52                                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
--  _..._.  l"."llllllll lll.l__lll._._.._"   .._ --  .___...  --  .-.-.                          _-....-"~~              .-"  - - -   ._  "..."lll
                                                                            -_
11 they will bring up their children in the aforesaid doc-
                                                                                  trine, or help or cause them to be instructed therein,
                 E D I T O R I A L S                                              to the utmost  of  their power!
  .___. -----                                                                         Hence, also according this promise, instruction be-
                                                                                  gins at home.
                     Instruction At Home                                              First, the parents promise that they will instruct
                                                                                  their children themselves. It is only in the next place
      Education, we said in the preceding issue of our                            that they also pledge themselves to help and cause
paper, must begin at home. Begin, we mean, not                                    them to be instructed, when their personal efforts and
merely in the sense that during the first few years of powers would not be sufficient. But even then they are
its life the child is nurtured by its parent, but in the                          responsible.     They help and they cause them to be in-
sense that all the lines of its education must eontin-                            structed.
ually have their beginning in the home.                                               Always the home and always the parent !
      Home education is basic.
      And Scripture, as might be expected, places the
full responsibility of the instruction of the child upon                              Now, that instruction in the home may be distin-
the parents.                                                                      guished as direct and indirect, intentional and uninten-
      As might be expected, I say.                                                tional.
      For, even from a natural viewpoint, what is more                                And it is difficult to say which of these is the more
natural than that the parents should be the instructors important. The indirect and unintentional instruction,
of the children? Are they, of all men, not most deeply perhaps, occupies by far more time than the direct and
interested in their education, because  they love them intentional.
with parental love? They certainly may be expected                                   What do we mean by unintentional instruction of
to seek the good of their children that are united to                             the child at home?
them with heartstrings. What, then, could be more                                    The atmosphere at home, in which a child grows
in harmony with the ordinances of Cod, than that the up*                                                             I
education of the child should rest upon the responsi-                                We must remember, a child grows up gradually and
bility of the parent? They, of all men, know their constantly, not only physically, but also mentally and
own children best, ought to know them better than spiritually. He does not develop by leaps and bounds.
any, are in a position to be thoroughly acquainted with His mental and spiritual growth do not wait for us,
them. They are with their children from the moment do not stop for a while merely because we pay no atten-
they open their eyes upon the world. They watch them tion to him and do not give him a dose of instruction.
and know them in their different characters long be- It goes right on.
fore the time arrives that they must also be educated                                And a child is very receptive. It takes it all in !
in school and catechism. They, too, have the con-                                 It easily imbibes all it hears and sees.
fidence of their children, unless there is something                                 It also likes to imitate. It is a natural imitator.
fundamentally wrong in home-relations. Parents are "Zooals  de ouden zingen, zoo piepen de jongen".
the natural instructors of their children. It is but                                  For these reasons the atmosphere of the homeSis of
natural, i. e., wholly in harmony with Cod's ordinances great importance. To this belongs, for instance, our
of creation and providence, that Scripture should place conversation as parents, when we are not directly
the responsibility of the. education of the child upon speaking to the children, but when the latter are pres-
the parents.                                                                      ent. And I may as well add: or when they are not
      But the Word of Cod is addressing  covenant-                                present, for even then we are creating the  home-
parents.                                                                          atmosphere, and whatever may be the character of our
      `It is speaking to the Church in the world.                                 conversations when the children are not present will
      God causes His covenant, as we know, to run and                             naturally become their character when they are about
to be realized in the line of continued generations.                              us. To this belongs, too, our conversation when we
Hence, we and our children are not our own, but be- have company and spend a social evening. What do
long to the Lord. Our children are not ours. They we, then, talk about? Are the things of the kingdom
are not given us merely in order that we should enjoy of God the chief subject of our talk? Or are, perhaps,
their presence and delight in their love, but that we                             other matters uppermost in our mind and of chief in-
should teach them the fear of the Lord. The responsi- terest in our conversation? Do we, perhaps, easily
bility for a covenant-training, therefore, lies in the                            slander and backbite? Or, are we spending an evening
first place, with the parents.                                                    talking about the latest fashion in coats and hats or
      And for that reason they are also expected to                               the newest style automobile? Are the things of the
assume that responsibility when they present their world the main subject? And does the spirit of the
children to be baptized. Then they promise before the                             world manifest itself in our talk, when we converse
face of the Lord, the whole church being witness, that as parents or with our friends when we have them for


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B'EARER                                              $3
                                                                                                    --^"-
a social evening at our home? And when we do speak           kelijk in gezelschap van mannen van allerlei religieuze
about the things of God's kingdom, what is the tenor         gading beweegt.
of our conversation? Are, we, perhaps, criticizing               Die  S&dent  `C?olunteer  Movement kan zeker niet
severely and unmercifully and very conceitedly the           gezegd  worden uit te gaan van Gereformeerde beginse-
office-bearers of the Church? Do we speak about them         len, is doorademd met een Arminiaanschen geest, werd,
as also about the rest of the brethren as before the face    toen ik nog op school ging, in Calvin dan ook uit de
of God, with respect because of their office and with        hoeken  der oogen aangezien, ofschoon dit laatste  thans
love because they are brethren?                              we1 veranderd is,  echter niet omdat de  Moucment  ver-
   You see, cLzooals de ouden  zingen,  zoo  piepen de       anderde. Ik geloof niet, dat op een vergadering dier
jongen".                                                     Noverne&  men een  goed  Gereformeerde  zendings-
   The child imbibes the atmopshere in which you             speech zou kunnen kwijt worden.  Beets zou spreken
cause it to live.                                            over het wijde en rekbare onderwerp: "De Zesvoudige
   You. did not intend to instruct your child, but you       Visie van Christus, - Onze Grootste Behoefte." Rek-
did nevertheless.                                            baar zeg ik, omdat het ook we1 de  Zevenvoudige of  mis-
   You did not directly speak to him, but he was a schien ook Vijfvoudige  Visie kon zijn, zonder schade te
very interested listener, even though himself was not        doen  aan het afgeronde van de speech.
fntentiomdly  so and greedily he drank in every word            Bovendien zou daar ook spreken. de predikant der
you said.                                                    Wesleyan  LMethodist Church, die zeker  we1 geen  Gere-
   So little did you mean to educate your child that         formeerde rede heeft gehouden, zoowel als de bekende
later, when you hear the child speak in the same way,        Chiliast Dr. James R. Gray, president van de Moody
when he also criticizes his teacher and minister and         Bible Institute, terwijl een andere Chiliast, Prof.  Tal-
allows himself to speak deprecatingly about those that mage Bittikofer, die muziek-directeur is  aan de Moody
are placed over him, you disapprove and punish or re- Bible Institute en voorzinger in de Moody Memorial
buke the child.                                              Church te Chicago, leiding zou geven  aan hetgeen er op
   But your rebuke is vain and your punishment of de conventie zou  worden  gezongen.
little avail. For, though you did not intend it so, the          Bij zulk een allegaartje van Methodisten en  Chili-
child will- tacitly judge that you are rebuking and ssten zou ik mij in het geheel niet thuis gevoelen. En
punishing him for what you have taught him yourself.         ik ben ook overtuigd, dat zij er niet aan zouden den-
Unintentionally you have instructed him and your in- ken, om mij te verzoeken om te spreken, ook al was ik
tentional instruction is in conflict with it.                zoo algemeen bekend als Dr. Beets inde Amerikaansch-
   Many things might be added to this as belonging to        kerkelijke wereld. En deden ze het al eens door ver-
this unintentional instruction, to the atmosphere in         gissing, dan zouden ze het tech voor de tweede maal
your home.                                                   niet weer doen. De oorzaak ligt, dat spreekt vanzelf,
   But let this be clear: there must be harmony be-          bij mij. Ik ben niet zoo breed van begrip  als velen, en
tween your direct and intentional instruction and that gevoel mij op zulke gemengde vergaderingen altijd
home-atmosphere.                                             "out of place".
   Both must be rooted in the fear of the Lord !                Eenmaal heb ik in de open lucht midden in zulk een
                                                 H. H.       gemengde vergadering gestaan. En ik vergeet nooit
                                                             weer, hoe naar ik voelde,  toen  men, het bekende lied:
                                                             "Onward Christian Soldiers" zingende, toekwam  aan
                                                             den  regel: "One in hope and doctrine, one in charity".
                                                             Ik voelde, dat er niets van waar  was, dat het ijdel ver-
     Dr. Beets In Nederland en Hier                          toon was, dat men alleen  zoo zingen  kon `samen, omdat
   We merkten uit de  Grand  Rapids   Press,  dat Dr.        men en zoolang  men niet rekende met de meest diep
Beets, die zichzelven had aangeboden, om  voor eigen ingrijpende beginselen der waarheid. Voor mij was
rekening afgevaardigde der Christelijke  Gereformeer-        het om te stikken.
de Kerken  naar de Generale Synode der Gereformeerde            En zoo komt het dan, dat ik altijd een zekere be-
Kerken in Nederland te zijn, welke aanbieding door de        wondering heb voor Dr. Beets, die zich in zulke krin-
Chr. Geref. Kerken werd aangenomen, weer  veilig ten gen met gemakkelijkheid beweegt. En gewoonlijk
onzent is aangekomen.                                        weet hij ook aller harten te raken, aller instemming te
   Hij werd, zoo meldde ons bovengenoemd dagblad,            verwerven  en aller lof te oogsten.
verwacht te spreken op de conventie van de  Michignn
State Student  VoLunteers.
   En we dachten, toen we het bericht lazen: nog de             Tech veranderde ditmaal mijne bewondering we1
oude Beets, breed van blik en wijd van ingewahden,           eenigszins in verwondering,  toen  ik in het "Friesch
die in de wijde Amerikaansch-kerkelijke wereld vele          Kerkblad"  van  IS Sept. 1.1. een rapport  las van de
vrienden heeft, ook zeer gezocht is als spreker op aher-     speech, die door Dr. Beets gehouden werd als  afgevaar-
Xei vergaderingen en conventies, en die  zich ook  gemak-    digde der Christelijke Gereformeerde Kerken alhier,

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

Luctor et Emergo. Feit is, dat ze bijna niet staan.in
het teeken  van het Zuctor, en dat ze zeker niet staan in                       Our Church Order
het teeken  van het emmgo. Ik beschouw het  Zuctor et                              LEAVE  OF  ABSENCE
merge nu van specifiek Gereformeerd standpunt. En
dat zeg ik met alleen. Dit zeiden jaren  geleden  voor-                                 ARTICLE  14
aanstaande  mannen  in de Christelijke `Gereformeerde                 If any minister, for the aforesaid or any other
Kerken met mij. Vraag max- eens aan Dr. Volbeda,                    reason, is compelled to discontinue his service for a
Dr. De Jong, Prof. Berkhof, Ds. H. J. Kuiper, waarom                time, which shall not take place without the advice of
                                                                    the  Con&tory,  he shall nevertheless at  a.H times be
wij het noodig achtten, reeds in 1919 vergaderingen te              and remain subject to the call of the congregation.
houden. Ging het niet over de vraag: wat wij zouden
kunnen  doen, om de Kerk te redden? Ik zou er niet                  The circumstance that occasioned the drafting and
weinig voor over hebben om een afschrift te krijgen adoption of this article was the. following: during the
van een referaat destijds door Dr. Vplbeda  geleverd period of persecution in the Netherlands, ministers
over den  toestand  der Christelijke Gereformeerde  Ker-        would sometimes be compelled to discontinue the serv-
ken.                                                       .A:.. 0, ice because the flock had been dispersed or because the
      Maar de Iezer zal verstaan, waarom mijne bewon-           danger had become too threatening so that the min-
dering  &or Dr. Beets in verwondering veranderde,               ister would find it necessary to flee to a place of safety.
toen ik het verslag van zijn speech op de Generale              In either case, he found himself without a charge. But
Synode der Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland las.               there might still be other reasons why an action of this
      De eenheid is voor mij zoek tusschen Dr. Beets hier       nature had to be taken. The article reads: If any
en Dr. Beets daar.                                              minister, for the aforesaid or any other rea.son . . .
                                                 H. H.              The reasons to which the word "aforesaid" refers
                                                                are not those mentioned by the preceding article (age,
      P. S. Mijne verwondering over Beets veranderde sickness) but, according to the original redaction (of
ncgmaals, en ditmaal in verontwaardiging, toen ik in Dordrecht, 1578),  the reason "that they have no con-
handen kreeg, wat blijkbaar een meer volledig  vex-slag         gregation to serve" as a result of having been com-
van des doctors toespraak is,  dat verscheen in  De (Ne- pelled to flee or as a result of their congregations
derlandsche)  Wuchter.  Dr. Beets heeft, volgens dat            having been scattered. So it seems that Articles 13
verslag, het volgende van ons gezegd op de Nederland-           and 14. were meant to be kept apart. The former was
sche Synode :                                                   drafted with a view to cases in which a minister was
      `LEven  pijnlijk als de chiliastische scheuring was  de incapacitated for service by age or sickness. But the
worsteling met de broeders, die de Gemeene Graeie  ten latter has to do with all such cases in which outside
eenenmale loochenen, `t Supralapsarisme sterk drijven, circumstances render it impossible for a minister to
fout vinden met den term Algemeen Aanbod des Evan-              continue his service. There is still another difference
gelies en geen zending  voorstaan in den gewonen zin to be noticed. Article 3.3 has to do primarily with an
des woords. Ook deze worsteling scheurde een tlinke             interruption that is permanent. The aged minister is
gemeente uiteen (in Grand Rapids) en hier en daar set free from the duties belonging to his office for the
ontstonden ruim een dozijn kleine kerkjes, voorzien rest of his days. In agreement herewith the ruling
van predikanten opgeleid in eigen Theologische School.          stipulates that such a one shall nevertheless retain the
Nog steeds gaat de worsteling voort, hier en daar,  on- honor and title of a minister and be provided for in his
der ons vulk."                                                  needs by the church. Article 14, on the other hand,
      Plaatsruimte is er in dit nummer met, om hier             plainly reposes upon the supposition that the interrup-
meer van te zeggen. Dus een volgende  maal, D. V.               tion is temporal and therefore ends with stating that
      Uit gebrek aan plaatsruimte moest ook mijn ant-           he "shall nevertheless at all times be and remain sub-
woord  aan broeder Boender van Pella,  Ia., blijven ject to the call of the congregation". The meaning of
wachten tot een volgend numm.er.                                this clause is that a minister, who had served a
                                                  H. H.         refugee-church, but was now without a charge as a re-
                                                                sult of his flock having been dispersed, should be sub-
                                                                ject to the call of any other congregation that might
                                                                call him. He might not say, I prefer to be without a
                                                                charge and to preach indiscriminately. The construc-
                         NOTICE                                 tion we here place upon this clause can be found in
                                                                the redaction of Middelburg 1581. This is so much
      The board of Division I of the Reformed Free  Pub-        more proof that the "aforesaid" of this article does
ishing Association meets every third Tuesday of the not refer to the reasons mentioned by the preceding
month in the basement of                                        article, as the minister disabled by age or sickness does
                                Fuller Ave. Protestant  Pbe-    not preach indiscriminately ' (his condition does not
formed Church.                                                  permit it) nor can he consider a call. The final proof
                                                                                            "1


                                                      c
                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D - B E A R E R                                                                 57
_- .  --"  --...__.               --  ..___..   I                              .____I_..^  ^ ..^..._. ^^I_.^.-". - ..-.._.. ^ ^.. ---... ."...I
that Article 14 must be made to apply to a distinct there is no free choice. By sickness one is overtaken,
class of  reasons  is that it says nothing about the         laid low and thus compelled to choose to discontinue
church being in duty bound to provide for the minister his service. Once sick, it is of course the duty of the
in his need.                                                 minister to will to be sick. But neither is  traveling~
   It is plain then that if we keep ourselves to what        for pleasure a duty so that one  may not do otherwise
the article was meant by its framers to express, we          but choose to travel. Here then we have to do with
cannot say that sickness is one of the reasons covered an action to which the article under consideration can
by the word "aforesaid" or by the expression "any not be made to apply. The same must be said of some
other reason". The question is to what cases besides of the other reasons mentioned. There can be no out-
the one already mentioned (persecution) should the side circumstances compelling a minister to choose to
article be made to apply? And the answer: only to abandon his flock even for a season in the interest of
such cases as can fulfil the condition and meet the          politics or social reform. Nor can this ever be his
requirement of the article. The condition is, "If the        duty. But Gerson Bucerus must have felt it his duty
minister is compelled to discontinue his service for a to discontinue his service for a season with a view to
time" ; and the requirement, "he  shah nevertheless at taking part in the work of providing the church with
all times be and remain subject to the call of the con- a better translation of the Greek and Hebrew Scrip-
gregation." The expression "any other reason" in tures. So, too, may it be the duty of a minister, who
the clause "If the minister, for the aforesaid or any        all too soon left school to give himself to the service
other reason" is, when taken by itself, limitless, yet as    of the ministry, to return to school and pursue to the
a word element of Article 14 it is not limitless at all end the prescribed course of study.
but is bounded by the aforesaid condition and require-          The article then can be said to apply to a certain
ment, so that it cannot rightfully be made to cover any class of reasons only. A minister must actually be
reason under the sun but only a certain definite class of compelled to discontinue the service.                         This is not
reasons.    This commentators in general have over- casuisty  but rather a protest against the growing ten-
looked. So Joh. Jansen in his  Korte  VerkZuring  van        dency of abandoning the office either permanently or
de Kerkenordening  : "Om eenige andere oorzaken, bijv.       temporarily for any kind of a reason under heaven,
om  aan een Bijbelvertaling  te kunnen deelnemen,  zoo-      and also against the tendency. of making the Church
ds het tijdelijk  on&lag van Gerson Bucerus, die in Order say anything we please and of placing upon its
1627 geroepen werd om  aan de Staten-vertaling mede articles constructions that make it possible for us to
te werken, terwijl tijdelijk in zijn  plaats een ander quote them in support of any kind of action we may be
werd beroepen; of om de studie te voltooien en den pleased to engage in. Rather than to twist the Church
graad van doctor te halen ; of om een buitenlandsche         Order out of shape, why not cast it aside? This, of
reis te ondernemen ; of om een inspectie-reis in de Oost     course, is not saying that the articles of our Church
te houden ; of om als directeur van den Gereformeer-         Order are so many iron-clad rules that offer no open-
den Jongelingsbond op te treden, of om in een zittings-      ings when differing times and conditions call for un-
periode als lid van de Tweede Kamer op te treden".           precedented action.
The question is whether all or any of these reasons can         The cases to which Article 14 applies must also
be considered cogent. Plainly not. Can it be said of meet a certain requirement: "he shall at all times be
a minister who resolves to travel for a year or two, and remain subject to the call of the congregation."
either for sheer pleasure or as inspector; or who            The meaning of this clause has already been given.
accepts the bid of his party to occupy a seat in de          The minister, compelled to discontinue his service,
"Tweede Kamer" that he is compelled to discontinue           shall be and remain subject to the call of his own
his service? True, a minister cannot travel and con-         church or of any other church that may call him. If
tinue his service at the same time so that, if he re-        by "the call' is meant "the call to active service" the
solves to travel, he from the veti  nature of matters,       clause shuts out from the class of cases to which the
finds himself compelled to discontinue his service. It       article applies, the case of a minister permanently dis-
is a physical impossibility to be shepherding a flock        abled by the infirmaties  of old age or by sickness. For
in Grand Rapids and at the same time to be touring such a one is permanently freed from all the duties be-
the country of China.       The question is therefore        longing to his office and is thus no longer subject to
whether a minister is compelled to travel. Now there the call to active service.
is on the one hand the compulsion of compelling cir-            Let us now present, by way of example, a few cases
cumstances, such circumstances as persecution, sick- that Article 14 covers: that of a minister temporarily
ness and disability resulting from age, and, on the          disabled by sickness ; of a minister in duty bound to
other hand, the compulsion of conscience or duty. Now take part in some kind of work similar to that in which
traveling for pleasure, certainly is no action respecting    Gerson Bucerus took part in ; of a minister returning
which one cannot exercise a free choice. One can to school with' a view to completing the prescribed
choose, or choose not, to travel. But one does not de-       course of study ; of a minister with a flock dispersed
cide, or decide not, to be sick. Respecting this matter by persecution. All these cases fulfil the condition and


58                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEArCER
-     -                                  ___ - _ - .._ - -_-.--     __...._.  -.                        " -....._... "".__
meet the requirement of the article. In each case the stands for a conviction - the conviction, namely, that
minister would be compelled to discontinue for the                 ministers of the gospel shall refrain, cas far as is possi-
time being his service and would remain subject to the             ble, from disengaging themselves from the service, so
call of the church. Still other cases could be imagined.           that the thing to be decided, each time a minister
      The opening clause of the article, "If any minister,         comes to his consistory with the request to be allowed
for the aforesaid or any other reason, is compelled to             to discontinue his service, is: is this necessary? Have
discontinue his service . . . . " would seem to render             we to do here with compulsion springing either from
t.he clause, "which shall not take place without the               duty or from some circumstance so compelling that all
advice of the consistory" superfluous. For if the min- there is left for us to do is to comply? In the event
ister is actually compelled to discontinue the service,            of a clash of opinions between the consistory and the
there is nothing left for the consistory to do but to              minister, the case is carried to classis. In the judg-
consent to his discontinuing the service. But it is cer- ment of this body, both parties acquiesce.
tain that in the minds of the drafters of this article the             If the consistory consents, it grants the minister
clause was indispensible. And so it is ; and therefore a leave of absence. This leave may be for either a
the article, as to its intend, reads: "If any minister             definite or an indefinite length of time. If the reason
for the aforesaid or any other reason, announces to be sickness, the grant will be for as long a time as it
the consistory that he is compelled to discontinue his             takes the minister to recover. This, of course, cannot
service, the consistory shall take notice of and examine be known as to the day or week. But it should be
the reasons advanced and advise as it deems it must clearly understood by the parties involved that the
(either consenting or not consenting). In the event                grant is for a time only. If the minister be compelled
the minister gains the consent of the consistory and               for whatever reason to absent himself for a period of
accordingly is given a leave of absence, he shall never-           time too long, the congregation reserves for itself the
theless at all times be and remain subject to the call             right to call another minister, and the absentee, upon
of the congregation.                                               his return, is called to another congregation. During
      So, then, according to Reformed church polity, the           his absence and until called to another congregation
minister must take cognizance of the consistory he remains the pastor of the church that absented him.
always. He may not leave to accept a call elsewhere                    The question is whether or no the salary continues.
without the consent of the consistory (Art. 10) ; but              On this point the article says nothing. If the leave of
neither may he discontinue his service without the                 absence be granted on account of sickness, the case is
consent (advice as a word element of this article means            covered by Article 13. According to this article, min-
consent and not merely judgment) of the aforesaid                  isters, who by reason of sickness, are rendered in-
body. This, for reasons given in my writing on Article capable of performing the duties of their oEce, shall
10, is as it should be.                                            be provided for in their need by the church which they
      Consider that the task of the consistory is to ascer-        have served. But it stands to reason that every min-
tain whether the minister is  cwmpelled  to lay down his           ister who is actually cornFelled  to discontinue his serv-
work. If sickness be the reason given, the matter is               ice for a season must be provided for in his need. But
simple enough, providing the minister comes supplied toward the minister who discontinues his service un-
with a testimony of his doctor. But the matter is not necessarily, for no good reason whatever, the congre-
so simple if the minister announces that he is com-                gation has no obligation. How can it have, when the
pelled to discontinue his service for a reason other               minister leaves with a view to giving himself to a kind
than sickness. Now the thing to be decided by the of work that lies outside of the scope of duties belong-
con&story is whether this other reason can be com-                 ing to his office. But if matters stand thus, someone
pelling the minister to discontinue for a time his serv- may say, a minister should not even take a vacation for
ice. The consistory, to be sure, can greatly simplify a few weeks of the year. He shouldn't if he vacates all
its task in all such cases by ridding Article 14 of the            the year around. But if there is actually need for rest,
word cwmpelled  and by thus making it read, "If any a vacation is necessary.
minister, for the aforesaid reason or any other reason                                                                        G. M. 0.
under heaven, wishes to discontinue his service for a
time . . .  " As has already been pointed out, this is
indeed the construction being placed on the article
today and this for the reason that times have changed
since the days of our fathers. Ministers make trips
around the world now and go to the mountains. They                                    HOLLAND, MICH.
abandon their office in the interest of politics. And                   Mr. R. Schaafsma  hoopt in de  maand November in
Article 14 receives an interpretation agreeable to these
actions. That the article speaks of a'minister  W/LO G Holland,  Mich., en omstreken werkzaam te zijn in het
compelled and not of a minister who desires to dis-                belang  van The Standard Bearer.
continue his service is significant. ^`The word co??z?zpeZZecJ          Please help him as much as possible.


64                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
           _.- _-..- -_-.-                          _.-                        .^__                _I__       -_.-^-
haalde in dit  verband. We1  die verbazing zult ge niet
lang bezitten. De vergelijking houdt op bij zijn erva-              The Missionary Task Of Our
ring met de vaderen,  die ook onze ervaring is, name-                                  Churches
lijk, dat beide hij en wij om de waarheid Gods uit de
kerk gesmeten  zijn. U zegt triurnphantelijk: Weer                             I. INTRODUCTION
hooren onze vaders het honen hunner tegenpartijders             The intention of this article is, as its heading gives
die den ganschen dag tot hen zeiden: Waar is uw God? to understand, to serve as an introduction to a s^eries
Waar is het verband?  Broeder, broeder, hebt ge dat of articles on the more general subject: The Mission-
dan niet gehoord? Zijt ge het vergeten, dat Professor ary Task of Our Churches. The purpose is therefore
Heyns   h$ durfde uit te spreken, dat de leer die gij en to call attention not simply to the missionary task of
ik en wij als protestanten voorstaan uit den duivel is. the church of Christ at large, but more specifically to
Is dat niet hetzelfde als het  spottend  vragen: Waar is     this task as it obtains for the Protestant Reformed
Uw God? Gedurig slaat Kain Abel dood. Zeker. Zijt            Churches, the denomination in which the Lord God has
g-ij  ook niet  kerlcelijk  afgemaakt?   Alles hebben die    given us a place. And although the author was privi-
lieve broeders U ontnomen. Gaat eens  vragen aan de          leged to speak on this subject and hence some of you
Synode wat Uw naam is of belijdenis of eigendommen. readers are acquainted with my point of view, I thought
Ze hebben IT zelfs letterlijk in de sneeuw gezet op dien it not out of place to develop this subject publicly and
Kerstmorgen nu al  jaren  verleden. En dat staat nog that more fully than already had been done in our
net zoo voor God en menschen. Hebt ge dat vergeten?          Standard Bearer.  Convinced that it is quite impossible
En nu heel lief doen en praten alsof er niets gebeurd        to properly treat this subject within the limits of a
is? Ik wil dat we1 doen in zoover  wij daarin geknecht singie article, I hope to db so in a series of some six
iijn. Doch een andere zaak is het voor God. Om  Zij- or seven articles. Certainly it is not too much to ask
nentwil  zullen wij niet zwijgen. Zoudt ge het  willen       you as reader to hear me out fully - the subject is
voorstellen alsof  al het bloed der middeleeuwen nog weighty enough to merit our attention.
niet  afge&ischt wordt van de Roomsche Kerk? Christus           More than one consideration served as an induce-
eischt al het bloed der profeten van de handen  van het      ment to write on this subject. The first is that our
geslacht der Farizegrs  dat voor Hem staat.                  Prot. Ref. Churches are often accused of being anti-
      Trouwens gij kunt het weten,  dat Dr. Kuyper, die      missionary ; to say the least, we are considered lax in
zeer zeker de gemeene gratie huldigde, nooit zijn hand       missionary activity.       "Not much of a missionary
zou gezet hebben onder het eerste punt. Dat eerste           spirit," so it was insinuated. So said some. Others
punt is ja, half Kuyperiaansch, doch  voor de rest is het    boldly affirmed that our churches relegated the great
Pelagiaansch en Arminiaansch. En daar was de oude commission of the church to the background, and failed
Kuyper een doodsvijand van. Getuige zijn geschriften.        to give due heed to Christ's command, "Go ye there-
      Ja,  ik had we1 bij den val van Adam kunnen  be-       fore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name
ginnen  en bij Openbaring uitscheiden. Is dat scherts?       of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Of spot? Wel, dat had ik in allen  ernst ook we1 kun-        teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have
nen  doen,  doch de tijd ontbrak en ik heb ook maar          commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway,  even
twee bladzijden ruimte per oplage.                           unto the end of the world. Amen" (Matt. 28 :19, 20).
      Ten slotte, ja, ik heb we1 meer zoo geschreven  als The most serious of these accusations however is that
in dit stukje. En "What of it?" Ik heb er ook  schik         the denial of, the First Point of the Synod of 1924 in
van gehad, al is het een moeilijk werk,  dat moeilijker      respect to the preaching of the gospel as a well-mean-
wordt als men het verwijt hoort, dat er  B&lzebul   ach- ing offer of salvation on  .the part of God logically
ter nit. Ik werp het van mij, broeder, en hoop wat makes it impossible to preach the gospel unto all crea-
beters van U.                                                tures and so  fulf?l the Lord's commission. I must say,
                                                             as others have done in the past, that this logic is too
      Maar mijn stukje staat en ik herroep het niet.         illogical for my comprehension. Why is it not possible
      Hadt ge nu nog gezegd, dat ik teveel gebruik maak- to preach to men in general a gospel that is according
te van  sarcasme,  ik had het U toegestemd. Doch wie         to God's intention only for the elect and in whom it
is bekwaam om volmaaktelijk te schrijven? Ik wil also reveals itself ;ts the power of God unto salvation?
niet den indruk achterlaten, als zou ik hoog opzien          This is very well possible. Let me use an example. Is
tegen mijn geschrijf. Verre van daar.  Doch  daar it not possible to  speak over the radio so that all that
ging het niet over. In den diepsten zin gaat het, ja, are tuning-in hear what is said but. be addressing only
terdege  over het "nauwkeurig merken op des Heeren musicians of that unseen audience? It certainly is. So
werken,  mitsgaders hare uitkomst." Ik deed het en too in a similar manner the gospel of God can be made
zag juist naar mijn heiligste overtuiging.                   known at large, but according to content with its
      De broeder schreef nu eenmaal en ik antwoordde message of certain salvation addresses itself only to
hem. Ik hoop dat dit het einde zij.                          those that believe. Furthermore to make the bland
                                                c. v.        assertion that God wills the salvation of every hearer,


.-                                                   T H E   STANDARD~BEARER                                                        65
--... --_~-...-  ..-.....--- - _...___.  -- .._--.__-._  -I- ..." -..... -                  "^.^_-..                  _-"-.
that He is ready to save each one, is not the truth. It                          But upon this it is unnecessary further to enlarge,
is a lie - God only promises life unto those that come for it is something "dat onder ons volkomene zeker-
unto Him, and those that come unto Him He will in                             heid heeft". The contention that our doctrine pre-
no wise cast out because He himself has drawn them to cludes the possibility of preaching the gospel  to  all
be obedient to His command. Gospel it is that whoso- that may hear deserves at the present time no more
ever believeth  - and no other  - shall have life                             attention than this. Let the plea for mission-work as
eternal.                                                                      found in he succeeding articles be another testimony
      The real intention of the objection is to insist that to the fact that we do not admit the validity of the
missionary activity is possible only on the basis of the                      argument and believe in preaching the gospel to all,
assumption that God wills the salvation of every in-                          at least as far as this is possible.
dividual. If this is denied, then the problem is to de-                          Another reason for. undertaking to write on the
termine who is elect and who not. Some, deluded ones, missionary task of our churches is to develop in the
thought that the Prot. Ref. Churches taught that the light of Scripture a positive conception of the mission-
gospel should be proclaimed only to the elect. They ary task of Christ's church. For certainly there are
forget, as Parks somewhere wrote in his  The Five                             today many false notions of this task. In the first
Points  of  Calvinism, that although Scripture plainly                        place of the gospel that must be preached. How many
reveals the doctrine of election, it nowhere gives us a there are that are proclaiming all but the gospel of
list of the  subjects  thereof. The  do&rine is known Scripture! Think but, to use a very clear example, of
and ought to be preached but the subjects are not ex- Mrs. Pearl Buck, the Presbyterian missionary who
cept by their fruits. I take it that the subtle purpose recently handed in her resignation to the Board of
of the reasoning that because the gospel is according                         Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the
to content only for the elect it should be made known U. S. A. - a resignation which was even accepted with
only to them is to undermine our firm belief in the fact                      regret! This co-called missionary had the audacity to
that God wills the salvation of the elect and that He                         write (according to Christianity Today for May, 1933)
in no sense whatever at the same time wills the salva- in an article in the Cosmopolitan of May that it makes
tion of the reprobate.                                                        no difference at all whether you really believe that
      But let us remember'that the argument of  Pela-                         Christ lived or not. She says, " `And what if he never
gians, Semi-pelagians, Arminians,  and of all those that                      lived? What of that? Whether Christ had a body or
belong in their camp has always been that it is im-                           not, whether He had a time to be born in history and
possible for those that adhere to the doctrine of God's a time to die as other men have is no matter now;
sovereign election to do mission work, that unless sal- perhaps it never was any matter. What lives today is
vation can be offered to man for his acceptance or his                        not the ephemeral body of flesh and bones, if once it
rejection it is mockery to preach the gospel to him.                          lived, then well enough ; if not, then, well too'.  "
This argument you can find in The Schaff-Herxog  En-                          (Quotation from the above mentioned number of
cyclopedia  of  Religious  linozcledge,  Vol. VII, page 194, Christianity Today,  page 3.) A denial of the historic
were a certain G. Warneck in treating the attitude of                         Christ, His existence a matter of indifference ! Cer-
the Reformers toward missionary activity states, "The tainlg  t.he inference may be drawn that the "gospe1"                                 _ __
thought of missions. was in a sense precluded . . . by she preached was no gospel at all, in the historic sense
the doctrine of predestination, according to which it is of the word. She dares to assert that precisely what
left to the sovereign grace of God to lead the heathen                        the apostle cleaves to is a matter of no' importance.
 unto Christ . . . .  " It would be possible to make The Apostle John in I John  l:l-3 teaches that he bore
many similar quotations from the writings of others,                          witness of what he had seen with his eyes, had looked
but this is unnecessary. As often as similar bold asser-                      upon, and his hands had handled. And now a vain fool
 tions have been made on the part of godless men the                          (for so she is in the light of Scripture) of this enlight-
 Reformation fathers always threw these from them in ened twentieth century dares to tell us that it makes
 disgust. They persisted in preaching predestination no difference whether Christ ever lived or not! But
 as the heart of the gospel, and proclaimed a "par-                           Paul by the inspiration of God did see a difference. He
 ticular gospel" to all that heard. It is this that we                        said, "And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain;
 shall continue to do; it is that we must do, and besides                     ye are yet in your sins."
 which we may do nothing. For the necessity of preach-                            But this is a glaring example of present day
 ing the gospel to all creatures may not be defended by                       modernism% extreme disrespect for the sanctity of the
 an appeal to a certain will in God by which He desires                       gospel. It is easily recognized and therefore no great
 the salvation of all. It follows rather from this, that                      danger. Far more dangerous is the subtle departure
 God positively desires. to manifest His salvation unto                       from the gospel of Scripture on the part of these that
 His elect, and negatively desires to glorify Himselr                         call themselves fundamentalists, who in a sense adhere
 antithetically in the reprobate. For the Word of God to the Christ of the Scriptures but as for the rest de-
 is a savor of life unto life but also a savor of death termine for themselves, what the contents of their
 unto death.                                                                  message shall be. I refer to those that deny the doc-


 66                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
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trine of God's sovereign election, and to  t.hose that               ment of this subject, for its treatment at this time. It
occasionally speak of it  and claim to believe it but for            is that our Prot. Ref. Churches being of a compara-
the rest pigeonhole it in a forgotten nook among the                 tively recent origin stand, as we may believe, but at
rest of the family relics. The gospel of Arminianism the beginning of their history. An erroneous concep-
that makes of Christ a pettifogger desiring to gain                  tion of the task will lead to wrong tactics and so wreak
admittance to the heart of every man. The preaching havoc in the fulfilment of our calling. Erroneous con-
that is anxious about the souls of men, even beyond the ceptions in this respect have proved baneful to many a
bounds of Scripture, but seems very little interested church. Surely it is of prime importance to  think  cor-
 in the honor of the God of heaven and of earth. It is               rectly that we may  act  accordingly. To safeguard our
these that lead the church of Christ astray and are the              future, by the grace of God, this is necessary. For
cause for so much misplaced and even sinful zeal for                 although "God met  een kromme stok een rechten slag
the missionary task of Christ's church.                              kan slaan" it is not the way in which He generally
         Naturally ail that is called mission-work is not            works. And if these articles contribute something to-
worthy of the name, much less of our support. Simply ward a well developed conception of the missionary
 not because the contents of its message far more re-                task of our churches, they will have served their pur-
sembles the gospel of humanism which is no gospel                    pose.
 than the gospel of the Scriptures.              Nevertheless            Let this serve as an introduction to the con-
although much of the present day missionary activity                 templated series. Development of and proof for the
 is not worthy of the name the duty of the church re-                above made assertions in successive articles. From
 mains. For the church of Christ is and must be a                    the Word of God. For also this task as to its nature,
 missionary church. Its message is the gospel. Just                  fulfilment and purpose Scripture alone may determine.
 what this implies we shall later see.                               Here also it must be: thus saith the Lord.
         _In the second place a positive conception of the                                                          P. De Boer
 missionary task in the light of the Bible demands that
the subjects of missionary activity be considered as not
 only those without the pale of our Prot. Ref. Churches
 but also those within, and not only non-Christians but                                         IN MEMORIAM
 also Christians. Quite often it is affirmed that only                  On Oct. 9, 1933, it pleased the Lord to take unto Himself
 non-Christians are the proper subjects of the church's our beloved husband, father and grandfather,
 missionary activity. If this is the case mission work                                    FRANK HUIZINGA,
 among Christians is out of the question and our labors
 as churches among our erring brethren in the other                  at the age of 62 years.
 Reformed denominations stand condemned, even as                        We mourn his loss, but knowing that he is now enjoying
                                                                     eternal rest with Jesus his Saviour, is our great comfort.
 they often have been by outsiders. But this quite
 arbitrary assertion is neither in harmony with Scrip-                                             Mrs. Frank Huizinga
 ture nor is it in harmony with the position of Calvin,                                            Mr. and Mrs. Peter Feenstra
                                                                                                   Mr. and Mrs. John Huizinga
 etc. There is a dtitinction to be made between preach-                                            Mr;- and Mrs. Cornelius Huizinga
 ing in a congregation, and outside of it to others, but                                           Mr. and Mrs. William Potter
 separatton   may not be made. My contention is that                                               Mr. and Mrs. Chester Doezema
  whether the gospel be preached in the midst of a local                                           Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Huizinga
 congregation from week to week, or to Christians or                                               Mr. and Mrs. Sam Boersma
                                                                                                   Mr. and Mrs. Otto Huizinga
  even to non-Christians outside the pale of the local                                               Children and Grandchildren.
 church, it is all missionary activity in the broad sense
 of the word. But also about this more later.
          In the third place the missionary task is the task of
 the  churches.  Not of individuals, not of self-styled                  Let your will be one with His will, and be glad to
 missionaries, not of missionary societies, but of the               be disposed of by Him. He will order all things for
 church of Christ as an institute. The Salvation Army                you. What can  cro,ss your will, when it is one with
 appropriates unto itself this task, but not legitimately.           His will, on which all creation hangs, round which all
  In so far as its efforts have wielded a power for good             things revolve? Keep your hearts clear of evil thoughts,
       (although this good may often be seriously questioned)        for as evil choices estrange-the will from His will, so
 this is to be accounted for by the ,fact "dat God met               evil thoughts cloud the soul, and hide Him from us.
 een kromme stok een rechten slag kan slaan". But Whatever sets us in opposition to Him makes our will
 certainly in the light of Scripture not individuals, not an intolerable torment. So long as we will one thing
 societies, but the church through its offices must                  and He another, we go on piercing ourselves through
 preach the gospel unto all creatures. Of this too more              and through with a perpetual wound ; and His will
 in the sequence of this series.                                     advances moving on in sanctity and majesty, crushing
          TO my mind there is one more reason for the treat-         ours into the dust.


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                            67
                                                                   -                  --.-._
--__-.-...                                  -l_____
                                                               brief notices comprise the written history of Moses
                  The Man Moses                                of the period now under consideration.
                                                                  What perplexing turn events have taken ! Moses
    The life of Moses divides into three periods. The          now a keeper of sheep. Year after year for  forty years
first came to an end with his flight. The second               he will now be seen, a loan shepherd roaming the wil-
stretched itself out to the event of his calling. The          derness with a few sheep. Should he be doing this ?
third comprised the years spent in active service. Each        True, the occupation by itself is worthy enough. But
period numbered forty years. It means that eighty. that shepherd is Israel's deliverer and Israel has been
of the hundred and twenty years of his life were spent         groaning by reason of the bondage since the day of the
in preparation. It shows that the task for which he            deliverer's birth. But have no concern. Moses as a
was destined was one of incomparable magnitude, a keeper of sheep is in training. And the prescribed
task that called for a saint with a soul purified in course will have to be pursued to the end.
obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned               But is Moses not qualified as he now is? He made
love of the brethren, a soul in which tribulation had          wonderful progress under the tutelage of his God.
worked patience, and patience, constancy, and con-             Being a child of grace, all his early contacts and ex-
stancy hope ; a soul that had been taught to say, My           periences turned out to be so many instruments which
God is help.                                                   the Lord prepared and availed Himself of for awaken-
     It is to the second period of Moses' life that            ing his faith and for bringing that faith to fruition.
attention is now to be directed. The events of this            At his mother's knee he learned the rudiments of the
period, which the sacred narrator deemed important religion of his fathers. At the court of Pharaoh he
enough to incorporate in his record, are few in num-           was taught to abhor the vanity and ungodliness of the
ber and may be quickly told.                                   world as it had taken on flesh and blood in the man-
     As'already explained in a former article, Moses had sions of Egypt's great. He also received strength from
to flee from the presence of Pharaoh. He set his face          on high to refuse to be called the son of Pharaoh's
toward the Red Sea where the Midianites, descended             daughter, strength to choose rather to suffer affliction
from Abraham through  Keturah,  had their abode,               with the people  of God than to enjoy the pleasures  of
whence as monads they wandered to and from between sin for a season, and to esteem the reproaches of Christ
the peninsula of Sinai to the south and the territory          greater riches than the pleasures of Egypt. Besides
of Moab. to the north. Among the Midianites, Moses             this, he was trained in all the wisdom of a cultured
experiences were similar to those of Jacob. To a well and highly civilized people. As far as any human can
by which he sat down, came the seven daughters of              judge Moses is now eminently qualified. He is a man
Reuel the priest of  Midian  to draw water for their           with a tried faith, set free by the truth, schooled in
father's flock. No sooner had the troughs been filled          the sciences and arts, physically in his prime, eager,
than shepherds came who began driving them away. enthusiastic, ready, at heart one with  his  afflicted  breth-
 Seeing it, Moses hastens to their side, and not only de-      ren, a man to whom they to be led forth can be ex-
 livers them from the violence of the shepherds but            pected to cleave as he will be known among them as
 also waters their flock. Upon their arrival at home           one who for their sakes stepped down from his exalted
 they are asked by their father how it was that they position of Egypt's prince and lowered himself to their
 came so soon today. Hearing what had occurred, he             low social level. With this selfdenial of his fresh in
 bade them call their rescuer, that he might eat bread. their memory, they wil be as clay in his hands. What
 Moses went. Continuing there, he eventually married more could the Lord wish for? Why must this man
 the priest's daughter Zipporah.                               be in training for another forty years? The people
     It seems that the father-in-law of Moses served the       of Israel groan in Egypt. Is this delay called for? rIt
 God of Abraham; for the name Reuel means, friend of           is, must be ; for consider that what we have to do with
 El. By this latter name God was also known to the              is a doing of the Lord. And the Lord's doings are
 patriarchs. That Reuel was a friend of the true God           always right. To even question their wisdom is the
 is further borne out by his after-conduct. He was also         height of folly. Standing in the faith that He can
 called jethro which means excellency and was perhaps           make no mistakes and that every step of His is a
 his title as chief priest of his tribe.                        stride forward in the right direction, we set His deal-
     Zipporah bare Moses two sons. The elder he called          ing with Moses and with His people Israel before our
 Gershon (expulsion, bandishment) for said he, I have           eye with the sole purpose of discovering, if we can, its
 been a stranger in a strange land. And the name of             wisdom.
 the other was Eliezer ; for the God of my father, said            Moses is still unfit, despite all his spiritual achieve-
 he, was mine help, and delivered me from the sword             ments. As he now is, the Lord cannot use him. As to
 of Pharaoh. One more thing is related. To  e-plain             the people of Israel, their frame of mind is not yet
 his presence in the wilderness at the time of his call-        such that the Lord can deliver them. This can be
 ing, the sacred narrator says that Moses kept the flock        proven.
 of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian.  These        As to Moses, what is his fault ? In what respect


 68                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
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 is he still spiritually immature? Wherein does his im- former article, there is also the outward calling. This
perfection consist? Moses suffers from an inflated distinction must be understood. The outward calling
ego. He says too often in his heart, I am the man.           is at once inward as it is the call of God that, as voiced
He cleaves not to the Lord as he ought. He is still too by the church, is bound upon the heart of the one
shallow in his thinking. `He has no adequate concep- called. And the inward call is also outward as, if gen-
tion of the hugeness of the task for which he is being       uine, it is of God, a being distinct from the one called.
prepared. These are bold statements. Yet every one           The grounds upon which one believes that he is in-
of them is true. Consider that the Lord must have            wardly called are: love for Christ and for the office.
had a reason for shutting him up for forty years in a An abiding desire for the service. The possession of
wilderness. This was no small thing. Let me now the necessary gifts. The opening of the way.  Upon
show that the above appraisal of the forty-year-old          these very grounds the faith of Moses that he was
Moses reposes on solid ground. Consider that before called reposed. And this faith had undoubtedly become
the Lord appeared to him in the burning bush, the            his as soon as he had come to years of discretion. But
conviction had taken hold of him that by him Israel not until he was eighty years old was this inward call-
was to be delivered ; for in the words of Stephen "he        ing supplemented by the outward. This latter was the
supposed that his brethren would have understood how calling proper. Moses' conviction that by his hand
that God by his hand would deliver them." That he            God would save His people, would have to be termed
supposed this must fmd its explanation in the circum-        self-deception, had he not in the evening of his life
stance that he had come to regard himself as one pre-        heard the voice of God in the burning bush.
destinated to be the deliverer of his people. The               Inwardly called was Moses even from the day of
question is how the presence of this thought in his          his youth on. Now peculiar to this calling is that it
soul is to be accounted for. And the answer must be springs from and is rooted in the knowledge of what
that the thought or conviction, for such it became, had      one is and has experienced, of the way in wmch one
been made by the Lord to spring from his conscious-          has been led, so that he inwardly called is much in-
ness of what he was and of the events of his past            clined to scrutinize self and to direct the mind to the
career. To express it otherwise, his being what he           abilities, dispositions, attitudes and experiences of that
was together with the ways that God had held with self. From his youth on, Moses must have been doing
him in the past comprised an objective testimony to          this very thing. Now man is by nature vain. Even an
the effect that by his hand the people of Israel were        essentially good man, when much engaged in his mind
to be delivered. -4nd this testimony was carried into with self, so easily begins to glory in self, especially if,
his heart where it was made to crystallize into a con-       like Moses, he be a personage with exceptional abilities
viction. Consider that he must have been a man of            and experiences.    That Moses, notwithstanding his
uncommon beauty. We find in Exodus a statement to            essential goodness, had formed the habit of saying in
the effect that his parents saw that he was a proper         his heart, `I am the man' with altogether too much
child and Stephen, rehearsing his history before those       emphasis on that 1, that unwittingly he nursed the
sitting in the council, declared that he was a child         false notion that the Lord could not do without him,
beautiful to God. It was his comeliness that endeared that the consciousness of his being a thing formed was
him to the daughter of Pharaoh. What in all likeli-          not as lively as it should have been, that the feeling
hood must be taken as a fanciful invention of tradition      had crept over his soul that he could move the world
tells us that he was wonderfully tall when only three        and that without him the cause of God would come to
years old, and so beautiful that even the common nought,  - the rash deed (the slaying of the Egyptian)
people stopped to look at him as they went by. Then, that necessitated his flight plainly shows. The deed
too, he was capable of being schooled in all the sciences    was done under the impulse of a great love - who will
of the Egyptians and thus must have been a man of            deny it - but of a love mixed with pride and wrong
great natural ability, apt to learn. Think, too, of his      haste. The Lord had not called him as yet. But the
miraculous preservation at a time when the life of thought that he was the man, God's chosen vessel, had
every Hebrew man-child was in constant and greatest taken such deep root in his heart, that he deemed him;
peril, his being returned to his mother for instruction      self  calIed. Yet he was aware that he had not been
in the true religion, his adoption by Pharaoh's daugh-       called, that the Lord therefore was not with him in
ter, his training in Egypt, his good choice, his faith       that venture. In his great haste he thus rushed in
and seIf-denial.  It was this series of experiences, all     where he should have feared to tread. But he knew no
ordered by the Lord, and this his ability and beauty         fear at that juncture as his impression that he was
that were made to suggest to hi that he had been             able was too strong. Single-handed and on his own in-
born and prepared for a great task. And the thought itiative he made a beginning of delivering his brethren.
took root in his soul and was made to flower into a          If he was running ahead of the Lord, let the Lord then
conviction. It means that Moses, long before he heard catch up with him. It was time that He acted. For
the voice of God in the bush, had received what is           forty years now the people of Israel had been groaning
known as the inward calling. As  I wrote in some             by reason of their burden. Moses' heart bled for his


                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               69
II"..-.._- -..                              -.-. -.."-.                    __.                     _._.... -._-___-
kinsmen. The spectacle of their sufferings no doubt          tion? No, Moses, they are not. Thou dost misjudge
moved him-to tears. He had no rest. So he went out           the temper of thy kinsmen. Thou failest to realize
and killed an Egyptian. It meant that in his great im- that they are a stiff-necked people, unwilling to be de-
patience, he dictated to the Lord, served Him notice         livered even after forty years of hard labor in Phar-
that the hour for making a beginning of delivering his       aoh% ovens. Thou  understandest  not how hard the
oppressed brethren had now struck. Lot the Lord take heart of the sinner actually is. Thou  are unmindful
notice. As if the Lord did not know what He was              of the fact that man by nature loves the very tyrant
about, was in the need of a teacher, in al His dealings      who hold him captive. Thou thinkest that oppression
with Israel was not moved by fathomless love, as if          somehow automatically sets a sinner to yearning for
all His ways with that people were not ways of pro-          salvation, and thus understandest not that tribulation
foundest wisdom !                                            is an instrument of which God avails Himself for
    Moses h-news.    Indeed! But for this reason the         either hardening or softening a man, and that only
Lord as yet cannot use him. But he in turn thinks of the children of the promise, who possess the life of
himself as being.capable  of rendering the Lord some         regeneration, become. partakers of His holiness when
valuable services. So he assigns himself to the task         smitten and that the others rebel more and more when
of saving and judging his brethren. He soon finds new the hand of the Almighty is heavy upon them. In a
opportunity for exercising the authority he has              word, what thou failest to sufficiently realize is that the
snatched. He goes out a second day and sees two of           task to which thou in thy haste hast assigned to thy-
his brethren strive together. This will not do, he           self is a hopeless one, if it is to be performed by thy-
thinks. He will find out for himself who is at fault         self; that thus Israel's only hope is God. Not thou
and will place the blame where blame belongs. He             but He is mighty to break by His word those hearts of
takes it for granted that his brethren, having learned       stone; for He  callest the things that are not as though
of his choice, are likewise saying, `Moses is the man'       they were. When He speaks, men hear because as the
and have accepted him as the captain of their salva-         result of His speech they do appear. Say not there-
tion and as their judge. And he will be their shepherd,      fore, `I am the man,' but say, `Jehovah, He is God.'
and they, there can'be no doubt about it, will hear his         "Who made thee a prince and a judge over us. . . ?"
voice and follow him, willingly, readily. By his word        Indeed! Who has? It must have now occurred to
they will let themselves be binded. At his rebuke the        Moses for the first time in his life that nobody has but
turbuiant among them will yield their ground and be          himself. A self-appointed judge! The place he occu-
still. It all seems so easy to him, much too easy. Things    pies, he usurped. And from this place he has now
will run along smoothly as a matter of course, he            been ruthlessly ejected by the Lord `Himself, be it
thinks. He has as yet no conception of the hugeness          through the instrumentality of that mocking, jeering
of the work which he in his great impatience has taken       Hebrew. "Who hath made thee a judge ove%,us . . . . "
upon him. But he is now about to learn his first great       It is God speaking to him. And he knows z+@ under-
lesson.                                                      stands and hears and takes to heart ; for he  l@a child
    Betaking himself to the scene of contention, he in-      of grQce, but until this moment a misguided chiId still '
stantly begins to conduct a quiz. Turning to the con-        in the need of training. And he here is being taught
tender who has the upperhand, he demands to know of          one of the greatest lessons of his life, this lesson, that
him why he smites his fellow. But the one addressed          a man, will he be of service to God, must be called and
flatly refuses to submit to Moses' judgment. Vexed           as one called, know his place and as one knowing his
by his intervention, he says to him, "Who made thee          place, hide himself in God to let Him work in and
a prince and judge over us? Intendest thou to kill me,       through him, that then only is it safe for the chosen
as thou killedst the Egyptian?" As I wrote in a former vessel to proceed, namely, when he follows.
article, the blunt and curt reply takes Moses by sur-           "Who made thee a prince and judge over us.. . "
prise.     A feeling of astonishment mingled with un-        No one has. What a painful awakening this must be
speakable disappointment overwhelms his soul. Do             to Moses. It must seem to him now Las if his whole
they not want him - him who has furnished them               world comes tumbling down over his head. What con-
with undisputed evidence that he esteems their afflic-       flicting doubts must be racing through his mind and
tions greater riches than  .the treasures of Egypt? Do       searing his soul. He is rejected by his brethren for
they refuse to regard his choice? Are they not saying        whose sake he has refused to be called the son of the
of him, `He is the man; let us hear him.' "Intendest         Egyptian princess, and God, his God, whose fellowship
thou to kill me . . . .  " What manner of speech is          to him is better than life, seems not to want him. And
this? Of course he will not kill him ! The one rebuked       Pharaoh seeks to slay him now, for he has heard of
is mocking. The remark is meant as a sneer! Are              the thing. What shal1 he do? Fear the wrath of the
they then capable of making sport of him who loves           king, proffer him an apology and thus reconcile himself
them as his own life? Does this mocking, jeering, to Egypt, or shall he cleave unto his God and his
reply mirror the hearts of them all? But are they not afllicted brethren?           Another crisis in his life has
after these forty years of  siavery yearning for  salva-     arrived. But fear not. He must again make the right


70                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
_-__-.-.  ^ ..-- ____-..-  .____       ll^..-..          -_..._                _""_       -    -             _--._.---."l__  -_l__
choice, for he is a child of grace, so that in this crisis         no sinful reproaches pass over his lips ; he holds no
also his faith shines forth : "By faith he forsook Egypt,          grudge, nurses no grievances. There are no sinful
not fearing the wrath of the king, for he had endured              a&s in his heart. No one hears him rail at his  breth'-
as seeing Him who is invisible" (Heb. 1127).                       ren in Egypt and harp upon their lack of appreciation.
      Moses flees. As was said, he sets his face toward            If he opens his mouth to speak it is to tell men that
the Red Sea, where the Midianites have their abode                 the Lord was his help, and delivered him from the
in the wilderness of Sinai. Here the Lord in His mercy sword of the king. Scanning the way upon which he
has prepared for him a temporary abode. He is taken has been led, he can only find reasons for praise. And
up into Reuel's household and eventually marries this              it is as if he would compel his associates to praise God
priest's daughter, Zipporah. The work that he is given with him ; for he gives to that other son of his a name
to do is that of a shepherd. He keeps the  flock of                expressive of what his God has been for him, so that,
Jethro, his father-in-law.                                         as often as this name is spoken the goodness and mercy
      Thus the Lord shuts him up in a wilderness. Here of the Lord is bwaght iutto remembrance and re-
he will abide for forty years that his training may be             hearsed. How he has triumphed over his flesh ! How
completed. He will thus receive ample time for think-              he grows! To what spiritual heights the Lord is rais-
ing matters through, for contemplating past experi-                ing him ! He glories in tribulations !
ences, for gaining a right perspective of self, for                   And tribulations are his portion. For he is still a
pondering the mystery of redemption, for entering                  stranger in a strange land. Neither Jethro nor Zip-
deeply into the truth about his God. Time he will                  porah, the wife, seem to be in sympathy with his
receive for analyzing the wanton foolishness of  his               religious conviction.  That there is little intercourse
former carnal haste. Will he finally leave that wilder-            between him and his father-in-law is evident enough
ness with a soul-life deepened and purged, with a faith            from the circumstance that he departs for Egypt with
that has taken on new strength, with a hope invigor-               his vision in the desert a secret.
ated, with an ego completely deflated by His grace and                Then, too, he is allowed to set out with no other
with a self esteemed as nothing? In a word, will he                companions than his wife and sons and a lone beast
emerge from that desert with a new hoId on God and                 of burden. As to his wife, she prohibits him from
with a new vision of His glory? God will see to it                 circumcizing  his son until the Lord threatens to kill
that he will ; for God's workmanship he is.                        him for his negligence. And even then the ordeal so
      Let us trace the development of his spiritual life.          vexes her spirit that in a rage she casts the cut-off
We have not much to go by but still enough. In the                 foreskin at his feet and says, "Surely a bloody husband
solitude of that wilderness a great loneliness creeps              thou art to me." Thus she appears to be a woman
over his soul. And he makes no secret of it. He even               with a violent temper who has so little in common with
perpetuates the memory of his mental state in the                  her husband that she returns and thus allows him to
name he gives to his first-born son.         He calls him          go his way alone. The last thing we read of her is
Gershon, expulsion, banishment, for said he, I have                that after the Exodus she again joined herself to her
been a stranger in a strange land. In Goshen  his heart            husband.
is with God and His people. Though his brethren re-                   A stranger in a strange land is Moses. But how,
ceived him not but instead made sport of his exhibition            during this period of trial, his eyes open to the vanity
of the love he bore them and by their wanton careless-             of resting in self and to the wisdom of hanging to God
ness necessitated his flight, his heart still goes out to          is evident from his responses to the voice  - the voice
them in deep affection. So it must be ; for the disposi-           of God that called unto him out of the midst of the
tions of that heart of his are akin to those of the heart          burning bush. Said the Lord to him, "Come now,
of God. It is a heart therefore that can be deeply                 therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that
wounded and still keep on loving. Moses still loves. It            thou mayest bring forth my people the children of
is the sign that in the power of God he lays aside all             Israel out of Egypt." But Moses said unto God, "Who
malice and thus gains a spiritual victory. And in the              am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should
strength of his love he will, eventually, shepherd God's           bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?" Thou
sheep, for love suffereth  long and is kind and bears              knowest, Lord, who I am ; a man born of woman, few
all things.                                                        of days, full of trouble, coming forth like a flower
      As he is disposed toward his brethren, so he is dis-         and cut down, fleeing also like a shadow and contin-
posed toward God. For the name he gives to his second              uing not. A man am I with days determined and
child is  Eliezer.  The name speaks volumes. According whose months are with thee (Job 17) . Consider, Lord,
to his own saying, there is this idea contained in it:             who I am ; a man whose breath is in his nostrils. I
"`The God of my father was mine help, and delivered                bring forth thy people? Am I God? Have I measured
me from the sword of Pharaoh." It betokens new the waters in the hollow of my hand, meted out
spiritual victories. Consider that the Lord shut him               heavens with a span, comprehended the dust of the
up in this wilderness and is now hiding His face.                  earth in a measure, weighed the mountains in scales
M.oses understands. But no bitterness fills his soul ; and the hills in a balance? Are the nations before me


                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          71

nothing? Can I bring princes to nothing and make my very being, in order that Thy name I may praise in
the judges of the earth as nothing? Can I open blind the presenve of my brethren.
eyes, bring out the prisoners from the prison, and             And God said unto Moses, `!I Am That I Am. Thus
them that sit in darkness out of the prison house? Can shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath
I say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep         sent me unto you."
not back: bring my sons from far off, and my daugh-            But Moses, overwhelmed by a feeling of his own
ters from the end of the earth? Are the hearts of nothingness, still wavers. The hugeness of the work
kings in my hand? Can I make a way in the sea, and          of delivering God's people  - a work the Lord Himself
a path in the mighty waters, bring forth the chariot . now lays upon his hands - still staggers him. Will
and the horse, the army and the power, and make them the people of Israel believe him? Past experience
lie down together so that they rise not and are extinct,    taught him that by nature  t,hey are a stiff-necked
quenched as a tow? Lord, who am I that I should go          people who spurn salvation when presented to them.
unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the chil-       And their hearts are not in his hands. He is not the
dren of Israel out of Egypt? Lord, thou knowest that one to work in them both to will and to do according
in my foolish haste I thought to bring them forth by        to his good pleasure. So he says unto God, "But be-
myself. I was doubting then whether thou didst see          hold they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my
the affliction of thy people which are in Egypt and hear    voice: for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared
their cry by reasons of their taskmasters, and know         unto thee." The Lord also removes this objection by
their sorrows. The question than rose in my heart giving him three signs: that of the rod, that of the
whether thou wouldst come down to deliver them out          leprous hand and that of the water turning into blood
of the hand of the Egyptians, to bring them up out of       when poured upon the dry land. Still Moses' soul fills
that land into a good land. Thou appeared to me slack with misgivings. But what shall he say? It occurs to
concerning thy promise. I was unmindful of the fact         him now that he is slow of speech, and of a slow
that thou art longsuffering toward thy people, not tongue. He will tell the Lord about it. Perhaps He
willing that any should perish, but that all should come    will reconsider and send another. So he says: "0 my
to repentance. And thinking myself more merciful Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since
than thou, I set out to deliver them by myself. For thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of
this, Lord, I repent in the dust. And now, Lord, thou       speech, and of a slow tongue." But the Lord is ready
would have me bring them forth? I cannot. Thou for him with an answer. But in answering him, He
knowest.                                                    once again strikes at the fear from which the excuse
   The Lord knows indeed! For Moses is His work- Moses now raises springs, the fear, namely, that the
manship and the humble spirit that is now in him His        people  o.f Israel, being by nature dumb. and deaf and
creation. The Lord has gotten his way with him. He          blind will neither respond in praise, nor hear his
has humbled himself under the mighty hand of God.           words, nor be willing to see the presented salvation.
He is now meet for the master's use; for he is clothed      So the Lord says unto him: "Who hath made man's
with humility. The Lord therefore will no longer re-        mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf or the see-
sist him but give him grace. The time of his exaltation ing, or the blind? Have not I the Lord? Now there-
is now at hand.     The Lord, therefore, raises him         fore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee
up by His word and His Spirit. Says He to him, "Cer-        what thou shalt say."
tainly I will be with thee." `With thy soul, thy mind,         Still Moses shrinks from the task to which he is
thy will, to fill thee with life and power. And my          now being assigned. His heart is full of misgivings.
Spirit shall rest upon thee, the Spirit of wisdom and       But what shall he say? All his objections have been
understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the         removed. So, for want of a better reply he says? "0
Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. And Lord, send I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou
thou shalt be of quick understanding in the fear of the wilt send."
Lord. By thy hand I, I, will save my people. Fear              But now the anger of the Lord is kindled against
not therefore. I am God, Almighty! the Lord, your           him. Yet in His mercy He comforts him by giving him
Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.' Cer-           Aaron, his brother, as a mouth. Aaron, the fluent of
tainly I will be with thee ! But how, Lord, will I know, tongue. Moses now obeys without  furtlner  resistance.
that thou art with me, now and ever. And He said,              What must we think of His behaviour? Do not
"This shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee:    call it wanton rebellion, for it is not this. Say that it
When thou hast brought forth he people out of Egypt,        represents the  tremblin,gs  of a man who, now that he
ye shall serve God upon this mountain."                     is called to service, realizes that he is dust, that God
   But what, said Moses unto God, shall I say unto          alone is great, and that, except the Lord build the
them when they say, "What is His name?" Tell me             house, they labour in vain who build it: that, except
Thy name. Let me hear more of the truth about Thy- the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in
self. Carry that truth into my heart, I impress that        vain.
truth, Thy name, upon my mind, upon my will, upon              Yet Moses does not go out guiltness. This flesh is

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

at band here to  polute with its vile issue his humility. moesten zeggen als voorheen: de wereld;  en zoo ver-
And that issue is now an unwillingness to believe that staan behoeven wij niet  te vragen naar den naam van
with God all things are possible and that a man's              den koning, die daar zijn troon beklimt  en heerscht.                  "
strength is the Lord. So the anger of the Lord is                 Miss&en noemt ge ons we1 dwaas, als wij dit af-
kindled against him. Forty years ago, his flesh was            gezonderde stuk grond met den naam gaan  bestempe-
saying, I am the man, and if need be can enter upon            len van Sodom en, in onze gedachten daar heel in de
this venture alone. Now this same flesh changes its            verte sommige Israelieten zien naderen,  die ook daar
speech and its tactics. Conceding that man is nothing,         hunne  tenten voor een wijle komen opslaan, de een
it now dangles before his eye the possibility of a man,        langer de ander korter.
humbled by grace, being forsaken by the Lord even                 Nu verstaan we zeer goed  dat er groot verschil is
though He has the promise, "Certainly I will be with tusschen het eene kind van God en het andere en, dat
thee." But here again; Moses gains a spiritual tri-            verschil wordt ook openbaar daar, waar zij met de
umph ; for he goes, as the Lord bids him.                      wereldling onder hetzelfde dak vertoeven.
                                               G. M. 0.          Wij zijn in ons hart overtuigd, dat er kinderen  Gods
                                                               zijn die daar op die groote tentoonstelling in allerlei
                                                               hun God, die kennis schonk aan de wereld,  die naar
                                                               Hem niet vraagt, om dit groote reusachtige werk te be-
                      Ingezonden                               werkstelligen, dat een zeer s`choon  geheel kan genoemd
                                                               worden,  verheerlijken en prijzen. Maar hoeveel Is-
                       WORLD'S  FAIR                           raeheten  gaan zoo naar  Sodom? Of, in andere woor-
         Geachte Redacteur  :-                                 den, hoeveel  kinderen  Gods gaan zoo naar die Fair?
                                                               En naar ons oordeel is het beter om zulke plaatsen
      Gaarne zag ik door uwe welwillendheid voor het           niet mede te helpen tot het bestrijden  van die kolos-
hiervolgende  een plaatsje in de Standard Bearer en bij        sale onkosten, wat we zonder twijfel bij het betalen der
voorbaat mijnen hartelijken dank.                              intreegelden, die gei%scht worden,  voor en .aleer  door-
      Over het bovenstaande  hoort men tegenwoordig            trek verleend wordt.
vele tongen  spreken, n.l., World's Fair. En als ge uw            Het is dunkt ons de moeite waard om dit met el-
aandacht hieraan wijdt, bemerkt ge al heel spoedig kander  te overwegen, want er is zeer zeker gevaar om
het verschil van opinie, die door de sprekers gevormd          de movies weldra op gelijke schaal te stellen met de
wordt. De een is van oordeel, dat het bezoeken van             Fair, en daarom houd ik het er voor dat de Fair geen t
de Fair niet gepast is voor een Christen, en weer een          plaats is voor het kind Gods.                                               ,.' c
ander geeft u den indruk, dat het zeer we1 gaat om als            Vragende voor meerdere inlichting aangaande mijn
kind Gods  een wijle te vertoeven op zulk eene  tentoon-       oordeel, verblijf ik in afwachting
stelling.  Nu is het voor schrijver dezes onmogelijk,
om over het  schoone  van  zulk een bovengenoemde fair                                                           G. Boersma
zijn oordeel te vormen, want wat het oog niet ziet, al is         Grand Rapids,  Mich.
het nog zoo schoon,  is totaal  onmogelijk te beoordeelen.
Doch  wij zien ook met ons geweten en, dan bij het licht          Missch'ien willen anderen onzer Iezers hier meer
van Gods Woord trachten we voor ons zelf een oordeel           over schrijven. Red.
te vormen en geven zoodoende onze af- of goedkeuring.
      Het zij verre van ons om een oordeel te vellen,  maar
alleen om te vragen of er op grond van Gods Woord
voldoende veiligheid voor het kind Gods gevonden
wordt om, zonder  aanklagen des gewetens, zulke plaat-                                 IN MEMORIAM
sen te bezoeken, want we verstaan allen als het niet             Den llden October 1933 ontsliep mijne geliefde Vrouw en
goed  is, dan is het zonde. Nu is uit dit schrijven we1 te der kinderen geliefde Moeder,
bespeuren, dat de schrijver ook een oordeel vormt voor                         GRIETJE WYCHERS-,Datema,
zichzelf,  maar  of dit oordeel gegrond is daarover  hoor-
de ik gaarne iemand beter daartoe bekwaam dan ik.              in den ouderdom van 64 jaar en bijna 10 maanden, na een be-
      Wij  zullen maar eerst vragen, van wie gaat deze uauwd  en Iangdurig hjden
groote onderneming uit? En we behoeven niet  naar                 Zij liet tot  onzen troost het getuigenis na, ook tot het  Iaat-
een antwoord te zoeken, want als wij zeggen van de             ste toe met helder bewustzijn uitgesproken; dat zij tot haar
:groote  stad Chicago, dan zoudt ge meteen  ons voor de Heere ging. Dit laatste verbhjdt ons in onze droefheid.
voeten werpen, dat wij het pad mis zijn; en ons komen                                        Berend   Wychers
overtuigen, dat het uitgaat van de geheele  wereld; en                                       Mr. en Mrs. Peter Dijkema
daarom Wereld's Fair genoemd wordt. Om  te vragen                                            Mr. en Mrs. John Wychers
                                                                                             Mr. en Mrs. Albert  Wychers
wie of we1 de eigenaar van dit reusachtig schouwspel                                           En  zeven   kleinkinderen.
is, zou dwaas zijn want het ligt voor de hand, dat we                                        Allen te Grand Rapidps, Mich.


                           A   R e f o r m e d   S e m i - M o n t h l y   M a g a z i n e
            PUBLISHED BY THE REFORMED FREE PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION, GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.





___-                         ." "."..."ll__lllll""_." ..-_-                       ".._      .._._     --_.---____
Vol. X. No. 4                                                    NOVEMBER 15, 1933                                      Subscription Price, $2.50

                                                                                      mitted and are unwilling to confess and take to Cal-
          M E D I T A T I O N                                                         vary's cross ; now they are caused by a sudden burden
                                                                                      of sorrow and grief, which for the moment oppresses
                                                                                      us, overwhelms our spirit, so that our. will does not
                                                                                      blend with the will of Him, that causes all things to
                      Joy In the Lord                                                 work together for good to them that love Him . . . .
                        Finally, my brethren, rejoice  in the Lord.                           Who does not know these times, when we cry out
                      To write the same things to you, to me in-                     of the depths? . . . .
                      deed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.                           Or, what is worse, times of such spiritual darkness,
                       Beware of dogs, beware of evil  workers1
                      beware of the concision.                                        when we are so overwhelmed, that there is no power to
                                                               Phil.   3:1, 2.        cry to Him that saves? . . . .
                                                                                              Hark! The Lord of your salvation reaches forth
    Joy in the Lord !                                                                 to you in your gloom, to lift you above the encircling
    A sure and well-founded joy!                                                      gloom : Rejoice in the Lord !
    A joy. pure and holy, unspeakable and full of glory,                                       Sometimes that condition of spiritual darkness is
a joy that transcends all the world may offer; that the chronic. It is such for the soul that is never able to
loss of all things neither diminishes nor destroys ; that appropriate the riches of grace there are in Christ
outlasts all things temporal and reaches out into Jesus and to lay hold of the blessings of salvation in
eternity ! . . . .                                                                    Him ; it may be because we suffer from chronic doubt,
    Such is joy in the Lord !                                                         or because we habitually walk in the ways of the world
    Rejoice, then, my brethren!                                                       and do not seek the things that are above, or because
    For, to rejoice is to your Lord's praise and honour                               there is some hidden sin, gnawing at the very root of
and glory, seeing it is but the manifestation of the our spiritual life, a sin we nourish rather than fight.
riches of grace He bestowed on you, the *expression of                                And the worst manifestation of this chronic gloom and
your consciousness of the blessedness of His fellow-                                  dejection of spirit you find in the Christian that stub-
ship. And it is the sign of a healthy spiritual life.                                 bornly refuses to be delivered of it and to be led out
   A rejoicing spirit is the very opposite of a soul                                  in the glorious liberty of the children of God ; that sys-
that is bowed down with gloom and grief, leading a tematically defends that state of constant spiritual
morbid and languishing spiritual life, always dejected                                darkness as the normal condition of the child of God
and full of anxious queries, doubts and misgivings, in this world ; that considers it a special mark of piety
full of fear and evil apprehensions and premonitions,                                 always to doubt and to wail and lament, though it be
dwelling in darkness and incapable of lifting itself to no purpose at all ; that raises this doubting state to
into the light of life. Such `a condition may be acute,                               a standard of spiritual living for  all that are truly
and what Christian is not acquainted with it? There saved! . . . .
are times of spiritual darkness, when the soul is over-                                       Listen ! Your doubt is rebuked ; your constant
whelmed and sits in the dust, when the brightness of gloom  is condemned as not pleasing to the Lord, Whose
God's face in Jesus Christ, shining with lovingkindness                               name  YOU confess : Rejoice in the Lord!
and tender mercies, does not seem to pierce the gloom                                          Let go of your doubt!
of spiritual mist that envelops us, when the harps are                                        Abandon your sinful ways !                      ?J
hung in the willows and we refuse to sing the songs of                                        Nourish no longer that sin you love and cherish?
Zion. Now they are occasioned by some sin we com-                                             And rejoice in the Lord ! Open your eyes and see,


14                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
          --.                  _" .._ --_ ..__                                 ^ ---...._  __I_.__              _-._--__l_l
that the night is past and the day of salvation has                 and unfaithfulness, reasons for self-condemnation and
dawned gloriously. Open your ears and incline them shame . . . .
to the Word of your God, that bids you to rejoice!                      But let your joy be rooted in the Lord, in His
Open your hearts and let the joy of the Lord flood your             blood, in His death and perfect obedience, sealed in His
soul ! Open your lips, and rather than lament and                   resurrection ; and in the fact that you are in Him,
wail, sing of the blessedness of the grace that is in               reckoned in Him, represented by Him. Let this be
Jesus, that the world may know that He is precious                  the foundation of your joy, that when He shed His
to your soul! For, such is to the praise and honour                 lifeblood and died on the accursed tree, giving the per-
and glory of Him that called you out of darkness into               fect answer to God's : "Love Me  !", He shed that `life-
His marvelous light! . . . .                                        blood and poured out His life and gave that perfect
      Know  ye not the riches of His salvation in Jesus             answer for you; that when the Most High set His seal
Christ, our Lord? Have ye not tasted the blessedness upon His Servant's obedience and righteousness by
of forgiveness in Calvary's blood, the sweetness of the raising Him from the dead, it was your righteousness
righteousness of God by faith, the purity of His holi-              He sealed ; so that your sins are blotted out, your adop-
ness, the profound tranquility of His peace, the un-                tion unto sonship is sure, eternal life and glory are
speakable joy of eternal life and glory? . . . .                    merited for you through the blood of Jesus Christ,
      Believe ye not that all things work together for your Lord. Then your rejoicing is in the Lord and
good for them that love Him, whom He hath called                    shall never be put to shame !          8
according to His purpose? . . . .                                      Rejoice in the Lord !
      0, walk in that way in which ye may lay hold of                   Let Him and all that is in Him also be the object
the riches of His grace !                                           of your joy!
      Rejoice ! And again I say': rejoice !                             That your joy may be perfect!
      Hear, for your God is speaking !                                  Do not rejoice in the things of the  ,world,  that may
      Rejoice in the Lord!                                          appear worthy of our rejoicing for a moment, but
                                                                    perish and flit away like shadows cast by cloud and
                                                                    sun. Neither is that joy pure and pleasing to the
                                                                    Lord, that is caused by the world and the things that
      In the Lord rejoice!                                          are therein, by riches and possessions, by honour of
      For, only when your rejoicing is in Him can your              men and power and influence, by the lust of the flesh
joy be genuine and well-founded.                                    and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. They
      And only the joy in Him is pleasing to the Lord,              are of the world and in them the world rejoices. And
is pure and holy joy, is joy eternal and transcending he that loveth the world, the love of the Father is not
earth and sky !                                                     inHim....
      Let the basis and source of your joy, then, be in no              In the Lord . . . .
one beside Him, in nothing outside of the Lord.                         `fn Him there is righteousness and holiness, love
      Do not rejoice in yourselves, do not look for a sure and peace, grace and mercy, sonship  and fellowship
foundation of your joy in your own heart, in your life,             with God !
in your works, for with such a foundation the house of                  Rejoicing in Him you sing with gladness of heart
your joy must needs perish. Let not your joy rest in that your names are written in heaven !
the assurance of outward things, of a righteousness                     Joy unspeakable and full of glory !
which is of the law; in the fact that outwardly you                     In the Lord rejoice !
measure up to the proper standard of a Christian life
and walk, that the water of baptism was sprinkled on
your forehead, that by birth you belong to God-fearing
generations, so that you are a Hebrew of the Hebrews,                   Finally, my brethren, rejoice !
that regularly you attend public worship in the Church                  Not irksome it is for me to write the same things
in which you have a place from infancy. Blessed privi- over and over again.
leges though all these things may be as a means to an                   And for you, who are the Church of the living God
end, as a basis of your joy you may count them all but              in the midst of a world that lieth in darkness, it is
dung and refuse ! . . . .                                           safe !
      In the Lord rejoice !                                             In that world and its darkness there always lurks
      Not in dreams or visions ; not in some past experi-           the enemy, sneaking about your camp, watching for
ence  ; not even in the fact, that you were converted in            the proper opportunity to leap upon you in order to
a remarkable way.                                                    rob you of your joy in the Lord.
      In yourselves you lie in the midst of death. You                  Always you have need of the same light of the
can find -nothing to boast, nothing in which to place                Word, of the same instruction and warning, lest you
your confidence, nothing on which to base your joy,                  fall asleep and the enemy come upon you unawares
nothing but sin and corruption and death, backsliding                and deprive you of your joy before you know it. And,


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D B E A R E R                                          75
_---.--_"  - _._ "-                     - -.-.-_ -___                          ~~-.                I~  -.._  -      -
therefore though I have repeatedly said it and often           Outside of the way of His precepts it is impossible
written it, I even now admonish you : Beware of dogs ;      to rejoice in Him!
beware of evil workers ; beware of the concision !             None too scathing is the rebuke : dogs ! evil
    It is the false teachers the apostle has in mind and workers ! mutilated !
against whom he directs his warning to the Church  in          Beware of them!
this threefold:  hewart?!  They are the dogs, they are         Let them not rob you of your joy !
the evil workers, they are the concision. Not three            Rejoice, my brethren, in the Lord !
different classes of persons, but one and the same class
he means. Only he characterizes them from a three-             Watch, then, in your rejoicing!
fold point of view, from the viewpoint of their false          Eternal vigilance be your slogan as Church of
doctrine, from the viewpoint of their work and its Christ in the world.
fruit, and from the viewpoint of the spiritual char-           Beware ! And let it be repeated with emphasis ;
acter. As to the first, they are the  cone&m.  Inten- beware ! And let the note of warning constantly sound
tionally and not without bitter condemnation the forth in your camp : beware 1 Let it never become irk-
apostle calls them thus. They are not the circumcision, some to him that is to be a watchman on the walls of
but the concision, that is, the mutilated. And truly so. Zion to repeat the warning: beware ! And understand,
For, they insisted that for the believers in Christ cir- Church of' Christ in the world, that for you and your
cumcision was necessary unto salvation. And what children it is safe, always to hear the sound of the
else could circumcision be in the new dispensation, trumpet calling to you : beware !
Christ having become the end of the law, than a mere           Do not attempt to silence that sound of the trum-
cutting of the flesh, a self-mutilation?        As to the pet!
second, they were evil workers, and wrought nothing            Demand not that something new, pleasing to the
but evil, wherever they dogged the apostle's steps. flesh, less warlike and militant, but dangerous because
For, they only aimed at the uprooting of the Church, of its pleasing sweetness, be preached to you or be
removing from under her the only foundation of her taught your children. Beware !
faith, the righteousness of God in Christ by faith. And        The enemy may not be in sight at present. He may
as to the last, they were dogs, that is unholy and pro- not appear to lurk just at this time in the immediate
fane. They are sorcerers and whoremongers, idolaters, vicinity of the camp. Probable it is, most probable,
murderers, lovers and makers of a lie, and with them indeed, that he had not yet invaded the little Church
they are, and forever shall be, without the City of of  Philippi  at the time when the apostle addressed
God! . . . .                                                this warning to them. But, whether in sight or out of
    It is because they are profane and love unright- sight, he is always about. The lie is ever on the heels
eousness, that they love to work evil, hate the truth of the truth. Evil workers always follow in the wake
and teach the lie!                                          of them that preach the gospel. Dogs are always about
    In scathing rebuke Scripture points the finger at the camp  ! Beware !
them : dogs ! evil workers ! the mutilated !                   Do not play with dogs ! They will snap at you and
    Always they are in the world !                          your children !
    Always they lurk about the Church !                        Do not hesitate to call them by their right names.
    Always they are characterized by the same mark:         Do not compromise nor say that you respect their
they love not the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ. opinion, that you praise their learning, that you deeply
They deny His cross and His resurrection and preach honour them for their views. Call them dogs ! evil
a gospel of Man !                                           workers  ? the mutilated ! Beware !
    And they would deprive the Church of Christ of             Leave them not in your house ! Open not the doors
her joy in the Lord. They do so by their false doctrine. of your Church for their teaching. Tolerate them not
They do so by leading you in ways of sin. By their in your pulpits, in your bible classes, in your schools.
doctrine, for your joy is in the Lord and your Lord Shut your doors if they would force an entrance.
they take away. The ground and foundation of your           Throw them out if you detect them within. Be not
faith, by which you rejoice in Him, is His perfect obe- moved with false sentimentalism to lodge them for
dience, and for it they would substitute a vain cutting awhile within the walls of Zion. Never be persuaded
of the flesh, an outward show, an empty work, an to think that they may possibly be piously, though
abomination in the sight of God !        By leading you erroneously, seeking- your good. They would destroy
astray into ways of sin and of the world. For always your faith, remove its foundation, deprive you of your
there is that inseparable relation between doctrine and joy in the Lord ! Beware !
life. To rejoice in the things of the world, apart from        To write the same things to you, to me is not irk-
the righteousness of Jesus . Christ, your Lord, they some.
would induce you.                                              And to you it is safe!'
    Apart from His cross,  His  blood, His death and           Beware !
resurrection, His righteousness, there is no joy!                                                         H. H.


 .                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D B E A R E R                                                    8X
 __"l_l_...--_         -                                                                        __._ _I-               . .."..--_..-
 zou het da-n niet verre te verkiezen zijn, dat uwe kin-
 deren omgaan met de kinderen  van hen, die den Naam                           Some Fundamental Principles?
 des Heeren belijden, dan met de  kinderen  der wereld?
 Ik meen van wel.                                                            A few weeks ago, in The Banruer  of Oct. 5, an article
       Om al deze redenen kan ik broeder Boender niet attracted our attention under the heading:  "Some
 antwoorden, dat zijne  kinderen  dan maar naar de  Pu- Fundamental  P.rinciples  and the N. R. A." What par-
 blieke School moeten.  Integendeel, moet ik hem met ticularly drew our attention was not the N. R. A., but
allen nadruk antwoorden, dat dit nooit mag.                          "Some Fundamental Principles." According to the
       Wat ik dan we1 den rechten weg acht?                          Editor of said magazine, it will be of the greatest ben-
       De hiervolgende opmerkingen mogen dien  aanwij-               efit to the church of Christ, if, in connection with the
zen :                                                                N. R. A., we bear in mind these two fundamental
       1.  Zoolang mogelijk samenwerken met de reeds thoughts : "The Reign of Christ in connection with the
bestaande schoolvereenigingen. Wij zijn klein en op N R A"  and* "The Doctrine of Common Grace and
het gebied van het onderwijs, dat een  zaak' is der th'e  &.  6. A." .
ouders, niet der kerken, moeten we geen krachten ver-                        In the first place, therefore, shall we adopt an op-
brokkelen, waar het  niet noodig blijkt.                             timistic attitude over against the N. R. A., we must
       2. Waar het om des beginsels wil noodig blijkt en place before us the reign of Christ. Without repeating
mogelijk is, niet aarzelen, maar eigen scholen begin- the entire article herewith in connection, we will en-
nen. Dat is in zulk een geval eenvoudig dure roeping.                deavor to review briefly the Editor's line of reasoning.
Niets mag ons bewegen  ens  bkginsel prijs te geven.                 It is as follows:
Wij  moeten  onze  kinderen  onderwijzen, of  doen  en                       According to the premillennialistic view, not Christ
helpen  onderwijzen "in de voorzeide leer"  near  ort9               but Satan is at present ruling this wdrld. This follows
vemogen.                                                             from the theory that the kingship of Christ will not
       3. Waar dit we1 noodig zou zijn, maar niet moge-              be established until the millennium. Hence, the be-
lijk door gebrek  aan eigen krachten, lid blijven van de lievers of this doctrine see something sinister  an+ dia-
bestaande vereeniging, de kinderen  blijven sturen naar bolical in all the measures which men employ to solve
de bestaande Christelijke School; voorts alle mogelijke the world's problems and relieve its distress.  HOW-
invloed laten gelden  op de vereeniging en op de school ; ever, the Reformed approach is quite different. This
blijven eischen, dat het onderwijs werkelijk zij naar Reformed approach is based upon the Scriptural truth
de "voorzeide leer" ; protesteeren tegen alle verkeerde that Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
invloeden en elementen. En  last dan het onderwijs                   For we read in Eph. 1, that Jesus is "far above all rule,
in huis dat van de school aanvullen, en, indien noodig,              and authority, and power, and dominion . . . . and he.
ook bestrijden en onschadelijk  maken.                               put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave
                                                                     him to be head over all things to the church . . . . "
                                                           H. H.     This means that Jesus Christ is the ruler of the uni-
                                                                     verse. Nothing is excluded from the Saviour's glorious
                                                                     reign. Ch+st is exalted above all the powers of human
                                                                     government, and human society. This statement im-
                                                                     plies, for example, that the real head of the N. R. A. is
                                                                     not General Johnson but Jesus Christ. And, as ruler
                   Take my life, and let it be                       of the universe, Christ so controls  the actions of men,
                   Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.                       bridles the godless, restrains the devil, that even all the
                     Take my moments and my days;                    godless scheming of the wicked must serve his pur-
                     Let them flow in ceaseless praise.              pose. Paul also declares in the afore-mentioned text,.
                                                                     that Christ was given to be head over all things to the
      E have noticed that wherever there has been a faithful fol-    Church. He is not only the Head of the Church. He
lowing of the Lord in a consecrated soul, several things have        is also the "Head  over  all  things." He is, the Lord of
inevitably followed, sooner or  Iater.    Meekness and quietness     all. But God gave him this authority for the sake of
of spirit become in time the characteristics of the  daily life.     the Church, in order that Christ might rule the whole
A submissive  acceptance of  the will of God as it comes in the      world for the salvation of the Church. And now, what
houriy  events of each day; pliability in the hands of God to do     effect does all this have on the N. R. A.? The follow-
or to suffer all the good pleasure of His will; sweetness under      ing.      This apostolic outlook upon life prevents the
provocation; calmness in the midst of turmoil and bustle;            Christian from  seeing  sinister, devilish influences
yieldingness to the wishes of others, and an insensibility to        where they do not exist. He does not look upon the
slights and affronts; absence of worry or anxiety; deliverance       N. R. A. as a shadow of antichrist merely because it
from care and fear;  - all these, and many similar graces, are       contains certain wrong features, such as the destruc-
invariably found to be the natural outward development of            tion of pigs. It gives the Christian a cheerful view Of
that inward life which is hid with Christ in God.                    life. Christ is at the helm, and we cannot be  pessi-


82                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
--ll"-."- -... ".---.^^ .._ _-            ---____                              ..--._-..^ ..^..__  ^^^ ._.__II" ..-......-.    -I_
mistic and alarmists. It is the program of our glori- tion in the light of the rather mysterious assertion: If
fied Lord. He is the Head of all things, also of the         the N. R. A:should  prove to be a peril to the Church,
N. R.  a., and if it should prove to contain a real peril    He will cause it to fail. Christ's purpose with the
to his church he will cause it to fail. Believing this,      N. R. A., shall it work for the good of Zion and be
the Christian can certainly be optimistic in respect to      termed a success, is that it may break the depression
the N. R. A. And so the Church may well pray for and return prosperity. Therefore the church may well
God's favor upon the N. R. A., and in general upon the       ask God's favor upon the movement of the-N.  R. A.,
efforts of our government to break the depression.           and in general upon the efforts of our government to
      Thus far Rev. H. J. Kuiper.                            break. the depression. If this N. R. A. does not bring
      Our first reaction to these words was: What a con-     back prosperity, then Christ will be forced to cause it
fusion of "Fundamental Principles." The premillen- to fail, to destroy the movement, and other measures
nialist sees in the  N. R. A. something sinister, diabol- will have to be adopted. According to this representa-
ical, a foreboding of the Antichrist. The Reformed           tion, I visualize the church taking home this comfort
man sees in the N. R. A. something beautiful, comfort-       from the N. R. A., that Christ is its Head, that He is
ing, attractive. We need not shrink back in holy terror striving to break the depression, and, if it does not
from the N. R. A. There is nothing sinister, devilish        succeed, He will adopt other measures. But, whatever
in it. For Christ is its Head. Has Christ not'been           measure` is adopted, prosperity will return.
placed above all rule, and authority, and power, and            Think not that we are misrepresenting the Editor
dominion? Upon reading this, various questions arose of. the Bunner. Has the N. R. A. any other purpose
in my mind. I asked myself the question whether              but to break the depression? Must we not ask God's
Jesus Christ will also be the Head of the antichristian      favor upon this movement that this terrible depression
world, and, if so, whether we must also receive that         maycome to an end? . (Involuntarily we think of Ps.
movement with open arms and see nothing sinister in          2  53 : Let us break their bands asunder.) And is not
it. For, mind you, Rev. Kuiper is here combatting the        Christ in this all the guiding soul of the "Let us break
premillennialistic view of seeing in the N. R. A. some-      the depression" movement? Does He not thus work
thing sinister and devilish. But if we must not see          for our welfare, and must we not pray for the return
something sinister and diabolical in the N. R. A. be-        of prosperity? Is any other conclusion warranted than
cause Jesus is its Head, then I would like to know           that Christ is attempting to relieve the distress, solve
whether there will ever be the development of an anti-       the world's problems and that herein lies the success
Christian power, because Christ is surely King of the N. R. A., and the welfare of the church? I think
eternally.                                                   not.
      Our second reaction'to the reasoning of the Banner-       It is not our purpose to delve into government af-
Editor was: What an effort to fit a comforting, beauti-      fairs, which we do not profess to understand. Never-
ful Christian truth into our fleshly and carnal frame        theless, a few remarks also in this connection are in
of mind ! Does the Editor expound here a Reformed            order. To explain all the details of how our govern-
principle which will give me Christian confidence and        ment should act, we cannot do. But that ail govern:
comfort? And my answer is : If this must be my com-          ment and government officials must bow before the
fort, I have a groundless comfort; and, if this must         Word of God, act according to Divine statutes, is a mat-
instill into me optimism, what ill-founded optimism.         ter beyond all dispute. To limit the crops, which also
To my mind, the reasoning in the Banner leads us into        the Banner-Editor advocates, while thousands are in
the following channel. If I am wrong, I kindly ask of want, is to my mind a wicked and godless act. To talk
the Editor to inform me of my error.                         of depression, while there is an over-supply of food,
      This reasoning is as follows. The followers of pre- and an abundance of money, while our government
millennialism see in all those measures which tend unto      officials wallow in money, is well-nigh ridiculous. I
relieving of the distressed something sinister and dia-      heard a remark just recently that one man has enough
bolical.      But the Reformed man need not see these        money to feed the country for ten years. Is not the
devilish influences in the N. R. A. because not General      effort of the government, in the light of all this, taunt-
Johnson but Christ is its Head. And Jesus Christ ing mockery before the Lord? Moreover, another mat-
works out all things unto the welfare of His Church.         ter must be considered in this connection. People groan
If the Saviour should notice that this N. R. A. contains because of the depression. But is it not true, that we
a real peril to His Church, He will  .cause it to fail.      have set ourselves standards of living, and now ask
This latter statement, in my opinion, cannot mean any-       God to give us money to uphold them? Must Christian
thing else but that Christ will see to it that the N. R.     high schools, colleges, seminaries be on a par, as far
A. will not become a menace to the church by plunging        as buildings are concerned, with the world? Must
us into a still greater depression. The question forces      Christian schools compete with the world in the field
itself upon the foreground: What is Christ's purpose of "sports" ? And if this depression is thus due to our
with the N. R. &4., and how only can it work unto the sin, let us live the word of ,Jeremiah  in Lam. 3 39-40:
welfare of His body? Surely, this is a legitimate ques-      "Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             83
-_-              -..- _...-.."-..                         ~-_-                                         --_--_  .--... ".._
punishment of his sin? Let us search and try our               fact of the antithesis, the. spiritual cleaving between
ways, and turn again to the Lord." And if the  Banner-         the Church and the world, or does not reckon with it,
Editor cannot recall any particular sin, besides the           is dangerous. We believe it to be high time to stress
afore-mentioned, let him recall 1924, and its unjust           the antithesis, as we have stressed common grace. Yet,
deposition of Reformed ministers from the fold of his          we should not lose sight of the fact that there are gen-
church.                                                        eral operations of the Spirit of God in the unbelieving,
       However, I have something else in mind. The teach-      which do not save the soul, but which enable them to
ing of Rev. Kuiper, propagated in a "Reformed" mag-            perform civic good. The fact that the N. R. A. is not
azine, is far from Reformed. According to his view,            under Christian auspices is no proof that all the meas-
the N. R. A. is a measure which deserves our support,          ures are sinful, and inspired by the evil one."
because Christ Jesus is its Head and He  5 striving to            And so the doctrine of "Common" grace gives us
break the depression. But if Jesus Christ,  who is the         another view of the  N. R. A. The movement is essen-
Head of the N. R. A., is not even assured' of its suc-         tially ethically good before the Lord.' I know, the
cess, how can I be? How can a movement comfort                 Editor will reply: I did not say "ethically good," but
me, the ultimate success of which I do not know?               "civic" good. However, the Editor also states that this
Therefore we say : ill-founded optimism.  .?                   "civic" good "is not sinful, is not inspired by the evil
       But not only does the reasoning of the Editor give      one," and, therefore, it surely must be inspired by the
us no optimism, but it robs us of all optimism, which          Holy One, the Spirit of the Almighty. This we must
only a child of God can posses. I heartily agree with          bear in mind, according to the Editor. How any move-
Rev. Kuiper that Jesus Christ is the Head of the N.            ment, with Christ as its Head, operating by His Holy
R. A., in the sense that He is King of kings. Yea,             Spirit in unregenerate men so that they perform deeds
Jesus Christ will be the King of kings, and Head  .also        not sinful, is not under Christian auspices, I do not
of  .the antichristian power. The  oltly comfort we ob-        understand. It seems to me such a movement would
tain from anything and also from the N. R. A. is that          have to be Christian. ,4nd if the movement is not
Christ is its Head. This not only, however. But, let           Christian, what then, if not unchristian?' If we wish
the BanncT-Editor  begin to understand also this truth,        to understand the N. R. A., then we must realize that
that, the cinly comfort which we obtain also from the          "common grace" is the soul of the movement. But
depression is, not that Christ is striving to break, but       then we should not look askance at it, but we ought to
that He  sent it, and is alone its ruling power. Then we       receive it with open arms.
can be patient in all adversity, because all things are           However, we are at a loss to detect in the N: R. A.
in the hand of our Father. If the depression teaches           anything which would reveal unto us its unsinful, holy
us anything, let it teach us to seek the things which are      character. That the  Banner-Editor  detects this, we
::bove. And if Rev. Kuiper does not see this point. but        can understand, and we will return to this presently.
would fit Christ's kingship over all things into a fleshly,    But may I ask Rev. Kuiper to show me that a spirit
carnal frame of mind, it  x.eems  to me that nothing           of faith is motivating the movement? Paul writes,
could be better for him than the failure of the N, l?. A.,     does he not, that everything which is not done out of
if its success must be conceived of in terms oi dollars        faith, is sin? Does Paul, in chapter 14 of Romans,
and cents. Surely, this N. R. A. will work for our             not speak of eating and drinking? Am 1 therefore not
good, even if it brings us still deeper in financial dis-      reasonable to expect of the Editor, that, if our govern-
tress. Let us learn to pray: Thy will be done. Let us          ment is supplying us with food and drink, he must ex-
not create our own standard of welfare, and ask God            plain to me that the N. R. A. is doing this from the
to help us maintain it; but let us pray for grace to           principle of faith? I maintain so. Does Rev. Kuiper
conform our lives to Jehovah's will, and know that  nil        not see any difference between a man of the world
things work together for our good. And if the N. R.            giving employment, and a child of God doing the
A. is a gigantic effort of the sinful world to break the       same? Ii not, well then, the difference is faith. Is it
bands of Christ asunder (because this depression is            grace for one simply to be President of our United
 Christ's depression, according to Ps. 2)) let us also in      States, or is it not true that such an office, which he
that respect learn from this movement that we must             must execute according to the will of God, gives him
seek the things which are above.                               greater responsibility? I think the latter. Can Rev.
       In the second place, the above departure from the       Kuiper point me to any spirit of Christian love in the
true Reformed comfort was aggravated by the  Banner-           N. R. A.? He cannot. Remember, I do not say that
 Editor's second contention, namely, that the doctrine         the government must not pay a laboring man his hire.
 of Common Grace has a real bearing on the Christian's         But, if it does, is that in itself good? Must we not be
 proper attitude toward such movements as the N. R. A.         born again to even see the Kingdom of heaven? And
 Writes the Editor: "It (Common Grace, H.  V.) is a            if one has not the Spirit of regeneration, which saveelz
 doctrine which can easily be overstressed.  4ny em-           the soul, can Rev. Kuiper show me how such an one
 phasis on that which believers have in common with            can see ought but the kingdom of darkness? Was the
 the unregenerate which does not leave room for the            "World's Economy Conference" of this year motivated


     84                                    THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R  '

     by the Holy Spirit of God, to share one another's bur-         have God put His sanction upon them, because we love
     dens, and confess before God their sins? Are not the           them. It is only when we maintain the antithesis in all
     powers of the world ever busy in cutting one another's spheres of life, when we begin to understand that the
     throat? Did not Bernard Shaw, because of this very             difference between us and the world lie in the word
     thing, term this conference: The World's Idiotic Con-          "grace" that we will seek the things which are above,
     ference?                                                       God's love, grace, and then be satisfied with whatever
           Of course, the Editor of the Banner would main-          may betide, and have but one prayer: "Thy will be
     tain the antithesis. Does he not write: It is high time        done, and make me subservient to that will." Let us
     that we stress tile antithesis? Now the idea of "an-           by all means maintain the antithesis. But then we
     tithesis" must certainly mean that the church and the          must drop "common grace."             For "common grace"
     world, at least on some point, stand over against one          leads the church into the midst of the world, has no
     another. There can be no dispute here. But, and is             place for the development of the antichristian world-
     this not the reasoning of the Editor, the N.  R; A. does       power, if Christ as the King of kings, so controls all
     not call for a stressing of the antithesis, simply be- government that officials perform deeds not sinful.
     cause we here deal with something which the unregen- Let us hold fast unto the word of the apostle in II Cor.
     erate and the believers have in sommon. And then, we 6 : 17, 18 : "Wherefore come out from among them, and
     have this in common, that we are both seeking the re- be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the un-
     turn of prosperity. Mind you, not all the details of clean thing: and I will receive you, and will be a
     the N. R. A., so writes the Editor, are to be condemned.       Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daugh-
     The slaughter of pigs is certainly wrong. But the              ters, saith the Lord Almighty."
     heart of the movement is pure, namely, to break the
     depression. Of course, so writes the Editor, the people                                                        H-  Veldman   &
     of God must welcome the breaking of the depression
     and the return of "better times," because this will be
     beneficial to the church. Is this also the motive of the
     government? It certainly is not. Nevertheless, the
     N. R. A., in its feverish attempt  to. return prosperity,                           ZONDAGSPSALM
     without the fear of God,. is prompted by the Holy                       De  rustdag  love God den Vader,
     Spirit, has Jehovah's approval, and must be praised                       Die `t groot heelal  in `t aanzijn riep.
     bs the church of God.                                                   En op den eersten dag der weke
           And this Ieads me to my fina thought. Rev. Kui-                     Zijn eerst, Zijn heerlijk daglicht schiep.
     per states that we" must bear in mind the relation                      U, Vader, zij deez' rustdag heilig!
                                                                               Ontsteek Uw licht in ons gemoed,
     which "common grace" sustains to the N. R. A. And                       En `t brande tot Uw eeuwige eere
     we hasten to add, that only the doctrine of "common                       In onverdoofb'ren IiefdegIoed!
     grace" can prompt such an attitude toward the N. R.
/    A. If carnality does not permeate the N. R. A., what                    De rustdag loov' den Zoon des Vaders,
     then? And if we see in it the working of the Holy                         Die heerlijk  uit Zijn grafnacht blonk,
     Spirit, are we not carnal? This is the inevitable con-                  En. door de kracht Zijns nieuwen  Ievens
     clusion of %ommon grace." For "common grace" de-                          Ons `t eeuwig licht des levens  schonk.
     notes something which the unregenerate have in com-                     U mede zij deez' rustdag heilig,
                                                                               o, Zonne  der gerechtigheid!
     mon. And .what they have in common is the world,                        Bestraal ons in ons wnde-duister
     where we can go hand in hand with the unbeliever.                         Door `t licht, dat Ge over de aard' verspreidt!
     We maintain that "common grace" leads one inevitably
     into the world. According to the "Three Points" God                     De rustdag loov'  den Geest des Vaders,
     loves the world, loves all men in this temporal sphere                    De Plaatsbekleeder van den Heer;
     of life, makes distinction between time and eternity,                   Hij daalde op Jezus' kruisgemeente
     and lives so in fellowship with the unbeliever, that He                   Op d' eersten dag der weke neer.
     would have none go lost. If the Lord loves the world,                   Ook U, U  zij deez' rustdag heilig,
                                                                               0 Geest, die  `t  heilgeloove  schenkt,
     blesses the world with all earthly  things, and these                   En uit Uw volheid van genade
     earthly things are tokens of grace, may we not seek                       Ons dorstend hart voor eeuwig drenkt!
     them? And so "common grace" wipes out all antith-
     esis; yea, as far as God is concerned, there need be no                 Van U, o Geest, o Zoon, o Vader,
     antithesis into all eternity, for He would save all. But                  Wien   `t  eindloos  Driemaal-heilig psalmt,
     civic life, this earthly life is for the unbeliever a token             Getuigt deze eerste dag der dagen,
     of grace, and, in seeking these things, they are                          Die van Uw heerlijkheid weergahnt.
     prompted by the Holy Spirit, and are doing a noble                      U wijden wij onze eersteIingen;
                                                                               Zie zeeg'nend op ons offer neer;
     work. "Common grace" is earthly, is carnal, is product                  Zoo zal de jongste dag der weke
     of carnal minds, must lead into the world, and would                      Nog  dankend   j&hen  tot Uw eer!


                                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                        `35
                                        I
     -........._" ..-........  "..." .-.." ^-    _-.-_ ^^".-."  .._ ---.-           - -              " ..^ -l_____l_..            _-.."      ..__
                                                                                    Eene opmerking. De zonden van Sodom (wereld)
                                   The World's Fair                          zijn openbaar, maar de zonden van het geestelijk Baby-
                                                                             lon (kerk) zijn geheim. Voor het  openbare  kwaad
                  Mijnheer de Redacteur  :-                                  kunnen wij gemakkelijker waken dan voor het  kwade
            Met uw permissie zou ik Mr. G. Boersma van Grand                 hetwelk bedekt is.
     Rapids, Mich., het volgende willen voorleggen ter over-                        Mij  dunkt, in onze dagen van  algemeene  afvallig-
     weging.                                                                 heid, is het voor eene ziel veel gevaarlijker om te  ii&-
            De Chicago World's Fair heeft geen religieus, maar               teren naar de stem van Emeritus-Prof. Heyns, en  an-
     een intellectueel karakter.                                             deren, zooals hij die hooren deed in 12  Wachter  afleve-
            God schiep het schoone  der natuur te vinden in ber-             ringen  aan het begin van dit jaar,  dan een bezoek te
     gen en dalen, rivieren en meren, bosschen en akkers,                    brengen aan de World's Fair, de oogen gesloten hou-
     kreupel-gewas en weiden. Ook gaf Hij de mensch het                      dende voor het kwaad, maar dezelve wijd openende
     vermogen om alle deze dingen  in schilderstuk in een                    voor de groote werken Gods, daar tentoongesteld in
     klein hoekje voor het zoekend oog te ontvouwen en te                    menschenkunst,  a1 ware het dat die kunst zichzelven
     bewonderen.                                                             zocht inplaats van God die hem gaf.
            Deze ding-en zijn daar, als nergens anders ten toon                     Het gaat met ons precies in tegenstelling van de
     gesteId,  benevens  het gezicht hoe een onoogelijk stuk                 we&d. De wereld na The Fair gezien te hebben zegt :
     "rubber" in weinig tijd omgezet wordt in een mooie                      En, o, wat is de mensch groot, maar wij zeggen: 0
     "tire", dewelke ons direct herinnert hoe men in een                     God, Schepper van hemel  en aarde en alles wat daarin
     paar uren tijds heel gemakkelijk van Jeruzalem naar                     is wat zijt Gij oneindig groot. Uw Naam zij geprezen
     Sodom kan snellen.                                                      tot in alle eeuwigheid.
            The Fair Iaat ons zien hoe ik, met Mr. B. over de                                                              J. H. Hoekstra
     "phone" sprekende, hij mij zien kan zoo we1 als hooren.                        Chicago, 111.
            De geschiedenis van het spoorwezen wordt daar                                  ,
     aanschouwelijk voorgesteld, hoe dat verliep van leelijk
     kruipend stuk ijzer, tot de prachtige engine donderend
     in vliegende haast langs de spoorlijn.
            Om plaatsruimte  wille,  noem ik maar een paar za-                 -                     Our Church Order
     ken, maar  duizenden en duizenden van  wetenschappe-
     lijke uitvindingen van allerlei aard en wezen worden                                                   ARTICLE  15
      daar net en keurig.aan  het zoekende oog, het denkende                           No one shall be permitted, neglecting the Ministry of
      brein en het opmerkzame hart bekend gemaakt.                                  his church or being without a fixed charge, to preach
             Natuurlijk, nu is het ook waar dat aldaar ku;aad                       indiscriminately without the consent and authority of
      valt te zien, zooals b.v. in de Straten van Parijs, en                        Synod or  Classis.  Likewise, no one shall be permitted
      andere plaatsen. Maar, zijn dezelfde gevaarlijke  plaat-                      to preach or minister the Sacraments in another church
                                                                                    without the consent of the Consistory of that church.
      sen ook niet te vinden in Grand Rapids,  Mich.? Ik
      denk niet dat Mr. B. bezoek brengt  in dat zondig leven                       This article is to be linked up with Article `7. The
      van de wereld. Zou hij dan naar Chicago reizen om
.                                                                            two, taken together, are comprised of the following
      die ellendigheden te aanschouwen?  We1 neen, immers.                   propositions :
      Neen, Mr. 13. ging niet naar Chicago om op het kwaad                          (1)         One who is called to the ministry of the Word,
      te letten  en zich daarin te vermaken, maar h.ij ging om shall be stationed in a particular place. Exception :
      de wonderen  van God, daar door de ijdele mensch op-                   those sent to do church extention work (Art. 7 j ;
      gehoopt, na te gaan, op te merken, zichzelven  ontwik-                        (2)         Such a one shall not neglect the ministry of
      kelende, en God, de Heilige Schepper, te eeren.                        his church to preach indiscriminately (here and there)
             Mij dunkt, wat meer een christen-mensch de groote               without the consent and authority of Synod and
      werken Gods onder de oogen  krijgt, wat g-rooter God                   Classis  (Art. 15) ;
      hij heeft, en, daartegenover, wat minder zulk eenen                           (3) Neither shall he be permitted to preach or
      van die werken ziet wat kleiner God hij heeft.                         administer the sacraments in another church without
             Mr.  B.  sprak van Sodom, en daarmede natuurlijk the consent of the  consistory of that church (Art.
      de Fair bedoeld.                                                       15) ;
             Dat portret past niet. Een tentoonstelling van han-                     (-1)       Those without a tied charge shall not preach
      de1 en nijverheid, verstand en kunst, heeft niets ge-                  indiscriminately without the consent and authority of
      meens  met de werken van Sodom. De cosmopolitaan-                      Synod or Classis (Art. 15) ;
      sche steden van de verlichte  christelijke  eeuw, komen                        (5)        Neither shall they be permitted to preach  or
      in praktijk en in wezen  nader, ja, vereenzelvigen  zich               minister the sacraments in another church without the
       in Sodom. En in deze Sodoms  wonen  wij, het ons consent of the consistory of that church.
      gaande  als Lot, wiens ziel, vanwege het kwaad, dage-                         One can see at a glance that proposition 1 in Article
      Iijks gekweld werd.                                                    7 and proposition 2 in Article 15 comprise a unity.


96                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
- _-.-. - ..- I__- -.....     - . .._ -_~--"...                -              -." -_-.....          _-.^..       -II__
The same principle of truth circulates through both.           The question is: who, according to the framers of this
Both have a bearing on the same historical circum- article, is the body that calls? There are three possible
stance.                                                        constructions to be placed upon the article:
       In the first period of Reformed protestantism,  Ana-         (a) No consistory (congregation) shall call any-
baptists and seceding priests, assuming the role of one to the Ministry of the Word, without stationing
evangelists, would preach indiscriminately whenever him in a particular place (congregation) ;
there was opportunity and for whatever Reformed                     (b)    No consistory shall call anyone to the Min-
assembly whose audience could be gained. There was             istry of the Word, without the Classis  stationing him
an indisposition on the part of these persons to be            in a particular church ;
joined to a particular church and thus to be associated             (c)' No Classis shall call anyone to the Ministry
with a particular field of labor. Even before the Re- of the Word without stationing him in a particular
formation when the Christian church was still exclu-           church.
sively Roman itinerent priests, who styled themselves               From the point of view of Reformed Church Polity,
"walking  Levites," went about dispensing the sacra- the constructions under a and  b are so impossible that
ments to crusaders, hunters, merchants and other trav- they may be set aside without being considered. There
elers.                                                         is not a single case on record of an early Reformed con-
       With a view t.o arresting the action of these per- sistory electing a minister for a congregation other
sons, the Synod of Dordrecht, 1574, ruled that vaga-           than its own. Though at first glance the construction
bond preachers be examined by the  Classis and in              under c strikes us as being as inadmissible as the ones
event of successful issue of the examination be joined         rejected, it is the only remaining construction. So,
to a particular brotherhood.                                   then, according to the only construction that can be
      To both articles it will be noticed was added a clause placed upon it, Art. 7 declares that Classis or Synod
that have a bearing on the missionary minister. They can call,  if  need be, to the office of Missionary minister.
read respectively (Art. 7) : "Except he be sent to do          That this was actually being done in the sixteenth cen-
church extention work." And (Art. 15) "to preach in- tury is plain from a statement one happens upon in
discriminately without the consent or authority of Prof. Rutgers'  lierkelijke   Adviezen   (p. 112, Vol. I).
Classis or Synod." The conception is that unless called I quote : "ln Gereformeerde kerken kon geen kerkelijke
to the office of missionary minister one must be sta- dienst zijn zonder kerkelijke roeping en zending; en
tioned in and keep himself to the particular flock, that       deze kon slechts uitgaan van een kerkeraad, als het
this flock one shall not forsake  (tc do church extension eenige kerkelijke bestuur; voor plaatsen, waar een ker-
work as missionary minister) without the consent and           keraad is, van den kerkeraad dier ~plaats,  en voor an-
authority of Classis or Synod.                                 dere plaatsen in het algemeen van een aantal kerkera-
       There is then an exception to the rule. The excep- den, in Classe of &node  vereenigd." What we have to
tion was allowed with a view to the need  for  mission-        do with here is a statement of a historical fact. And
ary ministers. There were at the time of the framing that fact is that in the sixteenth century the call to
of these articles churches dispersed by persecution. The the office of Missionary Minister (which office is to be
scattered sheep had to be gathered and reorganized. identified with that of Minister of the Gospel) pro-
Then there was an unintermittent departure from the ceeded from Classis or Synod. It is to be questioned
Roman Catholic Church of persons embracing the Re- whether this was as it should be.
formation. These, too, had to be fed. So our fathers                I will continue this discussion in a following
ruled that persons, adjudged competent by Classis or article.
Synod, be vested with the office of Minister of the                                                           G. M. 0.
Gospel and, instead of being joined to a particular
church, authorized to shepherd refugee-churches with-
out a minister and to gather, organize and shepherd
those who would break with the Roman hierarchy. It
is this work exclusively that represented the mission-
ary endeavors of the early Reformed churches. Thus
it can be said in truth that our Reformed fathers had                                  NOTICE
a heart for missions. But in responding to the divine               A membership meeting of the Men's Societies of
mandate : "Proclaim the glad tidings unto all
creatures"                                                     the Protestant Reformed Churches will be held, D. V.,
                  (Mark 16  :15)  they began at home. In
doing so they followed the very example of Christ and in December.
His apostles. We can have no fault to find with them                The Rev. G. M. Ophoff will speak in the English,
on this  score. Respecting Article  7 a question arises. and the Rev. J. De Jong in the Holland language.
Read again: "No one shall be called to the Ministry of              Topics, place and date will be announced later.
the Word, without being stationed in a certain place."              The public is invited.


