                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                           439
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                                                                             the Calvinists in the founding of this country have
            Calvin and Revolution                                            been largely forgotten, and one can  hard1y treat of
     "The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination,`" by this subject without appearing to be a mere eulogizer
Loraine Boettner.                                                            of Calvinism. We may well do honor to that creed
     The title that Boettner gave to the last chapter  of which has borne such sweet fruits and to which Amer-
his book is, "Calvin in history". What he endeavors to ica owns so much.
prove in this final section of his book is that Calvinism                           "Politically, Calvinism has been the chief source of
is the "creator of the modern world", that "our pres-                        modern Republican form of government. Calvinism
ent Christian civilization is but the  fruitage  of Calvin- and republicanism are related to each other as cause
ism". Let us attend to the author's reasonings re- and effect; and where a people are possessed of the
specting this matter.                                                        former, the latter will soon be developed.
     Under the sub-title "Calvinism in America" one                                 " `It would be hard to overrate the debt (the author
comes upon statements such as these: "History is elo- here quotes John Fiske) which mankind owes to Cal-
quent in declaring that American democracy was born vin . . . . The promulgation of his (Calvin's) the-
of Christianity and that that Christianity was Calvin- ology was one of the longest steps that mankind has
ism. The great Revolutionary conflict which resulted ever taken toward persona1 freedom.'  "
in the formation of the American nation, was carried                                Quoting  Emilio Castelar, Boettner goes on to say,
out mainly by Calvinists, many of whom had been "Anglo-Saxon democracy is the product of a severe
trained in the rigidly Presbyterian College at Prince- theology, learned in the cities of Holland and Switzer-
ton, and this nation in their gift to all liberty loving land."
people.                                                                             And further, "The system (Calvinism) not only im-
     " `The principles of the republic of the United bued its converts with the spirit of liberty, but it gave
States', says Schaff, `can be traced through the inter- them practical training in the rights and duties as free
vening link of Puritanism to Calvinism, which, with men. Each congregation was left to elect its own
all its theological rigor, has been the chief educator of officers and to conduct its own affairs.                           Fiske pro-
manly Character and promoter of constitutional free-                          nounces it, `one of the most effective schools that has
dom in modern times'.                                                        ever existed for training men in local self-government'.
     " `If the average American citizen (the author here                      Spiritual freedom is the source and strength of all
quotes Smith) were asked, who was the founder of other freedom, and it need cause no surprise when we
America, the true author of our  LTeat Republic, he                           are told that the principles which governed them in
might be puzzled to answer.        We can imagine his                         ecclesiastical affairs gave shape to their political
amazement at hearing the answer given to this ques-                           views.`"
tion by the famous German historian, Ranke, one of                                   Under the sub-title "Calvinism and Education" one
the profoundest scholars of modern times. Says Ranke, comes upon statements such as these: "We boast of our
`John Calvin was the virtual founder of America.'                            common  schools ; Calvin was the father of popular edu-
     Smith, as quoted by Boettner, continues, "These cation -  the inventor of the system of free scfiools.
revolutionary principles of republican liberty and  self-                     Wherever Calvinism gained dominion, it invoked intel-
government, taught and embodied in the system of ligence for the people and in every parish planted the
Calvin, were brought to America, and in this new common school . . . Our boasted common-school sys-
land where they have borne so mighty a harvest were                           tem is indebted for its existence to the stream of in-
planted, by whose hands?  - the hands of Calvinists.                          fluence which followed from the Geneva of Calvin,
The vital relation of Calvin and Calvinism to the found-                      through Scotland and Holland to America ; and, for
ing of the free institutions of America, however                              the first two hundred years of our history almost every
strange in our ears the statement of Ranke may have                           college and seminary of learning, and almost every
sounded, is recognized and affirmed by historians of all                      academy and common school was built and sustained
lands and creeds."                                                            by Calvinists."
     Now this from Boettner's very own pen, "In Eng-                                 Attend finally to the following statements: "His
land and America the great struggles for civil and re-                         (Calvin's) reai monument, however, is every repub-
ligious liberty were nursed in Calvinism, inspired by lican government on earth, the public school system of
Calvinism, and carried out Iargely  by men who were all nations and the Reformed Churches throughout the
Calvinists. And because the majority of historians                            world holding the Presbyterian System . . . . Smith
have never made a serious study of Calvinism they refers'to  that divinely vital and exurberant Calvinism,
have never been able to give us ,a truthful and com- the creator of the modern world . . . . The impartial
plete account of what it has done for America. Only verdict of history is that as a character builder and as
the light of historical investigation is needed to show a proclaimer of liberty to men and nations Calvinism
US  how our forefathers believed in it and were con-                          stands supreme among all the religious systems of the
trolled by it. We live in a day when the  services  of                        world. Every impartial historian will admit that it


44-o                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
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was the Protestant revolt against Rome which  .gave                    supreme soveroign, God, to refuse obedience and even,
the modern world its first state of genuine religious                  if necessary, to depose the tyrant, through the lesser
and civil  .liberty,  and that the nations which have                  authorities appointed by God for the defense of the
achieved and enjoyed the greatest freedom have been                    rights of the governed" (quoted from I-1. H. Meeter's.
those which were fully brought under the influence of The Fundamental Principles of Calvinism).
Calvinism. Furthermore that great life-giving stream                      The question is if the principle here expressed was
of religious and civil liberty has been made by Calvin-                Calvin's. It appears from his reasonings found in his
ism to flow over all the broad plains of modern his-                   fnstitutir:  that it was not. In the last chapter of &is
tory  * . . . He who is most familiar with the history                 work --- a chapter that bears the title cli& Govern-
of Europe and America will readily agree with  ihe                     ,mc-rzt,  Calvin argues at great length to prove that the
startling statement of Dr. Cunningham that, `next Co                   citizens of a state are in duty bound to submit .lhem-
Paul John Calvin has done most for the world' . . . .                  selves also to the most tyrannical sovereign. The X-
The thoughtful reader . . . . may be startled at  the                  tion consisting in the oppressed subjects deposing a
implied claim that our present Christian civilization is               profligate monarch by a power emblemized by  the
but the  fruitage  of Calvinism." So far Boettner.                     sword, is, according to this Reformer, forbidden.  1
        The above reasoning of Boettner may be condensed               quote, "Some magistrates (vorsten) are irresponsible
into a single major proposition which may be form- persons, careless in the performance of the duties be-
ulated thus: Calvinism is the fountain head of `chat                   longing to their office. Taking no thought for the well-
stream of civilization known as modernism, a stream being of their subjects, they wholly give themselves up
from which saint and sinner alike do and may drink. to a life of luxury. Others for personal gain place on
It is this proposition that forms the grand conclusion sale their rights, privileges, verdicts and appointments.
at which Boettner arrives, the one point of convergence                Still others rob the poor of their money, which 5hey
of all his reasonings. This proposition was particular- thereupon squander in immoderate disbursements.
ized and made to turn by Boettner on the war of rebel- Some assault maidens and virtuous women, murder the
lion in the Netherlands, waged against Philip of Spain ;               innocent and thus perform the work of highwaymen.
on the American Revolution of 1'776; on modern civil                   Because of this, some men will not be convinced ihat
liberty ; on modern representative government  ; on also these must be recognized as rulers and obeyed . . . .
modern republicanism or democracy ; on modern cduca-                   A very bad and disreputable person with whom rests
tion or system of free schools. The revolt in the Neth- a public power that is the seat of divine highness  - :I
erlands was according to Boettner, the  fruitage  of highness with which the Lord in His word vests the
Calvinism. Likewise the American revolution and servants of righteousness and justice  - must receive
every political convultion  of modern history including from his subjects the same honor and esteem, as far as
the French Revolution. Likewise every democracy or                     public obeisance is concerned, that the best monarch
republican state that in the course of the last two cen-               would receive from them . . . . This disposition of
turies came into being. Consider once more the state- reverence and godliness must be shown to all magis-
ment, "His (Calvin's) real monument is every repub- trates, irrespective of what they may be. In honoring
lican government on earth." Likewise education.                        and obeying the froward, we ought to go to the extreme
        So do Calvinists of this day vaingloriously boast in           length. The reason I so often repeat this is that we
a Calvinism that is not Calvin's, in a Calvinism ihat may learn not to institute an inquiry respecting the per-
springs not from the mind of God but from the mind                     sons themselves, but appease ourselves with the con-
of men in the need of a license for glorying in the cul-               sideration that they by the will of God have been
ture and achievements of the world. And that license placed in a position that bears the impress of a divine
is the pseudo-Calvinism of the modern Calvinist. What majesty that cannot be dishonored.
a travesty on truth, the saying that Calvin's real monu-                  "But, you will say, rulers have reciprocally also
ment is every republican form of government on earth.                  duties to perform toward their subjects. I have already
        Let US examine the propositions cited above. The admitted this. But if you conclude from this that we
political convulsions of modern history are without a need be subject to the righteous rulers only, you argue
single exception the  fruitage  of Calvinism. They  a11 as one without sense. Consider that also husbands in
spring from a Calvinistic principle of' the sovereignty                respect to their wives and parents in respect to their
of God. This principle as stated by Boettner reads, children are bound to certain duties. But if it occurs
"On the other hand this very principle of the sove- that parents and husbands become guilty of wrong con-
reignty of God operated as a mighty defense of the                     duct in the performance of their duties, to wit, that
liberties of the subject citizens against tyrannical                   parents, who are forbidden t,o provoke their children
rulers. Whenever sovereigns ignored the will of God, to anger, so ill-treat their children that by their pro-
trampled upon the rights of the governed and became                    vocations they render themselves to the latter insuffer-
tyrannical, it became the privilege and duty of the sub- able beyond measure ; and that the husbands shame-
jects, in view of the higher responsibility of the                     fully treat their wives, whom they, according to the


                                                             T H E   STaNDARD  B E ' A R E R                                                       4-i 1
-._-- ..-. -^-.. ._.. -___" . --..--.-  ._-....-.......-               -..........  "l".-._--  .--.-.----
command of God, are in duty bound to love and to                                          attention of the readers to what so often and not with-
spare `as the weaker vessels, - shall the children for out reason is held before us in Scripture, to wit, the
this reason refuse to be subject to  their parents and the                                providence of God and His particular dealings in dis-
wives to their husbands? No, indeed, for they are posing kingdoms and in enthroning such kings as He
made subject also to the evil and irresponsible. Thus,                                     wills. We read in Daniel (2 :21 and 3'7) : The Lord
in as much as this must be practiced by all, namely, changeth the times and the seasons:  Be removeth
that we must not look at the carpet-bag on the back,                                      kings and  setteth up kings. So too: That the living
that is, that it is no concern of ours how another in the                                 may know that the Highest is mighty in the kingdom
performance of his duties behaves toward us, but that of men and will give it to whom He will. Though Holy
we ought to consider what our duty is, so must this be                                    Writ abounds in sayings of this kind, yet are they
particularly observed by those who are placed under                                       particularly numerous in this prophetic book. It is
the jurisdict.ion  of others. Thus, if we are being op- well known what kind of a king Nebuchadnezzar, who
pressed by a tyrannical, or immorderately robbed by                                        took Jerusalem, was; namely a stern conquorer and
an avaricious and intcmporate, neglected by an irre-                                      plunderer of other kingdoms. The Lord, nevertheless,
sponsible,.or plagued and tormented by a godless and says by the mouth of the prophet Ezekiel (20  :19) that
blasphemous, ruler, let us  first consider our sins, which He has given him the Iand of Egypt as a reward for
without a  dqubt are being disciplined  bjr  the Lord his obedience, shown in the destroying of the aforesaid
through such stripes. From this will be born  humblc-                                     land.              And Daniel, addressing him, said, "Thou, o
ness of spirit  for,the  bridling of our impatience. That king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath
also this thought be cherished by us, that it is not our given thee a kingdom, power and strength and glory.
task to cure such faults, but that we have nothing else And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts
to do than to invoke the help of the Lord in whose of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath He given
hands the hearts of kings (Proverbs 21  :l) and the                                       into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them
changes of governments are.                                 He is that God who            all. And again to his son Belshazar (Dan. 5 :19) : 0
standeth in the congregation of the mighty, who                                           thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy
judgeth among the gods (Ps. 82) ; before whose face                                       father a kingdom, and majesty and glory and honour :
all kings and judges of the earth, who refused to kiss And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, na-
His Christ, will fall and be consumed (Ps. 2  :12) ; who tions, and languages, trembled and feared before him.
prescribed unjust laws for the purpose of oppressing When we hear that he was appointed king by God, we
the poor in their rights, violated the good cause of the ,must contemplate these heavenly decrees, through
people of mean ability, possessed the widows for                                           which we are bidden to honor and fear the king and
plunder and bled the orphans" (Quoted from the Hol- then we will not hesitate to give to the worst'tyrant
land edition of the Institutes. Translation by the un- such obeisance as the Lord ordained he should have.
dersigned, G. M.  0.) So far Calvin. Let us pause When Samuel informed the people what they would
here and comment on what is presented above.                                              have to endure from their king, he spoke thus (I Sam.
      It can be seen at a glance that~this entire reasoning                                8  :11) : This will be the manner of the king that shall
turns on the proposition: The ruled are in duty bound                                      reign over you: he will take your sons, and appoint
to submit themselves also to the tyrannical, godless and                                   them for himself, for his chariots,' and to be his horse-
blasphemous ruler. In this they are to go to the ex- men. And he will take your daughters to be confect-
treme length. They may not by a power emblemized                                           ionaries, and to be cooks and to be bakers. And he
by the sword depose such a ruler. When life under                                          will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your
the tyrant becomes utterly unbearable, all that the op- oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his
pressed may do is to invoke the aid of God and petition servants. And he will take your menservants, and your
Him for deliverance. Instead of rebelling, they, the                                       maidservants, and your goodliest  young men, and your
oppressed, shall turn to themselves, engage in earnest asses and put them to his work. He will take the tenth
heart-searchings, and, considering that they are  ,being                                   of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants. Truly the
chastized  for their sins, humble themselves before the kings could not do all this by virtue of right, as the
face of God.                                                                               law instructed them to be most moderate; but here it
      Let us now attend to the scriptures that  Calvi$                                     was called the right ower the people, which they had to
adduced in support of this his stand. I again quote:                                       strictly obey and against which they might not rebel.
"We need not exert ourselves to prove that a godless As if Samuel had said: To such arbitrariness the cove-
king is a rod in God's hand over the land, in as much tousness of your kings will burst forth, which thou
as I feel certain that no one will gainsay this. But we nevertheless wilt not be able or permitted to curb ; but
must apply ourselves more particular to proving what this alone will remain to thee that thou after having
men do not so readily concede; namely, that profligate received their commands, wilt be under the necessity
rulers must as far as possible, be obeyed, esteemed and of obeying them.
honored as well as the others. Firstly, I direct the                                              "Striking and worthy of earnest consideration is


  442                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                  -.-..._ -.- ..__                                                        -_.__ .___.. - .._^ ^__._.
  especially the scripture found in Jeremiah (Jer.  27:5),       to pray for those who persecute us, but that.
  which we here eagerly quote, as it very plainly decides        his kingdom and his peace might be preserved for him
  this matter: I have made the earth, the man and the            and they themselves might prosperously live under
  beast that are upon the ground, by mv great power and          him. So did David, who had already been chosen king
  by my outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom and anointed with holy oil, spare the life of his perse-
  it seemed meet unto me. And now have I given all               cutor, because the Lord had sanctified him, Saul, to
  these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king the honor of the kingdom. The Lord forbid, said he
  of Babylon, my servant; and the beast of the field have        (I Sam. 24:6) that I should do this unto my master,
  I given him also to serve him. And all nations shall           the Lord's anointed, to stretch forth my hand against
  serve him, and his son and his son's son, until the very       him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord. So also
  time of his land come: and then many nations and               (I Sam. 26 :9) : My soul spares thee, for I said, I will
  great kings shall serve themselves of him. And it shall        not stretch forth my hand against my lord, because he
  come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will           is the anointed of the Lord. And also this: for who
  not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Baby- can stretch forth his hand against the Lord's anointed,
  lon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of and be guiltless. As the Lord liveth, the Lord shall
  the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith smite him ; or his day shall come to die, or he shall de-
* the Lord, with the sword, and with the famine, and             scend into battle and perish." So far Calvin.
  with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his            Calvin, it appears, was convinced that his conten-
  hand. Serve therefore the king of Babylon and live.            tion to the effect that subjects are in duty bound to
  We see here with what great obedience this cruel and           esteem and .obey  as far as possible the most terrible
. terrible tyrant had to be served and that for no other         tyrant was thoroughly scriptural.
  reason than that he possessed the kingdom. This pos-              From this it must not be concluded that he was
  session proves that he had been enthroned and elevated         unmindful of the fact that this obedience has its limits,
  to kingly majesty by the decree of Heaven. If this             that when the command of the king would, if done, in-
  were constantly considered and kept in mind by us,             volve subjects in a denial of the will of God, not the
  that by the same decree through which the authority king but God must be served. Wrote Calvin: "In ac-
  of kings is confirmed, also the worst kings are ap- cordance with this rule, Daniel testifies (6  :22) that he
  pointed  ; these rebellious thoughts would never rise in did the king no injustice, though he had refused to
  our minds that a king may be dealt with according to execute his godless command; for the king by raising
  his deserts and that it does not become us as subjects         his horns against God had robbed himself of  his
  to tolerate him who on his part does not behave toward authority. The Israelites are condemned for listening
  us as it becomes a king.                                       to the wicked command of the king. When Jeroboam
         *`It would avail us nothing to object that this com-    had made golden calves, they, to please him, forsook
  mand was given to  IsraeI only. For we must observe the temple of God. Likewise did their  descendents
  the reason upon which the Lord grounded this com-              yield to the wims of their kings. The prophet chides
  mand. I have, says He, (Jer. 27 :17), given to Nebu-m them for having accepted their commands (Hos. 5 :-1-l): --
  chadnezzar the kingdom, serve him therefore and live.             Though Calvin taught that subjects are in duty
   From this it undoubtedly follows that we must serve           bound to submit themselves to most worthless ruler,
  those to whom the rule is given. For the instant the he had an eye for the fact that "God now raised up
  Lord elevates someone to the kingly dignity, He makes public deliverers, whom He arms with his command to
  known to us His will that it pleases Him that this one         punish godless governments and to save an oppressed
   should rule. Such is the testimony of God's word.             people from their miseries that He then uses for this
   Solomon says (Proverbs 28:2) For the transgression work the raging of a godless conquorer in quest of
   of the land many are the princes thereof, So, too, Job        glory. In the first-mentioned manner he delivered His
   (12  :18) : He looseth the bond of kings, and girdeth         people Israel from the tyrany of Pharaoh through
   their loins with a girdle. This being certain, there re- Moses, from the tyrany of Cuschan, king of Syria,
   mains to us nothing else than to serve them would we          through  Othniel. In the last-named manner he curbed
   live. There is still another command coming to us             the pride of Tyrus through the Egyptians, the audacity
   from the prophet Jeremiah (29  :7), whereby He orders         of the Egyptians through the Assyrians, the inordinate
   His people to seek the peace of Babylon, whither they daring of the Babylonians through the Medes and the
   had been exiled, and to pray for her because in the           Persians. Yet though in the calamities (I am quoting
   peace of that city their peace was bound up. Behold !         Calvin) that overtake a lawless government operates
   The Israelites, who had been robbed of their earthly t.he wrath of God revealed over its unrighteousness, it
   possessions,  dragged out of their houses, driven into        must not be supposed that we may avenge ourselves,
   exile and cast into a wretched servitude, are com-            we, I say, who have received no other command than
   manded to pray for the prosperity of their  con- to obey and be patient. I speak now of persons not in
   quorei'  : not in the sense in which we are commanded         office. But if there be government officials, appointed


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     t                                          T H E   STANDARD  B E A R E R                                                  443
                                    _..__" .__.. -__--                           - .-..-...--  - ._...._...-__    -_-.- .._ "-._
     from among the people to bridle the arbitrariness of lived and could have had his say at the time when the
     profligate rulers, so far from the truth it is that  I for-      American Revolution was being contemplated, that
     bid such to set themselves against tie raging of laWleSS         movement would never have been set on foot. It is
     kings, that I even content that they would neglect their getting so  t,hat one has reason to be ashamed of being
     duty should they do otherwise."                                  known as a Calvinist. Such monstrous views are they .
            We see that the question, How must oppressed sub- pinning on Calvin these days. This discussion will be
     jects behave toward a sovereign who is an insufferable continued in following articles.
     tyrant, drew forth from Boettner an answer that dif-                                                         G. M.  0
     fers radically and essentially from the answer that the
     same question elicited from Calvin. Calvin's answer
     was: The oppressed subjects shall submit themselves                             Judas, Niet Iscariot
     to this tyrant. They may not refuse him obedience,
     much less despose him. The proper authorities must                                                            Job.   14:22.
     curb his avarice and arbitrariness, the subjects must               Onder de Apostelen, die met enkele anderen voor
     refuse to be bound by any particular command of his,             ons onbekend zijn gebleven, moet ook Judas, niet Isca-
     the doing of which involves them in a denial of God,             riot,  worda gerekend. Allerlei gissingen en  veron-
     but under no condition may they of their own accord derstellingen zijn er gemaakt, omtrent zijn verhouding
     disallow the godless and cruel sovereign, brake his tegenover de anderen. Men heeft gemeend, op grond
     bands, and cast his cords from them. Instead, the sub- van Matth. 13:55,  dat hij tot de broeders (neven) des
     jects shall remain under his yoke and wait for the de- Heeren behoorde, die eerst ongeloovig  waren,  doch la-
     liverance of the Lord and in the interval, considering ter volgelingen des Heilands zijn geworden. Hef is
     that they are being chastized  for their sins, humble            echter een open vraag of de Judas, in den hierboven
     themselves before God.                                           genoemden tekst, dezelfde is als de Judas over wien we
             Boettner's answer to the same question is:  Whew         sohrijven. -41s men den naam even voor de aahdacht
     ever a sovereign tramples upon the rights of the gov- houdt, is het niet moeilijk te zien, dat de mogelijkheid
     erned and thus becomes tyrannical, it becomes the                niet uitgesloten is, met een geheel ander persoon  te
     privilege and duty of the subjects to refuse obedience           doen  te hebben. Judas is een naam, die vaak in de
     and even, if necessary, to depose him.                           Schrift  voorkomt en  juist uit het oogpunt van zijn  al-
             One perceives at once that Calvin's answer springs gemeenheid ons den grond biedt voor deze gedachte.
     from a different principle than that of Boettner, that              Hetzelfde zouden we  willen zeggen met het oog op
     from the former's answer animates a different spirit             wat we in Luk. 6 :I.6 en Hand. 1:13 vinden, dat zijn be-
     than from the answer of the latter. Boettner's answer trekking tot de overigen door ons niet kan bewezen
     is that  oft the revolutionist and stands for a principle        worden  uit genoemde plaatsen. In beide teksten wordt
     that when put into words reads: there is no god but              hij omschreven als de zoon van Jacobus,  terwijl deze
     man. Calvin reasoned from a principle that when put Jacobus  voor ons een onbekende blijft. Eveneens staat
     into words read: There is no god but God.                        het  te bezien of de algemeene Zendbrief, gestel dat deze
             This principle of revolution Boettner brought to the van zijne hand is, ons bewijs levert voor de gedachte,
     fore in his book as garbed in the dress of a pious-sound-        dat Judas en Jacobus  broeders des Heeren waren. De
     ing reasoning. This reasoning is: Whenever sove- Brief zelf verspreidt geen licht omtrent de vraag of de
     reigns ignore the will of God and trample upon the               schrijver een Apostel was en evenmin wordt ons iets
     rights of the governed . . . it becomes the duty of the          vermeld omtrent de relatie waarin deze Jacobus  tot
     subject, in  view of the higher  rcspomibility  of the           Jezus staat. Weliswaar, wordt hier door sommigen
     supreme sovereign to refuse obedience and to depose tegen ingebracht, dat de schrijver van den brief met
     the tyrant. But Calvin taught: Whenever sovereigns               opzet over de bloedbanden zwijgt en die bloedbanden
     ignore the will of God and trample upon the rights of zooveel mogelijk  op den achtergrond plaatst, doch hier-
     the governed, it is the duty of the subjects, in view  d tegenover staat, dat diezelfde banden ons worden  gege-
     the higher responsibility of the supreme Sovereign,              ven in het eerste vers en Judas zich als Jacobus  broeder
     God, to nevertheless obey that tyrant in as far as this          aandient. En de moeilijkheid wordt nog grooter  wan-
          is possible and to remain under hi's yoke.                  neer men tracht om den Jacobus  in den Zendbrief ge-
             I say it again, there is a radical difference between    noemd, niet als den broeder, doch als een Vader van
          these two answers. It is certainly nothing short of a Judas te beschouwen (iets wat naar de grondtaal te
     crime to maintain as does Boettner that Calvin's Cal- oordeelen  de  alleTgrofste  willekeur is). Natuurlijk,
     vinism (mark you, I say Calvin's Calvinism, not H. H. zoo zou er een zekere harmonie zijn met de genoemde
          Meeter's Calvinism or Emilio Castelar's Calvinism or teksten in Lukas'  EvangeIie  en de Handelingen der
          any other modern Calvinist's Calvinism) is the fount- Apostelen:             Maar afgedacht van deze verschillende
          ain head of  al1 the political revolutions and upheavals    mogelijkheden, heeft de S&rift zeer weinig aangaande
          of modern history. I venture to say that if Calvin had zijn persoon  en werk ons geopenbaard.


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEABER                                               445
                   --_..----  ---.-- . .._
in ze zouden verkeeren, zou verlichten. Daarom wijst
Jezus Judas op het bewaren van Zijn Woord. Schijn-             A Catechism On the History of the
baar ontvangt Judas geen antwoord op de vraag door                    Protestant Reformed Churches
hem  aan den Heiland gesteld.  Tech is dat het  ant-
woord waaraan hij en al de anderen behoefte hebben.
Die Hem liefheeft bewaart Zijn Woord en wie Zijn                                      PART TWO
Woord bewaart zal ook te midden  van alle beroering,
tech niet in het duister zijn. Want in Zijn Woord alleen                                    IX
ligt de vastheid en de troost, Iaat er dan komen wat wil.               SYN~D'S   PROOF   FOR THE  THIRD  POINT
Bet waarom en het hoe zouden later verstaan worden,
nu is er slechts behoefte om het woord door den Heerc               1. Did the synod of 1924 claim to find proof. for
gesproken te bewaren, het in het hart te bewaren,  om        the implications of the third point in the Confessions?
dan straks er bij te kunnen leven en er den troost uit              Indeed  ; it mentions the Canons of Dordrecht, III,
te  trekken,  die noodig zou zijn te  midden van den         IV, 4; and the Netherland or Belgic Confession, Art.
storm.                                                       36.
   Wie Jezus liefheeft bewaart Zijn Woord zorgvuldig                2. What do you read in the Canons, III, IV, 4?
en die heeft de belofte, het moge gaan hoe het wil, dat             The entire articie reads as follows :
Gods eeuwige, onveranderlijke liefde, bewust door hem               "There remain, `however, in man since the fall,
wordt ervaren, geproefd en gesmaakt. Hij  zal niet glimmerings of natural light, whereby he retains some
alleen  straks in het huis des Vaders verkeeren, in de       knowledge of God, of natural things, and of the differ-
t.oebereide  plaats voor hem bestemd, doch ook het heer-     ence between good and evil, and discovers some regard
lijk-zalige van de mystieke unie tusschen hem en den         for virtue, good order in society, and for maintaining
Vader in Christus  door den Heiligen Geest ook nu al-        an orderly external deportment. But so far is this
reeds genieten.                                              light of nature from being sufficient to bring him to a
                                                w. v.        saving knowledge of God, and to true conversion, that
                                                             he is incapable of using it aright even in things natural
                                                             and civil. Nay further, this light, such as it is, man
                                                             in various ways renders wholly polluted, and holds it
                                                             in unrighteousnes, by doing which he becomes inex-
                        GA MEE!                              cusable before God".
           Net zoele morgenwindje                                   3. Why do you emphasize that the entire article
              Glijdt over gindschen  plas,                   reads thus ?
           En doet de blaadjes trillen                              Because the committee synod had appointed to
              Van wilgen, bloem en gras.                     serve her with advice in this matter did not quote the
           Ga mee! ga mee ! Ontvlied de stad.                article entirely, but only the  first sentence of it.
              De zomer opent u zijn schat.                          4. Why should the committee have done so?
                                                                    A superficial reading of the first sentence'of this
           De vogels kwinkeleeren                            article might leave the impression upon the minds of
              En spelen met elkaar ;                         the imprudent and inexperienced that it actually
           Zij dringen u tot' zingen,                        teaches that the natural man is able to do good works,
              Volg gij hun voorbeeld  maar.                  as the third point would have us believe. However, as
           Ga mee ! ga mee ! Ontvlied de stad!               soon as the sentence is taken in its proper context and
              De zomer opent u zijn schat.                   the entire article is considered, it becomes perfectly
                                                             evident, that this cannot possibly the meaning. The
                                                             last two sentences emphatically contradict what synod
           Ginds ziet gij rund'ren grazen,                   claims is taught in the first part of this aricle.
              Langs  bermen aan den weg,                            5. What, then, does the first part of this article,
          En vluggewiekte vlinders,                          the part which the committee quoted, teach?
              Zij fladd'ren langs  de heg.                          a. That fallen man retained some glimmerings of
           Ga mee! ga mee ! Ontvlied de stad,                natural light.
              De zomer opent u zijn schat.                          b. That by this natural light he has some knowl-
                                                             edge of God, of things natural, and of the difference be-
           En over al dat Schoone                            tween good and evil.
              Spreidt God Zijn zonneschijn,                         c. That by this natural light he discovers some
           Wil `t hart ten hemel lokken,                     regard for virtue, for good order in society, and for
              Waar geene winters zijn.                       maintaining an orderly external deportment.
           Ga mee ! ga mee ! Ons is bereid                          6. What is "natural light"?
              Een zonnig land in eeuwigheid.                        It is the light of reason, through which man, even


446                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                               ..-
after the fall, is  a rational-moral being. The article he  pe?*forms the good. And this he does not, will not,
speaks of "`giimmerings" of  this  .light remaining in                and cannot will to do.
fallen man, because it does no longer shine in its orig-                 10. Yet, does not the article also state that in the
inal brightness that characterized it in the state of light of these glimmerings the natural man discovers
righteousness. 1.f man had not retained these glim-                   some regard for virtue, good order in society and for
merings he would not be able to act rationally and                    maintaining an orderly external deportment?
moraily in relation to God and man. He would not be                      Indeed ; and we do not deny it. This means in the
responsible. He would be unable to sin, for sin pre-                  first place, that the fallen man, though he loves sin and
supposes a rational-moral being that knows what he                    hates God, knows very well, that God is good, and tliat
oz~ght  to do and is, therefore responsible. And he could it is also good to serve Him. He is not unaware of the
not be subject to punishment, nor would he be in a                    patent fact that sin leads to destruction. Thus he also
position to justify God in His righteous judgment. In knows that the law of God is good and that to keep
the light of t.hese glimmerings, therefore, fallen man                that law in his earthly life is good for him. He per-
knows what he  (yught to do, but is not morally able to               ceives very well that it is not good for him to commit
do it. Knowledge is no virtue.                                        ad'ultery,  to steal and to murder. Hence, he has a cer-
       7. What knowiedge of God does fallen man have tain regard for virtue and there is even a certain at-
in the light of these glimmerings?                                    tempt manifest in his life and walk to be virtuous,  $0
       He knows that God is and that He is One, eternal               maintain order in society and to conduct himself
in power and divinity, and that He must be glorified                  orderly in his external deportment. But this regard
and thanked. This knowledge, which by his glim- and this attempt is only manifest in as far as he per-
merings of natural light he is able to perceive, God                  ceives in certain cases that transgression of the law
shows unto him, for the invisible things of God from                  in his actual and outward life has evil effects for him-
the creation of the world are clearly seen, being under-              self and in as far as, induced by this fear of evil re-
stood by the things  that are made, Eom. 1:19, 20. By                 sults, he is able to contrQ1  his lust. This explains also
this knowledge, therefore, he knows what he ought to                  why he succeeds but to a very limited extent in this
be and to do in relation to God ~(~9 God. He must glorify attempt to be virtuous. He is not always equally mind-
and thank Him. However, the question as to whether ful of the evil effects of sin; nor, being mindful of it,
there remains in fallen man any yood and is able to do                does he always succeed to bridle his lust. Hence, though
good, is not determined by what he  knozos,  but by what,             there is some regard for virtue and good order and
in the light of that knowledge he does. And the Word                  orderly external deportment, it must be remarked:
of God teaches, that knowing God he refuses to glorify                (1) That inwardly he is not virtuous at all, but even
Him as God and to be thankful.  Ram.  1:21.                           in this regard for virtue a seeker of self. Re does not
                                                                      love God, neither God's precepts, but seeks to maintain
       8. What is his knowledge of "natural things"?                  himself. (2) That outwardly he appears virtuous in a
       Natural things  are the things of this world, things           very limited extent and, inspite of the attempt to keep
earthy, man himself and creaticn  about him, the differ-              within the bounds of safety, he and all the world are
ent creatures in relation to one-another and to him-                  nevertheless dominated by sin and are rushing to de-
self. In the light of this knowledge man, fallen man,                 struction. The rule is that "knowing the judgment  o.f
is able to live his present earthly iife, such as it is. In           God, that they which commit such things are worthy
this light' he also develops the sciences and discovers               of death, they not only do the same, but have pleasure
the hidden powers of creation and invents the wonders                 in them that do them", Ram. 1532.
of the modern world. He discovers numerous means                          11. Is there, then, even in that first part of
whereby to enrich the life of the world. Again, how-                  Canons III, IV, 4, which was quoted by the commit-
ever, the question as to whether there remains in fall'en             tee, no proof for the doctrinal contents of the third
man any good and whether he performs any good, is                     point?
not answered by the fact that he is able to live and to                   Indeed not. The third point teaches, that God with-
enlarge upon the scope of his earthly life, but is de-                out renewing the heart so influences man that he is able
termined by his relation to God. With all these means                 to do civil good. True, the natural light is a gift of
he does not improve, neither does he any good. He                     God to man. But, as we have seen, mere knowledge is
merely subjects himself with all these to the service                 no virtue. And who would dare to call good that man
of sin.                                                               refuses to glorify and thank God in the glimmerings of
       9. But does not the article also state, that he                that natural light? Or, who would stamp as good
knows the difference between good and evil?                           works those limited attempts of man to seek himself
       Indeed; and thus it is. Were it not so man could               by keeping within the bounds of the law of God. And
not be a sinner. However, it must be emphasized once                  is it not little short of blasphemy to ascribe these cor-
more, the  q.uestion  is not whether he  Imows the differ-            ruptions to an influence of God and to the operations of
ence between good and evil, but whether, knowing this,                the Holy Spirit? The interpretation, then, which the


                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                  447
_~--                                         ".." ..-. -.      .-".--- ..-. --.- .-.. _._ ---.-. _." .._..... "~-..-."..".."-llll. -.    ..- -
synod of 1924 would put upon Canons III, IV, 4, must         can only mean that, though he knows the difference be-
be considered as extremely corrupt.                          tween good and evil in the sphere of things natural and
   15'    But did you not say, that the last part of this    civil, though he knows what he ought to be and to do,
articy; of the Canons contradicts plainly what synod         yet he sins and corrupts himself and all life. When
claimed to be taught in the first part?                      the natural man wholly pollutes and corrupts the nat-
   Indeed, I did. And the truth of this statement must ural light and holds it in unrighteousness, he certainly
be evident to all that do not willingly close their eyes     cannot be said to do civil good at the same time. Hence,
to what is very evident. For, while the first part of        the plain and lucid and emphatic language of the last
this article states the fact, that the natural man re-       part of this article contradicts the interpretation synod
tained some glimmerings of natural light, in the second puts upon its first sentence.
part we are taught what he does with it. "But so far             17 What other part of the Confession did synod
is this light of nature from being sufficient to bring       quote to prove the truth of the third point?
him to a saving knowledge of God, and to true conver-            The third point refers to Art. 36 of the  Netlierland
sion, that he is incapable of using it aright even in        Confession of which the committee, however, had
things natural and civil. Nay further, this light, such quoted the following fragment: `"Wherefore we de-
as it is, man in various ways renders wholly polluted,       test . .  `.  . also those . . . . who confound that de-
and holds it in unrighteousness, by doing which he be-       cency and good order which God establishes among
comes itiexcusable before God".                              men".
   X3. But does not this last part teach, that with              18. What would you answer to this?
this natural light the fallen nian is incapable of doing         I would say that synod must have been desparately
saving and spiritual good, and is this not admitted by looking for anything that would have a semblance of
the third point?                                             proof in the Confessions, before it finally decided to
   Indeed, this is taught in this article of the Canons.     appear in public with this attempt.
The Canons were written against the Arminians, who               19. Why do you say this?
taught that the natural man could use these glimmer-             Because in this quotation even the semblance of
ings of natural light unto his spiritual improvement,        proof for the truth of the third point is utterly want-
so that he could advance by them to the greater light        ing. Even though we accept the miserable fra,gment
of a saving knowledge of God. It is for this reason          which synod offers, it certainly contains no proof for
that this article denies that the natural light is serv- the contention that there is an influence of God upon
iceable for the fallen man to bring him to such saving man, an operation of the Holy Spirit. which is not re-
knowledge. find, on this point we have no controversy generative upon the sinner, by which he is able to do
wit& synod and the third point. For, it declares, that civil good in the sight of God. But this utter want of
the unregenerate, though incapable of doing any the desired and pretended proof is rendered beyond all
saving good, can do civil good.                              reasonable doubt as soon as we complete the fragment
   14. Why, then, do you maintain that the last part synod quotes. For, thus completed, it reads as follows  :
of this article of the Canons contradict plainly what "Wherefore, we detest the Anabaptists and  other-msedi-~
synod claims to be taught by the first part of the same?     tious people, and in general all those who reject `ihe
   Because in this last part the Canons teach far more higher powers and magistrates,, and would subvert
than merely that the natural man by his natural light justice, introduce community of goods, and confound
cannot attain to a saving knowledge of God.                  that decency and good order, which God hath estab-
   15. What does it teach?                                   lished among men". It will be evident, that this part
   `First of all, that fallen man is incapable of using of the Confession does not at all speak of the good
the natural light aright in things natural and civil.        fallen man can do, but of good order and decency God
Synod attempted to prove by quoting only the first part,     establishes among men. And the reference in this
that he is capable of using this natural light  aright in article is to the government, by which Gods wills that
the sphere of things natural and civil, so that he can       the world shall be ruled. That in the midst of this
do civil good. And that synod really meant to declare        God-ordained order of life and society the fallen man
that the natural man can do good works in the sphere         does not sin, yea, that he does not even corrupt this
of the natural and civil, is evident from the fact that      very order and press it into the service of sin, the
it ascribed this power to an influence of God and, in the    article does not state. On the contrary, if we apply
light of the second point, to an operation of the Holy to this article the last part of the Canons III, IV, 4, it
Spirit. This contention, then, is plainly contradicted       will be evident that our Confessions teach, that even in
in the last part of this article of the Canons.              things natural and civil, hence also in things pertaining
   16. What else does this last part teach?                  to governments and magistrates, fallen man wholly
   It very emphatically maintains that fallen man            pollutes his natural light and holds it in unrighteous-
renders this natural light wholly polluted in various ness. And both history and actual conditions of `ihe
ways, and that he holds it in unrighteousness. This present day amply corroborate this judgment.


448                                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
---__-"_-           -..........................  "..- -         --"-^"-.    -.- l_ll-..                -_^ ..___I_..............................
   20. Do not other parts of the Confessions clearly being thus become wicked, perverse and corrupt in all
oppose the declaration of synod in the third point?                            his ways, he hath lost  a11 his excellent gifts, which he
   Indeed, they do.                                                            had received frbm God, and only retained d few t-em-
   21. Will you quote some of them?                                            nants thereof, which however are sufficient to leave
   Yes ; in answer to the question : "Are we then so                           man without excuse; for all the light which is in us is
corrupt that we are wholly incapable of  Zoing  any changed into darkness, as the Scriptures teach us say-
I?;ood and inclined to all evil?" the Heidelberg Cate- ing: The light shineth in .darkness  and the darkness
chism declares in Lord's Day III, Qu. 8: "Indeed we                            comprehendeth it not; where St. John  calleth men
are ; except we are regenerated by the Spirit of God".                         darkness". No commentary is needed to show that
   22. Can you quote another passage?                                          there is in this article no room for any capability of
   Certainly. The same Catechism teaches in Lord's                             doing good on the part of the natural man. He is
Day XSSIII, Qu. 91, that good works are "only those                            wicked, perverse and corrupt in nil KS ways,  that is,
which proceed from a true faith, are performed accord- in all his actual life in the world !
ing to the law of God and to his glory ; and not such                             25. Have you still more proof against the third
as are founded on our own imaginations or the institu- point from the Confessions?
tions of men". Now, synod admits, that the good                                   The Canons of Dordrecht teach in III, IV, 1: "Man
works of which it is speaking in the third point, do not                       was orginaIly formed after the image of God. His un-
proceed from a regenerated heart; hence, they are not derstanding was adorned with a true and saving knowl-
of faith. They are not done to the glory of God nor                            edge of his  %reator, and of spiritual things ; his heart
are they in harmony with the law of God, the prin-                             and will were upright; all his affections pure ; and the
cipIe of which is the love of God. Hence, they certainly whole man was holy; but revolting from God by the
are no good works. They are, in fact, based on our                             instigation of the devil, and abusing the freedom of his
own imaginations and on the institutions of men. And own will, he forfeited these excellent gifts; and on the
as the Catechism emphasizes that only such as are de- contrary entailed on himself blindness of mind, hor-
scribed in answer 91 are good works, the third point                           rible darkness, vanity and perverseness of judgment,
plainly deviates from and contradicts the Confession.                          became wicked, rebellious, and obdurate in heart and
   23. What does the Heidelberg Catechism hav& to                              will and impure in his affections".
say on this subject in Lord's Day XLIV, Qu. 114?                                  And in the same chapter, art. 3 : "Therefore all men
 There it gives an answer to the question, whether are conceived in sin, and by nature children of wrath,
the Christian can keep the commandments of God per-                            incapable of saving good, prone to evil, dead in sin,
fectly. And it asserts that this is impossible, but that. and in bondage thereto, and without the regenerating
on the contrary, even the holiest men, while in this life, grace of the Holy Spirit, they are neither abIe nor wiK
have but a small beginning of this obedience, yet so,                          ing to ?&urn to God, to reform the depravity of their
that with a sincere resolution they begin to live, not                         nature, nor to dispose themselves to reformation".
only according to some, but all the commandments of                               26. But does not this last article only speak of the
God. -How is it possible that this tame Christian, who incapability of the natural man to do,snving  good, thus
upon candid self-examination finds that he has but  ;i                         leaving room at least for the doctrine, that he is able
smal1 beginning of obedience, should derlsre  of the un-                       to do good in respect to things natural and civil?
regenerated man that he is able to do good works in                               Indeed not. Saving good is mentioned with special
the sphere of natural and civil life? Evidently, the emphasis, because the Canons were composed to  gain-
declaration of the third point is quite contrary to the aay the errors of the arminians,  according to which
spirit, as well as to the plain teaching of our Con-                           the natural man is able to improve upon himself and
fessions.                                                                      attain to saving good by the right use of his natural
   24. What do we confess in ,4rt. 14 of the Nether-                           light. Nevertheless, this is by no means all the Canons
land Confession?                                                               here teach. For, they also assert that the sinner is
   "We believe that God created man out of the dust dead in sin, in bondage thereto, that he cannot will to
of the earth, and made and formed him after his own                            reform himself, nor to dispose himself to reformation.
image and likeness, good, righteous and holy, capable                             27. What, then, does art.  3 of Canons III, IV
in all things to will, agreeably to the will of God. But teach?
being in honor, he understood it not, neither knew his                            That there is one and only way in which fallen man
excellency, but wilfully subjected himself to sin, and                         can be delivered from corruption, and in which he may
consequently to death and the curse, giving ear to  :ihe                       be enabled to do good: the way of regeneration by the
words of  the devil.         For the commandment of life,                      Spirit of God. The third point, however, expressly
which he had received, he transgressed; and by sin teaches that there is another way, another influence of
separated himself from God, who was his  true life,                            God upon the natural man, that does not regenerate
having corrupted his whole nature  ; whereby he made                           t,he heart, but empowers the corrupt tree to bring forth
himself liable to corporal  znd spiritual death. And                           good fruit in the sphere of things natural and civil.


                                     THX  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          449
                              - -
   23. What, then, is the conclusion with respect to         dien het Uw wil is, wil dan deze kinderen, etc. Of het
the proof synod claimed to find in the Reformed Con-         des Heeren wil is, weet de gemeente op dat oogenblik
fessions to support its declaration of doctrine in the       niet, aangezien niet alle kinderen  der geloovigen uit-
third point?                                                 verkoren zijn". Als dat de bedoeling is van het gebed,
   That it has utterly failed. Not only are the frag- dan hebben de opstellers m. i. die bedoeling niet helder
mentary quotations it made utterly wanting in doen  uitkomen. Hebben deze gedoopte kinderen  Vader-
proof, but the Confessions in every one of the three         lijke goedheid verkregen, dan is het voor mij moeilijk
F'orms  of Unity contradict most emphatically the con- te verstaan, dat voor hunne eindelijke zaligheid  gebe-
tention, that the natural man is able to do good works       den wordt met onderwerping aan des Heeren wil. Vol-
in the sphere of things natural and civil and that           gens de belijdenis der gemeente in dit gebed weet zij
through an influence of God which is not regenerative.       wel, dat deze gedoopte kinderen  uitverkoren zijn. Het
                                                H. H.        gaat in dit gebed niet over de vraag of de gemeente
                                                             weet, dat alle kinderen  der geloovigen uitverkoren zijn
                                                             of niet. De gemeente belijdt hier, dat deze gedoopte
                                                             kinderen  uitverkoren zijn. En als zij dat belijdt en
                                                             niet zeker weet, dan moet dit gebed  worden  uitgespro-
       Nog Eens: ` `Deze Kinderen ' '                        ken op grond van eene veronderstelling. En dat is
                                                             tegen de  Schrift.
       Geachte Redacteur  :-                                    Om verder te toonen, dat het de belijdenis der  ge-
   Volgens uw antwoord op mijn laatste schrijven,            meente is, dat deze gedoopte  kinderen  genade hebben
moesten mijne moeilijkheden nu vanzelf wegvallen.            verkregen, kunnen een paar aanhalingen uit de Neder-
Doch  inplaats daarvan zijn ze vermeerderd.  Zullen ze landsche Geloofsbelijdenis dienstig zijn. In Art. 15
wegvallen, dan is het noodzakelijk, dat de bezdraren,        lezen we, dat zij (de erfzonde) is ook zelfs  door den
die het nu verhinderen, door opheldering eens en voor doop niet ganschelijk teniet gedaan, noch geheel  uitge-
altijd te niet worden  gedaan. Het zou mij niets baten,      roeid. Dus hebben deze gedoopte  kinderen  een begin-
al zou ik deze bezwaren met geweld op zij schuiven,          sel, hoe klein ook, der genade verkregen. Dat kleine
want dan komen ze later weer te voorschijn en wel-           beginsel der afsterving van de zonde is dan Vaderlijke.
licht sterker dan ooit te voren. Mijn  doe1 is vanzelf,      goedheid en barmhartigheid. In Art. 34 lezen we:
dat mijne moeilijkheden wegvallen, omdat ze geen " Zoo heeft Hij (onze genadige Vader) dan bevolen te
steun kunnen vinden. Om tot dat gewenscht einde te           doopen al degenen, die de ZiJ'nBn &in". De Kerk heeft
geraken, vraag ik om opheldering met betrekking tot nu voor jaren aan dit bevel des Heeren gehoorzaam ge-
de voorgemelde bezwaren.                                     weest en ze doopt  degenen, die de Zijnen zijn. Verder
   Bijna aan `t eind van uw antwoord schreef u : "Hier in dit zelfde artikel lezen we: "En voorwaar Christus
negeert de broeder mijn eerste antwoord". Ik heb uw heeft Zijn bloed niet minder vergoten om de kinderen
eerste antwoord  we1 in aanmerking genomen. Uit dat der geloovigen te wasschen, dan Hij gedaan heeft om
antwoord werd mijn tweede vraag geboren. Uw eerste de volwassenen. En daarom behooren zij het teeken
antwoord in het kort was, dat het gebed voor deze  ge-       te ontvangen van het Sacrament van hetgeen Christus
doopte  kinderen  altijd onderworpen moet zijn  aan des voor hen gedaan heeft." Wet antwoord op de 74ste
Heeren wil. Daarom trachtte ik in mijn tweede vraag vraag van den Catechismus is van gelijke taal. Tot
te bewijzen, dat het m. i. des Heeren wil moet zijn om       zoover  de belijdenis der gemeente, volgens dewelke het
deze gedoopte  kinderen  te zaligen, aangezien zij kinde-    de wil des Heeren moet zijn om deze gedoopte kinderen
ren van Vader zijn, omdat zij Zijne Vaderlijke goed-         te zaligen.
heid en barmhartigheid hebben verkregen. Misschien              Aangaande de vraag: Wat Vaderlijke goedheid is'
zal door het bezigen van het volgende syllogisme mijn        bewezen  aan degenen, die verloren blijven? schreef u:
oogpunt klaarder blijken :                                   "dan is hun geen Vaderlijke goedheid en barmhartig-
   I. God bewijst Vaderlijke goedheid en  barmhar-           heid bewezen  ; de uitverkorenen hebben het  ver-
tig  aan de uitverkorenen alleen.                            kregen, de anderen zijn verhard geworden".  Vol-
   2. God heeft  aan deze gedoopte  kinderen   Vader-        gens mijne gedachte laat het gebed niet toe om te spre-
lijke goedheid en barmhartigheid bewezen.                    ken van onderscheid tusschen deze gedoopte kinderen.
   3. Deze gedoopte  kinderen  zijn uitverkoren.             Het zegt eenvoudig : deze gedoopte  kinderen  hebben het
   De eerste premisse is Schriftuurlijk en  Gerefor-         verkregen. Als nu sommigen verhard  worden,  dan is
meerd. De tweede is volgens het gebed een feit. Dan          het van  twee&  e&r. Als zij verhard  worden  na het
is de conclusie  waar, en moet het des Heeren wil zijn       ontvangen van Vaderlijke goedheid,  moeten we de
om deze gedoopte  kinderen  te zaligen. Daarom was het theorie van de  afval der heiligen omhelzen ; en  als zij
uitgangspunt van mijn tweede vraag, dat het des  Hee-        reeds verhard waren  voor het ontvangen dier goedheid
ren wil is.                                                  . . . . dat kan zeker  niet.
   U schreef verder: "De bedoeling is natuurlijk: in-           Het gebeurt  veela1,  vooral in de kleine gemeenten,


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                     455
..-..^  ..-. - ..-....  ---_    . .._._-_.___._  _ -...................._....._..  --.-                    - .._....__.  - ..-.....-    -l_--_l_   -       -
                                                                                                   alike in God and in His children, is a holy hatred for
                       Loving Our Enemies                                                          the wicked who appose and are unlike God.
                                                                   Mat. 5:44.                         There is al+so another kind of love and hatred -
                                                                                                   the love of the sinner for those who love him; the
      Jesus reasoning is clear. In the act of addressing                                           hatred of the sinner for those who hate him. Says
I-Iis followers, He directs their attention to the trial                                           Christ: "Ye have heard it said, thou shalt love thy
awaiting them. There will be persecution, the enemies neighbor and hate thine enemy . . . If you love them
will hate and curse. May the followers of Christ IX-                                               that love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the
hibit a hateful spirit of revenge? May they retailiate publicans the same?' (Mat. 5  :43, 47).
which curses and ill-treatment? Shall they give li,ke
for like? This Jesus expressedly forbids when He                                                      The sinner, loves them that love him. But this love
says: Love your enemies, bless them that curse                                                     is sheer selfishness, yea cruelty. The love of the wicked
                                                                                           you,
do good to them that hate you, pray for them that dis-                                             is incited and set in motion by the favors which `ihe
pitefully use you and persecute you. Do so, that you neighbor does him. Whether or no tie neighbor loved
may be children of your Father in heaven for He fears God is a matter of no concern to the wicked. The
maketh His sun to rise on the evil and upon the good                                               determining factor here is not men's attitude toward
and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust. Jesus'                                                God but men's attitude toward self. The standard is
reasoning is clear. The children of God have their                                                 not God, truth, goodness, holiness, but self. Christ,
enemies - the wicked by whom they are hated an'd                                                   needless to say, denounces the love of the wicked for
persecuted for Christ's name sake. God, too, has His                                               the neighbor. For this love is not worthy the name.
enemies  - evil and unrighteous persons, ill-deserving.                                            Let the neighbor loved appose the wicked one, cross
Nevertheless, God causes His sun to rise upon them                                                 his path, step on his toes,  szt himself up a competitor
and sends them rain. It is plain from the preceding                                                and it will a'ppear that the other side of the love of
clauses and from the  parellel  passage in Luke that  the                                          the wicked one is anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy,
sent rain and the rising sun of which Christ speaks                                                filthy communication out of the mouth, falsehood, envy,
must be regarded as exhibitions of God's love and  pitjr                                           strife, hatred and murder. Such is the love of the
for ill-deserving sinners. The passage in Luke reads : sinner.
But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping                                                  The teaching of Scripture in question is then that
for nothing again  ; and your reward shall be great,                                               whereas God loves His enemies - the vile and con-
and ye shall be children of the Highest; for He is kind                                            demnable (elect) sinner - so His children shall love
unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore                                               their enemies. '
merciful as your Father is also merciful.                                                             The love of God for the ill-deserving and condemn-
                                                                                                   able (elect} sinner, is one of the great themes of the
       Christ would have us know, that God loves His                                               Scripture. The glorious manifestation of this love is
"elect enemies" - the vile and condemnable sinner.                                                 Christ and the cross. Says John: "In this was mani-
Of this love also temporal blessings such as rain and                                              fested the love of God toward us, be&use thet God
sunshine are the tokens.                                                                           send His only begotten Son into the world, that we
   Likewise shall the children of the Highest, love                                                might live through Him" (I John  4:9). Every con-
those that hate them. This love they, too, shall exhibit.                                          ceivable gift of love - both temporal (rain and the
 So they do  `+- these children - when they bless them rising sun) and eternal blessings -- reach the sinner
 that curse, do good to them that hate. This love only through Ghrist as the channel. All was merited by
 pleases God. For it is His gift and made to flower by                                             Him sent to be the propitiation for our sins.
 `EIis Spirit and His law written on the tables of the  be-                                            Whereas, thent God so loved the (elect) sinner, by
 lieve?s heart. It images and partakes of the nature                                               nature His enemy, He, the saint, is in turn enjoined
 of that pure and glorious love wherewith He (God)                                                 by His Father in heaven to love them that persecute
 first loved them. The believers are workmanship of him (the redeemed). Doing so, the IMost High calls
 God. Their love for the enemies, therefore, is at once                                            him His child for manifesting the love like unto "ihat
 a manifestation of the glories of Him who made them.                                              of His Maker - a love that suffereth  long and is kind;
        Children of God  - the new man  - only really                                              a love that envieth not, is not puffed up, does not be-
 loves. Says the apostle: Lie not one to another, seeing have unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily pro-
 that ye have put off the old man with his deeds. And voked,  thinketh  110 evil, rejoiced not in iniquity, re-
 have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowl- joiceth in the truth; a love that beareth all things,
 edge after the image of Him that created him . . . . believeth all things, endureth all things.
 Put on, therefore, as elect of God, holy and beloved,                                                 As one ponders up6n the injunction "love your ene-
 bowels of mercy, kindness . . . . and above all these                                             mies, bless them that curse" questions arise. What is
 things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness" the character of this love? Whereas they to be loved
  (Cal.  ::  :lO,  12, 13).                                                                        and blessed, persecute the children of the  iMost High.
        The other side of this pure love from heaven seen                                           and are, therefore, at once the enemies of God; and


456                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                         -         .-.. -_".-  -...........-^.  II_-                                     ----"-  --..  I___  _. .._..^_.. -.^,.-
whereas such may not be loved, does not this precept destruction of the wicked but not for the destruction
of Christ involve His followers in a difficulty? Can of a particular wicked.
they love and hate the same persons ?                                      Thus has been set forth the character of t,he be-
   We answer: the believer is admonished to love lievers' Iove for his enemies. An answer was found to
these enemies of His who persecute him. Love them the question how the children of God can be hating
he shall as well as his friends. The child of the                       the wicked as God's enemies while loving them as their
Highest, let it be repeated, has many enemies  - wicked own personal enemies.
persons hating, persecuting him for the sake of                            Let us now attend to the question whether the
Christ's name. These he shall love. They are his group signified by the terms "evil and unrighteous"
enemies. They are, however, at once God's enemies,                      (in the above quoted scripture) include the reprobate
for they harass his people, and taunt God. Now it is wicked.                     The exponents of common grace maintain
the plain teaching of Scripture that the children of God that Christ spake of the reprobate wicked as well as
shall hate God's enemies. Says the poet, Shall I not                    of the elect when He said that the Most High was kind
hate those who hate thee? Thus the enemies of God,                      to the unthankful. Fact is, however, that the near sur-
who are the wicked, must be hated. Yet the child of                     roundings of these texts do contain data compelling the
the Highest shall love these wicked persons as  !&is                    expositor to let the scriptures under consideration ap-
enemies.     But can the believer be hating and loving ply to the elect only. Luke 6 contains a passage which
the same person? He can in that the believer's hatred reads, "But woe unto you that are rich for ye have
is not malice and murder but a righteous indignation.                   received your consolation. Woe unto you that are full
The manifestation of this hatred is a denunciation on for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now
the part of the believer, of the wicked  one's evil deeds;              for ye shall mourn and weep."
the refusal to come under the wicked one's yoke; a re-                     Godet's commentary on these utterances reads as
jection of his entire scheme of life ; the refusal to know follows, "Jesus here contemplates in spirit those ad-
him as a friend and associate  ; the notice to the effect               versaries who were sharpening against Him only just
that the wicked one shall depart ; the refusal to sit with              before the sword of persecution: the rich and powerful
him and finally the announcement that he, the believer,                 at Jerusalem, whose emissaries surrounded him in'
will keep the commandments of his God.                                  Galilee. Perhaps at this very moment He perceives
       The other side of this hatred is a love which e%-                some of their spies in the outer ranks of the congrega-
presses itself in a prayer for the wicked one's salva- tion. Certainly, they are not blessed. A  Nicodemus'
tion ; in deeds which promote the wicked one's well- and a Joseph of Arimathea will be welcomed with open
being; in words which bless. In a word, the love of                     arms as readily as the poorest man in Israel. Jesus is
the righteous for the wicked one expresses itself in the dealing here with historical facts. He takes the fact as
prayer that God may be glorified through the wicked,                    it presented itself to him at that time. Were not the
prayed for and blessed. The righteous' love for the                     rich and powerful, as a class, already in open opposi-
wicked expresses itself in an aversion to his corrup- tion to His mission? They were thus excluding them-
tion. Thus it is  clear t,liat this love and this hatred                selves from the kingdom of God. The-fall-of  Jerusalem
are not of such a character that their expression would fulfilled only too literally the maledictions to which
involve one in hopeless conflict. The believer loves the Jesus gave utterance on that solemn day. The persons
wicked one and his personal enemy. Loving him he here designated from an  exception   a.s regards the  pre-
blesses and does him well. The believer hates the                       wding  bcntitudes."'  So far Godet.
wicked one as God's enemy.         Therefore he behaves                    Anybody approaching these verses (Luke 6  24,  25,
toward him (the wicked one) in a manner described                       26) with an unbiased mind, will be ready to indorse the
above.                                                                  above exegesis. Upon those laughing ones Christ pro-
                                                                        nounces four woes. Upon them rests God's curse.
       The Iove of the believer for the wicked is not a Reprobated are they. And subsequent history proves
yearning to draw nigh unto him to delight in his per; that God's curse rested upon them even before they
son, in his thoughts, in his works and ideals. Such were translated into hell. For this curse began to be
love the behever  bestows upon God and His children realized, in every marked decree, in the great national
only. If this was the manner of love of the believer catastrophe, namely, the destruction of Jerusalem.
for the wicked one, he could not be hating him in a                     These laughing ones were not members of that group
manner described.                                                       pronounced blessed by Christ. Our Saviour excludes
       In the judgment day, Christ will make a separation from this group these  scourners  that proved to repro-
between the goats and the sheep. The believer will then bated. Upon them God empties the vials of His wratkt;
learn to know the reprobate wicked. Knowing them This means that He shows them no mercy. In respect
he, the believer, will be hating them only with a holy                  to these, He is not compassionate. It follows, there-
zeal expressing itself in a prayer for the destruction                  fore, that the terms un&st,  unthnnlcful  and wl'l do Wh
of the wicked. The believer even now prays for the                      signify the reprobate.                             (2. M. 0.


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                                                                                                   we would emphasize some order or admonition, so the
                rEDIT.ATION                                                                        thought of the text is immediately repeated: again I
                                                                                                   say, Rejoice !
                                                                    -"-""-~                              Rejoice, not occasionally, when it would seem justi-
            Always Rejoice In The Lord                                                             fied by proper circumstances.
                                                                                                         But rejoice constantly!
                              Rejoice in the Lord always; and again                                      Always !
                          I say, Rejoice.
                                                                         Phil.  4:4.
     Rejoice in the Lord!
    Always rejoice in the Lord!                                                                          Transcendent Joy  ?
    And intentionally, with strong emphasis the ad-                                                      For, such it must be if it is to fill our hearts with a
monition is repeated: and again I say, rejoice!                                                    gladness that is constant.
     How difficult it is for us to hear this word, to re-                                                A joy that is not of the earth, that does not have
ceive it as the Word, not of men, but of God, Who never its origin in things below, is not caused by these and
lies, Who never approaches us with vain words of hope is, therefore, independent of them; that transcends  a!1
and joy, Who speaks from eternity and causes the earthly experience and human knowledge and under-  '
eternal Word to descend into our time, Who sends                                                   standing . .  a  .
forth His Word from the eternal reality of infinite                                                      A joy that appears utterly paradoxical in the light
light into our darkness ; that in our night we might                                               of things that are seen, that is absurd to the natural
look for the day, that in our darkness we might rejoice mind and heart, that for that reason cannot be con-
in the light above, that in sorrow we might be filled                                              veyed by any human word, that can be instilled only
with transcendent gladness, that in sin we might have                                              by the Word of Him that dwells on high into the be-
forgiveness, in corruption righteousness, in the midst lieving heart.
of battle peace, in times of want a cup that runneth                                                     How totally impossible and contrary to every fact
over and a table well prepared, that in death we might of human experience it seems to heed this word:
have life! . . . .                                                                                 always rejoice ! Always rejoice in the Lord !
    The Word of God, always contradicted by our little                                                   For, that  ulzunys looks intentionally at our earthly
and vain words, which are of the lie: rejoice, rejoice in experience and boldly contradicts them, overcomes
the Lord, rejoice always ! How hard we are of hear- them, intends to he wholly victorious over them. It
ing ! How inclined we are to contradict, to shut up means emphatically: in  a11 circumstances of life, it
our hearts by a thousand foolish reasonings by which matters not what they be ; in whatever way we may
we reach the conclusion that it is impossible always to be called to walk ; whatever may be your name and
rejoice, and so to make it impossible to enter into the `position, always rejoice! . . . .
joy of always rejoicing in the Lord!                                                                     The word descends into our night and penetrates
    And that is the reason for the repetition: and again our darkness and would have us sing songs of re-
I say rejoice !                                                                                    joicing in this vailey of tears in which our life is noth-
    Just as we repeat our words sometimes when we ing but a continual death. There is in this valley un-
are afraid that the hearer did not pay attention ; or                                              told pain and suffering and sorrow and crying, yet this
when our words convey some amazing news ; or when word would have us rejoice. There are sickbeds on


 458                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B,E.ARER.
  _^._^_"                                  ____.-               _.-.         .-                     --.
  which the most intense pain and agony are endured,                    not understood its meaning as long as you imagine
  on which the sufferers languish and pine away, from that it would be less difficult in times of prosperity
  the which there is no hope ever to rise ; and this word               than in times of adversity to hear this word.
  would leave the sickbed as it is, does not even attempt                  For, while, if your joy is dependent on the thing;;
  to comfort and encourage by any vain hope of recovery ;               that are seen, you will not at  all rejoice when sickness
  it boldly looks at that suffering and admonishes: re-                 and sorrow and suffering are your lot ; you will re-
  j oice ! There is the valley of the shadow of death,                  joice, indeed, but rejoice, not in the Lord, but in
  other than which there is no outlet, no exit from this                things, when plenty and prosperity await you every
  vale of tears ; nor does this word point to a way in                  morning.
  which this dark and lonely valley may be avoided ; it                    This word of God speaks of another joy, of a joy
  rather views it with unperturbed tranquility and in-                  that surpasses things and is victorious over all present
  sists : always rejoice ! There are the hours of  soul-                experiences.
  suffering, natural and spiritual, for in this valley of                  Joy transcendent !
  tears disappointment, sorrow and grief are the com-
  mon experiences of all that wander through it; and
  there is the sorrow after God ; the reproach and shame
  which the righteous must suffer for Christ's sake; the                   In the Lord rejoice !
  prosperity of the wicked while the punishment of the                     It is IIe Who is not from below but from above,
  righteous is there every morning ; there is sin, cor-                 yet descended from above and reached forth into the
  ruption, misery, trouble, darkness, fear and terror deepest spot of this valley of sorrow.  who became
  always nigh ! . . . .                                                 cxperientally acquainted with all our afflictions.
             And this word did not forget all these, did not over-         It is He that died and rose again.
  look them, does not speak because it knows not the                       He died as we could never die. He died for our sin,
  darkness of our present night.                                        that from sin He might deIiver us and clothe us with
             It considers it all.                                       garments of righteousness; for our lie that He might
             And it would swallow it up: rejoice always!                lead us out into the light of truth; for our corruption,
             Does it not sound like mockery in the ears of the          that He might wash us and present us spotless and
  dwellers in this valley ? Are we not at once inclined to without blemish to the Father; for our death, that we
  contradict it? Or, if we are not bold enough to con-                  might have life and have it more abundantly. And
  tradict directly, do we not immediately enervate it and He arose! He died through death! And He blazed the
  deprive it of all its power by giving to it some mean-                trail that leads through the very valley of the shadow
  ing that may still appear pious, but is quite contrary                of death into the glorious life of God's heavenly,
  to its real significance ? 0, the word, perhaps, means eternal tabernacle. He lives never to die again ! And
' that we shall not be rebellious, that we shall suffer                 even as He died for His people, those whom the Father
  silently, that we shall be submissive . . . .                         gave Him from before the foundation of the world, so
             But, lest it should be misunderstood or its meaning He lives for them. He is their wisdom and righteous-.
  should be distorted, it is emphatically repeated : I say :            ncss and sanctification and complete redemption.
  rejoice !                                                                Rejoice in Him !
             How impossible !                                               It presupposes that you  nrc in Him, that by the
             And is it not equally impossible to heed this ad- power of a living faith you are united with Him, have
  monition in moments of earthly joy and prosperity.                    become one plant with Him, so that He is the vine and
  There are such times, when the way is smooth and we you are the branches.
  are almost forgetful of the fact, which, nevertheless                     It means that you live, but no more you, it is Christ
  even then remains a fact, that we are traveling through               that liveth in you, and your whole life is principally
  a valley of sorrow and that this life is nothing but a ruled by His Spirit.
  continual death. Moments of earthly joy, blotches of                      It implies that yours is a new life, the life of the
  sunshine they appear in the darkness. There are times risen Lord, that you walk in newness of heart and
  when there is bread and oil and wine in abundance,                    mind, that you have become a new creature, created
  when business is prosperous and we do not have to in Christ Jesus ; old things have passed away, behold,
  look in vain for labor for our hands; times when death                all things have become new! And so your joy is a
  does not knock at our door and when our children are new joy, a sanctified joy, an inner delight in the `Lord
  like olive plants round about our table; times when and His righteousness. Also in respect to your joy the
  there seems to be cause to rejoice and to be glad. And former things are no more. And this makes all the
  in such times it would seem reasonable to heed this difference in the world. For, your joy and rejoicing
  admonition. Yet, remember that this word does not have a new object. ,4nd because of it your joy trans-
  admonish us merely to rejoice, but to rejoice  %n  the                cends all that is of this present time, is wholly inde-
  Lord! Always to rejoice in the Lord ! And you have pendent of it, is perfectly victorious over it . . . .


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          459
-^.._.            -______-  ..-                                          --.-_ -.__--  ".
    It is a question of the heart! . . . .                     Always rejoice !
    Or why should one find joy in what another abhors          Yet, this joy, just because it is transcendent and
and detests? Why should one find a cause of rejoicing not of this world but must become manifest in the
in the vanities of the world, in the lust of the flesh and world, cannot constantly become manifest in the same
the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, in revelry and form.
gluttony and drunkenness, in movies and theatres, in           Neither can it freely express itself and appear in all
pleasures and treasures ; while another detests those its fulness as long as we are in the body of this death
and rejoices in the Lord, in His service, His Word, in and walking through the night of this vale of tears.
the fellowship of His people and the things of His It is not yet Iiberated and perfected. It cannot, in this
Kingdom ? That difference is not to be explained from world, find its own proper form of expression. Through
custom or habit, from educational influence or environ- the various experiences of this present life, with its
ment. It is not even a question of character and per- light and darkness, its earthly joy and sorrow, its
sonal inclination or taste. It is purely a question of prosperity and adversity it must become manifest.
the heart. And that question of the heart is determined And even as the one white light-beam becomes re-
solely by our relation to the Lord Jesus Christ!            fracted and reveals itself in all the various colors of the
    He that rejoices in the Lord has the object of his rainbow, when it passes through the prism, so this
joy in Him!                                                 transcendent shaft of heavenly joy-light is refracted
    He rejoices in the fact that his name is written iti    and reveals itself in manifold forms, when it passes
the book of life, that he has the forgiveness of sins       through and is victorious over the various experiences
and the righteousness which is of God through Christ of this present time.
by faith, that the God of our salvation in Christ de-          Rejoice in the Lord always !
livered him from the power of darkness and renewed             No, that dor+s not imply, that cannot mean, that
him unto holiness, that He prepared eternal life and the redeemed Christian always walks on with smiling
glory for him through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. face and a song of rejoicing on his lips.
from the dead, and that all things of this present life        It does not si,gnify that you shall not weep when
must be subservient to and work together for the real- you are in sorrow, that you shall not groan when you
ization of that heavenly glory, so that he may have         writhe with physical agony, that you are not indignant
peace in all circumstances of life.                         when the righteous are persecuted and the wicked
    That joy is transcendent!                               prosper, that you are not filled with repentance when
    No man taketh it from you.                              you sin, that it does not grow dark when the shadows
    No change of circumstances can alter it.                of death creep over your soul. It does not cause the
    It and it only is an abiding joy! Of it the Word Christian pilgrim to walk with Stoical indifference the
is speaking when it exhorts us: rejoice in the Lord         way of his sojourning here below, unmoved by, in-
always, and again I say, rejoice!                           sensible to the changing vicissitudes of life, apathetic
   Just substitute something else, anything you please to and unconcerned about prosperity or adversity,
for that: in the LorcL, and see how vain, how utterly health and sickness, joy and sorrow.
ridiculous the  e-xhortation  becomes. What shall it be?       But it does mean, that these are not the ultimate
Rejoice in your money always? How absurd! Either source of his rejoicing or sorrowing.
your money is taken away from you, or a great sorrow           It does imply that he knows of a joy that is inde-
overwhelms you, or death swallows you up, and then,         pendent of them all.
where is your joy? Shall it be rejoice in your name,           A joy that abides.
your health, your position, your power, your earthly           When his earthly way is smooth and prosperity may
pleasure ? How impossible ! For, the world  passeth         be his portion, he rejoices not in things, but in the
away and the lust thereof! The shadow of death lies         Lord, and thankfully he will consider the things of this
over all these things . . . .                               present time but means to seek the Kingdom of God
   You cannot rejoice in them always !                      and His righteousness. And when the way grows dark,
    The truth is, apart from the Lord you cannot re- suffering and sorrow are in wait for him every morn-
joice in them at all !                                      ing, he will weep and groan, yet smile through his
    But say : rejoice in the Lord ! And safely you may tears, for he knows that patience is worked through
add : ulwc~ys!                                              tribulation, and hope through patience.
   Not all the pain and sorrow of this world, yea, not         And walking through the valley of the shadow of
even death itself can destroy the joy of righteousness death he will rejoice even in the darkest hour, knowing
and truth and peace and eternal life !                      that the hour of deliverance draweth nigh !
    Over these there lies no shadow of death !                 Hear, then, this Word! Rejoice!
   The joy in the Lord transcends time and space and           Rejoice in the Lord !
all things !                                                   Rejoice always !
   Joy victorious !                                                                                          H. H.

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

I                                                                      It is the Word. Note the singular. A minister of
                        E D I T O R I A L S                         the gospel must not be a, preacher of words, not even
                                                                    of the words of Scripture. There are many words,
u
     _. _..._ --.--_                   __                 .__- texts, chapters, books in the Bible. And  a11 these
                                                                    words are but vehicles that convey the Word. Not as
                          Preach The Word                           if these vehicles did not matter and might be sub-
         Such is the charge of the apostle Paul to his  spiri't-    stituted by words of our own. On the contrary. The
ual son Timothy in II Tim. dZ :1, 2.                                vehicles and the thing conveyed belong inseparably to-
         Preach the Word!                                           gether. Nevertheless, a minister of the gospel must
         Preach the Word, reprove, rebuke, exhort, with  all        preach the Word, not words. It is very well possible
longsuflering  and doctrine.                                        to explain all the words of a text or passage of Scrip-
         Be instant, preaching  the'word,  in season and out ture in their correct meaning without preaching the
of season.                                                          Word. Word-exegesis is no preaching. Hence, from
         I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, whatever part of Scripture a minister preaches and
who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appear-               approaches the Word, it must always be that Word:
ing and his kingdom, preach the Word !                              God in the ,Eace of Jesus Christ!
         Such is the charge, after all not of Paul, but of the         And for that reason it must be the whole Word he
Word of God; and not to Timothy, but to the ministers preaches. God is One. His work is one. His Word is
of the Word, and to the Church of Christ in the world:              one. And that one Word must be preached in its en-
preach the Word ! Not only the ministers must knon                  tirety. The  whoIe  counsel of God must be proclaimed.
what is their charge and `task. The Church of God A preacher must not at random roam through Scrip-
in the midst of the world must also constantly keep in              ture to look for a text as one would look for a word in
mind, that such is the calling of them that preach to a dictionary. Neither must he let his own sinful in-
them and through whom she preaches. She must not; clination be his guide to preach only on those parts
desire anything else of them than that they preach the that are most to his liking. He must be a preacher of
Word !                                                              the entire Word. Otherwise he does not preach the
         Serious charge. Humanly impossible !                       Word.
         The Word is the Word of God. It is essentially the            And he stands in the midst of the Church to preach
Son. It is with respect to all things that are and shall that Word. Lt must not merely be placed as an open
be God's counsel, the Word God has eternally in Mind.               book on the pulpit so that the Church can come to it.
It is the Word that was historically realized in the                it must be brought to the Church. Neither must it
Lord Jesus Christ, the promise, the gospel. It is the               merely be read. It must be preached, interpreted, ap-
Word that was communicated through revelation and plied, witnessed unto by a living testimony.                         The
inspiration to the minds of men, so that it might be                preacher must fill his mind and heart with it. It must
carried forth on the wings of a human word. It is the become part and parcel of his own soul. `His whole
Word, finally, we now possess in the Scriptures.                    being must be controlled by it. When he appears on
         And notice that it is the Word. The only Word.             the pulpit i$ must be a necessity for him to speak.
         There are many words in the world, words of Man.           For, the Word must be preached.
And these are lies, because man is merely man. He                      And it must be preached in the midst of a sinful
cannot speak of himself. And when he does speak of world and to a Church that is not yet perfect, to sinful
himself, as does the sinner, he surely  lies. But in saints. That is why the preaching of that Word must
distinction from all these words of Man the Word assume the form of rebuke, of reproval, of exhortation,
that must be preached is the Word. When in a dark                   and the preacher must proclaim it with all  longsuffer-
and stormy night a ship is struggling with the tur- ing and doctrines.  He must preach, and in preaching
bulent sea to reach the safe harbor, there may be many he must teach. His preaching must be doctrine. All
lights along the shoreline; yet in the midst of all these doctrine. And this doctrinal preaching must reprove,
lights there is but one light by which the course of the            i. e., convict of sin. Preaching that does not convict
ship can be safely directed, the beacon-light that of sin is fundamentally corrupt. How could that be
flashes from the tower on the pier. That ship is the                preaching of the Word of God to sinful saints that does
Church. That stormy and dark night is this present not convict of sin? It'must convict of sin, not merely
time. That turbulent sea is the world. That harbor in the shallow sense in which it is frequently under-
is the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ and the                  stood and practiced in Methodistic circles, so that one
glory of His kingdom to come. That one light is the is convicted of sin once in his life and then he is saved
Word. Many lights appears in the dark night beckontig               and the matter is settled: but it must convict all the
the ship. They are flashed by would-be preachers that hearers of sin constantly. And convicting of sin it
proclaim the Word of man. Hence, it is the Word that must rebuke the sinner so convinced, i. e., severely cen-
must be preached.                                                   sure him, so that he feeIs utterly condemned and un-


                                   THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              `46 1

done before the face of God. But it must also exhort,        pared to be sent forth into His vineyard and to preach
c!>mfort,  Iead to the cross, to the resurrection, to the    the Word. And that is a big thing.
forgiveness of sin and the righteousness which is in
Christ Jesus by faith, lead to the glory of the inherit-
ance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not
a-way, admonish to persevere even unto the end and to
keep the eye on the Light that flashes from the towel
on the pier, till the safe harbor is reached.
   And this the preacher of the Word must do to him-
self as well as to the congregation !
   He must always do it. He must persistently preach
the Word. Ee must be instant in season and out of
season. Not as if the Word could ever be out of season.
But the hearers frequently create conditions, relation-
ships, feasts and parties and banquets, when it would
seem awkward if of a sudden the preacher would be
instant and proclaim the Word of God. Besides, per-
manent conditions are created in the world, that cause
the Word to appear out of date. But the preacher must
be faithful.    He must put all his confidence in the
Word and believe that it alone is true, in season and
out of season he must be assured that the Word is
always right and all the world is condemned.
   A serious charge!
   So serious that this word takes us before the face
of God and before the face of Jesus Christ the Lord,
and places us under oath to keep the charge and carry
it out!
   So serious that the word carries us to the day,                            Candidate G. C. Lubbers
when Jesus Christ the Lord shall judge the then living          A very appropriate word was spoken by the rector
and the then dead, impressing on the preacher, on the        of our school, Rev. G. M. Ophoff in connection with the
Church, that we shall be judged according as we have         last verses of I Cor. 9. He also addressed the candi-
been faithful to this charge !                               date and presented him with his diploma.
   So  serious  that this word brings before our mind           Before this the candidate addressed the audience.
the appearing of the Lord in glory and the coming'of         His speech appears in this number of the Standard
His kingdom, as though it means to impress us that           Bearer.
the very glory of the Church is at stake with the               May the Lord richly bless the brother, guide him
preaching of the Word!                                       to make a proper choice from the three calls that were
   All the more urgent because men will arise, always extended to him, and always give him grace to preach
do arise, having itching ears, choosing preachers after      the Word!
their own carnal liking, that will insist that the words                                                       H. H.
of Man, not the Word must be preached, that refuse
to be reproved, rebuked and exhorted!
    Preach, then, the Word!                                                            LOST
                                                                    Lord, I have lost my way, who was so sure -
                                                                    My lantern flickers to a piteous spark.
                                                                    I can not long endure
                                                                    This terror, and this dark !
    An occasion of joy it was for our churches, when
with the Curatorium and the Faculty of the Theolog-                 Father, my plumes are bowed ;
ical School we congregated in the Protestant Reformed               My arrogant sword is shattered, hilt and  blade-
Church of Oskaloosa, Iowa, on the evening of June `?                I nm no longer proud,
to witness the graduation of candidate G. Lubbers.                  T am afraid !
    Only one student graduated this year. But we have               Wilt Thou forgive the pride,
learned not to measure the bigness of a thing by its                The foolish mockery I  flung at Thee?
external size or number. The Lord granted us the                    And let me come, as children do, and hide
blessing once more, that a young man might be pTe-                  My face against Thy knee?


&?2                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                                                    -" ._. -.--  -..--.--...-..   _ ..." .  ..-  -""...--"..--
               Calvin and Revolution                         iormer,  the latter will soon be developed. (2) The
                                                             principle of the sovereignty of God when applied to the
       It was shown from quotations gleaned from Cal- att'nirs  of the government proved to be very important.
vin's Institutes that the question, How must oppressed God as the supreme  .Ruler,  was vested with sovereign-
subjects behave toward a sovereign who is an insuf- ty ; and whatever sovereignty was found in man had
ferable tyrant, drew forth from Boettner an answer been graciously granted him. The Scriptures were
that differs  radicaIly  and essentially from the answer taken as the final authority, as containing eternal prin-
that the same question elicited from Calvin. Calvin's ciples which were regulative for al1 ages and on all
answer was, The oppressed subjects shall submit them- peoples . . . . this very principle of the sovereignty
selves to this tyrant. They may not refuse him obe- of God operated as a mighty defense of the liberties of
dience much less depose him. The proper authorities the subject citizens against tyrannical rulers.
must curb his avarice, the subjects must refuse to be           The view encountered in these two statements is to
bound by any particular command of his, the doing of be formulated thus : The principle of truth upon which
which would pit them against God, but under no con-          nations of our modern era acted in setting up modern
dition may they of their own accord disallow that sov-       republican governments is: God is sovereign. What
ereign, brake his bands and cast his cords from them.        sovereignty is found in man is  bestbwed  by Him. The
Instead, they shall remain under his yoke and .wait for      Scriptures are the final authority. The earthly poten-
the deliverance of t,he Lord and in the interval, con- tate who tramples upon the rights of his subjects is in
sidering that they are being chastized  for their sins,      rebellion against the supreme sovereign God and is
humble themselves before God.                                therefore to be deposed. Thus it was the fear of God
       Boettner's answer to the same question is, When- and love for right principle that constrained the men
ever a sovereign tramples upon the rights of the gov- of this day to overturn  estabIished  forms of govern-
erned and thus becomes tyrannical, it becomes the ment. This is the point that Boettner in that final
privilege and duty of the subjects to refuse obedience chapter of his work makes or tries to make. Consider
and even, if necessary, to depose him.                       statements such as these: "History is eloquent in de-
       This principle of revolution, so I wrote, Boettner claring that American democracy was born of Chris-
brought to the fore in his book as garbed in the dress       tianity and that that Christianity was Calvinism. The
of a pious-sounding reasoning.        This reasoning is, great Revolutionary conflict which resulted in the
Whenever  sovereigns ignore the will of God and              formation of the American nation, was carried out
trample upon the rights of the governed . . . it be- mainly by Calvinists."
comes the duty of the subjects, in view of the higher           The statement "democracy was born of Christian-
responsibility of the supreme sovereign (God) to re-         ity", if it means anything at all, means that the move-
fuse obedience and to depose the tyrant. But Calvin ment known as republicanism, that the successful
taught, Whenever sovereigns ignore the will of God &riving  of nations to set up republican forms of gov-
and trample upon the rights of the governed, it is the       ernment, was as to motive, aim and guiding principle
duty of the subjects, in view of-the higher responsi- out of God, and that the men in whom this movement
bility of the supreme Sovereign, God, to nevertheless and this striving took on flesh and blood, so to say9
obey that tyrant in as far as this is possible and re-       acted upon impulses of a genuine reverence and true
main under his yoke.                                         love for God Whose sovereignty was being trampled
       I now purpose to show that when Boettner wrote        upon by the tyrant.
that final chapter of his book, he had not before his           Let me now show that this appraisal of the revolu-
eye reality but roved in a dream world of his own tions of our modern era is in violent coniiict with facts.
creation, in a world that with the light of truth focused    In doing so, I set out with the question: what is this
upon it evaporates into thin air and disappears except modern republican movement? What is it as to its
in the mind of the dreamer. Snd the sad thing is that motive, purpose and design, as to the principle from
today so many men of purported Reformed persuasion which it sprang and the ideal of which it is the em-
are shut up in that same strange world of fantasy and bodiment? How is the movement to be defined? What
have thus lost in their thinking all contact with reality. is to be our appraisal of it? This modern republican
And anyone who refuses to be struck with wonder at           movement in which your Neo-Calvinist of nowadays
what they see, admire and build their hopes upon is          glories is representative of an action consisting, not in
branded an Anabaptist or a pessimist or an fanatic or curbing the avarice of this or that king but in reducing
what not.                                                    kings to figureheads by wrenching the control of the
       Consider the  folloming  statements from Boettner's affairs of the state from their hands and by depositing
pen:  (I)  Politicaily,  Calvinism has been the chief this control in the people to be exercised by them as
source of modern republican government. Calvinism they see fit. It consists, this action, in naming the
and republicanism are related to each other as cause         people the supreme and sole authority in the state, an
and effect; and where a people are possessed of the          authority underivitive, responsible to self only and not


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                            $63
                                  _.......  ".".-"-."                 --                .-._ __I_..-.^-  --....-.- -.-._^^_^ _._.^  =
     to God, and thus subject to no will but its own, an              "The Senators and Representatives before men-
     authority  by whose will kings rule and that is the tioned, and the members of the several State legis-
     source of all delegated power, an authority therefore latures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of
     that seats itself in God's throne, apposeth and exalteth the United States and of the several States, shall be
     itself above all that is called God, and that sheweth        bound by an oath or affirmation, to support this Con-
     himself that he is God.                                      stitution; but no religious test shall ever be required
         Boettner, strange to say, informs his readers that as a qualification to any office or public trust under the
     in the modern  repubIican  state, the people are this United States."
     authority and that the above description of republican-          According to this article, not the law of God but
     ism and the republican movement in history is true.          the Constitution is the supreme law of our land and the
     Consider this from his pen, "We may say that the spir- standard of legality of all law. By this article, all the
     itual republic which was founded by Calvin rests upon officers of our country are tied not to the will of God
     four basic principles. These have been summed up by as expressed in His Word but to the will of man as
     an eminent English statesman and jurist, Sir James expressed in the Constitution. No religious test shall
     Stephen, as follows : `These principles were, firstly that ever be required as a qualification to any office. Hence,
     the will of the people was the one legitimate source of      whether  otficers should fear God, was apparently  a
     the power of the rulers ; secondly, that the power was matter of little concern to the fathers of this country.
     most properly delegated by the people to their rulers, The sole requirement should be that they be bound by
     by means of elections, in which every adult man might an oath to support the Constitution.
     exercise the right of suffrage; thirdly, that in ecclesi-        So were the lines drawn. And it is along these lines
     astical government, the clergy and laity were entitled that all officers of our land must move when they func-
     to an  eyual  and co-ordinate authority; and fourthly,       tion. Yet Boettner labored to prove that this State
     that between the Church and the State, no alliance, or of ours is as to its conception the fruitage of Calvin-
     mutual dependence, or other definite' relation, neces- is'm? I ask in all candor, is Calvinism Atheism?
     sarily or properly  e-xisted.'   " (p. 393 of Boettner's         As to the Declaration of Independence, `the deity
     woI`k) . Mark the statements, " . . . that the will of whose name is mentioned in the first paragraph of this
     the people was the one legitimate source (mark you,          document is the creation of the deistic mind. It was
     the one  legitimntc   source) of the powers of the rulers; with minds intoxicated with the philosophy of the
     secondly that the power was delegated by the people rationalist Thomas Paine - a man at the time notori-
     to the rulers . . .  " What have we here? A concise ous for his attacks upon true religion  - that the colon-
     formulation of the atheistic tenets upon which the ists  tinally threw off the yoke of their sovereign  across
*    modern Republican state reposes, a clear declaration  of the sea. It is a fact few will care to dispute that the
     the godless principles from which the republican move- American Revolution was a plant that had first thrived
     ment sprang. To say that the will of the people is the       on French soil. Now the leaders of the revolution in
     one and thus the sole source of the power of the rulers       France aimed at nothing less than the abolition of
     is tantamount to saying that there is no God. Yet re- Christianity, which they also procured in 1'793, The
     publicanism the world over is the crystallization of republican state that came into being after the "terror"
     exactly this principle. I have before me the Declara-         was thoroughly antichristian.
     tion of Independence of the United States of America.            As to republicanism or constitutional government
     The second paragraph in this document reads in part:          in England, it first began to make its appearance in
     "We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men        1215 A.D. thus centuries before John Calvin saw the
     are created equal; that they are endowed by their light of day. Its laws and statues are contained in the
     Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among           English constitution, which consists of a series of docu-
     these are life, liberty and the  persuit  of happiness.       ments the three most important of which are the Great
     That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted Charter, 1215 A.D., the Petition of Right, 1628 A.D.,
     among men (now mark the statement that fol- and the Bill of Rights, 1689. Of the Great Charter,
      lows) deriving  their  jzst powers  from the consent of 1215 A.D., competent judges say that it is the key-
      the governed . . . .  "                                      stone of English civil liberty in that it contains a
         In agreement herewith paragraphs two and three stipulation in which there is inferred the supremacy
     of article six of the Constitution (of the United States      of the fixed principle of the law over the will and
      of America) read :                                           power of the monarch. This stipulation is that no
         "This Constitution, and the laws of the United freeman shall be taken or imprisoned . . . . but by
      States which  shall be made in pursuance thereof; and faithful judgment of his peers, or by the law of the
      all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the land.
      authority of the United States, shall be the supremp            In 1688 the governing power passed from the Eng-
      bazo oif the land,: and the judges in every State shall      lish king to the English aristocracy. In 1832 the middle
     be bound thereby . . . .                                      classes gained control of the government. In 1867 the


464                                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
_-- _......._. ..^..._--  .__.. -_-l____---  ._ .._----        -_.........__  -__^_--__-  _.._ -_._____-._.                      .- _......_..-___- "_
frachise  (the vote) was extended to country workers, that in this state the citizens do not delegate power to
in 1884 to town workers. In 1918 all classes were en- the rulers but merely elect as the instruments of God
franchised.                                                                               to the ofFice. The magistrate possesses governing power
     So it appears that in England and in the British solely by virtue of his being vested with the office so
Isles, Republicanism, viewed as a striving on the part that he rules by the right and consent not of the sub-
of the governed to gain control of the reigns of govern- jects who elected him but of God alone. The officers
ment, began some 700 years ago (centuries before Cal-                                     willingly rule as the agents of God and insists upon
vin `was born) and only recently was crowned with functioning as his vicegerents only. The subjects by
complete success. The modern English republican state choosing them office-bearers willingly place themselves
is a phenomenon that was in process of formation for under the yoke of God. The constitution of this state
seven centuries. Iti did not come to 2s own until the                                    is pervaded by principles of government taken from
last decade. Is this final product, the Modern English God's own word. The supreme law in this state is the
state, the  fruitage  of Calvinism?  It is not. We have will of God as revealed in His word, and as formulated
Boettner's  own word for it that as to the powers exer- in the Constitution. This word and not the constitu-
cised in this state, it is being defied by England's t2on is the recognized infallible standard of legality of
eminent jurists 8s the issue of the will of the people. all law. Rulers and subjects alike are and will to be
This will, according to Stephen, is the one legitimate God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good
and thus sole source of the powers of the rulers. Also works, which God hath before ordained that they
in this state, the constitution is the supreme law of the should walk in t.hem. Indeed the cornerstone of such
land and the standard of legality of all law. It is along a state would have to be Christ because it is a common-
lines drawn in the documents comprising the constitu- wealth whose members are reclaimed from death.
tion that all government officials in functioning must                                         Such a state would be the fruitage  of Calvinism.
move. Verily, your modern republican states are but                                      But such a state has never appeared on earth (except
so many mouths of that dark and sinister stream of it be ghe true ch6rch. But we speak now not of the
influence  - a stream whose headwater is the paganism church) and never will.                                         The commonwealth above
that entered the church during the reign of Constan- described, is the kingdom of heaven. Yet Boettner
tine the Great - that not so long after the Reforma-                                     reasons as though the worldly republican states that
tion took on the name "Enlightenment". To say that                                       came unto being in our e~+a are so many kingdoms of
existing Republicanism is the  fruitage  of Calvin's Cal- light. That this is his contention is evident. Consider
vinism is to give expression to a terrible untruth.                                      once  lizore  the following from his pen : "His (Calvin's)
    Our Civil liberty that men of this day refer to as                                   real monument is every republican government on
their priceless heritage, what is it essentially? It is earth. Calvinism is the creator of the modern world.
the fruit of an action that consisted in snatching gov-                                  John Calvin was the virtual founder of America.
erning power from kings and in seating this power in Furthermore that great life-giving stream of religious
the people. But now gaze on this scene. Jesus is be- and civil liberty has been made by Calvinism to flaw
ing accused before Pilate. Pilate is willing to release over all the broad plains of modern history."  Boettner,
Him and therefore speaks to them, I find no fault in                                     it is clear, sees the whole world a heavenly Utopia.
Him. Who are they who now cry, Crucify Him, crucify Another question rises here. Is it true that the life-
Him ! The people. Know therefore that democracy giving stream of the earth is civil liberty, that fruitage
crucified the Holy One. And why? Because He re- which is to be defined as an action consisting in snatch-
fused to multiply for them the bread that perisheth,                                     ing governing power from kings and in seating that
walked as a child of the light. in the midst of His                                      power in the people? According to Scripture the  life-
brethren, did the will of Him Who sent Him. Has                                          giving stream of the earth is the saving grace of God
human nature suffered a change since the day that the that flows from the throne.
scene described above was enacted? Are the great                                              The term religious liberty also occurs in the above
majority of men of this era better disposed toward excerpt. What is to be understood by it? It is a liberty
God, toward truth and righteousness than the men under which there is no state church and every per-
who  ailed to the cross the Saviour? Surely no. Is sari may worship as he pleases. Such liberty is a dif-
not Jesus Christ being crucified afresh by the men of ferent thing from toleration. In England the Iargest
our day? What  then" can be expected in the way of group of Puritans was  apposed  to the idea of religious
right dealing from the demos  ?                                                          freedom. They remained in the established or state
    Let me describe a truly Christian republican  ,&ate.                                 church and aimed at purging the church from papist
In such a state the offices are institutions of God and forms. The Puritans who came to America established
so defined by rulers and subjects alike. it is admitted their own churches and tolerated no other protestants,
further that these offices consists of certain duties,                                   whether Baptists, Quakers, or any other sect. That
prescribed by God and of a delegated governing power everybody should have the right to worship as he
of which God only and not man id .the sole source, so                                    pleases was not the stand taken by Reformed  protest-


                                       T H E   S T A M D A R D ' B E A R E R                                                 465
   -  ".--_         _-..____
   antism of the 16th century, as is evident from the senti- from Calvin's own mind and from the mind of the
   ment that come to the  surfac'e  in Article 36 of our        Calvinists of the 16th century. Yet we come upon  state-
   Confession, an article that reads in part thus: "For  F ments such as these in that final chapter of Boettner's
   this purpose he has invested the magistracy with the         work : "In England and America the great struggles
   sword, for the punishment of evil doers, and for the         for civil and religious liberty were nursed in Calvin-
   protection of them that do well. And their office is,        ism, inspired by Calvinism, and carried out largely by
   not only to have regard unto, and watch for the welfare men who were Calvinists. And because the majority
  of the civil state, but also that they protect the sacred of historians have never made a serious study of Cal-
   ministry ; and thus may remove and prevent all idol- vinism they have never been able to give us a truthful
  atry and false worship; that the kingdom of Anti-             and complete account of what it has done for America.
' Christ may be thus destroyed and the kingdom of               Only the light of historical investigation is needed to
   Christ promoted. They must therefore countenance             show us how our forefathers believed in it and were
   the preaching of the word of the Gospel everywhere, controlled by it . . . . "
  that God may be honored and worshipped  by everyone               I would say, only the light of historical investiga-
  as he commands in his word."                          .       tion is needed to show that what Boettner here penned
      What we here present is conclusive proof that the         down is as untrue as can be. It was not until at the
   Calvinists were about as far as they could be from close of the 16th century that religious toleration began
  being advocates of religious liberty. In the 16th cen-        to be practiced. In France, Henry IV granted religious
  tury Catholics and Protestants (Calvinists, Puritans)         toleration to Huguenots. In Holland religious tolera-
  were intolerant of each other's beliefs not only but tion was permitted for most protestant sects but not
  every Protestant wing was exceedingly intolerant of even for all. In Bohemia religious toleration was given
  each other. Let usenlarge on this a little. The Puri-         to some faiths only. In England there was toleration
  tans were divided into three main groups. The largest in practice though not by law. Religious  toIeration
  of these were the Puritans proper. As was said, they however is something different than religious liberty
  remained in the established or Anglican (State)               in the modern sense. The latter is a fruit that grows
  church and aimed at purging that church of Romanism.          on the tree of Modernism. The same must be said of
  The second of these groups was comprised of Pres- civil liberty. To say that it was nursed in Calvinism
  byterians, men opposed to the rule of the bishop and          and inspired by Calvinism is folly. The Puritans had
  desirous of a form of government by elders and pres-          come under the influence of Geneva and returned to
  byters; for they had learned that "government  bjr the homeland with the fixed purpose stored away in
  elders" is a requirement of Scripture. There was also their souls of combating Rome and of converting
  a third group called Independents, whose ideal was  a England into a theocratic state. Herein the opposition
  church ruled by the congregation, - an ideal thor- they showed the kings of the house of Stuart finds its
  oughly unscriptural. Many Puritans left the Anglican explanation.                The conception of civil liberty in the
  church to establish congregations whose government modern sense was not in their minds. This discussion
  should conform to the pattern `found in  ,Scripture.          will be continued in a following article that will be
  These were  tailed Separatists.                               final.
      Think now of the archbishop Whitgift, who relent-                                                          G. M. 0.
  lessly oppressed the Separatists for their refusal to
  use the Prayer Book and to refrain from all private
  religious meetings.    Now  Whitgift  was a thorough
  Calvinist in his theology. And this man, certainly,
  stood at the head of a group of Calvinists minded as
  was he. Think further of the Calvinistic Parliament                                   IN MEMORIAM
  of 1592, that passed a statute proclaiming banishment            Het behaagde den Heere den 30sten  Mei  om  plotseling  door
  against all who refused to attend the Anglican church den dood weg te nemen onze geliefde  Dochter, Zuster en Ver-
  and were present at some "conventicle" where other Ioofde,
  than a lawful worship was employed. Under the terms                              NELLIE  BLANKESPOOR,
  of this statute the London Congregationalists were
  compelled to seek refuge in Amsterdam. In the Neth- in den ouderdom van 22 jaren en 4 maanden.
                                                                   In dit verlies zoeken we  onzen  troost bij den Alwijzen en
  erlands the Calvinists after the Synod of Dordt ban- Almachtigen God, Die alle dingen  doet medewerken ten goede
  ished the Remonstrants from the land. They later re- voor Zijn  volk.
  turned but did not receive official recognition till 1795.                                  Mr. en Mrs. J. Blankespoor
  Think  @ally of Calvin himself who, to express it                                           Henry Blankespoor
  mildly, approved of the death of Servetus.                                                  James Blankespoor
     History easily bears out the statement that the                                          John Verburg
  conception of religious freedom was  entireIy absent             ,Doon,   Ia.


                                              THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                     477
~.              .."  ..--  -I-                                       .-I-_-___                                  -..--.. ..--_-. - -.-.... -
                           Moses Goes                               light and darkness will maneuver, he sees himself a
                                                                    failure; the people to be delivered, too unyielding and
   The Lord speaks. "Come now therefore," says He, stubborn to be brougth forth; and the adversary, secure
"and I  wili send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest               and tiumphing. And he fears: and of his fear he
bring, forth my people . . . .  " Moses hears. Fear                 cannot divest himself. It neutralized his faith and
creeps over his soul. His heart fills with misgivings               thus renders for him the promise that the Lord will be
which he also voices. Who is he, that he should go unto             with him, made by the Lord Himself, void. ,4nd this
Pharaoh . . . . What shall he say unto the children fear, what is it but an emotion kindled by distrust,
of Israel, if they inquire after his Sender's name. The the upshot of unbelief.
Israelites will not believe him, nor hearken unta his                   Apparently his unbelief turns not on God but so1ely
voice: for they will say that the Lord hath not ap- on self. It is not the Lord but self whom he doubts.
peared unto him. He is slow of speech and of a slow So it would seem; for he `says, not, `Who art Thou, o
tongue.                                                             Lord, that thou should bring forth through me the chil-
   The Lord remonstrates with His timorous servant,                 dren of Israel' #`They  will not believe Thee' `Thou art
overturns every one of his reasonings, clearly demon- slow of speech and of a slow tongue' but he says, "`They
strates unto him that all his scruples spring not from will not hearken unto my voice". Moses thinks noth-
conscientious motives but from a reluctance gendered ing of self. Considering what he is capable  oP doing,
in him by unbelief.                                                 .he concludes that he is capable of nothing. Former
   Moses, it is certain, humbly admits in his heart that            experience as applied to his  hea&  have completely
so it is, that his timidity is, at bottom, want of trust in effaced self so that the Moses now being called is a
God. He denounces, it must be, his hesitation as an                 man humbled by grace, a man whose eyes have opened
insult to God. He knotis  his fear that it is groundless.           to the foolishless of leaning upon anyone save God
His reason tells him so, tells him that the cause he                alone. That he looks away from self is well. He is
now is called upon to champion cannot possibly come to now meet for the Master's use. And his reluctance
naught as it is God's. How earnestly he attempts, it                to  obey,also  betokens this right attitude toward self.
may be imagined, to persuade his heart by rehearsing                    However, he is now the send one of the Lord so
in his *mind the replies of God. How reassuring these that his timidity is at once the evidence that as yet he
replies! How full of comfort! "I am the God of thy                  has not wholly succeeded in .hiding himself in God. It
father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the means that his fear and the unwillingness it occasions
God of Jacob . . .                I have surely seen the affliction is at bottom a lack of confidence in the Lord. Not that
of my people . . . and have heard they cry . . . . I                he is devoid of faith. Not that the cause of God and of
am come down to deliver . . .               Come now I will send His people leaves him cold and indifferent. Moses is
thee . . . Certainly I will be with thee . . . Say unto bne of God's nobleman. Already his faith has secured
the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you. . . for him a pIace  in that c1oud of witnesses by which we
I will bring you up out of the affl3ction  of Egypt . . . are encompassed. Had he not, when come to years,
And they, the children of Israe shall hearken unto thy              refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter;
voice . . . And I am sure that the king of Egypt will choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of
not let you go but by a mighty hand . . . And I will                God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season :
stretch out my hand and smite Egypt with all my                     esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than
wonders . . . after that he will let you go . . . . And the treasures in Egypt in that he had respect unto the
they (the children of Israel) will believe the latter recompence  of the reward? Had he not, with the in-
sign . . . I will be with thy mouth and teach thee visible God before his eye, forsook Egypt, not fearing
what to say.                                                        the wrath of the king ? He is a man of faith. The
   So does the Lord expostulate with His servant                    cause of God lies close to his heart. The cry of his
Moses. How designed this speech, to expel fear and                  oppressed brethren is also in his ears. And he hopes
awaken faith. Moses' reason must tell him that he                   to the end fo'r the grace that is to be brought unto
should yield. And the impulse of his nature is to fol- him and his brethren at the reveIation  of Jesus Christ.
low the dictates of his reason; for he is a man who                     It is solely the thought that God has resolved to
fears God. But that dread for the task to which he is bring  deliverence  through him, his leadership, his
being assigned continued to clutch at his heart so that word, his announcement of judgment and proclamation
he cannot bring himseIf  to act upon the impulse that is            of the promise, that startIes him. It is on this phase
pL'oper. The conceptionof what he is bidden to under- of the divine purpose that his faith fails to flower. He
take dazzles his eye, awakens in him a distrust that knows by experience the temper of his brethren.
dazes, benumbs  and poinsons his soul with the result                   He is afraid of their insolence. Besides, he will
that he does not what he wills and does what he wills               have to face a new generation there in Goshen,  a gen-
not, a distrust that so impairs his vision that when he eration that perhaps has heard of him from the elders
looks out upon the plane of action where the forces of              but does not know him.        And who is he to go to


478                                   T R E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
-I_  -____-                           -......  ^...^.__I . ^ ..^. ---^ -.........--." _-...-___I~    .___.               ---..ll_l
Pharaoh, the mighty tyrant, and say to him,  Thus said                         hand of him whom Thou shouldest send."
the Lord. Who?  A monad who emerges from a wil-                                      We wonder at the persistent resistence this right-
derness armed with nothing but a staff; a stuttering eous man shows God? It is well if we confess that
old man, a dispised shepherd. Will not Pharaoh, his                            wherein we judge him we condemn ourselves in that
servents  and courtiers, upon seeing him and upon                              we do the same thing. Who of us is always prepared
having listened to his preposterous demand, hold him to say when He calls, Speak Lord, for Thy servent
in derision, laugh him to scorn, and despise him in                            heareth.
their hearts ? Will not the king with a single jesture                                Consider that the resistence with which we have
order him to be gone? He will for the Lord will harden                         to do in Moses, though it cannot be excused or con-
his heart. Of this Moses is informed at the outset.                            doned, can be forgiven him; for the voice to which we
But why does not the Lord persue a different course                            listen when this man of God murmurs, 0 Lord, send
in delivering his people? He could, if He chose, so                            by the hand of him whom Thou shouldest send, is not
Moses may reason, break the grip of the adversary                              the voice of humble pride, or of wanton rebellion or of
with a single decisive stroke and so  Geliver  his people                      indifference but of an actual dread for a task of great
instantaneously. How the people would then shout, magnitude. Therefore the Lord bears with this serv-
as to Jehovah, He is God. Unbelief would then be with- ant as a kind father bears with his afrighted child,
out an opportunity for opening its vile mouth to ques-                         with patience  remove%  his objections, encourages and
tion the fidility of God. Supplied with such evidence                          comforts him, pleads with him.
of the good purposes of God, the brethren in Egypt                                    Yet Moses' cavils must not be made light of. `In
would believe and be ready to rally round any leader refusing to do as bidden, he sins grieviously. And the
sent them. Why this trial of patience by a series of anger of the Lord is kindled against him, and he said,
plagues, long drawn out? Why this initial announee-                             Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he'
ment of  jud,gment followed by others? Why is the                              can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to
Lord decided to strike repeadedly instead of once and meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in
decisively? Why must that insolent tyrant in E_gypt                             his heart.
be encountered? Why may he, Moses, not come to his                                    Is it in His anger that He gives Moses Aaron?
brethren with a message of a sudden deliverence in- The notice of the sacred narrator is too plain to allow
stead of with signs that few will understand and ap-                            any other view.       We may expect therefore that at
preciate? If this is to be the method of deliverence,                           some point in his career this brother will bring great
he, Moses, is not the Lord's man. He is old and a grief upon Moses, that through him, who can speak so
stranger to the majority of his kinsmen and even un- well, the Lord will lay his stripes upon his servant be-
loved perhaps by Aaron and the `elders of his people cause he believed not, now when he is called. Scaning
who remember his flight. What construction they place Aaron's after-history, we come upon an action of his
upon that action of his, he knows not. But he fears by which this expectation is sustained. Aaron in his
the worst. He feels certain he will not be believed.                            weakness yields to popular demand for an idol so that
Besides, he is slow of tongue. Overcome by a sense of when Moses, who is in the mountain with God, returns
his unfitness, he, try as he may,  can find no place for                        to the assembly in the vale, he finds it  dansing  about
himself on the stage of action that now stands out be- a golden calf with Aaron silently looking on. Moses'
fore his mind. The one thought that continues to race anger waxes hot. "What," he says to Aaron, "What
through  his mind is that, as a leader of men, he would did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so
tern out to be a colossal failure. How well he thinks great a sin upon them?" How terrible the scene that
he knows. And this-thought he cannot put away from is now enticted. Moses as instructed by the Lord bids
him. It is the one reasoning upon which his attention                           every man, who is on the Lord's sjde, to arm himself
is riveted.                                                                     with his sword and go in and out from gate to gate
       But what has he more to say in defence  of the stand                     throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother,
he takes? Thrice he has spoken. What is there now and every man his companion, and every man his
left for him to catch hold of? Shall he again direct the                         neighbor. So are the idolators slain. And Moses prays
mind of the Lord to his incompetency or to the recep- for the people that the wrath of the Lord may not
tion that, so he imagines, his brethren will afford him? wax hot against them and consume them. The people
He dare not. Besides what doth it avail him to reason                            have merited destruction. And though their sin can-
with the Lord? His fears have been blasted as fast as                            not be laid at Aaron's charge, he is co-responsible for
he could put them into words. The same fate, he having yielded. And he is the man who can speak well,
knows, will overtake any  scrupple  left to him if the brother upon whom Moses first must lean because,
uttered ; for his heart tells him that his present imag-                         being slow of speech, he dare `not act upon the prin-
inings are vain and that his fears are ungrounded as ciple that the Lord hath made man's mouth. It can
the stand he takes is that of distrust. So all he dares easily be seen that after the aforesaid crisis, Aaron
 to stammer is, 0 my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the                             continued to rise before Moses' mind as the personage


I[
                                        T H E S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           479

      who formed the connecting link between his (Moses)          the Lord by implication concedes that the complaint
      initial unbelief and the grief with which his soul filled has some basis in fact. It may be conjectured, how-
      when he saw the people whom he had brought up               ever, that in the .mind of timorous Moses, this defect of
      dancing about a calf, so that with the likeness of this     his has suddenly assumed undue proportions. The re-
      brother before his eye, he was perpetually being re-        ply of the Lord, I will be with thy mouth and teach
      minded of his sin.                                          thee what to say, also makes it plain that Moses' slow-
         Yet, Aaron, too, iz a chosen vessel of the Lord, a ness of tongue is to be ascribed neither to a defect of
      man of God, the importance of whose place in God's          his physical organs of speech nor to a certain inborn
      scheme of things must not be underrated. Aaron is to sluggishness or dullness of mind that renders him in-
      be God's highpriest. He wiIl minister unto the Lord         capable of properly uttering his thoughts with normal
      in the priest's office, he.and his sons. He will be clothed speed. Otherwise said, Moses' heavy tongue betokens
      with the holy garments for glory and for beauty. He no organic defect of body or of mind in him.
      will bear the names of the tribes before the Lord upon         After the Exodus, he everywhere appears in the
      his two shoulders for ,a memorial. He wiI1 bear the         Sacred Record as a man who can speak well enough.
      engra-ving "HOLINESS TO THE LORD" upon his                  The Lord is with his mouth indeed and teaches him
      forehead. And the iniquity of the holy things  ,will        what to say so that words of profoundest and most
      always be upon his forehead.                                sublime wisdom - the wisdom of God - will spring
         The conviction cannot be escaped that already he         from his heart and flow from his lips. Yet the certain
      by dint of his spiritual qualifications and natural en-     implication of the Lord's reply:  "Is not Aaron the
      dowments has risen to a place of prominence among his Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well"
      brethren in Goshen  and that he goes into the wilder- is that Aaron is a man of exceptional natural easiness
      ness to meet Moses even as the recognized leader of his of speech, an easiness that Moses does not possess at
      people, That he is a man of faith in whose heart the        least in the same measure. But that his slow tongue
      promise made unto the fathers has taken deep root,          amounts to a. fatal organic imperfection, physical or
      that by this promise he has lived, that he has cham- mental, that has to be overcome by a miracle of God,
      pioned the cause of God in Egypt among his brethren if he is to be his own spokesman, is a view contradicted
      and has thus shown himself as being in full sympathy by the tenor of Gods' replies and by all we know of
      with the hallowed asperations of his people, that he, him. The Lord says to him, not, `I will give thee a new
      too, looked for the consolation of Israel - is evident.     tongue or a different mouth', but, "I will be with thy
      He is giad in his heart when he sees Moses. He kisses mouth, and teach thee what thou must say." What
      him, whereupon Moses tells him all the words of the Moses lacks is not such natural endowments as a good
      Lord who has sent him and all the signs which He had        mind and proper, usable, speech organs, but courage,
      commanded him. That he is a man of influence with confidence, knowledge how to proceed and what to say.
      the elders of his people is also plain. As the companion    So, in the attempt to induce the Lord to send another,
      of Moses he goes and gathers together all the elders of he catches hold of every straw that lies within his
      Israel and speaks all the -words  which t,he Lord has reach.
      spoken to Moses, and does the signs in the presence of         What then may be the nature of his slowness of
      the peopIe.    And the  people beiieve. And the notice tongue? By what was it induced? It is evident, espe-
      that he can speak well and is thus capable of function- cially from the record of the conversations that takes
      ing as Moses' spokesman unto the  peopIe  points to his place between him and God, now when he is called,
      natural abiiities. But it will appear that of the two,      that Moses, in distinction from his brother Aaron, is
      Moses by the grace of God is the moral rock. Aaron is a shy and modest man. This shyness, intensified by
      the man that can speak well. Besides, he seems to be age and especially by a prolonged life of solitude in the
      a person of considerable natural boldness.       As to      desert, has perhaps the effect of rendering him more
      Moses, when the call comes to him, he trembles. But         or less inarticulate in the presence of strangers and
      Aaron knows no such fright. When he hears from especially in the presence of such august .persons  as
      Moses what is expected of him, he remains tranquil.         Pharaoh and his courtiers. In his mind he sees him-
      Having received instructions and thus having learned seIf a confused, frightened and stammering old man,
      what is to be done, he goes without a murmur, glad that making a spectacIe  of himself at the court of the king
      the time of deliverence is at hand. But what this and thus on account of his lack of fitness bringing the
      eloquent, bold and eager man is lacking in is moral cause of God in jeopardy. He says to the Lord that he
      fortitude.                                                  is a man of few words (such is the expression found in
          That there is some truth in Moses' complaint that the original). Scripture thus allows or rather compels
      he is slow of speech, is evident from the reply of the us to set Moses before our eye as a strong, silent man,
      Lord. Said the Lord unto him, Who hath made man's pensive, addicted to meditation, a man whose thoughts
      mouth? . . . Now therefore go, and I will be with run deep but a man who opens his mouth to speak only
      thy mouth, and teach thee what thou must say. Here when necessity so dictates and who when he must


480                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
- ..-- ~-l___-   .- .._...  -            ____  _...___-...-l_l_- -....               .-__           -._-  .             .I____
speak chooses his words with caution, thus a man of He the Lord will he with his mouth, he still hesitates
fed words indeed and these words uttered by him de- and thus questions God's power to harden or soften the
liberately and with precision. But this man will be              hearts of men as He wills, to sustain by His presence,
laid hold on by the Spirit of God who will fill his mouth        to keep His servants by His strength. But that Moses'
with the wisdom of Heaven. As armed with this wis-               heart is cheered when he hears that in the warfare he
dom he will be made to  soar  to heights of sublime and          is now to war there will be a brother and companion
noblest courage where he will fear no man.                      at his side is as such proper. We need God only. There
       To these heights the Lord does not raise him sud-         is none on earth that we desire beside him. He is the
denly in a day or hour but gradually. He plainly sets strength of our heart and our portion forever. How-
out with the old fear in his soul. The reason that he ever, the Christian warrior possesses God in Christ
finally goes is that he no longer dare resist; for he           also in the companion at his side if a gift of Heaven.
perceives that the anger of the -Lord  is now kindled           The believers comprise a body and the one member
against him. So he goes tremblingly. But he com-                renders the other complete. The servant who boasts
forts himself with the thought that Aaron, according            in his heart that he can walk alone is puffed up with
to the word of the Lord, will be glad in his heart when stinking pride. His hour has struck.
he sees him, that he may lean on Aaron who is known                . As to Moses and Aaron, the two become close com-
to and has influence with the elders and who, being one         panions. They form a unity through whom the Lord
who can speak well, will serve as his spokesman unto            will work. The one is a supplement to the other. To-
the people and unto Pharaoh.                                    gether they go to the elders and thereupon to Pharaoh.
       He meets Aaron in the mount of God as the Lord           The king cannot encounter the one without encounter-
has said. Aaron, who has been instructed by the Lord            ing the other. The two are one by a harmony that
to go into the wilderness to meet Moses, is indeed glad springs from one faith and one hope. The word that
to see his brother. He kisses him. After the greeting,          Aaron speaks is a word laid upon his lips by Moses.
Moses tells Aaron all the words of the Lord and all the And Moses walks with God. And they have the victory
signs. Together they go and gather the elders. Mark that overcometh the world. And their victory is their
now that not Moses but Aaron speaks all the words               f a i t h .
which the Lord has spoken unto Moses, that Aaron does                Moses and Aaron, a pair and so commissioned. It
the signs in the sight of the people. It is so through- will be God's way in the future to commission his serv-
out. Aaron, according to the saying of God, is to               ants, not singly but in pairs. Think of Joshua and
Moses instead of a mouth but `Moses is to Aaron in-             Caleb, of Elijah and Elisha, Zerubbabel and Joshua
stead of God. Thus we read, (chapter 7) "And Aaron and of the fact that our Lord sent forth His disciples
thy brother shall be thy prophet. Thou shalt speak all two by two. And at the mouth of two witnesses shall
that I command thee: and Aaron  .,thy brother shall the matter be established.
                                                                                             .
speak unto Pharaoh that he send the children of Israel                                                            G. MI. 0.
out of his land. When Pharaoh speaks unto Moses,
saying, "Shew a miracle for you", Moses says unto
Aaron, ."Take  thy rod (the rod of Moses) and cast. it
before  Pharaoh, and it shail become a serpent. It is                                   IN MEMORIAM
Aaron who stretches out his hand upon the waters of
Egypt  that they may become blood; who stretches his                Daar het den Heere behaagd heeft om een  onzer   leden  in
                                                                droefheid  te brengen door het verlies van zijne dochter,
hand with the rod over the streams and causes frogs
to come up; who smites with his rod the dust that it                               NELLIE BLANKESPOOR,
may become lice. But it is also to be noticed that betuigt de Kerkeraad van  Doon  zijn oprechte  deelneming  met
soon Moses comes to the fore as his own spokesman.              den treurenden broeder en zijne families, biddende dat de Heere,
It was Moses himself who by his own mouth says unto             Die alleen  troosten kan, hen nabij zij.
Pharaoh (chap. 9 39)) "8s soon as I am gone out of                                     Namens den Kerkeraad van Doon,  Ia.
the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the Lord;
and the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any
more hail . . . .  " After the Exodus and even before,                          Zijt niet bezorgd,
it seems, Aaron ceases to function  as the mouth of                        God geeft voor dezen dag U brood
Moses altogether and the latter declares the mind of                            En kracht en licht en leven !
God unto the people directly by his own mouth.                             Zou Hij niet morgen evenzeer
   As has been said, Moses sin is that when he is called                        U al wat goed is geven ?
he does not believe that the Lord can perform what is                     Zie daarom  met zoover vooruit
in His heart throughla  man such as he, that even after                         Met zuchten en met zorgen;
the Lord assures him that the signs will be believed                      Wie  heden  op zijn God vertrouwt
and that his slow tongue will be no hindrance to him as                         Ziet  `s Heeren hulp ook morgen.


