                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           57

 paalde arbeid nooit vruchteloos zal zijn. Dat, hoewel pretending to be an overture from the consistory of
 ze de uitverkorenen niet kent, deze allen zullen worden        Kellogsville.
 toegebracht.                                                      6. What was done regarding this "petition"?
    Had de Heere nu aIle uitverkorenen doen  leven in              The consistory of the Eastern Ave. Church had
 den tijd'toen Hij Zijn bevel uitsprak, dan ware de taak tiled a protest with Classis  in which it begged Classis
 der zending  zeer spoedig ten einde gebracht. Met het- not to accept the pretended overture from  Kellogsville.
 zelfde  resultaat  gelijk dit FLU geschiedt en geschieden For this request it presented the following grounds:
 zal tot  aan het eind der dagen.                               1. Though it pretended to be a mere petition the over-
    Zoo echter  wilde Hij het niet.               .             ture was virtually and really a protest against the
    De uitverkorenen worden  niet op een dag, in een            teachings of the pastor of the Eastern Ave. Church.
 bepaalde eeuw geboren, maar komen op in de tijden              And it aIways had been an inviolable rule that no pro-
 der eeuwen. Vandaar dat we onderscheiden  moeten               test could be accepted by  Classis unless the party
 tusschen de kerk zooals die zich in het strijdperk be-         against whom the protest was directed had received a
 vindt, zooals die bij den aanvang de overwinning be-           copy of. such protest. This the Rev. M. M. Schans had
 haald heeft en met haar Hoofd geestelijk heerlijk in           failed to do. 2. The so-called petition had been printed
 den hemel  zich bevindt, en de kerk zooals die nog in de and circulated among  al1 the consistories resorting
 toekomst moet geboren worden,  tot de volmaking waar-          under Classis before it had been submitted to Classis
 van de wederkomst des Heeren wacht.                     b      and this body bad passed on its legality. It had always
                                                       w. v.    been a standing ruIe with Classis  that, unless a protest
                                                                is declared acceptable, it is not even read and made
                                                                public to' the members of Classis. 3. The Classis was
                                                                not the proper body to deal with a protest against the
    A  ,CATECHISM ON THE HISTORY OF THE                         pastor of the Eastern Ave. Church. The Rev. Schans
                                                                should have tiled his protest with the consistory that
       PROTESTANT REFORMED CHURCHES                             had jurisdiction over the pastor. Only in case it should
                                                                have appeared that the consistory was unwilling or un-
       3.  C&SICAL  WRANGLINGS. MAY, 1924                       able to deal with the matter, could the protestant
                                                                properly appea1  to Classis.
    1. What do you understand by a  Classis?                       7. What, then, did  CIassis do?
    It is a broader gathering of neighboring churches               It left the protest by the Eastern Ave. consistory
 of the same faith, that have voluntarily  entereil  into a unanswered, ignored it and passed a motion that the
 federative union, for the purpose of realizing and document of the Rev.  M. M.  Schans  was  legally before
 manifesting as much as possible the essential unity of Classis.
 believers as members of the body of Christ. It consists            8. What took place further regarding this "peti-
 of two delegates from each local consistory.                   tion"?
    2.  Is- a  classis a-higher judicatory or superior              The pastor of the Eastern Ave. Church had pre-
 court with relation to the local consistory?                   pared a written answer to the pretended overture from
     By no means ; the sole ruling body in the Reformed Kellogsville's consistory, which he asked leave and was
 Churches is the consistory. A  classis possesses no            permitted to read.
 judicatory  ,power  over the local churches whatsoever.            9. What do you know about the contents of this
 The power of a broader gathering, be it  classis or answer ?
 synod, is derivative, secondary, limited, advisory.                It consisted of two parts, the first part dealing with
     3. How many such gatherings are constituted by the Kellogsville overture from a formal and church-
 the Christian Reformed Churches of Grand Rapids and political viewpoint, the second part treating its doc-
 vicinity?                                                      trinal contents.
     Two. They are known as  Classis Grand Rapids                   10. Can you briefly set forth the argument of the
 East and  Classis Grand Rapids West.            Under the first part of the pastor's answer?
 former the consistory of Eastern Ave. resorted, with               It was much similar to the protest delivered by the
the latter belonged the consistory of Kalamazoo I.              consistory of Eastern Ave. as described above. 1. The
     4. Which of these two classes first dealt with the pastor showed that the so-called petition was virtually
 case against the Revs. H. Danhof and H. Hoeksema? and in fact nothing but a protest against the teachings
     Classis Grand Rapids East, which convened on of Rev. H. Hoeksema and Rev. H. Danhof. Yet, this
 May  21st, 1924, and received the various protests             protest was delivered to Classis  without considering
 against Rev. H. Hoeksema mentioned in the previous either the pastor  h.imseIf  or the consistory of Eastern
 chapter.                                                       Ave. This was a plain violation of every  church-
     5. Which was the first protest received by the             political rule pertaining to the matter. 2. That, in
 Classis?                                                       fact, the protest also intended to ignore the  Classis as
     The so-called petition of Rev. M. M. Schans, faIsely       far as the treatment of its contents was concerned, for

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

it begged  Classis to send the "overture" directly to pastor further examined in detail the points of doc-
Synod. It evidently purposed to avoid all discussion trine concerning which the Rev. Schans was especially
on the floor of the Classis and to leave the pastor of anxious and alarmed. The latter would have the Synod
Eastern Ave. without an opportunity to defend him- examine the Rev. H. Hoeksema on his method of
self. Surely, it must be quite evident, that, if the preaching the gospel. But what reason could the Rev.
Rev. Schans entertained serious doubts concerning the Schans possibly have to entertain doubts as to whether
orthodoxy of the pastor of Eastern Ave. and, there- the pastor of Eastern Ave. preached the gospel in a
fore, considered it necessary that he be submitted to truly Reformed and  Biblicai way? He mentioned none.
an examination, the proper way for the Rev. Schans And he had none. He never heard the Rev. Hoeksema
to proceed would have been, that he appeal first to the preach. Neither' did he ever make inquiries concern-
consistory of Eastern Ave. to conduct such examina- ing his preaching in the proper way. And the pastor's
tion; if the consistory failed to satisfy the Rev. Schans consistory always had been satisfied on this point.
he could have appealed to  Classis;  and only after Further, the Rev. Schans mentioned the doctrine of
Classis also failed to allay the doubts of Rev. Schans predestination, election and reprobation. Evidently,
and his consistory he could petition Synod to institute the protestant is troubled that the pastor of Eastern
such examination. This is also the order suggested Ave. lays too much stress on these points. Surely, the
by the Formula of Subscription. 3. The pastor further Rev. Schans does not mention, and is unable to show
argued that it was too late to bring the matter to in what respect there is reason to doubt the pastor's
Synod. The rule is, that all matters for Synod must soundness on these `fundamental points of doctrine.
be fled with the Stated Cierk before the first of May He also would have the pastor examined on the ques-
of the  synodical  year. The violation of this rule would tions of the restraint of sin and civic righteousness.
leave any defendant without an opportunity properly But neither the Scriptures nor the Confessions teach
to file a protest against any action a  classis might take either of these doctrines.        The protestant supposes
against him. And this rule would certaimy  be violated them to be reformed, but they are not. Moreover, Rev.
were the  Classis to decide favorably on the petition of Schans raises the question of the responsibility of man
the Rev. Schans. For already it was the twenty-first and is evidently worried that the pastor of Eastern
of May. 4. The pastor vigorously protested against Ave. denies this. But without good reason, for the
the high-handed method of circulating a protest accused pastor always openIy  taught that man is re-
through the Classis by the Stated Clerk of Classis,  be- sponsible for his own acts before God. And when,
fore it bad been accepted and declared legally by finally, the Rev. Schans speaks of the providence of
Classis itself.  5. And he finally warned  Classis that God and His rule over  all things, it is quite uncertain
neither he, nor his consistory, would submit to such a to what heresy on the part of Rev. Hoeksema he refers
bierarchial  and tyrannical. yoke, should Classis attempt and it may be regarded doubtful whether he under-
to put it on their necks.                                   stands himself on this point.
      11 And what did the pastor say in the second part        The pastor finally expressed his opinion that the
of hisanswer?                                        ^-.    reading of the so-called petition of  -which Rev. Schans
      He  frrst of all showed that the Rev. Schans did not was the author might well raise serious doubts as to
have sufficient reasons for his pretended anxiety and whether the latter  were doctrinally sound and had ever
doubt regarding the teachings of the Rev. H.  Hoek-         understood Reformed truth.
sema. The Formula of Subscription clearly states and           12. What decision did  Classis  reach  in'this mat-
even emphasizes that an office-bearer must have given ter?
occasion seriously to doubt his doctrinal soundness, be-       A substitute motion was offered by Dr. Meeter,
fore one can file a request that he be examined by con- which differed from the "overture" of  Kellogsville
sistory, classis or synod. Now, the Rev. Schans peti- chiefly in that it eliminated the request for the per-
tioned  Classis to send an overture to Synod requesting sonal examination by Synod of the Rev. H. Hoeksema ;
that the pastor of Eastern Ave. be examined with re- and only requested Synod to investigate the writings
spect to some fundamental points of doctrine. But of the Revs. H. Danhof and H. Hoeksema. This sub-
what reasons did the Rev. Schans adduce in his peti- stitute motion was adopted by Classis.
tion or protest to doubt the orthodoxy of the pastor           13. Did not  Classis itself first examine these
of Eastern Ave.? Personally he evidently had none, writings ?
for he mentioned none. The grounds he does mention             Not at all. Nor did it discuss the question why it
are general and vague, viz. 1. There is unrest in the considered such examination necessary.              The Rev.
churches because of the Common Grace controversy. Hoeksema begged the Classis  to discuss `the various
2. The pastor of Eastern Ave. had been openly accused points of doctrine involved. He implored  Classis to
of unreformed tendencies. But the Rev. Schans alto- appoint a man to debate the matters with him on the
gether failed to show how and in what respect the floor of Classis.  He offered that he would be willing
pastor of Eastern Ave. had given him occasion to doubt to defend his views as being thoroughly reformed and
the soundness of his teaching and preaching. The that he would stand alone" over against any six of its


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          5f
                                                                                                                I
members  Classis may appoint.        It was all in vain.        1'7. Did the delegates of the consistory submit  tc
Classis desired no discussion. It accepted the sub- this decision?                .
stitute motion of Dr. Meeter without having deliber-           They did not. The consistory had instructed them,
ated  on its contents whatsoever.                           in case the Classis  should insist to treat the protest and
    14 What was next in order before Classis?               thus assume power that properly belonged to the  con-
    The protest of the three members of the Eastern sistory  only, that they should deliver a written protest
Ave. Church referred to in the preceding chapter. It and leave the meeting* Thus they did. CabnIy they
appe&red  as a printed pamphlet with a lengthy elucida-     informed the Classis  of their instruction by the con-
tion upon their original protest, in which many matters s&tory,  delivered the protest and departed.
were distorted and presented in a wrong light. It also         18. What grounds did the consistory present to
contained a protest against the censure that had been CIassis  for this action?
imposed upon them by the consistory,  ,because  of their       First; that consistory could not allow  Classis  to
accusation of public sin against the pastor.                trampIe on its rights and obligations as the duly called
    15. Did the consistory of Eastern Ave. present oflice-bearers  of the Eastern Ave. Church. This Classis
anything to Classis  respecting this matter?                attempted to do by trying to take out of the consisto@s
   They certainly did. They strenuousIy  maintained hands a matter that so plainIy pertained to the latter's
that the matter presented to  Classis  by the three  pro- jurisdiction only. The only course the consistory could
testants, was not properly a matter.for  Classis to act take was to cast off this hierarchical yoke and instruct
upon, but was still a consistory matter. Con&story,         their delegates no longer to represent them at the  meet-
therefore, warned Classis  not to receive this protest ing of  Classis.  And secondly, that  the pastor by the
trample upon the rights of the consistory. They last action of  Classis  had really become defendant and
adduced the following grounds for their contention:         could not very well be judge in his own case. For the
(1) That they had justly refused to receive the pro- protest the Classis  had decided to treat demanded that
test, as long as the ground upon which they demanded the pastor be treated, that his doctrine be investigated.
and trample upon the rights of. the con&tory.  They Con&tory, therefore, kindly requested Classis to in-
informed the  Classis  that they were willing to receive form them of their decision in the matter concerning
and to treat a protest of the three members ; they could their pastor as soon as such decision were reached.
not receive an accusation of p~hlic sin. And they at-          19. Did Glassis now proceed to treat the protest,
tempted to make clear to  Classis the difference between as had been decided?
the two. That the pastor's preaching and teaching              On the contrary. What the clearest argument had
were public they, of course, admitted. That it was a not been able to effect evidently was effected by the
sin. they did not admit, but were willing to investigate    departure of the delegates from the meeting: Classis
in connection with the protest that waS presented to began to see its own foolishness.  Somehow their plan
them. But until this had been investigated they could of action had been frustrated by this unexpected act
not grant the contention of the proestants. Hence, as of the cons&tory.  They hesitated-and were confused,
long.as the protestants presented their  PrOteSt   on that On the same afternoon (it was then the 22nd of May)
ground it was `impossible for them to receive it. CIassis appointed a delegation to the pastor and his
Neither comd they admit the accusers to the Lord's f&ow-d&gate,  0, van Ellen, to urge them to return
supper with the Pastor- (2) That Art.  26 of the Church to the meeting. The delegates, however, answered that
Order reads : "In major assemblies  only such matters they would never return, unless Classis  first rescind its
shall be dealt with as could not be finished in minor decision regarding the protest.
assemblies, or such as  pertain.to  the Churches of the        20. What did  Classis  do next?
major assembly in common." According to these plain            They met in an evening session to discuss a plan of
restrictions the  Classis could not properly receive the action. They were afraid to proceed. Instead of fol-
protest of the three members. The matter of treating a 1owing up their own decision they began to discuss its
pastor or exercising discipline over him is in the frrst legality. The following day they met in the Sherman
instance not a matter for the major, but for the minor      St. Church, evidently because they were afraid of their
assembly. And it certainly had not appeared that the safety in the Eastern Ave. Church, though there was
consistory could not finish this matter.                    not the slightest occasion for such fear. The entire
    16. Did  Classis  heed this argument of the  con- forenoon almost was spent in debate and wrangling
sistory ?                                                   about the decision that had been reached on the  pre-
    Not at all. The protest was accepted and read. And ceding day. FinalIy,  Classis reached the following
it was again Dr. Meeter who made the motion ; "that decision :  Classis expresses that it had never decided to
the  Classis treat the matter of the protest" {"de  classis treat the protest and enter into its subject-matter!
behandele het protest"). One of the grounds presented A committee, one of whose members was Dr. Meeter,
for this motion was that the consistory had had ample who himself had offered the motion to txeat  the pro-
time to treat the protest!                                  test, was delegated to the pastor of Eastern Ave. to
                                                                                                         s.

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

urge him to return to the meeting of Classis,  seeing                                     A REVERIE
Classis had never decided to treat the protest!!!
      21 Was the pastor persuaded?                                      These days I came across a curious bit of writing.
      By no means. He was naturally indignant at such                   You must know that there is an old newspaperman,
evident  hypocricy. He answered the delegates that he wise in the ways of the world, named Edgar W. Howe,
could not be satisfied with such a falsehood. He prom- who writes little paragraphs for the newspapers. These
ised, however, that he wouid appear before Classis that paragraphs comprise bits of quaint philosophy, search-
afternoon, to make plain to them, that they had cer- ing self-analysis, candid statements of matters as Mr.
tainly decided what they now denied. Thus he did. Howe sees them, as well as judgments on things,  oft-
To the evident satisfaction of Classis he made plain:               times pregnant with rare surprises or fraught with
1. That Classis certainly had passed the motion to treat unpleasant shocks for complacent man.
the protest of the three members. This was even                        The column of this old philosopher found its way
evident from the ground that had been adduced for the also in our newspaper, The Grand Rapids Press. The
motion, viz., that the consistory had had ample time title under which he writes is: "HOW ABOUT  -  ,"
to treat it. 2. That they would either have to rescind containing a pun upon his own name.
that decision or treat the pastor of Eastern Ave.                       Now on Friday afternoon, September 5th, of this
3. That the delegates of Eastern Ave. would not and year, his column was unusually small, but the message
could not return to  Classis unless the action of the it contained was laden with truth, perhaps a bit nasty
previous day was repealed.                                          to swallow for some of our brethren who cling to the
      22. What, then, did  Classis do?                              idea that natural man can perform works that are
      They decided to repeal the decision to treat the              positively good in, the sight of God.
protest.                                                                He wrote: "In a candid investigation of my secret
      23; Did they not also decide something else?                  self I find no one has greater desire to follow the rules
      Yes ; before the pastor, who had to conduct a of good conduct or realizes more the importance and
funeral that same afternoon, could be present again at value of such a course. But always I am confronted
the meeting, Classis decided to advise the consistory of with weaknesses which seem inherent in every human.
Eastern Ave. to lift the censure imposed upon the three The desire to follow courses considered good comes to
protesting members.                                                 me not because of nobleness (I have none of this) but
      24. Was this correct?                                         from knowledge born of experience that such conduct
      Of course not. It certainly was wrong to advise is good for me."
the consistory thus unless they had also decided to                    After reading and rereading the above bit of self-
advise the protestants to retract their accusation of analysis I fell to meditating.
public sin. This wanton decision of Classis became the                 The whole of the six years of the unpalatable church
source of much trouble.                                             history of which I was an eyewitness passed once
      25. But what decision did  Classis reach with re- more the review. The eye of my meditating spirit even
gard to the protest proper?                _.                       penetrated the years that lie-beyond the  Synodical
      That it should be referred back to the consistory.            gathering of the fathers at Kalamazoo, the pregnant
      26. But were there no other protests before years that needs must bring forth the Synod of Kala-
Classis ?                                                           mazoo with its infamous three points. Far into the
      Yes ; those of Rev. Jan Karel  van Baalen and Mr. hoary  past  I perceived ever and anon the same unholy
J. Vander Mey.                                                      specter. Again I heard the clamoring of voices that
      27. What action was taken with regard to these? would fain have the Church of the living God admit
      As soon as Classis had learned the Reformed lesson, that natural man possesses a nobility of character, a
that it could not exercise hierarchical power bf the grandiose display of sweetness, delightful to heaven
consistory of Eastern Ave. it was not difficult to reach because sprung from a common grace- of God.
a proper decision in the matter of the other protests.                 Many were the names given to this unholy specter,
They were both referred to the consistory.                          this shade from the realms of outer darkness. Some
      28. Did the protestants abide by the decision of called it "the virtues of the heathen," others spoke of
the Classis ?                                                       "civil righteousness, good in the sight of God," while
      No ; they all informed the Classis that they would still others prated of "the natural nobility of the god-
most probably appeal to Synod.                                      less."
                                                      H. H.            Methought I was present in 1894 (though only just
                                                                    then I first saw the light) when a great man searched
      Note. An attentive reader  called my attention to an error    at Athens and found in Hellas  the beauty of man, the
that crept into the  first chapter of this Catechism. It was        splendor of him who tore himself away from heaven:
stated there that all the three pastors, H. Danhof, H. Hoeksema
and G. M. Ophoff were first suspended, then deposed by Classis.     when Dr. H. Bavinck addressed the church (oh evil
This is not correct.  Classis West never suspended the Revs.        hour!) in his "well provided oration" on the subject,
Danhof and Ophoff. They were directly deposed.                      "Common Grace." Later, it seems I saw the untiring


                                                    T H E   `STAXDARD  B E A R E R                                                        61    I

energy of another great man at work, searching, col- afresh, for I saw the eternal Truth of God; I ln?ard
letting, setting in order, arranging the subject matter, Him render His verdict on the works and the  ner!
                                                                                                                         ---- r --3ons
culminating in . . . . and my eye traveled toward the of the haters of Eis name.
shelves of my bookcase, groaning under the works of                    Yes, thanks to Jehovah, many 1were the saints in
the Lion of the "Doleantie" ; I saw three massive vol- ages past who heard the verdict 4ver the sin-soaked
umes that bear his name among others flown from his race of the wicked.                              Many eyes  +Yere  illumened by
pen : man performs that which is good in the sight of Light from heavenly sources, unders ;tandinP
                                                                                                                  ...-----~  the Word.
                                                                                                                              ____ . .
God for He loved him, be it ever so little !                       And they quarreled with apostatizing Mother.
        And my soul  grew,weary  . . . .                               In the silence of my reverie I applauded them
        Why did you not cease writing if you could not joined in their battle cry : For Jehovah and ;
write like you did in that magnificant  series on: "That Let the host of hell tremble, for He alone re
the Grace of God is Particular"? You made Israel to shah judge uprightly?
wander along forbidden byways !                                        In that light I heard again the voice as
        For since then lesser luminaries on the heavens  ing in the wilderness: The Grace of  JehoJ
of the church emitted their ignis fatuus, their "Will  titular!
o' the wisps," their "Jack  o'lanterns,"  their fatal light.           It was a protest against ail those who
        The waves of worship of natural man increased, lovingkindness of our God for cx scramble
caused by a positive decrease of the knowledge of God, dogs: Even in my own days, one, two, thre
bringing in  t.heir wake love of the world and  sub- of thi Lord arose in a lukewarm church a~:
sequent  apostacy  from the faith of the fathers. A with steady voice and firm conviction born o.
new vocabulary was infused into the "Tale Kanaans" and the Spirit: The godless do no good WC
and former rigid emphasis was shifted to a softer tone. sight of heaven
Zion'took upon herself new robes of giddying, world-                   They were, as `it were, overwhelmed  wit1
like color effect and dwelled in seeming safety (surely roar of voices.                         The hosts  prepared  thea
in snug conviviality) with the  ,godless  together. They battle. It was unheard of! Here were  fo
could do so now as long as the glittering  virtue Qf the men who attacked the godless  1 Let us  ur
sinner was maintained. From the rostrum and the momentariIy  forget our minor differences,  1,
pulpit, in clubs and societies, methought, I heard again a solid front and go forth as one man to 1
as in the years of my tender youth: Man, though he is name of them who are the enemies of mour
the enemy of God, is loved by Him and under the in-                    The  depxaved sinner was studied from
fluence of His sweet Spirit and benevolent eye  per- except from the heavenly angle. Except fron
forms good works in the sight of the celestial hills.              point of the Eye of  Gad. God's Word
        But, glory to God in the Highest, His Word abideth closed book or was wrested                                  -___ __
forever !                                                          Spirit.
        Though orations were uttered by golden-mouthed                Then the battle ensued.
men, though volumes of print were spewn  forth with                   In three ways the defense
streams of contrary writing, though Israel forgot and the godforsaken worldling.                                                 UI
Jerusalem's filthiness increased, though the beauty of was  behind.it all. Small wonder, therefore. that  %h
the daughter of Zion departed and her beauteous house              despicable dogmas were hatched au
lay in ruin . . . the Word of the Lord still abided. impure origin: three
From age to age that Word is hard on the godless. His                 Lie, number one:
throat is an open sepulchre ; with his tongue he uses                 Lie, number two:
deceit ; the poison of asps is under his lips ; his mouth strains the reprobate bs His
is full of cursing and bitterness ; his foot is swift  to          he does not spew fort
shed blood ; destruction and misery is in his  ways and this restraining  influ
the  ~-- r - T --_--- 1-- I.-- --I I-- ^___ -t                        T CA -..--I---  Ll-----
        way  01 peace IK nas 110 L KJ.lU w ll :.                      lAe,   ll!.lIIl
        The nobility and sweetness of natural man?                 sight of hea
        Listen to Jesus: "Woe unto you, scribes and Phari-          - And here is the result: the worl'
sees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres,          hedged about by this d o g m a of
which indeed appear Beautiful outward; but are within                                    .._
                                                                   grace.
full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness!"                    Mark well, dear reader3  such are the facts. l---
    Ah me ! How true sound the chords of the Speech distateful  history of the years that are just passed
of God in the midst of discordent  notes of false human-           was all about this one question: Bow can we save the
ity!                                                               reprobate from the attack unon him bv some auaint
    And once more my turbulent soul grew calm . . G prophets in Israel who nersi
    And once more mine eyes, grown dime in the the Lord, He hates tl
perusal of the works of man, musty and mouldy and only to the elect!  `F
infested with the lying rot of the Archfiend, glistened Danhof and Ophoff d:

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

 the fundamental truth of God: "The curse of the Lord             Mark well how this philosopher acknowledges in
 is in the house of the wicked ; but He blesseth the habit- his own terminology the total depravity of  natura1
 ation of the just."                                           man. He does not say that he is  sometintes  beset with
       And now? Remember, dear brethren, who persist this selfish motive. He says that he is  alzuags  con-
 in abiding by the above cited, shady dogmas, if you are fronted with weaknesses (this is his word for sin), so
 at all honest, you will have to read that text hence- that in all his manifestation he realizes that not God
 forth: "The blessing of common grace is in the house or even man, society, humanity or the *`good of man-
 of the wicked . . . .  "                                      kind," but that he is moved by self alone.
       Woe unto the faithless in Zion?                             Note, further, that he confesses how he found in
       Do you not remember that book, written by Rev. the world by his fellowmen the same thing. He calls
 H. J.  Kuiper:  that brochure with its God-provoking it seemingly inherent in all. The world seems to know
 title : "The good that sinners do"?  ! It soils the pages better than our present day theologians what is taught
 of your history; it sears the place where it rests and in Gen. 6  :5 : "And God saw that the wickedness of man
. shall be branded monstrous in the day when God shall was great in the earth, and that every imagination of
 lay it alongside His Divine Truth ! May God forgive the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."
 him.                                                              If the matter was not so serious one would be
       Sinners do good? It is a horrible contortion of the tempted to smile at the naive confession of this man in
 words of Jesus; unholy caricature of Divine TSuth.            connection with the doctrine of so-called common
       Sinners do good? Contradictio in terminis ! Listen grace. Countless times has the church of our present
 to the righteous: "But we are all as an unclean thing, day tried to impress upon our hearts that the godless
 and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we have wonderful nobleness and beauty. They see the
 all do fade as a leaf; and- our iniquities, like the wind,    worldlings of all ages hasten in their pursuit of courses
 have taken us away." `I ask you: If this is the humble considered good. Their eyes are almost blinded by the
 confession of God's chosen race, where than do the elegance and seeming nobility of the fallen race of the
 godless come in ?      They drink folly like water and sons of Adam. And now hear this man of the world:
 enjoy it; they vomit sheer corruption and death and "The desire to follow courses considered good comes to
 wallow in it.                                                 me not because of nobleness (I have 12one of this) ."
       But even the world which you hedged in shall con- The world throws your third point back into your teeth.
 demn you.                                                     He says: "I have no nobleness. If I seem to glitter
       And then again  I thought of the quaint philosophy and glisten of beauty and virtue it is because of a cer-
 of Howe, of his bit of candid self-analysis, above tain  STLOW of godliness or sweetness. The real essence
 stated. He knows not of your folly, but unconsciously of the thing is not inherent or even present with me.
 contradicts your lukewarm, despicable dogma.                  I am seIfish. There you have it alI."
       Look at it again.                                          Mr. Edgar W. Howe, the man of the world, refutes
       He states four things:                                  your dogma of lie, number three.
       1; f -desire to follow courses considered good.            His testimony shall~ condemn you in the day of days -...
       2. My desire to follow these good courses is no unless you turn from your evil way, which I pray the
 nobility (I have none of this).                               Lord He may give you to do.
       3. That desire springs from selfishness. Cuddled           My reminiscences cease. My reverie is ended.
 "me" is the fountain.                                            Oh Lord, take not Thy Spirit and Word from us,
       4. I "realize that this fountain is impure for  I lest we become fools and drunkenly stumble on the
 brand it: "Weaknesses which seem inherent in every streets of Jerusalem,  a double  mockery to the world !
 human."                                                                                                           G. V.
       There now. You ascribed to him the operation of
 the Spirit of God as the source of doing good and he
 says: It is my self-sufficiency that prompts me to fol-
 low courses considered good. I am not doing good for             On Oct. 5 it pleased the HeavenIy Father to take from our
 God's sake. I am not even motivated by the love of midst, one of our active members.
 doing good for good's own sweet sake. (Whatever that                              MRS. A. POELSTRA.
 may mean.)       I do not follow courses-considered good         We, the Ladies' Aid Society of the First Prot. Ref. Church,
 because I am His creature and as such am called upon express our heartfelt sympathy with the bereaved husband and
 to glorify God in all my thoughts and words and deeds ; family in this hour of sadness.
 no but I follow the good course because I found out by           May God give them grace to be comforted with the thought
 experience that such a good course is good for "ME'?.         that she has now received the reward of the faithful, the end
       What is this? It is the culmination of sin: Man of her faith, eternal salvation.
 sufficient  unto himself. God dethroned in the heart of          May we  all be found watching when He comes to call us
 man. For He alone may in all things end in Himself. unto  HimseIf.                             Mrs.  F. Bergman, Pres.
 He alone is God and there is no other god besides Him.                                         Mrs. 3. Vander   Wal, Seer,


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         63

                            ABRAHAM                               Him therefore the promises were given, They,  too,
                                                                  who are Christ's, are heirs according to the promise;
        Having separately contemplated each of the various for being Christ's, they are Abraham's seed.
     events constituting Abraham's career, having laid hold          According to the reasoning of the apostle, then,
.    on the meaning and the significance of these events, we Christ was given the  prormises  because he was the seed,
     are now ready to set forth Abraham's place in the the offspring, the child of Abraham and Abraham the
     scheme of redemption and to expose the meaning-sand father of Him as man. Abraham, then, sustained a
     the importance of this place.                                natural paternal relation to Christ.       However, the
         Of all the testimonies having a bearing onAbra - promises made to this patriarch could never have  de-
     ham perhaps none say so much and are frought with volved upon this  affsprin$ c of his had the tie between
     so much meaning as the testimonies and declarations the two been thait of natural kinship only; for then                         `,
     which assert that Abraham is the father  of belbvers.        Christ would have3 been a child of the flesh and cast
     There are, indeed, several such testimonies found in off since the child:ren of the  &sh were not counted as
     Scripture. Said the unbelieving Jews to Jesus, "We the seed. Christ, then, `was more than a natural off-
     are Abraham's seed, Abraham is our father." To this spring of Abraham, He  w:ts Abraham's spiritual child.
     Jesus replied, "If ye were Abraham's children, ye               The question st&es why of all the Old Testament
     would do the works of Abraham, But now ye seek to saints, Abraham alone appears in Scripture as the
     kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I spiritual father of! Christ. And the answer is ready;
     have heard of God; this did not Abraham." Here it is The father of a famiIy  is its priest  I the progenitor, of
     stated by implication that the relation which Abraham a child is its educa .tor and trainer. Upon him devolves
     and the faithful sustain to each other is that of father the task to nourif ;h and to foster, to awaken and to
     and children. The third chapter of Paul's  epistIe  to feed by the word  1the faith that may  be  slumbering in
     the Galatian's contains like assertions. We quote, the bosom of the child,  And If faith appears, if the
     "Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted child is fed and in consequence of being fed, developes
     to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they and comes to its  07wn, it must Iook up to its progenitor
     which are of faith, the same are the children of  Abra- by whom it was fr:d as its spiritual father.
     ham. . . . For ye are children of God by faith in               If the progenit#or of a child is its pedagogue, than
     Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been bap- Abraham was the pedagogue, the spiritual father of
     tized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Christ. Being the spiritual father  of Christ it follows
     Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is that Abraham is att once the father of that organism,
     neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ the church of whith Christ is head. "If ye be of Christ,
     Jesus. And if ye be Christ, then are ye Abraham's then are  ve Abraham's seed" (Gal. 8 529) . In a word,
     seed, and heirs act:ording  to the promise:"                 Abraham is the father of Christ, and thus the father
        Let us now inquire into the meaning of this rela- of all  beIievers.  The latter* are educated and nourished
     tion sustained by Abraham to the believers. Father of by him.
     believers. What must first be asceriained  is the various       However, whereas  Ablraham was a child .of time,           `:
     significations of the name father. The name is given whereas he was born, Iived and died, the question  ,:
     to (a) a generator, to one who begets a child ; (b) to arises how it was possible for him to continue to func-
     the first ancestor, the progenitor of a race or family; tion as the spiritual father of his generations, of Christ,
     (c) as a term of respect to an old man;  {d) in the          in fine, of that great famil y of believers of which he is
     church to men venerable for age, learning and piety ; the spiritual fathe!r. A clue to the correct answer is
     (e) to one who feeds, supports or exercises paternal         found in the Hebre!ws. There we read (chapter X2:1) :
     care over another; (f) to one who  c.reates,  invents, "Therefore seeing we also are compassed about with
     makes or composes anything; (g) to the author, so great a cloud of  witne ssa, Iet us lay aside every
     former, contriver  of a thing. Jabal was the father of weight, and the sin which does  so easily beset us, and
     such as dwell in tents ; and Jubal of musicians ; (h) to let us run with patience th,e race that is set before us:'
     an instructor or teacher.                                    Opinions are  dividled as to the meaning of this  `imag-
        The question is,. which of these meanings is ap- ery. The view that the saints in heaven assemble to
     plicable  to Abraham in his  reIation to believers. In witness from their  exaltec I station the running of the
     proffering our reply we may set out with attending to race set before the saints on earth, is so palpably in-
     the apostle's reasoning in the chapter from which we correct as to be unworthy of our serious consideration.
     quoted. In the section beginning with verse  15 the It must not be supposed, however, that these  wit-
     apostle shows that they which believe nzust  receive the nesses  are not visible to the eye of the runner, and
     promise of the Spirit. With Abraham and his seed that their witness is not il3 his eai Fact is, however,
     the Lord established His covenant which cannot be that this  visibilityT is mediated by the sacred record
     annulled or added to; for even a man's covenant, if it from whose page the speech of iLhese  witnesses also
     be confirmed, is not disannulled. To Abraham and  his arises. In a word, these witnesse;s appear in the pre-
     seed promises were made.         This seed is Christ; to ceding chapter. Each is seen as rtinning  with patience

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

the race set before him. And though being dead, they            "is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence
yet speak or witness because their respective careers           of things not seen." For the man of faith the unseen
are before our eye on the pages of Holy Writ. What world  - the things that ears have not heard nor eyes
may be the testimony of this cloud of witnesses? It is seen - takes on form and substance and thus rises
a testimony, varied and pregnant with instruction. The before his mind's eye as a blessed good as real as the
race set before us is run by faith. "By  )%~th Abel             things that lie within the range of the physical organs
offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than of sense. He who believes understands that the worlds
Cain . . . . "  "&,I  Juith  Enoch  was translated  - . .  "    were framed by the word of God. By this same word,
"By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not therefore, he is rendered capable of enduring every
yet seen, moved with fear prepared an ark to the sav- trial. And, finally, faith is in league with the infinite
ing of his house . . . ." "By faith Abraham, when he power of God and is therefore capable of spoiling any
was called to go out into a place which he should receive sinister power that may attempt to impede its prog-
for an inheritance, obeyed; and went out not knowing ress.
whether he went . . .  " "By faith he sojourned in                 The great cloud of witnesses, then, are, through the
the land of promise as in a strange country . . . " As mediation of the sacred record the teachers of the
was said, however, the testimony varies. With our eye entire church. However, of all these worthies, Abra-
upon the joint careers of these worthies we perceive ham only, for reasons already given, sustains to the
that men of faith of the. past were capable of great great family of believers, the relation of spiritual
things.    By faith they subdued kingdoms, wrought father. And a most worthy father he is, rendered so,
righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of course, by grace. The place given him in the scheme
of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of redemption he was made to fill remarkably well with
of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed great credit to the Lord ; for Abraham was pre-emi-
valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the            nently a man of faith. The life he lived enunciated
aliens (verses 33, 34). These careers tell us that the as few lives did the great principles of the doctrine of
race may lead through the fire of persecution and into          Christ. And how went he on unto perfection. How
the very jaws of death, that nevertheless the faithful he feared the Lord. How obedient he was, how con-
press on; for some of these witnesses were tortured, stant, how trustful, how piously bold, how other-
not accepting deliverance ; that they might obtain a worldly, how expectant of the glory and the bliss of
better resurrection  ;  And others had trials of cruel that heavenly country. How humble he was, how self-
mockings and  scourgings,  yea, moreover of bonds and effacing, how he clave to the Lord as his Saviour and
imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn his only hope. How triumphant he therefore was. To
asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword:               be sure, his was a Iife that could easily be set before
they wandered about in sheepskins and goat&ins; be- the church of all ages as the grand pattern of true
ing destitute, afflicted, tormented . . . . These careers godliness. And that life of his, as spread over the
tell us that the man of faith dies without receiving pages of Holy Writ, still speaks to us indeed, speaks
the promise, and therefore inherits the joy and the to the-whole blessed family of redeemed - that family
glory set before him while he ran. None of these saints of which he through the mediation of his written
received the promise (verse 39). Finally with our ear career continues to nourish unto life eternal.
close to the sacred page, we hear them say, these                   So, then, Abraham's entire life in all its details is
saints, that the man of faith obtains, as he progresses,        spread out before our eye for our instruction. And
t+he witness that he is righteous. Therefore, such is what marvelous speech this life yields to him to whom
the conclusion of the apostle, whereas we are com-              it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom
passed about by so great a cloud of witnesses, whose                In raising up Abraham, then, and in constituting
joint careers declare that the race, no matter where it him the father of believers, the Lord provided his
led, has been run ; and that the man of faith success-          people with a pattern of godliness. This, however, was
fully runs and obtains the prize, no matter how im- not the, only purpose. The time was ripe for the Lord
possible from the point of view of nature the race may to o#&iaZl~  establish his covenant between Him (the
 become ; and whereas (such is the unexpressed sup- preposition between is found in the sacred record text)
 position) we have faith, let us run with constancy the and His chosen people, who, therefore, had to be pro-
 race that is set before us . . . .                             vided with a representative personage with whom the
      So it appears then that the joint speech of the Lord could negotiate. That there was need of such a
 careers of these worthies is exceedingly rich in instruc- personage is evident enough. God's people is gathered
 tion respecting the race, the cross, the crown, the char- from the beginning to the end of the world from out
 acter of the world and the devil. Because of the speech of the whole human race, so that if the Lord in time
 arising from the careers of these faithful, they, these would transact with this people in the interests of His
 faithful, are our teachers.                                    covenant He must place it (this people) before Him in
      But just why should the man of saving faith be its representative. So He did. And the personage in
 capable of such miraculous constancy? Because faith whom He had this people stand before him was, as


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEAREl-!                                                             65

can be expected, its father; for the father is already, included in the scope! of the covenant, the conviction
in the very nature of things, the representative of the cannot  be escaped tklat Be, too, was the recipient of
seed of which he is the progenitor. Of course, it would grace, and if the  rer:ipient of grace, an ill-deserving
not have been impossibie  for the Lord to transact with sinner. In meeting this  objet :tiOn we must set out with
each one of His people as they appeared separately. the remark that the  utteranc:e of the apostle is so un-
However, the Lord made of one blood. not  &l men but mistakably clear as to stop (every mouth. The  prom-
all  n&ions (Acts 17  26) so that what He had mani-        ises of the covenant were mat!le to Christ. He, too, was
festly resolved to do was to transact respecting the in- made the recipient of  grace. Snvn
                                                                                             __*-"  .Tnhn
                                                                                                   I          in
                                                                                                         --I   
                                                                                                              em- hi.cr 
                                                                                                                    *-- m-.~p&
                                                                                                                            o'"
terests of his covenant not with individuals as such "And the word was made flesh, and dwelt among UK
but with individuals as represented by their common and we beheld his glory. thet glory as of the only be-
father or progenitor. This resolve the Lord was again gotten, f&Z of grace and truth .  _ .  - and of his  ful-
seen to carry out when He establishes his covenant be- ness have all we rer~r?ived, grace for  ~TCMX*'  (John  I:
tween Himself and Abraham; for Abraham was to be 14,161.  So, then, of tlhe grace we receive, Christ is full.
the father of a prodigious offspring. And from out of But, someone may  inte%ola; te, does  not  Scripture  .in-
this offspring the Lord would recruit a spiritua1  seed to volve us here in a dif    - ,
                                                                                 %xitv: for is it not true that ac-
which Abraham should also sustain the relation of cording to Scripture, grace c; m be bestowed only upon
spiritual father. This seed was Christ. And once one who in himself is an  ilj l-c&serving sinner?  Evi-
more, "If ye be Christ's, ye are Abraham's seed."         dent&  ft is not true, for Jo1m has it that Christ was
    Such, then, was the resolve of God. And  irre- full of grace, and thus the  channel of grace for His
spective of what our Baptist brethren may say, the people; yet was  He the La& ) without spot or blemish                                 :
Lord is still keeping Himself to this resolve. He con- Let us conclude this deliberation with the remark that
tinues to establish His covenant between Him and the Chr&t, by assuming our hunian nature was made like
family. The family, He still places before Him in its unto His brethren, sin exc,eptred. As one of us He, too,
father and representative; and with this father He deserved to be ill-treated.              And so He was. The
transacts respecting His covenant. The declaration, ehastisement of our aeace wa;s upon him ; for our trans-                             :
"For the promise is unto you, and to your  chil-  gressfon  was he  bru?sed.  Even while ill-deserving  Be
dren . . . .  " (Acts 2  239) was made to believing received grace  and by grace was  czLpacitated  to bear
parents of the new dispensation. Of course, in the the burden of God's `wrath a,gainst  sin for  IIis  breth-
last instance this promise applies to the elect members ren;                                , He was filled with grace,
                                                                 And when done with sin,
of the family only. It is His will, however, that both as to His human nature, WIhich grace Be freely be-
the elect and reprobate members receive the sign of stows UpQn  His brethren whc ) kh;honczh
                                                                                        _____   
                                                                                                  ~-- in 
                                                                                                      __ themsdvc?s
                                                                                                             ______-____  iII-
the covenant. This can be easily proven from Scrip- deserving are nevertheless just in Him.
ture. It has been done more than once in this maga-           So it appears, then, thait the real issue  fs, not
sine.                                                     whether grace is bestowed upon the well-desesvii n g .
   Let us now face the questions  I Who is the head of     It is for the people of God, though in themselves ill-'
the covenant of grace, Abraham or Christ
          ._ -                               ? And is deserving, are well-deserving: in Him  ; and upon them
Christ in the covenant of grace?      The answers of grace is bestowed.. The  q,uez&ion is rather whether
Scripture to these questions are clear enough. Paul, grace is bestowed upon one who i?2.  himself  is  we&
in the third chapter of his epistle to the Galatians, deserving; or, to express it otherwise, whether grace
literally asserts that the scope of this covenant included is bestowed upon  sueh onlv who +n ~hemselzt~s  are ill-
Christ. We again quote, "Now to Abraham and his deserving. To this the  oppo nent replies: grace is be-
seed were the promises made. He saith not, and to stowed upon such only  who  in  thei--._   _.  _._.  ~~~
                                                                                                    nselves are ill-de-
seeds as to many ; but as to one, And to thy seed  serving.           Such and none other  are included in the
which %.c: Christ" (Gal. 3 :16) . If the promises were scope of the covenant. The  pIain  t;eaching.  of Scrip-
made to Christ, how can the conviction be escaped that ture is, however*  that the promise w:1s made to Christ;
the covenant of grace was also established between that He is full of grace. This, it  sg xms to me, ought
Him in his capacity of Son of Man, and God? Can the to be the end of all argument. Well do we understand
opponents of this view tell us? To this man was made that the grace that cleanses  from tlhe polution of sin
the promise  - the promise of eternal life, so that, for was not operative in His  1mman nature  ; for that
the joy that was set before Him, he endured the cross, nature was sinless. What gr:ace did do for Him, how-
despised the shame, and is set down at the right hand ever, is to  gIorPfy  His `human natun ?r so that the man
of the throne of God, Heb. 1222. He became obedient Christ became a heavenly creature, And the grace
unto death, even the death of the cross, Wherefore God we receive does as much for us, be;sides cleansing us
also hath highly exalted Him, giving Him a name  from  811 sin.
which is above every name . . . Phil. 2  :8, 9. So,             The other question we put reads : Who is the head
then, in so far a sinless man could be benefited by the of the seed,  Christ or Abraham? Or, to express it
promise, Christ was benefited by the promise.             otherwise, what is Christ's status in the covenant?
    The objection is usually raised that if Christ was What is the status of Abraham? Or, to state the ques-
                                                                                                                                              I

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

tion as it is usually stated, Who is the head of the beyond the season of child-bearing? These were mat-
covenant of grace, Christ or Abraham? And the an- ters upon which no light was at first shed. Further,
swer is ready: The status of Christ in the covenant of the promise of a prodigious prosterity was one to
grace is that of head of His people. Abraham, then, is which a carnal mind would attach no significance for
not the head of the covenant. Fact is that but two per- the reason that its fulfilment was dependent upon
sons appear in Scripture as heads of humanity, namely, factors over which man has absolutely no control.
the first and the second Adam. And in both instances Within certain limits man can imagine the near future,`
the term head implies a juridical relation so close that determine what shall be done on the morrow, and ex-
"by the first man sin entered into the world, and death pect to be in a position to accomplish what is in his
by sin ; and by the second man, Jesus Christ, the gift heart. The fruitfulness of the whomb, however, is a
of grace hath abounded unto many." He is the head matter concerning which man has least to say. Espe-
"from which all the body by joints and bands having cially in the case of Abraham did this particular prom-
nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth ise seem most unlikely of realization if dissociated
with the increase of God."                                  from the Almighty. However, the entire promise, for
      If Christ was head of His people in the covenant reasons already given, was fitted to impress the carnal
of grace, He was also head of His people in the cove- mind as a fanciful, grotesque production of a pious
nant of redemption, so that the former covenant is, dreamer, the musings of a religious fanatic. The
when rightly considered, the extension and realization promises of being made a great nation of, and of being
of the latter in time.                                      constituted one in whom all the nations of the earth
      Christ, once more, is head of His people. Abraham     will be blessed are of a kind of which anyone devoid
sustains no such relation to the believers. According of grace must needs stagger. But why should pre-
to the plain teachings `of Scripture he, in a sense dictions of Chis kind failed to have set in motion such
already explained, is father of believers, and  as f&her to whom only the things seen constitute the priceless
their representative, `one therefore with whom the pearl ? Surely, every nation has its father, so that
Lord could transact when ready to officially establish the thing promised was known to have happened be-
His covenant between Him and His people.                    fore. The answer is ready: the natural man refuses
      However, it follows from the very nature  of' things to attach any value to a prediction directed to him by
that if Abraham as father of believers was to transact the Lord God and that for the reason that he refuses
with God respecting the interests of the covenant, he to recognize God as an authority. It is said that the
had to be and had to first show himself up as pre-          natural man refuses to surrender things seen for the
eminently a man of faith And so he did. When the unseen things. This, to be sure, is most true, provid-
call came to him, Abraham was living in Mesopotamia ing the term u71seen things be used to designate the
among his kindred. He was seventy-five years old, and things of the other world which remain hidden until
Sarah had attained to the age of sixty.                     the day of Christ, and cannot therefore be approached
      At this age the adventurous spirit of man is dead, by the physical organs of sense. However, it often
ties of kindred are reluctantly broken and settled pos- happens in the world that seen things are relinquished
                                                                                                            _-  --.-
sessions given up with difficulty. It is a season of for things unseen. It happens as often as a European
life characterized by a well-developed inclination to immigrates to America because he believes on the
retreat from the very active persuits of life to enter basis of a human testimonl/ that the unseen land is a
upon a scheme of existence congruous with the age at- better place to live. Men today put their money into
tained to. Abraham, it is clear, is asked to do the concerns or transactions. They make great ventures
thing from which his nature must have shrank. and sometimes risk all they have. And thus they sacri-
Further, he shall get him into a land the Lord  wiZZ        fice the thing seen - the money at hand - for the
show him,  ,noE  know+ng  whither  h.e  ,i.s going;  (Heb. things unseen - the large returns they expect to reap.
1123)  respond, without being in a position to pass This they do because they have faith, - faith in the
judgment  011  the wisdom and advisability of the course testimony  of a fellow human  that the venture is safe,
he was bid to enter upon, follow, then, the directing or faith in their own ability to imagine correctly the
finger of heaven blindly, that is, with the outcome future, to say with reasonable accuracy what is going
lying beyond the range of his observation. However, to happen, and what not, ability to sift probabilities
by the grace of God he rises to the occasion. He went and chances, and to weight commercial prospects. But
out, not knowing whither he went.                           what men refuse to do is to make a venture and to risk
      Further, the promise, accompanying the Divine in- all or anything at all on the basis of the testimony of
junction was constituted of elements which, though God that the venture is safe, and is sure to bring
alluring as such, were nevertheless characterized by a worthwhile returns.
certain indefiniteness. What is to be the specific char-       Abraham, however, did this very thing, to-wit, sur-
acter of the promised greatness? Who is to become render his seen world - the good land where he lived,
the mother of the promised seed? Sarah, who was settled possessions, the expectations of friends, ad-
without child, and whose age had carried her far vancement among men - for things unseen - an un-

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

known land, a great name, a prodigious posterity - on                              WIET  GE-u.
the basis of the testimony of God to the effectthat this
unseen world would be brought near to  him. Believing                                           IV
he hopefully goes on into the unknown. The moving                                  Niernmd  beeft ooit iod 
                                                                                                                  G        ge&n: de Eetig-
principle of this immigrating Hebrew was faith in                              g&oxen  &on,  die in dt
God. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for                            is, die heeft F
and the evidence of things not seen.. To the things
hoped for - the  things  unseen  - faith lends  sub-           De openbaring Gods. beide die da
stance, and is the evidence  SO that they become as real natuur, zij bet dan (dat*de  Heilige  Schrift  haar  licht                                 )
to the believer as the things of physical sight. It was moet werpen 0~ de SC:hepping   zulIen we haar verstaan,   `- j
faith, then, that enabled Abraham to contemplate the is middel dat we GMI den Heere kunnen kennen,
contents of the promise, preposterous to the carnal            Het ongeloof moge dit  tegensnrek
                                                                                                        _-~----en,  feit blijft dat,
mind, as a grace of God to which he would be joined. deze ontkenning ten spijt GodL Rich bekend maakt. Wie                                          i
For faith says that nothing is to wonderful for God,        in  vematenhpiri   rlz.xc  harfnn  4;egen beter weten in, zich
and no sacrifice too great. It was faith, then, that ren- tegenover  dez
dered this immigrating Hebrew a spectacle one  of  his over God  zicl
kind. It was faith in a Divine promise, a faith for  ms, gemeensc ^a= ---.` --.. e-.X---Y- u
which .no self-denial was too great; a faith willing to sluit het ander in. En ook omgekeer,d. De Godsopen- :
stake all and to count all that was promised sure and b&ng  is uit dat oogpunt bezion
                                                                                                        UAU4.a   x7-n
                                                                                                               1c.,A1 h      e          t      alIergrootste
certain in that God had spoken ; a faith regarding all en  allerhoogste   belang.   Mef:
                                                                                        zl- -.--_ het oog op de Godssprake
things  loss  in order that God might be gained, and thus in de natuur is en blij:ft deze grondregel van gewichtige
going forward into a desert in view of the promised beteekems,  dat, l,aI en werkelijk
                                                                                  m                             bet geschapen hand-
land beyond.                                G. M. 0.        schrift  kunnen Iezen                       s kennen, het
                                                                                         en die!                                     Iicht des  L
                                                            Woords het eenigste :middel is dat ens hiertoe  in staat
                I N G E Z O N D E N                         stelt.Zoo alleen is kern
       Geachte Redacteur :                                  leen kan men spreke- __._ -
   Vriendelijk  verzoek ik u het volgende schrijven in genade. Ret is vooral in onze tijd van gewicht om hier-
uw blad te plaatsen.                                        op weer den nadruk te  leggen.  Telkens beluisteren
   Ondergeteekende, gedurende de laatste 22 jaren we de, voor ons althans,  holle phrase2:  %atuur  e n   g e -
Funeral Director te Sioux Center, Iowa, gevoelt zich nade staan niet vijandig  tegenover (
genoodzaakt te antwoorden op een artikel van de hand desniettemin dekt ook deze vlag de lading nitst. Want
van Mr.  C.  Wassink  voorkomende in de Standard Bearer het gaat er bij dezulken niet                                             CT
                                                                                                    om. om het nauv  verband
van 1 Aug. 1930. Reeds een en andermaal heeft men aan te toonen dat er bestaat tusschen   d i e   b e i d e ,  doch
mij gewezen op het stuk van C. Wassink,  en ik meen enkei  en alleen om te ponert
dat het mijn plicht is om mijzelf te verdedigen. Mr. die de lieden dezer wereld wil rechtvz
Wassink schrijft, dat hij een begrafenis rekening be- zoogenaamde wetenschappen om dan ieder  joflied, bet-                                              1.:::. 5;
taalde en dat men hem daarbij van de $100 tot de $300 welk men de wetenschap toe:zwaait.   t e   begindigen   m e t   i  :.
had afgezet. En hoewel Mr. Wassink  mijn naam met de in onzen  tijd geldende euIogie:  "1;Yij moeten  de re-
noemt kan het tech niet- anders zijn dan dat deze be- sultaten der wetenschap, die derg on
                                                                                                                e l o o v i g e n ,   dank-
schuldiging mijn persoon  betreft.  Gedurende de laat- baar aanvaarden."
ste  jaren werd ik tweemaal in het huisgezin van hem            Wie  zich  aldus  de apenbaring  voorstelt doet nog
geroepen voor eene begrafenis. Ik heb hem voor elke een enkele schrede en komt ten slottc3 tot de conch&e,
begrafenis $150.00 in rekening gebracht, zoodat men dat zonder deze zoogenaamde wetens chap er geen ken-
terstond vat dat de beschuldiging van afzetten geen nis mogelijk is. Eenmaal  daar  verzei
waarheid kan zijn. Ongaarne schrijf ik over deze  din- men te spreken van een algemeen  ta
gen, maar het publiek moet weten, hoe de zaken staan.. beginselen, die God de Heere  schiep en indroeg in bet
Immers  daar ik de eenige funeral director ben te Sioux aardsche en waardoor het de  gelooti 1gen en de wereld
Center daar word ik door het publiek aangezien als een mogelijk  werd om  samen  te  werker1. Dan gaat  bet
afzetter. Dit verblijdt mij  echter,  dat ons werk  we1 specifieke karakter der Godsopenbari ag verIoren  zooals
gewaardeerd  wordt, want meer dan een-derde van de dae  noo&&elijk   is  ----- --
                                                                                        met         
                                                                                                en  ---.T
                                                                                                        hii  -_-- -
                                                                                                             aIIe  7wetenschap.  Dan   :  .   .
begrafenissen  die ik in het verleden  en ook dit jaar had wordt de                     aid 
                                                                      godgeleerdh---  _ eerst
                                                                                                __ _  de "queen of science," de                          '
waren van leden  van de begrafenisvereeniging waar- koningin   &r  wobnwhsrnncln
                                                                            ., y..-^--u'--lr-- maar  dan duurt het niot
van Mr.  C.  Wassink  ook aandeelhouder is.  We1 een zoo heel langr meer of deze koningin wordt onttroont
bewijs  dat mijn prijzen niet te hoog zijn en dat mijn en lost zich op in de wetenschappelijke  democratic
diensten gewaardeerd worden.                                waarin ze w,el eerst met hare  zusters  een eerste en
    U bij voorbaat dankende voor de opname.                 eereplaats irmam maar heel  spoedig  op de  achterste
                                Chas.  Vander Ploeg         bank komt t


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          69
                       _
nog niet kennen dier diepten, angstig voor zich uitzien
en van verbazing zitten te  gapen.  Is er dan  desniet-     COMMENT ON THE REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE
tegenstaande  echt geestelijk leven aanwezig, want dat                ON THE QUESTION OF INTRODUCING
is nog  we1  mogeljk,  dan is, wanneer men dezulken
ondervraagt, in persoonlijk gesprek of ook we1 op het                                   HYMNS
huisbezoek dit het karakteristieke dat ge ten antwoord
krijgt:   2 ja, ik heb Jezus tot mijn deel want ik draag            A word of explanation is first in order. In the
Hem in mijn hart; bf, wanneer men eerlijker is, ik words of the committee, "At the Synod of 1928, of the
twijfel  aan mijzelf want mijn gevoel  verandert  bijna Christian Reformed Church, the question of intro-
iederen dag, en men mist die zekerheid doordat men ducing hymns was brought up." The report informs
zich van de openbaring Gods losscheurde en aldus de us that no fewer than nine classes and one consistory
eenige goede maatstaf wegwierp.                             had sent in overtures concerning the  matte'r. Some
   Natuurlijk is dat niet het eenige gevaar dat de kerk favoring, others opposing and still others merely de-
bedreigt en het geestelijk leven ondermijnt. De moge-       siring a thorough investigation of the matter. Synod
lijkheid bestaat ook dat, terwijl men  zich keert tot het placed the matter in the hands of a committee of  pre-
licht der heilsopenbaring,  tech voor hoofd en hart niet advise. This committee advised Synod:
wordt gevonden wat eindelijke bevrediging geeft. Ook                (1)    To appoint a Committee whose work would
langs  dien weg dreigt er, telkens en verre van denk-       be :
beeldig gevaar. De kennisse  ;Gods is veel meer dan                 (a)    To make a thorough study of the matter and
het uiteenzetten van abstrakte begrippen die men op consider it from all points of view;
allerlei wijze formuleert om ze eindelijk in een logisch            (b)    To investigate whether or not a satisfactory
systeem in elkander te  passen.                             number of hymns can be found, suitable for use in our
   Door de Godsopenbaring is er  kennis Gods door en worship.
in Christus  Jezus. Deze spreekt tot ons verstand door              (2) In case a number of such hymns can be found,
middel van begrippen, beelden, maar die dringen ook to compile these and present them for approval to
door tot het hart. De allerbeste uiteenzetting van een Synod of 1930; moreover to publish the text of the
gedeelte dier openbaring is, zal het  goed zijn,  doortin- hymns deemed suitable six months before said Synod.
telt van het leven van den  DrieBenige Die door den                 This committee of seven persons was appointed.
Heiligen Geest Zich aan ons laat kennen. Zdodat het The names of the members of this committee are: R. B.
hart in gloed wordt `gezet en de tong bij tijd en wijlc Kuiper,  H. J. Kuiper,  W. Heyns, H. J. G. Van Andel,
gaat j ubelen : "Hier weidt mijn ziel met een verwon- J. M. Vande Kieft, S. Swets. The forword  of the re-
derend oog." Of, om nu maar  bij Johannes' proloog te port informs us that the committee  began its work less
blijven, er iets van verstaat, kent en gevoelt wanneer than four months after the Synod of 1928 ; that  twenty-
de apostel het zoo heerlijk uitspreekt : "En het Woord six meetings were held since that time ; that in addi-
is vleesch gewordsn, en heeft onder ons gewoond, (en tion to this every member had a large number of
wij hebben zijn heerlijkheid aanschouwd, een  heerlijk- hymns to study in between the sessions.
heid als des Eeniggeboren van den Vader,) vol van  ge-              In the report of the committee one naturally looks           .,..I
nade en waarheid. Waardoor we komen onder den for valuable and conclusive materials on the matter                          j  "  :.'
overweldigenden indruk des Heeren zooals in en door at hand ; for the committee was constituted of some
Zijn openbarig deze ons  deel wordt.  We1  hebben we of the most illustrious personages of the Christian Re-
nooit God gezien, dat blijft eeuwig waar.                   formed Church  - men capable of deep study. And                ".
                                                            did they not, according to their own testimony,, make a
   Maar door Zijn openbaring Zich bekend makend, thorough study of the matter entrusted to them?
wordt Hij door ons tech we1 gekend.                                                                                One
                                                            would expect, therefore, that the report be packed with
                                                  w. v.     the profoundest wisdom!
                                                                    But is it? Let us see. On page sixteen and seven-
                                                            teen of the report one happens upon the following para-
                                                            graph :
                                                                    "We know that with reference to practical matters
            Amen ! schoon met kruis beladen,                of ecclesiastical organizations, the precepts given to
            Amen ! Vader op uw paden,                       the New Testament are very few. In the Old Testa-
            Amen ! ook in tegenspoed,                       ment the entire tabernacle and temple service in all
            Amen ! alles  -wat Gij doet.     *              particulars was regulated by divine precepts; but in
            Amen ! op Uw tuchtigingen,                      the New Testament there is no trace of such regula-
                                                            tions of public worship. We know also that this ab-
       t    Amen! op Uw majesteit.                          sence of such regulations is rooted in the character of
            Amen ! op Uw zegeningen,                        the New Dispensation. In the Oid Testament the im-
            Amen ! tot in eeuwigheid.                       maturity of the Church necessitated the tutelage of the


70                                    T H E   S T A N D
                                          .                  A-.RD  BEAl
law. The Church of the new dispensation, on the con- ment Church may regulate _.- _
trary, is raised to maturity by virtue of the glorifica- the New Testament Church  may,-
tion of Christ and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, ringing.
and delivered from the tutelage of the law and set free.        The men serving on the committc
The absence of `precept upon precept, line upon line, regulate  is one thing* to give
here a little, there a little,' in the New Testament is a In the above-cited paragraph
manifestation of the liberty of the New Testament not have before its eye the
Church. So also the absence of precepts relating  to graph it reasc
congregational singing points to the liberty of the the real issue is concerned,  t:
Church to regulate that matter for itself in such a way graph could be ejected from
as may be most conducive to the edification of the be- least detracting from  its value  as
lievers. In full harmony with the absence of precepts duction  of hymns in public
is the absence of a poetical book in the New Testament. thus far the report proves I
It indicates that the task of providing New Testament           Of course, the Lord did I
Church-songs, to be used alongside of the Psalms, is the public worship of the church
left to the Spirit endowed New Testament Church it- tion; He also gave contend to
self. Such has been the judgment of the Church of               Further, the committee asserts tha
old. Since the New Testament contains no confession a poetical book in the New
and no Church order, the Church itself has provided the task of providing New `I
these, fully convinced of its right and duty to do so. left to the Spirit endowed N
The same principle that had guided the Church in re- self. It's strange that the LX
gard to these requisities,  also holds true in regard to that the absence of a  poetica
New Testament Church Hymns. Therefore the an- ment may as well indicate
swer to the question: What do the Scriptures say? Church shall keep itself in'its p
must be: By not giving positive precepts in regard to inspired Psalms of the Old  Testar
New Testament Church Hymns, Scripture teaches that                              (To be continued)
this matter is left to the freedom of the Church."
      So far the committee.
      Thus in one brief paragraph, with a few brief
strokes of its mighty pen, the committee proves con-
clusively, raises above every doubt(  ?) the legitimacy
of the introduction of hymns in the public worship of
the New Testament Church.                                                    Sioux Center, 10~;
      But did the committee thus far really prove any-
thing at all? Let us see.                                           Geachte Redacteur :-
      Of course, it is true that in the Old Testament the      Vergun mij nogmaals  eel
immaturity of the church necessitated the tutelage of antwoord op broeder Vander
the law ; that the church of the new dispensation, on the       Waar het schrijven van k
contrary, is raised to maturity by virtue of the glori- ,persoonlijk   iS  noch  beleedigend,   g
fication of Christ and the outpouring of the Holy gaarne antwoorden.  Alhoeg
Spirit, and delivered `from the tutelage of the law and schillen en  er  nogal  i&s  misver2
set free. If correctly explained, this is true. It is also Vander Berg aijn we te eerder  gc
a matter of common knowledge among students, of woorden.
Scripture that in the Old Testament the entire taber-           We sullen stuk voor stuk weer1
nacle and temple service in all particulars was regu- zal broeder Vander Berg tevr
lated by divine precepts, but that in the New Testa-            Nadat bxoeder  VanderBerg   k
,ment there is no trace of such regulation of public operatieve Vereenigingen nit
worship. But one involuntarily asks, What of it? zijn, beweert de breeder
Does it follow from this that the New Testament op de markt van den vorigen dag c
Church may introduce hymns in its public worship? De boeren  hadden  evengoed de R
Not at all. What is the issue here? Not whether the papers" in te aien.  Voor dat
New Testament Church may FeguZute its public wor- hier hadden, hadden  we ook geen
ship  .or public singing, indeed it may but whether the "country"  eli  Ias bijna niemand
New Testament Church is free to set aside the Old "daily papers," om de eenvoudigt
Testament Psalms, to place in their room a collection "mail"  alleen  kreeg een of tw
of hymns that are conceded to be a bundle of man- haar in de stad  ging halen,  met paard
made formulations of New Testament Scripture. In komt nog bij, dat de handelsIt
other words, the issue is, not whether the New Testa- en men `s morgens kon sprek


                                         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
                                  PURLISHRD  BY THE REFORMED FREE  PUBLISElNG  ASSOCIATION, GRAND RAPIDS,  &ICEIGAN

                                                                               Editorial  Staff:
                                                           H. HOEKSEMA                        G. M. OPHOFF
        should  b e sent  to  C. J. Doom, 906
        Dallas Ave..  S-E.,  Grand  Rapids.  Mieh.                            Ass&ate  Editors:
        All money matters  should  be addressed
         to  P.  Ezinga,   1050  Dunham  St., S.E.,
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                                                       Entered  as second class  mail   matter   st  Grand   Raoids,   Mich.


     Vol. VII, No. 4  .-                                                 NOVEMBER 15, 1939                                         Subscriptior
                                                                                                                                    .,,..   i'
                                                                                           upon whom the Lord of ah woul
                                                                                           glorious grace and the mercies of His CC
                                                                                           Moses, had then been full of zeal to deliver the people
                                                                                           from bondage, and confident that with th
                                                                                                                                                  the banner of  tisur-
                                T  AM THAT I`AM                                            and the people's rallying around
                                                                                           rection,  he would meet with                           Qc!
                                                                                                                                  succe,.
                                   And God said unto Moses, I am that I                         How   different   L".-Y   I.,,+,  AL-  r..L  ^^-^  v
                                    * and He said: Thus shalt thou say unto
                                tsy children of Israel, I Am  hakxsT;4me                        The  peopIe had not responded, in fact, h&d
                                unto you.                                     . : .        his zeal and threatened to turn against lo
          IAmthatIam!                                                                      had not revealed His power from heaven;
          That is My Name !                                                                                                                                   3rn
                                                                                          able Moses had been compelled to flee frr  the wrath
          Such was the answer the man of God received in of the king!
      the Mount of God, when he inquired after the Name of                                      Forty years had passed?
      Him that sent him, Moses, to the people of Israel to                                      Forty years of solitude for the man of
      deliver them out of their bondage.                                                   quiet seclusion behind the flock of  Jethr
          A very small and humiliated Moses it was that met in-law; years of inactivity, radically  diEe: rent from the
      the Lord through the revelation of the burning bush, a first                                                                                            If
                                                                                                  period of his life, when in the court c  Pharaoh he
      revelation as comforting and assuring as it was mar- had been educated and trained ; years, ay
      vellous   ; a Moses here stood in trembling reverence on culated to make him forever unfit to a(
      holy ground that had learnt deeply to feel his own  in- superhuman task unto which he had been  t
                                             -._-                                                                                                             xddned from
      significance, unworthiness and incapability to  accom- before the foundation of the world ; yet,years of in-
      plish that unto which the Most High had ordained and va1uabIe  training to prepare him as an instrument for
      now called him.-'                                                                    the manifestation of the Lord's  gl~.
          Forty years ago he had felt so entirely different! years of quiet shepherd-life, given to mucl
          Then, indeed, he had made his choice, and his choice no doubt, upon the Lord's ways and promises, Moses
      had been right and well-pleasing to the Lord, the had not regretted the choice once made: he had never
      fruit of Gods own gracious and efficacious call in the longingly looked back to the pleasures  &a
      heart of the man of God. Then he had disdained to been his ; neither had he ceased tc) look forward to the
      be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; he had for- realization of the Lord's promises; and to pray for the
      saken the treasures of Egypt that were freely offered deliverance of his brethren. Buit  the last vestige  of
      him; he had received a vision of the recompense of re- self-confidence had surefy  been obliteratLed from his
      ward ; and he had chosen rather to suffer affliction with heart and mind. He had learned to look upon the at-
      the people of God. Then he had set out to fight their tempt of forty years ago, upon the  zea1 of
                                                                                                                                                            his youth, as
      cause, to defend them against the cruel oppression of folly; he had been made to see 
                                                                                                                                                  at tlx  boy
                                                                                                                                                         onlv the wondrous
      the Egyptian overseers and he had slain him that would power of the Most High could deliver
                                                                                                                                                          _-  t-he  peop1e   o f
      whip his brethren.                                                                   Israel from the house of bondage;; and more and more
         But he had not realized that the work of defending his impotency and insignificance had become clear to
      and delivering the brethren must solely be the Lord's; his own consciousness.
      that the Most High had there, in Egypt, the vessels of                                    And, as is evident from his attitude at the Mount of
      wrath fitted unto destruction in whom not the power God, now the Lord calls him to deliver H
      and  .wrath  of Moses, but the glory of the Almighty feels himself totally unfit for the Lord's  v
I     must be revealed, and the vessels of mercy through and                                    He has become a very small Moses , , .  *

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

      Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh?                   Most High made ail things by the Word and without
      Who am I, that I should deliver the children of the Word nothing was made that  was  created. Creation
Israel ?                                                       is the embodiment of the thoughts of God. Every crea-
      I am unfit. I have no prestige. The people will not ture is one of His words. And that word of God is the
believe me. I am not eloquent but slow of speech ; creature's name. In the state of righteousness man
Lord, sent whom Thou wouldest, but not me, for of all possessed the power to read these words of God and
men I am the most incapable ! . . . .                          know His thoughts.      .
      Apparently he had been spoiled by the forty years           God has a name.
of solitude, had lost his zeal and courage.                       Not, indeed, in the sense of a distinguishing mark,
      Yet, it was not so.                                      according to which He could be compared or distin-
 _ After all, he had only learned to know h.imseIf and guished from other beings in the same order. For God
acknowledge his own incompetence. He had become a is one. The Most High is God alone and there is no
small Moses and, because of it, he had become a fit God beside Him. There was neither God before him,
medium for the revelation of the glory of the Lord.            nor wiIl there be a God after Him. -He stands alone,
      Our own glory must always be cast into the dust, He cannot be compared, neither needs He a name to
that we may learn to glory in the Lord.                        distinguish Himself from other gods . . . .
      Before we wiIl anxiously ask: Who art Thou, what            But in His Name i? His Being, the revelation of His
is Thy Name, Lord? we must needs in self-abasement gIorious  divine nature. Essentially His Name is the
cpy out : 0 Lord, who am I ?                                   Son, the eternal Logos, the Word, the everlasting
      Before we reach out for the Rock of our salvation effulgence of His glory, the express image of His
we must needs know that in ourselves we are perishing eternal subsistence, the Name that is known and ex-
in the waves.                                                  pressed in that divine fulness of infinite glory by Him-
      Then our souI wiI1 reach out for Him. Then we will self alone. But there is also a name of God, by which
ask: what is Thy Name? And always the answer will we may know Him and apprehend Him and have  fel-'
come :                                                         lowship  with Him. For He revealed Himself in all His
      I Am that I am!                                          works, in creation, in history, in His boundless grace,
                                                               centrally in God Incarnate, Immanuel, our Lord Jesus
                                                               Christ. And He was pleased to give Himself names,
                                                               sounds of human language, by which we may know
      Lord, Thy Name  ?                                        Him, stand face to face with Him, address Him, speak
      It is the outcry of Moses' soul.                         of Him and glorify Him . . . .
      For, indeed, he does not express it thus. Rather            And always the Name is the Being, the revelation
does he put the question in the mouths of the people           of God to us !
to whom he must go. They will ask him for the Name                Hence, the frequent identification of the Name of
of Him that sent him.                                          God with Himself. For the Scriptures speak of it that
      Yet, in the question Moses expresses the need of - God's Name is near, meaning that He Himself is with
his own soul to draw near unto the Being of his Sender us. They speak of trusting in His Name, of believing
and the Deliverer of his brethren. Not to distinguish in His Name, of calling upon His Name, of praising
the Lord from other gods, he asks the question. H% holy Name, which is the same as trusting and be-
Neither to become acquainted with the sound of the lieving in Him,  cahing  upon Him and praising His glori-
name Jehovah, for the fathers had long called upon ous Being.
Him by that Name. But his humble soul, filled with a              And thus Moses' purpose in asking for the Name
sense of weakness and helplessness, would reach out for becomes clear.
the very heart of God . . . .                                     A tremendous task is pIaced upon his shoulders.
      What is his Name ?                                       And who is he? A trembling, wretchedly weak and
      The Name of God is His Being. It is Himself re- insignificant worm ! A mere nonentity, devoid of all
vealed to us.                                                  power and wisdom and courage in himself . . . .
      Such is the significance of a name in general. Not,         Will not the people, to whom he is sent, feel as
indeed, as if with us, dead through sins and tres- he? . . . .
passes, darkened spiritually, and having only a small             He cannot stand alone. He is totally incapabIe  of
remnant of our once glorious gifts, the name still has going in His own name and power.
that meaning. Names for us have become mere sounds.               He reaches out for the Rock, that his soul may cling
Through sin we have lost that intuitive knowledge we to Him!
once possessed in the state of original righteousness,             He would find in God that of which he knows him-
through which we were able to discern the names of self to be void.
created things. But this does not alter the fact, that             Lord, reveal Thyself! Let me cling to Thee !
all things have their own name, and that this name is              Draw near to me in the power of Thy Being !
essentially the  manifestatiqn   qf  their being.  FQ~  the        Thy Name, Lord!


                                           T H E   STANDA
                                            -

    IAm!
    I Am that .I Am!                                                  and forevermore and before the world
    Of all the names of God there is no name like unto                   Jehovah, I am that I am!
this Name. No name that more fully and centrally                         The Everlasting Rock!
expresses the very divinity of the Divine than  the                      Oh, blessed God of my salvation,  only  a
Name.                                                                 Jehovah, Thy Name, pIease,  let me  km
    I Am ! Jehovah !                                                  unto my wretched and sinful soul, we;
                           The Name He reveals again and
in all the blessedness of scvereign and sure mercies in and let me know Thee! Stamp Thy Na
the name Jesus : Jehovah-Salvation !                                  grace indelibly upon my sinstained mind, uy
                                                                      proud heart, that all my imagined freet
    It reveals the Most High to us, in it He draws near and my conceit and abominable baug
to us in His eternal self-existence, self-being. No crea- rooted out and abased before Thee an
ture can say as He: My name is I am. I can say : I am always know, that I am but a dust of the bal
what I am determined to be, I am what I am made, I drop of the bucket. Let me taste the sweet con:
am as I am born, I am what others make of me, what of clinging with all the grace-wrought tendrik
circumstances make of me, what rain and sunshine, heart;   to  Thee
climate and circumstances, friends and enemies, sick-                                .  L l  
                                                                         And speak to my soul: I, Jehovah, the irnn
ness and health, riches and poverty, peace and war, eternal, self-being, sovereignz  faithful I  A?$
prosperity and adversity and a thousand other agencies, with thee                   (L  .
over which I have not the least control, make of me, I                   Then I & not be afraid!
am not, I became. I am not, I exist. I am not, the                       Then I will go and face the terrible 7
source of my being is outside of me. I am not, for I and proclaim before him Thy Name and honor
am flitting away like a shadow. I was not what I am, him Thy sovereign will and confidently demand
1  will  not  be  what  1  am. AS  SOOn   as  1  SaY  1  Jh  1  am    tbt he let Thy people go! 'J'hen  I,  a mere woT
no more. I am but an atom, an inflnitessimally small not fear the stubbornness of a st%nec
part of a whole, on that whole dependent, and without will face them and speak to them of !
that whole not able to be. Lord, what stinking pride, covenant. Thou and I !  NayI Thou through
what detestable conceit, what abominable folly it must nothing, Thou all ! Then I will go and do Th
be in Thy sight when I, a mere worm, a flitting shadow, Lord, what is Thy name? Gome near and let I
an inexpressibly insignificant dust-particle, trust in self reach out for the everlasting Rock! V .
and exalt myself against Thee! . . . .                                   Thou through me !
    But God Is !                                                         Then call me, in the midst of a sinful, hostile
    His Name is I AM!                                                 to be Thine, to be of Thy party, over aga
    He is the Self-Existent!                                          of darkness, sin, the devil and the hc
   He is such in His Being. No cause had He outside wickedness in high places; call me, as Thou call;
of Himself. Nothing caused Him, nothing formed Him people,  to come out of them, to have no
and He is the sole Cause of all. Nothing bears Him up, them, to declare Thy Name and extol  '
and He bears all. He is the uncaused Cause of all ; the fore them . . . .
unsustained Sustainer of all ; the unconceived Conceiver                 Thou with me . . + -
of all ; the unwilled Will of all. He is that He is. Though              And I shall not be afraid!
all else disappears into nothingness, He still is ; though               For I know, then, that Thou lovedst me with
all else collapses He still stands. He alone is inde- dependent love, for reasons of Thine ow
pendent.  There are no powers and forces, no incidents Thy sovereign love is immutable; 1 know tha
or circumstances, no agencies or influences that de- canst and surely wilt deliver me!
termine Him. He alone determines all things with most                    Jehovah ! Rock of my salvation I
absolute sovereignty. He is such in all His life, His                                                                 H
will, His wisdom, His counsel, the alone unnecessitated
Necessity of all ! His Will alone is free, His counsel
alone is uncounselled. And His own Being is the sole
reason for all God ever wills and does !                                       Not all the words of all mankind,
   He is the Immutable, the Eternal !                                            However great and wise,
   He is that He is ! He is fully all that He is forever                       Can lift a sinner from the dust
and ever, the eternally perfect One. And with perfect                            And place him in the skies.
fulness  He lives the infinite perfection of His divine
life continuously. And, therefore, He is eternally the                         Then let Thy Word, 0 Son of God,
same.  To infinite perfection you cannot add. From                               Suffice this heart of mine;
infinite Perfection  YOU cannot subtract. lhfinite per-                        And let me count no word as true
fection  cammt grow and increase ; neither can it de-                            If it c~nficts  with Thine!

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

                        ABRAHAM                             ness pretty well shattered. He went into the south and
                                                            unto Bethel - a region where his tent had been for
      In the article preceding we set ourselves to the the beginning. In doing so he gave unmistakable evi-
task of discovering.Abraham's  place in the scheme of dence for having repented for going down to Egypt to
redemption. We saw that by grace he was constituted escape the famine. Nay more, in returning to a former
in a spiritual sense the father of believers in order state and practice he showed that he had been enpow-
that with this father the Lord could transact respect- ered by grace to add a public confession - such was
ing the interests of His ccvenant.    It was pointed out the import of his return to Bethel  - to private re-
that only between the Lord and a bebever could this pentance. In  fine, it may safely be concluded that the
covenant be established at all; that for this reason Abraham who again took up his residence in Bethel,
Abraham had to be made to show himself up as pre- was more of a grown-up saint then the Abraham who
emmently  a man of faith before the formal establish- had repaired to Egypt for bread. This accords, too,
ment of the covenant could take place. It was pointed with the incident in his life next recorded, an incident
out that the first evidence of Abraham's faith on record that shows him up as one whose affections had been
was his response to the divine command to get him weaned away from this earth and set  u,pon the treas-
from his country, and from his kindred, and from his ures of heaven.
father's house, unto a land that the Lord would show           Strife arose between the herdsmen of Abraham's
him and to dwell in that land as a stranger and pil-        cattle and the herdsmen  of Lot's cattle. Abraham re-
grim in the earth. Attending to his career in Canaan, solved to relieve the situation by co-operating with his
it is clearly discernabIe  that his faith, subjected to con- nephew in placing between them a distance large
stant trial, continued to take on strength until finally enough to permanently offset all danger of future con-
it was counted to him righteousness.                        flict. Though aware of the  remarkabIe  fertility of the
      Let us now take a bird's eye view of his career and plain of Jordan to the east  - it was a plain well
notice how he went on to perfection until he had so watered everywhere, even as the garden of the Lord
hidden himself in God that his faith was counted to - Abraham, in order to gain his nephew for his
him righteousness and in consequence thereof he him- scheme, permits him to select for them both the region
self declared to be the father of believers.                to which each shall repair. He thus showed himself
      The first severe trial of his faith occurred when the up as one of God's meek ready to surrender this earth
Iand where he, in obedience to the call, had taken up instead of engaging in some illegitimate strife for its
his residence, was struck by a famine. In crises such possession. He will therefore inherited the very earth
as these, faith looks to the Lord for guidance and de- which in his meekness he refused to claim. -
liverance. It was not under the impulse of faith, there-
fore, that Abraham, to escape the ravages of the fam-          Abraham, the saint of outstanding meekness there-
ine, repaired to Egypt and there had his wife circulate upon took the offensive in a holy war with the four
about the report that she was his sister in order that kings who, after having re-established their authority
he might dwell safely in that land. And what he in the vale of Siddim, took all the goods of Sodom and
thought to accomplish by his subterfuge failed to mate- Gomorrah and went their way, among the _ captives
rialize, and what he either failed or refused to imagine was also found Lot. abraham unsheathed his sword in
actually happened. His wife was appropriated by this defense of his brother. Faith rendered him bold. Fear-
Egyptian king. He thus had walked into a self-pre- ing God, he feared no man, and therefore conquered,
pared snare from which the Almighty only could ex- The united forces of the world could not have stood
tricate him.                                                before him; for his going forth was the sign that God
      However, this experience was made to work for had arisen, so that the route of the army of the four
his good. To begin with, he was made to see that the kings is the abiding sign that upon the living faith
Lord delights in fair dealing and cannot be served by of the kingdom of heaven the power of the world and
a lie. Further, he could not have escaped the con- he11 of which this army constituted the germ, will con-
clusion that for him to give vent to the sinful urge of tinue to break itself; for this faith is of a kind to which
relieving a difficult situation by taking matters into the Almighty covenant God responds  tith, "Fear not,
his own hand and out of the hand of the Lord is to in- I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward."
vite certain disaster; that it was better by far, there-       Returning from the slaughter of the four kings,
fore, to let the Lord tend to his own affairs, that his Abraham was met by Melchizedek, king of Salem, a
future and the future of the world lay not with him personage whose appearance has already been  stici-
but with the Lord ; that the latter is able to save to ently explained and accounted for.  Suflice it to say
the uttermost; that he, who submits himseIf  to His that to him Abraham gave the tenths of all the spoil,
care, dwells safely.                                        thereby recognizing him as his superior. Melchizedek
      As a result of his experience with Pharaoh; Abra- on his part brought forth bread and wine. That this
ham left Egypt with a high esteem for God, and with was a sacerdotal act appears from the fact that the
his confidence in, and respect  for, his own resourceful- record of it is immediately followed by the statement

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

that Melchizedek was a priest of the most high God. his. What was sought was  fi
By this priest, Abraham and his God are blessed.           "This shalt not be thy  hei.
    The meeting between Abraham and Melchizedek forth out of thy loins,"  "E
was prophetic of the meeting between Christ and  Hti       thou shalt certainly receive.
people in that day when the good fight shall have been God and it was counted to b
fought. As Melchizedek brought forth bread and wine            To understand this  dech
for the victor, so Christ brings out the stores of in mind, that Abraham's bc
heaven for the eternal refreshment of His people. And age of Sarah had carried he
they conscience that the victory is His, cast their child-bearing, so that the birth of this heir  P
crown at His feet.                                         partake of the character of the
    Abraham, on his return from the scene of conflict, lieving God, then, Abraham
had passed through a land weakened by disaster. reIied  upon God aItogether;
Flushed with vcitory, how easy it would have been to naturaI ground upon which :
establish by violence his authority in this land. His entirely, heartily, and steac
was the calling, however, to live and to die by the        upon one who alone hath g
promise, and thus to live out his live as a pilgrim and faith was counted to him for righ
a stranger in the earth. How worthily he walked of ing is not that this faith as the root of obedient
this vocation wherewith he was called. And how de- pronounced or declared righteousness, but tha
termined he was that his God should receive all the faith being present, righteousness was imputed unto
credit for his great success as a pastoral prince, is A b r a h a m .
evident from his refusal to accept as much as a shoe-          Is was this faith - a faith wh.ose working was first
latched from the king of Sodom.                            seen as a response to the call, and thus as a mighty
   And now once more the word of the Lord came to working principle that cantinued to take on strength
Abraham in a vision, saying, "Fear not Abraham, I am until "accounted to him righlteousness"  - that elevated                     ;
thy shield and thy exceeding great reward." The this patriarch to the position of' father of believers,                           :
shield was a weapon of defense for war by which the "Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted
warrior sheltered himself in battle against the missile to him for righteousness.  Know-3re therefore that they
of the foe. As to the reward, it goes to the victor. It which are of faith, the same are  ithe children of Abra-.
was, then, in the capacity of warrior of God fighting ham . . . " [Gal. 3)  .
by faith the battles of Jehovah that Abraham is as-           On the meaning and implication of this rela,tion  I
sured that his shield and reward is God. In all Iikeli-    delineated upon in my preceding article. It was  a7rerred
hood the thought that he stood exposed to the fury of that the one great reason for &
                                                                                            __  --braham's  appearance  :
those- vanquished potentates haunted his SOUL As a was that by grace he might be constituted father of
result of his interference they had retreated in great believers; for, as was said, the time was ripe for the
haste, leaving behind them the spoils of war. Thus Lord to establish, in an o&&l, formal sense, His cove-
their campaign-had ended in disaster. Instead-of con- nant between-Him and  .His chosen people, who; there;  vi
querors, they had returned as refugees. Might the fore, had to be provided, with a rcepresentative person-
near future not see them back in Canaan with ever age with whom the Lord cou Id negotiate. This person-
larger forces and with the fixed purpose of inflicting age was Abraham, the believing father of the great                         :
punishment upon him at whose hands they had suf- family of redeemed. It was this  singling
                                                                                                     -      out
                                                                                                           -         o?  the 3
fered defeat? The soul of this warrior was troubled. father of believers to stand in tlhe covenant of &race
He was in the need of a reassuring word of his God.        as the one with whom the Lord could transact, that
It came to him in a vision, "Abraham, fear not, I am proves conclusively that the Lord can be a God to and
thy shield."                                               bless, just men only. If this were  understood,  eyes
   Again upon this occasion the patriarch had shown wouId soon open to the fallacy o.f the pernicious doc-
himself up as one enpowered by grace to part with trine of common grace. Let therebe no misunderstand-
earthly treasures in order that the reputation of his ing on this score however. As to himself,  Abraham 1
God might not suffer injury. Is it a wonder, then, that was as destitute of righteousness; as any sinner could
the word of the Lord came unto him saying, "Abra- be. His righteousness was Christ, so that2  though in
ham, I am thy exceeding great reward."                     himself an ill-deserving sinner, he stood before thelord
   Abraham's reply to the word of the Lord that as one deserving of the grace that
came to him was, "Lord God, what wilt thou give me, and the life of those he  represent4
seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is      radiated,- the power to show himself
this Eliezer of Damascus. Behold to me thou hast nently a man o,f faith, and the a~
given no seed, and one born in my house is my heir." he was capable, were gifts of grac
   What Abraham was seeking is light and certainty sign that he had been chosen
respecting the matter of-the  fulfilment  of the promise; tion of the world that `he s:
a sign and a pledge that the promised boon would be bIame  before Him in love."  Ab

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

grace was an extention, an outgrowth, so to say, of showed himself up as one capable of turning against
Christ. With him, therefore, the Lord could transact. his own flesh and blood, if by doing so the friendship
It is worthy of note that the official establishment of of Christ might be retained.
the covenant was delayed until the Lord had declared          Abraham's faith may be said to have` reached its
that to Abraham faith had been accounted righteous- high point when it responded to the command to offer
ness.                                                      up Isaac for a burnt-offering. This act of his was
      Having been officially initiated into the covenant, demonstrative of the disposition on his part to con-
Abraham as the friend and ally of God and as the secrate, as the friend of God his entire person and all
father and teacher of that great company he repre- his powers to the service and the praise of God. But
sented, entered upon a career that enunciated the this is not all. Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac consti-
greatest principle of the doctrine of Christ; was em- tuted the evidence that the promises of God had
powered to respond to commands which, as executed, awakened in him a faith that was able to sense and
brought into relief that the friend and ally of God expect the immediate return of Isaac from the realm
must be prepared to devote himself wholy to the Lord ; of the dead, so that, of all the saints, Abraham was the
for the Lord's sake practice the greatest selfdenial, first to clearly discern a faith capable of embracing the
sacrifice every interest, yea loose his very life, and resurrected Christ.        Finally, this sacrifice of his
thus turn against every reasoning of nature.               brought him to the fore as one in whom the mind and
      First, however, the Lord permits Himself to be pre- the will to make the supreme sacrifice  - the sacrifice
vailed upon to tarry for a little in the door of Abra- of one's own life - the will to abase oneself for
ham's tent. The entire course of conduct on the part Christ's sake, the mind to count all things dung, that
of both Abraham and Jehovah was enblematic  of the God may be gained was as strong as in any saint of
closest covenant friendship.. It is also worthy of note the new dispensation. It was on this occasion then
that the friendly intercourse which Jehovah here hold that Abraham brought into play every hallowed energy
with this patriarch was an event which occurred after of his soul - his love, his faith, his hope, his capacity
the symbolical purification of himself and his house to obey. Because he loved, because he hoped, because
through the rite of circumcision.                          he believed, because in a word he feared God, he offered
      Having refreshed Himself with Abraham's service, up his son.
having declared that Sarah would have a son as a re-          Abraham's treaty with Abimelech again proves
sult of His returning, the Lord with His heavenly com- that he was of a mind to abide the Lord's time instead
panions rose to depart. They turn their faces toward of appropriating by force what had been promised
Sodom; and Abraham went with them to bring them him, to-wit, the land of Canaan. And Machpelah con-
on the way. The Lord opines that it would be im- stitutes the sign of his faith in the willingness and the
proper for Him to withhold from Abraham the thing ability of God to bring unto him and his seed the prom-
that He was about to do; for Abraham is his friend; ised grace.
he will command his children and his household after          So it appears, then, that the speech of Abraham's
Hin&and  they~-shall  keep the way of the Lord ; to do career is exceedingly `rich in instruction.--- It tells us .-- --
justice and judgment. So the Lord communicated to so much about the way, the cross to be borne, the
Abraham that the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is crown, the character of the world, about what the Lord
great; that, because their sin is  .very grievous, the expects of his friend-servants.
Lord will go down now, and see whether they have              Thus we have set forth the one outstanding reason
done altogether according to the cry of it, which is for Abraham's appearance, the reason, namely, that he
come to Him ; and if not He will know.                     might serve the redemptive purposes of God as the
      The Lord, then, does not hide from this friend of father of believers and in his capacity of father as
His the thing that He was about to do. To him He their representative and teacher in the covenant of
pours out His heart and revealed His secret counsels. grace.
      Knowing  cwhat the Lord contemplated doing, Abra-       Still other reasons for the appearance of Abraham
ham interceded for the just ones which might be found may be discovered. The nEar reason is the inhabitants
among the inhabitants of the plain. He is their father, of the land of Canaan. The apostate tribes of this
they are his children, so that in praying for them, he land had to be brought in contact with a walking altar
prays not for the world, but for those given him.          of God, with one radiating by his life the glories of
      After these events, he receives the two commands God in the light of which the seared conscience of the
that were meant to show him up as one enpowered to sinner regions its voice to corroborate the divine testi-
love God above all and to count all things dung that mony to the effect that man is obliged to eschew evil
His friendship might be retained. The first of these and to serve the living God. Such an altar was Abra-
was the command to eject Isbmael from his household. ham, the friend-servant of the most high God. The
To this child, the heart of Abraham went out with all subsequent history of the Canaanites shows that the
the power of a paternal devotion. Yet in obedience to light Abraham emitted was to them a savor  .to death'
the will of fbg Lord, he sent this child forth, and thus unto death. They were made to hear that they might


                                                T H
                                                 - E   S T A N D A R D  BEA R E R
not understand. Even so, when the last of the patri-
archs departed for Egypt, Canaan was more then ever                                    NIET  GEZIEN
without excuse. So, then, at least one of the reasons                                          V
for the call was to provide Canaan with a fresh revela-
tion of God.                                                                                 (Slot)
    However, from the notices of Scripture we gather
that there were those among the Canaanites who,
drawn by the light Abraham emitted, blessed him and
the name of his God, and were therefore blessed by his
God.                                                                  De Godsopenbaring, in de natuur zoowel als in de :
    As God's friend-servant, as one in whose face (face H. Schrift, is de uitdrukking,  de weergave, van alles
we use as the signification of Abraham's entire career)            wat noodig is, van wat de Heere voor ons noodig acht-
the Canaanites and at a latter period the seed of which te; dat we Hem zouden kennen.
he was to become the progenitor could behold the glory
of God, Abraham repelled and attracted, was blessed den, dat deze openbaring niet vereenzelvigd mag wor- . . %...A;
and was cursed. And once more, those blessing Abra- den met God, sullen  we bewaard blijven voor de god-
ham were blessed; those cursing him, cursed.                       delooze en verdervende leer van het Pantheisme geiijk
    In the new dispensation Abraham's place is taken dit in een vorige, zoowel  als in onze eeuw, de gee&en
by Christ. In His face we behold the glory of God as it gevangen hield en nog steeds gevangen  houdt.
could not be visible to our eye in the face of Abraham.               Deze leer kan een gevaar worden  voor olts indien
    And whatever attitude men assume toward Christ, we de openbaring Gods en God niet scherp onderschei-'
must be taken as an index to what their eternal, state den.
will be. He cursing Christ, is cursed. He blessing                    We belijden, dat God en Zijn schepping niet  een,
Christ, is blessed.                                                dat is identisch zijn, maar twee zijni;datHijinalle                               %.:
                                                       G. M:O.               en deze draagt, en no&tans zeer verre ver- i.-..'
                                                                   heven blijft boven  aIle dingen.                                      ,.i .L. i
                                                                      Daarom kan de schepping rlooit God  aelf  zijn en
    .                                                              werkt aile vermenging dier * a  i
                                                                                                    Remen  verderfelijk op het
                        IN MEMORIAM                                geloofsleven der gemeente.  Wallt waar komt ge  langs
                                                                   dezen weg ten slotte  terech
   Het behaagde den Heere nogmaals een onzer  leden  door den                                      t als ge het geschapene  tot
dood uit ons midden  weg te nemen, den 12den  Oct.,                God verheft ? Hier : dat in de schepping* het hoogste
                                                                   schepsel, de mensch, tot God velrheven wordt. Zoodat
                        MRS.  C. MEYER,                            God, die wezenlijk een Gee& is, en Idie door niemand
in den ouderdom van ,64 jaar.                                      gezien kan  .worden,  neergetrokken wordt in het eindi-               :
   Wax,  volgens hare belijdenis, het leven haar Christus  was,    ge en er in den eigenlijken zin dc
mogen wij gelooven, dat het sterven haar gewin was, en zij nu                                            ss wo.ords geen God is.    j .;ij!,,
juicht voor den troon van God. en het Lam.                            Van tweeen  een : Als alIes wat geschapen is, mat we i  :,  .`I  :
   De  Heere  trooste de bedroefde  familie.                       zien en tasten, God is; dan is er geen God, of, dan zijn
                                                                   we  allen   goden.  Op beider standpunt vervalt de nood-
   Namens  de Hollandsche Vrouwenvereeniging  "Weest een
         Zegen" van de First Prot.  Reformed Church,               zakelijkheid  der openbaring en die der religie,                           /,,  :-`:I,
                                                                      Keert men nu de orde zooahI  +*
                                                                                                          cue in der werkelijk-
                                    Ds. W. Verhil, Pres.           heid bestaat om door uit te gaan van de stelling : Er is
                                    Mrs. J. Cammenga, Seer.        geen God, die in de  Schrift,  schepping en historie  eich
                                                                   heeft geopenbaard,  dan volgt bier w8eer .uit, dat er in                   .,
                                                                   den eigenlijken  ain des  woord,s van een  gesch4pen                       -.             :
                            GEBED                                  wereld, die wezerilijk eerst in Gods raad bestond en op               i
          Wat houdt het leven niet omhuld                          het machtwoord Gods uit dien raad werd 2Ifgescheiden,
            Aan vreugde en verdriet ?                              geen sprake kan zijn.
          Heer, zoo Gij `t met Uw troost vervult,                     Dat er ook geen Schrifture  is waardoor God zich              j                .'
            Dan sterft de hope niet.                               bekend  heeft gemaakt en waardoor we- met Hem ge-
          Heer, als de levensscheem'ring daalt,                    meenschap kunnen hebben. Dat zonde en genade  (ja
            En wij naar huis toe gaan,                             alle dingen) niets anders zijn dan begrippen die respec-
          Zijt Gij het, die ons wacht  en haalt                    tievelijk niets anders aanduiden dan deugd en ondeugd.
            En  aan Uw zij doet staan.                             Dat de maatstaf,  voor wat de S&rift ; recht en gerech-
                                                                   tigheid noemt, moet gezocht in de uits;praak  of van den
          Het leven zij dan ruw en kil,                            enkeling of bij de menigte. En dat ailes, op zijn best
            De stormwind nog zoo bang,                             genomen, een periode  van eeuwig ontstaan en van een
          Eens zwijgt het al, Heer, op Uw wil                      eeuwig volmaakter worden  veronderstelt, zich culmi-
            Voor eeuw'gen  jubelzang!                              neerend in den volmaakten  mensch, God.                               ;  ,i.

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

                                                            woordelijke   beteekenis nooit is. Soms beteekent  bet'
                        V R A G E N                         woord : alle klassen van menschen. Soms beteekent het  :
      H. J. K. van P., Ia., vraagt :                        allen,  die tot een zekere groep behooren. Het laatste is
      1.  Als een zondaar  aan  zichzerf  ontdekt wordt, hier het geval. Het woord heeft dan we1 beide malen
wat is dan  we1 de eerste zucht,  "0 God, wees mij  zon- dezelfde beteekenis, maar ziet tech op twee verschil-
daar genadig !" of dat hij  weten  mag, dat hij  uitver-    lende groepen. In het eerste gedeelte van den tekst
koren is?                                                   ziet het op de groep in Adam; in het tweede gedeelte op
                                                            de groep in Christus. In het eerste gedeelte is het de
      Antwoord  :                                           groep dergenen, die onder de schuld van Adam vallen ;
      Het antwoord ligt reeds in de vraag : het eerste.     in het tweede gedeelte ziet het op de groep, die onder de
      Ik mag hier duidelijkheidshalve  we1  aan toevoegen, gerechtigheid van Christus komen.
dat zulk een zondaar in zulk een zucht om genade en             Dat dit niet anders kan is volkomen duidelijk. Want
vergeving,  we1 mag zien, en ook moet  leeren zien, een zoodra ge den tekst op dit punt anders verklaart,  moet
vrucht der verkiezing. Wie ernstig bidt om genade, ge eenvoudig aannemen, dat ieder mensch in  Christus
heeft reeds genade ; en alle genade is uitvloeisel der gerechtvaardigd is,  dat dus  alle menschen metterdaad
verkiezing.                                                 zalig worden.
      2. Wil u ons ook een verklaring geven over Ram.           Miss G. K. of G. R., Mich, asks:
5:18?
      Antw. We lezen daar: Zoo dan gelijk door  e&e             1. When were the angels created?
misdaad de schuld gekomen is over alle menschen tot             Answer: The Word of God furnishes no definite in-
verdoemenis  ;  alzoo  ook door  &5ne rechtvaardigheid formation with regard to the time of the creation of
komt de genade over alle menschen tot rechtvaardig- the angels. In fact, though all of Scripture abundantly
making des levens.                                          witnesses of the existence of angels, informs us of their
      Ter verklaring het volgende:                          nature, order, life and service, the narrative of Gen. 1
      1. Het is duidelijk, dat de apostel in dit vers een does not speak  .of the creation of angels at all.  It
vergelijking maakt tusschen de wijze,  waarop alle men- speaks in vs. 1 of the creation of the heavens and of
schen onder de schuld en de verdoemenis komen, en de the earth, in order then to describe in detail the order
wijze, waarop  allen  gerechtvaardigd  worden.  Zooals of the earthly creation. The reason for this is, that
de schuld van Adam over ons komt tot verdoemenis, the viewpoint of the revelation of God in Gen. 1 is
zoo komt de rechtvaardigheid van den Heere Jezus earthly, not heavenly.
Christus over ons ten leven.                                    It has been surmised, either that the angels already
      2. Daaruit is tevens duidelijk, dat de tekst ziet op existed before "the beginning" of Gen. 1  :l, or that, at
de toerekening van de schuld van Adam en van de ge- least, they were created on the first day. For these
rechtigheid van Christus. Wij zijn in Adam schuldig, views an appeal was made especially to : Job 38 :7:
omdat de schuld van Adam ons wordt toegerekend. Zoo When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons
zijn wij ook in  Christus  rechtvaardig, omdat de  ge- of God shouted for joy. The context of this verse
rechtigheid van den Heiland ons wordt toegerekend. points to creation. And, it is argued, the sons of God
Dit zijn eenvoudig feiten. De toerekening van Adams that are mentioned-in this passage cannot refer to other
schuld, waardoor de verdoemenis over ons komt, is niet creatures than the angels. It seems to me, however,
een zaak van aanbod en aanname, maar van een histo-         that this is no proof for the view proposed. Certainly,
risch vaststaand feit. En evenzoo  is het met de recht-     the angels were created after the "beginning" of Gen.
vaardigmaking in Christus. Ook deze komt niet over 1 :l. That beginning is the beginning of time, to which
alle menschen  als een aanbod, de verwerkelijking also the angels are subject. From that beginning on,
waarvan zou afhangen van den wil des menschen, maar not only the earth, but also the heaven and the heaven-
is een vaststaand feit. En deze toerekening heeft haar ly creation, to which the angels belong, were formed.
grond in het Hoofdzijn van den Heere. Adam is hoofd And, too, the text quoted from Job 38 is too general
van  allen; daarom zijn allen  in hem schuldig. Christus    and vague to base on it any definite view with respect
is Hoofd van allen; daarom zijn allen  in Hem gerecht- to the time when the angels were created.
vaardigd. Er is geen ontkoming  aan deze verklaring.           Personally, I am inclined to believe, that the angels
      3. Maar, als dit goed duidelijk is, dan is het ook were created on the sixth day, together with man. My
duidelijk, dat het woordje allen in beide deelen  van den reason for this is, that they belong to the class of
tekst  we1 dezelfde woordelijke beteekenis heeft (zooals rational-moral creatures, that are adapted to know and
een goede regel van uitlegging dan ook zou eischen), serve God consciously. If we interpret Gen. 1  :l as
maar daarom nog niet ziet op dezelfde personen. Armi-       having reference to the creation of the unformed, dark
nianen mogen het gaarne voorstellen, alsof  aEZen  in de chaos, we find, that in the rest of the creative acts the
S&rift eenvoudig zou beteekenen: ieder mensch Most High gradually brings that created chaos nearer
hoofd voor hoofd. Ik durf gerust zeggen, dat dit de to himself, until in man the world has conscious  com-

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

 munion with Him. If we apply this process of a grad-                        INGEZUN- 
                                                                                              U -`~~
                                                                                                E  N,
 ually ascending scale also to the formation of heaven,                                                                  i
 the evidence would be in favor of the view, that like                   Gezelschappen  We1 WenscheIi  jk
 man, the angels were created on the sixth day.
    2. Was the act of Satan in deceiving man in Para-           Met verwondering hebben wij gelezen,  wat Ds.  II.
 dise his first sin and, therefore, the cause of his H. schrijft over gezelschappen; de manier, waarop  hij
 (Satan's) fall?                                            ze  behandelt,  de  minachting,  waarmede hij  ze  be-
    3. If not, when and why did he fall?                    schrijft.
    These two questions must be answered in connection         De vraag kwam bij mij op, welke soort van gezei-
with each other as they refer to the same subject, schappen bedoelt Ds. H. ? Zijn er ook samenkomsten,
namely, the time and character of the fall of Satan.       die den naam van gezelschappen  dragen  en het to&
    The first of these questions must be answered in niet zijn? Maar na nogmaals  gelezen te hebben, wat
the negative. The temptation of man was not the first Ds. H. er van schrijft, komen wij tot de slotsom, dat
sin of Satan, nor am I inclined to believe that even the de redacteur  tech het oog heeft op die gezelschappen,
thought of that temptation constituted the fall of the die in ons oude vaderland  in de 18de eeuw gehouden
devil and his angels. That the act of the temptation werden, door onze  voorvaderen  of ook nog  we1 door
was not his first sin may be regarded as evident from onze  vaderen. Het was misschien  we1 in den tijd, dat
the narrative in Gen. 3: Before he came to tempt Eve de kerk in verval was, maar tech ook nog wel in een
he was corrupted, for he came with the deliberate pur- tijd, dat zij niet in zulk een groot verval  was, dat die
pose to oppose and slander God. And although some- gezeIschappen  bestonden. Bewijs hiervoor is, hetgeen
times the view has been expressed that Satan's sin was gebeurde in den tijd van onze ouders, waar Ds. H. tech
jealousy of man in his state of righteousness, this view ook niet onbekend is, onder de prediking van Ds.  Beere-
is burdened by so many  objeCtions, that it must be kamp,  toen  in  4&n winter 92 in de gemeente belijdenis
rejected.                                                  des geloofs  aflegden. En dan met, zooals  bet nu, helaas,
                                                           veel gebeurt, dat ze stotterend een paar vragen uit het
   Scripture describes the fall of the devil and his Kort Begrip beantwoorden. Neen, dan konden ze' u
angels as consisting of being puffed up, pride, rebel- vertellen, wat God aan hunne zielen gedaan had. En
lion, a leaving of their principle and habitation. This die gingen ook naar de gezelschappen.
is evident from all that we read of Satan's activity in                                                  En noemt Ds.
                                                           H. dat nu zoo maar valsche mystiek? Dat is tech waar-
the world of men., To reject God, to be like Him, to lijk we1 wat erg.
determine for himself what is good and evil, that is                           Ik voor mij zou zeggen,  wij mogen
                                                           wel bidden, dat de Geest  eens kwam en nog eens weer
always his purpose and work. This is evident, too, leven werkte in de dorre doodsbeenderen van Zijn volk
from such Scripture-passages as I Tim. 3  :6: Not a en kinderen. .En dat er nog van die gezelschappen uit
novice, lest being puffed up he fall into the condemna- mogen geboren worden, om uit ware behoefte des har-
tion of the devil ; and Jude vs. 6 : And angels that kept ten te spreken van de dingen, die het Koninkrijk Gods
not their own principality, but left their proper habit- aangaan.
ation he hath kept in everlasting bonds under darkness
unto the judgment of the great day.                            Neen, in die gezelschappen sprak men  niet over
   With respect to the time of the fall of Satan, we koetjes en paardjes en farms en crops, zooals veelal
may say with tolerable certainty, that it took place hier het geval is in onzen  tijd. Zijn die gezelschappen
after the -seventh day. For the seventh day was the niet geboren uit den Gee& Gods, uit behoefte des  har-
sabbath of all creation, when God rested from all His ten, om elkander toe  te  roepen:  `Komt luistert toe  gij
works. That there was a breach in the works of His Godsgezinden,  Gij, die den  Heer  van harte  vreest,
hands already on that day, is inconceivable. The fall Hoort, wat mij God deed ondervinden, Wat Hij gedaan
of Satan, therefore, took place after the seventh day. heeft  aan mijn geest"  ?
Again, personally I am of the opinion; that imme-             Nu  zijn er zeker uitzonderingen op den  regel. Ook
diately after that one sabbath of creation, the work of zal er op die gezelschappen we1 kaf onder het koren
God continued, to lead his creation through the way of zijn geweest. Maar over het algemeen was het de
sin and grace to the glory of His heavenly kingdom and kern van de kerk, die zich naar zulke gezelschappen
covenant. In other words, I believe that the fall of b e g a v e n .
Satan occurred on the very first day. after the one and       Zie, Ds. H., het wil mij tech voorkomen, dat Gods
only sabbath of creation.                                  Woord dit duidelijk leert. Want de Heere  Jezus  zegt
                                              IX H.        het  zelf, dat indien dezen  zwijgen, de  steenen  haast
                                                           spreken zuIIen. En dat niet, zooals  u het voorstelt, om
                                                           te  wedijveren  om den  diepsten weg  te hebben  door-
                                                           wandeld. Neen, velen kwamen schoorvoetend in  deze
      Geen schaduw kan het  licht ooit keeren,             gezelschappen om  te beluisteren hetgeen het meer  be-
                                                           vest&de  volk Gods te  vertellen  had. Nu is het  to&
      Waar d'eeuw'ge middag altijd gloort.                 ook waarlijk zoo, als God een zondaar aan zichzel~en


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         89

COMMENT ON THE REPORT OF THE INTRODUC-                          " (7)     0 God when thou wenteth forth before thy
                                                             people, when thou didst march through the wilderness :
                    TION OF HYMNS                            Selah;
    The committee had not before its eye the issue and          "(8)      The earth shock, the heavens also dropped
thus reasoned besides the point ,when it contended that at the presence of God: even Sinai itself was moved at
whereas in the Old Testament dispensation the entire the presence of God, the God of Israel."
tabernacle and temple service in all particulars was            The versified text reads (Number 179 in the
regulated by divine precept, and whereas in the New Psalter) :
Testament there is no trace of such regulation of wor-
ship, and whereas this regulation is rooted in the char-               (1) Let God arise and by His might,
acter of the new dispensation, the New Testament                           Let all His foes be put to flight;
Church may regulate its service, in particular its song                    But, 0 ye righteous gIadly sing,
service. No one would deny that the New Testament                          Exalt before your God and King.
Church has this right. To regulate is to adjust by rule,               (2) Jehovah% praises sound abroad,
method or established mode; to put in order; to. sub-                      Rejoice before the living God;
ject to rules or restrictions. Has the matter of the                       Prepare the way that He may come
right of the New Testament Church to put in order                          And make the desert places bloom.
its public worship ever been contested? Of course not.
    The question properly stated is not whether the                    (3) A-father of the fatherless,
church may regulate its worship, but whether in public                     A judge of widows in distress,
worship versified religious experiences and sentiments                     Is God, the God of boundless grace,
of fallible personages should be used alongside of the                     Who dwells within His holy place.
versified religious experiences and sentiments of the                  (4) God frees the captive and He sends
divinely and infallibly inspired prophets and apostles.                    The blessedness of home and friends,
This is the matter with which we shall now deal in                         And  onIy those in darkness stay
connection with the report of the committee.                               Who will not trust Him and obey.
    One of the requisites to clear-cut and unequivocable
argumentation is a definition of the terms appearing            The versification  of this Scripture is continued in
in the proposition to be either proved or disproved, the following number the first verse of which reads:
especially when these terms have more than one signi-                  God saved His people from distress
fication. The name Psalm is such a term. It is used                    And led them through the wilderness ;
to signify the original and unversified and thus in-                   Then mountains trembled in their  pIace,
fallible text and the versified and thus fallible text of              The heavens were bowed before His face.
the Psalter.
    Let us now lay hold on the character and the value          A comparison between the original and the  recast-
of and define the verified text. What is this text? And text brings out that the one as to its form and in some
the answer is ready: Scripture reproduced by the instances even as to its content, differs from the other.
Christian yet  fallible  poet and cast into a rhythmical Verse one of the original text reads, "Let His enemies
form or mold suitable for song. As can be expected, be scattered," while the recast text is expressive of the
this verified text differs as to form, and in some in- wish that these enemies may be put to flight. It shall
stances as to meaning, from the original text. Let us have to be admitted that the infinitive  to put to  flight
furnish some proof for this statement. The original is neither as to form nor meaning the exact equivaIent
text of Psalm sixty-eight reads:                             of the infinite to  scatter.  The scripture, "Let them
    " (1)    Let God arise, and let his enemies be scat- also that hate him flee from him. As smoke is driven
tered ; let them also that hate him flee before him.         away, so drive them away ; As wax melteth before the
    " (2) As smoke is driven away, so drive them fire, so let the wicked perish before the presence of
away ; as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked God," does not even appear in the recast text. Compare
perish in the presence of God.                               further, "But Iet the righteous be glad ; let them re-
    " (3)    But let the righteous be glad ; let them re- joice before God, . . " with "But 0 ye righteous gladly
joice before God : yea, let them exceedingly rejoice.        sing, Exalt before your God your King"; "God setteth
    " (4)    Sing unto God, sing praises unto his name:      the solitary in families; he bringeth out those who are
extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name bound with chains: . . . " with "God frees the captive
JAH, and rejoice before him.                                 and He sends the blessedness of home and friends, . . "
    " (5)    A father of the fatherless, and a judge of The statement, "He sends the blessedness of home and
the widows, i.s God in his holy habitation.                  friends, . . .  " may not mean what "He setteth the
    " (6) God setteth the solitary in families : he solitary in families: . . . " of the original text means.
bringeth out those who are bound with chains: but the One more example. "Prepare the way that He may
rebellious dwell in dry Zund.                                come and make the desert places bloom . . . " of the


I


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

      recast text, is not at all found in the original. Our exposition of the very word of God. The conscientious
      readers themselves may multiply these examples.              minister of the Gospel, true to his calling, dare not
            `It is plain, then, that the rhythmical text differs mount his pulpit without the conviction that, as near
      from the original and cannot be held,  therefo?e,  to as he can judge, he appears before his flock with a
      partake of the character of infallibility. But,  some- message, not based on the Word, but with a message
      one may ask, is this changing of the original text an that is the very projection of the Word itself. The
      allowable engagements? And the answer is ready: delivery of a sermon is therefore preceded by the an-
      Scripture was not at all effected, suffered no change. nouncement and reading  ,pf the text to be expounded.
      What happened is that the Christian poet received               And what gives us the creed or confession? A kind
      into his consciousness the word of God and reproduced of engagement that consists in extracting from Scrip-
      it in a form as near like the origina as convenience ture the current truth and casting it in proper form.
      permitted.     The original written text, however, was God wills that the church be so engaged. He  there-
      Ieft undisturbed. The Church, therefore, is very  care-      fore causes the heretic to appear. Encountering his
      ful to distinguish between the untouched word and lie, the church searches Scripture for the opposing
      the versified scriptures of the Psalter. The former truth and casts it into a form that exposes the lie. It
      only it holds to be the infallible word of God. The is the church laying hold on the revealed mysteries of
      latter is prized for what it is, - the Word of God that heaven that gives us the creed. The creed then is not
      fell in the well-prepared heart of the saints and brought bLzsed upon the Word. It is, as far as the church is
      forth fruit in the form of a sacred song to which able to judge, the very'prcjection of foundation truths
      cleaves the imperfections of the mind and heart from that circulate through the Word, For a full treat-  '
      which it sprang. Only in the event the churches (using ment of the matter of creeds consult my articles ap-
      the Psalter) had set aside the infallible Word and  re-      pearing under the caption What Next in the July issues
      ceived  in its room as the infallible Scripture the fallible of this magazine of the year 192%
     versified text of the Christian poet, could it be charged        The difference  between the sermon and the creed is
      with actually having changed God's Word.                     apparent. Both mean to be a setting forth of revealed
            What value is to be pIaced  upon the versified Scrip- truth. The former, however, is the  exposif;ion  of a
      ture of our Psalters? The answer is ready: The out- truth as incorporated in a par&&y  pa,ssage of ffoly
      standing merit, the peculiar virtue of the versified Writ. The latter is the ~o'omnulation. of a current truth
      scriptures of the Psalter is their being  versijied   scrip- of. Scripture.
      tures. It is exactly this feature that constitutes them         How does the sacred poem of the Psalter compare
     a collection of incomparabIe  sacred poetry - a poetry with the sermon and with the creed? This poem, as
      that shares as none other, the strength, the beauty, well as the sermon and the creed, was meant to be the
      the sublimity of that infallible Word of which it is the incorporation of a divinely revealed tru%.  The sermon,
      versification ; for what the poet did was to adhere to, as was said, is the exposition of a particular text. The
      to tie himself down to this Word, so that his verse, as sacred poem of the Psalter is a versification  of a text
      to its content, comes pretty near to being a perfect or a-series of texts in keeping `as far as convenience per-       `:
      reproduction of the original text. Mark you, not a mits with the phraseology of the passage versified. This
      perfect reproduction; yet in most instances, pretty poem, therefore, in distinction from either the sermon
      nearly so ; for though differences occur, ,these differ- or the creed has a merit al1 of its own,
      ences are not so great as to seriously effect the sense         How should the free hymn be defined? Before we
      of the original text. In  fine, because our Psalter is attempt a defmition  it may be well to examine one of
      what it is - a collection of versified scriptures  - it is these hymns. Among the collection of songs permitted
      laden with truth and expressive of the mind of the to Synod for approval is found one that reads :
      Spirit as no other collection of sacred poems can be.
      These Psalms (the versified text) we, therefore, clasp                We have heard the joyful sound:
      to our bosom as so many priceless gems.                                  Jesus saves. Jesus saves.
            We have not said enough, however. What must by                  Spread the tidings all around:
      a11 means be added is that the versified scripture is a                  Jesus saves. Jesus saves.
      far less formidable instrument for the easy  convey-                  Bear the news to every land,
      ante of false and thus pernicious doctrine into the                      Climb the steeps and cross the waves;
      church than the free song. Before we enter this  mat-                 Onward. `Tis our Lord's command ;
      ter any further, we must again define terms. The term                    Jesus saves. Jesus saves.
      to be defined  here is the term free song or hymn. Ac-
      cording to the committee (page 26 of the report) a                    Waft it on the rolling tide;
      free hymn is a sacred poem based on and in agreemeizt                    Jesus saves. Jesus saves.
      with the inspired Word. If a hymn is a sacred poem                    Tell the sinners far and wide:
      based on the Wo.rd it would differ both from the ser-                    Jesus saves. Jesus saves.
      man and from the creed or confession. A sermon is an                  Sing? ye islands of the sea ;


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         91

           Echo back, ye ocean caves;                        the apostle, "Let the Word dwell richly in  vou." And
         Earth shall keep her jubilee:                       the will of Christ is that his foIlowe&  shall confess
           Jesus saves. Jesus saves.                         His name. Truth must be apprehended," assimilated
                                                             and expressed. Because this has and is being done,
   There are two more stanzas to this hymn which we the church has its creed, its psalm, and its hymn, and
do not reproduce. The outstanding phrase of this song, its sermon.
Jesus saves, sets forth but half a truth, and is, there-        Yet it cannot be denied that there is some difference
fore, to say the least a most doubtful saying. Scrip-        between the verified Scripture and the free hymn. The
ture says more than that Jesus saves. Said the angel free hymn, in distinction from the versified Scripture,
to Joseph, "Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: is tied to no parfi+ar  text or series of texts. The
for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. verses of this hymn, therefore, often partake of the
And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call character of general statements. For this reason the
his name Jesus: for he shall save  his people from their free song, more so than the versified scripture, can be
sins." We invite the committee to single out a single used as an instrument for the conveyance of pernicious
Scripture having a bearing on the word of our Saviour doctrines into the church. I assure the brethren that
that says no more than the phrase Jesus  saves. Yet if this song receives the sancti& of Synod, it will not
the song was admitted not, we feel assured, because take long before the assembly will be singing hymns
H. J. Kuiper is so stupid as not to be able to sense that saturated with the Arminian doctrine of a general doc-
a half truth may do the work of a whole lie, but be- trine and of common grace. The collection of hymns
cause a phrase of this kind, when repeatedly sung, may the committee submitted to Synod for approval is
do much to wean the singing assembly away from the your proof as we shall have occasion to notice in the
doctrine of a particular Gospel.                             sequence. Tie your poet down to a text, and I assure
   If we should take this particular song as a fair you that the proposition "God shows mercy to the rep-
representation of the entire collection, we would  define    robate," will not very  Iikely  enter the church in the
a hymn as a lie. However, the collection contains many form of a song.
hymns against which no objection can be raised, as for          Of course, the creed no more than the free song,
example the following :                                      is aflixed to a particular text or series of texts (TS is
       How sweet the name of Jesus sounds                    the  psalm  of the Psalter.  It may, therefore, be con-
         In every believer's ear.                            cluded that the objection raised against the free song
       It sooths his sorrows, heals his wounds,              must also be made to appIy to the creed. We will have
         And drives away his fear.                           a word about this in the sequence.
                                                       *        The committee reasons in its report as follows:
    It is at once apparent, that there is no esential 6` . . . the task of providing New Testament Church-
difference between the hymn, the psalm of our songs, to be used alongside of the Psalms, is Ieft to the
Psalter, the creed, and the sermon. If sound, the one Spirit endowed New Testament Church itself." Let us
as wells as theotheris  divinely revealed truth assim- pause here. As was said, the committee neglected to
ilated by the sanctified and enlightened mind and re- define the terms Church-song and Psalm, and thus
produced in free language. We are at one then with failed to project the issue it labored to prove. Reading
the sentiments circulating through the following selec- on, however, one soon discovers that the term Church-
tion (p. 1'7 of the report) : "Against the use in public song appears in the report as the signification of a
worship of hymns that are fully in agreement with the class of hymns we defined as the religious sentiments
Word of God there can be no objection as Eo contenk.         and experiences of a fallibIe poet expressed in a speech
Consequently, if such use nevertheless is to be con- of the poet's own choice. The issue to be proved then
sidered unlawful, it would have to be because of  their is that it is the task of the New Testament Church to
form, e. g., because of their giving divine truth not in provide itself with a collection of versified religious
the exact language of Scripture, but in different man- sentiments of pious fallible men. Mark you, the propo-
made formulation. In regard to this, however, Scrip- sition the committee in its report attempted to estab-
ture teaches us that in public worship the free expres- lish is not that it is the task of the New Testament
sion of divine truth in human language is in accordance Church to provide itself with a  versification  of New
with the will of God and divinely instituted.                Testament ScripEures to be used alongside of the versi-
    "This appears from the fact that the Lord had fied Psalms of the Old Testament. As was already
ordained preaching and praying in public worship and pointed out, there is some difference between a versi-
that not as elements of worship to be performed in the fied New Testament Scripture, and the versified religi-
exact language of Scripture, but in free formulation ous sentiments of pious but fallible men. The versified
and expression."                                             New Testament Scripture has a merit equal to that of
    So far the committee.                                    the versified Old Testament Psalm, so that all that was
    It is certainly the high calling of the church to said of this verse may be made to apply to the versi-
apprehend and to assimilate the revealed truth. Says fied New Testament Scripture.


92                                    T H E   S T A N >
                                                        1 A R D   B E A R E R                                                   I1
      The question will not be quelled why the committee are his judgments ; for he hath judged the great whore,
failed to come to the fore with, and to explain, the real which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and
issue it sought to prove. It is certain, we say it again, hath avenged the bIood  of his servants at her hand."
that there is some diEerence  between a versified  New What an inexhaustible amount of material suitable
or Old Testament Scripture, and the versified religious for song the Lord provided His church with in the New
sentiments of fallible pious men based on Scripture as Testament !
a whole. Can it be true, someone may interpolate, that            These scriptures, it is true, would have to be versi-
the issue the committee sought to prove is what you fied, would they be sung. But is it any more of a task
say it to be? Indeed it is. Let me furnish some proof. to versify a New Testament Scripture than an Old
The committee  defines  its task as follows: "First of  a11    Testament Scripture? Until  the, Lord gives us men
it is our task to thoroughly investigate the underlying qualified to perform this task, and until the Church is
principles, and to consider the matter from every again qualified to judge their work, we had better keep
angle." So, then, the task to be performed loomed up ourseIves  to the versified'psalms  of the Old Testament.
before the eye of the committee as a task of tremendous                                                    G. M. 0.
proportions. It  means,,if it means anything at all, that                       ' (To be continued)
the matter whose underlying principles the committee
set itself to investigate could not have been the matter
of the introduction of versified New Testament scrip-
tures. The principles underlying this matter need not                          INGEZONDEN
be investigated at all ; for it can be seen at once that
suitable portions of the New Testament may be versi-                            Ongeloof  en  Roeping
fied as well as the original text of the Psalms.
      Attend further to the following selection found on              Geachte Redacteur  :-
page 21: "History has proved that the introduction of             Vergun voor onderstaande regelen, s.v.p.,  een klein
Hymns results first in the neglect of the Psalms and plaatsje  in  onze Standard Bearer.
then in their almost complete disappearance from                  Eenigen tijd geleden  Ias ik een stukje van een der
Public Worship." (Objection presented in the overture vooraanstaande mannen uit de Ger. Kerken  in Neder-
of previous Synod.) The reply of the committee reads: land, onder het opschrift : "Vrij Critiek."  De schrij-
"Your committee realizes the weight of the objection. ver betoogde daarin, dat "vrije critiek"  gewenscht,  ja
Its truth cannot be denied nor should its importance noodzakelijk is, zullen we op den duur niet tot  eenzij-
be minimized. It is a danger of which we must be digheid vervallen.
fully conscious and warned against. Therefore it is             * Toen  ik nu in onze Standard Bearer van September
well that it was voiced at that Synod."                        15, de critiek las van Ds. Vos, op het ingezonden stukje
      The object-lesson of history is that what will crowd van Br. C. Wassink, dacht ik, zoo gaat het goed;  laten
out the Psalms from public worship is not a hymnology de gedachten elkander maar eens kruisen.
constituted of  versZfZdNew  Testament scriptures, (no            Jammer, echter, dat bet stuk -van-& Vos, m; i,
such collection of songs ever existed) but  a  hymnology niet vrij was van sarcasme.  Dat: "vijftien cent meer
permeated with Arminian leaven. The fact that the per pond botervet,"  toegepast op alIe Cooperatieve ver-
committee was fully conscious of this danger shows eenigingen, deed mij niet xeer aangenaam  aan. Me
that what it pleaded for is the free Church-song.              dunkt,  zoo iets moet in. ouze  onderhnge  besprekingen
      A word in conclusion. The New Testament is in- gemeden  worden.  1)
terspersed with hymns. Infallible hymns. Hymns of                 Bij het lezen van Ds. Vos zijn artikel, kwamen ech-
unsurpassing power and beauty. "Therefore being ter de volgende vragen bij mij op: Gaat Ds. Vos niet
justified by faith, we have peace with God through our een beetje te ver? Gaat hij de Labor Unions en de
Lord Jesus Christ: by whom we have excess by faith Cooperatieve vereenigingen niet te veel over  &I kam
into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope scheren? Is er werkelijk niet meer verschil,  dan dat
of the glory of God. And not only so but we glory in de een meer in het midden, en de andere maar aan den
tribulation also ; knowing that tribulation worketh buitenkant van den vicieuzen cirkel ligt? Ik voor mij
patience . . .  " (Rom 5). And again: "Who shall denk van wel. Daarom dacht ik mijne gedachten daar-
separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation over eens naar onze  Standard Bearer op te sturen.
or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness or           Den Christen is door  zijn God  beloofd,  dat zijn
peril, or sword? . . .  " And again: "Blessed be the brood zeker en zijn water gewis zal zijn. Moet hij dan
God and pather  of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath om des  beginsels  wil lijden,  hij heeft de  belofte  van
blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly zijnen God: "Wanneer  ge zult gaan door het water, Ik
places in Christ." And once more: "And after these zal bij u zijn, en door de rivieren, ze zullen u niet over-
things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, stroomen, wanneer ge door het vuur zult gaan, zult ge
saying, Alleluia: Salvation and glory, and honour, and niet verbranden en de vlam xal u niet aansteken'*  (Jes.            i
power, unto the Lord our God: For true and righteous 43 :2). Daaruit nu volgt,  dat wanneer de Christen xich

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

Christen en den goddelooze zet dan huiver ik voor de werken Gods, dan is het zeker  tech wel hier. Paulus
gevolgen. Het woosd beteekent: van denzelfden aard coopereert daar niet, broeder, hij regeert. En het god-
of geest te zijn. Nu zegt de broeder tot tweemaal toe delooze rot is doodsbenauwd en luistert naar den Gods-
in zijn stuk, dat de Christen homogeen is met den god- man, omdat ze geen  redding  meer verwachtten van hun
delooze in  verband met sommige  dingen.  Dat is niet eigen kracht. Ik moet  u  eerlijk zeggen, dat, indien ik
Maar. Uit die gedachte is juist al de ellende  voortge-      een Bijbelsch verhaal moest zoeken om de cooperatieve
komen die we doorgaans bestempelen met den naam vereenigingen te verdedigen, ik zeker niet dit verhaal
van "gemeene gratie." Daar is niet Ben terrein, hoe gekozen had. Lees dat verhaal nog eens over. Ik zie
klein ook, waarop of waarin wij als  kinderen  Gods er in den grooten God des hemels en der aarde die door
homogeen, dat is, van denzelfden aard of geest zijn met middel van zijn knecht  Paulus groote  dingen  doet. Let
de godvergetenen. Later  moeten  wij hierop  terug- op vers 35 van Hand. 27 en ga dan eens om het hoekje
komen, want die zaak grijpt diep in.                         kijken bij de Wereldsche vereenigingen. En haal dan
   Aangaande het bewijs uit Gods Woord  doen  we den dit hoofdstuk niet meer aan ter verdediging van een
broeder eenige vragen. Het bekende verhaal van de samengaan met hen die God haten.
bondgenooten van Abraham heeft een  plaats  in het              Zoo de Heere wil en wij leven, hopen  wij met onze
bovenaangehaalde schema. Tech zouden we broeder artikelenreeks te beginnen met het volgende nummer
Cammenga  willen vragen of hij ook gemerkt heeft, dat van de Standard Bearer. In het verloop van ons schrij-
Abraham niets van den buit wil hebben. Dat moet ge ven komen de zaken  die de broeder te berde bracht
ook eens voorstellen op een Cooperatieve vergadering, nader in bespreking.
als de buit verdeeld wordt. Hoe komt men er  tech bij           Ik dank den broeder voor zijn critiek en hoop nog
om dit geval op Ben lijn te stellen met die vereenigin- weer eens van hem te hooren.
gen? Waar  haalt  u bewijs weg, dat die drie  bondge-                                                       G. v.
nooten ongeloovigen waren? In een landstreek waar
nog koningen waren  zooals Melchizedek, die op de  lijn
staat van de verkiezing, mag men tech zeker verwach-
ten, dat er meer kinderen  Gods waren. U zegt, hij bad        "THE DOCTRINE OF ABSOLUTE PREDESTINA-
niet hardop, misschien  we1 zachtjes. (Ziet dat op het                               TION"
openen en sluiten waarvan ik schreef?) Maar hebt  u             The above is the title of a book recently published
dan niet gelezen dat Abraham erg hardop gedankt by the Sovereign Grace Union. It was originally writ-
heeft in het bijzijn van allen  en hoe hij een openbare      ten in the sixteenth century by Jerom  Zanchius,  trans-
belijdenis aflegde van den God des hemels  en der aarde lated into English by A. M. Toplady,  an English divine
tegenover den koning van Sodom? Waar is het juk, of the eighteenth century (famous for his defense of
dat Abraham  aan had? Was hij niet koning onder de the doctrine of sovereign grace over against every form
benden en zat hij niet bovenaan?  Krijgen  wij niet of freewillism), and is now republished by the S. G. U.
den indruk dat hij over alles beschikte, zoodat hij zelfs       Besides the translation of the work of Zanchius on
zijne bondgenooten  niet~ v.oor   zich zelf laat spreken, Absolute Predestination the book contains a- Preface
maar in de gave van het deel der bondgenooten het by the translator, a chapter on the Life of Zanchius,
woord der beschikking tot  zich neemt ? Daar komt nog another chapter on the Fate of the Ancients, a third
bij, dat Abraham koning was en het zwaard niet tever-        on the Predestination of the Mahometans, and a final
geefs  ontvangen  had. En deze geheele  geschiedenis         chapter on the Predestination of the Papists, all by
last ons zien dat hij dat zwaard kon hanteeren om de Mr. Toplady.
goeden  te redden en de kwaden te straffen.                     The main thought of the work of Zanchius is very
   Moet ik nu werkelijk gelooven,  dat u in mijn stuk properly and adequately expressed in the title: Abso-
Ieest, dat geen goddelooze brandweermannen mijn lute Predestination. The. title is no camouflage to cover
brandend  huis mogen blusschen? Of waar heb ik ooit an admixture of sovereign grace and freewill, of pre-
geschreven dat we niet  verplicht zijn om als de Over-       destination and free offer of salvation to all. Through-
heid roept ten strijde te trekken? Waar zeide ik, dat out it is a clear and consistent statement of the truth
ieder rechtgeaard Christen geen  vloed  moet dempen? of election and reprobation. Zancbius bases his argu-
Neen, broeder, dat hebt ge er bij de haren bijgesleept.      ment on the eternal attributes of Jehovah and always
   Aangaande het geval met  Paulus'   s&.ipbreuk  moet deduces his doctrine from the Word of God.
ik u eerlijk zeggen, dat het mij voor de oogen  sche-           The standpoint of the author is Infra-lapsarian,
merde toen ik den volgenden zin las : "Maar  hun belan-      This is evident throughout the whole book. It is also
gen (dat is, de belangen van Paulus en de goddelooze sufficiently evident from the following definition which
scheepslieden, G. V.) waren  homogeen en alleen  door the author offers of election: "It is that eternal, uncon-
cooperatie  met de heidensche scheepslieden, zou des ditional, particular and irreversible act of the Divine
Heeren belofte vervuld worden." Als de goddeloozen will, whereby in matchless love and adorable sov-
ooit als passieve, lijdelijke, lam geslagen wezens  voor-    ereignty, God determined with Himself to deliver a cer-
kwamen in eenige Bijbelsche verhaling van de groote tain number of Adam's regenerate offspring  out of that


96                        -          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

sinful and miserable estate into which, by his primitive lowing is instructive: (the Rev. H. Keegstra will,
transgression, they were to fall" (pp. 83, 84). How- please, take note and add this to his list of quotations
ever, lest he should be misunderstood, the author adds from Reformed writers)
in a note : "When we say that the decree of predestina-        "Since, as was lately observed, the determining will
tion to life and death respects man as fallen, we do not of God being omnipotent cannot be obstructed or made
mean to say that the fall was actually antecedent to void, it follows that He never willed nor does He now,
that decree, for the  decree is truly and properly eternal, that. every individual of mankind shouId  be saved"
as all God's immanent acts undoubtedly are." It is his      fp. 52).
view that in the decree God considered the human race          And again:
as fallen.
      And although personally I cannot agree with this         "He does not hereby mock His creatures, for if men
infra-lapsarian viewpoint of the author, yet I am glad do not believe His word nor observe His precepts, the
that this particular work proceeds from it.                 fault is not in Him but in themselves; their unbelief
      For it is a clear proof, how far the Reformed and disobedience are not owing to any ill infused into
Churches of today have departed even from the mildest them by God, but to the vitiosity of their own depraved
presentation of Reformed truth.                             nature and the perverseness of their own wills. Now,
      Just consider the following quotation concerning if God invited  all men to cume Eo Him,  (I underscore)
the relation of sin and the fall of Adam to the divine and then shut the door of mercy against any who were
decree :                                                    desirous of entering, His invitation would be a mock-
      "That man actually did fall from the divine image ery and unworthy of Himself; but we &,skt  that He
and his original happiness is the undoubted voice of does not invite all mm to come to Him in a saving way,
Scripture, and that he fell in consequence of the divine and that every individual person, who is, through His
decree (I underscore) we prove thus: God was either gracious influence on his heart, made willing to come
willing that Adam should fall, or unwilling, or indif- to Him, shall sooner or later be surely saved by Him,
ferent about it. If God was unwilling that Adam should and that with an everlasting salvation" (p. $8).
transgress, how came it to pass that he did? Is man            The author does, in one brief  passage, make an at-
stronger and is Satan wiser than He that made them? tempt to distinguish between a general and a partic-
Surely no. Again, could not God, had it so pleased ular mercy. But, how far the author is from any con-
Him, have hindered the tempter's access to Paradise? ception of common grace, as it is taught today, may be
or have created man, as He did the elect angels, with a gathered from the following remark of his :
will invariably determined to good  only and incapable          "Temporal good things are, indeed, bestowed in a
of being biassed to evil? or, at least, have made the greater or lesser degree on  aI1, whether elect or repro-
grace and strength, with which he endued Adam, actu- bate,  but they are given  +n a covenant  was and  a.9
ally effectual to the resisting of all solicitations to sin? blessings to the elect only, to whom also the other bene-
None but Atheists would nnswer  theze questions in the fits respecting  grace and glory are peculiar" (p. 7%).
-negative. Surely, if God had not willed the -fall, -He        The book, with respect  to  the general reading pub-.
could, and no doubt would, have prevented it; but He lit, has some advantages over Calvi%`s  Calvinism. It is
did not prevent it; ergo, He willed it. And if He willed not controversial, and it is very lucidly written. The
it, He certainly decreed it, for the decree of God is style is clear-cut and the argument is easy to follow.
nothing but the seal and ratification of His will" (page        I would not be responsible for every single state-
88).                                                        ment the author makes. I believe that a further and
      True, the author does speak of God's permitting more developed statement of the doctrine of election
sin, but even in this respect the book is enlightening, and reprobation is possible, especially as regards the
for it shows plainly what the Reformed fathers under- relation of reprobation to election. We must not for-
stood by this permission. By this expression they by get that the book is written in the sixteenth century.
no means understood that the decree of God was                  But I heartily recommend the reading of this book
merely permissive. They merely meant that in actual to all our people. EspeciaIlg all our young people ought
fact God did not infuse sin into man, is not the creator to read it in these days of apostacy  and freewillism,
of sin. Repeatedly the author states the case thus: whereby the devil sweeps the ignorant off their feet
God  willed and decreed to permit sin.                      and deceives many.
      Even the infra-view, therefore, never used to deny        The preaching of freewill is surely of the devil!
that God willed sin.                                            The price of the book is 5 shillings in cloth binding
      Concerning the "free and general `and well-meaning and 7 shillings in extra cloth binding. ($1.25 and $1.75
offer of grace," a corruption by which many would-be respectively.)
Reformed leaders in our day attempt to adulterate the           YQ~I  may order it at the address of the Sovexeign        j
pure doctrine of sovereign grace and which has been Grace Union, 98 Camberwell Grove, London, S. E. 5.
officially adopted as the doctrine of the Christian Re- England.
formed Churches in the First Point of 1924, the fol-                                                         H. H,
                                                                                                                          I


