                                                                                                                                  .._
                                                                                                      tolic age is, therefore, not only purely arbitrary, but
                                                                                                      also historically`untrue. With just as much or as little
                                                                                                      show  -of truth one might determine that Laodicea re-
                                       IhI- presents the Church at the end of the age of the
I                                                                                                     apostles.
                                                 ,On  Bibles  and  Bible  Reading  ,,                     But that is not the point at present. We merely
                                                                                                      .wish to call the attention of the reader to,the  fact, that
                                           We were to `quote a few more passages from the
                     _                                                                                one who reads the Scofield Bible stumbles over Sco-
                                       Scofield Bible in. order to prove bur contention that it f i e l d   constantliy.
                                     r compels us to read Scripture through  .the strongly                Similar headings the reader finds above every -one
     -                               _ , colored spectacles of Scofield's. peculiar views.            of the seven letters to the Churches of Asia. -
          >                                In the "Introduction", as we. have noticed, .Dr.              Above the letter to Smyrna one reads: "The mes-
                                       Scofield assures us that in the appended notes, sum- sage to Smyrna. Period of the great persecutions to
                                       maries and. definitions all expository  .. novelties and A.                 D: 316".                .-
                                       merely personal views have &en  rejected.                          The letter to'the Church of Pergamos is introduced
                                           To such expository novelties and .personal  views by: "The  .message  to. Pergamos. The church under
                                       I surely would reckon to belong the exegetical ex$rava-        imperial favor, settled in the world, A. D. 316 to the
     . . .                           gances  of  Chiliastic  interpretation. Yet, of these the. e n d " . .
                                       Scofield Bible is full.                                          Thyatira's epistle is introduced by: "The message
                                           I could point to many parts of the. Scofield Bible to Thyatira. A.  D: 500-1500 : the triumph of Balaamism
                          .            for proof of this statement. But let me confine my- and Nicolaitanism  ; a believing remnant".
                                       self to 6 few quotations fro-m.  the book of Revelation.           Sardis, according to the heading, is supposed to re-
                                           In an introductory note the editor informs us, that present the church at the period of. the Reformations :
                                      - the-book of Revelation contains three major divisions, "The` message to Sardis. The period of the  Reforma-
                                       which must be held clearly in mind if the  "interpretaL        tions ; a believing remnant".
                                       tion is to be sane and coherent". These major divi-             Here again we cannot refrain from calling the at-
                                       sions deal with the things `that are past, the things tention of the reader to the arbitrariness  of this method
                                       present, the things future. The things past refer to the of interpretation. Sardis, of whom it is said that "thou
                                      _ ..Patmos vision of, the glorified Christ as related in the hast a name that thou livest and art dead" must refer
     `.  -                            :' first chapter. The things present are pictured. in the` to the period of the Reformation  of'the sixteenth cen-
                                       letters to the seven churches ; these tell us- of the tury !
                      -  .,            "church age". And all that  follows.after-  chapter 3 of           But let us continue.
                                     the book, of .Revelation refers to the future, that is to         For Philadelphia, evidently, no particular period
                               ..      the things that must come to pass after the f'church could be determined upon. Hence, the principle of in-
                                       age". The last part of the book, it. is added, contains terpretation -followed thus far is easily abandoned  and
                                       several parenthetical. parts.                                  we read: "The message to' Philadelphia. The true
                                           Accordingly we are taught to read the-book of Rev- church in the professing church".
                                       elation through the spectacles of Dr. Scofield's inter-           And the heading above, the letter to the Church of
                               pretation..                                                            `Laodicea returns again to the method' of interpreta-
                                           You read the seven letters to the Churches of Asia
                     ,.  *                                                                            tion that finds in these messages  an indication of con-
                                       Minor.                                                         secutive periods : "The message to.Laodicea. The final
                                          Before you read one word of the first you meet with s t a t e - o f   apostacy".
                                       an explanatory heading of Dr. Scofield'd.: "The mes-           _ The last three verses of this. letter to the Church  of
                                       sage-to Ephesus. The Church at the end of the  apos-           Laodicea are separated from the rest by a special head-
                               _ 1'. tolic age ; first love left". We might immediately make ing containing a volume of chiliastic  exegesis : "Place
               :-                      the remark that, if the book of Revelation was  writen and attitude of Christ at the end `of the church-age".
                                       about the year 96.~A.`D.  as is also Dr. Scofield's sugges-        The editor then proceeds to introduce the reader to
          ..                           tion, and if all'the seven churches to which the letters the fourth chapter of the book of Revelations by means
                                       are addre&ed.really  existed at the time when they were of the following headings : "Part III. "Things. which
                                      ' written, there. is no sound  reaion  to single out one .of shall be hereafter" Then he explains to the reader .that
                                       the. seven  _ shurches as being representative of the 4 :l signifies the: rapture of the Church. We read there:
                                       Church.at  the end of the apostolic age. All the churches "After this I looked and, behold,' a door was opened in
                                       existed at the end of the. apostolic age. There is no in- heaven: and the voice which I heard was as it were of
     I                               ' dication  in the-text that Ephesus  .is to be taken as re- a trumpet talking with me ; which said, Come up -hither
                                     presenting them all. . . The statement of Dr. S&field            and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter."
                                       that in the letter to  -the Church of Ephesus we' have the Following the direction of a reference to a footnote we
                                       general pictur.e of the Church at the end. of the apots-
                                                      ,.                                              find Dr. Scofield explaining: "This call seems clearly
                                                            :y-<;.:  :               .


.$  indicaie the  `fulfilme&   of  1,Thess.   4:i4-1'7;.   Ndti, His  -&ning,  but  ai1  .&all  be  &&fi~d  ,io&ether: But,
if the reader doesnot recall exactly what is written in again, the point I want to bring oui clearly  is that you
the latter passage of Scripture, he Gill be induced by' cannot read Scofield's Bible  withbut reading  ~Scof%ld's
Dr. `Scofiled's reference to turn to it .and read: "Fo? doctrine.
if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so             And Bibles of that s&t we must not have.
                                                                                                 `_
also which sleep in Jesus will God -bring with, him. For                                                      :              `. H.  I%
this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that.we
which are alive. atid  remiin unto the coming of the
.Lord  shall.  not prevent them which are asleep. For
the Lord himself shall  descend  from the heaven with a
shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the
irump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first;                       REDEMPTION OF  TiIE'  CiIURCH
then we whicfi are alive and remain shall be caught up
`tog&her with them in the clouds, to met the Lord' in                     A little flock !. Yes, even so ;
the- air a&d so shall we' ever be with the Lord". I                         A handful  among men,
    `Now, notice how Dr. Scofield'has  taught you to read                 Such is the purpose df thy God ;                   '
tile Bible on this point.         .  :
    First he leads you to read `Rev.  4:l in such a light                  - So willeth He; Amen !
that in. that passage  you find the entire premillennial
doctrine' of the rapture and the first resurrection. T                                                                                    -
                                                                          Not. mati+  rich' or ?6ble_called,
will not elaborate on the absurdity of  -this  interpreta-                  Not-m& .,great or wise;                                                               I
tion,  w&h is, nevertheless, offered by leading  Chi-
liastg `as the correct one. Anyone that is not blinded            ' They whom  Gqd  makes His kings and- priest
by premillennial prejudice can ascertain. for himself                      Are  poor in human eyes.                -
that the call iv Rev. 4 :ll : "Come up hither", is npt di-
rected to the Church  at.all, but sin$y to-John ; that the
result of this call `is not that the dead arise and are                   A little flock!.    `Tis well, `tis well;                             .
with the living saints caught up into the air, .but, ac-                    Such be her lot and name ;
cording to vs. 2, that John  "imme$ately was in the,                      Throught ages past it has been so,
spirit" and beheld a throne in heaven and him that sat
thereon. But without hesitation Dr. Scofield interprets                     And now'tis'still  th,e  same;.   !                     ..
                                                                    .                                                                                        I
this passage as teadhing that from this point on the
Church is no more on earth, but is caught up in heaven.                   But the chief Shepherd cbmes at length,`
It is' the end of the Church-age ! The point of interest                    Her feeble days, are o'er,
for  us  at.  Dreseht, however, is not the absurdity of the
exegesis, but the fact that the editor of the' Scofield                   No m&e a handful in the earth,
Bible induces his readers to look at the passage of .Rev.                   A little flock no more. '
4 through his strongly colored glasses.                                             -.
    Secondly, Dr. Scofield at the same time makes us                a_
read I Thess. 4  :14-17 in the light of his own conception.                No more a lily among thorns ;                                  -                       '
He would have his readers understand that the ex-                           Weary, and faint, and few,
pression: "the dead in Christ shall rise first" refers to                 But countless as the stars of heaven,                                 ; ..
a first resurrection in  distitiction from a second re-
 surrection and that the whole passage refers, not to                       Or as the early dew.
`the second  coming of the Lord, but to the rapture which
 may take place' at any time now. It is very clear, how.-                 Then  enterilig  the eternal halls,
 ever!  that this is not at all correct. `The  expression-
 "the dead in Christ shall rise first" does not stand in                    In .Tobes of victqry,
 opposition to a supposed "and later, the'dead outside                    That mighty multitude shall keep                                -'
of Christ shall rise", as .the. Chiliast-interprets, but to                 The joyous  jubilee;         -
 what the text plainly expresses: "immediately after-
 ward the living in C&ist shall be changed". The con-
 trast in the passage is not: "the dead in Christ" and                    Unfading  palms they bear aloft,
 "the dead outside of Christ"`; but L "the dead in Christ"                  `Unfaltering iongs they sing;-
 and "they in Christ that shall still live at His secdnd
coming". And the passage simply teaches that the liv-               -Unendiig   festivil they keep,                     .
ing in Christ shall not prevent'the dead in Christ at                       In pr.esencc  of the Ming.


                                                                                                                   _.-            .,-                   "


                                                                                    These men: insist on  pUritjT   .?f <doctrine   in preaching
          Moie  Strange  Reasonin@' r .- .~ and in t,eachi~&. Was it n&t under the impulse of love
                                                                                    for `pure ductrine that they clamored for our deposi-
       (Coetinuatioti  of previous article under this _                             tion? Fyell  then, let them `now act, again. Or has this
                            caption.)                   . .                         love. paled since then?
     In  what  -direction the exponents of the theory of                               Kuiper once more: "First we believe that it will
 common grace aye. headed.  may also be seen. from the                              not do to  distiiss  the doctrine of total depravity lightly
 following statements (from the pen of Mr. Jaarsma, and say  that'for  all practical purposes there are good
 principal of.one of qur Christain schools) : "Children,                            and evil ,tendencies*  in the `child . -. . . It will not do
 it is .argued,  are sinful; depraved by nature, and ex- to acknowledge.the  fact of original sin and of total de-
 ternal discipline is imperative." Jaarsma's advice is:                             prqity `atid then. proceed to ignore them in construct:
 "DO not raise, the argument df total depravity, for in ing a theory-of education and determine proper educ&
 its .name`  some of the grossest injistice  to the child-life tional  ~@zthod$.   The&y and  practial  must  agree."
 has been committed. For, ~11 prc@ic~l  pg~p.qse!  (Italics, We are of'courtie  thoroughly agreed to this. But Kuiper
 the writer's) the child has good and evil  tendentiies.                            should consider that the theory of common grace in-
  The former are be& developed in challenging  situ&                                volves also hind and his colleagues in a practical denial
 tions, the latter likewise can be redirected or sublj~-                            of the total depravity  of man. According to this theory,
 ated."   Quoted from Jaarsma's  &rticl& appearing in  The the natural man  is  izot actually  totally depraved. He
 Bamer for Nov. 30  under-`the'captain."Old  and N&v                                wou6d be this if it were not for the restraining (com-
 Education".                             ..`. , ,,    .  ./                         mon) grace of God. Kuiper in advising Jaargma  as he
     The doctrine here expounded is that  .everi child is does, denies the existence  .of common grace. He feels
 wholly good, innocent. Even the evil tendenciq,.in  .it;. this, too; for he assures Jaarsma:  "`It is true that the
 are not! evil at all; but :rigtitly.  consi&e&d,  `virtues, niis-                  restraining.grace  of God in the unregenerate child-and
 directed. Hence, they can be redirected and sublimated. the special grace. of God in .the regenerate child are
 What have ~9. here? :~ s$eF paganism. . ..It is already important  2acts in child psychology which .the in-
 significant that Jaarsma can publish  s&men@   .Fuch                               structor may reckon with and use to the best advant-
 as these without fear of jeoptirdiiing  his position.                              age:"      `,
     It must follow:  of course that Jaarsma's theory of
 education  - a theory of. which his article is the %x-                                                  :!.:    :k  :k           :g     :::
 position - is as pagan as the  .pagan basis upon which                                                               .-
tit reposes. And though Rev. H. J. Kuiper in &in edi-,                                        ,..                           .,
 tori al brands Jaarsma's ' pagan sen&&ents  oneiside`d                                In what dire&ion the brethren in  the Christian
  (mark you one-sided), he at  once informs  .him that  .he Reformed. &urches  are headed,  Rev. Ghys'els' medita-
. ftiund much good in his article, recommends it to the                             tion in P.&e  Bawner for Dec. 14 also tells us. The medi-
readers of  The  Banner and-assures the author that he tation turns ,on John. 3 :16-X3 : `"Foi God so loved the
 loves hi& &ill. W&% Kuiper :` "There are, other things                             world that .he gave his only begotten json, that whoso-
 in Mr. Jaarsma's paper with which  tie  a& well pleased. ever believeth on him should not perish, but have ever-
 . We hoce serious attention..will-  be given ,to his sug- lasting life. For Gdd sent  tiot the Son into the world
 gestions (this should be, `to his paganism', G. M. -0. .> . to judge  t;he world, but that the world should be saved
. On .the other hand, there are: also statenielits  which we through him; He that believeth on him is not judged ;
 .believe  to-be  one&ed.  Perhaps if our readers  will put he that believeth not hath been judged already, because
. Mr. Jaarsma's, article and ours  .together;  the two:  to-' he hath n& .believed  on the name of the only begotten
 gether`  will ofser  sotie fr$ful and safe. guidance' to Son of God."  _
 those of us  whd are privileged to  iti&ru&  our.chil$en                              Ghys& comment `reads in part: "God loved the
 in- the Word of God.`?  `.  '                `(                                    world. This does not mean that he loved the sticks.
     Kuiper makes Jaarsma feel that. his views' are and stones,. the trees and grass,-  the clouds and the
  pagan and attempt to set him riiht. But he adds, "We mountains, .the oceans and the rivers. Love such as
  do not `Say that our friend Jaarsma, who? 79, have the text denotes, cannot be fixed upon inanimate ob-
 known and loved for Fany .-yea&;  would.  ,deny these                              jects. The reference is to the human race. This does
 things."     How  stralige   !    Though.  %he views. with not meaq.,tl&there is not a sense.in  which God loves
 which, Jaarsma comes  forward..in-hg  pa@ s$a~d dia.<; all the  prqducts  of l$s htindiwoi--k:  He loves this entire
 metrically  apposed.  to right principles  of,  &@a$iqn,                           universe  ifi.$.he same :way that a painter loves the pic-
 Kuiper feels certain that Jaarsma would  `%t  d&iy ture his hapds have-made 0~ in the same way that Beet-
 "these  things". But consider that Kuiper's faith counts. .hoyen  loves -his symphonies and concerts . . . . .
 for nothing in this matter. The plain fact,&. that. Jaars-  :'                        "The text, however, speaks of the world of mankind.
ma  do? deny "these thiligs";  And the &&tion is what Among  ~anl&d.  there are many races and  .nation-
 H. J. Kuiper  and his collea&-u& `inten& to do &b&t it. alities. These various distinctions are necessary iq
                                                               ._.           ..I
                                                                       .:


                                 _:
"     .                                                \                                          :
               k
                                                                             :-            ^i                        -  .,
                                                       TtiE  ST;tiNDARD   B E A R E R  -                                           xii

           their  platie: They  serve  a useful purpose. They  h&e           criminately ? And  &he implied answer : It. does. Hence,
           been divinely, planned; But the love of God does not' one might `draw the conclusion that there is no judg-
           conside*   r&cial and national bounderies. It knows ment.                                                                   "
           neither Jew. .nor Gentile; .It knows neither English-                   We ask, `Why might one, having read Ghysels' med-
           man  noti  Bushman. European or Hottentot, American itation, draw this. conclusion? For the simple reason
           or Oriental. It takes in the entire organism  6f mankind, that it follows logically  frbm Ghysels' previous cogita-
           and has for its  purp&e  the salvation of sinners, ir- tions. He, perhaps in spite of himself, admitted this
           respective of their racial, national, or social `position. when he penned down: "One might draw the conclu-
           We  should'be  happy  at  th.& time  fo stress tliis uni- sion .  ; . .  "
           versal love `of God. We should rejoice that God so loved             .Let me furnish more proof that the meditation
           the entire world that he  gavehis only begotten son for .under consideration  was actually  meant to teach a
      the salvation of all  ihose who believe in him. `We Fay universe sal.vation  in the Pelagian sense. I again quote :
           be poor in the eyes of. the world, but this does not `ex-         "And herein is the love of God t&t this same race of
      `elude  us from the love of.  Gbd. Christ himself was mankind is being spared, and that He is seeking to
           poor . .  ;  .                         ,                          save it by the constant and continuods  offer of salva-
               "This is the world. He made it for himself in the tion through His only begotten Son."
           first place . . . . He desires its fellowship. He de-                   To whom. now does God offer His salvation ?  ' Ac-
           sires, to rescue it from its guilt and .folly.  He desires cording to the exponents of. common grace, to every
           to give himself to men, that through th? gift, of himself man (head for head) who hears the gospel.. Thus the
           to men, He might enrich them with life divine and un- race to whom God offers the gospel is "every man".
           ending."                                         ..'              And this at once'is the race to w&om according to the
               "He sent his Son, not to  judge or condemn the world writer God'gave  His Son..
           btit to save it. He might have sent him  to judge it. It                That Ghysels meant to teach an unscriptural uni-
           still  deservbs  it . . . . He@n is the love of God that versal  sqlvation  is most evident from  his two conclud-
           a  sinful,  guilty, unworthy, God forgetting race of men ing paragraphs : "We should `remember *that fhe ap-
           was not visited by a loving Saviour. And herein is the pearance of Chkist in the world and the preaching of
           love of God that this same race is being spared, and the.gospel  are in themselves already a judgment. This
           that He still loves it so much that He is seeking to save         is because it places the sinner before a crisis. He must
           it by the constant and continuous offer  of salvation choose -either for or against Christ. .If he chooses
           throught His only. begotten Son." So far Ghysels.                 against him, he closes the door to his salvation. Hi's"
               What how is the message with which the author of unbelief is his own condemnation. From this- paint of
           the above lines comes forward? It is this`: "God loves view we may.say  thaif God does not condemn any man.
           humanity, every individual indiscriminately (head for If condemned, man condemns himself. If we perish,
           head). Hence for every man He gave  His .son. Thus we perish because we do not believe. I$ we stay out of
           every man He wills to save.                                       .heaven  at  last,.3 is because we lock ourselv6 out."
                    But,  some.may  say, these expressions do  tiot occur          Let us .grasp the reasoning here. Ghysels tiffimed
           in the above excerpt. True, they do not. Nor do they              (accprding  to his own say&g) that Christ was giv+=  to
           occur an&here in the entire medit&ion. But its  m&-               all men (head for head). But this raises  ..the  question
           sage nevertheless is that God gave His only begotten hoiv God can then judge and condemn. Ghysels an-
           to every, indivi'dual without indiscriminatidn.         Such is swer: He cannot. And the fact is that He actually
           its message by reason ,of the fact that it `fails to state Judges and condemns no man. Man judges himself,
           anywhere that the world Gbd loved  is that race of men, locks himself out of heaven. But as for God, He wills
           chosen.unto eternal life in Christ Jesus. The author in to save all. Only such who persist in their unbelief
           his writing choie td `keep silence respecting the doc- will He, contrary to His inmost desire, cast into eternal
           trine of  &lectioti  and reprobation. Through this silence hell fire.
           he made his article assert that Christ died for every                   This is actually  :the message of the meditation.
      man. .                           r     .                               And I invite anyone (Ghysels included), to show that
                                                                             my' contention is, not true. .I wonder `if Dr. Beets  .,is.
                    The  &thoi*  himself was keenly aware of  *his. His cohvinced  by this time that the Pelagian views of the
           silence  wab  wilf$, intentional. The proof? I  q&e  :            late Prof. Heyns struck deep root in the hearts of his
           "One might draw `the  `coriclusion,  however,  that if pupils indeed. The fact that Ghysels is. being retained
           Christ  came to save and not to judge, then there is no as a writer .of the meditations for The Banner spkaks
           judgment. Does the love of God for the human race volumes.. For these meditations on a whole  .are thor-
           bring universal  salTiation?"                                     oughly Arminian. And I invite the brethren to deny
                    Grasp  the.actu$  reasoning  he$e.  It is this: Does also this. If they wish, I will furnish more proof.
           not the love of God for the human race bring universal
           salvation, that is, salvation to every individual indis-                                                     _ G. M. 0.


 Zijn Verbond wortelen  in en opkomen  uit Zijn CetiNg             fectual  or not effectual to salvation; and after all that
 Wezen, daar zull& we ook achter  den raad des vrkdes Christ. has done and suffered witli a view to the sd-
`moeten  terug. gaan, om de e&wige verbondsgedachte vation  of all the human race, it rests with man to deter-
  af te leiden uit  :den levenden God Zelven !                     rriine whether all 07 none, whatever  many or few shall
   ,'  _                                                 H. H.  _ be saved ; when I hear man of this description advance
                                                                   such sentiments  as these, and then vociferate his offers
                                                                   of .grace,  of Christ,. of salvation, I fogbear  to wonder,
                           Contribution                            because I  cjnsider  hiti, though at  war with the Scrip-
                                                                  tures, yet consistent with his own principle and char-
  D e a r   M r .   E d i t o r : -     r                          acter as an Arminian. But when men who are  dis-
      The following is the substance of & paper given in %i&uished  by the Calvinistic  character ascend the pul-
 the English Men's Society of the First Protestant pit and assert that God, `in the riches. of his unbounded
 Reforged Church pf Grand Rapids on.                               gracej  freely and immutably chose a people for himself
                                                                   in eternity, and  appointbd   th@m to  a. certain salvation
   SOME ENGL&X WRI+EXS  ON TI!IE SO-CALLED                         in -Jesus `Christ; that he absolutely -determined the
      "WELL ,MEANING.  OFFER OF SALVATION'9                        number of his chosen, %nd specified the persons who
                                                                   .compose.  that number, so that neither addition nor di-
                          .ISI (Conclusion)       ,,         :     minution;n6r a change of persons can by any means
      The. following extract is from Job Hupton's "Thi take place ; that all the immense treasures of his trans-
 truth ai it is in Jesus". Job Hupton' was minister at cendent love, grace;and mercy; together with the spir-
 Claxton,`.Norfolk,  for nearly 60 yeai-s, preaching.,when         itual blessings and privileges, weYe  entailed upon them, '
he was nearly 90 and.died about 1850. He was much exc&usivBZy,  in Christ, by a sovereign act of his .will;
 respected in' the ministry, and  write extensively, both that he passed by the rest in `righteous sov&eignty,
 p'oetry  ana, prose.                                             `and never designed any spiritual favour for them, but
      "Equally  unevatigelical  with the  riotion  of pur- left- them to perish in their sins ; and that in conse-
 chased blessings, and yet, notwithstanding, full as pop- quence of  the fall, every  man's  will is entirely depraved,
 ular; even among these who are deemed gospel preach- enslaved by Satan, and averse to all that is gaod ; and
 ers, is  -the ministerial offer of spiritual blessings. Long then- in a moment drop from `this eminence into the
 hatie our pulpits rung and our  preSses teemed with quagmire of Arminianism, and begin to advance their
 offers,  tenders,  u& ove&bres  of mercy and grace, par- offers and overtures, who can help exclaiming with
 don and peace, life and salvation, Christ and he&en.              amaze, `How is ihe fine gold becolme  dim, and the wine
 3&nisters  of all denominations are zealously employed turned into water.' `How is the melodious note of the
 in making these  offmsj tenders and  otiertures:   ' In mounting lark changed for. the doleful din of' the  bir*d
 whatever &se they differ, in this they are in perfact             of  .night'.  These men are not only beside the scriptures,
 unison. Here the avowed Arminian  and the reputed but also beside themselves, and hostile to their own
 Calvinist join hands ; and although it is-dii%cult  to say character as Calvinists."
 which of the two is the most  streguous  for general                "Whoever declares himself a Calvinist,`.p?ofesses  to
 offers, it is easy to determine which is the. most con- believe that God, the Father of all mercies, has. blessed'
 sistent. These offers-and oyertures  accord very well his own people with ali spirit;u@  blessings in Christ
 with the  Arminian  notions of universal grace,  .gen&-al Jesus, according as he hath chosen them in him before
 `redemption, the `sovereignty of free-will,. and the  im- the foundation of. the world ; and that he never intended.
perial  powers of human nature ; but; neither the. wis- that a single person more than the number of his elect
 dolli ,of -man, nor the deeper sagacity of angels, will should partake of any such blessings. Now, by what
ever be able t.o reconcile them %ith Jehovah's perfec-             means can general offers of spiritual blessiegs  be made
 tions,with  the volume of revelation, and with legitimate to accord' wi'ch election, particular redemption, and the
 Calvinism. When I hear a professed &minian declare limited grant- of those blessings? Can it .be .made  to
 .to his auditory that God always intended his grace for appear how God can, cbnsistently  with his character as
 every man ; that he loves one of the sons of tien as a being of &finite  sincey&d,  make an  o8er where he
 much as he loves another, that `elec&on.is  the devvil'i          has absolutely determined never to make a grant of
 lie;  and a horrible d&yee';  that Christ has obtained what  he offers? Or how the Almighty, who has  im-
 redemption for every- child of Adam;. that God has not            m&ably  decreed that all shall not be saved, can with
 absolutely determihed  Anything  relative to the el'Eects sincerity and  upkghtness, principles eternally insepar-
 of the death of Christ, but has cast the lot into the lap able from his existence, offer salvation to all where he
- of human caprice, and left the whole disposal of it to           sends the gospel? ?his ought to be done, and must be
 the, will of man: that men have it in their power to              done, before the doctrine of general ofYers can be es-
 choose or refuse Christ, turn the scale which way they tablished. It is said that we cannoti  possibly account.
 ilease, and render his obedience and  s$ferings   ef- for all the divine procedure ; and that we are obliged,


          . .                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                  ,'    157

- -  . upon the authority of scripture, both `to believe and preceding my text, is peculiarly striking, and is in-
     publish many things which, thpugh  they are.not  con- tended to set forth the utter helplessness of man, prior.
     trary to reason, yet are so far above the conprehension to. the mighty w'ord of grace of God  Commencing upon
     of a finite understanding that it would be presumption his heart. `I beseech yod, look at what is said. `Thus
     in mortal man to attempt to explain them. Granted;          saith the Lord God unto Jerusalem' - His own coven-
     but then we are not called to believe anything which ant people: `Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land
    `is incompatible with Jehovah's revealed character, nor of Canaan; they father was an Amorite, and the mother
     to publish anything which militates with his known an Hittite. And as for the nativity, in the day thou
     attributes of truth, integrity,. and uprightness ; which wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou
     the doctrine of general  offers  appears to do, but to washed in water to supple thee ; thou wast not salted at
     abide by that sacred axiom,-`God cannot deny himself,' all, nor swaddled at all. None eye pitied thee, to do any
    or in other words, he  .cannot act inconsistently with his of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee ; but,.
     own perfections, purposes, and character.                   thou wast cast out in the open field, to the loathing of -
         "For the farther illustration of this subject, let us thy person, in the day that thou wast born.' I cannot
     suppose a case. There is a good, the possession of which conceive of any stronger imagery, that can be  e,m-
     would be very much to the advantage of an individual, ployed,to set forth the pitiable, helpless, forlorn, ruined
     but  to which he has a great aversicn. This good is in state of poor mortals as they come into this world.
     the possession of a neighbour, who has both the power Place before the eye  .of your minds the very character
     to bestow it upon him and to dispose his mind to re- here represented in a figure - a helpless infant, the
     ceive it, but has determined not to do either, and yet very day it is born, abandoned even by its own parents,
     he makes him an .offer of it. Can this neighbour be `cast out in the open field,' and left to perish. It can
    fairly deemed an upright, sincere chwacter? TWhether neither stand, nor speak, nor.. walk, nor eat, nor do any
     this supposed individual be acquainted with his  neigh- thing to help itself.
     bour's determination or not  .can be of no consequence,        "There seems nothing before it, but  inevitably,to
     for neither his Tenbzoledge  nor his ignorance  can in the perish. And, my hearer, if you and I were left to our-
     least alter the fact as to the man's  character.  The selves as we  come into this world, even though we
     question therefore is, first, `whether he can consistently might stay in it till we reached  the.age  of Methuselah,
     with himself, or with the truth, uprightness, and in- there is nothing before us but -eternal. destruction;
    `tegrity of his nature appear to be what he is not, or perishing is inevitable, unless, what follows in the next
     manifest a disposition, which he does not possess? Sec- verse be realized. in a spiritual sense in our -personal
     ondly, whether in making an offer of spiritual bless- experience. `I passed by,'  !I saw thee,' `I said unto'
     ings to all he would not manifest a disposition -to be- thee. `Live.' Oh! how tender is the order of the words !
     stow them upon all? And, thirdly, whether he really `When I passed by thee, and saw thee poluted in thine
     possesses any such disposition. Indeed, I cannot help own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy
     concluding that, as he is a being of infinite perfection, blood, Live'; and then it is repeated - `Yea, I said unto
     itis impossible for him to manifest a disposition which thee when thou wast'in  thy blood, Live.' Now in such
     he does not possess ; that as a disposition to .bestow      a case, literally existing, would there be any thing re-
     spiritual blessings upon all the world would be incon- quired of that infant, towards securing its own life?
     sistent with his doctrine of election,, he possesses no     Would there be any  `contingensy? Would any- hard-
     such disposition and' that as the manifestation of a hearted wretch, passing *by, carry out the Arminian
     disposition to bestow them upon all is inseparable principle, and say  - `Now I am passing within three or
    from an offer of them to all, there can be no such offer four yards of you, and I will help you if you will only
    intended by  .God in the preaching of the gospel."           get up and come to me: but if you will not stir, I. shall
      Joseph Irons, "the gospel hero of his day", is one of leave you to perish?' Such is Arminianism ; such is the
    the greatest opponents of this doctrine. There is hardly awful system of the day in which we live. It would
    a sermon of his in which he :does not attack-this error:     tell the poor perishing infant, when it `cannot even
    and my concluding quotations will be from  his sermons.      understand what is said and cannot reply to it  - `Help
        Irons was born in 1755, at Ware, and at an `early yourself; arise and walk ; come and accept of my ofi!er.`.
    period  "was instructed in his father's business. Would not any kind-hearted father or mother say,  3
    In  P&08, with little or no preparation for the ministry,    `Why, this is the most miserable tantalising and mock-
    he commenced to preach, at the same time working  a.t        ing of the child, that can be conceived? Such is Armin-
    his trade. In 1818 Grove Chapel was organized and            ianism. But, blessed be the name of our God, when
    Mr. Irons became its first pastor and continued as such "one eye pitied,' He `saw' and `had compassion'; and
    until his death in.1852..                                    His eye has.  ,never been taken off from the, objects of
        In his sermon on "Spiritual Life!`,.Ezek. 16:6, Mr. His love, the election of grace. `I saw thee'; and what
    I r o n s   s a y s :                                        then? `I said unto thee,' (one word is enough) `Live.'
        "The simile employed in the language immediately and life Divine was sent down."


                                                                                                                              i
                                              T H E   -STAN,DARD   B E - A R E R
._  ,162               ~                                                                                                           II
 `stelling komt er tot openbaring, tusschen den God der                                 The            Plagues                     '
   Schriften  en den afgod dezer wereld. In den Zoon des
 Vaders, de openbaring van den Rechtvaardige, den God`                The word of the Lord again comes unto Moses, I
   aller genade en waarheid, daar was die Zoon, nu Rise up early in the- morning, and stand before 1
   staande voor het Sanhedrin, mede vervuld. In den zoon Pharaoh; lo, he  cometh forth to the water; and say  5
   der'verderfenis,  de openbaring van al de duisternis der unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Let my people go that ]
zonde, zooals deze in ongerechtigheid de waarheid ten they may serve me. Else, if thou wilt not let my people f.
   onder  houdt en uitwerkt tot in haar voltooCg, door go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee, and :
   het verraden en `verkoopen van onschuldig bloed : Het upon thy servants, and upon the people, and .into thy i
   bloed van den Zoon van God.           *                         houses: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full 1
           Terwijl. bet gehiid van het laatste zilverstuk nog of swarms of flies and also the ground whereon they i.
   door'den tempel klinkt, vlucht Judas' weg. Weg naar are. And the Lord did so.                                                   1
   de eenzaamheid in,. het holle van den  nacht.         Steeds       Also the fourth plague shows a similarity to one `of 1.
`voorthollend,  terwijl  het.woord  van'den  H&land  door E,gypt's  seasonal phenomena. This country is one in  1
  ,hem  wordt gehoord : `Vriend? waastoe gij  bier?' En. which flies swarm in clouds of which the inhabit&i 4
   Judas snelt naar den akker des pottenbakkers,  Akel- of northern lands have no idea. Their countless my- $
   dama, daar waar  straks zijn`graf zal. zijn gekocht met riads fill the air in October and .November,  after the' i
   het bloedgeld, dat door hem niet langer begeerd werd. season of frogs is over. One eats them, it is said, drinks ;
.Even  westelijk  b,oven  enkele, aldaar samenkomende them, and breathes them. There are various kinds of i.
   valleien, waar nog een enkele oude boom overbleef flies, authorities tell us, that cause trouble in Egypt. 1.A.
   maakt hij, door middel van het touw een einde aan. zijn Among these is the cattle fly, which is far worse in its
   verzondigd leven. Niet;om nu tot rust te .komen.  Rust bites than the musquito. It comes inclouds and covers
   zal er voor hem, in der eeuwigheid niet zijn. Hij. ging all objects with its black masses, and causes severe
   naar zijn eigen plaats, de plaats des verderfs. Maar            inflammation  by` its bite. But the trouble caused in
ook in die plaats is er van gelijkheid geen sprake en Egypt even by the common fly is almost indescribable.
   wordt de mate van het lijden bepaald in  overeenstem-           When the country is most under water, during the
   ming met  de. plaats, welke op aarde werd ingenomen. height of the inundation, they increase to a fearful ex-
   Indien er iemand daar zal zijn, die men er zeer zeker tent. Their food being diminished by the great
   niet zou  verwacht hebben, dan'is het zeer zeker van amount of land under water,, they seem literally mad
   Judas waar,'  dat dit van hem mocht `gelden.                    with hunger, and light in countless numbers upon what-.
          . Vriend, gij hier ! Want daar zullen de heidenen ever prom&es to satisfy it.
   zijn en  de+ volkeren van rondom, ma'ar  -dat er ook               Though these phenomena must have been known to
   iemand-is,,,die  zoo dicht bij Jezus heeft geleefd, Zijn        Pharaoh, they may not. be identified with the fourth
   krachten en wonderteekenen heeft gezien, die heeft              visitation.    Their is something- uncommon also. about
moeten erkennen en beleden, dat  Jezus alles is, wat this stroke. The flies, be they of one kind, (the .dog
        Hij omtrent Zichzelven heeft gezegd, zoo iemand. is. fly) or of various kinds, are grievous. So the sacred
   zelfs in die plaats een &nling. Het eigen getuigenis narrator specifies. Their numbers are uncommonly
   der conscientie, het  .getuigenis  der verloornen, maakt great. They attack humans with unheard of fierceness.
  `de  hellestraf  voor Judas des te ondragelijker.       '
  _'                                                               Such must be the meaning of the notice, I will send
          . Judas Iscarioth, een der twaalven, die Hem ook  ver- swarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy servants  and.
raden heeft, is en blijft het schrikkelijk beeld, zooals           upon thy people. As impelled by an unseen power,
   het `al de eeuwen door geteekend staat. Onzaliger ge-           they swarm into the houses and  fill them. They bite
   dachtenis is er niet dan van dezen mensch.                      and sting as if they have been send on a special mis-
                                                       w. v.       sion to torment humans. And so indeed they have.
                                                                   Never before have these pests been-knownto come in
                                                                   such numbers and to so behave. Men and beast alike                    c:
                                                                   are unable to endure them., \They corrupt the whole                   .?..:
                                                                   land and thus turn Egypt into a region to be loathed.
           Aardsche liefde is. eene `Meine  ondiepe beek, die      So Pharaoh may again know that the God of the He-
   slecht in de lente vloeit, en waarop eene langdurige zo-        brews is the Lord in the midst of the earth.
   merdroogte volgt. De verwisseling van eene brandende               This stroke also is one of the Lord's wonders. Let                 ,
   woestijn, zonder boomen-of  bronnen, of eenig gewas, us at this juncture inquire .after  the marks of the won- i
   met groene velden en bloeiende boomgaarden, zooals              ders and after the purpose of their being wrought. AC-                     :
 men die in de  maand Juni vindt, is gering in  verge-             cording to the prevalent view, one of the marks of the                     j
   lijking  met die van de woestijn der genegenheden dezer wonders is their being supernatural in distinction from -i
   wereld met het hemelsche paradijs, waar altoosdurende natural. Supernatural is said to be all that which ex-                               j
   overvloed van zegenende liefde is. -                            eels the strength increated  -and sustained in the  1

            -z

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

                  In his sermon on "The Covenant of Life and Peace",
               Mal. 2 :5, he says :                                                                      Wereld
                  "In the first place, it insures salv2tion  entire and              Ge zult  allen   we1  weten,  dat  er veel  geschermd
               perfeet.  I have not common patience with the people wordt met die teksten, die spreken van een liefde Gods
               that talk about  published oglers  of it  - overtures of it voor de were&  van een verzdening der zonden- der
               -propos@s  of it.There is not a word of it in Scripture ; geheele werelcl;  van God Die de iv&reZd met Zichzelf
               not a word. Isaiah says, `Beautifui upon the mount- verzoende in en door Christus, waardoor alle hunne
               ains are the feet of Him,' that publisheth peace, that zonden hun vergeven wierden.
               bringeth good tidings of good, .that publisheth salva-                Nu is al dat gedoe ondiep en' in den grond  godde-
               tion'; but I do not read a word about publishing  o#ers           loos.
               or proposals. We come to tell you, that the thing is                  Ondiip is het, want zelfs bij oppervlakkige  lezing
               done, completely finished ; and as far as voice can reach,        der Heilige S&rift blijkt het, dat het woord were&!  on-
              to publish salvation completed, - originating in the derscheidenlijk gebruikt wordt door den Heiligen
              love of  God'the  Father, wrought out in the suretyship            Gee&.                                      :
              and work of God the Son, and revealed and made known                   En het is ook goddeloos, want `als men door zulk
              to the soul by the powerful and invincible agency of ondiep knoeien dan ten slotte  aan komt  dragen  met een
               God the Holy Ghoit.  Now this salvation is perfectly              Christus pro omnibus, d. w. z., .een Christus voor `allen,
               secure; and that; in the covenant engagements  of. its heeft men bet `eeuwig Evangelic.  van zijn kraCht  be-
              glorious Head. And the Father says, `It is My coven- roofd en is de Heilige Schrifttegen  zicbzelf  verdeeld.
              ant,' and says  .`It is with Him; My covenant  .was with
                      .                                                             Is da: niet letterlijk waar?
              Him of life and peace.' "                                              Luister  slechts : God heeft de wereld lief, Johannes
                  .My concluding quotation will be from' Rev., Irons'            3 :16; doch Christus  zegt : Ik bid niet voor de wereld!
              sermon on "The Covenant of Grace," 2 Sam. 23  :5:                  Johannes  17 :9. En nog eens weer :' God heeft de wereld
                  "Now according to this order, let us, first of'all look lief, Johannes  3:16;  doch Johannes waarschuwt de
              at the charter of grace: `An everlasting covenant.'                Kerk van Christus  : Hebt de wereld niet lief ! I Joh.
               / "What is it? Can tllere be anything uncertain in 2 :15.
              it? Is `an everlasting covenant' anything like a  pro-                Daar komt nog bij, dat het woord wereld ook ge-
              miseuous  offer, propospl,  overkwe,  iMitation,   or  pre- bruikt wordt in Gods Woord om daardoor aan te dui-
              `sen-tatio~  of things to be left to man's caprice? Beloved'       den al het geschapene, zooals hemel,  zee en- aarde met
              I am brought to this' decision, (and I want to bring you al de geschapene dingen,  die in den hemel, zee en aarde
              to it,) that I must. either abandon the idea of a coven- zijn. Welnu, leg die teksten nu eens naast Johannes
              ant God, of covenant biessings, of .covenant  security,            15 :19. Daar zegt Jezus tot Zijn jongeren: "Indien gij
              or else-1 must aba.ndon  the devil's gospel. And what van de wereld waart, zoo zoude.de wereld het hare  lief-
              is that? say you. Why, Arminianism : a gospel of hebben; doch omdat gij van de wereld niet zijt, maar
              "tiontigencies,   and  uncertainties,  and buts, and  ifs,  and Ik u uit de wereld heb uitverkoren, daarom  haat u de
              peradventure&,-and  may-bes..  I should at any rate do wereld." En wat voor onzin zoudtge  dan krijgen om
              with it as Paul did, and, call it an Iaccursed one - .`Tf          in beide gevallen bet woord wereld als hetzelfde betee-
              :any man greach any,other  Gospel unto you than that               kenende i-e verklaren. Staat de zaak zoo, dat de  ber-
              ye have received,-`let him be accursed.' The language gen en  zeeen,  de visschen en vogels, de Engelen en
I:.:.  ;.:    of my text will not allow of hesitation upon this all-im- hemelsche machten  en al de groote heiren Gods, dat die
-:  :.I
 .  .  `(     portant point; for here  .I learn, that the charter of allen  ons  a,ls Christus' Kerk  haten?  Wat klinkklare
              grace lies in `an everlasting covenant.' Not a  time-              onzin is dit ?
              state covenant, though. in the time state it is revealed              Uit het bovenstaande zal het den lezer duidelijk
              but `an everlasting covenant,' that is, the transaction zijn, dat al `dat  aanhalen van teksten om er een liefde
              of ancient love between the Persons of the glorious                Gods voor de  were& dat is, alle.menschen die er ooit
              Trinity. For, I conceive, that when the Psalmist David geleefd .hebben,  nu leven en nog leven zullen, uit te.
              is speaking not only personally, but typically, and point- halen,  ten eenemale ondiep is. We mogen daarom nu
              ing personally to Christ. The  %ov,enant  is made with al concludeeren, dat het `woord lwereld verschillende
              the Beloved  - our glorious exalted, Advocate  - the beteekenissen in Gods Woord heeft.
              Man. of God's right hand. And thus we come to the                     Nu zou men kunnen zeggen, dat het doen  van die
              fact, that.all ,the Persons of the' Trinity in council from Arminianen, want in dat kamp hooren ze thuis, een:
              everlasting, settled, determined, predestined, and for voudig domme menschen zijn, die' dat soort teksten
              ever made sure all that pertains to  the entire history eenvoudig op den klank af' aanhalen. Dat, met andere
              of the Church of Christ on earth, `and of' Christ Him- woorden, ze ter goeder trouw dwalen. Ze wisten niet
              self as its head, and salvation and redemption which beter.
              the Word of God sets forth."               -                          Doch  dat is  blijkbaar   niet waar. Want onder  de-
                                                                   A. D.         genen die zoo spreken zijn er geweest van alle eeuwen

                                                                            .
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          /                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                              I         163
          :_ creature and thus has its cause directly in the powel June may be the period of the year at which the first
                of .God. But according to this reasonng-many  .pherio-      plague is to be fixed. For in this month occurred t&e
          i mena  would  have `to be placed in the category of the `-natural discoloration of the river. The `feast of the
          I  wond&rs that do not belong there. A doctor, to  illus-         passover  was kept on the fourteetith  day of the month
          ' trate, cannot actually cure his patient., He prescribes `&bib, April, Ai on this same day the firstborn were
          ! the kind of remedy that  the ailment requires but-it is         destroyed,,  the plagues ranged over a period  .of about
          ! God alone who restores to health by `rendering the              n i n e   m o n t h s .
          : means effective. Thus the cure would have to be termed              Let us go with the question "What is the mark of
                a miracle, which it is not.            :                    the miracle" to  Scriptute.  The following texts make
                   But aside from this, the division of phenomena into mention  of wonders. Ex.3 :20, And I wilYstretch  out my
          i `natural and supernatural is objectionable,, for it breeds      hand, and smite Egypt with.all  my wondefs;  Ex. 15 :ll,
                the ,conception  that the natural, creation, is a realm Who is like unto thee, 0 Lord, among  the gods? who is
                closed to the Almighty and- that the supernatural only, like  $hee,  glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing
                whatever it may be, is .the field where He can operate, wonders ; Ps. -105 :5, Remember `his marvelous works
                or, to express it. otherwise, that the former is' a cause that he hath don6 ; his wonders and tl& judgments of
                unto itself and that thus the latter only  .springs  from his mouth. The word  t&slated by wonder in not the
                His will. ,Fact is, however, that- God doe!h all things same in each of the three'original texts. In Ex. 20 is
                and thus reigns in the midst of the.earth.    This is the found a word that  tieans  distinguish&d,   sepamte,   ez-  _
                lesson that was' so tellingly brought hdme  to Pharaoh's    traordinary; The word found in Ps. 105 :5 signifies  a .
                heart by the.  plagui of Egypt. Finally, the  .division great and splendid deed. The New Testament Bible
                seems to imply that the wonder is an imposition upon, uses' a word that, in the original means s&a, token,
                addition to, or even a nullification  gf,`the earthy and its ma&.  Their are `numerous other  passages whose  trans- .,
                laws. But the fact is that the .wQnders consist in the      lations  sp$ak  of wonders. But the word found in the
                power of Gdd qperating  in the very heart  bf the struc- original is always one. bf the above three.. This does
                ture of .$he earthy.                                        not mean that. ihe Scripture (Old and Ne& Testament)
                   Another mark of the wonder, according to some, is h.as dnly three words for wonder. It has several more.
                that it is wrought without an intervening  ,medium, -But only some of these words have be& translated
                thus directly,, approximately,  ipstantly.    Opposed to wonders. It is plain that a mere study of wor& yields
                this view is the testimony of the record of  .Egypt's       little `fruit..  .It may be `asked' what the translaters
                plagues. This record contains notices of the employ- rendered only some of these words won,der  and not
                ment of means, agents. Moses himself was such an the others. What was their guide, their standard?
                agent. Likewise his rod. There occurred a mirac&ous             How are we now to proceed in oui present inquiry?
                multiplication of the frogs, through the  age&y cer- We cannot go astray if we begin with God and take as
                tainly of the frogs. It was dust that turned into lice.     our lead the simple proposition that a wonder is a work
                The  wind brought the locusts. There were swarms of of God. It must be this. as  He doeth all things. Such
                flies.because some existing  species-had.-multiplied-.with--  is the uncontrovertable testimony of Scripture.  - Our-  -
                uncommon rapidity. Strange to say, one of the most next act must b6 to discover how He cla&ifies  in Scrip-
                ardent exponents of the view of.the  immediate miracle, ture His works. P&using the pages of God's word, one
     *          always insisted `that regeneration is through the comes upon numerous passages that turn on the doings
     :          (preached)  yard.       Consider that the greatest of all of the Almighty. These passages, it appears further, ,.
                miracle  - the virgin-birth of Christ - was elaborated - are to, be divided into two class. The one class makes.
     :          through. the agency of the virgin.  Thus,`one'-  of  the. mention of wopks of the Lord that are new, uI1common,  \'
                articles of our faith reads, "Born of  the.virgin  Mary'?. unheard of, extrtiordinary  and thus wonder - inciting.
                The wonder, it is plairi, utilizes the earthy. The Lord Attend  .to the-following scriptures. Ex. 33  :lO,  "And
                in visiting Egypt did not strike down into nature from he said, Behold, I make a covenant :' before all thy peo-
                outside with. a power superceding its familiar forces ; ple I will'do marvels, such as h&e not bsen done in all
                to the contrary, these forces of which He is the author the. earth, nor in any nation  : and all the people among
'               He utilized and caused to mount to  utiimagined  heights.. which thou art shall see the work of the Lord:
                He assailed Pharaoh `from earth sky and water in for it is a terrible thing &at I will,do with thee.`!. Ps.
                things least and in things grkatest  and thus brought 78 :12, "Marvelous  things did he in the sight of their
               .Himself forward as.the God who wields all the arrows fathers, in the land of Egypt . . . .  " I Sam. 3  :ll,
               of adversity, as a God therefore who, though not one "And the  Lord said unto Samuel, Behold I will do  a'
               - with His universe (Pamtheism), is everywhere present thing in Isreal,  at which both the ears of everyone that
f               in it. and  c?ntrols.its  wheels. The plagues ran paraliel heareth  it shall tingle.  -In that day I will. perform
1 with and imaged the  cotion  troubles of  Egypt. They against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning
                did riot therefore follow each other with such speed as. his house . . .  ;  `,' Isa. 43 :9, "Behold, I will do a new
                to be  compl_eted  within a few  yeeks.  The month of thing ; now it shall spring forth; . . . . "


                                                                                    -                   :
                                                                                    1..     ._     -
                                    I&$          '     '     :         -    ,.THE`.S'T"A'ND~h;.~,u                        BEARI$R                                      :
                                            .                     _
                  .           k.        There.  is besides another class df scriptures. that which.His right harid had purchased. He cast out the
                        L           speak of works of the Lord not bearing the m&k. of heathen also before them ., . . . . "
                  _  I. newness. i These are His works of creation  and pro-                                     The new work, the wonder of His`love, so the z+oke
                        V vidence.  `In. six days God made heaven and- earth. He excerpt teaches; consists-  in. the Lord's redeeming His
                        - &?etches  out the heavens like a cui%a&, lays the beams people i.prough  judgment and in His brinfi,ng them to a
                              of `His chambers in the waters, maketh the clouds His country which He .by a miracle of His grace h&d tire-
                               chariots; walketh upon the wings of the wind,. makes                          pared for  them.  But the  iedemption  from  Egjr.ptian
                        . His apgles  spirits, and His -minis&s  a flaming- fire.                            bondage, the preservation of Israel in the desert, the.
                       - He laid the foundations of the e&h,.  that.it should not Cdnquest of  Ca-uaan, God's entering with His people
                                    be removed forever. He covers it with the deep is with                   Canaan's -rest,  were shadows the body of which is the '
                              a:garnient.  -He set a boupd that they may pot, pass bringing into  being  of. the heavenly. In the final
                        ..
     ,:                        `-over. He sends the springs into the valleys, which run instantie'then the wonder is &at new work of God con-
            :.                     `among the hills. They gave drink .to every beast of tbe sisting in His freeing this earthy from the bondage of
                                    field. .He waters the hills from His chambers.. `The cgrruption and in His raising it to that leyel of ex-
                                    earth is satisfied with the fruit of his. works; He causes` istence known in  Scriptuk: as the heavenly. The'
                                   the.grass  Ito grow for the -cattle and the herb for the finished  proclutit  will be not another but  ? new creature.
                        ., se&ice  of man, Ps. 104.. And. while the earth remaineth, ' Thus the wonde?  changes,.; makes all things new. And
                                    seedtime and harvest; and cold and heat,  summer atid                    this change, certainly, will spell. the destruction of the
                                    winter,. and`day and  night shall not cease, Gen. 8 :22.                 wicked  and the passing away of the present constied-
                                    There  afe then works of God that  .are first. and old in
     1'  `-                                                                                                  tion-of  t@ngs.  By the wonder  (thi! plagues)  the  l&d
                                    distinction from second and new;  w@ks,are they  that                    of Egypt was destroyed and Pharaoh and his host
     8  '                      <form  a fixed- order fhat `will not  ,cease  as long as the drowned in the Red Sea. But for His people, the Lord
                                    earth remains. It.is these new works that Scripture prepared Canaan, a region of rest, a landzflowing  with-
     I                         also calls by a. name of which our word wonder is the milk and honey. And so in that fintil day of the Lord,
                              . cbrrect.  translation. Wonders are they, marvels; that to come as a thief in the-night, "the'  heathens shall pass
                                    attract and astonish, and  that, as they have  ,not  been `away with  a great noise, and the elements shall melt
                                    done in all the earth, are new indeed. So; then, one of with a ferverit  heat, the earth. k.l,so and the works that.
                                   $e matiks  of the `wonder is that it is. new.
     .                        -                                                                              are therein (the` present construction of things) shall
                                       If:the wonder is to be understodd;  regard should be be burned up. Neveithaess  we, according to His prom-
     3.                            had to  the doings of God -that Scripture  ,calls new. ise, look for nevir heavens %nd ,a new earth, \+herein
                                   Turning. to Ps. 78, I again, quote  :. "Marvelous things dwell&h righteousness. This Work, the wonder and the
          ./                       did. He . . . . He `divided  tile s&a, and caused  them to fruitage  thereof - the new earth in which God is all
                                   pass through; and He made the waters to stand as  on
     _                                                                                                       -in all - forms the  theme  .upen  which the whole of
                                   ti heap: In the daytime he also led theq with a cl&d,                     Scripture turns. To it - thi$ new thing in Israel that
                                   and all the night with & light of fire. He clave  the rocks' the Lord will do - ail the proph&s  of-Scripture dir&t
_ _: ._                            in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of ?he.                     our minds.' "It was with thi,%' thing, the fruitage  of the
                                   great depth. He brdught streams also out of the rock wonder, before His eye, that Jacob, dying, blessed. his
                  .                and. &used  waters to run down likct rivers . . . .Bnd                    sons. David sang about it. In it the prophets that
     :'                            he rained down  manna upon.them  $0 eat, and had given, came. after gloried. It is the kingdom that  Cheist
     ;                        : them of the corn of heaven. He caused as e&t wind                            sought, found,  and established; `that all the apostles
     ; i,to, blow iri the heaven : and by His power he brought in preache_d,  and that the aged John on Patios saw in all
                                   the south wirid. He rained  flesh upon them as dust, the rare  be&&y  of its holiness.
                                                                                                   Re--
     ;,                            and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea."                            The mark ofi the wonder is its newness and its being
                               `tu?ning in his song to the plagues of Egypt, the psalm-                      a work consisting in the bringing into; beirig the
     i'                            ist continues : "And had turned the rivers into blood ; heavenly. This new work the Lord began to perform
!                                  and their floods that `they could not .drink. He  sent' immediately  aft.er'the  fall. Is it- now possible  for: us,
                                   divers sorts of-flies among them,  which devoured them  ;' as armed with this view of the wonder,  to classify eacg
     I>*                           and  fogs, which destroyed them.  He gave alsq their in- particular work of God in history, to say df it that it is
     12 '                          crease unto the caterpiller,  and their labour .unto the or is not a miracle? Consider th$ in all `His doings of
                                   locust. He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and every  dispensation of  grice, He moves toward a single
                                   their  flicks  to hot thunderbolts . . . . He' gave their goal, and that this goal is the appearence  of Zion- in
     ./                            life over to the pestilence ; and smote all, the firstborn glory to the everlasting praise  OI His' name, so that as
     :                             in Egypt. But made His poeple to go- forth like sheep
     :-                                                                                                      viewed from this angle all His doings are wonders.
     :;. . `and guided them in the- wilderness .like.  a flock. And Rightly considered, His works  thrbugh' which He
     t.i:                      He led them on safely, so that they feared not : but the brings intb being His kingdom, cannot be divided into
     j;..-                     sea okerwheltied  their enemies. And He brought them divers categories. They form one connected whole`snd
     :;..-<.: to ,thi? border of His sanctuary, even to this mountain,- this whole, including His works of provide&z,  is the
     ,$?                                                                                                                                                 '
                                                                                                                                                 ._                         -


                                                                                                                  -
                             i        T H E   STANi3ARD   B E A R E R   '                                              ,165

 wonder. Y,ei the first and ordinary WC&S  of God, those and the `hope of a `blessed immogtality  and of a life with
 forming what is called the fixed order, tire not by them- God o?.i an earth made new by the power of Hi? won-
 selves wonders through which t`he heavenly could be de? working grace, is an idle dream.
brought into bking. The Lord strktches out `the heavens.           The wonder, as was said, is a  wo& of redemption,
 as a curtain. But the heavenly appears  as a .result of and thus exhibits and enhances the glory of His c&en-
a new dbing consisting in his rijlling up the heavens as ant. `The wonder demonstrates that He is God and the
a scroll. The heavenly is a new creation afid the f&it-         God and Father of His people in Christ Jesus, that in-.
 age of  .a new work. This the  mo&ers   reilize.  They all the earth there is none like Him;that He is Jehovah
therefore say,- "Where is the-promise df his coming? in the'mfdst  of the earth, doing according to His will in
For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as the army of hehven,  and among the inhabitants, of the
they. were from the beginning of creation." Thus the earth and thus' capable of saving His  peppie by His .
`mocker denies the possibility of the'miracle.  But the hand stretched out. over the earth. 30 does the miracle
apostle's  reply reads, "But the heavens  and- the earth. as on other work, exhibit HiS glories. And His .people,
which are- now, by the .same word are kept in: store, re- who tast <that he iS good, praise Him forever more.
served unto fire . . . .  "' The new `doing of the Lsrd
is to consist .in His burningcup  the earth. That one o$                 ,
the  mafks  of the wonder  is its newness, the` record of                                                    .
the plagues of Egypt more than once states. The hail
was such as had not been in Egypt since the foundation             Pharaoh,, to re;turn to him, called for Moses and
thereof. Of the locusts that the `Lord brought, we              Aaron and -granted them permission to sacrifice unto
Pead, "And they shall fill thy houses, and the houses bf        God on the condition that they do so in the land of
thy servants, and $he houses of all the Egyptains ; Egypt. This offer indicates tFat Pharaoh was destitute .'
which  Ineither- thy fathers, nor thy fathers' fathers of reverence for his  own religion. For in the  mind
have seen, since the day that they were upon the earth of the Egyptian, the sacrifice that the people of Israel
u&o this day."                                                  were  r'equired  to bring,. was an insult to Egypt's gods,
    It is plain what are to be taken as the marks of the and thus an abomination in the sight of their devotees. .
miracle. The wonder  is a new work of grace of which Yet, rather than permit  i the people to pass out of his
God is the author and through which he brings into sight, he chooses to tolerate in his land a  se&i&  that
be&g  the heavenly. Its mark is not its-being wrought he and the Egyptians must loathe. But Moses. and
without any interviewing medium. That the essence Aaron may not except his offer, To sacrifice to the
of the wonder consists in its being worked directly,            Lord in the presence of the.Egyptians  would be like
immediately,' was the contention of  the  fdur `professors casting pearls `before the swine. These. pearls Gould
in their `controversy. with Dr. Janssen.. The debate            be trampled-under foot, and the! swine wou1d be sure
turned  solely on such questions as whether the wall of to turn again and rend the Israelites. And thus Moses
J&ho had fallen by an earthquake or whether the ' replied, "It is not meet so to do;  for we shall sacrifice
fall of this wall is to be  a&scribed  to an  immediate--e%- the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God :
ercise of divine power. The four  -professors   main: lo, shall we  sacrifiie  the abomination of the Egyptians
tained the Iatter. Their view was  that a wonder must' before their eyes, and will tliey not &t&e us ?" To bring
be immediately wrought in order to be a wonder. This a sacrifice -to the Lord  +horoughly  offensive to
.view, as was shown, has no b&is in Scripture. Thit flesh Pharaoh's subjects  tiould be to cast things holy  unti,
(quails) that the Lord caused  .t`o rain upon' His people the dogs. Moses therefoie  insists that he and his peo- .
in the desert, h?d been driven to. the place of their en- ple be permitted to go three days journey in the wilder-
campment by the wind that He had caused to blow in ness and sacrifice to the `Lord God as He commands.
tlle heavens. On the other hand, the spiritual wonder Pharaoh yields under the pressure certainly of the tor-
of regeneration is immediate (not through the ments of the plague. He agrees to let the people go.
preached word).                                                 Only they shall not go very far away. But let Moses
    The sole question raised by the wonder is whether not fail to entreat for hiti.that there may. be some re-
the Lord is capable  of performing that `new work that spite. Moses agrees to `comply. He will entreat the
the bringing'in of the heavenly requires. The teachings Lord that the  swal-ms of flies may depart from
of Dr. Janssen tended toward a denial of this. His in- Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, to-
struction showed signs of  an attempt to tie God down norrow. But  let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more
to His very  oti `ffixed order" of things, to handcuff in not letting the people go'to sacrifice to the Lord. _
him `to the earthy. by what is known-- as the natural Moses' entreaty is heard. The Lord does according to
law, to imprison Him in His own house. Now it is plain his word. He removesthe  flies so that-not one remains.
that if God can stretch out the heavens as a curtain But Pharaoh hardened his  he@ at this  -time also,
bpt has not either the power or the inclination to role neither would `he let the.people go.
up  these same heavens as a  scorll,  there  is no  .wonder,                                                 .G. M. 0:


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                                                                             JANUARY 15,1935                    -  _j . .  `         Subscription Price, $2.50
                                                                                                                                          .

                                                                                                No mere  conventiotialism,  form of politeness or
                                                                                            empty platitude, still less a manifestation of hypocricy
                                                                                            or abject eyeservice and men-pleasing, nor even an  ex-
                                                                                            pression of social partiality or friendship of the world
                                              S.alutx?  !                                   is the salutation according to the Word of God. Em-
                                                                                            phatic mention it frequently makes of the salutation df
                                           Salute every saint in Christ Jesus. The          the brethren in Christ. Paul saluted the brethren that
                                    brethren which are  k-ith tie  .greet  you. All were at Ptolemais en abode with them some days. He
                                    the' saints salute you, chiefly they that are           went in unto James and the eld.ers that were present at
                                    of Ceasar's household.                                  Jerusalem and saluted them. David saluted the $wo
                                                                       Phil.. 4:21,  22.    hundred men that were too faint to participate in the
               Salute all the saints!                                                       pursuit of the Amelekites. And frequently ye read  of
               Tlney, the brethren with me,. all the saints salute                          this  s+lute of the brethren in the various epistles.
          you ! And especially anxious are they that are of                                 Evident, too, is tlnis significance of the salutation in
           Ceasar's household that you Shall know they salute Scripture form the different forms that were used in
          youi                                     .,                                       saluting one-another. Thejr were such as: Peace be to
               BeauMu admonition, .pregnant  with significance thee ; peace be unto thes arid peace be unto thine house
          for the people of God of all ages !                                               and peace be unto all that thou ha&; Jehovah be with
               Not, indeed, if you conceive of'the matter thus, that you ; `Jehovah bless thee ; peace be unto this house ; God
           the epistle of Paul to the Philippians really closes `Tvith                      be gracious unto thee; hail, all` hail ! . . . . .
          the immediately preceding verse, so that in these verses                              And if a son of peace be there, your peace shall rest
           you really have no more to do with the Word of God, upon him, if not your peace shall return to yoil ! And :
           but see in them nothing but a personai, conventional,                            If any come~unto  you and bring not this doctrine, re-
           human form of greeting, a fitting close to any letter.                           ceive him not into your house; neit+er  bid him God-
          Pap1 might have written, then, just as well: "remember speed! . . . .  :
          me to all the saints" ; and : "best r!garcls  of the breth-                           How different from our superficial  conventionaiism
           ren that are with me a'nd of all the `saints" ; and : "you                       of acknowied.gement  that we see a certain person when
           are especially remembered by those that are of Ceasar's me meet him on the street, our "l~ello's"  and "how do.
           household". In that  .case you would really detract no you do's", our meaningless and often untrue "pleased
           title or iota from Scripture if you should obliterate to meet you's" and "glad to know you's" is the saluta-
           them from your Bible.                                                            tion according to the Word of God ! It has content. It
               And thus, it is to be feared, these salutations are has significance. It takes  eRect.  It is full of import-
           often read  !.                                                                   ance to him that salutes and to hini that is saluted! . .
               How different, however, these words appear the                                   It is a solemn obligation: salute every saint !
           moment you view them as an integral part of the Word                                 It is a blessing of one-another in the name of our
           o f   G o d !                                                                    Lord Jesus Christ!
               Then, indeed, they. contain a significant lessor,; for                           To salute anyone is to bless him. To salute one-
           the Church of all ages, a Word of God to His peopIe                              another is to bless one-another. To salute the saints
           that are in the world, with special emphasis to those                            is to bless the saints. And to bless is to pronounce
           that even- now, perhaps,  &e of Ceasar's' household!`                            upon someone by the word of our mouth the grace of

                             f


  1 7 0                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   E E A R E R

  God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  .For, outside of the           them that we bless them in the name of the Lord I"
 .c,phere and operation of that grace there is no blessing, All the saints, that is, those that were of. the church at
  but the  curse.  For, the Lord is righteous. He cuts          Rome, were of the same mind. They had  no.t forgotten
asunder the cords of the' wicked.  Ail that hate Zion the apostle in his bonds, visited him, had fellowship
 shall be turned back and confounded. You cannot wish with him, were aware that he was writing to the church
  them Godspeed. Let them be as the grass upon the              at Philippi, request'ed  him to write: the saints of Rome
 house tops, which withereth  afore it  groweth  up, where- bless you in the name of Jehovah! . . . .
 with the mower  filleth not his hand, nor he that bindeth         And especially they that are of the household of
 sheaves in his bosom! Neither let them which go by Ceasar !
  say : The blessing of the Lord be unto you ; we bless            Even of these nothing more is known.
  you in the name of the Lord! Ps. 129. But grace is               Their names have not been preserved.
 blessing! And in the sphere of grace are received all             Nor were their names of any importance in this
  the blessings of Jehovah; not, indeed, earthy abun- connection. As to their natural names they were, un-
  dance and- material prosperity, health and wealth, name doubtedly, strangers to the Philippians. That they
  and honor of men, position and power in the worId;            were of the household of Ceasar does not necessarily
 but  all the benefits of the kingdom of God, all the spir- mean that there were ties of blood-relationship between
 itual, heavenly good of God's eternal covenant, forgive- them and the cruel emperor of Rome. Probably they
 ness of sin, righteousness and peace, `eternal life and        were mere servants, siaves  in the paMe. But what was
 glory! :  _ . . .                                              of `importance is that they were saints even though
     To salute is to bless, is to pronounce this grace of       they were of the household of Ceasar ! And because
 the God of our salvation upon anyone!                          they were of the household of that cruel and dreaded
     It is to bestow upon him by the word of our mouth          enemy of Zion, of him that was, as far as they knew
  the blessings of God's everlasting and heavenly king- at that moment, contemplating to shed the blood of the
  dom !                                                         beloved apostle, because in a natural way they vere so
     It is to say and to say truly: Peace to thee! Grace        closely associated with the power of the world that
  upon thee ! Peace to thee and to thy house and to all persecuted the Church, they approached the apostle in
  that thou hast ! Jehovah be with thee ! The blessing of prison and, as he reached the end of his letter to the
  Jehovah be upon thee ! We bless thee in the name of saints in Philippi, urged upon him: "Paul, write that
  Jehovah !                                                     we  especially,  we who are of the household of him that
     Salute every saint in Christ Jesus! Say to every curses the saints, bless them in the  *name of
  saint: Jehovah be with thee !                                 Jehovah!" . . . .
     All the saints  saIute  yaw!  They bless you in the           Blessed words of comfort!
  name of the Lord !                                               For, don't you see how this salutation by the saints
     Beautiful e-xhortation  !                                  of one-another was.the  expression of a consciousness of
                                                                fellowship, of a strong bond of fellowship of the  saints
                                                                in the midst of the \vorid ? . . . .
     They that are of Ceasar's household !          -. -           To salute, to bless one-another impli.es  that we know
     Those saints were especially  an;bious to send their one-another as saints in Christ Jesus. It signifies that
  blessing to the believers in  Philippi !                      the saints-relation appears on the foreground, that,
     On the one hand it is emphasized that this saluta- when we meet one-another, we behold one-another, not
  tion is strictly mutual and all-comprehensive, including merely as men, but as saints, as redeemed and deliv-
  all the siints,  a blessing from all upon all.                ered and sanctified in Christ, as those- that hold the tes-
      On the  .part of the Philippians it is to be a saluta-    timony of Jesus, that are separated from the world and
  tion to every saint. It is not intended to be a general walk as children of light. The more this saint-relation
  pronouncement of blessing upon the saints collectively,       disappears and is forgotten, the more we greet one-
  upon the church as a whole, but rather an individual another in general terms and platitudes of the world;
  -matter : not all the saints, but every  saint must be the more we feel the tie that binds in Christ, the more
  saluted !                                                     our  salutations  become blessings: "Jehovah be with
     From the sid.e of those that were with the apostle         thee  !" To salute, to bless one-another implies, too, that
  Paul  every one of them was  soiicitous  that his blessing we love one-another and walk in love because we walk
  should be sent to the saints at Philippi. "The brethren in light, for, otherwise the salutation dies on our lips.
  that ar+ with `me" ; who they were we know not; it And it presupposes a clear and strong consciousness
  shows that even nom, when the apostle's fate was,             that we are not of the world, though we be in the
  humanly speaking, balanced in the hands of cruel Nero,        world !
  there were a number of brethren closely associated                The strong bond of fellowship which unities us as
 with the servant of Christ Jesus in bonds. These urged         saints, the love of the brethren in Christ, on the one
  upon Paul as he reached the close of his epistle: "tell       hand is bound to bring to light the enmity of the worid ;


                                                      T H E   ;STANDARD   B E - A R E R                                                             171

         on the other hand, it is strengthened and brought to                         Christ is the ground of all their blessings.
         :more beautiful manifestation. by the hostility -and per-                    Outside of Him there is no grace, and outside of
       secution of the powers of darkness.                                        grace there is no blessing but the curse due to sin. He
               And thus the saints, when the world hates them,                    it is that died and rose again, that bore all'their  sins
         will say with all the more emphasis: we bless you in away and obtained for them righteousness and life;
i .-.. .- --.-- the-~ame-o-E-t~~-Lo~~--.-_-..--._____-..~.--L.--__  ..- -.. -..+__.i  that is-exa&&..  at. the. ;+ght-.hand.  .of..Go.d,  .thatin&rTM..  _
               The world hates us, curses us, kills us all the day cedes for them, in order that constantly the divine
         long; we bless` one-another !                                            Word of blessing may go out to them, be on them, to
              Hence: "especially they that are of the household of keep them, sanctify them, fill them with all grace, give
         Ceasar."                                                                 them the victory, preserve them for the inheritance
              Ceasar is filled with fury against the saints, against incorruptibe  and undefiled, that fadeth  not away . . .
         you, brethren of Philippi !                                                  In the sphere of Christ there is blessing.
               And we are of his ho&&hold ! Yet, not of him!                        And in the sphere of Christ the saints salute, bless
               We `esp&illy desire td. bless you, though we be, yea,              one-another !
         because we are of the household of him that curses                           .Knowing  that we are in Him !
         you !                                                                        Living and speaking from the principle of the Spirit
               Blessed salutation !                                               of life in Christ Jesus  I
                                                                                     And,, therefore, their word of blessing is not vain,
               We bless you !                                                     but the truth in the Lord.
               All the saints we bless!                                               We bless you with all the blessings in Christ Jesus ! .
               All the saints bIess every saint in Christ Jesus !                     All the saints salute you !                         .
               But how can this be possible? If to bless in the                       Bless you in Him !
         strict sense of athe word is to pronounce the word that
         conveys the  godd expressed upon him  that; is thus
         blessed,  is it not exclusively a divine prerogative to                      Salute the saints!
         bless and shall we, pobr  mortials,  whose breath is in our                  Salute,all  the saiqts, every saints !
         nostrils, whose  wojcd is but a fleeting breath, presume                     For, if you salute your brethren only, what reward
         t        o        bless,one-another?                                     have ye?        Do not even the publicans salute the  pub-
               Indeed,  to bless is of God !                                      licans, the Pharisees the Pharisees? Do not the rich
               He only is the Fotintain of all good. And this Fount salute the rich and the poor the poor? Does not the
          of good everflows upon him dn whom He speaks His lodge-member salute his fellow-member that wears the
         word of blessing.. For, His word alone is powerful unto badge ? Do they not say: "Hei& Hitler!" in the land of
          all He ,wills it to do. When He speaks the thing spoken @at dictator? . . . .
         is accomplished. Man's word is vain. . . . . .                               No, the salute` of the saints is nd class salute. It
               How, then, can we bless one-another?                               do.es not limit itself tq men of your standing, to a social
               Not,  indeed,, sovereignly, as ,God blesses ! But' in class,. to members of .a group or society, to .nati.on  or _
          depetidance  on Him, blessing those whon we know He                     tribe or tongue. It is not given because those saluted
          blesses. The salutation of the saints to the saints is, are your special friends, bestow special favors on you.
          first of all, the exjpression  of an assured conViction that It is given, even regardless of yourselves: "bless them,
          God's blessing is, always upon His people. It is, that persecute you, pray.for them that despitefully use
          secondly, the expression before  olie-another  of the sin- you!" It transcends the limits of al1 earthy relation-
          cere desire and' earnest prayer, that this blessing of ships. It is given in Christ Jesus . . . .
          Jehovah, which. always is upon His own, may be upon                        All the saints !
          the saints as we know them in the world, as we meet                         Yet, even' so, the saint only ! For, God's bless'ing  is
          them face`  .to. face, as we have fellowship with them. upon His people and apart from His Word our blessing
          And'it is, thirdly, the expression of the firm assurance is vain! Hence, you may say to them even that per-
          that this prayer of ours for the blessing of God upon secute you: Peace be upon you ! And if there be a
          the saints is most surely heard and realized on them we son of peace among them your peace shall remain on
          bless in the name of the Lord. The Christian salute him; if not, it shall return td you ! . . . .
          is a confession. It is the echo by faith of God's al-                       And do not bid the bearer of false  doctrine.as  such
          mighty Word 6f blessing which He eternally speaks Godspeed !
          over His people !                                                        All-comprehensive, yet  part&lay, is the salute of
               Hence : salute them in Christ Jesus !                              the saints !
               For, such `is the mianing  of the words : salute every                  Salute, then, every saint in Christ Jesus!
          saint in Christ Jesus! They do not mean to express                           All the saints bless you !
          that the saints are in Christ, but that the salutation                       So be it. Amen !
          is to take place in the Lord!                                                                                                        H. H,


172                                         T H E   STANDAED  BEARER

                                                                reason that no man has the right to place himself be-
                                                                tween Scripture and the reader of Holy Writ.
                                                                   It is a well-known tenet in  theolo,gy  that dogmatics
                                                                may not dominate over exegesis.
           On Bibles and Bible  -Rea&ig                            Fundamentally our interpretation of Scripture
                                                                must be free from all dogmatic prejudice.
       The thing we object to in the' Scofield Bible is, as        It was the death of exegesis, when, at a  very early
we' emphasized- repeatedly, that it compels us to read date of the history of the Church, men began  to ask
the `Bible in the light of Scofield's views.                    for the doctrine of the Church first, in order then to ex-
                                                                plain the Word of God in such a way as to harmonize
       The editor stands between the Bible and the reader. with and to defend the views of mere men.                 -
       Always he offers his explanation first, then allows         It is that principle, it is that method of interpret-
the reader to see for himself.                                  ing the Word of God that resulted in the obscuration of
       Scofield really  assumks the attitude over against the Scripture. Just as any body that interposes between
Bible and its readers of the Catholic Church. Also our planet and the sun eclipses the latter, so the views
that Church proceeds from the false assumption that of men, as soon as they attempt to intervene  between
for laymen it is not safe to read Scripture indepencl-          the believer and the light of Holy Writ, must needs ob-
ently, that it is the task of the Church to read it for scure that light.
them and to offer to its members the interpretation and            Do not misunderstand me.
doctrine of the Church rather than Scripture itself.               It is not my purpose to despise the work of the Holy
       I do not say that Dr. Scofield would aclmit this.        Spirit,. accomplished through the Church of the past,
       Nor would I maintain that he intentionally assumes with respect to the interpretation of the Scriptures.
this attitude. In editing his Bible it was, I believe, his The Spirit is certainly given to the Church and not
sincere intention to help other to read and understand merely to individual believers apart from the Body of
the Word of God correctly.                                      Christ. And it is nothing else than spiritual conceit
       But this does not alter the fact. The fact is, that no that leads to clestruction, when an individual believer
one can read the Scofield Bible without imbibing  Sco- would pretend to approach Scripture without any re-
field's views and interpretations of Holy Writ.                 gard `for the communion of the Church of which he is
                                                                a member, refusing to consider at all the light that has
       And it is to this that we object.                        been shed in the past on the truth of the Word of God
       Our objection does not concern Scofielcl's views in L    and acting as if it were his duty for the first time to
doctrinal sense. This must be clearly  understood. In- interpret the Bible.
deed, we believe that the Chiliastic views of Dr. Sco-             Such an attitude is impossible.
field are erroneous and that he does not offer the cor-            It is also really impious.
rect interpretation of the Word of God. We do not be-              Not a mark of piet-f it is, when in that sense of the
lieve in his dispensationalism, in his view of the  rela-       word, men begin to speak of the Opm BEUe, ancl or-
tion between Israel as a nation .and the Church, in his ganize themselves into Open Bible Cltzwches;
view of the resurrection, of the rapture, of the second            No man  cati' divorce himself from his organic rela-
coming of Christ. And. from that viewpoint, from the tion to the, community in which he is born and raised.
doctrinal point of view we must, indeed, warn our                  No believer can cleny  his' relation to the Body of
readers against Scofield's Bible. If thejr read it, they Christ with impunity.
must be on their guarcl against his thoroughly Chil-               He that claims such a thing simply deceives himself.
iastic conception of the truth. We certainly must not              And the result usually is that he unwittingly reads
learn to read Scripture as Dr. Scofield would teach us          the Bible, not in the light of all that the Holy Spirit
to read it.                                                     has brought to  the consciousness of the Church' in the
   But, however serious this warning may be, this is past, but in the light of erroneous views of mere men.
not the point of our objection.                                    It certainly behooves the believer to read the Word
       The point we wish to make now concerns, not the of God, not `individualistically, but as a member of the
doctrine of any particular editor of the Bible. It con- Body of Christ, to appreciate his connection with the
cerns the method itself of reading Holy Scripture.              Church in the midst of which Gocl has. caused him to be
   We wish to emphasize that we must not read the               born and instructed, to value highly the guidance of the
Scofield Bibles, nor any other similar edition of the           Holy Spirit into all the truth of the Church in the past,
Bible, no matter who edited it, be he a Premillennialist,       to take his position on the historical line of interpreta-
Baptist, Methodist or Calvinist, that compels us to im- tion, to know and appreciate the confession of his
bibe the views of the editor. Premillennialist, Bap-            Christ, not lightly to despise them or reject them as er-
tist, Methodist or Calvinist, first, before we can have         roneous, to let himself be guiclecl  by all the light that,
access to the pure Word of &d itself, for the simple through the Spirit, has been kindled in the believing

                                                                                                            F


                                                                                                                                      i
                                                             T H E   STAN@A,iD
                                                                                   \                        B E A R E R  `,,.                                            173
                                                                                        \  I
                                                                                                                                           `..
                                                                                                                                           `..
                                                                                        V
              consciousness of the Church by the Worcl of God.                                              More Strange 
                                                                                                                             nge  fieasonings
                                                                                                                                           fieasonings
                   But, and this we would emphasize, nl& this *aa?/
              mm9 be first!.                                                                        In.  De  Wnchtsr  for Dec. 26 
                                                                                                                             Dec. 26 ippears
                                                                                                                                                   ippears a meditation
                                                                                                                                                             a meditation
                   The final source of our knowledge, of the contents of                        (from the pen of Rev. H. 
                                                                                                                     t- Rev. H. Keegstra)
                                                                                                                                 Keegstra)  that turns on Ps.
                                                                                                                                                        that turns on Ps.
              our faith, may never be the doctrine of the Church, the 39:8: "En nu wat verwacht ik, o Heere! Mijne hope,
                                                                                                                     at verwacht ik, o Heere! Mijne hope,
              clcclarations of our confessions, the views of men,                               die is op  U" and that reads in part:
                                                                                                                      that reads in part:
     _ _ ____ w,hetheP; of-.~lle~pes~-.or,.of-t-he  paese&r---  _i.--~-_-  -..-.. .-... -.-x-.-i---.  -- -- 
                                                                                                    "Tech   ~..
                                                                                                            hopea, in-weertil
                                                                                                                     in-weertil  xan
                                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                 Xan _  _v.&el,.~~waaro.p~men
                                                                                                                                                   v.f&l,.~~waaro.p~men  .eene
                                                                                                                                                                         .eene
                                                                                                stemming van hopeloosheid zou verwachten  . . . . . . Zoo
                   It must alw$s  be the pure Word of God.                                      bedoelen  we het met ons opsehrift boven deze  medita-
                   What ever doctrine has been proclaimed in the pas:                           tie. En we hebben  krachtens`het   verb&d er  recht  op
              or is  cleclarecl  as the truth of Holy Scripture in the Psalm 3923 in dat licht te beschouwen . . .: .
              present, may never be accepted by any believer merely
              because it has been declared by the Church or by great                                "David was in diepten van ellende, zoo blijkt dui-
             .theologians.  It may ultimately only be accepted  be- delijk uit den inhoud v@ dezen psalm. We1 woiden  we
             `cause we recognize that it is the'teaching `of the Word niet precies gewaar, wat hem kwelde; maar,  w'el werd
              of God:                                                                           hij geprangd. Groote nooden en bittere  ep`varingen
                   Dogmatics may never rule over exegesis.                                      hebben hem getroffen, zooveel is we1 zeker . .' . .
                   And no view of man may interfere with our read-                                  "Met moeite heeft hij zijn mond gebreideld, om niet
              iqg of                                                                            in tegenwoordigheid  van den gocldelooze ongeo$rloofde
                         Lhe  Giblc
                                 *                                           H:I1.              woorden zich te laten ontvailen . i . `Het zwijgen werd
                                                                                                hem onmogelijk . . . . Hij opende &jn mond en sprak.
                                       LEEF BIJ DEN I%AG                                            "Doch in plaats van in onstuimigheid een vloed van
                           Leef bij den dag! vermoei  u niet                                    toorn uit te storten, werd hij overweldigd door de te-
                              Met over  lange jaren                                             genstelling tusschen den oneindigen God en den  ster-
                              Reeds nu vooruit te staren  ;                                     felijken mensch . . . . .     Slechts  een  handbreed,  een
                           In neev'len ligt het ver'verschi.et;                                 ademtocht is zijn leven ! Al  zijti  woelen is  vruchte-
                           Zelfs wat de dag van morgen biedt,                                   loos !
                              Ka? niemand nog verklaren.                                            `I . . . wat zou er nu nog te verwachten overblijven
                           Waartoe to& naar uw levenlast                                        .voor hem ? Niets ? ! Ja wel, tech ,hoop ! Maar op den
                              In &5ns te willen vragen?                                         Heere. Op Hem alleen."
                              Gods vriendelijk welbehagen                                           What now, according to the writer, is this hope of
                           Heeft hem in stukjes afgepast,                                       the psalmist and of the believers in general? Attend
                           En slechts u z66veel  opgetast                                       to the following from the writei's pen:
                              Als gij %n dag kunt dragen.                                           "De laatste  jaren, ook het nu bijna verloopen  jaar,
                           EGn langen  weg,in &ns te gaan,                                      gaven voor velen aanleiding tot vertwijfeling. Daar is
                              Bij `t  brandend  zonnegloeien,                                   geleden. De  vroegere   welvaart  is  ,iveggenomen:   Rijk-
                            Zou  u te veel vermoeien.                                           dommen zijn verzwonden. Met vlijt verkregen schat-
                                                                                                ten zijn verteerd . . . .
     :                     Dies biedt Hij u op `s levtins baan
                          Na  elken dag een Elim  aan,                                              "En niet minder donker schijnt het op zedelijk en
                              Waar koele waart'ren vloeien.                                     geestelijk gebied te  zijn,                Onrust,  wantrouwen en
                                                                                                zenuwachtige  voorbefeiding  voor komende oorlogen
                           En als de zon haar gouden gloed                                      ontroeren de volkeren qveral, zegt en schrijft men . . .
                              Ten nieuwen,  dag doet stralen,                                   De onzedelijkheid vermeerdert, in de  qachtige  worste-
                              Moogt, gij uw manna halen,                                        ling tegen misdadigheid is er blijkbaar geen algemeen
                           Dat u &n dag verkwikt en voedt,                                      verwin  en het modernisme  maal?  vordering in de  ker-
                           Maar dat gij niet bewaren moet;                                      ken . . . .  "
                              God last het daaglijks dalen!                                         In other words, the world is growing worse. Sin
                           Elk kan zijn kruis, hoe zwaar het wicht,                             clev4ops. What is to be said of the restraining grace
                           Zijn  schoud'ren  moge plagen,                                       of God about which the. exponents of common grace
                              Tech we1 tot d' avond dragen ;                                    so love to prate.
                           Slechts  %n dag werken volgens  plicht,                                  "Tech  hope, God leeft en Hij is en blijft onze God.
     .A                    Slechts  &?n dag  wandlen  in  bet  licht                            `De Heere regeert en zal zijn almscht  toonen;'   Zie-
                              Van  `s Heeren welbehagen.                                        dear  de grond van onze hope.
                           E& dag volharden in den strijd.                                          "Wat we dan te  verwachten  hebben in den  jaar-
                              E& dag getrouw gebleven !                                         kring, die we zijn ingegaan, is ons onbekend .  _  .
~                             De  krachten,.  ens gegeven,                                          "Dat onze arbeicl niet ijdel, is in den Heer, dat is
                           E& enk'len  dag den Heer gewijd;                                     ons toegezegd. Tech hope dus . . . Maar dan hebben
                           Het. groot geheim der zalighied
2                                                                                               we in ons leven en met onze activiteit dns ook te schik-
                              Is bij den dag te leven.                                          ken naar des Heeren wil. Zou de Heere ons niet doen


  174                                  .THE   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

  gel&ken,   als we eerlijk zoeken, wat hem  welbehage-        that, according to the writing under consideration, the
  l i j k   i s ?                                              Christian hope is the expectation that God will cause a
      "Wat het komende jaar ons brengen zal in breede-         return of material prosperity to the world at large, if
  ren kring dan eigen persoon  en huisgezin, is ook mede the believers practice thrift, pray without ceasing (for
  ons belang. De kerk, ons land,. de wereld zelf in het Ijrosperity  and material improvement of the world con-
  algemeen, zijn mede begrepen in onze belangstelling en dition) and remain honest in their  pursuit of the dol-
  dies in onze gebeden. Zouden we geen vrede en voor- lar. It is this hope that the writer urges his readers
  spoed begeeren voor het menschdom?"                          to demonstrate. And the meaning of his exhortation.
     The reasoning in the above excerpt can be reduced         "Toont o Christen uw: Mijne hope, die  is op  U" is
  to this : The bygone year yielded for many reasons for `Show o Christians that your hope, that is, your ex-
  doubt. There was much suffering. The former pros- pectation of a return of material prosperity, is cen-
  perity h,as been taken away. Treasures, amassed by tered upon God'.
thrift, have been consumed. The general world  condi-              What have we here? The bringing forward of a
tion is deplorable.  Imriqality and modernism are on rank materialistic life-view in the garb of a pious
  the increase. Nations are nervously preparing for war. phraseology. Horrible ! But what can be expected of
  What the coming year has in store for us, we know a man who will deliberately retreat beyond the range
  not. But we have hope. The God-given promise is              of the voice of a speaker, delineating upon true Chris-
  ours (Christian hope reposes upon a promise) that if         tian principles of education and who thereupon will
  we practice thrift and adhere to the will of God in the      sent into the world a notice to the effect that the propa-
  pursuance of our earthly task, if we remain honest in gation of such principles in a gathering of friends of
  our endeavors, if we pray,  qur efforts will without fail    ChriStian instruction is out of place?
 -be crowned with success, material prosperity will re-          Is the Christian-hope the expectation that God will
  turn to us and peace among the nations will be pre- cause a return of material prosperity to the world at
  served.                                                      .large, if the believers pray for it and pray persistent-
     What a message! The closing  para&raph  of the            ly? Amazing ! What a comforting New  Year'd  mes-
  meditation defines the duty of believers in  the3r  rela-    sage !
  tion to humanity, to the world, at large. The sick               The Christian faith and hope, what is it? In the
  world is incapable of prayer, will not in the attempt phraseology of the Catechism, "That I with body and
  to rise to its feet, call in the aid of the Almighty. The soul, both in life and death, am not my oti, but belong
  believer's task is clear. He intercedes for the world        unto my faithful Savior Jesus Christ; who with His
  that lies in darkness. And his petition is, `Lord sent       precious blood, hath fully satisfied for all my sins, and
" (material) prosperity to the world.' -This is actually delivered me from all the power of the devil; and so
  the sentiment that `comes to the surface of  tile closing preserves me that without the will of my heavenly
  paragraphs  of  the meditation. "Zouden we," so we           Father, not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all
  read, "geen vrede en voorspoed begeeren voor het things must be subservient to my salvation, .and there-
  menschdom  ?" The task of the believer is, further, to fpre, by His Holy Spirit, he also assures me eternal
  proclaim to the world his hope, the hope, namely, that life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready, hence-
  the man who fears God will prosper materially. "Onze forth, to live for him." The Christian hope,. further, is
  Christelijke invloed," so the writer asserted, "is een that "not only my soul after this life shall be imme-
  gave Gods, die we niet ongebruikt mogen laten. In het        diately taken up to Christ its head, but also, that this
  hopend leven en. getuigen van. Gods kinderen  ligt tech my body, being raised by the power of Christ shall be
  een heerlijk getuigenis. En aan het getuigenis is be-        united with my soul, and made like unto the glorious
  hoefte. De verwachting  der wereld klemt  zich vast          body of Christ; that, since I feel in my heart the begin-
  aan alles, maar  niet aan God. Lichtgeloovig is ze tot       ning of eternal joy, after this life, I shall inherit per-
  in het bespottelijke,  dat alles vanzelf  we1 weer terecht fect salvation, which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,
  zal komen. Terwijl alles verdorven en  `der grootste neither hath it entered into the heart of man to con-
 verwarring en  ellende  prijs gegeven is,  doorclat  men ceive, and that, to praise God therein for ever."
  God verliet.  Dwaas en onbegrijpelijk roekeloos is ze,          This is the Christian hope. It is the only hope the
  met te gelooven, dat zonder  God de begeerde herstel-        Bible, that Peter knows of: "Blessed be the God and
  ling kan worderi verkregen, waar God zelf de wereld Father of our Lorcl Jesus Christ, which according to
  slaat om haar ongerechtigheid.                               his abundant mercy hath begotten  ti again unto a
     "En tegenover die  dwaasheid  en  roekeloosheid  hebt lively hope . . . . to an inheritance, incorruptible, and
  gij, o, geloovigen, met uwe verwachting naar Psalm undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven
  39':8 uwe hope te stellen als een getuigenis.                for you" (I Pet. 1:3, 4). "Wherefore gird up the loins
     "Toont o, Christenen, uw: Mijne hope, die is  op U."      of your! mind . . . . and hope to the end (that is, per-
     This all sounds pious enough. But what we actually fectly, exclusively) for the grace that is to be brought
  have here is a terrible travesty on the truth. Consider      unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

                                                                                                           P


                                                                                                                                          :

                                                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                     1%

                          Hope reposes on a promise ; likewise prayer. We do
                     and may hope for things promised. Where in the whole                                    De  Vastigheid Des Verbonds
                      of Scripture does God promise that he will send to a                             Bijna  alle Gereformeerden spraken van een raad des
                   world, lying in  clarkness and over whose  unrighteous-                        vredes, oak we1 verbond der yerlossing,  pnctunz sc~.l~~~s,
                      ness He is revealing His wrath, material prosperity geheeten. Doch in de eerste plaats meet  worden opg.e-
                      in answer to the prayers of His people. There is no                          merkt, dat men bet er lang niet over eens was, wat
               - - .- -.$tl&-  a~~om-ise~--It-means-  ~h~t-.the-hop~~ve-come-~~po~-~I~---  j _ _ . . `. .._ _ . -
                                                                                                   elgenlllk  oiaGr"~djl  -v~~~~~d-dkl-ve~liossing  .bT wyj$&`e&ge"
                      the  &iting  of the reverend is vain and that to preach &edes-te  verstaan zij. Bij den een is het een overeen-
                      it is to preach a lie. For in Holy Writ tlls world rises komst tusschen den Vader en den  Zoon, bij den ander
                      before our eye as ripening for judgment, as filling its                      een  gesloter,  verdrag tusschen de  drie  personen  der
                      measure of iniquity, as a world therefore that is being Goddelijke Drieeenheid,  bij een derde een verbond tus-
                      overtaken by judgment and will be destroyed.                                 schen God en Christus, terwijl het bij anderen in het
                          The writer manifestly shut his eyes to the surround- geheel niet dilidelijk is of dit verbond gesloten is doo;
                                                                                                   God met Christus of door den Vader met `den Zoon.
4                     ings of his. text. These ,surroundings  are opoosed  to
                      what he eshdrts his readers to do. The sixth verse of In de tweede plaats  `kan het ook niet  worden  ontkend,
     !                Psalm 36 reads: "Surely every man walketh in a vain dat de Schriftuurlijke  .grond, waarop men de leer van
                                                                                                   den, raad d&s vredes bouwde,' we1 ietwat zwak stand.
T-                    shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth
                      up riches, and knoweth not who .shall gather them." Nen beriep  zich voor dit stuk der dogmatiek vooral op
8                     According to the .psalmist  `it is thus a vain engAgeme&                     zekere teksten. Zoo is. de term `"raad des vredes" ont-
                      this heaping up of riches. But the writing we examined. leend aan Zach. 6:12,  13: "Alzoo spreekt de Heere -der .
                      exhorts to prayer for riches and to expect that thrbugh heirscharen, zeggende, ziet een man, wiens naam is
                      prayer and  tbJift  they will be gained. And this ex- Spruite, die  zal nit zijne plaats spruiten, en hij zal de.+
                      pectation is the Christian hope? It is not. It was not Heeren tempel bouwen. En hij. zal het sieraad dragen;
                      the hope of the Psalmist. For in concluding he prays,                        en hij zal zitten en' heerschen  op. zijnen  troon, en hij
                      "Hear my prayer, 0 Lord, and give ear unto ,my cry ;                         ial priester.zij.n  op zijnen troon, en de raad des vredes
                      hold not thy peace at my tears: for I km a stranger zal tusschen die beiden zijn". lMen verklaarde  dezen
                      with thee, and a sojourner, `as all my fathers were."                        tekst dan zoo, dat door "deze  beiden" verstaan werd
                      Strangers and sojourners do not prhy for the eartlly                         Jehova  en de Spruite. De raad des vredes is alioo  tus-
                      but they. seek a heavenly country, expect the city tha.t                     schen God en den Messias, die door de Spruite is  aan-
                      hath foundations, whose maker and builder is God.                            geduid.  Tegenwoordig  is men het er  echter  tamelijk
                                                                                                   we1 over eens, dat die uitlegging van Zach. 6 :13 niet
i                     Abraham, the father of believers did so. And his chil-
                      dren do likewise.                                                            opgaat -en dat de tekst gewag maakt. van een raad des
                           What are the leader? in the denomination of Chrjs-                      vl-edes tusschen .koning en'priester,  die in de Spruite
                     tian Refoymecl churches coming to? The message here in &n persoon'vereenigd  zijn.
                      examinecl  must needs gender dispair in every bosom in                            Voorts  verwe&  men dan naar  .Ps.  89:29,  35: "Ik
                      which it is given Iodging. For it recommends a prayer zal Hem  Njne goedertierenheid houden in eeuwigheid
     I                that is not heard and may not .be made, so that the                           en tiijn Verbond zal Hem vast blijven. Ik. zal rnijn
                      petitioner must fidally conclucle  &at there is no answer                    verbond  nie; ontheiligen". Hier wordt uitdrukkelijk
                      to prayer, yea that God is not. The message, finally, gesproken  van het verbond van God met Christus. En
                       exhorts men to seek that (riches) which, if they walk het verbond altijd opvattende als een gesloten contract
                       uprightly in the midst of this world and do righteous- .concludee?de  men dan tot een overe$nkomst  gesloten
                       ness, they will never find. The reverend knows this as                       in de eeuwigheid tusschen den Vader en den Zoon, of
                       well as I or any of us. Yet he sent this message of dis- tusschen den DrieEenigen  God en Christus. Zoo werd.
     i                 pair to his brethren through "De  Wc~chter".  The entire oak vooral gcwezen  op Luk. 22:29 : Ik verordineer u
     I                 meditation turns on the hope that is vain. The Chris- het koninkrijk, gelijkerwijs  mijn Vader Nij clat  veror-
                       tian hope is but once referrecl  to ancl this briefly. The dineerd heeft. Hier kwam bet dan vooral aan op de be-
                       reference reads : !`De hoop, welke aan Davids  ziele vey-                    teekenis van het oorspronkelijke woord, dat in onzen
5                      kwikking schenkt, is niet alleen niaar de verwachting, tekst  vertaalcl   wercl door  "verordineer".  Dat woord
                       clat de Heere  hem met den cloocl toegang  tot de hemel-                     diatithemni,  beteekent, zoo redeneercle men dan, bij.
                       sche  zdligheid  zal' verleenen."            This statement, one wijze van L;estameat of verbond iemand iets beloven.
.a                    ,feels, is the: gesture &ith which the reverend clismissed                    Immers  van ditzelfcle woorcl is ook d.iatheehxe,  testa-
     1                 the matter on which he for some reason desired not to                        men of verbond afgeleid. Zoo verstaan nu beteekent
                       write. It is upon this vain hope that he chose to con- Luk. 2259, dat Christus in den weg of bij wijze van
                       centrate. Deplorable !                                                       een verbond het koninkrijk zou hebben. En waar een
          t                 Tllere is, to be sure, connection between the will to verbond  immers een overeenkomst tusschen twee  par:
          I            propagate materialistic sentiments' and the being  acl-                      tijen is, daar bewijst ook deeie tekst, dat er een ver-
                       clictecl to the theory of coinmon grace.                  G. M. 0.           bond der verlossing is gesloten in de eeuwigheid tus-

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

                       The Plagues                               Goshen,  in which His people dwelt, that no swarms of
                                                                 flies shoulcl be there. So did He put a "redemption"
       The swarms of flies have departed. There remain           (such is the word found in the original) between His
not one. It was on the condition of their removal that people and the Egyptians. What evidence that the
Pharaoh promised to let the people go. But now that plagues, by which Pharaoh is being visited are actually
there is again repite,  h_e fails to do as he agreed. He judgments of the Hebrews'  Gocl through which He re-
hardens his heartat this time also, and wiil not let the         deems His people to the everlasting praise of His
people go. "Then the Lord said unto Moses, Go in unto name !
Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus saith the  Lorcl God of the             As to Pharaoh, he  was told that the separation
Hebrews, Let my people go that they may serve me.                would be made between the Hebrews and him and his
For if thou refuse to let them go, and wilt hold them            people. But he refused `to attach any significance to
still, Behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thy cattle           the  notice. He even refused at  first to investigate, fez
which are in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, he was aware that if it should appear that the Hebrews
upon  the camels, upon the osen, and upon the sheep:             dwelt safely in Goshen  while the vermin corrupted  the
there shall be a very grievous murrain."                         land where he and his people dwelt, it would be sheer
       The fifth plague is another thrust at  Egyptiail          foily on his part to persist in denying that  thl: author
idolatry. The cow and the ox were animals sacre-d to             of the calamaties  by which he qas being o&taken  was
Isis and Gsires and the ram was the living symbol of the God of the Hebrews.. Pharaoh wills not to be  con-
the god  Amon. Egypt's greatest deities were the COW, vincecl. He therefore purposely refrains at first to in-
the ox Apis and the calf Mnevis.                                 quire after the st;ate  of matters in Goshen.
       It is certain that this plague, too, imaged one of the       But now the hand of the Lord is upon his cattle.
common troubles of Egypt, experienced at the close of Again it has been predicted that there shall  &thing  die
the inundation, and brought on by the custom of cast- of all that is the children's of Israel. This time  -he can-
ing upon the surface of the inundation.waters  seed of not resist the urge to investigate whether the pre-
lentils,  vetche?, and other plants and of trampling them diction has come to pass. So he "sent, and, behold,
into the soil to prevent their being washed away, by there was not one of the cattle of the Hebrews dead."
driving cattle of all kinds, back and forward, through The evidence that the matter is of the Lord is now as
the soft mud. In this process the herds suffered greatly.        strong as can be. But Pharaoh cannot will to yield.
Numbers  ,of the beast would fall sick and would have to His heart was hardened and he did not let the people.
be attended by the herdsmen. Such, authorities tell us, go.                                      .
is the testimony of the pictures in the tombs. However
this may be, true to the prediction of Moses, a wide-
spread and fatal disease broke out suddenly among                   .The sixth plague, as was the third, is sent unan-
every kind of domesticated beast and threatened t(J nounced, and as a new and second stage in the process
utterly exterminate them. It is said that murrain is             of hardening has been reached. "And the Lord saicl
even in modern times common in  E,vpt. Thus, in unto Moses and unto aaron, Take to you handfuls of
1842  the rinderpast, formerly called murrain, caused ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle, it toward
death to a great part of the cattle of all kinds, and in heaven in the sight of Phargoh.  And it shall become
1876 they were nearly exterminated by a similar dis- small dust in all the land. of Egypt, and shall be a boil
ease. That these phenomena were known to Pharaoh  is breaking forth with  blains upon man and beast,
certain, yet they must not be confounded with the throughout all the land of Egypt."
plague brought  oi7. by Aaron. The latter bears all the             The sixth plague as are all th.e plagues is plainly
marks of an extraordinary, uncommon and thus un-                 retributive. The ashes are to be taken from the fur-
heard-of event. It began to riot suddenly,  "on the naces. Various -notices contained in other books Oz
marrow" precisely at a time set by the. Lord, and was Holy Writ, show that these furnaces were the emblems
thus not brought on by any custom, hurtful1 to beats.            of the bitter slavery  of the Hebrews, out of which the
It ravaged, further, among the cattle of the Egyptian's Lord brought forth His people. Said Moses to the peo-
only and thus spared the cattle of Israel. Such is the ple encamped in the desert, "But the Lord hath taken
testimony of the sacred record: "And the Lord shalt              you,  and brought  you  forth out of the iron furnace,
sever between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inherit-
Egypt: and there shall nothing die of all that is the ance, as ye are this clay" (De& 435). The prophet
children's of Israel." Thus the undeniable testimony of Jeremiah gave expression to like sentiment when he
this plague also is that Jehovah is God in the midst of said, "And say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord
the earth. So, too, is it stated that the rioting of the God of Israel: cursed be the man that obeyeth not the
previous plague was shut up within the borders of that words of the covenant, which I commanded  you1
section of the land inhabited by the Egyptians, that fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the
thus the Lord God severed in that day the land of iaad of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Obey my


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E ` R                                             189.

voice . .  ;  "(jer. 11;4). Then there,is the word of ,the certain disaster by not yielding. Pharaoh must know
LOX!   that came to Israel by  the mouth of Isaiah,               that, if he persists in taunting the Most  High;`he  will
`*Behold, I have refined thee but not with silver; I have         be overtakkn by sudden disaster. These unannounced
chosen thee in the furnace of affliction" (Isa. 48  :lO)  .       plagues, like sudden crashes of thunder, betokened that
In Solomon's prayer at the cleclication  of the temple            the storm of divine wrath was fast approaching and
is found a clause that reads, "For they be thy people,            would soon break forth in all its terrible fury.
and thine inhqitance,  which thou broughtest forth out               Then, too, the ashes sprinkled towarcl heaven. &ad
of` Egypt; from the `midst of the furnace of iron" (I             been taken from the fu:nace in which the Hebrews had
Kings $3 : 51`) .                                                 toiled for the  magnificance  of Pharaoh's cities,  ancl
    From these sayings it is evident that the Egyptian            thus betokened, these ashes, all the suffering that
furnace in which the Hebrews sweated betokened their              Pharaoh had inflicted upon them. How they have
hard bondage, the fiery'trial  of their faith. And this           served Pharaoh. They tilled his ground, prepared the
sprinkling of the ashes towarcl  the.heaven,  what was            materials for his palaces, and for the mansions of his
it but an action that signified the  committin&  of their         coutiers and magicians. How grievous the yoke that
&%cation  to Him  $10 judgeth righteously, a consign- they had been made to take upon them. And under.
ing of their way unto Him in the firm  conViction  that           their .burdens  they had groaned but never revolted.
He would bring forth their righteousness as the light And hoti  had he behaved towafcl them? Most cruelly.
and their judgment as the noonday. So the ac,t. we                He commanded their infant males to be choked and
here witness,is,  rightly viewed, i prayer that the Lord          clrownecl  at birth. He beat them for their failure to _
look  upon  the  affliction of His  peopl,e   ancl  ju$e  thei    perform tasks impossible of fulfilment, mocked with
cause,  that He tell their manclering,  put their tears in        their  hallowecl   asperations,  clericlecl their leaders, re-
His bottle ancl record them in His book. Ancl so the              fused to grant them respite for worship and de&e.cl
people of God have been ,sighing  Flown through all the the existence of their God.
ages. For .the trying of faith is perpetual, this fiery              Such is the way of the wicked with the saints of
trial which is to try the confessors of His name.         Let     God. The worlfl  is ever a furnace of affliction t6 the
them  not think it strange  when they are buffeted for            church. In this furnace the people of God spend the
doing well. `For  hereun$o   are they called. Let  them           time of their sojourn, and are tried. Some of them  hacl
cry unto Him clay and night. And He mill hear them trial of cruel mockings  and scourgings,  bonds and im-
speedily. The wickecl who bencl their bow and make                prisonment. They were stoned, sawn asunder, slain
ready their arrows upon the string  that they may with the swo~~cl, w&e destitute, afflicted, toFmented,
shoot at the upright of heart, will be taken in their             wandered in cleserts  ancl in,mountains,  were driven by
own  clevises  that they  h3ve  imagfnecl.       Of this the the wo$cl in clens and caves of theearth. So were they
brethren, Moses and Airon,  are convincecl.  So their killecl  all the, clay 1011,0' and `counted as sheep for the'
appeal. is to Him. ,. And He will hear. FQ~ `it w&s He slaughter: None..escape  persecution in some form. All
who had instruct&l thein. They thus  act'accorcling  to are reviled; Against all, men speak all manner of evil
His will and for the realization  df what He  promisecl.          falsely, for His name's sake.
.And it is He that gendered in them the faith, that the               But let the world beware; for its judgment came
execution of His instructions required. He  &ted when it affixed to the. cross the Son of Gocl.
through them. The sprinkling of the ashes of &lie-                    Let the  tnskmtisters   7vho plow open the backs of
t;ion toward the throne was His lv0dc  esclusively. And           Gocl's people with their lashes and the wisemen who
He honored His own work.                                          neutralize by their deception the speech of Gocl's won-
    The brethren, stand before Pharaoh. Moses sprinkles           ders to the` sorrow of His people beware !
the ashes toward the heavens. It ,becomes small clust                Leti the Pharaohs of the earth who take counsel to-
in all the lancl of Egypt and a boil breakjng'forth  blains       gether against the  Lo~cl and against His  anointecl  and
upon  tian and beast. Their arises a most' menacing shed the blood of His saints, beware !
spkech from the operation of this judgment in the                     Let the rich men who keep back by fraud the hire
flesh of Pharaoh and his subjects. Consider that the              of the  labourers,  beware! Let them weep and howl
the `Lord strikes suddenly, unexpectedly. The first for their miseries that shall come upon them: Their .
piague is sent unannounced, that for the seconcl  ,time           gold and  silver is cankered  and the, rust of them.shall
two of the twice three strokes, were preceded by R                be  ,witness  against them. Let them beware; for the
warning. Not so the last. Ther'e is a reason for this.            aShes of affliction `cry  for vepgeance.      The  righteouv
Though Pharaoh `must be without excuse, the thought blood shed upon the earth from the blood of the  l"iglzt-
must not take root in his soul that it is safe for him to         eous Abel to the blood of the last martyr that will be
persist in his unbelief and disobedience in that the killed by the godless opposition, crieth for  vepgeance;
Lord is wont to sound a note of warning before He                     Let Egypt, let Babylon, in whom is founcl  all the
 deals TIis blows and thus t~fforcls him opportunity fol          blood of the prophets, and of saints, and of all that
 deciding each time whether or no he would be courting            were slain upon the earth, beware ; for the souls of

               `2


190                                 T H E   .STANDARD   B E A R E R

them that were slain for the word of God, and for the G. iVi. 0.) with pestilence and might have cut thee off
testimony which they held, cry with a loud voice, "How from the earth. But in very deed for this have I raised
long, 0 Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and thee up in order to cause thee to see  r!ny power and to
avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth,`, declare my name throughout all the earth.                 Thou
and the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the art still exalting thyself against my people, not  tm let
saints, ascend up lbefore God out of the angel's hand. them go. Behold tomorrow at this time I will rain a
And will He not hear His .elect  who cry unto him day very grievous hail, such as  bath not been in Egypt
and night? He will hear and deliver them speadily.         since the foundation thereof until now . . . . And
For behold ! the ashes, sprinkled toward the heaven, Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron and said
ascend to the throne. Bnd as filled with the fire of the unto. them, I have sinned this time: the Lord is the
altar, they are cast again upon the earth, upon the land righteous one and I and my people are the wicked. In-
of  E,oypt. They come down as flakes of fire, and are treat the Lord  ; for it is too much that there should be
driven by the vengeance of God into the flesh of mighty thunderings and hail : and I will let you go and
Pharaoh, of his taskmasters, of his  wisemen.  Ani         ye shall stay no longer," Ex. 9 :14-l&, 27, 28.
their flesh burns as it were fire. And the magicians,         The sixth plague was the last of the second triplet.
who pose as deliverers and protectors of the devotees During the rioting of the first of these, it had seemed
of fhe gods but who thus far could only join Jehoyah       that Pharaoh's heart was softening; for he called for
in smiting E,gypt,  are wresthing in,agony, so that they Moses and Aaron and had expressed a willingness
cannot stand before Moses. because of the boils.           to allow them to bring. the required  sacyifice. How-
       There is moreover thrcughout a strict and remark- ever, if regard be had to the reservation he atied to
able agreement between the sufferings inflicted upon his offer, it will be seen that now his impudence knew
Egypt and the sufferings that E,gypt  - Pharaoh, the no bounds, that his heart was harder than ever  and that
taskmasters  -  inflict upon the people of God. Consider the impulse under which he acted was dread for the
-that the river in which eighty years before had been dire consequences of his disobedience and thus not sor-
cast to die the Hebrew babes, was turned into a strea,m    row for sin. Pharaoh would grant respite for worship
of blood, seemingly disclosing its dead  ; that the man- if the people remained in the land. Thus, he would
sions of the .rich into w.hich  the frogs had thrust them- settle the matter between him and the Lord by mutual
selves and flies had swarmed  were changed by these concessions.          Let, the Lord relent somewhat and he
pests into dens of polution, far more uninhabitable than would yield. Thus he would. layout the law  $0 the
the squalid huts of the people oppressed; that the tor- Almighty. Upon Israel, God's son, he has not the
ture of the blains was insufferable, even more so than slightest  .claim.  Yet there  coulcl- be some respite
the wounds inflicted by the lash of Egypt's task- for worship only on his  terms!  Moses' reply has
masters; that the hardships of the poor, who had already been considered. It was not meet for them
reaped down E,gypt's  fields for hire consisting in re- so to do.  F'or they would sacrifice the abomination
buffs and reproachers, yea, strips and mu?der,  were of the Egyptians to -the Lord God. -The Egyptians,
made to return home to the oppressor in an appaling horrified by their doing,  `would stone them. They
loss of crops and in the corrupting of' the land ; that would therefore gb three days journey in the wilder-
physical darkness dismayed them  tith vague terrore n&s's, and sacrifice to the Lord as He had commanded.
and undefinable apprehensions, such as haunt the Pharaoh perceiyed  that Moses was adament and there-
breast of the oppress&d ; that the aged arid the younger fo?e yielded on. the condition that the plague be re-
felt beside the biers of the  $ain firstborn all the grief moved. Thus he again set his terms and thought to
inflicted upon the innocent. Verily, God is not mocked : hold God to them. Though he had added insult to in-
for whatever a man showeth, that shall he also reap. jury, respecting his sins he maintained silence. His
       As to Pharaoh, he refuses to take notice of the sole concern was to be delivered from the grip of God.
plague that burns in his flesh and in the flesh of his Nothing else mattered. The Lord, doing according to
people. For the Lord hardened his hear*,  so that he Moses' word, removed the swarms, not because He half
hearkened not unto them ; as the Lord had spoken unto      expected or hoped that Pharaoh might do as he had
Moses.                                                     promised  - the Lord hardened his heart - but that
       "And the Lord said unto Moses, Rise up early in Pharaoh might be with&t excuse in the judgment. The
the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, and say unto interludes of brief respite were but slippery places to
him, Thus saith the Lord God of  the Hebrews, Let my       him on which he was made to swiftly glide through
people go, that they may serve me. For ,I will at this successive jud,gment  into final destruction.
time send all my plagues into thine heart, and upon            Of the plague of the murrain he had taken no notice
thy servants, and upon thy people  ; that thou mayest beyond inquiring after the well-being of the cattle in
know that there is none like me in all the earth. For the land of Goshen. And even now, with the scars of
now I might have stretched out my hand and smitten the blains in his flesh, he still stands th.ere,  shaking
thee and thy people (I quote here the original.            his vile `fist in the face of the Holy One, while he mut-
                                                                                                       i


                                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          1 9 1

              ters, "Who is the Lord that I  should obey His voice??'       Lord will humble him. Ancl he will know that there
              Wave after wave of divine vengeance had  p,assed over is none like Jehovah in all the earth.
              his head, and yet he sets his mo&h  against Heaven.               The Lord might have struck him clown at that very
              Astounding! Is his heart incapable of being troubled instant. How deserving of destruction he already was.
              by.the terrors of the Almighty? Is he immune  to fear? Does Pharaoh not understand, after having seen the
              Will there be .no bands in his death? Will he go down mighty arm of God stretched out over  E,gypt, that He
              in final defeat in Stoic difference, taunting and derid- is mighty to slay him; that he, Pharaoh, stands solely
              ing God, boasting of an indominable `mill? No indeed. because the Lord establishes him; that he is merely an
              Attend  to the message with which n/Ioses  is now sent axe with which God hews, the saw that he shakes; that
              to Pharaoh.                                                   his power is Gocl's that whereas he lives and moves
                  "And the Lord said unto Moses, Rise up early in and has his being in Gocl, he engages.in  no conflict with
              the morning ancl &and before Pharaoh and say unto             the Omnipotent one, as he thinks; that he is being  i
              him . . . . " The sending of Moses in the early hours of raised up that through the display of divine power that
              the morning betokens that his message has to do with he has and will be. made to behold, he is being hardened,
              a  matter vital  ancl pressing, a matter therefore that is    so that as hardened he may be destroyed, that
              worthy of most serious consideration. From one of Jehovah's name may be declared throughout all the
              the favorite phrases of Jeremiah. appears that the Lord -earth?
              through subsequent. centuries was woht to sent his               Pharaoh cannot will to perceive. Yet it must be
              prophets early in the morning: "I sent unto them by           explainecl  to him that all the remaining dreadful
              my. servants the prophets, rising up early ancl sending plagues will be sent in his heart; that he will be cut off
              them; but ye would not hear, saith the Lord" (Jer:  29 :      from the earth in order that, though the Lord is re-
              19). The Lord's manner of dealing with the vessels            solved to destroy him, he may be forewarned and have
              of wrath is in strict accordance with their account-          opportunity to choose not life but death. And death l-+e
       -..    ability. And He places beyond their reach every straw chooses. Thus he is without excuse, not because, as so
              of which they might want to catch hold in their effort many maintain, God loved him and anxiously willed
              to excuse in the judgment their reactions to His com-         that he choose life ; nor because his choice was `dis-
              mands.                                                        joined. from the eternal determination of God so
                                                                            that the final and sovereign cause of his choo&g as he ,
                 "Thus saith  .the Lord God of the  .Hebrews,  Let          did resided in him and not in God ; neither because he
        1     my people go, that they may serve  me. For I will at was ignorant of the resolve of. the Almighty to prepare
       e      this time send all my plagues into thine heart . _ . . "      him for destruction  - fact is that it was esplicidly
              The content of this message is one at the hearing of tolcl him that he would be cut off from the earth, thus
              which Pharaoh might well have paused. and considered; that he would not repent. Pharaoh was without ex-
              All the plagues  will now be sent in his heart. Hereto- cuse for the sole reason that he remained the rationa!
              fore, what might be known of God through the speech subject of his choice and chose - death, knowingly,
              of the wonders was manifest in him. The wrath of deliberately in agreement with the disposition of his
              the Almighty had been revealed from heaven  o& his vile nature, for the sole reason that he preferred cleath
              unrighteousness.    But with the ministers of divine          above life. And he could will to  make  no other choice. ,
              vengeance operating all about him even in his flesh and
              the flesh of his people, he  hacl remained unafraid and          Pharaoh is but a vile lump of clay in God's hands.
              continued to taunt God. For the plague; had been senl;        Yet he still behaves as though he weie a gocl, the in- !
              upon his land, upon his cattle, upon his person and the       vincible lord of all he surveys, the inclomnable master
              person of his servants but thus far not in his  &art to       of God's son. And the imagination of his wicked heart
              terrify and dismay him. At.the hearing of God's voice,        is that. he can wage war ,even successfully with God.
              he  ha< not trembled. At the sight of the display of So he still exalts himself against God's people, not to
              divine  displeasure his soul had not filled  with, clread.    let them go. 0, the frightful foolishness of a man
              And he was vaingloriously boasting, no doubt,, in his blinded by sin !
       `*-    power to retain his self-composure when God smote,  ad           The Lord will again strike. But before Moses is
              if he were the author of his stout-heartedness and  r~        ordered to pray for the annouliced  plague, the Lord bids
       t      if he hacl made himself to stand. So the Lorcl will now Pharaoh to send therefore now and gather. his cattle.
              send His plagues in his heart. Ancl his hands shall be        and all that he has in the field in that every man and
              faint,  his heart,shall  .melt.  He shall be afraid. Pangs    beast which shall be found in the field, and shall not ;a
              and sorrows shall now take hold of him. He shall be in be brought home, the hail shall come down upon them
              pain as a woman that travaileth. He shall be amazed. and they shall die.  Ancl there were some among the
              His face shall be as a flame. He will be made to taste servants of Pharaoh, perhaps a goodly number, who
              that fear which they will taste who in the judgment to feared the word of the Lord and macle  their servants
              come will cry out to the hills to fall upon them. So the and  their   cattle flee into  the houses. But others  re-

`I                       h
      P` I


`192                                 T H E   STANDAR.D  B E A R E R

garded not the wqrd of the Lord and thus left their time." How preposteriously untrue. Fact is that his
servants and their cattle in the field. And among these        sins  are legion, that he has increased his guilt  .until it
was Pharaoh. How amazingly blameful  `lie was ! How rose before the eye of God as being mountain high. Yet
little he could accuse God for .the `loss that he would        he  clare   say, "I have sinned this time.'  " He plainly
nbw be made to sustain! How stouthearted he has closes his eye to his past wickedness,  ancl thus refuses
become ! How easily he can be imagined to have railed          to own his guilt. Expediency  Qnpels him to confess
at those, of his people who under the impulse of a fear one of his countless sins. This, .certainly,  is not the
for the coming judgment ordered their servants and             behtiviour  and disposition of a man humbled by God's
their cattle to a place of safety. Pharaoh willed his          grace.
own doom and likewise the doom of all his subjects.               Finally, his plea is not that he be forgiven but
   And Moses  stretchecl  forth his rod toward heaven. merely that there shoulcl be no more mighty thunder-
Presently there is a mighty gathering of clouds on the ings and hail. Hence, what troubles him is not his sin
horizon. The terrified stillness of the forest leaves is       but sin's dire consequences. Thus his sorrow is worldly.
questioning. The  clestl;oying  &gels murmur to each It therefore worketh death.
other, deep in the distance. The funeral darkness                 But .that he might be without excuse, Moses says to
marches on. Now the minister of death draw ,their              him, "As soon as I am gone out of the city, I-will spread
.swords  of fire and the doom.of heaven rattles. Their `.abroad  my hands unto the Lorcl; and the thunder shall
is crash upon crash of thunder. The volume of its              cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou
sound. terrifies the hearts and shakes the earth. The          mayest know how that the earth is the Lord?.
hail. is cast to the earth by the vengeance of God, smit-          But his repentance was not genuine. Of this Moses
ing in its course all that is in the field, both man and       is aware. Therefore he assures him, "But as for thee
beast and every herb of the field. It breaks every tree and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet  .fear the
of the field. Theie is iire mingled with hail, and the Lord." Yet Moses went  out, of the city from Pharaoh,
fire runs along the ground. It leaps and dances as if and'spread  abroad his hands unto the Lord: and the
drunken with the wine of His wrath. The storm con- thunders and the hail ceased, and the rain was not
tinues unabated. There seems to be no spending of its poured upon the earth. And when Pharaoh saw that
force. With its strength replenished by the invisible the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he
God, who sits in, the heavens and holds the proud tyrant       sinned yet more, and hardened his hear't,  he and his
in derision, it rages on.                                      servants. And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened,
   Mark now the behaviour of Pharaoh, "And Pharaoh neither would he let'the children of Israel g9; as the
sent and called for Moses and Aaron, and said unto             Lord had spoken by Moses.                       '
them, I have sinned this time: the Lord is righteous,              Thus `with the ceasing of the hail and thunders, his
and I and ,my people are wicked. Intreat  th.e Lord ;          fears are abated. Then the old rebellion that lurked
for it is too much that there should be mighty thunder- iri his bosom reasseyted  itself. And he again refused to
ings and hail; and I will let you go and ye shall stay         hearken unto the voice of God's command. But this,
no longer."                                                    because the Lord raised him up.
    It is Pharaoh here speaking! Pharaoh who all                                                                         G. M. 0.
along had persisted in saying `in the midst of the de-
vastations of the wonders  .of God, `Who is the Lord that
I should obey His voice ?' See, he now crouches at the                                IN': MEMORIAM
feet of Moses, terrified beyond words, w+npering and              .Het behaagde den &eere om door den dood van ons weg  te
whining like a  floged dog, begging  fc- respite, em- nemen onze geliefde Echtgenoote, Moeder en Grootmoeder,
phatic in his avowal that the people of Israel shall now
go forth out of his land. Verily, the  plzb,yues  are being                            TETJE KORT,
sent in his heart. The terror of God has humbled him, in den ouderdom van 67 jaren..
depraved him of nerve, force, vigor; debilitated him,             We vertrouwen dat ze nu voor Gods troon juicht, niet omdat
                                                               er iets in haar was, maar omdat we bij wijlen van haar mochten
rendered him ef%minate,  cast him to the earth'. Pharaoh vernemen, dat Gods Geest in haar hart getuigde, dat ze deel had
is humbled, not as the sinner is humbled when the Lord         aan de erve der heiligen.
by His grace thaws out the pride of his heart, but hum-                         Namens de bedroefde familie,
bled as all the wickecl are humbled when th& Lord $er-
rified them by His frown. As to the heart of his                                               Mr. H. Koll;
                                                       dis-                                    Rev. en Mrs. A. Kort
positions, Pharaoh is as perverse and obstinate as ever,                                       Mr. en Mrs. D. Kort
Gas is evident from his confession which at first glance                                       Mr. en Mrs. C.  `Kort
it may strike us as being genuine enough. He cleclares                                         Mr. en Mrs. J. Schurenga              .
God to be the righteous one and him and his people the                                         Mr. en Mrs. W. De  Witt
wicked. He is emphatic in his promising to let the peo-                                        John
                                                                                               Ida
ple go. But mark the statement, "I have sinned this                                                                                       ..:
                                                                                               En 17 kieinkinderen.                         I
                                                                                                                                           .!
                                                                                                                                           -2.
                                                                                                                    :                      1'


