                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                      393
            ------------ll_
                   As To Books                                proved useful to the average minister or thoughful
                                                              student of the New Testament. It will probably lend
   Sermons on Baptism and the Lord's Supper, edited           itself to use in the average college course in New
                                                              Testament or a seminary course in New `Testament in-
by the Rev. H. J. &riper.                                     troduction; it would serve as a summary treatment for
          Zondervan Publ. House, Grand Rapids, Mich.          the more detailed courses. in the field. If it is used in
                                                              lwdership  training classes, the leacher should select
   This book is a continuation of the volume of ser-          those parts that the time at hand and the preparation
mons on  "The Apostle's Creed," which we reviewed             of th.e studJents may allow; other parts may be used
some time ago. It contains seven sermons by as many as parallel reading". With this we agree, except that
ministers of the Reformed and Christian Reformed              Dr. Cartledge  to my mind does not offer any material
Churches on the "Means of Grace" and "Christian with which the average minister is not or ought not to
Disicipline". The sermons follow the Heidelberg Cate- be acquainted.
chism, Lord's Days 25-31.                                        While we recommend this book to the average
   The good and bad features of all literature of this        student of the New Testament, we do not of course
kind, to which we referred in our review of the former        endorse all the statements of the author. When the
volume, also characterize this volume.                        author writes that the influence of the Pagan religion
   With statements like the following I do not agree:         was such that they had made the gentile world "con-
"Our lack of faith and our inability to believe should        scious of the problem of sin, desirous of obtaining
so drive us into a corner *that in the anguish of our soul    salvation in this life and the life to come . . . . made
we learn to cry olut, "God, be merciful to me a sinner."      men want the things Christianity could give", p. 56,
p. 27. I consider this pure nonsense, often repeated          we do not agree. Nor, it seems to me does the author
from some pulpits, indeed, but nonsense nevertheless.         firmly maintain the conservative standpoint, when he
How can luck of  faith  amd  &ability  &I  belime  "drive     writes  : "The Conservative admits the  possibility  (I
us into a corner" and make anyone cry out: God be             underscore, H. H.) of the miraculous ; he believes that
merciful to me a sinner?                                      it is scientifically and philosophically possible. He ap-
   The proof-reading should have been done more plies the tests of historical science to the gospels and
carefully. On  p. 22 an entire paragraph is repeated.         comes to have a high respect for their historicity. He
   Let the reader read with discretion.                       has no a priori reaso.ns  for disbelieving the gospels,
                                                H. H.         and the positive evidence leads him to believe that they
                                                              paint a true picture of Jesus. After a study of all the
                                                              competing theories, he comes to the conclusion that the
                                                              best explanation of all the facts is that Jesus was what
   A Conservative Introduction To The New Testa-              the gospel said that he  was."p.  30. This to my notion
ment, by Samuel A. Cartledge.                                 is not the conservative standpoint. Faith in the mira-
                                                              culous has nothing to do with admitting the possibility
          Zondervan Publ. House, Grand Rapids, Mich.          of it, or with scientific or philosophical demonstration
                                                              of its possibility. Nor does any believer come to the
   This book is exactly what the title indicates;, an         conclusion that the gospels present us, with a true
introduction to the New Testament from the viewpoint          picture of Jesus in the way <of comparative study  of
of a conservative Christian scholar, who accepts the          competing theories.
Scriptures as the inspired Word of God. It is divided            But the book contains much valuable material for
into a General Introduction, treating of the principles the inquiring student of the New Testament.
of inspiration, the Greek text of Scripture, the Canon
and language of the New Testament and (in a some-                Let him, then, read this book with proper dis-
what awkward position) the pagan religions in the             cretion.                                       H. H.
Roman Empire ; a Special Introduction, treating of the
different books of the New Testament; and an Appen-
dix, containing a few essays on N. T. Chronology, the
Miraculous in the N. T. and the Inspiration of the                A Virtuous Woman, by the Rev. Oscar Lowry!...%`7  t
Bible.
   The book was designed to be read not merely by
scholars in the narrower sense of the word, but also             This is a book of an entirely~ffe~e~`~~~~~~d"ithan
by the m,ore general student of the Bible. I think it those mentioned in the pre~~~ifi~`~~~~~;.""Y?ik"trlt~~
is very readable by all that are acquainted with Scrip- does not entirely cover the' t%&&YtB. "Tli& %ok' r%th'&
ture and interested in Bible study. In the introduction deals with the sex-question in genercdl:"dr~~dth~ei-hore
the author writes: "It is hoped that this book may be particularly, is intended to be a warning against  var-'

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

ious forms of sexual sins and vices. It offers a rather
vivid picture  of the many evils and corruptions  that                    Edgerton Organized
are prevalent in and corrupt modern life in this re-            As the firstfruits of our  latent missionary  effurts
spect.
   As a warning against these sins it may serve a            stands the Protestant Reformed Church of Edgerton,
good purpose.                                                Minnesota, organized on April 11 with  16 families.
   It appears to me: 1. That the author over-                   This organization comes as a divine seal upon the
emphasizes ignorance as  `one of the chief causes of calling of Rev.  .B. Kok as home missionary of our
modern sexual corruption ; 2. That it appeals rather         Churches. Slightly more than a year ago Rev. Kok
too much to a fear of results and too little to the fear accepted the call extended to him from the First Pro-
of God in Christ to reach the purpose of turning men testant Reformed Church of Grand Rapids,  Mich.,
away from  this sin. 3. That the book contains too           which is the calling Church, and assumed his duties
many vivid and gruesome stories of concrete instances by laboring in the neighborhood of our established
of this sin and its awful consequences. 3. That  aaa         Churches in Michigan and Illinois. The work was en-
could not very well, on the basis of Scripture, agree        tirely new, not only for the Mission Committee that
with what the author has to say on the pre-natal in-         labored in conjunction with the Fuller Ave., consistory,
fluence of the mother on the character of the child.         but also especially for the missionary. A new and
   But the book impresses us with the need of con-           difficult task rested on his shoulders, so that the work
stant instruction of the youth in the fear of the Lord.      of the first few months was necessarily. a matter of
                                              H. H.          experiment. An added difficulty soon manifested it-
                                                             self in the fact that his first efforts met only with
                                                             silent rebuff. Very evidently those whom he tried
                                                             to reach had become so superficially lax that they
   The Divine Inspiration of the Bible, by Arthur W.         lacked the interest to come out to hear him, much less
Pink.                                                        to distinguish the Truth of the Word of God. Every
                                                             attempt to create interest or to spur on to investiga-
          Zondervan Publ. House, Grand Rapids, Mich.         tion was simply ignored. But if Rev. Kok was dis-
                                                             couraged with his reception thus far, it was a pleasant
   A very  beautifu1  little book (ninety pages), beauti-    reaction to f?.nd an active interest in a new field in
fully written, containing many new viewpoints or old         Edgerton,  Minn. It was in September that he first
viewpoints newly put.     Of its contents the reader         came to this community and immediately he found
may obtain an impression from the following para-            response. An open door was given to him to bring and
graph, which we quote from the introduction: "If the         expound the truth of God's Sovereign Grace. These
Bible is the Word of God ; if it stands on an infinitely     people had been kept in ignorance of the issue which
exalted plane, all alone; if it immeasurably tran-           had stirred the Church in 1924. And the responsibility
scends all the greatest productions of human genius ;        of this fact must be laid at the door  of  the ministers.
then we should naturally expect to find that it has          Many knew nothing at all of the contents of the Three
unique credentials, that there are internal marks which      Points or of the reason why Rev. Hoeksema and Rev.
prove it to be the handiwork of God, that there is con-      Ophoff were deposed from office and thereby placed
clusive evidence to show that its Author is super-           outside of the Christian Reformed Church. Yet many
human, Divine. That these expectations are realized          had long felt that there was something  fundamentahy
we shall now endeavor to show; that there is no reason       wrong with the preaching which they heard, so that
whatever to doubt the Divine inspiration of the Scrip-       the preaching of Rev. Kok proved to be quite a revela-
tures is the purpose of this book to demonstrate. As         tion to them. A very suitable hall in a perfect loca-
we examine the natural world we find innumerable             tion had been obtained and from the outset the ser-
proofs  of  the existence of a Personal Creator, and the     vices were well attended, The truth of the Word of
same God who has manifested Himself through His              God found response. R.ev. Kok's diligent efforts, friend-
works has also revealed His wisdom and will through ly attitude and warm, undaunted conviction of the
His word. The God of creation and the God of written         truth gave him and the truth a ready place in their
revelation are One, and there are irrefutable argu-          hearts.
ments to show that the Almighty who made the hea-               As early as last January the Fuller Ave., consistory
vens and the earth is also the Author of the Bible".         was asked and consented to grant Rev. Hoeksema one
    The deep reverence for the Scriptures as the Word        Sunday absence from his congregation that he might
of  God and firm conviction of faith expressed in these      speak and preach in Edgerton at about the time when
words is after our own heart.                                they would prove ready for organization. When ar-
    Read this book.                                          rangements were complete, three members of the  Mis-
                                               H.  1-I.      sion Committee, Mr. N. Yonker, Rev. P. De Boer and


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       395
L..         .~-"...-                          --                              --_                           ..-____
undersigned, were delegated to accompany Rev. Hoek-          from the letter addressed to the Church at Smyma.
sema and to assist in the organization.                      But two of these Churches were not reprimanded by
       On the evening of the 6th of April Rev. Hoeksema      the Lord, of which Philadelphia is one and Smyrna is
and the committee for organization arrived in  Edger-        the.other.  Both of these Churches were characterized
ton, just as a late snowstorm struck the community.          by the fact that they were small, even small among the
Although only about 4 inches of snow fell that night         other small Churches, which accounts for it that there
a strong wind continued to blow all the next day,            was no occasion to reprimand them. They were faith-
driving the dry snow on heaps and blocking the roads         ful  ~@XCWX they were small. In the first place, there
so that until the very last it seemed as if the  first       is no doubt a theological reason for this. God has
scheduled lecture for that evening would have to be          chosen the foolish and the weak and the base things
postponed. But in spite of the weather an audience           of this world, that which is naught. The Church does
of about 130 came out and listened with eager atten-         not exist for its own glory, but for the glory of God
tion to a lecture on "Genade Alleen". Some informed Almighty. It has pleased the Lord God to realize His
us that the roads were closing so rapidly that they          greatness in our insignificance, to make perfect His
would not be able to return home that same evening,          strength in our weakness. Besides, there is also a
but their interest was not dampened. On Friday even- spiritual reason why the Church is strong and flour-
ing the audience was almost doubled. The subject for ishes in weakness. A small Church is an object of
this evening was "Het Vloekloon van den Goddeloozen          persecution and scorn. In tribulation and fear and
Weldoener".      The two Sunday services in which Rev.       weakness she must necessarily learn to trust in and
Hoeksema preached attest to the interest aroused.            cling to God. It is when the storm howIs  through its
Especially-in the evening service the hall was filled to     branches that the oak strikes its roots more firmly in
capacity. Also the lecture of Tuesday evening on "Het        the soil and is strengthened. So it is when the storm
Evangelie" was well attended. Surely some came out           of persecution sweeps through the Church that the
of pure curiosity. Others were definitely hostile. But       latter strikes the roots of its faith more deeply into
apenly no one  `so much as attempted to refute the           Christ and draws from Him more consciously the very
truth as it was expounded or to defend the stand of          strength of its life. And finally, there is also a his-
the Christian Reformed Church on the subject of Com-         torical reason. As long as the Church is numerically
mon Grace. And that, even  though  opportunity for           large the carnal element increases. The shame and
debate was offered and publicly announced. The only disgrace according to the flesh is absent and many
definite opposition consisted of small talk, backbiting      affiliate themselves who do not belong with the true
and bitter sarcasm, which made it the more offensive.        Church. They impose their carnal desires upon the
Those who were interested received the Word of God           Church, lead her into the world and to destruction.
with gladness and enjoyed having the Scriptures so But the very opposite was true of the Church at
clearly expounded to them.                                   Smyrna. Because of persecution this danger did not
                                                             exist. There were few who  amliated  themselves for
       But Nonday  evening marked an event long to be        mere carnal reasons.
remembered by those who had taken a stand for the                                    The Church was small but pure.
                                                             And her the Lord admonishes to be faithful unto
Truth. Even then a number met with us, who, al-              death.
though they had as yet not taken a stand, showed a              Faithfulness implies a certain established covenant
warm interest. Rev. De Boer opened the meeting with          relation of friendship and love.
prayer after reading a portion of Acts 20 and the sing-                                          This is true even from
                                                             a natural point of view. The faithfulness between
ing of Ps. 84 : I by the audience. The membership cre-       man and wife, or between a servant and his master im-
dentials of those desiring organization were read, from      plies that there is an established relation of friendship
which it became evident that there were 15 families,         or of contract and agreement between them, whereby
S individuals and a total of 89 souls. Office-bearers        they are controlled in every word and act and deed.
were elected and since no objection was raised against       To be faithful unto God implies a Covenant relation
the chosen brethren they were immediately installed          of friendship and love to God. God is the sole Faith-
into office. Rev.  Ha&o read the form for installation       ful One, for He is Jehovah, the Amen, the Immutable.
and Rev.  Iiok charged the office-bearers and the con- In His own perfect Being the Triune God lives a per-
gregation and closed that part of the service with           fc,:t Covenant life. Father, Son and Holy Spirit each
prayer and thanksgiving. Thereupon the newly organ- live their own divine life of love, loving and seeking
ized congregation listened to a short sermon spoken          one another, faithful always to one another.
by Rev. Hoeksema on Rev. %:lOb: "Be thou Faithful                                                              In that
                                                             divine, eternal life of love God has sovereignly willed
unto Death, and I will give thee a Crown of Life".           to take a people unto Himself in order that they in
       The speaker referred to the fact that this admoni-    a creaturely measure may participate in and reflect
tion is taken from the seven letters of our Lord ad-         that Covenant life. God's faithfulness to that elect
dressed to the seven Churches and more particularly          people reached its highest manifestation on the cross


 396                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
  --.          ____ 
                 --.""..                     II_^  .._                                                    .-.-
 of Christ Jesus, for God so loved the world that He          new congregation. And in the confidence of faith
 gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth          whereby we render unto Him thanks we entrust also
 in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.           this flock to the care of the Shepherd of our souls.
 And God spreads abroad His own faithfulness in the           It is our prayer that the ever-faithful God may bless
 hearts of His people through the work of the Holy            Edgerton  and make them faithful to Him and to His
 Spirit. The admonition is not to become faithful, as         Truth in Christ Jesus. And as they requested our
 if we should do something for God. But rather to             prayers for them, so we extend the request to all of
be faithful in devotion to God by that faithfulness           our Churches. May God bless them, the labors of Rev.
 which He works in us. From that aspect it can be             Kok and the missionary activities of our churches.
 understood why God comes to us with the admonition.          That we may be faithful even unto death and receive
God's Word always comes to us as to moral, rational           the crown of life.
creatures. Be thou faithful ! Moreover, we are still                                                         C. H.
in the flesh with but a small principle of the true
obedience. Our unfaithful, carnal nature abides in the
midst of an unfaithful world. And we have continued
need of the admonition. Therefore also. "Be faithful
unto death". Not merely as if Christ would exhort to
a faithfulness until the hour of death. It is not mere-
ly a phrase denoting extent of time, but it indicates a                     Uit Eigen Gemeente
causal relation between faithfulness and death. Be
faithful even if it would cause physical death. Bear              Het is al weer  twee  jaren   geleden,  dat wij iets
reproach and shame for Christ's sake even if your own         schreven omtrent onze gemeente en onze zuster ge-
life is involved. An admonition which has come to the         meente  te Pella. Wat gaat de tijd  tech verbazend
Church in every period of Reformation.                        snel voorbi j . En het is  w.erkelijk  waar, gelijk de
    And the promise is sure: "I will give thee a crown        ouderen ons altijd voorhielden, dat  naar mate men
of life !" Certainly a strange paradox. It demands            ouder wordt het er  we1 wat op gelijkt, dat het hue
a venture of faith. You lose all at death, but when           langer hoe harder gaat. Verbeelding is het althans
you die Christ gives you life. It is a matter of gaining      niet, want de  Schrift  wijst er telkens op, dat het
a crown of life through death. That life we already           leven .een damp is, de levensspanne niet veel meer dan
possess in principle as the new life in Christ Jesus.         66n etmaal en het leven snellijk wordt afgesneden  en
That which we lose is not that new life, nor even a           dat wij daarheen vliegen.
part of it, but all that belongs to our earthly existence        Geldt dit van ons als personen, het is eveneens waar
and is bound under death. Through death we shall              van de gemeente. Deze zomer, zal D. V. het  tien  jaar
live in the heavenly tabernacle with God. That will           geleden   zijn  sedert  de gemeente tot stand kwam. Of
be given to us as a crown. By which in this connection        we dit feit zullen  herdenken w.eet ik niet, schoon we er
is not meant a royal diadem, but the original speaks of       sterk voor zijn. En ook die tien  jaren  gingen ras
a wreath of victory. Evidently the meaning is: "I will        voorbij. Het is  &of we zoo pas hoorden, dat  Ooka-
give thee eternal life as a crown of victory". Not as if      loosa was georganiseerd, even nadat onze  zusterge-
we shall merit it in our own strength or by our own           meente te Pella in het leven werd geroepen. Och, zoo'
faithfulness, but it is the reward of grace upon Christ's     gaat het feitelijk ook met al onze Kerken,  zoowel als
merit and Christ's victory through us. Christ, Who            met geheel  ens kerkverband. De dagen van 1924 schij-
was dead and is alive, promises it to His Church which        nen al  we1 heel ver weg te liggen, doch veel meer dan
lives in Him and through Him. Let that be your con-           schijn  is dit niet. Leest ge de geschiedenis onzer ker-
fidence.    Your strength is not in becoming strong,          ken, een werk waar vooral  onze jeugd broodnoodig
but in being strong ,in Christ. Be willing to be small        behoefte aan heeft en dat ook wij telkens dienen te
that your eye may be tied uponthe strength and glory          herlezen, dan gaat ge als  op den dag van gisteren, in
of Christ Jesus. Be ye faithful ; of good courage !           den  gee&,  opnieuw de  kerkelijke  vergaderingen  bij-
Christ has overcome the world. And through faithful-          wonen,  van af Classis tot op de Synode van 1924 toe
ness ye shall receive the crown of everlasting life with      en vergeet dan niet zoo heel gauw de vergaderingen
Him.                                                          van de  Classis East and West, waar ten finale het
                                                              begin lag van ons zelfstandig ontstaan.
   With that exhortation of the Word of God  re-echo-                                                     Ge kunt zoo
                                                              in den loop der jaren veel vergeten, vergeten  wat een
ing in t,heir hela.rts! Ihe congregation of Edgerton s,ang    twintig of meer jaren nog al belangrijk scheen, maar
Ps.  134:3  and bowed their heads while the blessing          ge kunt NOOIT vergeten  wat er in de jaren van het
was spoken.                                                   ontstaan heeft plaats gegrepen. Indien dit  we1 het
   We thank our Covenant God for the evidence of His          geval  mocht zijn, dan heeft die geschiedenis al heel
attending grace manifested in the organization of this        weinig beteekenis  voor ons en blijkt daaruit, dat  voor


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D  BEAR&R                                              401
-_ll-_l__---._""                   -.-."~
uittgezochtste  spijzen. Ik verkies dat buven  mijn hoog-
ste genietingen. Al  ligt  ge dan  aan den poort  ds                            Sacrifice Of Blpod
rijken   vol  zweren,   idan  richt ge  uw hart tot Hem  en
zingt met brekende  stemme:  `t Hij,gend  hert der jacht            The foregoing article on this subject contains a list
ontkomen,  schreeuwt  niet  sterker  naar `t  genot;  van        of those sins that could not be atoned by the typical
de frissche waerstro0men  ; dsn mijn ziel verlangt naar          sacrifice. This list was found to include the following
G.od ! En als men u Idan en daar tegen zou werpen :              sins: murder, worshipping of other gods, solicitation
Maar man, ge meet  tech ook leven bier op aarde ! Dan to religious apostacy,  divination or sorcery, sacrifice
is uw  antwoord:  Ik  begeer   vmzadigd  te  worden  met         of children to heathen gods, blasphemy, false prophesy,
de ~kruimkens  die van de &afel  des rijkens  v&en.              desecration of the sabbath, persistent disobedience to
   Als dat licht van Gods aanschijn in uw hart  kumt,            parents, fatal personal injury due to criminal neglect,
dan komt er vreugde in uw hart. Gelijk David zegt :              kidnapping, adultery, rape, unlawful marriages, sodo-
Gij h&t vreugde in mijn hart gegeven.  . . .                     my, bestiality, lack of decency, prostitution, defiance
   En  bet is  oak  we1  iduid.elijk waarom. Want dat            of public tribunals, idolatry, irreverence for the sanc-
Iicht vaagt de nevelen  en de duisternis weg. Ons hart tuary, treacherous assault, taking disadvantage of the
is van nature duisternis, c&t is, kwaad,  leelijk, boos,         helpless, misuse of authority, accepting bribes, remov-
afschuwelijk.    Daar is het gevoel  van schuld; daar is         ing the boundary stone.
bet bewustzijn van den kwaaddoener. Doch ds Gods                    The first 19 sins of this list were, as was said,
4icht in: oilzs hart komt dan wordt het alles and'ers. Dan capital crimes. They were therefore excluded from
zingt men: Gods vriend'lijk aangezicht heeft  vroolijj-          the class that could be covered by the blood of the
heid en licht voor all' .oprechte  harten; ten trooet  ver-      sacrifice. The remaining sins in this list, though they
spreid  in smarten.      De smart van schuld en zonde did not call for capita1 punishment at the hands of the
wordt weggenomen  door dat licht van Gods aangezicht.            authorities in Israel, were nevertheless sins respecting
Herinner u ldat het licht van Gods aangezicht  Jezus is          which it was declared that Jehovah Himself would de-
en centraal  het kruis en ge zult bet verband  zien tus-         stroy the offender, if not immediately, then eventually.
schen de intrede van dat licht ien de wegneming van
uw smart. Dat licht van het krnis ziet de vernieling                It was found that there were only two classes of
van uw schuld en zonde.       En het opent voor uw ver-          sins of which it is  decIared  that they could be atoned.
wondrend oog de heirbaan  naar boven, daarboven bij              The one class was comprised of  s2ns committed unwit-
God.  Daar ziet ge  dat alle uwe  zonden  en  dat  alle          tingly or through carelessness or oversight. Three
schuld der zonde vergeven en  verzoend  is door het              such sins are mentioned in the fifth chapter of the book
Bleed.                                                           of Leviticus. The sins named are: touching any un-
   Daarom  besluit dan  :ook David:  Ik  zal in vrede            clean thing, touching the uncleanness of a man, for-
tezamern, ned'erliggen en  slap.en,  want Gij, Hleere!  zult     getfulness respecting a vow that had been made. The
alleen mij  doen zeker  wonen. En  clat is de  uiteinde-         other class of sins for which the sacrifice could avail
lijke eeuwige verbo,ndsgemeenschap  met den God uwe,r            was the class comprised of sins of weakness and of sins
zaligheden.                                                      committed under the ini-luence  of passion or tempta-
   Ge  zult  wonen  zeker  won'en. Ge  gaat naar huis,           tion and thus not characterized by that settled and
waar nimmer tianen zullen vloeien en waar ge nim-                deliberate malice that marked the presumptuous sins.
merm.e@r  zult zondigen, dat is, het  Huis Gods den rug          Several such sins are mentioned in the fifth and sixth
toekeeren. N,ooit zult ge meer in de duisternis wande-           chapters of the book of Leviticus. The sins named
len en  temidden  van de  vall,eien   derr schaduwen des         are: the withholding of testimony by a witness put
doods. Verlost,  voor eeuwig verlost van de nevelen..            upon oath,  Iying in respect to a thing entrusted to be
    Gaat dan de ruste in, geliefden ! Gaat * in vrede kept, lying and falsely swearing in respect to a thing
tezamen eederliggen en  slapen.  Dat mag nu al in taken away by violence or a thing found that was lost.
`t verschiet  van een eeuwige verlossing.      Ge zijt meer         As has already been pointed out, this exhausts the
dsn averwinnaars  door Hem die U liefhad.                        list of sins mentioned by name and of which it is
    En  bet zeker  wonen   is in  beginsel  nu al  urn  deel,    declared that they could be covered by the blood of the
want  ge mcogt onderzoeken  in Zijn tent en u verzadi-           animal sacrifice. But that these sins are to be taken
gen met de goedgunstigheden Gods.                                not as the only ones that could be atoned but as speci-
   Hoort ge dan weer de Iecho van die bange vraa,g der           mens of a larger class of expiable sins is evident from
eeuwen: Wie, o wie zal ens, het goede doen  zien? Dan Lev. 5:1'7 and Num. 5:6; scriptures that read, "And
meet ge antwoorden: Ik zal het U zeggen: Ret eenige              if a soul sin, and commit any of these things which are
ware go&e voor den mensch is de verheffing van bet               forbidden to be done `by the commandments of the
lieflij'k  aanschijn van God. Daar  staart mijn `ziel  met       Lord ; though he wist it not, yet he is guilty, and shall
een verwondexd  oog !                                            bear his iniquity. And he shall bring a ram without
                                                  G. V.          blemish. . . . Speak unto the children of Israel, When


 402                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
               -     -                      - . - . _   ".--...-  "-                          - -----... "-"-      -"- ._.-... "---
 a man or a woman shall commit any sin that men com-               into captivity to itself the believer's ego, so that de-
 mit. . . .then they shall confess their sin. . . and he           spite his best  efl'orts  to the contrary, he, the believer,
 shall recompense his trespass. . . .let the trespass be           his ego, does the evil that he hates and thus serves
 recompensed unto the Lord. . . . ; beside the ram of              with his flesh the law of sin and bitterly complains,
 the atonement. . . ."                                             "1 am carnal, sold under sin. . . . 0 wretched man
     The statements, "And if a soul sin, and commit any            :that I am ! who shall deliver me from the body of
 of those things forbidden," and, "when a man or woe               this death  !" Who shall? Christ his Lord and He
 man commit any sin that men commit. . . ." concern,               only.      Assured of this, Paul is glad and jubilantly
 it must be, besides the sins mentioned by name in the             exclaims, "I thank God through Jesus Christ my Lord."
 fifth and sixth chapters of the book of Leviticus,                How evident that the testimony "but I am carnal, sold
 several others. But the expression "though he wist it             under sin" is that of a man who walks with God. The
 not" is deserving of notice. It indicates that however wicked man does not so speak. For loving sin, willing-
 large the class of specific expiable sins may have been,          ly yielding his members as instruments of unrighteous-
 it included, besides sins of weakness, only those done            ness unto sin, he knows not that his will is in bondage
through ignorance or oversight. The class did not in-              to sin.
 clude the presumptuous sins and the capital crimes.                    What then is the evil that Paul the saint does? It
                                                                   is not certainly the evil of wicked men, the evil works
     But there was still a third class of sins for which           in which the wicked walk, such as murder, lying, steal-
 the sacrifice availed, namely, the class comprised of             ing, adultery, and the like. The evil to which the
 the many moral infmities and miseries that even the               apostle refers is. the evil thought and the evil desire
 most devout Christians feel in themselves  - such  in-            or lust or striving. As has already been explained,
 funities as imperfect and weak faith, the failure on the          there still operates in the essense of the faculties of
 part of the believer to yield himself to serve God with           the believer's  soul- the faculties of willing and think-
 that zeal as he is bound, the evil lusts of the flesh with        ing - a principle of sin. The ground forms which this
 which the believer has daily to strive. These weak-               principle assumes in the believer are therefore those
 nesses are found in the saintliest man. The apostle               of the evil imagining or thought and of the evil desire,
 Paul, though he testifies of himself that he consents             lust, striving. There are many such evil lusts and
 unto the law that it is good ; that he hates evil and             thoughts dwelling in the flesh. Sin, taking occasion
 loves and wills the good ; that the good he would do ;            by the commandment, wrought in Paul all manner of
 that he delights in the law of God after the inward               sinful lusts. So reads his testimony. Operating from
 man ; that he serves the law of God with his mind ;               the  flesh as their seat, these lusts and evil imaginings
 and. though he thanks God through Jesus Christ his                bring into capti,vity  to themselves the believer's ego
 Lord for the deliverance from the body of this death,             with this result that he, the believer, contrary to his
 nevertheless complains that he is carnal, sold under              better desire and despite all his efforts to be done
 sin in that he does what he hates ; that thus he does             with sin, does evil, that is, thinks, imagines and desires
 evil, yet not he but sin that dwelleth in him; that he            evil. Though he would not have it so, he, the believer,
 knows that in him, that is, in his flesh, dwelleth no             becomes and remains the subject of the lusts, the evil
 good thing: that he finds not how to perform that                 strivings and imaginings that reside in and spring
 which is good ; that he sees another law in his mem-              from the flesh. So the good that he would, he does not.
 bers, warring against the law of his mind, and bring-             But the evil that he hates, that he does. He would
 ing him into captivity to the law of sin, which is in his         render God a perfect service. Yet he discovers upon
 members: that, finally, with his flesh he serves the law          careful examination that even in his best works, such
 of sin.                                                           as prayer, he to such an amazing degree still seeks and
     The testimony of the apostle "but the evil which              ends in self. But the believer, as urged by grace, cru-
 I would not, that I do" must be made to apply to sin              cifies his members which are upon the earth, the sinful
 not certainly as it raises its foul head in the lives of          willing and thinking, the evil eye and tongue and hand
 the wicked but as it still riots in the bosom of the              and foot. Now it was also and especially for this evil
 holiest men. In the believer, in the essense of his be-           and the doing of it, for these infirmities and weak-
 ing, mind, will, there still operates a principle of sin.         nesses that the typical sacrifice availed.
 Hence, there is still a body, an organism, a complete                  Regard must now be had to the sins (the capita1
 man of death to the believer that forms part and                  crimes) that could not be atoned by this sacrifice.
 parcel of him, an organism to which the apostle also              The question is whether it follows from the circum-
 refers as flesh. This body lusts. It is selfish,  self-           stance that these sins could not be covered by the blood
 centered, proud and vain. And this body cannot do                 of the symbolical offerings that they were sins unfor-
 otherwise than sin. Its lusting and boasting is a neces- givable. This does not follow. We have from Christ
 sity, compuIsion,  thus a law in the believer's members,          this solemn word, "All sin and blasphemy shall be for-
 that wars against the law of his mind and that brings             given to men ; but the blasphemy against the Holy


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             403
.-l_l_            "_--l___.~-..-                  --.---__l_ll_l               ---.--m-P  ---...._             __--. --" --._ _
Spirit shall not be forgiven to men. And whosoever                  But why was it thus? Why might not such sins
shall speak against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven       as adultery and murder be symbolically atoned and the
him; but whosoever shall speak against the Holy Spirit,        offender freed from their penalty? These questions
it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor are reasonable in view of the following circumstances.
in the world to come." Matt. 12:24.  The sins of adul-         Firstly, these sins were forgiven in the true sense to
tery and murder were forgiven to David, king of Israel.        the offender who received grace to truly repent. If so,
To the murderer on the cross Christ said, "This day            why couId  they then not be symbolically forgiven to
thou shalt be with me in paradise." The publicans and          the offender? Secondly, not only gross sins, such as
the harlots went into the kingdom of God before the            murder and adultery but also sins of weakness and
Pharisees.                                                     oversight, in a word, all sins without exception call
   The reason that the sins under consideration could          for the death, also the physical death, of the offender.
not be covered by the blood of the symbolical offering         It was on account of this that the sacrificial animal, as
was one other than the reason that they were sins              standing in the offender's room, died in his stead. The
unforgiveable in the true sense. And this reason is            offence  called for this (physical) death. And as the
that these sins were capital crimes, thus crimes that          obligation to suffer this penalty had been transferred
called for the instant death of the offender. But this         from the offender to his innocent substitute, it was the
is not enough said. Their being capital crimes did not         latter that paid for the offence  with its life, that the
by itself render them unexpiable. It was their being           offender might have life. This being true, why is it
crimes    of this character in conjunction with                then that the law made en exception of the gross sins
what the symbolical sacrifice begot for the of-                and forbade that he who committed any one or more
ferer that accounts for their being sins for                   of these be freed from the penalty (the penalty of
which there was no sacrifice.         As was explained         physical death) of his sin by the sacrifice?
in a foregoing article, to be covered by the' blood of the          The question may be answered thus, "The gross
sacrificial animal was to be freed of the obligation to        sins were to great to be atoned by the typical sacrifice."
suffer the penalty of physical death. There was, so            Although there is an element of truth in this answer,
I wrote, a symbolical, that is, shadow sacrifice, a suffer-    it does not satisfy on account of its incompleteness.
ing and dying of the sacrificial animal that was but           It causes one to ask, "In view of the fact that these
shadow, thus a dying that constituted a kind of                (gross) sins were atoned (for the sole benefit of
satisfaction for sin that was likewise a shadow, the           the elect) by the true sacrifice brought by Christ, why
fruitage  of which was exemption from the penalty of           should their greatness forbid their being symbolically
immediate pysical  death and thus the prolonging of            atoned by the t,ypical  sacrifice."
the offerer's natural life in the land of Canaan. Such              Another possible answer to the above question is
being for the offerer the fruitage  of the death of the        the following, "The gross sins are criminal  offences
sacrificial animal, it follows that for the capital crimes     that call for the extreme penalty of physical death at
there could be no sacrifice, as these crimes called for        the hands of any civil magistrate.      Hence, though he
instant death. And this is equivalent to saying that           who committed any one of these ofFences  could be truly
these crimes could not be symbolically forgiven. As            forgiven and was also forgiven if he truly repented,
has already been pointed out (in the foregoing articles        the priest could not be permitted to free the offender
and again in this article), there were in the dispensa-        from the obligation of suffering that particular penalty
tion of the law, two kinds of foregiveness  vf sins,           (physical death) that the magistrate,  .according  to the
namely, the true and the symbolical-typical forgive-           will of God, is in duty bound to inflict. One who steals
ness. The latter consisted, so it was made plain, in           though he truly repent of his sin and is therefore for-
the offerer's being vested with the symbolical satisfac- given, must nevertheless still suffer the punishment
tion and righteousness of the  sacrificial animal who          that his sin as a social crime calls for."
had died in the offerer's stead and for his sins. Now               Before this answer can be appraised, the term crime
this (symbolica1)  forgiveness was also the portion of         or criminal offence  must be defined. Strictly, crime is
the reprobate in Israel. But only the elect in whose           a violation of law either human or divine; but is com-
hearts God by His Spirit worked a genuine repentance,          monly applied to actions contrary to the laws of the
were truly forgiven. Such only received witness that           state. Sin, on the other hand, though generically em-
they were righteous. So then, the capital crime, though        bracing wickedness of every kind, is especially an  of-
it could be truly forgiven to the offender, could not be       fence as  commitit&   agc&st God. This being true, a
symbolically forgiven to him. Such crimes could not            crime is at once a sin, if the law of the state that was
be symbolically covered. They could not be atoned by           transgressed is at once a law of God. -4 case at point
the typical priest. This priest might not through his          is the commandment, "Thou shalt not kill." The trans-
typical sacrifice free from the penaIty  of physical death     gression of any state law, is, of course, a sin, if the law
the Israelite who committed any one or more of these           that is disobeyed is not in conflict with the will of God
crimes. The offender had to die this death.                    as revealed in His word. And the transgression of any

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

divine law is at once a crime, if the law that is trans-      atonement, thus a shadow forgiveness of sin, a shadow
gressed is also found upon the statute book of the state.     righteousness and sanctification. And to complete
       Let us now return to the above answer last given.      this system, there was and had to be also a penalty to
It is not true that all those sins for which there was no     do service as the shadow of the penalty of death eter-
sacrifice and that therefore had to be punished by the        nal. And the physical death that, according to the law,
death of the transgressor call for this extreme penalty       had to be suffered by him who committed any one or
at the hands of the magistrate of any state or com-           more of the gross sins, was this shadow penalty. And
monwealth. As far as can be ascertained from scrip-           thus the physical death of such a one and the resultant
ture, the only crime that, according to the will of God,      state of physical death was a shadow of death eternal.
must now be punished by  death ia murder. It was              And as, ideally considered, the culprit through his
to Noah that God said,  "Whoso  sheddeth man's blood,         being put to death was banished from God's country
by man shall his blood be shed." This command was             and thus from God's presence, this being put to death
given long before the coming of the law through Moses.        for a gross sin was a shadow of being cast into that
It is therefore universal in its application and ought        hell prepared for the devil and his angels. And so the
therefore to be found upon the statute book of every          abode of the culprit in the state of physical death is to
Christian state. But the command that, let us say,            be regarded as a shadow of the eternal abode of the
the adulterer and the adulteress be put to death, came        godless in hell. What rendered this physical death so
only to the magistrate of the Israelitish theocracy.          terrible to the mind of the Israelite is that through
Hence the view set forth in the answer last cited is in       it the culprit was cut off from God's people and shut
the need of correction. The truth of the matter is again      out from God's very own presence. Hell is exactly
this: With the exception of murder, these gross sins          a life apart from God, thus a life spent outside of God's
called for the extreme penalty of death at the hands          country - the coutry where He dwells with His re-
of the civil magistrate of the Israelitish commonwealth       deemed and where His redeemed walk with Him and
o&y. (In Israel the  ,distinction  between crimes and         are satisfied by His likeness; This being true, the'two
sins did not exist as Israel's sole and supreme lawgiver expressions repeatedly encountered in the law "He (the
was Jeho;v;ah)  . But though the view, so altered, is cor-    one committing a gross sin) shall be cut off from his
rect, it brings us not one step nearer to the solution        people," and, "he (the aforesaid offender) shall be put
that is here being sought; Why was it, so it could be         to death," are synonymous. If it now be asked why
asked, that in this Israelitish theocracy all the gross       physical death and its state could serve as a token of
sins called for the extreme penalty of death. To say          death eternal and of the eternal abode of the wicked
that the Israelitish state, as it was God's kingdom, had in hell, the answer is ready: In the state of physical
to be purged of the ungodly, is again to come forward         death the wicked who die in their sins are though not
with an answer that is but partly satisfactory. The           locally yet essentially in hell.
new testament church, for the same reason, must also             Because  bn the old testament dispensation physical
be purged of the ungodly ; yet it is not required that        death was the extreme penalty not merely of certain
adulterers, members who commit gross sins, be put to          crimes such as murder but of all gross sins, in other
death either by state or church authorities.                  words, because physical death was in that epoch the
                                                              extreme penalty of ungodliness in that through it the
       The correct answer, here to be supplied, is con-       wicked were banished from God's country, it was re-
tained in the statement that the old testament dispen-        garded in that day with such grave apprehension also
sation was! the  Idispensation  of shadows, of types and      by the righteous who fell asleep in Christ. This is
symbols. The Israelitish thocracy together with all           evident from the expression df confident hope of the
its institutions was a shadow of the Heavenly. All            psalmist,  "For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell
was shadow - the Egyptian bondage, the deliverance            (hades, the state of physical death) ; neither wilt thou
from this  bonda'ge,  Israel's residence in the desert,       suffer thine `Holy One to see corruption. To the Gold-
the wars waged by Joshua, the extirpation of the              fearing Israelite the greatest conceivable calamity con-
Canaanites, the land of Canaan as occupied by the peo-        sisted in being banished from the land of Canaan either
ple of Israel, this people, the priesthood of Aaron, the      through death or through deportation to a heathen
temple and its service, Israel's Sabbaths and feasts,         land.    To be banished  f,rom Canaan was to the
David and the wars he waged, Solomon and the era in           pious Israelite to be exiled to hell. For in Canaan
which he reigned, the material good that was the por-         dwelt God. The court of the temple was the only
tion of the Israelitish nation when it walked in the way      place on the face of this earth, where the believer could
of Jehovah's covenant, Sinai and Jerusalem, the Baby-         stand before Jehovah's face. It is only in the light of
Bonian exile, the return of the remnant  tv Canaan, the these observations that the grief and anxiety of the
rebuilding  od Jerusalem's walls and the restoration of remnant in Babylon can be  understoo8d.             And how
the service at the temple, There was even, as has             great their grief! Describing their bitter experience
again been pointed out, a shadow satisfaction and             in after years, they would say, "By the rivers of Baby-


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                    405
.___""  ._" ..-- "----            -_            -.....--..... lllll.." "..l--"-^""l"".-"-__
lon, there we sat down yea, we wept, when we re-                       face of the Lord is against the godless to destroy their
membered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the wil-                       memory from the face of the earth forever.              That
lows  i,n the midst thereof. For there they that carried               these gross sins could not be atoned, declares as plainly
us away captive required of us a song; and they that                   as words can that Christ died according to His inten-
wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of                 tion for His people only and that thus this people only
the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord's song                   may and does come into the possession of the fruits
in a strange land? If I forget thee, 0 Jerusalem, let of His suffering and death. This being true, the typi-
my right hand forget her cunning. . .  ."            Ps. 137.          cal sacrifice could avail for such only who avoided com-
And when the time of their return was at hand their                    mitting the gross sin. And though there would be
joy knew no bounds, `When the Lord turned again                        found in this class (the class of men whose sins could
the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream.                   be symbolically atoned) men who  ,did not truly love God
Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our                       but who nevertheless  ,outwardly  walked in the way of
tongue with singing: Then said they among the hea-                     God's precepts land whose sin could,  therefore be sym-
then, The Lord hath done great things for them. The                    bolically atoned, still, from the fact that gross sin could
Lord hath done great things for us, wherefore we are                   not be atoned, it  follo.ws.  that also this typical sacrifice
glad." Ps. 126.                                                        was brought into being solely for the sake of the true
    That the righteous in Israel understood that death                 believers.  In this rite there was  embodi'ed  a divine
ta them was not what it was to the wicked; is evident                  speech that believers had need of knowing. To the be-
from the expression of faith of the prophet. The Lord,                 lievers this rite was the medium for the expression of
he knows, will not leave his soul in hell. . . .but will               the faith that was in them. And through the observance
shew him the path of life.                                             of this rite in faith they received witness that they
    Herewith the question why the gross sins could not                 were righteous. And as the wicked lacked this faith
be (typically) atoned, why these sins had to be pun-                   and as in addition they also outwardly lived in gross
ished with instant death, has been answered. The                       sin when during the reign of the wicked kings the re-
highest eternal good is to dwell with God on the new                   straints of the law were lifted, their sacrificing was an
earth. The greatest evil is to abide eternally in hell                 abomination in the sight of the Lord. For, though
outiside of God's country. Both this good and this                     their hearts were far from Him, they nevertheless de-
evil could not otherwise be presented to believers of the              clared through their act of sacrificing, "Lord, we love
old testament dispensation (the church was then in the                 thee and rejoice in the forgiveness of sins." It is small
state of minority) then through shadow, type and sym-                  wonder therefore that by the mouth of the prophet the
bol. And as the shadow, the token, of this go,od was life              Lord complained, "To what purpose is the multitude
with God in the earthy Canaan, so the sign, the shadow                 of your sacrifices unto me, saith the Lord: I am full
of this evil was made to consist in the banishment of                  of the burnt-offerings of rams, and the fat of fed
the godless from this land through physical death.                     beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or
Mark you, the godless. For, though the unexpiable                      of lambs or of he goats. . . . I cannot away with it;
gross sins, at least the majority of them, could be for- it is iniquity. . . . Wash you, make you clean ; put
given and were also forgiven to the offender who truly                 away the  eviI of your doings from before my eyes;
repented, they are nevertheless sins wherein the god-                  cease to do evil; learn to do well. . .  ." Isa. 1. The
less do not on rare occasions fall but wherein they lie                sacrifice was as littIe instituted for the wicked in Israel
and walk. As to the true people of God, they can fall                  as was the Lord's Supper instituted for the godless
into these sins, yet rarely do. King David is the only i,n the church of this dispensation.
believer of the old covenant of whom it is reported that                    The statement was just made that it is not a com-
he committed adultery and murder. The adulterer,                       mon thing for the true people of God to fall into gross
that is, the man who commits adultery in deed and con-                 sin. But let there be no misunderstanding on this
tinues to live in this sin, the murderer, the idolater,  th,e          score. By nature, the true believer is as sinful and as
false teacher, the thief, is not a believer but a godless              condemnable and ill-deserving as the others. The seeds
man, destitute of grace. It is for this reason exactly                 or let us say the roots of the gross sins - hatred, pride
that these sins were selected for that death (physical)                and lust - lie embedded in his sinful flesh. In his
that  ha,d to be inflicted that there might be to the be-              flesh dwelleth no good thing. Sin is there, in his mem-
lievers of the old covenant also a shadow, a token of                  bers even, warring against the law of his mind. It is
what constitutes the greatest evil, to wit, eternal death.             not for naught therefore that Holy Writ admonishes
Because he who walked in these sins was a reprobate,                   believers to mortify their members which are upon the
a token of that people against whom the Lord has in- earth  ; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate aff  e&ion,
dignation forever, there could be  fo,r these sins no sacri- evil concupiscence, and covetousness which is idolatry,
fice. As often as such a one was put to death, it was                  and to put off anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy and
loudly  being proclaimed to the church and to all men                  filthy communication out of their mouth. Yet, where-
that the arm of the wicked will be broken, that the                    as believers by the power of God's grace do this very


406                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
--._-._ ^." .---.-.."    ..--------l____.--l-                   __..."        - - -
thing, the evil that dwells in their flesh and that they     to death for his sins and who died in his sins and thus
see in their members, does not so bring into captivity       eternally perished, might have come to repentance, if
their ego that their walk of life is that of the children    his life had been spared. Eut this cannot be.
of darkness. Far from this. Putting off  al1 these              Finally. True it is that in this day the obstinate
and putting on the new man, they are seen as children        transgressor,    excommunicated from the Christian
of the light in all their conversation. Yet for all this,    church, is not cut off from the land of the living. But
they have but a small beginning of true obedience.           extension of life is no advantage to the reprobated un-
     The view seems to be prevalent that God's dealings      godly as in life as  well as in death he has God against
with the church of the  old dispensation were much           him. And to the believer who sins (grossly) and who
more severe than are His dealings with His people of         for the rest of his days on earth must therefore reap
this new dispensation, that in the former epoch the          what he sowed, death is preferable to life. Attend to
revelations of divine wrath were predominant but that        the word of the Lord that came to David, after he
with the coming of Christ God's attitude toward His          has sinned, "Now therefore the sword shall never de-
people and mankind in general changed to that of a           part from thine house. . . . Behold I will raise up
loving and kind father. Accordingly, it is impossible        evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will
for the modernist to recognize in the God that Christ        take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto
reveaIed  the Jaweh of the old testament scriptures.         thy neighbor, and he shall lie with thy wives in the
In support of this view an appeal is made also to            sight of this sun. . . . The Lord hath put away thy
the circumstances that in Israel all gross sins had to       sin; thou shalt not die. Howbeit, because by this deed
be punished with death. Now, it is said,  a11 is dif-        thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the
ferent. Severity gave way to tolerance - the toIer-          Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto
ante of love. The lives of those in the church who           thee shall surely die." David lived to be punished,
grossly offend are now spared. So is mercy in this           lived to reap in this life what he had sowed. 4nd what
day of grace triumphing over .judgment.                      a reaping !                             .e  ,    G. M. 0.
     What to think of this view. There is, of course, no
truth in it. The idea that now the requirements are
much less severe than they formerly were is a thor-
oughly mistaken one. True it is that, whereas the                             Peace Be Unto You
types and symbols of the old covenant waxed old and
vanished away, they in the church who grossly offend                                   Then said Jesus unto them again, Peace
are not paying for their sin with their life. Such is                         he unto you. As my Father hath sent me,
now not the requirement. Yet though in this day                               even so send I you.               John 20:21.
church discipline does not operate in the same way as           Jesus has risen. And it is evening of the same day
it formerly did, it still operates and in a manner just      -the first day. The disciples are assembled in the
as terrible as in Israel. `*Therefore we, the ministers house of one of their number behind shut and, such is
and rulers of the church of God," so reads the Form,         in all likelihood the implication `of this notice, bolted
"being here assembled in the name and authority of           doors. For they fear, mark you, the Jews. Jesus
our Lord Jesus Christ, declare before you all, that for      is risen. All things are in His hands as in His hands
the aforesaid reasons we have excommunicated, and by         the Father has given Him all things. All power in
these, do excommunicate N from the church of God,            heaven and on earth is His, - the power of angels
and from the fellowship with Christ, and the holy            and devils, and of men both good and bad. And He
sacraments, and from all the spiritual blessings and         is for them. (Has He not laid down for them His life?)
benefits, which God promised to and bestows upon His         His Father, too, is for them. Yet they are afraid -
church. . .  ."                                              of the Jews. 0 the incongruity of it! They believed
     What can be more terrible than to be excommuni-         not His word. Before His dismiss, He had spoken to
cated, shut out, from the church of God and from fel-        them plainly enough. Over and over He had told them
Iowship with Christ and from all the spiritual blessings     that He had to go to Jerusalem and suffer many things
and benefits which God bestows upon His people? In           of the eiders and chief priests and the scribes .and be
the old testament times the transgressor was excum-          killed and also  - be raised again the third day. But
municated from fellowship with Jehovah. Now the              they had understood none of these things. So it is
transgressor is excommunicated from fellowship with          written. Nor had it ever occured  to them, it seems,
Christ. What may the difference be ? There is none.          to ask Him to shed light upon those  doIefu1  announce-
But, one may say, now the excommunicated one's life          ments of His. They had felt no particular need of
is spared. Time is therefore given him for repentance.       light, as those predictions had failed to grip them.
This is an advantage that the one excommunicated from        They had been too preoccupied with their own notions
the old testament theocracy did not have. One who            of Christ's mission, of His destiny, of the character of
so reasons is supposing that an  Israeiite  who was put the kingdom He had come to establish. They  could


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  a107
            -_~_           _^___..-...-.--. - ..-.....  "~.^ -.... I____                                     ^__ -.- _..._    --I___
not imagine their Master in the hand of enemies. In                         Peace can be the portion only of that people and that
that world that they in their minds had constructed for                     land freed from the curse of God.
Him, Christ was seated not on a heavenly but on an                             And there is such a people, God's chosen, a nation
earthy throne. Nor would they have it otherwise, as                         holy, for whom God in Christ prepared peace. But
they saw not the necessity of the cross.                                    just what is this peace. How is it to be defined. How
   Never had He spoken to them so plainly and per-                          was it prepared. And how do men come into its pos-
sistently about His cross as `in that chamber, where                        session.
He for the last time before His crucifixion was                                God made and formed man after His own image
assembled with them. There in that chamber he had                           and likeness, good, righteous and holy, capable in all
disclosed to them that one of their number would even                       things to will agreeably the will of God, but giving
betray Him, that Peter would deny Him thrice and                            ear to the words of the devil, man transgressed the
that all without exception would be offended of Him.                        commandment of life which he had received. Then
And their hearts had filled with evil forebodings. Yet,                     God said to man, Be dead that it may appear that I
little had they realized what the night held in store for                   God, whom thou didst forsake, am life. `Be unright-
them and the Master. Assembled, as they are behind                          eous, that it may appear that I am righteousness.
doors that are shut, they realize now. It has come to                       Be vile that it may appear th& I am the Holy One.
pass. The predictions of the Master concerning what                         Let there dwell in thee anger, wrath, malice, blas-
death He should die have been fulfilled before their                        phemy, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection,
eyes. Judas has betrayed Him. And Peter has denied                          lusts, that it may appear that I am light and love.
Him. He died on the ignominious cross. And they                             And let thy throat be an open sepulchre, use deceit
are now in hiding with Messianic hopes completely                           with thy tongue, let there be under thy lips the poison
blasted by the events of the near past. And they fear of asps. Let thy mouth be full of cursing and bitter-
- the Jews !                                                                ness, let destruction and misery be in thy way, that it
   Christ knows this. Does His soul fill with disgust                       may appear that I am righteousness and peace.
because of their unbelief? Does He lose patience with                          In a woSrd,  God c%r.s& and curses. And to this curse
them and, concluding that labor spent on them is labor man is subjected. And this curse walks over the earth.
lost, resolve to let them alone ? He cannot. He is Christ.                  It permeates the existence of every man. By it the
He comes to them. That the doors are shut matters                           ungodly are driven as chaff is driven by the wind. It
nothing.     A bolted door is to Him no impediment,                         so  troubIes the wicked that they rage and foam out
whether it be the door of a room such as the disciples                      their shame as do the raging waves of the sea. There
are assembled in or the door of the human heart. He is sin and death and hell, because God curses. There
comes ! He knocks not. There is no pleading on His part                     is war and sword, famine and pestilence, because God
for admission. :He comes and stands in their midst,                         curses. This earth is  a vale  of tears solely because
not with words of stinging rebuke, but with a word                          God curses.
of life that as spoken imparts to their troubled hearts                        What then is the opposite of that peace that God
peace. "Peace be unto you", is His greeting to them !                       provided for His people ? It is all the nameless misery
It is the great Master, the Highpriest Who can have                         and woe that came into being when God curs,ed  and
compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out                        now is because He is cursing. The opposite of this
of the way.                                                                 peace is sin; it is death; it is dispair; that fear of
   Some one once said, that the great make no exit.                         God that at bottom is hatred of Him; it is anguish; it
They appear, as the planets do-and completing their                         is the many sorrows that are the portion of the wicked  ;
orbit, they are suddenly' there no more. But this is                        it is enmity of God ; it is hatred and bl,oodshed and
true only of Christ. And it is true of Him in the                           destruction ; it is, in a word, hell.
supreme sense.                                                                 But there is a peace of God. What is this peace? It is
   "Peace be unto you. . .  ." Peace. What peace?                           life, righteousness, holiness, Iove of God, fellowship
The peace that passeth all understanding. God's peace.                      with Him through Christ. It is life with God in, His
The peace of the Prince of peace.                                           holy ternpIe. To have this peace is to be reconciled to
   This word pence  is also found in the vocabui,ary  of                    God in Christ; it is to be partaker of God's nature ;
the world. Especially now in this day peace is a  sub-                      it is to love Him, to be at one with Him, with His
juct much discussed. There is among the nations a                           mind; will  ; it is to think God's thoughts. And the
striving after peace not altogether devoid of earnest-                      people of peace are the people of God, the people that
ness. The world dreads war and is looking forward to                        He did foreknow in His counsel, and did also pre-
the next war that it knows must come, with the gravest                      destinate to be conformed to the image of His Son,
apprehension. The attempt to preserve peace is there.                       a people whom He also did call, justify and  glorifv
But how futile the attempt. There is war because                            in His counsel before the beginning of the world. It
God gives up men to a reprobate mind, because His is the people who God quickened together with Christ,
wrath is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness.                      raised up together and made to sit together in heavenly


408                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                   -
places in Christ Jesus. This is the people of peace.             - not Christ but that that sinner is the Prince of
And they have peace because they are His children.               peace. And so they think to have found an answer to
And their peace is their being like Him.                         the question why there is no more peace on this earth.
       And so, too, is there a land of peace - the new Men will not resolve to allow Christ to give them peace.
earth - and a city of peace - the new Jerusalem.                 So, rightly considered, Christ is a colossal failure. This
In this land, city, there is no more death, neither sor- is the conclusion to which the reasoning must drive.
row nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain:               Christ gives peace through His delivering His
for the former things are passed away. It is the city            people from sin and death, through His conforming
of peace. Its inhabitants see His face ; and His  name           them according to His image, through His witnessing
is in their foreheads.      And there no wise enters             by His Spirit with their spirit that they are children
into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever work-         of God, and that they are thus clothed by Him with
eth abomination, or maketh a lie. Should such enter              His satisfaction and righteousness, through His as-
into it, its peace would be disturbed, would be gone.            suring them that He is with them and preserves them
Therefore must the fearful, and unbelieving, and the             unto that inheritance that is laid away for them in
abominable, and murderers and whoremongers, and                  heaven. He gives them peace through His taking out
sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, have their part in of their soul that carnal fear of God and through His
the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone. They              giving them the self-confidence toward God in which
belong  not to the people of peace.                              the redeemed draw nigh to Him. He gives them peace
       And this peace is God's. It is solely His. By Him         through His assuring them that,  whereas they love
it was conceived ; by Him it was prepared ; and by Him           God, all things work together for their good. And
it is bestowed. It is thus a peace that is solely out            when He returns they, together with that city of peace
of Him, a peace of which He is the author and finisher.          of which they are citizen will appear with Him in glory.
       It is a peace He prepared, it was just said,  - pre-         And with this peace in their hearts, He sends them
pared through Christ, through His making Christ a                forth to preach this peace. Attend t.o this word of His,
curse for the cursed, the damned ; through His wound-            "As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. . . .,
ing Him for our transgressi,ons  and bruising Him for            whose soever  sins ye remit, they are remitted unto
our iniquities. The peace is therefore also Christ's.            them ; and whose soever  sins ye retain, they are re-
For He endured, as urged by love, when bruised. So               tained."
He bore our griefs. And His chastisement is our peace.              But did His servants actually receive from Him the
       And Christ bestows this peace. He came, did He            power to remit, that is, forgive sins? They did. But
not, and said to them, "Peace be unto you. . . ." He             consider how they forgive sins. Not, to be sure, as-
was not giving expression to a pious wish when He                He only can. He forgives His people their sins through
said this but to a command. He is Christ, truly the              His vesting them with His satisfaction and righteous-
Prince of peace, not merely because He merited peace             ness. This He only can do, and not they. He forgives
but also because He, being a Christ. who is also very            His people their sins through His witnessing with their
God, can and does bestow it. Through His bene-                   spirits that they are His people and that, being His
dictions He also genders peace in the hearts of His              sheep, they are righteous before God in Him. So He
people. His message of peace to His own is truly a               only can forgive, not they. It follows then that  th.e
living one, a word  ,of life, a life, a peace producing word.    statement "whose  soever  sins ye remit" must be made
       So many who hail Him as the Prince of peace and           to apply to that engagement of His servants consisting
who rightly make much of the fact that He merited                in their declaring unto God's people, unto the contrite
peace, really deny that He also bestows it and thereby           of heart, unto those who mourn, that their sins are for-
deny His power as the peace-maker. Their reasoning               given. It is through this preaching as blessed unto
is that man of himself must choose to allow Christ               the contrite of heart, that Christ witnesses with the
to give them peace. This choice, it is maintained, is            spirits of His people, that they are righteous.
not Christ's, that is, its sovereign cause and source                The statement, "They are remitted unto them",
is not Christ's will, but the will of man. Christ, it is         was added that His people might know that their sins
said, cannot cause the sinner to resolve to allow Him,           are forgiven them indeed. His people must not doubt
the Christ, to bestow what He merited for and so great-          this. Was He not raised unto their justification ? Were
ly desires to bestow upon that sinner. Christ saves if           they not set together with Him in heaven? What then
man allows himself to be saved  ; Christ gives if man will       is the peace that His servants must preach. It is this:
condescend to resolve to allow Him to give. Such is              "The people of God, those chosen in Him unto life eter-
the argument. Such is the presentation. What to                  nal, those, from the point of view of right, already
say of it? Rightly considered, the preacher who will             saved to the uttermost, but in this life still lying in the
so reason in his sermon blasphemes Christ and God.               midst of death  - the people of God saved from all
If Christ cannot give unless that sinner in his stink-           their sins, reconciled to God through the cross.
ing pride deigns to allow Him to give - that peace,                                                             G. M. 0.


TH A Reformed Semi-Monthly Magazine
             PUBLISHED BY THE REFORMED FREE PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION, GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.





                                                                                                                                   ~     -.
Vol. XIV, No. 18 Entered  as second  class mail
                     -  m a t t e r   a t   G r a n d   Rwids.   Mich.                    JUNE 15, 1938                                  Subscription Price, $2.00
-._-_..-.                 --."-"..                                 _-..-_  ".-^ .-..-.  - -.... _."                      _.._
                                                                                                          Through faith  alone!

                                                                                                          It is faith that is reckoned for righteousness.
                                                                                                          The living, active faith  th,at lays hold on the Word
    Faith Reckoned For Righteousness                                                                   of Him th,at  justifieth  the ungodly.       I
                                                                                                          Of this act  oi faith the text speaks. Abraham did
                    For  what  smith the  Scriptzm?  Abra-                                             not merely have the faith, the -&if%, the `power, the
                  ha,m believed God,  and it was  counZed                                              faculty of faith, but he belim& God, he performed the
                  ~nf;o him  for  righteousness.                                          Now to       act of saving faith and it was counted unto him for
                  h i m   tha,t  work&h   i:3  t h e   r e w a r d   ?tot                              righteousness. And again, it is the 5aith of him that
                  reckoned of grace, hut of debt. But                                                  believeth  on Him that justifieth the ungodly, that is
                  to him  f<hat   worketh.  not,  bu&  believeth                                       reckoned unto him fbr righteousness. This is, moreover,
                  on him  th&  jmti.fkth   the  urngodly,  his                                         evident from the Old Testament passage that is here
                  fa.ith is counted for righteousness.                                                 quoted. The Word of God, the promise that his seed
                                                                  Rom.  4  3-5.                        should be as the stars in the heavens, the gospel of God
                                                                                                       came to Abraham ; and he believed in Jehovah, and this
    What  smith the Scripture?                                                                         living, active faith, whereby he laid hold upon the Word
    1s the doctrine that a man is justified by faith with-                                             of God, was counted unto him for righteousness.
out the works of the law an innovation?                                                                   This activity od faith is, first of all, an act of as-
    When the apostle teaches that God is  no.t only the                                                sured knowledge.
G.od of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles ; that He is                                                   It is the absolutely firm assurance of the  man that
one God who justifies the circumcision by faith and                                                    has heard the Word of God addressed to Him, of God,
the uncircumcision through faith, does he -make void                                                   Who is the Amen, the unchangeably true and faithful
the law?                                                                                               Lord, the Rock, Who cannot Iie or deny XIimself, Who
    What  smith  the Scripture? . . . .                                                                performeth all His good pleasure, Who quickeneth the
    This is only another way od zsking : do we then                                                    dead and calleth the things that are not as  if they were.
make void the law? For, the law is not the decalogue,                                                  That Word Abraham had heard and received. It spoke
but the entire body of the Mosaic ordinances, or in                                                    to him of things that were  not, of the promise which, at
still a broader sense only another name for the Scrip-                                                 that moment, he  could not even  see afar off; of things
ture. Do we then make  void the law? What does the                                                     that appeared impossiblee  of fulfillment according to
Old Testament Scripture have to say on the question                                                    all human calculations and experience, for it held  be-
of a man's righteousness before God?                                                                   for him the promis,e of a great seed, innumerable as
                                                                                                       the stars in the heaveas,  although he was childless,
   Was Abra,ham  justified by works?                                                 '                 old, and the mother in Sarah was dead! But he be-
   Did he find the reward of righteousness  acco*rding                                                 lieved God ! He heard the Word of God and his soul re-
to the flesh?                                                                                          sponded. And by faith he reached out for that Word of
   God sorbid  !                                                                                       God, appropriated it and embraced it with an assured
   For  the Scripture  pllair$y  testifies that Abraham knowledge. There was no wavering. He did not doubt.
be;Iieved   Go,d and that it  was counted unto him for                                                 He clung with all his heart to the promise. . . .
righteousness.                                                                                            Thus it al:ways;  is.
   All the Scripture speaks the same language.                                                            Faith hears the Word of God and is sure !
   .Justified  by  grace; without works!                                                                  Sure of things which eye  h@h  not  ,~een,  and ear


410                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R -......__.._  l__"".^ .._. "-               -...,
hath not heard and that never arose in the heart of                         Counted as righteousness !
man ; an evidence of things unseen  ; an unmovelable                        Reckoned unto the believer for righteousness by
certainty with regard to things that are transcendent                  g r a c e !
above all that .is perceived, that main&ins itself over                     Somehow  faith is righteousness  before  God and
again.&  all contradictory testimony of experience, of                 he that believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly is
the world,, of the things that are seen, of one's own                  righteous.
conscience. Fair it feels assured that God justifies the                    But not because it is a work of righteousness be-
ungodly! How apparently impossible this would seem!                    fore G.od !
Is not God the Holy One of Israel, just and righteous                  *    By the ,act of faith, the act whereby you believe
and true, whose judgment is according tv purest and                    God, know Him assuredly as the God  ob  yrour salvation,
absolute justice, Who will no mure  justify, the guilty                trust `entirely on `Him, you do not merit righteousness,
than He will  co%ndemn the innocent? And is it not                     the forgiveness of sin and <eternal  life as by a work
contrary to all experience, that I[ am justified  be.fore              of the law. How could an.y act ,on your part possibly
the sight of this holy and righteous God?  Do'es not                   blo,t out your transgressions, atone for your sins? And,
everything ,deny that God de&.res  me righteous? Do                    besides, if faith is  ,a  work  of righteousness and if,
not *all things loudly cry out that I am damnable in His               therefore, the believer  iis justified on the ground of
holy sight? My own conscience is quite aware of the                    this work of faith, how can he even then have peace?
fact that I am worthy of damnation ; all my experience,                How can he feel that his work of faith is perfect before
every step of my wal'k in life, my thoughts and desires,               God, and if he fels that even his faith is weak and
my, willing and striving, my speaking and acting ;                     stumbling and miserable  and ever worthy of condem-
`my  fellowmen,  the world, the ,devil and his h.ost; my               nation, how can  he assuredly know by that faith that
suffering, misery, ,death,-everything plainly testifies                he is justified?
that I am damnablle,  that God condemns me, that I am                       Faith-righteousness is not another form of work-
the object of His righteolus  wrath.                                   righteousness !
       Y&et, in the midst of ball these contrary witnesses                  Nor even does faith justify you and me, because
faith believes in God Who justifies the  ungoidly.                     it is a new beginning, a new principle of righteousness
       And on this the believer redies ?                               whereby we may do good works.
       Faith is trust!                                                      If the case w,ere  thus, Fighteousness would be unto
       This idea of reliance, of complete trust, of confidence         him that worketh !
is emphasized in the text. For, the believer is he that                     And if it were, you would have whereof to boast.
worketh not, but believeth on him that justiAeth  the                  For, to him that  wopketh is the reward reckoned, not
ungodly, and to him faith is counted for righteousness.                of grace, but d debt, of obligation. If you work for
       There is a distinction between believing Gcd, be-               your righteousnesq  even as a wage-earner labors for
lieving i7i\ Him and believin,g  o?t Him. The last stresses            his wages, whether yo,ur work is that of faith or of
the notioti of confidence, of that true and only sound                 the law, the reward must be given you as something
confidence of which God, the God of our salvation in                   you earned, which you can claim, which God is obliged
Christ, is the  gronnd.  It is fundamentally an act of                 to bestow  an you. Then God becomes your debtor,
love\. It lays hold on the reality that God loves. If                  because you bring to Him what He did not have before.
I have this  trne, and hearty confidence  :of a living and             Then you oblige Him to pay you the reward, to .give
active faith, I am ,ass,ured and live in the blessed assur-            unto you the glory  of eternal  lif,e.         Then it is not
ance that God  lolve+s  me. And that is itself an act                  of Face, and never can the end be that you bow in
of love, indeed! Not that I love Him, but that He                      gratitude before the Gad of your salvation. The wage-
loves me I know! And knowing that He loves me; I                       earner does not feel thankful for the wages! he earned
expect all  <good from Him, and for this 1 trust in Him,               in the sweat iof his brow. Then your relation to the
rely  .on Him with all my heart, Eor time and eternity,                living God is one of contract, the terms of which you
now a;nd in the day o.f the revelation of the righteous                :fulfilled and: G& is obl.iged  to fulfill un.to you. . . .
judgment of God ! . . . .                                                   Your boast is then in self!
       I trust that He justifies me, an ungodly sinner. . . .               Your glory is your own!
       I cling to Him, surrender myself entirely to Him,                    Your righteousness a,nd your etern&l  life .are your
flee to Him as into a strong tower of refuge, still                    wages !
trusting, though all my enemies &mour for my con-                           But God forbid! . . . .
demnation, that He will not condemn me, that He will                        For, by the law uf faith all boasting in self is ex-
sumly  save me to the very end.                                        cluded. Let him that glorieth, glory in the Lord!
       He forgives all my transgressio,ns,  I trust. . . .                  Fo.r faith is oount&,  it Es reckoned unto you and
       He clothes me with perfect righteousness. . . .                 me for righteousness.
       He gives me life forever!                                            And this reckoning of your faith as righteousness,
                           -    -    -    -                            even thoagh  it is according to strictest justice, is not


                                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               411
             -.." .._......  ".._^._"    -..^-  "-                                 -.-._ll_ll^."    .                      -     -
 based upon, cannot be determined by our works, but                     that He surely visits the iniquity of the sinner upon
 is a reckoning of grace. For,  to him that believeth this              him, yea, even upon the children unto the third and
 righteousness is reckoned; and he that  be;lieveth work- fourth .generation,  that He is angry with the wicked
 eth not; and to him that' worketh  not the reward is                   every day ;-and that, on the other hand, He shoulfd
 reckoned of grace. It is of faith, that it might be by acquit the ungodly of  11 guilt and account him right-
 grace.. And grace and works are mutually exclusive.                    eous, even though he has not ,one righteous act upon
    It is reckoned !                                                     which this Idivine  reckoning can possibly be based, and
    And to reckon is a matter o,f justice. When faith though in his nature there is nothing but corruption?
 is reckoned for righteousness this reckoning does not                      If faith is not in itself righteousness can the Judge
 signify that it is declared to be what  accorrdaing  to. jus-          of heaven and earth count it as such unto the believer?
 tice it cannot be. It is counted for righteousness some                    Can justice and mercy meet?
 how because it is righteousness.. For to reckon is to                      0, indeed! Thanks  & to God's marvellous grace!
 consider carefully, to weigh in the balance, to evaluate.                  F'or,  the believer fixes all his confidence, assurance,
 And, to reckon unto anyone signifies that the thing hope upon God that justifieth the ungodly!
 evaluated is imputed to him. Faith is evaluated as                         And that justification of  %e ungodly is not an
 righteousness and imputed unto, the believer, credited                 arbitrary declaration regardless of justice.                  As all
 Do him for righteousness. The believer receives. credit                 God's acts this justification by grace is based on strict-
 for his faith as righteousness.                                        ,est justice. And this basis of justice is not found in
     It is reckoned by God !                                            ,the works of him that is justified ; *it is not found in
    God, the living Goid, the righteous Judge of heaven                 the faith of him that  believes ; it is found in that
 and earth, Who cannot lie, considers faith, evaluates                  grace of  God that was manifested in the cross and
 it, declares that faith righteousness and imputes this                  resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ only. By eter-
 righDeousness  unto hhe believer.                                       nal grace He was ordained the Head of His church.
    And it is reckoned for righteousness !                               By that eternal .grace  He was sent into the world, in the
    Reckoned unto him that has no w.orks of righteous-                   likeness of sinful fi esh and for sin, the Lord in the form
 ness  toI his credit. All he has is his faith. Nothing of a servant! .By that eternal grace He descended into
 more. Works ,enter not at all into evaluation of this                   the depth of death and hell in the hour.of judgment and
judgment.        What is more, this righteousness is im-                 was delivered for our transgression ! He finished all ! He
 puted unto the ungodly. Apart from his faith he can blotted out our sin. God was in Christ reconciling the
 point to nothing but sin, nothing else than works of world unto Himself! The glory of that grace broke
 unrighteousness, that render him  dtamnable  in the sight               through in the resurrection of Christ from the dead.
 ,of God. But to this ungodly that believes, who by                      He was raised on account of our justification. . . .
 faith clings to Him that justifies the ungodly, and                       _ That perfect work of God's grace is the basis for
 wholly confides in the God of his salvation, righteous-                 t.hat reckoning.
 ness is imputed!                                                           In that marvellous wurk  He, the C$ocl that by no
     0, the blessedness of that believer!                                means clears the guilty, revealed  H&nself as the God
    By that .imputation  his sin is forgiven, his trans- that justifieth the ungodly.                            '
 gressions are blotted out forever !                                        And in  (grace He reckons the righteousness of
    By virtue of this judgment, according to which Christ, the righteousness which  God  Himself realized,
 faith is counted unto the believer as righteousness,                   unto  all that believe.
 he is an adopted child of God!                                             And even that faith is of grace, ,of the same grace
    Laying hold upon that imputation by faith he                         that sent His'only  begotten on in the world, inti death,
 knows, in spite of all testimonies  to the contrary, that and the darkness of desolation.
 he is justified before God!                                                That faith believes God ! That faith lays hold on
    He is an! heir of Godl, joint heir with Christ!                     the righteousness of God revealed in the cross and the
    .Heir of eternal life !                                              resurrection  ,of Jesus our Lord! That faith believes
                                                                        on, trusts in God that justifieth the ungodly. That faith
    Marvellous  grace!                                                  is accounted unto the believer for righteousness because
    A rechning of grace, indeed, and also marvellous !                  it  is the appeal to the righteousness of Christ alone, the
    Wondrous. are the gracious ways of God with His act whereby the  souI is united with Him forever!
 people, whereby He accounts them, that are unright-                        Thus it was, indeed; with Abraham ! For, he believ-
 eous in themselves, righteous before Him.                               ed God, when He gave him the promise of the Seed!
    For, would there not appear to be a contradiction, a                    And even so it is with us!
 paradox, in the assurance of faith, that God, Who by                       In Christ we see, lay hold on, cling to, trust in
 no means clears the guilty, would justify the ungodly?                  C&l that justifies the ungodly!
    Is not the harmonious combination into one  impa+                       And are righteuus  forever!
 sible of these two, that, God never clears the guilty,                     Glorious g-rake  of God!        .         I         !I. H.


                    __                    T H E   S T A N D A R D  BEARhR                                              421
                                 -.--  "-._"--.                                          .-I_.
heid van Gods Koninkrijk opweegt tegen de schatten             die harten  bet look aan. Proeven  ze de zoetheid van
van Egypte dan slaat  de balans  lover naar het schijn-        dat Woord, edan omhelzen zij dat Woord en bewaren
schoon  der weredd en g&n vrucht wordt voldragen tot           het gaarne.
prijs  ,van onzen  God.                                           Dat  Woord   maakt-  zulk een hart zwanger. Tot
    Goddank!  er is nog een and,er soort.                      berstens toer vol zijnde van dat Woord Gods brengen
    Er zijn menschen waarvan Jezus zegt, dat  ze in de         ze vruchten voort hunderd, zestig en dertig voud.
goede  aard*e `gezaaid  zijn.                                     Vruchten worden  geplukt door God, vruchten  van
    Die aarde is geplo,egd,  gecultiveerd, gei;g;d,  10s en    bekeering en droefheid tot Gold. Vruchten van innig
zacht  gemaakt.                                                zielsverlangen  naar  God in `t schreeuwen naa.r de ecu-
                                                               wige waterstroomen. Vruchten van dankzegging en
    Daar  k.an het zaad in.  Daar kan de korrel  uit-          lofgeschal over het heil in Christus. Vruchten van
spruiten en  nederwaarts   wxxtel.en  schieten, zeer diep.     ongekende verwondering bij het zien en ,smaken  van
Die wcrtelen zuigen het vocht der aarde op en doen             de! onbegrijpelijke  liefde Gods. Vruchten van den lof
den korrel  swellen, tot berstens toe. Het  wit-g&e            des Heeren in zang  ,en dank, in Ioflied en psalmen van
&kruid komt te vvorsckijn  en spoedt zich de zon te ont-       nu  aan tot in eeuwigheid.
moeten  en gebaad te worden  in den vroegen en spaden             En  alles,  o  Iles,  door den Geest des Heeren en
regen.                                                         het Woord Gods om `t eeuwig  w!elbehagen.
    Dat  kruid  groeit zoodat dra de  hdrn verschijnt.            O! God! Neem Uwen Heilige Geest niet van mij !
Straks komt de aar en het koren in de aar.                                                                    G. V.
    De laadman  verheu,gt  zich in dit proces en wrijft
zich Jn de handen  wanneer hij denkt  aan den oogst die
dit  bersten  en  zwellen, dit  groeien en  tieren  voor-
spelt. Hij wordt dan ,ook niet teleurgesteld. Hij ont-
vangt den  oogst: het  Ben honderd-, het ander zestig-,
en het ander  dertig voud. Ze zijn niet allen  even god-          On The Mount Of Transfiguration
vruchtig.
    Dat  soort menschen ervaren  bet wonder Gods. Een             A beautiful moment it must have been, the dwell-
wonder, want Jezus zegt van hen, dat zij bet gehoorde          ing on this mount of the Saviour and His disciples,
Woord in een eerlijk  ,en  goed hart  beware+  Is dat together with Moses and  Elias.  Beautiful because the
gwn wonder?  Een eerlijk en  goed  hart? Een  ieder            representatives of Old and New Testament with the
weet  we1 en  znl het toestemmen, dat niemand van na-          one Mediator of the one Church, are gathered in the
ture ,een  eerlij,k  en goed hart heeft. Ons hart  is van      night to discuss the things pertaining to Christ. For
nature bedriegelijk, ja, doodelijk,  meer d,an eenig ding.     Christ must be the centre at all times and in all things.
En verre van het gepredikte Woo,rd  te bewaren in zulk         Without Him the Church does not exist, her one foun-
een hart, verwerpen wij dat  Woord.,  Als de  duivel           dation is Jesus Christ the Lord. After all, a Church
het Woord  wil wegnemen  helpea  wij hem een handje without Christ is no Church, but at its best a gathering
mee. De wereld hebben we lief met onze natuurlijke of some individuals like unto any other society without
harten en de leugen  doen we met smaak en genot.               the bond of true love, with a life that is confined to the
    Neen, er is een wonder geschied.                           things here below ending when life is soon spent.
    Die eerlijke  ,en goede Christen harten  zijn vrucht          Christ Jesus our King, Prophet and Priest, with
van Gods genade. God ploegde  dat oude harde hart              the servants of the Old and the New dispensation are
om en cultiveerde het door den Geest `van den verrezen         here together for a definite purpose. Luke referring
Christus. Hij maakte dat hart zacht en teeder in d'e           to this moment of the transfiguration tells us that the
die&e. Daarom  ,kan Idat goede hart het Woord hooren           change  `in our Lord's countenance took place while He
en verstaan, (Matth.) , hooren  en aannemen, (Marcus),         prayed. That in itself must have been a revelation to
hooren en bewaren  (Lukas)  .                                  the disciples who were privileged to be present that
    Die andere drie &o&en menschen hadden dit te-              night while the Saviour held communion with the
zamen ,gemeen, dat, namelijk, hunne harten  onvesan-           Father. His was the prayer  oi the only man who
derd waren.. Het zit vast op het solort  hart.                 prayed without fault and whose prayers were always
    Dit hart is  vermurwd,  verbrijzeld, zacht gemaakt,        answered.
door Gods eigen hand.                                             We do not read for what the Son of Man prayed
    Brengt nu  aan uw  prediking van Gods  eeuwig              at this time and we will not try to'find out by way of
Ev.angelie  ! Ik verzeker u, dat dit hart zal opspringen       speculation. The Scriptures are silent about the con-
van vreugde om zooveel heilgenot. Of ook weenen                tents of this prayer and do not answer our questions
van zielsverdriet over de  overgebleven8  zonden.              in this matter.
   Ze verstaan het Woord.  Ze zien de schoonheid,                 But we do know the circumstances. This incident
waarheid  en wijsheid van dat Woord. Daarom nemen is. immediately preceded by the confession of Peter


422                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARSER
-.---                        -        -......                -       -                                      lll__....
*Thou art the Christ of God'. And after the confes-               now enter heaven. The Man of Sorrows is also here
sion was made the Lord instructed His disciples to                to suffer on this mount.
tell no man. Said He-The Son of Man must suffer                           We f!ind Jesus here with the representatives of
many things-and be slain, and be raised the third                 the one Church of all times. The New Testament
day'. Hence, with a view to the Cross the Lord prayed             Church, Peter, John and James were heavy with sleep
to the Father and is to receive further instruction by            and when they were awake Peter in his haste spake.
means of what is to be revealed in this night in connec-          Of course, Peter speaks. Speaks first of all without
tion with the final suffering now at hand. Christ is              a question being asked. And he does not know what
bound to that revelation.                                         he is saying. Let us make three tabernacles. What
   Flesh and blood never know, nor understand or let              for? Jesus, Moses and  Elias surely did not need a
God determine the reason, the manner and the final                place of shelter, especially not with a view to the cir-
purpose of His divine program. The same man who                   cumstances. It is suggested that Peter's motive was
confessed that Jesus is the Christ becomes a stumbling            world-flight. His desire was to remain and to retain
block to his Saviour. It shall not be thus, Peter speaks          this beautiful occasion and thus escape the sinful world.
to his Lord, when the Lord informs His disciples that             But not world-flight but the greatest world-fight was
He must suffer and die and be raised again on the third           nigh at hand.
day. But in the presence of His disciples God speaks                 Others make of his proposal an attempt to unite
to His Son by means of Moses and Elias concerning                 the Church of the Old and New Testament. Only, did
`His decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem.             Peter know about the New Testament Church ? Notice
   The usual explanation of the appearance of Moses               further that we find on the one side Moses and Elias
and  Elias on this mount is that Jesus is placed before           and on the other our Lord. And considering Peter's
a choice. The choice shall Christ enter glory now and             proposition it is hard to understand where the disciples
return to heaven or shall He receive glory through the fit it, at least Peter does not make this clear. Instead,
way of suRering  ? "In other words, shall He be given             he excludes himself with James and John for he de-
a chance to return to heaven or shall He accept the ter-          sires to make only three tabernacles. Where would
rible cross ? Is Jesus to ascend to heaven without                the three disciples be if Jesus, Moses and Elias were
death, without the cross and without the pains of hell?           to receive such a place to lodge ? And what could be
I think this line of reasoning forgets that the incar-            the purpose of it all? After all a tabernacle on earth
nation was not purposed to be a question of giving                is only temporary and out of line with the heavenly
Christ a chance, but it was the very heart of God's plan          idea of the home with many mansions. And Peter
of salvation in accordance with the eternal council.              most likely had not in mind that in this way  the  Church
Without it that counsel had no significance. With God             could not enter into the most intimate fellowship of
and with Christ there are no chances. And we cannot               the heavenly covenant, that is in the fellowship with
and may not separate or disconnect Christ's eternal               God through Jesus Christ. True it is Jesus also had
mediation from the counsel of peace nor is Christ ever spoken of tabernacles, but of tabernacles above in
to be separated from the Church in harmony with that              the heavens and not here upon this sinful earth. What
counsel.                                                          to say about Peter's proposal? With Scripture before
       Hence, there is no question of a chance, because           us we understand that he did not know what he said.
God's eternal plan of redemption (election and repro-                What then is so decidedly wrong and sinful in his
bation) stand. And to present it as if there were not             speech? Sinful it was because Jesus had said to the
such a definite decree is to deny the clear revelation            disciples and Peter, that the way to the Father and
of God handed down to us in His Word. Furthermore,                the eternal home was the way of suffering and death.
this servant is indeed the Son of God but servant                 Peter, contrary to this instruction given only a fort-
nevertheless. And as servant God binds Christ to His              night ago, desires glory but without the cross. Fur-
revelation in connection with the suffering to come.              thermore, Peter was not ignorant of this fact for had
Moses and Elias do not speak of a possible entering               he not confessed `Thou art the Christ' and must not
into glory apart from His suffering, but they spake of            the Christ suffer and by the way of suffering enter
His decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem.              into glory? Did not the Old Testament Scripture speak
The theory of chance is pure fiction and unfounded                of it and did not-Peter  know the Scriptures? The Lord
imagination and cannot possibly be deducted from any              always referred to them, did He not?
of the three Gospel narratives or from their contexts.
No material is given in Scripture to sustain the idea                Jesus desired the darkness of death and all that
of a return to heaven, that is to glory, without the              was so closely connected with it and Peter prefers the
terrible way of the cross and all that is connected               glorious light and the life without it, not knowing
with it.                                                          what he said.
       Moses and Elias on the one hand and the three dis-             And for Jesus this meant suffering. The High
ciples on the other in `no way reveal that Jesus could            Priest of our confession in our nature is also afraid


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                            423

  of suffering, yet, must learn to be obedient for the        completion. Secondly, a part of that same Church is
  one sacrifice must be brought by Him. Hence, Peter          on earth in the midst of sin and trouble, Satan and
  not knowing what he said is  aIso here the cause of the     world.
  Saviour's suffering. Out of the church militant suffer-        All this calls for the better day to come, when the
  ing comes to Him by one, who once before hath been          Church Militant and the Church  Trium&ant shall be
  a Satan on the way to the cross.                            the one united Church of Glory when in the dispensa-
     And Moses and Elias spake with Him concerning tion of the fulness of times He might gather together
  His decease which He should accomphsh.  at Jerusalem.       in one  all  th.irrgs  in Christ, both which. are in heaven,
  Many questions can be asked in connection with this         and which are on earth.
  conversation. Did they speak to Him about the past             Thus the Suffering Servant, while surrounded by
  prophecy handed down through the ages and did they His Church, is reminded and told of concerning the
  perhaps point out to Him that now the time was come         suffering of the Cross. And of Z&s fact they speak to
  for its fullest realization? They say, so we read, to       Him. Accept this message of suffering and of the
.Him concerning His suffering. That hath been their           glory that is to follow.
  work while they .were on earth. We take it that they
  were also anxious and longed for the  fuhXlment  of            What sense would it make to suggest a possible
  what was spoken before. Besides, in harmony with the        entering into glory without the one perfect sacrifice?
  character of God's revelation, their mission was to         Besides, what. is there to offer as proof for the notion
  bring the message of what hath been their concern in `of a possible chance to make Jesus work thus far
regard to salvation "Of which salvation the prophets          wrought undone ? What sense is there in His incar-
  have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied nation, His life upon earth, miracles tier-formed,  the
  of the grace that should come unto you: Searching Word spoken by Him and the Word of revelation in the
  what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ           preceding centuries ? Scripture never presents the
  which was in them did signify, when it testified before-    work of this Savior as something that could be changed
  hand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should    not .even from the point of view of the Son of Man.
  follow."    They knew concerning the Christ, but in            Truly, He is the Son. But the Son on the Mount.
  their day the details were withheld and therefore they      of Transfiguration "Though He were a Son, yet
  did not see the relation nor the manner of how it' was      learned He obedience by the things  which He suffered ;
  to materialize. But as it is with all things, also here     And being made perfect, He became the author of
  the revelation increased and developed and now they eternal salvation unto all them that obey ,Him."
  speak of the suffering and the glory so close at hand,         And there .came a voice out of the cloud, saying,
  knowing both time and place in their respective orders.     This is My beloved Son: hear Him !
 L The message is : Fulfill all that was spoken. Through         Satan tried through Peter to keep the  Savior  away
  it the Saviour is reminded not only of what is to come,     from the Cross. Christ steadfastly does the will  of
  but also of what He must do. Also here active and           the Father. And on this mount of transfiguration the
  passive obedience, active and passive suffering are         Incarnated Word listens to the Word of His Cod.
  blended in one, for what is placed before Him He must          Through perfect obedience He will make taber-
  do it willingly. And Ha wills to &o. That is His ans-       nacles for us and in us and in the great day of His
  wer: `I come to do Thy will o, God ! !`.                    coming the Church shall be with Him in the eternal
     The message of the Church Triumphant, from their         Tabernacles above.                            w .   v .
  point of view is, let it be done in harmony with the
  eternal decree. Do they long for the fulfillment? They
  sure do! Their present glory must ultimately  find its
  foundation in His glory. As it stands now in this
  mount of transfiguration the Church Triumphant is
  waiting for Him to appear in His glory. And the                                   Ingezonden
  presence of both, the Church Militant and the Church
  Triumphant calls to his mind the necessity of His suf-         Op  een  vlorige   vergadering   werd  mij opgedragen
  fering and death.                                           om  een onderwerp  in  te  l&den over Kerk en School.
  Moses and  Elias appear in glory. Theirs is the             De reden hier voor was, dat er op onze Schoolvereeni-
  state of heavenly beauty and salvation. But their ging nog al wart discus& voort kwam  naar aanleiding
  glory is not complete and that from a twofold point of      van een der vragen uit het Doopsformulier. Er wordt
  view. Firstly, because their Mediator did not attain        gevraagd aan de ouders of zij zich voornemen.,  om dit
  as yet to that state. His is at this moment the state       hun kind te onderwijzen  of te doen  en te helpen  onder-
 of humiliation and as long as  His work on earth is not      wi,jzen in de voorzeide  leer. Uit de bespreking bleek
 finished the Church Triumphant lives in the expecta-         dat sommigen van oordeel waren,  dat de verantwoorde-
 tion of the fulfillment of His work and longs for its        lijkheid  geheel en  alleen voor rekening  der ouders

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

den HEERE vragen? De wereld-geschiedenis van  zelfs
dit huidige uur leer-t juist het andere..                       But This Is That Which Was Spoken
    Hier komt bij, dat de ondergeteekende  in het jaar                         By The Prophet
1934  tegen de Synode van .dat jaar  protesteerde,  in                          But Peter standing up with the  eleven,
hoofddeel  ,tegen  de  lezing van het EERSTE PUNT.                           lifted up his voice and said  unto  them. . . .
    Dat Punt lee&*.-De  Gunsti,ge gezindheid Gods  jeL                       But this is that which was spoken. by the
gens ALLE MENSCHEN, en niet  alleen  jegens de                               prophet Joel.
uitverkoaxnen.                                                                                          Acts  2:14a,  16.
    De protestant beweerde  dat de Synode van 1924               This is that. . . . This, namely, the events that
dwtide  om te  verkondigen dat GOD GENADIG is                transpired when the day of Pentecost was full come.
aan ALLE MENSCHEN.                                               That (that which was spoken by Joel) attained to
    Als antwoord  kreeg hij het volgende  van de Synode      its fulfillment - to its initial fulfillment, at least -
van 34.                                                      in this (the events of that Pentecost). However,
                                                             on the surface this may not be so apparent. What
    Het protest TRACHT te argumenteeren tegen de             connection is there, for example, between the pre-
VERKLAARDE  doctrinale   pun&en  van 1924.                   diction of Joel to the effect that "your young  men'
    Het gansche protest is een MISOPVATTING van shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams"
die verklaringen.                                            and any one of the events of that first Pentecost of
   Het PROTEST MISVERTAALT het  Synodaal   be-               this New Dispensation. And which one of the events
grip van  .het AANBOD VAN GENADE  aan ALLE                   of that Pentecost is to be regarded as the fulfillment of
MENSCHEN van  ia*t Adam. De Synode heeft nergens             the prediction of the prophet to the effect that God
gezegd dat ALLE MENSCHEN van af Adam  deel                   "will shew wonders in heaven above and signs in the
kregen van dat AANBOD VAN GENADE, maar dat                   earth beneath ; blood and  fire and vapour and smoke".
de MENSCHEN die het evangelic  hoorden een WEL-              Yet, however unlikely it at first glance may appear
GEMEENDE invitatie  ontvingen om  aan te  nemen.             that the aggregate of events of that first Pentecost
                                                             was the fulfillment of Joel's prophesy, it is nevertheless
    Volgens  bet artikel van Ds. Zwier van  den 3den         true. This can be shown.
Mei  he& de PROTESTANT gelijk. De SYNODE                        The first prediction of the prophet reads, "I will
bedoelde in  werkelijkheid  ALLE MENSCHEN, dat is,           pour out My Spirit upon all flesh". The expression
ALLE HEIDENEN, alle ONDANKBAREN en ALLE "all flesh" is universal in its application. It signifies
BOOZEN,  en, ik ben zeker,  da% ik met  geen kwart           the true church of both the old and the new dispensa-
+sje  verstand,   tech van  Ds. Zwier met zijn  oks-         tion, thus the aggregate, of elec( the chosen humanity
hoofd-  vol verstand bet genoegen  mag smakea dat de         present with God in His counsel before the founda-
domine mij zal toegeven  dat ook onder  die ALLE MEN-        tion of the world and united in one body in Christ. its
SCHEN oak nog de UITVERKORENEN schuilen,  en head in whom it was chosen unto life eternal. Now the
zoo krijgen wij, ten  leste   tech nag gelijk.               prophet's prediction was that upon this community,
   Maar niettegenstaande  dat alles kreeg de protestant corporation, God would pour out His Spirit. But was
van de Synode van 1934 en nu van Ds. Zwier duchtig           this prediction, promise, actually fulfilled on the morn-
op z'n ribbekast, omdat die  op de schouder een bol ing following that  fmst New Testament Pentecost?
droeg daar nog geen kwart  onsje verstand in zat.            Apparently not. Consider what is recorded in that
   Wat zal Ds. Zwier nu op z'n jakje .krijgen  als aan-      second `chapter of the Acts, `fAnd they were all 6lled
stands de Synode van 1933 de roede op.neemt om Ds.           with the Holy Ghost. . .  ." From the context it ap-
Zwier af te  ran&en naar verhouding als mijn schamel         pears that the group signified by the word all was com-
pantelontje  er van kreeg.                                   prised of only a few friends of Jesus, namely, the
                      Geheel de Uwe, Semper  Fidelis,        eleven disciples, and the women and the natural- breth-
                                        J.  Hoekstra.        ren of Jesus. These were continuing in an upper room
                                                             of some dwelling in the city of Jerusalem. And in this
                                                             place these same persons were all with one accord
                                                             when the day of Pentecost was fully come. And it is
                                                             to this group only that the notice "And they were all
   We Protestants teach and affirm that there is in          filled with the Holy Ghost" can be made to apply. This
the unregenerate no natural power, no strength of free- being true, how can it be maintained that the doing
will, nor any faculty to do o.ught that is gcod, but is      of God that consisted in His 6lling this group with the
only led by his corrupt nature to that which is evil till    Spirit of the exalted Christ is in truth the fulfillment
God by His grace works a change by an effectual and          of His promise to the effect, that He would poar out His
unresistable call.            T. VICARS B. D.  - 1625        Spirit upon & f&s-h. This can and must..be maintained.


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         427

Consid,er  the following. Of Christ we read that al1 ful- phets and apostles that God's church is built.
ness dwells in Him, the fulness of God. And of this ful-          These two trees, as was just said, are one in Christ.
ness  do, all the members of His (Christ's j body receive,     They were one in God's eternal counsel. Hence, they
and grace for grace, so that this body in turn - this          were legally one when the day of Pentecost was fully
body and thus not any one of its members - is the ful-         come, that the one in time to come might partake of
`ness of Him that fiILeth all in all. Such was the good        the fatness of the other. This being true, it again
pleasure of God. This being true, it follows that the first    follows that when God filled that first tree with Christ's
to be filled with the Spirit was the resurrected and the       fulness, He was pouring out His Spirit upon the whole
ascended Christ. Now whereas Christ is legally the             church, upon all flesh. For this reason this doing of
Head of His Church, it follows that when God filled            God was and will never be repeated. It was the whole
Him, He from the point of view of right, filled His            church that was filled with the Holy Ghost. There is
entire body, and thus poured out His Spirit upon all           conclusive evidence of this also in that second chapter
flesh. That God first poured out His Spirit upon the           of the Acts. The disciples of the Lord began to speak
ascended Christ, is explicitly stated in Acts  2:33,  a        with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
scripture that reads, "Therefore, being by the right           The devout men out of every nation under heaven, who
hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father were dwelling at Jerusalem, were amazed and said,
the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth              "How hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein
this which ye now see and hear". Having been tilled,           we were born. . . . we do hear them speak in our
the exalted Christ filled His body, the Church. Then,          tongue the wonderful works of God." What else does
on the day (or day after) of that Pentecost, did the           this indicate than that when the day of *Pentecost was
precious ointment upon Aaron's head go down to the             fully come, Christ in His Spirit came to dwell and took
skirts of his garment (Ps. 133).                               up His abode in all the families of the earth so that
   But the matter can be approached from still an-             through the ages men out of every nation under heaven
other angle. In his epistle to the Romans, the apostle         would in ever increasing numbers be telling the won-
Paul (chap. 11:17)  brings forward the Old Testament           derful works of God as urged by Christ's Spirit. In
church under the figure of an olive tree. This tree            the light of the above observation it will be seen that
(in the apostle's discription  of it) has fatness and its      the doing of God under consideration formed an event
,root  .- the resurrected, ascended and anointed Christ        of great significance. The Spirit of the glorified Christ
- is holy and holy are therefore also its (living and was indeed poured out upon all flesh.
fruit-bearing) branches. And the fatness of this tree             Yet from this it does not, of course, follow, that
is the fulness with which God' filled the glorified Christ.    at that one particular juncture in sacred history all
But the apostle makes mention of still another olive           the families of the earth  - the families blessed in
tree - the tree that is wild and that is the emblem of Abraham, that is, in Christ - were uctz~ally f&d with
the gentile families of the earth as to their elect con-       the Holy Ghost. This was impossible as countless num-
stituency. This (wild) tree was grafted in among the           bers of this humanity had not yet been born. The
branches of the other tree -- the Old Testament                number of God's peoplme on earth who were n&ually till-
church as filled with the spiritual fatness of Christ          ed with the Spirit when the day of Pentecost was fully
when the day of Pentecost was fully come  - and par-           come was small indeed. Were there no others? There
takes with these natural branches of its root and its          were. But they were found not on earth but in heaven
fatness. The two trees, therefore, are one in Christ.          above. There with Christ in heaven were the departed
Together they form the one organism of which He is             saints of the Old Dispensation. And these, too, were
the root and the fatness. There is then but one body           f%lled with the Holy Ghost, were made to receive of
as there is also but one Spirit, even as all the believers,    His Fulness as well as the friends of Jesus who were
both Jews and Gentiles, are called in one hope of their        all in one place somewhere in the earthy Jerusalem.
calling; one Lord there is, one faith and thus one             Christ, certainly, poured out His Spirit also on the
promise and one inheritance for all; one baptism, one          redeemed in heaven. Then they, too, as never before,
God and Father of all Who is above all, and through            began to speak the wonderful works of God.
all, and in them all (Eph.  4). This in opposition to             But was not the Spirit also in the Old Dispensation?
the erroneous views of the  premillennialists.                 Then, too, men praised God and were heard speaking
    The elect Gentile humanity partakes of the root            His wonderful works. The very existence of the church
and of the fatness of the Old Testament church in the          in that epoch must imply that then, too, the Spirit was.
central sense Christ. Such is the teaching of Paul's           Was it not by the Spirit and the Word that from the
figure.     How indispensible to this Gentile humanity         beginning the church was gathered ? Yet, according
the Old Testament church then is! It is the very chan-         to the apostle John, the Spirit was not. In his gospel
nel of grace of this humanity. It is this as it was,           this statement occurs, "But this spake he (Christ)
next to Christ, ,the first to be filled with His spiritual     of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should
fatness.     It is upon the foundation of Israel's  pro-       receive; for the Holy Ghost was not yet; because that


428                                   TEE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
 _---l.ll  -                                      -__-.-.-                                                 -    -    -
Jesus was not yet glorified (John  7:39). True it is,       he goat, of the overthrow of Persia, of the leagues and
that the Spirit was not as He is now; for the glorified     conflicts  betw.een  kings of the south and north, of the
Christ and the fulness that  dwelleth  in Him and in        tyranny  of the Romans, and of the deliverance of Israel
His body, the church, was not. Even His body was not        from their troubles. Turning to the New Testament
for His Spirit to dwell in. Hence, the sons and daugh-      scriptures, we come upon the record of the visions
ters of the church did not prophesy. Her young men          of the apostle John in the book of Revelations. In
were seeing no visions ; her old men dreamt no dreams.      these visions God showed him the things that "must
The church had its prophets then; but their number          shortly come to pass". What John was made to see
was few. But now all have an unction of the Holy One        is the judgments by which Babylon, the world, will be
and all know (I John  220). All now prophesy. All           dvertaken and through which the church will b.e saved.
see visions and all dream dreams. The prediction of Hence, the final vision is that of a new heaven and a
the prophet was  fulfilled. There is conclusive evidence    new earth, of the hoIy city, new Jerusalem.
of this in the second chapter of Acts. The disciples           God spoke to His servants also in dreams. Also
of Christ, as filled with the Holy Ghost, began to speak    of this speaking there are several examples recorded in
the wonderful works of God ; and not only they but like-    Scripture. God spoke in a dream to Abraham, to
wise the three thousand souls that were added unto          Jacob, to Joseph and to several others. And especially
them the same day. All, without exception, continued        the visions of the men of old, went hand in hand with
steadfastly in the apostle's doctrine and with one ac-      a physical and mental state that departed from the
cord in the temple. . .  .praising  God.     Upon all  -    normal.
young men and old men, sons and daughters - the                Do believers of this dispensation see visions and.
Spirit was poured out. What took place here is an           dream dreams? If what is meant is whether after the
indiscriminate communication of the gift of prophesy        death of the last apostle God comtinued  to speak to
to persons of different ages and conditions and of both     believers, and even to all believers, in visions and
sexes. These presented the most fully developed con-        dreams of a character identical to those in which He
trarity among pagans, that is, fallen men who were          spoke to His servants of old; if what is meant is
outside  o.f  the pale of covenant revelation. There was    whether God through the ages continued to add to the
the difference between the condition of man and that        revelations given to the prophets and apostles of scrip-
of woman, and the oppression to which the female            ture new revelations and thus continued to add to
sex was subjected ; the contrast between master and         the books that constitute our Bible new scriptures,  -
slaves, and the failure to recognize the dignity of man     the question must, of course, be answered in the nega-
in the latter; and, to a certain extent, the contempt       tive. The record of what God  shewed John on the
and the  ill-tre.atment  to which old age was exposed in    Island of Patmos forms a book that closes the canon
some nations. But there is in the Kingdom of heaven         of Holy Writ. He was the last of the line of prophets
neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free,      throagh whom God imparted to His church knowledge
there is neither male nor female, for all are one in        concerning His scheme of redemption. But if by the
Christ Jesus. From His fulness,  therefore, all, without above-cited question is meant whether believers with-
distinction of sex or age or station, receive.              out exception sojourn in this world as seeing by faith
   But, someone may ask, do the believers of this day       the invisible, whether they press on with the heavenly
see visions and dream dreams ? Was this prediction          before their eye,  - it, this question, must be answered
fulfilled when the day of Pentecost was fully come?         in the affirmative. For so it is. The truth that Gcd
Did the three thousand souls that were added to them        delivered to the prophets and apostles has become the
see visions and dream dreams? To the prophets of old        property of every believer. What they saw and heard
the Lord spo,ke, revealed His counsels, in visions and      in their dreams and visions all believers now see and
dreams and dark speeches (Num. 12  :6). There are           hear through the medium of scripture. And what they
many examples of this recorded in the Old Testament         see - see through the glass of the Word  - is so
scriptures. The prophet Isaiah saw the Lord sitting applied to their hearts that it stands out before their
upon a throne, high and lifted up and His train filled      eye as the image of an eternal, heavenly reality. .A11
the temple (Isa. 6:l). The prophet Ezekiel was lifted       believers as well as the apostle John, see, through the
up by the Spirit and brought into the east gate of the      medium of his record, that angel (chap. 18) coming
Lord's house, where he saw the presumption of the           down from heaven, and having great power. And they
wicked princes, their sin and judgment (Ezek. 11  :I).      hear that angel crying mightily with a strong voice,
lt was in the vision of God that he was brought into        saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is
the land of Israel, and set upon a high mountain. What      become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every
the prophet saw and heard in this vision is recorded in     foul Spirit, and the cage of every unclean and hateful
the  fina eight chapters of his book. To Daniel, too,       bird. And there was another voice from heaven that
the `Lord spoke in visions. There is his vision of the      *John heard, a voice that said, "Come out from her,
four beasts and. of God's kingdom, of the ram and the my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                     429
-"                                                              ---.---  .__"                     ..-__. ~- ..^..._......_...- "."" ^_
that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have         in the personal possession of a copy of the written
reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her              record of the law and of the prophetic discourses of
iniquities. . . ."    All believers hear this voice now;      the prophets must have been exceedingly small. Know-
and they hear it by faith. And after these things             ledge of the law, of the sacred history of the people
John heard still another voice - a great voice of much        of Israel, and of what God was to do in the latter days
people in heaven, "saying Alleluia ; Salvation, and glory,    was transmitted by the prophets to the people, and by
and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: for             parents to children, by word of mouth. It follows,
true and righteous are His judgments: for He hath             therefore, that, comparatively, there was Iit& Uzor-
judged the great whore. . . ." There was still another        ough and  excc& knowledge among the common believers
voice that John heard  - a voice of a great multitude,        of the things of God. This knowledge could not have
and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of          embraced much more than the weightier things of the
mighty thunderings. And the voice said, "Alleluia:            law, the outstanding events of Israel's history and, in
for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad          the latter days, the promise of the Messiah and of a
and rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the marriage         glorious destiny of the church. But as is evident from
of the Lamb is come, and His wife has made herself            the reactions of the disciples to the preaching of Christ,
ready. And to her was granted that she should be              of the true character of this glory, the average believer
arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen    had little understanding. Their conception of it was
is the righteousness of saints". This is what John            more or less earthy.      So, not only was there little
heard the voices say. And all the saints on earth hear.       knowledge but there was  aIso little true understanding.
These voices are in their hearts. And, they, too, say7        And the reason for this was that the Spirit was not yet
"Salvation, and glory, and honour, and pow.er,  unto the      to lead God's people into a11 truth. Hence, they had
Lord our God". And then finally John saw the holy             not the heavenly clearly before their eye. They saw
city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out             no visions of the heavenly. They therefore did not
of heaven. . . . And again he heard a great voice out         prophesy. For, if there be no knowledge and under-
of heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of  Go,d  is        standing, there can be no prophesying.
with men. . .  ."     And all the saints see and hear.           Yet it must not be supposed that the prophesy of
Visions they see ; and they dream dreams. And their Joel was fully fulfilled when that day of Pentecost was
hearts are glad. For, seeing and hearing, they know           fully come. Even now the believers still see through
that their salvation is nigh. The disciples, first to be      a glass darkly (the glass of the scriptures), know in
filled with the Holy Ghost, were glad. The three thou-        part and prophesy in part, speak as a child, understand
sand souls that were added to them the same day               as a child and think as a child. So do they know and
were glad. Daily did they continue with one accord in         prophesy and speak and think now. But when that
the temple, "and breaking bread from house to house,          which is perfect is come, than that which is in part
did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of            shall be done away. Then will they see face to face
heart".    Glad they were ; for they saw visions and          and know even as they are known (I Cor. 13).
dreamed dreams. And what a blessed reality the                   It is with this prediction of Joel as it is with what
heavenly had suddenly become to them ! How they               Jeremiah predicted when he said, "But this shall be
embraced the truth concerning it ! How they loved it!         the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel;
And how their affections were set upon it! How little After these days, saith the Lord, I will put my law
their souls clave  to the earthy ! Think on this : they       in their inward parts. . . . And they shall teach no
sold their posessions and goods, and parted  t&m to all       more every man his neighbour, and every man his
men, as every man h,ad need. All that believed were           brother, saying, Know the. Lord: for they shall all
together, and had all things in common.                       know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of
      But was not that which God shewed the prophets          them. . .  ." (Jer.  31:32,  33). When the prophet ut-
of the Old Dispensation in visions and dreams the             tered these words, he was telling the church what
property of all the believers of that day also and, if        would come to pass when the day of Pentecost was
so, were not all prophesying then in that day as well         fully come.  Al1 would then know the Lord with a
as now in this day ? Their can, in respect to this mat-       knowledge so perfect as to render unnecessary further
ter, be no cwxntial difference between the Old and the        instruction in the things of God1 and further admoni-
New Dispensation. The difference must be one of de-           tion and rebuke. But fact is, that believers still have
gree only. But this degree of difference is so great          need of instruction and rebuke. They must repeatedly
that, with the exception of the organs of revelation,         be told to know the Lord. And the necessity of this
it is not said of the believers of the Old Covenant that,     springs from the circumstance that in this life they
as the people of God of this New Dispensation, they           continue to lie in the midst of death and have but a
prophesied and that, without exception, they all knew.        small beginning of true obedience. Not until the church
`Fact is that all did not know. And there was reason appears with Christ in glory, will the prophesy, last
.for this. `Firstly, the number of believers who were         cited, be fully fulfilled. In the state of glory there will


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he no need  of every man saying to his brother, Know           that sign was the cloven tongues as of fire which  ,distri-
the Lord: for then  they  shall all know Him perfectly.        buted  themselves and alighted upon each individual.
But even the change that resulted from th.e initial ful-          So do the cloven tongues as of fire serve  as the
fillment of these prophesies was great. A mighty inter-        signal'of a series of new punishments growing in se-
nal revolution was affected in the souls of the disciples,     verity until Christ again comes. Thus, though the day
which elevated their whole  nrtture,   an'd endowed them of Pentecost was preceded by judgment, judgment did
with such strength of faith as believers and with such         not cease when this day was fully com,et.      I-Tow could
courage and insight into the truth as witnesses that           it with the ungodly on the earth and in the church and
they were now  ccimpetent  to set out upon their career as     with the church still to be delivered. The revelation
apostles of Christ. Thus the first member of Joel's            of wrath from heaven then had to continue. .And so
prophesy was first and especially fulfilled in the dis-        it did and will. The day of which the prophet spake is
ciples of Christ. There is remarkable evidence of this.        therefore great and notable indeed. It is a terrible
All that heretofore had been dark to them, now be-             day. It is this on account of "this untoward genera-
comes suddenly clear. The cross of Christ takes on             tion" from which the apostle Peter admonished the
meaning for them. They see in the events of the                believers to save themselves  (Acts 2  :&I).  Rut God's
hour the fulfillment of prophesy. And how fearless             people need have not fear. He will save them. So He
they now are. When some are amazed and others                  promised even by the mouth of Joel, "And it shall
mock, they, with raised voices, declare to the multi-          come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name
tude of Jews that face them, "Ye have taken, and by            of the Lord shall be saved". The tokens of the coming
wicked hands have crucified and slain Jesus of Nazar-          of the Spirit give this same assurance. First, there
eth, a man approved of God among you by miracles               came a sound from heaven as of a mighty rushing
and wonders and signs".                                        wmd. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues
         The second member of Joel's prophesy has plainly      of  fire. These audible and visible signs may be re-
to do with the judgment of God. This judgment may              garded as the sensuous garment which the Spirit as-
assume various forms. One of these forms is the                sumed. They rendered eminent services: like heralds,
misery and destruction wrought in a land by an invad- they announced His coming. The testimony of the
ing army. It is to this form of divine judgment, to sound as of a mighty rushing wind is that the Spirit is
this mode of operation of divine wrath, that is here in        irresistible in both His saving and hardening opera-
this second member of Joel's prophesy foretold. (Men-          tions.    And the Spirit is from the ascended Christ.
tion is made of fire, blood, vapour and smoke). There For consider that the sound came from heaven. And
can be no doubt of this as "that great and notable day"        it filled the whole house where they were assembled.
- the day of Pentecost and the dispensation that it            So does the Spirit completely fill the whole church  -
ushered in - was preceded by divine judgment of pre- His body. The visible flames were an emblem of that
cisely this character. And the judgment was on such holy ardor and of those glowing emotions which, en-
a scale that the kingdoms visited were destroyed. The          kindled from heaven by the Spirit, would break forth
first nation to feel the rod of God's anger was His            like flames from the heart of Christ and His church, -
people Israel and thereupon the surrounding nation             break forth in speech, mighty, living, saving and  con-
through which He had smitten His people.                       suming speech, a speech thoroughly pervaded by the
         Joel was not the only prophet to predict judgment     Spirit of God and revealing all that is heavenly and
for Israel and the surrounding nations. All the other          holy. Of this word, speech, signified by those cloven
prophets of his day did so and in terms so frightful as        tongues as of fire, one may read in the eleventh chapter
to wholly justify the view that the woe of which they          of Isaiah. There it is stated that the rod out of the
spake was the very woe predicted  by. Joel. And how stem of Jesse  - Christ Jesus,  - shall, as the anointed
could it be otherwise. The discourses of all the pro-          One, judge the poor with righteousness and smite the
phets of the Old Dispensation concerned the same main          earth with the rod of His mouth and sIay the wicked
events of the future.                                          with the breath of His lips. A fire, a word, that con-
         So was the day of Pentecost and this new dispen-      sumes shall thus come forth out of His mouth. He,
sation of which it was the beginning, preceded and             too, is a consuming fire. So it must be, as He is Holy
ushered in by judgment. `This was nothing strange.             God. And the fire of that same holy love dwells also
Every new dispensation had been preceded by judg-              in His servants. Did He not baptize them with the
ment. And so, too, will the final dispensation of grace,       Holy Spirit and with fire. And under the impulse of
the beginning of which wiI1 be marked by the second            that love, they too, speak His word through which He
coming of Christ, be preceded by a series  of, judg-           saves His people and hardens the wicked. They pro-
ments of ever increasing intensity, judgments described        phesy, do these servants, of judgment that is and of
in the book of Revelations. So it must be, as the church       judgment that is to come. And He fulf3ls  this prophesy.
cannot otherwise be saved than through judgment.               It stilt therefore cometo pass, that w?zosoe~~  shall call
         Of divine judgment there was also a sign given and    upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.        G. M. 0.


                                           ,THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              431
L            ._-                                                                                                    _- ..^........

Men and Brethern, What Shall We Do? phet Joel - the promise that He would pour out of
                                                                     His Spirit upon all flesh. The apostle can quote pro-
                                                                     phesy to this audience, as it is an audience comprised
                      Now when they heard this, they were prick-     of men who have the Old Testament scriptures. They
                    ed in their heart, and said unto Peter and to    are men of Israel. It is to these men  - Jews, the
                    the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren,      devout men out of every  naxion under heaven and
                    what shall we  do ?                              dwelling at Jerusalem - that he addresses himself.
                                                    Acts  2:37.      He first speaks to them a word that, as blessed to their
                                                                     hearts by the Spirit, brings them under the conviction
   "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" The asking                  of their great sin. And this sin is that they have
of this question was a cry of anguish bordering on dis-              taken Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God a-
pair.    To understand this cry, regard must be had                  mong them by miracles and wonders and signs, which
to the events of that hour. The day of Pentecost was                 God did by Him in the midst of them, as they them-
fully come.                                                          seIves also know, and wicked hands have crucified and
   What had taken place was noised abroad. Hearing,                  slain Him. This he tells them in direct and unequivocal
men became curious, and in large numbers came to-                    speech. There is not the slightest attempt on his part
gether in the place where the apostles were. And                     to spare their feelings. He knows that there only hope
every man heard them speak in his own tongue. The                    is that they be pierced in their heart. And he there-
devout men in that multitude (and such there were as                 fore purposely utters a word that, as sanctified to
appears from the 5th verse of Acts 2) were troubled                  their heart, will pierce that heart of theirs. And that
in their mind. They were amazed and they marvelled.                  word is that they have slain the Christ. It is de-
And they said to one another, "Are not all these which               serving of notice, however, that the apostle at once and
speak  Galileans ?       And how hear we every man in                even in the first place gives them to understand that
our own tongue wherein we were born? They doubt.                     their wicked deed had as its sovereign cause or neces-
What meaneth this, said they to one another. They                    sity not the wicked counsels of men but the counsel
are at a complete loss to know what it means. These                  and foreknowledge of God. . ." And then follows, "Ye
devout men are ; but not so the mockers in that multi-               have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and
tude. They know. These men, they say, are full of                    slain.`"    What the apostle then actually tells his
new wine.                                                            audience is that in putting to death Jesus of Nazareth,
    The apostles hear. There is a question to be ans-                they were active merely as the agents of almighty and
wered - the question of the devout man, What  mean-                  sovereign God, doing the very thing, not that He had
eth this ? There are mouths  - the mouths of the                     .forseen  that they wouId  do, but that He in His sover-
mockers  - to be stopped. And the apostles ? They                    eign .good pleasure had before the foundation of, the
have just been baptized with the Holy Ghost and with                 world determined that they should do. True it is  that
tire. They will reply therefore. Standing with the                   God had foreknown their wickedness. But the source
eIeven  is Peter. He comes forward. The old aggres-                  of that knowledge was not man (such is the prevalent
siveness of the man, having been sanctified by the                   view) but God. For it was according to His  deter-
Spirit, stands him in good stead now. Facing that                    nimate counsel and knowledge that He was delivered.
multitude with a courage as strong as the new con-                   Hence, the crucifixion of Christ spelled the defeat
viction from which it was just born, he raises his                   of the wicked and the triumph of God. This it is
voice. He has a message for those men. And it is a that the apostle first stresses. He does not reason with
thing alive. And so it leaves his heart and mouth.                   himself that he had better keep silence concerning this
He speaks now and the muItitude is anxious and silent.               truth as to proclaim it would set them to concluding
But no sooner has he done speaking, than a  cry is                   that God was the author of their wicked doing and
heard. It rises from that multitude, "Men and breth-                 that,  tihis being true, the fault lies not with them
ren, what must we do? There is consternation in that                 but with God and that Gxl therefore can no possibly
cry. What has  Pe,ter said to disquiet them. Exactly                 find fault with them and  hoId them responsible for
what men, guilty of the sin of which they were guilty,               their crime. Peter in  al1 likelihood was aware that
had need of hearing, and what he as a minister of the                the reprobated ungodly in his audience would so reason.
Word and as a shepherd of souls was in duty ,bound to                So men, whom God hardens, ever do reason over. They
say to them. What he spake forms a sermon that                       say, If this be true, how can He find fault? He cannot,
will serve every minister of the word, who is truly                  for who can resist His will, if that will of His be
desirous of preaching the word of God as God would                   sovereignly determinate. Such is the reply of the
have him preach it, as a model.                                      wicked to a preaching that sets forth God as the only
    Peter sets out with answering the question, "What                sovereign one. Though aware of this, Peter never-
meaneth this". The Lord has fulfilled His promise                    theless declares, "Him being delivered by  detelninate
spoken by t~he prophets and in particular by the pro-                eounsel and foreknowledge of God. . . . This he tells


432                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
         ---..--..          _.---           ...-^-.._l_ll.- ..-                         _-_-              ---.-._         . ..--
them ; for his resolution is that God be glorified and             And the apostle has not long to wait. There is a cry
that man be debased. There was present in Peter's                  heard, "Men and brethren, what must we do?" It is
soul no fear that through a preaching of the kind in               the cry of the penitent, of  those  whose heart is being
which he was resolved to engage, he would repel men                pierced, of those in whose heart the Spirit is operating
and thus make it impossible for himself to win souls               unto salvation.
for Christ. Well does Peter understand that this busi-                The heart of those men who stoned Stephen later
ness of winning souls is not his but God's; Besides, I on was also pierced by the word that Stephen had
he believes that God has His elect set in heaven to-               spoken to them. ?Vhen they heard these things", so
gether with the very Christ that key have crucified                we read, "they were cut to the heart?. But instead of
and thus already  saveld  to the uttermost. And his con- crying out, "Men and brethren, what must we do",
viction is that it is only and precisely through a kind            they gnashed on Stephen with their teeth. And they
of preaching in which God is seen as occupying His                 cried with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and
rightful place in the scheme of redemption, that the               ran upon him with one accord  anfl cast him out of the
elect are saved.                                                   city and stoned him. The explanation of this. differing
   Having stressed first the matter of the sovereignty             reaction of these men to an essentially identical mes-
of God in relation to their sin consisting in their hav-           sage, is the h.ardening  operation of the Spirit in their
ing slain Jesus, the God-approved men, he next concen-             heart. The Spirit through the preaching always pierces
trates on this sin when he says, "Ye have taken Him,               the heart. But while the one piercing is unto salvation
and by wicked hands have crucified and slain." The                 the other is unto damnation.      ,
wicked hand are the hands of the men who1 partici-                    "Men and brethren, what must we do ? These men
pated in Christ's crucifixion  - the hands of the leaders          have need of Christ's gospel. This gospel, Peter now
of their people, the hands of Pilate. It was through               does not offer but preaches and preaches unto
these hands that they slew Christ. For to his death                these penitent ones, "Repent," he says to them
they had. consented. For His death they had even                   now, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in
clamored, they, the Jews. Hence, the terrible deed is              the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins,
also theirs. For it, they are being held accountable               and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For
even though it be that over their doing there had hung             the promise is unto you, you who cry, and unto your
a sovereign counsel of the Almigh.ty  that had called for          children, and to all that are afar off, even as many
and necessitated this doing.                                       as the Lord our God shall call." So he can speak to
       But the apostle has more to say to them. This               them for they are God's elect. The promise, therefore,
Jesus whom they have crucified, God has raised up to               is indeed unto them. And with many other words did
sit on His, God's throne. So has God made that same                he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourself from this
Jesus, whom they have crucified, both Lord and Christ.             untoward generation.
Let the house of Israel know assuredly. Let this house                 Let us now ask finally, Does a preaching of the
be convinced of this. For so it is. And what now                   kind that Peter engaged in, does Peter's method of
will be done with His enemies ? is now their unexpress-            preaching, bear fruit? Attend to what is recorded,
ed question. The apostle, is ready with an answer,                 "Then they that gladly received his word were bap-
God will make them His, Christ's footstool. And this               tized: and the same day there were added unto them
will spell their destruction. But their is also gospel             about three thousand souIs." Three thousand souls,
`in Peter's message. It is this, "Therefore being at the           mark you. Does this preaching bear fruit? It is the
right hand of God exalted, and having received the                 only preaching that does bear fruit. It is the only
promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this                 kind of preaching through which the Holy Spirit will
which ye now see and hear".                                        and does save men, God's chosen, unto life eternal, the
       Herewith has been brought forward what formed               only kind of preaching through which God can comfort
the substance of Peter's sermon. Having had his say,               and build up His people in the faith. Why do men,
Peter is silent for the moment. There is no nervous                ministers of the word, preach otherwise ? Because they
effort on his part to pursuade them to repent. His                 are not concerned about God and His  gIory,  but about
argument does not now become that Jesus died for man and their own success and prestige. They u?rrmt
them all and is now pleading with them  a11 to believe             to win souls for Christ that they may have something
in Him and be saved. and that it is perhaps their last             to boast about. They are men who want to accomplish
chance to be saved as on the morrow they may be dead.              big things, things much bigger than what God is re-
Nay, having told them  $he truth about Christ and                  solved to accomplish. They want to save all men, the
about themselves, Peter keeps silence. He still has a
message of which he must deliver himself;but whereas               world. This being their ambition, they must  come
it is a message for God's people only, he must wait with a gospel for the world, for man, for the flesh.
until this people in that audience become manifest.                                                                  G. Ml 0.
                                                                                           L


