                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                 107
                                                                       ..-.....  "..--  -.-. -." .  "-  "...-.- ..- -_^-  .___........_"  --  ..-__- T
            De Heer zal opstaan tot den strijd;                    ise anything, to refrain from anything. Synod never
            Hij zal Zijn haters wijd en zijd,                      asked the brethren, Danhof and Hoeksema to promise
                  Verjaagd, verstrooid  doen zuchten.              a single thing. Neither did Synod decide to make the
                                                                    case pending with the consistories or advise the con-
            Maar "t vrome volk, in U verheugd,                     sistories to take disciplinary measures. Instead, Synod
            Zal huppelen van zielevreugd,
                  Daar zij hun  wensch verkrijgen!                  merely admonished the brethren, together with the
                                                      I"+?7       - entire church and all other ministers in our churches."
                                                      Ti.  v .         13. What, then, was the conclusion which the
                                                                    consistory  .reached  on the basis of the foregoing in
                                                                    this part of its answer to Classis?
  A Catechism on the History of the                                    It reads as follows :
          Protestant Reformed Churches                                 "On the basis of all this the Consistory maintains,
                                                                    that Synod did not sustain the protests lodged against
          XII.      CONSISTORY'S   ANSWER TO  CLASSIS               the pastor, Rev. H. Hoeksema, neither with regard to
                                                                    the doctrinal contentions nor with respect to their
    11. What is the next important point in the an-                 demand for disciplinary action."
swer of the Consistory to Classis?                                     14. Is this an important conclusion?
   The Consistory clearly proved to Classis that Synod
did not sustain the protests against the pastors, Danhof               It certainly is; for it shows clearly that Classis  at-
and Hoeksema, in their demands for disciplinary tempted to do, what Synod failed to accomplish in the
action.                                                            case and refused to do, namely, exercise discipline
   12. In which part of its answer does the  Gon-                  over the accused pastor. The case had evidently been
sistory offer this proof?                                           6nished  by Synod. And it had been finished without
   In the following:                                               any suggestion of discipline. The action of  Classis
   "Neither did Synod sustain the protests in their was entirely illegal.
demands for disciplinary action. All the protests                      15. But did, perhaps, Synod tacitly proceed from
clamored for action. They asked that the pastor be the assumption that disciplinary action should be
made to retract his views, that he be brought back started by the minor assemblies, consistories and
from his erroneous way, that he be treated, if neces- classis, even without any suggestion in this direction
sary, all the way to suspension from  ofice.                       on the part of Synod?
   "The committee appointed for this case by Synod                     This contention was, indeed, made by some of the
suggested and advised that, in part at least, the pro- leaders of the Christian Reformed Churches as an
testants should be sustained in their demands with afterthought; it was also the contention of  Classis
regard to disciplinary procedure. It advised as fol- Grand Rapids East; but the Consistory plainly shows
lows :                                                              the untruth of such an interpretation of Synod's in- --
    `1.  Seriously  to admonish the brethren with a tentions.
view to their deviations and to ask of them the prom-                  16. Can you quote the part of the Consistory's
ise that in the future they will adhere to what Synod               answer in which this is shown?
expressed in the three points mentioned above ;                        It here follows:
    `2. To urge the brethren, H. Danhof and H. Hoek-                   "That there is not a single item of proof in the
sema, in all seriousness to refrain from all attempts Acts of Synod, 1924, for the contention of  Classis that
to propagate their deviating views regarding the three Synod intended to leave the enforcement of disciplin-
points in the church ;                                              ary rules to the minor assemblies. On the contrary
    `9*j. To point out to the brethren, that in case there is abundance of evidence that Synod did not in-
either now or in the near future, it should become tend disciplinary procedure whatever.
evident that they will not adhere to the decisions of                  "Proof :
Synod, this body shall be obliged, though very loath                   "The first part of the above contention of the  Con-
to do so, to make the case pending with their respec- sistory of Eastern Ave. is negative. Classis  does not
tive consistories ;                                                 quote any proof that Synod had such intentions. Con-
    `4. Should the brethren refuse to live up to these sistory can find no proof in the Acts of Synod, 1924.
proposed conditions Synod would then have to appoint .It is simply a baseless assertion on the part of Classis.
a committee. Your committee would in that case offer                   "But the second part of the contention of the  Con-
the suggestion that this committee consist of the  of%              sistory can easily be made evident:
cers of Synod.' Typewritten report, p. 12. (1)                         " (1)  If Synod had intended disciplinary action
    "Did Synod accept this advice of the committee? it should have been expressed in the Acts of Synod.
By no means. It rejected it, by accepting a substitute                 " (2)      Synod acted upon the protests that lodged
motion in which this entire advice was dropped. Synod complaints against the teachings of Rev. H. Hoeksema
did not ask the brethren to retract anything, to  prom- and not merely on an abstract doctrinal nrnnositinn


 108                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                   .." ..__ ^ ..^..."           111 ". _.-"..-.                                .__......_-_  -        - -
   " (3)    Synod acted upon and finished protests that of our Church Order, enjoining that the same matters
demanded disciplinary action.                                      shall not repeatedly be brought forward when they are
   " (4)    Synod rejected that part of the committee's once decided by the largest assembly of our Churches.
report that advised disciplinary procedure. We are                     "And at the same time the Consistory of Eastern
aware that  Classis denies that Synod rejected this Ave. is satisfied that Synod did not advise or intend
part of the report, but without any ground. The patent any disciplinary action of any kind."
fact is, that this advice of the committee was before .                17. May the proof which the Consistory offered
the Synod. When Synod accepts a substitute motion in the above part of its answer be considered con-
that part of the original motion that does not appear vincing?
in the substitute is certainly rejected. This is exactly,              It is certainly overwhelming. Any rational mind,
what Synod did. At any rate, it is undisputable that that is not wholly prepossessed and unwilling to be
Synod did not accept this part of the said committee's convinced, will certainly yield to these arguments. Yet,
report.. And from this it should be apparent, that                 Classis Grand Rapids East was not to be persuaded.
Synod, did not desire discipline. How different this is It never answered these arguments. Instead they
from the action taken in the Rev. H. Bultema-case in stubbornly advanced to the end they had in view.
1918! Then Synod plainly asked the Rev. H. Bultema                     18. What, then, is the  tinal conclusion reached by
to retract his views and appointed a committee  to the Consistory in this main part of its answer to
make the case pending with his consistory in case he               Classis ?
would not submit. In still another case, that of the                   It reads as follows:
Rev. Q. Breen, the same synod of 1924 advised the con-                 "And, therefore, the Consistory finally  maint.ains
sistory of that pastor to ta.ke disciplinary action. Yet, that, since the case against the pastor, Rev. H.  Hoek-
no such action was taken in the case of the Revs. H.               sema, has been appealed to Synod, and since Synod
Danhof and H. Hoeksema.                                            ruled and acted upon the matter, the case is a closed
   "( 5)    Synod expressed that Rev. H. Hoeksema is one. The Consistory of Eastern Ave. has no com-
fundamentally in harmony with our Reformed truth                   plaints against the decisions of the Synod of 1924. I t
as embodied in the standards. Has our church reached is well satisfied with the action taken. But it holds
the stage in which it would advise to suspend and that Classis can never demand of said Consistory, on
remove from office ministers that are fundamentally the basis of said decisions of Synod 1924, that it places
Reformed? We, the Consistory of Eastern Ave. do the pastor before the questions expressed in the com-
not believe it.                                                    munication from  Classis dated Nov. 24, 1924."
   " (6)    Synod did give an answer to the very ques-                 19. Were there not some other matters in the
tion to which  Classis  now demands an answer from                 communication from Classis  to Consistory, that were
the pastor through the consistory once more.  Fo:,                 not answered in the reply of the Consistory as quoted
Classis asks that the Consistory of Eastern Ave. as!: thus far?
their pastor whether or no he is in full agreement wit11              There were; and the Consistory formulated a  reply-.:_
the three points expressed by Synod. There is a to them in the last part of its answer to Classis.
Synodical decision that informs the Classis that several              20. How does that last part read?
expressions in the writings of our pastor cannot very                  As follows:
well be harmonized with the three points, that he has                 "In answer to some minor points in the communica-
deviating views with respect to these three point;,                tion of Classis Grand Rapids East to the Consistory
but that in spite of all this the pastor is fundamentally of the Eastern Ave. Christian Reformed Church, said
Reformed. Why should the Consistory violate the de- Consistory would like to remark the following:
cision of Synod by asking a question and investigating                "1. That it is a curious fact that in said com-
a matter which Synod already investigated and munication Art.  30 of the Church Order: `In major
settled? But Synod did not desire disciplinary action assemblies only such matters shall be dealt with as
in spite of the deviations of the pastor alleged by could not be finished  in minor assemblies', is now inter-
Synod, and that for the patent reason that one can preted to mean: `In  miner  assemblies such matters
deviate from the three points expressed by Synod and shall be dealt with as could not be finished in major
yet be a fundamentally Reformed man !                              assemblies' !
   "(7) Instead of all the disciplinary action that                   ."2. That the Consistory fully agrees with Art. 31
was suggested by protestants and committee, Synod of our Church Order: `Wh.atever  shall be agreed upon
was satisfied with a simple admonition directed not by majority vote shall be considered settled and bind-
only to our pastor, but also to all the churches.                  ing.' If only our Churches, and especialIy our Classis
   "In short it is very evident from the Acts of Synod,            and the Synod of 1924 had adhered to what is thus
1924 to the Consistory of the Eastern Ave. Christian considered settled and binding, also in matters con-
Reformed Church, that Synod supplied the answer to cerning procedure and rules of order. Consistory re-
the very question  Classis  desires to put once more. minds the Classis  that there is a Synodical decision
This is in. contradiction and in  concict  with  Srt. 46 stating that all matters for Synod must be with the


                                             ~lre         STANDARa            BGAREa                                     169
+                  -,-  -    - .- -.---                                                           .  -    .   .
- _...                                                        l-.-.--~._"l                                         -.._-.-._-
Synodical Stated Clerk before May 1st of the Synodical                 21. Are not many of the statements made in this
year. Cf. Kerkelijk Handboek, p. 151. But the glaring last part of the Consistory's answer to Classis  corro-
titles on the printed protests that were sent to Synod berated by subsequent history?
and declared acceptable by Synod, the overture of                      They certainly are.      There is, for instance, the
Classis Grand Rapids West included, testify against statement that not all the Synodical decisions are sub-
Classis and against Synod. For they all testify that scribed by the pastors. In 1921 Classis  built its chief
Classis Grand Rapids East assembled on the twenty- argument on the assertion that Synodical decisions are
first day of May, and therefore, could not, by Synod-               always settled and binding, and that, therefore,  ?;o
ical decision that is settled and binding, bring matters militate against them is to become worthy of suspen-
to the attention of Synod anymore. Yet, things were sion and discipline. But the reader will recall the
rushed to Synod even after this date. How could any notorious decision of the Synod of 1928 regarding the
good be expected from such an unwise rush? But with introduction of the Absolution in the Form of Wor-
regard to the point in question, Consistory maintains, ship. It was emphatically decided that all the Churches
that Synod had the entire case before it, 6.nished it, of the Christian Reformed Denomination should intro-
gave an answer to all protests and questions, the ques- duce this element of the Absolution. It was even de-
tion now put by Classis included, and that this must cided that the different Classes should see to it, that
be considered settled and binding according to Art. 31 the.Synodical  decision was carried out. But what was
of the Church Order.                                                done? Many protested against that decision, not by
       "3. That there is nothing new in the statements way of a gravamen and submission in the meantime,
made in the Standard Bearer. These same statements but by open refusal to introduce the Absolution, by
were made before Synod. Besides, they contain no vote of the congregations, in paper and pamphlet. And
points of doctrine in conflict with the three points ex- what did Synod do? Discipline all these insurgents?
pressed by Synod, but merely an announcement. as to On the contrary ; it wisely retracted its decision in
what will be taught in the future. If Classis  wants to 193O!  And the same phenomenon may be observed
reopen the case against the pastor of Eastern Ave. on at present with respect to the decision of Synod of
the basis of doctrinal conflict with the three points 1930 concerning the baptism of adopted children. Also
expressed by Synod, Classis will surely have to wait this decision is openly opposed by some of the very
till the pastor actually teaches something against the men that, in 1924, were so insistent that all Synodical
three points. A mere announcement is not sufficient. decisions must be considered as settled and binding in
       "4. With regard to the assertion of  Classis that the same sense and degree as our Confessional Stand-
Synod did not treat the protest of Rev. H. Danhof sub- ards !
mitted to Synod, Consistory maintains that the pro-                    21. How did the Consistory of Eastern Ave. con-
test was submitted in the proper way, that it was read clude its answer to Classis?
before Synod and that Synod received it. The point                     By a final resolution and appeal.
is that even after this protest was submitted to the                   22. How does it read?
attention of Synod, this body did not take disciplinary                 As follows :
measures neither advised to such measures on the part                   "Final Resolution :
of the minor assemblies.                                                "1. Whereas  Classis  requires of the Consistory of
       "5. The Formula of Subscription speaks only of Eastern Ave. to ask of its pastor a question that was
our Confessional Standards. It never was a rule in plainly investigated and answered by Synod of 1924.
our Church that all Synodical decisions must be sub-                    "2. Whereas Consistory is convinced that the
scribed to by the pastors. The pastor will gladly act entire case against the pastor, Rev. H. Hoeksema, was
accordingly. But Synod expressed that our pastor before Synod of 1924 and is, therefore, a closed case.
is fundamentally Reformed.                 There seems no cause         "3. Whereas the Consistory of Eastern Ave. is
for action in this direction.                                       satisfied to abide by the decisions of Synod 1924 and
       "6. Consistory does not question that Synod pos- is convinced that said question proposed by  Classis
sesses the ultimate authority to interpret our Con-                 Grand Rapids East to be put before the pastor, is not
fessional Standards. But neither does the Con&story                 in harmony with the plain declarations and intent of
want Classis to assume a position which would indicate said decisions of Synod 1924.
a denial of the fact, that Synod also possesses ultimate                "4. Whereas Classis Grand Rapids East proposes
authority in matters pertaining to cases of discipline. an interpretation of said decision of said Synod of
And Consistory maintains that Classis has no authority 1924 different from the interpretation of the  Con-
to reopen a case against the pastor, Rev. H. Hoeksema, sistory  of Eastern Ave. Christian Reformed Church,
against whom so many attacks were launched and so and different, too, from the plain declarations of said
many complaints lodged and protests written, and                    decisions of Synod 1924.
who left Synod with the testimony of that largest                       "5. Therefore, be it resolved by the Consistory of
assembly of  our churches that he is fundamentally the Eastern Ave. Christian Reformed Church:
     Reformed.                                                          "a. To anneal for the internretation of said de-


ili,                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                         ____" ,^ -..-_..-  ~.."_-."_  .._. -_
cisions  of Synod 1924  isz .r(-: the protests against our                      "Q. And the synod in its session was  .supposed  and pre-
pastor, Rev. H. Hoeksema, as set forth by said Con- sumed to pass upon the committee report; is that correct?
                                                                                "A. Yes, sir."
sistory  in the above communication to Classis Grand                            The rest of this note must be preserved for the ne;t  Fm-
Rapids East, and against the interpretation of these                         ber.                                                  . .
same decisions of said Synod 1924 as set forth by
Classis Grand Rapids East in the communication from
said  Classis to said Consistory of the Eastern Ave.
Christian Reformed Church, dated Nov.  24, 1924.                                         Algemeen  Genade-Verbond?
    "b. To request Classis Grand Rapids East to defer                                                     (SIot)            ,'
any and all action said  Classis might contemplate
against the Consistory of said Eastern Ave. Christian                                We zouden in antwoord op de vraag ons door F. La
Reformed Church until such time as Synod shall have G. gedaan over het algemeen genade-verbond nog  wij-
acted upon the appeal of said Consistory and rendered zen op een verkeerde uitlegging der Heilige Schrift,
final decision in the matter."                                               waarop heel deze beschouwing van het verbond, dat
                                                              H. H.          God oprichte met Noach en zijn zaad, berust.
                                                                                     We zullen hierbij  kort zijn.     :
   1) Lest in the future there might arise doubt that  th$                           Het is niet noodig om in dit verband  te wijzen 013
passage actually was in the full report of the committee as  It              al de Schriftuurplaatsen, die heel de voorstelling  ver-
was read before Synod, we quote the following testimony given
by Dr. H. Beets in cross-examination by Attorney Galpin,  from               oordeelen, als zou God in. verbondsrelatie treden met
the official report of the Circuit Court of Kent County:                     den zondigen mensch en met de zondige wereld als
   "Question. You are familiar with the report of Synod in                   zoodanig. Dit is thans niet noodig. En het zou ons
this case, Dr. Beets, and I will ask you if you saw the original
report of the committee ?                                                    antwoord al te lang uitrekken.
   "Answer. You mean of  Classis  Grand Rapids East?                                 We willen slechts wijzen op de grondfout, die Dr.
   "Q. No, the report of the committee on advice in the case
of common grace being article 100 in the Acts ?                              Kuyper maakt in zijne  verklaring van het  Noachie-
   "A. You mean, have 1 seen what they enumerate in here ?                   tisch verbond.
   "Q. Have you seen the original report, yes?
   "A. The report that is found here?                                                Die grondfout is deze, dat hij in de kleine groep
 i "Q. Yes ?                                                                 menschen, die uit de ark treden, de wereld ziet, terwijl
   "A. Yes, I have these things in my home.
   "Q. Would you recognize the original report if 1 handed it                hij er de Kerk in had moeten  zien, naar de duidelijke
to you?                                                                      voorstelling der Heilige Schrift.
   "A. That' looks like it; yes, sir.
   "Q. Do you know, whether or not anything that is con-                             Hij laat  zich  verieiden  door het feit, dat op dat
tained in that report  1s omitted from the Acts of Synod ?                   moment de zichtbare Kerk en het menscheiijk geslacht
   "A. In the original which I have in my home there are
one or two portions blue-pencilled, which I was not supposed                 even g-root  zijn, identisch zijn, om het voor te stellen,
to print.                                                                    alsof de wereld in de ark behouden bleef en uit de ark
   "Q. Were those portions which were blue-pencilled stricken
out after the committee submitted the report?                                te voorschijn treedt. En dan ligt liet  we1 in den aard
   "A. You mean bv svnodical  resolution ?                                   der zaak, dat het Verbond, dat God met  N.oBh en zijn
   "Q. Yes?               -     -       .
   "A. I couldn't very well say; I don't think I was present                 zaad opricht, een aigemeen genadeverbond moet zijn,
at the time. The president of Synod could better tell you, sir;              dat opgericht is met de goddelooze wereld als zoodanig.
ifo~ter~~~   a  Synodical  decision or by common agreement, I                        Dit is  echter  de voorstelling der Heilige Schrift
   I, Y  -
             ou recall, do you not, doctor, that this report of the          niet.
advisory committee recommended to the Synod certain derilnite                        lmmers,  in de eerste plaats toont de geschiedenis
advice in the matter of  discipline against  Domine  Hoeksema ?
   "A. Yes, it was about that;  yes< sir.                                    van den zondvloed zelve reeds, dat dit niet onze ver-
   "Q. And that is left out of the report, is it not?                        klaring mag zijn. De wereld was niet in de ark, maar
   "A. Yes, sir.
   "Q. Why is it left out?                                                   was in den vloed verdronken. God had door Noach
   "A. That I couldn't tell  YOU
                                      - . sir. because  I don't think  1'    het eindoordeel aangekondigd over de eerste wereld.
was present.
   "Q. I will ask you to look at page 134 of the Acts'.'                     En dat eindoordeel was voltrokken. De wereld lag
   "A. Yes, sir.                                                             verdronken in den vloed. De Kerk was in de ark. En
   "Q. And ask you if the portion that was left out, was  ;it
the end of the first paragraph on that page. I have it marked                het is de Kerk, die in de Ark behouden is gebleven door
here where it is left out, so maybe that will help you (showing              bet' water van den zondv!oed. Dat in Noach en de
witness pamphlet). Starting there, is this portion left out?
   "A. What is your question about Mr.  Galpin   ?                           zijnen tevens het nieuwe begin van het menschelijk
   "Q. I will ask you if  this  portion which is marked here as              geslacht ligt, dat straks ook in Noachs zaad de god-
having been left out, is omitted in the printed acts at the end
of the first paragraph on page 134?                                          delooze wereld weer tot openbaring komt en in Canaan
   "A. I think so, yes, sir.                                                 zelfs aanstonds wordt vervloekt, doet aan deze waar-
   "Q. And that is the portion that I have marked there in
this  renort.  is the aortion which is left out?                             heid niets af of toe. De Kerk in de wereld ontwikkelt
   "A.- Yes, sir.  L                                                         zich altijd weer op dezelfde wijze in de lijn der  ge-
   "Q. And you say, witness  - doctor, rather  - that you
don't know why it was left out?                                              slachten. En evenmin  als het al Israel is, wat van
   "A. I don't think I was  nresent  when that was discussed.                Israel is, evenzeer is het alles geestelijk verbondszaad,
wai`s ll%was part of the report brought in by the committee, zaad der belofte, wat in Noach en de zijnen onder
   ",4.  Yei,  s i r .                                                       Gods Verbond historisch betrokken wordt. Maar zeker


 112                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R ,
rzxL.....--   ._...  ___." ___ ..-__-_I   _.._.._....  ~"  --..._                  ._--...               _-..          -.-
                                                                     blood, they will deliver it to their father and say, This
           Joseph  Ifi Potiphar `s House                             have we found: know now whether it be thy son's
                                                                     coat or no. So they do.
    Consternation mingled with grief takes hold of                      The aged Jacob, is ill at ease, it may be imagined.
Joseph as they led him toward yonder waiting caravan ; For the journey he had bidden his beloved son to
for the lad surmised the worst. They have lifted him undertake, is indeed perilous. Anxiously awaiting his
out of the pit to deliver him to those heathen? In a return, he spies a company making for his residence.
voice chocked with sobs, he beseeched them to have PresentIy  his sons, or perhaps their messengers, stand
mercy. But they are not to be moved. The sale goes before him. But where is Joseph? the old man gasps.
through and the lad is added to the wares of the wait- Reluctantly they produce the coat and invite him with
ing merchants. The latter perhaps would have refused tremulous voice - they are afraid now - to identify
to take him, had they not been overpowered by their it. One hurried glance is sufficient to convince him
lust for profit, incited by the prospect of selling him that it is the coat of Joseph. But what meaneth those
again at a great gain in the slave-market of Egypt.                  dark stains? The old man, drawing the desired con-
     Thus Joseph had been delivered from the pit. For- clusion, breaks forth into disconsolate grief and wails,
sooth his prayer has been answered. However, had his "It is my son's coat, an evil beast hath devoured him ;
 petition for relief been heard in a manner he had de- Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces." Jacob is
 sired, he would even now be on his way home. This, beside himself with grief. He rents his clothes; puts
 however, could not be; for ,the Lord had selected him sackcloth upon his loins, and mourns for his son many
 to serve the covenant as the saviour of his brethren. days. "And all his sons and all his daughters rose  np
 It is now time that he be on his way to Egypt. In the to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and
 prosperous years to come he as the instrument of the he said, For I will go down into the grave for my son's
. Almighty must advise Pharaoh how to proceed that mourning." Thus did he weep for him. And it is
 in the lean years. there may be bread for the chosen well that he weeps. In this school of affliction he will
 race. Brethren, count it all joy that the Lord cannot be trained to declare from the heart at the appointed
 be moved by your tears to take your extremely short- time and as the prophet of the Lord, "Judah, thou art
 sighted desires as His standard of action. For what he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be
 should become of you, should He yield? When in dis- in the neck of thine enemies : thy father's children shall
 tress, you pour out your heart to Him? It is well. bow down before thee . . . .  " In his present state
 However, having made known to Him your heart's                      he could not have uttered this  c-cept, it is certain, with
 desires, show by your silence that you are disposed to considerable reluctance. For his soul  clave unto
 let Him have His way with you whatever that way Joseph. This son it was he had set before his mind as
 may be. Nay, keep thou not silent but tell Him that the one from whom the scepter would not depart. And
 you are so inclined by praying, Lord, irrespective of his imaginings apparently rested upon solid ground.
 my personal wishes, Let thy will be done ;  let thy Had not this son dreamed dreams in which he had stood
 counsels be realized. Reign, Lord, in my life and in out as one appointed to have the dominion?
 my career; for thou art God, merciful, good and wise,                   It is plain that at this juncture Jacob would have
 able and willing by thyself to select the right course been constitutionally unable to declare the purposes
 and to do the thing that is best unto thy everlasting of God ; for with `these purposes his cherished imagin-
 glory.                                                              ings were somewhat at variance. And the one point
        Brethren, do not try to force your petty specifica- about which these imaginings revolved was the person
 tions upon God as if not He, but you are the one who of Joseph. And what was this love for Joseph but the
 knows what ought to be done. Who are you to tell reappearance of his great preference for Rachel and
 Him what move He should next make.                                  thus the other side of his hatred for the one woman
        Reuben only seems to have purposed by himself to he should have cherished as the gift of God?
 spare the lad. That he might have his way with him,                     There was a reason, then, why for a season the
 he had suggested casting him in the pit. Unbeknown Lord removed Joseph and through the wickedness of
 to them, he would.set  him free and send him on his men made it appear as if he had perished on the way.
 way home. Ignorant, it seems, of the doleful1 turn The reason was Jacob himself; that love of his, ren-
 events had taken during his brief absence, he  "re- dered inordinate by the admixtures of the flesh. This
 turned unto the pit; and, behold, Joseph was not in love, therefore, as well as its object, stood in God's
 the pit: and he rent his clothes. And he returned way, which is the same as saying that in Jacob's
 unto his brethren, and said, The child is not: and I, strivings the flesh was still to much of a deciding
 whither shall I go?"                                                factor, and therefore had to be denied and brought
        But let him be at, ease. Their futile brain is able into subjection. Thus it came about that with the
 to hatch out a scheme that, if put into execution, will exit of the beloved son, Jacob with a somewhat bIasted
 clear them of all suspicion. I They will dip that coat hope and a great hurt in his soul entered upon a period
 of his in the blood of a killed kid. As bedaubed  with of spiritual conflict. The inclinations of his flesh will


                                      THi3  STANDARD  BEARER                                                         113
".^ .._....."                               -    -                                            -~ --..-.. -- .__ -" .-..._-
be to demur, to denounce the Lord's ways with him,             What was the secret of Joseph's power?                His
to nurse his grief, to pity self instead of weeping for ability - an ability worked in him by the Lord -.- to
his sins, and to refuse to be comforted.                    swing his inward man in line with God`s ways with
         With these evil tendencies of nature, Jacob by the him, coupled with the conviction that all things work
grace of God will successfully cope. From the con- together for good to them that love God. Let the
flict he will emerge with earthly members crucified,        Christian workmen of this age of industrial strife
with a paternal love purged from its carnal admix- and discontent look upon Joseph and learn their lesson.
tures, with his power for self-denial increased, with a        "So it came to pass that Joseph found grace in the
confidence in God more childlike, with a soul, capable, sight of his master." Do not be misled into taking this
if need be, of hating the beloved son for. God's sake,      notice as implying that this master felt himself at-
with a faith strengthened, a hope enlivened, and with tracted to Joseph's piety and to the God whose virtues
a mouth that praises the goodness and mercy of he declared. The import of this notice is merely that,
Jehovah. True, his perplexities shall have to remain whereas he had been made to associate his sudden and
with him for a while. Those dreams, however, will miraculous material advancement with the person of
continue to gender in him the hope that somehow all this slave, he gloated over him as any carnal man will
will be well with his son. And ,when he shall finally gloat over some good fortune he perchance may happen
hear that Joseph is alive and reigns in Egypt, he will      upon. This slave was of use to him only as a means
praise the great wisdom of God and be quite ready to through which he could prosper. This Egyptian is the
tell his sons what shall befall them in the last days.      kind of a man who, though shrewd enough to recog-
         As to Joseph, he was  brought.down  to Egypt by nize the practical worth of true piety in a servant, is
the Ishmaelites who sold him unto Egypt unto Poti- without the faintest desire to become pious himself.
phar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, To this kind of a man God is nothing more than a
literally a slayer, that is, an executioner. And Poti-      sort    of handy-man-around-the-house,      not to be
phar was an Egyptian. In this house Joseph speedily served but to be tolerated as long as He proves Him- ~
rises to a place of pre-eminence. In tracing the suc- self useful, docile and pliable. But let us not  criticise
cessiv.e steps of the climb, the sacred narrator is care- this Egyptian from the heights ; let us take him as the
ful to bring out that his miraculous advancement was replica of ourselves as we are by nature, and realize by
the doing of the Lord. "And the Lord was with all means that whenever we are unable to acquiesce in
Joseph," so we read, "and he was a prosperous man  ; His way with us, demur when chastized,  insist. that he
and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian." take our petty and short-sighted desires as His  stand-
All the tasks assigned to him, he was enabled by the and of action, place our will in the room of His, decline
Spirit to execute with exceptional wisdom. His ability to consider that what He does is best, we do show
was so marked, the wisdom of his policies so apparent, ourselves up as a people with dispositions akin to the
the outcome of his way of doing things so favorable, disposition of this Egyptian.
as to incite the wonder and admiration of his master            Our appraisal of Potiphar is in agreement with
and lead him on to the conclusion that he was a per- the sacred record, with the notice, And his master saw
sonage exceptionally favored by his God. And such that the Lord SW.S  with him, and that the Lord made
notices as "and he was in  t.he house of his master the     all  that  he  did to proper in his hand, and with the
Egyptian," and, "And he served him," indicate that notice, And the Lord  bles8c.d the Egyptian's house  for
his devotion, industry, fidelity and trustworthiness Joseph's sake and the blessing of the Lord was upon
were as remarkable as his skill. Though a slave, he all that he had in. the house, and in the field. Consider
made his master's business his own ; the interests of that what the Lord blessed is not the Egyptian but
Potiphar lay close at his heart. This is the more re- his house and field and that for Joseph's sake.
markable if it be considered that he was born a free            Joseph's prosperity had the desired effect.  Poti-
man; that his tutor had been an altogether too indul- phar made him overseer over his house, and over all
gent a father; that the dreams he had dreamt must that he had. And all he did and supervised continued
have gendered in him the thought that he was a per- to prosper, - Potiphar's hcuse and field. The outcome
sonage with a remarkable future. Though the turn was that the master left all he had in the servant's
of events must have at fist greatly perplexed him, hand ; and he knew not ought he had, save the bread
he was content even as a slave in the house of an Egyp- he did eat.       The management of his affairs he so com-
tian. And he was obedient to his master according to pletely turned over to this servant that soon the latter
the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of his only had a direct knowledge of the immensity-`of  his
heart, as unto Christ ; not with eye-service, as a `man-    possessions. What good training, this superintending
pleaser; but as the servant of the Lord, doing the will of Potiphar's extensive land-economy for the man-
of God from the heart; with good will doing service, agement of the trust Joseph was to receive at Poti-
as to the Lord and not to a man ; knowing that what-        phar's court. And how evident that the Lord sees the
soever good thing any man doeth, the same he shall          end from the beginning and through intermediate
receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.            events moves toward this end.


114                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEABEB
-_..... ^ _._-._____ --___. ..-.... ." ..-....  ".__-_ -."  ..^  -"-.___-."  ._.__ ^_.."                        - - -   .-.."
    If of the record of the remaining events of Joseph's receive  an opportunity to correct her report. And his
life all we possessed was that final section telling of his sersion of the affair might be believed. For it is cer-
reign in Egypt, we in all likelihood would fill UP the tain that, being an unchaste woman, she was already
gap by supposing that from his exalted position in under a cloud of suspicion. The Hebrew, on the other
Potiphar's house he ascended directly to the place of hand, had gained the implicit confidence of the master,
vicegerent in Pharaoh's kingdom. We know, however, which she by her lie might be unable to shake. What
that the way of the throne led through a prison.                         was also against her is that Egypt was the home of
Joseph still has something to learn before he is "meet unchasity  ; marriage intidelity was prevalent as well
for the master's use, prepared unto every good work." as great sensuality.
    "And Joseph," so the sacred narrator continues,                          That she had her doubts as to whom would be be-
"was a goodly person and well favoured." And his lieved, she or the Hebrew, is evident enough from the
beauty now exposed him to a new danger. His master's great show she made of her virtues. She charges her
wife cast her eyes upon him. Her attempts to seduct husband with having purposely endangered her chasity
him by persuasive speech long continued. `She spake by bringing in the Hebrew unto her and her own; and
to Joseph day by  day.71          Instead of yielding to her thus poses as the custodian of the virtue even of the
wiles, he tried to arouse her conscience by a speech females of her house  ; calls the pretended seduction of
that set forth the contemplated sin in all its vileness. Joseph wanton mockery; and feigns great indignation
"Behold;" he said to her, "my master wotteth not what by scornfully referring to her husband as hs and to
is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that Joseph as the Hebrew.
he hath to my hand ; there is none greater in this house                     But even as reinforced by this her feigned ostenta-
than I, neither hath he kept back anything from me tion of merital fidelity, her story as coming from one
but thee, because thou art his wife . . . .  " "There- like her was still too vulnerable not to be doubted.
fore should I hearken unto thee I would be disgrace- Anyone would immediately sense how unlikely it was
fully abusing the confidence in me by my master, and that Joseph, were he guilty, would be so thoughtless as
outraging his rights as a husband.  Bow then can I to leave his garment with her.
do this great wickedness and sin against Cod?" But                           When Potiphar came home, the woman repeated
the woman was persistent. Joseph stood firm. Finally to him her lie.                        Nis wrath was kindled. Taking
her lustful persuasions ended in bold attack. Leaving Joseph, he put him in the state prison in which the
his garment by which she had caught hold of him in state prisoners were kept. That he felt confident that
her hand, he fled and got him'out of her presence. Was his wife had spoken the truth may be doubted. True,
the manner of assault premeditated and thus repre- he put Joseph away without a hearing. This, how-
sentative of a scheme that, if successful, would make ever, need not be taken as a positive proof that in his
it possible for her to cry out against him a crime in heart he held her to be the innocent party. The Hebrew
that day and in that land punishable by death? What he knew could be expected to protest his guilt, were
favors this view is the double fact that she caught hold he questioned, so that he would still have to choose
of his garment and was at no loss what to do and what between two testimonies neither of which could be
to say when he fled with his garment in her hand. It verified by a witness other than the person invoIved.
is more likely, however, that she acted solely under Thus nothing would be gained. Consider further, that
the stress of the moment. Her advances had repeatedly whereas he could not establish her guilt, he could be
called forth nothing but determined resistance, and expected to pretend to hold her guiltless if for no other
now again he had eluded her. The woman was furious. reason than to uphold the honor of his house.
Then, too, she feared that by the garment he had left                        The view that he felt certain that his servant was
behind she might be betrayed, so that under the im- innocent is not without grounds in the sacred record.
pulse of a great rage mingled with fear, she instant- Though the crime of which Joseph was accused called
aneously framed and uttered a speech, that, so she for a most severe punishment, he later on was treated
hoped, would clear her of all suspicion and cast the with the leniency by the keeper of the prison, so that
blame upon him. Well did she know that if her report Potiphar, it seems, was punishing him gently for ap-
were believed, it would go hard with him. Little she pearance's sake. Yet it must not be supposed that the
cared however. It was either his well-being or hers. favors shown him in prison flowed forth from the
She, the guilty one, craved life. Let therefore the in- kindness of Potiphar. The Lord was again with
nocent perish. So she called unto the men of her Joseph, and showed him mercy, and gave him favor in
house, "and spake unto them, saying, See he hath the sight of the keeper of the prison.
brought in a Hebrew into us to mock us; he came unto                         In the light of the above considerations, it may be
me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice ; and safely a%rmed,  that Potiphar knew that Joseph was
it came to pass when he heard that I lifted up my voice not the offender. Was he not a youth of outstanding
and cried, that he left his garment with me, and fled piety, a favorite of his God? Had he ever suggested
and got him out."                                                        by word or deed that he was not to be trusted? And
       The woman must have felt ill at ease. He might was she not an adulterous woman?


                                            STAHD-ARD  BEARER                                                           ii5

   The punishment  meeted out to Joseph was at first eign mercy of his Saviour, he will be meet for the
altogether in keeping with the severity with which Master's use. Forsooth, Joseph entered that prison
prisoners in that day were treated. From the 105th          with an abundance of food for thought.
psalm we learn that his feet were hurt with fetters                                                         G. M. 0.
and that his soul came into iron. This is also in agree-      _  ,...._  `  ,.
ment with the notice that "he was put into a place
were the king's prisoners were bound." Such had been
the orders of Potiphar given under the impulse of an           De Nederlandsche Geloof sbeli jdenis
insane jealousy set in motion by the report of his wife.
For although he must have felt certain that his faith-                            ARTIKEL  II  (Vervolg)
ful servant was the innocent party, he nevertheless            Voorts hebben we in de schepping licht en
would hate him if for no other reason than that his         duisternis, zon en maan en sterren, den wijnstok, de
adulterous wife had been charmed by his beauty and ranken, het zaad dat gezaaid wordt, den akker, den
grace. Then, too, he must have been tortured by the eikenboom, de cederboomen, den palmboom,  door-n en
thought that the report at least might be true. Finally, distel; ook de dieren, zooals lam en Ieeuw en slang en
as was said, there was the honor of his house.              duif ; ook de kleuren worden  ons in de ~schepping aan-
    Joseph the innocent one, known to be innocent by geboden als ziende op het onzienlijke, zooals rood en
both the accuser and the judge, yet sentenced to be zwart  en wit; zoo ook spreekt de S&rift van de ver-
numbered with criminals ! And the accuser accusing schillende getallen  die geestelijke beteekenis hebben
to save her life, and the judge sentencing to uphold in het koninkrijk der hemelen, zooals de  getallen een,
the false dignity of his house ; both acting under the      drie, zeven, tien, twaalf, enz  ; zoo ook allerlei  verschil-
impulse of a love for self and of a hatred for trut,h and lende relaties in het menschelijk leven, aooals broeders
justice !                                                   en zusters, Vader en moeder en kind, koning en onder-
    Joseph in fetters counted an offender before the daan, bruidegom en bruid; zoo ook de spijze als beeld
law, because,' fearing God, he had refused to hearken van de spijze die nimmer vergaat, zooals melk, wijn,
unto the voice of the tempter, and had kept himself honig, brood en olie. Deze  ailen  zijn niet slechts
unspotted from the sins of Egypt as rampent  in the aparte, op zichzelf staande openbaringen Gods in de
house of Potiphar ! Was this a fitting reward for his schepselen-wereld, maar ze zijn  allen openbaring van
virtue  - a prison? Rightly considered, Joseph had Gods eeuwige kracht en Goddelijkheid. Ze zijn allen
no just reason for complaint. Even our best works are ons in het natuurlijk leven gegeven om dezelfde  rede-
always so mixed with the issues of the flesh as to          nen als ze ons in Gods Woord zijn gegeven. En de
render the saint an offender in the eye of the Judge        hoofdreden waarom dit  alles ons geopenbaard wordt is
of all the earth, worthy of death. This, together with dat we God kennen, den eenigen en waarachtigen God.
the fact that anything of goodness in him, was the gift     Het duidelijkst bewijs voor dit heeft men in Ps. 19,
of God, Joseph had to keenly realize. Otherwise there waar de  dichter  ons verzekert dat de hemelen vertellen
was danger that, once exalted, he might begin to glory      (niet natuurschoonheden) Gods eer en het uitspansel
in himself and say, because I willed and run, because verkondigt Zijner handenwerk. Of zooals de belijde-
I by my strength so gallantly resisted evil and fought nis zoo schoon  leert, dat de schepselen-wereld, die God
the good fight, I am come to honor and glory.               geschapen heeft en nog steeds door God wordt gere-
    That his eyes might open to the extreme vanity of geert en onderhouden, voor onze oogen zijn als "een
ascribing his final rise to his own virtue as its sover- schoon  boek in hetwelk alle schepselen, beide kleine en
eign cause, the way of the throne from Potiphar's groote schepselen, gelijk als letteren zijn, die ons de
house  - that arena of his successful engagements onzienlijke  dingen  Gods geven te aanschouwen. God,
with the sinister powers of darkness as operative in Zijn Verbond en de realiseering van Zijn raad  moeten
the woman - was made to lead through a prison. As we klaar en duidelijk zien, niet  alleen  in Gods Woord,
a result of his implicit faith in the righteousness of maar ook in de openbaring Gods in de schepping. Zoo
God, and of his consciousness of his own fundamental leer-t  ons de S&rift in Gen. 9, Ps. 19, 103, 145, 147,
integrity, he with his second swift descend before his Job 38, v.v., Matth. 13, Job. 15, Rom. 1, Openbaring
eye, would look away from self as the possible cause        21 en 22.
of the favor of God, and realize that if there was to be         Maar alhoewel deze twee middelen van God  waar-
anything of permanent deliverance and reward, there door Hij Zichzelven  aan ons openbaar maakt, nooit
had to be a sovereign mercy from which this deliver- van elkander 10s kunnen worden  gemaakt, maar wezen-
ance and reward could issue. When he will have been lijk e&r zijn, moet men  tech niet meenen alsof deze
taught to confess that his very goodness is the gift of twee middelen tot openbaring Gods, op gelijke voet
God and therefore can merit no reward, when, as the staan. De een is niet even rijk als de andere. Maar
result of his training, he will say, Not by my virtue,      het rechte verband schuilt daarin, dat de natuur-open-
as well as, Not by my wisdom and strength, and with baring van God alleen kan  worden  verstaan en ver-
a lowly spirit and a contrite heart praise the sover-       Maard in het licht van de Schriftopenbaring Gods. En


116                                         'sir13  STANOARD  BEAiifiit
          --._- 1- "..". ^^. ._-._-._-----" .._ """ -..... - ---.---.-. ^^ .-.---l"l--__^____l--.._I  _._ -...
dat eenvoudig omdat de Schriftopenbaring duidelijker
en voller is. In Gods Woord aanschouwen we in ecn                                       The Fulness of Time
Spiegel Gods aangezicht en worden  wij van gedaantc                         In the expression  fulneas  of time, so we wrote in a
veranderd van heerlijkheid tot heerlijkheid, als van former article, must be associated first of all with the
des Heeren Geest. Gods Woord neemt ons als het Israelitish nation. Wrote the apostle to the Galatians :
ware bij de hand en Ieidt ons door goddelijke genade `L. . . . but when the fulness of time was come, God
de eeuwige  poorten  van Jeruzalem binnen.                              sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the
       Maar juist daarom  moeten  we vasthouden, dat law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we
alleen een begenadigde  bet  handschrift  Gods, hetzij might receive the adoption of sons."
in het Woord, hetzij in de schepping, Iezen en verstaan                     In this passage occurs the term ;Fulne.ss  of time.
kan. De geestelijke mensch in  Christus Jezus heeft Time is the duration of things. So conceived, the term
`t beginsel der kennisse Gods en dat beginsel doet hem time  in the expression fulness of time denotes, as the
zijnen God kennen in alle  dingen.  Hij ziet alles  als setting of the text in which the term occurs plainly
een Godsopenbaring. De geloovige boer, zelfs als hij                    indicates, the duration of the state of minority of the
den Bijbel niet bij zich heeft, terwijl hij in zijn akker Old Testament church. While in this state the church
bezig is, wandelt tech temidden van Gods rijke open- -was under a sdhoolmaster or governor who brought it
baring. Hij ziet den Drieeenige  in den boom met zijn to Christ.
drie niet-te-scheiden bestanddeelen, n.l., wortel, stam                     In the pre-Messianic period, the church being a
en kroon. In de frissche Lente, wanneer alles opnieuw minor was trained unto Christ. The trainer or gov-
begint te leven, en ontwaakt uit de winterverstijving, ernor was the law in connection with the promises.
heeft hij een prachtig beeld van de wederopstanding With the church trained, the time was full and God
van alle dingen Doch ook de gebeurtenissen der wereld sent his Son. This is the matter upon which we now
zijn openbaringen Gods.             De z.g.n. depressie is de enlarge.
sprinkhanenplaag die de profeet  Amos zag. Die sprink-
hanen werden niet opgedreven uit de woestijn door                           The church was trained to hope for and desire the
een oostenwind, maar God formeerde de sprinkhanen. Christ so that when He came He found His people in
Ik de Heere doe al deze dingen,  ja zoo sterk nog wel,                  a state of expectancy. This is evident from various
dat Amos vraagt : "Is er een kwaad in de stad dat de notices found in the Gospel. The two disciples that
Heere niet doet?" (3%) Alle  dingen  spreken tot ons journeyed to the village of  Emmaus  said, But we
van Zijn eeuwige kracht en goddelijkheid.                   En dit trusted that it had been he which should have re-
heeft als gevolg, dat de gansche wereld, staande in het deemed Israel . . . . Simeon took the Christ-child up
midden van de Godsopenbaring, geen  verontschuldi-                      in his arms, and `blessed God and said, Lord now  let-
ging heeft. Zij ziet de Godsopenbaring in alles. Zelfs test thy servant depart in peace, according to thy
in zijn binnenste heeft de wereldling een onuitwisch-                   word: for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which
baar getuigenis, dat God is, en tech zegt hij (en daar- thou hast prepared before the face of all people . . . .
in komt zijn dwaasheid en vijandige zonde tot open- And there was Anna the prophetess who spake of him
baring) es is geen God. Maar Gods kind kent den to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.
Waarachtige in beginsel in  alle  dingen,  en daarin                        The question arises by what means the Lord
smaakt hij het eeuwige leven, waardoor hij -met zijn through the centuries had schooled His church to set
God omgaat als een vriend met zijn vriend.                              their heart upon His salvation. So the question must
                                              L. VERMEER                be put. For the schooling was spread over as many
                                                                        years as the period of minority was long. It was the
                                                                        church conceived of by the apostle as a single per-
                                                                        sonage that from the very beginning to the advent of
                             NOTICE                                     Christ was trained.
       The Choral Society of the First Protestant Re-                       The question by what means the church was trained
formed Church will render a Miscellaneous Program has already been answered: by the law in connection
on Thursday, December  10, at  8  :OO o'clock. Every- with the promise, the nucleus of which was revealed
body welcome. Come and enjoy a real treat.                              unto our first parents immediately after the fall.
                                                   Committee.               Immediately upon the fall our first parents were
                                                                        made to hearken to an announcement of the salutary
                                                                        decrees of God. "And the Lord God said, . . . . And
       De Predikanten vergadering zal gehouden  worden                  I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and
in de Fuller Ave. Pastorie, Donderdag, 3 Dee,, des mor-                 between thy seed and her seed, he shall bruise thy
gens om 9 uur.                                                          head, and thou shalt bruise his heel" (Gen. 3  :15). It
       Ds. H. Hoeksema zal het onderwerp behandelen: is at once discernible that this divine speech is a pre-
"Antithese Geen  Dualisme."                                             diction of a state of affairs presupposing the existence
                                                    Secretaris.         of a holy race, for the serpent and the woman together


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                       117
I---.__                                                _ _ _   __--.."." _. .._...     ll.l"."    .._. .._. -._        __I__ .._ -.-..
with their respective seeds are to constitute the two when he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of himself. What
parties to a strife arising from mutually  animose feel- may it have been that captivated Satan's heart and
ings and dispositions. The strife shall terminate to fired his imagination? The answer is found in the
the *complete advantage of the holy seed as he is des- epistle of Jude. The angels, so this epistle informs us,
tined to demolish the serpent's head and thus gain the kept not their rule or first state but left their abode,
ascendency over its malice. The victorious seed, how- Jude 1:6. Add to this that the word by which the
ever, will not escape unscathed. To the contrary, it serpent induced man to eat from the forbidden tree
shall bear the marks of the conflict upon its bruised was, And thou shalt be like God, and the conviction
heel.                                                           cannot be escaped that the failure to keep his state,
    The mutual dislike and reciprocal opposition will was the other side of a diabolical attempt to usurp
be set by the Lord God, that is, caused or at least             God's place in heaven. His rebellion was the expres-
necessitated by His will so that the clause, "I will set sion of  ia lie, the extention of a thought-structure the
enmity," must be made to apply to the subsequent dis- chief and highest mansion of which he had assigned
play of malice by the spiritual kin of the serpent as           to himself. For, what he coveted was the homage due
well as to the holy aversion exhibited by the seed of to God alone. He would have transferred all his king-
the woman for the brood of Satan. `Tis true, to link            doms to Christ, had the latter but worshipped him.
up the malice, dispositions, attitudes and conduct of The state of affairs as conceived of by Satan, then, is
the wicked with the divine will is to incur the hot dis-        not in congruity with God's conception of what is
pleasure of those who insist that God should be defined right and proper, so that the devil imagines and re-
as a Being capable of a love enveloping reprobate               vells in the lie. Whereas the lie is not of God, Satan,
mankind. Scripture has it, nevertheless, that God is when he speaketh the lie, speaketh of his own.
the determining, sustaining, directing and controlling            The question remains, why Satan should be called
principle of the seed  in,act,ion.  It cannot move without the father of the wicked ? And the answer is ready :
His will.                                                      Because he transported from his own consciousness
   The serpent shall have a seed - the wicked - of into that of man the lie he had fabricated. Said he to
which he is the father and hence the progenitor. That the woman, Thou shalt be as God knowing good and
the relation which Satan sustains to the wicked is that evil. Man, quick to respond, ate of the forbidden tree
of father, is the teaching of Scripture. Says Christ to and in doing so set himself up as his own master by
those rejecting Him, Ye are of your father the devil,          placing in the room of God's standard of' truth, his
and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a own. It was Satan, then, who fructified with his lie
murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the Then, when her lust had conceived, it brought forth
truth, because there is no truth in him. When he the  woman'sV lust enticing and drawing her away.
speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar sin: and her sin, when it was finished, brought forth
and the father of it, John  8:.$-l. Whereas Satan is           death. For this reason, and in this sense, `Satan is the
solely a spiritual being, it follows that according to the father of the wicked and the latter his seed, his off-
flesh his seed, as well as the seed he opposes, is the off-    spring.
spring of the woman. That is to say, with the excep-                It must not be supposed that Satan withdrew from
tion of the ego, the entire human organism - its mate- man after having tempted him in the garden. If so,
rial substance, its nature together with the sinful qual- Paul would not have warned us again his wiles. Fact
ities of this nature, is the indirect offspring of the         is, that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but
parents of the human race. The human ego or spirit, against principalities, against powers, against the
we believe, is a direct gift of God. At any event, the rulers of the darkness of the world, against spiritual
devil is the father neither of the human organism nor wickedness in high places, Eph. 6:12.  The influence
of its sinful qualities. The ethical polution of mankind which the devil is capable of exerting upon the hearts
originated in the soul of our first parents and was of men is so great as to render him the very prince of
transmitted by them to their posterity. `Whereas, as darkness. He still incites men to imagine a vain thing,
by one man sin entered the world, and death by sin ; to take counsel and to set themselves against the Lord
and so death passed upon all `men  . . ." (Rom. 5':lZ). and against His anointed, to break their bands
   The question remains in what sense Satan is the
                F._                                            asunder, and to cast away their cords from them, in
father o.f the  ticked. A ciue to the correct answer is a word, to realize the lie which he planted in man's
found in the above-cited words of Christ. When the soul at the very dawn of ohistory.                              Hence, he who
devil speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own ; for he is       wishes to stand, says the apostle, against the wiles of
a liar and the father of it. The relation, then, the           the devil s&l1 put on the whole armor of God, Eph.
devil sustains to the lie is that of father, so that the 6 :ll.
meaning of this speech of Christ can be none other                  That the natural man is an off-spring of the devil
than that the lie is original not with man but with in the sense explained above, is evident enough. The
Satan, that he was the first to cherish it and te regard two are alike as to the ethical qualities of their nature.
its realization as the highest possible good. Hence, &`There is, further, an identify of him, purpose, ideal


1 1 8                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                   --.-_"_    ___lll-_          -    -     --.-         --.. ".----..--..-  -...._  ".    -..-.-  ._..-
and principle. As Satan, so man, he would be like the those who commit sin. For he fructifies the souls of
Most High, exalt his throne above the stars of God; the ungodly with his lies and influences them to yield
sit upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides to the forces of unrighteousness. Said the apostle to
of the north ; ascend above the heights of the clouds. the Church, "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye
Natural man as well as Satan, opposes and exalteth may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
himself above God. Both, reason God out of their lives For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
and out of their world and set up a kingdom destitute principalities, against powers, against rulers of dark-
of all that is called God.                                 ness of the world, against spiritual wickedness of high
   There is not only an identity but even a oneness places." .
of aimfi purpose and ideal here. The devil and his            So then at the very dawn of history the promise of
seed constitute a confederacy of which the former, salvation was given.
however, is the master mind and the unifying force.           This promise is the heart and nucleus of the revela-
Ye will do, says Christ, the lust of your father. The tion of the divine scheme of redemption. This promise
wicked, a then, are in the power of the devil and do his in subsequence history was renewed. And each re-
bidding. The highest possible boon is to be delivered newal brought into sharper relief the features of the
from his power.                                            Christ, shed some new light on His redemptive labors
   The woman, too, shall have a seed differing from and on the blessedness that was to come through Him.
that of the serpent as to its spritiual make-up. Where-
as those constituting the seed of the serpent descend         This promise came to Abraham. Said God to  him,
from the woman, it follows that the term se& of the "And I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and
woman .signifies a select group. It is doubtful whether thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless
Eve surmised that the promise i mplied a selective thee; and in thee shall all the families of the earth be
process  ; that not the whole of her off-spring would be blessed."
brought under the influence of grace and be made              Abraham is blessed. Man `had heard God curse.
to part company with and to oppose the serpent and The force and meaning of the divine curse was con-
his henchmen ; that, in other words, the spiritual kin stantly being exhibited unto him. The essence of the
of the serpent was to be recruited from her very off- curse, we saw, is a life lived apart from God. The one
spring. At any event, Eve rejoiced when Cain was whom God curses is expelled from the presence of the
born, and her joy arose from the conviction that the Father of lights. Such an one is ordered to leave God's
birth of this son of hers signaled the beginning of the house, and assigned to a place upon which the Al-
fulfilment of the promise of salvation. In fact, it did mighty, in holy indignation, frowns  - a place of utter
so but not in a manner she expected as is evident from darkness where men wail  cnly and gnash their teeth.
her  jubiIant exclamation, "I have received a man with And the meaning of the curse, I repeat, was incessantly
Jehovah." Eve was not wanting in faith but her faith being demonstrated unto man - in his expulsion from
lacked knowledge. She was, therefore, due for a bitter the garden of Eden, in the shame which he experi-
disappointment. For as Cain attained to the season of enced upon the discovery of his nakedness, in the thorn
manhood, he began to assume such an attitude toward and the thistle which grew, in the wanton ungodliness
things holy as to show himself up as the spiritual kin of the seed of the serpent.
of the devil. His spite and hatred were fanned into           However, God promised to set enmity. And so He
a white heat by the pious life and testimony of the did and continued to do. Abram is called and ordered
saints, and in particular of Abel, with whom he was to get him out of his country, and from his kindred,
thrown into contact and in whose circles he in the first and from his father's house unto a land that God will
period of his life moved.                                  show him. Abraham is blessed. Again it appears that
   This then is the teaching of this promise. Mention the curse of God does not mean the eclipse of the entire
is made, let it be repeated, of two kinds of seed. And human race. Abraham and his seed are blessed. The
it is the plain teachings of Scripture that the term essence of the divine blessing is a life permeated and
seed in both cases signifies an organism. Each organ- enveloped by the light of God's countenance. Jehovah
ism, further, has its principle centrally the two seeds. is the friend of him whom He blesses. And that one,
Christ is the seed of the woman. "Now to Abraham being blessed, is made to love God. This one dwells in
and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, God's presence and is happy because he--may know the
And to seeds, as to many ; but as of one, And to thy Holy One.
seed, which is Christ."                                       Abraham is blessed and he shall be a  blessing.
   Christ has a body, the Church, of which  He is the Further, whether one is blessed or cursed depends
life. He and the Church is the seed. The Church pre- upon one's attitude toward Abraham. Those cursing
vails in Him who was to demolish the head of the           him will be cursed, those blessing him will be blessed.
serpent.                                                   And finally, in him will ail the families of the earth be
   The other principal then is the devil. He, Togo, is blessed. That is to say, the races of the earth are
ethically related to his brood. He ig'even  the father of blessed because of their oneness with him. On the


                                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 119
_ .._......_...I..I.  "._._ -__II___    -.".~l"l."._.___l_l.-  "-.""l-"".."l"l-          -~"--".       -I--. ".---.-.-~-  .__--. -_ -._
other hand, he who is not in Abraham, that is con- Seir shall also be a possession for his enemies; and
nected with and related to him, is cursed.                                         Israel shall do valiantly. Out :of Jacob shall come he
      These statements are pregnant with meaning. We that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that
ask how can these things be? And the answer is ready : remaineth of the city" (Nu. 24:17-19). ,
The seed of Abraham is Christ. These statements                                       Also this prophesy revolves about a person, namely,
must be made to apply to an organism, to that organ- about Him who shall gain the ascendency over the
ism of which Christ is the head and principal. Of that malicy  of the devil. Here again He is presented in the
body this patriarch is a member. He who curses him image of a lion. The church of the old covenant is
is cursing the body and its head  - the Christ. He made to see that the  cdnsolation of Israel is full of
who is joined to him is a member of the organism. majesty and power, supremely strong, free and un-
Such an one is at once in Christ, and is blessed. Abra- hampered in his movements, doing as He sees fit.
ham was made a blessing in  that he brought forth                                     To the Christ and His salvation as set forth by this
Christ. To this must be added that the life of Abra- promise, the Church had to be schooled. And the
ham was an exhibition of the Christ in him. He walked schoolmaster was the law, namely, that body of laws '
as a child of light, as one born of God, devoted to the                            which when put into execution by Moses converted the
cause of Jehovah. He who cursed Abraham cursed the Jewish nation into a typical commonwealth, a typical
Christ he exhibited.                                                               house of God, radiating His glories. This typical house
      The promise was again renewed through the dying together with its machinery of government and social
Jacob.                                                                             and religious institutions was the replica of patterns
      Judah thou! Thy brethren shall praise thee!                                  set forth by the mass of legislation Moses had received
      Thy hand in the neck of thine enemies.                                       from God.
      Thy father's sons shall bow down before thee.                                   This law, this typical-symbolical apparatus loudly
      A lion's whelp is Judah ;                                                    declared by its imperfections and subsequent break-
      From the prey, my SO;~,  thou art gone up;                                   down that it was but the shadow of Christ and the
      Ke stooped down, he crouches like a lion,                                    realities that were to appear with him. With the
     And like a lioness  - who shall rouse him?                                    collapse of the type the believing mind reverted to the
      The scepter shall  not  &part  from  Judah,                                  promise which perhaps he thought fulfilled but which
      Nor the ~ruler's staf from between. his fwt,                                 he now contemplated as setting forth a grace that was
      Until1  ihiloh come,                                                         still to be brought near.
      And to Him willing obedicnw  of tire nations!                                   How completely the type collapsed.
      This passage seems to have baffled many a com-                                  At a comparatively early date the house build by
mentator. Lengthy treatises have been written on the Moses lay in ruins, with the altars of God cast down.
meaning of the term Shiloh. However, the very text in And it soon became apparent to the pious in Israel
which the name appears  icdicates  that the term  signi- that the old economy was broken down beyond repair
ties a person and not a place. The passage yields no and was destined to disappear. As may be imagined a
difficulties if explained in the-light of previous-revela- gloom settled down upon the people of God. --Left  to
tion and according to the spirit of prophecy as a whole. themselves they could not escape- the conclusion that
Doing so, it will be seen at once that the term Shiloh evil had triumphed over good, that the Lord had been
is a personal designation of Him upon whom the                                     unable to keep and set in order His own house, main-
Church, even at this juncture, had been taught to cen- tain the building He had erected. In other words, the
ter its hopes, viz., the man of Jehovah, who, in this                              saints left to themselves might have concluded that'the
particular outburst of prophetic vision, is named the malice of the serpent brood had gained the ascendency,
Sbiloh, i. e., the peacemaker, the prince of peace, unto that the race corrupting the house of God had gained
whom the gatherihgs of the nations shall be. Thus it the mastery, as they saw the clouds of divine judg-
appears  that the passage is permeated with prophetic ment gather. Left to themselves they would have con-
allusions.                                                                         cluded that `all there was left for the Lord to do was
      This particular reference to the Messiah was later to destroy his inheritance from the face of the earth,
taken up on the prophecy of Balaam. "Behold, the Left to themselves the saints of this period could never
people shall rise_up  a great lion, and lift up himself have known that the Lord was about to construct a
as a young lion ; he shall not lie down till he eat of his new series of types, prophetic. of the new economy to
prey" (Nu. 23 :24). And again : "He crouched, he lay appear with Christ and to be seen in all its glory on
down as a lion, and as a great lion ; who shall stir him the new earth. So then the Israelitish nation as to
up? Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he its form of manifestation must to be made over. The
that curseth  thee . . . . T shall see him, but not now; theocratic state must be broken down and destroyed.
1 shall behold him, but not nigh ; there shall come a This would happen when the Lord came in judgment.
star out of Jacob, and a Scepter shall rise yut of Israel, `First, however, the nation must ripen for judgment.
and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the                           Having  filled its iniquity, steeped in sin, of
children of  Sheth. And Edom shall be a possession, the preceding period ripe for judgment, Israel will


 120                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
 -_-
 _---.---  .- -.... ".. -__  _-__  -  ._.         __"._ll~-._-  -.-._-I__ -.... ".-.-.._-~
 go into exile and the old order of things will disap-           (2) The expansion of the Old Testament.- church into
 pear.                         Y                                 the church universal. This latter divine operation is
        The Lord still has His `remnant which in Babylon known in Scripture as the rebuilding of the house of
 will lament after God. This remnant will return and David, or the erection by Christ of the new house over
 ,rebuild  the temple.       Compared with the temple of which he was to be set.
 Solomon this new structure will be a despicable spec-              Of these various divine operations the saints of the
 tacle so that at the sight of it, those with the beauty period under consideration could have no knowledge
 of the former temple fresh in their memory will weep. of themselves. Perceiving what was happening they
 They will weep because they have no understanding would without light from heaven have become the vic-
 of the progressive character of revelation, that the old tims of despair. This the Lord could not allow. Hence
 economy must give way for better things. Further, he raises up prophets let us call them futuristic
 in the holiest of all will be no ark ; Israel will loose its    prophets - to tell His people what He was about to
 national independence, the remnant will return without, do and to shed the necessary light on His new line of
1 a king to be ruled by vicegerents of foreign powers. operations, and by this instruction to comfort His
 Only the priest will return as an instructor of the people and thus to prevent them from drawing wrong
 law. In brief the Lord will deface the house of Moses, conclusions.
 mar the entire typical-symbolical apparatus of the Old              From the very nature of things the utterances of
 Testament dispensat.ion,  very nearly beyond rezogni-           the prophets appearing in this period have largely to
 tion. This must be because the Lord must break down do with the future., It may easily be surmized in the
*$,he type and bring to the fore the realities typified. light of what was said, upon what points their prophe-
 Hence the spiritual seed must be separated from its cies turned, of what they would be ordered to speak.
 carnal shell, it must be brought into relief and be Theyforetold the exile and the return of the remnant.
 made to behave in such a way that the conclusion that As the return of the remnant out of exile together with
 the state church was a creation, which the Lord was the attending events were again in turn types of a
 about to do away with would be drawn.                           future larger good, the prophets in question spoke of
        As was said the remnant had no king, set out on these better things lying in the distant future.
 no military expeditions, engage in nd extirpation of                Thus was the church trained unto Christ.
 the wicked by the sword. This sword the Lord will                   (The first section of this article appeared as a part
 take away from His people for good. There is, how- of another article in the fifth volume of the S. B.)
 ever, a marvelous display of purely spiritual power.                                                                      G. M. 0.
 The remnant returned to Canaan without an army to                                        -
 protect it. They trust in Jehovah. When the foreign
 power expressed. its willingness to send with the rem-                                IN MEMORIAM
 nant an army for protection, they say, that they need              On Nov. 16 it pIeased  the Lord our God to take unto Himself
 no such protection as their help standeth in the name our dearly beloved Husband, Father, Grandfather and Great-
 of the Lord. There was also a strict adherence to the grandfather,                                            .  ..~~
 law of Jehovah, an unwillingness to amalgamate with                                  JELLE:   VIZENSTRA,
 the natives of Canaan.                                          at the age of `72 years, 2 months and 5 days.
        The Lord's methods also differ from that of the             The assurance which he gave us that he was going to meet
                                                                 his blessed Saviour, comforts us in these days of sorrow.
 preceding period. The remnant is delivered without
 bloodshed, without the immediate destruction of the                                 Mrs.  Jelle  Veenstra, nee Vander Weg
                                                                                     Mr. and Mrs. Micheal Vogel
 nations which respoiled the inheritance of God. God                                 Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Vander Laan
 by his Spirit simply moved the foreign powers to let                                Mr. and Mrs. John Veenstra
 His people return, peaceably. They even help them by                                Mrs. Maggie De Frece
 furnishing provisions.                                                              MaItin
        These things the Lord had to bring to pass. How-                             Mr. and Mrs. Otto M.  Hoist
 ever, it is of great importance to see that the spiritual                           Mr. and Mrs. Fred Veenstra
                                                                                     Mr. and Mrs. Albert Veenstra
 essence (the people of God) which the Lord was about                                Maynard
 to bring to the fore, together with all its spiritual                                 19  grandchildren   =d..,J,   ~~eatgrandchiId.
 operations such as the return from Babylon under                   Grand Rapids, l&h.                           ".G
 peaceful conditions, its great faith, the rebuilding of
 the temple, etc., were in turn meant to be the types
 of operations of God lying in the distant future, i. e.,            Upon request of the Holland Men's Society of the
 of a time future to the happenings of the aforesaid First Protestant Reformed Church, Rev. B. Kok will
 events.                                                         lecture in the Fuller Ave. church building, Thursday
        What were these operations of God typified by this evening,  Dee: 17, at  7:45.- Subject: "The Serious
 new cycle of types to be: (1) The gathering of the elect Question and Its Answer."
 from the four corners of the earth in the gospel period ;           Collection to cover expenses.                        Committee.


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Vol. VIII, No. 6                                                         DECEMBER 15, 1931                                   Subscription Price, $2.50

                                                                                                Indignant had been the king ! Had he not sum-
             M E D I T A T I O N                                                           moned the prophet to curse his enemies and had the
LL
                                        -                                                  prophet not blessed them altogether? . . .
                                                                                                Pet, the attempt must be renewed ! For, this people
                      Israel, the Righteous                                                must be cursed ; the king will have it so, and the
                                                                                           prophet is willing, for he covets the reward of unright-
                                  He hath  not beheld  iriiquity   ia Jacob,               eousness.        Perhaps, the first viewpoint, which the
                              neither hath he seen perverseness  iil  kaei;                prophet had obtained of the people in the plains from
                              the Lord his God is with him, and the shotit                 the heights of Baal, had been unfavorable for the de-
                               of  a  king is among them.  -  Nu.  23:21.                  sired imprecation. Let the viewpoint, then, be changed.
   Israel, the righteous !                                                                 Let the soothsayer be taken to the fields of Zophim and
    God, Jehovah, hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob!                                       to the heights of Pisgah. From thence he will see the
   He, Who is not a man, that He should lie, neither people in a more contemptible state, he will behold the
the son of man, that He should repent, hath not seen utmost of the camp ; perhaps, see merely the mixed
perverseness in Israel !                                                                   multitude that went with Israel out of the house of
   Blessed Israel !                      Blessed Jacob !             Let Balaam bondage. And beholding them in this contemptible
abandon his purpose to gain the reward of iniquity by condition the soothsayer may go forth with his
cursing this people ; let Moab's ruler, justly fearing the enchantments and persuade Jehovah to transfer His
power of this blessed people that is encamped in the blessing from Jacob toMoab and curse the people of
plains, send the soothsayer from  Aram away ! For it His choice! . . . .
is God that justifieth ; who is he that condemneth? . .                                         And again the altars are built . . . .
    It is in the second attempt to curse this blessed and                                       And again the sacrifi:es are offered . . . .
much dreaded nation that the Most High forces this                                              And again the  socthsayer  approaches the Lord
beatitude from the mouth that would fain have invoked with His enchantments . . . .
a malediction. From Aram the king of the Moabites                                               He prays, the hypocrite ! He accuses the brethren,
had summoned Balaam, that most abominable hypo- the servant of the devil ! He presents the people before
crite of the old dispensation, of a soothsayer's fame, to the eyes of the Lord in their most contemptible state,
curse the blessed people, of whom the Most High had this representative of Beelzebub. He brings before the
said, that he would be cursed that would curse them. eyes of the Righteous their sin and guilt, that must
And the king had led him to the high places of Baal, make them worthy of condemnation ; he presents be-
that thence he might behold the utmost part of the fore the face of the Holy their corruption that must
people. Altars had been built, seven in number, at the cause them to be abominable in His sight . . . .
request of the wicked prophet, and sacrifices had been                                          It is all in vain !
offered, and the soothsayer had sought the Lord to in-                                          He must return with the emphatic pronouncement
fluence Him with his enchantments, that he might of blessing ; He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob,
invoke the imprecations of Jehovah upon Israel and neither hath He seen perverseness in Israel, the Lord
transfer the blessing  to  Moab !                                                          his God is with him and the shout of a king is among
   But it had all been in vain!                                                            them! : Why, then, continue the attempt to have t!lis
    His own impotency to curse whom the Lord had                                           people cursed ? If they are to be execrated must there
messed the soothsayer had confessed and he  ihat had not be a reason, a ground of malediction  that'is valid
come to curse had uttered nothing but blessing upon in the sight of the Most High? And what other ground
the people that would dwell alone!                                                         c.onld  t.hpre  hP  nrcm-mtecl   hdbrm  Cm-l  khan  the  -in  -=.-I

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

iniquity and perverseness of the people that must be        that people, encamped in the plains of Moab, before
cursed? And if God cannot behold iniquity in Jacob,         the bar of sepreme justice ? . . . .
and if He cannot see perverseness in Israel, how then          Was there no reason for him to turn with his
can there still be hope of cursing this people? God it enchantments to the God of that people and to attempt
is that justifieth them, who shall condemn them? The a transfer of the blessing from Jacob to Moab?
Most High, from Whose tribunal there is no appeal,             Oh, indeed, he had reason as he considered that
Whom you cannot bribe into expressing a lie and pro-        people in their historical manifestation in the world!
nouncing a false judgment, clears them of all guilt and        He could, indeed, remember and review before the
acquits them of all transgression. The Most High is face of Jehovah a long list of sins and iniquities, ihat
with them ! And if God is with them, who shall be           would testify against them, that would loudly cry for
against them? . . . .                                       their condemnation, that would make them so abom-
       God's judgment is final !    .                       inable in the sight of the Holy One, that He would have
   And His sentence is, firm and unchangeable, that to -detest them forevermore and cause His everlasting
Israel is without perverseness, that Jacob is without       curse to banish them from His sight! For they were
iniquity. If anyone would bring accusations against unworthy, covered with inquity, loaded with guilt, a
His people, would indict them before the supreme bar        nation of rebels, that had despised His mercy, had
of <justice, the answer of the audge  of heaven and earth violated His covenant, had trampled under foot His
is: I do not see iniquity, neither perverseness in my good commandments, had mocked at the mighty revela-
people  ; unto all eternity you cannot persuade Me that tion of His power and grace, had preferred the pleas-
My people are worthy of the curse ! . . . .                 ures of sin above the joys of God's fellowship, had
       And if this is the sentence of the Most High are invoked upon their own heads, a thousand times, the
they not actually righteous and holy?                       terrible curse of the Most High . . . .
       God is no man, that He should lie. Man is a liar.       Indeed, he, Balaam, the soothsayer from  Aram,
lie perverts justice a.nd judgment. He may and does could find a ground upon which to plead with the
close his eyes to man's corruption and guilt, presents Almighty for a malediction upon this people!
the lie as the truth and iniquity as righteousness. But        He had but to rehearse before Jehovah the out-
God is no man. His sentence is based upon the true standing facts of their history in the desert!
evaluation of His people. When He beholds no iniquity          Had they not provoked the Lord to hot anger ten
in Jacob it is because there is none ; if He sees no sin times and filled the measure of their iniquity ? Hardly
in Israel, it is because they are righteous and holy in delivered from the house of bondage, they had lifted
His sight!                                                  up their voices in unbelieving murmering on the other
       And the sentence can never be changed! For, God shore of the Red Sea and complained that it had been
is not the son of man that He should repent. Man's better for them to serve the Egyptians than to find
word is changeable, God's Word is inmutable man's their graves in the desert! At  Marah their com-
sentence can be reversed, God's judgment stand un- plaints of rebellion had been more bitter than the water
changeable . . . .                                          they found there; at the very entrance of the wilde%
       Cease, then, Balaam, from all attempts to curse ness they had accused the Lord's servant of the evil
this people ! Relinquish, then, ruler of Moab, all hope intention to kill them in the wilderness and they had
to remove the blessing from Jacob and the favor of longed for the fleshpots of Egypt; at Rephidim the
God from Israel !                                           water could not flow from the Rock that followed .them
       Vainly ye would invoke the curse of Jehovah upon in time to prevent their bitter rebellion and accusations
a people that is perfect in the sight of God!               against the Lord and His servant. And .had they not
       Israel, the righteous !                              definitely broken the covenant as soon as it had been
                                                            established with them, when they made themselves
                                                            Gods at Sinai, after their own heart ? At Taberah the
                                                            very fire of the Lord that had consumed the utmost of
       Israel, the justified!                               the camp witnessed that the Lord did behold iniquity in
       Who shall lay anything to his charge  ?              that people and that their perverseness was well-known
       For it is God that beholds no iniquity in Jacob and to Him. The graves of lust cried loudly to the Lord,
it is Jehovah, the Highest, the Unchangeable, that per- accusing them of having despised the manna and'
ceives no perverseness in Israel !                          having lusted after the delicacies of the house of
       But how is this possible ? And how can this judg- bondage. And .when they were about to receive the
ment of the Righteous over His people be conceived as inheritance, they refused to enter in, threatened to kill
according to justice  ?                                     the Lord's servants, to choose themselves a captain and
       Might not the accuser of the brethren justly lay to return to Egypt, whence they had been delivered by
many charges against them before the throne of Him the mighty arm of God. When the Lord instructed
that is righteous and holy`? Might not  Balsam, the them that they could not save of the manna till the
wicked  soothsaye14,  bring many indictments against following day, they refused to trust in Him ; when He


                                     T H E   .STAN.DARD   B E A R E R                                                                                          12::
_..- - _ "..." --. ___ _ ~                                        -.""...- ^-          .-...-.-..--..  ^ -...........................  "." ".     -.^ ..."        -
commanded them that they should not gather manna God. But it is but a very partial and imperfect  mani-
on the sabbath day, they  mocked3t His  .marvelous         festat:on  of the Israel of God in its true and ideal and
care over them. Surely, they had filled the measure perfect conception in the eternal Mind of Jehovah !
of iniquity. And had not the Lord%vorn  in His wrath       Balaam may behold the people in the plain, and may
that they should not enter into His rest? . . . .          remember the people in the desert, he beholds but the
   No iniquity in Jacob ? No perverseness in Israel? . . imperfect and sinful utmost part of them. The devil
   Ah, but is not the entire subsequent history of that may slander and the world may accuse, as they behold
people that is encamped in the plains of Moab the denial that people of God passing through the desert of this
of this judgment? Does not their entire history wit- world, generation after generation, sinful, imperfect,
ness against them, from that moment until their erec- full of iniquity and perverseness . . . .
tion of the accursed tree on Golgotha? Was not their          They  k-now  them not and see them not!
whole history a repetition of their violation of God's        Neither do they understand the judgment of God.
covenant at Sinai? Did they not always kill the            And they think to accuse them at the supreme bar of
prophets? Did they not persist in stoning them that justice and invoke upon them the  curce of the Al-
were sent from the Lord to bring His Word to them?         mighty.
Did they not crucify the Lord of glory? . . . .               But, there is a shout of their King among them and
   No iniquity in Jacob ? No perverseness in Israel? . . God is with them in sovereign grace. He hath  en-
   Lord, how, in the light of this judgment of Thine, graven them in both the palms of His hands and the
shall we recount the history of that people in the new walls of Zion, the perfect, are continually before His
dispensation? Is not the history of the whole Church face. He choose them in everlasting love. He ordained
one great contradiction of this judgment of the Right- them, not because they were holy in themselves, his-
eous ? Is it not written with the blood of the right- torically considered, but that they should be holy and
eous? . . . .                                              without blame bofer Him in. love. Balaam beholds but
   No sin in Israel? . . . .                               a very small part of that people, and that imperfect;
   Oh, Lord, but how shall I, then, count myself among God eternally beholds the whole of His people and that
the sons of Jacob and consider myself one of the chil- in perfection. Balaam beholds them only as they are
dren of Thy people ? The accuser of brethren need not of themselves, the Most High always beholds them as
accuse tie, my own conscience condemns me ! And : they are through His sovereign grace. Balaam per-
                 My sins rise up against me,               ceives them from the aspect of this present time ;
                   Prevailing day by day !                 Jehovah sees them from the true viewpoint of eternal
                                                           perfection.    Balaam may hear the shout of a King
   Lord, teach Thou me to understand and to believe, among them, but the King he does not behold, neither
inspite of all the historic manifestations of Israel to does he understand the relation of this people to their
the contrary . . . .                                       King; God chose them in Christ, and as He always be-
   In spite of all my own sin and perverseness and the holds His people in Him, Who is their Head and their
condemnation of my own conscience . . . .                  Redeemer, their Deliver&  and Sanctifier, the Firstborn
   That Thou beholdest no iniquity in Jacob and no         among many brethren, they are righteous and holy and
perverseness in Israel !                                   without blame before Him in love. Balaam can see
   And that I am of Thy righteous people !                 them only in their  low estate, full of troubles and
   Of Israel, the justified !                              afflictions, defiled  with many sins, the chaff with the
                                                           wheat, the glory of the remnant according to the elec-
                                                           tion shrouded in the shame of reprobate Israel
                                                           according to the flesh; but Jehovah knows them in their
   Israel, the righteous !                                 state of glory, filled with His grace, purified and beauti-
   Righteous in the sight of God !                         fied, the people of His everlasting love . . . .
   Justified in the .judgment  of their God; for He be-        In them He beholds no iniquity and no perverseness,
holds no iniquity in Jacob and He doth not perceive because there are none. And there are none, because
perverseness in Israel !                                   He justified and sanstified and glorified them ! . . . .
   Righteous and holy because of this very judgment           And in the midst of their present sin He gives them
of God and as in everlasting good pleasure and sov-        the assurance of His own righteousness !
ereign grace He beholds them, not in their imperfect          And they know that they are righteous before Him
historic manifestation and development in the world, forever !
but in their ideal perfection in His eternal counsel !                                                                                           H. H.
   Oh, surely, that peopie in the desert, that people
encamped in the plains of Moab, that people inheriting
the land of Canaan, exiled in Babylon, breaking forth
as the Church of the new dispensation among all na-            Er is veel meer werkelijkheid  in Gods liefderijke
tions, - it is, indeed, Jacob  and Israel, the people of zorg voor ons, dan wij kunnen beseffen.


1%                                                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D <   B E A R E R
I.I..^............................"  --__..._._  ~-    ..--_.- -                     ._-II            _..- ..- -.. ."  .._ I-~    ---^ .-..........  1,- .--
                       -_                                                               there would be nominal Bible reading, it would actually
                                                                                        be nothing but a corruption of Scripture. And thus
                        E D I T O R I A L S                                             the result would be a non-Christian Bible reading, a
 ;
                                                                         ~___I-
                                                                            9           religious education, indeed, that is thoroughly  un-
                                                                                        Christian, that, in most cases would be wholly modern-
           The Christian School Movement                                                istic. Even if the legislature should pass a law in-
                                                                                        troducing the Bible into the public school to the extent
                                   Why a Failure?                                       that it would have to be read from Genesis to Revela-
                                                                                        tion, which is practically unthinkable, too much would
       Many of the remarks that were made by Mr. R. B.                                  still have to be left to the manner in which the in-
Kuiper in his speech held at the meeting of the Teach- dividual teacher would choose to read it and no guar-
ers Institute in Grand Rapids were, no doubt, to the antee could be given that t,he Word of God were read
point. When he enumerated the causes for what he properly. It requres a Christian teacher to read the
considered the new peril threatening the Christian Bible as it should be read. A law to read the Bible in
Schools he pointed to some actually existing conditions. the public schools would be paramount to a law ex-
        It is true, no doubt, that many people do not longer cluding all un-Christian teachers, all modernists,
distinguish between  religious  education and  Chrktian                                 agnostics, atheists,- which is impossible. Hence, I con-
instruction. Some have revealed a warm enthousiasm sider the slogan: "the Bible in the public schools" a
for the introduction of the Bible in the public schools dangerous one.
and there are many that would evidently be satisfied                                        When Kuiper, therefore, pointed to the danger of
with public school instruction for their children if  only mistaking a religious education for a Christian educa-
 the Bible would be read in those schools. They would tion, he certainly was right. Religious education in
consider it a useless sacrifice to maintain Christian the public schools I consider more dangerous still than
 schools of our own in that case.                                                       the intentional avoidance of all mention of religion as
        Now, it is, abstractly considered, difficult to see far as this is possible.
what arguments anyone could adduce to oppose the                                              He was right, too, when he emphasized that our
 introduction of the Word of God in the public schools, Christian schools must be distinctive, and that we must
 if this really were possible. Even if the sound prin- not be satisfied with a little Biblical instruction added
 ciple could be realized on a large schale or generally, to the curriculum, which in other respects is entirely
 that education of the children is the task of the like the instruction given in the public schools, but
 parents, and that the State must only intervene in that the principles of the Word of God must permeate
 cases of neglect on the part  of. the parents, it is quite all the instruction, as well as the whole of school-life.
 impossible to argue that such State education may not Naturally, it is true, that this distinctiveness of Chris-
 introduce the Bible or even that such State instruction tian education will appear more emphatically in some
 must not be Christian. The Christian citizen would branches than in others. There is, in this respect a
 undoubtedly have to demand of the State that also its great difference between srithmatic and mathematics
 education be Christian in principle and character. Only, on the one hand, and history and general science on
 on that bases if this principle Christian parents would the other. But it remains true, nevertheless, that the
 not neglect their own calling, but educate tlleir own whole of education must be based on and permeated by
 children according to their own convictions.                                            the principles of the Word of God.
        But, although in the abstract it is quite impossible                                  And it may also be observed that our Christian
 to see what objections one could have against a sound Schools have hardly begun to realize this ideal. I have
 Christian State education, the cold fact is that it is graet respect and am very thankful for the heroic
 quite impossible to introduce the Bible into the public efforts of some Christian School teachers to base their
 schools as they exist today. For, first, the public school instruction on the Word of God thruout. But it de-
 may be nominally under the control of the State, it is pends almost entirely on the efforts of the individual
actually in the power of every individual  community teachers, whether their instruction shall be distinctive
 and it depends entirely upon the spiritual constituency or not. There are as yet no Christian readers, no
 of each community, what shall be the religious char- Christian textbooks even on the most important sub-
 acter of the education offered in its schools. It depends jects. I know of examples of so-called Christian in-
 on them which teachers shall be appointed in their own struction in the field of history, for instance, which
  schools and it depends on the teacher primarily how show, not only that the rankest textbooks are em-
  the Bible shall be read in case it should become a ployed, based entirely on the theory of evlution, but
 State law to introduce Bible reading in the public also that the teacher was either totally incapable or
  schools. Even if the Bible should actually be read in unwilling to offer anything positive instead of her text-
 all the schools, this could only mean that certain book and the notes she gave in her class-room pro-
  selected portions would be offered while others would ceeded upon the evolutionistic scheme of history as
  be  s.vstematically eliminated. In other words, although much as the textbook, Although, therefore, 1 am


                                                              .

-..................-" ._._...................................._._...._.........-. ^I_ --...-..-.-.-.... _I_ -.--..--1-----..-
                                                                                              i'H%   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                          12.5
                                                                                                                                     -......---........-..   ".-..--..-  "--.-.-- ._ "--    - .I_-  -..- .  .._  -  ._.-__..__-.
always ready to express my appreciation of the  elTorts                                                                                      thans enkele wetenswaardige dingen aan zijn lezers
of individual teachers in this direction, the fact re- mededeelt.
mains, that there is something fundamentally wrong                                                                                                  Welnu, in een dier brieven schreef hij ook het  vol-
with the system as such.                                                                                                                     gende :
         The same is true of school-life. This is often re-                                                                                         "Dat "is ook een van de oorzaken, waarom ik in een
flected in various programs, whether in connection with vroeger schrijven, waarop ook Dr. Henry Beets  atten-
graduation-exercises or otherwise. I hardly ever at- deerde of reageerde, sprak van lading en  schip met
tend them anymore, for  t.he simple reason that my overeenkomende reuk; terwijl het ook mijn ware  mee-
heart is usually filled with grief and disgust at the end ning is, gelezen het stuk van Ds. Van der Mey, dat er
of such meetings, at the silly attempt. to apologize to we1 eens zoo van de g&nerne  gratie gesproken wordt,
the world for the distinctive character of the Christian dat de vraag  zich niet laat onderdrukken: behoort dan
School. ,A large part of these programs is usually het wereldleven, behoort de zonde, behoort de` wereld
devoted to silly jokes, not frequently bordering on zelve ook tot het territoir der algemeene genade, en is
profanity. Usually a play or drama or pageant must het dan niet meer waar wat eenmaal de apostel Paulus
help to obliterate the distinctive character these pro- sprak en al de eeuwen door is geloofd en beleden door
grams should evince. And the whole is smeared over de Kerk, dat de geheele wereld voor God verdoemelijk
with a little Christian varnish, consisting of opening ligt ?
and closing with prayer and the sad attempt of some                                                                                                 "Ik weet niet of Dr. Beets of `zwager' Van Dellen
minister in a fXteen-minute  talk to make the people of Ds. Keegstra  allen gelezen hebben wat door dien
believe that they ought to be thankful for such Chris- domine geschreven is; indien ja, en, zoo groot is ook
tian education !                                                                                                                             Amerika niet, dan zullen deze vroede mannen we1 eens
          Do not imagine that I write these things to induce gezegd hebben: broeder, broeder quo vadis ? en ook
our people to send their children to the public school.  a geroepen: niet zoo hard ; wij vliegen met de auto zoo de
My eyes are open to the good elements there un- ravijnen in en komen niet weer thuis."
doubtedly are in the instruction that is offered in the                                                                                             In de allereerste plaats  ben ik Ds. Datema van harte
 Christian Schools even as they are. I would rather dankbaar voor deze opmerking, ofschoon hij  boven-
 warn our people, that they should not abandon the staande denkelijk niet geschreven heeft om mij  dank-
 principle of Christian Instruction, neither remove them baar te  maken,  misschien zelfs heeft hij bij het  schrij-
 from the Christian School even as it is today.                                                                                              ven niet eens  aan mij gedacht. Zijn opmerking raakt
          My purpose is not negative,. but positive.                                                                                         mij persoonlijk veel meer, dan hij weten kon. Want
          As I point to these evils, because they cannot be ofschoon ik niet met zekerheid weet, welk schrijven
 denied, because they are developing fast, and because van Ds. Van der Mey de brievenschrijver in De  Wuch-
 they point to a deeper evil, to the fact, that there is tar op het oog heeft, tech ben ik tamelijk dicht bij de
 something fundamentally wrong with the system of waarheid,  als ik zeg, dat hij doelt op hetgeen Ds. Van
 Christian Instruction as we have it today and with the der Mey over. de Gemeene Gratie heeft geschreven in
 very principles upon which it is based.                                                                                                      1924 en dat we1 in zijn protest tegen ondergeteekende.
          Kuiper pointed to some evils and dangers, that En daarom is de opmerking van Ds.  Datema voor mij
 are, undoubtedly existing.                                                                                                                  natuurlijk van tamelijk groot  belang.
          He did not point out, however, the real underlying                                                                                        In de tweede  plaats  ben ik door de opmerking van
 cause of these evils.                                                                                                                       den geachten schrijver zeer nieuwsgierig geworden om-
          Neither could he, as will become evident.                                                                                           trent zijn beschouwing van de gemeene gratie. Hij zal
           And to this deepest underlying cause I hope to weten, dat ondergeteekende heel de theorie der gemeene
 point in my next article on this subject.                                                                                                    gratie verwerpt. Eij mij gaat het niet om een zeker
                                                                                                                            H. H.             misbruik, dat van dze theorie kan worden gemaakt,
                                                                                                                                              maar heel de theorie is  o.nschriftuurlijk  en ongerefor-
                                                                                                                                              meerd en ondermijnt het leven der Gereformeerde
                                                                                                                                              kerken, beide hier en in Nederland. Maar,  als Ds.  Date-
                                                                                                                                              ma vraagt of dan ook de wereld zelve, de zonde en het
                               Nog  Iets Uit Nederland                                                                                        wereldleven tot het terrein der gemeene gratie behoort,
                                                                                                                                              dan wordt  mijne nieuwsgierigheid opgewekt en zou ik
           In  De  Wacheer (de Nederlandsche) van 30 Oct., gaarne  weten,  welke beschouwing de schrijver zelf
 1.1.. lazen we een korte opmerking over de gemeene heeft van de algemeene genade. Gaat het dan, in de
 gratie, die ons trof, en die misschien belangrijker is dan theorie der gemeene gratie, zooals deze met name door
  de schrijver zelf vermoedde.                                                                                                                Dr. A. Kuyper Sr. werd ontwikkeld niet juist over de
          Ze is van de hand van Ds. S. Datema te Driebergen, wereld, het wereldleven en de zonde? Houdt zij niet
 die in  De  Wachter   brieven schrijft  aan zijn vriend juist we1 in, dat de mensch buiten de wedergeboorte
  Sufridus, en die, waar hij niet lang geleden  op een kort een betrekkelijk  goed scheppingsleven voor God leven
 familiebezoek is geweest hier in Amerika, daarover kan  ? Ds. Van der Mey regt het ietwat sterk, maar


126                                              THE  STANDARD  B E A R E R
                                                                                                  -" -..-.." ..-      .._.... ^ .--....._- ""llllll"...^  ..^ _ .
---........^ ...lll_.l-l._llll..._ I .-.---..." -- .._... -_I~
hij gaat tech niet buiten de lijn der gemeene gratie-
beli jdenis ?                                                                                          Joseph Exalted
    In de derde  plaats mag ik we1  opmerien,  dat Ds.                              Joseph was cast into prison.                   The punishment
Datema  zich al zeer vergist, indien hij in ernste meent, meeted  out to him was altogether in keeping with the
dat de drie vroede mannen,  Beets, Keegstra en Van severity with which prisoners in that day were
Dellen,  zouden roepen:  quo vadis ? of: niet zoo hard, treated. From the 105th psalm we learn that his feet
want wij vliegen in de ravijnen en komen niet weer were hurt with fetters and that his soul came into
thuis  ! Alle drie vroede  mannen hebben zeer zeker iron. This is also in agreement with the notice that
gelezen, wat Ds. Van der Mey hierover schreef. "Zwa-                             "he was put into a place were the king's prisoners
ger" Van Dellen  was president der Synode, waarop ook were bound." . Such had been the order of Potiphar,
het protest van Ds.' Van der Mey behandeld werd,  waar- given under the impulse of an insane jealousy set in
in hij de door Ds. Datema gelaakte beschouwing van de motion by the lying report of his wife. Although he
wereld gaf. Dr. Beets was er ook tegenwoordig.  E,i must have felt certain that his faithful servant was the
Ds. Keegstra was er z&r zeker mee bekend, reeds voor innocent party, he nevertheless hated him now if for
de Synode van 1924. Want de laatste zal zich we1 hey-                            no other reason than that his adulterous wife had been
inneren,  dat ondergeteekende "er uit moest"; ook  toen                          charmed by his beauty and grace. Then, too, he must
men nog niet recht wist, hoe het tech zou kunnen, daar have been tortured by the thought that the report  at
men  we1 zag, dat men hem met de belijdenis niets kon least might be true.
doen! Maar ze hebben met het schrijven van Ds. Van                                  "The Lord, however, delivered Joseph out of the
der Mey ingestemd, en mede naar aanleiding van zijn hand of the enraged Egyptian." Such is the import
protest en gemeene gratie beschouwing ondergeteeken-                             of the notice, "But the Lord was with Joseph, and
de uit den kring der Christelijke Gereformeerde Ker-                             showed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight
ken gebannen.                                                                    of the keeper of the prison." Joseph was elevated to
       Ds. Datema  zal dus kunnen verstaan, dat zijn korte the rank of superintendent of'the prison. The keeper
opmerking voor mij ongemeen belangrij k was. Ik committed to his hand all the prisoners that were in
hoop; dat hij kennis zal nemen van dit mijn  schrijve-1,                         the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was the
en ons verder eens iets laat hooren over deze dingen.                            doer of it. And the Lord was with him, and that
       Tevens verzeker ik hem, dat vooral sedert 1924 de which he did;.the  Lord made it to prosper. So com-
dingen,  die door Ds. Van der Mey geschreven zijn; in pletely did Joseph win, the confidence of the keeper that
de Christelijke Gereformeerde Kerken volkomen zeker- the latter looked not to anything that was under his
heid hebben, en dat ze al meer en meer de Kerkeri'ver-                           hand.
kankeren.                                                                           TJpon reading this, one's mind involuntarily reverts
                                                                  H. H.          back to  Potiphar  at whose command Joseph had been
                                                                                 bound, and was being held. Had he anything to do
                          -        -        -                                    with Joseph's unbinding? It is  difhcult to say. The
                                                                                 possibility is not remote that, plagued by conscience,
                                                                        .`.
                               LEER MIJ!                    ,... . /       ,.    he had ordered a lightening of punishment. And the
                                                                                 keeper, impressed by the pious nobility that animated
          Leer mij stil zijn, stille, stille ! `-                                from the prisoner's person and thus convinced that
          Leer mij `bidden: "Heer, Uw wille                                      he could be trusted, on his own initiative, set him over
             zij de mijne te  dlen tijd!"                                        the prison. The motives were in all likelihood purely
          Leer mij blij zijn, blijde, blijde,                                    selfish. Why should he be shouldering the responsi-
          al benauwen dood'lijk mij de                     .,.                   bilities of his office, with a prisoner of such rare ex-
             angsten  der verlatenheid !                                         cellencies on hand.
                                                                                     Joseph's comparative freedom in the king's prison
          Leer mij  danken,  Heer, ja  danken                                    may of course be accounted for in another way. It
          of ook doormen mij omranken,                                           may be that Potiphar died or was removed from office.
             fel  zich borend in mijn vleesch !                                  The successor, bearing Joseph no grudge, would not
          Leer mij roemen,  Heer, ja roemen,                                     trouble *himself  with interfering with his promotion.
          al verwelken al mijn bloemen,               '                          However, as the hearts of men are in God's hand and
             Krijt van wee mijn keel  zich heesch?                               as every event is the issue of a corresponding divine
                                                                                 decree it follows that whatever the workings of the
          Leer mij stil zijn, stille, stille,                                    souls of the Egyptians involved in Joseph's promotion
          onder alles wat Uw wille                                               might have been, it was the Lord who through men
             me oplegt op de levensbaan !                                        delivered him from his fetters and from the iron into
          Heilig zijn' me, o Heer, Uw wille;                                     which his soul came. Had mercy not been shown him'
          `t zij mij zoet om stille, stille,                                     he would have wasted away in the dungeon and  thus
             `t nog zoo doornig pad te gaan!                                     ,c;;::cl:ml:wl   t,o  thp  hnrdchir,c!   nf  hit  o?*nnl  ~rnnf;nnm-nt-


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARER                                         121
     -_... ^ .._. -.-~." .._. ~ ..---.-                            ." - .-..--
     In that day few survived even the briefest of prison cians, who were known to commend themselves to men
     terms.                                                        as people wise enough to penetrate by themselves into
         Bow many years he spent in prison cannot be the hidden meaning of the most mysterious and per-
     estimated with any degree of certainty. Between the plexing of dreams, Joseph declares with his customary
     day he was sold and the day of his exaltation to the frankness that interpretations belong to God. Feeling
     place of vicegerent in Pharaoh's kingdom, some eleven confident that the Lord would show him the meaning
     years intervened. Most of these years, perhaps, were of his fellow-prisoner's dreams, his petition is that they
     spent in prison. How he was disposed during this tell them. The butler is the first to speak. In his
     stretch of life, Scripture does not directly say. How- dream he saw a vine with three budding branches.
     ever, from the sacred record that has to do with this As he looked, blossoms shot forth and clusters  ap-
     particular stretch of his career, we gather that, as a peared bringing forth ripe grapes, In his dream he
     result of his  afliictions, he did not lose his pious saw himself as restored to his former position. In his
                                                                   hand was Pharaoh's cup, which after pressing the
     optimism. Had he sunk away into a deep gloom, he grapes in it he gave into Pharaoh's hand.
     could not h&e officiated as the manager of a prison.                                                      Joseph was
                                                                   immediately made to understand. Within three days
     For gloom dulls the senses, kills enthusiasm, deadens the butler would be reinstated and deliver as before
     zeal and thus incapacitates a man for work. There is the cup into Pharaoh's hand.
     still other evidence that instead of retreating within
     the  contines  of his own soul to be alone with his grief,        Joseph now states a humble request. When it shall
                                                                   be well with the butler, let him show the kindness
     he took a lively interest in the events and the men of unto Joseph of submitting his case to Pharaoh for con-
     his small world.          How quick he was to notice the sideration. Let him tell the king that he was stolen
     disquietude of the baker and the butler on the morning from the land of the Hebrews and that in Egypt he had
     after the night of their respective dreams. How eager done nothing that they should have put him into the
     he was to be of service to them.                              dungeon.
          Though he may have had his moments of near de-               Joseph, it is plain, thought it most probable that
     spair, the deep-seated conviction of his heart was that the Lord through the instrumentality of the butler
     he was being schooled for some big task suggested by purposed to set him free; that for this' reason the
     his dreams. And in this his conviction he must have former had come under a cloud of suspicion, had been
     been-strengthened by the mercy of the Lord shewed             cast into prison and dreamed his dream. Joseph there-
     him, first in Potiphar's house and now in the prison. fore deemed it altogether permissible to ask the butler
     Being a child of grace, his tribulations yielded peace- to bring his case to the attention of the king. That
     able fruit of righteousness.          Chastened, he became for this he should be charged with undue aggressive-
     partaker of-His  holiness. And how keenly he came to ness or impatience is doubtful. His request betokened
     realize in these years of his  ,dreary  confinement that a yearning to be delivered from the dungeon. The view
     his help stood in the name of Jehovah and that the
.                                                                  he took of the purpose of his contact with the sus-
      Lord hath mercy on whom He will. As a wole-then the pended butler was fundamentally Eorrec't. That, noth-
      tenor of his life in prison was even.                        ing of what thus far has happened will matter unless
          When finally the proper and necessary fitness had         Pharaoh dreams his dream, he knows not.
      been gendered in him, the prison doors opened and                The chief baker, encouraged by the prediction of
      Joseph went forth to occupy the place the Lord by a the butler's restoration to his former place of honor,
      concurrence of events had prepared for him. Let us            now told his dream. He had three white baskets on
      now consider these final happenings that worked to- his head, the uppermost of which contained bake-meats
      gether for his deliverance and exaltation. The butler for Pharaoh. Upon these meats birds preyed.
      and the baker of the king of Egypt had incurred the               No sooner had he done speaking then Joseph was
      wrath of their lord. What their  offence  was is not ready to declare the interpretation. Within three days
      stated. The conjecture that they were charged with Pharaoh should lift off his head from him and hang
      plotting against the king's life is plausible. Both were him on a tree. Birds of prey would feed upon his
      put into the prison where Joseph was bound. And the carcass.
      captain of the guard, whose house adjoined the prison,            That the baker actually deserved to die is not
      placed them in charge of Joseph who thus became their stated. That both were sad in the morning after they
      attendant. After a season both dreamed his dream had dreamed seems to favor the view that the one was
      that like an arrow was made to pierce their soul. The as guilty as the other. If so, they who insist that these
      following morning Joseph saw the countenance of each dreams were merely the fantastic representations of
      as betokening a troubled and disquieted spirit and corresponding trains of thought each dreamer in his
      asked them why they looked so sad. Both were glad waking hours had been pursuing are compelled to
      to unburden their heart to their kindly Hebrew attend- admit that they are in error and should freely concede
      ant. Each had dreamed his dream and there was no              that these dreams were of God. The point is then that
      interpreter. In distinction from the Egyptian magi-           neither expected to be exonerated.


128                                           STANDARD   BfiAR&B

   Yet it is to be noticed that the reason given for not be known that they had eaten them; but they were
their sadness is that there was no interpreter and not still illfavoured, as at the beginning.
that they were conscience of a crime and therefore             No sooner had the king awakened then he slept
feared that the dreams might turn out to be the pre-        again and dreamt. In this dream he saw seven ears
dictions of their respective doom. It should be con- come up in one stalk, full and good, and seven ears,
sidered further that the eagerness of the butler to tell withered and thin, and blasted with the east wind,
his dream might indicate that he was innocent,' and springing up after them, and the thin ears devoured
that the reticense of the baker - a reticense broken the seven good ears.
only by his perception that the interpretation of his          The dream had been so vivid that when with his
fellow-prisoner's dream was good  - may point to his wakening the king perceived that he had been dream-
gust.                                                       ing he was greatly surprised.  He was also troubled
   On the other hand, if the butler were guilty, his and called for all the magicians and wise men of
dream would the more impress him as being of divine Egypt. These men, it is known, formed a special
origin and thus for certain lead him on the conclusion priestly caste. They were the religionis  of the land
that Joseph was a personage to whom God revealed and in addition the guardians and cultivators of
His secrets and thus not a mere magician like unto Egyptian science. Their magic and ritual, their in-
the wise men of Egypt. With this thought in his soul cantations and charms worn to protect against evil,
he had to leave the prison, in order that when Pharaoh's their beliefs in lucky and unlucky days are known. It
dream should completely baffle these wise men, his was then to the representatives of a caste comprised
mind might  immediately,revert  back to Joseph.             of the worldly wise and most learned, most experienced
       Joseph's predictions turned out to be true. It was in magic, and most venerable in the priesthood that the
Rharaoh's birthday. According to his custom, he prc- king first `told his dreams. And how earnestly this
pared a feast for all his servants. Both the butler and conglomeration of vanity may have attempted to distill
the baker were taken out of prison ; the latter was out of those dreams a meaning that would satisfy and
hanged and the former was restored to his butlership gender the conviction that the nocternal visions of the
and as in days of yore gave the cup into Pharaoh's king were being understood. The king, however, was
hand. And it was the..third  day.                           this time quick to sense that they would appease him
       "Yet did not the butler,"' so we .read, "remember with their own inventions. His troubled soul refused
Joseph but forgot him." His forgetfulness was will- to come to rest. His wrath, it is certain, burned. And
ful. It took considerable courage to trouble the great the wisdom of the world, now exposed and seen as
king with the case of an insignificant prisoner. He foolishness, trembled. The instruments of the realm
said he had done nothing that they should put him into of darkness, were dismayed. Heaven had opened and
the dungeon. According to his saying, he was born a emitted a speech which because it refused to yield to
free not's bond. But what matters it. He was but a them its meaning had `set them apart as a people
despised Hebrew after all. The king in all likelihood
                                                 __-----    whose wisdom is vain, as men who had boasted-  of-a-
would not deign to investigate whether there had been power they did not possess. Not to them, the tools of
a miscarriage of justice. It might even surely vex Satan, does the Lord reveal His secrets but to that
him to be approached on the matter. So the butler despised and forgotten Hebrew, confined in the king's
must have reasoned by himself. His willful forgetful- prison, who freely will admit that interpretations are
ness shows him up as a profligate character and of God. He is God's friend, one of those babes for
strengthens us in  the.convidion that he was not alto- whom Heaven has no secrets.
gether guiltless of whatever charge had been lodged            When the butler perceived that the magicians had
against him. Certain it is that Joseph must have im- been comfounded  by the dreams of the king, he thought
pressed him as being a person of true nobility, a of Joseph. When the king should have heard the mean-
prophet of the most high God, and therefore the victim ing of his dreams, he would be much pleased with the
of malice.      Yet once restored he, the butler, keeps kind thoughtfulness of his considerate servant. So he
silence, it seems, without any compunction of con- directs to the king the following speech, "I do re-
science. However, his sinful forgetfulness was of the member my faults this day: Pharaoh was wroth with
Lord.                                                       his servants, and put me in ward in the captain of the
   After two years Pharaoh dreamt a dream. In his guard's house, both me and the chief baker; and we
own words he stood in his dream upon the bank of the dreamed a dream in one night, I and he ; we dreamed
river. And he saw coming up out of the river seven each man according tot the interpretation of his dream.
kine, `fatfleshed and well favoured; and they fed in a And there was there with us a young man, an Hebrew,
meadow. Seven other kine came up after them, poor servant to the captain of the guard ; and we told him,
and very ill favoured and leanfleshed, such as the king and he interpreted to us our dreams ; to each man ac-
never saw in all the land of Egypt for baldness; and cording to his dream he did interpret. And it came
the lean and illfavoured kine did eat up the first seven to pass as he interpreted to us, so it wasi  me he re-
fat ldne ; and when they had eaten them up, it could stored unto mine office, and him he hanged."


                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D B E A R E R                                          129

   The butler now remembers his faults. His dis- so discreet and wise as thou art; thou shalt be over my
course contains  not,+ the slightest reference to the fact house, and according to thy word shall all my people
that the  king's prison housed an innocent Hebrew, so be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than
that what he had before his mind was not his breaking thou. See I have set thee over all the land of Egypt."
of the promise made to Joseph, but the charges lodged        This the people of the land must know. So
against him by the king. The butler could not refer Pharaoh took "off the ring from his hand, and put it
to the Hebrew without broaching the matter of his         upon Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in vestures of
own temporary confinement. He speaks of his faults        fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck; and he
out of courtesy to the king and to avoid giving the       made him to ride in the second chariot which he had;
impression that he went about with a grudge in his and they cried before him, Bow the knee . . . . " So
soul because of the treatment that had been afforded the king made Joseph ruler over all the land of Egypt.
him. It is also worthy of note that in his discourse His power, though derivitive  -  "1 am Pharaoh," said
Joseph appears not as a prisoner but as a servant to the king to him  - was absolute. Without him, no
the captain of the guard. A criminal, he in all likeli- man should lift up his hand or foot in all the land of
hood feared, the king might refuse to take into his       @n+pt.                      .
confidence..                                                 Unbelievable, you say. An exaltation of an unheard
   Joseph was sent for. Having shaved and changed of suddenness and splendour? Consider that the hearts
his raiment, he was ushered into the presence of          of kings, too, are in the hands of the Lord. Know that
Pharaoh.. The latter tells his dream, and ends with the events we, through the medium of the Word of
saying that of all the magicians not one could declare God, have now witnessed are wonderful; that the be-
the interpretation.                                       lieving mind, cleansed of its sinful bias, exclaims,
   It is now Joseph's turn to speak. Instantly he has "This was the Lord's doings."
been made to perceive the divine speech the imagery of       Consider that with the exaltation of Joseph, the
the dreams declared. So he is not at a loss to know magicians and the wise men of Egypt together with
what to say. Both dreams represent the same events, the dark science and religion they represented, were
so he began, and are of God. The seven good kine and set aside as incompetent and vain. There was not a
the seven good ears mark the approach of the same         wise man in Egypt to whom the king thought he could
cycle of seven plenteous years. There will also be entrust the business of providing for the emergency to
seven years of famine for in his dreams the king saw come. Joseph only was deemed capable. So he was
seven thin and ill-favored kine and seven blasted ears. given the power he needed to proceed. No man in-
The famine will be so grievous that the plenty shall be cluding the magicians could lift up a hand or a foot
totally consumed and forgotten. That the dream was without him. He was exalted and with him the name
doubled has a meaning: the thing is established by God of Jehovah his God.
and will shortly come to pass. Let Pharaoh therefore         So the king attached himself to Joseph ; and he was
appoint officers over the whole land to gather all the not cornfounded  and put to shame. When the famine
food that a fifth part of the land shall yield. Let this was grievous there was food, because Joseph had acted
`food be stored under the hand of Pharaoh in the cities; wisely.
and a wise and discreet man be set over the whole land       May this attachment be taken as the evidence that
to direct and superintendent the work. So Joseph ad- in his heart the king forsook his false gods and turned
vised.                                                    to the Lord? It is difficult  to say. It deserves our at-
   The king was profoundly impressed. The inter- tention that Jacob, when he came to Egypt, blessed
pretation was. made by the Spirit to ring true in his Pharaoh, and that the treatment Pharaoh afforded
ears, to lodge in his soul, and to gender in him the this Patriareh and his family was characterized by
determination to act at once. And Joseph had risen great generosity. Said he to Joseph, "Thy father and
before his mind as the man of the hour who, in as thy brother are come unto thee; the land of Egypt is
much as God hath showed him all this, knew what before thee; in, the best of the land make thy father
ought to be done. Never before had the king met such and brethren to dwell . . . . " Pharaoh's great good
a personage. So self-effacing, yet so  courages  and de- will, and especially his being blessed by Jacob, the
lightfully bold ; so humble and unassuming, yet so wise prophet of the Lord, compels the conclusion that his
and discreet ! How he disclaimed "all power and in- heart was with Joseph, with his people and with his
sisted that he was but the spokesman of his God ! How God.
he therefore stood out in the mind of the king and in        There is something rare, something remarkable
the mind of his servants as the happy reverse of the      about the career we have been considering. Joseph
vain yet proud magician !                                 was righteous and therefore hated. His brethren were
    Hearken! the king speaks, to his servants, "Can against him. The world sought his ruin. More than
we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit once it seemed that they had made away with him for-
of God is." Turning to Joseph he continues,  "Foras- ever. But his disappearance was but an eclipse ; for
much  as God hath shewed thee all this, there is none     he reappeared in Egypt as one who had been given the
                                                                                                                       I


1x                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                                    ~_-- -.-. _ II____ -----.. -..-..--"  -.... -_ll-.- _I_ .,...
dominion. And the stepping stones to his typical glory
were his very abasements. What a remarkable pre-                                   `n Misverstand
diction of the life of the Christ,  - that stone the
builders disallowed but which was made the head of                Onder dit opschrift verscheen in het  Gereformeerd
the corner on which the temple now reposes. Dis-               Eierkb(ad  uoor Drente  en Overijsel  een artikel van de
allowed was He by the world: persecuted, despised,            hand van Dr. C. N. Impeta van Kampen, als antwoord
disowned, crucified. Sinners contradicted Him. The            op mijn oniangs  geschreven artikel in de S. B., "Een
wise deemed Him foolish; and to the Jew He was an Appeltje Schillen  met Dr. Y. P. De Jong."
offence.  They crushed Him to earth. He descended                 Ofschoon het tamelijk breed is, tech meen ik den
into the pit, yea, into hell. Yet His very abasement was      geachten broeder aan de overzijde.van den oceaan niet
the instrument through which He was exalted, the very         beter  recht te kunnen laten wedervaren, dan door het
road that led to His glory. This is indeed the marvel in zijn geheel over te nemen in ons blad.
of the ages. And as to the church, set in Heaven                  Hij schrijft dan als volgt:
with Him, - as the Redeemer, it, too, passes through              `*Hoe gemakkelijk een misverstand kan binnenslui-
suffering and glory. It was this that the apostle had pen, is mij dezer dagen nog eens weer overtuigend  ge-
before his eye when he wrote, "And we know that all           bleken,  toen mij Zaterdagavond, 17 Oct., over de post
things work together for good to them that love God,          werd thuisgestuurd uit Amerika, `n No. van  "`l'he
to them who are the  tailed according to His pur-             Standard Bearer' (van 1 October), `n orgaan, staande
pose . . . .  "                                               onder redactie  o.m. van Ds. H. Hoeksema;  `n blad,
      The Church cannot be kept down; it must rise as         waarop ik niet geabonneerd ben, maar waarvan mij dit
it has been blessed with all spiritual blessings in           No. werd gezonden, omdat er zelfs  twee artikelen in
heavenly places.         To believers all things, whatever voorkwamen, die mijn naam en bepaaldelijk  mijn arti-
they may be, turn out to be the instruments of which kel onder den titel: `Algemeen en Algemeen', geplaatst
He avails Himself to save His people. It is this that in ons Kerkblad van 13 Juni  j.l., in sterk-afkeurenden
made the prophet explain, "Although the fig tree shall zin vermeldden.
not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the            "Twee der redacteuren, H. H (oeksema) en W.
labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield    V (erhil) richten zich in woorden van protest en ver-
no meet ; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and       wijt tot  Dr.  Y.  P. De Jong, die in  De Wuchter  (de
there shall be no herd in the stalls ; yet will I rejoice Amerikaansche van 9 Sept. mijn artikel blijkbaar in
in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation . . ." zi jn geheel heeft overgenomen. Hij deed dit zonder
                                                              commentaar. Maar gaf als reden op, die hem tot het
                                                  G. M. 0.    overnemen leidde:  `dat de lezers zich eens kunnen ver-
                                                              gewissen, hoe men in Nederland over dit punt denkt en
                                                              zich uitspreekt'.
                                                                 "Nu keeren beide redacteuren  zich in de eerste
                                                              plaats tegen Dr. De  .Jong hun tegenstander sinds de
        IN ARMOE RIJK,  MElT ZORGEN BLIJ                      strijd tusschen de broeders in Amerika in en  na 1924
                                                              zulk `n heftig karakter aannam ; maar e=n passant ver-
             In armoe rijk, met zorgen blij,                  klaart W. V. in gematigde termen,  dat ik mij mengde
                   Omzichtig in `t begeeren,                  in `t debat  tusschen Ds. Hoeksema en Dr. A. Kuyper
             Met ruim vertrouwen zullen  wij                  van Rotterdam en `tot de conclusie  kwam, dat het eigen-
                   Den Grooten Gastheer eeren.                lijke puntje, waar het in Amerika overgaat dit is: of
                                                              een particulier Evangelie en een algemeene prediking
             Den Christen is Godzaligheid  *                  we1 te- rijmen zijn' - terwijl W. V. dan verklaart :
                   Gewin met vergenoegen ;                    daar gaat het in Amerika &et  over. Het artikel van
             Zij leert, gerust op Gods beleid,                Ds. Hoeksema, wiens naam ik in  mijn artikel had  ge-
                   Den akker zingend  ploegen.                noemd, is veel scherper. Hij schrijft zelfs, dat hij
                                                              het mij `zeer kwalijk' neemt, dat (ik) den euvelen en
                                                              zondigen moed had, om (hem) in het publiek te beoor- .
             Geen rijker Vader was er ooit,                   deelen  naar anleiding van de verkeerde voorstelling,
                   De voorraadschuur staat open  ;            die door Dr. A. Kuyper van (hem) werd gegeven' ; en
             Wij mogen van Hem hoe berooid,                   voorts dat ik de zaak scheef voorstel, meen  mijn arti-
                   Veel vragen, alles  hopen.                 kel tegen hem te hebben geschreven, maar hem niet
             Die veel behoeft, ontvangt 001; veel,            raak, aangezien ik `n voorstelling van zaken geef,  waar-
                   Wie weinig, leert zich spenen ;            mee hij, Ds. Hoeksema, het geheel eens is !.
                                                                 "Verder keert het scherpe artikel van Ds.  Hoekse-
             Maar  wat men krijgt is kinderdeel,              ma  zich dan tegen Dr. De Jong, die, als geheel met de
                   Een Vader geeft geen steenen.              Amerikaansche  aangelegetiheden   op de  hoogte,  mijn


                                             PrBE  STANDARfI   BfiARER                                                                               i39
                                                     ____,. --  .._"..-              --.
 ~..l_l_ -........_ -.--        " ..-..........  - - - -                                     __....-............. -. __-............................ l__l___
kunnen brengen, dan zou de apostel nog reden kunnen
hebben om te aarzelen met zijn  Evangelie-verkondi-                             An  Unrighteous Demand
ging, waarin de rechtvaardigheid Gods alleen tot open-                     Israel demanded a king. Apparently their request
baring komt. Maar thans is het anders. De geheele was justified. Samuel was old, his sons walked not in
wereld is voor God verdoemelijk en bet is duidelijk ge-              his ways and the Philistine yoke was becoming more
bleken, het blijkt bij den dag nog duidelijker, dat uit oppressive every day. We have the Lord's word for it,
de werken der wet geen vleesch gerechtvaardigd zal however, that the demand was prompted by the sinister
worden  voor God, want uit de wet is de kennis der motive of deposing God. Said the Lord, "They have
zonde  Born. 3  :19,  20.                                            not rejected thee but Me." What the people desired
    WLlnu,  die rechtvaardigheid Gods, uit het geloof, was not a vicegerent of Jehovah but a king in the
zonder onze werken, verkondigd dan ook de apostel, place of Jehovah. At first flush Jehovah's appraisal
en zij is het hart van heel zijn Evangelie. Maar nu is of the people's demand for a king is of a kind that
de rechtvaardigheid Gods geopenbaard geworden,  zon-                 incites surprise. Who would have surmised that what
der de wet, en deze rechtvaardigheid Gods heeft de ge-               was aimed at was the very deposition of Jehovah? It
tuigenis van heel de wet en van de profeten. Het is requires very little effort, however, to show up the
eene rechtvaardigheid Gods door het geloof van Jezus aforesaid appraisal as being absolutely correct. In
Christus, tot  allen  en over allen, die gelooven, want er doing so, we set out with the remark that the reason
is geen onderscheid. Allen hebben gezondigd. Allen advanced for the demand wore a most pious aspect,
derven de heerlijkheid Gods. En zoo worden  oak allen,               Samuel's sons walked not in His ways. Such speech
die gelooven, om niet gerechtvaardigd, door de  verlos-              on the part of the people compels the conclusion that
sing die in  Ghristus Jezus is. Want Hem heeft God                   the demand had been made under the impulse of a
voorgesteld tot eene verzoening door het geloof in Zijn righteous indignation aroused by the impious conduct
bloed, tot eene betooning juist van Zijne  rechtvaardig-             of Samuel's sons. What the people desired, so it
heid, van dezelfde rechtvaardigheid Gods, waarvan de seemed, was that these sons be replaced by one of the
apostel doorgaans spreekt in zijn brief  aan de  Romei-              same pious mind as that of Samuel. That the heart of
nen, door de vergeving der zonden, die tevoren geschied the nation was at this juncture very far from God
zijn onder de verdraagzaamheid Gods. In dezen tegen-                 means that their piety was feigned and was meant to
woordigen tijd dan wordt de rechtvaardigheid Gods serve as a covering for the real motive.                                                 The real
betoond, opdat Hij rechtvaardig zij en  rechtvaardigen-              objective they sought to gain was the removal of the
de  dengene,  die uit het geloof in Jezus is. En zoo is              yoke of the adversary and his repulsion from the land.
dan ook alle roem uitgesloten, niet .door de wet der                 Then, too, they thirsted after the glamour peculiar
werken;,maar  door die des geloofs En het besluit is, to the heathen throne. But why did they keep silence
dat wij door het geloof alleen gerechtvaardigd  worden,              concerning the real objective? Because they knew that
zonder de werken der wet. Rom. 3 :X-28.                              it could not possibly serve as a legitimate ground for
            --_. _                                          H. H.    their request and  would,..if  revealed, draw out of
                                                                     Samuel and the Lord a most stern rebuke. For the
                                                                     past achievement of Jehovah constituted a grand testi-
                                                                     mony to the effect that when there was covenant fidel-
    On Dec. 10, 1931, our beloved Father and Mother,                 ity, penitence and contriteness of heart with Godliness
                            GELKE DE JON'2                           of walk the nation dwelt safely. In fact the people
                                  and                                had been explicitly told by Moses, the mouthpiebe of
                      ALICE DE JONG, nee Dreyer,                     God, that in the event tb.ey  served not the Lord they
commemorated their 40th Wedding Anniversary.                         would be made to serve their enemies  ; and that if they
    That the Lord, who  has spared them for and with each other      would hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord He
these many years, may sustain them further according.to soul         would cause their enemies that rise up against them to
and body, is the wish and prayer of their grateful  children         be smitten before their face ; that they (these enemies)
                              Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Adema              should come out against them in one way and flee
                              Mr. and Mrs. Nick De Jong              seven ways. Fact is then that what the people had to
                              Mr. and Mrs. Ties De Jong
                              Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius De Meester       do at this juncture, would they again be free, is to
                               Mr. and Mrs. Dick De Jong              return to Jehovah whole-heartedly and repent in dust
                               Mr. and Mrs. Edward Zaagman           and ashes.      Instead of repenting and appealing to
                               Mr. and Mrs. Martin De Jong           Jehovah for help they set their heart on an earthly king
                                         And 28 grandchildren.       to inspire confidence and to lead them victoriously into
       *                                                              battle. With the appearance of this king, their troubles,
                                                                      so they..vainly  imagined, would evaporate into thin air.
     NO one objects ti be called a sinner ; but call him. a Not in Jehovah but in this king would they put their
 criminal, and he is greatly offended, and yet the former trust.
 has sinned against God, the other only against man.                        Fact is then that their demand for a king was the


140                                   T H E   STANDABD  B E A R E R
                                           --"".- ..-......  "...    111..._......  ^_-.--_I_ .___..
other side of a refusal to repent, to serve the Lord constitute the other side of the rejection of his person.
and to put their trust in Him. Not to trust in God,                           So he prayed unto the Lord and immediately came
not to be willing to serve Him and cleave unto Him the answer, "Hearken unto the voice of the people in
is to reject Him.                                                       all that they say unto thee because they have not re-
   The demand of the people greatly displeased Sam- jected thee but Me."                                         In other words, the fault is
uel. What might have been the character of his dis- not with Samuel, the demand is not occasioned by mis-
pleasure? From the response of the Lord, "They have rule or mismanagement on Samuel's part. The Lord
not rejected thee but Me" most commentators con- then puts Samuel at ease. So he has the Lord's word
clude that Samuel took the demand as a personal in- for it that his career, as judge, had been one of the
sult; that he himself was stung to the quick. Samuel, strictest integrity. It is this definite testimony con-
it is said, had spent his whole life in the service of cerning his own integrity that makes him most bold
the nation. Instead of appreciating him, the people so that he hereupon dares to challenge the people to
make him feel that he is no longer desired. It is said witness against him before God. So then the people
further that the blunt criticism brought to bear on rejected not Samuel but the Lord.
his sons was an added source of grief and--thus it is                         However in forsaking Jehovah they of necessity
concluded that Samuel having arrived at a season of forsake also Samuel as the latter had made it a point
life characterized by hyper-sensitiveness and feeling too to impress upon the nation the rule and the constitu-
vigorous and capable to retire from active service tion of Jehovah. The cause then was  Perverseness of
entirely, was very much perturbed by what he re- the people. They had grown weary of Jehovah, they
garded as an affrontery of the people. This  analiza-                  hated His rule and the high morality circulating
tion of Samuel's displeasure must be rejected. We are through His government. In a word, they had openly
not losing out of sight that he was human and subject rejected Jehovah.
to ordinary faults and pains of man, yet his grief must                                                                                   G. M. 0.
be explained differently.
   The question arises, what may the Lord have meant
by saying, "They have not rejected thee"? Was not
Samuel the faithful representative of Jehovah? Would                         De Nederlandsche Geloof sbeli jdenis
it not necessarily follow therefore that in rejecting
Jehovah the people also rejected Samuel? And the an-                                                        ARTIKE&   111
swer is ready: Indeed. We have the Lord's own word
for it that the rejection of Jehovah did imply the re-                                  VAN  HET  GESCHREVEN   WOORD   GODS
jection of Samuel also. The eighth verse of this chapter                                                  Wij belijden, dat dit woord Gods niet is
reads : "According to all the works which they have                                                     gezonden  noch voortgebracht door den  wil
done since the day I brought them up out of Egypt                                                       eens menschen, maar de heilige  mannen
even until this day, wherewith they have forsaken Me                                                    Gods, van den Heiligen Geest gedreven
                                 .                                                                      zijnde, hebben. (het) gesproken,  gelijk-  de
and-served other gods, so do they also unto thee." Ap-                                                  H.  Petrns  zegt.       Daarna. heeft God, door
parently the Lord is at variance with Himself. First                                                    eene bizondere zorg, die  Hij  vo.or  ons en
He said that the people did not reject Samuel, there-                                                   onse zaligheid draagt, zijnen knechten den
upon He maintains that they rejected Samuel as well                                                     Profeten en Apostelen geboden, zijn  geopen-
as Him The apparent contradiction can easily be re-                                                     baarde woord bij geschrift  te stellen; en
                                                                                                        Hijzelf heeft met zijnen  vinger  de twee
moved. As a result of the demand of the people for                                                      Tafelen der Wet geschreven. Hierom  noe-
a king, Samuel scrutinized his own career for a  pos-                                                   men  wij  znlke  schriften: Heilige en  God-
sible cause of the people's behavior.                Being a                                            delijke Schriftnren.
man of outstanding integrity and with a conscience                           Met deze woorden wordt de Goddelijke inspiratie
that was most tender, with a heart filled for zeal to- der Heilige S&rift door de gemeente des Heeren be-
wards Jehovah, he involuntarily asked, "Could it be leden.  Wij merken allereerst op, dat de  onderschei-
that I am at fault, is it possible that the demand of the ding tusschen  Schrift en openbaring, die in latere
people was prompted by my faultiness as a judge? tijden wordt vastgehouden, niet bekend is in de  belij-
Are there dark spots in my career?" That such  was denis.  En omdat die onderscheiding vloekt tegen de
his concern is clearly proven by the fact, that a few duidelijke uitspraak in dit artikel, moet men haar  be-
days later he challenges the people to witness against stempelen als ongereformeerd. Immers onze belijdenis
him before the Lord. Said he, "Witness against me zegt uitdrukkelijk dat de Heilige Schrifturen niet
before the Lord, and before His Anointed, whose ox zijn gezonden door menschen,  noch voortgebracht door
have I taken? whom have I oppressed?" Not one of den wil eens menschen, maar enkel en alleen door den
ail the people replied. This challenge plainly shows Heiligen Geest. Daarom mogen,wij  nooit zeggen: De
that Samuel feared that the demand of the people H. S&rift bevat Gods Woord ; maar mogen en moeten
might be the just ebullition of dissatisfaction with his we allen  zeggen: De H. S&rift is Gods Woord. Want
career.  If  that were true the demand would surely indien het waar is dat we in de Schriften hebben een


142                                                                 T H E   STAflDARD  B E A R E R
t._.----.-- ..--....  ...II--.- .."."...    -_-...... - "-. ..l~....l......,l..._.~.~~~~.~,...                               ____..._ - ..-__-. - ._..... l.ll.-_-__I  I-
                               Strange Reasonings                                                 imminently conspicuous as the creative cause of man's
                                                                                                  salvation, should he refrain from working in the sub-
        One may read some strange things in the textbooks ject saved the holy impulse and the power to assert
of the professors of Theology of the Seminary of the                                              himself as the worker of his own salvation. But is
Christian Reformed Church. What we now present not the view that circulates through this reasoning
are gleanings from the "Poimeniek" of Prof. W. positively foolish? The expression "work your own
Heyns :                                                                                           salvation" must be made to apply, certainly, to the
        "De  speciale zielezorg  berust  op Gods heilsplan, en entire hallowed activity of the new man, to the sum
bijzonder op het feit dat het Hem  behaagt  den mensch total of his good works: his faith, hope, and love, his
tot de verlossing te bewerken als een redelijk, verant-. strivings,  cotiicts, and achievements, his confession,
woordelijk  wezen,  naardien Hij  zelf den mensch zoo his praise and his self-denial. How could it be said
gemaakt heef& hem scheppende  naar zijn beeld. Deze that a man is saved at all if he never praised, con-
schepping des menschen naar Gods beeld tech sluit in, fessed, hoped, loved and achieved. Further, good works
dat het aldus gescbapene niet was een ding, niet was are the issue of the new man, the man himself who
een stok en blok, maar een persoon,  een tot op zekere can be seen.                                               The man and his works in turn are
hoogte zelfstandig wezen,  begaaft met een eigen wil, the issues of the sovereign mercy of God, and thus
met zeker  recht  om  onder  verantwoordelijkheid tot t.he sign that this mercy has functioned and called into
God te beschikken over zichzelven . . . . "                                                       being  a  creature in whose face can be seen the sover-
        True it is, that man was not created a "`stok" and a eign glories of God. The light we let shine reveals
"blok",  that he is a creature capable of a rational God ; the man destitute of good works is like a candle
choice. To avoid confusion, however, the. professor under a measure. It is in this light, and in this light
might have  added that man's entire ratiomal activity only, that we see God. Finally, the man saved exclaims,
has as its cause or necessity the will of God; that the "For by  grace'1 am saved through faith; and that not
finite rational will, as psychologically free and re- of me; it is the gift of God ; not of works, lest any
sponsible, is the creation and the agent of the Al- man should boast. For I am His workmanship, created
mighty. Man is "zelfstandig" not as an issue, outflow in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath be-
or extension of the divine being /Pantheism), or as fore ordained that we should walk in them. How say
a creature with a rational life detached from the will you then that God obscures his sovereignty by setting
of God (Pelagianism) but as a creation of this will. the new man at work, by putting this song of praise
         (Heyns) :' " Op  ziehzelve zou het denkbaar zijn, dat upon his lips? What abject nonsense. The most con-
Gods wijze van den zondaar tot de zaligheid te leiden, spicuous and greatest evidence of sovereign mercy is
geheel en uitsluitend  bcheerscht  werd door, zooals wij a man reclaimed from death and now extolling the vir-
het uitdrukken, de souvereiniteit Gods,  op een mijze, tues of his Saviour.
namelijk, die in alle  deelen  uitkomen deed, dat de  red-                                           The view we now criticise  `is irrational unless the
ding des zondaars Gods werk is, dus geheel buiten hem broacher of it is one addicted to the view that man,
om, als ware hij slechts een ding, dat krachtens zijn too, be it in a lesser degree, is along with God the
uitverkoren zijn in  Christus voor de grondlegging der creative cause of his salvation. Is this the professor's
eeuwen,  als de juridische  grondslag  daarvoor, het heil view? The writings in which the above citation appear
in  Christus  hem werd deelachtig gemaakt, zonder eenig do show traces of this obnoxious doctrine. Attend to
gebruik van genademiddelen, en alleen door de  onmid-                                             the following: "Deze dingen doen  echter  de vraag op-
dellijke krachtdadige werking des Heiligen Geestes." komen, of er bij den mensch van nature vatbaarheid
         (Comment) : God, it is certain, works the salvation is voor menschelijke inwerking op hem tot zijn geeste-
of His people as a creative cause. The elect sinner li jk heil ?"
works, too, not however as a creative cause  (Pelagian-                                               (Remark) : This formulation of the issue the pro-
ism) hut as the willing instrument of  tr.e  A.lmigf;ty                                           fessor delineates upon in anything but to the point
v:ho works  in man the wi!l and the doing- The ~;o;:k and therefore arouses suspicion. Does the question
of God whereby the sinner is reclaimed from death and amount to this whether the natural man, dead in sin,
thus constituted a worker in  his own salvation in the can be saved? Evidently not for in the sequence one
aforesaid sense is known in Scripture as regeneration, reads : *`De vraag is een dogmatische, doch daarmee
which from the very nature of things the sinner cannot mogen wij ons er niet afmaken. Doch als wij willen
work in, but he does as the subject of the man being trachten haar te beantwoorden, stellen wij ons voor
saved and as the instrument of the Almighty work een probleem, waarvan de oplossing nog door geen
in his own conversion and sanctification.                                             However, Gereformeerd theoloog is gegeven." What  problem
throughout the entire process of redemption God, of may this be that no theologian has been able to solve.
course, remains the creative, sustaining and replenish- Not certainly whether God can bring life into a dead
ing cause.                                                                                        sinner.    The meaning and import of the question is
        According to the reasoning of the professor, God this:  Can the sinner  without first being brought under
would greatly enhance his sovereignty, make Himself the regenerating influences of divine grace he  in-


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       143          :
_- -.__-..   ~  - --              ..___-"   -"  -_..    ,."  .._^  -  .   .._  - -__- --.- _---    --.-.-.-.-.....L
fluenced to the good by the word of God as preached by       of truth. Let us therefore first apply our minds to
man. We can state the question in such a way that this act of healing. The reasoning is that the divine
there can be no misunderstanding: Is the reprobate command is the guarantee that power to do is present
sinner susceptable  to the influences of the word of God in him to whom the command comes. The response of
unto his real spiritual benefit? Let us now apply our- the  impotent   man to the mandate of Christ,  jLRise,
selves to the professor's answer : "Maar wat dit laatste take up thy bed and walk" proves that the man could
betreft  (namely, that man is dead in trespasses and walk, was therefore not impotent. Such is the  pro-
sin, G. M. 0.) erkennen en belijden wij tech ook, dat        fessbr's  reasoning. Consider, however, that if this
des men.sche,n toestand  var nature een toestand  is van were true, no miracle was performed at the pool.
geestelijk  dood-zijn,  van onbekwaam zijn tot eenig Christ, knowing that the man could walk, told him to
goed en geneigd zijn tot alle kwaad, van onmachtig rise and thus by His word merely awakened in him a
zijn om te gelooven en  zich te bekeeren, zooals het latend, slumbering, hidden power. The man, taking
Evangelie van hem eischt. Hiertegen is echter  twee-         Christ at His word that he was altogether potent,
erlei op te merken.                                          got up on his feet. After all the event was most
   "Vooreerst, dat al zou ook de geestelijk doode te ordinary. One feels that what we here present is a
beschouwen zijn als een geestelijk lijk, dit nog geen thoroughly rationalistic explanation of this particular
recht zou geven om de bearbeiding van dezulken te act of the healing. We don't surely want to think that
beschouwen als iets dat cigenlijk dwaas en onzinnig it is the professor's.
zou zijn, en die niets op hem zou kunnen uitwerken."             The truth of the matter is that the man was im-
   The professor failed to complete this sentence. potent, destitute of ability to rise. We. read, "And a
What the question be put demanded of him that he. certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty
add is: "tot zijn geestelijk heil." The final clause then and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew
should read : "en die niet op hem (the reprobate, the that he had been now  a long time in that case, He saith
natural man destitute of the life of regeneration, unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? Jesus question
G. M. 0.) zou kunnen uitwerken tot zijn geestelijk implies, certainly, that the man was  not whole.
heil." This, of course, is sheer Pelagianism. The plain          "Wilt thou be made whole?" Why did Christ ask                        '
teaching of Holy Writ is that unto the reprobate the the man this? Were they words spoken in mockery?
Word of God is a savor of death unto death. Accord- That could not be. To fix the man's attention on Him-
ing to the doctrine coming to the surface in the  selen-     self, to gender in him faith in His power to heal the
t,ion last cited the reprobate grows better under the impotent, Jesus bends over the bed on which he lies,
preaching of the Word. If so he cannot be spiritually looks down at him, and  s.ays, "Wilt thou be made
dead. Strange how in their reasoning they will skip w hoIe ?" He said, "I have no man, when the water
from the truth to the untruth.                               is troubled, to put me into the pool, but while I am
   In the paragraph following, the spiritual impotence coming another steppeth down before me." As  he  (
of the natural man is flatly denied: "Bovendien is het gives this explanation, he looks up earnestly into
Gods genade woord, Gods genade bevel, want het is Jesus' face - a face he had never seen before- and                               .. :-.
het Woord, het bevel des Evangelies. God beveelt den gathers hope from the expression of sympathy, the
zondaar, dat hij geloove en  zich bekeere, opdat hij         look of power that countenance conveys. And the man
zalig worde. We1  heeft de Heere het volle recht om van      believes t.hat Jesus can heal him. And Jesus speaks
den zondaar te `eischen cwat hij niet doen  kan, omdat the word, His creative word, whereby the things that
hij den mensch zoo geschapen heeft dat hij het doen          are not appear, and whereby this impotent man is
kon, maar dan is het een zaak van Gods recht, en als healed. Feeling himself instantly vitalized, and having
bevel des Evangelies is het een zaak van genade. Als faith, the man, now potent, does as Jesus bids. This
genadebevel nu is het bevel  aan den mensch om te word then was, first of all, not the surety that there
doen  wat hij niet  doen  kan, ondenkbaar zonder dat  ,in    was lurking in the man's frame a life of which he was       "
het bevel de verzekering ligt opgesloten, dat Hij zelf not aware, but the means by which the impotent one
tot wat Hij eischt in staat wil stellen, evenals in het was endowed with new life and therefore from the                 :
bevel des Heilands aan den kranke te Bethesda om very nature of things, this word was t,he guarantee
op te staan, d. i., om  te doen wat hij niet  doen  kon, de that there was power to rise. When this word is
verzekering lag opgesloten van instaatstelling daartoe. spoken impotence must give way to power.
Dus kan tegenover dat bevel, als Gods genade bevel,               This word by which the Almighty calleth those
niemand beweren, dat hij niet gehoorzamen kan, omdat things which be not as though they were, must be set
hij onmachtig is van nature. Tegenover dat goddelijk off from the word of God as contained in the Scrip-
genadebevel bestaat er geen onmacht . . . . "                tures. It is plain from his reference to the healing of
   Ilere is presented to us a brand new philosophy. the impotent man at the pool that the professor idcnti-
It is at least new to me. I have never encountered it @es the two and thus furnishes himself with a ground
before. The reference to the impotent man at the for saying that the command to believe includes the
pool of Bethesda gives to the reasoning the appearance assurance that God wilI and actually does capacitate


144                                 T H E   STANDARD  B E A R E R
___l._IC_  -..........-                                               _______  --..-                           -..___--
every sinner, to whom the Gospel is preached,*,by  he den, dat zij door de zonde we1 is verwoest, maar niet
elect or reprobate, to do as bidden. "DUS kan," %wrote uitgeroeid is kunnen worden. Daarom is ook de religie
the professor, "tegenover het bevel, als Gods genade-         algemeen en heeft zij ook zoo groote  macht  in het leven
bevel, niemand beweren, dat hij niet gehoorzamen kan, en de geschiedenis. Of men wil of  niet, altijd  stuit
omdat - hij onmachtig is van nature.? Tegenover dat men ten slotte in den mensch op een zekeren godsdiet-
Goddelijk bevel bestaat geen onmacht." Astound&g! stigen aanleg, en kan die verschillend noemen, maar
God in love genders in every sinner the power t&ac- altijd is het tech een zekere vatbaarheid van de men-
cept the Christ that is preached-  to him! If  s$%he schelijke natuur, om bet goddelijke gewaar te worden."
sovereign cause of the damnation of the wicked is                   Indeed, man retained his rational capacity to re-
man's wil, which means that this will is free.                ceive into his conscieousness  the logical idea circulating
       One text is  suflicient to overturn the view that through the truth. The rational potency to know God
"tegenover dat Goddelijk bevel geen onmacht bestaat." is still his, necessarily so as it is the very thing that
For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, constitutes him a creature we call man. Sin, of course,
which were by the law did work in our members to was not meant to reduce this creature to anything be-
bring forth fruit unto death." Rom. 75.                       neath man. For man only can transgress and be
       Having done with the above matter,  the professor damned ; or embrace the Christ and be saved. Being
returned in his treatise to the view that man by nature man, he has a religious bent. Being corrupt he kneels
is a spiritual corpse: "En er is nog iets anders. . Mag not before God but before a devil and thus changes
de toestand  van den zondaar van nature beschouwd the truth of God into a lie. What may he that problem
worden  als die van een geestelijk lijk? De waarlijk of which the professor spake? How the natural man,
Geleformeerde gelooft en belijdt anders. Hij omhelst .devoid of the life of regeneration may be influenced to
zeer zeker de leer van des menschen geestelijken dood-        the good by the word ? But Scripture knows' no such
staat van nature, maar hij is niet van meening, dat de problem.
dood waarin de mensch  zich gestort heeft door `zich                Forsooth  it is amiss to say that man is a "&ok" and
van God af te rukken, wijl dit was een  zich losrukken "blok," a spiritual corpse, a lifeless thing, without                      .'
van de levensbron, waarvan de dood het onmiddellijk power of motion. Man is active. He has words, deeds
gevolg moest zijn, zoowel als de straf,  - dat die dood and thoughts. In Scripture, however, his deeds appear
nu reeds in hem zijn voile doorwerking heeft verkre- solely as transgressions, bad fruit.                   Indeed man is
gen. Immers  heeft God den mensch niet losgelaten, no "stok" and "blok"; but all his motions are sin.
gelijk de mensch Hem losgelaten had, maar zijn ge-                  If it be considered that for many years the clergy
nade is aanstonds tusschenheide getreden, om de door- of the Christian Reformed Church sat at the feet of
werking  des doods en der zonde te stuiten. Inzonder-         the professor, we need not wonder at the appearance
heid van de onwedergeboren bondelingen  teekent de of the three points.
Schrift een ander beeld dan dat van een geegtelijk  lijk.                                                      G. M. 0.
Hij stelt hem voor als edele wijnstokken, geplant in                                                                              ."
een zorg'vuldig toebereiden wijngaard  (Jes.  5:2),                                                                          `_
als een olijfboom, evenzoo  geplant in  `-een   wijn-
gaard  (Luk; 13:6), als ranken in  Christus  den  waren                         ONS GETHSEMANE
wijnstok (Joh.  15)) als takken des wortels `en  der  vet-
tigheid des olijfbooms deelachtig geworden (Rom. 11)                   Als de kruisweg van het lijden
daarbij telkens te kennen gevende, dat de Heere  recht                   Dreigend voor ons opengaat;
heeft op grond van de door hem aan hen verrichten                      Als ons, daar wij eenzaam strijden,
arbeid, om van hen vrucht te verwachten."                                Ook de laatste vriend verlaat ;
       We now know the force of the professors' denial
of the view that the natural man, dead in trespasses                   Als. het bloed ons stolt in d' ader,
and sin, is no "stok"  and "blok"; it is clear to us now       .         `t Hart ons breekt van angst en wee,
what he would have the above-cited Scriptures teach,                   En een klagend : `;Abba  Vader !"
to wit, that man has power to do the right, is there-                    Klinkt door ons Gethsemane:
fore not totally depraved. True, in the above selection
he  af-firms the doctrine of the total depravity of man ;              Dan, in `t ruischen van de  winden,
but this merely means that as was said, he skips from                    Daalt een troostende  Engel  neer,
the lie to the truth and from the truth to the lie, as                 Een der vroeggestorven vrinden,
convenience dictates. What a miserable medley of
good and bad meats !                                                     Die ons wachten bij den Heer ;
       The professor bolstered up his view with a quota-               Van een zalig  licht omschenen,
tion from Bavinck: "De religie is een wezenlijke eigen-                  Wijst hij uit d' Olijvengaard
SChP  van de `menschelijke natuur, zoo vanzelve met                    Naar den groene' Olijfberg henen,
haar gegeven en zoo onafscheidelijk  aan haar  verbon-                   Waar `t. geloof - ten hemel vaart !
                                                                                                                             a


                                   THE  STAN'DARD  BEARER                                                         i-19

er "notes" van had genomen, deze had vergeleken met Neither would I consider our t;nser the proper medium
elkander, met de  S&rift, met de Belijdenis.                  to voice such criticism. And, therefore, it must be
   En `t zal alles een droom zijn geweest. Ik ben het borne in mind that the school movement in general is
slachtoffer  geworden van mijne verbeelding!                  the subject of these articles and that I purpose to
   Want ik zeg: er is geen gemeene gratie.                    point out, that its development has been in a decidedly
   En Dr. Knoppers zegt : dan kunt ge De Gemeene wrong direction.
Gratie van Kuyper niet gelezen hebben!                            Neither am I, when I blow this  trmmpct, Groducing
   Pk dacht er eerst aan, om Dr. Knoppers een exem-           a sound that is altogether strange to those that are
plaar toe te zenden  van Van Zonde e-n Genade, opdat acquainted with the real condition and development of
hij tenminste notitie zou kunnen nemen van ons werk. our Christian Schools and of Christian education in
   Maar ik heb er van afgezien. Ik ben er aan gaan general. Even apart from the speech of Mr. Kuiper
twijfelen of ook dat boek zelf geen droombeeld is, to which we referred in previous  <articles,  others have
waaraan geen werkelijkheid beantwoordt, want als we expressed the fear that our Christian School-ship
Dr. Kuyper's Gemeene Gratie niet gelezen hebben, dan would be crushed on the rocks. In an address deliv-
hebben we (Ds. H. Danhof en ondergeteekende) ook ered before the Educational Convention of the National
Van Zonde en Genade niet geschreven. Met meedoo-              Union of Christian Schools, held at Holland, Mich.,
genlooze  logica bewijst Dr. Knoppers, dat we destijds Aug. 26, 27, 1930, on the subject:  Bow  Should  We
gedroomd hebben. Het boek is een bloot "phaenome-             Seek to Guarantee for the Future the Distinctive Char-
non" ; het  "noumenon"  bestaat niet !                        acter of Our Christian Schools?  the speaker, Dr.
   Werkelijk, dit is een afdoend  advies.                     Herman Kuiper, informed his audience that to prepare
   Tenzij ge eerst belijdt, dat er we1 gemeene gratie himself for his speech he sent a questionnaire to some
is, gelooft men nooit, dat  ye  De  Gemeene  Gratie  hebt of the leading men of the teaching profession, who
gelezen.                                                      might be thoroughly acquainted with the present status
   Wilt ge dus bespreking ran Kuyper's Gemeene Gra- of the Christian School movement. And here are some
tie, dan moet ge eerst toestemmen, dat deze magister of the answers he received and quoted in his address:
het bij het rechte eind had, toen  hij zijn werk schreef          "If one of our leading men would have the courage
over de  aIgemeene  genade.                                   to tell our people that in the matter of Christian rear-
   Tot ge dit wilt toestemmen, is alle discussie over ing we have been in error in stressing Christian school
deze zaak, wat Dr. Knoppers  betreft,  eenvoudig  uitge-      training, at least seventy-five per cent of our people
sloten, afgesneden.                                           would rejoice and shout: `Praise the Lord'."
    Hoe gansch hopeloos  staat dan tech onze zaak !               Another wrote :
    Dr. Knoppers geeft het meest afdoende antwoord,
dat ik nog gelezen of gehoord heb !                               "There seems to be 3 slackening of interest and
                                                H. H.         enthusiasm in the last four or five years."
                                                                  A third said:
                                                                  "We are today facing the sad fact that a great
                                                              proportion of our people, and among them a large
      The Christian  School, Movement                         number of the graduates of our Christian schools,
                                                              exhibit a noticeable lack of interest, not to speak of
                Why a Failure?                                enthusiasm, for Christian instruction."
                                                              A   f o u r t h :
                           III                                    "We lack in our teaching staRs too much the first
    Once again L must emphasize two things before I essential of Christian personalities."
proceed.                                                          A fifth:
    The first is, as I stated more than once before, that         "Most Christian school teachers do not know what
these articles do not at all aim at the destruction of the    it is all about. The best that most of our teachers
Christian School, but at its upbuilding. I would con- have in the way of an educational philosophy is a
sider it a day of great calamity when our people should tender and lovely feeling, evangelical in nature, that
forsake the principles that all our education, primary our children should have a Christian training. But
and secondary, must be positively Christian.                  what this consists of, what the methodology should be,
                                                                                                     .
    The second is, that I do not have in mind any they do not know."
 particular school, but deal with the Christian School             A sixth:
,mozlemerLt  in general. The several schools naturally             "The principal defect is lack of the right kind, the
 differ greatly with respect to the religious quality of distinctive kind of teaching. And the reason for that
the instruction that is offered. This depends on the is that there is present in our faculties a good percent-
 teachers' staff, the board, and the constituency of the age of persons who don't belong there. I don't say
 society supporting a certain school. It is not my pur- that they are not Christian, but they aren't in our
pose to criticize any particular school or schools. schools from any great degree of conviction."

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

    A seventh:                     .                                     "SPECIFIC PRINCIPLES."
    "A good many of our teachers don't know the real           "The following is an attempt to interpret the more
difference between a Public school and a Christian specific religious principles ,basic to education to which
school. Many of our teachers cannot apply the Chris- orthodox Christian School communities are com-
tian principle as they should, i.e., permeate all instruc- mitted :
tion with Christian principles. Too many of our               " (a) The Bible is the Book of books. By virtue of
teachers do not grow in the right direction. If they its divine organic inspiration (2 Peter  1:21)  it is
take courses they get them at the wrong place. All unique among all books. The Bible is not only the
extension work is full of Dewey's, Thorndike's and infallible rule of faith and conduct, but also the in-
Kilpatrick's principles."                                  fallible guide of truth and righteousness. All school
   An eighth:                                              administration, instruction, and discipline should be
   "The majority of our teachers have not sufficiently motivated by Biblical principles.
grasped Calvinism as a world and life view. For them          "(b) God is triune (Matt. 3  :16,  1'7). He is the
religion is too much a thing apart. They do not see        Creator of all that is, the Sustainer of all that exists,
its basic significance for all knowledge imparted in and the ultimate end of all things (Rom. 11:36). God
school."                                                   wtho is transcendent (Isaiah 40). and immanent (Ps.
   So you see, that I do not stand alone, when I claim X39),  is the absolute loving Sovereign over all (Daniel
that  thhere is something fundamentally wrong with the 4 :31) ; men should seek, to do His will on earth as it is
movement of our Christian Education and its develop- done in heaven.
ment at the present time.                                     " (c) Man is a fallen creature (Genesis 3). Though
   But I claim, not only, that the teaching staff hither- depraved man is nevertheless an image bearer of God
to was characterized by a notable weakness and ignor-      (Eph. 2 :5), and thru restraining grace he is able to
ance regarding true Christian Instruction, but no less do civil good (Romans 2  :14). Though lost in sin, man
emphatically, that there has been developing among us can be saved thru faith in Christ (John 3 :16) ; and
a world and life view that usurps the name of being thru restoring grace, in principle, is able to do spirit-
Reformed and Calvinistic, but is fundamentally as re- ual good (I John 3:9).
mote from true Calvinism as Calvin's views were from          "(d) The world is steeped in sin. All aspects  o*
those of Servetus. And I maintain, not only that this life, individual and family, social and political,, indus-
would-be Calvinism has been widely influencing the trial and .economic,  even the animal world, nature and
Reformed Churches, but also that the control of the things inanimate, show the mars and scars, the sub-
Christian school movement of late years has been in versions and perversions of sin (Romans 8  :22). The
the hands of those that are addicted to this pseudo-       virtue, order and beauty which is still present in the
Calvinistic conception. This is not the first "time I world is a manifestation of God's goodness (Matthew
point to this fact. Pears ago I wrote short articles on 5 :45).
Pseudo-Calvinism in  The  Banner,  till the Board of          `I (ej The all embracing objective of the school is to
Publication prevented me from publishing more of promote the glory of our covenant God : (a) by seek-
them. I claim that this Pseudo-Calvinistic view has ing in humble dependence upon God to equip the pupil
been inculcated into our people for years by the min- for his supreme task, namely, to realize himself as
istry, from the pulpit and in the Catechism-room. I God's image-bearer (2 Tim. 3 : 17) ; and (b) by seek-
claim that its principles have been inculcated in Calvin ing in the same dependence upon God to re-constitute
College. I claim that this evil was greatly aggravated the sin-perverted world by realizing God's Kingdom in
by the fact that many students took post-graduate all spheres and phases of life (Matt. 6  :33). This is
work in the big universities of the world, in order to possible at least in principle thru Christ, who is not
obtain a degree and recognition by the world. I claim only the Creator (as the Logos) but also the re-
that many of these are not at all fit to be Christian creator (John 1).
school teachers, whether in the lower or in the higher        " (f) In determining the Course of Study to be
grades, but they are. And I claim the Christian school offered, in preparing the lesson material, in giving the
movement has been under the control to a large extent daily instruction, the above purpose should be con-
of men of that caliber.                                   sciously present as the all-embracing objective. To
   The result is-that  an attempt is made to base our accomplish this great task, the teacher must have the
whole Christian school `system upon a foundation on fear of God in his heart and the determination to live
which it cannot possibly stand.                           it out in his profession; and he must utilize to the full
   I have before me a booklet entitled: "Basic Prin- whatever light God's Special Revelation sheds upon the
ciples of the Christian Schools of America." It con- various realms of human knowledge."
tains a platform of principles  drati up for and              Purposely I quoted the entire platform of prin-
adopted by the National Union of Christian Schools.       ciples to intercept the possible indictment of doing
   From it I quote;                                       injustice to it.


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         151
                                          ._ll-l---_                      --_I_               -.""..            --^"-
    I do not know who are the original authors of this chefstroom cn Stellenbosch. Want immers, zoo rede-
statement of principles.                                      neert Dr. Beets, de  gee&en  der profeten zijn den  pro-
    And I do not care to know. It will save me from feten onderworpen. Hij gelooft, zoo schrijft hij voorts,
another possible accusation of a personal attack. It is dat de drie punten van 1924 confessioneel en schrif-
not at all the purpose of these articles to fight persons.    tuurlijk zijn, maar tevens ook, dat die "oorspronkelijke
The cause of Christian Instruction is at stake and punten van  minder   belang   waren."  Wezenlijk, zoo
nothing else.                                                 meent Dr. Beets, bestaat onze leer immers slechts uit
    The platform of principles quoted above is cer- ontkenningen: er is geen algemeene genade, geen stui-
tainly unfit to serve as a basis of Christian education. ting der zonde, geen doen  van burgerlijke gerechtig-
On such a basis our  Christian  School must totter into       heid. En deze ontkenningen zijn niet uitgesproken in
ruins.                                                        onze Geref. Belijdenis. Ergo, ze zijn van minder be-
    Fartly it is altogether too vague and colorless. lang. Het spijt hem daarom dan ook, dat wij dit niet
Partly it is characterized by omission of most vital          kunnen inzien en niet van plan zijn om de strijdbijl
elements.      Partly it enunciates principles that are rust  te geven. Maar  tech leeft hij nog steeds in de
positively erroneous, modernistic rather than  Calvin-        hoop, dat er eens een eind zal komen  aan dat onderling
istic.                                                        verbijten en verketteren. Hij is bang, dat er zeer
    The development of this criticism must be left to ernstige tijden komen en die tijden zullen ons misschien
other issues of our paper.                                    nog dwingen om naast elkander te marcheeren en ver-
                                                H. H.         eenigd te  strijden  tegen gemeenschappelijke vijanden.
                                                              Er zijn trouwens ook veel gewichtige punten van over-
                                                              eenkomst onder ons. Wij moeten den weg niet bewan-
          Neen; De Strijdbijl  Geen Rust                      delen van de broeders in de Geref.  Kerken van Neder-
                                                              land, die  zich  thans weer zoo warm  maken  over de
    Zoo denk ik er nog over, ook nadat ik de  rend            Chr. Geref. Kerken aldaar en haar een "scheurkerk"
schouw, die door Dr. H. Beets gehouden werd in de noepen. Wie is ook gerechtigd om te oordeelen, of de
Missionary Monthly  van Dec. 1931, gelezen heb. Zelfs Chr. Geref. Kerk een scheurkerk is, en ten onrechte
ben ik nog in mijn overtuiging gesterkt, dat die  strijd- bestaat? Wie zal daarover als jury zitten?  Oordeel-
bijl nog niet begraven  kan worden,  mag worden.              den de Hervormden niet  evenzoo  over de Afscheiding
- Niet, omdat het mijn doe1 is Dr. Beets of iemand en over de Doleantie? Oordeelden de Roomschen niet,
anders er mee te verwonden. Ware dat het geval, het en doen  ze het heden ten dage nog met, ook zoo over
ware beter, dat we de strijdbijl nimmer hadden opge- de Reformatie, die ze brandmerken als revolutie? We
nomen. Maar we1 moet deze strijdbijl ook in de toe- `storen  ons daaraan immers niet? Dr. Beets is het dan
komst gehanteerd  worden,  omdat het naar mijn  innig- ook in dit opzicht van  h&e eens met de Standard
ste overtuiging gaat, niet om personen, maar om de Bearer: wij zijn Protestantsche Gereformeerden en
waarheid en het  recht, en omdat het welzijn van Gods laten ons niet afschrikken door het getuigenis van
Kerke juist afhangt van  dc  hxdhaving van die beide, menschen. Daarom kan Dr. Beets dan ook van  barte
in verband  met elkander.                                     de broederhand reiken  aan de broeders van de Stand-
    Dr. Beets mag het gerust van mij gelooven, dat  ik ard Bearer, ook al zouden wij dit onzerzijds weigeren.
niet bedoel hem kwaad te  doen,  ook niet, als ik de             Zoo  s&reef Dr. Beets.
dingen  soms bij hunnen naam noem.                                Nu moet het mij allereerst van het hart, dat het
    Maar als ik de strijdbijl zou  willen begraven, of mij zeer spijt, dat Dr. Beets op de &ne zaak, waarover
rust zou willen  geven in dezen tijd, dan zou ik metter-      het in mijn artikel  ging, feitelijk niet ingaat, maar
daad kwaad  doen aan Gods Kerk in deze wereld.                schrijft over enkele algemeenheden, en ten slotte het
     Doch laat mij  onzen lezers eerst een  kort overzicht eigenlijk voorstelt alsof het een kwestie is van  elkan-
geven van hetgeen Dr. Beets antwoordde op mijn der de broederhand toereiken.
schrijven  aan hem gericht in de Standard Bearer van              En over dit laatste ging het juist heelemaal  niet.
1 Nov. 1.1.                                                   Broeders mogen elkander  tech zeker de waarheid  we1
     Hij beklaagt zich er over, dat ik zoo tegen hem van zeggenr!
leer trok in het bewuste artikel, hoewel hij tevens aan-          Welnu, ik  meen nog altijd de waarheid geschreven
stonds te kennen geeft, dat hij te veel van mij houdt, te  hebben in het artikel, waarover Dr. Beets  zich meent
om boos op mij te worden.  Hij meent voorts, dat ik te  moeten  beklagen.              Het ging eenvoudig over het
zijn  doen  (het  laten beoordeelen van mijne  beschou-       aanhalen van een  gedeelte  van een der door Dr. Kuyper
wing door den bril van Dr. A. Kuyper van Rotterdam)           Jr. in de Gereformeerde  Kurkbode  van Rotterdam ge-
in een al te donker daglicht  plaatste en dat ik verkeerd schreven artikelen over mijn boekje:  Genude  Geelt
deed door dat doen oneerlijk en lafaardig te noemen. Aanbod.   Wat ik wraak is het volgende: 1. Dr. A.
Hij raadt mij aan, om over mijne stellingen eens het Kuyper Jr. toont duidelijk, dat hij over onze  beschou-
oordeel  te vragen van de faculteiten van de Vrije  Uni- wing schrijft, zonder de zaak ook maar in h.et minst
versiteit en der Kamper School, desnoods ook van Pot- te verstaan. Daarom stelt hij mij verkeerd voor. En


                                 1          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                            153
-.---.- _ ._.           -......._-... -      .^_ ..." .,... "..."..C_.~  .-.-.......  -- .-... - _..........--.-                             " ..-._... 1111-" ..--..--..
wil recht door zee.              Een  broederhand  over  allerlei
onrecht  heen toegereikt verfoei ik.  Zalfjes  strijk ik                                                                       Joseph `s Policies
niet. Alle compromis  is vervloekt. Laat ons de waar-
heid hebben. Laat ons het recht liefhebben, hoe het                                                                 Joseph, so we saw, was set over Pharaoh's house
ook ga.                                                                                                and made ruler over all the land.
                 Als we in het licht wandelen, hebben we ge-                                                                                         In accordance here-
meenschap met elkander. Anders niet.                                                                    with, he receiveth upon his person the marks of his
                                                                                                       new station and of the authority that went with it.
        En de Christelijke Gereformeerde Kerken hebben
in 1924 de waarheid verkracht en het recht met voeten The king's ring was upon his finger; vestures of fine
getreden. Dat staat voor mij vast.                                                                     linen graced his person ; a gold chain was about his
     Ook zegt Dr. Beets, dat de Kerken, die hij dient                                                   neck. Thus adorned, he was made to ride in the
niet van 1924 zullen terugkeeren.                                                                      second chariot and received homage of the Egyptians.
     Ret zij dan zoo. Tot mijn diepe smart. Ik betuig                                                               And Pharaoh gave him a new name, whose mean-
het voor den Heere!                                                                                    ing, The man to whom secrets are revealed, set him
    Maar laat ons dan tech gescheiden leven. En ver- off from the magicians as a personage favored by
gun mij dan  tech, nu ik niet meer in den kring der Heaven and trusted and esteemed by the king above all
Chr. Geref. Kerken een plaats heb, om dan van buiten the wise men of the realm. To this favorite, the king
af de strijdbijl te hanteeren. Het zal ook den Chr. wanted his subjects to know, he was committing their
Geref. Kerken immers ten goede ,komen !                                                                salvation.
    Dat er ernstige tijden op  handen  zijn, geloof ik                                                              Now follows the notice of Joseph's marriage.
ook.                                                                                                   Pharaoh gave him to wife Asenath, the daughter of
    Ernstige tijden  zijn  echter  heerlijke tijden door Potipherah, priest at On. This city was devoted to the
Gods  genade Ofschoon  ik near bet vleesch vol vrees worship of the sun god. It again shows how remark-
ben, zie ik die ernstige tijden soms  ook met blijdschap able was his promotion. The priest's rank Was esteemed
tegemoet. Het zal ook een rijke genade zijn  verwaar- the highest in Egypt. To it the king himself belonged.
digd te worden  in die ernstige tijden te strijden en te                                                            Asenath bare Joseph two sons. The firstborn he
lijden en altoos meer dan overwinnaar te zijn, door named, Manasseh, meaning, forgetting. "God," said
Hem, Die ons heeft liefgehad.                                                                         he, "hath made me forget all my toil, and all my
    Of die ernstige tijden ons samen zullen brengen? father's house." The second born he named Ephraim,
    Ik heb dagen gekend, waarin ik de  dingen ook zoo meaning, fruitful. God had caused him to be fruitful
bezag. De ervaring  leer.% mij  echter  langzamerhand in the land of his afflictions.
anders. Het zal vooral in die tijden in elk geval geen                                                              These names are significant as indices to the
vereeniging kunnen worden  op het standpunt der ge- state and disposition of Joseph's soul at the time of
meene gratie.                                                                                         his exaltation. What he forgot was his toil not as a
    En overigens zal het  we1 het raadzaamst zijn, dat past event in his life  - this would have been impos-
we ons sterken in den Heere onzen  God. Dan hebben sible - but as an experience the reminiscence of which
we niets te vreezen !                                                                                  still haunted and tortured his soul. And as to the
        Dan komen we ook nimmer bedrogen uit.                                                          ill-treatment his father's house had afforded him, - it
                                                                         H. H.                         had left no poison in his blood. He bore his brethren
                                                                                                       no ill will, would not avenge himself, should dire neces-
                                                                                                       sity drive them within the range of his jurisdiction.
                                                                                                       He entertained toward them the kindliest feelings
They are evermore around us, though unseen to mortal especially now with his eye upon the goal toward which
        sight,                                                                                         the Lord through the wickedness of men had been
In the golden hour of sunshine and in sorrows starless moving. Fully realizing that the Lord had been pre-
        night,                                                                                         paring him for service, he was glad. And his joy took
Deepening earth's most sacred pleasures with the the sting out of the remembrance oi: his past afflictions.
        peace  of- sin forgiven,                                                                       He saw now that he had not suffered in vain, that his
Whispering to the  Ionely  mourner of the painless joys abasements had a meaning and purpose indeed.
        of heaven.                                                                                                  However, the test to which he would subject his
                                                                                                       brethren, the tears he wouId  shed in the hour of his
Seeing of our guilt and weakness, looking down with self-disclosure, ought to guide us against cIassifying
        pitious eyes,                                                                                  Joseph with those persons devoid of these finer sensi-
For the foolish things we cling to and the heaven that bilities we need to feel keenly and deepIy  the insults
        we despise ;                                                                                  heaped upon us by others, or @ith persons unprin-
They have been our guard,ian  angels since the weary cipled enough to shut their eyes to the unconfessed
        world began,                                                                                   and unbewailed sins of another and to carry on with
And they still are watching o'er us for His sake who that other as if nothing has happened. What the
        died for man.                                                                                  name Joseph gave to that older of his two sons  signi-


154                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                _____...__.._-__.. - _.._....__-.  "- .._
fles is that he was disposed to forgive his contrite great favor with the king, whose own heart in all
brethren.                                                          likelihood was touched, Joseph was not molested.
       The name he gave to his second son is also signi-                Another question is why Joseph, now that he had
ficant. It expresses his pious astonishment. Wonder- opportunity, did not send word to his father, whose
ful to say, in the land of affliction, in the world of op- heart was pining for the son so suddenly snatched
position, he has been made to gain the ascendary, to away from him, that he was alive and well in Egypt.
rise to the highest possible peak of honor and glory The answer is not far to seek. If there was one thing
and power not only but even has been caused to be Joseph had been schooled in during the time of his
fruitful.  14s to his power, the king only was greater afflictions, it was patience, the ability to abide the
in the throne than he.                                             Lord's time, the disposition to follow instead of leap-
       Questions arise here. How could Joseph permit ing ahead and rushing in where he should fear to
himself to be joined to a pagan woman, the daughter tread. As was before said, if Joseph was given the
of an idolatrous priest? Was she not unrighteousness, interpretation of the dreams of others, it cannot be
darkness, an infidel, and thus incapable of deeper otherwise but that his own dreams must have been
spiritual communion with him the temple of God, to yield to him their meaning. In fact his inquiry into
righteousness, light ? Did the Lord's approval rest the cause of the deep gloom of his fellow-prisoners on
upon this union? Could Joseph expect his marriage the morning after the night of their respective dreams,
be successful ? In replying we may set out with the his listening to the dreams of Pharaoh with a  self-
observation that Joseph married the Egyptian maiden composure that clearly betokened a conviction that the
without any compunction of conscience. He even car- Lord would reveal to him the interpretation, can only
ried about with him the conviction that his marriage be accounted for on the ground that from the begin-
was pleasing to the Lord. This is evident enough from ning his own dreams had stood out before his mind in
the fact that he gave to his sons names designed to                all their significance. If so, he daily went through the
perpetually remind him of the goodness and mercy of routine of his duties belonging to the office of manager
the Lord. It is also plain that his appraisal of his of Potiphar's estate, and to the office of manager of
marriage was correct; that Heaven, too, approved of the prison, with the clear conviction that sooner or
the step. For later on the Lord through Jacob  claims              later his deliverance would come. When, he knew not.
his two sons and incorporated them into the common- It was while waiting for the Lord to open his prison
wealth of Israel, so that, rightly considered the matter doors that he learned to abide the Lord's time, to Waite
of this union raises the question how it is to be ex-              upon his salvation, to observe the direction in which
plained that the Lord, Who otherwise insists that His His finger pointed. His resolve to let the Lord lead
people shall not be unequally yoked together with un- his brethren to him is the evidence that he had not for-
believers; could be pleased with this particular con- gotten his lesson. Had he rushed home at the first
jugal relation. It cannot be, of course, that His moral opportunity to tell his father how they had disposed
code is flexible so that what. He allows today, He may of him and for what reason and to what intent, he
forbid on the morrow. He is the unchangeable God. would have greatly embarrassed his brethren. Imagine
       It is certain that the truth of the matter is this:         the commotion his sudden reappearance would have
the maiden's eyes had opened to the extreme vanity created. What is more, it was still a question in his
of the religion of her fathers as represented by the mind whether the feeling at home had changed toward
magicians. She forsook, therefore, her idols for the him.
God of Joseph. Let it be considered that the whole of                   It is sometimes said that the business of storing
Egypt must have been profoundly impressed by corn for the emergency to come involved Joseph in a
Joseph's insight into the dreams of the king. When task that was solely earthly. For fourteen long years
the magicians had stood mute, he had spoken and his he was occupied first with gathering, than with dis-
speech had rung true so that he was being recognized pensing food in a strange land peopled with idolators.
as the inspired spokesman of Heaven, as a man ex- This criticism roots in thoughtlessness. If there is
ceptionally wise and discreet. Is it going too far to one thing that stands out clear in the career of Joseph
say that with the wisdom of the world exposed, the it is that the task of preserving the abundance for the
heart of more than one Egyptian  clave  unto Joseph years of famine was a task assigned to him by
and the God whose name he had declared at the court Heaven. No work, however menial and earthly, need
of the king, and that among the number drawn was draw us away from things holy and gender in us a
also found this daughter of the priest? It is quite spirit of worldliness if laid upon our hands by the
inconceivable that Joseph would join himself to an Lord. Such work affords us the opportunity to carry
idolatrous women and tolerated her pagan worship in out into the world our light and thus to show men what
his home to keep peace with the Egyptians. What we God has wrought in us. Such work, therefore, may be
are in duty bound to believe is that he and his wife identified with one's calling. It constitutes if per-
together with the two sons comprised a house that was formed out of true faith and with an eye  singIed to
seen as the kingdom of light in Egypt. Having found Ris glory, one's reasonable religion.


                                         THti   S T A N D A R D   BEARER                                                                         155
- -.... "-..^  ..---    -                   -- ..-...-.---..---"  .---. - -... --" .._. ._""".._^_.."."  ^ ..." ._--    - - -           --_--l___l_
    True, the carnal mind rebels against the thought of that her petition was of a kind that would appeal to
a calling with a range wide enough to include the sensuous nature only and not to carnal ambition as
whole of life, the sum-total of daily persuits. Religion well. Consider that she was a woman of high rank
is good only as a thing apart, as a relic to be uncov- with a word that in all likelihood had weight in the
ered and displayed in the hour of leisure, on the Sab- circle in which she moved. Had Joseph yielded, she
bath, when there is nothing else to do. Respecting might have become his willing slave to do his bidding.
the matter of his daily persuits, the place in life to be With her Iust secretly appeased, could she not be ex-
occupied, the earthly vocation to be heeded, the only pected to prevail upon her husband to set the Hebrew
counselor the man of the world listens to is himself, free and to present him to the king as a man excep-
the only will he recognizes as authoritative, the only tionally wise and able? Here then the opportunity
interests he knows of, and the only glory he resolves presents itself to him to gain through a woman, if not
to enhance, is his own. It is a work so chosen, with the high objective of his dreams, then at least his free-
such an intent, and under the impulse of such motives, dom. An unprincipled man would have reasoned thus :
that takes us down spiritually.                                                 My dreams were not of God but merely the nocturnal
    How well Joseph knew that he had been born and and strange representations of what my soul desired,
bred to serve the covenant of God and the feeder of namely, power and fame. I see this now. Why then
the covenant people and of the Egyptians. His trials should I pass this opportunity by. Let me take what
through which the way `to his high dignity led, were now lies within the range of my grasp, - freedom and
not of his own choosing. Without any effort, planning perhaps advancement in Pharaoh's kingdom.
or soliciting on his part, he had come to honour. How                                 Still other considerations enter in here. A warm
plainiy  he must have seem that all the sad events in and vital nature such as Joseph's, yearns for intimate
his life had been calculated to seat him in the throne, companionship and communion. This was lacking to
and to train him for service. He was sold that he                              him. He was but an unloved slave. One day with him
might appear on the Egyptian slave market and be differed not from the other. There was always the
bought by Potiphar. The latter set him over his house same routine of duties to go through. The monotony
that he might be noticed by the adulterous women. of the life he led would have broken a spirit less strong
His spiritual victory begot him a prison that as pro- than his. But here was a woman ready to lavish upon
moted he might become the attendant of the butler him all the affection of which she was capable, would
and the baker. For their dreams he had to hear and he but let her. He know, however, that stolen fruit
interpret that when Pharaoh would dream, he might has a deadly sting. Rather would he die a slave, un-
know that his prison housed a Hebrew who could loved and forgotten then betray his master and sin
declare the interpretation. What better and clearer against God.                                              He, therefore, persistently, day after
evidence could Joseph desire than the voice of the day, turned down the temptress. For this he was cast
king, "Thou shalt be over my house and according to into a dungeon with a name that set him, the innocent
thy word shall all my people be ruled," was the voice
          --..                                                                 one, apart as the vilest and meanest of culprits.
of God calling him to his life's task.                                         Whether he protested his guilt is not stated. If he
                             -      -                                          received opportunity he may have gone no further
                                                                               than to say that he was innocent, and refrain for the
    One loves to linger at the life we have been con- sake of his master to disclose the true state of affairs.
sidering. The longer we ponder this life, the clearer                                 It is happenings such as these that set many a
we see its power as the power of a man in whom the                              one to wondering whether the wicked can do as they
Almighty wrought wonderfully unto His everlasting please with the Almighty unable to interfere. We know,
glory. That faith of Joseph, how vital and abiding!                             however, we see it so plainly in the course of events
No trial, however fiery, was able to shake his convic- that make up the life of Joseph, that the Lord reigneth,
tion that God was for him and through all his afflic- and is truly good to Israel, even to such as are of a
tions was leading him on  - to glory. How marked clean heart; that nothing befalls us by chance but by
his ability to lay hold on the promise, proclaimed by the direction of our most gracious and heavenly
his juvenile dreams, that in the end all would be well Father. We are persuaded that He so restrains the
with him. How strikingly his career demonstrates that devil and all our enemies, that without His will and
a young man cleanses his way by taking heed accord- permission, they cannot hurt us; that whatever He
ing to God's work. Consider once more the determined causes to creep into our life is a blessing in disguise
resistance he offered the temptress in Potiphar's house. and must work our eternal salvation. Of this Joseph,
There are certain aspects about this trial we failed to too, was convinced, as is evident from the fact that he
bring out properly.          Though the manager of  Poti-                       was so ready to hear the dreams of his fellow-pris-
phar's estate, he was after all but a slave, so that his oners and to declare the interpretations of these
position in this house, though high, was the very re- dreams. Had he been writhing in the grip of despair,
verse of the high dignity suggested by his dreams. had he lost his hold on the promise of God as depicted
Then the temptress spoke. It must not be imagined by his own dreams, had his bitter experiences shaken

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

 his faith in the power of God to lead a man through         the Lord and trust in Him, He shall bring it to pass,
 suffering to freedom and glory, had his sufferings de- and shall bring forth our righteousness as the light
 prived him of the firm belief that tribulation is the.      and our judgment as the noonday.
 instrument of which God avails Himself to work in               Having heard and resolved to heed his calling,
 His people constancy and a hope that maketh not Joseph without delay went about the business of gath-
ashamed, had these convictions of his soured and given ering corn for the years of famine. In his original
 way to murmurings and deep gloom, had he retreated advice he had spoken af taking up a fifth part of the
within the confines of his own soul to be alone with his land in the plenteous years. This advice he now exe-
grief and to curse and rail at the world in general,  - cuted. In the sacred narrative statements occur the
he would have said to the butler and the baker upon          force of which is that the yield of the land in the
having ascertained the cause of their blues: My dear plenteous years approached the miraculous.                  "The
comrades, pay no attention to your dreams. Believe earth brought forth by handfuls." "Joseph gathered
me when I say that dreams deceive, 1 had them, - corn as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left
beautiful dreams, suggesting advancement, power, numbering; for it was without number." The food
glory ; dreams that awakened in me slumbering  aspern-       was laid up in cities so tha,t  each province had its own
tions. But consider my present plight, and learn your food station.
lesson.                                                         Never before, as far as the Egyptian was able to
    This, however, was not Joseph's advise. Nay, with recall, had harvests been so large. It was this e::tra-
great confidence he assured these suspended and bound ordinary abundance that from the very outset  served
officials of the king that interpretations are of God as the sign that Joseph was God's spokesman to the
and thus evinced a conviction that He speaks to men a king indeed. Not years of ordinary fertility, but years
word that is truth and verity. What a marvelous tri- of unheard of plenty could prove that those dreams,
umph of faith! What a grand monument, this life of together with their interpretations as declared by
Joseph, to the power of God to keep a man no matter Joseph were of God. And as the one year of plenty
how severe the test to which He subjects him may be. followed the other, Egypt's conviction that this Hebrew
How big and rich this life of Joseph. And isn't it true had been sent by the Most High God to save it from
that the longer we look at it, the bigger and richer it the ravages of a grievous famine grew. It need not
becomes? What a testimony, this life, to the truth of surprise us therefore that Joseph's word was law, that
what Jesus once said, that no one is able to pluck us        his policies were wholeheartedly endorsed, and that
out of His `almighty hand aud out of the equally mighty both the king and the people co-operated with him in
hand of His Father. How real it becomes to us as  we         providing for the emergency to, come. Men hailed
ponder the career of this Hebrew that neither death, him as their lord, placed themselves in his care, con-
nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor power, nor vinced that their interest lay close to his heart, and
things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor confident that he only was wise and good enough to
depth, nor any other creatrzre, shall be able to separate    legislate unto their salvation.
us from-the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our            With the zeal of one conscience of -his  calling,--
Lord. Therefore does our soul rejoice in the God of Joseph goes about the business of collecting the
our salvation.                                               abundance. What always keeps a friend of God going
   Hearken once more unto Joseph as he stands there is the knowledge that the work he does has been laid
unabashed in the presence of royalty with the eyes of        upon his hands by the Lord.
the wisdom of the world upon him, interpreting the              The seven years of dearth came according as
dreams of the great king. Notice that he speaks not          Joseph had said. All the lands surrounding Egypt
as the wise men were wont to speak, hesitatingly,            were smitten. The Egyptians in their distresss cried
haltingly, as  .if not sure of himself and therefore to the king for bread and the latter referred them to
grouping his way. Nay, but he speaks with the author- Joseph with the command that they observe whatever
ity of one' who knows whereof he speaks. From his he said should be done. The storehouses were opened
words animate the conviction of a man who declares and the needy brought corn. And all the impoverished
not what he under the stress of the moment is able to        countries hearing that in Egypt there was bread, came
fabricate, but what he sees and hears is the sanctuary to Joseph to buy corn. The money he received as pay-
of God where he dwells. Therefore his words ring %ent on the food turned out to needy, Joseph brought
true in the ears of all who hear. Therefore he im- into Pharaoh's house. When money failed, the people
presses the king as being a man in whom te Spirit of gave their cattle and their horses and finally, when
God dwells. The king feels that his equal is not to also this means of exchange was exhausted, their lands
be found in all Egypt and sets him over his house and and their very own bodies. Thus the whole land of
over his kingdom. What more proof do we desire that Egypt, together with its fulness, became the personal
the more the saint is oppressed, the closer he presses property of the king. To further the business of feed-
to the side of his God and Saviour ? What clearer ing the hungry multitude, Joseph transported it to
evidence do we need that if we commit our \~a:~  unto the cities. The only caste that was not disturbed  was


the priestly caste. The priests were fed without being family  of the king, a family which he as a kind and
asked to give their lands in exchange for food.             benevolent father loved by his people, took upon him-
   When the seven years of dearth were ended, the self to care for. That Joseph by his policies created
people were given seed for planting and told to return a relation between monarch and subjects so ideal shows
to their estates as Pharaoh's tenants. Four-fifths of that he was a man wise and discreet indeed. In a
the yearly increase might be retained; one-fifth had great national crises of a kind through which Egypt
to be turned out to the king as rent. Such was the          now passed, a people must necessarily come to grief
arrangement, which- Joseph made a law over the land if the ruler loses control. What people will be more
of Egypt.                                                   quiet, submissive and satisfied than a people with a
   Some have censured Joseph's policies as thoroughly king who as a kind father takes a personal interest in
tyrannical. These critics are of the conviction that the distress of his subjects, and provides in all their
the needy should have been fed free of charge. At least needs.
Joseph should not have gone to the length of using a           A dictator like Joseph saves his country, so that we
dire necessity to inaugurate a system in which a whole here repeat what we wrote some time ago: any system
people sustains to its king the relation of personal of  gobernment  will do if only those who govern are
servants or slaves. This criticism is unjust. Human men with the fear of God in their hearts. The fault
nature is such that the Egyptians, had they been per- lies not with the system but with the men and women
mitted to retain their hold on their personal proper- in whom the system takes an flesh and blood. With
ties, their money, their land and cattle and bodies, the heart cleansed our social and economic ills will
while being fed, would have become extravagant and evaporate into thin air. Therefore do we look for a
wasteful in the use of what was given them. Food new earth to be peopled by a humanity delivered from
bought with their own money, they would judicially the ills of the present world because redeemed.
use. The people had to be forced to economize for the          In Joseph the spirit of God dwelt. Therefore when
famine was widespread, very sore and of long dura- Egypt and in particular the house of Jacob  - the
tion. Rightly considered, therefore, the measure was covenant  ,people  of the Lord  - submitted themselves
wise. The great danger of turning out food and pro- to Joseph's rule, they submitted themselves to the
visions to the needy for the mere asking is that the government of God. The great object lesson of Joseph's
needy may ask when their is no real need. We see it reign in Egypt  - a lesson that the church of that age
today. There are cases on record of persons who posed was made to take home to its heart  - is that he who
as poor and asked for bread with secret storehouses, surrenders himself to God's government has bread and
such was the discovery made, well filled. Having ex- lives. Who with the event we have been considering
changed all they had for food, Joseph knew that all         before his eye, will not pass on in his mind to the
the private and secret sources of supply had been government of Jehovah through Christ Jesus, the true
exhausted. For it is certain that during the years of bread of life and thus the Saviour of a fallen, elect
plenty many private storehouses had risen throughout humanity? In Him, too, the Spirit of God dwells. It
the land  - storehouses filled by private persons.          is therefore our only comfort in life and death, with
   The charge that Joseph by his measures changed body and soul to belong to Him our faithful Saviour
the status of the Egyptian from a free to that of a         Jesus Christ. He, who with His own precious blood
bond is false. True, the Egyptians became the per- hath fully satisfied for all our sins, possesses us to
sonal property of the king. It should be considered, save us and to feed our souls unto eternal life.
however, that the latter by feeding them gave them                                                         G. M. 0.
life in exchange for their souls so that the sole reason
why this monarch attached his subjects to his person
was that he might save their lives. Such being the
motive, the criticism brought to bear on Joseph's meas-                          IN MEMORIAM
ures has no force and is out of place. Consider finally        Het behaagde den Heere wederom een  onzer   leden  door
that the arrangement was only temporary. When the den dood tot Zich te nemen, den 28sten November,
seasons again became fruitful, the Egyptian was per-                            MRS. S. DE  HAAN,
mitted to return to his lands and work them for his         in den ouderdom van 73 jaar.
own personal profit. Only a fifth of the increase went        Zij mocht  zich door Gods genade het eigendom van Christus
to the king.                                                weten te  zijn.  Op  grand  vswl dat geloof mogen wij van haar
   Finally, the advantage accruing from the aforesaid gelooven,  dat ook zij is ingegaan in die rust die er overblijft
personal attachment was great. It brought the people voor het volk Gods. Hebr.  4:9.
very close to Joseph and the king, so that the latter          De Heere trooste de bedroefde family.
though their agents could supervise the habits of the          Namens de  Hollandsche  Vrouwenvereeniging "Weest een
people and thus see to it that a judicial use was being Zegen"  van de First Prot. Ref. Church,
made of the distributed food. what is more, Joseph's                                        Ds. H. Hoeksema, President
measures transformed the Egyptian nation into a great                                       Mrs. J. Cammenga, Seer.


                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        163
____               -                                                                   ___-..-- -.---.^  .._ l_l__
                                                           selves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open
        A Special Kind of Common                           shame. For the earth which drinketh in the rain that
                        Grace?                             cometh  oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for
                                                           them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from
   From two of our readers we received the same God ; but that which beareth thorns and briers is re-
question, namely, whether we will give an explanation jected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be
of Heb. 6 ~4-6.                                            burned."
   One of these questions, at least, was sent in at the       Let me remark the following:
occasion of an answer recently given by the editor of         1. In the interpretation of this passage I proceed
The Banner to the very same question by a certain from the assumption that all our readers believe in the
Gerrit H. Pals, who is unknown to us. The latter had truth of the perseverence  of the saints, All Scripture
read in Bunyan's:  Reprobation Asserted,  that the elect teaches too plainly that there is no falling away from
and reprobate receive a differing grace, differing both grace to leave any doubt as to the possibility of this
in nature and degree. And he desired some light on passage teaching the opposite. Such a possibility does
this subject. And the editor answers the question by not exist, for the simple reason that the Word of God
citing a lengthy quotation from Dr. Hodge's System- cannot contradict itself. Resides, the last two verses,
atic'  Theology,  particularly from the chapter on Com- in which the figure is employed of the two different
mon Grace. And then he adds:                               kinds of fields upon which the rain often falleth, are
   "Hodge, then, speaks of this grace as common, not sufficient evidence that such a falling away of the
because all men receive it, but because it is not con- saints is not suggested in this passage at all. The rain
fined to the elect. The non-elect may also receive it also falleth upon the field that contains the seeds of
(Heb. 6  :4-6). It may, therefore, be called a special thorns and thistles and that is rejected. And there
kind of common grace.                                      can be no question that this field is a picture of the
    "I have no fault to find with your quotation from natural and unregenerated heart, not of the regenerated
John Bunyan's Reprobation Asserted except that the saint. Without entering further upon the question of
next to the last paragraph could have been a little the perseverance of saints, I will consider that the
more emphatic in explaining that there is a very latter is an established truth in the minds and hearts
essential difference between the grace of the elect and of our readers. Besides, the questions sent to us are
the grace of the reprobate. True, Bunyan does state not concerned with the question of the perseverance of
that they differ both as to the nature and also the        saints, but are rather interested in the matter of com-
degree. But the sentence, as a whole, seems to us a mon grace. or special common grace in connection with
bit too mild."                                             this Scriptural passage.
 ' It is certainly deplorable that the editor of  The         2. This passage certainly teaches that the natural
Banner  ventures no explanation of the passage from man may come into very close contact with the truth,
Hebrews to which he refers, nor even an answer to his      the Spirit and the powers of the Kingdom of heaven.
evidently anxious and troubled inquirer. He tries to They may be enlightened, not only so that they under-
satisfy his readers with a quotation from Hodge's stand the truth of the Word of God with their natural
Systematic   Theology,  instead of an explanation of the mind, but so that they taste, relish, have a certain
Word of God. And in the few sentences from his own natural liking for the good Word of God. They see its
pen, he presupposes that Heb. 6 :4-6 certainly speak of beauty and goodness, the blessed significance of its
grace which the reprobate receive. He would call it a teachings. They understand the teachings concerning
special kind of common grace.                              Jesus Christ and Him crucified and taste the sweet-
    On what basis he would call this experience of the ness of it. And so they taste the heavenly gift, all
 reprobate grace at all he does not make plain. Cer- with their natural taste. They behold and acknowledge
tainly he cannot turn to Scripture for proof of his the goodness and the beauty of the Christian hope, the
 assertion. Nowhere, least of all in Heb. 6, does the       righteousness of the Kingdom of God, the corruption
 Bible speak of grace of God to the reprobate.              and sinfulness of the natural man. And they are made
    But let us attend to the passage itself. First of all partakers of the Holy Ghost. This last expression
 let me state that the entire passage does not close at must undoubtedly be taken in the special sense in
 vs. 6. The two following verses evidently belong to it which the New Testament frequently speaks of the
 and are very important, because they offer us an ex- reception of the Holy Ghost thru the laying on of
 planation. The whole passage, then, here follows:          hands by the apostles. Thus we read in Acts 19 :6 :
    "For it is impossible for those who were once en-       "And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy
 lightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and       Ghost came on them ; and they spake with tongues and
 were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have            prophesied." Thus the natural man may receive sev-
 tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the eral gifts, so that he speaks with tongues and casts
 world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them out devils and prophecies thru an operation of the
 again unto repentance ; seeing they crucify to them-       Holy Ghost, and his heart will still be far from God


 164                                   `I'EIE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
a-"
_ ..-......- ".-.."-" .--..    -        -_-" _---- "-                                        _--_" . .._
and from the Kingdom of heaven.            As long as he point of the operation OF the Spirit thru these gifts,
partakes of these gifts, that properly belong to the for if the Spirit wrought graciously thru them, salva-
Church, he walks outwardly in ways of repentance and tion would certainly be the result. Now the result is
sanctification, as is evident from the text. He attends hardening. Nor from the viewpoint of the final out-
Church, iistens to the preaching and apparently enjoys come of  all these gifts. For the final result is that
the truth, partakes of the Lord's supper, probably such a person, who receives these powers of the king-
serves in different capacities in the Church, may be dom, becomes a greater sinner, falls into more terrible
even a minister of the Word. He lives in very close judgment, than if he had never come into contact with
contact with the powers of the Kingdom of God. And them. For, he is responsible for all these gifts of God.
there is nothing strange in all this, for experience They certainly must lead him to repentance. But they
teaches this very thing. Is it such an exceptional do not and they cannot, because God gives no grace,
phenomenon that men with great gifts and earnest zeal and because on his part, he is but a wicked man.
apparently live in fellowship with the Church for a            5. This, finally, is plainly taught in the last two
while, though the love of God is not in them?               verses of the passage. The  field that brings forth the
         3. Yet, they are nothing but natural men, unre- good herbs is the figure of the regenerated heart, that
generated sinners and they  finally  come to manifesta-     received grace from God. If upon that field the rain
tion as such by falling out of that outward Christian falls, that is, if upon the regenerated heart the gifts
life and walk by which they were deemed to be true mentioned in the preceding are bestowed, that
children of God. I do not at all agree with Hodge as field received blessing from God, that is, such a heart
quoted by the editor of The LZctnncr when he states,        actually receives grace in  all these gifts. The field
that no strictness of inward scrutiny, no microscopic that brings forth thorns and briers, however, is the
examination or delicacy of analysis can enable the ob- picture of the unregenerated heart, in which are the
server and rarely the man himself, to distinguish these seeds of sin and corruption.         And when that field
religious exercises from those of the truly regenerated.    receives the same rain as the first field, that is, when
This is true of the observer, it cannot be true of the the unregenerated man is placed under the same
man himself. He certainly must be conscious of a external influences as the regenerated child .of God,
glaring contrast between his outward walk and his these  imluences simply serve to bring to development
inner experience. He knows no sorrow over sin, he is and manifestation the power of sin that is within him.
a stranger to the grace of the cross, he even crucifies     He receives no grace from God, though he has many
the Son of God afresh! But  even  from his show of gifts.
Christianity he finally falls out.  This  may be occa-         Such is our interpretation of this passage. Now let
sioned by various circumstances. It may take place Kuiper make good his statement, that all this may be
under the fire of persecution. it may be occasioned called a special kind of common grace.
by a very small event over which he stumbles, sins and         But let him come with the Word of God, not with
refuses to repent. But he does fall away from his Hodge or, in fact, any other Systematic Theology.
external repentance or conversion and thus becomes                                                          H. H.
manifest as a mere natural man, of which the Church
may witness: he went out from us but he was not of
us. The dog returned to his vomit! Such a person                                -    -
usually becomes a hardened sinner, a bitter enemy of
the truth and of the Church. All his show of zeal for                          ALL OF THEE
the truth is changed into its very opposite. And he
plainly shows, that he crucifies the Son of God afresh.              Oh, the bitter pain and sorrow,
He cannot be renewed unto repentance again, neither                    That the time could ever be,
in the outward, nor in the true sense, Such a person                 When I proudly said to Jesus:
constitutes a closed case even for the Church on earth.                All of self and none of Thee.
         4. Such a person, however, received no grace,
neither common special, nor special special, nor special
common, nor common common grace. Grace is exactly                    Yet He found me; I beheld Him
the thing he did not receive. From no point of view                    Bleeding on the sacred tree ;
can it possibly be said, that such a person received                 And my wistful heart said faintly:
grace. Not from the viewpoint of God's intention, for                  Some of self and some of Thee.
God does not bestow these outward gifts upon any
sinner out of grace, but surely to bring out the sinful
nature of the natural heart. Whenever God bestows                    Higher than the highest heavens,
these gifts upon anyone out of His grace, He surely                    Deeper than the deepest sea,           .
purposes to save him. This, however, is not His pur-                 Lord, Thy love at last has conquered:
pose with those that fall away. Not from the view-                     None of self and all of Thee.


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          165
-                     -..---._"  -........ ^ _... - .__. -~._-     --."  ..._-"  .._. --                    -.-
            The Triumph of Faith                                  who, this shepherd learns, has been cursing the living
                                                                  God twice each day for fourty consecutive days. David
     Goliath, the Philistine giant, must be taken as the feels the sting of his wicked speech; he senses the
representative, as the very personification, of that god- mctive of this oft repeated challenge. The giant would
less anti-Christian power in the world that comes to              bury the name of God under a. heap of malediction.
a head in the godless state and is active as the devil's Therefore he adds insult to insult.
instrument, from whom it also derives its power and                  David listens to the conversation of the men of
authority. In the book of Revelation this power ap-               Israel.    They talk about the proposal of the king.
pears as the beast upon whose head is written the name David's soul fills with amazement when he hears of it.
of blasphemy and who opens his mouth in blasphemy The king will heap riches and honor upon the man
against God to rail at His name, His tabernacle and               who ventures forth to silence the giant and still no
those that dwell in heaven. That the giant was a repre- one bestirs himself? Why should anyone be afraid of
sentative of this power is plain enough. He  .stands              this giant? Would not the Lord deliver him into the
and cries unto the armies of the living God. This he hand of the man of Israel who went forth in His name?
dares to do, for he is confident that Israel has                  Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should
not a man willing to risk a conflict with him. He                 defy the armies of the living God? But a dead dog!
deems himself invincible. His courage, however, is And the people of an almighty God in the grip of a
shallow and superficial. Its undersoil is a deep-seated fear he inspired- a fear so well seated that even the
fear for those very armies he defies.                 It cannot promise of great riches and high honors is unable to
be otherwise. For this giant is one of those creatures dispel it? Unbelievable.1 Could it be that he had not
who puts his trust not in God but in his own great heard correctly? To satisfy himself he asks: "What
physical strength as reinforced by his helmet and coat            shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine?"
of mail, his greaves of brass, his sword and spear. He               Let no'one imagine that David is interested in the
trusts then in that in which the world ever trusts: the reward as such, that he craved the profered riches and
arm of flesh, horses and chariots, great fleets and honor, that what therefore induced him to combat the
armies. However, the coat of mail in which the un- giant was his love for money. Not a love for riches
godly encases himself is the sign that at heart he is             but a love for God moves him to accept the challenge.
afraid. He is afraid because he cast  of? God, man's Rather than stand idly by while the giant raves, he
true shield and fortress. In order to regain his lost will risk all to silence him. The name of God being
confidence, he makes him a shield of brass to hide be- dear to him, such is his resolve.
hind. Thinking himself invincible, he sets his mouth                 So then, what made David ascertain by repeated
against heaven and speaks great things. Yet he is                 inquiries what the king had promised is his doubt and
afraid. Necessarily so ; for a hand whose only weapon amazement that the fear of the men of Israel could be
is a man-made sword must needs tremble, and a heart so great that even the magnitude of the king's prom-
whose anchor is sunk in the strength, power and in-               ised reward could induce none of them to meet the
genuity of man must needs be troubled.                            giant. That it was this amazement which was  re-
     Saul and all Israel fear this giant. It goes to show sponsible for his repeated inquiries is evident from
that they were not trusting in God.               Because  &he his question. He asks, "What shall be done to the man
blaspheming foe was marvelously strong, Israel was that killeth this Philistine and taketh away the re-
afraid. There was not a soldier to be found in all the. proach from Israel, for who is this uncircumcised
army of the living God who dared to go forth and meet Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living
him. Each warrior compared his own brute strength God?"
with that of his and concluded that whereas he was                   The giant was heaping insults on Israel's God.
the stronger he, would surely prevail. So the daily This was David's great concern, his great grief; and
challenge of this uncircumcised strikes terror to t.he he stood amazed that no one could be induced by Saul's
hearts of all the heroes in  .Israel. Not even the an- offer to silence this blaspheming giant. The question
nouncement that the man who slays this giant shall                he puts to the men of Israel contains a stinging rebuke.
gain for his father's house freedom and for himself What he meant is that, whereas the Philistine was de
great riches and the daughter of the king for wife, fying Jehovah, it was a disgrace that the king by a
can induce any of their number to join battle with him. promise of great honor and riches had to Iure some-
     The hero of the occasion is David. Arriving at the one into combating him. Rightly considered, it was a
scene of battle, he greets his brethren to whom he has disgrace, and as foolish as disgraceful. What man,
been sent by his father with some refreshments. While destitute of faith in and love for Jehovah, would dare
he talks with them the giant again appears and repeats to risk a conflict with so formidable a foe? No one,
his challenge. David sees the men of Israel flee at the not for the very kingdom itself. On the other hand,
sound of the giant's voice. He hears them discuss the a real lover of Jehovah was not in the need of the
proposal of the king. Plainly the one attempts to per- king's inducements. Only a man like Saul would come
suade the other to risk a conflict with the Philistine, with such an ofYer, What David did then was to hold


I.&                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
_.._.__ -.-- - __-..- ..-.... ^.                     -       -                                                  _....-_
up to scorn Saul and his entire army for their carnal could not because of the panoply. So he laid it off.
fear and lack of faith. David's inquiry had an edge to Again he set out, this time in his shepherd's tunic,,
it. This also explains the outbursts of wrath on the and with a shepherd's staff and a goats' hair sling in
part of his brother Eliab. We read of him that his his hand. His youth and his slight figure  fUed his
anger was kindled against David. He wanted to know gigantic adversary with unmeasured rage. It was to
why David came down hither and with whom he left him an unprecedented insult. He had crossed the
those few sheep in the wi&rness.  "I know the naughti- torrent  bed in the middle of the ravine and came up to
ness and pride of thy heart," he added, "for thou art the slope held by the Israelites to mock them to their
come down that thou migh.test see the battle." How faces. He was again on his way back when his -atten-
that a shepherd would be driven to the scene of battle tion was arrested by the shouts that greeted David's
by pride is hard to see unless it was that, having advance. David reached the bottom of the dry channel.
been  rtn eye-witness to the battle, he would know He descended its slope and gathered some pebbles.
enough about the maneuvers of the contesting armies The Philistine distfacted  by the cheers of th& Israel-
to make it safe for him to say that he had participated itish army, looked about him and saw David; He de-
in the conflict. His wickedness of heart would come spised him, held him in no esteem as a contestant, for
out in the delight the spectacle of a bloody conflict his youth and fair countenance. The giant was first
would give him. However this may be, Eliab places a to speak. "Am I a dog that thou comest to -me with
mean construction upon David's presense at the scene staves." He curses David in his heart. The heart and
of conflict. It shows that David's words cut him to the speech of this giant is representative of the heart and
quick. He had made him feel that he was a miserable speech of the Philistine army.  - The wicked curse God
coward, destitute of faith and holy zeal. His only an- and His people.
swer to his brother is, "What have I done, is there not             `The giant can hardly persuade himself to enter with
a cause"? The answer though brief was  fuil of mean- David into a combat. In a fierce fit of rage he curses
ing. What David meant is that if the heroes of Israel David by his gods and bids him to come to him that he
stand by while Jehovah is being cursed, a shepherd may give his flesh to the fowl of the air, and the beasts
trusting in the Lord will come to the fore to champion of the field. David is undaunted and  fYirmly convinced
His cause.                                                        that the Lord will deliver the adversary into his hand.
       David had as much as said that he was ready to             His retort animates a deep religious fervor and a  f&m
combat the giant. Saul soon hears of it and sends for trust in God. He says, "Thou comest to me with a
him. He appears and assures the king that no man's sword and with a spear and with a shield, but I come
heart should fail because of the giant, that he is ready to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of
to go and fight with him. Rightly considered, the reply the armies of Israel whom thou didst defy. This day
contains a stinging rebuke for Saul also. The king's will the Lord deliver thee into my hand and I will smite
pride is hurt. This explains his response  - a response thee and take thy head from thee ; and I will give the
that placed the venture David contemplated in a most carcasses of the host of the Philistines this day unto
ridiculous light. According to Saul the undertaking the fowl of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth
must end in David's destruction and thus in the servi- and all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth
tude of the entire action. Said Saul to David, Thou not with sword and spear :` for the battle is the Lord's
art not able to go against this Philistine, to fight with and He will give you into my hands."  There  is  a
him ; for thou art but a youth, and he is a man of war marked difference between the speech of David and
from his youth.                                                   that of the heathen giant. David's speech is  tlior-
       Saul's reasoning is as carnal as the heart from oughly theocentric. He undertakes the contest in God's
which it issues. He cannot believe that the two com- name, as one having transported himself by faith into
batants will be the giant and Jehovah, that David will all that this name stands for. He specifically states,
enter the conflict merely as Jehovah's agent, that there- that what the sword, the spear and the shield are to
fore the hour of th.e giant has struck. David's noble the pagan giant, the name of the Lord is to him. He
reply, uttered with great religious fervor and betoken- enters the combat for the glory of God. His desire  is
ing implicit faith in Jehoah, silences the ridiculing that all the earth may know that there is a God in
king. Relating to Saul his ,experience  as a shepherd Israel. All the giant does is to curse and to tell David
with the lion and with a bear and expressing the con- what he will do to him. His speech is typical of the
viction that, whereas the Philistine defied the armies man without God.
of the living God, ,he shail surely be overcome, he  con-            The question arises how David could feel so cer-
c.ludes,  "The Lord that delivered me out of the paw tain that he would emerge the victor from the combat.
of the lion and out of the paw of the bear will deliver The speech addressed to the giant breathes nothing but
me out OF the hand of this Philistine."                           confidence. Was this confidence purely subjective or
       Saul weighs David down with his armor. A was there a promise of God upon which it reposed?
helmet of brass is upon David's head; a coat of mail There was such a promise. When the theocratic people
is about his shoulders. David tried to proceed, but were still in the desert, the Lord spoke to them by the


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D B E A R E R                                           167

mouth of Moses as follows, YVhen  thou goest out to
battle against thy enemies and  seest horses and                              The Fulness of Time
chariots and a people more than thou, be not afraid of           The term time, in the expression fulness  of time,
them; for the Lord thy God is with thee, which brought so we wrote in a former article, denotes, as the setting
thee up out of the land of Egypt, and it shall be when of the text in which the term appears, the duration
ye are come nigh unto battle that the priest shall ap- of the state of minority of the Old Testament church.
proach and speak unto the people and shall say unto While in this state the church was under a school-
them, Hear, 0 Israel, ye approach this day into battle master or governor who brought it to Christ.
against your enemies. Let not your heart faint, fear
not and do not tremble. Neither be ye terrified be-              In the  pre-Messanic  period, the church being a
cause of them for the Lord your God is He that goeth minor, was trained unto Christ. The trainer was the
with you to fight for you against your enemies and to law in conjunction with the promises. With the church
save you" (Deut.  2O:l ff.).                                 trained the time was full, so to say, and God sent His
    When Israel believed this promise and kept cove- Son. This is the matter upon which we dwelt in the
nant fidelity, Jehovah was for him. Then Israel was preceeding  article under the above caption.
the  unconquerable  people of God, collectively and indi-        However, the Israelitish  nation was comprised of
vidually.                                                    two elements: an elect nucleus and a reprobated shell.
   David ventured forth against the giant with the The element led to Christ was this elect nucleus. Unto
promises of God stored away in his heart. That his           the reprobate shell the law was a savor of death unto
speech breathed nothing but certainty shows to what death. By this law the hatred for things holy that
extent he had been capacitated by grace to cleave to         lurked in the bosom of this . serpents' brood was
the promises of God. These promises being there, it awakened and so intensified that when Christ finally
was a terrible reflection upon Saul and his heroes that appeared, the Jewish nation as a whole was ready and
for forty days they had permitted this pagan to capable of affixing the Lord of glory to the cross. In the
blaspheme God.        It shows that there was no faith. children of disobedience sin took on flesh and blood and
This lack of faith in turn betokens a nation living at as a concrete historical phenomenon grew, developed.
odds with Jehovah. This again is so much more When the monster sin, in the generation of the carnal
evidence that with the exception of a chosen few, seed of Abraham had attained unto the measure of
Israel was not the reality but merely the type. It the stature of its fulness, the time was full.
shows that on the table of the heart of this typical            This filling of the measure of iniquity on the part
nation the Lord did not write His laws.                      of the dewish nation is a matter set forth in all its
   David slung a stone that struck the Philistine in hideousness by Christ in a discourse preserved by
his forehead.      He fell to the earth. David rushed Matthew and comprising the twenty-third chapter of
forward, and with the Philistine's own sword de- his gospel. From this entire chapter animates a holy
capitated him. The death of this hero struck terror to wrath of the most scathing nature. Those addressed
the heart of the Philistines. Instead of keeping their are the Scribes and Pharisees.             Their sins  enum-
                                                                                                           - - -
promise that in the event the man venturing forth erated and denounced by the Saviour are many. They
from the army of Israel prevailed, they would be fail to practice the Mosaic precepts so diligently taught
Israel's servants, the Philistines fled.                     by them. The heavy and grievous burdens they lay
   At the sight of the beheaded giant and the fleeing upon men's shoulders, they themselves will not move
Philistine host, the men of Israel and Juda arose and with their fingers. All the work they do for to be
with a shout set out in pursuit. The only kind of a seen by men. They love the uppermost rooms at feasts ;
foe these cowards dared risk an engagement with the chief seats in the synagogues, the greeting in the
was a terror stricken and fleeing foe. Then they could markets.         They are pleased when men call them
even shout - they feel no shame for their lack of faith. Rabbi. Turning to His followers, Christ warns them
They bestire  themselves when they feel certain because against the hypocracy of the Scribes and Pharisees.
of the tangible evidence which was then theirs that His disciples shall not aspire to be called Rabbi, for
the foe had been rendered harmless.                          one is their master even Christ, and they are all breth-
                                             G. M. 0.        ren,. He that is the greatest among them shall be
                                                             their master.
                                                                Eight times Christ declares, Woe unto you, Scribes
                                                             and Pharisees. The reason for this outbreak of indig-
                                                             nation on the part of the Lord is that they against
             Last  mij in vrede henengaan                    whom He sets Himself shut up the kingdom of heaven
                                                             against men, devour widows' homes, make long prayers
               En zien uw heil, o He& -                      for a pretence,  make of their proselytes children of hell
             Mijn zondenstraf droegt Gij voor mij;           twofold more than themselves, carry forth a wrong in-
               Nu vrees `k den dood niet meer.               struction, res,z.ecting the oath, tithe small things and
                                                                              ,i .*.:y..?


1 6 8                                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
-.......  ".-_-..._-_.--...--"  "- .".,."____-  .-                                                  ___  .._-  -  _---............   __I_  ___-
forget the weightier t.hings of the law, clean the out- tion is the issue of the preceeding. The Jewish race
side of the cup, but take I?O notice of the filth within. was  an organism. An organical, spiritual communion
They are like whited sepulchres, which indeed appear binded together its generations. Therefore Christ
beautiful outward,, but are within full of dead men's could say to the generation of Jews of His day, "Fill
bones and of all uncleanness. Though they build the ye up then the measure of your father." It deserves
tombs of prophets and garnish the sepulchres of the our attention that Christ commands them to do this.
righteous, they seek to k%l the prophets of their own If so what remains  of the doctrine of the general  well-
day. Therefore their house is left unto them desolate. meant offer of grace? There is then a measure for
Jesus leaves Jerusalem. Israel is without Christ in the the iniquity of the generations. This measure the
world. Upon Jerusalem will come ail the righteous fathers began to fill. The Jews of Jesus' day filled
blood shed upon the earth from the blood of the right- this measure to the brim. The filled measure called
eous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, the son of for a judgment day. Hence the Jews cannot escape
Barachias, whom they slew between the temple and the damnation of hell. How can they? They are ser-
the altar.                                                               pents and a generation of vipors.
         What first of all deserves our attention is the                    That they might not escape their damnation, Christ
endrmous  difference between Christ's and our appraisal &ill send to them prophets, wise men and scribes ; and
of the natural man. Were the Scribes and Pharisees                       some of them they shall kill and crucify: and some of
with us today, were we in a position to observe them them they shall scourge in their synagogues, and  perse
at close range, we would be sure to conclude that they cute from city to city, that upon them may come all
were men of real piety. We would call their works the righteous blood shed from the beginning.
spiritually good works.                  These people were called          This passage clearly teaches that Christ  sent&o them
righteous by their contemporaries. Their adhesion to preachers of the word that they might lay their hands
the Mosaic precepts, their missionary zeal, their de- on these servants of God in order that upon these
voutness, their apparant  high regard for the sacred persecutors might come all the righteous blood shed
 institutions of Moses, set them off as the worthiest of from the beginning.
men.        So the people judged them to be. That the                       There is then an organical development of sin willed
 Pharisees were bad trees bringing forth bad fruit, no and caused by the Almighty. The Jewish nation was
 one seemed to be aware of except Christ. Their veneer hardened by the word, by the law. It continued to fill
 of false piety could not hide from Him the corruption its measure of iniquity. Each generation was more
 underneath. He knew what was in man and judged wicked than the preceeding one. When Christ came,
 accordingly.                                                            the Jewish nation was capable of the greatest of all
         These Scribes and Pharisees should not be set apart crimes -the crucifixion of the Christ - and thus ripe
 as comprising a class of men exceptionally wicked as for judgment. The entire process of  developm&t  of
 compared with the crdinary  run of humans. These the issue of a divine providence.
 Pharisees were no worse than the generation to which                                                                         G. M. 0.
 they belonged; and this generation must be identified                                         -                   -
 with the entire serpent brood. For this reason all the
 blood of the righteous, shed from the beginning could                          HET LEVEN VERWINT DEN DOOD
 come upon the generation 02 Jews to which Christ be-                             `t Leven kon niet ondergaan
 longed.                                                                            En de dood  mocht  niet regeeren,
         The Pharisees and Scribes were hypocrites even as                        Jesus, heerlijk opgestaan,
 builders of the tombs of the prophets. It may be that                              Moest in  alles triomfeeren.
 they were not conscious of their hypocracy. In all                               Zult gij, uit het graf verrezen,
 likelihood they were not. For they say, "If we had                               Ook.mijn  Troost en Redder  wezen?
 been in the days of our fathers, we would not have
 been partakers with them in the blood of the                                     0  Rabboni ! Heiland ! Heer !
 prophets." It need not be supposed that they said this                             0 mijn Meester, Licht, en Leven!
 against their better knowledge. What they lacked was                             `k Heb U uit den grafkuil weer;
 knowledge of self. Their appraisal of self was much                                Alle droefheid is verdreven.
 too favorable. This need not gender surprise as the                              Laat mij, knielend aan Uw voeten,
 heart is most deceitfui.  Only God can know it. Man                              Zingend,  dankbaar U begroeten.
 blinded by self and disabled as a judge of self by a
 carnal love for self, cannot know self. The thing for                            da, Gij Ieeft, mijn Heer en God !
 man to do is to attend closely to God's appraisal of him.                          Staat Gij heden  in ons midden,
         The Pharisees of Jesus' day knew not themselves.                         Gun ook mij dan `t hoog genot
 They thought themselves better than their fathers.                                 U te loven, U te anabidden.
 Christ said they were even worse than their fathers.                             Doe me Uw heerlijkheid aanschouwen
 Sin developes. It can develop because the one genera-                            Op U steunen,  U vertrouwen.


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                                                                                                   find, when by grace the principle of the love of God's
               M E D I T A T I O N                                                                 precepts may be in our hearts and by the light of that
                                                                                                   grace we may ponder  upcn the perfection of God's
                                                                                                   statutes? What but imperfection, corruption, disobe-
                        Prayer for Cleansing                                                       dience, impurity, pollution and unrighteousness, defile-
                                                                                                   ment and guilt? Oh, how far we are from that goal of
                                      Who can understand his errors? Cleanse                       perfection for which. our soul longeth! How many
                                  Thou me from secret faults.                                      sins characterize our way! How often we stumble and
                                                                                Ps.  1932.         fall ! How frequently our feet slip ! The sins we
    Who can understand his errors?                                                                 know, the errors that rise up before  o~ur consciousness,
    Pressed from the heart is the question under t,he even they are more than we can count ! And, then:
influence of the perfection of God's perfect law!                                                  who can understand his errors? . . . .
    That law of Jehovah the psalmist had before his                                                     No, do not misunderstand the intention and mean-
mind ; upon it he had meditated ; of its spotless per- ing of this question of the poet, he does not mean to
fection he had sung in this psalm.                                                                 express the idea, that these errors, which he cannot
    He had found its image in the sun, coming out of discern and understand are the only sins that remain
its chambers as a bridegroom, rejoicing as a strong in his life. There are many other sins, willful tralis-
man to run a race, making a perfect path from one gressions, trespasses of which he is well aware and
end of $he-- heavens unto the other, revealing all by its which he knows as sins at the very moment yhen they
light, touching all by its heat, so that nothing is hid are committed. Often he is allured by the lust of the
before it.                                                                                         flesh and pride of life to depart from Jehovah's law.
    He had cdntemplated  t-he perfection of the law of And he is far from corneying the thought, that apart
the Lord, had surety of God's testimony, the justice of from some errors which he does not and cannot dis-
Jehovah's statutes, the purity of His commandment, cern he has attained to the perfection of holiness and
the cleanness of His fear, the truth and righteousness purity mirrored in the law of Cod. Nor does he ask
of His judgments. There is no imperfection, no blemish this question in a spirit of evil despair, as if he in-
in that law of the Most High. It converts the soul of tended to say that the very effort  to meet the require-
him that contemplates it in truth ; it gives wisdom ments of God's testimony is vain and useless, seeing
unto him that searches its blessed depths ; it causes that a man cannot even discern and understand his
joy to him that finds his delight in that law; it en- own errors. No, there are, indeed, errors, sins, trans-
lightens the eyes of him that earnestly considers it. . . gressions which he does discern, of which he is keenly
    And, therefore, that law of Jehovah is precious, conscious. Nor is he indifferent with regard to them.
much to be desired, more than gold, yea, than much                                                 His heart longs for the perfection of his heart. And
fine gold. It is sweet to the taste, yea, sweeter than                                             even his willful sins fill him with grief and sorrow
honey and the honeycomb. They warn from the way after God. Though he knows that he commits thein,
of darkness and destruction, these commandments of yet they are not the sphere of his life, he does not live
the Lord: and they fail not to carry their blessed in them, he cannot love them, he longs to be delivered
reward to them that observe and keep them !                                                        from all corruption! . . . .
    In the light of that law the poet turns his searching                                                But he penetrated more deeply into his own life
eyes inward !                                                                                      and heart; he dug beneath the surface, where he finds
   And what does he find? What do you, what do I                                                   these gross and willful sins.

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

       And he discovered, that besides these there are also prosperity and realize not that the hand of the Lord
the  MYOTS, which he does not discern.                      is upon us for our spiritual and eternal good . . . .
       When he examines his life and reviews the past he        Who can discern? . . . .
clearly discerns that often he sinned unknowingly, un-          His errors, his secret sins, who can distinguish? . . .
consciously, so that at the time he committed these             No, the question is not who may discern merely
errors he did not even realize the sinfulness of them. between right and wrong in a general and coarse sense
Only, as he increased in the knowledge of the law of of the word.
the Lord, as he grew in grace and looked back upon his          Every man does.
way, reflected upon the past, recalled to his mind              Even the world, the ungodly that have no fear of
things done in former days and years, he realized that      God before their eyes distinguish between good and
many a time he sinned unknowingly, without realizing evil, light and darkness, in this gross sense. For all
that he did sin, yea, sometimes even in the imagina- are a law unto themselves and they have the work of
tion that he walked uprightly before Jehovah. He the law written in their hearts. Also to their minds
discovers sins, that were committed inadvertently, there is a distinction between righteousness and un-
thoughtlessly, because of a lack of spiritual discern- righteousness, between truth and falsehood, between
ment and understanding, because of spiritual dullness love and hatred, between unrighteousness and  deceit,
of heart and mind. Sins there were of thoughts and between purity and corruption. For, they must needs
desires, sins were committed by the spoken word, sins       be moral beings and their own conscience bears wit-
in his actual walk before the Lord and men, that were ness against them when they walk in darkness and
passed over thoughtlessly and without feeling . . . .       love the lie. When he chooses darkness he knows that
       And the psalmist now realizes them.                  he prefers it to the light because he hates the latter.
       And he acknowledges that they are sins, even Yet, even in a natural way he is largely blinded by
though he did not discern them at the first.                sin and he does not discern his errors and his secret
       And he is filled with sorrow. on account of them. sins. The more subtle transgressions of the heart and
       But he also realizes that still he is in the same    mind, of the eye and mouth, of his habits and im-
danger, every day and every hour. Still the same pulses, of the motives and hidden intents of the heart,
deceitful heart will lead him astray. Still he has not of his purposes and designs, he does not stop to con-
reached perfection and his spiritual mind is character- sider . . . .
ized by the same spiritual dullness and lack of discern-        But the sad fact is that the church is also deeply
ment.                                                       influenced by this spirit of dimness and heaviness, of
       And, therefore, looking at himself in the perfect heaviness  a;ld obtuseness that is characteristic of the
light of God`s pure law, he abhors himself.                 age !
       He acknowledges his darkness and cries out:              Where, `in our day, is that holy contemplation of
       Who can understand his errors?                       the perfection and purity, the beauty and sweetness
                                                            of the testimony of Jehovah, that constitutes the chief
                          -    -    -                       contents of this psalm? Where is found that  con-
                                                            tempIation of the. severe righteousness and unchange-
       Who can discern ? . . . .                            able justice, of the spotless holiness and unblemished
       How far we axe, most of us always, all of us gen-    purity of Him Who is too pure of eyes to even behold
erally, from that spiritual delicacy and sensitiveness sin and corruption? Where is that remembrance of
of heart and mind, that presses this question from His infinite holiness that causes us to tremble before
o u r l i p s ! . . . .   '                                 His majesty and to hide our faces in shame before the
       Our age is characterized, not by spiritual keen-     glory of His countenance? Who, in our coarse and
ness and delicacy of conscience, rooted in the fear of superficial age, either finds the time or the inclination
the Lord, but rather by spiritual stupidity and obtuse- of heart, to turn the all-revealing light upon the inner
ness, by a lack of feeling and discernment with regard recesses of the soul, to discover secret sins? Are we,
to the higher and eternal verities. We are engrossed are the people that are called after God's name, is the
by the things of the world, the things of this present      Church in our day not  setiously  busy with the grosser
time, the things that are below, the things that can be questions concerning the right or wrong of things that
touched and handled, weighed and measured, tasted ought never to arise in the minds and hearts of the
and felt.      Even in times of so-called "depression," children  `of light? And is it not rather the question
when the Lord takes away from us the abundance of for many of us, how much of the pleasures of the world
material  things that were lavished upon us for some we may enjoy, how far it is safe for us to venture upon
time, we think very little of spiritual depression, of the way of darkness and worldliness . . . .
humbling ourselves because of our sins and  back-               How remote, then, to the present state of the
slidings and it is hard to bring us to our knees in         Christian consciousness is the question of the psalm-
true sorrow after God.         Instead we cry for the re- ist: who can discern? . . . .
covery of lost treasures and the return of material             It expresses a sorrowful realization of the fact


                                     `FiTi3  STAfiDA-Ril  BEARE                                                171
I-- .._.. --                                                     ."..._l__--                    .-
that no man, ever though he live ever so carefully and        He does not try to excuse himself on the plea of
painstakingly, though he begin every day by a search- ignorance. The fact that he often sins without being
ing examination of his own. heart in the light of God's aware of it, that the deepest fountain of sin is hid even
spotless law, can fully discern his errors.     Always from himself, does not persuade him to  pIead innocent
there are new errors. Although in principle the child before the supreme bar of justice.
of God has learned to distinguish spiritually, although       On the contrary, he knows himself guilty. In the
the law of God is written in his heart  and sorrow  after light of God's perfect law he feels that he must stand
God gives him a new delight in God's precepts, yet, condemned even for these hidden faults and secret stir-
his sinful heart frequently deceives him and the dark- rings, for that dark depth of corruption that lurks
ness of his sinful nature often prevents him from somewhere in the recesses of his soul. `These errors
keenly discerning his errors. Besides, he lives in the which he commits inadvertently and thoughtlessly
midst of a world, that lives after the very fashion of make him guilty before the Most High as well as his
sin and seduces him before he is aware of it. And the ivillful and presumptuous sins. These secret corrup-
spiritual wickedness in high places delights in be- tions of his heart, that never rise above the level of his
guiling his mind ! . . . .                                 own consciousness, the presence of which he can only
    Who, then, can discern? . . . .                        conjecture, the true hideousness of which he can never
    Secret sins, the poet realizes, there are in the dark fully understand, are, nevertheless, before God like
recesses of his soul.                                      an open book . . . .
    Not secret merely in the sense that others do not         And he realizes their guiltiness and his own con-
discern his faults. They also, indeed, are many. There demnation.
are wilful sins we commit in the relative privacy of a        And his heart is filled with sorrow because of these
small circle, which we try to keep secret; sins of deceit hidden faults.
and falsehood, sins of slander and backbiting, sins of        Peace he cannot enjoy, true peace, the peace that
wicked plotting and conspiracy, which will become passeth all understanding, be cannot have, till he knows
fully manifest only in the final day of judgment before that also these secret sins and these inadvertent errors                  .
the Great White Throne. There are other sins that are forgiven !
are kept secret in the stricter privacy of our own con-       For, such is the primary significance of his prayer:
sciousness, sins of thoughts and desires, lusts of the     Cleanse Thou me from secret faults ! The desire for
flesh, longings and aspirations, hatred, envy, malice, perfection, for deliverance, for thorough sanctification
that are known only to ourselves and to God. And is, indeed, implied. How could it be different? The
these also will not become known till we shall be mani- cry for forgiveness rises from the heart that is truly
fest before the judgment-seat of Christ. For we must penitent, that is filled with the love of God in Christ
all be made manifest . . . .                               Jesus, that is sorry after God, that has learned to  ;
     But there are sins more secret still, more deeply abhor sin and to condemn it as God condemns it. How,
hidden . . . .                                             then can the longing for remission of guilt, for grace  j
     The poet is reminded of them through the knowl- and forgiveness, fail to be, at the same time, a deep  :  ,y  ;,
edge of the errors he does discern.                        and earnest yearning for perfection and for sanctify-            ;                I
     The fad, that he finds himself sinning frequently ing grace'? He that could cry for forgiveness and
before he is aware of his transgression, thoughtlessly, justification without longing for perfection and purity
inadvertently, mechanically, habitually, leads him to would thereby put upon ltis apparently penitent prayer                           `.
the final conclusion, that somewhere within him, there the stamp of hypocricy. And, therefore, the psalmist
is a hidden fountain of darkness.                          certainly implies in this prayer the petition for `corn-
     There are secret stirrings of sin in his inmost heart, plete deliverance from that hidden fountain of sin in
even beneath the level of his own consciousness, hidden his heart, from which always again arise his transgres-
from his own view, secret even to himself!                 sions and errors.
     Secret inclinations, hidden remnants of the old          Yet, this is not the primary notion of the prayer:
pride and enmity against God, dark operations of Cleanse Thou me !
covetousness, desires and lusts ! . . . .                     Evea before he can be delivered, he must be for-
     And from these arise his errors !                     given. He must have peace at once. He longs to taste
     Who can discern ? . . . .                             the swee; favor of his God. And to taste it, he must
                                                           have forgiveness `and the assurance in his heart, that
                                                           Jehovah imputes n& to him the iniquity of his sin,
                                                           wilful or inadvertent, open and presumptuous or secret
                                                           and thoughtless. For, then only can he  find peace.. . .
    Cleanse Thou me !                                         And, therefore, the prayer, to which the contempla-
    Even from these secret sins!                           tion of God's holy law leads him:
    The knowledge of his indiscernible errors leaves          Cleanse, 0, cleanse, me from my sin !
him no rest.                                                                                             H             .                           

                                                                                                                            `i


174                                +r~%  STA~~DARD  BEARGR
                                      ,. ..-...._.  ".-"  --..  I_    -.-"._--^---                                                 -_"-
_ll-ll.---.-
                                                                            unrest and distress. Its head looked askance at some
           Joseph's Brethren In Egypt                                       suspected of crime. And they, surmizing the secret
                                                                            thoughts of the aged father's heart, avoided his glance
       Two of the seven years of famine had gone by.                        and his presence. What may be cited in support of
The countries surrounding Egypt had for some time this conjecture is Jacob's bitter complaint: "Me have
perhaps been without grain grown on home soil. That ye bereaved of my children ; Joseph is not, and Simeon
the natives of these countries were without food of is not, and ye will take Benjamin away." Under the
any kind is not very likely. There were still some                           pretext of a great concern for the well-being of his
fruits in the land as well as honey and nuts and eat- beloved child, a concern by itself genuine enough,
able roots, as is evident from this that the present                        Jacob, it seems, here intimated that these sons some-
Jacob bids his sons to carry to Joseph on their second                      how had worked the mischief that had overtaken
journey to Egypt, comprised the aforesaid foods. What Joseph. Was the aforesaid complaint as near as he
is more, if the land was destitute of foods of all kinds, dare come to accusing them out right? If so, the
if the famine in this country was so grievous that noth- atmosphere of this house was surcharged with sus-
ing would grow, it is difficult to see how the meagre picison and therefore most stifling.
supply of grain that Jacob's sons took back with them                           The sons of Israel set out, in all likelihood with
to their families, could suffice even for so brief a length souls haunted by the reminiscence of their crime. Once
of time as a few days. The view to take then is that on the main highway, it was a relief to them that they
there was a lack of the more stable foods such as could pass into the company of other groups of way-
grain.                                                                      farers on their way to the granaries of the one country
       For some time now Jacob had observed his neigh- whose borders these sons so dreaded to cross. They
bors setting out in groups for Egypt to buy corn. He came, we read, among those that came.
had heard of them returning with the desired com-                               Joseph as governor over the land personally at-
modity. His own granary was empty. As the supply tended to the business of selling' corn to the needy-
had gradually dwindled, his sons had often raised the natives and foreigners alike. No one, it seemed, could
question what they were to do. As well as their father, come and go without his knowledge. He took notice
they all knew that there was corn in Egypt. It is of every outlander in the expectation that at any time
quite evident, however, that they all dreaded a trip                         now he would sight among the `.buyers  his own kin.
to this country; for each was careful to refrain from How his heart yearned for them! With what eager-
suggesting to the other that such a trip be undertaken. ness he looked forward to that moment that he could
They looked one upon another and said nothing. The take them to his bosom and tell them not to be angry
reason for their silence is apparent. Egypt was  t;re with themselves in that Cod did sent him before them
country that according to their best knowledge had to preserve life !
received their brother whom some twelve years ago                                For this moment Joseph had not long to wait. On
now they under the impulse of a satanic spite had                            a day the sons, of Israel arrive. Having heard that he
turned over to the merchants. Small wonder, that at who attended to the business of selling corn, is no one
the sight of their diminishing supplies their hearts less than Pharaoh's vicegerent, they know that even
were troubled, and that these hearts would fill with before they place with him their `order, they must pay
evil forebodings as often as they perceived that dire                        him their respects, yea, bow down themselves before
necessity would eventually compel them to apply to                           him with their faces to the earth. So they do. No
Egypt for grain. Their conscience were guilty.                               sooner does Joseph see them but he knows them. This
       Their strange behaviour even drew the attention                       need not occasion surprise. It is but twelve or at the
of Jacob. He could not understand these sons of his. most fourteen years ago that he last saw them. They
What might ail them? So he said to them one day,                             were grown-up men then, with features that had taken
"Why do you look one upon another? Behold, I have                           on a mold that at their age time could but gradually
heard that there is corn in Egypt; get you down alter.
thither, and buy for us from thence ; that we may live                           With his brethren prostrate at his feet, it can easily
and not die." "So Joseph's ten brethren," the sacred be surmized what passes through Joseph's soul. But
narrator goes on to say, "went down  `to buy corn in we need not resort to conjecture here. The notice of
Egypt."      lt deserves our attention that Benjamin Scripture is that he thought of his dreams, which now
Jacob sent not with them, lest preadventure mischief receive a literal fulfilment.
befall him. Benjamin was the son. of his beloved wife                           Joseph, it is plain, had prepared himself for this
Rachel now long since dead. Did Jacob perhaps en-                            moment by sketching out for himself a plan of action
tertain the secret suspicion that somehow his ten sons which if adhered to would place his brethren under the
were responsible for the sudden disappearance of necessity of acting the part of the kind of men they
Joseph? Could it be perhaps that for this reason he now were. Had these sons in the interval undergone
feared to permit his darling child to pass out of his a change of heart? Had  t.hey  repented of their crime
sight? If  SO,  Jacob's house was a precinct of greatest or were they still the wicked men of yore? Would they,


                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              I.75
-_l_l________  ._      --_                                                            ---. -_-- .-           -....-..__........_
if possible, undo what they had done, or under like Roughly he asks them, "Whence come ye?" Somewhat
circumstances duplicate their deed? This Joseph has        frightened, it may be imagined, they meekly reply,
need of knowing.       He will forgive them and take       "From the land of Canaan." The Egyptian lord frowns,
them to his bosom, he will effect a r&union between Their answer has visibly displeased him. They are
himself and his father's house, provide a place for        perplexed, know not what to think. Again he speaks,
his kin  iq Egypt, if he perceives that the view t.hey     sternly and abruptly. Instantly the interpreter de-
take of their sale of him is of a character betokening     clares, in a tone of voice equally as severe perhaps,
that they have been delivered of the terrible spite the meaning of his speech. "Ye are spies. To see
that prompted them to dis;Fose  of him ; if they show the nakedness of the land are ye come." A great fear
themselves up as men tamed down and sobered by the grips their souls. Mute with consternation, the one
great sorrow the loss of Joseph must have occasioned looks upon the other. Finally one of their number,
their aged father. How could he think of taking them possibly Judah, frames a retort designed to bring out
to him in the land of Egypt, if they were still the law- the inherent improbability of the charge, "Nay, my
less men of fourteen years ago. It is expedient, there- lord, but to buy food are thy servants come. We are
fore, that he should learn from their reactions to the all one man's sons ; we are true men, thy servants are
test to which he will submit them, what kind of men no spies." "Think ye, my lord, that a father would
they now were.                                             order all his sons to engage in the perilous business of
    Viewing the treatment Joseph affords them as a marking the vulnerable  settions  of a country?" The
test, we can understand it. In order to make it pos- stern lord wiI1 not be convinced. So he repeats his
sible for himself to labor with them, he must separate charge, "Nay, but to see the nakedness of the land
them from the crowd of purchasers. He, therefore, are ye come." Each of them in his despair now sets
will decry them as spies and thus furnish himself with his mind at work framing a reply that will ring so
a ground for shutting them up in the ward. Next he true that this lord will feel he is mistaken in them.
will afford them a manner of treatment that, unless        "Thy servants," one of their number avers, "are
they are wicked, thoroughly hardened, and un- twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of
scrupulous men, will strike terror to their souls, and Canaan; and behold, the youngest is this day with his
awaken their conscience. Thus terrorized and con- father, and one' is not." The countenance of the
science-smitten, they will link up their present dis- Egyptian fails to soften. He clings to his suspicion?
tress. with' their crime and regard the mischief that They set themselves for hie answer, "This is it that I
overtakes them as divine vengeance. While in this spake unto you, Ye are spies.               Hereby ye shall be
state of mind, they will converse the one with the         proved ; by the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth
other. By attending to their conversations, Joseph hence, except your youngest brother come hither.
will know what manner of men they are. Further, if Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and
they repent, their sorrow must be put to a severe test ye shall be kept in prison, that your words may be
that it may appear whether their contriteness of heart proved, whether there be any truth in you; pr else by
is genuine. Then, too, &njamin  must be singled out the life of Pharaoh surely ye are spies."
as a favorite with Joseph. If they are still at heart         Unwittingly these sons have played into Joseph's
the jealous and spiteful men of yore, their reactions      hands. He had purposely repeated his charge to lead
will tell.     Finally, Joseph must create for them a them on into the details of his family. He knows now
situation in which they will be compelled either to rise that his father is still alive and that Benjamin is his
of the defense of or cast Joseph off.       Doing the darling child. There was nothing unreasonable about
former they give evidence of having undergone a his insistence that they prove their words. What dis-
change, so Joseph opines. If after admitting that the tressed them was his determination to retain nine of
cause of their distress is their past sin they leave this their number while the one fetched their youngest
younger brother of their in the lurch, and allow him to    brother. Why had he singled them out as spies? Had
be apprehended and themselves to return without him, they not come peaceably? Was there anything about
they show themselves up as men heartless and wicked. their demeanor that could have aroused his suspicion?
     Joseph's first step is to make himself strange to Of all men that crossed Egypt's borders they were the
them, negatively by refraining to disclose to them his most reserved and unassuming. Their conduct had
identity, positively by communing with them through been faultless. Had they not payed him their respects
an interpreter. As shielded by Egyptian manners and in deep bows? How was it then to be explained that
 language, with a visage cleanly shaven and with a he had set them apart as men who had come to see
 dress thoroughly native as to its mode, the possibility the nakedness of the country? Their state of mind
 of them recognizing him is remote, the more so since was such that the only explanation that would come
the years that he had been away from home comprised to them was that in their own words God had found
I a period in which he had grown from a youth into a out their iniquity. So they reason among themselves.
 man. Confident that they know him not, Joseph deems           Joseph continues laboring with his brethren. His
 it safe for him to proceed. So he feigns severity.        measures are severe. To frighten them he said that


 Ii?6                                        frti%  S T A N D A R D   BEARER
                      _........ -- ._.__    --.---._  --".-"".--...
he would permit but one of their number to return.                     had not changed for the good. They may have. CVhat
Having thus' threatened them, he places them in a                      we mean to bring out is that their distress together
ward for three days to gain time for sketching out for with their reasonings in the hour of distress comprise
himself a proper course of action. He reconsiders his no positive  proof that they had changed and truly re-
original resolve.     Instead of imprisoning the nine pented. In the hour of death the most hardened crim-
while the one fetches Benjamin, he will retain but one inal may be terrorized by the voice of accusing con-
of their number and set the others free. So he said science and still be destitute of grace.
unto them the third day, "This do and live ; for I fear                    Having bound Simeon, Joseph released the rest.
God: if ye be true men, let one of your brethren be                    With their asses laden with corn they departed, all
bound in the house of your prison ; go ye, carry corn unmindful of the fact that the sacks contained their
for the famine of your houses ; but bring your youngest money as restored to them by Joseph, who in addition
brother unto me: so shall your words be verified, and to having turned out to them as much corn as their
ye shall not die. And they do so."                                     money would buy, had given them provision for the
    The hearts of these sons are heavy. In their dis- way.
tress they contemplate with unusual earnestness the                        In the inn one of them opens his sack to give his
events of the day of that fatal sale. With the anguish beast provender and espies his money in the mouth
of the lad's soul before their eye, with his sobs again of his sack. He notifies the rest of his discovery. Eeel-
in their ears and with souls tortured by the remin-                    ing certain that they now possessed new evidence that
iscence of pleading they had refused to heed, they be- they were being overtaken by their sin, their hearts
gin to reason among themselves. "Verily," they say, failed them and they were afraid. They say one to the
the one to the other, "we are guilty concerning our other, "What is this that God has done unto us." Once
brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when home they relate to Jacob their fear-inspiring experi-
he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is                    ences, omitting nothing. Their  finding  every man's
this distress come upon us," Reuben speaks up to re- money in his sack, but feeds their great fear that mis-
mind them that they had been warned by him not to chief has been designed against them. Jacob, too, was
sin against the child but that they would not hear.                    afraid.
"Therefore," he concludes, "also his blood is  req,uired."                Simeon's imprisonment and the condition set by
    Joseph has observed his brethren ; heard their the Egyptian lord that hc will set the prisoner free if
earnest replies, seen their distress. He hears them they return with Benjamin, must have been a topic of
bewail their present plight as the reaping of what daily conversation in Jacob's home. Especially Simeon's
they had sown, for he is with them in the prison. How- family must have insisted that without delay they set
ever, they knew not that he understand them  ; for he out for Egypt. But Jacob cannot be talked over to
spake unto them by an interpreter. It was this, too, sending his darling child with them. The complaint
that made the sorrow he now occasioned them to rise he utters shows that he takes the matter hard. "Me
before his eye as most pitiable. Unable to hold him- have ye bereaved of my children," he says, "Joseph is
self in check, he turned himself about from them, and not, and Simeon is. not, and ye will take BenJamm
wept. His outburst of grief is sufficient to overturn away ; all these things are against me." This, of course,
the view that in testing them he was being prompted                    is not the speech of faith. His unbelieving eye, with
by malice. Drying his tears, he returns to them again which he now sees things greatly exaggerates his
and communes with them. As yet, however, he can                        loses.. Eact is, that ten of his children were with him.
show them no compassion. He must go through with Two were in Egypt, the one safe in prison and the
his test. So he takes from them Simeon and binds other as lord of Egypt, attending him. And all these
him before their eyes.                                                 things were for him as he soon would be quite ready to
    The question is what Joseph has thus far learned                   confess.
about his brethren. As yet he knows nothing about                         When all attempts to induce him to break his re-
them except that they were men going about with a solve not to 1et;Benjamin  go fail, Reuben volunteers the
filthy and accusing conscience  - a conscience thor- strange guarantee of his two sons, "Slay my two sons,"
oughly aroused by his threats. It was still a question says he, "if I bring him not to thee: deliver him into
with him whether they had truly repented, whether my hand and I will bring him to thee again." But this
the fear they had manifested was something more language was little designed to reassure Jacob's heart,
than a fear inspired by the thought that they were                     "My son shall not go down with you," he wails, "For
about to reap the reward of their great sin. Joseph,                   his brother is dead, and he is left alone: if mischief
it should be observed, has threatened them with death, befall him by the way in the which we go, then shall
has suspended a sword over their heads. It is a ques- ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the
tion whether a repentance prompted by the  spectacle grave." He felt, however, that eventually, dire neces-
of an unsheathed sword that at any moment threatens sity will compel him to yield. Why then does he wait? '
to do its deadly work always issues from a regenerated Because in his weakness he cannot release his hold on
heart.    This, of course, is  not saying that these sons              his darling child. This hold can only be broken by the


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                    177
                               _^.-_."-  ..- ___        ." .._. ^__I ".".                                       " .._.-_ -__-.
immediate need of the hour. And this hour strikes                      said unto them, "If it must be so now, do this; take of
only too soon. The famine is sore in the land; so that                 the best fruits in the land in your vessels, and carry
the family has completely exhausted the supply of corn                down the man a little present, a little balm, and a little
brought out of Egypt. Now behaving as if the lord in honey, spices and myrrh, nuts and almonds:  and  take
Egypt had not spoken, Jacob says unto them, `Go                       double money in your hand; and the money that was
again, buy us a little food." The sons, however, refuse brought again in the mouth of your sacks, carry it
to bestir themselves. As they see it, to appear without again in your hand; preadventure it was an over-
Benjamin would be suicidal. Is not Jacob aware of sight . . . .  " Here Jacob arrives at a point in his
this or could he not convince himself that his sons                   discourse at which he must utter the word that will
had spoken the truth? Had perhaps the thought taken send Benjamin with them. Pausing, it may be, to
hold of him that they were planning mischief against heave a sigh, he forces himself to say, "Take also your
this child of Rachel also? If not, was he prepared to brother, and arise,. go again unto the man." Raising
see his family starve rather than allow Benjamin to his voice in prayer he continues, "And God Almighty
pass out of his sight? Of course not, but he cannot                    give you mercy before the man, that he may send away
part with this  son  of  Rachel.                                      your other brother - and Benjamin . . . . If I be be-
   Whatever the underlying reason for Jacob's dread reaved of my children, I am bereaved."
may be, the sons are at their with's end. Finally,                           If `I am bereaved of my children? Nay, Jacob, it
Judah ventures to speak. With considerable emphasis .. shall not be! Dost thou not remember what the Lord
he reiterates the condition upon which it is safe for spake also unto thee, "Behold, I will make thee fruit-
them to approach the man in Egypt and concludes the ful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multi-
first part of his discourse with the solemn affirmation tude of people ; and will give this land to thy seed
that he and the rest will not bestir themselves as long after thee for an overlasting possession"? Could this
as Jacob refuses to send Benjamin. Jacob wavers. word take effect if the Lord would bereave thee of thy
Evidently he has been impressed by Judah's earnest seed? Recall the word that He spake to thy father
pleading.    Yet his  resistence  has not been so com- Abraham, "Abraham, know of a surety that thy seed
pletely broken down that he refrains from further re- shall be a stranger in a land that is not their's, and
monstrating with them.        "Wherefore," he replies, shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hun-
"dealt ye so ill with me, as to tell the man whether ye                dred years. And also that nation whom they shall
had yet a brother." The sons clear themselves of blame serve, I will judge: and afterward they shall come out
by saying that they ha5 been led on by the man's quiz with great substance . . . . in the fourth generation
and that they certainly had no way of knowing before- they shall. come hither again ; for the iniquity of the
hand that he would put what they had told him to Amorites is not yet full."
such-sad use. They say to Jacob, "Could we certainly                         Has it not at all occurred to thee Jacob that the
know that. he would say, Bring your brother down." Lord through Joseph, whom thou  think&t dead, is
In this their reply, the sons deviate somewhat from about to'bring thee in that land where thy seed is to
the truth. What had induced them to enter into de-                     be a stranger? Dost thou not perceive that Egypt
tails is the charge that they were spies.                              may be this,land,  and that the Lord will' avail Himself
    Judah again speaks. `Send the lad with me, and of this famine to move the heart of the Egyptians to
we will rise and go  ; that we may live, and not die, both receive thee? Thou mournest for Joseph as if he were
we and thou, and also our little ones. I will be surety dead? Art thou unmindful of his dreams? Canst
for him ; of my hand thou shalt require him : if I bring thou not take home to thy heart the word of God and
him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me                believe that all these things are for thee?
bear the blame forever: for except we had lingered                           As to ourselves, let not the thought take root in our
surely now we had returned this second time." LJncob souls that we are not subject to like frailties as  Jacob
evidently dare no longer resist.              Judah's proposal was. When life becomes hard  ,and the path a bif
touches his heart. Besides, there may have been some- thorny, when the way leads through passes where
thing about this son of his, in all likelihood the moral storms howl and shriek, when the events that come
earnestness with which his speech was surcharged, creeping into our lives upset all pur plans and
that gendered in the aged father the conviction that frustrate our designs, when the burden of life begins tc
his darling child would be safe in his hands. So Jacob take on new weight  &nd the cross becomes a trifle hard
bows before the inevitable; he is silent and thus to bear, how' prone we are to say as "did Jacob, "Al
acquiesces in his doleful lot. It means that they have these things are against me." Such murmurings car
 gained his consent.                                                    easier be explained. in Jacob than in us. When he livec
    Can he do anything at all to insinuate himseIf  and the church was still in its infancy, a mere child as tc
 his sons in the favor of that man in Egypt? Though its grasp upon'truth,  its clarity of vision ond its under
 the famine is sore, and provisions scarce he can pre- standing of, the deep things of God. "The Spirit wa:
 pare him a small present. Then, too, the sons must not yet." Jacob's Bible contained no', such immorta
 not .forget  to take doubIe  money in their hands. So he passage3   tig "Xiid' we -know' that all things work to


178                                         TIIE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
.--- ^-- --.-- ..- - _-.- - .._---.-....     --_....._           -          .^
gether for good, to them that love God, to them who                   dat ik ook de voornaamste artikelen uit den (Ameri-
are the called according to His purpose. For whom kaanschen) Wuchter heb gelezen, en dus van den Ame-
He did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be con-                  rikaanschen broedertwist over deze aangelegenheid
formed according to the image of His Son, that He slechts onvolledig op de hoogte ben. Ik bespreek dus
might be the firstborn among many creatures . . . . "                 nu alleen de brochure-Hoeksema.
"And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also;                     "En dan moet het me allereerst  van het hart, dat
knowing that tribulations worketh patience; and                       de schrijver op  enkele  bladzijden ietwat eenzijdig
patience experience; and experience hope ; and hope redeneert.
maketh not ashamed ; because the love of God is shed                     "En dat vind ik jammer. Want  als iemand  ~~ct~~cert
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given tegen wat hij meent te zien als dwaling, moet hij  xich
unto us. Consider that  WQ are come unto mount Zion,                  in zijn  reactie daartegen  Iiefst voor alle  eenzijdig-
and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jeru-               heden  wachten.
salem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to                       "De Synode der Amerikaansche Christelijke  Gere-
the genera1 assembly and the church of the firstborn, formeerde Kerken heeft uitgesproken:  behalve de
which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of                  znligmakende genade Gods, bewezen alleen  aan de  uit-
all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to verkorenen Gods ten  eeuvc-igen   leved, is  er ook een
Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the zekere gunst of genade Gods, die Hij bewijst aan Zijn
blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than schepselen in het algemeen. Dat blijkt bijv. uit . . .
that of Abel." How indicative of willful ignorance de algemeene aanbieding des Evangelies.
those murmurings of ours therefore must be.                              "Dit standpunt veroordeelt collega  Hoeksema als
       Know that not all of God's people in their declining           Arminiaansch (bl. 1'7, vgl. bl.. 141).
years can look back on a life so  filled with bitter trials              "Terecht ?
and so fraught with sorrow as the life of Jacob.                         "Ik kan het niet inzien.
       Shall we take home to our hearts the great object                 "Ik ben het in dezen met de Chr. Geref. Synode
lesson of Jacob's life - the lesson, namely, that all eens. Mits men goed onderscheidt, gelijk zij poogt te
things are for us indeed?                                             doen.  Zij noemt  eerst `zaligmakende' genade Gods,
                                                          G. M. 0.    aan de uitverkorenen bewezen. In orde. En dan  claw-
                                                                      naast: een zekere gunst of genade Gods die Hij allen
                                                                      bewijst  (allen  hoorders  des Woords) in de  verkondi-
                                                                      ging van het Evangelie.         "
          Het  Oordeel Van Dr.  Impeta                                   "Is dat niet  juist  en waar? Is het verkondigen van
                                                                      het Evangelie voor hen dan een straf? Laat `t hun
       Hier volgt de beoordeeling van ons standpunt, als straks blijken te zijn een reuke des doods ten doode,
uiteengezet in:  Genude Geen Aanbod,  door Dr.  Impeta.               omdat het Evangelie, dat zij hooren, snood verwerpen
We hebben beide artikelen, die de geachte broeder aan                 en deswege hun straf, die in  ailer dagen dag over hen
deze beoordeeling wijdde, in hetzelfde  nummer  van ons uitgesproken-wordt, wordt verzwaard. Maar de pre-
blad opgenomen, opdat onze lezers  beter den  totaal-                 diking zelve (de verkondiging van een  blijde   bood-
indruk, die het schrijven Dr.  Impeta laat, zouden  kun- schap)  is tech niet een straf,  een kwaad, een ramp -
nen ontvangen.                                                        maar m. i. we1 terdege een goedheid, een volstrekt  on-
                                                                      zperdiende  goedheid (zie de reeensie van Prof. Greyda-
         ALGEMEEN AANBOD VAN GENADE?                                  nus in `t G. Th. ,T. van Mei j;l.,) en dus - in zekeren
                                     II                               zin - een genade (al is het niet een zaligmakende)  ,
                                                                      een genade Gods. Het  woord  `genade' wordt in de
       "We zagen de vorige week, welke de hoofdinhoud                 Nieuw-testamentische  S&rift we1 terdege ook gegeven
was van de brochure door Ds. H. Hoeksema (Prot. aan bepaalde weldaden Gods, die met de zaligmaking
Gereformeerd predikant te Grand Rapids,  Mich.)  in niet in rechtstreeksch verband staan. Vgl. bijv. Ef.
het  licht gegeven onder den titel:  Een Krucht Gods tot 3 23 waar Paulus zegt : mij is de genade gegeven ver-
Zaligheid,  of:  Genude Geen  Aanbod.  Ik toonde  aan, kondiger des Evangelies te mogen zijn.
dat het de bedoeling van den schrijver is nadruk te                      "We kunnen tech Gods goedheid we1 genade uoe-
leggen  op zijn stelling: er kan  noch mag sprake zijn men, in een bepaalden zin. Ik ben het eens met wat
van een algemeen, welmeenend aanbod van genade van Dr. A. Kuyper schrijft in de Christeiijke Encyclopae-
Gods wege komend tot  allen, die het Evangelie hooren, die: Het woord genade  . . . . beteekent in het alge-
in dien zin, dat de Heere aan allen zou betuigen, dat meen  het  ongehoudene  van de goedertierenheid Gods.
Hij- hunne zaligheid wil (vgl. bijv. bl. 125).                        Geldt dit reeds ten opzichte van het nietige schepsel
       "Nu komiYl%er `op aan, in eeri paar artikelen, een- als zondaar ( ? - dit zal we1 een drukfout zijn voor:
voudig en klaar, uiteen te zetten hoe ik voor mij over uls xood&g) , dat God aan niets verplicht of gebonden
deze kwestie denk, bij het Iicht, dat ik er nu over heb, is hem gunst  te betoonen of weldaden  te schenken, en
al heb ik niet die  studie van de  zaak   kunnen  maken               dat,  als God het  tech  daet, dat  ongehouden   goedheid


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 183
                                                                                                           _ _ _ _ _      . ^^_  .._ _
^___--......"   ..-  -__-.".-_.-   _...
vraag of dit Evangelie een  nanbod  van  gcnade   brongt. spreken voor het welwillend schrijven van Dr. Impeta.
    "Ik stem hem ook toe  - bij het bestudeeren ervan Ieder zal moeten  toestemmen, dat hij het punt, waarom
was mij dit reeds duidelijk gebleken 7 dat prof. Ba- het in mijn boekje gaat, duidelijk heeft gezien en ook
vinclc in zijn Dogmatick, bij het verdedigen van den zoo obje:tief  mogelijk heeft beoordeeld.
term `algemeen aanbod van genade', ten deele argu-                        Dat is mij reeds zeer  veel  waard.
menten  gebruikt die alleen voor de algemecns  predikZng                  En ook ben ik blij met de slotzin van het On&r-.
pl&cn (welke collega Hdeksema ook wil) en dat de s&rift, waarin Dr. Impeta ons verzekerd, dat verdere
hoogleeraar eenige  dingen  zegt die voor betwisting gedachtenwisseling  over  deze zaak in hem een  op-
vatbaar zijn.                                                          merkaaam lezer  zal vinden.
     "Ik wil hem ook de eer geven dat hij zijn  stand-                    De  Sta~nrd  Bearer zal  wel. zorgen, dat de geachte
punt krachtig verdedigd heeft.                                         schrijver zooveel mogelijk alles ontvangt, wat in ver-
    "Ik ben er blij om dat hij (bl. 206) verklaart gcen band  met deze kwestie zal worden geachreven of ook is
uanmerking  te hebben op de stelling, dat de prediking geschreven.
verlcondiging moet zijn van de genade Gods in Chris-                                                                    H. H.
tw."Dan vervolgt hij : maar: `de vraag is niet: aan
wie moet het Evangelie verkondigd worden? Op die
vraag antwoorden we  allen:  aan  allen  tot wie God                           Jesus Saviour and The Evil
naar Zijn welbehagen het zendt, zonder onderscheid.
    "De vraag is  wel: wat  ,moet   verkondigd  worden?                                    of Hawking  Him
Mag een prediker zeggen, dat God welmeenend, aan                          The Sunday School  0.f the First Protestant Re-
ieder hoofd  vaor hoofd, Zijn genade aanbiedt? Mag formed Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan, is to be
hij zeggen, dcrt het Gods bedoeling is ullen te zaligen? congratulated .on its Missionary work. This body of
. . . . Als ge dat niet moogt zeggen, hebt ge geen covenant youth, together with the staf? of teachers, are
algemeen aanbod, maar een algemeene verkondiging publishing, financing and distributing free pamphlets
van een particuliere belofte.'                                         at stipulated times. These publications are distributed
    "Welnu, mij  durikt: wanneer we de kwestie zoo free of charge inasmuch as The Sunday School pur-  '
formuleeren, dan is er geenerlei  reden om  aan Ds. poses to reach the Church of Jesus Christ at large.
Hoeksema eenig verwijt te maken,  in dit stuk. Dan Hence, they do not only reach the Reformed Churches
kunnen we de uitdrukking: algemeen aanbod van  ge-                     but also the Presbyterian and various  Methodistic
nade, wanneer die zoo tot misverstand en tot  bestrij-                 Churches around us.
ding uit het standpunt van de particulariteit der  ver-                   Although these publications are of small size
zoening blijkt aanleiding te geven, ten slotte met een                 (somewhere between the tract and the brochure) they
gerust hart laten schieten, wanneer we (met collega are nevertheless neat in appearance. The usual untidi-
Hoeksema) overhouden : `aigemeene verkondiging van ness in paper, print, binding, etc., of the common tract
DDE genade Gods in Christus'  - `algemeene verkondi:~ is  tionspicuous  by its absence.                     They comprise 24  "`-
ging van een particuliere belofte'.                                    pages and measure 6 x 31/~ inches. Its small size is
     "Dat bedoel  ik voor mij met den term van  "alge-                 admirably fitted for the masses as it is easy reading
meen  aanbod'.                                                         for one sitting.
     "En  alle Pelagianisme  oerwerp ik en ik ben blij,                   The subject matter is timely, judging by the two
dat het in collega Hoeksema zulk een geharnasten, recent publications. The first one was occasioned by
geestdriftigen bestrijder vindt. Want het is de dood the attack of Dr. De  Haan on. the fundamental doctrine
voor  de waarachtige religie.                                          of  Infant  .Baptism,  over against which appeared : "The
     "Daarom hang ik niet aan den term.                                Biblical Ground  for  the Baptism  of  Infants,"   written
     "Moet ik kiezen tusschen een  handhaven  van den by Rev. H. Hoeksema and reviewed by the undersigned
term met gevaar voor Pelagianisme en bestrijding uit in a former article. This first publication was well re-
den hoek van broeders als Ds. Hoeksema met de zijnen, ceived and it was necessary to print a seoond edition.
eenerzijds - en anderzijds een laten .varen van den The second one, bearing the title: "Jesus  Saz$our  and
term met behoud van de `algemeene verkondiging van the Evil of HrLwking  Him," has come off the press a
de genade Gods in Christus', dan ben ik, bij het licht few weeks ago. I purpose to review it in this article,
dat ik er het oogenblik over heb, geneigd om het laatste inasmuch as its contents will not appear in our Stand-
te kiezen.                                                             ard Bearer.
     "Overigens zal verdere gedachtenwisseling over                       The above mentioned titles in themselves suggest
`deze aangelegenheid in mij een opmerkzaam lezer Cn- the timeliness of the subject matter. it is a patent fact
den.                                                       I."         that the atmosphere within the Church of Jesus Christ
                                              -..    . . . . . . ,_    is polluted to an. amazing degree with the poison of
     Ik  zal mijne opmerkingen bewaren tot een volgend many heresies, both old and new. However, all these
nummer. Last mij aflereerst  mijn oprechten dank uit- heresies have a common source: the father  of the lie.


            184                                         `I'HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
            -.-...........  --."" ""-_-- .__-l_i_.I^       --....l--l"_ -_l-l-_lll ..-. -      -_  .._........ __.._ ^ . . . . . . . . . . . . .._..__-._
            Also they have a common, fiendish end in view: the                  Gospel to be a mere chance, a mere  opportunityt  and,
            dethroning of Almighty God and the substituting of as its logical corollary, they all preach the free-will of
            mere man on that great white throne. It is the ever man.
            recurring mirage which the devil painted before the                      It further describes the doleful picture of the im-
            eye of our first mother: "and ye shall be as gods." position of these peddlers upon the gullible masses.
            Human reason, philosophy and will worship are re- Reflecting, you cannot but pity the blind mob who are
            placing the sound and pure revelation of our God led astray by these blind "leaders." Says Rev. Hoek-
            through Christ, so that the generations are starving to sema : "They are deceived into imagining that they
            death spiritually, being choked in an atmosphere that are saved, when they accepted Jesus Whom they did
            is positively poisonous..                                           not rec&!e." And all because these miserable  Armin-
                   In the midst of this Church of Jesus Christ which ians prefer to move the shallow emotions rather than
            is fast degenerating into the spiritual Sodom and                   preach the sound doctrine of the Word of God.
            Egypt, our blessed Jesus again being crucified (Rev.                    The purpose of the pamphlet is therefore: to
            11:8), it is a matter of great rejoicing to see a body               counteract this evil tendency of Jesus-hawking and
            of covenant people who are willing to broadcast the                 t,o point the people of God to the Jesus of Scripture
            testimony of faithful witnesses in speech and the                   who is the Saviour indeed !
            printed word. And it is the firm conviction of the                       What I said of the first pamphlet is more than true
            writer that wherever mortals are found with the grace here. The whole of the publication is positive through-
            of God in their heart, hearing this oft-repeated testi- out: it is thoroughly Scriptural in tone and contents ;
            mony, they will be so many voices, resounding the                    it is written in a beautiful yet simple style, easy to
            blessed Evangel : Our  Covenant God  knth  saued  us be read by us all.
            through Jesus Chm'st  our Lord! Blessed be His name                      The theme, Jesus Saviour, is set forth in three
            forever. Amen.                                                       propositions, which  1 shall enumerate in my own
                   With the twofold purpose in view to be a witness words: I.) Jesus is Saviour for He only, actuully and
            for the truth once delivered unto the saints, on the one fully saves; 2) Jesus saves only the elect; 3) Jesus, the
            hand; and to strengthen the remnant of God's elect in Saviour.of the elect, must be  preached, not hawked.
          * the fundamental truths of Scripture, on the other                        Of necessity the first proposition takes the most
            hand, the Rev. Hoeksema has also written this second space. More than half of the book is devoted to the
            pamphlet.                                                           elucidation of the proposition: Jesus is Saviour be-
                   And to review it I now gladly set myself.                     cause He only,  c~ctzcally and  fully saves. Of necessity,
                   Allow me to commence by stating that this little              for it is the  foundatioli  on which the other two propo-
            pamphlet has in no small measure instructed as well sitions must stand and fully reveal the wonderful
            as enriched me with regard to the central truth of truth that Jesus and Jesus alone is the Saviour of the
            Scripture: Jesus Saviour, Jehovah Saves, the Eternal people of God.
            Covenant Jehovah, breaking  throubh  the threatening                     The trend of reasoning here is as follows : 1) Jesus
     `      clouds of--most.  horrible death and bursting forth in does not ogler salvation but wcmke it. This is abundaritly
/           luminous rays as the Sun of Righteousness in the sweet               proven from the Scriptures.  2) Stating the Scrip-
            face of Jesus, the glorious Morning Star! If at any tural definition of salvation Rev. Hoeksema goes on to
            time, here is shown the great boon of Reformed policy describe the state and condition of the fallen race of
            to reach the enlightened intellect, rather than the men. Dead he is, absolutely dead in misery and sin
            shallow emotions, systematically setting forth Divine and guilt. No lifeline to the drowning sailor will
            Revelation, unto straight thinking and rapturous suffice, for according to Holy Writ the sinner is
            meditating for the sons and daughters of God!                        drowned. He is dead, legally and actually. 3) Finally,
                   The foreword I consider fascinating frdm a two- the glorious and powerful work of redemption is de-
            fold point of view. It sets forth the hawkers of a scribed by all its Scriptural beauty and glory. And,
            pseudo-Jesus in language and style that charms the hence, the blessed face  of  t:he  actual,  not the  possible,
            lover of tastefully written literature, appealing to the Saviour appears : the free gift of God. We see hence.
            esthetic nature. But it also is a powerful testimony, forth Jesus, saving His people from their sins ! The
            convincing and engendering conviction. It delights the Shepherd gathering the sheep in the heavenly fold.
            lover of art but also sets the lover of Divine Truth on                  The second proposition is: Jesus is Saviour of the
            fire with righteous indignation.                                     elect only. In the opening paragraph, Rev. Hoeksema
                   It attacks the entire gerus of salvation-peddlers of shows the connection between the foundation he found
            every hue and cry. The more conservatives and the in Scripture and set forth in proposition one and
            "go-getters," the sedate free-will preachers and the further set forth the beauty of the z?icatious  Chr`ist:
            classes who have their respective representatives in He cannot but have saved the elect only, for He paid
            Billy Sunday and "Sister  -4imee,  the beloved,`" arc the  price. The atonement is vicarious satisfaction.                                       .
            shown UP to be brothers and sisters under the skin.                      This he further proves from both the New and the
            They all have this in common: They are purport the Old Testament. And it is plainly shown that the v:hole
                                                                                                                                             _"


                                   THE  STANDL~RD                 B E A R E R                                   185

of Holy Writ speaks but one language : "He hath mercy brengen ? De beoordeeling is  aan de  lezers  van  ens
on whom He will have mercy and whom He will He              Blad.  Ik  zou zeggen: da verwachting maar niet te
harden&h."                                                  hoog gespannen. En  als ge hier en daar eens mat
   And so we are led to the third proposition, where vindt dat nu minder naar uw smaak is of aan het einde
the writer proves that according to the Holy Word gekomen zegt: wel, `t vie1 mij niet mee, `k had meer
Divine the vicarious Christ must be preached as Jesus verwacht, dan geef ik u bij voorbaat dezen raad: oor-
Saviour to the ingathering of the elect and that He deel niet te hard, maar troost u met de gedachte dat de
cannot be hawked.                                           schrijver een beginneling is.    En het spreekwoord
   1)    He proves that Jesus cannot be hawked. Thus zegt :  alle begin is moeilijk.
they speak and preach, they screech and bellow, they           Wat mij noopte tot  schrijven, vraagt ge?  Hoofd-
roll and jump  - but nothing results for nothing they zakelijk, omdat men van meer dan een kant telkens
had to offer. A great void is the Pseudo-Jesus of the weer vraagt : waarom schrijven die dominees uit het
hawkers. Sad irony of the Pseudo-psalm: "Must I go          Westen  nooit eens ?
and emptyhanded?"                                              Of dit nu ook een belofte voor de toekomst  in-
   2) But Jesus Saviour  must be  preached.  And houdt? In het geheel niet, we beloven niets, belofte
preached He was in the Old Testament and in the New maakt schuld. Tech ben ik er we1 tamelijk zeker van,
Testament by Prophets and Apostles ; and preached dat men we1 eens weer uit het Westen  zal hooren en
He is by the faithful witnesses of the Cross; and           dan waarschijnlijk ook over onze Westersche kerken en
preached He shall be until the last one of God's elect toestanden  bier.       Misschien we1 niet van ondergetee-
is safe at home and time ended. And then the whole kende,   doch er zijn er meer.  `En ik heb  we1  eens  ge-
Church triumphant shall rest in the bosom of God and hoord, als eerst het ijs maar gebroken is, dan volgt  de
shall mingle their praises in harmonious anthems that rest vanzelf. We leven dus in goede hoop. Niemand
make heaven musical forever! And the ever recurring hebbe in elk gevai de gedachte dat onze Westersche
melody, the redeemed saints singing in celestial glee, leeraars niet schrijven rloil1e-n.
shall be : Jesus Thou art our Saviour ! God be praised !       We gaan over de Classis  schrijven, omdat ons dit
Hallelujah ! Amen.                                          als een begin niet zoo heel slecht toeschijnt. Men heeft
   Send for this pamphlet, reader! Ministers, Sunday dan iets cflicieels, waaruit men desnoods kan aanhalen
School Superintendents, teachers of both young and          en bewijzen, en meteen  een zekere lijn die men volgen
old, one and ,all, send for this pamphlet. It is free for kan.
the asking. Distribute it among the covenant youth             `t Ligt voor de hand, dat we niet van plan zijn over
of all the churches. And may the Father of our Lord alles uit te weiden  wat alzoo op de Classis  besloten is.
Jesus Christ bless it unto the praising of His name !       Evenmin ligt het in onze bedoeling om te trachten den
                                                G. V.  ' Stated `Clerk te verbeteren. Die is zijn werk we1 toe-
                                                            vertrouwd.  We  willen op enkele  punten  den  nadruk
                                                            leggen, hier en daar ons oordeel geven en verder enkele
                                                            dingen aanstippen.
          De Classisvergadering van                            We hadden  ditmaal een predikatie aan den voor-
                      December                              avond van de Clnssis,  door Ds. R. Veldman. Dit was
                                                            iets nieuws. En ik zou zeggen, te oordeelen naar het
   Veel menschen hebben de gewoonte, wanneer ze besluit van de Classis om den volgenden keer weer een
een artikel in een courant of tijdschrift lezen, eerst predikatie te hebben, den avond voor de Classis,  is het
even uit te vinden  wie bet geschreven heeft, als het goed in den smaak gevallen. Ds.  Veldman  had zijn
artikel tenminste onderteekend is. En, we mogen er tekstwoorden gekozen uit Jes. 49 :16, "Zie, Ik heb u
we1 aan toe voegen, het gebeurt niet zelden dat men in de beide handpalmen gegraveerd." De spreker' be-
een artikel leest of ook ongelezen laat al naar dat de handelde dezen tekst, naar het mij voorkwam, vooral
naam des schrijvers een  goeden of  minder  goeden          uit het oogpunt van, troost, voor de strijdende kerk.
klank heeft.                                                We hebben genoten en mochten hetzelfde vernemen
    Nu kan men in ons Blad nog al spoedig uitvinden uit den mond van andere broeders.
wie de schrijver is omdat de verschillende artikelen           Wet is opzichzelf  we1 een goede  idee om zooiets te
onderteekend  zijn. Allicht zal iemand die dit kopstuk hebben, men komt dan een beetje in de stemming. De
leest bij zichzelf  denken:  weer een verslag van Ds. opkomst stelde mij persoonlijk  we1 wat teleur, ik had
Verhil. Doch  als men dan even naar de onderteekening meer verwacht. Mij dunkt  echter,  dat er  we1  eenige
kijkt, vindt men spoedig uit, dat dit dezen keer in elk praktische bezwaren  aan  verbonden  zijn om er mee
geval eene vergissing is. Onwillekeurig zal hier en door te gaan. Het grootste bezwaar is de tijd. Zooals
daar iemand bij zichzelf zeggen: dit is weer wat an- de meesten onzer we1 weten vergadert het  Cura'torium
ders, hier is een nieuweling  aan  "t woord.                den avond  voor de  Classis en als regel hebben we een
    En zoo is het inderdaad. Een nieuweling en een geheelen avond werk. De mogelijkheid is niet uitge-
beg.inneling.  Hoe  deze nieuwe schrijver het er af  zal    sloten, dat deze vergadering onderbroken wordt, om de


3.90                                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
zLLzL--..- ...."----. .......-.............. II_ -__" .-..-.....-.-............--.                         -.-           ___I.. ........."--.^  _" ..-
neer  een Rcomsche dit zegt. Op dit punt moeten  we this body. In the old dispensation the body of the
ook bet onderscheid handhaven tusschen de mannen                                             church was without a substantial, independent form of
van Trente en de mannen der Hervorming  en Refor-                                            manifestation of its own. In the period from Adam to
matie. Zoo moet men ook bet onderscheid blijven vast- Moses the church took on a form of manifestation
ho&en tusschen de zoogenaamde hoogere kritiek-en                                             known as patriarchal.     The church and the family
lagere critiek. De hoogere critiek immers heeft het were one. Hence, as to the sons and daughters of this
eigenlijk tegen den inhoud der Schrift, en bestrijdt patriarchal age, their being members of the  patriachal
op alle mogelijke en onmogelijke wijze de  geloofwaar-                                       family, rendered then members of the institute. And
digheid en echtheid der Bijbelboeken.                                                        the father as the head of the family was at once the
        Daarentegen houdt de geloovige, lagere kritiek shepherd in the church.
hand en tand vast  aan de goddelijke ingeving van het                                           Immediately after the Exodus the body of Christ
geheel der Heilige  Schrift. Zij zoekt noch begeert de                                       was fitted, so to say, into a new form of manifestation.
H. Schrift te becritiseeren..                                                                namely, that of the theocratic state made to appear for
        Zoo kan een Gereformeerd Christen van harte ook the purpose of displaying as a type the glories of. the
dit artikel anderteekenen met de belijdenis dat er tegen kingdom of heaven. Church and state are now one.
de boeken des Ouden en Nieuwen Testaments niets                                              namely, that of the theocratic state, made to appear for
valt te zeggen, niet slechts omdat de kerk ze zoo ge-                                        a member of the church. Those from without joining
steld heeft, maar omdat hij instemt met het getuigenis                                       themselves to the church of that day, did so by allow-
der kerk van alle eeuwen. Zoo wordt de gemeente                                              ing themselves to be Qicorporated  into the common-
Gods in het  midden der wereld gebouwd op het  funda-                                        wealth of Israel. He whom this state, cast off, could
ment der Apostelen en Profeten, waarvan Jezus  Chris-                                        consider himself expelled from the church. Church
tus is de uiterste hoeksteen.                                                                discipline was exercised by the theocratic king in the
                                                                      L. VERMEER             name of God. Says the psalmist David, "A froward
                                                                                             heart shall depart from me; 1 will not know a wicked
                                                                                             person.    Whoso privily slandereth his neighbor, him
                                                                                             will I cut off; him that hath a high look and a `proud
                            Our Church Order                                                 heart will I not suffer . . . . I will early destroy all
                                                                                             the wicked of the land ; that I may cut off all the wicked
        The expression  church  order signifies the set of doers from the city of the Lord . . . . " The prophet
regulations in agreement with which the church is further was at once the statesman. The affairs of the
governed. How the church should be governed may be state (such as the removal of the seat of government
known from God's Word. The force of this statement to Jerusalem) were at once those of the Church. On
 is not, of course, that Holy Writ contains a ready- the other hand, the king builds the temple and officiates
made Church Order, but rather that the principles                                            on the occasion of its dedication.
upon which  t.he rule of the Church reposes and is                                              It was the exalted Christ who loosed the church
 fraught may be derived from Scripture.                                                      from the theocratic state of the old dispensation and
        The task of extracting from the Word these prin- gave to it a new form of manifestation. Whereas the
 ciples belongs to the local church.                                       Each  con&tory    promise that in Abraham all the nations of the earth
 has the right and the capacity to fix the ruie according shall be blessed, was about to be fulfilled, the change
 to which it governs. A number of churches met in had to be made. In the old dispensation the church
 classes or synod may draft and agree upon the rule ;                                        was attached to, yea, identified with a certain state.
 its final adoption, however, rests with the local church.                                   Consequently it was confined to a certain place and
        From the very nature of things everyone ought to limited to a certain race. The church, however, had
 make it a matter of duty to know the order of the to spread over the whole earth. God had decreed to
 church to which he belongs recognizes as legitimate.                                        redeem sinners out of every kindred and tongue and
 It is certain that anyone destitute of this knowledge                                       people and nation. To realize this decree, Christ took
 cannot function properly as member of the church.                                           His seat at the right hand of God.
 This applies to the common member as well as to those                                           In the fulness of time, then, the church stepped
 vested with the special  ofllce.                                                            forth as an independent institution. No longer may
        It is the Order of our Church that we purpose to the civil ruler control the affairs of the church and
 write upon. Its various articles will be dealt with in                                      function as its head. Nor must the church meddle with
 the order in which they appear in our Church Order. the affairs'of the state and strive to become the power
 First of all we must make a few observations by way behind its throne.
 of introduction.                                                                                The New Testament church, then, was separated
        The Order to which we will now attend has a bear- from the theocratic state and made to manifest itself
 ing upon the life and activity of the Church as an in-                                      everywhere as an independent institution. There is
 stitute. The institution is the body of Christ organ- but one body of Christ on earth. The church as insti-
 ized, the fixed mode of manifestation of the. frame of tute, however, is a local affair. At the beginning there


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               191
_......._...... --...                                                                                          .._ - ..-_ ---ZYGZ
was but once such organization-the church at Jeru- he vested with the special  ofiice is no legislator, but a
salem. However, true to his calling, the apostle Paul, mere ambassador of Christ with the right and duty
a debtor both to the Jews and to the Gentiles, pro- to proclaim the law and the Word of His divine Sender.
claimed far and wide the Gospel of redemption. His The authority of the office is the derived right to pro-
preaching, as applied by the Spirit, had the effect of clamate Christ's own Word. Christ is the sole ruler of
drawing out of the world the chosen ones of his day.           His church; and the sole business of the office-bearer
Each local group of believers organized. In  l-arious          is to inculcate the rule of Christ.
parts of the known world of that day, the body of                 True, in Scripture the elder, too, appears as the
Christ was seen to take en a form of manifestation ruler in the church. There is no conflict here however.
identical to that of the church at Jerusalem. We His rule is not of himself but inheres in the word with
,affirm, then, that the institute is not the sum-total of which he as an obedient servant associated himself and
churches comprising a denomination or  a church con- imposes upon Christ's sheep.  It is the authoritative
federation, but the local brotherhood. A group of be. Word of Christ that constitutes him ruler.
lievers organize when they choose themselves ofiice-              Rome's view is that the right of rule, the right to
bearers and place them under their jurisdiction. Our pardon and to condemn inheres in the person of the
Church Order was fraimed that the institute, as a self-        Pope. Hence a delinquent pope or priest cannot be de-
governing body, by itself and in its relation to identical posed. The great merit of Calvin was that he dis-
institutes with whom it dwells under the same denom- sociated the right of rule from the person of the pope
inational roof might properly function.                        and again affixed it to the Word. Though Luther did
         We repeatedly spake of our Church Order to set likewise, he failed to see that the right to procIaim
it off from others of which their are several such the word that by itself pardons and condemns, be-
as The Book of Common Order  fraimed by the Church             longs to  t.he special office (the office of elder). Luther
of Scotland met in Synod in the year 1560 ; John made common the special office or, to  express it other-
Knox's First Eook of Discipline; Fo.r+rn  of Presbyterial wise, denied the difference between the special office
Church  Goz;emment,.  drafted by the Westminster and the universal office of all believers. The result was
synod. There are others. The ones mentioned are, as that in the Lutheran church the special omce did not
IS our own Church Order, fraught with the principle            come to its own.
of church government as mined from the Word of                    It is certain, Calvin's conception of the  re:i-
God by the great Reformer John Calvin.                         procal  relation of church and state was faulty. Ac-
         Our Church Order then as to its character is Cal- cording to Calvin, the state though not the father of
vinistic,  resposes upon nsd enunciates principles of the church, is nevertheless its handmaid. The state,
church government that, so we are convinced, are therefore, is obliged to unsheath its sword against. the
thoroughly Scriptural. The church has but one king, heretic. The of&e  of the magistrate, he taught, is not
namely, Christ, who is the sole law-maker and the              only to have regard unto, and watch for the welfare
source of all rule exercised in the church. The mind of  the--civil state; but also that they protest the  sacred.--
and will of Christ  -is  $icorporated in the  wo'rd He ministry  ; and thus may remove and prevent all idol-
spake by the mouth of the prophets and the apostles.           atry and false worship . . . . "
This word is with us. Being the vehicle of the mind               In fine, the kingship of Christ and the autonomy,
and will of God, it by itself necessitates obedience,          that is, the right of self government of-the local church
justifies and condemns, binds and looses. This is the are two of the main pillars upon which our Church
same as saying that the right of rule, the right to con- Order rests. A third pillar is the doctrine of the
demn and to justify inheres in the Divine person of universal  of&e of all believers. Wrote the apostle,
the Mediator. Being God, He only has this right. As            "And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren,
Mediator, and according to His human nature, he re- that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowl-
ceived this right as a reward for redeeming His people. edge, able uko to admonish one another" (Rom. 15 :X4).
"But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wis-
`Him the form of a servant,, and was made in the like- dom, teaching and adw~onishing  one ctniother in psalms
ness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in
He humbled Himself and became- obedient unto death, your hearts to the Lord"  ((301. 3  :16). "Wherefore
even the death of the cross, Wherefore God also hath exhort  yourselves together,  and  edify one another,
highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is even as also ye do"  (I Thess. 5 :11) . "But exhort one
above every name."                                             another daily, while it is called today  ; lest any of you
         The Word by itself, as Christ's instrument is quick be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." "Not
and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the
piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and manner of some is; but exhorting one a.nother:  and so
spirit, and of the joints and morrow. It discerns the          much the more, as you see the day approaching" (Heb.
thoughts and intents of the heart.                             3:x3;  1025).
          Christ instituted offices in His church. However,       In these  passages  the believers not vested with the


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         _" ..."" ..-.._ "."..". ._ _    -         --..... -..._ --.--""._-  .--- _.... .._  .."  ..-_...."   .-......   ".."...  .."  ...-"    ._.._- -^-.^. ".
                 *..
         particular office are enjoined by Christ through the                                           As a member of the church institute the believer
         mouth,of the apostles to admonish one another. One executes his office by the exercise of the rights and the
         of the above-cited scriptures makes it plain that the                                    performance of the duties accruing from church mem-
         admonition with which the.one approaches the other is bership. Electing office-bearers or inaugurating with
         no man-made product but an extraction from Holy fellow-Christians a reformation, the believer executes
         Writ: "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, this office. Likewise when he takes his place in his
        teaching and admonishing one another." In agree-                                           pew and listens to the preaching of the Word and
         ment, then, with the express will of Christ, the be-                                      through his organ, the minister of the Gospel,  plo-
         lievers shall administer to one another Christ's Word. claims this Word. The universal office of all believers
         Further, the believer is light, the salt of the earth, a implies that the New Testament saint has attained to .
         good tree and constitutes with his fellow the city of spiritual majority and by the special office must be so
         God, a kingly priesthood. Accordingly he shall emit his                                   dealt with.
         light, bear good fruit, declare the virtues of God, con-                                        This universal office of all believers cannot be
         fess His  mame, present his body a living sacrifice, holy singled cut and placed over against the sum-total of
         acceptable unto God, fight, as king, the good fight of or any one of the tasks of life. It will not do for
         faith and reign with Christ. When engaged in the                                          example, to say that the office of all believers in dis-
         discharge of these duties, the believer reproduces the tinction from, let us say, the special office of function-
         Word that dwells richly in him. He and the Word are ing as ruier in the church, is spiritual. Fact is that
         one, as it falls in his heart +s in earth well prepared                                   this office is vitally related to every particular task of
         and taking root bears fruit sixty and a hundred fold.                                     life. Every work, if an act of faith, is a particular
         The fruit is his good works  - works of praise, of self-                                  form, mode of expression, individualization or partic-
         sacrifice and self-denial, and these works are the man                                    ularization of the one single office of all believers. The
         and at once the word dwelling richly in him and de- task of electing office-bearers, providing it be an act
         termining the mode'of expression of the new man. The of faith, is a particularization of this office. So it is
      r believer is the living embodiment of the word, the                                         with every conceivable task of life. Hence this  office
         Word  rend&ed flesh and bone, so to say. For upon can neither be ranked with nor placed over against
         this Word he feeds, by it he is led and to it he is drawn.                                any particular task of life. This office finaIly will re-
         He and the Word are so united that the new man in appear on the new earth to function in a manner con-
         action is of necessity the Word revealed. From the gruous with the glorified state of the redeemed.
        nature of the case:  then, the believer reproduces the                                           Such are the vital truths from which our Church
         word whenever he allows the new man to come forth Order proceeds. The Church of Jesus Christ, such is
         and refrains from covering up his light by his vices. the view that binds together the articles of our Church
         For this reason the individual manifestation of this Order, is an absolute monarchy and at once a de-
         man as well .as the E'ght emitted by the church in its mocracy in the true sense. Under the rule of Christ,
         corporal capacity is of necessity a condemnation of the the believers thrive, come to their own and live. This
         world. It is altogether proper, then, to speak of the                                     will  ,become increasingly plain as we proceed.-
         office of all believers as consisting in the right duty                                                                                                         G. M. 0.
         and privilege to witness for the truth and for Christ
i       I ~unto the edification of those able to receive the t.esti-
         mony and unto the eternal condemnation of those who
         continue  `as children of disobedience. To maintain the                                                       Zeg aan God uw nooden,
         contrary is to deny the priesthood of the believers. The                                                           Wacht  van Hem uw heil!
         unqualified statement to the effect that only the or-                                                          Daalt de nacht van twijfel,
         dained minister of the Gospel may proclaim the Word                                                                In uw ziele neer?
         of God is at variance with plain teachings of God's                                                            Richt door `t duister henen,
         Word. It is the right and duty of every- believer to                                                               De oogen op uw Heer !
         proclaim the Word not merely in the sense of exhibiting                                                        Heeft u God ontnomen,                       .
         a conduct or mode of living in agreement with, based                                                               Wat ge `t liefste hadt?
         upon and saturated with the Word, but even in the                                                              Blijft den weg  tech volgen,
         sense of approaching his fellow Christian with Christ's                                                            Naar de hemelstad!
         very Word of instruction, admonition and rebuke.
         Christ through His prophets and apostles placed His
         truth not in the first instance in the hands of the
         clergy conceived of as a distinct caste added with the                                          A meeting of the members of the Board of the Re-
         word to the church, but in the hands of the church  as formed Free Publishing Association will be held Tues-
         such. Hence, the task and duty to investigate, absc:b,                                    day evening, January 26, 1932, at 7:45 .o'clock in the
         live and confess the Christ of Scripture devolves upon basement of the Fuller Ave. Church.
         every believer.                                                                                                                                                 Secretary.


