_ -I ..~.........._.....I....I___..........     -.-._-  __............._    .  .  -.----_-                               _"  ---_llll..l.._--........."   l_l__l

                                                                                              means of support, and on their consecration. It is also
                               Our Church Order                                               evident from the prohibition to the  effect  that they
                                                Article  12                                   might hold no land, should have no part nor inheritance
                                                                                              with Israel, but should eat the offerings of t,he Lord,
             Inasmuch as a Minister of the Word, once lawfully                                Deut. 18. Their being without land and thus without
        called as described above, is bound to the service of                                 the instrument for providing themselves with the
        the Church for life, he is not allowed to enter upon a                                means of living, their receiving a stipulated tribute
        secular vocation  excepk  for such weighty reasons as
        shall receive the approval of the  Classis.                                           from the people was a permanent arrangement evi-
                                                                                              dencing that their calling, too, extended to the day of
        This article is comprised of two propositions :                                       their death. The same is true of the calling of the
 (1) The minister of the Word, once lawfully called,                                          apostles and their helpers. The conclusive proof of
is bound to the service of the church for life ; (2) For this is their remaining in office. From this it follows
such weighty reasons as receive the approval of the                                           that the notice, "and He gave some apostles . `.. . . "
Classis he may enter upon a secular vocation.                                                 must mean that He gave them wholly, completely and
        The view here expressed, men of Reformed per- permanently as to the entire span of life allotted them
suasion have always held to. Do these views have the and as to all the powers of mind and body with which
support of Scripture?                                      There is no doubt among            He bad endowed them so that from the day of their
authorities on Reformed church polity that they do.                                           calling they belonged exclusively to the church.
The Scriptures appealed to are the following. "-4nd                                              I repeat, throughout Holy Writ the church rises
 Jesus said unto him, No man having put his hand to before our eye as an institution supplied with person-
 the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom ages bound to the service for life. The conviction can-
 of God," Luke 9 :62. "Jesus said to Simon Peter, . . . not be escaped therefore that to the end of time there
 Feed my sheep," John  21:16. "For the love of Christ                                         must be men wholly and permanently devoted to the
 constraineth us . . .  ," II Cor.  6314.                                      "For though work of the ministry. In fact, Paul as much as literal-
 I preach the Gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for                                         ly says this, "And He gave `some apostles; and some
 necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is aunto me, If I                                        prophets ; and some evangelists ; and some pnstors ati
 preach not the GospeI ! I Cor. 9 :16. "Paul, a servant teachers . . . , Eph. 4:ll. Among those given wholly
 of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto                                     and permanently are also the pastors and teachers.
 the Gospel of God . . . .  " Rom  1:l. Then there is The apostle continues, "For the perfecting of the
 Paul's complaint to Timothy that reads: "For Demas saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying
 hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and                                       of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of
 is departed unto Thessalonica . . . . "                                                      the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God,
        Do the aggregate of these scriptures yield the                                        unto a perfect man, unto a measure of the stature of
 doctrine t.hat ministers are bound to the service for the  fuulness of Christ . . . .  " That for which the
 life? They do. Yet it is to be noticed that none of                                          c`some" (apostles, pastors, teachers) are given is the
 them literally assert this. What is more, they all turn perfecting of the saints . . . . This work of "per-
 not upon the office of ministers of the Gospel but upon fecting" (a work performed not by the pastor but by
 that of the apostles. The single exception is Paul's                                         the Lord exclusively) will be carried on till all the saints
 complaint to Timothy respecting Demas. But it was                                            come into the unity of the faith . . . . unto a perfed
 to Peter, a prospective apostle, to whom Christ said,                                        man . . . .     It is a work therefore that `will not be
 Feed my sheep. It was an apostle who, speaking of finished  until the appearance of Christ. Whereas the
  himself, said : "The love of Christ constraineth me."                                       saints are perfected and the body of Christ built up
 "Paul a servant of Jesus Christ called to be an apostle, through the Word, this Word must be permanently
 separated unto the Gospel of God." Then, too, none preached till the return of Christ. This necessity we
  of these texts assert that the calling was for life. The also find expressed in Isaiah 62, where we read, "I
  point is that the search for a text literally asserting have set watchmen upon thy walls 0 Jerusalem, which
  that the calling of the minister of the Gospel is for life                                  shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that are
  ends in failure. Yet it can be `easily shown from the Lord's remembrances, keep not silence, and give
  Scripture that ordinarily the calling is for life. Con- him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem
  sider that the Church throughout Scripture appears a praise on the earth."
  as being in the possession of a class of men bound to                                           So there can never come in the life of a pastor a
  the service for life. I think now of the prophets, priests                                  time when he can say that his prophesying has served
  and kings of the Old Testament theocracy, of the                                             its purpose and has therefore come to an end. Why
  apostles and their helpers given to the church of the                                       then should he lay down his office and return to a
  new dispensation. As to the Levites and priests, that secular pursuit of life? To the ministry of t,he Word
  they were in duty bound to tie themselves to the service                                     he is permanently called. Such at least must be con-
  for all the days of their life, is evident from the com-                                     sidered to be the rule. And it is a question even whether
  mands that have a bearing on their duties, on their                                          this rule allows any exceptions. As to the prophets


           of Scripture (the prophets of the old dispensation and I-Ie doing so, is one who, though lawfully called by the
           the apostles and their helpers) there is not a single        church, `was not actually called by God. He is there-
           case on record of any of them leaving their calling          fore unworthy of the office.
           and returning to an ordinary pursuit of life. Jeru-             The churches should turn a deaf ear to the minister
           salem must be established. It would seem strange             who requests to be allowed to abandon the service if
           therefore if the rule were that the Lord call a man to       he insists that he was actually called. If he says that
          this work for some years only.                                he feels himself in duty bound to leave, he should be
     I        The implication of Article 12 is that there are           told that he will do so on his own responsibility. In
           exceptions to the rule. (For the reading is that "he is      no case should the church he shepherds be advised to
           not allowed to enter upon a secular vocation except give him an honorable discharge ; for by so doing it
           for such weighty reasons as shall receive the approval places a stamp of approval upon a wrong action. As
           of the Classis." So then if there be reasons receiving to the dismissed minister, his having been abandoned
           the approval of the  Classis, the minister may dis-          by his flock together with his failure to receive a call
           engage himself  .from  the service.                          to another congregation may be taken as the token that
              Rightly considered, there is conflict in this article.    he missed his calling and thus was not nctually called.
           The article sets out with affirming that the minister        He may therefore be allowed to enter upon a secular
           is bound to the service for life and ends with saying vocation.
           that if there be reasons sufficiently weighty he may.           This seemed to be the view of our fathers. It is
           enter upon a secular vocation. But if the minister is        a view sound enough. It has the full support of Script-
           bound to the service for life, how can there ever be         ure. Let me enlarge upon it a little. A distinction
           reasons that would justify his  .disengaging himself was made between the  lawful  and the  actual
           from the service? The question therefore arises what calling. A person is lawfully called to the serv-
           this article was meant to express. Evidently this, that ice who was elected by the congregation, ex-
           although ordinarily the minister is bound to the serv- amined by the Classis and ordained in the presence
           ice for life, there may nevertheless be reasons suffi-       of the congregation.      This is the lawful calling,
           ciently weighty to justify his returning to a secular        the voice of, the congregation. This  callings becomes
           vocation. What may these weighty reasons be? What            actual when Christ by His Spirit binds the voice of the
           reasons did our fathers deem weighty? This can be            congregation upon the heart of him to whom thisvoice
'          known. The Church Order of 1578 mentions `a case             came. Then the one lawfully called is being actually
           of a minister allowed to enter upon a secular vocation.      called, that is, called by Christ through His church.
           The reason given is that, having been dismissed from As I wrote in a former article, this distinction was
           service, he was without a flock to shepherd so that all also drawn, by our fathers. One of the questions found
           there remained` for him to do, would he eat, is to let in the Form of Ordination of the Ministers of the
           himself out for hire. This he could not very well be         Gospel reads, "I ask thee whether thou EeeZesE  irr Ehy
           forbidden to do. This being without a flock and thus         heart that thou art lawfully called of God's church,
           without a source `of income seems to be the only reason and therefore of God Himself, to this holy ministry."
           a  minister was allowed, to enter upon a secular voca-       The meaning of this question cannot be, so I wrote,
           tion. In \yain would one search the record of the doings `Dost thou feel in thy heart whether thou didst receive
           of the early -Reformed churches for evidence. of a the majority of votes of the church that called thee . . .  '
           Classis or Synod advising a consistory to allow its          There would be no need of asking this question. The
           pastor, in service and attending to the duties of his        final paragraph of the call-letter reads, "Now dear
           office in a manner that could leave no doubt that he had     Reverend Brother, may the" King of His Church, so
           been called to the service of the church by God, to for-     impress this caI1 upon your heart and give you light,
           sake this service in the interest of some kind of work that you may arrive at a decision that is pleasing to
           of a secular nature.. What stand our fathers took is         Him, and if possible for us mutually gratifying." Not
           further evident from declarations of the Synod of            in every instance does the voice of the congregation
           Groningen (1644) and of the Synod of Leiden (1592).          become the voice of Christ-; for there have been men
           The former pronounced a minister, who had forsaken           in the ministry of whom it appeared that they  zussed
           the service of the church with a view to being vested their calling. A man  .may therefore receive a call
           with a political office, unworthy of the office of minis-    from a congregation but not from Christ.
           ters of the Gospel. Such, too, was the judgment of               Now the one  oxtzdly   called of God is called for
           Leiden respecting a minister who had joined himself life. Such a one will say as did Paul, "For though I
           to. the army.                                                preach the Gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for
               The conclusion is warranted that the conviction of       necessity is laid upon me ; yea, woe is unto me, if I
           our fathers was: A minister  uctua2ly called of God          preach not the Gospel  !" `Necessity is laid upon me.
           is called for life and binds himself to the service for      Not for some years perhaps, so that after these few
           the rest of his days. Such a one may and will not years have gone by I may abandon my office and return
           abandon his office in the interest of some secular work.     to some secular pursuit, but for the rest of my days.'


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  489
....^..............._  .._- ......             _II ..^........^ .-.....-.           II,-...."ll_______-. .........
The view here broached rest on grounds too solid to                     leidende plaats in te nemen, en de Classis  en de &node
be relinquished.                                                        zijn overtuigd, dat hij daarvoor de aangewezen man is
       The view briefly stated is this: The minister                    en hij bij het vervullen dier roeping nuttig kan werk-
ccctz~aZZy called of God is bound to the service of the                 zaam zijn voor de zaak des Heeren en zijn arbeid ook
church for life. The sole reason why he should be                       de kerk des Heeren ten goede komen Iran, dan mag de
allowed to abandon the service is his declaration to                   kerk zulk een  overgang  tot een anderen staat des
the effect that the conviction has crept over his sod                   levens geoorloofd achten.
that he, though lawfully called by the church, was not                       "In het algemeen is het niet wenschelijk, dat een
cwtuuEZy called of God. If he, notwithstanding his re-                 predikant tegelijk met de vervulling van zijn ambt zich
solve to now abandon the service in the interest of a                  geeft aan werkzaamheden, die al te veel tijd rooven
secular vocation, insists that he was actually called of               van zijne ambteiijke  bediening. Maar de nood kan
God at the time of his entering upon his ministerial                   dringen . . . . Om die reden moet de kerk - wan-
career, he should be told to keep to the service of the                neer onder de predikanten  mannen zijn, die op  ge-
church. If he abides by his resolve to leave, he should                noemde terreinen bijzondere gaven en talenten ontvan-
be made to do so solely on his own responsibility.                     gen hebben en zij hiervoor eene  roeping ontvangen -
       Thus the only reason a minister could be allowed                 beoordeelen of zij tijdelijk of voor goed  van de bedie-
to abandon his office, is his conviction that he was not               ning in de kerk kunnen vrijgesteld  worden,  en kan zij
actually called by God to the ministry. A conviction                   hun verlof geven om over te gaan tot een anderen
of this kind will be present in the soul nearly always                 staat des levens." This was taken by Dr. Bouwman
in conjunction with other emotions and perceptions                     from an article of Dr. H. H. Kuyper appearing in De
from which it may be said to spring. The minister                      Heraut.
perceives that he is totally unfit for the service. He                       What to think of the sentiment coming to the sur-
may lack the boldness to preach the Word so that he                    face in this excerpt? It will not do. Scripture testifies
finds himself facing his flock from Sabbath to Sabbath against it. It springs from the thought that a minister
in great agony of mind. Though he possesses sufficient can be nctunlly  called to the holy ministry for some
knowledge and natural ability, he may deem himself years only, that after the expiration of these years, it
incapable of edifying his flock. His love for the service              may be his solemn duty to abandon the service in the
may have grown cold. His heart may not be in his                       interest of some secular work. What we have to do
work. So the conviction creeps over his soul that he                   with here is an assumption for which there is not the
fits not in the place where he is and should leave the                 slightest proof in Scripture. The only view that can
ministry. In the event the conviction cannot be shaken,                be gotten from the Word is that a minister actually
so that by it the minister is completely undone, such called is in duty bound to give himself wholly to the
weighty reasons as can receive the approval of the                     service for the rest of his days so that in the event
Classis are present. A minister so harassed will event- he forsakes the service he is either a deserter or one'
ually conclude, and rightfully so, that he was not                     not actually called.
called of Godl `He should be allowed to enter upon a                         Statements occur in the above excerpt that raise
secular vocation.                                                      questions. 1 read, "Iemand kan zeer uitnemende gaven
       What construction is to be placed upon the article bezitten voor de pers," etc. One asks, can a man be
under consideration is plain: Inasmuch as  a- minister too big for the ministry? Can he be so gifted- spirit-
of the Word, once lawfully called as described above,                  ually and intellectually as to be unfit for the ministry
is bound to the service for life, he is not allowed to                 and  fit only for the secular vocation of whatever
enter upon a secular vocation except it appear that                    character? Can exceptional ability serve as a reason
he is not actually called of God.                                      for a man forsaking the service of the church? Must
       In recent years authorities on Reformed Church not the gifts that make a man a power as a social
Polity have begun to approve other reasons than the reformer, as a statesman, or as a journalist also be
one already advanced. It is maintained that the enter-                 present in the minister? What work is greater than
ing upon a secular vocation is by itself not reproach-                 the work of the ministry? Does the secular kingdom
able. `"Het kan zijn," to quote the late Dr. H. Bouw-                  offer greater opportunity for service than the church,
man, "dat een predikant bijzondere gaven heeft en een                  so that to be of great use to the Lord one must quit
bijzondere  roeping gevoelt voor een arbeid, die  we1                  the church and enter upon a secular career? Is Ceasar
valt op het breede terrein van het koninkrijk Gods,                    greater than Christ? Imagine Paul or Timothy saying
maar praktisch niet kan samengaan met de kerkelijke to the churches, `Brethren, the term of my office of
bediening. Iemand kan zeer uitnemende gaven  bezit-                    preacher of the Gospel has expired. I Ieave thee now
ten voor de pers, voor een bijzonderen tak van  weten-                 to accept a position as governor of one of Ceasar's
schap, voor den  socialen arbeid, voor het  politieke                  provinces. Farewell !'
leven. -Wanneer nu een roeping tot zulk een predikant                        Another question is where the  Classis  should draw
komt om in de journalistiek, of in de politiek, of in de               the line. For what secular vocations may it allow the
wetenschap, of op het gebied van het  sociale leven een                minister to forsake the service? Against which should

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

 it discriminate? One minister says that he -feels it          place in life  assi-gned to him by the Lord God, and
 his calling to quit the service and edit a paper. An-         walks worthily of his calling.          It means that the
 other informs the  Classis that the Lord constrains him       Ch.ristian  parent and teacher engaged in training the
 to accept a position as superintendent of some large          child is executing the ofFice of all believers. so, too,
 factory employing many men. His argument is that              the believing craftsman working at his trade; the
 the position affords him splendid opportunity for show-       Christian physician serving his patients ; the Christian
 ing the world how the employer should behave toward statesman attending to the affairs of the state ; the
 the employee. Another declares that he feels himself believing farmer cultivating his land ; the believing
 in duty bound to turn farmer. His argument is that            member of church electing office-bearers.
 the country has need of Calvinistic tillers of the soil          There is, besides this office, the particular of&e
 to serve as examples of Christian thrift. What cogent which Christ instituted in His church, and which He
 reason could  Classis advance for saying to the one           Himself  fUs with the men of His choice. He gives
 `thou mayest' and to the other `thou mayest not'.             unto His church pastors and teachers. To contend
    In the oid dispensation church and state were one.         that these should keep themselves to the institution to
 Israel was a kingdom similar to the kingdom surround-         which they are given is not to cast a mean reflection
 ing it. But this Israelitish kingdom was at once the          on the secular vocations of life.
 church. The prophet was therefore a statesman who                The question may be raised here, whether the pro-
 gave counsel to the king. And the king was prophet.           fessor of theology, who formerly served a  ffock, did
 But the church has been brought to the fore by the            not abandon the office when he left his pulpit to devote
 exalted Christ an independent, self-governing institu- all his time to teaching in the school. The prevalent
 tion having existence alongside of the state. The ques- and correct view is that whereas he remained in the
 tion is now whether the apostles, the prophets, the           service of the church and whereas the task to which
 evangelists, the pastors and teachers whom the exalted he now gives himself is to expound the Holy Scripture
 Christ gave unto His church for the perfecting of the         he cannot be charged with this. Another question is
 saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying        whether in view of the fact that he shepherds no flock
 of the body of Christ, might and may leave that church        - .the body of students is not the congregation of
 in their capacity of pastors, etc., and place themselves      Christ  - he should retain the honor and title of a
 in the service of secular institutions and organizations.     Minister. The stand of the Reformed churches has
 The argument advanced in support of the contention always been that he should. But to make this possible
 that the church may be abandoned, may be ever so              he is given his emeritation and he thus becomes the
 pious-sounding, the fact remains that the pastor is           emeritus pastor of the  Aock he last served. This, it
 Christ's own  pcr7pznnent  gift unto His church. This         seems to me, comes pretty close to being a handy
 should be the stand of the church. Anyone who insists         expedient. It is at least an admission that the pro-
* that he must leave for conscience's sake should be told      fessor of theology is not, by reason of the work in
 that no one but himself assumes responsibility for the        which he is engaged, in the office of ministers of the
 act he contemplates taking.                                   Gospel. But these are matters to which we attend in
        Let no one say that the view here broached springs connection with Article 18.
 from Anabaptistic leanings. The view that the natur-             It. cannot be ascertained from Scripture whether
 al or the secular is by itself evil and must therefore be     or no the- elders and deacons are bound to the service
 abandoned, is not ours. The natural can and will be           of the church of life. Here then we have to do with
 redeemed. Tt is the field which the child of grace may a matter left by the Holy Spirit to the discretion of the
 and must cultivate to the glory of God. The secuIar           believers.    The view of the Reformed churches has
 vocation is always what we make it. Our sole con-             always been that unlike the minister the elder and
 tention is that the pastor is not his own nor the gift        deacon may be retired. It would seem to follow from
 of the school, but Christ's gift to His church. The latter    the nature of matters that this view is correct. The
 may not deprive itself of Christ's gifts.  And, the           office of ministers of the Gospel calls for men especially
 pastor should continue to give himself to the end of          trained. Not so the of&e  of the elders and the office of
 his days to that institution (the church) to which he         deacons. Hence, a congregation possesses but one man
 was given by Christ.                                          capable of preaching the Word. For the other two
        One more word on the matter. The distinction be- offices there may be present in the congregation an
 tween the o&e of all believers and the particular office abundance of material. It is hard to see therefore why
 of ministers of t.he Gospel should be kept in mind. The       the elder and the deacon may be  ret.ired at regular
 office of all believers is common to all believers. It        intervals and others be made to take their places.
 is to be defined as the right and duty to serve and praise                                                   G. iv.. 0.
 the God of our redemption. This office assumes as                                                -
 many forms as there are duties in life. Life is most
 complex.       Its duties are many.      Its departments      NOTICEThe  annual  meeting of division one of the R. F. P. A.
                                                               will  be  heid on Tuesday, Sept. 26. Rev. P. De Boer has been
 numerous. The believer performs his task in that requested to speak. Details later.


weinige  profeten der oude bedeeling, die als een nazaat .
nog arbeidde in den  Naam van Jehova en, door Jezus'           A Catechism On the History of the
rrnderwijs daartoe bereid, een. volgeling geworden was             Protestant Reformed Churches
van den Zone  Gods?                                                                   -      -
   Berispend luidt des Heeren  ,wederwoord  : "Verbied
het niet, want wie tegen ons niet is, die is voor ons.`"                           PART  TWO
Markus,  die hetzelfde f'incident" opschreef, zegt ons:                               -      -
"Doch  Jezus zeide : "Verbiedt hem niet : want er is nie-
mand, die eene kracht doen  zal in Mijnen  Naam, en                    V.  SUNDEY   .AEGUMENTS   REFUTED
haastelijk van Mij zai kunnen kwalijk  spreken. Want             1. But are there not, besides the references made
wie tegen ons niet is, die is voor ens."`  Een woord, dat     by Synod, many passages in Scripture that plainly
heenwijst en handwijzer is en rust op het  grondbegin-        teach a general  offer of salvation which is grace to
sel, ofschoon iemand oogenschijnlijk niet tot Mijn all the hearers ?
kring kan gerekend  en dus tegen ons sci@nt, tech de             I do not know of any. However, those that teach
werkeiijkheid  we1 geheel anders kan zijn en, wat dan         such a general oiler  erroneously appeal to many texts.
oo'k de. oorztlak  der vermeende verwij dering zij, hij       These passages usually contain either a calling with
inderdaad en waarheid `zioo~ Mij is. Dit ligt ook uitge-      a promise to them that hear and heed it ; or some
drukt in het woord vertaald, beide in het Hollandsch          general word as "all" or "world" the real meaning of
en Engeisch, door haastelijk, doch, dat ook vertaald          which must be determined by the context.         L
kan worden,  en een beteren zin geeft, door lichtelijk           2. Does not Scripture teach  in John  3:16: For
 (lichtvaardigl  . De krachten in dit bepaalde geval,         God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten
door fohannes gezien moesten voor hem  genoeg  bewijs         Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish
Ieveren van het v6Br Jezus zijn. Deze man was niet            but have everlasting life?
met Jezus, doch de Heiland  stelt de znak een weinig             Certainly ; but notice :
nnders, omdat het MET Hem gaan, nog geen zekerheid               a. That in this text there is not only no general
geeft aangaande het  v&r of het tegen zijn. Deze man offer of grace and salvation, but there is no off'er at all.
was niet tegen, dus was hij voor, dat is het oordeel der The passage contains a statement concerning God. As
liefde, daarom: "Verbied het niet."                           the introductory word "for" indicates plainly, it ad-
    Wat doet het er tenslotte af of toe zcie `s Heeren        duces a reason for the immediately preceding verse, ,
,werk   we&t. Als Zijn zaak slechts voortgang heeft,          which emphasizes the necessity of the lifting up of the
 blijve al het overige van ondergeschikte beteekenis.         Son of man. Christ must be lifted up on the cross and
 Do& ~66 staat de zaak niet naar Johannes' oordeel,           into glory. Why? Because God so loved the world
 noch naar het oordeel der medediscipelen. Eer is teer that He gave His only begotten Son. Surely, it must
 en wan- of afgunst is groot, wat zeer duidelijk blijkt be admitted that the love of God is sovereign and un-
 tit den onzaligen strijd om den voorrang, van wie tech       changeable. If He loves anyone with the love by which
 x-e1 de me&e  zou zijn in Jezus' koninkrijk. En waar         He gave His only begotten Son, that one will surely
 men in den eigen kring al niet kon dulden dat de een be saved.
 den  ander  voorging, hoe zou dan Johannes lijdelijk             b. That the object of this love of God is "the
 kunnen. toezien, wanneer buiten dien kring van Jezus world". -But "world" `occurs with different connota-
 volgelingen krachten  geschieden  de hunne evenarend tions in Scripture. The meaning must be determined
 en dat door eenen, die U en ons niet volgt?                  from the text or from its context. Fact is, however,
    Zulke uitwassen, zoo  dacht  Johannes,  moeten   uit-     that it never means "all men individually". This is
 geroeid  en met alle kracht tegengegaan worden.  Hij         neither the meaning of the word itself, nor does it ever
 nlthans heeft krachtig geprotesteerd, niet op last van       have this meaning in the context in which it occurs.
 den Meestar, maar uit eigen beweging. Nu  echter             Let us consider some of these meanings :
 meet de Heere het hooren, wat een krachtige  verdedi-            (1) The most natural meaning of "world" or
 gers Hij  tech  we1 bezit in de discipelen  - verdedigers "kosmos" is creation in its organic sense, either as it
 van Hem en Zijn zaak en - van het uitgelezen gezel-          actually exists, or as God conceived of the whole of
 sehap : Henzelven  dus.                                      His works in their  tial perfection in His counsel before
     Is dit nu dezeffde Johannes, die later schreef: "En       the foundation of the world. It refers to the works of
 uit Zijne volheid hebben wij allen ontvangen, ook ge- God as one whole, harmoniously related, without having
 nade voor genade," en, "Wij hebben Hem lief, omdat respect to individual creatures. Creation as it con-
 Hij ons wrst Iiefgehad  heeft"?                               sumates in man, stands and falls with man and will
     Ja!                                                       be redeemed and glorified with man in the believers or
     Dezelfde en tech weer een andere.                         the elect. This is the meaning of the word in John
     De ruwe diamant, nu geslepen en afgewerkt.                3~16. That world, the whole of God's works, as it will
     De vrucht,  doch nu gerijpt.                              be glorified and redeemed in and with the elect be-
                                                w.  9.         lievers, is the object of that love'of God by which He


      494                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEABEB
     - .--.--._                                  - - -   --_"...-   ---.  II                -.... ^^-"-.--
     gave His only begotten Son. Hence, not all men in termine  the contents of this term. Unless the text or
     the world, but "whosoever believeth on Him" shall be the context  pIainly indicates the contrary the word.
     saved and have `eternal life.                                 "all" does not mean "all men" or the whole of the
         (2) The word "world" may also mean this present           number of men that ever lived or live and shall live
     world as it is in sin and corruption. Even then the on earth.
     original sense of "creation" or the whole of the works            (1) It may mean: "all of us", i. e. of the Church.
     of God, is not entirely absent from it, but it looks at This is plainly the meaning in th? text from II Pet. 3 :9.
     these from the viewpoint of their being dominated by For, the entire text reads: The Lord is not slack con-
     the wicked, so that all things are pressed into the serv- cerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but
     ice of sin. Also the wicked commit their iniquity and is longsuffering to  USWU~C?,  not willing that any should
     develop in sin in connection  .with  and by means of          perish, but that ail should come to repentance. That
     God's creation. IIence,  they are "the world", and the        icall" here means "all of us", or the Church, is evident
     forms of life they create in their sin are also "the          from (a) the text itself; God is longsuffering  to-us-
     world". In this sense w,e must understand the word ~WGGT~, not willing that any of  W..Z should perish ;
     in John 1'72, where the Lord says: "I pray for them;          (b) the fact, that the promise would never be fulfilled
     I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou             and Christ would never come again, if the text would
     hast given me, for they are thine"`. Thus also in John mean "all men must first come to repentance," for they
     17 : 16 : They are not of the world, even as I am not of      never will; (c) the fact that God's will is certainly
     the world. And again in I John 2 :15-17: Love not the realized ; if He does not will that we should perish, we
     world, neither the things that are in the world. If any surely shall be saved.
     man love the world the love of the Father is not in               (2)      It may also mean : "all kinds of men." This is
     him. For all that is' in the world, the lust of the flesh     plainly the meaning in Tit.  %:X1:  For the grace of
     and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.
     the Father but is of the world. And the world passeth That "all men" cannot mean *every  individual of the
     away and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of human `race, nor every man then living, ought to be
     God abideth forever." It is also in this sense that the evident from the meaning of the text. The apostle
     word is used when Scripture calls the devil "the prince writes that the grace of God that bringeth salvation
     of this world," JoM  14230;  16:ll.                           had, in his day, already appeared to all men, It is a
*        (3)       The word may also mean the totality of the fact, however, that comparatively few had as yet heard
     saved out of the world, because the saved are gathered the gospel, so that "all men" cannot possibly signify
     from every nation and tongue and tribe and not merely every living man in the world of that time. And that
     from a single nation or group. -4 plain illustration of it does mean "all kinds of men" is evident from the
     this connotation you find in II Cor. 5 : 19 : To wit, that    fact;that  the text states a reason for sundry exhorta-
     God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself,         tions that occur in the context. In that context the
     not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath apostle mentions aged men and aged women, young
     committed unto us the word of reconciliation. They men and young women, servants and masters, i. e.
     that wodld interpret the word "world" in this text as         different  cIasses  of people; fog, he continues, the grace
     meaning all men, must needs distort and deny the true of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all
     meaning of the word "reconciliation". To reconcile            men, that is, to men of every station in life. This is
     always implies the blotting out of sin. That this is          also the meaning of "all men" in I Tim. 2 :4, as the con-
     also  impli.ed  in the text is evident from the words "not    text plainly shows.
     imputing their trespasses unto them". It is clear then,           (3)      "All" may also simply mean "all believers"
     that this "world" is actually saved in the blood of or "all the elect". This is plainly the case in I Cor.
     Christ.    It l's reconciled. But, then, either is true:      15:22: For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall
     "world" does not mean "all men," or "all men" are             all be made alive. It is indisputable that the second
     saved. The latter is not true; hence, "world" does not        "all" cannot mean "all men"; for these "all" shall be
     signify  nil  WWZ, but the totality of the saved out of made alive in the glorious resurrection of Christ,
     every nation. Another illustration of this meaning of which is not true of all men, but only of all believers
     the word "world" you may find in I John 2  :2 : And he or of the elect. Of these the  apostIe is speaking. This
     is the propitiation for our sins; and not for our's only      is also true of the word "all" in John  1231: And I,
     (that is for us as we have already been called as  a          if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all (men)
     Church) but also for the sins of the whole world (all         unto me. The word men does not occur in the original
     the saved as they shall be called out of every nation). of this verse. It is plain that whom Christ draws unto
        3. But does not the'Bible  teach in II Pet. 3 :9 that Him are surely saved. Hence, the simple meaning is:
     God will not that any should perish, but that all should      I will draw all my own, all the elect, unto me.
     come to repentance?                                               (4)      Sometimes "all men" must be interpreted as
        It does ; but whenever you read this word "all" in meaning "all of one group" in distinction from "all
     Scripture, you must carefully study the text to  de-          of another  ,qoup". This is the case in Born. 5 :lS :


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        43b
-  ..-  - - -       "._ .._--..  -"".."  ^-.---.."..."         "__-.ll_-             --..---            "._.-._-".-
Therefore,  as by the  of?ence  of one judgment came        text must be read: Behold, I stand at the door of the
upon all men to condemnation; even so by the right-         Church and knock!
eousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto           7. Does not the Bible teach a general  offer of sal-
justification of life. You must note, that in the latter    vation, when it says : "whosoever will may come" ?
part of this text it does not say, that the free gift is        I am afraid that you quote this from a hymn rather
oflcred  to  all men, but that it  came upon all men unto than from the word of God.
justification of life. Now, they, that actually receive        8. But are not these words found in Rev. X2:17?
this free gift, are surely saved. Hence, they cannot           No ; there you read the following words : And the
be all men without exception. But they do include "all Spirit and the bride say: Come. And let him that
that belong to the group of which Christ is the Head"       heareth say: Come. And let him that  athirst  come.
in distinction from "the group of which Adam is the         And whosoever will let him take of the water of life
head".                                                      freely.
   And thus you must remember, that cell may have              Now, notice :
sundry meanings, and that its specific meaning in any-         a. That the text first of all speaks of him that is
one text must be determined from the text itself and athirst.   Athirst after what? After the water of life,
from its context. Then you will not easily be led           of course. It speaks, therefore, to them that truly,
astray from the truth by those that quote such texts        spiritually  athirst. And this is not true of all men,
at random.                                                  though they may thirst after many things. They surely
   3. But is there no general  ofl!er  of grace in the      do not thirst after the living God.
words or Christ: Come unto me, all ye that labor and           b. That it is only he that is  athirst  that  wiEZ take
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest?                  of the water of life. He that is not  athirst will not
   On the contrary; for:                                    take that water, but despises it. The will to take of
   a. It must not be overlooked that Christ here calls      the water of life is motivated by the thirst. Hence,
those that labor and are heavy laden. They are such "Whosoever will" and "he that is athirst"  are identical.
in the same sense as in which He promises them rest,        Christ, therefore, calls whosoever is  athirst.
i. e. in the spiritual sense. Although, therefore, the         c. But this being  athirst  and, therefore, also this
preaching of this calling is general, its contents is,      will to take of the water of life freely, is not of nature,
evidently, particular.                                      but of the grace of God. God is always first, not man.
   b. The Lord does not preach a general offer in           From which it follows, that also in Rev. 22  :17 the Lord
these words, but a very specific and particular promise.    is calling the elect by their spiritual name.
He promises rest to them that come unto Him. And                9. Does the Bible also directly deny that the
these are the elect, for no man can come to Him except      preaching of the Gospel is grace to all that hear?
the Father draw him.                                            It most emphatically does in many places. And
   5. Why, then, does the Bible say that Christ stands      not only this, but it teaches positively that the preach-
at the door of a man's heart and knocks? Surely, this       ing of the Word is a savor of life unto life and a savor
presupposes that He is willing to come in, if man but       of death unto death according to the will and purpose
opens the door of his heart?                                of God.
   I confess that I do not know of any text that speaks        10. Where does the Bible teach this?
of Christ's knocking at the door of man's heart.               In- Isaiah 6 :9 fl? ,4nd he said : Go; and tell this-,
   6. But does not Scripture teach this in Rev. 3 220 :     people, Hear ye, indeed, but understand not; and see
Behold, I stand at the door and knock?                      ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this
   Let me call your attention to the fact, that the text people fat, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes;
does not speak of the door of man's heart, as if the        lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears,
door were locked from the inside and must be opened         and understand with their heart, and convert and be
by man, if Christ is to come in. It must be admitted healed.
that the text does not define what door is meant. This,        11. In what other passage does Scripture teach
then, must be determined from the context if possible.      the same truth?
Neither is this dif%ult,  for according to the context         In Mark 4 :ll, 12 : And he said unto them : TJnto
Christ is addressing, not any individual, but the Church you it is given to know the mystery of the Kingdom
of Laodicea. It `stands to reason, therefore, that the      of God, but unto them that are without all these things
door of this Church is meant in vs. 20. Christ re-          are done in parables ; that seeing they may see and
presents Himself as standing outside of that Church,        not perceive; and hearing they may hear and not
for it is a thoroughly apostate Church. Christ is about understand  ; lest at any time they should be converted,
to spew her out of His mouth. Yet, even in that             and their sins be forgiven them.
Church of Laodicea there is a remnant according to             12. Does Scripture attribute this twofold effect of
the election, be it ever so small. They must come out the preaching of the Gospel to God's will and purpose?
and Christ will recognize them as the Church, for He           It does in Matt.  1125-27: At that time Jesus
promises that He will sup with them. And ,thus the          answered and said : I thank thee, 0- Father, Lord of


 heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things        All these objections are not of a recent date but are  a,s
 from the wise and. prudent and hast revealed them old as the truth itseif. They are only raised with a
 unto the babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good      new emphasis when the doctrine of God's I absolute
 in thy sight. All things are delivered unto me of my        sovereignty is given its proper place. .And also with
 Father, and no man knoweth the Son but the Father;          regard to this objection we must remember that it
 neither knowetln any man the Father, save the Son and contains no argument from Scripture. The Word of
 he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.                   God plainly teaches God's sovereignty over all things,
    13. What other passage teaches this same truth? and "who art thou, o man, that answerest against
    John 12539,  40: Therefore they could not believe,       God ?"
 because Esaias saith again: He hath blinded their eyes         As to the question itself, we must understand first
 and hardened their heart; that they should not see          of all, that responsibility does not and cannot pre-
 with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and       suppose sovereign freedom. There is only one that is
 be converted and I should heal them.                        sovereignly free, namely God. The creature is de-
    14. Can you mention still another text?                  pendent even in his moral life. In the second place
    Yes,  II Cor. 2:14-16: Now thanks be unto God,           we must see that a creature is responsible when he
 which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and acts as a moral agent, that is, when he konsciously and
 maketh manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in         willingly performs that which he does. He always
 every place. For we are unto God a sweet savour of says Yes and No with respect to God and sin, according
 Christ, in them that are saved and in them that perish. to the inner choice of his heart. He remains, therefore,
 To the one we are the savour of death unto death ; and the author of his works. He is always a moral agent.
 to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is And, finally, we must remember that God's provi-
 sufficient for these things?                                dential rule even over the heart of man is never of
    15. But does not this doctrine make God the author such a nature that it violates this moral character of
 of sin?                                                     man. While God, therefore, alone is sovereign and
     This is often alleged by those that are enemies of      reigns even over all the deeds and purposes of man
 the truth of God's absolutely sovereign grace. For a so that His counsel is executed, He deals with man
 while they will reason with you from and on the basis       according to his nature, that is, as a moral agent. The
 of the Word of God. When, however, they must admit manner of this operation of God may be too deep for
 that Scripture is all against them and thruout teaches      us to search out and comprehend; the fact itself is
 the sovereignty of the Most High, they abandon this         plainly revealed in the Word of God.
 only safe method of argumentation in order to shoot             17. But is not the preaching of this doctrine
 their own poisoned arrows at what is admittedly Scrip- dangerous, seeing that it tends to make men careless
 tural truth. Scripture answers all such objections by and profane?
 putting man where he belongs, that is, prostrate in the         If we should answer this question affirmatively, we
 dust, when it says: Who art thou, o man, that  an-          would thereby criticize the Word of God itself, for it
 swerest against God? Born. 920.                             declares this doctrine openly in the most emphatic
     And to them that sincerely seek the truth in this       terms.
matter, the following may be said in answer to their             Nor is this true. For, while by nature we are all
 question. God is not the author of sin, and far be it       careless and profane, in the sense that we -are enemies
 from us to even imagine such wickedness. For He is of God ; and while the reprobate wicked remain such
 holy and pure, a light and there is no darkness in Him.     to their own condemnation ; it is impossible that a heart
 But although He is not the auChor of sin, which would       that is touched by the grace of God and brought into
  imply that `He finds pleasure in it and commits sin, He a saving contact with the Lord Jesus Christ, should
  is the ultimate Cause of all things and, therefore, also assume an attitude of indifference over against God
  of the  fuct of sin. This distinction, then, must be       and His covenant. For, this grace of God makes men
  made, tnat not God but man is the  az~thor  of the deed    desirous to walk in all good works to the glory of Him
  of sin, whiIe God is the ultimate Cnzse of the fact of that called them out of darkness into His marvelous
  sin. In His counsel God wills the fact of sin, in order light.
  that it might become manifest that He hates sin and            18. But does not this doctrine kill every incentive
  might reveal His righteousness. Besides, it must not to mission-work?
  be forgotten, that God makes sin and the wicked sub-           They that raise this supercillious  objection do so
  servient to the purpose of leading His elect to the only, because they are still entangled in a network of
  highest glory of the heavenly Kingdom.                     Arminian errors and also have an Arminian conception
     16. Do you, however, by so strictly maintaining of the real nature of mission work. And it may readily
  the sovereignty of God over all things, not deny the be admitted that the truth of God's sovereign grace is
  responsibility of man?                                     opposed to all such mission work as proceeds from the
     That we do is only another accusation made against       notion that it purposes to save men by man's effort.
  us by those that oppose the truth of sovereign grace.          However, if you understand that the positive  pur-


pose of mission work cannot be anything eIse than to
gather the Church, chosen unto eternal life, from                         `Taqwege de Veelheid Van
among all nations and tongues and tribes, the doctrine                                      Alles ' '
of God's sovereign grace is not only no objection to,
but is the only possible $nd sound basis from which              Gewisselijk, Hij legt den mensch niet te veel op,,
one can proceed to do `mission work. For, now we dat hij tegen God in het gericht zou mogen treden !
have His own promise, that "all that the Father giveth           E         n       tech!
unto Him, shall come to Him; and he that cometh unto             Zeg nu eens, dat ge u kondet- verheffen boven het
Him He will in no wise cast out!"                             gewoel der aarde en de capaciteit  bezat om al het ge-
                                                H. II.        dichtsel van des menschen harte te beluisteren. Wat
                                                              zoudt ge dan niet een geroezemoes van valsche  murmu-
                                                              reering beluisteren. Geduriglijk, bij dag en bij nacht,
                                                              van eeuw tot eeuw, zoudt ge het al maar weer aan
                                                              hooren: Alles gaat verkeerd: ik krijg mijn deel niet ;
           THE  GLORYOF  THE  iLORD                           de God des hemels en der aarde weet niet; er is geen
       Lord, how wonderful Thy glory,                         wetenschap bij den Allerhoogste !
                                                                 En daartusschen door  weerklinkt  het getuigenis
         And how marvelous Thy ways !                         van den Heiligen Geest: Laat `s Heeren lof ten hemel
       All creation tells the story,                          rijzen !
         Earth is vibrant with `Thy praise !                      Doch de mensch weet niet; het volk verstaat met.          '
       In the hollow of Thy hand are hiding                       Wat zijn we dan tech gruwelijk verkeerd geworden
       World's unnumbered, evermore confiding                 door de zonde !
      `In Thy love, and safely there abiding                      Want, werkelijk, Hij legt ons tech niet te veel op?
                                                              Wat eischt de Heere meer van ons dan het liefelijke,
         Unto Thee their anthems raise.                       datgene wat welluidt? Hij vermaakt er Zich in, wan-
                                          *                   neer WJ`* "liefde en lof ten offer mengen, in `t heilig- .
       Lord, how wonderful Thy glory,                         dom, waar `t volk vergaderd is."
         Filling earth and heav'n above !                         Doch inplaats van dat te  doen,  verbitteren wij veel
       All Thy handiworks adore Thee,                         liever elkander  en, te zamen, God, dat Heilig Wezen.
                                                              We hebben veel meer schik ervan om onzen  weg te ver-
         And Thy majesty approve,                             derven, zoodat vernieling en ellendigheden gevonden
       Lo ! Thy hand is for the world's foundation !          worden  in onie wegen. Liefde en lof ten offer mengen?
       Yet Thou'rt mindful of Thy least creation!             Neen, maar "welker  mond is vol van vervloeking en
       0 how perfect is the consunnnation                     bitterheid." Dat zegt God. Zoo vindt Hij het mensch-
         Of Thy mighty deeds of love !                        dom.Luistert nu eens naar den eisch Gods, zooals die
                                                              kwam tot het volk des Heeren van de oude bedeeling :
       Lord, how wonderful Thy glory,                         "Gij zult dienen den Heere uwen God met vroolijkheid
         Greater yet was never known !                        en goedheid des  harten,  vanwege de veelheid van  alles."
       In humility before Thee                                    De veelheid van alles.                 .
       We Thy sov'reignty would own.                              Qch  arme, waar zal ik beginnen en waar zal ik ein-
       We will praise Thy holy Name forever,                  digen?
       For the love and faith that faileth never!                 Hij is  immers een overvloeiende Font& aller
                                                              goeden?
       Who is able Thee from Thine to serve ?                     Want van de allervroegste tijden heeft Hij  wel.ge-
         Thou art God, and Thou alone.                        daan van den hemel, liet  Zich nooit onbetuigd, ons  ge-
                                                              vende vruchtbare tijden en zonneschijn, mitsgaders de
                                                              verkwikkende regen op het late nagras.
                                                                  Ge kunt het zoo duidelijk zien, als ge slechts oogen
                                                              hebt die door den CTeest Gods ziende gemaakt zijn. Let
    Hoeveel tijd van ons  ieven brengen we niet met           er tech op, dat bijna elken  dag, neen, elken  maaltijd,
wachten door! We wachten op de verwezenlijking van            moeder de overgeblevene brokken bijelkaar vergadert
onze  idealen  en op zooveel  `andere   dingen.  "t Laatst    en maar weer in de kast  berg%. Zie het tech aan, dat
op het uur van onzen  dood. `t Wachten op den Heere,          de grond onder de boomen  bezaaid is met vruchten
is volgens het Woord van God, bet eenige, wat eene            die nooit gegeten  worden.   Hebt ge het nooit gezien
 belofte heeft -- en hoe zelden doen  wij dat !               in de stralen van zonlicht, de stroomen van regen, de
    Wacht op den Heere - wees sterk en Hij zal uw             weelde van groenend kruid en welriekende bloesems te
hart versterken. Wacht op den Heere !                         gader?


f                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D  BEAKl3.K                                                                               blJ8
     _..~" .       .._._______            _...-_            "-."____  . -_                ."._ _.. ".^- ..--_ __I  -.-...... ...-.--" ..-- -.    "."."  ..-..  -."l
     onmogelijk zou zijn met elkaar te vereenigen en samen
     te werken ; dat zou de toekomst moeten Ieeren. Maar                            Moses At the Court of Pharaoh
     ge moet dit niet te licht achten.
         De schrijver zegt : we moeten onze kracht bij God                        Handed over to the care of his mother during his
     zoeken. Maar hij wil  tech ook vereenigen om door tender years, Moses became a permanent inmate of the
     eendracht een macht te vormen. Nu, hij zal dat we1                       palace in his early boyhood. Once there, he  was
     goed  bedoelen, want  hij wil immers uit liefde elkanders                adopted by  Fharaoh's  daughter and received the care
     belangen behartigen. Overigens verzeker ik u dat met and training of a king's son. Two matters are to be
     al ons vereenigen van krachten onze macht klein en considered in connection with his life at the Egyptian
     nietsbeteekend  zou blijken.                                             court, namely, his training and his faith.
         Immers wij willen onze kracht bij God zoeken en                          In what wisdom he was trained is not easy to aster-
     daardoor belijden we, dat er bij den mensch geen tain. It must have included the element of religion.
     kracht is.                                                               Now the system of religion of the Egyptians was com-
         Maar ik ben het er tech goed  mee eens, dat we ons                   plicated with coarse and sensual notions and led to the
     als Christenen behooren te vereenigen en dan  uit liefde worship of animals and of the dead. In this land of
     elkanders belangen behartigen, nu daargelaten of dat sphinxes and pyramids the glory of the incorruptible
     dan beslist Celery Growers  ,moeten   wezen. Maar ik                     God had been  changed  into the image made like to
     denk dat kan  tech wel. En als we ons dan  aan dat corruptibIe  man, and birds, and four-footed beasts and
     ideaal houden, dan kon dat onder Gods zegen ook heel                     creeping things. Here men were actually kneeling be-
     wat vruchten afwerpen. De nood is groot, de lasten                       fore snakes 2nd toads, were worshipping the creature.
     zijn zwaar, we hebben we1 behoefte aan zoo iets.                         The Egyptian system of religion therefore formed the
         Men zou dat op verschillende wijze kunnen doen.                      sharpest contrast to that of Israel in  Goshen.
     Bijvoorbeeld, als de vraag naar celery niet groat ge-                        But this "wisdom" must have included much more,
     noeg was, en er daardoor behoefte was aan regeling since the wisest of the Greeks  - Lycurgus, Solon,
     van het antal bakken te sturen per dag, zou men de Thales, Pythagoras, Plato and others  - borrowed
     kleine  en behoeftige steunen kunnen door hem de gele-                   from it many of their principles in politics, geometry,
     genheid te geven het volle aantal te sturen. Zoo met astronomy, and physics. It `included also moral and
     het inkoopen van zaad en kunstmest, enz., zouden de even medic21 precepts. The Library of the  Ramas-
     grooten de kleinen  kunnen helpen.  op elke wijze elkan-                 seum at Thebes contained 20,000 books. As a result
     ders lasten dragen. Maar ge begrijpt wel, dat is niet of his training in these arts, Moses became a man
     zoo gemakkelijk, dan moet niet het  doe1 voorop staan                    "mighty in words 2nd in deeds." Such is the certain
     om eigen beurs te vullen. Dan moet zoo'n vereeniging testimony of Holy Writ. The apology of Stephen con-
     verschillen van alle andere vereenigingen, en dan moet                   tains this statement, "And Moses was learned in all
     ge niet rekenen op een algemeen'zich asnsluiten. Dan the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words
     komt het  we1 terdege op beginsel  aan.                                  and in deeds."  ' The thought conveyed is that the rela-
        En nu zal'het met het oprichten van zoo'n vereeni-                    tion his words 2nd deeds of might sustained to his
     ging nog zoo'n vaart niet loopen,  maar het is tech we1                  training was causal. Some hold that he performed
     eens  goed  dat we de kosten eens berekenen, want  an-                   works of might even as an inmate of the court, of
     ders zouden we als we pas aan het bouwen waren  weer                     Pharaoh. `Josephus relates  th2t he was  app-ointed
     moeten staken bij gebrek aan  goed materiaal of het                      general of an Egyptian army, which marched under
     gebouw zou lang niet volgens de teekening  worden.  Dat                  him against the Ethiopians and won great victories;
     gebeurt nog al eens.                                                     but this rests only on uncertain. legend. Without a
        Zie, wij kunnen we1 wat bazelen van elkanders  be-                    doubt the meaning of this notice is that the Lord also
     langen  behartigen, onze toestand  verbeteren, ons licht through' this training prepared him for the great task
     laten schijnen, en alles doen  ter eere Gods, m22r  d2t                  for which he had been destined. Thus did the oppressor
     neemt niet weg wie achter  Jezus wil komen, moet kruis-                  train God's deliverer.
     drager worden.                                                              The effect upon Moses of this heathen culture,
        En wie zijn aardsch bestaan wil verbeteren en geld viewed from its spiritual  and moral side  may  be known
     wil maken, die moet niet al te christelijk  wezen, d22r                  from  2  notice found in the epistle to the Hebrews and
     helpt nu eenmaal niet aan.                                               from the action consisting in his (Moses') slaying of
                                                                              the Egyptian taskmaster. "By faith Moses, when he
                                                    P. De Young               was come to years, refused to be called the son of
        Byron Center,  Mich:                                                  Pharaoh's daughter ; choosing rather to suffer affliction
                                                                              with the people of God,  than'to enjoy the pleasures of
                                                                              sin for 2 season  ; esteeming the reproach of Christ
                                                                              greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he had
        Bear ye one 2nother"s  burdens, and so fulfil the 12~                 respect unto the recompense of the reward."
     of Christ.                                                                  Moses is here depicted as a man of faith. The first


thing expressed is the time and the condition under imagined to inquire after the metining of this ,mark.
which this faith acted. "When he was come to years." Learning from his mother and nurse that it was the
The original text reads, "When he became great." The token of God's covenant of mercy and love for His
expression may be variously interpreted. It may mean people, he rejoiced and choose to be of the party of
to become wealthy, rich and powerful. So we read of that God. So did his parents impart unto him the
, Isaac that as a result of the Lord blessing him he was     principles of true religion, with a detestation of
become great, having received of the Lord flocks,            Egypt's idols and superstitions.
herds, and silver and gold, and men-servants, and maid-         Thus did he refuse to be called the son of Pharaoh's
servants, and camels and asses. That Moses attained daughter. This refusal consisted in a firm resolve to
to wealth, riches and power at the court of Pharaoh is       disown his adoption. The making of this resolution
certain. His self-denial consisted in his esteeming the was an act of faith so great that it gave him a place
reproach of Christ greater than these treasures. How-        in that cloud of witnesses by which we are compassed
ere, the expression "great" is also used of one having about. For the carrying out it involved him in the
attained to the season of manhood. So it is here used loss of Egypt's treasures.
 of Moses. The apostle wished to show how he was                Once his mind was set, he began to visit his breth-
 disposed after he came unto the years of discretion.        ren. He owned them, together with `their  faith and
    It must not be supposed that his slaying of the          religion. Thus did he,choose  rather to sui'fer affliction
 Egyptian was the very first expression of his refusal       with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of
 to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; for at that sin for 3 season.
 time he was already forty years old. The only tennable         His brethren were the people of God. They were
 view is that even as a lad he discovered in him the         tbjs by reason of the  covenaht  which He had made
 urge to cast his lot with the afflicted  people of God,     with Abraham and his seed. They were His people
 that as the years went by this urge crystaIlized  into and He was their God. This people was now under
 a firm resolve, and that finally this resolve incor- afRiction. That he joined himself to them meant that
 porated itself in outward acts.                             he was ready to partake of the evils unto which they
    "He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's were subjected. He chose rather to do this than to
 daughter."    As Pharaoh's daughter's son he was enjoy the pleasures of sin f0r.a  season, that is; to have
 esteemed, accounted, by all the Egyptians. By this the temporal enjoyment of sin. These pleasures were
 daughter he had not only been owned, as the master the things that were his in virtue of his being the son
 owns his slave, but adopted. He had become her child. of Pharaoh's daughter, the honor, glory and riches that
 His status in the court was that of son. She had saved      went along with his state of sonship. They are called
 him and he was hers. When he was weaned his mother his keeping himself to Pharaoh. Arrayed on the one
 carried him into her home. Was there no danger here- upon the condition of his rejecting that people and of
 in?  ' No more than in his being put into an ark of his keeping himself to Pharaoh. Arrayed on the one
 bulrushes and set floating on the bosom of the Nile.        side were God, His people and affliction. The three
 The parents, convinced that he had been destined. for could  net  b6 separated. Opposed to these were Pharaoh
 some special task, had cast him upon the mercy of the and glory, honor and riches. But he loved God, who is
 Lord when they could no longer hide him. The Lord light; and who stood opposed to the heathen monarch,
 had -delivered . him from.. the clutches of `Pharaoh's because the latter was darkness and thus stood opposed
 police. They could therefore further leave him to the to God. Thus because he loved, he chose God and re-
 sovereign care and disposal of God. So, being brought jected Pharaoh, even though in choosing Him, he
 to the court, unto Pharaoh's daughter, he became her choose  aflliction and lost the treasures of Egypt.
 son. She may have had no other child, being married             We will continue this in the next issue.
 or not.    Being attracted to the child's beauty, she                                                    G. M. 0.
 adopted him. She called him son and gave him a
 name. Moses, she called him. And the name clung
 to him ever after. It thus was a perpetual  ,remem-
 brance to him of his deliverance when he was a help-
 less babe cast upon the care of his God. Being thus                                 NOTICE
 publicly adopted, he was known to all men as "the son           A membership meeting of the Men's Societies of
 of Pharaoh's daughter." And as her son, he arose to a the Protestant Reformed Churches will be held, D. V.,
 position of power and influence. He became rich, and in October.
enjoyed the esteem of men.' These secular advantages is          The Men's Societies are ail requested to attend this
 what the apostle calls "the treasures of Egypt.?            meeting. Besides, all men, not members of societies,
     It can be easily seen how he came to know his interested are kindly invited.
 people so as to cleave unto them to the relinquishing of        Rev. H. Hoeksema will give an inspirational and
 Egypt's treasures. He saw in his flesh the mark of educational address. The topic, date, and place will be
 God's covenant; for he was  circnmcised.  He may be announced later.                             The Committee.


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Vol. IX, No. 22                                                     SEPTEMBER 15, 1933                                              Subscription Price, $2.50

                                                                                            sanctuary be thrown  .wide,_open,  open  to,all  and with-
            M E D I T A T I O N                                                             out condition, and they will enter in with incense be-
                                                                                            fore the face of the Lord ,and He will receive them!
                                                                                            They would not fear, neither hesitate, seeing all the
                                                                                            congregation are holy; every one of them . . . .
    The Hope Of the Blossoming Rod                                                                To sustain this wicked cIaim they seek a sign !
                                                                                                 And a sign had been given them !
                                And Moses laid up the rods before the                            With censers Korah and his company had attempted
                            Lord in the tabernacle of witness. And it
                            came to pass that on the morrow Moses                           to bring incense before the face of `Jehovah, incense
                            went into the tabernacle of witness; and,                       that had not been hallowed by the divinely appointed
                            behold, the  rod. of Aaron for the house of                     blood of atonement!
                            Levi was budded and brought forth buds,                               And the Lord had witnessed !                                    .'
                            and bloomed blossoms and yielded almonds.
                            And                                                                   Their claim had been put to nought and the wrath
                                      Moses brought forth all the rods from
                            before the Lord unto all the children of                        of Jehovah had destroyed these'proud rebels, that pre-
                            Israel; and they looked and took every man                      sumed to appear before Him in the way of their sinful
                            his rod.                                                        imagination, trampling under foot the righteousness
                                                           Numbers 173-g.                   and holiness of the Lord their `God. The earth had
                                                                                            swallowed them up ahve  in the sight of all the, con-
    A wicked generation sought after a sign !                                               gregation !
   A  s$n they desired, as always, to please their carnal                                         And the sign had been perpetuated.
lusts, to cater to their sinful intentions, to corroborate                                        For, of the brazen censers in which the incense of
their sinful imaginations and claims.                                                       presumption had been brought before -Jehovah's face,
    All we are holy! Such had been their proud pre- plates had been made for a covering of the altar.
tension, following  the' leadership of Korah and his                                              A warning not to repeat Korah's attempt and not
company.          Arrogantly they had risen in rebellion to be as his company.
against Moses, the servant of the Lord, and against                                               A sign to a wicked generation!
Aaron, Jehovah's anointed priest. Haughtily they
had denied that there could be any distinction between
the Lord's anointed and themselves and they accused
the. Lord's servants of presumption.
    And they threatened to force their way into the                                               And still they seek a sign!
sanctuary and to appear before the Lord in the taber-                                             Always they continue ; they cannot be satisfied till
nacle of witness each one for himself, without priestly                                      they have received the sign they seek, but will never
mediation !                                                                                  find, the sign that will justify their wicked presump-
    Were they not all holy? Holy they were in them- tion !
selves, in their own estimation and the special priest-                                           The signs of the Lord they do not, see, because they
hood of Aaron was an abomination in their sight, an do not want them. And they do not want them, because
offense to their proud and rebellious heart. Let Moses                                      they are never pleasing to their carnal desires and
and Aaron but go out of the way, let them cease from                                         imaginations. Their own sign they seek;- and seeking
their presumptious attempt to lift themselves up above                                       it they will destroy and falsely interpret the signs of
the congregation of the Lord, let the way into the                                          the Most High to their own destruction !                            .'  -.


   And would not that wicked generation find an inter- tion. For, they wail` and lament, like< foolish children
pretation for that covering of the altar, terrible          that cannot get their way: "we die, we perish, we all
memorial though it was, that would deprive it of all        perish; whosoever  cometh  anything near unto the
its  force?                                                 tabernacle of the Lord shall die ; shall we be consumed
  Ye have killed the people of the Lord!                    with dying?`-? The thing had been plainly determined.
   Such was their interpretation of the Lord's sign         The question had been whether they could not all be
even on the morrow after they had been witness of it.       priests, so that they might function without the media-
And such would be the significance attached to that         tion of Aaron. The answer was : Impossible ! . . . .
brazen cover in the future by that same wicked genera-         The natural man is not acceptable as a priest of
tion. The wicked rebels were the people of God ! And        the living God !
Moses and Aaron had killed them ! Still they would             He is cast out!
remove the servants of the Lord and force themselves           His offering of incense is an abomination unto the
into the sanctuary of God !                                 Lord !
    Thousands of them are struck down in the  wilder-          Such is the- testimony of the eleven rods that did
uess by the wrath of God Whom they are tempting.. . .       not blossom and bear fruit after they had been laid
    Yet, they seek after a sign!                            before the ,face,  of the Lord ! For, mark that the pro-
                                                            found idea of the priesthood is always that of consecra-
                                                            tion to the living God from the pnre' and hoiy motive
                                                            of the love of God. Even as it is `the fundamexital
                                                            notion of the prophetic office to know the living God
    A sign of condemnation !                                and to speak of Him and for Him and to His glory ;
    Such is, to the wicked generation that seeketh after    and even as it is basic to the office of kingship to rule
a sign, the sign of the blossoming rod of Aaron !           over all things in the Name of God and according to
    It is as with the sign of Jonah the prophet; there
is nothing but condemnation and wrath in it for an          His ordinances; so it is the deepest idea of the priest-
                                                            hood to consecrate self and all things to Him in love.
adulterous people, that love the imagination of their The priest must be holy unto the Lord! A priest must
own rebellious heart. It is as with the sign of the         not approach the Lord with burning incense in brazen
cross and of the resurrection; how could it be ought        or golden tenser,  unless that incense is symbol of the
but foolishness to the wisdom of the world and a            incense of his love, rising from the  tenser of his heart.
stumbling-block to the wicked sign-seekers? . . . .         He must bring forth fruits of righteousness, acceptable
    The sign of the rods !                                  to the Most High. And such love, and such consecra-
    And only one, and it the rod of Aaron, that blos- tion, and such fruits of righteousness were not to be
soms! All the rest remain dead, bare, fruitless !           found among Israel, were utterly wanting in them,
    Twelve rods are selected, one for each tribe. And       as they were in themselves. They were not by nature
the names of the princes of these tribes are engraven
on them for identification. Only, the rod of Levi's         holy unto the Lord . . . .
tribe bears the name of Aaron, for he it was, that had          Such was the testimony of the eleven fruitless rods !
been chosen by the Lord for the priesthood among His            They are the perfect picture of the nat$ral  man,
people. Before the face of the Lord they are laid,          righteous and holy-in his own estimation, attempting,
immediately before the ark of the testimony, in the         to approach the Most High with the incense of his own
Most Holy Place. And the purpose is, that the Lord          good works, without Aaron, without the High Priest,
may clearly manifest, what priesthood is acceptable         without Christ Jesus, without the blood of the cross ! . .
in His sight. It must be shown whether all the con-             Those rods were live branches once, capable of
gregation are holy, in themselves, apart from the           bearing fruit; so were we, so was the natural man.
priesthood of Aaron, whether or not they can enter              Those rods are dead now, incapable of producing
into the Holy Place and appear before the face of the       blossom and fruit; so is the natural man, incapable of
Lord independently, without the mediation of the            doing any good. The sole difference is, that the dead
anointed High Priest . . . .                                rod produces nothing, the dead sinner produces stink-
    And they wait for the morrow.                           ing fruits of unrighteousness and is proud of them,
    On the morrow they gather before the tabernacle         even appearing with them, in the foolish imagination
of witness, still  clamouring for their sign. In their      of his heart, before the face of God, in the tabernacle
sight Moses enters into the sanctuary and returns with      of witness.
the rods. Eleven rods remained unchanged, dead and              And they looked ! And took every man, his rod !.. . . .
fruitless, one rod, that of Aaron, appeared from before         Unmistakable testimony of God !
the face of the Lord with blossom and fruit. And they           Witness from heaven, that they were dead in sin
looked ; and they took every man his rod . . . .            and misery, unworthy to appear before the face of the
    Once more a wicked and adulterous generation            Holy One, incapable of producing fruits of righteous-
stands condemned. And they realize their condemna-          ness . . . .


   Cast out!                                                      than the others. All were alike unholy, alike unworthy
   Condemning testimony !                                         and incapable to serve in the sanctuary ; alike un-
                                                                  worthy, too, to receive that grace whereby alone they
                                                                  could be made priests of the living God.
                                                                     But Aaron was God's chosen High Priest.
   Blessed hope of the blossoming rod!                               And his was the priesthood of atonement. He was
   Not, indeed, for the adulterous generation, that               anointed to minister unto God, for himself and for
seeketh after a sign, but for them, that, knowing their the ,people,  in the sanctuary, always entering with the
own sin and miserable state, approach the living God              blood of the appointed sacrifice. No incense could he
through His anointed Priest.                                      carry  into the holy place, unless it was kindled by fire
   The word of the cross is foolishness to them that              from the altar and hallowed by the blood of atone-
perish, a stumbling-block to them that require a sign, ment !
but it is the power of God to them that are saved!                   Shadow of Him that was an High Priest forever!
   Aaron's rod blossomed !                                           Who would enter into the Holy Place, not made
   Not, indeed, of itself. There was no difference be-            with hands, and not with the blood of bulls and goats,
tween it and all the others, as they were laid before the         but with His own precious blood, in order that by His
face of the Lord in the sanctuary. It as well as they perfect sacrifice He might forever perfect them that
was dead, incapable of yielding blossom and fruit.                through Him go to God !
Every attempt to explain the budding and blossoming                  Who, by His own blood, merited the right for all
of Aaron's rod from natural causes, as for instance,              His brethren to be, delivered from the power of, sin
that it was a live almond branch that actually budded and death!
over night, must be rejected as foolish. The rod was                 And to be clothed with that righteousness, whereby
dead in itself and pointed to the fact, that even Aaron they may appear before the face of the Holy One.
of himself and by nature could not bring forth fruits                That they may be blossoming rods.
of righteousness, be consecrated to the Most High in                 Yielding fruit unto righteousness.
                                                             .
holy love, and serve as God's priest in the holy place.              Blessed hope of Aaron's rod!
Not all the congregation were holy unto the Lord in
themselves, as the rebels had claimed presumptuously,
but all were alike unholy, totally depraved and in-
capable of doing anything  pleasing.to  the Lord.
   But Jehovah performed a wonder!                                   Hope in the blossoming rod!
   A wonder of His grace.                                            Not in the eleven that failed to blossom !
   And He accomplished it in the rod of Aaron ! He                   It was in them the wicked and adulterous genera-
it is that quickened the rod, though it was severed               tion, that sought after a sign, had founded their hope.
from the tree and from the soil and makes it alive. He We all are holy ! That proud boast they wanted to see
caused it to bud and to blossom and to bring forth                verified in the sign of the rods.
fruit. Even as He it is and He alone, by the marvel                  And that hope was blasted !
of His grace, that quickeneth the dead and calls all                 They lament and they wail, that they shall perish,
things that. are not as if they were. He raises the               that they shall all die if they come near unto the
sinner, that is dead through trespasses and sins, priest sanctuary of God, that they shall be consumed by dying
of the devil and slave of unrighteousness ; He calls him and perish to the last man. But no cry of repentance
out of darkness into His marvelous light; He cleanses is heard in their lamentation. It is the terror of wicked-
the heart, He illuminates the mind, He changes the                ness, not the sorrow after God, that filled their hearts.
will ; He delivers from the power of sin and makes of Still the wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after
sinners, dead through sin, living priests of God, worthy a sign, for they are sorry, not that they have pre-
and capable of dwelling in His sanctuary, bringing sumptuously claimed a priesthood that could not be
forth living fruits of righteousness. Man, by nature theirs, but that their sign failed! . . . .
dead in sin, condemned if he appears before the face                 Still they look at the rods that failed and must
of God with the pretension that he is holy, cast out of ever fail to blossom!
God's holy place as unworthy and unfit, can be restored              But hope there is if, acknowledging that we are
to the priesthood only through the marvelous grace                unworthy and incapable of being priests of God, we
of the Almighty!                                                  turn to the rod that blossoms, by the power of the
   And this wonder of grace is accomplished only grace of Jehovah, through the blood of Aaron's priest-
through Aaron !                                                   hood.
   For, his was the divinely appointed priesthood of                 The living Christ! Priest forever!
atonement !                                                          And by Him we enter!
   Why otherwise should it be his rod that blossomed?                Wonder `of grace !
Surely, not because Aaron was somehow more worthy


                                                                   not by the denomination of churches but by the local
                  Our Church Order                                 brotherhood whose retired pastor he remains.
                     E M E R I T I - M I N I S T E R S   .            >t will be made plain that the proposition under c
                                                                   follows from that under a so that to deny either is to
                           Article 13                              deny both. That the proposition under d is contained in
      M%isters,  who by reason of age, sickness or other-          the article under consideration is evident. The stipula-
    wise, are rendered incapable of performing the duties of       tion is that the "church which they served shall provide
    their office, shall nevertheless retain the honor and title    for them in their need." What is meant is not the
    of a minister and the church which they have served            denomination of churches but the local brotherhood.
    shall provide honorably for them in their  need  (like-        This no student of our Church Order has ever denied.
    wise for the orphans and widows of ministers).                    As to proposition under a, it is thoroughly script-
   The artiiile has to do with persons known today as              ural. Consider that the Levites were eligible for serv-
"Emeritus-ministers." The word emeritus is derived                 ice at the age of twenty-five and were retired from
from  the  Latin  verb  emereti   meaning, to serve out one's      active duties at the age of fifty and ever after simply
term and thus merit and obtain an honorable discharge              assisted in guarding the sacred things. The notice
from service. The Romans used the word as the signi- reads : "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, This
fication of soldiers and public .officials  honorably dis- is it that belongeth unto the Levites: from twenty and
charged. In the beginning of the 17th century in the               five years old and upward they shall go in to war the
Netherlands, the word came into use as the designation             warfare of the service of the tabernacle of the con-
of ministers who by reason of age or sicknes were set              gregation: and from the age of fifty years they shall
free from the duties belonging to their office but re-             return from the warfare of the service, and shall serve
tained the honor and title of ministers. The word does             no more: but shall minister with their brethren in the
not appear in the above article.                                   tabernacle of the congregation, to keep the charge and
    The emeritus-minister retains the honor of min- shall do no service," Lev.  8:23-26.  Now the word
ster, that is, the right accruing from the office to               Levite was not merely a tribal name but also the name
minister the word and the sacraments. He is no de-                 of an office, but of an office- subordinate to or, better
posed minister, no dismissed minister and no minister said, included in, the office of priest. Before the Levite
who abandons his office and enters upon a secular might enter upon the duties in the sanctuary, he had
vocation.      The latter. is an ex-minister. So he de-            f;o be initiated into these duties. The priest sprinkled
posed from office; but the emeritus-minister (retired              him with water as a symbol of his cleansing from sin
by reason of age) lives out his career as the retired              and then caused him to be shaved from head to foot
pastor of the flock from which he received his emerita-            and his garments and person thoroughly washed. The
tion. Thus the tie binding him to this flock remains               people then laid their hands upon his head in token
intact.                                                            that he was an offering to Jehovah in  behaIf  of the
                                                                   nation.    Two bullocks were  then provided with the
    The article has reference to ministers set free not            proper meal-offerings. Upon the head of each, the
from a part of but from all their pastoral duties. A               Levite then laid his hands ; and then one of the animals
partial exemption could not have occasioned this                   was sacrificed as a sin-offering and the other as a
ruling; for one partially exempted attends to as many              burnt-offering for their ceremonial cleansing and con-
duties as his strength will allow. He thus remains in secration. Then the Levite entered upon his duties
office and as a result retains the honor and title of a            in the sanctuary, Num. 8 5-22. He took charge of the
Minister as these cannot be separated from the office. sanctuary and its furniture, doing all the menial work
But how sto judge about him set free from all duties?              required to keep these in proper order. He guarded
Our fathers took the stand that complete exemption the sanctuary and the sacred things, that no foreigners
is no deposition, that thus a minister so exempted re- or persons ceremonially unclean might- approach and
mains in office, retains the rights accruing from the              desecrate them. He himself, however, was not allowed
office and must be provided for by the church as long to touch the sacred vessels or the altar. He should be
as he lives, that the allotted provision is no alms but the servant of the priests, assisting them in the per-
a stipend which the church is in duty bound to pay.                formance of their duties in connection with the service
Such has always been the Reformed position.                        of the sanctuary.     He was also the burden-bearer,
    There are rightly considered four propositions with            carrying the utensils and objects used in service, even
which we here have to do. They are:                                as in the wilderness he bore the furniture and different
    (a)      The Emeritus-minister remains in office and           parts of the tabernacle, Num. 3 :5-9; 29-32 ; Num.
thus retains the. honor and title of a minister.                   18:1-6; 1:50, 53; 18~2;  8:15, 24, 25; 1:4'7-51;  3:25-47;
    (b)      The Emeritus-minister must be provided for.           4:4, 5, 15, 24-25.
    (c)      The Emeritus-minister is no object of charity ;           The question is whether the retirement of the  Le-
the provision he receives  .is no alms but salary.                 vite was at once a deposition from office. The proof
    (d)      The Emeritus-minister must be provided for that it was not is that after his retirement from active


I i                                                                                _A -- ./ .I         . --' ~~..
                                                                   "...LI
                                                                          _-._
                                                           THE               STA&~DARR                     BE:ARI$R-~~-           -~       '-'.           a~---
        .-              -..            -^^ -........  _                                                              -,_-- ..-                      .._____.. =2
         duties at the age of fifty he continued to assist in the                           zonder toestemming van den kerkeraad der kerk,  waar-
         guarding of sacred things, and thus retained the honor bij hij emeritus is, die benoeming aanvaarden."
         and title of their office.                                                               The view here expressed is, it seems to me, of a
              As to the seed of Aaron, only they of this seed,                              dubious character. How can a minister be member
         who were physically perfect, might be admitted to the                              of  .one church and  pastor  of another? The answer
         full rights and duties of the active priesthood (Lev.                              given is that this is possible in that the church grant-
         21:16-24)  ; but that the others, disqualified for service                         ing the emeritation exempts from all the duties belong-
         by some physical defect or disease, were nevertheless                              ing to the office of minister. But this only makes the
         priests is evident from this that they ate the food of thing possible but not right. It is true that pastorship
         their God, both of the most holy and of the holy, food is one and that membership is another. That to be a
         that only the priests might eat. "Only he (the dis-                                member of a certain church is not to be its pastor.
         qualified priest) shall not go in unto the vail, nor come                          But can one be joined to a flock as pastor without being
         nigh unto the altar". Now it is true that the Levi&s                               member of that flock? It would seem not. A minister
         and Priests were shadows and that the laws setting                                 is'certainly  a part of that body whose pastor he is, a
         forth their status in the commonwealth of Israel are                               member of the institute to which he is joined. From
         no longer in force at least as to the exact form in                                this it follows that an emeritus-minister who is pastor
         which they were promulgated. Yet through these laws of one church and member of another is a member of
         circulate certain imperishable principles which the two churches. Now according to consensus of opinion,
         New Testament church must take cognizance of and                                   this is forbidden. Even the minister serving a com-
         by which it must allow itself to be governed. One of bination of two churches, is the pastor of brotherhoods
         these principles is that those in duty bound to give                               that in respect to him constitute a unity so that as
         their entire active life to the service may not be di- pastor of the combination he is pastor and member of
         vested of their office when overtaken by the infirmaties one church only. So Rutgers opined (Kerkelijke  Ad-
         of age. There is not the slightest evidence in the New viezen, p. 291 of volume 1). As to the emeritus-min-
         Testament Scriptures of a pastor and teacher having ister holding office in the other church, this would
         been deposed from office by reason of sickness or age. seem to render his case even-more complicated. How-
              Consider that we have to do here with but two pos-                            ever this may be, the stand that the Reformed churches
         sibilities : either the minister incapacitated by sickness have always taken is that the emeritus-minister is free
         or age must be allowed to retain the honor of his office to leave the flock that gave him his emeritation and
         or he must be deposed.                                                            to join himself to another church, that in the event he
                                       If the one possibility be re-
         jected the other must be accepted. The possibility to                             chooses to leave, he nevertheless remains the minister
         be rejected is deposition.                                                        of the flock last served. If he keeps to his flock, such
                                            Such is the will of God as
         it comes to us through Scripture.                                                 has always been the view, he remains a member of the
                                                             Such has always
         been the conviction of the Christian Church and in consistory and may thus be delegated to classical and
         particular of the Reformed Churches.                                              synodical  gatherings. Here again one cannot refrain
                                                                                           from asking what the minister's place of residence
              Certain questions arise here : How should the emer- has to do with his remaining a member of the con-
         itus-minister spend the days of the season of his retire- sistory. Does not his being minister of a flock entitle
         ment ?                                                                                                                    ..--
                   May he be allowed to break away from the -whim to a seat in the consistory of that flock irrespective
         church that granted him his emeritation to join him- of where he chooses to reside. How then can a change
         self to another brotherhood? Let us take up the ques- of residence entail him in the loss of this title? At-
         tion last put, first. It seems to be customary for the tending consistory meeting is a right accruing from
         emeritus-minister to move away from he flock last the office of ministers. The closer one looks at the
       " served and to become a member of another church,                                   stand under consideration the more one sees that it is
         which church may even admit him to the office of weighed down by inconsistencies.
         Elder or that of Deacon. And this is considered right                                    Another question is: how should the days of retire-
         and proper. To quote Joh. Jansen: "Hij  blijft dus,                               ment be spent or, to put the question otherwise, should
         ook al verhuist hij naar een andere plaats en wordt hij                           emeritation be made to spell exemption from all duties?
         lid van een andere kerk, emeritus-dienaar van de kerk It must, of course, if sickness or old age has completely
         en, om zoo  te zeggen, emeritus-lid van den kerkeraad,                             disqualified the minister for service. Otherwise not.
         die hem emeriteerde, zoodat hij uit discretie voor zijn                            Consider once more the Levites  of the Old Testiment
        kerkeraad, en zijn opvolger,  zich in den regel van het                             dispensation. Though retired at the age of fifty, they
         bijwonen der vergaderingen onthoudt, tenzij dan op                                 continued to minister with their brethren in the taber-
        verzoek om mede tegenwoordig te  zijn."                              The late       nacle and to keep the charge. So the Lord had com-
        Dr. H. Bouwman expresses himself thus: "Indien hij                                  manded. Their retirement, therefore, was not abso-
        lid eener andere kerk wordt, kan hij van dit recht geen                             lute. The resting Levite guarded the sanctuary and
        gebruik maken en is daar gewoon lid der gemeente.                                   the sacred things, that no foreigner or persons cere-
        Indien  deze kerk hem benoemt tot ouderling, mag hij                               monially unclean might approach and desecrate them.


Of the priests we do not read that they were retired.      appetites and who therefore has for several years been
If not disqualified by disease, they remained in active looking fcrward to the time when his age would per-
service till the day of their death. So, too, as far as    mit him to apply for his emeritation. Long ago he
can be ascertained, the apostles and pastors of the        lost interest in his work. He has grown stale and in
apostolic church.    They came to rest when death the pulpit bores his flock to tears. Or, if he is other-
beckened  and not before. This granting of emeritation wise capable, he has degenerated into a disagreeable,
for the mere reason that the applicant has attained to     cantankerous old man, gloomy, pessimistic and scold-
the age of sixty-five or seventy years has not the sanc- ing, a man unwilling to retreat into the background
tion of Scripture and is sheer folly. Why should a         of the picture now that he is about to be retired. To
minister, seventy years old, be set free from all the      make matters worse, he standing in his room, the other
duties belonging to his office, if still hearty and hale? minister, is young, headstrong, ambitious and jealous
What has age to do with the matter? Some men are of his prerogatives. The two will not get along under
seventy at fifty; others fifty at seventy.    It seems the same roof. Our Reformed fathers were realists
rather ridiculous to compel a perfectly capable min-       in the good sense. Knowing life, they said, let the
ister or professor to lay down his work for the mere       emeritus-minister be free to leave. Human nature
reason that he celebrates his seventieth birthday. A being what it is, it is perhaps necessary that there be
faithful minister in good health and with faculties this freedom, that the emeritus-minister avail himself
unimpaired, gains in power, goes forth from strength of it and put as great a distance as he can between
unto strength as the years go by, so that the older he     himself and the flock last served. But it ought not
grows the more' valuable his services become. More to be thus.
and more the churches will begin to wonder how they           We may now pass on to the proposition next listed.
can do without him. Why either compel or allow this The Emeritus-minister, stricken with age or dis-
man to retreat into oblivion for the sole reason that      qualified by sickness must be provided for. This I
he has reached a certain age. In the fifteenth century would say, follows as a matter of course. Mark you,
a certain Ds. Wiersma continued in active service until the point upon which my argument now turns is not
he was nearly ninety years old. He did so because the that the stipend he, as a retired minister, receives is
stipend allowed emeritus-ministers was too smal1 to no alms but salary, but merely that the disabled  mih-
permit him to retire. This, the writer who tells about ister who can no longer attend to the duties of his office
it, deems an outrage. Perhaps it was, but that the should be cared for. This I repeat, ought to be self-
aforesaid minister was nearly ninety years old when evident. Any disabled person, without an income, must
he laid down his work is not something that by itself be helped, or he and his family, if he has one, must
need be deplored. Humanly speaking, his remaining starve, The disqualified minister forms no exception
active, may have been the reason why he became so old. to this. He is needy and must be helped. The church
   But the aged minister should not be required to do      must care for those in need, whoever they may be.
more than he can; for them both he and the flock Yet, strange to say, there have always been some and
suffers. When strength actually fails, the burden must perhaps many who in their reasonings seemed to pro-
be shifted to other and younger shoulders. Thus re-        ceed from the premise that the church can permit its
lieved, the minister should keep him to his flock instead disqualified minister to live in actual and even dire
of moving away and attend to as many of the duties         need with impunity. -The argument runs -something
belonging to the office as his remaining capacity for like this, `We common men must shift for ourselves
work allows. A genuinely pious, wise and discreet in our old age or when disqualified, why not the min-
minister, grown old in the service is no liability but     ister. What is more, all his life he has had a large
an asset even if, on account of old age, he must be set    and steady income. His check was always there at the
free from all his duties. What a power for good he         end of the week or month with nothing deducted for
could be if he kept to his flock. The minister who         lost time. .How lovely ! Should he not have saved
came to take his place, being young and inexperienced for his old age?' So they reason. We need not be long
perhaps, eagerly turns to him for counsel and advice.      in replying to this. Statistics reveal that the average
The consistory continues to lean upon him. The youth salary of ministers has always been small. The clergy-
esteem him for he is a venerable old man. The aged men - the common priests  - of the ancient and
delight in his fellowship, feed upon his word and are medieval Christian church were, at least many of them,
refreshed. And they call him blessed. With him near, wretchedly poor. The bishops lived in luxury but not
all seems to be well.                                      so the common priests. As to the ministers of the
    But the picture I here hang up is much too ideal.      early Reformed churches, their salaries were usually
Life is not always this way. The retiring minister too small. As  I pointed out in the former writing,
is not always wise and discreet. He is not always one article 11 of our Church Order was drafted and adopted
with a soul enriched by many years of faithful service. with a view to ministers not properly provided for by
Too often he is one who has wasted his time, dis- the congregations with which they were connected and
qualified himself for service by indulging his carnal      whose condition of life therefore made a change of


pastorate so urgent that they would leave at the first and corrupt in all his ways, he hath lost all his excel-
opportunity without even first gaining the consent of lent gifts, which he had received from God." Verily,
the classes. I wrote further, "There are several cases       that prodigal son is you and I. But does the Father
on record of ministers or their wives engaged in vari-       say to His ill-deserving child, who cries unto him in
ous kinds of secular pursuits because salaries were not      his great need. `Guilty, miserable, poverty-stricken
large enough to live on. It would repeatedly occur           wretch! Be silent. Thou hast wasted my substance.
that Classes and Synods had to see to it that ministers      Be gone. Hell is thy portion.' Nay, such is not His
went not to teaching school, opening shipbuilding            response ; but in the imagery of the parable He, the
yards, exploiting mines, practicing law or medicine          Father, sees him and has compassion on him, the con-
and the like with a view to swelling incomes. The trite of heart, when he is yet a great way off. And He
revenue derived from lands were often to meagre or           runs and falls on his neck and kisses him. And instead
were appropriated by the "jonkers" and church of throwing past sins, now confessed, into his face, He
wardens. The result was that ministers had to engage         says to His servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put
in various kinds of work of a secular nature that they it on him ; and put a ring on his hand and shoes on
and their own might have bread." Let us cease prating his  feet . . . .  "
about the handsome salaries of ministers. It has no             The church may not say to the needy one, be he
basis in fact but rises from the flesh. These salaries,      Emeritus-minister or layman, `That thou art now with-
I speak now in general, have always been small and           out the means of living is thine own fault. Look there-
in many instances, too small. There are of course            fore to thyself. Be gone! If such be our retort, the
exceptions. Calvin's remark is true: "It has always          love of the Father is not in us.
been the disposition of the world, freely to bestow on          Finally, is it true that the church forsakes its
the ministers of Satan every luxury, and hardly to           needy? It has done this. To confine ourselves to the
supply godly ministers, pastors with necessary food. Reformed churches, the record of the acts of early
It is one of the tricks of Satan to defraud godly min-       Reformed Synods and Classes show that  Emeritus-
isters of support, that the church may be deprived of        ministers together with widows and orphans of de-
such ministers." History bears out this statement.           ceased ministers were often sorely neglected. Church-
   As for the minister saving for his old age, who           wardens and church-members alike were so forgetful
said he has to do this? Not certainly the Lord, but          of them that ministers would contract with the civil
somebody's flesh. Know that a man who makes it his           magistrate in behalf of their dependents that the latter
life ambition to save for the rainy day will, without        might not be without the means of living after their
fail, develope into a miser. Should ministers or any- decease. The result was that the government instituted
body else for that matter engage in actions that tends       a *`widow-fund" toward which all ministers were asked
to arouse and feed the worst that is in him?                 to contribute with the understanding that the deficiency
   But consider that the question with which we now          would be supplied by the state. This took pIace in the
deal is not what salary the minister received during         17th century. Then came the French Revolution. As
the period of his active life but what his present need      a result of the chaos that reigned during the French
may be. Granting'now, for the sake of argument, that period, the condition of life of Ministers and their de-
he could have saved enough of his income to carry him        pendents again became deplorable. Many suffered
through that  final period of inactivity without any out- hunger. With the restoration of the house of Orange,
side aid, the fact may be that he didn't, so that he is      order was restored. Salaries and pensions of min-
now in real need. What now? Must he be abandoned             isters were regulated by the government and their
because, according to the opinion of some, he was too        payment guaranteed.      As to the churches of the
careless with his money? Surely, no. The church may "afscheiding" their break with the State, brought them
let no man starve because he wasted his substance            to the fore as the sole supporters of their clergymen.
in careless living. The  chu.rch doing so is certainly       The territory over which this movement had spread
not acting in agreement with the example set by our          was divided into provinces and each province was held
Heavenly Father. Consider that the prodigal son in           financially responsible for the salaries of ministers
the parable is a true image of every one of us. In           resorting within its boundaries. But several of these
a spiritual sense we have wasted our substance. In           districts defaulted. A general committee was appointed
the words of one of the articles of our Confession,          and to it was now assigned the task of caring for all
"God created man out of the dust of the earth, and           emeritus-ministers, widows and orphans in the whole
made and formed him after His own image and like-            land. Collections were held and the proceeds cast into
ness, good, righteous, and holy, capable in all things       a general treasury from which the needy could draw.
to will, agreeably to the will of God. But being in          But this treasury was generally so low that emeriti,
honor he understood it not, neither knew his excellency,     widows and orphans could not receive what they
but willfully subjected himself to sin, and  consequentIy    needed. The condition here described, prevails in every
to death, and the curse, giving ear to the words of the      denomination of churches of the present time.  `Es-
devil . . . . And being thus become wicked, perverse pecially the emeritus-ministers and their dependents


 516                                            *THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
__-."_L..-_-  ._... _ ._-.._ -    ____"___..
have always been neglected. They are being sorely                 port he receives is therefore no alms, that is, no gift
neglected today-by the Christian Reformed churches. to a poor man, but a stipend to which he has a  juridical
So it appears from the official organs of these churches.         right. That the church may let a disqualified and
The sole reason that we as churches have not become               needy minister starve, na right-minded person will for
guilty of this grave sin'is that we have no emeritus- a single iustance maintain. But few it seems, are will-
ministers.                                                        ing to understand that he cannot possibly be an object
       That the churches have an obligation toward the of charity. Fact is, nevertheless, that Holy Writ for-
emeritus-minister is certain. Turning to Deut. 12:19              bids placing him in a class with the poor. Let me show
we read, "Take heed to thyself that thou forsake not this. Consider that in the Old Testament dispensation
the Levite as long as thou livest upon the earth." This the Levites, including the priests on the one hand and
mandate applied to the retired Levite as well as to the the poor on the other hand had to be regarded and
 Levite in active service. The Levite and the priest              cared for as comprising two distinct and disparate
together with the institutions they represented, so we groups. The proof of this is that in the Mosaic code
 wrote in a former article, have disappeared with the             of laws we come upon one group of precepts that turn
 advent of Christ. The laws that bore on the matter               upon the Levites and another group that turn solely
of their support are no longer in force in the exact form upon the poor; that in agreement with these precepts
 in which they were promulgated. But as to the im- the Levites were cared for in a manner differing from
 mutable truths pervading them, they are still as bind- that in which the poor of the land were helped.
 ing as ever. The above mandate, cast into the mould                 As to the poor, the grain which grows in the cor-
 of New Testament phraseology, reads: "Thou shalt                 ners of the field and the gleanings of the harvest and
 provide for the pastors and teachers I, your Lord, gave          vineyard shall be left for them and dependent in the
 my church. Take heed to thyself that thou forsake                community. Accordingly, when the Israelite reaps the
 them not as long as thou livest upon the earth."                 harvest of his land, he shall not wholly reap the car- '
        What may be the reason why churches, contrary ners of his field. He shall not gather the gleanings of
 to the explicit command of God, neglect the emeritus- his harvest. Re shall not glean his vineyard, neither
 minister. The following. There is always a fleshly,              gather every grape of his vineyard. He must leave
 reprobated seed in the church, a seed whose heart is             them for the poor. If an Israelite becomes impover-
 far from God, as seed therefore destitute of love for            ished or incapacitated, he shall be supported by his
 the service and for those by whom the service is per-            fellow-countrymen. Money and the other things neces-
 formed - the ministers of the gospel. If it be con- sary for his living shall also be loaned to him without
 sidered that this seed is always in the majority and             recompense.    "If there be among you a poor man,"
 that the true people of God have but a small begin-              said the Lord to Israel, "of one of thy brethren within
 ning of true obedience, it will occasion no surprise that anjr of thy gates . . . . thou shalt not harden thine
 the emeritus-minister has fared so ill. Then, it must            heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother.. .  "
  not be lost sight of that the ministers themselves are          Lev. 19 :9, 10; 23; 29; 25 :25-28; Deut. 15 :7-11; Ex.
  to blame.- I speak now in general. As a class they 23 :6.
 are far from perfect. And the faults of many of them                 Here -we have to do with a body of precepts that
 are too glaring. What respect can members have for               apply only to the poor in Israel. Nowhere do we read,
  a-worldly, loose-living minister, who regards his office        `If there be among you a poor Levite.or  a poor priest -
  as a license for loafing? None whatever. And this too of one of thy brethren . . . . ' or `And thou shalt not
  many of them are. All too soon they lay down their              glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every
  work that they may rest though they have been resting grape of thy vineyard ; thou shalt Ieave them for the
  all their lives.                                                poor Levite or for the poor priest . . . . ' There could
         If this is the only kind of a minister the member        be, from a legal point of view, no poor  Levi& and
  knows of it need occasion no surprise that any pre-             priests. This is evident from the word of the Lord
 sentation of the cause of the emeritus-minister leaves that came to them. Concerning the Levites He said:
  him cold and indifferent.                                       "Behold I have given the children of Levi all the tenth
         A third possible reason for this neglecting of the       in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which
  emeritus-minister is that in many instances at least            they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the
  he receives his emeritation, is set free from  all his          congregation.`* Unto the priest He said: "I am thy
  duties, when still comparatively fit, that then with a          portion. All the best of the oil, and all the best of the
  body and mind still sound he disengages himself from wine, and of the wheat, the first fruits of them which
  his congregation; but this action, if it will be seen as        they shall offer unto the Lord, them have I given
  detrimental also to the material well-being of the              thee . . . . "Lev. 15:11-13;  Nu. 18:8-32; Deut. 12:11,
  emeritus-minister, must be contemplated in connection 12, 17-19; 14:22-27;  16; 10-15, etc.
  with the propositions under c and d.                                Consider that a person is poor in a material sense
         The proposition under  c asserts that the emeritus-      when he has nothing. This exactly cannot be said of
  minister is no object of charity, that the material sup- the Levites as, according to the above notices, they


actually possessed by the divine statute all the tenth a legal possession by a statute forever. Consider how
in Israel for an +nheritunce:  "Behold I have given the amazingly unjust it would have been, had the Israelites
children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inherit- robbed the aged and stricken Levite, no longer able
ance," Nu.  18:21.    The Levites including the priests        to perform the service, of this tenth  - his legal posses-
cannot therefore possibly be classified with the poor.         sion - and then, after having reduced him to a state
The latter legally possessed nothing, were devoid of           of abject poverty, said to him, `Betake  thyself now to
the means of living. The Lord therefore commanded the fields of the rich and gather there the leavings that
that they be provided for in their needs but nowhere           thou mayest have bread.'
do we read of Him saying: `Unto thee, my poor, I have             The expression, "robbing the Levite" is correctly
given the corners of the field and the gleanings of the        chosen; for that tenth was his exclusive property, not
harvest and the vineyard, yea, as much of the sub- that of the Israelites. Hence, to deprive him of this
stance of the rich as thou needest. It is thine for an tenth was to rob him in a very actual sense.
hheritance.     Had He said this, the poor as to their            What now is there for us to learn out of all this ?
status would not have been poor; but this they were.           Much in every way. Let me again say that these cere-
The corners of the fields were the legal possession of         monial laws, though no longer valid as to the form in
the owners of these fields and not of the poor. The            which they were promulgated, are nevertheless per-
former were commanded to give what was legally vaded by principles of truth that are eternal, principles
theirs, the yield of the corners, to the poor, the widows therefore out of which we of this dispensation should
and the orphans, that the latter might not be in want.         live. What is more, the Levites and priests were pro-
Disobeying, the land-owner withheld from the poor              phetic figures  of, Christ and therefore in a secondary
a substance upon which the latter had a moral claim            sense also figures of the pastors and teachers Christ
o n l y .                                                      gives unto His church of the present day. The features
    But as to the Levite, the tenth was by divine statute      of the figure, therefore, must reappear in the cor-
his inhem%mzce. This substance therefore was no alms responding realities. So it is here. As the Levites
but a stipend upon which the Levite had a legal claim          and priests, so the pastors and teachers of the New
as long as he lived, thus also when old and entirely Testament church, they  are separated, to stand before
disqualified for service. So it was with the portion the Lord, to minister unto Him and to bless His name
assigned to the priests.  Said the Lord unto Aaron,            all the days of their life. They shall give themselves
"All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine,        whoIIy  and permanently to the service. This has been
and of the wheat, the first fruits of them which they          proven in former articles. In view of this, they, the
shall offer unto the Lord, them have I given thee . . . . "    pastors and teachers, have no part or inheritance with
Lev. 15 :ll-13, etc. This substance, too, was no alms          their brethren, may not therefore provide for them-
but possession upon which the priest had a legal claim         selves in their needs. This command was in substance
until the day of his death. Nowhere do we read of the repeated by the apostle Paul in his letter to Timothy:
Lord saying to Aaron, `The oil and the wheat is thine          "Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier
as long as thou art able to minister before my face            of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth him-
in the tabernacle, but when the infirmities, of old age self with the affairs of this life; that he may please
will lay thee low, thy status will change and the wheat        Him who hath chosen him to be a soldier," II Tim.
and oil no longer will be thine. Thou wilt be a poor 2:3, 4. The Levites, the pastors and teachers shall
man. Then thou shalt  betake thyself to the land-              refrain from ministering to their own necessities; for,
owners and they shall provide for thee in thy needs.'          doing so, they entangle themselves in the affairs of
Instead we read: "This (the oil and the wheat, etc.)           this life. This they may not do, but shail be wholly
is thine. I have given them unto thee as a statute and permanently devoted to the service. But the pastors
forever." Forever includes, certainly, the lifetime of and teachers as well as the Levites must eat. To the
each priest.                                                   priests the Lord said, "The oil and the wheat is thine,"
    Why did the Lord by statute permanently place and to the Levites, "The tenth is thine." It has been
the Levite and the priest outside the class of the poor? shown that, as to the principle circulating through it,
 Consider that the Lord had decreed that Levi should this command, too, was repeated by Christ and the
 have no part or inheritance with Israel (Deut. 18 :l)         apostles.    See former articles. One passage from
had decreed therefore, such is the meaning, that Levi Matt. 10:              "And as ye go to preach . . . . provide
should be without land and thus without the instrument neither gold nor silver, nor brass in your purses, nor
 for providing in his own needs. By divine statute it          scrip for your journey . . . . for the workman is
 was unlawful and not only unlawful but actually im- worthy of his hire." It is to be noticed that Christ
 possible for Levi to provide for himself. Unlawful            does not say, `Provide neither gold nor silver, for the
 it was; and it was this for the reason that Levi haa          poor must be cared for and as ministers of the gospel,
 to stand before the Lord to minister unto Him and to          ye, as to your status are poor,' but, "The workman is
 bless His name unto this day, Deut. 10 :8. But Levi           worthy of his hire."                          G. M. 0.
 must eat. Therefore the Lord gave him the tenth as                                (To be continued)


                                                `L'Hlii      S'i'HNLJHKJJ       .L5EiWJXl%LC
                                                                                       .^--^--  ..-
. _- ._               __-..... ..^-".--   ^_~  __..-              ..^
    r3. De Leer aangaande de Burgerlijke Overheid.                       God may not extend his grace to any who are without
    Punt 4 en  Fj kunnen we we1  uitschakeleh,  als met                  the pale of ordinary means, as it may seem good in his
handelende over de zaak in kwestie,  doch de eerste drie                 sight."
punten zullen we eerst even neerschrijven, zooals ik ze                     Den Hollander  ten gerieve, zullen we die 4 punten
las in Sckaff-Herzog  Encyclopaedia  of Religious Knowl- even vrij vertalen :
edge,  vol.  111, page  2502. Editie: Funk  & Wagnalls,
New York, 1882. Ze luiden als volgt :                                          (1) "Dat ten opzichte van de leer der verlossing,.
                                                                         zooals die geleerd wordt in de `Standards' (d. w. z., de
     (1)          "That in regard to the doctrine of redemption          Westminster Confessie, G. V.) en daarmede overeen-
as taught in the Standards (en met die Standards  be-                    sterdmende,  de liefde Gods tot de geheele menschheid,
doelen zij de Westminster Confessie, G. V.) and in                       de gave Zijns Zoons tot verzoening van de zonden der
consistency therewith, the love of God to all mankind,                   wereld, en het vrije aanbod van zaligheid aan men-
his gift of his Son to be the propitiation for the sins                  schen zonder onderscheid, op grond van Christus'  vol-
 of the world, and the free offer of salvation to men maakte offerande - zaken zijn, die door deze Kerk
 without distinction, on the ground of Christ's perfect                  van het allerhoogste belang  geacht werden in het sy-
 sacrifice, are matters which have been and continue to                  steem der Evangelie-waarheden en nog steeds  worden,
 be regarded by this church as vital in the system of                    en waaraan immer een voorname  plaats dient gegeven
 gospel truth, and to which due prominence ought ever te worden.
 to be given.                                                                  (2)     "Dat de leer der Goddelijke besluiten,  inslui-
     (2)          "That the doctrine of the divine decrees, in-          tende de leer der uitverkiezing tot het eeuwige leven,
 cluding the doctrine of election to eternal life, is held               gehouden wordt in  verband  en in harmonie met de
 in connection and harmony with the truth that God is                    waarheid, dat God niet wil dat eenigen verloren  gaan,
 not willing that any should perish, but that all should maar dat zij allen tot bekeering komen, en dat Hij in
 come to repentance, and that he has provided a salva-                   een zaligheid voorzien heeft, die genoegzaam is voor
 tion  sufficient for all, adapted to all, and offered to all            allen,  passend is bij  allen, en aangeboden wordt  aan
 in the gospel ; and also with the responsibility of every               allen  in het Evangelie ; en ook met de verantwoorde-
 man for his dealing with the free and unrestricted offer                lijkheid van een iegelijken mensch voor zijn handel-
 of eternal life.                                                        wijze met het vrije en onbeperkte  aanbod van eeuwig
      (jr>        "That the doctrine of man's total depravity,           leven.
 and of his loss of `all ability of will to any spiritual                      (3)  "Dat de leer der totale verdorvenheid des  men-
 good accompanying salvation,' is not held as implying                   schen, en van zijn verlies van `alle bekwaamheid des
 such a condition of man's nature as would affect his wils tot eenig  goed  de zaligheid verzellende,' niet gehou-
 responsibility under the law of God and the gospel of                   den wordt als inhoudende zulk een  toestand  zijner
 Christ, or that he does not experience the strivings and                natuur, die tekort zou  doen  aan zijn  verantwoordelijk-
 restraining influences of the Spirit of God, or that he heid onder de Wet en het Evangelie van Christus, of
  cannot perform actions in any sense good ; although                    dat hij met de twistende en stuitende werkingen van
  actions which do not spring from a renewed heart are                    Gods Geest ervaart, of dat hij geen daden  doen  kan, die
  not spiritually good or holy, - such as accompany sal-                 in welken zin ook goed zijn; ofschoon daden,  die niet
  vation."                                                                opkomen uit een vernieuwd hart, niet geestelijk  goed
      Tot zoover de eerste drie  punten van de Verklaren-                 of heilig zijn, - zooals die, welke de zaligheid ver-
  de Acte.                                                                zellen."
      Nu is het  we1  waar, dat die  andere twee  punten                       We zullen ook nog even punt 4 vertalen:
  niet gaan over onze zaak,  tech zullen we ook nog punt 4
  afschrijven.. En dat  doen  we, omdat de zaak die in het                      (4)    "Dat, hoewel niemand gezaligd wordt, dan
                                                                          alleen door het middelaarswerk van  Christus en door
  4de punt aangeroerd wordt, ook in de laatste jaren                      de genade Zijns Heiligen Geestes, die werkt, wanneer
  strijds onder ons, zoo van terzijde ingeschoven werd.
      Hier is dan ook nog punt 4:                                         Hij wil, waar  Hij wil en hoe Hij wil; hoewel de plicht
                                                                          klaar en gebiedend is, om het Evangelie tot den heiden
           (4)     "That while none are saved except through              te  zenden,  die verzonken ligt in onkunde, zonde en
  the mediation of Christ and by the grace of his Holy                    ellende ; en hoewel de uitwendige en gewone middelen
  Spirit who worketh when and where and how it                            ter zaligheid voor hen, die in staat zijn om door het
  pleaseth  him ; while the duty of sending the gospel to Woord geroepen te  worden,  de geboden des Evangelies
  the heathen, who are sunk in ignorance, sin, and                        te zijn, - in het aanvaarden der `Standards' wordt het
  misery, is clear and imperative  ; and while the outward                met gegscht te houden, dat zij, wie dan ook, die in
  and ordinary means of salvation for those capable of hun jeugd sterven, verloren gaan, of dat God Zijn ge-
  being called by the Word are the ordinances of the nade  met mag uitbreiden tot hen, die buiten het terrein
  gospel,  - in accepting the Standards, it is not required               der gewone middelen verkeeren, indien zulks Hem
  to be held that any who die in infancy are lost,or that                 mocht behagen."


naam van kind Gods, heeft recht om te wonen  in het
huis des Vaders, heeft,recht  ook op de eeuwige, heer-                          Moses' Faith
lijke erfenis, die onverderfelijk, onbevlekkelijk en  on-       Thus did Moses refuse to be called the son of
verwelkelijk bewaard wordt voor hem in de hemelen.           Pharaoh's daughter. This refusal consisted in a firm
Want Gods kind wordt in Christus  gerekend als in de         resolve to disown his adoption and the treasures of
volste harmonie zijnde met de reinheid van Gods wet          Egypt  - riches, honor and glory - that went with it.
en wil, zoo volkomenlijk  als hadde hij nooit zonde  ge-     Its other side was a resolve to own his brethren to-
daan, nooit schuld gehad, en altoos Gods wil gedaan.         gether with their affliction and their God.
En dit alles uit genade. Want voorwaar, Gods kinde-                                                           "
ren  zullen het belijden, "indien we voor God verschij-         His brethren were the people of God by reason of
nen moesten, steunende en rustende  op onszelven, of the covenant which He had made with Abraham. He
op eenige andere schepselen, hoe weinig het ook ware,        joined himself to them and was thus ready to partake
wij moesten helaas verslonden worden."  Nu wij ech-          of the evils to which they were now subjected. He
ter op de gerechtigheid van God in Jezus Christus mo-        would bear their reproach rather than enjoy the
gen steunen en leunen, nu mogen diekinderen  juichen :       pleasures of sin for a season. These, pleasures were
er is geene verdoemenis voor degenen die in  Christus        the things that were his in virtue of his being the son
Jezus zijn ; want het is God die rechtvaardig maakt.         of Pharaoh's daughter, the honor and riches that went
Wie is het dan die verdoemt ? Christus  is het die ge-       along with this state of sonship. They are,&alled  the
storven is, ja wat meer is, die ook opgewekt is, tot         treasures of sin because they could be, retained and
onze rechtvaardigmaking, Die ook ter rechterhand             enjoyed only if he kept himself to the court of Pharioh
Gods is, Die ook voor ons bidt. En Zijn gebed, dat vol-      and thus would disown his kinsmen and their God.
maakt is, wordt eeuwiglijk verhoord.                         Arrayed on the one side was  his. adoption and
                                                             treasures.    If he owned his people he had to, suffer
                                             L. Vermeer      with them affliction. The two could not be, separated.
                                                             If he chose the treasures of Egypt, he had to keep
                                                             himself to Pharaoh's daughter and to Egypt and- all
                                                             that was Egyptian including the  ,persecutibn  that
                      I BELIEVE IT                           Pharaoh had instituted against God and his: people.
              You ask me why I'm happy-                      These could not be disjoined and the one taken to the
                Why I'm singing all the day,                 exclusion of the other. He must pit himself against
              Why I smile at tribulations                    God or Pharaoh. He could not be friends with both
                That would hinder                            no `more than he could serve two masters. Pharaoh
                                     or dismay:              was darkness and God is light: In Him there is no
              `7% because the Savior  .,promised             darkness at all. He therefore had to choose. Choosing
                To be with me all the way-                   Egypt's treasures would be to pit himself against God      .
                     And I believe it!                       and to join Egypt in afflicting his brethren. ' There
                                                             was a clash of interests here and from the point of
              You ask me why the burdens                     view of Pharaoh's wicked consciousness a struggle for
                Of the world cannot  oppress-                supremacy between Pharaoh and God ; and the bone
              Why the many cares and trials                  of contention was God's people. Pharaoh's wicked dis-
                That I meet cannot distress:                 position found expression in his taunt, "Who is the
                                                             Lord." Moses therefore had to choose.
              `Tis because the Savior promised                  And he chose his kinsmen. Apparently a choice
                To be with me, and to bless,                 of abject foolishness. For affliction  would now be his
                    And I believe it!                        portion and the treasures of Egypt would be lost to
                                                             him. But he was a child of grace and a man of faith.
              YOU ask me how I hope to meet                  He understood therefore that the reproach of his
                The loved ones gone before                   brethren was the reproach of Christ and therefore
              In a bright and glad tomorrow,                 greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. For bound
                On a fair eternal shore:                     up with this reproach was the reward  - life  eternai;
              `Tis because the Savior promised               and with the treasures of Egypt went death, eternal
                                                             hell. And unto the reward he had respect; for he had
                Love and life forevermore,                   faith. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for
                    And I believe it!                        and the evidence of things not seen. When there is
                                                             faith the things of the Spirit  - the recompense of
                                                             the reward - take on substance, rise before the eye as
   Vrede onder ons kruis is alleen te verkrijgen bij         the sole blessed reality and thus become the things
het kruis.                                                   hoped for. To the .man with faith, the things not seen

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

become as real as the things seen. Therefore faith is who loved them better than life? Did this mocking,
the evidence of things not seen. And Moses had faith. jeering reply mirror the hearts of them all? What
He made the right choice. By grace he chose to be            had he said ? Who made thee a prince and judge over
God's hand for the deliverance of them. That he knew us? Indeed ! Who had? It now must have occurred
himself as having been selected by Heaven for this           to Moses that no one had but himself. *A self-appointed
task, we gather from the apology of Stephen. In the judger So he must have now risen before his eye.
record of this apology there occurs a statement that         Small wonder they were making sport of him.
reads  :    "For he supposed that his brethren would            "As thou killedst the Egyptian." These words
have understood how that God by his hand would de- frighten Moses, because he was a self-appointed judge.
liver them." So he went out unto his brethren, and           The deed was then known, had passed from tongue to
looked on their burdens. How the sight of these bur- tongue and had reached the ears of Pharaoh. And he
dens stirred him. Surely it was now time for the Lord sought -to slay Moses. And Moses fled for he was a
to act. He, Moses, was willing and capable. And his          self-appointed judge, a deliverer as yet without a call-
brethren groaned by reason of their burdens. What            ing and thus without the conviction that the Lord had
was the Lord waiting for? He felt certain that his           sent him and was with him. It can be expected there-
brethren had placed the correct and desired construc- fore that he fled.
tion upon the visit that he now payed  them, had under-         Yet this flight was at once an act of faith: "By
stood that through this visit he was saying to them,         faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the
`My brethren, I am one of you. I have cast myself            king, for he had endured as seeing him who is in-
with your lot. See in me the promised deliverer. Re-         visible," Web.  1127. Not fearing the wrath of the
ceive me and rejoice.' And he thought that they had          king, he fled. There is nothing paradoxical in this.
silently accepted him.                                       Having slain the Egyptian, two courses lied open to
    But he was due for a sore disappointment. He             him. He could immediately have gone to Pharaoh and
spied an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew. A fierce indigna-        explained to him that the deed was entirely without
tion swept over his soul ; for was not that Hebrew one       significance, merely the ebullition of a sudden, mean-
of his brethren? Looking this way and that way (for          ingless passion, which the king must not take
with all his fervor he was still cautious, but it was the    to heart. Fearing the wrath of the king, he could
caution of fear for as yet he had no calling) and seeing     have sought to reassure him by some such kind of
no one, he slew the Egyptian and hid him in the sand ; speech. Instead, Moses fled and thus served notice
for Pharaoh must not know of this. Satisfied that by to the king that his act. had real meaning indeed, this
this deed he has securely tied his brethren to his per-      meaning, that he had broken with Egypt and cast his
son and that they as a matter of course accepted him lot with his brethren. Such was indeed the speech of
as their deliverer and judge, he goes his way. He            his failure to immediately proffer the king an explana-
went out a second day and to his amazement saw two tion. This was understood by the Egyptian monarch.
of his brethren- strive together. This will not do, he       Moses must die. By fleeing he added insult to injury.
thought. I will investigate the matter, place the blame      The act was that of. a rebel defying authority. The
where it belongs and rebuke him in the wrong. Hastily        king in his wrath could have pursued after him and
he begets himself to the scene of contention, with the       demanded his extradition. Of this Moses was fully
thought that he would be told to mind his very own aware. But this wrath he feared not ; for he had faith.
business far from his mind. It does not take him long But as yet he had no calling, and therefore acted upon
to detect the one at fault. He says to him in an author-     his own initiative, and thus had overshot the mark.
itative tone and with considerable heat, it may be,          This he now felt. The thing for him to do therefore
"Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow?" Instantly the           was to take himself out of Egypt. Remaining, he would
one rebuked replies, "who made thee a prince and judge       be needlessly jeopardizing his life and thus tempting
over us ? Intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst        the Lord. His duty, at this juncture, therefore lied
the Egyptian?" The curt reply takes Moses by sur-            in flight. So the Lord again gets His way with him.
prise. A feeling of astonishment mingled with great          He was not yet meet for the Master's use.
disappointment overwhelms his soul. Would not his
brethren understand? Were they not yearning for                                                         G. M. 0.
deliverance? Is this their attitude? Did they not want'
him - him, Egypt's prince who had furnished them
with the undisputed evidence that he esteemed their
afflictions greater riches than the treasures of Egypt?
Did they refuse to esteem his choice? "Intend&  thou                BYRON CENTER AND HUDSONVILLE
to kill me . . . .  " What manner of speech was that!
Moses would not kill him. The one rebuked was mock-             Mr. R. Schaafsma will be in Byron Center and Hud-
ing. The remark was meant as a sneer. Are they sonville, during the month of October, in behalf of the
then capable of making sport of him their deliverer          Standard Bearer.


