4                                       T H E   STlZNDARD   B E A R E R

r--PI eralism in modern Christianity belongs to yesterday. No
               EDITORIALS                                        intelligent   person will deny the validity of the demand
                                                                 that the church recognize the modern world-view as it
                                                                 has been shaped by the results of scientific research.  -4
            The  Co&Sure Conceit Of                              defense of the story of creation as it is told in the first
                       Modernism                                 chapters of the Bible against, the theory of evolution is
                                                                 an  uct of blind  stubborrzness.   A denial of the human or-
     When one reads the literary productions of modern           igin of the Bible and a refusal to investigate the history
theologians, whether in books, magazines or even in our          of the Church according to the best scholarly methods is
daily papers, he cannot help being amazed at the con-            dishonest. To retain a theology of yesterday which does
ceited cocksureness that characterizes their attack upon         no justice to modern astronomy,  geolo,T,  biolo,T and
the most fundamental tenets of the Christian faith, and          psychology, is  inzjo.ssible."
the way in which they offer their own philosophy about             In  the above paragraph  I underscored.
God, man, the world and religion as a substitute.                   It will be evident from the quotation that the author is
     The "old theology" is dead, they feel quite sure. That      cocksure that all the serious minded thinkers on the prob-
the Bible is the Word of God and is to be accepted as au-        lems of the church, that all the intelligence and willing-
thoritative revelation, that the world came into existence       ness to learn to know the truth, all honest investigation
in the way revealed in  Gen. 1,  that Adam and Eve were          and all possible knowledge and wisdom must be looked
our first parents, that they -lived, in a state of original      for on the side of modern theology  ; and all you can
righteousness in paradise, that they fell from that state        reasonabhv  expect to discover on the other side of the
and that all the misery and death of the human race finds,       fence is-a crowd of superficial, blind, stubborn, simple-
its cause in that fall of our first parents, that God's Son      minded, dishonest dabblers in theology, who must needs
came into the flesh. that He died for our sins, that God         pass through many an exercise of intellectual acrobatics
raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory at His               in order to leave the impression that they accomplish the
right hand, and that He shall come again to judge the            impossible: retain the  theoIo,g of yesterday!
quick and the dead,--all this modern theology not only             There is no reason to suppose that the author of the
laughs out of court and dismisses as so much folklore            quotation does not take himself seriously, but his seri-
and mythology, but it very confidently declares that no          ousness can be explained only from the fact that, with
one believes these antiquated notions anymore, no                many of his colleagues, he suffers a bad attack of this
one that is, except the most simple minded and a few             conceited cocksureness of which I am writing.             -
that stubbornly refuse to take into account the "facts" of         Modern theology cannot deny sound intelligence to
modern "science". And instead it asserts with equal con-         some persons that, nevertheless, tenaciously cling to some
fidence, that the theory of evolution is the correct inter-      of the antiquated ideas, but then this can easily be ex-
pretation of things, and for the "old time religion" it          plained from the fact, that most of us depend rather on
subsitutes a sort of historical relativism and  subjectiv-       the cry of their heart than on the voice of their reason.
ism.      And it is not only cocksure that the substitute is     Such persons have more than one soul. Just notice the
better than the original, but it usually speaks about it in      following :
terms that are calculated to leave the impression that this        "Because some of the critics of the Church have gone
substitute is now generally accepted.                            out of bounds, fundamentalism and orthodoxy feel newly
     Recently, while I was reading a book on  Barthian-          justified. They can at least claim to have kept the faith
ism, this phenomenon of conceited cocksureness drew              and to have been loyal to the religious content of the
my attention in a forcible  ,manner.                             Christian gospel.     It is for this reason that hosts of
     Who the author of the book is does not matter in the        people and particularly a growing number of young men
least.     Suffice it to say that he is a seminary professor     and women are attracted to it. For they feel that it is
and that, therefore, it is his important calling to help pre-    after all better to have a vital faith in outworn clothing
pare young men for the ministry. It is not my purpose            and make-up than to be dressed in the most recent apparel,
to  criticise an author, but to call attention to a rather       accredited by fashion, but to have hardly any faith left.
general phenomenon. And for this I might quote from              The slogan of the liberals that a Christian ought not to re-
many other sources than the particular work I have in            fuse to be intelligent has had its good effect, but it really
mind.                                                            does not refer to the essential need. For do not most of us
     A few quotations may suffice to illustrate the phenome-     depend more upon the cry of the heart than upon the
non to which  1 am referring.                                    reasoning of the brain ? While it is true that in our
     Mark, for instance, the following:                          desire to live a unified life, we are inclined. not to hold
     "Everyone  who has made the problems of the church          to forms of a religious faith, which are in clear con-
his own feels that the discussion about the place of lib-        trast to what our minds know, it is also a fact that there

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

are only a few who really attain that complete harmony.           belief, such as the wonder of the incarnation and the
Most human beings have more than one soul. This ex-               insl2rati=n of the Holy Scriptures are dead, but that he
plains why perfectly intelligent `men will believe in the         asserts with equal certainty that only those who are will-
literal inspiration of the  .Bible,  in the  resmiection of       ing to commit the crime of a  strcrificium  intelZectus,  who
Lazarus, and even in the creation of the world as re-             act and speak against their better knowledge and refuse
corded in Gen. 1, and in the fall of Adam and Eve, as if          to follow the light of reason, can possibly maintain that
all these things were unshakable facts."                          "old theology".
  lf, therefore, one meets with the strange phenomenon              ` We  must  acknowledge that the authorities lodged in
of an intelligent person who still believes that the Bible        Bible and Church are supernatural", he exclaims in an-
is the inspired Word of God, that the world was actually          other connection. "And they have fallen under the  as-
created and fashioned in the manner narrated in Gen. 1,           vault of a tremendous increase of knowledge and criti-
that the fall of Adam and Eve is a historic fact or that          cism. The absoluteness and the truth of the Christian
Lazarus was raised from the dead, this. faith must not            reli-gion,  as it is based on the belief in God's exclusive
be attributed to his  &elligenE  soul. In his mind, accord-       revelation in Jesus Christ, can no longer be asserted in
ing to his intelligence that person knows very well that          the old' ways, not even in modernized old ways-"
all these elements in the contents of his faith are quite
impossible and contrary to fact. But from his other                 These quotations may  s&ice to illustrate the point I
                                                         soul
arises the heart-cry for a vital (  ?) faith, and this  heart-    wish to make. Modern theology asserts in the strongest
cry he satisfies by clinging to notions which his intelli-        terms of absolute certainty:  First,  that itself has dis-
gence contradicts !                                               carded all the fundamental tenets of the Christian faith,
  Note again the following:                                       such as the inspiration of the Scriptures, the incarnation
  "Consequently, if the appearance of the God-man is              and personal revelation of God in Jesus Christ, creation,
a fact, it must be recognized  as,such.     But, in this case,    the fall, the resurrection and the miracles in general, the
ordinarily common sense is of no use. Only if, in this            atoning power of the cross and the essential divinity of
regard, we are  willin g to declare our reasoning capacity        Christ;  secondly,  that these old beliefs are dead beyond
to be out of order, can we accept the fact of the God-man         any hope of a resurrection ; they have been crushed under
as a miracle. Such an attitude requires that we presup-           the tremendous assault of increased knowledge and criti-
pose the existence of supernatural powers, and the emer-          cism;  thirdly,  that all who still cling to these antiquated
gence of such an extraordinary human being as the  God-           doctrines, are characterized by blind stubbornness, re-
man is then due to the act of a super-natural God, `with          fuse the light of knowledge to shine on them, are nothing
whom nothing is impossible'."                                     but dishonest pretenders, intellectual crooks, or, at best,
  Only those, therefore, that are willing to declare them-        doublehearted sentimentalists, that prefer to satisfy the
selves rationally abnormal can believe in the wonder of           cry of their hearts to following the clear dictates of their
the incarnation.       Which amounts to the same thing as         better knowledge !
saying that all truly Christian believers in Christ as the          Am I, then, too harsh or unjust when I judge that this
eternal and essential Son of God commit the act of sign-          modern  theolo, is not only characterized by cocksure-
ing this declaration of their own mental abnormality and          ness, but no less by an amazing conceit? Or are there,
incapacity.                                                       among those that claim the right to the name Christian,
  Again, I have no doubt that the author is sincere in            not thousands upon thousands, that still profess to be-
his convictions and that he is very serious in expressing         lieve with the heart these'very fundamentals of the Chris-
this judgment upon millions of men of the past and of             tian faith? And is it, then, not the height of conceit
the present, including those who were  "eyewitnessess             to declare emphatically, that this faith is  dead?  Besides,
of his glory"; but it is, nevertheless, the sincerity of a        what proof is offered for the strong statements, that it
cocksure conceit.                                                 is  impossible  to believe these fundamentals of the "old
  The author is firmly convinced that the "old theology"          theology", that it requires a  s~ijichm   .intellectus   to  '
is dead. He writes, and he himself underscores:                   maintain them ; that it is an act of blind stubbornness to
  "It is a  fact  that the supernatural authority of old          profess faith in them  ; No proof whatever is presented.
theology is dead,       The miracles of God's personal ap-        We are expected to accept all these amazing assertions
pearance in Jesus Christ and of the divine inspiration of         on the authority of mere man, of science so-called, of
the Bible are dead. No dialectics will resurrect them.            the "Enlightenment", of the light of pure reason.
Only a  sncrificiu~z   irrtellectw can.  ,4nd that is a crime       We should expect, perhaps, and rightly so, that this
which no one may commit without  terriffic punishment."           modern theology seeing it utterly repudiates all the fun-
  Notice again that the author, and he is only a spokes-          damental tenets of the Christian faith, would frankly
man for "modern theology" in general, not only is quite           relinquish the very name of Christianity and the claim to
sure that the fundamental principles of the Christian's           he called theology at all.

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

     In this, however, we would be wholly mistaken. Even            ground of the "world" of which we all are-a part. He
though its life-view is wholly different in every funda-            is, therefore, not really transcendent at all, even though
mental respect from that of Christianity, yet it assumes            modern theology would call him so. Revelation is . . .
the attitude of having the sole and exclusive right to its          what? Is it really an act of God? It is not quite clear
name; It conceives of itself as being the highest present           whether or no it is. But surely it does not consist in
development of Christianity.                                        this that God speaks.        We receive revelation, it over-
     Does it, then, have anything positive to offer instead         comes us, when we feel that we belong to God, that is
of the principles of what was always considered to be               to this metaphysical background that underlies all ex-
the Christian faith  ? Has it anything to say about God'            istence, that is, really, to the world ! And religion is
man, the world, sin, redemption, the Church, the King-              devotion to this metaphysical something, which is not
dom of God?                                                         even a person.      And this "religion" expresses and re-
     Let me quote once more from the same author:                   alizes itself in service of the neighbor. Clearly, there is
                                                                    no other authority for all this philosophy than that of
     "First of all we must learn again to appreciate religion       modern  theolo,gy,  that is, of mere Man.
as devotion to what underlies all existence, constituting                                                        And the differ-
                                                                    ence between this modern theology and atheism is simply
it in its actual reality and meaning. We call this "order"          that the latter insists that it is never  `rovercome"  by the
God-and would that all of us were constantly aware of               feeling that we are part of God.
the fact that  "God" is primarily a word' perhaps the
most significant word of our language, but nevertheless                And in view of the fact that modern theology really
a word with a certain meaning-content! We must admit                has nothing to offer us instead of the fundamental prin-
that "He" is transcendant. which means that he is not               ciples of the Christian faith which it repudiates, its atti-
a part of us, our reason. our experience, but that we are           tude towards the latter and toward them that embrace
part of him. We therefore denominate the knowledge                  and profess it, all the more becomes manifest as one of
that we obtain of him by the word revelation (disclos-              haughty conceit.
ure), indicating thereby that we cannot give it to our-                And of what may this modern theology boast as to
selves, but that it must be given to us. Hence the true             its actual fruit and influence upon the Church and the
meaning of our lives is not one which we, out of our                world  ?
own wider or narrower inclinations' can put into our-                 It has prepared preachers that are mere  carricatures
selves, but which overcomes us when we feel that we be-             of ministers of the Word, that hawk their own notions
long to "God".  In consequence, revelation causes an                about everything under the sun from the pulpit, till peo-
ever renewed disturbance of our self-sufficiency. It                ple find out that they preach without authority, and that
compels us to look away from our own selves and teaches             they really know much less about the things of which
us a sense of objectivity.        It makes us view life  szcb,      they speak than the average lecturer outside of the
spen'e  mortis   and  J-M specie  acternitatis.    Our existence    Church.     The pews are usually empty, the modern
is thus gradually transformed into a devotion to God                "Church" is  dead!
which we can realize concretely by giving our attention
and service to our neighbor, whoever and wherever he                  And as to the result of all this modern "enlighten-
is,  since he is a part' if not a parable, of the supreme God,      ment",'  this much lauded and boastful science, this proud
who, though he transcends us, is not far from each one of           and cocksure modern theology, upon the modern world,
us : in him we live and move and have our being. Par-               one does but have to look about him  in. the world of
ticularly as Christians we must realize that this attitude          today, to ascertain the fact that all this talk of the service
toward life is recommended to us by Jesus of Nazareth,              of man and noble self-sacrifice, that is supposed to be
who was the unequaled teacher and practicer of this                 the result of our devotion to that which underlies all ex-
faith.     His death on the cross together with the gen-            istence, the modern "god", certainly does not work out
erations of Christians who have gone before us, reminds             very well in actual life.
US  that the truth by which we may live is acquired by                In view of all this, we may well speak of the cocksure
and expresses itself in self-sacrifice."                            conceit of modern theology, which is really no theology
     It will be evident that the chief characteristic of the        at all, but essentially idolatry.
above exposition of modern theology is its vagueness.                 It is the fruit of the blindness of the human eye' the
     We are not surprised that men rather follow their              darkness of the human mind, the perversion of the na-
"heart-cries" than the dictates of their reason, if the             tural man's heart and will.
latter is supposed to find any satisfaction at all in such            He cannot see the Kingdom of God.
vague generalities.                                                   He cannot hear the Word of God.
     God is that which "underlies all existence", whatever            And he does not will God, who is really the living
this may be. He is, evidently, the metaphysical  back-              GOD !                                               H. H.


                                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                    pqi                         13

        The Reveil In The Netherlands---                                     instrumental in leading him into the faith of the infalli-
                                                                             bility of God's Word.
         The name  /<e&l is the signification of a religious                   In 1818 he was admitted to the bar. In 1822,
      movement in the  Netherlatids  that attained to the height             he and his wife were baptized.       In this same year his
      of its power between the years 1840 and  1860. It was a                iirst work appeared, bearing the title  "PLan Alle  Chris-
      mighty spiritual agitation, non-ecclesiastical, and founded            tenen".    The work was an admonition to prayer for the
      :`p:n a general Christian basis. It was aristocratic, Meth-            Holy Spirit.    The following year appeared his second
      odistic and philanthropic in character. It was of greatest             work  ":Bezwaren  tegen den Geest dezer  Eeuw". In this
      mcment at Amsterdam. Here it had its inception and here                work he compared the "esteemed present" with the "de-
      it gained most of its adherents. Its headquarters were                 spised past", and mercilessly flayed the superfiiciality and
      also  located in this city.` From Amsterdam it spread to               unbelief of his times. The result of his publishing this
      `s  Gravenhlge,  Utrecht and Leyden.                                   work was that he was engulfed in a stream of malediction
        The father of the Reveil was William Bilderdijk, a                   and held up to scorn. The daily mail brought him a large
      man of remarkable ability. He was born in Amsterdam                    number of letters, some of which were unfit to be read.
      in  1756.      His first tutor was his own father, a physician,        Matters even reached that stage where he had to be
      from whom he received a liberal arts education. In his                 placed under the protection of the police, so odious he
      spare moments he wrote poetry, painted and etched. Most                had made himself to the populace. Popular antipathy
      of his time he  ::pent in his room, forced to do                       toward him became so strong that it required great cour-
                                                                 SO  by a
      defective foot. He studied with great zeal with the re-                age to utter in public one word in  his  defence.    It was
      sult that he acquired extensive knowledge and thus be-                 even unsafe to enter his home in the daytime. Many of
      came  a  man of remarkable learning.                                   his friends left him, even turned against him.
        In 1780 Bilderdijk went to Leyden, where he studied`                   The works that followed were identical as to, purpose
      law and the sciences. Two years later he was promoted                  and design to those previously published. In 1824 ap-
      to doctor of law. Shortly after he took up his resi-                   peared his  `(Sadduceeen". In this work he again assailed
      dence in the Hague where he established himself as a                   unbelief and strove to prove that the unbelief of the Sad-
      lawyer and scan had a large clientele. He was a staunch                ducees is more to be feared than the self-righteousness of
      supporter and ardent defender of the house of Orange.                  the Pharisee. He also fought  rxrminianism.
      For this he was driven  oyt of his country and took up                   Da Costa held "BijbeZle&ngen"  in his home for a small
      his residence in `England, where he spent ten years of                 group of elite. On these meetings he would often deal
      his life. Returning to the Netherlands, he was received                with church and state matters. He severely criticized the
      with open arms. When the Netherlands became a French                   government and as a result aroused the ire of the state.
-     province, Bilderdijk lost his pension and had to be sup-               Hostility towards him from this quarter became so great,
      ported by friends. For the third time he took up his                   that people feared to shake hands with him for fear of
      residence in Leyden. where he dictated to young men the                becoming known as his ally. He prophesied the de-
      histroy of his fatherland. Again forced to leave  Ley-                 thronement of king William.         It was told the police,
      den, he removed to Haarlem. where he died in 1831.                     who approaoched  him on the niatter but did not place him
         The forerunner of the Reveil was Nicholas  Schots-                  under arrest. In 1825 a disastrous flood swept the Nether-
      man, a minister of the gospel, born in 1754. He, too,                  lands. This circumstance became the occasion for the
      was a strong defender of the house of Orange. Besides,                 publication of another work in which he urged his peo-
      he brought himself  foreward as a strong defender of                   ple to repent. This work was soon followed by another,
     3 the faith.                                                            bearing the title "Aan  Nederland" in which he again
         The so-called hero of the Reveil was Isaac Da Costa.                urged repentance.
      He was born  in  1798  at  Amsterdam. He  was  of Jewish                 In 1840 he began to write poetry. In 1847 he pub-
      decent.      It was  a source of great satisfaction to him,            lished his  "Wachter  ! Wat is er van de  Nacht". In this
      that he could prove, as he claimed, that his ancestors                 poem he describes the condition of the European states
      dwelt in Spain instead of in Palestine at the time of                  and also of the United States. His  swansong was  "De-
      Christ's crucifixion. He says to himself: :                            slag by  Nieuwpoort". In this work he deals with Nether-
         "Ik  bez  %qeelz zom  dev  lamme  mwesterscha  strand,              lands greatness and glory. We mention two other works,
         Mijn  vaderland is  dt-tar de  ~0%  antwaakt;                       "Gods zegen den Koning en het Vaderland" and  "Vreest
         EN  tzls de  gloed  der  Lczriaamche  stranden,                     God en  eert den Koning".
         Zoo  is de  dorscht   deer  dichfk-unst,  die  ++zij  blaakt."        To  know and to appraise Da Costa's view and striv-
         Da Costa studied under Van Lennep and Bilderdijk.                   ings is to know and to appraise that movement in the
      He was formed by these two men. Van Lennep led him                     Netherlands known as the `Reveil. However, to under-
      into the Old Testament Scriptures and Bilderdijk was                   stand Da Costa and the movement that he represented,

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

it is necessary that one has some knowledge of the times           ber of students was 173. Today it has a library, an ob-
and the spirit of the times against which he protested. In         servatory, a botanical garden, a museum, a hospital, an
general the  people'of  the Netherlands in this period             institution for the deaf and dumb, a gymnasium, a nor-
sought the golden mean.       Men in general were neither          mal college, a school of designing, a school for music,
positively ungodly in the outward and gross sense nor              and a divinity school.
genuinely pious.     Men were neither hot nor cold but               About the year 1840 a certain school of theological
lukewarm. Religion was pervaded by a cold formalism.               thought was introduced into the divinity department
The sermons in this period were non-dogmatical, super-             known as the  C;ro&ger   ridding.  Let us concentrate on
ficial, uncertain, devoid of depth and vision. They gave           this school of thought. There are two questions to be
evidence of a lack of  studv  and a love for truth. These          answered here : ( 1) Who were the founders of this
sermons, however, were p;lished,  cultured; but what they          school of thought: (2) What are the tenets that enter
lacked is power and therefore had little lasting effect            into its constituency.
upon the hearers. The creed of the Reformed church had               The founders.        The first personage to be mentioned
become a dead letter to most ministers. Though in gen-             here is Philip Wm. Van Heusde, born in 1779.             He
eral the truth was not being openly assailed, yet here             studied philosophy and literature at Amsterdam and Ley-
and there unbelief was raising its head. In 1815 Mr. H.            den. His first  ivork "Specimen in Platonem" brought
 Hooving of Groningen published his "Christendom en                him great fame both in the Netherlands and abroad. In
Hervorming vergeleken met den Protestanschen  Kerk-                1804 he was appointed to the chair of literature and his-
staat in de Nederlanden." In this word the writer calls            tory at the university of Utrecht at the age of  twenty-
the liturgical writings of the synod of Dordt most miser-          five. He soon developed into a most famous pedagogue.
able productions and petitioned the king to "break these           It is said that his students sat spellbound at his feet. What
 fetters." The Rev. P.  W. Brouwer of  LMassluis  published        made his instruction in history so intereting was the
 a work bearing the title "Bi jbellier  aangaande  den  per-       new method he employed,-a method that represented a
 soon van Christus". In  ihis work he presents a thoroughly        sharp departure from that of his predecessors. The old
 Arianistic view of Christ. This work, nevertheless, was           professors would simply engage in a tedious enumeration
 well received and highly praised. The Synad of Dordt              of facts. No effort was made on their part to appraise,
 with its declarations, exposition of doctrine and con-            evaluate, and interpret the data presented.      Huesde?  on
 demnation of heresy was declared scientifically dead.              the other hand? gave  to this data a  philosopl$cal  treat-
 This spirit of apostacy  did not confine itself to the Nether-    ment; uncovered relations, analyzed, and instituted an
 lands; it rioted in every Christian land. It was an age            inquiry into, the  causes  and effects of movements in his-
 of Deism. The Deist in distinction from the Athiest               tory.  `Ilihat he attempted was to trace in the history of
 professes to believe in the existence of God. But the              the human race. the history of humanity and to develop
 Diest denies the divine authority of Scripture and sep-            the latter historically. The term "history of the human
 arates God from His handiwork. He denies revelation                race" as employed by Heusde, denoted the raw historical
 and maintains that religion and morality are not from              data. The term "History of Humanity" was employed by
 above but from below, are thus a purely natural phenome-           him as the signification of the spiritual-ethical and cul-
 na. Deism, rightly considered, is sheer _4theism  essentially,     tural development of the human race. Huesde was of
  The most notorious exponent of Deism was Voltaire.                the opinion that the human race had emerged from a
  It became the creed of such notables as Frederick the             condition of barbarism and is steadily progressing, spirit-
 Great of Prussia; Joseph the Second of Austria; Benja-             ually ethically and culturally, and thus coming unto the
 min Franklin and Thomas Jefferson of the United States             measure of the stature of its perfect manhood. In other
  of America.    One of the most powerful and effective             words, the world is growing better. Huesde traced this
  advocates of Deism was Thomas Paine, the son of an                development for his students. The name he gave to it
  English Quaker. In his "Rights of, Man", published in             is humanism.
  1791?  he effectively defends and expounds the  firinciples         According to Van Huesde's view, Christendom is the
  underlying the French Revolution. This  age then was the          revelation of humanism and Christ the greatest humanist.
  age of reason, rationalism. According to the rationalist,         He regarded all ancient civilization, including the civiliza-
  the sole source of standard of truth is not God but man,          tion of the old Israeiitish commonwealth, as the prepara-
  his mind or heart or will or feeling. The phrase "Age of          tory stage for this highest manifestation of humanism, to
  Reason" also did service as a title of one of Paine's books.      wit, Christianity.
       The most prominent representative of this Deistic               Through the influence of Van Huesde, of the  Platon-
  movement in the Netherlands was Philips Wm. Van                   ists of  :\ttrecht, and of Schleiermacher. the humanistic
  Huesde and the Groningen school. The unviersity of                movement was formed.
  Groningen was founded in 1614. Its buildings, however,              It openly assailed the truth of God's word as formulated
  were not erected until 1847 and 1850. In 1847 the  num-           in the Reformed creeds.        According to Scripture, the


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   1.5

initial state of humanity was that of perfection. Scrip-          beating the air and their movement bore little lasting
ture teaches a fall from perfection into sin and  affirms         fruit.
that fallen man's nature is totally depraved. In  Sdrip-            NO  wordly, earthly kingdom, may be regarded as con-
ture the world appears as growing in godliness, and thus          stituting God's kingdom.          The kingdom of God is a
as filling its measure of inquity. True, on the tree of           heavenly reality and is to be identified with the church.
fallen humanity will appear eventually marvelous fruits           Of this the men of the reveil seemed to be unmindful.
of genius  ; but the accomplishments of genius will be            They sought not the church but the Netherland nation,
seen to have promoted and hastened this process of moral          state, in the conception that in this state they actually had
and spiritual deteriation.                                        to do with the kingdom of heaven on earth. That they
   Under the leadership of Van Huesde, a society of               sought their nation is evident from all the titles of Da Cos-
students was formed at Utrecht in 1812. From this so- ta's works. Consider the titles "Aan Nederland"  and"Gods
ciety came three Groninger professors.                            zegen den  koning'en  het Vaderland". The soul of this
                                                                  poet was aflame with love not for the church but for
  Another personage to which attention must be called is          his "Vaderland".        How he gloried in the greatness of
one Clarisse, born in 1795. He was a friend and spiritual         his "Vaderland"; The Lord must save his "Vaderland".
kinsman of Van Huesdc. In 1819 he received his degree             That was his prayer. But the promise is that the Lord
of doctor of philosophy. In 1823 he was appointed to              will not save the "Vaderland" but His church.            The
the chair of theology and church history at Groningen.            "Vaderland", such is the voice of prophesy, is doomed to
Clarisse was the founder of a society of students similar         extinction.      The world and all  that* is out of the world
to the one founded by Van Huesde at Utrecht. Upon                 shall pass away.       And to this world, also belongs the
this body of students, Clarisse inculcated the views and          ' vaderland".      Of course the leaders of the  Reveil such
ideas of Van Huesde. This action spelled the birth of the         as Da Costa and Blijderdijk were true believers who loved
Groninger school of thought.                                      God's people. They are to be honored for their courage
  The tenets of this school are : ( 1) Humanity inherently        to raise their voice in condemnation of the vile spirit of
good and exhibiting through the ages
                      c                     a growing  perfec-    their age and for their willingness to be reviled for the
tion.       (2) God is one in person {`Unitarianism). (3)         sake of Christ.  IYet their movement for reasons pre-
Sin is imperfection that the human race gradually out-            sented above was non-yea, anti-churchly.             It means
grows. (4) Christ a mere man and the greatest of all  hu-         that essentially their striving was vain.
manists.      (5) He atoned not for sin but saves by  his            Their mistake was that they identified the church and
teaching and example.         (6) Religion is a natural phe-      their nation "Vaderland".                          G.M.O.
nomenon. Man is essentially a religious being. Of him-
self he spontaneously concludes that God is and also
worships Him. (7) Through reflection and meditation                                     ALLTHISFORME
he brings forth out of himself the content for law and
justice.                                                                    Drawn by the cords of infinite love,
   What now was it against which the men of the Reveil                      Grace to a world of sinners to prove,
raised their voice in  prote,t
                              c ? Against that action of their              Jesus came down from glory above-
countrymen consisting in their forsaking the truth and                               -411 this for me.
turning to these lies. They protested against everything
that the term "spirit of the age" stands for, to wit, lies,                 He was a stranger, stricken with grief,
falsehood,  apostacy,  worldliness, godlessness. Their aim                  Yet was there none to bring Him relief:
was to pursuade their comtrynen to forsake all these and                    Hated, despised as even a  thief-
to return to the living God. But they made one basic.                                All this for me.
mistake, these men of the reveil. Instead of turning to
the church, that is, to the children of God in the church                   He became poor, was tempted and tried,
with the exhortation that they come out of Babylon (that                    Taunted reviled, cast out and denied;
apostate ecclesiastical institution, the established church,                Nailed  td the cross, in anguish He  died-
of which the king and not Christ was the head) as con-                               All this for me.
gregations if possible to bring the body of Christ to
purer manifestation, they, the men of the reveil, turned                    Wonderful, wonderful
to their countrymen. to the state and its citizens, (whom                   Savior omnipotent !
they, the men of the reveil, had before their eye as a                      There was not other my debt could  pay.
theocracy, a kingdom of God, that had apostatized), to                      Lovingly, patiently,
induce the state, the Netherland nation, to return unto                     Tenderly, graciously
the Lord. Such being their striving, they were actually                     Keep me, be near me, and love me, I pray.

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

                Prolonged Intercession                                                 them. And this answer seems to be confirmed by what
                                                                                       the Lord further says to Moses, "Therefore now go, lead
                                                                                       the people unto the place of which I have spoken. . . .
      A great sin has been committed, an apparently  unpar-                            nevertheless in the day when I  visit I will visit their sins
donable  sin. Israel has turned his back upon Jehovah                                  upon them."`, Apparently then the Lord will indeed de-
and embraced the idol. Moses intercedes for the people.                                stroy His people, if not now then eventually. He will
Twice he has spoken. Now again for the third time he                                   visit their sins upon them. The judgment is, at least ap-
petitions Jehovah, "Thou sayest unto me, `Bring up this                                parently so, merely postponed. Seemingly their doom is
people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou  wilt                                  sealed.    And yet the people must live,  as promises had
send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name,                                 been made unto their fathers, confirmed by an oath.
and thou hast also  foimd grace in my sight. Now there-
fore I pray thee, if I have  foxxd grace in thy sight, shew                              Apparently, then, the nation approaches a doleful fu-
me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find                                  ture. Moses is in a state of perplexity. While in this state
grace in thy sight, and consider that this nation is thy                               there comes to him a new communication that must make
people."                                                                               it even more difficult for him to understand God's ways
                                                                                       with His people. Said the Lord to him, "Depart, and go
      T h i s   petition  c a n   o n l y   b e   u n d e r s t o o d   i n   t h e    up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought
light of transpired events.                         Said Moses to the                  11p out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I  swx-c
Lord the first time he interceded for the people,                                      unto  ,Abraham,  to Isaac and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy
"Lord why. dost thy wrath wax hot against thy people                                   seed will I g-ix;e it : and I will send an" angel before thee :
which thou hast brought forth out of the land of  E,aypt                               and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the
with great power and with a mighty hand? Wherefore                                     Hittite, and the  Perizite, the Hevite, and the Jebusite:
should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he                               unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not
bring them out . . . Remember Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,                                go up in the midst of thee ; for thou art a stiffnecked
thy servants . .  ." Then follows the statement, "And the                              people  ; lest I consume thee in the way."
Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto
his people." But, as has already been pointed out, Moses                               1 The meaning of the statement,  "For  I will not go  up
is not at all  purstiaded  in his mind that the sinful nation                          in the midst of thee" may be learned from  iMoses' own
has been forgiven. There is reason for this. Though                                    subsequent doing. We read, "And Moses took the taber-
the Lord repents of the evil which He thought to  .do unto                             nacle, and pitched it without the camp, and called it the
His people, He refrains from making this known to                                      tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, that
Moses. Thus as far as Moses knows the nation is still                                  every one which sought the Lord went out unto the ta-
in its sin. It is this circumstance, no doubt, that causes                             bernacle of the congregation, which was without the
him to ask himself how a sin so great for which there                                  camp. "
is `no covering can be forgiven them. As was pointed out,
there were many sins-the great sins-for which there                                       In a word. the Lord will bring the people into the
was no sacrifice. The sin-offerings anticipated only the                               promised land of their abode but in doing so will hold
unconscious infringements of the moral and ceremonial                                  Himself aloof from them and will thus lead at a distance.
law and could only cover the many infirmities and mis-                                 "When the people heard these evil things," so we read,
eries that every devout Christian feels in himself, such                               *`they mourned." They correctly conclude that a people
as weak and imperfect faith and the lusts of the flesh                                 whom the Lord must consume, if He be in its midst, is a
that contrary to the believers desire, riot, in his bosom.                             people unforgiven and thus rejected. That Moses, too, is of
Knowing then that fcr the sin of the nation, the (typical)                             this conviction. is  eviclent  from his subsequent petition,
sacrifice provided no covering? and convinced that the                                 "If now I have found grace in thy sight," so he prays,
people must perish if the great sin be not atoned for, the                             "0 Lord, let my  Lo+, I pray thee, go among  LIS;  for it
thought comes to him that what is now required in this                                 is a  stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our
crisis is a human sacrifice. Considering that the people                               sin? and take us for thine inheritance."
`are his, he resolves that the life  toi be given shall be his.                          The action of Moses consisting in his taking the taber-
So he once more returns to the Lord with the petition                                  nacle and pitching it without the camp, even afar off
that he be allowed to make atonement for them. But the                                 from the camp, can be understood. If the Lord's going
Lord replies, "Whosoever has sinned against me, him                                    up in their midst will result in their being consumed, it
will I blot out of my book." Thus the proposal is re-                                  is imperative that He remove His presence afar off from
jected. But if the great sin can be atoned for neither by                              the camp. And so He does; for we read, "And it came
an animal nor by a mere human, is the Lord, being holy,                                to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy
then not compelled to destroy his people? The only answer                              pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle.
that will come to  Mazes  is that He, Jehovah, must destroy                            And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   ` B E A R E R                                              17

tabernacle door." So does the Lord now withdraw  Him-            made unto the fathers, must be fulfilled, as God is God.
:eIf from His people. Their sinfulness does not allow            Of this the true sons of the covenant are also aware.
Him to be in their midst without  clestroying  them. And         Seeing the cloudy pillar descending, and being notified
of this they are also keenly aware.                              that the Lord talks with Moses, they take courage and
                                                                 `go out unto the tabernacle. So we read,  ".A& it came to
  Tl;is is not the first time that the Lord holds His people     pass, that every one which sought the Lord (the true
at arms length. Moses had set bounds unto the people             Israel) went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation,
round about and  warned  thdm to take heed unto them-            which was without the camp." Why they "who sought
selves that they go not up into the mount (Sinai) or even        the Lord" went out to the tabernacle is not stated. Yet
touch it. Whosoever would even touch the  borde'r  of it,        we know. They went, certainly, to bewail their sins be-
should surely be stoned or shot through, whether man             fore the face of  the Lord and to beseech Him to forgive.
nr beast.  .4nd as if  this was not enough, the Lord again       So  did this tent become the meeting place between God
bade Moses to charge the people "Lest they break through         and all the contrite of heart in the camp. This tent there-
unto Him to gaze and many of them perish."' So did               fore was called "the tent of meeting". Through the pitch-
He here at Sinai push His people away from him, even             ing of this tent, afar off, a separation is effected between
before the great sin had been committed. For they are            the carnal and the spiritual seed. It is this tent, as pitched
3 people of unclean lips ; and their  Crod  is a consuming       outside the camp, that again affords the spiritual seed
fire. And they had also been afraid. Their heads and             opportunity to bring itself forward as being for the Lord
elders had come to Moses and said,  "NGW  therefore why          and for Moses. And the petitions  qf this seed will be
should we die? For this great fire will consume us." Yet         heard. The Lord will forgive and spare the nation for
they had all answered with one voice, "All the words the         the sake of this seed. It is solely in the contriteness of
Lord hath said, we will do." They, it seems, had deemed          heart of this seed that the hope of the nation lies. How
themselves  capable  of this. Yet they were afraid of the De-    strong the consciousness of guilt on the part of the true
vouring `Fire.  l3ut they had not said, "Woe unto us! For        sons of the covenant! How unworthy they now feel
we are a people of unclean lips." Of this they then seemed       themselves to be! How the visible presence of the Lord
to have little understanding. For after having  bewailed be-     awes them ! How they apprehended that this hour is the
fore the face of Moses their fate, they ended with saying,       very crisis of the nation's fate ! We read,  ":4nd all the
"Speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall              people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door
speak unto thee  ; and we will hear and do it." Their            and all the people rose up and bowed, every man in his
reasoning betokens that it seemed not to occur to them           tent door."
that the reason the Lord bids them to keep their distance
is that they are guilty and depraved. But of this  they             This behavior of the people can be rightly understood
are now keenly conscious. For a great sin has been com-          only in the light of preceding notices? already quoted.
mitted. The law entered in and sin immediately began to          The matter is this. As often as Moses goes to the taber-
abound.  ,4nd the Lord withdraws Himself from them.              nacle, the people look after him until he is gone into the
,4nd the true Israel mourns. And no man did put on him           tabernacle and until they see the cloudy pillar descending,
his ornaments. For the Lord had said to Moses that he             standing at the door of the tabernacle and talking with
sav unto the children of Israel,  "Ye are a stiffnecked           Moses. Not until they see this-see the pillar ascendin.g
rxople: I will come up in the midst of thee in a moment,         and talking with Moses-do they worship. What inspires
and consume thee: therefore now put out off thy orna-            this worship is the consideration that instead of destroy-
ments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee."          ing them in a moment, the Lord in His great mercy draws
                                                                  nigh to Moses their representative at the tent of meeting,
   7iVhat  now will the Lord do to them? The people fear          and thus draws nigh to them, and actually inclines His
the worst. As yet, no assurance has been given that the          ear unto the cries that Moses utters in their behalf. It
great sin they committed is pardoned. To the contrary,            is at the sight of this hope-promising spectacle, that they
the speech of the Lord is most threatening. He will come          worship. The true Israel praises. And in the heart of this
up in the midst of them and consume them. Apparently              Israel there is a voice that says, "The Lord God, merci-
 the doom of the nation is sealed. Yet there is one ray of        ful and gracious."
hope. Moses goes to the tabernacle (pitched without! the
 ramp, afar off).  ,4s he entered into it, the cloudy pillar        Yet, they are far from  being.  at ease. The Lord still
 descends and stands at the door of the tabernacle. And           refrains from openly declaring, "I have forgiven." The'
 the Lord talks with Moses, even face to face, as a man           heart of Moses, too, is still troubled. His problem, how
 q;:eaketh  to his friend. Thus  the people may take  cour-       the Lord can realize His promise respecting a people that
acre. The Lord communes with their mediator as with a             He  by virtue of His being righteous and holy God, is
 friend. It cannot therefore be that He has done with             compelled to destroy, still remains. This is his riddle
 them. He  may? yea, He must forgive. For the promise,            upon which the Lord thus far has shed no light whatever.


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                        19

  to be periphrased thus, "Lord, thou wilt no longer go  u?                           Israels Banier
 in the midst of us, as to Thy presence, Thy face. Yet. thou
  sayest to me, Bring up this people. Wilt thou then leave                                                    E x .   1735,   1 6   b .  _
  me alone with them? It cannot be, Tell me then whom                We leven in een eeuw van woeling en strijd.  Wear ge
 thou wilt send with me and who is to go up in the midst           ook den blik wendt, in iedere levensfeer ziet en bemerkt
 of us?"                                                           ge, dat het menschdom den vredesstaat nog niet heeft  ge-
                                                                   sticht. Integendeel. Meer dan ooit te voren schudden en
    Some place an altogether different construction on             wankelen  de fundamenten der menschelijke  samenleving.
  Moses' question. According to what seems to be the               Nation&  en Internationaal staat de `machtige' mensch
prevalent view, Moses took the Lord to mean that He                machteloos tegenover de  dingen,  die hij  tech zoo graag
 would send in His room an ordinary angel and that  th'us          anders wil en waaraan hij met  noesten  vlijt heeft  ge-
 what Moses petitions the Lord to do is to shed some light         a&id. Hij schijnt, gelijk vooral in den laatsten tijd
 upon this indifinate angel.  -4ccording to this view, Moses'      onophoudelijk is gebleken, niet in staat te zijn, om  aan
 question is to be  periphrased  thus, "Lord, thou art now         den steeds weer terugkeerenden oorlog, het middel ter
  about to withdraw thyself from thy people even to the            voorkoming toe te  passen. Hij moge dan al een  vredes-
  extent that thou wilt neither go up in the midst of  US          paleis hebben gebouwd, een verbond met de  natign  te
 nor go before us and me to drive out the Canaanite. Thus,         hebben tot stand gebracht,  doch dit alles stelde hem nog
  according to thy saying, thy place is to be taken by an          niet in staat het  gevaar  te bezweren. Telkens weer, als
 ordinary angel. Tell me Lord who this angel is whom               zijn  doe1 bereikt schijnt te zijn. brengt het weer nieuwe
 thou wilt send."                                                  ellende-  te voorschi jn. Temidden van dat alles bevindt
                                                                   zich ook het kind van God. Hij is niet een eenling,  doch
    As was shown, this construction is wrong. Moses' real          een lid van het  geslacht,  dat uit eenen bloede geschapen
 concern is that the Lord (in the pillar of cloud) will no         werd.  Uok al zou hij zulks  willen,  hij kan  noch mag  zich
  longer go up in the midst of them, that thus he,  Moses.         hermetisch afsluiten van de overige menschen.  Trou-
  will have to bring up the people alone. This is evident          wens, het zou hem ook niets  helpen,  want binnen niet al
  from his final petition, "0 Lord, let my Lord, I pray            te  langen  tijd zou ook hij weer, in eigen  geslacht,  dezelf-
 thee, go among us." The desire from which  the.question           de  dingen  ontmoeten, die hij eenmaal ontvlood. Daarbij
  "Lord, tell me whom thou wilt send with me"' springs,            komt dan nog, dat we su in een veel kleinere wereld leven
  is not that the Lord shed some light on this indefinite,         dan een vij ftig jaar  geleden.  Grenzen en afstanden  be-
  ordinary, angel (Moses has no such angel before his              staan  er niet meer en  geographisch  staat de bewoonbare
 mind) but that the Lord's own presence or face go with            wereld, op een  enkele uitzondering na, onder het bereik
  him, that is,  hmo up in the midst of them. This is evident      van de Westersche  beschaving en dies in onmiddelijk
  from  Moses! response to the Lord's reply, "My presence          verband  met het wereldgebeuren en wereldleven.
  shall go with thee and I will give thee rest.`" To this reply
  Moses responds with, "If thy presence go not with us,              Het karakteristieke van  onzen tijd is, dat men  temid-
  carry us not up hence . . . For wherein shall it be known        den van al den strijd en woeling-van alles dus wat het
 here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight?         menschdom  scheidt-tech  haakt  naar,  eenheid en  ver-
  Is it not that thou goest with us ? so shall we be separated,    broedering. De strijd is er, uit het oogpunt der wereld,
  I and thy people, from all the  peop!e that are upon the         dan ook niet om den strijd,  doch omgekeerd, om den
  face of the earth." But if Moses' question is prompted           vrede, die men zoekt en begeert. Want, al  gaat  ook in
  by the desire that the Lord Himself (in the pillar of            dezen de  gedaante  dezer  wereld voorbij en bevinden we
  cloud) go with him, that is, go up in the midst of them,         ons te  midden van een  nieuw-geheel  ander-levensschema.
 why does Moses say to the Lord, "Thou hast not let me             de onderliggende  idee van dat`alles is, om mede door al
 know whom thou wilt send with me". Why does he not                die veranderingen tot het  doe1  te  geraken   waarnaar de
  say instead, "Lord I pray thee, hold not thyself aloof,          zondige mensch haakt en  verlangt. Hij wil  eigenlijk   dien
  hide not thy face from us, but let thy presence go with          strijd niet,  doch vrede, zij het dan ook een vrede  zonder
  us and among us. Let us continually see thy face as we           God.
  press on. Return to us, Lord, and dwell in our midst and           Of het beter zal  worden   ?        '
  take us for thine inheritance."' There can only be one             Zullen  de dissonanten, die het schonne scheppingslied
  reason why Moses does not immediately give expression            in gekrijt hebben veranderd, plaats  maken  voor de  hoo-
  to the thought in his heart and that reason is his reserve.      gere `harmonie'  ?  Zal het  voorgestelde   doe1 dan niet  een-
  his lack of courage. For consider that a great sin has           maal bereikt  worden? Dat is de belofte, die elke leider
 been committed, and that the Lord has definitely declared         geeft, hetzij hij dan het eene dan  we1 het  andere   systeem
  that He would come in the midst of them in a moment              daartoe  gebruikt  en aanwendt,  allen hebben dit  gemeen,
 and consume them.                                  G.M.O.         dat zij,  we1  allereerst,  eigen land en volk den gouden
                             .-

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

And Moses would fain know. For the riddle as unans-             be with me, that I from thy way may know thee better
wered troubles him. If he says in his heart that God will       and before my own consciousness find grace in thy sight."
destroy, it immediately occurs to him that God  is  faith-         Moses' prayer, rightly considered, is comprised of three
ful and therefore cannot make an end of them. But no
sooner  does he again stand in the conviction that the          petitions, the last one of which is, "Consider that this
promise will be realized then the disquieting thought           nation is thy people."
rises in his soul that the Lord must destroy, as He is holy        The first petition "Tell me whom thou wilt send with
and righteous God. So does he waver in his heart be-            me" is occasioned by this word of the Lord, "Depart and
tween two positions. He can take no stand. When he              go hence, thou and the people which thou  hast brought
seeks to know, it is sheer labor in his eyes. 0, that the       up out of the land of Egypt unto the land which I sware
Lord would give him the answer to the riddle that trou-         . . . And I will send an angel before thee ; and I will drive
bles his soul! With this prayer in his heart, he again          out the Canaanite . . . for I will not go up in the midst
goes into the sanctuary of God. "See," he says to the           of thee . . .  ."
Lord, "thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and
thou hast not let me know whom thou will send with me ;            Apparently the Lord here declares that He will with-
yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast          draw Himself from His people and will send in His
also found grace in my sight. Now therefore, I pray             stead an angel before them. Most students of scripture
thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now           derive from the notice before us exactly this meaning.
thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace            And. it is held further that the angel promised here is not
in thy sight; and consider that this nation is thy people.`"    the  -4ngel  of the Lord, the pillar of cloud, but a created
                                                                angel, some new creation, destined now for the first time
  This prayer bears the marks of a perplexed and con-           to appear on the stage of sacred history.
founded soul. It is formed of two disparate petitions :
"Let me know whom thou wilt send with me", and:                    However, a careful reading of the scripture before us
"Shew  me now thy way." These two petitions Moses               brings to light that what the Lord here declares is not that
joins together in one prayer that in its second member          He will entirely withdraw Himself from His people to
takes a sudden and peculiar turn. After uttering the            make room for an angel whom He will send before them
ground for the first petition, the ground, namely, that         in His  stead,   but that He, the Lord will not go up  in the
the Lord knows him by name and that he has found grace          ~nulidst if them. What is more, the Lord plainly identifies
in His sight, Moses continues,  "NOW therefore show me          Himself with this promised angel, "And I  wil1 send an
now thy way." Thus he suddenly departs from the line            angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite."
of thought that he draws in the first part of his prayer.       The meaning is not that the angel will lead them but that
Pursuing this line to the end, he would have continued          the Lord will expel the Canaanite. Fact is that the angel
thus, "NOW  therefore if I have found grace in thy sight,       who will lead is the very angel to deliver Canaan from
let me know, I pray thee, whom thou wilt send with me."         the doomed race. And this angel is the Angel of the
This sudden turn in the prayer betokens a disquited soul        Lord, the pillar of cloud, that visible token of the presence
-a soul in which thoughts are multiplying and clamoring         of the triune Jehovah.
for expression.                                                   Thus the actual thought conveyed is that the pillar of
      "Thou hast said, I know thee by name . . .  "' The        cloud with which the triune Jehovah associates, Himself
name by which the Lord knows Moses and his people (the          and in the face of which He reveals His glory and out of
true Israel) is one given him by the Lord and is expres-        which He speaks to His people by an audible voice, will
sive of what Moses through the grace of God is and will         no longer go up in the midst of them but will lead afar
be, to-wit, a vessel unto honour in the house of the Lord.      off. That Moses understands the Lord  aright, that he
That the Lord knows him by name is thus indicative of           takes not the Lord to mean that He will place in the
the fact that the Lord is his friend and redeemer-God.          room of Self an ordinary angel to go before them, that
that therefore he (together with the Israel according to        he perceives that the angel to be sent and to lead afar
the election) is a child of grace who finds favor in His        off is to be that same visible token of the presence of the
sight. Through His knowing him by name, the Lord                Lord-the pillar of cloud-is evident from this that he
called him into being as a child of grace.                      pitches the tabernacle outside the camp in the hope that
                                                                the Lord out of the same cloud will commune with him
      "Yet," Moses would say, "though thou art my God,          there afar off.
my friend and Saviour, thy secrets are not with me.
Thou dost not let me know whom thou will send with                 Moses then understands. What he therefore is aiming
me; nor dost thou show me thy way, that I may know              at when he says to the "Lord, "See, thou sayest unto me,
thee . . . Grant me the token, 0 Lord, that thou art truly      Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me  know
my God. Take me into thy confidence. Let thy secrets            whom thou wilt send with me," is clear. His question is


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               23
                                             __--
                                              -      - .                   5,.
                                                      6
                                                                   power of our, reasoning, is impossible in the light of
                Christian Apology                           .,     God's Word and doomed to failure. Reason has never
                                                                   yet turned a man from his evil way. Sin is not a mat-
    We can speak of Christian apology. True, not in the            ter of the mind. Rather must we understand that the
 sense commonly given to the word to-day. The word,                church of God is in the midst of the wicked world not
 apology, is but a translation of the Greek word, "apolo-          to convince but to convict the world, not to convert the
 gia".    It is closely related to "apologetics"-"apologet-        force of darkness but to be a testimony against her, con-
'  its" is apology as applied to the  *field of theological in-    scious of the fact that the Lord has willed a two-fold
 struction. However, I am in this essay not referring to           people in this world who will never come together but
 a course of study, but to the calling of the people of God        must and shall remain separate even forevermore. Hence,
  due to their position in the midst of the world. . Chris-        true Christian apology is not to be confused with an
  tian apology is our calling here below.                          "apologetic", wavering unbelieving attitude towards the
                                                                   Word of God, and therefore an attempt to ease my own
    True Christian apology must firstly not  .be confused          doubting soul by presenting a logical defence of its
  with a formal admission, acknowledgment, or confession           truths ; neither must we regard it as our  cal!ing to con-
  of a wrong or offensive course of action with overtures          vince the world  .of the lie in the fond expectation that
 ,of reparation of conciliation. But too often it appears          the powers of evil will incline their hearts and ears. This
  as though the church of God in general, or the child of          attempt is doomed to disappointment.
  God in particular must offer to the world this sort of an
  apology for her or his belief. In reality the child of             What is true Christian apology?  ' The word apology,
  God is ashamed of that which he professes. In contrast           also in the English langua.ge,  means fundamentally : some-
  with the power, glory, riches of the world, the church           thing said or written in defence or justification of what
  of God feels herself to be at a disadvantage, is timid in        appears to others wrong or unjustifiable.       The word
  the midst of a hostile world, is conscious of being "old-        "apologia", in the Greek language, means literally: a ver-
fashioned" in her ideas, and assumes an attitude of                bal defence. speech to defend. Hence, Christian  apolo,gy
  apology; offering to the world a logical defence in order        signifies our defence of the living hope within us. So
  to prove that she nevertheless has some scientific or            we read it literally in I Peter 3  :lS, where the word
  reasonable basis for her conception of all `things. This         "apologia" is translated : to give an answer. This apol-
  not only, however. Repeatedly the child of God assumes           ogy is occasioned by those who ask of us an answer con-
  this apologetic role, not because the hope of things to          cerning the hope within us. Now it is noteworthy that
  come is a living reality within his soul, but rather be-         this word, apology, is used predominantly in Holy Writ
  cause within his own heart he does not experience the            in `connection with the arraignment of the children of
  certainty of what he believes, and would therefore console       God before `those in authority, magistrates. Frequently,
  and soothe his doubting heart regarding matters of  God's        during the early apostolic church, God's people were
  Word. The powerful forces of the world, their subtle             brought before kings and magistrates and asked con-
  philosophy exercise a profound impression upon him,              cerning their faith. Christian apology was then no ex-
  cause him to. waver; and he would shake this painful             cuse for their belief, no  apoloag in the current sense of
  doubt from  his, heart and mind in the way of a logical          the word, but a living defence, a living testimony, rooted
  defence of his faith.     However, we may well bear in           in faith concerning the hope for the which they were
  mind that the church has none such apology to offer.             persecuted. Not afraid of the gospel which they pro-
  An attitude of inferiority we surely need not assume.            claimed, not `ashamed of the cross of Christ Jesus? not
  For we stand in a living relation to God, Who alone is           fearing the persecution by the world, these people of God
  the Truth and upon an incomparably higher plane than             arose to an "apologia", to a defence of their hope, as a
  the wicked world round about us, assured of eternal vic-         living testimony within their souls assured of victory,
  tory. Neither is any power of logic the basis of our             rejoicing in their faith and joyful of the opportunity to
  hope and faith.                                                  suffer for His Name's sake.
     Herewith in close connection, Christian apology must             This Christian, apology need not be limited, however,
  not be  &derstood  as an attempt by the church to con-           to the arraignment of God's people before those in power.
   vince the world of its error and of the truth of God's           At various times we are placed before the necessity of
  Word. We must indeed stand unshaken upon the fact                being ready to answer those who inquire concerning the`
   that God's Word alone is a light upon our path and a            hope within us. This  inquiry must not be explained as
   lamp unto our' feet. But to adopt the attitude that we          merely a curious questioning but rather as the mocking,
   must testify of the living hope within our hearts. with          taunting, questioning by the wicked world.       There is,
   the fond hope that all with whom we come in contact              first of all, the voice of sin within us, that power of the
  will be turned from the error of his way because of the           old man of evil, which continually places us before our


                                                                                                                         .a
24                                     T H E '   STANDAR-D  B E A R E R
                                        -T -L-J2
standing  .sted fast and unwavering in the hope.       The     that, because this Jesus is exalted  &t the right" hand of
prince of the powers of the air, whose power he exerts         God as our Ring of kings and Lord of lords, the child
in our own lives, places before our `consciousness con-        of God, `how great and powerful the world may be, can .
tinually the hopelessness of the Christian in contrast with    be assured of victory. With the certainty in his soul,
the world.      He impresses upon us the beauty of the         he is not afraid to rise to the defence of his hope. B e
world, our apparent insignificance as well as the utter        ready, spiritually ready, within yourselves, to do so.
hopelessness of our position here below. Sin within us           This  apology   must be accompanied by meekness and
would lead us astray from the path of righteousness. Or,       fear.. Meekness is not to be confused with a sickly Chris-
the world without will hurl their darts of scorn and           tian subjection, as the characteristic feature of  `a spine-
mockery at the church of the living God. The beauty of         less child of God. Meekness is not merely a passive sub-
this life is placed before her to entice her away from the     jection within our souls, but an active power of God's
Lord.- Its pleasures  .the power of darkness will contrast     grace. It is that gift of Divine grace enabling the child
with our calling of ever walking upon the path of right-       of God to endure all suffering and affliction in perfect
eousness, always bearing in the body the reproach  of          subjection, not as the weaker over against the stronger,
the Lord Jesus, always enduring the ridicule` of the world,    not 
                                                                 -. a% one who is forced to do so, but in love to God,
always refusing the glories of this world to  ,partake  of     knowing that not ours but His is the vengeance in His
the afflictions of the people of God. Or, the world will       own appointed time. The apology of our hope, which will
attack the people of  ,the living God by force, using all      result in the ridicule and mockery of this world for us,
manner of violence to silence in them the voice of right-      must therefore be accompanied by this gift of grace. This
eousness which is the condemnation of the world. Often
in time past did the force of darkness employ this means.      gift of Divine grace is that act of the will to leave all
And Scripture teaches, us that such must also be expected      in the hand of God. For, we  .must give  an.apology con-
in the future, particularly immediately preceding the sec-     cerning our hope. And our hope is that God will deliver
ond coming of the Son of Man. But, in whatever form            US.  He only is our ever present Help. This -we must
this power of darkness may appear, the Christian is            reveal in a spirit of meekness which suffers all for God's
placed before the necessity .of being ready to give an         sake, and as long as He would have us suffer.
answer concerning his hope.       -                              Also with fear. Surely, the apostle does not refer
      To apologize, to give an apology, an answer concern-     to fear in the sense that we are to be afraid of the powers
ing the hope. within us, the faith we profess and live,        of evil round about us. Th'IS would be in violent conflict
does not merely  signifiy a verbal, spoken, oral defence of    with God's Word, particularly with what we read in
that faith. The apostle Peter, in I Peter 3  :15, writes       Psalm  27:l "Whom shall I fear?" This fear of Peter
that we wwst be t:eady to give an answer to them who ask       3  :15 can mean nothing else than that childlike confidence
concerning our hope.       This means, in the first place,     and trust which the child of God places in His Father.
that Christian decency must not be lost sight of. Scrip-       Then we understand why fear is mentioned in connection
ture teaches us that we are not to cast the pearls of God's    with meekness. We `must present a living testimony of
Word before the swine because they will but trample            the  hope within our hearts. This will occasion the per-
them under foot. -4t times it behooves us to be silent         secution by the world. This suffering we must bear in
`rather than to engage in fruitless conversation with those    the spirit of meekness, suffering alone for God's  .sake.
who, inquiring concerning our belief, know all about it,       But, this will be possible only in the spirit of childlike.
asking us with the avowed intention of trampling our           fear, which means that the Christian will trust and con-
blessed hope under foot.       These spiritual swine men-      fide in his Father, assured that this trust in Him will not
tioned in God's Word must be shunned.  `Yet, this does         be put to shame, but that God will testify that certainty
not take away the fact that at all times we must be ready      which he places in the hope within him. God, having
unto such, an apology. And. to be ready to give an ac-         begun this work, will surely complete it in the day of
count of our hope means not merely  ,to be able to say         our Lord Jesus Christ.                      H.  Geldman.
something about it, but, rather, that the living certainty
of our cause, that blessed assurance of victory must at                                        _-
all times be ours. We must be ready to speak and wit-                                    N O T I C E !
ness concerning this hope, which implies that we must
ever make our calling and election sure, that we must be          ;211 correspondence for the Los Angeles congregation
conscious of that  livin ~g power within us, be convinced      should be sent to the clerk, James Zoetewey, 326 East
that, for Jesus'  sake?  we are more than conquerors ; and     76th  Street;Los  Angeles, California.


                                           A.  R e f o r m e d   Semi-Mo,nthly   M a g a z i n e
                PlIBLISHED BY  THE REFORMED FREE PUBLISHING  .AYSO~CIATION,   GKAND  KAPIDS, MICH.





,..^.--- .-........--                 -       ..-~
I-                 -     -                                                                          .-___.-...- "-    .___                   -................ --.._-
Vol. XIII, No.                   E n t e r e d   a6  sewnrl   rla4s  m a i l
                              2  matter  a      t     
                                                       !:rad  Hatdds.  Mich.              OCTOBER  15,  1936                           Subscription Price, $2.50
"...--  -  "--                                         .-                       _                                     ^ -  -  ^---"-....... -_
                 .."..."...-.                                                   -"--- ..- I_
I                               F                                    -                        -il tinuously,  bowels of mercy, kindness, humbleness of
iI_  MEDITAT~I mind, meekness,  longsuff-"erinF, assuming an attitude
- - .---u
         -                                 ".."""  ".."~.~~-                                  - of forbearance and forgiveness toward one-another,
                                                                                                     remembering that Christ forgave them.
                                 Put On Love!                                                           And above  a11 put on love!
                                                                                                        Not:  t:JVer  and above all the other spiritual virtues
                                                                                                     put on love. Not: after you have put on all the  other
                                                                                                     graces  add love to them.
                                                                                                        But: love is the greatest of all, while it is the root
                                                                                                     and fountainhead of  all spiritual virtues.           Without
      l,ove above  a11!                                                                              love, outside of the sphere of love none of ail other
      For,  low is meant in text by that  word  chwity.                                              graces can possibly adorn your life.
which in the course of time ~raudally came to denote                                                    Therefore, put on love as the principal thing!
what originally was  CJnly  one of its connotations.                                                    Above all  : love!
      Above  all put  (111  love!
      You are                                                                                                                 --_I__
                    the elect  of God, holy and beloved! Thus
the  Word of God had addressed the Church of Christ                                                     Love,-what is it?
in  t.he near context. And as the elect of  God they were                                               Always it. is  a bond, a power that  irresistably  at-
chosen to he to the praise of `His glory; now,  in  this                                             tracts, draws, seeks its object, cannot and will not rest
present evil world, they  are ordained that they might                                               till it  has found and embraced its object.
be children of light in the midst of' a  crooked and per-
verse nation : and presently, when time shall be  no                                                    A  1*etlec:t,ion  of what the text means by love you
more, it is their glorious election that they                                                        may  iind in that natural attraction that results from
                                                                                     may be par-
takers of that glory which the  .Father gave to Christ the  organic  oneness of the human race, and that is
Jesus, the  first  born of every creature, the beginning, strongest where the kinship is closest. Just watch
t,he  tirst begotten of the dead. in the new heavens and a mother by the bedside of her babe, when the latter
t,he new earth, the incorruptible, and undefiled inheri-                                             is consumed  by a burning fever, hovering between
tance, that never fadeth away! And  as holy and be-                                                  life  nnd death. Day and night she watches over her
loved they  /~cwr put  off                                                                           darlinn. She  cannot surrender it to death. She fights
                                                the  old man with his deeds,
and  l~nvc put  on the new man, which is  wnewed in                                                  to the last  t,o keep  the object  of her affection. Though
knowledge after                                                                                      growing ever so weary she scarcely notices it: though
                               the  image of Him  that  Treated  him!                                she be  utterly exhausted  slle neither slumbers nor
      Therefore? they still must put  off  the deeds of the sleeps. The strong will to snatch her babe from  `Lhe
old man. Having put  ofi'  they  must put  oft, always, clutches of  grim death sustains her, and she cannot
hy constant  ivatching  and praying and fighting  ihe I*est until she is assured that she may keep her price-
~oocl fight, all uncleanness, fornication, inordinate af- less possession !
fection, evil concupiscence, covetousness, which is idol-                                               Yet. more than a reflection of what Scripture de-
atry,  anger,  wrath.  malice, blasphemy, filthy  communi-                                           notes by  love, this  nat&al  affection, be it ever so
(`&ioq and lying to one another.                                                                     strong, is not!
      .And having put on, they still must put on, daily,  con-                                          `For, love  is the bond of perfectness!


^  "`
2!,
  f                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

         It is, therefore, not a bond that has its source in light of infinite divine perfection, the Most High  lives
kinship or  blood-relationship,   or in the organic  unity             the eternal life of love. For, He is the Triune. And
of the race. It is  a matter of the heart, out  of which as the triune  (:od He  is  the living  One. (Out  o f  Che
are the issues of life,  kvhether  they be good or evil;               Father, through the Son, in the Spirit there rushes  a
a matter, however, that never issues  fort'h  from the                 fulness of divine life eternally. And  that  life  iu  a
evil heart; it is not a natural gift, but a  spiritual- perfect  loverlife. For, Father, Son and Holy Spirit
ethical virtue. The bond of perfection !                               eternally  beho18d  and know one-another in the  sphere
         Love is the bond that is characterized by perfection;         of divine perfection, the perfection of the glorious di-
that is found only in the sphere of perfection; that,                  vine Essence  ; eternally are  attract,ed to one-another,
therefore, unites the perfect only. And  perfectioa seek one-another,  Gnd one-another and  have  their in-
is ethical, spiritual goodness. It is an inner and out- finite  and absolute delight in one-another . . . .
ward harmony. with the will of  I:od, a harmony of the                   As the triune God He loves Himself!
heart, of the mind and the  will and  all the desires                    And with Him love is the bond of infinite perfec-
with God Himself, manifesting itself in the word  of                   tion !
our mouth, the look of our eye, the work of our hand,
in all our walk  and.  conversation. It is God's image                    Love is of God! Not only is  it.  of Him as it is in
in us, a reflection of His infinite goodness, righteous-               Him snd to Himself, but it is also out of Him as it is
ness, truth, holiness and all the spiritual perfections                eternally directed to His people, His elect in Christ,
of His glorious  .Being. And love                                      the holy and beloved from before the foundation of the
                                               is the  bond that
operates in the sphere of  t.hat perfection only, the                  worl,d. For, it pleased Him to manifest His own glori-
strong and irresistible attraction that draws the  pey- ous love-life and in the revelation of His love-life to
feet to one-another, that causes them to seek one-an- glorify Himself forever. Eternally `He willed to form
other and to delight in one-another's fellowship . . . .               a people that should be partakers of  t,he "divine na-
         Love is the bond of perfectness!                              ture", that, in a  creaturely measure, should be perfect
         There is in the  %orld" no love. There  may be even as He is perfect, righteous as He is righteous,
natural affection  and  natural bonds of kinship and                   holy  as He is  holy,  and that should know Him even as
blood-relationship.            There may even be bonds and al-         they are known. Hence, He ordained  EIis Son to  lx
liances of iniquity, for sinners will unite in sin and                 the first begotten of every creature, the beginning,
to sin, and the very devil's house cannot afford to be the first born out of the dead, the glorious Head over
a house divided against itself . . . .                                 all things in heaven and on earth, in Whom  all the
         Bon,ds of sin, and subservient to sin are they.               fulness should dwell. And to this First begotten of
         Issuing forth from the carnal mind, or made sub-              the dead He gave His Church, that all the fulness of
servient to  the  purposes of the carnal heart, which  i.s             God's love-life might out of Christ radiate and vibrate
enmity against God, they are, not bonds of love but of                 through all the millions upon millions of glorified elect.
hatred; the very antithesis of love.                                   And  that  this Church might be led into the highest
         But love is  perfect,ion's  bond, uniting                     possible realization of the love-life of 
                                                       the perfect.                                                 God,  He  ei+dained
         Put on, therefore, holy and beloved,  elect of  God,          that He should lead them through  the  awful  way of
                                                                       sin and death, of atonement and the resurrection, that
love !                                                                 out of the depth they might cry unto God and seek
         Love above all !                                              Him, and know Him, and  taste that  `He is good,  and
                                                                       find Him and be received into  t,he divine family and its
                                                                       blessed fellowship . . . .
         Love is of God !                                                 Love is of God, a divine stream, forever flowing
         s21ways   o f  God. Wherever you  may find love, from His heart to that Church of His eternal election,
whether it be  among God's people in the world,  <jr                   engraved in  bot,h the palms of His hand!
among the saints in  glor.y, or among the holy angels                    And out of  God's  heart  it  becomes  manifest in time,
that are  :~l\vays  ready to  c-lo  His commandments, al-
ways it. is hut a stream                                               an irresistible  power  that cannot rest  t.ill  it has found
                                   the source of which may be
traced to                                                              and embraced its  ob.ject; manifest in the manger of
                the  very heart, of God! . . . .                       Bethlehem. where He came to us in the likeness  ef
         It is of God, in God and to  God.                             sinful flesh; manifest in the awful darkness of the
         For, God is love !                                            accursed tree on  Golgotha,  where His love sought  us
         He is good. the infinite implication of all perfection.' and found us, reconciling us unto Himself; manifest
Such is His very essence. He is a light, and there is                  in the resurrection and in the exaltation of the Lord
no darkness in Him at all. He  is  truth, righteousness, Jesus Christ, in which He glorified us and received us
holiness, and  th.ere is no lie, unrighteousness or cor-               into His own bosom . . . .
ruption in Him whatsoever. And in that inaccessible                       Love is of God, always . . . .
                                                                                                                                     ,


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D  BEA'RER                                                                     27
"-"-l__l- -_lllll"."         -....~-__l_ _ .-. - _ I ." .____I^ -... ^^ ^..... ^ .^-____- -            ..__-" -........ -^-."-.-- -    -     -
  It is of God even as it is a love to us and in us. For?          tel~~pt   it, would it not result in that awful  carricature
FIe not merely causes His eternal love to be  protilaimed          of  true love that is "put on" indeed?  IS  not  love ex-
to us in His blessed gospel of peace and  reconciliation,          actly above  all things  ,that which can never be put
then to wait that we might behold it and recognize  ir:            on?  . . . .
and acknowledge it  a~ His love toward us; but He                     yet,  SO  is, not  the  word of  Paul, not the admoni-
spreads it abroad in our hearts, by the Spirit  which tion of mere man, but the `Word of God, that cannot
He hath given us, the Spirit of our `Lord Jesus Christ. lie, exhorting, warning, admonishing, drawing and
fHe cuts the bonds of sin that hold them prisoner; He              leading in the way of life, of the love-life  of  God,  the
renews their hearts  that  are under the dominion of holy and beloved !                        It behooves us, then, just to be
enmity against God by nature and  fills them with His              silent, to repress every opinion of the flesh, of mere
own life;  He opens their eyes that they may see Him               man within us, that we may truly  lzclar  the Word of
in all the  Elory of His love to  usward;  He opens their          God and  EZO it: Put on, therefore, elect of God, holy and
ears so  t,hat they may hear His Word, proclaiming in              beloved, above all love!
the death and resurrection of the Lord His  unchange-                 In that spiritual attitude we hear and understand!
able love while we were yet sinners; and He gives                     For,  tist,  this Word 
them to taste  that  `He loved them  .with an eternal love,                                       CJf  God does not address the
                                                                   natural man, dead in sin and misery, whose carnal
even though all things that are seen testify against mind is all enmity against God and whom to admonish
it. The love of God, that is, His love to us, is spread to put on the love of God would be quite absurd and
abroad in our hearts!                                              impossible.  but  the elect of God, the holy and beloved.
  Yes, love is of God, always!                                     And this signifies  t.hat they were  c.hosen unto love.
  Of Him  it, is, that we love Him ! For, our love of Such is God's purpose with them. He chose them in
God.  of  God Who is really GOD, the infinitely Good, order that they might be holy and unblameable `before
the overflowing Fountain of all good, is not in us by              Him in love. And this purpose of God was realized in
nature.    `By nature,  Cl  awful folly of sin! -we  hate them, when He revealed His love to them, when He
God and love  t.he devil, we hate righteousness and love spread it abroad in their hearts, when He caused them
iniquity, we flee from the Fountain of good and seek to taste that He loved them eternally in the Beloved;
death! Neither  i.s our love to God our own response               and when He caused His own love to Himself to vi-
to His love to us, a love wherewith we meet His love.              brate in their hearts that they might also love Him
P,nt it is the vibration of His own love to Himself,               and love  one-anoth.er.       Secondly, this love of God was
which by Wis grace He causes to pass through our                   not poured out in their hearts as one pours water into
hearts, the  clivine love-current, in which we  are caught a dead and earthern vessel, that is utterly passive and
up,  .returning to its Source ! . . . .                            in no wise affected by the contents it receives; but as
  Love is evermore of God !                                        conscious and rational and willing children of God
  Even when, having the love of  Ck~rl  in our hearts, they tasted this love of  God. They became co-workers
we are united by the bond of perfectness as brethren               of God, His imitators. God's eternal purpose of love
in the Lord, and we may love one-another, it is still              became their purpose by His grace. They  `~~21 to love
of Him.                                                            God and to walk before Him unblameably in love, to
   For, it is the  love  out of God in us to `Him, that is         manifest themselves in the light of love, that He may
now also directed to the brethren that walk in the                 be  glorified. And this  nlanifestation of the love of
light, so that they evermore seek one-another in the               God that is in their hearts, this walking in love in the
sphere  of perfection.                                             midst of the world, in every relationship of life is  th3
   Wherever is love it may  he  traced to the triune  God           putting on of love . . . .
;2s its source I                                                      Put on, therefore!
   Love is ever of God !                                              Yes, put it on as a garment, but as a garment that
                                                                    is but  !he  olltward  mal!it'estation  of the love of God
                                                                   that  was realized in your hearts!
                                                                      Put it on in the word of your mouth, in the look of
   Put on, therefore . . . .                                       your eye, in  th.e work of your hand, in the direction of
   Holy and beloved, elect of  God, above  all put  cm your foot. Put it on in your thinking and willing, in
love !                                                              your every desire and in the  cspression of them all                          j
   HOW  strange an exhortation! `How apparently para-               in  your whole  !ife, individually, in the  .midst of  t,he
doxical an admonition! How utterly impossible  lt brethren, in the midst of  t,he world . . . .
appears to heed it!                                                    Let, as co-worker with  God,  th.rough the power of
   For,  how shall we put  ($11 love?  Can a man put  on            His  marvelloun grace His love dominate all the mani-
 love as he puts on a garment? And if he should at-                 festation of your life.


28                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
,e                    _II      ..-..     -..                       - _. --.^   ~.""..-              .."  ".""       .._     -..-__r
      Unto that end fight  t,he good fight! For, you are termined upon. At the Assembly in June  the  fol10~-
still in the world! And in the world you still have  ihe ing charge was given to the Committee on the  Consti-
operations of sin and death in your members, while tution in connection with its task of presenting  ;`o:
you have but a small beginning of  t,he new obedience.              adoption the Westminster Confession and  Catechisms
And these operations of sin in your members are of as the confession of the faith of the church:
the old hatred and enmity against God. And they have                   "The  ccnnmittee  shall take as the basis of its  CO:!-
their strong allies in the powers and temptations  of sideration the particular form of the Westminster  (?:ov
this "world" and its prince. You  izn,~~ put them  of7 fession of Faith and Catechisms which appears in  th::
in principle, put them off, therefore, constantly!                   Constitution of Presbyterian Church in the  LJ. S. A.,
      And you  hn,~c put on the new man of love!                     1933 edition. The committee shall have power to  i'+
      Put on, therefore, through the grace of God within,            commend the elimination from that form of  i.hesc
and by this Word of God calling you, love!                           Standards,  of  the changes made in the year of  our
      Love  above all !                                              Lord  1903,  but it shall not have power to recommend
                                                      II.  IL        any other changes. The committee shall also have
                                                                     power to recommend what relation this church  ;;hall
                                                                     bear to the Declaratory Statement of  1903."
                                                     ---               In short, the  Presbyterian   Church  in  thr  li.  S. A.
1-1 in  19i)S adopted a revision of  t,he Confessions which
              E D I T O R I A L S                                    was at the same  t.ime a corruption of them, and which
                                                                     made it possible for this church to unite, in  1906.  with
11'
                   ..-l_l---.                            .^..--      the thoroughly Arminian  CumhPdwnd   Prcshytcrin;!.
      As To The Works Of Unregenerate                                Church.
                             Man                                       The committee appointed by the newly organized
                                                                     PwshytrriccrL-   Church of  Arrwricv  is charged to recom-
      Thp  Prdylt~~rir~n  Gunrdim   is a semi-monthly pub-           mend what changes made by  t,he Revision of  1903  in
lished  by  Th,e  Prcshytcrim   Gmrdinn   Puhi.inhin.q   C?o?n-      the Confessions shall be eliminated and in how far
piany.                                                               the Church shall return to the original form of  the
      It is not a church-paper, yet published in the interest        Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms.
of the  Prrshytwima   Chwch, of  A4mrricn,   the newly                 The second article referred to above in the  Presbv-
instituted Church-group, that separated from the Pres- terian Guardian draws a comparison between some  (3f
byterian Church of the  l_J. S. A. under the leadership              the articles of the Revision of  1903  and their  originai
of Dr.  Machen und  others.                                          .Form in the Westminster.
      It. is, therefore, a magazine much similar to the
Stmdrrrd  Buww,   and we  heart,ily  welcome it on our                  And to one of  t,hose  comparisons made  hy John
list  of  exchange papers. Those of us who can afford Murray I wish to call the attention of  our readers.
it will do  ,well if they subscribe to it. They will, if I           It concerns the confession regarding the "works of
may judge by the two issues I received and perused,                  unregenerate man".  I quote :
tind much interesting, sound and edifying material in                   "Chapter  XVI, Section  7 of the Confession of Faith
it. Write and send a dollar subscription fee to  7'1~:               in its unrevised form reads  as follows: `Works done
 Pw.+q&rin.n~   Guardim   A~biish~ing   (:7ompaq4,  12X2             by unregenerate men, although, for the matter of them
 Commonwealth Building, Philadelphia, Pa.                            they may  be things which God commands,  and good
      In the issue of Sept. 36 there appeared  1,w-o inter- use both of themselves and others; yet,  hecause  the)
esting articles on the  RvrGsinn  of  1903. one  hy  Dr. N.          proceed not from a heart  puritied  by faith; nor  arc
 R. Stonehouse, another by John Murray.                              done in a right manner, according to the Word  ; nor to
       To understand the import  c)f  these  articles,  the a right end, the glory of God; they are therefore sin-
 reader must know that the  Prmbytm%-cn   Clharch  qf ful, and cannot please God, or make a man meet  t,c-1
 Amwim  will adopt its constitution in November.            VI'e     receive grace from God. And yet their neglect of them
 quote : "The Presbyterian Church of America is faced is more sinful and more displeasing to God'.
 with the  all-import,ant  task of adopting its constitu-               "The revised form as adopted by the Presbyterian
 tion in November. It is committed to the Westminster                Church in the  TJ. S.  -4. reads: `Works done by unre-
 Confession of Faith  and Catechisms as containing the generate men, although for the matter of them they
 system of doctrine taught, in the Holy Scriptures, and may be things which God commands, and in them-
 it does not intend to jeopardize  it.,s adherence to Cal-           selves praiseworthy and useful, and although the  neyr-
 vinism by tinkering with  the  Confession of Faith. Bu;             lect  of  such things is sinful and displeasing to  &cl;
 the fact remains that not  all churches have the  same              Yet, because they proceed not from a heart purified by
 form of the Confession, and the exact form must be de-              faith; nor are done in a right manner,  actor-ding  to


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                     29
-.--...-.".-^.   *    -...  _                                                                              ..-
His Word; nor to a right end, the glory of God;  the!,              The truth that the natural, unregenerated man  at
come short of what God requires, and do not make  any             all times only sins is also the confession of the  Pro-
man meet to receive grace from God'."                             trota,nt   IZrforvnrd  Chwrchcs.
 Let me insert here the remark that always the  elc-
ments of the Reformed Confessions that deal with  .iho                                      -_.~---
particular grace of God and the total depravity of the
unregenerate man, are obnoxious  t.o them that sail                 But how about the  Chvistiwn   Refor'mrd  Churches?
under the Reformed  fiag but are Arminian at heart,                 They assumed a very fraternal attitude toward the
and, therefore, seek a revision of the Confessions. The Prrsbytwinn  Church of  America.   They were the first
revisions of  19(:X3 adopted by the  Presbytwian   Chu~cir        to recognize the latter and their synod even sent  a tele-
+Z  the  Ir. S. A. are an illustration of this fact. The re- gram conveying their best wishes to the newly insti-
visions of  I.924 adopted by the Christian  Reform4 tuted denomination and asking for a fraternal dele-
Churches in the Three Points are only another illus-              gate.
tration of the same truth. The  dif?erence is, that  t,hc           :But us they cast out because we maintained the  *:on-
Presbyterian Church was frank enough to call  the Eession that the unregenerate man always and  ?rn!y
changes revisions  ; the Christian Reformed  Churchcj sins.
introduced their errors under  t~he name of  esplttna-
tions  !                                                            -And  they adopted a declaration of doctrine  on  Chis
   But let us hear what Mr. Murray has to say about               point, which was interpreted by Prof. Berkhof,  c.  SC.
t.his change.  I quote  :                                         in the following sentence: "The mere declaration that
   "The objections to this revised form of the  sectio!!          all the acts of  the unregenerate are sin, without  :my
will immediately appear to any one imbued with the                qualification, fails to distinguish properly, contains
teaching of Scripture on the depravity and inability only a partial truth, and is characterized by an ab-
of the natural man:                                               solutism that is condemned by the  analogy of Scrip-
   "  ( 1) There is a manifest difference between saying ture, by our Confessions and by Reformed theology.`"
with  t,he Confession that works done by unregenerate                Prof. Berkhof evidently favors revision, e.  g. of the
men are `of good use both to themselves and to others'            statement of the `Heidelberg Catechism, that the un-
and saying with the revisers that they are `in them- regenerate is incapable of doing any good and inclined
selves praiseworthy'. Tu  say the very least, the  lattcl t o   a l l   e v i l .
phrase is capable of an interpretation that places the               And revision was made in  1024,  a revision that is
works of unregenerate men in a category to which                  all the more pernicious in its influence because it was
they do not belong. It is just this the Westminster               called an explanation.
divines were careful to avoid.                                       If the  Prrsbytwicm   Cku~c:h of  I-l~rn~?*ic~(  adopts the
   "  (2) The revisions say that the works done by un-            unadulterated Westminister Confessions and Cate-
 regenerate men come short of what God requires, yet              chisms, it cannot welcome recognition by the  C~hria-
 that the neglect of them is sinful and displeasing to            tkn  fikformcd  ~?hurchss.
 God. But it refrains from saying what is really the                 And the latter cannot properly recognize the former.
 central point of the indictment urged by the original
 Confession, namely, that they are  .YI%UZ  md  camot                Beware, brethren! God does not  look with favor
 p/crrs`r God, and therefore, that the neglect of them is         upon hypocrisy !
 not simply sinful, but `more sinful and displeasing to                                                                    H.  N.
 God'. The  I,urpose  and effect of this revision is to
 elevate  t,he works of unregenerate men to a position
 not accorded them in Scripture, or at least to refrain
 from bringing to bear upon  th.em the full measure of                     Thy beauty.  0 my  %ather  ! All is Thine  ;
 divine condemnation. So there has been successfully                         But there is beauty in Thyself, from whence
 eliminated from the Confession at least one  emphati?                     The beauty Thou  hast  made doth ever flow
 assertion of the  doct,rine  of total depravity, and to  thar
 extent the enemies of the consistent  evangelicalism.  of                   In streams of never-failing affluence.
 the Reformed Faith may be comforted. But  cornfor;
 t.o such at this point is fatal".                                         Thou  art the Temple! and though I am  lame,-
    The Standard Bearer sincerely hopes, as it, indeed,                      Lame from my birth, and shall be till 1  die,-
 expects, that the  Pwsbytrrkn Church of  Ametion   will
  wholly reject the revision of  1903   and adopt the un-                  I enter through the Gate called Beautiful,
 adulterated Westminster Confession and Catechisms.                          And alone with Thee,  0 Thou Most High!


30                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
            ll---.."            ^                   .-.-. -~-_
               Prolonged  htercessior                          the midst of them. This statement of the Lord has
                                                               been explained.    However, to the explanation given
      To understand Moses' prolonged intercessory prayer, a word must be added. What the Lord here declares
the following must continually be kept in mind: A is that He will do for Israel no more and no less than
*rreat
b         and apparently unpardonable sin had been  !:om..     He  did for all the nations of the earth. What He did
mitted, consisting in  lsrael turning his back upon  .Je-      (and still does') for all nations, is to bring them to the
hovah and in his prostrating himself before the idle.          inheritance He divided to them through His going be-
Not only has the Lord refrained from making known fore them and destroying before them their enemies.
to Moses that He forgives, but He has even uttered             So we read, (Deut.  X2:8, 9) "Remember the days
statements seemingly implying that He has done with of  aid, consider the years of many generations . . . .  =
His people and if not immediately, then eventually when the Most High divided to the nations their in-
will make an end of them.  - such statements as, "For          heritance,  .when He separated the sons of Adam, He
I will not go up in the midst of thee ; . . . . lest 1 con-    set the bounds of  t,he people according  t.o the number
sume thee in the way.`" "In the day when 1 visit, I of the children of Israel." What this doing of  th+
,will visit their sins upon them." "Ye are a stiffnecked       Lord implies, may be known exactly from a scripture
people: I will come up into the midst of thee and con-         cuntained"in the second chapter of the book of Deuter-
sume thee . . .  ."      So the Lord continues to speak,       onomy  and that reads, "And when thou (the people
even after Moses has earnestly besought Him to turn            of Israel)  come& nigh over against the children of
from His fierce wrath, and repent of the evil against          .Ammon, distress them not . . . . for 1 (the Lord) will
His people; even after he had petitioned the Lord to not give thee of the land of the children of Xmmon. . .
set him forth as an atonement for their sin. Moses' because I have given it unto the children of Lot for  R
soul is troubled. Taking these statements of the Lord          possession."    And then we read, "That was accounted
on their face value, the nation is doomed. Yet the a land of giants : giants dwelt therein in old time  ; and
nation must be spared, as promises have been made.             the Ammonites call them Zam zummims; a people
it is in this conviction certainly that Moses continues        great e . . .but the Lord destroyed them (the  Zam-
to pray for the life of his people. But what he under- zumims) before them the Ammonites ; and they  (the
stands not is how the Lord can realize His promise             Ammonites) succeeded them and dwelt in their stead;
respecting a people whom He by virtue  of His being as He did to the children of Esau, which dwelt in  Seir,
righteous God is in duty bound to destroy. Looking at          when He destroyed the  Horims from before them."
the promse, the conviction forms in his soul that the             The thought conveyed here is plainly this: The Lord
nation will be spared; but in this conviction he is again went. before  t.he Ammonites, destroyed before them
repeatedly shaken by the consideration that the Lord their enemies and caused them to possess the latter's
their God, against Whom they sinned, is a consuming land. And so He did to the children of  Esau. But,
tire.     Moses, as has been  ftilly explained in former       speaking now of these other  nations( the children of
articles, is in a quandary. And only if mindful of this        Esau and of the Ammonites) , what He had not done is
state of perplexity of his mind, can we understand that        to go up in the midst of them in the pillar of cloud,
third prayer of his,  - a prayer that reads, "See, thou        lead them by His very face, favor them by His `very
sayest unto me, Bring  up this people: and thou hast           presence, in token that He was their God  - the God
not let me know whom Thou wilt send with me. Yet of their salvation  - their great reward, their portion,
Thou hast said, I know thee by name, and Thou hast             the true bread of their soul and that they were  Ris
also found grace in my sight. Now therefore, I pray            chosen people, whom He knew by name, thus to whom
thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now          pertaineth the promise and the covenant and the adop-
thy way, that I may know thee, that I may  tind grace          tion and the law,  - a peculiar people, a kingdom of
in thy sight: and consider that this -nation is  th,y          priests, that they should know Him and knowing Him
people."                                                       taste that He is good. The people of Israel only are
     As has been shown in a former article this prayer so favored. .But `Israel has rejected and disowned Him
is comprised of three distinct petitions: a. Let me            and turned to the idol. `Inclining to `Moses for the
know whom thou wilt send with me. b. Show me thy second time, the Lord therefore says to him,  (first
`way that  S may know thee.  c'. Consider that this            verse of chapter  33) "Depart and go up hence thou and
nation is thy people.                                          the people which thou hast brought up out of the land
     The First of these petitions has been largely dealt       of Egypt, unto the land which I  sware  .unto Abraham,
with.      It was occasioned by the declaration of the         to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying,  ITnto thy seed will I
Lord to the effect that He (in  t.he pillar of cloud, the      give it; (second verse) And I will  sen,d an angel be-
angel of the Lord) would go before them to drive out           fore thee: and I -will drive out the Canaanites . . .
the Canaanite, in that He would no longer go up in             (third verse)  `IITnto a land flowing with milk and


                                                 `J?HE   STANDARD  B E A R E R                                          $1"i
-."..."  ..." . ..-_-........... .-..-  ---""
hbney : for 1 will not  go  up in  the midst of  thee; fot      from this that he beseeches the  Lor,d to consider that
thou art  a stiffnecked people: lest  1  consume thee  iu His  people is this people and finally ends his prayer
the way."                                                       svith the petition that the Lord takes them  a.s His in-
   Must the Lord be understood here to mean  t,hat  the         heritance.
children of Israel, because of their great sin, have              Consider that Moses' immediate departure with his
ceased to be His particular people and are now no more people would  sp611  the suspension of legislation, and  of
to Him than the other nations; that thus, though  He the erection of the tabernacle's0 that had lsrael imme-
will do for them what He did for the others, to wit,            diately gone up, it would have had to do without that
destroy  Liefore   t.hem their enemies  an.d cause them Lo instrument (the law and the service) through  whicn
                                                                the covenant communion of the Lord and His people
possess the promised land of their destination, He  wiil
not henceforth lead them by His very presence  or was to be exercised.
face in token that He is their friend, the God of  theil          The communication however is not as doleful  ~1s  ib
salvation? `Let us see. If this second communication appears  on  the surface.               1.f carefully examined and
                                                                understood it will be found to yield considerable en-
of the Lord is to be understood, the first thing  t,o  be
done is to discover the relation between the various couragement to Moses and the faithful in  israel. Mark
clauses  of which  it is comprised. Reading this scrip-         CJnCe   `ma!  the  Sth?nient, "And I -will send an angel
                                                                before thee; and I will drive out  t,he Canaanite . . .  ."
ture,  (the  tirst three verses of chapter  33) with  GUA-
tion we perceive that the second verse is to be express-        As has already been pointed out in a previous article,
                                                                this angel was not to be an ordinary angel, now for the
ed  in a parenthesis in that it is plainly a clause, in-
serted  m a sentence. This sentence is verses one  :mci         iirst time to  all&ear on the stage of Israel's -`history,
three. This is plain.  Ver,se three sets out with "unto but the very angel who had been leading them from
a land flowing with milk and honey". Verse two  t?ntls          the time they had left Egypt, to wit, the Angel  of  ihe
with, "And  1 will drive out the Canaanite".  Betwee:i          Lord, the pillar of cloud, also called the Lord's face,
these two clauses, certainly, there is not the  slightrzt       t.)t* presence.
coherence. Such a statement as "I will drive  out  the             Now this angel (the angel of the  T,ord) was  i.he
Canaanites unto a land flowing with milk and honey"             ;  isible token of the redeeming and saving presence of
simply yields no sense. Verse three, then, must  bc the Triune Jehovah. It was through this cloud  thai
joined directly to verse one. These `two verses  form  :!       the Lord looked to the host of the Egyptians and
close unity and the thought conveyed is to be expressed troubled it. It was from out of the pillar of cloud that
thus, "Depart thou, Moses alone, that is, depart with-          He communicated  with'Moses,  His servant. The voice
out my face, my presence (the Angel of the  Lor,d,  the of the ten  wopds (commandments) had come to Israel
pillar of cloud)  a,s thy personal guide, who until  110~       from out of the pillar of cloud, resting on the summit
went up in thy midst as thy  leade?)  . Depart thou then of the mountain. The pillar of cloud  wa+s the radiance
alone and go up  hence! thou and the people . . . . unto        of the Lord's goodness and thus the very face in  whicil
the land which I sware unto Abraham . . . . saying,              Israel beheld His glory, the glory of the God and
unto thy seed will I give it: unto a land flowing witn          Father. of our Lord Jesus Christ.           By  t,he cloud
milk and honey (verse  three')  ; depart thou alone  ;  fog spreading itself out over their heads,  t.hey were being
 1, that is my face, my presence, (the pillar of  cloudj        shielded against the withering heat of the desert sun.
 will not as heretofore go up in the midst of thee  t;!          `How evident that the pillar of cloud (His very  facej
lead  thee(  for  thou art a stiffnecked  peoplei ; lest 1      was the type and shadow of the Christ.
consume thee in the way." That the saying of the                   Now it is this very pillar of cloud who will drive
Lord, "Depart and go up hence,"' is equivalent in mean- out the Canaanite. What else can this mean than that,
 ing. to the statement, "Depart  t,hou without my  prc- thoggh for a season they will have to do without the
sence to lead thee," is  evi,dent from the casual clause, companionship of the Lord, they will nevertheless
 "for I will not go up in the midst of thee." And what press on  as a people with a Saviour, that thus the  Lo14
 now is the thought expressed in the parenthesis? Ap- will continue to be  for them.
 parently this, that the Lord will do no more for them             Nightly considered, then, He will do much more for
 ,than what He did for the other nations; all He will do         them than for the other nations. What He did for the
 is to destroy their enemies before them and cause  them Ammo&es   and  even for the children of Esau is to de-
 t,o possess the promised land. At least apparently  then stroy their enemies by His invisible power operating
 the Lord through this doleful announcement lowers the through car-thy agents. What He will do for  His
 status of His people to that of the other nations.  Yeem-       people is  t,o drive out their enemies by Ris gracious
 ingly He now makes known  t,o them that He disowns might operating through His angel. Thus, though for
 them as His peculiar treasure. That Moses discovers the moment He threatens to disown them, He will con-
 in the communication precisely this meaning is evident tinue to cherish them in love, in that same love through


                                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 L,01
                                                                             ..-_-"  "-II__              ^..._ - "^^               .^___II-.-
_""." ..." .._......  -^ -----._..... ----"
hbney : for 1. will not go up in the midst of thee; for                       from this that he beseeches  t.he  Lor,d  t,o consider  thxi
thou art  a  stiffnecked people: lest 1 consume thee in                       His people is this people and finally ends his prayer
the  w a y . "                                                                with the petition that the Lord takes them  tr$;  His in-
    Must the Lord be understood here to                                       heritance.
                                                          mem  that  :Lhc
children of Israel, because of their great sin,  Ihave                                Consider that Moses' immediate departure with his
ceased to be His particular people and are now no more                        people would spell the suspension of legislation, and of
to Him than the other nations; that thus, though  Iie the erection of the  tabernacle'so  that had Israel imme-
will do for them what He did for the others, to  ,wvit,                       diately gone up, it would have had to do without that
destroy before them their enemies  an,d cause them Lo instrument (the law and the service) through  whicn
possess the promised land of their destination, He will the covenant communion of the Lord and His people
not henceforth lead them by His very presence or was to be exercised.
face in token that He is their friend, the God of their                               The communication however is not as doleful  :LS  ib
salvation? Let us see. If this second communication appears on the surface.                                    If carefully examined  md
of  bhe Lord is to be understood, the first thing to  he                      understood it will be  found to yield considerable en-,
done is to discover the relation between the various couragement to Moses and the faithful in  israel. Mark
&uses of which it is comprised. Reading this scrip- once more the statement, ".And I will send an angel
ture, (the first three verses of chapter  33) with  C;~LL-                    before thee; and  1 will drive out the Canaanite . , .  ."
tion we perceive that the second verse is to be express-                       dt 
                                                                              e-00 has already been pointed  out in a  ,previous article,
ed in  a parenthesis in that it is plainly  u clause, in-                     this angel was not to be  an ordinary angel, now for the
serted  in a sentence. This sentence is verses one  :tncl                     first time to  ZipFear  on  the stage of  lsrael's `history,
thee. This is plain. Verse  t.hree sets out with "unto but the  very angel who had been leading them from
:t land flowing with milk and honey". Verse two  ends the time they had left Egypt, to wit, the Angel of  the
with, "And I will drive out the  C!anaanite".   Betwee:1                       Lord, the pillar of cloud, also called the `Lord's face,
these two clauses, certainly, there is not the slightest                      or presence.
coherence. Such a statement  as "1 will drive out the                                 Now this angel (the angel of the Lord) was  :Ihe
Canaanites unto a land flowing with milk and honey"                           visible token of the redeeming and saving presence of
simply yields no sense.                        Verse three, then, must be the Triune Jehovah.              It was through this cloud  that
;ioined directly to verse one. These `two verses form  :! the Lord looked to the host of the `Egyptians and
close unity and the thought conveyed is to be expressed troubled it. It was from out of the pillar of cloud that
thus, "Depart thou, Moses alone, that is, depart with-                        He communicated  with'Moses,  His servant. The voice
out my face, my presence (the Angel of the Lord,  ihe of the ten words (commandments) had come to  .Israel
pillar of cloud) as thy personal guide, who until  non from out of  t.he pillar of  c!loud, resting on the summit
went up in thy midst as thy  leadeyj  . Depart thou then of the mountain. The pillar of cloud  wa+s  t,he  radiance
alone and go up hence, thou and the people . . . . unto of the Lord's goodness and thus the  very  face in which
the land which I sware unto Abraham . . . . saying,                            Israel beheld His glory, the glory of the God and
 unto thy seed will I give it; unto a land flowing witn                        Father. of our Lord Jesus Christ.            By the cloud
 milk and honey (verse three) ; depart thou alone; for                         spreading itself  out  over their heads, they were being
 I, that is my face, my presence (the pillar of  cloud  j                      shielded against the withering heat of the desert sun.
 will not  as heretofore go up in the midst of thee to How evident that  the pillar of cloud (His very  facej
 lead  thee( for thou art a stiffnecked people') ; lest 1                     `was the type and shadow of the Christ.
 consume thee in the way." That the saying of the                                     Now it is  t.his very pillar of cloud who will drive
 Lord, "Depart and go up hence," is equivalent in mean-                        out the Canaanite. What else can this mean than that,
 ing. to the statement, "Depart thou without  my  i-Jr+ thovgh for a season they will have to do without the
 sence to lead thee," is  evi,dent from the casual  i:lause, companionship of the Lord, they will nevertheless
 "for I will not go up in the midst of  t,hee." And what                       press on  tti a people with a  Saviour, that thus the  Lord
 now is the thought expressed in the parenthesis'! Ap- will continue to be for them.
 parently this, that the Lord will do no more for them                                Rightly considered, then, He will do much more for
 than  what He did for the other nations;  all He will do                      them than for the other nations. What He did for the
 is to destroy their enemies before them and cause  them                       Ammonites and even for the children of Esau is to de-
 to possess the promised land. At least apparently then stroy  t,heir enemies by  E-Iis invisible power operating
 the Lord through this doleful announcement lowers the through earthy agents. What He will do for  His
 status of His people to that of the other nations. Seem- people is to drive out their enemies by His gracious
 ingly He now makes known to them that He disowns might operating through His angel. Thus, though for
 them as His peculiar treasure. That Moses discovers the moment He threatens to disown them, He will con-
 in the communication precisely this meaning is evident tinue to cherish them in love, in that same love through
                          -_


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D  EEARER                                                     33
                                    -... ^^ ..." ..-.-~ ".^-"____-."-_--  -.-- ~.._____11_-  ^.l____ll__l".-  .--. -..
  Let us now examine more closely the Word of the               found grace in His sight. Deprived of His presence
Lord, "My face shall go with thee and I will give  iihee        they  were  doomed and cursed and might as well perish
rest." What is to be understood by the face (trans- in the desert as to be made to possess the promised
lated presence) of the Lord? And the answer: that               land.
visible radiance of all the goodness of his invisible              Moses understood this.         Said he therefore to the
being or essense.       This face was thus the pillar of Lord, "lf thy presence go not, carry us not up hence.
cloud and the pillar of fire, also called the angel of the      For wherein shall it be known that  I and thy people
Lord, that went before the marching Israelitish host            have found grace in thy sight? It. is not in that Thou
and that reposed between the cherubim during the  rest- goest with us  ? So shall we be separated,  I and thy
periods of Israel's wanderings in the desert. It was            people, from all the people that are upon the face of
in the face of this cloud, as was said, that Israel be- the earth."
held His glory. But this, however, is not enough said.             And the Lord replies, "I will do this thing that thou
Rightly considered, the face of Jehovah was that pil-           hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight,
lar of cloud in conjunction with the entire law to-             and I know thee by name." "T will go with thee and
gether with the whole typical-symbolical apparatus              be thy God, I, my face, to lead and to forgive and to
(the tabernacle- and its furniture and service) con- bless thee and  t.hy people, and to give thee in my love,
cerned in the performance of Israel's service. Also in rest. For thou and thy people I know in love: for I
the face of the type and the symbol the glory of the            know thee by name, by My name impressed upon thy
Lord was visible. Now in the Old Testament Dispen- mind and heart and being."
sation, the law, the type, was one, the pillar of cloud            Encouraged and cheered by the Lord's gracious
another. But Christ, the two merge and are one,  :R words, Moses again speaks, "I beseech thee, show me
He is the fulfillment of the law and the effulgence of the thy glory." Does Moses here proceed farther then he
Father's glory.                                                 should? Is he now being carried beyond due bounds
  Now Jehovah was also actually present in the pillar and is he longing for more than is lawful? Such is
of cloud and in His law. Through the pillar of cloud the view of some. It is hard to see that Moses here
He revealed Himself; from out of this cloud, He ad- -proceeds farther than he should. If he does, the Lord
dressed His people. The cloud was the very seat of can be expected to rebuke him. But so far is He from
`His power and grace. In that cloud all fulness dwelt.           rebuking His servant, that He grants him his desire.
And so, too, was Jehovah in His law. The law  t,here-            Considering the state of perplexity of Moses' mind,
fore cursed and blessed. It was in connection with it would be surprising if he had not come with this
the strict observance of the law, that Jehovah par- petition.
doned and saved, gave to His people confidence toward
Him, gave them testimony that they were just in His                In substance, the petition is identical to one already
sight. Both the law and the pillar of cloud therefore made, "Lord show me thy way, that I may know thee."
were in a most actual sense at once the token and                Both petitions arise from the same perplexity, from
pledge of His gracious presence. Where these were,               the same burning desire to be raised to a vantage point
there was Jehovah.                                               whose height will allow him to look down upon the
   In the light of these observations, it will be seen that      way of the Lord and see where it leads, that He may
Jehovah's face or presence was Israel's very Saviour. know God, know Him better and with a mind flooded
 It was this face or presence that had redeemed them.            with this knowledge be able to somewhat fathom the
 By this face they were exalted and crowned with depth of  t,he riches both of the wisdom and knowledge
 glory. The brightness of this face was the true  brea,d of God.
 of their soul. For  t,his face was Christ. And it was in           It ought to be plain that the  pet.ition  "Show me
 this face that the triune Jehovah dwelt in their midst thy glory," is but the petition, "Show me t.hy way,"
 as their salvation.                                             repeated. God's way is the glass through  ,which His
   Now it was this Face, their Saviour, Who refused to glory is seen, so that, to see this way is  t)o behold His
 any longer go up in their midst. It. can be understood glory. Both petitions spring from  the  me  need to see
 that the people mourned when they heard this. It  was more of God.
 their very Salvation of Whom, to the best of their                 But  why  should the question be repeated. Because the
 knowledge, they were to be deprived.  Th.ey were  to            Lord seemed to have taken no notice of it, the first time
 lose the gracious, redeeming, and blessing Presence             it was made. Mark once more  the  extent of the Lord's
 of their God, the possession of which brought them               reply, "T will  go with thee and give thee (and  thy
 forward as a people singularly favored and set them people) rest." This  reply has a direct bearing only
 apart from all  the  nations of the earth. It was this on the complaint, "Thou hast not let me know whom
 presence,  going  with them and  dwelling   in their midst, thou wilt send with me." Whether the Lord will also
that was to them the pledge and the token that they               show Moses His way, He did not say. So Moses, after


34                                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   R E A R E R
                                         .--... "-.^ "- - - _I_ ..-..- "___l  ..-.-..... - .- _ - --  "-"  ..-  - I_ -.,..._..-.... .__ -_    _.
the Lord has done speaking, repeats in substance the world.                                        Their is a light-the  efl'ulgence of His  vir-
petition previously made. Says he to the Lord, "Show t.ues in their totality,--accessible to no man but to  God
me Thy glory."                                                                        only. It is a light in which He alone dwelleth.
   The request is now granted. Said the Lord to Moses,                                    The act of God consisting in His giving visibility to
"I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and  1                                  His glory is accompanied by another act of His con-
will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and sisting in His proclaiming by the spoken word His
i  will be gracious to whom 1 will be gracious, and will name in the audience of His servant. Without this
shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy." But  the latter  act  t.he revelation would not be complete. The
Lord immediately adds, "Thou  can& not see my face:                                    ear as well as the eye must be addressed, if Moses is
for there shall. no man see me and live." So the Lord to be actually benefited. As the symbol by itself is
bade Moses to station himself upon a rock. Putting mute, so, too,  the  light that shines forth from God's
Moses on a cliff of the rock, the Lord covered him with being. As the symbol,  it calls for  the  explanatory
His hand, while He, His glory, passed by. Thereupon word. This word is not lacking here.  I.t is actually
the Lord removed His hand, and Moses saw Wis  ba.ck                                   twice given: first when the Lord  saEd, "And I will he
parts, but His face he did not see.                                                   gracious to whom  1' will be gracious, and will  show
                                                                                       mercy on whom I will show mercy" and again when the
   This reply and doing of the Lord need not at  all per- Lord, passing  by  before Moses declared, "The Lord,
plex and mystify one. What the Lord does here in the Lord God, merciful and gracious,  longsuffering;
response to Moses' petition is to give to all His essen- and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping  mercy
tial goodness, to the aggregate of His virtues or glories for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression
(attributes) a visibility of exceptional and unprece- and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty;
dented brightness. What is here being seen by this                                    visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children,
servant of the Lord is what constitutes true beauty, and upon the children's  ch.ildren, unto the third and to
to wit, the effulgence "uitstraling" of true and perfect                              the fourth generation."
goodness. The three disciples of the Lord were simi-                                      What have we here? In substance the  doct,rine con-
larly favored when  th.ey saw on the mount of  t.rans-                                tained in the seventh chapter of the epistle to the  Ro-
figuration the countenance and raiment of Christ as mans, "Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will
white  an,d glistening.               Then, they, too, so we read, have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth,"
beheld His glory. .After suffering a temporary  ccIipse,                                                                                                           It
                                                                                      is exactly in this work of God, accomplished in  and
the glory of Christ again shown forth in its full splen- through Christ, that all His glory is seen.  .And the
d o r   o n   t h e   d a y   o f   H i s   c r o w n i n g .    so, too,  pt.        glory that Moses was given to behold as he stood in  the
the return of Christ, will the righteousness, the cliff of the rock was the radiance of the virtues of
true goodness, of t-he church, of Zion, be made God Call His virtues) of which fhe above work is in-
to go forth  as brightness, and  th.e salvation thereof deed the accomplishment. As will be made plain in
as a lamp that burneth." Isa. 62 :I. The life of Zion a following article,  t.he revelation received is precise15
is now hid with Christ in God. When Christ, Who is the one Moses had need of.
`her life, shall appear, then shall she also appear with
him*  in Glory.                                                                                                                                     G. M.  0.
   Now the  glory of the Lord has been seen all along in                                                               -.--
the face of  the  Pillar of cloud. But what `Moses here
receives is  a brighter and clearer vision of God. `Yet
what he sees is not the face of the Lord, but His back                                                             IN MEMQRIAM
parts, that is, not His glory in its full brilliancy--+                                    We  mourn the passing, in the  early morning  of  Septem-
glory that no man can see and live and that God's eyes                                bcr 24, of  OLII-   husband, father, son and hr.other
only can endure-but the lingering splendor of its                                                                   H E R T   ROEREMA
effects,  the face  of God's face. Who can see God in
His frightfully glorious appearance and dominion with-
out being crushed and snatched  away  from earth! So
what  Moses now receives is a revelation according  i-o
the measure of his  eapacit.y. Thus  the  hand of  God                                                                     iUr.  and Mrs.  Irving  H. Cramer
covers his eyes with night and darkness while  the                                                                                  `with one grandchild
heavenly day of God's glory passes by.                                                                                      MI*.   itrId  MM.  (`harks  `E.  Haercma
   Now  t.he revelation of Jehovah in His glory is ful-                                                                    Mr  a n d   M r s .   Klaas  Hoerema
filled in Christ. But from this it does not follow that                                                                            Brothers and Sisters
the view denied Moses will be realized in  t.he other                                            Grand Rapids,  Mich.


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  47
_ -  _"..""   ..-       .^_---  _._. -    -.....-. -_.             -..._.- _.._-... _-          __--..-  ..- -.-I_        _--__--
de  belijdenis te houden en wnt  ,daarmede in strijd is                  But try as  `1 may, I can find no such a lad in this
te herroepen, (wat men in dit opzich in 1921  verkeer- record. What is there in the early life of Joseph that
delijk heeft aangenomen in de Drie  Punten).  *Een will justify the above description of him? His going
herroepen van deze  punten  zou `een nader bij  clkan-                   about in that tunic (the coat of many colors) his father
der komen' in de hand werken.                                            gave him? Or his telling those dreams to them? As-
   Waar we dus bij huis zijn begonnen,  daar  kunncu                     suredly not. Yet, other evidence that there smoldered
we ans rechtens dan ook tot de Gereformeerde Kerken                      in his breast a vile ambition there is not. '
wenden in Nederland. We zijn zuiver in de leer cn                           To say that the above description of him is true is
goed  G e r e f o r m e e r d   e n   s t a a n   m e t   b e i d e   v o e t e n to agree with the opinion of his own brothers con-
op de aloude Belijdenis. Dat is zelfs het getuigenis cerning him. But his brothers hated him, because he
der Kerken (officieel) waartoe we vroeger hehoorden. was more righteous than they, and because, being
Misschien kon het ook nog  wei zoo, dat de  Gerefor-                     righteous, he testified against their evil doings. He
meerden in Nederland er bij de Chr. Geref. in  Ameri- brought unto his father their evil report. The evi-
ka op aandrongen, om die eenheid met onze  Protes-                       dence that this was the basic reason for their hating
tantsche Gereformeerde Kerken te  zoeken,  ook al  be- him is evident from this, that the statement that  he-
gonnen de kerken alhier dan maar om met ons te  doen,                    brought to Jacob their evil report precedes the state-
wat wij tegenover hen  al  voor  ,jaren  gedaan hebben.                  ment to the effect that they hated him when they saw
                                                                         that their father loved him more than all his brothers.
   Dan bleven er geen moeilijkheden meer over op dit                        They hated him, further, because of his dreams,
punt.                                                                    which he told them with marked frankness. What is
                                                          w. v.          there that can be brought forward to substantiate the
                                                                         view that it was sheer vanity that prompted him to dis-
                                                                         close to them his revelations? What lad of his age
                                                                          (he was only seventeen years old at the time) dream-
                                                                         ing such remarkable dreams would not have felt con-
                           W r o n g                                     strained to tell them to his family? True, it would
   "The Road to Glory" is the caption of Rev. J.  &I.                    have been more discreet, on his part, had he confided
Ghysel's meditation in "The Banner" for Oct. 9,  1936.                   in his father only.
In this writing one comes upon statements about Jo-                         But even his father suspicioned him. "What makest
seph's person that deserve to be labeled doubtful.                       thou thyself," said he to the lad, after having  !istened
                                                                         to his second dream, "shall I and thy mother and thy
   I quote:                                                              brethren indeed come to bow ourselves to thee to the
       "When you think of Joseph's life, you remember earth?"
       that he wanted to have preeminence over all  1115                    Consider that ordinarily the image that appears be-
       brothers and over his parents.                                    fore the mind during  sleep is merely the projection of
       "He wanted to overtop them all.                                   a train of thought that the dreamer during his waking
       "That was his ambition.                                           hours has been following, so that. in the case of ordi-
       "He is his father's favorite son.                                 nary dreams, the dream is the man, and may be taken
       "He wears the coat of many colors.                                as an, index to the thoughts and intents of the heart
       "`He receives dreams from on high that make of the man and as the gage of his aspirations. The
       him sure of preeminence."                                         first thought that came to Jacob was that Joseph's,
   In the sequence the author speaks of "the selfish dreams were of this character.                              He therefore found
ambition of Joseph Himself."                                             it necessary to rebuke him to his face, to admonish
   Here then Joseph is brought forward as a vain and him to put off his vanity. We imagine, however, that
selfish youth, lusting like an Alexander the Great after even while uttering this rebuke, Jacob's heart smote
power, aspiring to a place of preeminence in his clan,                   him in that this son had always impressed him as
as a youth with a soul aflame with worldly ambition being a humble, gracious and upright youth. It there-
that was firing him to overtop them all, even his fore also  occured to Jacob that Joseph's dreams might
parents. And to this worldling God made known that have been of the Lord, and that thus what accounted
his ambition would be realized.                                          for his having dreamt them is not that in his waking
   "When you think of Joseph's life," wrote the hours he had `been strutting about with himself before
reverend, "you remember-remember that this is the his eye as the future lord of his clan, as a most extra-
kind of a lad or youth he was. Now thinking of Jo- ordinary personage. We read of Jacob that he pon-
seph, I, for one, can remember nothing of this.  So                      dered the sayings of his son.
1 again scan the record of Joseph's early career to                          If some men are holier than others and if there be
refreshen my memory. It may have suffered a lapse. still another class of believers comprised of the holiest


48                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
      -.____-...                                                                                -lll_.-..       _..-..^__
of men, then Joseph, I would say, belongs to the third ambition as well. Consider that she was  a woman of
class. He is one of the most remarkable saints  that         high rank with a word that in all likelihood had weight
appear on the stage of sacred history, the kind of  a in the circle in which she moved. Had  <Joseph yielded,
Christian that will again restore your faith in  -Lhe she might have become his willing slave to do his bid-
power of God to save a man from all his sins.                ding. With her lust secretly appeased, could she not
  This, of course, is not saying that Joseph was im- be expected to prevail upon her husband to set  the
peccable, that there lurked in his bosom no pride  and       Hebrew free and to present him to the king as a man
that this pride would not bestir  itseif when  Josepn exceptionally wise and able? Here then the opportun-
contemplated his dreams. Joseph, too, was a man  bjr ity presents itself to him to gain through a woman, If
nature dead through sins and trespasses and sin.  -As not the high objective of his dreams, then at least his
a saint he, too, had but a small beginning of true obe-      freedom. An unprincipled man would have reasoned
dience.                                                      thus : My dreams were not of God but merely the
  Said Paul of himself, "And lest I should be exalted nocturnal and strange representations of what my soul
above measure through the abundance of revelations, desired, namely, power and fame. I see this now.
there was given me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger Why then should I pass this opportunity by.             Let me
of Satan to buffet me, lest  I should be exalted above take what now lies within the range of my grasp,  -
measure."     But who would think of describing Paul freedom and perhaps advancement in Pharaoh's king,
as a vain, proud man, lusting after honor. Paul was          dom.
a Christian. Joseph, too, was a Christian. Though              Such a man was Joseph. But he, too, had to be
but seventeen years old, he was the one champion of perfected through suffering.                  ,          G. M. 0
righteousness in Jacob's family, the prophet of the
most high God, His friend. The secrets of the Lord                                 -
are with this youth. As God's prophet, he prophesied                        Sower and Reaper
and rebuked evil. For this he was hated and despised
by his brethren, misunderstood by his father and final-        Mrs. D. J. of Grand Rapids, Mich., asks:
ly  debvered to the heathen by his own.                        Will you explain John  4:36?  Who are the reapers
  His brethren hated and envied him. In their  hearts        spoken of and what is meant by the wages and the
they knew that he was worthy of the elevation of             fruit? Are sowers and reapers the same?
which his dreams were prophetic. What they should
have done is to take home to their hearts his rebuke,          Answer :
forsake their sins and ponder his dreams. Instead              There are, indeed, different interpretations of John
they resented his reproof, hated his person, miscon-         4:36, but the differences do not concern the questions
strued his revelations. They begrudged him the  favor        concerning sowers and reapers, wages and fruit. IL
of heaven.                                                   is, I think plain from vs. 38 that the reaper in this
  As I once wrote: One loves to linger at the life  we case represents the disciples, though in a broader sense
have been considering. The longer we ponder this life, it may be applied to all that preach the gospel in the
the clearer we see its power as the power of a man in        N. T. day. It is also evident from the context that
whom the Almighty wrought wonderfully unto His               the sower is principally Christ, though, in the light  of
everlasting glory. That faith of Joseph, how vital  and      vs. 38 (other men labored) I am inclined to include
abiding ! No trial, however fiery, was able to shake the prophets of the 0. T. day through whom Christ
his conviction that God was for him and through  a!1 labored. The gatherings of the fruit unto life eternal
his afflictions was leading him on  - to glory. How refers to the fact that the disciples will be privileged
marked his ability to lay hold on the promise, pro-          to be instrumental in gathering in the fruit of  the
claimed by his juvenile dreams, that in the end all Spirit in the conversion of Jew and Samaritan and
would be well with him. How strikingly his career            Gentile, and the joy of this in gathering together with
demonstrates that a young man cleanses his way by the eternal reward of grace connected with it is their
taking heed according to God's work. Consider once           wages.
more the determined resistance he offered the tempt-                                                         H.  H;
ress in Potiphar's house. There are certain aspects                          CORRESPONDENTIE
about this trial we failed to bring out properly. Though
the manager of  Potiphar"s  estate, he was after all but       "Een lezer" zond een vraag in, die niet onderteekend
a slave, so that his position in this house, though high,    was.  Alle vragen  moeten onderteekend zijn met  den
was the very reverse of the high dignity suggested           naam van den inzender. Anders kunnen ze niet bean  t-
by his dreams. Then the temptress spoke. It must woord  worden.
not be imagined that her petition was of a kind that           Enkele vragen moesten wachten tot een volgende
would appeal to sensuous nature only and not to carnal       keer.                                            H.H.


