                                                         AIJ&T  1, 1952  -  &SUI  ,RAPIDS,  MICHIGAN                         NUMBER  20

_-                                                                              van mijn tekst. Wat  onmtigelijk is voor  vleesch en
      :  M  E D I T  i.T  i.0  f'i                                              bleed,  werd mogelijk door de rijke genade van God,
                                                                                die. hem in zijn groote bezoe'king  in staat stelde  om de
                                                                                belijdenis van mijn tekst uit te spreken.
                De -Belydenis  Ems Geslagakra
                   "De Heere heeft gegeven  an. de Heere heeft  ge-                                     a  a  72  *
               _' nomen:   :de naam  ,des  Heeren  zij geloofd. In dit
                 alles zondigde Job niet en schreef  Gode niets onge-
                 r;jn@s  to,e"-Job  1  :Zlb, 22.                                    Last ons die belijdenis  s:tuk voor stuk beluisteren;
           (Once  tekst is een van de zoogenaamde` klassieke                    en-ons grootelijks.verwonderen over den rijkdom van.
      teksten uit Gods Woord. Dit moet niet verkeerd op-                        zulk belijden.  !Geve de Reere  ins ook genade om te-  _
      gevat. Alles wat geschreven staat in den ,Bijbel. is het                  midden van alle smarten die ook ons deel zijn, e&ig-
      waarachtige Woord Gods. Van (Genesis 1 tot Open-                          zir? die  belijdenis  op onze  lippen  -te  nemen,  en  d&n
 baring  22 is de  Bijhel het onfeilbare,  geinspireer$e                        `als de uiting van datgene wat in. ens hart wdont door
      Woord van' God. Alle gedaehte, als ZOLI het eene ge-                      diezelfde genade Gods. De Heere heeft gegeven ! En
 `deelte van dit Woord meer belangrijk zijn dan eellig                          de eerste ;raag is: wat gaf de Heere.' Wel, in het al-
      ander deel moet van den ;beginne gebrandmerkt a2s                         Lz.xeen  mogen we zeggen, dat  ,God  .alles  geefit, het
      verkeerd. En tech spreekt men en sprak men in ,Chri+                      maakt absoluut geen  verschil  wat.  Beide  goed en
      tus' kerk -van klassieke teksten. Do& dan bedoelden                       kwaad: alles komt van God. Hij is  de Absolute  Re-
      onze vaders, dat het eene gedeelte ons veel meer, :toe-                   geerde?  van het  Heelal.     Evenwel, onze tekst doelt
 spreekt dan h,et andere. Er is, b.v., veel onderscheid                         op het positieve. Het gaat in mijn tekst over de posi-
      tusschen de geslachtsregisters in Numeri en het 53ste                     tieve gaGen die God aan Job,geschonken  had. En die
 hoofstuk van J.esaja,  waar de #Godsman Jesaja Chris-~ gaven waren vele. Hij was een zeer groot man, rijk,
      tus in Zijn lijden schilderde voor het oog.van .de O.ud                   aanzienlijk.. Hij telde niet alleen mee, do& als we de
 Testamentische kerk. En zoo zijn er een reeks van                              verdere hoofdstukkeq  aandaehtig  lezen, en cl& voor-
 :teksten  die ons het eeuwig Evangelie schilderen, en                          al.hdofdstuk 29, dan blijkt, dat hij een zeer aanzien-
      dalz. meer dan andere gedeelten van de Heilige-  Schrift.                 lijk man was. Men rekende  @et Job. Hij was een  -
 Zoo .komt  het ook, dat sommige teksten meer aange-                            leider in zijn  k;ingen.  EuiStert  naar de opsomming
                                                                                       `. .
 haald werden dan andere, en van die +aak aangehaal-                            van zlJn vee.* 7000 schapen, 3000 ketielen,  500 juk os-
 de teksten komt dan de uitdrukking van klassieke                               sen  en  500 ezelinnen.  001~ was zijn dienstvolk vele.                     a
 teljsten. Welnu, onze huidige tekst is een van die klas-                       Vandaag meet men iemands fortuin naar de millioenen
 sieke teksten. Ik denk, dat bijna ieder kind ,Gods dien                        dollars die men vergadercle, doch in die dagen werd
 tekst kent, vaak gehoord heeft, en dat bijna een ieder                         i&lands fortuin gemeten naar zijn vee en dienstvolk.
 van Gods kinderen direct weet, .als hij hem hoort, d&                          SOok was Job  ,&jk  gezegend  in zijn  fa&lieleven.  Hij               .
 Job de woorden uitsprak temidden van onuitspreke-                              had een vrouw en tien kinderen, .zeven zonen en drie
 lijke ellende. Zoo groot is de ellende geweest van Job                         clochtxrs.  ,En vergeet ook niet -den rijkdom `die hij
 dat hij spreekwoordelijk  geworden is vopr groo:te be-                         in ziehzelf  mocht  bezitten:  hij was  geiond in lijf en
 zoekingen. Job en ellende zijn synoniem geworden.                              lcden. Hij had zijn huid : o ja, gedenk vooral iian- die
           Welnu, toen de Heere hem slag op slag gegeven                        gezonde   huid.  Inclien  we'het verdere van die historie
 had, `kwam. hij lieflijk te voorschijn in de belijdenis                        lezen,  zullen we  meer hooren  van  die  htiid van  Job.

                                                                                                              .                 '
                                                    1                                                                                          .  -
      R


 4 5 8                                        T.HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

 Maar zijn belijdenis is rijk. De  Heere gaf al die                belijdenis op zijn  lippen te  nemen? Het  antwoord
 dingen. Hoe eenvoudig is die belijd&is, en tech,. hoe             heel aan het begin meet zijn: Job spreekt zijn belij-
 diep en kostelijk. We kunnen het zoo grif en gladweg              denis uit vanwege het feit, dat hij  `God kende. Hij
 zeggen : ,God geeft  a.lle die  dingen!   Matir  weten we         noemt Hem Heere ! En `God zegt van Job : "die man
 we1 wat we zeggen?                                                was oprecht en vrooti en God vreezende en wijkende
     Doch laat .ons Verde? naar Job luisteren. De Heere            van het kwaacl.`; En nu moet ge we1 verstaan, clat al
 heeft  genomen ! Wat was er geschied ? ,Op zekeren                deze rijkdom vaq oprechtheicl, vroomheid en vreeze
 dag komt er een-mensch aangereden, en hijgend naar                Cods geen natuurlijke eigenschappen zijn van elk
 zijn adem  komt er een~vreeselijke  boodschap  tot Job:           mmsch. Juist het  tegenovergeste1d.e  is waar.  Wij.
 De  Sabegrs  deden een inval, de runderen zijn niet meer          zijn allen van nature onoprecht,  valsch, onvroom, en
 en het dienstvolk werd vernield: ik ben de eenige die             inellencle  naar het kwade. Van ons zegt de Heilige
. overbleef. En terwijl die nog sprak zoo  kw.am een               IGeest, dat wil zeggen,.zooals  we van nature zijn: "Het
 ander en vertelde van het verteerende vuur Godsi  de              trotsch gedrag des  boozen  do+ mij spreken in `t be-
 sehapen met de~herders  zijn niet meer, dan ik die het            klemd gemoed:  `Gods  vrees is uit zijn oogen. Wijl
 U vertel. Dan de drie  hoopen der  ChaldeQ en de                  hij zoolang  zichzelven vleit, :tdt `God zijn ongerechtig- D
 vernieling der kemelen. En  ,de vreeselijkste  bood-              heicl niet  Ianger kan gedpogen. Bedrog  en onrecht
 schap kwam door den mond van een vierden  bood-                   spreekt zijn mond  ; `t  verstand laat na, den  waren
 schapper: een groote stormwind verwoestte het huis                grond yan "t weldoen op te merken ; des naehts is `t
 waar Uwe kinderen feestvierden: ze zijn niet meer.                kwaad zijn overleg  ; hij stellt zich op een"boozen  weg,
 Hoe vreeselijk zijn de slagen des .Almachtigen!            Hoe    en schuwt geen snbode tierken." Dat is bet getuigen
 zal ,Job kermen en schreien. Hoe zal hij uitbreken in             van Gods Geest aarigaande den harden,  onweder-
 klaeht  op  klacht.  Zouden we dat niet verwachten?               geboren mensch der zonde. Doch Job was vro.om, op-
 En als het gesehiedde zou er iemand zijn van Jobs be:             recht,  IGod vreezende en wijkende van het kwaad. Hoe
 kenden  die het hem kwalijk zou nemen?                            was dit ,alles zoo gekomen? Dat zal ik U zeggen: ,God
     Maar neen. Luistert : De Heere heeft genomen!                 had Job opgezocht met Zijn wondere genade, en had
 Job ziet niet meer de Sabe&,  de IChaldeen,  het vuur             hem wederomgeboren  doen  worden.:  (God had  hem
 Gods of die  wefvelwind. 0 neen. Terwijl men nog                  Zijn Heiligen Geest gegeven, en het Woord van `God.
 sprak van al cle bezoekingen, richtte Job zijn betraan;           Job zou immers later daar van  spreken? Later zou
de oogen tot `God, en zeide : De Heere gaf mij al dien             hij zeggen tegen IGod: met het gehoor.  des oors heb
 rijkdbm ! En nu? De Heere nam  alles weer terug.                  ik yan l3, o ,God, gehoord, doch nu ziet U' mijn oog !
 Wat zegt de wereld, de wereldsche menseh in zulke                 10 ja, `God had JI b rijkelijk begenadigd. En dat maakt
 toestanden? De wereld zondigt, en schrijft Gode iets              al het verschil. `Oak is -we1 duiclelijk, dat .Job meer
 ollgerijmds to& Maar de genade in Job zegt : God gaf,             genade ontvangen had dan  elnderen van  `Gods  volk.
 en God neemt weer terug. Die belijdenis, mijne vrien-             Als ge een  zeer deugdelijk Christen ziet, een  voor-
Eden, is het inbegrip van de ware verhoudingen.             God    beeld voor  allen,  clan moet ge direct- zeggen :  ,Gocl
 is  `God. En  wij  zijn `stof  en  asch. Wij zijn dat ook         heeft dien man begenadigd meer clan anderen. God is
 afgedacht van de  zonde.6  We zijn eenvoudig  rent-               zeer jaloersch op Zijn eer. Het is ook we1 duidelijk:
 meesters van alles wat IGod geeft, lichaam .,en iiel in-          Job kende God als den  VerbondsJehovah.  Hij  heef:t
 gesloten. We zijn absoluut afhankelijk van God. En                het over den Heere. En dat is de schoonste naam van
 die  ;God geeft en die  God neemt. Dat zijn de ware               IGod. Heere wil zeggen, dat (God van eeuwigheid tot
verhoudingen. En gelukkig de mensch die deze ware                  eeuwigheid  de onveranderlijke VerbondsGod  is die Zijn
 verhoudigen beleeft,  zooals we .weten,  dat Job ze be-           Woord en beloften gestand doet. Die nooit laat varen
 leefde. Het staat  q, en het staat er als  .een  navol-           de werken Zijner handen. Heere wil zeggen, dat als
 genswaardig voorbeeld. En, let wel, die verhoudingen              Hij U bemint Hij dat deed in de stille eeuwigheid, en
 zijri verscherpt sindsdien we in de zonde vielen.  We             doen zal ook dan wanneer gee? maan meer schijn:t. `0;
 zijn nu van nature op weg naar dk eeuwige ierdoe-                 die Naam is openbaring `van Hem die trouwe houdt in
 menis. We hebben alles verbeurd door onze zonde tin.              eeuwigheid. En als zoodanig kende Job zijn God. En
 schuld.    De belijdenis heeft  daarom. een dieperen              wat is ons tweede antwoord op de vraag: Hoe k6n
 klank nu, dan voor den zondeval : IGod geeft, ,en ,God            Job zoo wonderlijk spreken toen alles hem afgenomen
 neemt. - Alles is Zijns. Wat -rijke inhoucl van Jobs werd? Dit: omdat Job #God kende als den Onverander-
 belijdenis !                                                      lijken ,en Getrouwen VerbbndsGod,  kentie  hij Hem ook
       s                                                           in Zijn aanbiddelijke  deugden van .wijsheid,  raad en
                       *     *     *     *
                                                                   verstand.  .Hij kende den  Heere.  als den wijzen  Be-
     De vraag komt, op:. hoe kwam Job er toe om deze               stuurder van ons levenslot, zoodat alles mede moet
                                                                                                              _-


                                       .THE'  STANDARD  BEAR%B                                                        458
                               -
 werken tot. de komst van Gods heerlijk Koninkrijk.            Schrift wordt het  gebbruikt beide van God en  va?
 Daarom geeft en neetit SGod. Alles doet God met het           menschen..  CGgd looft Zichzelf eeuwiglijk. Hij spreekt
 oog op het groote einddoel van alle dingen. .Job moet         altijd  g$d van  Ziehielf. Hij is de Algenoegzame en          .,
 daar een diepen en helaeren biik in gehad hebben, orn. de  ~ol&Tige  in Zichzelven. En Hij  looft Zichzelf in
 te kunnen zeggen : God gaf en God nam ! Hier spreekt          Zijn  kostelijk deugdenbeeld. De  Schrift is vol  yan
 groote onderworpenheid aan het Godsbestuur. Daar -dien lof  `Gods.   .God  looft  Zich,  b.v., door Zijn  schep-
 bleef n-& kalm, wandelende op gebaande of op onge-            ping. Die  schepping  is als  zoov'ele letters en  woor-            .
 baahde wegen, zooals Job tioest bewandelen. En ein-           den die voortdurend  uitroepen:  God is  goed en  lief-
 delijk, er is ook nog een derde antlwoord:  uit zijn be-      lijk! En, let wel, -dat komt van God. God looft Zich-
 lijdenis, uit zijn  kalvme belijdenis:  #God gaf en God       zelf. En `dat is ook Zijn einddoel van  &lle  dingen.
 nam, spreekt ook groote liefde tot God.  IGod had             D&arom' kwam het  Heelal  uit Zijn hand te  voor-
 Job Zijn Eigen liefde in `t harte uitgestort. Dat             schijn. Daarom  kwa,m de val des menschen en  der,
 blijkt ui.t vele plaatsen in deze geschiedenis, doch voor-    engelen.    Daarom kwam  IChristus en Zijn wondere
 al uit hoofdstuk' 19, het 26ste en 27ste vers; waar we        openbaring van genade. Alles, letterlijk  alles moet
 lezen : "en als .zij na mijne huid dit doorknaagd zul-        dat  doe1 dienen. ~God moet geloofd en  geprezen wor-
 len hebben, zal ik uit mijn vleesch ,God aanschouwen;         den. En God bereikt dat  doe1 ook.  ,$taat  er niet  er-
 Dewelke ik voor mij aanschouwen zal, en mijne oogen           gens, dat God alle  dingen schiep  orb iijns Zelfs wil,'
 zien  zullen, en niet een vreemde: mijne nieren  ver-         ook den goddelooze tot den dag des kwaads ? Welnu,
 langen zeer in mijnen schoot." En let dan vooral op           dat wist Job. En zoo komt hij :tot die kostelijke vrucht
 die laatste- clausule,: mijne nieren verlangen zeer in        der genade : ,God nam terug  alles wat Hij mij  eerst
 mijnen schoot. De nieren waren bij de Oostersche vol-         gaf, en daarin  loof ik Zijn naam! Den naam des
 ken beelclspraak voor het diepste der gewaarwording-          Heeren zij geloofd! Kostelijke vrucht der genade.
 en. En het blijkt. daaruit, dat Job den Heere zeer lief-      Ik denk, dat de Engelen Gods gezongen hebben bij
 had. En het is door die liefde Gods die in zijn hart          dit blijk van  Goddelijke   liefde in Gods knecht. Job
 uitgestort was, dat hij zijn belijdenis zoo kalm en ge-       loofde God, en dat beteekent, dat hij we1 sprak van
 laten kan uitspreken: De Heere gaf, en de Heere nam.          (%d. Daaraan kent  `ge Gods volk van alle eeuwen.              _
 Door de liefde Gods weet men het proefondervindelijk: -Gods volk looft en prijst (God. Zij en zij alleen weten
 aGod, mijn God, kan geen kwaad  doen! Het diepste             wat het einddoel  aller  dingen is, zooals we kunnen
 ervaren in het hart van Job is: mijn nieren verlangen         lezen in Efeze 1: "verordineerd tot aanneming tot
 zeer in mijn  schoot. Hetzelfde gevoelen spreekt uit          kinderen in Christus Jezus . . . tot prijs der heerlijk-
 den twee-en-veertigsten psalm: Ik dorst naar  ,God,           heid Zijner genade !" 0, Job  mocht  aan dat  doe1  be-
 naar den  levenden God. En door die liefde komt er            antwoorden. `Geve  God, dat ook wij in deze late god-
 een krachtig belijden .1 Mocht de Heere het ook aan           delooze eeuw Hem mogen kennen, lieven en .loven d&n
 ons geven. Ik denk aan een, liedje van tiijn kinder-          ganschen dag tot prijs der heeklijkheid Zijner genade.
 jaren.  Heer ik hoor van rijken zegen. En later : Laat        Dat, en dat alleen is de zaligheid !
 er van die druppelen vallen ?ok op mij, ook op mij.                                                       G. Vos.


                         *  8  *  *

                                                                                   -:-:-
     De derde gedachte is: de vrucht van zulk een be-
 lij,denis. En die vrucht is de lof Gods. En d&t gedeel-
 te. van Joliis belijden is bet-moeilijkste om te begrij-
 pen. Hij buigt het hoofd als God hem slaat. Hij kan
6 er. van          *
             zeggen. <God  nam weer van' mij af, wat :Hij
 mij eerst gegeven had, en het is goed, want het was                          Tho' troubles assail,
 -en bleef  ,het Zijne. Maar loven?  Zingen  tqt  `Gods                      And dangers affright ;
 prijs en majesteit als er tien ,doodkis:ten  in mijn voor-                   Tho' friends should all  fail,
 kamer staan? Ik weet, dat de goddeloozen hier niets                          And foes all unit;:
 mee doen kunnen, doch denkt  U ook niet, mijne vrien-                        Yet one thing secures us,
  den, dat ook `Gods  volk verwondqd luistert naar Jobs                      Whatever betide  ;
  loven en  prijzen?  I&er spreekt een groote rijkdom
 van Goods `deugden die in Job verheerlijkt zijn; Wat                         The Scripture assures us,
 is  laf? Lof  iS  wel'apreken  van  iemand. In de  Heilige                   The Lord will provide.


       460                                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   _                                .-_-


                              THti  STANDARD BEARER                                                                           E D I T O R I A L S
               Semi-monthly, except monthly in July and August
           Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association
                  Box 124, Station C., Grand Rapids 6, Michigan                                                                        C onvention c 195'2
                           EDITOR - Rev. Herman Hoeksema
           Communications re1ativ.e  to contents should be addressed                                                    More and more we are reminded that the Conven-
           to Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand                                                     tion time of 
           Rapids 7, Michigan.                                                                                                       our  Federation of Protestant Reformed
           All matter relative to subscription should be addressed                                                  Young Peoples' Societies is again at hand. In our
           to Mr. J.  Bouwman,  1350 Giddings Ave., S. E., Grand                                                    mind's  eye we see loaded busses with happy and youth-
          Rapids 7, Michigan. Announcements and Obituaries must                                                     fully carefree :Covenant youth turning their faces to-
           be mailed to the a.bove  address and will be published at a
          fee of $1.00.for each  noti'ce.                                                                           ward Hull, Iowa. From California, Washington, Mon-
          Renewals:- Unless a definite request for discontinuance                                                   tana, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan they
          is received, it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the'                                                come. With glad anticipation, as only youth can have,
           subscEiption  to continue without the formality of a re-                                                 they come `to the little city of Hull, Iowa, small when
          n e w a l   o r d e r .                                                                                   compared with the great metropolises of the world,
                             Subscription Price: $3.00 per  year                                                    yet great historically in the annals of our Protestant
          Entered as Second Class mail at Grand Rapids, Michigan                                                    Reformed Church-life !
                                                                                                                       We would indked like to' write down a few words
                                                                                                                    of encouragement in the  Star&arc1   Beurey for our
                                                                                                                    Young People and their parents.
                                                                                                                       Strictly speaking what  I, am to write might be
                                                                                                                    considered, to be the business of the editor of Beacon
                                                                                                                    Lights, our good friend Sid De Young. But certainly
                                                                                                                    the Stamdarcl  Bearer and the Beacon Lights can walk
                                                                                                                    in happy "concordance". Beacon Lights  will not, I
ii                                       C O N T E N T S   .                                                        am certain, think it presumptuous on the part of the
                                                                                                                    Stamdurd Bearer that it too would break a lance in be-
       MEDITATION-                                                                                                  half of our Covenant youth.
              De Belijdenis Eens Geslagenen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...457
                 Rev. G. Vos                                                                                           Somehow iit has become unneckssary in our circles
                                                                                                                    to give further elucidation when speaking of the "Con-
       EDITORIALS-                                                                                                  vention". No one thinks of. the Republicans or of the
              Conkmion-1952  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._..........                     460
                 Rev.  G. C. Lub.bers                                                                               Democrats. All think of the "Convention" of our Pro-
                                                                                                                    testant Reformed youth. It has become an "institu-
       O U R  D O C T R I N E -   _                                                                                 tion".
              God's Providence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                                                Somehow the `Zonvention" is already a tradi-
                                                                                                  ,..., 462
                 Rev. H. Veldman                                                                                    tion.  CJur calendar of  yearly events is not complete
                                                                                                                    without it. It somehow climaxes the events of the
       IN  HIS.  FEAR-                                                                                              year. And it is with enthusiasm that I hear this Con-
              Looking to the. Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .  . 466
                 Rev. H. C. Hoeksetna                                                                               vention sing: "(God Be With You Till We Meet Again".
                                                                                                                    Already at the end of the present. Convention our
      FROM  HOLY   WRIT-                                                                                            youth look forward to the next one.
              Exposition of I John  2:12-14 . . . .  :. . . . . . . . . .                                  468
                 Rev G C. Lubbers
                      . .                                                                                              ,Convention-ti.me  is an institution in our midst.
                                                                                                                       May it ever abide with 
              The Condition Debate in our Churches . . . . . . . . . . :                                                                          us.
                                                                                                           470
                 Rev; Geo. C. LuKbers                                                                                 But we must .add more.
                                                                                                                       May it always remain true to the ideals and the '
       SION'S  ZANGEN-
              Gods Groote Goedstierenheid . . . . . . .  : . . . .                                         471      foundation as this was expressed in the days uf th.e
                 Rev. G. Vos                                                                                        small beginning. Maybe it is a sign of age creeping
                                                                                                                    upon me that my thoughts turn back, and that I like
              An Open Letter co Rev. B. Kok . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 7 4
                 Rev. G. M. Ophoff                                                                                  to reminisce just a ,bit of the past.of the Federation
                                                                                                                    of  Protestant.Reformed Young Peoples' Society. Re-
              The Bat& of the Agees . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . , . , ,. . . 478          latively .speaking I am growing old among the young
                 Rev. G. Vor                                                .-                                      people it is true.
                                                                                                                       I: write as one of the earlier generation, who too


                                        TRE'  ST.ANDARD   BtiARER                                                       461
                                 -      -
tia; one of the young people of our churches a quarter            selves, their views, their problems. There was no
century ago.                                                      Bencon Lights as yet. The only outlet for dur youth
   My t.hyughis go back to thk first Convention. C&-              was tl!& they received space in the erstwhile C~urclz
trary io the thought of some this first Con&&ion &as              NCXUS.   In this connection the Minutes  of this Con-
not held in .First Church at Grand Rapids, but it was             vention  contain  -the interesting Article, No. 21. We
held in our South, Holland, Illinois Church. It was               quote :
the sumer of .1939. In those days there was already                   "Art. 21. It was decided to investigate whether
a Western League of Young People Societies, but                   or not the Young Peoples' Societies could secure a
there had not yet been a similar organization in the              place in the Church News and eventually carry a u-
churches east of  the  Mis,sissippi.         But . the eastern    niform lesson system. This matter was tabled til! af- _
eocieties  had  v$ons and plans for a larger organi-              ter recess." And in Article 26 we read the interest-
zation. `They did not desire a Leagde of Eastern So-              ing notice: "We returned to +he tabled motion that we
cieties. They desired .a Federation of all the Young              obtain space in the Church News, and it was decided
People Societies of all our churches.                             to have the South. Holland ,Young People Society as-
   With that in mind the First meeting in South Hol-. sume resptins'ibility  in regulating the contents to be
l?nd, Illinois was called a `%onvention". And that it             placed in this column. There was a motion  to pass
truly was with all the trimmings. Its basic pattern               on  t.he following suggestions to the Committee in
was followed in all the subsequent Conventions: Key-              charge.
note address, executive sessions, a sight-seeing trip,                a. Someone (or more than one) be chosen to write
and last and not least a banquet.                                 a few Articles in connection with  otir Society life.
   That was the Conventioll of "Small Beginnings".
   It shogld not;. as all small beginnings which are                  b. To see to it that each Society in the Federation
good, be despised for its littleness.                             contribute to the column.
   Decisions of farzreaching  `impbrtance were taken                  c. To work out this matter also with the Western
at this Convention.      ;, ,                `,                   L,eague  and the present writer for our Young People.
   Iri the first place some >basic p&nciples were ten-                d. To send a definite system of Bible-lessons ito the
tatively laid down in written. stat.&nent,  which prin-           verious Societies for their approval or ratification."
ciples the next IConvention adopted without basic chan-               In passing we may here relate that it was not till
ges! .and which it incorporaf&`d  in the "Constitution" two years later that Be,ncon Lights saw the light of
of the Federation. Some of these,basic  priiiciples  were         day. That was on the`Con+ention  here in 1941 at Oak
and .we quote from the Minutes;.Article 27, as follows : J .?wn, Illinois. From a trio of names; to wit, "The
   "1. The basis of tge Convention is the Word of :God            Witness For The Protestant Reformed Youth':, "Our
as expressed in: the Three Forms  of Unity.`:                     Youth's   ,Guide" and "Beacon Lights"  the last name
 "2. The purpose: to unite all Protestant Reformed                was chosen by a majority vote.
Young People Societies to work in close unity afid in                 We see, therefore, that the first Convention per-
this manner secure a sense of solidarity and to seek              formed far-reaching ground-work.            _
the mutual edification `and development of talents as
becomes Christian young people."                                    What strikes this writer of these lines is that its
                                                                  progress was not all top-heavy. The Societies .are to        *
   "3. Third resolution: that we strive to maintain               be taken into consideration with every move of im-
with unitkd front our specific  Pl"otestant  Reformed             portance. As the name suggests it is a Federadioi of
character."                                                        Societies. And nq more powers were intended to be
   "These resolutions are to be `adopted tempora?ily              given to a "board" than strictly necessary. Delega-
and are to be &bmieted  to-`the  Constitution Commit-              ted power is in the Delegate Board; the power to exe-
tee."                                                             cute the wishes of the Delegate Board is the duty of
   It can. do no harm, that we all be reminded of                  the Executive Board. Such was, no doubt, `the de-
these splendid resolutions of the first Convention.               sire of the Convention of South Holland in 1939.
Our young people do well to write these resolutions                                                                s
                                                                      Interesting facts, indeed.
upon the table of their hearts and to bind them about
their necks. Write them upon the standard and lift                    The  "&tinutes" of the various  Convenltions  of the
it aloft -in your I IConvention, dear conventioneers of           Delegate Board contain other. valuabIe data, which
1952! Such is the prayer of the Standard Bearer:                   the 1952 Convention would do well to consider before
 On this  Conventipn  of small beginnings in  South               making other and ,different  decisions !
Holland, Illinois there was also the question of hav-                 Yes, our Young People will be Convention bound..
ing some outlet for-our Ydung People to expyess  them-            There will be  .the happiness and care-freeness of youth.


       4 6 2                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R ;
                                                -~
       Bat there will also `be serious and earnest debate of
        the issues of the day. In this connection I am remin-                  O-UR                 DOCT'RiNE
        ded of some of the thoughts spoken by the speaker
        of the first Convention. He spoke on "The Days Of
        Our Youth". The speaker emphasized that the days                                       God's Providence
        of youth are the  ti,me of preparation for life. This                                             I
        is relatively true. For our youth are not only in life's
       preparation, they already stand in the midst of the                                          INTRoDTJCTION
      _ battle. Yet battling they are prepared for greater                    The  tmth of God's  proaidence is  readily  cdmitt~ecl.
       struggles and victories. So we see also our youth at                     - It is simply a fact that God alone is God. Out
       this Convention.                                                       of Him and through Him and unto Him are all things.
           ,Our youth also live in the days of greatest activ-                His alone is the glory now and forever. Anyone of
        ity. In these they are to rejoice, yet not to forget                  reformed persuasion will haveqno  difficulty, as such,
       their. Creator. And, therefore, our youth are in the                   with the Providence of (God, and will surely answer
        greatest need of wise and good guidance.                              affirmatively when confronted with the question whe-
           The  Stauzdard   i3sarer has attempted to add just                 ther the Lord reigns in the heavens above and upon
        a bit to this guidance along the chartered path of the                the earth beneath.
       first Convention.                                                          This is particularly true among us as Protestant
           May our ministers, who shall address the Conven-                   Reformed Churches. To be sure, the question relative
       tion be filled with the Holy Spirit of wisdom and coun-                the Providence of the Lord and sin is an intricate
        sel. May- they preach the Word so that our beloved                    question and should be properly explained and clari-
       youth may be clad in the full armor of God, and stand                  fied. Nevertheless we may say that, as Protestant
        in "united front", a phalanx. strong!                                 Reformed Churches, because of OLW emphasis upon the
            Convention of 1952, we greet you.                  '              sovereignty of <God  and the particular character of the
           May the occasion long live as a sacred, cherished                  grace of God, we proclaim without hesitation that God
       memory in your life!         .-                                        alzuays reigns and that all things work together for
                                                          Geo. Lubbers        the good of the elect people of `God.
                                                                              However,  to live  am-l  practice'the  providence of the
                                                                                Lam? is often quite another thing.        .
                                                                                  To express agreement  with the doctrine of Divine
                          WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                 Providence is not too difficult. Scripture, we must
          On the 23th of July 1952, our beloved parents,                      remember, is so plain in its teaching with respect to
                         MR. and MRS. DICK KOOIENGA                           the Divine control over all things. And it is so..easy
        celebrated their-25th Wedding Anniversary.                            to believe in the Providence of (God as long as the wa-
.         We are  Ithankful  for their loving care and guidance and we        ters do not reach unto our lips ; so easy to cry out :
       hope and pray they may be with us for many more years                  Whom shall I fear? when there, is no enemy in sight.
        to come.
II                                                                                But, when conditions change and we must person-
                                    Their grateful  chibdreu:                 ally suffer affliction and misery, it becomes increas-
                                           Mr. and Mrs. Robert  Miedeka  .
                                           Mr. and Mrs. Roger Kooienga        ingly, yea, very difficult to say this confession, not
                                           Lois                               to mention the difficulty of proclaiming and living it!
                                           Dcinna                             Indeed, to live and practice this confession is indeed
                                           LJudith                            humanly impossible, can be done only through Divine
                                           Do.nalid
                                          B,e!tti                             -grace. We are of the earth earthy, even irrespective
                                           3 grandchildren                    of sin, `dependent upon the earth. Also spiritually we
        Grand Rapids, Michigan                                                are from below. Hence, it requires grace, much grace,
                                                                              even unto the end, to live IGod's providence, really to
                    q         -:::-                                           receive all things out of God's hand; always to rely
                                                                              upon and trust in the Lord, to Ibelieve that all things
                              . NOTICE!                                       work together unto our good.
           Classis West of the Protestant  Reformecl  ,Chur-                  That  we can derive  cornfo,rt from the providence of
        ches will meet in  Doon, Iowa, the first Wednesday                       God only by grace lies in the mature of the case.
        in September,                                                             IGod's grace is exclusively particular, is it not?
                                           Ivr.  `Gritters,  $tated Clerk      The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked,


                                          Tn13  STANDAMI   BGARRR                                                   468
   -.        .
  This means thalt this curse is upon the ungodly-in.  all        surely mentioned in Art. 12 which discusses the truth
  that he is and does and possesses. He is never an OF- of Creation, and we quote: "We believe that the Fa-
  ject of Divine grace or lave, and the curse of the alone        ther;. bfi the Word, that is, by His Son, h&h-created
  living God pursues him relentlessly into the grave              of nothing, the heavens, the earth, and ,a11 creatures,
  throughout his entire life. Never will the wicked be            as it seemed good unto Him, giving unto .every crea-
' able to point to a single moment or incident in his             ture its being, shape, form,  aed several offices to
  life and say that at that particular moment he exper-           serve its (Creator. That He doth also still `uphold
  ienced the love and mercy of the Lord. Hence, it lies -and govern them by His eternal providence, and
  in the very nature of the case that the comfort of the          infinite power, for  the service of mankind, to  -the
  pY;ovidence  of God is  onI? for the people of  `God  ,and      end that man may serve his God. He also  creat,ed
can be experienced only in the way of grace and faith.            the #angels good, to be His messengers and to serve
          But, if this we may say and confess, then we sure-      His elect; some of whom are fallen from- the excel-
  ly need not fear for, if lGod be for us, then nothing can       lency, in which God created them, into everlasting per-
  be against us.                                                  dition; and the others have, by the grace of God, re-
                                                                  mained steadfast and continued in their primitive
         ACCORDING To SCRIPTURE AND THE  CONFESSION~S             state. The devils and evil spirits are so depraved,
  The  Confressions.                                              that they are enemies of IGod .and every good thing,
         hour  .Heidelberg  Catechism discusses the Provi-        to the utmost of their power, as :murderers,  watching
  dence of `God in Lord's Days 9 and 10. The question             to ruin the Church and every member thereof, and by
  of Lord's Day 9 : "What Believes& thou when thou say-           their wicked stratagems to destroy all ; and are, there-
  est, I believe in God, the Father, Almighty, Maker of           fore, by, their own wickedness adjudged to eternal
  heaven and earth"?, is answered as foilows : "That the          damnation, daily expecting their horrible torments.
  eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (Who of no-             Therefore we reject and abhor the error of the Sad-
  thilig made heaven and earth, with all that is in them ;        ducees, who deny the existence of spirits and angels:
  Who likewise upholds and governs `the same by His               and also that of the Manichees, .who assert that the de-
  eternal counsel and providence) is for the sake of              vils have their origin of themselves, and that they are
  Christ, His Son, my (God and my Father; on Whom I               wicked of their own nature, without having .been  cor-
  rely so entirely, that I have no doubt, but He will pro-        rupted." The following  article, Article 13,  treats
  vide me with, all things necessary for soul and body:           this wonderful truth properly, `and again we quote:
  and further, that He will make whatever' evils He               "We believe that the same `God, after He had created
  sends upon <me, in this valley of tears turn but to my          all' thi?gs, did snot forsake them, or give them up to _
  advantage ; for He 5s able to do it, being Almighty fortune or chance, $ut that He rules and governs them
  God, and willing, being a faithful Father." In Lord's according to His holy @ill, so that nothing happens in
  Day 10 the truth of the Provi,dence  of God is treated          this world without His appointment : nevertheless,
  properly. Question 27 : "What.dost thou ,mean by the            iGod neither is the author of, nor can be charged with,
  provi'dence  of God?", is answered  Ias follows: "The           the sins. which are committed. For His power and
  almighty and everywhere present  ! power  6f  ,Gdd ;            goodness are so great and incomprehensible, that He
  whereby, as it were bjr His,hand, He upholds and gov-           orders and executes His work in the most excellent'
  erns heaven, earth, and all creatures, so that herbs            and just manner, even then, when devils an'd wicked
  and grass, rain and  ,dr&ght,  fruitful and barren              men act unjustly. And, as to what He cloth surpas-
. years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and          sing human understanding, we will not curiously in-
  poverty, yea, and all things come, not. by chance, but          quire into, farther than our capacity will admit of;
  by His Fatherly hand." And question 28: "What ad-               but with the greatest humility and leverence adore the
  vantage is it to us to know that (God has cyeated,  and         righteous judgments of .God, which are hid from us,
  by His providence doth still uphold all things?"- re-           contenting ourselves that we are disciples of Christ,
 ' ceitres the following beautiful answer: "That we may           to learn only those thin& which He has revealed to
  be patient in adversity ; thankful in prosperity ; and          US in His Word, without trarisgressing these limits.
  that in all things,, which mai hereafter befall us, we          This doctrine affords us  unipeakable  consolation,
  place our firm trust in our faithful. God and Father,           since we ,are taught thereby that nothing can befall us
  that nothing shall separate us from His love; since             by chatice, but by the direction of our most gracious.
  all creatures are so in His hand, that without His will         and heavenly Father; Who watches over us with a pa-
  they cannot so much as mtive."                                  ternal ca?e, keeping all creatures so under His power,
         This truth, as we all expect, is treated in the thir-    that not a hair of our head (for they are all .number-
  ty seven articles of  &r Confession of Faith. It is             ed)) nor a sparrow, can fall to  the ground, without


    $4                                    T H E '  STANDAR,$.BEARER

   the will of our Father, in Whom we do entirely trust;          :41,  Ps.  36  :7,  104:27,  147:9, Joel  1:20,  &att. 6  :26,
  being persuaded, that `He so- restrains &he devil atid          +L, and particularly also for men. Ho beholds them
  all our enemies, that without His will and permission           all, Job 34:21, Ps. 33 :13, 14 Prov.   15:3, forms their
they  ,cannot hurt us. And therefore we reject that               eirery heart and considers all their works, Pa. 33 :15,
  .damnable error of the Epicureans, who say that ,God            Prov.  5:21; they are all the work of His hands, Job
  regards nothing, but leaves all things to chance." end          34 :19, the poor and the rich, Prov. 23 `2. He deter-
  of quote.                                                      mines the habitation  of all, Deut.  32:s Acts  1726,
                                                                 inclines every heart, Prov. 21  :l, control; all their
                                                                 paths, Prov. 5:21, 16 :9, 19 :21, Jer. 10 :23, etc., does
      Calling attention to this truth of the Providence          with the host of heaven and the inhabitants of the
  of ,God as set .forth in the Holy Scriptures, it is bea-       earth according to His pleasure, Dan.  4:35. They
  utifully  seyt. forth by the late Dr. H.  Bavink,  i?n his     are in His hands as clay in the hand of the potter, as
  Ref,ormed  Dogmatics, III, pages l-3, and we quote:            a saw in the hand of him who uses ilt, Isaiah 29 :16,
  "When ,God had finished His work ilpon the seventh             45:9,  Je?.  18:5,  Ram..   9:20,21.   -' In a very particular
  day, which .He hath made, He rested.upon  the seventh          sense does His providential control include His peo-
  day from all His work which He had made, `Gen. 2 :2,           ple, The entire history of the patriarchs, of Israel,
  Ex. 20 :ll, 31:17, `Thus Scripture describes the tran-         of the congregation, and of every believer verifies
  sition' from the work of creation to that of preserva-         ihis. What people had nieant to be evil `God meant `iit
  tion. That this resting of God does not have its cause         unto good for them,  (Gen 50  :20; every  insirument,
  in weariness, or that it does not consist in an idle look-     prepared against them, shall not suceed,  Isaiah 54 : 17 ;
  ing on is- repeatedly plainly and clearly expressed by         even the hairs of- their head are all numbered, Matt.
  the, Holy Scirptures,  Is. 40 :28, John 5 :17.    Creation     10 :30 ; everything works together for their gbpd, Rom.
  is for <God no work and preservation is no rest. The 8 :28. Thus all of creation stands in' the power  and
  rer;ting of ,God merely expresses that He has made an          under the control of ,God ; both, chance or fate, are
  end of the bringing forth of nova genera, Eccl. 1:9,           unknown  ,to Scripture, Ex.  21:13,  Pro;.  16:33. It
  10; `that the work of creation .in actual and narrow           is (God Who works all things after the counsel of His
  sense, as- productive rerum e nihila, was finished;            will, Eph. 1 :ll, and renders everything subject to the
  and that He rejoiced with. Divine pleasure in this com-        revelation of His virtues, and the honour of His Name,
  pleted work,  IGen.  1:31, Ex.  31:17, Ps.  104:31. etc.- Prov.  16:4, Rom.  11:36. All this the  #Scripture  sum-
  The work of creating now passes over into that of              marizes- so beautifully when it #repeatedly speaks of
  preservation.    Both are essentially distinguished in         IGod as of a King, Who r$es dver all things, Ps. 10 :
  Scripture to such an extent that they are placed o-            16,  24:7,8,   29:10,  44:5,  47:7,  74:12,  115:38,  Isaia&
0 ver against each other as labor and rest. And then             33 :22, etc. God is a King, the King of kings and the
  again they are so intimately related and connected             Lord of lords ; a King, Who in Christ is a Father for
 that the work of preservation can be called creating,           all His subjects, and a Father, Who is also king over
  Ps. 104:30,  148 :5, Isaiah 45 :7, Amos 4 :13.    For pre-     His children. Whatever is found aniong the  crea-
  servation is also a Divine work, not less great and glo-       tures, in the animal- and human- and angelic world,
 rious than that of creating.  ,God is  nd Deus  otiosus         in `the family ,and society, of care for and love unto
  He always works, John 5 :17, and the world has no ex:          and protection of the one for the other, is a faint re-
 islence in itself. From the moment pf its beginning             flection of [God's providential care over all the works
 it exists only in and through and unto [God, Neh. 9:6,          of His hands. His absolute power and His perfect
 Ps.  104:30, Acts  27:28, Born.  11:36,  ~Col.  1:15, Heb.      love are the proper object of faith in the Providence
 1:3, Rev. 4  :ll. Although distinguished .from His be-          of God according to Holy Writ."-end of quote.
 ing, it is in its existence never independent; indepen-                                 ITS  IDEA
 ,dence  would be non-existence. The entire world stands
 under God's control with all that is in it and happens          The' word : providence.                                   .
in it; summer and winter, day and night, fruitful and             - First, this word occurs in Holy Writ. We  reaLi
unfruitful seasons, light and darkness, everything  iA           in Acts  24:2: "And when he was called forth,  Ter-
 His work and is formed by .Him, (Gen. 8 :22, 9 : 14, Lev.       tullus began to accuse  him, saying, Seeing that by
 26:3ff., Deut. 11:12ff.,  Job 38, Ps. 8, 29: 65, l(.:!, 107,    thee we enjoy great quietness, and that very worthy
 _147, Jeremiah 8  :3, 5  :24, Matt.  5:45, etc. Scripture       deeds are done unto his nation by thy providence."
 does not know an independent creature; this' would                 Secondly, the word (providence in the English
 be a contradictioc in itself. God provides for all crpa-        and  "v~orzienigheid" in the Holland) implies two
 tures, for animals, Gen. 1:3O,  6:18, 7:2, 9:10, Job 38         things. The word  @self means  ljterally:  to-:Fee  be-
                                                                                                           .>  ./


                                    T H E S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           465

fore or beforehand. This is the literal meaning of          Hence, IGod's providence is therefore the work of (God
t-he English "providence" as well as the Holland "vS)orr    whereby He controls and  susfains and directs all
zienigheid." A second meaning of the word; deYi%$           thin&?A&ording  to this view the providence of God
from the first is: to make provision, to provide, and       must not be idehtified with the counsel of the Lord
thus to care for someone in his needs and wants.            but is therein distinguished from it that it is the real-
These two meanings aYe inseparably connected. We            ization of that counsel and will of Jehovah.
make' provision, fq example, for the winter. This
implies that we see beforehand, look into the future,       Whit it  is.
consider what we will need and act `accordingly,               Now it is simply a fact that the woid : providence,
                                                            clues not occur in Holy  Wri,t with reference to  `God.
A. three-fold interpretation in c'hristia~ theology.        It is true that the word appeears in Acts  24:2, but
 The Providence of  (God, for example, has been in-         there it is used with respitct  to Felix. Moreover, the
terpreted as a Divine "seeing beforehand". Under-           meaning of the word in Acts 24:2 speaks for itself.
standing this not in the arminian sense of the word         The word, however, does not appear in Holy Writ
as if  .God's knowledge is merely  for.eknowledge, a        with reference to the Lord. `God simply does not know
knowing of the things before they occur and dependent       the things as we do, neither is His knowledge merely
upon them, but simply in. the sense that the Lord           foreknowledge in the sense that He simply "sees be-
kn.ows all things before they occUr, even as He knows       forehand". The things have no existence apact from
whatever shall occur in your life and mine, we may          God. It is not true that they exist and the Lopd now
safely say that, thus  und&stood,  the providence of        takes cognizance of them. Thus the arminian pre-
God is silmply one of the Lord's communicable attri-        sents  #the  .matter  of salvation as if God  saw before-
butes, the Divine attribute of His omniscience, that        hand who wduld .believe  and who would not believe,
He knows all things. We will undoubtedly recall .that       electing then those who believe land rejecting those
God's omniscience is one of {God's communicable at-         who believe not. We repeat: nothing exists apart
tributes. Hence, to say that the providence is simply       from (God and this also includes faith and unbelief.
God's knowing of all things implies that we identify        The believer has no existence apart from the Lord;
it with this attribute of (God.      _                      the same must also be said of the unbeliever, and 1
    Others interpret the providence of the Lord as          emphatically mean : unbeliever.     Hence, when Scrip-
signifying His counsel.      They proceed from the          ture speaks of "foreknowledge", as in Romans 9, we
thought that the Lord's  ,omniscience  is more than         must bear in mind that this is strictly foreknowledge,
merely a "seeing beforehand". They declare that the tl-at this knowledge, also eternally, precedes the exis-
Lord not only knows beforehand what will `happen,           le+rce bf the things. ,God's  foreknowledge is not mere-
but also that He has determined them, that He not           ly a "seeing beforehand".
only knows what will happen but also that they occur           Nevertheless, although Scri.pture  does not. use the
exactly as He .knows them. The knowledge of the             term: providence, its idea surely appears abundantly
Lord, then, is not determined b,y the things that are       in the Divine Scriptures. `This we have already
seen, but the things that happen and are seen are de-       shown. .The word: trinity, for example, does not
termined by the knowledge of ,God. God's knowledge          appeal: in the Scriptuqe  either, but the truth which
is strictly a Divine foreknowledge, not merely because      is expressed by ,this term is taught throughout the
the Lord knows `things. beforehand, but also in. the        Word of  ,God. The word:  providence,-Zdenotes  God's
sense that this knowledge of God is -strictly foreknow-     preservation and government of all things. And it
ledge, precedes the thin& and sovereignly deter,mines       is simply a fact that the term, providence, has become
their existence. Hence, they interpret the providence       the generally accepted term to denote this Divine
of (God not only as merely "foreknowledge" as if the        preservation and government. We define IGod's Pro-
Lord is merely an idle spectator of all events, but al-     vidence as the almighty and omnipresent power of
so as that eternal wisdom Qf the Lord whereby He            God whereby  l%e in and through all creatures exe-
has sovereignly willed and determined. all things from      cutes His counsel, sustains all things, and directs
before the foundation of lthe world. Thus understood, all things so that they, without a solitary exce&ion,
th@:.providence of God is His  etern?! and sovereign        must work together unto the attainment of the goal
counsel.                                                    which He has set before Himself in His everlasting
   A third interpretation of this concept: providence       counsel. As we have  seen, and shall also presently
of #God, is that which is commonly held today. -Fact see, Scripture. speaks everywhere of this almighty
is, the counsel- of the ILord is executed and fulfilled.    and omnipresent power of God.
He . realizes the things He eternally determined.                                                   H. Veldman

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

                                                                    own has not  -(been missing in our own churches.
                IN.BIS  F E A R                                     Hence, it is not amiss to consider this matter care-
                                                                    f u l l y .
                                                                        Turning the pages of history we find almost in-
                    Looking To The Future  ~                        variably, first of ail, that the institutions of higher
                                                                    learning in our country were established initially for
                              Chapter 3                             the propagation of the faith, specifically for the train-
                                                                    ing of the clergy.
                  ON TEACHER TRAINING                                                     In New England, during .the years
                                                                    of colonization, schools such as Yale and Harvard
          Proceeding now on the supposition that the aim            were established with this aim. By this time that o-
      of those who seek Pr0testan.t Reforfmed  education for        riginal aim has long been ,discarded,  and these schools
     -their children is also to have teachers with Protestant       have become gigantic, worldly institutions of learning.
      Reformed training, as has been evidenced by the in-           In their formative years,  how,cver,  they were small
      terest in and activity toward such a project ever since' and struggling and, by modern standards, I suppose
      1948, we still have several important questions to con-       rather amateurish schools which were dedicated to the
      sider.                                                        training of ministerial timber and established by the
         There is the question ; What must be done? And             zealous and pious Puritans. ' In New Jersey, Prince-
      there is the question, closely related: initially what        ton was conceived and born  wi.t.h the same goal in
      are the minimum requirements of a Protestant Re-              view. In fact, during the early history of our country
     - formed training course ? There is the question : `how when one wanted .to train-for any secular profession,
      can this goal be attained? And there is .a rather fun-        he had~ to study in Europe. And it was mainly through
      damental and crucial question : whose responsibility          the efforts of the patriotic but unbelieving Benjamin
      is it to establish such `a teacher training institution?      Franklin that schools dedicated to training in the arts!
      And *because our answer .to the last question Will de-        and sciences had their beginning in this country, a-
     termine to an extent our answers to the other ques-            bout the .middle of the eighteenth century.
      tions, we chose to treat it first;                               Especially in New England, of cqurse, the lines be-
                                                                    tween church and state were dimly drawn, so that even
      Ecclesiastical or Parental R.esponsibility                    where there was a  #measure of  puiblic education, it
         These are the alternatives which we face, when we          was not for democratic, but, for religious reasons.
      ask the question: by whom must our teacher training           However, the point we make here is, that from the
      facilities be established, controlled, and maintained?        earliest history of our country the schools of higher
      The third possibility, namely, state-controlled insti- `learning for the most part had their inception in the
      tutions, I am sure we all rule out from the beginning:        desire for a trained clergy,  an.d for a long time ex-
      state-contlolled  colleges* and parentally controlled         isted solely for the purpose of' iraining ministers.
      grammar and high schools  simply do no.t go hand in              IGradually, through the press of circumstances,
      hand.                                                         when education in the arts and sciences was demanded,
         However, history shows that the question which             these institutions developed into full-fledged colleges
      forms our caption is a crucial one. Is it the -calling        and universities. And today in many of .them the the-
      of the church institute to establish, maintain, and-con-      ological faculty is only one among inany and nsually,
     ,trol institutions for the frainilig of Christian teachers?. too, thoroughly modern.
      Or- is it the calling pf believing parents to establish,         .In this same way many colleges and universities
      maintain, and control such institutions, and thus to          had their beginning. The Roman Catholics, of course,
      provide the  ,grammar  and high schools which they            are known for their `theory of church-controlled edu-
      establish for fh.eir covenant children with fit teacher.s?    cation, all the way from the kindergarten to the uni-
      To some of us this matter may be simple. Personally,          versity. The Lutherans also follow the principle of
      I have no difficulty at all in concluding that .the re-       ecclesiastical responsibility in education, and have not
      sponsibility is parental, not ecclesiastidal.    But his-     only their own gratilmar schools, but also maintain
      torically, ;the matter has not been so simple. In fact many a college; besides, of course, having their own
      the-stream of history h&s always favored either state-        theological  scho_ols.   BLL.t even among those churches
      controlled or church controlled colleges.        And this     which maintain no grammar and high schools of their
      has been brue both within our own Reformed circl&             own, but subscribe to the principle of public education,
      and outside df them. In fact, as we pointed out pre-          one will- find countless colleges and junior colleges,
     viously, the tendency to look to Mother `Church for            and even universities that ar.e denominationally es-
.     the establishment of teacher-training facilities of our       tablished and ,maintained, even though any trace or


                                         .jJHE     STANj)A'
                                                            &j)      BEARER                                          46'7

tinge of orthodox Christian religion in those schools           It is, therefore, time that we give consideration tc
is often sought in vain.                                    this  questton.
   So it is evident that the tide of history favors de-         And let us decide it, not on the basis of practical
nominationally established institutions of higher lear-     considerations,' tbecause  then, I fear, the' outcome will
ning.                                                       be that we leave it to Mother Church. `That is the
         \
   And in Reformed circles the same tendency  has           path of least resistance. It is easy, especially when
prevailed. We are, I believe, most familiar with Cal-       things can be done by way of synodical  assessments,
vin College, established and maintained by the ,Chris-      which  bventually find their way  in.to congregational
tian Reformed  Church(es) . Its  histoiy was in the         budgets, to let the churches establish and maintain
main the same as c$ed above. `Originally it was a the-      a college.
ological school. From the outset it was devoted sole-          `However, it is contrary to Reformed principle.
ly to the preparation of  jmi@sters. In the course of           The calling of the church is to preach the Word.
time, as it  had.  expalided to furnish pre-seminary        Within *he scope of this calling is included, to be sure,
training for future ministers, so it also expanded to       the calling to train preatihers. The theological train-
furnish  normal training for future Christian school        ing of our ministers, and, to an extent, the pre-theo-
teachers: But it continued to develop. And today            logical training of  our  ministers is the duty of the
its facilities are lby no means limit&d to futures tea-     church institute. Outside of t$& the church has no
chers and preachers. `College and seminary have been        calling to educate, except in the pulpit and in fhe ca-
`separated.    And in the college, besides educational      techism room.
training,  one  may, for example, take simply a ge-
neral college course, a pre-seminary course, a pre-med-         In this connection it has always been Reformed
ical course, a pre-dental course, or a pre-engineering      to interpret article 21 of the Church Order in the eth-
course. But,-and  ;this is the point,-Calvin  #College      ical sense. That article reads : "The Consistories shall
is' still a denominational institution, given, suppos-      see to it that there are good Christian schools in which
edly, to `Christian Reformed principles, maintained         the' parents have their children instructed according
by the Christian Reformed  Church( es),  and main-          to the demands of the Covenant.." Now, certainly,
tained primarily for Christian Refor#med  people. Its       that article must be maintained ; and every consistory
budget is ecclesiastically  determined.  Its financial      should be faithful to the requirement of Article 21
support is from the churches, to the extent that the        with fear and trembling, lest lthe cause of Christian
school is not self;supporting.                              education in our midst ,go spiritually bankrupt. But
                                                     D      as Reformed people we have never lent ourselves to
   Now we, as Protestant Reformed people, will soon,        the interpretation that this article calls for parochial
I believe, face this same question very concr,etely.  In    schools. We have insisted on parental schools. And
fact, the history which we cited in our previous arti- .the consistory has not a calling to establish Christ&n
cles shows that we already have' faced this question.       schools, but rather Iby way of admonition and exhor-
At least,  reqvests and  overtures  have  be& made to       tation, privately and through the pulpit, as well, per-
our synods to furnish itraining  for our teachers; and      haps, by way of financial support and aid, to see to
these requests have been heeded to an extent. In that       it that there are good <Christian  schools wherein par-
respect not only has the question been faced, but an        ents have their children instructed according to the
answer has been given. _                                    demands of the Covenant. But, by no stretch of the
    I believe it is the wrong answer!                       imagination can this article be used to support the
    To be sure, this question has, to my knowledge,         principle of a church established college.
never been faced  conscio&y  $0 any  sgreat degree:            Rather should we follow the same princi`ple of par-
Certainly there has been no prolonged and basic de-         ental education which we follow in our  grammap
bate on the issue. Synod has not discussed it any           schools and high .schools.          Our normal school, even-
length. Synod's committees have not studied it, as          tually, our college (???), must be parentally estab-
far as the  recor,ds show. In  fact, the only attempt       lished and controlled. Perhaps we may look to the
at debate on this score, as I recall it, tack -place in     church institute for help. Perh-aps there is room for
Classis East, at the time when ' Randolph's overture        cooperation {between Seminary and Normal !School.
was under discussion ; and I believe the debate on this     But we must not have a denominational college. Let
issue of ecclesiastic&l or pa&n tal responsibility `for     the  chtircli preach the.  W,ord! And let our parents
normal training was finally the reason why Randolph's       fulfill, to .the limit, their calling-to train.their children
overture was sent on to synod without classical ap-         "in the doctrine of this. Christian church."
psoval  OF  disagpr@mJ.                                                                               H. C. Hoeksem?
                                                                                           >


         468                                      L'HE  S T A - N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                        -    -                                                        -      -    -    -
                                                                        are manifested the children of' God and the children
       k  R  0  M            H  0  L  y             w  k,  ,I  T of the Devil." A  ltwofold  people therefore. And it
                                                                        is to the former of these that this Epistle is written.
                                                                            Positively the glad-message of the Scriptures is
                   Exposition of I John 2:12-14                         for the children of God.
                                                                            Let there be no shred of doubt as .to this bruth of
           It is Of the utmost importance for the correct tin- [Scripture. Writes  John:   "I  write   you  bec,ame,   be-
       derstanding of I John 2 :12-14 that close attention be           &me,  becatbse . . . I wrote you because, because, be-
       paid to the exact wording of it. We will, therefore,             cause . .  ." This `"because" makes  us  thifik of the
       quote this passage in full. It reads as follows: "L statement of Jesus in the Upper-Room, .recorded  for
       write you chiklren because your sins ane forgivein for           LIS  in John  14:16,17  "And I will give you another
       His Name's sake. I write  urzto you, f&hers, because Comforter, that He may abide with you forever, name-
       ye have  lcnown Him  Zhat is from  the beginning. I ly, the Siirit of truth, Whom &he worlcl b- not able to
       write unto you, young m,en, because ye havie olvercome           receive . .  ." .The worl`d cannot hear what the .Spi-
       the Evil  -One: I  wrote  ,&nto you,  litt,Le children,  be'-    rit saith unto the Churches. These have no.t the mind
       cause ye have known the  Eather. I-wrote unto you                of Christ. `The things of the Spiiit and of the Father
       fathers, beoause ye have known Him that is from the              and the .Son are foolishness to them. The children of
       beginning.  I  Wrote  #unto you, young  men,,  because           the Devil do ilot have .the `-point of contact" spoken of
       ye are strong,  ad  tile Word of God  >abides in you,,           in the text we are ,about to consider.
       aacl ye have overcome the Evil One."                                 The church alone can receive the Spirit in receiv-
           Now what is -so peculiar and singul,ar about this            ing  His Word.
       passage from the pen of -John?                                      Let us try to understand this better.
           It is, no doubt, this: John tells the church of .Jestls          First of all, it is important to notice, that the ad-
       Christ, as she is in the midst of this world the reason          dressees in our text are called "children", "fathers"
       for writing her. There is something that makes this              and  "yoLmg  men,7 . Fact is, that this is repeated in
       Church of (God the. object, -the recipient of. this letter ;     the text. Both times they are given in the same or-
       it is something that the world lacks. And  because der. Wow `these names here given and the order in
       tihtit is true of this Church, which thing is not true which they are gi.ven, .tells us an important truth conl
       of the world, this Church can receive this letter. How-          cerning the church.
       ever, the wor1.d cannot receive  it. What John wri.tes
       in this letter cannot possibly be written of and to the             What is it?
     wor!d  of unbelieving men.  -                                         We should notice that the order here given is not
          The implied point of departure in this :text is, that         that of .the natural ascending order of age level. This
       there is a twofold people in the midst of this world.            order would be: Little children, young meri, fathers.
       ISuch is the clear teaching on the first pages of Holy !Qr in reverse order it would ,be: Fathers, young men,
      .Writ in Genesis 3 :15 in the Protevangel? and such is            children. But the order is broken: children, fathers
       also lthe clear teaching of IScriptture in the last chapter      young men. It seems to us, that this order given in
       of the book of  Revelatidn.                                      the text by the Hoiy Spirit points xs away from the
          I have ref&ence, of course, to the Word bf- God               natural order, and from trying to find here three dis-
       spoken to the Serpent in Paradise where IGod. announ-            i&t groups in the church. `We rather believe that
       ces to the Temptor  that He will put enmity between              we are here to think of threefold aspects of the same
       the Seed of fhe Serpent and the Seed of the Wonian.              church. Each time the congregation is viewed from
       This same truth we read in Rev. 22:`ll: "He that is              a  `different   viewpoint'
       unjust let him be.unjust still, and he that is filthy let           But there is still more in the text and in this en-
       him be filthy still, and he that is just let him be made         tire  iebter  which proves conclusively that the Holy
       righteousness still and he that is holy let him be ianc- Spirit does. not refer to three groups, but rather to
       tified still."                                                   three aspects of tlze one church.
          Jesus makes mention of-this same truth when He                   To  what do we refer?           _
       s,ays: He that hath to him shall be given and he shall              We refer, of course, to the fact .that the term "chil-
       have more abundance, and he that hath not from hiti              &en" (little children). is the standing term by which
       shall be taken what he thinketh to have. `Wherefore              the entire congregation is addressed. This-term does
       take heed how ye he&r.                                           not refer to tihildren from a natural, from. the age,
          Such is also the very warp and woof of this first             level aspect. Then,. too, this ,term "little .chiklr.e,&is
       Epistle of John. Says John in Chaptea:  3 : 10 "In this interchanged in this letter with, the *term "Bel.oyedT'.


I                                                                                                                                     .


                                       ~  T H E   STANDA'-RD   B E A R E R                                             469

  Now it should not escape our notice, that this term           But when this is once established then the names `!fa-
  beloved is not first of all the .expression of John's sen-    thers"--and "young men" can no longer be interpreted _
  timent -concerning the church, but that it, no doubt,         as r&ring -to the aged and those in the strength of
  is expressive of the unchanging attitude of the Fa-           life respectively. These terms refer not to the na-
  ;ther's love for His children in Christ Jesus. If such tural qualifications, but they most emphatically refer
  is the case, then we have here in this name "children,,       to the spiritual qualities in the entire church.
  the church addressed as she is the most precious po-             Let us try to see this.
  ssession and heritage of [God. It is the most endear-
 ing term. This our interpretation is amply sustained                   The term "fathers', refers to the entire church
  by a comparison of such passages as -1 John 2 :I ; 2 :I8 ;    from the viewpoint of her stability and maturity in
  .3 :l, IO, 18. In all of these passages the term "child- Christ. `This maturity may be stronger in- some than
  ren" and "little children" refers to the entire church.       in others, but nevertheless the church is established
  It makes no difference, whether the members are ten           in the truth; she is the ,ground and the pillar of the
  years  ol,d or whether they be eighty years old. In           truth.  6he knows in whom she hath believed. She
  each case when they are the "beloved" of `God, they           has known Him that is from the beginning.
  are His dear children. This is abundantly evident                These "fathers" are such stable men and women
  from I John 3 :l "Behold the manner of love which             only because they stand in the love of the heavenly
  the Father hath given us, that we should be caZZecZ  the      Father and are anchored in His forgiving 1ov.e. With-
  children of God.                                              out this love of the "Father" we cannot be strong
      Hence, we conclude that the name'"Children" re-           in this world, rooted and grounded in the truth. (On-
  fers to the entire church as she is the object of God's       ly `when anchored in the love of the Father and hav-
  sovereign and- changeless love, a love that many wa-          ing been thoroughly instructed can the church be
- ters cannot quench, since it is .a very flame of Jeho-        filled with wisdom, not tossed to and fro with every
  vah.                                                          wind of doctrine. Hence, there is an interpretation
             .                                                  of being "little children" and that of being "fathers".
      Beautiful, instructive and comf,orting  is also what      .The b.eloved  church of ,Christ is also established in the
  is added .by our text as inspired by the Holy Spirit.         truth. The "little children" are the "fathers".
  And incidently it corroborates` what we ,have above
  stated 21s to the meaning of the name "children" when            Only to such can the Word of IGod come as John
  given to the church. We refer to the addition "Be-            writes it in this Epistle.
  cause your sins are forgiven for His Name's sake."               But we must proceed.
 Olr, `as the second part of -ithe text has it: because ye         The term "young men" also comes into consider-
  have known the Father.         -                              ation here. It is said elsewhere in Scripture thatthe
      Pray, how do we experience the love of our hea-, glory of the young man is in his strength, That is
  venly Father, if it is not in this, that He removes our       the natural  #glory of the young men. Soon this
  guilt of sin from us,, that daily we find' Him in the         strength fades, it is true. But that is the natural glo-
 . sweetness of the forgiveness of sins. He that does not ry of the young man. It is noteworthy that the text
  know the forgiveness of sins, does not know the Fa-           connects the "young man" with being strong and mil-
  ther,-does  not have eternal life.' Well, the text says       i t a n t .
  that these "children" do know this forgiveness day               We send our young men, the flow,er  of our nation,
  by .day at the Throne of mercy of the Father.        -.       to .the battle fields. .Such is also true of ,God. He has
     And why do we receive this forgiveness?                    His army in the field of the world. The battle must
   Simply for the Father's Name's sake. For the                 be fought again& Satan, the Evil one, against the spi-
  sake of His great and glorious Name He forgives us.           ritual powers of evil and darkness in this world. The
  Therein the greatness of the glorious Name of `God is         church is such young men. .Old though its members
  manifested: It is sovereign grace and boundless, for-         become physically, yet their strength, is renewed like
  giveness. For where sin abounded grace does much              the eagles. The inward ,man is, indeed, renewed day
  more abound.                                                  by day. They are fat and flourishing to `proclaim that
     I write you "little children" because you thus stand       khe Lord is good.                              *
  in the unquenchable flame of the  :burning "bush,`.              The Word of .God abides in the _church,  and this
  The very flame of Jehovah is this love.                       Word is the sword of the Spirit which lays'the enemy
     It ought, by this time, to be clear that the term          low.
  "children" refers to the entire congregation, and `not           The church testifies of the hope that is in her. She
  -to the  natural  "children" only  ia  the  cmgregatiaa,      proclaims what is "written", Evermore such is  her


 470                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R .
                                    -
 calling. And fulfilling :this her calling she overcomes              But it is a sin that lbetakes  us when we do not per-
 the Evil one. The church is the militant, triumph- fectly have the loins of our mind girt up.
 ing people of IGod.                                                  Also in connection with the manner of debate this
    Yes, they ar,e "little children"; the apple of (God's         is true. - sour loins must be girt, up in logical as well
 -eye are we.                                                     as in ethical truth. Rev. Kok fails, in the former.
        But being stedfast and immovable -we are "fa-                 To do the latter is Rev. Kok's privilege. And if
 thers.                                                           Synod erred it is his holy calling to show this: then
    But strong in the,:battle  we are "young men".                we can all profit .by the gift of the Holy Spirit given
                                              G.. C: Lubbers      to Rev.  -Kok..
                                                                      In the light of the above consideration it is de-
                                                                  plorable, that Rev. Kok seeks to show that Rev. Op-
                                                                  hoff once employed the term condition.
                                                                     Why?                         ,i /
                                                                     Because in  `the manner in which Rev. Kok does
        The Condition Debate in our .Chqrches                     this, the confusion that I and many lament, and which
                                                                  confusion Synod removed, is simply perpetuated.
    MY second observation is, that I am glad that Sy-                I ask in all candor, suppose Rev. Ophoff did use
 nod has spoken on' this .question  of the Promise, its           that term in the past (which has not yet been pointed
 scope, its objects and its appropriation. Synod of out) does that mean anything, does that prove that
 1951 was not stranded on the question of "conditions" it belongs in the building of Reformed Theology and
 in the abstract, but rather approached the lquestion             life as an essential element? Is Rev. Ophoff's use of
 from the viewpoint of the Promise. Synod spoke not               the term the standard of truth? If I am a contractor
 only of unconditional election, but also speaks of un- and Rev. SOphoff  should work for me and if he should
 conditional salvation which is ours by mea-us of faith.          insist that ,ten inches is a foot, would that make it
 That gave clarity to the question and cleared the at-            right?  ,Of course not. Then why refer to him, and
 mosphere from misunderstandings.                    .-.          his writings of the past? Besides Rev.  ,Ophoff has
    B.ut now the "debate" is again picked up {by some             disowned any writing that should use the term in that
 of the brethren. It is picked up by brother  Kok; I              sense. That .is his right. But does that make it right?
 have many wonderful things that I could say about                Not necessarily. Then why glean his writings from
 brother Kok. I shall never forget the particular kind-           this viewpoint if we wish to build?
 ness he has shown me in the past; he visited me in my               Did Rev. Ophoff ever use the term "condition" in
 deepest sorrows as none other. The Lord reward him.              the sense of a promise for all upon condition of faith?
  However, in all candor I wish to state here as my               I do not have the time to investigate. If he .did, show
 conviction, that brother Kok does not do well in this            him, and he will gladly retract, he has told `us.
matter of debate.                                                    So that is a closed chapter.
    Why? Because the manner of brother Kok's de-                     <Opening it simply means, that we have evil com-
bate cannot be constructive. r I wish to believe that             munications that corrupt good manners.
you mean well, brother Kok. But that does not make                   Let us not be like the children that throw our cake
it constructive. And all the talk in general about                in the mud and then becry the fact that it is- dir,ty.
practicing more love does not help constructively in              Let us not raise confusion in the minds of our people
any way. I know it is the oil in the machinery' of                and then .bemoan the fact in dust and ashes that the
our hearts. And. love is the- fruit of the Spirit.' But           people are confused.
it .does not guarentee correct building in Theological               What then?
Science; The rule of faith is the Word of  `God. And
this rule is layed down in the IConfessions. When we                 Are you of those who say that you do not want
lose sight of this we get off the track. And all the              the term "condition"? Well, and good. I too am not
talk and intention ,and resolutions of love mean no-              in love with the term at all, although no one can take
thing until they crystalize in a return to the Law `and           it out of my vocabulary.
the Prophets. Unless this is seen and done we sim-                   Are you one of those who say I don't need the term,
ply go down in the maelstrom of subjectivism, that                and I never use it? Well and  ,good. Then don't in-
is, the sin `of being our own xrule.of  faith!                    sist on its being a good term overagainst those who
    Now, I believe, that brother K.ok does not want               do not want it.
this subjectivism. _                                                 Has anyone hurt feelings overagainst the brother?
    tie 2didlaKM tbiS f&-Ql'kl hi-i hfW'b,                        Then there is Matthew 18 :2X7, Have we hurt b-y-


                                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B'EARER                                                   471

one's feeling and done him injustice in the market-
place, let us remove it there.                                                            S I O N 'S   Z A N G E N
   However, let us not in the name of love fail .to see
the need of proper tools and methods in Theological
Science and preaching. That would be a double cata-                                          Gods -Groote.  Goedirtiekheid
strophy.                              a'
   Our #God is a IGod that exhorts us to be good work-                                           (Psalm 118 ; Eerste Deel)
men that need not be ashamed.
   For Paul did not vainly write: "For other founda-                                Dit is eene lofzang op des Heeren groote goeder-
tion can no man lay than is laid, which is Jesus ,Christ.                        t i e r e n h e i d .
Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, sil-                                Die lofzang moet hier op aarde geleerd  worden.
ver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; every man's                            In den hemel  doet men dat als vanzelf. Daar behoeft
work shall be made manifest ; for the day shall de-                              men niet te  leeren. om  goed te  doen.'  D&r is men
clare it, because i,t shall be revealed by fire ; and the                        goed.
fire. shall try every man's work what sort it is. If                                Doch hier op aarde is men van nature kwaad, boos,
any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon,                              verdorven en verkeerd. Hier op aarde vervult men het
he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall                               doe1 niet waartoe ,de Heere alle dingen schiep. Er is
be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall                            slechts 6Bn doel, en dat e&m ,doel is ,de verheerlijking
be saved; yet so as by fire."                                                    van des Heeren`naam.
   Colleagues, read the blue-print.                                                 Dat  doe1 bereikt niemand  imeer. Dat wil zeggen,
   In the line of the Reformed Fathers, let us build.                            niet van nature. `Men doet juist andersom: en daarom
   That will stand in that day.                                       ,          zijn  we  verkeerd. Wij  stellen.  ons ten  doe1 om een
                      .                                 G. Lubbers               god te zijn voor onszelven.
                                                                                    En zoo moeten we opgeroepen worden  om terug te
                           ----;:-;-                                             keeren tot dat verheven doe1 om God te loven en te
                                                                                 prijzen.
                                                                                    En als die oproeping gepaard gaat met wat onze
                           CLAS3I.S  WE,ST                                       vaderen  de krachtdadige, of de eigendommelijke roe-
  All delegates in need of lodging during the Sep-                               ping Goods noemden, dan is het goed.  Want dan luis-
tember meeting of Classis West, please write to Mr.                              tert de mensch.     En dan  begint hij hier `op aarde
J. Vander Top, Doon, Iowa.                                                       eenigzins IGod to loven.
                                                                                    Die oproeping geschiedt in de kerk.
                                                                                    En die oproeping `hebben we hier te overdenken.
                      -    : -              - :    -                                Looft `den Heere !
                 *                                                                  De lieflijkste bezigheid voor den mensch.
                                                                                    Loven van God is om het .den Heere te vertellen
                      ACTS OF SYNOD                                        ~.    hoe goed en hoe lieflijk Hij is.
   `The Acts of the Synod of 1951, including the re-                                Vooral bet feit, dat, Zijn naam hier Heere is, heeft
visions made on the Declaration of Principles, are now                           ons veel te zeggen. Als ik die boodsehap uit  Wilde
available. Please address your requests to Rev. J.                               putten kwam ik er nooit mee klaar. Er zit een eeu-
Howerzyl,  Sltated Clerk of Synod, 515 Third Ave., E.,                           wigheid van zaligheid in dien NAAM : De .Heere  !
IOskaloosa,  Iowa. Enclose $1.00 for  each copy or-                                Dat is de verbondsnaam van  #God. Die naam  ver-
dered: Please send all remittances for copies received                           telt het ons, mdat Hij de eeuwig Getrouwe is die nooit
to the above address.                                                            laat varen de werken Zijner  handen. Die  trouwe
                                                                                 houdt en eeuwig leeft : Zijn naam is Heer der Heeren.
                                                                                    Zoo oud  `God is zoo oud is Zijn verbondsliefde
                           -::::                                                 voor Zijn volk, dat Hij van eeuwigheid gekend heeft
                                                                                 in onbegrijpelijke, eeuwige, IGoddelijke  lief,de.
                             _.  !     . .                  .                        En daarvan zal -de dichter  ons verhalen.
                            "          :.,                                           Looft Hem dan, want .Hij is immers goed? Want
       In heav'n, and. earth, and .airi:`:and seas,                              Zijne goedertierenheid is in eeuwigheid.
       God executes His firm decrees;                                                Hij is  goed.  En Zijne goedertierenheid is in  eeu-
       And by His saints it stands  eonfessed,                                   w i g h e i d .
       That .what He does is ever best.                                              Gods goedertierenheid hebben we al zoo .vaak be-

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

zongen in deze lange reeks van overdenkingen! En                 Dat brengt ons tot een sch.oone gedachte, een ge-
we zullenhet nooit zat worden. We zullen het-nu weer          dachte die ons zal doen zingen in de hemelzalen. ~3.
doen.                                                            Israel is de Vorst aGods. `Israel is het volk Gods
   .Zijn  8Goedertierenheid  is  -die deugd waarin alles      van alle eeuwen.
Hem dringt om Zijn`volk  goed te zijn en  Zijn  volk             Hoe is dat zoo geworden?
goed te  doen..  Die deugd is zoo rijk en  .zoo  ,allesom-       Ziet ge : wij  allen  waren zondaren geworden in
vattend, dat de Heilige Geest elders zegt, `dat alle ding-    Adam. Er is absoluut geen verschil tusschen de ver-
en ons medewerken ten goede. De Heere gebruikt                korenen en de verworpenen. Onze naam is eenvoudig :
het geheele heelal en al zijn volheid om Zijn volk tech       kinderen  des toorns.
maar goed te  doen. Hij is hun goed. Dat wil zeggen,             Doch de Heere heeft ons liefgehad van eeuwigheid,
dat Hij hen liefheeft. En Hij doet hen  goed. En              zeiden we zoo straks.
dat wil zeggen, .dat alles wat IGod in de historie doet          Welnu, toen de uitverkorenen in de zonde vielen,
is tot de komst van het Koninkrijk, waar  dit volk            toen is God gekolmen  om hen  :te roepen uit den dood
zal .pralen  van schoonheid, belonkt met `t `Goddelijk.       tot in het leven. En principiekl  is dat de komst van
oog.                                                          Jezus Christus in het vleesch. Zonder dien Zone Gods
  -.Er is een tekst in  ~Gods  Woord waar dit lieflijk        kon #God ons niet roepen  uit den dood totin het leven.
gezegd wordt. Ge vindt dien tekst in Deuteronomium            De straf op de zonde is de dood, en die dood is de eeuwi-
33 :26-29, waar we  ,Gods  Woord,  aldus lezen :  "Nie-       gedood. (God had A.dam niet kunnen roepen vanuit het
mand is er gelijk IGod, o Jeschurun, die op den hemel         kreupelhout indien Jezus niet beloofd had om te ko-
vaart tot uwe hulp, en met Zijne hoogheid op de bo-           men in de volheid des tijds. God had Zijn volk niet
venste wolken. De eeuwige God zij  u tot eene  wo-            kunnen weldoen in de vier duizend  jaren  v66r de
ning, en van onderen eeuwige armen; en Hij verdrijve          komst van ,Jezus, als Jezus niet beloofd had dat Hij
,den vijand voor uw aangezicht en zegge: Verdelg! Is-         stellig komen zou om te doen den wille `Gods.
rael dan zal zeker alleen wonen, en Jakobs oog zal               Het zit alles vast op die komst en dat werk van
zijn op een land van koren en most; ja, zijn  hemel           Jezus.
zal van dauw druipen. Welgelukzalig zijt gij, o Is-              En die komst van Jezus is eigenlijk de komst van
rael, wie is  u gelijk?  IGij zijt een volk verlost door      God in het vleesch.
den Heere, het schild uwer hulpe, en die een zwaard              En toen is de Zone Gods gestorven in onze plaats.
is uwer hoogheid ; daarom zullen zich uwe vijanden            Hij stierf den dood in onze plaats. En toen Hij dan
geveinsdehjk aan u.onderwerpen  en gij zult op hunne          de geheele straf "Gods tegen de zonde van Zijn volk ge
hoogten treden."                                              leden had en neerlag  in'-het stof des doods, toen heeft
   iLet er op, dat  hemel en aarde, vriend en vijand          God Hem opgeroepen uit den dood, en Hem gezet aan
mede moet werken. om de welgelukzaligheid van Is-             Zijne rechterhand. En dat is principieel onze roeping,
rael te verwerkelijken.                                       en onze aanname.
       En zoo is het altoos geweest, en zoo zal het  al-         ,En dat maakt ons tot een Israel Gods.
toos zijn.                                                       En dat is ook het Evangelie.
       Ik denk niet dat er iets heerlijker is dan de over-
denking van die gedachte. En zij is ook de  betee-               En daarin komt ook uit de groote, de geweldige
kenis van -des Heeren naam voor ons. Zoo is het al-           goedertierenheid  ,Gods.
toos geweest. Denkt er eens aan : God heeft ons altoos           Zal Israel dan niet loven?
bemind. Nooit is Hij ons tegen geweest. Hij heeft                "Het huis Aarons zegge nu dat Zijne goedertieren-
ons gekend in de-voorkennis  van Zijn liefde, en in die       heid in eeuwigheid is."
voorkennis heeft Hij ook besloten om`ons goed te doen          Het huis Aarons.
tot in der ,eeuwigheid.                                          Dmat is, het huis der priesteren. En Aaron zelf is
 . `t Is altoos zoo geweest.                                  de eerste Hoogepriester.
 _ En `.t zal altoos zoo zijn.                                   Dat had ik eigenlijk niet zoo moeten zeggen, want .
       Wat een onbeschrijflijk rustige gedachte; wat on-      er is EEN geweest die Hoogepriester was v&jr hem.
uitsprekelijke troost voor God volk.                          En die EENE is Jezus.
       Looft Hem dan.- Dat het er zoo bij staat met Gods         En ,dan is het eigenlijk nog niet goed. Wanteigen-
vdlk moet ook de spoorslag zijn om Hem. Se loven en           lijk.is  `God Zelf de Hoogepriester. Hij is het die  of-
te prijzen. Vertelt het Hem, dat' Hij  goed is, dat           fert. En Hij offerde Zijn Eigen Eerstgeboren Zoon.
Zijne goedertierenheid tot in ,der eeuwigheid is.             Hij had niets liever dan dien Zoon, doch Hij heeft Hem
       "Dat Israel nu zegge dat Zi.jne goederterierenheid     voor ons allen overgegeven.
in eeuwigheid is."                                   _'          En nu ziet ge  -bet  verband, of,  liever, de  reden


                                      ?lYI;[:E   STANDA'RP   BEAREd                                                 473

 waarom het huis Aarons vooral ,den .Heere  moet loven liefde Gods noopt  Hem om het den hemel en de aarde
 vanwege Zijn goedertierenheid die in eeuwigheid is.         te vertellen hoe goed en hoe lieflijk Hij is.
     Indien iemand, dan heeft Aaron dat tech `we1 ge-           "Uit. de benauwdheid heb it den Heere aangeroe-
 zien. Wat was zijn gedurige bezigheid? Dit:  lam-           pen: de Heere heeft mij verhoord, stellende mij in de
 meren slachten en- offeren. Hij moest zich bekommeren       ruimte."
 om de. zonden van het volk van God. En hij moest                Daar hebt ge weer bet Evangelie in het .klein. Er
 gedurig bidden voor dat volk.        _                      zi t ,bijna alles van -bet Evangelie in.
     Altemaal typische bezigheden die in herinnering            De zanger was in groote benauwdheid.
 brachten de groote zaken van het eeuwig Evangelie.             Benauwdheid: wat een  trefl'end  woord. Hoe  duil
     Want al die lammeren die hij slachtte -konden de        delijk beschrijft het-de ervaring van Gods volk.
 zonden niet afwasschen. Doch zij wezen vooruit naar            Benauwdheid wil zeggen, dat men in een plaats
 het Lam van #God, dat de zonde der wereld weg               komt die te klein is voor ons. Een ieder heeft een
                                                     zou
 nemen; En al zijn abekommerdheid  voor het volk ,Gods       zekere  inhoudsruimte',  en  xbeslaat  een zekere plaats.
 was op zijn best gebrekkig: Doch het zag vooruit op         Wehm, als die filaats ontbreek:t, als men ergens moet
 de bezorgheid van den grooten Hoogepries!ter  die wer-      verkeeren waar de ruimte voor onze inhoud ontbreekt;
 kelijk, Goddelijk volmaakt Zich zou bekommeren om           dan, ja dan wordt het benauwd. Dan worden we ver-
 de zonden van Gods volk. En Hij zou het bewijzen in pletterd. Zeg, dat men zeven, of acht kubieke voeten
 Zij,n lijden en sterven, in Zijn schreien en brullen, in    inhoudsruimte noodig heeft voor zijn lichaam, en als
 Zijn  angsten en benauwdheden, in Zijn  sterven van         `men dan weggedrukt wordt in een ruimte die slechts
 den eeuwigen dood.                                          Qen kubieke voet groot is, dan wordt men  verplet-
     Daarom: Gij huis Aarons:  looft  ,den Heere!  In-       t&d, dan wordt men weggepersd,  dan komt men jam-
 dien iemand, clan zijt gij in aanraking. gekomen met        merlijk om.                                      ..:  `.
 de teekenen een zegelen van Gods wondere, eeuwige              En dat is duizendmalen gesehied in het bange ver-
 goedertierenheid.                                           leden.    ,Ontelbaar zijn de stakkerds geweest die in
                                                             een plaats kwamen die te klein, te nauw, te eng voor
     "Dat degenen die den Heere vreezen, ~ILI zeggen dat     hen was.
 Zijne goedertierenheid in eeuwigheid is."                      En toeh is het erger, banger, benauwder als .de ziel
     Ik zou zeggen: dat is bet natuurlijkste van alles.      en de geest in de engte komen. En dat is het geval
`Indien zij het niet doen zouden, dan zouden de steenen      hier. Het gaat hier'niet over lichamelijke  benauwd;
 in de straten spreken.                                      heid, doeh over geestelijke benauwdheid der ziel van
     Die Hem vreezenis eigenlijk hetzelfde als te zeg-       ,Gods volk.
 gen: die Hem liefhebben. En  tech.  is er  .een ander          En dat is erg. Dan  -weet  men niet meer wat te
 woord gebruikt, het woord vreeaen.  Het vreezen van         doen. Dan wordt men  schier radeloos. De  psalmen
 God is de uiting ,der liefde van uit het oogpunt  van       van David zijn vol van beschrijvingen dier benauwd-
 Gods verhevenheid, majesteit en grootheid. Die deug-        hei.d. En al ,Gods volk weet van die benauwdheid.
 den ;Gods maken een indruk op het liefhebbende  hart
 van  #Gods kind, en de uiting van dien indruk is de           In dit  geval.is het  tamelijk- duidelijk,  -.dat de  be-
 vreeze `Gods.                                               nauwdheid veroorzaakt werd door de vijanden van den
   Die vreeze IGods is rein ; zij opent een fontein van zanger. Zie de verzen 6, 7, en 10-12. Het  waren
heil dat nooit vergaat.                                      zijn vijanden die het hem aandeden. Zij  waren het
     Zij is ook het beginsel der wijsheid, en op die waar- hie hem haten, hem omringden als bijen.
 heid moeten we'hier wijzen. Het behoort bij die God            E,n de groote vijand van al IGods volk is de duivel.
 vreezen om (God te loven. Ziet ge, de wijsheid Gods           . En hij is hun vijand omdat hij ruikt dat ze den
 is die .deugd  waarin Hij de lbeste middelen kiest en       Heere met zieh omdragen.  ~God is groot in het bin-
 de beste wegen bewandelt tot de bereiking van het           nenste van Son. ,God woont temidden van Zijn volk.
 hoogste doel, en dat doe1 is de verheerlijking van Zijn     En daarom haat de duivel dat volk, en gebruikt hij,
 naam. En als die deugd van wijsheid in ons woont,           de wereld om de kerk te benauwen.
 dan bewandelen ook wij de beste wegen en kiezen de           Maar dan gaat die kerk  aan bet  roepen tot God.
 beste middelen om dat hoogheerlijke  doe1 te  be- _Dat zegt de tekst: Uit de benauwdheid heb it den
 reiken. Ziet ge nu niet, dat het zeer natuurlijk is om      Heere aangeroepen. Daartoe lokt God ons ook. Hij
 die den Heere vreezen op te roepen tot het verkon;          zegt; Roep Mij aan in den dag der benauwdheid en
 digen van Zijn deugden.? Want immers, de vreeze             Ik zal U uithelpen, en gij zult Mij eeren. Dat had
 Gods -is het beginsel van alle ware wijsheid. De cir-_, deze .man ook gedaan. I-Iij had den Heere aangeloopen
[ kel is compleet. .                                         als een waterstroom. En de Heere verhoorde hem,
     Iemand  dig Gad  vreest heeft Rem  lief.    En die  .&xUende  h,em in de  ruimte.                        _


        474                             -    T H E   STAN0ARD  BEAB'ER                                                              _.  .~.
               Hoe dat geschiedde zullen de verdere verzen ons      least harmless. You wanted to eliminate all the names.
     '  leeren.                                                     So once more, brother. What is it for which you
               Maar de .dichter kwam in de ruimte. ,O ruimte te     are begging forgiveness ? Nothing much, certainly.
        hebben om te leven!                                         But you are mistaken brother.
               En dan te leven tot Gods eer in het vertellen van           Let us briefly pass in review the charges brought
        Zijn deugden !                                              against you-charges of dishonesty-and see whe-
               Dat is zaligheid!                                    ther .or not they are true.
                                                       G. Vos              DishonestzJ I. You  now say that you were para-
                                                                    phrasing my article, that section of it to which you re-
                                                                    fer as the "first few lines" (see your "apology", the
                                                                    last section of it). This your paraphrasing `Islaced  yen
                                      - .                           under the moral necessity of revealing. my name and
                                                                    of infor,ming.  the readers where my article could be
                   An Open Let&r to Rev. B. Kok.                    found in order that they could check the correct-
                                                                    ness of your paraphrase, especially so, because as we
        Dear Brother :-                                             shall see in a moment, instead. of actually paraphras-
                                                                    ing you wholly corrupted the paragraph in my .arti-
            I have read your "Apology", that you had printed        cle with which you were occupied. Yet you placed
        in the Standard  B.earer  for July 1.  It  divides into     your so-called paraphrase between the quotation
        three sections, the first two. of which form the first      marks and thereby you ascribed your corruption to
        part of your "Apology". It reads and I quote:               me.       It is glaringly obvious, isn't it brother, that
        "Whereas it was my intention .to eliminate- all             this your doing was grossly dishonest.
        names from the quotation which I quoted in the May                 Dishowsty II. Let me now show you how dishon-
        22 issue of Cer~ordia,  I somewhat paraphrased the          estly you dealt with that parapragh in my article that
        first few sentences. In doing so I did  no.t mean to        you say you paraphrased, but which you actually cor-
        misinterpret the author, but I now realize that it was      rupted even beyond recognition.                  I here place the
        unethical to change even a single word which was            paragraph as it had left my pen alongside of your
        pleated between quotation marks. For this I apolo-          corruption of it in order that you may see for yourself
        gize to the author, and beg his forgiveness. Whether        what you were up to.
        or not I .am deserving of all the charges brought a-
        gainst me, because' of this act of indiscretion, I will            The  paragraph  as it had      This same paragraph as
                                                                         left my pen:  It reads:          corrupted by  pcq brother,
-       leave to  ithe judgment of the readers. Here follows              "De,  Haan  should know,        reads:
       `the literal quotation, together with my paraphasing` however, that to the  cove-                    Also to the covenant. of
                                                                         nant of grace as well the        graoe God has attached  the
        it :"                                                            Land  attached  .a command       following conditional clauses:
            Your "apology", brother, contains one sentence               to  obey  (His voice, to keep    `if thou shalt hearken unto
                                                                         His covenant, to hearken un-     the voice  o,f the Lord thy
        that will  @`fail to make an impression. The sen-                to His voice.                    God  tu keep His  coienant'
        tence is this, and I quote: "For this I apologize to                                                  `if thou turn unto the
                                                                                                          `L&d thy  ,God with all thy
        the author and beg his forgiveness.                         I                                     heart' . . . `If  thog  obey my
            But tell me, brother, what' is it for which you are                                           voice indeed."  (boled type
                                                                                                          mine-O)
     . really begging forgiveness ? ,On your position you
        have done no wrong worth mentioning. Let us see                    Take notice, brother, of what you did. You did
        how true this is. Attend to the statement from your         this :
        pen that reads, and I quote: "Whether or not I am                  a) You removed from the paragraph as it had left
                                                                    my pen the name of De Haan.
+       deserving of all the charges brought against me, be-
        cause of this act of indiscretion, I will leave to                 b) You ,removed  from the paragraph as it left my
        the judgment of the readers." Taking you at  ,your          pen the section in bold type and placed in the room of
        word, you are doubtful whether you  are. deserving it the bold type sentences of your own choosing. Why
     -of all' the charges, and therefore you submit your            did you do that? The reason is obvious. You wanted
        case to the. judgment of the readers. To your way of        these sentences attached to the expression "cove-
       thinking you committed but one wrong. And even               nant of grace," as ,appearing in the paragraph as it
        this wrong you tone down by characterizing it by the        had left my pen. `And therefore you did just *that-
        word "indiscretion". And you tell  us. here that at         attach these sentences to that expression. And this
        the time you committed it, you didn't realize that fabrication of yours you then placed between the quo-
        you were doing anything amiss. You didn't mean to           tation marks and thereby ascribed it to me. Why
        misinterpret me, And your intention  wasgood, at            did  you  do that? The reason is obvious. You there-


                                      ,

                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D !   B E A R E R                                   475

 by thought to provide yourself with a statement, ap-       having said that I ~efzmd.to reveal his identity. You
 parently taken from my writing but actually manu=-         see the point, brother. Not alone that you failed to
 factured by yourself, whereupon ,to base your equally      inform the readers that the heavy emphasis on the
 fraudulent contention that I' am a teacher in the          word "conditional" was yours, but you even went so
 church addicted to the theory that there are condi-        far as to  ,tell the readers by the printed word that
Cons in the covenant of grace. That this was your           the emphasis was mine, and this thougli you knew
purpose is proved by what came from your own pen.           better. Here certainly you shall have to admit `that
 Having placed this corruption of yours before  -the        you deliberately spoke an untruth, unless .you now
 readers as inclosed between the ,quotation marks, you      want to excuse your doing by saying not ,aldne that
 made this comment: "From the above quotation it is         you had completely forgotten that a second or two pre-
 evident that the writer emphasizes that there are con-     viously you were the one who had capitalized the word
 ditions in the covenant of grace." This same state-        conditional but that in addition you had. actually gone
 ment heads your corruption. It reads: ."They  (mean-       to imagining within the ,space of those few seconds
 ing also me) emphasized that there are conditions          that the emphasis was mine. But what do you think?
 in the covenant of grace. , . (see quotation below) ."     Is this possible?
 This last parenthesis is yours, brother, not mine.            Dishonedy IV.  What did you find in my article
    No, I am not judging here hidden motives of your        that could really serve you as a basis for your false
 heart, brother, known to you and God alone. But I          contention that I am a teacher in the church addicted
 am here judging motives that lie on the surface and        to the view that there are conditions in the covenant'
 that lie there glaringly obvious. I am judging mo-         of grace? Nothing, absolutely nothing. 0 certainly,
 tives that you, yourself, reveal by your statements        I do state in that article of mine with which you were
 that I last quoted.                                        occupied that- in giving form to the duties and obli-
    Dishonesty III. You capitalized the term "condi-        gations of the covenant of grace the  Lord often a-'
 t.ional" appearing in that section of my article that      vailed Himself of the conditional sentence. But that
 you quoted and corrupted, thus - ,CONIDI.TXONAL.           you were fully. aware that you could do nothing with
 And not alone that you failed to inform your readers       this statement from my pen as a prop for your false
 that this heavy emphasis on. this word was yours, but      contention that I teach and even emphasize that there
 you even went to the extent of -telling them by the        are conditions in the covenant of grace is evident
 printe.d word `that this emphasis was mitie. You deny      from your mutilations of my article, particularly from
 this? But it is true. Attend once more to the state-       your heavy emphasis on the term "conditional" and
 ment from your pen that I just quoted. Take notice         from your ascribing these mutilations and this em-
 once more of what you wrote. Verily this: "They            phasis to me by including them within the quotation
_ (including also me-Ophoff. Parenthesis mine-O)            marks.
 emphasize that there are conditions in the covenant           Dishonesty V. You even presented me to your rea-
 ~of grace." .Then you began quoting me. You set            ders as a worse errorist than Dr. M. De Haan. For
 out with corrupting those "first few lines". Coming        you told the readers that in opposition to some-and
 to the word "conditional," and to provide your `false      you had reference particularly to De Haan~who  in-
 contention with some  .more  manufactured proof, you       sist that grace is unconditional; and with it the cove-
 capitalized the term. Having-done quoting me, you          nant of grace, I teach and even emphasize that there
 made this remark: "From the above quotation it is          are conditions in the covenant of grace. Attend once
 evident that the writer (meaning me-parenthesis            more to your own words already quoted:           "They
 mine-O) emph.a.sieed that there are conditions in the      (meaning also me-parenthesis mine-O) even  .em-
covenant of grace." (Italics mine-o).                       phaske that there are conditions in the covenant .of
    In the last section of your "apology" you "humbly       grace  ,over against  thosie  who . . .  mikfained that
 apologize" for not having informed the readers that        grace was conditional" (italics mine-C?) .
 this emphasis was yours and not mine. But you should          Dishonesty VI. By your mutilations of my writing,
 have gone much farther, brother, than to tender your       by your including your.-corruptions  within the quota-
 regrets for having withheld from your readers this         tion marks, and by your boldly and falsely stating
 information. If I fell a gathering of people audibly       that I teach and even go to the extent of emphasizing
 and by spoken word that I refuse to introduce to them      that there are conditions in the covenant of grace, you '
 an acquaintance of mine with whom..I.  enter their com-    put your theories in my pen and mouth and then YOU
 pany, later on, if I wish to make amends, I must go        told your readers that your withholding my name
 much farther .than merely apologize to the man for my      would perhaps be unethical, if you had criticised,  mc,
 failure to introduce him. I must beg-his pardon for        meaning my views, but that,' seeing YOU are in whole


476                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                            ~-
hearted agreement with my teaching,- it is different.                                   es in the zllemn'duty of keefi-            whom it includes in the solemn
So- you wrote brother, though yen knew right well                                       ing the way of the Lord.                   duty of keeping the way of
                                                                                        This  musf follow  fncun  the              the Lord.    This must follow
from that very article of mine that I loathe your con-                                  very nature of  thmgs.        The     from the very nature of
ditional theology like a plague and knew also that I                                    thought-element entering  in-         things. The thought-element
                                                                                        to the very make-up of the                 entering into the very make
strike at that theology .with all my might in that very                                 very covenant idea is the                  up of the very covenant idea
article. And think, in connection herewith, of your                                     conoept   friendship,  obediences          is the concept  friendship, o-
                                                                                        love.    The  covena&ng  God
telling the readers that the reason you omitted my                                                                            bedience,   love. The  covenant-
                                                                                        therefore  mu& insist that the        ing God  .therefore  must  in-
name is that you so whole heartedly agree with me.                                      sinner  ibreak  with the world             sist that the sinner break with
                                                                                        and, joining himself to  Gold
Nay brother, this is not the reason of your omitting                                                                          the world and joining himself
                                                                                        love, serve and obey Him as                to God love, serve and obey
my name. There is another reason. But I will leave                                      His Saviour .and Benefactor .  `.          Him as His Saviour and Bene-
                                                                                        The covenant of grace,  there-
it to you to state it.                                                                                                        factor . . .      The covenant of
                                                                                        fore, as well  ,as  <the  xovenant    grace, therefore, as well as the
       Let LIS now place side by side the gist of th.e quo-                             .of Sinai must have its  com-         covenant of Sinai must have
tation in its entirety as it had left my pen and the gist                               mands to be heeded . .  .its          its commands to be heeded
                                                                                        God to be loved and  ad&ed.9'. its  Goad  to be loved and  a:
of this same .quotation as mutilated by you.                                                                                  dosed . .  ."
                                                                                            Take notice, brother, of the discrepencies  between
  The  auotation   `as it left  mv`         The same quotation as  muti-
pen. It` reads:                          l.ated by you.                                 the quotation as reproduced by you and as it had left
   ["D<e  Baan  #should   k n o w ,         [Allso  to the covenant of                  my pen,-discrepencies that I have enclosed between
however. that tiothe covenant            grace God has attached the
of grace as well the Lord at-            following conditional clauses:                 brachets. Is it not plain as the day that by the way
tached a command to obev His             "If thou  Ishalt hearken  untlcl               you changed the quotation as it had left my pen you
voice, to keep His covenant,             the voice of the Lord thy God
to hearken unto His voice.]              to keep his covenant' . . . If                 gave to it a thrust that it does not have as originated
Abraham  was   comman.ded to             thou turn unto the Lord thy                    by me, also by your -presenting  it to the readers as
get him out of his  c~cnmtry             God with all thy heart' : . . .
. . . He did so and the Lord             `If ye obey my voice indeed.`]                 lifted by you out of its context?
.made  him a great nation . . .          Abraham was  cccmmanded  to                        Now these ,are the dishonesties of your first article.
Certainly, if Abraham' would             get  him out of his country. . .
have cleaved to his father's             He did so .amd the Lord made                   -You deny them? But you may not deny them. They
house . . . he  lyould  not have         him a great nation. . Certain-                 are too glaringly true.               .
been blessed. At a later period          ly, if  Ab.naham  would have
the Lord again appeared unto             cleaved to his father's house                      Let us now examine more particularly the first
him and said: `I am God Al-                  .he would  nlot  have  been                part of your "apology". Let us get it before us once
mighty; walk before  me  and             blessed. At a latter period the                more. You write and I quote: "Whereas it was my in-
be thou  perfec~t.  And I will           Lord again appeared unto him
make my covenant between Me              and ,scaid:  `I am God Almighty;               tention to `eliminate all names from the quotation
.and thee . . . And on hi!s way          walk before. me  and be  tihohI0m.r
to Sodom, the Lord turned to                                                            which I quoted in the May 22 issue of  ConconcEict, I
                                         perfect.  And I will make my
His heavenly companion and               covenant between  mie and thee                 somewhat paraphrased the first few sentences. In
asked him whether he  shoul:d.               .And on His way to Sodom
hide from Abraham the thing              ge Lord turned to His heaven:                  doing so, I did not mean to misinterpret the author,
which He was about to do;                ly companion and  .asked  him                  but I now realize that it was unethical to change e-
aeeimg  that Abraham would               whether he  should hide from
bmecome  a great  .and mighty                                                           ven a single word which was placed between quota-
                                         Abraham the thing which He
nation  . . . `For I know,' tie          w,as about to do; seeing  *that                tion marks. For this I apologize to the author and
Lord  coa,tinued,   that he will         Abraham would become `a great                  beg his forgiveness. Whether or not I am deserving
command  his children . . .              and. mighty  mation.  .  .`For I
that the Lord may bring up-              know,' the Lord continued,                     of all-the charges brought against me because of this
on Abraham that which he                 `that he will command his                      act of indiscretion, I will leave to the judgment of
hath spoken to him' -  Gen.              children . . that the Lord may
18:17-l?.                                b r i n g   tupon   A b r a h a m   th$t       the readers."
  Mark you, the  covemant   es:          which he h&h saoken of ,him.'                      Brother, you were so atrociously dishonest in your
tablished with Abraham, [De              Ge~n.  1835i9.  - -
Haan  admits `to be] a cove-                [Mark you, the covenant es-                 treatment of my article that words cannot express it.
nant of grace. That this cove-           7tablished  with Abraham is] a                 Yet, you have the courage to appear in print with
nant as well involves those              a-nrenant  of grace. That this
whom it includes in well  !de-           coverrant  8s well involves those              a statement such as the above? Shame on you bro-
fined duties: hhat the kind  ~crf        w h o m   i t   incledas  i n   well-          ther.
phrase the Lord availed Him-             defined duties: that  t:he  kind
self of in formulating these             o f   p h r a s e .   t h e   L o r d   a -        You set out with declaring your intention.  You
duties was  oftem the  [Condi-           vailed Himself of in formu-                    wanted merely to eliminate all the names from the
tiorml]  sentence is evident             lating  athese duties  was often
from the epistles. A single              the [~CONDITIONAL]  `senten-                   quotation.      It seems that you bring this in not a-
passage:     `And ye that were           ce is evident from the epistles.               lone to explain but also to excuse your dishonesties.
sometimes  ,alienated  and  ene-         A sinfgle passage: `And ye that
miles . . . yet now he hath re-          were sometimes alienated ,and                  For you nowhere condemn this your doing (your eli-
conciled . . . t o   praszent   y o u    enemies. . .yet now he bath re-                mination of names). It seems that you want to be
holv  and blameless . . . : if           conciled. . .to present y~nx.  ho-
ye "continue in the faith' -             ly and blameless. . .: if ye don-              telling the readers here, that at least your intentions
Cal.           2:G.                      tinue in the faith' Cal.  256.                 were good, at least harmless. But fact is,  jbrother,
  So then,  fnmn the above               So  Lthen, from  the. a b ov e
cited Scripture it ,appears that         cited Scripture it appears                     that your elimination of the names from the quotation
the. covenant of grace, too. as          t h a t   t h e   c o v e n a n t   o f        was, .for reasons already stated, by itself dishonest.
llvell   ;as the covenant of Sinai,      grace as well as the cove-
involves those whom. it includ-          nant of Sinai, involves those                  You persist in denying this?


                I                       T H E   S T A N D `A R D   B E A R E R                                            477

     And then you go on to say that you di'd not mean          readers that the  capit$alization of this word was by ,
  to.misinterpr.et  me., But consider what you did. ,You       the aughor. ,-And there is not another capitalized word
  deliberate!y  corrupted my article, that section  of  it     in  hii entire article except one expression.        And
 with which you were occupied. You ~deliberateljr  and         this is-by De Haan." You see, brother, there is a dif-
  knowingly - not in your sleep, certainly - included          ference between underscoring a word and capitalizing
  your corruptions  .within the  iquotation. marks and         it. To capitalize it is to place upon it a much heavier
 thereby knowingly ascribed them to me. And yet you            emphasis.
  &id not  metan to  misinn6erpret   me? Is this possible?      No% this is what you would have written here,
  And then you go on to say that at the time you failed        had you been of `a `mind to write the truth.  $0 I
  to realize  .that you were doing anything wrong? Is          can't accept this "humble apology" of yours. It is
  this possible? You may answer. And you character-            not truthful. And for the. same reason I cannot be-
  ize your  dishone.sties by the  ter,m "indiscretion"?        cause I may not except  the.  iest of your "apology".
  And you say that you paraphrased uihile the. fact is         It is not truthful. It is untruthful from beginning to
  that `you changed the very meaning of the paragraph          end.  In apologizing as you  do, you simply add in-
  and thereby corrupted it? And you limit your mutil-          sult to injury.
  ations of that section. of my article with which you            You must really confess your dishonesties, brother.
 were -directly occupied to its first few lines -while the     You should appear in the St&ndard Bectrer and in Con-
 fact is that you went through the entire section o-           corclia  with the following statement:
 mitting whole sentences, changing the meaning of a
  paragraph there, striking out the name of De Haan                                 Announcement
  wherever it appears and capitalizing' the word "con-
  ditional" and  %hereby  placing not  dnly the section        I, the undersigned, herewith confess that I was gross-
  of my article that you quoted but in the final instance      ly dishonest in my treatmerit of the author's article
 .the entire article of mine in a. drastically wrong light?    contained in The Standard Bearer .for May 15, 1931,
   Let us now attend to the third and last section of          Vol. VII, p. 368-372 and bearing the title: "Dr. M.
  your. "apology". You write :. "Instead of quoting the        De Haan on Baptism and the Covenants."` I confess
 last two or three sentences literally as I should have        that, I change.d the section of the author's article that
  done, but ,did not, because I attempted to convey the j quoted and that I thereby attempted, tinsuccessfully
  thought, without disclosing the names,  I parapharsed        however, to make it say that "there are conditions in
 them as f,ollows." Theri follows your so-called para-         the covenant of grace". This statement,  ..rr+ch less
phrase. With this  paraphrases I already have dealt.           what it teaches, can nowhere be .gotten from the arti-
                                                               cle in question. Fact is that it teaches- teaches                 %
     What I want to bring out in connection with the           plainly and  vigqrously- the very opposite,, namely
  above lines from your pen is that here, too, you are         that God being what He is-God, there can be no such
 not speaking the truth. Please take notice. Here              thing as a covenant of :God with man dependent for its
 you again tell your readers that you were parap?:             fulfilment on man and not on God.-B. Kok.
  ing those last two or three sentences, that is, giving
  them a different form while reproducing their sense.            As it is, brother, you beg the "author's" forgive-
  But the fact is that you erased these sentences and          ness without really confessing anything. This is not
 placed in their room sentences of your .own choosing.         right. It had been much better, had you  apo@gized
  And .you now tell the readers that you were nttempt- not at all, than to apologize the way you do.                -,
 +& to convey the though ? ' Does it look like your were          I have also read your latest attempt  (Conco&a
 attempting to convey the thought? +d it is certain-           July 14) to show that I now hold views contrary to
 ly not true .that you had to deal virith that paragraph in those to which I was addicted twenty one years ago.
 my writing as-you did in order to free it of the name         I shall take care of this latest aDtempt  of yours in.this
 De Haan. Your contention here is as untrue as any-            direction in an article to appear in the next issue of
 thing can possibly be untrue.                                 The !Standard Bearer. I shall make clear that in that
     The final statement of you "apology" reads and I          article of mine from- which you quote, you have no-
 quote : "I also offer my humble apology for not hav-          thing on me, and that all you accomplish is to involve
  ing informed the reaJers that I underscored the word         yourself in new difficulties. But I should think, bro-
 "conditiopal". All the rest of the underscoring was           ther, that before continuing your series, yoti should
 by the author." .                                             have wanted first to reach with me an honorable
     This statement, too, is untruthful. You  sizoul$          settlement regarding the article of mine in the treat-
 have written this: ",Despite  the fact that I capitalized     ment' of which you' were so dishonest.
 the word %bnd~tional"~ I went so far as to. tell the                                                    G. M. Ophoff


  4     7    8                               T      H         E                STANdlARDbBEABER   - .

                   The Battle of the Ages                                       eat! So it was the most glorious of created animals
                                                                                that God had made which was the occasion for her
                                                                               fall. Instead they both should have said: It was the
                  "AnId I will  put  ernmity between  -k.hee  and the
              woman, and between thy r,zed  and her seed; it shall -evil of our heart which made us sin against Thy com-
              Ibruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."               mandment! It shows that God found the creatures
                                                     - G e n .   3:15.         that He had made as friends of the devil.
       The  whole   world  is engaged in  a  universal   war!                      But.  (God  remesbered  His  ,Covenant which cove-
       And I would like to emphasize that this war in-                         nant is eternal. It is His eternal goodpleasure that
  cludes every man and woman on earth, be they wick-                           the elect human race of man shall staqd before His
  ed or good, rich or poor, strong or weak.  It also in-                       throne in order to praise Him forever. Man shall
- eludes all devils and angels, the powers of th.e air and                     be His friend serv&nt, and man shall acknowledge Him
  the good ministrations `of the celestial spirits. c                          as his `Sovereign Friend.
       It is for that reason that I call this war: the Bat-                       But it never was #God's intention to have His eter-
  tle of the -Ages ! For, mark you, this war has lasted                        nal Covenant realized in Adam as the head of the hu-
  almost as long as the world has existed. The ,decla-                         man race. And  Itherefore  Adam must fall in order
  ration of the war.1 would like to meditate on was made                       to make room for the real Kead of the hutian race,
  by God. in the very morning of the world's hisiory,                          and that is Jesus Christ the Lord. If you would know
. and I quote: And I will put &n.mity between thee and                         more of that, I would like-to point you to that wonder-
  the woman, and between thy seed and he? seed ; it                            ful portion of God's Word which we find in Colossians
  shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.                       1:15-19. Mark especially  verse 18, the last part, and
  G e n .   3:X.                                                               verse 19. @here we read that Christ must have the
       The occasion for God's declaration of war, as also                      preeminence in all things, And.  why? Because it
  the designation of the two sides in the conflict, is the                     pleased the Father that in Him should all the fulness
  fall of man. Adam and Eve,' created in the beaute-                           dwell ! There you have the deep reason both for the
  ous image of `God, were very happy in Paradise. . But                        fall of man and his restoration. And this restora-
  the .devil came, using the serpent as his instrument,                        tion is in and through `Jesus Christ ithe Lord. That
  and sowed the pernidous lie in the heart of Eve, and                         is the real content of the text which we chose for our
  through her, in the heart of Adam: Ye shall not sure-                        meditation.
  ly die! This lie of the devil was diametrically opposed
  to ,God's  truth: "But of the tree of knowledge of good                        Let us inquire more in detail, and see Jesus Christ
  .and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: `for `in tlie day that the Lord.
  thou `eatest thereof thou shalt surely die !" And  otir                        IGod said t And I will put enmity between thee and
  first $&her and mother believed the lie of the devil,                        the woman !
  rather than the truth of *God who created them, and                             This was spoken to  the serpent first of  all: The
  the result was that they indeed2 died, they died at once,                    serpent tias more subtle than any ~beast  of the field
  physically, spiritually, and -eternally. .iOh yes, I will `which the Lord God had made.. And it was, undoubt-
  readily admit that it did not look that way immediate-                       edly, for that reason that the devil used it in order
  ly, but they died in this threefold way at once, but in                      to ensnare man in the meshes of his lies. By virtue. of
  princip!e.  Death is enmity against  !God, rebellion  a-                     being the most subtle, this animal stood closest to man.
  gaintit our Maker, from our side, and the wrath of                              But that this serpent was an instrument of the de-
  God, resulting in eternal desolation, from God's side.                       vil, so that it was really Satan who tempted Eve, is
       Death is horrible.                                                      plain from Rev. 12 :9 and 20 :2. There we read : "And
       Arid in that state God searched them out.' He came                      the great dragon was cast out that old serpent, called
  and looked for, them in the ga_rden,  and the wonder-                        the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole
  ful voice of God was heard by Adam and %ye: Adam,                            world." .And: "And he laid hold on thk .dragon,  that
  where art thou? And thereupon the Lord inquires                              old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan, and bound
  into the sorry state into which they have fallen. You.                       him a thousand years." Bo it is plain from these
  can tell by the responses of Adam and Eve that they                          Scriptures that the  devil was behind this serpent,
  have become of the party of the' devil: they accuse                          arid spoke to our first parents through it.
  other than themselves: Adam points to Eve, and Eve                              And the awful state of affairs existed that God's
  points to the devil. They really imply that  ,God is                         creation, in its very head, was an `ally 6f the devil.
  the fault of everything:  Adani says: The  woman                                And, in order to maintain His eternal Covenant,
  whom Thou gave&  to be with me, she gave me of the                           God said: But I will put enmity between thee and the
  tree,-  and I did eat ! So it is really God's fault that he                  woqaxi!
  ate,  &.wd Eve ;  The  dapmt  beguiled  me, and I did                           R;i&tly  considered,  we have in  this &cre, af kad


                                                                                  .-
                                     THE  S T A N D A R D   BEA.RER                                                    479

 a wonderful blessing for Eve. It is wonderful if you         the meaning- of this enmity which God put between
 are an enemy of the devil.                                   the devil and the woman Eve, and, of course, Adam
    &pet us noti see what kind of eriemy this is. What        is also included here. That the Lord said this to Eve
 is the natpre of the battle between Eve and the devil,       and not fir& of all to Adam is undoubtedly because
 and between his seed and her seed?                           she was the first to fall for the wiles of the devil.
                                                                  Note further that  `God will  a@o put enmity be-
    Attend  that this  awfui battle `is not a battle of       tween the seed of the devil and the seed of the woman.
 flesh and blood. It is of a spiritual nature. Paul               You will remember that we proved from Scripture
 will enlighten us.' He said: "For we wrestle not  a-         thti the battle of the ages is spiritual in character.
 gainst flesh and blood, but against principalities, a-        We found that in Ephesians 6 :12. Well, it is no dif-
gainst powers,. against the rulers of ~the darkness of p feren: with these two kinds of seeds. They also are
 this world, against spiritual wickedness- in high pla-        the spiritual seed of the two parties.
 ces",-Eph. 6 : 12.                                               The devil .has! a seed. We all know that the clevil
    From the moment that God spoke these words,                is a spirit.. He is .one of the angels which God cre-
Eve and Adam became enemies of the devil and all he            ated and which fell away from God, dragging with
 stood for. They hated him and also his spiritual wick& him a great host of angels  who all became wicked,
 edness, wherever they would manifest themselves in            and are called.demons,  devils, wicked angels, etc. And
 the subsequent history of the world.                         -a spirit cannot bring forth natural seed. His seed,
    How did tliis come abput ? How did God put this            his offspring is spiritual. We  read. of that genera-
 enmity  ,betw@en the devil and this woman? `The               tion very often in the Bible. Attend to the following
 answer is easy: God did this by regenerating Adam             places. of Holy Writ. In I John 3 :7-IO John differ-
 and Eve. Their hearts and lives had become corrupt.           entiates between children of God and children of the
 They had died. That is tantamount to saying  that             devil. In Ephesians 2 :2 we read that we, even as the _
 they loved darkness rather than t'h& light. Now dark-         whole world, once walked according to the course of            ,,
 ness is the sum total of all evil and wickedness. And         this world- according to the prince of the, power of
 the light is the sum total of all that .is good and love-     the air, the spirit that now worketli on the children of
 ly. That is why ;God is called a Gight, and the  EGOS-        disobedience !    Terrible condition. Imagine  to be a
 pel affirms that there is no darkness. at all in Him.         chi1.d of disobedience ! But the clearest passage we                 1
 In other words, God recreated- Adam and Eye, so that          find in John 8:44, where we read that Jesus looked
 they became His children spiritually. It means that           upon wicked men and said to them: Ye are of your
 when Adam and Eve departed fr.om Paradise after               father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye wil
 this conversation between ,God, the devil and our first       do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and a-
parents, they walked away as friends of (God and en-           bode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.
 emies of the devil and devilish things. They were re-         When he speaketh a ,lie, he speak&h of his own: fo
 created in the express image of God. I  .would like           he is a liar and ithe father of it.
 to .point out that this image of God was not the same            There you have an explanation of `the term: Seed,
 image which they had borne in the first days of their         that is, children of the, devil. Spiritually they have
 existence in Paradise. !Oh no. It was infinitely higher       imbibed their whole life from the origin of  all evil
 than that. They were now recreated. And that.means            and the lie. ThBrefore all men are called liars. It- is
 that this second birth, this rebirth, was according because they are the offspring of (the father of the lie.
 to Him of whom I quoted from Colossians. And that              And the terrible indictment of  ,God is that the
 is  .Jesus  ,Christ the. Lord. Later on I will have to        whole human race is the offspring of the devil as they .
 speak of ithis again and explain this further. Suffice        are by nature, as they a?e born. Every one of us.
 it here to say that Adam and Eve experienced a life           Because ithe Bible says that the whole world lieth in
 through this rebirth such as they had never tasted            darkness.
 before. They received eternal life at this juncture of
 history. They received esseniially the same life which           Bin? there is also a seed of the woman, of Eve.
 Christ would receive at His glorification. They re-              [Centrally that seed is Jesus Christ the Lord. We
 ceived the life of  ~God's Covenant in the heavenly,          will speak of that in its place.
 spiritual and- eternal measure of the `Man Christ- Je-           But first let us see the-woman, that is, Eve, bring-
 sus. And that eternal life manifests itself, negatively,      ing forth her spiritual seed. She has done so, from
 in hating the' "devil `and the devil's world, and, posi-      the very beginning of  time. Always there are  god-
 tively, in loving God and His world. ,It is the life of       fearing woman who with their husbands are bring-. '
 the antithesis. You always say Yes `to goodness and           ing forth  children that love  ,God' and  that hate the c
 God, and you say No to evil and the devil. That is ~devil. The enmity which God prophesied in my text


                                                                                8

                                                                           i

                                                                  _. `.
                                                            .I

                                                                                i\
                                                                    ii
                                                     -9,
 480  ^                                   T H E   STA~NDARD  "B E A R E R ,

was fulfilled immediately. As soon as the seed of                                     vii. They continually bruise the  heei of the seed of
the devil stands overagainst, the seed of Eve, we                                     the woman.
not& the enmity.      Remember Cain and Abel.  -The                                          -But, the fulfillment of this enmity between ithese
 first is the spiritual son of the devil, and the other                               two seeds takes place when Jesus is born. He is the
is the spiritual son of the godfearing  Eve; And  tbr                                 Manchild. of the. woman, the church. Read Rev. 12.
enmity is so great that Abel is finally killed, and his                               There you. read the- whole story of  (this battle be-
blood cries to God in heaven.        -                                                tween the two `seeds. The woman,' that is, the Old
   But righteous Abel does not `die before he has first                               Testament Church, cried, travailing in birth, and
 crushed the head of the serpent. The head is the mind,                               pained lto be delivered. They are all the woes of 4000 _
-the intelledt,  the, seat of the notion, the thought, the -years of suffering by the church. The devil always
philosophy of .darkness. ,Cain also had the notion .of                                remembered the words of God in Paradise. He knew
the devil,. and it is. this. You will remember from the                               that the fulfillmen%  of this promised seed would camel
story- in the Bible that the whole battle is about re-                                And he stands in the vision of Rev. 12 before the wo-
ligion. Cain is going to worship [God, but he will not. man which was ready to be delivered, for to devour
`take a lamb in. order to slaughter it and. to sacrifice                              her child as soon as it was born! Remember wicked
the bloody sacrifice. No doubt, <God  had instructed                                  Herod  who would kill Jesus a little while after he was
Adam in religion, worthy the term. He must have in-                                   born?
structed them  iri the  ;bIoody  sacrifice, so that they                                     Well, this devil has tried fo kill Jesus time and
might show Christ in typology. All religion must be                                   time again. But he could not until the time was ripe
founded in the Man whom  (God `chose  eternaliy to                                    which, God had foreordained in His counsel. And
bring His Kingdom Ito fruition. And this Man Jesus                                    when ithe time had come, the -devil went into Judas
-Christ, who is also (God, should build that Kingdom `and the foul.thing  was accomplished. The heel of the
on His blood.                                   -                                     Seed of the woman, and that is Jesus, was bruised.
    Well, Cain refused'that. He wanted to act just as                                 He was crucified.
though -nothing was @anged. He was going `to wor-                                            But attend also to this. In the same action the
ship IGod of the plain fruits of the ground. No blood                                 head of lthe serpent was bruised; The notion of the
theology for him ! But. Abel reasoned with him. They                                  devil, inspiring the whole wicked world of lies and
spoke together in the field -before  ,Cain rose up against                            liars, is condemned on the cross. The cross is real-
him  and- slew him.  " Note Hebrews  11:4. Abel's of-                                 ly the victory for Christ and all who are of Christ.
fering was accepted because he offered a more ex-                                     It is the proof of their wickedness and shall damn
 cellent sacrifice than Cain. In the sacrifices. we see                               both the devil and his  foliowel:s, his spiritual chil-
ithe occasion for the- struggle between them.                                         dren forever.-                        ,
   And thus it shall be for all time, and such it has                                        By this time athe devil knows that he has lost the
been for all time.                                                                    battle. He also knows. that even through his wicked
    The woman, the Church of all the ages, is struggl-                                devices he has helped in spite ofhimself to crush his
                                                                                      -..
 ing to bring forth her spiritual .seed.-  And the dra-                               own head and to bring the spiritual children of God
gon always stands in front of- the woman in order to                                  to heaven. We' are' saved by the Cross of Jesus. We
destroy that seed.  @or the heel of the seed of the `are saved through all the machinations of the devil,
`woman is wounded. And in the wounding of that `and his children, Judas Iscariot included.                                                When
heel you `have first of all all the suffering of the church                           the results of their wicked deeds are become mani-
`in this battle of enmity. There is a stream of blood `fested and Jesus does hang on the accursed tree, the
which testifies to the truth of this statement in my                                  foundations are laid- in history for eternal joy by the
text. They had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings,                                ` throngs of God's saints in the heavenly Jerusalem for-
yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonments : they were                                  ever.                                                . .
stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were                                           Are you at enmity-with the devil and his world ?
slain with the sword ; they wandered*about  in sheep-                                        Then your heel is bruised. Then you suffer of
skins and goatskins ; being' destitute, afflicted, tor-                               the world's hatred. But you are destined to sing for-
mented ; (of whom the world was not `worthy) they                                     ever.
wandered in deserts, and- in mountains, and in dens                                          But remember: it is of God, through God, and must
and caves of the earth. Heb.  11:36, 37.  Throughou+ b e   u n t o   G o d !                                                     .
the whole long *trail of history the church is hated and                                     Let us praise Him, now and forever!
maltreated by the seed, the spiritual seed; of the de-                                                                                 G. Vos


