           ~<.`..`.
           &:,.;.-l_...
                            ,-  ,;;244   ..                                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
           ::1-:,
           .,  : ..

                                                                                                                                                  for which God used him. The marvel is that Moses  .did
                                                                                                                                                  not stay at the  E,gyptian   cq~~rt and try to use his influence
                                                                                                                                                  for  .the, betterment and social uplift of the people in that
                                                                                                                                                  civilized country, rather than lead them out into the
                                                                                                                                                  barren desert.  _
          .`.                   "z'-            :                                                                                                   We read further:
           j               `.f;,e:....
          [q, 1. : -' : Y There is in  the. Notes of Dr. F. Wezeman in their                                                                        "Having successfully brought his people out of Egypt,
               ;:?:I:;. final form  `a wrong emphasis on social improvement and
          *;u.j::;:;-~.zf:,                                                                                                                      m/loses  set about his second task, that of organizing them
           I:-. :: ";.` . . . ~`~a&ahce  that is characteristic of the. modern view of  re-                                                      to live as a free people. The Israelites had always' lived.
          , ,>.. :: .j
           . . . . ,.-
           i;.                           -  ligion. By  wony emphasis I mean a replacement of                                                    in small clans, ruled by the patriarchs. ,Each clan was an
               .,i
           ,`,?f:                                     the work of salvation  .and redemption in Christ by social                                 independent group and each patriarch-. was an absolute
          L:: :*.:;.i: - reformation.
          `:;`r.:`r.s.                                                     I do not say that Dr. Wezeman  through-                               ruler. If they were to  .&-rite `the clans would have to
          ;j::; . . . . .
          :"'  -..                                    out his Notes presents salvation as consisting of social                                   give  up.' their independence, and the patriarchs surrender
           ..>`.;.  :
           .- rj .) . .                               betterment. This would be far from the truth. Many                                         their absolute  rule.. It is a great achievement .of Moses.
           :;.:- _. :
                                 -passages of the Notes could be  .quoted to disprove such
          , ..                                                                                                                                   that he persuaded those chiefs to give  LIP some of their
       ,_  !  :.,.:  ..`h statement. But I do maintain that the Notes reveal a
           _'                             `.
          i;..: . .                                                                                                                              powers in favor of union.  T~$~Ls   &loses   ~08  acsecF  by God
         ,, . ..`I' :
           r..  .._                                   tendency in the soul of the author to proceed, .sonsciously                                to  fpa+zd   thle  nation  of  Ismill.    Before him there was no
          ,.".; . . ;
          I ::i.                                      or unconsciously; from  .this modern and thoroughly  hu-                                   nation ; there were `only tribes which  felt in some un-
       _. :-. ;,-..; . .
       .i  ,.._.  - ' manistic conception of  .salvation. Only in this light can
        . . . :-e..;: :                                                                                                                          certain way that they were related. Moses strengthened
                                                      I  .understand   .the language of the following quotation
 .:                                                                                                                                              this feeling of kinship till the separate tribes  .felt that
 I. . :-...~`.-.~~,.:`. from- Old Testament I, Project XIX :
                 . . -..                                                                                                                         they were one nation. Israel was being prepared by God
           ,:.;;.t;-.
          l `11: _ ..'  ".  -.  ?Before going on with the  journe.y  of the' Hebrews                                                             to move out  from',their narrow circle into the larger
           ! : . .,' : .,
           ?:;  -:-;                                  from the sea through the desert it will be wise to con-                                    world and into wider interests."
          ;.?,;.  :-.,;  -, "sider
                                                .'                their leader again. What is a leader? What  quali-
           : _. `:                                                                                                                                  No Reformed teacher  w,ould write thus about Moses
               .; . .  _-
           y..  ,.I ties, characteristics make for leadership'? Here is one                                                                      and his calling with respect to Israel.  _ It is certainly- a
           iT'-"`-
               :.;.:.   ".  -`-:  .simple definition;, a leader is a person who teaches his
           ". ,`_. ::                                                                                                                            very poor  ,way of referring to' the- deliverance of Israel
           ;~-,..`~.`r
                           :                          -fellowmen.  to be better and to lead a better life. (This                                 from Egypt by God's mighty hand to say that Moses suc-
I  5,  ;;:                                            definition should be made- more complete through class .cessfully  brought his people out  ,of Egypt.                                                S.tr,ictly
           .:;.zy<.
        _,  .,  ;i  ': discussion).                                       In discussing the life and work  o.f `any                              speaking this is  .decidehly  untrue. And apart from the
 `.  .:
      `::.y.                              ,i
           :..,                          `. leader it will' help us if  we' keep in mind the following
               .;7: ..:                                                                                                                          question whether Israel was as clannish and divided as
               . . ..z _
           1.  i'                                     questions : 1. What bad  conc$tion did he find? 2. How                                     Dr. Wezeman pictures it, the fact is that the true Israel-
~  ::i;-: did he desire to change them? 3. How successful. was ites were undoubtedly united by a higher and spiritual
           :..~`_'
:                                   _.- he? Let' us remember that Moses' task `was not only
               .                                                                                                                                 bond of fellowship and hoped for the realization of the
                  .  ..-z that of freeing his brethren from Egyptian bondage, but                                                                promise of God. That Israel is the-covenant-people, and
               .`i,-.
           .,. -.                                     .of. leading them out  of, their narrow circle and ridding `that  .God realizes His promise unto them is  .altogether
                     :.                               them of any practices which. were neither fine nor noble.                                  dropped  out of sight in the Notes. The founding of a
            .;,  .,
                    . . .
            ;?,!I;  `-                                He was to `be used, by God to make a nation, to bring                                      nation and the organization of a free people take the
               :.'  -..
..::                                                  God's law' and truth. Let us be alert and notice what
                                                      ;                                                                                          place of the realization of the promise and the establish-
8.  ,.:  1..  `.
           G..;                                 .; Moses does to bring  ablout religious and social advance.
      *:  .;  r.1,  :.  1.  ,(                                                                                                                   ment of the covenant. Besides, note the language of the
      `, ,..a  -.  -'
 .:  .r-::;;  ::z- The' Exodus from Egypt was only the beginning of
                            .:                                                                                                                   last sentence.          Israel was being prepared to move out
           .;+;
               .<..;`..  -
 ,-..  1,.  - Moses's labors. Now  that: the Israelites were safely out                                                                          from its narrow circle into the larger world and into wider
           i',.,  ..
           .:;i  ;..                                  of reach of Pharaoh, what  .was to be done next?".                                         interests.     Also this is decidedly untrue and certainly.
                      ,.`.
            :.'._  -_                                      It appears to me that no Reformed teacher would thus                                  has nothing to do with the viewpoint of Scripture. For,.
          `.,
8.  .:                                                                                                                                           Israel was not being prepared to move into the larger
      ,:;z.                                           describe the calling and work of Moses. He is after
                      .
        1.                        .'                  all.`described'as  a leader of men, whose desire is  io  taz:ck                            world, but to be separate from the world as a distinct
               `.'  ,-'
                  :;.;                                his  felloz&e~t   td be better  am!  lad a better  life. He is
           . .                                                                                                                                   people of. Jehovah.
            ( ! ;                                     a social leader and the founder of  a' nation. True, the                                      Perhaps it is due to the same predilection. in Dr. Weze-
~ -i. - :
           <l  :.
      ;:  *!::g.. author speaks of it, that he is used  .by God-for this pur-                                                                    man's soul that he gives .to the_Nptes   .on .New Testament
               .-.
 :  ..-..                                             pose, but-this  could be  s&d of any  .leader;  `The divine                                I the title :"The Life and Teachings of Jesus!`.  .This is
           l?.:
           k,.                             .' calling of Moses in the altogether special sense in which -all. the more striking in the light of the well-known fact,
                 -...:
                  _`. . . he was  -called%   Horelr, as well as the divine purpose of                                                            that  onl,y the moderns prefer to speak' of- the "life" of
~  :;:.:,                                             redemption. of Israel,  ..`are  lost out. of sight. What- bsd                              Jesus  and emphasize His teaching rather than His appear-
               a.
         ._  y
           t;..,-. .                                  condition did  M.oses  find? A people that were  charac-                                   ance.. A "life" of Jesus  `we have not at all, nor does a
                 ;;i: ,,.. s_, ( : terized by a narrow, clannish life and  by'many practices (`life" of Jesus matter from the viewpoint of redemption.
               . ..r . .
            .~~~.:.-.
            ,;-  :  t-.; h a t were not fine and noble.                                              And  .M"oses'  desired to                   I do not say that Dr. Wezeman actually offers in the
                  -1: `; ,.::, _._ change them. That was the task he set'himself to, do and.                                                     Notes under  .this head  -what the title would cause'  US to
                  :`..,<.-:.;
               ;:  ,. . . . .                              ..
                      b..-, ,...:- .`.., . _:                                                              L. .`. --
                      ; . . . . . . . _
                           ..;->. . .  -:.  :  `.,  :  :..  ..,.  .,               __  .'  .,  ::.  _ -. .,I.; . . . .  ,i  .-        `-
                                                                             t                                                    . .*  _ . .    ,.,i.,`.s      ,!`;      ._    `-         ,.`,


                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R  @I7  -                                          245

        expect. He does not. The Notes  tire in  many  respects               "Why  did Jonah go to  T&shish?  Notice his inade-
        excell&t. But to my mind it reveals a certain tendency              quate conception of God's omnipresence by trying to
        in Dr.  Wezemancs  mind towards the humanistic  con-, `flee from the  presepce  of the Lord'. This may refer to
       ception   of salvation.                                              to the idea quite generally held by many Jews that their
           JPerhaps  it is this same tendency that causes Dr.  YVeze-       God's  jurisdiction covered only  the land occupied by
        man wholly to misinterpret the book of Jonah  ,as  well             the Jews, that is, Palestine. (We may note here that
        as  the person of the prophet.       Dr.  Wezeman does not          Amos' preaching had but little effect, if  even the prophet
       like: Jonah. He has no patience with him.. He is a                   entertained this notion of God, H.  I-L).  This was the
        darrow-minded J&w, who has a false conception of Israel's           belief of many other people. Each tribe, each nation,
        history, selfish and cruel, without  .regard  to life in  gen-      had its  own god  ear  gods whose authority covered a
      & a l . And his conception of God was that of a national              specific geographic region . . .  thdt area where the clan,
        god, whose dominion and sovereignty was limited to                  the tribe, the nation lived. Therefore, the defeat and
        the land of Canaan.                                                 capture of one  trib,e by another involved the  defkat  and
           I quote:                                                         capture  of its god.  A  .man by moving from the area
           "This book is unique among the prophetic writings of             occ&pied  by one tribe or nation to elsewhere would (he
        the Old Testament for two reasons : a. It is in the form           thought) get him away from the authority  .of one god
        of a story.  h Its  unusual humanitarian and religious              and place him `under that of another.      This idea may
      outlook. ,                                                           have been held by Jonah. He wanted to go to Tarshish
                                                                           where he thought he  could avoid the consequences of
           IUnfortunately, the story has very much obscured for            disobeying God. However,  theoretitially  he knew better.
        some people its moral and spiritual  v&Tes.        The moral       He had been taught and he knew deep in his heart that
        purpose of the book is clear: it shows the folly of dis-           the  ,God of the Hebrews was the God of the heavens,
        obedience, the wdrld-wide  intereit of God, the desire of          the sea, and land. See verse 9."
      God to stem the tide of sin and  `thereby.diminish punish-
        ment an& pisery. However, this was steadfastly resisted               Whether this last remark has been added when the
        by Jonah.                                                          Notes were revised, I do not know. It certainly leaves that
                                                                           impression. At all events. it is in flat contradiction with
          "This obstinacy and selfishness was  due to: a. A false          what precedes. How anyone can theoretically know better
      interpretation of their history, which enabled the Jews              than his own' ideas I fail to understand. Perhaps, there-
        proudly to `assume that God selected them alone, not only          fore, we have here a case of amended notes. How any
        for His revelation, but as the sole object of His concern,         such presentation of Jonah's conception of God could be
        His kindness;  bl. The policy. of narrow  .nationalism.  c.  An    elicited from the book of Jonah is a complete mystery.
        attitude of, patriotic pride which excluded the civil and          Surely, when Jonah is in the belly of the fish he does
       moral well-being of other rq.ces  and nations.                      not consider himself outside of Jehovah's tribal domain,
:         "The book discloses narrowness and selfishness in                as is evident from his fervent' and beautiful prayer.
       Jonah but kindness and deep concern for man even though               How utterly impatient Dr. Wezeman  .is with this man
       pagan in God. It shows that God discloses His will to               Jonah is evident, too, from his interpretation of Jonah's
       wicked men so that all excuse will be lacking.                      sleeping in the midst of the storm:
          "In this book we find revealed the lovingkindness of                "In the second part of verse 5 we find a sleeping Jonah.
`,     Jehovah.      God's moral law bring? vengeance upon those           He was totally indifferent to the hazards of the storm.
       who break it;  sin  mu& be punished,  but' God's feeling            He wished to avoid the disagreeable task of going to
       toward man is also one of pity and helpfulness. It is this          Nineveh by going to Tarshish ; now he' would avoid the
       feeling which He calls us to understand, to share and to            disagreeable experience of seeing the  ivYhole ship in the
       aptply."                                                            dangers of a fierce storm by the  .easy expedient of bury-
          Notice, that the entire book of Jonah i.s treated  2s  a         ing his head under a pillow and going to sleep".
       story with a good moral. Narrow nationalism .and selfish-             Jonah, then,  must have belonged to those men that
       ness is condemned. `Such is the teaching that may be                can  easily  lay down and fall asleep whenever they  will,
       derived from Jonah's part in the story. And God is                  even under the most adverse -conditions.
       kind to all mm, pitying and helpful. And  we must learn               And,.  finally, we read :     ..
       from this to assume the same attitude towards our  fel-               "This `escape philosophy', that indifference to the
       lowmen.       The prophecy .of the book is entirely. over-          value of life,  even of his own, is a characteristic of
       looked.       That Jonah in this prophetic history is em-           Jonah. It is again evident at the end of the story when
       phatically a type  of Christ the author forgets. The'great          he expresses that hope that God will let him die, merely
       lesson of the  blook as a prophecy related to  God's re-            because his shade-tree is gone and he feels rather hot".
       demptive' purpose is omitted from. the Notes.                         1 believe  &at the desire to emphasize the "moral" of
         About the person of Jonah the Notes still contain the             this story of Jonah and the failure to  see the great re-
       following remarks :                                                 demptive lesson in this prophetic history, has led Dr.


 246                               -1           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

 Wezeman to this very unkind and unsympathetic interpre-            nader het  verband,  waarin ik hierbij zijn naam met dien
 tation of Jonah.           The fundamental viewpoint of Dr.        van Kuyper gebracht had. Mijn correspondent is niet
 Wezeman' here is surely in conflict with that of Jonah.            heelemaal gerust over de rol die ik hem daarbij heb toebe-
 But I like Jonah's far  bmetter.  For, the latter was evi-         deelcl."
 dently  motivated,by a love of the covenant-people  of God,           Precies  wat door Dr. Noordmans bedoeld worclt met
 so that he would rather perish than leave them in order            die  Xeuwere   gereformberde  theologie",  weet ik niet.
 to turn to their enemies. And the moment we leave go                  Uit het verslag van zijne  rede kon ik ook niet  weten,
 of. the general, humanistic viewpoint and look at Jonah            dat hij het niet alleen  gehad heeft over de gemeene gratie,
 in the light of Scripture, we see the prophet in an en-            maar dat hij in dat  verband  ook op Dr. Schilder is  aan-
 tirely different light.                                 H. .H.     gevallen. Dat blijkt thans  echter   we1 het geval geweest
                                                                    te  zijn.
                                                                      .Welnu  dan, Dr. Noordmans schrijft, Mijkbaar op  ver-
                                                                    zoek van Dr. Schilder ken paar  artikelen,  in De  RC~QY-
                                         ,-.                        ntatie.
    In Jan. 1930 s h
                     c reef Dr. Schilder, als  r&lectie op  hei-       En ook in die' artikelen gaat het weer voornamelijk
 geen zekere "Je  Amerikaansche vriend" gerapporteerd               over de algemeene genade. Op  clit stuk valt hij Dr.  Schil-
 had, dat ik  zou.  geschreven  hebben over de  qntkenning          der  aan.  En  hij ziet de zaak diep ernstig.  We1  heeft hij
 van de gemeene  gratie in Nederland : "Maar als het waar           zich nog voor  de  vraag  geplaatst :  You de zaak dan niet
 is, dat in Nederland de gemeene gratie niet meer als een           zoover zelfs vereenvqucligd kunnen  worden,  dat ik Prof.
 algemeen  erkende  waarheid wordt roorgesteld, dan  ge-            Schilder moest toe!geven,  dat zijn verschil met Dr. Kuyper
 loof ik, dat tegenspraak zonder meer volstaan kan".                er een is, dat meer in woorden dan in  wezen  bestaat  ?"
   De  bedoeling van boven aangehaalde zin is, dat het in           (een vraag ook  onder   ons  meermalen gesteld).  Doch  .'
 1930  schier  onclenkbaar  was,  clat de  gemeene  `gratie niet    Dr. Noordmans heeft de kwestie nader onderzocht. Hij
 algemeen als waarheicl zou worclen erkend, zoo ontdenk-            heeft  da&toe verschillende  publicaties  van Dr. Schilder
 ba,ar, dat  he& geheel  overbodig was om dit zelfs in  dis-        gelezen..      En hij schrij ft  nu :  %aar  mijn eindoordeel,
 cussie te brengen. Wie het tegendeel zou  Eewereii,  zou           voorzoover ik daar hier reeds van spreken mag-en dat
 eenvoudig kunnen  worden  tegengesproken zonder  meer.             aan `t eind van deze  artikelen ook  nag  geen  eindoordeel
   Zoo staat de zaak in Nederland  tlians  niet meer.               zal  willen zijn, omdat ik  meeli,   clat het  aan de kerk  toe-
   Ik geloof  niet, dat Dr. Schilder in 19'36 zou kunnen            komt en oogenblikkelijk op haar weg ligt-is dit, dat deze
 herhalen, wat hij op dit punt in  1930 schreef.                    opvattingen sooutclijlz  van de gereformeercle leer verschil-
   En het treffende van het geval is,  dat Dr. Schilder             len".
 thans  zelf  wordt  aangevallen  over, om. het  vooralsnog            De zaak is dus ernstig, naar de beschouwing van Dr. N.
 maar in algemeene  termen te zeggen,  zijn standpunt  in-             Het is een zaak, waarover de: kerk zal hebben te  be-
 zake `de  gemecne  gratie..                                        slissen, hoe eer hoe beter. Het lig zelfs  ooge+zblikkelijk
   Zijn aanvaller is  -Dr..  0. Noorclmans van Laren,  op het       op haar weg !
 verslag van witins rede, onlangs gehouden voor studenten             En de opvatfingen van Dr. Schilder in  verband  met de
 cler Vrije Universiteit, we enkele nummers terug reeds de          algemeene  genade  verschillen soortelijk van de  gerefor-
 aandacht vestigclen. Wij meenden in het verslag tusschen           meerde leer !
de  regels  door te kunnen lezen, dat het in  die rede  voor-         Wat zijn dan die opvattingen  ? Dr. `N. schrijft verder
 namelijk  ghig over'  de gemeene gratie. Thans mogen we            als volgt :
 ,constateeren,  dat we ons claarin niet  .vergisten.  In het          "Dr. Kuyper  last door de algemeene genade een  ter-
 eerste artikel,  dat Dr. 0. Noordmans  tegen  Dr.. K.  Schil-      rein geschapen  worden,  waar kerk en wereld,  wederge-
 der schrijft, en dat onder het. opschrift  "De  algemeene          borenen en onwedergeborenen, elkander ontmoeten en
 genade"   ierscheen  iti De  R+fo~~lzrctie  van  10 Jan. 1.936,    waar ze tijdelijk kunnen samenwerken  aan cultuureelen
 begint  de critikus aldus: "Wat aanleiding  gaf tot  `bet          arbeid. Wat hier gewonnen wordt  brengt  we1 `blijvende
 schrijv&  Jan een paar artikelen, die ik mij  `voorstel te         winste'  z6oals  het heet in  De  Gemeetie   Gyatie,  maar  alles
 geven,  teeft de Redakteur van dit  bdad  reeds  medege-           wat op dat  terrein.   gereed  komt, houdt iets uitwendigs.
 cleeld  in het nummer van 6 December  j.1. Men heeft daar Het blijft tot de buitenbolwerken  khooren.  Het eigenlijke,
 ook kunnen vinden het r&m&  van een lezing, die ik hield           het echte, het teerste wat  zich  tusschen God en mensch
 voor de theologische studenten  aan de Vrije Universiteit.         afspeelt, behoort tot het gebied der particuliere genade.
 Daarmee heb ik feitelijk reeds een inleiding geleverd op             "Dit algemeene terrein, dat bij .Kuyper aan de mensch-
 wat ik  nu nog ga zeggen. De lezer weet uit welken  hock           heid  in haar geheel, na den zondvloed, in de huidige
 de wind  waait. Professor Schilder zou  echter  graag een          wereld- en cultuurperiode, nog gelaten wordt, is voor Dr.
 bepaald punt toegelicht  willen  zien,  n:l. dat, waar ik het      Schilder  riiet meer aannemelijk. De godgeleerdheid van
 had `over  Ccc  dgemeene   gen&e  en de plaats, die deze in-       heden kan  `niet meer werken met iets dat  bodewa   wil  zijn.
 neemt in  de  r&were  gerefortieercle   theologie.  En dan         De hiologische beteekenis van de aarcle als gegeven basis


                                 2 . 5 0                                  T H E -   S T A N D A R D   B E A R ' E R

                                Daarom koos ik welbewust voor deze verklaring van
                                Joh.  5  26.                                                                       The Emeritus. Minister.
                                   Wat  He&,  l:l-4 betreft, waaruit ik  aanhaalde:  "De-                We are now come to the question whose the obligation
                                 well% is het` Afschijnsel Zijner heerlijkheid en het  uit-            is of raising the financial support of the emeritus-min-
                                gedrukte  BeeId-Zijner zelfstandigheid", dok dit  kan m.i.             ister. And the answer: the duty of raising  thii support
                                alleep   gezegd,   worden  van den  Zoon in de `goddelijke   na-       rests, same as the duty of raising the salary of the. min-
                                tutu-.  Dat er in hetzelfde  v&band ook van den  Christus              ister of the gospel in active service, upon the local church
                                als Middeiaar naar Zijne menschelijke natuur wordt  ge-                with which the emeritus minister is connected in the
                                sproken,`  is waar,  doch dit verandert  aan de zaak niets.            capacity of retired pastor.           The contention that this
                                Het is de eeuwige  Zoon, Die  eeuwi.glijk  is het Afschijnsel          duty rests wholly or in part upon the other churches is
                                -van Gods heerlijkheid en het uitgedrukte beeld Zijner                 in' conflict, with the principles of Reformed church polity.
                                Zelfstandigheid, die ook door God gesteld is tot een  erf^             ,Consider  that the emeritus-pastor retains the title `and
                                :genaam  van alles, Die in de menscheli.jke  n&uur de reinig-          honor of a minister of the gospel, which means that he
                                making onzer zonden door Zichzelven heeft teweeg  ge-                  is not deposed, freed from his office but merely freed
                                bracht en gezeten is  aan de rechterhand  der,  Mlajesteit             from the duties of his office.
                                in de hoogste hemelen.  -Mijn  reden voor `deze yerklaring                                                    And from this it must
                                ligt  allereerst in de woorden zelf,  `afschijnsel Zijner              follow that he remains the retired pastor of the  lscal
                                                                                                       church' that emeritated him, and further that it is the
                                heerlijkheid en uitgedrukte  bleeld Zijner zelfstandigheid
                                 (hypotase)  ."                                                        duty of this church only to care for him.
                                                   En,  `indien.  dit misschien nog kon  worden                                                        No more than
                                betrokken  opde  menschelijke natiuur des Zoons,  `wat  ,er            a congregation can be held financially responsible for'
                                aan voorafgaat  en er op vdgt z&t zeker op Zijne godheid :             the care of a  .minister  of the gospel whose connections
                                 "door' welken Hij ook de wereld gemaakt heeft", en:                   with it have been broken off,  no'more can it be the duty
                                 "Die alle  dingen  draagt door het woord Zijner kracht".              of a congregation to provide for an emeritus-minister
                                 Wat  nu de overige vragen van Ds. Petter betreft, moet                not. sustaining to it the relation of pastor. He maintain-
                                ik in de eerste plaats opmerken, dat het nooit in mijne be-            ing. the contrary, conceives of all the churches- as  con:
                                doeling is geweest om te  spreken  van twee verschillende              sisting of an organization of which the local church forms
                                Vader&happen `Gods. .Indien   ik dien indruk liet door                 a sub-division  (Collegialism)   .
                                mijnschrijven,  dan  :is die indruk verkeerd.  We1  moeten               But has not the local church in the ethical sense a, fin-
                                we  echter onderscheidkn tusschen het Vaderschap Gods                  ancial obligation toward an emeritus-minister not con-
~ `,:  :_  j                    in  Zijti  wegei en in  Zij+z.  b~@ba.&z~:  God is met geheel.         nected with it? Let us answer this. Consider' that au-
                                Zijn  Wezen eeuwiglijk Vader, God is ook met geheel                    thority is of two  .kinds : juridical and ethical. So, too,
                                Zijn  Wezen eeuwiglijk  Zoo& en- Hij is met geheel Zijn                are we to distinguish between juridical `and ethical
                                Wezen  eeuwiglijk   GeestI Er zijn immers geen drie                    duties. What may be the difference? The `doing of
                                Goden,   doch er is' $6n God. `We moeten'  niet vervallen in           juridical duties  is compulsory from  the side  ,of those
                                tritheisme. Alleen  maar zien de onderscheidingen van                  appointed to, exercise in respect to us juridical authority,  _
                                .Vader,  Zoon en Heilige Geest niet op  bestaanszprijzen,              which means that the neglect of a juridical duty is an
                                maar op- persoo&jk'e  onderscheidingen in het `Goddelijke              offense that calls for discipline. We purposely avoid the
                                Wezen. Daarom is' God in Zichzelven `de levende  Ver-                  term  pamish~ent   as in, the  church.+of  Christ there is
                                bondsgod. God is dus `Vader  ait  den Eersten,  &or  .dtn              place for punishment only in the sense of discipline.
   _.I.!                  `.
    :  :                        Tweeden, & den Derden Persoon.- Zoo is het binnen Gods                 From this it should not be concluded that the violation
   ::  i.
   -:  .j                       Weien. De  Zoon is dus het  zerezedijke   Beeld Gods. Als              of ethical duties is an  offence  -not deserving of punish-
                                nu dit Vader&hap naar  buiten geopenbaard wordt, dan                   ment.  `This cannot be as the ethical duty is in the final
                                geschiedt deze openbaring  naar dezelfde verhoudingen,                 instance a juridical duty before God. What-is meant is
                                die' persoonlijk binnen het  Goddelijke  Wezen  ,bestaan.              that the party toward which we have ethical duties and
                                Zoo is het in de schepping. God is Vader  der'  schepping;             who `thus exercises  in. respect to us ethical authority,
                                met name van Adam,. uit -den  .Vader, c!oor het Woord, i?z             lacks the right to punish or discipline if ethical  ,duties
                                den Geest. En dit wordt  dan  schier onbegrijpelijk  ver-              be neglected.
                I_
    : ., j                      die@ door de vleeschwoording des Woords, den dood
       .I                                                                                                There are then juridical and ethical duties.           I am
    ..  I                       en de verheerlijking van  Christus  en de  uitstorting en              legally, juridically, obliged to care for my wife and chil-
                i               inwoning des Geestes..  Maar.  ook dan is God onze Vader.              dren. The neglect of this duty is a punishable fact. The
                                als de DrieEenige  God,  wit.  den Vader, door den Zoon, in
                i..,                                                                                   offender therefore is disciplined by the church and pun-
                !               den  Geest.  En dat is mijne bedoeling als ik zeg, dat de              ished by  .the civil. magistrate.      But I am ethically and
                                Drieeenige God onze Vader is.                             H.H.         &us not juridically (legally) obliged to care for my
                                            _                  e:                                      neighbor if I have  .the means and if I see that my neigh-
                                  Een leven  zoncler  stille  men is  `een  leven  zonder   veroot-    bors is in want. However, though the neglect of this
                                 moediging.              I           .                                 (ethical) duty is, to be sure, a punishable fact before
                I/  I.


God, the offender  camlot be punished for his  neglect  by               nevertheless retain the honor and the title of a minister,
the civil  ma&istrate.   My. neighbor could not have me                  atid the church which they have served shall provide
arrested for refusing to give him bread.                                 honorablly for them in their need (likewise for the or-
   But has not a (local) church at  .least in the ethical                phans and widows of ministers)  ." Mark you, the ar-
sense a financial  ob:ligation toward an emei-itus-minister. ticle does not read, "and the  churcha  which they have
not connected with it  7 And the answer : It is the juri-                served shall honorably provide for them in  their.need .  .,"
dical duty of that congregation with which the emeritus-                 but the reading is `that the church, the  local church, shall
minister is connected  -to care for him. Only in the event               provide for them.         Men of Reformed persuasion have
that church with which the emeritus-minister is con-                     always agreed on  .this.        All the early Reformed synods
nected in the capacity of pastor, fails- to do its juridical             ( D o r d r e c h t ,   1 5 7 8 ;   wddelburg,  1 5 8 1 ;  s'Gravenhage,
duty toward, him, does it become the ethical duty of                     1568  ;  Dordr&ht,  1588) declared that the task of pro-
the other church (or churches) and  .not only of this                    viding for the emeritus minister, is that of the local
other church but of every one acquainted with the pas-                   church. A like stand was taken by the  "Nederlandsche
tor's condition, to come to `his relief. We may not, of                  Gereformeerde  kerken"  in 1886. On their synod of
course, let a person, whoever he `may  :.be, perish from                 Leeuwaarden,  1890, they declared  ihat each church must
the want of  thicgs because they whose juridical duty                    provide for its own emeritus-minister. The synod of
it is to care f&t- him, neglect their duty. It is,  .to be sure,         Utrecht in  190;s adopted a report that set forth all the
our ethical. duty to help such .a one, but only ,because  they           principles we champion in this writing. Also  the,:Chris-
whbse  juridical duty it is to care' for  him; neglect their             tian Reformed churches of North America, though they
`tailing. So, too; the other churches with  lihich the                   added  -to the original article of Dordrecht a clause (to
emerfttis-minister is  .not connected. They are ethically                be examined presently) representative of wrong  piin-
obligated to care for this needy emeritus-minister pastor                ciples of church  po&ty, nevertheless refrained from
but,  mark you,  only in case the  congregatioti wit> which              amending the original article as such and thus by this
he is connected will not do its juridical duty  tow'ard him.             act of omission declared that the principles from which
And if sttch be the case, it is the duty of the congregation             the original article sprang, must be maintained.
with which the emeritus-minister is not' connected to                      But,  .some one  may ask, what  about  a poor, indigent,
care for him, certainly, and in addition to reprimand the                congregation incapable of performing its duty?                        We
recalcitrant  CongregatiolJ  for its neglect. And in case                a&`swer:  if a congregation is unable to meet its obliga-
this congregation will not hear, it must  bie  ,shut out of              tion toward its emeritus-minister, it may and even  -9ust
the denomination.                                                        solicit, the aid of other churches. This aid, however, is
   The  mtiitter then is this : the `congregation with which             to  be defined  .as  Christi.an  benevolence and  thus not as
the emertus-minister is not connected as pastor  cannpt                  a  contribsution  that the other churches are juridically
(w"  su.& be ethically obliged to care for him. To main-                 obliged to make, that is to say, this aid partakes of the
tain this is to declare by implication that the congrega-                character' of Christian  communicatiVeness  in the ethical
tion to which the emeritus-minister sustains the relation                sense. And this aid may not be solicited for-the emeritus-
of retired pastor is riot under' the  jz&&cnZ- necessity of              minister himself. If it is, he is being  dealt with as if his
providing for him.          Now if this be true, the retired             status were a poor man for whoni the church with which
minister is not the  pastor of this congregation and  is                 he is connected as emeritus pastor gathers alms. `Now
thus not  :in office.. And' if he is not in office, then indeed          as  we have shown, the emeritus-minister as to his status
it can be said of him that as  ,to his legal status in- the              is no poor man and can never become such.                    This aid
church he is a poor man. It ought. to be plain- that he                  therefore `must be secured not for the retired  pastor but
who maintains that the churches with which the emeritus-                 for the congregation with  tihom he is connected that this
minister is not connected in the capacity of retired pas-                congregation may be enabled to meet its juridical' obli-
tor is  U..Y  su:cFy either juridically or ethically obliged to  bare    gation which it has  toward him.                             .:
                                                                                                                                      .._
for him, overturns the very foundation principles of  Re-                  Having brought forward the  p?inciples  upon. which
fornied church polity.                                                   the original article of Dordrecht; reposes, let  4s  now:at-
   That  the congregation to which the  emeritu&-minis-                  tend to its practical execution. The  executio'&  of this
ter sustains the relation of retired pastor  .is juridically             article is comprised in the main'  61  thi-ee.  actidns.. (details
obliged.  to care for him and that the  ch+rch to which                  will, be attended to presently)  :'  '                  ..  :  I..
the emeritus-minister sustains no such relation is not                      I... The well-to-do churches themselves care  ior their
.ethically  obliged to provide for  him, has always been                   emeritus-ministers.
-the stand of men of Reformed  persPsuasion.            This  ,stand       2. The indigent churches with emeritus-ministers,
forms the very  pi-inciple  upon which the  origind article                 seek the aid of other well-to-do churches.
 13 reposes.. This article reads, "Ministers, who by                       3. The churches last-named raise and maintain a
.reason of  age,  sickness, or otherwise, are rendered in-                  fund for needy churches with  emeritus-min'isters.
capable of performing the  cl~ties of their' office, shall                 Toward this fund these congregations give.                        From

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

   this fund the indigent churches draw the sum that is                  case, the disbursement should cease, but this also is
   needed to make it possible for them to meet their juri-              subject to the  approb,ation  of the synod.
   dical obligations toward  tJzeir  retired pastors.                   Art. 9. The committee disburses to the parties  con-
 One can, of course, raise objections against this manner               .cerned what has. been determined by the classes. Acts
of execution. Let us name these objections and over-                    of  1922, Arts. 21, 2,  p. 209.
turn them.                                                              Permit us to show that the above ruling is throughly
   1. If this manner of execution be put into practice,              collegialistic, militates against  the, Biblical1 conception of
many churches, through their freeing the disabled  min-              "Christian  bsenevolence"  and renders impossible the "bear-
  ister from the duties of his office  & as a result of the          ing of one &others burdens" by the churches as required
 : pastor's death, will became excessively burdened not              by God's Word. Permit us to make plain that we as
   not only but even needy.                                          churches would introduce, through our adoption of the
2. Such a fund will as a rule be inadequate as too                   above-cited ruling, a socialistic principle into our church
   many churches will say that they have' all they can do            formation.
   to carry their own local burden and thus cannot con-                 According to the  principl& of Reformed church polity,
   tribute. The  result will be that the emeritus ministers          the duty of caring for the emeritus-minister rests upon
  and their widows will  ,not receive what is needed.                the local church with which he is connected. No person,
   3.  If we as Reformed churches resolve to live the prin-          reformed in his  think@,  has ever denied  $his. How-'
   ciples to the effect -that the obligation of caring fbr           ever, according to the above-cited ruling of the Christian
  en&Titus-ministers  rests upon the local church, the               Reformed churches, not the local church with the ap-
  result will be that the churches will guide' against               proval of  classis, but. the  classis with the approval of
   calling ministers of, let us say, fifty years and above           synod is the body that decides  dn the request of the min-
   for fear, that dding so, they will have an emeritus&in-           ister for emeritation. The minister is thus emeritated
  ister  `on their hands.                                            not by his consistory with the approval of  classis- but by
  These are the objections.        To be  able to  understand        the  classis with the approval of synod.  .Further. The
and correctly appraise them, it is necessary that we first           above-cited ruling requires that the emeritus-minister
set them before our minds what we  as. churches would                b,e cared for not by the local church that  he- Served but
have to place in the room of the  executiqn from which               by all the churches jointly. The stipulation is that aid
these objections rise,  thct execution now being used by the         be rendered him  dire&y  from an emeritus fund main-
Christian  Reiormed churches of our land and that may                tained  bly all the churches. Finally. Not the local con-
be- known frdm the following  synodical  rulings :                   gregation that the emeritus-minister served but the  classis
1. If any minister of the word by reason of age, sick-               determines the amount to be disbursed to him.
  ness or otherwise is unable to perform his duties, his                Is it not clear that the ruling in question is the offshoot
  request for emeritation is presented  bry him  to his con-         of the conception that the duty of caring for the emeritus-
  &tory and then the  classis, which decides on it, sub-             minister rests not upon the local church but upon all the
  ject to the approval of the synod. Acts 1914, articles             churches. and that thus all the churches form an  organi-
  17,.  7 2 .                                                        zation  ,of which the local church is a sub-division? Is
  2. Rules for the care of  emeritated ministers and of              it not plain that the ruling under consideration in so far
  widows and orphans  of. ministers.                                 as it turns on the matter of the care of the emeritus-min-
Art. 1. For the execution of Art. 13 of the Church                   ister `destroys the autonomy of the local church?
  Order, the Christian Reformed Church maintains an                  Know that the care of a congregation for its emeritus-
,: enieritus fund from which adequate aid is rendered,               minister is, rightfully considered, a continuation of his
,' subject to the. following stipulations.                           salary. Also this no  person versed in the principles of
  Art!. 2. Every special meeting determines the budget               Reformed church polity has ever denied. What would be
_ for the Emeritus Fund and determines. what each  clas-             said of churches that applied the ruling in question to
'  sis,' proportionate to the  numb,er  of families, is to raise,    the raising and disbursement of ministers' salaries? Now
for this fund . . .                                                  all that holds true of the one, is applicable to the other.
 ,.Art:  3; Synod appoints a  coi;lmittee of five  persons'to        But this is not all. The ruling in question also militates
  whose  carp the  ad-ministraticn  of this  Fti'd is  com-          against. the Biblical conception of "Christian  benevo-
                                    :     .              :
  mittgd.                                                            l&ice".    It, this ruling, renders it  irhpossjble  for  the
Art. 5. Every  classis determines, subject to the ap-                churches to "bear one  anothers burden" in the Scrip-
  proval,  tile aF.:u!mt   "ti be disbursed to those persons         tural sense. For what this ruling requires is that all the
  that by it have been emeritated or have becotie'widows             churches without exception, the wealth? as well as the
  .or orphans. For this purpose  the consistory, with the            indigent, contribute. Did  not the  ,synod of 1926 pass a
  request for emeritation, must state the  amount  deemed            resolution to the effect that every family and thus every
  necessary for the emeritus. ,Classis also determines, in           ctiurch,  without  exceptiog must  co-bperate,?       All the
  consultation with the consistory, when  ifl every special          churches deposite their gifts into a  c&nmo~ treasury


                                           THE  STANDARD   BEARER                                                                253

from which every congregation with an                                  by love toward God may not part  with "that which is
                              I     -                emeritis-min-
ister,  be'it rich or poor, must draw. Art. 13 as  am.ended            mine" in the interest of the poor. This  is even my ethical
reads, "`And the church which they (the emeritus  `min-                duty if I see that my brother is in want. The first Chris-
is&s) have served shall provide for them  ,out of a                    tians at Jerusalem did this.       "For  as. many as were
common fund . . .  "                                                   POSSESSORS  of lands or houses sold them, . . .  "  Mark you,
      The matter then is this : according to the ruling in             the Holy Spirit makes mention here of  possessors  of
qtiestipn,  a wealthy church enters into an agreement                  lands or houses.     He calls  mt  these wealthy members
with a poor church to jointly bear each others financial               of the church thieves, that is, He says not that they
burdens (the stipent that each disburses to the emeritus               from the very nature of things were thieves, because they
minister).       The  unbiblical  principle in which. such an          were possessors of houses (Socialism).         From this it
agreement roots is this: the poor church pays for the                  appears that the will of  .the Holy Spirit is that. there be
debt of the wealthy  chtirch,  it may be with considerable             a  `rmineJJ and  3 "thine".
sacrifice, for the sole reason that  the wealthy church may               Thus it is plain  that. the benevolence of those early
be induced to pay for the'debt of the poor church. And                 Christians did not  spririg  from socialistic principles. What
this action is then held to  ble a  "betiring  of one  anothers        we come upon in The Acts of the apostles is an example
burdens". However,. of such a "bearing  of. one  anothers              of true Christian communicativeness. And this is what
burd&" the Word of God knows nothing. But we do. read                  we here plead for. It is only this true  Chris?ian benevo-
of the early Christian church at Jerusalem: "and great                 lence that may be practiced by the churches of  %hrist.
grace was upon them all. Neither was there any among                      Let us now direct our attention to article 13 as ampli-
them that lacked : for as many as were possessors of latids            fied by the Christian Reformed churches of our land  and
and ho&es sold them, .and brought the prices  of the things            show that this (amplified) article as well as the rules for
that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles' feet:              its execution is to be rejected and that what we as
and distribmution  was made un,to every man according as he            churches  must'do  is to return to the original article of
had need." Acts 4. It is plain that we here have to do ,with           Dordrecht. The original article reads,  9!tinisters, `who
a practice that differs radically from that which the ruling           by reason of age, sickness, or otherwise, ard rendered
under consideration calls for.  `r The practice described in           incapable of performing the duties of their  o,ffice, shall
The Acts of the  apos'tles  is a unique example of true                nevertheless retain the  ho& and title of. a minister,
,Christian  benevolence-a benevolence that consists `in the            and the church which they have served shall provide
ivealtby members of the congregation placing their e&thy               honorably for them in their need (likewise for  the or-
goods at the disposal of the poor. But what the ruling                 phans and widows of the ministers). The sentiment of
we here examine requires is that the rich  and the poor                which this (original) article is expressive is pure. The
jointly hold them&Ives responsible for each others  .debt.             article  unequivocably  and unqualifiedly asserts that the
The underlying conception  .of a doing of this kind is                 duty of caring for the emeritus-minister rests upon the
thoroughly socialistic. And we would now in  cari?g for                local church. Place along side of this original article,
emeritus-ministers pursue a course of action  sprmgitig                the amplified article of the Christian Reformed churches
from such a principle  ? And we would give to this  prin-              `that  `%e, as  chub-ches  made our own. This article reads,
`ciple  the name of. "Christian Benevolence" and live it               "Ministers, who be reason of age, sickness, or otherwise,
under the slogan of "bear one &others burdens"? That                   are rendered  incapabrle of performing the duties of their
we may be kept  frpm  sudh a doing.                                    office, shall  nkvertheless  retain the honor and title of a
      We just said that of this "bearing of one  anothers              minister, and the church  whi'ch they have served shall
burdens" in this socialistic and, as looked at from an `provide honorably for them in their. need (likewise for
eccle$astical  view-joint, collegialistic sense, the Word              the orphans and widows of ministers) out of a common
of Gpd knows  nothing. We must even go a step further                  fund of the churches, according to the general ecclesiasti-
and  say that God's Word emphatically. condemns it.                    cal ordinances in. this matter.`? One notices the difference.
Sa@l   Jesu?,  "&d  .if you do good unto them which do                 The original  articfe does not have the phrase  "out of a
good. to  you,  what  thank  l$ve ye  ; for sinners also do            common fund of the churches" affixed to  .it. Through
even
 .       th6-sarrie..  Atid, if .ye. Iend to them qf which ye. hope    the addition of this phrase the  meanillg of the original
tb " i&i$ij$ :x$x& tli&~,h@ii  $. For  sitin+ lend also                article suffered a radical change. Through their adding
&,,`$&z%  t5, ~re&$-& 5;' r;?u* `%@ain.`" .L$e `,@:33;. 34. .`,        to the original article  sai`d  phiase, the aforesaid churches
      F&he?. God's Word plainly teaches a  "mine?'  and a              brought into being a new article. The name church in
"thine," that is; a "that which is mine," and a "that which            this new product  sign&%  without exception every local
is thine". Socialism will not have it so and teaches that              church with and without an emeritus-minister, rich and
in a juridical sense "mine"  is "thine" and  `%hine"  "mine".          poor alike. Every local church, be it rich or poor must
It thus destroys the bounds of separation between "mine"               (mark you, must. The phrase that was added reads,  "and
and "thine". But-this may not be done. This, of course,                the church which they have served shall provide for
does  not mean that I of my  own will and as prompted                  them . .  " and not may) provide for the' emeritusminister


                                      r:,,
 254                                                    ti'-liE  S       T    A    N    D     A    R    D     
                                                                                                             BEARER

  out of a common fund. This must  nceessarily imply that                                                             A R T .   7
  all the churches, both rich and poor, contribute and that                                  The duty of, disbursing this care rests in the juridical
 these contributions must be deposited in a common treas-                               sense, the same as the duty of disbursing the salary, not
 ury from which not the churches with emeritus-ministers                                upon the churches jointly but upon the local church with
 but the emeritus-ministers themselves must directly draw                               which the minister is connected or with which he was
 their support. This new production requires that a rich                                lastly connected (in the capacity of minister. G. M. 0.)  ;
  congregation enter into an agreement with a poor con-                                 and it must be maintained that connections were broken
  gregation to jointly pay each others debt.                             This new       off, as the local churches form no sub-divisions of the
 production (the amplified article) therefore, as well as                               denomination but are altogether autonomous.
 the rules for its execution, springs from a socialistic and                                                       ART. 8
  collegialistic principle and must therefore be rejected.                                   If. a church with an emeritus-minister is so poor that,
 The "Gereformeerde" churches of the Netherlands have                                   in order to care for its emeritus-minister, it is in the
 kept themselves to the orginal article of Dordrecht  (191%                             need of support, it shall solicit the aid of the other
  19). We do well to return to it.                                                      c h u r c h e s .
         The principles of Reformed church polity, set forth                                                          ART. 9
 in the above writing, form the basis of the following                                       For the providing of the necessary support, every.
 rules for the care of emeritus-ministers.'                                             classical meeting shall divide over the churches, pro-
                                ART. 1.                                                 portionate to the number of families, the required amount
         The Protestant Reformed churches desire to act in                              in agreement with a list, estimated according to a defi-
 accordance. with the stipulation of the original article of                            nite sum per family. (A  simpier  way of expressing this
 the Church Order of Dordrecht, 1918-19, that reads as                                  is, "Every classical meeting determines what each church,
  follows: "If it occurs that some ministers by reason of                               proportionate to the number of families, is to contribute."
 age, sickness, or otherwise, `are rendered  incapab,le  of                             G. M. 0.)
 performing the duties of their office, they shall never-                                                            A R T .   1 0
 theless retain the honor and `title of a minister, and the                                  The administration of this fund is committed to the
 church which they have served shall provide honorably                                  care of a committee, consisting of one minister and two
  for them in their need (likewise for the orphans and                                  elders. Each member of the committee must have his
 widows of ministers).                                                                  alternate.
                                                                                                                  A R T .   1 1
                                ART: 2                                                   This committee is chosen by the  Classis, alternately one
         In order that this stipulation may be satisfied in an                          and two members. This election takes place every two
 orderly manner, the churches shall keep themselves to                                  years. Members that are functioning may be re-elected.
 the following regulations.                                                             The committee elects a president, secretary, and a treas-
                                A             R    T      .         3                   urer from their own number.
         The minister presents his request for emeritation to                                                        ART. 12
 the consistory, who decides on it with the advice of                                        The committee temporarily, and the  Classis  perma-
 Classis.                                                                               mently, determines the amount to be disbursed to the indi-
                              A R T .   4                                               gent church, after having ascertained the financial con-
         If sickness be the cause of his incompetency, that this                        dition of  this church and what it by itself can do. The
 appear from the testimony of two qualified physicians.                                 needed information is derived from the consistory con-
                                                                                        cerned.
                               ART. 5
. .                                                                                                                  ART. 13
         That minister has a juridical right to his  b,eing  cared                           The secretary of  thisYcommittee  functions as correspon-
 for, who is declared emeritus in a lawful manner, if the                               dent of. the  Classis.  He shall in respect to every case
 cause for his retiring be his age or that continual sick-                              that presents itself, gather the necessary information
 ness, or defects, or disorders render him unfit for the                                and  s&nit his findings to the committee, attend to the
 performance of the duties of his office.                                               regular reception of the congregational "contributions
       . .-                    A R                                                      (either' through collections or otherwise)-  .for the classi-
                                      T .   6                                           cal assessments and see to it that the moneys are timely
         The care of emeriti-ministers and that of their widows forwarded to the treasurer. The secretary as well as
 and orphans is  %-rot  a work of mercy', but disbursement                              the treasurer shall keep record of all the moneys that
 upon which the above-named have a juridical claim,                                     come in.
 with the exception of cases in which he according to
 his own  judagrnent  or the judgment of the church  as-                                                             A R T .   1 4
 semblies"cannot  maintain his juridical right to the care                                   The treasurer of this committee disburses to the  con-
 of himself and his family.                                                             sistory concerned the stipulated amount.


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D  BEAWER                                                                     255

                            A R T .   1 . 5                             Commentaar op I  ,Cor. 1.5  :27 zuiver weergeeft :  "Ten-
    The committee. yearly examines the books of the                     slotte vestigt Calvijn er de aandacht op,  dat de  mensch-
  treasurer, compares them with those of the secretary,                 heid van  Christus  niet eeuwig is"  ; eene  opmerking;  die
  and reports to  classis, In addition it yearly submits to             in andere woorden op p. 197 wordt  herhaald.
  Classis a report respecting all its activities, moneys re-               Wij  bevelen   dit werk gaarne  aan.                              H.H.
  ceived, disbursements, and the state of  ,the treasury.
                            A R T .   16                                                             BEMOEDIIMG
    This constitution may and can be amplified, shortened,
or amended by the  Classis, as often as this is deemed                            Zij winnen `t nu en  nimmermeer,
  necessary.                                                                      De strijden tegen God den Heer ;
                                            The Committee.                        Zijn woord, hoe vurig ook gehaat,
                                                   Wm. Verhil                     Moet overwinnen, vroeg of laat.
                                            J. Vander Breggen                  God gaf de. wereld Zijnen  Zoon,
                                                  G. M. Ophoff                    Zij schonk. haar Heiland spot en  hoon,
                                                         G.Mf.0.                  Maar `t einde van haar bittren strijd
                                                                                  Is  tech Gods zege in eeuwigheid!

                                                                                  De vijand lastert, maar de Geest
                                                                                  Werkt  aan de  harten onbevreesd,
               DE  CHRISTOLOGIE   VAN  CALVI[;BW                                  Hij kpmt, ook waar men Hem  belache
                      Door Dr. E.  Eme~e~~                                        En scherpt de  harten om met kracht.
               Uitgave van is. J. Paris, Amsterdam,                               Dan lokt Hi j met Zijn teed're stem
                                                                                  Naar Golgotha en Bethlehem;
    In dit  block van ruim tweehonderd paginas doet Dr.                           Zijn liefde is sterk, Zijn  macht is groot,
  Emmen een onderzoek naar de  Christol'ogie  van Calvijn,                        Hij overwjnt den  diepsten  dood.
. . een onderzoek, dat volgens den schrijver  "nauwelijks
  rechtvaardiging" behoeft. "In deze leer  tech  -klopt  het                      Dies zien wij  opwaarts naar den  Troon,
  hart van den hervormer".                                                        Waar Jezus heerscht, des menschen  Zoon,
    Onder drie verschillende  ~gezichtspunten  wordt dit  on-                     Hij houdt in Zijn doorboorde hand
  derzoek ingesteld, het theologisch, het anthropologisch                        Den  schepter  over `t verste strand.
  en het ecclesiologisch gezichtspunt. Onder het eerste  ge-                      Laat komen  `s vijands. legerschaar,
  zichtspunt behandelt de schrijver, na een inleiding over                        Laat.  alle duiv'len met elkaar
  Calvi jn's  b,eschouwing  aangaande de methode onzer                           Zich zaamlen tot den laatsten strijd!
  Godskennis ("vodr den. hervormer was het een actueele                           Mijn Jezus heerscht in eeuwigheid  ?
  vraag,. of het zin had buiten  Christus om over God na                                                                         J. H. G.
  te denken  met behulp van het algemeen  godsbesef van den
  miens&,`, p.  lo)), `ca vi `ns leer
                           1  J            .aangaande   Christus als
  de' Zoon Gods en als de Openbaring Gods. In cap. II                              TWENTY-FHF'I'M ANNIVERSARY
  worden  behandeld  Christus  als  Men&h en  Christus en
  de Mensch. Het laatste hoofdstuk handelt over Calvijn's                 On February 22, our beloved  parents-
 beschouwing van  Christus en  .de Kerk, eerst uit het  oog-                                   RICHARD DYKSTR.4
  punt van het  verband,  daarna uit dat van de verschijning.
  Onder het laaste  worden  terder  het Woord, het Sacra-                                                and
  ment, het  ambt   en'. de wederkomst naar Calvijn's  voor-                          CATHERINE  DYKSTRA-WALBtiRG
  stelling behandeld.                                                   celebrated their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. That the Lord
    Het geheel  is'een belangrijke studie, zeer rijk  ,aan  aan-        may bless and spare them for each other and us, is the hope and
  halingen uit Calvijn's werken, met name uit  :de Institutie           prayer of their children,
                                                                                                                Mr. and Mrs. Arie Dykstra
  en de Commentaren. De schrijver leg ter nadruk  op, hoe                                                       Simon
`.  Calvijn, liever dan den  weg  `der scholastieke bespiegeling                                                Sophia
  te volgen, altijd in kinderlijk geloo-f de paradox  aan-                                                      Jeanette
  vaardt; en tevens, hoe bij de behandeling  derChristologie                                                    Clara
  de hervormer nimmer het  oogpunt  der verlossing  ver-                                                        Winnefred
                                                                                                                Jessie
  loochent.                                                                                                     R i c h a r d
    Hier en daar zetten we een vraagteeken. Ik betwijfel                                                        Donald
  of de opmerking  op p. 109 de  bedoeling.  van Calvijn's                                                      and one grandchild.


 2       5    6                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                                                   In his first epistle to Timothy he asserts that the law
                                                                   "is not made for the righteous man, but for the lawless
       In our previous articles attention  wa: called to the       and disobedient." 1 Tim.  1:9. And the same apostle
 n$$`tiregztly contradictory statement contained in the New        declared, "Now the law is not of  faith,`but the man that
 Testament scriptures respecting the law. There is this           doeth them shall live in them." Gal. 3  :12.
 utterance of Christ, "Think not that I  ani come to de-             That in these passages the law of the ten command-
 stroy the law and the prophets  ; I am come not to destroy       ments is also meant is certain. The difficulty  arisiiig:.
but to  fulfil. For verily I say  utito..you,  Till heaven and     from the use of the above' language is not solved by
earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from      contending that what the apostle had  refernce  to is the
the law, till it be fulfilled. Whosoever  iherefore  shall        c&emonial law as contradistinguished from the moral.
break one of these least commandments, and shall teach            The people of God had to be delivered in thd  .sense in
men so, he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven :       which  PauI meant this, from the moral as well as from
but whoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be            the ceremonial law. The former as well as the latter
called great in the kingdom of heaven."  watt. 5 : 17-19.         clemanded  perfect obedience and cursed the transgressor.
A like statement, as was pointed out is found in the                The question is then in what sense it can be said that
Book of  Rev&lations. "BlessGd  are they that keep his            believers are freed from the law, or are not under it. This
commandments, for they shall have right to the tree of            has but partially been explained in previous  essays. We
life." Rev. 22. To the children of the congregation at            have seen that the two statements (the one in the book
Ephesus  Paul wrote, Children, obey your parents in the           of Leviticus and the  oiher in  the  w.ritings  of the apos-
Lord, for this is right. Honor thy father and mother;             tles), "Ye shall therefore keep  My  statues  and my judg-
which is the first commandment with- promise; that it             ments ; which if a man do, he shall  live in them; I am the
may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the           Lord." (Lev.  18) and  t&e statement, "Blessed is he that
earth." Eph. 6. As was pointed out, the  .word  emvt,$ in         keep&h  my commandments, `that he may have right to
this promise denotes the earthy Canaan and in the final           the tree of life" (Rev.) and one and the same as to
instance th enew earth to be inhabited `by the  meek, so          meaning. The  .force of the one declaration as well as
that  what  we have here in substance coming to us from           that of the other is, "Keep my commandments and live."
the apostle Paul is, "`Keep the commandments of Christ            In  tihat sense then have believers been freed from this
that thou mayest inherit eternal life." "And the apostle          obligation. And the answer that was given reads: Con-
James wrote," "But  whoso looketh into the perfect law            sider the plight of fallen man. God says, Keep my com-
of liberty, and cdntinueth therein, he being not a forget-        mandments and live. However only the `living have
ful hearer,. but a doer. of the work, this man shall be           power to walk in the way of the commandment.. Walk-
blessed in his deed.  .The same apostle declared, "Ye see         ing in the commandment presupposes life. And the  &an
then how  that- by works  .a  Tan  .is justified  and not by      dead in sin cannot impart unto himself life. It is God
faith alone." Finally. The practical sections of the epis-        only  who gives life and immortality. But consider that
tles of the apostles are largely comprised of -admonitions        fallen man is dead because he must be. Hence, before
that as to  their substance turn out to be so many  corn-         life can be imparted unto him, his guilt must be atoned
mands to walk as children of. the light, thus to walk in          -for and he delivered from the curse. It means that the
the way of God's commandments.                                    command of God "Do arid live" as coming to fallen
      With  this'agrees the utterances of the Old Testament       man, by nature dead in trespasses and sin, places him
prophets.  &id David, "Blessed are the undefiled in the           under the fourfold necessity of atdning for his guilt, of
way, who walk  iil the  la& of the Lord . . . They also do        delivering himself from the curse of the  law, of impart-
no iniquity: they walk in his ways . . . . 0 that my ways         ing unto himself life, and of meriting for himself life
were directed  to. keep thy statutes ! With my whole heart        eternal. If fallen man can do all this he can keep the law.
have I sought thee :  0 let me not wander from thy corn- How utterly lost man is. It is from the law as coming
mandments . . . . . I have rejoiced-in the way of thy tes-        to fallen man, that these obligations spring.
timonies, as much as in all riches . . . . I will run  in, the      Now it is from the law as to these obligations that
way of thy commandments. 0,  how love  I  thy law. It is          Christ freed His people. Unlike his people, He as to His
my meditation all the day long." Ps. 119'.                        human nature came into being without Sin, as the guilt
      -On the other hand, we meet with a- class of statements     of Adam was not His, and thus with right  atid  .strength
in scripture, especially in the writings of Paul, that seems      to walk in the way of the commandment. With the weight.
to run in the precisely opposite direction." Now we are           of God's wrath against the sins of His  petiple  upon Him,
delivered from the  law," wrote he," being dead to that           He `walked in this way,  a$ by walking in this way,
wherein we were held ; that we should serve in newness of         atoned for the sins of His people, and  inerited for  them
spirit, and  nbt in the oldness of the letter." Rom. 7  :6.       eternal life. He thus delivered them from all the  above-
And again, "Sin shall have no dominion over you: for              cited obligations. ks included in Him, His people, are
ye are not under the law but under grace." Rom. 7  :14.           I&&d from the necessity of atoning for their sins and `of


;-.                  -
                                                               `.THE  ` S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R  
                                                                                                                                                      .-               257

                    meriting for themselves by a walk in the way of the com-                    transported from the way of sin and destruction into the
                    mandment, life. Being robed in His satisfaction and- way  of His commandments, the way of life. The  h-
                    righteousness, they have &the pardori of all their iniquities               liever,. robed in the righteousness of Christ, is also
                    and `life `everlasting. This is their justification, a doc-
                    trine, that, as adequately unfolded, first came to us through               brought  in+ a  state and condition of grace.  Therk is
                                                                                                               :-  :::
                    the apostle Paul. After having depicted  the  deprtived                     grace shed in his- `heart;' from which grade, as  $rom a-
                    condition of fallen man (the epistle to the Romans) the                     new principle of life, he' lives. And  `this* grace is the
                    apostle concludes that by the deeds of the law there shall                  Spirit of life of Christ Jesus.  And he  now walks gladly
                    nd flesh be justified in his sight in that by the law is the                and  sptintaneously  in the  commandments,of  His  Saviour
                   knowledge of sin and then continues, "But now the                            and Redeemer. For the law of God is written on the
                   righteousness  - of God witho'ut the  law' is manifested,                    tables of his heart and impressed upon his very being.
                    being witnessed by the law and the prophets ; even the                      The law of Christ is n&v the very element in which he
                   `righteousness of God which is  by.  faith of  Jesus  Christ                 lives.  Bking at one with the law, he is truly free  tind                           1
                    ritito all and upon all them that believe . . . ; Being justified           serves in the newness of spirit. `This is the same as saying
                    freely  by. His grace thrdugh the redemption that is in                     that Christ is now his very life. Hence, he is freed from
                   : Christ Jesus,  whom  God hath set forth to be a  propitia-                 the law also as  to  his &duct in that he no longer needs
                    .tion  thrbugh  .faith in his blood, to declare his  righteous-             the restraint and  dis@pline  of the law. The  law is not
                    ,ness  .for  the.;remission of sins that.  are past, through the            foi the righte`ous, says the apostle, but for the lawless and
                    forbearance of .God; to declare at this time his righteous-                 disobedient. The church, in a s&se, is now a law to itself,
                   - ness-: that he may be just. tind the jcstifier  of him .which              in' that it has matured.. When still a child, it was under
                    belieeeth  in Jesus; Rom. 3.  -                                             tutors and governors until  he time  ippointed by  the
                                                                                                Father, But believers have received the adoption of sons,
                    '  `Bui  there'is still another sense in which believers  ac-               and because they are sons;  Gbd hath sent forth the Spirit  "
                    cdrding  to the apostle, are freed from the  iaw,'  in' the                 of  ,His Son into their hearts, crying, Abba Father.  Thus
                    sense, namely, that they are not under the law as to their                  the law is no longer an outward yoke to them, but is now
                    walk  ind conduct. -"Wherefore, my brethren," so the                        within their hearts. It is the law `of the Spirit  df life
                    ap&tle`wrote (Rom. 7) ," ye also are become dead to' the                    in their inward  mati and therefore in truth the law of
                    law  b4;.  .the  .body of Christ ; that ye should be married to             liberty.  .It is now their inward delight to  do. the will of
                    ariothei;..`eiren  to him who is raised from.  ihe  dead,  that             God their  Father in  ,Christ.  The  :law  ,says, Thou shalt
                    we should bring forth fruit unto God. For when we                           not -steal. But the believer, ideally contemplated, spon-
                    were in'  th&  flesh,`the motions of sins, which were by the                taneously refrains from thefts  and robberies, from tricks                               `.
                    law,. did  .work in our members to  bring forth fruit  .unto                and  ,.devices,  whereby to appropriate to  himself the good
                    death. But  n&w  we are delivered from the law,  that being                 which belong to his  neighb,or,  whether by force or under
                    dead wherein we were held;.`that we should serve in new-                    the appearance' of eight. Why should this need to be de-
                  ness Of- spirit,  and not' in the `oldness of `the letter."                   manded of him as a matter  of'law, if he  has the eternal'
                    Elsewhere the apostle  says,- "The law is not for the                       Spirit of  lo<e ruling him, if in, the atmosphere of this
                    righteous."                                                                 love he lives and breathes?
                           `i
                ,' It  `is plain  that in the above. scriptures, the  apostle
      ,. .,                                                                                       This is the difference between the Old and the New
 J.                treati of sanctification and asserts that the believers, the                 Testament' Dispensation lived by the  grace of Christ as
:i  3              .church,  now have as their master not the law. but, Christ.                 well as the  sai&of the  N&w. The hearts of the former
                    That to  .Him who is raised  from the dead,  they are  now                  went out to the law  ,of God as well as the, hearts of the
 _..               ` married  .and that therefore  to God, the God and Father                   iatter. All the saints,  bloth of the Old and  New Dispen-
        ,I.         of  `their: Lord  Jesus  Christ, they, now  btring forth  ,fruit.           sation, exclaim,; "Blessed is  the man that  walketh.not in
                          But the' question is, in what sense `are believers also               the counsel of the  tigodly  . . . . but his  d+ight  is in  l$e.                              __
          II        a`s to their conduct delivered `from the  $LW. Is this not                  law of the Lord ; and in his law doth he meditate day and
          I .'      a?&&&rous  -do&r&
          /  `.                                ?-  Are the  -peGpIe  of-  Gbd.  lawless   ?     night: In both covenants; the law of' God has, to be sure
:..                 I&y  thejr,'  a's:  `fi+ed  froni  `the  law,  db as they  .please  ? Is    atid  indispensible  place. In the `Old Dispensation, how-
       .,I
 f.                t&&-e fdr  `theml:.rio  :mqre  ti-tisgression,.   there being for            ever, the  law  stood out  mo%protiinently as' grace.  and_                              .'
;: ::, &em..  n&  ]a+,~?  :rc  &e  b&&&-:o~~   difference   `b&&en  `sin trirth were not yet revealed: .Th& `m&teiy .ke$ s&cl;ed be-
 7                  avid `holiness'  de&dyed  for bklievers  7 To this  the- apostle
      .1..                                                                                      fore  ihe  &ld began, is  tiow  made  manifest, and  bi the
                    replies,", God forbid  !' The  b,eliecer  was `delivered  f&m               scriptures of the  prophtts,  a&or$ing  td the command-
          II' the  law for the sole.  and-v&-y  purpose that he might be                        ments of the everlasting God, made known to all nations
          3i-. delitiered.  froni sin and  bse `fruitful  in  ~11~  gobd  works. for.  the obedience of faith . . .  `. Rom.  16  :26. There is                                _
          :.:' `Christ is not only the believer's justification  but hi`s  sane-- essentially  $ut one covenant and this' one covenant is
         !          tification, his  complete  redemption  ai well. He  .is .&there-
          ,..`. . .                                                                             eternal..         _                                         `.  G'.iM;o.  .
          1  :*-,.-fore raised by Christ his Sauviour  `fr;om` the  de&  and                                           ( T o   ` b e   contii-med)


              :;.                          `_         26q:
              :.:_-                  ..                                                                                                T H E ,   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
              ._ ,A,.-

                                                                                               Our'                            Needs                                                            ever we passed and let' us hope that it `will never return.
                                                                                                                                                                                                Dd not misunderstand my last statement. I do not believe
                                                                                                                                                                    ._
              ,-.  . . . . `- ;                 .,
              ; .:  "                                                                                                                                                                           that such  a danger is imaginary.
                                                         Qne of them.                                                                                                                                                                                For although it  may
              I.:?;.                                                                                                                                                                            sound very pessimistic,  nevertheless I  a&, afraid,  atid
                                                         There is a great deal  of-. time and effort spent in our                                                                               my fear is based upon good grounds,. that also in  tl$
                                                                                              and  _discuss  the needs of our present                                                          matter history may repeat itself.
                                                                           Any one keeping himself informed and trying
                                                                                                                                                                                                       One of our  prdblems   i.~ the cause of Christian instruc-
              &. :. L. :- j somewhat to live along in this age of- confusion will agree
                    ..>.                              that our problems  titiltiply from  day to day and no one                                                                                tion as it should proceed from  OZCY  principles. And that
              ..Y._  -
              -F-c.:/, . .                                                                                                                                                                     problem we do not  see as long  as the instruction is not
       .;y                                            eeems to be able to show us the way out.
       ;  z:;.:  -                                                                                                                                                                              felt as a dire need. It has been  said.in a little different
                               ..
       . ..-.. .                                         It is not my intention  tb bring all these problems be-
              , .:.: ,`.
              :: `27. j                                                                                                                                                                        connection, man is making progress as soon as he sees
               (2..                                   for our readers.  `I frankly admit that I am not able to
              .;: `i ., ,_,                                                                                                                                                                    his problems. Let me turn it around, for after  till it  &ill
              $  ,I  .,,i'  -_ mention `them all and place them  before you.  ,Many  are
               ;.:  :                                                                                                                                                                          come down to the  ,one and the same thing,  .not `until  we.
              :  `f, . .                              SO far  dut of reach  that they  are too problematical to
               .; i...
              . . . . . .                                                                                                                                                                      see and feel the need of the proper instruction for  oUr
              1'" : : "  mentipn,                                            And I often doubt  whethkr  the men' wrestling                                                                    children, we will never come face to face with  any  .prob-
c:. >,,:.'                                            With  :them have a clear understanding. of what.  they are
              _'                                                                                                                                                                               lem at all. And this means just  exactly that we,  .are in
 .  _-                                     confronted with. We will  leave them `alone:.
                    : : i
. .                                                                                                                                                                                            danger to become satisfied with  burselves  that we rather
              7:; c,. `.`.. :.But we  hay? our problems and  o& of, our most  im-
,:..  `i                                                                                                                                                                                       not hear nor speak about  these'things  any more. What is
              .-.  _`L                                .p&-tant  ones  concerns the instruction, of our youth. I                                                                                -the use? Why always  hammer away  at it.  `y Why  not
[~$$~~~~  ..have   .&pecially  in mind  ,OU'Y children. and  ozlry schools.                                                                                                                    be satisfied with  conditiotis  as they are? I$ it is possible
                                           .'  A&l speaking of our. children and  oati schools I'  .meFn.  to
         .:i,                                                                                                                                                                                  in  your  locality to  send your  -children.  to the Christian;
         j-_,                              .  .bring before  you the youth as we received  th&m  of qur                                                                                        schdol, well send them. But if  there is not such an in-
         ;:I`__.                                 ,Go.d, in  bui  churches. The Protestant Reformed youth
         ." :.                                                                                                                                                                                 stitution, well . . . . ,yes, well? What then? Do we  net
               ye;:.!  ;..: entrusied unto our  cares.                                                                                        . .
         t.  7'.  :-y                                                                                                                                                                          have our Sunday-schools `and catechism-classes,' they
                    :.r: "                              I-know  and feel that some  one might say we are going                                                                                 ought to do. That is the way the  matter of the  covenagt-,
              ;s,  _  j td'have  another article on the  necess;ty  ,of Christian in-                                                                                                          ifistruction is disposed of and this wiy is not difficult` for
                     "  ,: stru&ion.                                          .Jf that is what you have in mind. my  &?wer
                    :..                                                                                                                                                                        the flesh. . .
              .v'.                        c  is that your guess is correct. This article however does
              :I:." .,
       .,;;./;:.                                                                                                                                                                                  6r the discussion proceeds from the point  of,view'of
       ..::; . . . . . `_ ..n& intend to be another one fdr the  purpose'   of  agai%'
-:.  )'
 j.                                                   pointing out to you the need of Christian  instrtiction.  It                                                                             the  prob,lern. I am in  .a position to know and to  feel
                ._.
         ;L.2,                                                                                                                                                                                 very keenly the  .almo&  unsurmountable problem of our
              .                                       has been $aced before our `people ,from the very day our
         r `y\ :
         /.                                                                                                                                                                                    .people  in my  own  congregatidn. Desparingly so  if  I
         .' .'                                        paper  wai published. If  we take time to  peruse'the  eleven
                                                                     _.
         i_ .-.I'                                                                                                                                                                              only consider the problems.                                             .
         .'  .,_  -,                                  volumes of our Standard Bearer we will find  miny an
               ;:..                                                                                                                                                                             . In order  ti> understand this let me state the facts and
         :;.                                          article and Speeches dealing with this  subjec$ As  .far
                                                      ati the, leaders are concerned there is no  questlon at all                                                                              these facts will prove that I am  not speaking of  :my own
         ;-:
         i;p  ::`:.-' concerning. this subject. Very ably the necessity' of both                                                                                                               congregation!  alone, .but  they will cover  practictilly the'
       p.L,,~`,:.:`.: . .                                                                                                                                                                      .problems  of` all our people outside of Michigan and  Re'd-
                    `T....;                           prim&-y and higher education have been stated  along the
              .:__,
              .._                                                                                                                                                                              l a n d s ,   C a l i f o r n i a .   .                 :        ..                  :
              ..-  .- l i n e   o f   OUT  .Reformcd   yonception.   I   dd  n o t   i n t e n d   `to
                    7.
 i..
y;  _:  :  _.  -, iefer.to them. If  tie read our paper from the beginning,                                                                                                                       What  ^arF  these facts  ? First  of all; in my  `own city
:  ;:.  :
                , : .`.. `the statement holds that there  .w& never a  disseriting   ar-
       .,                            :                                                                                                                                                         we have only  twc families with  chil,+en   of school-age.
1.  .:.II . . _-.  ,.  title' written by  the men who provided material for  the and about eight  families who live in a  radius  of five to
 . . :.;.,. -.                                  :  Standard  Bearer. Nekdless  to say  that our  people  should                                                                                six miles.. `As  waS  said this  situatidn is  prevelant  with
              :..                                     not  .be ignorant as  to the opinion of our  meti in this                                                                                all our people outside of the above .mentoned exceptions.
                .._.'                            matter.  _                                                                                                                                    Now then with such a problem facing you why not keep
               _'..,.-                                  True it is, there was a time  when some  of-  US  waxd                                                                                 still  and admit the impossibility of ever having a school
         :`.,$.-.                                cold for  the cause of Christian instruction.                                                                            We met               of our own.  -.Thaf indeed would  .be the' easiest thing to
         ::. >.
         .-I:_  : .-
                                     :I.-  people who were 
                                           `                                              -ready  ,tti-: (atid who- a&ally  did)-, take                                                        do:  and at  Qe same time the least. expensive.                               ,.s
 .,.1  .,z, `_                                   their  .children  from the  -`Chi+tian school  q,d sent them.                                                                                    Besides we do not have a Christian school in  Oskaloosa
: .  :  .,  ,,
: ;: __  ,. to  p&EC  institutions. I  l&t anyone dding so' finds himself                                                                                                                      and moreover there never was one:' I may add to this
 1.:  .._                                                                                                                        .
_,  1;:.  -.  .' in a rather  emi&rasing  situation  If he tries to defend                                                                                                                     I-was very disappointed when I heard that no  kffo%was
                           :  .
         ;..!  P  ;. `such  action,, the more so.`when it is argued `that it is. done                                                                                                          made at any  ,>ime to try to establish one. The  neighbdur-
         i  1.  _'
                             . . . `. for. principles.  sake. We feel sure  that, it' will  t$e, more itig  congr@ation  of the  ,Chr.  Ref.  Cl-&h'  has a niemb&-
         ;,:  .`..`. ,`-.;;thiy]&-&to: defend. such a&&s  dn,the basis, of Otis prin-
         ;.+,..'  ..  .'                                                                                                                                                                       ship  df  approximzitely  ninety families and-while it is true
                           ._ -.r :, ciples-  $6  sa$' the-least. I.  mean the action itself  ,is  don- that a great inajorty of their.people as w_ell as- 6f ,Otir own
         I  ::.`:;"~:~   1  &mne&  before  -the  bar  of  .okjy   c&ciqxe if the  Word
         &.                                                                                                                                                                                    live outside of the city, nevertheless' a  sufficitint.  number
         !,`.  .;x
                               ' 
         t;?.-  -.~~&:.ou~
                                      _                              ,c&enant  cod  .is the  :Fritt&on:  "  ;Thz+t  st$ion  hoti--.
         \...; .  .._.._  `;.~.:.,,                                                 :.                                                                                                         live,no more than  frog five to  t& miles from town,  and
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                _
              r:`:  _.                                        :            .   .
         .:                          . . . . :...;                  -..  ,,.  1,  ;  ;.`;
         ,.--  :.  `::.  _i  ."< . . .                                                            -.        _          ;_              ._            .-.            ..;..-.                      .-                                       I..                                       `.  :
         ! . . ,,.,.-,,.~_:;:II.~,.`   :,- :`I.  -.`:. :. `                                  ., . .      ,;  .-.::;  `_  .:  :,                              . .            -_     :.
                                                                                                                              _ . .                                 I..                  _.
                             ,...  ..,;  .,:  .*."`.. z___,,.  .z;' c:,, ;I  ,.--  ..:.,;-.:
                                                                                     ,- >.  :,.-  .; . . :--  -.  :;.  :y .:  ,T  1'  i..`.  `;  .,. . .  :_  `..  ..,;i  :--                    -  ,_  ('  ,..,  7,             .,       !. . . . . I  ,;.    .i.          :,


                                            THE'       STANDARD                 BEAR~~.R            _                              261
                                                                                                                                    -
this  numb'er would be  lz+rge enough to make a Christian            Church of the living God as to her existence and conti-
.school possible in this community.                                  nuity is the greatest impossibility ever conceived of.
   It is needless to say that  $hese problems could be aug-          Small, poor, weak, of no account, that is a true description
mented with some bad roads and hard times in the past,               is it not? And therefore she does not exist? Or does
the present and maybe in the future to  come.                        she??
   But let me give an answer. First of all I can very                   Thus in discussing  one of  o.z.br  needs, in this case the
easy multiply the problems and find as many as have been             instruction of our children must not be approached with
mentioned and that  will make matters  lobk still worse.             a view to the problems that may arise. To my mind it is
I will refer to only one. One that is very  gene;al and              always to proceed from this point of view. No problem
can therefore be applied to all our people. Our churches             exist as long as we  have not felt the need of a thing.
are very small with the exception of  our' Fuller Ave.               Such problems are simply theoretical never `concrete.
Church  .a? Grand  Rapidsi We have to  sIpport our con-              Let us therefore commence with -the simple need, the
gregations and should bring up our share of classical                necessity of such instruction as it is in harmony with  onr
assessments.         Do  you suppose' that a school could  ble       confession as Protestant Reformed people. Once more,
maintained-by  our'people,in the different localities? Again         it was not and is not my purpose to restate these  things
we discuss our subject from the point of view of the                 that have been very ably written in the  ,past.       It would
problems. And here is my answer. If the same method                  simply mean a  rehearsel., I  k-n&v  it does not mean  that
of approach had been applied in 1924, I for one am sure              abl has been said relative to Christian instruction. -4119
that at that  time we would not have had the courage to              one interested in writing on this subject will have a very
go on with our movement. Moreover along that same                    wide field to choose from.
line we should not dare to continue with our  mission-                  Neither is it my intention to discuss what should be
work. This is especially true now with a view. to the                considered first the higher or the plaili every day primary
fact that our churches have decided to call one of our               instruction.    That can be discussed and threshed  `.`out
ministers as a full time. man to work the field, for this            locally, for it does not deal with the need of our people
demancis  more effort financially on  `our part; both for            in general, nor has it any bearing on the principle as such.
the  work and also for the small congregations that must             That is after all a `question of method. Shall we start
be supported. We must not make  .light   of it.                      from the  bmottom up or from the top down? When we
 Is that not a  dark  picture I have  .held  before you?             are convinced of the one, we will not be different toward
Yes,..it  is very dark indeed. If for no other reason than           the other. In such cases it is simply a matter of casting
hurting the cause that I am trying to defend  and place              our  vote; My purpose is to impress that need, namely of
,before  our people, it would perhaps have been better not           Christian instruction in harmony with the pure Scrip-
to  writezit.      But bear with me a little. I am not finished      tural reformed principle? as we confess them upon your
yet.                                                                 and my mind. Without them we cannot expect purity and
   And let me state without reservation that this way of             spiritual growth for our Churches and the lives of our
reasoning, or rather the approach to this subject is faulty.         future generation. That instruction is inseparably  con-
We should never tackle the problems unless  we have first            liected  with our being and wellbeing.
of  all.an eye for the need of a thing. Problems as men-                Th& need must be brought before our  peq)ie con-
tioned  ab.ove are too  often..a mere  cloak to befog' the           stantly. How? In speaking of our own schoolbuilding or
issue under the  di&ssion.  We have  heard them, have                creating a fund for such purposes that deal with the exe-
we not, so often that they have become stale and repulsive           cution of the material side of this need ? My answer is
at the  same time. Any one who does nothing else but                 no. Most emphatically no..11 If a man would come to
suggest  problems  is principally opposed against what               me with one thousand dollars for the purpose of building
might be proposed. And such  peopfe  find a ready ear                a school of our own, .I must frankly admit that the  only
\$th  the  crowd: It seems to  `me that such people delight          thing to do at that moment was to place it in a bank. In
in it when they. do halt the progress of a thing that has            earnest that would indeed be a problem.            At  a glance
&en  ,proven to be, an absolute necessity.         Do not  $pend     you may think it sounds  funny, yet as an afterthought
lGuch..of  y&r time with them, for the result is `negative.
         .                                                           any one will agree that the needs  .of  i&l's people are
:IThere  ;are of course others. They will say- that the              never supplied  -iii that way. Besides, there'  is. not  muck
L&l:dges  no$:a:k  of us to do more than we can do. And              danger of such a liberal  gift  ;at. this time.        _:-  : _`.`.
that  sotinds very  ,pious  of  -course.    If rightly considered      To begin with leave  the money question  -out of it
however, is it not true that all we are  c&d  i@oyt to do            entirely and do not try to figure the cost  of. building
Seenzs   i+@ossible?  Try to  figure out before  hand   whether      until that time has arrived. One of the means employed
or .not  you can do any work or perform the task placed              is that we continually  labour with our people. Sure, the
before you and the first reaction is : It is impossible ! `But       pulpit must not be forgotten, but it is not sufficient. Speak-
while walking in the way of the Lord the impossible is               ing (quite a while ago) with a minister of another de-
realized.        I  dq not need to  elabforate   @on it.     The     nomination concerning the covenant training of the  cove-

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

llant children he made the remark that with the opening           the problems. Sure, it may sound out of order to tell
of the schools and  .the beginning of the regular winter          our people they must not move too far away, not so far
activities in his congregation he always remembered the           that it is impossible to be regular attendants at the ser-
cause of Christian instruction.      Well,  to. put in plain      vices and also for the sake'of their children have no right
words, that remark floored me. Thinking it over, one              to  move,where  their fancy reads them. For such prob-
thing became clear to me' namely, if  llothing else is done       lems are caused by  o&selves and ought to be remedied.
we  might`as  well keep still about it entirely.                     And these things will, be remedied if our need and the
   The question is what to do under the esisting circum-          need of our children in connection with'the covenant have
stances  ?, There are  ,Christian schools in some com-            become a living reality.                               w .   v .
munities, but they do not teach our children what we
might believe should  bie taught. Rev. Veldman in his
article on `Our Protestant Reformed Truth and  Tl;k
Christian School'  .after treating his  s&ject from the prin-
ciple point of view makes the remark: "Must we then                              EEN GERUST  EN STHL LEVEBT
forsake the cause and join ourselves to the world? God               De Mannenvereeniging van  once gemeente te Oak
forbid! That is even more impossible for one who  t&ly            Lawn zond de volgende vraag in :
lives and loves the truth he confesses" and he continues             Hoe  hebben  we te verstaan de uitdrukking in I Tim.
by answering his own question in a twofold way : "Let US          2 :2 : "een gerust en stil leven  leiden",  vooral als  reden
strive for what  we now have, revealing our colors and            voor het bidden voor koningen en  allen, die in  hoogbeid
insisting wherever it is necessary and possible that  `the        zijn  ?
truth be maintained." We agree wholeheartedly, but if                Antwoord :
we do `so it will bring ultimately to light the impossiblity         1.      Ongetwij feld heeft de apostel het oog op  publieke
of co-operation. At its best  OLII- presence may serve as gebeden in de. samenkomst der gemeente. De vermaning
a brake. Nothing more and that at its best. It we make            is, dat  gedaan   worden  smeekingen, gebeden,  voorbiddin-
work of it you may  b,e  as'sured  that also  $1 this respect     gen en dankzeggingen voor alle menschen, en dan  we1  *
it is always necessary to  re+eal  our colors. My experience      nadrukkelijk met het oog op koningen en  allen, die in
is  that the root of all this must be sought in' the textbook hoogheid zijn. Het gaat dus`  niet over  den  konbg,  of
and of course also in the teacher.       Our doctrine is in       over  on,ye  regeering, maar over die klasse van menschen,
no way brought out in  the instruction, with a very few           die in hoogheid zijn. Die  kla&  van menschen mogen we
exceptions, and your protesting after all amounts to this :       uit onze gebeden niet systematisch uitsluiten, alsof  zij
the school will continue as it did before. Why it is next par se buiten de zaligheid gesloten zouden zijn.
to impossible to have one of our teachers appointed. Just            2.      Het  gebed, waarop de apostel  bet oog heeft, is  dus  -
try it.                                                           het gebed voor hunne  z&igheid.  Dit is m.i. de eenig
  In the second place we read in the closing paragraph            mogelijke verklaring in het  licht van de verzen 3 en 4.
of the same article: "Meanwhile, let us hope for some-            Het in aangenaam voor den  Heere, om ook voor  men-
thing better and pray that we may  haye strength and              schen te bidden, die  in hoogheid  zijn, want Hij wil, dat
conviction to labor for that which only can and may be            alle menschen zalig  worden en tot kennis der waarheid
our ideal : Protestant Schools."                                  komen,  "niet  alleen knechten en dienstbaren, maar ook
  Exactly.!                                                      heeren en vrijen,  +et alleen onderdanen, maar ook  ko-
  And our labor in behalf of it means perhaps years  of           ningen. De. bedoeling is dus, dat  ,de gemeente, in het  ge-
earnest application.     The pulpit is not enough and a           bed om de dankzegging voor de zaligheid van alle  men-
speech  is soon `forgotten as a rule. It is `our duty as          schen (allerlei klassen van menschen) koningen en  hoog-
leaders and I have not only the ministers in mind but also ,waardigen  niet uitsluite, maar ook hen gedenke.
our'  o%cebearers.  And also those who  see this. need               3. De vrucht daarvan zal` zijn een `stil en gerust leven
clearly, to  labour.                                              als gemeente. Dat wil niet zeggen, dat de vrucht van het
   Once more, not by starti.ng  to speak or argue about the       gebed der gemeente zal zijn, dat er geeri :odrlog.  komt, dai
problenis. We do not  face them at present  and it will be        de politieke vrede  be&end&&   .ial:-  `worden   ; ook  &et, dat
tiin&.enough   lyheti  we meet them. No, but by means  o.f        de genieente  dan zal bewaard-`blijven~v66r:irefiolgitig  Gap
personal work and by speaking of what  .6ur `God,  otir           de zijde de? gddd&oie  we?eldniacht.:'  Sihrift  en` g&chie-
covenant `God gave us since 1924 and not only to us bat           denis  leeren  dit  we1 anders. De  getieente  ontkomt  tiiet
also to our children. Keep at it in and out of season.            het zwaard der vervolging. Bovendien is m.i.  zulk eene
   And I am sure if this need of our own school becomes           verklaring  ook in strijd met hetgeen volgt : in  alle  god-
a need indeed, we will in the strength of our God and             zaligheid en eerbaarheid. Het gaat dus over een stil en
by his grace overcome the difficulties. And the problems. gerust  .leven  van de gemeente  n1.s  zoo&zig.  Stilheid en
which seem to be unsurmountable. will be very easy to             gerustheid zouden het leven in de gemeente  kenmerken,
solve. That is also my conviction in regard to many of            en haar  naan.  zou eerbaar zijn bij degenen,  d.ie  buiten


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                              263

 zijn. Dit moet ongetwij feld  worden   verstasn  in het  licht    David's throne shall be forever, and of his seed one shall
 van een eigenaardige houding, die de gemeente of  velen           sit upon the throne of Jacob unto all eternity.
 in de gemeente aannamen tegenover overheden en  mach-                b. This "mercy" is with David's seed from generation
 ten. Deze  tech  wsren hun vervolgers en benauwers,  vij-         to generation until it culminates in  .Christ,  in Whom
 anden.  der kerk van Christus. Het  ,gevaar was niet  on-         the promise shall be fulfilled. The text in II Sam. 7 :12-15,
 denkbaar, dat men in de vergadering der gemeente  zich            therefore, does not refer to Solomon alone, but to the
 liet verleiden tot het uitvaren tegen  koningen en die in         generations `to come. A comparison with Ps. 89 makes
 hoogheid zijn, als per se en noodzakelijkerwijze vijanden         this very evident. It is a mercy that concerns David's
 van  Christus en buiten de zaligheid  staande.  Een geest         house.
 van minachting, van  rebellie  en revolutie zou gemakkelijk
 tot openbaring kunnen komen. Dit zou  precies  het tegen-            c. In the same sense it must be understood when the
 overgestelde zijn van  een  "gerust en stil leven", alsmede       text tells  us that God had taken His mercy away from
 van een  leven'  in  alle godzaligheid en eerbaarheid.  In-       Saul. The meaning is : Saul`s generations. Historically
 plaats van deze verkeerde houding nu vermaant de apos-            the kingdom, the  theocratic  kingdom that was to culmin-
tel tot het gebed ook voor koningen en die  in. hoogheid           ate in the Messiah had first been established with Saul.
 zijn.! want God wil, dat ook  zij, zalig  worden  en tot  ken-    But God had taken the kingdom away from Saul's gen-
 nis der waarheid komen.                               H.H.        erations and transferred it to the generations  ,of David..
                                                                   And this in harmony with His everlasting covenant.
                                                                                                                                     H. H.
               MERCY TAKEN FROM SAUL

   From A. G. of G. R.  Mich. we received the following              The Lord  z&l2  perfect  that  ZW'JZZ'CJZ   cosccnaeth   me: Thy  nwrcg,   0
 question :                                                        Lord,  endyeth  forever;. forsake not the works of  T/kilke  own  haikds.
    "Please explain, II Sam.  7:15 and I Chron.  17:13 in                                                                  -Ps.  cxxxviii.  8.
 the next issue of the Standard Bearer."
   The. question is enforced by the following argument:
   "The statement is made in these texts that God took
 .His mercy away from Saul. Therefore,- he (Saul) must
 have had God's favor. If he did not have,- it could not                     The cross is my past history,
 be taken away from him".                                                       `Twas there God saved my soul.
   Answer :                                                                  For me it was life's starting point,
   I am rather certain that an answer to this question                          The glory is my goal.
 appeared in the S. B. a few years ago.           However, I
 have tried in vain to. find it, which shows again how                       Between the glory and the cross
 much we are in need of a complete index to all the Stan-                       My footsteps Thou dost trace,
 dard Bearers. I will, therefore, answer the question                        Thou'st blotted out all other steps
 again.                                                                         In Thine abounding grace.
    1. There is nothing wrong with the argument of the
 brother that sent us the question: mercy was taken away                     When sitting at The  tabjle, Lord,
 from `Saul  ;. mercy he must have had, for otherwise. it                       And there remembering Thee'
 could not have been taken away from him. With this                          `Tis with a backward look I turn
we;of course, all agree. And I suppose, that the under-                         To dark Mount Calvary.
 lying argument is : Saul was a wicked,  reprob;ate man;                     Then forward to the bright beyond
. he was the object of God's mercy; ergo, there is common                       Where I shall  ble with Thee.
 grace. And with this we could not agree, because the                        By faith I glimpse the glory land,
 Scriptures teach that God hates the wicked and is angry                        My promised home to  be,.
 with them every day.
   2. The chief' question is : what is that mercy of which                   Then let me walk the desert path
 the text- speaks and in what sense had it been with Saul.                     As Thou didst  walk. it Lord.
 Does it mean that God had been merciful to Saul per-                        Thou'st marked out every step for  me.
 sonally. and that He had withdrawn His mercy from                              In Thine unerring Word.
 him? If we will study the texts in II Sam. and I Chron.
 we  wil1 find the following elements (compare also Ps. 89,                  As surely as Thou art in heaven,
 that refers to this same mercy) :                                             So surely I shall be  ;
   a.. That  ,the text refers to the "`mercy" of God's ever-                 For Thou has said: "I'll come again,
 lasting covenant with David and his seed, centrally Christ,                   And take thee unto Me."
 as the Servant. of Jehovah.          It  ,is the covenant that                                             Helen McDowell.


                                                                             -



               264                                         ` T H E   S:.TANDARD   B E A R E R  
                                                                                                                                                          .-.+,  :

                                                                                                                        a---      .'     '     `-
                                                                                          thine  own'  name  th~~~-~~o~%~   h-&t given me, that
                                                                                          they may be one, as we are.  " We should be careful to
                    (Because we do not want to leave the impression that we refuse        retain this oneness, and not to let the devil have an ad-
               anv material in regard to the "Chicano Situation" we  alace  the           vantage.
               foilowing  article;  &atkaZZy articles  of- this nature do  not help to
               soive  the problem at all. Editor).                                          Now, Dr. Wezeman has for many years shown great
                                                                                          devotion to the high school and has been  deligent  in  the-
               D e a r   D r .  
                                                 Kuiper:;                                 performance of his duties. He has won the hearts of the
                    I can say without exaggeration that many readers de-                  students  bly his sympathetic attitude toward them and
               plore your bitter public attack on Dr. Wezeman. Allow-                     their problems.      Therefore, it is  ndt strange, that the
               ing that  you  felt constrained to follow the dictates of                  young folks love and respect Dr. Wezeman and that they
               yoin- conscience and believed that it was your duty to                     feel grieved and angry because he has been attacked.
               eradicate from the high school what  you  thought was                      Some parents have difficulty with their children because
               n/I&lernism,  still I think you should have adopted  a,more                they have lost  rkspect  for the ministers on account of
                fair method of procedure and performed  .your task in                     their  p&t in this controversy. Some  yo~mg  people  be-
               the spirit of Christian love. Romans 13  :lO reads'  "Love                 lieve that the ministers are persecuting Dr.  Wezenian
                worketh no ill to his neighbor  :. therefore love is the                  and therefore they are not as interested in their preaching
                fulfilling of the law." If  you  thought that  you  had a                 as they should be. This attitude does not help the church
                oood
              .b        cause, then you  sl?oulcl also have  aclcpted good                nar is it good for the  spiri&al life of the youth.
               methods.                                                                     Let  us  therefore end this quarrel and work for unity,
                    I  gdmire your zeal  which.was so great that if neces-                peace and more spirituality so that we may again  1Qve
               sary, you were willing to sacrifice your own reputation                    one another and so fulfill the law of Christ.
               in case the "The Chicago Situation"  ivas  not graciously                    A great number of readers seem to have misinterpreted
               received by the `public. But I do believe that you. allowed                the meaning of "The Chicago. Situation" and consider
               your zeal to master you to such an extent that  you  lost                  it a verdict instead of an accusation. I think it would
               your proper sense of perspective. For when we allow a                      therefore be well  and fair for  you  to make a. public an-
               certain passion or force to control us to the exclusion of                 nouncement that this booklet was only intended as an
               all our other good impulses and qualities, our  vision be-                 accusation and not as a verdict. A verdict can only be
               comes less broad and confines itself only to  o&e certain                  rendered by a court or a body having authority to pass
              phase of a situation.                                                       verdicts. Such a  b,ody would consider the accusation but
                    Of course, I can readily understand that when you                     remain open-minded until it also had heard the defense.
               and Rev. G. Hoeksema came to the high school board and                       Ancl  above all. please go to Dr. Wezeman and extend
               failed to get a reception  as you desired or thought that                  the hand. of Christian fellowship to him. If after that,
               you `were entitled to, that  you  were disappointed and felt               yoii. should still find something in the life or expression of
               mortified and believed that  yo~z  had a right to do some-                 Dr.' Wezeman that needs correction' then do, what  you
               thing serious about it.                                                    should have done in the first place ; exercise Christian
                    When Jesus and his disciples came to a village of the                 love and charity, to win him back to the fold.                                       There
               Samaritans who refused to receive him, James and John                      shall then be joy in heaven and ti greater measure of love,
               were also disappointed and displeased and said, "Lord,                     peace and unity on  earth.
               wilt thou that we command fire to come down from                             Doing this  you shall have worked toward a fulfilment
               heaven and consume them, even as  Elias did?"                    ,Did .of the prayer of our Saviour and  you  shall  have,  acted in
               Jesus approve of this kind of an expression of their zeal?                 accordance with the command of Christ, "That ye love
               He did not,' for we read, "But he turned and rebuked                       one another."
             .them,  and said, `You know not what manner of spirit ye                                                                                     Y o u r s   sincereI;,
               are of. For the Son of Man is not come to destroy men's                                                                                                B. Ottenhoff.
               lives but to save them."
                    The publication and distribution of "The Chicago Situ-
               ation" has brought a divison in  our churches. Some up-                                                BEDE
               hold you and believe your  accysitions, and others uphold
               Dr.  Wezeman and believe that his Bible notes are  re-                             Dien zegen van  LIW  Geest erlange,
~  .  . '  .k.-formed  and because one party cannot convince the other                                  Heer', maak mijn harte  266 gezind,
   '  `.  pa%ty they are becoming enemies. The quarrel is  degen-                                 Dat ik met heilig  zielsverlacgen,
             . eratirig into hero worship, We are having a repitition of                                En  iti uw' schaduw wasdom  vind'.
               a condition d&scribed by PaUl, some are ior Paul and some                          De diepste voren  wil hij drenken,
               f o r   Apollos.                                                                         Des hemels dauw valt  overal,
                    In one of the prayers of our Saviour,  befoie he was                              Maar `t meest en overvloedig schenken
     d&vered   u p ,   h e   p r a y e d , "Holy Father, keep through                             Zijn vruchbaarheid  aan `t  stille dal.
     ___'                                                                                                                                            .
     :


                                                                                      .;-..





                 ~~J!UhXD   BY  THE  BEPOBRI[ED   FREE PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION, GRAND  RAPIDS,  MICE.
                                                                           EDITOBlIAL  STAFF
                                                        Editors-Rev. H. Hoeksema, Rev. G.  M.  Qphoff,                Communications relative to contents
                                                                       By. Wm.  Verhil, Rev. G.  Vos                        should he addressed to
                                                     Associate Editors-Rev. A. Cammenga, Rev. P. De
                                                        Boer, Rev.  M. Gritters, Rev. C. Hanko, Rev.  B.
                                                        Kok, Rev.  G. Lubbers, Rev.  .?.  Vander   Breggen,
                                                                            Rev. R.  Feldman.

 Vol. XII, No. 12 Entered  as second class mail
                          matter   a t   G r a n d   Ranids,  Mich.        MARCH 15, 1936                                   Subscription Price, $2.50

                                                                                      the traitor was so suddenly and unexpectedly dismissed
                                                                                       and this  moment of the capture of our Lord. When
                                                                                      Judas had thus been forced to act, he had hastened into
                                                                                      the dark night to fulfill his appointed part in the awful
                                                                                       drama of the judgment of this world. He naturally
                                                                                      yould turn to the Pharisees and scribes and elders of
                         As soon  then  as he had  snid   unto  the?!*, I  am  he,
                      @ey                                                             the people, reveal to them that all unexpectedly the
                              went  bockcward   and   fell  to  the ground.
                                                                        John X3:6.    issue had been forced by Jesus, arid urged  .yhat they
 Lord of His captives!                                                                would have to act now or never. They in turn had
    Mastei-  of the situation,  eveI% now it is  ,the hour of                         most  probablly  applied to the captain of the guard that
 the power of darkness; even now  His hour  has come,                                 was always in Jerusalem, had presented the case of a
 and He shall no longer frustrate the attempt of the enemy                            dangerous malefactor that must be captured and on
 ot lay hold on Him by merely going through the midst                                 that pretext had obtained a band of soldiers. They went
 o f   t h e m !                                                                      in search of Jesus. Judas leads them. Not improbable
    Even now it must become clearly manifest that it                                  it is that Judas acted on  the supposition that Jesus and
 can be  tlrze@   horn only because it is His ; that  they are                        the eleven might still be in the upper room, where the
 able  to bind Him and  to lead Him away only because                                 last  passover had been celebrated, and that thither. the
 in  the. garden He tasted the depth of  obsedience  there                            traitor had led the band. Arousing John Mark,  ivho
 was expressed in the  prayer: Thy will, not My will be                               must have retired for the  night? and learning from
 done !                                                                               him that the Lord had already departed with His
I n   t h e   g a r d e n , - a   m o m e n t  ag?  a n d   n o w , - w h a t   a     disciples, the multitude, armed with swords and staves,
 difference !                                                                         now was led to Gethsemane, Judas knowing that our
  A stone's throw from this very spot and but a few                                   Lord- frequently resorted thither. John Mark must have
 seconds ago he had  crawled  in the dust, a worm and no                               followed them into the dark night, he probably  b,eing
 man, in utter amazement, overwhelmed  bi the awful                                   the young man that bad left his cloak in the hands of
 prospect of the  "cup*`, sorrowful of soul even unto death.                          the enemy and  Aed naked. And, at the very moment
 Then it had appeared as if the very anticipation of his                              that Jesus had finished his struggle in the  garden  and
 descent into the lowest parts of  -the earth would crush                             had been strengthened for the final  btattle,  the  bmand  ar:
 Him, as if He would lack the power to reach the ac-                                  rived in the garden.
 cursed  .tree. And now He faces the enemy, the instru-                                        And they find the Lord, fully prepared!
 ments  ~of the power of darkness that are to throw open                                       His hour had come!
 wide the gates- of Hell that He may descend, calm and                                         This time the hour of darkness and that  df the Father
majestic, victorious in His apparent  degeat,  laying pros-                           co-incided.   O,ften; indeed, the "world" had been pre-
trate, for a moment, the forces of opposition!.                                       pared to capture and kill Him. But the Lord had es-
    His prayer in  .the garden had been heard !                                       caped them, for His hour had not yet come. Now, in
 And the  answer  had come, while heavenly messengers                                 His hour, He would escape them no more. To prevent
 had descended to strengthen the Servant of Jehovah:                                  His being captured now  wouId be disobedience.
lvIy will shall be done even through Thee, My Beloved,                                         Therefore, they shall take Him.
in Whom is all My good pleasure!                                                               He must be delivered into the hands of sinners.
    In the meantime, exactly at the (`hour", the enemy                                         Yet, even now it must become manifest that He lays
had arrived in the garden. Not  dif&ult  it seems to fill                             down His life for the sheep and that no one can take it
the gap in the gospel narrative between, the hour that                                from Him!

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

  In this hour of darkness He is master of the situation!       of His capture His divine power flashed forth like a
  F~11ly   controllin g His own capture!                        streak of lightning, showing that His capture was possible
   I am He!                                                     only  b,ecause  He surrendered and was willing to lay
                                                                down His life for  the sheep!
  Whom seek ye?                                                   Whom seek ye  ? . . . .
  Jesus of Nazareth we seek!                                      Judas' sign, then, had failed. For, he had agreed with
  I am He! . .  _  . Then all went backward and fell to         them that they should follow the sign of the kiss ! It
the ground ! Marvellous scene !                                 was night.      The garden was dark. More men there
  The whole multitude, armed with swords and staves,            would  b'e with Jesus: And they must not capture the
fall prostrate before Him, Whom they came to capture!           wrong party.      J d
                                                                                   u as, therefore, having failed in his
  And it must  need? be so, lest the impression be left,        first purpose to betray Him to them secretly, so that
created by this multitude, that the Lord  of, life and death    they might kill Him without any public process of  jus-
had finally succumbed and been overpowered by brute             fice, had given them the sign of the kiss? Yet, even
force.                                                          here the miserable traitor failed to earn his pieces of
  A large number had come to the garden that night              silver.    Nor is it difficult to understand that he had
to lay hold on Jesus.. The apostle John merely speaks of        blundered somewhat nervously and all too hastily through
a band. In the gospel according to Luke we are iliformed        this part of his agreement with the enemy. He had
that they were a multitude. And this is emphasized in           run ahead and kissed Jesus before the enemy had op-
the gospel narratives by  `Matth&  and Mark, who state          portunity to recognize the sign. And now he stood with
that they were a great multitude. How many they num-            the  Lxncl that had come to capture the Lord.
bered we know not, but an overwhelming force they                 And the Lord steps forth out of the darkness,  sep-
must have been in comparison. with Jesus and the dis-           a.rates  Himself somewhat from the disciples, calm, in
ciples. Besides,  the% were armed to the teeth, for they        overawing majesty, no longer troubled of soul, and the
came with swords and staves. They were determined to            traces  o,f the bloody sweat wiped from His brow.
succeed. This time Jesus  would  not escape them!                 Whom seek ye? . . . .
  What would it have meant, had they actually succeeded           Nor was the question superfluous, even though it was
in their own way?                                               not asked because the Lord needed the information. I t
  Shrewdly the power of hell had calculated to leave            carried a  deell. moral significance.    For, was there not
the impression that they had, indeed, come against a            a cruel contradiction between the appearance of this  mul-
thief and robber! Did they, perhaps, not know that              titude, armed with swords and staves and the One they
these swords and staves were  but mockery'? Had not             came to seek and to capture? Did not the Ldrd, then,
Jesus daily been with them in the temple, publicly. teach-      have the moral right to ask this question  an;d force them
ing  .them  the thin& concerning the Kingdom of God?            to explain their strange appearance? They  came to seek
Had they ever beheld Hini in the likeness of a thief            a criminal, where there was only He that knew no sin !
and robber? Yet, now they come against Him as if He               The question is an indictment!
were a dangerous malefactor, that would not hesitate to           Ye that are so heavily  armed   ancl appear to come in
resort to brute  force in order to escape justice! For, mark    the name of justice, whom seek ye?
those  swo?ds and staves, and note that great multitude!          Jesus of Nazareth!
They create the impression that they might, indeed, count         It is I!
on desperate resistance.         Whether the Pharisees and
scribes actually had persuaded themselves to believe that
they might expect resistance unto death  -011 the part of          Marvellous flash of divine power!
Jesus and His disciples, or whether they purposely created        It is I!
this show in order to leave the impression that they were,        Then they went backward and fell to the ground !
indeed, hunting a dangerous criminal, we may leave an              For, how else could it  be explained that this entire
open question. But certain it is that, if the Lord had          multitude recoiled, fell backward and prostrated them-
not exposed the futility and foolishness of their  .brute       selves before Jesus, Whom' they had come to capture,
force, of their numbers and their weapons,  .the ultimate       except as a sudden flashing forth of a power that was
impression would have been left, `not that Jesus had            more than human?
voluntarily surrendered, but that they had overpowered             Hardly does it explain  ihe facts to say that here we
H i m !                                                         have a beautiful illustration of wickedness recoiling be-
  Overpowered as a thief and robber!                            fore righteousness, of the darkness being put to shame
  But thus it might not be!                                     by the light, of corruption suddenly overwhelmed by
  And especially in the gospel according to John, written       the presence of perfect goodness.        This interpretation
for the very purpose of revealing. that Jesus is the Son        is, indeed, offered. Goodness and perfect  imlocence,  thus
of God, that we might  bselieve,   and, believing might have    it is said, can be awful overwhelming in its effect on
life  in His Name!  it  must be told how even at the moment     manifest wickedness and iniquity. And this is supposed


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                             26'

 sufficiently  to explain the incident in the  .garden.             These    against His will ; and long enough to impress that same
 men,  p?rticularly  the band of soldiers, had expected a                    truth  upon  the minds of the enemy.
 different  scene. They were prepared to  .meet  with op-                      And might He not have gone away over their pros-
 position. The criminal they hunted would desperately                        trate forms and escape from their hands?
 seek to  escapk  them. And instead He tranquilly steps                        But  IIO!  It was the hour! Suffice it, then, that their
 forward with the question : Whom seek ye? And when                          numbers and their swords and staves have been given.
 they inform Him He still stands, evidently in the most                      the lie, have been made to appear ridiculous ; suffice it,
 perfect peace of mind and  majestically,points  to Himself                  that this one flash of His divine power put the enemies
 as the object of their search: It is I! And this sudden                     to shame. He is once more the  Servailt  of Jehovah,  .that
 manifestation of perfect righteousness and peace causes                     has come to do the Father's will  ;  the Good Shepherd,
 them to fall prostrate!                                                     that will lay down His life for His sheep; the  &mb of
    However, is iniquity so readily put to shame?                            God, that taketh away the sin of the world  ; the High
    `Will the power of darkness so easily  b,e overawed in                   Priest..that must bring the sacrifice that will atone and
 the presence of  imlocence   and righteousness  ?                           reconcile,  b'ecause it is the perfect satisfaction of God's
    Moreover, would a multitude of some fifty men, many                      justice with relation to the sins of His people! To bring
 of them  .Roman soldiers not merely stand, aghast for a                     this sacrifice of  reconciliatipn  He must, indeed, suffer
 moment and recoil, but prostrate themselves with their                      the very torments of  hell.. But he must do so volun-
 faces to the ground, before a mere manifestation of in-                     tarily. No one must take His life from Him; He must
 nocence ?                                                                   not be forced into the throes of  death;  but must volun-
   Yet, there they lay, all of them!                                         tarily descend into the awful depths of hell, there to
    Judas,  the. Jews,  tile Roman soldiers, all. the  would-                taste the justice of God in His wrath; there to love the
 be captors lay prostrate at His feet, grovelling in the dust !              Father even in His just wrath against sin; there to bring
   Laid prone by the Word of power : It is .I !                              the,sacrifice  of love that will forever blot out  the'sins"of
   It was the Person of the Son of God that  `spoke, and                     His brethren !
 upon the vibration of that human voice His' divine power                      Whom seek ye?
was carried forth like thunder into. the  ctinsciousness  of                   It is the hour ! Your hour because it is mine! Mine,
the  enemies.                                                                because it is the Father's!
   That voice had spoken at the grave of Lazarus, but a                        The sign of my power I gave, in order that ye and
 few days  `ago. And then His divine  pdwer  had betn                        all the world might know,  that ye cannot take my life
 carried out  up&. that "human voice, into the grave of                      from Me with  swords  and staves!
him that had been dead four days : Lazarus come  .forth!                       Now I  m,ust lay it down !
And the  dead  had heard the voice of the Son of God                           And ye are the divinely appointed instruments `to open
and had obeyed!                                                              the way for the Son of man to go as it is written of Him!
   That  Tioice now speaks to them, that came against Him                      Open unto me the gates of hell, and I will descend !
with swords and staves,, to  overpov&r  Him  b'y  btrute                       Till all is finished!                               H. H.
 force, `and by means of it the almighty power of the
Son of God lays hold on His captors,  ,causing  them to
recoil in sheer amazement and lay procumbent at His
feet.
   The captors. had been captured!                                             Down the valley of the shadow alone I must go,
   They that came as against a thief and robber now as-                           When my feet, tired of  .travel,  reach the grave;
sumed the attitude of worshippers!                                             But the darkness and danger I dread not, for 0
   Glorious prophesy of what must ultimately come!                               My Redeemer is waiting there to save.
   Every knee shall bow ! Every tongue shall confess ;                         He will  sencl`forth  His angels to bear me away;
J e s u s   i s   L o r d !
         .                                                                       His voice I shall hear in tenderest tone ;
                                                                               I shall tremble not, nor falter, but sing as I go
                                                           . . .                 Down the valley of the: shadow all alone.
W h o m   s e e k   y e ?   .   .                _'          :
Fdr the second time the question sounds. in..  the still-                      Down the valley. of the shadow alone I must go,
iless  of the night,  shiller  now because of the-astonishment                   All my friends left behind or gone before!
that grips every witness of this amazing scene.                                Yet I dread not  th-e silence that  dwelleth,  for, lo,
   How long the enemies lay prone before Him  i,n the                            Thro' my faith, light is shining more and more.
dust  o,f Gethsemane we know not; surely as -long as they                      I shall enter the river with praise on my lips,-
were held by the power  of, Him they would capture  ;                            The way, tho', to me is wholly unknown ;
and surely sufficiently long to  carry the clear testimony                     Still I'm trusting in my  Savi.or,  and fear not to go
to the hopeful disciples that He  woulcl, not be bound                           Down the valley of the shadow all alone.

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

                                                                 drawn by the committee as a whole, this  doubtt is com-
                                                                 pletely removed by the  final statement of the report:
                                                                 "Finally, we  .wish to inform  you  that all these  COIK~LI-
                                                                 sions were adopted unanimously".
                                                                   What was the  import"of these conclusions ?
                                                                   I will quote the most important one : "It has not become
                             V I                                 evident to your Committee that Dr. Janssen teaches any-
  There is another side to the "Chicago Situation".              thing that is repugnant to  .the Reformed doctrine of in-
  My opinion of the notes of Dr. Wezeman in their                spiration". See Acts of Synod, 1920,  p. 81.
final form must have become plain from previous articles.          However, this attitude of the Reverend G. Hoeksema
  But how must be judged of the attack of him?                   in 1920 over against the Janssen-case might be considered
  Also this question I shall try to answer in all fairness.      excusable on the ground that the committee was not
  The first remark I. wish to make in this connection is         sufficiently informed about Dr. Janssen's instruction.
that I was more than mildly surprised to read that one           They had bat scant material on which to base their judg-
of .the  niain opponents of Dr. Wezeman's instruction was
   -                                                             ment of that instruction. Let  LE.,  then, admit for the
the Reverend G. Hoeksema.                                        sake of argument and to do full- justice to him, that the
  And let me explain at once that my surprise was caused         Reverend G. Hoeksema did not and could not have
by a comparison of the Reverend Hoeksema's attitude              sufficient information to judge adversely of the teaching
and stand in the Janssen-case during the years 1920-1922         of Dr. Janssen.
and.his present attitude in the Wezeman-case.                      In 1921, when the same Reverend Hoeksema served
  `Without fear of contradiction I may say that the              in the committee of seven appointed by the Curatorium,
Janssen-.case  was both  much  more serious and much             there was no such excuse.
clearer than the Wezeman-case. It. was more serious  b'e-          Piles of notes reflecting the class-instruction given by
cause it  conqrned  theological instruction given in the         Dr. Janssen over a few years were in the possession of
school of all the Christian Reformed Churches, while             the committee.. These notes had been mimeographed, so
the Wezeman-case is after all of local importance  ad            that  eadh member of the committee was furnished with
dimensions. And it was much clearer, because the notes           a copy of them. After each individual member had had
of  .Dr. Janssen which were the source of our knowledge          these notes in his possession for some time, the committee
and judgment of the instruction of that professor were           met in Douglas Park Christian Reformed Church, Chi-
decidedly much  wt-o_rse than the notes of Dr. Wezeman.          cago, Ill. For ten days in succession the committee held
  Now, it happens that the Reverend G. Hoeksema was              its sessions. It met from eight o'clock in the morning
called to serve a rather important part in the history of        till six in the evening. It carefully went through all the
the Janssen-case. He was member of the synodical com-            objectionable material found in Dr. Janssen's instruction  ;
mittee of pre-advice that, served the synod in regard to         it  .also  carefully and fairly  catalogued  all that was sound
this matter in 1920; and he was a member of the com-             and good. And when this work had been performed
mittee of seven that was appointed by the Board of Trus-         the  .result was, that while the committee had hardly dis-
tees of the Theological School in June 1921, to investi-         covered any positive element in the notes of Dr. Janssen
gate the instruction of Dr. Janssen.                             that was worth mentioning, they had  ,collected  heaps of
  And the fact is that at that time he decidedly favored         objectionable material.
Dr. Janssen !    The reader will, therefore, be able to            And on this the mhdle committee apeed!
understand my surprise `when I discovered that the same            More.
Reverend G. Hoeksema, who some fifteen years. ago was              The committee also began to form its conclusions. One
trying to defend and excuse the instruction of Dr. Janssen       conclusion expressing an unfavorable judgment of the
at the theological school of the churches,. today is bitterly    whole committee upon the instruction of Dr. Janssen was
and strongly opposed to the instruction of Dr. Wezeman,          even adopted unanimously.
which is only local in its scope. of  influence  and  -is ten      And it was then that the Rev. G. Hoeksema began to
times more Reformed than the teaching of Dr. Janssen             raise objections !    As if it happened. but yesterday I
as it was reflected in his notes!                                clearly remember that it was he, who made the  .remark
  I am not overstating the matter. And lest  th? reader          that these conclusions that were drawn by the committee
should suspect that I am making myself guilty of exag-           as a whole, must be regarded as tentative only; not as
geration, I will produce proof of these statements.              final opinions that would be embodied in the report of
  In 1920 the Reverend. G. Hoeksema was reporter for             the committee !
the synodical committee appointed in the Janssen-case.             It was then that the committee split into a majority
He composed and read the report. Besides, if any doubt           and a minority faction.
might be left as to the fairness of holding  a.member  of          The former consisted of the Reverends  Manni,  H.
a committee individually responsible for the conclusions         Danhof, H. J.  Kuiper and undersigned; the latter of the


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z::. !            -                                  -.                                                                                          I
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                                                    T H E ' S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R  `!  I!"                                        269

           Reverends G. Hoeksema, D. Kromminga and Dr.  J.                    den  to&s der waarheid niet kan  doorstasn,  men heeft
           Van Lonkhuyzen.                                                    slechts te schrijven, en het zal zeker  worden  opgenomen
             I am now only concerned with the Minority Report.                in ons blad.
             For, here is the point I want  to'bring out : in  .Uze  &f$z-       Nu  zullen wegloopende protestanten dit niet  gemak-
           o&y  Refiovt the Reverend G.  Hoekserna   defetids   md            keli j k doen. Ze  weten  in het diepst van hun hart maar
           justifies o+ attempts to defend am.? to justify teact&gs           al te  goed, dat hun  "zaak"  niet deugt, en dat hun  doen
           that aYe fay worse thm those which he today So rtrom$y             te veroordeelen is.
          `opposes ha the instmctio~  of Dr. Wezemnn.                            Ik  heb dan ook  geen enkel stuk voor opname in ons
            `In order to prove this last statement I will quote a             blad  ,over deze,  zaak ontvangen.
           few passages from the Minority Report.                                Maar `k ben tot de  conclusie  gekomen, dat het bewuste
             But for this I must refer the reader to the next issue.          artikel  "raak" was, meer zelfs dan ik had kunnen  ver-
                                                               `H. H.         wachten of  hopen.
                                                                                Zoo raak was  .dat schrijven en zoo precies  passend  op
                                                                              sommige  lokale toestanden, dat ik een paar brieven  ont-
          Wih  `De  Schoen  Past,  Ilie  Trekke ying,  `waarin  mij werd  me'degedeeld,  dat ik het  we1 had
                             Hem                           Aan                kunnen  schrijven met het oog op die plaatselijke  toe-
                                                                              standen.  Zelfs ontving ik  66n brief, die mij meldde, dat
             In repliek op mijn artikel onder het kopstuk  `(Weg-             "weggeloopen protestanten" in de  bum-t, waaruit de brief
          loopende Protestanten", ontving ik  .enkele  brieven.               werd verzonden, `meenden, dat ik het artikel zou hebben
             NU staat het ieder vrij brieven te schrijven.                    geschreven  op verzoek van den leeraar in die  buurt; of,
             En indien iemand mij een brief  Lschrij ft, dan neem ik          erger nog, dat hij dat artikel  .ZOLI  hebben geschreven over
          daar gewoonlijk ook ernstige notitie van, onder twee                mijn naam!
          voorwaarden.                        .I                                Welnu,  breeders, van al  .die vermoedens `is letterlijk
             De eerste voorwaarde is, dat de  b,rief onderteekend             niets waar !
          zi j met den naam van den schrijver. Ongeteekende en                  Ik  hen alleen verantwoordelijk voor hetgeen ik schreef.
          pseudo-geteekende brieven heb ik ti jdens mi jne ambteli j ke       Niemand heeft mij  "`opgestookt"   ;`niemand heeft mij  ver-
          bediening reeds zooveel ontvangen, dat ik  lang  geleden            zocht om  een.artikel van dien aard te schrijven. Nog  vekl
          tot de slotsom  bsen gekomen, dat ze het lezen niet waard minder heeft. iemand anders het artikel geschreven over
          zijn. Daarom heb ik de gewoonte aangenomen om bij                   mijn naam.
          ..het lezen van een brief mij eerst te vergewissen, dat hij           Er is  me&.
          behoorlijk onderteekend is. Is hij dat niet, dan gaat hij             Ik schreef niet met het oog op bepaalde  personen  of
          onverbiddelijk in de snippermand, ook al moet ik daarbij            bepaalde "buurten" en toestanden.
          een zekere aangeborene nieuwsgierigheid bedwingen.                   Al's  ,ge mij gevraagd had,  toen ik het bewuste en  ge-
             De  ttveede voorwaarde is, dat de brief in dragelijk             wraakte artikel schreef : wien hebt ge nu  op het oog?
          fatsoenlijke-  termen is gesteld.  Er zijn van die broeders,        dan zou ik hebben  moeten  antwodrden: niemand in het
          die.niets lierer  doen dan razen, als ze een brief schrijven.       bi jzonder.
          Ze zullen er mij of iemand anders dan eens terdege van                `k Schreef slechts, zooals ieder zal toestemmen, die het
          langs geven! Zelfs ontvang ik van enkele van zulke                  artikel nog eens weer leest, in zeer algemeene  termen.
          broeders  geregeld  brieven. Ze  weten  blijkbaar niet, dat         En  daarbij stond mij een twintig  jaren lange ervaring
          ik bij het handschrift en het postmerk reeds constateer             in ambtelijke bediening ten dienste. Ik had  `dus  voor-
          uit welken  hock de wind waait en dat ik niet eens meer             beelden voor `t grijpen, die ik kon schilderen zonder  per;
          hun brieven open. Ze gaan ongeopend naar de  snipper-               sonen  te noemen of te bedoelen.
          mand en vandaar  naar- `t fornuis. Want evenmin als ik                En indien de vrucht  nu is geweest, dat  sommigeti  in
          een razende in  persoon in mijn huis zou  ontvangen   ; en          hun  conscientie.   266 geraakt zijn door dat artikel, dat ze
          evenmin als ik iemand zou permitteeren om mij of iemand             werkelijk meenden, dat het voor  hen' bedoeld was, dan
          anders over de telefoon uit te razen; evemnin ontvang               zou ik zeggen, zdnder dat ik die bepaalde  breeders ook
          ik van razenden brieven:                                            thans ken en persoonlijk op het oog kan  hebblen:  dat is
             Dat is dus afgesproken.                                          ook zoo, broeders !
             Netjes schrijven en  behoorlijk  onderteekenen; anders             Ik bedoelde u!
          b,ereikt  de inhoud der brieven nooit mijn bewustzijn.                Want ik had het oog op  alle wegloopende en  wegge-
             Bovendien mag ieder, die  aan beide bovengenoemde                loo-pen protestanten !
          voorwaarden voldoet, ook zijn hart luchten in de Stan-              `Alleen maar: gij  heb,t zelf de schoen aangepast en
          d a r d   B e a r e r .                                             passend  bevonden !
             Indien,  ik dus  iets- geschreven heb in het artikel, dat          En  "wien de schoen past, trekke hem maar  aan!"
          tot opschrift droeg : `Wegloopende  Protestanten", dat                                                                   H.H.


i ;T: ;:
,<::.:
::: :. :1
                       I.    272     ;                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
  i..i                                                                                                           only sent to them, they being the heads of the church.
1  /                                                 The  Deacons                                                   There can be no doubt that in Acts  6 we actually have
   !                                                The deacons  shall be  chasm,  afipl*oved   axd in-          to do with the institution of  a special office for the care
:                                                 stalled  in the  sa?ne  manm* as  zwas  ,+tated   coucerrz-    of the poor. There was need for this office. The poor
                                                  kg the elders.
   :                                                                                                             were' not being properly cared for and those neglected
  .I  ,!                                                                                          Art  241  I were complaining. The  office of deacons was instituted
 - I!                           Respecting the manner in which the deacons are to                                with a view of rectifying just this wrong. Special per-
                             be chosen, we refer. to Art. 22. We here consider the
                  ;                                                                                              sons were appointed to whose care this business  was-
                             following matters: The origin and history of this office;                           entrusted. Verse 2 and 3 assert further that the duty
             i               its character and requirements; the relation sustained                              of this office shall be to  .reme  tables. To understand this
                             by the deaconry to private charity; the deaconesses.                                expression regard must be had to the custom of that
                                Of the origin and institution of this office, we read in                         day. The congregation had its tables upon  -which the
                             Acts 6. There we find that the apostles themselves did                              well-to-do members of the  congres&ation  `would  .place
                             in the beginning serve the poor. " "At their. feet was their contributions for the meal. At this table all would
                             brought the price of the things that were sold: and dis-                            seat themselves and partake  .of what had been brought
                             tribution was made unto every man, `according as he had together. After all had eaten, the food remaining would
                             had need. But afterwards, when a murmuring  ar'ose,                                 be distributed among the `poor.       Thus the expression
                             because the widows of the Grecians were neglected in the                            "serving tables" acquired the meaning of "caring for
                             daily ministrations,' men  `were chosen (by the advice of                           the poor". What is more, the meaning of the expression
                             the apostles). who should make service of the poor their. "daily administration" must be the same  .as that of
                             .particular  business, to  .the end that the apostles might                         the expression "serving tables". Now the action signi-
                             continually give themselves to prayer, and to the ministry                          fied by these two expressions can be none other than that
                             of. the word."                                                                      consisting in caring for the poor. What pleads for this
                               That ive here have to do with the institution of a special                        is that also in other places of t'he New Testament  S.crip-
                             office for the care  of'.the poor is certain. Some however                          tures the term "administration" has the meaning of "car-
                             have questioned' this. It was held that what was here                               ing for the poor".
             /               brought into being is a temporary, extra-ordinary office,
                             that soon disappeared and the institution of which was                                However, soon after the disappearance of the apostles,
                             occasioned by the poverty of the church at Jerusalem.                               the function of the deaconry suffered a radical change.
                             They that addicted to this. view wrongly maintain that this                         The expression "serving tables" was shorn of its origi-
                             office is never again mentioned in Scripture. The greeting                          nal meaning and came to stand for an action consisting
                             of  .Paul to the Philippians was to all the saints in Christ                        in  givin`g assistance at the table of the Lord's Supper
                             Jesus .- . 
                                     - .
                                           `with the  bishops'and   tCte  demoas.  The con-                      and latter in assisting the priest in the administration of
                             clusive proof that we have to do  ,here with a permanent                            the mass. Now it is probable that from the beginningthe
                             institution are the requirements that  .Paul laid down for                          deacons assisted at the table of the Lord's supper as this
                             this office in I Tim. 3  :8-l& The deacons must be grave,                           supper was joined to the- common meal, so that the food
                             not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy                               remaining to be distributed among the poor came from
                             of filthy lucre, holding the mystery of the faith in pure                           both tables. But eventually the duty of the office of deacon
                             conscience  `.  ..-. What need would there have been of                             was being defined as consisting solely in assisting the
                             laying down these requirements if the office of deacon                              priest, engaged in administering the mass. In the sec-
                             was meant to be merely a temporary expedient.                                       ond century Ignatius wrote : "The deacons are no servants
                               Another view is that the deacons were  the. same as                               of food and drink but servants of God's church,`. In the
                             elders. The sponsors of this view point to  .Phillipus,and                          4th and  .5th centuries, the actual duties of the deacons
                             Stephen, two deacons, who were active as evangelists, as                            were considered to be: keeping order in the meetings for
                             appears from Acts 8 and Acts  6:13, 14. But this can                                public worship  ; barring recalcitrant members of the
                             serve as no proof for the contention that the  o&ice of                             church from the table of the `Lord; assisting the bishop
                             deacons was not a distinct office in the apostolic church.                          or presbyter in the performance of their  .duties.  And
                             Why should Philip and Stephen, men full of the Holy                                 with the rise of the papacy and the triumph of the con-
                             Spirit, not have explained the Word to hungry souls                                 ception of the mass as a sacrifice,. the  .bishop came to be
                             in quest of  hght? Administering to, the temporal regarded.-as the highpriest, the elders or presbyters as
                             necessities of the indigent is certainly `not the sole duty                         priests, and the deacons as common Levites. In the Ro-
                             of this office. Finally the sponsors of .the view now being                         man Catholic church this is still the `official view.
                             examined point also to the conduct of Paul and Barnabas,                              The Lutheran church knows of no  deacomy in the
                             consisting in their entrusting the collection held in the                           actual sense, though Luther  h,imself strongly pleaded
                             church at Antioch for the poor brethren in  Judea, to                               for its installation. "The deaconry," he wrote, "ought so
                             the elders. But this does not prove that these gifts were                           to exist, that. it  b,e. not a service for the reading of the
                             distributed among the poor by the elders. The gifts were                            Scriptures in the meetings for public worship, as is now
        I


                                       ` T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R  '                                           273

the case,. but for the distribution of the alms `of  .the          ing. Not in all these churches, however, was the deaconry
church among the poor; for unto this purpose the deacons           allowed to fully come to its own. The reason for this
were chosen, as appears from Acts  6.           But Luther's       was`the interference of the state.              G. M. 0.
wish never materialized. For such a deaconry no room
was  ever made, in that, in the Lutheran church, the care
/ of the poor as well as the government of the church
passed into the hands of the state.
   In the Collegialistic churches there are differing ranks          The matter now  engagin,c our attention is in what
of  deacons  : arch-deacons,  .deacons  and  subldeacons  ; but    sense it can be truly said that believers are delivered from
all  .are preachers. At the present time the name deacon           the law. It was explained that the command of God "do
is no longer used but that of second and third pastor.             and live" as coming to man, guilty and under the curse,
The name deacon is now being  monopolized.,by  the  so-            and dead through tresspasses and  ,,sin because he must
called non-churchly movement of our modern times, a                be, places him from the very nature of matters under
movement that combines philanthropy' and evangelization.           the necessity `of first delivering himself from `the curse
The personnel of the institution of mercy founded by               of the law by atonin,c for his sin and of meriting for
this movement are called deacons and deaconesses.                  himself life. How hopeless  the" plight of man under the
   It was exclusively the Reformed churches in France,             law. Consider that the atoning `for sin must be a work
.England,  Scotland, and in the Netherlands who under the          springing from the principle of life if it is to merit the
influence of Calvin, successfully strove for the recovery          approval of God.      It  is a work further. that involves
of the deaconry. Calvin was of the conviction that the             the doer of it in the task of bearing the burden of God's
pattern of the apostolic church-organization called for            wrath against sin. How then could mere man ever com-
the office of ministers of the  L Word, of elders, and of          mence freeing himself from `the law's curse if he be
deacons, the latter for the care of the poor. In his In-           spiritually dead and if his being without strength is a
stitute (I v  :3, 4) he wrote : "In the letter to the Romans       righteous judgment of God overtaking him because of an
mention-is made of two kinds of deacons. He who gives,             imputed guilt (the guilt of his first parents) to which
says Paul, do it in simplicity. He who dispenses mercy, do         he constantly adds. What is more, would not the doing
so cheerfully.    Whereas. it is certain that `he speaks. of       of this work also require of him that he first endow
public ministery of -the church, there must have been two          himself with life for a walk in the way of God's com-
different ranks of deacons. If I am not mistaken in my             mandments and for the bearing of the burden of divine
judgment, he refers in `the first clause. to such deacons          wrath.against sin? Could God endow man with initial
who distribute. alms and in the second clause to `such de-         life if the necessity from which man's death issued was
voted to the care of the poor and the sick; a. task per-           the righteous curse. of God? Impossible. How truly
formed by widows of which he makes `mention in the                 hopeless then the plight of that man under the law.
epistle to Timothy. For the only public office with which
woman might be vested was that instituted for the serv-              That. man, considered by himself, passed under the
ing of the poor. If we accept this, as it is altogether            aforesaid obligations in that very moment that the law
acceptable, we are driven to the conclusion that there were        under which he was created was transgressed by him, is
two kinds of  .deacons,  some of which distributed alms            evident. If God in justice could continue to  say. to man
among the poor and others of which cared for the poor".            after the fall "obey my voice"  "keep`  my law" and if
   Thus   Calvin was of the conviction that we find in             there can be no obedience without life and, I speak now
Scripture two kinds of deacons. At first the  "Gerefor-            of fallen man, without an atoning' for sin, and a freeing
meerde" churches of the Netherlands insisted, same as              from the curse, it follows that the command of God
Calvin, that there should be two kinds of deacons, one             "obey me" as imposed upon the depraved sinner, is tanta-
for the care of sick women. But the latter redactions              mount to the command "Live, and atone for thy sin, and
no more speak of two kinds of deacons, neither of nurses           free thyself from the curse of the law". But so far
for the sick.  The  synod of Dordrecht,  `1574;'  declared         `from the truth it is that fallen man can satisfy these
the visiting of the sick to be the task of  the.ministers  of      requirements, can keep the law of God, that he by nature
the Word and that it was dangerous  ,to appoint other              is exclusively continually engaged in transgressing the
persons for this work but that if they could not attend            law.
to this work alone, they' might avail themselves  of. the            What  the. fallen but elect mankind could not do for
assistance of the elders and deacons. Those smitten with           itself,  ,Christ  did for it. So identifying Himself with His
contagious diseases, might not be avoided. Being called            people, that their obligations became His, He by His per-
the ministers were in duty bound to go. Not called...but           fect satisfaction and obedience freed them from the curse
aware that there was need, they also had  to.go.                   of the law and merited for them eternal life. AS  vested
   It is thus the honor of the Reformed churches that              with His satisfaction and righteousness, they have the
they restored the deaconry in its original and true  mean-         pardon of all their iniquities and life everlasting.

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

  As has already been explained, there is. still. another        of the law : for by the works of the law shall no flesh be
sense in.which believers are freed from the law, the sense,      justified . . . .O foolish Galatians, who hath  b,ewitched
namely, that they are not under the law as to their              you,  that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes
walk and conduct, in that, having become dead to the             Jesus Christ bath been evidently set forth, crucified among
law by the body of Christ, they are married to another,          you ?" Gal. 2 :16; 3 :I.
even to Him who was raised  LIP  from the dead, that they          On account of the aforesaid action of these heretics,
should bring forth fruit unto God.       But this does not `Christ was indeed being crucified among the members of
mean that the people of God are lawless and that the             this  ,Christian  church. In  ,opposing  these errorists, Paul,
bounds of difference between the law  and. sin has been          availed himself of the strongest language possible, as
destroyed for them. The believer was delivered from              when he wrote, `(Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye
the law for the sole and very purpose that he might be           be circumcised; Christ shall profit you nothing. For I
delivered from sin and be fruitful in all good works. And        testify to every man that is circumcised, that he is a
the law of God is his rule of faith and conduct and is           debtor to. do the whole law.         Christ is become of no
written on the tables of his heart, so  ,that it has become      effect unto  you,  whosoever of  YOLI  are justified by the
to him the law of the spirit of life in the inward man and       law; ye are fallen from grace. Gal. 3 :l-3. The sentiment
therefore in truth the law of liberty. He therefore no           embodied in this language is true only a applied to those
longer needs the restraint and discipline of the law. In         Jews of Paul's day whose  bleing circumcised was repre-
this sense, he has been freed from it as to his conduct.         sentative of an attempt to render themselves meritorius
And from. the ceremonial law the church has been de-             in the sight of God through the works of the law. But
livered absolutely.    Christ is the sanctification of the       could we now allow these assertions of Paul to drive
believer as well as his righteousness. As so viewed, there       us  to the conclusion that  b'elievers  of. the Old Testament
is complete harmony between the apparently contradic-            were not profited by Christ because they had been cir-
tory statements found in the New Testament respecting            cumcised? Assuredly not.         These believers then were
the law. It ought to be plain now in what sense believers,       under the law and lived. But how could this be if they
the church, are freed from the law and in what sense the         by nature were dead through sin and if every one that
la& is still binding on them.                                    continueth not in all things which are written in the .book
  However, from a certain language found in both the             of the law to do them is cursed? These believers, being
Old Testament there arises still another difficulty. Con-. chosen in Christ unto life eternal, were just in the sight
sider that all that was said respecting the liberty of New       of God on the ground of an imputed- righteousness and
Testament believers. applies also at least essentially to        as just men also consciously lived by faith. And as just
Old Testament believers. The latter too, certainly were          men they were under the law and thus could not be cursed
in their day justified. freely by His grace through the          by the law as the law can only curse unjust men.
redemption that is in Christ Jesus  ; were become dead to          The question why they as just men were brought
the law, that they should  b,ring forth fruit unto God,          under .the law, has been fully answered in previous arti-
served' in  newness  of spirit, and not in the oldness of the    cles. The church had entered upon its career as a child
letter. Also they were brought into a condition of grace,        and thus had to be schooled unto  Christ.by the law. That
from which they lived as from a new principle  of,,life.         there might be knowledge of sin and that these just ones,
They, too walked spontaneously in the commandment of             as terrified by the  cursings of the law, might cast them-
Jehovah. Upon the tables  of. their heart the law was            selves upon the mercy of Jehovah and eventually into the
written. Christ was their life as well as he was the life        arms of Christ, the law entered in.  ,And so far from
of New Testament believers. If so, how then could the `the truth it is that the promise was made of non-effect
church at once be under the law, if, as Paul in his epistle      by the law, which was four hundred years. after, that
to the Galatians  afhrms  (Gal. 3  :lO), he who is of the the very purpose of the adding of the law was to train
works of the law is under the curse and thus perishes.           the. just to live more and more by the promise. And the
It is to be considered that in affirming this the apostle had    result of this adding was that the glory of. the promise
reference to Jews who maintained that man is justified           was enhanced.
by  the works of the law, so that the phrase "to be under          So then, it must not be said that the law was given that
the  works'of  the law" stands for an action consisting in       it might be used by the faithful as an instrument for the
turning -from Christ to the law as an instrument for the         establishing  of. righteousness. True, the Judiasts in the
establishing of one's own righteousness before God.' It          Christian church at Galatia had put it to this use. But
is the terrible heresy represented by this action that the       this was exactly their great sin.
apostle `combats  in. his epistle to the Galatians. This  is-      It also ought to be seen that though the true believers of
evident. Wrote he,  "I<nowing that a man is not justi-           the Old covenant were under the law, they were not the
fied  by the works -of the law, but by faith of Jesus Christ,    captives of the law's curse (except, of course by nature)'
even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be          and thus the cursed instead of the blessed of the Lord.
justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works           The Lord could not more curse His elect people (I speak


                                         T       H    E      S.TANDARD   .BEARER                                                   275

now not of the reprobated Israel) of the Old Dispensation                 wrote, "Now I say, that the heir, as long as he is a child,
than He could curse Christ, while the latter was bearing                  differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of
the  brden of God's wrath against sin. True, Christ was                   all ; but is under tutors and governors until the time ap-
made a curse for His people. But to be made a curse is                    pointed by the father. Even so we, when we were chil-
one; to be  cursd  by the Almighty is another.                            dren, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
  But had not the believers of the Old covenant to  ble re-               but when the fulness of the time was come, God sent
deemed from the curse of the  law and if so, were they                    forth his Son, to redeem them that were under the law . ."
not the captives of. the law's curse and thus  iri their                  Gal.  4:1-4. That the apostle here had reference primarily
capacity of offsprin,v of the first Adam the  ddmned  of                  to the ceremonial law, is- evident from the ninth and tenth
God? They were this by nature and not only they but                       verses,  " . . . how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly
we all. Says Paul, "Christ  hat11 redeemed not merely                     elements,  wheremito ye desire again to be in bondage  ?
believers but                                                             Ye observe days, and months, and times and years".
                  us   (all believers. The entire church) from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. Gal. 3 :13.              And in the following chapter, the argument of the apostle
Hence, the difference between the Old and the New Testa-                  turns on circumcision.     Yet it is questionable whether
ment  ,chur& is  not of course that the former in contra-                 even in these sections of `this epistle (to the Galatians)
distinction from the latter was by nature under the curse                 the apostle had before his mind exclusively the  cere-'
of the law. All (we speak now of the elect of God and                     monial law. Certain it is that the entire law-the  deca-
not of the others) were under this curse and from this                    logue and the ceremonial law-was cursing the trans-
curse all had to be and were redeemed. Now it was on                      gressors. Thus from the  ctirse of the whole law Christ
the! ground of the sacrifice that  ,Christ without fail.  was             had to deliver.                                `.
to bring in the fulness of time that the believers of the                   But to return. As was said, the church of the Old
old covenant were pardoned, restored to the favor. of                     Dispensation was under the ceremonial and civil law of
Jehovah and saved.        Rightly considered therefore,  the              Moses. The Christian church: is not. Here we have to
church, as it was ever the bride of Jehovah, the elect of                 do with one difference that is absolute. And this differ-
God, was no more under the curse of the law in the Old                    ence springs from the circumstance that the pre-Christian
Dispensation than  in the New.                                            in distinction from the Christian church Of this gospel
  What then may  b,e the actual difference between  ?he                   period was spiritually a child and therefore in the words
condition of life of the church in the Old  Dispensaticz                  of Paul was kept under the law, shut  up  unto the faith
and that of the Church in the New.                This is an alto-        which should afterwards be revealed. The law entered
gether `different question than the question, "What is the                every sphere, and spread  ,itself  over every province  qf
difference between the church by nature and the church                    the life of the Israelitish nation and in each province to&'
as the elect of God". The answer to this latter  questi,on                hold of all the ends of enterprise and  endiavor and  this
is : The (true) church by nature is dead through sin and                  left nothing to human discretion. Wherever the Israelite
under the curse. The church as the elect of God is with-                  turned; he encountered the law ; in the field, in the home
out sin, as Christ is ever its wisdom,  justificatipn,  sancti-           and on the way and in the temple. The entire worship
fication and complete redemption.             It is  tot be borne  .in    at the sanctuary was the product of the law. In agree-
mind then that the two terms. "church by nature" and                      ment with its nonage (minority) the church of the Old
"the church in the Old Dispensation" are not synoymous.                   Dispensation, came unto the mount that might be touched,
The former term signifies the aggregate of believei-s of                  and that  blurned  with fire, unto blackness and. darkness,
both. dispensations, while the latter denotes only the  be-               and tempest, and the voice of words. It stood, this  pre-
iievers  of the  Old Dispensation.                                        Christian church, before the closed door of the sanctuary
  The question, "What is the actual difference between                    of God. But as. to New Testament believers, they  have
the condition of life of the church in the Old Dispensa-                  come to heavenly realities and thus to a most marvelous
tion and that of the church in the  N&w" has already been. revelation of truth, mercy and redeeming love.                        They
partly answered in previous article. Hence, a  few  ad-                   have come unto mount Zion, the heavenly, with  its sanc-
ditionai  obser+at:ons will now suffice:. Whereas the dis-                tuary now accessible to all  .His people, as they all have
tinction-is now  "o'etween   tjze  &z&F,  in' the  bid  Dispms~~          been made kings and  priests unto their God. They have
tion and  .fhe  cFzu~&  i.1~  t%te  New  Di.spematioqz,`   and thus       come  td the city of. the  Iiving  dad,-.the heavenly Jerusa-.
not:  between  the  McHugh by itself  and the  c&&!z  (7s  thk            Eem, to  an innumerable  company"`df'  angels with whom
elect  of  Go&  ihe decalogue (the law of the ten command-                they have been recdncilecl in  .Christ  ; they have come to
ments) must be left out of consideration; when formu-                     the general assembly of redeemed in heaven, to the church
lating our answer and the reply must be made to read:                     df the firstborn, whose names are in heaven. They have
In the .Old Testament Dispensation the -church was under                  come -unto God the Judge of all; to the spirits of just
the'ceremonial  and civil -law mediated by Moses. From                    men made perfect; to Jesus the Mediator of the New
this law the church was delivered absolutely.                 It was      covenant; to the blood of sprinkling that  speaketh  of
this. law that the apostle had before his mind when he                    better things than that of Abel. To these realities of  LIP


276                                        T H E '   S T A N D A R D  BEARER                                                   -

 speakable glory, to this marvelous revelation of His won-         tations of the one covenant: an old and a new, a good
 drous love and saving grace have they come.                       and a better. Now it is exactly the things that the terms
   As has already been pointed out, there are still other          02d  and  ne-d, good and  better  stand for that form the clif-
 differences between the state of the church of the Old            ference between the state of the church of the Old Dis-
 and-that of the New Testament. Though the true people             pensation and the state of the church of the New. The
 of God of old could not be cursed by Him, Israel, the             church of the Old Dispensation was in an old covenant
 church, nevertheless became the province of  a most re-           established on gqocl promises. But eventually there  was
markable and typical demonstration of the operation of             brought into being a new covenant established on better
the curse of the law and of the anger of God against sin.          promises.
The reason for this was that  -all the dreadful curses of the        Questions arise here. What were the good promises?
law eventually materialized. The New Testament church              What were the better promises? Wherein did the oldness
is no such province of the typical operation of the curse of       of the Old covenant consist? And wherein did the new-
God. But this curse,to be sure still operated in the church.       ness of the new covenant consist?
Also this phase of our subject has `been  fplly explained            As to the good and better promise (promises), here
in preceding articles. It was pointed out that  in agree-          again it must be borne in mind that rightly considered
ment with the difference last mentioned, it is remarkabde          there was but one promise, same as there is but one
that nowhere in the epistle of the apostles do we come             covenant,  one. Christ and one inheritance. And the con-
upon a lamentation, "For we are consumed by thine                  tent of the one promise is the  Feavenly.  But this one
anger and by thy wrath are we troubled (Ps.  90)) or               promise was good in so far as in, the first instance it
the lamentation, "How  bath the  Lord covered the daugh-           turned upon the earthly replica of the heavenly, to wit,
ter of Zion with a cloud in his anger." The reason for             the earthly Canaan. But this  same promise is better, in
this was given.                                                    that, in the final instance it turns upon the heavenly. The
   It is exactly these differences that form the evidence          sacred writer spoke of promises in that he had before his
that. Christ delivered all His people from the curse and           mind' the various. parts, to say, of which all fullness that
obligations of  .the  whole  law.                                  dwelleth in  ,Christ bodily is comprised.
   Let us now in this connection examine a Scripture                 As to the newness of the new covenant, it consisted, ac-
found in the prophesy of Jeremiah. It reads, "Behold the           cording to Jeremiah, in the law being written in the hearts
days come, saith the Lord, that I Will make a new                  of His people. What is the meaning of this language?
covenant    w i t h   tlie  h o u s e    of Israel,    and with    Consider that the contrast here is certainly not the repro-
the house of Judah:             not according to the cove-         bated Israel of the  Old Dispensation and the elect Israel
nant that I made with their fathers in the clay                    of the new. The Scripture we now examine turns on
that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the              the true church, so that the meaning of the language
land of  E,ypt; which my covenant they brake, although             employed by the prophet cannot be that in the Old  I%-
I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord. But this               pensation the house of Israel was devoid of the life  0;
shall be the covenant that I shall make with the house of          regeneration in that those who in that day belonged  tc
Israel; after  thes2 days, saith the Lord I will put my law        this house had not the  law of God written in their in-
ik their inward parts, and write it in their hearts  ; and         ward parts. The two states upon which this utterance of
will be their God and they shall bxe my people. And they           the prophet turns is not, that of death and life but that
shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every              of spiritual minority and majority. And the minority of
man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall             the  t&e church in the Old Dispensation consisted  exact!y
all know me, from the least of them  u&o the greatest of           in this that it had not the  law-theWord of God-written
them, saith the Lord: for I Will forgive their iniquity,           in its inward parts. The law in the Scripture now being
and I will remember their sins no more."- Jer. 31  :31-34.         studied signifies the entire Mosaic legislation and in par-
   It will  b,e noticed that mention is here made of two           ticular the  ceremonial_law.  Now the prophesy inhering
.cove<ants  : the one made with the fathers and the new.           in this law was little understood. The body that this law
There are more such passages in Holy Writ in which                 as executed forshadowed, the house of Israel had not
mention is made of two covenants, the old and the new.             before its eye. How true this is has already been made
In the epistle to the Hebrews the new covenant is called           plain in former articles. The church arrived at the  .en-
a better covenant established on better promises. Heb. 8 16,.      trance of the gospel age without even understanding that
   On the other hand, Scripture plainly teaches that the           the promised Saviour to whose appearance it was looking
covenant is one and eternal. Said the Lord to Abraham,             forward was the true Lamb, Who by His suffering and
"And I will  estabaish my covenant between me and thee             death was to atone for the sins of His people. Thus when
and thy seed after thee in their generation for an ever-           finally the church was brought face to face with Christ,
lasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed           and heard Him say of Himself that He was the Good
after thee." Gen. 17 :7 : What the prophet Jeremiah then           Shepherd who lays down His life for  His sheep, it knew
had before his mind was two realizations and  manifes-             not wherefo He spake. Of these and similar  announce-


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                                                                                           .'              :     . .       -          .:; .:., ..,,: .: _:. :- .,.
ii:.:    ;                                                                                                                      , . .                  _'             I
                                         is


                                                  .T$E   `STA'N:D.`ARD   .BEAR-ER                                                                            a 7 7

         ments the disciples took no notice. The thought incorpo-               the least to the greatest  and have no need  .that any man
              rated in these statements was too far removed fiom the            teach  them. For all have  the. anointing. Yet even -now
              channels of thought .in which their minds were moving.            this is true only, in principle (We have respect now to
         When%hey  saw the Saviour hanging from the cross, their                the church on earth). Not until the church will have
              amazement and bewilderment knew no bounds. What they-             appeared with Christ in glory on the new earth, will the
         had set their hearts upon was the earthy. What He                      word of Jeremiah have been fully realized. The church
              preached was the  Iieavenly.  What they. expected. Him            of the old  covenant as compared with the church of the
              to do is to restore again to Israel the kingdom as they uew,   was in a state of nonage. God therefore took them
              knew it and thus deliver from outward oppression. that            by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. But
         .they  miglit again be in the possession of the evi-                   the same is  true in a sense of the church of the New Dis-
              dence that they were His people and He their God. But             pensation as compared with the church as it will once
              what He had come to do, is to deliver not merely  ,fyom           be when that which is perfect is come. For,  iri the words
         outward  blondage but from the curse of the law  by which              of  Faul, we know in part, and  we. prophesy in part.
         this  b'ondag6'and  all the nameless woe that is the portion           But when that which is'perfect is come, then that which
         df the damned was'  being  gendered, that they might be                is in part shall be done away with. The church, accordirig
         truly, everlastingly and  superbly  free. And of the magni-            to the reasoning of this. same apostle, is still a child,
         tude of this task, He only had understanding, as upon                  speaks as a child, thinks-as a child, but when it will be-
              Him the Spirit of the Lord rested.                                come a man, it will put away childish things. For now
                Because the house of Israel was without understand-             we see through a glass, darkly (the word of God in
         ing of  the true import of the law, it served not in the `which the church beholds the-glory of God in the face
         newness but  in'the oldness of  the letter. Yet this must              of Christ) but then face to face' (the church then will
         not be  understood in the absolute sense. In the hearts of             have Christ as the direct object of its vision and see Him
         Old Testament believers the law  ,was indeed written. But              as He ,is. with -a glorified eye). Hence, now we know in
         in this law they meditated with minds immature as the                  part  ;-but then shall we know even as we are known. I
         Spirit was not to lead into truth. As compared  with the -Car. 13  :lO-12.
         church of the gospel age, upon whom the Spirit of Christ                  The church, being  yet a child, is still far.from perfect.
         has been poured out, the  house of Israel was not serving              The house of Israel therefore is still bewailing its sins
         in spirit and  iti truth.     To it the law was an outward before the high  majesty  of  Go& Believers are  ,still  ton-
         yoke and thus irk&me. The tendency therefore to depart                 fessing that they all deserve, should He enter into  juclg-
         from it  was. strong. For their was lack of knowledge,                 ment with them, by reason of their great transgressions,
         and thus. great  ne&d for admonition. The one  had con- to be cut off and banished from His presence. But. they
         stantly -to  say to  other, Know the Lord.                             also see with clearer vision, that the- Lord is merciful
                It is  not  to'be  &pposed however that the ignorance of        to them for Christ's sake, and forgives them their  tres-
         the house of Israel sustained no relation to its carnality. .p&ses, for  &hich they heartily repent.
         Ignorance here, too, as it ever is, was spiritual blindness,             Being still imperfect, believers of this New  Dispensa-
         a defect of the heart as well as of the mind. What the %io,n  are still in the need of the law as a schoolmaster to
         church therefore was  indeed  in need of  was  snfactifying            Christ (the law of the ten commandments), and as a, rule
         illuminatiqn,  instruction applied to the heart, and thus a            of faith and coriduct-the law in its present form. And
         Christ with. power to cleanse as well as with power to                 the church will never be without law;  not even in glory.
         teach. To the two of His disciples who went to  a village              For eternal life is to know God and to walk according to
         called  Emmaus,  tht? resurrected Christ. said,  "0; fools and         His will in the way of His command. But what is now
         slow qf heart to believe  all that the:prophets  have spoken."         still outward to a degree will then be altogether in the
         Spiritual ignorance  ,is at bottom carnality. We see this              inward  plaits of the church. That will spell perfect liberty.
         with the disciples of the Lord.                                        And  perfect liberty is perfection.                            G. M. 0.
         The result of this lack of spiritual understanding on
         the part of the house of Israel  was that- also  the. true.                                  OUR SHEP.HERD
         church forsobk the. way of the L&-d's  commandments and                   Loud hosanna we sing unto Christ bnr `Redeemer !
         thus broke the' covenant that the `Lord in respect to the                 Ev'ry  morning but showeth anew His worth.
         cdmtiandments  .had  made with  @em.                                      Noon and ev'ning more clearly  revealing'His  goodness,
                                                                                  For His tiercy encircles and fills the earth.
         ., But  `in-  thti:.ftilness  of time the Lord put His law in the
         inward parts of the people and wrote it in their hearts.                  Who can  measure  the-heights of His wondrous compassion
                                                                                   Or the breadth of His infinite, matchless love?
         The Spirit  came..        And  all the  triith, respecting the           Who is able to fathom the depths of His mercy,
         heavenly realities  represented  by the  sacrifices  and other            Or the blessings He showers us from above?
         ceremonies, was made to dwell richly in the heart of                     0 Thou Shepherd of Israel, Thee  w.e-will  follow!
         the  churchj then  w$en  eyes  w&e  opened`and,  minds en-               Lead  us, guard us, and keep  us from ev'ry snare;
                                                                                  Call us, when into dangerous places we're straying;
         lightened and hearts purged. They all know now, from                     Keep us in Thy. beneficent, matchless care.


                                . ,        __`.-        ,.




280:                           a  THE  ,,ST.A'NDARD.   B E A R E R

                   0
   Over  Vr&n  en  Antwoorden   of                               race. But this assumption is palpably incorrect. This
                                                                 does not hold in our daily vernacular. If one expecting
            Nog  lEtins  Veqgelijken                             a number of guests, asks his.  .servant  whether all have
                                                                 arrived, one certainly does not mean everybody. And
  Het is nu. eenmaal  niet anders, dat ge het niet kunt          when one says that they are all true to their confession,
nalaten, om  op anderen te  letten., Voor we het  weten          it is evident that this "all" can only refer to the members
zitten we met onze gedachten in het verleden en snuffelen        of one or more churches. Neither does it hold in con-
de geschiedenis nog eens door. En ik kan  u verzekeren,          nection with the language of Scripture.              To maintain
dat er niets is, dat  u meer opscherpt, dan het  .verleden,      that it does, would be equivalent to making Paul a Uni-
vooral  als  ge een geschiedenis meegemaakt  .hebt.  We          versalist in the most absolute sense of the word, teach-
doen  we1 in `spare time' kalm en aandachtig de geschiede-       ing that  all men are actually saved. Does he not say that
nis na te lezen. `Lest we forget'.                               all are justified in Christ.  Remans- 5  :18  ; and that in
Neen, niet bij het oude blijven stilstaan, want  dan  zoudt      Christ all shall be made alive, 1  Car.. 15  :22? But it is
ge het contact met het  heden verliezen en  dat moet niet.       perfectly clear from other  p:assages  in the Epistles of
Trouwens dat kan ook niet, omdat ge niet alleen  op de           Paul that he was not a Universalist, cf. Rom. 2 :5-11;
wereld zijt. We  hebblen er beslist behoefte  aan om den         1 Cor. 6,.:9; Gal. 3 :`19-21. Now, of course, a passage like
blik rondom ons  heen te laten dwalen.                           I Tim.  2:6 and others of a similar nature must be in-
                                                                 terpreted in the light of the general teachings of  Paul
  Dit geldt natuuilijk allereerst, in  verband  met de  Ker-     respecting the atonement, which do not favor the idea
kelijke wereld. Een Gereformeerd mensch' ziet de Kerk            of universal atonement, Acts  20  :28; Rom. 8 :32-35  ; Eph.
gaarne. in zuivere  banen  geleid en  ,verblijdt er  zich in     5 :25-27. Moreover, the context  should% be consulted.
wanneer het haar  goed gaat. Ook dan,  wanneer. hij, wat         When Paul says in Rom. 3  :23, 24 :  "For all have sinned,
betreft Kerkverband, niet tot denzelfden groep.  behoorencl,     and fall short of the glory  o$ God  ; being justified freely
tech ziet, dat men de Waarheid mint, er  voor  strijdt en by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ
haar verdedigt.                                                  Jesus," he. evidently means by all btoth Jews and Gentiles,
  ,We  zullen dan ook maar direct  op de zaak  afga-in en        cf. verse  9. And so in 1 Tim. 2  :6 it appears from the
ingaan, welke we op het oog hebben.  .In "The Banner,,           verses  1 and 2 that the apostle refers to all classes of
van 7 February laien we onder anderen een antwocrd  011          men of whatever. rank they may be, such as kings and
een ingezoriden vraag, waarvan de  naam  van den vrager          those that are in high places. This is the `interpretation
niet werd vermeld. We  weten   natuurlijk  niet waarom           adopted by many of the best commentators. We find
men dat doet,  schoon we altijd gaarne  willen   weten   wie     no fault with the minister who adopts this view'.
wat te vragen heeft. Als een goede regel geldt, om in                                                        L .  
het  publiek  zooveel mogelijk  all& in het  licht te zetten.                                                         ~~ERRHOF;F
Doch dat is bijzaak.  Hoofdzaak: is de vraag werd  be-             Vrij vertaald luidt het  als volgt.
antwoord en daar is het mij tenslotte enkel en alleen om              &de   Verklaring van  f`allen'!  in. I. Tim.  2:6
te  doen. Nu-kan ik  wel-even   zeggen;dat  hij, die de vraag
beantwoord heeft in het onderdeel van mijn  thema  `(nag           De Vraag werd gedaan welk  recht een leeraar  heelt,
eens vergelijken) ook noodwendig in bespreking zal  ko-          met het aanhalen van I Tim. 2 :6, "die zichzelven gegeven
men.                                                             heeft tot een rantsoen voor  allen",  te zeggen, dat  a2Zsn
  Dat zit  266.  We hebben in dit antwoord en ook de             niet iedereen beteekent,  doch alleen de uitverkorenen  ?
vraag te  doen met dat  deel  der waarheid, zooals het door      Hier wordt de vraag  aan toegevoegd: "Is de  vertal'ng
ons wordt beleden en door anderen ontkend.                       verkeerd" ? Vergun me allereerst  te zeggen,  .dat  mij uit
 Laat ons  echter  de vraag met  bet antwoord in hun             vertrouwde bron werd medegedeeld, dat de betrokken
geheel  wee.rgeven.                                              leeraar niet heeft  -gezegd, dat het woord  allen  in de  aan-
                                                                 gehaalde tekst beteekent de uitverkorenen, maar alle
   Proper Interpretation of "all" in I Timothy 2:6               soorten van menschen  ; en  vervolgens,  dat- de vertaling
  The question is asked what right a minister, in quoting        volkomen juist is. De vrager schijnt van de gedachte uit
I Tim. 2  :6, "Who gave himself a ransom for  &," has to         te gaan, dat het woord  &en, wanneer het gebruikt  wordt
say that "all" does not mean everybody, but only the elect.      in,verband  met menschen, altijd  iedereen  beteekent, dat
To this the query is added: "Is the translation wrong?"          is, ieder individue van het  menschelijke-geslacht..   Doch
Permit me to say first of all  .that I am reliably informed      deze veronderstelling is te dooriichtig om de juiste te
that the minister concerned did not say that the word            zijn. Dit is zelfs niet zoo in het dagelijksch  spraakge-
"all" in the passage meant the elect,`but all kinds of men ;     bruik. Indien iemand een aantal  gasten verwacht en  zijn
and furthermore that the translation is perfectly correct.       knecht  vraagt of zij  allen zijn gekomen, dan bedoelt  hij
The inquirer seems to proceed on the assumption that             zeer zeker- niet iedereen. En wanneer iemand zegt,  dat
the word "all," when used with respect to men, always            allen  getrouw zijn  aan hun belijdenis, dan is het  duide-
means  everybsody,  that is, every individual of the human       lijk, dat  dit.nZZnt  alleen ziet op de  leden van een of  meer


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              2 8 3

                                                                 They seek a heaven, be it the happy hunting grounds,
                                                                 sensual paradise of the Moslems where  houris are the
                                                                 delights of the faithful, Nirwana, Utopia, "dolce far
                                                                 niente" of non-existence or the soul's sleep of eternity,
   I do not think that many men,  or, devils for that            absolute annihilation, or what other fantastic images `of
 matter,  wo~~lcl  object to the general statement that the      the sick brain of wicked man might paint and relish.
 world needs salvation.                                            Man seeks salvation.
   There is an  unsafe side to living, existing, being.            And that  is also his wisdom.
   Things are so horribly unsafe that it  w&-e really better       Wisdom is the way, the best way, which one chooses
 for  innumerabsle  hosts of men and angels if they had          unto the  best possible end.
never existed.                                                     And all the gifts, talents, power, intellect and ingenuity
  `.Things  are in such a state that it really is not the        of the world were employed in the finding of and the
 Church of  Jesus  Christ alone, which calls this globe the
                                                          _*     walking on the way of salvation which would  haply  lead
 valley of tears.                                                to their heavens.
   And it is getting worse by the day.                             Man hungers and thirsts and yearns for happiness. The
   The time is  .at hand when men shall seek. death and          ever recurrent wailing  cry, resounds in heartrending ca-
 fail; they shall expressly blaspheme the Name  blecause         dences of gloom, misery and despair:  `W'o will  sheti  LIS
 of great, scorching heat, because of  cains and sores,. and     any good ?" And as many times as this. cry is heard;
 because  of the plague of hail that will.  fall on their de-    so many times there is also an answer.: And the masses
 fenseless heads. (Rev.  169, 11, 21.)                           of the podr  worldlingss  stagger onwards, nay, down-
   Things are in such a  ,state  a& always  have been that       wards in pursuit of$he countless fata nsorgagza  of pseuclo-
 from time immemorial  n?en  alld  devils have endeavoured       salvation.
 to be "on the safe side". They sought a kind of sal-              For they never enter the pearly gates!
 vation.                                                           Because in the wisdom of God the world by  .wisclom
 Witness your countless relief-committees,  relief-              knew not God! (I Cor.  1:21a.)
 boards, relief-programs, conservation camps, emergency            T&s short sentence expresses the horrible condition of
 cotimittees,  flood-control, quaranties, embargoes, safety      the world.
 campaigns, pacts among nations, naval-ratios,  world-             To know God, behold, it is the 
 courts. This list  coulcl be trebled or quadrupled.                                                  sw~m~~nz  bo-mzm,   the
                                                                 highest good for man. That is salvation, real salvation
   Aizd although all these refer to the physical side of         for sinful man.
 life exclusively, let  no. one think that the psychical side      Salvation, it is the satisfying of the deepest need. And
 of. man, is overlooked  b,$ the world. Hosts of men and the deepest need for the creature that is intelligent, that
 women are submitting to the promised panacea `of psy-           is moral and rational, the creature that is created in the
 choanalysis or other psychopathological gestures of  Soul-      image of God, is that he knows God. That is  life eternal.
 salvation.  Because the auto-diagnosis of the world is            Therefore the Lord has made foolish the wisdom of
 that the bddy is sick and the soul weary. Indeed, their         the world.
 harp is turned to mourning and their organ into the voice
 o$ them  that.weep.                                               It is God's choice of the most  .perfect   means  to the
                                                                 highest possible purpose to show that the world by wis-
   And because the world knows that it needs salvation of        dom could never attain unto  real salvation, that is, to
 a kind, it always has submitted, nay, sometimes has             know Himself. So that even the terrible wailing .of a
 eagerly grasped the coat of countless  "saviours".     And      thoroughly miserable world that grew weary of their
 the shout is heard : Viva Mussolini ! or : Hoch Hitler,  der    unceasing quest for happiness might shew that God is
Fuehrer! The saviours are coming unto their kingdoms.            the only good for man.
Sometimes~  salvation is sought by and through im-                 Because, dear reader, let  LIS  always remember, that
 personal salvatores : education, socialism,  com'munism,        the world purposely rejected and rejects the only possible
 nazi-ism, fascism, with their  rest?aint by law, power of       way unto salvation. And that is true whether you find
 arms, muzzling `of. free speech and free press ; drazy dis-     the world `steeped in  darkiless  of heathendom or that
 tribution of riches for all, birthcontrol, or even race' `same world in the courts of Christendom's temple. In
 suicide, philosophy, be it either  the' contemplating type      darkness of heathendom is the light  of. God's revelation
 of dreamy speculations or the stern, rigourous species of       in nature.     And wherever and `whenever that light
 self-abnegation and stoicism. . .                               would shine, the world would take that truth of God
   And they all have their heaven of heavens in view.            and `hold it in unrighteousness. When `God would shout
 The world is really not original, neither indeed can  ble.      from a thousand hills and sing to them in the. sweet mur-


II.

        284                                  T H E   STAND.ARD   B E A R E R
I
        muring  bi-001~s  of His Godhead and power, they would         the world and her appraisal of the Cross and its preach-
        harden their hearts and say: That  is not, wisdom but          ing. The Lord employs their vocabulary and He does so
        folly. We refuse to thank Him and praise Him. And              to show  up  their folly. It is as though God would say:
        they turned again to the fourfoptecl animals and their         You  call My  wa,y of salvation foolishness? Well, by
        gods of  s&e and brass and cry out their  .misery and          this folly I save to the uttermost.      That which  you
        gloom. So that the night would hear their lament: Oh,          trample in the mud will be the cause of eternal singing.
        our god, hear us and deliver!                                  Loud hosanna's will be sung because of this foolishness.
          When we saw the world in the courts of God's temple          When angels and men and regenerated creation shall see
        and when we  t&cl them of the only Way, they would             the lamb of God, standing as slain in the midst of the
        grow more bitter than the heathen.         For they have       throne of God, they shall make heaven musical forever  I
        stoned the prophets and crucified the Lord. The wisdom            For the foolishness of preaching is the preaching of
        of the world, the best man could offer in the sagacity of      the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
        the Greek and judicious talent of  the'  Roman and the            He knows God. He is the Prince of Life, of Life
        selfrighteous purity of the Sanheclrin, ruled of the wis-      eternal.
        dom of God. And their ruling was : Crucify Him! Cruci-
        fy Him, even where we find no guilt in Him.        Crucify.       And in order to give that Life unto the throng of the
       ,Him, even where the dreams of the night warns'me that          elect, He came on earth and took upon Himself. to do
        I must have nothing to do with Him or  agairist Him.           all what was necessary in order that the children might
       Crucified He `must be. And they spit upon the Face of           b e   s a v e d .
        the most  GloriouS  One.                                          And the central theme of that gigantic labor was  the
          Since then they have  co&ml&sly counted the Blood            suffering of eternal death agony on the accursed tree of
        impure  allcl have trampled on  th$$Son of  God's right        Golgotha. The Christ of God, calling out of the depth
       hand. They have expressed with their vote that  MUSSO-          of despair in deepest darkness and horrible gloom: My
        1% and Hitler, that Socialism and what have you will           God, My God, Why hast  Thou  forgotten  .Me? Behold
       provide a sweeter heaven for the poor human race than           it is the Way. It is the way of salvation. It is the way
       Christ could  ever   prep&e.                                    out of eternal death to life eternal.
          And if a handful of men were found that  heardthe               And when the world beholds that cross with its suffer-
        clarion call of the heavens, and if that handful would         ing Servant of Jehovah and when they see all the horror
       go out of their usual way to enter the pearly gates, they       of the vicarious Lamb of God when they hear the Divine
       would give them cruel  niockings and  scourgings, yea           interpretation: This is the way out of all your death and
       moreover bonds and imprisonments. They we're counted            agony, when they see all this and the Gospel story is
       as sheep for the slaughter. Tliey murdered the Church           fully told,  theq they laugh and  scream  of hilarity. It
       o f   J e s u s . .                                             is too funny for words ! Is that the  .Salvator  of the
                                                                       world? Would  you  have  us  believe that this miserable
          But God by His wonderful wisdom made the wisdom              spectacle will give us the much longed for Utopia? Will
       of the world  f,olly.                                           you have us believe that the Man Who calls Himself a
          And  you  'see  it on every side. Old gods are cast aside    worm could possibly save us? Surely your preaching is
       for new ones.                                                   detestable and the height of folly.
          But the wailing cry remains: Who will  sliew  us any            But  we believe.
       good? Poor, deluded, horrible world! Saviours of the               And believing, we are saved to the uttermost, for by
       world, you are fools ! It is the ruling of the Judge.           Him we are going to God.
         Wisdom of the world, coming to superlative glory in              Ah, when the light of the Gospel has shined in our
       thy unforgettable trio Socrates, Plato and Aristotles,          hearts, then, oh, then we see it. For then we receive, il-
       the  admitted  leaders of profound salvation-thinking : God     lumination of the knowledge of the glory of God in the
       calls you fools !                                               face of Jesus Christ.
          Who is he that would have Athens wed the Church                Good Friday. Beneath the awful Cross, through the
       of Christ?  Methinks, the dizziest height of folly!             darkest gloom of the outpouring of God's wrath we
         Nay, but this is the wisdom of God: He saves them             rest in eternal security.    The Lamb of God bore the
       that believe by the foolishness of preaching.                   just curse away.
       There is then. a way to receive the deepest  need  of             And the light of a new day is beaming and bieckons  us.
       my poor sin-torn heart. There is then a way to come to          We see the Sun in the blue firmament of the Covenant
       the knowledge of God, that is, real salvation.                  faithfulness.
         The foolishness of preaching,  This does not mean               Hosanna, hosanna in the highest  1
       and cannot mean. that the preaching of God is really              It charms my soul to the praising of God's eternal love!
       foolish.     We read here a concession, an allowance. to                                                          G. V.


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                2 8 7

ook  degenen,  die  we1 uitverkoren zijn maar tot  nag toe
buiten de gemeenschap der geloovigen staan, ook geroepen
worden  tot het heil huns Gods. Maar, ten tweede, moet                               To  afipoikt  wto them  that  ~nowr~~  in  Zion,  to  give
Gods Woord  onvervalscht  worden  voorgesteld opclat zij,                          unto them  bcahy for ashes,  the  oil of  JOY  f  01
                                                                                   naoa&ng,  the  garment of praise  for  the  spirit   of
die geen deel he&en aan het he2 cles Heeren, alszooclanig                          heavilzess;    that they  might `be  called  trees  of
geopenbaard morgen  worden,   zich mogen  afhduden  van                            righteousness, the  planting   of  the Lord that  he
                                                                                   might be  glorified.
de gemeente, opdat de groei der  kinderen Gods niet  ver-
hinderd worde door een vleeschelijk element dat meer en            The  l&ophet  here depicts the beauty, joy and consecra-
meer de overhand zou krijgen,  b:eslag   zou  nemen op          tion of the church of God. There will  b,e beauty, oil  of
gansch het instituut der kerk, waardoor de prediking des        joy and a garment of praise given to them that mourn in
Woords verstoord zou  worden,  tengevolge waarvan het           Zion. The language employed is symbolic and points to
volk des Heeren ZOU kwijnen  van wege gebrek  aan geeste-       the typical priest of the Old Covenant, to the robes in
lijk  voedsel  om onmogelijk tot uiting te kunnen komen         which he officiated before the face of Jehovah. For
van hun geloof. Dit mag zeker altoos voor de aandacht           Aaron and his sons  were:made, so we read, coats of fine
worden  gehouden. klle toegevendheid moet b&list  ver-          linen of woven  work and a mitre of fine linen, and goodly
meden. Zeker moet de prediking des evangel&  zich ten           bonnets of  fine  linen, and linen breaches of fine  twinecl
doe1 stellen,  niet om  allen.  binnen  de gemeentelijken       linen, and a girdle of fine twined linen, and blue, and
kringen trachten te  halen,  maar zeer beslist om ook  som-     purple, and scarlet, of needlework; as the Lord com-
migen buiten te  houden. Echter,  d e  verkoncliging   cles manded  M.oses. Then there was the oil of holy ointment
Wbords is niet het eenigste midclel der gemeente gegeven        with  tihich Aaron and his sons were anointed, that they
om  aan hare  roeping  te  volcloen. Ook de tucht moet  ge-     might minister unto the Lord in the priests office. A
handhaafd. Allereerst, ten opzichte van het  volk  Go'ds        holy oil it was that might be  Eoured  on no man's flesh
dat slechts in beginsel vernieuwd is en geduriglijk mdet        save that of the priests.
vermaand tot een nieuw en goclzalig leven. Maar ook ten            These mourners in Zion then are priests.  "But ye shall
opzichte van het  vleescheiijk  element  `clat met Gods volk    be named the priests of the Lord," said the  prohpet  to
organisch opgroeit. Momen  die  tot  rijpe openbaring van       these mourners, "men shall call you the ministers of our
hun ongoddeli jken toestand, dan  moeten zij gebannen           God:. . . Being priests, they will be vested in the priestly
worclen  buit&  de gemeenschap der geloovigen. Dit moet.        robe and anointed with  t&e holy oil.
De gemeente die  aan deze  roeping voldoet, zal niet  be-          But why do these priests mourn? Why are their spir-
schaamd uitkomen, hoe klein haar  getal  ook zij, want          its heavy? And what meaneth those ashes  ? The Lord
God is getrouw. Hij zal Zijne waarheid nimmer  krenken          hath covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in His
maar eeuwig  Zijn verbond gedenken. Dat geve de Heere           anger,  and cast down from heaven unto earth the beauty
ons als Protestantsche Gereformeerde  Kerken.                   of Israel: swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob,
                                                                thrown down in his wrath the strongholds of the daugh-
                                           H. Veldman.          ter of Judah, polluted the kingdom, cut off in His fierce
                                                                anger all the horn of Israel, bent His bow like an enemy,
                       NoTHeE                                   stood with His right hand  as an adversary, and  slew  all
  The League of Men's Societies will hold their annual          that were pleasant to the eye in the tabernacle of the
meeting on April 2, 1936, at  7:45  P. M. in one of the         daughter of Zion. He poured ot His fury like a fire.
parlors of the First Protestant Reformed Church.                   Why hath the Lord so dealt with His people.? Jeru-
  Rev. G. Ophof of Byron Center, Michigan, will be the          salem hath grievously  simiecl.  Her filthiness is in her
speaker for the evening. A very timely subject will be          skirts. She hath forsaken the law of the Lord, which he
discussed. Opportunity will be  given for questions.            set before them, and has not obeyed His voice, but has
  All members are requested to be present and an invita-        walked after the imagination of her own heart, and after
tion is hereby extended to all the men of our congrega-         Balaam.
tion to be present with us.                                       Ashes ! What are they.? The residue of substance re-
                    League of Men's Societies Board.            maining after subjection to red-heat. To the heat of
                                                                God's anger Israel has been subjected. For he sinned.
                                                                And in the cloud of His anger the glory departed. And
                                                                Israel's glory was his palaces, his strongholds, God's
                                                                tabernacle, His solemn feasts and  Sabbths,  His altar
                                                                and His sanctuary, the king and the priest that made
                                                                atonement for sin, the walls of Jerusalem's palaces, her
                                                                gates, her princes, her law and her prophets. This was
                                                                Israel's glory.
                                                                  What is more worthless, inglorious and sightless than
                                                                an ash-heep? Behold Israel! His palaces are swallowed


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LIP  by the Lord  ; his strongholds are destroyed.. Her taber-            And the beauty of  .these mourners is Zion's beauty,
 nacle  bath been taken away, as if it were a garden. The              Zion's righteousness, and the beauty of Zion's righteous-
places of' her assembly have been destroyed. The Lord                  ness is destined to go forth as brightness, and the beauty
 bath caused the -solemn feasts and sabbaths to be for-                of her salvation as a lamp that  burneth.  Then all the
gotten in Zion.  I-I!e  hat11 cast off His altar,. and abhorred        gentiles shall see her righteousness, and all keep her glory.
His sanctuary. The walls of Jerusalem's palaces have                      To the mourners in Zion will be given the oil of joy.
been given  LIP  in the hands of the enemy. Her gates are              There is reason for joy. Zion has been redeemed with
sunken into the  ~OLIIIC~.  Her bars are broken. Her kings             judgment and her converts with righteousness. Zion's
and princes are among the gentiles. The law is no more.                children have been crucified with Christ, buried with Him,
 Her prophets find no vision from the Lord. The elders                 raised with Him, and with Him set in Heaven. There
 of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground and keep                  is then a heavenly, a heavenly kingdom, to be inherited
silent.                                                                by them that mourn in Zion. Heirs of God are they and
    And the lovers of Zion mourn. Their spirits are heavy.             co-heirs of Christ.
Their eyes fail with tears. But  .they weep not for  ,them-              And the joy given these mourners springs from the
 selves but for their sins. They say, We have rebelled                 certain knowledge that they belong to Christ, their faith-
against His commandments. The Lord is righteous.                       ful Saviour, that with Him their life is hidden in God,
Their. grief springs not from despair.  .For they say, The             that when Christ appears they will appear with Him in
Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope               glory and come into the actual possession of the king-
in, the Lord.                                                          dom, into the possession of their reward.
    Ashes ! Let them `speak to  us  of the curse of God that              Thus they have joy. But this joy is not of them. It
began to stalk over the -earth, when our first parents,                is a gift  of'the Spirit of *Christ, the oil with which they
giving ear to the slander of the serpent, disobeyed the                are anointed, they  ,being priests unto God. And Him
`commandment of God; let them speak to  us  of the loss                do they praise, and their praise too is the garments that
of our original spiritual beauty, of the trespasses and sin            He gives. Of themselves' they do not praise, cannot
in which we are conceived and born, of our depravity,                  praise, but only revile His name, they being by nature
`of our worthlessness and  uglyness  in the sight of the               dead in sin. But He clothes them with praise as with
holy God. What is more unlovely than ashes  !. And let                 a garment, and they bless His name, declare His glories,
us, at the hearing of this speach,  cast dust                          magnify their Redeemer, God.
                                                  LIPOII  our heads
and gird ourselves with sackcloth. And let us weep for                   The reason that this praise is called a garment is not
our sins. And let us say with the prophet, "The Lord                   that it issues not from their hearts, but the reason is
is righteous  ; for I have rebelled against his  commancl-             that it originates not in them but in God who redeemed
ments."                                                                them.
   But let us also lift  q our heads and say, His  com-                  Thus will He adorn them who mourn in Zion that
passions fail not. They are new every morning. For                     they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting
unto them that mourn in  Zion will  be'given  beauty for               of the Lord, that He may be `glorified.
ashes, the oil of gladness for mourning, the garment of                  The tree in Scripture is the symbol of durability, of
praise for  the.spirit of heaviness.                                   that which cannot be moved. The mourners are there-
   Beauty will be given them, not the outward beauty of                fore called trees.
the typical priest, not the beauty of an outward material                They shall never be moved, as they are righteous. But
robe, but the beauty of the robe of righteousness and                  their righteousness is not of them. Christ is their right-
salvation with which the' Lord will clothe them, thus the              eousness. They are planting of the Lord, and therefore
beauty-that is the  efulgence of holiness in the inward                He, not they, will be glorified.                        G.  illI. 0.
parts, the beauty of true health of a man washed from
all-his sin in the blood of Christ and in whose heart has
been shed ablroad the love of God and upon whose being,
heart, mind and will God has impressed His  ,name.  It                   There's a message that comes to the soul in its need,
is thus the beauty of the life hidden with Christ in God,                `Tis a wonderful message, and all the world may read.
and that appears when members which are upon the earth                   `Twas spoken for him whosoe'er will give it  heed-
                                                                          "I am come that they might have life more abundantly."
are crucified. It is the beauty of the new man,, renewed
in knowledge after the image of Him that created him.                    `Tis a message that tells of an infinite love.
                                                                         That could bring One to earth from His throne of light above
It is the beauty that is the flower of the righteousness of              To save us from sin, and His wondrous grace to prove-
Christ in them that mourn in Zion, and the flower of this                 "I am come that they might have life more abundantly."
righteousness is the bowels of mercies, kindness, humble-                `Tis a message of gladness the world cannot give,
ness of mind, meekness, longsuffering that they who                      And its fullness of meaning we freely may  receive-
mourn in zin put on.                                                     `Twas given for him who on Jesus will  believe-
                                                                          "I am come that they might have life more abundantly."


