverance whereby Israel was saved and  pre-                           ;
 that renders her indestructable  and that causes all the ,served  in the midst of the furnace of consuming  afflic.
  attempts of the devil, and his host and all `the powers tions.
 of darkness to be futile?                                         From `the one great, eternal, boundless and endless
     On the contrary, in themselves the people of God compassion in God's heart there flow numberless deeds
 are poor and weak and despised and miserable and,. of mercy, blessing and keeping them, and preparing.
 things that are nought. They have no power of' their them for eternal glory. And it is these mercies that .  _..~  i.  2:
 own. Left to themselves they would soon prove in- explain the marvelous fact, that we are not consumed. ::.:;:  ::  .:
                                                                                                                                               ._'
 capable of resisting successfully .the mighty hosts of            In the very center of all these boundless mercies c.:..  7.'
 darkness that set themselves in array against her. stands the great mercy of the cross. For God so  loved
 Not infrequently, when standing on imaginary rocks the world, that He gave His only begotten Son! It
of their own power, they were left to prove that their `was a deed, it is the greatest deed of mercy, at once
 own strength fails to maintain them in the midst of the basis and fount of all other mercies that bless
 the world . . . .                            .                God's people and keep them in the midst of the world.
     No, for the explanation of the wonderful phenome- Why are the people of God not consumed?' -. Why is /
 non that the Church is hated and attacked from every there always .a remnant 3 Why is the Church inde-
 side, you must not look at the Church but only at structable.?  Why does she always reappear, severely
 Israel's God !                                                tried but unhurt, yes with new and greater glory,                            _  ..:  :_  _:
                                                                                                                                             .:..I   :
     For it is of the Lord's mercies, it is because His from the furnace of af?liction? `Why, if she also is by I.'                                             1:
                                                                                                                                             :  .  .:
 compassion never fails, that we are not consumed !            nature sinful and condemned in the sight of God,
   Jehovah's compassion is His tender love for His worthy of wrath and death and hell, does the anger of
 people, as  ,they are in misery. The Lord is full of God not strike her into destruction? It is of the Lord's
 mercy toward them that fear Him, He burns with mercy, revealed when He gave His only begotten Son
 lovingkindness over His people, whom He know from for her, that she might be redeemed and justified, de- /
 before the foundation of. the world. His mercy is livered and sanctified, purified from the pollution of
 abundant over them, And in this abundant mercy He sin and liberated from the power of death and be to 1I
 will save them out of all their misery, will comfort the praise of His glory `and grace in the Beloved !                              i
                                                                                                                                  /  _  ::.::..
 them with eternal glory and victory in His eternal                There is the reason.                                                      .  ...:   ..'
 kingdom, and presently wipe away all tears from their           The -cross of our blessed Saviour is'the greatest of                         ..  I::,;;
                                                                                                                                       :....-  !.   I.  .:,
                                                                                                                                             .:  :.  .:
 eyes. It is not His purpose to destroy, but to glorify the sure mercies of God.                                                  .,.
 them. In His overflowing  mercy,His  heart yearns for            And this most adorable of mercies .explains,  fully                                          :'
                                                                                                                                  ..:
 them in their misery. And sooner will a mother forget explains the amazing spectacle that the Church of God
 her sucking babe than the Lord cast away the people is not consumed.                                                             i.  -_:   -1:
                                                                                                                                  ;
 of His love, whom He has engraven  in both the `palms            And from that cross flow a thousand mercies, all /
ofHishands.....                                                wondrous and precious, mighty acts of love . . . .
    And this compassion faileth never!                            By these God's  .people are freed from the shackles I
    For the name of, our compassionate  God is Jehovah!        of sin, are liberated from the oppression of the house fi                                        i
                                                                                                                                                         :
                                                                                                                                  i:
 He never changes, hence His mercy never fails.                of bondage, are rescued from the slavery of sin and the :  _:  .:,I_  .
                                                                                                                                                   :_
                                                                                                                                  :
    And His compassion is an eternal compassion! It devil, are renewed,' cleansed, nourished with spiritual                                                    `..
 is, as He, independent: It is sovereignly free mercy.         bread, satisfied with God's blessed fellowship in Christ,
, The reason .for it is not in His people, but solely in       kept in the power of God in the midst of the world
 Himself. For His love is no response to their love of         unto the day of salvation !
 Him, but His love is the Cause, the unfathomable                 They are not consumed?
 Fount of their love. His love is original, absolute;  in-.       And never will be !
 finite, immutable as His own Being, boundless as His                                                             H. H.
 own divine heart. And from that eternal and un-
 changeable love constantly flows His abundant mercy
 towards His peopie. His compassion never fails. It
 fails not though in themselves His people are worthy             LEZING "INDRUKKEN VAN NEDERLAND"
of His wrath and condemnation ; it is immoveably                               Fuller Ave, Kerk,. Jan. 16
                                                                                                 .I \
                                                       `_


1                                                                        \
                                                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                          175

     moderne voorstelling niet meer. Maar men vormt zich-                                                                       THE MAN LOT
     zelven een beeld van Jezus, dat volkomen gelij k is aan
     hen, die het formeeren. Het is een lieve Jezus, die het                                             As a result of his experience with Pharaoh, Abra-
     land doorging, goeddoende, een groote Meester, die ons ham left Egypt with a high esteem for God, and with
     wil leeren van` de algemeene liefde Gods, die ons een his confidence in, and respect for his own resourceful-
     voorbeeld'heeft nagelaten, opdat wij in Zijne  voetstap-                                       ness pretty well sharttered.  He went into the south and
     pen zouden volgen, opdat wij Zijn ,werk zouden doen,                                           on to Bethel - the place where his tent had been from
     een Jezus, die eeuwiglijk  aan ons verplicht is, omdat we the beginning. In doing so, he gave unmistakable evi-
     ZOO vroom:willen  luisteren naar Zijne leer, omdat we                                          dence of having repented for going down to Egypt to
     zoo ijverig' willen wandelen in de'wegen,  die hij voor escape a famine. Nay, more. In returning to a former
     ons heeft uitgestippeld . . . .                                                                practice and state of existence, he showed that he had
     '    Een Jezus, die geheel en al past bij het booze, hoog-                                     been enpowered by grace to add a public tionfession  -
     moedige, Gode vijandige hart !                                                                 such' was the import of his return to Bethel  - to
          En die deze afgodsbeelden  maken,  worden  hunne private repentance, and to despise the shame in which
     beelden geli j k.                                                                              a confession of this kind involved him. To admit be
          Zooals  onze God is, zoo is ons leven, zoo is onze hind the closed .door of the secret chamber that an'
     religie.                                                                                       error has been committed, a wrong perpetrated, or  ar
          Een vorm der godzaligheid, met loochening van hare evil way set out upon, .is. to be acting under the impulse
     k r a c h t !   .-                                                                             .of a regenerated nature. But to return, as did  .Abra.
          Van deze beelden is` de moderne vol.                                                      ham, to the forsaken path, the discarded method, or`
          Maar;`Israel,  vertrouw  gij op den Heere !                                               the former state of existence, is  to demonstrate to God,
          Buig u voor die afgodsbeelden van den Allerhoog-                                          to the family, to the brother, yea;' to the world, that the
     ste en Zijnen  Christus   tech nimmer.                                                         repentance is heartfelt and genuine, and that pride has
          Onderzoek de Schriften! Laat de afspiegeling van had its day in our life. To follow up sorrow for siri
     Gods Wezen;  zooals Hij ons haar gegeven heeft, tech with a return to old paths, instead of supposing that
     steeds voor ons staan. Laat Hij ons zeggen, wie Hij is enough has been done when the word of repentance
     en hoe Hij is.                                                                                 has been uttered, is to do that very thing which, if left
          Opdat'  wevervuld  mogen  zijn met alle kennis en undone, shows you up as one in whom the triumph of
     wijsheid;  ,`en' den gordel der waarheid om de lendenen grace is not complete.
     dragend*&  stevig  `gegespt houdend; mogen aandoen de                                             There now follows a record of an incident in Abra.
     volle wapenrusting'  Gods.                                                                     ham's life which, again shows him up as one whose hear!.
          Dan  all&i  `zullen  we kunnen staan in den kwaden had been weaned away from this earth together with its
     dag!                                 _                                                         treasures and advantages, and set upon the treasures
                                                                                      H. H.
                            .                                                                       of heaven. According to the sacred record, when Abra-
                                  .-                                                                ham, in response to the voice of heaven, set out for
                                        .f           ._
                 m  .                                                                               Canaan, he was joined-.,by  his nephew-lot, who con, __
                 ::  z             :                                                                tinued with him on the journey to Egypt and back
                 I..' :                   HN  MEMORIAM                                              again to Bethel. What could have induced `this man to
          Den 15en December behaagde het den Heere tot  Zich te                                     cast his lot  .with his uncle, must remain, more or less, a
     nemen onze ,geliefde  Echtgenoote, dierbare Moeder, Dochter en                                 matter  o f   c o n j e c t u r e .    W h a t e v e r   i t   m a y   h a v e
     Z u s t e r ,   __,.                                                                           been that turned him immigrant, fact was that
                    G E E R T R U I D A   JANSEN-Kooistra,                                          he departed with. Abraham, . not as his servant
     in den leeftijd van 40 jaren  en 9 maanden, na eene aangename
     echtverbintenis van 17  jaren  en `7 maanden.                                                  or as a guest of his family, but as a.distinet  social unit,
          Zacht  .en kalm ontsliep zij in de volle verzekering  .des  ge-                           with a social status equal to that of Abraham. Having
     loafs  in haren Zaiigmaker.                                                                    detached himself from his settled possessions of the
          Trooste de Heere ons in dezen droeven weg met Zijne  be-                                  quitted land of his birth, he, too, set out a poor ma;.
     `loften.             `,,                  `.                                                   However, as a nomad in Canaan, he prospered as well as
                                        De diepbedroefde f amilie,                                  Abraham. Mention' is made .of his flocks and herds,.
                                                           K. Jansen
                                                            M. Jansen                               which, together with those of his uncle,. soon consti-'
                                                            D. Jansen                               tuted a substance so.immense  that the land was unable
                                                                  Lament                            to bear it. For the Perizzite dwelled then in the land
                                                            H. Kooistra en Echtgenoote         .    where the. two ranchmen  had again taken up their resi-
                                                                  Grand Rapids                      dence. It was occupied to the extent that the territory
                                                            M. Boelens en Echtgenoote
                                                                  Lamont                            remaining was not large enough to accommodate the
                                                            H. Kooistra. en Echtgenoote             joint herds. It is not at all diffitiult  to imagine the out-
                                                            T. Kooistra en Echtgenoote              come. The one group of herdsmen  would contend with
                                                                Grand Rapids                        the other for .the possession of the best pastures or
          30 December 1929.                                                                         lead his master's flock into meadows already claimed

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

        by the other. A conflict, in which the two chiefs would treasures. Let us notice that, as a result of his sordid
        of necessity become involved, would ensue. In all likeli- selection, he comes to grief and eventually looses all  ;`
        hood, the contention became so sharp as to have become that his practice and the state of existence he chose
        predictive of a state of affairs characterized by physical is proof positive that he who would gain this world by
        violence. Abraham re$olved  to relieve the situation by a method involving one in a' denial of God, loses his
        co-operating with his nephew in placing between them God, his soul and in addition the very world which he
        a distance large enough to permanently offset all  dan-         sought to gain.
      ger of future conflict. So he said to Lot, "Let there be              Lot, so, the sacred narrative asserts, journeyed to
        no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and be- the east in the direction of the river Jordan, and thus
        tween my  herdsmen  `and thy herdsmen; for we be again turned immigrant, set in motion by greed. and
        brethren. Is not the whole land before thee? `separate lust for gain. The coveted pastures, however, con-
      thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left         stituted a plain, occupied by wicked men, divided into
        hand, then I will go to the right: or if thou depart to         groups so organized as to comprise the citfes of the
        the right hand, then I will go to the left."                    plain.. In these cities Lot settled. In fact, he did not
                Though  aware of the remarkable fertility of the come to rest until that tent of his stood in the very
      plain of Jordan to the east  - it was a plain, well neighborhood of Sodom. - a city whose "men- were
        watered everywhere, even as the gal-den of the Lord - wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly." He
        Abraham, in order to gain his nephew for his scheme, even took up his abode in this city itself, for at a later
        permits him to select for them both the r&gion  to which period we find him at its gate. What must ,be our
        each will repair with his substance. Strife between `appraisal of this man Lot. were it not for the testi-
       `brethren is  sq very disdainful to him,  thatqhe  is ready mony of Scripture that  his soul was righteous, the
        to surrender any section of Canaan, however attractive, mistake would be made by most of us perhaps of plac-
        however superior, froti the point of view of a herds- ing him in a class with such men whose only care is
        man, to any other district, if, by doing so, peace can be that of this world. For that side of self he exposes to
        had. Yet the land,`by  virtue of the promise, was his, view `in that period of his career in whi'ch he settled in
        not Lot's. It  vi;ould  therefore have been in keeping Sodom that his flocks and herds might have pasture, is
        with his rights for him to have sent that nephew of his most dark. The step  he takes shows what an otherwise
        either to the right or left instead of submitting him righteous man is capable 6f when the prosperity of
        to his choice. However, if peace can be had by the flocks and herds, the increase and preservation of
        s&r&e  of some personal right or privilege, Abraham earthly `riches, becomes his chief concern. In this state.
        will have peace.                                                of mind, he does not recoil from entering and joining
                My reader, you point to Abraham as your spiritual himself to the society of men notorious for their wick-
        father? What have you sacrificed  to re-establish peace edness.
        between you and the brother? Is the feud continued                 Yet, we say it again, the soul of this man Lot was
       .because  of your reluctance to waive your claim to a few righteous. In the heart of his dispositions and thought,
        paltry dollars or  because  of  yoyr insistence
                                                  _    .   upon some
-        .-:           .  ..r  ,____  _.--.                             &he_re  could be-found the essential features -of faith in- .-
      right  or prerogative which you could forfeit without and love for God. And, without a doubt, it was by this
        injury to the cause of justice? If so, yciu are no child faith that he had quitted the land of his birth and ha4
        of Abraham. For he was one of God's meek who  .sur-             set out with Abraham for Canaan, a poor man. How-
        rendered, this earth rather than engage in some ille- ever, he had prospered in Canaan, as was before said.
        gitimutq strife for its possession. He ,shall  therefore And his riches had turned his head, awakened in his
       inherit  the very earth which in his, meekness he refused soul vile ambitions, which, instead of mortifying, he
       to claim.                                                        permitted to gain the  ascendency  in his life and to
                As for Lot, taking advantaie  of his uncle's gener- direct its course. With his better self: crowded in the
        osity, he chooses first  .in order to offset the danger of background. Lot began to give in his thoughts first
       being compelled, as a result of Abraham's choice, to place, not to God, but to his flock. He lost, furthermore,
       &pair  to a region &her than that which he with covet- ~11 sense of propriety and decency, became unblushingly
       ous eyes had beholden as a well watered, plain, fertile bold and self-seeking, as is evident from the advantage
       even as the garden of God. So. he declared that he               he' took from the meekness of his uncle ; and, de-
      preferred to take up his residence in this plain. "Then termined to carry out-his resolve, set out for the plain,
      Lot chose him  ,a11 the plain of. Jordan; . . .  " Abra-          and settled in Sodom. This is what riches. will do for
       ham without a murmer permits him to repair to the you if constituting the treasure of your heart.
       region of his choice, "And Lot journeyed east: and                  Let us contemplate the meaning of Lot's step. In
       they separated themsklves, the one from the other."              taking up his residence in Sodom; he exposes himself
                Lot, on the `occasion of his choice, shows him up as to our eye as a man who. constitutes, as far as his prac-
       a man, who, though righteous, permits himself, never- tices are concerned, the spiritual and moral reverse of
       theless, to be swayed by the unhallowed energies of his his uncle. When Abraham, so we noticed, was made
       carnal self, to-wit, greed and love for this world and its to choose between God and the world as represented by


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                     3?7

such social units known as cities, he chose God; though As a citizen of Sodom, he dwelt safely at least from the
he knew that his choice would involve him in the loss point of view of natilre. Judged by worldly standards,
of the world, `together with -its treasures such as land, he was much better off than Abraham who still dwelt
and opportunities for self-%lvancement.  For. then as in the capacity of a stranger among the hills of Bethel.
today, the world possessed the earth and controlled its Fact is, however, that Lot in Sodom was a most
resources. Being a citizen of the city of God, he re- wretched man. For he carried about with him the
fused to come under the jurisdiction of, or join himself convictions that in his capacity of a settled land owner
to, any one of the city kings either of the regions he     and citizen of Sodom, he was the object of the Lord's
had. quitted, or of Canaan, in order to secure a grant displeasure. But what was Lot's sin? Was it this
on land and the protection of any one of these chiefs. that he had settled in  2  city of wicked men? If so,
And so we encounter him upon the pages of Scriptnre,       what is to be done with that clause in Christ's prayer
a nomad, a spiritual, social and political recluse, or in which reads, "I pray not that thou shouldst take them
the words of the sacred narrative, a guest of the          out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them
Canaanites, a pilgrim in the earth, without a square from the evil . . . As thou hast sent me into the
foot of ground th&t he could call his own; a stranger world, even so have I also sent them into the world."
and as such an object of fear and scorn, exposed to a And Christ sends his disciples as sheep among the
thousand dangers, yet dwelling safely because abiding wolves. Whereas Sodom was the world at its worst,
in the shadow of the Almighty.                             did Lot not do well by taking up his abode among the
   As to Lot, though  .in all likelihood he had left men of this city? To this we reply, that when Lot re-
Mesopotamia in the faith of Abyaham,  and had dwelt in paired to Sodom, he did so not in response to a divine
Canaan a spiritual and therefore a political and social call, for he had no such call, but in response to a vile
recluse, yet for want of better pasture for his substance crave for better pastures. True, he may htive sought
he repaired to the well-watered plain atid simultane- to put himself at .ease,  and to justify the step he con-
ously ceased to' be a pilgrim and a stranger in the templated taking by a resolve to inaugurate a reforma-
earth. For the notices respecting the character of the tion in Sodom. However, the real motive of his choice
state of existence he entered upon in Sodom, compel had sapped him of his power for good. True, his right-
the conclusion that the connections he set up  tvith the eous soul was vexed and burdened by what he daily
men of Sodom were of a kind that constituted him a encountered in that wicked social center he had en-
member of that particular social unit, and entitled hill? tered. But that he asserted-himself as a public censor,
to all the privileges and rights of a citizen. Such, we is contradicted by the angry reply of the Sodomites,
feel assured, is th? import of the notice that "Abraham occasioned by his refusal to surrender to them his
dwelled in the Znnd of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in. the guests, and by his attempt to pacify that .mob  by the
cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom." proffer of his daughters. Said the men of Sodom, "This
The sacred narrator places  ZcLnd  and  city in juxtaposi- one fellow came in`to sojourn, and he will needs be
tion so that the conviction cannot be escaped, that judge." Lot's reluctance to yield to their demands
the .-term lcbncl signifies    a state -of . . . . existence seems to have incited their wonder-so that the con- .---.
opposed to that signified by the term city. Abra- viction cannot be escaped that they had not been accus-
ham then continued as a  .pilgrim.  and stranger  .in the tomed to listen to words of rebuke coming from this
earth. Lot,  .on. the other hand, took out citizens papers, stranger. Their reply, further, was in part a threat,
so to say, in Sodom. In support of the view we here "to deal worse with him than with them," the guests,
reach, we may cite that when Lot spied the angels, he so that the conclusion is warranted that these violent
was sitting in the .gate  of the city ; that, further, his and extremely  wicked-men  would long ago have made
daughters had married men of Sodom.                        away with Lot  a& expelled them from their community
   What may have been the peculiar advantages ac- had he appeared in their midst as a censor of their
cruing from the new connections ?. To begin with, he' lawlessness. Then, too, the fact that he was ready
mtist have received a grant on land, so that henceforth to sacrifice his maiden daughters upon the altar of'
he could pasture his flocks and herds in the new terri- their vile lust, would they but spare the men that had
tory where he had settled, without  feear of being come under his roof, may be taken as a sure indication
molested by the natives, or of being ordered by them that  in'times.past  he hdd made  mqre than one unlaw-
at any time to get him out of the land. Further, by ful concession. For one thing, he had given his daugh-
joining himself to a distinct  commonwsalth,  he had ters in marriage to their sons.
gained for himself a place in this earth where he could       These notices, though scant, say enough to warrant
move about as one of the men among whom he dwelt. the conclusion that Lot, for fear of vexing his fellows,
Having acquiesced in the marriage of his daughters had held his peace, had assumed an attitude of passive-
to sons of citizens of Sodom, he had furnished these ness toward the evil rife in Sodom. At least, his cen-
citizens with sufficient evidence  45at he bore them no sure had not been sufficiently sharp to render him
ill-will. Hence, they ceased to regard him with suspi- offensive to wicked men. He had neglected to project
cion. As a lone rancher with flocks grazing in pastures himself as the spiritual and moral reverse of the men
not his, he had been exposed to a thousand dangers. among whom he dwelt, In consequence of his failure


178                                       THZ  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

to stand out in bold relief as a stranger to their wicked- an  oriental  cattle-master with herds,  .grazing  in
ness, he was assigned to a place in their community meadows of inexhaustible fertility, could afford; to the
and was permitted to pasture his herds in their lux- prospects of a substance steadily increasing because it
uriant plains. Joining himself to their group, and fail- would know no want. What is more, his daughters, at
ing to raise his voice in stern denunciation of their              least some of t&em, where married to sons of Sodom.                            :
godlessness, he had provided them with a good-enough Things' had reached that stage where it had become im-
reason for concluding that he was of `their class. So possible  fou' Lot to. quit his environs without some
they gave him his citizenship papers, and with these in special urge of heaven. So firmly had he rooted him-
.his possession, he was at  libe@y to lead his flocks self in Sodom, that even the prediction  tllat this city's
where he  would. He thus ceased to be a spiritual,                 day had Come, failed to set him in motion for distant
social, and political recluse, or, in the phraseolo,gy  of mountains. The Lord had to seize his hand and lead
Scripture, a guest of the wicked and a pilgrim and him forth.
stranger in the earth. What he became, even in spirit,                 However, he had not been without warning.. Hav-
as far as men could judge, is a citizen of this world.             ing been taken captive by the four kings, and subse-
And the world favored him and shared with him fhz quently rescued by Abraham, .he was .in the possession
earth.                                                             of a clear enough sign of heaven that it was time for
       Let us take &is matter home to our hearts. You him to get him out of Sodom. However, his parleying
join the world to increase your opportuliities  for self- with wicked men, his failure to heed the voice of con-
advancement? You try to ease your conscience by science, his having given first place in his thoughts to
telling yourself that you will  conf.ess the name of God his flocks, had taken the keen edge off his spiritua.1
in the hearing of the wicked? As Lot, so you, your understanding so that he failed to interpret the afore-
very motive betrays you as one devoid of that moral said events as the signal of the disapproval of God
courage necessary to him who  wotild  come out for respecting the course he had set out upon. To the still
Christ in the assembly of the wicked. Yoiz, as Lot, hold voices of heaven his ear was no longer attuned. Again
your peace,  make  unlawful concessions, and thus fur- at liberty, he does not hesitate to return to Sodom.
nish the world with sufficient  reason to think that Y&I               So it happened on a day that he, sitting in the gate,
are one with it. Therefore you are given a lift.                   spied two men making for his city. He rose and went
       Lot in Sodom, we say it again, was a most wretched forth to meet the wayfarers whom he addressed thus:
man. There was first of -all the voice' of conscience              "Behold now my Lords, turn in I pray you, into your
condemning the motive of his choice. Then, too, he servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your
realized that he was offering little  resistence  to the feet, and ye shall rise up early, and  go.on  your ways."
suction of the waters of the whirlpool of corruption Their `refusal to accept his' proffered hospitality made
into whose outer circle he had ventured. And with him the more insistent so that he pressed upon them
each new concession he saw the frown on God's face greatly. The result was that they yielded, and entered
deepen and thus register an ever greater disapproval; his house for the night. Ile made them a feast and
-What is more, being one. of --God-`-s--just; the must-,have -they  did  e~tt;.~..  __  ._    -     .-^_     --     .-     --     -     -----    ---
loathed in his heart the very society of the men to                    It is worthy of note that of all the men of Sodom,
which he had joined himself. Their  shallow, wicked Lot only is ready to take into his home  th6 strangers.
ideas, standards, ways and practices vexed his soul. Hospitality, it seems had become-' a rarity in this
Their entire scheme of life stood out in sharp contrast group. Their wicked negligence was somewhat com-
to the one which he loved and to which he had become pensated by Lot's sincere  .eagerness  to do the thing
conformed as a companion of Abraham. And he whom to which they no longer felt inclined. There may have
he must have despised more than any, was himself. been something about the aspect of these strangers
For not an hour of the day could pass without the that strongly appealed to Lot. Yet it is doubtful that
rising in his mind of the thought that he had sacrificed he was aware of his having opened his house to angels.
all that is best to herds arid flocks.                                `About midnight the men of the city, both old and
    But why did he not leave? The texture of his life, young, compass the house and demand of Lot that he
had become interwoven with that of Sodom; he had surr.ender  to them the strangers that had come under
sunk his heels deep into the soil of the plain ; entang- his roof, "that," so  tlley say, "we may know them."
ling alliances had been formed ; so that for him to The stranger, then, was not safe in this city, not even
voluntarily break away and get him out` of the-cou'ntry,           he who had been admitted to the inner circle of the
required more strength and courage than he at that family of one of its citizens. Their refusal to regard
juncture possessed. `Besides being held to the rich a man's house as a sacred precinct which those bidden
plains by the overpowering lusts of his carnal self, he and none other may enter, shows them up as person-
was married to  ti woman, in all likelihood a native. of ages having reached the highest possible peak of law-
Sodom, who  clave, with all the sinful energy that was lessness. Further, they would have the strangers to
hers; to these same earthly treasures  ; to the  brnaments         know them. The sin they contemplate perpetrating is
and the fineries of her house ; to the luxuries, which one that marks them as men of vilest affections. It is


                                     T.HE  S T A N D A R D   BEAREX                                                iyg

a sin to which the apostle refers when he says, `"And sign that the world and all that is in the world  - the
likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride
woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men of life - is destined to pass away, in that day when
with men working that which is unseemly, and  receiv? the elements shall burn. For "the heavens and the
ing in themselves that recompense of their error which earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in
was meet." And to think that one of God's just could store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment
have so deteriorated as to return to this cesspool `of and perdition of ungodly men."              Of this universal
corruption for what there was in it for him in the way catestrophe,  the overthrow of the cities of the plain
of material gain !                                           was an `emblem.
    Lot remonstrates with his wicked fellows. He prom-           How foolish, then, for one to set his heart on the
ises, horrible to say, to deliver to them his daughters treasures of this world. How immensely stupid for
in place of the strangers for whose safety he felt re- those with righteous souls to join themselves to the
sponsible.. He should have refused them either, and men  -of Sodom for a portion in  ,this  world. How fool-
thereupon stood his ground. The men of Sodom, wild ish, once more to go to parleying with wicked men in
with passion, and infuriated by opposition, threatened order that our flocks and herds may have better
to lay hold on Lot, when the angels interfered. Put- pastures. Sodom shall be overthrown. The world
ting forth their hand and pulling Lot into the house, shall pass away in a universal conflagration. And  t?ne
they shut the do-or,  and smote the men without with Lord in his mercy shall bring you forth, though yau
blindness so that they wearied themselves in their deserve to perish with the wicked, a poor man, with
search for the door. Thereupon the men inform Lot your entire substance in Sodom to be given as food to
of the purpose of their coming. It was to destroy that the flames.
place whose cry had waxen great before the face of the           But why should we continue in Sodom waiting for
Lord.. Lot is permitted to bring out such relatives as the Lord to take hold of our hand to bring us forth?
his sons, and sons-in-law and daughters. But these Your duty is plain. "Get ye out from among them and
sons-in-law, being wicked, refused to take home to-their be ye separate." You say the ideal circulating through
hearts the warning that their city would be destroyed. this command is,. because of its impracticability, im-
Lot seemed to them as one that mocked.                       possible of being lived  ; that the herds, the Lord gave
   Morning arose. But Lot was in no haste to leave. you, need pasture; and your family bread? So Lot
So the men must warn him that if he tarry, he will           reasoned. What he meant is that he had no desire to
be consumed in the iniquity of the  : city, Still he quit his splendid estate for the dens and the'caves of
lingered, so that it actually became necessary for the distant mountains. But .the Lord would show him.
.men  to take hold of his hand, and of the hand of his       Taking hold of his hand, He led him forth ; and Lot
wife, and of the hand of his daughters, and to bring did not come to rest until he had reached the moun-
them forth. So very sluggish-minded had he become, tains yonder, where he dwelt with his daughters in
that the divine prediction of immediate doom failed to those very caves from which his soul, in his prosperous
rouse him. Once outside the limits of the doomed city, days, had turned away. "And Lot went up out of Zoar,
the-~wo--men~~pauseT-as-they-simuitaneously-caution-t~e-    -and dwelt in the mountain, and his -two- daughters--w=ith----
group they had brought forth to escape for their lives, him ; for he feared ta dwell in Zoar ; and he dwelt in a
to look not behind them, neither to sta.y  in all the plain, cave, he and his two daughters." He was then of that
but to escape to distant mountains. Lot feared that, in number of whom the sacred  wxiter  spake when he
escaping to the mountains, he would be taken by some said,  " . . . of whom the world was not worthy: they
evil. Emboldened by the mercy already shown him, wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens
he beseeches his Benefactor to spare yonder city, that and caves of the  earth.`j Lot was one of God's righte-
unto it he might flee. His request is granted, The ous. Nevertheless, his faith was to weak to secure for
spokesman of the two men thereupon urge him to make him a place in that cloud of witnesses by which we are
for the city He for his sake will spare. The sun had encompassed about. He is rather a'type  of that group
already risen over the earth, when Lot entered it, - of believers who, though pure as to the heart of their
a. poor man, for all had been left behind in Sodom, to thoughts and dispositions, are nevertheless being held
be consumed and thus to pass away for ever. "Then to this earth and its treasures by the overpowering
the Lord ,rained  upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brim- lusts of nature; who parley with the world that their
stone and fire from the Lord out of heaven ; and he flocks may graze in better pastures ; who tarry in
overthrew these cities, and all the plain, and. all the Sodom until the Lord comes and pulls them out; whose
inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the salvation, therefore, resembles that of a brand plucked
ground." What was once a luxuriant plain, is now a out of the fire. Though just, they are never seen to
sea  .so laden with salt as to render it uninhabitable to rise to deeds of heroic faith. They will laud the  corn-
every. form of'.life,  so that this inundated plain now age of those, who, responding to the still voices of
stands out as one of the most impressive monuments heaven, leave Ur ; may even set out, with them, as did
to the holy indignation of the Lord ; and as a lasting Lot. However, when famine threatens, they repair to

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

                           Sodom. Though they love the assembly of, God's saints,                     BEGENSELLEVEN  EN DE  2%NDING
                           they love their flocks and herds better. Not until. they
                           are told that their house is about burned over their                  Zij, die met ons in de `leer verschillen en die ons
                           heads, do they contemplate moving to safer quarters, nu eens in een zeer slecht daglicht willen plaatsen, mo-
      :                    and even then must they be `seized by the hand and led gen nog al eens gaarne ons aanwrijven, dat wij heel
                     j forth.                                                                 niet in qending  gelooven en aan zending  willen  .doen  !
                               Unto Abraham the Lord had-said, "Got thee out of                  En als men dit .gezegd heeft, meent  men bet toeh
                           thy country, and from thy kindred,  and. from thy  we1  .goed duidelijk gemaakt te  hebben,'  dat  wij  we1
                           father's house, unto a land that I will show thee . . . waarlijk ketters zijn!
                           So Abraham departed as the Lord-had spoken unto                      ,Het is tech zoo duidelijk als de dag, dat de Heere
                           him," and continued, a pilgrim and a stranger in the Zijne Kerk de opdracht heeft nagelaten, dat zij het
                           earth. What we need, this day, is `more men of the Evangelie zou verkondigen `aan alle creaturen.  En als
                           faith of Abraham. God give'us more Abrahams.                       onze Kerken dat niet willen, dan moet er we1 iets radi-
                               As to Lot's wife, the notice, "`But his wife looked kaals verkeerd zijn met onze leer!
                           back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt,"               En dat is er ook, zoo gaat men dan voort.
                           is to scant to enable one to imagine in detail her con-               Want weet ge, waar hem de schoen eigenlijk
                           duct and tragic end. This is certain, though she re- wringt ? Weet ge, wat de reden is, waarom onze Ker-
                     I     frained from holding the prediction of the two men ken niet aan zending  willen doen  ? Het  .is, omdat ze de
                           in visible contempt, yet was she a woman who clave                 ketterij zijn toegedaan, dat er geen algemeen welge-
                           with all her heart to her substance in Sodom. She, too, meend aanbod van genade en zaligheid is in de verkon-
                     i.    had been led forth by the two men. However, feeling diging des Evangelies ! Daar zit onze dwaling ! ,-Want
                           keenly the hardships ,of the loss of SO much wealth, she ziet, zoo zegt men, wij  leeren  immers, dat het  Evange-
                     :     turned to look upon and contemplate,her  treasures, in- lie alleen aan de uitverkorenen moet  worden  gepredlkt.  ,
                           tending, perhaps, to follow later if danger threatened, En hoe zal men dat au  toeh  doen, als men  iendings-
                           so that when.  the- brimstone began falling, she was still arbeid wil verrichten? Of, zoo zeggen anderen, wij
                           within its range. Paralyzed by fear, her life departed leeren, dat de uitverkorenen er tech we1 komen, ook al
                           from her; and her corps remained tied to ,the ground hooren ze het Evangelie niet. Uitverkoren  is uitverko-
                           and was incrusted with salt; and thus she should stand
      !                                                                                      ren en verworpen  is verworpen. En-waarom  zou men
                           out in our minds as a testimony to the stern. truth that          dan het Evangelic  brengen aan de heidenen ? Neen,
                     he, whose heart knows no other treasures than `the die Protestantsche Gereformeerde  Kerken zijn dwaal-
                           things below, will perish.                                        kerken. Daarom willen ze ook geen zending.
                            - The sons-in-law who mocked  ;. Lot's wife, who,                    Zoo. bazelt men.
                           though she' mocked not, nevertheless lingered until                   Wie heeft het nog nimrner  gehoord?
                           overtaken by disaster, are representatives of two  dis-               Bewijs voor al  zulk gepraat heeft men  natuurlijk
                           tant types of unbelief. So, too, are Abraham and Lot, niet.
                           each in his own way, the types of two distinct classes                Wij hebben natuurlijk nog nooit met een woord  ge-
                                                                                                                  ._  _.  _--~  `-pi  -..  i  -  -.
                           of believers.- -These are  niattersupon                                                                                     --I  -  .-.        .--  .
                                                                       WhiCheWe   hope       zegd--of-geschreven,  dat wq met m zendmg  gelooven,.
           i               to fix our mind in a following essay. In the -coming dat wij weigeren, om  aan zending  te  doen.
                           essay we also hope to engage in some controversy.                     Men heeft voor al  zulk gepraat geen enkel lettertje
                                                                       G . M .   0 . .       bewijs. Men philosofeert maar op zijn eigen  lijntje
           : I                                                                               voort en trekt maar conclusies, zonder ons eens te vra-
           !                                                                                 gen of deze  dingen  ook  alzoo zijn. Men  getroost  zich
                                   LEZING  OVER  "INDIE&IJKKEN  VAN                          de moeite niet eens om eens uit ,onze  geschriften aan te '
                                                 NEDEBLANB"                                  halen het noodige bewijs voor zijn beweringen.  Men
                                                                                             zou er, integendeel, op kunnen wijzen, dat wij persoon-                        . ~
                              Op Donderdag,,l6  Januari, hoopt  Ds. H. Hoeksema lijk op verschillende zendingsfeesten een z'endingsrede
                           een lezing te  houden in het kerkgebouw van de Eerste hebben gehouden in het verleden, toen wij nog bij de
                           Protestantsche  Gerefo,rmeerde  gemeente, hoek Fuller Christelijke Gereformeerde Kerken een plaats .hadden ;
                i ' Ave. en Franklin Street.                                                 dat ook onze Kerken reeds  lang eene commissie  aan het
                I             Aanvang 7  :45.                                                werk hebben, die ,zich voor de vraag geplaatst ziet, wat
                !                                                                            onze  roeping en taak in dit opzicht en op dit oogenblik
                /                                                                         -Y.,s  we1 zijn mag. Maar dit alles legt geen gewicht in de
                                                 ATTENTKOJ                                   schaal. Het spreekt  we1 vanzelf,  dat wij niet in zen-  ..
                j  ..`A meeting of the members of the Board of the ding gelooven, en dat is genoeg !                                              _
                           Reformed Free Publishing Association. will be held                   Nu  willon we gaarne bekennen, dat wij het  niet
                           in. the evening of Tuesday, Jan. 21, at the home of the eens zijn met veel  zending,  zooals zij feitelijk gedreven
                           President, Mr. 0. Van Ellen, 1110 Dunham St., Grand wordt in onze dagen.
                     R a p i d s ,   Mich.                                                       En ook  willen we het gaarne van ons hart hebben,
                I  .
I               "


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          ,184 .                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

          lende.  wegen, Ben w&van  dan ons blad zoude zijn, de
          beginselen van Gods souvereine genade te verspreiden !                     , dAq;VIN  AND STRONG ti%rPWESSIOi'JS
          Wij zouden brochures en boeken uitgeven en lezingen                      One of the-charges that were brought against us be-
          houden en, wat meer behoort tot het werk der .uitbrei- fore Synod of Kalamazoo of the Christian Reformed
          ding van  .des Heeren zaak, zoods wij' geroepen zijn Churches in 1924, was that we were extreme in the use
          haar  voor te staan!                                                 of strong language in our exposition of the Reformed
               ' En  waar is die geestdrift thans?                        :    doctrine.
                    Inplaats, dat wij met een tekort in de kas moeten              The charge was eliminated from the mass of mate-
          worstelen, moest er geld genoeg zijn, om althans een rial that was to be considered in connection with the
          duizend .exemplaren  extra te laten drukken en te ver-               controversy of Common Grace, first by the Advisory
          spreiden in verschillende kringen.                                   Committee,`and  upon their advice, also by Synod. `Yet,
                Het is  waar, onze krachten zijn klein. en beperkt.            somehow Synod picked up the charge again and held it
i              Naar het is  ook"waar,  dat er veel meer door ons kon against us in the final decisions and declarations. For
          worden  verricht, als Kerken en als vereeniging, ,dan in in them is contained the following judgment:
          werkelijkheid  geschiedt.                                               `"Synod judges also that the pastors  H;  Danhof and
                Bekeeren we ons dan van die lauwheid en strijden H. Hoeksema use some strong expressions, which show
          met al. onze krachten en middelen voor de zaak des that in their presentation of the truth they do not
          Heeren !                                                             sufficiently reckon with the mode of expression charac-
          I     De zaak ons toevertrouwd  is een ernstige en heilige teristic of our Confessions and especially the first point
          zaak. Het gaat om de zaak van Gods Verbond in de of the Conclusions of Utrecht."
          wereld;  de zaak van den Zone Gods.                                      Synod does not quote `the expressions, neither at all
     j          Zij is onze beste krachten dubbel waard!
                             ,                                                 intimate to what expressions it referred.
                                                                     H. H.      I What is worse, none of these expressions were ever
                                                                               brought to the attention of Synod. ' They were never
                                                                               read nor referred to. And if you had asked Synod gen-
                                    Iti DEN &NN!`I                             erally, what expressions of ours it had in mind, the
                     0 God mijns levens,  to  TJ vliedt                        members would have had to confess that they did not
                       Mijn ziel, die naar verruiming  zucht;                  know what they were talking about! Yet they adopted
                     Do  noodstorm  giert door `t ruim der lucht;              also this part of the, motion, though its material had
                     Begeef mijn sidd'rend  harte niet!  .'                    never been so much as considered!                          ,
                                                                                  T&e reason for this is, that  Synod'had first decided
                     Beproefde Vriend in strijd en nood,                       not to consider the charges that had reference to these
                      "Waar zou ik vluchten met mijn klacht?                   strong expressions.'
                       Waayheen,  dan tot uw liefde en macht,                      The committee had so advised the Synod.
                     Die nooit den bidder van zich% stoot ?                        You can find this part of the advice of the commit-
                     Staat niet .dat woord onwrikbaar vast :                   tee  ,on  p.p. 122, 123  Acta of  Synod 1924;  :.-  --.
                       "Jehova hoort de smeekgebeen?"                              And there you may also learn of what nature these
                       Ging ooit een klager hulploos  heen,          ,         alleged strong expressions were.
                     Die tot U vlood door `t leed vermat ?                         They were related to our presentation of eletition
                                                                               and reprobation, to mans responsibility, to the Prov-
                     Zoo Gij mijns boezems  bangen  kreet,                     idence of God over  all things, to a one-sided emphasis
                       0 God, op wien mijn ziel betrouwt,                      on the eternal counsel of God and on the divine factor
                      Gehoor  noch  antwoord schenken  .woudt,                 in general, and to insufficient preaching of the gospel!
                    Het waar' me een onverduurbaar leed.                           The accusers were of the opinion that we empha-
                     Een God, die smeekgebeen verhoort,                        sized these do@trines  too strongly, that we used ex-
                      * En leest tot in het diepst der ziel  -                 pressions that could not bear the light of truth, .and
                       Ziedaar den God, voor wien ik kniel,                    that we did not preach the gospel, by which, of c'ourse,
                     En wien `k hoor spreken uit zijn Woord                    they meant the free and well-meant offer of salvation to
                                                                               all indiscriminately.
                     Hun, wie de wereld viert en vleit,                            As we said, the committee advised not to enter into
                       Ontgaat een lot zoo rijk, zoo  schoon:                  the consideration of these matters.
                       `k Bezit een Voorspraak voor Gods troon,                    They based this advise on different considerations.
                     Die met mij bidt en voor mij pleit!                           Reformed people of a  supralapsarian  type, they
                     Al ben ik arm, versmaad, verzaakt,                        argued (and the implication was that we were supra-
                       Ik juieh te ,midden  van mijn leed,                     -lapsarian,  which had never been investigated, still less
                       Dat God, mijn.God  mij niet verge&,                     proven, though we have no serious objection to the im-
                     l&r me eens verheugd en zalig maakt !                     plication), had more' often used similar expressions.
                                                                  Cowper.      Besides, the accused brethren did not assume responsi-


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                                           T.HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                185

     bility for the conclusion of their accusers, that they providence overrules them, then you destroy the very
     presented God as being the author of `sin. They further will of man, deny his responsibility and make him. a
     stated, that some of the accusations were based on the mere passive tool in the hands of God, they argued
     preaching of undersignsd, and that the committee could that followed Arminius. And although the Reformed
     not judge on this matter. They would have to consult fathers might deny this accusation in very positive
     especially my consistory and these brethren had  .never terms, they would, nevertheless, always be reproached
     complained about, the preaching. And they even ex- again with the same slander.
     pressed the opinion that if my preaching consisted of                 And the same may be said of the accusation that
     nothing but the objective exppsition of the truth of the gospel cannot be properly preached on the basis of
     redemption, without the "invitation," I stood not alone the Reformed view.
     in Reformed circles. Such preaching had always been                   All these accusations are as old as the Reformed
     "tolerated."                                                  faith itself. There is nothing new in it. And a Re-
     Thus the committee reported, and `thus Synod formed Synod ought to have been too; ashamed to
     adopted the report.                                           choose sides with their Arminian opponents and lay
      And yet, when the last substitute motion was such silly charges against their own brethren.
     offered to Synod and this motion contained a clause                   But it did.
     that referred to these strong expressions, without any           And even by this very decision it characterized it-
     further ado about the matter Synod expressed that self as a Synod that was strongly inclined to depart
     these things were true, and that we, indeed, expressed from the historic line of Reformed doctrine and that
     ourselves too strongly on these matters.                      felt very sympathetic towards the teachings of  Armin-
        This is in itself `interesting.                            ius.
        For : ex ungue leonem !                                            But here is a very interesting comparison to be
        It is  `a striking  fact, that consistently Reformed made between the declarations of the Synod of Kala-
     authors and preachers have always been accused of mazoo and the teachings of John Calvin, particularly
     these very same things.                                       as he defends them against opponents in his book:
        The accusation that God is made the author of sin Calvin's Calvinism.
     is a very old one. It has always been made by the                     For the second part .of this book is devoted to a
     enemies of Reformed truth. And surely not only the defense of the secret providence of God.
     supra-lapsarians were made a target for the fiery darts               And in a few articles we purpose to draw this  co&,
     of Arminians and Pelagians in this respect, but all that parison..
     professed to believe in sovereign grace.  ,And this                   We will quote;D. V., from the accusations against
     stands to reason. `For  .Reformed  people maintain that us as made by our opponents at that time, accusations
     God's counsel is all-comprehensive and that nothing for which the entire Synod assumed responsibility by
     may  be. excluded from it. And they profess that God its final declaration.
     works out His own counsel by His almighty and omni-                   And then we will find out, what John Calvin has to
     present power, which is called Providence. One may say on these subjects and how he expresses himself.
     express himself somewhat more reservedly and weakly                   Even-now, we may as well state our. conviction that
     than another; but they all hold to these truths, and no the sanie Synod. that accuse us of strong expressions
     Reformed man would ever think of excluding anything, would also have ousted John Calvin, had he been min-
     even evil and sin and all the works of the devil and of ister'at the time in the Christian Reformed Churches.
     the power of darkness, from the eternal counsel and the               For he uses some "strong expressions," indeed!'
     irresistible providence of the Almighty. And, hence,
     they could not possibly escape the indictment, however                                                          H. H.
     unjustly it is brought against them, that they make
     God the author of sin. And thus it happens that. all
     Arminians and all Pelagians always emphasized this                                        ATTENTION'
     falsehood. And this very historic fact ought to have                  A meeting of the Board of the R. F. P. A. will be
     been sufficient for a Reformed Synod to' guard them held, D. V., on Tuesday, January 21, at `7:h5, at the
     against makin,m the same accusation  ag.ainst their home of the President, Mr. 0. Van Ellen, 1110 Dunham
     brethren in the faith.                                        St., Grand Rapids, iMich.
        It is a characteristically Arminian accusation!
        And thus it is with all the other "strong expres-
     s i o n s . "
        An Arminian invention it is to say, that Reformed             Getrouwd door Ds. L. Vermeer:
     authors, teachers and preachers deny the responsi-                                   MR;  REUBEN VAN MAANEN
                                                                                  .
     bility of man. If God did eternally predetermine all
     things, even all the actions  ,of His moral. creatures, if                        MISS LUELLA  & DER LINDEN
                                                                             .
     He not `only predetermined them but by an almighty               OskaIoosa,   Ia., 2  Januari


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                             _     21
                                   `5


                     `.
190                                      T K E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

lang  vers'ceketi  aFhie;.de  bewering, dat dit alles een hip and drunkenness was rife. Men were unspiritual,
diep mysterie is. Feit is, .dat men langs dien weg tori,,, bad and ugly, gross in  their habits, without faith and
de Kerk, tieer in de richting .van het Remonstrantisme ideals;
leidt  .& dat rnkn bij het ArEinianisme  ook uitkomen            This agrees somewhat with what the Apostle Paul
za&' Daarom was dan ook onze strijd van 1924 een says of `man, "There is none righteous, no, not one.
gkwettigde.  En waar men in den grond der zaak ons            There is none that understandeth,  there is none that
heeft.  uitgeworpen, omdat  .men een algemeene genade seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way,
wil in de prediking des ,evangelies, omdat  inen de  strik- they are together beoome unprofitable ; there is none
te leer der par.ticuliere  verzoening  niet wil handhaven,    that  doeth  good, no, not one. Their throat is an open
hebben onze Protestantsche Gereformeerde Kerken ook sepulchre ; with their tongues they have used deceit;
recht van be&a&                                               the poison of asps is under th&r  lips. Whose mouth is
       De Heere beware ens tot in lengte van dagen bij full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet. are swift
Zi jne waarheid !                                             to, shed blood. Destruction and misery are  i.i their
                                                   H. H.      ways. And the way of peace have they. not known.
                                                              Their is no fear of God  befdre their eyes. And again,
                                                              "Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication,
                                                              wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness  ; full of envy,
                           CANHTBE?                           mtirder, debate, deceit, malignity;  whiiperers,   baek-
                                                              biters, haters of God, despiteful, proul, boasters, in-
  The  Grc&d  Rapids  Press .of January  6, quotes Dr. ventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without
$aul F. Voelker, president of Battle Creek college, as `understanding, covenant breakers, without natural af-
telling the members of the Grand Rapids Ministerial fection, implacable, unmerciful : who knowing the judg-
association at the New  Year's meeting that "the year ment of God, that they which commit  ,such things  .are
1929 Bounded the knell of the spirit of jass, of derisive worthy of death, not only do the same, bui have pleas-
philosophy tihich  sees nothing. good in the finer things, ure in them that do them."
of strident feminism and the spirit of materialism wor-          So it appears that the speaker we. quote:&  as  well,
shipping at the shrine of the dollar wark.                    as the apostle, of the conviction th.at all ig not well with
       "The world in 1930," lie said, "is on the threshold manj that his past record is exceedingly bad. However,
of the coming of peace, of prohibition, health and the the speaker is of the conviction that mankind ap-
development and rearing of finer men and women. War proaches a glorious' future. Let me quote him again,
and the dissensions that cause it is being Tooted  by "A'new note is being heard for spirituility, goodness
national leaders conferring together and through the and beauty everywhere.. The finer things of life, such
signing of agreements for peace. Hip flacks are going as- faith, spirituality, idealism and the old-fashioned
out of fashion and sobriety is `coming. Man's life span home with its  infiuence for uplift and fineness are
had  heen  increased from 33, years to 50 years through about due to retrn. The knell of the spirit of jazz, of
the discoveries of science and good health for all is         derisive  phil'osophy,  of strident feminism, of  materia!-     -  .._
on the way.                                                   ism has been sounded. .The world is on the threshold
       "A qew  note is being heard for spirituality, good- of the coming of peace, of prohibition, of health and
ness and beauty everywhere, not only, among teachers the development and rearing of .fine men and women."
and preachers but among  inclustry and  commeriial               Scripture, too, assures us that for elect mankind
leaders and many of  the.finer  habits of past generations the future is exceedingly bright. There is that match-
are about to return.". Among  t2ie finer habits whose less passage in the revelation of John. "And I saw a
return  h& foresees, he mentioned spirit of faith, spirit- new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and
uality, idealism and the old-fashioned home with all it$ the first earth were past away; and there was no more
influence for uplift and fineness.                            sea.  Ahd I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem,
       Such is the kind of speech with which your modern coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a.
apostles of goodwill  and cheer attempt to' brace up bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great
those who are ready to  digpair of the world. In offer- voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of
ing our cominent, we may set out with the assertion God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and
that the speaker's .characterization  of the immediate they shall be his people; and God himself shall be with.
past is in full agreement with  reality. The spirit of them, and be their God. And God shall wipe  awEiy all
the year of 1929, says he, was that of a kind of "syn-        tears from their eyes  ; and there shall be no more death
copated or ragtime and discordant, music known as neither sorrow, nor crying, neither-shall there be any
jazz. Philosdphy  was derisive, socrnful. contemptuous. more pain  :' for the former things are- past away. And
.A strident, harsh, shrill, grating feminism prevailed. he that sat upon the throne'. said, Behold, I make all
Men were worshipping  at the shrine of the dollar mark. things new . . . And he carried me away in the spirit
By implication the speaker asserted that there was to a great. and high mountain, and shewed me that
`war. The bootlegger reigned. The flask was on the great `city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               191

     heaven from God, having thk glory of God: and her be brought within the range of men's observation is
     light was `like unto a stone most precious, even like a faith - not in God of course, but in man's ability to
,-jasper stone, clear as crystal ; . . . . And there shall lift him up by his own bootstrings. What is there  to
     in no wise enter into  `it anything that defileth, neither vouchsafe, in the way of real tangible proof, that the
     whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie : `but time .in which the redemption of which Dr. Vcelker
     they virhich are written in the lamb's book of life. And speaks will be inaugur&ted,  is at hand? Nothing what-
     he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear ,as         soever. Fact is that things long ago have reached that
     crystal, preceding out of the throne of God and of the stage were the world ought to dispaii  of itself.
     lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on eitheir            We were supposing, of course, that the glorious re-
     side of the river, was  there the tree of life, which bare lief to which the worldly optimist looks forward to, and
     twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fpuit every that of which Holy Writ is prophetic, thotigh showing
     month: and the leaves of the tree  were  for the healing some' points of formal agreement, differ  essentially.
     of nations. And there shall be no more curse: but the .The former (the redemption of  Voelker)  is expected
     $hrone  of God and of the la%b  shall be in it; and his to appear `as soon ati man can induce himself to permit
servants shall serve him : and they shall see his face ; the native or inherent, finer and nobler qualities of his
     and his name shall be in their foreheads. .And there nature to come to `their. own in his life. Then national
     @all be no more night there ; and they need no candle,        leaders will be seen assembling to rout the dissensions
     nei&er  light of the sun ; for  the Lord.  give&h  them that cause war; reformers will congregate, as they
     light; and they shall reign forever and ever."'               have been doing, to contrive and suggest ways and
.       There  are in a purely, formal SB~ZZXZ  still,pther  points means for routing the causes of our social ills. And
:of convtirgences  ,between  the gpspel  of Dr. Voelker and .mankind  will be sure to respond tb the schemes for up-.
     that of Scripture. Holy Writ insists th$t the redemp-         lift. sketched out by good men, because the world is on
     tion of mankind will in;volv&  but a select .gTQup. We the threshold of the development  .and rearing of finer
     quote at random: "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, men and women. For the world, then, a new dey is
.to the strangers . . . Elect according to the foreknowl-          about to dawn. However, `the good things of this day,
,edge of God t&e Father, through sanctification'of the stich as peace,. prohibiton, nobility of character and the
Spirit . . . Blessed be the God and Father of our like, will constitute - an& this is what we mean to
Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant bring out - a kind of redemption of which man is the
     Fgrcy  k;ath begotten  u& again unto a lively hope by workman, the one single point of convergence and
     the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an divergence,. the author and finisher, the origin, means
     inheritance incorruptible and undefiled,  and that fadeth and end. The glbry of this redemption will be held to
:not away, reserved in heaven for you i . . "                      constitute the sum total of human virtues as exhibited.
     Likewise the good and finer things the return. of in mar?s own redemptive labors. Oti the other hand
.v$ch  -Dbr. Voelker foresees, have, he shall have to ad- the redemption of Scripture is by all means of God.
     mit, been desired and enjoyed. by a selective group  only.    It is a matter of Divine power, wis$om,  love, holiness
,Those  who in their private Zife .observ&  the prohibition, operative in elect mankind in such a way that the new
:"Thbti-   sh%lt  `ntit drink  (~ii%xicarit   lTquo&),".   &Z&i- and.  I?,illo%,ed   iife  force5   iti@lant&d  ~bjr3i~~Alrni~ht~`~
     tute a group exceedingly small.' Even the very seat of in hearts of themselves absolutely dead to God and
     our law-making and law-inforcing departments of gov- .a11 that of which He is the inclusion, come to their own
     ernment - Washington - is perhaps this'very  day one in the lives Gf God's own people. In a word, the one re-
     of the wettest spots on earth. The majority of those demption is of man, the other of God;
     who go to the polls and vote dry and get them on a             The bright future Voelker foresees is earthly, of
     soap box and shout prohibition until they become a3 this world. It constitutes the issue of the bringing
     hoarse as an African squawker,. to use one of Dr. M. ,into play of innate forces for good supposed to lie hid-
     De Haan's  expressions, have the dark and underground den in  every  man's bosom. It'is after all the present
     passages of their homes well supplied with wine. and state of existence evolved into something higher. Scrip-
     what not. As for peace, - smz$l  indeed in the n,um- ture, of course, knows of no such biiss .for this present
     ber that .desi$e.  peace! Have not our national leaders, wqrld. To the contrary, the man of sin will appear and
     as often as they assembled to rout the dissensions that with' his appearance mankind will have reached the
     cause war; disagreed and resorted to arms?                    highest possible peak of lawlessness and heaven-defiant
        Further, the glorious future depicted by Scripture ,uegodiiness.           However, there will be new heavens and
     is a matter of faith; it must be. placed in a class with a new earth in which righteousness dwelletb. Babylon
     things unseen. It constitutes a boon to be brought - the world - respecting yhich your modern prophet
     near in the g?eat an,d terrible day of Christ. The same entertains such high hopes, will fall, and her fall will
     must  :be said, however, of the good and  fimie things the mark the beginning' of that era of endless bliss  called
     return of  which Dr. Voelker foresees. They,' toq, con- in Holy Writ life eternal - a bliss constituting a. grace
     stitute a boon ( ?) ,$hat mu& be placed in a class with
                                                `.                 ,$o be-brought near by Christ,  a:$ bestowed upon such
     things &seen, The evidenc'e  that these thmgs  will. soon who have been washed in His blood, upon such, there-


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               1     9      2                      .THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

               fqre,  who have been taught by heaven to despair of             God is spirit. His substance is spiritual. If the
               ?%msel;ves,  to look away from themselves to the l?e- beginning of man's knowledge is sensuous berception
               deemer  atid  to expect all from Him.          ,'            what was it that made it possible for John to hear, to
                    Herewith we have at ,once  adduced the reason why see and to handle God? The fact that the Son of God,
               the kirid,  of redemption' and blissful future of `:which the Word became flesh, assumed our human nature in
               Voelker, is the apostle, is  generilly being preferred to such a manner that a personal union was effected be-
               that of Scripture. The reason is  not that the redemp- tween the person of the Son and a human' bddy and a
               tion of Scripture prescipposes a world of wicked men, human soul. This man, the Son of God filled with His
               or constitut&  a good desired by a selective group, or is glory and truth, and thus constituted it, -this man  -
               a matter of faith, or consists` in being delivered. from the perfect living and tangible image of His very own
               evil and in being brought in closest contact with some divine glory. God, then, His glory was made flesh and
               good.  *The real reason is that the redemption of Scrip- thus brought within the range  of physical sight of'
               ture is of God, necessitates a Christ, presupposes an ill-' John. It is then in the face of the incarnate Word that
               deserving and absolutely impoten;t  wicked elect man- we see the glory of the Sqn,. and thus the glory of the
               kind, saved by an Almighty God.                              Father. For that made manifest was the eternal life
                But why `should  man'refuse  to  dispair of himself? whicfi was with the Father:
               Why should he insist pn denying his impotence &nd              The Son in and by the man to which. He joined
               refuse to  be saved by  &n Algihty God through  the          Himself'  ,revealed  God, in word and deed. Laying
               blood? Because he hates God and because it hurts his down His life joor His sheep He furnished them with
               p r i d e .                                                  the concrete and tangible exhibition  qf a love of which
                    The kind of redemption proclaimed by  Voelk&.           God only is capable. Christ's entire career  is in all its
               stands opposed to that of Scripture. It was hatched          details radiated &ace and truth as of the only begot-
               out by a proud heart aiming at the deification of man, ten Son of the Fath&.  -We then see Jesus, and seeing
               and the dethronement. of God. That the members of Him, see God.
               the Grand Rapids. Ministerial association should have           To John the glory of the incarnate Word appealed,
               listened to a gospel of this kind without a murmur! because he had become the recipient of the grace which
                                                           G. M. 0.         the incarnate Word merited for those to whom -He
                                                                            had been given. Only the pure of heart can see `God
                                                                            and His glory in the face of Christ. -The wicked affixed
                                                                            this same incarnate Word to the cross.
                                  FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD                          Because the pure of heArt can see God, `in the face
                    That which we have seen and heard declare we unto of Christ, they can know Him  atid knowing Him, have
               you,. that ye &Is0 may  have  fellowship with US and truly fellowship with Him, the Father and  the Son.
               our f&&ship is with the Father, and with his Son,               To have fellowship with .another is to have some:
               jesus Christ. John 1:3.                                      thing in common with him. To have fellow&$ with
                    That w&h J@Q ha.s*s.e.en was..that..which  was frdm
i         _  .~_,  _ _  
                          ---.                                              q.od- is to have 4n-common  with -him His -own glorious--- -
     /         the beginning - the world of life, which was with image, which we possess in Christ, and in w&h the
          .    the Father,  nimely, the Son of God, Christ Jesus.           believers together with God glory.
                    The matter that John `would have us take .home to                                                           G. M. 0.
               our hearts is that he.has heard and seen with his eyes,
               looked upon and, handled this word of life.
                    He would manifestly. have his readers know that his              Jezus, Bron van licht en leven,
               having laid hoId  on that which was from the beginning                      Zonne der gerechtigheid !
               by means of his physical sense organs  - the eye, the                 Gij zult nimmer ons begeven,
               ear, the hand - is an event which. should stand out                         Zijt tot zeeg'nen steeds  bereid!
               in our minds as a verification of the miracle of history,                   Uw beloften fei!en niet.
               the miracle, namely, of the word becoming flesh, and                        Wat gij toezegt, dat geschiedt;                       i
               dwelling `among us, so that the Apostle  John could be-               Nimmer  iult Gij ons beschamen,
               hold His glory, - the glory as of the only begotten of                Want Uw woord is ja en amen.                           "
               the Father. It is this miracle, John would have us
               know, that made  it possible for believers .to have fel-              Laat ons hart  aan U steeds  denken,
               lowship with the Father and with his Son.                                   Onze oogen op U zien ;
                    The Father and the Son are two persons in the                    Gij wilt kracht in zwakheid schenken,
               being of God. God is a spirit  .and therefore cannot be                     Tegen zonde- hulpe biCn.
               seen and heard by the physical eye and the physical                         Ja, in U is. al ons heil,
               ear. All man's knowledge begins with sensuous per-                          Uwe liefde is zonder peil ;
               ception. He knows things he can visualize, and handle                 Want Gij gaaft voor ons Uw leven,
               and them only.                                                        En zult ons nu alles geven.


