 244                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
-1111 ..- -..-. .__II__._ "-.--.- ..^. _..^ "--              - ..-..._-_ "_l___lll_l_ 11~ .._._-. __ --.. "."- _-d----p _-- ---
"~ -..-.._ --___- .--,-- ~..._--              -    -      -.--...   ---^_-- Each  gear  one haif of the Board members retire, but
i#      -     -       w  -%
                                                                4    alre immediately eligible for re-election. Members of
                                                                     the Board are elected by ballot. To be elected one must
      -. "-  ""--.- _..        ______. -.." ..." ..." _...-_.... -~.-_I have the majority of the votes cast. The meetings of
                                                                     the Society shall be announced on Sunday and not later
        Unification Of Schools Desirable?                            than a week previous to the meeting. The Board elects
                                                                     its own officers."
                                                                        Also this article, according to the proposed new
                                                                     plan, would have to be recalled, for the simple reason,
        i.n OUI- last issue we stated that the proposed plan that no local society would have a School Board of their
for the unification of all the Christian Schools in Grand own. The local School Board is discarded. Instead a
Rapids would revolutionize  our entire  present system. general School Board for ail the schools in Grand
        Iion true this is will become evident if we compare Rapids is created. And no local society elects that
said plan with the constitutions of the local Christian School Board as a whole. Each society elects only two
School Societies.                                                    members to that Board. The society elects an executive
        For the  pian for unification of the school is, as committee, consisting of the two School Board mem-
might  1~2  espected,  thoroughly unconstitutional. In bers plus five other society-members. But this execu-
                                                                     tive committee is no School Board whatsoever and has
fact, it would make the constitutions of the local socie-
ties as they now exist, wholly of none effect.                       no supervision over the instruction offered at the local
                                                          Let me
quote  a few  examples from the "Constitution of  the school. Hence, also on this point the new plan really
Society for Christian Education, at Baxter Street,                   destroys the local constitution, at least that of the
G-and Rapids, Mich."                                                 Baxter Street Christian School.
                                                                        Hence, all the articles in the constitution that per-
       Art.  i of that constitution reads as follows:                tain to the local School Board must likewise be re-
       "The purpose of this Society is to furnish Primary moved.
nnd Secondary Christian Education in the English                        There is, e. g., Art. 9, which reads as follows:
language in accordance with the ideas expressed in                      "a. The Board shall meet in regular session once
Art.  1. It purposes to adhere to the course of study a month and at a fixed time. b. Every member is in
as prescribed by the state. Every teacher shall be re- duty bound to attend each meeting unless extraordin-
quired to sign such a contract that the Society will                 ary circumstances prevent him from doing so.  c. Elec-
have security that the instruction given conforms to                 tion of officers foi- the Board shall be held the first
the demands of Art. 1.`"                                             meeting in October. At this meeting the newly elected
        `Under the proposed new plan this article would chairman shall appoint three committee, viz., a Com-
have no place at all in the constitution of any  Iocal               mittee on Teachers, a Committee on Building and
school society. For, according to the new plan, these Grounds, and a Committee on Finances. The last
local societies exist merely for the purpose of carrying             named committee shall consist of four members, the
the local financial responsibilities and, further, to elect two others of  three members each. These committees
two members to the Central School Board. Outside of shall serve for one year. d. Each committee shall be
this the School Board conducts all the business of the               faithful in the discharge of its duties and shall report
schools. It also has the power to determine the general at every Board meeting. e. The Board in co-operation
requirements for teachers. Hence, the local societies                with the Principal shall arrange the course of study
could not possibIy  have anything to do with the de-                 and shall have control in all other matters pertaining
termination of these requirements, least of all insert to the school. f. The President of the Board may, in
an article in their constitutions to that effect. Accord- case he deems it necessary, call a special Board meet-
ing to Art. 2 of the constitution of the Baxter Street ing. g. The annual meeting of the Society shall be
School Society, the society determines that all the in- held in September, and additional meetings as the
struction given shall be in conformity to "the Word of Board may deem necessary. A special meeting of the
God interpreted in accordance with the standards of Society may also be cailed at the request of fifteen
the Reformed Church" (Art. 1). The right to make members of the Society. These meetings shall be
this determination or any  ether  determination is, under called as directed in Art. 7."
the new plan, transferred from the local societies to                   This article must also be cancelled. For, under the
the School Board. Such a change is certainly  radica1.               new plan, the society will have no School Board of their
The proposal of the change is unconstitutional.                      own. And the executive committee, that will take its
        Art. 7 of the above ment.ioned  constitution reads:          place, will have no supervision over the instruction
        "The School Board of the Society consists of ten             given at the Iocal school. Hence, that executive com-
persons. These are to be chosen from a nomination mittee cannot have any business to appoint a Com-
made by the Board, consisting of twice as many men                   mittee on Teachers. That this is true will become still
as are to be elected. These serve a term of two years.               more evident if we consider what is the duty-of this


                                    ` T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEA1CEl-1,                                                              J&95
                              --.-- "11" .._..^ - ..." . .._.__. -...___-___ll_lll_.......-^l-.....  I - _........._  ___-_-- -__----.-_Izr-I
..-""..       --_
Teachers' Committee. It is outlined in Art.  14:                    with the constitution of every one of the local societies
    "Committee on Teachers. This committee shall in Grand Rapids.
keep in touch with the teachers and their work, visit                   Now, what is the significance of this?
the School at least once a month and report at each                     In the first place it shows how radical the proposed
meeting of the Board. It shall recommend all matters plan is. It would revolutionize the entire present SYS-
pertaining to the appointment of teachers. It shall fix tern. In fact, it would really exterminate tke presently
the course of study. It  shail report' to the Board and existing local school societies. It would change them
make recommendations regarding all school supplies." into little more than societies to collect the necessary
    Most of the work that is, at present, assigned to the           finances.
Committee on Teachers, under the new plan would be                       In the second place, it raises the serious question:
the duty of the supervisor and the sup$rintendent.  For, how could the local school boards even cynsider  such
these are to provide all courses of study, supervise all 8 proposition?
instruction and execute all business incident to the                     Under  the constitution they surely could not legally
proper conduct of the schools, under regulations of the discuss such a plan as School Boards.
School Board. And the latter only has authority to                       Their very  discusqion of this proposed new plan
appoint the teachers in all the schools upon advice of was unconstitutional and, therefore, out of order.
t,he superintendent. I am not now discussing t.he ad-                    Or, perhaps, are not the SchooI  Boards bound by
visability of this plan, but merely pointing out, that              the constitution, so that all their discussion, plans, de-
also in this respect the proposed plan is unconstitu-               liberations much be in strict harmony with it? What
tional.                                                             otherwise does a constitution mean, if it does not mean
    Again, Art. 15 would have to be declared void, for' to be a basis of association that may not be violated.
it deals with the qualifications and appointment of                 The only proper and legal way in which such a plan as
teachers :                                                          that which was proposed could be brought to the at-
    "The teachers must be members in full communion tention of the School Boards would be that of a series
of a Reformed Church and shall possess a certificate of proposed amendments to the constitutions of the
deemed qualifying by the Board. The Board appoints various local societies. .&nd the different Boards would
all teachers on recommendation of the Committee on then have to bring these proposed amendments before
Teachers. The scale of salaries shall be fixed annually.            tp respective societies.
Salaries shall be paid monthly by the treasurer."                        But how, then, we ask, was it possible that such a
    All this, as will be evident, will be taken from the            revolutionary plan could even be proposed?
hands of the local boards and, therefore, from the so-                   .If I am correctly informed, the plan originated in
cieties, and transferred to the one Central School                  what is called the Central Board. I really do not know
Board. They determine the qualifications demanded much about this so-called Central Roard. It is not
of a teacher, they appoint, they fix the salaries and               mentioned in the constitution of the local society for
they pay them.                                                      Christian Instruction at Baxter St. In fact, I do not
    Thus I could continue. There is hardly an article               believe that it has a constitution of its own'; npr do I
in the constitution of the Baxter Street Christian                  believe that it is a Board at all and that it has any
School Society with which the proposed plan is not in legal existence. It must be a kind of informal, un-
direct conflict. It is in conflict with Art. 16, which official gathering consisting of delegates from the
states that the principal shall give a report of the con- various local boards, without any power  ,or authority,
dition of the school at each meeting of the School                  for the purpose, no doubt, of discussing together the
Board ; it is in conflict with 4rt. 17 on Teachers ; it is common problems of all the schools. If I am mistaken
in  conflict  with Art. 18 speaking of the pupils. To               as to my view of this so-called Central Board, I gladly
quote an important clause from the last mentioned stand corrected. As far as I know, there is not really
article, it is in conflict with the following: "In case of a Central School Board, and what is so-called is :tn
complaints parents shall first of all see the principal.            informal gathering without any authority whatsoever.
In case they receive no satisfaction they shall come to                  Such meetings may be beneficial to the CRLISC of
the Board." Parents in such cases could not appeai  to Christian Instruction, as long as they confine them-
the Board, unless with their local troubles they would selves to the discussion of general problems and con-
turn to the one Central Board. But at any rate such stantly remember, that they are strictly informal. Nor
a clause could have no place in the constitution of the ought they, as a body, try to exert influence upon the
local society under the new proposed plan.                           local boards, for the simple reason that they do not
    But I shall not elaborate on this. Enough has been constitute a legal body.
quoted to prove that the entire plan is in direct eon-                   If, however, such a gathering, without authority
flict with almost every essential part of the Constitu- and, therefore, without legal responsibility,  grows
tion  of the Baxter Street Christian School Society. And oblivious of its informal  ,character,  not merely dis-
it may easily be surmised that it is eqdly in conflict              cusses matters, but prepares resolutions and proposes


246                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                    _II_ -~  --ll_..-._ --  -.--- --                     _____~  ..__...  -.-I.___I_____-- ." -... ".    ,. ^  ..-- - -
plans to bring them before the local Boards, it may algemeeq  maar mjis en dat is ook de beteekenis in het
hecome  a real danger.         '                               "Corn-Hog Reduction Contract") en de varkens-
       This gathering, then, if I am correctly informed,       teelt.
conceived of a plan, that would completely destroy the             Nu is het nooit gemakkelijk om zulke vragen, die
local school societies and their constitutions.                betrekking hebben op het al of niet geoorloofde van
       That it, this so-called Central Board, could con-       bepaalde handelingen in bepaalde toestanden en met
ceive of and discuss such a proposition, one can easily        het oog op bepaalde eischen, te beantwoorden.
understand, for it is an informal gathering and does               Het is gemakkelijker om beginselen te ontwikkelen,
not meet under the constitutions of the local societies        dan altijd te bepalen of door zekere handelingen die
nor, perhaps, under any constitution.                          beginselen worden  toegepast, dan we1 overtreden.
       The mistake was made when the proposed plan,                Er is bij het beantwoorden van dergelijke vragen
the result of an informal discussion and, therefore, gewoonlijk heel wat ruimte, (althans zoo schijnt het,
itself informal, was formally brought to the attention al is het in de werkelijkheid niet zoo) voor verschil
of the local Boards and accepted (I do not say edopted).       van opinie.
by them to be formally discussed.                                  Maar ik znl mijn best doen. En als ik het mijne
       For,  u,nder  their constitutions the local Boards gezegd heb, is ons blad natuurlijk open voor discussie
could not legally accept such a proposition for discus- ook over dit onderwerp.
sion.                                                              Wat is het "Corn-Hog Reduction Contract"?
       The only legal and proper thing for them to do              Een element in de tegenwoordige malaise is,  naar
would have been that they declare it out of order as in        de overtuiging van velen, ook van ons gouvernement,
conflict with the constitution.                                dat de boer niet genoeg ontvangt voor de opbrengsten
       For, boards as well as societies, are subject to their van het land. In de "Corn-Hog Adjustment Plan"
constitutions.                                                 biedt het gouvernement den boer gelegenheid om daar-
                                                               in verbetering  aan  te brengen, door het "Corn-Hog
                                                               Reduction Contract" te  teekenen  Er werden te veel
       However, this does not say anything as  ,to the de- varkens geteeld in de laatste jaren  en er is te veel mai's
sirability of the proposed plan.                               verbouwd. Deze twee  staan met elkander in onafschei-
       Yet, also from this viewpoint we wish to discuss        delijk  verband,  want met de mais  me,& men de var-
the matter.                                                    kens. Doordat men in het buitenland  zich in de laatste
       Since the previous issue of the Standard  Beare? jaren  meer op varkensteelt heeft toegelegd, en de  uit-
was published, we have been informed that  a11 the voorrechten aanmerkelijk verhoogd zijn is de uitvoer
local Boards rejected the plan, that even the so-called van spek en vet zeer verminderd en daardoor zijn de
Central Board rejected it. Hence, in the proposed              prijzen voor varkens in ons land tot op een zeer laag
form the plan for unification of our schools, does not         peil gedaald. Er is bij ons een surplus van  mai's en
even exist anymore as a proposition.                           varkens. Ook is er in de naaste toekomst  geen uitzicht
       This, however, does not mean that the idea itself is    op verbetering door grootere uitvoer.
abandoned. In fact, the idea is not a new one. And                 Zoo rekent het gouvernement.
in some~  form, I expect, it will appear again in some             Hoe daarin nu verandering te brengen, zoodat de
future time.                                                   boer op hoogere prijzen kan rekenen?
       For that reason, even though the plan in the pro-           Het gouvernement stelt hem in het "Corn-Hog Re-
posed form has been rejected, The Standard Bearer is           duction Contract" het volgende voor:
of the opinion that the matter is of suflicient impor-             1. De boer belooft, dat hij in 1934 met tenminste
tance and interest to be thoroughly discussed by all 20  procent zal verminderen het land, dat hij afzondert
that have the cause of Christian Instruction at heart, voor het verbouwen van  mai's, deze twintig  procent
especially in Grand Rapids.                                    berekend naar het gemiddelde van het aantal acres,
                                                   H. H.       dat hij in de jaren 1932, 1933 daarvoor gebruikte. In-
                                                               dien hij, b-v. in 1932 honderd en vijftig acTe.s voor mds
                                                               gehruikte en in 1933 95 acres, dan belooft  hij om in
                                                               1934 niet meer dan tachtig ucres voor dat doel. af te
               Over  Mais en  `Varkens                         zonderen.
                                                                   2. Hij belooft zijn aantal  teel-zeugen zoo te ver-
       Van onderscheidene boeren  in het Westen ontving minderen, dat niet meer dan drie-vierde van het  gemid-
ik verzoeken om in ons blad iets te willen schrijven           delde aantal biggen, dat ze per jaar wierpen in de
over de vraag of het een Christen geoorloofd is het jaren  1932, 1933, in 1934 geworpen zullen worden.,
"Corn-Hog Reduction Contract" te teekenen, d. w. z.,               3. Hij belooft, dat hij niet meer van deze door
om mee te doen  aan het plan van ens gouvernement              hem geteelde varkens in 1934 ter markt zal brengen
om te beperken de verbouw van  ma% (door "corn"                dan drie-viesde van het gemiddelde aantal per jaar,
verstaat  men in ons land niet koren of graan in  bet          dat hij teelde en ter markt bracht in de jaren 1932,


24S                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
-____I_-. ._-.--._-.^   "--.."__l _-_-.--._^-^-ll^^...^.. l_l- _.._^. -- ^-..l-.l.....  ---.~--.-11-..-.. I I _ _ -.--"-  .._.,_...__-  ". ..-..-
                                                                          the rod toward heaven ; and there is  a thick darkness
              The Rod and the Serpent                                     in all the land of Egypt three days. He lifts up his
                                                                          rod and stretches out his hand over the sea; and the
         And Moses answered and said. But behold ,they will               Lord causes the sea to go back by a strong each wind.
       not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they
       will say,  The  Lord  h+h not appeared unto thee.                  He again stretches out his hand (with the rod) ovel
         ,Ind. the Lord said unto him, What is in thine hand ?            the sea and the waters come again over the Egyp-
       And he said, a rod.     And He said, Cast it on the                tians.
       ground . . . .                                  Ex. 4:1-9.             Clearly, this rod is the token of God's infinite
                                                                          power. Its being stretched forth is not the cause of
   "Certainly  P will be with thee," says the Lord to the occurrence of the miracle but merely the sign that
Moses who, as overwhelmed by a feeling of his own the miracle is about to be performed. And the con-
nothiilgness,  shrinks from the office, now assigned to xection  between its occurrence and the stretching forth
him by the Lord, of bringing forth His people the chil- of the rod is the determinate will and the infinite
dren of Israel out of Egypt, "Certainly I will be with power of the Almighty. This is the same as saying
thee, and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have                    that in His counsel, He resolved to stretch forth the rod
sent thee: when thou hast brought forth the people out                    through Moses, His agent, and to immediately there-
of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain."                         upon perform the wonder, so that both the stretching
Judging from his reply, "When I come unto the chil- .forth  of the rod and the miracle are God's works, the
dren of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of issues of His sovereign decree.
your fathers hath sent me unto you ; and they shall                           The question might still be asked whether there
say to me, What is thy name? What shall I say unto will be a display of divine power in the event Moses
them," judging from this reply, it seems that Moses is                    faiLs to stretch forth the rod. If so, it will merely
about to declare, `Lord, I will go.`. But fact is that he mean that God has resolved to work for the salvation
still has his misgivings.  As soon as the Lord has done of His people without having at once resolved to move
telling  hirri His name, what he shall say to the elders Moses to co-operate with Him; and if not, that He has
of Israel, how these elders will respond  -' they shall resolved by Himself and not because Moses refuses to
hearken to his voice  - how Pharaoh will react - he co-operate to perform no miracles at all. But the Lord
wjll not let the people go - and what the Lord will do                    has determined that Moses shall stretch out the rod and
- He wil stretch out  Hi,+ hand, and smite Egypt with                     now realizes His will in His servant, so that this
~~11 His wonders, after which doings Pharaoh will let stretching forth of the rod is not a deed whereby God
them  go  - as soon as the Lord has done telling him is incited to action but merely the sign that He is about
all this, Moses voices another scruple: "But behold, to act and that thus the cause of all He does is to be
they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice:                      sought solely in Himself. Consider therefore that to
for they will say, The Lord bath  not appeared unto                       first postulate that God is resolved to display His
thee." And the Lord said unto him, What is in thine power in conjuction  with the wielding of the rod and
hand,? And he said, A rod. And He said, Cast it on to state thereupon that there will be no display of
the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it be-                      power in the event Moses fails to co-operate is to say
came a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. And that God cannot get His way with His own agents and
the Lord said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and                       is thus a finite being.
take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and                           Rightly considered this stretching forth of the rod
caught it, and it become a rod in his hand . . . . "                      is the prayer of a righteous man  <as by this act, oft
       We have to do here with a sign. What may be the repeated, Moses uncovers the desires and the disposi-
thought, the idea of which this sign is the depiction?                    tion of his heart and directs them to the throne of
We must concentrate first on this rod, would we know.                     God. Now this is prayer. To understand, therefore,
As often as this rod is made mention of, it is always this act is to have insight into the true nature of
in connection with a miracle. M&es lifts up the rod,                      prayer, is to know what the prayer of a righteous man
and smites the waters that were in the river and in- is, what this man prays for and why his prayer is so
stantaneously all the waters that are in the river  are effectual,' so strong, so powerful.
turned to blood Aaron's hand with the rod it stretched                         The stretching forth of the rod is expressive of the
over the streams, over the rivers,  and over the ponds desire, will, that the waters be turned to blood, that
and the fogs come up upon the land of Egypt. Aaron the frogs come up upon the land of Egypt, that the
stretches out his hand with the rod and smites the dust dust become lice, that the thunder and hail be sent, that
of the earth, and it becomes lice in man, and in beast,                   the locusts come, that thick darkness be in all the
And Moses stretches forth his rod toward heaven ; and                     land, that the sea go back, that' the people of Israel
the Lord sends thunder and hail, and the fire runs upon might pass through it, that the sea return again upon
the ground.. He stretches forth his rod over the land                     the pursuing Egyptian host, in a word, that the Lord
of Egypt. And when it. was morning the east wind save His people through the destruction of the common
brought the locusts. He stretches forth his hand with foe unto His supreme glory. And this the Lord has


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         2`1(3
.-- --.                                   -    __-_. -A_-- ----.-..         _______I  .-_ -__ __ ___-
promised to do. Each particular stretching. forth of          The god `of the Egyptianappears ; it is a beast t~m~b-
the rod, each prayer for the working of the specified         ling about on a carpet of purple. To it divine honors
miracle, is proceeded by and thus reposes upon the            are directly paid. Thus the  people of Thebes  war-
promise of God that when the prayer is made, when             shipped the crocodile. A fine specimen having been
the rod is extended, the miracle will be worked, so that      caught, the priest taught it to eat from their hands
what Moses wills, seeks, asks for, are promised things.       and carefully tended it. Golden earrings were hung
And this is the same as saying that the series of             in its ears and bracelets set on its forehead."
prayers of this servant of God turn solely upon the              Egypt, at the time of Moses, bends the knee before
promise, the counsels of the Almighty and that thus in the hosts of heaven, the sun and the moon. There was
the aforesaid actions, in these prayers, he appears as Ra, the sun-god, the great national divinity, and Osires
a seeker of the covenant only and as the champion of and his family. `From these had emanated a second
God's cause in the world as represented by Egypt.             gsade  of twelve gods, at whose he$d"stood  the moon-
Herewith has at once been forewarded the reason for god  Thoth. Egypt says to the Nile and to the blood
the effectualness of the stretching forth of the rod. It into which its waters will be changed, to the frog, to
is an act *betokening a desire centered upon and in           the soil whose dust will turn into noisome pests, to
agreement with the will and the decrees of God. It is the flies that will be multiplied into a plague, to the
an act expressive of the conviction that the cause of         cattle - the cow and the ox - among which a wide
God will triumph and is the only cause worth while.           mortality will break out suddenly, to Evil to which
It is a prayer, therefore, that, as it identifies itself with humans are yearly offered  in sacrifice, to the elements
the purposes and counsels of God, must prevail not by         that will devastate all the land except  Goshen, to the
a power inherent in it but by the power of the infinite       sun that will be darkened, - ye are my gods.
One to which it is tied. Such then is the prayer of the          The Nile is in the strictest sense regarded as divine
just man.                                                     as appears from the following hymn as old as the days
   Thus it is evident that, so conceived of, the rod of of Moses and still preserved. It reads in part:
Moses, the stretching forth of it, is the token of the
might of God, stretched out and smiting Egypt with all "Hail to thee, 0 Nile!
His wonders. It became this, when, having been con-            Thou who hast revealed thyself to this land,
verted into a serpent when cast to the ground by Moses,        Coming in peace, to give life to Egypt!
it was changed into a rod in his hand.                         Hidden God ! who bringest what is dark to light,
   The rod, the symbol of God's hand, is changed into          As is always thy delight!
a- serpent and returns into a staff when Moses takes it        Thou who waterest the fields created by the sun-God;
by the tail. What can be the meaning of this?  Con             To  give iife to all the world of living things.
sider that the serpent is the symbol of Satan and his          Thou art the god Set, the friend of bread !
kingdom. Egypt belongs to this kingdom. And here               Thou art the god Nepra, the giver of grain!
in this land Satan has set up his throne and fixed him-        Thou art the god Ptah, who lighten& every dwelling!
self down. Before this throne, Egypt lies prostrate.           Bringer of food ! Creator of all good `things !
The serpent is  the  p.ublic and well known Egyptian           Lord of all things. choice, and delightful,
emblem, and thus at once representative of every               If there be offerings, it is thanks to thee !"
creature served, man, birds, four-footed beasts, and
creeping things. The crocodile, the goat, the sheep, the         As to the Pharaohs of Egypt, they boast of descent
beetle, the ox, the dog, the dog-faced ape, the, mouse,       from the gods and are worshipped even during theil
the cat, the wolf, the lion, the hippopotamus, the  ibus,     life as divine, and the whole land and all the people in
some serpents, the hawk, some  Lishes, some insects,          it belonged to them. Thus has Egypt "changed the
vegetables, are sacred and worshipped by the multi- glory of the incorruptible God into an image made  like
tudes as in some way divine. Offerings are presented to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed
to the sacred animals ; priesthood maintained in their beasts, and creeping things." Wherefore God also has
honor; magnificent temples build for their reception; given them up to uncleanness through the lusts of
grand festivals held in their praise, public lamenta- their own hearts.
tions made at their death. To kill one of these is :t            The Egyptians, in the age here under consideration,
capital crime. A certain church father, told of what are specially impure. They give the reigns to the baser
he had witnessed, when he wrote: "The holy places of passions, for why should they be better than their gods.
the temples are hidden by great veils of cloth of gold.       Unnatural vices prevailed on every side. Universal
If  YOU advance towards the interior  01 the building to and open impurity marked' their great yearly religious
see the statue of the god, a priest comes to you with         festivities. The race that honored beast-gods is sunk
a grave air, chanting a hymn in the Egyptian lan- into degradation. The lower casts are treated as slaves
guage, and lifts a corner of the gorgeous curtain to          by the higher. There is no reverence for man as man.
show you the divinity. But what do you see? A cat.            Thus even as the Egyptians did not like to retain God
a crocodile, a serpent, or some other dangerous animal.       in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate


 XK!                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                                                 _           __..
                                                 "..."-.-   _-..  &..-.l.              _             ,...:    -.-
mind, to do things which are not convenient so that                    God so that the one may be said to be the other. But
they are lilled with all unrighteousness, fornication,                 what does it denote? The rod becomes a serpent and
wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness ; full of envy, the latter turns again into a rod. Not the serpent but
murder, debate, deceit, malignity ; whisperers . . . . the rod is the first and the last, the beginning and the
And with all this, Egypt has now, more than ever, be- end. From the rod the serpent issues and to the rod
come the centre of civilization. In the words of one `it again returns so that in the rod it seems to have its
writer : "Its schools, under the priests, were famous, very being. The serpent therefore is inclosed by  the
and intellectual life in every form abounded. Sculpture                rod, so that what Moses now holds and wields is not
and painting reached high perfection, and books on all a mere rod but a rod that contains in itself, as it were,
subjects were numerous ; temples, pyramids, and tombs the reptile from which he fled. Consider that he puts
were extended in number; the country was everywhere forth his hand and takes the serpent by the tail. Catch-
improved  by public works; boundaries, public and ing it, it becomes and remains a rod in his hand, so that
private, were minutely fixed; public registers kept ; in- what he holds and will henceforth wield, stretch out
dustries of all kinds multiplied ; commerce with Libya,                over the land of Egypt is the reptile, the serpent, as
T?alestine,  and other regions covered the roads with shut in by the rod.
caravans, and the waters with vessels  ; gold and min-                       Considering now that the rod is the token of the
erals \\;ere largely obtained from Sinai, and the gen-                 power of God, what else can this denote than that the
eral prosperity attracted a great immigration of power and talent of the opposition are the issues of the
Libyans, Cushites, and Asiatic shepherd tribes."                       creative will of the Almighty and that in Him they sub-
   Egypt, at the time of Moses, had culture. But. here sist so that the opposition is but an ax, a saw, a rod,
too, Egypt's culture was the lusts of Egypt's flesh and in His hand that cannot hew unless He heweth there-
the lusts of her eyes and the pride of her life reduced with, shake, unless He shake it, and rise unless He
11)'  her  wise men to a philosophical and  l*eligiOUS  sys-           lift it up? Verily, the serpent by itself is nothing. It
tem, eulogized by her poets and immortalized in stone csists  because He wills. At His rebuke it would cease
by her  sculpters.   ,4nd in this vile system, the glory to be. He therefore is its reality. In Him its life is
of the incorruptible God appears as an image made hidden. By His hand it is held and wielded. This is
Iike unto the corruptible creature; and the earth and                  the speech that rises from the transaction of the turn-
its fulness, God's things, as creatures, yea as gods                   ing of the rod into a serpent and the turning of the ser-
sufficient unto themselves, as things therefore in which pent into the rod.
man can rest and which he may use for the service of                         The people of Israel do well to take home to their
the lusts of the flesh. This was Egypt's culture.                      hearts this speech; for the serpent now afflicts them,
   Now that serpent in whose form the rod of Moses makes them serve with rigor, makes their lives  bittel
was momentarily seen, is this Egypt with its throne with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all
and the power back of its throne, namely, Satan; Egypt manner of service in the field. They sweat in Pharaoh's
with its beast-gods and devil-worship, its immorality ovens. But let Israel consider that the vile serpent in
and idolatrous apparatus, its culture  and'its  Pharaohs his hewing and cutting is an ax in the hand of their
insisting that they be worshipped as gods. Speaking God, that its power is His so that only by His will does
in general terms, that serpent is the symbol of it hew, persecute- and oppress. The oppression there-
that power, ever present in this world, that rages and fore is at once the fire of His wrath in which they are
imagines a vain thing, that sets itself and takes counsel being purged but by which they cannot be consumed in
against the Lord and His anointed, saying, Let us                      that they are His people. Thus it is a fire that He
break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords kindled and which He can and will also extinguish
from us. And this diabolical power as operative in when He says, `enough'.
the Egyptians has arranged itself against and enslaved~                      But the serpent opposes God! When Moses and
the people of Israel, God's heritage and attempts to                   Aaron go in and tell Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord God
wear it down by oppression. The Lord has now come of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast
down to deliver His people. And He will accomplish unto me in the wilderness, the serpent replieth, Who is
all that is in His heart, for the rod that Moses wields the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go?
becomes a serpent when cast upon the ground and turns                  T know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go. With
again into a rod in the hand of Moses.                                 a  view to furnishing Moses with a token of his de-
   There arises from this miraculous transaction a termination to retain his hold on the people whom he
most meaningful comforting and glorious speech. What litis enslaved, he increaseth their task, so that to all
may this speech be?                                                    appearance he hardens his heart, does as he wills, with
   As has already been shown, the rod of Moses is the the Lord standing by without being able to do anything
emblem of God's power. But the rod becomes a ser- about it. True Pharaoh finally goes down in defeat and
pent and the serpent turns into  a rod in Moses' hand.                 perishes but with a will unbent so that even in death
This certainly cannot signify that the sinister and he defies the Almighty. Can it be said,  with, the
slaving opposition is to be identified with the power of spectacle of his determined and unbroken resistence


                                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                   251
     ..-.---.-  ^ .._ ".." .._ .  _  _. .._ II _    ~..I ..-. I " ".. I~-----                 - . .._
     before  our eye, that he is  the. issue of God's  win,  :I         ingness. The sole reality is the rod, the  Ahnighty power
     rod in the hand of the Almighty, one who of himself is             it betokens; and this power is God. And He will swing
     nothing'! Surely, yes. Consider that he, the serpent,               His hand, holding the serpent, over Egypt and destroy
     hardens himself because the Almighty hardens him. through the serpent, the serpent. Thus as the instru-
     gives him up to sin through the wickedness of his own              ment of God, the opposition will work for its  own
     heart and thus sustains to his persistent rebellion .`1             doom.
     causal, active, progressive relation. Thus the serpent                 This came to pass. The Egyptian, as was said, war-
     by himself is clay in the hands of God, impotent, life- shipped the creature, said to the Nile, the frog, ,the
     less. ln God doth he live and move and have his being; beetle, the sow, the ox, the sun, the elements - ye :trt!
     out of the womb of providence doth he come forth.                  my gods, and thus worshipped devils.           Now the
          Yet, though hardened, Pharaoh is the subject of creatures by themselves are no devils. But they are
     his rebellion and behaves in a manner agreeing with this only as deified and worshipped by the Egyptian,  as
     his nature. ..4sk Pharaoh why he says `*no" to God and              forming the image in which he changed the glory of
     his anwer will not be: `God hardens me', but: `I hate the incorruptible God. And it is through his devils,
'    God and will to retain my hold upon His people'.                    through his very gods, that the Almighty will smite
          Thus the serpent, Pharaoh, Egypt, is by itself noth-           him, the Egyptian, in whom operates the power of
     ing.      Do not say therefore that the conflict now to             which the serpent in Moses' hand is the emblem. These
     begin will implicate God in a struggle with the serpent. gods  - the Nile, the frog, the very soil, the elements,
     A saying of this kind is infinitely more preposterous               the sun - will be made to turn against and destroy
     than the saying that a giant of a man must exert him- their own devotees. Pharaoh, worshipped as God, will
     self mightily would he lead a tot of a child, who has be the undoing of his people.
     strayed into the danger zone of its place of residence,                The first plague, the turning of the water into
     to a place of safety. Consider that the serpent by itself blood, illustrates this principle. As was said, the Nile
     is nothing, that its power is God's. Can God struggle under the divine name Osires, was the beneficent god of
     with the issue of His very own will, with a nothing?                Egypt, the representative of ail that was good. Evil,
     To s;~y so is as foolish as to say that a combat is pos-            however, also had its god, the deadly enemy of Osires
     sible between a  woodman  and the ax he handles.                    (the god Nile). The name that this enemy, Evil, bore
          But the transaction of the turning of the rod into             was Typhon. This hated god was the source of all
     a serpent and the turning of the serpent into a rod                 that was cruel, violent and wicked. The symbol of this
     has still another significance, terrible for the Egyp- abhorred being was blood. He himself  wLas  repye-
     tians. Moses and Aaron go in unto Pharaoh. Aaron sented as blood-red ; red oxen and even red-haired men
     casts down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his                               .
                                                                         were sacrificed to him with a view to appeasing his
     servants and again it becomes a serpent. This spectacle anger. Blood, as his symbol, rendered ail unclean who
     for the reasons given, should strike terror to the king's came near it. When the Lord, therefore, turned the
     heart and make him tremble. With the speech of this                 waters of the Nile, of the god Osires, into blood, He
     sign in his ears, he should resolve to do Moses' bidding. did two things: by converting the Nile into a pool of
     But he knows of no yielding. He denies the truth of death, He pitted the god beloved against his own wor-
     the message that comes to him through this sign. Re shippers and by rendering its waters unclean dis-
     sees in Moses but another magician with a skill for                 honored the religion of the land in one of its supremest
     working wonders that can easily be matched by that of expressions. And He at once made the Egyptians to
     his own sorcerers. So he calls them, the wise men, the see that the power to change Osires into a stream of
     sorcerers, the magicians of Egypt. And they also do                 death, was not Typhon's or Osires' but God's, that thus
     in like manner with their enchantments. Every mari                  Q,sires was vanity and that He, God; is the Lord. The
     casts down his rod. And they become serpents: but                   undeniable evidence of this is that the waters which
     lo ! Aaron's rod swallows up their rod. Let Pharaoh are in the river are turned into blood when smitten by
     ' take notice and consider and hearken  ! The serpent  de- the rod of the Lord. This Pharaoh must know. There-
     voures the serpent! It turns against self and destroys fore the Lord says to Moses, `Get thee unto Pharaoh in
     self. Such is the occurrence. And this occurrence con- the morning: lo, he goeth out unto the water; and thou
     tains in it a dreadful prediction for the king of what              shalt stand by the river's brink  igainst he come ; and
      God will do. He through the serpent as His agent  - the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take
     through Pharaoh, Egypt, Egypt's gods  - will destroy in thine hand. And thou shalt say unto him.. . . .
     the serpent. This is the threat. And this threat will Thus saith the Lord, In this thou shalt know that I am
      be repeated each time Moses will stretch out the rod the Lord: behold, I will smite with the rod that is in
      over the land of Egypt and call for the specified mine hand upon the waters which are in the river, and
      plague ; for the rod shuts in, so to say, the serpent  so          they shall be turned to blood. And the fish that is in
      that it, too, is being extended over the land. `Yet the            the river shall die, and the river shall stink; and the
      serpent is .not seen. It is not there. Its absence de-             `Egyptians shall loath to drink of the water of the
      notes that the power it symbolizes.by  itself is a noth-           river.."                                    G. M. 0.


                                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                                           257
_.-____  -.........I_.....................""-......"...I~ -         -_.___. .....__.__,_ "."....................." ..-................".........- ..". . .-...^^^ .-..........".-__111~.-    ..         -......".".-.^--
                                                                                                          in the name of God for their malicious cowardice that
                               An Open Letter                                                             induced them to do the very works of the devil. The
               To The Rev. Truman Seeker                                                                  result was that I soon `developed the habit, which I
                                                                                                          now  usually follow, to direct my attention to the end
                                 General Delivery, Holland,  Mich.                                        of whatever letter I receive first of all, in order to dis-
                                                                                                          cover whether or no it is properly signed in the writer's
            My dear %alse-name  :-                                                                        own handwriting. And if I discover that such personal
      More than I can express to you do I regret it that signature is wanting, I conclude that I have to do with
 I read your letter and that sheer decency, therefore, a person who is not worthy of further attention; and
 demands of me that I answer it.                                                                          the epistle is promptly t,orn and burned. And I take
      Strange you will probably consider it, that I should this occasion to inform all such cowards that their
 regret to have read your letter, upon which you, evi-                                                    efforts  are vain, and that their calumnies do not reach
 dently, bestowed so much of your precious time and                                                       my consciousness.
 talent. When a reverend composes an epistle more                                                                 I confess, however, that your letter deceived me.
 than three typewritten pages long and closely typed,                                                     I did, indeed, according to my custom, first of all glance
 containing a mixture of theology and calumniation,                                                       at the signature, but did not perceive at once that  you
 ably concocted and written in good English, one ought, had not signed your real name to the epistle but had
 forsooth, to consider that he performed a good day's                                                     retreated under ,cover  of a pseudonym. This explains
 work and to receive the finished product with a meas-                                                    how it came about, that I read your epistle, contrary to
 ure of respect sufficient, at least, to induce him to read                                               my tied custom ; and it will also be clear to you now
 such a carefully belabored composition without regret.                                                   why I deeply regret having read it.
 Yea, rather ought he to feel  .flattered  that no one less                                                       And now, my dear masked reverend Pseudonomen,
 than a reverend considers him worthy of so much seeing you left a general address, so that I may have
 honor as to devote so serious attention to him per-                                                      the satisfaction of knowing that this reply will reach
 sonally. If, therefore, you, my dear reverend  False-                                                    you, I decided to answer your epistle and considered it
 name, should be inclined to feel hurt because of my                                                      best to do so publicly. And my answer shall be very
 statement, that  I deeply regret to have read your brief.
 epistle to me, let me at once appease your wrath by                                                              First of all, I hereby inform you that I refuse to
assuring you that this feeling of mine does in no way discuss the contents of your epistle as long as you de-
 reflect upon the contents of your composition. Mate- cline to show your face. Allow me to print your letter
 rially, I think, the epistle is entirely worthy of you.                                                  in the Standard Bearer, signed by. your full name and
 And I frankly express it as my opinion that many have correct address, and I promise, that I will publicly
 earned, or, at least, have received a doctor's title in                                                  reply to your slanderous lies, as well as to your theo-
 reward of theological ruminations that must be re- logical arguments. You may make up your mind on
 garded as far inferior, both as to content and form, to this one fact, that whatever we speak or write, we
 yours.                                                                                                   always work in the open and have never been ashamed
      M_y regret came, dear Rev. Pseudo-nomen,  when I to sign our name or show our face. And you also may
 had finished reading your letter and eagerly turned to                                                   have the privilege of merciless publicity, if you but
 obtain a good look at your face, to'look you in the eye, leave your ambush.
 man to man ; to discover who had bestowed so much                                                                Secondly, allow me to rebuke you openly. Your
 honor upon me as to write to me personally, that I tactics are unethical and, therefore, unchristian. If
 might offer him my thanks in person.                                         For, then, you wish to attack Rev. H. J. Kuiper and Dr. C.. Bou-
 worthy reverend, I discovered that you had put on a ma; who, f surmise, are brethren with you in the same
 mask, that you were under cover and had hid yourself.                                                    denomination, it seems to me that you have ample op-
       This, my worthy reverend False-nomen,  I discov-                                                    portunity to do so in  The Banner.                                                 I f   T h e   Btmxm
 ered too late. For, had I discovered this fact before I should refuse, The Standard Bearer is always open to
 perused your epistle, your letter would have been torn friend and foe. But it is positively unworthy of any
 into shreds before I had even read one word of it.                                                        Christian, not to speak of one who would be called 3
       This, to leave such personal letters, written by                                                    reverend,  to attack these brethren of yours over a
 masked pseudonomina and undiscoverable anomina,                                                           pseudonym and without their knowledge. You sign
 unread, to cast them from me as I would a viper, has yourself Rev. Tru-man-seeker. But, judging by your
 been my custom for some time.                                                                            tactics, you are neither true, nor a man  ; nor can you be
       You must know, that in recent years I have had                                                      considered a seeker. For the truth is not sought in
 considerable experience of this kind. Miserable co- secret, but in the open and it sureIy speaks no evil.
 wards and hypocrites would prepare their fiery darts,                                                            Finally, you are now ethically obliged to throw off
 dip their points in a poisonous concoction of caIumny                                                    your mask and leave your ambush, not only because  I
 and slander, then lay in ambush and shoot them at me,                                                     have a right to see your face, but also for another
without giving me an opportunity even to rebuke them reason. One cannot help always to suspect certain  per-


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      258                                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
      _.... -_-_-.....  .._ - ..__- _----". - .- "- --" -..---.-.......  -..--.-^-.--
      sons of being the possible authors of anonymous or
      pseudonomynous letters. In this case I happen to have                                De Nederlandsche Geloofsbelijdenis
      a very strong suspicion as to your identity. It seems                                                       Artikel 29
      to me that I can look right through your mask. I used
      to know a person not so very long ago, of  -whom  I                                  RET  ONDERSCHEID EN HET  MERKTEEKEN  v.4~  DE
      could expect just such cowardly operations in the dark.                                            WAEE  EN  VALSCHE  KERK
      But it stands to reason that my suspicions may be alto-
      gether wrong. And you are morally obliged to remove                                     Wij gelooven dat wij  we1 naarstiglijk en met goede
      these suspicions, If, then, you are Mr. True, reveal                                  voorzichtigheid, uit den Woorde Gods, behooren te on-
                                                                                            derscheiden, welke de ware Kerk zij; aangezien dat alle
      your name. If you are Mr. Man allow me to publish                                     sekten, die heden  ten dage in de wereld zijn,  zich met
      your letter over your own name. If you are a Chris                                    den naam der Kerk bedekken. Wij spreken hier niet
      tian repent of your tactics  aud apologize.                                           van het gezelschap der hypocrieten, welke in de Kerk
             I assure you, that all further correspondence with                             onder de goeden  vermengd zijn, en intusschen van de
      me on your part will be fruitless, unless you reveal                                  Kerk  met  zijn, hoewel zij naar het lichaam in haar
     your name. Your letters will immediately be destroyed                                  zijn; maar wij zeggen, dat men het lichaam en de ge-
                                                                                            meenschap der ware Kerk onderscheiden zal van alle
      without .being  read.                                                                 sekten, welke zeggen dat zij de Kerk zijn. De merk-
                         Yours for merciless publicity,                                     teekenen, om de ware Kerk te kennen, zijn deze: zoo
                                                                                            de Kerk de reine predikatie des Evangelies oefent; in-
                                                                  H. Hoeksema               dien zij gebruikt de reine bediening der Sacramenten,
                                                                                            gelijk ze  Christus  ingesteld heeft; zoo de kerkelijke
                                                                                            tucht  gebruikt wordt, om de zonden te straffen. Korte-
                                                                                            lijk, zoo men  zich aanstelt naar het zuivere Woord
                                                                                            Gods, verwerpende alle dingen  die daar tegen zijn, hou-
                  READY TO FOLLOW THE MASTER                                                dende  Jezus   Christus  voor het eenige Hoofd. Hierdoor
                                                                                            kan men zekerlijk de ware Kerk kennen, en het komt
                        Jesus, Thou art my Redeemer,                                        niemand toe, zich daarvan te scheiden. En aangaande
                            All in all Thou art to me ;                                     degenen die van de Kerk zijn, die kan men kennen uit
                                                                                            de merkteekenen der Christenen; te weten uit het ge-
                        Thou didst suffer death to save me,                                 loof, en wanneer zij, aangenomen hebbende den Eenigen
                            Yet, what have I done for Thee?                                 Zaligmaker Jezus  Christus, de zonde vlieden en de ge-
                                                                                             rechtigheid najagen, den waren God en hunne naasten
                        What would now be my condition                                      liefhebben, niet afwijken,  noch ter rechter-,  noch  ter
                            Had there been no Calvary?                                      linkerhand, en hun vleesch kruisigen met zijne werken.
                                                                                             *4lzoo  nochtans niet, alsof er nog geen groote zwakheid
                        0 how marvelous Thy goodness,                                       in hen zij; maar zij strijden daartegen door den Geest
                            Yet, what have I done for Thee?                                 alle de dagen huns levens, nemende gestadiglijk hunne
                                                                                             toevlucht tot het bloed, den dood, het lijden en de ge-
                        Thou hast borne my heavy burden,                                    hoorzaamheid des Heeren  Jezus,  in denwelken zij  verge-
                            Pour'ed out blessings full and free;                             ving hunner zonden hebben, door het geloof in Hem.
                                                                                             Aangaande de valsche kerk, die schrijft  zich en hare
                        Day by day in love hath kept me,                                     ordinantien  meer macht  en autoriteit toe dan den Woor-
                            Yet, what have I done for Thee?                                 de Gods, en wil  zich  aan het juk van Christu~~niet   on-
                                                                                            derwerpen; zij bedient de Sacramenten niet, gelijk
                        Lord, I'll take Thy yoke upon me,                                   Christus  in zijn Woord verordend heeft, maar zij doet
                            I will daily follow Thee                                        daar af en toe, gelijk als het haar goeddunkt; zij grondt
                                                                                          ' zich meer op de menschen, dan op Christus; zij  vervolgt
                        Till in heaven I shall praise Thee                                  degenen die heilig leven naar het Woord Gods en die
                            For what Thou hast done for me.                                 haar bestraffen over hare gebreken, gierigheid en af-
                                                                                            goderijen. Deze twee kerken zijn lichtelijk te kennen
                 I am ready to take up my cross for Thee ;                                  en van malkanderen te onderscheiden.
                 I am ready to count all but loss for Thee;                                 Het is zeer duidelijk dat onze geloofsbelijdenis, na
                 I am ready to go where Thou sendest me,                                 te hebben beleden dat elk kind Gods schuldig is, zich
                 I am ready, dear Lord, to follow Thee.                                  te voegen bij de ware kerk, III!I een artikel wijdt aan ac
                                                                                         vraag: hoe kan het kind Gods weten welke de ware
                                                                                         kerk is, aangezien er vele kerken en groepen en sekten
                                                                                         zijn, die zich we1 noemen met den naam kerk, maar
                 Thy thoughts are good, and Thou art kind,                               die in het wezen der zaak geen kerk zijn ? En het ant-
                     E'en when we think it not;                                          woord op die vraag vindt men nu in dit artikel, waar
                 How many an anxious, faithless mind                                     gezegd wordt dat elk geloovige naarstig en voorzichtig
                    Sits grieving o'er its lot,                                          behoort  te onderscheiden  &t Gods  T/Voord,  welke de
                 And frets, and pines by day and night,                                  ware kerk zij. Onmiddellijk  voelt de lezer van dit  ar-
                 As God had lost it out of sight,                                        tikel, dat de overdenking van de voorgenoemde vraag
                     And all its wants forgot.                                           uit een ander beginsel geschiedt dan `t beginsel van de


2w                                                        T H E   STANDAKD   BEXI1E.R
----..- ".    ._ ..." .__ .._^...__   ~._"_ll_ . .  .._....._.....-.......___..........   -  ..-_ .__- ".~"I___  ..-_. "-.."."" . . ..- ^___-.~-----.__--  ._._...- -..........--...  .".-"-
sleutel  van het koninkrijk der hemelen, naar de belij-                                        dc kwaden, en verder,  dat de valsche kerk niet kan ver-
denis van den Catechismus, in Zondagsafd. 81.  :[m-                                            dragen  de bestraffing over hare zonden. Daarom is en
mers  zd de zuivere prediking van Gods Woord de  oot-                                          blijft het aitijd weer regel in de geschiedenis der kerk,
moedige zondaar bekeeren en znligen, maar zal ook dat eerst op het I/&uigc-n volgt het antwoord wrvol-
meteen  buiten sluiten de verharde, die in zijne zonden {Ron, om zich ten slotte te openbaren als scheiden. Op-
sterft. Nauw dus aan dat eerste kenmerk der ware dat altijd weer de ware van de vxlsche kerk moge wor-
kerk verbonden, staat het tweede kenmerk, namelijk, den gekend. En deze scheiding zal doorgaan tot bet
bet gebruik van de  "reine  bediening der Sacramenten einde opdat  straks het volk van Gods keuze geheel ovei
zooals  Christus  ze heeft ingesteld." Dit houdt natuur-                                       alle rivaling zai zegevieren, en mag staan in de onver-
lijk in het Sacrament des Heiiigen  Doops, gedaan in ;tnderlijke  wnayheid  van God die de Onveranderlijke  is.
den naam van den  DrieEenigen  God, om daarmee  aan                                                                                                                L.  Vermeel
te duiden hoe God zijn kind doet ondergaan in  bet
bvater en weder opstaan tot nieuwigheid des levens.
En ten tweede het Sacrament des Avondmaals  als een
gedachtenis van Christus' dood in de teekenen van Zijn                                                          Discovered, A Great Mind
gebroken  vleesch en vergoten bloed tot verzoening van                                               It turned up:, this mind, on our very doorstep. It
al onze zonden. En dan het derde kenmerk, namelijk, has been there for some time. We knew it was there,
het gebruiken van de kerkelijke tucht om de zonden te yet we were unaware of its greatness. But this mind
stratien.  De kerk die de tucht tot straffing der zonde spoke. It said, `Hold ! Attention ! I am a great mind !'
niet handhaaft, heeft geen kennis van de gerechtigheid Then, for the first time, we realized our danger. Our
van Christus; eene gerechtigheid waarin  bet goede sense of danger, however, was not unmixed with a keen
wordt beloond en het kwade wordt gestraft.  "Hier-                                             sense of delight. For a long time we had been looking
door kan men zekerlijk de ware kerk kennen en  staat for exactly this kind of a mind. We had heard in the
niemand toe  zich daarvan te scheiden."                                                        past so much about these minds, things believable and
      Hierbij worden  ook nog genoemd drie kenmerken unbelievable, that our curiosity was thoroughly
van den geloovige, die  zich aansluit bij die ware kerk. aroused. So we resolved to try and locate somewhere
En dat driegrlei  kenmerk is allereerst te weten uit hct a good specimen and study it at close range with a
&oof, een geloof dat  zich openbaart beide in het  mid-                                        view to gaining some first-hand knowledge as to the
den der gemeente door de belijdenis zoowel  als in bet                                          behaviour and capabilities of a great mind. But here
midden der wereld door een getuigenis van het Ii&t                                              was our difficulty. Were we capable of recognizing
tegenover de duisternis; ten tweede, de  gerechtigheid                                         greatness when encountering it? What if, after many
rK&cyen,  hetwelk imniers ziet op den wandel dier ge- solid hours, perhaps days, of intensive application, we
loovigen, daar ze de zonden vlieden, en in een nieuw should discover that what we had under observation
godzalig leven  wandelen. En een derde kenmerk der was not a great mind at all but a small mind? What a
ware geloovigen is dat ze groote zwakheden in hen waste of time that would be I So we thought it best to
vinden, "w.aav   zij  strijden  d~mzrtegen  door den  Gtxst look away from the contemplated venture. But what
cd  de  dagen  hum  levens,  nemende  gestadig  hunne toe- happened? A great mind has literally thrust itself
T.l,zLcht  tot  bet  bleed,. den  dond,   bet  lijden   w de  gehoor-                           upon us, that is, if we can believe what this mind has
xuamheid   `~`un  Christus,  i n  u&ken   zij  ,vcrgeving  dcr said about itself. And  I think we can. A man cer-
ronden  hebben door het  geloof  in Hem.                                                        tainly ought to know his own mind. If he doesn't, who
      Nog duidelijker worden  de kenmerken der ware ge-                                         does? A man wouldn't say of his mind, `It is great'
Ioovigen en der ware kerk als we daartegenover plaal-                                           unless he were certain. So we, all unexpectedly, have
sen de kenmerken der  valsche  kerk, die ten  slotte ook come into the possession of what we take to be a fine
in dit nrtikel  worden  genoemd. Ook de valsche kerk specimen and can therefore now proceed with some
heeft drie  kenmerken,  die de  preciese antithese zijn confidence that we truly deal with greatness.
van de drie kenmerken der ware kerk. Het eerste ken-                                                 Let me first say who the owner of this mind, this
merk, dat zich bezig houdt met het woord, is de ver- great mind, is. The proud owner of this mind is no
heffing van eigen, menschelijk woord en de verachting                                           one less than our brother the Rev. H. J. Kuiper. Who
van Gods Woord. Verder, inplaats van zich te gron-                                              would have thought that Henry is to be classified with
den op het volkomen offer van Christus' gebroken the great! But, verily, in this class he belongs. -4c-
lichaam  en vergoten bloed, grondt "zij  zich meer 6p de cording to his very own appraisal of that mind of his,
                                                                                                          ,-
menschen." En ten slotte met betrekking tot de tucht, it is great. As was said, a man ought to know his own
is het kenmerk der valsche  kerk, niet dat ze geen straf                                        mind. But did he say this of his mind? He did. At-
of tucht uitoefent, maar zij oefent deze  straf  uit op                                         tend to the following reasoning of his in an editorial
"degenen die heilig leven naar het Woord Gods en die contained in Tfte Banner  of Feb. 9: "There is no con-
haar bestraffen  over hare gebreken,  gierigheid  en afgo-                                      Iiict between the doctrine of the antithesis and that
derijen."        De valsche kerk kunt ge dus daaraan ken-                                       of common grace. Both are clearly taught in Scrip-
nen, ten derde, dat ze bestraft  de goeden  inpjaats van                                        ture. Small minds can encompass only one of  th_e


truths. Great minds like Dr. A. Kuyper envisage and           less depravity and the  Ileformed  doctrine of total de-
clevelop  both."' So then, the earmark of greatness  ac-      pravity represent identical modes of thought, that the
vortling  to H. J. Kuiper, is the ability to envisage both    deniers of common grace, who maintain that man, the
(the doctrine of the antithesis and that of common world, is totally depraved and is thus incapable of
g-ace). Whereas H. J. Kuiper's mind also is endowed           works that are truly good unless he be regenerated
with this ability, it follows that, according to the stand- by the Spirit of God, are therefore Anabaptists. Now
ard of greatness he sets up, his mind, too, is great. If it is a matter of common knowledge that there is an
the aforesaid capability is the earmark of greatness,         essential difference between the  anabaptistic  doctrine
we  are living in an era of great minds. E'lease,  breth- of hopeless depravity (hopeless in the sense that nature
ren, let us appreciate our age.                               cannot be redeemed and is therefore destroyed) and
   TJ. J. Kuiper's mind is great. Let us ascertain how the Reformed  do&sine  of total depravity. Kuiper
this mind for some years now has been behaving.               should know that he here attacked Reformed doctrine.
Wrote Kuiper : "Denial of common grace is Anabap-             Doesn't the reverend know these things? How should
tism . . . " This is not the first time that the reverend     I know? But if he doesn't know, this would, of course,
brands us Anabaptists. He did this before. And he             not necessarily detract any from the greatness of his
then reinforced his charge by a brief reasoning, that         mind, for the simple reason that great minds bzannot
represents at least an attempt to prove the charge. In be expected to know ez;eryt/&ng.
his article that contains his appraisal of that mind of          (2)       Kuiper stated, by implication, that our (Re-
his, he simply accuses and thus makes not the slightest       formed) doctrine of the total depravity of man, yields
attempt at proving anything. Would we therefore have the erroneous principle of world-flight. Let us see if
knowledge of the mental processes of the -reverend's          this is true. Consider that the proposition to the effect
great mind, we should turn to that ,article  of his in        that the world is totally depraved constitutes but a
which he reasons with us. For in this reasoning, these minor premise. According to the stern and inflexible
processes are naturally reflected. And in these pro- laws of lo,gic,  no conclusion can be drawn from a lone
cesses we are now especially interested for the reason minor premise. But what tells us that the above-cited
that we are curious to know something about the inner proposition is a minor? The article the which is
workings of  a great mind. We quote Kuiper  (The              definite and therefore signifies a certain world. Let
L:csmer, July 19, 1929) : "The typical fundamentalist is it be known, now, that only a major and minor premise
an Anabaptist in his attitude toward the world. He            yields a conclusion. Let us now supply the major
is over-spiritual in his conception of the Christian life premise, that, together with the above-cited minor
and task, believing that our only obligation toward the       premise, would yield the conclusion that the world
world is to save sinners out of it by witnessing for          must be forsaken, and cast the whole in the frame-
Christ.    A recent issue of a *Fundamentalist organ          work of the syllogism.
made this statement explicitly and blundly declared              Major premise: Any world totally or absolutely
that since the world is hopelessly corrupt anyway the depraved must be forsaken.
Christian who tries to exert a good influence in politics        Minor premise: The world (our world) is totally
is wasting his strength. Leaving it to the dead to bury corrupt.
the dead he should spend all his spare time in saving            Conclusion : The world must be forsaken.
sinners out of the world. This is the Anabaptist prin-           Now I invite the great mind, we now study, to point
ciple of `World-flight' pure and simple. It is the result to a single written statement of ours asserting that a
on the one hand of the denia1 of common grace and on          totally corrupt world must be forsaken. There is no
the other hand of the denial of the kingship of Christ.       such statement from us. The proposition (that a totally
If it be true that the Holy Spirit does not operate in        corrupt worId must be forsaken) has no place in our
*he ungodly to restrain them from sin and to enable entire thought-structure. True, we do insist upon a
them to do things which are outwardly and morally spiritual-ethical separation. But so does brother  Kui-
good, and if it be true that Satan, not Christ. is the        per. Let me quote from his article (appearing in  The
ruler of the world, the Christian has no other calling as Banner of Feb. 9) : "Antithesis means contrast. The
regards the world than to save sinners out of it." So antithesis we have in mind is the spiritual separation
far Kuiper.                                                   between the church and the world. There is a deep
    This bit of reasoning is a product of Kuiper's mind,      spiritual cleavage between-the people of God and the
a picture of the mental processes of that mind. -4nd          people of the world which should not and cannot be
this picture shows up that mind as running about in           bridged."      This is stating it as clearly, soundly and
a state of frenzy, attacking ail who come in the way,         emphatically as anybody could. Here Kuiper and we
as a mind that in its excitement is altogether incapable stand on a common floor.
of straight thinking and that takes no accounts of               Now  whereas?  from a minor premise no conclusion
plain facts. Let us once again show this.                     (*an be drawn, and whereas the conception contained in
    (1) To begin with, this mind, Kuiper, declared the supplied major premise is not ours, it follows that
hy implication that the Anabaptistic doctrine of  hope- nobody has the moral right to refer to our doctrine  as


/
      262                                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   ZtE~RER
      ,"" .._. ""-_ . ..~-.- ._^ .-. ,"." .~ ,~~~z-T-zz~~-....  ^ ..___ ..--.rzL.. ...____  --...-.--..-...           ._. II_ -.._ _-" ..___...............-  ~ _.. .,.....   _ _
      Anabaptistic and to us as Anabaptists. Kuiper, it is knows this. Why then repeat the old charge? Why?
      plain, slipped in his logic, apparently forgot for the Let Kuiper say.
      moment had the syllogism is a structure comprised of                                            We made the remark that Kuiper slipped in his
      and major and a minor premise and a conclusion, that                                       logic twice in the same identical way.
      a minor premise by itself yields no conclusion. How                                             By again associating us with the Anabaptists, Kui-
      could he forget such a thing considering that  t,he err01 per tells his readers that, to be consistent, we should
      occurs in an editorial in which he assails persons. Eut                                    confine ourselves (in the Anabaptistic sense) to `ihe
      let no one think that errors of this character need over-                                  one task of saving sinners out of the world. The
      turn Kuiper's appraisal of his own mind. It may well premises which he imagines yield this conclusion:
      be that great minds are prone to just such slips. Who                                       (1) The world is totally corrupt. (2) The world cnn-
      knows.                                                                                     not be influenced to the good. Both these propositions
             But what is most strange is that, though in  a                                      we a%rm,  providing the term world be taken as the
      writing appearing in the Standard Bearer  wf notified signification of the world lying in sin.                                                            But these
      Kuiper of hiserror,  he never retracted, the charge and                                    propositions, being minor premises, yield no conclu-
      tendered us his apology. Nay worse, in an editorial sion. Another slip in logic identical to the first two.
     , appearing in a recent issue of TRc Emnw,  he even re-                                           Kuiper informed his readers in that article of 1929
      peats the charge without furnishing the slightest proof. that bnly in the event Christ does .not reign in the
      What must we think of this? I don't know. Perhaps                                          world can he save sinners out of it. Read again `ihe
      we have to do here with a kind of behavior character- following with care : "If it be true that not Christ is
      istic of a great mind. Who knows. But what makes the ruler .of the world, the Christian ha+s no other call-
      matters worse is that in a most recent writing, I ing as reghrds  the world than to save sinners out of it,"
      clearly set forth the Anabaptistic position and con-                                        In other words, if it be true that Christ is not the ruler
      clusively proved that our (Reformed) life and world of the world, that is, hath not all power on earth, the
      view has absolutely nothing in common with that of Christian has but one calling, namely, that of saving
      the Anabaptist. Kuiper, without a doubt, read this sinners out of the world. So then in performing the
      article of mine. I feel certain that it inspired his recent task of saving sinners out of the world, the sinner can
      attack. Strange ! Strange ! Perhaps we should take do without a Christ who hath all power.
       in consideration that in Kuiper we have to do with n.                                           I could easily show that not we but that Kuiper and
      great mind and that the baffling treatment he affords his associates are the people contaminated with the
       us is to be regarded as one of the eccentricities of n contagion of Anabaptism.                                                  Consider that the  Ana-
       great mind.                                                                                baptist places the one supreme task of saving sinners
             Kuiper wrote in that article of 1929: "It is true                                    out of the world in juxtaposition with the earthy, with
       that the Holy Spirit does not operate in the ungodly the complex of tasks  that comprise the earthy. In a
       to restrain them from sin and to enable them to do word, the Anabaptist has a dualisti.  So, too, Kuiper
       things which are outwardly and morally good . . . .                                        and his associates. For they, too, draw a line between
       the Christian has no other calling as regards the world that "one supreme task,' (the task of drawing sinners
       than to save sinners out of it."                                                           out of the world) and that other complex of duties in
             Here again Kuiper slips in his logic in a  mannel                                    which the earthy involves one. Fact is that the "6ne
       identical to the slip above mentioned. He draws a con- supreme task" and the "earthy" are one. It means that
       clusion from a lone minor premise, which, as was said, the believer seeks through the earthy the heavenly,
       may not be done. The major premise to be supplied converts the earthy, in as far as he occupies it, into a
       here is: Any world totally corrupt involves the Chris- house of God, radiating the glories of the heavenly.
       tian in but one task, the task namely, of saving sinners This conception was fully worked out in my previous
       out of it. Minor premise: This world is totally cor- writing on "True Other-worldliness."
       rupt. Conclusion: It, therefore, involves the Christian                                        Kuiper and his friends, in common with Anabaptists,
       iti but one task, the task above mentioned. Again we have a dualism. They also in common with the Ana-
       invite Kuiper to point to a single statement from our baptist, deny the total depravity of man. Wrote Ba-
       pen or lips asserting that we are addicted to the view vinck : "Het Pelagianisme werd door de Christelijke
       that in this Anabaptistic sense, the sole task of the kerk veroordeeld.                                           Van den beginne  aan namen de
       Christian is to save sinners out of this world. The kerkvaders een zeker  verband aan tusschen Adams
       saving of sinners out of the world is indeed the zonde en die van zijn geslacht. Al werd dit verband
       supreme task. But the Anabaptistic conception of this nog niet ingedacht, Adams overtreding bracht  tech een
       task is wrong. The latter places this task in juxtaposi- groote zedelijke verandering teweeg bij hemzelf en bij
       tion with the earthy and the complex of duties belong- a1 zijne nakomelingen. De aard dier zedelijke veran-
       ing to the earthy, and thus depises all but the one task.                                  dering werd  echter  zeer verschillend opgevat. Volgens
       The right conception is that the earthy is the candle- het semi-pelagianisme bestonden de gevolgen van
       stick upon which we set our light. This right concep-                                       Adams val voor hem en voor zijne nakomelingen be-
       tion is ours  as well as Kuiper's. What is more. he halve in den dood, vooral in verzwakking der zedelijke


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             268

kracht  . . . . door Adams val is de mensch zedelijk this theory maintains that the child of darkness, the
h-rank geworden; zijn wil is verzwakt en ten kwade man devoid of the life of regeneration is a child of
geneigd; er is een strijd in hem ontstaan tusschen light, that the earthy house he inhabits is a house of
vleesch en geest, die het onmogelijk maakt dat de God, that therefore the child of light may be friends
mensch zonder zonde leeft, maar hij kan  tech ook het             with him and live in his house." The truth of the
goede  willen, en als hij dit wil komt de genade in het           matter than is this: According to the doctrine of `ihe
volbrengen hem ter hulp. Gcheel in overcenstemming                antithesis some  mm are  light  und some men are  clark-
~U&WLC~P   ,is  bet  gevoslen van de  Anabaptistcn  . . . .  "    ness. According to the theory of common grace  cr,ll
(Bavinck, Dog., Dee1 III, p. 77).                                 men are  bight. What we h?ve to do with here is two
    The foregoing is a plain denial of the doctrine of contrary propositions. Let Kuiper now show that
total depravity. Fact is then that not the doctrine of there is no conflict between them. In other words, let
total depravity but that of common grace is seen to be him harmonize the two for us. Herewith we have de-
in line with Anabapistic philosophy.                              fined for the brother his task. But let him not&y to
    Now these lapses of Kuiper's memory and ail these perform it. Let him publicly admit that it cannot be
his slips in logic, do not necessarily prove that Kuiper's done, that the proposition:  ccl1 men  are light (common
mind is not great. But it seems to me that he ought grace) shall therefore have to be branded a lie and
to furnish~ us with some evidence of the greatness of be cast on the dunghill. Publicly admitting this, he
that mind of his. Let him do what no exponent of will show himself up as being truly great.
common grace has thus far been able to do  - let him                                                      G .   M .   0 .
for the benefit of the smaller minds, harmonize the doc-
trines of common grace and of the absolute antithesis.
Kuiper believes in both. Wrote he: "There is a deep
spiritual cleavage between the people of God and the
people of the world which should not and cannot be                           League Meeting Again
bridged . . .      The  whoIe  history of revelation is  a           This time at the Roosevelt Park Protestant Re-
process of the development and intensification of the             formed Church on Feb. 15. There was a very fine
antithesis.      From a spiritual viewpoint, history is attendance, consisting this time not only of men but
nothing but a ceaseless struggle between the kingdom also of women. Due to the fact that we had no "social
of God and the kingdom of Satan . . . When our Lord hour" or roll call, we could not ascertain how many
came, the line of demarcation between the party of ditierent  Men's Societies were represented, nor how
God and that of the devil was not erased. On the con- !I-ell they were represented . . but it seems they were
trary, the cleavage was made deeper and wider . . . .             well represented there. The, meeting was opened by
According to our Lord's declaration, he came to cast              the chairman, after having read a portion of Scripture,
fire on the earth. He added  the solemn words: `Think and the audience having sung two numbers from the
ye that I am come to give peace in the earth? I tell              Psalter. Then Mr. Ryskamp favored us with a pipe-
you, nay; but rather division: for there shall be from organ selection. Rev. B. Kok was the speaker for the
henceforth five in one house divided . . . Christ came            evening, and he spoke to us on "TheComing  Christ.?
to bring peace, to heal the breach that sin hath made.            We shall try to give you a short review. It was given
But Christ did not come to restore the breach which to us  in the English language and, contrary to custom
God himself had made between the forces of truth and Ferhaps, me shall give a report on it, also in the Eng-
falsehood. That division was the fruit of grace, not of lish language. By way of introduction to his inspira-
sin ; when that grace was multiplied, the division be- tional and instructive address the Rev. Kok, in his
came sharper and sharper, deeper, wider. Christ not usual energetic and dynamic manner, made plain that
only made the antithesis more pronounced where it the subject of the "Coming Christ" was one in which
already existed, but he also made it world wide  <Fhen            not only the Old Testament church, but also that of
he caused the gospel to be preached to the ends of the            the New Testament was keenly interested, and that
earth . . .  " How this brother can preach  -.- the f:om the dawn of history, yes, from the very time that
antithesis. How truly great he would become, if he the promise of Gen.  3:15 had been given, the Church
would only return wholeheartedly to the truth! What of God was lobking forward for the coming of the Re-
a power in the pulpit he would be ! This is no sarcasm.           deemer. To be deplored, the speaker said, that with
I mean it.                                                        many this expectation degenerated into a carnal and
    But now attend to this from his pen: "There is no             earthly one, as was the case with the natural Jews, and
conflict between the doctrines of common grace and                as is the case with many today. The true Church never-
that of the antithesis.      Both are clearly taught in theless looked for a heavenly kingdom and thus re-
Scripture."      Let him then show that there is no i!on-         mained interested in the coming of Christ as Scripture
flict. Let him prove this last statement.                         gives it  us. In passing the Rev. held before us the
    Jn a former article I wrote: "The triumph of corn- three views relative his subject, t.he view of the Pre-
mon grace spells the destruction of the antithesis; for millennialists, of the Post-millennialists and that of the


",(-$i                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
-.-
_"__".."  ..-.--   -  ..--- ".-.--  _.__ ^                                          ___-........   -__ -.---..ll.ll.l_"  _.....-.._-...._" l.l.
A-millennialists . . . and he then went on to his sub- through the line of the covenant. The church sees Him
ject proper. Unfolded it along two lines, in the first coming all the time. Finally He comes in Bethlehem.
point he spoke of the wrong conceptions relative the             Then comes the eclipse, Calvary. But just before He
subject and in the second point the Scriptural presenta- goes to heaven, having conquered over death and the
tion of the subject. In the treatment of the first point grave, He says "Henceforth ye shall see the Son of
he presented, characterized and refuted the views of Man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in
both the Pre's and the Post's. The Post-millenial view the clouds of heaven". Having been raised into glory
maintains that the kingdom will be gradually inaugu- He received all power in heaven and on earth, and He
rated, through culture, refinement, education, League uses that power to realize the counsel of God. And the
of Nations, Federation of churches, etc., but chiefly exercise of that power brings forth the signs of His
through the gospel and the efforts of Christ, the church coming. All things are really signs therefore of His
will more and more prosper until finally all the nations coming, but certain signs are more emphatic, such  `as
of  the,earth  shall love God and there will be peace on various historical events, wars and rumors of wars,
earth. This is not only an empty dream, but contrary etc., and they become more emphatic and pronounced
to Scripture, the speaker said, for Scripture presents as the Christ draws near. Such the speaker showed, is
us a development of sin and a final culmination of sin also the teaching of the book of Revelation. Thus there
in the Antichrist. Besides that this view is exceedingly is a gradual return, but there will also be S final re-
dangerous, it is so attractive, so appealing . . . . but turn. It will be visible (not secret as is supposed to
it is essentially modernistic for it seeks the kingdom be the case in the Rapture), every eye shall see Him,
in external things and ultimately leads us to become every ear hear His voice.  It will be unexpected. It
worldly- and earthly-minded. The Rev. next gave the will be glorious for we shall then eternally be with
Pre-view a like treatment. He explained that the great Him, and that with all the saints. Through faith we
attraction of the Pre-view is that it teaches that we            lay hold on this and draw comfort from it. In the
shall escape the "great tribulation," but showed also meantime, while we wait, and we know not exactly
that this is contrary to Scripture which says "on earth how long we shall have to wait, we are urged to watch
ye shall have tribulations." The Pre-millennial breth- and pray, to walk circumspectly, until, finally, through
ren speak of three comings. The first is the Rapture (a grace we shall have a new heaven and a new earth, for
sudden, mysterious, unknown-to-Scripture coming). the Judge Who shall judge us, is the Christ who Ioved
After three and one-half years of Rapture (being with us until death.
Christ in the air) comes the second coming in what is               A few inore musical selections. Rev. De Jong from
generally known as the Millennium,, After that thou- Hudsonville closed with prayer.
sand years the Devil again goes about to deceive, but in            A  fine evening. The subject was very fitting and
the midst of that great pandaemonium comes the third well rendered, of comfort to all who expect the Christ.
eo&ing,  the destruction of Satan and his followers, and Let us have more such-evenings.
the final glorification of  tee redeemed. The Pre's also            May I add a personal note? 1 missed the "social
speak of three resurrections. The first with the Rap- hour". We ought to have an opportunity to  `me&  one
ture, the second at the end of the three and one-half another. In all events we are glad the League is again
years, the last (u-hen the wicked are raised too) when in existence, may it be of service in the cause dear to
the end comes. This whole view the speaker refuted               all of us.
by proving to us that the two texts which they always                                                                  M. Gritters
use as key- and foundation-texts for their entire view,
the one being I Thess. 4 :14-X3, the other Rev. 20 :4, 5,
not only do not teach what the Pre's would have it                  We complain of the slow, dull life we are forced to
teach, but indeed refute it. The speaker fdrther  made lead, of our humble sphere of action, of pur low posi-
plain that there is but one coming of Christ, and that           tion in the scale of society, of our having no room to
there is but one resurrection, that is, the whole group make ourselves known, of our wasted energies, of our
`of mankind shall be raised together and at the same             years of patience. So do we say that we have no
time. The first and second resurrections spoken of in            Father who is directing our life; so do we say that
Rev. 20 refer not to groups, but to two stages of glori- God has forgotten us; so do we boldly judge what life
fication of the saints. Finally the Pre-view is a dan-           is best for us; and so by our complaining do we lose
gerous one, it chops up the work of Christ and conse- the use and profit of the quiet years. 0 men of little
quently  ioses  sight of a continued covenant.                   faith ! Because you are not sent out yet into your
          Then Rev. Kok commenced his second point. He labor, do you think God had ceased to remember you?
made plain that this Scriptural view of the coming               Because you are forced to be outwardly ina&ive,  do
Christ, when contrasted with that given us by the you think you, also, may not be, in your years of quiet,
erring Post's and Pre's, is  e,ssentially much more              "about your Father's business"? It is a period given
simple, less intricate and philosophical.             Christ is to us in which to mature ourselves for the work which
coming from the dawn of history, coming .continually             God will give us to do.
                                                                        .
                                                                                                                            .


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                                         --I                                                        brought to Him the request of the Greeks, that they
                     M E D I T A T I O N                                                            might see Him, His mind had been directed to the
                                                                                                    promise of the `Father, that in the way of "the hour".
 3               .--_l-^-..l_lll_                                                                   He would see His seed. Beyond, then, across the vale
                                                                                                    of His suffering glory beckoned Him, the glory of the
                    Seeking the Father's Glory                                                      resurrection, of receiving the promise, of being exalted
                                                                                                    on high and drawing "all" unto Him. Yet, even so, He
                                                 Now is my soul troubIed;  and what shall
                                          I say?       Father, save me from this hour;              must needs pass through the hour! . . . .
                                          but for this cause came. I unto this hour.                    Would not the seed remain alone except it fall in
                                          Father, glorify thy name. Then came there                 the earth and die? And was there, then, for Him, the
                                          a voice from heaven, saying, I have both                  Servant of Jehovah, as He stood at the head of all His
                                          glorified it, and will glorify it again.                  brethren, another way to reach His Mediator's glory
                                                                            John  12:27,28.         than that of the Father's good pleasure? . . . .
         "The Hour" was approaching!                                                                    That way was the way of righteousness and
         The hour of hours  ; the darkest of all hours, yet  justice1
 pregnant with the glorious dawn of eternal day.                                                        And the way of justice was the way of obedience
         The hour of .the powers of darkness, which was `unto death! He that shall love his life shall lose it ;
 nevertheless, the hour when the arm of the Lord was but he that shall hate his life in this world shall save it
 to be revealed, the mighty arm that would bring salva- unto  life  eterna1l
tion to His people, life from death . . . .                                                             That was true for the servants.
         The hour of the judgment of this world,, when it                                               It was supremely true for their Lord !
 will seem as if the Prince of Darkness will sit in judg-                                               And contemplating the g'lory that lay beyond and ..
 ment over the Servant of Jehovah, but when it shall longing for it; recoiling as He gazes into the deep vale
 be himself that is summoned before the bar of divine t.hat must be traversed before the glory can be  at-
justice, in order to be cast out forever . . . .                                                    tained ; yet, even so, always obedient to the Father
        The hour when the Righteous will pour the vials of that sent Him, He cries out:
 His wrath against sin over the head of Him in Whom                                                     Now is my soul troubled ! And what shall I say?
 He  is~wel17pleased,  the Son of His bosom, His only Be-                                               Surely, it is my earnest prayer that according to
 gotten, in order that His love might reach forth  i,n                                              His promise the Father may save me from this hour!
righteousness for those whom He had ordained to                                                         Yet, for this purpose came I unto this hour!
 eternal glory and Zion might be redeemed through                                                       Father, glorify thy name !
justice ; when Immanuel, God with us, will descend into
lowest hell, there to speak the word of perfect obe-
dience : "Even so, o my God, I love Thee !" . . . .
        And the shadows of that hour's darkness were                                                    Amazing prayer !
stealing over Jesus' soul !                                                                             Or did ever prayer have more terrible implications
        Now is my soul troubled!                                                                    for him that uttered it?
        Of the fast approach of the hour, of its close  prox-                                           Did ever supplication witness of self-surrender, of
imity He had been reminded. He knew it was near.                                                    perfect submissiveness, of blameless obedience, of  be-
He was fully aware of what the hour would bring. And ing consumed with zeal for the Father's glory, as did
just a moment ago, when two of His disciples had this prayer of the Lord? , . . .


266                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
-            __--_.  __ -...-...._.....__-  -.- _-.__I   - -- -               ---  _- .  ..-....-  ".-_- .._... __    .-_-_
       Father, glorify thy name!                                   them there was no helper, no one to redeem and deliver
     Ah, we too take the contents of that prayer on our            from the power of darkness. Yet, they were ordained
lips, even as we are taught by the Saviour. We too say to be justified, to be liberated from the shackles of
it, and say it repeatedly: Hallowed be thy name! We iniquity and to be made partakers of the highest glory
too speak of the glory of the Most High as the sole pur-           in the eternal tabernacle of God with man ! -4nd God
pose of all things, of our very  beirig and life. But              w&ld redeem them! His own arm would bring Him
how thoughtless appears our petition and how shallow salvation ! His name would be known and glorified,
our Halleluja, in comparison with this prayer that the when He would redeem Zion through justice! For,
Father might glorify His name, pressed from the lips through the dark and deep way of sin He would mani-
and wrung from the troubled soul of the Saviour ! How fest His mighty power and unchangeable righteousness,
abstract, how devoid of concrete meaning, how super- HiS everlasting love and mercy and the beauty of His
ficial and without realization of the possible implica- . grace. And that arm of the Lord, through whose
tion of that greatest of all prayers, our stammerings power He would deliver His people, was revealed in
seem, if we think of the awful significance the petition           Jesus. God's name was in Him . . . .
had on the lips of Jehovah's Servant, now the shadows                 Alone He was to stand for God's righteousness and
of the darkest of hours are perplexing His soul ! . . .            glory !
     Father, glorify thy name  !.                                     Alone He was to descend into the deepest depth of
     God's name ! It is Himself in His Self-manifesta- that vale of death, where God would manifest His
tion. God, as He is revealed; as He is known. Himself divine justice and boundless grace, when He would
as to Himself He is manifest from everlasting to ever-             pour out the vials of His wrath against sin upon Him,
lasting in infinite perfection in His Son ; Himself as in          Whom He loved . . . .
all the works of His hands He is manifest as God to                   Alone He was to stand in the midst df the world,
man, made after His image ; Himself as He is mani-                 defenseless and without an arm of flesh, sole repre-
fested in Jesus Christ to His own, that they might                 sentative of God's light in darkness, that the-darkness
know ,Him and have life eternal.* And that name is                 might be condemned . . . .
glorious, for He is glorious. He is glorious for He is                Father, glorify thy name!
infinitely good. And the radiation of His infinite good-               It meant the way of the cross!
ness, His power and might,' His justice and righteous-                 It meant the way through the depth of hell!
ness, His unchangeable truth and spotless holiness,                    The hour! That dreadful hour! The hour, the
the beauty of His grace and the depth of His love, His             very nearness of which caused Him to cry: Now is my
unapproachable majesty, is His glory. If He glorifies              soul troubled !
His name, He reveals, He proclaims, He causes men to                   Father, what shall I say? 0, save me out of this
know, that He alone is goodness, pure perfection, in-              hour !
finite in all His divine virtues . . . .                              Yet, glorify thy name!
     Glorify thy name, Father!                                         Amazing prayer !
     Let it be known, that thou are mighty and strong,
that thy righteousness is from everlasting to everlast-
ing the same,, that thou doest all thy good pleasure,
that thou art holy and true, the only God that doest
wondrous things !                                                      What perfect obedience?
     Yet, such is only the general implication of our                  For, mark, that voluntarily, by an act of His own
Saviour's prayer in this hour of trouble.                          will, motivated by the love of God, and for the glory
     Far more amazing that prayer becomes as soon as of the Father's sake, He chooses to descend into the
we realize that it is not in this abstract and general             depth of darkness.
sense, but with a very concrete and specific meaning,                  And such, indeed, is the mystery of atonement!
thal; in this hour, now His soul is troubled, the Lord                 Only He, that could be active in His passive obe-
utters it before the face of the Father.                           dience, that could lay down His life when it was de-
     Nothing less that supplication signifies at this mo- manded by God's righteousness, that could be Priest
ment than : In Me, Father, glorify thy name !                      and Sacrifice in one, that could still love God in deepest
     And in me refers to "the hour"!                               hell, - He could atone for the sins of the world and
       Glorify thy name in Me! It could only mean: send reconcile the world unto the Father!
Me, for thy name's sake, o Father, in the way of the                   For, atonement is satisfaction.
cross ?                                                                And satisfaction is never the mere tasting of the
       For, not as an individual, but as the Mediator He           wrath of God. The passive, involuntary, compulsory
prayed. From before the foundation of the world was                suffering of the punishment for sin can nevermore
He ordained to be the Head of His people, the brethren atone. If it could, hell would atone! `For, God's un-
the Father had given Him. And these brethren were,                 changeable will for man is forevermore: thou shalt
in themselves, hopelessly lost in sin and death. Among love Me, with all thy heart and mind and soul and


..                                      T H E   S T A - N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                267
                                                             - . - .                      ..-... ----__._--  .--................._  "_
strength, always, everywhere.  lUe, the living God, the                 Yet, even so, He remembers the hour and its pur-
.Holy  and Righteous, purest Perfection thou shalt love ! pose.
Nor did man's fall into sin and death alter that eternal                That purpose was the glory of the' Father. Unto
claim of the Most High. Though in his sin he is a that purpose, that the Father's name *might  be glori-
child of wrath, though in his corruption he can only              fied, He had come unto this hour!
know the living God as consuming fire, though he must                   Father, glorify thy name ! Thy purpose be  mine !
needs be cast into the pool that burneth with fire and                  The perfect answer!
sulphur, yet, even so, the law pursues him in all his
death and misery: Love the Lord, thy God with all thy
heart ! To atone is to satisfy ; and to satisfy is to
stand in the depth of hell, to bear all the burden of the               Hark, a voice!
wrath of God, and in the midst of it to say: I love                     Distinctly it speaks:` `I have both glorified it and
Thee ! Glorify thy name ! . . . .                                 will glorify it again!
      The perfect sacrifice of perfect love!                            The heavenly answer, the response of the Father to
      Such was the obedience of Jesus, our Lord!                  the prayer of His servant!
      And it is this perfect obedience that is voiced in                An interpretation and a promise!
that amazing prayer: Father, glorify thy name !                         For, the Father's voice from heaven explains both
      For, already "the hour" is come. Even now it be- the past and the immediate future, and it contains the
gins to cast its shadows upon His coul. No, the deepest           promise that the prayer of His Servant shall be surely
stage of the way he must travel has not as yet been               answered: He shall glorify His name and save His
reached. The.darkness  will become more impenetrable ; Servant out of the hour!
the suffering more intense ; the agony more amazing ;                   And interpretation of the past: I have glorified it !
the grief more perplexing as He descends into the vale.           Glorified it in the Incarnation, in the sending of His
Wet, already He is come unto the hour! To pass                    Son in the flesh and all that stood connected with it in
through it"He is come to Jerusalem. Its terror already the public ministry of the Lord ; glorified it in the testi-
takes hold upon Him. Full well He knows the awful mony of the Son, revealing the Father, radiating the
terror of that "hour". `He is troubled in soul! All light in darkness and condemning that darkness  ; glori-
that is human in Him dreads the darkness of the way.              fied it in the mighty works of the Saviour, carrying
Yet . . . .                                                       the testimony that the Father had sent Him and fore-
      What shall I say?                                           shadowing still mightier works to come. Indeed, I
      Father, glorify thy name!                                   have glorified it even up to this very moment! And an
      0, think not that the Servant of the Lord is waver-         interpretation of "the hour" : I will glorify it again !
ing at this moment. Mistaken are they, who would in- Ah, sorely needed was this divine light from heaven,
terpret these words as the expression of a first impulse          upon that darkest of all scenes, upon the agony of
to draw back : Father, save me from this hour! Mis-               Gethsemane, upon the final battle. of Calvary. For,
t,aken are even they, who would at least read them as             it would appear, then, as if the powers of darkness
a question of perplexity: What shall I say? Father,               celebrated their triumph, their decisive victory. Mo-
save me from this hour? That moment of wavering,                  ments there would be when it would seem that the
that impulse to return from the way of the cross,                 cause of God's covenant were hopeless, that the Light
would have been disobedience. And the will or the would forever be eclipsed and the Sun of Righteous-
impulse to disobey, the Lord never knew!                          ness would set never to rise again. And these darkest
      He could dread the hour, He could shrink from the moments could be comprehended only in the light of
terror of the darkness of His way, His soul could be the Father's assurance: Be not afraid, I am now glori-
troubled, He could be tempted in all things even as
            _     _-                                              fying My name! . . . .
we are, but without sin!                                     d          I will glorify it again!
      He could not wish to disobey !                                    Yet, not for the Lord's sake, even in this hour of
      Knowing that the Father's glory was inseparably trouble, the voice came. Did He not know that for
connected with "the hour" He could not even for a  mo-            this purpose did He come unto this hour, and that
ment desire to sacrifice that glory to His own salva-             Father always heard Him? It was for them that had
tion.                                                             ears to hear!
      And when the prayer is pressed from His lips:                     Some did not hear; thought it thundered. Some
Father, save me out of this hour! He has His eye on always think that it merely thunders when the Father
the promise and looks forward to the  gIory that is speaks.
promised Him, to the resurrection and exaltation to                     Yet, some did hear, and some still hear God's own
power. Not by excusing Him from passing through interpretation, His own word of the cross !
the hour, but by glorifying Him through it, the Father                  And hearing they are reconciled with God.
would save Him from its depth and not leave His soul                    And glorify the Father!
in hell.                                                                                                                                  H .   H .


                                     ,
268                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D B E A R E R
--.....-  _ _-.._...........  - -                                                                           --.
                                                                     of them, but not all of them, now have a supervising
                                                                     principal, that is, a principal that is not actively en-
                   E D I T O R I A L S                               gaged in teaching his own class, but merely supervises
I                                         t ---                   - the instruction. According to the proposed plan these
                                                                     supervising principals will all become "head-teachers,
       Unification Of Schools Desirable?                             who, while being responsible for the schedule and disci-
                                                                     pline of the several schools, will at the same time teach
                                          III                        their own classes. This, then, it seems, would be a
                                                                     saving. But is not this saving more than counterbal-
       In passing criticism on any measure or proposition anced by the fact, that a supervisor and superintendent
one naturally likes first of all to point out the good               must be appointed,, both of which, we suppose, will
side, if any, of such measure or  propositjpn.                       draw a good salary? And would not the headquarters
       This also applies to the "Suggested Plan For Uni- cf these unified schools, which according to the plan
fying Schools".                                                      are to be established at the Christian High School,
       It is hardly fair to the brethren that proposed the           prove to be a rather costly affair? Would it not re-
plan to proceed as if they did not have some very good               quire several employees to keep account and admin-
reasons for suggesting it. They must have had in                     istrate the finances of all the schools in Grand Rapids?
mind the good of the schools and must have conceived                 T am afraid that, looking at the new plan from this
of their plan as being beneficial to the cause of Chris- angle, we would have to' draw the conclusion that it
tian Instruction in Grand Rapids.                                    would increase, rather than decrease the cost of educa-
       This I do not doubt.                                          tion in Grand Rapids.
       All the more deplorable it is, that the plan as it is            Nor is it conceivable that the mere fact, that a uni-
before me and. as it was published in its entirety in                form tuition is to be charged for all the schools, pri-
our paper, was not motivated by the brethren that mary and junior high and, as is evidently the purpose,
proposed it. No grounds were given for the proposed                  uniform salaries shall be paid to the teachers, could
plan. No reasons were offered for the suggested change,              possibly lower the cost of education and, consequently,
while, as we have seen, the change suggested is  sti-                the tuition. And, besides, each district-society would
ciently radical to expect sound reasons and firm still be responsible for the entire actual cost of educa-
grounds. We would expect that it had been clearly tion per child in its own Iocal school and for that pur-
pointed out why the proposed plan is far preferable to               pose would have to be canvassed.
the present system of operating our schools, that the                    It is true, that it is difficult for us to judge about
brethren had made it clear in what way the new plan                  this phase of the question competently. We would have
would benefit the cause of Christian Instruction. But to have the figures before us in order to do so. Yet, it
nothing was suggested. I may surmise that it was                     is safe to say, that the financial or economic+ benefit
motivated by the committee before the different boards, accruing from the introduction of the new plan, if any,
when the pIan was suggested. But if so, this was done is too small to be taken into account as a ground for
orally and we are not acquainted with the grounds that the proposed change.
were offered for the proposed change.                                    There is, no doubt, something to be said in favor of
       And thus we were left to ourselves to detect the a uniform tuition in all the schools of one and the same
good and beneficent elements in the plan. We had to                  city.  `As matters stand now, there is considerable dif-
and we did ask ourselves the question : what arguments ference in this respect between one school and another
can be adduced in favor of this or any other plan for in Grand Rapids. The result is that parents if at all
unification of the Christian Schools of Grand Rapids?                possible and the school is not too far from their place
       We could conceive of only two possible phases of of living, send their children frequently to the school,
this question. The one is the financial phase. The                   whose plan of paying tuition suits them best. Yet, tXe
other phase deals with the question of greater efficiency  * question arises whether such a radical change as sug-
in education.                                                        gested by the plan for unification, or, in fact, any
       As to the fiiancial  phase, different questions sug-          change in that direction would be necessary to bring
gest themselves. Is the new plan desirable from an uniformity in the amount of tuition charged. I do not
economica viewpoint? Would it make the instruction think so. And at any rate the change suggested is far
in our Christian Schools less expensive? Would there                 too radical to be justified by such a secondary benefit
be a fairer distribution of the financial burdens? as a uniform tuition.
Would the result be a more efficient administration of                   Another benefit derived from the proposed plan is,
the finances?                                                        evidently, that all at once the financial problems of the
       Let us try to answer some of these questions to the            Christian High School in our city would be solved. For
best of our ability.                                                 the expenses of the Christian High Schooi, in as far as
     There are, I believe, at present in Grand Rapids                they would not be covered by tuition, would be assessed
seven Christian Schools. Some of these, perhaps most against all the local school societies on pupil enroll-


                                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                            269
     _.. ^ .-__-.....    -~-..-  . .._. _.-.........-^                                       ll...,._  -_ll--_^^_-.-.^^  ..__ - .._-----_...
ment basis of each  school. This would, indeed, help geloovigen ook gedoopt zulIen en moeten  worden,  dan
the Christian High out of its financial problems, pro- hangt het antwoord af van de andere vraag of die
vided, of course, the assessed amounts were collected.                            kleine kinderen  in het Verbond Gods begrepen zijn. En
But in the first place, it may be considered a question                           deze is eerst beantwoord door de overal  in de Heilige
whether the amounts so assessed against the local so- Schrift  geopenbaarde waarheid, dat God  Zijn Verbond
cieties would actually be collected. And if they were laat loopen in de lijn der opeenvolgende geslachten van
not (and I venture to guess that this would be rather de geloovigen. Als het dus niet gaat over de algemeene
difficult) the High School would meet with the same vraag, welke de grond zij voor den doop, maar over de
problems it faces today. But secondly, would it be bijzondere, waarom die doop, die in het Verbond zijn
fair to make all the parents pay for the instruction grond heeft, ook aan de kleine kinderen  der geloovigen
offered at the Christian High? Would it be fair to toekomt, dan is het antwoord: omdat, krachtens het
assess the local societies for Christian Instruction duidelijk geopenbaarde feit, dat God Zijn Verbond  last
on the basis of pupil enrollment in each school for this                          loopen in de  lijn der opeenvolgende geslachten, ook de
purpose? I cannot see it.                                                         kleine kinderen  in het Verbond Gods begrepen zijn.
   However, far more importast is the question,                                       Zijn  nip  alle  kinderen  der geloovigen in dat  Ver-
whether the new plan would sufficiently guarantee a bond? Hierop zijn bijna zooveel antwoorden gegeven,
greater efficiency in Christian education in Grand als  zich  denken   Iaten.  Als het over deze vraag gaat,
Rapids, to justify the change.                            '                       komt eerst aan het licht, hoezeer uiteenloopend de ver-
                                                                         H. H.    schillende verbondsbeschouwingen  zijn, die in de Gere-
                                                                                  formeerde  Kerken  in zwang zijn. Dan zegt de  64n:
                                                                                  wij  moeten het er voor houden, dat ze  allen  in het
                                                                                  verbond zijn, en bij den doop gaat we uit van de ver-
  Wederantwoord  Aan  Ds. Diermanse                                               onderstelling, dat ze wezenlijk behooren tot Gods  ver-
                                                                                   bond. Volgens deze voorstelling berust dus de doop
   Nog enkele opmerkingen  willen we  aan ons  ant-                               van het kleine kind op de  veronderstelling  van  h&
woord  aan ds. Diermanse toevoegen.                                               wezenlijk in-zijn in Gods verbond van het individueele,
   Ik geloof niet, dat het aangaat om zonder meer te te  doopen  kind. Anderen gingen nog verder, en  uit-
zeggen, dat Fet Verbond de grond is voor den doop van                             gaande van de gedachte, dat de doop  ni& mag worden
de kleine kinderen  der geloovigen. Onze geachte colle-                           bediend dan aan hen, die ook op het oogenblik van het
ga uit Nederland schrijft:  "En zoo is ook de  Bijbel-                            doopen  het geloof, althans  als vermogen deelachtig zijn,
sche grond voor den Doop der kinderen  (gelijk voor- kwamen ze tot de slotsom, dat de doop der kleine  kin-
heen van de besnijdenis), enkel het Verbond (de be-                               deren gegrond is op de veronderstelling  van wederge-
lofte)  ." Eerst trof mij deze vereenzelviging van  Ver-                          boorte bij het individueele te  doopen kind. Nog ande-
bond en  B'elofte   we1 eenigszins vreemd. Wij  denken                            ren gingen den kant op van Heyns en werden eigenlijk
`bier bij het lezen van zooiets aanstonds aan de voor- volslagen Pelagiaan en Arminiaan in hunne  beschou-
stelling van Heyns, dat alle kinderen  der geloovigen in wing. Zij gingen er van uit, dat het wezen  van het
het Verbond zijn, dat hun immers  allen  de belofte  toe-                         Verbond gezocht moet worden  in de belofte, verston-
komt,  dat dit echter alleen  zoo is in voorwerpelijken den dan die belofte als een soort algemeen aanbod, dat
zin van Gods zijde, en dat deze belofte nu moet wor-                              eerst door de aanneming van de zijde van den "bonde-
den' aangenomen van `s menschen zijde, zal het Ver-                               iing" werkelijkheid wordt, en kregen op die wijze  alle
bond werkelijkheid  worden. Nadat ik echter nog eens kinderen der geloovigen in het verbond der genade.
nasnuffelde, wat door ds. Diermanse hierover in ten                               Voorwerpelijk, d. w. z. wat God betreft, zijn dan alle
vroeger geschrift werd geleerd  (De Uitverkoren Kin- kinderen  der geloovigen, hoofd voor hoofd en ziel voor
deren Wedergeboren, Eisch des Verbonds?) bleek mij                                ziel in Gods verbond en hebben dus recht  op den doop.
echter, dat dit niet de voorstelling is van ds. Dierman-                          Volgens Heyns en anderen, zijn deze "bondelingen"
se. Tech  gaat het m. i. niet aan om eenvoudig die twee clan ook nog hierin onderscheiden van kinderen  buiten
te  vereenzeliigen.  Verbond en Belofte zijn  we1 nauw het verbond geboren, dat ze een zekere subjectieve  ver-
nan elkander verbonden, ze zijn niet hetzelfde. Ret                               bondsgenade ontvangen, waardoor ze in staat  worden
Verbond is een betrekking, een levensbetrekking van gesteld, om Gods Verbond in te willigen of te  verwer-
eeuwige vriendschap tusschen God en Zijn uitverkoren pen ! Nog weer anderen spreken bij voorkeur van ten
volk in Christus. En nu is dat Verbond zeker we1 de uitwendig verbond en een inwendig verbond,  en  mee-
grand voor den Doop, want Gods Verbondsvolk wordt nen dan grond voor de doop van alle kleine kinderen
door den Doop afgezonderd van de wereld, ontvangt                                 der geloovigen te vinden in dat  z.g.n. uitwendige  ver-
een merk- en veldteeken,  terwijl  het tevens een zegel bond, waartoe immers de  kinderen  der Kerk behooren,
ontvangt van de rechtvaardigheid, die uit het geloof is. allen,  hoofd voor hoofd.
Maar hiermede is nog niet gezegd, dat de doop  van                                    Als we nu ds. Diermanse goed verstaan, dan wil hij
kleine  kinderen  zonder meer uit dat Verbond volgt.                              geen van bovengenoemde beschouwingen. En vooral
Als de vrang  gedaan wordt of de kleine kinderen der                               bestrijdt hij de theorie van de veronderstelling. Hij


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                                                                                                                                                                -70
II  II  _ ._ --.--..."-.-"  -"    ".._"     .....___...I       ".._ II-I..I........_......                  --""  ^-  .               ..__.._

(IS.  Hoek dit misschien van Dr. Beets geleerd? Uit
mijn boek haalt hij het gewis niet.                                                                           Our Church Order
      Of, wat heeft ook de opmerking dat ik van de ge-                                             Among the Ministers of the Word equality  shail be
meene gratie,  zooals door Calvijn,  Kuyper en Bavinck                                           maintained with respect to the duties of  their  office and
geleerd, niet weten wil, te  maken met mijn boek?                                                ako in other matters as far as possible according to the
                                                                                                 judgment of the Consistory, and if necessary, of the
      Of, nog eens, wat heeft de kinderachtige opmer-                                            Classis; which equality shall also be maintained in the
king, waarom ik niet over wat anders schrijf,  t,e                                               case of the Elders and Deacons.
maken  met mijn boek? Zal ik zelf niet  weten,  waar-
over ik schrijven wil?                                                                           This article in its  prcscnt form  &as drafted and
                                                                                              first adopted by the Synod of Middelburg, 1581. What
      En, hoe weet ds. Hoek  tech, dat ik over  Heyns                                         the occasion of this action was is not certain. It may
schreef, omdat ik eens" wat eenzijdigheden wilde uit- have been the attempt of churchmen from Zeeland,
buiten? En dan de suggestie, dat het mij niet C)rn de East Vlaanders and England to induce the aforesaid
waarheid te doen is ?                                                                         Synod to appoint "Inspectors". or "Superintendents" to
      Neen, broeder Hoek, zoo  niet. Ge moet niet trach- take oversight of the churches, each of his own
ten mij den boeman  aan te  jagen. Wij zijn over onze resort. Synod, however, refused to yield. It deemed
nllereerste kinderjaren  heen.                                                                an institution of this nature superfluous and dangerous.
      En nu:                                                                                  Superfluous in that the task of supervising the life of
                                                                                              the churches could be performed by the classes and
     Waarde collega !                                                                         particular synods; and dangerous in that it sprang
      Als we u een boek ter recensie zenden,  dan is het                                      from a hierarchical principle. This latter is undoubt-
onze bedoeling, allereerst dat ge uitgaat van de ver-                                         edly true. The institution in question is plainly the
onderstelling,  dat het ons om de waarheid te doen  is. offshoot of principles pervading the ecclesiastical
In de tweede plaats, dat ge verstaat, dat wij nog eenige polity of the Roman Catholic church. In this church
achting hebben voor het oordeel der Gereformeerden the clergy is so ranked or disposed as to form a verit-
in Nederland.  Ik bedoel niet, dat wij voor elk  oor-                                         able pyramid whose apex is the Pope. In each higher
deel, dat ze believen neer te schrijven, de hoed afne-                                        rank inheres a superior juridical power or authority
men,  maar dat we van hen verwachten,  dat ze  be- to which the office-bearers of all the lower ranks sub-
kwaam zijn en ge$lig  om een gemotiveerd oordeel te mit. The common presbyters are subordinate to the
schrijven.           Voor  gimotivecrde   oordeelen hebben we bishops, the rural bishops to the city bishops, the latter
alle respect. In de derde plaats is het onze bedoeling, to the metropolitans, the metropolitans to the bishops
dat ge uit zult gaan  van de gedachte, dat `Loij onzer-                                       of the chief cities, the latter to the bishops of the
zi.jds meenen, dat het u toegezonden werk belangrijk congregations (Antioch, Jerusalem, Alexandria,
genoeg is om beoordeeld  te ,worden  in Nederland. In Ephese, Corinth, and Rome) held to have been organ-
de vierde plaats, dat ge dan ook met aandacht het u ized by the apostles, and these, finally, to the bishop or
toegezonden boek leest en  u niet beperkt tot de in- Pope of Rome. This aforesaid order maintained itself
houdsopgave en vluchtige doorbladering van het  bock.                                         in many.of the protestant churches. In the Lutheran
In de vijfde plaats, dat ge dien inhoud beoordeelt  in church and in the Refugee church at'London, the prin-
het  licht der  Schrift  en der Gereformeerde belijdenis.                                     ciple pervading it was seen to raise its head in the
In de zesde plaats, dat ge uwe goed- of afkeuring uit- form of superintendentship. To this dignity, Calvin,
spreekt over den hoofdinhoud van het u toegezonden Knox, and others are known to have had no objection.
werk, met opgave van gronden. En, eindelijk,  dat gc But the Reformed churches of the Netherlands de-
daarbij uiterst voorzichtig zijt in het  inachtnemen  van nounced it as hierarchical. And it is well that they
alle beleefdheidsvormen, zooals ge zoudt doen,  wan- did so, for it is this.
neer een broeder uit den vreemde een poos bij 11 lo-                                             As was said, they deemed the institution unneces-
geerde. Dan bombardeert ge hem in uwe woning  im-                                             sary in view of the fact that oversight of the
meres  ook niet rechts en links met allerlei  onbeleefd-                                      churches could be taken by the classes and particular
heden ?                                                                                       synods. The classes do this through the church vis-
     En mag ik thans mijn geachte collega verzoekeri  om itors. Church visiting by the classis (through its or-
eene recensie te schrijven over mijn boek?                                                    gans, the church visitors) is an action called for by
                                                                                              Article 44 of the Church Order: "The  Classis  shall
     Met droefheid over uwe behandeling,                                                      authorize at least two of her oldest, most experienced
                         Uw broeder in Christus,                                              and competent Ministers to visit all the churches once
                                                                                              a year and to take heed whether the Ministers and the
                                                               H. Hoeksema                    consistory faithfully perform  the duties belonging to
                                                                                              their office, adhere to sound doctrine, observe in all
     P. S. Dank aan Ds. J. D. W. voor zijne beleefde re-                                      things the adopted order, and properly promote  as
censie. - Ii. H.                                                                              much as  lies in them, through word and deed, the  up-


                                       TWT?    54TANl-lARl-l   R E A R E R

building of the congregation, in particular of the youth, have the rule over you who have spoken unto you the
to the end that they may in time fraternally admonish word of God" (Heb. 13  :7).
those who have in anything been negligent, and may              As was said, the common believers are vested with
by their advice and assistance help direct all things an authority over one another that is ethical. Wrote
unto the peace, upbuilding and greatest profit of the        Peter to the strangers: "Yea all of you be subject one
churches. And ach  Classis may continue these vis- to another . . . " (I Pet. 5 :5). If the one is in duty
itors in service as long as it sees fit, except where the bound to submit to the other it follows that the other is
visitors themselves request to be released for reasons vested with an authority to which the one must sub-
of which the Classis  shall judge."                          mit. And this authority is the right and duty of every
   In this article the church visitors appear as per- believer to employ his gifts for the salvat?on  and ad-
forming duties identical to those belonging to the office    vantage of other members.  Being  tilled  with all
                                                                                             l 
of superintendent or bishop. All three officest that of knowledge and full of goodness, the believers possess
bishop, that of superintendent and that of church t!le right and ability to admonish one another (Rom.
visitor, take oversight of the churches. The question 1.5  :14), to comfort themselves together and edify one
is how, if the first two of the three deserve to be de-      another, to warn the unruly, comfort the feeble minded,
nounced as hierarchical, the third (that of church support the weak . . (I Thess. 5 :11-14).  These scrip-
visitor) deserves to be maintained. Are not the three        tures, it is plain, teach that common believers are
of a class? The Synod of Middelburg, 1581, actually          vested with authority over one another.        But this
was of this conviction. At least it took the stand that authority is ethical in distinction from that of the
the church, visitor could so easily deteriorate into a special office which is juridical. The latter only con-
kind of superintendent or bishop. It therefore refused tains in itself the right of official censure - a right
to call the dignity into being. But in several quarters which they vested with the special office exercised by
the demand for the church visitor continued loud and the preaching of the gospel and by Christian disci-
persistent with the result that the Synod of Dordrecht, pline, or excommunication out of the Christian church.
1618-1619 yielded. So it drafted the ruling contained Thus : "when according to the command of Christ,
in Article 44 of the Church Order.                           those, who under the name of Christians, maintain
   The question is whether it may be conceded that the       doctrines or practices inconsistent therewith, and will
church visitor has a rightful place in the organism of a not, after having been often brotherly admonished, re-
Reformed denomination of churches? Have we not to nounce their errors and wicked course of life, are com-
do here with an institution as Romish, as hierarchical,      plained of to the church, or to those who are thereunto
as the institutions of superintendent and of bishop? appointed by the church; rzad if they despise their ad-
And the answer must be an emphatic no. The bishop monition, are by them forbidden the use of the sacra-
and the superintendent are dignitaries vested with merits; whereby they are excluded from the Christian
juridical authority over the churches of their domain. church, and by God Himself from the kingdom of
The authority of the church visitor, on the other hand,      Christ . . . .  "
is ethical.    There is an authority that is juridical.
There is also an authority that is ethical. The authority       The common believers, by themselves, apart from
of those in the church vested with the special offices       the special office, do not excommunicate out of the
{the office of pastor and teacher) is, if not juridical,     Christian church. This task belongs to the special
than at least juridical as to character. But the com-        office. But those vested with this office execute this
mon members are vested with an authority over one right as organs of the brotherhood. It is therefore
another that is ethical. The following points of differ- correct to say that the common believers handle the
ence may be noticed: The former (juridical) is the keys of `the kingdom through the special office as their
right to officially rule the flock. The latter is the right organ.
and duty of the common members to take unofficial                Some deem the term  juridical  uuthority   unsuitable
oversight of one another.        The former cannot be as a name for the power of the office-bearer in the
defyed with impunity. The latter can. The former is church. Juridical  nuU~&y, it is said, is always the
associated with the special office only and is thus exer- right of the civil magistrate to bear the sword for the
cised by those vested with this office. The latter inheres punishing of evil doers and for the protection of the
in the office of all believers and is exercised by all.      law-abiding. Now it stands to reason that if the term
    Let us enlarge on these points a little. Juridical in question be first restricted to this use, it cannot be
authority (we speak now of the authority in the church used as the signification of any other kind of power or
only) is the right to rule. The rule prescribed is solely authority. But why this restriction? Why may we
the word of Christ. Those vested with the special not speak of two kinds of juridical authority, that of
office (of pastor and teacher) Scripture calls rulers : the civil magistrate and that of the office-bearer in the
"Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of church, and define the former as the right to bear the
double honor, specially those who labor in the word sword and the latter as the right to handle the keys of
and doctrine" (I Tim. 5  :17). "Remember those who the kingdom. Fact is that the term  juridical  is the


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                    275
_--.___" .._ ^ ._.. -_-_ .._. -----^-.."                    __--_.-_                                        ._ "l-...l___
only term we have for setting off the right of the               (churches), comfort the feeble minded, and support
special office from that of the believer in the church.         the weak (churches).
     Some employ a different terminology.. Prof. Vol-               Does Scripture require this? Some may ask. There
beda sets off the power of the special office from that         is no literal command. But if the action of the apostolic
of the common member by the term "ecclesiastical" or churches has normative value (and it has this) there
"institutional". According to his reasoning (in his is a command. We read in the Acts of a certain man
report on the question, "Can a Classis  depose a con- from  Judea disturbing the church at Antioch by his
sistory?") the power of the special office is ecclesias-        teaching that all had to be circumcised after the
ticnl in distinction from that of the common member manner of Moses in order to be saved. The apostles
in the church to which he gives the name of "spiritual-         and elders and the brethren of the church at derusa-
ethical". But it ought to be plain that this terminology         lem, hearing of it, inform the church that had been
so used is faulty. The right or power that the common troubled that "it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and
member in his capacity of member of the church pos- to us (the brethren of the church at Jerusalem) to lay
sesses must from the very nature of matters be termed upon you no greater burden than these the necessary
institutional or ecclesias&al  as well as that exercised        things ; that ye abstain from meat offered to the
by those vested with the special office. For to maintain idols . . . .  "        Here we have an example of one
the contrary is to deny that the common members are church employing its gifts for the salvation and ad-
actually members of the church and to  affirm with               vantage of another. It is to be noticed that the in-
Rome that the clergy is the church.                             struction given was issued not by the apostles only but
     As to the term ethical, it is derived from a Greek by the entire brotherhood at Jerusalem : "Then pleased
word meaning (a) custom, usage ; (b) the rational will it the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to
acting in agreement with the custom. In the vocabulary send chosen men of their own- company to Antioch
of the Christian dogmatician, the word signifies:               with Paul and Barnabas." In II Cor. 8, Paul stirreth
(a) the law of God ; (b) the spiritual capacities of the         up the Corinthians to a liberal contribution for the
regenerated people of God to will this law and to act poor saints at Jerusalem, by the example of the Mace-
in conformity with it; (c) the good works performed. donians. The apostle's efforts were blessed to the hearts
     The word authority is derived from the Latin of the members of the Corinthian brotherhood so that
UUC~O~   the primary meaning of which is to  create,            here again we have to do with the one church minding
bring into  be&g,  begin form.              The word signifies the plight of another.
further : to rule or to command ; influence derived from            Some refer to Paul's visiting the churches that un-
opinion or respect.                                             der his auspices had come into being as the Biblical
     The term juridical is a compound of juris, law and ground for church visiting by the  classis. But this
dice,  to say, declare, pronounce. The engagements of would make the church visitors the successors of `Paul
one acting in the distribution of justice or in the  deola-     which they are not. The apostle's right to take over-
ration of the law are said to be jutidical.                     sight of the churches sprang from his apostleship and
     It is plain that  :the meaning which these words by not from the right of the churches to have oversight
themselves have, but remotely approach the  me%"nihg over one another, so that he cannot be said to have
they have acquired in combination of  juridicnl   auth.or-      performed this task as one in and through whom all
ity  and  ethical authority.                                    the churches (entrusted to his particular care) visited
     With the above delineations before us, let us now the one the other. This appeal to Paul's example in-
concentrate upon the office of church visitor. If we variably ends with defining the  classis and the church
would grasp the difference between this office and that visitors it sends out as so many bishops vested with a
of a Roman bishop, we must have a clear conception juridical authority over the churches. The proof of
of what the duty belonging to it consists in. It con- this is the creation of the office of bishop by Rome.
sists in the churches taking the oversight the one of The Pope is held to be the  successor of an apostle. But
the other. It is an action that springs from the con- fact is that there is by divine right no office-bearer in
viction that the injunction of Peter to the strangers, the church who by a right inhering in the office he
"Yea all of you be subject one to another," applies to          bears functions as the keeper of the churches. To zay
churches as well as to individual believers of a given that there is church visiting because the apostles en-
local brotherhood; that thus the churches are vested            gaged in this action is to say that the apostolic office
with authority over one another - an authority that is continued to function in the person of the  ~church
ethical as to its character and that consists in the right visitor after the decease of the apostles. Yet there are
and duty of every church to employ its peculiar gifts           some who have taught that the Biblical ground for the
for the salvation and advantage of all the other aforesaid action by the churches is the church visiting
churches. Being filled with all goodness and full of done by the apostles. So the late Prof. W. Heyns in
knowledge, churches, too, possess the right and ability his Kybernetiek : "De kerkvisitatie heeft een geseschie-
to admonish one another, to comfort themselves to- `denis die zelfs tot het begin van de historie der  Chris-
gether and edify one another, to warn the unruly telijke kerk teruggaat, want in zekeren zin kan men


 276                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
 __I__--..." ..-..-.                                I .l_.l.........ll.ll  ".-" ..-- "l"-..--._.^ll"^l. ..^ .._ ^ ^__^___ I____^-^  -.._    .".._______I-
 zeggen, dat deze visitatie dagteekent van den tijd der                     2. Is church discipline exercised ?
 Apostelen en door hen is ingesteld. Immers zij Iieten                      8. Are the poor and the Christian schools cared
 de door hen gestichte gemeenten niet aan haar zelve                 for?
 over, maar zochten steeds met haar in contact te  blij-                    4. Do you need the judgment and the help of the
ven. Inzonderheid hebben wij dienaangaande mede-                     Classis for the proper government of your church?
deelingen omtrent  Paulus, hoe hij de zorg van al de                        Consider that the president, who puts these ques-
gemeenten op het hart droeg (II Cor. 11:28), en hoe                  tions, functions as the spokesman of all the churches
 hij zocht steeds op de hoogte te blijven van de toestan-            assembled through their delegates.
 den, hetzij door informatie in te winnen (I Cor. 1  :ll  ;                 3. The churches in addition to this can also ap-
 Eph.  1:15; Phil.  1:2?; Col.  1:4; Filemon vers  5), of point church visitors with a view to exercising through
 door de gemeente persoonlijk te bezoeken. Herhaalde-                these visitors their right of supervision. These visitors
lijk lezen wij hoe hij  door&ok  om de Gemeenten of de               in discharging themselves of their task, likewise func-
 discipelen  te versterken (Hand.  15:41;  16:4;  18%;               tion cas the spokesman of all the churches appointing
 I Cor. 16 :5-S). En als bleek dat een gemeente noodig them. This particular order is called for by Article
 bezocht moest  worden,  maar dit door omstandigheden 44. Especially from the questions that these visitors
 niet kon, werd de visitatie gedaan door zendbrief . .  "            must put to the churches, it appears that, according to
      It is true that, as the author here quoted asserts, Reformed Church Polity, the one church is indeed the
the apostles and in particular Paul may be said to have              keeper of the other. Allow me to quote some of these
 instituted church visiting. But he did so not by his questions :
 example consisting in his taking oversight of the                          Have you two preaching services regularly on the
 churches but by making it plain that all the churches               Sabbath, once from a text freely chosen, and once after
 are in duty bound to mind the needs, the one of the                 the order of the Heidelberg Catechism, so that  ro
other. This he made plain by such actions as stirring Lord's Day is omitted?
 UQ the Corinthians to a contribution for the poor of                       Does the  con&story  determine the matter to be
 the church at Jerusalem.                                            read in the absence of a minister?
      So then, churches as well as individual believers                     Is Communion celebrated at least four times an-
 are vested with authority over one another. But this nually after a preparatory sermon  aud followed by an
 authority is ethical not juridical. It means that the               applicatory  sermon?
 one church or a number of churches jointly, though                         Does the consistory attend to it that catechetical in-
they be vested with the right to turn to the one church struction is given regularly?
 with instruction, advise, or admonition, may not in the                    Is church discipline exercised faithfully according
 event the advise is not received, depose from office de- to the Word of God and the rules of the church?
 linquent office-bearers or excommunicate out of the                        Is the minister faithful to the Word of God and
 church the unyielding members of the brotherhood                    the Church Order in the exercise of the ministry of the
 dealt with or place the entire brotherhood under the                Word and in the administration of the sacraments?
 ban. The only length to which a federation of churches                     Does he manifest himself in his family and public
 may go is to eject the recalcitrant member (the local               life as a godly man, and does. he study diligently?
 brotherhood) from the league. To maintain that the                    . Do the elders regularly attend the congregational
 classis can from the point of view of right depose gatherings and consistory meetings?
 office-bearers and excommunicate out of the church is                      Do they assist the pastor faithfully in all things?
 to vest this body (the classis) with a power over the                      Do they (the deacons) faithfully discharge their
 churches it may not exercise.                                        duties to the poor and the orphans?
      Now this ethical right with which a number of                         `Do they show themselves in their family and public
 neighboring churches of the same denomination are life as exemplary Christians?
 vested over one another can be variously executed.                          These are only some of the questions put. They
 (1) Each church by itself can visit all the other neigh- show that the supervision which the churches take of
 boring churches.       This manner of exercising the one another is about as strict as can be. And it is well
 aforesaid right is not to be recommended nor has it that it is this.
 ever been followed. (2) Each church assembled with                          It ought to be plain from what has thus far been
 the others in  classis can exercise its right of super- given that church visiting as honored by churches that
 vision through the president of the  classis. This is live out of the principles pervading Reformed Church
 actiually done in agreement with what the last clause Polity is no Romish  institution but an institutian nctu-
 of Article 41 stipulates: "Furthermore, the president ally instituted by Christ through His apostles. The
 shall, among other things, put the following questions truly Reformed church visitor neither is nor wills to be
 to the delegates of each church." The prescribed ques- a Roman Bishop. To the contrary, he knows himself
 tions are:                                                           as the agent of all the churches having appointed him,
      1. Are the  con&story  meetings held in your as the organ through which all these churches function
 church ?                                                             as the keepers of one another.


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                      277
                                                    -llll_
   Consider that the Roman bishop in distinction from
the church visitor is a juridical power set over the                  Een Vraag en Een Antwoord
churches of the particular diocese. He receives his ap-         Onderstaand  schrijven is een antwoord op een
pointment not from the churches whose life he super- vraag, behandeld op onze Mannenvereeniging. Naar
vises but from the next higher power. He functions as mijn bescheiden meening is de inhoud ervan van dien
the organ not of the churches but of this next higher        aard, dat het met vrucht ook gelezen kan door onze
power. His is the right to enter the domain of the           Standard Bearer-lezers en tevens, dat het U  toont  hoe
local church to perform duties which only the ruling men ook ten onzent niet terug deinsde om eenigszins
elders of the local brotherhood may perform - such diepere stukken te behandelen.
duties as deposing the pastor of the local church. Thus         We hebben het antwoord persklaar gemaakt en  ver-
does the Roman bishop as also the  Lutheransuperin-          zoeken  onzen  hooggeachten Eindredacteur het stuk te
tendent  set himself up as lord over the churches.           plaatsen.
   Article 17 stands opposed not to the Reformed                                                            G. V.
church visitor but to the Roman bishop and to the
Lutheran superintendent. This is a matter with which            De vraag Iuidde: "Hoe moeten we Ezech.  18:23  en
we hope to deal in a following article.                      24 verstaan ?" Dit Schriftgedeelte luidt: "Zoude Ik
                                                 G, M. 0.    eenigszins lust hebben aan den dood des goddeloozen ?
                                                             spreekt de Heere HEERE: is het niet, als hij zich be-
            I                                                keert van zijne wegen, dat hij leve? Maar als de recht-
                                                             vaardige zich afkeert van zijne gerechtigheid en on-
                                                             recht  doet, doende naar alle de gruwelen die de godde-
                      HE DIED FOR ME                         looze doet, zoude die leven? Alle zijne gerechtigheden
                                                             die hij gedaan heeft, zullen niet gedacht worden:  in
         My soul rejoices in His love,                       zijne overtreding waardoor hij overtreden heeft, en in
           So perfect, full and free,                        zijne zonde die hij gezondigd heeft, daarin zal hij ster-
         For, come what may, I cannot doubt,  -              ven."
            I know, He died for me !                            Het is uit deze en andere dergelijke teksten, dat
                                                             vele Christenen meenen te moeten afleiden, dat God
         I see Him hanging on the cross,                     wil, dat alle menschen zalig worden  ; en tevens, dat de
            I hear His dying prayer.                         wedergeborenen het nieuwe leven weer kunnen verlie-
         And in my soul I know it was                        zeh en verloren gaan. En als men deze verzen opper-
            My sin that nailed Him there !                   vlakkig leest en vergelijkt met vele andere teksten in
                                                             Gods Woord dan zal men moeten toestemmen, dat ze
         I see the broken bars of death,                     daarin volkomen gerechtvaardigd schijnen. Zegt ook
            I see the empty grave,                           Paulus niet, dat God wil dat alle menschen zalig  wor-
         And know-it was for sinners like                    den en tot kennis der waarheid komen? (I Tim. 2 :4.)
            Myself, His life He gave.                        En ook Petrus zegt, dat de Heere niet wil, dat eenigen
                                                             verloren gaan, maar dat ze  allen  tot bekeering komen..
          I see Him into heaven ascend,                      (II Pet. 3 :9.)    En wordt er ook op vele plaatsen niet
            I hear the angels sing                           schijnbaar een afval der heiligen geleerd? Zegt Petrus
          For joy around the great white throne,             niet, dat er Profeten geweest zijn, die den Heere  ver-
            And know He is my King.                          loochend hebben, die hen gekocht heeft, en een haastig
                                                             verderf over zichzelf brengen? (II Pet. 2  :l.) Ja, zelfs
          0 wondrous love! 0 boundless grace                 staat er in I Tim. 4:l: "Doch  de Geest zegt duidelijk,
            So marvelous ! How can it be?                    dat in de laatste tijden sommigen zullen afvallen van
          And yet, thro' faith in His dear name,             het geloof,  zich begevende tot verleidende geesten en
            I know He died for me.                           leeringen der duivelen." Het is dus niet te ontkennen,
                                                             dat er een reeks van teksten kan aangehaald, waaruit
                                                             deze dingen,  met ietwat verdraaiing, gemakkelijk afge-
                                                             leid kunnen  worden.  En het is eigenaardig, dat die
          Spreek mij van Jezus, mijn Heiland,                bewuste reeks teksten gewoonlijk geput wordt uit de
            `k Hoor  tech zoo gaarne Zijn Woord.             lijn der Schrift  die getuigt van de verantwoordelijk-
          Nimmer heeft iets op deez' aarde,                  heid des menschen.
            Ooit zoo mij `t harte bekoort.                       Daar gaat  echter  ook een andere lijn door de
          Zeg mij, hoe d' engelen koren,                     S&rift, nl., de lijn van de souvereiniteit Gods. In de
            Daar bij de herders geschaard,                   eerste lijn  worden  de dingen voorgesteld, zooals wij
          Eere zij God  lieten  hooren,                       het van menschelijke zijde bezien, waarin God met den
                 `t Heerlijke vrede op aard'.                 mensch handelt als met een redelijk schepsel met een


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                   286
_.                - - - - - - - -                ~-.-...
                                                                   mindedness, ordered them, the shadow, to disappear
            The Crucified Christ Mocked                            now that He who is the way, the truth and the life
         And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their        had come, counseled them to hide themselves in Him
      heads, and saying, Thou that dcstroyest the temple,          and to seek His heavenly kingdom, would they live.
      and buildest it in three days, save thyself.  `Lf thou be    For this they hated Him and thus showed themselves
      the Son of God, come down from the cross.                    up as having no affinity with the truth which they
         Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, `with        proclaimed through the service they performed. Being
      the scribes and elders said,
         He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be         carnal, they understood not the meaning of this serv-
      the king of Israel, let him now come down from the           ice, of the type, the shadows of which He was the body.
      cross, and we will believe in him.                           The construction they placed upon it was of their own
         He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will    devising. The kingdom they proclaimed was of this
      have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.                  earth. The God they preached was a being with whom
                                              Matt. 21:39-43.      there is respect of persons and they were the persons
      And they reviled Him, they that passed by. The               respected. They had no knowledge of their misery,
motley crowd, blind followers of the leaders in all likeli- and thus no need of the blood that cleanses from sin.
hood who repeat what they have heard when they say, They judged not themselves but others and refused to
Thou that .destroyest the temple. What He said is,                 realize that in judging another they condemned them-
Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it selves in that they did the  same  things. But He who is
up. Thus He spake at the beginning of His public                   the truth came. And He judged them. He spared them
`ministry  in the temple that He had cleansed. And the             not. He called them blind guides who strained at a
Jews, those whose ire He had aroused by His amazing gnat, and swallowed a camel; hypocrites, who cleaned
courage, the leaders of the people, the scribes and the            the outside of the cup and of the platter but within
elders, the priests and the Pharisees, had picked up               were full of extortions and excesses. This was more
this saying and' distorted it and as distorted repeated than they could bear. For they were men destitute of
it, so that He soon had become known as one who grace. So they plotted against His life. Finally they
boasted of a power capable of destroying the temple in have Him in their power and affix Him, the Lord of
three days. And they had all along held this state- glory, to the cross. And all because He had fearlessly
ment, as distorted, against Him as indicative of some              and undauntedly spoken to them the truth.
sinister ambition. Now they have Him atied  to the                    But do they not realize that of their slaughter of
cross. And the rabble, passing by, revile Him. It is of their victim the sacrifice they daily bring in the court
little concern to them whether what they say to Him is of the temple is the depiction; that the very prophets
true.      Hating Him they are bent on piercing Him by whose word they sware and whose graves they build '
t.hrough  with their words. So they catch hold of any called for the very scene they here enact on the brow
damaging saying of Him in circulation and fling it in of this hill? Isaiah had spoken plainly enough: "Surely
His teeth, now that He hangs, apparently helpless, to he hath borne our griefs . . But he was wounded for
the cursed tree.                                                   our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities:
      How they, the ones passing by, despise Him ! About the chastisement of our peace was upon him ; and with
midway in His career, the day following His feeding his stripes we are healed . . . . " The Psalmist even
the five thousand with a few loaves, He had blasted supplied the details : "For dogs have encompassed me ;
their false Messanic  hopes. Having witnessed the mir- the assembly of the wicked. have enclosed me : they
acle He had performed, they began seeking Him for                  pierce my hands and my feet . . . They part my gar-
the breath that perisheth. Facing them, He said to ments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture."
them,  Labour not for the meat that perisheth, but for             The Holy Ghost had even penned down the very words
the meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which that the crucifiers were to take upon their lips: "They
the Son of Man shall give unto you.                                shake their head, saying, He trusted in the Lord that
      The chief priests, the scribes and the rulers are also he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he
there to mock Him. The chief priests ! Horrible in-                delighted in him." Ps. 22. Are these scribes, who know
consistency ! These priests by the service they per- the Scriptures, without understanding? Does it not
formed proclaimed the very Christ they now turn away ,occur  to them that they fulfill the counsel of God and
from as from one accursed. And the scribes are the thus function as His agents? They are blind with a
teachers of a law and a prophesy that turn solely on blindness that springs from a fierce malice. So they
 Him. Thus under the impulse of a fierce spite they                open their mouth against him, as a ravening and a
crucify the very one they preach. The very truth they roaring lion.
declare they  r.evile  ; for He whom they mock is the                 Thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in
truth. Think this not strange. Consider that the                   three days . . . thou on the cross ; a man of such
 truth in Christ had taken on a voice and cried out                power, a crucified one, incapable of saving himself?
against their hypocrisy, denounced their sham piety, Preposterous ! Their present plight is the uncontrovert-
shattered their false hopes, condemned their  worldli-             able proof that the power thou ascribed to thyself is


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.".-lll_____I--ii .- _-- ._~_- .._ - ___ ..___-_                          - -                                      .._-_
not thine, that thou art a pretender with a mind that,         Therefore they hated Him ail the more. Well did they
as warped by a colossal egoism, imagined vain things           understand that His -implicit and unshaken confidence
about thyself. If not, thou would,& certainly save thy- sprang from His firm and abiding conviction that He
self? is it because thy plight is a pleasant one that          worked the works of God always, that thus God took
thou refusest to leave your cross?                             a delight in Him and in all He had done and spoken.
   Then, too, thou saith that thou art the Son of God. To this conviction He had often given expression:
If so come down from the cross. God's Son on the               "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing
cross? So did those that passed by revile Him. So              of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what
unutterably foolish, so  ulispeakably  absurd do His say- things  soever  He doeth, these also doeth the Son like-
ings about Himself appear to them, now that He hangs, wise . . . My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
apparently helpless from a cross, that words fail them         I can of myself do nothing : as I hear I judge : and my
and they pass on wagging their heads.                          judgment is just because I seek not mine own will, but
   The priests, the scribes and the elders mock, too.          the will of the Father which hath sent me." If this
They say, He saved others. This they could not very His convictions are true, they are doomed. For He has
well deny. The evidences of His wonderiworking  power judged them : "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
were oo plentiful. He had made the blind to see, the hypocrites ! because ye build the tombs of the prophets
deaf to hear. He had cured the lame and the halt;              and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous; and say,
cast out devils, raised the dead. W'hat manner of dis-         If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would
ease was there, that He had not cured? Verily He had not have been partakers with them in the blood of the.
saved others. Himself He cannot save.  Bis' power prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
was Satan?. And Satan now leaves him in the lurch, Ye serpents, ye generations of vipers, how can ye
or is either powerless to help  now  that the hour of          escape the damnation of hell?" So He had spoken.
divine vengeance has struck. So they must have iea-            Was this reproof of God? There was not a shadow of
soned among themselves,                                        a doubt in His mind that it was. He believed that all
   They have still other words wherewith to pierce alqng He had warred the warfare of Jehovah.
Him. It occurred to them also that He has said that He             Is His conviction genuine? Is God for Him? Tf so,
was Israel's king. They did not deny that Israel was to He must now come to His aid, for He hangs helpless
have a king. They knew the promise. Unto them a from a cross.                    Would God forsake the righteous?
child would be born and a son given. Upon his shoul- Would He deny His own Son? It cannot be. How ap-
ders the government was to be. And his name was to parent now such is their reasoning that they had not
be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the misjudged Him and that their appraisal of His was
everlasting Father, the prince of peace. Of his govern- true and that His appraisal of them was wrong. Thus
ment and peace there would be no end. He, hanging do they justify themselves and condemn Him.
from the cross, Israel's king? If so, now hath He op-             Apparently His present plight fully justifies their
portunity to make good His claim. Let Him now come judgment. For greater paradox than the cross there
down from the cross, and we will believe Him.                  is not.
   One more shaft they have. He trusted in God ; let               The Son of God on the cross; He, by whom  -all  `.-
him deliver him now, if he will have him. They do not things were created, the omnipotent God, who meas-
say that it is vain to trust in God. They are called           ured the waters in the hollow of His hand, meted out
Jews and rest in the law and make their boast in God,          heaven with a span, comprehended the dust of the
know His will. They mean not to say, `the fool trusted earth in a measure, weighed the mountains in scales
in God thinking. that He would stand by him in the             and the hills in the balance, He before whom the
crisis and thus knew not that he who puts his con-             nations are nothing, He, the incomparable God, who
fidence in God is invariably put to shame. Such is not bringeth the princes to nothing - hanging apparently
the insinuation of these mockers. To the contrary,             helpless from a cross? How can this be?
one of the articles of their faith is, I believe in God the        He, who saved others, now seemingly unadle to
Father, who without respect of persons judgeth ac- save self.
cording to every man's work. They know that the                    Israel's king, of whom it `has been predicted by the
steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, that              prophet that He will break the heathen with a rod of
though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast `down as          iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel,
the Lord upholdeth him with His hand. They con- apparently the victim of mob force?
fess that the saints are not forsaken by Him, but are              He that trusted in God, forsaken by God! How
preserved forever; that the seed of t.he wicked is cut         strange, how perplexing, how awful! If ever a man
off. Upon this conception as upon a floor they now trusted in God, it was him. Never had He taken thought
take their stand and again begin stabbing at his heart.        for His life, what He should eat, or what He should
   He trusted in God ! How well they know it. This             drink. For He trusted that His heavenly Father would
trust He had imparted to all His discourses. His per- care for him. Fearlessly He had declared the name of
son and very being animated perfect confidence in God. His Father unto men ; for He believed that not a hair


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              2X?
_.-......  ".."...~__    ---_-_                _~--.-.-_--..-.-._
could fall from His head without the will of His             sin and saw His seed. Who could the Lord bruise for
heavenly father. When He was reviled, He reviled not our sin but Him? Not a mere righteous man. For
again ; when He suffered, He threatened not ; but com- the soul that sinneth shall die. An angel, not being of
mitted His case to Him who judgeth righteously.              our race, could not have atoned for sin. So God gave
    His trust in God rooted in the confidence that God His Son, Son of God as God. Say therefore that God
was for Him. And this confidence in turn was His be- Himself, in the human nature He assumed, redeemed
cause He walked as a child of the light, fought the .good    us from all our transgressions. This was the work
fight, confessed the name of His father before men,          that the Father had given Him to do. Therefore X-le
made the doing of the will of His Father His meat and        remained upon the cross until He could declare that it
drink. And the Father loved Him ; for His hands were         was finished.
clean and His heart pure. Thus His confidence that              Because He is the Son, He has power to build in
He was the beloved of the Father was not a vain imag- three days the temple that they as the agents of God
ination. He was righteous. He thought God's thoughts, have destroyed. And that temple was His body.
willed God's will. His delight was in the law of the            Being the Son, He during His sojourn among us
Lord. His mouth was full of praise. When He spake,           had saved others indeed. Thus when all was finished,
words of life flowed from His blessed lips. His feet         He also saved Himself, swallowed up death unto vic-
were always swift to do the bidding of the Father. tory. And He shall divide the spoil with the strong.
And He was conscious of His integrity. With the              For trusting in God, He was delivered.
greatest confidence, He invited His enemies to convict          What fathomless love shines forth from that cross.
Him of sin. They could not. He was sentenced to die          The very creature whose sins He bore, in whose stead
because He spake the truth about Himself. If ever a He suffered, reviling Him, wagging his head, because
man walked with God, it was He. Surely He had rea- He refused to come down from that cross. It was
son to believe that God would help Him.                      only love that kept Him on that cross, the love of the
    And yet, He hangs, seemingly helpless,. from a triune God for the very creature that mocked and
cross, forsaken by the Father, compassed by dogs, en- jeered ; the love of the Father who gave His Son to be
closed by the wicked. Upon His head, they empty the a propitiation for all our sins, the love of the Son who
vials of their bitter scorn. They deny His  sonship,         gave Himself, laid down His life for His sheep, love
mock with His kingship, deny His power, insist that of the Spirit who sustained Him until He had finished
He is one accursed. What have they not already done all.
to Him? They smote Him. They pounded Him with                   What love! It was of this love and its fruits that
their fists, spitted in His face, pressed a crown of the apostle was thinking when he wrote: "Eye hath
thorns upon His brow so that the blood trickled clown not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the
His face. They ploughed upon His back with scourge heart of man, the things which God  bath prepared for
and finally laid a cross upon His back to which they them that love Him."
now have Him afZ.xed.  And still they cannot refrain                                                        G. M. 0.
from reviling Him.
   Let God deliver Him now, if He will have Him.
But God does not come to deliver. Ha ! the Most High
will not have Him. He dies on the cross. The leaders
of Israel return to their altars.    Hell seemingly tri-                      NEVER TURN BACK
umphs.                                                           If you have started out in the way you know
   Do the forces of darkness here gain a victory? Nay,           To be right and the only way to go,
the cross spells the triumph of God. The dreadful par-             Then, with a soldier-tread,
adox at bottom is beautiful harmony. For He hanging                March boldly straight ahead,
from that cross is a righteous man to be sure. But if            And suffer, yea, perish! but never turn back!
this is all that could be said of Him, the cross would
call for weeping. For then it merely served as the
instrument for drawing out of fallen man all the cor-            If you would gather grain, seed must soon be sown ;
ruption lurking in his bosom, as the means for showing           Can you expect to reap where you have not strown  ?
him up as a creature capable of slaying holiness itself.           Then to the field away !
And God, if this were true, forsook a righteous man.               Work thro' the heat of day,
   But we know that He who died upon the cross was               And suffer, yea perish, but never turn back !
the Son of God in truth, one capable of building the
temple in three days, One who saved others, One who              Have you a promise made to your God above
trusted in God.                                                  That you would faithful be to the cause you love ?
   Son is He, in the flesh, who  in  His flesh was                 Be loyal, brave and true !
wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our                 He has a work for you !
iniquities. Thus did He make  His  soul an offering for          Then suffer, yea, perish, but  nev.er  turn! back.


