 YbLUME XXI                                                 AUGU.K)   1 ,   1 9 4 5                                     NUMBER' 20

                                                                         Therefore he hates every false way, eveiy  way th&

:.,MED.ITATI'ON'                                                       is not in aoco?d  with the Word of God+
         :                                                                 He realizes, .by- experience, the preciousness of ,Gad's
                                                                       law. *
                                                                          He would, therefore, `keep it, continue to live in it+:
                                                                       sphere.
              I `Have Refrained. My Feet                                   And in order to contin,ue  therein, and to-experiitie
                                                   .                   the.  goodness of that Word of Jehovah, he .wolked  bare-

                   I have .refraimed m@ feet from  every evil          fully.
                 wuy,  t,ha*t  I might keep, thy word.                   - Circumspectly he watched his sieps.
                                              Ps. 119:101.                 From ,every  ,evil wla,y  he refrained: his feet.
 Blessed Worcl  of God!                                                    That he'might  keep God's Word which was blessed
    That, and the believer's delight in it, expresses in               to him above  all things.
brief the main theme of this  particulta>r  section of the                 Precious Word of the Lord!
psalm.

    There is a good  deal of s.imilarity$  and an intimate                                                  I                       :.
relation  between this section and the preceding  038.                     G l o r i o u s   t e s t i m o n y !                   .'
Both extol the Word of .God  because of its perfec-                       `I have refrained my feet from every ,evil  way!'
tion                                                                       Yet, the tierjr f,qrm of this testimony is character-
        : ' "I have seen tan end .of all perfection: `but thy
comman,dment  ,is exceeding broad.",                                   istic of the"  believer in this present world, and beset
    Yet, there, is alsola  rather clear distinction.                   by constant temptation ; of the believer, moreover, as
    In- the preceding passage the ps.almist considered                 he has, indee'd,  a timall beginning of the new <obedience,
that Word of God 1a.s it is revealed to  us, .as such, rather          and a sincere de1igh.t  iti the precepts of his God, but in
objectively, as it is settled  ip the heavens, as it is `Eaith-        whose membetis  are the motions of  `sin actively `en-
ful and enduring unto all generatidns,  as, all things are             gaged to-lead  him astray froni the way of right,tepus-
or,dained by it, ,and continue to be and to operate as                 r i e s s .                  ,'
God's servants according to it, and as, in  its. sa%ng                     For ;the  positive meaning of the words of _the.psalm-
sense ,and by its saving power, it quickened                           ist, ii, no doubt, that he has ,walked in the way of .Je-
                                                        the, poet.
   But in the presen:t  section that &me perfection' of                .hovzh's  comm&nclments,  iti obedietice  to the law of the
the Word .of God is the object of the poet's praise and                Lord which-he  loved.        Y,et,  he .does  not express it that.
sdoration, this time with tihe emphasis-on the attitude                w,ay. IOn the contrary, he su#gges$s  &hat the lfeeping

of the psalmist towards it, and hi3 love of that Word                  ' of GodTs way ha.s been a ,constant  struggle, a b&tle  in
of Jehovah.          "Oh how love I thy law! it is my  medita;         which it was reqL1ired that he be continually on  .ths
tion all -the  (day."       That is hits,  theme. He tasted the        alert, lest he be seduced irito  pa6hs' of sin and corrup-
goodness .and  perfection and sdutary eff,ect  ,of that                tion ; a battle, moreover, in which he -felt  la, constant
law.          It wa;S khe  means through whick; God called him         uig6 withifi,h&  to surrender to the ,eneqy,  so that he
unt,o  .wisdom  and knowledge, so that he is wiser than                had to-put  a ,restraint  on his own members lest they
all his enemies, and has more understanding than all                   would lead him.astra.y;  . . .
his teachers                                                               I have refrairied my feet from every evil way!
                     ; and because he keeps that law, he has
more understanding ,even  than thb an&m%.                 Since.God        I have la, delight- in the law of God  &cording  tQ the
has taught hiti; Hi&  words- have become exceeding                     inward nian ; but I see another law in my members,
sweet to his taste, sweeter &ti  ho&y to his mouth.                    warring against the law of my mind, and  fbringing  me

                                                                                                                 ,
                                                             #'                                     I
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       450  .      .                             T H E  FTANDARD  ,BEARER.                                                . '

       into captivity to' the law of sin w.hich  is in my members !                false,, and vain philosophy of the.  world.               They affect
        _, 7I'hai.wa.s  .the experience of the poet. '                             his desires so that he is .attrlact&l.  by the pleasures and
           And a he thus walked ,in the mid&  bf the world,                        treasures of corruption, and be would strive to  obtaYl1
       ,hesirous,  to walk in the way of the Lord,. he found  that                 his will, that he may prefer the service of Mammdn,

       it was._a,  constant  struggle to keep from error and back-                 and t6 enjoy them.         They struggle to affect. aad contrsl

       .sliding.. Walking in the way of  ,the W,ord  of God, he                    and yield his members once  n&e  to the service of n?$- '
       ,found  ith,at  .a thousand other roads zigzagged' in every                 cigbteousness.'       They_ are the foe within the  gates,
       dire,ction  across his path, conifasing  his mind as to thB                 allying himself  with the enemy from without.

       righ+  .direction,  tempting' him to <depart  ffbrn  the `wa.y                  And ye!, there is another lav?  in, his inwar.d  man. .                           .
       `qf ,truth  and  righteousness. A.nd,  :what  is .more;  he                     The law of: grace !                                               .;p
       experienced that the law of sin which was in his mem-                        The law:qf  the Spirit of -life in Christ, Jesus 
,                                                                                                                                                  !    -3
       `berg  so affected hi.m that. his feet were inclined  tp slip                   An,d.  aocording  to that c&her iaw,.  he hates every
       into those deviating pa,th.s, attracted by the- seductive                   f,a.l.se  way, and has a delight in the law of God.                   '
       &oothness  and easewith which~  one might appear 1.0                            And that other law, that new principle of lifer  con-
       walk therein,- and the pleasures of simn to which tlney                     trols his heart, and has',dominion.  No,  `there are no
       pfomised  to .direct.  him.                                                 two pr%n,c@les  within him,.. t.hehe  law of sin and death,
         He had kept the, way of God's commandments, but                           and tke  Iaw of-the  Spirit of life.      I%e is no dual person-
       only through a hard !a,nd  ,constant  struggle !                            I+litY,  both good and evil.          He does not live in two
           And another way ithere  i,s not for the believer in                     rad-ically  different  spheres, that of light'and that of
      `this world. :                                                               darkness. He is a new creature. He is free. He is
       . He must needs live in constant  an,tithesis  to him-                      delivered from the law of sin and death.. `The law of
       self; that is to his flesh, as  ,well`-as  to the .worl&  if he             sin may ,operiarte  in his m.embers  : it does not ,dominate
       would  be* faithful even unto the end.                                      his heart. . . .
           He .cannot  serve God and Mammon, but neither can                           Old things are passed away !
       he simply serve God without having anyt,hing  to' do                            No  longer is he-a slave of sin, chained with a thoua
       with! Mammofi..       C&e  must love the One  and hate.                     and shackles from within, icknowled,ging  corruption
                                                                         ,thc,
       other                                                                       ss his master and lor.d-.
             !                                                  :. ~'
           As he directs his feet ih the way. of righteousness                         And so, th0ug.h  tie is &rounded .by powers of da&
       id this world, ways of evil cross his path at every step.                   ness that _ouid  lead him astray, he Ikeeps  the way of
       From every direction "the world? shouts at him .that he                     Gpd's   p r e c e p t s .
       walks in the wrong sdirection,  beckons him to change                           Though of.ten  he may appe.ar  to suffer:,  defeat, he
      his way  and to ,follow  after ithe  vain philosophy of mail:                h a s   t h e   v i c t o r y  ! -         .
       after the lust of the flesh, and the lust df the eyes, and                    He restrains his feet !
      the  pride of life.     It exhibits to him the. benefits and                     Wonderful testimbny  !                                 I
       pleasures.that  are to be found and enjoyed in the ways                                                                          .
       of sin.    It.offers him glory and honor,  the praise  of                                               --                                             <
                                                                                                         ,
                                                                                                              ; ,-                                                                 :
      men, power and might, a position of influence, wealth                            B l e s s e d  co+sci&sness!
       and luxury, the pleasures and treasures of. siri for a                          For blessed is the man tlyat is able to say: I have
       season, if only he.wiil  .depart  from the w1a.y  of upright-               Refrained  tiy feet from every evil way!
       ness and yield to the service of sin.             Olr  it threatens             Blessed is ,he, who every day, as another stretch of
     hi-m  witi its fury an.d wrath.         It' makeb  the gate very              the way is finished, and  an6ther`stage  of the spiritual
       narrow and t*he  path v&y strait that lea!ds to. life.             It       battle is ,over,  and he ba.ys down his weary head to rest,
      fills him with  reproaloh  and .shame, deprives him of a                     may te$tify  :. i have f.ought  a good fight; I have kept
       name-and position. in the world, makes his place irP                        the faith! . . . .
-      possible, kills him  ta.,ll-  the day long.                                    -1 haves refrained my feet!
                                                       . . .
                                                                                       Fdr, let us note that this is the position of the
         `Every evi-1 way is presented in its most  a.tiraCtive
       Fppearance,  while the way of. mG6d's  precepts is steep                    psalmist `as he *expresses it in `IhiS  confession.             He does

                                                                                   n.ot  look forward ;to the future, a;6 he di,d in the. ninety-
     and"  rugged and well-nigh impasea:ble  !
          And from&within  operat,es-  the flesh, indutii&  his                    third verse -of' this same psalm  ; (he' looks back up& the
      feet 63 depart*from  the way'of God's pr,ecepts;  and to                     wa.y  travellec&  `He does not make a vow  .th&  he will
     sl-i-p  i&o the wa,ys'  of iniquity.                                         : keep-the precepts of t.he  -Lord, or express confidence
          The motions of sin in his members operate-to  `dark-                     $llat he will colltinue  in the way of J,ehovah,  as he did
       enl'his .und.erstanding  so that he ,cannot  clearly discern                there; .he #declares  what thus far. he had  adone  : he had

     . the way of light and truth, and djlstinguish  it sharply  fought the battle .and won.
       from. the ways- of ,darkness afid  the lie, la,nd inducing                     And that is'blessedness  indeed!             I
      him to.  z&mm  of the, latter and; $0. follow after the                          Blessedness, mak;k you.well,  tic&  bec2,use  he is glory-                             _
                                                                                                                                                                   --


                                *           ,  ,THE  .ST'ANDARD.  BEARE%                                                                          4               5         1


  ing irr his own accomplisl-m&nts,  and expects others to                                  .
                                                                         somd.  sins, while `we  w&k  in others.        Nor does the love

  glory with him in the work of,man.              Such is `che,boast     of Gdd la-lid of ~H,is'l~w make  sucii a distinction.              If that
  of the world,, and it ,is vitin  and ,wretched  precisely be-          love is in our hearts, we hate sin radically, hate it be-
  cause God is not in it. Not so the poet. It is not of                  cause it is. sin, and &he result will be that we refkain
  liis.  own power and goodtiess  a&l faithfulness that. he              our feet f.rom  everzJ evil way.         And although believers,
  spezlks.  He is extoliing  the Word of God. That Word                  even the very holi,est  of. theti,  .have  but a small  begin-.
  of God he loves.         It is sweet to his taste.     In it he has    ning of the new  obediencee,  this beginning is a prin-
his delight. To kizow  that Word, to'appropriate  it, `$0                &pZe,.  and by -it they are so governed  tha.t it is their
  trust in it, to keep it, is his .delight..  And he undel-              delight to walL, not only according to some,. but  ac-
  stands clearly that this is all of grace.        It is not, of him-    coyding to all God's commandments!                                            `.
' s&lf that he loves the la\?i of .J,ehovah.      The very irUin&-             -And  in the way of His commandments there is joy
  ti6n of .his flesh, .the  inotions  of sin that are in his  mem-       `and peace, feildwship  with G0.d..  _. . .                                   `.
  b&-s; the'fact that. his feet are  always inclined to slip                   In' that way there are pleasures for evermore!
  ii& `ihhe' tiays  of evil, `remind him constantly of the                     `_ Walking in that way, we taste that  th.e' Lord is
  &n% that by na.ture  he is only an enemy of God, dead                  good! -                                            .'                         .s
                                                                                                             :
 .in trespass& and sin, standihg?n  enmity against. God                         Blessed assurance !
  and against His precepts, i.gnorant  and foolish, and lov-             :.                                                                       .
                                                                                                                                       .
 . ing the ,darknes,s  rather thati  the light.         But the Word                                                                        :.
of Jehovah quickened him. . `. .                                               ' Gl(rious fruit!                       : . "'
          &id that he now loves-the law of the Lord is all of                    That I might keep thy  ,wdrd!                                    _:
  grace!  '                                                                      To refrain our feet  from -every evil way is .the in-
          Of grace it is, too, that `he refrained 6is feet from          dispensible requisite urito  the keeping of the ,Word  of
  every evil way                                                         God, and the latter & the:  .bles&d  fruit that is attain-
                      !    That he is conscious of this, is evi-dent
  also from the fdllowing  verse: -"I have not ,dep!a.$ted               sble ,only  in the way of the  form&:
  from thy judgments: for thou  ha&  taught me!"                                 Thus `I v;iould  understand the declaration o? the
                                                                   .     p s a l m i s t .  
          Not .his own .work,  but God's work in  and through                                   __
                                                                                 He-does not, in this second part of the verse,merely
  him; not' his own goodness, but God's grace ; not his                                                                                                                _
                                                                         dechre  -positively what  he had already zd&lared  pega-
 "own faithftilness,  but God's unchangeable `Word he
                                                                         tively in t,he  first par.t,  as if he ,meant  to say: I have
  e$ols.
                                                                         refrained my feet from every evil way;  thit I &igjlt
          It is to him a manifestation of grace,  of the ti2,rvel-       obey thy commandments.              Rather `dies` he' cdnCeive  of
  ious  power and efficacy of the Word of God, the  sami                 the whole Word  of ,Go.d in all its riches and power of
  Word' that quickened him, that' he refrained  his feet                 salv&idn.  and promise of life and blessing, and not
  from every evil way!,"                                                 simply f&m its aspect ,of Jehovah's commandment to
          And note the all-comprehensiveness of the state-               him.       For that reason, he employs .tie ,widest  term, and
  ment : from every evil way.                                            speaks simply of the Word of God. That Word he
  _.      0, the poet .does not intend to speak with the boast           loves. It is the Word of-salvation, #of for,giveness,  of
  of ithe. perfectionist., The meaning of .his decltiration              redemption,.,of  fellowship with ithe living Go&,  of grace
  is not that day by day, and week, after week,  land year                                                                -- 
                                                                         and mercy atid  eternal life.                      *
i _ after year, he had lived  wit&out,  ever committing sin,                     That .Word  he would Beep, conti&  to hyar,  to
  and that he. had never felt the need.of  God's forgiving                                                                                                   ,
                                                                         believe, dto approprcate.           -
  mercy. H,e does not mean th!at,  he never &tumbled in                          In the sghere'  of that Word ,of life and salvation, he
  the yay.' For "who shall understand' his errors?"                      would fain' ~continue to live; upon its blessed hope he
  That frequently he .did ,what he would not was l&e ex-                 would qontinue  to lay hold.
  perience of the poet as it was of Paul, and as it is' of                       An,d  this strong desire motivated  him ain the ba&e
  every child of God in this world.                                      a g a i n s t   s i n .  a
          But he had fought the ba.ttle!                                         For clearly  he realized that in t,he tiay of sin that
          And he had not. slipped into any evil way so as Do             blessed Word of salvati$  ,and glory. and fellowship
  Z&z in it. When he stumbled he rose again. When-he                     with God would forsake him.
  departed h.e returned.             When evil tempted him he hated
                                                                                 In the Way of sanctificz&ion  w,e- 1la.y  hold ,on `the
  it..    When he sinned  he confeSsed  and Found mercy and
                                                                         W o r d   o f   l i f e !  
  forgiveness. Always ,he had refrained  his feet- from                                                 ,
  walking .in any evil way.                                                      `Teach us, 0 Lord, to' refrain  our' feet, that we may
          Every evil way he .had  hated.                                 keep  Thy $Vor'd !                                      -
 The statement allows for no ex&ptions.  Nor could                             . -And  rejoice. in Thy salration  !
  it.' For it is not possible that #we refrain our feet from                                                                          j&J-
                                                                                                                                       . .  /
                                                                         2.. I __


                                                                    " 7'-'
                    4 5 2                                                                                        T              H                E                  ST'AN'DARD                                      B    E      A    R    E    R     -'


     `                                                                                                                                                                                                     E D I T O R I A L S
                                           Semi-Monthly, except Monthly in July and August

                                                                                  Published by

                                                The Reformed `Free Publisliing Association_

                                                                 946 Sigsbee Street, S. E.                                                                                                                       The Text of .a Complaint
                                                             EDITOR - Rev. H. Hoeksema

                          Contributing Editors: - Revs. J. Blankespolor,  A. Cammenga                                                                                                                     How superficially they quote Calvin, who try to
                          P. De Boer, J., D. De Jong, H. De Wolf, L. Doezema, M.                                                                                                                      mlake  him say, as do the complainants, that God sin-
                          Gritters, C. Hanko, B. Kok, G. Lubbers, G.  M.. Ophoff, A.                                                                                                                   cerely seeks and wills. t,he salvation of all men 
                          Petter, M. Schipper, J. Vanden  Breggen, H. Vddman,  R. Veld-                                                                                                                                                                           ; or that
                                                                                                                                                                                                      S'cripture  teaches the contradiction that,' on the one
                          man, L: Vermeer,  P. Vis, G.  VOB,  W. Hofman, J. Heys.
                                                                                                                                                                                                      hand God wills that all men shall `be saved, and on. the
                                    Communications relative to contents should be addressed                                                                                                           other hand wills the salvation of the elect; is evident, to
                          to' REV. II. HOEKSEMA, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand
                          Rapids, Michigan.                                                                                                                                                           all ,that  are acquainted with the works of the reformer.

                                    Oommunicatidns  relative ,to subscription should be addressed                                                                                                         Fact is, and the fact is  strilking  indeed, that the
                          to MR. GERRIT PIPE, 946 Sigsbee' St., S. E., Grand Rapids,                                                                                                                  very satme  passages from Holy Writ to which the ,com-
                          Michigan. All Announcements, and Obituaries must be sent                                                                                                                    plainants appeal in support of their position that God
                          to the.above.address  and will not,be  placed unless the regular  . sincerely seeks -the salvation of all men, were quoted
                          fee of $1.00 accompanies the notice.                                                                  _                                                                     against Calvin ,by t.he opponents of his doctrine of
                                                      (Subscription price $2.50 per year)                                                                                                             predestination and particular grace, ' as they- were
                          Entered as Second Class mail at `Grand Rapids, Miohigan.                                                                                                                    quoted against Augustine before him.

                                                                                                                                                                                                          But  Calvin does not admit that these passages
                                                                       .:                                                                                                                             teach a &rtain  general gna.ce,  nor that they contradict,
                                                                                        P

                                                                                                                                                                                                      or even apparently contradict the current teaching of

                                                                                                                                                                                                      the Bible that God saves and wills to save- only the
                                                                             CONTEiNTS  .' ,.                                                                                                         elect.    On the 1 contrary, he always seeks to explaiu
                         M E D I T A T I O N  -                                                                                                                                                       them in the light of the doctrine of predestination, and
                                                                                                                                                                                                      to show th.at  they are in harmony with this doctrine.
                          I          HAVE'REFRAINE,D MY .FEET . . . . . . . . . . . i . . . . . . . . .,,.........;  . . . . . ;449                                                                       Defending the doctrine of sovereign reprobation,
                                         Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                                                             .Calvin  explains some' of these texts which the oppon-
3                                                                                                                                                                                                     ents of this doctrine are..wont  to quote to disprove it.
                         E D I T O R I A L S  -                                                                                                                                                       Writes `he, Inst. III, 24, 15 `(we translate from the

                                                                                                                                                                                                      Latin) 
                               THE TEXT OF A ,C.OMPLAINT                                           . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                                                                           : 1
                                                                                                                                                   . . . . . . . . . . . . . i . . . . . . . . 452       "But since la few passages of Scripture are wont to
                               TnHE  SEPARATLON  `IN' THE NETiIERLANDS ..I............. ,454
                                                                                                                                                                                                      be a,ddeced,  in which God seems to deny that it is caused
                               EXPOSITION  OF. THE H E I D EL BE RG ~ATEcHIsM..:.::..~~~-
                                                                                                                                                   .`.                                                by his ordinance that the wicked perish, except in so
                                    .Rev.  H .  Hod&ma                                                                                                                                                `far that, ignoring his loud calling, they willingly prd-
                                                      Y                                                                                                                     -:                        cure death unto themselves, -let us by explaining these
                               .MICAH'S            SPURIOUS SANCTUARY . . . . ~ . . . . . . . :..e. . . . . . . . . . . .a..: . . . . 45s                                                             text,s,,briefly  demonstrate that they do not stand in
          .                    THEDOCTRINEOFTHEEARLYCHURCH                                                                                       . . . . . . .  r;:.: . . . . .  L..460
               ,                                                                                                                                                                                      opposition to the'sentiments ,expressed  la.bove (i.e. con-
                                                                                                                                                                                        .-            `cerning reprobation, H.H.). The place in Ezekiel is 
                                         Rev. G. M.` Ophaff                                                                                                                                                                                                                    .
                                                                                                                                                                                                      adduced;wheae  it is said  that God does not desire (will,

                                                                                                                                                                                                      `nolit)  the death of the ,wi:cked,  but rather. that he
                               `GEBED.OM  GENADE VOOR GENADE . . . . . . . . . . .  .: ..,,.....;  . . . . . . . 462
                               5                                                                                                                                                                      should turn and `live. If one will extend this to the
                                         Rev. G. Vos'                                                                                                                                                 whole. human race, what. may be the reason why he
                                                                                                                                            1                                                         does not stir up to repentance many whose minds are
                         DR. KUY,PER'S  CONCElPTION  OF CHRIST'S HUMAN                                                                                                                                more flexible to obedience than of  #those  who harden
                                                As
                         N A T UR E                     G E NE RA L . . . . . :: . . . . . . . . .                                                                                                    themselves more and more against his repeated invita-
                    .                                                                                           , . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..>.a....  I: . . . . . . . . . . . . :..464
                                                                             ,                                                                                                                        tions? According to Christ's own 
                                         Rev, C. Ha&o,  I" .._ "                                                 ,/                                                                                                                                        `testimony, the
                                                                                                                                                                                                      preaching of the gospel and the `miracles would have

                                                                                                                                                                                                      produced more fruit with the Ninevites  and Sodom-
                               THE SIGNIFICANCE OF JOHN THE BAPTIST .,....,.. !...467
                                                                                                                                                                             \                        ites than in Judea.       0300~ come, then, if God wills all to
                                        Rev. M. Gritters                                                                                                                                              be saved, that he does not open the ,door  of repentance
                                                                       . .                                                                                                                            to those wretched ones that would .be more ready to

                                                                                             .-                                                                                                       receive his grace ?       From ~this we see that this place


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  is violently d,istorted,  if the will of, God of which .the          applies~the  same method of exegesis,,to,  I Tim. 2 :4.          We `
  prophet speaks is presented as opposed to his eternal                must note; says he, that the apostle- in this passage

  counsel by which  he distinguished, the elect -from  the             combines two things: that -God wills all men to be

reprobate.         Now, if one asks, what is the true meaning          saved', and that he would hol,ve them all come to Bnow-
  of the prophet, the answer  is that ,he only would give              l.edge  of the truth.      But, he asks, if' you  insist .that it
 to those that repent the hope of  forgivenfess.        And this       be firmly ,decreed  in God's counsel that all .shall  receive.

  ,is the #brief content, that it must.not  be doubted that            the doctrine of salvation; how oan Moses address the
  God is ready to forgive ,as soon as the sinner `is con-              children of Israel as follows : "For what nation is there
  verted.      Hence, he does not wish his ,death.in  as far as        so glorious that ,God approaches to it as to thee?`?

  h,e does,  want his repentance. Experience, however,                  (Quae  gens est tam inclyta,  ut a,d earn appropinquet

  teaches, that  he so wills the repentance of those whom              Deus sicut ad. te?) "how has it #come  to pass," thus
 `he calls to him, that he -does not touch the hearts `of              he continues, "that God has deprived,many  peoples of

  all. *Nevertheless, it must not be' said that he deals               the light of the gospel, which others enjoy?" It  .is

  falsely, for even though the external yoilce.  only ren-             ,evi,dent,  then, that God dqes not.,want  all men to leome
  ders inexcusable n those that hear it, it is' neverthel,ess          to the knowledge .of  the .-truth, and that it follows
  truly considered la testimony of the grace of God,                   that he does not will all men to b.e saved. And then

 whereby men are reconciled to him.          Let us, therefore,        he continues to explain the text-  as having reference-

  hol,d to the true sense of t,he pYophet,  that God does not          to `different ranks and classes of men.

  desire the death of the sinner: that the godly may                         Pure rationalism, the complainants would call this,

  trust that as soon as they have been touched with                    `-if it were not Calvin that wrote it.

conversion, pardon is prepared .for  .them  with God,                        Even the text from II P& 3 :9, on which the corn-
  and that .the  wicked m1a.y  understand that they -<double x nlainants quote Calvin from another source, is explain-
  their iniquity because they' do not respond to so  grea.t            ed`in a similar way in the  @tit&es  (HI, 24, 1'7).  He
  a clemency and readiness of God.         Penitence therefore         ad,mits  that the opponents seem to `have  mor.e  reason on
  always meets wit,h  themercy  of God: but who they are               -their `si.de when they quote this text to prove that God
  upon whom penitence is bestowed is clearly set forth                 wills all men to be saved. But he neverheless "unties
  by all the prophets and apostles, and ,even  by Ezekiel              this knot at once" by calling tattention  to the second
  himself."                                                            part of the text stating that God wills that  la.11 men

   .?Vow, the complainants ar:e bound` to accuse.Calvin                 should come to repentance. For; he argues, by this
  of rationalism here. _If `they  will but be consistent, and          will of God to receive unto repentance none other can
  treat Calvin as they do Dr.  ,Cltark,  they will accuse the          be `understood than that which is `taught everywhere
  reformer of explaining Ezek. 18 :23 "in favor of repro-              .i.n , Scripture (quia voluntas recipiendi .ad poententiam
  bation.`!      For it is precisely his avowed purpose in the         ,non  alia intelligi potest nisi quae  passim traditur).
  above paragraph so to explain this paselcge  that it does            And then he argues that conversion is in the hand of
  not contradict the truth .concerning  the decree of repro-            God, and. it is proper toask. him whether he will con:
  bation. According to Calvin, it doses  not contradict or              ver,t  all men.      But since it is evident that he does not
  stand opposed to reprobation at all (nihil. . . .adver- .will to convert all men, it is equally evident that he
  sari).       And it is very .evident  that his explanation of.       `doles  not will -that all men be saved, and that the text
  the text means briefly, that-God does not will-the death              in II Pet. 3:9 .only  teaches that God wilis  that thos$
  of the elect, since he does not desire  the.death  of the            be saved whom he brings to repentance.
  sinner in the same sense as he does will his conversion,                   Rationalism? .'
  land since he bestows conversion only on the elect,                        That it is'will have to be the judgment of. the com-

 ' Two things shomd be evident: I. Calvin has nd ,plainants.
  sympathy with the basic position of the complainants  :                    But all sound, Reformed theologians and -exegetes
 that there are contradictions in Scripture which no one               have alivla,yis  insisted that Scripture must be explained

  should attempt to explain ; and 2, he does explain those             in, its own light, ,and that difficult passages must  `bc
  pa.ssages  of Scripture that appear to speak of a willing-            explained in ,harmony  with_ the curr.ent  teaching of.;the
  ness on the part of God to save all men in such a way                 B i b l e ,                                                      ./
  as to bring%hem  in harmony with~his  eternal counsel                      The position, of the complainants is decidedly not

  of predestination.                                                    Calvinistic. They are trying `to oust Calvin, just as-

                                                                       their Christian Refor,med  brethren, did .in 1924.
     ' If the complainants had shown the  isame rega.rd  for
  .Dr. Clark as they 1.ike to show to                                        And why did they select one passage from  ,Calvin
                                          ' Calvin, they would
  never have written their `complaint.                                 in which he -#expIains  II Pet. 3 :9 in a way that' might

      Anyone, that is acquainted-with Calvin's Institutes              seem to favor their position somewhat? Why did they

 knows that the passage `we quoted is no isolated  ex-                 not also quote from the Institutes?- <Or-from  Calvin'%

  imple aF `tie refomei~:la metbnd,  Tn UT, $4, 16' kc!                Calvinikw ?                               _
                                                                                                            6 8


                        .

        454                                                              T ti E       S_T'A N D. A,R D`               B E .A R,% R
                                                                                 -                                                                                                                                           _

        L            Or why ,did they not `quote  wh&Dr.  A. Kuyp'er  Sr.                             The information appears to be quite sufficient, hov?-

       has to say on the  same .t,ext  ? Surely, him too `Lthey                                   ever, to warrant the conclusion that, The Bmmer's  "l,

       honor ;;1s  ,a Calvinist. And they cannot have been                                        told you. so" wai -quite mistaken; and that the con-
       ignorant of th.e iexplanation  he offers of the sarrie pas-                                clusion of Dr..  Schilder has n&hi6g  to. do, directly at

       sage in .Peter.  In his "Dat &J ,genade  particuli,er  is,"                                least, with his alleged deviating views on- the matter

       he argues- that the text in If: Pet. 3 :9 cannot possibly                                  of common grace.

       m&n that God. desires the salvation of  la11 men, for the                                      We h6pe  that as `soon as this becomes quite  .plai_rl-

       simple reason. that in that &se it  &uld  also teach                                       the  editor of,  "The Banner" will frankly>,  admit. this.
       athat  Christ .would  never come abd that the slalvation                                                                                                                              H. H.

       for whi~ch the people of :God  long'.would  be postponed                                                                                                                             _.
       ind@nit@y.                           Hence, he conUudks,  the te,xt  must mean                                                                                                                              . .
                                                                                                                      `..
       that G,od is longsuffering  eve?  His people, not- willing

       that any of them. should, be lost, .but tha6  all should
       come'to repelltance.                              But why, if it was the purpose. of         The- `IC'riple  Kiiow~lcdge
       the lcomplainants  to give.la  f&ir picture of the opinion'
       of'Reformed'  theologians, did they not also qudte what                                                                                -
       Dr. Kuyper has  to &y oli this passage from Second

       .Peter  ? . b                                                                               An ExpositiOn:  Of .The Heidelberg
                      To say the least, they liow  `leave the impre&ion  of
       having done very stiperfidi&l work, unworthy 6f theol-                                                                                Citechism
                                                                                                                                                                         _
       q&ians.  j                                                                                                            _
                    And this, &o,  requires Bn kxplanation:  why do they                                                                           P    a     r    t              T               w         o      .

      always quote texts;and show a special preference for                                                                               - Of Man's Redemption                                                          .
       them, which opponents ofthe doctrine of the truth of                                                                               I Lord's Day  `XVI.                          '
       sover&n grace  .have alwlays used in the same way an!'

       for t&e same'p.urpose  as they, thB complainants, do?                                                     :                                 _ 3. 
                                                                                                                        :                                               c                                                         h
                                                                                                                                  , .
                    . Ex ungue lepnem ! I                         _                                                                                                               .
                                                                                                                                           Dead t,? Sin (cont.)
       .-                                                                             H. H.
        *'                   - -,
                                                                                                   This question, however, the apostle most emphatic-
                             -. .                                                                 ally answers in the, nega,tive.                                                                      J
                                                                                       _'             He does so, first df all, by an indignant "God for-
              .'
                                                                                                  bid !"                                                                                               ., :'
                J                                                          _.

                                                                                                      The apostle  is horrified at the very thought that
                             AZ.          * -:'    ,.
                                                                                                  such a conclusion should be drawn from his doctrili~

       f&e Separation In The Netherlands of justification by faith. : Not only so, but in tliis well-
                                                                                                  known, emphatic exck&ation,  he `also expresses -what
                                     /
*.                                                                                                must ris,e spontaneously from the'heart of every justi-
                      From a very reliable source  in the old country                             fied believer when the possibility is suggested to him to
       we learned  a little &bout the deposition of Dr. Schilder                                  continue in sin, in order that grace may abound.                                                               Such
_      land others, and the split that &cured  in the Reformed                                    a possibility is far from his mind.' It is directly con-
       ChuFches  in the N.etherlands.                                                            trary to his very experieqce  of the grace  of justifica-
                    A brother wrote me tha,t  the Synod of the "Gerefor-                         tion. For lie that is freely justified by gra.ce  through,                                                                            '
     meerde )Kerken"  in the old country adopt.ed  th.e Kuy-                                     faith is not-at-all inclined to abide and continue in sin.
       perian  view ,of "p+supposed  regeneration," that is,                                      The very opposite is true. IHe principally hates aAd
       _t$e theo.ry  that  infapts  are baptized on the  ground .qf                              abhors sin; and Eights it, that he.may  walk according to
       tee Ipresupposition  that they are already regenerated ;                                  the precepts of the living God. Hence, he is at once
     " th,&  Dr.. Schilder &nd others:  .disa,gree,d,  ,came,- into                              ready to,  take the exclamation of the apostle on his
       trouble.-with  the Synod, not only because  of this q&s-                                  pwn iips:  God forbid that I  should-,absume  so profane
       tion, but also because O$ certsin  Questions concerning                                   an attitude as to have any desire to continue in sin.
       church  polity; tliat he and others were deposed;  l&l                                        But the apostle does not consider this mere  exclarria-
     $hat mahy  churches "have ljberated  them&lves  frog1                                       .tion of emphatic denial sufficient. T.he op.ponent,  .who  by
      the yokg of Syno$."                                                                        his qu,estion  would caluniniate  the truth of justi'fication
                      These are  &ill  scant details. 
              : ;-                                                     But the writer prom-      without works, must have.an  answer. -And, therefore,
      ised that he would  send  me all the available lit&a&_n*e                                  the apc&le continues $0 explaifi  +ha.t,he  that is justified
       _on the matter as soon as possible. ;And we hope to                                       iby faith is also dead to sin, and that, therefore, it  iS-

       keep.  our' readem:  Jnform@,                                                             for .eveY impossible that he should abide and coqtinue
                                                                                                            \                                                                                               _a-
                                                                                                                                                        t.


                                                   THE. ST.AI?BA,RP'-B.EARER  I                                                          +55.
            I-.- --      _. .:._,, ,, .- ._                                                                                    . .-..
          in sin.      "How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any         this being enslaved to sin of the old man, is  cleath.      And -
     longer therein?"-                                                       1a.s such `it is punishment of sin.     T.he "old man" is
              But how. is the believer dead to sin? : This the               guilty, and guilt is liability to punishment,, and the
          apostle expounds in th$e verses that follow: "Know ye              punishment of isin is' death . And ,to this death -also,
          .not,.  that so many of us as were. baptized into Jesus belongs the corruption of the human nature.                    The "old
          Christ were baptized into his death?        Therefore we are       man" is man as he has no right to life, no right to be
          buried with him by ba,ptism into death: that like as               delivered from the bondage of sin aad death. He is
          Christ was raised up from the tdead  by the glory of the           legally, that is, acc?rding  to the very sentence of the
          Father, even so, we also should walk in newness of life.           Judge of heaven and earth, a slave of sin.      He is under
          For `if we have been planted together in the likeness              "the law of sin and death."' In this sense, it may be
          of his death, we shall also be in the likeness of his              said that sin is legally his lord, that it is the power  that'
          resurrection: Knowing this tha.t  our old man is cruci-            is legally enthroned i.n his heart, and that it cannot, and
          fied with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed;            may not be dethroned, until the guilt .of sin is blotted
          tha.t henceforth we should not serve sin.       For he that is     o u t .
          dead is freed from sin.       Now if. we be ,dead  with Christ,        Sulch is "the old man."

we believe that we shall also live with him:                   Knowing          -If w.e -bear this in mind, we will be able to under-
          that Christ b,eing  raised from the dead dieth no more;            stand that. and how the death of Christ is -the cruci-
          death hath no more dominion over him.             For in that      fixion, death, and burial of "the old  .man'>  for all the
          he died, he died unto sin once i but' in that he `liveth,          elect. For the death of Christ-is the satisfaction for
          he liveth unto God.       Likewise reckon ye .also  yourselves     sin, the complete ,and final blotting out of the guilt. of
          to be dea..d indeed unto ,sin, but alive unto God,  through        sin for a,11 the elect, for the whole Church of all ages,
          J&IS Christ our Lord." _ Rom. 6 :3-9.                              and the ,establishment  of a basis of eternal righteous-
             .We  need not enter into a detailed  ,exposition  of this       ness,.     Hence, the. very `basis of sin's dominion in the
          passage. Two points, however, are evident. First of                human nature of the elect was removed  by the death
          all, that the old man of  beli,evers  is Grucified.  And,          of Christ. Legally sin has no more dominion over'
          secondly, "that this crucifixion of the  ,old man is the           them.       On the, basis of .righteousness,  of the right-
          direct, result of the death, of Christ._ Believers ar,e in         eousness of Christ,. the throne of ein in the human
           grafted into Christ. And thus they !are partakers of              nature cannot stand, it must fall.; When Christ died,
          -His *death. They are crucified, dead, and buried with             therefore, all the elect were freed from sin,' as the
          Him. And thus the passage does, indeed, support the                .apostle  writes: ."he  that is dead is freed from sin."
          teaching of the Catechism, that from.the Sacrifice and             R o m .  6:7.  '
           death on the cross we receive this further ,benefit  that              This, is the meaning of Scripture in Rom. 8 :3 : "For
_          "our ,old man is cruc'ified,  dead, .and buri,ed with  him."      what the law could not do,  .in that it w!as  weak through
     I        Now, this must mean, first of all, that the death              the flesh, God send,i$ng  his own Son in-the likeness of
           of Christ is the crucifixion of the old man ; and, second- sinful flesh; and for sin, condemned sin in the  fl,esh."
           ly, that when the power of the death of Christ is  ap             .Notice  that it is s&,  not the sinner, that is ,here said
           plied untothe  elect, the old man also  tdies  in them:           .to  be condemned.     Notice, too, that this` condemnation
             Let us try to understand this a little more fully.              of sin in the flesh could not be.  aclcomplished  by the.

              What is `"the old man" that is crucified, d,ead, and           the law, on account of the weakrress  of the flesh.         And,
           buried with Christ?       It is man in hiis corrupt and sinful    fina.lly,  observe that this condemilation  of sin in the
           nature, in the human ,nature  as we !are  all partakers of        flesh was accomplishe,d  by God, through the se.nding
           it in Adam.      In this nature man lives unto sin. He is         of His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh,.and  that, too,
           not free from sin, but bound in and to sin. Sin has               for sin;that is, for its destruction. In what" respect,
           dominion over him.        Sin is the queen that is enthroned      then, was sin condemned?_ It was juri,dically  deprived
          .in his .heart,  that issues `her precepts, to w.hom  he is        of its `dominion in t'he  flesh, deprived of its right to
     enslaved, willingly ensla,ved  to be sure, but enslaved                 rule in human .nature.  This the law could not do:
           nevertheless ;- and whom he' does obey, whose will he             Seeing that it. ca.n only. condemn the sinner to the
           honors, whose direction he follows, whose wages he,               slavery of sin, it rather sustains sin in its claim of
           receives.     For the human nature in Adam is wholly              of dominion over the sinful nature of guilty  nlan..  But'
           corrupt. The understanding is darkened, the will is               when God through His Son had blotted out the iniquity
           perverted, the heart is obdurate,. the d,esires  and in-          of His people, sin was condemned:, It could no longer
           clinations `are impure, it is motivated~  by enmity  against      reign, in -human `nature.
           God throughout.                                                        Thus, then, the "old man" of all ,God's own iS
              `But  more must be said in order to understand how             crucified, dead, and buried for ever through the death
           the cru@ifixion  and ,death  of -Christ are the death .of         of. the Son of God.            _
          the CM man.        We must remember_that  this cwqd4an;                And it io,by Christ's owu power that this freedcrti


      466, * *                                     .THE  STAT\TDARD B.E.AR-El%.                                                   `.
                ..- ___..d_                                                    .._ ._._-.  .,- .,-. _ _."

      from .&he  dominion of sin through the sacrifice of the                  sition  to the new bmeginning  of life in the believer, they

 Cross  his applied to- the individual elect in this world. '                 are often more active, assert themselvles  more emphatic-
          For Christ is raised; and  Ideath  $as no more'domin-               ally ,and insistently, as the believer grows in the know-

 #ion over [Him.           And He is exalted at'the right hand of             ledge and grace 02 the-Lord Jesus.                tie has but a small

      God, -clothed with all power in heaven and on earth.                    . begmning  of the new obedience, and a small beginning
      And having. received the promise ,of the Spirit, He                      it remains even. in the very holiest of God's children.

      poured out that Spirit into the ,Church, and through                     And the believer must understand this, th!at he may

      H.im dwells in His own, and makes'  them partakers                       watch and `pray, lest he fall into temptation.  Para-

      of .,a11  His benelfits.     He gives them the justifying faith.         doxical though, it may sound, `though the old man is
      and by that fa.ith  they become partakers of His death.                  dead and buried with Christ, yet, throughout his whole

      and resurr8ection.'  They receive the forgiveness of sins,               life in this I world, until the very moment of his death
      and the !everlasti.ng  and perfect righteousness He ob-                  he must constantly fight to put off the old man, and te

      tained .for  them by His perfect obedience even unto                     put on the .new  man in Christ Jesus.                    -
      death. And in this righteousness ,they  possess their                         And yet, though sin is not dead, `he is  deaci  to sin.

      lea1 liberation from the dominion of sin over them,                     {The  old man .is very really dead and buried.                    That old
      and they are, conscious of,  this freedom.                 And being    man was characterized by his `being legally and ethic-

      legally freed from sin's dominion, they !a.r.e  also actually            ally enslaved to sin, and the believer is a free. man:

      `delivered from the power of corruption, raised with`                   :,death has no longer  dominion over him.                      The old man

      Christ, and mducted`  into the glorious liberty of the                   was known by his itnner  harmony with sin. Sin.was

      children of God, through the power of grace and by                      his.proper  sphere. `>He  lived in sin.            He_  loved iniquity.

      the calling of the gospel.         And thus it is "by his power" _ He found his delight in the service of unrighteousness.
      *that  "our old man is crucified, dead,  `and buried wit,h               He hated the light, and loved the darkness.                       Though
      la+m; that so the corrupt inclinations of the flesh may                 he often was .filled  with sorrow. of the world, and ,dread-

      no&  more reign in .us ; that so we may offer ourselves                  ed thle  wages of sin, he was a stranger  .to the"sorrow
      unto him a sacrifice of thanksgiving."                                   after God, andnever knew repentance. After forgive-

       ::I' In the light of all this, we can  ,understand  the inti-           ness and righteousness .he ,did not yearn.                    The kingdom
      mate and inseparable connection between justification                    of God he could not  see.           In the world he found his

      by faith and a walk in newness of life.              _,                  delight, and the things th& are above he'did not seek,
                                                                              neither did he perceive them.
       * It is clear now why, in answer to the question,                                                                 .
      whether those that are freely justified'had not better                        That old,man  is dead!

      continue in sin, Paul so emphatically exclaimed: "God                         Be that is in Christ Jesus is a new creature; old

      forbid."     For.  exactly in being justified the believer is           things are passed away; b,ehold,  all things .are  become

      freed from the dominion of sin, that he may live unto                   new. '

`God..                                                                           * Yes,. the motions of sin  la.re still in his members,

         : An .indulgence  granted by mer,e man, though he                    but he hates them.             He still sins, but he `is sorry for
 `be the pope, may induce the sinner to live want,only:                       his sin, and the cry for forgiveness is on his  li,pS daily.

      in sin; the mighty power of the death of-Christ has                     He does not live in sin, abide in sin, finds  .his  proper

      the very opposite effect.           By it, sin is condemned, de-        sphere in sin anymore.. Where formerly ,he agreed

      throned, its power destroyed, and the believer iis be-                  with sin, there is, now in his inmost heart a deep, a

      come dead t.o sin.          The corrupt inclinations of the flesh       radical qd,isagreement  between sin and hi.m.  Whereas
no more. reign in him.                  He may -now serve the living          formerly he found his 7delight  i:n sin, he now abhors it,

      ,God,  and offer himself a living sacrifice unto Him.                   eschews it,, opposes it, and takes God's side in the

       !' But it may not be superfluous to ask the question:                  judgment of his own iniquities.                 And he has an inner
      how:does  this freedom from the 8dominion  of ,sJn  reveal              delight in the precepts of his God.              He .hears Ifis.Word,

      itself in the present life of the believer in this woc13d?              he tastes that the Lord is good, he seeks His fellowship,

 -What  .does  it mean, then, to be `dlead  to sin, and no                    and He is a companion of all them that fear  film.                    And
      longer to live in. it?                 `.                               he seeks the things,  that are ,above,  w.here  Christ sitteth
`.        In answer to this question we may state, aegatively,                at the right hand of God. It is true that he often
      that to be' dead-to sin does not mean that sin  is, `dead               finds himself doing what he would not, but fact is

      in us.    .Bitter disa.ppointment  must needs be the result, that he ,does  :not  will it.                  He frequently must confess

`if we imagine that when we are ingrafted into Christ;                        that he does that which he hates  ; it is true, however,
      crucified and raised with Him, the death ..of sin fdl-                  that he hates it. And he long& in hope for the day

      lows, is the sure -fruit. For sin is, not `dead in the                  when he shall be delivered from the body of this

      belitever  as long as he is irn this life. It does not die,             death, and be like unto his Lord in perfection, that he

      until, he dies. Till then it is very mech  alive. The                   may offer himself for ever  unto God a sacrifice of

 motioqs of aiq we in auk" memhra,  %n fact, in oppo-                         thanksgiving !

                                             0                                   ._ `1..
                                                                      -


                                                                                                                                                         ,

                                            `T~HEY3TAtiDARD   B E A R E R   - -                                                                                    464
                                                             _
       . Such is the manifestati'on in this life of the fact of .pain and terror a..nd hellish agonies? In answer
that the old man is  cr.ucified,  dea.d,  and buried with                     to' the .qtiestion  concerning the speciai  significance of
C h r i s t .                                                                 the death `of $he  cross, the Catechism explained that
       And it is all the fruit of the  (death of the Son' of             -through the cross God laid the Icurse upon  Him, and

God !                                                                         that `He took it upon. Himself, for the death of the
                                                                              cross was IaccurseId of God.                But is.not the curse`of God

                                                                              the suffering of hellish terrors?. If, th?refore,  we`
                                      -7
                                                    I                         a@opt  the explanation of the Catechism, the omission.
  I                           4.,' " ., --(                                   of ,this article from the recital of the Apostolic-urn in .'
                                                                         `public worship is,,& a seridis  pne, the more so becaiise,
                   The Das'censiop  Into Hell:                                as we have said; in the older copies of  thi&  creed the.
       The fi.nal  article of the Apostoticu~m  that speaks                   article does not occur.                               ,
of Christ in His huniiliation.  concerns His descension                           The ~a~rtible  hm been explained in more than one
in@ hell.       And- this article our Catechism explains in                   titiy.                            D
                                                                         I
the forty-f,ourth  question and !a.nswer:  "Why ia there                          One explanation gives to'it the meani?g  that Ch$st
added, !hle. descended into hell?'          That In my greatest               was  in thte  stat6 of the dead. The Greek word f6r
.temptations  ,I may loi assured', and wholly comfort my-                "liell"  is Ilades,  a word that is Ltranslated  I;md  that, `coo,
self in this, that my Lord Jesus  :Christ,  by his in-                        usually correctly, in our English Bitble  by hell, but
expressible anguish, .pains;  terrors, 2nd hellish agonies,              which may signify the .same  a3 grave, or the- state  of
irr whi.ch  he wis plunged during &II  his sufferings, but               the dead before the r,esurrection.  IHence,  the explan-
especially, on the' cross, hath delivered me `from the                   5a.tion  is li~~guisticdly  possible : he descended  into the
anguish and torments, of he&"                                            state of- the dead. The context in which the artiicle
       We may note here that the Catechism  qnly indirect-               occurs, however, would seem tb be'opposed'to  the idea
ly and by implication explains  -the. article as it                      that this .was actually the meaning of bhe article his-
                                                          OCCUIX
in the Confession,  laying'!a.ll  the emphasis o.n the spirit-           torically; thai is, accord&g  to_ the 5a:ith of the early
ual benefit #believe&  `dIerive from this part of the-work                    Chur.ch.  For it occurs it the iend of the series: sztf-
of. Christ                                                               few&  was crucified, dead and buried. The' last- of
               : assur&e of salvation and full coinfort  even
in their greatest temptatipns.       Nevertheless, $he impIi-            these terms aIready  declares thtit Christ descended into i
cation is that the `article about  the' des,cension  into                the-place of $the ,dead, and to add another arbicle  virtual-
hell as it occur,s~  ill the Apostle's Cneed `signifies that             ly expressing the same thing, would appear to be a
oil the` cross *Christ suffered "in.expressible  anguish,                rather useless `repetition.
pai.ns,  terrors, and hellish agonies." This is  C&lvin's                         .The second explanation is that offered by our
explanation of the article, !and this interpretation was                 Heidelberg  Catechism, that Christ suffered the agonies
generally adopted by the Reformed  Churched.                             of hell in our stea:d.                 We have,  of ."course,  -no objection
       The article .&elf is not f6und  in the older copies               whatever to the doctrinal contents of this explanatiin.
of the' Apostlles'  Creed, though th'e  matter &elf  was                 And ai part df our Catechism, wle  shall have to refer to
believed b? the Church, and the expression occurs iti                    it again.          Nevertheless; in view df the position of. this
some isolated confessions.      In bur  Apostolic Confessioti            .article in?th& Apostolicum;  between the burial  and the
it was not intsoduced  until the begiqning  of the.sixth                 resurrection, it may be seriously doubted, whether this
century. Our readers may have  noticed that in the                       was  `the  intentioln  of the early Church4
worship. of many American churches,:, when this creed                                                                                                   H. H.

is reCited,  the words `the descendeld  into hell" ark,

omittea        And, let it be .remarked'thai  if they are ex-

plained  as referring to the  agonie$  and hellish suffer-

ings of Christ during Bis whole life,. and' especilally  on                                                IN MEMORY                                          I
the cross, there is littl'e  reason why they shoultd  not be
omitted. It .mpst  be evident that, after all that the                            The Second Protestant Reformed Church Men's Sioqiety
Caechism has explained cbncerning  the suffeFing,s  and                  herew,ith  expresses its sympathy to  .tine  of their fellow members,
death of Christ in this and  i#n                                         A. J. Kuiper, in  the loss of his 
                                     (he preceding Lord's' Day,                                                           _
there is little or nothing to a.dd.           In the answer                                                          FATHER
                                                                  to.                                                                       ~
question thirty-seve$,_  the..  Heidelberger already ex-                           May the God of all grace comfort the  blereaved  in the

plained the sufferings of Christ as mea&ng  "that he,                    assurance that Christ has gone before and prepared a place

all the time that he lived on earth, but especially  $t                  for us.
the end of his life, sustained in bddy  and soul, the wr&h                                         .                           H. De  Joag,  Vice Pres.
                                                                                                                     1
of ,God  against the sins of all mankind."        But wha,t  else                                  ,                      c. Ten Elshof, Sec'y. .                               ,
is `this bearing of the wrath of God than t$ suffering                          G r a n d  $apids,   M i d .                                     `..                      u.


                                                                                 ,-                           .



                                                                              could not `m!a,ke  i&e  people one, neither co&d  the
              ~`Mic~h's Spurious Sanctuary                                    hereditary. kingship.                 The ,best  -of the kings thz@Gocl
                                                                     I -.     chose to rule over His people were not equal to this

           Y&e  book 0:.Judges  divides ihto  three parts : 1. In- task. For theseckings  were but sinful men, and ihe
- tr"oduction;  2; the main body of the bopk;  3. the con-                    root of Israel's troubles was sin, -which  ,had to- .be
        clusion.    The intyoduction,  includes the first two chap-           atoned and removed, -if God's  ljeople  wefe to be truly
       ters, ,of  which the first sets forth the condition of                 one.           Only sinless men, in whose heapt  is shed abroad
        Israel  -after  the death `of Joshu&  ai being that  of               the love of God, la.re  truly on,e-one  in the truth, one in
       inactiqn  with respect to its #divine calling.                 The     Christ wh? is the truth.                 Thus, there was nee'd  qf Him.
        task that remained to the tribes' west of the  Jor-                   -.Christ  Jesus-w+0 is "made unto us Wisdom and
        d;zn  `was .to prosecute the conquest by, freeing their               righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption."
  respective allotments from the remnants of the heathen                               Let .us. now .have  regard to the examples bf this
        tribes, -and especially io clea&e  the land of tizk altars            sinful individualism-preserlted  to us in t$le concluding
        `atid  shrines of their pagan.  worship.    But this was not          chapters of our book: The-first is that of the setting
        done, we learn from this chapter.       W&t is worse, wi?Gh           up of !a. p?ivate  sanctuary by -Micah, a nian of Mount
        the exception of Judah, the tribes concluded .a covenant              Ephraim, and of.  his engaging a wandering Levitt.  to
        with .the heathen, according to the articles  .of  which              be' his priest, chapter 17: I-13. The narrat.ion  of
        they were allowed to com'-,inue  ia the possession. of                these sinful doings follows after the story of Samson's
        many of their cities on the condition that' they pay                  !ife and death.

        tribute and their pa&an temples  .and  altars were not                         There dwelt at that timk in Mount Ephraim a
        broken *down.                                           ,             woman who was rich. H.er $tialtih  amounted to at
            The second &apter  gives us a bird's eye view of the              least eleven hundked  shekels, at that time representing
        .history,  narrated in the body of +he.book,--a  history              `a considerable  sum.                How she had .come  into the po.s-
        of the apostacies of Israel:  .and the deliverances sent              s&ion bf so mulch wealth cannot. be' #determined.                  The '
        by Jehovtih  through-the lagency  of the. ju'dges,  t.hus  a          view that sh,e w,as  a widow wh.ose  deceased husband
        history of sin. ,repeating  itself:  over and over, and of            ha?t left her lairge  stilns is no't unlikely, as no mention
        divine -grace, constantly devisin.g  new Gear&  of de-                is made of the woman's husband.                   She hzd a so'n whose
        liverances.                                                   I       tiame-wa.s  Micah. Micah t6ok  the money-secretly; The
            The ,donclusion  of *he  book is formed of chapters               $ext  indicates that  his purpose was to manufacture an
        19: 21.     Arriving at these chapters we notice that the             image for a private sanc$uary.                  When the woman dis-
        narula.tive  takes a sud'den  turn indicative of `a new de-           covered .the  theft,, she was beside herself. Doubtless,
 ,sign  whicki Is to show that in the period of the judges'                   she suspected her ,son,  for, as the text again.indioates,
       "every man (did  that. which was riaght in his own eyes,"              she had learned from hkr son his plans-and, what is

       q in that "in those days there was  -no king in Israel."               more, in her carnal rage she was careful to curse +he
        This.  statement occurs only ii1 t6e  conclusion of the
. -                                                                           unknown thief in' her son's hearing, who, with his
        book and occurs  .there  ,over  and over. Thus, the de-               mother's dreardful  imprecat,ions  ifi his ear!,  was afra$. -
        sign .of these concluding chapter,i  is to trlace  the-self-          Going to `his mother, he said tb her,  "The eleven hun-
        will of individuals, of the priests and of the  pezplc?;              dred shekels of silvertthat  were taken from thee, a&out
        their licentiousness and passion,  and thus to show that,             which thou cur&&t  and spaketh also Ialso  in mine ears,
        by reason of the inability of  t;lhe government of the                behold the, silver  is with me; I tobk it"-`took it,`. he
        J&ges  to cope with this sinful  individualisni  the                  meant to say, and his mother well understood, `to  estab-'
        hereditary kingship had to be set up.            As* I wrot;  in a    lish mjr  private sanctudry,  thus took it for an -excellent
        former lar$cle,.`the  need of the kingship  ro&  from the,            purpose". As driven by. a superstitious  dre"ad  for the
        sil>fulness  of the people, from t,heir  intibility to~be otie        effect .of a maternal curse, he merely meant to inform
        in a common faith in Jehovah their God. What was                      his arigry mother  th-hat  the c&se'.concerried  him as he
       therefore needed is a visible. and r central authority had taken the silver, which he .was now`.Feturning.  His.
       to curb the licentiousness of, the pedple,  constrain it               telling her this, ,would .have surprised the woman, had
       to obey God's voice-and to abide in His law,, thus .P,                 she b&en ignorant of hi% plans.                 Btit she wa.s  not sur-
        central authority to serve  -as a compelling unity for                prised.          Ifist,ead  she was jubilant.' Her  terrible- male-
       the:whol,e  nati.on.  Without a king, the people of Israel             dictions had had the desired -effect.  ' -It' had frightened
       were like +. flock without a shephe?d.                They we&         the miscreant intd admittin-g to..her  his guilt. The
  astra.yt  They-turned every o.ne  to his own way. In                        loot `was. returned. *' She  Qad reco+ered,  h&r tressure.
       the conclusion of -his bdok,  the writer `calls attention to           The Lotid  might noiir ble&  the culprit. _ So, in her
       this over and over in ,this languag?,  "In those days                  elation of heart, she exclainied,  "Blessed be thou of,
       there was no king in Israel : ,every man did `what was                 the "Lord, my .son."                 She ' resembl&l  those people of
y right, in. his owti eyes.`:      But if the'inst,itujcion  of judges        wh~.~ Ja=cs says ,(&ap?.  3 ;10), "Out of the same
                                                                                                        r.
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                                                    _
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             mouth `proceedeth `blessings  and' cursing."      She was a        designed for divining purposes. ' He meant it-to  t~ake
            `wicked woman, ..whose  heart  was not with_ the Lord-  the place in his lipurious  worship of the Urim and the

            b,ut`with:  hei gold.' That she-was.this  kind of ..a person        Thununim  which were intended .,for  Israel's high-.

             is plain from her subsequent words and .doings:  With              priests in `order that by. means of them they -might be
            `-her eleven.hundred  shekels once more in her possession,          the .organ  .of  divine re.velation  for the people.

           she said .to her son, "I had wholly dedicated the silver                 Micah's sin was great.         He inaugurated in Ephraim _
             _unto  the `Lord from my_  hand for' my. son, to make a            not the. worship of Jehovah `by the  .ai.d  of an image-

             graven im&ge  and ..a' molten image ; now therefore- I             this was never either possible or intended, the pious
             will restore,' it unto thee.`" .But  this son, still dreading      assertions of the in&:ge  worshippers  in Israel notwith-

             the effects  of the curse, was determined'not  to have the         standing-but the worship, of a devil-god: in opposition

             silver. -So.  he, * in turn, restored the money to- his to the worship of the one true God at Shiloh.                           True,
             mother;     The text indicates that'she  had, expected this        Micah's image may not have represented  a. calf. : Tt
           `. and that her generosity was t$eref.ore  feigned.           For `certainly did not represent any of the .monstrous  crea-
           she how  took not the eleven hundred but a mere two tions of the  Bla:al-worshippers,  for that would.  have
             `hundred of `the eleven hundred &ekels  of silver                  defeated the purfiose  `of ,the  man ; but it was.an image,
             `"and gave them to the founder, who made there:                    and the worship was the w.orship  of an image never-

             of a `graven image and i molten image." -.Thus,` theless:                      And this worship-this sanctuary with its

             in saying" that : she had wholly ,dedicated  the sil-              spurious oracle and priest-this mlan~presumed-to  pass
             ver `unto the Lord, she had lied.         It is unlikely that      off as the worship, the sanctuary, `the oracle and the

             she. had ;d:edicated`  any of it untothe  Lord, !and that          priest oft Jehovah.     For his object was to draw away

           her' blessing  her son `in turn was mdicative  .of  a                the people from Jehovah and His  minist,ers  in the

             carnal joy over the recovery -of her money and thus                tabernacl~e  and to attract them to his idol. And to

             not even a- joy `over the discovery that her son had               reach his object he vested his carnal and sensuous
`>          taken the money for what she considered a `good  pur-               worship in the forms of the-service  of Jehovah.               And
             pose and &at  his plans coincided with hers.'        She was       his motive "was pride and unbelief. -And `the impulse

             not interested `even in a spurious _6anctuary.       Her god       under whih he a&zcl  was `ha&d of,God.  M&h. was

             was her ;money.      But to make up to her son for having          a dangerous man.        His spiritual kin-  of this day and

             cursed him &ndxto  screen her avariciousness, she forced           a:ge  are not the avowed. enemies' of ,the true religion,

             herself to `dedicate at least a small portion of her               of the, God of the Scriptures, but`the heretic, whose.
             treasure to his sanctuary. And her donation she `had               heart is far from God, but who poses as God's friend

            : shaped into animage:         That, she knew, w~a.s  according     by` paying .Him lip-service and, who smuggles .his  .lies
           .to .her  son's  likfn&. s' : .. e (,     I _ _                      into the church by vesting them in the forms of the
                The form `of the image `cannot be determined.            Had    truth to ensnare,- if this were possible, even the elect.'

             it represented a~?alf;  the writer .would  have taken oc-          But those ensnare,d  are'not the elect but the  ;carnal .,
             casiontb  say so. Neither is it likely &at "the  image seed.               The true believers -in Israel `continued  -t,o serve

             work was `an imitation of the zherubim  of the taber-              at the ,ts.bernacle  in Shiloh.                              `a "
             nacle. For the khertibim  were not accessible for public               It seems that the growth in  bopularity  of..Micah's
           a zinspection.    Certain it is, that; whatever the shape of         san,ctuary  was` slower than lie, had  anticipated  `so &at,
            * the image, it formed or soon  oa.me  to form, a `contrast         he concluded~that  what was needed `is a priest from
           with Jehovah through its being worshipped  so.  that the house of Levi.                     He, first may have inquired. among
             `the ~~i~'tlM WZLS here committed by this woman and                the_Levites  r&ding  in Ep@aim_  If SO, it speaks  well

      ~      her ~011 and by as many as were to worship  `with them             for them that none of their' number -proved  willing

             in their `spurious sanctuary. w1a.s  that. of changing,            to attach himself to his .idol-temple.  .But  help came to
           under the impulse of hatred of Gdd; the ,glory of God                him from another quarter.,  ~.A young  Levity,. who:, was

             into an image `made li.ke unto the creature, and this              settled in Judlah; tired of- his home and. took to travel-

      ". notwithstanding the piotis  assertion of the woman that                Iing  abc&in  sear& of a new  field  of  sgrviee;  .J&  set

             she dedicated the silver unto Jehovah: A;ccording  to              out on a ,way that took him over t.he'  mountains. of

             Holy Writ,. all image worship is the service .of a false           Ephraim.     As he journeyed; -he :came to the house of               :
            d e i t y .  . .._             ~                       `%       `. . Micah, who learned from .the young' man, on .question-  .
               As then man Micah plainly intended' to establish~  a             ,ing  him, that -he` was unengaged and was `looking -for

             perfect imitation of the true  `worshilj  of Jehovah~  at          a' -place. Micah then made. him an .inviting  offer.

            Shiloh, he mlade also. an .ephod and: a teraphim,~  and             `!Dwell  with .me," he. said to ihim, "and ,be unto-me a

            consecrated' me;  of his `sons,. who became  his priest<            `father, and `a priest, and I `willgive thee ten shekels

             Micah's ephod was,. in all likelihood. a  .copy of the             by the year, .and a suit of apparel; and thy victuals."

             linnen coat which the Lord had :designed  `only for the.'          The, young man zonsented  and was takd  in : with
             lawful priesthood.       His teraphim  ;w&s  a pagaa*oracle  great joy and "was unto Micah `even as one.of  `his sons.
                                                                                                           /                -,
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                                4            6         0                                                  T H E  S'TANDAkD.  B:EARER


                                       Micah consecrated the young man, and `he became his.                                                        of this class of `Monarchians is known from the teach-,

                                priest in his house.                                         It mettered  little to this Levite                    ings of Paul of Samosata, their famous representative.

      j                                that the `house in which he consented to serve  w&s  t.he . . As well as the  ,orthodox,  this false teacher in the
                                       temple of a devil-god and that the worshippers  whom                                                        church distinguished the eternal logos from the human

L ~                                    he should. bless wer&  such as prostrated themselves                                                        Jesus born of the virgin.        According to the Scriptures,.
                                       before the shrine of&n idol.                                   The young man was now                        the logos (John 1: 1) is an independent .personality  in
                                       in good circumstances. He had strayed into  la. lucrat,ive                                                  the Goldhead  and as such the only begotten of the

                                       place:and  if $0 hold that place he must bless when he,                                                     Father, in sulbstance one, with the Father' and the

                                 shoul,d  `curse, he would bless.                                     iHis god being his belly, / Spirit. But Paul of. Samosata corrupted the Logos,
                                ,' he "was  a ,pleaser  of men. -Loving the world  .and the                                                        the eternal Son of God, to an  impersohal  attribute of
                                ._ things of the -world, he, renouniced  his calling, forsook                                                      God,: that is, to an impersonal power .of the Father,

                                       the temple of Jehovah land was- set over  the te&ple                                                        and he taught that with this power the human Jesus

                                       *of an idol. And Micah -was glad. He now looked for                                                         `was filled .at the moment of His conception or birth,

                                       ~blessings  to Jehovah.                                "Now I know," he said, "that.                        that thereby He was !united  in will to God, that by

                                  Jehovah w&do  me good, seeing I have a Levite to my                                                              virtue thereof God raiseId  Him from the' dead, adopted
                          p r i e s t . "                       These words indicate the self-deception  lof                                       H.im to be His Son, and crowned Him.with  a kind of

                                       the man. His soiled conscience' buildel hopes on the                                                        honorary divinity, .in the sense that He will crown.all

                                aa.me  of an `apostate .Levite.                                                                                    Bis people with divinity.        Jesus, according to this con-
                          .`I, ' ._ .I                                                                             G .  li.  0 .              "    ception, is but a mere `man ; He is not in substance also
                                 7' ;*            :, :.;`7,     `/                     ._                                                          divine. Were this true, said Paul, there would needs
                               -..: ,.:.; ,?I                  .$~"'  * I                                                                          be two Gods, God the Father and God the Christ.
                          `.i I 1 .!.,i                                                                                                            (He refused to perceive that Christ, according to His
                          .`]` y                                                                                                                   divine essence, is numerically one with the essence of
                          :;; "-                                           :_
                                                  ;                                                                                                the Father and that. -t;lhe  person of Christ dwells in the
                          7. ^ .;;. .,                                I                                                                            Godhead las the only begotten of the  F.ather  and there-
                          -.                 The Doctrine of fhe Early.Church                                                                      fore as a'-distinct personality in the Godhead, . Christ,
                               ._ -                                        ,: .                               I                                    according to this Paul, `was a mere creature of the
                                                                                                                                                   absolute God. 
     `.                                                                                                                                                                  I
                                                               ..:(The  Eisential  Divinity .of  Christ)                                 .          The quest.ion  might be put why Paul of  Ssmosata
                                                                                                                                    ,
                                                  As was said, the essential divinit,y  of .Christ  had                                            claimed for `Christ `even a delegated .Idivinity.      He re-
                                       to be asserted against the Monarchians and the Ebion-                                                       coiled from bluntly denying the. essential divinity of
                                                                                                                                                   Christ, the reason being that the belief `that Christ is
                          :            ists who saw in Christ only aseconld  Moses land against
                                                                                                                                                   the divine son of God `was general.          But the people of
                     I                 the Gnostics  who placed Chri.st  in a class with the eons
                               of their ideal world;                                         Further,. it was pointed out that                     God were still wrestling with the problem huw,.  if
I                                      at the beginning of the third century-circa.200-there                                                       Christ `be divine, it can be, maintained tha.t  Gold is only.
           I                           were three Christologies contesting in Rome: 1) The                                                         This. f&e teacher came with his solution. Christ,
                                  .ModaXstic  Monarch'ian,,also  known as Patripassi1a.n  and                                                      be saimd,  is Son of God not essentially but only by
                                       Cebellianism                                                                                                adoption.    This type of Monarchianism, was cal'led
                                                                                 ; _ 2) -The Dynamic Monar.chian  ; 3) The
                                       Logos Christqlogy. It was the lasts-named  that triumph-                                                    dynamic because it corrupted the .eternal  logos into an
                                       ed on the Council of-Nijcea  325. The Modalistic and                                                        impersonal `power 09 God. Dynamic Monarchianism
                                       Dynamic Monarchians had this in common: both as-                                                            was thoroughly rationalistic. It ,anticipated  all the
                                       serted` that.  God is only, .but they stressed this to' the                                                 rationalistic opinions about Christ of this day and age,
                                       exclusion of the tripersonality in the Godhead. Both                                                        It was moist misl,eading  because, while it maintained
                                       refused to distinguish in the one and indivisible  essense                                                  the divine sonship  of Christ, it idenied  His essential
                               of God three hypostasis  or persons.                                                They .could  not                divinity.    It taught that Christ is -divine. in the sense
                                       see in the trinitarian conception ought else but an as-                                                     in which, .according  to rationalistic opinion, all good
                                 sertion of tritheism  (three;godism)  . Thus t,heir  as-                                                          m e n  ,are   d i v i n e .

                               sertion that God is one and `only is equivalent to  thC                                                                The first Dynamic Monarchian of note was `Theo-
                          affirmia.tion.  that He is numerically -one not only sin                                                                 Idotus, a man of learning, who came to Rome about 190

                          _. -essence `but also in personz&ty.  They were therefore.                                                               and there ta.ught  his views.       But he was excommuni~
                                       .given  the name Monarchians@; meaning "one principle"..                                                    cated by the bishop of Rome.        Still other attempts wer.e
           .                      But there was .also  a difference between the two classes                                                        made to present this theology at Rome but none. of
                               `_ of Monarchians., The.Dynamic  Monlarchians  denied the                                                           them met with success. It made greater heedway  in
                                       essential $divinity  of Christ and His co-essentiality with                                                 the East, where it .was  representead  by the gifted bishop

                /                      the Father, but -not- so the' Modalistic Monarchians.                                                       of Ant&h,  this Pbul of Samosata wh:ose views we have
                                       The.Dp?wic  Monarih$ans  . The system of thought                                                            already considered. ,Between  264 and 269 these views
                                                                                                                                                                              *.
                                                                                                                            e'                                                             i
                                        I                                                        j                                                                                    _ -,
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                                                T    H      E      S'TAN,DARD'  BEiRE$  '                                         ~ 461.


       `were tried and pronounced heretical by three synods,                Father that  .chamcterized  the Logos Christology of
       the,last  of which excommunicated Paul.            But he would      most.of the fathers of this period. But Sabellius' nu-
     not give up his seat `and had to  ,be ydriven out by the               merical idenJifi+tion  of the Father, Son and Holy  '
       empeyor  AurelBn.                                                    Spirit was condemned. *And rightly so. For it is  a
           The Modalistic  M_onarchianGm.  This form,w8s  more              view thtat conceptionally destroys. God.
       Christian by far.     It had a much .larger  foPowing  than             The Logds  Christolo,gy.  The ide%  of this Christ-
       the other form. With the Dynamic Monarchians the                     ology is this : Christ as the Logos is- a disti& persoP-
       Moda.listic  Monarchians asserted that God  is only.                 al.ity  in the Gocdhead in, which He dwells as the  o?.iIy
       ,With the Dynamic Monarchians they Idenied  the tri-                 begotten of the Father,  co-essentiala  ;co-eternal,  and co-
       personality of God.        But unlike the Dynamic MOIJ-              eQua1  with ihe Father and the Holy Spirit.                  This
     archians  they asserted the essential divinity of the                  Christology w1a.s  championed by the -following church
       historical Christ. Also their .problem  was how,. if                 fathers of note of this period (inte-Nice&)  . `Justin
       Christ be divine, it can be maintiained  that there is one           Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, Origin, IreneuS,  Ter-
       God>  and no&  two  Gods, God the -Father and God the                tullian, Hyppolytus and others. But the modes of
       `Christ.    Their sdlution was that. Gad the .Father  and            thought of these fathers vere not  of the saqe doctrinal
       God the Christ are one and the  Sam&  numerically,                   soundness. The Logos -Christology  of most of them
     Noetus, the leader of the Modali+  Monarchians,'                       was encumbered by subordinational`ism (the subjec-
       taught that "Christ was the Father  Himself,  and                    tion of the Son and,  the  Spirit to the Father):
                                                                               In the Ch?*istology  of Justi% iI!(arty?`,
'      that  the F&her Himself was  born,-,  suffered and                                                                     Christ is the
      d i e d . " Sabellius, the outstanding lealder  of the` Moldal-       Log&,  the only and absolute Son of God. Justin, how-
       ,istic  M.onTar.chians  taught that Father, Son, and Holy            ever, subordinates.&he  Son tb the Father and affirms
     Spirit are numerically ,one,  and as. such.`a  threefold               that the unity of the two  pemons  is moral, as is the
       yosopo;n  or form of manifesitation'of the one God in                unity b`etween  two frienlds.  Now the. Unity between
       His chakacter  ,of Creator as Father, in that of Re-                 Father anh Son is moral indeed lofit it is this beeaanse
       deemer as the Son, and now 3s the tHoly Spirit. In                   Fat,her,  Son, and Holy, Spirit in essen!ce  are one.
'      this view Father, Son, and Holy  Spi'ribt  are, one and                 IOrigin identified the e:skhce,  of Ithe' Father with
       the `stame  person. ' Thus they -are not three different that #of the Son but he alsb spealks of a (difference of
       personalities in th&  odhead but rather three differ-                substance and subordin&es  the Son Do the Fatlier.            He
     - ent modes of mahif;estation  of the one God. Hence                   calls the Son God in  a secondary sense anjd the Father
       t;:e follo:wers  of this view were  given  .the name of              `absolute God.        '

       Modalistic Monarchians. This teaching gppealed  to                       Clement of Alejca@Ga  niakes the lqgos God but says
       many Christirans.  . This `can be explained. .In distinc-            nothing definite about His independent personlality.,
       tion from Dynamic Monarchianism, it asserted the                         Freneus  came' close to th.e Nicene  #dogma  of the
       essential Idivinity  of ,Christ.    And it emphasized, as well       Logos. T`hat  he subordinated the Son t,o the Father
       as did dynamic Monarchianism, the unity of God,                      must be explained from his want of careful distinction
       though it Tdenied  Es triapersonality  in the presence               between `t&e  Son of God as the only  begqtien  of the
     of heia;then  polytheism. God's  people f&t  that they had             Father- and the Son ai the Christ. /H:e  "ais confused
       need of a Christ who was more than a mere creature,                  by expressions like, "My Father is greater than I", an

      , a Christ .who is God, not in a secondary sense, but                 expression that is to be applied .only  to the Son of God'
       truly, a'ctually, essentially. They understood that. only            incarnate.                 t'
       Such a Christ  could s&e them.                                           Hippolytus was another great la;dvocate  of the Logos

         As was said; the l.eader  of th&  Modalistic Mon-                  Christolo,gy.  -He vig&ou$y  opposed the Monarchians
       archians was No.etus  of Smyrna.              His views were         of both schools. by `insisting  ,op  the recogilition  .df per-
      -, transplanted to Rmome  by his Idisciples  `about 190.     They.    sons in the Godhead .with  eqtial  claim to `divine worship.
       even won the sympathy of the biBhop  of Rome, Zephy-                 An able ,exposition  of the Logos Christologjr  came -from
       rinus.      T h e  outsta.nding  lBader ,uf Modalistilc  Mon-        the'pen  of Tertullian of Carthage.      This w#ork,  entitled
       archianism was, as was said, Sabellius.            About all that    "against Praxeas", contains a definition of the. God-
       is known of him is that he  `was teaching at Rome ialbout            head in terms that anticipate the Nicene  result, of more _ I
       215. There was no essential ,difference  between. his                than a century later.       "All are one by a unity of sub-
       theoldgy and that of Noetus.        But wh@ strikes us in his        stance," he writes ; "while the mystery of the dispen-
       presentation-cited above-is the, implie< equality of                 satioh is still ,guar,ded  which distributes the unity into
       Father; Son, and Holjr  Spirit, the use-of the term                  a trinity, .pl&ng  in their order the three, the Father,
       prosopoln.  land the application of this term to the tri-            the Son, and `the Holy Spirit; three, however, n,ot  in.
       personality in the Goldhead.  It was this equality df the            subsi%nce  but in form; not in power but in appearance,

       tri-personality in the Gocleead  that was to triumph                 for they ire of one substance and one essence and one

       over  the siuborcjinatian  af the Son and the Spirit TV tha          power, inasmuch as He is ona Gad frem w.$am  these


   462 1                          .               :,TtiE STANDAR-P  i:BEA:R'833
                                                                                                                                              .-----..- .--
  degrees and forms and aspects  are reckoned under the                           taal.      "Gij zij t UWen  lande .gunsti&  geweest, .HEERE  ;
  name of the Father,  and of the San, ,an,d  of the Holy                         de ,bevangenis  Jakobs. hebt Gij gewend."                De woorden
  Ghost."    He describes these dititinl:tions  in the Godhead                    "Uw,en  lande" en "`Jakobs" beteekenen hetzelfde. Beide .
  as perso&.      He also distinguishes between .the human                        wijzen. ze heen naar Gods  uitverkoren volk. De dich-
  a8d ;th&  divitie  in Christ.. "We` se$ rHis  double' state,                    ter spreekt van dit'volk in het algemeen.. Wat hij ge-
  not' intermixed but conjoind in, ene' person:Jesus,                            tuigt pan het land .en var! Jakob is van toepassing op
. Go'd  and man."     -But  he also calls the Father. the whole `hen van eeuwigheid tot i,;i der eeuwigheid. .Dat zijn
  divine substance .and ihe Son a part of it. -                                   nu eenyoudigweg de feiten. God heeft gunst betoond
      The Logos Chri&ology  coinpletely won ,its way 111                          aan het Land van. Go&                  Dat Land is d plaats  waar
 ~ Western Christendom. This appears from a treaticr                              Go& volk verkeert.                Let wel, <dat  beteeke_t niet alleen
  on the "Trinity" tiriti,en  by the Roman piesbyter  `NO-                        Palestina. 0 neen.. net houdt ook het. Paradijs in,
  vatilan, between 240 and 250. Repxoducing and .ex-                              hef. land Gosen,  de stukjes aarde waar Gods  volk mag
  panding Tertullian's view, tic treats bis exposition as                         verkeeren.                Farao's huis; om Jozef's .wil, enz., enz.
  the only. authorized interpretation  of tbe  " a p o s t l e ' s                Uiteindelijk is het de ,nieuw,e laarde, waarin-gerechtig-
  creed".    H e  teaches that betweefi-  `Father  and San` a                     hei& woonen zal.'
  "c&n.munion  of SubstIa8nce"  exists.           T.his waS the Latin                  , Gods'gunst is Zijh glimlah  van .welbehagen: De '
  equivalent~of  the latter Nicene "Homoousian", meaninp                          Heere mag dat land van Zijn volk gaar,ne  zien!                      Om
  "of the same substanc".                T.hen ther .was the Roman              den wille van Zijn volk, hetwelk ,eigenlij8 hetzelfde
  bishop  D i o n y s i u s  (259-268),  who, in bis controv-sy                   heteekent als, om Zich Zelfs wil..
  with-Sabellius, maintained the homoousian, the.eternal                                Nader taangeduid, zien we in ,de volgende .clausule
 genenation of the Son, aed the di&nction  between the                            het wonder van . . Gods  ,glmlacben  : -"de gevangenis
  threc persons. Thus the Western Church'had  reached                             Jakobs hebt' Gij gewend !"               Ja, ik zal her maar een uit-
  conclusions  harmoilizable  with *the creed of Nicea mre                       roepteeken  achter'plaatsen.  Het is. z wondeklijk, ,dat.
  than sixt.y  year,s  befo&  that_council.                   -'                  gij er va.n iingien'eult  uit den treure en tot in eeuwig-
                                                         G    .      N. 0.        h     e    i    d    .
                                                                                  : De gevangmis Jakobs! Wat is dat? :
                                                                                        Di,e .gevangenis is de doo'd,`geliefde  lezer.             Dat ge-
                                                    ~                             vang omsluit `ons vanwege #de zonde en de schuld die
                     ---
                                                                                  wij bij Go.d gemaakt hebben; en zij houdt in de
                                                                                  lichamelijke, ges&r$jke en eeuwige dood.                 Het uiterste
                                                                                  van die gevangenis is de `hel ten eeuwige verdoemenis. .
      Gebed OrnGenad6  Voor Genade
                                   . .                                            Die toesta.nd  en staat des eeuwigen doods w.ordt een
                                                                                  gevangenis, omdat men in die toestand. en staat niets
                                                                                  positiefs kn doein. Daar k-fi men niet meer spreeken,
                              (Pi,alm  8 5 )                                      wandelen, huppelen van ziel- len ,licbaams;vreugd.                 Daar
      Het is niet gemakkelijk on een titel te kiezen yoor                        kan men slechts : weenen, tandenkfiersen en angstig
 `dezen  psalm. D'e hoofdzaak-.dile  hier gevonden wordt                          roepen.                                     :              `,
  is zeer diep en rijk.                                                _                Voor Jakob is die gevangenis gewend.
     `In het algemeen zouden we kunnen zeggen, dat. hier                                Da;+ de dichte? hier spre&t  van Jakob, als hij een
een dichter aard het .wqord is di,e zeer rijk is in God.                          vertegenwoordiger valn Gods  uitverkoren volk wil vin-
Hij kent God, ,zichz&lf,  Israel en. het verleden. Hij                            den, ligt in het feit, dat van allle Bijbclheilig@  ,Jakob
 is een wijze theoioog.        Geen wonder: de- Heilige Geest                     vooraan staat in het worstelen met God.  : Hij h%d een
leerde hem.                                                                       angstig leven; van uit een zeker oogpunt. V.erkorerz
      Ik zou den psalm aldus willen verdeelen : van- veri                         om.de eerste te zijn; wordt hij ide tweede geboren. Naast
 J tot 4 hebben we een beschrijving.van  de genade Gods                           zich vindt hij !en hlater  Gods,, Esau.             De vder trekt.
  over Zijn- Volk; van vers 5 tot 8 een ,gebed om genade                          den .goddelooze voor. Straks  moet hij vluchten voop
 over' het zondige Issael  van des dichter's `dag, op grond                       hfet aangezicht van zijn broeder, Hij had de fluister-
 van de genade die lH,ij Israel betoond,had in het ver-                           stem gehoord: ,als  mij vader ster@;  dan moet Jakob
 leden; vers 9 lei 10 b.eschrijft  het geloof van den dich-                       gedood!. Bij Laban schijnt alles::-hem tegen te zijn,
 ter: hij zal st.illeken&  wachten op God's antwoord;                             Veertien jaren moet hij arbeiden voor zijn %rowen.
vers 11 beschrijft het .wonder d$r genade; en in de                               Zijn heer is een zelfzuchtige die tienn-$en  zijn loon
 verzen 12-14 beluijteren we de beschrijving van het                              verandert. Hij ervaart veel s-art  van zijn Binderen,
 volk Gods  zooals het wandelt en zich badien mag% de                             De vrouw die hij zifelslief.  heeft .wordt hem doos God
 goude lichtstralen van de genade des Heeren.                                     o&ij<ig `ontnomen en als ,dan die li&d$  `op Jozef viel,
      Eers$  ~zien  we dan een beschrijving vakti  -de genade                     moet hij staren, staren op een bebloed kleed van vele
 - Gada  Qver  ,Zijn valk,    Zij wordt beschre;~en  in sc,hame                   kleuren,  StmkC;  zien we hem bij den jiaiabok  waar
                                                                            -_


                                                    T H E  STANDAR.D-   B E A R E R                                                            463
                               :
  hij. met den Alma,chtige  moet wombelen.  Hij :  w a s                    rechtigheid gevonden- worden.                  De duivel mag tegen-
  angstig voor het `aangezicht -van, Esau. Ja, "Jakob. in                   over Jzua  staan met zijn vuile kleederen om hem te
  het bijzonder, h~ad  veel te-worstelen gehad.                             wederstaan. Ht helpt niet. `Satan wordt vekvloekt.
       Doch zijn gevange.nis  werd giwend v!a,n `oogenblik                  De Heere `straffe u, 0 Satan.. Deze Jozua, ten spijt
  tot oogelnblik..  Het plan van, den vleescheten'den  en                   van zijn vu.ile kleederen is als een brandhout uit het
  vleeschbemirmenden irader w&dt  door God verijdeld,                       v u u r   g e r u k t .
  al moet het dan dopi den weg van *de zonde van Re-                             Vraagt het aan de Engelen Go,ds!  Zij zullen het
  becca en Jakob.                   Esau veracht het eerstgeboorte recht    U vertellen;        Zij werden op zekeren  dag uitgezonde
  en Jakob ontvangt de zegen Abr&ams..  En God ent-. naar Judea. 8m)een vuile bedelaa.r  te halen.                                       Zij droe-
  moet hem op den, weg naar Laban.` Bij zij,? ielfzuch-                     gen hem opwaarst tot in !de hetielen.toe.                 De' misdaad
  tige oom zorgt God voor hem van dag tot dag.                   -En als    is weg en de zonde is bedekt.               Straks mer- daarover.
Jakob in zijn ongeloof klaagt: alle <deze dingen zijn                           Verder : de geschiedenes heeft bewezen, dat God Zijn
  ,tegen mij ! dan zorgt God ervoor,, dat hij zijn fout in-                 verbolgenheid -wegnam en. Zich wendde van de  h$ittig-
  ziet: Jozef komt terug en mag een geheel volk in het                      heid Zijns toorns..
  leven behouden.'                                                              W a t  beteekefit ,cLit? Beteekent  het, dat God eerst
       .Ja,, Jakob mag de vertegenwoordiger zijn van het                    toornde op Zijn' &k en darn?, hoe dan ook, ver-
  geprange volk aller eeuwen.                         -                     anderde tegen hen? Later schijnt Jesaja dat te Beeren.
    De gevangenis is echter- gewend.                                        Hij schreef:_ "Maar zij zijn wederspannig geworden,
        Dat was een f,eit der geschiedenis, telkenmale her-                 en zij hebben.Zijne /Heilige Geest smarten aangedaan :
  h    a        a    l    d    .                                            d a a r o m  .iS Hij hun in een vijand vrkeeFd.  Hijzelf
        Adam en Eva worden er uit geroepen door ,.God                       heeft tegen hen gestreden." Jes. 63 :X0. Is God ver-
  Zelf: IHij wijst hen op de vellen van-geslachte beesten                   anderlijk?
  & %va hoort de moderbelofte. Heaoch wordt van de                            Het antwoord is : 0 neen ! God is de Onverander:
  ,aarde weggeraapt  in-levende  lijve .en Lamech's tranen                  iijke. Het schijht alsof God verandert,  <doch het is
  &ijn gedroogd.- Noach_.rijst  op de ba.r& van den .water-                 niet meer dan &hijn.             De verandering grijpt plaats in
  vloed, al hooger, al hooger'tot God. Abraham wordt                        ons, nooit in God.          Dat wil niet zeggen, dat de verbol-
  geroepen van uit een afgodisch land en Israel gaat                        genheid en de toorn Gods  r&et werkelijkheid zijn. Neen;
  zeker alleen woonen. Als str?ks  dte Egypien%ren gillen                   ,want `onze naim is waarlijk: van naure kin'deren  des
  van smart en plagen woont Israel <in `t lieflijke Gosen                   tooms.       M o z e s  getui,gt  er ook van als hij in psalm
  en is alles stil in .humle landpa18e.`  Na- de smart van                  90 zegt i Wij vergaan  door Uwen toorn ,en door Uwe
  Saul's ,da,gen ziet Israel  den man naar Gods  hart op den                grimmigheid worden wij verschrikt.
t r o o n  vtin' het volk des Heeren. En zoo  kurmen  w i j                      Om dit te verklaren moeten wij twee dingen zeg-
  doorgaan om U te toonen, dat de gevengenis van Jakob                      gen. Eerst, %od bemint Zij:n volk van eeuwigheid in
- gewend is..                       -                                       den Heer,e `Jezus Christus. Da.ar gaat niets van af.
        Hoe. lian dat?                                                      Hij bemint Jakob vr\  ,d,e wereld geschapen was ; Hij
       Israel-Jakob is to& een zond& volk?                                  bemint  hem in ,de historie als Jbkab een zondaar wordt ;
       Ik mag den psalm nieb vooru.itloopen,  `doch ilk mag                 len Hij zal ,hem tot in alle eeuwigheid beminnen.                 D a a r
  zeggen met den dichter : `dat lig%  hierin: de Heere heeft                gaat niets, g,f.      Paulus zou later. zeggen: -Hij heeft ons.
  de `misdaad van Zijn volk weggenom.en  en al hun zc&-                     liefgehad ook toen wij nog zondaars waren. ,_
  d&i  b e d e k t . '                                                           Tweedens, wij zijn in de historie werkelijke zon-
       Ziedaar het feit der gsAade !                  Men mag tanden-       daren en bedenken, spreken'  en doen werkelijke, con-
 knersen van spijt en haa.t in het kamp Ader  valsche                       crete zonden.        Dat -ziet God en. God haat *de `zonde.         E n
  theoloien: God neemt de misdaad.van  Zijn volk een-                       de Heere kan- niet met de zonde verkeeren. Als wij
 : voudig w.eg' en Hij bedekt alle hunne zondtin.  !              Halle-    goddelooze dingen bedenken, dan ervaren wij in onze
 l u j a h !                                                                harten ,die toom Gods.  Dlan toornt,.God wezenlijk op
        De moreele theoloog weet beter: om in den hemel                     ons.    Wij knnnen die, toorn Gods  gevelen in ons hart.
 _ te komen moet men zich zelf ,i&pannen  en het ver-                       Vraa.gt  het `aan Gods  volk : zij zullen het U vertellen.
  dienen.            God en Zijn volk weeten het beter: Gij naamt           Vragt,het  aan David, Jesaja en Mozes.                  Huti getuige-
  die gunstig weg ! Het iS een !eerivoudig  feit!                           nis is in den Bijbel.          Evenwel, die toorn is (anders dan
       Er zijn er `die het gezegd hebben in het gebed: Gij                  de toorn waarmede God op *de verworpenen toornt.
  hebt onze zonden weggeworpen in een zee 3an eeu.tige                      IHet is de t,oorn Zijner liefdle.              Dat is het motief van
  vergetelheid! Ik bemin zul,k een gebed: .want z, is                     Gods  too;il over Zijn vplk.             Door middel yan die toorn
  het ! Z straat  het hier ,ook, Weggenomen! W!elmr,                      die w.ij. ervaren worden wij van .de wegen der godde-
  dan is die. -misdaad -er niet meer. Vraagt het aan                        loosheid afgeleid..           ,Leest  maar het volgende yers:'
  Henoch,  hij zal h&,U-bewijzen.                  God,nam hem in den       ,Breng  ns weder, ~0 God onzes heils !                 En -doe te niet
  hemel op, waar, niet ,dan volma&te  beiligheir..en ge-                    U w e   t o o r n i g h e i d   o v e r   o n s !  ;      _ ._


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 464 ,. .                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D  BEA~REi3                                  _.

  ' Als ge dan nog aanhoudt en vraagt :.maar`is  er ,dan                     Doch da,n doet God Zijn volk bidden om genade.
geen verandering in God den zouden w,ij willen zeggen :                  Dan roepen ze het uit: Heere, toorn toch naiet  tegen ons
 neen, er is geen veran,dering, want God bemint ons ook                  en tegen Lonze kindere,n  tot in qder  eeuwigheid. Keer
 .in de.dagen en uren, dat wij Zijn toorn ervaren. De                    Gij ,ons bootje om, dan zullen wij gekeerd zijn.                    Merkt '
 verandering is in ons, -&et in Hem: Ik zal een beeld ge het wel?                         God hoeft toch niet bekeerd te worden,
 gebruiken.' Als wij stroomafwaarts ,gl#ijden ,met ons                   ,doch wij moeten omgewend! worden. .
 bootje, .dan &aat  dat gelijlk aan het verkeeren- met                      `PosiCef  vragen ie dan om leven.
onzen  Go'd in stillen vrede.           (-Zie vers 14b.  Een ander           Dan bernerken, we ion het volgende vers.                     Eigenlijk
 beeld, doch dezelfde zaak: als de Hieere U otidraait                    zij& <de verzen zes en zeven a&i elkaar gelijk, met dit                          -
,en zet "01)  den `@eg Zijner voet&a.ppen, dan is heb goed,              v;er,?lch.il,  dat het zesde vers negatief spreekt en het
 d a n  -is het vrede.) Doeb als wij vei-keerd  #denk&,                  -zevende vers positief.    Zij vragen om leven en bliJd-
sIpreken, handelen, dan staat dat gelijk aan het om.                     schap in God. Gun leven aan mijn ziel, dan looft. /. . .
 zwenken van ons ,bootje op .dien stroom. Dan wordt                          Vers acht is `geheel en al ,positief.  :Toon ons Uwe
 die zelfde liefelijke stroom, waarop ons bootje, eerst:                 goedertierenheid, 0 HEERE ! En geef ons Uw heil  !
zoq rvstiglijk gleed, een macht ,di:e ons tegenstaat. _Daa                   Men kon wel een bo.ek schrijv?n  over d.it versalleen.
moet ge roeien ,en roeien en dan breeki het zweet U uit.                     G0edertierenhei.d is de hartstocht van God om Zijn
 Dan gaat  ,ailes verkeerd!           De stroom veranderde niet.         volk goed te doen. Gedenkende aan mijn eerder ge-
 Gij .veranderde. Doch als ,de Reere U en Uw bootje                      noemd beeld is het de :wind  die `in lde zeilen pa:2 ons,
betngemt  .en zet ,op den stroom van Zijn ,golven  en                   levensbootje  blaast. .Dan gaat  het mooi, stroomafwaarts.
bruisende wateren, zoodat Uw bootje weer stroomaf-                           Dan ervaren we het heil des Heeren . Ea dat heil
 waarts glij*dt-dan  is het w&er goed.                D,aar hoor ik U    is, dat wij weten, dat wij den IHeere toezbehooren.                      Dbat
 dan `zachtkens zingen: Ik zal nu ik weer mag adem-                      wij Zijn erfdel zijn.     Dat wij Zijn aangezicht mogen
halen, na zooveel bangen tegenspoed. . `. .                              aanschouwen `in gun&  tot' ons gewend. Dat wij uit-
    Dus God verandert niet als het U benauwd ge-                         eindelijlk  veilig  zullen aanlanden in den hemel om dan
worden is.      Gij Verandert ,en ik en al Gods  ki,nderen die           tot .in alle (eeuwigheid te mogen drinken uit de fonteinen
in lde zonde dwalen, ver van *huis. ,Zwqegende  op dat                                                                         3
                                                                         van levend wat,er.           .-
pad ,der zonde, :bidt  dan Gods  volk : IOch, wier,d ik der-                 Reist  ge z in Uw bootje, das is' het goed.
waarts weer geleid !         Of : Ik weet w,at Ik ,doen zal : ik zal         F)an zingen wij in God verbl,ijpd.
opstaan en tot -mijn  vader gaan.                Toen was het beter          Ik heb e? van hooren, zi.ngen in het verre verleden :
dan nu.      God komt U tegen op #den  bruisenden stroom                 En `C. veilig strand in `t oog!
tot Uw rut.                                                                                                                             ik v.
    D i e   d a g e n   z i j n  dagen  v a n   s m a r t ;
    Dat kunt gecmerken in het volgend:e  Verst En dat                         .
waren de toestanden in Israel toen dezen  bi,dder bad.
Hij klta.agt: Zult Gij eeuwiglijk tegen `ons toornen?
Zult    Gij; Uwen toorn uitstrekken van ,geslacht  "tot
' geslacht? Zullen de ongeboren k.inderkens ook nog
betalen moeten'voor de konde van Uw volk?                      Men mag -Dr. Kuiper's  Conception  of Christ's
dit gebed vaodaag wel bidden, Hoe staat het `er. bij met                             *
het volk Gods? De waarheid struik$t  op de stnaten.                                Human  Nature  As Getieral
En dan is het resultaat, dat' Gods  volk "geen zekerheid
des geloofs heeft. Als ze zich afvragen: ben ik .op reis
naar ,den hemelof naar de hel, dan weten v$en h& ni&t.                      Sh.ould anyone ask you whether Christ assumed oup
Anderen zeggen : ik `ga naar den heme', doch zij maken                   human' nature as an ,indiv;idual, a fellow man ampng
.zichzelf  wat wijs.      Of liever: zij gevoelen het anders in          men, or whether He merely assumed a general-  human
hun diepe hart, `want God laat  Zichzelf niet zonder                     nature,  you, would most -1ikely  express your assent with
getuigenis.     Hoe kin het anders ? Hoe zal men zeggen :                the former and reject thtit  latter.    The ,question co-&es
Wij hebben `s Vaders Zoon aan boord en `t veilig strand                  down to this,. did the Soa of God ,have~ His owni in&
vopr `t oog, als men tegen `den stroom op gaat in `t                     vidual `human  nature,  -6~  did He have a, nature that is
Jeven?.  Dlan liegt men tegen zijn eigen hart en tegen                   c o m m o n   t o  fhe human race? In answer to that   y o u
God zelf.                                                                would no doubt Say that' He had His ,own human ,fiature
    In die toestand klaagt Gpdisi  volk.: Ik kom om!              God :as a distinct individual, among US.                '
toornt tegen mij .in `t harte. En de qualiteit van d(ien                    Y o u  would bolster  your position  by, showing  that
toorn, is bee%uwig.  Ik lag gekneld in banden van den                    a genera1 human ,nature for any particular person  is
doo,d  yijl de angst der hel mij allen troost  deed missen.              inconceivable. ' We can speak of `man'. in tbe abstract'
Ik. was benauwd orrukgd van drssferriasas ! '                            when  ye refer  tp. hurrianity  in &veral, hut %ts aaan FJ~


                                                    `THE  STANDARD BEARER d                                                                   465


     -      we think of a certain person we are bound to  spesk of                have been-_one  of thox  va;rieties.,  But the Scriptures
'           that person as an individual with his  owti, concrete                 lxstify  ?n.the  contrary that He-was  the deuteros Adam
          ~ nature.                        .,                                     (seconid  Adam) ; .Christ was from Adam as Adam, that
             You could also point out that Chl"ist  was like unto                 is, aye  who like Adam bore qxlless  varieties in Him-
            us in all'things, barring sin. He wa:,s not created, but              self, even the elect of  God. Therefore every child of
            born in the line of the ,generations,  of Adam.         The Son       God kn,o%s th'& he is in Chr&, has died and is risen
            of God did -not  prepare His human nature outsidq  of                 with Christ; that he de&es his life  from  Christ,; even
            the sphere of our race, but He prepared it from the                   as the  sinner derives his life from  Adam. See I Cor. 15,
            flesh and blood  of the virgin Mary. He belonged to                   the contrast b&we&n anthropos  chdikos (earthly man)
            the white race `in distinction from the black  & yellow,              and epouranios (heavenly)`."
            by descent He ~3.5  a Jew., born from the royal line of                   From the !ajbove citation it is `evident  that Dr. Kuy-
           David, of the tribe of Judah and  from  the loins of                   per ,distingu.ishes  between `a man' and `man'. There
            Abraham, in the generations of Seth, from the-family                  are' those who are di,stin.ct  indivifdua.ls,  products and
            of' Shem, as a son `of Adam.  IHe was, moreover, the                  varieties  of the one huqan fiature  of Adam, yet Christ
            promised Seed, a Brother among  the bre'thren.                        is not  one of those varieties, but simply  belotigs,  to the
               It must even be sa.id that He was born  oti a certain              generial  category, of man.  Christ d,id  not possess an
            day of a, ceitain  year on a certai:n  spot to live a certain         .indivildual,  but rather 2 general human nature.
            *definite span of life here`on earth.         He w&s reared in            He speaks in a similar strain in E vote, p. 370,
           the home of His parents whlere  He "ipcrea.sed  in wis-                where he states{  "Over axid  above  the millions of human
            dom and' stature, and ,in f&or with God and :man."                    persons who,  w&e  born by the will of m.an and from

            Luke 2:52.  He had His own facial  features, His own                  the womb of' the woman there is not-on; more human
          distinctive appeana.nce,  and characteristics that `were                i.ndi$dual  created,  in this'sense  as if the Son of God
            peculiar to, Him alone.      He was kno&  and readily                 had e&er.ed'into  the h%man ind.ivi,dual  to become God
            recognized a% all times as J!esus  of Nazareth, %ho in                and man.      No, this whole false presen$ation  must ajxo-
           Dutward  a.ppearance  dliffered  iri ,nothing   f r o m   t h e        1utelJi  be reiedted  w:ith la11 its implication.    The eternal

            brethren of H,is own house.          Ih fact, to be ,our Mediator     Son ,of God is the penslon ,Who  H~imailf  took on a human

            H!e had to be one of us,  even  like unto- us, as IHebrews            nature, and, because He bore our nature, was a man
            teaches, "Forasmuch  then as the children are partakers               among men.           It. is `and remains one person, and  th'&

            of flesh !a.nd blood, He also Himself li.kewise took part             one perspn is. and r.emains throughout the true an3

            of the same ; that through death He might destroy, him eternal God. it is xot 8 human person who is clothed
            that had the power of `death, that is, the devil.  *. . .             with,  divinity, but it is the glorious second person of  th.e
            Where.fore  in all things it behoved Him to be, made                  Godhead, who  is clothed with all humanity, la.nd  now as

            like untb His brethren, that He might be  a,merciful and              Head of the new -humanity  appears' among us."

            hithful highpriest,  in things pertaining to God, to make                 Here the .argument  !is that since Christ was nbt a

            reconciliation for the sins of the people." Heb. 2 :14, 17.           htiman person it was impossible for Him to possess a2

               All of which can only lead to  t&e  oonclusion  that               individtial'human  nature.       If we wouldspeak of Chris!,

            Chr.ist  possessed His own, individual human nature                   having an- individual human  nature we would thereby

           <while He dwelled among us'.in the. flesh.                  '          ascribe to Him a human person as wel\  as a divine
               Wh,ich makes `.it the more, surprising that Dr. A.                 person.      Dr. Kuyper eonfuses  .the concrete, human

            Kuyper should  teach the contna>ry,  namely, that Christ              n%ture  with -a "personal" human nature, `as if the Son

          possessed a general human nature; and that this view                    of God *could noi asstime,His own human ,nature  wit,h-

          , shoulld be followed by later theologians, particularly                out assuming a human person.
            Dr. Hepp;  who ia,rose  in de$enoe  of this position .a feT%r'            We find. this &am@ error in E V&o,  vol. 1, i. 323,

            yeans ago in his pamphlet against th,e  views of Vollep-              whei-e  he maintains that dhrist  could hot have ful-

            haven.     Se&  the Standard Bear&, vol. 18, pp. 415, `436.           filled the  law for us if He were  B human individual,

               Dr. Kuyper writes `in ,his Do@natics,'  De Christo.                for then it would have-b:een neCessary  for @rn to ful-

            part 2 ,chap.  3, p. `7, "It is the Nes;tor&ti  preezntation          fill the law for Himself.  `ro which he acids, "Thekefore
            ,that  Christ was a man. . . . .This yop find nowhere our Reformed chur.ch has so insistently warned $hat
            i.ri the Scriptures and cannot be d(edueed  from them.                Christ should not be regarded as. a man next to other

            The Scriptures do tea,ch  thrbughout,  that He vas man                men, and it shguld never be said that the Son of  Go'd

            and bo,re  the htiman  nature ; but that He was an indi-              took on              human person, but rather our human
                                                                                              ouY:
            v.idual,  that among the varieties .of the seed of Adam               natire.     No, the ,only  and natura1  Son of God azsumcd

          there should %lso  be a va&ty  of Jesus, is `absurd.              In    our human natur.e  ; not ar; that tiature  belongs to .one
          : the sp,erma  tou Aldam .(seed  ,of Adam) were all the                 individual, but as :it belongs ,to our whole human race ;
            varieties- of human life ; of  natidns,.  generatibns  and            with the result that He could .not do oth&vise than

            persons, .If Christ were  an individu&l,  He wduld also               serve  SubstitutionaY'y  in our stead,' For la11 that He did


                 a.
  466 _                                               Y&E  -ST'ANDAR-D   B E A R E R  5

 .our human nature ,did in and through Him, and thus                       to the leaves or branches of the tree, but to the very

  He -coul1d not fulfill tse law for Himself, but it WRY                   root."  _ -
  fulf.illed  in Him and through Him.-`for  oilr human                         Again i;t is assuming too much to translate Jesus
  nature."                          _                                      n a m e  hL;ios  tou.  an&oopou,  @on of man) as if it

      What is lost sight of is that Christ is the persol                   meant `son of`humsnity'.  Jesus surlily  never intended

 .of the Son -of God appointed from all eternity by the                    to use that.  name  to...make  plain to `us that He had as-
  Father to I& the repr&ent%tive  Head of Hi$ people.                      sumed a geqeral hum'an .nature,  -nor ,do& Script,ure
  Juridically H:e stands in our. stea.d,  for God Himself                  ever ,draw tha't  conclusidn  from the pame.       That name
 ,brings  the substitntion&y  sa&fiGe  for :our sins in our                on the lips' ,of our Lord has a far richer significance.
  flesh upon the cross.          He "who, beipg,  in the form of           It design&es  HiA 3s one who -is born of man, flesh
  God, thought it ndt robbery, to be equal virith  God, but                of our flesh ; yet at the &me time. it is His title of
 made Himself of no repuba.tion,  and took updn  Him                       honor which He bears'&hrough  His= entire humiliation.
 the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of                    For `th,e Son of man -goes.  to: His Ikingdom.         It is true
 .men                                                                      that the Sdn  ,of m~ap  must be delivered  into the Kands
            ; alid being jouncl  Gti f,a.shign  as a r&m, He humbled
  Himself, and. became obedient unto death, even the                       of sinful men .and be crucified in order  to arise ag&tin
 #death  ,of the cross." Phil, 2:6-8, Being like us in all                 on the third day ; `but -even while this is being accom-
 things except sin, He_"could  bear  our guilt and fillfill  all           plished iH,e assures ,His leliemies,  ."Hereafter  shall ye
  righteousness  for us. It is not necessary, nor is, it                   see  *he Son of man sitting-on the right hand of power,
Scriptural to maintain. that Christ assume!  :a general                    and com,ing  in the clouds of heaven."           Iit is a false
 ,human nature to bring the perfect sacrifice  f,or sin.                   assumption to .maintain  tha.t -the name Son of man
 Hebrews  5 :l.                                                            proves that, Jesus bore a general  lnuman  nature.
                            -
    -R,eturning  to Kuyper's Dogmatics, de Christ?, chap.                      The final proof t.hit Dr. Kuyper offers is that, even
  3, pp. 7, 8, we find that, he off&s  three  proofs for his               as Adam is the head  of our race in ;the organic sense,
 contenti,on  that Christ assumed !a general human nature.                 `so Christ is the .Head of the B'ody `of believers.             H e

    .' The first of these is that He is called in Scr.ipture               sl&e&  "The  expressions, .becoming  one plant with Him',
 the second Adam; The argume$  is. that even Ais the                       being one body with Him; Gal. 2:20,  etc., are: ndt
  first `Adam  is the root from which the human  `l"ace in                 fig-urative,.  but real, and they obtain their-  righks df
  all its yarieties springs forth, so Christ,  BS the second               existenck, according to .R,omans.  5, from our_ rella"tion
 Adam, is the  Root which brings forth the ,elect  of God.                 to Adam.        The f`being  in the loins of. Adam" signifies

 Adam's nature rleproduced  a variety of individuals;  and                 sn.othing less .than  our organic relation to Adam. Apply-
  so also'  Christ produced a host of believers who have                   ing these: expressioGs  to Chris;t  they mean-that  Christ

 their  life, from  Him.                                                   is t.he  organic Head of -His  church and thus. la-lso hes:

      The assumption is th!a:t Adam had a general human                    root:     Thus we &an safely say. t$t  Christ assumed the

  nature, from. which f,ollows  that the second Adam,                      human nature;th&  He became man; we can &all Him

. Christ, must also have .l@d a general human nature.                      "Son `of man",,  but .never  ,"a man".        `I'he totality of
 Apart from the fact t&a,t you cannot possibly-conceive                    mankind was no* increased by _one  through Him."

  of an abstract nature in a concrete human being, it ig                       l!Ie argues that .even  as the  human race is born out              -
 not true. .,Npt  even Adam could be just a general human                  of Adam, so the believecs  draw kheir  life from Christ;
  being, but was very definitely an in'dividual,  a man.                   they become' one .with  Him as members of  IHis body.
  Even though he is the first father of the whol&  human                   We would almost .receive  the impression that Christ
  race, me is very realy ,one  of                     He and Eve made
                                              us.                          shares His human na.ture  with us, when He ,goes` to
 up twti  separate ent,iti,es,  -two  individual people, tind              glory.      While,the  fact is that  .Chri;st shares His r&m-
 their children were agai,n  separate individuals, like                    rection  life with us. He doe$  not give               a n o t h e r
                                                                                                                           us 
  their parents, borri in the image and lil<eness  of Adam                 nature, but He renews  our ,old nature.           He does not
  and reproducing his n%ture.                 Thereforbe  `the irgument    make tis into other `creatures, but He makes us  new
  that Christ must have  had 3 general nature because                      creatures as' members of His body, His ichurch  land
  Adam did, falls away.                  '                                 His bride.       The first Adam `was a living soul,  but  -the-
      The second proof raised for the gem&al  human                        seco,n!d Adam is a quickening spirit; the first Adam

  nature of Christ is. that. He repeatedly calls Himself                   was of the earth earthy, the last Adam is the' Lord  from

  "Soti  ,of man".       Dr; Bavinc,k  writes, "By His coti.mon            hea.ven.  .
  name huios tou anthr,oopou,  Son of man, Be #diStin-                         Christ realizes His purpose in becofiing  our  organic

  gu.ishes  Himself from !a.11  orther  men.  Each person is               Head through the resilrr'ectlon  from the dead. It is

a man-child `(huios  anthroopoqn  or anthroopou), but                      exactly for this.purpose  th.at  the Son of. God came into

  not every one is t,ou anthr,oopou,  that is, `son of human-              the lilkeness  of our sinful flsesh and' became like us' in,

  ity'.      Son of humanity' designates, the basic chgracter-             aZZ things .e&ept  sin, in.cluditig  our ind'ividual  human

  istic of bhe human ,nature.            This ,nan%  does not ref?r        natur.e.       He is _El&h of our flesh, blood of our-  blood,


                                               T H . E  ST`A`NB"ARD  `BEAR.ER:                                           d    467
           -- _ _- .._ __

  bornof  the virgin Mary,  of the seed of Adam, in the            written OUTSIDE of man on tables of stone, would
  coveiyant  line as' the `Seed' .of' the promise,, a brother-     now'be written in their hearts.
among the. brethren.           He stands'in the very center of         ,John  thus went beforethe  face of the Lord to
  the line of election,  THE',promised  Seed and THE               prepare His -`ways. _
  H e i r   o f   s a l v a t i o n : *  :'                            Long. ago it had been saJd,  "The Lord whom ye
                               . .
      Our only,`conClusion  can be that, the Son of God did        -seek shall suddenly come to His Temple" (Mal. 3 : 1).
  not assume a general but .an individual human nature             Yet not so suddenl-y  but that there will be.  time for
 .at His incariTati&;                                              John to `appear. .And John must- cry out, "At hand
                                   "` _'        .
                                                                   is the Kingdom of God. 
                                                       C. Hi                                           . . .repent".    When John
                                                                    does finally come out of the  deserts aud makes his

                                                                   appea.rance  .iln  the south country, he preaches :- "repent,

                                                                    . . . ;the ax is laid unto the foot of the tree, ,every  tree '
                                                                   which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down

                                                                   and cast "into the fire .(Matt. 3,110). And again,
                                                                   "Bring forth fruits worthy' of repentance."

             ignificance of John  the Baptist                          And John also thunders judgments agaizst  the
                                                                   hypocrites.     Said he to them, "0 generation of vipers,

                                                                    who hat11 warned                   flee from `the wrath to
                                                                                            you to 
      lApart  from Christ Jesus he has no significance come?,'

  whatever. In fact he becomes a mere deaeiver. This :                 Judgment was coming, but also mercy ; deliverance,
  is true ,of  all the prophets but especila'lly  true of John,    ,but also wrath ; the day of `deliverance, but also the
                                                                   day of viengeanjce.
  since, as Christ had said, he is "more than a pro-.                                     John is Nash, the preacher of right.
  p h e t . "                                                       eousness.     He is Elijah, the announ&r  of judgment.

      When John was eight days old -his father addresses               For the -Kingdom is at hand.
  him and says:         "And thou, child, shalt be  called  a          But John also baptized. In fact we read, "Then
  prophet. of the Highest".            There were ind'eed  many    went ,out  to him Jerusalem ,and  all Judea,  and all the
  prophets of the Most High; but yet John is more                  region round about Judea  and were baptized of him
  than a prophet, for, as we read in Luke  15'6: "For               . . . . " So John?s w;ork  was likewise crowned with
  thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to pre-                 great success. If t,he Law was a schoolmaster .unto
  pare His ways."          John must go before, must lead,          Christ, John stood iat the door. to see to it that there
  must take up, the van in or,der  to get everything in            iiirere.  no truants. Not everyone in  Judea  and .Jeru-
  readiness for the coming of the Lord. All the pro-               salem repented, of course, but there must have been  ,s,
  phets. indeed had that work also, but John in a very             mighty influx. Many pressed at the door, waiting for
  special sense of the word. Do we not read in Scrip-               entrance.     Many came, -impatiently they stood-wait-
  ture                                                             ing and `watching for the Old to wax old and perish and
          : "The Law and the Prophets were. until John,
  siace  that time the Kingdom of God is preached and               for the New to' come in. Some even took the king-
every Inan presseth' into it." Hence John `stands at               _ dom by violence.      Surely John's -work  .was crownecl
  the :end of that long series of  `01.d Testament revela-         with  su'ccess.' _

  tion called "the law and the prophets." With his                     With. these thing% b,efore  us we might `attempt`to
  appearance there cometh a gseat  change, for we reld             show the significance of the Baptist as follows  :
 "SINCE THAT TIME,  the Kingdom of God is preach-                      First of all it was his wonk  to make announcement."
  ed."     Again in John 1:1,`7  we' read : "`For the Law          The Voice of one crying n the' wilderness". He cries
  which w,as  given by Moses, but grace alnd truth came            in- the wilderness.     It B the' continuation of the voice
  by Jesus Christ.,'        Wnhich  does not mean that -in the     of Elijah. Elijah `with.drew from Bethel, to Jericho,
 Qld Testament there was ,neither grace.:nor  truth,               to Jordan, and then disappeared. Now ths-t voice of
  but yet a' text such as this serves t,o show how trc-            the ascended prophet is heard -again,  but in John,
  mendous  was the'  change, how great the  transition i Here, in this vicinity also Moses died and his  voice  was
  when the Church went from. the Old into the New.                 heard no more.       But from out of that wilderness there
      And now John stands tit the,tend  of the old and,             comes  la:gain, alisq his voice.       Though dead he still
  before the .open door ,of the new. Of them born of               speaketh.      John's voice is the voiCe  of all the prophets,
  women &here is none greater. than John, yet, the least           only Jo,hn  is also more than a prophet.. He is also the
  in the Kingdom of .heaven  is greater than he. John              Herald and Messenger.          For Christ is not coming.
  stood at the end of the  `Old land before the op:en  door         Christ HAS come. `At present' the Lamb.  of God,                  ,
                                                                                                                                l 

 of the New. He stood where the Grace and Truth                    toward Whom everything points, is in Nazareth, but
of God in Christ would.  break out in' a beauty and a              He is on ~His  way to the deserts of Judah.           There the
  glory never seen before.            The Law; until this time     Old and the New -will -meet,  will greet oneanother to

               :


                                                                                                                                                                      *

 .468  i _                                             `         T    H    E     STA.NDARD  -B'EARER-


 the accompaniment of the voice of the prophets.                                John      they received the, seal ,of sins washed away once and
 sees Him coming in' the distance.. The Kingdom of                                        foT&er.            Sealiag  them unt:o Christ, making ready
                                                            1
 God is at hand, says he.                                                                 a people for .the Lord.
         Ciyiilg  as `John did he iYas lcall'lng to. prepare the                                 None of the disciples understood Clhrist. Neither
 `way of the Lord before Him.                         Sacrific& hacl- been                did John. j For later he sends messengers to Jesus
- the o&!er  of ,the day until no;w, but, .there  were .clif-                             asking Him whether He was the One to _,come  or if
 ferent  orders now. Men could sacrifice and yet. the                                     there would come still another. No,  Jo,hn did not
 hearts mean nothing of it. Repent is the order of                                        uncierstand `ill things,  neither did he under&and  his
the day. `These w&e dark  days. During the four                                           own Isignificance.                                                   '
 hundred years between the Old and &he New there had                                             But he understood efioujyh to .cry out: "He must
 beeq ,an la.wful falling away also. The, scribes  .an3                                   increase but I must decrease". And that was enough.
 the Pharisees boasted that they were per se  childre!!l                                         That was John the Baptist.
 of the Kingdom and :in need of nothing. BeFides                                                 And .thaF after la.11 is every child of God today.
 that; did they tnot keep the altars smoki,ng with sacri-                                                                                               .`.                MY.  G.
 %xs?  They needed nothing. They would like _an
 eloquent prophet who could praise t&em for their
 integrity, or, still m&e, they `would like Ia fearless
 general t.o lead them out of the Romtin  bondage, but                                                                                    .             .`                                 e. I
 ,for the rest they were self-satisfied.                         Now comes `John
 crying out REPENT! There is no entrance into the
 Kingdom of heaven than.' alone via repentance.' In-                                                                              IN MEMORY-
 wa.rds `service, true humility. ,A11   c o u l d   k e e p   t h e
 -altars smoking with offerings,> but now the offering                                            The Mary-.Martha  L&lies' Sooiety of the Manhattan Pr-
 m u s t   b e   i n w a r d ,   i n t e r n a l .  . . .htimility,  fait&,  t r u s t    testsint  Reformted  Church wishes hereby to express its  Sym-
 in Christ, ,etc. The King is coming. W,oe t6 any im-                                     pathy  to our fellow member, Mrs: Dick Heys, in the loss of
.penitent.  +shall not look at smoking  altays,  but. Y$                                  +er
 the hea.rt.                                                                                                                                                                          I
         "The wrath to come". . . . .run, hide, f@l upon your                                                         1              BROTHER
 knees for the great day of the Lord is come.                              The law                May the  heaveniy Father comfort the bereaved ones by
 was until ;Tohn;  . .' .now is the Kingdom. The Law                                      His Spirit, strengthening their hope in  H% eternal House'  of
 was given by Moses. . . .grace and TRUTH (the eter-                                      many mansions.
 nal rea.lity,  the fulfillment) is come by Christ  Jesus;
 Repent i Impressed by these 5entences ,the `Scribes                                                                            The MaryLMartha-  Ladies' Society,                            :
 pretended they would also be baptized. #Had they'                                                                                              Mrs. `H. .I. Visser,  Sec'y.
 not until this time enjoyed the types and cbvered                                         _ Manhattan, Montana.
 themselves -with the rituals of His service? Could
 they not take this ritual with it? But no, says the
 Voice: ,".O gener,ation of vipem, w-ho hath warned you                                                                                                             /--
 to flee from the wrath to come?"                                                                                                                                                     . -
      R e p e n t !
      John prelached what the +uxh preaches through-
 out.      Entrance into- the Kingdom only in the  ,way of                                                                        IN M&MORY
 r e p e n t a n c e .  .In the Qld T.estament  the blood on the
:door posts cover.ed  them all and they all went through                                          The`  Ladies'. &ciety  of the Hud'sonvilie  Protestant Re-
 the Red Sea and- were all baptized into Moses. But                                       formed Church hereby extends their sincere sympathy  to. one
 now that is changed. TRUTH has come in Christ                                            of their fellow membetis,  Mrs. Chris Schut,  nee -Nettie  Kuiper,
 Jesus. Repent says  the Voice. He cries of forgive-                                      i.n the death of her
 ness also, "Who shall abide the d,ay of His coming"'                                                                                                         :. :
`cried Malachi foul hundred years before this. The                                                                                  ` F.t&E$
 Voice. answers :' the penitent, `whose sins are forgiven                                         May God sustain and-comfort h&r `and the other relatives
 t.hem in Christ Jesus.                                                                   with His blessed truth, that blessed  $ne  the dead that die
      But John also baptizes. He baptizes upon the                                        h the Lord.
 strength of the coming of Jesus. rH,e -baptizes, look-                                                                                            .
                                                                                                             _
                                                                                                                                               Mrs.  3. Van  Overloop, Sec'y.
 ing to Jesus' in Whose blood all sin, shall once  and`
                                                                                                                                               Bernard Kok, Pres.
 .forever be washed away.                 "Behold; the Lamb of God".
                                                                                                 H u d s o n v i l l e ,  Mich.
 And they ,were baptized, confessing their sins.` And                                                                               ,,                                          I


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