.:
:
:               2         9     2                                  T H E .   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

.I:                                                                                         Here  Dr.. Janssen evidently forsakes the standpoint
                                                                  P  A                    of. faith with respect to Scripture, and proposes to in-
2'                                                                        -*              stitute an unprejudiced investigation. of certain writings
                                                                                          the Church regards as Holy Scriptures.
                               Storm In The  yindy ,City                                    What was the Reverend Hoeksema's reaction to this
                                                                                          instruction `of Dr. Janssen?
                                                 V           I     I                        We quote:
 :               --                                                                         "If in the preceding discussion, Dr. Janssen means
                        .At  the close of the last article on the "Chicago  Situa-
                `tion" I stated that in 1920-22 the Reverend .G.  Hoek-                   nothing more than the quotation proves, we agree with
               sema attempted to defend teachings that  -were much                       him. We are unwilling to see anything more in words
                worse and .far less Reformed, than those he so  strongly                  than  .the quotation covers unless we are forced to it..
                                                                                          His words, however, are too absolute.             Every Re-
,-.             opposes today.                   ;                                        formed man should come to the Scriptures with this one
               . That statement I `will now prove.                                       prepossession, that they are the inspired Word of God".
                        All the quotations made in this article are from the                Now `it must be plain to every' reader, that this is ex-
                 "Report of the Minority Section of the Janssen In-                       actly what Dr. Janssen did not want. He started not
              vestigation   C o m m i t t e e " .            This report faithfully  re- with Holy Scriptures, but. with "writings". And  their-
              '  fleets the attitude of the Reverend G. Hoeksema during                   origin and history he proposed to investigate without
                the Janssen controversy.  I never read or heard  a` state-
_'                                                                                       any prepossessions. How charitable, then, was the Rev-
                ment by him that he had changed his mind on `this                        erend Hoeksema's attitude toward Dr. Janssen in 1922 !
                matter.                                                                   In `the Notes of Dr. Wezeman nothing can be found
                        The "Report of the Minority Section" may be found                that is quite so radical. How, then, can the Reverend
                in. "Reports. and  .Decisions in the Case of Dr. R.                      Hoeksema assume the attitude' of uncompromising con-
                Janssen", pp.  153-200.                                                  demnation toward the latter?
                        On p. 155 we find the following quotation from the                  The Minority Report has the following quotation from
                N o t e s   o f   D r .   J a n s s e n :          "                     Dr. Janssen's Notes :
                        "Old Testament Introduction is the science that treats              "Sarah's  ,position  in Abraham's household agrees with
                of the origin and history of the writings which the                      Babylonian custom of the time. Sarah is mistress and
                Christian Church inherited from the church of the old                     does not occupy the position in the family which the
                dispensation and with it, on the strength of the testi-                  woman did in later history of Israel. TXs  streuty%eNs
                mony of Jesus and the apostles accepted as Holy Scrip-
                t u r e s . " . .                                                         the reliability of the  nwmtive".   .p..  157.
                These writings, therefore, are the data with which                          And also the following quotations :
                Dr. Janssen dealt. He does not proceed from the data                        "The accounts of Samson are not important historical
                of Holy Scriptures, but from the data of "writings which                 accounts, but current and oral traditions of the  experi-
                the Christian Church inherited from the church of old ,ence of an individual,`. p. 158.
                dispensation".         And these writings he sets' himself to               What was the attitude of the Reverend Hoeksema in
                investigate as to their  or@& and  &tory.                                 1922 to such statements?  ~
                        How did Dr. Janssen propose to conduct this investi-                I quote:
                gation? The following quotation, found on the same                          "However, not too much may be made against the
                page of the Minority Report, sheds light on this ques-                   Dr. of such utterances. A careful reader will take into
                tion :                                                                   account what light the context sheds upon the  objecfion-
                        "`Our judgment brought to bear on the data should be             able phrases. In the statement  .that these accounts are
                unprejudiced.           We may have  .prepossessions and no              not important historical accounts, evidently `no denial of
                man can rid himself of these. Each individual has a                      their historical or reliability is intended. This is plain
       . .      certain type of religion, for religion is an essential char-              from the statement in the last quotation, that this  recomrd
                acteristic of the human being. Nevertheless, this should                 of Samson is reliable".        (The full quotation here re-
                not influence him to such an extent that it will determine                ferred to from the Notes  -of Dr. Janssen is as follows:
                `the conclusion, so that the conclusion is a foregone une. "This record of Samson is reliable; yet it is a bit of
                No science can permit that. That principle is  .distinctly               idealization. There. is therefore great danger of pressing
              - recognized by our type of theology as well as by types                   the literalness of any particular word", H. H.)  p.  160.
                different from ours.                  Reformed theologians recognize        Yet, the Reverend. Hneksema evidently realized that
                that. necessary element in science". And in proof of                      this charitable interpretation of such statements would
                this last statement Dr. Janssen' quotes from the  Encyclo-                not hold, as is evident from the following words of his :
                @eddie  of Dr. Kuyper Sr. "De  Schrift staat boven dog,                     "Nevertheless, the statements taken by themselves are
                 matiek en de laatste mag de eerste niet  beheerschen".                  .objectionable".  p. 160.


                        i  .                             T H E   S T A N D A R D  .BEARER                                                          -293

                 And yet, the final conclusion of the Reverend was, that              infallible inspiration of the narrative in Gen. 1 as writ-
                he could not accept that the standpoint of Dr. Janssen                ten by Moses.
                was that of historical criticism. "In our opinion the ex-                But even. this the Reverend Hoeksema was able to'
                planation lies in an altogether different phenomenon. No              condone and defend in 1922. According to him "this
                one can study the Student Notes without being im-                     theory of the origin of Gen. 1 does not make it unre-
                pressed with the fact that Dr. Janssen's theological labor            liable, since, by hypothesis, it would both be arrived
                is very largely dominated  b the  Apdogeticd  view2                   at under the guidance of the Spirit, and purged of later
                point".  p. 160.                                                      wrong admixture by revelation"..' p. 177.
                   From the same charitable standpoint he judges the                     In the end, however, he makes the remark that he is
                following quotation from the Notes of  Dr..  I Janssen:               unable to make out, "just what the Professor means by
                "`,Author  here gives the religious history of this declen-           `reflection' in the above quotation". p.  ,177.
                sion,  reftX&   iw all  probabilty   is  correct". The possibility       I have still a few more remarks on this point. For,
                is, therefore, left, that the account in Scripture  is. not           I desire to establish this aspect of the "Chicago Situa-
                correct. I say again, that the Reverend Hoeksema will                 tion" as fully as possible.      Might it not be morally
                search  in'vain  for such radical statements in the Notes             correct to inquire of the Reverend. Hoeksema, whether
                of Dr. Wezeman.                                                       he still holds to these opinions ; and if he does, what
                  Again, in, the  .Minority Report `we find the following             ,moral right has he to investigate the teachings of Dr.
                quotations from the Notes of Dr. Janssen:                             W e z e m a n ?                                              >`
                                                                                         How can modernism investigate modernism  ?
                  "We have seen that the  Jhvh religion sprang into ex-
                istence in the desert. The  Jhvh religion probably had                                                                      H .   H .
                its origin in Arabia and there perhaps they also received
                the prophetic order". p. 173.
                   "Throughout the centuries to the exile even the Is-                Schilder over ,de Algemeene Genade
                raelites clung to semimonotheism".  p. 175.                             Dr. Schilder beantwoordt in De  Reforwmtie  in enkele
                  "The Kenites had been  instrumenta.1'  in giving Jhvh               artikelen de kritiek van Dr. 0. Noordmans op zijn  cul-
                worship to Israel". p. 175.                                           tuur-beschouwing in  verband  met zijne opvatting van de
                  All these statements the' Reverend Hoeksema knows                   "algemeene genade".
                how to explain  and. defend. And he comes to the final
                conclusion : "There are  undoubltedly elements in Scrip-                De eerste twee artikelen interesseerden ons  minder,
                ture which can be used in favor of the theory of Dr.                     Uit artikelen III, en IV  willen we enkele aanhalingen
                Janssen sketched  absove.      However, in our estimation,            doen.
                his theory, is by no means  exe.getically established,`. p.             Dr. Schilder schrij ft :
                176.                                                                     "Want in ettelijke schriftelijke. of homiletische  be-
,
           I     - As to the origin of the creation-narrative in Genesis
:                                                                                     toogen heb ik de menschen als  `t ware  willen bezweren,
;               1 the following quotation from the Notes of Dr.                       tech vooral  .niet de `aarde  te vergeten', de eenige  .werk-
                Janssen is -found in the Minority Report:                             vloer, die vandaag ons tot den  concreten  dienst van God
                  "There are two possibilities : 1. It was given in  toto             ter beschikking is gesteld-door Hem zelf. En met  aan-
                by revelation. 2. by -reflection. The first supposition is            dringende harstochtelijkheid heb ik juist tegen alle in die
     ::  !
     :.  I      of little value, for it was revealed to the patriarchs,               bepaalde beteekenis met  `ver' beginnende werkwoorden
      i  i
     :-  ;      it had `become so polluted with `polytheistic elements,               het bezwaar ingebracht, dat ze stamden uit het  woorden-
                that revelation had to cleanse it once more later. Fur-               boek des duivels  ; dat ze niet voor eenig oratorium van
                ther, it is too mechanical to accept. The second hypo-                engelen,  doch slechts'voor operettes van duivelen den tekst
                thesis is not unreasonable. It is not- unreasonable to                konden  leveren  : `ver-geestelijken, ver-stoffelijken,  ver-
                think.that the  first inhabitants, led by the Spirit, should          goddelijken, ver-zinnelijken', en  w-at dies meer zij. Hoe
                by reflection and speculation come to a view of creation.             zwaar is het  tech, elkaar te verstaan, wanneer van den
                We have an analogy in the evolutionary system. Evo-                   aanvang af de wegen  266 ver `uiteengegaan  zijn".
                lution, too, is purely speculative, when it goes back to                De lezer zal  zich misschien herinneren, dat Dr. Schilder
                the origin of things, and also by reflection comes to a               werd beschuldigd van de  dingen te.ver-absoluteeren. Zijne
                view about their origin. The fact that they constantly                beschouwing past hier  op aarde eigenlijk niet, maar is
                hammer away at Gen. 1. shows that they see in it cer-                 een poging om hetgeen slechts in de eeuwigheid te  wach-
      /         tain scientific value. This seems to indicate that the                ten is, hier op aarde' te verwerkelijken.       `-
      :         story of Gen. 1 is not contradictory to what the human                  In den grond der zaak is deze beschuldiging niet nieuw.
                mind can devise". p. 177.                                             Men  zal,,zich herinneren, dat bok ten onzent ons, die de
                  The story of Genesis 1, therefore, is the fruit of                  algemeene genade loochenen, dezelfde beschuldiging naar
                human reflection and' speculation under the guidance of               bet  hoofd werd geslingerd. Sbms heette het dan, dat
                the Spirit. One wonders what must be said about the                   wij anabaptisten zijn, soms werden we beschuldigd van

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

terklap verbreidt Zwier in  dezen brief publiek in de                  I believe that such societies can  k  of a great help
Stmda;rd   Bea.rer.                                                 for our congregation singing. Whatever is done in
   Dat  noem ik  "verke&de  en mitsdien  z&dige  taktiek."          that line must of necessity be beneficial in our services.
   Als er geen Gertrouwbaarder bronnen . kunnen  worden             What struck  me more than anything else in the an-
gevonden,  om'.te  b.ewijzen, dat de  leerlingeti verder  gaan      nouncements was the little  news item  (In Our Church
dan  bun-  meester, dan  zhl ik mij door dien boeman geen           News) of the Hull congregation, telling the public that
vrees  laten aanjagen.                                              the young people with their pastor were busy  practis-
   Neen, ik ben niet  boos geworden.                                ing the Psalter. numbers to improve `congregation sing-
   Maar `k heb het we1 "uitermate  bedroevend"  gevonden,           ing.    Such things are to be commended for in the
dat Zwier zich`liet  verleiden  om door dit  kladje zijn brief      congregations whkre the English services are introduced,
te bevuilen.                                                        the  .singing is one of the most difficult features of the
  Hi j, moet dat ,uitwisschen.                                      service.    That particular part of' the service  in  the.  Re-
   Al was het  alleen  hierom, dan verwacht ik thans nog            formed Churches has been one of which it can safely
een brief van Ds. Zwier.                               H.H.         be said has more limitations than any  tither' part. Our
                                                                    churches confine themselves to certain numbers when
                                                                    it comes to singing and I am sure that both in the Hol-
                       Our Singing                                  land as well as in the  EngIish  services,, the variety  `does
                                                                    not exceed the  one hundred mark. And I am  covinced
  In the congregations.                                             that  .on the average we do not  eden sing  orie third of
  It is not necessary to relate the many advantages                 the  P.+alms both in the English and Holland services.
when a congregation has sufficient talent that makes                When I speak of average I mean all the Psalms and
a. society possible wherein  did  and young find an op-             Psalter numbers as they are sung throughput  our
portunity to develop those talents for the purpose to               Churches. Can I prove my contentidn? Well, I may
sing praises to our covenant' God.                                  be a little out of the way when-it comes to the question
   Such a society may duly be called a luxury with&t                of  being.absolzltely exact, but  hei-e are the facts. In our
extmvagence-? fine enjoyable means to develop                       Holland services we sing the following Psalms: 1, 2, 3,
latent talent-especially for our young  people-and in               5, 1, 17,  19? 22, 24, 25, 27, 32, 33, 36, 38. 38, 4.0, 42,
connection with the congregation a greaf help  iri the              43, 48,. 51, 62, 63, 65-68, 72, 73, 75, 81, 84, 84.  86:
service's on the Sabbath.                                           88, 89, 90, 92, 95, 96, 97, 98,  100, 103, 105, 116, 118,
  Of course, we  kno;cv that  ndt every congregation can            119, 121. 122, 130, 133, 134, 138, 139, 146,  150, and
enjdy this privilege. ,There was `a time when  only in              a few of the hymns such as The Ten  Commandme&,
our largest congregation such  `ari opportunity was to be           Song of  Simeon and Mary on `special occasions,  or' less
had and the other congregations, if they, were not situ-            than half and not much more than one third of the one
ated too far from Grand Rapids, could enjoy singing                 hundred and fifty Psalms. It is therefore safe `to con-
and music in our circle if they would take time out to              clude that only a very limited number is used in our
visit  the. Fuller Ave. church.                                     Holland services. (I could add that some are only.  used-
  However, of late I noticed several announcements                  on special occasions as Pss. 22, 90, and 134). The
of the smaller  cdngregations  rendering similar pro-               statement holds that we have limited ourselves, while
grams. I was in danger to be a little jealous although              we have an abundance to choose from.
it was only iri passing. One thing is sure such  socie`ties           .Consequently,  our  peopIe as a whole are only ac-
give our young people  something  they  had. to do                  quainted with a very small number of the Psalms.
without for many years. I was wondering how it is                   And with the rapid change, from the Holland to the
possibile for a small congregation  td find  stifficient `talent    English this condition  .will most likely not be improved.
that can make the rendering of  such  prograins   `in pub-          That change cannot and  Gust  not be halted but rather
lic  a: success? For according to  .the  deports,  also these       helped along for the sake of our Churches  a?d children.
                                                                                                                            . . .
programs  were well received and in some  insfa`nces                  It is `almost sure that in the `next ten years the  Hol-
special.  .requests  came .to  them. from. several other. con-      land will be exception, also in our churches whether we
gregations to render the  sanie program again.                      like it or  .not...  ,:           ._.     ~.
 .-Well, it  ..proveu that we have young, people or young             ,:The:.   ,.reas&i why we sing. only a small  part- of the
ministers or both with plenty of initiative.          But not       Psalms are the following. First of all the hard and in
all of our congregations, not even the majority, have               some instances  the  itipossible  melodies of a. number
a society and perhaps will not be able to expect one                of the Psalms. The minister in a small congregation'
in the immediate future. As yet they lack a sufficient              as rule does not announce such numbers, knowing full
number for one reason and for another do not possess                well  tha't it will create disorder and does not therefore
men who have musical  ab,ility  for leaderhip. And so               edify the congregation.       The second handicap is the
they must wait.                                                     organist or pianist, who is just able `to help  him.-  dr


                   j, . .  -                                                      T H E   -.STAND-ARD   B E A R E R                                                            303

1  I- herself'. It  dde's take a good player  to lead the con-                                                      the!  least. What is  given in  Hytin 1.2-14 "O? Hoofd,
:.
                   I                 greg%ition  in her singing-it. least one who. is acquainted                    Bedekt Met  .Wonden,  Zie De Mensch, Het Sterven Van
                   t:.                with the  words and  t&e  mu&c.                                               Jezus"r  cannot be compared with  Psalm,22. So in "Ge-  r
                    . .:.             -ITThe use of the  Ps,alms is as  `be perhaps know only                       zang  20 Hemelsvaartlied"  I, did not find what we have in .
                   i  `. about four  hundred years old  and dates  ba& to  the. Psalms 24, 47 and 68. B&ides, as is usually the case, the
                                     clays of the Reformation and the years. `immediately                           S&VP  edges are wanting.
                             `preceding: No one less than Calvin was! one. of the                                      My point is this. I  .do not see  t&necessity  of hymns
                  !:._ very first ones  `to feel the need of  .them. The great (for.. the use in the.  churches) as long as we have only
                  I  `-Reformer and  hi,s colleague Fare1 petitioned the  .citp
                  i:`                                                                                               made use of one-third or a little- more of the one hundred
                  ):.                cduncil'  df Geneva (1'537) to introduce -the Psalms in                        and fifty Psalms. And  .it is  surely not worth our while
                   p, u b l i c   w o r s h i p "That  th5y  may be an incentive to lift
                   I.                                                                                               to fight about it.
                                     up our hearts to God;. that they may infuse us  with                           As we  -id before there is no danger. that any one will            _
                  i_.  `.  h  1
                                     a- o y  zea1. to call upon  .God  as well as to  glorify.His                   plead for hymns in the Holland services.  ' Not that such
                 ;  .' Ntime in our songs. of praise and adoration". The  .citj;                                    is impossible, for history may repeat itself. And the ques-
                                    :; cduncil refused the request and  ti  .year later  in.  Strass-               tion of hymns is not of recent date, but was one of the
                  :                  burg; his ideal was realized and  two years later the first                    issues at the' Synod of Dordt in 1619, even at that period
 ~  1;'  -0py was published. It contained eighteen psalms,  th'e                                                    the Churches had to express themselves and did so at the
                                    `song of Simeon, the Law and Twelve Articles (The                               ,Synod. Prof. Biesterveld writing on the subject and also
 ;                           _.        A+siolicum).                                                               . expressing his  own opinion (with which we heartily
                 !-.-  -Rdom  d o e s   n o t   a l l o w   to  b r i n g   o u t   t h e   siibsequent. agree') says.: "Het overlaten  aan de kerken om den  Bede,
                1 ::' -history  oi the Psalms as used in the Reformed Churches.                                     zang voor de  predicatie  al dan niet te gebruiken, is eene
                 1-t.  .-A,.sketch of it is  given in Prof. Biesterveld's  "`He!  Ge-                               cq?cessie  aan de  practij.k! die beter ware  niet,gedaan,  om-
                 _,-j refornleerde Kerkboek" and- a series of articles were dat later de voorstanders van gezangen  zich. hieraan  heb-
                 i: written `in "De Heraut"  (1900 and 1903). The facts                                             beri  vastgeklemd,  irn uitbreidjng van het aantal  goed te
                 :_                  as given and proven above  iont`ains a  message for us.                        heeten . . . . . Maar in onze  kerken  mogen eigenlijk alleen
                 1i First of  all the message that we as Reformed Churches bovengenoemde liederen worden gezongen, en moeten ook
                 :`a.have been  rather stingy in the use of our  Psalmbook. ook zelfs de Avondzang en de latere  ingevoegde  Morgen-
                                     G&ted that some melodies call for a change, this does `zang, zoowel als de zang voor en na den eten, tot de
                 :;. not  altqr the fact that we have  been content with  ap huiselijke en niet  tot de kerkelijke liederen gerekend wor-
      ;  p r o x i m a t e l y   o n e   t h i r d   o f   o u r   .inheritance.  F u r t h e r - '                 den. En. deze beslissing des  Synode, (1619) was  Uit-
                 ;.                  more if.  &e read  those  `diEcult'  Psalins. we will find the                 muntend. Gezangen niet regelrecht  aan de  Schrift   ont-
         .' most  bea&t.ifu!-  Scriptural  expi-e&ions   not marred by  the                                         icend  mo$en.niet in de kerk,  we1 in het gezin,  gebruikt
      )  c                           men who put  them in rhyme. Just read Psalms 106: 4;                           wgrden.  De majesteit van Gods Woord spreke steeds in
                                     107:6,   7 ;  10!3:16   a n d   m a n y   .others,  ivhich  w e   h a v e      de. sainenkomsten der  gemeente. Bovendien bleek het
                 . .                 perhaps never read.                                                            altijd, dat `de Gezangen' waar zij in gebruik kwamen de
                !'I.                   ;Of all that has been said and was written on the  suh-                      Psalmen  verdrorigen,  &-is het altijd een veeg  t'eeken te
                :.                   ject, the -necessity  df. hyinns in the  public worship, I am                  achten, dat de  warme  voorstanders  van gezangen  gewoon-
                1;.                                                                                                 lijk werden  gevonden.in de  kri,ngen van hen,  die niet of
      I  1;. convinced that  n$l the facts were not taken into  consider-
      ~  i;-                                                                                                        mind& zuiver`waren in de leer. Zoo dweepten ten onzent
                1.  `. ation. While the discussion  was in progress both in our
                i-                   otin land and in the Netherlands (we  followkd what  .was                      `vooraf  de Groninger School  .en het Modernisme  tiet de
                [                    written closely) it appeared that the  o&y` argument in re                     gezangen.                                             a
                                                                                                                                                             .
               i                     the  necessity.of hymns (gezangen) was caused by special                         Gezangen  zijri meestal  ingevoerd.  om de  Psalmen  te
                                     occas?ons   fhe. Psalter and  `Psalmboek'  did not provide                     verdringeti; in  alien gevalle. was dit gewoonlijk van hun
       1  .`.  f&r                                                                                                  gebruik  h e t  gevolg.",   :
                L?                                                                                                                                   I
                :..                    A short time ago one of the societies of my  congrega-                         .The Fathers of that  er.a protected the churches in  the
               1:                    tion presented the  consistory  with a new `Kansel Psalm-                      Church Order as is plain from Artikel 69.
                             ' boek'. I did not pay special  atte&on  to it, but after using,                         As was said. the English  servicei  do not differ from
               r;:- it  seveial weeks I noticed &at it  aiso  contained the `newly                                  the  -point  .of view in  connedtion with the singing. Some
      ~  l:;p.~.                    accepte,d   .hymns (gezangen) as  idopted  i.n  the. Reformed                   of the reasons mentioned above can also  be applied here.
               $'                   Churches abroad. Those new hymns are supposed to fill                            In passing (for this is an exception) I remember very
               ;,.. ./v.                                                                                            distinctly that in one English service we did not sing out-
               :;.                  that particular need mentioned a moment ago;  .Well, some
               [:                   of them  (there'aie  eighteen in all)  we  have sung in the                    of the Psalter but used  fhe Holland Psalmbook. This of
       it..                         Christian School, others in the Young Men's Society and                        course would not happen more than once, although we
               ,Gpf. some on Christmas day when we were very young. And know of a few more. such services, be it not in the same
       ,  1;                        the best that can be said of them is:  That they do not                        congregation.
       !  c:                        say anything that is  not, expressed in  & Psalms, to say                      Our ministers know also that at the time we were
               fg.-                            :
        h.                               :'                                  .

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

students, it happened, we did not have to  look,for Psalter
numbers, they were prepared for  us.  We would find a
slip on the pulpit with the numbers that were to be-`sung          Scripture, so it was shown, plainly teaches that the task
and to try changing it spelled disaster as far as that part      of the deacons is to care for the poor. In acts  6:1, 2,
of the service was concerned. It was occasioned by the           the word  &&o&a  (the Greek word from which our
fact that some of the congregations had just adopted the         word deacon is derived and which means, administra-
English service and not having a player, who was able            tion) denotes ministration of mercy.         This is evident
to handle all the numbers, we left it at that. Neither was       from the two expressions  (occuring in the first two
it'an:exception,  to be asked to send the numbers for the        verses) "daily ministration" and to "serve tables". Now
following Sunday by mail,' and that of course for the            it is true that the word  d,&-&onia,  also included every
s a m e   r e a s o n .                                          office and gift in the church and thus also appears in
   It is perhaps hard for me to furnish proof when  1. say,      Scripture as the signification of  .the ministration of the
not even half of the Psalter numbers are used in our             word.    But eventually the word came to be used ex-
services. If we would take time to mark the numbers              clusively as the name for the ministration of mercy.
we have never sung, I am sure the result will be the same        There is evidence for this. In the epistle to the  Phil-
as what we found in the Holland services. Of course I            ipians (chap. 1  :l) tlie deacons are mentioned along-
do not confine myself to a single congregation, but I have       side of the bishops and all the saints.         It was upon
in view all our churches where the English is used.              the church as comprised of these three distinct groups
   Can we improve this condition? I think                        that the apostle laid the benediction of Christ. To the
                                               SO.  And we
should begin first with the minister. That is perhaps the        church at Rome (Rome 1.5  :25) Paul wrote that he
safest way. Let me make a few suggestions.                       went to Jerusalem,  doi~z~  se~%~ (diakonoon) to the
                                                                 saints. Now the  ser&ce to be performed was to con-
   I have kept a record since 1932 of all the English ser-       sist in Paul's ministering to material necessities of the
vices I conducted and numbers used. Naturally I chose            poverty-stricken church at Jerusalem.          This is plain
the numbers that fitted with the sermon, the reading of          from the following verse that reads,             "For it has
OJC  Law and for the opening of the service, tried to find       pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia ta make certain
also an appropriate number for the Sabbath itself. Up  ,to       contributions for the poor saints which are, at Jerusa-
1935,  we had only one English service per Sunday, I             lem." In the thirty first verse of the same chapter the
iound we had used 222 different numbers or a little bet-         apostle again speaks of the service (diakonia) that he
ter than half of `what the Psalter offers.                       had for the saints at Jerusalem and expresses the wish
   If we. use a `system, and every one can have his own,         that it may accomplished. In the verse of the following
the result will be a'greater variety of songs, and it will       chapter  (16:l) the apostle recommends Phoebe, a
bring. to light that we have a large'number of beautiful         sister, to the congregation at Rome and speaks of her
melodies. In the second place, I give my own method              as being a servant (diakonon) of the assembly in  Cen-
for what it is worth, even without a choral society (which       chrea. In the following verse she appears as one who
does not necessarily help in&ease the usage of more  IILUII-     has been a  sucourer  of many, even of Paul himself. So
hers, although it will help the singing as such) we can, then in this Scripture, too, the word deacon is used
&prove in this matter. I have made it a point, in our            of a dispenser of mercy. In his second epistle to the
Young Peoples Society to sing at least four or five new          Corinthians Paul wrote, "praying  LB  with much en-
numbers every Sunday evening. Meeting the year around            treaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon
it will  b-ring the total number near the two hundred mark.      us the fellowship of the ministering (diakonias) of the
   Finally, in our services as a rule our young people do        saints," (II Cor.  8:4) and in the ninth chapter of this
not take their places in the front, but, and that is natural,    same epistle (verses 11, 12) we come upon a passage
are found in the rear of the church. In itself there is          that reads, "In every way being enriched to all liberality,
nothing against it. To help the singing I requested them         which works out through us thanksgiving to God. Be-
to be seated nearer the front and to somewhat lead  .in          cause the service (diakonia) of this ministration not
the singing. I have noticed an improvement and it is even        only is completely filling  LIP  the deficiencies of the saint,
beneficial for our older-people.                                 but also abounding through many thanksgivings to
   At  any rate no matter what system  we. may employ.           God  : . .  " In  bloth  these passages the word diakonia
There is room for  im$rovement.                     W.V.         denotes a dispensing of mercy to the poor in the
                                                                 churches.
                           NOTI&rE                                 During the first two centuries after the departure
  The Choral Society of the First Protestant Reformed            of the apostles, the'deacons continued to be the almoners
Church will render a miscellaneous program Wednesday             of the charitable funds of the congregation.           In the
evening, April 15, at eight o'clock. Everybody is wel-           writings of Jerome they still appear as "the ministers
come.                                                            of the tables, and of the widows." The duties of their


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                          3 0 5

  office were to discover and to visit the aged, the widows,          So then, the only and proper duty of the deaconate is
  the sick and the afflicted, and to administer relief to          the care of the poor. And the deaconate performs this
  them under the direction of the bishop. But in course            t a s k   a s   t h e   orgnn  o f   the  chervch   and  fkus  o f  Chist.
of time this function ceased and the deacons were                  From this it follows that it is the specific calling of
  appointed to another duty-viz., to assist in public              the church as institution, and  .thus not the calling of
  worship.    "They distributed the bread and wine at the          the state, to care for. the poor.             Let  us  now  concen-
  eucharist  after they were blessed by the presiding officer,     trate on this proposition.
  and also carried them to the sick. They arranged the                Not the  call&g of the state.                The calling of the
  altar, presented the offerings of the people, read the           state is to govern the world by laws and policies to
  gospel, gave the signal  for the departure of the un-            the end that the clesoluteness of man may be restrained
  believers and  catechumens, recited some prayers, dis-           and all things carried on among them with order and
  tributed the consecration cup (in the absence of the             descency ; to punish evil-doers and to protect them that
  priest `the bread also) and occasionally preached. They          do well.      Belgic Confession. Art. 31. For this pur-
  stood at the  .right hand of the bishops and presbyters          pose God has invested the magistracy with the sword.
  and they were the deputies and advisers of the  hisl!ops.        This teaching also was taken from Scripture.. The
  They were called the "bishop's ear and `eye and mouth            power (the magistracy), says Paul,  "is the minister
  and heart and soul, that the bishop,  tiay not be dis-           of God to thee for  ,goocl.  But if thou do that which
  tracted with many cares."                                        is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain:
                                                                   for he is the minister of  Gocl,  a rewarder, to execute
    The bishops now took  oyer the task of administering           wrath upon him that doeth evil.  Ram. 13  :4.
  relief.     This could be expected in view of certain                                                                               Here
                                                                   the apostle clearly defines the calling of the magistracy
  changes that had taken place.      In 323 Constantine be-        as consisting in executing wrath upon him that  cloeth evil.
  came the sole ruler of the Roman world, as a result of           True it is, that he does  riot say in so  many words that
  I@s victory over Licinius.      The Christian church was         the duty of the magistracy does not consist in admin-
  now everywhere free from persecution not only  lxlt              istering relief to the poor.
  was made the state religion.                                                                               Yet there is conclusive
                                    Under the patronage of         evidence in Scripture that this task does not belong to
  Constantine and as a result of his legislation, the              the magistracy.        Consider the following : 1) Nowhere
  church came into the possession of great wealth. Under
  his favor its increase was by  Gaps and bounds. In 321           in the New Testament Scriptures does the state appear
  the church had been granted the right to receive legacies        as the almoner of God.              2) The state is  without an
  (gifts  by will of  money or properties). As a result the        organ (bv organ I mean the deaconate) for this task.
  ch&h became the owner of enormous treasures in                   3) The state is not the depository of the  .graces of
                                                                   Christ.     In the state therefore is not found that prin-
  money and gold, houses `and lands.          These treasures
  were in turn converted into real estate so that in the           ciple-the principle of true love-from which all  alms-
                                                                   deeds must spring.
  course of time the church came to own a tenth part                                          This, of course, is not saying that
  of all the landed property.                                      all rulers without exception are devoid of the life of
                                 From this store,  the church      regeneration.
  administered to the relief of the poor.                                              The point is that the state is not the
                                                 But'~  the al-    corporation in which Christ deposits all fulness that
  moners were now the bishops and monks and nuns, or               dwelleth bodily in Him.
  members of the ministrant orders, These took the place
  of the deacons and, the deaconate died out.                         On the other hand, everywhere in the New Testa-
                                                                   ment Scriptures the church (and thus not the state)
    The apostolic deaconate remained dead until the time           appears as the almoner  ok  .Christ.             It was the church
  of the Reformation when it was first revived by Calvin.          (and thus not the state)  that Christ supplied with the
  This reformer regards the deaconate as one of the in-            organ (the deaconate) for the task of administering
  dispensable officers of the church and the care of the           relief to the poor. The church is the recipient of the
  poor as their proper and only duty. All the  .Reformed           grace that is  needecl for this task.
  Confessions acknowledged this  of&e. Articles  30 and              These. considerations ought to drive every person
  31 of the Belgic Confession reads in part,  "1Ve believe,        willing to bow before the authority of truth to the
  that this true church must be governed by that spiritual         conclusion that the duty of administering relief to the
  polity which our Lord hath taught us in his Word;                poor belongs not to the state but to the church, and
  namely, that there must be ministers or. pastors to              to the church as institution. And the church  has. al-
  preach the Word of God, and to administer the  sacre-            ways been conscious of her calling.                In the very be-
  ments  ; also elders and deacons, who together  with the         ginning of our Christian era and throughout the ages
  pastors, form the council of the church:  .that by these         and especially during the dark middle ages, the Chris-
  gleans the true religion may be  preserived . . . also that      tian church appears upon the stage of history as the
  the poor and the distressed may be relieved and com-             alleviator of the distress of the'poor and clown-trodden.
  forted, according to their necessities."                         In showing this, we choose as our point of procedure

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

 Christ Himself. He; our merciful Highpriest is every-          blem-the form of a dove-could  be seen in some con-
 where brought forward in the gospels as the Dispenser          spicuous place of the building. The order of a synod
 of niercy in the supreme sense. That men might see             of Aix in 815 was that near every church an infirmary
 in  Hiin the  .true priest of God, Who came to bear the        should be built.      The charitable institutions received
 griefs of His people and to carry their sorrow He              from Charlemagne the same privileges as the churches
 went through the land, healing the diseases of those to        and were ordered to entertain strangers, pilgrims and
 whom He had been  sent, administering relief to `the           paupers according to the  can&s.
needy, and  speakin,m words of comfort to those that              How is the existence of so large a class of poor
 mourned.     The blind  ieceived  their sight, the lame        in the civilized Europe of ancient and medieval (and
 walked, the  lepers were cleansed, the deaf heard, the         we may add modern) times to be accounted for? Ill
 dead were raised up, and the poor had the gospel               explaining this, we must look first of all to the ancient
 tireached to them. Seeing the great multitude, He was          Greek and Roman republics. These republics assumed
 n?oved with compassion toward them, and He healed              the right to make war upon all foreign nations with a
their sick. And instead of sending  theni away,  .jvhen
                                                      .'        view to  bringin,m them under their iron dominion. The
 it was evening, He had them sit down on the grass              captives were taken by the tens of thousands without
 and gave them; to eat.                                         distinction of race and  colour and sold on the slave
    As the exalted Christ He continued to function also         market as cheap cattle. The result was that the greater
 a s   t h e   n&gator of physical distress through  His part of mankind in the Roman empire was reduced to
 church (the  deticonate) as  His organ. And the sphere         a hopeless state of slavery and treated as dumb brutes.
 in which this organ  jvas made to operate was `first the       The institution of slavery was so great that half of the
 church and then the world. The church at Jerusalem             population were slaves. Their number in the Empire
through its deaconate administered  relied to  its  own         rose to sixty million and they were generally treated
 needy members. But in the Acts of the apostles, we             with brutal' cruelty. Fettered and branded,  th,ey toiled
 see Paul healing the diseases  `also,~ of  t'he  i@abitants    to cultivate the lands of their masters. At night they
 of the island of Melita. After  ihe  depjrture  of the         were shut  up  in subterranean  cklls.      According to
 apostles, there  were. no more miraculous healings. But        Roman  law, they were without a  .representative  in
 the  church as constrained by the love of  ,Christ, con-       the state,  ,without  name, title and register, without
 tinued to bring itself forward as the caretaker of. the        rights of matrimony, without protection against' adul-
 widows and the orphans, as the dispenser of hospi-             tery. They were bought and sold as personal property.
 tality to strangers, and as  reliever of the needs of the      When they lost their usefulness on account of age,
 poor. The number of poor in the  Romall world at this' they  were ejected from house and home and told to
 time was great.  Ancl to the poor the Roman state also         shift for themselves. As can be expected, this treat-
 administered relief. But as now, so then,-its relief           ment tended to rouse all the corruption that lurked in'
 measure was  clictatkd  riot by love but by policy. And        the bosom of this servile class. Ancient writers describe
 the measure of unrelieved distress was large, as  ap-          them as mean, cruel, abject, false, intemporate, vol-
 petirs from the habit of  sell&g young children, from uptuous and hard.
 the readiness' of the poor to enroll themselves as gladi-        This class assumed still greater proportion by the
 ators, and from the frequent famines.          As to the       addition of those freemen who could not pay' their debts.
 Christian church, it for the first time made charity a         These were the  sniall farmers,  who. as oppressed by
 virtue. It regarded the poor as the gifts of' Christ and       usury were compelled to part with their lands to wealthy
 thus made the love of  Christ the. fountain-head of            creditors.    It was computed  that, at the time of Cicero
 charity.                                                       there were only about two thousand citizens who pos-
    In no period of history perhaps has the church done         sessed independent property.        These two thousand
 so much for the poor as in the middle ages (the ages           owned the world; and all the rest were powerless, de-
 4CQ-1400 A.  D.) .  il/lissionaries,  bishops, monks, nuns,    pendent and poor,      To prevent insurrection, the state
 kings, nobles, plain men and women, rich and poor,             distribr\ted daily allowance for bread, amused the people
 known and unknown, sacrificed home,. health,  wealth,          with games and festivals and fed them like slaves. But
 life itself, to bring the gospel  t6. the heathen  tribis      as their pittance was  too.  misei-able  to sustain life  J
surrounding  `and  6verruning civilized  ELirope  ani~ to       many of them died from slow starvation in wretched
 clothe the naked, to visit the sick, to call on the prison-    apartments without attracting the attention of the gov-
 ers,  to. comfort the dying. The  distribiution of alms        ernment. They would have been completely annihilated
 was on a wholesale scale. There was a series of  min-          by pestilence, famine, and squalid misery but for con-
 istrant orders, both male and female.      Institutions of     stant accessions to their number from the` provinces.
 the most various kinds and hospitals for all manner of         Hospitals for the sick and poor there were not. "The
 sufferers were everywhere introduced.       The hospitals      old and helpless were left to die, unpitied and  uncon-
 were usually dedicated to the  Holy Spirit, whose em-          coled.    Suicide was so common that it attracted no


                                     THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                307

attention. The poor  man had no ambition and hope;             that. I pay him as a free man will be less than what it
his wife was a slave  ; his children were precocious           costs me to keep him and his family as my slave." So
demons, whose only prattle was the cry for bread.              the- proprietor contemplated paying the serfs all but
whose laughter was the howl of pandemonium, whose              a living wage.    The emancipation of the slaves (or
sports  `were the tricks of premature iniquity, whose          serfs) was on the part of some a truly humanitarian
beauty was the squalor of disease and filth ; he fled          gesture. But to say that it was this on the part of
from a wife in whom he had no trust, from children             the majority of rich proprietors is folly.
in whom he had no hope, from brothers for whom he                It was the setting' free of this servile class that
felt  110  sE;mpathy,  from parents for whom he had no         brought into being that great class of men known as
reverence; the circus was his home, the fights of wild         the working people or laborer. And how has this class
beasts were his consolation: the future was a blank,           fared since the time of its emancipation? Not much
death was the release from suffering." Such was  the           better than the slaves of the old Roman empire and
shame of Rome at the time  o.f Paul.        Such was the       the serfs of the middle ages. Let me quote from Rob-
shame of the middle ages and of the world of'this day.         inson and Beard's  The  Develo/mest  of  lllocfem  Europe,
The condition of life of the masses has  `not  chay;ged        "In spite of the wonderful advances in invention and
essentially since the crumbling of the Roman empire.           science and of all the attempts of the various govern-
This oppressed majority and this dominating minority           ments to improve the condition of the working classes,
is still here.                                                 a large part of the  .population of `even the most civil-
  In course of time, slavery was turned into serfdom.          ized  .countries spend their lives in poverty, ignorance
The  oiily difference between  ihe serf and the slave was      and wi-etchedness, due  principly  to low  `&ages, uncertain
`that the slave could he bought and sold  at will while        employment, and overcrowding in the great cities. Un-
the serf was, bound to a  cert?in estate, and attached to      happily the continental governments have never under-
its soil. Thus he could not be sold except with the  .land.    taken a survey of the wages, expenditures, and homes
The condition of serfs during the middle  ages was             of the people, but scientific investigations made in Eng-
little better than that of slaves, as appears from the         land by private persons have revealed a misery and
0utbLirsts  in the Peasant Wars. The serf was expected         degradation which is almost incredible . . . . In the
to wrestle a living for himself and his own from. the ,district of East London, embracing a population of
plot of ground  alloted him by his lord. But he had to         nearly one million, he (Mr. Charles Booth) found that
spend so much of the  time working for his lord that           `more than one third of the  people  belonged to families
little time remained to him for the cultivation of his         with incomes of a guinea  (al,out $5.15) or  less a week;
own strip of land. When he should have been doing              that forty-two per cent of the families earned from
things for himself, he had to work for his lord. And           about $5.50 to $7.50 a `week; and that only about
his children had to spend a number of years in the             thirteen per cent had more than  $7.50 a week to live on.
house of the noble without pay. And this noble, baron,         His studies further revealed terrible overcrowding in
the rich  p,roprietor,  was a man of iron power, proud         squalid tenements which were badly lighted, poorly
and unfeeling, with no pity or compassion for the poor         equipped with water and sanitary arrangements, and
and the miserable. "His peasantry was doomed to per-           reeking with disease.     He reached the startling con-
petual insults.    Their corn fields  llvere trodden down      clusions that throughout the vast city of London nearly
by the baronial hunters.     They had no redress or in-        one third of the people were in poverty, that is, they
juries,  and. were scorned as  well as insulted.`?    They     lived on wages too low to provide the necessaries for
were curtailed in their few pleasures. They were not           a descent physical existence, to say nothing of the com-
permitted even to shodt a pheasant `or a hare `in their        forts and luxuries.
own grounds.       Can  we wonder that these conditions          "It might seem at first that the poverty of London
should have helped to brin,m on the French Revolutions?        is exceptionally great, but Mr. Roundtree, in an equally
  Eventually the serfs attained to a state of entire per-      careful survey, has proved that in the city of  York, with
sonal freedom.      They became  fyee laborers for hire.       its population of less than eighty thousand inhabitants,
Thus was this entire class emancipated. One of the             toward one  fhird of the people are also as in London,
chief causes of this change  .was that the  l&d or pro-        in dire poverty . . . There is reason to believe that con-
prietor discovered that the gain to be derived from the        ditions are essentially the same in many other English
labor of the cultivators of his lands could be increased       towns as well as on the Continent, although this has
if these cultivators (the serfs) be set free and as free       not been demonstrated by scientific investigation."
men be. made to work for hire. The rich proprietor               The above survey of the condition of life of the
reasoned thus, "Complete ownership of the slave  br            servile class (the slaves of ancient days, the serfs of
serf goes hand in hand with, the responsibility of pro-        the middle ages and the  CO~~WOG  working class of  to-
viding for him and his own.         Through setting him        clay) shows that the cause of the world's economic and
free,  I relieve myself of this responsibility. The wage       social ills has never been this or that system,  institu-


 305                                   THE  ` S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

 tion, or form of government but sin, the greed. and               sword! Everywhere death! Gregory took to heart the
 the selfishness of man, his  labouring for the meat that          plight of the poor and was to them a father. He fed
 perishes instead of for that meat that endureth unto' them generously with corn and meat and supplied them
 everlasting life.     Institutions have come and gone,            with oil and wine. When a man died of starvation at
 systems have changed, but the poverty of the servile              Rome, he accused himself of negligence. Through his
 class abides unaltered. The. slaves of the patriarch              agents he supervised the Roman hospitals and kept
 Abraham certainly were much better. off than the                  regular account of the management of funds. He  SLIC-
 average common wage earner of to-day.             And those       ccessfully advocated the dividing of the income of the
 slaves (of Abraham) enjoyed more  a&al. freedom                   church into four equal parts, one for  the poor.
 (they had perfect freedom, though  slaves) than, the                At first charity did its work without a thought of
 common freeman of to-day. How is this to be ex-                   merit. However, in course of time the doctrine was
 plained? Abraham `was one of God's noblemen. But                  ,broached  that charity has a meritorious nature and
 that slave-holder of  Old Rome and that proud and                 atoning efficacy and thus covers a multitude of sins and
 unfeeling baron of the middle ages with his vast estates          even has value for the dead in purgatory. Many were
 were unprincipled men, children of darkness.            Like-     the hearts in which these errors found a lodging place.
 wise that class of employers of to-day who know no                The result was that on the part of many the work of
duty toward the people in their employ other than that             administering' relief to the poor sprang not' from pure
 of  paying.wages  upon  which they cannot subsist, and of         love but from sheer selfishness,. and was thus a work
 sending them forth empty handed when on account of                done under the impulse of a desire to merit heaven.      l't
 age they have lost their usefulness. Through the ages. means. that much of that remarkable zeal of the alm-
 the hire of the labourers. which is kept back by fraud,           oners in the church was false. There was then also a
 crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are               dark side to the charity of the church of the middle
 entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.                     ages. A great many gave and administered not as
   Now the poor on the earth have been given to the                constrained by the love of Christ and for the sake of
church.    As was pointed out, the Christian church                helping and serving the poor in Christ. but to obtain
 from the very beginning was aware of this. The. true              for themselves and theirs merit, release from purga-
 people of God-the Church-not. only preached Christ                tory, and a high degree of eternal happiness.          Men
 and His redeeming love for chosen sinners-the believ-             became possessed of a fanatical zeal to give to the
 ing? but they also provided the world with  .the evidence         poor. The result was that poverty was fostered and
 that  the. love of God  abiclecl in them. And this evidence       beggary encouraged.
 was their charity.     The true church says with John,              Pope Gregory the great, the very pope who did so
 "But who  bath this world's goods, and seeth his brother          much  .for the poor, taught that `almsgiving has a meri-
 have need, and shutteth  up  his bowels of compassion             torious efficacy. His  beli.ef was that the redeemed must
from him. how dwelleth the love of God in him.,"                   bear the temporal punishment of sin in this life and
   The work of the Christian church in the sphere of               purgatory. But this punishment,. he taught, could be
 charity has been great, especially, as was said, in the           enlightened by good works. Hence, the more alms the
 beginning of the Christian era and during the  .`middle.          better.
 ages. For the first time in the history of mankind,                 `Another evil that crept in was that charity passed
 many thousands of Christian men and women devoted                 more and more under the control of the state. It was
 their entire lives to the single object of assuaging the          the Reformation that again asserted the principle that
 suEerings  of  ,mankind  and this at the sacrifice of all         charity, worthy of the name, is the  fruitage of true
 worldly interests and often under circumstances of                love and that Christ almoner in  the. world `is not the
extreme danger."       Christian charity covered  `the,  g1ob.e    state but the church, functioning through the deaconate.
 with countless institutions of mercy, absolutely un-                                                           G. M. 0.
 known to the whole pagan world.? `The power of
 charity was everywhere felt. It dried the tears of                                       NOTlICE
 the down-trodden poor and soothed their `sorrows.  It               The League of Men's Societies will hold their annual
 came to human misery with sympathy and with- the                  meeting, on April 2, 1936, at 7  ~4-5 I?. M. in one of the
 comfort of God's Worcl as well as with material aid.              parlors of the First Protestant Reformed Church.  :
   One of the best representatives of Christian charity              Rev. G. Ophof of Byron Center, Michigan, will be the
 of  sthe Middle ages was Pope Gregory the great. He               speaker for the evening. A very timely subject will be
 lived in a period when the Roman civilization was in              discussed. Opportunity will be given for questions.
 a state of collapse and on the verge of disappearing.               All members are requested to be present and an invita-
 The city of Rome was filled with beggars and paupers.             tion is hereby extended to all the men of our congrega-
 Gregory's complaint was that he saw nothing but sor-              tion to be present with  LE.
 row and heard nothing but complaint. Everywhere the                                   League of Men's Societies Board.


                                           THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              309

                The  Go0                   ephelrd                     They are the most unhappy of beings, next to the
                                                                     devils. For them is reserved a place that shall be dread-
     There  are many abominable occupations in this sorry            ful. More tolerable to Sodom and Gomorrah!
  w o r l d .                                                          ,O, God! make  us  faithful!
                                    .I.
     Think, for instance, of the panderer, the  Ponce and              .On the background of this dismal picture of utmost
  the pimp, the keeper of the  blrothel, the "master mind,'          wickedness the Lord paints the picture of the beautiful,
  `of. narcotics peddlers, the dissipated "lure" of white            fair and lovely Shepherd.
  slavers, etc., etc.                                                  I am the Good Shepherd. That is Jesus.
                          Enough  to make one's stomach turn.
     Still. one and all, they are not the worst of the lot             The word that is translated good is a rich word. The
  of sinners. This motley throng of evil doers shall rise `Greeks used it for things that were pleasing,. beautiful,
  in  judgmeilt with an other class of sinners that are             excellent, eminent, choice, surpassing, precious, useful,
   much worse than they and shall condemn them. It will              suitable, commendable, admirable.     A n d   w h y ?   Be-
  be more tolerable to the panderer and the pimp, the                Cause the primary meaning of the word is sound, hale
  keeper  zof the brothel than this other class.                    a n d   w h o l e .
     The denizens of `the dark alleys and the slums are                Jesus is the fulfillment of the eternal idea of the
  not nearly as  horribtle as this other class, even though          Shepherd. On earth we find but the shadow,  remote,
  they look and speak  alld walk ever so sweetly. But               weak, faulty, impure. The whole shepherd is in Jesus.
  when the Great Judge and Arbiter shall turn them in-              He is in His Shepherdship hale and sound. He fills it
  side out it shall he  seen  to the abhorring of all flesh         to the utmost.
  that they were really the worst of offenders, that they              It is the reason for the absolute success of  J&us as
  are filled with all uncleanness. Then it will  ,be proven         a Shepherd. He cannot fail for He is the True Shep-
 conclusively that they were the  co~lXs  bcclnt~ of the devil.     herd.
     I have in mind the false shepherds of Israel. Whores              Oh, beloved, watch Him!
  and publicans shall go into the Kingdom of God before                He came to the fold and called His sheep by name.
  t h e m .                                                         The deathblow to all universalists and free-willists.
     B u t   w h y ?                                                Jesus indeed is softly and tenderly calling His sheep,
     Jesus had  seen their doings. A miserable sheep of             even to-day. But He  does never call at random. He
  His flock had  come to conversion and  bmecause  of that          `calls His sheep. by name. Presently He tells the Father
  conversion and his talk of  donversioil before the  Fhari-        that He has taken care of the sheep that were. given
  sees they threw him out.                                          Him by the Father. He has not lost any of them.
  They are the worst of the lot of sinners. They are                   The sheep that hear their name are gifts of the
  the unhappy beings that do the unpardonable sin. They             Father to Jesus. And also the Father knew them. He
  call the work of the Holy Ghost a work  of the devil.             knew them in everlasting love and determined their
  They eat up the sheep and clothe themselves with their            individual name.
  wool and iet the sheep  go, hungry.        They never gather         Oh no, the Good Shepherd does not call you by the
  but  always scatter.       They are robbers and thieves in        name that your parents gave you. He calls you  by the
the holy things. Therefore they are the most abomin-                name that God gave you.
  able of sinners.                                                     That name : the hungry one for God  ; the man and
    At  fhe time  that, Jesus walked the land they were             woman and child that stammers in the yearning of his
 `called and they called themselves the shepherds of  Je-           heart: When shall I appear before God? That name:
  hov&`s flock.         They  wer& confident that they were a       the laboring one and heavy laden : their sins are such
  guide of the  b&d, lights of them which were in dark-             a load, too heavy to bear. And they hie themselves to
  ness, instructors  6f  the,foolish,  teachers of babes, teach-    the Cross of the Shepherd. The believing ones and the
  ing others ;-but what a tragedy! They murdered the                meek, the poor in spirit and the sorrowing ones, those
  Son of  +hat same Jehovah and they persecuted all those           that have no spiritual money to buy heavenly bread and
  that were sent by Him to the lost sheep of the house              wine: they are all bidden come, come to the Saviour.
  of Israel.    -411  th.e ages Christ wanted to gather the         How wonderful !
  children of Jerusalem but they would not let Him, They              And when they rest in the bosom of the Shepherd,
  obstructed this ingathering at every step. And heaped             when they could not any more go for weariness, and
  up wrath. Presently their homes are left them deso-               He gathered them in His arms, they told Him: "It is
  late when they burn in flaming hell . . .                         Thou, oh Shepherd, that hath made us, and not we our-
    And Jesus' pronouncement of woe upon these hypo-                selves ; we are Thy people, and the sheep of Thy pas-
  crites is  hqt the New Testament echo of Jehovah's:               ture  !" Ps. 100.
  "Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed them-               His Father gave the name in all eternity: the name
 selves !  sl~ould  not the shepherds feed the flocks  ?"           as the revelation of their essence; His Father gave these


310                                    THG  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

named sheep to His Son, the Shepherd, the Good; and             the Good Shepherd. For that reason all the impure ele-
He softly  acid tenderly is calling to-day, calling to-day!     ments must be burned out of us. We are treated like
   And they know Him also. When they hear His                   gold which in `its impure state is cast into the crucible.
soft and tender voice on a thousand hills, in the ravines       And the fire barns. But presently the glistening and,
and on the mountaintops, they  listepn  raptly and an-          glittering gold is found at the bottom of the cup. We
swer Him.      They recognize His voice, they long for          must be chastened for  oui-  profit. We must be pressed
His words of truth and consolation, they are led by             sore so that we obtain much of God's holiness. It is
Him along the very quiet waters, they lie down in               pasture for the sheep,
green pastures. And they rest in His  brosom.  .Happy,            And in the midst of this suffering He is still near
a thousand times happy are the sheep of Christ.                 them.       He whispers to them in His Word. Beautiful
                                                                words of Jesus!
   And He cares for them.  I-Ie knows their needs and                                       How they charm even in prison.
I am blest.      For from hour to hour He feeds and             And while the furrows of wicked stripes show red of
nourishes and cherishes His own sheep.           They never     your blood,  you  will sing Psalms with Paul and trust
go alone in the wilderness of this awful world.         His     with Stephen, the martyr. It is the green pasture of the
protecting care and His guiding love are their safety.          Good Shepherd.
  And He leads the way.                                           And not for long shall  you  suffer. There is an end.
   But, oh horror, there is the wolf. No fear, never            The Lord has heard the cry of His sheep: Return, Oh
fear, for the Shepherd gives His life for His sheep.            Lord, how long and it repent Thee because of Thy
And when we would pity the sheep that are bereft of             servants.      H e   c o m e s   q u i c k l y .
their protectin,c shepherd, we must not, for  the laying          And then for the last time through the valley of the)
down of His life is their very safety, from the wolf.           shadow of death. But even there is the Good Shepherd.
He has  layered down His life, but as the conquering Hero       He has made the valley bright with His Cross. The
over death and hell, He arises  Triumphator.          He is     beams of eternal mercy shall lighten the dreadful valley.
their eternal Shepherd.                                         Hence, death has no sting for the sheep. They sing
   And now it must be admitted: it does seem strange            when the Doctor Says in whispers low : He is failing !
how these sheep are in the world, in the very midst             They sing, for through the mists of their fever they
of wolves and hateful ravening devils.          Are not the     hear the first strains of heavenly  singjng. They sing,
children of God like unto orphans in the storm? And             for they see the guard of honor that Jesus sends. "And
do we not see them in "cruel  mockings, sawn asunder,           it came  td pass, that the beggar died, and was carried
tempted, slain with the sword : we see them wander              by the angels . .  " Yes, he was carried to the eternal,
about in sheepskins and goatskins  ; being destitute, af-       heavenly pasture.            Where the fountains are  ever!
flicted, tormented . . . they wander in deserts, and in         flowing.
mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth  !"                 Therefore we would plead with  you  not to detain us,
  Listen! Let us steal, unaware to them, close to them          for we must move onward. We have once heard the
in their  bllood  and persecutions. Be quiet, very quiet,       voice of the Shepherd say: Come unto Me,  My sheep.
and I assure you that your riddle will be' solved. Ah,          and I will give you rest. And once hearing the  b,eauti-
while  tea& are streaming down their hollow cheeks,             ful words of Jesus, we are enchanted, captivated  b,y this
while the executioner pauses the downward sweep of              silvery speech of the Christ.                 We have once tasted
the sword, I hear them in sweet refrain: "But we see            that the Lord is good and gracious, and now we long
                                                                for the eternal diet of rest and peace with God.
Jems !    Crowned with glory. and honor  !" Heb. 2.
  There is your answer. He is crowned Lord of lords               Yes, the most horrible occupation is to be a false
and King of kings. All things  tire in His- hand. Things        shepherd of Israel  J "to whom is reserved the blackness
in heaven, things on earth and things in hell. They all         of darkness for ever."
are His servants. Also the stake and bonds and the                But, methinks, the most beautiful occupation is to
suffering of His sheep. It `is but His leadership. It `is       !le an undershepherd of Jesus.  ,Then we may take
the  negatitie pasture for' the  ' sheep.    The  sheep have    the  b.eautiful words of Jesus and tell them to the sheep.
heard His voice and they follow  Him;'  ..  .. They have        And. they and we may then feast on the banquet of
heard  His. commentary of the way to heaven: "that we           words. They are dainties `(of fat things, a feast of
must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom            wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of
of God." Acts  14:22ba.                                         wines  .on the lees well refined."
  And if  you  are interested to know the deeper reason           And we may then grow together, the sheep and the
we are told that all this suffering burns the dross from        undershepherd, sheep one and all, for the pasture of
the pure gold of the nature of the sheep. The charac-           the Good Shepherd  is surpassing in deliciousness.
ter of the sheep is also foreknown and  aforedetermined.          Oh, Good Shepherd !               Call us, feed  us,  guard us
We must  become as sweet and as fair and lovely as              and save us to the uttermost!                             G. V.


                             A  Reform.ed  Semi-Manthly   M a g a z i n e
               PIJBEPSHED  BY THE REFORMED FREE PUBLISHING  ASSOtiIATIBN,  GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.
                                                              EDITORIAL STAFF
                                            Editors-Rev. H.  Hoeksema,.   Rev. G. M.  Bphoff,              Communications relative to contents
                                                          Rev. Wm. Verhil, Rev. G. Vos                             should be addressed to
                                           Associate  Editorc&--Rev.  A. Cammenga, Rev.  Ed. De
                                              Boer, Rev. M. Gritters, Rev. C. Hanko, Rev. B.
                                          Kok, Rev.. G. Lubbers, Rev. J. Vander  Breggen,
                                                               Rev.., R. Veldman.

voi. XII,  No.  14 Entered as second class mail             APRIL 15, 1936                   .-
                        matter at Grand Rapids,  Nich.                                                          Subscription Price,  $2.50

                                                                          presently rejoicing with great fear and trembling be-
                                                                          cause of the angel's gospel.             And they had returned,
                                                                          hastening to  b,ring the disciples word.
                                                                            Then: also the death-watch had hastened to the city.
                                                                          And still trembling with fear. they had reported to their
                                                                          evil masters what had terrorized them into abandoning
                                                                          the grave in Joseph's garden. And on the swift wings
                                                                          of rumor the  lie had been sped in every direction that
                                                                          the disciples of Jesus had stolen His body, while the
                                                                          death-watch had been. asleep !
                                                                             In the meantime reports came from various sources
                                                                          that the Lord was Iiving and risen from the dead.
                                                                            Sundry had seen Him.                The Magdalene spoke! of the
                                                                          thrill of joy that had vibrated through her  soul,  when
                                                                          He had spoken  her.name ! The women that had returned
                                                                          from the sepulchre had met Him. in the way.                        And
                                                                          Peter! . . . . marvel. of seeking love ! . . . . had been privi-
                                                                          leged above the other disciples by a manifestation of
                                                                          the Risen Lord. And so it happened, that when the
    The evening of that first clay of the week!                           two travellers to  Emmaus had returned to Jerusalem.
    How crowded with wonderful and unexpected events                      on the evening of that wonderful first clay of the week,
that day  had been, both for the enemies' of the Lord and                 to tell the disciples of their burning hearts and joyous
for His disciples!                                                        recognition of Him that  wo~~lcl  redeem Israel, they were
    How Jerusalem, once the city of  God'hut nom, after                   amticipatecl  by the glad shout o-f those whom they came
the judgment of the world had  been` accomplished on                      to inform: "The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared
Golgotha, Sodom, waiting for its doom, had been filled                    unto Simon  !"
with strange and conflicting rumors since early in the                       Nay, they did not fully comprehend the import of
morning,!                                                                 their own glad profession of the marvel of the resurrec-
   .Very early in the morning Jesus that was crucified had                tion of Jesus.
risen f ram .the  dead ; a heavenly messenger had .shattered                 But the light of life and joy  hacl begun to break
the morale of the death-watch; and while the earth was                    through the gloom of despair the cross had spread over
                                                                                                           ,
still trembling with the great earthquake that  signifi-                  their  soul !
cantly accompanied the resurrection of the Lord. of Life,                    They rejoiced with fear!
the angel had rolled away the stone from the door of                        Marvellous   f i r s t   d a y !
the sepulchre and  sat..npon  it, waiting for the audience
that was sure to come that he might preach to them the                       Peace be unto you!
glad tidings of the resurrection ! Nor had he to. wait                       Suddenly the Voice, calm and majestic, divine ve-
l o n g .    Before  the gray morning-mists had rolled away               hicle of the peace of which it speaks, interrupted their
women. anxious about the body of their Master, eager                      conversation !
to honor Him Whom their soul loved with one last                             They had remained together, the doors closed for fear
service. had come to the grave, perplexed to see the stone                of the Jews, the "eleven" and those that were with them,
rolled away,, amazed to  -find the sepulchre empty,  yet                  now also joined by the sojourners that had returned from


314                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D  .BEARER

 Enmam,  to  tell and to hear, and  $0  discuss the things            There had been no  souncl,  no stir, no movement, no
 they had heard and seen.                                           visible or audible sign  of His approach? His entrance
   Exactly how  maliy and who were present in that com-             into the room, His  bresence there, if from the first He
pany of disciples on the evening of that first clay of the          had been present among them! He simply stoocl there,
week, we know not. The "eleven" were  there, yet  thei+             in their midst, and they saw Him, and they heard the
number was not complete, for Thomas  was not with familiar words : Peace be unto you ! How, then, had He
them.    The darkness of Golgotha to him was  impene-               come in  ? The doors were shut for fear of the Jews.
trable. Euried deeply under the  burden of sorrow was              Yet, there He! stoocl! And the question is perfectly  idle
his  soul.  Why still gather with  tha "eleven"?  Was  not         and irrelevant, just how His presence may be explained.
the cross the end of all their, hopes? His was  the kind           Did He open the door ? Did He enter through the door
of sorrow that will not be comforted, that finds in Soli-          as it was shut? Or, perhaps. had He been with them
tude its proper and harmonious  expressiou, that builds.           all the while and did He now, as they' just spake.  -first
for itself a sacred shrine in the  heart? the stillness.  .atid    appear unto them  aid  become manifest to their  eyes?
gloom of which it is sacrilege to disturb, and that, there-           Let  us  refrain from speculation.
fore, avoids the fellowship even of closest friends. The              It would be an attempt to apply the laws of our present
"eleven" were there, but Thomas was  mi:s;ng.           Thee.      world to His world of glory.
there were others.         Were  ,tliey the  wonlen  t'iat had        His presence and the marvel of it merely witnesses
visited the grave early that morning? Was, perhaps,                that He has truly risen.
t+e mother of Jesus also with them  ? We would like to                His resurrection was no return to this side of the
conjecture her presence. Or, is it not strange that nowhere        grave, but a passing on to the other side. It was not a
we read of a meeting of the Risen Lord and His mother?             revival  of, the old  bocly in "the likeness of sinful flesh",
Yet,  SUCK  is the resurrection of the dead . . . . touch Me       but a raising to the higher level of glory and eternal per-
not! . . . for flesh and  l~lood   camlnot  inherit the Kingdom    fection.
of hea\-en  ! This company, then, was joined by the two               With Him mortality had been swallowed up of life!
trarellers. whose hearts had burned within them on the                The natural body had been changed into the spiritual
way to  Emmaus  _ . . .                                            body !
   And as they thus spake . .  _  .                                   The corruptible had put on incorruption !
   Is it wonder that there was no end of conversation                 The Lord is risen indeed !
among them that evening?                                              Peace unto you!
  `These  were the facts connected with the resurrection
of the Lord, facts they would review again and again,                 T h e   L o r d   i s  i-isen!
and which they never grew weary of narrating and hear-                His resurrection  iS a  fact, yet a wonder!
ing rehearsed. There was the open grave, the vision of                It is historic reality, yet not to be explained from the
the  angels) and their message concerning Jesus' resurrec-         chain of causes and effects. as we know them.           It is
tion; there was the  mar\-el of  "the place where the Lord         the breaking through of life through death; the mani-
lay", of the linen clothes, of the napkin that had been            festation of immortality through the darkness of mor-
about His head: there was the testimony of those that              tality; the wonder of grace ! Jehovah's Word had  pene-
had seen  H&n, that  h&l heard His voice, that had listened        trated the darkness of death: "Arise, Zion; Put on thy
with burning hearts to His exposition of the Scriptures            beautiful garments!" And Zion had arisen, in Him, on
with  refer'ence to Himself, His death and resurrection,           that blessed first clay of  th& week, clad in garments of
that  had watched Him in silent wonderment as He brake             eternal salvation, the perfection of heavenly beauty! . . . .
bread  blefore their eyes . . . .                                    The fact, yet the marvel!
  Bnd then, "thoughts would arise in their hearts" . . . .           And of the fact and its marvel, its reality and its
  And their attention would be returned to the element             wholly otherness, the disciples must  b,e convinced. They
of strangeness in it all. Oh, yes, it was Jesus, their             must understand that He arose, yet  did not  .return, but
Lord, they had seen and heard that glad  resurrection-             passecl  on into the perfection of heavenly glory and
day! The Lord had risen? indeed ! And yet . . . .                  beauty into which they and all that love His appearance
  Where, then was He? . . . .                                      must soon follow Him! For,  the resurrection, its won-
  Why should He not be with them? Why  shoulcl He                  der, they must presently preach to all the nations of the
only appear to them, for a moment, then again to be lost           world !
out  of sight. It  was He, and yet He  was so  wholly                The marvel of the resurrection  loudly  speaks to them
different from their Master as they used to know Him,              in this sudden  ancl inexplicable Presence.
to be near Him. to eat and drink.with Him .  _ . .                   And the effect is twofold. They are terrified and  af-
  And as they thus spake, suddenly they see His beloved            frighted: and they begin by interpreting the marvel as
form? and they hear the well-known Voice:                          an apparition ! They suppose that they had seen a ghost !
  Peace be unto you!                                               ,-\nd how could it be different?  No  cloubt, by that time


         they believed that the Lord,  had, indeed, risen. To the
         fact of the resurrection there were already many wit-            These are the worcls! . . . .
         nesses. Eut their conception of that resurrection was          The cross and the resurrection are the realization of
        wholly different from what it actually proved to be. The       the words I  spake unto you, while I was yet with  YOLI !
        real power and glory and significance of the resurrection         For all things that are written of Me in the law of
        they did not yet understand. No passing on to immor-           Moses and in the Psalms must be fulfilled!
        tality and eternal glory. but a resurrection  such  as that       Those words they had not understood, still less re-
        of Lazarus, a return from the power of death and out           ceived.       That the Christ must need be delivered into
        `of the grave, that would  b,ring their beloved Master back    the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third dav
        to  them and to their earthly fellowship,-such must have       raised again from the dead, harmonized not at all with
        been their expectation and conception of the fact that         their earthly and carnal conception of Him that was to
        had taken place that morning. And in that conception           redeem Israel. In that conception there was no place
        of the resurrection and of the risen Lord this manifesta-      for His death and, therefore, no room for His resurrec-
        tion of Jesus did not have a place. How strange and            tion.                                                           ,
        ghostlike was His appearance in their midst! He was             And now those words were realized!
        wholly different. They did not btlieve their own senses           They had been witnesses of His being  clelivered into
        and rather explained that they had seen a spirit! . . . .      the power of the ungodly, of His agony and death. And
           Peace be unto you!                                          they had now become witnesses of the reality of His
           The reality of the resurrection speaks to them in that      resurrection. The Lord had died.  .The' Lord had risen.
        Voice !                                                        The facts, because they had seen, they now believed..
           They may not be left to their fear. Nor may it remain          And yet, what to them would these mere facts be, if
        their impression that it is a ghost that suddenly appeared     they did not understand? Why must He die? Why
        in their midst. For, they must be witnesses of the             must He rise again from the dead? The Word of the
        reality of His resurrection. And though He arose with          cross and the Word of the  .resurrection,  the divine pur-
        a  spn-rtual, not a natural, with an incorruptible and im-     pose of it all they must needs understand, in order that
        mortal, not with a corruptible and mortal body,  yet  that     they may be witnesses of Christ crucified and raised.
        same Lord that walked with them, when He tabernacled           E'
                                                                         emg convinced of the facts of  thei cross- and  the resur-
        in the likeness of sinful flesh, in that same body that was    rection, they must now understand their eternal, divine
        nailed to the accursed tree- and laid away in the tomb         necessity.
        of Joseph's garden, arose from the dead and now stands           He opened their understanding !
        in their midst. O;f the reality of the Risen Lord they            Is not this, perhaps, the interpretation of what the
        must be convinced.                                             apostle John reports of this appearance of Jesus, that
           And, therefore, the Risen Christ, enters into their         He breathed on them saying: Receive ye the Holy Ghost!
        world of sense  ,and manifests  I-Iimself to them.             Did they not at this time receive from the Risen Lord
          He speaks to them, and they hear His voice. He in-           that portion of the Spirit that would enable them to  _
        vites them to draw near-to Him and examine the reality         understand the necessity of both? And having opened
        of His resurrection-body, to touch and to  `ha,ndle Him.       their understanding did not the Risen Lord tarry with
`.      He-  shows them His hands and His feet, not only to            them long enough to instruct them in all the law and
        convince them `that His  b,ody has definite material sub-      the prophets, to speak unto them words, which, indeed,
        stance and reality, but also to assure them that it is He,     He often had spoken before, but which now for the first
        the same Jesus that was crucified. They hear Him, they         time they understood in  all' their blessed significance and
        see the prints of the nails  ini His hands and feet, they      power of salvation?        And did not their hearts burn
        may touch and handle Him to assure themselves that He          with a new joy  asi they began to apprehend the mystery
        is not a mere apparition but their glorified Lord. And         of godliness? . . . .
      joy  begins to fill their hearts, a joy, however, that seems       And is it not always thus?
        too great to `be real ! Stiil they wonder, and still they        Let but the Scriptures speak and the Risen Christ
        believe not. And still closer the glorified Lord draws         open our understanding by the Spirit of grace, and the
        near unto them, when He asks them for meat and be-             resurrection of  .Jesus is more than mere fact.
       fore their eyes He eats the fish and honey.                       It is the gospel of our salvation!
          Then, finally, their fear and terror are driven out by         `He was delivered for our transgressions !
        the joy that their Lord is.  risen and that He Who is            Raised for our justification !
        the  gro~mcl of their hope that Israel shall be redeemed,
        is become Victor over death and the grave!                                       i-mEWTIOPd,  READERS
          The Lord is risen indeed!                                      Please look at the date of your subscription, and if due
          And a new glorious meaning His words now acquire :           please remit.            R. Schaafsma, Treas.,
         Peace be unto  you !                                                        524 Henry Ave., S.E., Grand Rapids,  Mich.

                   ..


 316                                    THE:  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                                                    for  the school, he  did not hesitate to express his opinion
                                                                    of the doctor's instruction mildly to the point of misin-
                                                                    terpretation.
                                                                       2. In 1921-22 the Reverend  G. Hoeksema was not
                                                                    prepared to condemn Dr. Janssen. in whose  Student-
                                                                    Notes  be had found many radical statements, ten times
                              V I I                                 more than he shall ever be  ab!.e to find in the Notes of
   We might quote several more passages from the min-               Dr. Wezeman.
 ority report on the instruction of Dr. Janssen, which                 3.  One of the reasons why in 192 l-22 he would not
was signed also by the Reverend G. Hoeksema, far more               Conclemn the instruction reflected in the Student-Notes
radical than those of Dr. Wezeman as they are evident .was, that  there were "too many passages in the Notes.
from his notes.                                                     where Dr. Janssen is thoroughly sound in his concep-
   But enough has been dug out of the past  to illustrate           tions".    Notice the attempt to defend Dr. Janssen: he
the` point I wish to make in this connection.                       found a few radical passages (while there were a multi-
   Let me, then, call attention to the "Conclusion"  of             tude of  them)! and "too many  so~111c1  passages"      (while
the minority report on the Janssen-case.           It reads as      there were hardly any).
follows :                                                              1. That in 1921-22 `he added a word of praise for the
  "In conclusion, we wish to make two remarks. In the               instruction of Dr.  J&sssen.      To substantiate this word
first place, it is evident from our report,, that there  .are  a    of praise nothing was adduced in the report of the com-
few passages in the Notes, which may be interpreted in              mittee, and I feel sure that nothing could have been ad-
such 5  way: as to invalidate the conception of an in-              duced to prove the statement of  .commendation.  It merely
fallibly inspired Scripture. It does not follow, however,           reveals the attitucle the Reverend G.  T-Ioeksema  assumed
,that we as a Committee are prepared to condemn Janssen             at that time over against instruction that was far more
as a heretic on the basis of these statements. Our rea-             raclical than that of Dr. Wezeman to-day.
sons for not doing so are the following:                              Has the Reverend G. Hoeksema had a change of heart
   "1. We have access only to Student's Notes.                      and  mincl  ?
   "2. There are  too  many other passages in the Notes,               In 1920-22 he condoned, defended, maintained the
where Dr. Janssen is thoroughly sound in his  concep-               moclernistic instruction of Dr. Janssen.
rions.                                                                 In 192425 he earnestly co-labored to throw out a
  "3. Since  ,the Newer Notes are much better, in many              conservative man like the Reverend H.  Da&of.
respects? than the Older Notes, we ought to be very                    In 1935 it appears that he bitterly opposes the in-
careful in passing final judgment.                                  struction of a man that is not for one tenth as modern
   "1. We have not had the opportunity of hearing Dr.               as Dr. Janssen ever was!
Janssen's own explanations of these passages.                         Inconsistent,  you say  ?
   "5.. Since the Confessions alone are the standard by               True, but I am not  concerned with the inconsistency
which heresy or orthodoxy must be determined, `the final            of  it? but with the moral- aspect  o.f the case.     Did the
decision must not be taken hastily.                                 Reverend Hoeksema have a change of heart? If so, did
  "`Therefore we believe it is necessary, before a final de-        he openly make a statement to that effect? Does he now
cision is passed, that Janssen be further interrogated              heartily condemn what in 1921-22 he attempted to de-
on these points.                                                    fend?      The public has a right to know. For, if the
  "In the second place, we must say a word in praise of             Reverend G. Hoeksema had no change of heart and mind
`Dr. Janssen. He  atteni$s to make Scripture and its                since 1921, he has no moral right to oppose Dr.  Weze-
history and characters live for his -students. and to keep          man,  se&g   he is  nble  to defend  TWOPSE   thhgs  tkm. those
our theology in contact. with the actual problems of                ire  fim-ls  iu the  hstndon  of  Dr.  Wezenzan.
present-day life, so as to save it from petrification."               This is all the more serious, because it appears that
  I do not  `cluote these conclusions in order to reflect           there is a direct connection  between  the attitude the
on their validity with respect to the Janssen-case. But             Reverend G. Hoeksema  assumecl in relation to the in-
I do want to call attention to the following facts :                struction of Dr. Wezeman.
  1. In 1921-22 the Reverend Hoeksema was called to                   It was well-known in those clays,  tlw Dr.  Wezemaq
express an opinion on instruction that was reflected, in            then, a student at the seminary,  admirecl Dr. Janssen.
conflict with the faith in a verbally inspired Scripture.           He was emphatically a Janssen-student.
How  did? at that time, the Reverend Hoeksema report                  The Janssen-students in those days found much moral
on this matter to.  Curatorium? He said: "there are a               support and reason to put their full confidence in the
~EZU passages in the Notes, which  ~pq~   bs  &eu;hrsted  in        instruction of- Dr. Janssen in the decisions of the synod
such  a way as to invalidate the conception of an in-               of 1920 and the attitucle of  such  men as the Reverend G.
fallibly inspired Scripture."I n order to save Dr. Janssen          Hoeksema.


                                                T H E        S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  317

     Here,  .then, is a direct moral connection :                                Ongetwi   j feld  ligt hier een der zwaartepunten  Cn in het
 _ In 1920-22 the Reverend G. Hoeksema encouraged                             meerii%gsv&schil   tusschen Dr. Schilder  -en Dr.  Noord-
 st.udent F. Wezeman in `putting full confidence in the                       mans,  Cn. in het  meenin&v&$chil,  dat  zich hier reeds
`modernistic instruction of Dr. Janssen.                                      jaren  geled& openbaarde tusschen hen,' die, in  3oogdra-
     In 1933-35 he meets with what is partly the fruit of                     vende  worden   dikwijls; er van  spraken, dat het  "Calvinis-
.his own labors, in the instruction given by Dr. Wezeman                      me" de cultuur  bevorderd  had en  nag bevorderde en  ens,
 in the Chicago Christian High School.                                        die meenden, dat ook op het  T'terrein"  der cultuur de
     Has  th& Reverend G. Hoeksema any moral right to                         hoofdvraag allereerst was die van zonde (niet  "natuur")
 oppdse  the fruit of his own work, before he confesses                       en  genade.. Ook  Dr. Kuyper en Dr. Bavinck  maken  zich
 before Dr. `Wezeman and the public that: he erred  iv                        aan deze  fundamenteele  vergissing, met-name in hun'
 1 CQO-22  ?                                                                  Stone-lezingen, keer op keer  schuldig, dat  ze. de cultuur
     I do not believe he has.                                                 verabsoluteeren,  dm  dieti, zij het ook  mind& juisten, term
                                                                              over te  neme'n.
     This holds, I think,  at least for one more  of the signers,
 of the "Bluebook".               I am referring to J. Van Beek.                 `t Is dezelfcle vergissing (en  .daarom juist  66n  der
 If I am not mistaken he also used to be or still is a                        zs+aartepuntent  indien niet  &t zwaartepunt in het  ge-
                                                                              schil) , als de  verwarring  van  "natimr"  en.  "gqacle".
 "J an&q-man".
     What stand the Reverend Dr. Herman  Kuiper  in the                          011  grond van die "vergissing"  .kwam  tien er toe om
 Janssen-case, I know not. I do not believe that he com-                      zotider  nadere  bepaling te postuleeren, dat een christen
 mitted himself in those days.                                                zich niet  afiijdl,
                                                                                                  *r mag houclen van de cultuur.
     I  -must  still write `on another phase of the Chicago                     Zoo sprak men van de kunst, van de politiek, van de
 5ituatioq.                                                                   maatschappi j .
  It' concerns the "Bluebook". as the  Pam&let written                          En heel die "cultuur" was immers "algemeene  genide".
by  ,Dr. H. Kuiper is known.                                                  Ze  klq;am uit de  .algemeene  getiade zelfs  op!
     Let me conclude the`phase I have just been  dis&ing                         Dat een christen  altijd  en  overal moet leven uit het
 by the following statement:                                                  beginsel der nieuwe gehoorzaamheid, dat het leven der
     I                                                                        weclergeboorte eigen is, werd vergeten.  Op het  Yerrein"
           ~277~  ~rvepnred to  prove  thcrt the  wtimwity-report   iz the
 ~umsen-case,   of  wl~iclz.  the  Remrend G.  Ho&c(emn  is                   der "algemeene genade"  loopen  licht en duisternis in
 co-ml&7r   aud most prohbly  the writer, is                                  elkaar en  doen  Christus   en Belial  samen  aan da cultuur!
                                                         -&One  in  rdi-
 .?a1  content  mtd  tmdemy   than all  the Notes  of  Dr.  Weze-               Laat ons  Dr'. Schilder verder hooren:
 iuam combined;  tlteref ore,  wtoclqxisnz   hm  been  .fighti;x?                "Spreekt  nu God in een  afzongerlijke   openbaringqcte
 ilzodert&r.  i+t  Cl%cago.            Tiltis is morally  wmzg   mm!          voor wie de  Schrift   gelodft, den mensch  aan inzake de
 p"`ncipaUy  i~~~.~ossible.                                                   cultuuri dan is daarmee gegeven, dat deze cultuuropdracht
     And I predict that the  -Chicago Situation will yield  no.               geldt voor alle tijden. Ook voor den  toestand  der geval-
 p o s i t i v e   f r u i t .                                 H. H.          len wereld, met  ,fkromme  en verdraaide geslachten'. Want
                                                                              ik  weet. geen  .enkel-goddelijk  mandaat, dat niet  ZOLI  vallen
                                                                              onder de  dramatiek,  waarvan de Heidelbergsche  Cate-
                                                                              chismus gewag maakt, als hij  zegt, dat God den mensch
.Schilder over de Algemeepe Genade geen onrecht  `doett? als  .Hij in Zijn wet van hem  eischt,
                                                                              wnt  hij  wiet  clam   km. In de handhaving van dien eisch
    In No. 22 van  De  Refo&atie  schrijft Dr. Schilcler                      van het  niet-meer-mogelijke,  grijpt dus de wetgevende
 yerder,  onder  ,het kopstuk : "Over de `Algemeene  Ge-                      God!. sprekende in de `kerkphase' der  menschheidgeschie-
 nade'," als volgt :                                                          denis  (d.w.z.) in de  periode na  deq zonderval) terug  tot
     "Ons  vo,rig artikel  eind?gde  met de  dubbele   opme,rking,            de  v66r-kerkelijke  phase d e r   menschheidsgeschiedenis,
a.  clat  &r- absoluteering in  alle geval, dus ook in  dat der               zijnde de  p&adijsphase,  de phase van den'  `staat  der
 cilltuur zonde is; b.  dat  eventvel   ant-absoluteering  van                recht.heid'.
een gebod Gods in  alle geval, dus  ook in dat der cultuur,                      "Trouwens hoe  ZOLI  dat ook anders kunnen?
evenzeer zonde is.                                                               "Het  girig in het paradijsgebod, hierboven  bedoeld,
    "Naar mijne meening  ligt hier  66n der iwaartepunten                     immers om den mensch & me&a&&&?r Gods.  Als mede-
in het  onderhavige  meeningsverschil.                                        arbeider Gods in den historischen dntwikkelingsgang  der
  "Dr. Noordmans heeft volkomen gelijk,  als hij  i? mijn                     voorzienigheid. In en door die voorzienigheid  Wilde God
 beschouwingen over cultuur  en cultuurwaardeering den                        de door  Hem'geschapen  wereld brengen pan de alpha  t;t
toon van  `het absolute' meent te  beluisteren. Zijn.  ver-                   de omega, van begin tot einde, van den eersten tot den
gissing ligt evenwel hierin, dat hij mij `de cultuur'  ahso-. laatst&  dag. En  nu moge die  mensqh in zonde  geval!en
luut .hoort noemen. Niet de cultuur,  cloth  bet  Woord                       zijn,  tech geeft God zijn plan, om van alpha tot  otiega
van God  noem ik  absoluut.  O.ok  waar het opdracht geeft                    te komen,  `niet op. En Hij  last den mensch  als  mede-
tot cultuur-arbeid."                                                          n&eider Gods `niet los, laat hem niet `losloopen'; niet leeg-


 320                                    THE::        S.T-A.tiDARD                BEAR'ER,,

 "`Is  bet iemand ernst  om tot ons over te komen,  schoon                 The Excellency of the  Law of the
 hij. met ons  bepaald kerkelijk standpunt  met  grondig  he-
 kend is, er  worde. van hem  geeisdht, dat  hij  een tijdlang
                       `.                                                              Ten Commandments
 getrouw de catechrsatie bezoeke, of op andere wijze  zich
 late onderwi jzen.                                                        In deliniating upon the law, I took pains to distin-
   \Veigert hij dat, dan is het ook geen ernst.                          guish between the Mosaic precepts. and -appointed  ob-
                                                                         servances in general (the ceremonial law) and the  law
   Laten wij in elk `geval, door het lichtelijk aannemen                 of the ten commandments. From the former the church
 van  leden  uit andere kerken,. geen oorzaak  worden,   d& de           was delivered absolutely as the prophesy inherent in it
 kerk  weer  verslapt,  doch de  wacht bij de poort betrekken.           was fulfilled by Christ. But' as  to. the latter-the  deca-
                                                           H.H.          lague,- what we must be careful to distinguish between
                                                                         is on the one hand this law as it stands in juxtaposition
                                                                         with Christ and on the other hand'as it stands as the
        The-Lord That  Brought  Them                                     church possess it in Christ. It is from the decalogue as
                                                                         standing `in juxtaposition with Christ, thus from this
   A. V. of  Gt  R.  Mich. asks the following question:                  law as driving by its curse the sinner into hell, that  be-
                                                                         iievers have been delivered. But to this law as it comes
  Will  jTou,  please, explain. the following text in the                to them through Christ to whom they have been joined
 Standard Bearer, viz. II Peter 2  :1? This seems to  ,be                by a living faith, they are, to be sure, being held. The
 an argument often  advanped  by the defenders of uni-                   plain evidence of this, so we wrote, is that the practi-
 versal atonement.                                                       cal sections of the epistle of the apostles are largely  corn--
   Answer.                                                               prised of admonitions that as to their substance. turn
                                                                         out to be so many commands to walk as children of the
   The text is: "But there were false prophets  ,among                   light. And the rule of this walk is the law of Christ.
 the, people, even-as  tllere shall be false teachers among,             The .law as believers possess it in Christ is a gift of grace.
 you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies,  even-               It is this as on the table of their hearts the law is  wr.$ten.
 denying the Lord that bought them, and bring  up011                     The law to them is thus  the  .mould in which their life is
 themselves swift destruction".                                          cast. And the doing of the law is in them the flower of
    1. It is evident from all Scripture that the -clause                 the. imputed righteousness of Christ. in which they are
 "even denying t h e   L o r d   tlznt  bought   the?ti"  c a n n o t    robed, and thus at once the blossoming of a living, sav-
 mean that the Lord  .Jesus intended to die for them                     ing faith.
 and thus bought them by His atoning blood, and that,                      The church then is still bound to the law-of Christ.
 nevertheless, they go to swift destruction. For the                     It means that  .the law of the ten commandments is  pro-
 Lord is the Good  Shephercl~   that, giveth His life, for               perlg the law of the church  of, the new as well as of the,
 the  slxeep.  And the sheep are they, whom the Father                   Old Dispensation, and therefore must occupy in distinc-
 gare Him.  iJohn  10:11,  14, 15,  27-29..                              tion from the other precepts of Moses a peculiar  &cl
   2.. There, are two possible interpretations of the text               pre-eminent place in the covenant. We present the fol-
 in II Pet.  2:l.                                           .I           lowing considerations in support of this.
    a. The one  .is that the clause "that bought them"                     The ten commandments were spoken by the very mouth
 refers to  *the fact, that -these false teachers formerly of God in distinction from the other precepts which were
 belonged to the'  church, were of the people of God to                  communicated to Moses privately and given by him to
 all appearances, in the external sense.            They are de-         the people.    The prologue to the ten. commandments
 scribed  -according to their former confession as those,                reads, "And God spake all these-words, saying, . . . ." Hav-
 whom the Lord. bought.                                                  ing uttered these commandments, the Lord is silent and
  b. There is, however, according to. my opinion  i                      the people say to Moses that he speak. with them and they
 better interpretation, which also explains why these                    with him;. but that he let not God speak with them, lest
words should be used at all. The' apostle, then, de-                     they die. Their petition is granted. Moses draws  .near
 scribes them from the  .viewpoint' of what they denied:                 unto the thick. darkness where God is.  :Then we  read?
 tlant the Lord  b~ouglzt   th.enz. They were false teachers.            "And the Lord spake unto Moses,  Thou  shalt say unto
 And denying the atonement, they denied that the Lord                    the' children of Israel  ; . . And Moses came and told the
 bought them.        They might still profess to believe in              people all the words of the Lord."
 Jesus, just as the moderns do, but they really `deny                       It was during the  promulgation.of  the law of the ten
Him, seeing that they deny the cross. I offered this                     commandments, that the divine tokens of judgment and
 explanation once before in the Holland language, and                    doom-the smoking and  the.quaking  mountain, the thun-
 I still think that it is in harmony with the meaning                    derings and the  lightnings, and the noise of the. trumpet
of the orginal words.                                     H. H.          -were before the eyes of the people. That-these tokens


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                321

should have attended the' giving of the ten command-            its being the perfect  eqression of the holiness of God
ments, seems clearly to imply that these commandments           and the summation of man's duty should also occupy a
in distinction from the rest had a peculiar sacredness          singular place in  Jehoveh's covenant. And so it did. It
and significance.    The demonstrations of  di\:ine majesty     may in truth be said that the law of the ten command-
that accompanied their revelation were  sucl~ as  had  never    ments formed the pivot, so to say, upon which the cove-
.beiore been seen. So grand was the sight  an2 so  awe-         nant turned.    Thus  Moses, when rehearsing what the
inspiring, that Moses himself greatly feared and quaked.        Lord had wrought, says, Deut. IV, 13, "And He declared
And the people could not endure the sight.                      unto  you  His covenant which' He commands you to per-
  In perfect accord with the above view is  the'fact  that      form, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon
the number of these commands is ten, the symbol of              two tables of stone." These  tables of  stone are called
completeness.    "The ten by virtue of the general laws         "the tables of the covenant in chapter IX. 9, 11, "When
of thought, shuts  LIP  the series of primary numbers, and      I  was  gone up into the mount to receive the tables of
comprehends all in itself.     Now, since the whole. nu-        stone,  even  the  tables  of the covenant, which the Lord
meral system consists of so many decades  (tees),  and          made  wit11  you . . . And it came to pass at the end of
the first decade is the type of this endlessly repeating        forty clays and forty nights, that the Lord gave me two
series, the nature of number in general is in this last         tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant." That
fully cleveloped, and the entire course comprised in its        `the ten commandments properly form the second part of
idea. Hence the first  clecacle and also of course the num-     the covenant is further evidenced  by  the circumstance
ber ten, is the representative of the whole numeral system.     -that Scripture never. uses the expression, `(tables of the
And as number is employed to symbolize being in gen-            law." but simply the  tables,  or. the testimony, or the
eral, ten must denote the complete perfect being,-that          tables  of the testimony or tables of the covenant. Yet
is, a number of particulars necessarily connected together.     it is plain that when the Lord said to Moses (Ex.   3127).
and combined into one whole. So that ten is the natural "for the tenor of these words I have made a covenant
symbol of perfection. and completeness itself ,-a defi-         with thee and with Israel", He had reference not merely
nite whole to which nothing is wanting  _ .  " Because the      to the law of the ten commandments but to all the com-
number ten has this  symbsolical significance, the plagues      mands comprehended in the preceding chapters. It is
of Egypt were of this number and  thus  formed a com-           also plain that the book of the covenant of  whidh we
plete cycle of judgments. For this same reason, when            read at the ratification of the covenant (Ex. XXIV) in-
Israel during its residence in the desert had sinned ten        cluded besides the ten commandments all the precepts
times, its measure of iniquity was filled. So, too, is the      contained in chapters XXI-XXIII.          In a broad sense
conlprising~of the revelation of the law in the number ten      of course it was according to all the precepts communi-
an indication of its perfection as a complete and compre-       cated to Moses that the covenant was made. Yet the
hensive expression of the moral will of God for the faith       fact remains that. in the words of Fair  Baiq "these
and conduct of His people.                                      ten words (the law of the ten commandments) had the
  In  .agreement herewith, the ten commandments were            singular honor conferred on them of  being properly the
written by the very  finger of God on two tables of  gtone,     terms of the covenant formed at Sinai." In agreement
written'on both sides and thus with their entire surface        herewith, the Lord placed a  marked distinction between
covered, so that no room remained for  ftxture aclditions.      the ten'  commanclments and the other precepts.           The
All the other precepts were written on parchment.               former are called "`the words of the Lord" while all the
Through their being written on durable stone? the ten           words communicated through Moses are called judg-
commandments  tcok on the character of eternity. As a           ments, precepts or statutes.
certain writer remarks, "The stone points to the  per-            The above considerations plainly show  that the  law of
petility which belongs to the law, as an expression  df the     the ten commandments was given with a view to serving
divine will, originating in the divine nature."                 as a permanent basis for the covenant+ and thus did not
  The law of the ten commandments was singularly                disappear with the abrogation of the ceremonial laws. In
honored  throu$  ,the, placing of the two tables  on  which     the covenant of God also there are two parts. God the
they were written in the ark of the covenant. The ark           Father adopts His people for His children and heirs and
was the heart and center of all the services connected          provides them  with every good thing,' and averts all evil
-with the tabernacle. It was  the peculiar symbol of Je-        or turns it to their  Frofit. The Son washes them in His
hovah's presence and its cover formed the throne upon           blood from  all their sins, incorporates  theti into the  fol-
.which He sat as king in  Israel.    Afterwards the book        lowship of His death and resurrection, so that they are
of. tha law was  placed alongside of the ark for the bene-      freed from all their sins, and accounted righteous before
fit of the Levites but not so the tables upon which the         God. And the Holy Ghost dwells in them and sancti-
law of the ten commandments were written; they alone            fies them to be niembers of Christ and'applies that which
continued to be kept in the ark which was built for them.       they have in Christ, the washing  aw.ay of sins and the
  I! can be expected that a `law so singularly honored for      daily renewing of their lives until they shall finally be

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

presented without spot or wrinkle among the assembly of            difference and must  leacl to the conclusion  thati the moral
the elect in life eternal (From the Form). But in every            oblligation in the covenant is without an atonement to
covenant `there are not two parties or two factors (there          rest upon.
is in the covenant but on& party and one factor. And that             Let us now say a word about the excellency of the law
party is God's and that factor is God only) but two parts.         of the ten commandments. Especially if we view the
And that second part is not man's free. will, his ability          law in  comiection with the time in which it was given,
to work by himself without God working in him both to              we discern in its very existence a most striking proof
will and to do his own salvation; but that second part is          of the divine nature and origin of the Mosaic legislation.
man's, the believers  obhption  imto new obedience,                The land of Egypt from which the people of God had
namely, that he cleave to this one God, Father, and Son,           been brought  up  was remarkable for its gross idolatry
and Holy Ghost; trust in Him, and love Him with all his and immorality.                 Egypt belonged to the kingdom of
heart, with all his  soul,  with all his mind and with all         Satan. In Egypt, Satan had set  up  his throne and fixed
h i s   s t r e n g t h .                                          himself down. The serpent was the public and  well-
   This obligation is eternally one of the two parts of            known  E,gyptian emblem, and thus at once representative
Jehovah's covenant with His  people,Yan obligation God             of every creature served,  man? birds, four-footed beasts,
in Christ fulfills through' His people as His agents. The          and creeping things. Offerings were presented `to ani-
covenant is solely Gocl's. Now to say that the  cov&ant            mals? held sacred  ; priesthood maintained to their honor;
will always have in it also this other part (the obligation        magnificant  temples built for their reception; grand festi-
to obedience) is to say that it will `everlastingly be with        vals held in their praise, public lamentation made at their
law, with a perfect and complete revelation of the will            death.    To kill one of these was a capital crime.          A
of God for the conduct of the redeemed church  in,heaven.          certain church father told of what he witnessed when he
HOW could it be otherwise?                                         wrote? "The holy places of the temple are hidden by
   However, the  law of the ten commandments as now                great veils of cloth of gold. If  you  advance towards the
p&sessecl  by us has an earthy dress,  clesigned for an            interior of the building to see  the, statue of the god, a
earthy mode of existence, earthy-. relations and institu-          priest comes to you with a grave air, chanting a hymn
tions. Of its earthy  clress, the law will eventually be  LIII-    in  thei  E,gyptian language, and lifts a corner of the gor-
done. In heaven such a commandment as "Thou shalt                  geous curtain to show you the divinity. But what do
not commit adultery" and "thou shalt not covet thy                 you see  ? A cat, a crocodile, a serpent, or some other
neighbors wife" would be out of place. For in heaven               dangerous animal. The god of the  l&Tptian appears; it
the redeemed of God neither marry. nor' are given                  is  a beast  tumbling about on a carpet of purple. To it
in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven.            divine honors are directly paid.  E,gypt bent the knee
Mark 12 :25. But the law as to its essence-Thou shalt              before the host of heaven, the sun and the moon. Egypt
love the Lord thy God above  all and thy neighbor as thy-          said to the Nile, to the frog, to the  soil? to the fiy, to the
self-will everlastingly abide as keeping possessions not           cattle-the ox and the cow-to Evil, to thk-  elements,-
of an earthy ark stationed in an earthy tabernacle but             ye are my-gods. As to the  .Pharaohs of Egypt, they
of the true temple of God-the church-and thus as writ-             boasted of descent  .from the  gods and were worshipped
ten not on `tables of stone  but  OIL the tables of the hearts     even during their life as divine. Thus had Egypt  changecl
of God's people. What particular form this essence (of             the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made
the law) will assume on the new earth has not been re-             like unto corruptible man, and to. birds, and four-footed
vealecl; bat whatever the form, it will be in agreement            beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God  had also given
with  thei glorified state of the church.                          them  up to uncleanness through. the lusts of their own
   It must therefore be maintained that the law of the             hearts. The Egyptians at the time of Moses were re-
ten commandments is one and the  cermonial  law another.           markably impure.      They gave the reigns to the baser
If the two be fused together, it could not  lx  explained          passions, for why should they be better than their gods.
:why the latter only was annulled. The decalogue sets              Unnatural vices prevailed on every side. Universal and
forth the great principles of religious and moral duties           open immorality marked their great yearly religious fes-
in the covenant. There is in the moral law no  prephecy            tivities. The race that honored beast-gods was sunk into
to be fulfilled. The ceremonial law on the- other hand             degradation. The lower casts were treated as slaves by
called for a service that set forth, foreshadowed, the             the higher. There was no regard for man as man.
vicarious atonement of Christ. This law therefore had                E&pt at the time of Moses had culture. But here,  too,
not only to be kept but also to be fulfilled  by  the Saviour.     E,gypt's culture was the lusts of Egypt's flesh and the
In keeping, practicing, this law  the believing Israelite          lusts of her eyes and the pride of her life, reduced by
gave expression of his faith.       As to the decalogue, it        her wise men to a philosophical and religious system,
was not certainly representative of  the entire Mosaic code,       eulogized  by  her poets and immortalized in stone  by.her
the ten representative heads under which all the rest              sculpters.  And in this vile system, the glory of the in-
could be arranged. This contention erases all bonds of             corruptible God appears as an image made like unto


incorruptible creature  ; and the earth and its  fulness,         the very nature of matters therefore the things pertaining
God's things, as gods sufficient unto themselves, as thing-s      directly  `to God rank first in the law.
therefore in which man can rest and which he at once                The love demanded by the law is the pure, perfect,
may use in the service of the carnal lusts.                       spiritual love of, the spiritual man.  Of this love the peo-
`Oui  of such an atmosphere the people of- Israel had             ple of God, brought up by the Lord their Redeemer out
been brought forth. It was thus to a people delivered             of the land of Egypt. out of the spiritual house of bond-
from such a region that the law of the ten command-               age, only  .are capable. Though the carnal seed in the
ments was proclaimed, a law that reveals God's holy               church is in' duty  boulid to walk in the way of the  com-
nature and service and denounces  every species of sin            man&n.ent, in the essential sense the law was  ctimmuni-
as inconsistent with His nature. A  law+ of  ,such wisdom         cated to the true  church only. To the elect of God  only
and perfection could least of all have come  frbm Egypt.          does the declaration, "I am the Lord thy God, who  bath
It is a law that  camk from above.                                redeemeq  the . . .  ," apply. It is with the spiritual seed
  No student and  lo\;er of the, law of the ten command-          that God makes His covenant eternally to stand.
ments has failed to be struck by its inherent order. The            Further, scripture frequently affirms the law to have
cominands that turn on man's lo\-e for his neighbor, rank         been written on two tables, without intimating how many
second.  Tile  usual remark that this arrangement elicits         of the ten words were inscribed on the first table and
is that religion was made the basis of morality. The view         how many on the second. Some have regarded this silence
from which this remark springs is that the doing of the           as  `an. indication that the ten words are incapable of a
commands of the first table of the law spels religion while       complete and formaf separation in that in this revelation
morality consists in the keeping of the  commancls that           of the law the one part merges into the other. Thus, so
conceril the rights and interests of: man. Scripture ho&-         it is said (and there is truth in this saying) the command
ever knows of no such distinctions as religidn and moral-         inculcating  the remembering of the weekly Sabbath (the
ity or religion and culture.  Says  James,  "Pure religion        fourth commandment) bears directly on the duty man
and  mldefiled before God is this, to visit the fatherless        owes to God, and was therefore regarded by all  classis of
and  .the widows  in their affliction and to keep himself         theologians as belonging to the first table of the law,
unspotted from the world." James 1  27. According to              while yet "the rest to which it calls is insperately bound
this scripture, love to the neighbor is religion  as well as      up  with the best interest of man and the violation of it
love to God.                                                      by the rich was  sternlp,denounced  b,y the prophet among
  What is manifestly meant by the assertiqn that religion         the acts of hardship and oppression. Attention is further
is the basis of morality is that there can be no true love        called to the command to honor father and mother. It is
to man. if there be no love to God. This is true. The             observed that this command has  points.:of  affinity with
love in the world-of the parent to the offspring, `of             both the first and second table of the law, according as
man  to- his neighbor is totally corruptecl. The mercies          parents are contemplated in the light of God represen-
of the ungodly are cruel.                                         tatives, clothed by Him with authority over their off-
                                                                  spring or "as standing merely in the highest rank of
  But it is just as true that there can be no love to God         earthly relations." It is said that the relation of the child
if there be no true love to man. The  aydstle John em-            to  ti parent is not strictly that of a neighbor to a neigh-
phasized this when he said, "If a man say, .I love God            bor. "It is through the parents that the creative power
and hafeth his brother, he is a liar : for he that  lo+eth not    of  .God, on which all life depends, is communicated to the
his brother whom he  hat11  seen, how can he love God             children; so that God,  a? the Creator of life,  appea.rs  to
whom he  bath  .not seen". John speaks here of the love           the' children primarily in the parents-the earthly  dirini-
-that springeth from the life of` regeneration,  - the only       ties, as Grotius calls them."
root of all true love.                                              Accordingly, the ancients  clivided the decalogue into
  The  reason that the forms and  manifestati&s  of the           two fives, while admitting that the exact  boufids  of dis-
lqve of God occupy first place in the law of the ten com-         tinction were indiscernible. The division prevailing in the
mandments is that God is God and as such must be loved.           Reformed.churches falls  .into four and six, while that
But the neighbor must be loved not as a being above  LIS-         prevailing in the Lutheran church into three and seven.
for' then we deify him-nor as a being below us-for                The division of the decalogue into fives is the, oldest and
then we deny hi's humanity-but  we must love him as               the simplest. The division into three and seven is the
ourselves, that is, as a fellow human.                            most dubious as it fuses the first and second prohibition
  The love to the neighbor, that is, the love of the true         into one and divides the tenth into two.
Christian to the brother in Christ, is essentially love to          Students of the law have always discovered in it beau-
God, as  the brother loved is spiritually the  imagf: bearer      tiful order. In that part  wl!ich has more immediate ref-
of God.                                                           erence to God, it demands for Him the supreme love and
  Finally, the love of God and to the neighbor is the             homage of mankind-in  resspect to His being, to His
blossom. of the love of God to man, to His people. From           worship, to His name, to His holy day of rest, to His

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

earthly representatives. The divine revelation next passes                         mental as that of general and persistent prayer for a
over to things which directly concern. the well-being, of                          mighty spiritual awakening.
our neighbor, claiming for him what is due successively                               A  secod virtue of the  Buchman movement is its re-
in regard to his life, his domestic happiness, his property,                       alization  tltnt  sj7i~ritzmd   eq!wrience   rep&es   ,spidwd  cx-
his good name in the world, his place in the feelings and                          ~l~esssiolz.  The spiritual impressions of Christian people
affections of our heart.                                      G. M. 0.             remain dim and weak when they are not crystallized in
                                                                                   expression.       Conversation about the inward life are
                                                                                   wholly out of fashion today even among orthodox Chris-
                                                                                   tian people. The few who seek. to "tell what the Lord
                                                                                   has done for their  SOLII"  meet with discouraging unre-
                                                                                   sponsiveness. There is of course a danger in convers-
   Under the above  captidn. one comes upon the follow-                            ing about the most intimate things of our spiritual life.
ing (in The Banner for March  20). What are these vir-                             Some of our readers may still remember the  "conven-
tues (the writer names and dwells upon what he con-                                titles" which used to exist among the sons and daugh-
siders to be the virtues of the Oxford Group Move-                                 ters of the Secession in the Netherlands.            The perils
ment)  ? We would point, first, to the emphasis on  in-                            of spiritual' pride, of expatiating on one's sinful past
inward religious experience. We are not now concerned                              instead of God's work of grace, and of being so wrapped
with the question whether the Oxford Group Movement                                up in one's self, one's personal spiritual experience, as
succeeds in stimulating genuine spiritual life. The fact                           to feel no interest in the welfare' and activities of the
is that the cultivation of what it regards as spiritual                            organized Church, were not always avoided. We are not
experience 1s one of the avowed purposes.                        i'.I?tI  tliiS    prepared to state that the Church  sl~o~~lcl  encourage the
is precisely where many churches are weak. They have                               return of the old-time conventicles.  .But Christians need
slighted the experiential, mystical side of Christianity                           not wait for any organized effort to promote spiritual
and failed to place sufficient stress on prayer, medita-                           conversation. There  coulcl be' more of it in our social
tion, communion with God, and whatever else is included                            visits; and there would be more if the foundation were
in' the inward life of the Christian, as described in the                          laid at the family altar. A brief and very informal dis-
Scriptures.       Some communions have emphasized pure                             cussion of the family Scripture lesson affords wonderful
doctrine-were compelled to do so on account of the                                 opportunities for conversation on spiritual topics. Paul
many false teachings that are so often permitted to work                           may have had something of this sort in mind when he
havoc among Christian people and in the  ,Christian                                exhorted the Ephesians and Colossian Christians to "ad-
Churches.                                                                          monish one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual
   Others have stressed practical Christian living                                 SOllgS."    Spiritual life will not flourish unless it is per-
or  forgotten everything but the                      `2ocial gospel".             mitted to come to the surface. and to express itself in
God forbid that the true Church should neglect                                     ~\:orcls as well as deeds. If we throttle spiritual expres-
doctrine or fail to do  .justice to the personal and social                        sion, spiritual life will languish. Our "silent lips" must
side of daily Christian living. But it should also put                             be opened.. The Oxford  GrOLIN  Movement points to the
forth greater effort to stress inward spiritual life since                         remarkable results of religious conversation. It would
here lie the springs from which  our  religious life in all                        be foolish to ignore the lesson which it teaches." So
its ramifications must be fed. There is scarcely an evil                           far  I-I. J.  Kuiper.
.in the Church which does not have its roots in lack of                              It should be noticed that in the above writing the
spirituality in individual Christians. There is not one                            terms "inward religious experience" and "spiritual life"
perplexing problem which can  b,e really solved without                            are synonymous. The author deplores the lack of spiritual
a quickening of spiritual life in the hearts of God's                              life in his churches and the fact that no attempt is made
people. For example : heresy would make no headway,                                to cultivate spiritual life. This is a deplorable. state of
worldiness would not thrive, bitter contentions would die                          affairs indeed!  What? according to the writer, is the
out, false conservatism, cold orthodoxy, and religious                             remedy  ? How is spiritual life to be cultivated?
formalism  wo~tlcl be held in check, the crumbling of the                            The (Writer's) answer  ; 1. by stressing prayer, medi-
family `altar would stop, Sabbath desecration by church                            tation, communion with God . . . 2. by the expression of
members and unfaithfulness in church attendance would                              religious experience. that is, by the one telling the other
cease to be the despair of church men, and the lack of                             his religious experiences.
conversions would no longer  l>e a common complaint in                               Going with  the above question to Scripture, the dis-
Christian congregations,  ,if  n: virile  sfii~ritd life  ~wo%?d                   covery is made that the above answer can, to say the
fnkc  tlzc  ~lacc of  the  dandwxs   nnd the  q%itud  mpe~~-                       least, be improved upon. The answer one derives from
jiciality  flint  hang  like  t h e   `~brea.tll.-of-~enflL~~   o v e r   s o      Scripture reads, "spiritual life of God's people is  culti-  -.
1rrany   clml~clLc.~ today.      Among our many and pressing                       vatecl, better said. nourished, by the pure preaching of
needs there is none so  vital? so pressing, and so  funda-                         the unadulterated Word of God. Let me quote a few


                             1!  ..
                             /j.j  -..                                          `l?Hl?   STANDARD   BEARER                                                                    325
                             I.                            ._..
                             i . Scriptures.  "Wherifore  layin g aside all malice, and guile.                 There can be only one reason for the unflourishing
                             j ,
                             `         and hypocrisies, and envies,  atid. all evil  speakings, as        condition of the spiritual life of God's people and that
                                      newbqrn  babes? desire the sincere  mental; unadulterated           is that this life, the new born babe, is not being properly
     .:  1. milk (de redelijke onvervalschte melk. .  Sb the  ,original                                   fed, that thus the word is  ndt being properly preached.
                             !        -has it) `that ye  may grow thereby.  .I  P'et.. 2  :l.             Instead  df standing on the verge of encouraging the
                                         According to this  Sqripture,  the cultivation or nour-          return of the "conventicles" with all their `attending
                                      ishment of spiritual life is an action fhat consists  nega-         evils, let the writer of the article we here examine cry out
                                     . . .tl,vely in laying  .&side all malice . . . and positively in loudly that there be a reurn to the law and the prophets,
                                      simply filling our hearts and' mind with the  unadulter-            first of all. in the pulpits. These "conventicles"  (gezel-
          _!..!                       ated milk, Christ  JeSus,  as we possess him in His  word.          schappen) are thk `first station on the road that leads to
                          1  -To desire- and to eat Christ is to desire and to  eit the
                          :.                                                                              rationalism and ultimately atheism. Such is the lesson
                                    word of Christ,  tl?e self-revelation of Christ. It is the            of history. Your conventicle stands for  &i action that
                                      word of God  .that our                                              consists in turning away from Christ to self, to one's
                      /,                                           SOLIDS  must feed  upon,  and thus
                                      not- upon each other's religious experiences, if `our  spir-       own experience as the rock of salvation.
     ::./.,.                                   .;
                                      ltual life is going to  thrice. We. find this emphasized in          There is of  co&se a true' religious  experieqce that
                      !_i                                                                                is precious in the sight of God.  `But this experience is
     j                               "Holy  W;it repeatedly. It is one of the foundation truths.
                                      of Scripture. "Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily,          $thing else but true. prayer and praise', and song, the
     ".: :;                                                                                              ,believer's joy and peace, that springs from the knowl-
          .j                          I say nnto  you; Except  ye'eat the flesh of the Son of
     :.,-i  - God, and  dri&k his blood, ye have no life in you . . .  "                                 edge that he is in Christ. But believers instead of all
     .. I
     )-                              John  6  :53. "I  am,`the true vine, and my father: is the          the time talking about their joy and peace, give expres-
                     !  F  "hLsbandm&i  . . . . Abide in me, and I in you. As the                        sion to it  bi praising the name of their `Redeemer, and by
                     : branch, cannot  bear. fruit of itself, except it  abide in                        walking in the way of His covenant, and by abiding in
                     1  : the  .vine  ; no more. can ye except ye abide. in me . .  ."                   the truth.                                                 G. M.. 0.
                     /                John 15  :l. I y
                                                        sa again; what the people of God have
                                      need of  is the preaching of the  unad&ei-ated Christ.                                   DO SOMETHING FOR O.THERS
                                      Eut the author whose writing I. now examine `places in                 `Many a soul, in the battle of life,              '
                                      the  rodm of Christ the "spiritual experience of the pious!`.          Trembles with fear at the din and the strife,
                     '_; In this writing  +his  s/%-&n1  e+wJ~iePzce  stands, strange                         Bearing alone, amid trial and care,
                -.
:                                    `to say, in  juxtapositioli  with the world of  God9  true              Burdens and  sorrow:s God bids you to share.
                                      doctrine. Consider the following: "They (some churches)
                                      slight, the experiential . .  _ . Some communions have                  Many in doubt or in fear' of the way,
                                      emphasized pure doctrine .  _ .  " What is told  us  here in            Mutely appeal for  your guidance today;
                                      substance is that the cultivation of spiritual life does               On your  demeal!or  the choice may  depend-
                                      not  conSist so much in preaching pure doctrine as in                  Are you concerned for the stranger or friend?
                                     .prayer and  me,ditation  a&l in feeding upon one another's              Many, disheartened by cruel deceit,
                                      r e l i g i o u s   e x p e r i e n c e s .                        _ Broken and worn by the pangs of defeat,,
i.1                                     Is then prayer, and meditation and  .communion with                   Doubting, despairingly, hopelessly stand,
C"                                    God not important? Important? This action forms the
     :                                                                                                       Waiting,  perhaps. for your strengthening hand.
     2                               essence of true religion.  .But consider that to preach
                <
-:                                  . . the word of God is also to say,  pray,  ask; seek,  wzditate;        Many are turning away from the right
                                      commuae   with God. And praying and meditating and                     Into the maze of the shadows  of night;
                                      communing with God consists exactly in  eating the                     Go, to them, speak to'them, over them pray,
                     j-              `preached Christ, the `pure word. We have God only in                   Help them, support them-do something today.
                ;  ,-His self-revelation certainly:  We. possess God only in
                '1. Christ. and we possess Christ in His  w@d. What  we                                                                A N N I V E R S A R Y   _
                : meditate upon is that word. The God with whom we
     i. I                                                                                                   Den Zen April, 1936, herciachten  wij met onze geliefde ouders,
          `:                          commune is the God we behold through the glass of the
i  !                                 `-word. It is the word  df God  tliat we need, first and last                                   JOtiN S. DE BOER
                ;a n d   ali  t h e   t i m e .                                                                                ELIZABETH DE  SER  - FENNEMA,
                ;.  .                   And he in whom this word dwells  .is the  poss,essor  of         hunnc  veertig jarige echtvereeniging.
          `;                          the life of regeneration. This  man bears good fruit. And             Met dank  aan den Heere voor Zijn genadige bewaring en de  vele
                                     `the fruit he  bears is his praise of God, all his  works of        zegeningen geschonken op  hunnen   levensweg is het  ooze  gedm-igc
                I                    ..faith, the light that he lets shine.         God's people are     bede dat Hij hen ook verder zegenen en leiden mag in  zijne  genadc.
                I                                                                                           Namens de kinderen,
                1                     fruit-bearing trees. And they also  e& of one another's                                                      Mr. en Mrs. S. DeBoer.
                1                     fruit.. But this fruit is again Christ in them,  so'that in                                                  Rev. en Mrs. P. DeBoer.
                I_                    eating  each other's fruit, they eat Christ.
                j.                                                                                       _  .._.  -_ .  -_.                 M r .   C .  DeBoer:
                I.


                                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                `33 1

                           The Wordi. on the Cross                               that they  .are crucifying the  Lord  of Glory, counting the
              ..,  -..                                                            blood of the covenant unholy, denying the Son of God
       y..  ._                                                                   and. killing. the Prince of life, is it  possible.for Christ to
       `.  ., Standing at the: foot of the  .cross   .and viewing  ,that
      / cross from the aspect of the words  uttered.from   .the  !ip!             pray.,,    This sin finds  no. forgiveness possible if it is
      : ;of Jesus we are once more impressed by the matchless knowingly, wilfully committed. But nevertheless it is
             .'  .marvel  of. our salvation.    Step by step they lead           : sin and cannot' be slighted-by God.
                                                                           us                                             This sin is also com-
               through. the various phases of suffering from. the  mo-           mitted by His own, given Him by the' Father, and for
      .  ...,  tilent of the crucifixion until Christ enters into'  -death.      them `Christ prays, pleading to heaven that He may
              :They are seven rays of light revealing every. angle of  t!le      suffer'and atone for all sins, even -for this most grievous
                                                                                 of all sins, that His own may be free.
            `. cross; seven links forming one chain, the fulness of, the                                                       It is once more
                                                                                 the. High Priest's prayer for the cross..
      !' .&r-k of our Covenant God in the  .suffering  of `Christ
              .aS the. atonement for sin.                                           The second word  foll.ows upon the mocking and. jeer-
      :,           It must immediately be evident  .that we cannot ap            ing of the chief priests,  the. multitude and the one  mur-
            `.  preach these words as simply the utterances of a dying `derer next to Jesus, in which they mockingly taunt Him
            man, who speaks of his  cleat11  throes, makes his final  ar-        to save Himself and come off from  the'cross.        Even at
            rangements, bids farewell and whispers a cherished word              this moment the cross serves as a savour of death unto
      _.       of solace to those left behind before death overpowers            .death for  `the wicked, condemning- world. But at the
               him,.  .Christ's- suffering- and death are unique. He  de-,       same  .time power goes out from the cross  .to the other.
              mands, nay, allows no sympathy in His  sufferiq   wil1.s           murderer, who comes., to repentance  of*`- his sins, con-
              no condolence. He is not overpowered, but enters death             fesses Christ  to. be  King- and casts himself  upon  Him.
               victoriously.. His words are words of life and power              Whereupon Jesus, in perfect confidence of His triumph
              spoken for His own as revelations of His atoning work.             over the cross, assures him :  ."Today shalt thou be with
               _  .Nor can we allow ourselves to be misled by the phil-          Me in Paradise."
               osophies of man. As if the first word were. a. prayer                While. the jeering somewhat subsides Mary, the mother
            - that God might disregard this sin of shedding innocent             of Jesus;. approaches nearer to the cross with John, the
             blood, and thus forgive all those engaged in this  witked           disciple whom Jesus loved most, and three other women
              deed.       As if the comforting assurance to.  the' penitent .who were especially attached to Him. The Savior's at-
            . . . . tMef included.,a general, well meant offer `of salvation.
      .                                                                          tention is now turned to another phase of His suffering
      .- As if the third word expressed nothing more than  `His                  for sin. He must sever the earthly bonds which bind
              natural love to His mother, and, in a broader sense; also          Him to the flesh. Mary must be sent away in the charge
               for His fellow man. Or as if  the. fifth, were merely a of John with `a heavy heart, but little understanding.
              complaint. of physical thirst, and the last expressed the          This act cannot  be- delayed for the hour of darkness is
              faith that death had come to take its prey. Surely we              approaching and He must tread the winepress of  aivinc
              must proceed from the fundamental truths of Scripture              wrath alone, utterly isolated. Almost rudely He pushes
            _ to `listen to these words from the  cr.oss, and view them          Mary aside, as has happened more than  once'during His
             only in that light.  .' It must be maintained, first of `all,       life on earth while He was about  .His  Father's  business,
      _ that Jesus is the Son of God Who took on the likeness                    since she cannot help Him, neither' may she interfere
              of sinful flesh and became like unto us in all things              with that work. Although  it'.is true that  He,`has taken
      e except sin. Furthermore, He is the Christ, the  Armointecl               His flesh from Virgin Mary that relation of Mother and
      ,of the Father, the obedient Servant of God and. Head                      Son falls'away when He is busily engaged in the work
 ' of His people, in Whom the Father is at all times well                        of His Father. Willingly  `He breaks,, the bonds of the
 ; pleased. He suffers under the  .wrath and curse of God                        flesh, never to resume the same relation, only to join
              in-perfect love and obedience to bear away our guilt, de-          them to Him in a higher fellowship before the Father.
              liver  US  `from sin and death, and merit for us an eternal        by saying to His mother, "Woman, behold thy son  !" and
              salvation, that we may be united with, Him in eternal              to John, "Behold thy mother!"
 1:  ' life unto the glory of God. These `fundamental truths                        The fourth word. stands uniquely alone.
              must be' maintained at all times, but also at the cross, that
 f- we may receive  .into our  soul,s the words from the cross                      The blazing  sun  had reached its zenith, burning-down
 i -in an attitude of- humble faith and adoration.                               upon the' sufferers on the cross. But at-the very moment
                                                                                 it also. fades away, an- awful darkness drives away the
                  The  `.first three words were spoken during the three          light,. enwraps  the,cross and lays heavily upon the earth.
 :: hours. of the morning, from nine o'clock until noon.                         The temple worship is called to an unexpected `standstill.
                  Almost while the nails are driven into His hands and           The mockers about the cross are hushed in amazement.
 i feet He breathes the prayer': "Father, forgive them;                          For three hours no sound breaks through the tense si-.
`/            for  they  know;not  what they do." Only because they              lence or. reveals the agony of the Savior.. He sinks away,
 1: do not know  .what `they  are. doing, -ignorant of the fact ever deeper. under the judgment of God, bearing the
;;...,                               .,           _..                   `-


; 332                                  -. T    H    E     
                                                         STANDA.RD   BEARE-R

wrath -and curse. against sin. `Deep calleth unto deep'          upon `Him by the Father, thereby reconciling His own
.at the noise of Thy waterpouts  ;  ball Thy waves and Thy       to God and, at the same time, bringing  jud,ment upon
billows are  gone.`over Me.' .The Son of- God, the faith-        the world. Moreover we are impressed by His perfect
ful, obedient Servant  in. Whom is God's pleasure, is            love and obedience wherein He suffered `and  ,died,. which
forsaken of  Godj cast away from His Covenant life               made salvation possible. There is a  rvil1ilzq~~es.s  to suffer
and love and fellowship to bear wrath, curse and judg-           and die characterizing His whole life, yet  .especially
ment in unspeakable torments. Suddenly  the' silence is          prominent on the cross. Even more than a willingness.
torn asunder by a voice from the depths of hell; piercing        He demands  the cross, takes sin  and  curse upon  Hrmself,
even to the highest heavens: "My God. My. God, why               gives Himself for His own. His zeal consumes Him.
hast thou forsaken Me?" Forsaken of God,  amazed'in              And He is governed by perfect  co$Zelzce; never hesi-
bitter anguish, and yet He clings to  .God  in love and calls    tating, but always assured of  the_victory.  Majestically
God His God. Obedient unto death!                                our Savior ascends the cross, marches on victoriously
                                                                 from step to step. Living waters flow from Him, drawn
  The next three words follow in rapid succession.               from the fountain of certain accomplishment. Willfully
 ' Jesus arises from the depths and the darkness is driven       He shakes off the bonds of the flesh. Boldly, He goes
away from the cross. Once more He can fix His thoughts           d.own into the `depths of hell to snatch the souls of His
on His physical grief which was a necessary  .part of His        own from the grasp of an overpowered Satan and to take
suffering, since He had to suffer both as to body arid           captivity captive, even  bein,0` forsaken of God. And aris-
soul- to atone. for  sin:       The nails tear cruelly on the    ing from the depths He continues  #His triumphant march
swelling wounds in His hands and -feet. His blood                to glory. He fufills the Scriptures, announces His tri-
pounds  .through His veins. His body is racked with              umph and `gives Himself into death. The second death
pain;  \But there is even a greater agony, a panting thirst      of eternal woe is destroyed and He goes on through the
ravaging through His body. And yet while He utters               grave to arise on the first day of the week, the  first-
the  w,ord there is confidence in it. Confidently assured        fruits of them that slept. He takes our raised and glori-
t,hat the price is paid, the sacrifice brought and atone-        fied flesh into heaven to sit at the right hand of  ,God,
ment wrought He  can. cry, "I thirst  !"  `.Step  by step He     clothed in power. The resurrection must follow- upon
is fulfilling the prophecies of Scripture which pointed          the cross, for death and grave cannot hold Him as their
out His suffering. Yet. one thing remains and He will            prey. He was delivered into death  becape   of our  of-
have accomplished all that was written. of Him.                  fences, and was raised again because of our justification.
                                                                 -4 greater sacrifice could not have been brought, a lesser
   Upon. this outcry He is given vinegar ta drink..  Be-         could not have  sui%ced. It was necessary that the  Sor
f.ore He had refused the vinegar  ,mixed with gall when          of God brought the sacrifice .for sin in His `flesh. God
the purpose was to alleviate His suffering and deaden            was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. It is
His pain. `Now he` drinks greedily,  `for He has arisen          the matchless marvel of sovereign grace and eternal love
from the depths, is approaching the end of His work on           unto our salvation, that God may be praised eternally in
the cross and is fulfilling Scripture. Even though they          the fulness of His glory in heavenly mansions.
`add.scorn to  His.grief  it is nothing more than the Scrip-
tures had prophesied : `They' gave  ' Me also gall for My                                                                          C. H.
`meat; and in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink.'
(Ps.  69:21). Now all. that was spoken of Him in regard
to  His: cross is fulfilled.      He can `give Himself into
death victoriously, for He has done the work  iaid. upon
Him by the Father. It is, this perfect confidence, which           Den  Zden Feb. behaagde het den Heere om tot  Zich te nemen door
demands the sixth triumphant  o*`tcry,  "It is finished!"        een  plotseIingen dood onze  geliefde   echtgenoote,  moeder en  groot-
   "Father, into Thy hands  1 commend My, Spirit  !`.' The       moetier,
last word follows  immedia_tely upon the foregoing.  Over-                   HENDRIKJE POTSTRA, geb. VELDMAN,
powered.,by death?,  The. very facts belie it. Since the         il? den ouderdom van 68  jaren en 15 dagen.
fifth word He had gone out to meet death `and now with             De verzekering dat zij  verlost  is uit  alle. lijden en de rust is  inge-
a loud voice He demands of  .death to take Him, while            gaan Jeenigt de smart in ons verlies.               -.
His soul enters into heaven, entrusted into the Father's                                                                                    t
                                                                                                          Mr. Louis Polstra.
care. He leaves' the earthly house, of this tabernacle to                                                 Mr. and Mrs. B.  Dooribos.
have a house with God, eternal in the heavens. No one                                                     Mr. and Mrs. A. Miedema.
takes His life from Him, but. He lays down His life                                                       Mr. and Mrs. D.  DeVries.
for His friends.                                                                                          Mr. and Mrs. L. Jousma.
                                                                                                          Mr.-and Mrs. J. Polstra.
   One fact stands-out in bold relief, namely, that Christ                                              Mr. and Mrs. M. Keevers.
merited salvation  for.&. He performed the work laid                                                          en kleinkinderen.


