436                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
 - - - A - - -                         .._._. -- _-.....    -I_               - ..-.-....  - ._........    "- ^-..--." ..-. -.."...- ..---. -
                                                                   on this Point, that we are again in t,he midst of a period
             E D I T O R I A L S                                   of de,pression,  perhaps worse than that which caused
                                                                   the downfall of President Hoover. It rather looks as
                                                               if the short "breathing-spell" of "prosperity" will, in
         As To Our Present ` `Recession "                      the future, become  Bnown as a "recession" in the "de-
                                                               press&m".
       This editorial must be received by the reader, not             The second fact, perhaps not so generally admitted,
as an attempt ,at expert economic advice, but as the           but becoming more patent  t,o all as the days go by, is
reflections of a common man on the existing .social            that the so-called "recession"' is essentially the same
and economic conditions and  ldifficu'lties.                   as the late  depress&m  and is merely a continuation. of
       The Standard Bearer u,suaIIy  does not pretend to       it. It was interrupted fo'r a spell. As I expressed it
offer advice in political and economic affairs as such,        once during t.he "breathing-spell", what appeared to,
still less conceives it as belonging to its task to solve      be prosperity returned was nothing but a patch of
economic  prffblems.                                           sunshine between two storms. But really we are still
       ln the first place, its chief purpose is to discuss     in the same "depression" as in the early years of this
questions that beIong to the domain of theology, and to        decade.
enlighten our  people+ with regard to the Reformed                    This implies, and I mention this as the  third. fact,
truth in distinction from many deviations and aber- that  (even the Roosevelt administration has offered us
rations from its confession. This does not mean that           no  solution of the present economic  .difficulties.  I do
the Standard Bearer has  no'thing to say  % to Lhe not say this as a Republican, for I am neither a R+
spiritual- ethical principles that underly  .dl life, also     publican  nor a Democrat. In 1936 I voted for R~oos~
in the sphere of economics. But it does imply that its velt;  and I woul,d, no doubt, have voted Republican,
purpose is not to discuss and weigh in the balance had, in my opiniion, the Republicans presented a candi-
different social and economic theories and develop one         date of whom one could confidentially feel that  he were
of its own.                                                    able to' fill the position of president of the U. S., but
       Secondly, in distinction from many other publica&       this, again in my opinion, they did not; and had they,
tions in our day (too many, no doubt) the1 Standard            besides, offered a solution of the economic  difbculties,
Bearer does not pretend to have any economic experts           but also, t.his, once more in my opinion, they did not.
on its staff, that could: speak with any degree of autho,r-    All they could say, and they said it with a vengeance,
ity on such questions as those that pertain to our pre- was that the Roosevelt remedies were no good. Well,
sent  esonomic  system, its weaknesses, its possibilities,     although I still believe that RoCosevelt was right in tak-
its failures, and to a probable better system than the         ing hold of the matter and in doing something for `the
present one.                                                   unemployed, and alhough  I feel it is rather unbecoming
    And thirdly, the present social and economic prob- for his predecessor to go through.the cionntry ridicul-
lems are, evidently, so difficult of solution,  that even ing the present administration in stump-speeches, I
the very experts seem to know no way out and some-             never did think and I do nat believe today, that the
times speak in language  o.f despair, expressing the fear      Roosevelt measures can possibly prove to be a solution
that at any moment we may expect the downfall of the           of the present problems. No Rooseveltian combination
entire social structure and the end of our highly  exaltezl    of capita'1 letters of the alphabet will finally and defi-
modern civilization. It would seem rather pretentious, nitely settle things. If  you fill a hole by digging an-
`then, for a mere layman in the field of economics  even other, pou still have a hde. And it seems to me that
to suggest a possible solution.                                this  @r-e can properly be applied to the efforts of
   But even a layman sometimes has opinions of his             our present administration. Only, the hde that is be-
own. And this article pretends to be nothing more              ing dug is much deeper than the hole that is being
than the opinions of a layman.                                 filled. I am afraid that the ultimate result will be two
   There are certain facts that are rather outstanding holes.
in the present confusion and that may be  ,pointed  out              Fourthly, and this is my personal opinion, there
without fear vf contradiction.                                 is a't the present time no lone that ,appears to have a
   The first is, that the present "recession" differs          solution. It is true that the Republicans still assure
only in name from the "depression" during the early            us emphatically that the present administration is lead-
part of this present decade. There is politics in the          ing us in the direction *of a terrible catastrophe. But,
term "recession". it is a more hopeful  word tha.n  "de- although I rather care,fuBy  attended to all they had to
pression". After'  all "recession" is  only temporary.         say thus far, I have not heard of !one that had a posi-
The program of "prosperity" is presently to be con-            tive, constructive program that  <offered  hope of a  S&J-
tinued. But even during the earlier `fdepression"  we tion.
were constantly assured that "prosperity was just                    We will have more to say on this subject next time,
around the corner". And I think that al1 are agreed the Lord willing.                                                     II. H.
                                                                                                                                                 I


444                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
L_-                                     -_"...".."   .._                        -.-_-..-                    .-.l_l_ll_____
                    Fishers Of Men                                 to Timothy: And the things which  thou   ha.4 heard
                                                                   from me among many witnesses, the same commit
       It is during Jesus' first public  Galil,ean   mini&y        thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others
that He calls four of His disciples to become fishers              also. There can be no doubt but that  the significance
of men. They are  Simon and  -Andrew his brother, and difficulty of the calling of a preacher of the Word
and James with his brother John who were sons of                   demand special training by the church, and by those
Zebedee. This is not their first calling to the disciple- peculiarly prepared for that work. Bcesildes, the pro-
ship. We must remember t,hat the Lord's first Galilean             clamation of the gospel is the task, not of an individual
ministry did not begin until  H.e had completed His  first         but of the church. The body of Christ must assume
series of labors in  Judea. This stay in  Judea is  re-            this responsibility.
corded in the second and third chapters c,f John. It                  Indeed, these so-called preachers of a gospel are
is during this period that the claansing  of the temple            Vshers" of men. They catch men,  bu,t these "fishes"
and the Lord's remarkable conversation with  Nicode-               have never been caught by Christ. Playing upon the
mus  occur. Before this first  Judean ministry, how-               emotions of the people,  bhundering  into their ears
ever, the Lord had been publicly baptized by the Bap-              the horribleness of hell, preaching a general love of
tist, in the river Jordan. This latter event marks                 God and a Christ Who died for all men without distinc-
the beginning of His public appearance. It is at the               tion, people are brought to the "light", to a so-called
time of this <baptism by J:ohn that the first calling af           Christ, but without any understanding of the terrible-
disciples takes place, as recorded in the first chapter            ness of sin, and of the righteousness of God. There
of John. However, these disciples had evidently re-                are so many "children" of God who are "man-made".
turned to their secular labours.  This is evidmt  from             Does this pheno$menon  not present itself particularly
the fact that, when called to be fishers of men, they              in our day and age? Where is it proclaimed to-day
were at work with their  f,ather,  Zebobee,  casting a net         that we must make our calling and election sure?
into the sea. This calling, at the beginning of the                Where is that preaching heard which has for its speci-
Lord's first Galilean ministry, is the more direct call-           fic objective the gromwth  of the body of Christ Jesus
ing-when called the  seoond time, they left their  la-             into all the truth? Is it not the common concern of
bours, ever to be with the Lord.                                   almost all preaching to-day to bring as many "fishes"
   How little this saying 02 the Saviour : "I will make            into the net as possible, to win as many souls for
you fishers of men", is understood  to&day!           How these    Christ as we possibly can, without being concerned
words are being quoted and corrupted ! It is well,                 about the "fishes" already caught? Again we say,
at this time, to remember that this expression appears these preachers are "fishers" of men, but they catch
in the New Testament only as applied to the immediate men, win souls. Sin, the righteousness of God, the
circle of the Lord's apostles. This does not  mfian that love of God as purely Divine, as a Divine Self-love, are
the same thought is not expressed elsewhere. It is.                silenced.    There is more concern  todday for the life
The incident of the  Saviour'.s  appearance, after His of  an individual human than for the immutable right-
resurrection, to the seven disciples at the sea of Ti-             eousness and holiness of God. "Fishes" are caught
berias  expresses the same idea. But also here the                 who (have never learned to recognize Christ as the sole
apostles are these fishers of men. Yet, ta-day these               Saviour of men, as the Christ Who alone draws us
words are applied witho'ut distinction to whoever would            irresistibly o,ut of darkness into God's marvellous  hght.
proclaim a gospel. Preachers, who have very little or And how could it be otherwise! How is it possible to
no understanding of H:oly  Writ, who are thoroughly kn1o.w  the Christ when He is not proclaimed? `How can
arminian  and have no conception of  t,he truth that,              they praise God as their only Saviour when total de-
unless the Father draw, no man can come to Jesus,                  pravity, particular atonement, and God's sovereign love
are viewed as "fishers of men". Today anyone can be                and election are either silenced or openly ridiculed?
a "fisher" of men. Regardless of the question whether A Christ is held before them for whom they must Imabor
he h,as been duly called by the Church and prqerly                 day and night; the Christ Who must work for and in
prepared for the  diflicult t.ask  of proclaiming the truth        us is strange to them.      Many will indeed imagine
of God, anyone can leave his secular task to devote his            themselves saved who will hear from the Christ they
time and e&r&  to the deciaring of a so-called gospel.             never knew the awful sentence : I never knew you !
And we must surely bear in mind that a preacher of                 It is certainly of the utmost importance that this be
the gospel of God must be sent by the King of His                  emphasized, ever anew, particularly in our day and
Church, that he must be called by that church, and that            age when arminianism is running rampant.
he, according to Scripture, must be prepared' for this                 Jesus is  the  "Fisher" of men.  H,aw  important it
work. This is lost sight of to-day. But it is certainly            is that we fully understand this truth and, proclaim it
Scriptural.      In the Old Testament we read of the               in all our preaching! He  shalT draw all men unto
schools of the prophets. They were established for Himself. He  shad   do so. This, therefore, is absolutely
that very purpose. And in II Tim. 2:2, Paul writes certain. For, unto Him is given all power in heaven


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          445

and upon earth, and the promise of the Spirit, Who            of sin, of the work of Christ upon the cross and within
irresistibly leads His people out of darkness into light,     our hearts that we attain unto the blessed conscious-
out of death into life, oat of sin and the world into         ness cf what God alone has done for us and in us.
the fellowship of God's everlasting covenant. Jesus           The Lord must reveal Himself to us shall we know
is the Fisher of men. He does not merely throw out `Him. The scriptures ;peak  t:o us of the awful power
a "life-line" which we then must take  hold of; He of sin within us, of the immutable, terrible righteous-
actually "catches" them, never fails, brings them  with-      ness of God which knows of no shadow of turning, of
o,ut exception into the fold. Jesus must do this for the only propitiation for our sins a.nd the sins of the
He alone can. These "fishes", the elect people of God,        whole world, of the promise of the Holy Spirit Who
must be called  out of darkness into light, out of death makes His dwelling in the hearts of His people and
into life. By nature we are children of death, bound          abides there forever. Bearing this in mind we can
with chains of darkness which we cannot break, neither understand why and how Christ makes His disciples
desire  to, have broken. We love the mire of sin and          "fishers" of men. We must, of course, not view the
curruption  ; we are darkness and haters of God. There- apostles and all subsequent preachers of the sure and
fore no amount of persuasion and tears can move one           unfailing promise of God in the same light. Their
solitary human being to forsake his evil way and turn distinctiveness (.of the apostles) lies in the fact that
unto the living God. Hence it is of the utmost im-            to them was given the Word of God. Willed, by God
portance that we know Jesus ,to be the only Fisher of         from before the found,ation  of the wo'rld to be writers
men. He is it centrally upon the cross. There He              of His  revelatio,n  to His people,  en,dowe:d  with their
redeemed us from out of the  powder of sin and the own peculiar talents and gifts unto that end, prepared
devil, satisfied the ri,ghteousness  of God, merited for      spiritua!ly by the Spirit of God so that they would
His people eternal life. And only He, Who has re- not be mere "typewriters", stenographers, but living
ceived all power in heaven and upon earth, to Whom witnesses of the Word they were to  r,eceive  and speak
the Spirit has been given without measure, only He and write, they finally were infallibly led by the Spirit
has the keys of the House of David. He alone can call of Gcd and of Christ Jesus to write unerringly, letter
iife into our darkness and draw us irresistibly out of        upon letter, what God would have them write. Inas-
the corruption of sin and death. Jesus alone catches          much then as the Spirit calls us into  ccnscious fellow-
men. And this must be proclaimed.  Eol,dly,  without ship with CNd through the truth, so that that operation
oompromise,  it must be preached that man cannot of the Spirit takes place only where the truth is pro-
save himself, that only an  almight,y  Saviour is his claimed, the apostles, being the Divine media through
only hope, that Ihe is hopelessely  lost in sin and guilt,    whom this Word is recorded, are fishermen of men.
that he cannot and  .mu  no,$ serve Jehovah except And it is Christ Jesus  Who makes them such. For it
the perfect satisfaction of God's righteousness be            is He Who leads  t.hem infallibly into all the truth;
brought for all his guilt, that only the Lamb  Who was        Jesus has received all power and wisdom, in the spirit,
slain for His elect people and is now exalted in the          upon His ascension into, glory; and it is this King of
Father's right hand can possibly be His salvation,            His Church Who, through His Word and Spirit, is
now and eternally. Man must know that he cannot ever gathering out of every nation and to'ngue and l,and
save himself, yea, that he cannot even desire  to be and people a people, chosen unto eternal life, to be His
saved.    This must be preached because, firstly, the         own peculiar people, unto the praise  0.f His  retdeeming
truth must be proclaimed, and, secondly, man, who             grace. In this manner does the work of salvatilcn  oc-
is  saved*,  must praise his God.  Ho,w  sh.all we praise cur. Surely it is of the greatest importanoe that, being
Him alone, if of Him we do not hear.                          saved, we realize that we are saved by Him, the King
   This Jesus makes  `Xshers" of men. As stated be- of kings and the Lord of lords. Then we know that
fore, this expressi80n,  which in a well-known hymn is our eternal salvation is not in doubt, that our eternal
superficially applied to whoever would proclaim a gos- happiness rests in His hands and that therefore no
pel, is used in Scripture only in connection with the man can separate us from that salvation which has
apostles. When we read that the Lord will make His been prepared for and is being bestowed upon His
disciples "fishers" of men, this surely does not mean people.
that henceforth He and they will perform this work.              In the light of what we now have written we may
God and man, or Christ and man never do things.               apply the expression, "fishers of men", to every
We do nut lend Jesus a hand, work for King Jesus.             preacher  of the gospel, who has been call.ed by Christ
Let it be understood: I will draw all men unto, Myself.       through His Church  to proclaim the truth. Under-
However, it is through the Scriptures, sanctified unto stand correctly, the gathering of these "fishes" takes
our coasciousness  by the Holy Spirit, that the people place in conjunction with the preaching of the gospel.
of God  are consciously called into the fellowship of And insofar as that preaohing  of the gospel has been
GodFs covenant.     It is through the Scriptures that entrusted to these ministers of the  W,ord,  they can
we receive a saving knowledge of God, of the reality be regarded as "fishers'  `o'f men. The preaching of


446                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                -----_,. _.l___l.-  ..."                   --"-,- ^......                  -  ______-
the Word of God is certainly not the task of all. To              blessed revelation unto their hearts. Their conscious-
be sure, the preaching of the truth is the task of the            ness  of sin and grace, of Christ as their only Saviour
Church. We believe  t.hat the command to proclaim and of God's eternal love will grow and deepen. Their
the gospel to all nations comes to the Church of God.             Iife will become richer. And God will ever receive
Unto the Church Jehovah, through Christ Jesus, has                the praise and the glory due unto Him alone. Let us,
given apostles, evangelists, prophets, pastors and                as Protestant Reformed Churches, hobd fast to what
teachers. it is the Church who, in obedience to the               we have that no one may take our crown.
command of Christ, appropriates those who shall labor                                                           1-I.  v    .
in her midst in the Word. And it is also the Church
who keeps a watchful eye in order that the preaching
be according to the Word of God. Unto this end par-
ticularly the office of elder must serve. But, then, it
is only through this office of the administration of
the Word that the Church of Christ Jesus proclaims
the truth. Not all  Ibave the authority to appear before                       Preserving His People
the people of God upon the Lord's Day to break the
Bread of Life. Not anyone may take it upon himself                                                        Rom. 11: l-5.
to go into the  ,highways and the byways to preach the                  Hath God cast away His people? Thus the apostle
gospel. This is emphatically the task of the Church              Paul begins the eleventh chapter of his epistle to the
which it fulfills through its  &ices. It has pleased the Romans. And this indeed is a very important yues-
`Lord, to bless His people, perfect the saints, edify the        tio,n. And seemingly there are good reasons to raise
body of Christ through the  preaching of the Word,               this question. For, is it not true, when we look round
which may take place only by him appointed unto that about us that we see the ungodly prosper? And on
task. There is nothing of greater significance for the %he other hand, is it not a fact, that the righteous have
people of God than Divine worship upon the Lord's                 only a very little of the riches and the abundance of this
Day. Of course, this does not mean that, as preachers,            world? Yea, is it not so that one of Gold's dearest
I, for example, bless the people of G&. It is not the ohildren  complained, "All the day long I have been
minister who speaks the  W50rd to the Church. God                plagued, and chastened every morning"-and that the
only. But God's blessing is inseparably connected with wicked "are not in trouble as other men; neither are
the administration of the truth. Neither does this               they plagued like other men".
mean that, when the Word is administered, the                          Seemingly it is true that God reversed the order
preacher must  oo,nsisder  himself separate from  t.he of things. Therefore, the wicked dare say when the
Church. The Word is directed to him as well as to                righteous are afflicted, "Wihere  is your God in Whom
the others, We all must attend to (hear the Word of thou didst trust"?
God.Finally, we must not forget that the calling                       Wherefore, this question, "Has God forgotten His
of these "fishes" into the light, also. continually              people ?", is not far fetched.
throughsut  their entire life, takes place only in con-                 When we IooB at history as God revealed it to us
junction with the preaching o.f the &m&h. The minis- in His Word we notice that the people of Israel were
ter of the gospel must at all times ,be subject to he            often cast away. Hath He not promised that they
Word of God. That Word he must proclaim. That                    were to be His people? And that at the expense of
Word is sharper than a sharp, two-edged sword. That the other nations. And yet, He sent His people into
Word he ,must  bold before the people of God in all its          bondage for four hundred years. Generation after
fulness. Nothing he may  withhoM.  The "thus saith               generation  ,died in Egypt and near the end of the
the Lord" must be the contents of all his speaking. He           bondage they were oppressed more than at any time
must so appear before the church of God that all of              before. But also after their deliverance, they wan-
himself, all human persuasion, all human desire and              dered forty years in that ho,rrible  desert, while more
interest may be completely subdued, wholly pressed !&an half of them that left Egypt died  oa the way
unto the background, in order that, when the truth is,           to the promised land. The apostle in his letter to
proclaimed, God's people may stand  face to face solely the Hebrews reminds us of this fact when h.e writes,
with the Word of God. This will bear rich fruit. Of              "some, when they heard, did provoke the Lord and
course, the vessels of dishonor will be fitted unto de- their carcasses fell in the wilderness", never did they
struction. In the measure that God's Word is held be- enter into the promised rest.
fore them, their darkness and hatred of God will be                    So  also,, after Israel possessed the land  o,f Canaan
revealed. And, God accomplishes, also  with respect to           God sent them to Babylon and only one tenth returned
them, His good-pleasure. But, positively, the sheep after the captivity. If the  qu.estion  of God's preserva-
will be gathered into the fold. God will sanctify His tion is viewed in the light of history, the facts are such


                                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             447
           _^ _...._........  ".."    --_-...^  .._.__... ".".l-..--."l.l..~ - -   -...  _.-._---.--.-  -.^_      _- ._....  I"
that we rather not answer the question at all. And an                        the sign of the covenant. For both were circumsized.
answer we must give.                                                         And as was the case with the sons of Isaac, so it is also
    But still another quest&  arises, namely, if God did in the broad sense of the word with Israel, the nation.
cast away His people in the past, what security is there                     All the children of Israel  le.ft  Egypt and all were bap-
for the  ,present and future? He may do so with the                          tized unto Moses. We may safely say all became so-
Church today. And that being the case who can feel journers and pilgrims in the desert, being loosed from
assured concerning his salvation? We may be saved the bonds of Egypt. Every one of them marched to
today and cast away tomorrow. And if this is possible "the promised land. And in their wanderings Israel as
do we not believe in a changeable God, who is after all,                     a whole witnessed the miracles of God, receiving the
like unto us? More yet. Then God is no God, for we daily manna-were guided and protected by the cloud
cannot depend upon Him in respect to our salvation.                          of fire in the night, as well as by the pillar of smoke
This is free will applied to God.                                            in the day time.
   The  Premillenialist  answers  the question in this                           The same is true of the Church in the New Dispen-
way. He contends that the apostle does not mean to                           sation.     The Church visible is called the  Churclh  of
say whether or not God cast away His elect, but                              the living God. And every one who belongs to her
whether or not God casts away the Old Testament na-                          is to be considered a child of God and treated as such.
tion? Shall Israel never return  to its former exalted                       Hence, every child born in her midst must be baptized
position? And their answer is, God has cast away                             and that without discrimination. And every one of them
Israel only for the time being. The Church of We New must be instructed in the truth and must, when coming
Dispensatio,n  takes  its place  temp:orarily.  However,                     to years of discretion, confess the name of the Lord.
at the end of this dispensation, at the beginning of one                     In public worship, the Word and the admonitions, its
thousand years, Israel shall again receive its place and                     instruction comes to them all.      When the Minister
its former glory. Then it shall be at the head of the                        preaches that Word he must preach it to them all and
nations of t-he world once more. But Scripture does that without distinction, as to the Church of the living
n,ct provide the ground for such a view. If we read God. And he may never separate his audience in  t.wo
th.e Epistle carefully we will notice that the discussion or three different parts. And all this because the
of the different doctrines do not revolve around this                        people of God are born in the line  ef successive gene-
question at all. We do not deny that there may be a rations. It is the line of God's covenant whereby God
conversion of the individual Jew,  altho,ugh  even in                        reveals the body of Jesus Christ our Lord. Therefcre,
that case it may be said that only a few (compared she is the Church of the living God and no one has
with  *the converts of hea%hendom) return to the God                         the right to change her name.
of Abraham through our Lord Jesus Christ. A return                               But this one people of one Church in Old and New
of the nation to its former place is nowhere taught                          Testaments may seem tv be one, in reality they are
in Scripture. Indeed it is true that the nation is cast two. There is a natural and a spiritual seed. That
away, never to return to an exalted state. Hence, the accounts for the fact that God will sometimes cast
apostle inserts in this question the answer of God.                          away the historical church, For spiritually they are
And %hDhe `answer to Elias was: I have preserved the                         not  o,ne, but two different people. From the point of
remnant,. And Paul's own answer is "God hath not                             view of election the nation Israel could not be called,
cast away His people which He foreknew". And the as a whole, as being the people of God, head for head.
fifth verse is co,nclusive  when we read, "Even so then                      All was not Tsrael that bore that name. The visible
at this present time also there is a remnant according Israel was but a means by which thhs Lord preserved
to the election of grace",  .an election that cannot pos- His elect. Therefore, we  &have two things that always
sibly mean the election of a nation as sueh, for no                          must be remembered both in the Old and in the New
nation is the object of grace.                                              Testament Church. First, there was one chosen people
   The question we must answer is, how is it possible of Israel, one natioa,  n,amed after the Lord in distinc-
that Scripture speaks of a  ca$ing away of God's                             tion from the nations round about it. And in the
people? And to understand this we set out with the                           second place, that in this nation Israel we must dis-
statement that Israel and the Church are in their his-                       tinguish between the natural and the spiritual. As
torical revelation one. The spiritual and the natural                       to the  flesh all the children of Abraham were Israelites,
children are o.ne in their historical appearance. They but Abraham's spiritual seed were the elect alone.
Iive together  ansd are rased in one family, they belong                         The same is true of the Church of today. In the
to one and th.e same Church, they are called the one                        broad sense of the word, all those who belong to the
people of God. So it was fr,om the dawn of history.                         Church visible are through that very fact set apart
We find Cain and Abel, Jacob and Esau as members                            in this world and must be a distinct people. All who
of one family. In that respect there is no difference.                      are baptized must coafess the name of the Lord and
Moreover, Esau as well as Jacob received the seal and                       walk accordingly. But in the visible church we find a


448                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
               ---.._"  ..-_. -                  -"..---  -
 spiritual element, the believers as the kernel, and the       bast,ards and they never care to return to the service
others are the chaff. And because  (there are in reality of Jehovah. Fo,r they belong with the world in which
two different kind of people spiritually, the being cast they live. And (does not the apostatizing church-mem-
away as a  church is possible. True it is, that the            b,er become even a greater sinner than the man who
real Israel remain God's people and they must by the           never saw the inside of a church?
way of reformation separate themselves of the others.
And it is not difficult to understand ho,w this casting            At the same time, the Lord chastises His children.
away comes about. The natural or carnal Israel is              Thus it was with Israel, both, the carnal and the spirit-
often in the majority. The process may be slow, hardly         ual went into the Babylonian captivity, but for the
                                                               latter it became a means to sanctification, with the
noticeable, but the  departur~e  takes effect when  th.e
majtority  in pew and pulpit, do not belong to the spirit-     result that it brought them back to the Lord. A true
ual seed. Carnal men and carnal minded officebearers           knowledge of sin and a humble confession of the same.
are the means to deteriorate the church. Otherwise             And that return to the Lord is always present when
we could not understand the history of the church,             it pleases Him to again reveal Himself in the separa-
both in the Old and in the New Dispensation. And               tion of His people from the rest who are hardened and
                                                               never return.
when  this departure develo,ps slow but sure one finds
the leaders flirting with tshe world, the worldly philo-           It does not mean that the remnant as to their num-
sophy, its mode of living. Their names become public ber make such an impression. The remnanlt  kept by
property and they receive praise of the children of            His grace are always a small number. Judging from
darkness.    They  like everybody except God's people.         the viewpoint of the world they might as well not be
And they turn the truth in such a way that it is no            considered at all. To ignore them is about the best
longer the Word of God. And the Spirit of God does             the world will and can do with them. Yet, looking at
not operate in gatherings where such men bring stones          the apostles viewpoint, that is looking at it from the
instead of the bread of life. Thus it was in the desert, pc,int  of.view  of reality it is not a question of number.
in the days of the judges, at the time of Elias, at the        It  never is.    And that viewpoint is, God keeps those
time of the Babylonian captivity. Only a remnant was whom He foreknew. The apostle means to say God
left that truly could be called the Church of God.             knew them from eternity. Of course, he does not
   And so also we find it in the day when our Lord             mean, that God knew His people in the Arminian sense
Jesus Ghrist was born. The high places were occupied or' the word. Then His knowledge was simply that He
by godless men. The service of Jehovah turned out              knew that His people be willing and desired to be
to be a man made religion. And man made religion               `His people. And God knowing this chose them upon
is a hollow shell without spiritual contents.                  the basis of their willingness. Such is contrary to
   And turning our eyes to the Reformation we find             the plain teaching of Scripture. No, God's knowledge
that histcry  repeats itself. And Scripture  holxds  before is His Iove for and over His people, because His love
us that so it shall be even unto the great day of              is the basis of His sovereign good pleasure.
                                                      judg-                                                    There is
ment. Then the question is in order  bath God cast             not one little tiny cause in His children why He should
away His people? Are there no more children of God?            or co,uld love them. And because He loved them with
Is the spiritual seed gone and taken out of the world?         <an eternal love, with reasons only to be found in Him,
We  do well to remember that all this does not happen          He also loves them in time, being the Unchangeable
in a single day. When Israel turned from the ways              God in His being and in all His virtues, so that He
of the Lord it was by the way of the old process. And          will love them forever. Even their unfaithfulness does
i;t is sometimes very difficult to detect what is wrong        not change His love. Hence, they may rest assured in
when the church is without strength and God's people           Him, at all times and in all things.  Tho,ugh  they
become dormant. Besides, there is always an element            waver, He remains steadfast in His love, fotr He knows
that is able to detect what is wrong and who by the            them. And although their path may be dark and
way of protest point to the cause or causes of it. But         seemingly ends in defeat before the onslaught of the
their number is small and the number of the carnal             enemy, He remains their loving Father with whom
increased. Their voices were drowned in the clamour            there is no shadow of turning. And once more may it
of the greatest number. Moreov.er,  even amongst them          be said, He is that for reasons only found in Him-
are  to! be found those, who being undernourished, can         self.
no longer hear and detect what is wrong. All kinds of              For His Name's sake alone He  foreknew  them,
reasons may be added when the question is raised, why          that is, for the sake of the revelation of His own
did not the people of God remain firm? But taken as            glory they are and ever shall be the objects of His
a whole, the result is always that there is seemingly          love. And even while they are born in sin and misery,
no difference between  th,e carnal and the spiritual.          He loved them so much that He gave His only Son
And as to history, both Carnal and Spiritual Israel are        in order that they may be reconciled with Him and
sent  into! captivity, Then  Be punishes the spiritual         through His bIood become heir of the eternal inheri-


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          449
                                                                                              _____--~
tance.  The deepest reason and the ultimate cause is of the  church  by the  worId.  The church from that
found in Him alone. It was His eternal, sovereign point of view cannot prevail against that world. And
good pleasure that they should be His sons and daugh-          besides the battle of the church is not to be fought
ters to be made conformed to the image oI the Only             with the arm of flesh, but is a spiritual battle, the
Begotten. And because they were eternally the  ob-             battle of faith. Yes, and even then it is the confession
jects  of His good  pl,easure,  therefore they are never at of the church that she is often weak, very weak and of
any moment out of His mind. He cares for them  con- little faith. The confession and prayer is: Lord, hold
tinually. And therefore, He wili never cast them away.         Thou my hand, or we shall perish!!
Surely, for His Name's sake and for their sanctifica-             And yet they remain ? ?
tion they must be chastised, but even then His motive
is only love.       Thus He rejects the carnal and saves          Yes, they  do+. They are preserved by the Lord.
His people.                                                    He throws the church in the fve of persecution with
                                                               the result that the fleshly element succumbs, but  Re
    In the casting away  09 the carnal it  iS  noteworthy also gives grace  to the elect .
that they never reveal a desire to return. Proof for
this statement we find in abundance in Scripture. Es-             Again we  find this attested in Scripture. Job,
pecially where it concerns Israel in the captivity. They       Daniel, the young men in the fiery furnac,e, Mcses an:1
did not care to return to Canaan. Neither did they  the  Patriarchs. With the purpose to teach us to place
care to rebuild the temple and serve Jehovah. They our trust in Him alone.
felt and feel themselves to home in the camp and the              And He takes care of His people in such a way that
company of the enemy. And with the enemies they the remnant is always present.
lo;:8ed  for the treasures and pleasures of this world,           Elias looked at the church visible and concluded
with the things invisible; with all that fades away            all went astray, altars broken, prophets killed, and I
and shall forever disappear. And thus it is today. am left alone and they seek my life. No one left to
A man once seperated from God's people or His church serve the Lord. Elias said, the Lord hath cast away
will, with a few exceptions, never return and rapidly          His people.
develops in sin.                                                  The Lord's answer is,  Elias there is a  c::.mplete,
    But the result, as far as the elect are concerned, is,     a perfect number, (7000, according to the remnant cf
that they, drawn by His grace again yearn after Him            His covenant).
and seek His face. That is the reason why they al-
ways remain, that there is always a Chu..rch of Jesus             And so it always shall be. According to the elec-
Christ, a remnant according to  electic,n. And again tion by grace alone.
Scripture provides in abundance what serves as proof              The Lord preserves them and therefore, don't wor-
For  whak  the apostle teaches.     We refer to  Enoch.        ry. All is well.
LNoah, Lot, the remnant in Babylon, Simeon and a few                                                       w. v.
others, the men and women of the reformation, and
thus it shall be until the end of time. The proof that
God shall never cast away His people and that the
remnant is always present is conclusive. Paul is fully
assured even in his own day of that fact full of com-
fort.                                                                     N O O R D W E S T - I O W A
   Why??
   Because God preserves, keeps, loves and guides that                             A T T E N T I E !
remnant.
   When Elias co~mplained  on account of the seemingly                            VELD DAG - JULI 4
hopeless condition, the Lord answers him, Elias I have
kept, preserved unto Myself seven thousand, who have              In Gerben De Jong's Grove  - 1 mijl west van
not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. 0, if it had          Perkins corner.
been up to the people  ,of God they  w,ould  have perished.
in them there is no power, or faithfulness.                       Ken  goed program:
                                                   That is
their daily confession and experience. They are sur-                    Sprekers: Dss. B. Kok en M. Gritters:
rounded by enemies who are far greater in number
and power. It is not so, that the Church makes an                       Muziek - Games
impression  oa the world, so that the world is afraid of          Allen Welkom                Aanvang  10230 A. M.
her. To the  coatrary,  H,ebrews   11 tells a different
story and gives us the exact picture of the evaluation                  (Collecte  voor de Standard Bearer)


450                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                            ____---                                                            -     -
                                                                 Nay, Reconciliation redeems centrally the Church,
        The Reconciliation Of All Things                     but together with the Church, through Christ, also
                                                             ALL THINGS shall be lifted out of the ruin and chaos
       R,elentlessly  we have maintained the doctrine of the u,f sin into the glorious state of eternity. Hence, when
particular Atonement. And rightly so, for it is as           thinking of the Blood of the Cross and the Final Resti-
relentlessly being attacked in these present days. It        tution we must be conscious of the far-reaching plan
should not be necessary in reformed circles to have to       of our God, to "gather together in Christ" not  ;only
prove that Christ, according to the intention of God's ;the Church (of both dispensations, Jew and Gentile)
decrees, died, not for all, but only for the elect. But      but also to gather together into Christ "ALL THINGS"
it has often become and gradually more often becomes         both the things in heaven and upon the earth (Eph.
necessary to have  to maintain that Redemption is Par-       1:lO). In what form it will appear afterwhile and
ticular. And therefore we with unabated force have           how Creation will stand there then is beyond the scope
to maintain that the Blood of the Cross went no fur-         of this present article. This we know, however, that
ther and was intended to reach no further than "them there will one time be a new heaven and a new earth.
whom the Father had given" Him.                              And all this is realised through the Blood of the Re-
       But now, while doing this we must not go about        conciliation of the Cross.
setting the Redemption certain limits which are for-             This is taught us in Scripture. It is taught us by
eign to Scripture; To limit the Reconciliation through       inference first.
the Blood of the Cross to the Elect is certainly Scrip-          First then we are led  to, infer a Restitution of ALL
tural. . . . provided this limit is set to oppose  Ar-       THINGS from the headship and kingship of the First
minianism, Universalism and its kindred errors. But,         Adam. Adam in perfection stood as Head and King
having successfully opposed these errors we ought not of Creation. In Him Creation reached its high purpose
to tarry at these limits, thinking that the Reconcilia-      for through him Creation lay as it were in God's bosom
tion of the Cross effects only Men and leaves all the        praising and glorifying Him. In Adam Creation was
rest of Creation untouched. For then our view is too one grand unity and in that unity it had peace and har-
narrow in scope.                                             mony. Adam had dominion over all and with it all
       Net infrequently the discourse and confession of he served God. But sin entered the world. Adam
our Reformed people betray that the Cross to them went down under the curse of sin. And Creation went
has significance only for the elect mankind. They con- with him into the ruin of sn. There comes,  howeever,
ceive of heaven afterwhile as being the ingathering the Second Adam, King of all things, Head and Lord
of the Church, her redemption and glorification, and         of all. All things are put under His feet (Ps. 8, Heb.
there they let it. Reconciliation effects the Church,        2). Through His redemptive work man is raised out
nothing more. And this is not as it should be.               of the curse and chaos of sin into the liberty of grace.
       That the Reconciliation has for its central object    And shall not then Creation with Him be likewise lifted
the redemption and the future glorification of the           up? If the relation between Man and All Things is
Church is, of course, true. Scripture continually sets       such that with man it must fall, shall not then the re-
that up ahead. And that is as it should be for the sal-      lation be that with man it shall also be raised up into
vation and redemption of fallen and elect mankind is         glory?
the crown of the praise of His grace. Man moreover               We are likewise led to infer a Cosmic Redemption
is crown also of creation. But the redemption of Man         from God's dealing with Noah. Into the Ark of sal-
must not be taken to exclude the redemption of Crea- vation went Man but also< all Creation was there repre-
tion as a whole. Rather we ought to see that redemp- sented. It says : every beast, every creeping thing, and
tion of man includes the redemption of all creation.         every fowl and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth
In fact, Scripture teaches us in more than one passage       went into the Ark. Besides that the Covenant estab-
that the blood of the Cross was intended not only to         lished with Noah is plainly of cosmic embrace. For
redeem fallen, elect mankind, but that it was intended       God sets up His covenant (the  everiasting  Covenant)
also as a Reconciliation of ALL THINGS, both in              with Noah, but, says God -to him, "and with every
heaven and upon the earth.                                   living creature that is WITH you, of the fowl, of the
       Shall creation become the prey of Satan? Shall we     cattle and every beast". A little further it says, "All
conceive of it so that after sin entered the world and       that go out of the Ark, to every beast of the earth".
Satan had gained the mastery of Man that then Crea-          And again it speaks of "every living creature of all
tion falls into the hands of Satan? Or will Creation,        flesh". Plainly showing how the Creati:cn  was sharing
Organic Creation, afterwhile be forever destroyed?            with man. Now it is true that this Covenant hadf  a
Did God create all things to. use them for a season           significance for the present, but in this Covenant there
and afterwhile to destroy them forever? Shall a part, lies also the prophecy of the restitution of all things.
a great and important part, of His  Creatiion  fall              Both the above inferences however become the more
away?                                                         permissible when we view two others. The one is that


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           451
_______-"  .--. --^^ _.__-
well known passage from the book of Remans, chapter          they be things in earth or things in heaven". God,
820, 21, where it says that "the Creature was made says Paul, reconciled all things unto, Himself, through
subject to vanity. . . .IN HOPE, because the Creature the blood of Christ, and this reconciliation effects, not
itself also shall be delivered. . .  .into the glorious      only elect, fallen mankind but  &e&s "things" all
liberty of the children of God". Here it is shown that things, everything in heaven and earth. And when
the Creature shall certainly be delivered, but it is also    it speaks of heaven and earth it refers to  *the totality
evident  frqm this passage that the Creature itself has of the works of God's hands, all Creation therefore.
this hope. 4s we see Creation it lies under the curse,
bult we must not forget that it lies there "in hope".           Hence, when speaking of the recoeciiiation of th,e
Of the natural man, the wicked, it may truly be said         Blood of the Christ we must be conscious of the far
that he is without Hope because he is without God in         reaching effect of that blood. Through the sin of
this  wo,rld. But that is not true of Creation. It has       Adam all creation went down under thejcurse  of the
hope. And the object of its hope is the deliverance,         righteous God. For man's sake it is subject to vanity.
the future glory of the sons  o-f God. Again evident         Because of man it bears a relation, toward Gold of
that Creation will enter glory with man.                     wrath. Creation has become vanity because  oi sin. It
                                                             no longer reaches its purpose because of  sin.; The
    The other inference you have in the book of Revela-      Cross of Jesus Christ makes peace, the peace of recon-
tion, the panorama of the Final Restitution as it passes     ciliation. God reconciles the world u&o 1Himself, sets
before the eyes od John upon the Isle of Patmos. In that world before Him in a relation of love and peace,
the very outset of the scene (chap. 4) John sees the         so that He can once again look down in favor upon
"four beasts" or rather the four living creatures. John that work of His hands. Redeemed Man is once again
sees them  ,standing  around the throne. Again he sees       King of the Creation and with Man& shall enter into
them standing with the four and twenty elders. Again the glorious liberty of the Children of God. And
he sees them singing and rejoicing with that glad            having entered into that liberty all creation shall. praise
refrain of "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty".            and glorify Him unto all eternity.
Once mo,re  in chapter 5 after the Conquering Lion of
Judah's tribe has taken that seven-sealed book and to           And the center of all things is the Cross of Christ
the amazement of all has opened it, we hear heaven Jesus.
reverberate with applause. And in the group o'f them            The Cause of all things is "For God so,foved  the
applauding we see the four and twenty elders, we see World that He  yave  His only begotten Son".
the many angels, we see the four beasts. But, coming
to vs. 13, we find among them also "every creature in           That shall be the, world without end, the world to
heaven and earth and under the earth", all giving come, the world God was, in Christ, reconciling unto
praise and glory to God. From this passage it is evi- Himself.                                              M. G.
dent that in that final chorus all Creation is present,
all giving praise and glory to God. The four and
twenty elders in the fore and all Creation with them,
round about the throne, praising and glorifying God.
    We have however not only these inferences. We                            `HUMAN ABILITY
have also direct references to this matter. One you
have in Eph. 1 :lO where Paul declares the mystery              Sir ! preach Christ and him crucified ! Preach down,
of grace to the Ephesians and tells them that it was         argue down, pray down HUMAN ABILITY, and then
God's purpose to gather together in Christ, all things,      you will have same hope of beholding the beautiful
both the things which are in heaven and the things           superstructure of God's free grace rising from amid
upon the earth. If through the first Adam all plunged        the ashes and ru in of the fall.
into ruin and if in him it slid down into destruction,                                 REV. WM. PARKS, B. A.
in the Second Adam all things shall be united into one
grand and glorious whole. And this gathering to-
gether takes place says Paul "IN CHRIST", i.e. in the
sphere of the redemptive work of the Christ, the Ser-           If we complain of the treacherousness of our mem-
vant of God. The reconciliation of Christ effects  there&    ories, it is the most harmless way of the slipping out
fore not only the redemption of the elect, but also the of the word. 1~ is not the treachery of our memories,
restitution of ALL THINGS. The other we have in              but of our hearts and affections, that makes the heart
Col.  120, where Paul is. speaking of the preeminence        like a broken vessel, that makes all the rents in it,
of Christ the Head of the Church. When speaking where the water runs out. . . .                     We talk away a
of the blood of Atonement Paul says "by Him to recon- sermon and the sense of it.
cile all things unto Himself, by Him, I say, whether                                                 JOHN OWEN.


462                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
-                                                                -~
                  Sacrifice By Blood                            did say to His people, "Whosoever he be of the children
                                                                of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel,
                                                                that giveth any of his seed unto Molech; he shall sure-
       The foregoing article on this subject contained a        ly be put to death: the people of the land shall stone
list of those sins that could not be atoned by the typical      him with stones. And I will set my face against that
sacrifice.    It was found that there were only three           man, and will cut him off from among his people ; be-
 classes of sins of which it is declared that they could        cause he hath given of his, seed unto Moleeh,  to defile
be atoned. The one class was comprised of sins com-             my sanctuary, and to profane my  ho'ly name. And if
mitted unwittingly or through carelessless or over-             the people of the land do  anyw'ay  hide their eyes from
sight. The other class for which the sacrifice could            the man, when he giveth oi his  swd unto Molech, and
avail was comprised  o,f sins done under the influence          kill him not: then I will set my face against that man,
of passion or temptation and thus not characterized by          and against his family, and will cut him off, and all
that settled and deliberate malice that marked the              that goI a whoring after him, to commt whoredom with
presumptuous sins. There was still a third class of Molech, from among their people" (Lev. 20 :I-5). From
sins for which the sacrifice/availed, namely, the class         II Kings  20310  and from Ezek.  16:20,  21, it would
comprised of the many moral infumties  and miseries seem that the sin here denounced is the actual burning
that even the most devout Christians feel in themselves         of offspring as ,a sacrifice to Molech. The passage in
-such infimities  as imperfect faith, the failure on the        the book of Kings reads in part, "that no man might
part of the believer to yield himself to serve God with         make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire
that zeal as he is bound, and the evil lusts. of the flesh      to  Mole&." By many, however, this is explained of
with which the believer has daily to strive. These merely passing the children between two fires. But
are weaknesses that are found in the saintliest of men.         let it be that the practice denounced is one that con-
       Regard was had to the sins that could not be atoned      sisted in the actual burning of  offsprilag,  even then
by the typical sacrifice.       The question was  raise.d       the prohibition is to the effect that the offspring shall
whether it follows from the circumstance that these             net be offered tb Molech. Whether such offerings might
sins could not be covered by the blood of the symbolical        be brought to Jehovah, the prohibition leaves unde-
offerings that they are sins unforgiveable in the true          termined. Yet the very circumstance that the selec-
sense. This, it  wasishown, does not follow. Though             tion of the victim was limited by the command to the
these sins  could  not be forgiven  symbollicdly,   they animal  kingdo,m  is, certainly, equivalent to the prohi-
could be  truly  forgiven and  were  also actually for-         bition that the victim be not taken from the class of
given, if the offender received grace to t.ruly  repent.        humans.
The sins of adultery and murder were forgiven David                The question why this was not allowed is not so
king of Israel. The r.eason  why these sins could not be        easy to answer as one might think. It is not a ques-
symbolically forgiven was fully explained.                      tion of whether a mere man can so atone for sin as to
       Attention must now be directed to the commands           free himself and his fellow humans from sin's penalty.
`that concerns the gifts for Jehovah's altars. The ques-        He cannot. And there are several reasons for this.
tion now to be answered is, "What might be o.ffered."
The answer is to be found in the following scriptures,             Man is creature and therefore cannot merit with
"Speak unto the children  09 Israel. . . .  ," Ye shall         God. Though the service he renders be perfect, he
 bring your offerings of the cattle, of the herd, and of        remains an unprofitable servant. But aside from this,
the flock. . . . And he shall kill the bullock before man is sinful. He therefore cannot through suffering
the Lord. . . . (Lev. 1:2,5). And if his offering be of satisfy the offended justice of God. Further, no mere
the flocks, namely, of the sheep or of the goats, for a         man "can sustain the burden of God's eternal wrath
burnt sacrifice. . . . (Lev. 1  :lO). And if the burnt          against sin, so as to (deliver others from it." Finally,
sacrifice for his offering to the Lord be of fowls, then        it is the soul that sinneth, that must die. But if a mere
 he shall bring his offering of turtledoves, oh of young        man cannot truly atone sin, neither can the animal.
pigeons" (Lev. 1: 14).                                          To quo,te one scripture, "For it is impossible that the
                                                                blood of bulls and of goats should take away sin."
       The offering had to be, so it appears, from t.he herd    If the blood of bulls and of goats can as little take
and from the flock (oxen, sheep and goats). If the              away sin as the blood, of a human, why did Jeho(vah in
 offerer was tco poor, he was allowed to come as sup-           selecting His gifts for the typical altar pass by the
 plied with a turtledove or a young pigeon.                     class of humans and take the animal? Why could not
       It is first of all deserving of notice that not human    humans as well as animals be appointed to symboi&dZy
 but animal beings had to be taken. The question                atone sin? Why could not the suffering and death
 whether Jehovah explicitly forbade His people to re-           of the former as well serve as a type of Christ's satis-
 frain from selecting for His altar human beings must           faction?
 be answered in the negative. True it is that the Lord              If it be answered that the reason is the moral im-


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          453
                                        - _.__..." --..          ---.--."  ._..___                                   - -
perfection of man, one could reply that imperfection to be sure, ethically holy, yet free from guilt and moral
was the very mark of th.e type. To illustrate, Aaron          corruption.    How  solicitious  Jehovah was that the
in his capacity of highpriest was a type of Christ. And victim offered  in sacrifice be dissociated in the mind
Aaron to be sure, was a man with moral infirmities.           of the offerer from all corruption appears from His
He therefore needed daily to offer up sacrifices, first       insistence that it be selected from the class of clean
for his own sins, and then for the people%.        For the    animals and be free from any manifest physical de-
law maketh men high priests which have infirmity:             fect. If, according to the Hebrews (chap.  9:22), al-
but the word of the oath, which was since the law,            most all things were by the law purged with blood-
maketh the Son, Who is consecrated `for evermore"             almost all things: the people and the priest, the taber-
(H,eb.  7 :2X). If now, despite their moral inperfection,     nacle and all the vessels of the ministry-it follows
mere men were made priests, why was not also the              that the blood that purged had to be mad4e to stand cut
victim for the altar taken from the class o,f humans?         begore  the mind of men as a thing by itself pure.
One reason is, to be sure, that such an arrangement
would have  necessittited  a continuous slaughter of             But how could the animal-a non-moral and irra-
humans not willed by Jehovah. The other reason is             tional  creature- be presented as a substitute for man
that a sinful human, in order to do service as a sym-         and represented man in its being offered in sacrifice?
bolical sacrifice, would himself first have to be symboli- Such a substitution can take place only, of course, in
cally unsinned. But if the victim for the altar were          a sacrifice that is typical-symboIica1.    But even in such
that depraved human, where would be the blood to un-          a sacrifice, the affinity between the offerer and the
sin it (the expression  un&n was taken from scripture) . victim must be close, if the atonement is to be vicar-
A depraved victim could not certainly be unsinned,            ious.
that is, purged from its sin, by its  own  blcod. But            Now the fact is that in the sacrifice of the old coveL
aside from this, a victim that itself had first to be  un-    nant the affinity between the offerer and the victim
sinned, would be one by nature depraved. Such a crea- was close; and it was this  fir&y on account of the
ture, surely, coul,d  not be allowed to symbolically atone    similarity in ,&gin and in structure! between the ani-
sm. How could believers in connection with a sacri-           mal and man's physical nature. This similarity is
fice of this character have received witness that they so marked as to warrant the statement that the animal
were righteous ; and how could they through such              was created in man's image. As to the similarity in
a. sacrifice have given expression to the faith that was      o;rigin  between the two, if God brought forth the ani-
in them-the faith, namely, that, though ill-deserving mal from the earth, He formed man as to his lower
and condemnable, they were clothed by their redeemer-         nature of the dust of the ground. Both the animal and
God with a s.alvation  doing credit to His righteousness.     man therefore nourish their mortal frames with the
So it is plain, that, had the victim been a sinful human,     yiel,d of the soil. Besides, the animal as well 8,s man
t.he usefulness  ,of the symbolical sacrifice would have has a soul-life. The animal, too,  c.an remember. It
been destroyed. And as to the high priest, the sole           has intelligence.       It is capable of such emotions
reaso'n that he had access to the holiest place is that,      as joy, grief and anger. It can feel' guilt. Yet, it was
before venturing into the presence of Gcd, he first           not any animal that might be taken. To make the gap
cleansed himself (symbolically) from his sin by the between the offerer and the victim as small as possible,
blood of the sacrifice.                                       the selection was limited to the herd and the flocks and
   The statement "Imperfection is the mark of the             to such fowls as the pigeon and the turtle-dove, thus
type" is one that must be used with caution. Con-             to the class of tame domesticated animals. It was
sidered by itself and apart from the sinful men  whose1       precisely these creatures that stood in closest relation
duty it was to perform it, t.he typical-symbolical ser-       to the physical nature of the offerer. The milk of the
vice of the Old Covenant was us a type of the heavenly,       goats was to him drink. And the flesh of all these
a thing of perfection. This statement applies to every animals was to him food. In a certain sense therefore
detail of this service. God's things, His institutions        these creatures, might be regarded as of one flesh with
are always good.      But whereas sinful  m,en corrupt the offerer. But however close the connection between
everything they touch, defile every institution of  Gsmd      the animal and man may be, it was in the symbolical
that takes on an appearance in their persons, the  em-        sacrifioe only that the one could serve as the substitute
perical appearance of God's things is often evil. So,         of the other. The true sacrifice called for a substitute
toto*, the typical-symbolical service of the old covenant.    that could be no one less than Chrst. He the eternal Son
The imperfections that marked this service  rouse from `of God, and as such infinitely exalted  abolve man,
the sinful men that performed 3,. This service then brought himself down to man's Ieve and, assuming
was by itself a thing perfect. It was this in the sense       man's nature, became literally flesh of man's flesh.
that it fully answered its purpose. And it did so as          z&d,  sin excepted, was thus found in all things like
the victim for the altar was an animal, thus a creature       to His brethren, that He might be, in their behalf, a
irrational and non-moral and therefore, though not,           suitable offering, as well as High Pri'est. Having of-


454
_.._.-  _-____-I_-.--                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R B R
                                     _-._111_..-        ..--....".^----__.                              I---.
fered Himself He was made higher than the heavens.             real penalty (the  a.nimal is incapable of suffering this)
And because He continueth ever, He has an unchange- -the penalty of a spiritual  ,death or its equivalent and
able priesthood. "Wherefore He is able also to save            the descent of the soul into the abyss of outer darkness
to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing -but the penalty of sin as it consists in physical
He ever liveth to make interecession  for them." The           death. That this death is not the real wages of sin
perfection of the victim for God's typical altars was          is evident from this that the godless, to@, approach a
but shadow. It consisted merely in the victim's being physical resurrection and will thus reappear in a body
free from every manifest physical defect. But the              of which their soul will never be divested.
perfection of Christ was true moral goodness, a holy
beauty, the radiance of which marked Him in the                    Now whereas the animal also dies a physical death
memo.ry of His followers as the "only begotten of              it was appointed to stand in the offerer's room to
the Father, full of grace and glory." But, in the words momentarily free him, through its  cdying  in the offerer's
of the sacred writer, such a highpriest became us, who stead, from this  death  But even the freeing of this
is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners,           death was devoid of reality, as is evident from this
and made higher than the heavens; who needed not               that the sacrifices had daily to be presented at the
daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first    sanctuary and that when the offerer's hour of death
for his own sins, and then for the peo,ple's;  for this        would strike, those sacrifices could not avail. Only
He did once, when Be offered up Himself."                      He Who is the resurrection and the life can truly atone
       Regard must now be had to still another general         sin and thus truly free also from this death. What
prescription concerning the victim, namely, that before        then did the rite under consideration import? And
its blood be shed, the offerer should lay his hands upon       the answer: the actual transference of guilt from the
its head. This prescription is found in the instructions offerer to his animal substitute.
for all bloody sacrifices. The one exception is the               Some Bible students, among others, Schultz, flatly
instruction for the trespass-offering.       This offering deny that the rite in question had this import. Wrote
had so much in common with the sin-offering that the           he, "BY the laying on of hands the sin is not trans-
regulation would be understood to be applicable to             ferred to the victim. In itself this is merely a general
both. The import of this rite (the rite of the imposi- act of &?&cation. By this act the person  who1 dedicates
tion of hands) can be unmistakeably determined from confers his own dignity on another. And by the laying
the following scripture, "Aaron shall lay bcth his hands on of his hand, the sacrificer dedicates each victim, as
upon the head of th*e live goat, and confess over him all      his own property, to some higher object, that object
the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their        of course, varrying according to the intention with
teansgression  in all their sins, putting them upon            which he offers the sacrifice. Thus in the case of a
the head of the goat, and the goat shall bear upon him sin-offering he dedicates it as a means of atonement
a'1 the iniquities" (Lev. 16 21). It must not be sup-          for himself, in order that it may be the bearer and
nosed (so I wrote in a previous article) that we have          instrument of his repentance. . . . Besides, in the law
to do here with an empty form, that by the imposition          the death of the victim dues not constitute the atone-
of hands absolutely nothing was laid upon the head             ment. It is merely the means by which the life (blood)
cf the goat and that consequently this creature did            0.f the victim is appropriated to God. It cannot there-
not  nctually bear upon him all the iniquities of the          fore be regarded as in any sense a vicarious punish-
people. Were this true, there would be absolutely              ment" (Schultz, Old Testament Theology, Vol. I,  p.
nothing in .t.he entire transaction that could serve as        391).
shadow, symbol, type. To  ,illustrate,  if the existence
of the bread and wine of holy communion be denied,                What this author does with the prescription con-
what would there be in this sacrament that could serve tained in Lev.  1621 (Aaron shall lay both his
as symbols o,f the flesh and blood of the Saviour? Noth- hands. . .  .putting  them [the iniquities of the people]
ing at all. So it is in respect to the rite under con-         upon the head of the goat) is hard to say. All that he
sideration. Besides, if the above-cited scripture affirms      could do with it, is to ignore it. And  t.his he actually
in unequivocal language that Aaron, through his con-           did. It is deserving of notice that in addition to deny-
fessing over him (the goat) all the iniquities of the          ing the true import of the rite in question, he also de-
pesople, put them (the iniquities) upon the head of the        nied that the death of the animal o$Yered  in sacrifice
goat and further that "the goat shall bear upon him all        was in any sense a vicarious punishment. The state-
the iniquities" it will not do for anyone to maintain          ment occurs (in the above excerpt), "It (the death of
that actually nothing was put upon the head of this            the victim) cannot therefore be regarded as in any
creature and that actually it bore upon him noth.ing.          ,sense  a vicarious punishment". Otherwise said, the
What was put upon the goat by the imposition of hands          animal offered in sacrifice  ,did not by its death pay for
was the guilt of their iniquities-guilt, that is, the          the o$?ender's  sin, ,did not therefore die in his stead
abliz'gu~tiop  to suffer the penalty of their sins, not the and as his representative (symbolically). That such


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          45,j
- - -             -..___- _-.......- ~ _..-                            I -.-. -- ..-,                                _........_
should have been the contention of t,his Bible student,       only of the guilt but even of the subjective feelings of
was to be expected. For he who denies the true im-            the offerer toi the victim and thus attach to it a mean-
port of the rite of the imposition of hands, must, to be      ing that it cannot very well have. So Fairbairn, "What
consistent, at once deny that in dying the victim was         then," wrote he, "in the case of the bloody sacrifices,
suffering the penalty of the offender's sin. This author's    did the offerer possess which did not belong to the vic-
positive view on the sacrifice is known from the follow-      time? What had the one to convey to the other? Pri-
ing language from his pen, "When God is really angry marily, and indeed always, guilt. This, as we have al-
with His people or with an individual, He demands             ready shown, was the grand and fundamental distinc-
satisfaction.     In many eases this is to be got only        tion between the offerer and the victim." So far, so
through the working out of His anger. Then the                good. But the author continues,. "besides this, how.
guilty person falls under the ban, is destroyed out of        ever, other things in the offerer might also be: sym-
the land of the living. . . . But when it is not a case       bolically transferred to the sacrifice, according to the
of divine anger, that is, when a man has erred through        more special design and object of the sacrifice". What
weakness without any  cont,empt of covenant statutes,         other things they were that, according to this author,
it is yuite a different matter. Then it is not a ques- might also be symbolically transferred, may be known
tion of averting God's anger or of working itself out.        fro,m  the following language, "And when the law en-
But for breaking the statute the sinner has to make tered with its more complete sacrificial arrangements,
such satisfaction as has been provided for in the cove-       appointing sin and trespass-offerings as a distinct
nant itself, and has been graciously accepted by the          species vf sacrifice, there can be no doubt that in these
covenant God. This satisfaction is the sin-offering,          would more especially be represented the sense of
which is a ransom, a  redemptio'n. Hence the root-idea guilt on the part of the offerer, while in the peace or
of the pro,pitiatory  sacrifice is that the sinner acknow-    thank-offerings it wonld be the other feelings, those
ledges his sin, seeks reconciliation, and gives actual        of gratitude and trust, which were primarily express-
expression to his repentance by the surrender cf his          ed." Now it is hard to see how a subjective feeling
property. It is an acknowledgment that God is right           (the author mentions faith) could be transferred to
and that the sinner is wrong. It gives to the offended        an animal sacrifice. Even when it is  hel,d that this
majesty of the  ,divine claim a satisfaction which, it        was done symbolicdly,  the matter dGQS not become any
is true, is only vf value because God accepts it, be-         more understandable. What may a symbolical trans-
cause He is willing to be reconciled" (p. 394, VoI.2).        ference of faith from one to another, in this case from
   Thus, according to  t.he view here broached, the           a. ratio,nal  to an irrational beng, be? It is, of course,
satisfying of the offended majesty of God was not done        true that the sacrifice, that is, the act of sacrificing,
                                                              was the medium through which the believing offerer
through the victim's dying for the sin of the offender, gave expression to his faith.
but through the offender's acknowledging his sin, thru                                       This has been made plain
                                                              in a previous article. But this, certainly, cannot imply
his seeking reconciliation, and through his giving ac- that the offerer conveyed his faith to the victim by
tual expression to his repentance by the surrender of         the laying on of hands. Faith is, indeed, expressed
h,is property. This view has it then that the offender by action; but faith cannot possibly be transferred.
appeased God through his act of repentance with the           But in all likelihood the author did not mean to say
result that God, respoading to his expression of sor-         this. For in the sequence of his delineation, he ex-
row, forgave him and received him back into His fel-          pressed himself thus, "As his substitute; presented
lowship.      Bnd the sacrifice was simply a means of to God in his stead, it (the sacrifice) might be made
which the offender availed himself to give expression         to embody and express whatever feeling toward God
to his repentance. Other significance it had not. Such had a place in his bosom-not merely conviction of sin
is the view o,f the Old Testament sacrifice prevalent         and desires of foregiveness, but also such feelings as
among modernist Bible students and theologians. And gratitude for benefits received, or humble confidence
such, in  a  somewhat modified form, is  also' their          in the divine mercy and loving-kindness." It is indeed
view of the sacrifice of Christ. This can be  es-             very true that the Old Testament believer's act of
petted.     For the sacrifice was a type and as a             sacrificing is to be regarded as the embodiment of all
type it preached Christ. Christ and His cross there-          the hallowed feelings that had place in his bosom.
fore must and will be the realization of whatever                But if guilt could and was actually transferred
speech the type is held to have uttered or to have been       from  oflerer  to victim by the imposition of hands, why
the embodiment of. A wrong view of the sacrifice              cannot this rite also be viewed as a transference of
must go hand in hand with a wrong view of Christ's            faith and gratitude? And the answer: guilt is an o'b-
atonement.                                                    ligation. Being such, it can be transferred from one
   If some (the Modernist Bible students) deny the            to another. Faith and gratitude, on the other hand,
true significance of the rite of the imposition of hands.     are part and parcel of the one who believes and is
others view the rite as a symbolical transference not         thankful. They therefore allow of no  transferen6%


456                                    T H E   STANDARI)   B E A R E R
_--..-                                 .l_l-....              .--.^"~ -..-                      ___l__l__  ..__ _- .--.-l-_l_-._-_l
Yet, in conveying the obligation to suffer for the penal-          The fat and caul and kidneys of the victim were
ty c,f his sins from himself to his, animal sacrifice by        placed upon the altar and burnt. These parts repre-
the laying on of hands, the believing offerer, from the        sented the entire animal and were indicative  oi its
nature of things, at once gave expression, through this life, health and vigor. This burning was declared to
act, of his penitence, of his faith in the pardoning be a sweet savor unto Jehovah. So, too, Christ. In
mercy of Jehovah his redeemer-God, of his thirst for sacrificing Himself, in His suffering and dying  for
pardon, and of his gratitude for mercy already shown the sins of His peopie,  He was a sweet savor to God.
him.                                                           He was this in that He offered Himself under the im-
       It is deserving of notice that  this laying on of        pulse of a pure love of God. By this love, holy zeal,
hands, was common to all the bloody sacrifices. Or             he was consumed,-ccnsumed  on the altar of service.
perhaps it is just as well to say that what is deserving       Of ths His love, the fire consuming the fat of the sacri-
of notice is that every offering-the peace and praise           ficial victim, was the type.
as well as the sin and trespass-offerings-were bloody.             When the offering was for the high priest, the
What it shows is that he only could have fellowship            flesh (not the fat and t.he caul, these, as was said, were
with God, whose sins were covered (by the blood) and            burnt upon the altar), together with the head and legs
who approached the throne with the confession in his had to be carried outside the camp and burned. But
heart and upon his lips that by himself he was un-             if the offering was for a common priest or Levite or
worthy on account of his guilt. Only he in whose heart         for a ccmmon  member of the thocracy,  the flesh was
this confession has place, can have peace-the peace            eaten by the officiating priest instead of carried out-
of God that surpasses all understanding-and is prais-          side the camp and burned. The question is what this
ing God.                                                       burning of the flesh outside the camp and this eating
       There remains one more direction of a general kind, of the flesh by the priest signified. This rite indicated
applicable to all the sacrifices of blood. This directicn      that the sin of the offender had been completeIy taken
concerns the killing of the victim, and the action of away, removed, so that no trace of it remained.
blood  after it was shed. The victim was slain before                                                            G.  MM. 0.
the altar not by the priest but by the offender. Through
this doing, the offender declared that the reason of
the death of the victim was the offender himself, his
guilt-a guilt that he had transferred from himself                                ANNOUNCEMENT
to his innocent victim. The blood was collected by
the priest, and by him was sprinkle&-on ordinary oc-               The Protestant Ref. Churches of Western Michi-
casions-upon the altar round about; but on the day             gan hope to celebrate the  14th Annual Field Day July
of atonement, also upon the mercy seat in the inner,           4 at Brown's Grove near Jamestown, (same place as
and the altar of incense in the c,uter  department of last year).
the t.abernacle,    If the offering was for the priest, it         Refreshments, including Coffee can be obtained at
was sprinkled seven times before the veil of the  holies       the Canteen on the grounds. Please bring your own
and in addition was put on the horns of the altar of           cups and containers.
incense. If it now be considered that behind the veil              There will be plenty of games for young and old.
stood Jehovah's throne-the ark of the covenant-en-                 Dinwr  at 12:00 sharp. Please all be there.
veloped by the symbol of His presence-the  clou~d-,                The program will start at 1:OO.  Rev. H. De Wolf
:if it be understood further that the altar was the            of Hope, will speak at that time in the Holland Jan-
meeting place between Jehovah and the offender, it wage. His speech will be followed by musical num-
will be seen that this sprinkling of the blood before the      bers and a speech by Rev. H. Hoeksema in the English
veil and upon the altar round about, was an ad by              language. Collections will be for the Standard Bearer.
which the priest appeared with it before the fa.ce of              A bus will leave Fuller Ave., Church at ll:OO and
the Lord. And the Lord had regard to this soul or              also will make a stop at Roosevelt and Grandville Ave.
blcod,  in token that the victim had indeed by its suffer-     The bus will leave Brown's Grove at 5 :00 P. M.
ing and death symbolically satisfied His offended ma-              Tickets for the bus will be sold by the committee
jesty and thus was received by Him as a covering for           from 7-9 o'clcck on June 23 and July 1 in the Fuller
the sin cd the offender. But if this transaction is to         Ave., Church basement. Those not able to pay full
be fully appreciated, the blood of the victim and the          price of tickets may procure them  for less, or free
officiating priest must be thought of as one. Then it          of charge.
will be seen that the priest appearing with the blnod              All those who have spare room in their autos are
of the victim before the face of Jehovah was a type            kindly requested to be at the Church and  accomodate
of Christ's entering through His own flesh and blood           the committee with the transportation of those child-
into the ho!y place and obtaining an eternal redemp-           ren that have no other way to go. These autos will
tion for His people.                                           leave the church at the same time as the bus.


                           A   R e f o r m e d   S e m i - M o n t h l y   M a g a z i n e
            PUBLISHED BY THE REFORMED FREE PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION, GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.
                                                            EDITORIAL STAFF
                                              Editors-Rev.  H. Hoeksema, Rev. G. M. Ophnff,
                                                        Rev. Wm. Verhil. Rev. G. Vos
                                          Associate Editors- Rev. A. Cammenga, Rev P. De
                                              Boer, Rev. M.  Gritiers,  Rev. C.  Hanko.  Rev.  B.
                                                Eok,  Rev. G. Lubbers, Rev. R.  Veldnan.
                                                           Rev. H.  Veldman.

Vd. XIV, No. 20 Entered as  second  clnss   mail
                    - matter at Grand Rapids,  Mich.         AUGUST 1, 1938                             Subscription Price, $2.00

                                                                                Hence, the eager query: Lord, how is it that thou
          M E D I T A T I O N                                             wilt manifest thyself unto us and not unto the world?
                                                                                Sow shall these things be?
                                                                         a-7
              God's Abode With Us                                   .
                     Jestcs  a.aqu:ered  and said u,nto him, if                 Blessed mystery !
                  a `rmn lava me, he wibl ketxp my wordt7:                      God in Christ will make His abo.de  with us!
                  .smd my  Fat%er  uxZ1 love him,  and  .ux?                    That is the ans,wer to Judas' question,. This dwell-
                  will come und!o him awd make our abode                 ing of God with us in Chri&t  is the new form of mani-
                  with him.                                              festation of Christ, in which the world cannot share,
                                                 .Iohrz  l&-23.          which is for them onIy chat lovIe Him and are beloved
    Lord, how is it? . . . .                                              of the Father!
    Such was the question that had arisen in `the heart                         We wiI.I come unto~ him and make our abode with
of Judas, not Iscariot.                                                  him ! Glorious blessing!
    To him there was an eQement o'f mystery in what                             There ia a figure of s-h in these words. It is
the Lord had just told them. He believed, but did not the figure of homelife. God will dwell with us,  wil1
understand. Hence, the inquiry:. Lord, ho,w  is it? . . . .              make His  home with us, will receive us into the
    Jesus had spoken words of comfort to them with a intimacy of His  own divine family-life! That is the
view to His departure from them. Be was going to                         meaning of Hi,s making His a<bode  with us. `
the  ho.use of many mansions, Farther's house, and He                           A home is more than a mere house. Let a man
would prepare place for them there. And He would                         possess ever so spIen&d a house, situated in the Iovliest
come again, when  cthe  pl,ace was prepared, to take them                beauty-spot on this earth, surrounded by a11 the  gIori-
with H&n, that they also might be where Be would be.                     ous Ioveliness nature can furnish, where murmuring
And in the meantime He would not leave them orphans.                     brooks meander through sunny Iowlands and shady
He would come to  them.  A little while yet and He woods, where ff,owers  bloom in rich variety ohf colors
would depart out of this world into the world of                         and birds chirp and warble sweetly in the early morn-
heavenly and unseen things, hid from the carnal eyes                      ing; Set his house be decor&ed  with a11 thff) splendor
of the world. Then the woNrId would see Him no more.                     modern art can create and be supplied with a11 the
But they, His disciples, would see Him, for H,e lives                    conveniences of modern invention ;  let his estate  su.r-
and they would live also.                                                pass in  spIendolr that which  Ithe Fourteenth of the
    To them, therefore, Hle would manifest Himself,                      Louisos  established for himse1f  in Vers~ailles  ; let him
while the world, would noit see Him !                                    be surrounded by a veritabIe  army of servants `that
    IJpon this Judas, not Iscariot, pondered.                            move ;Lt his bidding,-y&,  if he have nothing. more,
    He would fain grasp this truth. He felt that here he cannot boast of po&essing  a home! . . . .
was comfort indeed. Vaguely he realized that this                               He has a m,ere hou,se, beautiful yet cold, splendid
was some other form of manifestation, of fellowship                      yet bare, glorious to behold yet without attraction. . . .
of the  Lolrd with them, that would more  than comfort                          But  enter now the simple  dweIIing of the poor
them for the present departure of their beloved where Iove unites the hearts of  the family that make
aster.                                                                   their abode there. There is no splendor here. Every-
    But still the thing was strange, new, mysterious, 4hing you see testifies  that they who dwell here must
beyond his comprehension.                                                be satisfied with tEue!  merest necessities of existence.


358                                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
-______lllll"   ..-  -.--"  I-................    ..ll._l_lll..l.........  "...^...____                                                     .-__
The house is crowded in between similar dwellings in                                       eousness, with the grace of adoption unto children, with
the street, -the rooms are small, the walls are bare, the                                  the beginning of  ,eternal  li$e. . . .
furniture  is simple. But here dwell f&her and mother                                              And we received Him ! 0, yes, we received Him,
with their' children in the intimacy acf love. Here   you                                  when He made us the objects of His wonderful grace !
find peace, mutual confidence, friendship,  fellows'hip,                                           0, w(onder nf grace, we ,opened  our hearts to Him,
delight in one-another's presence, a seeking of one-                                       because He made us !
another's well-being, hearts united in the harmony of                                              And we hid nothing from Him anymore!
love! . . . .
       Home, sweet home! . . . .                                                                   iSo nothing ! Even our sins, our foolishness,, our
       Such is the figure!                                                                 wickedness, our transgressions we confessed !
       No& indeed, as if Father's house, when a11 things                                         ,4nd we confess  :them daily, because we  leave our
shall be ready and `the place shall fully be prepared,                                     delight in  I-Iim, are truly sorry  after God, and are
and the heavenly tabernacle of God shall forever be                                        eager to please Him!
with  man, and  Hle shall have made ail  ,t.kings  new,                                            And always He forgives!
shall not  :also be beautiful. It shall surpass all the                                            And always He clothes us anew with His own
glory that man can ever create, it shall be far superior                                   righteousness !
to whatsoever eye bath seen or ear ha'th heard o,r hath                                            And always He calls us His sons!
entered into, the heart of man. Every earthy figure                                                God's abode with us!
is inadequate to represent the heavenly g?ory of that                                              Blessed grace !
txxlse !                                                                                   .
       But this external beauty, though it properly be-
longs to  the realization of Father's dwellingplace with
His people, is no,t its essence!
       This essence of the house is in the perfect realiza-
tion of the idea  0.f the Home! We will come unto him                                              Our God in Christ!
and make `our abode with him ! G&s home with us !                                                  He it is that will come, that did now come toI make
It means that the glorious, infinite, ever blessed God                                     His abode with us.
will receive  us into the sphere of His own, blessed                                               For, notice, that the Lord says: `circ will come and
family-life; that He will love  u's and make us taste His                                  make our abode with him. And this "We", evidently
love in heavenly perfection ; that He will establish that                                  refers to the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
relation of intimacy between Himself and us  in) which                                             And this coming and abiding with us of the Father
He will open all His heart and mind to us and make                                         and Christ constitutes the new manifestation of our
Himself known to us  acco.rding to the  utm,ost  capacity                                  Lord, of which He had been speaking, which is only
of the created that bears His  image; that He  will have                                   fo,r them that  love Him and keep His Word, and can-
no secrets for us and we will have no secrets fo,r Him ;                                   not be for the world. For the world loves Him not
that Hie will put all our confidence in Him and He will and keep&h  not His commandments.
trust us; that He will make us taste the blessedness                                               But how mu& we conceive of this coming of the
of His own glorious life; that we will  sue Him face                                       Father and of Christ  ta us?
to face and kn,o,w Him even as we are known ; tha;t. He                                            Hlow  ,&all  they  make their abode with us? Are
will walk with us, call  LIS  eviermore  His  w,ns and                                     there, th,en,  two that will come to dwell with us ? And
daughters, speak to us face to face as a friend with who is the Father? What is the rela;t.ion  between this
his friend; that He will always make us say: "0, my                                             Father and  `our Lord Jesus  Chritit?  Is it, then, the
God ! Abba, Father! . . . .                                                                meaning of these words of the Saviour, that the Father,
       Thus it will be in eternal, helavenly perfection !                                  as the First Person of  the holy and blessed trinity,
       And thus it is, in spiritual prineiple even now!                                    and the Son, as the Second Person of the glorious
       The new manifestation, which is not for the world,                                  Threeness, will make their abode with us? But how
bu' for them that love Him !                                                               could this  b:e? And where, then, would be the blessed
       For, even  IXOW He came unto us and  mad,e   Ris                                         Spirit as the Third Person of the divine family? . . . .
abode  with us,  acoording  to the promise of Christ.                                              Clearly, this cannot be the meaning.
He came  to us, sinners, guilty, damnable in ourselves,                                            Rather must we understand Zhe Father to be the
to  US, who would not come to Him, who  Eooliehly hated                                         Triune God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
,Him,  fled away from Him, hid ourselves, our all, from                                         Christ, Who for His sake is also our God and `Father.
Him! Be came as the God of our salvation, in all the                                            He  it is that will come to us and make His home with
beauty  Iof His  boli-mss  and  rightecusness   aad mercy                                       us !and sprea.d  His tabernacle over  us and receive US
and grace. He came to us with the forgiveness of sins,                                     into His  own blessed family-life. `But He will  do SO
with the gift of perfect righteousness, his own right-                                          through Jesus Christ, our Lord. When  the Lord says:


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                            459
- -                   -I__                                                                              I -             -.--
"We  wjjl (:wme and make our abode with Him", the                   Then, we shall be like Him,
meaning is, that Christ will come  unto                             And see Him as He is !
                                                 US  and will
dwell with us and in us, ,and in Him and through Him
it will be the ever blessed God,  8s  ithe God of our sal-
vation that will establish &at blessed relation of cove-
nant-friendship with us, in which we  &all know Him
even as we are known.
       For, Christ is t,he revelation of hhe Father !                How shall it be, that Thou wilt manifest Thyself
       Outside of Christ there 2s no manifesbtion of the!        unto us, and not unto Yhe world?
ever blessed God as our Father  and, Friend, in Whom                And the answer : this manifestation is possible only
we may confide,  with Whom we may  tive fellowship,              in the sphere of the light d love!
to Whom we may  flee for refuge, Whom we would                    . If a man Iove me, he will keep my words, and the
seek.                                                            Father will love him. If a man love me not, he will
                                                                 not  k,eep my sayings,  and my Word is the  F&her's
       For, God is a consuming fire for guilty sinners such t%rd, and if a main keep not the Fathers' Word, He
as we. Him we do not seek, but flee far from Him.                *vi11 not love him  and cannot make His abode with
To  Hi.m we do not open our  hear'ts,  but from `Him             h.im ! . . . .
we would hide ourselves, even though the  cocks must                                                                              I
                                                                     Yes, such is  love! . . . .
fall upon us and the mounbins cover us. . . .                       If a man love me, he will keep my words!
       But Christ is the manifestation of the God of our             ILove  i,s not a vague, sentimental feeling, a matter
salvation ! ;In Christ the Father came to us ! FQT,              of the  emot?ons,  expressing  iitself  in smile or  teax,
He is the eternal son, the express image of the Father,          vanishing under stress as rthe fleecy morning-clouds
the effulgence of the Father's glory, God of God, blesse,d       before the rising sun. It is, la matter !of th,e deep heart,
 forever! And He came to us, sent by the Father, ac- a niatter of the mind and of the will, expressing itself
cording  Yo His eternal purpose, in the likeness of sin- in deli&%.  in the words of Christ, in keeping His corn-
 ful flesh, in the form ti a servant, like unite His breth-      mandmenit;s,  in walking in His way, in hatred of and
ren in all things, sin excepted. He came to, us, reach- sorrow  `over sin, in true repentance, in an earnest
 ing  ou& for us, in `our sin and darkness and death,            desire and endeavor to walk, not only `according to
 through the awful cross, where He took upon Him- some, but ,according  to all His precepts. . . .
 self our sins and our iniquities, and with them stood               0, say  not that  polu love Him when you walk in
 in ithe place ,of judgment in tbe terrible "hour", that         darkness !
 He might bear  our transgressions away forever. And                 For: he, thaft loveth me keep&h my words!
 then He departed again, went away from us, through                  And say not, that the Father in Christ c,ame to you
 the resurrection  from the dead, into the glory of the          and made His abode  with you, if you do not walk in
 heavens, in the  bo,som   `of the Father, receiving the         that active love! Tf you do, you  .are a liar. For: if a
 *glory  which H'e had with the Father, before the  workI        man 1ov.e me and keep my words, then the F.&her will
 w@!s . But  He went away with the right to take us              love him land we will come unto him and make our
 with Him, to come to us again, that He might ahide              abode with him!. . . .
 with us forever. And He did come again. For, He                     But, what then? . . . .
 Ixceived  the promise of the Spirit. And in that Spirit             How shall these things be? Must we, then, love
 He came and manifested Himself to us, and not unto              Him first, in order that we may make ourselves worthy
 the world, and made His abode with us. . . .                    of His bve, or  receptive  un;to  His love? Must  we'
       And  th& coming was the promise fulfilled: "we            first prepare our hearts ,as a suitable abode for Him,
 will come and miake our abode with him" !                       bef0r.e   Re will come and receive us into His home?
       (3x3, the Father, khrough Christ Jesus our Lord!          God forbid! Love is always of God ! He loves us
       The  Christ od the Scriptures !                           first! Our lov,e  is but tlue return to Him of His own
       For that Christ of the Scriptures is the full and         love! He loved us in the bloo'd  of the cross, while we
 only  manifes'tation  of the  F&her  as the God of our were still enemies ! . . . .
 salvation !                                                         Yet, *he sphere of love, created within us by Him-
       In Him we know  the Father!                               1eelf in our hearts, is the  only sphere in which He will
       In His face we see the God of `our salvation from dwell wiith us ?
 `FIJhom we have no secrets, and with Whom we may                    And in the way of keeping His Word we taste His
 %ve the blessed covenant fellowship of friendship.              blessed fellowship !
       That is why there is no knowledge of Him, as long             Here in sm(all beginning?
  `4 we are in  this world, and  no  experience  d His               Soon in `heav.enly  fulness  !
 abode with us, except through  the  Scri;ptures.                    Blessed hope!
       TJntil earthly things shall pass away.                                                                     H. H.


460                                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARBR
-^^ __-_........ _^._l"._-    "..^.--".."... ____-...._.  -                                 -.------
                                                                    &is is just as impossible as lifting oneself by  one's
                                                                    own suspenders.
                   E D I T O R I A L S                                  You may bewail the fact, perhaps, that the former
                                                                    days were better than these, that the simpler life is
          As To Our Present "Recession "                            gone!; you may point out that there wa+s more content-
                                                                    ment and  less trouble, that people had more home-life
                                 II.                                and could gather around the fireside as a family, which
                                                                    today  has almost become impossible, but that does
       Is there no1 way out of our present economic diffi-          not change the fact.
culties?                                                               There is, of course, a goodly percentage of truth in
                                                                    what you say.
       Can a  mere layman, who cannot boast of being                   Modern life with its higher level, with its pleasures
an expert in the department of economy, see no pos- and luxuries, its high tempo and fast movement, shuws
sible solution?                                                     very plainly that, even in the earthly sense,  happiness
       Let  us,, first, consider a few more undeniable facts. and contentment cannot be found in an abundance of
       First of all, let us take note of the fact that the          things. In the "olden days", which after ,a11 are not
general level  of living today is much higher than, say, so old, there was less pleasure but more often  more
about three decades ago. Time was, and this "time"                  real joy, there was less leisure but more rest, there was
is &ill a matter of memory for all that do not fall                 less abundance but more satisfaction. Although it
below the age of twlol score and five, w,hen with the               must not be forgotten that there is an other side to
general mass of people, the  working-peo'ple,  the people this story.
that produce the commodilties  for the buying public,                  This, however, is nut the point in qmtion.
the factory-worker, the mechanic, the sewer-digger,                    Fact is that life has changed, that the rank and
the f&mer, and even for most professional men, the                  file of mankind live on a higher level than before,
mode of living was rather simple. The  horse-and-                   sand that, no matter .how you may evaluate this fact,
buggy period is still fresh in our memory. The com-                 you will simply have to accept it.
mon people lived in comparatively humble dwellings;                    You cannot set the clock back.
the furniture was plain; their homes were heated by                    Unless you move into the woods and live the hermit-
stoves that consumed little fuel. They wiolrked  nine or life, you cannot live the life of fifty years. ago in the
6en hours  a day, earned a  do,llar  and a half or two              modern world and in modern society.
dollars per day, were satisfied and saved a little fQr
their old age. They walked to work and from work,                       Even if you could be perfectly content with your
left their homes about six o'clock in the morning and               horse-and-buggy instead of an auto, with your spade
returned in  tim.e for supper. They trav,elled  but little.         instead of the  steam+hovel;  and though you would
Their home was their  jo4y. To take the street-car,                 be willing to get along on a nine to twelve dollars a
(or even the inkerurban  !) to some park or lake was an             week wage, the modern system of i;ociety would not
event tit .coul#d  be conceived as occurring only on a permit you.
special holiday. . . .                                                  This fact must be taken into consideration if you
                                                                    woul'd account for the present confusion.
       But how all this has changed !                                   And there are other facts.
       The larger homes, the more expensive furniturq                                                                 H. H.
the luxuries of life, the molder-n  conveniences, the heat-
ing-system, hot air, hot water, steam, the tetelephone,                                     -    -    -
the radio, the automobile,-these belong to the common
things, which  ,everybody  enjoys. And if they cannot                                  CONSECRATION
pay cash for `them, the credit-system makes everything
.easy ! No family could conceive of two dollars per day                    Blessed  Saviour,  may we ever
as a living wage. And what was formerly an all-day                          By each act, each word, each thought,
outing, appointed for holidlays only, now has become                        Show to men Thy saving power,
,an' evening joy+.-ide  !                                                   May they see what God has wrought:
       I mention this merely as a fact, and by fact I mean                  So our daily joy shall be  -
something that simply has to be accepted and that                           To glorify and honor Thee.
you and I cannot change, even if we would.                                                                 E. W. Carlisle.
       It surely is no solution of the present crisis  tu               The S.B. was not published on July 15, and will not
advise that people hfad better return ti their former                be published on August 15 because the Ejditors  are
and simpler mode of living, for the plain reason that `on their vacations.


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                            471
                                                 _-..""  _---. _____
dus blijft ons leven tot  op dien t-lag verborgen in Hem.       -41s de geloovige  dit aardsche tranendal verlaat, wordt
   M,aar  ook nog verborgen uit een eenigszins ander dan alreede het voorhangsel verbroken en wordt hij
oogpunt. Oak in ons is dat leven verborgen. Verbor-             dan  alreeds niet deelgenoot van  hemelsche heerlijk-
gen, dan vooral wanneer de aardsche  dingen  voo'r tijd heid? Het antwoord is niet ver te zoeken. In het uur
en wijle  bet  voorwerp   worden  van  bet  jagen  en  be-      van het sterven  is er alreeds een heerlijkheid  die hem
geeren, van hoofd en hart. Door de zonde, de zwak-              wacht.    Doch  deze is slechts voor de ziel. De  be-
heden  en gebreken blijft dat leven, dat heerlijk is,           kleeding door heerlijkheid, wat het lichaam betreft,
achter  den sluier verscholen liggen. Naar de mate              toeft nog tot den  jongsten   `dag. De volheid  wordt
het 1,even  dat der aarde is, opgaande in de aardsehe           daarom met en door het sterven niet verkregen.
dingen,  blijft het verborgen en openbaren wij  bet niet.          De volle verwerkelijking zal plaats  grijpen in de
En tenslotte  verborgen, want het leven van boven is komst van den Heiland. Dan pas  worden  lichaam en
we1 volmaakt,  doch niet compleet. De Heerlijkheid  van ziel vereenigd. In die stonde zal er een nieuwe hemel
Christus  is dleen volkomen, zoodat er niets meer bij           en een nieuwe aarde zijn waar de glorie  zal doorbreken
kan gedsan  worden.   Doch in ons is  slechts het  be-          in gansch de nieuwe schepping voor het  c:og der nieuwe
ginsel, verborgen voor ons oog en verborgen voor het            menschheid.
cog der wereld. Straks, j;a dan, maar ook niet eerder              Daarom de vermaning van zoo groot gewicht.
zal bet v~l, zullen wij met dat leven en die heerlijkheid       Wie alleen zoekt de  dingen der aarde gaat  straks
volkomen vervuld zijn.                                          met die aarde eeuwig ten  onder.          Wie zoekt de
    Daarom  is de vermaning dan  oak o.p zijn plaats.           dingen,  die boven zijn, zal veel  moeten  derven, mis-
Strijd  tegen bet dood  nag in u overig. Het leven in u         schien  terwille   v.an het zoeken der  *hemelsche   din-
is het leven van den Heibnd, Die we1 den dood in ging, gen  oak veel  moeten lijden.  Doch de vermaning is
doch  Die  hemelsch  heerlijk uit dien  dood  olpstond.         dan ook tegelijkertijd een woord van onuitsprekelijke
En  last dan niets dat leven  .in  u van  dien Heiland          troost. Christus  is zittende  aan de rechterhand  Golds.
belemmeren om naar boven te gaan, naar  den hemel               Daarin  ligt  alreeds Zijn overwinning uitgedrukt en
en de hemelsche  dingen.  Uw leven is het leven der daarin ligt ook de zekerheid uitgedrukt, dat Hij zal
toekemst  en strekt zi.ch naar de toekomst  henen. Dat komen en geopenbaard  worden. En in die openbaring
houdt dan ook in, dat ge u niet bedriegt  in de dingen,         zal Hij de heerlijkheid mede brengen  voor  hen, die hier
die ge ziet. Dat zijn  niet de eigenlijke  dingen,   noch       zochten, de  dingen die boven zijn.
ook hebben deze eenige waarde in zichzelven. Eten en                                                           w. v.
drinken,  geld en goed, naam en eere en aardsche heer-
lijkheid zijn niet de blijvende,  eeuwiige,   hemelsch-heer-
lijke. Zoekt die dan ook niet, zet er het hart niet op,
jaag er met naar. Zoekt de  dingen, die boven zijn.
   De  schat der wereld is hier. Hier ontvangt de
wereld  haar  loon en  straks   zal zij het eeuwig  ont-
`vangen  in den dag der rekenschap, ook dat is  ver-             The Reverend Zwier On Acts 14:16, 17
borgen.  Verborgen, want het schijnt dan  tech maar,
dat het die wereld in alle opzichten gelukt en er  voor         DisuppoinZment.
haar geen banden  des doods zijn. Het lijlrt. er we1 op,
&t het nooit anders  zal  worden  en de wereld kan                 I was disappointed in the articles of the Rev. Zwier
spotten met uwe verwachting der toekomst. Zij doet              under the general caption "Gods Algemeene  Goed-
al wat haar goeddunkt.                                          heid".
    Maar in beider  geval  blijft het niet  eeuwig  zoo.           I am disappointed in the contents of the articles.
Gij, zoo zegt (de Apostel,  zult met Hem geopenbaard            From the Rev. Zwier one might expect  whmolesome,
wonden  in heerlijkheid. Al wat eens het zien van die consistent exposition.              Instead,  ,the exegesis  oa  t'he
heerlijkheid  tegenhield  zal dan ophouden. Achter het passages in <dispute is decidedly superficial and arbi-
kleed  van deze tegenwoordige en zondige  staat,  het           trary. This is written despite the fact that the author
kleed van het aardsche, het lijden dezes tijds, wacht de of the a,rticles  is very confident that his explanations
openbaring van Christus. De hemelen zullen  straks              are irrefutable  while the exegesis of his opponents is
worden  opgerol,d  als een dunne doek en beide hemel            largely prejudicial and frequently "inlegkunde van de
en aarde tot een herleid worden. En in dien morgen eerste  soort". The adversaries of the doctrine of Com-
zullen de kinderen  Gods bekleed worden  met eene heer-         mon Grace do not exegete honestly, implies the Rev.
lijkheid gelijk aan de heerlijkheid van Christus. Want Zwier. They dot not submit to, the Word of God as they
wij zullen Hem gelijk zijn, als wij Hem zullen zien ge-         should but permit their exegesis to be dominated by
lijk Hij is.                                                    their dogmatics. A serious  offence for any one posing
   De vraag komt op, maar  moet het dan alles zoo lang as an expositor of Scripture ! They have certain pet
nog wachten? Gebeurt er dan niets voor dien tijd? doctr,ines  which they will maintain even at the expense


472                                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   R E A R E R
                          -_- _----- -.-- _.._._ - - -.__......" ..--.__            I  - - - -                    -
of very lucid Scripture passages to the contrary. In- embraces in its scope the heathen  wo,rld. I hope that
stead  off respectfully believing what God's Word says                      I will not be encroaohing  too seriously on the domain
they make the latter say what they believe. The                             of our editor-in-chief when I reflect on the contents of
Reveren,dTs  exegesis, however, is irrefutable, un- this article.
adulterated, faithful to the text of Scripture, so lucid
that even the enemies of common grace would  acqmesce                       One Attitude Toward the Wicked.
if ,only they were not so bent on maintaining their o,wn                       While perusing this issue of "De Wachter" I ima-
notions. To my mind the very opposite is true and I                         gined myself attending a service in the church of the
do not hesitate to lay some elf the Rev. Zwier's many                       Rev. Zwier.
charges at his own doo'r. The exegesis in "De Wach-
ter" is superficial, biased, and the arguments presented                       The pastor was explaining Psalm 73 and Psalm 92
                                                                            to the congregation. These are strong psalms and the
in behalf of the common goodness of God can only be
classified as weak and weaker. This is no reflection                        pastor's sermon was accordingly. One could easily
                                                                            imagine being in a Protestant Reformed instead of
on the writer of "Dogmatische Onderwerpen". The in a Christian Reformed Church.
Rev.  Zwi,er  is an able defender of the truth, if only
he has the Reformed truth to defend. To defend com-                            The Reverend spolke as  folIows  : (Cf. "De Wachter",
mon `grace is simply a *hopeless  task.                                     May 10).
       I am disappointed, too, in the style of these articles.                 "Scripture teaches us very plainly in these psalms,
                                                                            that all the good gifts  which1 the non-elect receive are
There is an arrogant attitude manifested time and
again. There is  ha superiority expressed that is all but so many means, whereby the Lord,executes  His eternal
                                                                            decree of reprobation.
palatable. Such expressions as "Je, geachte lezer, met
dat bewijs (our proof for our interpretation of Psalm                          "In Psalm 73 Asaph at first is blinded by the fact,
145:9-R.V.)   staat het er zoo zwakjes voor, dat het that the wicked prosper and the righteous have nd-
mij nu al jsaren lang een raadsel .is geweest, hoe iemand                   versity in the world. He cannot understand why the
met een half of een kwart onsje exegetisch begrip  zich                     wicked have rest and increase in riches, while he is
daardoor  heeft kunnen laten overtuigen" are not plea-                      plagued all the day long and is chastened every morn-
sant to the taste. The same is true of  ,a statement                        ing.
made by the Rev. Zwier in his article on Luke 6  :35,36 :                      "However, when he enters into God's sanctuary he
"Ook deze  Scriftuurpl*aats  is zoo duidelijk, dat we het sees the same things in an entirely different light, the
eigenlijk een klein beetje jammer vinden,  aan de ver-                      light of God's  coansel  and purpose. Now he sees, that
klaring  h&van tijd en  papier en  ,inkt te  moeten  be-                    the peace and prosperity of the wicked are for them
steden. Een eenvoudige aanh*aling  van dit woord uit                        but slippery places, in which God  ,has set them, in
de Bergrede, zooals ook de Synode van 1924 deed,                            order soon to fall into eternal destruction.
moest waarlijk  zonder verdere uitlegging voldoende                            "In Psalm 92 the same thought is expressed in
zijn." This is unsavory,-and dangerous. too. The still stronger language. There we read, that the wicked
Reverend should know that many Scripture passages spring as the grass and all the workers of iniquity do
have an. entirely different explanation when exegeted flourish, in order that they shall be destroyed forever.
properly than they seem to have when simply quoted                          Notice particularly the "in order that", designating
superficially.                                                              the purpose of the Lord.
       For these reasons the articles in "De Wachter"                          "Hence, all good gifts, which God causes the non-
have done nothing to convince me of the error of our ,elect   to, receive, He gives them in his wrath and great
doctrine. T feel, that if "De Wachter" is now giving indignation."
the best possible defense of common grace (and I sur-                          Thus the Reverend spoke. That is soundly Reform-
mise it is. This important rubric has not been given                        ed. The Rev. Zwier gave this as the view of the Prot.
the Rev. Zwier without consideration of merit) our                          Ref. Churches, but I take it as proof that also the
churches must be right. I wou1.d  urge all our people                       Rev. Zwier believes this. when he assures, us in the
to read these articles in "De Wachter" if at all pos-                       article in question, "We bow as respectfully as you do
sible.                                                                      for the truth, which you  Ihold before us from Psalm
       I have before me at this time "De Wachter" of                        73 and 92. We too, believe, that God places the wicked
May 1.0. The Rev. Zwier, in this article, is comment- in  shppery  places and formed them for the day of de-
ing on Acts  14:16,  17,  "Who in times past  su#e~ed struction."
all  nation,s to walk in their own  ways.  Nevertheless Another  Atttiude Toward the Wicked.
he  leftr not  himelf  without witness, in that he  did
good, a*nd .parve us rain  from haven, an.d fruitful SXL-                      Again, while reading the above-mentioned issue
sons+, .fillz?n~q  our hearts with food m.d &r.dness,"  a pas-              of "De Wachter",  I pictured my&f  in the audience of
sage cited to prove that God's common goodness al,so                        the Rev. Zwier. This time all was different. There


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           473

was no danger now that one should imagine himself in           The  R~evertmd Explains.
a Prot. Ref. Church.        How can the same preacher             It  ,is not surprising that the speaker met with oppo-
preach such conflicting sermons !                              sition at the end of his second discourse. The man
   The pastor was preaching this second time on Acts           I saw opposing him in my imagination was one with
14:16, 17 (see above for the wording  uf the text).            Reformed conviction and  knolwledge.  Not every one
He said : (Cf. "De Waohter",  May 10).                         in our age of superficiality and worldlimindedness
   "Paul was preaching on this occasion to a heathen           would dare to raise his voice against his pastor. We
aadience,  a large multitude assembled by means of the are not living in an age of study. Reformed knowledge
miraculous healing of an impotent man by Paul. The             and conviction is at a premium these days. The re-
apostle at once utilizes the occasion to bring the Gospel      sult is that the great majority imbibes everything it
to the heathen.                                                hears, whether Reformed or Arminian, w$hether har-
    "Even as later at Sthens,  so also here he seeks a monizing or constituting nothing but a maze of con-
point of contact in that which is known of God from            tradictions. In the latter case it need but be tol'd  them
nature. He proceeds from the general revelation of that they must humbly believe, which is after all easier
God to the specific revelation in Christ.                      than study and thorough investigation. This. brother,
    "He begins by pointing the heathen to the goodness         however, was not satisfied :and had a few questions.
of the only true God, Creator of Heaven and earth,                According to the article of Rev. Zwier this brother,
a goodness which also the heathen  <had experienced in         (in the article this brother is the Prot. Ref. Churches)
the times of their ignorance.                                  ventured another explanation of the text in question.
    "This text is so lucid, that it needs no further What follows ,is supposed to be the interpretation.of
explanation. We have here a plain proof for the                the Prot.  Ref. Churches. "What God does is always
general goodness of God toward the heathen, to whom good. Wlhen He gives rain and fruitful seasons, food
He had not given His special  ,revelatioa.                     and gladness, these  are in themselves good gifts, mani-
    "Also with respect to the heathen God did not leave        festations of His goodness, irrespective of the pur-
Himself without witness. He revealed to them His pose He has with them in His eternal counsel. But
goodness from  aheaven by giving rain and fruitful sea-        we must notice the distinct purpose God has in view
sons, filling the hearts with food and gladness. The           with the  bestolwal  of these gifts. God does good when
purpose of this  all is that His rational creatures shall      He grants these gifts to His elect. For them they are
rejoice in their God with grateful hearts.                     intended as  a blessing. For them these good gifts are
   "Notice further, that also in this passage, even as         evidence of a favorable attitude on the part of God.
everywhere in Scripture, divine sovereignty and ,human         God also does good when He gives these gifts to the
responsibility are placed side by side. No attempt is heathen. For them, however, they are not intended as
made to reconcile them before our minds. This Scrip- a blessing but as a curse.. It is good that God repro-
ture never does. God suffered the heathen to walk bated them, that He suffers them to walk in their own
in their own ways. Therein is emphasized the sover- ways, but He causes these gifts to be a curse for them
eignty of God. Nevertheless He did not leave Himself and th,ereby ripens them for eternal destruction. God
without witness. There the .apostle speaks of the re-          always does good. Thus we must understand Paul
 sponsibility of man. In all the good which came to            when he tells  his heathen audience here that God did
them from heaven also the heathen had sufficient know- lgood  to them, giving rain and fruitful seasons, filling
 ledge of the Creator to glorify Him in His eternal            their hearts with food and gladness."
 power and godliness. Therefore they are without ex-               The Rev. Zwier waxes tart in his reply to this
 cuse. (Again that sinister attempt to leave the impres-       interpretation of the text. "You deny", he avers, "the
 sion that we (deny the responsibility of man-R. V.)           common goodness of God and therefore also this ex-
    "This passage leaves nothing to be desired as proof         pression of the apostle must be explained in such a
 for the general  ,goodness  of God. The apostle points         way that after all the apostle Idoes not speak of a good-
 to God's favorable  attitude  (I underscore, R.V.) to-         ness of God toward the heathen  dozer  all. Your pre-
 ward the heathen, revealed ttherein  that He gave them conceived notion of God's attitude  totward  the wicked
 many good gifts, rain and fruitful  swns, food and             determines your exegesis of the text. Consequently,
 gladness. Hereby he shows the heathen the evil of your exegesis of Acts. 14  :17 is entirely faulty. There
 their ingratitude toward God and attempts to, move             is an element of trutth in your reasoning, but you pre-
 them to sorrow over sin and acceptance of the Gos- sent half a truth. And as exegesis of the text in ques-
 pel.                                                           tioin your reasoning is entirely impossible. It is no
         "This is the simple and natural explanation of the     exegesis at all. It is no exegesis when one carries his
 text.      Here is taught as definitely as possible that own prejudgments into the text. That is "inlegkunde",
 God's common goodness extends itself to the heathen".          not "uitlegkunde". When the text says, that God does
         Thus I heard the Reverend speak in my imagina- good also to the heathen, we have not the right to make
 tion, for thus he writes in "De Wachter" of May 10.            of this, contrary to the very intention of the word, that


474                                   T R E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
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God does give good gifts to those heathen, but with the
purpose of causing these gifts to be a curse toI them.                          Coming To Jesus
Then we corrupt the simple aed natural meaning of
the word,, which also in other parts of Scripture is                 "Coming to Jesus" is a thought which is expressed
used to denote blessings, which may flow from a favor-         repeatedly in Scripture. In Matt. 11:28 the Lord Him-
able attitude on the part  o$f the giver." (Cf. "De  Wach-      self calls unto the weary and heavy laden  to1 come
ter", May 10).                                                  unto Him and obtain rest. Also in John 7 this same
                                                                thought is expressed by our Saviour, when, upon the
   The dissenting brother (the Pro-t.  Ref. Churches)          last ,day of the great feast, He stood and cried : "If any
has one more objection. "Does Scripture not teach               man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink". Well
very plainly in Psalms 73 and 92, that all the good             known are the words in Isaiah 55 where we read of
gifts, which the non-elect receive, are no many means,          the calling of Jehovah unto those that thirst to buy
whereby the Lord executes His eternal counsel? Are              without money and drink of the water uf life. And in
they then not given the non-elect  in  His wrath? Should        that striking sixth chapter of John it is this very com-
inot expressions such as we find in Psalm 145 :9 and            ing to JESUS which causes that earthy, bread-seeking
Acts 14 :  16,17 be explained in harmony with the above         Galilean multitude to reject the Lord Jesus Christ.
passages ? How then can you speak of a favorable                Scripture emphasizing throughout the sovereign will
attitude on the part of God toward the wicked?"                 and purpose of God, also stresses this work  o.f `salva-
       The Reverend becomes even more tart. "Becnuee            tion, surely as realized by God, but in His people,  work:
Scriptire teuches  <it. We dlo not in a rationalistic man- ing in them the willing and the working. By the g-race
ner attempt to reconcile these two series of Scripture          OU? God they must and do take an active part in the
passages. We bow as well as you do, before the truth service of God. Hence, coming to Jesus, believing on
contained in Psalm `73 and Psalm 92. But we submit              Him, embracing Christ and all His benefits, and
just as respectfully to the truth taught in Psalm 145 :9,       other similar expressions, such as seeking our salva-
Acts 14 : 16, 17 and similar passages. We also believe          tion in God alone, are activities enjoined upon the
that God is good to  all. and does good to the heathen.         people  od God. This emphasis upon the responsibility
We are convinced that the one series of passages from           particularly of the people of God must not be lost sight
God's Word give us no license to <deprive other pas-            of. To this "coming to Jesus" we would briefly direct
sages of their power. No, we cannot reconcile the two.          your attention in this essay.
To our limited intellects they are contradictory. God                As already stated, this coming  to JESUS was the
is the Incomprehensible One, also in the attribute of           bone of contention between the Lord and those Galilean
His goodness to all. Hence, never again ask us how              enthusiasts of John 6. In this chapter Jesus Himself
we reconcile the two thoughts taught us in Scripture.           ascribes this coming to Him to His Father, the living
We  believe  the unity of God's thought, but we do. not         God. We must remember that the previous day He
comprehmd  them. Also Paul places these two truths              had revealed Himself in all the glory otf His power.
side by side in Acts 14:16, 1'7, His sovereign counsel          Five thousand men, not  co,unting  the women and chil-
and His general (goodness (favorable attitude-R.V.) .           dren, had been fed by Him with but five loaves and
He does not .attempt toi reconcile them. Therefore we two fishes. This tremendous miracle had aroused the
will not attempt it. You always come with your human            admiration of the multitude. But, they had at first
logic. You will not maintain, that God is the Incompre- failed to see the sign. When Jesus then made it clear
hensible One also in His virtues. You permit the hu-            to them that the feeding of the five thousand had mere-
man logic to (determine Gold's attributes. Instead of re- ly been a sign, that He therefore did not come down
spectfully submitting to God's revelation you yourself from heaven to give earthy bread and honor and glory
will determine who and what God must be for the                 but that He was that heavenly bread which had come
wicked.      Therefore your dogmatics is permitted to           down from and would return to heaven, and that they,
dominate your exegesis. Scripture must be squared               to live, must eat His flesh and `drink His blood, the
with your sentiments."       (Cf. "De Wachter" of May           people began to contend with Him. They perceived
10  *and April 10 for proof that I am not misrepresent-         that they had witnessed a sign! The Galileans hun-
ing the Rev. Zwier).                                            gered  ,after  earthy bread. They were carnal. And
       Indeed, a series of friendly accusations! And people they knew that the Lord had the power to give it unto
are gullible enough to believe all these things?                them. But when it became clear that the bread which
                                                R. V.           Jesus gave they did not desire, and that He did not
       In the next Issue the following sub-topics will be give what they craved, they all deserted Him with the
treated :                                                       exception a9 the twelve. This  ,desertion,  now, of those
Danger!                                                         carnal Galilean enthusi.asts is finally attributed by the
Acts 14 : 16, 17.                                               Saviour to His Father. Fact is, no man can come
                                                R, v.           to Jesus, except the Father draw him. That men do


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R  +                                           475
L --......_ ----                _-_l_l.              -~-..."._-                       -..                     -...
not come to the Saviour and acknowledge Him is be-                 preached to whomsoever He wills. Now the Christian
cause the  I3ather  does not draw them.                            Reformed churches have adopted the arminian tenet
   Row different this issue is presented today! To                 that the gospel is a manifestation of God's grace to  cdl.
come to Jesus, believe in Him, "accept" Him, is pro-               And what else can this possibly imply but that the
claimed today as a very simple matter. In reality, it Lord, graciously inclined to all, seeks their welfare and
is humanly impossible. Our Lord is the "cheapest salvation when He causes Christ to be proclaimed unto
article on the market" today. Fact is, however, that               them? Yet, it is this very thought which is condemned
nothing is as costly as the salvation of Gods people,              in that well-known sixth chapter of John. To be sure,
for it was purchased with that most precious and in-               the Jews did not believe in the Lord. They murmur
finite price, the blood  ,of the eternal Son of God. Yet,          against Him because they cannot induce Him to give
a gospel is being proclaimed in which this priceless               them what they crave and demand. They contend
salvation is ultimately made dependent upon man, is                with Him because it becomes increasingly evident to
left to his choice. And all men are of themselves able them that a mighty gulf separates this Jesus from
to make this choice. Of course, this corrupt concep-               them. And how they crave the earthy which they
tion of  s,alvation  is rooted in a wrong conception of            know He can give ! However, let it be understood that
the Christ, as well as in the evil heart 09 man. The               the Saviour attributes their rejection of Him to the
most important element` has been lifted out of the                 living Gold. In fact, this is His comfort. No man can
name, Jesus. For Jesus means : Jehovah saves. Notice :             come unto Jesus except the Father draw him. The
Jehovah saves.  Wicked man has placed the weight                   question.   ef salvation is  bherefore  never one of the
of salv,ation  in his own hands. That God `alone Lwuld             free will of man. To the  colntrary  God decides and
p$@sibly  save us, even in the way of the  crckss, t.hat           He alone. That a man does not  come to the Christ is
it was necessary for the Almighty to assume our flesh              ultimately because the Father .does not draw Him.
and blood, that Calvary is the blotting out of guilt and           Jehovah simply does not desire the salvation of all.
the perfect  satisfacti:on  of all Divine righteousness            And this is the very opposite of Point One. Our com-
which could be brought about only by the living God ing to the Saviour is exclusively the work of God.
Himself is not understood by many. Calvary, then,                  Notice, our coming, for we must come. But the Father
is not our salvation but merely a manifestation of                 draws, and whomsoever He wills.
God's universal love. The Lord so loved the world,                    Who, then, is this Jesus? Surely, we must come toa
is so intensely interested in and eager to save all, that          Jesus. But, let it be emphasized, we must come to
He did not even hesitate  tot send His only begotten Son.          JESUS. Jesus is He Who has been sent of the Father.
The cross is but a means of God to seek entrance into              This implies th,at God has appointed Him to perform a
the hearts of men. And salvation itself is dependent               very definite task. And this task is to lead His people
upon our choice. To be sure, the arminian would re-                out of the hopelessness  elf their sin and death into the
sent it if he were accused of ignoring the Scripture ,heavenly  glory of God's eternal covenant, not to men-
that man is saved by grace. Rather, he would main-                 tion at this time this salvation of God's people as it
tain this cardinal principle. Ho,wever, shall that irre- also stands in connection with the restoration of all
sistible grace operate in the hearts of men and con-               things. It  w.as the Father's good pleasure to save His
tinue to operate there, man himself must will to receive           people in the way of sin and grace. They must be hope-
it. This preseniation  of salvation lifts the very heart lessly lost in sin in order that it may become fully ap-
out of the name, Jesus. Then Jesus is not: Jehovah                 parent that only God can save, in order that no man
saves. Jesus is not "Jehovah saves" upon the cross, should boast. As the Head of a condemnable people, it
but His death is merely the realization o,f a  ch.ance  for        was the calling of this Servant of Jeho'vah  to suffer
all. Calvary, then, is not viewed as the blotting out              the eternal wrath of God, because God's saving mercy
of sin and the condemnation of the world. And the                  is always in perfect harmony with His righteousness.
`work  o.f salvation in the hearts of men is the pro-              And because God's wrath is eternal and we are all con-
duct of the combined efforts  of God and man.                      ceived and born in sin, it was imperative, were we to
   This arminian presentation of salvation constitutes be saved, that the living God Himself  sholuld undertake
the heart of the first of the now famous Three Points. this task. And, let us remember, Jesus, Jehovah saves,
The issue involved must not be confused with a general             Immanuel, God with us, does save His people upon
preaching of the gospel, or, if you will, with the com-            the  cross of Golgotha. Upon that accursed tree Zion's
mand to repentance which must be proclaimed without                salvation becomes a fact. Calvary is not merely the
distinction.    We also believe that the gospel  must be           realization of a chance for all, but it is the salvation
held before others than the elect. This is the question : of all God's people. For upon that tree our  [guilt is
Why does God cause the gospel to be proclaimed? Fob,               blotted out and the wrath of God has been borne unto
according to our confession, the very proclamation of the very end. There God was in Christ reconciling the
the glad tidings ,of salvation is to be ascribed to, the           worId unto Himself. There our heavenly life with
good pleasure  oif the Lord. He causes His Word to be God was merited, And now, this suffering Servant


476                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
__11_1^
of Jehovah continues: to be "Jehovah saves". For He          God alone can bear the infinite-wrath  of God, in perfect
is risen from the dead and is even now seated at the         obedience and merit for me eternal life. How impor-
right hand of God. Unto Him has been given all               tant  that  we fully realize:  Tu the cross of Christ I
power in heaven and  upoln earth. Through Him, as            cling. He, to whom sin has become a burden and the
the exalted Christ, the Loud accomplishes all things.        righteousness  od God  ,a terrible reality will only then
And He has received the promise of the Spirit, to pour       be satisfied when he may know that Christ merited
Him out into the church, and through Him to lead His         for him upon the cross not merely a chance but actual
people also spiritually out of the bondage of sin into salvation.
the blessed liberty of the covenant of God. This He             Mormver,  besides this consciousness of our need
accomplishes alone. He calls them irresistibly out of of such a Savioiur,  of the cross, to come to Jesus also
darkness into light.  He  draws them powerfully out          means that we know and believe that He alone must
of sin. He  causes them to know themselves, see their        and can and will lead me out of sin and darkness into
sin and iniquity, and long for the blessed fellowship        the light. My coming to Jesus implies the confession
with God. He  causes them  to love God in Christ Jesus,      that He first did come to me. For I am by nature a
and to say upon the question of the Savio,ur,  "Will ye      child of sin, lover obf `darkness rather than the light,
not also go sway?" those beautiful  an'd well-known bound with chains of darkness and death which I can-
words : Lord, to whom shall we go ?                          not break. Hence  I must and do confess, not only
       Bearing this in mind we can understand the impli- that I am utterly condemnable before God and must be
cation of the expression: coming to Jesus. Do not            reconciled in the way of the blood of the cross, but also
say that the explanation as given of Jesus by us is          that He must lead me and continue to lead me, irre-
too profound, that our coming to Him does not imply          sistibly, into the life of God's covenant. I must con-
all these "dogmatical" distinctions. If you do say this,     fess my helplessness and Jesus as the only power to
you are certainly deceiving yourselves. No man ever save. That I bid farewell to all hum,an  aid and seek
came to Jesus except in the way of these "dogmatical         my all in Him, the oaly Captain of my saI,vation. Jesus
implications". And he who has not learned these things,      alone can and does apply unto my heart the salvation
confessed them, may well examine himself whether he once merited upon the cross. Who therefore comes  tc!
may possibly have embraced a jesus of his own imagin-        Jesus must embrace Him as his only but also as his
ation. To come to Jesus means, in the first place,           heavenly Saviour, must not regard Him as a distri-
that we are conscious of our profound need of just           butor of earthy prosperi  and glory, but as that Re-
such a Saviour, that is, that Saviour  oi the cross.         deemer who saves me from all death, also from this
This implies knowledge 09 ourselves. We must know            earthy, to give me a place in the eternal house of our
ourselves condemnable before God. We have sinned             God. Who would come after Jesus must forsake the
against Jehovah. And Jehovah is merciful only in the         world and ti his eye  upontthe  city above.
way of the m,aintenance  of His righteousness. We must          This will explain why no man can come to Jesus,
know and believe that felloiwship  with God, for us as       except the Father draw him. To be sure, man does not
sinners, is possible only when the righteousness of God      will to come to the Saviour. To such a Jesus the Gali-
with respect to our sin has been fully satisfied. This       leans refused to come.; And it is ever thus throughout
satisfaction is impossible of ourselves.     We cannot       the ages. Man refuses to acknowledge his sin before
bear away an eternal wrath. Neither can we bear it           God, loves this world and feels no need of a Saviour
in obedience which is required if our suffering is to        Who delivers from sin. Neither is he interested in a
have any value before God, because we are children           heavenly Deliverer. Man will embrace an earthly de-
of disobedience. Th-erefore,  the operation of the grace     liverer, saving him from the results of sin, but he will
of God in the heart  of such a sinner is always such that    ever reject Jesus, Who saves `from sin and leads His
it renders him condemnable before God and also utter-        people into God's blessed fellowship. And because
ly helpless in his condemnation. We must become              of this rejection of the Christ, which is rooted in his
hopelessly lost befobre the tribunal of the Lord. Besides    sin, he must give an account., But, he cannot come.
this knowledge of ourselves, our coming to Jesus also        In his hatred of Jesus he cannot bring about a change.
implies that we then realize our need of the Jesus of        He must be born again. T,he Father must  dr,aw him.
Calvary. I need atonement. A mere example of Di-             How many. there are today who "accepted" a jesus but
vine love, having (this example) no atoning value, not have never learned to know Him Who saves man unto
blotting out my guilt, is worthless. CZod's  wrath must the uttermost !
be borne away. The sinning soul  mzLst  die. Our guilt          No man can come to Jesus except the Father draw
must be paid. A Saviour I need Who takes my guilt            him. What a blessed, comforting thought! To be
away, my guilt, Who has fully satisfied the justice of       sure, this truth maintains man's helplessness to save
Jehovah. I must be saved through blood. This is not          himself. Therefore it is the object  of man's hatred
all. Only Jesus can possibly be that Saviour. Salva-         throughout the ages. But, this truth also maintains
tion is impossible of men. God alone must save. For          the irresistible grace of God. It leaves man hopelessly


                                                                                                . . .

                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           477
              - - -                                                                                      _..-__
     lost. But it also ascribes our salvation wholly to God.       they which love 8hy law" (Ps. 119 :165). Though some
     Then  o,ur salvation, then only, is safe. Now we can may object to these passages because they belong to
     know and be persuaded that the work which by God in the dispensation of the law their error and folly is
     me has been begun shall by His grace be fully done.           proven from New Testament `passages which convey
     Now we know that the Almighty God, Who called me the same sentiment; as for instance, many quotations
     out of darkness into His marvellous  light, will continue from Christ wherein He definitely states that there is
     to draw me until one day I shall stand before Him,            life and peace in loving God and the neighbor, which
     in the assembly of the elect in life eternal, without spot    is the summary of the law. Thus also are they called
     or wrinkle.                                                   blessed, "that do His commadments, that they may
c                                                   H. V.          have right to the tree of life and may enter in through
                                                                   the gates into the city". (Rev. 22 :14). What greater
                                                                   and more glorious. liberty is there than this? Finally
                                                                   the apostle James speaks of "the perfect law of liber-
                                                                   ty". (1:25 ; 2 :12). All these passages certainly prove
                                                                   the fact not only that there is a glorious harmony be-
                       The Law Of Liberty                          tween law  #and liberty, but above all that the two are
                                                                   Jnseparable,  the, one includes and serves the other.
            In any circle, whether learned or unlearned, the       Where there is no law, there is no liberty and where
     above caption would certainly be condemned as being liberty prevails, law reigns supreme.
     illogical in the superlative degree. Illogical because           How strange then that t,he sages of old have not
     it contains two elements which, according to popular found this harmony, and stranger still that in this day
     opinion, are the very antithesis of each other. Law of wisdom  an,d learning it is still wanting! However,
     and liberty differ as much as day and night, in fact,         th,e solution is simple: natural man abhores  the in.dis-
     they are <at variance, they clash. Law is the antonym pensibIe prerequisite of all life and salvation, namely,
     of liberty. Never has human understanding been able lib&y!
     to harmonize the two; where there is law there is no,            Superficially it appears that the obtainment of
     liberty, and where liberty is the law is done away            liberty has been the issue in all the endeavors and toil
     with.                                                         of man.    "Give me liberty or  (give me death" seems to
            The cause of being unable to harmonize the two         be the motto engraved upon all the efforts of our fel-
     can be traced to the fall of man. We may safely say low men. Yet, it is nothing but a sham. Tho,ugh  blood
     that man fell because through the temptation of the           has flowed as rivers and men have sacrificed all in the
     evil one he refused to acknowledge the glorious bar-          quest of liberty, the truth remains, man is an enemy
     mony of law and liberty. Because Adam refused to              of liberty.
     be subject to the law of God he lost all liberty and be-         How can it be different? Can an idiot employ t.he
     came a slave. That same sin pervades every human              powers of mind and will? Can the dead crave life?
     heart even to-day. We foolishly persist to maintain           How utteriy  impossibIe ! How then can the enslaved
     that we obtain liberty not in living mcor&ng  to God,         seek liberty? And man is a slave ! Not bound with
     but in be&g God. God must not tell us what  ,is good          outward fetters, but bound inwardly.             If he were
     or evil, but we must be able to tell God. As soon as          bound outwardly, if  ,he were tied hand and foot he
     this stage has been attained liberty has become victor-       would have excuse, he could be pitied, he would be the
     ious and all bondage ceased. This was the temptation victim of circumstances. It would then be possible
     of Satan (Gen. 3  :5), this was our fall, and this re-        for him to be occupied with the study and  oontempla-
     mains o,ur sin to-day. This very notion is at the root tion of liberty. He could pray and long, and possibly
     of all earthly wisdom, which is fooiishness;  it is the       employ methods for its realization.             But now man
     very reason why man cannot tharmonize  law and liber-         is bound inwardly. That changes things! Then his
     ty.                                                           heart and mind and will are bound to the perfect satis-
            How different our viewpoint becomes when touched faction of him who has enslaved him. Never need the
     by grace. What ,a gIorious  harmony between law and           captor fear his release for the captive cannot so much
     liberty  when we may be taught by  God% Word and              as dhink of liberty. Being without the power to think
     Spirit. Glorious is the liberty of those who1 by grace        of liberty how could he ever desire, yea, seek it?
     have been taught not to assert themselves but to sub-            Is not man just such a slave? Can he meditate on
     mit and listen.      This is abundantly attested to in and seek liberty? Surely, he does meditate and earnest-
     Scripture: "I will walk at liberty : for I seek thy pre-      ly he seeks all the days of his life. He wills and: de-
     cepts" (Ps.  119:45)   ; "Moreover by them (God's pre- sires and endeavors to live as he pleases. He seeks
     cepts) is thy servant warned: and in  keying  them a life without care and  sorroIw. He longs for a utopia
     there & great rtwwd"  (Ps. 19 : 11) ; "Great peace have       wherein he shall reign supreme, where no one shall


478                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                   -- -..-. "----    -      _llllll___l_llll."."." .._......
dictate, where all his thoughts and desires shall be                            TJnder its yoke we continue to be enslaved because
perfectly realized. But is this liberty? Will man real-                         it comes to us from without, and our bondage is not
ly find satisfaction in this mode of life. Is not Solo-                         an outward but an inward bondage. The law merely
mon's estimate thereof sound, when he says: "The                                forbids and commands witho'ut  changing olur inward
eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with                       status. It leaves all fetters of our spiritual bondage
hearing" ?     The man  oif pleasure looks forward to                           intact. The result being that we are not liberated
more pleasure; the man of money to more money, the                              but condemned. It impresses upon us the awful re-
man of business to greater and better business i the                            ality that we are in bonds of death and slaves  04
man of  intluence to more power, the child to adole- sin. Hence, the Ten Commandments are known mere-
scence, the youth to manhood, the man to old age and                            ly as the  Morel Law and therefore will never be
so man's life is full of labor. Truly, the world is al-                         known as the Perfect Law because it does not give
ways despondent in the midst of their so-called liberty.                        liberty.
Man by nature, in all his striving for liberty, can do                              But James speaks ocf the Perfect Law because it
nothing but involve himself in a greater, more des-                             is a law that gives liberty. It is a law which liberates
,perate bondage ; for man is a slave of sin. Through                            from those inward  bojnds which enslave us to sin and
sin he has become a fool; a fool seeking liberty in the                         deprive us of the glorious liberty, known only to the
bondage of sin, seeking life  zapart from  Csd.                                 sons of God. A law through whose instrumentality
       True libeti can only be sought for, will only be                         we are brought forth into this world as sons of God
desired and found when the power of sin, which en-                              an,d our being chiIdren of darkness is pass&
slaves us, is broken. Through sin we are enemies of
God. With all our heart and soul and mind and                                       That perfect law of liberty is also referred to by
strength we ,hate all that is in Him. We cannot, nei-                           the apostle James as "the word of truth".         (1:18).
ther will we seek to be His co.venant  friends, because That "word of truth" is Scripture in its entirety. The
we do not care  fo,r the life and joy and peace that                            "perfect law of liberty" is not merely the Gospels, or
l3e alone can bestoiw. Neither do we care for nor seek                          the law, but  the  Gospel from Genesis through Revela-
after His law and precepts. They are not our delight.                           tions. In it God has revealed to us the liberty of the
With all the faculties of our heart, mind and will we                           sons of God and the way in which it is obtained.
transgress His laws and trod them under foot. We are                            Scripture, the  perfect  law, because it gives liberty!
always in rebellion against God. It is for this very                                From this we must not conclude the erroneous idea
reason that we cannot as much as long for, neither                              that the truth of Scripture itself gives liberty. The
seek liberty, far less shall we ever find it. For liberty                       Gospel itself does not liberate. One can preach this
is not living as we choose and please, but a life perfect- law of liberty in dead earnest and with all his might
ly in harmony with God's law which He ordained for but thereby he shall never liberate one soul from the
us. A life wholly in agreement with the will of God is                          bonldage of sin. On the other hand, a person may he
liberty. A fish has liberty only then when it remains                           an enthusiastic lover of Evangelization because he
in the God ordained waters and rejects the dry ground.                          therein may offer to all men the so-called "well-meant
A tree has liberty when deeply rooted in the earth and                          offer of salvation'? ,and thus open to all the opportunity
does not expose its roots to the clear, pure air. Thus                          to procure liberty. But it is misplaced zeal, he is
man has liberty when he is perfectly conformable to                             influenced by something purely imaginative. The
God's law, not only outwardly, but also inwardly with glorious expectations of such an "Evangelist" will
all the thoughts of his heart and with the desires of never be realized, his castles were but  `oif a hallucinatory
his will. Thien, says the Psalmist, "will I walk at liber-                      perception. For natural m'an when placed before the
ty",  a,nd, great will be our peace. Then it will be                            perfect law of liberty will always choose the bondage
unnecessary to try and enter the city by t.he cumber-                           vr' `h&s sin rather than the glorious liberty expounaeu
some way of thieves am+ murderers for we will have                              in the Gospel, because man is bound. The enslaved
,ti.oht  to the tree of life and may enter in  Chrough                          can never seek liberty, neither oan he will to choose it,
the gates.                                                                      The new life of liberty must  first have been conceived
                                                                                before it can be born.
  As all creation is governed by some law ordained                                                        Bivth   does not create a child,
by the Creator of all things, so also. liberty is governed                      but birth takes place because the creation of a new
by a law. Without conformity to this law it is hope-                            life precedd. Birth is the inevitable result of concep-
lessly beyond reach.                                                            tion. So it is also spiritually. Before the  birth  of
                                                                                the life of liberty can take place this new life must
       From what has been treated and discussed we can                          first have been created. This creation takes place in
readily conclude that the Ten Commandments are not the act of regeneration which is an imrn&%&  act of
the sum and substance of the law of liberty. It is ab- the Holy Spirit. By this act of regeneration new life is
solutely impossible that the law given by Moses can                             instilled within man. It is the life  of God. It is not
make  men  free.  The  law of Horeb leaves us bound.                            of the earth, earthy, but out of heaven, heavenly. It


                                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          479 ,
I__....I.."  ._..-." --... "." -..... -.-_..-..-A -..-  - -__ll_l                                -..
has no delight in sin, but its delight is in the law of
God and thereupon it meditates day and night. Re-                                                Sin-Offerings
generation redeems, delivers man from his spiritual
bondage.                                                                         Having inquired into the truths involved in the
                                                                              sacrifice by blood, let us now have ,regard to the differ-
     The crantzio%  of this new life, however, is not suf-                    ent kinds of sacrifice. These, as was said (in a pre-
ficient.     Co,nception  must be followed by birth. So                       vious article) were five in number,  to, wit, the  sin-
also this new life must not only be instilled within the                      trespass-, burnt-, peace-, and meat-offering. All these
heart, but it must also be born. It must become mani-                         different kinds of sacrifice were needed to bring
fest, it must develop. The bringing forth of this life,                       out the whole truth in connection with the work
its birth, the conscious realization of the life of liberty                   of Christ.    They were needful to the believer as
is attained by the instrumentality  elf the Word of .the medium for the adequate expression of the faith
truth, the Gospel of God in Christ Jesus. Because Of that was in him,  elf his contrition, gratitude and praise,
the instrumentality of the Word to this end it is called                      thus of the response of his heart to the grace of God
thie perfect law of' liberty.                                                 that he was caused to experience. The manifold riches
     God's Word is the Z.aw of liberty because in it we                       of this grace  (so I wrote) called for just  such3 an
find the norm according to which this new life, which                         elaborate ritual sacrifice, if anything like a complete
is liberty, must develop and become manifest. The representation was to be given and supplied of this
reaso,n  why this law of liberty, the word of truth, is                       grace. What was needed is a service in the face of
able to develop this life, is threefold. Firstly, it  re- which every feature of the redemption. and salvation
veals to us, by grace, the bondage of sin and iniquity of the elect of God should stand out in plain relief,
wherein we are enslaved. Because this Word speaks                             wd a service that as performed  !in faith and love
to us of sin and guilt and death. It reveals to us, as                        should at once betoken all the hallowed and varient
a mirror, our natural face, our nature which is con-                          states and feelings of the true people of God.
demned because of sin and death which we have  will-                             Let us now concentrate on the sin-offering. The
fulIy chosen. Secondly, this law liberates, because it scriptures that `concern this sacrifice are the following:
unfolds the liberation from sin and death in the blood Lev. 5 :l-6 ; Num. 15 :27-31;  Lev. 4 27-35 ; Lev. 5 :7-13 ;
of Christ. It proclaims  par.don full and free for those Num. 15 :22-26 ; Lev. 4 : 13-21; Lev. 4 :22-26 ; Lev. 4 : l-
who beli,eve  in Him. It assures that by the power of 12 ; Lev. 6 :24&I  ; Lev. 10 : 16-20 ; Lev. 16 :l-28.
$he precious blood of the cross man is made free of
the guilt of sin and of the corruption of his natural                            Private offences requiring  sin-offering.3 : (Lev. 5 :I-
heart. Thirdly, this law reveals to us the life of those 6)  - If a man withholds evidence, when testifying in
having been liberated. The life of liberation is the court, or swears a rash oath or without knowledge of
Iife of love to and friendship with God. It is the life                       the facts involved, or if he unintentionally touches
which  hat,es sin and all iniquity and finds a perfect anything communicating ceremonial  uncleannsss,  or
Welight, nolt only in some, but in all the law of God.                        if he in any other way inadvertently transgresses the
It seeks His face, it longs for His communion, it de-                         law, he must confess his sin and bring to Jehovah a fe-
+-es and invokes .His blessing. The sum total of thesp                        male Iamb or a goat or a sin-offering.
three points  is the life of liberty. Because God's Word.                        Resident nJie?~ wbject to i!he same law (Num. 15 :
the word of truth contains these elements and qualities,                      27-31)  - Resident aliens  or  native-born Israelites,
it is not only called "The Law of Liberty" but, "The                          inadvertently failing to comply with the commands
PeYrfect  Law of Liberty".                                                    of the law, may secur,e  Jehovah's forgiveness by con-
     Rappy,  therefore, is the people whose delight is                        fessing their sin and 5y bringing a shegoat to Him as
in this law. Surely, great peace have they whose medi- an offering. But the man who deIiberately defies the
tation  it is both day and night. No wonder that he                           divine commands shall be destroyed by the Lord.
abiding in its light has a right to the tree of life and                         Ritual to be observed (Lev. 4 27-35) - In present-
shall enter into the city through the gates.                                  ing a female lamb or goat as a sin-offering, the offerer
     Should noit. this Word become more and more the shall lay `his hand upon  the head of the victim and then
object of o,ur stu'dy? With a view to the blessed liber- slay it when the burnt-offerings are sacrificed. Then
ty therein proclaimed are we not utterly foolish in the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and smear
                                                                              it upon the horns and pour out the rest at the great
not making it our personal meditation and that of our altar. The fat shall be burned thereon. Thus the of-
children?                                                                     ferer shall secure divine forgiveness for his failure to
     Blessed is the man whose soul is restored by Je- obey  the demands of the law.
hovah's perfect law!                                                             The forum of the par mun's  sin-offering (Lev. 5 :7-
                                                                     A. c.    1.3) - If the offerer cannot afford to bring a lamb or


480                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                     -"II                                                                 .-
a goat he may bring two turtledoves or young pigeons.             purged and then rinsed lest the contagion of holiness
One the priest shall present as a am-offering and the             be imparted.                   s
other as a burnt-offering. If the sacrificer cannot af-              The yedrly sin-offeriny  in behalf of the nation (Lev.
ford to bring even birds, he may present an offering              16 :l-28) - Clad in the insignia of his office and fresh-
consisting of three quarts of finely ground flour, but            ly bathed, the high priest shall appear each year at the
he shall not put on the usual oil or frankincense. A entrance of the sanctuary with two he-goats as a  sin-
part the priest shall burn on the altar and the rest he           offering in behalf of the people and with a ram as a
shall take as his portion. The offerer shall thus secure          burnt-offering. One of the two goats shall be selected
full forgiveness for his unconscious failure to obey the          by lot. Upon its head he shall lay his hands and con-
law.                                                              fess the sins  ,of the people of Israel. Tlhen it shall be
   Offences  of tihe community (Num. 15 :22-26) - If sent away in the wilderness ; while the other goat
the community inadvertently fails to observe all the              shall be offered as a sin-offering to Jehovah. The blood
commands of Jehovah, it also shall present a bullock              of the goat he shall sprinkle upon the top of the ark
for a burnt-offering  .and a he-goat for a sin-offering.          and upon the space in front of it to secure Jehovah's
                                                                  forgiveness and favor for the nation. Blood of the
   Rithcvcl  for the sins of the community (Lev. 4 113-21)        goat shall also be sprinkled upon the great altar to
If the community inadvertently does something Ior-                symbolize its ceremonial cleansing and also that of the
bidden in the law, and later the sin is discovered, a entire sanctuary. The fat of the goat offered to Xe-
young bullock shall be provided as a sin-offering. Upon           hovah shall be burned upon the altar and its carcass
its head all the elders, who represent the community,             burned outside the temple precincts, In addition the
shall place their hands. Then the victim shall be killed          high priest shall offer a bullock as a sin-offering in be-
and a part of its blood shall be sprinkled by the priests         half of himself and his fellow priests.
seven times before the veil of the inner room of the                                                          G. M. 0.
sanctuary and upon the `horns of the altar of incense.
The rest of the blood he shall pour out at the base of
the altar of the burnt-offering and upon this he shall
burn the fat. The carcass of the buhock  shall he burn
outside the sacred precincts.         Thus shall the com-
munity be restored to the normal relation with Je-                         BENEATH THE CROSS OF JESUS
hovah.
       5%~  of  n  ?&er (Lev. 4  :22-26)   - Similarly, if a              Beneath the cross of Jesus
ruler inadvertently transgresses the law, he shall pro-                   I fain would take my stand,
vide a he-goat which shall be 0ffere.d  in his behalf.                    The shadow of a  mighty Rock
                                                                          Within a weary land,
       Sin  of  c(,  h@hpriesE   (Lev. 4:1-12)  - The high                A home within the wilderness,
priest, who thus inadvertently sins, shall offer for him-                 A rest upon the way,
self a young bullock, following the same ritual as in                     From the burning of the noon-tide heat,
the case of the sin-offering in behalf of the community.                  And burden of the day.
       1-n the consecration of priests (Lev. 8 :14, 15 ; 9 :7-
11) - In the consecration of priests in their sacred                      Upon that cross of Jesus
office a bullock shall be sacrificed as a sin-offering.                   Mine eye #at times can see
After the priests have placed their hands upon the                        The very dying form of One
head of the victim, a portion of its blood shall be                       Whu suffered there for me ;
smeared upon the horns of the altar and the rest pour-                    And from my smitten heart with tears,
ed out at the base. After the fat has been offered to                     Two wonders I confess, -
Jehovah, the rest of the animal shall be burned outside                   The wonders of His glorious love
the temple precincts.                                                     And my own worthlessness.
       Dispos~ul  of th omGm+y sin-offerings (Lev. 6 :24-
30 ; 10 :16-20) - Like other sacrificial food, which is                   I take, 0 Cross, thy shadow
designated as most holy, the portions of the sin-offer-                   For my abiding place;
ings which fall to the priests shall be eaten only by                     I ask no other sunshine than
them and within the sacr& precincts of the temple.                        The sunshine of His face ;
Any blood, which spatters from it upon the garment,                       Content to let the world go by,
shall also. be washed off within the limits. of the temple.               To know no gain or loss,
Earthen vessels in which the meat is cooked shall                         My sinful self, my only shame,
afterward be broken, and brazen vessels thoroughly                        My glory all  - the cross!


