     412                                  TtHE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
     r
                                                               grace. Of this we may feel confident, because we have
                                                               the truth. And where the Word of God is preached,
                  E D I T O R I A L ' S                        there is the Church; and where the Church is, there
                                                               is the grace and blessing of the God of Jacob. We `have
                                                               the truth! Of this the Scriptures testify, For this
                        Our First Synod                        we have the testimony of all the saints that have loved
                                                               and adhered to and professed the truth of God's sover-
                                  I                            eign grace. Of this even the very synod of the Chris-
                                                               tian Reformed Church that adopted the "Three Points",
                        PRAYER SERVICE                         in spite of itself, was bound to bear witness ! And,
            On the evening of May 22, 1940, a prayer-service therefore, in the confidence that the Lord was with us
(was
i            held in the "Roosevelt Park" Protestant Reformed in the past, and that hitherto we have been led by
     Church of  ,Grand Rapids, with a view to the first His grace and Spirit, we  rejoEce in this occasion!
     Synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches, that was           And yet, it behooves us to rejoice with fear and
     to begin its sessions on the following day.               trembling. The completion of our denominational or-
            On that evening the undersigned, pastor of the ganization also means that we have overcome one
     "calling church", led the services, and in the ministry more of those imperfections in our church life that
     of the Word spoke as follows:                             served to remind us  constant,ly  of our history as
            To you and to me this is a glad occasion. For the churches. We like to overcome them, of course ; we
     first time our churches are to meet in synodical gather- strive to perfection also with regard to the dhurch-
     ing. This `means that we have made history. To us it political, institutional life of our churches ; yet, as
     signifies that by the grace of God we might complete things become more normal, we are apt to forget our
     our denominational organization. It means that "here own history. And that is a danger. We should not
`we raise our Eben-ezer". Very small and insignificant forget in what way the Lord called us into existence
     was our beginning. Three consistories were deposed as churches. For, if we forget our peculiar history,
     with their pastors; three congregations were ejected we easily forget our specific calling. Besides, a synod
     from the fellowship of the Christian Reformed Church- is a broader gathering. And this means that the com-
     es, one of which since then separated itself from us      pletion of our organization brings with it the danger
     and went its own way. This is only fifteen years ago. of hierarchy, or if you please, increases that danger,
     To protect ourselves from utter dissolution we, at Because it is a broader gathering than a  classis,   a
     first, organized a larger or broader gathering in our synod is necessarily a comparatively small body and
     combined consistory-meetings. This organization was less representative than a classis.  It is more remote
     based on what was known as the "Act of Agreement". from the life of the individual churches than a  classis.
     It was a temporary, emergency measure, pending the It seems to entrust more power to fewer men. The
     outcome of our protest with the Synod of Englewood, temptation to assume a power which we do not and
     Chicago, 1926. After the question of our protest was cannot have is more than imaginary. And as there
     settled, we organize-d a classis. And now we are about is strength and wisdom in a multitude of counsellors,
     to institute our first synodical gathering. God has so the danger to err increases when the counsellors
     done great things for us ! Hence, this is a glad occasion, are but few.
     that fills our hearts with the joy of thanksgiving!           Hence, we must walk carefully, with spiritual cau-
            We have good reason to rejoice, because we may tion and vigilance. When we meet as synod and de-
     look upon all that has thus far been accomplished as liberate upon matters that concern the well-being of
     the wor,k  of God, as a sure token of His grace to us-    our churches, we should constantly keep before us the
     ward. This must needs be added. It must have the          ideal, that at the end of our sessions we may with full
     emphasis. Only in the confidence that our churches assurance of faith report to our individual churches
     are the work of God in Christ, that our privilege to what is stated in the words of our text for this evening:
     institute a synod is the gift of His grace to us, can we "It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us" (Acts
     really be glad.      Our work means nothing.  ,Christ 15 :28). Then'we  walk and labor safely, and may we
,alone gathers His Church. If the fact that we are expect the blessing of the Lord our God upon our
     about to open our synod represents merely the crown- efforts.
     ing effort of a period of human labor and toil, -while        Our text expresses :
     God's grace was not with us, we may speak of success,         The Assurance Of Having Been Guided By The
and . . . . woe unto us! For success is no blessing. Spirit. Let us note that this is:
     And mere success would only indicate that God had
     "prospered" us in a sinful way! But we are confident               I. A Significant Assurance ;
that God's grace was upon us all these years, and that                 II. An Indispensable Assurance ;
\we may consider the present occasion a blessing of His               HI, A Possible Assurance.


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                      413

     I. You are, of course, acquainted with the context          This, then, was the important problem that was to
  in which our text occurs, and with the occasion of the be decided by this convent in Jerusalem. They  de-
  letter that was sent to the churches among the Gentiles, Iiberate upon the matter. They consider the question
 ,and that contains this beautiful expression of assur- from every aspect. Peter speaks. James speaks. They
  ance and confidence.     A convent had been held at hear Paul and Barnabas. And they finally reach a de-
  Jerusalem. Advisedly I say convent. This gathering, cision. They unanimously decide to write unto the
  -which was held about the year 50 A.D. has sometimes Gentile churches that they must abstain from certain -
  been ,called  the first synod. But this is hardly correct. heathen corruptions, but that for the rest'they will lay
  For, first of all, we may remark that there can hardly      upon them no other burden. And it is of these de-
  have been room for a synodical  gathering as long as cisions that they testify: "It seemed good to the Holy
  the apostles still lived. They were directly guided by Ghost and to us".
  the Spirit. They had authority over all the churches.          But what do they mean by this expression of con-
  And the apostolic authority was final. As long as the fident assurance regarding the divine approval upon
  apostles lived, therefore, there was neither need of, nor their decisions?  11s it their intention to indicate a cer-
  occasion for, a synod. Nor was the constituency of tain synergistic relationshi,p  between the Holy Spirit
  this gathering such that it could be called a synod. and themselves-in the matter of the decisions they had
  The latter is always a representative gathering. Its just reached? When they say: "the Holy Ghost and
  members are delegated and receive their commission us" do they look upon the parties mentioned as a sort
  from the churches that delegate them. But the meet- of a joint agency, that freely cooperated, on a more
  ing at Jerusalem was constituted of the apostles, and or less equal basis, with each other in reaching their
  elders of the church at Jerusalem, together with Paul decisions? The unsophisticated, almost childlike sim-
  and Barnabas, who had been sent by the church of plicity of the expression might easily leave that im-
Antioch and who represented more particularly. the            pression  : "it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to
  the churches among the Gentiles. Hence, we may us".               The Holy Ghost and they appear to be co-
 more properly characterize this gathering as a convent ordinated here.          They had worked in conjunction.
  under the direct guidance of the apostles.                 The Holy Ghost had been just a part of their council
     The occasion of this gathering was an important or convent. Either He had acted in the capacity of
 question that had arisen, and that threatened to cause advisory member, and had submitted His advice to
  trouble and dissension in the churches.unless  it were their deliberations and approval ; or they had first
 quickly and definitely settled. There were some in the reached their decisions and submitted them for ap-
 church of Antioch and elsewhere, Judaizing teachers, ,proval to the judgment of the Holy Ghost. And thus
 who claimed that the converts from the  Genti,les  must they could say at the end of their deliberations: "It
 be  circumcized  and were in duty bound to keep the seemed good to the `Holy Ghost and to us".
 law of Moses. To us, of course, this question may               But we know better. No one who understands
 appear very simple and to offer no difficulties what- the Scriptures will even be tempted to read a sug-
 ever. But we must remember that those days were a gestion of synergism into this beautifully confident
 period of transition from the old dispensation into the declaration. For, in the first place, a,ccording  to the
 new, from the bondage to the law into the liberty of        Scriptures this is never the relation between the divine
 the free sons of God. The child had grown into man- .work and our acts. Even though we are co-workers
 hood, but could hardly become accustomed to his new with God, followers of God as dear children, imitators,
 freedom. Already it had required a special revelation if you please, we are still  followers. God's work and
 to convince the church that salvation was for the our acts are never coordinated. The former is always
 Gentiles as well as for the Jews. But even now, it          first, the latter always second. The former is always
 was not easy completely to break away from the ordin- the cause, the latter allways  the effect of that cause.
 ances of the Old Testament, the law of Moses. The           Our acts are never more than the fruit and expression
 temple was still in Jerusalem, and it is evident from       of the work of God. And it is in the light of this
 all that we read about the New Testament church in general Scriptural teaching that also this expression
 that city, that much of its life was still concentrated must be interpreted. God draws and we come, that is,
in that temple and its services. And now the Gentiles we come as the fruit of God's drawing us. God works
 were brought into the fold. What was their relation in us to do His good pleasure, and we work out our
 to the ordinances of the law? Was it not natural that own salvation, that is, we do the latter in the strength
 many in the church, even though they were not Judaiz-       of the former. It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and
 ing teachers in the evil sense of that word, were in-       to us, that is, the Holy Ghost caused us to know what
 clined to the view that also these Gentile converts         seemed good to Him, and inclined our hearts to con-
. were obliged to keep the law of Moses, and that they       sider it good also. Secondly, that synergistic view of
 should be incorporated into the commonwealth of this expression would be a proof that we fail to under-
 Israel by the rite of circumcision?                         stand the proper relation of the Holy Ghost to the

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


                                      T . H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                   415
-                              -.
Church of Christ. The Spirit does not dwell next to labor that `we may carry away this assurance. With-
the Church, as a sort of advisory counsellor, but in out it we can have neither peace nor confidence. Un-
the Church. He is poured out into our hearts. He            less we can truly take this testimony upon our own
is at the controls. He influences and guides the Church lips, we dare not continue! At every step of the way,
from within. And they become one, but so that the at every decision we take, we need this confidence and
Spirit is the controlling agent and power. When the         should be able to say: "It seemed good to the Holy
Spirit and the Bride say: Come! you hear no two             Ghost and to us".
voices but only one, the prayer of the Church ; yet,                                                      -=-"_I_
                                                               For remember that it is Christ that builds His
that prayer is the prayer of the Spirit through the con- church, not we. All work that is strictly our work, not
scious faith of the Church. And when you read: "it His, amounts to nothing, cannot endure, is only stubble,
seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us", you meet          and will be burned in the day of the Lord. And let us
with one judgment and one decision: the judgment and strictly maintain this, and express it clearly and con-
decision of that particular convent; yet, so that it is cisely: it is Christ, and Christ alone- that builds His
the judgment and decision of the `Holy Ghost. And,          church! Let us not for a moment cater to the conceited
thirdly, let us not forget that it is-not the proper func- imagination that the building of the House of God
tion of the Holy Spirit to act as a sort of independent     depends in part also upon us. Let us leave no room
advisory counsellor.       `He is never separated from for the notion, that we build the church for Christ.
Christ. He does not speak of Himself. He always Let us not even nourish the idea that it is Christ CLncl
takes it out of Christ, the Word, and declares it unto we that do the work. The work is His. He gathers
us. Now, surely, the only proper attitude any convent His church, the elect unto eternal life, from the, be-,
can assume over against that Word of Christ is that ginning of the aworld even unto the end, and from all
of strict submission.. `All synergism is simply out of the nations of the earth. He constantly causes His
the question. The beautiful expression of assurance church to be the House of God. He preserves His
in the words of our text cannot mean anything else,         church and makes her grow in the grace and know-
than that the members of the convent were confident ledge of Himself. For, He always does the will of
of having learned the will of Christ and submitted          His Father, even now He is glorified and exalted at
themselves to it.                                           the right hand of God ; and it is the Father's will that
     This, then, is the great significance of the expres- of all He gave unto Him He should lose none ! And He
sion. In last analysis it means that they had been will ultimately glorify His church and raise up the
given to know the will of Christ with respect to the elect at the last day.
matter on which they had deliberated, and that they
had been inclined to will that will. It signifies that         And do not hasten to add, that, although it is true
they had been infallibly guided by the Spirit to know that Christ is the Master-builder of the whole House
the will of Christ, and they were clearly aware of this.    of God, yet it is through our work that He establishes
Their minds had been s,piritually  illuminated to discern and keeps His church, for even this may imply a wrong
the things of the Spirit. Their deliberations had been con,ception.  You should say: Christ gathers and pre-
directed by the Holy Spirit in the `way of the will of serves and perfects His Church through  His Spirit  an.d
God, in the direction of those conclusions and de-          Word! Only when that is your heartfelt confession,
cisions that were pleasing to Him. Their wi!l and all can you maintain the truth that it is Christ's work and
their desires had been sanctified and inclined, so that His alone to build the House of God, and that all our
under no circumstances, and no matter what it might work, in as far as it is merely human, means nothing.
cost and what sacrifice and self-denial it might de- For, it is true, indeed, that it pleases Christ to employ
mand, they would will the will of Christ. And all His people in His service, to make them co-workers
this guidance, thus the expression implies, had been with Himself, even in the establishment of His church.
strictly  inf,allible.  There was no influence upon their But  *we should, remember, that even then it is Christ
decisions of their own carnal considerations. Their that does His work through us. It is our privilege
own fleshly desires and mere human aspirations had and blessing that He will use us as His rational-moral
not entered into their deliberations and  conclusioas       instruments, so that we may delight in His service
whatsoever. Their decisions were purely the fruit of and look for the reward of grace. But that does not
the guidance of the Spirit. And thus they are able so alter the fact, that only what Christ does, even through
confidently to state : "It seemed good to the Holy Ghost    us, is of value for the realization of the church and
and to us". And it should be our earnest prayer and kingdom of God, and shall abide forever. All the rest
strife that we may so labor as a synod, that at the         will be broken down and burned with fire in the day
close of our gatherings this same assurance may be of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God.
ours !                                                         It follows, then, that if we would really be busy in
     II. &4nd we should feel that this assurance is ab- the work of the Lord, our mind and will and heart must
solutely indispensable.     It is imperative that we so be controlled by His mind and will, by the Spirit of

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

Christ, in order that our work may truly be the work      be able to say of our decisions as a synod with the
of Christ and nothing else. That Spirit must enlighten same confident assurance as the convent at Jerusalem,
us, that we may be able to discern spiritual things       that is seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us.
spiritually. He must instruct us, in order that we may There is an important difference between the convent
know the will of Christ, the Word of God. He must         of Jerusalem in the year 50 A. D. and a synod of today.
incline our will and heart, in order that we may at all For, at the convent the apostles were present, and, no
times be willing to do those things which we discern      doubt, occupied a dominating  pl,ace.  And the apostles
to be in harmony with His will. And we need the as- were infallibly guided by the Holy Spirit! No wonder
surance that He will so guide us. No contractor dares they could write to the Gentile churches so confidently
go ahead with the build,ing of an edifice, if he does     about their decisions, that it had seemed good to the
not understand the plans and specifications, if he is Holy Ghost and to them! But by the same token it is
not sure of the mind of the architect. And `we dare       quite impossible for the church of today to reach that
not continue with our work, as a church, with our same assurance. Or would it not be Roman Catholic-
deliberations and decisions as a synod, unless we are     ism to make this same claim for our  synodical  de-
assured that we know the mind of the Master-builder cisions, and to introduce them by the assertion: "It
of the House of God, unless we are confident that He seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us"? The con-
does `His work through us, unless we may so labor vent of Jerusalem, under the leadership of the apostles,
that at the close of our sessions we carry away with      could claim the infallible  guidiance  of the Holy Spirit;
us the assurance expressed in the words of `our text:     but we cannot take such claim. Hence, what was en-
"It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us"!             tirely possible for them, is quite impossible for us.
  ~ This truth is all the more urgent, if we consider        But this is a mistake. Surely, the Holy Spirit
that the flesh is always with us, and that the carnal     of Christ dwells in the church of today as really as He
mind is enmity against God; The church in the world made His abode -with the early church ! And no one
is never perfect. The very holiest of Christ's saints will deny that the promise that He would lead us into
have only a small beginning of the new obedience. all the trulth, was not only for the apostles and the
The old operations of sin are still in their members, and early church, but also for the church of today. But
are very active. They tend to darken their understand- what then? Shall we make a distinction between an
ing so that they cannot discern the things of the king- infallible and fallible guidance of the Spirit? To
dom of God. They will pervert their inclinations and      say this is to expose it as an error. There is not
desires, so that they strive after carnal things, even fallible guidance of the Spirit. His guidance is al-
when they are busy in the work of the Lord. And the ways infallible. He never leads astray. He is the
tendency of these carnal influences and operations is Spirit of truth.        The difference, therefore, between
to destroy the work of Christ. That old, carnal nature the Roman  Cathlic Church and the Protestant
will be constantly with us, also when we meet as a        Churches is not, that they claim that the Church is
synod.  It will, if possible, lead us astray in our de- still infallibly guided by the Spirit, while we hold that
liberations, so that we will, seek, and desire our own the Spirit's guidance is fallible. That cannot be. The
carnal ends, rather than the true well-being of the       difference is rather this, that they claim the con-
Churches we represent.     How easily the convent at tinuation of the direct apostolic guidance, which we
Jerusalem, under the influence of carnal prejudices, deny. They teach an infallible guidance of the church
might have taken radically different decisions from directly through men, apart from the Holy Scriptures ;
those they now wrote to the churches of the Gentiles !    while we maintain that all the guidance of the Holy
Might not their fleshly predileotions  have moved them Spirit in the church of today is inseparably connected
to cater to their brethren according to the flesh, to just- with the Word. They, therefore, place tradition and
ify the view of the Judaizing teachers, and thus to have the decrees of popes and councils on a par with Holy
led astray the church of the new dispensation? And        Writ, while we condemn this as an error. But even
are there not many carnal tendencies with us, as from so we maintain that also today the Chruch of Christ
day to day we shall meet as a synod, that may easily      is infallibly guided. We have the promise that the
motivate us to seek self rather than the kingdom of Spirit will lead us into all the truth, and we have the
God? Truly, it may well be called a marvel that           infallible Scriptures in which the Spirit instructs us,
through such sinful agents as'we are, Christ will build that we may know the truth. And although it is true
His church. But how  muoh the more imperative it that in the convent of Jerusalem the guidance of the
appears to be in the light of all this, that all our labors Spirit was  direct,  i.e., through the apostles, while
be such that we may carry away the assurance ex- today it is mediate, i. e. through the Scriptures, we still
pressed in our text: "it seemed good to  hhe Holy hold that it is quite possible for the church of Christ
Ghost and to us"!                                         today to attain to the assurance expressed in the words
   III. But it is, perhaps, objected that for us  i.t is im- of our text: "it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to
possible to attain to that assurance. Never shall we US".


                                      TxHE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         417
L
     But some will object, that though all this may be
true in principle, it does not work out in the actual life              De Prediking Van Jezus
of the church. In reality the church is always imper-
fect, and so are her declarations and decrees. There                                    VI
.is always room for improvement, for correction and                           NAAli JOHANNES
reformation.                                                     We waren  bezig met de bespreking van de predi-
     And this is certainly true. T!he church is this world king van Jezus, zooals we die vinden in het zesde hoofd-
`may  welI be compared in this respect to the individual stuk van het Evangelie naar Johannes. En we zagen,
Christian. Even as in the Christian, so in the church dat es in dat hoofdstuk geen zweem van een algemeene
there is a principIe  of new Iife, a small' beginning of gunstige gezindheid of `algemeen  aanbod" te vinden
new obedience and there is still much of the old flesh, .`is, maar dat integendeel, de Heiland tegenover de onge--
much sin and imperfection. And the Protestant Ioovige en aardsoh brood zoekende Joden, die op het
Churches, especially the Reformed,.  ,have  always punt staan aan Hem ge6rgerd  te worden  en Hem te
frankly acknowledge this. And this is the reason verlaten,  met een beroep op Gods souvereine beschik-
why, in distinction from the Roman Catholic Church, king, met nadruk uitspreekt,  dat Zijrc zaak nimmer
they refused to consider anything at all as being on a schade kan lijden, omdat al, wat de Vader Hem geeft,
par with the Holy Scriptures. No tradition, no de- tot Hem komen zaI, en Hij nooit uitwe.rpen  zal, die tot
crees of the councils, not even the adopted confessions Hem komt.
were clothed with the same authority as the Word of            We waren  tiermee  echter  nog niet klaar.
God. The latter must always remain the criterion, the            De Heiland gaat nog verder en motiveert hetgeen
former must  aIways stand or  fal1 according as they Hij pas had gezegd, dat Hij namelijk die tot Hem
could be proved to be in harmony or to deviate from komt geenszins zou uitwerpen. Immers is Hij uit den
that Word. And only that church that strictly adheres hemel nedergedaaid, niet opdat Hij zijn eigen wil zou
to this truth can be said to be infallibly guided by doen, maar den wil Desgenen, Die Hem gezonden heeft:
the Spirit.                                             .
                                                              En dit is de wil des Vaders, Die `Hem gezonden heeft,
     And, this, therefore, is the con&tio,  sine qua non dat Hij  uit hetgeen de Vader Hem  ,gegeven  heeft niet
for the attainment of the assurance whereof, we speak. zou verliezen,  maar het opwekke ten uitersten dage.
The Christian may have only a small beginning,, of the vss. 38, 39. De wil'van Jezus wordt dus bepaaId  door
.new obedience, but that beginning is a @n@Ze. "%Ie den wil des Vaders. Christ& wiI is in volkomen.over-
does not, therefore, deliberately err. He is very really eenstemming met den wil .des Vader-s. En deze wil des
a new creature. .Old things are passed away, behold Vaders betreft de uitverkorenen, degenen, die de Vader
al1 things have become new! New he is, even in his aan Jezus lheeft  gegeven. Het betreft niemaad anders.
attitude over against hisown sin. He hates it. He is De wil des Vaders is, dat de uitverkorenen door den
sorry for it. He flees from it. He overcomes it, even Heiland worden  verIost  en bewaard en verheerlijkt.
though it be with frequent stumbling. The same is Hij mag daaruit niet verliezen. Er is dus geen  al-
true of the church of Christ. She does not deliberately gemeene wil des Vaders, de zaligheid van allen  betref-           .
err. She may stumble, but she  wilI repent. Guided fend. Er is daarom ook geen' algemeene gunst of -aI-
by the HoIy Ghost, she will surely seek and find the          gemeen aanbod. Zeer sterk predikt de Heiland hier  1
light of the infallible Word. For that guidance she, de uitverkiezing. En let er we1 op, dat Hij dit juist
wiII pray. The Word she  wilI search. And in this doet tegenover de ongeloovige  Joden, die  aan Hem
way she  wiI1, with  a11 her inperfections, more and geBrgerd  worden.  Maar  ,dezen   wi1 des Vaders wil
more approximate the ideal of  peifectly  ,preserving         Christus  ook. De verkiezende wil des Vaders beperkt
and deveIoping  and applying in her life the infallible. ook Zijn wil en streven. Ook Hij zoekt niet anderen
Word of God, and attain to the assurance expressed te redden, dan die Hem gegeven zijn. Maar ook wil
in the words of our text: "it seemed good to the Holy Hij niets verliezen van al, wat Hem de Vader heeft ge-
Ghost and to us" !                                            geven. En daarom zal Hij geenszins uitwerpen, die
     Brethren, let us so' labor! May this Word of God tot Hem komt. Want bet eeuwige, verkiezend geven
be so applied to our hearts, that we earnestly desire         der verkorenen aan Christus  wordt in den tijd opge-
that infallible guidance of the Spirit and the Word of volgd door eenvrijmachtig en onwederstandelijk geven
God in  alI our deliberations as a synod ! May it domin- Gods der verkorenen  aan Christus door genade. En
ate all our sessions! Then, when we adjourn and re- wie alzoo door den'vader gegeven wordt aan Christus,
turn, each of us to his own congregation, we shah be zal zeker tot Hem komen. Dit komen bestaat immers
able to tell our people concerning the decisions that we daarin, dat iemand den Zoon aanschouwt  en in Hem
took : `So we decided, because thus it, seemed good to gelooft, vs.  40. Wie dus  aIzoo komt, zal Hij  geens-
the Holy Ghost and to us" !                                   zins  uitwerpen,  want het  is' de wil des `Vaders,  dat
                                               H. H.          een iegelijk; die -den Zoon aanschouwt en in Hem ge-


424                                               T.HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R -

     D e   myste%n  bhjven.
        Maar mysteri6n  zijn heel iets anders dan Iogische                         T& Gospel The Power Of God
ongerijmdheden, zooals we al zoo dikwijls hebben ge-                                           Unto Salyation'
zegd.
      Het wil ook niet zeggen, dat we door onze logica de                                   For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ:
hemelsche  dingen  kunnen bereiken of kennen. Ook                                         for it is the power of God anto salvation, to every
dit schijnt Ds. Zwier te meenen. Dat wij  `bier nog                                       man  t&t  believeth;  to the Jew first, and  also to
niet zien "aangezicht tot aangezicht" schrijft hij. ook                                   the  G r e e k .
alweer toe  aan de "denkzonden", waarvan we nog niet                                        For therein  is  the righteousness of God  revealed
geheel   veriest zijn.  Doch  ook dit is eene verwarring                                  frolm faith to faith: w it is written, The just shall
&an begrippen. Ook al waren we geheel  van allen smet                                     live by faith.
der zonde  verlost,  zouden we nog niet kunnen zien                                                           t :          Rom. 1:16-17.
"aangezicht tot aangezicht". Dit laatste behoort tot                            The apostle writes to his brethren at Rome that,
de hemelsche  dingen. En wij zijn aardsch uit de aarde.                      as much as is. in him, he is ready to preach the gospel
Eerst wanneer het "beeId  des aardschen" zullen hebben 30 them  aI3o. For he is not ashamed of the gospel
verwisseld met het "beeld  des hemelschen",  zullen we of Christ. From the point of view of nature, there is
zien aangezicht tot aangezicht en kennen, zooals we  oak,
gekend zijn.                                                                 reason for him.to be ashamed of the gospel. There at
             Ds. Zwier  za1 beter en scherper  moeten  onder-                Rome dwell the Greeks, the men of worldly wisdom,
scheiden, wi1 hij niet  alleen, dat de eenvoudigste lezers to whom the gospel is foolishness. They, therefore,
them  zullen "snappen", maar ook, dat die eenvoudigen ridiculed the gospel, when they hear it preached.
door hem zullen worden  onderwezen in de waarheid.                           There are also living in Rome Jews, to whom the
             Nu zet hij alles op losse schroeven.                            gospeI  is an  offence.  They regard the  gospe1 as God-
             Op zijn  standpunt'  is geen  uitlegging der S&rift,            dishonoring in their unbelief. And in their false zeal
geen theolugie, geen dogmatiek meer mogelijk.                                and as contrained by their high but wrong regard for
      I ,-Het is alIes onbetrouwbaar.                                        Moses and the prophets, whose graves they build, they
             Behalve  dan de "Drie Punten" !                                 will not mock the gospel but frown upon it, when they
       En deze zijn overigens  wel. het meest  onbetrouw-                    har'it preached, and rend their garments in token of
     baar, ook op Ds. Zwier's eigen standpunt, zooals we their horror and indignation. The apostle is aware of
     aantoonden.                                                             this. And  Ihe also foresees that these men of worldly
                                                             H. H-           wisdom  wiII ridicule not  only his gospel `but also him
       `0                                                                    and that these Jews  wiI.l frown also upon him. For the
                                                                             apostle will preach Christ's gospel. He will not merely
                                                                             present the gospel as detached from himself, but he
                                                                             will glory in the gospel, praise and defend the gospel,
                                                                             so that these Jews and these men of worldIy  wisdom
                                                                             WiII perceive that the apostle is deeply in love with the
                                                                             gospel. And so perceiving, these men of worldly wis-
                         wmmm ANNIVERSARY                                    dom will ridicule also the apostle  for. glorying in what
                                                                             they  hoId to be foolishness. And the Jews  will say to
                                1900  - 1940                                 one-another, "ye have heard his blasphemy," and, so
;            On June 23, the Lord willing, our dear parents                  saying, they will pronounce him one accursed.
                                                                                But this  will not deter the apostle from preaching
                                MR. B.  PdLS                                 the  gospe1 also to them that are at Rome. He will,
                                        and
I                                                                            as he has been doing, bear that reproach, ridicule,
                           MRS.  A.  POLS-Dykstra                            scorn and frown-the reproach of the gospel. But he
     Gpe'to commemorate  their 40th  Weddjng  Anniversary. We,               will do so only by the mercy of God ; for to be derided
     their children, extend to them our heartiest congratuiations.           is always' painful to the flesh. We do not like to be
             We thank our heavenly Father for, the many blessings be-        laughed at and ridiculed. We want to be esteemed and
     stowed &on them, and pray that His blessing may continue to honored and well thought of by men. We want to, be
     rest upon them in the future, according to their needs.                 taken seriously. But by the mercies of God, Paul  will
                                                                             endure this ridicule. ,He will even glory'  in it; for he,
                                          Mr. and Mrs. H. Meyer              will consider that the  fat&  lies not with his  gospe1
                                          Mr. and Mrs. C. Pals               but wit&these  men of worldly wisdom. Not his gospeI
                                          Mr. and Mrs. G. Piebenga           but these men are foolish and  the&wisdom  is foolish- .
                                          Mr. and Mrs. D. Tigchelaar
                                        and 11 Grandchildren.                *The preaching  of this sermon formed a part of the graduation
             Grand Rapids, Michigan.                   .`.              .    exercises of Candidate John  Heys.


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         425

ness. And not his gospel but these Jews in their un-        love. His people may therefore feel assured that they
belief are disgraceful to <God. The apostle considers       shall be saved.
that his gospel is so far from being foolish that it is        I now pass on to my second proposition. God gave
the power of God unto salvation to every one that  be-      His only begotten Son, Who, in His assumed *human
lieveth. We speak to you on this truth or fact.             nature, bore away the sins of His people through His
   The gospel of Christ, the power of God unto sal- suffering and death. By virtue of its possessing Christ
<vation.  Let us see firstly what this means. If we are     as its legal head, this people was legally crucified,
to grasp the meaning of this statement of the apostle,      buried, raised with Him, their Christ, and set together
it is necessary to know what we are to understand by        with Him in  *heaven  and there blessed with all spiritual
the gospel. The gospel, as this very name signifies, is blessings. Thus Christ's committing His spirit in the
good news. It is the good message or glad tidings of hands of the Father, now approximately nineteen hun-
God to His people and to His people only. An examina- dred years ago, marked, in a legal sense, the completion
tion of the content of the gospel will bear out the cor-    of the work of redemption.        All God's people, the
rectness of this statement. Let us set forth this con- sum and total of the elect, that great family of God, as
tent as to its substance. This can be done in four brief to every one of its members, do *have the victory, are
propositions.                                               in heaven, are saved to the uttermost, have received
                                                            the adoption and the redemption of their bodies. True,
   I. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the members of the church militant still lie in the midst
everlastingly knew His people in love-a people by of death ; they have but a small beginning of true
nature dead in trespasses and sin yet altogether right- obedience. Yet legally, the who!e church, as to every
eous and iholy and this by virtue of its being sovereign- one of its members, is in glory, saved to the uttermost.
ly chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. The believer therefore must and will persevere in His
No person of truly reformed persuasion will want to faith. He will of a truth come into the full possession
deny statement. Mark you, the statement does not of that which is His in Christ, to wit, the inheritance
simply assert that the people whom God in love knew that is being preserved for him in heaven. It is this
were sinful but that, though sinful in themselves, they finished work of Christ that we preach.
were righteous and this on account of their being              T now come to my last and final proposition. The
chosen in Christ. The point is that the righteous God life of God's people is hid with Christ in God. When
can only love such who are righteous and holy. It was Christ shall appear, then shall this people also actually
only in Christ therefore that God could and did ever- appear with Him in glory. The earth will then be
lastingly know them.                                        cleansed from the race of men that now corrupt it.
   This first proposition of mine centers on election. There will be new heavens and a new earth where (Sod
The glad tidings of God is first of all that everlastingly will everlastingly tabernacle with His people.
He chose His people in Christ. It is a glorious work           Now this is the gospel as to its substance. A
of God with which we now have to do. That He chose preaching that does not set forth the truths contained
His' people implies that He everlastingly loved and de-     in these four propositions does not do justice to the
sired them, and that He was eternally resolving to          gospel, the good tidings of salvation. It is to be noticed
bring them into being as a people holy and without          also that to preach the full gospel is to preach not mere-
blame before Him in love. And He can never cease            ly Christ and Him crucified but also Christ raised unto
to choose His pople,  as His choosing them is His loving the justification of His people and His people set to-
them. The bridegroom must continue to choose, to            gether in heaven with Him, legally saved to the utter-
know in love, the one maiden of his choice as long as       most in Christ on the very day of His ascension. Thus
the both of them live. His ceasing to choose her would to preach the gospel is to preach a finished work of
be to forsake, to reject her in his mind and heart.         God-finished in the legal sense. Now this is precisely
Doing so, he would commit the sin of adultery. The          what the Arminian refuses to do. And the reason is
eternal and unchangeable God and Father of Christ           plain. The proclamation of the truth and fact of a
will everlastingly choose, know in love, His people.        definite people set together with Christ in heaven
And according as He has chosen them, He *has also           brings one under the necessity of at once conceding
blessed them with all spiritual blessings in heaven in that election and grace are sovereign. If God's people
Christ, when He set them together with Christ in            are in heaven, their actual salvation must follow with
heaven. There are persons who always act upon sud- absolute certainty and can therefore depend solely on
den impulses, on the spur of the moment, instead of         God and not on a capricious human will. Examining
according to intelligent and `firm decisions.      Such the content of these propositions, we see also how true
persons are not to be depended on. They are change- it is that the gospel is particular in the sense.that  it
able as they lack resoluteness. Now God is not such is the good tidings of God unto His people and to His
a being. In saving His people He acts according to an people only. And this, as was said, no .person  of truly
eternal decree, decision and as impelled by everlasting .reformed  persuasion will want or will dare to deny. It


426                                  T,HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
t
is hardly necessary for me to prove from Scripture called, justified and glorified in Christ. Unto this sal-
that the above-cited propositions set forth the nucleus vation the gospel is in the believer a power-the
of the full and true gospel. I will nevertheless quote power of God.            Through His applying this gospel
one passage from Paul's letter to the Ephesians  (1:3- to the believer's heart, he works and sustains in the
12), "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus believer the assurance that he is freed from all his
Christ, who. has blessed us with all spiritual blessings guilt and that eternal life is his in Christ. And as
in  .heavenly places in Christ: According as he has standing in this faith he by tehe mercies of God seeks
chosen us in him in love ; having predestinated us unto this pardon and this life and through this seeking
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself,         comes into ever fuller possession of it.
according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise       The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to
and glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us ac- every one that believeth. Just so, says the Arminian
cepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption urnto  every one  that beliveth. No one is here excluded.
through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to The reprobated as well as the elect ones have a chance
the riches of His grace ; wherein He hath abounded to- to be saved. Christ paid the penalty for all. No one
ward us in all wisdom and prudence. . .  ."                  was appointed to perish in his sins. This Arminian
       Now this gospel, according to my text, is the power reasoning is false. The gospel is  C&d's power unto
of God unto salvation. How great this power! The salvation. If to this be added that all are not saved
weary and heavy laden sinner loads upon this gospel but that some perish in their unbelief, then it follows
all his sins, and this gospel bears them all away and that every one who believeth is every one whom God in
the weary one knows himself as freed from all his His sovereign mercy appointed to be saved.
guilt and has peace toward God. It is not, to be sure,          It is only unto every one that believeth that the
the gospel as such apart from the Spirit that frees the gospel is a power unto salvation and this for the same
weary one from his load of sin. The gospel as such reason that a child who is not hungry and wil1 not
apart from the Spirit is but a word, the written"record      eat cannot be fed. Food that is forced down the throat
of God's works which He accomplished and will ac- of such a child, will do it no good. The child who will
complish through Christ.       The gospel without the not eat is ill and must not be forcibly fed but must be
Spirit is the letter that killeth. It is the gospel as taken to a doctor. Consider that man is by nature dead
dwelling richly in the heart of the weary one that frees through sin. Being spiritually dead, he hungers not
him before his consciousness from all his sins, which is after the true bread, Christ Jesus, set forth in the gos-
but another way of saying that it is through the gospel pel. He loaths this food. Its very savor affects him
that the Spirit of God justifies the believer in his heart, with nausea. It is only to <the believer that the gospel
genders in him the assurance that his sins are forgiven. can be and is the power of God unto salvation,-to the
But the Spirit not only justifies but also sanctifies believer, that is, to him who, on account of his having
the believer, through his applying the gospel unto his been brought under the conviction of sin, * hungers
heart, so that the believer not only knows himselfto be and thirsts after righteousness, is joined to Christ
freed from sin but hates sin as well, hungers and by a living faith and abides in Him, and loves poten-
thirsts after righteousness, and seeks that which he tially the heavenly. Natural bread is a power unto
knows to be his in Christ, to wit, the things above. the man who is alive and well. Having partaken of
Thus to hear a man jubilantly exclaim that he is justi- bread, this man is nourished and feels fit and physically
fied is to witness the power of God which is the gospel. able. Bread to him is a power unto the daily task.
To see a man forsake his sins and turn to the living         But the gospel nourishes a man's soul.  * It  fills him with
God is to witness the power of God which is the gospel. the blessed assurance that he is God's child with sins
To see a man seek the things above, witness for the          forgiven and thus God's heir. As sanctified to his
truth, confess the name of Christ, glory in tribulation heart, it impels him to seek the things which are of the
is to witness the power of God which is the gospel.          Spirit of God.
       This gospel is God's power, not man's. It is God         Even the word of a mere man has power. It re-
who causes the gospel to be a power in His people, quired but one word from the German chancellor,
through His causing it to dwell richly in them. If it Hitler, to set in motion that great and terrible German
were true that man of himself had first to decide to war-machine. Tell a man on the street that his house
accept the gospel offered him, before God could do any- is in flames and he will hasten home as driven by the
thing for a sinner in the way of saving him, the gospel doleful message that was implanted in his soul. Words
would be man's instead of God's power unto salvation. have power. The mob is worked into a frenzy by the
       The gospel is the power" of God unto salvation. word of its leader.  Tthe written word is the power
Salvation in the objective sense is that finished work of of the press for the molding of public opinions. But
Christ. It is God's people saved from all their sins the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. It is
and glorified with Christ legally. Salvation in the not the power of the servants of God who preach it
subjective sense is God's people  actzuzZZy saved, that is but the power of God. And it is a power unto salva-


                                      T.HF   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        427
-       -
tion. It frees a man from the guilt of sin ; and impels the time that He walked among men on earth, Christ
him to seek the heavenly.                                     was righteous. Verily, as to all His words, deeds and
       A power unto salvation is the gospel to  the Jew thoughts, he was perfectly on a level with God's law,
first, and  cnlso to the Greek. The Jew is the Old Testa- will. He loved God with all His heart ,and with all
ment Church, the natural olive tree (Rom. l.l), filled        His soul, and with all His mind. His position over
with fatness on account of its root, Christ Jesus,  beinlg    against God's will was wholly right. His legal status
holy. This tree, its salvation, was first in time. The        was solely that of innocence. He knew no sin. He was
calling, the actual salvation of the Greek, the elect         righteous. And His righteousness was the aggregate
gentile humanity, it second. This humanity, the wild          of all His good and holy works-His deeds, words,
olive tree, was grafted in among the natural branches thoughts, desires, love, strivings, and  aspirations-
of the olive tree that was first. Salvation is out of the and included of necessity His suffering and dying for
Sews. Christ was a Jew. All the prophets and the              the sins of His people. Hence, to preach the righteous-
apostles  were  *Jews.  And it is at the feet of these        ness of Christ is to `preach His good deeds, words and
teachers that the New Testament Church is seated              thoughts, and is thus to preach His vicarious atone-
through the ages.                                             ment, His bearing the burden of God's wrath against
       The power unto salvation is the gospel as therein sin. Rightly considered, in all that He did, spoke and
,is revealed the righteousness. of  God. Pbighteousness  is thought, He was atoning sin.
one of God's attributes. It belongs to the very essence          Now  `the righteousness of Christ-the sum and
of His being. He is the righteous God. Yet it is not total of  all His good works- was perfect, flawless.
this attribute of God whereof the apostles here speaks        It coincided at every point with God's will, law.  rlt
but he has reference to the righteousness that God therefore fully satisfied all the demands of the law
prepared for His people through Christ Jesus. What and was thus received as payment for all the moral
is righteousness? Of what man can it be said that he debt of His people.
is righteous? Of that man who is on a level with                 This then is the righteousness of Christ. That it
the law of God as to all his words, deeds, thoughts,          is called the righteousness of God has great signifi-
volitions, desires, strivings and aspirations. Man Iby cance. ,Christ, such is the implication, is, according to
nature is unrighteous, he being dead through tres- His human nature, the Christ of the triune God, Je-
passes and sin.       This man is pitted against the hovah. It is He who brought this nature-the man
law in all his works. Every word of His is sin, Jesus-into being through the agency of the virgin
every deed, thought, and desire. The natural man Mary. Of the righteousness, the good and holy works
can do nothing but sin. In all that he does he is             of this man, God was the source and fountain. The
in conflict with the law. His position over against proof of this is Christ's anointing. The Spirit of the
the law is always wrong. His legal status therefore Lord rested upon Him, "the Spirit of wisdom and
is solely that of guilt. The implication of these  obser-     understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the
vatons is not that the natural man is without natural Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord" (Isa,
affection. This man loves his wife, if he be married.         112). It is wholly and absolutely true that Christ,
He loves his children, if he has any.                         His righteousness, was God's gift.
       Among unbelievers are to be found persons of deep         Now this righteousness is revealed, set forth, in
sympathy. They are kindly and agreeable.  The.suf- the gospel. Looking into this gospel we see Christ
fering of others brings tears also to their eyes. Doesn't walking, as  impehed  by pure love ,in perfect conform-
this show that there is common grace? It wouId  seem ity to the law, doing, as consumed by the zeal of God's
so.     Yet it doesn't.    The love,  smpathy, kindness,      house, God's will-a will that spelled for Him the cross.
honesty, in a word, the virtue of the natural man is          We see, in a. word, the righteousness of Christ. But
sin, totally corrupt. This the exponents of the theory it is to be considered that the gospel reveals this right-
of common grace deny. The view is that the natural            eousness as adorning, that is, as placed to the account
man, at least to a degree, is on a level with the law of of, that very people that by nature of its being legally
God in his works of benevolence. In these works, so           included in Him, with Him was crucified and buried,
it is maintained, there is an element of true goodness, Band raised. The point I now make is of extreme im-
as at their root operates a principle of (common)             portance. In the gospel the peop:z of God appear as
grace. If this were true, a man would be righteousness legally and mystically included in Christ, as thus robed
of himself and could therefore dispense with Christ.          in His good works, perfect righteousness, and in conse-
       Man by nature is altogether unrighteous. It is quence thereof as possessing the whole  fruitage  of His
through His sanctifying this truth unto the hearts of obedience, to wit, the cancellation of the guilt of all
His people that God causes them to hunger and thirst their sins and life eternal. So, what we behold in the
after His righteousness, which He prepared for them gospel is the new earth, as .peopled  by the family of
through Christ. There is, then, a righteousness of God,       redeemed. Hence to preach the righteousness of Christ
which is at once the righteousness of Christ. During all      is not merely to preach Christ's good works, the suffer-

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

  ing and dying Saviour, but it is to preach this right-        Christ's people and the fruits or reward of Christ's
  eousness as adorning God's elect. It is thus to preach righteousness. It means that in this Arminian gospel,
  the elect as saved to the uttermost.                          preaching, God's chosen people do not appear as sover-
     The gospel then reveals the righteousness of Christ eignly clothed in Christ's righteousness, and as possess-
  as adorning His people and thus His people as legally ing the fruits of this righteousness, to wit, forgiveness
  and actually saved to the uttermost in Christ. Hence,         of sin and life eternal. The significance of this is
  God does not offer His salvation to His people, but He that the gospel of the Arminian does not reveal the
  places it in their actual possession and admonishes           righteousness of God. IHOW  can the Spirit through
  them to seek what is legally and actually theirs in such a gospel gender in the heart of a man genuine
  Christ.~  Now it is this gospel that must be preached, peace toward God? He cannot. How can such a gos-
  namely the gospel wherein is revealed the righteous-          pel strengthen faith, enliven hope, in a word, be the
  ness of Christ as imputed unto His people and this            power of God unto salvation to every one that  be-
  people as glorified with Him. For it is this gospel only lieveth? It cannot  be. The gospel which the believer
  that can be and is the power of God unto salvation has need of is the gospel in which he can behold Him-
  unto every one that believeth. And the reason is that self as clothed in Christ's righteousness and thus as
  it reveals Christ's righteousness, reveals this righteous- set in heaven with Christ. Looking into this gospel
  ness-as robing God's people. It is only this gospel that, and seeing the believer as so saved-saved to the utter-
  as made bby the Spirit of God to take root is in the          most, he exclaims, as standing in his faith, "that be-
  heart of the believer, genders in him the assurance           liever am I", and he has peace and joy unspeakable.
  that he is righteous in Christ now and everlastingly,         Hence, in those circles where this pseudo-gospel is
  that thus all his  guilit is cancelled and that the fruits    proclaimed, we find not faith but  doub*t and deteriora-
  of Christ's righteousness are everlastingly His. It is tion of spiritual life. It should not be imagined, there-
  the only gospel through which the Spirit of Christ            fore, that this the Arminian gospel represents but a
  can and will testify with his spiri,t that, being right- small and insignificant departure from the truth. The
  eous in Christ, he is God's child and thus God's heir rioting of the Arminian in the Christian church should
  and co-heir  wi,th Christ and that the Father therefore not be made light of. This rioting is heinous sin. The
  has given him all things. It is the only gospel that,         pseudo-gospel of the Arminian is the bane of the
  as sanctified to the heart of a man, will impel him to church.
  seek the things which are above ; for, being assured              As to the gospel of God, to return to it, therein
  in his heart that he is robed in the righteousness of is the righteousness of God revealed "from faith unto
  his  Saviour,.  he knows that the things which he seeks faith", that is, by faith alone and exclusively. The
  are rightfully his.    Compare with this gospel the question is, how does a man before his own conscious-
  pseudo-gospel of the Arminian.          According to the ness become the possessor of this righteousness of
  Arminian tenet the true faith of the believer on earth Christ, of God? And the answer: Only by  faith-
  can cease. The believer, according to this tenet, can faith in God who raised up Christ from the dead. This
  fall from grace, so that he knows not at any time             being assured of being clothed with God's righteous-
 whether he will be ultimately saved. Looking into the ness springs from faith; for faith takes hold of Christ,
 gospel he, the Arminian, sees the believer in heaven Who is the righteousness and thus the sanctification
 with Christ, set there on the day of Christ's ascension. and redemption of His people.
 But whereas he holds faith to be destructible, he, the            "Out of faith unto faith: as it is written, The just
 Arminian, knows not whether he is that believer. The           shall live by faith". What is it to live? It is to be
 result is that the gospel to the effect that the church        assured of being clothed in God's righteousness, thus
 was crucified,' raised and set together with Christ in         assured of being freed from the guilt and the power
 heaven is no glad tidings to him, the Arminian. From and pollution of sin, from the, curse of the law, It is
 this tiding he can derive no comfort whatever. It the assurance of possessing the right of approach to
 is altogether useless therefore to come to him with            Christ's God, and the fulness that dwells in Christ.
. this gospel. The Arminian preacher of the word,               To live further is to partake of God's nature. It is
 realizing this, does not. IIn his preaching he concen- to-see God as He is in the face of Christ. It is to have
 trates solely <upon Christ and Him crucified. He does fellowship with God through Christ and to be satisfied
 not preach God's chosen people raised and glorified by His likeness. This is life eternal. And the just live
 ,with  Christ. The burden of his message is that Christ by faith. The just live and they only, the just, those
  died and that He died for all and now lives to save           just in Christ, those who are robed in His righteous-
 whomsoever of his own will comes to His outstretched ness. And they live out of f&h. For faith takes hold
 arms. This is his gospel ; but it is not the gospel of of Christ, Who is the righteousness of every one that
 God but of man. In his gospel, preaching, the Armin-           believeth.
 ian tears assunder  what God in His gospel and counsel            Now this gospel-the gospel of Christ-you shall
 has joined together, to wit, Christ, His righteousness, preach. Doing so, you will also have to bear the re-


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       429

preach  of this gospel. For this  gospe1  is still being fore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us
frowned upon, derided and ridiculed by men and this free. . . ." (Gal. 5 :I). "Where  the Spirit of the Lord
in circles where one would least expect it. Are they         is, there is liberty" (II Cor. 3  :17). "Because the
not saying of the God Whom we preach that He is a creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage
monstrosity because He can love such men only whom of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children
He beholds in. Christ and can desire to save only such of God" (Rom. 8 :21).
whom He has set together in heaven with Christ? Are             The negative side of true liberty is, according to
they not frowning upon us because we insist that the Scripture, an exemption from all cruel restraint, a de-
only righteousness of man is Christ in that man, being liverance from the devastating wrath of God together
totally depraved, is devoid of all righteousness? Bear with its agents such as sin, Satan and the world, the
this scorn-the reproach of the gospel of Christ-which grave, death and hell. "Being then made free from
you will be able to do only by the mercies of God. Con- sin. . .  ." (Ram.  6 :18). "Christ hath redeemed (se-
sider that the fault lies not with the gospel but with       cured our freedom with the price of His blood) from
those who frown and scorn. The gospel is the power the curse of the law. . . ." (Gal. 3 :13). "And to wait
of God unto salvation unto every one that believeth.         for His Son from heaven whom He raised from the
                                           G. M. 0.          dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath
                                                             to come," so Christ taught His followers to pray. And
                                                             the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of
                           -                                 fire and brimstone, where the beast and, the false pro-
                                                             phet are. . . ." (Rev.  2O:lO). The apostle jubilantly
                                                             exclaims : "0 death, where is thy sting? 0 grave,
                   True Liberty-                             where is thy victory. The sting of death is sin and
                                                             the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God,
   Liberty or freedom has been variously defined as          which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus
follows: 1. Freedom from restraint; 2. exemption Christ" (1 Cor. 15:55,  56, 57).
from the power ;znd the control of another; 3. the              The conclusion, then, is warranted that the term
power of acting as one thinks fit; 4. a state of exemp- liberty is synonymous to the term salvation, and signi-
tion from positive law. Some of the above-cited defini- fies a saving from the greatest possible evil and the
tions are not of a kind that should be endorsed. For, bcoming  into the possession of the highest possible
when analyzed, they turn out to be the gateway to a good.            Strictly speaking, the substantiative libera-
positively unchristian thought-structure. The saint of tion denotes the actual saving process and the term
old who sang, "0 how love I thy law; It is my medita-        liberty  denotes the possession and enjoyment of the
tion all the day. . . . I understand more than the good bestowed, to wit, that state of spiritual and
ancient, because I keep thy precepts. . . ." was superb-     physical wellibeing,  of peace, joy and blessedness pe-
ly free. Liberty and independence are not synonymous         culiar to one who takes upon him Christ's yoke and
terms.                                                       Iknows himself to be reconciled with God ; who, hav-
   So, too, do men distinguish between various kinds' ing been reclaimed from death, and cleansed from sin,
of liberty, such as, 1. natural  liberty,-consisting  in beholds with purged and glorified sense organs, God's
the power of acting as one thinks fit without any con-       face, enjoys His blessed friendship, and is satisfied by
straint except from the laws of nature; 2. civil liberty,    His glorious image. This is the true state of liberty.
-the liberty of men in a state of society so far only To be truly free is to truly live, thrive, develop and
restrained as is necessary for the safety and interest to be truly happy. Bliss, then, is one of the elements
of the society ; 3. religious liberty,-the freedom and       entering into the makeup of true freedom.
right of adopting and enjoying opinions on religious            Further, he who is truly free is morally free. Such
subjects, and of worshipping the Supreme Being ac- a one acts in accordance with character and in agree-
cording to the dictate of conscience ; 4. moral liberty, ment with the deepest longings of his being. His deed
--liberty, in metaphysics, is defined as the power of an is the fruit of a plant rooted in the sub-soil of his heart.
agent to do are to forbear any particular action accord- It exhibits traits of character, agrees with nature and
ing to the determination of thought.                         is the crystallization of thought and volition. There-
   Whereas the elements entering into the makeup of fore the tree is known by the fruit it bears. No one
true freedom may be derived from `Holy Writ, let us is not free in this last-cited sense. Determinism shouId
pass by for the present the materials presented above have to signify a psychical state in which the subject
and turn to this Book. Scripture denominates true acts, yet is not the subject of the action ; a state in
liberty glorious, associates it with the Spirit and de- which the deed is done without a psychical root, with-
clares, further, that the believer is one made free by out motive and purpose and the support of volition and
Christ. "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye thought, a deed, therefore, which neither exhibits
shall be free indeed" (John 8  :36), "Stand fast there-      traits of character nor agrees with the nature of the

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

doer. Fact is, however, that there are no such deed. been taken out of its element it perishes. What the
Even one active in sleep or while under the influence water is to the inhabitants of the sea, law is to the
of some powerful drug exhibits the hidden man. Even saint. It constitutes the living water with which he
a slave performing the assigned task because threat- feeds his soul, the air he breathes, the light in which
ened by the lash, is morally free. True, the impulse he moves and thrives and attains to that high point
here is not love but fear. However, the fear is the           of bliss known in Scripture as life eternal. The term
man, and the service rendered a matter of thought             law as we now use it is not the signification of a mere
and volition The slave thinks it best to will to labor precept but of a word-the word of God, that directs
instead of taking the lash. He so decides. If man,            itself to the sanctified  wiI1 and intelligence of the be-
when acting under the impulse of fear, is not morally liever. It is a word that reflects the wisdom and glory
free, neither is he responsible. In this case one deny- of God. Hence, to be nourished with this word, is to
ing the name of Christ when persecution threatens, is be fed with the mercy of the Lord  ; and to walk in its
without sin. Fact is, however, that the deed is the light is to abide in the light of God's countenance so
man, though this man be the actor on the stage, and that the atmosphere in which the saints live and pros-
the part played, murder. True, this actor is not the          per is in the hnal instance one of Divine love. True
subject of the crime he plays but of his playing of the       freedom, then, consists in being pure in heart. For
crime and is therefore being held responsible for the such a one is like God and is therefore capable of ap-
profession he chose. Determinism, in the above de-            preciating God and seeing His face.
scribed sense, is a nonentity. It does not exist except          We are now ready to make a few observations.
in the mind of the philosopher. So, too, the theory of 1. True freedom is more than mere moral freedom.
common grace. For its exponents cannot afford to              The wicked one is  morahy  free yet not truly free.
style the good works sinners do the outgrowth of the 2. Such terms as liberty, independency and lawlessness
bad tree. A concession of this kind would amount, are not synonymous terms. True freedom is indepen-
they feel, to a denial of the doctrine of the total de- dency only in the event man is loosed from the powers
pravity of man. The good deed done, so it is said, of iniquity. But a life apart (ethically and spiritually)
is not the man but the Spirit. If so, this deed is with- from God is death so that to cleave to the Almighty is
out human impulse and design, is not the crystalliza- life and liberty. True freedom is lawlessness only in
tion of human thought and volition, and partakes the event the law is the law of sin. To live in con-
not of the character of the nature of the human               formity with what God deems right and proper is to
agent. Yet it is called a good work.  Jt is a work, be superbly free.
however, that exists only in the mind of these philo             Let us emcidate some of these matters. That the
sophers.                                                      despicable reverse of true liberty is a life and conduct
       However this may be, true freedom implies moral at odds with law and God is a stern truth first verified
freedom. However, the moral freedom of the saint by the hard experiences of the  first parents of the
is of a unique type. The saint acts in agreement with human race. To man God said: "Of every tree of the
a new nature, and exhibits, when in action, the traits garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the
of one quickened by the Spirit of Christ and cleansed knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it."
in the blood of the lamb. The impulse, here, is not           (Gen. 2 :16, 17). The reasoning of the serpent was
fear but love ; and the good deed the expression `of          fitted to make it appear as if God was dealing decep-
thought and volition constituted of the indwehing  word tively with His creature by blocking his way to the
and of a program of Iife Christ drafted for His foI-          attainment of some higher good and that for the pur-
lowers.                                                       pose of safeguarding His (God's) interests. Said the
       Herewith we have suggested what, in  conj,unction      serpent : "Thou shalt not surely die: for God doth
with the high type of the believer's freedom, consti- know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes
tutes the secret of true liberty. To be truly free is         shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good
to live in conformity with divine law designed for a be- and evil"  (CGen.  3:5). "0 man, cast off God's yoke,
ing reconciled to God. Such a one possesses the blessed set up thine own standards of conduct and become as
friendship of the Most High, walks and talks with God. To come to your own, so the devil had succeeded
God, is enveloped by His love and embraced by His in making man believe, is to cut lose from God and to
Almighty arms. The believer, being one whose pride assert thyself as one capable of being law unto him-
has been thawed out by God's grace is one who needs self ." "Giving ear to the words of the devil, man
and craves the law as the hart panteth after the water transgressed the commandment of life which he had
brooks. The commandment he loves more than pure received, and by sin separated himself from God, who
gold ; and it makes him wiser than a!1 his enemies ; it is    was his true life, having corrupted his whole nature,
the lamp unto his feet and the light upon his path.           whereby he made himself liable to corporal and spirit-
Law is the element in which he lives and flourishes.          ual death" (Confession., Art. 14).
The fish cast upon dry land is no longer free. Having             This spiritually dead sinner is described in Scrip-


                                      TtHE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           4311
ture as "a servant of sin" (Rom. 6 :18), as "a servant to reclaim themselves, man must remain what he is
of corruption, overcome by sin and therefore in bon-           forever unless overshadowed by the grace of the Al-
dage of sin"  (2 Pet. 2  :19). This servitude is described,    mighty God.
further, as a thraldom involving fallen man in un-               Sin, then, is corruption. The man is sinful-a sinner.
speakable misery, and defined as constituting the hor- Such (scriptural) phraseology  as the old man of sin,
rible reverse of that blessed boone called liberty. It is the body of sin and the body of this death  signify that
not the view of Scripture, however, that man's misery the entire organism is contaminated-the mind, the
consists in his being servant. If so, the saint's plight will and the heart as to all its hidden recesses. Hence,
would be as sorry as that of the sinner, as. both are when this organism, this body-man-wills and thinks,
servants, the former of Christ and of righteousness,           it sins. And the crystallization of the thought and
the latter of sin. "What then?" asks the apostle, "shall volition-the deed-is likewise thoroughly corrupt so
we sin because we are not under the law, but under that this entire body must be put off and all its mem-
grace? God forbid. Know ye not that to whom ye                 bers crucified,-the deed, and the desire, the thought,
yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are and the vohtion  of which this deed is the outgrowth
to whom ye obey ; whether of sin unto death, or of and the tangible exhibition, together with the cor-
obedience unto righteousness? But God be thanked               rupt soil in which the plant is rooted and thrives, to
that ye were the servants of sin but ye have obeyed            wit, the human heart. Says the Lord through the
from the heart that form of doctrine which we de- mouth of the prophet: "And 1 will take away the stony
livered to you. Being then made free from sin, ye be- heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart
came the servants of righteousness" (Rom. 6 :14-19).           of flesh: that they may walk in my statutes and keep
Man, then, is either a servant of God or of the devil,         my ordinances and do them. . . ." Ezek. 11: 19). And
of sin or of righteousness. Not to serve and still be Paul: "If so be that ye have heard him, and have been
free one must needs be God. Of the urge to worship taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: that ye put off
man cannot undo himself, for. it is interwoven with concern&g  the former  conversation  the old man,  which
the very texture of his soul. In fact, it is the man. If is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts. . . ." (Eph.
God be not the one sought and enshrined, it is the 4221,  22). Let them, if they can, swing their philo-
creature,-the great of the earth,-that "man of sin,            sophy to the effect that this oId man (the exponents
the son of perdition: who opposeth and exalteth him-           of common grace would as yet not dare to publicly
self above all that is called God. . .  .", Satan. That deny that the unregenerated sinner is anything but
freedom consists in doing without a master is one of           old man) performs deeds which are morally good, in
the illusions of sin. Likewise that one can serve sin line with the apostIe's teaching to the effect that this
and not come to grief. Wherein, once more, does the same man, being corrupt, must be put off? To be con-
woe of the spiritual serf consist? In  this that he is         sisten they should have to remove the above-cited
the servant of sin. This is the matter to which at- passage (and very many more) from the page of his
tention must now be directed. In doing so, let it be           Bible and place in its room some such sentence as:
said by way of introdudion  that the holy writers often "That ye put off  in  part concerning the former conver-
draw away with their minds sin from the thing which sation the old man, which would be totally and absolute-
has it (the sinner) and speak of it as something apart,        ly corrupt ,if it were not for the healing influences of
as a thing endowed with personality, intelligence and common grace."
volition setting  iltself up in man as his lord. This             Salvation, however, spe!ls not the destruction but
perfectly legitimate mental action, enabIed  the afore- the redemption of man's essense.
said writers to bring man face to face with  all the              Such terms as regeneration, and sanctification, to-
cruel and gruesome aspects of his sin and misery. Fact gether with the many passages in Holy Writ that de-
is, however, that sin is the habit of the man and has,         pict the  eIect human as one cleansed, prove conclusively
therefore, no independent existence. Only in the mind that the corrupt organism is not annihiliated  *but quick-
can it` be thought of as something apart. The ordin- ened, cleansed, restored and differs, consequently, not
ances of cleansing, the institution of circumcision, the substantially but quahtatively  from the old. The cruci-
ordinance of baptism, the scriptures designating man           fixion of the unhallowed members is a cleansing pro-
a spiritual corpse or a filthy organism needing to be          cess and constitutes the other side of a bring into re-
purged,  all concur in substantiating the view that sin lief of a man whose dispositions differ so radically
is habit, a corruption of the whole nature of man.             from the one made to disappear. as to justify the use
If so, man's  spirituai  serfdom is so absolutely fixed of such phraseology as mortification  of the old  man of
as' to necessitate an almighty deliverer. For the re- sin. The sinner viewed from the point of ,view  of his
vivification of the dead and the changing of a nature absolute inability to please God in any conceivable  re-
are tasks to which no mere human is equal. Whereas             spect is said to be dead in sin. But whereas death
nature does not change, so it is universally admitted,         is decay, corruption, the saIvation  of the sinner is at
and whereas the dead cannot, have never been known, once a  cIeansing  process.


432                                   TeHE  S T A N D A R ' D   B E A R E R

       That the holy writers would sometimes conceive of that I do. . . . Now then it is,no more I that do it,
sin as a thing apart, setting up its dominion in man's but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me
bosom, has a reason. Especially by those wholly given          (that is in my flesh), dwelleth no good thing : for to
over to a life of vice and sin, the unclean lusts of the       will is present with me; but how to perform that which
heart are felt as a great urge, an innate necessity,           is good I find not. For the good that I would, I do not:
called by Paul the law of sin, driving the subject on but the evil which .I would not, that I do. Now if I do
along a path leading to ruin. These lusts, awakened that I wuld not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that
by what may be seen and heard, crave constant satis-           dwell&h  in me. .I find than a law that when I would
faction so that the subject is ill at ease unless engaged      do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the
in appeasing the cravings of a carnal nature. This law of God after the inward man: But I see another
urge, constituted of the lusts of the heart, is part and       law in my members, warring against the law of my
parce1  of a man alive to sin, glorying in his shame, mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin
delighting in the prostitution of his powers,  facinated       which is in my members" (Rom. 7 :15-22).
by the evil  Ibent of his mind, offering, therefore, no                                                                G. M. 0.
resistance to the man sold under sin, but altogether
willing that the ill-begotten power of the monster rag-
ing in his breast should be perpetuated forever.  It                                              -
means that man, throughout the entire process of the
development of sin, remains a free moral agent. The
wicked of the first chapter of Romans are said to have
dishonored their bodies between themselves. Their                                             IN MEMORIAM
shameful conduct represents  an- attempt on their part             The Con&tory of the First Protestant Reformed Chur& of
to satisfy lust incited by what the sinful eye loves to Grand Rapids, Miohigan,  hereby wishes to express its sympathy
feast, and the carnal mind loves to dwell upon. Hence,         to their brother-elder, Oscar Faber, in the loss of his brother,
it is said that God gave them up to uncleanness  through
the lusts of their own hearts.                                                        MR. HARRY FABER
       That sin is felt as an urge in man's bosom follows          May the Lord comfort him in this his bereavement.
from his being a creature endowed with a rational will.
The will is correctly' defined as the striving of the soul                                    The  Co&story  of the
after the thing regarded as constituting the highest                                            First Protestant Reformed Church,
good.      Intelligent striving, then, is the earmark of                                               Rev. R.  Veldman,   Pres.
rationality. .Adam, in the state of integrity knew it.                                                 Mr. G. Stonehouse,  Clerk.
Likewise the saint who strives to enter the narrow
gate, and who seeks the things above, and the urge of
whose being drives him on along a path leading to the
Father's house. Sin is not responsible for the motion
of the working of man's soul but for its reverse
action, and therefore must makes its presence felt as
a striving, as an urge-an urge, however, that pitches                                         IN MEMORIAM
the sinner against God and all things holy and sends               Ret behaagde den Heere wiens  doen  enkel majesteit is, den
him on along a path leading into the regions of eternal        %&ten  Mei, een onzer  trotiwe   leden,  op  bet onverwachts door
night. However, natural man loves the sinful urge of den dood tot zich te nemen,
his depraved nature, the lusts of his foul heart, and the
yearnings of the body of this death. He and the                                               MRS. J.  PRONE:
master served as one, agreed, and rush on arm in $n den ouderdom van 69 jaren.  Haar geengaan was vrede; de
anm to hell. This carnal urge, therefore, does not pre- Heere lnam haar tot Zich in bet Vaderhuis met de vele woningen,
sent itself to his consciousness as a law, that is, as waar niemand zal zeggen, ik ben ziek, want het volk dat dear
an innate necessity "that (in the words of Paul) when woond heeft vergeving van ongerechtigheid ontvangen.
he would do good, evil is ,present  with him." Not until
man is reclaimed from death by the Almighty, not                    De Heere trooste de bedroefde familie  en dat haar sterven
until he has been quickened by the Spirit, does he feel ,ons door Gods genade sterven  muge   leeren,  en ook wij haar
the need of pitting himself over against the aforesaid `mogen  volgen   naar het Vaderhuis daar boven.
master, of resisting the carnal urge of his depraved                            Namens  de Hollandsche  Vrouwen Vereeniging
self. Doing so, he for the first time in his sinful career,                                        "Wee& een  Zegen"
discovers that he is carna1, sold under sin, and com-                     Van de Eerste Protestantsche Gereformeerde  Kerk.
plains, as did the apostle, "For that which I do, I allow                                               Ds. D. Jonker, Pres.
not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate                                                    Mrs. J. Cammenga,  Seer.    ,
                                                                                  -.... .-

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

                                                                    Editxxs-Rev. H.  Hoeksfuna,  Rev.  Gi M. Ophoff,
01
/[I                                                                                 Rev:  :.T;e::;R::::Vos.
                                                                    Associate l%htors-Rev.  A. Cammenga, Rev. P. De
                                                                    Boer, Rev. M. Gritters, Rev:B.  Eok, Rev. 6. Hanko,
                                                                   -Rev. G. Lubbers, Rev. R.  Veldman,  Rev. H.  Veld-
                                                                    man, Rev. A. Petter, Rev. J. Vandesr Breggen.

vol         XVI          iyo         lg  E n t e r e d   M  Serand   Class  mail
       .           ,            '       * matter at Grand  Fkpids.   Yich.                JULY 1,194O                         Subscription Price $2.00

                                                                                                 significance of the graphic word that is here twice
              M E D I T A T I O N                                                                used in the original. When God blesses us, He speaks
                                                                                                 well of us; concerning us, to us, over us ; when we
                                                                                                 bless ,God,  we speak well of Him, concerning Him, to
              Blessed He That Blessed Us                                                         Him. But His Word is a word of power. He speaks
                                                                                                 and it is done ; He commands and it stands fast. `His
                                                                                                 Word creates what it declares ; it brings to pass what
                                     Blessed be the God and  Father'of'our                       it expresses. `But. our word can only declare what
                           Lord  Jest Christ, who hath blessed us already is, and what has become an object of our know-
                           Twith all  spiritu&  blessings in heavenly ledge and experience.
                           places  in Christ; according  c;cs he hath                               His speaking precedes the thing; our speaking
 1,                        chosen us in him . . . .                                              fol!ows it. He speaks and what He speaks comes into
                                                                           Eph.  2.2,  4.        being ; we speak because we know that the thing is
       Blessed be He that blessed us!                                                            already.
       It cannot escape our attention that the same word                                            He "speaks well" of us and to us, and as a result
is used twice : God blesses- us, we bless Him !                                                  we are tiled  with all goodness.
       Yet, there is a profound difference in meaning be-                                           We speak well of  .Him, because we taste that he is
tween the two uses of the word.                                                                  eternally good !
       -For, first of all, God's blessing us and our blessing                                       We speak because through His speech we know
God are not mere reciprocal acts, so that the latter is                                          Him !
a remuneration of the former, a returning of favors                                                 Blessed He that blessed us !
received, a reward of blessing He bestowed on us. God                                             . Even so, Amen !
is God ! We are, always creature ! God is the Giver;
we are always the receivers! God is the ever over-                                                  And how richly He blessed us !
flowing Fountain of all good ; we are always the thirsty                                            In how marvellous a way He lavished His goodness
ones that drink from that Fountain ! This relation upon us!
never ceases, can never be reversed. Never does the                                                 How fully and completely  Be filled us with His
moment arrive when He receives from us anything glorious benefits !
that is not truly His. When we bless Him we only                                                    For, He blessed us with all spiritunl  blessings -in
express that we have tasted how good He is. Our bless- heavenly places  in Christ!
ing of Him is only the expression of our consciousness                                              In Christ He blessed us. This indicates the wonder-
of having been blessed by Him.                                                                   ful way in which He manifested all His great goodness
       His blessing, then, is first, always first, eternally and made us recipients of it. Another way in which
first!                                                                                           to reveal all His marvellous goodness to the highest
       Even as "herein is love", not that we loved God,                                          possible degree there'was not. For, Christ is the First-
but that He Ioved us, so "herein is blessing", not that born of every creature and the First Begotten-of the
we bless Him, but that  ,He blesses us!                                                          dead ; He is the image of the invisible God, and it
       Bis blessing us is the eternally operating cause of was the Father's good pleasure that in Him -all the
our bIessing Him.                                                                                fulness  should dwell. And when we are told that
       For, indeed, His blessing, never ours, is causal,                                         Be blessed us in Christ, it is plain that He blessed
efficacious, divinely powerful and effective.                                                    Christ first! He speaks well of Christ, to Christ, chief-
       TO bless is `to -speak  web".  Such is the literal ly, centrally, as the Chief over His house, as the  .Son


                                                                                         .

434                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                 -
in Whom He is well pleased, as the obedient Servant,           And to be born again is to be born from above, where
as the Head of the body, the Church. He speaks His             Christ sitteth on the right hand of God, in heavenly
Word of blessing in the amazing wonder of the in- places; and this rebirth is but the beginning of what
carnation, in the deep way of His suffering, in the            will be perfected in the final resurrection and in the
awful descent of His into hell, in His sojourn in Shed;        glory of the heavenly creation!
He reveals His Word of blessing in His glorious resur-            Blessed with  all  spiritual blessings !
rection, in His blessed exaltation in the highest hea-            I n   C h r i s t !
vens, in the exceeding greatness of His  power  and               For, in Him is the fulness of spiritual blessings.
authority over every  ~name that is named. And He All the fuIness of the Godhead dwelleth in Him bodily.
finished His Word of blessing when this glorified Christ No spiritual blessing is lacking. No blessing could
received the promise of the Spirit, that He might be           be added. Over and above the spiritual blessings in
the quickening Spirit, the life-giving Head of His             Christ no blessing is conceivable. To be blessed in
Church! . . . .                                                Christ is to be blessed fully, completely, perfectly:
       In Christ He hath blessed us!                              And He hath blessed us in Him!
       And, therefore, these blessings with which He hath         For, He caused Him to merit eternal righteousness
sblessed us are all the spiritual blessings in heavenly for us, by His death and resurrection. In Him we are
places.                                                        justified. In Him we have the adoption unto children.
       Spiritual these blessings are, because they  .a& all    In Him we are heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with
the fruits of the ,Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, and      Christ. In Him we have a right to eterna1  life and to
are wrought by Him. Spiritual they are, too, because the eternal inheritance !                         1
they are not natural, they do not change the essence              And He makes us partakers of these spiritual bless-
of things, the essence of our being and of our relation ings !
to the world, but by them our spiritual-ethical nature            For, it is He that makes us one plant with Him,
is reversed and our relation to God is made perfect.           in the likeness of His death and His resurrection. It is
They change our darkness into ,light,  our love of the He, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that
lie into love of the truth, our folly into wisdom, our         gives us the lively faith, whereby we become partakers
ignorance into the knowledge of God, our guilt into            of Him and of all His benefits.
perfect righteousness, our corruption into holiness,              In the blessed Christ He hath blessed us !
our unrest into peace, our sorrow into joy, our death             Abundant mercy !
into eternal life ! They do not feed us with the bread
that perisheth, but with the Bread of life ; they  d)
not enrich us with treasures on earth, where moth and             Blessed is He!
rust doth corrupt, but with incorruptible treasures               Yea, blessed be He alone!
in heaven. They are blessings of grace and mercy, of              For, He is the Fount of all these glorious blessings,
righteousness and peace, of holiness and the love of and there is none beside Him! He alone is the Author
`God, of wisdom and knowledge, of meekness and pa-             of this great salvation !           To Him, to the God' and
tience, of joy and light, of justification in the.midst of Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, be glory and thanks-
sin, of victory. in the midst of apparently overwhelming giving forever !
enemies, of a blessed hope in the midst of despair, of            To God Triune, blessed forever, be all the praise!
unspeakable rejoicings in the midst of suffering, of              He is the Father and God of our Lord Jesus Christ!
glorious life in the midst of devouring death!                  Indeed, this relation of our Lord `Jesus Christ to
   Blessings in Christ, in heavenly places  ?                  God Triune, has its deeper, its eterna1  cause in the
   For, these  bIessings are in Christ. From God,              Holy Trinity itself. For, the First Person of the divine
through Christ, in the Spirit they constantly flow to- family is the Father of the Second. And the Son, God
ward us. And Christ is in heavenly places, and is,             of God, co-equal with the Father and the Son, is the
therefore, Himself heavenly, raised far above the level        express image of the Father.
of mundane, earthly `relations. And the b!essings  are            ,But He is this in the divine nature.
like their source. In heavenly places they are, from              Never could it be said that the First Person of the
heavenly places they descend, heavenly they are. They Trinity is the  God  of the Second Person. Yet, thus
are not merely spiritual in distinction from things our text expresses the relation between Christ and the
natural and carnal, but they are also heavenly in dis- Father. For, in spite of the fact, that some would con-
tinction from the mere earthy. They do not merely              nect the words "our Lord Jesus Christ" only with
restore but e!evate;  they do not repair what was broken       "Father", so that they would read: "the God who is
and spoiled, but they raise to .a higher level, the level also the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ", we main-
of heavenly perfection. For, as far as Christ is higher tain that this is not the meaning, and that the text
than the  first Adam, the heavenly blessings we receive declares that the Father is also the God of Christ, our
from Him are higher than all the things of the earth. Lord. Besides, this is expressed more than once in


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               436
                                                              -__I.
Scripture. Christ Jesus our Lord, therefore, is not .elect is solely due to an act of His sovereign will, and
only the eternal Son, essentially divine, in relation to in no wise to any foreseen or foreknown goodness or
the First Person of the Holy Trinity, He is also the " act on our part.
Holy Child Jesus and the Servant of the Lord, and the              And He chose us in Him, in Christ Jesus our Lord!
Triune' God is His God and Father.                                 He ordained Christ, as the chief among the breth-
   He is this in His human nature.                            ren, as the Head of the Church, in order that in Him
   The Triune God is the God and Father of the Son all the fulness of the invisible God might dwell and
in human nature!                                              be revealed. And in that Christ, in His sphere, He
   He it is that ordained Him to be the Head of His           e'ected  `His Church, all His people, giving them to
Church and the Head over all things. He ordained              Christ, giving to each one of them his own place in
Him to be the Firstborn of every creature and the             Christ, so that the whole of them might show forth the
Firstbegotten of the dead. His good pleasure it was           fulness of the glorious virtues of the Godhead as it is
that in Him all the fulness should dwell. And He made in Christ,  that God may be all in all !
Him, and perfected Him as the captain of our salva-                He predestinated them to be made like unto the
tion, in the incarnation, through His suffering and image of His Son, each in his own way and according
death, in the way of His resurrection and exaltation to his own position "in Him", that He might be the
at the right hand of God in heavenly places, and by ful- firstborn among many brethren !
filling unto Him the promise of the Spirit.                        And even as He chose us in Him, so He blesses us
   Blessed be He, the God and Father of our Lord              in Him!
Jesus Christ !                                                     Never without Him!
   He it is that hath blessed us in Him!                           In Him we are juridically. And He is delivered
   And He did so freely, sovereignly, of His own good for our transgressions, and raised for our justification.
pleasure !                                                    And by faith we know that we are in `Him, and we are
   Even as He hath chosen us in Him before the justified and have peace with God.
foundation of the world !                                          Even as He hath chosen us!
   Eternally He elected us ! God's election of His                 In Him we are organically. And He lives in us and
Church does not fall in time, does not belong to time,        dwells in us, and we are delivered and glorified, begot-
is not determined and limited by time, but is an eternal      ten again unto a lively hope!
act of the eternal God. That He chose us "before the               Even as He hath chosen us, so He hath blessed us!
foundations of the world" does not refer to a certain              In Him ! Freely, eternally, sovereignly  ?
moment preceding creation, as if the eternal One had               Blessed be He!
ever been without this divine act of election. In eter-
nity there is no time. For an eternal ,act there are no
moments.      "Before the foundation of the world",                He hath blessed us !
therefore, can only express a logical relation in God's            Let us now bless Him, the God and Father of our
own mind, a relation of order between election `and the Lord Jesus Christ!
creation of the world. Election is first, the founda-              For, such is His purpose!
tion of the world follows; the church is end, the world            He hath made all things for His own name's sake:
is means. Even as Christ is first, the Firstborn of Christ, the `Church, the world, all things ! Indeed, all
every creature, and all things are made through Him things are yours; but ye are Christ's, and Christ is
and unto Him, first even in relation to the Church,           God's !
so that the latter exists for Christ's sake; so the Church         He hath blessed us, that we might bless Him!
is  first in relation to the "foundation of the world",            Not, indeed, as if our blessing of Him could at all
and all things exist for her sake, and are adapted to be like His blessing us. He is God. We are creature.
her realization and perfection.                               He is the Fount. We drink from Him. Nor, as if we
   Eternally He hath chosen us, before the foundation could in any wise remunerate Him for the glorious
of the world !                                                blessings He hath bestowed upon us in eternal and
   And even as this election is an eternal act, so it sovereign love. The very thought that we can re-
is strictly sovereign.                                        munerate- the all- and self-sufficient One is blasphem-
   God's election is never a selection of the best. Thus,     ous! What shall I render unto the Lord for all His
indeed, men that do not fully grasp the truth that benefits bestowed on me? Nothing! . . . .
God is GOD would explain. God chose the best accord-               But I can take the cup of salvation from which I
ing to His foreknowledge. He chose whom He foresaw drink, and by which I taste that He is the blessed One !
as believers, as obedient to the gospel, as persevering            And call upon His name!
to the end. But the election of God is even before the             And say that He is good !
foundation of the world, and all things are adapted to             The blessed One forever!
it1  It is causal.  It ordains the elect. That they are                                                          H. H.
                                                              L


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          434'.

woorden : men is in zijn hart Arminiaansch !
   Maar, als er onder zulke een prediking zonder                          Concerning Dr. K. Schilder
verkiezing nu menschen  worden   "bekeerd'y,  en die
menschen zijn door zulke eene prediking onder den               In view of the many rumors about the condition
verkeerden indruk gelaten, dat Gods gunst algemeen           of Dr. Schilder after the German invasion of the old
is, hoe zal men dan die menschen later van de ver-           country, our Synod decided to seek official information
kiezing overtuigen? Dat zal  we1 een moeilijk  proces        through Washington. Our representative from Michi-
worden.  En  gewoomijk  komt er dan  oak niets van gan, the honorable Bartel J. Jonkman, was found very
terecht. Een prediking, die zonder de verkiezing be-         willing to serve us in this matter. Already during the
gint, blijft Arminiaansch.                                   sessions of our Synod we received a cablegram from
   Maar hoe zou  Ds; Zwier dit aanleggen in eigen him, informing us that efforts were being made to get
gemeente ? Hij wil alleen maar van de verkiezing connections with The Netherlands, that, however, con-
spreken tot hen, van wie hij weet, dat ze Gods volk nections were broken, but that he would let us know
zijn, tot de uitverkorenen dus, die reeds tot bewust about the whereabouts of Dr. Schilder as soon as con-
geloof kwamen. Men heeft ons we1 eens beschuldigd, nections could be established.
dat wij alleen voor de uitverkorenen preeken. Die                Since then repeated efforts were made to obtain
beschuldiging werpen we verre van ons. Maar nu the desired information, and Mr. Jonkman was kind
verzekert Ds. Zwier ons, dat hij van de uitverkiezing enough to keep us informed. And because we know
alleen tot hen spreekt, die reeds tot geloof kwamen.         how deeply our people are interested in this matter as
Hoe hij dit in eigen gemeente zal klaar spelen, is moei-     is evident from frequent  inquiries we still receive, we
lijk te verstaan. Ik vrees; dat er ook in zijn gemeente publish the last correspondence, we received from Mr.
we1 zullen zijn, van wie hij niet kan zeggen, dat ze tot Jonkman, at the same time expressing our sincere
Gods volk behooren. Er zal dUS+ waar de laatsten tech thanks for the interest he shows.
onder zijne prediking verkeeren,  we1 niet veel van de           He wrote us as follows:
leer der .verkiezing  terecht lkomen  in zijne prediking.
En zoo is het metterdaad met ve!er prediking in de                Rev. H. Hoeksema,
Christelijke Gereformeerde Kerken, zooals reeds lang               1139 Franklin St., S. E.
bekend is.                                                        Grand Rapids, Michigan.
    Dat deze methode, hier door Ds. Zwier aangeprezen,            Dear Mr. Hoeksema :
niet naar de Heilige Schrift  is, hebben we meer dan                      Enclosed please find a letter I received
eens aangetoond. De Heiland predikte geheel anders.               this morning from the Secretary of State with
Hij sprak zelfs zeer duidelijk en scherp van de ver-              further reference to Dr. Klaas Schilder. Un-
kiezing ook als hij tot ongeloovige Joden  sprak.                 fortunately up to this time the Department
   En ten tweeden  willen we nog even reflecteeren op             of State has been unable to reestablish com-
Ds. Zwier's aanhaling uit Dr. Bavinck's Dogmatiek.                munication. with the American Legation at
   Hij is het daar volkomen mee eens ; ik niet.                   The Hague, but as I have written you pre-
    Hij zal  zich ook  we1 herinneren, dat wij vroeger            viously I shall advise you immediately upon
reeds op deze passage uit de bekende Dogmatiek van                getting  definite  information from the De-
Bavinck hebben gewezen, en dat ook Dr. Impeta mij                 partment relative to Dr. Schilder.
toegaf, dat het lang niet zoo zeker was, dat we hier                      With personal regards and all good
gereformeerde klanken beluisteren. Ds. Zwier is we1               wishes, I am,
bekend met mijn correspondentie met Dr.  Impeta.                                      Very truly yours,        .
Waarom zegt hij dit niet even ?
   Maar ik ontken, dat de prediking des evangelies                                    I  BARTEL J. JONKMAN.
naar de Schrift  het bewijs is van Gods oneindige liefde
voor alle hoorders.
   Zeker, ze is het bewijs voor alle hoorders  van Gods          The letter from Secretary of State Hull here
oneindige liefde tot alle zondaren, die zich bekeeren,       follows :
maar dat is heel wat anders. Wie dit laatste  zegt,
predikt reeds verkiezing.                                         My dear Mr. Jonkman:
   Maar Ds. Zwier wil eene oneindige liefde zonder                        I have received your letter of May 28,
verkiezing preeken, eene algemeene genade Gods  aan               1940, concerning your desire and that of
alle  hoorders  en voor alle hoorders.                            interested persons of Grand Rapids, Michi-
   En al heeft men nu ook duizendmaal den euvelen                 gan, to obtain information concerning the
moed, om dit ook nog gereformeerd to noemen, ik zal               whereabouts and  Iwelfare of  Dr; Klaas  Schil-
blijven getuigen :                                                der whose last known address was Kampen,
   Pat  is Arminiaansch !                     H, H.               Netherlands,

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

            Immediately upon the  re&tablishment  of         sonen inhouden, cif uit zijn duim zuigt, 6f heelemaal
        communications the American Legation at              verdraait.
        The Hague will be requested by telegraph to              Oak zal natuurlijk  moeten   worden toegeven, dat in
        make the desired inquiry. You will be in-             de hitte van de controvers  er we1 eens eene uitdruk-
        formed promptly when the reply  `is received.         king over de  lippen van een spreker komen kan, wier
        A bill for the cost of the telegrams exchanged       vorm niet heelemaal past bij de eigenlijke bedoeling,
        will be rendered to you in due course.                en die een minder welwillend hoorder  een schoone  kans
                               Sincerely yours,               geeft, om op den spreker een aanval te wagen.
                                                                 Nu weet ik natuurlijk niet, wat van dit alles waar
                                CORDELL       HULL.           is in dit bepqalde geval. Juist hoe de spreker zich uit-
                                                             gedrukt heeft, `kan ik onmogelijk bepalen. Ik moet de
       Mr. Jonkman also sent us a note stating: "if any-      uitdrukking dus we1 nemen, zooals ze daar staat en
one has relatives or friends in the Netherlands I shall plnatsen ze in zulk een verband, dat de waarheid, die
be more than glad to make similar inquiry through er in ligt, naar voren wordt gebracht.
the Department of State as to their whereabouts and              Indien de uitdrukking principiGe1  onwaar ware, zou
welfare-if I am furnished with the full names and deze poging natuurlijk niet mogen worden gewaagd.
last known addresses of such persons in the Nether- Doch dit is naar mijn overtuiging niet het geval. De
lands."                                                      vorm moge scherp en kras zijn, het moge  xworden  toe-
       &any. thanks to our representative !
                                                   H. H.     gegeven, dat hetzelfde  we1 in fijner vorm had kunnen
                                                             worden  uitgedrukt, de inhoud is principigel  waar. En
                                                             dit kan ook worden  aangetovnd.



                                                                 Ik stel mij dan voor, dat ik zou preeken over II
            Zelfs In Dien Lompen Vorm                        Joh. 10, 11. Daar staat: "Indien iemand tot ulieden
                                v.                            komt en deze leer niet brengt, ontvangt hem niet in
                                                              uw huis, en zegt tot hem niet: Zijt gegroet. Want die
                                                             tot hem zegt : Zijt gegroet; die heeft gemeenschap  aan
       De vijfde uitdrukking, die volgens de twee heeren zijne booze werken".
uit het Westen en Ds. Zwier uit den mond van een onzer           En we zouden kunneri spreken als volgt :
predikanten werd opgeteekend, luidt als volgt: "Een              De  Schrift, mijne hoorders, waarschuwt in de
ieder, die een aanbod van genade leert, is uit den sterkste  termen tegen de valsche leer, en spreekt
booze".                                                       een meedoogenloos oordeel uit over hen, die een val-
       Dat is lomp gezegd !                                   sche leer verkondigen, Zij gaat blijkbaar niet van
       En ook onderscheidt zich deze uitdrukkihg  van de de gedachte uit, dat we valsche leeraar en leer moe-
vorige, die we reeds bespraken, hierdoor, dat ze een ten scheiden, dat we ons we1 moeten  wachten voor ket-
oordeel inhoudt over een zekere klasse van menschen teTij maar niet voor den ketter, dat we met de eerste
zonder uitzondering. Ze is geen bloot leerstellige  ver-      geen  maar met den laatste  we1 gemeenschap kunnen en
klaring, maar spreekt over een ieder, die een aanbod mogen hebben, dat de eerste uit den booze is, terwijl de
van genade leert. Ze spreekt uit, "dat allen,  die zulk       laatste tech  we1 een oprecht kind van God kan zijn. De
een aanbod leeren,  uit den booze zijn.                       Heilige Schrift  beschouwt den valschen  leeraar niet,
       Ik zou dat  266 niet zeggen.                           als iemand, die op een onschuldige wijze dwaalt,  ter-
       De lezer gelieve echter  voor de aandacht te houden, wijl hij het overigens we1 goed bedoelt. Integendeel,
dat ik die "vertrouwbare  bran",  waaruit Ds. Zwier doorloopend schrijft de  Schrift het  leeren  van valsche
bij het overbrieven van deze praatjes heeft geput, leeringen toe aan booze motieven en overleggingen.
heelemaal  niet vertrouw, vooral niet nu ook nog ge-          Reeds in het Oude Testament wordt meermalen ge-
bleken is, dat ze niet onder de prediking doch  een paar      waarschuwd tegen de valsche profeten, die om eigen
jaren na datum zijn opgeteekend. Ik geloof dus niet, eer en aanzien, om eigen vuil gewin de erve des Heeren
dat deze uitdrukkingen zijn gedaan in den vorm, waar-         verwoesten.    De Heiland waarschuwt tegen valsehe
in ze in De  Wadder   werden opgenomen. Ze zijn niet profeten, die tot  u komen in schaapskleederen, maar
alleen uit haar verband  gerukt, maar ook veranderd,          van binnen grijpende wolven zijn. En keer op keer
gegoten in een vorm, die bij `t lezend publiek maar den wijzen de apostelen in hun brieven  aan de gemeenten
slechtsten indruk kon maken.           En  ik geloof, dat dit op de valsche leeraars, en schrijven ze het indringen
vooral  ,het geval is met eene uitdrukking als boven-         van  allen wind van leer toe aan de arglistigheid en
staande.      Ik weet bij ervaring, hoe gemakkelijk men bedriegerij der menschen, om listiglijk tot  dwaling  te
juist  zulke   uitdrukkingen, die een oordeel over  per- brengen. Zij die tweedracht en ergernissen aanrichten


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         443
  4                                                                                                                . .
  Zij gelooven niet, omdat ze niet van Zijne schapen zijn. in one hour that this big change comes about. Money,
  En dit snijdt zelfs de mogelijkheid van eene algemeene the only power till now, is done away with, trade is
  gunst af. De zaak is eenvaudig beslist. En daarom more and more an affair of the governments. The
  zvu geen direkt getuigenis, dat Jezus de .Christus is, present lineup in this war is that of the "have-riots""
  hun  baten.                                                    against the "haves", and is more or less the old order
           Dit wordt nog duidelijker, als Jezus nu verder van against the new : State-socialism.
  Zijne schapen spreekt, en dat in kennelijke  tegenstel-            Speaking often about war nowadays, it is to the
  ling met de ongeloovige Joden. Zijne schapen hooren interest of every one if something is written about it
  Zijne stem. Dat is een daad en openbaring des  ge-             in the Standard Bearer, and to answer this question
  loofs. Zij, de ongeloovige  Joden, hooren Zijne stem as soon as possible in our paper.
  niet. Want zij gelooven niet. Maar Zijne schapen                   Hoping to hear from you, if you think it worth
  hooren altijd Zijnen stem, want zij gelooven. Dit              while,
kan niet falen.            Hierop is nooit een uitzvndering.                            Your brother in Christ,
 "Evenals  het zeker is, dat zij, die niet van Zijne schapen                                            K. Heersema.
  zijn, niet gelooven, zoo is  bet zeker, dat Zijne schapen
       we1 gelooven en Zijne stem hovren. De grond van deze          Answer :
       zekerheid ligt in de verkiezing. Want immers, Jezus'          Yes, indeed, the war is the subject of many a con-
       schapen zijn degenen, die de Vader Hem gegeven heeft. versation every day. And the general question is, no
       Daarom km-men  ze niet verloren gaan in der eeuwig-       doubt, of interest: what is the significance of this war
  heid.  Christus  kent hen; Hij  gee$t  hun het eeuwige         in the light of Scripture, particularly  df prophecy?
       leven; niemand.kan  ze uit Zijne hand rukken; en Zijn         I am always somewhat hesitant to give a definite
       Vader is meerder dan allen,  en niemand kan ze rukken answer to this question, for the simple reason that,
       uit de hand Zijns Vaders.                                 in my opinion, this is impossible until the things have
           Zoo predikte de Heere Jezus.                          actually come to pass. And at the time of this writing
           Zijne prediking was door en door particulier.         nothing decisive has as yet happened.
           Er is niet alleen geen zweem van een algemeene            When I have a little more time and space for this
       gunst Gods in die prediking te bespeuren, maar ze is      purpose in our paper, I may probably offer some
       oak scherp en beslist, dat er geen plaats voor zulk eene general views on this problem. But at present I con-
       algemeene genade in te vinden is.                         fess that I am not yet ready to express definite views
           Ds. Zwier beriep  zich ten onrechte voor zijne  vovr- concerning the meaning of this war in the light of
       stelling op de prediking van den Heiland.                 prophecy.       I know that in times like these we are
                                                     H. H.       easily tempted to form a rather definite conception, and
                                                                 to determine precisely what time it is on God's  world-
                                   -                             clock. Many do this, too. But I would rather -not
                                                                 yield to this temptation.
                                                                     This, however, does not mean, that I cannot give a
                     About Babylon `s Fall                       rather definite answer to Mr. Heersema's question.
                                                                 That answer is decidedly negative. It seems to be
           From K. H. of Redlands,  Calif.,  we received the     Mr. Heersema's view that Germany will win this war,
       following communication :                                 that the fall of the British empire is imminent, that
                                                                 this fall is also the fall of the capitalistic system, and,
           Dear Rev.  H,o&sema :-
                            , .                                  therefore, the fall of Babylon. Thus I, at least, under-
           It looks in many ways as if Babylon's fall is now stand his letter.
       taking place, as written in Rev. 17, 18. Therefore,           In the first place, because it is my conviction that
       I ask the question: what is there against the view that we have not yet seen  Bbbylon  at its greatest, and, there-
       Babylon's fall is now going on?                           fore, in this war we cannot see the fall of Babylon. I
           In favor of this view are several facts. The ten believe that the Bible teaches that Babylon must first
  horns shall hate t,he whore and shall make her desolate become a universal world-power, before her fall will
  and naked, and shall eat her flesh and burn her with be accomplished. For, Babylon  .is the world-power,
       fire.    Babylon's merchandise is carried vver many filled with the spirit of the false prophet.
       waters. After Babylon's fall the merchants are weep-          In the second place, exactly because of the fact that
       ing, and all the shipmasters and all the company in Babylon in the Bible is not a nation, nor a system, but
       ships and sailors and as many as trade by the sea.        a world-power, this war has nothing to do with Baby-
       Thus, only those who are made rich say: Alas! Only lon's fall. Suppose that Germany wins a decisive vic-
  those that are directly concerned weep. In one hour tory, which in spite of her present gains and advances
       Babylon falls, and seeing the speed of the rise of still appears very improbable to me; suppose that the
  extreme States-socialism under dictatorships it is, as entire political and economic system would be changed

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

over the entire world as a result of such a complete            Dan neemt hij deze mannen nog even mee naar het
German victory ; then what would we have? We would paradijs, om ze te `toonen wat de duivel zeide tot
still have Babylon!                                          Adam en Eva: "Gij zult als God  wezen".  En nu  be-
       There are many other reasons of an exegetical weert Mr. Van Dijken, dat, sedert de mensch van God
nature, that I might bring against this view. But .&iel, hij niet nalaten kan, om in dien verborgen raad
this will, perhaps, suffice for the moment to lead Mr. te  willen inblikken. En mannen als Ds. Hoeksema zijn
Heersema's pondering in a somewhat different direc- hiermee veel meer behept dan mannen als Van Dijken,
tion. And, of course, he may always write again!             zooals het schijnt. Misschien heeft het klimaat er
                                                   H. H.     ook mee te doen.     Hij  zegt,  dat deze leiders zoover
                                                             gegaan zijn, dat "they endeavor to establish their doc-
                                                             trine on the unknown factor of the counsel' or secret
                                                             will of God". E,n dan, zegt hij,  zullen  wij, i.e., de
                        Ingezonden                           Christelijke Gereformeerden, met zulke mannen samen-
                                                             werken ! Zeg hun liever, dat zij den ellendigen toe?
       Zeer geachte redakteur van de Standard Bearer, stand van hun bestaan leeren  inzien ! En dat ze nog
Ds. H, Hoeksema  :-                                          tot bekeering gebracht mogen worden  en niet geheel in
                                                             het fatalisme wegzinken !
       Mag ik, als `t  u blieft, een plaatsje in uw blad.       Dit is in korte trekken  wat door Mr. Van Dijken
       Dit stuk behoorde eigenlijk in The Banner, maar geschreven werd. Het geheel kunt ge vinden in The
nu weet ieder redelijk wezen  bij dezen tijd wel, dat        Banner van 24 Mei.
het daar niet wordt opgenomen. Ik spreek uit  onder-            Twee  dingen zijn er, die mij tot schrijven noopten.
vinding in dezen. Wel, ik ben net zoo  goed een Stan- Ten eerste bedroeft het mij, dat zulk een verwaand en
dard Bearer lezer als een Banner lezer.                      bespottelijk stuk in The Banner werd opgenomen. Oak
       In The Banner van 24  Mei, 1940 verscheen een The Banner heet een Christelijk bIad. Misschien dat
ingezonden stuk van Peter Van Dijken, Ripon, Calif.,         Da.. H.J. Kuiper in dit stuk iets Christelijks vinden kan,
getiteld : "Not a tree, not even a shrub". Mr. Van maar ik voor mij zie er niet veel in, dat van d,en Geest
Dijken spreekt daar over de "mistletoe" en de  ge-           Gods is,  we1 het tegenovergestelde. En  als Gods Woorcl
volgen er van, etc. Aan het einde van zijn bespiege-         waar is, en dat is waar, dan geloof ik niet, dat het Gods
lingen komt hij zoo ver, dat hij beweert de mistleeoe        goedkeuring kan wegdragen, ook al s&at. het in een
te  haten met zijn gansche hart. Hij vindt dezelfde          Christelijk blad. Wij  als kerk moesten  ons schamen
overal,  zelfs in gouvernementen en kerken. Hij weet om  zulke lectuur te verspreiden ! Gods naam wordt er
u precies te zeggen, hoe dat alles werkt. Hij classifleert door onteerd. Gods vo!k wordt er door bedroefd. De
haar als een parasiet. Zoo is b.v. de Adventisten kerk wereld zegt : dat zijn nu die vrome menschen ! En de
zulk een parasiet, daar zij het er op toeleggen, om haar     duivel  lacht in zijn vuistje. En  meen   nu niet, dat ik
ledental te vermeerderen door ze van andere  Christe-        de eenigste ben in onze kerken, die er zoo over denkt.
lijke Kerken weg te nemed en de leer dezer  kerken in Ik zou daarvoor overvloedig bewijs kunnen leveren!
een verkeerd daglicht te stellen. Maar we hebben het            Ten tweeden,  als Mr. Van Dijken er belang  in stelt,
einde van dit verhaal nog niet.                              om zijn eigen portret  te zien, dan raad ik hem aan:
       In 1939 heeft de Synode der Christelijke Gerefor-     ncem The Banner van 24 Mei, lees uw stuk nog eens
meerde Kerken een commissie van correspondentie met over. Lees het eens ernstig over. Dat zegt u precies,
andere kerken aangesteld. Deze commissie zou op de wie gij zijt. Ik verwonder mij, dat gij zoo  goed uit
Synode van 1940 rapporteeren. Nu heeft Van Dijken Ripon  de onheilige  handen van deze broeders kunt zien,
ontdekt, dat aan het einde van de lijst van kerken door en ben benieuwd, hoe heilig de uwe waren,  toen  gij dit
deze commissie voorgesteld ook de Protestantsche  Gere-      stuk neerpendet.  Ik kan niet gelooven, dat gij dit
formeerde Kerken  worden   gevonden,  zeker met het biddende gedaan hebt. Gij wenschst ook nog, dat zij
doe1 om correspondentie met deze k&ken  te zoeken, en bekeerd mogen worden.  Dat klirikt nog al mooi. Maar .
indien mogelijk de breuke, die er is, te  heelen,  en niet bemoei u in de eerste plaats niet te veel met een ander !
te verergeren. Maar Van Dijken ziet de wind uit een Let vooral op de noodzakelijkheid van uw `eigen  be-
anderen hock komen. Hij meent, dat deze poging der keering. Gij behoeft in de eerste  plaats geen  reken-
commissie beslist onzuiver en verkeerd is. Deze groep schap te geven van de  "Hoeksema-groep".  Maar  we1
noemt  zich de  Protestantsche  Gereformeerde Kerk. terdege van uzelf  ?
Maar al, twat ze hebben is eenvoudig dit, dat ze haar            "Not a tree, not even a shrub"!
wortel hebben in de ontevredenheid van hare leiders,
die niet na:aten het gordijn van  Cads  verborgen wil                             155 E. 16th St., `Holland, Mich.
met hunne onheilige handen  weg te nemen, om zoo-                                 George Wierstra.
doende des te beter in Gods raad te kunnen inblik-               We zijn dankbaar voor deze stem uit de Christe-
ken.                                                         lijke Gereformeerde Kerken. Ze toont, dat er nog


                                      TEE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       447

geschied. Zeker, ook daar staat zij niet buiten. Doch      how sanely we may think on the matters and however
het oog moet veeleer gericht op wat komt, op de mach-      cautiously we may feel our rway toward conclusions, we
ten, die  straks na den wereldbrand tot openbaring zul-    become perplexed.     This world's history must  ,and
len komen.                                                 shall lead to perplexity of the nations. For the sea and
    Het gaat immers naar het einde aller dingen? En the waves are roaring and mens' hearts are failing
dat einde is  geen  zaak meer van duizenden  jaren?        them for fear and looking after the things that are
Neen, dat einde komt al sneller en de teekenen  kondi-     coming upon the earth. Each new day brings fresh
gen het ons aan: Ziet, Hij komt! En voor de vrouw, tidings of horror, with rumors of stillgreater horrors
die vluchte in de woestijn, zal het hoe langer hoe meer that shall follow.
beteekenis krijgen, om het hoofd op . te heffen en            Faith and unbelief; God and Mammon ; assurance
elkander  aan te sporen, dat Hij komt, om de aarde te      and doubting draw their lines close.
richten  en dat Zijn loon zal met Hem zijn en Zijn            And while unbelief, Mammon and doubtings drag
arbeids!oon  voor Zijn aangezicht.                         their followers through perplexity to hurl them imo
    We vragen ons af, en dat zeer terecht, hoe zal het ldespair,  those who believe in God and stand in  `-the
wezen  met onze families in het oude Vaderland? Die assurance of faith, shall be perplexed but shall not be
vraag is te begrijpen en we kunnen niet nalaten voor in despair.
hen te bidden, ook in de samenkomst der gemeente.             The word, perplexity, both in the Hebrew and the
We zouden het overgeestelijk, ja, ongeestelijk, noemen Greek, signifies a  ,rapid turning around, turning now
als, dit niet gedaan werd. Meer nog. Wie denkt niet one way then the other. With the implied meaning, of
aan de getrouwen, waaronder Dr. Schilder en Grey-          course, that such an one is constantly  turning around
danus en anderen, en wie vraagt  nu niet,  leven zij       because he knows not which way he shall proceed. In
nog, of worden  zij wellicht, om hun kloek getuigenis Luke  24:4 we read that the women came to the tomb
vervolgd en verdrukt?  ,O, ja, die  zich  6&i weet met and found everything there so vastly different than
Gods volk, die legt weleens des  nachts wakker. En what they had expected and we read that they were
tech.  . . .    De groote zaak is niet of de getrouwe perplexed, that is, they knew not what conclusions to
getuigen het leven er bij af zullen brengen. De groote draw neither what to do next. In Gal. 4:20 the word
vraag is, of zij getrouw zullen zijn tot den dood toe,     occurs when Paul wants to express his surprise at the
hun  leven niet lief hebbende. Dat moet de bede zijn conclusions and the conduct of the Galatians and as-
van  ens en onze Kerken.       Straks, en wie weet hoe serts that he is at a loss to know what procedure to
spoedig, komt diezelfde vijand op ons af en dan is follow in their case. In Esther 3  :15 we read that the
er maar  Ben ding dat benauwd maakt. Wat dat is? Ik city of Shushan was perplexed at the fatal decree
lijk dit niet te schrijven, maar het ligt geheel op mijn. prompted by the wicked Haman, and here perplexity
weg dit te schrijven, in verband  met het onderwerp.       again signifies that the inhabitants of the city were
    Dan is dit de groote vraag en bede: Heere, om uws bewildered and knew not which way to turn nor what
Naams wille, laat mij ook dan getrouw zijn, opdat          to do. In Joel 1:18 we read that the herds of cattle
het gezien moge worde, dat Uw werk kan niet  worden        were perplexed, that is, the drought-stricken and ter-
verbroken, Uw volk  kan U niet  verloochenen  en Gij       rified animals hopelessly dragged themselves from one
onze God en  Vader wees ons dan genadig  naar Uw           way to another seeking water and grass.
eigene  belofte.                                              In all these passages it is evident that being per-
    Dan is het goed.                                       plexed means that one is at a loss to know which way
    Tot in der Eeuwigheid toe.                             to turn next. As long as there is pressure from three
    H a l l e l u j a h   !                  w. v.         sides, there is a way of escape and one need not be
                                                           perplexed, but comes pressur from four sides, which
                                                           way shall one turn then? That is perplexity.
                                                              In Lk. 21:25 the word perplexity occurs again, and
                       ,And, But Not                       this time it emphasizes that the nations of the earth
                                                           shall experience that perplexity. Jesus says that with
    Perplexed, and in despair.                             (or in, during) the distress of the nations there shall
    Perplexed, but not in despair.                         come great bewilderment. There shall not only be
    That, in short, is the way the lines are being drawn distress and pressure, but mens' hearts shall fail be-
as they mark the difference between the people that        cause they know not which way to turn. They go one
have their own god and the people that know the            way, attempt .one procedure, apply one method. . . it
true God. The pressure of the times, with all the          fails; they turn back and try a new and apparently
anxiety and the fear which follows, the dizzying pace better method,  butthat  also fails; every attempt fails.
of amazing events, the threats of more horrible and        Boasts of optmism make way for anxiety and fear,
<amazing  things have brought perplexity upon  all, of confusion deveIopes  into stark perplexity.
US. HOW could we escape being perplexed? No matter            That bewilderment and perplexity confines itself


448                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                    .-.

not to one people or country but reaches out its ten- the new heaven and new earth.
acles but as well the offensive nations; not only the                Her Gospel to God's people is a Gospel of the solu-
conquered, but also the conquering ; not only the bel- tion, but of the solution in hope. She is saved by
ligerent, but also the non-belligerent nations. To solve hope, she preaches the sure hope of her sure faith.
the problem of over-population and the have-not com- When her children,  we&-y  with the perplexities of the
plex nations have leaped at eachothers' throats and ar- world which they daily face, turn to her, they must
rayed their armies, but that is no solution, for on the hear from her the note of safety, peace and of solution
battle-field both sides go down to defeat, only to find by hope. The Church must summon her children out,
them selves in still greater perplexity. To solve the of Babylon for there is all manner of confusion and
depression problems men have thought to spend their despair, it is night in Edom, but here, in the Church
way to prosperity, but that only resulted in a stagger- with God's Word, here is hope and peace and eternal
ing national debt *with more perplexity as to how to              life. The Church must summon her children in this
cope with this added difficulty. Nations, long de- patience to possess their souls, must `warn them against
dicated to a democratic form of government and dread- taking the mark of the beast as a possible solution,
ing totalitarianism, have actually sought their safety and admonish them to dwell in safety alone.
in that very form of government they so dreaded, and                 Perplexity and despair. . . . that is the portion
the perplexities have multiplied them  se!ves.                    of them that are without God and without hope in
       They know not which way to turn.                           the world.
       For the vials of God's wrath are emptying them-              Perplexity, but not despair.. . . that is the mystery
selves upon the earth. God has a righteous controversy of sovereign grace.                             /  *      M.  G.-
with the peoples. They have forsaken His covenant,
they have thrown down His altars and have slain His
prophets. Elijah has appeared. Three and one-half
years there shall be no rain, there shall be judgment                           The Levitical Priesthood
and perplexity. The Lord, He is God and He has sum-
moned the earth's peoples into His court. They have                  Holiness, so it was pointed out, was the property of
said there is no God which is the Lord, so they have God's priests, of Aaron and his sons. We learn  thisfrom
lived and so they have walked. But, the Lord, He is Moses' reply to Korah, "Tomorrow the Lord will show
God and they shall know it.                                       who is His, and who is ho&y.  . . ." Num. 16:5.  It was
       Perplexity, for the kingdoms of this world approach made plain that the character of the holiness which this
their end and the nearer the end approaches the nar- statement asoribes  to Aaron was symbolical. It was
rower becomes the places left them to stand.                      thus the bodily cleanliness that resulted from his being
       But, withal, these things are but the beginning.           washed with water; the. beauty and the purity of the
       And the Church passes through these circumstances dress in which he, as priest, was clad ; the anointing
also.      The Church is bound to the earth's peoples oil and the blood of the sacribice  as sprinkled upon
with thousand bonds and ties, of flesh, of blood, of his garments, the blood of the sacrifice as put upon
nationality and government. She stands, dwells  and his ear and hand and foot, the sweet fragrance of his
functions in the midst of perplexed nations. They turn anointed head. Through his being supplied with this
to her for counsel and advice, but generally it is or-            (symbolical) holiness, he was consecrated to the office
dered by prescription.       The Gospel she preaches is of priesthood, he  and, his sons, and as so consecrated,
no panacea for this worlds' ills. Her own Gospel, as possessed the right to perform the work of a sacrificer,
it becomes true in the events of history, tends to terrify the right to atone the sins of God's people in the holiest
her somewhat; her prayer, "The Kingdom come" has place.
a shocking answer for by terrible things in righteous-               In his symbolical holiness, Aaron was the type of
ness God answers Zion's prayer.                                   Christ. His cleanliness signified the perfect moral
       Perplexed, yes, but not in despair, perplexed but not purity of Christ; the splendor of his dress was the em-
hopeless, amazed but not fearful. Unbelief ends in blem of Christ's spiritual beauty, of the righteousness
hopeless despair, but faith cannot despair.                       and salvation with which the Father clothed Him,
       Amidst it all the Church must meet perplexity when He raised Him up and set Him together with
with .faith. Look up, lift up yours heads, the solution His people in heavenly places, and this in fulfilment
to all your problems is drawn in a straight line from of the promise, "I will clothe her priests with salva-
Calvary to the  Pacrousia,  your redemption is in the             tion". Ps. 132: 16. Such was the significance of the
offing.      The distinct roaring and pounding of the priestly dress taken on a whole.
waves is evidence that the shore is nearby.                The       This dress, as was shown further, was comprised
Church holds the solution to all the problems, for she of several portions, two of which  -  the  b-m&plate
has the Word of God. And the solution of all things and  the crown of go&had  a significance of their,own
is the final and full realisation  of God's Covenant in and therefore must be dealt with separately. As has


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                   449

already been noticed, the breastplate was made of belonged to the same category of revelation as the
blue, of purple, and of scarlet yearn, and fine-twined lot.
linen, worked throughout with gold thread. Its length          Although Holy Writ does not say just what the
and breath was half a cubit (nine inches). The woven Urim the Thummim were, it does shed light on the
cloth was laid together double, and in it were set question what the character  ,was  of the revelations
twelve precious stones and upon them were written the which they instrumentally imparted. When Abiathar
names of the sons of Israel. "And Aaron shall bear the highpriest fled to David to Keilah, he came down
the names of the sons of Israel in the breastplate of with an ephod in his hand,-with the ephod to which
judgment upon his heart, when he goeth into. the Holy was attached the Urim and Thummim.               Thus he
place, for a memorial before the Lord continually". brought with him the highpriestly dress from Nob.
Ex. 28:29.  The typical significance of all this has al- Knowing that Saul was seeking his life, David re-
ready been set forth in a previous article.              quested the priest to bring the Ephod. The latter did
    Into the breastplate Moses put the  UCm and so and then David put to the Lord the following
Thummirm; that they might "be upon Aaron's heart, question,  "0 Lord God of Israel, thy servant hath
when he goeth in before the Lord." Let us now take certainly heard that Saul seeketh to come to Keilah,
up and answer the questions what the Urim and the to destroy the city for my sake. Will the men of
Thummim  were and the related question what the ob- Keilah deliver me up into his hand? will Saul come
ject of them was. If we turn to etymology for assist-    down as thy servant has heard? 0 Lord God of
tance, we are on uncertain ground. It is generally Israel, I beseech thee, tell thy servant.  ,And the Lord
held, however, that the words mean Eight, and per- said, He will come down. Then said David, Will the
fection. The Urim and the Thummim appear seven men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hands
times in Scripture.                                      of Saul? And the Lord said, They *will deliver thee
   Ex. 28:30,  "And thou shalt put in the breastplate up". (I Sam. 23 :7-12).
of judgment the Urim and the Thummim ; and they                These answers, coming from the Lord to whom the
shall be upon Aaron's heart, when he goeth in before questions had been put, were given certainly through
the Lord: and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the the instrumentality of the Urim and Thummim. Now
children of Israel upon his heart before the Lord con- both these- answers were the equivalents of a simple
tinually."                                               yes and were given in reply to questions which David
   Lev. 3 :8, "And he put the breastplate upon him ; had put to the Lord in one- of the crises of his life.
also he put in the breastplate the Urim and the Thum-    The conclusion is thus warranted,-that the Urim and
mim. . . .                                               the Thummim were God-given instruments through
   Num. 2'7:21, "And he (Joshua) shall stand before which the Lord made known His will to His people in
Eleazar the priest, who shall ask for him after the the crises of their national existence, that the releva-
judgment of Urim before the Lord ; at his word they tions which they instrumentally imparted were replies
shall go out, and at his word they shall come in, both to definite questions which could be answered by a
he and all the children of Israel with him, even the simple yes or no.
whole congregation.                                            There is evidence that this simple ges or -no was
   Deut. 33 :8, "And of Levi He said, Let thy Thummim often supplimented by an additional revelation. When
and Urim be with the holy one, whom thou didst prove the Philistines came up yet again, and spread them-
at  Massah, and with whom thou didst strive at the selves in the  val!ey  of Ephraim, David again enquired
waters of Meribah ;. . . .                               of the Lord whether he should go up to the foe. It is
    I Sam. 28 :6, "And when Saul enquired of the Lord, not stated that David on this occasion was availing
the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by himself of the Urim and Thummim. Yet, whereas the
Urim, nor by prophets.                                   highpriest Abiathar was with him still, this may be
    Ezra  2:63, "And the Tirshatha said unto them, assumed. The reply of the Lord, "Thou shalt not go
that they should not eat of the most holy things, till up," was given through the oracle under consideration,
there stood up a priest with Urim and with Thummim. perhaps, as has already been suggested, thro,ugh  the
    Neh.  `7:65, "And the Tirshatha said unto them, glittering of its stones. To this reply, equivalent to a
that they should not eat of the most holy things, till simple no, was added a lengthy instruction that reads,
there stood up a priest with Urim and Thummim."          "but fetch a compass behind them, and come upon
' These scriptures tell us little. They contain no them over the mulberry trees, that then thou, shalt
answer to the questions wherein the  Urim  anld the bestir thyself: for then shall the Lord `go out before
Thummim consisted and how they made known the thee." (I Sam. 5 :24). It would seem that a revelation
will of God. It may be that they consisted in two of this character could not very well be imparted by
stones, put into the breastplate of the highpriest and inanimate and thus inarticulate objects such as the
that it was thus through their glistening that the mind Urim and Thummim evidently were, and must there-
and will of God became known. It is certain that they fore have been communicated by inspiration. However


450                                   THl!!  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
A.. ,..
this may be, the main point is that the Urim and the away by the highpriest through the sacrifice by blood
Thummim were instruments through which the Lord on the day of the great atonement. In order to bear
gave guidance to His servants in times of stress and iniquity the priest had to be holy.
that, as attached to the official dress of the highpriest,
they raised this personage also to the rank of prophet           As to the other portions of the priestly dress, the
in Israel, yet not to the rank of true prophet; for outer robe, body coat, girdle and under-drawers, they,
the revelations received were given not by the indwell- too, were strikingly expressive of holiness. With the
ing Spirit of prophecy but by what must have been a exception of the girdle, the material of them all was
                                                              linen and must be held to have been white. They are
mechanical device.     The Urim and Thummim, to-
gether with the official robes of the priest of which         not  exprer,sly  so-called in the Pentateuch, but are de-
                                                              scribed as white in II Chron.  5:12. The white and
they formed a part, belonged to the category of the
shadows.                                                      clean garment was made to stand out in the minds of
            They formed a temporary expedient. Even
as early as the days of Solomon, they ceased, so it           God's people as expressive of ethical purity, holiness.
seems to function. It was therefore a questionable senti- Hence, in the book of Revelations the saints frequently
ment to which a certain writer gave expression when he appear as robed in such garments, which are expressly
                                                              declared to mean "the righteousness of saints".
said, The Urim and Thummim connect with the breast:                                                              So in
plate, if not identical with it, and through which, in Revelations 19 :8, "And to her (the church, the wife
cases of emergency, he, the highpriest, obtained un-- of the Lamb) was granted that she should be arrayed
erring responses from Heaven, bespoke the spirit of in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the
wisdom and revelation in the mind and will of God,            righteousness of saints."
with which he should be endowed to fit him for giving            Finally, the individual of the seed of Aaron the
a clear direction to the people in times of deepest           priest had to be free from every kind of physical blem-
moment, and the perfect rectitude of the decisions he ish and defect in order to serve the altar, "And the
was to be the instrument of conveying to them.`? True Lord spake unto Moses saying, Whosoever he be of thy
it is, that the  Urim and Thummim bespoke the spirit seed in their generations that hath any blemish, let him
of wisdom and revelation in the mind and will of God, not appear to offer the bread of his God. For what-
but it at once bespoke the person of the highpriest not soever man he be that hath a blemish, he shall not ap-
as endowed with but as devoid of this spirit, and pear: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat
therefore as being in the need of a device such as the nose, or anything superfluous, or a man that is broken-
one under consideration. The sacrifices1 by blood be- footed, or brokenhanded, or crookedbacked, or a dwarf,
spoke  .the unreality of Aaron as priest; so did the          or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or
Urim and Thummim bespeak the unreality of Aaron scabbed, or hath his stones broken ; no man that hath
as prophet.                                                   a bIemish  of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come
   Another article of the highpriest's dress, to which nigh to offer the offerings of, the Lord made by fire:
special attention must be directed, was-the plate of he that a blemish ; he shall not come nigh to offer the
gold called crown of gold in Ex. 29,30, and upon which bread of his God" (Lev.  21:17-21). The individual
was engraved' the words holiness to Jehovah. By thus had to be physically perfect in order to qualify
means of a ribbon of blue fastened to it, it attached         for the priestly office. The absence of this mark of
to the front of the brilliant white head-dress of the         perfection proved an utter disqualification and re-
highpriest-a dress that, judging from the name it jection of God. Not that God was interested in this
bears in the Hebrew text (miznephet  from zanaph to perfectness as such. The reason that He required it
twist) was wrapped in folds about the priest's head           in respect to His priests is that, as so perfect, the
and thus had the form of a turban. The one thing priests might stand out in the minds of those whom
about this dress that had special significance was the they represented-the Israelitish worshippers-as in-
golden plate. When the highpriest was robed in his            dividuals of a perfect symbolical holiness, ethical
official dress, this  plate  was above his forehead. It purity. This physical perfection was thus the token
was to him that its inscription referred. He, the of ethical perfection. And if it be considered that at
priest, was symbolically  holiness to the Lord,  that "he tbe,root  of all physical imperfection operates the prin-
might bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the ciple of sin, it will be seen that here, too, the agreement
children of Israel sanctified with respect to all their and connection between the sign and the thing signified
holy gifts. . . . as an  acceptibleness  for them before is close.  We, speak here of course in general. The
Jehovah" (Ex. 28  :38). `The holy things were the meaning is not that in every case physical deformity
offerings prescribed by the law. As sinful man pollutes and disorder is to be, regarded as transgression, that is
whatever he touches, these things were held to con- being'made to return to the individual as punishment
tract the iniquity of the offerer by which they were for definite gross sins that he committed.
presented, and could therefore be placed upon Je-              The priests (and so the common Levites) had to be
hovah's altar- only after this iniquity had been born not only free from any kind of physical blemish and


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        451

and deformity but also physically vigorous and vital. all his brethren (fellow Israelites) and dedicated
Hence, the age at which they entered upon the sacred wholly to God's service, placed in a particular relation
duties of their office, is stated in Num. IV, at thirty,      t o   H i m .
while in chap. VIII, twenty-five is given ; and the age at       What now was the character of Aaron's holiness?
which they were retired is'set at fifty. There seems A distinction must be made here between Aaron as
to be a  discrepency  between the two notices, specified such and Aaron in his capacity of priest. The char-
above, as to what they state respecting the age at acter of Aaron's holiness as highpriest was solely
which the service was to commence. When examined, ceremonial, symbolical-typical. It was this as the of-
however, they are seen to be in perfect agreement. fice of priest with which he was vested, was  sole!y
As appears from the context, the former (Num.  IV:3)          symbolical. But the truth of this answer is also born
#has respect to the ,work of the Levites consisting in out by the hozv  of God's sanctifying him, that is, of
their transporting the tabernacle from place to place ; His separating Him from the common sphere and de-
the latter speaks of the period of their entering on dicating Him to His service and to Himself. The Lord
their duties  6n the tabernacle ; but the point to be         sanctified Aaron through His washing him through
noticed here is that the age prescribed for the Levites the agency of Moses with water, through His anoint-
and in  at1 likelihood also for the priests comprehended ing him with the oil of consecration, through His
the period of natural life's greatest vigor and com-          sprinkling of the blood of the sacrifice and of the
pleteness.    Now this vigor, too, as well as the re- anointing oil upon Aaron and his garments, through
quired physical perfectness, had symbolical  signfi-          His preparing for him a body free from every physical
cance. It betokened the spiritual health of God's be- deformity and blemish and endowed' with natural
lieving people, of the saints made perfect in Christ.         strength, thus, in a word, through His rendering him
  There were still other restrictions laid upon  tshe symbolically  e!ean,  pure, sinless. Aaron's symbolical
priests and carrying the same meaning. They should sinlessness was thus his cleansed body-cleansed in
not be defiled for the dead among their people through the holy water and in the blood of the animal that had
contact, excepting in cases of nearest relationship:          symbolically atoned for the guilt of all his sins through
mother, father, son, daughter, brother and virgin sis- its suffering and dying. And Aaron was also com-
ter. They should not make baldness upon their head, manded to be holy, to sanctify himself, which he did
neither shave off the corner of their beard, nor make through his refraining from defiling himself for the
any cuttings in their flesh. They should not marry dead among his brethren and from mutilating his
a woman of bad fame, nor one that had been divorced. body. In addition he was clothed in beautiful gar-
The highpriest was still further restricted. He was ments ; and the beauty of these garments was the eff ul-
not to defile himself even for his father and mother,         gence, the brightness, of his symbolical purity. There
and should marry only a virgin. In the midst of the is then a close connection between holiness and purity.
record of these restrictions in Lev. 21 occurs the state-        We must now speak of true holiness. True holi-
ment, "They shall be holy unto their God. . . ." SHere        ness must be looked for first in God. He, being light,
holiness is enjoined. That it was also the property of is separated from the creature and thus also from sin
the priests, we learn from a word spoken by Moses and is wholly devoted to Himself. Being what he is
to the rebelious Torah  and his company, "Tomorrow holy God, He sanctifies His people in Christ. He
the Lord will show who is his and who is holy. . . ."         separates them in the spiritual sense from the terrene
   The Hebrew word for holy is derived from a root of sin, from the world that lieth in darkness and dedi-
that means to cut, to separate and thus expresses se- cates them wholly to Himself. And He does so through
paration.     The word is used of persons and things          His redeeming the people from all their sins in Christ
separated from common use and placed in a distinct and making them partakers of His nature. And He
and special relation to God and His service. The word, also commands them that they sanctify themselves by
at least in the first instance, does not signify an in-       His mercy, which they do through their mortifying
ternal, ethical attribute, ethical purity, but denotes their members which are on the earth.
that a thing or person is separated from the com-                The priesthood, as to its elect nucleus, was also
mon terrene and is dedicated, devoted, to God. Holy           &u.Q holy. Aaron was, he being a child of grace. This
Writ and in particular the Pentateuch thus speaks is forcibly brought out in the description given of the
of holy land, Sabbath, places ointment, garment, house, character of Aaron and of those who were originally
water, host, bread, ark, city, and covenant. It is God appointed to the priesthood in Mal. 11:  l-7, "My cove-
only who sanctifies land, places, the garment, Israel,        nant was with him (Levi) of life and peace ; and I
the priesthood, temple altar.                                 gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared
   In the light of these observations, it is plain what me, and was afraid before my name. The law of truth
is to be understood, in the first instance, by the notice was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his
to the effect that Aaron and his sons (and the Levites lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did
in general) were holy. Aaron was separated from turn many away from iniquity."


452                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                      -..
       But there were many among the priests who d~,i            It must not be supposed `that the path of sin along
spised God's name through their offering polluted which man is being driven on by the unclean urge of
bread upon His altar and the blind for bacrifice  and his soul, is invariably a path of the grossest kind of
the lame and the sick (Mal. 1). These the Lo&Threat- vice and intemperance. To the contrary, it may be
ened with destruction. He would send a curse upon and often is, as in the case of Paul before his conver-
them, corrupt their seed and spread dung upon their sion, a path of strict respectability and Pharisaic right-
faces. The priesthood had to fear God and thus show eousness.             In this case, the crave  for. vice may be
`forth the grace betokened by the outward, symbolical dormant or if alive, denied. The predominant crave of
things. The aggregate of these things, all the typical such a one is a crave for a kind of righteousness such
things of the law, formed the face of God in which was as man in his foolishness attempts to establish, a
to be seen His glories and the glory that he prepared         righteousness, which when analyzed, turns out to be
in Christ for His people. To pollute these things was stinking pride. But whether the path be one of re-
to despise this glory.                     G. M. 0.           spectability or vice, both paths lead to hell, and the
                                                              one urge is as sinful, yea perhaps more so, than the
                                                              other.
                                                                 Man, then, in the sense just explained, is a servant
                     True Liberty                             of sin in contrast to the believer who is a servant of
                                                              righteousness.
       The apostle was one having been brought under the         Enough has not been' said, however. To be held
quickening influence of the Spirit of God. The new captive by the corrupt impulses of' nature or the law
principle of life  ,presents  itself to his consciousness as of sin implies the transgression, which should be de-
a law of the mind, that is, as a hallowed intelligent         fined as the lie, loved, absorbed and lived. The lived
urge or compulsion, capable of delighting in and crav- lie being at once the reverse of the truth, constitutes
ing the law of God. However, the unhallowed urge of a violation of the Divine precept. How are the lie,
his being, he discovers,. is still very much alive. It suc- the transgression and the foul heart of man related?
cessfully launches an attack upon the sanctified law of And the answer is ready: The heart is the soil, the
his mind, and brings him into captivity of the law of lie the seed and the transgression the plant or fruit.
sin. This is his great grief: "0 wretched man that I This imagery is sanctioned by Scripture. In the par-
am," says he, "who will deliver me from the body of able of the- sower the sown seed is an emblem of the
this death?' It must not be supposed that the  above-         truth preached. The stony ground, the beaten path,
cited scripture can be quoted in support of the view the field of thorns and the good earth are so many
that the regenerated and sanctified one is not respon- descriptions of  correspondng  states or conditions of
sible for the sins of his carnal self. He is that indeed. the human heart. T,he seed falling in good earth bears
For that  w.hich  the apostle allows not,  he nevertheless fruit, which in turn presupposes the plant. Attending
does. Of the thing not allowed, then, he is the think- to the interpretation of the parable, we discover that
ing and willing subject. True, .he does say, "Now if I in the mind of Christ the earth images the heart, the
do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin      seed the truth and the fruit together with the plant
that dwelleth` in me." What is meant, however, is the deed which is the man. Let it be observed that seed
that he is being prevented from acting upon the holy not sown yields no fruit, nor earth devoid of seed.
impulses of the new man by the unhallowed urge of Fruit, then, is the outgrowth of soil and seed. So, too,
his being. It is plain that the apostle is one whose          do the good works of the saint constitute a mixture so
eyes were opened to the true character of man's to say of the truth and the man. Truth, therefore, is
spiritual serfdom, and therefore was ready to admit indispensable to the very appearance of the believer.
that man by nature cannot will to do tb right, he being So, too, the depraved sinner. His transgressions con-
carnal sold under sin ; that, as to his carnal self, he is    stitute a mixture of the lie and the man. The lie is as
in full agreement with the master that set up his king- indispensable to his appearance and to his fruit bear-
dom in his members. "For that which I do, I allow ing as the truth is to the appearance of the saint. As
not." Blessed is he who begins to show signs of being the seed feeds upon the soil, so the lie feeds upon the
at odds with the sinful urge of his carnal self.- Such depraved man. And as the soil is absorbed by the seed,
a one is already essentially made free. For to be in the so the natural man is absorbed by the lie and converted
power of a master working the destruction of his vic- into a tree bearing evil fruit-the transgression. The
tims is one thing. But to love this master, to go along point is that sin as transgression can never be ac-
with him arm in arm, to will that he sets the pace, to        counted for by a mere appeal to corrupt nature.
delight in the fact that the reigns of government are            Scripture also links up the transgression with the
in his hands, to not will to be delivered, is quite an- law. Necessarily  -so, for the lie lived is transgression
other thing. Such nevertheless is the-state and disposi- of law. Scripture even goes a step further and insists
tion of the natural man.                                      that the law occasions in man's bosom all manner of


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        453
<                                                                      -
 fierce opposition to law. Says the apostle, "Nay I had state of mind, characterized by an indifference to
     not known sin but by the law: for I had not known things that shall come to pass. Strong drink, if taken
 lust, ,,except  the law had said, Thou shalt not covet, but in sufficient quantities, stupefies man's -sensibilities.
 sin taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in While in this state he is dull of mind so that the
 me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law most startling discourses fail to impress him. He
 sin was dead. But when the commandment came sin hears and sees yet fails to understand. So, too, does
 revived and I died. And the commandment which was either the message of bliss or doom fail to arouse the
. ordained unto life, I found to be unto death. For sin spiritually diseased soul.          The carnal man is dead
 taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me to the things of the Spirit, and incapable of sens-
 and by it slew me" (Rom. 7:7-12).                            ing and appreciating their value. To what may
       Paul, unaware of inert sin, reposing in his bosom, his lethargy be due ?         To a deepseated hatred for
 thought himself alive and, according to his own testi- all things holy. Hence, he stands with his back turned
 mony, was wont to glory much in his self-established toward heaven, which as far as ,he is concerned does
 righteousness. The law came and the slumbering mon- not exist.
 ster, awakened by its thunderings, bestirred itself.            Further, carnal man, having Iost all contact with
 Paul, aware now of its presence, pronounces himself reality, is to be asleep and to be walking -in dark-
one dead and his self-established righteousness refuse. ness, that is, the lie. The pure light from heaven is
 Should an infallible testimony of this kind not prove an eye-sore to him. Shutting God out of the world
 sufficient to silence those philosophers in our midst and himself in it, he kindles a fire, compasses himself
 who insist that the keeping of the law by the carnal about with sparks, and walks in the light of his own
 man constitutes a morality deserving to be called fire and in the sparks he kindled. Isa.  5O:ll. The
 good?      Though he may be living in some respects .wicked one's light is the truth of God changed into a
 in outward  -agreement  with the law, the depraved lie. Rom.  1:25. The emanation of his own diseased
 sinner as to the inward man is aflame with carnal in- heart and mind, it is the vehicle of a false, grotesque,
 dignation because of his being told  by,his Maker what distorted and incongruous image of actual existence,
 shall be done.                                               fact, truth, reality ; a misrepresentation of God, of
       By the law, then, is the knowledge of sin, .and the heaven and hell, of things earthy, of Christ and the
 transgression is the lie which, having taken root in         cross, of man and his nature, origin, purpose and
 man's foul heart, is loved and lived. Man is enticed         destiny, in short of all things. Yet the wicked one
 by his own lusts in conjunction with the lie. The lie, loves these fantastic images. Their sumtotal  consti-
 however, is not only the seed that draws into itself, tute the lie in which he revels, in which he lives -and
 so to speak, the entire man and converts him into moves, which he clasps to his bosom and loves, and
 a tree bearing evil fruit, but the lie, according to lives and in and by which he is made ripe for the day
L Scripture is in addition the very element in which this     of judgment.
 tree lives and thrives. The term lie we now use as the
signification of that false thought-structure the nucleus        The term sin, then, is the expression serwunt.of  sin
 of which was hatched out by the. devil and whispered is an abstract designation of the appeasing of the
 by him in man's ear. Eat and be as God, said he. carnal impulses, of the loving and living of the lie, and
Man has been doing this very thing from the day of of the transgression of Divine law and truth so that
 his fall. Setting aside the wisdom of God, man sets up to serve sin is to satisfy the cravings of debased self,
 his own standards of conduct, hatches out a world and to embrace and do the lie and to militate against law,
 life view according to his own liking and in conflict truth and God. He doing so is a servant of sin, and
 with the reality depicted in Holy Writ and therefore a unrighteousness. As was already pointed out, carnal
 lie-the darkness in which man walks and thrives in           man cannot will to do anything else than to engage. in
 his capacity of sinner. Paul, so we <wrote in a former this service.
 article, in depicting the plight of the carnal man, com-        If true freedom consists in abiding in one's element
 pares him to one asleep, drunken with wine. "There- -law,  truth and God-the sinner is not free. For
 fore, let us not sleep as do others ; but let us watch       the element in which he moves and abides is not
and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the night, light but darkness, not God and law and truth, but the
     and they that be drunken are drunken in the night" lie. Now man cannot abide in the lie and prosper or
     (I Thess.  5:1-7). The term sobriety of this passage be truIy free. For it (the lie) defileth the whole body,
     signifies the spiritual alertness of the child of the    it kills, it setteth on fire the .whole course of nature and
 light, respecting the things of the Spirit. He is one        is set on fire by hell. Loved and lived, it pitches one
 keenly aware of the approach of the day of the Lord. headlong against law, truth, fact, reality, God, so that
     For such a one this day does not come as a thief in he living the lie is closed in on, completely shut in, y*ea
 the night in that it is expected. The term drunken- permeated by an angry God and His curse ; hedged in
 ness, on the other hand, is the signification of a carnal on every side by law and divine wrath encountered at


454                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
 0-                                                                                                                   e
 every juncture of the way, at every turn of the road. work. He only can save us from all our sins; deliver
 To live at enmity with the law is to be smitten by law. us from the forces of iniquity and place in our posses-
 Not to have the law written on the tables of our heart sion that pearl of priceless value, that undehled in-
is to experience its curse operative in our members. heritance preserved for us in heaven. If the Son bath
 Man must serve truth or be persecuted, smitten and made us free, we are truly free.
  east into hell by truth. The unhallowed lust &ping             The secret of true liberty is not known by the car-
to its bosom the lie, bringeth forth sin; and sin when nal man. To him freedom spells lawlessness, inde-
 it is finished bringeth forth death. Now to die is not pendency, or he associates it with a certain form of
td'be separated from God, but from the God of love and governmen&such  as democracy and imagines that
mercy, to be brought in closest proximity with the all is we!1 when the earthly tyrant has been made to
 God of wrath, the operations of which are described abdicate. He forgets, however, that the same leaven
 in Scripture as a constant and perpetual giving up to responsible for the appearance of this tyrant is lurk-,
greater uncleanness and vile effections through the ing in his own bosom and in the bosom of that majority
 lusts of the swicked  one's own heart, so that God is to whom he must submit. The secret, then, of all true
seen to punish sin by sin. Divine wrath, then, neces- liberty-individua1, social, religious, political, and ec-
 sitates more sin and sin, being transgression of the clesiastical-is godliness, purity of heart, so that that
 law, necessitates more wrath and death so that wrath great family born of God will be free in every conceiv-
 and sin constitute the whirlpool by which man is able respect. There is no tyrant in heaven bent on
drawn down ever  deepez  into the endless abyss of enslaving his victims. Christ,, who loved unto death
 eternal death, into that region of eternal night where those given Him by the Father, will lead his. sheep
 men weep and wail only. Further, the henchmen of forever. There will be social liberty in heaven in that
 sin are fear for God, and a great dissatisfaction. For heaven's doors remain closed forever to him bent on
 the appeasing of the carnal lusts of nature leave an the destruction of his neighbor. There will be re-
 ever greater void in the soul of man, so  th& the sinner,    ligious liberty in heaven, for there the knowledge of
 serving the flesh, becomes, finally, the very personifi- the Lord covers the earth as the waters cover the bot-
 cation of emptiness, incapable of being fihed. As chaff tom of the sea. In a word, the Father's house is a
 caught up by the wind, he cannot come to rest for he home of true liberty.
 refuses to rest in God. With lusts craving satisfaction,                                               G. M. 0.
 with his whole nature aflame, he disappears into  heI1
 where he &will be begging forever, but in vain, for a
 drop of water to cool his parched tongue. These dark                                  -
 regions he will forever roam, with the terror of God in                     The Young Ruler
 his heart, condemned by the voice of conscience, and,
 as a companion of Satan, cursing the AImighty  for the          Setting forth afresh, and now in all IikeIihood  about
 woe which is his just portion, and forevermore receiv- to pass out of that region, there met Him one who came
 ing in an ever greater degree the recompence  of his running in all eagerness, as anxious not to lose the
 sins in his being. Such is the terrible state opposed opportunity, and who kneeled to Him with great
 to that blessed reality known in Scripture as eternal reverence as having the most  profund respect for Him
 life and cahed  the glorious liberty of the children of ds a righteous man, and who said, "Good Master, what
 God.                                                         good thing shah I do that I may inherit eternal life?"
       What then is it to be made free? To be made free Jesus might at once and without any preliminary con-
 is to be dehvered  from sin, curse, wrath, Satan, the versation have laid on  .him the injunction that He did
 world; death, grave and hell ; and to be brought in at the last, and this might  equally have served the final
 closest contact with Divine love and mercy. It is to end that the Lord had in view, but then we should have
 be drawn by grace from darkness to light; to be trans- been left in ignorance as to what kind of a man he was,
 ported from the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom and how it was that the injunction was at once so need-
 of God's dear Son. To be  ,made  free is to be taken ful and appropriate. It is by help of the preparatory
 from under the yoke of the devil and to be harnassed treatment that we are enabled to see further than we
 with the soft life-giving and life-preserving yoke of should otherwise have done into the character of this
 Christ. To be free, finally, is to have done with sin, petitioner. He was young, he was wealthy, he was a
 and to serve the cause of truth, and righteousness and ruler of the Jews. Better than this, he was amiable,
 God. What then is true liberty? True liberty is to he was virtuous, had made it from the first a high
 abide in the light, to dwell in God's temple and .behold,    object of ambition to be just and to be generous, to use
 with purged and glorified sense organs God's blessed the *advantages of his position to win in a right way
 face ; to have ,Him as a friend, and the great void of the favor of his fellow-men. But notwithstanding,
 one's being filled by the streams of grace flowing from after all the successful attempts of his past life, there
 His throne. The liberation of the sinner is Christ's was a restlessness, a dissatisfaction in his heart. He


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       456

,had not reached the goal. He heard Jesus speak of instead of the mightier matters of justice and charity;
eternal life, something evidently far higher than any- here was one who so far had the contagion of his age
thing he had yet attained, and he wondered how it and sect, who was not seeking to make clean the out-
was to be got at. Nothing doubting but that it must side of the cup and the platter, but was really trying
be along the same track that he had hitherto been per- to keep himself from all that was wrong, and to be
suing, but by some extra work of extraordinary merit, toward his fellow-men all that, as he understood it,
he comes to Jesus with the question, "Good Master, God's law required. Jesus looked upon this man and
what good thing shall I do, that I may merit eternal loved him.
life?" Jesus saw at once that he was putting all                But the very love He bore him prompted Jesus to
upon moral goodness, some higher virtue to be reached subject him to a treatment bearing in many respects a
.by his own effort entitling him to the eternal life. He likeness to that which He subjected Nicodemus.  With
saw that he was so fully possessed with the idea that not a little, indeed, that was different, there was much
it regulated even his conception of Christ's own per- that was alike in the two rulers,-the one came to
sonal character, w.hom  he was disposed to look upon         Jesus by night at the beginning of His ministry in
rather as a pre-eminently virtuous man than one hav- Judea; the one who now comes to Him by day at the
ing any peculiar relationship to God. Checking him, close of His labors in  Persea  ; both honest, earnest
therefore, at the very first-taking exception to the men, seekers after truth, and lovers of it in a fashion,
very form and manner of his address, he says, "W'hy          too, but both ignorant and self-deceived ; Nlcodemus'
callest thou Me good? there is none good but one, that       error rather one of the head than of the heart, flowing
is, God".                                                    from an entire misconception of the very nature of
   Endeavoring thus to raise his thoughts to the true Christ's kingdom ; the young ruler's one of the heart
source of all real'goodness, rather than to say anything rather than of the head, flowing from an inordinate,
about His own connection with the Father, which it is idolatrous attachment to his worldly possessions. In
no part of His present object to speak about, Jesus either case Christ's treatment was quick, prompt, de-
takes .him first upon his own ground. There need be cisive, laying the axe at once at the root of the evil.
no talk about any one particular good thing, that Beneath all the pleasing show of outward moralities
behooved to be done, till it was seen whether the com-       Christ detected in the young ruler's breast a lament-
mon acknowledged precepts of Gpd's law had all been able want of true regard to God, any reaognition of
kept.    "`Thou knowest the commandments, Do not His supreme and paramount claims. His heart, his
commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear trust, his treasure, were in earthly,  not in heavenly
false witness, Defraud not, Honor thy father and thy things. He needed a sharp lesson to teach him this,
mother." As the easiest instrument of conviction, as to lay bare at once the true state of things within.
the `one that lay entirely in the very region to which       Christ was too kind `and too skillful a physician to
all this youth's thoughts and efforts had been confined, apply this or that emolient that might have power to
Jesus restricted Himself to quoting the precepts of the al!ay a symptom or two of the outward irritation.
second table of the law, and says nothing in the mean- eat once He thrusts the probe into the very heart of
time about the first. The young man, bearing the chal- the wound. "One thing thou  lackest:  go thy way",
lenge, listens to the precepts as they are detailed, and said He, at once assuming His proper  place'las  the
promptly, without. apparently a moment's misgiving, representative of God and of His  claims,-`<go thy
he answers, "All these have I observed from my youth." way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the-poor;
There was, no doubt, great ignorance, great self-decep- and come take up thy cross and follow Me." The one
tion in this reply. He knew but little of any pf these thing lacking was not the renuciation  of his poverty
precepts in its true significance, in all the strictness,    in bestowing it upon the poor. It was a supreme de-
spirituality, and extent of its requirements, who could votedness to God, to duty-a willingness to give up
venture on any such assertion. Yet there was sincerity anything, to give up everything where God required
in the answer, and it pointed to a bygone life of sin-       it to be given up, when the holding of it was consistent
gular external propriety, and that the fruit not so          with fidelity to Him. This was the one thing lack-
much of restraint as of natural amiableness and con- ing. And instead of proclaiming his  fata!   deficjency
scientiousness. As he gave the answer, Jesus behold-         in this primary requirement, without which there  j
ing him, loved .him. It was new and refreshing to the could be no true obedience rendered to any part of
Saviour's eye to see such a specimen as this of truth-       the divine law, Christ embodies the claim which He
fulness and of good report among the rulers of the           knew the young ruler was unprepared tq honor- in
Jews. Here was no hypocrite, no fanatic, here was            that form which struck directly at the idol of his
one who had not learned to wear the garb of sanctimon- heart, and required its instant and absolute dethrone-
iousness as a cover for all kinds of  self-indulgence  ;     ment.
here was one free from the delusion that the strict ob-         Not for a moment, then, can we imagine that in
servance of certain form&s  of devotion would stand speaking to him as He did, Jesus was issuing a general

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

 command, or laying down a universal condition of the wealth possessed, but the kind or quantity of the de-
 Christian discipleship, or that He. was even holding tachment that is lavished upon it. The love of the
 up the relinguishment of earthy possessions as an                penny may create as great impediment as the love of
 act of pre-eminent meritoriousness, which all strivers the pound. Nor is it our wealth alone that operates
 after. Christian perfection should set before them as in this way, that raises a mighty obstacle in the way
 the summit to be reached. There is nothing of all this of entering the kingdom. It is anything else than
 here.      It is a special treatment of a special case,          God and Christ upon which the supreme effection of
 Christ's object being to frame and to apply a decisive the spirit is bestowed. A new light dawns upon the
 touch-stone or test whereby the condition of that one disciples' minds as they listen to and begin to com-
 spirit might be exposed, He suited with admirable skill prehend the explanation that their Master now had
 the test to the condition. Had that condition been               given, and see the extent to which that explanation
.other than it was, the test employed would have been goes. "They were ,astonished  at the first, but now the
 different. Had it been the love of pleasure, or the love astonishment is more than double; for if it indeed be
 of power, or the love of fame, instead of the love of true,- that before any individual of our race can cross
 money that had been the ruling passion, He would                 the threshold of the kingdom such a shift of the
 have framed His order so that obedience to- it would             whole trust and confidence of the heart must take
 have demanded the crucifixion of the ruling passion, place,-if every living earthly creature,-attachment
 the renunciation of the one cherished idol. The only must be subordinated to the love of God and of Jesus
 one abiding universal rule that we are entitled to ex-           Christ His Son, who, then, can be saved? For who
 tract from the dealing of our Lord with this applicant           can effect this great revolution within his own heart,
being this-that in coming to Christ, in taking on                 who can take the dearest idol he has known and cast
 the yoke `of the Christian discipleship, it must be in           it down in the dust, who can Jay hand upon the usurper
 the sprit of `an entire readiness to part with all that          and eject him, who can raise the rightful owner of
 He. requires. us to relinguish, and to allow no idol to it to the throne? Astonished out of measure, the
 usurp that inward throne, that of right is His.                  disciples say among themselves, "Who, then, can
        Christ's treatment, if otherwise it failed, was in one    be saved  ?"    His reply is, "With man it is impos-
respect eminently successful. It silenced, it saddened, _ sible, but not with God, for with God all things are
it sent away. No answer was attempted; No new                     possible."
question was raised. The demand was made in such                                                                 G. M. 0.
broad, unmitigated, unambiguous terms, that the young
*ruler conscious that he had never felt before the ex-
 tent or pressure of such a demand, and that he. was
 utterly unprepared to meet, turned away disappointed
 and dissatisfied. Jesus saw him go, let him go, fol-
 lowed him with no importunities,. besought him .not to
_ return .and to consider. It was not the manner of ,the                                 IN MEMORIAM
 Saviour to be importunate,-you do not find in Him
 any great urgency or iteration of appeal. When once                  The  Con&tory of the First Protestant Reformed  (Xurch
 in any case enough is said or done, the individual dealt of Grand Rapids hereby wishes to express its sympathy to our
 with is left to his own will. Gazing after this young
 ruler as he departed, Jesus then looked around about,            Brother Elder Dennis Langeland in the loss of his brother,
and said to His disciples, "How hardly shall they that                                 FRED LANGELAND
 have riches enter into the kingdom of God." The dis-
 ciples. were astonished at these `words, as well they               May the God of all grace comfort him in his sorrow.
 might be. What was the ease or the difllculty  of enter- j
 ing into the kingdom to be measured by the little or                    The Consistory of the First Protestant Reformed Church,
 by  .the more of this world's goods, that each man pos-                                         Rev. H. Hoeksema, Pres.
 sessed ? A strange premium this,  on. poverty, as                                               Mr. G. Stonehouse, Clerk.
 strange a penalty on wealth. Jesus notices the sur-
 prise that His saying had created, and, aware of the
 false track along which His disciples' thoughts were
 running in a way as effeetionate as it was instructive,
 proceeded to explain the real meaning of what He had
 just said. "Children, how hard `it is for them that
 trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God". It                                      NOTICE
is not the having but  the.  trusting that creates the
 difficulty. It was not .the kind or the quantity of the             There will be no Standard Bearer for July 15.


