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

                                                           which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly
              EDITORIALS                                   they are ravening wolves". Matt.  7:15. In his fare-
                                                           well address to the elders of the church of Ephesus
                                                           the  apostIe  Paul warns them: "Take heed therefore
                                                           unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which
             Beware Of False Teachers                      the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the
                                                           church of God, which he  hatih purchased with his own
                                                           blood. For I know this that after my departing shall
        The apostle Paul writes to the' church at Rome grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the
 (Rom. 16 :17,18) : "Now I beseech you, brethren, mark flock. Also of your own selves  shalI men arise, spe&
them which cause divisions and offences  contrary to the ing perverse things, to draw away disciples after
doctrine which ye have learned ; and avoid them. For them", Acts 20:28-30.         In. his epistIe  to the Galatians
they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, he writes about those that trouble the Church and
but their own belly ; and by good words and fair pervert the gospel of Christ, and declares : "But though
speeches deceive the hearts of the simple".                (we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel
        The context of this passage is peculiar. We would unto you than that which we have preached unto you,
not expect such an exhortation here. It occurs in the let him be accursed. .As we said before, so say I now
midst of greetings and salutations and blessings. Ad- again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you
monitions to watch and beware of false teachers are,       than that ye have received, let him be accused", Gal.
of course, very common in the epistle of Paul, and, in     1:8, 9. In the letter to the Ephesians it is emphasized
fact, in all the Word of God. How `ohe people of Israel that believers must not be children, tossed to and `fro
are always warned against the pernicious influence of with every wind of doctrine, and these various winds
false prophets ! The prophet "which shall presume to of doctrine are attributed to "the sleight of men, and
speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to de-
him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other ceive", Eph. 4 :14. Likewise in his epistle to the CoIos-
gods, even that prophet shall die", Deut. 18 :20. If sians the apostle speaks of those who "should beguile
anyone at  all would entice an Israelite to go and serve you with enticing words" and exhorts the Church:
other gods, even it were his own brother, son or "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy
daughter, he might not hearken unto him nor yield to and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the
the temptation, nor must his eye pity him or spare him,    rudiments of the  worl'd, and not after Christ", Col.
but he would surely have to put him to death, and          2:4, 8. And to Timothy he writes: "Now the Spirit
his hand must be first upon him to put him to death.       speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall
Deut.  136-11.  Even if the word of a (false prophet       depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits
would be accompanied by a sign or wonder, given by and doctrines of devils", and he exhorts him: "Take
that prophet, and the wonder came actually to- pass, heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in
the people  ,womd,  nevertheless, be called upon to `put them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself,
,that false prophet to death, "because he hath spoken and them that hear thee", I Tim. 4 :I, 16. In the secoed
to turn you away from the Lord your God, which             epistle of Peter we read: "But there were false pro-
brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed         phets also among the people, even as there shall be
you out of the way which the Lord thy God commanded false teachers am.&ng  you, who privily shall bring in
thee to walk in." Deut.   13:1-5. It is well known that damnable heresies, even denying the Lord fihat bought -
Israel hardly ever hearkened to the words of this bw. them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
They condoned the presence and  work of the false          And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by
prophets in their midst to their own destruction.          reason of whom the truth shall be evil spoken of. And
False teachers frequently abounded in Israel. And the through covetousness- they shall with feigned words
true prophets of the Lord protested and testified make merchandise of you; whose judgment now for a
against them and against their teachings. They are long time lingereth not, and their damnation  slumber-
described as men that committed adultery and  wal'ked      eth not", II Pe. 2  :I-3. And they are described as
in lies, that strengthened the hands of evildoers, so "wells without water, clouds  that are carried with the
that none of them returned from his wickedness. They tempest ; to (whom  the mist of darkness is reserved
promised peace to them that despised the Lord and          (forever",  11 Pe. 2  :17. And to quote once more, the
His precepts, and said to everyone that walked in the      apostle John admonishes the Church:  "Tlf there come
imagination of his own heart, that no evil should come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him.
upon him. Jer. 23  :14, 17. And thus the Church of not into your house, neither bid him God speed; for he
the new dispensation is warned against false teachers that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil
everywhere in the New Testament. The Lord Himself deeds". But the text we first quoted from the Romans
admonished His disciples to "beware of false prophets has peculiar emphasis because of its position and con-


                                        T&HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          173
             -_.
 text. For, it shows that there was no particular oc- served by the Church unto salvation. Of course, if
 casion in the Church at Rome for such .an admonition. only this wedge was driven in deeply enough, the re-
  The false teachers had not as yet entered into that sult would be that the very foundation of the structure
 church to do their evil work. Yet, the apostle warns           of the truth was destroyed. For the law and the cross,
 against them, anticipating their coming, and fully law-righteousness and the righteousness by faith, could
 aware of their pernicious ways and evil effects in the         never both be maintained. Aud thus it always was in
  Church, once they begin their seductions,                     the history of doctrine. If one traces the history of
     Now, from all these passages several things are those churches which today are true churches no more
  evident concerning these false teachers and their doc- to the very beginning of their departure from the
  trines.                                                       truth, one will find that they began by deviating from
      First of all, they plainly inform us as to what m&t       the received truth of the Word of  j God in just a little
  be  .considered  a false doctrine. It is anything, any point of doctrine, apparently insignificant,  ,but, never-
  teaching  that departs from the truth as was preached theless, of fundamental importance, It was the thin
  unto the Church, and as they had received it. In the' edge o,f the ,wedge. But the consistency of the truth is
  text from Romans it is designated as any "divisions or inexorable. And principles cannot be repressed. And
  offences  contrary to the doctrine which ye have learn- the breach is gradually widened, until the Church that
  ed". This implies that the Church in Rome had been adopted the error has become the false.church.
^ indoctrinated. They had not merely heard the gospel              The  present,  practically hopeless division and sepa-
  in the narrow sense of the word, but they had been ration of the Church in the  <world  can be traced as to
  so instructed that they knew the Christian doctrine.          its origin to just such small beginnings of ,departure
  And the false teachers sought to inculcate  a doctrine        from the truth. It was on such points as the question
  that was contrary to this instruction lwhich they had of the sacraments, the relation between the sign and
  received through  the apostles.. For us this means,           the thing obsignated, the question as to the value of
  therefore, .&at a :false  doctrine is any tenet or teaching our good works, the difference between sovereign elec-
  that is contrary to the Word of God as we possess it in tion and election on the ground of foreseen faith, irre-
  the Scriptures.                                               sistible grace, man as a free agent, infant baptism,
      Besides, let us note, that such a false doctrine          the meaning of atonement,  tat&  depravity, and other
  causes  `!diwision  or schisms" and "offences". Suah is qustions, that different  churches  began to depart from
  the effect of the work of false teachers. They cause          the truth. And any present day attempt at reunion
  schisms and  offences  contrary to the doctrine the certainly cannot with impunity ignore this historical
  Church had learned.         Divisions and  offences  must truth.
  needs come.        And there are divisions and  offences          But the result of the evil work of false teachers be-
  that are ,caused by the truth, that are quite in agree- comes manifest in still another way.
  ment with the true ductrine  of the Word of God. But              They not only cause schisms in the truth and in the
  a false teacher causes a schism, first of ail, in the body    Church of Christ in the world, but they also cause
  of the truth, and, therefore, also in the Church. He offences. An offence  in the Biblical sense of the word
  drives a wedge into the body of the truth. Let us note is not simply an insult, as the word would denote in
  this point, for it is important. A teacher of false doc- its present meaning. It is a stumblingblock. The
  trine in the Church is not one  that openly and complete      word, therefore, refers to the  w,alk and life of the
  ly *denies the truth as it is in Christ. If this were the Christian in the world. It indicates that an obstacle is
  case, he would be rather easily discerned, deceive no         put in the way of a Christian  *walk, so that the be-
  one and fmd no place in the Church for his evil work.         liever stumbles and falls  ,over  it. Doctrine and life
  But sohisms  are usually not caused in that fashion. are inseparably connected. `A false doctrine is often
  And false teachers do not come in that way. They introduced and maintained in order to justify a sinful
  usually pretend to confess the truth of the gospel.           life, a walk according to the standard of the world and
  Only they ,differ with the adopted truth on one funda-        of the flesh. But, on the other hand, a false doctrine
  mental point, and even this particular point of differ- also leads to an unchristian life .and walk in the midst
  ence they commonly attempt to introduce by either of this present world. False doctrines, therefore, are
  minimizing its impo&ance  or camouflaging it under off ences . They are  stumbIingblocks  that cause the
  cover and appearance of the truth. Thus it was with believers to fall, and lead the Church of Christ into
  regard to the false teachers of the apostle's day. Often the world.
  it was the wedge of circumcision they drove into the              And this is another distinguishing mark of a false
  organic unity of the body of the truth, and by which doctrine. The first is that it is always contrary to the
  they attempted to cause schism in the church. They Word of God. This test of the Word of God should al-
  pretended to believe the gospel. Thy confessed Christ.        ways rigidly be applied. A false teacher is apt to
  But they insisted that the law of Moses, as represented       avoid this test. He prefers to defend his views by
  by the rite of circumcision was still  #valid, must be ob- ,human reasoning. Never must we allow him to do


174                                    TIHE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   '

this. Let the Word of Cod always be the criterion              the Protestant Churches do not represent the  tr,ue
by which any doctrine be judged. But the second is             Church.
that of the practical effect' of a doctrine on the life and        The Romish Church consistently considers itself the
walk of the believer. If a doctrine has the salutary only true Church on earth. And it calls all other
effect  of being conducive to a sanctified life, you may       churches "sects".
depend on it that it is the truth. If on the other hand,           But also among Protestants this word "sect" was
a certain view or theory leads us into the  Iworld, away       adopted, usually to express  ,that a certain group had no
from the precepts of Christ and from a sanctified walk,        claim to the name of "church".
you may be equally sure that it is a false doctrine.               And, as is well known, the attempt was made more
       The truth is never a stumblingblock.                    than once to brand our Protestant Reformed Churches
       There is not even the slightest danger that  empha-     as simply a sect, not worthy of, not entitled to the
sis on the truth leads astray from the way of sanctifi-        name of Church. l3storically this can easily be under-
cation.                                                        stood.     It is the Christian. Reformed Churches that
       Even in the lighh of this truth, the theory.of com- * expelled us from their fellowship. It also is become
mon grace is a very evident error. Even its adherents          increasingly clear to  tie leaders of those churches,
admit that there is a danger in that theory; that it has       that this expulsion and ejection  <were  a mistake. What
a tendency toward  worl:dly-mindedness.         It should      they did in 1924 cannot be justified in the light of
not be overemphasized,  *they  say.                            Scripture and the Reformed Confessions. Even while
   This, however, condemns the theory.  '                      they were in the ad of expelling, us, they themselves
   For, the truth has the very  opwsite  effect. You           bore witness that we are fundamentally Reformed, that
cannot overemphasize the truth and a  walik according          we are in harmony with the very truths they also
to it. The purer the doctrine tie purer the life. The          profess as a basis of unity. Hence, they committed an
more the truth is emphasized the more stress is laid           error, a sin. They were the cause of a breach. And
upon the obligation of a new and holy life in the world.       they caused the ,breach by ,falsifying  and corrupting
   It is only the false doctrine that causes offence.          their confessions.
                                               H. H.               These are bare facts.
                                                                   Only sophistry can present these facts in a different
                                                               light.
                                                                   NQW,  if only the Christ Reformed leaders and
                   Church And Sect                             churches would confess the error of their way, admit,
                                                               as they themselves can  clearIy  see if they are not
   Just what is a sect in distinction from the Church,         utterly ,blinded by ecclesiastical prejudice, that, they
or even from a church?                                         erred in ejecting us from thei,r midst, there ,would be a
   This question would appear to be of practical  inter- way to heal the breach.
est, both for the Church in general, and for our                   But this they refuse to do.
churches in particular. For, we surely believe one holy            The result is, as always, that they ,harden  them-
catholic Christian Church. Yet, always in the history selves in their sinful *way. And another result is, that
of the Church of Christ in the world there were                they attempt to present the history of 1924 in a light
schisms, divisions, separations, secessions, and the that is as favorable as possible for them.
,one Church <was divided into so many separate groups,             One of these attempts is that they always insist
distinct from one another in their confession of the that we sepmted  ourselves from the Christian Re-
truth, that it is  diflicult to maintain the oneness of formed Churches. We were not ejected, but we se-
the Church on earth, that, at least, the article in the        ceded without a justifiable ground. We were not ex-
confession that expresses this unity and catholicity peltled, but we left.
Iwould  seem to be a rather abstract statement, that is            Strange though it may seem, ,and however flagrant
quite out of harmony with actually existing conditions.        a distortion of the clear facts it may be, this is the
   This is especially true since the time of the Refor- story they invented in order to bring a little light into
mation of the sixteenth century.                               that dark page of thei,r  history that was written in
   Before that important event the Church in the               1924.
world was one, outwardly at least.                                 And thus they try to brand us as a sect.
   But not long after the Protestant Churches were                 They must even have whispered something of the
separated from the Roman Catholic Church, the former kind in the ears of Dr. Aalders,  when he visited our
became hopelessly divided, confessions multiplied, country last summer. How otherwise could he have
schisms rent the Church, and it seems as if the R,oman         called <us a "one man church" ?
Catholic Church has reason to point to all this division           And they  &have often invented definitions of the
and constant disruption to corroborate their contention word "sect", that were especially adapted to fit. our
that the Refurmation was out of the devil, and that case.


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          175
 -
 ' Rut i.t must also be equally clear that `eve are not concerning this sect, we know that it is eve-here
 pleased with this denomination or appellation. What- spoken against". Again,' the Latin has "secta".
 ever  may be the specific meaning of the term  se&, we           Different is the case in I Cor. 11:18, 19: "For first
 all feel spontaneously that it is in bad taste ; and what- of all, when ye come together in the church,  I hear
 ever else may be implied in the word, it  certainly            that there be divisions  (s&&mats.)  among you. For
 mea31s  to deny the group to which it is' applied the there must also be heresies (haireseis) among you,
 right to be called a  churrch.  And, therefore, it  ca.n that they which are approved may be made manifest
 readily be understood that we are loath to adopt the           among you". Here the Latin uses the word "hereses";
 name.                                                          the.auOhorized  English version employs the term "here-
      And thus it is an interesting question: Church or sies"; the American Revised Version, however, prefers
 Sect ?                                                         the word "factions".
      It may even be interesting and profitable to give            Again, in Gal. 5  :20 we read: "The words of the
 the question a still more practical and concrete form, flesh are manifest. . . . strifes, seditions, heresies".
 and to ask: are the Christian Reformed or the Pro-             (Latin : *`se&a"  ; A.R.N. "parties").
 testant Reformed Churches rightly denominated a                   And in a positively ,bad sense the word is used in
 Sect?.                                                         II Pe.  2:l:  ". . . . as there shall be false teachers
      Let us, then, ask, first of all : what is a sect?    "    among you, who privily shall bring in damnable here-
      The word occurs several times in the Bible.               sies" (Latin : sectas perditionis).
      It must be remembered that our word "sect" is                Let us see an&her  time, what light the meaning
 derived not from the Greek of the New Testament, but of this ,word as it occurs in Scripture throws on the
 from the Latin "Se&a". The Greek word in the New signification of "sect".
 Testament that is frequently translated. "sect" is the                                                       H. H.
 word "hairesis". Let me quote a few passages from
 Scripture where this  Iword "hairesis" occurs in the
 Greek, and show you how it is translated in the differ-
 ent passages.
      In Acts 5  :17 we read in our Authorized Version of
 the Bible: "Then the high priest arose and  all that                       `t Wordt Steeds Duidelijker
 were. with him, which is the sect of the Pharisees".
 Here the Greek is "hair&s" for our word ysect",  the              Dat  men' van de zijde der  Christelijke   Gerefor-
 Vulgate (Latin) uses the word.  "here&?`. Yet, in meerde Kerken het jarenlange stilzwijgen heeft ge-
 spite of this rendering in the Vulgate, the English,           broken en over de dingen,  die ens in 1924 uiteen deden
 both the authorized and revised versions, the Dutch, gaan  begon  te schrijven, +kan niet anders dan heilzaam
 German and French, all tranlate by "sect".                     werken.
      In Acts 15 :5 we read: `<But there rose up certain of        Men mag dan nog zooveel draaien en knoeien, en
 the sect of the Pharisees, which believed,`. Here trachten  ons te beklad,den  door allerlei onwaarheden
 again we have the. same situation as ,in the previous          en soheeve  voorstellingen,  men kan bet intusschen  tech
 passage: the Greek uses the word  ",:hairesis",  the Latin niet  voorkomen,  dat de waarheid `steeds helderder aan
 "here&", all other ~&ram&&ions  have "sect".                   ,het licht treedt, en dat men hoe langer zoo meer open-
      Iin Acts 24 :5 :we fmd : "For we have found this man baart, dat men in de Drie Punten van Kalamazoo we1
 a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all          degelijik  bedoelt  enkele fundamenteele  dwahngen  te
 the Jews throughout the'  world, and a ringleader of handhaven.
the sect of the Nazarines". Though the same word                   We hebben altijd volgehouden, dat ihet eigenlijke          .
 occurs here in the original as in the former passages,         puntje  aan het eerste der Drie  Punten  we1 degelijk
 the Vulgate translates here by "secta",  and again all in den grond Arminiaansch  is. De uitspraak, dat God
 the other renderings have "sect".                              in en door de prediking  des Evangelies  allen,  die het
      We may note that in Acts 26:5  the apostle Paul           Evangelic  hooren,  genadig is of bedoelt  te  zijn,  be-
 employs the" word himself, with application to the re- teekent  in den grond niets anders dan dat bet Gods
 ligious group among the Jews to which he used to be- ernstige  bedoeling is, om allen te zaligen. Wat zou ze
 long ; which shows that the word cannot have had an ook anders kunnen  beteekenen ? Wie, die in alle een-
 evil connotation at that time: "Which knew me from voud.igheid,  zonder theologische sophisterij leest, dat
 the beginning, if they would testify, that after the most God  aan allen   welmeenend  Zijne genade aanbiedt door
 strait& sect of our religion, I lived a Pharisee". bet Evangelic,  kan ,dat anders verstaan, dan dat God
 Here also the Vulgate renders  the Greek f`hairesis" by ernstiglijk  abedoelt  allen, die het Woord  ,hooren te
 %&&-a'?.      .                                                redden ?
      It is, at least, doubtful whether it is not used in          En wat is dit anders dan Arminianisme?
 a. less favorable sense in Acts 28  :22: ". . . . fur as          Maar men sprak  dit. altijd tegen.


184                                     T.HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

haar waardschatting  nouit wordt beheerscht door het indruk  is van het  geval. De aanwezigen  rekken de
beginsel der  vreeze  Gods. Wat niets bezit van de habxm,   om  tooh   aUes  goed op te nemen.  ,Het  "geva$'
aardsche. rijkdommen is  niets. Wat voor oogen is beef%         is van dien aard, dat zelfs de man op de preekstoe1
voor de. wereld alleen  . beteekenis.       De  natuurlijke     zijn  verwondering  niet kan verbergen.            En  aIs we
mensch kan de geestdijke  rijkdum  van aardsche pracht tmks de kerk verlaten  dan zullen  we niet met  zooveIe
en zheerlijkheid  niet onderscheiden, zij zijn hem dwaas- woorden,  maar to& in onze houding wel laten  merken
heid. En  wanneer   nu blijkt,  dat Gods verkiezing  uit-       hoe zeer wij het "geval".  op prijs steBen.
gaat tot de  armen,  die  Hij verkoor, dan  verstaat  de            Doch  ziet ! Daar komt er nog een  aan.  Oak  een
natuurlijke  mensch dit  niet,  omdat hij  duister en boos rijke?  Nu, er kan nog  meer bij van dat soort. Hoe
is, nuemende  bet a&s even dwaas en verachtelijk. Al meer  daarvan,  hoe liever.  Mis  hoor! Hij  *word+, niet
het edele en schoone  van Gods werk wurdt met een .naar  wren  gebracht. Met een gebaar wordt hem te -
pennestreek voor onedel  en verachte1ij.k  verklaard.           kennen   gegeven,  dat  `achter in"  p1aat.s is.  ,En  als  die..
       Daarom is het, dat  Jacobus  in de tweede plaats, .de    arme  dan  daar   achter in  met  goed  begrijpt waar de
broeders op hun gedrag wijst.. Hun gedrag tegenover plaats is; dan wordt hem toegesnauwd, daar man !
de rijken vormt zulk  eengruwelijke tegenstelling,  om-         wijzend  naar  de laagste  plaats.
dat het  tevens  bun gedrag tegenover den  ChTistus                 Gebefde broeders, heeft aardsch  guud en goed uwe
bepaalt.                                                        oogen venblind  ?
       Letten  we er op, dat de rijken en  armen, in het            Kunt ge niet  meer onderscheiden?
voorafgaande  vers, weliswaar  .niet nader  worden  om-             Heeft God niet verkoren de armen?
schrmn, als geloovigen en ongeloovigen, maar Jacobus                Zijn zij niet de erfgenamen des Koni#nkrijks?
last'-duidelijk  uitkomen,  dat zij in  bun  handebvijze            In de sfeer des geloofs beteekent al :het goed  en al
oo'k de  armen  in eigen  midden,  door God  verkoren,          het goud niets. De rijkdom der `gemeente is, een geheel .
behandelen  naar denzelfden  maatstaf.   Jacobus  zegt andere en wisselt .gij nu dat geheel andere,,  het geeste-
immers, en gansch  de Schrift  ,getuigt  het, dat ,de uit- lijkAhemeleche,  in voor het aardsohe  en tijdelijke, dat
verkoornen in hun  midden niet vele rijlken  en  edelen         vergaat ?
tellen? In den grand.  der zaak dan ook een'loochening              Zijt ge  navolgers  Gods  als geliefde kinderen?
van Gods  verkiezin.g  in hun  midden en daarom een                 Zijt ge erfgenamen'? Of is het wehicht zoo, dat ge.
Ioochening  van Gods heerlijkheid  en die van Christus. aan die  heerbjkheid  des Heeren  de4  maatstaf  der
En de openbaring van ahun zonde was in bun gedr&g               wereld ter hand hebt genomen. Want de loochemng
tegenover  rijken  en armen  zeer goed  te zien. De oor-        van die heerlijkheid is de loochening van het feit da2
zaak van dilt ,gedrag  bestond in de zonde  van het aan- uw Heiland  a&en heerlijh is. Erfgenamen  zijt ge en
nemen mn "den persoon,  zijn goud en geld, zijn naam            ge gedraagt u a&of het geen waarde heeft  en ge ver-
en opgang, die hij in de wereld maakte. Welnu, als              gaapt  u aan he-t vergangkelijke.
die handelwijze  consequent werd doorgetrokken, dan
zou. ook die wereldsche  maatstaf  worden  aangelegd  in            Ge zijt der wereldgelijkvormig geworden.
verband met de armen  in eigen midden.                              Erfgenamen van het Koninkrijk hebben  zich  laten
       Waarum dat .ook we1 in de  Kerk  des Heeren gezien       verleiden  en zijn oogendienaars  geworden. Doch  zhier-'
wordt? Gezien; dat de arme geheel  achter de rijken             over later,-  D. V.
,wurdt geplaatst  en de rijken de voornaamste plaatsen                            ".                               w. v.
innemen? Och, het is niet zoo moeilijk dit te verkla-
ren. Hebt ge we1 eens tot een arme en tegelijkertijd
kleine  gemeente  Ib&oord?   Last  ons in haar  midden
voor tijd en wij!e verkeeren. We zijn  oak arm en de
gemeente ging er met onze komst  fmancieel  niet op
vooruit.  0 ja, we  waren   weIkum   toen we kwamen,               Peace On Earth ; Good Will `TO Man'
we vuiden  mede  het gebouwtje  toen we ens met onze               .So reads the captian  d an article appealing .in  a
families aamdoten (arme menschen hebben in den regel            recent issue of a certain radioal-  magazine - an article
nog  a.l  ,groote  gezinnen),  maar  veel  meer  valt er dan in w.hich its ,author voices the bitterest anguish of soti
odk niet te zeggen. ,Het moge voor den prediker  aan-. and the false hope of the ch3dren  of the would in a
genaam zijn  als er minder  leege plaatsen  worden  ge-
zien,  do&  iinancieel  ging de zaak er  niet  op  vooruit.     language seldon heard.
                                                                    The article reads in part:
Het bleef tobben, zoodat de  m&&en  bleven zuchten.
       Doch ziet ! Daar stapt op. een zekere  Zondag een            Today the  prom.ise of the Angels to the Shepherds
rijke  ens gebouwtje  binnen.  Wat  een'pracht.   Pracht on the fie& of Bethlehem sounds like a cruel hoax.
van Meeren en "beringd" is die man. Allies goud aan N& all the eloquence and elocution of the fulloweres
zijn  vingers.  Zijn  vrouw ditto. De koster  brengt hem of the  crucified  Prince of Peace can make it sound
up. Je kan zoo nmar zien, dat die ook erg onder d&              otherwise.


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       185
          .--
   The world is torn by hate and fear and war. From `and bloody New Year is courage to fight on. Coo,
the icy tundras of the Arctic Circle to the southernmost heads that this nation may not be swept into the com-
tips of Asia, Africa and America, men flee from the          ing hell ; hearts that feel deeply the woes of our
angels of science btiat are cursing mankind with the brothers of every clime. And above all, a large measure
1939 message of splintered  ,steel, fire, poison, death of the soul of the Crucified Carpenter.
and destruction.                                                And if praying there be, let us pray for two wider
   In the lheart of Europe, the highest civilized, rn& and deeper oceans !
cultured, most Christian nations are engaged in a new           The .writer  of the article hurls at us a challenge,
murderfest - on land, in air, on water and beneath.          "Today the promise of the angels to the shepherds
Shepherd feeders, cloth and tent makers are bleeding, on the fields of Bethlehem sounds like a cruel hoax.
crying, moaning on a hundred  battlefiel~ds.     Two of Not  all  the eloquence and elocution  of the followers of
the Ietest children of "progress," airplane and sub- the crucified  Priace of Peace can make it sound other-
marine, are  stalking  each other like jungle beasts. &wise."
Pruning  ho&s and plow-shares are beaten into imple-            In accepting. this challenge as  Cod's  believing
ments af slaughter in every land. Man-made sharks people and in replying to it, we must set out with
`and birds of prey are feeding sharks and Ibuzzards..        affirming that there is peace on earth ; and good  wiR
   And I ask my poor bemuddled head: Is this the to men, or, as the text reads in the original, peace on
fruit of 2,000 years of Christianity?      .                 earth in men of good pleasure. It is the peace that
   Is this that for which the greatest lover of mankind is the portion only of that land and people  Ifreed from
,died on the Cross of Golgotha? Is it for this +hat the God's curse. And there is this people, God's chosen,
AU-Father  gave a spark of  bis creative force to miser- for whom Christ prepared peace.
able little man? The creative force  wherewi.th  to rear        Man, giving ear to the words of the devil, trans-
paradise on earth - or dig a deeper and hotter hell .gressed the commandment of life which he had re-
than Satan has waiting below?                                ceived. Then God pronounced upon man His curse.
   Happy Y&tide  !                                           He sai,d : "Die, that it may `appear to thee, that I am
   Festive spruce !                                          life and that thus life apart from Me  Iis death. Let
   Hail, the Saviour is born!                                there dwell in thee anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy,
   A sorry sight our miserable  race in this best of our fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affections, h&s,
worlds ! Sorry enough as to cause the God of Genesis hab, murder, that thou  mayest perceive that I am
to rue the day when Ihe shaped Adam and Eve. For light and that there is in me no darkness at all.
it is a bankrupt world, bankrupt in purse, faith, hope,         This is God's curse. And it walke over the earth.
heart and brain.                                             It permeates all existence. By it man is driven as chaff
   Even here  *in the richest and most abundantly before the wind. It troubles man, so th& `he rages and
blessed of all lands, tie  spectre  of want, ,fear,  hate and foams out his shame. There is sin ; there is death be-
woe stalks the streets, contemporary witch-hunters cause God curses. The world is "stricken and  oId from
stalk contemporary nay-sayers, protestants and  here- the sins of dead robbers and power-drunken dictators"
tics. Out of the land of milk and honey and overflow- because God curses. The .world is torn by hate and
ing fieshpots comes the cry of hungry children, the fear and war because God curses. Pruning hooks and
moans of  `weary mothers and despairing *fathers. Holy plowshares are being beaten into implements of slaugh-
Inquisition  - Dies committee. Soothsayers and medi- ter in every (land, beoause  God curses. In the heart of
cine men  - educators, scribes, parsons and mono- Europe, the  uations  *are engaged in a new murderfest
maniacs leading their flocks to bloody welter.               -on land, in ,air, on water and beneath, because God
   Yet let us not despair ! On the Icontrary,  let all of curses.     And God curses because man sinned. He
`us with heart in breast and mind beneaCh  the thatch shook his fist in God's face. And ever he defies God
toil as never before-for peace  .and good  will to- with increasing vehemence. He says there is no God
ward men.     Long, cruel,  ~bitter  and  Iheartbreaking,    because he .hates God and loves iniquity.
strewn with bones *and slippery with blood has been             Wlhat  then is this peace of which the angels sang?
man's upward march.       Yes, upward march always, It is reconciliation to God in Christ. It is love of God,
in spite #of blind leaders of the blind, killers of inno- a being partaker of His nature, and thus a being at
cents, predatory beasts of prey in human ,ga.rb ; despite one with Him in mind and will, thought, deed and de-
much back+Jiding  and many dark ages. What seems sire. It is thinking, willing and desiring Him exclusive--
to be the end of this thing called civilization may be IY.        It is  tha& tranquility of heart and mind that
but another of ,the turning points of history, in w'hich springs from the assurance ,of being his beloved son
poor, blundering little man pays this away out of dark- in Christ, freed from  the curse and with sins forgiven.
ness and despair to a brighter  day-4ways  a brighter It is thus confidence toward God. There is this peace.
day, and  always  redemption by blood.                       It is the peace that is the portion of His people,-the
   So the best I can wish you this sorry Christmas people that He foreknew  in His counsel, and did pre-

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

  destinate to be oonformed  according to the image of               So God's believing people say that the song of the
  His Son, justified and glorified in His  ,council  before the angels is according to truth. And standing in their
  foundation of the world and in time quickened together faith, they expect this city ti peace, which is the city
  witi Chri&-a  people therefore wlhom  He also actually of God. For God has promised-promised that, at the
  saves to the  ,uttermost  and  u,nto  #whom  He now and appearing of Christ, His tabernacle will be among them
  everlastingly multiplies His  peaeMnd  mercy and on the new earth, in the heavenly land of peace. And
  love.                                                           this world? It will pass away with all that is in it.
         There is then a people ,of peace. And so, too, is           "What seems to be the end of this thing called civili-
  there a land of peace : the new earth ; an,d ,a city of zation," I am again quoting, "may be *but another of
  peace: the new Jerusalem. In  this land and its city the cruel turning points of history, in which poor,
  there is no ,death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither bundering  little man pays his way out of darkness and
  shall be any more pain ; for the former things are despair to a brighter day-always a brighter day, and
  passed away. It is the city of peace. Its inhabitants always redemption by blood." Here is expressed the
  see His  <face ; and His name is in their foreheads. And hope of the wicked. B,ut it is a hope that will perish.
  there no wise enters into it anything that  defileth,           The way in which the wicked stand leads not to a
  neither niYthatsoever  worketh  abomination, or m&k&h           brighter day. It is a way that is covered with gross
  a lie. Should such enter into it, its peace would be dis- and everlasting darkness. N.either do the iwicked pay
  turbed, would be gone. Therefore must the fearful, ,their  way. Rut they are paid. And the pay is ever-
  and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers lasting death. For the wages of sin is death.
  ,and whoremongers,  and sorcerers, and idolaters, and                                                     G. M. 0.
  all $liars, have their part in :t!he lake that  burn&h  with
  fire and  brimestone.  They belong not to the people
  of peace.                                 I'
         And this peace is solely Gods. By Him it ww con-
  ceived and prepared in and through Christ. And by
  Him it is also bestowed.
         It is a peace whioh He prepared through His mak-           Prophecies  Concerning  The Life And
  ing His only begotten Sun, our Christ, a curse for  the                       Character Of Christ
  cursed, through His bruising and wounding Him for
  the iniquities and the transgression of the damned.                The predictions contained in the Old Testament
  And such  Iwere this people of peace in themselves.             respecting both the family out of which the Messiah
  But from the curse they  (have been redeemed  Iby Christ. "was to rise, and the place of His birth, are equally ap-
  And His'chastisement  is their peace.                           plicable to Christ, as those which refer to the time of
         And Christ bestows this peace. "Peace be unto            His appearance. But the facts of His life, and the
  you" says He :to His people and in their hearts. He `features of His &aracter,  are also drawn with a pre-
  .does not merely  wish His people peace. He actually cision that cannot be misunderstood. The obscurity,
  gives them peace through His cleansing them from the meanness, and the poverty of His external cvn-
  all their sins in His blood, that is, through His bring- ditions are represented as follows :-He shall grow up
  ing them in actutal  contact with the virtue of His blood before Him as a tender plant, snd <as a root out of a
  by His Spirit and thus also through His assuring them dry ground ; he bath no form nor comliness ; and when
  in their hearts that, be they ever so ill-deserving and we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should
  condemnable in themselves, they are in Him, Who is desire him. Thus saiGh the Lord,-to him whom man
  their righteousness and  redempti,on,  the beloved of God.      despisetch,  to him whom the nations  abhoreth,  to a
  So is He truly the prince of peace. He is this, because servant of rulers, kings shall <see  and arise, princes
  He prepared peace for His people and because He is              also shall worship" (Isa. 53 ; 49 :7). That such was the
also able to bestow peace, to place it in the actual condition in which Christ appeared, the whole history
  possession of His own.                                          of His life abundantly testifies. And the Jews looking
         So many wtho hail Him as the prince of peace, de- in the pride of their heart for an earthly king, dis-
  prive Him in their minds of His power to actually               regarded these prophecies regarding Him, were de-
  make, establish peace. Their reasoning is that man ceived by their traditions, and found only a stone of
  must allow Christ to bestow peace and that if man  is           stumbling, where, if they had searched the Scriptures
  unwilling, Christ  finds Himself under the necessity aright,  they would have discovered an evidence of
  of letting the unwilling one perish. And so they think the Messiah. "Is not this the carpenter's son ; is not
  to have found a solution for their problem ,why there this the son of Mary? said they, and they were offended
  is no more peace on this earth. Men are unwilling to at him." `His riding in triumph into Jerusalem ;  His
  open their  hearts to Christ. If this reasoning is true- being betrayed by thirty pieces of silver, and scourged
  but it is not true-Christ is a colossal failure.                and buffeted, and spit upon ; the piercing of His hands


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             187

 and of His feet; the last offered draught of vinegar and of me." They did testify of the coming of a Messiah
 galll; the parting  of His raiment, the casting of lots and of the perfection of His nature. And if the life of
 upon His vesture ; the manner of his death and of His Jesus ,was wonderful of itself, how miraculous it ap-
 burial, and His rising ,again without seeing corruption, pears,  .when  all His actions  fulfil the prediction of the
 -were all expressly predicted, and all these predictions Christ.
 were `literally fulfilled. If all these prophecies admit of            In describing the blessings of the reign of the
 any application to the events of the life of any indi-             Messiah, the prophet Isaiah foretold the greatness of
 vSdua1, it  van  only be  to that of Christ. And what              His deeds :-" The eyes of the blind shall be opened,
 other religion can produce a single fact  wthich  was              and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped : then shall
 actually foretold of its fou'nder?                                 the lame man leap as a heart, ansd the tongue of the
     `rihough  the .personal appearance or earthly condi- ,dumb sing (Isa. 35 :3, 6). The history of Christ shows
 tion of the Messiah was represented by the prophets how  much such  acts of mercy formed the frequent
 in Israel, so as to bespeak no grandeur, His personal exercise of His power: at His word, the blind received
 character is described as of a higher order tmhan  that of their sight, the lame walked, the deaf heard, and the
 the sons of men. "Thou art fairer than the children of dumb spake.
men : `grace is poured into thy lips (Ps. 45 2). He !hath              The death of Christ was as .unparallel  as His life ;
 done no violence, neither was there any ,deceit in His and the prophecies are as minutely descriptive of His
 mouth (Isa. 40 : 11). T,he Spirit of the Lord shall rest sufferings as of His virtues. Not only did the pa&al
 upon Him, the Spirit  d wisdom and  un'derstanding,
 the Spirit of  ,counsel  and might, the Spirit of                  lamb which was to be killed every year in all the
                                                           know-    families of Israel-which was to be taken out of the
 ledge and of the fear of the Lord (Isa.  11:2). The
 Lord God bath given me the tongue of the learned,                  flock to be without blemish-to be eaten with bitter
                                                                    herbs, to .have its blood sprinkled, and to be kept whole
 that I should know how tv speak ,a cword in season to that not a bone of it should be broken ; not only did the
 him that is weary (Isa. 50  :4). He shall feed His flock
 like a shepherd ; He shall gather His lambs with His offering up of Isaac, and the lifting up of the brazen
                                                                    serpent in the wilderness, by looking upon which the
 `arm, and carry them in IHis bosom (Isa. 40 :ll) . A
 bruised reed He shall not break, and the smoking flax people  awere healed,-prefigure the manner of Christ's
 shall he not quench (Isa. 40                                       death, and the sacrifice which was to 
                                  :3) . Behold, the <king com-                                                the made for sin :
 eth unto thee ; he is just, and having salvation ; lowly, but many express declarations abound in the pro-
 riding upon an ass (Zeeh.  9 :ll) . He  %was  oppressed phecies; that Christ was indeed to suffer. Excmsive
 and afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was of the repeated declarations `in the Psalms, of afflic-
 brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep be- tions  w'hich  apply literally to Him, and are interwoven
 fore her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth with references to Christ's kingdom, the prophet
 (Isa. t&l 3). I gave my tback to the smiters, and my Daniel,, in limiting the time of His coming, directly
 cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; I hid my                 affirms that the Messiah was to be cut `off; ,and in the
 face from shame and spitting (Isa.  50:6). The Lord same manifest reference,  Zechariah uses these em-
 God hath opened my ear, ,and I was not rebellious ;                phatic words : "Awake, 0 sword, against my Shepherd,
 neither turned away back. The Lord  rwill help me, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord
 therefore shall I not be confounded ; therefore have I of Hosts: smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be
 set my face like a flint, and I  ,know   that I shall not scattered. I will pour upon the house of David, and
 be <ashamed (Isa. 1:5, 6) ."                                       upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace
     How many virtues are thus represented in the and of supplication ; and they shall look upon me whom
 prophecies  ,as  ciharacteristic  of the Messiah ; and how they  ,have pierced, and they shall mourn  hfor him
 applicable they all are to Christ alone, and how clearly           (Zech. 13 :`7 ; 12 : 10).
 embodied in His nature. His wisdom and knowledge,                     But Isaiah, who described the glory of the kingdom
 His speaking as man never spoke, the general meekness              to come, characterizes with the accuracy of a historian,
 of His manner, His perfect righteousness, and sinless the humiliation, the trials and the agonies  which were
 purity, his  #klindness and compassion, His genuine to precede the triumphs of the Redeemer of the world ;
 ,humility,  His  *greatness,  His unconquerable courage, and the history of Christ forms, to the very letter, the
 His firm resolution, His more than human forbearance,              completion of His every prediction. In a  sinigle pas-
 his perfect trust in God, His complete resignation to sage, the sufferings of the servant of God are so min-
 H.is will, His ri'ghteous  wrath and Iholy indignation,-           utely foretold, that no illustration is needed to show
 are all portrayed in  t,he liveliest terms  ; and among all that they testify of  Oh&t.
 *who ever breathed the breath of life, they can be ap-                "5He is despised and rejected of men. He came unto
 plied to Christ  alone.                                            His own, and his own received him not; he had not
    "If I do not the                                                ,where  to lay his head ; they derided him."
                         works   of my  F'ather  believe me not,
 -search the Scriptures for these are they that testify                "`A  ma.%  of  SOWOW and  acquainted with grief."'

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

Jesus wept at the grave of Lazarus; He mourned over `righteousness ; by .whose  stripes we are healed." All
Jerusalem ; he felt the ingratitude and the cruelty of we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every
men  ;  .He bore the contradiction of sinners against Him- one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him
self: and these are expressions of sorrow lwhich pro- the  iniquities  of us all. "All fleslh have sinned ; ye were
ceeded from His own mouth, "Father if it be possible,        as sheep gone astray, but ye are now returned unto
let this cup pass from me ; but for this end came I into     the Shepherd and Bishop of  yuur souls." He hath done
the world. My God!, my God!, *why hast thou forsaken no violence; neither was there any deceit in His mouth;
me ?"                                                        Thou shalt  .make his soul an offering  for sin.  "God
       "we  hid,  as it were, our faces from  him, he was made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin."
despised, and we esteemed  him not." All his disciples           The whole of this prophecy thus refers to  t,he
forsook Him and fled. Not this man but Barabbas;             Messiah. It -describes both His debasement and His
now Barabbas was a robber. The soldiers mocked dignity, His rejection by the Jews, His humility, His
Him, and  Ibowed the knee before Him in derision."           affliction, and His agony, His love, how His Iwords were
    The list of His suffering is continued in the words disbelieved, how His state  *was lowly,  hcmw  His sorrow
of the prophecy: We did esteem him stricken, smitten was severe, how He opened not His'momh  but to make
of God, and afflicted. He  was wounded, he was op-           intercession for the transgressors. It presents spot-
pressed, he was afflicted, he was brought as a lamb less innocence, suffering by appointment of God, death
to the slaughter. He was taken away by distress and as the issue of perfect obedience, His righteous servant
by judgment. He was cut off of the land of th,e living." as forsaken by God, and one who Himself was  wi,thout
He was crucified in the flower  of His age. His grave sin, bearing the chactisement  of many guilty.
was appointed with the wicked, and with the rich in                                                     G. M. 0.
his death. His grave `was doubtless appointed with the
Iwicked,  or the two thieves with whom He was crucified,
but Joseph of Arimathea,,a  rich man, went and begged
the body of Jesus and laid it in his own tomb. He was
,numbered  with the transgressors. Barabbas was pre-
ferred before Him.       He was crucified between two
thieves; and the Jews said  ,unto Pilate, "If he was not                The Levitical Priesthood
$a malefactor, ewe would not have delivered :him up unto
thee." His visage was so marred, ,more  than any man,           The Levitical priests were so peculiarly connected
and his form  more  than  the  sons  of  men,-without with the tabernacle and its service, that a study of the
any ,direct allusion made to it, but in literal fulfillment typolugy  of Scripture would not be complete that did
of the prophecy-the bloody sweat, the traces of the not set forth the place which these persons occupied
crown of thorns, His having been spitted on, and smit- in the scheme of things that formed the 0l.d Tes&ament
ten on the head, disfigured the face ; while the scourge,    Dispensation.    In this article we therefore consider
the nails in His Bands and in His feet, and the spear the Levitical priesthood.
that pierced His side, marred the form of Jesus more            Attention must first be directed to the fact ,that the
than that of the sons of men.                                book of Genesis and the first twenty seven chapters
    That the  ,description  of the Messiah's sufferings of the book of Exodus make no mention of $a priesthood
might not admit of any ambiguity, the dignity of His in the holy line of Seth (the third from Adam) and
person, the unbelief of the Jews, the innocence of the of Abraham, that is, make no mention of an individ,ual
sufferer, the cause of His sufferings, and His subse-        (or class  uf individuals) vested with the office of
quent exaltation, are all particularly marked and are priesthood  as an exclusive prerogative,  UNIS  of a class
equally applicable to  tihe doctrine of the gospel. He of persons  whose  exclusive right  i,t was to perform
shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. Who the duties that <belonged to the typical-symbolical office
hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of          of priests. The first person to appear in Scripture as
the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up as a tender bearing the name of priest is Melchizedek, who is de-
plant, etc. The mean, external condition of Christ is scribed as "king of Salem, and priest of  tie most high
`here assigned as the reason of the unbelief of the Jews,    God". Bu$t this personage was a Canaanite. There
and it was the very reason which they themselves as- are two other persons. with whom the name of  priest
signed. He has borne our griefs and carried our sor-         is associated, to wit, Potipherah,  the father-in-law of
,rows.    "Christ was once offered to bear the sins of Joseplh  and Jethre the Ifather-in-law  of Moses. But the
many." He was wounded fo our transgressions, he wus former was an Egyptian and the latter a Midianite.
bruised  for  our iniquities, the chastisement of our Not until after the people of Israel had, through the
peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. ratification of the covenant at Sinai, been constituted
"His  own self bare our sins in his own body on the a  !holy nation, and had been placed by the hand of
tree, that we, being dead unto sin, should live unto         Moses under the law, do we read of a class of persons


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         189

   in Israel called to and vested with the office of priests. place. The 24th chapter of this same book contains
   Now this  silence of Scripture respecting a distinct a record of a doing of Moses to the following  effeot.
   order of priests in the periods preceding the bringing Having written all the swords-words  which  had been
   up of Israel out of Egypt, warrants the conclusion that spoken to  ,him by ,&he Lord in the sacred mount-Moses
   in these periods there was no such order, that is, no       rose up early in the morning, and  builded an altar
   individual or class of individuals, chosen from among under the hill. Thereuplon  he sent yuung men of the
   the believers by God and definitely appointed by Him        ohildren of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and
   to atone sin through the sacrifice by blood.                sacrificed peace offering of oxen unto the Lord. Who
      This raises the question  how in these first periods     were these young men? Had they been selected from
   believers came to God and presented their offerings.        among the first-born and were they, together with all
   In the absence of a definite appointment by God such        the first-born in Israel, holding at that time the office
   as Aaron *and his sons received, there  awas certainly no of priesthood as a distinct prerogative? 7Il3.i~ some
   restriction in the way of any believer coming to God have maintained on the ground of the consecration of
   and offering his oblations. Hence any believer, were the first-born on the eve of Israel's departure from,
  Ihe the head of a family or a prince or a person of no       Egypt. Ex.  13:2 is the `report of a command of the
   such rank, sacrificed in behalf of himself, as often Lord to Moses that reads, `Sanctify unto me all the
   as he felt the urge. Abel dd so. By faith he offered first-born, whatsoever openeth the womb among the
  unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. And           children of Israel, both of man and of beast ; it is mine.
  from the circumstance that he obtained witness that This consecration of the first-born, however, is not to
  ahe was righteous, through God's testifying of his gifts,    be regarded as an appointment to the priestly office ;
  it follows that in sacrificing he did ,not overstep his      nor was this, as some have wrongly maintained, reckon-
  bounds. However, even ages before the appointment ed  amon'g  the  rights  of the first-born. At I Chron.
  of Aaron to the priesthood, it came to be felt by God's      5  ~1-4, Scripture  pIairily limits these rights to pre-
  believing people ,that, according to the mind of God, eminence in authority among the brethren, and the
  sacrificing, expiating sin, be the right and privilege not possession`of a double portion in the inheritance, "Now
  of everyone, but only of the person highest in rank and the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel (for he was
  that this person, as the representative of the whole, the first-born ; but, forasmuch as he defiled his father's
  be the medium of their communications with God in bed, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph
  sacrificial offerings. In the times of the patriarchs, it the son of Israel: and the genealogy is not to be
  was felt tshat this right belonged to the head of the        reckoned after the birthright. For Judah prevailed
  family. When Noah and his family have gone  forth.           among his brethren, and of him came the chief ruler;
  from the ark, it is Noah who builds an altar unto the        but the birthright was Joseph's:). . .  ." What the
  Lord ; "and takes of every clean beast, and of every         birthright, as given to Joseph, included, may be known
  clean fowl, and offers burnt offerings on the altar"         from a word which  the dying patriarch Jacob directed
   (Gen. 8 :20). Before Isaac's marriage, it is Abraham to Joseph, "Moreover I have given to thee one portion
  who appears in Scripture as serving  the altar. The *above thy brethren, which I took, out  of the hand
  patriarch Job offered burnt offerings, according to          of the  Amorite  with my sword and with my bow"
  the number of his sons and daughters, when the days          (Gen. 48  :22). At first glance, the notice from the
  of  ,tiheir feasting were gone about" (Job  1:5). When book of Chronicles seems to imply that the birthright
  the families had .grown  into communities, the priest-       entitled the privileged son only to a double portion of
  ly office was vested, not by a definite command              the inheritance. However, the plain implication of the
  of God but naturally, in the persons of those that           statement, "and the  ,genealogy  (of Reuben) is not to
. occupied in these respective communities the rank of be reckoned after the birthright ; for Judah prevailed
  head or iking. Such a personage was  Melchizedek.            among his brethren. : . ." is that this right also in-
      But  who were the persons performing the priestly        cluded pre-eminence in authority, not of the office of
  function in the chosen family when it ha.d grown into        priesthood but of the office of kingship only. The            ,
  a multitude in the land of Egypt? TIhe first notice we term "chief ruler" in the clause" and of `him (Judah)
  have of them is contained in the 19th chapter of the         came the chief ruler" signifies in the first instance,
  book of Exodus. The Lord has come down on Mount              solely the theocratic king. So, with these scriptures
  Sinai. Moses is told to charge the people, lest they before our eye, it cannot possibly be maintained that
  break through unto ,the Lord to gaze an'd many of them the appointment to the priestly  ofFree was also reckoned
  perish. And thenfollows  the statement, "And let the         among `she ri*ghts  of the first-born, and that the reason
  priests also, which comenear the Lord,  sanctify  them- of the transference of this right to the sons of Levi
  selves, lest the Lord break forth upon  them."  Who and in particular to the sons of Aaron *was the partici-
  `were these priests made  me&on  of in this notice?          pation of the flrstdborn in the sin of serving the golden
  Not Aaron and his sons, as the vesting of these sons         calf at Sinai. It is quite another question, however,
  with the office of the priesthood  thad not yet taken        whether the consecration of the first-born was an


       190                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
       -        -                 -                                                                                                  z
      appointment, nut to the office of priesthood, but to gospel in Paradise was preceded by man's fall into sin
      the service of the tabernacle and lwihether the loss of and was followed by an abounding of sin. Mankind
      this appointment is not to be accounted for by their degenerated rapidly  sin all its branches. The wicked-
       participation in the sin just mentioned. This question ness of man became great in the earth. The  awhole
      `cannot be dealt twitlh here.                                    earth was corrupt before God and was filled with
              In the lirght of the teaching of the above scriptures, violence. God brought the flood of waters upon the
      it is plain *that the "young men"  w'ho took. part in the        earth, and all flesh perished  with the exception of Noah
       ratification  of the covenant through their bein'g sent by and his family. Now, after sin had once more abound-
      Moses to offer burnt offerings and peace offerings are ed and after, through this abounding, it had appeared
      neitiher  to be identified with the Levitical priesthood,        what is in man, God again spake to Noah snd some
       not .tu be regarded as furming a group of persons who,          time thereafter to Abraham, and shed, through this
      on account of their being fir$-born,  were holding the speaking, a new light .upon <His promise and a new
       office of priesthood as an exclusive privilege.        But dispensation of grace set in. Then some four cen-
      who were they? Scripture gives the answer. They turies thereafter, &he law ,was  imposed upon the prom-
       were men selected not from the Levites nor from ise. The tabernacle, the pattern of which1 had been let
      the first-born, at least not exclusively, but from the           down from heaven,  was reared. Aaron and .h*is sons
       children' of Israel at large. Sudh, certainly, must be          were consecrated. There  twits a commencement of the
      the thrust of the notice, "And he (Moses) sent young performance  of the service. Grace again abounded,
       men of the children  of'  Israel."  The reason of their         but its abounding had again been preceded by the
       being chosen may :have been the exceptional comliness           abounding of sin. Even *while the Lord was communi-
      of their person or  tihe superior qualities of their mind. eating His law to Moses, the people, having <forsaken
*             So, then, during the patriarchal period and until        God, were engaged in the service of the idol. Grace
       the time of the appuintment  of Aaron and his sons to continued to abound first in the return of the IclIturch
      ,the office of priesthood, there was no distinct class  of from Babylonian exile, then in the coming of Christ's
       persons vested with this office, nor could there be, as Spirit of the day of Pentecost. But as often as grace
       a Levitical priestlhood  could be put to use, could proper- abounded, sin had first abounded. And the final abound-
       ly function only in connection with that complex system ing of grace will be the appearance of the church in
     of symbolical institutions to which it belonged and of glory at the return of Christ. What does this show?
       which it formed an integral part. This priesthood That if there was to be a fuller knowledge of redemp-
       called for a tabernacle (temple) ; and the patriarchs tion, there had first to be a deeper knowledge of sin,
       possessed not even a chosen and consecrated place that *knowledge  of truth lis full and gratitude deep in
       wherein to present their  sacrifices. Wherever they that degree that insight into the nature of sin is pro-
       happened  3to take up their residence in the  land of found.             Therefore the fuller light could and would
       their pilgrimage, they built an altar and called upon come only after sin had anew abounded.
       the name of the Lord. But cuuld not, to make possible                                                           G. M. 0.
       the  functionmg  of this priesthood, that system of
       symbols  .have  (been  brought  ,in? It  co&d not,  .as the
       time  IWW not yet ripe. The church had to be  made
       ready fur the reception of it. The imposition of the.
       law upn the promise could take place only at the end
       of a period of preparation. For the law, that priest-                  The Church Of Little Strength
       hood in its functioning, shed a new ligh+ on the prom-
     ise. It  brou'ght into boldest relief,  ,features  of the                        And  ti:, the angel of the church in J?bLladephia
       redemption of Christ hitherto but dimly visible and                          write: These ,things saith He thrzt  is holy, He &at
       thus' <iti appearance marked the beginning of a new                          hath the key of David, He that  open&h  and no
       dispensation of grace. This will become plain when                           man shutteth;  aud  *&butt&h  and no man opezeth;
       we note the place w,hi& this priesthood held in the                          I know tthhy  works; behold, I have set before  thee
       system of institutions to which  :it belonged  .and consider                 an open door; and  1110  man can shut it:  fx thou
       how it stood related to God on the one hand, and to                          hast little strength, and ha&  kept my word, and
      ,the people on the other.                                                     hast nut denied my  n.ame.-Rev.  3:7,  3.
              It is to be noticed that the coming of this greater
       light, .through  ;the appearance of the Levitical priest-          To each of the seven churches in Asia, John, in
       hood,  !was immediately preceded by the committing of the name of Christ, sends a message addressed  direet!y
       the great sin consisting in the people's forsaking God to the, pastor. T4he message to the church in Phila-
      and turning to the i,dol. Sin ahead first again to abound delphia  :is free from rebuke and censure. This indi-
       before grace could abound. Such is the method of cates not perfection but a remarkable degree of purity,
       the divine  workkg.       The  fmst proclamation  of the a rare  devotion to calling. Yet  this church had  bui:


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          191

 little strength. This cannot mean that its power to           He possesses *not but is truth, righteousness, love, wis-
 endure tribulation, to stand in the evil day was small.       dom, might, power. Between His being and the revela-
 The notice must be made to apply to the numerical             tion of it in word and deed, there is perfect agreement,
 strength of this church. it was small as to number.           so that to know His word is to know Him. Being true,
 And there were found in this church few, if any, t&se         the true and holy God, He is the rock, the eternal sup-
 men after the flesh, few  mi$ghty, few nobles. Yet  it        port of His people, whom He loved unto death, .their
 formed an ideal brotherhood. It was a  church  filled         defence  and fortress, the faithful One, keeping cove-
gwith spiritual vigor and wlith a life unmarred by sin.        nant trust, the faithful and dependable refuge of His
 "Thou", said Christ  ,to the pastor of this church,  "hast    people. And on the side of the assumed nature, which
kept my word and hast not denied my name." To keep is human, He is holy, and thus the undefiled one, sepa-
 Christ's word is the positive side, is the other side of      rate from sinners, who needed not daily to offer up
not denying His name. Christ's na'mes  reveal Him to           sacrifices ; for this He did once, when in perfect love
us ; and likewise His word.                                    He offered up Himself. Thus He, being holy and true,
    Christ comforts and encourages this brotherhood, is the obedient servant, consumed by the zeal of God's
in His love,     "And to the church in Philadelphia house. And being made higher than the heavens, He,
write. . . . Behold I have set before  tihee an open ,in His office of Mediator hath the ikey of David, and
,door. The door of the church is Christ, the truth con- this in fulfillment of a prediction made centuries pre-
cerning Him. This brotherhood had not forsaken  the            vious and found at Isa. 22:22, "And ,it shall come to
truth. It was keeping  Clhrist's  word.  The door was pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the
thus still in place, shutting out those who showed by son of Hilkiah: and I twill clothe him with thy robe,
their walk ,and confession t&at  they were not of Christ's ,and stremgthen  him with thy girdle, and I will commit
sheep. This church  ,had, as a result,  nat  ,grown  in thy government into his hand: and he shall be a father
numbers. Several perhaps were held back from join- to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of
themselves to this churuh on account of its insistence Judah. And the key of the house of David will I lay
on purity of doctrine and  wallk of life. But this was         upon ,his shoulder; and he shall open, and none shall
not the only grief, if a grief it was, that this church        shut; and ahe shall shut, and none shall open." It is
was bearing. Its members, having kept Christ's  `word,         plain that these words, in the final instance, concern
must  hav suffered the loss of worldly possessions, name Christ. He is the David, the  Eliakim.  Him God has
and social position. Men may have been reviling them clothed with tie robe of salvation, and strengthened
alnd saying all manner of  evi1 against them falsely. It with the girdle of truth. In His hand, and this ever-
is certain that they who were of the synagogue of lastingly, is the government of the church,  !whose head
Satan did so. Christ's message contains a statement            He is, and of tihe  ,kingdom  of heaven, which He estab-
th,at clearly points in this direction, "Behold I will lished in righteousness through His sufferings and
make them (of the synagogue of Satan) to come and              death, and of which He  is king eternal. Thus  upou
worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved         His shoulder lies the key of the church, which He
thee." Of this these children of Satan were willingly          opens or closes to whomsoever He wills. And he opens
ignorant. This they denied. And though the brethren            and no man shutteth. And He shutteth and no man
of this church of little strength bore  *and bad patience,     openeth.
it could be expected that they  Iw,ould have their mom-           Christ opens .the kingdom to His elect. For, He has
enta of despondency. To fortify them in their good             the key. All fulness dwells in Him. ;He is the right-
fight, Christ speaks to them His word  sucrh as they           eousness and the redemption of His people. And He
were in need of hearing-a word designed to dispel1             opens the kingdom for them through His aotually sav-
any gloom that may have settled upon their spirits by ing them on the grounds of His merits, thus through
reason of the circumstance that they formed a brother-         His reclaiming them from death, pouring His love in
hood of little strength., "these things saith He that is       their hearts, testifying with their spirits  ithat He robes
holy, he that is true, he that ,hath the $eys  of Davlid,      them in His righteousness, h.as sprinkled them with
he that open&h  and no man shutteth; and shutteth              His blood, and that thus they ,are His sheep, co-heirs
and no man olpeneth  : I know thy works : behold, T have with  .Him  and children and heirs of God. So does He
set before thee an open door, and no man canshut  it."         open to His people by the  gospel  as proclaimed by His
   Christ is holy and true. He is this as God, being, servants and as applied to their hearts  by His Spirit,
as He is, togetiher  <with  the Father and the Holy Spirit,    the `kingdom, the church, Heaven. And as standing
iyith whom He is of one and the same essence, sepa-            in their faith, the believers, with a conviction ever
rated from sin and holy devoted to Himself in all His taking on new strength, say, "The kingdom is opened
working. He is all that a being must be in order to be to us. We have right to enter His sanctuary by a new
God. He stands  ,opposed  to falseness, unrealness, and and living way, which He dedicated, and that leadeth
vanity. As to His being, He is the true, eternal, simple, through the veil, wmhich is His flesh." Now this work of
immutable essence, the highest essence, truth, good.           Christ reposes upon another work of His,-a work that


192                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                                   --.~_
consisted in His Iegally opening the kingdom to His feel themselves mightily drawn to Him and come to
pmple through His atoning their sins upon the cross.           Him and embracing Him, enter, on the ground of His
       But Christ also shuts the kingdom, through the merits, into the presence of the Father. So does He
preaching of the word, to the unbelieving, to such as cause Himself to be unto His people the door through
the Father wills not to save. Such Christ sovereignly *which they enter in, set Himself before them as the
hardens, through the lusts of their hearts, so that the ,open door.
word to them is a saviour of death unto death. And                Christ, being holy ond true, m$ust and will through
the token of His hardening them is their persisting in the ages set before His church, the true church, that
their unbelief, their growing oppositi,on  to Christ and keeps His (word and ,denies not His name, an open door.
the truth, their perishing in thei-r sins.                     .He is very eager to do this. And He Ihas both right
       Christ shuts and no man opens. This must be and might. He has right because He prevailed. The
emphasized in opposition to the lie that man has it token of this right is the key that God has laid upon
in him to sovereignly resolve to be saved (or not to be        His shoulder,  fis being exalted and glorified, His being
saved) and that Christ's ableness to save is limited by given all power in heaven and on earth, His anointing
this resolve. Were this true, then man opens. But ,in `heaven and thus the dwelling in him of all fulness.
the word of Christ to the church of little strength is:        He has also the  mi,ght, He being God. And this right
"I open and I shut. . . . I shut and no man openeth". and might ,He will surely exercise through the ages
Let therefore not the human preacher of the  *word             also in agreemen  with the command which He gave to
imagine that he, through his eloquence and power of all His servants just before  #His ascension, "Go ye
expression and tears, induces men to believe, opens therefore, and  teaah all nations. .  `. . teaching them to
the kingdom to them.                                           observe all  thilngs  whatsoever I have commanded you:
       And as to this church of little strength-and the        and lo, I am with you always even unto the end of the
true church of God, the church militant, spread over world". So will He through the ages gather His church,
the  iwhole,  is this  ch,urch-let  it, let the servants of make His kingdom to come by His gospel as proclaimed
Christ know that ,He shutteth and that no man openeth.         by His church with little strength.
Let these servants be mindful of this in the face of              There is, to be sure, an intimate connection between
the fierce opposition of unbelieving men to the truth.         Christ's setting before His church an open door and
Then they will not be discouraged. And if they see the church's keeping His word and not denying His
fruit upon their labor, let them rejoice and give glory name. Shoul,d  this name be denied and the truth for-
to  Clhrist.  For He openeth, not they. And when He saken, the church could not be gathered, the elect could
openeth, no man shutteth. No man, however ,hateful             not be saved. Should the' word be forsaken, and this
of the truth and by whatever means, can frighten God's name denied, there would be no open door to be set
believing people into disallowing Christ, cause their before the church. For this door is the very Christ,
faith to cease, separate them from the love of God. the doctrine,  ,the word, the truth, about Christ. Thus
For Christ openeth and no man shutteth. Let these if the word were not kept, that  *is, proclaimed and lived,
servants, Christ's little flock, His church of little          if the truth were not being iwitnessed for, and if this
strength, be.ever mindful of this.                             name were not being confessed, there could be no open-
   In the  light of these observations, it is not difficult    ing and shutting of the door. But the <world will be
to see what is to be understood by the promise, "Be-           preached through the ages by the church of little
hold, I have set before thee an open door and no man strength. Christ will see to this., The task of preach-
can shut it." The statement has reference to Christ's ,ing the word, as well as the task of setting .before His
rendering @he preaching of the gospel by the church church an open door, is His, and, rightly considered,
of little strength fruitful unto the salvation of men's        solely His. His servants are but His agents whom He
souls, of the men, given to Christ by the Father before        calls and constrains by His love. And He will confess
the foundation of the world. Whether we let the door His own name %rough the church of little strength,
signify the heart and understanding of those to be will preach that word  sin the hearts of His own. And
saved or Christ Himself or both, makes no essential            His people will be gathered. He will open, but He will
difference. The preaching of the gospel bears fruit also shut. Hence, there was in the city of P,hiladelphia,
in the lives of men as a result of Christ's rendering and there is <and will be to the end of time on this earth
them susceptible to His gospel, which He does through that synagogue of Satan, the church apostate, the mem-
His giving them a heart of flesh. Forsakirrg  their sins, bers of w*hich  do deny Christ's name and forsake His
these quickened ones turn to, Christ and by the mercies word, adulterate the truth, and yet say that God loves
of God appropriate Him as their Saviour. It is through them, while reviling the church of little strength. But
this  <doing  that they enter through Christ, who is the these, too, eventually, in the day of  jud.gment,  will be
door, into the  ikingdom  of  ,heaven.  And this is of made to worship at the feet of Christ's people and to
Christ. Through His pouring (His life into His people, :know   *hat, Christ loves them, His own.
He renders Himself attractive to them, so that they                                                       G. M. 0.


T                                                                .
                           A   R e f o r m e d   S e m i - M o n t h l y   BmR
                                                                                       M a g a z i n e
            PUBLISHED BY THE REFORMED FREE PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION, GRAND RAPIDS,  MICH.





Vol. XVI, No. 9. Entered  as Second Class mail
                    matter at  G-and   Rapids,  Mich.    FEBRUARY, 1, 1940                           zubscription  Price $2.00

                                                                      tion rebound the one glad song on the one glorious
         MEDITAT,ION                                                  theme: God is the only wise ! . . . .
m                                                                        Forever! . . . .
                                                                         Let all hell acknowledge it, that sin' is exposed as
         Glory To The Only Wise God                                   utter folly, that God's wisdom is  infmitely perfect !
                                                                         Amen, yea Amen!
                    Now to him that is of power to estab-
                 lish you according to my gospel, und the
                 preaching of Jesus Christ, according to
                 the revelation of the  .mystery,   *which               God, the only wise !
                 was kept secret since the world began,                  Through Jesus Christ!
                 but no,w is made manifest, and by the                   For thus the last part of this beautiful doxology
                 scriptures of the prophets, according to should be  `read. The apostle does not mean to say
                 the commandment of the  everl&ing                    that  .glory  ought to be given  throulgh Jesus Christ
                 God, made known to all nations for the to the only wise God ; but that He has become revealed
                 obedience of faith: to God only wise be to us as the only wise God through Jesus Christ.
                 glory through Jesus  Ch&st forever.                     And this revelation o-f His wisdom through Jesus
                 Amen.                                                Christ, through ,whom  we behold Him as the only, the
                                              Rom. 16':%5-37.         perfectly, the infinitely wise God, must impel us to
    Amen! So let  in;  Ibe!                                           bring to H6m the glory that is due unto His name!
    Glory be to the only wise God through Jesus Christ!                  It is not an abstract, dogmatic knowledge of the
    Let the Church on earth, called through the gospel divine wisdom that will ever bring this doxology to our
unto the obedience of faith,, fall down in adoratio,n  and lips. We  .must see His wisdom, not merely learn a
glorify Him for the revelation of `His marvellous wis-                d'octrinal  formula declaring that God is  alltise. We
dom! Let the redeemed and glorified Church in heaven, must be brought under the spell of that amazing wis-
the spirits of the saints made perfect, cast their crowns dom, not merely repeat a logical proposition., We must
before `Him that sitteth on the throne, and rejoicing behhdd that glorious wisdom of our God in its most
sing that .He is the alone wise God ! Let the myriads central and perfect manifestation, that is, through
of angels, always eager  tolook into these things, now ?Tesus  Christ,, in order to join in with the apostle in
say that they have beheld His wondrous works, all this song .of praise : Glory be to the only wise God !
revealing His infinite wisdom !                                          Wisdom, the wisdom of God, is revealed every-
    Let, presently, when all  t,he divine counsel is real- where, in all the works of His hands.
ized, when the last of the elect has been perfected to fit               For, wisdom is that marvellous virtue of the Most
into his own place in the glorified Body of Christ, when High,  that is .,displayed  in the perfect harmony and
the new heavens and  *the new earth, in which righteous- adaptation to one another of all things, so that each
ness dwells, have been created, when the new Jeru-                    creature in the whole *kosmos  has its own name, oc-
`salem,  adorned with the glory of God, beautiful as a cupies its own place, serves its own purpose, and is
bride  th'at is prepared to meet the  bri,degroom,  has perfectly adapted to serve that purpose,: and so that
descended out of heaven on the new earth, when the the individual purpose of each creature is subservient
covenant of God is perfected and the tabernacle of, God to the purpose of the whole : the revelation of the name
8bU.  be with men forever,-let then all the new crea- of God, the praises of His gIorious  virtues. There is


194                                   TcHE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

wisdom in the firmament wit,h its myriads of twinkling tion cometh and another generation passeth away, but
stars, pouring forth their  speech into the silent night; the earth abideth forever. The sun also arisetlh,  and
in  the circuit of the golden sun, going forth as a bride      the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place whence it
groom coming out of his chamber, and rejoicing as a arose. The wind :goeth  toward the south, and turneth
strong man to run a race ; in the clouds that fill their *about  unto the north; it whirleth continually, and the
vessels over the ocean to empty them over the dry and wind returneth again according to his circuits. All the
thirsty fields; in  the seed that falls into the earth and rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full; unto the
Vdies,  in order to bring forth fruit, thirty, sixty, an place from w.hence  the rivers come, thither they return
`hundredfold; in the  chirping of the  spa,rrow,  the  cry. again. All things are full of labor; man cannot utter
of the yomg raven, the sweet notes of the nightingale ; it. . . . Eccl, 1:X.
in the mountains and vales, woods and meadows,                    And the whole  creatiin  groaneth and travaileth in
-meandering brooks and majestic streams; in the howl- pain together until `now; for the creature is made sub-
ing storm, the roaring thunder, the flashing lightning,. ject to vanity. . . . Rom. 8.
,the (raging sea, the softly whispering zephyr ; the gently       There seems to be no conclusion !
dropping dew;  the cedar of Lebanon, the lily of the              There is no design. No  telos! All things appear
valley, the blooming rose ; in day and in night, in foolish and purposeless !
summer and winter, in times and in seasons for a01                And  mookers have said with wicked audacity that,
things ; in the eye adapted to receive the light, in the       if they were to make a world, they could+vastly  improve
ear that hears, in the mouth that speaks and the voice upon God's world! . . . i
that sings, in the colors of the spectrum, the notes of           And there is no answer!            '
the octave,-harmony, adaptation, purpose, revelation              Until you look at Jesus Christ!
of divine  *wisdom  everywhere, as far as eye can                 Leave Him out of consideration, out of the scope
see! . . . .                                                   of your vi&n, out of your world and life view, and
       Frequently the psalms sing of this 5wisdom of the       you cannot  find the conclusion of the matter. Then the
Most .High.                                                    sole conclusion appears to be in the slogan: let us eat
       T$hey love to enumerate the mighty works of God and drink, for tomorrow we die! But behold Him, and
in creation, and bless the name of Him, Who covers all things change ! Contemplate Him, in the place
Himself with light as with a ,garment,  and stretches          assigned to Him, in the center of all things, at the head
out the heavens like a curtain; who layeth the beams of all things, and you will fall down in adoration before
of His chambers in the waters, w*ho make%  the clouds the only wise God! For, He is the Firstborn of every
his chariot ; who walketh upon the wings of the wind ; creature, and the First begotten of t~he dead ; by Him
who sends the springs into the valleys, that run among and unto .Him were all things designed and created. . . .
the hills and give drink to all the beasts of the field ;         The  Iwisdom  of God through Jesus Christ!
who watereth the hills from His chambers, causeth the             Give Him His place in the scheme of all things!
grass to gruw for the cattle, and herb for the service         Him, the incarnated Son of God, Immanuel, God of
of man,  swine  that  maketh  glad  ohis heart and oil to      God and man of man ; Him the crucified One, in Whom
make his face to shine ; who provides nests for the            God reconciled the  .world unto Himself; Him the risen
birds and houses for the storks, and a refuge for the          Lord, glorified in the highest <heavens, exalted at the
wild goats and for the conies ; who appointed the moon         right hand of God. . . .
for seasons and makes the sun to aknow his goin,g down ;          See Jesus, crowned with glory and honor!
who causeth darkness to descend, wherein all the  wild            And you see all things in a different light!
beasts of the forest creep forth, and makes his sun to            For, in the light of His face all things, and now
rise upon a new ,day, that man may go forth unto his           absolutely all, sin, death, suffering and vanity not ex-
work and labor until the evening. . . .                        cluded, become manifestations of divine wisdom.
    And they end in  .the glorification of that only              All things, nothing excluded, must serve the pur-
wise God, revealed in all the works of His hands: "0           pose of the highest realization of God's eternal cove-
Lord, how manifold are thy  ,works! in  Iwisdom  hast nant !
thou made them all : the earth is full of thy riches !"           The most glorious revelation of His name !
Ps. 104.                                                          The name of the alone wise God!
   Everyvvhere  the voice of wisdom!                              Through Jesus Christ!
   And yet, there is another note in these works of
God apparently contradicting this testimony of God's
wisdom, mocking it! . . . .                                       The divine mystery!
   It is the note of death and destruction !                      For, a mystery is not anything that is  contrarv
   The note of the bondage of corruption. :                    to our  understan,ding,  some incomprehensible  thing
   The cry of vanity!                                          that we may never know, whiled we can never grasn.
   And also of this the Scriptures speak. One genera-          of which our human un&&.anding can never lay hold ;


                                    ~TXE  STANDARD   B E A R E R                                                               195
c  -
but it is that which by our understanding we can never          Glory be to the only  ,wise God through Jesus Christ!
reach, which far transcends our common experience,              Witness of it, Church of Jesus Christ in the world;
lies outside of the scope of our earthly perception ; and sing of it ; shout aloud ! For thereunto were ye called
is made known unto us by the grace of divine revela- out of darkness into His marvellous liglh;t,.  that-. ye
tion.                                                        should shew forth His praises!
    Jesus Christ !-                                             Sing of it, be witnesses of this marvellous wisdom!
    Eye hath not seen: earhath  not heard ; in the heart For, ye have been made to see this mystery of wisdom
of man it  +vas never conceived. Yet, it is the answer th,at was  ,hid from times eternal ! It was not only
to all questions, the solution of all problems, the sole     manifested in the  fulness  of time, but it was made
conclusion of the matter.        How then, could mere ,known unto you. Through the preaching of the gospel,
human philosophy furnish us Iwith  an answer? . . . . which the apostles began according to the command-
    The mystery of God!                                      ment of God ; and through the prophetic writings
    Jesus Christ !                                           which they used as means in the proclamation of the
    From "times eternal" (thus the text in  th.e original gospel of God concerning this mystery, the latter was
literally), from ages of yore, this mystery was hidden       made lmown  to all nations, made known also to you!
in God, in His eternal wisdom, in His incomprehensible          Through that ,gospeI, by the Spirit of grace, ye were
counsel. Even in the centuries of the old dispensation brought unto the obedience of the faith. The faith of
it was hid. There was the word concerning its coming Jesus  clhrist!  The faith that- is revealed in and
manifestation, but itself shad not come. There were through Him. The faith that God was in Christ recon-
the shadows, but the body was not yet. There was the ciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their
promise, but it was not fulfilled. Even as the pale' trespasses unto them! The faith that He died and
light of the moon at night assures us that the sun still rose again, never to die again! The faith that is the
shines and that it will presently shine forth in all its *victory  over  the damnation of our guilt, over the cor-
glory, so in the ages of the old dispensation there ,were    ruption of our sin, over the dominion of death! The
glimmerings of the light that ,wouid  shine when the faith that in the name of Jesus there is redemption,
mystery would be revealed, yet itself was hid. . . .         even the forgiveness of sin, righteousness and eternal
    But now it is manifested!                                life. Unto that faith  ye were brought into obedience,
    The answer is given ! The solution is offered ! The so that ye believed, repented, were justified, were
conclusion is reached !                                      enlightened and sanctified. . . .
    Manifested is. the mystery that was hid ! There is          And in that faith  anld obedience He, the only wise
a difference between revelation and manifestation,           God, `is able to stablish you through the same gospel,
though the two are closely related. To reveal is to and preserve you though all hell should rise against
unveil, to expose to view by taking off the cover; to you? . . . .
manifest is to break &rough,  even as the sun breaks            Until that day! . . . .
through the clouds on a dark and stormy day.
    And .the mystery was manifested !                           And why?
    The sun of righteousness broke through our dark-            Why this hidden mystery and the manifestation
ness, the darkness of -the shadow of death, oft guilt and of it? Why all these problems of sin and death, of cor-
sin, of corruption and vanity.                     :.        ruption and vanity, and the answer to them all in Jesus
    The mystery of God was manifested in  the historic Christ? Why these scriptures of the prophets, predict-
^,71ness of time, in the incarnation of the Son of God.      ing the coming manifestation of the  .mystery,  and  the
`His sojourn among us, His speaking of the words of preaching of the gospel, the message that now  the
eternal life, His descension into the lower parts of mystery is manifested? Why this. bringing of the
the earth on the accursed tree, yea, into the depths         Church unto the knowledge of this, mystery and unto
of hell  ; His glorious resurrection unto life and just%- the obedience of faith? . . . .             `.    :             ,
cation, His ascension into the highest heavens, His             There is but one answer: glory to- the'  alone wise
                                                                                                                                -.-
being exalted unto Lord and Christ, His return in the        God?                      .
Spirit. . . .                                                                                               .,
                                                                 0 yes, it is  the answer?
    We see Jesus! . . . .
    The mystery of  Prod   !                                    That we might behold  `His marvellous wisdom and
    Eye hath not seen  ; ear hath not heard ; never could be brought under the spell of it forever!
it have arisen in the heart of man !                            That we might proclaim it, now and  forwer!'
    The wisdom of God !                                      ' Glory  to' God, the only  wise-!                  .
    Through Jesus Christ ?                                       T h r o u g h   J e s u s   Christ!  ,
                                                                 Amen, yea, amen!
    Amen ! So let it be !                                                                                             H. H.


206                                  T.HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

Zijn  task.     Hij neemt de verantwoordelijkheid op
Zich  om Zijn volk door het kruis te verlossen. En                              Deliverance
bewust zijnde van Zijn enorme taak, zoekt Hij ook
nu,  als Middelaar naar de  menschelijike  natuur, het                                               Isa. 44 :22.
aangezicht Zijn Vaders in het gebed, om sterkte van            Jacob-Israel-Jeshurun-Chosen;
Hem te ontvangen.                                              Deliverance is for a peculiar people. A people
   Op deze daad der gehoorzaamheid van Zijnen Zoon chosen by the Lord. Prepared by him. Called by him
~olgt de Goddelijke goedkeuring. Ten eerste Iezen  we and bought with the blood of. his Son Jesus Christ.
van de stem uit den  hemel, zeggende: "Deze  isMijn            In this verse we  hnd a beautiful climax of the
Zoon, Mijn Geliefde, in Denwelken Ik Mijn welbeha-          promise given in the first five verses of this chapter.
gen heb." En, tevens,  lezen  we: "En Hij zag den It `was the promise of deliverance for Israel in 
Gee.4  Gods nederdalen, gelijk eene duive,  en op Hem                                                                the
komen."  De beteekenis hiervan is  we1 deze dat de Vader    captivity. In the ,broader  sense it is a promise for the
hier, ten aanhoore van het volk, getuigt dat deze church in both Old and New Testament. Hence, the
Christus  Zijn  Goddelij,ke  goedkeuring draagt, en dat prophet has often been called the Evangelical pro-
Zijn welbehagen op Hem rust. Dit houdt niet aIleen          phet.
in dat Christus als de Zoon  van God het voorwerp is           Israel in the captivity was chastized  for their sins
`van des Vaders welbehagen.        Maar  vooral  dat de and the captiv,ity  was instrumental for their repent-
Christus,  zooaIs  Hij in de  wateren  van den Jordaan ance.  They  had learned to  <know  the cause of the
Zijn aangezicht ridht  naar het kruis, voorwerp is van Lord's hot displeasure. And it was this knowledge of
Zijn Iiefde en  weibehagen.  En dit geschiedt in het sin that brought about their confession of sin.
publiek, in de tegenwoordelijkheid van het  volk, opdat        The  word  spoken by the prophet points to God';
Israel mag weten dat juist deze Christus de van God almighty power. The comparison is drawn between
Gezondene is, dat Hij de van God gezondene is vooral Him and the idols of the surrounding nations. Is not,
met betrekking tot den ,weg  des lijdens dien Hij vrij- so the prophet asks, the idol a false god? Those who
8wiUig op Zdch nam, en dat de Geest des Heeren Heeren, made it, burn it and warm themselves and the image
op Hem nederdalende, Hem juist tot de vervulling van turns into ashes. That is holy sarcasm. The ashes
die  rreeselijke  taak zou aangorden en bekrachtigen.       cannot deliver. The end of the idol reveals the lie.
       Daarom geschiedde  deze Goddelijke goedkeuring, And the prophet aturns in this mockery of the idols to
wat Israel betreft,  met een tweeerlei  doel. Ten eerste, the hopeful promise given by Jehovah. That promise
pok het  vleeschelijk Israel moet dit hooren. Wanneer refers to a glorious future *wherein  .they shall be at
de  Qhristus,.  na Zijn terugkeer uit de woestijn en Zijne ease and have peace.
verzoeking door den duivel, Israel het koninkrijk  der         However, knowing the cause of their captiviity  the
hemelen verkondigt, en steeds meer en meer den haat         question might easily arise,  `can we depend upon this
Zijner vijanden verwekt, om dan ten slotte  door hen Eword  of comfort? Sin is such a terrible thing, because
aan het vloekhout  te  worden  gehangen  ak iemand the Lord reveals H,is hot displeasure. And their sins '
die  zonder  getuigen onrechtvaardig tot den dood is testified against them. Their sins were the cause of
veroordeeld, dan hebben ze  tech dit ontegensprekelijk their captivity and in tie captivity they knew right
getuigenis des hemels, hun tot verdoemenis:  "Deze  is well they experienced that hot displeasure of Jehovah
Mijn Geliefde Zoon, hoort Hem." Maar vooral werd their God. In the preceding verse their question is
dit Goddelijk getuigenis van den Vader gegeven ten answered. Remember, 0 Jacob, thou are my servant.
opzichte van het ware volk Gods. We1  wandelt Hij `My servant whom I have formed. I took thee from
straks een wonderlijk pad dat het verstand Zijner the midst of men to be mine. And because thou art
joegeren te boven gaat. Dat Jesus in den weg Gan den mine now and forever, I  shal-1 not forget thee. The
haat Zijner vijanden Zijn koninkrijk moet bevestigen lovingkindness of the Lord cannot  chan.ge and cannot
is voor hen een raadsel. Maar hun is het Goddelijk even be changed, though Israel's sin made it necessary
getuigenis gegeven : "Deze  is Mijn Geliefde Zoon, hoort    to reveal His  lkot displeasure. Even sin cannot separate
Hem." Hem moeten ze hooren, al  ,wordt Zijn weg ook God from His people.
nag zoo wonderlijk. Op Hem rust het Goddelijk wel-             Nevertheless, sin must be atoned for in order that
behagen. En wij, die  thans  dit geval hebben  leeren       the lovingkindness may be experienced. Deliverance
verstaan door het licht van Zijne opstanding, zijn Gode is only possible by means of redemption. And of the
dankbaar  dat Hij Zijn  Zoon   gezonden  heeft, en zijn deliverance, on the basis of redemption, the prophet
Hem dankbaar Die voor ons den weg.des  Iijdens  Wilde speaks.
bewandelen, en den drinkbeker Wilde ledigen, opdat             What must Israel be delivered from, what  Iwere
wij bet eeuwigen leven zouden hebben.                       their circumstances? As was said, Israel was captive
                                             H.  V.         in a strange land. Not by accident, bLEt  by the hand of


                                    TH-E  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       207

the Lord ; the enemy was sent by the Lord. It meant forgotten. Sin is one's account on the wrong side of
to be far away from city and country and from their the ledger.
temple.    They were separated from the service of           Bondage  ,must be taken away and that through the
Jehovah as ordained  .by Him. For His service as to the grace of God. Thus it is also plain, that bondage is
how and the where precepts were most specificaly  given not merely to be ,beset with a few weaknesses. It does
.in their laws. Therefore, their worship of Jehovah not refer to a change `in &rcumstances. But it means
was possible only when they returned to the land of the taking away of sin. The darkness of heart and
their inheritance.                                       mind must  m.ake  room for the light of God's forgiving
   And the cause of it was well known. Frequently,       grace. Our transgression must be *forgiven and our
the cause is explained as a matter of their shortcom- rebellion must come to an end and we must no longer
ings. Just as it is the case today, so it was wi4h Israel depart from the precepts of our God. And that must
in Babylon.    The worldling will call sin weakness, be done continually. From day to day. In order that
thereby making light of sin. But sin remains sin in we may confess "I am delivered of all my sin.s".
the eyes of the Lord.     Sin is to depart from God          This is beautifully expressed in the metaphors used
and live a life contrary to His will as expressed in in the text.         '
His Word. Sin is rebellion. It means to raise the            "I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgres-
fist against  ,Him. And sin is to miss the mark, to aim sions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I
at other things and to fall short of the glory of have redeemed thee".
God.                                                         To blot out suggests the idea that something is
   Here, their sin consisted in turning to other gods. `written. Something written about us in suoh a man-
To depart from the covenant *ways and precepts and ner that it cannot be erased. Try who swill, it is not
to fmd delight in the ,service  of the .idols. To be like possible to make that which is written undone. Con-
the world and to lose their  identilty.  And the  idol- stantly the Lord takes note of what we have written.
worship stood between them and their covenant God. Even to the extent that He Himself gathers these
Darkness, spiritual darkness enveloped them and how iwritings  and preserves them in a book that is always
well did  the enemies of God and His people take before His face. Such is true of sin. Sin is written
advantage of their precarious condition. Did they not by us over all our works. Sin in our corrupt thinking
mock them ? (Ps. 137). And that cause and the guilt as well as in our w.illing  and desires. Sin is also in
must be removed. No, not simply forgotten, because man's actions. How true it is that we forget. We
sin cannot be forgotten. We must forgive and. forget, are not able, nor do we care, to remember our sins.
so it is said, lbut this cannot be true of sin. To forget We forget. The prayer ought to be, make our sins
may seem possible for men, although even amongst known unto us, that we may confess them. But while
men it is not forgotten, but it is never true `of God. we forget, the -Lord remembers them. Our sins are
No, but sin must be atoned. Without the. payment for writMen  by us and forgotten, the Lord takes notice of
sin God cannot have fellowship with men. And on them. It has been said that nothing of time, of what-
the other hand, man cannot enjoy the forgiveness of ever happened, is ever ,lost. I&tory continues, history
sins unless the sin committed is taken away and paid to us is a thing of the past, but before the Lord history
for.                                                     and with it all things are always present. Tremendous
                                                         thought, is it not? How often are the facts twisted
   The only way to return to their land and temple and is Ihistory corrupted. Shamelessly people set them-
had to come  abqut by means of  dehverance.  Re- selves against their better knowledge and rather unite
member, Babylon and the promised land differ, but the lie instead of writing the truth. But 0, the com-
first of all only in name. In reality there is no differ- fort, to know the Lord keeps the history of <men before
ence. By  th.af we mean,  that the return was of im- Him as it actually occurred. Sinful ways may be em-
portance only when it was a token of forgiveness of ployed to make of the truth the lie, but in reality man
sin and corruption and thus, to serve him in their own will never succeed, for even today the truth is known
land that they may share God's favor.                    and it shall once be revealed in the day of our
   The same is true of the Church today.                 Lord.
   By nature the Church. is in bondage. She is in            The same blotting out may well refer to a ledger.
the power of the enemy, sin and death. A rebellious          It refers to a debt made that  ,was entered into the
people  *warring  against God,  .living the life of the ledger. The debt was made. And nothing is easier
world. Her aim is to live according to the dictates than  ,to forget about it. The more one is indebted the
of the sinful heart and mind, transgreming  the com- quicker he will forget when  th,e debts made cannot
mandments of the Lord. Hence, she lives in captivity, be paid. But whether or not the debtor forgets, the
estranged from lher lawful husband, like the others. fact remains that the books when opened will show
Therefore, she is always in need of the deliverance. the correct amount that must be paid. Open the book
She cannot deliver herself. She knows sin cannot be and the proof is there. Thus it must be applied to sin.

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

Man tries to forget and he succeeds quite well and to free and delivers, the enemy  ;has no longer any claim.
his own satisfaction. But the Lord remembers. At                   Thus with Israel. It was given into the hands of
the end .of time all shall be revealed and every  one the King of Babylon. It found itself in bondage and
shall be called to settle his debts made in this life. became the property of the heathen on account of
And the judge shall mete out the just punishment in their sin. But they were redeemed. The ransom for
harmony wit& the sins as they were committed.                   sin is given. The Old Testament believer, living by
       And remember this text does not speak of dins as faith in the hope of the fulfillment of the promise of
such, but of  thy  sins. The meaning of this word is,           Jehovah, was delivered from all eternity, in the blood
to miss the mark. There was an aim in the life of of Jesus Christ.
the sinner, but that aim <was not directed at Cod to               The blood of Jesus Christ alone delivers, redeems
serves H,im, nor to do His will. His Law vas not the            and blots out  ,the sin of God's people. For by the
rule  *for life.    Hence, the sinner  blyundered  against blood of tJhe  Saviour they are cleansed from all the
himself, his God, the purpose of creation and of :his           filth  and corruption of sin. For in that  .blood, God
existence. Hence, he is guilty now and eternally.               gave the price to ransom His own. And God, the Lord
       However, the comforting word is spoken by the Jehovah, always beholds His people in the Son of His
prophet. I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy eternal love.
transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins. Both  Iwords            That is Jacob's, Israel's and Jeshurim's glory and
used for cloud mean the one and the same thing. A power.
thick cloud refers to the black clouds of thunder, ex-             "Sion's roem en sterkte".
pressing the idea of judgment.           The same words            No, not redeemed by self or `by the arm of the
sometime mean, mist. Both cause darkness. When                  flesh. But through the blood of Jesus Christ alone.
the clouds gather, darkness spreads over the earth.             Jehovah's Servant and His cross. For, the cross of
Not because the sun is not shining, but because the             Jesus Christ is the great means in the hand of the
clouds place themselves between  the  ,sun and the              Lord for the redemption of His people, the  ,chosen
earth. Or, as is the case w,ith mist, the clouds float Israel.
so cIose to the earth th#at man is not able to see the             Hence :
sun. The meaning is, that thus our sins stand between              Z have redeemed.
us and the Lord. True it is, the Lord is always near His           I  !have blotted out.
people, but  tihey  are often far away from Him, reason            I heave set free.
why they do not experience His lovingkindness. And                 Z have forgiven.
when His  ,neople do not experience His presence, they '           I, the Lord, have done it all for Jacob, Beshurun,
become afraid and fear. They have no peace and joy, Israel, My servant, My chosen one.
but they walk in darkness and tremble. The, question               Fear not, I am your God in and through the Son
is raised, "Has the Lord forgotten us?"                         of. My eternal love and out of Sovereign grace I have
       I .have blotted out, tha#t is, I have erased from the    made you My people.
ledger that terrible account of sin. Not one will I, your          Thus we understand the call to repentance, tlhat is,
God, remember anymore. He does not behold sin in to live in a new and godly life, dedicated to the Lord.
Jacob nor iniquity in Israel. He does not remember                 Return unto me. That is the call always to Israel.
them anymore as  their  sins.                                   Not simply you may, but you must return. It means
       As a mist and a thick cloud. They disappear from first of all, to turn away from all other gods and
the rising sun. The grace of Jehovah breaks through,            from the service of sin, the devil and the flesh. Israel
the Lord  *will no longer pursue them  with. His dis-           must turn away from their idols and from Babylon.
pleasure. The darkness shall  ,make room for the light          They'must  turn from, their former desires and lusts
of His face. Listen, Israel, to the Word of the Lord.           of the flesh. And they must turn from their worldli-
That Word is "I have not forgotten thee". Thou art              mindedness. In one word, they must return from sin
mine from eternity to eternity.. That is the blessed and darkness.
comfurt  for the captives.                                         Turn unto me means, turn to a new obedience as
       Is it possible? Can they now depend on His word?         the fruit of your redemption. `We find here in these
   "For I have redeemed thee".                                  words the direct  co.ntrast   .of what Israel deserved.
       To redeem means first of all, to have bought.  It        The Lord could have cast away His people. Yet, His
implies that which is bought belongs rightfully to one.         tender mercies are forever. Hence, Israel must re-
No one may lay his hands on it. The Lord ransomed ciprocate by a  lholy life.
His people. He paid the price for them.                            Turn!! That is also the  command  to the Church
       To redeem means in the second place, to set free.        of today. Congregational preaching, and that after
   The enemy exercised the right of the conqueror aI,1 is necessary to build the Church, consists of the
over them and demanded Israel's service. He could oall ,to God's people to turn from darkness, from sin
demand all, they possessed: But .when the Lord sets and corruption? to the living God,  Not'so, that  tie


                                       TX33  STANDARD   BEARER                                                    209

mere cry to repentance ,without  anything else is con-
version preaching. No, but the preaching of the Word                   The Levitical Priesthood
itself serves that purpose.      Rightly understood, all
so-called "evangelical" preaching is placing the Word          In the  art& `es appearing under the above caption.
of God in the background and does not build tlhe con-       I am addressed to the task of setting forth the place
gregation, but will finally develop in the preaching which the Levitical priest occupied in the scheme of
of modernism.                                               things that formed the symbolical-typical apparatus
   Unto Me ! ! Of course, because I have blotted out.       of the Old Testament dispensation. As `has already
Not I shall,  `but I  have. The sin of God's people  is     been said, the book of Genesis and the first twenty-
taken away. Flee then from sin and from all <that is seven chapters of the book of Exodus make no mention
of sin.                                                     of a priesthood in the line of Seth (the third from
   The result shall be, the disappearing of the clouds Adam) and of Abraham, that is, make no mention of
of dankness.      Salvation is experienced alone in tie a class of individuals vested with the office of priest-
way of conversion.       That salvation consists in the hood as an exclusive prerogative, thus a class of per-
,knowledge  "God is near to me and is a loving Father".     sons  ,whose  exclusive right it was to perform the
But  only in the way of fleeing from sin. It lies in        duties that belonged to this office. The reason is, as
the nature of the `case that God cannot have fellowship (was made plain, that this holding the office of priests
with us in any other eway. He hates sin and darkness, as an exclusive prerogative was, according to the will
for He is Light and darkness is not in Him.                 of  ,God,  to  *be characteristic of the Levitical priest-
   In turning to Him the limght and the life shall be hood.
yours and pleasures for evermore.             w. v.            Let us now direct our attention to this priesthood.
                                                            The question first in .order  is : What distinguished the
                        .--                                 priest (priests) from all the other Israelites, from the
                                                            nation at large? We learn this from the description
                 CLASSICALE  EXAMEN                         of Moses on the occasion of Korah's rebellion, "And
   Het Classicale Examen  van Cand. L. Doezema,  be- he spake unto  Korah,  and unto all his company, saying,
roepen  te Beli!flower,  California, zal geschieden op de Tomorrow the Lord will show who is His, and who  ti
Classicale vergadering, die staat gehouden te worden        holy. . .  ." We must notice the connection in which
den Gden Maart, 1940, te Rock Valley, Iowa, en naar this stands. Moses had selected Aaron and his sons
de volgende orde:  '                                        for the office of priesthood. This selection had implied
                                                            the rejection of all the others. It was thus a declara-
     Dogmatiek `I-II-Ds. A. Cammenga.                                                                                     .
                                                            tion to the effect that of all the members of the theo-
     Dogmatiek III-IV-Ds. J. Vander Breggen.                cracy Aaron only was qualified. But was this true?
     Dogmatiek V-VI-Ds. W. Verhil.                          Had the Lord so said? Had the  selection of Aaron
     Kennis der Belijdenisschriften-Ds. G. Vos.             a&ally  been the execution of a command of God?
     Kennis der Heilige  Sohrift-Ds.  MI. Gritters.         Had He so dictated? This Korah and his company
     Controvers-Ds. G. Lubbers.                             denied. They took tie stand that they had been un-
     Practica-Ds.  A. Petter.                               lawfully deprived of their right, and that the  impulse
     Predikatie schetr, : Tekst : Johannes IO : ll-Dss.     under which Moses had aoted  ,was  not loving obedience
           Verhil, Vos en Vander Breggen.                   to a command of God but carnal lust of power. This
   De  Candidaatzal  een predikatie  leveren om 11  uur is evident from their speech. They say to Moses, "Ye
des voormiddags, terwijl het overige van het examen         take too much upon you, seeing all  the congregation are
plaats zal nemen'des namiddags, aanvang 1:30..              holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them:
                      Namens de Classicale Corm-n.          wherefore then lift up  yourselves  above the congrega-
                      J. Vander Breggen, Sec'y.             tion of the Lord?" Apparently they had right upon
                                                            their side. Seemingly they speak because the interests
                                                            of God's people lie close to their heart. Had not in the
                                                            ages preceding all the people of God been doing the
                        ATTENTION                           work of a sacrificer? Had not the Lord said, years
                                                            previous, when they were first come to the desert of
   Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churoh,          Sinai, and before the vesting of the priesthood in  the
will meet D. V., Wednesday, March 6, 1940, at 9             persons of Aaron and his sons,-had the Lord not
o'clock, in the Protestant Reformed Church at Rock said to them then, on the occasion of the ratification
Valley, Iowa.                                               of the covenant, "Now therefore, if ye will obey my
   Such as desire lodging will please correspond with voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be
the Rev. P. Vis, Rock Valley, Iowa.                         a peculiar treasure unto me above a11 people: for all
                                   M. Gritters, S.C.        the earth is mine: and ye shall be unto me a kingdom

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

of priests, and an holy nation" (Ex. 19  :6).         How cubit (nine inches). The woven cloth  *was laid to-
plain, in the light of this word, that the Levitical priest- gether double. In it were set four rows of precious
hood is an invention of Moses, an innovation unwilled stones. The stones were the following:  tie first or
by the Lord. So they reasoned. Wlhen Moses heard,              upper row, odem, our carnelian,  of a blood-red color;
he fell upon his face. And his full reply to Korah pitdah, topaz, golden  yellow; bareketh,  literally the
,reads,  "Tomorrow the Lord wtil show ,who is His, and shining, the emerald of a brilliant green. In the second
who is holy ; and whom He makes to draw near to                row, rzophek,  carbuncle, red; salppir,  the sapphire, of
Hi#m ; and him whom He chooses will He make to draw a sky-blue color; jahalom,  according to some, the dia-
near to Himself" (Num. 16  :5). The Lord will show mond, according to others, the onyx. In `the third row,
who of all the people of Israel possesses holiness and leshem, a ligure,  pale, variegated; shevo, a composite
is thus fit to serve God's altar. And the choice again stone, glistening, variegated ; achbamah, amethyst,
fell upon Aaron.                                               violet color. In the fourth row,  tarshish,   chrysolite,
       Holiness, then, was the property of God's priests, of according to some, a brilliant stone of ,a golden color;
Aaron. But if the whole congregation ,was  iholy, how shohum, beryl; jaseph, jasper. These stones were set
could Aaron and his sons (the priesthood). be said to in golden enclosings or capsules, and upon them were
alone possess this property? What was meant, cer- written the names of the sons of Israel. The upper
tainly, is that they were holy in a peculiar symbolical end of the breastpilate  was provided with+two  golden
sense. This raises the question, What was their sym- rings, and li,kewise its lower end. Two rings of gold
bolical holiness  ? It  `was the symbolical  h&iness of were made upon the shoulder pieces of the ephod and
their priestly clothing, of their anointing, and of the        likewise upon  the ephod where it joined the girdle.
blood of the offering, the sacrifice of whiah belonged         By two close-corded chains of ,pure  gold attached to
to the rites of the consecration of their persons to their the upper, and by threads of blue yarn attached to, the
office.                                                        lower rings, the breastplate `was binded to the ephod
       Let us then attend firstly to the priestly garments,    (28 : 15-28). "And Aaron shall bear the names of the
the instruction for the making of which is contained in sons of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his
Ex. 28. To these garments belonged: a breastplate,             heart;  ,when he goeth in into the holy place, for a
an ephod, a robe, a broidered coat, a mitre, and a girdle memorial before the Lord continually"  (28  :29).
(Ex. 28 :4). The different portions of this dress are             Into the breastplate Moses put the Urirn and the
fully described in the sequence. The first part men-           Thummim; that they might "be upon Aaron's heart,
tioned is the ephod. It is the part of the official dress when he goeth in before the Lord  :" The question what
of the high priest. It was made of blue, of purple, and the Unim and the Thummim were and the related ques-
of scarlet yarn, and fine twined linen, worked through- tion what uh.e object of them was, will be taken up and
out with gold thread. In all likelihood it consisted answered when we inquire into the symbolical-typical
of two pieces, one hanging over the breast and the significance of the parts of the priestly dress and of the
other over the back,  and connected together over the rites of consecration.
shoulders. Its principal feature was its serving to               The third part of Aaron's official dress was the
bear the breastplate.                                          robe,  Hebrew,  Meil meaning coveting. It was made
       IJpon  tie shoulder pieces of the ephod two precious for and belonged to the ephod, "And thou shalt make
stones  .were  placed, one upon each shoulder; and these the robe of the ephod. . .  ." It was a long,  closely-
were engraved with the names of the children of Israel,        fitting coat of blue, that reached to the knees. In the
each with six names "according to their generations," middle of it there was an opening to put the head
that is, according to their respective ages, so that through when ,it was put on. In order that it might
the names of the six elder sons were engraved upon             not be torn when put on, there was a hem around
the precious stones on the right shoulder, and those &he opening for the head "the work of a weaver";
of the six younger sons upon that of the left. The             from which it follows that the robe was woven in one
stones were  fixed in golden settings, surrounded by piece, and was not formed of several pieces sewed to-
golden braids. Their names were for a "memorial gether. On the lower edge there were pomegranates
unto the children of Israel:" "before  t,he Lord upon          (the fruit of the tree of tie myrtle family, resemb!ing
Aaron's two shoulders. . . ." (28 :6, 7, 9-12).                an ,orange  in size and color), made of twisted yarn of
       The second part mentioned is the girdle or belt for blue and red and scarlet, and little golden bells between
the waist. It, too, was made of gold, blue, purple,            them round about", a golden bell and a pomegranate,
scarlet, and fine linen. By it the ephod, whose pieces         a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem of the
were attached to it at their extremities, was fastened robe round about." When Aaron performed the duties
tightly to the body.                                           of his office, he put on this robe, "that his sound might
       The part mentioned next is the breastplate, a woven be heard when he went into the holy place before the
fabric of the same material and  uhe same kind of work Lord, and when he came out, and that he might not
as the ephod, and of the length and breadth of half a die".                               I            -    -


                                     TeHE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        211

   The fourth article of the high priest's dress was the Urim and  tie Thummim, and finally the cap upon his
@ate  of  yokE called crown  of  gold in chapter  29330,    head, with the golden crown over his forehead. This
and upon which were engraved the words, "holiness to is followed by the anointing, which is performed first
dehovah". By means of a ribbon of blue fastened to          upon the tabernacle and its  furmture  ; then upon the
it, it. attached to the front of the brilliant white head- altar of burnt-offering with its utensils and upon the
dress of the high priest,-a dress that, judging from laver and its foot; and after this upon Aaron by. the
the name it bears in the Hebrew text  (mimzephet  from pouring of the holy oil upon his head.  .Moses  now
zanqh  to twist) was wrapped in folds about  tie robes and anoints Aaron's sons. The clothing and
priest's head and thus had the form of a turban. The' anointing of Aaron and his sons "shall  surely be an
one thing about th.is dress that had special significance everlasting priesthood throughout their generations"
was the  goden  plate. When the  Ihigh priest wore this     (Ex. 40 :15), that is, the anointing secures to them
dress, this plate was above his forehead, that he "might the priesthood for all ages. The holy garments of
bear the sin of the holy things, which the children of      Aaron are to be his successors after him to be anointed
Israel sanctified, with respect to all their holy gifts. . . and consecrated in them.
as an acceptableness for them before Jehovah" (28:             The consecration is concluded with a sacrificial
38).                                                        ceremony that consists of a threefold sacrifice. Moses
   In addition to the parts mentioned and described; causes a bullock to be brought before the tabernacle
the dress of the high priest included a  body coat,         for a sin-offering in behalf of Aaron and his sons.
a girdle and under-drawers. The body coat was a Hence, they lay upon the victim their hands, transfer,
plain cloth of white linen. From the circumstance by this action  their  guilt from themselves to their
of its being called weavers' work, in chapter 39  :27, it innocent substitute. Moses now ktils the victim before
follows that it was whole throughout, without seam, the Lord, by the door of the tabernacle. Taking the
like the robe of Christ. This coat was worn close           blood, he puts it upon the horns of the altar twith his
to the body next to the drawers. How far down it            finger, and pours all tie blood beside the bottom of
reached is not stated. In all likelihood it reached to the altar. As a result of this action, the blood is in
the ankles. The gircWe  was of variegated *work,  that is, Jehovah's presence before His face ; and its presence
it was made of yarn, and of the &me four colors as there bespeaks its acceptance by Him as a covering
the other holy things. The short drawers, reaching of Aaron's sins. Moses now takes all the fat that
from the hips to the thighs, served "to cover the flesh covered the inwards of the victim, and the caul that is
,of the nakedness".                                         above the  lilver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that
                                                            is upon t,hem, and burns them upon the altar. These
   The official dress of the common priests consisted choice parts, representative, as they are, of the life
of the same parts as the custom of the high priest of the .victim in its greater health and vigor, are, in
with the exception, of course, of the  &own   of  gold their state of burning, to be regarded as symbolical
and the ephod with its breastplate and the Unim and of the :holy zeal of God's house by *which Christ was
TXnunmim.                                                   consumed while expiating the sins of His people. In
   Now the holiness of the priest was in the first the final instance, therefore, these parts, in their state
instance  symbolicalQpica1  and was thus the holiness of burning, betoken the zeal of all God's believing
of their priestly dress, but not only of this dress but people and in particular that of Aaron, who, in Scrip-
also of the special  consecration for the performance ture, (Ps. 105) bears the title "the saint of God". The
of the duties of their office. The rites of this consecra- Resh of the bullock, and its skin, and its dung, Moses
tion are prescribed in Ex. 29, and carried out in `burns with fire outside the camp. This action betokens
Lev. 8.                                                     that Aaron's guilt and that of his sons, having been
   Moses, in obedience to  `chew Lord's command, goes atoned, is gone, so that, on account of their being
to the tabernacle, taking with  hi,m Aaron and his covered by the blood of their innocent substitute, they
sons, and the garments, and the anointing oil, and a are free from the obligation of dying a sudden and
bullock for the sin-offering, and two rams and a untimely physical death and have- right of excess to
basket of unleavened bread for the other offerings. He Jehovah's presence.
gathers "the whole congregation"-that is, the nation           Moses now brings a burnt-offering to the Lord in
in the person of their elders-there also. According behalf of Aaron and his sons. He causes to be brought
to Ex. 29, the basket of unleavened bread contained,        before the tabernacle a ram. Aaron and his sons lay
besides this bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, their hands upon its head. The victim is slain. Its
and unleavened flat-cakes covered wit.h oil. Bringing blood is sprinkled round about upon the altar. As
Aaron and his, sons, Moses  *washes them with water. these actions have just been exp!ained,  and fully ex-
Now fdllows the clothing of Aaron. Moses puts upon plained in previous articles, nothing more need be said
him the body-coat and the girdle, then, the robe of the of them here.
ephod, next the ephod, and the breastplate with the            Having slain the ram, and sprinkled its blood round


",@           ---                I  T H E  STANDAR.D   B E A R E R
about upon the altar, Moses cuts it in pieces, washes        modified.      Her policy was to modify the service
its inward parts and legs, nits all the parts, including     and worship just enough to satisfy the Protestants
.A nead,  together, and burns the whole upon zhe ahar.       and yet not enough to provoke the Catholics. `L'he
* It IS a ,burnt-otiering  unto the Lord: a sweet savour,    Reformation proper did not begin in England until
an  onering  made by me unto the  Lord," and therefore       the movement known as Puritanism was set afoot.
the whole dead body of the victim-even its head, legs,          Though ,careful,  the Queen insisted on uniformity
and inwards-are burnt on the &tar  and thus ascenas          of worship. Her aim was one church, the mother of
m r&e to the Lord. This laying of the whole on Gods          Protestants and Catholics ali(ke. From this it appears.
altar or table and the ascendrng  of the whole in lires      that  tie Reformation in England amounted to very
to God, forms a certain and undoubted testimony that llittle in this period. In accordance with her aim the
the sacrifice is accepted, that thus sms, in this case       Queen had Parliament pass the Act of Uniformity.
Aaron's and his sons', have been (symbolically) atoned,      The Act demanded that all  cworship  be conducted in
and that therefore iniquity is no longer being imputed.      agreement with the stipulation of the Revised Second
   `Phere are still two other. otierings  which Moses,       Prayer Book of Edward. This book, even as revised,
in response to the commana  of God, brings in benalf         retained many Roman Catholic usages and practices,
of Aaron and his sons, to wit, the peace- and the meat-      e.g. (1) prayer for the dead, (2) communion at burials,
on'ering.  Moses takes another ram. Upon the head of         (3) anointing and exorcism in baptism, (4) anointing
this victim also Aaron and his sons put their hands.         of the sick. It omitted the prayer against the Pope,
The victim is now kihed. Moses takes of its blood and        ;;o pacify the Catholics, and the declaration that  kneei-
puts it upon ti tip of Aaron%  right ear, and upon the       ing at the Lord's Supper did not imply adoration of
tip of the right ear of his sons, and upon the thumb         the physical presence of Christ. Finally the book left
of their right hand, and upon the toe of their right the physical presence of Christ undetermined. These
foot, and sprinkles it upon the altar round about. He omissions and modifications were made to render the
now sprinkles of this blood and of tie anointing oil new service acceptable to both Protestants and Catho-
upon Aaron and his sons and upon their garments.             lics alike.
"And he shall be hallowed, and his garments, and his            By the Supremacy Act passed by Parliament in the
sons, and his sons' garments with him" (29 :21). It is, same year (1559) the authority of the Pope was re-
first of all in  t&is  action with the blood that the offer- jected. and substituted by the authority of the Queen.
ing here described differs from the ordinary  peace-         The official title given her was "Supreme Head of the
offerings;                                                   Church of England". In order to avoid a clash with
    The action with the flesh of this sacrifice is also      the Protestants, this was later changed to "Supreme
peculliar and significant. Moses takes the choice por- Governor of the .Ghurch  of England".
tions of the carcass, and the right shoulder, and lays           So it is evident that the Reformation in England
by three another cake of each of the three kinds of had effected no essential change in church government.
pastry, and puts all in the hands of Aaron and in the AlU that had happened is that the Pope was replaced by
hands of his sons, and waves them for a wave-offering the Queen.
before Jehovah, after which he takes them out of their           It was this failure on the part of the Reformation
hands and  bulrns them upon the altar for "a  burnt-         in England to bring the"church  back to the truly Bibli-
offering, for a sweet savour before the Lord." Now           cal standpoint as to worship and government, that
follows the sacrificial meal, which forms the conclusion gave rise to the movement known as Puritanism.
of this dedicatory offering.               G. M. 0.              The inception or beginning of the movement. Dur-
                                                             ing the reign of Bloody Mary many Protestants had
                                                             fled to Geneva, Zurich and Base1 in Zwitserland and
              Puritanism In England                          Strassburg, Frankfort and Embden in Germany. The
                                                             refugees,  especiallly  those returning from Geneva,
    Queen Elizabeth had embraced Protestants not for were filled with admiration  for, the thorough-going
principle's but for expediency's sake. She, too, was         Protestantism they had encountered in their foreign
glad to throw off  the yoke of the Pope, who had made Iresorts. These refugees were people of deep religious
himself abnoxious to potentates by his encroachment earnestness, true people of God,, willing to suffer for
on their temporal power, through his arm, viz., the their faith. They desired to see the service purged
clergy,  (,bishops,  arch-bishops, etc.). The Catholics from all the remnants of Roman superstition, and the
did not resent her rejection of the authority of the church supplied with earnest, spiritually-minded minis-
Pope. They, too, were eager to dispose of him for a ters.
similar reason.                                                  They would also see the Church throw off the hier
    E%zabeth  made the acceptance of her religious archical  episcopal system of church government in
settlements as easy as possible. The church in its which the king (or queen) had a place as head of the
service, worship and government was only slightly             church with the bishops appointed by and responsible


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                    213

to him. They labored for the adoption of a presby-              The Puritans were  divEded into two  dlasses:  the
terial constitution, arranged in accordance with the radicals and the moderates. To the former class be
Geneva model. In other words, what they advocated long the Puritans proper. The moderate Puritans had
is the rejection of the state church and of the.king  in as ,their  aim the reformation of the state-church by
his capacity as head of the church.                          remaining in this church and laboring for its purifica-
   `They also came to the fore with Calvin's doctrine tion. They were strongly in favor of the parishes or
of the Holy Scripture, viz., the doctrine that defines local congregations, providing  themsel,ves  .with  a pres-
Scripture as the infallible rule of faith and the only byterial constitution, but at the same time would allow
infallli~ble source of *knowledge.                           the retention of bishops in the church as overseers or
   They were called Puritans because they insisted on superintendents of a11 the churches of a diocese. They
the purification of t,he church from every human in- held that the government shall take the lead in re
vention apd upon the arrangement of her worship in forming  the s church. Until the government became
strict agreement with the Word of God.              `.       active they favored doing nothing except agitating and
   The Puritans first announced their principles in making propaganda for their cause. This became the
private conventicles and thereupon openly propagated program of most of the Puritans; they were a class
them, with the effect that  athey were widely accepted by adverse . to all separation.
ministers and laymen alike., Irrespective of banish,            Suffice it to say that these half-way measures were
me&, fines and imprisonments of its adherents, the not worthy to secure their adoption. Each parish or
movement became so strong that it could not be sup- local church was to have its elders chosen by the con-
pressed.                                                     gregations. The local church, however, `was to remain
   Separatists congregations, organized after the pat        under the yoke of the bishop responsible to the king.
tern of the Reformed Church of Geneva and thus               In other words the old hierarchy was to be retained.
provided with presbyterial and  synodal  constitutions,         The radical Puritans insisted that the hierarchical
appeared one after the other untiI by 15'72 their num- y&e be cast off entirely, and a form of chuch govern-
ber was great.                                               ment adopted in agreement with Scripture.' This, of
   The leaders of the movement in its first stage, course, would means a break with the state church
was Lawrence Humphrey, president of the Magdalene and a break with the king in his capacity of head
Colege of Oxford, and Thomas Sampson, dean of of the church. Many congregations  di,d separate them
Christ Church of Oxford. Both were exiled for their selves from the state-church by casting off the afore-
faith.                                                       said yoke. The members of such churches are known
   The issue they raised was the earliest one and had as Separatists or Congregationalists. They were the
respect to the use of the prescribed garments. Their "Afgescheidenen" of England. As the Separatists in
stand was that the prescribed clerical dress tended the Netherland, they were fiercely persecuted by the
to gender in the minds of the people the thought that government.           Their meetings, especially in London,
the ministers constitute a spiritual state with peculiar     were broken up by the authorities and their pastors
mystical powers. They insisted therefore that this imprisoned. The Congregational Church at Norwick
dress be abolished,                                          was likewise scattered. Most of its members tied to
   The Queen however insisted that this dress be Middelberg, Netherlands, where they organized a con-
worn, and deposed every minister that refused .to be gregation.
seen in it. Many clergymen lost their positions. This           The leader of the Separatists, Robert Brown. He
controversy is known as the Vestiarian Controversy.          was a graduate of Cambridge. After his graduation
   The second stage of Puritanism ; its leader and           he soon adopted the Separatists'  princip'es  and there
representative. This leader  was Thomas Cartwright, upon organized a church in Norwich. As a result of
qrofessor of divinity at Cambridge University. The his preaching, he soon found himself imprisoned. As
<issue he raised had to do with the church as institute. was said, the members of his church fled to Middle-
He insisted that the church shodd throw off the  hier-       burg, and he soon followed them. Here at Middleburg
:arcical yoke of the king and provide itself with a  pres    he published a book containing three treatises. In
byterial  constitution. He maintained, and correctly so, one he flays those Puritans who remained in the church
that of all constitutions &is only had the sanction of of England. The title of this treatise reads, A treatise
Scripture. Cartwright's chief opponent was John Whit-        of Ref. without Tarrying for Anie, and The Wickedness
gift.  Whitgift denied that the material of a presby- `of those Preachers which will not Reform till the
terial constitution could be derived from  Scriptui-e.       Magitrate Commandie and Compel Them.
His stand was that no exact pattern of church govern-           Another treatise bears this title: A Bookie <which
ment is found in Scripture, but maintained that the Showeth the Life and Manners of all true Christians.
episcopalian form was the best.  Cartwright lost his This treatise is an exposition of his principles of
professorship and spent the rest of his days in travel,      church government.     Brown's principles respecting
laboring to further the presbyterian cause.                  the government ef the local church #were sound, - AC-

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

  cording to these principles the church is not the sum         kind of proof to establish guilt.
  and total of churches of a certain country or state,             Notwithstanding Whitgift's prohibition and the
  but the local church as constituted of true believers. activities of the aforesaid commission,  Congregational-
  The head or king of the church is  Christ, not the Pope ism continued to make gains and to hold their private
  or  civil magistrate. Christ instituted offices in His religious meetings. The government then imprisoned
  church, which He f%ls through the instrumentality of the leaders, especially the clergymen. Yet even behind
  His spirit filled body-the local church. Each church prison bars these leaders retained their great zeal for
  is self-governing in respect to the magistrates. It their principles and attacked the  Am&cans and Puri-
  chooses its pastor and elders and deacons. This is tans alike.  Barrowe and teacher Greenwood of the
  according to the presbyterial constitution.                   Congregational  church in London  <were  hanged for re-
         Brown's conception of the relation which the one       fusing to obey the queen in ecclesiastical matters.
  local church sustains So the other is faulty and gave            The Queen perceived however that her attempt
  in what in  [history  is known as Congregationalism. to suppress Congregationalism by imprisonment and
  He was opposed to the local churches meeting in  C`assis      death ended in failure. So she had Parliament pass a
  and Synod and to the local church freely submitting statute against the Congregationalist who persisted in
  itself to the decisions of these bodies.        The  INal     defying her ecclesiastical authority by refusing to
  churches do commune -with each other and do assist adhere to the worship she prescribed. The result was
  each other, but this is all.                                  that the London Congregationalists were  compel'ed  to
         The congregations were called Brownists after seek refuge in Amsterdam.
  Robert Brown, the advocate of congregational prin-               In the meantime Anglicanism was becoming more
  ciples in England. Brown's view on church and church and more defined and more determined in its opposition
  government were derided as Anabaptistic. Apparently           to Puratanism. The chief Anglican was the Queen
  there are points of similarity. Both insist on the            herself. She enacted a series of usages into church
  complete separation of church and state and the               Ibw, many of which were obnoxious to the Puritans.
  church and the world. In reality, however, there is Under Bancroft, archbishop of Canterbury, Anglican--
  nothing of anabaptism in Brownism. According to the ism continued to gain strength. When Bancroft died,
  Anabaptists the converse of grace is nature, according Anglicanism lost a strong hand and the result was that
  to Brown, it is sin.                                          Separatism strengthened itself and made  decided#gains.
         Brown did not continue long as the pastor of the                                                    G. M. 0.
  congregationalist church at Middleburgh. As a result
  of his difhcult character and lack of tact as a pastor,
  his congregation was soon in a tumult. Brown  cleft.                           For Our Nation
  Returning to England, he joined himself to the  Estab-
- lished C;hurch and conformed to the prescribed worship           In the (American) De Wachter for Jan.  2& the
  of this church. The remaining years of his life were editor in chief of this weekly wrote, "Ds. Pekelder zond
  spent in the ministry of this church. It meant the ons tevens een rapport  aangaansde  het werk der corn-
  abandonment of his former principles, and for this missie (the radio committee of which Rev. E. B. Pekel
  reason the congregationalists have ever after disowned der is the secretary. G.M.O.) . . .  .in the  Eng&che
  him as their leader.                                          taal. De lezers, onze afkeerigheid van vertalen ken-
         During the years 1583 and 1604, the Separatists or     nende, zullen `t zeker niet kwalijk nemen, dat we de
  Congregationalist Puratanism experienced a vigorous boodsohap  der commissie op onze eigene wijze en in
  suppression under Archbishop Whitgift.           He used      onze eigen taal overbrengen."
  articles demanding the full approval and use of the              `I!he Ireport  of Rev. Pekel,der, as translated by the
  Prayerbook and the wearing of the prescribed  clerica?        editor-in-chief, reads in part:
  dress. He also issued an article forbidding. all  pritvate    "Onze  harten trilden van blijdschap,  toen  Zondag, den
  religious meetings. This prohibition rendered the as- 17den  December, 1939, voor de eerste keer in de
  semblies of the Congregationalists a violation of law, geschiedenis der Christelijke Gereformeerde Kerk de
  as every religious assembly that refused to consider bovengenoemde aankondiging van  ,het radio-station
  itself a division of the est&lished  church was classified    WJJD, Chicago, in onze woningen gehoord werd.
  as private.                                                   Reeds ettelijke jaren  lang waren  ve'en  onzen  van ge-
         In enforcing the aforesaid prohibition the Queen       voelens, dat onze kerk  zich van deze wondere  uit-
  availed herself of the Court of High Commission. This vinding door God gegeven,  .zou bedienen, om de bood
  court had been in existence since the time of Henry schap, in God's Woord ons geopenbaard, alom  te ver-
  VIII. It was a commission that had been appointed ,kondigen.   Onze gebeden zijn verhoord. God  heeft
  for  the purpose of controlling ecclesiastical affairs and den weg geopend, zoodat we mochten beginnen. Moge
  to investigate and adjudicate without being compelled dit het begin zijn van uitgebreider dienst in de komen-
  to follow the ordinary process of  law. It could use any d            e         jaren,                I


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       215
-__
       "Mogen  ,we eidelijk onze lezers aansporen, ons  zen-    text is not whom God loves, he affirmed with emphasis
dingswerk met  ernst voor den troon der genade te -that it is the worZd that God loves.
willen gedenken? We hebben een boodschap voor ons                  Now this is what I call preaching arminian doctrine
Aplerikaansche   volk.  Dit programma is gewijd  aan under cower. Why was not this text properly ex-
het hoogste  doe1 van God tot de natie te brengen.              plained ? Why was not this word rightly divided?
Moge de boodsohap door woord en gezand gepaard Why did the speaker refrain from telling "Ons  Ameri-
gaan met duizenden gebeden  !"                                  kaansche volk" that Christ died only for some? Had
       ,The heart of the reverend vibrated with joy. the speaker done justice to this text, he ,would  have
Indeed! But did not  [his heart also have reason to preached that grace is sovereign. W!hy did he refuse
quake with fear? What reason? Radio station WJJD to do this? I believe we find the answer to this ques-
has been rendered available to his church for preaching tion in that report of Rev. Pekelder,  "We hebben een
the gospel to the nation, the American  peop!e. Is it           boodschap voor ons Amerikaansche  volk." We, pastors
so absolutely certain that those selected for this task in the Christian Reformed Church, shave a message for
twill speak God's Word to the nation? He, (pastor of the American people. "And our purpose is to bring
a Christian Reformed Church) who spoke from station God to the nation". The brethren want to have a
WOOD on the Sunday of Jan. the  14th, failed in this.           gospel, a good, pleasing, message for the American
The text treated was John 3  :14-16, "And as Moses              people, that is, for all men, for the unbelieving as
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must well as for the believing. The Scripture has a good
the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth           message for God's people. It is that they are children
in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For of God in Christ, that thus, on the ground of Christ's
God so rloved  the world, that he gave his only begotten        merits, their sins are forgiven them and eternal life is
son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, theirs. But this gospel, good neews, is only for God's
but have everlasting life." When the speaker came to people, for those, who by the mercies of God, truly
the term world, he made this statement, "Some people repent of their sins, forsake their sins and turn to the
think' that God wants to save all men." Did the living God to be saved. This gospel, certainly, is `not
speaker then go on to say, "But this is not true. Ac- for for the unlbelieving,  the wicked, the disobedient,
cording to Scripture, God is sovereignly determined for such who love and live in sin. What message can
to save some only, namely, his people, whom He' chose the `preacher of the word Ihave for such? This that, in
unto life eternal in Christ before the foundation of the words of the Catechism, "they stand exposed to the
the worId.  And it is this people (in conjunction with wrath of God, and eternal damnation, so long as they
the cosmos) only whom Christ had before His mind, are unconverted: according to  -which  testimony of the
when He said, For God so loved the world." This the gospel, God will judge them, both in this, and in the
speaker did not go on to say. He left the question life to come," that thus, on the other hand, if they are
unanswered. He  to1.d his invisi,ble audience that there converted, they will be saved, that their conversion will
,was no need of his answering as what Christ desired be to them the evidence that they are Christ's and
to stress here is the love of God, His love of the world. thus heirs of life eternal. This is the message of
Such was the substance of the speaker's reasoning.              Scripture to the unbelieving.  Asware of this, we, of
So the audience was left in the dark as to the significa- f& Protestant Reformed persuasion, have this message
tion of the term  w0yZ.d.  And why? The reason is, it and none other, for t,he unbelieving.
must be, that the reverend realized how strange it                 Rev. Zwier has  be& telling men that our  gospel-
would have sounded in the ears of "the American the gospel as we preach it-lacks "bangenaamheid"
people" "the nation" if he  woulld have said in his pleasantness. He ought to tell his readers just what
sermon, "God wills to save only some, not all, but He he means. What he means is not that our message
truly loves all men, also those whom He sovereignly for the believing  lacks "aangenaamheid". He knows
wills not to save. Yea, He so loves such, too, that if that our message for God's people is that with "body
they believe, they, as well as the others will have and soul, both in life and death, they are not their
eternal life." What, according to the reverend, Christ own, but belong to Christ, .-their faithful Saviour ;
at that moment wanted His disciples to realize is not who with His precious blood  !has fully satisfied for all
who they are whom God loved in particular and for their sins, and delivered them from the power of the
whom God gave His only begotten Son, but that He devil; and so preserves them that without the will of
loves and  that  He gave His Son. God  80 loved. . . . their heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from their
the world.       Christ wasn't at all concerned about heed ; yea, that all things must be subservient to their
who they are whom God loved and for  *whom  He, salvation." Now this message, Rev. Zwier, will admit,
Christ, was to die.        Yet, when the reverend had is characterized by "aangenaamheid". It is a glorious
done telling his listeners why he was not under the message, full of comfort for God's believing  peo@e,
necessity of explaining the term ILK&& after he had who stand in their faith. Now this is our message
given his audience to understand that the point in the for God's people. Zwier will not deny this. He will


 216                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                 ___"
 not dare.                                                  sinners, for every God-defying hunran, rolling his `body
        What the reverend means,  w,hen he maintains that and soul in the mire of sin, G.M.O.). He hates your
 our gospel lacks "aangenaamheid" is that our message sins, but He does not hate you. He invites you to come
 to the unconverted, the wicked, lacks "aangenaamheid". to Him and be saved. That very fact will make your
 But how can the preacher of the Word have good .news       punishment doubly deserved if you should be lost. You
 (the gospel is good news) for the godless, the despisers will never be able to say, I have never experienced His
of God and His covenant? The Scriptures contain no love".
 good news for such. They do for the weary and heavy           Let the brethren point to a single passage in Scrip-
 laden, for those who mourn, for the poor in spirit,        ture in which God tells a human, who stands in the away
 for such who smite  6heir breast and say, "God be of sinners., and is sitting in the chair of mockers, "I
 merciful to me a sinner; but the Scriptures have no love you". God does not even say this to His own be-
 good news for the wicked. Yet Rev.  Z&wier  insists        lieving people, while they, having fallen into sin, re-
 that the ministers of the Word have a joyful news also fuse to come to repentance. During such a time, they
 for the unrepentant. And wherein must this joyful lose the assurance that they are His children ,with sins
 news consist? In the announcement that God loves forgiven. It is only when they walk in the way of
 the wicked one and desires his salvation. To take the God's covenant, that they walk with God and have con-
 next step is to preach a general atonement, is to say scious fellowship with Him. And yet the brethren are
 that Christ died for all. And the final step is taken going to tell  "onze natie", ons Amerikaansche volk"
 when, in the desire'to come to the `unrepentant one with that God loves the wicked who wallow in sin. That is
 joyful news, it is said to ,him that he has it in him to going to be their message to the nation? Preposterous!
 sovereignly choose to be saved or not to be saved, and     Terrible ! Do the brethren understand who God is?
 that Christ is anxiously waiting for him to make the       He is thrice holy God. And yet this God wants His
 good choice.                                               servants to tell the wicked, the lovers of sin and
        Do the brethren realize what they do, when they iniquity , that He is their friend and that He loves
 assure the unbelieving and unrepentant multitude,  .men    them? No, brethren, you know better. If God wants
 and women, of this nation, the despisers of truth and His servants to tell this to the wicked, why does He not
 of God and the cross, that God loves them and earnestly tell them Himself. Did there ever a wicked, uncon-
 desires their salvation? This is  .what they do. They verted man live,  with whose spirit God's Spirit testified
 speak according.to  the heart of the  witcked. It pleases that he was the beloved of God, while !he lived and
 the wicked to be told that, despite their wickedness, *walked in sin? Let the brethren answer this question
 godlessness and carnality, they may still feel assured in the affirmative, if they dare. They dare not. They
 that God loves, though He hates their sin, and that know better. Well, if God Himself does not tell the
 whenever they may resolve to be done with sin, and,        wicked this in their heart, how can it be that it is
 acting upon this resolution, may turn to God, wiJ1 find    His will that His servants tell them this. Can the
 Him waiting for th.em with outstretched arms. Why brethren explain ? Yet the brethren are resolved to
 should the wicked be angry with God, if so preached? continue telling the wicked from coast to coast, the
 What message could be more gratifying to the wicked reprobated wicked, that God loves them. 4nd Rev.
 than suoh a message? It puts the wicked solely at ease' Pekelder's heart "trilde  van vreugde" when the an-
 in their ?Lngodliness, and .&uses  them to say, "Let us nouncement came to him from station WJJD. I can't
 eat, drink, and be merry all the days of our lives. The understand such joy.
 day before our death we will make our peace with God        But why should the brethren want to speak accord-
 and go to' heaven, if there be such a place. `A gospel ing to the heart of the wicked? Why cannot they be
 that is actual,ly good tiding for the unregenerate and content with speaking according to the heart of Jeru-
 unconverted ungodly is in every respect as God-dis- salem, of God's people, of the broken of heart, for
 honoring as Tetzel's absolutions. Tetzel would tell his those  swho mourn, of those who smite their breast and
 customers that his absolutions would avail even for cry, Cxod be merciful to me a sinner! We will consider
 crimes that they contemplated committing in the fu- this question in a following article.            G. M. 0.
 ture, that is, after the date of sale. So the preachers
 of glad tidings to the  wioked, they proclaim to men
 revelling  in sin that they need not go about with the                            NO.TICE
 worry in their soul that God does not love them and                  TO OUR WESTERN READERS
 that the love that Christ bears them will at any time         Please take notice of the expiration date on your
 grow cold. "Suppose you knew", I quote now from a Standard Bearer. If you are in arrears, send (Money
 sermon of one of the brethren, "Suppose you knew that :Order)  to Mr. R. Schaafsma, 524 Henry Ave., S. E.,
 you will ultimately be lost ; even then you could not say, Grand Rapids, Michigan. If we ,do not <hear from you
 God does not care for me. The gospel we preach is a in a short time, your name will be ,dropped  from the
 gospel for sinners-for all sinners. (Mark you, for  all subscription list,                     THE BOARD.


