BiNI                                          THE.STANDARD   B E A R E R
---..1- ^ _II .-....._.-~ -_.._. "-. _ .""..."ll-.l- ___ -."- ^ ""- ^..- _"".-_              .I_~ 111 -.-.......  -l___-___-.._l_
                                                                           a diflerence  to be noticed. The minister of the gospel
                      Our Church Order                                     is the shepherd of a corporate body of believers and
           T                                                               their seed. To this body only does he direct his mess-
                HE  OFFICE OF  MINISTER OF THE  GOSPEL                     age. As the organ of this body, he administers the
        We have made plain in former articles under the                    promise to its believing and the message of doom to
above caption what true ministry of the Word consists its unbelieving members. The missionary minister,
in and what the difference is between the character of on the other hand, goes out quickly, in the imagery of
the duties belonging to the office of ministers of the                    the parable, into the streets and lanes of the city, and
gospel and the character of the duties belonging to the brings in hither the poor, and the mained, and the halt
office of all believers. Let us now in this article pursue and the blind. IIe does so in obedience to the command
the subject with which we here deal to the end.                           of the risen Christ: "GO ye therefore, and teach all
        I set out with referring back to a statement made nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and
In  t.he first article on this subject  - a statement that                of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to
runs  as follows:  ?30, then, the preaching of the gospel observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you."
constitutes the keys of the kingdom of heaven. By it, But despite this difference, there is essential agree-
that is, by this preaching, ministry of the Word, by                      ment here. Both the, minister of the gospel and the
this directing the Word to the flock, by this declaration                 missionary minister are Christ's agents through whom
and public testimony to the effect that believers have                    He by `His blessed gospel gathers His chosen church
eternal life and that the unrepentant who persists in                     unto the fellowship of the Son, in unity of the true
their unbelief perish, the kingdom of heaven. is opened                   faith. However, through the minister of the gospel,
to the former and closed to the latter. This is true                      He gathers out of a particular brotherhood, comprised
preaching of the gospel; and the only institution or                      of believers and their seed and so organized as to con-
organization of men to which this gospel may be                           stitute a manifestation of the Jerusalem above; but
preached is the church. What is more, the only per-                       through the missionary minister whom He calls and
sonage who may bring this gospel to the church is the sends through the local brotherhood, He goes out into
ordained minister of the Word. This is the same as the world and gathers His chosen church, out of every
saying, that the church itself, through its organ, the                    nation, and of all tribes and peoples and tongues. In
preacher of the gospel, shuts the kingdom to its un- the old dispensation, this local brotherhood out of
believing and opens the kingdom to its believing mem-                     which the elect were gathered was the Tsraelitish
bers. That the view here presented is not in conflict nation exclusively.                           The sole field was the land of
with the command of Christ, `Preach the gospel unto Canaan; but now the field is the world. The Mission-
all creatures,' but is in full harmony with it, is a                      ary is Christ who as enthroned on high sends His serv-
matter that will be made plain in the sequence.                           ants as sheep among the wolves and is with them
    Let us then attend to this matter. The two ques- alway,  even unto the end of the world.
tions to be raised and answered in this connection are :                           That the missionary minister is a minister of the
(1)  What is the missionary minister;  (2) What are                       gospel is a stand that was also taken by our fathers.
the duties belonging to his office.                                       I quote from the form: "Although all ministers of the
        (1) The missionary minister is as well as the                     Word have in common, that to them is committed the
minister of the gospel a sent one, an ambassador of preaching of the gospel, the administration of the
Christ, whose duty is to direct,  .bring, administer the sacraments, the government of the church, and the
promise, to the elect of God. All what was said of the maintenance of Christian discipline, yea, all, that,
office  of minister of the gospel, must be said of the                    according to the Word of God belongs to the office of
office of missionary minister.` This last named is as pastor and teacher: and although from the difference
compared with that of the office of all believers special.                of fieid of labor no difference is resulting, concerning
It is a divine institution that cannot be ignored with                    office, authority or dignity, since all possess the same
impunity. To it the preaching of the gospel is affixed                    mission, the same office and the same authority, yet
exclusively. By this office the gospel is preached, that notwithstanding this, it is necessary that some labor in
is, presented to all creatures and administered, the congregation already established, while others (the
directed, to the elect among these creatures. In a word,                  missionary minister) are called and sent to preach the
the office of minister of the gospel and that of mission-                 gospel to those without, in order to bring them to
ary minister is, rightly considered, one and the same                      Christ." But even this difference eventually disappears.
office. The duties belonging to both are essentially the The missionary sets out with presenting the gospel to
same. Both offices (1) present the gospel to reprobate                     whatever group of persons whose audience he gains.,
and elect alike ; (2) notify all who hear that the com- By the gospel he brings, Christ gathers His people out
mand of Christ is that they shall believe; (3) direct of the particular community where the missionary has
to those who believe (the elect) the promise of salva- taken up his residence and -labors.  The missionary's
tion ; (4) declare unto those who persist in their un-                     next act is to exhort the converts to organize by
belief that they will perish in their sins. True, there is chasing  them office-bearers. To this corporate body of


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                      201 '
--I                 -.--......-. _..--                 ..- -...           _ .~  ..^ ~.              "_.._-_-
believers and their seed, he sustains the relation of         comprised of those that believed his word? And the
pastor and teacher. In this newly organized brother- answer: surely no. It means that he is no missionary
hood, he engages in the ministry of the Word and of minister.
the Sacraments and in the maintenance of church                    But what is he? What is his status?        And the
discipline. Further, in virtue of what Paul wrote, `And answer: at best, an unofficial instructor and admon-
the things which thou  hast heard' from me among isher, etc., which means that he does not function as
many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men,         the official  messenger, ambassador, of Christ who as
who shall be able to teach others also," he, the mission-     one officially sent is vested with the power to direct
ary, trains youths and men for the holy ministry and Christ's word to men. Now I would have no fault fo
thus opens a theological school. As soon as the infant find with these persons, if they would only know their
church is strong enough to do without him, he again place, would refrain from railing at the office instituted
preaches the gospel to those without. Thus he con-            by Christ in the organism of His church, would cease
tinuous to draw the dragnet of the covenant through to pose as legitimate substitutes of those vested with
the generations of men. Such then are the duties be- this office and would allow themselves to be controlled
longing to the  ,office of missionary minister.  In the       in their engagements by the con&tory.  Fact is that
words of the form, he is called and sent to labor among the great majority of these persons together with the
the dispersed. `in the first place he is to bring to their organization under whose direction they labor, depise
attention (this is the expression the form uses, "bring the office and wouId destroy it if they had it within
to their attention'" and not "offer") the glad tidings their power. Those that they by their preaching
that Jesus Christ has come into the world to save sin- attach to their person are not told that they are in
ners. Secondly, he is holden, if it pleases God to make duty bound to place themselves under the rule and
his work fruitful unto the gathering of a church, to          guidance of Christ's teachers and pastors either by
administer the sacraments of the Holy Baptism . . . .         organizing and chasing  them office-bearers - they,
Furthermore, he is called wherever it is necessary and the lpy-preachers  under consideration cannot advise
possible to ordain elders and deacons even as Paul            this as they are no ministers of the gospel under whose
charged Titus. Moreover, there is committed unto him, direction the converts might organize  - or by joining
as minister of Christ and steward  of. the mysteries of themselves to an existing church; to the contrary, these
God, the administering of the Holy Supper of the Lord converts are urged to join themselves to or at least
according to the institution of Christ; Besides this, attend the gospel meeting of the non-ecclesiastical or-
there is commended unto him the maintaining of Chris- ganization  - the Rescue Mission, the Salvation. Army
tian discipline in the midst of the congregation, by -  bv whom the lay-preacher is sent out. In a word,
faithful use of the keys of the kingdom, as our Lord these converts are kept from casting themselves upon
has spoken.                                                   the.care of Christ's shepherds and thus upon the care
       That these are the duties belonging to the office of of Christ Himself; taught are they to circumvent the
missionary minister is plain from the mandate of true preaching of the Word by the special office, Chris-
Christ : "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel tian discipline and the holy sacraments as maintained
~to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized         and administered by this office. Now the `individual
shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be and organization that pitch themselves against the
damned."       The command as contained in Matthew special office and lead men away from Christ's shep-
reads  : "Go ye therefore and teach all nations, bap- herds, pitch themselves against and lead men away
tizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son,        from Christ Himself and thus -commit a heinous sin
and of the Holy Ghost." This command was directed that does not go unpunished. I must even go a step                          .
to the apostles as representing the church.of  the living further and say that for this individual and this organ-
God; and the command is that  the church through its          ization there is no salvation possible ; for salvation is
organ, the missionary minister, shall  ~preach  and also only through the preaching of the gospel by the church,
lmptixe the believing, that is, administer the sacra-         functioning through the aforesaid office. Let me prove
ments. To engage in the ministry of the Word and of this from Scripture. Said Christ: "He that heareth
the Sacraments is to function as ordained minister of you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth
the gospel which indeed the missionary minister is.           me ; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent
 , Let me now ask, is the lay-preacher on the street          me" (Luke  10:16).      This word Christ directed not
corner, sent out by a non-ecclesiastical organization merely to His twelve disciples but to the seventy whom
such as the City Rescue Mission or the Salvation Army         He sent to preach the gospel (verse 17). It is a word
or preaching on his own initiative, a missionary min- therefore, directed in the first instance to the disciples,
ister ? Let me ask, is such a one cahed and sent out          let it so be, but in the final instance to every true serv-
by Christ through His church? Has he the power to and of Christ vested with the office of minister of the
organize congregations, administer the sacraments, gospel. We have it then from Christ's very own mouth
maintain church discipline, open a school, shepherd the       that he who despises and thus rejects this office as
flock that under his direction came into being  - a flock borne by this servant despiseth Him and the Father.


202                                  TIIE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
z-----                                       -    -                                          ____-...
But cannot one reject this office and yet hear and accept    lying prophet, minister of the gospe1, but the sacred
the Word this office proclaims? This is quite impos- office he desecrates, the Lord's heritage he corrupts.
sible. Consider that preaching of the Word was afhxed        Cast out the unclean thing; take hold of the fan
to this office so that the despiser of it turns away from    (church discipline) that Christ has placed in your
the Word and thus from the living God. I ask in all hand, purge His floor, gather the wheat into the garner
candor, can there be salvation for one who persists in       and cast forth the chaff! As for the preaching in the
the sin of despising God?                                    gospel hall, there is in most instances better reason for
       Some may say that these remarks of mine are much      sentencing it to the abyss than for lauding it to the
to serve for the reason that many of these despisers         heavens. But even if that preaching be ever so pure,
of the office are at once lovers of the Word and thus        it may still be carried into the hearts of the hearers,
of Christ. This is impossible. How can one have re- who despise the special office, as a savor of death unto
gard for t.he Sayiour and His Word and at once despise death.
the very institution through which he has His Word              Once more, I say, whatever reason one may ad-
proclaimed? But are not many of these despisers of           vance for breaking with the church, the body of Christ,
the office preaching Christ and Him crucified with great as it takes on visibility in the institution, can be
earnestness ? I answer, this cannot be taken as the          shown up as invalid. If the church -2 the local broth-
unmistakable evidence that the Word is truly being erhood  - or a denomination of churches, show them-
loved. Consider this warning from Christ : "Not  every selves up as being false, the believers in it must leave
one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the     and organize anew by  chasing  them office-bearers.
kingdom of heaven ; but he that doeth the will of my         Doing so, they again allow Christ to lay upon them His
`Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in           yoke through the special office. Refusing, they declare
that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy that they have done with this yoke. And here, I think,
name ? and in thy name have cast out devils ? and in         we have come upon the real reason why men break
thy name done many wonderful works? And then will with the special office, with the church, as it takes on
1 profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from visibility in the institution. The special office, when
me, ye that work iniquity" (Matt.  75X-23). If the           borne by the worthy, conscious of their calling and of
despisers of the office, of the church of Christ, opens      their status in the church, insists on pure preaching of
his eyes in heaven at death, he has received grace to* the gospel, maintains the pure administration of the
repent of the sin under consideration.                       sacraments as instituted by Christ, exercises church
       I invite anyone to advance a single cogent reason discipline in punishing sin, manages all things accord-
why anybody should despise the  spicial  office, the very ing to  lhe pure Word of God and rejects all things
agent, through which Christ proclaims His Word. contrary thereto. The special office, so functioning, is
Some may say, The reason lies in those who bear this         a hateful institution to many and is therefore either
office. So many of them are lying prophets, who preach forsaken or destroyed by its being shorn of its author-
their own inventions instead of:the Word. The churches       ity in which case the conception that the minister of
are so corrupt and the preaching so devitilized and de- the gospel is the official ambassador of Christ is mocked
void of the kind of food that a soul can feed upon and       with. The current view today is not that the pastor
the message of the lay-preacher in the gospel meeting and teacher is Christ's official agent through which He
so refreshingly true and vital and wholesome. Is it to lays His yoke upon the flock but merely a brother
be wondered at that hungry and thirsty souls leave the       among the brethren who speaks a word of edification in
church and  betake themselves to the gospel hall ? To public because of all the members belonging to the
this we reply: hang up as dark and gruesome a picture        brotherhood he is deemed to be the most talented.
of the state of affairs in the churches as you will, laud    Keeping in-mind the likes and dislikes of his hearers,
the preaching in the gospel hall to the very heavens,        he may explain the Word, mildly exhort and admonish
but consider that, having done so, you have still failed     perhaps but must refrain from handling the keys of
to advance a cogent reason why the special office should the kingdom. Thus is the office as to its essence, real
be forsaken in' the interest of the lay-preacher.  1%        intent and purpose destroyed, the pastor pulled down
ought to be known that the common believers in the           to the level of an unofficial exerciser or lecturer and
church have the power, given them by Christ, to dis-         the church converted into a society for religious in-
miss from the office the false prophet and to choose         struction.
them a man or men who will feed the flock and break              In a former article I wrote: "It is a matter worthy
for the hungry the bread of life, lead Christ's sheep        of note that the trend is and always has been in the
into the green pastures of His Word. The Lord God            direction of some form of hierarchy. The influential
therefore holds the common believer .responsible  for        bishops of the ancient Christian church soon appear in
the very condition that he in a would-be pious mood          historical records as exercising juridical authority over
runs away from when he breaks with the special office        the churches. The  `Hervormde   Kerk of the  Nether-
and attaches himself to its despisers. Consider that Iands has its `kerkelijke besturen' and the Christian
what 1 defend in this writing is not the corrupt and         Reformed churches of America and likewise the  `Gere-


                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D B E A R E R                                             203
--.___ ---.111"_.. ..---.                                    ""._____..
formeerde kerken' of the Netherlands have their                see obeying not the truth. Believers can do but one
classes and synods who discipline office-bearers in the of two things: hide their light under a bushel or place
church by deposing them from office. The Roman Cath-           it upon a candlestick, confess Christ's name or keep
olic church has its Pope ; the Episcopalian and the            silence concerning that name, and confess the name of
Methodists churches their bishops . . . .                      the prince of darkness, call to one another, "know the
    "The lesson of history is that the hierarchical            Lord," or, `deny the Lord and know the world,' teach
power that says, `I am the church' is ever at hand to          the Word diligently unto their children or keep silence
bring into subjection to itself the flock and the shep- concerning this Word and teach their children the
herd.    Hierarchy has always been and is today the            word, the wisdom, of the world. By virtue of the prin-
bane of the Christian churches. It robs the common ciple of life implanted in them, believers can only do
members and pastors of their prerogatives and sets             the former. But this activity does not raise them to
them in a corner as so many spiritual minors. It places        the position of Christ's official messenger. This in-
conscience in a strait-jacket and thus strives to render structing, this witnessing, this warning, this admon-
impossible'all church Reformation . . . " So I wrote.          ishing may never be taken as a substitute for the in-
Let me modify a little the conception contained in the struction, warning, exhortation and comfort with
above excerpt. Speaking now of the special office, then which Christ comes to us in and through the special
hierarchy and Quakerism and kindred isms form the office or be allowed to crowd the latter out of our lives.
bane of the Christian churches. Both are bent upon             Imagining himself a minister of the gospel, the com-
the destru+ion  of the special office with this differ-        mon believer may not assign to himself the duties be-
ence that the former pounces upon the office from              longing to the special office. If an elder and if called
above while the latter assails it from beneath. To-            upon to read a sermon, he may not, for example, bless
gether they form the upper and nether millstones be-           with outstretched arms the flock. Doing so, he gives
twixt which the very stuff of which the office is made evidence of not knowing his place and of being con-
of is ground to dust. In this all we see the hand of taminated with the contagion of Quakerism. He may
Satan. Both therefore must be avoided as the pest.             not, if well, resolve to remain at home on a Sunday
    As was said, to despise and reject the special office      and with the works of Brakel, Smytegelt,  Floor and
is to commit a heinous sin. This holds true of the in- Philpot  at his elbow say, `the writers of this Christian
dividual and of every religious body under heaven, of Iiterature are my beloved pastors. I will feed today
the Sunday School, the day school for Christian in-            on' the good food they prepared.' Brake1 is not that
struction, the family and whatever organization you            believer's pastor and this for the simple reason that
,may name. Placing themselves in the room or even the good man has long ago departed and cannot there-
alongside of the special office, assigning to themselves fore shepherd a flock on earth. That deluded believer
the duties belonging to this office, they make them- should know that he will find his pastor in yonder
selves liable to the hot displeasure of God and `come to edifice waiting for him. And though the food Brake1
grief. To define them as the instruments through which prepared be ever so excellent that believer's place is in
the kingdom comes, or to reckon them among the moral           church.     If he nevertheless remains at home with
forces in this world that work for good is sheer folly         Brakel, he rejects the special office and the food he for
and betokens an unwillingness to take account of the           the day ,feeds upon will do him no good.
appraisals of God. Reliable statistics of the fruit which          The Christian parent and his school (for Christian
the labors of the despisers of the office bear and a true      instruction) perform a task assigned to them by the
account of the harvest reaped, would bear out all these Lord. Who will deny it? And the task is, to be sure,
statements. The time will come when these statistics a most weighty one. As knowing his place, as co-op-
and this account will be forthcoming as compiled and           erating with the pastor and teacher whose sheep he
drawn up by Him Who without respect of persons                 wills to be, he, too, must deem himself an agent through
judgeth according to every man's work. Consider that which the kingdom comes. The same must be said of
the conventicles - non-ecclesiastical assemblies for the'sunday  School and of every other organization en-
worship  - are known to have been the hotbeds of a gaged in the King's business, provided they knew
sickly  mystecism  of which rationalism was the poison- their place.
ous flower. The special office cannot be despised with             It ought to be plain, it seems to me, that the prin-
impunity.                                                      ciples I here enunciate do not, if lived, interfere with
    I do not underrate the value and importance of the         the performing of the duties belonging to the office of
office of all believers and the faithful performance of all believers. The very contrary is true. Only when
the duties belonging to this office. As I wrote in a           the special office is permitted to come to its own and to
former article, it is to be expected that believers, as        properly function, can the spiritual life of the common
constrained by love, confess Chrdist's name, witness           believer come to fruition and will he find himself in
for the truth, let shine their light, call to one another, the possession of the power that is needful to war the
"know the Lord," teach the Word of their King dili-            warfare of Jehovah in the midst of this world. The
gently unto their children, warn the man whom they             special office was instituted for the perfecting of the


204                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
_~ _I__-__-  _                            _.-"--                        I_____ .-.. - _._......  -                        _.--_l__
saints, for the work of the ministry, for the perfecting course, cannot be. Consider what Paul wrote: "And
of the body of Christ, "till we all come into the unity He (the exalted Christ) gave some apostles, and some
of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God,          prophets, and some evangelists, and  .some shepherds
unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of and teachers for the perfecting of the saints . . . . "
the fulness of Christ," so that a man can do himself no        (Eph. 4 :11) .
greater injury than when he breaks away from this                 In the light of the closing statement of the series
office 01' sets himself against it or usurps the place of of remarks to which the notice, above quoted, belongs,
him who bears it and thus refuses to be bound by the           it is easy to see what John means. This closing state-
Word that this office brings.                                  ment reads : "These things I have written unto you
                                                               concerning them. that seduce you . . . " The point in
   I made the statement that apart from the special the argument is plainly this: All (believers) have the
ofice, apart from the church as it can be seen and             anointing and therefore know, that is, are in sympath'jr
handled and heard in the institution, no salvation is          with and have taste for revealed truth. Between the
possible. This is no Romish proposition. Rome main-            believer  and the truth there is the greatest concord and
tains that the church as it takes on form in that in-          closest affinity. Upon the truth he feeds, in it he abides
stitution of which the Pope is the cornerstone, is in-         and rejoices. For it he witnesses. The truth he dis-
fsl:ible and thus indissoluble, that therefore he ~110         cerns and also the lie. Hence, he needs not that any
breaks with this particular institution is doomed to           man teach him, that is, discern for him truth; for,
eternal death unless he returns.       According to the having the anointing, he himself, sees, tastes, discerns,
teaching of Scripture, on the other hand, the particular hears the truth. Is the man with perfect vision in the
localization of the institution, the local brotherhood         need of one to distinguish for him between black and
with its offices, is fallible, and corruptible and may de-     white? Is a man with taste organs unimpaired in the
terioi-ate into a faLse church from which the believers        need of one to select for him his food? The believer is
in it are in duty bound to separate themselves and a spiritual major. He does not therefore.in  obedience
either organize anew or join themselves to a purer to the command of Christ attach himself to the special
manifestation of the body of Christ. Distinguishing office because he lacks power of discernment and does
between the institution as such and its localization in not know. He in the essential sense does know, so
a  particuiar  place, we maintain that what the believer       that when the trumpet emits and uncertain sound, he
may break with, if conditions warrant, is not the in-          hears. Spiritual incompetency on the part of the be-
stitution, the special office as such but its localization.    liever is  not:therefore  the reason for the institution of
The Pope says, `Thou shalt not break with the office the special ofice. He himself and by himself studies
as borne by me.' But Scripture says, `Thou shalt               and thus feeds upon the Word.
separate thyself from the profligate and lying office-                                                         He does so every day
bearer but never from the office.' The true church, the        that daily he may be strengthened unto the calling
                                                               wherewith he is called. But he also feels that he needs
body of Christ, is incorruptible. What deteriorated is         and must place himself under the care of the special
the localized institution in which this body, by itself
abiding, was for a time seen - deteriorated because office. He knows the reasons. These reasons have
                                                               already been given.
the carnal seed in it gained the ascendency. It is plain
that the proposition, `no salvation apart from the                                                                         G. M. 0.
special office' may and must be maintained.
       One more observation. I remarked that the special
office is indispensible to the well-being of the believer.
This would seem to be contradicted by what  .John
wrote in his first epistle : `But `ye (all believers) have                                IN MEMORIAM
the anointing from the Holy One, and ye all know. I
wrote not to you because ye know not the truth, but be-           Whereas it has pleased our Heavenly Father to  take unto
cause ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth . . . .      Himself one of our faithful and active members,
But the anointing which ye have received of him                                      DELLA KLOMPARENS,
abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach                We, the members of the Semper Fidelis Girl's Society of the
you: but as the same anointing teaches you of  all Protestant Reformed Church at Holland, Michigan, do hereby
things, and is truth and no lie, and even as it has            express  our  heartfelt sympathy to the bereaved family.
                                                                  Knowing that our loss is her gain, we pray that the God of
taught you, ye shall abide in him" (I John 2). Here all grace may comfort us through His sustaining grace and
it is literally stated in unmistakable speech that be- that the af?Iiction be sanctified to the heart of us all, knowing
lievers have no need of a teacher. The question is that all things work together for good for those who fear the
whether the implication of this notice is that the be- Lord.
liever may dispense with the (special) teacher and                               Semper Fidelis Girl's Society,
pastor and attach himself to the lay-preacher or cast                                                 Helen Plasman, President
himself upon his own spiritual resources. This, of                                                    Bernice .Schipper, Secretary


                                      TT-TF:  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             207

 Evangelic voor de Gemeente moet worden  bediend, dan
.stellen  de Belijdenisschriften zich op de basis van de         A Catechism On the History Of the
 werkelijke geestelijke  toestand  van de  leden.                    Protestant Reformed Churches
    Het is evenwel niet juist gezien, wanneer men zegt,
 dat ik de eerstgenoemde reeks van uitspraken in over-
 eenstemming wil brengen met de tweede. Want .gg-
 lijk in de eerste reeks een teveel is, n.1. een als `t ware                             PART TWO
op de spits drijven van de Verbondsbeschouwing,
 waarin  allen  zijn reeds uit kracht van geboorte, zoo
 stuit men in de andere reeks op een totaal niet zin-              VIII.  THE  THIRD  PRINT  AND  ITS  IMPLICATIOXS
 spelen zelfs op die verhouding. Ieder weet tech,  dat de
 profeten in hun geroep tot bekeering, steeds  terugwij-             1. Will you literally quote again the third point of
 zen op dat Verbond waarin zij  allen stonden, minstens doctrine adopted by the Christian Reformed Churches
 uitwendig, en waarin zij reeds aan den Sinai toege-             in 1924?          aa
stemd hadden en vele andere keeren. En ook in de                    Yes, it reads as follows:
 Nieuw-testamentische prediking tot de Gemeente Gods                Relative to the third point, which is concerned with
zit dit element. Er is altijd een terugvoeren naar het-          the question of civil righteousness as performed by the
geen aanvaard  werd. De basis voor de gansche  Ge-               unregenerate, synod declares that according to Scrip-
 meente-prediking, enz., is voor mij dus het Verbond ture and the Confessions the unregenerate, though in-
der Genade.      Zie mijn "De Beschouwing over den capable of doing any saving good, can do civil good.
Doop,"  enz., ten slotte zijn afsluiting en bevestiging This is evident from the quotations from Scripture and
vindt in onze beide Doopsformulieren, zoo vindt ook              from the `Canons of Dordrecht, HI, IV, 4, and from
in de aangeduide geschriften van Calvijn het 66k in de           the Netherland Confession Art. 36, which teach that
uitspraken over den Doop, enz., te voorschijn komen God, without renewing the heart so influences man that
van dat onderscheid (het gemengde van de Kerk naar               he is able to perform civil good ; while it also appears
haar uiterlijk bestaan) zijn afsluiting en bevestiging from the citations from Reformed writers of the most
in zijn Doopsformulier.                                          flourishing period of Reformed Theology, that our Re-
    Ons formulier voor den Doop van  kinderen  eindigt formed Fathers from ancient times were of the same
ten slotte in een Danken en loven,  dat "Gij ons en once         opinion.
kinderen  door het bloed van Uwen lieven Zoon al  onze              2. Which are the passages from the Confession to
zonden vergeven, en ens door Ual?en Heiligm Geest  tot which Synod refers in support of this declaration?
I  lidmaten  van  Uwen   eeniggeborev,  Zoon, en  alzoo tot         They are:
Uwe kinderen  aangenomen hebt, en OILS dit met den                  Canons III, IV,  4: `There remain, however, in man
Heiligen  Doop besegalt  en bekrachtigt." Maar "t Doops-         since the fall the glimmerings of natural light, where-,
formulier van Calvijn staat vierkant op den  grond-              by he retains some knowledge of God, of natural things,
slag, dat voor de. kinderen  die gedoopt worden,  gebedcn        and of the difference between good and evil, and dis-
moet worden  clnt.zij de weldaden des Verbonds inder-            covers some regard for virtue, good -or-der  in society, ,.
daad  nzogen  verkrijgen.                                        and for maintaining an orderly external deportment."
    Overigens is voor mijn besef ook in dit Doopsfor-               Netherland Confession, Art.  36 : "Wherefore, we de-
mulier wel iets dat nog eenige verbetering behoeft.              test . . . all those . . . . who confound that decency
    Doch ik kom er maar op, dat in het licht van Cal- and good order which God establishes among men.!'
vijns officieele geschriften de  toestand  in  onze  Belijde-       3. What is the relation between the second and
nisschriften en Doopsformulieren  we1 scherp uitkomt  ; third point?
- hetgeen m. i. dient te voeren tot ernstige overweging             The relation between the doctrines declared by the
van en waarachtig ingaan op de gegevens der  Schrift,            second and third point is like that of cause and effect.
- gelijk schrijver dezes zich daarop ook heeft toege- Both declarations speak of an operation for good upon
legd. (Zie een opeenvolgende rij van  acht geschriften.)         the natural man which is not regenerative. The second
    Het werk  "De Onderstelling in Binnen- en Buiten-            point teaches that by  t.his operation of  th.e Holy Spirit
Iandsche Geref. Confessies" (prijs f 2.50) is, evenals           the natural man is somewhat improved so that he is
de beide andere genoemde, te verkrijgen bij  RiBnts              not so depraved as without this operation he would be;
Balt,  Uitgever  te Den Haag (Nederland) .                       the third point refers to the fruit of this operation of
    Is nog iets onduidelijk, zoo wil ik gaarne verder            God upon the natural man, consisting in his power to
antwoorden.                                                      do civil good.
                                      A. M. Diermanse               4. What, then, is briefly the teaching of the third
    Ede, Nederland                                               point ?
                                                                    That  ,by virtue of a positive influence of God upon
    P. S. Zoo spoedig mogelijk hopen we op het stuk              him for good, the unregenerate is able to do good works
van broeder Ds. Diermanse te antwoorden.  - H. H.                in the sphere of things natural and civil.

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

    5. Does not the third point state that the natural sake. If in this attempt he succeeds the result is an
man is unable to do any saving good  ?                          act that shows an outward and formal resemblance to
    It does, indeed.                                            the laws of God. Then we have civil righteousness, a
       6. What, then, did Synod of `1924 mean by the            regard for virtue and external deportment. And if in
distinction between saving or spiritual  .and civil or this attempt he fails, as is frequently the case, civil
natural good ?                                                  righteousness disappears, and the result is exactly the
    It may justly be doubted if the Synod had any clear         opposite. His fundamental error, however, is that he
distinction in mind. However, judging from its declara- does not seek after God, nor aim at Him and His glory,
tions and from later interpretations of these three even in this regard for virtue and external deportment.
points of doctrine by some leaders of the Christian             On the contrary he seeks himself, both individually and
Reformed Churches, Synod understood this distinction            in fellowship with other sinners and with the whole
as follows:                                                     world, and it is his purpose to maintain himself even in
    a. Both spiritual and natural good are good in a his sin over against God. And this is sin. And in
moral sense before God. Neither  @of them may be reality his work also has evil effects upon himself and
called sin.                                                     his fellow creatures. For, his actions with relation to
   b. Spiritual good has its source in the regen- men and his fellow creatures are performed according
erating influence of the Spirit of Christ; natural good         to the same rule and with similar results. And thus it
in the unregenerated nature of the sinner as restrained happens that sin develops constantly and corruption in-
and preserved from total corruption by the influence of creases, while still there remains a formal adaptation
the Spirit of God.                                              to the laws ordained of God for the-present life. Yet,
   c. Saving good is eternal and consists in conver-            the natural man never attains to any ethical good. That
sion, sanctification and perseverance unto the end  ; civil     is our view" (Along Straight Paths, p. 72, 73).
good is temporal and has reference to and value for the            9. What, then, are the implications of the third
things and spheres of this present life only.                   point?
   7. Is it not true, that Synod also had in mind the              The first  impiication  is a separation of the spiritual
distinction between outward and inward good  ?                  and moral or the spiritual and natural, a separation of
   No, this cannot be maintained. Synod certainly in- the first and second tables of the law of God.
tended to say and did clearly express that civil right-            10. Why do you say that such a separation is im-
eousness or the natural good of the unregenerate man            plied in the third point?
is good inwardly, that is, proceeds from his mind and              Because the third point plainly declares, that the
will. This is evident from the fact that the Synod natural man is incapable of doing saving or spiritual
spoke of an operation of the Holy Spirit and of an in-          good, while he is, nevertheless, able to perform what is
fluence of God upon the sinner and such operations are          good `in the spheres of this present life. According to
always inward. And this is plain, too, from the inter- Synod and the leaders in the Christian Reformed
pretation Christian Reformed leaders have offered of Churches, the same act may be spiritually corrupt and
this third point. Prof. L. Berkhof, for instance, wrote         worthy of eternal damnation, and morally good and
on this point as follows: "His works may be called              pleasing to the Lord. An act may not be rooted in and
                                                                                                                    ,-
good, in a subjective sense, in as far as they are the          proceed from faith, yet it may be good.
fruit of inclinations and affections touching the mutual           11. What is another implication in this third
relations of men, which are themselves relatively good,         point ?
are. still operating in man ; and in an objeqtive  sense, if       The. second implication of the third point is, that
they in regard to the matter as such are works pre-             there is conflict between the doctrine of total depravity
scribed by the law, and in the sphere of social life cor-       and the actual working out and application of this
respond to a purpose that is well-pleasing to God" truth.
(The Three Poinds,  pp. 50, 51).                                    12. How could you make this clear?
   8. From what else is it evident that Synod actually             It is the official confession of the Christian Re-
intended to declare that the natural man is capable of          formed Churches that  the.natural  man is incapable of
performing what is positively good ?                            doing any good and inclined to all evil. Moreover, it is
   From its condemnation of the views of the Revs.              their confession, that only those are good works that
H. Danhof and H. Hoeksema, which had been published             proceed from a true faith, are done according to the
before the Synod in 1924 and in opposition to which the         law of God and to His glory and not ihose  that are
second and third points were formulated. They had               based upon our imagination or on the institutions of
written on this matter as follows:                              men. Yet, although in the abstract and as a matter of
    "And what, then, is civil righteousness ? Accord- their confession the Christian Reformed Churches ad-
ing to our view, the natural man discerns the relation-         mit this, in practical life they profess it to be wholly
ships, laws, rules of life and fellowship, etc., as they        different. In this life, with respect to the things and
are ordained by God. He sees their propriety and                spheres of this world, there is nowhere a totally de-
utility. And he adapts himself to them for his own              praved man, according to them. All are able to do


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                209
--_.                                                           -..-__.-__-     -..-.._. ---.- - II_-- ..-....__.  --l_- -...-
good. All can live a morally good life. They condemn                 First of all, it may be objected against this declara-
it in the strongest terms as absolutism, when one main- tion that it lowers the standard of moral, ethical good,
tains the confessions and applies it to real men in the and thus necessarily obliterates the distinction between
real world. Total depravity has become a mere ab- good and evil, righteousness and unrighteousness, light
straction in the Christian Reformed Churches.                  and darkness. The definition of good works, which the
    13. What is a third implication in the third point?        Heidelberg Catechism gives, that, namely, they are
    The third implication is that a man can do good            those that proceed from a true faith, are done accord-
works, which are, nevertheless, not to be accounted as         ing to the law of God and to His glory, certainly does
his own and for which he can expect no reward. This not hold for the "good" of which the third point speaks.
is emphasized repeatedly by the exponents of the               There is another good, that is neither good nor evil,
theory of common grace, and by the defenders of the            or rather, that is both. The exponents of the three
three points. The good works of the natural man are points speak of the relativity of good and evil. Prof.
really not his, no more than it is to be attributed to a       Berkhof speaks of a good that is relatively sinful and
boat that the steersman forces it in a direction op-           of sin that is relatively good. He speaks of the good
posite from that in which the wind would naturally             in the full sense of the word and of "what is truly
blow it. "If man were left to himself," writes Prof.           good," and implies that there is also a good that is not
Berkhof, "he would not be able to perform even this            truly good, not good in the full sense. And he con-
civil good . . . For this reason this natural good does demns as absolutism the view that the natural man can
not entitle man to any claim of reward" (The Three             only sin and does sin at all times. This notion of rela-
Ploirds, p. 52).                                               tivity with respect to the sphere of ethics and morality
    14. What is the fourth implication in the third            is pernicious. For, it creates a sphere of transition, a
point ?                                                        domain where righteousness and unrighteousness,
   That properly the good work of the natural man is Christ and Belial may have fellowship and live the
the good work of the Holy Spirit without its being the same life. Of the practical results of the preaching and
work of the natural man at all. The Spirit of God so teaching of such a doctrine one fears even to think.
influences the corrupt nature of the unregenerated             For, while the leaders, at least some of them, may be
man, that in his case the evil tree brings forth good          able for  a, time to maintain the dualistic position that
fruit. He does not penetrate to the heart of the natural       the natural man is totally depraved, yet that he is not,
man. The heart remains corrupt.  In that heart is              that the world is corrupt and in darkness yet that it is
nothing but unrighteousness and enmity against God.            flooded with light and manifests much goodness, those
Yet, God so influences the nature of the sinner, his           whom they instruct will not maintain that position.
thoughts and his will, his affections and desires, that And they will be swallowed up by the world.
with a heart full of hatred against God he performs                 17. Have you any other objection against the
that which is pleasing in the sight of God. The Spirit teaching of the third point?
forces, compels the operations of that wicked nature to             Yes; it also must be objected that it implies an  im-
go in the right direction, even as the helmsman forces pugnment of the holiness of God. For, the so-called
a vessel to sail against the wind. It may be impossible good that is performed by the ungodly- is directly
to conceive of so monstrous a thing, but it is em- ascribed to the operation of the Holy Spirit and to the
phatically the teaching of the third point.                    influence of God upon the sinner. What is admittedly
    15. What is the practical application and result of a very imperfect good, a sinful good, a relative good,
the doctrine upheld in the third point?                        the withered fruit of an uprooted tree; what is in actual
   The result is that in practical life the official teach-    fact very corrupt and evil, is presented as the'fruit of
ing of the Church that man is totally depraved and is          an operation of the Holy Spirit. That Spirit it is, that
incapable of doing any good, while inclined to all evil,       adorns the corrupt tree with good fruit, causes it to
is forgotten. The world that is professed to be in dark- appear like a good tree and thus, according to the
ness is magically flooded with light by the wonder of          theory of common grace, creates what is virtually a
common grace. Nowhere do you find the corrupt man lie ! For, it is declared that man himself is incapable of
as described in the Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day bringing forth these good fruits. He is dead in tres-
III and in the Canons of Dordrecht, III, IV, 1-4. Prac-        passes and sins. He is like a tree cut off from its root.
tically the difference between the righteous and the           But the Spirit causes that dead tree to yield good fruit
unrighteous is wiped out. It is even alleged that the without making the tree alive! These fruits, then, are
latter put the former to shame ! The theoretically de- not rooted in the love of God, they do not at all pro-
praved are actually wonderfully good ! There is a good ceed from faith ; they are performed by or through a
deal of harmony between righteousness and m-might- man that stands in enmity against God. And of such
eousness. Much concord is established between Christ fruits the Spirit is alleged to be the author ! Is it, then,
and Belial !                                                   not literally true, that the third point makes God the
    16. Which are your general and principal  objet- author of sin?
tions against the teaching of the third point?                       18. What other objection have you ?


210                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
zzzzzz=- I_-
   The teaching of the third point is that of moral de-     tained. They claim that, as we look about in the world,
terminism and it destroys the freedom of man as a           it cannot be denied that the natural man performs
moral agent.      According to the presentation of the      many good works. The doctrine of total depravity,
third point and its interpretation by the leaders of the    therefore, does not seem to fit. How, then, can we
Christian Reformed Churches, man is no moral agent maintain this doctrine and yet explain the good works
at all in performing the good he does, and for that         of natural man? By denying that they proceed from
reason he can lay no claim to any reward. Remember          himself, from his heart, and by teaching that these
that by this influence of God or operation of the Holy      good works are really the work of the Holy Spirit!
Spirit the heart of man is not renewed. He is sup-             23. What is the fundamental error of this reason-
posed to remain dead in trespasses and sin. As such         ing?
he remains totally incapable of doing any good and in-         That it does not let the Word of God, but the sinful
clined to all evil. Even his supposedly good works do       judgment of man determine what is good and evil. As
not proceed from his own heart. His Ego is not in-          we shall see later Scripture nowhere teaches that the
volved. If he were let alone, he would. only do evil.       works of the natural man are good, even though they
The Spirit, then, compels man to do good works wholly       would appear thus to our sinful judgment. But in op-
contrary to the intents of his own heart. The result        position to the plain teaching of Scripture the reason-
is, that the Spirit is the real author of the works of      ing implied in the third point proceeds from the error
man, while the latter is a mere tool. And. thus the         that sinners do much good.
moral character of man is destroyed, his responsibility        23.  M7hat,  then, is the real teaching of the third
is denied and a theory of moral determinism is pre- point ?
sented as Reformed doctrine !                                  The third point teaches that man aoould  have been
   19. What other objection is closely connected with       and woz&ld  bc totally depraved, i. e., wholly incapable
the former?                                                 of doing any good and inclined to all evil, if there were
   It must be objected against the third point, that it     no general operation of the Holy Spirit and influence
attacks the justice of God. God's justice is always         of God upon him by which he is able to do good works.
manifest in this that He strictly rewards the good          If there were no influence of common grace in the
with good and He punishes the evil. But the third world, the natural man would be totally depraved. Now,
point would have us adopt the view that the natural         however, he is not.
man performs much good in this world for the which             25. Are, then, the three points very dangerous
he is never rewarded. It is emphasized that the natural     errors ?
man performs good works in this life. If we judge.             They are, for they imply all the fundamental errors
according to the standard of the third point it ought       of Arminius and Pelagius. The first point is prin-
not to be difficult to find many men in the world that      cipally a denial that the grace of God is particular,
hardly sin. They commit no gross iniquities ; they live     since it teaches that the preaching of the gospel is
temparately and chastely  ; in their external deportment    grace to all that hear the gospel ; the second and third
they are blameless ; they even will sacrifice themselves    points are fundamentally a denial of the Scriptural
for the well-being of-humanity. All this is called good doctrine of the total depravity of the natural man. And
in the sight of God. The Lord judges it to be good.         these errors are all the more dangerous because they
It may not be called sin. Yet, when they have thus          pretend to be in conformity with the Reformed Con-
walked their whole life they are, according to this fessions. It is no exaggeration to maintain that they
theory, cast into eternal perdition. All these good are the wolf in sheepsclothing, the devil presenting
works  thBt sinners do have no reward whatever. It          himself as an angel of light.
is evident, then, that the entire moral order is sub-                                                               H. II.
verted and that the justice of God is denied.
   20. What, however, is your principal objection?
   That the third point is Pelagian.                                               IN MEMORIAM
       21. What do you mean by this?                           Op  7  Januari  ontsliep  in den Heere onze geliefde Moeder,
       I mean, that when one sets aside all sophistical     Behuwd- en  Grootmoeder,
arguments by which it is attempted to defend the third
point and to show that it is in harmony with the Re-                         MRS. J. KUIPER-Veltman,
formed view of the truth; it is nothing but a denial of     oud 74 jaar.
                                                               Zalig  zijn de dooden  die in den Heere sterven.
the total depravity of the natural man. And this is the                                  Mr. en Mrs. Y. G. Kuiper-Snoek
main error of the Pelagian theory.                                                      o J. Kuiper
       22. Do the exponents of the theory of common                                       S. Kuiper
grace and the defenders of this third point admit this?                                   Rev. en Mrs. H. Hoeksema-Kuipcr
       On the contrary, they most strenuously deny this                                   Rev. en Mrs. B. H.  Spalink-Kuiper
and maintain that it is the only possible standpoint                                      C. A. Kuiper
                                                                                         Mr. en Mrs. Geo. Kuiper-Huizenga
upon which5the  truth of total depravity can be main-                                       En 16 kleinkinderen.


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                         21;
                                     -.-" -... --_-." .._--.....--               _...... ^^---"._l ___........." ..__ "." .-... "._ .-- .--" ...-..--........" _.^__._  -~-__I
 in dezelve dagen  stand  Pctrus op in het  midden der
 discipelen." Natuurlijkt Petrus! Petrus had er altijd                             Serving Him On the Mountain
 en heeft  er oak nu haast mee. Om tien dagen lang,                                And he said, Certainly  I will be with thee: and this
 kalm en bedaard, met bidden en smeeken en Schrift-                              shall be a token unto thee,  that I have sent thee: When
 overdenking bezig te zijn, zonder iets uit te voeren, be-                       thou hast brought forth  the  people  out of Egypt, ye
 hoort niet bij Petrus' karakter.        Het zou in strijd zijn                  shall serve God upon this mountain. - Ex. 3:12.
 met alles wat we van hem wetea Petrus is in dezen                           So spake the Lord to Moses. The Lord has surely
 bovendien de leider en de voortvarenden jonger  meent,                  seen the affliction of His people which are in Egypt,
 dat wachten actie niet uitsluit. Het stond maar duide-
 lijk in de Psalmen  negen en zestig en honderd  en negen,               and has heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters
 dut  em  cmdcr   xijn  opl,`ximerscmbt                                  and thus knows their sorrows. He is now come down
                                             nwne.   Dnt zag op
 Judas en dnt is nu geschiedt.                                           to deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians . . .
                                   Welnu, laat ons dan van
 de  mannen, die met ons omgegaan hebben al den tijd,                    "Come now," says the Lord to Moses, "Come  ROW,
 in we&en  de Heere Jezus onder ons in- en uitgegaan is,                 therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou
beginnende van den Doop van Johannes, tot den dag                        mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out
 toe, in welken Hij van ons opgenomen is, een derzelve                   o f   E g y p t . "
 met ons getuige worde van Zijne opstanding. Dat stelt                      The announcement thoroughly frightens Moses.
 Petrus voor en zijn voorstel wordt ondersteund en aan-                  Overwhelmed by a feeling of his own insignificance he
 genomen. Het is door' Petrus' voortvarendheid, dat de                   replies, "Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh,
 Rerk iets gaat doen, wat de Heiland alleen doen  kan eii                and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out
 znl doen op den weg van Damascus met Zijn vervolgel                     of Egypt."
 Saulus.  Deze verklaring moge ons we1 wat kras toe-                        Attend now to the Lord's answer: "Certainly I will
 schijnen,  doch  wanneer  we slechts voor de  aandacht                  be with thee . . . .  "
 houden, wie de Apostel is, van wien deze actie uitgaat,                    Marvelous, mysterious assurance ! He, the just and
 dan is ze niet zoo ver gezocht, doch de meest natuur-                   the Holy One, the Devouring Fire, the Everlasting
 lijke verklaring, die zich denken  laat.                                Burnings, be with Moses, a man with unclean lips,
    Zij past geheel bij de wijze van handelen  van den                   walking unuprightly, working unrighteousness, speak-
 Apastel  over wien we schrijven. En het doet in geen ing falsehood in his heart, backbiting with his tongue,
 enkel opzicht de Schrift geweld  aan, die ons Petrus 8 man by nature altogether condemnable and ill-deserv-
 deed kennen, gelijk we het hierboven even aanstipten.                   ing? With him God will be so that he will dwell in
                                                                         His holy hill and abide in His tabernacle? How can
                                                               w.  v.    it be?
                                                                            Consider that the Lord shows him mercy ; for he is
                                                                         one of God's humble, who has been taught to stay, to
                                                                         the Holy One, "Depart from me for I am a sinful man."
                                                                         "See," so we wrote, "see, he hides his face, for he is
              HONOR OF THE MINISTER                                      afraid to look upon God." It is an action that mirrors
                                                                         the right disposition of a man who deems himself con-
        I thank Thee, Lord, for using me                                 demnable and vile and whose soul therefore cries out,
           For Thee to work and speak;                                   "Woe unto me I for I am undone ; because I am a man
        However trembling is the hand,                                   of unclean lips . . . .  " His feet and hands and lips
           The voice however weak.                                       are therefore clean: for he hides his face and thus
                                                                         gives evidence of being covered by the blood of God's
        For those to whom, through me, Thou hast                         lam.
          Some heavenly guidance given ;                                    God is his friend and the love of God therefore
        For- some, it may be, saved from death,                          flowers in his bosom so that he is of a mind to work
          And some brought nearer heaven.                                God's work and not his own, for he is God's friend
                                                                         and therefore hath done with sin.
        0 honor higher, truer far,                                          The Lord's work he will work. He will go to Jethro
          Than earthly fame could bring,                                 his father-in-law and pray him to let him go to work
        Thus to be used, in work like this,                              the work of the Lord. He will gather together all the
          So long, by such a King !                                      elders of the children of Israel and through Aaron his
                                                                         mouth speak all the words which the Lord had spoken
                                                                         unto him. In the sight of the people he will cast his
        A blunted sword, a rusted spear,                                 r*od upon the ground, put his hand into his bosom, go
          Which only He could wield:                                     in and tell Pharaoh, "Thus saith the Lord God of
        A broken  sicMe in His hand,                                     Israel." He will command Aaron to cast down his rod
          To reap His harvest-field !                                    before Pharaoh that it may became a serpent; to


214                                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
.---_---.- -.-__-............__...  ".".-"  .-.- "" ^__                                           ._."._  ..____-.__......  ---__ ..____._  _________._..."" __-
stretch it out upon the waters of Egypt, upon their                               With his hand again stretched over the sea, the waters
streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and will return.
upon their pools of water, that they may become blood;                               How the Lord will honor the word of His servant
to stretch out his hand over the waters of Egypt, that in the presence of the king. How could He do other-
the frogs may come up ; to stretch out his hand, and                              wise, seeing that the word of Moses is the word of the
smite the dust of the land, that it may become lice.                              Lord.
He will tell Pharaoh that the Lord will sent upon him
swarms of flies; that the hand of the Lord will be upon                              "I will be with thee." Blessed assurance ! What
his cattle so that many will die. He will sprinkle ashes                          Moses is bidden to do - bring forth God's people -
of the furnace toward the heaven that it may become                               will therefore be done. The Lord will be his helper,
small dust in all the land of Egypt and be a boil,                                He, the Almighty One, before whom the nations are
breaking forth with blains upon man and upon beast;                               nothing; who brings princes to nothing and makes the
stretch forth his hand toward the heaven that there                               judges of the earth as nothing. He will be with him,
may be hail in all the land of Egypt; stretch his hand not as one man is with another, adding his strength to
over the iand of Egypt for the locusts; stretch out his                           that of his fellow, shouldering with him the burden
hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over that must be carried, lending a helping hand as often
the land of Egypt. He will institute the Passover and as the task proves to exacting, coming to the fore and
bid the children of Israel to cover themselves with the                           standing for a while in the companion's room when the
blood of the paschal lamb ; lift up his rod and stretch latter falls exhausted by the way - so God is not with
out his hand over the Red sea that it may be divided;                             a man. He helpeth as God. He is the strength of His
stretch his hand over the sea again that the sea may                              servants; upon Him do they cast their burdens. He
return to his strength.. He will intercede for the ill-                           sustains them and does not suffer them to be moved.
deserving people in the wilderness and lead them to the Their task is His. He wars in and through them His
mountain of God which is Sinai. `In a word, he will warfare. As to the children of Israel, He will shew
work the works of the Lord.                                                       His signs among them and bring them forth with joy.
       How he will prosper in his doings! For he worketh He will stretch out His hand and smite Egypt with all
the works of his God, delighteth in the law of the Lord ;                         His wonders which He will do in the midst thereof:
and in His law doth he meditate day and night. The and after that Pharaoh will let them go. So the Lord
Lord will therefore know his way, because it is the                               promised.
way of  the righteous. He therefore may and will com-                                But Moses still wavers. If there were only a sign
mit his way to Him ; he will also trust in Him ; and He unto him by which he and his kinsmen could know that
the Lord will bring it to pass. He will be with him. the Lord actually sends him and thus vests him with
He will cause the people to believe the words and the the right to bring up His people, a sign to which he
signs. Moses' hand will in turn be leprous as snow and could point his brethren and say, `Behold, the unmis-
be turned again as his other flesh. The rod, when cast takable token that I come to you now in the name of
to the ground, will become a serpent, and the serpent the Lord. Hearken therefore unto me.  I am your
in the hand of Aaron will again be turned into a  staff." deliverer. Hear my word. Follow me. Do ye my
                                                                            --
The Lord will turn the water when smitten by the rod                              bidding. For I am the sent of the Lord. Know there;
into blood. No sooner will Aaron have stretched forth fore that to reject me is to reject Him. For His word
his hand with the rod over the streams, then the frogs is with me. His power is in me. His Spirit rests upon
will come, brought up by the Lord. There will be a                                me, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of
grievous swarm of flies as Moses will spe,ak. The hand knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. By my hand
of the Lord will be upon the cattle according to Moses'                           He will save thee.' A sign he needs that betokens this.
word. Instantly the ashes, sprinkled toward heaven,                                  He recalls that some forty years ago now he had
will be a boil, breaking forth with blains upon man and                           come to his brethren in his own name ; and they had
beast.       The Lord will stretch out His hand and                               rejected him, made sport  ..f his demonstration of the
will smite the Egyptians with pestilence and thus love he bore them. The speech of that mocking, jeering
verify the word of his servant. At the moment that                                Hebrew is still in his ears. Has the temper of his
he will stretch forth his hand, the Lord will send                                brethren changed? Will they now hear? He is an old
thunder and hail, and the fire will run along upon the                            man now without prestage with the generation in
ground.         He will bring an  eastwind  and the locusts                       Egypt. They do not know him. And he  Comes  to
will go over the land, then when Moses will stretch                               them from the sheepcote, from following the sheep.
forth his hand over Egypt. The Lord will send dark- Will he bring up the children of Israel? It cannot be.
ness according to the prediction of His servant. And Let the Lord choose Him a more excellent man. But
the destroying angel will smite all the first-born of                             him the Lord now sends. True, but where,&  his badge
Egypt in agreement with Moses' word. He will stretch of authority. How will they know.
out his hand over the sea, and instantaneously the Lord                              The Lord reads his thought: "this shall be a token
will cause the sea to go back and the water will divide.                          unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                215
                                                                                      --._------           ..-.     "l_lll.^l"-..
brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve         mount quakes greatly. So terrible is the sight that
God upon this mountain:"                                      Moses fears exceedingly and quakes.
    The Lord does not say, `And this shall be a token             Let us behold these thunders and lightnings and
unto thee that I have sent thee: Thou wilt stand before say, `The face of God.' Then we will understand that
Pharaoh and declare my decrees. And I will bring to "Our God is a consuming fire." The orders that came
pass what thou speakest and, stretching out my hand,          to the people also tell us this. The people are charged, *
smite Egypt with all my wonders.' Will not Moses'             lest they break through unto the Lord to gaze and
words and these corresponding wonders prove, as well many of them perish ; for they are a people unclean.
as anything can, that Moses is the sent one of the            And the priests which come near the Lord must sanc-
Lord? What better evidence of his sending could the           tify themselves, lest the Lord break forth upon them.
people desire? These wonders, too, are signs. The If so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be
leprous -hand turned again as his other flesh, was a stoned, or thrust through with a dart.                                          .
sign. Likewise the staff that is changed into a serpent,         Yet this people with the Everlasting Burnings on
when cast to the ground, and becomes a rod again in           the mountain in closest fellowship. This will be the
the hand of Moses. Even at the sight of these, the sign that the Lord hath sent him.
people will believe and bow their heads and worship,             "Ye shall serve me upon the mount." What stronger
believe also, therefore, that Moses is the sent one of        proof than this could the people wish for that Moses
the Lord. However,`of  all the signs or tokens of Moses'      was the sent one of the Lord? He will lead them into
calling, their serving God upon the mountain is the           the very arms of their covenant God!
crown. If the Lord fails to lead them to this mountain           There will be need for this sign. Consider that
for service, they may know that  He has forsaken them the promise is that the Lord will bring them up out of
after having brought them forth out of Egypt. Con- that land, unto a good land and a large, a land flowing
sider that this sign is the one side of their redemption,     with milk and honey. But the way to Canaan leads
the other side of which is their being brought forth &rough a great and terrible wilderness, where all the
out of Egypt. Upon the mount the Lord comes down              streams run dry and were iiothing  grows for the sup-
and speaks His words unto the people. From the sum- port of life. What is more, that promised land is in-
mit of this mount He promulgates His law that called          habited. There are Canaanites living their, and Hit-
for the service of God. There at Sinai this  seririce,  by tites  and Amorites, and other tribes strong and war-
which perpetuate1 atonement will be made for sin, is like. After Moses will have brought them forth, and
inaugurated, so that Israel as covered by the blood of        the first enthusiasm will have subsided, the people,
the sacrifice, dwells with God, walks in the light of with the terrible journey before them, will began to
His countenance.     Here then  Jehova  as in a figure wonder whether the land of their future abode will
reaches out for His people through the cross and takes ever fall into their actual possession.              Has Moses
them to His heart; publicly constitutes them a. chosen        unction of God? Is he the sent one with whom the
generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a pecu- Lord will be continually? From the point of view of
liar people; that they should show forth EIis praises.        nature, the undertaking was most foolhardy. If the
                                                              journey is to be safely made, the Lord will have to
   3 this typical service, as in a glass, Israel may be-      continue to perform miracles.
hold the glory of Christ.                                                                        Might they not all
                             It was the spectable  of this    perish in the desert? Smh will be the questionings of
glory, seen by Moses on the mount, that caused his face       their flesh, the disputings of the carnal seed especially.
to shine with a heavenly radiance.                            And this seed will often be heard on the journey. Al-
   "And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the         ready at Elim, the very first station, the whole con-
people, and  said, Behold the blood of the covenant           gregation of the children of Israel murmured against
which the Lord bath made with you concerning all              Moses and Aaron: "Would to God," they said,  "we had
these words. Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadad,            died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt,
and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. And           when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat
they saw the God of Israel . . . And upon the nobles          bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into the
of the children of  IsraeI  He laid not His hand: and         wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger."
they saw God and did eat and drink."                          Here in their carnal disgust, they for the first time,
   Wonderful spectacle ! Israel through his repre- cast into Moses' teeth, be it by implication, that the
sentatives with God in His holy hill in closest covenant      Lord has not sent him, that he has set out with hem
fellowship.    Behold how terrible God is from out of op his own intiative with a view to bringing them to
His holy places! There are thunders and lightnings, grief. So they will continue all the way to vex God
and a thick cloud upon the mount. The voice of the            and His servant, by challenging his sending, insisting
trumpet is exceedingly loud. The people tremble.              that he provide them with the evidence of his calling.
Mount Sinai is altogether on a smoke, because the Lord        They will question even whether God means well with
1~~s  descended upon it in fire. See, the smoke thereof       them.
ascends as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole                 What will Moses say to the people? He will say to


216                                  THE  S T A N D A R D   B%.ARER
            -_l___ll  ---_ -__-.-1_1--                         -                --.__ll---    ___^ ^ ..__"  "".         -      -
them: `Behold the token of my sending. .I ascend with and promegranates could be had in Egypt. There  t.hey
Israel  into the hill of the Lord; I lead him into the        have sat at fleshpots and eaten to the full of garlic, and
arms of God. Behold the token of His love for  I-Iis          onions and leek. And they loved their bondage.
chosen ones. He covereth them with the blood and re-                Such will be their attitude throughout the ages to
ceiveth them. And they serve him on the mountain."            come. Then finally He, of whom Moses is the type
   Yet with this sign before their eye, the carnal            (he, Moses, was the Mediator of the Old Testament
Ksrael  will continue to say on the journey through the covenant) will appear, He, the Son of God, Christ
desert to Canaan, in an emergency, as often as there Jesus our Lord. He will come to His own and say, `The
will be want and the need will not be immediately sup- Lord is with Me. I am the sent One of God. I come to
plied, or when danger will threaten and from the point        bring forth my people out of Egypt. This is the token
of view of nature their case .will  seem hopeless - they      unto thee that the Father hca,s  sent me: as delivered b'y
will continue to say, "wherefore is this that thou,           me from the bondage of sin and corruption, as covered
Moses, hast brought us up out of Egypt to kill us?"           by my blood which I shed for the sins of many, thou,
Setting their mouth against heaven, they will ask, "Is        my people, will serve him in the mountain. I will lead
the Lord in this place?" Instead of being careful for thee into the very arms of God.' But carnal Israel will
nothing, instead of letting their request be known in         then, too, despise this sign; for. as ever the heart of
everything  by prayer and supplication with thanks-           this Israel cleaves to the things on this earth and thus
giving unto God, they will burst forth in, bitter com-        sets not its affections on the things above. The carnal
plaint whenever the situation will become trying.             Israel therefore will afXx Him to the cross, because He
Amazing, if it be considered that Israel will have  wor-      leadeth His people to God and enters with them into
shipped on the mountain and will have seen the heart          His rest. So the carnal seed in the church behave
of God as overflowing with an eternal and fathomless          throughout all the ages. Him the Lord of glory, they
love for His people and will thus have come into the          crucify afresh and His servant they persecute, because
possession of the unmistakable evidence that the mercy the way leads to the Father's house where the ungodly
and goodness of the Lord must needs follow His people will not be because they love not God.
all their days and in every place where they will come.
       Why will they continue to shut their ears to the                                                            G. M. 0.
speech of this sign? And the answer: because of their
deep-seated hatked  for God - a hatred that in every
emergency challenges the faithfulness of God and thus
shows itself up as wanton unbelief.
       It will please them if He show Himself up as un-                      FRUITS OF FORGIVENESS
faithful toward His people and thus as worthy to be                    Oh what stupendous mercy shines
cast off; for their hearts are far from God and they                      Around the Ma,jesty  of heaven!
will fain return to the fleshpots of Egypt. Twice will                 Rebels He deigns to call His sons,
they threaten to make away with Moses, and return to                      Their souls renewed, their sins forgiven.
their bondage.
       The carnal seed hates God. They take no delight in
His service. They despise the riches of His goodness                   Go, imitate the grace divine,
and forbearance and longsuffering. The true Israel                        The grace that blazes like a sun ;
will serve God upon the mountain and rejoice in His                    Hold forth your fair though feeble light
mercy. But in this service the carnal seed will have                      Through all your lives let mercy run.
no actual part.
       From Sinai the way will lead'to  Canaan, where God              Upon your bounty's willing wings
will tabernacle with His people. Their in that ,land of                   Swift fly your gifts and charity;
rest, Israel will serve God and dwell in the light of His               The hungry feed, the naked clothe,
countenance. But this promise has no attraction for                       To pain and sickness health apply.
the children of disobedience. They will not worship
on the mountain. They will not serve Him in the land
of their future abode. Canaan, as thought of as the                     Pity the weeping widow's woe,
land where they will be established for a people unto                     And be her counsellor  and stay ;
the Lord that He may be their God, has no attraction                    Adopt the fatherless, and smooth
for them. Only as a land ,flowing  with milk and honey                    To useful, happy life, his way.
is Canaan to them a prize to be captured. But the figs
and promegranates of Palestine are to them no com-                      When all is done, renounce your deeds,
 pensation for the suffering of the life in the wilderness                Renounce self-righteousness with scorn;
and for the peril in which a conflict with the tribes in-               Thus will you glorify your God,
 festing Canaan will, so they think, involve them. Figs                   And thus the Christian name adorn.


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                                                                                  earthly honors and privileges to lose the knowledge of
                                                                                  Ckist !
                                                                                      Not his own righteousness he sought!
  Ir,.,..,,,..,.,,.,,.,.,..,-
                                                              -             -I        Not the righteousness which is by the law he con-
                                                                                  sidered anything!
                 Knowing the Power of His                                             But the righteousness which is of God, in' Christ,
                                  Resurrection                                    l>y faith he prized above all things !
                                                                                      For by that righteousness he would know Him.
                                   That I may  know Him and  `the power of            &And  the power of His resurrection !
                                 His resurrection . . . .
                                                                   Phil. 3:lO.
        Excellency of knowledge !
        Of the,knowledge  of Jesus Christ, my Lord !
        In spiritual  ecstacy   t,he apostle had written on this                      His resurrection !
1. sublime subject. He had written on it, however, not                                Mark, not the power of the risen Lord, but the
merely as a subject, as a doctrine, which he would de-                            power of His resurrection.
  fend over against gainsayers, but as a confession !                                 The power of that historic fact, which  yet- trans-
        Not of Jesus Christ, the Lord, but of Him as `(7~1~                       tends  all that men call history ; of that fact, which
 Lord" had he spoken.                                                             could occur only where eternity touched time, the
        He knew Him!                                                              wonder-power of Life entered into death . . . .
        He had experienced, he still experienced, he would                            The power of that historic event, which took place
 .experience  in ever greater measure the unspeakable nineteen  hundrede  years ago; which, though it was
 excellency of that knowledge, had tasted Him, felt His never seen, itself belonging to the things unseen, yet
 power.; had drunk of the fountain of life and peace, of was abundantly witnessed by faithful witnesses, who
 righteousness and sanctification, of love and liberty looked on Him that was raised from the dead in wor-
 that was opened in Jesus Christ his Lord, only to want                           shipful wonderment; of the resurrection of Him that
 more of Him and still more !                                                     was crucified for our transgressions, that was raised
       And so precious to him was the excellency of that                          without, however, returning to earthly spheres; raised
' knowledge, that to possess it, to retain it, to increase                        in power, in glory, in heavenly beauty, with life eternal,
 it, he had counted all things but refuse and loss!                               incorruptible . . . .
       His name and privileges as a Hebrew of the                                     The power of it the apostle yearns to know!
Hebrews, of the tribe of Benjamin ; his position over                              ' Not His power.
 against the law as a Pharisee ; his zeal for the main-                               Neither the power that raised Him.
 tenance of ecclesiastical institutions; his blamelessness                            Eut the power of that fact! Of the resurrection
,, according to the standard of the old dispensational law ;                      itself.
all things, his liberty and earthly prosperity, his ver;\                             And the power of that resurrection is its Word, its
 life; all things he formerly considered gain and prized                          Logos, its divine idea ! The resurrection-logos of the
 above all-a man could possess in the world, -..-- these                          living God! Are not the facts of revelation Words of
 he had counted worthless in comparison with the ex-                              Cod? Even as the facts of creation are the embodi-
 cellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, his Lord and                          ment and symbols of Words of the Most High, crea-
 a loss he would consider it could he regain all these                            tive words, powerful words, words that realize what


218                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                                          ---ll_--                                  -            -
they express, that establish what is spoken, so the his- of the body in the organic sense of the word. Not
toric facts of redemption are living Words, dynamic merely did He represent His people, He was one with
ideas of Him that is wholly other than man. The in- them as the head is one with the body, the vine with
carnation is a Word, the Word of God become flesh ; the         the branches ! He is the life of their life, the resurrec-
cross is a Word, and the Word of the cross is foolish-          tion of their resurrection. When He is raised the
ness to them that perish, but a power unto salvation            Source of their life is quickened. For, they are in
to them that believe, yet always a power. So is the             Him; inseparably united with Him in His death and in
resurrection a Word of God. It has meaning. It is               His resurrection. The idea of the resurrection of Jesus
and idea. And it has power to accomplish what it ex- Christ, my Lord, is Life ! . . . .
presses. The word of the resurrection is both signi-                New life, resurrection-life !
ficant and dynamic.                                                 Life out of death, light out of darkness !
       The power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, my            Glorious, powerful, incorruptible, immortal life for
Lord !                                                          all the Church !
       As it is carried on the wings of the Word of the             Such is the logos, the meaning of the Word God
                                                                spoke on resurrection-day !
Gospel and appropriated by t.he believing soul, made
receptive by the grace of the living God !                          And such is the power of that divinely dynamic
                                                                Word ! He said: Let there be life for My people ! And
       That power, - what is it?                                there was life!
       It is the power of righteousness, nay of the justi-          The power of His resurrection, - what is it?
fication of the sinner without the works of the law!                It is final glory ! The resurrection of the body !
       For, the Word of justification, of the justification The victory over death and the grave! For, on the
of the elect, of  t,he Church, left the mouth of  t.he          resurrection-day of Jesus Christ, my Lord, a Word, a
Almighty ; rather, that eternal Word of justification           divine Word of perfect glorification pierced the dark-
which the living God speaks concerning His people ness of our death, and that Word shall never return.
entered into the darkness of sin and guilt, pierced it,         It will accomplish all it speaks! And it speaks of glory
dissipated it, when He raised up Jesus Christ from the and heavenly power for Jesus Christ, my Lord ; but
dead. For, is it not Jesus Christ, my Lord, that was            also for me, for you, for all that are given to Him. The
so raised to glory and power? And is not He the One resurrection of Jesus is but the beginning of the reve-
that was ordained from before the foundation of the             lation of the power of that Word. The final resurrec-
world, to stand at the head, in the stead of His people, tion of all the elect it its perfection and culmina-
to be responsible for them even into the depth of sin           tion !
and the darkness of death ? Did He not stand before                 Glory through shame ! Life through death ! The
the,face  of the living God with the load, all the load of heavenly through the earthy !                Eternity through
the sin of His brethren upon Him, ready to answer in time !
their place and to obey even unto the death of the                  Such is the logos, the idea of the resurrection!
cross ? And did He not willingly bear the punishment                And such is its power!
of their sin, sacrificing Himself and making satisfac-             - The power of the resurrection !
tionfor  sin? Did He not, knowing that all was accom-               Of Jesus Christ!
plished according to the Scriptures, give testimony                 My Lord!                                             <'.
from the accursed tree that all was finished? And is                                                                     ;:
not the resurrection of Jesus Christ, my Lord, then,                                                                     %'
God's answer to the testimony of His servant: It is
finished!? . . . .                                                                                                       ,::.
       Indeed, this is the logos, the idea of the resurrec-         Excellency of the knowledge of Christ!
tion of Jesus' Christ, my Lord: justification  1                    For, to know Him is to know the power of His
       And this is its power: perfect righteousness !           resurrection !
       For, as on the first day of creation the Most High           And also here "to know" does not refer to a natural,
said : "Let there be light"; so on that memorable first mental possession of all the facts concerning that
day of the week He said: "Let there be righteous- power. It does not mean a knowledge which one can
ness."                                                          acquire by the excercise  of his mental faculty, by in-
       And as on that first creation-day there was, light       tellectual acumen.
when and because He spoke ; so on the resurrection-day `-           The Word of God is not speaking here of a dogma
there was righteousness according to His Word!                  of the resurrection of Jesus.
       That power,  - what is it?                                   There is a wide difference between knowing all
       It is the power of life, of the Life, nay of quicken-    about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Lord, and
ing, of the resurrection of all the Church  !                   knowing the power of the resurrection of Je+&s Christ,
       For,  on that resurrection-morn no mere individual       my Lord. Is there not a wide difference between read-
was raised from the dead, but He that was the Head ing a book on the power of electricity and turning the


I,                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          219

      &itch  by which you flood your home with light? You         consciousness of the law of the Spirit of life within you,
      may know scientifically all about the power of ether as     whereby you are liberated from the law of sin and
      an anaesthetic; you may have witnessed its power death  I  :  .
      when it was applied to the patient on the operating-           That.power'  Gfts you up, far above the heights that
      table; but there is a wide difference between that and      surround this valley of misery and death and presses
      inhaling it until you are lost to the world. And you from your lips the triumphant shout: Death, where is
      may know all about the power of the resurrection of         thy sting? "Grave,  ihere  is thy victory? Thanks be
      Jesus Christ, the Lord ;  you may be able, perhaps, to      to God, Who giveth us the victory, through Jesus
      write treatises and books on this sublime subject, so       Christ, our Lord!
      that you are instrumental  even  in enlightening others        It is righteousness and life, joy and hope, liberty
      and applying its power to them that are receptive for and victory !
      it by God's grace ; you may have witnessed its                 To know  Hini and the power of His resurrection !
      marvelous power in many that are saved from sin and            0, excellency of knowledge !
      shame, that proved victorious over death and by the
      power of that resurrection passed through the valley          Of -Jesus  Christ !
      of the shadow of death with a song of life on their            My Lord!
      lips . . . .
          But to know that power, - ah ! how different it is !
          For, it signifies nothing less than that this mar-
      velous power of the  r&urrection  of Jesus Christ, your
      Lord, mightily, irresistibly took hold of your inmost          To. know Him.'
      heart and soul and vibrated through every fibre of             Yes, -to knoti  .Him,  Jesus Christ, my Lord !
      your being !                                                   For, tke -power of. His re'surrection is not known,
          It means that you experienced it, tasted it, were       cannot be  t&ted,  unless we know Him, Himself; know
      overcome by it!                                             Him with that knowledge of faith and love that causes
                                                                  us to prostrate ourselves. before Him, worshipping,
          It means that all of you and all in you that is of
      death and shame, of unrighteousness and filth, of en- adoring, confessing with ecstatic'  joy: Jesus, my
                                                                  L o r d ! . . ; .
      mity and rebellion against the living God, of fear and
      &rest, of darkness and despair; of guilt for which you         For, the divine Word, which is the power of the
                                                                  resurrection, the Word of righteousness and life and
      could not atone ; of corruption that held you in eternal    resurrection, is not divinely spoken outside of Him; it
      bonds ; of the misery of hell and the slavery of the        is spoken only through Him.
      devil, was dispelled, broken, crushed, overcome by the         The power is in Him. Hk is `centrally the bearer of
      power of the resurrection; and. that life and glory,
      righteousness and holiness, love and obedience, peace the divine Logos of the resurrection. For, He was
                                                                  exalted into highest glory; at the right hand of the
      and hope and rest, light and liberty, the righteousness
      of the Kingdom of heaven, flooded your inmost soul          majesty of God in the heavens; and all the promises
                                                                  that were upon Him, for the glory of which He endured
      through the  power  of His resurrection!                    suffering and shame, were realized in Him, when He
          The blessed consciousness of that mighty change,        received the Spirit of promise  and  be&me  the  life-
      - that it is to know the power of the resurrection of       giving3 the quic+ning  Spirit. Now, the Lord is that
      Jesus Christ, my Lord !                                     Spirit, and where the Spirit ,.of the Lord is, there is
          That power makes you cry out: 0 God, be merciful        liberty ! There is the power of His resurrection . . . .
      to me; a sinner! And that power causes you to shout            To know Him . . : .
      with joy: I, therefore, being justified by faith, have         It means, that  ai His image is borne upon the wings
      peace with God through Jesus Christ, my Lord ! It           of the Word ,of the Gospil  of Jesus Christ, you lose
      causes you at once to know the wretchedness of being        yourselves, your name and pride, your pretended works
      a damnable sinner before the living God and to taste        and righteousness,., your confidence,  in the flesh and
      the joy of being righteous before Him through faith,        your  standing  before the law; and that you gain Him,
      without the works of the law . . . .                        know  !hat you are of Him, that you were in Him
         For, to know Him in the power of His  resurrection       accordmg to God's gracious election, were in Him when
      is the consciousness of the power of the divine Word        He shed His lifeblood  for..our   sin!, were in Him when
      of justification vibrating through your soul !              He was raised a+ glorified ,:-:, . .
      ,' That power makes  YOU  lament: Wretched man, that           That you pride yourselves no more on the righteous-
      I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this            ness which is by the law.
      death? And at once it makes you give the answer to             But trust in the ribhteotisness.`of  God, by faith !
      that otherwise impossible question: I thank God,               Through Jesus Christ!
      through Jesus Christ, my Lord!                                 MY Lord!
         For, to know the povirer  of His resurrection is the                                                      H. H.  '


220                                                       THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
_.......-...  _ . . . . . . ..__ -_
--~..."..--."..- ._---                                            --_- -.-. - c. Assist in raising all possible funds for the pro-
                                                                               motion of Christian Education in Grand Rapids accord-
                                EDITORIALS                                     ing to plans approved by the Board.
   _._...._                                                                        d. Promote love for Christian Education in its own
                                                                               district.
           Unification Of Schools Desirable?                                       3. Chdstian High School.
                                                                                   a. Shall have no separate district.
          In Grand Rapids a plan has recently been suggested                       I,. Three School  Eoard  members, one from each
 and proposed to the local boards of our Christian district, to represent Christian High shall be elected at
 Schools, according to which all the local Christian large by the school societies at a general meeting of
 Schools for primary education as well as the Christian all school societies from a nomination presented by the
 High School of this city would be united under one                            School Board.
 board.                                                                            c. All costs for building, etc., not covered by tui-
          1 do not know how far the proposed plan met with tion shall be assessed against al1 the school societies on
 the favor of the different boards, nor do I know what                         pupil enrollment basis of each school.
 has been done thus far to realize the plan or what steps
 are contemplated toward its realization.                                                           I I .   SupczmkGvn
          But the plan has been in the air for some time. It                       1. This plan calls for one superintendent and one
 hegins to assume some definite form. And it is time                           supervisor.
 OLK~  people are informed about the matter, that they                             a. Headquarters shall be  eitablished  at the Chris-
 may not unexpectedly be called to decide on this im-                          tian High School.
 portant question and adopt a plan which they regret,                              b. The supervisor will make all reports directly to
 perhaps, when it is too `late. And this may easily be the superintendent who shall have an advisory vote in
 the case if, without previous and thorough discussion,                        the School Board.
 the plan would be proposed for adoption to the various                            c. ,Each school shall have a principal, i. e., a head-
 school societies in our city.                                                 teacher who shall be regponsible for the discipline and
          For that reason I will introduce the discussion of schedules of the school.
 this plan in our paper and in@e all that are interested                           d. The Central Office shall employ the necessary
 to express their opinion on the question.                                     clerks to care for correspondence, bookkeeping and
          The plan that is proposed here follows in full:                      other necessary clerical work under regulations of the
                                                                               School Board.
       SUGGESTED PLAN FOR UNIFYING SCHOOLS                                         2. The superintendent in conjunction with the
                                                                               supervisor shall provide all courses of study, supervise
                                         I .   Orga?zixation                   all instruction and execute all business incident to the
           1. Each school shall maintain its own school proper conduct of the schools, under regulations of the
 society.                                                                      School Board.
           a. Each society shall elect two members  to tile
 School  Board.                        (The reader understands that by this                     III. The School Board
 Board the central and only School Board is mea@. The                              The School Board shall:
 local boards are discarded under this plan, H. H.)                                1. Engage and assign the superintendent, super-
           b. `Each school society shall elect an executive visor, teachers, engineers and janitors, and supervise
 committee consisting of its two representatives on the their activities. Engineers and janitors, however, shall
 School Board, plus  five other members chosen from it's be engaged upon recommendation and approval of
 society membership. This executive committee shall the executive committee of each school.
 elect from its membership the necessary officers for                              2. Conduct all business of the school except that
 the school society, with the provision that one of the which has been assigned to the school societies.
 two School Board members shall function as its presi-                             a. Regulate the time of local board meetings, elec-
 dent. (The reader will realize that this executive com- tions and terms of office to insure uniformity. (What
 mittee is no school board and has no supervision over is meant here is the meetings of the local executive
 "he instruction, appointment of teachers, etc., in the committees, H. H.).
 local school. It is a society-board, not a school-board.)                         11. Finances.                   `I
           2. Each individual school society shall: (under the                     1. A uniform tuition shall be charged in all pri-
 School Board's supervision)                                                   mary and junior high schools.
          a. Retain, `as its own responsibility, all obligations                   2. Each district shall be so canvassed by  each
 resting upon its school  building.                                            school that  the difference between the amount of tui-
          b. Build, rebuild and  ' finance its  .own physical tion received and the actual cost of the schools may
8 plant.                                                                       be met.


