                                                              Kuiper's consistency in defending the "Three Points"
                                                              and the theory of "common grace". He maintains his
 I--------l
              E D I T O R I A L S                             stand on the doctrine of his churches. He never tried
                                                              to compromise or change them to create the impression
                                                              that they were in agreement with the views of Dr.
                    More Confusion                            Schilder. For this he deserves credit.
                                                                  And I fully agree with him when he states, that we
     Under the heading "Confusion" the editor of "`The all know that Prof. L. Berkhof believes in "common
  Banner" recently wrote the following :                      grace". More than sufficient proof for this is  what
     "Those wlho know what Professor L. Berkhof has           (in his brochure on the "Three Points") he writes on
  written and believes on the subject of common grace God's universal love to sinners. According to Berkhof
  and also read De Reformatie  must have smiled when God has no desire in the death of any wicked. His
  they read a recent article in the latter, written by its    great love for sinners and His desire to save them is
  editor-in-chief, in which Prof. Berkhof is represented for all, and not only for the elect. And this great love
  as having doubt, to say the least, whetlher  there is an and desire to save  aP sinners becomes manifest in
  attitude ("gezindheid") of favor in God toward the re- the preaching of the gospel. We refer you for these
  probate.                                                    statements to his "De Drie  Punten",  etc. pp. 21, 22.
    "A quotation from Prof. Berkhof's.  book on common            But I am, nevertlheless,  afraid that the article from
  grace is supposed to [prove that strange contention.        which we quoted above does not serve to clarify
, The statement was found that there is only one grace matters, but rather creates more confusion.
  in God, not a twofold grace. Those among our readers            As I read the Rev. Kuiper's article I understand
  who followed the common grace controversy of some him to teach the following tenets:
  years ago recall how often the defenders of this doc-           1. There is only one grace in God.
  trine have stated that the distinction between common           2. This grace is Ilove to the guilty.
  grace and special grace must be understood to mean              3. This one grace manifests itself in various de-
  that there is a double grace in God.                        grees.
     "The word "grace' 'in Scripture does not always              4. In the  ,highest degree of manifestation it is
  have the same meaning. For one thing, it often in-          "special grace".
  dicates the manifestations or fruits of the grace  whi&         5. In a lower degree of manifestation it is "com-
  we have in Christ Jesus. But it also is used to in-         mon grace".
  dicate a divine attribute ; namely, that !love of God           6.  Hence, "special grace" and "common grace"
  which he shows to the guilty and unworthy. Now, that differ only in degree.
  grace as one of tihe the attributes of God is one, even         7. "Special grace?' pardons sin.
  as the love which it manifests is one. But the grace           `8. "Common grace" postpones punishment, re-
  as well as the lo,ve manifests itself in various ways and strains sin, offers the  Iblessings  of salvation con-
  various degrees. When it pardons the sins of the            ditionally.
  elect, on the ground of Christ's sacrifice on the cross,        If I`fail to present the views of the Rev. Kuiper
  when it renews the lheart  and saves the soul, we call      correctly, I  wonld   cbe grateful to him if he would
  it special grace ; but when it (that, same grace) post-     point' out my error, for I am earnestly endeavouring to
  pones punishment, retrains sin, enables the unre-           understand what he means.
  generate to do moral good, offers them the blessings of         Now, these things are not quite clear to me.
  salvation on the condition of repentance and faith,             First of all,  the Rev. Kuiper writes about the
 we call it common grace. The grace is one, but the-mani-     following terms as if they all mean the same thing
  ~festations  are many and various.                          to him: love of God, grace, attitude, in&&ion,  wumi-
     "The grace of God, in its most fundamental sense, festation, ways, degrees. He makes no distinction at
  is an attribute of favor toward t!he unworthy. Those all.  Now, my question is: Am I right when I under-
  who deny common grace say that there is in God no           stand the Rev. Kuiper as teaching that God hates no
  inclination of favor toward the non-elect. If there- living man, that He loves  al1 men, only in various de-
  fore Prof. Berkhof, by stating that there' is only one      grees? Is there in God only a disposition of grace with
  grace in God, had denied or questioned God's favor- regard to men in U&s life? Is there in Him  no hatred
  able attitude  toward the non-elect, he would have de-      toward  any  man as long as he is in this world?
  nied the most basic t&ought  of the doctrine of common.         Then: do I inform my readers correctly when I tell
  grace. Even the leaders in the Reformed Churches them that the editor of "The Banner" teaches that
  of the Netherlands can know that Prof. Berkhof not "special grace" and "common grace" are essentially
  only does not deny this but that he affirms it most the same and that they differ only in degree 1
  emphatically."                                                  Then: what dues the Rev. Kuiper mean when he
     One can  %ave a measure of respect for the Rev.          says that in His "common grace", which is but a lower


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          5
 degree of grace than "special grace", God offers to artikel van Ds. J. D (ouma) , waarin de kwestie "leer-
 all the blessings of salvation on condition of repent-           geschillen" als nogal  eenvoudig wordt voorgesteld. Ik
 a.nce and faith? Does he mean "cond~itions"  which men haal bet volgende er uit aan:
 can and must fuLfill.2  Does he mean that this lower
 degree of grace is still  an earnest desire in  G&Z to                 Zeer  ;hopen we, dat de Synode  uitsprauk
 save all  (men?                                                      doe en  niet weer studiecommissie's benoeme,
          I am not asking these questions to find fault or            die opnieuw drie jaar studeeren. Ons Gere-
 to lead the Rev. Kuiper into a trap. I earnestly seek                formeerde volk, dat bij zijn belijdenis leeft,
 to know the Rev. Kuiper's mind, and the mind of the                  verkeert in zijn'groote meerderheid heelemad
 Christian Reformed Churches on these matters. And,                   niet in  `t onzekere inzake  punten, die door
 therefore, I do expect the Rev. Kuiper to answer clearly             gestudeerden min of meer problematisch zijn
 and definitely. And, therefore, I ask him, whether                   gesteld. Bij ons Gereformeerde volk is lbijv.
 I present the matter correctly if, putting the whole                 volstrekt geen aarzeling om te spreken over
 thing in the form of a series of true and false ques-                `s menschen  lichaum  en Gel; om te gelooven,
tions the difference between the Christian Reformed                   overeenkomstig Zondag 13 en Art. 19 der Be-
and Protestant Reformed Churches is as follows:                       lijdenis, dat de Zone Gods ware menschelijke
                                                                      natuur heeft aangenomen en Zich niet met
                                          Chr. Ref. Prot. Ref.
                    Questions              Answers Answers            een menschelijke persoonlijkheid heeft ver-         -
 1. God loves all men, only in degrees. True.                         bonden.      Ons volk weet dat het genadever-
                                                        False.
2. God hates no man, only his sin.                                    bond in Ohristus met de uitverkorenen is op-
                                              True.     False.
3. God loves the elect only.                                          gericht.
                                              False. True.                         Het weet, dat er ook een algemeene
4. God hates the reprobate.                                           genade  Gods is, en zing% van den Heere.
                                              False. True.
`5.  66 Common grace" is a lower degree                                            Die `t recht  der armen,
         of  the same grace as "special                                         8 der verdrukten  gelden  doet,
         grace".                              True. False.                        Die uit liefderijk erbarmen,
6. God earnestly desires the salva-                                               hongerigen mildlijk voedt. . . .
         tion of all men.                                             en betuigt :
                                              True.     False.
7. God desires the salvation of the                                      Gij doet op aard'  aan  alle  scheps'len wel.
         elect only.                          False. True.               Het weet, dat zelfbeproeving noodig is, niet
8. The preaching of the gospel is                                     zonder vrucht heeft het aangehoord de  uiteen-
         proof of God's gracious desire to                            zetting van de waarachtige beproeving van
         save all.                            True.     False.        onszelven  en hare drie stukken in het Avond-
9. Faith and repentance are "condi-                                   maalsformulier. En door al het geredekavel
         tions"- which man can fulfill.                               over dingen, die onder ons volkomen zeker-
         (every man).                         True.     False.        heid hebben, is tot dusver bij het meerendeel
         The Rev. Kuiper may notice that the Prot. Ref.               nog niet zoo'n groote verwarring gesticht.
Churc'hes  do not hesitate to answer these questions                    Maar niet eindeloos  !kunnen  zulke ernstige
unequivocally. May I ask for the same unequivocal                     punten  onderwerp van  debat zijn, en maar
answers from the editor of "The Banner" ?                             eens weer drie  jaren  in studie  worden   ge-
         Let us, at least, clearly understand eachother.              nomen. Zoo raakt ons volk zijn vastigheid
                                                       H. H.          nog  k&jt, en wordt het in hoofd en hart een
                                                                      warwinkel.       Zoo konden we trouwens  aan
                                                                      den gang blijven. Ik zou bijv. best kans zien,
)  ;.;*  *
i _ P          .*  .--*-                                              om met gebruikmaking van argumenten van
..,--  _ `.                                                           Socinus of van de Remonstranten of van Prof.
                        Zoo  Eenvoudig!  !  ?  ?                      Schollten,  die werkelijk geen kwajongens wa-  *
                                                                      ren, een gewichtig uitziend betoog te houden,
         We zien met belangstelling  uit naar eenig bericht           dat wij ,waarlijh nog we1 eens de leer der ge-
aangaande de besluiten der  &node der Gereformeerde                   nade op het stuk der Drieeenheid  nader be-
Kerken in Nederland, die dezer dagen te Sneek ver-                    schouwen mogen en niet denken  moeten  klaar
gadert. Terwijl  ilk deze  copie gereed maak voor ons                 te zijn. Waar belandden we dan? De  Sy-
blad hebben we nog niets dienaangaande gelezen in de                  node doe uitspraak.
Nederlandsche bladen. Alleen  lazen  we enkele  berich-                 En zij kan  thet  doen,  zouden we zeggen,
ten aangaande de opening en samenstelling der Synode                  wanneer zij de  lbelijdenis,  uitgedrukt in onze
en het benoemen van een zestal  commissies, die haar                  Formulieren van Eenigheid, waartegen geen
met advies  zullen  dienen.                                           gravamen is  ingebracht,  onverzwakt  hand-
         Intusschen  las ik in het "Friesch Kerkblad' `een            haaft.


14                                    ,THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              1
                 The  Raging  Heathen                          at the pictures, paintings  aud sculpture ; listen to the
                                                               noises that come from without your dwelling: it is all
      It is often emphasized within the church of Jesus one great shouting and tumult. No, there is no pence
Christ that truth is eternal. nightly  so.                     to the  wioked,  saith my God. Isa. 48 :22 (free).
      We were reminded of this when our thoughts                  Moreover, these peoples, these heathen imagine a
turned to the second &psalm  and, looking up, thought vain thing. That is really a pitiful thing. Imagine,
on the devastating war in  Europe.            Surely truth is you are thinking and pondering; you have your imagin-
etetnal. This second psalm fits even now. The  heu-            ation and reflection. You write your book and number
then rage in Europe and the people imagine a vain              them by the millions. You have investigated the earth
thing.                                                         and the heavens, the deep of the ocean and the heighks
      This second psalm has a threefold application. It        of the mountains ; you have dissected the fish and
certainly refers historically to David. vis. Acts 4 :25ff.     fowls, the bodies and souls of men ; you have even in-
It also refers to his Anti-type, the Lord Jesus Christ.        vestigated the Almighty and written works on li'hilo.
vis. Acts  4:25ff -,*  13:33*, Heb. 1:5 ; 5 :5. But it also sophy and metaphysics - and yet, in one word God
refers  to the whole New Testament history; even unto evaluates all your herculean task as vain.
the history of to-day. The heathen did not change ;               But this is not all. God's Holy Spirit exclaims in
neither did God, nor Christ. And we, the church of             righteous indignation, pointing to both your tumult
the Lord, should be comforted in this unalterable and noise as well as to your thinking and reflecting,
truth. When Europe is in flames and when this fire-            and says: Why do you do these things? Oh why do
brand threatens to invade our shores, we should sing the heathen rage: . . . !
the second psalm and also say: Blessed are they who               But the reason is clear. You see, these peoples
put their trust in Him.                                        have set themselves against 1 God and against God's
      This psalm is easily divided into 4 parts, equal anointed.           Now that is a very foolish thing to do.
parts, each of three verses. Verse 1-3 tells us of the         Because  you  are lost before you start. Why, God is
raging heathen; verse 4 to  6 comprises God's answer;          Almighty! What can a weak world do? And certainly
verses 7 to 9 is the answer of God's anointed, of Christ; w,hen  you set yourselves against God and when all your
and verses 10 to 12 is the answer of ,the church. You          counsel is directed against the heavens you would not
might divide the psalm also in two parts., In the first dream of success, would you? A&part  now from sin and
three verses we have the given, namely, the ,wicked            evil, remember that - but let the God of the heavens
raging world; and in the second part, from verses 4 to and the earth speak for Himself : "Have ye not known?
12 we have a threefold answer to this raging, viz., the have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the
answer of God, Christ and the church.                          beginning? have ye not understood from the.founda-
      What a terrible description of the wicked world.         tions of the earth ?    t  :s He  ;hat  ;itteth  upon the
Wonder where we .can fit in common grace? This is circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as
meant to be a very serious question. Let us see. Can grasshoppers; that stretches out the heavens as a cur-
we :fit in comlmon  grace in their raging? Is there an tain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: that
attempt at goodness in their vain imaginations? Is bringeth the princes to nothing; He maketh the judges
there a thirst for righeousness, any kind of righteous- of  .the earth as vanity." Isa. 40:21-23.
ness, outward righteousness if you please, in their               Let me ask you in all seriousness: suppose that a
determination to set themselves against the Lord and grasshopper in your backyard would make it known
His anointed? Is there any sweetness of virtue in the to you that his thoughts and counsel are against you
counsels of the wicked that `have led to this rebellion? and that the little beastie would imagine that it could
Finally, where can we find the remnants, oh the cele- vanguish  you. You would laugh at it, would you not1
brated remnants, of purity and holiness in their evil          And still, you and it are very closely related: you are
plan to break the bands and cords of the Almighty?             both creatures. But God is God: He is entirely the
No, I find no common grace in this psalm !                     other. And yet people imagine that they can wage war
.     A terrible description of the world.                     against the Lord God of the heavens and the earth.
      It is a description also of present day Europe.             What folly!
      "The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved:                No wonder that God in the heavens will laugh. WC
He uttered His voice, the earth melted." Still, you            read that He will have them in derision. "He `that
do not have to fear,  little flock, for: "The Lord of sitteth in the heavens". What a terrible thought for
hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah".      the ungodly. They have set everything in motion with-
      The word for raging means to be in a tumult, to run      out Him. He is not in all their thoughts. They can
together noisily, to move without regard for order as          easily do without Him. Darwin said: We have set
with a mob. And it describes the world and  lilfe of           God out of doors !
the whole perfectly. Such you see round about you                 A smiling Christ is heaven ; but a laughing God is
continuously.     Read your papers and magazines ; look hell.. Derision from the heavens spells everlasting


                                           THE  STANbARb  B E A R E R                                                        i5
                                                                                     --~.-
     disasters. It will call for an echo; but, ah me, that the Father say to the Son: To-day, eternally, I have
     echo is weeping and gnashing of teeth.                       begotten Thee.
         You see, the laughter of God in the second psalm is          And in these three we hear the Gospel of Jesus
     .thc laughter of scorn and wrath. It calls for eternal       Christ. He will declare the decree over against the
     damnation. And eternal damnation we find in this' vain counsel of the heathen in their raging. And that
     one word vf the text: Then. Oh, tlzen  shall He speak decree shall stand. Eased ,upon this M&siahship   He
     unto them in His wrath and vex them in His sore dis-         shall ask of God and He  &all give Him two things. He
     pleasure. Words of an angry God: how terrible. Even shall inherit all created things and be king eternally  ;
     now, when rightly or wrongly, man speaks to man in           and, secondly, He shall receive the wicked with all
     his sore displeasure ; even now when some hard-hearted their guilt so that He may righteously dash them in
     man vents his anger over your head ; even now when           pieces like a potter's vessel. And He will surely pcr-
     someone is mad at you, you quake, if not outwardly, lfobrm it. We must wait awhile for its fulfillment. For
     surely inwardly. And you are miserable for weeks God has said unto my Lord : Sit Thou at my right.hand
     afterward. But what  wiIl it be  wehen  an angry God until I shall have made Thine enemies  Thy footstool.
     speaks words to you ? They are recorded for us. Psalm 110 :l=
     Listen "Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting              And finaYy there is the answer of the church. `*        '
     fire, prepared for the devil and his angels  !"                  And she must preach the Gospel of reconciliation.
       . And the echo of these words shall remain and shall           She may not avenge herself. God shall laugh and"
     reverberake.  in the "lake of fire". Rev. 20 :15 ; Matth.    Christ will dash them in pieces that persist in dis-
     25:41. You see, God's "vexing" shall continue in that obedience. But we must preach.                 '
     place of woe. And there is no human tongue or words              Listen to the sermon of Zion.
     that can  adeqately  describe such horrors.                      Be wise now therefore, 0 ye kings! Be instructed,
        And do you know w*hat will be the greatest cause ye judges of the earth!
     of despair? This, that the heathens will hear from the           There you have the approach. The man who would
     mouth of God that all their raging against Him and be incorporated into  the church  og Christ must bc
     His  Christ has been in vain. Yea, that their raging brought to the confession that he is a fgol. He is in
     was a necessary part in  God's  own victory. I-Iarli :       need of wisdom and instruction.. There is no offer
     Yet have I set My King upon My holy hill of Zion ! here but a command.
     In that one word yet we hea,r the taunt of God. The              Secondly, the Church must preach the Gospel and
     mockery and derision of the heavens. The world has say: Serve the Lord  w&h fear and rejoice with tremb-
     always tried to forestall the appearance and reign of ling! It is a call to faith and obedience. It is fitting
     God's Christ. (Acts  4:25ff.) Under  tile inspiration that every rational creature bow before God with fear
     of the devil. (Rev. 12). What think ye of the Christ? and trembling, for He alone is God.
     is the testingstone of all the ages. It sets you on high         Thirdly, we have the very heart of the Gospel. Kiss
     in Zion or it casts you down in weeping and gnashing the Son!
     of teeth. But know this: Yet has God set His king                Kiss the Son ! What does it mean?
     over Zion.                                                       The kiss is the symbol of communion of love.
        But also Christ has His answer to a raging world,             The kiss symbolizes union and f,riendship.
     even to-day. Here it is: I will declare the decree: The          The kiss is symbol of reconciliation through Jesus
     Lord hath said unto' me: Thou art My Son, this day Christ the Beloved !
     have I begotten Thee.                                            Oh, it will be to everlasting shame if we have "re-
       f This is a deep saying : cause for the songs of the fused Him that spoke". Beb. 12:25.
     redeemed and the rustling of angel's wings.
        This text first of all applies historically to David          Kiss the Son ! It is  the call of the  Gosgcl.  How
     at his raising to the theocratic throne of Israel. In shall we escape if we  neg'ect  so great salvation. Heb.
     this God said unto him : Thou art My son, this day have      2 :3.
     I begotten thee ! ,                                              Kiss the Son: impossible for natural man, @Fed
        Secondly, it applies to the human Mediator when up in wicked pride; but blessedness for all those whose
     He was raised from the dead: Acts  13:33.  In that heart the Lord opens unto eternal life.
     day God begat the Redeemer when He called Him from               Go to now all ye that count the b!ood  of the new
     the dead. In that day He raised the better David in          Testament impure and who have trampled under Elcir
     order to sit, not on the theocratic throne of a carnal       feet the Son of God. The very reverse of kissing the
     Israel, but upon  the throne of His spiritual Kingdom,       Son., He will be angry alway  and you will perish from
     Zion.                                                        the way when His wrath is kindled but a little.
        Thtily, this text applies to the very .Son of God.            But blessedness unto them that put their trust in
I' And then ,the to-da'ay of the text refers to the do-day of Him. Amen.                         .
     eternity, h And from everlasting to everlasting does                                                           G. v.


1 6                                 T H E   STAND'ARD'  B E A R E R                                      "
L                                                                                                                    `.---
                         --.                                        --...-.-_....__.--------  -._-__.
          R&embering  His Precepts                             man speaks of the Word of God not as such but in close'
                                                               connection with "nimself.  Ne will not forget, because
                                                               that Word has quickened Izim. In other words, that
                                          Ps. 119 :93.         Word made  more than an impression upon him. To
     Psalm One Hundred and Nineteen has been called him that Word is a power, he knows it by experience,
the A B C of faith. Faith not so much as to the ob-            because he was made alive by the Lord with the Word.
jective truth as such, but the active. faith and its ex-          Placing ourselves before the question what does the
perience. This same psalm, like all the others psalms, word precepts signify, here we answer, sometimes it
has been referred to as the expression of faith from a means a promise. For the Word of God is the promise
practical point of view. Now it is hard to say what is to His people. He promises salvation and life eternal
meant by practical. As a rule it signifies the absence to His people in and through the promised One, Jesus
of deep and systematic thinking. It is considered more Christ. Again that Word as a precept is the command-
or less superficial and it does not produce food for ment or mandate, that is God's will in regard to our
thought; We hear people speak of practical sermons lives. What we should be to Him, how our conduct
and p,ractical  remarks. Thus considered, we are tempt- should be in the midst of a thorough sin darkened
ed to consider the book of Psalms more or less fit for world.  " And always' it implies the one principle idea
the plain or common people, hence, for those who do that we must love the Lord our God with all our mind'
not have time or the ability or both to study the deeper and will and heart. That we must conduct ourselves
things of Scripture. Consequently, such Bible books in `harmony with His Word.
were given just for that class of people we mentioned.            It is a little diffcult to say what the poet means
However, *we do not think it fit to apply such state-          when he says I will never forget thy precepts. On the>
ments to Holy Writ. The Bible is one organic whole.            face of it we would say he means to take the oath 2'
Not a single book, although it must be distinguished allegiance in  t regard to the Word of God. That  of-
from the others, stands by itself, but is related to al.3      course, is in harmony with Scripture .as well as witib
the other books.                                               the desire of the heart of God's people. Thus we could
     In the second place, we should not be too hasty in explain these words to mean, it is my intention never
our evaluation of the different books of our Bible. to forget, that is, I will always remember and not de-
Seemingly there are more or less practical books, the part from thy precepts. However, if we consider the.
.Psalms  differ from the Epistle to the Romans yet it will second part of these words, "for with them thou hast
never do to -consider the one dogmatical and the other quickened me" the idea of an oath is a little out of
of a more practical nature. Besides, what is often place. There may be another interpretation.                       -
considered to be practical, is in reality not practical but       With them hast thou quickened me, is the same when
personal. It is here neither the proper place nor do I we would say,  With  Thy Word, 0 Lord ! thou hast
have time to show the difference between these two made me alive, or hast made me to live. Thou made
words (practical and personal), nor is it ,my purpose me alive, may therefore mean, thou hast given me the
to bring out the relation between them. When I speak rebirth from death or, thou hast made me conscious of
to you about this word of Psalm 119 it is my purpose the fact  that now I live. The one does not exclude,
to bring to you as young people the Word of God fitting but rather  implies the other. It is the Lord at all times
your ,particular  needs as young people.- I know and you who makes us to live. To live when the irresistible
ought to feel it, that it is rather difficult to speak on a    power of God's Spirit enters the heart of the sinner,
subject or theme that has been assigned in advance and         dead in sin and trespasses. That is the horrible  trnth
must be conformed to the speech you have just heard in .re our natural birth. Our whole nature is perverse,
and which was based on "Seeking our Creator NOW". we are filIed with enmity toward God, darkened in our
Psalm 119  `has been divided into as many sections as mind and we indulge in the lie. We live contrary to
there are letters or characters in the Hebrew alphabet. God's will and we are perverse in all our desires and
Each section presents one main idea and is followed the inclination of the'heart is to seek self, the world
through all the verses, thereby controlling them. In and all  that is of darkness. The only change from
this section we find m expression of the wonderful this horrible stake is possible when God's Spirit takes
perfection of the Word of God, so that the poet marvels hoId of us  and operates in us. In the second place,
at it.                                                         with the poet it is. a question of experience.' He is what
     Now we notice that this Word of God is used with is often called a man of faith. The quickening opera-
variation. Sometimes it is called the Law or the ordin- tion of God's Spirit is to him a reality. When the
ances of God, again it is presented as His statutes or Lord'speaks to him through His precepts they speak to
promises. And whatever he may call that Word, he the new life that is in him-a life that shall never dis-
will never forget it, for the precepts of the Lord Ihave       appear. And' it is from that point of view  t,hat the
quickened him. We must take note of the fact that poet does not take an oath, does not make a promise,
throughout this psalm we find a personal element. This but he relies upon the faithfulness of Jehovah.  Je-


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   17
-
hovah has quickened him in the past, he is sure of it,        what  is the `cause of having our own churches? my
with a view to the future, that same covenant God shall answer is : the sincere and intense study of God's Word
make him to live. Hence, this man of God means to             by our leaders. Their love for the truth of that same
say whereas God has never failed in His promises and Word. The rich knowledge and the spiritual ability to
whereas 1 thave the experience of being quickened, I stand over against those who departed from the doc-
feel fully assured that my God shall remain the same trine of absolute predestination and reprobation.
with a view to the future. And the personal touch is                  In that respect, the first requisite is the unfailing
expressed in the exclamation of the first part of the         love for God and His Word. And that love will increase
text "To eternity 1 will not  fo.rget  Thy precepts" or as    in the same measure we study the Word. Sour society
I remarked, I will always remember them.                      life depends upon your earnest study of Scripture,
     In remembering the Lord's precepts the question          without it your society is bound to fail.
presents itself, what is the remembering of the pre-                  In the second place, it has been pointed out to you
cepts of the Lord? Does it mean perhaps, I learned to that you must remaber  your Creator now in the days
know them in my youth and growing older I am now              of your youth. A young man and young woman ;who
able to recite  t,hem?    Is it a question of intellect?      do not sincerely study the Word will never become
There are some people who seem to ihave a certain dis-        a strong member in the Church of Jesus Christ, nor
like of knowing the Word of God. They say, all that           will they be able to stand over against those who cor-
knowledge of Scripture may and often does result in           rupt the truth. Besides the study of the Word brings
pride. They, so they say, live by inspiration. And            with it a glorious reward.
they prefer a minister, who speaks through the Spirit.                In the third place, the Lord does not quicken with-
The study of God's Word does not help. The Word is out, but with the Word. This implies we must walk
dead and does not make the sinner to live. _ There is         in the way of that Word. Without the knowledge of
an element of truth in the statement that the Word the precepts of the Word there cannot possibly be per-
does not make alive. Even our text does not say that. sonal spiritual experience. The Lord simply does not
It says,  thou,  with or through the Word  `has made me speak to us in any other way, but through His precepts.
alive. Beware for the following mistake and be not            The knowledge and the study of His Word is  tlhe
afraid to tell such people, God does not quicken you ordained way of the Lord and we cannot change it
without, but through His Word. After all, without the without spiritual loss.
precepts of the Lord, there is nothing but death. With-               Finally, remember Him, your Creator now. The
out the Word is without spiritual experience. And springtime of life is given for the same purpose as the
when any one' makes the claim to have rich spiritual springtime in nature. Springtime means preparation
experiences he must be able to find them recorded in and hard consistent labor. There will be no harvest
God's Word. Every experience that cannot stand the following if the field was not prepared in early sea-
challenge of the Wor.d is the result of imagination.          son. In the sweat of his brow the farmer looked for-
  However, we must be careful and guard ourselves             ward to the time of the harvest. Thus labor, while
for another evil. Natural man also knows the Word yours is the strength and the vigor of youth.
of God and often prides  himsel~f with that knowledge.                Remember thy Creator now' in the -days of your
People who  have.a   goo.d  memory will be able to retain youth and let the answer be: "I will never forget thy
past experiences  ,they learned in their youth concerning precepts: for with them thou hast quickened me".
the Scriptures and will never forget their  instructioris              (Part of speech spoken at the first field day
received in their youth. And let me add to it, that                    of the Western League of the Protestant  Re-
a good memory is a tremendous help. But the remem- 6                   formed Churches of Iowa and Minnesota.)
lsering of the precepts of the Lord, without anything                                                          w. v.
else, does not give us  ,assurance.                           we.
                                                              ;ri-
     Yet, the poet speaks of being made alive and this
personal experience is based upon and flows from the                                                                    &&#
love of God in his heart. The object of his life is God.                      NOTICE  - CONSISTORIES                      `-  '
Is God's will, His precepts, His ~commandments,  His
promises, His law. With Him it became  first of all                   The price of the copies of the Conference Speech
an issue of life. His life is determined by God's Word.
Therefore, he meditates upon them, he searches the            which was written by Rev. H. Hoeksema is 20 cents
Scriptures. `He applies the precepts of the Lord in each. These brochures can be purchased in either the
his daily life. The love of God resulted in the love  `he
has for God and. for His Word.                                Holland or the English language. Please order yours
     You, Protestant young people, come in contact daily
with this Word. The strength of our Churches is, .as          t1ows.
it always has been, the Word of God. If you ask me                                                           The Board


 18                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          a
        The Egyptian Learning Of Moses                            In medicine, the Egyptians were regarded by their
                                                               contemporaries as remarkably advanced. It is held as
       The Apology of Step!!?an before the council of the      certain that they had studied the subject from a remote
                                                               period. The writing of medical works was assigned
 Jews contains a statement to the effect that "Moses
 was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians" (Acts         by tradition to more  <than one of the most ancient
                                                               kings, while by some these antique productions were
 7  :22). What may have been the character and con-
 tent of this wisdom? Wlhat  benefit may Moses have            regar.ded  as composed by one of the native gods. The
 derived from his acquaintance witii it? And what may proficiency obtained in the medical profession was not
 have been the use, if any, to which he put it in after-       very high. The prescriptions of the medical treatises,
                                                               so far as they have been deciphered and translated, are
 years in his capacity of legislator?                          found to be absurd, and, so it is said, their physiological
       This zoisdom  concerned Egypt's religion and wor- views seem to be purely imaginary and fantastic. On
 ship and its entire pagan civilization an,d culture. It the whole ,while,  it is held that there is reason to believe
 concerned, to begin w*ith, those sciences in which the that the science of medicine was better understood in
 ancient Egyptians appear to have made a certain Egypt than in any other country,*the  possitive know-
 amount of progress, namely, arithmetic and geometry, ledge possessed was not very considerable.
 and the practical sciences of astronomy, medicine, and           In one respect  only do the scientific attainments of
 engineering.                                                  the Egyptians seem to have been really great and sur-
       As to arithmetic, the Egyptians had an arithmetical     prising. Their engineering science was remarkable.
 notation similar to that of the  Phoenicians  and the         They  cu,t hard materials, finished surfaces, produced
 Romans, whereby distinct signs being attached to the exactly whatever angle they required,  fibitted  stone to
 unit, to ten, to a hundred, to a thousand, ten thousand stone perfectly, quarried, transported, and raised into
 etc., other numbers were expressed by a repetition of         place enormous masses. In all this they were and
 these characters. It is not being doubted that all the        still are unsurpassed.' In stone-cutting the results at-
 ordinary operations of arithmetic were performed as tained are declared to equal those which are effected at
 successfully in Egypt as among ourselves. There is no the present day by aid of gunpowder and of steam-
 evidence, however, that speculative calculations were maohinery. In mechanical skill their great works are
 indulged in.                                                  as perfect as anything that has ever been produced
       The geometry of the Egyptians originated, we are since. They far exceed in massiveness of construction
 told, from the peculiar conditions of their country,          all that any other nation of ancient or modern time
 which, owing to the changes produced by the annual has ever attempted. Blocks of stone thirty or fourty
 inundation, required the constant employment of land-         feet long, were used in walls or for the lentels of doors.
 surveying. It would seem to have been mainly in this Obelists weighing from 220 to 400 tons, each a wonder
 direction that the Egyptians pushed their mathematical        to the western world, were set up in avenues. There
 inquiries. But it is being questioned whether any very are chambers made of a single stone weighing 800
 considerable advance was ever made by the native tons.                All these enormous masses were apparently
 Egyptians beyond mere plain trigometry.                       moved with ease to the point required. As such weights
       There  was. an early direction of Egyptian thought could scarcely have been managed without machines, it
 to the subject of astronomy. What is being questioned is strange that machines are nowhere represemed  in
 is the degree  OP proficiency in this science.       It is the Egyptian sculptures ; but according to  tlhe ancient
 held that their attention was given:-1.  To eclipses          historian Herodotus  they were employed in the con-
 of the sun and moon  ; 2. to temporary disappearances struction of the pyramids. Whether they were simple
 of the planets; 3. to the motions of the planets and the      or complex cannot be determined, as there is no repre-
 determination of their periodic times; 4. to the con-         .;cntsation  `of them.
 struction of tables of the  fixed  stars, and the mapping        The Egyptian language is described as a. form of
 them out in constellations ; and 5. to the setting .of the speech, presenting  rtnalogies with Semitic tongues.
elrad  length of the solar year. Their can be no reason- The grammar is predominantly Semitic: the pronouns,
 able doubt, it is said, that the Egyptians from an early      prepositions, and other particles, are traceable for the
 date observed eclipses, both of the sun and moon, and most part to Semitic roots. On the other hand, the
 recorded their  occurrances.  But whether they knew vocabulary is Semitic in comparatively few instances.
 their causes, whether they registered them  scientific-       The modern representative of the ancient Egyptian is
 s!ly, whether they, to any extent, could predict them, the Coptic, which, though corrupted by an Arabic in-
I are matters on which Egyptologists  find it impossible fusion, is the legitimate descendant, and which con-
 to come to definite conclusions in the present state of tinued to be spoken in the lower part of the Nile valley
 their. knowledge.     The astronomy of the Egyptians          until the seventeenth century.       (The name  Capt  is
 seems to have been less tainted with astrology than  thhat    derived from the Latin degyptius and was given to the
 of most ancient nations.                                      descendants of the native inhabitants of Egypt after

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

the Mohametan conquest, supposed by some to be                 he shall be admitted into heaven or excluded from it.
descended from the ancient Egyptians or else from the          Osiris sits on a lofty throne, surrounded by fourty-four
mixed race which inhabited the  counftry under the assistants. An inquiry commences. The dead person
Roman empire.) The Egyptians resolved speech into must give proof that he is worthy of the ,life to come,
its elements and expressed these elements by signs,            that his spiritual knowledge is sufficient, and that his
which had the exact force of our letters. Altogether           life on earth has been pure. Each of the fourty4wo
the number of signs used is not less than from nine            assistants in turn question him, bids him to tell his
hundred to a thousand ; and  #hence the difficulty of mystic name and its meaning. In reply, he addresses
reading the inscriptions.                                      each in turn by name and to. each declares his innocence
    The literature of the ancient Egyptians is pro-            of sin. "I have not blasphemed," he says  ; "I  (have not
nounced mediocre. History was ,written  in a dry and           deceived ; I have not stolen ; I have not slain anyone
uninteresting style. Poetry was in a more advanced             treacherously ; 1 have not been cruel Ito anyone ; I have
condition.    Like the Hebrew poetry, it delighted in          not caused chsturba.nce ; I have not been idle ; I have not
parallelisms  ,:uid antitheses. But there were other           been drunken; I have not issued unjust orders; I have
branches of literature, such as romance, travels, and          not been indiscreetly curious; I have not multiplied
letters. These are chiefly remarkable for an extreme           words in speaking  ; I ihave struck no one ; I have caused
and almost childish simplicity, while the characteristic       fear to no one ; I have slan.dered no one ; I have not
of some classes of composition is obscurity and confu-         eaten my heart through envy; I ha,ve not reviled the
sion.    But  7Nthatever  the opinion entertained of the       face of the king, nor the face of my father ; I have not
degree of excellence of this ancient.Egyptian  literature,     made false accusations ; I have not caused abortion ; I
concerning the extent --and variety of it, there is no         have not ill-used my slaves; I Ih8ave  not killed sacred
dispute. Besides history, Egyptologers enumerate works beasts ; I have not defiled the river ; I have not polluted
on religion and theology;  ,poems,  historical and lyrical;    myself; I have not taken the clothes of the dead." Nor
travels ; epistolary correspondence ; reports, military        is he content with mere negartion  ; he goes on, and, .ad-
and statistical ; short stories ; orations ; treatises on      dressing the great assembly of the gods, exclaims : "Let
morals and rhetoric ; mtathematical  and medical works ; me go  ; ye know that I am without fault, without evil,
books on geography, astronomy, astrology and magic; without sin, without crime. Do not torture me; do not
collections of proverbs ; calenders  ; books on receipts ; aught against me. I have lived on truth ; I have been
accounts; catalogues of librsries,  and various others.        fed on truth; I have made it my delight to do what
The first place in the literature is occupied by the  re-      men command and the gods approve. I have offered to
ligeous books, ,which are longer, more elaborate, and the gods all the sacrifices that were their due; I have
more carefully composed than the rest. Of all the re- given bread to the hungry and drink to him that was
ligious works the most important was the one which athirst;  I have clothed the naked with garments. . . .
is commonly called "The Funereal Ritual," or "The              My mouth and my hands are pure." If the testimony
Ritual of @he Dead," but of which the Egyptian title of the deceased is  ,accepted, he is pronounced  j,ust, and
was "The  Mfanifestatio  to Light," or in other words,         passes from the hall of truth and goes forth with the
the Book ,revealing  light to the soul. This book claimed sun through the various regions of the  ,heavens in the
to be a revel,ation  of the will of the gods, and portions     solar boat. Finally he rises to such a pitch of perfec-
of it are expressly stated to have been the composition tion as to become identical with the utmost that the
of "a great god." The ritual has been divided into             Egyptians could imagine or divine.
three portions. The first part contains forms of invo-            As before the gods each departed soul had to protest
cations and of prayers to be used over the dead from           its absolute innocence, so every Egyptian took every
the moment of his decease to the commencement of the opportunity of setting forth his manifold good deeds
process of embalming. The second part onens  wi'-`* ~1         and excellencies in this life. "I am not an idler," says
long chapter which has been considered to contain the          one, "I was no listener to  ,the counsels of  sloth,: my
Egyptian faith. It is quite unintelligible to a modern,        name was not heard in the place of reproof. . . . All
after all the explanations it has received. This creed         men respected me. I gave water to the thirsty: I set
is followed by a series of prayers, which refer to the         the wanderer in his path ; I took away the oppressor,
just6fication of the deceased, and seem to have been           and put a stop to violence". "I myself was just and
used during the enrollment of the mummy in its ban- true," writes another on his tombstone, "without mal-
dages. Then comes prayers for the preservation of the. ice, having put god in my heart, and being quick to
deceased from all the dangers of Hades.                        discern his will. I have done good upon the earth ; I
   The third part of  the  ritu,al opens with the famous *have harbored no prejudice ; I have not been wicked  ;
chapter known as "The Hall of two truths." Here the I have not approved of any offender or iniquity ; I have
deceased is represented as brought before the judg- taken pleasure in speaking the truth. . . . Pure is my
ment seat of the god Osiris, in order that, after a            soul ; while living I bore no maEice. There are no errors
searching investigation it may be decided whether attributable to me; no sins of mine are before  the


20                                    TIIE   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                                -....
judges. . . . The men of the future, while they live,             The primary doctrine of religion as to the aspect
will be charmed by my remarkable merits."                      ,in which it was presented to the intelligent, was the
      Despite all his abundant boasting and self-assertion real essential unity of the Divine nature. The sacred
in morals, the Egyptians combined an extrlaordinary            text taught that there w'as a single Being," tihe sole
degree of theoretic perfection with a sinful ancl ugly producer of all things both in heaven and  ea&h, Him-
practice. There is la very close agreement between self not produced of any"-"the only true living God,
,the moral law of the Egyptians  ,as contained in the self originated"--`"who exists from the  beginning"-
Book of tihe Dead and the teachings of Christianity            "who has made all things, but has not Himself been
as set forth by the Decalogue.     But wEth all this pro-      made". This Being seems never to have been repre-
found knowledge of what was right, the walk of life sented by any material,  eved symbolical, form. It is
of the Egyptian was below the common level. The (thought  that He had no name, or, if He had, that it
Egyptian women were notoriously of loose character.            must have been unlawful either to pronounce or write
They appear both in `history and in Egyptian romance           it. He was pure spirit, perfect in every  respect-
as immodest and licentious. The men  practised  im- all-wise, almighty, supremely good. These  teachings,
purity openly, and boasted of it in their writings. Be- so nearly identical to true doctrine, are to be regarded
sides, tihough industrious and cheerful and not wanting as remnants of  that knowledge of God  with which
in family affection; they were cruel, vindictive, treach- man's  soul was originally endowed. This ancient people,
erous and avaricious.                                          though steeped in idolatry, knew  God. "That which
      Another defect in the Egyptian life and morals was       may be known of God" was manifest in them. The
softness and inclination to luxurious living. Drunken- `invisible things of God, His eternal power and godhead,
ness was a common vice among the young; and among              understood by the things  that are made, they also
the upper class sensual pleasure and amusement were clearly saw.
made the ends of existence. False hair was worn:                  As was said, to the vast mass of the population the
dyesand  cosmetics used to produce an antificial  beauty ;     Egyptian religion was presented as a polytheism of a
grea%  banquets were frequent; games .and sp&s .of a multitudinons  character. The Supreme being was di-
thousand different kinds were in vogue ; dress was vided into His attributes and each attribute was per-
magnificent; life was passed in feasting, sport and a sonified. Thus the gods of popular mythology were
constant succession of enjoyments. (How remarkably understood to be either personified attributes of the
true to the way of life of modern men and women this Dei*ty, or pa.& of the nature which He had created
description is.) Of Moses we read (Heb. 2) that "by and which He inspired. The god Num represented the
fai'th, wlhen  he was come to years (he) refused to`be creative mind, or act of creating ; Maut represented
called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather matter; Ra the sun ; Khons the moon ; Seb the earth ;
to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy Khsem the generative power in nature, Nut the upper
the pleasures of sin for a season ; . . .  ." How this hemisphere in heaven,  Athor the lower world ; Thoth
 aeport takes on meaning in the light of the above de-         personified divine wisdom;  Amman  the divine incom-
scription.                                                     prehensibility ; Osiris the divine goodness. But this
      The ancient Egyptians, despite the looseness  elf        is not all. Also various animals were invested with a
morals that characterized them, were profoundly re-            sacred character and each regarded as representing
ligious. (This awakens no surprise, if it be known             some aspect of the one Supreme God and worshipped
that this religion at least in its  pop&~-  phase was as as God. To this class belonged the following animals:
licentious as the Egyptian way of life.)      Everywhere the cat, the ape, the hawk, and the beetle,  cows as a
in Egypt gigantic structures reared themselves into            class, sheep, dogs, lions, crociailes,  hippopotamuses,
the air, enriched with all  that Egyptian  Iart could sup- wolves, antilopes, mice, vultures, frogs, snakes and fish.
ply of painted and sculptured decorations, dedicated to We  tihink h&e of the word of the apostle, "Because
the honor-, and bearing the name, of some god.                 that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as
      From the Egyptian remains, i,t appears to be cer-        God, neither were thankful ; but became vain in their
tain, Egyptologers tell us, that the  Esgypitian  religion,    imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
like most other pagan religions in the ancient world,          Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
had two phases or aspects: one, t!hat in which it was          and changed tie glory of the incorruptible God into
presented to the gene& public or vast mass of the              an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds,
population  ; the other, that which it bore in the minds ,and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things" (Rom 1).
of the intelligent, the learned, the initiated. To t&e         "Wherefore God also gave  them  up to uncleanness
former it was a polytheism  of a multictudinous  and of lthrough  the lusts of their own  hea'ti. . .  ." (Rom.
a gross character. To the latter it was a system com-          1:24). The immorality and wickedness that prevailed
bining strict monotheism with a philosophy on the two among the Egyptians has already been noticed. Around
great subjects of the nature of God and the destiny tihe worship of some of these gods clustered revolting
of man.                                                        practices.


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                            21

    It has been maintained by some writers that no              mind, would render him acquainted with the general
educated Egyptian priest, and probably no educated principles and methods of political government, would
layman, conceived of the popular gods as really sepa-           furnish him with an insight into the religious and
rate and distinct beings. All knew that there was but moral system of the most intelligent and civilized
one God,  an,d understood that when worship was offered nation of  heatihen  antiquity, and so would increase
to any one of them, the one God was worshipped under his fitness, in a purely intellectual point of view, for
some one of %s forms or in some one of His aspeEk.              holding the high commission that was to be intrusted
It does not appear, so it is said, that the Egyptian  re-       to him.
ligior, as conceived of by the initiated, deified created           However the view prevalent among the Christian
,beings. Now it is certainly true that by the light of          Fathers and among writers of recent times is that  t'he
their reason, the initiated did perceive that the  creat.ure    wisdom of ancient Egypt was of benefit to Moses also
is no God and that thus to worship a cat or a dog or            in this respect *hat it served him as a source of the
a frog is abject foolishness. They perceived this, as           materials which were needed for the construction of
well as any superstitious person of  this day apprehends the institutions which he was commissioned  tD inculcate
the absurdity of his being struck with consternation on the people of Israel. In other words, the view
at the spectacle of `a black cat crossing his path. Yet was prevalent that a small or even large portion of the
that person is afraid. And so, too, the enlightened             institutions of Moses were borrowed from those of
idolaters among the ancient Egyptians. Despite the Egypt. In support of this view, attention is directed
testimony of their reason, they trusted in and thus             to a passage contained in Ezech. 20 (vss. 24, 2.5) and
worshipped and deified the creature, the image of stone         to the remarkable similarity betweep  the ordinances
and of wood. To this foolishness God gave them up on and institutions of Moses and those of the Egyptians.
account of their holding the truth in unrighteousness.          As to the passage in Ezech., it reads, "Because they
In Scripture We idolator always appears as actually `had not executed my judgments, but had despised my
worshipping the dumb idol.                                      statutes, and had polluted my sabbaths, and their eyes
   Sacrifice with the  Egyfiians, as with the Jews,             were after their fathers' idols, wherefore I gave them
was of two kinds, bloody and unbloody. The Egyptians also statutes that were hot good, and judgments where-
offered to their gods bread, flour, cakes of various            by they should not live." The judgments wh'ieh the
kinds, oil, honey, fruit, incense, wine, beer, and also         people of Israel in their carnality refused to execute
flowers.    Drink offerings to the gods were of daily are held to have been, by those addicted to the afore-
occurrance.  Incense was continually offered. The  sacri-       said view, the law of the ten commandments; and the
ticial animals included bulls, oxen, male calves, sheep,        statutes "that were not good" are said to `have been the
goats, pigs, geese, ducks, pigeons, and certain un-             ceremonial and civil law. This law Moses, acting for
domesticated creatures, such as antelopes and various God, is supposed to have imposed upon Israel in punish-
kinds of water-fowl.                                            ment of its apostacy  at Mt. Sinai. And' it is this law,
   Besides the worship of gods, the Egyptians  &Is:,            at least a portion of it, that he is said to have borrowed
practiced to some extent a worship of ancestors. A from Egypt. Now this view iis so. palpably wrong as
sepulchral chamber, curt in the rock, was an ordinary to merit little consideration. The fact of the matter
addition to the `tombs; and in this apartment the               is that the contrast in t!he above-cited Scripture is cer-
friends  of the deceased met from time to time to  oZer         tainly not  be$ween  the Decalogue and Israel's cere-
sacrifices to the dead  aed perform various acts of monial law but between the  whole law and the immense
homage.                                                         heap of errors to which God suffered Israel to be miser-
   Such in brief was the religion and civilization, in ably subjected on account of their having forsaken
a word, the wisdom  of t!he Egyptians. Now in all this          Him.
wisdom Moses was learned. This must tiean, firstly,                As to the alleged similarity between the Mosaic
that he was as learned as any Egyptian in all those             ordinances and instistutions,  and those of the Egyptians,
sciences in which they appear to have made some pro-            it is true that this  similatity  exists. Let us attend to
gress. It must mean further that he was schooled in             the following examples. With few exceptions, all the
#tie myth, legend, and fable of the Egyptians and in            replies of the deceased, addressed to the god Osiris
their religious rites, ceremonies, symbols, and mys- and his fourty-two assistants, (replies already quoted) ,
teries ; that he received an explanation of these rites         could, without their sense being changed, be converted
and ceremonies and an  ilrterpretation  of this myth.           into prohibitions identical to those contained in the
so that the real and essential doctrine concealed in it         decalogue. Consider, once more, the following replies :
was known to him.               *                               "I have not blasphemed ; I have not deceived ; I have
   That in certain respects his being learned in all this       not stolen ; I have not slain anyone treacherously ; I
wisdom was advantageous to Moses is certain. In the have slandered no one ; I have not made false accusa-
language of Fairbairn, it would at least serve  t5e pur-        tions."
pose  off  ,expanding  and ripening the faculties of his           Attention has already been called to the  *fact that

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

sacrifice with the Egyptians was of two kinds, bloody nearly identical. There is, however, this difference
and unbloody.     When a sacrifice was intended, the to be noted. In Israel, the victim was slain by the
victim was brought to the temple by the offerer, wlho          offerer; while in Egypt this action was performed by
submitted him first of all to the inspection of the priests    the priest. In Israel the blood was allowed to flow in a
and then, if he were pronounced pure, and sealed in basin; thereupon a portion of it was sprinkled upon the
the appointed way, conducted him to the altar, where,          horns `of the altar and the remainder poured out at
after a libation had been poured, he was slaughtered by        the altar's base. In Egypt, on the other hand, the
the officiating priest, who cut his throat from ear to         blood, instead of being collected in a basin, was allow-
ear, let the blood flow freely over the altar, or over         ed to flow over the altar and over the ground at its
the ground at its base. Generally, only certain parts          base. Among the Egyptians there was even a cere-
of the animal were burnt, the remainder being shared mony corresponding to that of the imposition of hands
between the priests and the person, or persons, who            among the Israelites. It was unusual, when the victim
brought the victim ; but sometimes the whole animal            was offered, to cut off the head, and after heaping im-
was placed upon the altar and consumed with fire.              precations upon it, and praying that whatever evils
Cakes of the best flour, rholey,  raisins, figs, incense,      were impending either over Egypt or over the worship-
myrrh, and other sweet-smelling substances were often pers might fall upon that head, to sell it to the Greeks
added, together with a quantity of oil. Such sacrifices        or cast it into the Nile. This practice, certainly, ,recalls
`were, no doubt, in many cases, thank-offerings, indica- the Israelitish ceremony of the scape-goat-a ceremony
tions of the gratitude of the worshipper; and in some according to which this goat, after Aaron by imposition
cases these sacrfices  were, no doubt, of the nature of of hands, had laid upon its head all the iniquities of the
expiatory rites, giving some indication of a sense of sin      people, was led, by the hand of a fit person, into the
and desire of -pardon.      But would a pagan people, desert.  ,. Further, as has already been noticed, the
devoid of the life of regeneration, be thankful and de- Egyptians had sacrifices that closely corresponded,
sire pardon? There are examples of this in Scripture. as to their ritual, to Israel's burnt- and peace-offerings.
The reprobated king Saul confessed his sin in the Both among the Egyptians and the Israeliites,  when the
audience of Samuel. Pharaoh admitted that Re had offering was a burnt-sacrifice, the whole animal was
sinned in the hearing of Moses and asked Moses to              placed upon the altar and consumed with fire. When
pray for him. However, the gratitude and the desire in Israel the sacrifice was a peace-offering, certain
of pardon of the natural man is as to its essence sheer        parts of the animal were burnt upon the altar, We re-
selfishness and thus hatred of God. In giving expres- mainder being shared between the priest and the person
sion to his gratitude and in desiring pardon he seeks or persons who brought the victim. With the exception
not God  .but himself. Against the view that the Egyp- of the Egyptian burnt-offering, this was also the action
tians were  truly  thankful and that the appeal for par- with t,he flesh of the victims of the Egyptians' bloody
don was genuine is the great deficiency in their prayers sacrifices in general. There is also agreement between
of any earnest appeal for pardon, of any heartfelt re- what was offered. Both the Egyptians and the Israel-
pentance, and deep conviction of sin. Only once or             ites brought bread, flour, cakes, .oil, wine and incense.
twice is an Egyptian found making any confession of Among both peoples, the sacrificial animals included
sin at all. On the other hand, as already has been bulls, oxen, calves, sheep, goats and pigions.  But in
noticed, there is found abundant boasting and self- addition, the Egyptians offered flowers ; and their sacri-
assertion. Egyptians take every opportunity of setting ficial animals included also pigs, ducks, antelopes and
forth his manifold good deeds and excellencies in this         various kinds of water-fowl.
life. As already has been noted, they would engrave               The general resemblance of the "sacred cell" of the
on their tombstones sentences such as these, "Pure is          great Egyptian temple of Karnak to the tabernacle
my soul; while living I bore no malice. There are no           (temple) of Israel, ,is likewise striking. This cell was
errors attributable to me  ;- no sins of mine are before       divided into three parts. Passing between the pillars,
the j,udges  (the gods). . . . The men of the future will      one entered a porch, sixteen feet broad and about six
be charmed by my remarkable merits."                           feet deep, *from which a doorway about eight feet wide
      But whatever may have been the sentiment to              led into the first chamber or "Holy Place" twenty feet
which the  Eagyptians  gave expression through their           long by fourteen.     Hence, another doorway, of the
sacrifices, the fact is that between the ritual by which same width as the first, conducted into the "Holy of
these sacrifices `were attended, and the ritual of the         Holies".
offerings imposed upon Israel by Moses, there is a re-            The Egyptians had also their sacred arks. Some
markable agreement. Also the Israelitish worshipper of these contained the emblems of life, which when the
was required to bring his victim to the temple, submit veil was drawn aside, were partially seen; others, the
him first of all to the inspection of the priest and           figure of Divine Spirit; and some presented the sacred
thereupon conduct him to the altar, where he was beetle of the sun, overshadowed by the wing of two
slain. The action with the blood was in both cases             figures of the goddess Troth or Truth. These arks call


                                              TirE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                2.9,
           -_-.-                                                                     -.--_____~ -.--___-  -..--
to mind Israel's ark of the covenant with its cherubim.                  promise of the Holy Spirit, all fulness now dwells in
   The tenure of land in Egypt bore some formal re-                      Him-all fulness, thus our  santitification  and justifi-
semblance to that in Israel. The owners of the soil                      cation; our wisdom and redemption, our very life, all
were the kings, but besides the kings, the priestly com-                 grace and every blessing. All is contained, in Him.
munities attached to ,the different temples, and the                     His flesh therefore is bread. It is meet indeed. So,
territorial aristocracy or upper class. The kings and                    except a man eat His flesh. . . .he has no life in him.
the communities of priests were in the habit of letting This, to be sure, concerns God's believing people, they
out their land in small allotments to the peasants. Per-                 who care spiritually living. It does so, as the dead do
haps at the time of the Exodus the policy inaugurated not eat, as bread is not for the dead but only for the
in Egypt by Joseph some centuries previous, was  stiill                  living.    It is to His disciples that Christ addresses
in force,+  policy according to which all the land be-                   Himself in particular. What He would have them take
longed to the king and was let out by Him to his sub- home to their `hearts is that if they, the living ones, do
jects on the condition that `they return to him the fifths.              not eat Him, their. souls are without nourishment, the
In Israel all the land belonged exclusively to Jehovah,                  life in Him is not abounding in them. It is then not
lsrael's King. By Him it was apportioned among His                       the quickening of the dead of which Christ  <here speaks,
redeemed people, who were required to return to Him but of the necessity of living  m&n eating Him, the
t!le tenth part of all that the soil yielded.                            true bread. His flesh, being meat, is indispensable, so
   This similarity between what was Egyptian and                         absolutely requisite that should these living ones per-
what was Israelitish extends even further. It extends                    manently desist from eating, which they cannot do,
to government and agriculture, to manners and cus-                       they would die. Hence, the man who is not eating
toms.    But the subject need not be gone into any                       Christ, who has never partaken of His  flesh and blood,
.further.  The question is: How are these congruities                    has no life in himself. Such a one is dead. For His
to be accounted for? As has been noticed, according to                   flesh is meet indeed. It is  tihis in distinction from the
one view, Moses borrowed from Egypt. But for reasons manna that the fathers ate in the desert. That was
to be considered in a following article, this view cannot not the true bread. For the fathers, though they ate
be harmonized with the position that the institution of of it, are dead. . Christ is the living bread, which came
Moses are of divine origin and that the Pentateuch is                    down from hea,pen.
the infallible word of God, and will therefore be set                       This word of Christ .was offensive to the Jews.
aside as impossible by every  believing~student  of God's Even many of His disciples, when they had heard, said,
Word. These congruities can and are to be accounted "This is a hard saying, Who can hear it?" T%ey  thought
for in another way.                                                      that what He meant is that they should eat His bodily,,
                                                    G. M. 0.             material substance, that thus they should eat that  fles!l
                                                                         of His withy  their physical mouths. And the form of
                                                                         Christ's word's would seem, at first glance, to support
                                                                         this meaning. "Except ye eat my flesh. . .  ."  The
                                                                         perplexity of these disciples can at least be explained.
                                                                         They were not the last to suppose that what is require3
              Eating Christ's Flesh                                      of God's believing people is that they eat Christ's bodily
                                                                         substance.  '
                                                                            Aware that His disciples murmured at His word,
                    Then  Jesus said unto them,  Verily,  verily,        He said t,o them, Doth this offend you? And if ye shall
                    I say ufilto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the     see the Son of man ascend up where He was before?
                    Son of man, and  dnink His blood, ye have-no         The form of this sentence may be completed by R'hrct
                    life in you. Whoso  eateth my flesh, and drink-      shall ye say then? Then will ye still be offended?
                    eth my blood, bath eternal life; and I will raise        The Jews had seen Jesus feed five thousand with
                    him up at the l,ast day. For my flesh is meet        five loaves and two fishes. Seeing, t!?ey  were amazed,
                    indeed, and my blood is drink itzdeed.               and said, the one to the other, "This man shall be our
                                                  John 6:53-55.          king."     A man with such power, we have need of.
   Verily, verily, I say unto you. . .  ." So  Grist                     So determined are they, that they would come and take
would speak whenever he was about to give utterance                      Him by force, to make Him king. Perceiving this,
to great and vital truth. "My flesh is meet indeed. . . ."               Ch.rist  departed again into a mountain, Himself alone.
He refers to His human nature, to  l3is body and soul.                   The Jews searched for Him. The fo!lowincr day they
in which He expiated the sins of  Bis people and merited                 found Him on the other side of the sea. Thev  were
for them eternal life. His flesh is meet. It is this on                  surprised at seeing Him there. They are curious  to
account of its being the seat of all the blessing% accru-                know how and when He came. "Rabbi," said they  to
ing from His sufferings and death. Being by the right Him, "When camest thou hither?" Jesus instead of
hand :>f (&Z exalted, and receiving of the ,Fother  the satisfying their curiosity, rebukes them on account of


34                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
e - lll^_lll  ll_l^_-^ _......__  I__                          ----.--                                                     --.-
their seeking Him because they had eaten of the loaves, Jews strove among themselves, saying, How can this
thus on account of their laboring for the meat which man give us His flesh to eat?
perishes, instead of for the meat which endureth unto                           Even His disciples found this word of His a hard
eternal life. So did He expose their carnality. But saying. `(Who",  they asked, "can hear it," `who can,
they believed not that they were carnal. They imagined comprehend this word? who can hear it without being
that in their endeavor to make Him king, they were vexed in his soul at what he hears?' 0,nly they who
wonking  t,he works of God. Was it not the purpose of are born of the Spirit, To the others, it is a hard say-
God to free them,  t&rough  a deliverer that He should                    ing indeed. For to eat Christ's flesh is to hunger
send, from the bondage of the Romans ? Had not God and thirst after righteousness, after  *God.                              Eating
promised? Had this man, Jesus, not brought Himself His flesh is the action of a man who knows that by
forward as the promised deliverer, through His feeding nature he is dead in sin, guilty before God, and thus
that multitude with the five loaves? Should He then ill-deserving and condemnable-and who therefore by
not be king? Were they then not working the works the mercy of God, reaches out for Ghrist,  believes in
of God in their attempt to seat Him on the throne?                        Christ as His redemption.  -
      Christ said not. He told them that their striving                         Thus eating His flesh is a spiritual act. But it is
                                                                          not less real on account of this. What has rendered
was carnal and sprang from the flesh, and that it was
thus indicative of the fact that their affections were this eating His flesh objectively possible, Christ ex-
centered on things earthly.                                               plained when He said, "It is the Spirit that quickeneth  ;
                                         This was a terrible indict-
ment. It cut them to the quick. "What," so they now                       the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that  1 speak
asked Him, "shall we do, that we might work the works unto you, are spirit and are life." n
of God?" `Canst thou say?' He will tell them, "This                             It is through believing the word that Christ spake
is the work of God that ye believe on whom He hath                        of Himself, that God's believing people eat Christ.
sent." They were aware that Christ spake of Himse!f.                      What they eat is in the first instance the word. Through
They must believe on Him, Christ. T,hen do they work their eating, believing, receiving this word, they eat,
the works of God. So Christ tells them by implication believe in Christ, and this by reason of the fact that
that He is indeed sent by God. They express their will- this word sets forth the  Ch.rist,  is a true revelation of
ingness to accept His testimony concerning Himself Him, and of God,-the God and Father of Christ.
providing He by a miracle prove to them that He is                        And through His causing the truth to  dweI1 in the
what `He claims to be, one sent of God. They say to                       hearts of His people, through His sanctifying His  self-
Him, "What sign  shewest thou then, that we may see revelation  aunto their Ihearts, He causes the life that
and believe thee? What dost thou work? Our fathers                        dwells in Him to abound more and more in His people.
did eat manna in the desert: . . .  ." Christ replies,                    It means that He is their true bread.
"Moses. gave you that bread from heaven ; but my                                So are His people who eat Him, His flesh, truly
Father giveth you the true bread from heaven". This fed, and the evidence of their being fed is their grow-
reply of His shows that what they meant to say to Him ing in grace and in knowledge, their constantly turning
is: Moses .proved  to our fathers that He was sent of from sin to the living God, their true contrition, their
God, through His giving them bread from heaven, what earnest desire for holiness, their walking with God,
sign shewest thou then? Despite the fact that He had and the assurance, the conviction, worked in their
just fed the five thousand with five loaves, and through hearts by Christ's Spirit, that they are God's child-
this action of His had provided them with conclusive ren.
evidence that He was the true Messiah, they ask Him                                                                   G. M. 0.            '
,for a sign. 0, the stubbornness of their unbelief!                        .
      Taking their reference to Moses as a lead, Jesus                                       "AS I LOVE THEE"
said to them that Moses gave them not that bread from
heaven ; but His Father giveth them the true bread                               If suddenly upon the street
from heaven. For the bread of God is He which cometh                             My gracious Saviour I should meet,
down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.                                And he should say, "As I love thee,
Hearing this, they said, to Him, "Lord, evermore give                            What love hast thou to offer me?"
us this bread." To this He instantaneously replied, "I                           -Then what could this poor heart of mine
am the Bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never                     / Dare offer to that heart divine?
hunger : and he'that ,believeth  in Me shall never thirst".                      His eyes would pierce my outward show,
In the sequence of His discourse Jesus again declares                            `His thoughts my inward thought would  kno.w,
wlith  emphasis that He is that bread of life. . . . the                         And if I said, "I love  thee, Lord,"
living bread which came down from heaven,-thus                                   He would not heed my spoken word;           .:  .`---
bread that, if any man shall eat, he shall live forever.                         Because my daily life <would tell
And the bread that He will give is His flesh. Then the                           If verily I loved him well.

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





Vol. XVI, No. 2 Entered  as Second  Clan mail
                    matter at Grand  R&d*,  Mich.                OCTOBER  1.5, 1.939                Subscription Price  $2.00

1~.  -  -  -  -1                                                       a love that is ought else than .a mere reflection of a
I(         MFnT-l-A                                                    drop from the infinite ocean of love which is He, or
                                                                       who can boast of life that is more than a drop from
                                                                       the eternally sparkling Fountain that is God? Can
       Glorifying  God With One Accord                                 there be holiness anywhere that is not a mere response
                                                                       to His holiness, or is there righteousness among  the
                   Now the God of patience and con~vlu-                creature of which He is not the criterion? Can man
                 tion p-ant you to be likeminded  one to- '                 -
                                                                       ever be gracious otherwise than as a little mirror of
                 loard another according. to Chrk t Jesus :            His boundless grace, or is the creature ever clothed
                 that ye may with one mind  and one .with  a beauty that is not a faint reflection of the in-
                 ;YIZouth  glorify God, even the Father of finite pleasures that are at His right hand? With
                 o?br Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore re- whom, then, will ye liken God? . . . .
                 ceive  u/e oneanother, as Christ  ulso re-               He is the incomparable One !
                 ceived  us to the  glory  of  God.  Now I                To compare Him is to deny Him!
                 say that Jesus Christ was a minister                     To present Him on a  ipar with the creature is blas-
                 of the circumcision for the truth of God, phemy !
                 to coitfirm  the promises made unto the                  The Excellent, the absolutely Excellent, the infinite-
                 father.?; and that the Gentiles might ly Ex8cellent,  the alone Excellent is He!
                 glorify God for his  mercy. . . .                        And the manifestation, the shining forth of the
                                              Ram..  15 :5-Q.          divine excellency, of the  incomparabIe  goodness, of the
      God is glorious!                                                 all-transcending perfection of God, is glory, divine
      His alone is the glory, even as His is the kingdom               glory.
and the power.                                                            And glory, His glory, excellent glory is revealed.
      1 For, excellent is  He. in goodness. He excels in               For, He willed to make known His excellent goodness,
infinite perfection. He is uniquely good, incomparably                 to manifest His transcendent glory, that we might
perfect in truth and righteousness, in power and holi- behold it and wonder, that we might see it and tremble
ness, in wisdom and knowledge, in love and grace                       with rejoicing in the Lord our God,  that we might
and mercy and lovingkindness.                                          taste it and be blessed, that we might adore it and
      The Holy One of Israel !                                         worship. All the works of His hands proclaim that
      With whom will ye ,liken Him? There is none on glory, pour forth speech, in the heavens above and
earth, neither is there anyone in the heavens whose on the earth beneath, in the deep silence of the night
name  can.be mentioned in one breath with His Name. and in the bright glory of the noonday, whispering in
The .very glory of the sun is darkness in comparison adoration, or also singing with joy, testifying of His
,with  His glory. And in the presence of even a little                 excellent ,wisdom,  might, goodness, majesty. Do not
of that glory the holy angels cover their faces and can the heavens declare the glory of God? Does not day
but shout their: "Holy, holy, holy  !" . . . .                         unto day utter speech and night unto night show
      Where is there a power like unto His power, where knowledge ?
a majesty like unto the majesty of the Most High?                         Speech of Him!
What wisdom may be compared with His, or where                            Knowledge of His excellency !
is the knowledge that would match itself with the in-                     Oh, yes, quite distinctly it is of His perfections
finite knowledge of the Omniscient? Who can boast of they speak! Quite clearly they witness of none other


26                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   R E A R E R
-_               -.-.-  __ --    -                                                                        _
than of Him alone ! There is no danger of confusing bliss? What power is mighty as the power of God
EIis glory with the glory of the creature. There is no that raised Jesus from the dead and gave Him a name
room for the mistake of losing sight of the divine ex-       that is above all names? . . . .
cellency in the midst of the virtues of things that             Excellent is <He !
are made. When you behold the work vf God, radiat-              The Holy One of Israel !
ing His power and goodness and wisdom, you recognize            And the excellency of His power and might, His
at once that it is His and that no one could even ap-        holiness and righteousness, His justice and truth, His
proximate the wonder of it. You may compare the love and grace and mercy and all His wonderful  good-
proudest work of man's hands with the  hum,blest  work ness is become manifest!
of God, and the former falls within the scope of your           Revealed in the face of Jesus Christ, our Lord !
own power and understanding, the latter remains  for-           Glorious, indeed, is God!
ever a ,wonder,  excellent, unique, inimitable, incom-                                -    -    -    -
parable.     For a moment you may adore a smoothly
running and gracefully lined and beautifully finished '         Glorify Him, then, o, Church of Christ!
automobile, place it on exhibition on the fairs of. the         Say it, sing it, shout it, ye that have seen and
world and `boast of the ingenuity and progress of Man ;      tasted His great goodness, that He is glorious, that
yet what is an auto in comparison with even a blade          He is boundless in love, infinite in grace, unfathom-
of grass, a flower of the field, a grain of sand? You        able in wisdom and knowledge, unlimited in power,
consider man's work and you know it is numbered,             excellent in all His virtues!
and always it .bears  the number of mere Man  ; you             Say it to Him in thankful worship and adoration !
consider God's Work, and you recognize it as divine,            Witness of it to one-another as you speak of the
separated by an infinite chasm from the grandest work wonder of His grace !
of man, excellent! You let your eyes rest on the most           Sing it aloud Ibefore all the world, before the (holy
glorious product of man's power and ingenuity, but           angels that see His face and before the very devils
soon you grow weary of looking and you turn to some- that tremble before Him, that His alone is all the glory.
thing else; but never can your eyes grow weary of            Glory to God in the highest!
seeing, never can your mind become exhausted of con-            Glorify Him with one accord !
templating the works of God !                                   With one mind and with one (heart and with one
      Of God!                                                mouth !
      Of the mighty Creator and Sustainer of  all things!       Let the Church of Christ be one grand chorus of
      Yet, more glorious than this glory that is revealed    many voices, each one singing in his own place, his
in creation is the glory that is manifested of Him as        own part, yet all uniting in the harmony of the one
t.he God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. For,           theme:  .Glory to the  ,God and Father of our Lord
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is He.           Jesus Christ! There is none  Iike Him, Who  .raiseth
To be sure, within the holy mystery of the divine            the dead ! Let all take part in this glorification of the
Trinity the First Person is the Father in relation to        God of your salvation, redeemed from Jews and Gen-
the Second; yet the Triune God is the God and Father tiles, small and great, parents and children, young
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God in human            and old, young  ,men  and young women, let none be
nature. He ordained Him, He formed Him, He re-               silent, but all shew forth the praises of Him that called
vealed all His power and glory in Him, Who is the            them out of darkness into His  marvellous  light!
Firstborn of every creature and the Firstborn of the         Glorify Him always ! In the midst of the Church
dead, the revelation of the God of our salvation !           and in the world, on the Sabbath and during the !wesk,
      The glory of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus in your home and everywhere, with your mouth  and in
Christ!                                                      your walk, glorify Him with one accord.
      What glory is like the wonder of all wonders, the         And let no dissonant mar the beauty of your praise !
incarnated God, Immanuel, Creator and creature, Lord            For it is of the excellent `glory that you sing, of the
and servant, Omnipotence and weakness, Infinitude glory of the incomparable God ! Let there, then, be
and finitude, Eternity and time in One ! What glory nothing of man in your glorying!
is comparable to the wonder of the cross, God in                All of Him, nothing of self!
Ihuman flesh bearing God's wrath, fulfilling all right-         Such is your calling, your sole calling. For, what
eousness, satisfying all justice, reconciling the world would you do for Him, or how would you remunerate
unto Himself, redeeming His  pe'ople by His own blood,       Him, or what could you bring to Him, Who is the ex-
God in us forsaken of God? What love is like the cellent One, the Fount of all good, always the Fount, the
unfathomable love that Ibecame  manifested when in ever overflowing Fount, except the glory that is due
due time Christ died for sinners? What mercy can unto His Name?
be compared to the divine mercy that entered into our           That He should be glorified, that His Church should
darkness and death in order to fill% us with eternal         glorify Him with one accord is His eternal purpose.


                                        T H E S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           27

    lt is the purpose of your redemption! It is Christ's it was David that thus spoke. But it was Christ that
purpose. For unto this end did He become "minister even then spoke in and through him !
of the circumcision", that He might manifest the "truth           His purpose it is to glorify God!
of God" and you should sing of it! A servant of the               To glorify Him through the mouths of the millions
"c.ircumcision"  did Christ become. Not merely in the upon millions of those whom He redeemed and received !
sense that He became a servant of the Jews. That too.             A thousandfold song of glorification !
He came to seek and to save the lost sheep of Israel              Sung with one accord !
and to realize unto them the promise made unto the
fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But He also became             0, to be likeminded!
a servant under the circumcision, under the old cove-             Likeminded toward one another in and according
nant, under the law; a minister of the promise in the to Christ Jesus!
shadows of the law. And as a minister of the circum-              For, how shall we glorify God with one accord, with
cision He took upon Himself the curse of the Iaw, re- one mind and with one mo,uth,  unless there be that unity
moved it by His perfect sacrifice, that He might re- of the Spirit that reveals itself in likemindedness ac-
deem them that were under the law, and at the same cording to Christ?
time abrogate the law and the shadows and extend sal-             And this liOkeminded~ness is not only a certain un-
vtion even unto the Gentiles!                                  animity of thought and conviction with regard to the
   Jew and Gentile He redeemed !                               truth as it is in Christ Jesus, so that we unite on the
   And He received us ! Us, who were by nature basis of the same confession. To be sure, it implies
children of wrath, enemies of God and enemies of Him, this. How shall we be likeminded at all if it `be not in
who even spent all our fury upon Him and nailed Him the bond of the truth? But it is more than this. It is
to the accursed tree ! He received us, when in eternity to be one in the Spirit in the bond of peace. It is to be
the Father gave us to Him. He received us, when He of the same purpose and aim. It is to strive unitedly,
had to shed His lifeblood in our behalf. He received to pursue one and the same object and purpose. It is
us, when the Father drew us to Him, with cords of the likemindedness that is rooted in the love of God
irresistible love. He received us,  ,when we came to that is poured out in our hearts. It is the denial of self
Him, drawn ,by the Father, with nothing in our hands and the love of God and of one an-other in Christ. It is
to bring, guilty, damnable, wretched, dead through the united subjection of self and our own purposes,
trespasses and sins, empty, hungry and thirsty, labor- and of all things that are in themselves indifferent and
ing and weary, toiling in vain and heavy laden. He of no account to the one great purpose.of  Christ and of
received us and did not cast us off. He took us to Him- the Church: to glorify God with one accord!
self forever, united us with Himself, filled us with His          Hence, it is likemindedness according to Christ!
marvellous  .grace,  justified us, forgave us all our sins,       Christ is not only the motive-power, but also the
cleansed and delivered us from the pollution and do- standard and criterion of this likemindedness. He is
minion of sin, set us free, made us living children of its scope. He is also its limitation. Let whatever is
God, gave us eternal life and glory!                           not of Christ, 04 the Christ of the Scriptures, be ab-
   He received, us, why ? To the glory of God !                solutely excluded from this likemindedness. What con-
   He became minister of the circumcision; why? In cord is there between Christ and Belial? Biut let ,us
behalf of the truth, of the unchangeable veracity, of the      mind, and let us unitedly mind the things that are of
faithfulness of God. For the promise of salvation was Christ Jesus our Lord !
made unto the fathers in times of old. And long they              0, to be thus likeminded!
had waited for the fulfillment of that promise, the               For, according to the text, this likemindedness is
promise of all the mercies of David, of redemption and an indispenible requisite unto the realization of the
deliverance from sin and all the power of the devil and        only purpose of the Church, the glory of God ! God
the bonda,ge  of corruption. Would God's promise fail? grant you to be likeminded according to Christ, that
God forbid. The truth of God, and with that truth all ye may w&h one mind ,and with one mouth glorify God
the glory of His great goodness must become manifest. and the Father of our Lord  desus Christ!
The glory of God!                                                 What an incentive !
   He became the end of the law and the Lo.rd even                Shall the song of that glorification of God be
of the Gentiles, to reveal unto them the saltvation  of silenced in the Church of Christ, redeemed by Him and
God; why? That also the Gentiles might glorify God             received by Him for that very purpose, be silenced,
for His mercy !                                                because of our persona1 differences and  quarreIs?
   Thus He, the Christ of God spoke already in the old            God forbid!
dispensation, even as it is written: For this cause I             Rather let all be subservient to the realization of
,w7iIl  confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto that only; aim:
Thy  *name.  And again He saith, Rejoice ye Gentiles              Glorifying God with one accord!
with His people ! For, indeed, in those olden times                                                         H. H.

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

                                                             personally convinced that with regard to the present
            E D I T O R I A L S                              conflict in Europe it is possible for American citizens
                                                             not only to assume a neutral. attitude outwardly, but
                                                             to be truly neutral in their minds. What is there in
                                                             the present conflict that would compel an outsider to
            Neutrality and Propaganda                        sympathize either with the one side or with the other?
                                                             Surely, in general one may find the cause of the pre-
      At the time of the writing of this article there still sent conflict and of the late war-talk and war-nervous-
is something about the present European war that ness in the Old World in the Treaty of Versailles. And
makes one wonder and creates a feeling of suspicion it would seem that no American could become very
and doubt.                                                   enthusiastic about that treaty, whether it be main-
      Whether or not a general European conflict is in tained or destroyed. There certainly cannot be sym-
the offing is somewhat doulbtful.                            pathy for Hitlerism, especially with the American
      From the very beginning there was something Christian, when one bears in mind the antichrist&n
strange about this war. The bone of contention or, at philosophy and activities of the German Fiihrer.  On
least, the immediate occasion of the outbreak of the the other hand, however, one can hardly become very
war was Poland. Germany demanded Danzig  an.d  a war-zealous about Poland's rejection of the Germon
passage through the "Corridor". Poland refused. She demands of Danzig and a passage through the "cor-
formed an alliance with England and France, who ridor" to East Prussia. And I hardly feel as if Eng-
encouraged her in her stand against the demands of land  ;has the moral right and position to preach a ser-
the German Government and promised to help her if mon to Germany on the Eighth Commandment, or for
war should be the result. Yet, Poland took a firm that matter, on the Sixth or the Ninth. And, there-
stand, defended itself desperately, and is already crush- fore, it would appear that neither side could make a
ed and partitioned between Russia and Germany, and strong appeal to American sympathy and that it would
her friends and helpers. have been little more than not be impossible to remain neutral even in our mental
passive lookers-on !                                         attitude `and sentiments.
      At the time of this writing there is peace-tal)k in       And undersigned belongs to those that are of the
the air. All seem to be expecting that in the near           opinion that, ,whatever  happens in Europe, our own
futur,e the German Government will make peace pro-           country should stay out of this war!
posals to the Allies. Whether these proposals will              If the enemy attacks our shores it will be a differ-
actually be forthcoming and what they will demand or ent matter. In that case we will feel it our  God-
offer as the price of peace, is not known as yet.            assigned duty to fight in self-defence. And for this
      And again there is something of what appears on we should be fully prepared, armed to the teeth.
the surface of European diplomacy in this matter that           But never again' should our boys be allowed to
seems suspicious to say the least. The Allies, particu- cross the ocean to fight Europe's  .battles  !
larly England, assure the world in the strongest terms          And if we are to remain neutral it is quite essential
that they are in the fight till the finish, that the issue that we close our minds (if it were possible it were
at stake was not really Poland at all but aggresive          better to close our ears) and fortify them strongly
Naziism, and that they cannot  consi,der peace pro- against all kinds of insidious propaganda that is even
posals until "Hitlerism" is crushed. And if they are now in the air (literally ,and in the figurative sense)
serious in these alleged intentions the end is not yet,      and that is calculated to draw us into the war.
and we may, indeed, expect a very bloody struggle in            To this propaganda belongs  the constant talk about
Europe. But the strange feature of it is, that  while a  "world-war". Let us insist that this is as yet not a
they publish these positive and strong statements to world-war, but simply a European conflict, such as
all the world, they are, nevertheless, still refraining have ravaged the Old World repeatedly in the past.
from any serious attempt to commence actual warfare. The psychological effect of constantly saying "world-
All is comparatively quiet on the Western front. And war" is  athat we become accustomed to the notion, and
although they virtually reject the German peace pro- before we know it we will be ready to  make  it a
posals before they have-been offered, they create the w or&war.
impression that they are, nevertheless, rather eagerly          To this propaganda belongs, too, the pernicious
expecting them.                                              statement that it is impossible for our country to keep
      This whole situation may have been changed, of-        out of war under the present world-conditions and
course, by the time our Standard Bearer reaches its          international relations.     Perhaps, this is what the
readers.                                                     moth repeats to itself when it flutters about the flame,
      But at the present time one cannot help but wonder.    till it drops into it.
      In  th.e meantime the Standard Bearer would warn          And above all to this belongs the story that this is
its readers to keep an attitude of neutrality. I am          not a war between some European nations, but one


r
                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           29

     between  "Demoncracy"  and "Totalitarianism". Let us indien ja, moet dan nadruk gelegd  worden  of DE  (ge-
     remember that  t;his was the slogan that fooled us into zindheid) of op ZEKERE (gezindheidj ? De aanhef
     the war in 1917!  The world was to be made safe for spreekt van DE gezindheid; de uitspraak zelf spreekt
     Democracy! At any rate, if it must become a war  be- van een ZEKERE gunst of genade.
     tween "Democracy" and "Naziism' or any other  "ism",              Kort gezegd, wat is het nu: 1. Ge-de  in den zin
     let us wait till our "democracy" is attacked by that van  ,genadige  HOUDING? 2. Genade in den zin van
     "ism". But Jet us not be ,deceived  again into sacri-         DE GEZINDHEID? 3. Genade in den zin van een
     ficing the blood of thousands of our men to European ZEKERE GEZINDHEXD?
     interests and the interests of those among us who                Hierop nu tracht Ds. Zwier antwoord te geven. En
     would not hesitate to sacrifice the lives of American we zullen  u in het kort zijn ant+oord  mededeelen.
     youtqh to Mammon!                                                 In  De  Wacltter van 12 Sept.  zegt hij er het  vol-
         And in the meantime, whatever betide, let us, as gende van.
     children of God, have peace in God!                              Dr. Schilder verzocht hem om  de authentieke  mee-
         We know that even way is ultimately of Him. The ning der Christelijke Gerefarmeerde Kerken  aan te
     "Red Horse" takes its course according to His will and geven abetreffende  het eerste punt. Dat kan Ds. Zwier
     direction.                                                    niet  doen. Hij kan  we1 zijn persoonlijke overtuiging
         And through it all He accomplishes His purpose geven. Volgens zijne meening dan behoort  "de  guns-
     and causes His Kingdom to come !                              tige gezindheid" tot den inhoud van het eerste punt.
         This conviction affords us consolation and peace.         Dit moet  we1 de beteekenis zijn, want het onderscheid
         The peace that passes all understanding!                  tusschen  genade als "hsuding" en genade als "gezind-
                                                    H. II.         ,heid" kwam in 1924 bij niemand van de synodale afge-
                                                                   vaardigden op.     Daarom moet "de gunstige  gezind-
                                                                   heid" van den aanhef we1 bij de bedoeling van de uit-
                                                                   spraak der synode behooren.        Maar de authentieke
                                                                   verklaring ,van dit eerste punt zou niemand kunnen
                                                                   geven. Dat zou zelfs geen synode  kunnen  doen.  Al-
          Zeker,  Zeker, "EEN ZEKERE!  "                           leen de synode van 1924 zou de Drie Punten authentiek
                                                                   kunnen ophelderen naar  bun eigenlijke beteekenis.
         In drie artikelen, te vinden in  De  Wachter.   van          Tech   meent  Ds. Zwier er nog  we1 meer van te
     12 Sept., van 19 Sept., en van 26 Sept., geeft Ds. Zwier mogen en te kunnen zeggen.
     antwoord op de vraag hem gesteld door Dr. Schilder,              Hij meent ook met tamelijk groote zekerheid te
     waarop we in een vorig nummer van ons blad reeds kunnen verklaren, dat de woorden  "een zekere", die
     de aandacht onzer lezers vestigden.                           bij  "gunst   .of genade" staan, juist zoowel behooren bij
        We  willen  onzen  lezers ook in kennis  stellen  met dit . "de gunstige gezindheid Gods".
     antwoord.                                                        Tot zoover Ds. Zwier in het artikel van Sept. 12.
        Tot recht  verstand van vraag en antwoord is het           Passen we dit nu even toe op het eerste punt, dan lezen
     misschien niet ondienstig, dat we hier eerst nog eens we als volgt : "Rakende (de) een zekere gunstige  ge-
     het eerste der Drie  Punten afdrukken. De meesten zindheid Gods jegens de menschheid in het algemeen
     onzer lezers kennen dat punt we1 van buiten, maar het en niet  al.leen  jegens de uitverkorenen, spreekt de
     is in deze discussie  we1 noodig, dat we het in zijn juis-    q-node uit. . . . dat er ook een zekere gunstige of  ge-
     ten vorm voor de aandacht hebben. Hier volgt het:             nadige gezindheid Gods is, die Hij betoont aan Zijn
        "Aangaande bet eerste punt, rakende de gunstige            schepselen in het algemeen."
     gezindheid Gods jegens de menscheid in het algemeen,             In De Wachte+ van 19 Sept. gaat Ds. Zwier voort
     en niet  alleen  jegens de uitverkorenen, spreekt de Sy- als volgt.
     node uit dat volgens Schrift  en Confessie het vaststaat,        IHij begint met te zeggen, dat alleen een synode zou
     dat er,  behalve de zaligmakende genade Gods bewezen kunnen zeggen vat de authentieke meening der Chris-
     alleen de uitverkorenen ten eeuwigen leven, ook een telijke Gereformeerde  Kerketi  is aangaande het eerste
     ,zekere  gunst of genade Gods is, die Hij  betoont   aan      punt. Dat is dus reeds een beetje anders dan in het
     Zijn schepselen in het algemeen.  Dit blijkt uit de eerste artikel van Ds. Zwier over deze kwestie. Daar
     aangehaalde Schriftuurplaatsen en uit de Dordtsche heette het, dat ook een andere synode dit niet zou kun-
     Leerregels II, 5, en III en IV, 8 en 9, waar gehandeld        nen doen. Nu kan het dan tech door een sjmode.,
     wordt van de algemeene aanbieding des Evangelies  ;"             Hij zegt  vervolgens  nog eens, dat naar zijn stel,lige
        Nu was de vraag van Dr. Schilder allereerst of overtuiging "de  gunstige gezindheid Gods" bij het
     de aanhef van deze uitspraak (van "aangaande" tot eerste punt behoort. De synode heeft iets omtrent
     en met het eerste "uitverkorenen") behoort bij het- die "gunstige gezindheid"  willen zeggen. Maar  z(i6
     yeen de synode uitsprak of niet. Ergo, heeft de synode alleen  mag het dan ook  worden  gezegd. Daar  meet
     van een gunstige  ye&&heid gesproken of niet? En,             men we1 op letten. De synode "heeft iets w&rent  clie


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        41

 tana in de `Banner' verschijnt gelijk  het door hem ge-
 schreven is, opgezonden en niet geplmztst  werd tot op                            Evening Song
 den huidigen dag.
    Heeft  u nooit gehoord van uw eigen inwendige  zen-           In these days of wars and rumors of war "there
 dingsactie  toen de Chr. Gereformeerden uit de hier be-       be many that say, Who will shew us any good?"
 staande `Dutch Reformed Church' traden? Nooit??                  Can you imagine the inhabitant of Warsaw? And
 Kom nu, Zwier, u weet tech we1 beter, ook al is het           in a lesser degree all the inhabitants of Europe?
 niet zoo prettig?                                                The question, pregnant with abject fear, expressive
    Of  66k nooit gehoord, dat men ten uwent ook daar of insecurity, is pitiful even apart from war and
 werkte en werkt, nog niet zoo heel lang  geleden,  waal       rumor of war. But how much more does it speak to
 oak Kerken waren  van de Reformed Church??                    us now of the insecurity of the worldlings.
    Maar uw prettig gekeuvel en geredekavel met Dr.               The world has no evening song. There is the wail
 Schilder toont  maar al te goed waarom het eigenlijk of the night.
 gaat. In `23 en `24 naamt ge Dr. Hepp in den arm.                And the only difference is the difference of faith.
 En wellicht `om een  goeden  indruk  achter te laten,        The world has no faith.
 nu dan maar wat met Dr. Schilder aan het vrijen ge-              Did it ever occur to you that you need faith to
gaan. Zonder de Protestanten er bij. En ge zit-zoo            both lay you down in peace and sleep? 0, indeed, you
in `t nauw, dat ge u niet ontziet  met u te bezondigen        may undress yourself and fall d'own  in bed. Present-
tegenover  ons met de zonde  van het negende gebod.           ly your regular breathing tells me that you sleep. But
    U wilt een indruk maken  of wekken bij Dr. Schil- then you have sinned. That is not the retiring that is
der en de Gereformeerden in Nederland. Vertel hen very righteousness and holiness. Retiring is also a
ook eens iets van de Kerkrechtelijke zijde der zaak.          work which ought to be performed to the glory of the
Dat heeft nu al zoo  lang  moeten wachten en dient            Almighty.
odk aangesneden te  worden.  Op een kalme manier                  To begin with: you should sing your evening song.
vanzelf.                                                          You have lived during the day that precedes the
    Maar het is met uw inlichtingen aangaande ons             evening. You were in the midst of the things that
we1 wat laat, dunkt u niet?                                   make up your work-a-day world. You have come in
    Met weet daar al genoegzaam omtrent ons, en men contact with the saint and the sinner. Yours were the
kan daar wel. zijn eigen conclusies trekken.  Ce kunt opportunities, the time and space, the talents and gifts,
die broeders aldaar uw bril niet op den neus drukken,         the sweetness of blessings on every side.
vooral Dr. Schilder  met.                                         All this certainly calls for your evaluation before
    Hebt ge nooit gehoord van het groote aantal  boek-        God's countenance. For it was God Who prevented
recenci&i.    Boeken die handelden over de onder ons          you at every step. He talks to you in daily bread
bestaande  questies ?    Gewoonweg genegeerd?                 or cooling drink.
                                                       Dat                          It was God Who prevented you
laatste kan niet. Maar indien het eerste waar is, dat when you were in the midst of "the sons of men who
ge er niet van gehoord hebt dan moet dat noodig turned your glory into shame". He enlarged you and
nagezien  worden.                                             He set apart that was godly for Himself.
   Kom Ds. Zwier, ik wil ze u allen  toezenden, als ge           You know, it is entirely salutary to: "Commune
eerlijk belooft ze uw Hollandsch lezend  Wachter pu-          with your own heart upon your bed". It is not good
blink voor te leggen, het zal hen niet spijten en ik          if we just lay down and sleep, because we are so very
geloof, dat het ook hun ten goede zal komen.                  very tired. Reviewing the day you should commune
                                                              with your own heart where God dwells.
   `k Heb nog meer, maar het moet maar kalmpjes                  Also in the day which is now far spent the question
wachten tot later.                                            arose: Who will  shew us any good? And you have
   Ende tot dusverre.                                         answered it to the goodpleasure of heaven.
                                              w. v.              And here is the answer.
                                                                 Lord, lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance
                                                        "a    upon us.
                                                                 C&l's countenance is His revelation.
                                                                 God Himself, that is, His Essence cannot be seen
One sometimes hears people say that it does not matter by us. And we may never pray for that sight. No
*what a man th'inks or believes, just so he acts right.       one can see God and live. That is true now; that is
This is a fallacy, because in important matters at least,     true eternally. Only the self-revelation of God can
we always act as we think. As a man thinketh in his be seen by us. When God speaks of the sight of his
heart so ,is ,he. He may say nice things but not mean         Own glory He speaks of the unapproachable light or
them, and in a crisis will act according to the inner         of His eternity. We must needs stand in the cleft oi
drive or bent of his mind or heart,                           the rock.


42                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         -9
      His revelation is His countenance. The Lord's mean the same thing? Habakkuk will sing in the
face you have seen in the day when the sun arose and        midst of emptiness and want. David has more glad-
bathed the earth in golden splendour. It was the coun- ness in his heart than those who gloat over bursting
tenance of God when you marvelled at the silvery            corn-cribs and overflowing wine-vats. And both Habak-
splendor of a night that was lighted by rays of the         kuk and David act so strangely because they saw the
moon. You listened, for day unto day uttered speech         Face of God in Jesus. It's life His Face to see !
and night unto night shewed knowledge. It was the              And the background of this wondrous gladness' in
Pace of God when the table groaned under the goodly the heart of the saint is expressed as follows: "The
load of food and drink. And even your little children Lord hath set apart him that is godly for Himself".
gave testimony in their hurried prayer. Moreover,           A little clearer expressed in the Dutch: De  Heere
it was God that prevented you even before you awoke,        heeft  Zich een gunstgenoot afgezonderd". How won-
because all through the night He preserved your cloth-      derful ! Oh, " `t Moth gebeuren !"
ing and shelter that must be yours in order to be              Here is the full picture: This  gunstgenoot  is by
"at ease".     And when the manifold manifestations         nature a child of wrath, exactly like the others that
of a rich life unfolded themselves within you and           shall go down in deepest night of the gloom of second
round about you, they were the sum total of the Face        death. They are all alike for they are all comprised
of God. They are the light of His countenance.              under the sin of Adam and his guilt following. If
      Surely, when you review the day, your day, every God should act with us according to our deserts we
day, and see just the things which  I enumerated above,     would also rejoice in a vat of wine rather than in the
even then you may say: "Thou hast put gladness in beauteous Face of God. But here is the picture again:
my heart!"                                                  God took him, that is, His  gunstgenoot  and He placed
      But then, I only stated  a  few things and these him apart. He called him through the power of the
things are also very inferior when I compare them eternal Light. #He illuminated him by the radiant light
with the far greater things of His everlasting King- of His love-life and by the glory of that radiance he
dom. No, it was not Sunday ; it need not necessarily saw his own sin and cried to God: Oh God, be merciful
refer to various activities that directly remind us of unto me, the sinner! And God heard out of His holy
the Church institute. Ah, the lifting up of God's heaven. And God continued to separate him in his
countenance upon us refers to much more and much generations, in the church, in the world. Continually
more exalted things than just your place in the church he is set apart as the peculiar treasure of God. That
institute. `It means a place in God's heart.                is the. process of sanctification.    He was separated
      For the Face of God is also Christ Jesus the Lord. from evil and consecrated to goodness and all virtue.
      God's countenance is His Self-revelation to us, we He became like unto a dove decked with gold.
said.                                                          And there he stands and lives, God beaming con-
      Well, that self-revelation of God is wonderful in tinually upon him and decking him with the  finest
"nature".     But the beauty of nature fades when gold of Ophir. Which is the clothing of salvation and
compared with the  beauty,of  His face in Jesus Christ everlasting beauty. "He clotheth the meek!" That
the Beloved. . You see, only when you see this won-         is part of your song.' So I know you agree with me.
drous difference are you able to understand the strange        In prospect he beholds the beauties that abide.
second clause of the verse partly quoted above. I said :       Of them he sings:
"Thou hast put gladness in my heart". But the second                   When I in righteousness at last
clause reads : "more than in the time that their corn                  Thy glorious Face shall see,
and their wine increased." That second clause is very                  When all the weary night is past,
strange. Imagine: here is A and B. A receives a                        And I awake with Thee
hundred times more money and possessions of earthy                     To view the glories that abide,
things than B. Bnd yet B sings: Thou gavest me                         Then, then I shall be satisfied.
more gladness than A. Is that not strange.
      The answer is already stated above. This man             Small wonder that this saint bursts forth in right-
B has seen the comparative values of the earth and of eous indignation when the wicked sons of men turn
God's everlasting kingdom.                                  his very glory into shame. His glory is the God of
      Oh, if only God gives Himself to you in the Son       his righteousness. You might translate this in New
of His right hand, then: "Although the figtree shall Testament language and then you have the bruised
not blossom, neither sXal1 fruit be in the vines; the Son of God on Golgotha. That is the God of our right-
labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield eousness.     And the wicked world always turns the
no meat; the flock shal be cut off from the fold; and       glory of Golgotha into shame. They count the blood
there shall no herd be in the stalls: yet I will rejoice    of the New Testament impure and they trample under
in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation !"       foot the Son of God. How horrible, All such work
      Do you not see that both Habakkuk and David is characterized by David as: "the love of vanity and


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          43

the seeking after leasing". This last phrase means
the seeking after the lie. And such activity you see                   Egyptians Learning  Of Moses '
round about you in the world, even in the world
to-day. They make a scoff of the Son and try to erect               Between `what was Egyptian and what was Israel-
their own towers of Babel. They will have nothing itish, there was, as we have seen, similarity. Let us
of the gift of grace and seek to redeem themselves by now ask, first in respect to the religious institutions
the fruit of hell ; and that is the lie. They seek the and in particular the sacrificial system of both people,
lie and find it. Poor souls ! Having  founld the lie, it        how this similarity is to be explained. According to
will infect them ; it will poison them ; it will corrupt        the prevalent view, the explanation is that the Israel-
t*hem so much that finally they shall fit in the place itish institution of the sacrifice together with the
that is the bathos of horror and despair. They will             rites and ceremonies attending it, was borrowed by
be fitting companions of devils. How horrible !                 Moses either wholly or in part from the religious
    Instead: Stand in awe and sin not!                          worship of the Egyptians. To correctly appraise this
    Certainly the world coming in contact with the explanation ,it must be realized that it can be given
church of  ,the ages will be without excuse. They have several meanings. Let us attend to two of these.
heard time and again in varieties of expression: Stand
in awe of the Cross! Stand in awe of so great sal-              (1) Moses borrowed the Israelitish institution of the
                                                                sacrifice together with the religious. truths which it
vation ! Stand in awe of God Who is terrible in His
wrath! And sin not!                                             set forth from the Egyptian worship. He thus did not
                                                                receive it from God `by revelation. (2)  t The sacrifices,
    Contrary to that the saints become children that
will not lie. More and more they see the Face of God            Israel's religious symbols (the sacrifices were  smbols,
                                                                signs), were already in existence in Egypt at the time
in the cross of Golgotha and sing.          They see that
Face and love it:                                               of the Exodus. Appropriating these symbols, (the
                                                                sacrifices) for His  olwn  use, God commissioned Moses
          Voor U wil ik lijden; voor U wil ik                   to bring them into being in Israel as signs and symbols,
               strijden. . . .                                  not, to be sure, of pagan religious ideas, but of the
          Voor U wil ik d'aarde doorgalmen van                  truths of the gospel.
               lof !. . . .                                        To the explanation under consideration with the
Ah, it will take an endless eternity to thank our God           construction under 1 upon it, no believing student
.for His unspeakable gift of Jesus, our righteousness! of Gods word can possibly be addicted. To maintain
    Can you now see that sleeping, nay, the act of re- that Moses derived his religious symbols together with
tiring of an evening is not simply the laying aside of the religious ideas of which they were the expression
your dress and falling on your bed?                             not from God but from Egypt, is to deny that Israel's
    Nay, you will commune upon your own bed with                religion is of divine origin and that the Scriptures
your heart.     You will commune and recount the which constitutes the Pentateuch is God's Word, given
glories that abide.                                             by divine revelation. The explanation with the con-
    Does the world then multiply their anxious and de-          struction under 2 upon it, has been held by some
spairing questing: Who will show us any good? Then Christian writers including Fairbairn, who set forth
you make answer: But we see Jesus; indeed He is                 his view in the following language, " (For) the hand-
sprinkled with the .blood,  but we. see Him exalted in writing of ordinances brought in by Moses' was pre-
glory. And where He is, I will be.                              dominantly of a symbolical nature. But a symbol is a
    Oh my God, T,hou hast. put gladness in my heart,            kind of language, and can no more than ordinary
more than in the time that.  1. . .                             speech be framed arbitrarily; it must grow up and
    Our Father, now I' can go to sleep.                         form itself out of the elements whi.ch  are furnished
    Now I can lay me down in peace and sleep.                   by the field of nature and art, and be gathered from
                                                                it by daily observation and experience. Now it so
    For Thou maikest  me to dwell in safety.                    happened in the providence of God, that the children
    Safe in Warsaw. Safe in the midst of the sons               of Israel were brought into contact with the religious
of men that try and turn my glory into shame. Safe rites and usages of a people deeply  imibued,  no doubt,
from all alarm. For there is a dwelling of God. It is           with a spirit of depravity and superstition, but abound-
in the New Jerusalem.             And Jesus prepared my ing, at the same time, with symbolical arts and ordin-
place.                                                          ances. And it was -in the nature of things impossible
   I can safely lay me down in peace and sleep for I that another religion abounding with the same cou,ld
have seen Golgotha.                                             be framed, without adopting to a large extent the
   Slowly I fall away in soothing  .unconsciousness.            signs with wh.ich,  from the accident of their position,
Soothing, for I am safe in the arms of Jesus !                  they had become familiar. The religion introduced
                                                 G. V.          might differ-in point of  fact, it did  dift'er-from
                                                          -.

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

that already established, as far as light from darkness, ,be intelligible, employ the signs which, by previous
in respect to the spirit they respectively breathed and       use, the eye is able to read and understand..  ,How
the great ends they aimed at. But being alike symboli- should I imagine that white, as a symbol, represents
cal, the one must avail itself of the signs which the         purity, or crimson, guilt, unless something in my past
other had already seized upon as fitted to express to         history or observation had taught me to regard the
the eye particular ideas. This had become, so to speak,       one as a fit emblem of the other? It would not in the
the current language, which might to some extent be least mar the natural import of the symbol, or destroy
modified and improved, but could not be arbitrarily its aptitude to express, even on the most solemn occa-
set aside." In a word, the Israelitish and the Egyptian sions, the idea with which it has become associated in
religions differed as far as light from darkness. But,        my mind if I should have learned its meaning amid
being alike symbolical, the one (Israelitish) availed         employments not properly sacred, or the practices of
itself of the signs which the other had already seized a forbidden superstition. No matter how acquired, the
upon. However, just because the two differed as light         bond of connection exists in my mind between the
and darkness, it must be that, according to the view          external symbol and the spiritual idea ; and to reject
under consideration, what was appropriated is not the its religious use because I may have seen it abused
religious ideas of which these signs were the signifi-        to purposes of superstition, would not be more reason-
cation, but merely these signs as such. What to think able than to have proscribed (outlawed) every epithet
of this view? Aside from the question of its correct-         in the language of Greece or Rome, which had been
ness, it is no explanation of the resemblance which anyhow connected with the worship and service of
the Jewish worship bore to that of Egypt. As a solu- idolatry." So far the #writer.              '
tion of this phenomenon, it says too much. For the               Now this reasoning, however valid it at first glance
appropriation of the religious symbols of Egyptian may appear, is not wholly sound. Firstly, it fails to
pagan worship  lwould have rendered this worship, as take into account that there are differing kinds of
to its form, not merely similar to but identical with symbols; and, secondly, it  fai'ls to mark the difference
that of Israel.    And this it was not. Neither, of abetween language, the spoken word, and symbol and
course, was this the contention of Fairbairn. For he in particular the symbolic rites and ceremonies of re-
went on to say, "Yet. . . . it is rather in accordance ligion. It, this reasoning, proceeds on the wrong foun-
with just and rational expectation, if, since the Egyp- dation that the two are identical, which,  certanly,
tians were in various respects so peculiar a people, and is not the case.
the Israelites in general, and Moses in  parti.cular,  had
been brought into such close and intimate connection             There are differing kinds of  syntbols.  There are
with their entire system, the symboIs  of the Jewish the symbols in nature, brought into being directly by
worship should in some points bear a resemblance to God when He created the earth and its fulness. The
those of Egypt, which cannot be traced in those of writer of the above lines mentions two such symbols,
any other nation of heathen antiquity."                       to wit, white the representative of purity, and c&mson,
      Fairbairn attempted to render plausible and to of guilt.           Now such symbols, and their number is
justify his view by means of the following reasoning,         large, are the common property of all peoples, and
" (For) the handwriting of ordinances brought in by are thus likely to appear in the worship of every re-
Moses was predominantly of a symbolical nature. But ligion. They cannot be said therefore to have been
a symbol is  akind of language, and can no more than          borrowed by one people from another. There is a cer-
ordinary speech be framed arbitrarily ; it must grow          tain knowledge of God and of right and wrong, re-
up and form itself out of the elements which are fur-         vealed in the heart of every man through the things
nished by the field of nature or art, and be gathered made. If so, there is and must be a number of sensible
from it by daily observation and experience. The things in nature associated in the mind of every man
language which we use as the common vehicle of our with definite  religious and moral concepts. Symbols
thoughts, and which form the medium of our most they are that form a current language, understood
hallowed intercourse with heaven, is constructed from by all men.
the world of sin and sorrow around us, and, if viewed            Secondly there are the symbols by which the church
as to its origin, savors of things common and un- of the Oid Dispensation came by special revelation.
clean. But in its use simply as a vehicle of thought          These are the institutions, the rites and ceremonies
or a medium of intercourse, it is not the less fitted to      imposed by and described in, Israel's law. All these
utter the sentiments of our heart, and convey even our symbols are out of God and were brought into actual
loftiest aspirations to heaven. Why should it be existence by Him through His servants.
thought to have been otherwise with the language of              There is stfll a third ,kind of symbol, to wit, the.
symbol ?    This too must have its foundation to a rites of the pagan worship. These rites, forming, as
great extent in nature and custom, in observation and they do, a system of symbols expressive of pagan
experience ; for, as it is addressed to the eye, it must religious ideas, are not out of God but out of man.


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                      `45
                                                      ._
Now the issue upon which our present discussion re- `keep themselves strictly to the mode of worship of
volves is precisely this: Is that symbolical-typical ap- which Moses was instrumentally the author. "What-
paratus, imposed by Moses to be regarded as a repro- soever thing I command you, observe to do it; thou
duction of that Egyptian system of religious symbols.       shalt not add thereto nor diminish it."
This is the view that the (writer whom we just quoted          Thus in the language of Witsius (quoted by Fair-
strove to render plausible by the above-cited reasoning.    bairn), "When the Lord was going to found a new
But, as was said, the reasoning is weighed down by          commonwealth, as it was really new, he wished it
two objections. It fails to distinguish between the         also to appear such to the Israelites. Hence its form
kinds of symbols and thus circumvents the real issue or appearance, not as fabricated of Cananite or Egyp-
specified above and it proceeds on the wrong founda- tian superstitions, `but as let down from heaven, was
tion that, as a vehicle of thought, language, the spoken first shown to Moses on the sacred mount, that every-
word, is identical to the language of symbol. NOW           thing in Israel might be ordered land settled after that
this it is not. As to their primary meanings, spoken        pattern."
words are to a very large extent, the significations
of conceptions and ideas to which correspond things            Fairbairn quoted the above lines with satisfaction.
and actions in the realm of nature that as such are With the sentiment expressed  -he is in full agreement.
not evil. The spoken word blood, which is the sign          Yet, as was shown, his explanation of the similarity
of an idea to which corresponds the fluid that flows        between Egyptian and Israelitish worship is one ac-
through the veins of man and beast, is by itself, not       cording to which this worship, as to its form, was
evil as to its meaning, It is one of the words there- indeed constructed from the rubbish of Egyptian super-
fore that could enter into the construction of that lan-    stition. Still he did affirm with emphasis: "It is to
guage through the medium of which God reveals unto          be held as a sacred principle, that whatever might be
His people the truth about Christ.                          the acquaintance Moses possessed with the customs
                                                            and learning of Egypt, this could in no case be the
   As to the symbolic rites and ceremonies of a pagan direct and formal reason of his imposing anything as
worship, each, without exception, is the signification an obligation on the Israelites. For the  whoIe and
of a false religious idea. How then can the language every part of his work he had a commission from
of these symbols serve as a vehicle of truth? It cannot. above ; and nothing was admitted into his institutions
But could not these symbols by themselves, as freed which did not first approve itself to divine wisdom and
from their evil associations, be placed in the service carry with it the sanction of divine authority." This
of truth? They could not as they were constructed statement however does not touch on the real issue,
to give expression to the lie. Their very structure         which is whether anything in the way of pagan rites
therefore rendered them useless as a medium of inter- ,and ceremonies was approved by divine wisdom, and,
course between God and His people. So, too, was it          as so approved, admitted into Moses' institutions.
the structure of Israel's symbolic institution that ren- And our stand is that such was not the case.
dered them useful as such a medium. Great therefore            No Christian iwriter  has ever maintained, of course.
is the significance that the Lord attaches to the struc- that Israel's sacrifice in its initial and primitive form
ture of these institutions. "Look that thou," said He was borrowed from Egypt. No one, who has the
to Moses, "make them after their pattern, whi.ch  was
shewed  thee in the mount" (Ex. 25  :40). And in one grace to bow before the plain testimony of Holy Writ
                                                            can maintain this, as according to this testimony the
of Moses' farewell addresses occurs this passage,
"Take heed that thou inquire not after their gods           sacrifice was brought into being immediately after
                                                            the fall. The first true sacrifice recorded in Scripture
(viz., of the nations of Canaan), saying,  How  did.
these nations serve their gods? even so will I do like- is that which was brought by Abel. That Adam had
                                                            previously been seeking God through this channel of
wise. Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God:           communion is certain, and this, certainly in obedience
for every abomination to the Lord which He hateth
have they done unto their gods. What thing  soever          to a divine ordinance. That we do not read of th'is in
                                                            Scripture has occasioned the view that the sacrifice
I command you, observe to do it; thou shalt not             was of human origin, that it sprang from the desire
add thereto, nor diminish from it."       (Deut. 12 :30-    on the part of the primitive worshipper to ingratiate
32).                                                        himself with God, Whose favor, so he imagined, could
   It is to be noticed that this passage turns on the       be won by a gift. Now such, no doubt, was the desire
how  of pagan worship. Now after the manner of this under the impulse of which Cain brought his offering.
worship, thus after the  str$ucture  of its ceremonies,     His aim was to induce God by his gift to walk with
the people of Israel shall not inquire. And the reason? him in the `way of sin. Disappointed in this and un-
These rites, being, as they were, the expression of the     willing to repent of his sins, he was  wrath-with  God.
vile intents of man's wicked heart, were an abomina- So, after slaying the righteous Abel, he went out
tion to the Lord, Hence, the children of Israel are to from before the face of God and took up his residence


46                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   BhARER
                                   -     -
in the land of Nod. But Albel was a penitent sinner.          even centuries previous. And as Moses was standing
He thus brought the sacrifice in connection with which        on the shoulders of his spiritual forbears, so all the
he could obtain witness that he was righteous. And            prophets that came after again stood upon his shoul-
he did so as one instructed by the Lord. But just             ders. Moses was raised to a vantage point of such
how this instruction had been given is not stated. heights as to allow him to perceive the doings of God
There is the notice that God made for them coats of           to the very end of time. In his final discourses there
skin to clothe them with. Now clothing so obtained            is plainly a prediction of the exile of Israel to Babylon,
had necessitated the giving up of life on the part of         of its return to Canaan, and of the ultimate dispersion
an inferior yet innocent creature. It was, it is certain, of the Israelitish people over the face of the earth. In
in connection herewith that Adam, trusting God and these final discourses Moses stands before us as the
believing the promise, was made to comprehend that            Father of all the prophets and books of the Holy Scrip-
without shedding of blood there could be no forgive- tures. The theme of the last of these discourses is:
ness of sins. Thus, the first to officiate as priest in       the  church, redeemed with judgment or, the church,
the history of mankind, was Jehovah Himself.                  humbled unto death, purged through  rruffering and
      Even before the coming of the law, the  ,church         led through  su.@ering  to  glory. Now this theme,
was already bringing three distinct sacrifices by. blood,     symbolized by the sacrifices by blood, formed the
to wit, the sin- burnt- and peace-sacrifices. Of Noah substance of prophecy from Adam to Christ. How-
we read that, upon leaving the ark, he  "<builded an ever, it was upon the promise, upon the God-appointed
altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast,           way of salvation, especially as set forth by Moses,
and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt-offerings that the prophets who came after him, seized upon
upon the altar." And the young men of the children and further expanded. For the light that Moses was
of Israel, sent by Moses on the occasion of the ratifica- instrumental in shedding upon the promise was great.
tion of the covenant, thus sent at a time when the What prophet, prior to him, had set forth, through
elaborate ritual of Moses had not yet been imposed, type and symbol, through signs and wonders, God's
"offered burnt-offerings and sacrificed peace  offersings     `way of salvation as plainly as did he? He is indeed
of oxen unto the Lord".       To these must be added          the father of all  prophezy.  That the latter prophets
the sin-offerings. And as the difference between the          leaned upon him is everywhere evident from their
sin- and trespass-offering was slight, this list may discourses. The entire historical writings from the
be completed by the addition of the offering last book of Joshua on, m-e-suppose the law of Moses as
named. Thus ,it is certain that even long before the          a book.    All the `history, proverbs, prophecy and
deluge the church, as instructed by the Lord, was a?- poetry of Israel is grounded upon his laws and exists
ready offering all the sacrifices by blood. This cer-         in them. And as to the  propheq-  of the century
tainty follows from the fact that, as has been explained preceding Josiah, it is plainly grounded upon Moses'
in former articles, these four offerings were essentially discourses. Isaiah begins his prophecies with words
the same. Each `was an instrument for the expression almost identical to those found in Deuteronomy 32  :l,
of  ah the hallowed sentiments and longings of the            "Give ear, 0 ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear
sanctified heart, of contrition, of desire for pardon,        0 earth, the words of my mouth." The whole dis-
of reliance upon God as the justifier of the ungodly,         course (Isa. .I) is, as to tone, a Mosaic from Deut. 31
of gratitude and the desire to belong wholly to Him and 82. There is no objection, certainly, to ascribing
the faithful Saviour of His people. Each set forth            to the rites and ordinances of the law, or to latter
the same fundamental truths of the gospel. They prophecy a ground,.if it only be understood that this
differed the one from the other only in this that each        ground can be nothing else than Scripture itself.
more than the others rendered prominent some par-             There is no objection to saying of any of the pro-
ticu.lar aspect of the mediation of Christ and of the         phets of Scripture that they borrowed-they did this
life in Christ as it abounds in His people.                   -only we insist that in doing their borrowing they
                                                              went for their material not to the wise men of this
      This early date of the bringing into being of the Iworld  but to Scripture.
sacrifices by blood renders entirely  fictitious  the view       Yet, although Moses cannot be held to have bor-
that .Moses  derived the ritual of these offerings from rowed his rites and ceremonies from the Egyptians,
Egyptian pagan worship,-the view that the sacrificial the customs of the two nations do nevertheless  re-
system of the law was grounded upon that of Egypt, sembIe,  each other. Examples of this were given in
th.st Moses, as legislator, stood on the  shoulders  of the previous article on this subject. How now is this
E-t's wise men. The shoulders upon which Moses .resemblance  to be explained? Besides the explanation
stood were solely those of the believers who had pre- that Moses borrowed from the Egyptians there are
ceded him.      In introducing the institution of the two others. There is the view of Witsius, according
sacrifice, the Spirit through Moses reproduced Iwhat to which  the Egyptians borrowed from Moses. Then
.He had already brought  into being in His church there is the view of Bahr. His conception is that the
                                                                 .


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         47
                                                                           -..
Egyptians were as little indebted to Moses as Moses sacrificial animals included also pigs, ducks, antelopes
rwas to the Egyptians, that thus neither borrowed from and various kinds of water-fowl. Some writers have
the other. He maintains, in the language of Fairbairn, maintained that it cannot be proven that after the
that whatever similarity existed between their re-           Exodus any such connection between the two nations
spective institutions, arose from the necessity of em-       existed as to render a borrowing on the part of the
ploying like  symlbols to express like ideas, which Egyptians from the Israelites in the least degree likely.
rendered a certain degree of similarity in all  sym-'        (So Fairbairn and Warburton). But this, to say the
bolical religions unavoidable.                               least, is an extreme statement. It is simply not true.
                                                             During the four centuries of the Israelitish monarchy
   Let us briefly examine both these views. It is held there were many connections with Egypt. The earlier
now that the view that the Egyptians borrowed from of these were with the line of kings who ruled in the
the Israelites is rendered unlikely by the  circumstance     Delta, toward the Jewish frontier. During this time
that the institutions of Egypt are of greater antiquity      there was a lively peaceful intercourse on the part
than those of Israel. Now this is, without a doubt,          of Egypt with Palestine. Perhaps the most important
true of several of Egypt's institutions. It is very
liikely true of ancient Egypt's civilization as a w.hole.    connection was between Solomon and a daughter of
                                                             Pharaoh as a principle wife in his palace. The date
Yet  nlo one can speak here with certainty. Egyptolo-
gers tell us that the chronological element in the early of the marriage was during the building of the temple,
                                                             as "Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh, king of
Egyptian history is in a state of almost .hopeless  ob-
scurity. Modern critics of the best judgment and the         Egypt, and took Pharaoh`s daughter, and brought
widest knowledge, basing their conclusions on iden- her into the city of David, until he had made an end
tically the same data, have published to the  ,world         of building his own house and the house of Jehovah"
views upon the subject which are not only divergent          (I Kings 3:l).
and conflicting, but which differ to  the extent of about       However, there were several chief points of Egyp-
three thousand years. There were three successive tian life whose resemblance to certain ordinances
empires in ancient Egypt, the old, the middle and the and institutions of Moses could not be due to borrow-
new. It was in the century of the new empire,  ,which        ing either on the part of Israel or on the part of
commenced about 1600 B. C., that Moses legislated.           Egypt, such points as the tenure of land and the sup-
Now it appears from the monuments that at this               port ministered from its yield to the priests. In fact,
time Egypt's civilization was fully developed.               none of the resemblances between the Mosaic institu-
   Yet from this. it does not follow that especially in tions and those of Egypt need necessnr@ have been
the matter of religion as `to its outward form the           the result of borrowing. There is still another ex-
Egyptians did not borrow from Moses. This is  cer--          planation which we deem to be the only acceptable one
tain that the sacrifice, as we find it among the nation      for most cases.      We submit the following proposi-
of heathen antiquity, was God's gift unto His church tion.
-a gift that ancient men, the fathers of heathen                The entire Egyptian life-religion, worship, science
nations took with them, when `they went out from and customs-was not an accident. It was determin-
before the face of the Lord and his people, and there-       ately willed by God and it came forth out of the wombb
upon, in the course of time, corrupted through their         of His providence. For what purpose? The answer
so changing its structure that it could serve them as        is that advanced religious and ,civil  polity, that com-
a suitable instrument for the expression of their false      plex system of symbolic ceremonies and institutions,
religious ideology and the corrupt sentiments of their those instruments of worship, the patterns of which
depraved heart and mind. This, I think, goes a long `were let down from heaven and shown to Moses on
way toward explaining the resem,blance  also between         the sacred mount. These patterns would have perplexed
Egyptian and Israelitish rites and ceremonies. And and confused the church, had they been shown it four
in so far as this explanation fails to account for the       or five centuries earlier, and this for much the same
more striking congruities, there is nothing that  Egyp-      reason that one who had lived in the tenth century
tologers have thus far discovered that forbids us to of our Christian era would be struck with amazement
supplement it by the view that the Egyptians did in- at beholding the achievements of the men of this age.
deed borrow from Moses. This, we take it, is true of         Things of which one has no conception or notion,
both the bloody and unbloody offerings as to their           cannot be intelligently perceived. In  this case, the
provisions. As has already been pointed out, both in description of such things, will not be understood.
Egypt and in Israel, these provisions were bread, flour,     Adam or Abel would not have understood, had the
cakes, oil,  (wine and incense. Among both peoples,          Lord spoken to them about the things of' which He
the sacrificial animals included hulls, oxen, calves,        spake to Moses. Before the showing of these things
sheep, goats and pigeons. But it was noticed that the could take place, the church had first to possess a
Egyptians offered in addition flowers ; and that their suitable adaptation to and an adequate notion of them.

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

     SO the Lord so arranged His providence, that th,e re-                                    NOTICE
     semblances of these  t.hings-Egyptian civilization and
     religion, religious polity and worship-came into being.          The following Catechism books can be purchased
     And with these resemblances He brought His. people at the price of 15~:
     and  particularly Moses into close contact for some
     centuries, so that it was to a people armed with                   Essentials of Reformed Doctrine
     proper and adequate notions that the pattern of God's              Heidelberg Catechism
     things was revealed. This divine working is the true               Old Testament History for Seniors
     explanation of the phenomenon under consideration.                 New Testament History for Seniors
     The correspondence between what was Egyptian and                   Send your order to:
     what `was Israelitish is often remarkably close. One
     example.     On the holiest of all things, the Ark of                                 Rev. H. Hoeksema
     Jehovah, there were cherubs, one on each end of the                                   1139 Franklin -St., S. E.
     mercy-seat, with their  lwings covering the mercy-seat.                               Grand Rapids, Michigan.
     This description is like the Egyptian arks of the
     gods, with figures of  Maat,  or truth, at each end,
     with their ~wimgs covering the ark. Congruities such
     as these do not at all ,baffle,  if only the divine work-
     ing be taken into consideration.       Wbt Moses re-                           WXDDING   ANNIVEQSARY
     ceived from Egypt is not  the  pattern of  Jehovah's
     a& but merely an idea, or conception of an ark,                                          19147-1939
     am idea that bore resemblance to the pattern shown                On October 18, 1989 our dear parents
     him. But to  say  that Moses actually borrowed from                     DIRK and EFFIE MONSMA nee Bylsma
     Egypt is to maintain that what he received from this will celebrate their 25th Wedding Anniversary, D. V.
     pagen land is the very  pattern  of  the  Ark. If there
     was actual borrowing done, the conclusion would be                It is our sincere hope and prayer that  bhe Lord may be
     unavoidable that the rites of the law are pagan rites with them in the futune as He has been in the past.
     sanctified. And  ,how, on the basis of this solution,             We  dIesire  al.so to express our gratitude to God for  Ck-is-
     can the divine commission of Moses `be maintained?            tian  `parents, and we pray that He may  r5pare them for us for
e                                                                  manty years to come.
           We close this article with examining another of                                      Mr. and Mrs.  Lambert  J.  Mulder
     Fairbairn's explanations. We quote, "And the people                                         Mr. and Mrs. Orrie  Vandhzn  Berg
     for whom he (Moses) was to legislate had grown up                                          Jean  Loiuiise
     in a civilized country and an artificial state of  so-,                                     Gladys Joan
     ciety,  familiar, at least, with the results of Egyptian                                    Dwight Jay
     learning, if but little initiated into the learning it-                                       and one Grandson.
     self, naturally called for a corresponding advance-
     ment in the. whole structure of his religious polity ;            Open-house October 38, 1939, in the evening, 524 Eastern .
     for what was needed to develop and express either the Ave., S. E., Grand Rapids, Michigan.
     civil or the religious life of a peop,le  so reared, would
     in many respects differ from what might have suited
     a rude and uncultivated horde.        So that a certain
     regard to the state of things in Egypt was absolutely
     necessary in the Hebrew polity, if it was to possess
     a suitable adaptation to the real progress of society                         DESERTION, Thoughit  of,
     in the arts and manners of civilized life."                        Oh, say not thou art left of God, because His
           The view that comes to the surface in this excerpt                      tokens in the sky
     is plainly this that due to the fact that Israel had               Thou canst not read; this earth He trod, to
     grown up in civilized Egypt, Moses, the Lord, found                           teach thee He was ever'night.
     Himself under the necessity of somewhat accomodat-                 He sees, beneath the fig tree green, Nathaniel
     ing his policy to heathenish notions and customs.                             con His sacred lore ;
     This is the view into which the writer of these lines, ac-         Should'st  thou thy chamber seek, unseen He
     cidentally, to be sure, reasoned himself. If pitfalls                         enters through the unopened door.
     such as this are to be avoided, it must be realized that           And when thou liest, slumber bound, out
     the &vine  *working as  described  above is  the  only                        wearied in the Christian fight,                 fi
     explanation that will do.                                          In glory girt with saints around, He stands                '
                                                 G. M. 0,                          above thee through the night, _ ,               5;


