                                                                                                                                 i
                                         T'HE~   `STANDAR'D,  B E A R E R                                                        487

gedachtenwisseling  becindigd  en de vergadering gesloten              thesis, to  establish the harmony'between the truth and the
worden.                                                                lie, to let righteousness'meet unrighteousness in a lasting
                                                                       et&race, to lead Christ  intoi the arms of Belial,  to'dblit-
   We  hopen, zoo de Heere wil, in een  volgend   nummer               erate the distinction between the Church and the  world.
op verschillende  punien  iti deze  belangrijke bespreking             ,Also in Reformed Churches this tendency was plainly
terug te  komen:                                       H . H .         evident, both in the Netherlands and. in our country.
                         ..:.                                          Especially in these churches, with their firm belief in
                                                                       sovereign  klection  and reprobation and in the total de-
                      T h e   Thesis  .d.                              pravity of the natural, unregenerated man, it would not
                                                                       seem easy to introduce the synthesis with even a sem-
We are all acquainted with the term  a&thSesis.,   Per-                blance of truth. But the theory of Common Grace was
htip:,  .most of us have used the term. Many of us  fre-               concocted and to very many it appeared that it would, in-
quentiy employ the word  .to denote the proper relation                deed, serve to establish the synthesis.  And on the basis
and attitude of the Christian to the world. In geneial it              of this theoretical synthesis of common grace the way
signifies that the Christian is, not of the world, though              was easily opened  ta the practical application of it in a
`he'is in the world;  ,that he is a child `of' light and the                                                                              :
                                                                       life in union with the world.  Ih the "sphere" of, "cul-
world lieth in darkness  ; and that light can have no  iel-            ture", in art and science, in business and industry, in
lowship with the darkness. The words of II Cor.  6:1&18                amusements and pleasures, the sons of God and the
express the- antithesis : Be ye  not unequally yoked to-               daughters of men had become friends. The line of de-
gether with unbelievers ; for what fellowship  bath right-             marcation was obliterated.
eousness with unrighteousness  ? and what  comrminion
hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ                    The Christian Reformed Churches in this country
with Belial? or what part hath  he that believeth With an              were so  hop&essly  caught in this synthesizing maelstrom,
infidel?  atid what agreement hath the temple of God with              that they were officially swallowed up by it in 1924.
idols ?  For -ye are the temple of the living God; as God                 Of late a marked reaction is noticeable. In our land
hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and                 the reaction is represented for the last  .decade by the
I will be their God and they shall be. my people. Where-               Protestant Reformed Churches. And for a time it ap-
fore come out from among them and be  ye separate,                     peared as if they would be left alone in the struggle. Re-
saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I                 cently, however, the situation is changing. In the Neth-
will receive you. And will be a Father unto you, and ye                erlands: men -like  Dooyeweerd,  Vollenhoven, Schilder and
shall  .be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.             .others reveal a different spirit and oppdse the s&thesis.
   Recently the truth  oaf the antithesis is  becpme the ob-           And it is no wonder, that at the same time the theory  of
ject of a new interest and  is receiving a  n&v emphasis.              common grace is become a subject of  discuss& once
   For a few decades the tendency was to  syntkesize.                  more and, whatever the brethren from across the ocean
Synthesis and antithesis are two words that are derived,               may  say,to  the contrary, is being fundamentally denied.
as far as the last part of their composition is concerned,               And whatever one may think of that man Barth, a man
from the same Greek root.  Thesis  means that which is                 `that writes more and is more written about  .than any  liv-
pitt, that which. is set u$, established, asserted `to bk the          ing  man, and although we cannot endorse the  Barthian
t&h.  It is the  Positive,  the  Affirmation,  the Yes. The            theology in its present  developmknt, it may safely be
.term  antith-es&   is formed by  prefiking   t!he preposition         Stated that he also warns the church of to-day, the world
anti-,  which signifies against, opposed so as to e-r&de,              `over, against the synthesis and sounds a definite anti-
to the word thesis and, therefore, means  .either the  ofi-            thetical note.
posing  thesis   or  that  w%ch is  opgosed!   to  the thesis. I t        And this is a cause for rejoicing.
.is  -the  Negative,  the  De&l,  the No. It is that which is             However, if we are  to have a. proper  .understanding
put ..aga~iwt,  or the. putting against. And the  term:.syn-           of the antithesis and its significance and a firm conviction
thesis  is formed by prefixing the preposition  q-,= which             of the impossibility of the synthesis, it is first of all `and
                                                                             .
denotes a union  Andy means  toge&gy.  wi&, to  %he term               above all. necessary that we understand the thesis.
thesis.  T'he word synthesis,  .therefore,  denotes a  fit&g              We: cannot have a true  ,concepti&  of the antithesis;
togeth:eF,   or  thut  wt%clz is  put  together.   It is an attempt    unless we begin with the thesis and consider the `anti-
at a union of the Yes and No. It represents the desire                 thesis in its light.  Utiless we do this the danger is immi-
to obliterate  all line of demarcation, to merge righteous-            nent that we call antithesis what is in deepest principle
ness into &righteousness, the light into the darkness, the             nothing else than dualism. This mistake' was  .frequently
Church into the  world and to call the result of the amal-             made in the past. The antithesis was considered and pre-
gamation righteousness, the light,. the truth, the Church,             sented as .another thesis,. opposed to the first thesis. Christ
Christ. Now, for the last three or four decades there was              is the thesis and the devil is the antithesis, according to
a marked'tendency in the church to accomplish the  syn-                this view; righteousness is the thesis and unrighteousness


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      488                            i jl,    THE  STAN~Qyl.R'D-   BEAR-ER
                 a
      is the antithesis, God and Mammon are two opposing                          : He. speaks eterwlly,
      powers and Mammon is the antithesis. The Yes and the                         And eternally He speaks concerning  Hiwzself.   For He
      NO  are two independent principles in constant opposition.                is God. And, therefore there is  .nought beside Himself
      And though the Yes, the Thesis, the Truth, Righteous-                     concerning which  qr whom He could speak. Himself is
      ness, Christ, God may ultimately have  the,victory,  there                the eternal content  sf. His Word.
      is no conceivable reason for the certainty of this victory,                  Andl eternally He speaks concerning Himself  to Him-
      agd, in  $he meantime,  until the day of victory  arrives the:            self. For  in. the beginning was.  the..Word and the Word
      power of darkness effectually opposes. God and His                        was with God and the Word  was-God.. That is the  eterna!
      Christ. All this, however, is, not the antithetical, but the              Word. For, God is One and He.  is. also Three, Father,
      dualistic conception of  God-  and the world.                             Son and Holy Ghost. There are three that witness in
         It leads to the dualism of the nature and grace, rather                heaven, the Father, the Word and  the Spirit, and these
      than  to the antithesis of. sin and grace.        .                       three  are  One. And  t$eir testimony does not consist of
         We must, therefore, endeavor to find the  ,unity of                    three separate testimonies, but it is  one. The Father
      thesis and antithesis.                                                    witness&  of  ,Himself  thrpugh.  the Son,  -in the Spirit, to
         And to discover this unity we must  bigin with the                H&self. Through  thq `Son and in the Spirit, therefore,
      thesis.                                                 :.     I'         Gbd  speaks..  He  speaks an  eterqal and infinite Word con-
        And to obtain. a proper  viey of the thesis we must  be;                cerning Himself and to  !E%mself. In  tJ$. eternal Word
      gin with God. For, of Him and through  Him"and   io                       He  declar&  the fulness  df  His divine  &ory. To Himself
      Him are all things, even the thesis and the antithesis both.'        He speaks; I  AI$ .I AM GOD; I  AM GOOD.
         The Word of God concerning Himself,  that is the                          Such is. the  $Vord that is eternally with God!
      thesis.                                                                     ,.And'this Word. is the divine reality of the thesis !
         The Holy Scriptures reveal that God is, that He is                      And yet, there would be no thesis with us, and we could
      Qjd, that He is good, and that He  speaki   ?oncerning               not  believe..with  the heart. and  deciare with the mouth
      Himself.                                                                  that thesis, if  God.  merely spoke concerning Himself to
         He. is. For His name is Jehovah, the eternal I Am;                     Himself.  1
      He is the Eternal, the Self-Being, the  Immutable,  with                   But it  has pleased Him,: He  z&led to form a people
      Wtiom there is no variableness neither shadow of turning.                 for Himself, to whom  He might. speak concerning Him-
      He is  not the Ultimate, for the Ultimate after all belongs               self, a people that could  .hear His  .Word, know Him and
      tD: the series ; neither is He the  Causa.  Causarum,.  the               love.  CHim with-. all  ,thei? heart and mind and soul and
      Cause  `of.' all causes, f  04 the cause is one with the effect.          strength;   and that could declare; confess that Word of
      But He is Jehovah, the  I  Am That I  Am,  GOD,  the                      God concerning Himself to them  &d glorify His Name.
      Wholly Other. He is One, there is  noi God beside Him,                    That is His covenant of friendship with His people in
      and in His Oneness He is perfectly self-sufficient. He                    Christ Jesus His Son. Through Christ His Son, and in
      needeth not to be served of man's hands. And He is                        the `Spirit as the Spirit of Christ God speaks that Word,
      ,good, for He is a light. He is the implication  qf all per-              the  .infalilble revelation of which. we possess in the Holy
      fection, Goodness essentially, truth, righteousness, holi-                Scriptures, to the  mery hearts of His people. And the con-
      ness, life and blessedness. And thus "We  a4 believe with                 tents of that Word in-brief. is again : I AM, I AM GOD,
      the heart and confess with the mouth, that there is  one                  1"AM  GOOD. And that people hear. And they believe.
      only simple and spiritual Being, which we call God  ; and                 And they. speak : THOU ART JEHOVAH,  THOU
      that He is eternal, incomprehensible, invisible, immutable,          A R T   G O D ,   THOU.   A R T   G O O D !   S O L 1  DE0
      infinite, almighty, perfect, wise, good, and the overflow-                GLORIA!  -.          . . . .  .-               -
      ing fountain of all good". (Belgic Confession 1).                           That Word of God concerning Himself to His people
       But  -this latter, this belief with the heart and confes-           and on the lips .of the people is the thesis.
      sion with the  mouth, would be impossible if -God did not                    And that  thesisi  we  must,:.first of. all,  z&Z to  know;to
      speak;  if there were no Word of, God.                                    believe with our hearts and to  con.fess with our mouths,
        There would be no thesis if  Go,d   werfz:not;:there   could            to. develop with relation to all  thin&  and ..to our whole
      not  bf:  one thesis if God were not one ; there would be `no             life;  andi. to  ap:ply   it  .in.  s.walk. in  .harmony with it.  :.  .
      co,nstmzt.  thesis if God were not immutable;- there could                   Acco.rding as we really  till this thesis, will it with all
      be no  positive  thesis, and, therefore, no thesis at all, if        our heart, we are truly Protestant Reformed.  .Psycholo&
      God were not good. But all this together does not postu-                  ically the theory of the primacy of the intellect may be
      late the thesis. For the thesis is that which is  @iTwed::                tenable, spiritually the  heart  is first. "If any man will
      It. is that  .which God affirms concerning Himself. If                    do His will, he shall know.  .of the doctrine whether it be
      God, then, did not speak, there could be no thesis.                       of God, -or whether I. speak of myself" John  7:17.  In;
         But the Scriptures reveal, and are themselves the evi-                 deepest sense. our relation, our  personal attitude to the
      dence of it, that God speaks.                                             thesis is a question of the will, of the heart. And-that


                                           THE.STAN~DARI~  BEARER                                                             489

thesis we can only truly  will when God Himself, through           not the opposition  ogain..rt   the thesis that constitutes the
the Spirit. of Christ speaks to us concerning Himself. antithesis, but it is the opposition  of  the thesis to all. that
"Why do ye not understand. my speech? even because                 is not of it. It is not that which denies  the affirmation,
ye cannot-hear my word". John  8.:43.                              but it is the denial  by  the  affirmation?hat  establishes the
   Where the  .Word of God is heard and  spoken,  there is         a n t i t h e s i s   p r o p e r .
the Church.  ,Outside of the Church in  the world that                Thesis and antithesis are in deepest sense both of God.
Word is not heard and  cdnnot be heard. And  where that               And the antithesis is the No  df the Word of God con-
Word is not heard there the Church is not.                         cerning Himself to all that denies Him.
   And, therefore, we are  tfiy Protestant Reformed                   The darkness merely serves the purpose of an occasion
according as we will the thesis. If we do not  w&? it, a           for the No of the light, and it serves no other purpose.
head full of knowledge about Protestant Reformed  prin-            The devil is there only because God desired to say No
ciples will be of no avail.                                        to him. For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for
   Secondly, we must realize the calling to develop this           this  purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my           .
thesis with regard to life in all its phases in the midst of       power in thee, and that my name might be declared
the world. This is a tremendous task, but also, a glor-            throughout  $1 the earth; Rom.  9':17. All.the powers of
ious one. As I see it, this constitutes  the.  peculiar task of    &righte&sriess  exist  :and  work only in  order. that they
our Protestant Reformed Churches. It is  ndt a very  s,igi         might become the occasion for the No of righteousness.
nificant question whether we shall ever grow big in a              The light, the truth, righteousness, Christ, God, these
numerical sense  ; but it is of essential importance that we       are not going to be victorious in some future age; they
concentrate all our efforts toward  g true understanding           are always more than conquerors.
and  prop& development of the thesis.                                 `Such is the  glory of the antithesis, over  agairist all
   And thirdly, it is our calling to confess `with our             dualistic as  well as over against all synthetic conceptions.  -
mouths and to apply in our whole life, in all our walk and            And this must. be understood in the strict  supra-lap-
conversation the thesis that Jehovah is God and that He            sarian  sense of the word.
alone is good.                                                        The devil and all the powers of darkness did not some-
  We must think and speak and walk thetically, holding             how  become   the occasion for the  Nd of God ; they were
forth the Word of-life.                                            de.+ed unto this purpose- from before the foundation
  Only then Will we live  aniithetically in the midst of our       `of the world. And never were they designed unto any
world. The antithesis follows necessarily from  the thesis.        other possible or real  purp&e: For thus it was the eternal
For, you cannot serve  God.  and Mammon. Neither  c&n              good pleasure of the  M&t  High. For, the Scripture
you  merely  serve God without! determining your attitude          teaches not only that God is a light, but also that there is
toward  Maimon. You will hate the one and love the                 no darkness in Him at all. And if is the eternal good
other, or you will love the one and despise the other. This        pleasure to reveal also this that' `He hates the -darkness.
is inevitable. And  the deepest reason for this necessary          He willed to reveal Himself antithetically, so that His
and inevitable antithesis lies again in  God.                      Yes is  at the same time the No. And in  ;his holy will of
Let us not misunderstand the  matter.                              God the darkness, the "tiorld" has its deepest cause. The
  The antithesis is  not that which is opposed to the thesis.      antithesis, therefore, is the No of God's Yes concerning
Thus thk matter is often presented, and  the. result. is, a Himself.
fundamentally dualistic conception of  .life. Christ is the           And for, this reason it is inevitable that the  covenant-
thesis, the devil is the antithesis; the truth'of God is the       ceople of the Most High, to whom He speaks His Word
thesis, the lie of the devil is the antithesis  ; righteousness    concerning Himself and who hear His Word and are
is  .the thesis, unrighteousness is the antithesis ; the light     called to believe it with their heart and to confess it with
is the thesis, the' darkness is the antithesis. The  .thesis       their mouth and to realize it in their walk and conversa-
is the Yes ; the' antithesis is the No that oppose`s' this Yes.    tion in the midst of the  tiorld, live antithetically.
  But this  id not the correct presentation and` conception           They are  wrposely   placed in a world that lieth  in dark-
of the  matter:                       .                            ness, all whose thoughts are that  God is nbt, that He is
  The  anti&es%  is not another thesis  oljposing  the  thesis     not God, and that He is not good. And in the midst of
that is of  God. The devil has no thesis; He was'  a.mur-          that world the  Wol;d  of God concerning Himself to them
derer from the  be$inning  and abode not in the truth,             and in them and through them becomes the No of the
because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a               Yes. For this reason it is a very lamentable pretext to
lie, he speaketh of his own ; for he is a liar and `the father     live a synthetesizing life on the part of those that love
of it. John  8:44. And where there is no truth there is            it,  when they allege that the antithesis in its absolute form
no thesis  ; and where there is no thesis there is no anti-        will not and cannot come till after the day of  Chri'st, in
thesis. On the contrary, therefore, the antithesis is the          eternity. In  eter&y  the antithesis and the occasion for it
No  of the Yes. It is not the No  against. the  Y&L It is          shall  be eliminated. Here, in this world, where the  chil-

                                                                                                          I


 490                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                    #.

  dren of God and the children of the devil have all things
  in common except grace to hear and to speak the Word                               V             a             n               Boeken
  of God concerning Himself, we are called  aid bound              Het  Re'wil  in  Nederlnvld,   M.. Elisabeth  Kluit..`. H.  J.
  to live antitlietically.                                              Paris,  Amsterdam.
    And, therefore, we must live  thetically:
    We must love and will, know and speak and live the              Wie een  mooi en interessant boek wil lezen over die
  thesis, in order to realize the antithesis.                    periode  der Nederlandsche Geschiedenis, die bekend staat
    For the antithesis is the No of the Yes.                     onder den naam van "Het  Reveil",  schaffe  zich het werk
                                                                 van M. Elisabeth Kluit vooral  aan. Veel van de stof, die
    And only according as we firmly and clearly say Yes          hier behandeld wordt, is, dat spreekt  we1 vanzelf, bekend.
  will we say No to  `the world.                                 Wie is niet meer of min bekend met het leven en werk
    And such is our calling.                                     van  inannen  als Bilderdijk, Da Costa, Capadose,  Green
    It will mean battle, tribulation, suffering. For the         van Prinsterer, e.a. Maar Mej. Kluit biedt ons  e&  be-
 world will hate us because of oui Yes with its inevitable       schrijving van het  R&eil als geheel en haar  w&-k is
  No. In the world ye shall have tribulation. But be of          b&endien vol van allerlei interessante bi jzonderheden,
  good  cheeer. Even in the battle you have more  than: the      die zeker minder bekend zijn onder ons.
  victory. In your tribulation you may rejoice. For it is
  given, you of grace, in the cause of Christ, not only to         Het boek beslaat 323 bladzijdkn en is verdeeld in tien
  believe on Him, but also to suffer with Him!                   hoofdstukken  beschrjjvend  he;  R&veil in Europa, de  op
                                                                 komst en ontwikkeling van het  RCveil in Nederland, het
    After all that has been said it would seem superfluous       Reveil en de Kerk, het  RZveil in de praktijk en zijn  wer-
  to state that all synthesizing is of the devil and must        ken in maatschappij en staat. Het wordt besloten met een
  absolutely be condemned.                                       korte samenvatting. De stijl is helder en  levendig: Het
    To synthesize is to put together.                            boek laat  zich gemakkelijk en met genot lezen. Men vindt
    And in this connection it  represents.the desire and the     hier niets van het zware en, gedrongene, dat de stijl van
 .atteri@, not to unite what Gdd hath put together and           sommige schrijvers in Nederland in den laatsten tijd
 which no man shall put asunder, but that which  God has         kenmerkt en dat, vooral voor velen, die in ons land zijn
 put asunder, light and darkness., God and  Mammon. It           geboren en getogen, het lezen soms moeilijk maakt.
. is the attempt to combine into one the truth and the lie,
 righteousness and unrighteousness, the Word of God                Gaarne  hadden  we  iets meer vernomen van het  -oordeel
 concerning Himself and the word of man concerning               der schrijfster over  irerschillende phasen van het  Reveil.
 God and all things, and to establish concord between            In dit opzicht is het boek m.i. niet sterk. Vooral in het
. Christ and Belial.                                             hoofdstuk over  "Het  RCveil  en de  Kerk" ziet men  tever-
    And it is self-evident and history shows plainly that        geefs uit naar een oordeelkundige beschrijving van de
 the inevitable result of such synthesizing tendencies is the    houding,  die het  RCveil aannam tegenover de Afscheiding
 darkness, the lie, unrighteousness, the word of Man.            van `34. Na een korte beschrijving van de Afscheiding,
    It is the silencing of God's Yes through us and of its       met name van de afzetting van De Cock lezen we:
 inevitabtle  No.                                                  "Hoe stond nu het  RCveil  tegenover deze  gebeurtenis-
    And it is accursed of God!                                   sen?, tegenover de  kerkelijke  daden van menschen, die
    And, therefore, let us believe with the heart and con-       tech voor een deel uit zijn kring voortkwamen en op
 fess with the mouth that God is, that He is GOD, and            velerlei punt geestverwanten  waren?
 that He is good, and that he alone is worthy to receive all
 praise and glory and adorafion forever and ever! Let all          "Een typisch kijkje op deze verhouding geeft reeds
 the world be silent before Him.                                 een brief van Capadose  aan De Clercq van 31 October
                                                                 1834, waarin hij hem het gebeurte in Ulrum beschrijft
    Such is our God-given thesis !                               en hem tevens den inhoud  van een brief van De Cock
    And confessing and living this thesis we shall live          meedeelt, waarin deze hem vertelde van de kerkelijke  be-
 antithetically and eschew all synthesis.                        roeringen in Wansert (Friesland) bij het  zingen  der  ge-
    Wherefore come out from  among them, and be ye               zangen. De Cock had in zijn brief naar aanleiding van
 separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing,      de straf, die de drie grootste belhamels in zake de  g@-
 and I will receive you. And will be a Father unto you,          zangenkwestie zou traffen, opgemerkt: `die  mannen,  zegt
 and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord           men, zijn naar Leeuwarden gebracht en volgens de  te-
Almighty !                                                       genwoordige denk- en handelwijze kan `t niet anders of
    And greater glory and blessedness can no man know            zij  zullen gestraft  worden; Maar met wat  recht ? met
 than  the. blessedness of appropriating and applying this       een  ander als de Gereformeerde martelaren  door de
 divine promise  to  himself  1                     H.H.         Roomsche beulen?'  Waarom (moet zijn: waaraan?


       492 -                                     THE  .STANDAR,D.   sBEARER

                                                                           or crave for bread in the wilderness, a crave of which
         _"                   Temptations                                  Christ must have become the more  conScious as a result of
               "Put to Grief by  Yanifold Temptations". (Pet.  1:5).       Satan's  suggestion  that He convert stones into bread
                                                                           and appease. His hunger) that niust be suppressed for
         :"Put.to  grief, for a  ..little while, by manifold  tempia-      God.`s  sake.  .In short, the inward circumstance may be
       tions. If so be the will of God." This  Statement is                any state, either  physicai or inental or both `or any emo-  _
       called for by the foregoing one that reads,  "TjVho-the             tion of the  soul good or bad. When, to illustrate, the
       apostle's Christian'  brethren--are kept  by the power of           command came to Abraham that he offer his only son,
      God through faith unto salvation . . . wherein ye  .greatly          I&c, he was sorely tempted ; and the  inward circum-
       rejoice." `The apostle is made to understand that  a,state-         stance in the  temptattion was  .his natural, paternal
       &ent of this character ought to  bje followed by a word             love, that had to be denied.
      . that sheds the proper light upon the present afflictions
       of his brethren  .in the faith,-light by which they will              But there- is also an objective side to temptation, to
       see  thai &en their present grief' is to them a cause for           wit, the' outward circumstance. This circumstance may
       rejoicing,  as'this  grief forms the trial of their  faith&a        be adversity or prosperity. It may consist in af-
     trial  ~tl>rough  which their faith `begets approvedness unto         fliction or in any outward condition of things  ,of  .what-
,      praise and honqr and g!ory  tit the appearing  ol Jesus             ever character; or in an evil promise or suggestion made
       C h r i s t . Seeing this, these brethren,  inste&d  of being       by,the  world,  07 even in a good command coming directly
       perplexed and  consounded  by their doleful experiences,            frdm God. -We can illustrate.this.  LWhen-the temptation
     will, by God's grace, be glad on account of them.                     takes- on the  form of persecution,  the. outward  circum-
          "T&at-the  trial of your faith may be found . . .  " Bet-        st?qce is the physical violence by which the faithful are
       ter still,  that the approvedness of your faith . . . Of  .the      then threatened or actually made to experience ; the in-
     two. `translations  "@id" and  r'appyoucd'Ytess"  the latter          ward  circustance  is' their physical and mental reactions
      iS the better. `What the apostle  s@eaks   of. `here directly        to  this violence ; their physical  piin, their  anguish  of
                                                                                                           -
      is  not the trial of faith nor  the approved faith but the           soul, their aversion to suffering, their natural love of
       "appl~ovedness," that is, the approved condition of faith.          life and the promptings of their sinful flesh to deny
     We apprehend the difference between the expressions                   Christ in order that they may live and prosper. The
       "the.trial   df faith". and "the approvedness of faith." The        temptation may consist in some evil worked directly by
       former signifies  a- faith that -is  1  bking tried  ; while the    God such as-drought and `the resultant crop-failure. In
       !att@-  denotes' a faith that `has `been tried, and that' has       temptations  pf this nature, the  outward circumstance. is
       endured the trial, thus a faith that in the trial'has been          exacly `the drought; and the inward  -cir&mstance is the
       sceparated  from the' dross and has'been found  atid de- -physical hardships that result together with the urge of
       clared  gemiine by the divine  afip%ser, God. Of such               the  body of this death to  cienounce the doing of God.
       a faith it  mtist be said that it has  ap@-ovedness.                The inward  circumsance  in the temptation of Abraham
         `.Thus `when the apostle' speaks of the approvedness of           was, as was  said,-,his natural love  for Isaac;  Chile' the
      faith, he at  once  is. speaking of a faith that has been            outward  circumst&ce was  thk `command that `came  tr;
        tried. And it is this'trial of faith that must first be ex-        him from the Lord to offer his son. The believier whc
        amined and-understood,' if we art  to  kn6w what it means          Prospers materially is being tempted. His  fiches consti-
        that. the  :approvedness  of `faith is unto `praise, honor,        tute the outward  circumstantie;  while the inward circum-
        and glory.. What is the trial of faith?  e  .What `are its         stance consist in `the vain imagining of the flesh to the
        constituent elements? The answer may be derived from               effect that t&e relation a man sustains to his earthly posses-
        the Scripture tinder  consideratibn.         Says the apostle,     sions is that of absolute owner and in  t$e mighty urge of
,       "Put to grief (so reads the original text) by various              the flesh to open its vile mouth and say, Who is the Lord.
       temptations . . .  " It is  Jhese. temptations together with        And the urge of  .the  .sinfui self of the poverty-stricken
       the grief to which the believing soul is put by  them -that         Christian man  oli woman is'to  take the name  ,of the  Lqrd
        forms the trial of faith. Thus  the trial is not  orie thing       in vain, that is, to deny that the Lord  in His dealings with
        and  ihe. temptation another  ; but  .the temptation', is the      him is good and is  .being actuated by love.  The outward
       trial, the proving, the  .experiment.  -In general, the word        &cti&stan~e   in. this case is poire$.
       temptation denotes any circumstances by which faith is
       tested or tried. This circumstance is-inward and out-                 From the above considerations, it is- evident that, as the
        ward or; otherwise said, has a subjective and objective            apostle intimates, there are various kinds of temptations.
        side to it. The inward circumstance may `be a bodily               This present life may indeed be contemplated as being
        condition such as pain and Sickness ; it may be, too, a sin-       constituted of one unbroken chain of various temptations
        ful desire that rises from the flesh, or a desjre by itself        or trials. The `fact is that every circumstance, thing  .or
        legitimate enough, such as the hungry man's desire or need         event is actually `the  outward'side  of a temptation involv-
        for bread (and we think now of Christ's desire                     ing  sotie  man, some believer.


             In: every temptation there is, of course,. a tempter.. This      of' His providence. Viewed from this angle, the tempta-
        tempter. is Sata.n.and the world in .cori junction with the be-       tions of wickedness are at  once'the  temptations of God.
        liever's flesh. When the world says to the faithful that                God, then, tempts. He tempts His people,. their faith
                                                                              and love. He tempts them, not, as was said, by a base
        they continue  to ol&ly confess the. name of Christ on pain           appeal to their lusts through  .a sinfully enticing speech
i  :    of' death  and- when `the urge' of the flesh thereupon` is to         that  ,He emits from His very own mouth. Of this type
        deny God and grasp `life; the world and the flesh tempt.'
 i                                                                            of temptation wickedness only is the author. Yet God
        The question must be raised here whether God tempts.                  tempts-all men and His people in particular. He tempts
        The unmistakable teaching of the Bible is that He does.
        Let me quote Scripture. "`And it came to pass ,after these            His  beople  first of all through the agency of wickedness :
        things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said to him,                  Satan, the world and a man's own lusts, through the
                                                                              agency of the vile threats or promises of Satan, through
        take now thy son.. . . ,and offer him . . . ." Gen. 22 :l. The,
        Lord- left the nations in the land of Canaan, without                 the agency of the abuse heaped by the world upon the
                                                                              faithful, through-the agency of the reaction of the faith-
        drivi,ng] them out hastily,' that through them He, might
        tempt,  .that  ,is, prove Israel, whether they would keep the         ful to this abuse. In a word, God tempts His people
        way of the Lord to walk therein.                                      through the agency  .of the  %le temptations of wicked-
                                                 Jud.  .2  :22.    Yet. we
        read in James, "Let no man say when he is `tempted, I                 ness without being the author of the sinfulness of these
                                                                              temptations. That there is a connection between wicked-
        am tempted of God : for .God  cannot be, tempted with.evils,
        ne$her tempted He. any man."            But this  aScripture is       ness and its temptations and God, that in this connection
                                                                              He sustains to wickedness the relation `of `supreme Lord
        p.$.at  variance with the notices,  fo.und in the Old Testa-
        ment Bible,' that God'tkmpts. What James means `is clear              and ruler, that thus also this wickedness is but an instru-,
        from what `follows the-notice to the..effect  that .God tempt-        ment of His through which He accomplishes His purposes
        eth no man,  "But every man is tempted when he is drawn               is everywhere taught in `Scripture. That we read- in the
        away of his own lusts and enticed". The lusts- in  con-               book of Samuel (II Sam. 24  :l) that the Lord moved
        .juncttion  ,with the thing  .for, which  .the lust reaches but, David against Israel to say, go number Israel and Judah,
        draws  a.`.man  ,away  .from, what is right and entices him           and in the book of Chronicles that Satan provoked Da-"
        him  to:. what  isc.wrong. Thus the evils. that. tempt,. lead         vid to number Israel, can only mean that the provoking
        away-and seduce, are  :the lust- and the -demand of the sin-          of David was a doing of God, accomplished through
        ful self  that:the  lust be satisfied- through the  appropria~        Satan.    Then there is that complaint of the prophet
        tioil of:-the forbidden. object.  -Now;-:God,  certainly, -can-       Isaiah, "(Chap. 63  :Uj .O Lord, why hast thou  ,made
        not  be- tempted in.  this, sense (or in  any.`other sense).. He      US  to err from thy ways, and hardened our hearts from
        islight  and--in Him there is no  .darkness at all. Thus thy fear?,' There is, finally, that `remarkable passage in
        there.  is,in:Him  no sinful lust to -draw Him away from              the tenth chapter of Isaiah's prophesy  in,which the proud
        the.  right;.110 lust to which wickedness-outside of Him              and vaunting king of Assyria is brought forward in all his
        can appeal. And  Ibeing holy, He can  :&ice.  by.  seducive           atrocities' as an ax with which God  .hews and as a saw
        speech or action, that. is,  by. an `appeal to sinful lusts, `no      that God shaketh. To' these Scriptures many others, that.
        man to forsake. truth and- pursue `evil. .,This is the work           teach substantially the same thing, could be added. To
        of Satan and the wicked. Thespeech, "Ye shall not surely              say that wickedness, too, is God's servant, that thus the
        die  : for God doth  *know that. in the `day ye  eat. thereof,        relation He sustains to it is that of master supreme, is
        then your eyes shall be opened, and  .ye.:shall~ b.e as God,          merely, to say that God is God and none else. Now if
        knowing: good and  .evil;" this  .seducive.`..  speech. was di-       there is one fact or truth the Scriptures everywhere es-
        rected to our  fisst   .parents  -not  `.by the  `Lord but by the     pecially makes much of, it is the  .fact that God is God
        serpent.  And. it  :was by  their.:own  lusts,' as fructified  .by    and none else.                                           -
        the' lie  .of  :Satan, that they were  led'away' from the com-          .But God tempts not only through the-agency of wick-
        mandment  I of  .:God.  .:.And their lust having -conceived,          edness but also  .more directly and by Himself,' as when
        that is, become  pregnantas- a:result  ,o.f its having received       Xe came `to Abraham with the command that  he. offer
        .and embraced the lie; :brought':forth sin,:the  sinful .will .to     his: only son. -God tempts more directly (I speak now of
        disobey and  toeat; and sin,  iwhenit was finished; brought           temptation as to  its outward side) through `His judg-
        forth death. It is the-world that says to the faithful,               ments  .with which He overtakes mankind, such judgments
        "Deny God' and live  ;. forsake the right and pursue the              in nature as drought, hail and fire, earthquakes and floods,,
        .pleasures of sin. "But God says to man, "Obey and love               and the judgments we read of in  .the book of the Reve-
        me ; walk thou in the way of my commandment".  :Yet                   lation of John. But also in these temptations there are
        it is' to be considered that the temptation of wickedness,            agents at work, to wit, the very judgment  and.the  sinful
        consisting in `its seducing either by threats or by promises,         reactions of man to them.  `The outward agent however
        to what is wrong, is in perfect harmony with,  .the  de-              is not a moral creature with an enticing speech, but
        terminate will of God  .and. comes forth `out of  .the womb           calamaties in nature.
        :


494

    God tempts finally through all the social,  economicills     mighty exercise of faith; form the fire in which the faith
and political convulsions' that riot in the bosom of the         either  `of the individual Christian or of the church  is.
n a t i o n s .                                                  separated from the dross and is made to prove itself
    NOW  let me again ask: does God tempt? It is nothing         as genuine and imperishable. We here again speak a
 short of blasphemy to say that God tempts, if in the            thoroughly Scriptural language. Consider that  peter
statement "God tempts, the word  tenzp$  stands for an           speaks of the  afipozredess   of faith. What can a faith
action consisting in appealing to man's lusts through            with approvedness be other than a faith that has been .
 sinful speech or conduct  ,with a view to enticing him to       made to mightily exercise itself and prove  .itself in fiery
what is wrong. But if by the statement "God tempts"              trials to the everlasting glory of Him by whose power
is meant that God, also in respect to all the rioting of         the believers are kept, unto salvation.
wickedness, is God and none else,. that rightly. considered        That faith is tried (the true faith of the elect) does
and explained. He does everything in that He is God, it          not mean that it is possible for faith to be extinguished
is nothing short of blasphemy to deny that God tempts.           in the trial. Faith is imperishable. It is therefore in-
Rightly explained, He is  thg only  .one that tempts, as He      comparably precious ; more `precious than tried gold, as
worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.            even this gold perishes. Such is the apostle's reasoning.
.Epl1.  1 :ll.                                                   Faith is imperishable as it is the blosom of the continuous,
   That, rightly explained, God only tempts, affords the be-     and -unbroken operation of the  power of God in' man.
liever unspeakable comfort. For it means that the, fires of      "Kept by the power  of. God through faith . .  ,.  " And
affliction are completely under the control not of wicked-       being imperishable, faith is abidingly humble and reaches
ness but of God only, that their fury is determined solely       out for the living  Clod and glories in the cross when
by Him, that they burn as long as He wills, are extin-           proven. Faith therefore is precious in the sight of God,
guished the moment He has done with them, and that in            exceedingly so.
these fires His people are at the mercy not of the wicked
nor of things of whatever character but of Him alone.              But if it is not even remotely possible for the trial to,
And His mercies are great. Like as a father pitieth his          extinguish faith, can the trial then be held to be actual,
children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him, pitieth        real? If the trial of faith positively precludes the pos-
them in their fiery trials. For He knoweth their frame. He       sibility of faith yielding its ground to unbelief and dis-
remembereth that they' are  .dust. They need not fear there-     appearing altogether in the trial, is not the trial, the
fore that they will be consumed. How could they be, if           proving, then,  a mere show? This same  questi&  has
the eternity of Christ is in them, if with Him they have         been asked in  reapcct to the temptations of the  Saviour.
been. crucified, buried, raised and set in heaven.  NOW          Did not the impossibility of Christ's falling from per-
to set Satan, wickedness and things over against God as          fection reduce his trials to a mere  pretence, a vain dis-
so many  indehendent  entities, that riot as disconnected        play? All such questionings spring from the mistaken
 from His will, is to rob the faithful of `this comfort.         notion that the trial of faith, in order to be genuine, must
   Let  us  now put the question : what are temptations?         include the. possibility of faith being  destroyed..in the
Those conducted  -bi Satan are, as was shown, so many            trial. Consider that the essence of the trial is its necessi-
attempts to work the ruin of the tempted ones through            tating an. exercise of faith; its showing up faith as im- .
an appeal to the lusts, made by  seducive  .speech or action.    perishable, its causing faith to consciously  .pit itself
If linked up with God, however (and we speak now  soeely         against darkness and the natural craving of the  .flesh-
of God's people) all temptations, also those conducted           and to choose for God and .the right; Such were and
by wickedness, turn out to be  as. to purpose and design         had to be the accomplishments of the faith of Christ in
so  .many trials of faith. We here speak a thoroughly            H;is trials. Let us illustrate this. After the forty-dav
Scriptural language. The expressions, "trial or' proving         fast, Christ's lower- but sinless nature craved bread, The
of faith,' occurs in James' epistle, "My brethren count it       suggestion that came to Him from Satan that  He con-
all joy when ye fall into diverse temptations;  ,knowing         vert stones into bread and eat called for real  e.xeicise  0:
this, that  .the trying of your. faith worketh patience."        His  faith. to consist in that faith'  1 of. His. denying
What is more, in this Scripture temptations appear. as           that (sinless) crave. His faith, therefore, was  -actually
forming the trying of faith. It is for  `the reason that         tried and tempted. And the trial was endured. The
temptations form.  the. trying of faith, that the faithful       faith of Christ bestirred itself, opened its mouth and said'
rejoice when they fall into diverse  tem.ptations.      That     nny to the tempter. Must we now deny the reality of this
through which Satan would  .work the ruin of the faith-          trial because it precluded the possibility of Christ yield-
ful, is the very means by which the Lord `promotes their         ing to the tempter? Assuredly, not. Christ sinned not
spiritual  well-bleing.                                          as we do when tempted. For there was in Him,  .as there
   Why now do temptations form the trying, the prov-             is in  us,  no principle of sin, bestirring itself, during the
ing, of faith? The reasons are that they call for a              process of the trial,. and prompting Him to hearken to


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  495

the voice of the tempter. Now the trial of faith of God's           Faith does more. It also declares when tried that God
people is as  ,actual and real as that of Christ.                   is good and that His mercies endureth forever.             And
   The trial, then, calls for an exercise of faith. Let  us         with growing consciousness and increasing firmness it
,now see, more particularly what it requires of  .faith             stands in the truth that all things work together  for-
when tried. Not certainly in pretending that the strokes            good to them that love God, to them who are called
of the Almighty do not hurt. When the Lord either di-               according to His purpose and that the `sufferings of this
rectly or through the agency  of. the wicked, smites. us,           present time are not worthy to be compared with the
we suffer, are hurt. And true piety does not consist,               glory which shall be revealed to us. Verily, tribulations
certainly, in denying this hurt, in pretending that- we  ,feel      worketh patience ! Thus faith becomes increasingly ac-
not the weight of God's hand upon us.  .Doing so, we                ceptable and pleasing, and the mark of its genuineness
walk in a vain show as sustained by a rebellious spirit,            takes on a growing prominence. So does patience work
and our'behaviour is not that of a humble Christian but             experience. And faith, aware of its beauty, and know-
of the `proud Stoic. Do we  feel'no pain, when death lays           ing with growing certainty that all things have been given
low a beloved one? Would our soul not fill with anguish             to it, reaches out with a growing- eagerness for the
if a fresh persecution broke out?  .Do we not mourn when            heavenly.    So does experience work hope: This is the
our crops fail? Does not ill-health distress  us?  Assured- .action, the deportment, of faith, of the believer, when
ly yes. And is it sin in the sight of God to give  expres-          tried. And this hope gladeneth the heart. It is in trial,
sion:to this grief ? If so, what is expected of a man, when         therefore, that the believer rejoices with joy  unspeak-
smitten? That he shut up his grief in his heart and make            ablk-in Christ.
merry? Did Christ make merry in the garden or upon the                As was said, Holy Writ also likens temptations or
`cross? .Nay, but He wept `and wailed. "My  soul  is ex-            trials to a crucible, or melting pot in which the church
ceeding  .sorrowful,  even unto death  : . .  "                     and the individual Christian is purified and in which faith,
   The strokes of the Almighty hurt. And when He                    therefore, is `separated from the dross. The people of
smites  us,  He means to hurt us. And it is His will that           Israel  df old is said to have been brought forth out of
we admit that we are hurt.          That true piety consists .the iron. furnace, "even out of  E,gypt, to be unto him a
in pretending that we feel no pain  :when  chastized  or in         people of inheritance." Deut.  420.  The Psalmist prayed,
making merry when this pain is upon. us, is a view that             `<For thou, 0 God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us,
cannot, certainly, be gotten from Scripture. It is not              as silver is tried. Thou broughtest us into the net; thou
a view to which Peter was addicted. Attend to this state-           laidst affliction upon our loins. Thou hast caused men to
ment of his, "Though now for a season, if need be, ye ride over our heads ; we went through fire and water . .  ."
are  put- to grief,  .through  manifold temptations . . .  "        `Ps.  66:10-12. Attend,. further, to the following scrip-
The apostle takes cognizance of the fact that his brethren          tures : "Behold, I have refined thee,, but not as silver;
have been put to grief. And instead of advising them ,I have  .chosen thee in the furnace of affliction . .  ." Isa.
`to forget all about it, he does the rightful thing;  .as  a        48:lO.  "And some of them of understanding shall fall,
true pastor he brings it forward in his epistle to them             to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even
and sheds upon it the proper light.                                 to the time of the end . .  ." Dan. 11  :35. "And I will bring
 What  then,is  required of faith, when tried? And the              a third part through the fire,  .and will refine them as silver
answer: that it pit itself against and rebuke and silence           is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: and they
its murmurings ; that it thereupon face God, open its               s.hall  call on my name, and  1 will hear them." In the ag-
                                                                    gregate of these texts, the church appears as refined,
mouth and praise His name, thank Him for the pain, and              purged, by the Lord,; and the crucible is the fire of afflic-
`rejoice  ofz  accozmt of  being tried, rejoice, therefore, on      tion. As the metallurgist refines, purges, the gold, by
account, that is, because, of tribulations. Here again,             separating it from its ores through fire, so the Lord
we speak a thoroughly. Scriptural language.          "And not       purges, refines, the true church by separating it through
only so," wrote Paul to his Christian brethren at Rome,"            the fiery trial from its ores-the carnal seed in the church.
but we. glory on account of tribuations also . . .  " Then          But if the refining process effects a separation between the
we have this from the pen of James, "My brethren,                   spiritual and carnal seed in the church, it also achieves a
count yt all joy when ye fall into divers. temptations . . . . "    separation between the faith, the reborn ego, of the  indi-
It. is this action of faith, when tried, that constitutes true ,vidual believer and the dross in h&z, in his very self. And
godliness.      -                                                   consider that the dross that is removed consists of this
  When faith is tried, the body  of. this death, without            entire earthy, to wit, the body of this death, flesh and
fail, bestirs itself. Opening wide its vile mouth it would          blood, this earth and all the things on it including the race
criticize and denounce God's doings. What is then re-               of men by which it is being corrupted, the world and all the
quired of faith is that it bid this body to hush, and things out of the world, the lusts of the flesh, and the lusts
denounce and put off its murmurings, and bewail them                of the eyes, and the pride of life, things not out of God.
before: the mercy seat of God. This faith also does; Thus through the fire of affliction, tribulation, the believer


4 9 6                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D  B'EARER

 is actually and ultimately relieved, freed, also in his mind ' There is, indeed, such a thing  .as being purged, refined, in
 and heart from this entire earthy together'  with.all that it      and through the fire. of affliction.
 stands for and  `his affections set exclusively upon the             But  .afflictions (of whatever nature) in conjunction
 things  ab.ove, so that, before God has done with him; he          with the command and with the proper light shed upon
 hopes to the end, that is, hopes perfectly,' altogether, and them through the preaching of the word, also effects a
 exclsively, for the grace that is to be brought unto him `separation in the church at large. When tribulations or
; at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Let us enlarge on these        persecutions arise because of the word, they, who are not
 matter a little.                                                   of the world, they who are not of Christ are offended  ;
   The trial, as was said, achieves a separation between            but His people continue to bring forth fruit in their
 faith, the reborn ego, and the dross in the self. This does        season. Then the former, bent on saving their souls and
 not mean that the new man is a mixture of sin and grace.           esteeming the pleasures of Egypt greater riches than the
 That which is born of God, says the apostle, cannot sin.           reproach of Christ, lock arms  .with the world  ; but the
 Yet, according to scripture  - and this is also the testi-         latter have respect unto `the recompense of the reward.
 mony of the believer's own experience  - faith may be              So the clash between the flesh and  the- spirit in the church
 weak, dormant, more or less inactive. Faith may not be             becomes sharp, and the ranks of the army of God in this
 asserting itself and the new man may be hidden. This               world thin out.
 much; certainly,, is implied in the admonitions of scripture         When God smites more directly through  the.agency of
 to fight the good fight of faith; strive to enter in through       His great plagues, as John on Patmos  sees'Him  doing in
`the narrow gate; take unto ourselves he whole-  armour' of         his vision, the.  w.icked open their mouth against Heaven;
 God that we may be able to withstand in the evil day  ; set        but the faithful say, "Come Lord Jesus, come quickly  !"
 our affections on things above ; mortify our members               But the affliction, productive of the. greatest benefit to the
 which are upon the earth.                                          individual Christian and to the church, is that consisting
   Sin was dormant in Paul's bosom before  .his conver-             in what is called physical death. Through death; the entire
 sion. He tells us about it in the seventh chapter of his ,earthy  is pressed off and away from him, every tie that
 epistle to the  Remans.!  Wrote he, "For without' the law          binds `to the earthy is severed, and thewhole house of this
 sin `was dead (dead in Paul and in every Christian man .his earthy tabernacle is broken down.
 and woman). For I was alive without the law  bnce." But              Why (and we inquire now after the ultimate reason)
 when grace applied the law to his heart, that'is, "when the        does  Go,d  try His people and will that they spend their
 commandment came, sin revived and I died . . . For sin,            days in this terrible crucible of affliction? That their faith
taking occasion by the commandment,. wrought in me all              may have approvedness at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
manner of lusts."                                                   And this approvedness their faith will have. For the whole
   Sin does not die but revives in the/bosom of a. man,             church, the true church, will then have endured the trial
`when grace lays hold. on him. Now if .siri revives in a man's      and proven itself true  ,and genuine. It will then have been
bosom when the commandment comes, so, too, does sin                 separated from all its ores. Thus' the process of refining
bestir itself when tribulations come, also in, the bosom of         will  then'have  been completed. Then the church will also
the people of God. It continues `to do so until the-day of          be appraised as true and genuine before the. whole  .world,
their death. But `when sin revives, the believer dies ; and         be robed in heavenly beauty and be made to sit with Christ
this dying is in truth the continual awakening  of. faith.          in His throne, that, as  so. honored and glorified it may
When God smites, both sin and grace bestir themselves.              everlastingly cry out the praises  of, Him by Whose power
The flesh murmurs and the spirit praises, and there ensues          it was kept through faith unto salvation. How the  ap-
in the arena of a man's soul that spiritual strife between          provedness of faith, this tried faith, the faith found genu-
the flesh and the spirit described by the apostle when he           ine, will be unto praise, glory and honor of the God and
wrote, "I find then a law, that, when I would do good,              .Father of our Lord Jesus `Christ! Satan, pointing his
evil is  .present with me. For I delight in the law  of'.God        finger  at.Job, said to God, "Job serves God for  (miterial)
after the inward man : but. I see another law in my mem-            gain." But at His appearing, Satan will stand speechless.
bers, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing              For though robbed of this  gaiti and killed all the day long,
me into captivity of the law of sin which is in my mem-             the faithful stand in this day. And their victory is their
bers." It is especially in the crucible of affliction that the      faith, and'their strength is their God. He saved them not
clash between the flesh and the spirit is sharp; that the con-      despite but through the cruel opposition of `darkness.
sciousness "that it is no more I that do it, but sin that             How necessary that the people of God spend. their  ;days
dwelleth in me" becomes keen, that the breach. between.             in this crucible of affliction! As mixed with its, ores, the
the ego that says "It is no more I"  and'sin is widened,            church could not  possibLy appear with Christ in glory. If
that the works of the body of this death are laid  ot? and          it were to stand there at  .His appearing with a faith un-
the members upon the earth crucified. It is in this crucible        tried, the devil would think  ,he had reason to repeat his
of affliction, that the believer is, as was said, finally freed,    slander.
in the hour of death (sickness and death are afflictions)             How evident, finally, that there is every reason for' the
from the body of this death and from, the entire earthy.            church to glory on account of tribulation,         G.M.O.


  The Doctrine of $ov@ei@ : Gkace                                                       by, the Spirit of God. The question,how is man saved, drew
                                                                                        from Augustine the reply, Only through grace. Augus-.
                        ia            .His.tsry                  .: `,-I., 6            tine  ~3s. thus,.  the  first church father who taught that
                                                                        1 ; : - .*i.    grace  :`was  &vereign and that  -it is  the. sole  princip!e
           *Address  lhlivered on  6ur  iad  Field  `day<.  '  '  '
                                                   _.                         .,..      from  `which  salvatibn springs,  that  _ this grace is given
   We are Protestant Reformed.  Thi!  is'the name  that  <&.                            exclti&%ly t6 thc%le'ct,`tid thdt'election  is thus Sove+eign.
                                                                                                 `.
ai churches appropriated at the `time, of  our  cq@ing  into':                             :Thls'  *Aii@stinian  @ct@ne of sovereign  grace-  %as
being as a denomination.. The reason  fdr' the' ac&ptitin of                            held-  to'b-6 the  `adceptable   on& `by a  stifficient  num%ei--:of  '
this name, and what it expresses,. is,  ? take it,,  kno!~tf,  tol                      divine:- in  .the church  t? make  $ssible its  triutiph  `did.
us all. The adjective  protestn;m~  came' into  use  as' a  nam;l:' the condemnation of  Pelagianism   `oti  the  charCh  $%d&.
                                                                     riy;:
in the sixteenth century, during  `the time of,  the,  R&foiFa-'                        By  the:. year 430 this heresy was externally vanquished.
tion and `was given to all those who had  @Tok&j&L"that                                 It never formed an ecclesiastical sect but  simply  .a  theo-
hierarchy  thztt centered in the  person'. of  the.  bi$oGbof `l~gi~~~~:i;.c&d~                                              7,
Rome and thus `had freed themselves from the  b&idzig$`df  "                              `-Thu.+,;,.the   Felagian.   syst&n had  .been  vanc&~~d.  a$
Roman Catholic corruption and  pri&&aft.  The  S&otia'                                  rejected  ;.and  coqidemned by the church.  Howeiler,  the
adjective Reformed  briiigs  us  forward  & a  `peo$e  wh&' triumph of the.  system of thought  o$ Augustine.  Was more
agree in doctrine with that wing`  hi"  &iie"Frot&tanf  Re:                             apparent than real. Many recoiled from Augustine's
formation led by John Calvin: Thus  WI?%&   Calvinis&.'                                 doc&ine8'. of the bondage of  man and the  ,.absoltit~ elec-
   Now the heart of  that doctrine,  champidned   by  ca$?                              tion of  grace. Opposition  tc$ the doctrine `of  .predestiliai
`is that God  is God and that  E(is grace therefore'  &  sdver-                         t&n; as taught by Augustine,  arose  iti Gaul,  and  in.  vari-
eign. It, is ndt my  purpo&,  hotiever, to  aelineatk`   h&e' and                       ous  hther places, of the realm.                      What was desired  `ivas'
                                            -.     .:
now  `on this truth, but rather to  investigate  how  this truth a middle ground. What  was.desired was found, and the
has fared in history and in what esteem  iti'h&`been' held' new,..find bears the name of semi-Pelagianism, the pro-.
by the Christian church  from?h&`age  of  thd'&pos&$   to"the                           gress  of-virhich   :for a  time-yas  arrested by  .the  trimuph-
present time. This purpose ha's  $  reasoui-l%k  of it. AS a'                           of  a-.`nitidified  Augustinianism, on the council Orange;.
denomination we are  &omparatiiveljr"stiali:,   fV&`  tiutibe?' A. D., 529.                                             i     "          ,
but  twe&y-one church&. And," OCR groivth ~~ inept  .i~ not.                               The leading idea of Semi-Pelagianism is that divine
by leaps and bounds.- This cii-ctinis?arice  `ii resp&sible.  fbr                       grace and human Will  j'biritly'  ac'cotiplish   the, work of
the raising.  df the  questioti  among'% whether  we'"as.a'                             salvation., It rejects the  Pelagian  poctrine. of the sound-
denominatidn  of church&  have a  .fuf&,  khtthih'%e  ;U;ilF, ness of man and the conception of  gra& as a mere  ex--
be likely to continue' to exist  2s  Prot&tant:,  l%f&ed                                ternal,  help, but rejects  also` the Augustinian  doctrille
churches. It is with a view to providing  ,thiS  `qtiestioii::                          of the total corruption of human  .natui-e  and. the sover-
with an answer, that we institute  the  afoi-ti&d%+iry.                                 eignty  and irresistibleness of grace. 1; maintains a pre-,
  In the first four  hundired years `of  &"%hristian   era: destination to salvation conditioned by foreknowledge
the' minds of. theologians  tiere little  en&ged  ii;ith such                           o f   f a i t h .              .                 ..
vital niatters  as  sin, and grace, election and  repi-obation':   '                       It was these ideas that were rejected  .and coridemned
The question  whethei-  grace is  sovereigin was  cot  raised:                          on the synod last named. This synod decided the fol-.
Theologians in  general  tiere addicted, to the'  Vi&w  that' lowing :
natural man, though sinful and corrupt, `is  riev&theless                                  1.          The sin of Adam has not injured the body only,
capable of performing works  that have real  spiiitti&vtihie                            but also the soul of man.                        /
in the. sight of- God. Natural man;' so it was  :mdintaiti&ti;t                            Z., The sin of Adam has brought sin and death upon
is'sick nigh unto death. He is  .thus.  not  dead  :iu  tiespass&                       all mankind.
and sin. `-He can will to choose and to dd' the good  atid to:                             3.          Grace is not merely  b&towed.  when we  .pray -for
accept the proffered salvation.  ,_  ZIt.  tias  held that -man  <is; it, but grace itself causes'us  to pray for it.                                         :.      .I':
saved `by grace  -.and by : his sown &fort, ..that his s&a.tion                            4. Even `the  beginnitig:  df  `.fa.it&, the disposition to
springs  frtim  ttio  pr,inciples, that.  .of  gi-ace  and:that+                        believe,`   is  effected  by-grace.                      " . .       :.J... .._.:
free will.:,    ..;  I.  :  ,.,-  ::-:+.:L..:..~:,:  ,,  c-:5:.   3:..L  :.;;:             5 .   A l l   good.thitughts   and.wo*ks   are--God's   g i f t . .
  These views, it is true, were not  thoi.Ygh&`~i%it?j~   +d:                              6.          Even the regenerate  and the saints need continu-
formulated in  .those  fii-st  four  htindrec?  ye&i  Yet  `Utiey                       ally God's help.                            .
were held to and formed the bases of the superstructure                                    7.  What God loves in us is not our own merit but
of the average evangelical sermon.                                              ., -, God's .gift.
  Then after four hundred years, God raised up Augus-                                      8. The  fr& will weakened by Adam, can only be
tine; This church father was the first theologian of                                    restored .-by. baptism,
note to vigorously maintain in opposition to  Pelagian-%                                   9.          All good that tie possess is God's gift, and there-
ism,  t`hat man by nature is spiritually  dead'in  sin, wholly:                         fore no  .one should boast.
incapable of doing any good except he be regenerated                                       10. Unmerited grace proceeds meritorious works.

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

   11.  \Even had man not fallen, he would have needed
divine grace for salvation.
   12. When man sins, he does his own will, when he                                    Toen Jezus nog  ~liet`op aarde was,  doch met  heerlijk-
does good he executes the will of God, yet voluntarily.                             heid bekleed in den  hemel  .woonde,  heeft Hij  tech tot ons
   These propositions, though they contain no untruth,                              gesproken door den Geest der profetie. En een dier
are nevertheless not above reproach not for what they                               woorden beluisteren wij, door `den mond van Jesaja,  toen
assert but rather for what they fail to assert. Not a word                          hij zeide en dan  als het mondstuk van Jezus : "De Geest
is said directly respecting the Augustinian doctrine of                             des Heeren HEEREN is  op  `Mij, omdat de Heere mij
sovereign grace and absolute predestination.'                                       gezalfd heeft, om een blijde boodschap te brengen den
   But consider the following propositions, framed by                               zachtmoedigen."          Dat was profetie and die profetie is
this synod :                                                                        oak- letterlijk vervuld. En niemand kan die blijde bood-
                                                                                    schap beter brengen  aan zachtmoedigen dan Jezus Zelf
   1. Through the fall free will has been so weakened,                              en Hij heeft het ook gedaan. Hij is de  centrale Prediker.
that without prevenient grace no one can love God,' be-                             En  toen Hij  op aarde rondwandelde heeft Hij in  ver-
lieve on Him, or do good for God's sake, as he ought                                band. hiermede gezegd : "Neemt Mijn juk op  u, en leert
(implying that he may do good in a measure).                                        van Mij dat  Ik zachtmoedig ben en nederig van hart; en
   2.    Through the grace of God all may ("all may" im-                            gij  zult rust  vinden voor uwe zielen." Een predikatie
plies tfiat'man may if he chooses. G.M.O.)  by the co-oper-                         van den Zachtmoedige tot zachtmoedigen over de  zacht-
ation of God, perform what is necessary to their soul's                             m o e d i g h e i d .
s a l v a t i o n .                                                                    En, let er op, dat Jezus die deugd der  zachtmoedigheid
   3. It is by no means our faith, that any have been                               ook verbond  aan een andere deugd, de deugd, namelijk,
predestinated by God to sin, but rather: if there are peo-                          van nederigheid.
ple who believe' so vile a thing, we condemn- them with                                Ditzelfde  verband  is er ook in de woorden van  onzen
.utter  abhorrance.                                              G.M.O.             tekst. De zachtmoedigen zijn zalig. Het is de derde
                          (To be continued)                                         zaligspreking en zij rust op de eerste en tweedeen dat is
                                                                                    heel duidelijk. Ze komt er uit voort en rust erop.
                                                                                       Dat zit zoo : Als de  discipelen van Jezus hun armoede
                                                                                    van geest zien en beweenen,  dan.  worden ze  als vanzelf
                    LET  DQWN  YOUR  .NET                                           teeder en mild en gedwee gestemd. Dat kan niet anders.
"Launch out into the deep, and let down your net  !"                                Ze hebben geleerd, dat inplaats van rijk in  God,  te zijn,
   Said the Master a long `time ago,                                                ze doodarm zijn  aan God en dat stemde tot droefheid.
As He sat within the ship on Lake  Genneseret:,                              . .    En die droefheid is een droefheid tot God.  .Ze draagt
   In the days of His mission below.                                                Gods goedkeuring weg. Ze weenen en  treuren  omdat ze
`Then Simon answered, saying: "Lord, all. the night                                 zoo vuil en zondig en arm zijn. En nu kan het niet  an-
   We have labored, and toiled, but in vain!                                        ders,  als een mensch ziet hoe dat hij dagelijks tegen God
Yet, as Thou hast bidden, I will let down the net."                                 zondigt, dan vliegt  `hij niet zoo spoedig in het vuur  als
   So he cast it, and tried once again.                                             men  tegen hem overtreedt. Neen, maar dan kan hij het
                                                .                                   best. staan als hij lijden moet vanwege anderer  overtre-
With wonder and amazement Simon beheld,  .`.                                        den tegen hem. Een vroom mensch is niet spoedig op de
   As he cried to the men on the shore,                                             teenen  getrapt. Want  vroomheid.  is zachtmoedigheid.
That a multitude of fish were enclosed in  his:~;et:                                Als we de groote  schuld zien, die we bij God gemaakt
   More than ever were taken before.                       `1                       hebben, dan  moeten we de  schuld van  onzen naaste tegen
He trusted in the Master-willing to do  ..                                          ons niet hoog uit. Tegen over de groote  bergen van
   Whatever the bidding might be ;                   :                              schuld  .die we  ,bij  God ophoopten, zijn  de.zonden  die men
And, behold! his net was full-so  full:that it  break;:,  -_                        fegen  :ons bedrijft  slechts  molshoopen:  ,Dat is het  ver-
   With  the
         .__      weight  .of,.the. fish from the  sear  ,; ___        1            band. De  derde zaligspreking  volgt uit de andere  twee
   . . . .  .;.  II                                  ,.               . .           die, voorafgingen.
Oh, never then despair,  that all efforts fail,                                        En..nog  eens weer  willen we  crop wijzen, dat we  bet
   And the work of thy life seem in vain;                                           hier te  doen hebben met een beschrijving van  hemelbur-
Tho' you labor hard and long on the rough, angry sea.                               gers. Jezus ziet  bet hoe Zijn discipelen de wet van het
   Never fear! Cast the net in again.                                               Koninkrijk in  zich omdragen.  Hgt is de wil des Heeren
There's fish within the sea that still may be caught                                die hen zachtmoedig maakt. En dan zoo, dat het Jezus,
   And the Master will surely reward                                                de  zachtmoedige  jezus is, die Zelf door Geest en Woord
Those  w.ho faithful are to do the work of His  love-                               in hen woont en hen zachtrnoedig doet zijn. Hij is het
   Cast thy net, then, and trust in the Lord.                                       die de wet Gods vervulde en dat leven, dat  schoone  lief-


                            A   Ref0rme.d   Semi-Mo.nthly   M a g a z i n e
              PUBLISHED BY THE REFORMED FREE PUBLISHING. ASSOCIATION, GRAND RAPIDS,  MICH.

                                                  EditorslRev.  H. Hoeksema, Rev. G. M. Ophoff,
      .scription  should be addressed to
                                                Associate Editors-R&. A. Cammenga, Rev. P. De
                                                  Boer, Rev. M. Gritters, Rev. C. Hanko, Rev. B.
                                                  Kok, Rev. G. Lubbers, Rev. J.. Vander  Breggen,


 Vol.. XII, No. 22 Entered as second'  class  mail            SEPTEMBER 15, 1936                                      Subscription Price, 2.50
                          matter at Grand Rapids,  Mich.


                                                                                  of corruption and unrighteousness.         But he is bound
                                                                                  from within. His heart is chained to enmity against the
                                                                                  Most High, His will is shackled to obstinate perversions,
                                                                                  his' `mind is  hopelesslly entangled. in the mesh of the lie.
                   Liberation  Ihdeed                                             To be sure, he hates God with all his heart, and  to. hate
                                                                                  Him appears to him as his freedom; but with that same
                       Jesus answered  them, Verily, verily, I  ,say  mto
                     you,  Whosoetier committeth  sm is the  servant of           heart he cannot love Him, and that `is his awful bondage.
                     sin.  And  thhi  servad  abideth   no.t in the house for-    No doubt; he commits iniquity because he wills it, and
                    ever: but the  Son  izbideth  ever.  If  the  Son   there-
                    fore shall  mike you free, ye  shali  be free  &deed.         this he calls his liberty  ; but he cannot will. righteousness,
                                                             John 8 ~34-36        and that is his inexpressibly miserable slavery. The lie
F r e e d o m   i n d e e d !                                                     he speaks;  and' calls the truth, and follows, he surely
    Perfect, unchangeable, blessed liberty !                                      loves, because of this he considers himself free, at liberty
    Twice blessed because he that enjoys this freedom ex-                         even to construe his own god ; but he cannot see the king-
 periences it only as  then result of  .a liberation from a                       dom of God and, therefore, he is in wretched subjection.
 dreadful bondage, the slavery of' sin !                                          He wills, but he cannot but will to sin. Sin, his lord,
   For, he. that committeth sin, is the servant of sin!                           leaves him his imagination that he is free, but keeps
   To  .the sinner it may not seem so. In fact, precisely                         him in subjection, nevertheless ; the law of sin and death
as long as  and. because he is sin's slave, he will say with                      reigns in his inmost heart and that law he obeys.
 the conceited Jews of Jesus' day: I never was in  bon-                            * Nor is he able to liberate himself.              ;
 ,dage,. how sayest Thou:  you  shall be made free? Such
.-is the very nature of this  .awful `slavery, that the sinner                      Nay, what is worse, he cannot will or desire to be set
 is blind to his own bondage and rather imagines himself                          free, for he loves his very chains  ; and he would resent
to be  lo'rd  in relation to the tyrant he must needs `serve!                     every effort to lead him out to liberty!
Does he not  cowwnit   `sin?                And does he not  corn-mit               And even thus  .the misery of his bondage is not de-
 it because he  z&ZZs~  `it? And does he not will it, be-                         picted in all its awful reality. For, the fact is, that he is
 cause sin is his  &&g& and he freely seeks its ways?                             legally in captivity; that sin is his, rightful lord; that he
 And is. he, then, not free? `Oh, to be sure, some-                               i's not only devoid of the power to cut his bonds and to
 times it might appear as if his servant would fain                               escape from his prison,  but' that he has no right to liber-
 become lord and would entwine: strong cords of  tibits                           ate himself. `Nor does anyone else have the right to
 about him and thus lead him to destruction ; but even                            break his chains and to open his prison doors and to set
 these he is -able to break if he but wills !                                     him free. He is a legal slave. `Even the law of God
  I` was never in bondage!                                                        con'signs him to the bondage of sin. That law cannot and
   Such, -indeed, is the proud adage, credited among` the                         will not condemn sin in her lordship over the sinner. The
dwellers in the dark dungeon of sin!                                              prison in which he is held is but the execution of the
   And this self-deception is characteristic of the. very                         divine sentence upon him  ; those chains are his punish-
 nature of the sinner's  bonda.ge. For, indeed, he is free                        ment; the bonds of spiritual death are nothing but un-
 to sin, but this  carricature  .of freedom is his very slavery.                  breakable cords of divine wrath. For, he is guilty. With
 He is free to hate God and to mind the `things of the                            all  .men, with  the whole race, he is guilty, even before he
 flesh, the minding of which is enmity against God. H e                           is. born. `God's judgment is upon him from his first
 is free to have his delight in iniquity and to walk ac-                          breath. And that judgment is death! And that death
 cording to.. the desire of his heart and to seek the ways                        is bondage to sin and corruption . . ,         '


                                        :  j



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

    He that committeth sin, is a slave of sin!                       in the House of God as it becomes manifest and is es-
    And doubly blessed is real freedom, because it is always         tablished in the world.
  experienced as liberation from this, terrible bondage!                And note that., according to the words of Jesus, these
    It is the freedom that results from the liberation, by the       servants in God's House are the same as the servants
  Son. For, if the Son shall make you free, ye shall be              of sin. He that committeth sin is a  servmt   of sin; and
free indeed! The liberty it is, that is a reflection of God's        the servant of sin is at the same time, as long as this
 `own freedom in His children. For, God .is free.. All               world stands, also a  servant   in God's House; and the
  freedom is of Him and through Him and unto Him.                    servant abideth not in the House of God forever, but the
For, God is, good. Goodness He is essentially. Purest,               Son abideth forever. The sinner has no abiding place
  infinite perfection, holiness, righteousness, truth are in         in the house of God. He occupies an extraneous position
 Him. For, He is a light and there is in Him no darkness             with regard to it. He is not a son, but a foreigner. Yet,
  at all. And, therefore, He  .cannot will the evil. He              even he, though it be in  spite of himself and though it
 loves and wills the good.          And, loving- and willing         be far from his purpose, must needs serve in that House.
 the good, He performs all His good pleasure. Such is                The Father of the House uses him for that purpose. All
 God's perfect freedom.                                              must serve Him. And all must be subservient to the
    And to love and will Him, that is the reflection of His          cause of the building and beautifying His House. The
freedom in us.                                                       devil and all his host and all the power of iniquity in
    To be free, according to the inner desire of our heart,          the world are in that sense servants in the House as,
 to know Him and and to love Him, and to do all His                  well as servants of sin. And even when they furiously
 will, and thus to be the objects of His eternal  lovingkind-        rage together against God and against His Anointed, and
 ness, such is liberty indeed!                       ,               conspire to cast out the Son, when they rave and madly
    To hate Him and not to be able to love Him, that is              rage against the Christ on Golgotha, they are still ser-
 bondage !                                                           vants in the House of God and fulfill the will of the Most
    And to love Him with all our heart and mind and soul             H i g h .
and strength, and nevermore to be able to hate Him,                     But they are mere slaves in the House, not sons.
 such is liberty !                                                     Even as they are slaves of sin,' so they are slaves of
    The liberty of our whole being!                                  G o d .
    The freedom of the heart!                                          And God does not want slaves forever. They must
   ,Freedom indeed !                                                 merely serve  H.im for a time and will be cast out as
                                                                     Soon as they have accomplished His purpose.
    Glorious Liberator !                                               But  the Son abideth forever!
    The Son shall make you free ! Our Lord Jesus Christ!               He is essential to the House. For, He is the Second
    Oh, it must needs be the Son that. is to make us free.           ,Person of the Holy Trinity. From eternity to eternity,
 No one but the Son could possibly accomplish `this lib-             etermlly,   a& therefore, with a relationship that has
 eration.     For, freedom is  sonship, and.  sonship is free-       nothing to do with time, He is in the bosom of the Father.
 dom. And only the Son  allideth in the house forever!               His position in the House of God is intrinsic. His place
  The servant abideth not in the house!                              is inalienable. Without Him the House is not. For,
   No servant has an inalienable right in the house in               He is the Son. He can never be cast out. He must and
 which  `is a slave. Nor is he inseparably connected with            does abide forever! And the Son is eternally free, loving
the house. He is no part of it at all. H.is position, with           the Father and being loved of Him in infinitely perfect
 relation to the. house is extraneous from it. He is a for-          friendship. The mind. of the Father is His mind, the
 eigner in'it. He merely serves the will of the master as            will of the `Father is His will, the heart of the Father
 long as it pleases the latter to be served by him. And              also throbs in Him. The Son, Who abideth in the House
 when the will of the lord of the house is fulfilled, the            forever, is eternally, divinely free!
 servant is cast out. His being cast out means nothing to              Free indeed! . . .                        e
 the house . . .                                                       And the Son shall make you free !
   Thus it is in any house.                                            For, it is the Father's eternai good pleasure to build  a
   And no different it is in the House of God. That                  house that would be a reflection of the eternal House  `a.s
 House is God's covenant. And the essential thing of                 it is with Him. `And also in that house of God. with men,
 that House is the eternal relation of friendship and fel-           it is His will to have sons that are conformed to the
 lowship, the freedom of love,  bet.ween  God and His                image-of the Only Begotten And thus He ordained that
 people,' which is a reflection of the infinitely perfect friend-    the Only Begotten should also be  the. head of: that house
 ship-relatiop in the Divine Family. That is the House.              of God with men. And He gave unto Him those, whom
   Temporarily there are  notonly sons, but also servants,           He ordained to be sons of God, that He might enter into


                                       f their state,  become like unto them in their flesh and blood;     house of God be destroyed by the mere whims of a  iin-
     `.  1 that He might secure for them the right to be liberated                                         ner ! They speak thus only, because they desire to maintain
                                       1 and to be called sons of God; and  that. He might enter           that the Son died for all men without distinction on the
           / into their prison,  cud  their bonds and lead them out into
:;  I                                                                                                      cross of Golgotha, thus declaring His sincere intention to
          : i the glorious liberty of the sons of God!                                                     set all men free and paying the price of their redemption.
                                           ,And this good pleasure of the  Father the Son fulfilled.       Yet, it is undeniable that  many remain in the bonds of           _
                                                                                                           sin and death  -forever,  are neyer set free by this Son.
     "                                  / For, He came in the likeness of siriful flesh and-adopted        How, then, must this apparent contradiction be explained  ?.
". i  tlqe flesh and  blloo4 of the children in the seed  df  Abra:                                        ,By the unwillingness of mere Man! If you will not be
                  :  barn. And He paid the price of their  i-edemption'bn the                              liberated, the Son  canndt  set you free. In the last in-
           I accursed Cree. For, thus must all  righteousne&,  the
: ., I                                                                                                     stance the realization of the gospel  o$ your liberation
`,  :  r`ighteousness  of God,  be fulfilled. The brethren of the                                          depends, not on the Son, but on you! . . .
                                  / Son. are servants of sin, children of  wratli,   legally in
            ;, bondage of sin; and they -have no  r,ight to be liberated.                                     Miserable cdrricature of the gospel, of the  Jiberating   -
     `,  : But the Son paid the price and gairied  fo,r Himself the                                        Christ, of the Almighty Himself!
.: . .::!" right to liberate  H,is brethren, when He shed His life-                                          For,  what liberator is he, that stands outside of the pri-
     :-..: blood  before the face of the  ,Father, a sacrifice of the                                      son door and calls to him that locked behind the door and
                                  perfect obedience                of. love!          _
.A-.                                                                                                       in  shackl&  that  .he! will be free if he will but come out?
                                           And having gained the right to liberate His brethren,
           $.'                                                                                             And how could the liberation of  si`nful man ever be ac-
A:. :.:
           _ , He received the power to set  t&em free !                                                   complished, of man that is shackled in the bondage of
:,  `.:                                    For,  He was raised from the dead!                              sin from within, so that his very will  iS in bondage, so
                                 88        And He was received in the House of the Father,                 that- he loves the very dungeon in which he serves  l4s
                  `[. even  the Holy Child Jesus, flesh of our flesh and bone of                           sentence, the very blonds that are fastened to his inmost
                            ; our bone.. And He was made the Head of  the house of                         nature, so that he will not and cannot will to be led out
                                         God with men, even Christ and Lord, at the Right Hand             into the  gloyious liberty of the children of God,-if his
                                         of  the  Majesty  in the heavens, with all power in heaven        would-be liberator would depend on the  tiill of that sin-
     I                                   and on earth . . .                                                ner to set him  &ee? . . .
`..!`i                                                                                                        God forbid !
     .._.I                                 And He received the promise of the Holy Spirit, `in
.:.  .I. order that by  His Spirit He might forever liberate them,                                            The  .Son shall make you free!
     :.' :: whom the Father gave Him and the price of whose  re-                                             .Not, indeed, all men, but those whom the Father gave
                            :  demption  He  paid in His precious blood !                  ,               Him and for whom He paid the redemptive price in His
                                           Thk Son  our Liberator!                                         a t o n i n g   b l o o d !
                            !              The Son as He came into the likeness of sinful  kesh.
                            I                                                                                 He shall make them free !
                            j The Son, as  l3e humbled Himself on the accursed                                Not by a power that is dependent on the goodwill of  `.
                            i tree and became our Redeemer!                                                the sinner that is to be liberated; but by that powerful,
                       f                 " The Son, as He was raised from the dead and  ,ex-
                       I                                                                                   irresistible grace that is fully able to  overc'ome the ill-
                       / alted by the Father and endowed with power to liberate                            will of natural man. For, the Spirit He has received is
     :  ,`!'  w h o m   H e   w i l l s !
`.' .I                                                                                                     the Spirit of liberty. The Lord is that Spirit, and where
1  ::
.,                                         Hk is the One that sets us free!                          ,'
.:  `;                                                                                                     the `Spirit. of  ,, the Lord is, there  is liberty! And that
                       /                   Adorable Liberator !
                       I                                                                                   Spirit,. He poured out into His Church,  which_ is  His
          `i                                                                                               body. And by that Spirit He enters into  .the deepest
                  1                                                                                        heart of everyone of His brethren, cuts the bonds of sin
                                           If the Son shall make you free! . .  `.                         from within, calls them out by His efficacious Word,
                      I                    Do not detract from the power and significance of               leads them out into the liberty of  the, sons' of God, that
     i this:Word of God!                                                                                   abide in the house forever with the Son  !
                                           For, this and this only is the gospel of your salvation !          And thus  jiberated  you see  .and bemoan, for the first
-:_  j                                     Many, indeed, there be that distort this Word of God            time, your bondage. And bemoaning your slavery, He
L.  :                                    and change it into a powerless Word of Man, of mere,              leads you  t6 His;  c&s and, by faith, liberates you from
.i sinful Man; and though they speak under the pretense
;                                                                                                          the guilt of sin.
                  !                      of glorifying the liberating Son,; deprive Him of all  His          And liberated from guilt, He delivers you from  3 sin's
                j divinely given power  an< glory.                                                         dominion.
                                          The Son, they  s&y,  z&Z  make you free, if you will but
                                         let Him liberate\ you and if only you will come to Him!              And makes you like unto Himself!
                                                                                                .
                                         And  thug they at once deprive  H,im of all His hberating            Sons with the Son!
                j  Power, transfer that power to mere Man,  and let the                                       Free, indeed !                                   H. H.
                II


 516.                                          TH-E.               STAN'DARD.  BEARER                                  /         :

  buite onze kerkgemeenschap staan ; ook al gedragen zij
   zich ordelijk  ter  vergaderin.g.                                                 Prolonged In&cession
   :           Met dank voor de  plaatsing  teekent hoogachtend,  LIW       The people cause Aaron to make a' calf, and thus cor-
   broeder in  Jezus Christus,                                            rupt  theFsel+es and turn quickly  dut of the way that
                                                      G. Van  Beck.       the Lord commanded them.. `The Lord  hereupqn,   re-
               Kalamazoo;  Mich., Sept. 6,  i936.             .          quests Moses that he let Him alone, that His anger may
          .                                                               wax hot against them and that He may consume  them
 ..  A n t w o o r d .                                                    and make of Moses a great nation. But instead of  let-
                                                 /                       tirig Him alone, Moses beseeches the Lord to turn from
        De  iergaderingen der  `classis  iijn per se reeds  :veel        H.is fierce anger and to  i-epent of this evil against His
 meer publiek dan die des kerkeraads,  daa; vele gemeenten               people. This prayer is heard. Turning and going down
vertegenwoordigd.  zijn.- Daa&m .worden er dan ook op                    the  .mountain,  Moses comes near to the camp: Seeing
 zulke vergaderingen  geeti zaken behandeld dan die van                  the calf and  the dancing, his anger waxes hot.  In his
 algemeen  belang  `+jn voor  .de vertegenwoordigde kerken               anger he casts the tables out of his hands and  beaks
 of die (hetzij door  appC1  van een bezwaarde of `krachtens             them  .beneath  tl!e mount. Thereupon he takes the calf,
 het bereikt zijn van zeker stadium in het  proces der  ker;             burns it in the fire, grinds it to powder, spreads the  _
 keli jke tucht) reeds publiek zijn. De  n&nen der  betrok-              powdered mass over the water and  n&es them drink of
 ken  personen  behoeven daarbij niet verder publiek  ge-                it. Aaron is  no,w made to give account of his doing;
maakt  .woiden dan ze reeds zijn.                                        and the idolaters, who  refuse to  ,forsake their idol and
        Nu  ligt het in den aard  cler zaak; dat,  b;  `v. bij  aan-     come to the Lord and to Moses, are slain. The& events
 vrage  om.  advies  iniake  verzwaring van censuur, zaken               have been delineated upon.
ter classikale vergaderingen  moeten   worden  gebracht, die                We now pass on td Moses' prolbnged intercession for
tevoren binnen den kring  deS kerkeraads  bleven. Immers                 the sinful people, the record of which carries us through
moeten  de gronden voor de censuur  voor; de  `classis  bloot-           the 9th verse of chapter 34. Let us quote Scripture here;
gelegd  worden,  opdat deze in  staat mag zijn om te  oordee-            ."And it  came to pass on the  tiorrow; that Moses said
len. .Doch ook die  gronden  worden immers in de  verga-                 unto, the people, Ye have sinned `a great sin : and now I
dering der gemeente  afgekondigd, opdat de gemeente  in                  will go up unto the Lord ; peradventure I shall make an
de  tuchtoefenirig  bewust mee mag  kunnen leven. En de                  atonement for your sin."
vergaderingen der gemeente zijn strikt openbaar, staan                     A great sin indeed has been  comtiitted, a sin greater
open  voor, vriend  en vijand.  `~                                       than any the nation thus far had committed.. Consider
   Nu  kunnen  er misschien  gevalle'ti  voorkqmen,  de  be-             what had taken place.         O-f?&++  had been sacrificed.
spreking waarvan van zoo teederen aard is; dat de  classis               And with the blood  df these offerings they had been
haar naar den aard der liefde  Jiever in besloten kring  b"-             sprinkled. Thus it must have  occured  to them that they
handelt:  Ze kan dan altijd in  cornit&  vergaderen.  Maar               were a people  singulai-ly favored. Though deserving to
dan  -dient zulk  "iti  comite vergaderen" ook stiikt te zijn,           perish with the  Egyptians,  the Lord had spared them and
d.w.z. alleen  toegankelijk voor hen, `die krachtens  afvaar-            delivered them from bondage. `And their representatives
diging  geroepe?s  zijn de zaak mede' te  behande1en.l                   had been with the Lord on the  mpuntaiy, seated at His
   Indien dat niet het geval is,  zou,,ik  &ggen:   last onze            covenant table. And upon them He had not laid  Hi:
classicale vergaderingen zoo publiek mogelijk  qijn. De                  hand. The tokens of his terrible holiness  had been seen
`publieke  begpreking eener  /zaak  heeft haar  nut.-  Ze  shit          and understood  b,y them, so that they knew, too, that the
misschien   we1  geen  lastermonden,  maar ze maakt den  in-             despisers of God and of the blood of the covenant reap
gang van' zulken laster  bij velen  tech moeilijker,  indien             certain  desttiction.    Yet with  all this, knowledge of God
ook  fiiet  bnmo.gelijk:  Iri de meeste gevallen kan de  keike-          in their hearts, they in the shadow of  a.mount'ain flanked
raad slechts wenschen, dat zijn bespreking eener zaak in                 wifh the symbols of His majesty, had forsaken Him
het volle  licht  w&-de gebracht. Ook zou ik geen  onder-                their redeemer-god and turned to  the idol! Amazing!
scheid  willen  maken  tusschen  gemeenteleden  en  buiten-              Consider that Jehovah had betrothed  Hitiself to Israel.
staanders,  tusschen  vrienden en  vijanden..  We1 is het  te            In the words of the prophet, He had spread  His skirts
iierklaren,  dat men  zich in sommige gevallen geirgerd                  over them and covered their nakedness. He had made a  `:
gevoeld door de  tegenwoordigheid van'  bepaalde personen' covenant with them `and Israel had  `becomi His wife.
ter classicale  vergadering.  Maar  tech kan het niet  anders            The record of the ceremony of the marriage is contained
dan ten  `go&de werken, dat ook die  personen  er getuige in  the 24th chapter of the book of  ,Exodus. Moses took
van zijn, dat.  &  op de  vergacleringen  des kerkeraads,  en            half  of the blood of the sacrificial victim that had been
op die der  classis alle  dingen eerlijk `en met orde  geschie-          slain and sprinkled id upon the altar, that is, presented it
den. Hen  buit,en  de vergaderingen te  houden  kan slechts              to Jehovah by whom it was also  acceptkd   &s an atonement
achterdocht wekken en lastermonden  openen-.                 H . H . fdr the sins of the people. The book of the  .covenant

                                .


                                      TH,E.STANDARD   .BEARER                                                               517

was then read `in their audience and they said, "`All that       offerings anticipated only the unconscious infringements
the Lord has said we will do and- be obedient. The mar-          of the moral and ceremonial law and could only cover the
riage, the covenant. was then sealed.       The blood was        many infirmities and miseries that every devout Christian
sprinkled upon the people. By this act Jehovah officially        feels in himself, such as weak  and imperfect faith, lack
took the  natiob`to Himself as His wife. And  tl& wife           of zeal and devotion  in the service of God and the lusts
then committed spiritual whoredom.          She turned  hei      of the flesh  that dontrary to desire riot in his bosom. This
back upon her Husband and embraced the idol. Verily,             failure of the sin-offerings to cover deliberate sins must
a great sin has been committed. And though Moses has             have opened the  eyes of the more thoughtful in Israel to
prayed for the culprits, he is not at  sll persuaded in his      the fact that the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes
mind  .that they have been forgiven. The evidence of this        of  a.heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctified to the puri-
is `that  he  betakes himself. to the Lord to again pray icr     fying of the' flesh only and thus did. not purge the con-
them. There is thus doubt in his mind,  substaptiated  by        science ; that this blood was not actually the  meritorial
the circumstance that Jehovah has not as yet said, "I            fountain of their peace toward God. Yet (as will be made
have pardoned."     True, the statement does. occur that         plain in a new series of articles on the law) it, was  only
`9he  Lord'.repented  of the evil which he thought to do         in connection with these offerings that this peace could
unto his people,? but it is plain that the Lord has re-          be had.
frained from making this known to Moses. It is, with-              But to return. The sin committed by the Israelitish
out a doubt, this reticence of Jehovah that sets Moses to        nation in the shadow of Sinai was a deliberate crime
wondering how this great sin can be forgiven them. But           against Jehovah that the sin-offering did not cover and
should he not know? Did  fiat the Lord, immediately- after       that therefore called for their immediate  extern$nation.
the fall,. institute the (typical) sacrificial worship, and      df this Moses is fully aware. He realizes that the hour
has He not all along been covering sin by the atoning            of their crisis is upon them. Will Jehovah forgive? But
blood of this sacrifice  and forgiving the man with  sitis       how can  He, if for their sins there be no covering. Can
so covered? Mark you well, forgiving, "And' the priest           a sin, unatoned for be pardoned. He knows that it can-  -
shall make atonement for his sin that he hath committed,         not, understands that forgiveness demands shedding of
&d it shdR be fkjven ,$im."   Lev. 4 :35. Is Moses un-           blood, as He with, whom the people  have to do is a right-
mindful of this  and, is it this thoughtlessness of his that     eous  God. Hence, his problem is not how God can for-
sends  hi& on his way  toi Jehovah with the resolve, in his      give sin (to maintain this is to be compelled to say of
soul  to petition the Most High that he be  .peimitted  to       him that the institution of the sacrificial worship had
make atonement? It cannot be. That Moses is perplexed,. taught him nothing) but how He can forgive a sin not
that he fails to perceive how the great sin can be  fot'given    atoned for. He knows this to be  imposSiMe.  Yet prom-
is evident, "Peradventure," that is, by chance,  i! may be,      ises had been made to the fathers and confirmed  eveil
I shall make an atonement for you." Though he is quite           with an oath. Hence, as certain as God is God,  the na-
ready to  bear the iniquity of his  peopl'e,. he is in great     tion  will'be  spared; but if so its great sin must be covered,
doubt as to whether his proposal will be accepted. The           and this by blood  other.than that of bulls and goats. Can
situation plainly confounds him. And the cause of con-           it be that what is now required is a human sacrifice?! He
fusion of mind can be laid hold on. Though it be true.           ponders the possibility of this and concludes that so it
that sins were being covered by the blood of a typical           might be. But  who- will  ,die for his people? He con-
sacrifice and that the man with sins so covered was for-         siders that they are his and that, if what now is demanded
given (if he truly repented) ! it is to be considered that       is the blood of a human, the  life  td be given  must needs
there were  many sins-the great sins-for which there             be his. Does the thought startle him? Does he fear?
was no sacrifice. Already in Noah's day, the Lord had            It must be. But whereas he loves, the resolve forms in
let it be known that  "Whoso  sheddeth man's blood, by           his soul that the life to be given, shall be his. So on the
man shall his blood be shed." Murder, then, was one of           morrow; he says to the people, Ye have sinned a great
the sins for which no covering had been provided. Other          sin : and now I will go up unto the Lord ; @adventure I
such sins were: the worshipping of other gods, solicita-         shall make an atonement for your sin." So he  retmris
tions to religious  ,apostasy, idolatry, divination and sor-     unto the Lord, and says, "Oh, this people have sinned  3
cery, sacrifice of children, blasphemy, false. prophesy, de-     great sin, `and have made them, gods of gold. Yet now,
secration of  sacred things, labor on the Sabbath, assault       if thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray
of parents, kidnapping, adultery,- theft, slander, wronging      thee, out of thy book which thou hast written."
the defenseless, in a word, every deliberate  crime of what-       The petition, "Yet now, if  thou  will forgive . . .  " may,
ever nature.    The sin-offerings were not intended to           if taken by itself mean, "Yet now, if thou wilt  fcrgive
cover such crimes. Their perpetrators were either put            their sin, it is well ; but if thou wilt not forgive, let me
to death or made to give in  retribrition  or fined or made      perish  with  &em." Some take Moses to have meant just
to undergo some corporal punishment.  1'  Thus  the  sin-        this. However, if this is the construction to be placed


518                                      THE   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           _ --  _.-  _...-  _

on the petition, it is expressive of an impious: sentiment,          guilt. He knew, therefore, that the Lord could no more
to be formulated thus, "Lord if thou  canst not forgive,             smite him for their sin than that He could forgive them
let me perish with this people; for my  attachinent for              without blood-shed. Besides, was he capable of sustain-
them is so great that the thought of being with Thee with-           ing in his soul and body the wrath of God against their
out them is  unindurable.  Therefore, of thou must con-              sin? And could that condemnable and ill-deserving people
sume, let Thy bolt strike. also me.         Fo.r I Will not be       actually be benefitted by a saviour with a name blotted
separated from this people." But such speech, one feels,             out of God's book? Consider in connection herewith that
betokens a deliberate attempt to taunt God. It is a speech           divine forgiveness spells for the redeemed not merely
that can rise from that soul only, aflame  t+ith rebellion           cancellation of sin but also their being robed in a posi-
But Moses is a man of exceptional piety.' The zeal of                tive righteousness and the reception of a life, imparted
God's  house  con,+umes him. His concern is the  honor               by a Saviour  whd died and ever liveth to make, interces-
of God's name.  If He consumes them, the Egyptians                   sion for His own-a Saviour Who can face God and say
will  +nder  ; they. will say, For mischief did He bring             with full propriety, "Father, I will  that they also, whom
them out . . .  " It is love of God and of His servants to           thou hast given me be with me where I am."
whom He sware, that constrains Moses.' What would it
avail God,' if he perish with this people? His prayer,                 How grave the difficulties by which that prayer' of his
therefore, is' to be  periphrased  thus, "Yet now if thou            is weighed down. Well might; he say to his people, "per-
wilt forgive their sin . . .  ; but if not, if thou  canst not       adventure, I shall make  .an atonement for your  .sin."
forgive except one did for and in their` stead, blot mk, I           What then could -have induced, him to utter the prayer
pray thee, out of thy  blook . . .  " The petition, so con-          in the ears of Jehovah ? And the answer: his profound
strued, agrees with his declaration of his intention to the          interest in the covenant of God  and.his  ,deep concern for
people. Said he, "And now I will go up unto the Lord ;               a people  whose.`sin was calling for their immediate de-
peradventure  I  shccll  ~tvuzke   sn  nto%wteat  for  you." That    struction.    It was the darkest of all hours that this man
he had before his mind not an animal but a  human sacri-             of God lived through as leader of the people of Israel.
fice, is evident from this that he petitions the Lord to blot        His heart is troubled. The people must die, yet they
him out of the book of life.                                         must live. Still, they  cannoti be allowed to live, as there
                                                                     is no covering for their sin. Moses is in a quandary.
  Amazing  prayer ! What zeal it betokens ! What love !              The hour calls `for action of what character he knows
True. But consider that it is at once a prayer that bears            not..  H,e will die for them. It is the only course left
all the marks of having risen from a perplexed spirit.               open to him ;  yeb he feels, must fed,  that he will not be
It is plainly a prayer from which Moses' own soul must               permitted to pursue it. But  hi& love  for the interests of
have recoiled; even while he uttered it. Consider that               his God does not permit him to fully admit this to him-
the statement, "if thou wilt forgive," is a conditional sen-         self. It may  b:, peradventure, I shall make atonement
tence with an omitted latter portion that should be made             for your sin."
to read, "without demanding that the  .sin committed be
atoned for." The reason that  this,-subsequent clause was              Hear how his spirit groans in the presence of `God,
Ieff unspoken is, must be, that Moses feared to give ut-             "Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made
terance to it, in- that he knew that, whereas God, is right-         them gods of gold. Yet now if thou wilt forgive . . . ;
eous, there can be no forgiveness of sin with the shedding           if not, blot me out of thy book .  : .  "
of; blood. So having prayed, "If thou wilt forgive," he                How this prayer of Moses brings him forward as
found this latter portion of the first section of his  p&ition,      the prefiguration of Him-Christ Jesus-Who prayed,
dying upon his lips, and when he  a,gain opened his mouth            "Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire ; mine ears
to  speak it was to give utterance to his desire that he be          hast thou opened : burnt offering and `sin offering thou
permitted to  perish that his people might live. But he              hast not required. Then said I, Lo, I come: in the vol-
had  ajready  said too'much, as the sentiment of the clause          ume, of the book it is written of me .  1 .  "    But how a
left unspoken, is contained in the first portion of the              conjparison  between these two prayers also brings to
statement. But why then did he not omit the entire first             light that in Moses we have to do with a shadow and
portion of his  petit+. and simply pray, "0 Lord, let me             nothing more  and that the true Mediator of God and
die for my people." His atoning for this sin must have               man is Christ.
stood out before his mind's eye as an action as impossible
and forbidden as the action consisting in God forgiving                Burnt offerings thou didst not desire . . .  Then I said,
sin without demanding that! sin be covered. For he  per-             Lo, I come . . . Place alongside of this, "If thou wilt
zeived, certainly (such was the  speedh rising from the              forgive-if not, blot me out of thy  b:ook . . .  "
typical sacrifice) that only the innocent can atone for the            From  the first of these prayers animates a doubt that
guilty. And' he was a man, unclean, increasing daily his             borders on despair respecting the matter proposed  ;,, while


                                       T H E   .STANDAR-D   B E A R E R                                                    519

the -second prayer betoken the mind of one who, knows                As to the carnal seed, its worship of` the golden calf
 Himself as the true sacrifice and' Who therefore confi-          was the first of a long series of apostasies, gaining in
 dently declares that He comes -to do God's will.                 accumulative strength, and the last one of which con-
   No  soon& had Moses unburdened his soul than the               sisted in this seed  crucifying.the Lord of glory. The
Lord replied, "Whosoever hath sinned  agains*  me, him            final day of reckoning for the nation came when the
will I blot out of my book." Thus the proposal,  BS Moses         measure of iniquity was filled. Then was Jerusalem de-
 must have expected, is rejected. But if the Lord cannot          stroyed and the Jews become a people without a country.
 permit the man who is  without sin  to..atone  for. the sin                                                      G. M. 0.
 of the guilty, if  He must insist that the soul  ! that  sin-
neth  shall die; how could, He send his .Son  into the world
 to be a. propitiation for the sins of His people without           The Doctrine of Sovereign  ,Grace
 overturning that speech of His directed to Moses. The
 explanation of this is the close union between Christ                     (Address delivered on our last Fieldday)
and His people. He atoned for their sin as their head L: "It is not my purpose," so I wrote, "to delineate here
and as one who by virtue of His having taken upon  hiti           and now on this truth (the truth that God's grace  i,s  sov-
the very nature of man, of tlie flesh and blood of the            ereign) but rather to investigate how  this truth fared in
virgin Mary, was truly man. Thus the Lord could lay               history and in what esteem it has been held by the Chris-
on Him the iniquities of us all without militating  against       tian church from the age of the apostles until the present
that fundamental law  of2 His kingdom that the soul that          time.
sinneth shall die. Besides, the Saviour  was also very               We  saw  that Augustine  was' the first church father of
God, so that, tightly considered, it was God himself. in          note to vigorously maintain in opposition to Pelagianism,
the person of the Son, Who assumed  responsibilb  for             that man by nature is spiritually dead in sin, wholly in-
our `guilt and atoned for our sins in the nature of man capable of doing any good except he be regenerated by
that He had taken upon Him.                                       the Spirit of God. The first theologian was he to teach
   But  of this Moses had no understanding. The first             that grace is sovereign  and that it forms the sole principle
response of the Lord must therefore have caused him               from which salvation springs, that grace is given sdlely
nee pain. It must have sealed for him the doom of the' `to the  eIect and that thus election is sovereign. With
people. But. hope revived when he heard the Lord-  say-           these views  .the church fathers of the first four hun-
.mg, "Therefore now  g6, lead the people unto the place` dred  years  of our Christian era-the years preceding
of which I have spoken  tinto thee : behold, mine angel           the appearance. of Augustine and the publication of his
shall go `before thee: nevertheless in the day when I             views-had been entirely at variance.        They were all
visit I will visit their sins upon them."                         agreed with Peiagius. Like Pelagius, they founded elec-
   Mark you well, the Lord still refrains from declar-            tion upon the fore-knowledge of God (upon the Pelagian
ing,  "1 have forgiven them and take  &em to my heart."           conception of this fore-knowledge) as to  who of their
For one of  tioses' insight into the mysteries of God,            own free will would either reject or accept the proffered
the  above  cited  tiords contain little comfort. Apparently,     salvation. They had assumed therefore not the uncondi-
the judgment is merely postponed Though he is hidden              tional election of Augustine but the conditional election
to lead the people to the promised land  bf their abode, he       of  Pelagius.
at once hears the Lord say that He will visit their sin             Thus the Augustinian doctrine was opposed to the
upon  them in the day  qf visitation. And the evidende            opinions of the fathers {preceding Augustine) and the
that the Lord will keep Him to -His word,  is that. He            sense of the church  (of, the preceding period). No  stu-
without delay begins to-plague the people, "because `dent of Scripture of note had ever, as did Augustine, de-
`they made the calf, which  Atiron had made. Seemingly,           rived from the epistle to the Romans, a grace that had no
the\ entire nation was destined to perish. No distinction         good wdrks of the elect.
is made  bjetween  the spiritual and the carnal seed. All           It may well therefore surprise us that the Augustinian
withotlt exception will be overtaken by judgment.                 doctrine of grace found acceptance with a' sufficient num-
   It `requires  the light of subsequerit revelation to dispel    ber of Augustine's contemporary divines to make possible
for  the faithful the deep gloom of this word. In this            its triumph and  the. condemnation of Pelagianism upon
light we see the Church a corporation,.whose head is              the church synods. But the fact is that, as has already
Christ. Upon  Him finally did He visit the sins of his            been pointed out, the triumph of  Augustinianism  was
ill-deserving yet chosen people. These He leads  unto the         more apparent than real.      There arose to his doctrine
place  ."of which he had spoken imto them,`" the heavenly         strong opposition. What was desired by the great majority
country that they look for.       And behold, His angel,          is a middle ground, which was also found; and the new
Christ Jesus, the captain of their salvation, goes before         find bears the name of semi-Pelagianism, the leading
them,                                                             idea of which is that divine grace and the human will

                                         ;

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

jointly accomplish the work of salvation. It  (semi-             seems to be that through prevenient grace the weakened
Pelagianism) rejects the Pelagian doctrine of the sound-         will of every man is so strengthened that he can, if he
ness of man and the conception of grace as a mere ex-            chooses, believe.    In proposition 15, the predestination
ternal help, but rejects also the Augustinian doctrine of        to sin is rejected as blasphemy against God. Further,
a total corruption of human nature and the sovereignty           although this `does not appear from the above-cited de-
and irresistibleness of grace. It maintains a predestina-        cisions, the synod also reduced the predestination in re-
tion to salvation conditioned by foreknowledge of faith.         gard. to `the reprobate' to mere fore-knowledge.
   However, despite the strong unpopularity of strict  Au-         However, the council (of Orange) merits reproach for
gustinianism,. these views (this semi-Pelagianism) were          what it in some of its decisions asserted but especially for
rejected and condemned by the council of Orange, A.D.,           what  .it failed to reassert. Among these articles nothing
529. And yet, the decisions of this council,  taken'as  a        was established on the Augustinian doctrine of absolute
whole, actually contain all the' germs of a full-fledged  Pe:    predestination and irresistible grace. And the reason?
lagianism, Let us again cite and thereupon examine them :        Such propositions would have been abhorrent to the feel-
    1. The sin of Adam has not injured the body only,            ings of too many.The views set forth by the articles of
  but also the soul of man.                                      Orange acquired the name of semi-Augustinianism.
        .2. The sin of Adam has brought sin and death upon         .How intensely the proper or  strict  Augustinianism was
  all mankind.                                                   feared, how small, comparatively speaking, the -number
        3. Grace is not merely bestowed when we pray for         that embraced it, may be seen from the controversy on
  it, but grace itself causes us to pray for it.                 the subject of the  .Augustine doctrine of Predestination
        4. Even the beginnin,0 of faith, the disposition to      and from the grief that overtook its chief  or better said,
  believe, is effected by grace.                                 sole exponent in the 9th century;
        5. All  gcod thoughts and works are God's gift.          This exponent was Gottschalk,  .of noble Saxon paren-
        6. Even the regenerate and saints need continually       tage, `and sent by his parents in his childhood to the con-
  God's help.                                                    vent of Fulda as a pious  .offering.  Later he  exchanged
        7. What God loves in us is not our  merit but God's      Faicla for Orbais in the province of Rheims.
  gift.                                                                                                              At  Orbaij
                                                                 he devoted-himself to the study of Augustine with great
    8. The free will weakened by Adam, can only be               .zeal. Recognizing the  ,Augustinian  doctrine of predes-
  restored by Baptism.                                           tination as truth, he embraced it, and forthwith`brought
        9. All good that we possess is God's gift, and there-    himself forward. as its ardent exponent, and gained many
   fore no one should boast.                                     of. his fellowmonks .to his views.
        10. Unmerited grace precedes meritorious works.                                                He also' communicated
                                                                 his views to several scholars and made a pilgrimage to
        11. Even had man not fallen, he would have needed        Rome.
  divine grace for salvation.
        12. When man sins, he does his own  .will, when he          Gottschalk affirmed a double predestination, by virtue
 does good he executes the will of God, yet voluntarily.         of which God sovereignly decreed eternal life to be the
        13. Through the fall free will has been so weakened,     elect and the elect to eternal life, and so also everlasting
  that without prevenient grace no one can love God, be-         punishment to the reprobate and the reprobate. to ever-
  lieve in Him, or do good for God's sake, as he ought.          lasting punishment. He identified God's fore-knowledge
        14 Through the. grace of God all may, by the co-         and `His `fore-ordination, and thus insisted that His
  operation of God, perform what is necessary to their           knowledge is one with His  .determinate  will.. God fore-
  soul's salvation.                                              saw the  faith and obedience of His elect for the sole
        15. It is by no means our faith, that any have been      reason that He determined their faith; and the same must
  predestinated by God to sin, but rather:  i.f  .there `are     be said of sin. Gottschalk represented the state of our
  people who believe so vile a thing, `we condemn them           first parents, that is, their fall, as the necessary fulfillment
  with utter abhorance.                                          of an absolutely sovereign and thus unconditional divine
  Now against most of these propositions, certainly,             decree, which ordered the history of mankind in all its
nothing can  ,be alleged. The idea contained in the de-          details from the beginning. All fore-knowledge in God
cisions 3,  4, 5 and 9 is that grace is the only operating       is therefore determinative and creative. `IO Gottschalk
cause of all goodness, that faith is the effect of grace, and    it was justly revolting that reprobates could produce a
that every human act is devoid of merit. In proposition 2        change in God's counsels. Christ, he  armed, died both
the Augustinian doctrine of original sin appears. But            in His intention and actually for the elect only. The ex-
in proposition  & the will of man is brought forward as          tent of the purpose therefore does not extend beyond the
merely  wectlzened  by the fall and as capable of being re-      extent of the effect.      God is absolutely unchangeable,
stored to its original strength and freedom by baptism.          does all His good-pleasure. What does not come to pass,
The thought that circulates through proposition 13 and 14        could not have been determined by Him.


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D ' B E A R E R                                               521
                                                                                                       -

  Now what have we here? And the answer: that strict              .and monks, to step into four  caldrons one after another,
Augustinianism  ; true Biblical doctrine of the purest wool.      filled with boiling water, oil and pitch. If he shrank
Yet,  .attend to the reactions, that these doctrines called . from fulfilling his engagement, they might immediately
forth. Gottschalk was accused (falsely) of making, God            cast him into fire." Neander. "Let no one accuse me of
the author of sin; of asserting that the divine  ,foreordina-     harshness-said he-on account of this proposal. I do it,
tion places every man-under a moral restraint, so that            relying on the grace of God alone."  "But  it is remarkable,"
although  he may wish to be saved, and may strive after           says Neander, "that not an individual was to be found to
it with true faith and good works, he still labors in vain,       take up with this proposal, though in the existing state of
if he had not been predestined unto salvation. The charge,        public opinion no easier way could have been devised
to be sure, is false. Had Gottschalk asserted this he would.      for exposing his cause, which had so many powerful
by implication have  .affirmed that it is possible for the        friends, to sure disgrace."
reprobated to strive after salvation with a true faith;              Gottschalk remained firm until the day of his death, in
and that the predestination of Scripture is fatalism. `As-        868. He was refused communion in his last sickness.
suredly, nothing of the kind was ever asserted by  Gott-          They refused to bury him according to the rights of the
schalk. He considered the grace by which a man is con-            church except on the condition that he fully and  explicity
verted as the. operation by which the divine decree of            recant.    This he refused to do and died quietly in his
election reveals itself. Another charge was that by the           faith.
doctrine espoused by Gottschalk some: were led to false             Now it must not be supposed that- Gottschalk was en-
security and others to despondency.                               tirely without friends, and defenders of his doctrine. H e
  The accusers of Gottschalk, chief of whom was one               had his friends, and among the  ,defenders of, his scheme
Rabinus   Maurus,  did not. suppose the decrees of God re-        there were found men, eminent for their classical learn-
specting the fall to be unconditional. They considered it         ing. However, the Gottschalkians were so few in number
also of greatest moment to hold fast, that God would have         as compared to the number of those who held to'the con-
all men to be saved ; and that Christ died for the salva-         trary doctrine, that historians speak  of- his doctrine as
tion of all.                                                      always finding  i+z&tidztnl advocates. Yet although the
  In the spring of 849, Gottschalk was summoned before            great majority in the Christian church of the 9th cen-
a synod of Chiersy and asked to recant. Refusing, he              tury, found the doctrine of absolute predestination re-
was. condemned as an incorrigible heretic, deposed from           pulsive, and literally killed one of its  .chief exponents,
his office, and scourged in public for his stubbornness,          they nevertheless recognized Augustine as their great
`made to burn his books, and finally imprisoned. Accord-          teacher and willed to be known as Augustinians.           _
ing to the testimony of eye-witnesses, he was scourged              And so it is today. The relation of this, majority of
."most atrociously and  nearly  to death".                        the above-namecl century to Augustine in regard to pre-
  But Gottschalk had the courage of his convictions. In           destination, is similar to that which a great many men of
his prison, he wrote two confessions, in which he asserted        Reformed persuasion hold to Calvin (a true  Augustin-
with great vigor his doctrine of a twofold predestination.        ian). Though they reject Calvin's scheme and depose
In these  .confessions,.  he controverted the position, that      from office the exponents of this scheme, they neverthe-
when it is said God will have all men to be saved, this           less hail Calvin as their teacher and insist .on being known
ought to be referred to the elect only ; "for the will and        as Calvinists.
counsel of the Almighty. God must be absolutely fulfilled           -At the present time, and since the Reformation of the
in fact. Of this his opponents would have nothing. They,          16th century this strict Augustinianism receives a state-
insisted that Christ died for all but at once affirmed that       ment in the creed of every Reformed denomination of
those only would be. actually saved on whom `God be-              churches the world over. But just what percentage of
stowed the necessary grace to qualify them for salvation, the number lives under this creed is truly Augustinian or
and that this was done in` the case.of-the  elect. Thus they      Calvin&tic  is hard to say. The testimony of history is
again took away the substance of the  $roposition  that           that in the past this number has always been surprisingly
Christ died for all (head for head).  .If asked  ,to reconcile    small. Is there any reason to believe that in this day of
their contrary propositions, they would reply by appeal-          prevailing unbelief and  ivorldliness in the church, this
ing to the incomprehensibleness of the doings of the Al-          number is larger.? In most denominations of churches, it
mighty.                                                           `would be impossible today to initiate a controversy on
  AS  to Gottschalk, so strongly convinced was he of the          such points of doctrine as sovereignty  of. God's grace. If
truth and the' importance of his doctrines, that "in re-          the truth assailed does not belong to that category of
liance on God and this truth, he expected if men could be         truths  .known as the foundation truths of the Christian
convinced in no other way, God would work a miracle to . Religion, such truths as the divinity of Christ and His
prove it. He offered to undergo the fiery ordeal, and pub         virgin birth, the defenders of the faith seem to think that
licly before the king, and an;  assemblly  of bishops, clergy     all is well and hold their peace.


    How that men who call themselves Calvinists or Re-            the government notified the `seceders' that it could not
 formed will repudiate in their hearts the very doctrine          acknowledge their claim upon the name  Reformed,  that
 that these names stand for, again became evident in  .the        it should have to regard the  seccession churches as having
beginning of the nineteenth century in the Netherlands.           no right of existence and thus as dissolved, until  they
 Let me quote from a former article of mine. What was             agreed to drop  .the name Reformed.
 the state of  affairs,in  the Reformed (established) church        Thtls the un-Reformed still willed to be known as  Re-
 of the Netherlands  respectmg  the doctrines of Augustine        formed, to be called by a name that marked them as a
 (Calvin, the fathers of Dordt, so the line runs)  ?. The. people, whose leader was Calvin, though they repudiated
 apostate clergy in the church, who called themselves Re-         the entire system of truth for which this reformer had
 formed still maintained that the Scriptures were of God          witnessed.       Still they demanded that men regard them
 and have divine authority; but it  atimed that these Scrip       as the custodians of the -true faith.     How history re-
 tures should be interpreted and explained according to the       peats itself.
 principles of the new age, in  agreemdnt  with the require-        And how the apostates harassed these faithful to the
 ments of enlightenment and culture.       There was found        truth !
 in this  cler,gy a wicked superficiality that dared to  ig-        History repeats itself. It did so,' in the year 1924, when
nore the  creegs of the church in which it  previouily had        the Christian Reformed  churches, on their synod, drafted
 expressed what it believed to be the' truth of God's -word.  d and adopted the  th;ree  poi&s. I shall say no more about
 The vain dream of the apostates, who called themselves           this here and now. I take no pleasure in bringing up
 Calvinists, was a union of all Netherland Protestants-           these matters.
 Calvinists, Pelagians, Moderns, and Anabaptists-under              The point I wish to make here is that to live under a
 one ecclesiastical roof. The cry was, A church without a         Reformed  `creed is no indication that one man is Re-
 creed. The Bible and the Bible only. But from the strange        formed and that calling themselves and Calvin, that is,
 voices that were  hear&, it is evident that what these apos-     lovers of  the` truth as they  sawL and witnessed for it.
 tates meant to rid the church of was not merely its creed          The lesson  df history is, as we now see, that the doc-
 but its Scriptures as well. The foundation on truths of          trines of Sovereign grace, and of unconditional and two-
 Holy  Writ, such as this double and absolute predestina-         fold predestination, has from the. very beginning of our
 tion, the divinity  pf Christ, His vicarious  .atonement and     Christian era been abhorrant to the great. majority of
_ the  `fall. of man, were being openly assailed  ,and denied.    men and women in the church. So it, is today.
 And comparatively few possessed sufficient spiritual                Consider, now, that it is exactly these hated and feared
 stamina to offer sustained and determined resistance, to         doctrines that we as a denomination of churches con-
demand that the assailants be silenced by  censiu-e,  de-         sistently confess and witness for.     Need it surprise  us
 .posed and excommunicated as thieves and murderers.              then that we are small  ; that our growth is not by  lea@
 Clera$  and laity  alike, greeted the new light-worldly          and  boutids,  that the big majority of Christian men and
 wisdom-and despised the old-the  wisdom of God.                  women fear and shun us? Need this surprise us? Nay,
 Such  was the state  ,of matters. And the apostate seed          it would surprise us, if it were not so, if men in great
 predominated, and controlled the life and activity of the        numbers, hastened to join themselves to our churches.
 church.                                                             Have we a future as a denomination of churches? Will
    How absolute the rule of these apostates! How they            we continue to exist? How should I know, I am no
 bcnde& every effort to corrupt the heritage of the  Loid!        prophet. It may be. It' may also be that our ranks will
 They reduced the church to a  playball of the king, and of       continue to thin out and dwindle. This is probable. It
  themselves  ; and opened the door wide to any  heretic.that     requires grace to be corisistently Reformed or let us say
 mighi choose. td enter. They secured for themselves the          Biblical in our thinking and in our practice. The heart of
  right. to utter their blasphemies unmdlested  ; and when        true religion is that God is God and none else. This is
 the faithful would decry their vile doings, they secretly        strict Augustinianism, Calvinism. Come with this truth
  mocked and muttered, Cry on!                                    to earth, let men see what it holds, insist as preachers of
    As to the seceders? What else might they do but break         the Word that it be lived, and let us live it ourselves, as
  off their connections with  this church formation and' .ministers  of the gospel; let us do this, and leave this other
  br:ng themselves forward as the living condemnation of          matter, whether we will  grow, to God. Whether or no we
  the  apostacy that rioted  in its bosom, challenge its claim    will continue to exist as a distinct church formation, I
 .to its very name (the name Reformed) and appropriate            know not.. But this is certain, that the truth for which
  this name as their exclusive possession.                        the church (mark you, the church)! scourged Gottschalk,
    But what did the king and the apostates whose  tool           cannot disappear, that. there  wili  always be men, however
  he was think of this? Did they consent to waive their           small their number, crying out that God is God and none
  i-ight to their name and. to adopt a name expressive of         else. And if this ceases  t.o be our cry, we may as well
  what they were-apostates  ?      They did not. Instead,         cease  td exist as a distinct church formation, and return


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D  BEARER                                                 523

to the brethren that cast us out of their communion. Our
churches are small.. It means sacrifice on the part of our                         Singlemindedness
people to support their pastors.. Why continue this  sac-          Elijah's time is dark.
ifice, if we lose the very reason for our having come into
being?                   ,                        G. M. 0.         Historical Israel was under the dominion of the Prince
                                                                of darkness.
                                 0`                                Its king was spiritually an adulterer : the wicked Ahab.
                   ADRESVERANDERING                                Its queen : the heathen princess Jezebel.
  Het adres van den  scribe der Eerste Protestantsche              The people : "walked in vanities!`.
Gereformeercle  Kerle te Kalamazoo,  Mich., is  voortaari:         Its spiritual leaders :  450  Baa1 priests, while Elijah fled
G. Van  Beck, 312 West  Walnut Street.                          to the deserts and the God-fearing Obadiah hid God's
                                                                prophets in companies  6f fifty. From the wrath of wicked
                                                                d o e r s .
                 DEACON'S CONVENTION                               Certainly a sorry plight.
                                                                   And the. worst shadow  oE this picture is that the peo-
  Deacon's  &nventibn Will be  he14  .Q.V. Wednesday            ple bowed themselves before the golden calves at Bethel
evening, September  23rd, at the Fuller Avenue Protestant       and Dan and cried: Thou art Jehovah Who led us out
Reformed Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan. The                  of Egypt, out of the house, of bondage. The very worst
Reverend G. M. Ophof `will introduce the subject "Proper        was that they still called themselves with  the name of the
,Distribution  of Alms to the Poor". All Protestant Re-         God'of the heavens and the  2arth.
formed Deacons are invited to attend.                              This last sin is greater  th& open and exclusive  idola-
                                             The Committee.    - try.
                                                                   It made the-people halt before God and man.
              FEAR NOT, I AM WITH THEE                             And to halt is ridiculous, it even partakes of the ludi-
                                                                crous.
     What though the way is rough                                  So that Elijah would call. the elders and the officers of
          And skies are over-cast,                              the people together and ask them: How long  hait ye be-
     .Joys untold are waiting thee                              tween two opinions?
          When all the  storms are past;                           Literally  speaking, halting is the result of walking on
     Trust in the promise, and the                              two different planes. When the right foot is walking
          Lord  will hold thee fast-                            on a plane that is a few inches above the plane of the left
     "Fear not, I am, with thee, even unto the  end.`:          foot, we halt. And the result is seen in the waddling and
                                                                limping and swaying of the entire body.
     Go where He bids you! Do                                    _ Notice in the first place that this halting in a spiritual
          His  will,  what,e'er it  be;                         way is only found, can only be found, in the sphere of
     .Give  your`talents  unto Him
          Who gave so much for thee.                            t&e   Covenant.     For there the two planes are revealed.
     Rainbows of love declare                                   The one plane is the way of God and the other the way
          His word from sea to sea-                             of the devil.
     "Fear  not, I am with thee, even unto the end."               The way  of. God is in His sanctuary where  we learn
                                                                to know His will, statutes, ordinances and judgments. It
     Though, through the waters dark                            is the high way. It is the walk id the light.
          And deep thy pathway lies,                               The way of the devil is the way of the  lie. and the
     Shrink not when the  ,chilling waves                       false prophecy. It is the dark way of sin.
          Qf care and trial rise ;                                 Now,  .from the cradle to the grave, we  solely,  wholly
    He'll wipe away the tears                                   and exclusively walk on the way of the  devil--if  nothing
          From sorrow's weeping eyes  ;-                        ii@jwns to change  us.
     "Fear  not, I am with  thee,-even  unto the end."             With both our spiritual feet we walk  on. the way of
                                                                darkness and the lie: as a child, young man  and  prey-
    When in the valley of                                       beard. There is no halting there. All the thoughts  of
          The shadow dark and deep,                             the imaginations of bur heart is only evil continually.
    Qe will still be with thee,                                We simply hate God and hate  our fellowmen.               `I say
          Able, willing, strong to keep;                        simply, and I mean with that word: singlemindedly we
 In  Hiq  ,to  die is but  to.                                  persist!  and  endeavour  to please self and the devil. We
          -Gently fall asleep--                                 are in covenant with the prince of darkness, his willing
    "Fear not, I am with thee, even unto the end."              slaves. And we walk, We are at peace with our state

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

      and condition. There is no doubt  ablout it. Our entire             one foot I try to walk in heavenly spheres and with the
      manifestation of life is a loud cry: We belong to the `other foot I walk, on hell's dancefloor. Or:  dn Sunday
      !devil. the lie, the false  pr*oplhecy.      And what of it!        I sit in the pew and shiver when I hear from above the
      "Merrily we go to hell" ! !                                         language of the light; but during the week I sit in the
.            There is no halting there. There is only  one plane.         theater and laugh and scream with riotous glee: it's so
      Principally it is  the plane of hell. It `is the  plane  that funny !
      will cause no surprise to its sojourners thereon when it               No, it is necessary that I make a choice.
      will find them in outer darkness.                                      This cannot go on. Jesus said : I would thou wert cold
             But no halting on that plane.                                or hot. It is all the same thing: to be halting on two
             Entirely  .different  it is, however,  whln we  ire born     opinions or to be lukewarm. Both- will be spewn from
      in the line of continued generations of God's covenant ,His blessed mouth. This cannot go on.
      people. Then we see before our eyes an entirely different              Hence, Elijah says : If Jehovah be indeed God, follow
      plane. Principally'the plane of that Covenant is heaven.            Him ; but if  Baa1 be, follow him.
      Our walk is in heaven. And even as little children we                  Notice, first of all, there is no third alternative. It's
      notice in the eyes, the face, the words, the songs, the dress,      either Jehovah or Baal. You either walk with both feet
      the  behaviom in a thousand ways of  God? regenerated               on the plane of heaven or you walk with  Baa1  on the
      and converted people.         Then we see  the light of the        plane of the devil.     When someone therefore halts, it
      worlcl and that is Jesus.                                           is not because he really walks with  0 God and also with
             Moreover, from morning to night, from the early              the! devil.  That  is impossible. No, this halting is' really
     chanting of  "Opent. uwe  mend!' to the pastor's visit at           also a walk of darkness. But is the worst manifestation
      our deathbed we are taught to say and to walk and to be-           of it. As the walk of the Pharisees and Scribes: they
     have on that plane of the heavens of heavens.  Before-              walked in complete; darkness and really hated God. But
     we  ark aware of it,. we are assuming the outward mani-             they' said: We are children of  God and have Abraham
     festation of a walk that is in the clouds.                          for a father. No, halting is only a matter of  opinions.
             And when the heart is not renewed through God's             Their testimony was : We love God. But they killed His
     everlasting mercy, we become halters. We become of all              Son. They were  the  worst`manifestation of the walk of
     people the most miserable. It were better never to have             hell.
     been born, than to be born and live unregenerated among                 Also, notice, that to be  hotj or to walk on the plane
     God's chosen ones on earth.                                         df heaven does not mean that we are without sin. That
        Then we. become' a double mockery to the world. Tt's             the world does not have snares. for us or that the devil
~' awful.                                                                has no access to our hearts at all.
        You see, we love the devil and  sin: our hearts  never               No; but here is the difference. The halter loves sin
     xhanged; but, you see, eternity is so long, so awfully long-.       from the heart  and is  merely  afraid of God. But he who
     And the lurid  flames of hell with the tortuous  writhi&            is walking on the plane of heaven,  even in spite of all his
     of the damned are so terrible.  `From'our  youth on we              sinning, loves  Gdd from the heart and loves all God's
     listened  t6  the plaints and wailings of the. Rich man             virtues.    He has really and essentially only `one desire
     in the flame. "That he may dip the tip of his finger in             and that is : to dwell in the House of the Lord and to
     water, and  do01 my tongue.1" No, we better stay with the           search in His tabernacle.
     church !                                                               No, the choice must be made. Why halt ye on two opin-
        Yet,  ihe heart and flesh lust and hunger and  yearti for        ions? Make the choice. And usually when the choice
     Baa1 -and  Asht,&th. Church and the Word of God is                  is made, that choice is hell. It seemed different in Eli-
     so insipid and dry. I would almost vomit of  the ever               jah's time. But the crying of the multitude when fire
     recurring  then7s of that Jesus on the, Cross :  th'e heart of      devoured  the water soaked sacrifice was more of terror
     the  Gospel. And my opinion is that the world and  .a11             than of love. As subsequent history shows. No matter
     its lures  and.promises of the thrill are not so bad after          how much and how purely we hear and see  ,the Gospel.
     all.                                                                We finally and in the last analysis choose sin and the
        And slowly on, we are in the pew on Sunday and in                devil.
     the dancehall on Saturday night. Or, to speak. in the                  If we do not, it is because eternal mercy gave us a
     language of Elijah's time: I am  .bowing before the                 better choice.
     calves  iti Bethel and have Jehovah's blessed name on my               If we embrace Christ, it is because  *He embraced us
     lips.      "Thou, Who broughtest us up out of  Egy$, the            first.
     house of bondage . .  1  !"                                            But choose we must. Afid ministers and teachers and
        Ludicrous and ridiculous halting? Attend to this :               parents do well to talk much about this choice, when his-
     Here is my dollar  fo,r the budget, Oh, Jehovah! T'is Sun-          tory reveals a halting church-life or offspring.
     day. And : Here is my $5.00 for the glee of devils !..With             It is necessary. First of all for God's sake. When


                                                      T.`HB   STANDARD   B E A R E R                                                           52.5
                  -- .._._ - . . ..__. -._

                 the membership are so devilish as to partake of the bread
                 and wine, but also of the harlot and the devil, it is time                                 Jeaui  Kracht
                 that the knife of Christian censure bring the choice about.           Nog niet zoo heel lang  geleden werd mij gevraagd naar
                 When  .children  pray by the table but' curse expressly the      Jezus' klacht over Jeruzalem ; de  zaak. was niet zoo heel
                 Name within the camp, it is well that Elijah's prophecy is       duidelijk en eene verklaring van dit gedeelte van Gods
                 quoted and the choice be born.                                   Woord was gegeven die geen geheele  bevrediging  gaf.
                 Fcr God's sake. Because His name is slandered as                      De plaats in questie luidt : " Jeruzalem, Jeruzalem,  g-i  j
                 the day is long. It does not escape the eye of the out and       die de  .profeten doodt, en steenigt die tot  u gezonden zijn,
                 out world when those who bear the Triune Name on their           hoe menigmaal heb Ik uwe  kinderen  wiIlen  bijeenverga-
                 forehead are seen in the dance and the riotous living. And       deren, gelijkerwijs eene hen  haar kiekens bijeenvergadert
                 the foolish world reasons from the children to the Father.       onder de vleugelen, en gijlieden  hebt niet gewild." Matth.
                 Are these God's children? What a farce is the' church            2         3            :37.
                 of God! And hell keeps holiday when God's Name is                     De verklaring die. geen bevreding gaf komt-dan  onge-
                 slandered. Make the choice for God's sake,                       veer hier  ob neer : Jezus  Wilde sommige  personen  bijeen-
                    But also for your own sake.            .                      vergaderen  doch die  personen  verzetten  zich tegen Jezus'
                    It seems  to me that the mixture of the theater and the       bedoeling en gaan verloren. Zij  wilden eenvoudig niet
                 church make for a miserable life.       I do not envy the .zalig  worden.  En daarmee was het uit.
                 three years of Judas' walk with Jesus. It must have                   Die nu geen vreemdeling in het huidige Jeruzalem is,.
                 Lyen awful. Imagine yon pharisee.  .He enters the home           weet wel, dat  pe bovenstaande verklaring  schering` en  in-
                 of the widow. With pious words and "uitgestreken"                slag werd in onze dagen.  Ze is (die verklaring)' een  symp-
                 countenance he says : Let us pray. And while he prays            toom van een Godsbeschouwing. En die  Godsbeschou-
                 a very long prayer he is studying ways and means to eat          wing komt tot openbaring in het  verklaren  van meerdere
                 her home. It is not nice to have the ever recurring  re-         teksten. Om niet meerdere  .te noemen verwijzen we U
                minder of Jehovah's name about you and to love sin and . alleen nog naar de verklaring .die  schier allerwege gegeven
                 the world's pleasures within. It is abominable to the            wordt van Ez. 33  :11. En, als vanzelf spreekt het, de
                world even. They hate  us,  but they despise the hypo-            verklaring  van dit laatste tekstgedeelte rukt  zich  opzette-
                 crite. Oh, be cold or hot.                                       lijk  10s van het voorgaande, dat is van het  lode vers.
                    This does not mean that to be cold is pleasing to God.              Zoo is het ook met de verklaring van Matth. 23  :37;
                 But it does mean to be lukewarm will call for greater            van Jezus' klacht over Jeruzalem.
                 condemnation and stripes. No, to be cold is also sin. But              Door de eeuwen  heen heeft  zich een gedachte  aangaan-
                 to  -say : Lord, Lord! While loving sin and the devil is         de God postgevat die het voorstelt alsof de Heere ook de
                 abominable.                                                      verworpenen wil zaligen. Die gedachte komt somtijds
                    Neither does it mean that we would not say and preach :       botweg voor den dag,  doch soms komt zij in een bedekt
                 be hot  i That is the demand, the command of God. Even           g e w a a d .   _
                 the devil has no business to be devil..  .A11 things ought to    In onze  laatste- dagen heet die gedachte: aanbod van
                 praise God and love Him. For that is good and praise             genade  aan  allen die onder het gepredikte  `Wo-ord  komen.
                 is comely.                                                       Men  bedoelt natuurlijk de verworpenen. Denk maar  aan
                    Finally: follow Him.  If Jehovah is God, follow Him.          de drieste woorden van de commissie van  prae-advies  der
:.  i
.:  i:  _?          Be ye followers of God as beloved children and walk           1924 Synode : "waaronder natuurlijk ook de  verworpe-
     i           in love.                                                         nen begrepen zijn".
.i                  That is good. Oh, to love the Lord and to love your                 Het gaat over de verworpenen. Voor hen sprong men
                 neighbor& : .how sweet a walk. To be imitators of the            in de bres. En voor hen,  doch ten koste  WVL  somnzige
                 Most High : how unspeakably  ,blessed.                           kindeyen   Go&, verdraait men Gods Woord.
                    Oh, no, I do not mean first of all the reward of such. a            Dat is ook zoo in verbanh met Jezus' klacht over  Jeru-
                 walk in the sweet bye and bye. I `mean here and now.             zalem.  Zooals we zullen trachten  aan te toonen.
           j     To be cold or lukewarm is to be miserable.as the  day. of              Allereerst zullen we even stilstaan bij de verklaring
,j               life is long. And,to be hot, to walk in love, to walk on         die van den tekst gegeven wordt  in onze dagen.
     " 
:. 1             heaven's plane `is sweet and pleasurable even now. In the              Zie, zoo zegt men, hier is dan  tech een tekst die bij
I                keeping of His law there is a great reward. A reward             uitnemendheid leert, dat onze Heiland ook verworpenen
                 of peace in the heart. "Wat vree heeft elk die Uwe wet           wil zaligen. Want Hij spreekt het hier eenvoudig uit,
                 bemint !" And with all our miseries because of the sin in        dat Hij hen  Wilde vergaderen. Ook omschri jft Hij `die
                 our members that we hate,, we sing. And our song im-             bijeenvergadering, welke  Hi.j op het oog had, in de
                 proves with the singing. Angels accompany us.                    schoonste  termen.  Hij vergelijkt het bij het  schoone
                    When we begin to be merry.                                    beeld van een hen, die beschermend haar vlerken uitbreidt
                    In the Father's House.                           G.  V.       en lokkend  roe@, opdat de kiekens  tech mogen komen en


