                                              T H E   STANDAkD   B E A R E R                                               493
                  -.
 onderwijs. Welnu broeder, juist hetzelfde  komt in elk                            The Meek Blessed
 arti.kel   u,it, dat gij geschreven hebt.  Inplaats van de
 broeders, .die gij bestrijdt doorgaans bij hun naam,te               Blessed are the strong who can hold their own.
 noemen, duidt gij ze telkens  aan met woorden, die er             That is one of the ideals of the world. In the race for
 op berekend zijn om ze bij het lezend pabliek  verachte-          armament, the rul,ers of the world put forth a grand
 lijk .te maken. Gij noemt ze in de meste gevallen  bij            display of their ability and  po,wer. To'day,  more than
den naam van gestruikelde  bro'eders, of ook gestruikelde          ever before, the principle to be strong and to survive
 broeders in 1924. Dan ook weer noemt gij ze looche-               is displayed all over the globe. To maintain oneself
 naars van de algemeene  genade ! ! Nag eens weer  ge-             over against all is the slogan of our  mod,ern  dicta
 liefd@ broeder! Gij behoort  deze broaders hierin te              tom.
 prijzen, want deze leer rijmt niet met de leer der God-              After all it is a question of the survival of the fit-
 ,delijke verkiezing! ! In een der laatste  artikelen waarin       test. In the scheme of our modern world there is no
 gij een der broeders aanhaalt, wordt gij zoodanig over-           room for the weak, neither for, the meek. That is
 tuigd van  des  breeders  Iogische voorstelling op zijn           the practical  philosoph,y  of our day. And it is applied
 standpunt : namelijk dat der Goddelij,ke  verkiezing, dat         in many forms.  W,e admit that it is seemingly a
 gij het  verontwaardilgd  uitroept, dat iemand geen               successful theory when we  ccmsider the many con-
 kwar'tonsj(e exegetische uitlegkunde noodig heeft om              soladations  of the men of means, the capitalists, and
 de dwaling er van te on,tdekken.         Uit deze  aangehaalde    the unionist who tries to offset the  individ,ual  potwer of
 zinnen uit uw eigen schrijven Mijkt zeer duidelijk, dat           a few millionaires. In our own surroundings we wit-
 gij niet alleen de leer der pred'estinatie  op den achter-        ness the practical application of this philosophy in the
 grond begint te plaatsen; maar dat gij het oo*k  aan-             combat between capital and labor. And we are always
 durft om breeders.  verach,telijk  bij  bet lezend publiek        inclined to take the side of the underdog, knowing that
 voor te stellen, die hun uiterste best doen om de troostr         our present-day system will  not be able to survive,
 rijke Ieer der souvereine genade met de predestinatie because  moidern  capitalism has proved to be unable to
 als grundslag, of fundament, onvervalscht voor  ens hold its own  and, the handwriting  <on the wall is, that
 Geref. volk opnieuw duidelijk v@or te stellen.                    it will no longer  be able to maintain itself. Under-
    En de geschiedenis  wordt, dat velen van ons Geref.            stand rnfe correctly, we do not suggest that the fault
 vslk zullen getroost  worden  maar ook sommigen zich              is with the system as such, any system is doomed to
 meer en  meer zullen verzetten   tegen deze leer gelijk           fail in the light of Scripture, for, whether we take
 men dat  <door  alle tijden heen gedaan heeft.                    the side of the laborer oz that of t,he capitalist, both
    God beware ons Gereformeerd volk in de Chr. Geref.             sides are motivated by the view that might is right
 Kerken `dat ze niet mogen wegzinken in bet oppervlak-             and that he who will survive is after all the party that
 kige Christendom dat de leer der verkiezing  niet m&r             must of necessity be the ruling party.
kan rijmen met de leer der genade.                                    Rugged individualism and organized co~llectivism  is
                        Met  dank voor de plaatsing.               principally the one and the same thing, moved by the
                         J. Buiten Sr., 827 Dunham St.             one and the same desire, resulting in the one and the
                                    Grand Rapids, Mich.            same fruit. What  difference  will it  mak*e,  I mean
                                                                   spiritually, whether (as a Christian) I must live under
                                     -                             the system of capitalism or under that of state Social-
                                                                   ism? Develop both' principles and the Church of the
                  WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                              living God will be the party who must suffer. If the
     On  Wedneiday,  September 7, 1938, our dear parents,          principle might is right is applied the Christian is
                         HIJLKE   BOORSM-4                         left  .out and  mu& find his. own way through this
                                  and                              world.
                 ANTJE  BOORSMA   - Visser                             Class shall try to the end to maintain itself over
 hope to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of their marriage.       against class. And the individual, feeling his weak-
     We,,are  grateful to our heavenly Father for permitting us    ness will try  to find his final hope in  th.e perfected
 to have our parents these many years and our prayer is that       Stati  : either by law (as is the case in our own country)
 God's  sust-tining  grace may continue to uphold them in the      or by sheer strength (as  is  the case in those countries
 declining days. of their earthly pilgrimage.                      where dictators are the Law). Yes, we must not cater
                               Mr. and Mrs. William Boorsma        to the Iteds they say, but it is not clear to, me what is
                               Mr. and Mrs. Herman  Mulder         meant by red.  I  find a little variation but they all
                               Mr. and Mrs. Peter Bonjenoor        look red in the light of Scripture.
                                   12 grandchildren                   Remarkable that Scripture nowhere agitates against
                                    9 Great-grandchildren          a certain system. Socialist and Communist. as well
     Open-House September*7:  afternoon 2 to 5 - evening 7-10      as Liberalist have tried to vindicate their theories on
 at  it47 Eastern Avenue.                Grand Rapids, Michigan    the basis of the Word-but failed.

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

       Blessed are the meek, says the Lord. .He speaks             to do so. He is willing to suffer and he is able to suffer.
concerning the citizens of the Heavenly Kingdom and                And this surely does not imply that the suffering is
tells them that they shall inherit the earth. It is the            to be made light of. If we look at it from the point
third characteristic whereby they are known. They                  of view of history the only people that always did and
are: The poor in spirit, they mourn and they are the               will  sufl!er is the people that belong to the Church
meek. Not so many <different kinds of people who                   of the living God. And that suffering is the experience
belong  to, the kingdom of heaven, but the one and the             also today of the faithful.
same people, with the same spiritual qualities. The                   Nevertheless, the citizen of the Kingdc;m  is without
same because the first and  seco'nd characteristic must            revenge.    He may be persecuted and even put to
of necessity lead to this third. The poor in spirit                death, but in and through .it all, he remains and re-
mourn, the mourners arae meek. Meek because they                   tains that perfect calm characteristic of the children
are poor in spirit.                                                of God.
       The  wsord  meek is often put in the wrong light.              What the cause for this meekness might be? Losk-
In the first place because it is taught that also in the           ing at the beatitudes carefully we find a close relation
world we find such people. Meek people oiEten are con-             between this third and the tw,o  preceding. It is the
sidered to be  peopl,e  without backbone,  .or people with         same citizen of whom the Lord said that he is poor
an easy-going disposition. In this sense they b=ecome              in Spirit and that he mourns. He is poor in spirit
so easily the prey of the strong and mighty. Such                  because the Spirit revealed unto him his poverty. There
people never complain whatever may be done to them,                is spiritual  kno.wledge  concerning self, so that he sees
they from their side will never complain. If good,  is             himself as he truly is. Poor in that he does not serve
done to them they receive it, if they are kicked about,            the Lord with his spirit perfectly. He ,knows  that the
th.ey  will not proltest.    Su,ch peotple,  of course, are the    best that can be said is, it is only in part Lord.
object of pity. And we may add to it that even the                    Hence, he mourns. He has a heartfelt sorrow con-
world does not like them. Weaklings have no place                  cerning his own condition. There is in him a mourn-
in the scheme of things, but rather should be separated            ing toward God. The daily humble confession of his
from the strong, the men with a will. The world is                 sins and weaknesses as well as the holy desire to live
looking for strong men and not fur weaklings. For                  mere perfectly before his God.
after all the question is to be or not to be. Besides, no             And he is also meek. Any poor man knows that
one is willing by nature nor able  to be meek. For                 poverty keeps him down. Only fools will boast of
even the form of worldly meekness is but a show.                   riches when they are poor. But this is especially true
It is the result od selfish motives and it always centers          of the spiritual poverty. He does  not boast  befo're
around man. And how could it be different? Is the                  the Lord nor before the brethren, but before God he
natural man not filled with pride? Tell him to be meek mourns. Or to reverse the order for a moment, how
for God's sake and all his meekness will disappea.r  and           can a man be meek if he does n,ort mourn? If a man
turn into haughtiness and selfishness.                             does not know that he is spiritually poaor,  he cannot
       The Scriptural idea of meekness is first of all a           be  m1ee-k  and he does not mourn. The one excludes
dispcsition  of the heart and is the opposite 09 pride.            the other. Thus the meekness of the citizens of the
A proud man is  fiiled with envy and hatred,  never                heavenly kingdom is a third fruit of what the Spirit
willing to bear the burden of opposition and he is                 wrought in him. It is the fruit that grows on the
never calm. Do not touch him for he is either quick                ashes of burned pride. A flower out of the soil of
tempered and insulted or he will bide his time to take             humiliation and one of the finest Christian virtues
revenge.      He maintains the  <outward  form of calm,            of grace. I know the fruit may never  be the basis
but  4nwardly  he boils.       However, his head remains           for our faith, but is it not equally true that the fruit
master of the situation. True spiritual  meekn'ess is              alone gives us the assurance that we are not building
that disposition of the heart whereby man is inwardly              on sand but on the rock?
calm. It means that such a person is able to stand                    And in close connection with  thle Kingdom of
under the most trying circumstances. Therefore, he                 heaven, the citizen living the life  oQ that Kingdom
is not quickly moved. And thus it is meant in Scrip-               has but one desire to live for the King. He sees the
ture always. Remember the meek shall inherit the                   beauty *of that Kingdom, the beauty of Christ and feels
earth. This means, by implication that the citizen of              the operation of the Holy Spirit, both when he colmes
the Kingdom of heaven has  n,okhing. All is taken                  in  contact with the Word of his King and when he
away from him. And that because he  belcmgs  to that               meets the enemies 09 the Kingdom. His only desire
Kingdom, therefore  he must suffer. His suffering can              is to be made like unto Him Who calls him to this
only be expiained  from that one fact, that he is not              blessed state of being such a citizen.
from below but from above. And when all is taken                      Therefore also the strife. Manifold are the suffer-
away from him he is submissive and does not rave,                  ings for the sake of Christ Jesus. Yet, he remains
though humanly speaking they give him plenty reasons               calm, meek, submissive, always listening to God's  Word.


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D  BEARBR                                                    495
----_--- __.........-__  ____^--..____--_.l^lll_l_.--- __.-.ll_l               "-_l.----_ll-~.---
If need be, he will give up his life for the beauty and             Seek the Kingdom and all its promises and  the
salvati'on  of the Kingdom of  -heaven.  No, it does not       struggle will be yours.
mean that he is a goody goody, but such men and wo-                   But presently the fight shall be over fo.r ever and
men have th.eir  faces set as a flint towar&  their God.       in the perfect  caIm of His salvation shall be your
For it is only the meek that can and will suffer fo,r          eternal joy.
Christ his Redeemer's sake. They are followers of                                                                w. v.
God, `as be1ove.d  children. And that because their life
is th.e life of the `Kingdom of heaven, that is the life
of Christ. Therefore, they follow, by His grace, the
Master.    For to be one with Him in life means to
be one with Him in suffering and death. And to be                   The Reverend Zwier On Acts 14:16, 17
one with Him in suffering and  <death means  also1 tot be      A  Dnngerous  Pmk.ciple.
one with Him in newness of life and in walk.
    They are blessed. Blessed  now. Now while he                      The exegetic trend revealed in the article of the
has nothing? The promise is that in the future he              Rev. Zwier in "De Wachter"  of May 10, must be con-
shall receive, but now Ire is not in the possessiun  of        sidered positively ,dangerous.
the things promised. But whether he has little or                     That Scripture need not at all times be harmonized,
much, he is in the Kingdlom  of Heaven. He partakes            that the question need and may not  &ways  be asked,
of the  l,ife of it and receives the priviliges. But he        "How do you reconcile those teachings?" that it is
has also the promise in regard to the future. Through          rationalistic to seek to explain Scripture ia the light
faith he knows that the promise is just as sure as             of Scripture, is a principle that must  an.d shall lead to
God is unchangeable. And that promise  fYIs him with corruption of Go,d's Word and ultimately to a denial
th:e highest expectation. For the promise of God  can-         cd all that is Reformed. Any doctrine can be corrupted
act  fa.il. He will do all His good pleasure, for He is        without much difficulty if such methods are  ,employed.
Jehovah. Is that not worthwhile? It is written in                     On the basis of the above, how can particular atone-
God's Word and sealed with the blood of Jesus Christ.          ment be maintained overagainst them who contend
    Therefore, he shall inherit. We do well to `re-            that atonement is general? It can scarcely be d,enied
member that we may not wish to possess the earth               that there are various passages in Scripture that &.h~~
as it now is. This earth shall not be the eternal abode.       mdircrly   by  thcmsdves  teach that Christ died for all
And it does not speak well of us, while confessing the         men and shed His blood fo!r the salvation of all. What
name of our God; that our hearts and minds are set             could possibly prevent me from teaching, that there is
upon it. Remember this earth is never a decent place           both a particular and a genera1 atonement, even as the
to live in  for a  child of God. Be not deceived and           Rev. Zwier maintains that th.e prosperity of the wicked
do not deceive yonrselves.     If all is well, the citizens is in order that they shall be destroyed forever while
of the Kingdom of heaven do not feel at home in this           .&at  prlospe$ty  is at the same time  e,vldence   qf  a
world of sin and guilt and imperfection. This world            favorable attitude of God toward them? At the best,
stands and lives in spiritual darkness and is ruled            why should one, who might be so inclined, not have
by the prince of this world. And you cannot feel at the right to place the passages that seemingly teach
hom.e.with the devil can you? All powers that make             general  atonement next to th,e ones that teach par-
it impossible to reveal the Kingdom of God are pr+             ticular atonement and compose a "po~int"  of his own,
sent. Be not deceived when men tell you that they,             postulating something on this order: besides th.e par-
in spite of these facts will make it the  Kingdo,m   elf       ti,cular atonement 3~ the cie:t unto eternal life, there
heaven.  Tt cannot be done.                                    is alzo a certain general ctonemznt,  which God effected
                                                               fx all men in .gencX  ? In fact, would it not be well,
    But presently, there shall be a new heaven and a           from the viewpoint of our Christian Reformed breth-
new .earth, when the former things shall pass away             ren, that some such basis be established for ail that
and we shall see the  new-perfectid  heaven and earth.         grace and mercy that God manifests to,ward the wicked
Then the powers :of sin and darkness shall be no more.,        from moment to moment?
when the heavenly Kingdom shall be revealed in all its                There is a  passage  in 2 Peter 2 which reads as
glory and the tabernacle of our God shall be with men.         follows, "But there were false prophets also  among
Sin and sinner, devil and demon sha.ll disappear and           the people, even as there shall be false teachers among
heaven and earth unit.& in o;ne and our God shall be           you,  who  privily  shall  brin(g in  damnab!e  h.eresies,
all and in aI1.                                                eva  denying   the  Lord  ih~,t bought  t,hem,   and  bring
    That is the promise and this promise is as sure as         upon themselves swift destruction".        In 1 John 2~2 the
God is God. Now is the fight and the suffering, pre-           Spirit says: "And he is the propitiation for Our Sins,:
sently the tasting ;o,f the victory with and through Him       and  nQt  for  our*s  only,  [?d  also  for  the  ~~~  of  fihe
Who gave Himself for His own.                                  ~l#!Jhk world"`.


496                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
- -   "-_^  ".ll_l_---   _-...__--  ^           ".-.-                 _.._. l_l_-  _ .-.....          __----           __I---
   `I'akinlg  these passages entirely by themselves, might         fuse to believe that God is the Inco~mprehensible  0n.e.
I, if so inclined, not reason as follows? These expres-            Your human logic determines your view of atone-
sixons teach general atonement pure and simple. Peter              ment".
says very plainly, that the Lord bought also those false               Would such an answer convince you that you have
prophets, who bring in damnable heresies and bring                 been served with a rational and correct reply?
upon themselves swift destruction; whereas John                         This is but one illustration. More could be given.
states in language that for clarity leaves nothing to              The reader must sense where such methods of exegesis
be desired, that ,Je,sus  Christ the righteous died not            must bring us in the end. They must cripple all con-
only for our sins but also for the sins of the whole               sistent exposition of Scripture. And in this case they
world. These statements are so lucid that they need                would certainly deprive the Reforme,d  people of the
no further explanation. Both Peter and John teach                  argument they have always employed against the ex-
general atonement. This atonement is not unto eternal              ponents of the doctrine of general atonement.
life, for the false prophets bring upon themselves swift                The Rev. Zwier's reasoning in his ,article on Acts
destruction. Hence, it must be something tempo.rary.               14:1F,   17 is  adanlgeroas,  too, because of the end to
       "But", you argue, "this is impossible. Atonement            which it will certainly lead. He may tell his readers
cannot be both  partirular  and general.            Therefore,     that the curse of the Lord and His blessing are in the
these passages must have another interpretation".                  house of the wicked at the same time; that the pros-
       Borrowing the language of the Rev. Zwier against            perity of the  w.icked  is  ire  onder   that they shall. be
us, I might serve you with the following reply. "Yo,u              destlqoyed  forever and at `the same time an evidence
are prejudiced. You ,deny general atonement to begin               of God's favorable attitude toward them ; that it is
with and hence also these passages of Peter and John sinful rationalism and entirely unnecessary to endeavor
must be interpret.ed  to harmonize with your prejudg-              to reconcile the two; that the read*ers  must believe both
ments. Your prejudices in the matter of atonement                  however contradictory they may seem to us; but this
lead yo,u to, corrupt these clear passages from Scripture          latter will never be. These things are not true, neither
in such a fashion that after all these false prophets              will the Rev. Zwier's readers believe them. The re-
were not bought at all and Jesus is not the propitiation           sult will be that only God's favor  to the wicked will
for the sins of the whole world. You permit your dog-              remain in the consciousness of the church and Psalms
matics to; dominate your exegesis. The  r&suit is, that            73 and 92 and numerous other passages will be for-
your exegesis is no exegesis  at all. It is not exegesis           gotten. The latter will be conveniently relegated to
when you impose your own prejudgments upon the                     the secret counsel of God, to the things with which we
text of Holy Writ. That is  `inlegkunde'."                         may not concern ourselves. Only general love and
  ".But", you object. once more, "does Scripture net               grace to all men will abide in the mind ofthe church.
teach that Christ atoned for the elect only? Di.d He               All that is distinctively Reformed will be lost for the
not buy only them that were given Him of the Father? church and the latter will become Armiman  and mo,dern
Is He not a propitiation for the sins of the elect only?           more and more. Have not leaders in the Christian
Must statements such as were quoted from Peter and                 Reformed churches complained long before 1924 that
John not be interpreted in the light of the passages               the church was drifting rapidJy into these very dan-
that teach that atonement is only for the elect? How               gers? How much of that which is peculiarly Reformed
then can you speak of a general atonement?"                        still lives in the consciousness of the masses? .And,
       If I were to answer in the  l,anguage  the Rev. Zwier       despite his own assurances to the contrary, if the
cemploys against us in "De Wachter"  of M~ay 10, might Christian Reformed churches continue to drift into
I, if so inclined, not reply to the above in the following         waters that are foreign an,d dangerous and end ulti-
manner? "I can speak of a general atonement because                mately in complete Arminianism and  moCdernismj the
Scripture teaches it. We do not in rationalistic style             Rev. Zwier may claim a full share of the credit ( ?).
endeavor to reconcile these two. We bow as well as                 By opposing where he should have defended he has
you do before the truth that atonement is particular.              done much to lead the church away  from the un-
But we submit just as respectfully to the truth that               adulterated Reformed truth.
these false prophets were bought and that Jesus is                 Acts   14:16,   1';'  explaiwd.
the propitiation  for the sins of t.hs whole world. We                  Who in times past  sufSered  all mtiom to ,wnlk  in
are convinced that the passages on limited atonement               their own wuys. N.evertheless  he left, not himself uM:th-
give us no  Sicence to deprive  such  passalges  as these          out wftiess, in that he <did good, and gave us min from.
of their power. No, we cannot reconcile these two.                 heaven,  nmd  fmcitful   seasms,  filling  our hearts with
For  !cIur minds they are contradictory. God is the                food and gladness.
Incomprehensible One.         EIence,  32,8ver again ask  .u..s        Finally, the passage under discussion gives no  oc-
to reconcile the two lines so plainly taught in Scrip-             casion  whatever for the exegesis the Rev. Zwier gives
ture.     We believe both, but cannot  comprehen5d  it.            of it, nor for the remarks made in his article on this
You always come with your human logic, You re-                     text.


                                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              497
            -.-.-.---.-      _...... --- _. ^^.._-  -...       -......_  -I___-
        What does Acts 14:16, 17 teach? That God, even                       14 :16, 17 teaches as positively as possibl,e  that God's
in the old dispensation, did not leave Himself without                       common  gocdness  (Favorable attitude) also extends
witness  to the heathen world. He did good  fr:om                            to the heathen. Nor shoul,d he have told his readers
heaven, giving rain and fruitful seasons, filling them that this passage presents irrefutable evidence of corn.,
with food and  gla,dness. Thus He  r.evealed  Himself mon grace  to, the heathen.
as the One Who, must be thanked and served. This                                   The Rev. Zwier should not insinuate that we ex.,
"doing  good"  does not imply an attitude of favor at                        plain this text as we do, because we have a precon-
all.      It refers to God's perfect actions toward the                      ceived nation of the grace of God. One must have just
heathen. ,C:od never does evil, even though the crea-                        that  ba discover common grace in Acts  14:17.
ture's every act is such. God acted at all times acco,rd-                          The Reverend does  wrong when he states that our
ing to divine perfection and holiness. His evexy act                         exwis of this passage is no exegesis at a.1 and that
reveals that He is God, and One Who must be thanked                          we force oux own prejudices upon the Woxd of God.
and served. That goodness is revealed her-e in the rain                      When common gxace, a favorable attitude to,ward the
and fruitful seasons, food and gladness He gives. Gocd                       heathen who perished in their sins, and the doctrine
things they were, revealing God unto the recipients.                         that God blesses the wicked is all carried  into, the ex-
However, God suffered them to walk in their own                              pression "do,ing good", whereas the text itself inter-
ways of sin and  destructio,n.               At the risk of again            prets it as a further explanation of the immediateiy
being accused of rationalism and drawing unwarranted                         preceding "nevertheless he left not Himself without
conclusions  I would ask: what kind of a favorable                           witness", who is guilty of "inlegkunde"?
attitude is one `that suffers people to walk in the way                            The Rev. Zwiex should not maintaiti  that we cor-
cf iniquity and  .destruction?             The fact is, that even            rupt the simple and natural meaning of the word in
though God witnessed of Himself to the heathen, yet                          questio'n  for no &her reason than that we insist on
there was no grace or gracious attitude to apply that                        maintaining our own personal prejudgments ia the
witness unto salvation. God did ~~ho,d,  but not in grace,                   matter of  c0mmo.n  grace. The element of a "favorable
The Rev. Zwiser would cot deny that God can also do                          attitude"  o,ur accuser himself forces upon the text.
[good even though His attitude be one of sovereign and                             The writer of "Dogmatische Onderwerpen" should
righteous indignation !                                                      not attempt to leave the impression that Scripture uses
        This exposition ,of the word in question is in perfect               this word only to designate benefits that  pkoceed  from
accord with Scripture. The Rev. Zwier writes of the                          a favorable attitude.     Nothing is farther from the
"simple and natural meaning of the word, which also                          truth.
elsewhere in Scripture is used to  den&e benefits, that                            The Rev. Zwier should not give an altogether un-
procee`d from n favorable atiitude." There is no reason warranted exegesis of the text and then say: Never
to write of this "favorable attitude". The word used                         again ask me how to reconcile it with other passages
in the original for "doing good" (there are two words                        in Scripture. That is as childish as it is wrong.
in the Greek, both of which, however, are ,SQ nearly                               The Reverend should not write, "Paul here reckons
alike, ,that t.hey may be regarded as one) is found in                       with both truths: God's sovereign reprobation  ai well
but seven places, 1 Timothy 6 :18, Mark 3 :4, Luke 6 :9,                     as His common gc,odness.  But he does not attempt to
Luke 6 :33 and 35, Acts 14:17 and I John Il. Please                          harmonize the two". That is untrue. Paul speaks of
read these passages carefully and determine for your-                        God's sovereign repr&ation  and His not leaving Him-
self how much truth  th~ere  is in the attempt of the                        self without witness, d,oing  goo'd  from heaven. God
Rev. Zwier to clinch his argument by writing about the                       "in times past suff,ered all nations to walk' in their
"simple and natural meaning of the word, which  also                         own ways; nevertheless ITe left not Himself without
elsewhere in Scripture is used to designate benefits,                        witness. There is no contradiction here nor even a
that proceed from a favorable attitude." All these                           seeming ccatradiction. It takes no rationalism what-
passages have nothing to do with any attitude, favor-                        soever to see the unity in; this text. While God suffers
able or otherwise. They speak of doing  gcrcid,  doing                       the heathen to walk in their own ways, they neverthe-
well, doing right overagainst that which is evil. When less receive His witness, sufficient to leave them  with-
we interpret Acts 14:16,  17 as we do, we are in perfect .out excuse. That witness consists in the good that
accord with the common usage o'f the word in Scrip-                          God does  tol them even while He suffers them  to, walk
ture. The Lord did well, gave  good  gifts, acted in                         in the way of sin and destruction.
such a manner that the heathen could see Him as the                                God  cum  also do yood in  .wrctEh   and  sovemiyn
Good God, Who was worthy to be thanked snd served.                           hatred.
He did good, not because of a  favoxable  attitude or                              If Acts 14:16, 17 is such a perfect proof for com-
to bless, but in order that He should not be without                         mon grace as the Rev. Zwier claims it tics be, - I am
witness,  whiIe He nevertheless suffered them to walk                        satisfied.
in their own ways.                                                                 What must we think of the passages that are less
        The Rev. Zwier should not have written that Acts                     clear ?                                       R. V.


498                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
-.-."..."l             ---... -"^ ..- ll_~_l-_"                                                           -"-^_
                                                                our young folks of Sabbath worship, the consistory de-
         News From Our Western Churches                         cided to continue the evening service until such time
                                                                as a young peoples' Soiety will be organized. All the
         Having been asked to  confrib,ute  a few articles servies are conducted  oa a  50-50 basis of English and
this summer for our Standard Bearer, I gladly do this,          Holland language,  w'hich  is a very fine beginning,
though I am not an associate editor. And I thought              which both the consistory and Rev. B. Kok, our Mis-
it about time that we get some information to our read-         sionary  wor,king  there at the time, deemed necessary
ing public concerning  t,he situation in our Western            to the future wellbeing  of the church. We hope that
Churches. We propose to  .take a short tour of our              ail our Western Churches will  soon realize this neces-
churches in Northwest Iowa as well as our newest                sity.    Edgerton's congregation is experiencing that
ad'dition  to our church group in Edgerton, Minn. The           marvelous first love. And having begun with 16 fami-
best route to take in our jaunt will be the alphabetical        lies it now already numbers 20 families including over
mut.                                                            100 souls. There is a large group of young people,
         We therefore begin in Doon.  This congregation is      speaking well for the  futu?e.  Already a fine Men's
one of *the oldest in our western group, b,ut has had           Society was organized by Rev. B. Kok, even before the
some very hard sledding the past couple of years. At            congregation was organized. Also the congregation
first, and during the  pastorage,   o,f Rev.  J.  .D,e Jung,    immediately began calling. We just received word
the congregation flourished and grew to approximately           that Rev. G. Vos, the first one called here, di,d not feel
22 families. It was the period of enthusiastic expan-           free to accept this call. Immediately a new trio was
sion. And during this expansion period undoubtedly              made, the two left from the last' trio1 with one adfded
many were drawn into <the  fold o.f this congregation           to it. Edgerton  is situated about 60 miles from Hull
out  of sheer disgust with the Christian Reformed               and is exclusively a farming community. The town
Church with its dead preaching. And without fully               numbers about 600 souls. A large  Chr. Reformed and
understanding the deep underlying principles of the             Reformed Church are located there also. Our congre-
Protestant Reformed Churches, assumed to be wi,th               gatics has rented the Memorial Hall for one year,
us heart snd soul. However after being with us about            which is very  s,uitable,  as well as inexpensive. No
3 or  4 years  (solme  more  an.d some less) it became          parsonage has yet been rented, and even when this
apparent that the strong preaching of Refolrmed  Truth          becomes necessary, it will be rather hard to rent a
could not be digested and some manifested themselves            house, as empty, available houses are very scarce. The
in hatred of the truth and of those bringing the Word of        consistory is  coiurting  the idea of building a parsonage
life. As a result, this congregation underwent a purge          if this is possible. And before I finish in  E,dgerton
during the pastorate  of Rev. G. Lubbers, who is now            let me add that this congregation is 100 percent for
in  Pella. Then, after the  depar,ture  of Rev. Lubbers,        the Christian Schotol, and <that nearly half of the School
the congregation was vacant for over one year, further Beoard  at present are members of the Prot. Ref. Church.
disheartening the small group that wished to continue.          A congregation therefore having a heart for the cove-
So Chat now Doc'n numbers a small 10 families. At               nant of Jehovah in the midst of the world. Any visitor
this writing Rev. J. Vander Breggen is considering a            attending the services in  Edgerton  may be sure of
call from  Doon,  and has asked for a two weeks: exten-         a blessed Sunday, fur the spirit of "United we stand
sion to further consider.        Doon has both a church and divided we fall" is manifest in all their  activitim.
building and a parsonage, against which only $1650.00               Erom  Edgerton  `we wend our way to Hull, where
yet stands as the total d'ebt of the congregation on both       we also come in contact  with a very flouris'hing  congre-
builtdings.      But if  Doon does not receive energetic        gation. Hull is <the oldest  of our Prot. Ref. Churches
leadership soon, I am afraid that this small congrega-          in the West, for from Hull went out the first cry to
tion will not  ho,ld  .out long. She is despondent and          Rev. H. Hoeksema, immediately after the three points
stands n@ longer in her former love. Only about 3 were accepted by the Chr. Ref. Churches : "Come over
families could join the nearest Prot. Ref. Church, and          and help us". Though this call was not in the nature
the rest, due to inability or lack of spiritual vitality,       of a call to take up the ministry of the Word here
would fall by the wayside.                                      (there was as yet noI Prot. Ref. Church) yet the need
         We next arrive at  Edgerto'n, Minn.  This congre-      was felt  fork the old, sound and tried Reformed Truth.
gation was the most recently organized, having existed The following history need not now be again mentioned
only three  monkhs at the time  orE this writing. At            for you can read part of it in the book: "The Histo~ry
present three services, are being held, which shall be of the  Prot.  Ref. Churches". But in this connection
changed to two when she receives a minister of her              it may be said that whereas the congregation at the
own. These three services are held now, due to, the             beginning of its history soon numbered nearly 50 fami-
fact that in Aour Western Churches the Sunday evening           lies, and subsequently it was forced to re-organize  with
is usually devoted to Young Peoples'  Satiety.         And      12 families, after the terrible anti-Christian spirit and
this being not yet started, and not wishing to deprive          work of B. J. Danhof, yet it now numbers again nearly


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                     499
          -_^.^--l" ..- ---II_.-.__                                       --~-.----..- .-_......._  "" .----_-._...._  _-^___
40 families. Some of these new families were among a growth is usually also the healthiest growth, for then
the original  50 and others not. And some of the              the covenant seed, which has been instructed con-
original 50 never came back and would not be welcome          tinually in the aforesaid doctrine, will be s,trong in the
if they did come baok, for they have been weighed and         truth when it reaches maturity and consequently with
found  wantin,g. Hull now again stands ecclesiastically       a love oaf our truth that will not allow them to seek
strong.  included  in its activities it numbers 5  cate-      other ecclesiastical pasturage. The covenant seed
,chism classes, and four societies. There are over 40         knows then that the  purest manifestation of the  body
catechumens in the oldest class who are preparing for         of Christ in the world is the Prot. Ref. Church, though
`confessiuln of faith, all  I6 years and older. Also a        Lt too has many imperfections. There were then nclt
bright future. The re-organized 12 families were also         many young people in our Orange City congregation.
burdened with a debt on the buildings amounting to            The first and only pastor enjoyed by this frock  was
$X2,000.00  but were able not only to keep up this tre-       R,ev. H. Kuiper, who served her nearly three and a
mendous interest but also pay off of the debt until           half years, but was recently released from the  coagre-
,today  there is only @3500.00  against a beautiful Church    gation   <due to ill health. For years Rev. Kuiper has
building, recently redecorated, as well as a fine parson- suf?ered from r,ecurring  ulcer troubles and especially
age and garage, well kept up. If the spiritual growth the past year, which made his labor all but pleasant.
and gain is commensurate with the external growth,            Surely a trying time for both pastor and congregation,
then surely there is much cause for gratitude on the          and one which is not conducive to external growth.
part of the membership of this congregation. However :           This congregation has, however, faith and courage
Alles is niet goud dat blinkt. There is a marked apathy       t,o go on. Recently Rev. J. .De Jong  rekeived  the call
and even aversion to: the cause of Christian Education        but he found it was not the way of the Lord  tot follow
among our people in Hull. The majority do not send            up this call. A new trio was also made here, though
their chiI,dren  to the Christian School, and although        we have not yet heard who they are. This congrega-
some perhaps find it physically impossible  du,e to the tion also numbers a Young Peoples' Society, as well as
Idistance,  etc., others do not send them where it is         a Ladies' Aid. Though this congregation had to  go,
possible. We may be  giad to report  h,owever, that the       through tribulation pet let it not forget that tribulation
majority of those not sending their children do confess       worketh patience, and patience worketh experience
a love for Christian education, but profess to be against     and experience work&h  hope and hope maketh not
the adulterated and common grace education received           ashamed.
in the present Chr. School. From which it may be                 And now we go 11 miles northwest from Orange
concluded that a sound, Reformed Christian School             City to1 inquire as to the welfare of our church in Sioux
would be welcome. Though we do not regard this as             Center. This congregation again rejoices at having
an excuse for not sending the children to our present         a pastor of its own, namely, Rev. M. Gritters, who
Christian School, yet we may hope for something bet-          surely need not grieve at having vacated his church
ter, and we pray that Hull may be the first of our Mid-       at Holland, Mich., for the latter immediately there-
western Churches to see the need and erect our own            after received  an&her minister. Sioux Center  was.
school in the not too distant future. The reader will         without a pastor for a little  betterthan one year after
excuse the undersigned for giving more information            Rev.. R. Veldman left, who served her nearly 6 years.
of Hull than of the  &her churches, as this- is but           Under the energetic leadership of Rev. Gritters this
natural as the writer of these lines has the privilege        congregation immediately showed signs of new life and
of serving Hull's congregation and therefore is in a          energy. Already a Young Peopl,es'  Society has been
position  ,to give more detailed information here.            organized, which, though it is small, is a beginning in
   We now journey about 16 miles southeast to                 the right direction, for, up to this time the young
Orange City, where we also find a congregation that           people of the congregation have had nothing on Sunday
has been through some hards'hips  during its 4 years          evenings and as a result many went to the Chr. Ref.
of existence.    This congregation is situated in the         Churches. Also started recently was a Sunday School
Co.nnty Seat, in a typical Holland city, de stad van          numbering over 30 children, a very good number when
Oranje,  neat and clean, and surely a beautiful place         considering that this congregation is in a farming
to live. Our congregation in Orange City numbers              c,ommunity  where some members must travel a con-
13 families at present and anyone who has followed            siderable distance to home sweet home. Miss Jensen,
the history of this church will know then that the            an experienced and very able Chr. School teacher, is
congregation has not grown numerically  to any great          assisting Rev. Gritters in thus getting the congregation
extent. I belbeve  they organized in Orange Ci*ty with        organized into societies and Sunday School. And an-
11 families. Part reason for this is undoubtedly that         other thing which was long lacking and which lack is
when  orga.nized,  this congregation did not number           now being filled, is that *twice per month the English
many young peocple,  and as it is in o,ur other churches,     language is used in the services. Though this is  very
the best growth must be expected from within. Such strange to a few, yet the congregation as a whole ap-


500                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
--.- ..- -.."...-- ____~-.111-  -....- ll__-."ll_-"_ll__-  .._ -^ ..."             -
preciates the fact that now the young people  ,will also
begin to receive the benefits of instruction from God's                             The Sin-Offering
Word. The  consistory  is to be congratulated on its
leadership in this, that they  hIzve introduced the Eng-             My previous article on the subject here under treat-
lish language in the services while being yet vacant, so         ment was a free translation of all those scriptures that
that a new minister could immediately begin without              set forth the laws governing the  sin-ott?ering.       The
first trying  (scametime with many misgivings) to in-            bulk of the legislation contained in these scriptures has
troduce the language of our adopltion.        It is weli that    already been dealt with in the  articies  on the subject,
the consistories  show loving leadership in these mat-           "Sacriiice  by Blood". Before entering upon the treat-
ters, and *thus unwaveringly lead the congregatnm  in            ment of the materials that remain, attention must
the way of its calling, even though it does not always           again be directed to the matter of the fcrgiveness  of
meet with universal approval of its membership.                  the sin or sins that required the  o&ring. The scrip-
Authority where authority is  ,demanded by the calling ture that bears on this subject reads, "And the  priest
of God, and where this authority is exercised in the             shall make an atonement for the soul that sinneth
love of Jesus Christ, this authority will also be honored        ignorantly, when he sinneth by ignorance before the
.and obeyed. And lest we forget, Sioux Center no                 Lord, to make an atonement for .him and it shall be
longer congregates in a basement church (or as the               forgiven him (Lev. 15 228). This and similar n&ices
enemy used to call it "the chicken coop") but now has            causes one to ask whether  the reprobated,  *the unbeliev-
a church building erected very fitting for its use with          ing and unrepentant (and such there were among those
the basement no'w used for various activities during             who offered, many of them), were also forgiven. Ill
the week. And with the recent pla.nting  of trees and            a foregoing article this question was answered thus,
shrubbery and sawing of grass seed, the property is              "There was in the dispensation of the law two, kinds
indeed inviting.                                                 of forgiveness of sins, namely, the true and the sym-
                                                                 bolical forgiveness. The latter consisted in the offerer's
       Finally we turn to Rock Valley the most westernly         being vested'with the symbolical satisfaction and right-
church of all our Western Churches, being but 12 miles           eousness of the sacrificial animal who had died in the
from the Dakota border. Also here this congregation              offerer's  st,ead  and for his sin. Now this (symbolical)
has gone through a trying way. The pastor, Rev. A.               forgiveness was also the portion of the reprobate in
Cammenga,  was forced to suspend work for nearly a Israel. But only the elect in whose hearts God by
year due to his lung ailment. During this time the               EIis Spirit worked a genuine repentance, were truly
congregation read most of the time,  sl,though at times          forgiven. Such only received witness that they were
being helped by students from our Theological  %hool.            righteous."      The view here expressed is, without a
However the congregation waited in hope for the time             dcubt,  the correct one.     As has already been fully
of the pastor's recovery. And her hope was rewarded.             explained, there was in the dispensation of the law,
Today the pastor can again go in and out with his                besides the true, also `this typical forgiveness of sin,
f-lock, ministering unto her spiritual needs by breaking that ccnsisted  in Jehovah's freeing the offender, thru
the bread of life twice per Sunday. Though he must               the symbolical-typical sacrifice, from ,the penalty of
yet be careful net to overdo, which of course, is quite          physical death. In reference to his sins of adultery
a thing for one so energetic and peppy as Rev. Cam               and murder, the Lord by the mouth of the proghet  said
menga, he is about recovered, at least. to be able to            to David, king of Israel, "The Lord also hath. put away
look forward to doing all the labors required of him             thy sin; thou shalt not die." The death of which the
the coming fall season. This  fleck has also many young          prophet here spoke is in the first in,stance death physi-
people who are organized into a Young Peoples' So                cal and in the final instance, to be sure, the destruction
ciety.  There are many large families in this  con,gre           of the culprit consisting in his being cast into the
gation  and no difficulty is experienced as to Christian s abyss of eternal night. Of  ,the latter, the former was
Instruction. A Men's Society and a Choral are other              the 
organizations found in Rock  Vall'ey congregation. The                    Symbol  and type. That it was from the penalty
                                                                 of a physical  .death  that the king in the first instance
only thing this congregation yet lacks is a parsonage,           was freed, follows also from this that it was this death
for which lots have been bought next to the church               that the adulterer and the murderer had to die. And
building, but which are yet but lots. Recently the               as through this death the offender was banished from
church building has been repainted and decorated and ,the face of that land - the land of Canaan - where
there is a continued lively spirit manifested in this            the (typical) tabernacle of God was with men, this
church in the valley.                                            death, as undergone for sins unatoned, was an  cbject
       We have attempted to give information as to, our          of dread tc the believing Israelite.      In the  iigh;t of
churches in the West. May we hear also from the                  this observation it will be seen that the typi.cal forgive-
others with whom we have less contact. Till later.               ness consisted in the Israelite's being freed by the sym-
                                           L. Vermeer.           bolical sacrifice, from the necessity of being removed,


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   E E A R E R                                                        E&f
-~-------.......   -  -~  - - -                             -..-" _....              ._ .-._._. ____ I_ .-..... ~ ."        _---.--"-
thru  death, from Cods' country; and that thus the true              known  Ito God only.              In the old dispensation such
forgiveness consists in God's putting away the sins                  persons, as w,ell as the true believers, w.culd  secure
of His people, that is, in His not setting their sins                Jehovah's symbolical forgiveness, would, as  ,well  as
before His face with a view to causing  t,hem,  His                  the &hers,  be momentarily freed from the necessity
people, to spend an eternity in hell outside of His city,            of being cut off  thrcugh death from the  typica
the heavenly Jerusalem. Positively it consists in God's              commonwealth of Israel.                    But such  extenti,on  of
vesting His people with the satisfaction and righteous-              life in Canaan was no gain to them  but. all loss and it
ness of Christ and in causing this people, as so vested              was this as in their hearts they despised the law of
and saved from all their sins, to dwell everlastingly                God, hated and rejected His  Wolrd,  the gospel of Christ,
with Him in His  .house as His sons.                                 set forth by the typical things of the law and were thus
   As to the  ol,d testament believer, though being freed            hardened by this word. So, though symbolica!ly  for-
by the typical sacrifice from the necessity of being                 given, they did not obtain  witn&s that they were
banished on account of his sins  fro*m  God's coun.try               righteous, were not justified in their hearts before the
through death, he was nevertheless sooner or later                   bar of their consci'ence. For to Itheir sa.crifice  the Lord
overtaken by this  d%eath.  Y,et,  $aving, as  ,4bel, ob-            had no respect. Their sacrifice, as it was not in their
tained witness that he was. righteous, God  teestifying of           case the expression of true faith and love, of sorrow
his gifts, his confident hope was that in death as  we11             for sin and aoff a hunger and a thirst afer righteous-
as in life, he belonged to the `Lord his  fa,ithful  Savioui-        ness, was not a sweet savor, smelled as such by Je-
and was thus in death also with Him. It was this                     hovah.
circumstance of being overtaken by  .death,  though                           But though the carnal seed in Israel would at
covered by the blood of the  sacrificia1  animal, that               times Iive in outward c.onformity  to the law, as when
aided in causing  khe believer to see that the shedding              the theocratic throne was occupied by strong and  god-
of this blood together with the rights accruing from it              fearing kings, this was not certainly the rule. As
was but symbo:l  and type. Of Abraham it is recorded                 often as the restraints of the law were lifted, they
that he expected the city ,of God that hath foundations              would openly ,despise  this law through .their crimes.
and that he looked for a heavenly country. This ex-                  But this did not d,eter them from compelling the priest
pectation must have been common to all true and                      to make atonement for them respecting their gross
thoughtful believers of the dispensation of the law.                 sins. Resting in their sacrificing, they deemed  them-
The evidence a9 the unreality of the typical things of               selves secure. What God thought of their offerings
the Iaw was too  concIusive  for those  beiievers not                may be known from the discourse of Isaiah. Said the
to become aware of the unreality of these things.                    Lord to them, "To what purpose is the multitude of
In these things therefore  th.ey could and did not ulti-             your sacrifices unto me. . . . I am full of the burnt
mately rest. How could they continue tot imagine that                 offerings of rams and  .the fat of fed beasts; and  I
Canaan was the true rest, if, despite their being th::               delight not in the blocd  of bullocks ,or of lambs or of
beloved of God, they, through death, were ultimately                  he goats. Bring no more vain oblations; incense is
removed from this land,--the land where Gud taber-                    an  abominaticn  unto me. . . , I cannot :away with ;
nacled with His people. T$hey  could not. So, even as                 it is iniquity. . , . Wash  you, make you clean; put
residents of Canaan, they sought a country, desired                   away the evil of your  dolings  from before my eyes;
a better and confessed that they were strangers and                   cease to do evil ; learn to do well ; seek judgment, re-
pilgrims on the earth. Such was the confession of                     lieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for  t.he
Abraham and also of  D.avid.                                          widow. . . ." Isa. I.
    The question whether  the reprobated in Isreal also                       The fact is that, as the sacraments of the new                .
secured this typical forgiveness must once more be                    testament church, so the sacrifices of the  dispensztion
faced. The answer already given in these articles is                  of the law, they were  institu&ed  solely for the true
that they must have, if they commitied  no gross sins                      believers and for their benefits. As the sacraments,
(sins that could not be atoned by the animal sacri-                   they were holy visible signs and seals, appointed of
fice) and were not on a,ccount ,of their committing such              God for this end, that by the use thereof Re might
sins, prohibited from sacrificing. An.d there must have                    decl.are  and seal to ,true believers the promise of the
been many such reprobated ones among the  worship-                    a.:ospel, sis.. that he granted them freely the remission
pers in Israel,-persons devoid of true love of  God?                  of sins, and life eternal, fcr the sake of the  trve sacri-
yet outwardly conforming toi all the precepts of the                  fice that Be would eventually provide. The sacrifices
law. For these, too, the priest would have to make ,therefore  also served the believers as the medium for
atonement as well as the officeb$earers  in  ,the church              the expression of faith. And when  they  sacrificed,
,of this new dispensation have to admit such persons                       C&d. -without fail, testified upon, in additicm to or in
to the  Lord's  Supper.  T.he necessity of this springs               connecticn  with (such is the reading in the original)
from the circumstance that the impulses under which                   their gifts and in their hearts that they were right-
men act and the motives by which they are driven as,e                 eous. This testifying on the part of  Nod was in  re-


502                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
 .--.-..."-.- ~-l_._-^..l - _-.. "...^l".""__l_-.-,._---"  -__.-_  ~-___                  -II__                 -.__._ - ..--
sponse  to their expression of their faith and love, of        ings for such offenses as affected the outward and
th.eir  sorrow for sin and of their yearning for pardon        theocratical  position of an Israelite, and satisfying for
and life through their act of sacrificing.                     thae, they did not and could not stand together apart
       Grea,t indeed, then, was the spiritual benefit that     fro*m  his conscience ;to a certain extent, at least, con-
the old testament believers derived from their sacri-          science had  ,&en  aggrieved by what was done, and
fices. Of the truth embodied in the word, these sacri-         must have been purged by  Z;he atonement presented.
fices were the symbols, so that as the word and to-            But in all the passages the apostle is speaking  o*f what,
gether with  2, they awakened and  sixengthened  faith.        in the proper sense, and in the estimation of Crod,  or
As the word, they gave content to :faith  and directed         of a soul fully enlightened by the truth, can afford a
it to the sacrifice of Christ as the only ground of sal-       real and valid satisfaction for the guilt of sin, not of
vation.       Together with the word they formed the           what might or might not provide for i.t a present and
means-the means of grace-by which God justified                accepted though inadequate atonement". The teach-
the penitent ones before their consciousness and               ing of theze  lines is that as the blood of Christ in after-
wrought in their hearts peace and confidence toward            years, so during the dispensation of the law the blood
Him. These statements are not at variance with cer-            of the sacrificial animal,-by its virtue it cleansed at
tain scriptures contained in the epistle to the  Rebrews       least to an extent the conscience  oif the believer from
and asserting that it was "not possible the blood of           its guilt. Now such a doctrine, certainly, will not do.
buI1s and of goa,ts  could take away sins"; and that such      The blood of the animal had no such virtue and this
blood, as t.he ashes als:o of the heifer sprinkling the un-    for the reason that, being an irrational and non-moral
clean,  could but avail to the purifying of the flesh,         creature,  t.he animal could not,;,' even to the smallest
while the blood ,of Christ, and this a.lone,  can purge        possible extent, satisfy the  offend,ed justice of God.
the  consci,ence from dead works to serve the living           True it is that, as has been explained, it pleased God
God  (Heb. 9). The truth contained in these scriptures         to accept the animal sacrifice as a substitute for the
is that Christ only could satisfy for  all the sins of His     offender and to momentarily ,exempt  the latter from
people by His suffering and death,-satisfy the justice         the necessity of being removed through death from the
and the law of God that called for the d,estruction  of        face of the land of Canaan, if he allowed himself to he
t,hose for whom He laid down His life. And this He             covered by the animal blood. But by this doing of
did and through His doing so, took away sin. When              God on,e should never permit himself to be driven to
therefore the bIood that He shed is brought through            the conclusion that by its death the animal for the time
the preaching off the Word in contact with the _guilty         then being silenced the demands of God's justice. .As
and polluted conscience of  His people, that conscience the writer of the Hebrews  i,n substance affirms, these
is cleansed by t.he virtue of that blood from its guilt.       demands coaEd be silenced only by the suffering and
Christ then must  be preached. It is  only because             death, by the obedience of Christ. To maintain  th.e
through  th.e preaching Christ is brought in contact           contrary? is  +o place the blood of the sacrificial animal
with the consciousness of the beIievers that they can          in juxtaposition with the blood of Christ and to bring
he and are saved. How shall they believe, if ther.e  be        forward also the blood of the former as a meritorial
no preacher? Christ was preached through the ages              `source of grace and blessing. The sacrifices preached
of th:e dispensation of the law as well as He is beirlg        Christ. They were of benefit to t.he believers not be-
preached this day. Preached He was by the sacrifices           cause of their ,being the meritorial cause or souree of
and other ceremonies of the law and by  word of                some lesser blessing  (aII.the  blessings of the kingdom
mouth-the mouth  a4 the prophets. Now the benefit              were merited solely by Christ. In Him only therefore
that the  cthurch  of old derived from its sacrifices is       do they dwell), but solely because they presented to
the very benefit that believers through the ages derive        the eye and mind of the believer God's method of re-
from the preaching  of the gospel of Christ. And this          demption and thus enabIed  Z;he believer to. accept  and
benefit, as was said, is: great. By the  go,spel,  truth,      believe in this method and believing in it. to trust in
the believers, in t,he very words of Christ, are made          Jehovah as in the God of his salvation. They were  of
free. a.nd this for the reason that the truth preached         benefit to the b&ever,  were <these sacrifices-because
is Christ.                                                     they served him as the medium for the expression of
   Tf these matters be understood, such scriptures as          a faith to which  God responded with the testimony
th.ose last quoted will not confound. And these  scria-        that he, the believer, was righteous.
tures have confounded. In the works of so.me of the               What *the writer of the Hebrews affirms, then, is
best  typologists,  one may come upon statements such that the Mood of the sacrificial  .animaI could  not.
as this, "If such passages were to be taken absolutelyv,       on account of its being a blood that as shed had  satis-
they would certainly deny any spiritual benefit what-          f&d the demands of God's justice, cleanse  bv ii% virtue
ever to the Old Testament worshinper from his lega             the conscience of the offender ob guilt and the guilty
sacrifices. But that they can not be so, taken, is evi-        offender of his pollution. This affirmation must as-
dent alone from this, that even when viewed  as offer-         suredly be taken  ,absolutely. T say it again, io main-


                                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   R E A R E R                                         503
. .._._..._.  --_-~ .-......  ___ll-.l--....-..--_  - . .._.. -_-_.    _.. - ,-_ -_"--_-.._.  ..-        -..I.---~ -... ^^-.--
tnin the contrary, is to define the animal blood as the                   favor; it sanctified their flesh, so as to admit of their
meritorial source of blessing. Now if this blood were                     personal approach to the place which God recorded His
such a source, there could be no valid reason fnr God's                    name, and met with His people to bless them. The
giving His Son. The very circumstance that the author flesh  of the worshipper, in such a connection, becomes
whose teaching is here being examined, affirmed that                       the correlative to the worldly sanctuary, on the part
these scriptures cannot be taken absolutely, shows that                   of God; . . .  ." So far Fairbairn.
the view of the sacrifices to which he was addicted                            Elere again an essentially identical validity is as-
is actually the one that is here being ascribed to him.                    cribed to both sacrifices, that of the animal and that
    But there is still other evidence of this. In the                     of  Christ. Formerly conscience was purged by the
above exerpt (the  typo,logist  whom we quoted is  Fair-                   blcod of the sacrificial animal; now it is the blood of
bairn. The quotation may be found on p. 291 of the                         Christ that purges. The only difference is that as a
second volume of his "The  typology  of Scripture.) also                  medium of purification, the latter is higher than the
this dubious statement occurs, "But in all the passages other. Formerly it was the blood of the typical sacri-
the apostle is speaking  o&f what. . . . in the estimation                fice that so purged as to secure for the purged ones
of God can afford a real and valid satisfaction for access to Gcd's fellowship and experience of His grace ;
the guilt of sin, not of what might or might not pro-                      now it is t.he blood of Christ that secures this access.
vide for it a present and accepted though inadequate                       Such is the contention.            But the plain teaching of
atonement."                                                                scripture is that what was purified by the blood of
    What is to be noticed here is that the writer of                       bulls and goats was not conscience but merely the
the lines last. quoted correctly affirmed that t& apostle                  flesh and that what the shedding of this blood secured,
in the scriptures under consideration is speaking of                       that is merited, was access not to the fellowship of
what can `afford in the sight of God a rt;?aZ and v&X                     God but merely to a worldly sanctuary. Access to
sat&faction  for the guilt of sin. Why then should                        the experience of God's favor can be solely the fruit-
these scriptures not be taken absolutely? Is it not                        age of Christ's sacrifice. And it is a g0c.d that can be
ccbsolutely  Prue that only the death of Christ affords                    the portion of su,ch only for whose sins Christ satis-
this  +~al~id  satisfaction? Assuredly, yes. Certain it is                 fied. As we said, also. for the reprobated among the
that to deny that the scriptures under consideration                       worshippers in Israel atonement was made by  ,the
must be taken absolutely is to labor under the delusion typical priest.                              If now the blcod of the sacrificial
that the death of the sacrificial animal, in order to be                   animal, on account of its having satisfied, as shed, the
of actual benefit to o1.d testament believers, had also                   justice of God, cleansed conscience and secured ac-
to provide for sin a satisfact.ion  that to an extent at                   cess to God's fellowship, it must also be said of these
least and in a measure was in the sight of God valid                       reprobated ones that they  o'btained witness that they
in the same sense that the satisfaction of ChLet was                       were righteous and that it was igiven  them to walk
valid.                                                                     with God as with a friend. But the truth is that be-
     That  t.his was actually the view to which  Fair-                     lievers only had and have fellowship with God'through
bairn held is again evident from the following lines                       Christ on  acccunt of  I-Iis merit and thus not on ac-
from his pen, "The matter stood thus: a certain visi- count of the merit  o,f the sacrificial animal.
ble relationship was established under the old economy                         In the about excerpt also this statement is found,
between Israel and God  - admitting  o.f being re-                         "The flesh of the worshipper, in such a connection,
established, as often as it was interrupted. by sin,                       becomes the correlative to the worldly ,sanctuary,  on
through a system of animal sacrifices and corporal                         the part of God  ; . . .  ." This is true: but the sen-
ablutions. But all was from the nature of the case                         tence is nc:t complete. It should be made to read,
imperfect. The sanctuary  itseIf,  in connection with                      "The shedding of the animal's blood together with the
which the relationship was maintained, was a worldly                       atonement made by the priest performing the service
one -- the mere image of the heavenly or true. And                         became the correlative to the flesh; the flesh, in turn,
even that was in  its  inner glory veiled to the  war-                     became the correlative to the worldly sanctuary and to
shipper: God hid at that very time He revealed Him-                        access to the latter. But this statement, calls for an-
s,elf  - kept Himself at some distance, even when He                       other, namely, the fcllowing."  Christ's satisfaction is
came nearest, so that manifestly the root of the evil                      the correlative to the conscience purged by His blood;
was not yet reached: the conscience was not in such                        and the conscience so  purged  is the correlative to the
a sense purged as top be made perfect, or capable of                       heavenly sanctuary and to access to the latter." It is
feeling thoroughly at ease in the presence of the Holy                     to be considered, then, that access to a worldly sanc-
One; for that another and higher medium of purifica-                       tuary is one  sad that access to the true house of God
tion was needed, and should be looked for.  A*t the same                   and to His fellowship is another. All for whom the
time, there was such a purification administzered as se-                   priest made atonement had the former; but they only,
cured for those who experienced it a certain measure                       of whose gifts God testified, had the latter.
of access to God's fellowship and experience of His                           In order to render his view the more  plausable,


504                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
 --"-                    -_-.-.-^."-^^  -___ --.~__~-..                  __"- _...._.                         ---.-
Fairbairn closes his treatice  on the matt%er  under cnn-      And the expression, "died under two or three  mit-
sideration with the fohowing  reasoning, "We read in           nesses" indicates that it might be said of only those
later scripture otf the difference between the Oid and         members of the Jewish theccracy that they had sinned
the New in God's dispensations, that `The law came             presumptuously who committed one or more of the
by Moses but  grace and truth by Jesus Christ,' or,            several crimes (crimes already mentioned in a pre-
`The darkness is past, the cle.ar light now shin&h --          ceding article) that could root /.-IP aZoned  by the typical
not as if there had been no light, no grace and truth          sacrifice. In  ether  words, deliberate defiance to the
before, but merely none worthy to be compared with             authority, of God was associated with certain sinful
what now appeared. And in like manner, in the pass-            deeds such as murder and adultery and blasphemy, SD
ages under consideration, the measure cf relief and            that he only who committed one of the  unexpiable  sins
purification to guilty conscience which  was .afforded         might be declared by witnesses  #and the authorities to
by the provisional institutions of the tabernacle, be-         have sinned presumptuously. Thus the term  "pre-
cause of their inadequate character, and the  impede&          sum~,,tuous  sins" is as to its significations identical to
means employed in their accomplishment, are for the the  `tsrm  "capital crimes", soa that what the authorities
occasion overlooked or placed out of sight, in order           were required to pass judgment on is not, certainly,
to bring prominently out the real, the ultimate, and           hidden  motives but deeds.
perfect salvation that had been at length brought in                                                                   G .   MM.  0.
by Christ'.
       But one remark here. The question is not whether
or no there was in the dispensation of t.he law relief
and  purificatio,n  to the guilty consciences of  &d's                                    IN MEMMORIAM
people but whether this relief and purificaticn  was the
fruitage  .of the death of the sacrificial animal or solely        On Saturday, June 23, 1933, it pleased the Lord to take
the  fruitage  of the suffering and death of Christ. The       from this vale of tears our beloved father, grandfather and
passage in the epistle to the Hebrews maintains the            great-grandfather,
latter. Taking this passage absolutely, does not drive                                   MR. L. J.  DEKKER
one to the view that there was no relief to the con-
science of the believer. Taking this passage absolutely        at the age of  87 years.
is simply to maintain that this relief was theirs only on          We thank God that He spared his life for us so many years.
the ground of Christ's merit.                                  Although we miss him, we are comforted  by the thought that
       Before turning to the ritual concerning the cffer-      he is now with his  Saviour.
ings itself, there is still another matter to which at-            We wish to express our heartfelt thanks to all who in
tention must be directed. As has already been pointed          any way have shown their sympathy in the death of our
out in previous articles, the class of sins that could be      departed one.
atoned by the priest did not include the  presumntuons                                           Mr. and Mrs. Geo. Bos
sins, that is, the sins committed in deliberate defiance                                         Mr. and &s. J. Dekker
of the authority of God and with the willful determin-                                           Mr. and Mrs. P. Dekker
ation to contest with Him the supremacy. The scrip-                                              Mr. and Mrs. A. Dekker
ture from ,which  this is know reads, " And the priest                                           Mr. and Mrs. Theo. Dekker
shall make atonement for the soul that sinneth through                                           Mr. and Mrs. R. Dekker
erring ; . . . .but the soul that dceth ought presumptu-                                         Mr and Mrs. M. Kooistra
ously  (-with  a high hand). . .  .that soul shall be cut                                            20  grandchil~dren
off from among his people because he has despised                                                    10 great-grandchildren
the word of the Lord and hath broken His command,                  Grand Rapids, Michigan
that soul shall utterly be cut off; his iniquity shall be
upon him."
       Now the same command could be broken presump-
tuously or through ignorance. This raises the  ques-                                     IK HOORDE UW STEM
ticn how the priest, a mere human and thus incapable
of discerning the hidden thoughts and intents of the                Tk  hcorde   IJw  stem  in  `t nachtlijk  duister
heart, could know  ,whether the offender had trans-                       `En vrede  daalde  in  mijn  ziel,
gressed deliberately or through thoughtlessness. Light              Nu weet ik Heer, hue zacht ik fluister,
is shed on this matter by a scripture contained in the                    Gij  hoort  mij  als ik nederknisl!
epistle to the Hebrews and reading, "He that despised               Zoodra   cGij nader zijt gekomen
IVIoses' law died without  me,rcy under two or  thre#e                    Werd al mijn droefheid weggenomen
witnesses: . .  ." (Heb. 10 28). The writer her,e  speaks           Uw : "Vrees niet"  stilde mijn geween
of the presumptuous sins that could not be atoned.                        En dreef mijn  angsten  heen.


                                 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.





                      _...._ - ._.. ^             "-_-_             -_                              I__
Vol. XIV, No. 22 Entered as second class mail
                       - matter at Grand  Rapids.  Mich.    SEPTEMBER 15, 1938                        Subscription Price, $2.00
- ..-....._ "_l__ ---. "-- .

                                                                    cannot approach Thee. Thy face is hid from us and
                                                                    we cannot find Thee. Already we are' oonsumed be-
                                                                    cause of our iniquities. . . .
                                                                          Such is our side uf the case. All is #hopeless !
                      A Cogent Plea                                       But now, 0 Lord! . . . .
                      But ~AWI, 0 Lord, thou art our father;              Surely, though we have sinned and have not.hing
                   we are the  clan,  arrtd thou our potter; more to say, things cannot remain as they are!
                   and we are  ail  dk  WOT/C  of thy  hmnd.              For, where now is Thy covenant, where are Thy
                                                   Isaiah 64.-S.    promises? . . . .
                                                                          Thy holy tities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilder-
   .A plea!                                                         ness, Jerusalem is a desolation.        Our holy and our
    But now, 0 Lord! . . . .                                        beautiful house, where our fathers praised Thee, is
    There is another side to our case, Thy side, the                burned up with fire, and all our pleasant things are
divine,  the eternal, the unchangeable side, the aspect laid waste. Thy covenant is trodden under .foot.  . . .
that concerns Thy faithfulness, and the glory of Thy                      And that cannot be !
name !                                                                    And though there is no hope on our side; no basis
    Hitherto we presented our side.                                 on which we may plead,  we still present to Thee our
    And considering all that is with us, there can be supplications.                  For Thy name's sake !
no, hope.                                                                 For, Thou art our Father?
    All is dark, and there is no prospect of light, even                  We are the clay, Thou ,art the Potter !
of the faintest  glimmer.; all is worthy of condemnation                  Thy work we are!
and there is no ground  ,of presenting any plea for
pardon ; all is destruction and there is no hope of sal-
vation; all is  <death  and why should we  look for
life?
    For, we know that Thou meetest bim that rejoiceth                     God's sovereign grace!
and  worketh  righteousness, those that remember Thee
in Thy ways. But we have sinned, and Thou art right-                      Sole hope of our salvation !
eously and very wroth. We are all as an un&e.an  thing,                   Where would be our assurance and our hope, that
and even our righteousness, those works which we                    God will surely save  H&s people and preserve His
conddered  good, the very best of them, even our piety              Church and glorify the portion of His inheritance,
and our service of Thee, even our sacrifices and our if in any measure they were the product of their own
prayers, are as filthy rags. Therefore we fade as a efforts, the work of their own making, the. &sign of
leaf, and our iniquities are like a mighty wind that their  own ingenuity, the choice of their own will?
carry us away. There  is no help. There appears                           Where would be the ,ground on which to1 plead for
no way out.         We  mu& needs perish. Why should deliverance and restoration, when Jehovah is very
any one still call upon Thy name, seeing there Is no wroth with our iniquities, when He hides His face
ground for pleading with Thee? There is none! Our from us because of our sins, when we must confess
supplications have died upon .our lips. There is no one that we are all like .a filthy rag and that even  osur
that stirreth up himself to take hold of Thee. We righteousnesses are  uncIean?

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

       But now! . . . .                                         That Thou wouldest cause Thy eternity to break
       His work are the people of God !                      into our time, Thy righteousness into our unrighteous-
       He is their Father!                                   ness, Thy glory into our shame, Thy salvation into our
       It is He, and this has all the emphasis in the text desolation !
as is evident from the further statement that He is             For, Thou art our Father!
the Potter and we are the clay, Who brought forth               And this Fatherhood surely means that He l,oves
His people by a conscious and deliberate, sovereignly us. For, even as the is a communion of life between
free act of His determinate will. Nothing determined God and His people, so there is a communion of love.
Him-in the formation of His Church, nothing in us,           And as this love is emphatically His love, not ours,
nothing in Man, no goodness that 4nfluenced  His choice, it follows that the life-current of this love can never
                                                             cease to flow. He will always love us, always want
no work that put a claim on His favor, no faithfulness       us, always seelk us, till we shall be with Him forever
that determined His will ; ,nothing  but His own ab-
solutely free and sovereign grace, His divine good in, heavenly perfection. . . .
                                                                Surely, we have sinned !
pleasure  to glorify His name, to reveal Himself,  top
reflect and make known the beauty ad His own ador-              Our iniquities testify against us!
                                                                But even so, 0 Lord, Thou art olur Father! Thou
able Being, to create a people that should taste the         hast willed us freely, Thou bast made us sovereignly,
everlasting pleasures there are at His right hand.
The motive is all and' only in Himself. He conceived Thou hast loved us eternally. . . .
us in His eternal mind. He willed us in His divine              Be not wrath  very sore, 0 Lord!
good pleasure !                                                 Wilt Thou hold Thy peace and afflict us very sore?
                                                                Canst Thou leave Jerusalem a desolation?
       But now, Thou art our Father! . . . .                    0, save us by Thy grace !
       Eternally Thou hast willed us to be Thy people;
and the eternal will changeth not! Oh, that Thou
woul,dest  rend the heavens ! . . . .
       For, not only did He conceive and will His people
in His eternal good pleasure, but He also forms them            Sovereign divine power !
in time. Tahat there is a people of God in the world,           Sole hope of our ultimate deliverance!
that there was an Israel of God in the o,ld dispensation        For, where would be our hope of salvation if His
and that there is a Church of Christ in the new, is power were limited by the work of His hands, if His
solely to be attributed to the execution of His sover- purpose could be thwarted by the will and choice of
eign will. He justifies them in the blood of His Son,        man, if by us His power were made powerless? . . . .
He quickens them by the power of His grace, He calls            If our resistance really resisted Him?
them by HI& almighty Word, He sanctifies them by His            There would be no hope!
own Spirit, He lays His praises on their lips, that they        For, we do always resist Him ! We do never will
might proclaim the virtues of Him that called them His will. We ever refuse to work His work. Always
out Iof darkness into His marvellous light                   we must confess: we are as an unclean thing, and all
       Purely, solely, exclusively we are the work of His    our ri~ghteousnesses  are `as: filthy rags; our iniquities,
hands!             t                                         like the wind, have taken us away. And, were His
                                                             sovereign power hampered by our rebellion, this must
       Thou art our Father!                                  needs be the very last we possibly could say. Were
       Oh, that Thou wouldest come down !                    God not sovereignly the first and the last, we must
       For, holw should He forsake His own handiwork?        needs be the last; and if we be the last, we must needs
Is He not our Father? And does this not imply even perish, for that "last" will still find us in our rebellion
more than merely the fact that He sovereignly willed and iniquity. Then every plea for salvation must be
us and called us into being? Does not His fatherhood chuked  back, every prayer for deliverance must die
of His people also imply that they are formed after on our lips and there could be none that would call
His own likeness? Did He not ordain His children upon His name, that would stir himself up to take hold
individually that they should be conformed to the image of the Almighty. And the very last would be  in-
of His  own Son, that He might be the firstborn among pevitably  : "Thou hast hid Thy face from us, and hast
many brethren; and ldid He not conceive of IIis Church consumed us, because of our iniquities".
as a whole in order that in manifold ways she might             With us there is no  righteouness,  no plea, no hope!
be the reflection of His own divine beauty? How, then,          Never !
can Jerusalem ever remain a desolation? Will He,                But  now,  0 Lord! . . . .
then, give His glory to another? Will He allow the              Thou art the Potter, we are the clay!
beauty of His own image to be marred? . . . .                   Unlimited sovereignty ! Unhampered power there
       Oh, that  Thou woaldest  rend the heavens!            is with our God!


                                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             507
                           --...._ -.--".^ ..-            ----_"-- ..^-.."                                          --..".I__
    Such are the implications of the well-known figure                         But no,w, 0 Lord, we are after all the clay, Thou
the Church employs: here as a ground of her prayer are the potter!
for deliverance and  final salvation The potter hath                           On Thy absolute sovereignty and might we plead!
power ,o$ver  the clay in a twofold sense. First of all,               Even our sins cannot hamper Thee, neither make it
his is the right; the sole prerogative, to make of the                 impossible for Thee to mold us into vessels unto
clay whatever vessel it pleaseth  him to design and to                 honour !
form. The clay has no right. Shall the thing formed                            On this we plead, not because we would excuse our
say to him that formed it: what makest thou? And                       iniquities, for which we profess to be sorry, from
secondly, the potter has the might, the ability, the which we long to be delivered.
strength to make whatever he will. The clay does                               But because we  Iong for Thy salvation!
not resist him. He molds it into whatever shape he                             We  wo,uld  see Thy glory!
designed. Unlimited freedom and unhampered power
are illustrated in the figure of the potter and the clay.                      Oh, rend the heavens !
    And these are, indeed, with God, even in relation
to the children of men.
    More sovereign is He, indeed, and more unlimited
and free in the formati'on  of His handiwork than the
potter is with respect to the clay. For, the latter does                       For Thy name's sake, 0 Lord !
not make the clay, is to a certain extent determined in                        As far as we are concerned, Thou might& forsake
his work by the very nature of the material in which us, leave Jerusalem a desolation and Zion a wilderness !
he produces his designs, is limited also in these very                         For,  sin and iniquity is on our side and nothing
designs; but the sovereign power of the Almighty is                    else.
absolute ! Sovereign is He in His designs ; freely He                          But we are all the work of Thy hands !
makes the material subservient to His purpose; and                             In Thy work there can be nothing  09 our work!
His only is the authority, the prerogative and the                     Thou hast loved us from before the foundation of the
power to execute His will.                                             world. Thou  *hast designed us with sovereign free-
    Thou art the potter ; we are the clay !                            dom in Thy eternal counsel unto Thine own glorious
    It is the Church that is making this confession.                   inheritance, that we should be to the praise of the glory
    For truly, the figure of the potter and the clay                   of Thy grace in the BeIoved. Thou hast ordained that
applies with equal force to the ungodly. He is merciful we should be conformed according to the image of
to whom He will be merciful, and whom He will He Thy Son. Thou hast chosen us in Christ Jesus our
hardens. Sovereign He is also to make vessels unto Lord, that we might be justified in His blood and re-
dishonour,  fitted unto destruction . And this  appea1                 surrection, that we might be  debvered  from all the
to His divine sovereignty is the last answer to him power of sin and death by the grace of His good Spirit,
that rebelliously would reply against the Most High.                   that we might be glorified  in Thy everlasting Kingdom,
But here the Church, the vessels unto honour are plead- where Thy tabernacle shall be with us forever!
ing with their God, Who formed them, appealing to                             Thy work alone we are !
His unlimited right and might and power and strength                          Nowhere  ,is there a part which is ours !
as a ground for their supplications.                                          And because we are solely the work of Thy hands,
   Unto vessels of honour and glory He designed us,                    it is Thy name and! Thy glory that is concerned in our
both as a Church and `;ts individual believers, fitted ,deliverance  and salvation! That glory must appear in
each one into the place He designed for us.                           the work of Thy hands.
   Shall, then, that purpose be thwarted? Is it pos-                          Wherefore, then, should the heathen say: where is
sible that His eternal design fail to be executed? Shall now their God?  Shall the powers of darkness, then,
Jerusalem remain a desolation, Zion and His holy cities               be triumphant? Shah all hell rejoice  because Jeru-
be left a  wiildferness,  our holy and beautiful house,               saIem is a desolation, Zion a wilderness, God's holy
where our fathers praised Him, be left a heap 0.f ruins,              house a heap of cinders, God's handiwork  uminished?
the vessels unto honour be given over unto destruction? Shall the Alm?ghty  fail to reveal the glory of His name
Shall the Most High say: I designed yea unto glo,ry,                  and give His honour unto another? . . . .
but your iniquities made it impossible to carry out my                        But! now, 0 Lord! . . . .
design? Shall He  fail. in His purpose to make us                             W,e are all the work of Thy bands!
reflections of His: glory, because we corrupt our way?                        Deliver us, then! Save us, till we shall have reached
Shall He cease to love, because we failed to love the glory of Thy  eterna1  tabernacle !
Him? . . . .                                                                  Rend the heavens and come down into our night!
   God forbid !                                                               And  thine shall be the glory!
   Surely, our iniquities testify against us.                                 Alone and forever!
   On ,our side there is no hope!                                                                                          H. H.

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

                                                               consumed by a few rich. They must be placed within
                                                               the reach of the average man, of -all.
             EDITORiALS                                  j         This is not done by ,high pressure salesmanship,
Sl and by a tempting but fatal credit-system. It can only
         As To Our Present "Recession "                        be accomplished by providing sufficient buying-power
                                                               for all.
                                                                   And this means a rather rad:ical  change in our in-
                              III.                             dustrial system, for if the equilibrium between pro-
       To a layman's mind there accur still a few more         duction and consumption is to be restored, so  tbt the
facts that must be taken intoconsideration  if we would factories can keep running and the workers keep a job,
explain the present economic situation. They ccncern           it appears rather clear that workingdays must  h con-
particularly the modern industrial system.                     siderably shortened, while  wa.ges  must be enormously
       The first lad these facts is the vast and extremely 14ncreased. It also implies necessarily ,that large  salaIr-  1
speedy production of commodities that are thrown on ies of those that occupy an advantageous position as 1
the market for consumption.                                    well as fat dividends must be cut.                          I
       How conditions have changed in this respect!                Another fact leads to the same conclusion.
       I remember the days that it paid to make every- .           Time was when a man was able to work long days
                                                               without becoming a physical wreck. Personally I re-
thing by hand. Even though there already existed the member the days when I worked from four o-clock" in
large factory with its machine-driven production, there the morning till seven in the evening the year around,
was still room for the small shop. Workingdays were without any visible bad effects on my nervous syst~~m.
usually rather long. Wages were much  lo,wer than              Accordingly, a man was considiered  fit to do. a good
they are to-day. Time was cheap . Many articles were day's work until he was sixty or seventy years old:
made by hand by accomplished mechanics and  crafts-            Again, in those days  a man took pride and pleasure in
.men  from start to finish. Production was still com- his work, because `he actually produced som&hing from
paratively slow. Under normal conditions  thee mark& start to finish. He could be profoundly interested in
was never flooded  with commodities. It required but his own handiwork <and did not have to slave merely
few buyers for certain articles, especially  for those of      for the dollar or for a living. The shop where he
luxury, to maintain the equilibrium between production worked was not $a prison for him.
and consumption.                                                   All this has changed.
       All this has changed. It belongs irrevocably  to the        The strain of modern, machinedriven, systematized
past. The small shop, the little factory, has, as far and timed industry is tremendous, is nerve-wracking,
as production of new  Scommodities  is concerned, no           is murderous. All the day long the worker must adapt
longer a  plaoe in the industrial world of today. Ac- his movements to those  oQ the perfectly timed machine.
complished mechanics are few. Man, the laborer, has            I am certainly making no plea for the <return  of the
become a mere extension of the machine. The chief long workingd!ay of former years, but I do maintain
commodities for the modern market are produced by that the eilght-hour  day of our modern factory is much
tremendous factories, where everything is systematized harder on the  workingman  than the ten- or twelve-hour
.nd figured out to the minute, allowing the workers no         day of days gone by. The result is that our modern
breathing spell. Production is sped up to the very industry needs young men. Employers today are not
`extreme of man- and machine-power. As a result pro- sashshamed to tell a man of forty, seeking employment,
aduction is increased a thousandfold. Take for example that he is too old. Besides, there is no' idealism for
the automobile industry. It requires on an average an the worker in  mo,dern industry. He takes no pride
unbelilevably  short time to make a car from start to in his work for the simple reason that `personally he
 finish Thousands o'f new automobiles! are produced            produces: nothing. Work is become a sheor  drudgery
daily. And the same holds for every modern com-                often. The motive oft the laborer is purely material-
modity, radios, refrigerators, furniture and the like.         istic. Life for him in the shop is prison-life. He just
       what follows ?                                          puts in his hours to make a living. And also this adds
       That the number of buyers of these commodities to the strain of modern industrial life.
must be increased accordingly, if the market is  not to            All  thils leads to the same conclusion.
j be flooded, if the wheels .of industry are to be kept            We need, a radical change, not an occasional shot in
spinning, if the worker is to beep his job. When this the arm.
 fails, the large factories are shut dofwn  and you have           I do not mean to suggest that such a change will
thousands of unemployed workers. The connnodities              solve the social and economic problem  fundam~entally.
 of modern production, even those that are or till re&             And I do not believe that, in a world of sin, moti-
cently  were considered articles of luxury  (automo,biles,     vated by hatred against one-another, such a  fund*
 radios, electric refrigerators, etc.) certainly cannot be mental solution can be suggested.


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  509
                                                                 .-
     But I do suggest that we may  witness: a  rather            word&-de=  dingen en  vele anctere zijn voor ons on-
 radical change in the entire set-up of .things, before begrijpelijke  werken Gods.  Maar  geen  Schriftgeloa-
 we come to the end of our  "recessio7ns"  and  depres-          vige heeft moeite  om ze te aanvaarden.
 +!zihs.                                                             En zoo zijn er ook waarheden, wier eenheid wij
     A- change that will enable men to make sufficient met ten voile kunnren zien. Hoe ze voor ens verstand
 money, in short  workingdays  and  befosre they are con- te verbinden zijn  tot een harmonische eenheid  begrij-
 sidered too old for a place in modern industry, to buy pen we  met. Hoe  b.v; God door  redelijk-zedelijke.,
 the commodities. which are thrown on the modern mar- verantwoordelijke schepselen Zijn welbehagen uitvoert,
 ket, and to, buy them all their life.                           zonder dat Hij ook  maar  voor  `Earn  oogenblik hunne
     Will the change be effected?                                verantwoordelijkheid opheft  of aantast, kunnen wij
     The world needs really a world-reformer.                    niet  hen volle  verstaan.  Maar het zal geen  Gerefor-
     And whatever president Roosevelt may be,  .I agree meerd mensch in zijn shoofd komen, om te ontkennen,
 with Boake Carter that he is certainly not a reformer.          dat God dit tech werkelijk do&.
                                                H. H.                Near,  en l,et bier we1 op, ofschoon al zulke dingen
                                                                 ver  bavm  ons  begrip  gaan, er  ligt in dit  alles  niets,
                                                                 dat tegen ens logisch  verstand striydt. Ja  is hier niet
                                                                 ook neen; zwart is niet ook wit; recht is met ook krom.
                                                  .                 Zulke  elkander  volstrekt  uitsluitende  dingen  willen
                                                                 de  voorstanders  der "algemeene genade" ens opdrin-
       Dat Gods Goedheid Particulier Is                          gen. En Ds. Zwier wordt niet moede  om het zelfs tot
                                                                 vervelens  toe to herhalen,  dat hierin juist het eenvou-
            II. Een  Net Te Aanvaarden  Dualisme "-              dig  kinderlijk   geloof   zich  eerst  necht   openbaart,   det
     Er zijn vele dingen, die ons eindig verstand to' bo-        het  dingen  aanvaardt,  die elkander volkomen opheffen
 ven gaan.                                                       voor ons  logisch  verstand, dat het nederig belijdt,  dat
     Dit  te ontkennen,  niet te  willen  aanvaarden,   wat ja ook neen,  zwart  oak wit, recht oolk krom, liefde oak
 wij niet kunnen begrijpen, zou tot Atheisme voeren,             haat, gunst  oak toorn, zegen ook vloek is,.
 is in den grand der zaak eigenlijk reeds eene ontken-               Het is treffend,  dat zij, die gereformeerd beweren
 ning van God. Want God  .is de Oneindige en het  ein- te zijn en  tech de algemeene   genade  leeren, behoefte
 dige begrijpt den Oneindige  nooit.  A&en te  willen            hebben aan zulke, eikaar opheffende  en uitsluitende,
 aanvaarden, wat we met ens verstand tkunnen  door- tegenstellingen, die door het logisch verstand; volstrekt
 gronden, is rationalisme.                                       worden  ontkend,  om hun voorstelling te kunnen hand-
     Daarom blijven er voor ,den Schriftgeloovige vele haven.                                                               t
 myste&n,  waarvoor  hij  ootmoedig  en in aanbidding               Maar  het is  tech ook zeer doorzichtig, waar de diepe
 buigt. En als de S&rift oak van die mysterien  spreekt,         080rzaak  van die betitite  ligt.
 dan heeft hij hoegenaamd geen   moetiijkheid,  om die              Deze  "gerefo~rmeerde"  menschen  willen ook Remon-
 te aanvaarden.                                                  strantsche  taal spreken. En oak deze  twee : de gerefor-
     Zoo zijn  er  geopenbaarde   waarheden,  die  veel   te meerde waarheid  en de Arminiaansehe  dwaling sluiten
 diep zijn voor ons verstand om ze te kunnen peilen. ielkander  volkomen uirt.
Denk maar aan de leer der Drie6enheid  Gods. We kun-                Daaruit kwam het voort, dat wijl& Prof. Heyns
 nen de gegevens der Schrift op dit stuk verzamelen, `altijd sprak  van de "tm willen `in God, volgens den
 ze indenken, ze  zooveel  mogelijk tot een dogma  con-          eenen  waarvan  Hij alle menschen wil zaligen, terwijl
 strueeren en ordelijk voorstellen, maar  wanneer we  nu         Hij  vlodgens  den  andeEn  wil  a&en  de  uitverkorenen
 hiermee  gereed  zijn en het leerstuk der Drie&nheid            bet Ieven  geeft.
 hebben tgeformuleerd,  dan denkt geen Schni!!tgeloovige            En  oak  IZeyns   &r&q  zich3  evenals  Ds. Zwier, op
 rer aan, om te meenen, dat hij den Drieeenige  heeft be- duideljjke  uitspraken  der S&rift, die iemand met een
 grepen.                                                         "half of kwart  o~nsje"  exegetiich  verstand  we1 kon
     Zoo zijn er werken  Gcdq die niet to verklaren  zijn        verstaan. En oak hij, evenals Zwier, beschuldigde ons
 uit  `de gewone en  natuurlijke  orde der dingen,  zooals       van rationalisme, als we meenden, dat we 266 "bibli-
 wij die ervaren en waarnemen,  waarmede God eigen-              cistiseh"  niet met de Heilige Schrift mochten omsprin-
 lijk door die natuurlijke orde van het wereldgebeuren gen.
 heen   breekt  en getuigt van een  ander,e,  een  hoogere          Doch  laat mij eerst dutielijk maken, dat Ds. Zwier
 orde,  &e te  kumen  `is. Dat de dooden  opgewekt wor- werkelijk zulke elkaar  volstrekt   opheffiende  en  uit-
 den, de  blinden  zien, de  dooven   hooren,  de  kreupelen     sluitende tegenstellingen aan ons "eenvioadig"  geloof
 wandelen,  een gansche schare  van duizenden met enkele ter lacceptatie  aanbiedt.
 brooden  en  visschen   k!an  worden   gespijzigd,  dat  een       We zullen hem letterlijk en zoo breed noodig  aan-
 mensch wordt wedergeboren en een zondmr bekeerd                 halen.


520                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       -I___
geven  zal hebben alle macht  en kracht in den hemel  en De Zelf-liefde  van God Is hun in `t harte  gestort door
op de aarde                                                    den Heiligen  Geest  die ons is gegeven
       En de uitverkoornen  zijn Zijn ond:erdanen Ze zijn         En zij 080rdeelen anders  dan de zondaars  en de hui-
Hem van God gegeven van eeuwigheid. Allte ongerech-            chelaars in Sion. Als ze ,de verwerping  hooren en zien,
tigheid en  onrecht; alle  oneerlijkheid,   valschheid,        dan sohreeuwen  ze niet in goddelooze  beving : Wie kan
wreedheid  en boosheid .is op Hem,gel,aden  in schuld en bij zulk een verteerend vuur leven en wonen, maar dan
van Zijn  onschuld~ig  hoofd  geeischt.  Want Hij moest        belijden ze he% door Woord en daadl, dat God een licht
de Zijnen  verlossen.                                          is en dat er gansch geen duisternis  in Hem woont. Dan
       En toen dezelve geeischt  werd, d.w.z., toen  al die    verafschuwen  ze de zonde  en drvt eerst in eigen leven.
schuld geeischt  werd, toen kon de Christus Gods niet          En vcorts rondom hen. Dan begeeren ze het sterkst
mtet God  wonen.  Want Hij is  terecht   een eeuwige           om aonder zonde te Ieven  valor Hem die hen eeuwiglijk
gloed. Die uitdrukking, dew&e God beschrijft, doet             beminde. Dan rechtvaardigen  ze God in zijn oordeel.
ons denken aan een andere  t&St,  wear  ietwat lioht ge        En  als  ze dan die 180,000  gesneuvelden  des  Heeren
worpen wordt  op deze zaak. Hij is  Hooglied   8:6b:           zien, dan kunnen ze *door den Geest van Christus  de
"Want de liefde is sterk sls ,de dood, de ijver 5.~ hard       H0sanna.s zingen. Want bet gaat om God.
als het graf, hare kolen zijn vurige kolen, vlammen des           En dan gaat het al hooger,  al hcoger en is God hen
Heeren".      Ook vindt ge dezelfde zaak in Openbaring         in de  hooge  en  sterke   stelenrotsen  een  hoog   vertrek.
15 :l-4. Dsar  staan de  gekochten  bij een  glazen   zee      Dat  wiI  zeggen,  ze zijn veilig in Jezus'  armen.  Alles
met vuur gemengd. En het verband  toont duidelijk wIerkt hun  mede  ten  goede.   Nilemand kan  ,h,en  oobt
aan, dat dit vuur ziet sop de heiligheid  en gerechtitgheid    meer scheiden van de Liefde Gods. "En ze zien in de
van God. Want bet een en het al in het verband  zijn           verten fder tijden een vergebegen  land". .&et is het land
do oordeelen  des Heeren  mitsgaderxs  Zijn eeuwige toorn.     der liefde. Wet land van `t zalig toevoorzicht.  Kansan
Denk hiux b.v. aan de zeven fiolen, vd van den toorn           d:er  ruste.  De  hemel  der  zaligheden.  En  d'aar  zal  nie-
Gods, die in  alle eeuwigheid  Ieeft..  Dus God die een mand van het lieve volk van God zeggen: Ik ben ziek.
verterend  vuur is en een eeuwige  ~gloed,  wil  zeggen,       Want het volk daar wonen  zal zal vergeving van onge-
dat G,od  een h&g en een rechtvaardig Wezen is, die            rechtigheden hebben.
Zichzelf bemint met een eeuwige Zelfliefde.                        En dat alies ontvangen  we om den wille van den
       Daarom  meet .Hij met een eeuwig branden  de god-       Koning.
delaczen verdoen in de he1 Dat kan  no&t anders. En                En Hij ? Hij is het hart van den God des Verboads,
zoo gaat  lhet ook gebeuren. Aanvankelijk branden  ze die Jeruzalem  eeuwiglijk verkiest!
al di.e tegen  Bern overtreden  hebben en geen beschut-                                                           G. V.
ting vonden  tegen dien brandenden toorn.
       En  &t is de  reden, dat Jezus  Christus wegsmolt                                          -
onder de last van den toorn Gods. We hooren zijn brul-
len: Mijn God, mijn God, praarom  hebt Gij Mij verla-
ten? Wel, het antwoord is, omdat Ik de lsehuld  van al
Mijn beminde  volk log U zie!                                                   Science and Faith
       God kan nu eenmaal geen  waning maken  met den              When we speak of science as contrary to faith, we
schuldige. Hij kan niet ondler een dak wonen  met den          wqoald not leave the impression that they exclude one
verkeerde En daarom moest Jezus Christus tot in het            another, that there is an essential distinction between
diepe lijden der helsche folteringen in onze plaatxs ver-      the two. This is emphatically untrue. To the con-
Iaten   worden.    Want de straf die ens den vrede aan-        trary, true science and faith embrace one another, so
brengt was a,p Hem.                                            that the one is possible only through the other. We
       En Hij, de  Ko.ning  is weergekomen. Er was een         speak of science V.S. faith only because this is a oom-
Goddelijke  wlaardij bij Zijn  lijden bijgezet. Die  led       mon conception today. A believer  andI a scientist are
was  Immanuel, God met  !ons. Hij  hwam  weer.  En             regarded as opposites. Perhaps this  i.s due to the fact
Hij kwam  weer in al  Zijn aanbiddelijke  schoontheid.         that the scientists of today can hardly be considered
Hij verwierf Zich een Naam die boven  alEen naam was.          believers. Faith; then, is the acceptance of that which
En  gaven   won't  wederhoorig   kroost.                       lies beyond the scope :of human reasoning. It func-
       Ziet ge, Hij leed en stierf niet a&en `uoor ons maar    tions only when the human mind can no longer operate.
oak door W)IIIS. Hij  brengt Zijn Men van gerechtigheid        Science on the other hand is man's acceptance of that
en reoht,  Zijn leven van eertijkheid  en waarheid en tee-     which can be known through human research and
derheid  en goedheid door jden Heihgen   Geest  look in        understanding. He is a scientist who  analizes  things,
onze harten  en zoo komt tot stand ook het ethisohe  ver-      adopts a  sorcalled  neutral  attitu,de over against the
schil tussehen de rechtvaardigen  en de goddeloozen.  Er Divine, Personal, Triune origin of all things, and then
leeft. in de onderdanen  van Jezus een liefde tot God.         by human logic and perception to attain unto know-


                                       T H E   * S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                   521
            .--      .._ I__
ledge of the world wherein w,e have a name and place.        a  !creature.  The scope of my human understanding
He, e.g., is a scientist today who, when studying man,       d,oes not extend beyond what is made. Hence, if .I
follolwing  the law of cause and effect, without the         w.ere  to ass,ume  a neutral attitude, attempt to prove
guidance ob the Holy Spirit (whereby his mind so it          the existence of God by my own understanding, my
is said, would be unjustly influenced), comes to the         conclusion must always be earthy. I will find myself
"scientific" conclusion that man is a further develo,p-      in a vain, earthy circle, beginning and ending in this
ment of the ape. Moreover, it is a tragedy that this         time, out of which I can impossibly deliver myself.
dualistic  concept6on  of science and faith has advanced     Therefore evolution's conception of the origin of all
deeply into the bosom of the church today. Does the things is "a thing". It can never be otherwise. My
church of today not  bolw the knee before Science,           finite mind simply cannot lift itself above the sphere
admit that it must be acknowledged as having rights  of      of the creature. Secondly, however, it is impossible
its own? Besides, is it not the teaching of "Common-         to assume a neutral attitude. The scilentist ridicules
grace" which makes separation between the things             the child of God because he accepts the Bible as the
natural and spiritual, also between faith on the one         only authoritative rule of life and proceeds in ,a11 his
hand and science and culture, etc., on the other hand?       thinking from the living God. He, on the other hand,
Is it not being taught today that, although the church       tak,es  pride in his independence of thought. He loudly
and the world spiritually must be viewed antithetically,     proclaims it unfair to, be prejudiced in one's  study
yet the church may well acclaim, admire, and laud the        of the universe so as to accept as certain the existence
Iefforts  oif man in the field of art and culture and of the Lord. He, of course, is unprejudiced and fair
science?  In fact, may  wee not co-operate with the          in his thinking. This is far from the t&h, Neutral-
world in this scientific activity, which means that faith    ity is impossible. That God is is not only clearly re-
must be laid aside for  th.e time being? To be sure,         vealed in all the works  lof God's hands; it is also
"C&mnon-grace"  has itself separated faith from              indelibly printed in the consciousness  09 man. Man
science.                                                     is not independent in his thinking.     He cannot be.
                                                             He is 8 creature- This is equally true of the so-called
                           SCIENCE.                          scientist of today. It is noteworthy that all present-
   First of all let us attend to science in the generally    day science denies the living God, Yet, God is the
accepted sense  todlay.     Science means knowledge, de-     Maker of heaven and earth. Evolution is no,t a serious
rived from the latin wosd: to know. According to the         attempt to  attain unto  tha  origin of things. It is
present usage of the term, it refers to knowledge            rather a feverish, wicked,attempt  of man to erase God
amassed, severely tcested,  co-ordinated,  and systema-      out of the universe. He wills not the living Gold. He
tized, especially regarding those wide generalizations saith in his heart: There is no God. If the Christian
called the laws of nature. As such Science is a general      adopts as  ,his point of procedure the principle that
term  which can bk sub-divided1  into several branches,      God .is he proceeds from the very opposite. And all
such as astronomy, biology, chemistry, etc. What we          present-day science is the wicked attempt of man to.
are particularly interested in now, however, is that         prove this principle. He is governed by the power  oif
a present-day scientist is he who,, by the process of        darkness, is a hater of God.
human understanding, attains unto  knewledge  of                This, however, is not true science. To be sure,
things, definite conclusions regarding this world. He        man can apply himself to `a study of the works 09 God's
is  suppo'sed  to assume a neutral attitude towards the hands. Sin did not deprive him of natural light, al-
works of God's hands. Be must not  proceed  from though he did lose his excellent gifts. Neither did sin
the supposition that God is the Divine Creator, or from deprive him of his moral-rational nature. He knows
the Scriptures as the only authoritative rule of life.       that two plus two are four. Particularly during the
He  womd  attain unto the origin  #o,f things by the pro-    last decades has his knowledge of the universe, and
cess ,of his. own thinking. In a God he will believe only especially of man, increased tremendously. What
when he shall' have  establis.hed His existence.             amazing advancements. have been made in the field
    Of this "science", the science of today, we may say      of medicine! Also be can scan the heavens, determine
firstly that it is purely earthy and must necessarily be     exactly the positi.oa  of the heavenly lights thousands
such. The o'rigin of this world, according to present-       ( ?) ,of years hence But, in his understanding of these
day evolutionism, is earthy, or worldly. Apart now matters he is spiritually darkened. God is not in all
from the question whether anyone can assume .a neu- his thoughts. And, true science certainly implies that
tral attitude, fact is that man can never C&Z&I unto         th@ knowledge od the things `made must be accom-
knowledge of God. God is the Infinite, the Eternal,          panied by the fear of God. Then we know, when
the  Wholly-Othe,r.  He is the Creator, absolutely to        all our scientific activities are as so many avenues
be distinguish& from all that is creature. My human,         leading us tot the only true God. When we see the
fmite understanding can never in the way of human            heavens and the earth as the works of* God's hand,
research attain unto the belief that God is.         I am    which declares unto us the glory of God. A true

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

scientist is he who knows God in all the works of His         dwelling in our hearts. The Spirit of the resurrected
hands.                                                        Lord changes. the center  of our spiritual existence from
                         FAITH.                               a fount of darkness into one of light. The life of God
                                                              has been poured out into me. Now the love of God
   Faith must not be understood as an understand,ing          is the controlling factor in my life. Faith has  bee~n
a9 those things which otherwise cannot be conceived           bestowed upon me, that spiritual power of grace,
*of by the natural mind. Neither is unbelief the re-          whereby  I now live  out of the principle of the life and
fusal of natural man to accept  th+e "super-natural"          love of God. Now I know God, love  .Him, seek the
because he, cannot understand them. Unbelief is not           glory of His Name. Formerly at enmity against  Gocd,
rooted in the mind. Fact is, there is nothing in this         I now am spiritually united with Him. Faith is that
world which the "Scientist" does understand. He               gift of grace quickening me with that life of God. And
would fain have the church believe that his knowledge         in all the activities of the Christian the life of God
is determined by his understanding. Nothing is farther        ever prompts him.
from the truth. Also he proceeds from defmite rules
and principles of which he cannot give an account.                        SCIENCE THROUGH FAITH.
He  sknows that two plus two are four but does not                Without faith true science is impossible. To be
urnderstand it. Man, who would not believe in God             sure, it does not demand faith to study the heavens.
because he cannot prove His existence, who ridicules,         This man can do because of his natural light. But
as a theory, the truth of the resurrection because ac-        without faith true knowledge is out of the question.
carding to his finite mind the resurrection of the dead       For, controlled by the power of iniquity, he will use
is impossible (and let me add here: according to my           ,a11 his talents to dethrone the living God and establish
finite mind the resurrection of the dead is impossible),      the kingdom of darkness. And insofar that the works
does proceed in the spring-time lof the year upon the         of c;lod's  ,hands speak also to natural man of the results
supposition that the seed which he entrusts unto the          of sin, these he will ascribe to faulty  d.evelopment,
bosom of the earth shall  die but also  rise again. Is        ever striving onward unto a perfect world, without
this not beyond all natural understanding? Belief in          God and His Christ.
things beyond the scope of our human thinking is not             How different everything becomes through faith!
only true of the Christian but also of the child of the       Spiritually united with God, called  oat of darkness into
world. Also he is governed by principles over `which light, called into living fellowship with God, all things
he has no control whatever. Unbelief, as stated be-           have become  new. Now the heavens declare the glory
fore, is not a matter of the mind. It, is rooted in the of God and the firmament is His: handiwork. The sun`
heart.     Natural man does accept principles relative        moon and stars speak to us lof the glo,ry and the power
to this life. But he is a hater of God. His refusal to        and the wisdom of God. Now all things are but means
acknowledge the Lord is rooted in that principle of for the Christian to increase in the knowledge of his
enmity.                                                       God. And the Christian, the true scientist, beholding
   This will also thruw light on the true character of        the  wotrks  lof God's hands, realizing that the universe
faith. If unbelief is the wilful refusal of natural man       has become subject to the curse, instead of longing to
to acknowledge God in all his thoughts because of             live here forever, looks forward unto that glorious day
enmity, faith is its direct  opposi$e.      Faith is the      of `our Lo~rd Jesus Christ, when  a11 things shall be made
spiritual bond uniting us with God in Christ Jesus.           new, in the new heavens and upon the new earth. The,a
By nature we are controlled by the principle of sin.          he shall know God perfectly. His own life will be per-
And sin is essentially rebellion against God. Sin is          fectly attuned unto the praise of God's hand. And he
man placing himself over against the living God, our          shall live in a  per&&  tabernacle of God with man-all
striving to be "as God, knowing good sand evil". The things round about him will be a complete and perfect
heart in Scripture is the source of all the spiritual         revelation  lof the goodness of our G0.d.     H. V.
issues  ,of my life. My heart determines my life, my
thinking and willing, all my walk of life. Only, if my
heart is that  fo`onntain  ,of my spiritual being, my
spiritual being stands in a living, active connection                      DEACON'S CONFERENCE
with my heart. This truth is best illustrated in the             A Deacon's Conference will be held D.V. October 6,
figure of a tree as it draws forth its life-sap out of its    at 8 .o'clock  P.M. at the Creston Prot. Ref. Church.
roots. So man .also drawti  forth his spiritual life out         Rev. M. Schipper  of Grand Haven will introduce
of the heart. By nature, now, my heart is a fount of the subject  fc,r discussion  and refreshments will be
corruption. Unbelief is that spiritual power within served. We urge all the deacons of our Michigan
him whereby he, with all his mind and soul and                churches to make a serious effort to be present in order
strength, lives out of the principle of darkness,.agains;t    that we may have a 100 percent attendance.
+he living God. But now Christ Jesus makes His                                                     The Committee


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  523
k,-  -..--- --".                                     -..-_-_"_ ..-                                __-____                       -
                                                                      ness. Our freedom is not a sort of license to give the
            Using As Not Abusing                                      flesh free rein. Our freedom is never that man be-
                                                                      comes  solme kind of sovereign so that he is free to
   Wihen  God created us He set us in the very midst                  do quite as  lhe pleases with God's creation. After  all
of all the works of His hands and bade us to serve                    we are but stewards and One greater than we will
Him withal We  stands today too in the midst  aIf                     account to us. We are not sovereign, we are after
creation. Turn which way we will, we always  have                     all but creatures. The more blatant and liberal among
to assume an attitude  towlard the things of God's                    them become &eer Materialists. They make enjoy-
hands                                                                 ment of c.reation to be the highest good. In passing
   That attitude admits of two extremes.                              they quote Solomon : "there is nothing better for a
   The one attitude is that of non-using of creation.                 man than that he should eat and drink and that he
Men consider it sin to use creation. Men  practise                    should make his soul enjoy good in his labor." They
world-flight. With  the  Monksof  yore and the  Ana-                  become  Freudians, Libertines. Creation becomes their
baptists of today they see creation as belonging to                   god, full enjoyment of it becomes their highest good
the lower and baser order of things and therefore to be               and any law  which would prevent them in their pursuit
avoided. These cry "touch not, taste not, handle not".                of "happiness" is an intolerable remnant of an out-
They forbid themselves and others the use of creation                 moded doctrine.
and they think  they are the better because of their                     They abuse creation.
non-use. Sanctification consists in shunning creation.                    For creation and the use of it is never and may
Sometimes their slogan would tempt you to think that                  never be an lend in itself. For then men worship the
these folk are strong for antithesis, but upon c!oser  in-            creature rather than the Creator.
spection one finds that that is not true This attitude                   There the two extremes.
of non-use is certainly wrong. Every creature of  God                    Midway between them is a narrow strip of ground
is good. Creation as such is not evil. Earth, money,                  upon which we `must stand. And we  oan stand there
possessions, etc., etc. are not per `se evil. God's works only on the principle which Paul expresses in I Cor.
are not lob a baser sort so that we did better by not 7 :31.
touching them. It is not scriptural to say that we                       "Using as not abusing".
<ought not to use creation. God surely did not set us in                  ITsing  it, indeed. But not in such a way that we
the midst of His works in order that we should re-                    abuse it, or, as the original indicates, using it ill. P,osi-
frain from touching them. &d did not surround us tively stated it means using it unto the purpose for
with His gifts in order that we should declare them                   which God h'as given it us.
sinful and dangerous. God set us in the midst of this
creatioln  in order to use it.                                            This principle gives us the freedom to use. But
                                                                      that freedom must never be misinterpreted.. Freedom
    So we must not imagine that non-use is the will of                does not  man that we  do as we please or even as we
God  Ior that it is pleasing to Him.                                  see fit. Freedom means that we have been delivered
    That is one of the extremes. An extreme that comes                out of the bondage and the vanity ob sin and have be-
up out of the dlepraved heart of a fallen sinner who come the servants of the Lord, thru the blood of His
stands wrong before God and consequently wrong  be+                   Son. Freedom m'eans  that we have the privilege and
fore all things.                                                      the power to; serve God. Freedom means that we are
    The other extreme is that  of ab-using creation become  cosvenant   friend-selrvants  of the Lord and that
These people make very liberal use of creation. They we meanwhiles find it our highest delight to serve
lay hands on as much of it as they possibly can. T.hey                that One Lord.       The highest freedom the creature
labor to amass riches, they wrestle for possessions,                  knows is the freedom to be able to will the will of the
adding acre to acre, they fill their houses with lux-                 Lord and delight in willing it. With that freedom in
uries.                                                                ,our hearts we may USE creation.
    But what do they?                                                     Using it as not abusing then implies three things:
    They abuse creation.          "-                                      First, it implies that we  lane stewards. The things
    While others proclaim creation evil, these make are not ours. The earth and the fulness of it belongs
 creation their rgod. Such as are nominally Christian to the Lord, and never for a moment even does He
among them contend that they are  enjroying   th.e N. T.              waive His ownership of it. God does not donate it to
freedom of grace and therefore are free to use it liber-               us or sell it to us, God gives it to us for the time being
ally and free to use it as they please. No creature of to use it. But it remains  His, always His. We are
 Giod is (evil, say they, and no one must tell them "touch `therefore only stewards who handle it for a while.
 not, taste not, handle not". They are free. And their                And being stewards it is evident that we shall have toi
 mistake? Their mistake is th.at there is nowhere in give an account of every penny that has passed thru
 Scripture given us such  freediom.  We have indeed a our fingers. The more we own or have owned, the
 N.T. freedom but freedom Is not the same as licentious- greater will be the responsibility before God.. So to


524
--_-ll_l_,_l...--.~  ..--.            T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARBR
                                        - - -                               ~-
use it then that we constantly give account of it before     of good works. And  throu*gh  faith God  `has made it
God, mindful that it is  God%. . . . that is using as        possible for us that  w,e should use  ais not abusing.
not abusing.                                                 Prayer, diligence and pramise,  these are the means
     Secondly  that>means  that we must use it to the        which God gives us to strengthen us to1 .uur task. And
welfare of the brother (neighbor). Scripture very fre-       by faith all things are possible. . . .in principle, thru
quently condemns the rich. Often the rich are such           grace.
as have amassed abundance of  tl-16~  world's goods. But                                 +                   M. G.
a man wlho has much of this world's goods is not per se
tihe proverbially rich man. The rich man may also be
he who has very limited means. He might have scarce-                                            -
ly more than a penny. He becomes rich not only be-
cause of his possessions but he becomes the rich man
(rioh  folol, if you please) when he assumes a selfish                        The Sin-Offering
attitude toward it. God;`s Law says, Yfhou shalt love
thy neighbor as thyself". That is his freedom, also             The  foregoiing  article on  t.his subject was an ex-
when he has possessions. If, e.g. he sets his heel upon planation in regard to what the sin-offering begot for
the throats of ohis servants, if he shuts :his bowels of those in respect to whose sin or sins it was brought.
mercy against the brother, when he withholds from his        We now turn to the ritual ,of this offering and first to
family the, necessary t.hings, when the refuses to give      that part of it that had to do with  .the choice of
liberally, (or at all) to. tie  Church  and the Kingdom      victims. The matter of what might be offered has
in general. . . . and then all that while amasses  post      already been -examined.          It appeared that not any
sessions, HE IS RICH. He  uses, but abuses. Nay, animal might be taken, that, to make the gap between
but the princple of using as not abusing implies that        the offerer and the victim as small as possible, the
we shall do the neighb,or  no <harm but that we shall do     selection was limited to the herds and flocks and to
him well, and promote  the welfare of neighbor, family,      such fo8wls as the pigeon and the turtle-dove, thus to
Churoh  and Kingdom. In other words : "Seek ye FIRST         the class of tame, domesticated animals. But we must
the Kingdom of God and its RIGHTEOUSNESS". Do-               now take notice of the fact that also within the limits
ing that we shall be able to use as not abusing.             of this class, choice was again determined by law. "If
       Finally it means that withal we shall use creation    any of the common people sin through ignorance, . . .
to promote the glory  o&f  Ged. This: forbids  world-        then he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a
conformity. The world has a  scheme,  a method of femal,e  without blemish. . . . .and if a soul ein. . . .he
laying hold .on God's creation and forcing it into the       shall bring his trespass offering unto the Lord  folr his
service  ~rf its own lusts and pleasures. As the world sin which he ha& sinned, a female from the flock, a
does e.g. with printing-press,  radio; photography, etc.     Lamb or a kid of the goats. . . . And this is the law
It is the world's, scheme of using God% cre,ation  in the    of the Nazarite, when the days of his separation are
interest of its awn lusts. We may not be conformed           fulf?illed; . . . . He shall vffer his offering unto the
but we must be transformed. I may not say to God's           Lord. . . . . .one ewe lamb of the first year without.
people you may not have an automobile, a bank-account        blemish for a sin offering, . . . . This shall be the
furniture or a ra,dio etc. But I may and shall say to        law of the leper in the day of his cleansing. . . . On
God's people that we may not use them as the warld           the eighth day he shall  tak*e.  . . .one ewe lamb (female
uses them, but we must use thorn to the honor and the        lamb) of the first year with out  bl,emi&,  . . . And
glory of God. That sets us our limits as to what we          the priest shall offer the sin offering to make atone-
may have or may not have, may do or may not do.              ment for him." Lw. 4 225 ; 5 :6 ; Num. 6 :I4 ; Lev. 14 :lO.
If e.g. your radio promotes the spiritual welfare of            "And if he be not able to bring a lamb, then he
your family and the gl,ory of God,, you have the free-       shall bring. . . . . . two turtle doves, or two young
dom to use it. Evident at once therefore that we must pigeons. . . .  .one for a sin offering. . . . But if he
be  ~highly spiritual if we would use as not abusing.        be not able to bring two turtle doves, or two young
And there is not  on#e of us, by nature, or we must          pigeons, then he that hath sinned shall brin.g for his
plead guilty to God's indictment: there is none that         offering the tenth part of ,an ephah of fine flour for
seeketh God.                                                 a sin offering; . . . ." Lev. 5  :7,11.
       Through grace  Christ has done that which we could        "When a ruler hath sinned, . . .  .he shall bring
not do. He used as nlot abusing. It was His bread his offering a kid of  trhe goats, a male without
and meat to do the will of the heavenly Father. His          blemish." Lev. 4 :21-23.
brothers and sisters were those who did the will of the          "If the priest that is anointed (the high priest) do
heavenly Father. He stood in the midst of God's crea- sin. . . Jet him-bring $or his sin, which he bath  sinned,
tion as the Perfect One. He redeemed us thru His             a young bullock wi'thout  blemish unto the Lord for his
sacrifice to make us a peculiar people unto God, zealous     sin offering." Lev.  4:3.


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                            525
-                     ..___ ~                                                      -     --....  - .__
     If the whole congregation of Israel sin through            nection with it receive witness that he was righteous?
ignorance. . . .then  the  cotngregation  shall offer a             The difficulty raised by these questions is more ap-
young bullock for the sin. . .  ."  Lev.  4:X3, 14.             parent than real. Let the following be taken into
     On the d.ay of atonement the offering for the con-         consideration. The grain-yielding grass, though created
gregation oonsi&ed~  of two goats, and that for the high lower than the animal, is still a living organism. Its
priest was a bullock. Lev. 16 :l-6.                             grain is vitalized seed. This seed,  tiherefore,   (in its
     What is to be noticed is that the victim in the sin crushed and powdered state (fine flour) corresponded
oRering varried according to the offender's rank in the to the shed life-blood of the animal sacrifice. Hence,
.&eocracy.     When the sin was that of a common mem-           although this is not anywhere explicitly stated, the
ber, the  blo,od  `that atoned was that of a fe-                action with it was id,entical to the action with the blood
male kind of the goats or of a  fema1.e  lamb-so, too,          after it was shed. It  (,tlhe fine flour) was sprinkled
on the occasion of the termination of the Nazarite's            upon the altar round about, and so1 presented to, de-
vow and of the purification of the leper? When it was           hovah~ as a covering for sin and as such accepted by
a ruler who had sinned,  the offering was to  ble a male Him. Thus also when the sacrifice was one by fine
kid of the goats, while the sin .of the high priest re-         Rour, the idea of the sin offering was fully manifest
quired the shedding of a bullock's blood-so also the            and thus preserved.
sin of the whole congregation, except on the day of                 But there is still .the question holw that the worship-
atonement, when the offerinlg  consist,ed  of two goats.        per could be represented by crushed ~grain, how this
There was then a graduated scale in the offerings,              grain (fine flour) could serve as the worshipper's sub-
mutually related to the ascent in the rank of the elf-          stitute in a (symbolical) vicarious atonement. How
fenders. A victim of  higher value was required in the animal, a non-moral and irrational creature, could
consequ,ence  [of official responsibility and position. Un-     substitute for man in  i;ts being  offjered  in sacrifice,
doubtedly the reason was that sin was conspicuous               has already been explained. The animal has agree-
and thus offensive in the  dgegree  that the position of the    ment with man; but  sot, too, the grain-yielding grass,
offender in the Israelitish theocracy was high. It              though it be that here the gap is  mu& wider. The
was especially corruptioln in high places that w.ould  give     plant, as man, is a thing alive. If God formed man,
to  tthe enemies of the Lord occasion to blaspheme.             as to his lower nature, from the dust of the ground,
"Because by this deed," said the prophet to David,"             He brought forth the plant from the earth. Both de-
thou ehast given great occasion to the enemies elf the          rive their nourishment from the soil, the former in-
Lord to  bl.aspheme.  . .  ." It was above all the wicked directly and mediately, the latter directly and im-
leaders in Israel whom the apostle had before his mind          mediately. And  as to tie  grain-yijelding   lgrassles  that
when he wrote,  "Ftor the name of God is blasphemed. were  sele&ed  for the altar, here the gap is least wide,
through you among the gentiles".                                as the grain (wheat, barley) of  thee grasses is for
     From the above-cited scriptures we learn, further,         man food, so that in a sense it might be regarded as
that when the worshipper could not afford the proper <one flesh with the worshipper.
<sacrifice, he was  all.owed  to bring pigeons or turtle-           That even crushed grain was accepted as a substi-
doves, the blood of which was brought tot the altar and         tute of the oeender  at tie altar, that with grain in
treated as that of the animal victims. These were tams,         its crushed state atonement was made in respect to the
domesticated fowls among the Hebrews and corres-                offender's sin, that thus also this creature in this &ate
ponded in the feathered tribe to sheep and oxen among signified Christ in His atoning sufferinlgs and death,
th animals. The Old Testament scriptures say nothing is rightly considered, not more strange than that "the
whatever of chickens-tie  domdicated fowls of mo-               bread which we break" should be the communion of
dern times.                                                     the body of Christ, and"the cup of blessing which we
     It is to be noticed also that in cases of extreme          bless" should be the communion ,of the bloold of Christ,
poverty the law permitted `the  worshipper  to bring            not more strange than that the earthy in general,
for his offering the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour &ould have been brought into being as a symbol of
for a sin of&ring.                                              the  Iheavenly.
     There was then, a sin offering that the  circum-               Regard must once more be bad to the  a.ction  of
sttances  of  tie poorest among the Israelites permitted        the  blo80d after it was shed. From the above-cited
them to bring. But how could a sacrifice consisting of scriptures we learn  that on ordinary occasions the
flour answer the purpose of a sin offering, th'at is;, of blood was  cell-ected  by the priest and sprinkled by him
an #altIering designed to lead believers into the truth upon the altar round about. To understand the sig-
that without shedding of bloold  there can be no for-           nificance of thi's <action, it is to be considered that the
~giveness of sin? Would not with such an offering altar was Jehovah's table, and that thus as sprinkled
the very idea of the sin offering be completely lost?           upon the altar, the, blood was upon Jehovah's tabIe  be-
And if so, how could tie b,elieving  wosshipper in con- fore His countenance. And the cirsumstance  that the


 526                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
II_                     __l-^                     .-.-._  ..."                 .-.- .._ I______               -      -       -
worshipper  lived and continued to have access to the             their bodies washed with  pure,water,  they draw near-
w.orldly sanctuary formed the evidence that  the blood            near to Him t*heir redeemer-God.
of (his animlal  substitute had been act%pted and that he,           So does Christ then also bring His blcod in actual
the  w,osshipper,  had thus come into the actual posses- ,contact  with His people. With His blood He sprinkles
sion of the  fruitage  of its suffering and death. It             them. In it they are actually washed. And  tot this
formed the evidence-this extention of life-that the               sprinkling they are elected according to God's fore-
worshipper himself had been accepted in his substitute            knowledge. I Peter 2 ~1.
and that thus his sins had been symbolically  atoned:                Is there now among the typical actions ccnnected
and. his flesh cleansed.                                          with the Old Testament sacrifice to be found one that
       But this action with the blood was but symbol and          foreshadowed also this doing oiE Christ-a doing that
shadow. The body is Christ. Ih.Him priest and sacri-              consists in His ca,using His peolple, the ra,ised and as-
fice are one. And He aRered Himself for the sins of               cended ones, to also actually experience the fruitage
His people, satEsfled  the justice of God by His suffering        of His death.+ Otherwise saidl, was the blood of the
and death in respect to their sin. Then He, the true              animal sacrifice also sprinkled upon the worshippers ?
priest, having put away sin, placed His blood upon                The only offerings of which we read that their blood
God's  tabBe in the sanctuary above, that is, by  His             was sot dealt wit,h are two: the .ane that was brought
awn blood. He entered in once  into1  the holy place. And         by  Moses  on the occasion of  t.he ratification of the
the proof that His blood was  hccepted,  that by His              covenant in the wilderness and the one that was
death He [had atoned the sins of Hi.s peopl,e, and ob-            brought through the ages of the Old Dispensation by
tained for them eternal redemption is that God quick-             the  hi!gh priest in beh'alf of himself.
ened Him, raised Him up and that the eternal gates                    As to the former, we  note the following.  Mosss,
-of heaven opened for Him that He might enter into                having come down from the mountain, came and told
the joy of His God.                                               the people all the words of the Lord. The people, hav-
       And as to His people, they were included in Him            ing heard, answered with one voice that all the words
their Head and representative. Quickened were they                they would do. Having written the words, Moses, the
together with Him, even when they were dead in sins.              following morning,  builded an altar. Burnt and peace
Raised up together and made to sit together in heaven-            offering were then sacrificed. Collecting the blood, he
ly places in Christ Jesus. Fact is then that some 1900            put  `half of it in basins; the other half he sprinkled
years ago, the entire church, all the believers, the saints       upon the altar. Thereupon he took the book of the
of the old dispensation and they of the new, the be-              covenant, containing the words that he had written,
lievers, who must still be born in the ages to ccme as            and read in the audience of the people, who again
well as they who' already have fallen asleep in Jesus,            responded with, "All that the Lord hath  Faid, we will do
ascended into  hea,ven  with Christ  an,? were legally *and he obedient". Thereupon Moses took the blood,
saved to the uttermost, that in the ages to come He               the remaining half, and sprinkled it upon the people
might also actually call, justify and glorify these as-           and said, "Behold the blood of the covenant which the
cended ones, or in the words of the apostle, "that in             Lord  hati made with you concerning all these word,s'f.
the ages to come *he might shew the exceeding riches              Exodus 24
o.f His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ               Here, then, we come upon an action with the blo'od
Jesus". So, then, the blood of the animal sacrifice as            consisting also in its being brought in visible and
sprinkled on that typical altar was the shadow of                 actual contact with the people-the people of God.
Christ entering into the ,holy places with His people.            The order of the distinct acts that formed this trans-
That blood, `or rather trhe animal soul that resi,r'^ed in action i,s identical to the order of the separate doing
it, was not therefore, as sprinkled upon the altar,  &ill         of God in His execution of His counsels  of redemption
laden with the sins of the worshipper. That soul on               in time. And this, of course, from the nature of things.
the altar had made an end of sin, as it had been poured           Before the  blcod was  sprinkl,ed upon the people, it
out unto dteath for sin.                                          was shed and with it atonement was made for them
       And with the blood-the blood of  Christ-thotse             respecting their sins. So, too, Christ, having assumed
raised with Him are also sprinkled, that is, the virtue           full responsibility for the sins of His people, He put
`of this  blood.,  all  fulness that dwells bodily in Him,        away sin by  t.he sacrifice  cd  H'imself,  by offering Him-
is .poured  out in their souls. And therefore they live           self withouat spot to God upon the altar of the cro<ss.
and have peace, as His Spirit is in them testifying with Upon  this sacrifice God placed His seal of a6pproval,
their spirits that they are God's sons and that being             through raising Him up and giving Him the Spirit,
His sons they partake of  His, nature and are thus like           which Spirit He, as the ascended and glorified Christ,
Him, having been cleansed from all their sins. And                poured into His Church and thus baptized His people
with a true ,heart and in full assurance of faith and             with His blood.
with their hear&  sprinkled from evil conscience, and                It is to be noticed that not until after the people


                                                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       527
.-_--.._..  -_.--_-^- _.. -." _..." .._........._" ...._---  ~__.._--.                                   -__I . .._ -.-..____-  . ..-
had expressed their willingness to obey all His words                                        "And all things .are of God, who hath recoaciled  us to
.and  thus to be possessed! by Him  as His covenant                                          Himself by Jesus Christ. . .  ." reading we believe.
peopie,  they were  ,sprinkled  with the blood. What                                         Fixing our gaze now upon this  pictune,  and we see
is here first and last is also first and.last in the con-                                    what? God receiving upon His table the life-blood of
scious experience of the redeemed. The first manifest-                                       an innocent victim that had paid in death the penalty
atSon  of the new life implanted in their being is their                                     of  a penitant one's sin. Does  n,oit this spectacle cause
genuine ccncern about their sin, their looking to Christ                                     us to exc14aim,  "Verily ! He bath reconciled us to Him-
as their only hope, and the longing that forms in their                                      self. . .  ."
heart to be cleansed from sin in His blood and to be                                                                                      G. M. 0.
empowered1 by His grace to walk in newness of life.
This concern and longing indicates that already they
have been sprinkled with His blood. But He now
sprinkles them anew, their heart, their guilky and dis-
quieted  consciense,  that  is, He so multiplies His grace
unto them now that they ,have witness in their harts
that they ,are righteous and forgiven and that thus all
the riches of His grace are theirs for the asking. Then                                                 A Remarkable Example Of
they are a people with hearts sprinkled from an evil
conscience. . . . And in the assurance that is theirs,                                                             ' `Inlegkunde ' '
they draw near unto God, knowing that they have an
high priest over the house of God.                                                               Y+-ayer  Ruts" is the oaptian of an editorial appear-
      It is an )admonition  with which the sacred writer ing in "The Banner" for September 1, 1938. The writ-
came to believers when he wrote, "Let us draw near                                           ing is from the pen of the Editor-in-Chief and reads
with a true heart. . .  .having   o,ur hearts sprinkled                                      in part as follows, `We ministers of the gospel must
from an evil conscience." And the employment of this confess that we have not always been mindful of the
hortatory language implies that if and when the hearts                                       injunction of the apostle Paul in TimoOhy 2 : 1, 2 : `I ex-
of believers are not so sprinkled, cleansed, from an                                         hort, therefore, first of all, that supplications prayers,
evil conscience, that is, from a conscience that dis-                                        interecessions,  thanksgiving, be made for all men, for
quiets by its accusations and condemnations, the re- kings and all that are in high places; that we may
sponsibility is theirs and  Dhe fault lies wholly with                                       lead a tranquil  and1 quiet Iife in all godliness  a,nd
them. For when conscience is evil and `there is as a gravity.' The phrase `first of all' is worthy of speciai
result no assurance of faith in which to draw near to attention. The first of Paul's specific charges in this
God, the believer stands in the way of sinners and is                                        letter to his fellow minister  Timo,thy,  and of course to
more or less conformed to this age. Thus the testi-                                          his fellow Christians as, well, was to engage in con-
mony of Christ's Spirit that he is  CtiYs son is not                                         tinual prayers and thanksgivings,  particul,arly  in such
bhere in his conscious heart. For God walks with His                                         prayers which are called intercessions. We would
people and calls them His own .only when they walk                                           pray not merely for ourselves and our dear ones, not
in the way everlasting. So, then, the admonition  "hav-                                      only for our church and for the people of God, but
ing o'ur hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience" is                                        for all men. Christians should pray for the world at
equivalent to such exhorations  as, "Love not the world                                      large, especially for civil rulers - `for kings and all
and the things out of the world. . . . Be ye not con-                                        that are in high places.' One of the  incentives  to pray
formed to the world but be ye transformed by the re- for rulers is that the outward tranquility of the church
newal of your mind. . . .crucify  the deeds of the                                           depends on the favor of those who rule us in civil
flesh. . . ."                                                                                affairs and on the peace of the country in which we
   Such then was the action with  the blood. But what                                        live. This in turn furthers the progress of the gospel,
now may be the benefit that the believer derives from                                        as Paul intimates in the two verses that follow: `This
the knowledge, understanding and contemplation of                                            is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour ;
th,is action and of the typical-symbolical transactions                                      Who would ,h,ave all men be saved and come to the
of the Old T.estament  Dispensation in general? What                                         knowledge of the truth.'
benefit? Faith is strengthened so that for the be-                                              We believe that there has been more frequent and
lieving mind the things  ,heavenly  more and more take ardent prayer for our civil rulers since the beginning
on substance and in this mind more and m.sre  stand                                          of the financial depression than  folrmerly.       It was
out  .as things real and blessed. The types and symbols realized how much depended even for our religions in-
of the Old Covenant form a picture of the work of                                            stitutions on the effort  mad,e by the president and the
redemption t'hat God hung before our eye in the Old                                          congress to stem the tide of unemployment  ,and to
Testament scriptures. To turn away from it, is to                                            hasten the return of prosperity. Nevertheless it may
suffer loss. There is a text from Paul's pen that reads,                                     not be remiss to remind one  another  how necessary it


                                   5 1 5   T H E   STAND,ARD   B E A R E R
___-__-..-                                -.-.-..--                                                --..
is to pray for the magistrate in public worship. . . ."               But since the term "all men" in the clause "I ex-
So far "The Banner".                                              hort. . . .that prayers made for all men" denotes only
    What the apostle, according to the writer of these the elect, it fo&ws that the apostle does not exhort
lines, exhorts Christian people  ,to do, is to pray for           to pray for all rulers indiscriminately (head for head).
God's  people  .ayrwl; in addition for <all men, thus also for    He wills that prayers be made for this class as to its
such whom God has not purposed to save (the non-                  elect nucleus. Hence, it is precisely and solely for
elect).    In the above excerpt, the statement occur.s,           salvation, (the salvation of all men [God's elect] ) that
"We should pray not merely. . . .for the people of                the apostle exhorts to pray.  This,  tco, will be  con-
God, but for &l men." Does now the expression "not oeded  by every one willing to read what the apostle
merely for the people of God. . . .but also for all men"          actually wrote. But, since he is addicted to the view
occur in the apostle's e&o&!&on?  It does not. What               that the term "all men" signifies also the non-elect,
came from Paul's pen reads, "I exhort that supplica-              the author of the above-cited lines  ,has it that the
tion be made. . . .for all men, for kings and all that            apostle `exhorts believers to pray  th.at in a purely
are in high places." So here wje have a plain case of natural sense, our rulers may be so qualified for their
"inlegkunde". And the case is truly a remarkable one task that they rule well in order that (such is indeed
as it is so very evident from the following verse that            tihe thrust of the article) the people of the land and
the apostle had before his mind exclusively the &ct.              in particular God's people may prosper materially.
This verse reads, "For this is good and acceptable in             Thus, rightly considered, the apostle's exhortation is
the sight of God our Saviour, Who will have c& men                to the effect that Christian people pray for material
be saved and come unto the knowledge of the truth?`.              prosperity.
Thus the reasoning of the apostle is, "Pray  for all                 What we have here is indeed a most remarkable
men. . . .for God will have all men be saved. . .  ."             case otf "inlegkunde" - a case that gces far toward
Now what person, who wishes to be known among                     explaining how the brethren  succee,d  in discovering
his fellows as one who can read, is able to apprehend             common grace in the Bib1.e.
logical connection between clauses, and has some know-                                        I               G. M. 0.    _
ledge of the laws by which the  exegete  of Scripture
must allow himself to be governed, will deny  th.at the
group signified by the term "all men' `in the first clause
is the very group of which the second clause asserts
that God would have  t.hem  saved. . . . No person.                                    CORRECTION
Now who1 are the "all men whom God will have saved"
other than the elect? Hence, it is for these only ihat            In the Rev. Vermeer's article `News From Our Western
the apostle exhorts Christian people to pray.                     Churches', there was a misTepresentati#aa  concerning
   Now how is it to be explained that the writer of our newest congregation at Edgelrto'n  in its relation
the above lines nevertheless declares that what the               to the Christian School. I refer to the following sen-
apostle wants us to do is to pray also for tlhe non-elect? tence ; "And before I finish in  Edgerton let me add
If he is nut addicted to the view that the clause "wlio *that  ,this congregation is 100 percent for the Christian
would have all men be saved" must  have  reference                School, and that nearly half of the School Board at
also to the non-elect, and! that thus God wills to save           present are members of the Prot. Ref. Church.' Nei-
elect and  nonielect  alike,.it is hard to be explained.          ther of these statements `are true to fact. As far as
   But aside from whatever view he (the writer of                 I know  there  are but two members of the present
the above lines) ,hodds  to, that he made the term "All           school board that are members of our church, and even
men" signify elect and non-elect, means that he actual- though as. a whole the congregation shows much love
ly forced the apostle to teach that God will also have            for Christian instruction, I do not believe we can say
the non4ect  saved. Amazing!                                      that it is 100 percent. I believe that Rev. Vermeer'
                                                                  was a little  ,too  enthu,siastic  in his appraisal of our
   But why, in exhorting to pray for all mtTq that is,            youngest flock in their relation to the Christian School.
the elect, should the apostle have especially mentioned                                                       B. Kok.
kin&s  and  all  thlat are in authority? Because, in the
wordd of Calvin, magistrates mOre  than others might
be hated by Christians. All the magistrates who ex-
isted at that time we= so many. `sworn enemies of
Christ; and therefore this thought might occur to                    Think of the GUILT of SIN that you may be hum-
them, that they ought not to pray for those who de-               bled. Think of the POWER of SIN that you may seek
voted all their power and all their wealth to fight               strength against it. Think not of ths MATTER of
against the kingdom of Christ, the extention of  which            SIN, - lest ycu be more and more entangled.
is above all things desirable.                                                                             JOHN OWEN.


