  VOLUME XXII                                January 1, 1945  - Grand  Rtipilds, Michigan  '                               NUMBER `7

                                                                         de  vr'eeze  des doods heel zijn  leven achtervolgt,  hordt
   M E D I T A T I O N                                                   innerlijk vbortgestuwd,  zo6dat  hij met den  vliegenden
                                                                         tijd  accoord gaat en meewerkt  om tot zijn einde  te
                                                                         komen.     `Het  tegenwoordine  momellt  bevredigt  h e m
                                                                         nimmer.     Altijd-zotekt   hij- het in de  `toekomst. Hij
             Wij Vliegen, Daarheen                                       strekt  zich..naak.  h&geen voor ligt, ook al  ligt daar niets
                                                                         da,11 mdeite en verdriet, ook al  wacht hem  uiteindelijk
                                                                         niets  aruders dan het eeuwig  verderf.
               ,4angaande de  dagen  onxer-  jaren,  charin                  Vandaar, dat de  duizelingwekkende vaart van den
         xijn  neventig,  o f , , ,   mo  wij  zeer  sterk  zij:n snel  vliegend,en tijd in den  ,gewonen loop  des,  levens
           tachtig  jaren;  e n   h e t   z&nenzendste   v a n   &ie  niet  zoo  opvalt
            is .moeite en ver*&-iet; w,ant, &et wordt snellijk
            afgesneclen, en wij vliegen dmrheen.                    :        MNIaar,  als  `\Tre  oudejaarsavond   ,even  stilstaan in onze
                                            f3al.m                       `Igedachtien,  en terug  blikken in het verleden, komen we
                                                          9O:lO.         tot de ontdekking, dat we rdit  Schriftwoord  we1  metter-
     Wij-vliegen daarheen !            _                                 daad  als  werkelij,kheid ervaren.
     Niet  zonider telkens nieuwe verbazing ontdekt hij,                     We vliegen daarheen  !
 die  aan  clen  avond, van den  l,aatsten  dag des jaars even               Een  .&eheel jaar is weer  voorbij,*en we kunnen het
 toeft, om een  ter,ugblik te werpen op den  afiye'legden ons  bija(a  &et voorstellen,
 weg, dat zijne  ervaring met dit  woou'd  ,der  $chrift                    ,Rusbeloos  ginfg de tijd  voo&,  zich om ons ongeduld
 medegetuigt.-                                                           niet  haasten,d,   noch ook  toevend om onze haast, en om
     Niet  zonder  @rbazing, want in  den dagelijkschen ons druk-zijn.                      En  nu we staan  aan  .het einde, is  abet
 loop des  levens  valt  /de  vliegende vaart, waarmee we                ons alsof het de dag van gisteren was,  cwaarop  [de  men-
 onophoudelijk voortspoeden, niet  ZQO op.                               scheni elkaar een  geInkkig  nieLlwjaar  toewenqchtenl.
     Eensdeels  tqch bewegen  zich de  vleutgelen des  $ijds,               Waarlijk,  .wij vlogen daarheen !
 waarop we  onotihoudelijk  wbrden voortgedragen, zoo                        Veel is er geschied,  veel en velerlei. Er wkd  ge-
 ge+&chloos.  De tijd is zoo stil. Men  merkt niet  zijn.  -juidht en geklaagd,  ,gezong&n   ,en gewecnd,  !gebeden en
 geweldigen haast. Hij is nhet als de  wind,  ,dien  .men ook  veej  .gevloekt,  gehooipt en  gewanhoopt, feest gevierd
 #we1 niet ziet, maar wiens geluid men  to'&  verneemt,                  en  in het klaaghuis  vergaderd. E1; was blijdschap,  om-
 en  wi`ens snelheid  zi&  last- waarnemen en  afmeteti.. dat er menschen ter  ,wererd  ge'boren  waren; en er was
 ,In  `een sneltrein zijn we  ens  bewust van  /de vaart,  waar-         smart, omdat onze weg ons  grafwaarts voerde  achter
mee we de  mijlpalen~ voorbij vliegen.                 Doch de tijd de baar  onlzer  idierbaren. Er was moeite en verdriet,
 glijdt onmerkbaar voort, en dat we  .werkelijk met,  `een zwoegen in ijdelheid, worsteling en strijd zonder
 razende snelheid  daarh(enen  vliegen, is geen  voo8rwerp               overwinning. Er was  oorlog,  en-er  kwam  aan den  oor-
 van ,onze dageli j ks,cbe waarneming.                                   lag een  einlde zonder vrede. . . .                  .
     Andersdeels zit de  tij'd ons ook  iinlmmerg en been                `.- .I& op al die, en duizenden andere  `ervaring  en
 Wij zijn  kinderen des tijds, geboren in den  tijid, en  mef            &!ugziende op de oudejaarsavond, en  .rde  balans   op-
 ,deA  tij.d,in ons geheele bestaan. Wij vliegen  ,gaarne.               makend, komen we tot de slotsom, dat ook dit  woord in
 Er is geen  tegenstielling,   geen conflict  tuss&en  den               onze  ,ervaring bewaarheid  wordt.:  "bet uitnemendste
 vliegenden  tij,d en het zoeken en streven van ons hart.                VP  &e  is'moeite en verdriet!"
 Ook  de natuurlijke  mensch,.het  zij nog zoo  paradoxaal,                 Watit immers : "het wordt  snelijk  afgesneden!"
 de  menseh, die  builten  dezen tijd  #geen(  hope heeft,  :wien            En wij vliegen daarheen!


  1466                    I                 T H E   SiCiNDARD.  B E A R E R .
                                                _ . .
     Zware taal  !.                                                en  er gebeurt niets bijzonders, dan is het mogelijk, dat
   -  Zwaar  van  Idiepen  weemo,ed!                               /de sterkste  mensch zeventig of  tachti.g  inalen  oude-
     Tad, die het zeer  .korte en  beperk&,  zoowe als het         jaarsavotid  berei#kt.
 .snelvliegende van ons  aardache leven  be@et en  iwaard-               En  nu is- het niet de bedoeling van deze  woordenl,
  schat uit bet  oo!gpunt   %an de bange woestijn, waarin          om  -o+s den  Tduur  v&n ons leven  te openbaren, of ook
  een  gansch geslacht  bmkomt,  vergaat,  wegster.ft,  oillder om  ens  aan de  korthe,id  van  dlen  djuur gedachtig te  doen
 den' drukkenden  l&t van Gods toorn ! .                           zijti:  doch  we1 om ons op het  hart-te  dr,ukken, dat we
      E15n  ge$a:ht, dat niet kon  ingain in de ruste Gods,        veYtgaan  !      "Door  .Uwen  itodrn vergaat ons kwijnend
  vai&ege. zijn ongeloof  !                                        ,leven !" Levende  &erven  wij.  Bestaa&e  vergaan  &wij.
     Het  verkeerde in het Huis, waarover in dien be-. Zeventig of  tachti&   jarelnj kan de sterke  den last der
  paalden  .dag  we1is:waa.r  Mozes  gestell3 -was,  maak;  d&t    verbolgenheid des  Allerhoogsten  in zijn aardsche  be-
  tech  priricipieel  ea.  wezenlijk `het Huis  `i,an den Zoon ataafi  dragen, dan  ,bezwijkt  hij.
  Gods  `was. En men had de  stern van den  %Zoon Gods                    Stof zijt gij, en tot stof  zult gij wederkeeren!
 igehoord, zooals deze op velerlei wijze en met grooten                  Dat woord was immers  ,niet het  oorspronkelijke
  nadruk tot hen  :wwBs gekomen,  iti  de  wonderen in             scheppingswoord Gods. Niet om te  s$erven,  maar om
 `E,gypte, in den donder van Sinai, door Mozes' woorr3,            te  lever, was hij geformeerd. Een plaats was  hem.ge-
in het  uit de  rotsteenen  vloeiende water, in het brood,         geven bij den-boom  des levens in het  ,midl3en des hofs.
  dat van den,  hemel regende. . . .                               Niet om te  verlgaaq maar om` als Gods vriend in de
     .En men had op die stem niet gelet !                          eeuwige zaligheid met zijnen Schepper te leven,  was
     Tegen  ldie stem had men gerebelleerd in ongeloof.            hij  geschapen. Daarop was hij aangelegd.  Zooals, het
  E&en  goden had  m&n  gqol&l! In de lust  de8 vleesches geslacht,  ,dat  .wegstierf in de woestijn, zoo woonde ook
 had men uitdrukkelijk terug verlangd naar  d&vlees&- hij  -oorspronkelijk in Gods  Huis,, en ook hij hoorde de
  potten' van  Egypte. . . .                                       stem  zijns Gods. Neen, meer  nag, hij stoad in de ruste
      En God had  gezworeln in  Zijnenl  too8& "Indien ze          Gods.  .-Want God had  -op  -den  zeeenden dag van al  Zijae
  in Mijne rust  zullen ingaan". . . .                   -         wlkrk&  gerust, en de mensch ging in de  ruste'van Gods
      En  nu was. de zaak  hopeloos; in de woestijn  ,werd         volbrachbe  werk in.  .En  eteti  m6cht hij van den boom
  dat  geslacht terneder  gestoote;  `door Gods toorn.  EF des  Ievens,  ,oin niet  ma&r zeventig of tachtig  jaren,  maax
  was  Igeen uitkomst meer. Daar in de woestijn  yiierxl het       in eeuwitgheid te' levefi;.
  bestaan gekenmerkt door een zwoegen zonder  vracht,                    Doch hij is der  stemme zijns Gods niet  ,gehoorzaam
  een  lijden  zonder-uitkomst,  een vergaan zonder hoop,          geweest !
  den dood  zonder- de  opstanding. En  daarom kon da                    Hij-  hief  re$ell&&ende  vuist  op  tegen den  Aller-
  man Gods het  bezin.gen in de  woorden: "Want wij  ver-          h.oo.gste.
  gain  rd:oor  Uwen toorn ; en door Uwe grimmigheid  '                  En God  bande hem uit de ruste,  ver van den boom
worden  %ij  yerschrikt.            Gij  stejt onze  drigerechtig- des levens. En daar behoort dit  woourd: Stof zijt gij,
 heden voor U,  onze  heitielijke  zofnden  in~het  licht Uws      en tot- stof zult gij  wederkeeren. `k Is het  wooed  des
  aansohijns. Want al. onae dagen gaan  heen door `Uwe t o o r n s   G o d .
  verbolgenheid ;  wij  brengen onze  jaren  door  ais  ee$              En omdat dit woord hem  ~c~htervc&-t,  hem in  me&
  g.edachte. . . .             _                                   en  ,been dringt, daarom moet hij nu  ini de  bange  woes-
     En zoo  bezien,-en'  wat  is ons  aardsche leven, op          tijn. dezer gevloekte  wereld in  ijdelheid  z@ventig of
 zichzelf, en  :buitent  de genade van  onzen Heere  Jehus         tachtig  jaren verkwijnen, ook  zoo Gads  doe1 dienend,
  Christus  beschosuwd, anders?-zoo  bezien,  moet de too!l,       inplaats van in  Gods  Huis met  H&ti  in de  eeuwige  zalig-
  die  dat. bestaan  bezingen wil,  :we!zwaar  worden. Zoo heid te .leven !
  bezien,  als eene  openbaring  van  /den  toor%  van den Aangaande de dagen  onzer  jaren. . . .                                              .
 lgrooten  en  *eeselijBen God,  b.ie onze heimelijke  zon-              Daarin` zijn  zeventilg of  tachrii,g  jaren.
  den in het  licht  Zijns aanschijns  stelt.  wordt  onis be-           Jaren van verkwijning onder de verbolgenheid
.  staan   <we1 benauwend `donker !                                G o d s !
     Aangaande de dagen onzer  jaren. . . .                              Ijdelheid  d e r   ijdejheden!
     Die  dagen onzer  jaren,  waakop zonder  ophouden de                                                               _..:
                                                                         !&ware taal !
                                                                   `.
 groote  vembol.genheid Gods  drukt. .  `. .
     Daarin zijn  zeventig of uiterst  tzu&tig  jaren. En                `En      tech;     & is               l&t!      '      -     ,_     .-,     '
  dat wil niet zeggen, dat alle menschen,  of  qok  Id!e  mees-     Lhcht  i n   die  d u i s t e r n i s !
 ten huinnen aardschen mtieg zoolang  kunnen bewaql'delen.               Licht, waarin  ,zeifs. de  weemoad   van de  zeie&g -of
 `t Wil ook niet zeggen, dat zeventig  od  tachtig  jaren de       tachtig  jaren  in blijdschap  iwordt veramderd!
 gemiddelde'  maat  `zou  ,aangeven van de spanne  tiidsj                W a n t   G o d   h a d   w a t   bete.rs  o v e r   oy  aoorzien!
 waarin de  meins& op aarde verkeert.  Aoh  nleel:;l; de                 tH:ij sprak van een anderen dag! Hij  gaf Zijn  epr
 uiteqte maat is hiq aangegeven. A3s  allea noimaal is,            aaq geen` anderqr             Bij  yerbrak  niet Zijn  -eeuwig ver-
          .

                                                         .


                                                         T - H E   S T A N D - A R D   B E A 'R E R                                                      1 4 7
   -
   bond. Hij  stelde  ,ook des menschen  rebellie  di&nstba$r                  van  de hopeloosheid van  ons~g&&inefi. zijn  uit de  suste,
   aan de  re@izeerir,g van  zooveel  >beter  verbonld, waarvan                 dan  past  ook hier  de zware  taal van  `d&n  diepal  wee-
   Jezus Borg  is"gewoaden.  Hij  begon een ander  werk; moed, van de bange  vrees des doods. Want het wordt
   het  werk der verlossing, der  vergeying, der  rechtvaar-                   s n e l l i j k   afgesneden.  .   .   .   -.
   diging, der  tianneming tot kinderen, der  opstandiag uit                      Eri er is  ,geen hoop!  ~-
   de dooden,  des-seeuwigen   1,evens in den  tabernakel Gods                      Naa_rmate  we  aerder  k o m e n   @  onzen  vliegead.en
   b i j   d e   m e n s c h e n   !               `_                          vaart,  wordt de druk des toorn Gods steeds  zwaarder.
        En weer  ging Hij in de  ruste in!                                     We vliegen van  verbohgenheid tot  verbo!genheid.-   Ea
        Door den dood Zijns Zoons-verzoende Hij de wereld                       er is nergens  uitkomst,. We vliegen, ja, maar middeh
   me%  Zichzelv&,  huqne zonden  h.uti, niet  toerekeniead,e  ;               i n   d e n   dood,!
-Qerwierf  Hij  voor ons  Leeuwige gerechtigheid, en  riep                      : La$t ons eten en drinken, *want morgen sterven wij !
   Hij  ,het  *even-uit den dood, het paradijs uit de  .woestijn,                  Ijdelheid  fler ijdelheden ! .                    .
   den  -hemel uit de hel, door de opstanding van Jezus                                                       -                 -
   Christ& uit de dooden.  m                                                       Doch  ei `i's licht!
        Iti Hem is  (de ruste !                                                    Er  blijft eene ruste over voor  h&  volk van God!
        En omdat Hij sprak van  ,eeneln  anderen dag, daarom                       En  .wiNe gelooft is  .reeds  iD die ruste, de ruste der
   kan  dezle bange, zwaarmoedige psalm  eiridigen met  ,de                    oRstanding van  ,onzen  IHeer& Jews Christus, de  Fuste
   bede  : "Verzadig oni  .in den.  morgenstond   Act  U-we de,r  .vergeving  der zonden, der vrije  gun&e- Gods, der
   goedertierenheid,  zoo zullen wij  jnichen en  verblijd vrijhieid,  de  r,uste' van Gods keuwige  %oni.ng. Daarom
  zijn in al onze  dsgenl!"                                                    kan rdeze zwaar weemoediga psalm straks  schier  jujbe-
        Zeventilg of tachtig  jaren. . . .                                     lend  bidden : "En de liefelijkheid des Heeren onzes Gods
        Ja,  maar wie  rde stem  des  Z6ons  vail  God in Zijn zij  6ver ons  !"                                                          9
  nieuw en  eetiwig   `Huis mag hooren, betreurt niet' het                         En wie  me't  die ruste  +il het  h&-t  claarhen~en  vliegt,
   korte van  dezen  vergaanden  tij,d,  mtiar  zielt met  ver-                beziet ook  dat snelle tempo van zijn aardsche  Ieven
  lan.gen uit naar de ruste!                                                   in een  ander  li'cht.
        (Licht in de  duisternlis!  '                              -               .Hij vliegt, ja, `maar naar `t eeuwig Vaderhuis!
        Licht  des.levens  !                  .                                    Naar de ruste van Gods verbond !
                                                   -.                              Blijlde hope!
        Wij  yliegen. daarheen!
        En het  wondt snellijk afgesneden!                                         Zware taal !
        Daarin  !igt zeker  oak aangeduid het  onophoud&jk                         `t  Uitnemendste  van die is  moeitre  .en verdriet
  voorbijgaande van ons aardsche  lieven  eh  betitaan.  Geen                      `t Beste, dat we in deze  .wereld kunnen  verwachten,.
   oogenblik  statin  <we stil. We  worden al  vliegenld  ge-                  d& waarop de  bwereld  zich voor een.  oogeillblik beroemt,
  boren, vliegen van  -bet eerste  oogenb4ik   .onzes levens                   waarop ze trotsch is, waarin  ae  :haar  ,genot zoekt, haar
  voort,  en.stoppen onderweg  nergens.  Soms zouden we rijkdom en eer, haar  genoit en  blijdschap,  haar  vriend-
  misschi'ei  we1 een oogenblik  ergens  :till&n  toeven, maar schaps- en  liefdebandey,-;-dat  is het ,uitnemendste.
  van  uitstappen is  ob  ome  vliegtocht geen sprake.  En                         En  ldat is moeite' en verdriet!
  al vliegende gaan we  heen. . . . . .                                         Zware taal!  - Al te  sterk,  zegt ge misschien? Het
        Maar bovendien  ligt daarin  .ook uitgedrukt het                       leven van  onze' zeventig. -of tachtig  jaren  .wordt  bier.
snelle van onze vaart.                                                         t`och al te donker  geti&? Er is  immers ook veel, dat
        Alles vliegt, en: wij vliegen mede !                                   tot blijdschap stemt,  veej  .gen;ot  etivreugde in dit  anders
        Dat een jaar voorbijging, wil zeggen, dat onze  aare-                  we1 moeitevolle  Jeveli? . . . .                                                   *
  kloot al wentelend  haren  rondgang,om de zon voltooide.                         Xaar ga dan nog eens naar  ,de bange woestijn, en
  Bijn.a zes  honderd millioen mijlen legde ze  af,. en dat                    ge  we+,  dai daar heel het-leven onder de  vepbolgenheid
  wil  zeggen,  dat zij, en wij met haar,  ongeveer met eene                   Gods ligt. En immers : "het wordt  snellijk  a$gesne$q."
  snelheid van veertig, duizend  tijlen per  uur  voortvlo- De  dotid zit  en  ,werkt   in al  de1 vseugde en het genot dezer                                          a
  gen. Doch zoo is bet ook &et ,geheel.ons  leven. We haas-                    wereld, en  & mensch, die  daarhenen vliegt, weet het
  ten ons. Het kind  ha.ast  zich om man te  worden, de mdn                    maar al te  wel. En wat nog veel meer  zegt, `t  uit-
  om een nieuw geslacht  voorl-te  brengen, en dan spoedt nemiendste  van die werkt  `u, in  Ide  fwoestijn  van Gods
  hij  zich naar het  ,einde. En al sneller wordt het  txmpo
                                                         ._                    tborti,   eeuwig! verwoesting! Moeite en  yerdrlet !
  van des  menschen-leven.                                                         Maar  bezie nu ook rdeze mqeite en  verdriet uit  bet  e.
        wij vliegen  daarheen !                                                oogptint  van  ,de ruste, en  `t wdrdt  all&  qders !
        En dat  Gnelle tempo zit ons in `t  bided. We  willeu                      De zeer  ,lichte verdrukking  we& een eeuwig  ge-
  bet.  W@ ervaren het. We  werken  `er  aan mee.                              ,w$ht d,er heerlijkheid !
    . . En als we nu dit  snlel.1.e  voorbijgaan  Sezien. uit  bet                 Daar  .geen  nacht ; geen  rouw of gekrijt !
i oogpunt van be  -bange:wqestijn,  van  Idten toorn Gods,                         Liefklijkheden des  Heeren !  I                             _-    H. H.


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      `  .,'  *
       148 --                                                                                                                                  T H E ,   S T A N D A R D   BEAR,ER                                                                                                             `_

                                     The  St&durd  Bearer  ~
                        Semi-Monthly,   except.Monthly  in July and August                                                                                                                                                                   E D I T O R I A L S
                                                                                             Published  b y
                                      The Reformed  Free Publishing Association
                                                                      1463 Ardmore St., S. E.                                                                                           r                                                 The Liberated Churches -
                                                              EDITOR - Rev. H.  Hoeksema
           Contributing  Editois-.----Rev.  G. M.  Ophoff,  Rev. G.  Vos, Rev.                                                                                                                                                                In The Netherlands
.          R. Veldman, Rev. H. Veldman, Rev. H. De Wolf? Rev. B. K6k,
           Rev. J. D. De Jong, Rev. A. Petter, Rev. C.  Hanko;  Rev. L.                                                                                                                                                              We stated repeatedly that we cannot agree with the
           Vermeer, Rev. G. Lubbers, Rev. M. Gritter~j  R&v. J. A. Eeys,
           Rev. W. Hofman.                                                                                                                                                                                                       covenant  &w generally advocated by. the liberated
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 churches, nor with the declarations on this matter by
               Communications relative to contents should be address&d
          to REV. II. HOEKSEMA, 1139 Franklin' St., S. E., Grand                                                                                                                                                                 the Synod of  Seeek-Utrechi;  m'either would  we1 sub-
          Rapids, Michigan.                                                                                                                                                                                                      scribe, however, to the Conclusions of  U;trecht   1905.
               Communications  relative to subscription should be addressed                                                                                                                                                          That `a compromise statement such as the latter
           to  MR. GERRIT  PIPE, 1463 Ardmore St., S. E., Grand Rapids,                                                                                                                                                          woulid  beconie the occasion of  trou!bl!e, and might lead
          Michigan. All Announcements, and Obituaries must be  s&t                                                                                                                                                               to a division in the churches, as  soon as one element of
         \`o the above address and will not be placed tinless the Tegular                                                                                                                                                        the compromise statement was  accentuated  at the  ex;
         fee of  $1.00~   accompatiies  the notice.                                                                                                                                                                              Pease of the other, and the  att&npt  was  made to enforce
                                               (Subscription price $2.50 per &ar)                                                                                                                                                *he accentuated element. and make  ?t  bia,ding  for the
         Entered as Second Class  .mail  at Grand Rapids, Michigan.                                                                                                                                                              chmches, might easily be surmised. That the Synod
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 of Sneek-Utrecht did not foresee  .the inevitable  conse-
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 iquences of their actions, but  ,went right ahead, not only
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 in making certain declarations on the  .matter of the
                                                                                       C O N T E N T S   .                                                                                                                       covenant, but also  ib attempting. rigidly to  ,enforce
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 them, and in deposing,  officebearers that  refuserd to
       MEDlCTATION                                          -                   `.                                                                                                                                               accept this yoke, is,  fin the  lirght of the history of the
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 ,Conclusions of Utrecht 1905, suprising indeed.  '
       WIJ VLIEGEN DAA,R&EN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .145                                                                                      These Conclusions are little more than. a conglomer-
                         Rev.  `H. Hoeksema                                                                                                                                                                                      ation of statements -from both sides, those that advo-
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 cated presupposed regeneration,  and `those that opposed
       EDITORIALS  -                                                                                                                                                                                                             this view. .
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    The result is  t,hat they are self-contradictory.  +
       THE LIBERATED  cHURC~HES  IN THE  NE~~HERLANDs..~~~                                                                                                                                                                          Let us  exam+i:;e  them.a little more in  detail.
      EXPOSlITION OF THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM . . . . . . ...150                                                                                                                                                                    They begin. with the  statemefit  "that in virtue of the
                  kev. H .Hoeksema                                                                                                                                                                                               promise of God the seed of the covenant must be con-
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 sidered as  regenerateid and  sanct,ified in Christ, until,
       THE `PSEUDO ISIDORIAN  DECRETALS ..*.....................*.... lj4                                                                                                                                                        as they grow up, the opposite appears from their doc-
      N A O M I   ./
                               . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15d    trine  Or  walk."                  .
                 kev. G. M.  Ophyff                                                                          j  '                                                                                                                   Now, even if this statement is considered by itself,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 it implies a contradiction. By "the seed  od the  ,cove-
       DE VERBONDSFSALM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .159 nant" is meant all the  childreD of [believers that  are
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 presented for' baptism.           Of these  it is said that they
                 Rev. G. Vos                                                                                                                                                                                                     "must  be considered as regenerated and sanctified in
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Christ." The basis for  Wip, statement is the promise
     TfHE  MAN OF GOD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .161                                                         of God. Now,  K this promise of  Gad can indeed serve
                 Rev. J. D. De Jong                                                                                                                                                                                              As a basis for some statement concerning the regenera-
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 tion of all the children of believers, it is evident:
      FROM HOLY -WRIT . . . . . . . ..I........................  ,...I ..,. . ...,... . ..,.......,..,,...,163                                                                                                                   1. `That  su'ch a statement should not speak of consider-
                 Rev.' G. Lubbers                                                                                                                                                                                                ing them as regenerated, but should definitely  dfeclare
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 that they are  regenerat,ed and sanctified in Christ. For
      PERISCOPE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..~.........................~............~. 166 the promise  ,of God is sure, and what is based on the
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 promise is equally certain. If God,  therefo,re, promises
                 Rev. L. Vermeer                                                               9                                                                                                                                 us something, we `have no right to say : "we will  con-
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 silder it as if it were true," We -simply have to accept __


                                           " ` T H E   STA.NDARD  B E A R E R                                                      149

    God at His Word. 2.  T%at, in that case.  twe have no                     In  such a  comprqnise there is  .dyilamite.
  r i g h t   t o   a d d : "until the opposite  ippears."    I.f,  o n       And all that was  neoessary to set off the  e$osion
   the basis of the promise we  srn+y  ,d+are of all the                   was to accentuate one statement, attempt to  enfor:ce it,
   children of believing parents that  they are regenerated,               and eliminate the other.
   there is no room for the latter statement. There is no                     This is exactly what  bhe Synod of Sneek-Utrecht
   falling away of saints.                                                 did.
      ' The  tr,oublle  is, of course, that the  stateme& is not              The  tixplosion. followed.
   true, and  th&t those  `who adopted  it in 1905 were very                  And the result is  -that the Reformed Churches  .of  .,
   well aware of it that  it' is not true. "In virtue of the the Netherlands were split in  tiwo,  an3 that, too, almost
   promise of God" we cannot say  anything;about all the                   entirely along the old well-known line of A  a&  I%  -
children of believers, nor is it possible to "consider"
   them as  regenleraked, for the simple reason that the                      From the above it will be evident at the same time
    Scriptures very emphatically teach us the opposite.                    that we cannot  iubscribe to  t.he decisions of  Sneek-
   R,omans 9 .is quite sufficient proof for this  statiement.              Utrecht regarding this matter.
   All are not Israel that are  ,of Israel. The children  bf                  They accentuate the doctrine of presupposed or  pre-  :
   the  promike are counted  fdr the seed. The authors of sumptive  regener&ion. It is true that they do not al-
   the "Conclusions" were so  -well  -awayle of this  tha,t a              together remove the contradiction of the  Contilusions  of.
   little further  they  &ntradilct their  own statement by                1905. They, too,  remind us that "they are not  al,1 Israel
   say.ing : "that further, the jndgment  oif love, according that are of Israel," and that "this does `not at all mean
   to  Iwhich the Church considers  the seed  of the covenant to say that, therefore, each child is truly regenerated."
   as regenerated, does not at all mean `to say  that~ each                But they' forgot to mention that it is "less correct"
   child is, on that  accou'nt, truly regenerated, because the             (minder juist) to say that  ,baptism  is administered to
   Word of God  ieaches us that not all are Israel that are                the children  .of believers on the  .ground of their `sup-
   of Israel,  and of Isaac it is said'that `in him shall thy posed  regeneratioh'." And they do  liot quote the last
   seed be called.'  "                                                     senten'ce of those  Conclnsions  in regard  tolthis  matter
         If you  colmbine the two  statemefits  in one brief  sen- that repudiates the entire idea  df  p&umptive  yegenera-.
   .tence, you  woulid put it  6his way: "We must consider tion.
   all the children as regenerated, although we know that                     And  againtst these decisions I have the following
   this is not true."                                                      objections :
         This is a  contradi!ction  in  terms.                                1. It is not  .the business of the  Chtirch to  ,decree
         And the  -presuFption  of  Ghi.ch it speaks is  i.m- presumptions and make them  bindir.lg for  all its  office-
p o s s i b l e .                                                          bearers and  members. That a synod has the calling
         `And the contradiction is accentuated  i.f you com-               finally to  Idecide on matters of doctrine that pertain
   bine the  ,opening sentence of this declaration of  Utretiht `to  bhe  ,confession of the churches, I do not deny ;  .pro-
   1965 with  `l&e closing  stat-enct. For then  the  result               vided, however it'does so in the proper way, and  ,nlot
   is as follows : "In  virtue of  the promise of God the seed             without taking into consideration the churches  ihem-
   of the covenant must be  ,considered  as regenerated,  .but             selves. But  &  prresumption.  is no dogma, and can  nevier
   the proposition that each child is therefore regenerated                become a dogma, Why should a church decree what,
   before baptism cannot be proved either from Scripture                   eajc;h.,officebearer and member must @resume?
   or the  Conrfession, while Gold fulfills His promise  in                   2. To presume of all the children of believers that
   His  ,own sovereign time,  .before, during,  dr after bap- `they are regenerated  .is contrary. to Scripture, as  <even
   tism."                                                                  the decisions of 1942  remind us. Only  the children of
         It is evident, then, that, in  keg&d to the question              the  pro@se, the elect, are counted for  the seed.  Anid
   of the  covenanit,  the Conclusions of  Utrecht 1905  :were             they are by  no means the same as the children of  ..be-
                                                                                                                                  _ . . .
   so  fo,rmulated that  each of the contending  pa&ies could              lievers. Tl+  krror of the presumption  of~regeneration
   appeal to them in support  of his  ,own'view. If, on the in all  <would not be so serious  ilf the  carnal,  nepprobate
   one hand, the supporters of the view of presumptive                     stied belonged to the great exoeptions. But this is not,
   or presupposed regeneration claimed- that their  con-                   the case.       The very opposite appears to  jbe true.
   oeption was the  .doctrine of the  Ch.urch,  they certainly             Among Israel in  .the old dispensation, the carnal  seed
   could quote the first part of the Conclusions to sub- .abounds, and the children of the promise are the  "rem-
   stantiate their claim. If, on the other hand,. the  oppon-              nanit according to the election of grace." Nor does it
   enIts of this view claimed  bhat the Church had plainly                 appear different in the new dispensation if one takes a
   repudiate9 the  ild'ea that all children of believers must bro?d view of the Church in the world,  and makes a
   be considered as  regenerated from their birth, they                    comparison between nominal, baptiaed  C,hristendom
   could appeal to the last part of the same Conclusions in and true believers.                                      :
   support  orf their contention.                                             3. The modifying  &use "until  the" opposite  ap-


                                                                                                                              .
-.
       150                    _                    `THE,   ST-ANDARD   B E A R E R                                                                       i  -.  n

      petirs," is,  consid'ered  BS a binding  dbgma  of the Church,            expression of a mere presumption is a strange dis-
      quite meaningless. How could a church possibly en-                        tortion of the plain meaning of words'.
      foace such a decree, and discipline those that  -diaffer                             For all  these- reasons we  cana80t subscribe to the
      `from it? What is the age limit  idenoted by  the."!until"?               dec&ns of 1942.
      At what  age  c,an a child reveal the opposite of regenera-                          Bnt how about  the-view of the liberated churches?
      tion? And what, pray, is "the  oppos,ite" of the mani-                               aOar discussion of this  n&t wait till next time, D.  .V.
      festation  od  regen.eration?  -1s a life  of wanton unbelief                                                                            H    .         H      .
      and gross sin, that makes a  ,confessing  believer worthy
      of {excommunication, meant by this "opposite"-? Or
      does the opposite also. appear when  a child  ev.incesno                             THE TRIPLE KNOWLEDGE
      positive interest in the things  ,of the kingdom  of God,
      shows no positive-  sirgns of r&generation?                 Dr. A,
      Kuyper Sr. held, as is  well known, that even if someone                  An Exposition Of The Heidelberg
      is  -tionv&ted in his old age, the seed of regeneration
      may have been in  his:heart from infancy. .Who  call tell                                               Catechism
      us what the  synod meant by this limiting clause? No
      one, not even the synod  itielf.  Snch vague  antd am-                                                     P a r t   T w o .
      biguous.  presumptions  should not` he legislated into                                              Of Man's Redemption
      &@mas that are binding' for  the.!rne&ibers and office:                                           L o r d 's   D a y   X V I I I
      bearers of the  Ichurch..
          4. The  ,conlfessions do  hot teach  ,snch a presumption                                   Q.  46.  How  dost thou  unde&and these words,
      concerning all  bhe  children  ,of believers. It is alleged                          e      "he ascended into heaven  ?"            .
      that presumptive. regeneration  3s plainly `taught in our                                      A. Thus that Christ, in sight  -of  his disciples,
      Baptism  F6rm. The trouble with this is, however, that                                      was taken up from earth into heaven; and that he
      the very positive  I&nguage  ob  th&t Form  `can hardly be                                 - continues there for our interest, until he comes
      interpreted as expressing a  rnelle presumption. Does                                        again to judge the quick and the dead.
      triat  Fo& refer to a presumption when it teaches us                                           Q. 47. Is not Christ then with US even to the e?J:,
      that "when  !we are baptized  iii'%he  name of the Father,                                   of the world, as he hath promised?.  '
       Gbd  bhe  F&her  witnesieth  arid  seal&h  :unto us,  that-                                   A. Christ is very  ma? and very  `.God;  w.ith  re-
      he doth make an  ieternal  covenant of  -,grace with us,                                     spect to his human nature, he is no more on earth;
       and adopts us for  h$s children and heirs. . . . And                                       but with --respect to his Godhead, majesty, grace
      when we are baptized in the name `of the Son; the Son                      .                 and spirit, he is at no time  absent  from  US.
       sealeth unto us,  that he doth wash us in his blood-from
       all  our sins,  incbrporating  US into  j&e  felloiwship  of                               `-  Q~. 48. But if his  human  nature is not present,
      his death and  resurr,ection, so  t,hat we are freed from                                 ~ wherever his' ,Godhead is, are not  the& these two
       all our  sins and  accounked  righteous  be%+ God. In                                      natures in `Christ separated from one another ?
      like  .mtitiner,'  when'.we are  bapt3i&d  `in"the',nam&  of the                               A. ,Nlot at all; for since his Godhead is illimitable
       Holy  ;Ghost,  the  ~Holy Ghost assures us, by this holy                                    .and omnipresent, it must  ne'cessarily   fbllow.  that
       sacrament, that he will  d$well.in us, and  san.ctify  us to                                the same is beyond the limits of the human nature
      ibe  ;members   o f   Christ,"  &c?  D o e s   i t   s p e a k   t h e                       he assumed, and `yet is nevertheless in: his human
      language  elf a presumption when-it confesses that our                          i            nature, and remains personally united to it.
       young children  "as they `are without  bh@r,  knowlledge                                    . Q.  49. Of  whatzadvantage  to us  is.Christ'ls ascen-
       partakers of the  Icondemnation  in Adam,  so are they                                   ! sion into heaven ?
       again received unto grace. in Christ"? Are the  parents                                       1. First, that he is our advocate in the presence
       askad to sub&ribb8  `to. a presutiption  `by th'e qu,estion :                             .'of his Father in heaven; secondly, that we have our
       "Whether  you  ticknowledge.  that-our  children-  ane                                      Flesh  in heaven as a sure pledge that he,  `as our
       sanctified in  CJlrist, and therefore, as  memberi  ,of his                                 heed, will also take UP to himself us, his members;
      &urch ought to be baptized?" And does the whole                                              +hirdly, that he sends us his Spirit  BS an earnest,
      church  <give thanks and  praise to God  for ,a mere  pre-                                   by whose  poimer  we "seek the things which are
       sutiption  in the  folkjwing  l&n&age:  `?we  thank and                                  - above; where Christ sitteth at the right hand of
       praise thee, that Thou hast  forgiven  *us and our child-                                   ,G&l, and not the things. on earth."
       ren, all  our sins,  through the  Ujo'd  OT thy `beloved Son
       J$esus `Christ,  anid received us  thrtiugli'i&l;t;  Holy Spirit                                                 1.                `.
      '  as  m&nbers of thine  only  beg&ten Son;  an0  ad@ted  us
      t,o be thy child&n, and  sealsed and confirmed  the same                             The Fact  d? Christ's Ascension Into.  H,eaven
       unto us  <by holy baptism"? To change all this into the                             The  rem,ark of Dr. Karl Barth, that Christ's ascen-


                                .x
              ~.                      ;* .;%>l  T    H    E      ST.ANDAA`D   BEARER.                                           151

  sion into  hea%n is scarcely mentioned in  the New he had spoken  these-  ,&rds,  while they beheld, he was  *
  Testament, and that it could  ju.st as well have been taken up  ; and a  clould received him out of their sight.
  omitted from the "testimony of the  forty days," is               And- while  they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he
  .certainly  atot in  harmonly  with the  -abundance  of the        wei:S up,  &hold, two men stood by them in  whit.e
  tsestimony found in Scripture concerning this stage in            apparel; Which also said, Ye men of  Ga.lilee, why stand
  the exaltation of the Lord.  .And  when he, virtually ye gazing up into heaven?  t.his same Jesus, which is
  rkpudiating the idea that the ascension of our Lord  +aken up from you into-heaven, shall so `come in like
  was also a definite change of place, evaporates that              manner as ye have seen him go  into.heaven."                :.
  event into the vague notion of its being "a  pointing to              Besidles,  apa&-[from these references to  tihe event  of
 the revelation, already come  to the fore in the  resurrec-        the ascension into heaven  011: the fortieth day after  the'
  tion, viz., that Jesus Christ is the bearer of all  poiwer        resurrection, Scripture also  mentions the truth of
 in  heaveh and on  ear&," he  `can  hardlylbe said to  fol-        Christ's  assumptioninto  and being in heaven, anti that
 l,ow the line of the  Apostolicu;m,   and surely speaks a _  zot only in connection with His  sitt+;.lg at the right
 language that is quite  .difserent from that of our  Gate-- hand of God, still less as-a mere sign of His having
 chism in the  eigtheent.h Lord's Day. (1).  -                    - all power in heaven  anid on  earth, but as having  signifi-
     As  far as the testimony of  S&ipture is  conceri~~ed, cance in itself, and from the viewpoint of  ,His  havilalg
 though in the  ntiture of the case,  th@ event itself of the       entered the-holiest of all as our intercessor. The apostle
 ascension of Christ into heaven, is not as elaborately             Pete? proclaimed to the people that were gathered in
 mentioned as the event of  t,he resurrection,  the fact            Sblomon's porch : "Whom the heavens must  receipe
.of  that ascension  and  iis great  si.gnificance are  fre- until the times  bf  t.he restitution of all things."  Acts
 queritly  efiphasized  in Holy Writ. The  eye,&  is!  :men- `3  :21.  .-  Ind&ting  the  Source of the grace  \which the
 tioned in Mark  16:19: So then after the Lord  had, Church  rekeives, "according to the measure of the gift
 spoken unto  them, be was received  UQ into heaven, and of  Chris%,., the apostle Paul, quoting from the  sixty-
 sat on the right hand of God." In Luke 24  :50,  51. we eighth psalm, writes : "Whenefore he  saith, When  $.e
 read : "And he led them out as far as to.  Bethany, and            ascended  u,p on  high; he led captivity  Icaptive,  and.,gave
he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And it  came gifts  u&o  men. Now that he-ascended, what is it but
 to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from that he also descended first into the lower parts of the
 them, anh carried  `up into  heave::c" The  gospei  ac- earth? He that descended is the  stim,e also that, ascend-
 cording to John does  pot speak of  t,he  ascension~on  the        ed up far above all heavens, that he might fill all
 fortileth  day, but it mentions it  r,epeatedly  and definite- things." Eph. 4 :8-10. "And without  co;ntroversy  great
 ly. To  t,he  murmuring Jews in  Cap&naum the Saviour is  ,the mystery of godliness: God  .was manifest in the
 says :  "Doth this offend you? What and if ye shall see flesh, justified  iti the Spirit, seen of angels, preached
 the Son of man  asce`nr3  up  %here he  -was before?" &to the Gentiles, believed- on  in the world,  recei%ed
 John 6  :61, 62. To the' unbelieving Pharisees in Jeru- up into glory." I Tim. 3  :46. Especially the  ,episUe to
 salem, He spoke these  wordi: "Yet a little while I am the` Hebrews speaks of  Chri,$`?ascensiolai~~ as the  enter-
with you, and then I go unto  ,him  that'senit me." John            inrg into  the Sanctuary as  our great high priest. "See-
 7:33.   H i s   `,disci$es   H e   comtforts  i n   t h e   ,well-kno,wn ing then that we-have a great high priest,  that is passed
 words  : "In my Father's  ho&e are many mansions:                  int.o the heavens, Jesus the Son of God,  lfet us  ihold fast
 i'f it were not so, I would  hav,e told you. I  Igo to pre- our profession.  " Heb. 4 : 14. "Which hope  wle have as
 pare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a  place             ari anchor of the soul, both sure and  stedfast, and
 for you, I  twill come again, and receive  you  Unto  myi          whi,ch  enitereth  into that  ,within the veil  ; Whither the
 self; that where I am, ye may be alsd. And  wliiiher forerun&r is'for us  e$ered,  eveill Jesus, made an high
 I go ye  know, and  the way ye  10111ow."  John 14  :l-3.          priest for ever after the order  of  M~elchiserd~ec." Heb.
 And again : "Nevertheless I tell you  Dhe truth: it is             6 :19, 20. "F,or  -Christ is not entered into the  holy
 expedient for  you that I go away: for if .I go  nqt away,         places  mdde with hands,  whilch are the  figures, of the
 the  Comfortep  ,will not come unto you  ; but if  I depart,       true  ; but into heaven itself, now  td appear in the pre-
 I will  -send him unto you." John 16  :7. And after  ,His sence of  dad for us." Heb. 9  :24.- And in I Pet.  .3  :22.we
 resurrection,  H,e  spoike the  rGmarkab1.e  wovlds to the         read : "Who is gone into heaven, and  i,s  on  the. right
 Magdalene : "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended               hand  of. God  ;  xnlgels  an.d  authortiles  and powers being      _
 to  my Father: but  ,go to my brethren, and  &ay unto              made subject unto him."         b
 them, I  ascend-  anlto, my Father, and your Father; and              This ascension must be conceived as consisting defi-
 to my God,  anid your God." Jehn 20  :1'7.                         nitely in a change of place. In His  humad  nat.ure
     `The most definite testimony  sconcerning  the event Christ departed from the earth,  and  *went into heaven,
 of the ascension is  fou;nd in Acts  1:9-11: "And when both in body  and  soul.  After His  ascensioln,  He is,
                                                                    according to His human  nature, no longer on earth  ;
 (1) Karl Barth, the Apostc$c  Confa&ion,  pp. 128,. 136.          He is in heaven  only.

                                                                                           e


       1 5 2                                    T H E   STAN`D'AR.D  B E A R E R

           This  view of the ascension- of  _ Christ is strongly           personally-that is, on account of the personal  union-
       emphasized in the Catechism. No less  than,three   ques-            common  .with. the other, such as the  co,mbination  that
     tions and answers are devoted to the local character takes place when two boards are glued together, where
      of  #our Lord's ascension into and being in heaven.                  neither  iconfers any thing on the other nor receives
      First, in question and answer forty-six, the article of any thing  f$om the other.. But  r&her,  ,here is the
      the Apostolic Confession concerning the -ascension is -highest  cotimunlion which God truly has with the man
       explained ; and it emphasizes that  .Christ  entered into           assumed, and from the personal union and  highbest
      *heaven before. the  ,eyes of His  diadples,  and- remains' and  ibefifable communion,. which thence follpws, flows
      there  .until  IHis coming again. Then, in question and              all of human, that is said and `believed of God, and
      answer forty-seven; this local ascension is  considered- all of divine that is said  and  :believed  o$ the man Christ.
       in the  lirght of His  prbmise that He shall be  Iwith us           And this union and  communiion  of the natures the
     even until the end of the world. And, lastly, in ques-                mqst ancient doctors of the  Church have illustrated  by-
      tion and answer forty-eight, the objection that this                 the similitude of  .glowing iron, and of the union of
      definike and local conception of the ascension separates body and soul in man." (De Persona  Christi,  V) .
      the two natures of the Lord is answered.                                And further :
           That the Catechism emphasizes this local character                 "And `chat majesty, in virtue of the  p.ersonal  union,
      of Christ's ascension into heaven so strongly, must be               Christ  ,has always had, but in the state of  humiliition
       explained from the rather sharp' controversy of  -that              he divested  hi-mself- of it, for which  canse he truly
      time; between  the  R'eformed  sllntd Lutheran theologians,          grew in age, wisdom  alld favor  w.ith God and men.
      about the  nat,ures of Christ, and about the presence of Wherefore he  dig not always make use  of-that majesty,
      <Christ  in the Lord's supper.                                       but as often as seemed  .good to him, until after  .&he
           As to the relation  betiween the  two natures of Christ,        resurrection, he fully and forever laid  -aside the form'
      the Lutherans  helrd  whit is known as the  doctrilie of             .of a servant, but not the  h'uman nature, and was
      the  com~nu~~~ntio..idiio,matz~m,   the view that in Christ          established in the. plenary use,  mani$estation,  and
      the one  nat,ure shared the properties of the  ,other, more revelatioa of the divine majesty,  and in this manner
       parti&larly  SO that divine  +t?ibutes   wek'e imparted             entered into  his glory (Phil. 2  :6 sqq.) . Therefore now
      to the human nature of Christ. Atid .with a v,iew to the not only as God, but also as-man, he knows all  tihings,
      . Lutheran theory of the  bodfly  presentce of Christ in can do all tliings, is present to all creatures, has  under
       the bread and wine of  the Lord's supper, this  doe-, his  f:ee;t and  in his hand all things which are in heaven,
       trine of the  %ommunication  of properties" was  .esp,ec-           in the earth, and under the earth. That this is so,
      .ially applied to the  icbiquitzj of Christ's human  amature,        Christ  IHimself bears.  ,witness,  say%@,  (Matt. 28  :I8 ;
      the  atbribute  according to which Christ, in  ,His  human-          John  13:3) : `All power in heaven and in  #earth is
       body, can be present in more than one place at the                  given unto me.' And Paul saith (Eph.  4:lO) : `He
       same time. According to some Lutherans, this  ."com-                ascended up far above all heavens, that he  might fill
       munioation of properties". took place at the time of                all things.' This his power, being everywhere present,
       the  incarnation, but during His earthly sojourn among              he can exercise,  * nor is `anything to him either impos-
       us the Lord emptied Himself,  BO that His  divine power sible or  ur&nown,`Y  idem. XI.                 -
       and glory remained largely  colicealed  *behind the like-              This doctrine is then applied to the  Lubberan"con-
       ness of  sir&l flesh. According to others, this imparta- lception  o,f  the Lord's supper, that of consubstantiation,
       tion of divine attributes to the human nature belongs               as follows :
       to  His  Iexaltation   .only.                                          "Henoe also, and indeed most easily, can he, being  -
           By this theory Luther and  the Lutherans sought                 present,  impa& his true  boldy, and his blood  in the
      `to give an answer to the  questiion,   horw Christ. could, ,Holy Supper. Now  ,this is not done according to the
-      accordin% to  His human nature, be in  heaven,  and yet mode and  attr?bute  of human nature,  :but according to
       also be  :corporeally  present in the signs of the  ,Lord's         the mode and attribute of the  right.ha!nd of God, as
       supper. His `ascension  means; not  bhat He left  the Luther, according to the analogy of our  C.&istian faith,
       earth` and is `limited to heaven, `but that  "His human             as contained in the Catechism, is- wont to speak. And
       nature became ubiquitous..                                          this presence of Christ in the Holy  Sipper is neither
           This view was officially  iexpressed in  The  Formulu           physical or earthly, nor  Capernaitic; nevertheless it
       of  ConcIo&, a Lutheran symbol written  iDs 1576, as                is most true and indeed substantial. For so read the
       hollows:                   _                                        wovlds of the  `i?estament of Christ :  `This! is is,  -is my
           "And inasmuch as the divine and  -hiunane natures               body,' etc."                             ii             ,s
       are  perbonally -united, that  ii, so  as--to`,constitute   .one       ,A11  this is not very clear, especially  In view of  the
       hyphistnmenon,  we  belileve,  t&ch,  .tind confess that            fact that the Forniula of Concord  & the  sa%e  ti.me
       this  hypostatic union is not such a  ,colnjuncti&  or com-         strongly repudiates the idea that the two natures of
       bination as that thereby neither  natu:e had any thing              Christ are in any wise fused into one. The-Lutherans


                                                       - T H E   .ST<ANp-&R.D-  BEARE;@                                              &%I
                                                                   7;
  appear to seek to  :establish their doctrine of a  com-                          seeing Him again. Halwever,  now,  tin' the fortieth day
  -munion of  prosperties in Christ on the basis of' the                           of this  womderful   period, He led them  out to the.  ?nOutit
  perso:nccl  union of the two natures only.. However, it ,of  0gives;and from thence  He was taken up  frbm'them
  is  sot  q$te  clear, how from this personal union it could in such a manner that they  knew He. had  depal;ted  from
  possibly follow. that divine  .attributes  were  bestolwed                       them into  hea&. Oft&,  durilig those forty  ,days, He
 or communicated to the human nature. Nor is it easy had come and  Igone. He had appeared to them and
  t,o see  ,how the  hu,maq nature of Christ  .could really                        d?sappeared again in a  manner beyond  th&r compre-
  partake of such divine properties as omnipotence, om-                            hension.    This time;  how*ever,  IHce not merely  d.is-
  niscience,  omnipreseneti,   withont  .becoming fused with                       appeared: He  ideparted  from them; and went  intu
  the divine  ngature. .                         -           .-                    heaven. After this they  .expected  ,Him no more. They
       Fact is; however, that although later Lutheranism knew that He had gone awgy from them.
  sometihat modified this theory, and although-the Form-                               But when all this is  ,duly established, when we have
  ula of  Con8cord already begins to  expriess itself  sbme- confessed that heaven is a  ,place as  weii  as the earth,
  `what ambiguously  ,on this  mat,ter, at the  ti,rne when                        and not a mere abstraction; and that  t,he  ascentiioli  6f
  the  .Heidelberg Catechism  was composed the doctrine                            the Lord  :means  $&at He departed from the one place
  of the  odmmiunicatzo   idiomatum  was strongly main-                            and entered into the other, and not a-becoming  otini:
  tained. And according to this theory,  the human nature  z present of His  human nature ;  ;we must also warn
  of Christ is  noiw, i.e. after His ascension, ubiquitous.                        against  the- danger of  conceivipg af the wonder of
       Now, in  oppositioll-  to  atid distinction from  .this                     the  &cension in an  earthly.mtinner.
  Lutheran  dolctrine, it  mu&, in the light of Scripture,                            We shall have to  remind ourselves "that the ascen-
  undoubtedly  b,e  maintainad that the ascension of  our                          sion as  #well as the resurrection of  Christ, is a  Wo;nde;r.
  Lord Jesus Christ implies a change, of place. He                                    We shall have to remember that. the  ascmsion of
  departed  fro? one place, the  .earth;  and he went  to                          our Lord, although it was, indeed, a person&departure
  a n o t h e r   p l a c e ,   h e a v e n .                                      from the earth  in- the human  nai%%e,  a moving  fram
       This it is which the Catechism means to accentuate                          bne place  to another,  is not comparable to one's taking
 in  the Lord's Day  wle are now  dis,cussing.                           "In the a journey from Chicago to  N'ew  Y,ork,  from one  eatihly
  sight of his disciples he was taken up from the  &rth                            place to  aD.other. Nor is what the  apo&es  o;bser&d on
 into. heaven." There he "Continues  foryour. interest,                            Mount Olivet when  `their Lord was  taken up from  thim,
  until he comes again to'judge the  qui,ck and the dead." to be  compa_red to what  one sees when he visit; an air-
Again,`  ."with respect to his human nature, he is  no                             port and watches the taking-off of an  aiqlane.
  more on earth." And  the objection that this leads to a                             And  .~we  dare not  sorget, . when speaking  ,of the
  separation of the two natures  ,of  `Christ it meets by                          event of the ascension of our  Saviour as such, that  also
  the  argu,ment that "since his  Godbeajd is illimitable and                      that last  manli$etitation af the risen Lord to the apostles,
  omnipresent, it must necessarily  fol&aw that the same                           when He led them out  to'the  l&tint of Olives,  lwas an
  is beyond the limits of the human  nature he  assujmed,                          appearance  ,of Him Who had already passed on into the
  and yet. is nevertheless in his human nature, and  re-                           resurrection-sphere,  an!d, Who lived in  His  .intcorrupt-
  mains  perso!nally united to it.,.'                                              ible, "spiritual" body.          _
       And  *hat the ascension of the Saviour is  &finitely                           What was  giv'en the apostles to see  04 Mount  Olivet,
  a  de$arture from the earth and an  en(trance into heaven                        of the  tionder of the ascension, was sufficient  fdr them
  is the plain teaching of Scripture.  -- To His disciples  the                    to know that  tl+ Lord had  ,departed from  t.hem, and
  Lord said "I  ,go away,,' John 16  :7. The gospel &cord- that He had gone into heaven. But' e-very  at$erhpt to
  ing,  to  Lu.ke records : "H,e was  par,ted from  them,`anl                      draw' a  picture of -the event,  l;epresentirig the  Savi&ir
  carried up into heaven," 24  :51. And Acts  1~9 is very                          as sailing up into the sky and through  the  cloudd,  mu,+t
  d,efinite : "And when  he~had spoken these things, while                         be condemned  as a misrepresent&ion of the  ascetiion
  they beheld, he was  taken  u,p';  and a' cloud received him                     of  our Lord.                                    8.  H .
  out of their sight."                 ~
       For forty `days the  risen Lord had remained on
  e&h, even  bhough the relation between  Hiti  ,and                                            MINISTERS' CONFERENCE
  earthly things, as well as  !His fellowship with His
&sciples,   wlere radically different from His sojourn                             O f f i c i a l   No,&: - The Ministers  CiJhf&efice of
among us in  the state  of  IHis humiliation. Repeatedly,                          Class%  East will meet  on--Tuesday,  January  8,  i946, at
  the disciples had seen Him. O.ften, during those forty 9:30 A. M. in the  F;ull&  Avenue  ChtiFch.
  -,days, He had appeared  td them, and spoken  to them  ,df                          Prog?+m:   - "The Man  02  Sin"Lbjr  the  Rev.  i\ir.
  the things pertaining to the  kingddm  ,of God. And, in  ,.  Gritters.                       `V?Ee Netherlands  Decisiofis  on  Commui
  that period between the  resurrection and  Dhe ascension,                        Grace"-by the  Rev, J. D.  Die. Jong.               --.
 :the disciples must  hav.e lived in constant  expecta&& of -                                          -                 W. Hofman, Sec'y.
       .     -


                                                                                                                                   _
151                                            T H E   STANDAR-D   -BEiARER
_                    _
                                                                         :who  soon `rebelled against  their  gather and made war
                                                                         upon one  ano!her. These political disorders in the
I - a.' " TIIMNJGH -THE AGES                                             Frankish empire afforded the papacy many  opportuni-
                                                                         ties to assert its claim to supreme judicial authority
                                                                         in all matters.      Aocordingly,  Gregoky   I V   w e n t   t o
: ..I,< The' Pseudo Isidorian Decretals                                  France to settle the  disptites between Louis the emperor
                                                                         and his sons. But the  ;pope was ill received by the
s.  .  .      :'          _     ::                                       party faithful to Louis, for the rumor  had. gotten
:           As  .we  s&w, the  papacy, now in the person of  -Leo III    abroad that he would decide in favar of the sons.
(.795-816) again declared  -by its act of crowning                       He was  aeminided of his oath of allegiance to  th.e
Charles (`The Great) emperor, that it lay within its                     emperor.     The bishops  ,holdipg with the latter  as-.
power to give and  withhobd  kingdoms and to appoint                     sured him `that if `-he care to  exco&nunicate `them,
and: depose its  kiln,gs, and that, such being  its  ,power,             he might perhaps depart as excommunicated him-
it took away from the Eastern emperor,. who sat in self. They even threatened him with deposition. The
ConstantinopEe,  the crown and bestowed it  on`charles.                  pope resented these threats on the `ground that,  be-
-ActuaXl;y,   `as.  was. explained, the pope now was `subject inlg the successor of Peter, he was judge over all and
and vassal  ,of the mighty Charles, but in his  ,own mind, could  (be judged by none. He maintained,  mareo:ver,
he stood  dut as  Charlies' spiritual and  teniporal  lord.              that, as the espouser  of the  cause of the rebellious sons,
And Charles,  on the  ,other hand, thought of himself                    he had justice on his side! But such was  tihe prestige
as  .the temporal and spiritual lord of the pope. Each                   of the papacy,  that' the  unlawf,ul   pracee%ngs of the
claimhid for' himself the supreme judicial power over                    sons of Louis took on  the appearance of justification
all things  in  chur,ch and state, conceived of by these                 kti the eyes  ,,of  ,&he people, and the emperor was re-
two-Charles and the pipe-as forming two sides to a                       pudiated by the larger part of the army. This rebuff
Christian  commoniwealth-the Holy Roman  ' Empire,                       of the pope, this challenge  ,of his authority' by the
founded by Charles and which  was to  zendure for one                    Franks, revealed that  the papal idea still  was-f& from
$housand  and six  .years.             It ended in 1806 with  the being received. What was needed is a code of ecclesi-
:abdication..of the elective crown. by Frances II,. But, astical laws-a  `Chur!ch  Order- of great authority,
.as:Was  se&, it  `was Charles and not the pope who made                 formed for the sole purpose of setting forth the papal
-gbod his claim. -After the example of Constantine the                   system in all its pretentions and of binding it  upon.the
Great  and Theodocius  the' Great of the Byzantine                       consciences of men by legitimizing it in the  ,light of the
-einp?re; which was csesaro-papal in principle  ,and prac-               Scriptures. For such a code the popes  iwould have
tice,,  CharlIes made himself  mister `of the church (and                greatest use.      They could quote it to justify their
thus. also  tif  the* pope) regulating all  her external and claims. It  wou11:l aid' them immeasurably in.  rtializing
to a large  .extent also the internal affairs. And the                   the papal idea. Marvellous to say, precisely such a
-&p,e did not resist Charles ; for Charles, it `was  exr                 code appeared under the false  na,me of Isidor of Seville
.glained,,,,was a mighty man and a  gre&.benefactor  of                  (died 636) and thus called the "Pseudo-1sidorian  De-
the papacy. The  pop&%oncluded that he could- best                       cretals."    It is called "Pseudo," fake, false, because
serve his  omnn carnal interests by allowing Charles                     upon examination, it has turned  ,aut to be the [greatest
to  do' as he pleased.                                                   fraud known in the history of church. literature. The
            ;Leo died in 816. Now the papacy, taking advantage book,. let us call it a  Church Order, is  f0,rrna.d of three
of the weakness of  Charl,es'  sucoestior& again strove to               parts, the first of which contains fifty  A,pastolic  Canalis
make actual in its reign' the principle of the lordship of and sixty  decr&als  "kerkelijke' Adviezen" from pope
the. -papacy over the temporal rulers. Of the next                       Clement (died 101) to pope Melchiades  (Idied  314)) all
     eight.  p&es;  the  niost ambitious in this  res,pect was           of  .lwhi,ch were forged. The second part  `of the book
     Gr.egory  -IV (827-844).  `Char& (the  Great) died in               includes the fake  daeum,ent of the dopation  o,f Constan-
     814. His  so,n and successor, Louis, was a  well-&aning             tine. This document, it will be recalled, is in the form
     but incapable ruler.  :He  d,evot.ed too  ,little time to the       of a-charter, the authorship of  which'is  unkno,wn, that
     affairs of  the empire and much time to  tionkish  exer- -onders  all  th!e #dignitaries in the church  to be  in subjec-
     cites. On this account and also because of his devotion tion to the pope and bequeaths upon them all the city
to  the clergy and  ,of the reforms  with which he began of Rome and the whole of Italy  `with all its provinces
.his reign-he dismissed from the  Icourt his father's and cities.  The  third part of the  beak  ,contains the
     concubines and his daughters  antd their  1oversAthe                d,ecretals of  t&e popes from  Sylvester. (died 333)  t,o
     Germans and the Italians surnamed him  th,e Pious.                  Gregory  II (died 731). Of these,  toti, thirty  .ay?e forged,
     This lack of  enlefgy of the government of. Louis  ,gave            that is fabricated and yet ascribed  by  1~heir  un.knowti
     rise to many abuses.             Soon after Louis placed the        author,  swho lived and wrote these  fabrilcations in the
     reigns of  govepnm@$ in `the hands of his  $hree sons               Ininth eentury to `these popes, thus to popes who lived


:                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARER                                                                  155
                                                                                                                      _       .         _ _ . _ .__ __ _
     and reigned in the  Ifourth, fifth, and sixth centuries.            judged by God only. It is  plaid that the  -teachings  here,
     And the decretals of the first part  bf the book, were              are the iaviolability and indispensableness  of -the p&t-~.
     dealt with in a like manner. The spurious  among hood. It must not be profaned and harmed  nor  can
     thejm,  tho@h a pure  ini,ention  ,of the ninth century,             it be. And it is indispensable to  salivation. And. the
     `w;ere affixed by their unknown author to the names supreme authority in all matters  spiritua!.and  temp.&al
     of the popes of the second  2nd third centuries, thus                is* the papacy. Now  ali these ideas were current at the..
' to the names of popes  & far  back  as Clement of Rome.                time our mysterious book made its appearance,  wuch
     Now this doing was the next thing to holding the                     was in- the  .middle of  the- ninth century. .Henc.e, it  ,is
     apostle Peter himself  responsi'ble for -these  dea,retals           evident  that the aim' of the book  was not to  pyeseilt  $0
     and their. teachings.' F'or,  accor.ding   fo Catholic tra-          the age new doctrines but to trace them  ab.ack  from  the
     dition, Peter was the first pope and for several years               ninth to the second and thind  .centurie+--to  set  back
     the companion of Clement. The latter is suppoged to                 these many centuries the date .of their origination]  .in
     have written many books in Peter's name and to have                  order that they might have  the great authority'  oif'
     been appointed by him his successor as bishop of Rome,               antiquity. For, although the  ger,m of  $h:e -papal  syst.em.
     with  su.pervision   ,over  &II the  church&. It means that          is discoverable in the  *writings of the ante-Nicene
     the unknown  author of the  .Pseudo-Isidor did not  r& -fathers, the idea as such-the  headship  of the. pope.
     coil  *from strongly suggesting, to say the least, that the          over all the churches  inI  Christendom,was, so we saw,.
     teachings of his inventions originated with the apostle              first  adv&ced with boldness and  clarity and  .ca?ried.
     Peter, and that they were transmitted-by him to his                  out with energy by  Leo I  (446-461).            And, as also  ,&s
     successors in the papal chair. It becomes-more and                   been shown, Zacharias (741-752) was the fir&t pope.
     more plain that the papal system as to its idea and that             to  crown a lay  ruler and thereby to' declare the  hea&.
     the  teff,orts on the part of the popes to legitimize this           ship of the papacy over all  tiings in the state as  .well...-
     idea and to carry it out, is horn  the abyss. Today the              And it was during the  pc@ficate of this pope  $ha$, the
     Pseudo-Isidor is  universally pronounced a fraud by papacy had come  i&o the possession of  the.  "states   .of
     Roman Catholics and Protestant historians.  ali.ke, al- the church", where the popes  ruled supreme as temporal,
     though at the  ti-me  .of its  appearaflce it was  receiver3 as      potentates.    Herice, men could  say- that the fact of  $e
     genuine.      Yet its forgery is  1conspicuous. To mention           pope ruling as temporal lord,  sxercizing  supreme,
     a few examples.  Roman bishops. of the second and                    authority in all matters spiritual and  ?emp,ora!  ~3s .
     third centuries  writ.e on relations in church and state             certainly representative of an idea rather novel.: They,
     that  Iexisted centuries later,  sind they  mite on these            could say that, at least  in the beginning it was not
     relations in the Latin of the  .n@ih century. Letters-               thus. As long as they  ,could  .say this, the  qrowned
     the book contains also several letters-which are said                head  o$ the pope could not lie, easy. So this.  ..thiQig
     tp. have originated in the second century, are made                  known as the Pseudo-Isidor  `was brought  @to  being,
     yp of passages borrowed from documents far later.                    Pointing to its  Idecretals, canons, and letters, the popes
            In the totality of its decretals and canons the  .book        could  now say that all  the ideas-inhering  in. the  papal
     ynder  considerat,ion is a manual on the doctrine of                 system are traceable, through-  the  ,unbroken  succession
     the Roman Hierarchy as it culminates in the papacy.                  of popes, to the noble Clement apd through Clement
     The priests, in contradistinction to the laity, to  whir& even to the apostle Peter. However  deser&g,of  ,aritiA,
     the  term  "carnale&" is applied, form a holy caste, con-            cism. the popes of the Midle Ages may  be,  ,$what  cannot
     secrated to God, -and the apple of His eye. Constituted             be said of them is, that  tkey  were.lecking.  ingenuity-tg
     by God. the "judges over all, they are subject to no                 devise ways and means  for bringing all men  under
     secular tribunal.      Bad  p r i e s t s   m u s t   ;be  toler"ated,   if their  yoke and for legitimatizing their false  .posi.tiFn.
     they fall  no% from the faith, and the laity  cannot  judige        Herein they were  ,exBerts  ; and they  a&o did `expertly,.
     them. Even independent of their personal worth, they                amazingly so. The_ Pseudo-Isidor pays particular  ' at-
     must be regarded with reverence as  th;  ,organs throngh            tention to the "States of the Church?`.  dbnated to the
     whom God imparts  ,HIs grace unto men through the                   papacy by  Pepin  and Charles the Great. According to
     sacraments  -.whose operations are magical. Next con-               the Pseudo-Isidor not  6nly  the& states but the  ,whole  of,
     sidered .is the office of  bishops,  as those. to whom              Italy was given to the pope five centuries previous by
     Christ gave the power to bind and to loose. Even                    Constantine. This donation is universally pronounced
     though unjust, their  .decisions must be respected. They            fiction.                            `1:                   .
     must be  protected  against the arbitrary will' of the                   There still remains -the question  if. the authorship,
     lay rulers and the archbishop&  ,If  ,oppressed by the              of the book. Historians are  agreed,that it  was!written
     latter, their refuge  i6 the pope, the judge over all from by some ecclesiastic; who belonged to-  the  Frankish
     whom is -no appeal.        For his authority is  sovereitgll. church, but there is no  -concensusof `opinion  afiong,
     both in state and  .chuulch and was  transgerred to him             scholars as to the writer. I$ cannot  %e shown to have
     by  Constant.ine  the  Great. Judge over all, he can be             been written. under. the instigation of the papacy,  -but
      .I


  156.          `-                             T H E   STANDA-R'D   B E A R E R
     . .
  the popes. did quote it. The. first of them to do so is
  N.icolas  .I (858-867).     On this  aocoun$ it is hard to
  believe that the papacy had nothing to do with the                     '1  .TE@DAYOFSHADOWS
  appe8rance  of this  my+erious book, especially so as by
  no other  instrument  was its power so  raiked and
  strengthened,                                                                                  Naomi'
       There is a myth,. of which we must take passing
  notice,  .accordi& to Which a woman  occul&d the papal                   As  was explained,  I$limelech  and Naomi did wrong
  throne between Leo IV (847) and  Benedicc III (355).                  in  removing to the country  of- Moab on account of
  She is named variously  &gnas,   ,Gilberta,  Join> Jutta,             there being a famine in the land. Rather than remain
  She,was placed in the papal chair as John VIII. That :  undaer the rod of God in  ,contritio!n  of `heart, as  cOn;fess-
  the new pope was a `woman was known  t,o no one. AC.                  ing that he, too, deserved God's strokes, and as  unging
  cording to most of the writers, who speak of her as                   his brethren to repent in order that God might be
  a real and not as  ,a  fabul&s  person, she was an extra-             feared and the plague be  Wted, he chose to eat his
  ordinary woman before as well as after she attained to bread to the full  wit& the heathen. As was explained,
  the pontifical dignity.      <She  vas. the daughter  ..of an the Lord laid  l%s hand upon them also there in Moab.
  English  ,missionary. She was famed for her modesty,                  First  Elimeliech died, and Naomi was- left with her
  hey address,  he? engaging behaviour,  and gained daily two sons.  The Lord had spoken, but Naomi failed
  new reputation by her  appearan,ce  and outward show to be  inst?uc$ed,  for  ,she prolonged her residence  in  '
of  extraordjn&y*-piety  as a teacher of theology in Moab and even allowed her  scnis to take them wives of
  Rome under the name of Joan Anglicus. `But in                         the women of Moab. These were forbidden  marriages.
  secret she loved illicitly,. and her sex was  discovered -"Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy
 _ when she  Igave  !bi<t& to a child in the open street during         daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor  .his
  a religious procession from the Vatican to the  Lateran               Idaughter shalt thou take unto  thy-.son." Deut.  7:3.
  in Rome in consequence of which she died. It is a                     That Ruth was  :won  f,or  Chri&, does not make Chilion's
  strange story, regarded by nearly all modern historians,              marrying her right. God was displeased with this
  Protestant as well as  Ronian  Cat,holic, as a mere  fic- marrjage,--necessarily so. as it clashed with His moral.
  t,ion, which doubtless it is, and this on the following will as indicated in His law. A.n,d the death of Ruth's
  ,grounds  It was first mentioned four hundred years                   husband may- be taken  1 as the manifestation of the
  later by a French  Dominion. If it was known in the                   divine displeasure. It is always wicked to marry
  ninth and tenth centuries,. the bitter enemies of the                 unbelievers. The argument that the unbelieving spouse
  papacy, of  ,whilch their were several, would have  tised             may be an  ielect, and if so will be  bro.u;ght into the
it as a,  dimaging- argument against that institution.                  Kingdom of grace through the  Igqod confession of the
  According to historians of that day, no  yacancy occurs believing  m+te and that therefore the  marriage,.though
.- between Leo and Benedict. But the question  remaiDs,                 contrary to Gold's revealed will, is  nevertlleless  pleastig
  how, if the  st6ry is fiction, its  ,creation  is to  be explain-     in. his sight  ia as foolish as it  .is carnal. Whether the
 ed. There are  `several  conj,e&res. One says that the                 unbelieving mate is an elect is known  unly to God.
  ljapess   was the widow-  af pope Leo VI  ;, still  another Then,  certainKit is not God's will that His people
. that the myth of the  fema!e pope was "satirical  alle-               marry u&believers in  ordei-t6 bring them  the~gospel.
gory on the  ,origin and circulation of  t.he false  decretals. This  `can  ble done out  orf wedlock as well as in it. Here
  of  @idor  (of which I have spoken in the foregoing)  i               the Scripture  ap:plies, "`The secret  thin$gs-in  this case
  still another that it was an impersonation of the great               the-election  ,or reprobation of the unbelieving  spouse-
  whore of the Apocalypse,  and-  thee popuiar  expressions             belong unto the Lord our God: but those things  which
  ,of  the belief that the mystery of iniquity was working              are revealed--here, the will  ,of God to the  #effect  that
  in the papal court..                               G .   M .   0 .    his people refrain from marrying  unbel-ievers-belotilg
                                          *                             unto us and to our children forever,  that  we may  cb  cdl:
                                                                        t/&e words of the  Ecus," may do also that word of the
                          THAN.K YlOU !                                 law that prohibits believers to be unequally yoked with  -
                                                                        unbelievers also in marriage, to be sure. Let  all those
       As of Dec.  1, 1945, my  distihargre  froti the U. S. N. `who contemplate such forbidden,  mamiages,  consider
  ibecomes effective. I  hereby wish to thank all of you that what  impells them is not the' fervent desire to  save
  who so willingly gave of your  titme and  Ieffort to make .an unbeliever but carnal lust. God's people  %eed not
  it  pQs%ible  for me to receive the folldwing : The  Stan- be troubled about the salvation  `of the elect in the sense
  ,dard Bearer; The Beacon Lights; The Fuller Courier;                  that they allow the thought to  takiz  rQot in their souls
  the Gifts at  Chris%mas time.                                         that they must marry unbelievers with a view to saving
                                               J; E. Landstra           them, if possible.


             ,

                                           T H E          S'!CANDARD   BEAli,ER   .   .                                           157

     ,Naomi, as was `observed, refused  to- be  instru&edj               health and sickness, prosperity and adversity come by  9
  when the Lord slew her husband.- Though a  God-                        chance. -Except when God`lays His hand upon them.
  fearing woman-we cannot judge otherwise-she lin-                       Then in their wrath they  `curse God and  the&by con-  1
  gered, after the marriage  ,of her sons,  ten more years               fess,  .despite  themselveti,  that God is, and that He is
  in  ;that heathen  land; So the Lord spoke again. He                   the author of their troubles. But Naomi's lamentation
  slew her two sons.          "Afid she.-was left alone of her `was the language of faith. -Consider this expression
  t%o sons and her husband." Then she spiritually  dis- `occurritig  in it. "The Lond  Lath  t&tified  against me."
cerned that  the~Lord  had-testified against her. For we That precisely  was  her. great' sorrow, and not that she
  read, `"Then she  arose with her daughters in law, that had to bury her kin  in Moab,  `or, as she expressed it,
  she might return from the country of  Mroab.  The that "I went out full-full of family happiness and of
  sacred narrator  adds,.."for   shy had heard in the country joy  i,n her  sons-qd the Lord hath `caused  tie to re-
  of Moab how  that the Lord had  visit&d his pedple  i_n turn  .empty"-empty now  elf all these. That, too, tore
  giving them bread." Dou.btless these tidings came                      at her heart.  H@w could it  )oe otherwise. But it was
  to her before the  ldeath of her  scms. But she had  re- not her primary grief. -She made mention of it solely
 . fused  .to  ,$estir herself in that, though as to the heart           because she' stood  firmly in the faith that it was -a
  of  ,heqd&%po'$i$ions  a true-`believer, she was  st,ill  cau;llal.    divine affliction through which Jehovah had testified
  Perhaps she had also been restrained  by3he  rceluctance against her. It `was-not necessary  that she- say what                                   '
  of  hp sons and daughters-in-law to leave Moab. But                    He  had-test,ified,  as it was evident from the grief that
  n.o?? a worse calamity befell her in  the death of her                 had  been her portion  ti Moab that  His testimony to
  sons. As applied to  he2 heart by God's Spirit, it brought her was to the  ejfect that her migration to  tha;t-  coi&ryo
  her under the  convict&n of sin, and she resolved to re- to escape the  rod of God was a  grievqus sin. That this
  turn,  h&v&  heard also that the  p1algu.e  `of the famine speech  `of God-was not only  manisested  in her but sane-                             .
  had been lifted and that  the  rfavol;  0-f God again was              tified unto her heart as  weli, so that she  received it as
  uponi her people. That was an added inducement. The                    truth,,  t.ruly repented and was now bewailing her sin
  state of Naomi's mind and heart, at this  juncture may before God is evident. She brought forth fruit  worthy~
  Ibe known from the complaint that  ,6as drawn out  ,of .of repentance. Firstly, she forsook.Moab, and  %eturn-
  her by the expression of astonishment on the -part  6f fed to God and His church, to His sanctuary, priests and
  Bethlehem on  her- return to that city.  Wle read,  `So                altars. Her return was a good work  `of God in her.-
  they  twlo went until, they  c&me to Bethlehem. And it                 This she also acknowledge& and  rgave God the  glbrji.  *
  came  -to pass, when they- were come to Bethlehem,                     Said she, "I went out full," that was her evil `doing,
  that all the city was moved about them, and they  sa.id,               "{but the Lord brought me home again empty." Had
  Is this Naomi?" To this she replied, "Call me not                      not He had  meFey upon her, she would have remained                        c
  N a o m i   ($he  lovely,  t h e   ,gr&5ous  o n e .   S u c h   i s   t h e in Moab. Soon after her arrival there, she must have
  m6aninlg of this name),  calle me  Mara (the  ,bitter one) :           developed a strong liking  50~ that  -oou!nit.ry. IH.er.  h u s -
  %or the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly `with me. I                  band died, and she was lonely,- still  .her thoughts  turn-
' went out full, and the Lord caused me to return  empty;                led not to Canaan, and this  though -her sons  had at-
  why then call me Naomi, seeing- the  L&d hath testified. tained a marriageable  age. The result was that  they_
 against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me?" niarried Moabitish  women.  From this point of view
  She had concluded  th.at the name  ."N+omi" did not                    of nature,  what was there to induce her to return after
  be&me her, considering her `present plight. There                      their death? Doubtless she lived well in  MO&. .She
  yas a  :gceat hurt  dn  here soul, a piercing pain, galling was beloved by  her daughters-in-law. The Moabites
  and  :cutting, the  ?warenqs  of which was bitter indeed.              w,ere friendly. In Moab was buried her  kin. In Canaan
  So they had better call her  Tbitter"  n@w:  :                         so far as she  ,could know,  her possessions were  perman-
      The sensation of anguish- and' pain that the  ScZp-                ently lost to her so that nothing but poverty and  re+
  t,ures call  xbitterness of  heart'is not peculiar to unjust proaches was awaiting' her  therle.  ,It is plain that, if
  men. God's people, too, know bitterness  df heart.                     she `was to leave Moab, the Lord  wo;uld  h&e  io bring
  Zannah, the mother  of-,Samuel;  was in bitterness  oif her  home again. -And He  did so. But He  h$d to  reso`r-t
  so.ul, and  praye`d unto the Lord and wept sore-prayed to the extremest  measures to get her "but 6-f that
  for a man-child, I Sam. 1  :lO.  <Hannah, though she                   country. So rooted was she to its soil.  That `she
  prayed in bitterness of soul,  yas  not. angry with  Go+               finally did  leave as a true penitent is also evident  frbm
Nor was Naomi angry with God. She was never more the  foll,owing. When they were come to Bethlehem
  spiritual than  when she gave expression to  thhat lamen- all  the city was  tioved &bout them, and they said, Is
  tation.         "The  Lor;d  ha'th  Idealt bitterly with me. The this Naomi? What they said-Is this Naomi ?-is an                           .-
_+nighty hath afflicted  me:" This is an acknowledge- `exclamation  ,of astonishment. It belongs in the  cate- .
ment. that  -the.  &amity that had befallen her in' the                  [gory of expressions-  t,hat` escapes men's lips when their
 eounltry of Moab was God's work.  ji`he wicked say that                 souls are agitated by  whit the eye sees  ai well  as by


  158                                  THi         k3TAtiDAR.D               BEARERS

  .what the ear hears.                                            he tells us that  they~came to Bethlehem in the begin-
         Naomi had  .been  go%e for ten years. During that ning of the barley harvest, and thereupon introduces
  time  her: appearance had changed. The bitterness of. his readers-to  Boaz, a kinsman  ,of Naomi's deceased
  her heart had left its marks upon  her.person. It had heusband;  Boai was a "valient hero" strong and cap-
  extinguished the light in her countenance  and paled. able in peace. and in war  li.ke Gideon and Jephthah.
  her brow. Her head was bowed. It had added years                And  h,e possessed much wealth  and property. Naomi
  to her life so that  she had  growq old before her  timle. `was in dire need,  $or she was now one of the poor in
  They  rememfbered   holw she had looked at the time the land, who lived on the bounty of the rich, according  .e
  of her departure. And they-saw that the contrast was            to a right guaranteed them  Iby a divine ordinance in
  startlingly great.     Seeing her and knowing her sad           Israel that receives statement at Deut.  24:19-21  in this
  story, they  `weyle moved about her;  and they said, "Is        language, "When thou  cuttest down thiee harvest.  i-n
_  this..Naomi  ?" But they were  mqvedcabout  her  a;na the thine field, and hast fongot a  sheaf in the field, thou
  dole5ul issues of her sin, while they should  hav,e  been       shalt not go again to fetch it: for it shall be fore the
  troubled for  God's. sake about the forbidden way in            stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow: that
  which she all those years had walked. Their spiritual           the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the works of
  callousness vexed her soul. She  -was that spiritually          thine  ha.nds. When thou beatest thine  :olive tree,  thqu  '
  sen@tive at the time. If they  .would weep for her, let shalt not.  go,over the boughs again : it shall be for the
  them try to understand the character  ,of her grief. The        stranger, for the fatherless and for the widow. When  '
  Lord testified  against her.  Got3  was against her. She        thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt
  had fallen  -from His grace yet not really. He, who was not glean it afterward: it shall  * be for the stranger,
  the light of her countenance, now hid His face from for the fatherless, and for the `widow." There were
  her.  .For she had sinned and was being crushed by              st,iB other restrictions, "Thou shalt not wholly reap  the
  the  weight thereof. She wanted God, His witness that corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather, the
  she was forgiven. But Gdd kept silence. That was                glean'ings of thine harvest," Lev. 19  :lO.  -But Ruth
  hler primary  grief. She wanted them  to  know all that.        seems to have been  igqorant of these laws. For she
  So she  aeplied to their whisperings. Call me not. seeks and `gains  -p&mission  of her mother-in-law to  QP
:Naomi.  .   .   . call me  Mara. For Jehovah hath testified to the field and glean ears of corn  after him  in  whose
  against me. The Almighty hath afflicted me. So did              sight she should find gmce. At least  $he seems not to
  she justify  God arid abase self  in'the  hearmg of them have expected the  3observance  of these  ordinances by
  all. She was  -spiritually  consistent in  <every p&t of        anyone. The Lord  idirected  the feet of Ruth to the field
  her reply. She says, I went, me hath God  af$cted;              of Boaz. This is the correct way of stating the matter
  nut, My husband and sons went and I followed as  in             as the Hebrew text reads, "And her lot met her on--
d u t y   (bound. She utters not a word of accusation             the field of  Boaz." Without knowing it she entered his
  against  her husband, but speaks as though the  .con- field. As the day wore on, Boaz-appeared on the scene
 '  ception  ,of the undertakimg had originated  in her. She      o;f industry. The exchange of greeting between em-
  makes no mention  .of the death of her husband and the          ployer and employees is remarkable. "The Lord  be
  withering away  `of her sons except in a  kind of veiled with you," said he to them, to which they replied, "The
  speech.      ;                                                  Lon& bless thee." According to the form of the words
         She was in a word, a true penitent. She  .was  not- of these greetings, the master blessed his servants and
  yet praising God and thanking God for the pain of her the servants  <blessed their master. The master meant
  asflictions, for the sorrow gendered by the memory  ,of to-do just that and likewise the  servants,. `If not, they
  the death of her husband and sons. Yet she was dis-             were guilty of taking the Lord's name in vain.         But
  posed to praise, though she wept, and to smile through Boaz feared God. And  the'servants,  too, feared God,
  her tears. For she was truly penitent. The character we  .like to believe. The fear of  God operative in the  _
  of her primary grief was such that it worked in her             hearts of master and servants ! This  iS the  `only  sola-
  a  peacable fruit of righteousness and therefore at  bot-       tio!n of the class  struggle between capital and labor.
  @rn it was praise. She soon did praise in love. For             Boaz  .surveyed his  ,pebple and the  labor and also the
  the Lord manifested in her that she was forgiven. He poor who gleaned in his field. Among the la  tter he
  gave her "beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mounning,        noticed a  strange maiden. It was Ruth. Turning to
  the garment  elf praise for heaviness." To see this  `we the overseer at  .his side, he said, "Whose damsel
  must follow our story a. little farther.      Naomi. with       is this?" The overseer replied, "It is the Moabitish
  Ruth, her faithful companion,  rcame to Bethelehem.             damsel, that came back with  Naomi,  ,out of the  ,country
  How and, where they found shelter against the elements          of Moab." The  ,qverseer  knew Ruth,  for. the return
  is  snot- stated. The s&red narrator selects only such          of Naomi  ha'd been much talked about. And he
  details  froril  the life of these two as are needful to him    praised her remarkable industry. "She came and hath
  For bringing .his story to its rightful  condusior+  So         continued even from the  moqning until. now, that  she
                                                                                                            -


  _.                                     THE          rCJkfA~j-~&~j-~              BjEAkjE&                                                         159

 tarried a little in the house." The overseer' nee,d tell yolmaa.kt. rechtvaardigen  die het  aan  hunne zielen  er-
 him no more. If the handmaiden that stood before him paardhebben, dat zij van den dood overgegaan zijn in
 was Ruth, the Moabitess, he knew  211  -about  her, since het leven, het leven daarboven bij God.
 it had been fully shown him by others. He  knesv all                            Er staat  `<wonderen"; in het meervoud.  Evenwel
 that she had done unto Naomi,  siece the death of the                       zijn al .de  wonderfen Gods  gegroepeerd  rondom dat
 latter's `husband. And he showed her  such kindness,                        &ne  groote wonder, en dat is Jezus.                        D a t   g r o o t e
 sol.ely because of her spiritual excellence,  that she could                wonder is,  ;dat Jezus  Christus;beladen  met onze  zonde
return  tosher mother-in-law with an ephah of barley.                        en  schuld  en-  dotem en  vlaek, van uit de diepten des
 ,Having  heard Ruth's report of her  ,experiences  of the                   eeuwigen doods  on&oog  gehaald wordt tot in den  hemel
 day in the field of Boaz, Naomi exclaims, "Blessed  %e toe. En dat wonder wordt wonderen, wanneer we zien
 he of the Lord, `who hath  .not left off his kindness to                    hoe  talloos velen  achter Jezus  aan opgetrokken  worden
 the  living  a n d   t o   t h e   Idead."  T h i s   tixclamation'  o f    tot in de hoogste hemelen. Zoo  zulleil we er iets van
 Naomi is worthy of most  acareful attention. It shows                       zien,  ldat  "qods  getrouwheid is in de gemeente  `dei
 that she was aware of having come  iqt6 the possession' heiligee." Ge moet maar eens om U  heen  bli.kken den
 of certain evidence that God was once more gracious                         volgenden keer, dat  Ige-in het Huis Gods met elkander
 unto her  and has pardoned her sin. The Lord  .rnLde                        dlen Heere dient. Indien het niet was vanwege de  ge-
 Ruth find a  [friend in Boaz,  the- rich relative of  _  h,er               trouwheid Gods  din  zoude3  m&j ons bevinden in de  ver-
 husband.  `God's  goodness manifested  3tself   .that con-                  gadering der  booadoeners.   Oas,eral waar een  mensch
 spicuously, that His anger must come to an end not zich buigt  voor  den  trc;on Gods;  overal waar een arm
 only against her but even against her  ,dear departed                       aonldatir  roept en schreeuwt tot God; ziet ge  de. ge-
e ones.                                                                      trouwheid des  Heeren.             Trouw is dat ge Uw woord
                                                        G. M. 0.             &stand doet.           Welnu, in het vorige  vers had de
                                                                             Heere beloofd om den troon van David te bouwen
                                                                             van  geslaiht tot  geslqcht.  En dat bouwen van  Iiavids .
                                                                             t r o o n   z i e t   g e   i n   a l   d e n   waren  godsdi,enst   v a n   he5 .
                                                                             volk Gods  v& alle eeuwen. De  6ee van den troon
        S I O N ' S   ZANGEN                                                 i s   regeering. En het buigen en loven en  prijzen
                                                                             van Gods  volk  i s   .gehoor.zaamheid.   - En die werkt
                                                                             God in het diepe hart.               H:t is Bet  volbrengen van.
              De Verb~ndspsalm                                               de belofte  aan  Daiid. God is de eeuwig  Getrouwe.
                                                                             Wij zullen  blijven' bidden en smeeken en  zinge,n van
                                                                             blijdschap in God,  Crmdat God U  Idoet  naderen, ja,  j
                 (Psalm  89 ; Tweede Deel)                                   `wonen in Zijn  Hnis.
        Ik  ial eeuwig  zingen van Gods  goedertierenh`een,!                      De  dichter  zal-  bewijs aanvoeren  voor zijn stelling.
        De aanhef van  dezen psalm is uiting van  geloovige Luistert  !  .I "Want wie mag in den  hemel tegen den
 .+elverru.kking, van geestelijke extase.                                    Heere  geschat   worden,  wile is den  `Heere gelijk onder                            -
        Deze psalm is bij uitstek de verbondspsalm: hij                      de  kinderen  der  st+ken?" Die taal  ztillen we ook  (be-
 vertolkt de liefde en de  vriends'chap  Gods.  _                            luisteren in dat  schoone  peertigste hoofdstuk van  Je-
        We  zagen het de vorige  ,maal;  we hebben  geluiiterd               saja's  profet,ie. "Bij  .wien dan zult gijlieden Mij  ver-
 naar de  hemelsche muziek die ligt in  Ide woorden: "Ik                     gelijken,  tdien Ik gelijk zij  ?" Neen, duizendmaal neen,
 heb een  verbcmd  lgemaakt  met Mijnen  Uitverkor&ne,                       dat mag niet.  pat de  doen  ,ware  krankzinxigheid.  Eerst
 Ik heb Mijnen Knecht David  bevestigd, zeggende: Ik                         God  alle& is God. Hij is de geheel andere, de  Schep-
 zal  l3w  zaad. tot in eeuwigheid  bevestigen, en Uwen                      per,  de Pormeerder van  qlles.- Bij Hem is een  vreese-
 trooli opbouwen van geslacht tot  geslacbt. Sela."                          lijke majlesteit.      Tweedens, zelfs  de machtigste  Engelep
        En daar zijn wij ook getuigen van. God bouwt  pdg                    Gods in den  heFe1 zijn  slechts schepselen. God  heeft:
 steeds den troon van den beteren David en dat is Jezus ze gemaakt en elk oogenblik  worden zij gedragea  Idoor
 ChGistus,  d&e Heere. Hij is de  Geliefrdte  Gods bij  uit- Zijn almacht. Derdens, al de kracht die zij  openbaren
 nemendheid. David beteekent  -Geliefde,, geliefde van                       is  .Gods kracht.  ' Nam God Zijn hand  weg, zie, zij  zou-
G o d .                                                                      den  wegzinkcn in het  Diet. Daarom volgt  er op: "God
        En  ohdat dat zdo is,  waaeom'  "loven  de  hemel& is grootelijks geducht in den raad der heiligen, en
 owe  wotideren, 0  Deere ! ook is  Utie getrouwheid in de                   vreeselijk boven  allen  die  roddom Hem  zijm.." Het
 gemeente  der. heiiigen."                                                   zijn slechts de  Idwazen, de  goddeloozen  die het bestaan
        Ja, dat de hemelen Golds  tionderen loven, dat  .zal durven om  "zich  *op te  ste&n en te  zamen te  beraad-
 waar  zijri. Dat is de  eenigste bezigheid der  hemelin-                    slagen  tegen den Heere en  tcgen Zijn Gezalfde. zeg-                                 =
 gen, zij  het de  ,engelen Gods die in  verruk@g'  ziugen                   gende : Laat  oni hunne  ba:pden  verscheuren, en  hu~ne
`bij- het zien van het  centrale wonder Gods, hetzij  de                     touwen van ons  werpeti." Is het  dan wonder, dat de
                                                                                     I


           ., :
       -.  q.-                                                                           .      .
           -.       -:;

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

 Heere "zal  lachen, en de Heere ze zal bespotten"? Dat A!s.dat  zoo was, dan verstaan we  niet hoe God  spreekt
 is de  dwaasheid gekroond. God is  Gold.  Grooteiijks                 van  de  `~opgeblauenheid" der zee. Neen,  da& zit meer
gedtic"nt is Hij in den  ra-ad  der heiligen, die rondom               a,chter.,  Ee&denk  aan de  zee van Tiberias. Die zee
 Hem  staan. Dat  ~wil  `z&gen,   date die  heiligen tot  ii1 verhief  zich ook, om het  hulkje van Jezus en Zijn  dis-
hun  binnenste hart  God kennen als de Groote en  Vreese-              cipeien te  verzw*elgen. Duidelijk is daar, dat de  duivel
 lijke.  Daarom-  st&nelen  w i j   o p   aarde:  `{God  i s   o p     ,die iee gebruikte  oti Jezus te  doen  verdrinken: Let er
 `t  hc$~,$`geducht,  in  Z.ijtieti heil'gen  raad; en  vrees'4ijk     t&h  op, dat de  Heere de  wind en de  zee  be&r@!
b&en  `t'. heir,  d%t  om  %`ijn  rijkstrook  St&t!" Maakt             Tweedens, en  dat dat  brengt ons tot de beteekenis  vq
evenwel  niet de fout om te  denken,  dat  d&  vrees  van-             de zee en de basen der zee,  ,denken  we  aan Jesaja 57,
:wege Gods grootheid en  vreeselijkheid een  slaafeche                 vers 20 en 21: "Doch  lde  ioddleloozen   z i j n   a l s   een
 vyees is. :Ik  .kan hier  tiiet  veel  bijhalen tot bewijs.           voortgedreveie zee, want die kap njet  rusten, en hare
 Ik kan  h&t  echter  we1  aanvotilen.     Ik zal er  alleen  di$      wateren werpen slijk en modder op;  -de  goddeloozen,
van  zqggen : hoe meer ik  hoor en lees en ervaar  van die zegt mijn God,  hebberi geenen  vrede." Derdens,  denken
ve&?h:hrikkelijke grootheid en  vreeselijkheid van  gijn we  aan de  Openbaring  van  Johannes. Die  apostel zag
Vade,? in  d&n  hemel,  hoe meer ik  hem  liefi'eb  eil  i&g :         een vreeselijk  gezicht van  een  beest, dat uit de zee  op-
 Wanneer`  z,al ik  ingaan en voor  U&  aangezicht   ver= kwam. We  zullen niet stilstaan  cbij  alles wat we  daar-
schijnen? Het is de zucht der  liefde Gods in het hart van lezen.                    Doch  bet  `woord   "opgebilazeaheid"  vindt
van alle  kinderen  Gods, dat naar.  ,Hem haakt en  ver- daar  zijn* verklaring. Dat beest is  d'e  anti-Christelijke
l,yyt  `en-hunkert in het dorstige  ha&.                               weaeldmacht en de grondtrek van dat beest is dit,  dat
     De  `!&T>ger  lbopt   ,over van  .$oob,,  Hij  herinnert  zich    hij  i,n en door den  m&ch in den Tempel Gods zal  zit-
 h&t eerder gezongene: God is omringt  iran Zijn  ge- ten en zeggen, dat hij God is. En  jui& als  iti `de  pro-*
troawheid.          Hij  heeft het bewezen en `keert  er tot           fetie van  J&aja,  die zee  zijn de goddelooze  volken.
terug :  IO*, Heere ! God der heirscharen! wie is als Gij              Let dan  `Oak op  ,Openbaring   17:15:  "En hij  zeilde tot
 groo$machtirg,  0 Heere! en Uwe getrouwheid-is rondom mij : de  wateren die gij.  g&en hebt, daar de hoer zit,
 U !  De. bewijzen van Gods trouw staan rondom  Go-d                   zijn volken en scharen, en  nati& en:  tongen."
 in  den  hetiel. Ik zie. Adam en Eva. Abel `is hen voor-                 Nu  ziten we  bet; de opgeblazenheid der zee,  mits-
gegaan. Ik zie  d'en  edelen  Henoch en  Noach die  wan- gaders de  verheffing  harer  barec zijn de  goddeloo:ze
 delen met God. Ook is  delvriend van God met  .zijn volken die  zich tegen God verheffen in drieste  hoo,g-
zoon en kleinzoon rondom  .den  troon van God : zij  waren             moed: En hier is  onie troost  bn sterkte:  God  heerscht
 de vreemdelingen en  .bijwclllers op aarde.  Doch hier                er  ,over en stilt ze,  op zijn tijd.  - Dat  kuninen we bij
 gevoglen  zij  zich  thuis.  O'ok  zien'we`David   en Jesaja          den aanvang nu al  reeds zien. Denkt hier  aan de Axis
 en de schreiende  Jeremia.  fin  .wat zal ik nog  meer volken. Ik wil  hpet  eerlijk  bekenn&, dat ik  bang was
 zeg&n? Zal ik het hemelheir  olpsommen? We  ztillen -toen dat  dri.etal  @ch  verhcef tegen God  en  tegen-Zijn
 U  slechts,  yijzen  .op het  woond:,  dat- de Heilige Geest          Gezalfde en met  groote woorden  sprak van verdrukking
 gebruikt : de heirscharen ! Zij  zijn de  totaliteit  van de          en  bleed  eh dood.  Doch God sprak en  waar zijn  ,zij?
heiligen Gods, omstuwd van de  &illioenen  -6an engelen iHitler is weg, Mussolini is opgehangen en Japan is
.Gods  die  bun.  dieoaren zijn. Alleen  -dit  meet  ge  .ont- vreeselijk  vernedend.  H e t   za!  jaren  dureh  vqoraleer
,Qoudcn. Die heirscharen Gods. zijn het bewijs van                     die drie volken  wieer  ietwat beteekenen. En zoo doet
 Gods getrouwheid. Indien het  n?et was vanwege het                    God door  aIle  eeuyen-  heen. Hij is het die volken  ver-
 wonder Gods  in  Ghristus, was  Ide  hemel ledig. Hij is              hoogt en!  yernedert.         Heere der heirscharen is Zijn
 zelfs der  eligelen  Heer. Die  engelen  zijn. na den val naam. En straks komt de  openbaring   van Zijn absolute
van Lucifer, vastgesteld in  h-umnen  staat. O"God, hoe heerschappij  en stilling der  baren der zee, wanneer we
heerli  j.k zi jt ge alom ! Uit  U% verheven heiligdom. aankomen  aan  ,de  stranden  d,er eeuwigheid. Dan  zd er
. Aanbiddelijk OpperwFzeri ! Het volk heeft Zijn sterkte               een  .groote sfilte zijn. Jezus  sprak op het meer van
 yn. U alleen!                                                         T?berias  en er kwam  eeti groote stilte. Die stilte is een
  -:Van het tiende tot het  iijftiend6 vers  ial  de  dichter          type van de  stilte-w&ar   Paulus  van spreekt in  R,om.
 &denen te  zamen brengen om  bet-ons  te bewijzen,  -neen,            3:19: "opdat  alle moed gestopt worde en de geheele
 Om het  ens  t6  stellei,  hqe  heerlijk, hoe groot God is.           wepeld voor God verdoemelijk  zij."
 We  zull&n  `er  we1  aan  doen  oti hem op den voet te                 Indien er  iemand was die  dacht, dat mijn  verklaring
vblgen;                                                     -.         van die  ,op!geblazen& zee en de verheffing der  baren een
": Gij, heerscht over  de:tipgeblasenheid  der  zee ; wan- vbrgezochte  was, die zal bekennen,  a&t het  verban.d voor
neer hare  baren  zich verheffen, zoo stilt Gij ze.                    zulk  een  -verkla&g  pleit. Let-  up het  volgende  vers :
     Ik, denk hier direkt  aan drie gedeelten van Gods                 "Gij hebt  Rahab  vembrijzeld  als  eeqen-veyslagene, Gij
 Woord, die. ons  zullen  leeren  wat de beteekenis van dit hebt  Uwe vijaeden  verstrooild met  ,den arm Uwer
 vers zij. Een  ,kinld zal het U  vertell-en, dat  d,e  Heilig6 sterkte."
 Geest hier niet spreekt van  de~.zeg. als  sehepsel  Gods.               Rahab  is  Egypte..            -


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                                          -T.HE  STANDARD  B E A R E R                                                         161

     Moet ik  anog  meter zeggen?                                    Heilige Geest  gebrui.kt  daar  een-opsomming  van'kracht-
     Wie denkt  h.ier niet  aati bet wonder  ?an de  Schejf-         termen voor. Luistert maar: "en welke de  uitaemende
 zee?  ,En  ,de tien plagen die  voorasgingen ?           Ho.e is grootbeid Zijner kracht zij  aan ons die  gelooven,  naar
Egypte  toen verbrijzeld. Denkt slechts  aan  66~ van die de werking der  sterkte Zijner  macht,  ,die Hij  lgewrocht
 #p&&n en gij  zult- de vreeselijkste verbrijseling zien heeft in Christus, als Hij Hem uit de dooden heeft op-                       --
 die ons op aarde overkomen Ban.  +lle  eerstgeborenen               gewgkt en Hem heeft gezet tot Zijne rechterhand in
 w&en door God  verworgd.' De  w6rgEngel  ging van den  hemel." Efeze  1:19,  20.
 huit tot huis en straks weerklinkt er een  getiee?.,   zooals           Gena en waarheid werden in  -verban,d gezet met
 er nooit  eerder  up  aarde  gew'eest is. De  harfen van            recht en  stekkte.
 Rahab  wenden verbrijzeld in bet  verlie?  hunneT   lieve-              Tezamen  ,zijn zij Jezus in  den troon. En gij met
 li;lgen. Ja, God is "eind'loos in  vermllgen  !"                    Hem. Amen.
     De  Bemel is Uwe, ook is de  aardz  `Iiwe;  d$ wereld                                                            G. V.
 in hare  volbei'd, die  h&t  Gij  gegrbnd..
      .Dat  i s   h&  volgetide   vtm.   Hoe  zwaar  Z!;II  d i e
 c:oorden.  Pr,obeert eens daar iets van te  zeggz?.  Htit
 is  ten van die waarhedei di.2 blj,na niet d,oor 0,s beleef J.
  h:u>bnen  w,orden. Let er  09  :  alles is van  God  :  or is                     I      N             HIS.FEAR  T
 ni'cta van U  $ij. Uw kind en  zielsbemil  de,  Uw  nicl en
lichaam, Uw tijd en  gaven,` Uw  ruimte en aanzijn; het
  i s   alles van God:  Probeert eens d  I:b:uit te  leven!
  Waarom was  -er  die strijd van  1939-1945?          He';  ging                        The `Man Of God
  dm de "have's" en "have  not:s". Het eene stel  volkeren
  leefde in  gr?oten overvloed der  d,ingen en  waren gierig.            This particular rubric under  t~he general heading:
  Het  andere stel was  afgunstlg  en  Wilde stelen. Beide "In His Fear," deals primarily with the `education and
  groepen van  volkeaen  w&ran te  bestraffen: Beide  stel-          trai&ng of the seed of the covenant.
  len van  `nati& hebben nooit gezien, dat God  aller  bezit.            `In Reformed circles we' often emphasize  %at~,he
  En wanneer Hij de  dingen,   onder  0;s bereik  brengt training of the covenant seed is the primary task  `of'
  zijn wij slechts reritmeesters. Ook zullen we  moei& the  Christian Home, the Christian  S,chool,  anld the
  uitzien rondom  ,ons  #of er armoede is.. En mededeelen            Christian Church.  IH'owever,  there is also a  personai
  van Gods  goed. Zijn is de  hemel, de  aard'e, de wereld, and mutual training by the covenant seed themselves,
  hare  volheild. Wat een ontzaglijke waarheid.  AlleA is            especially as our  childuen grow older. They are not
  van God. En  alles wat ik heb moet ik straks  verant-              merely trained by others, they also train and must
  woorden. Ik ben zelfs niet  :eens  bezitter van mij eigen train themselves. In as far as they are trained by
  lichaam en ziel. Wat  eeA"jammerlijke dwaas was dan                others.  they must willingly -cooperate, favorably re-
  die man die zeide:  Ik ben de  meester van mijn lot;               spond and react, they  mtist  .be active themselves. If
  ik ben de kapitein van  mijln  ziel! Hij weet  nu  we1 they are not, you can not even; begin to train and  edu-
  .bet.er.  Doch te laat.                                            !cate  l&e covenant seed. This `becomes all the more
      Doehe God is groot en groot&achtig  !                          apparent as our children grow older. After all they
      iH,et Noorden en het  Zuidtin, die hebt Gij geschapen ;        are not dead pieces of wood or metal which is  shape&
  Tabor en Hermon  juiehen in Uwen Naam !                            and  mol,ded at will by others, but  they are rational-
   J a ,   ,en  wij  verzamelen  onze  legers  e n   s t r i j d e n   d e moral, volitional creatures.    And as we train `our
  oorlo,gen en  \n,oemen de  veldslagen naar  Idie  bergen en        chtldren, `they on' their part must take a cooperative
  .rivier,en.    Dwazen die wij zijn. Dat noord  .en iuid            interest. It is even a vital part of our training to  i,n-
  zijn; schepselen Gods en de  bergen klappen de  `handen            culcate this into our children. That's why we should
  te  zamen, want Zijne goedertierenheid is in der  eeuwig- never lose sight of the fundamental  .relationship of
  heid.                                                              authority and obedience in the training of the covenant
      ,Gij;  .,o God, hebt een arm  tiet  macht,  U&e  hand is' seed. They must be taught that we expect and  :de-
  sterk,  Uwe  rechterhand  .is  hoog!                               ma;nd favorable reaction `to the instruction  g&n,
      Daarvan hebben' we vaak  gbzongen  : Uw  rechter- whether it is by precept, teaching or example.
  hand' is hoog; Uw troon blijft pnbewogen, Van  necht en                ,On the other hand, as I have  inhi?ated  already,
  van gericht zijn  vasten steun ontleenen;  etil  waarheild         our children, especially in the time` of  adolescentie, must
 . en gena  gaan voor Uw aanschijn  henen.             r. .          actively practice and be engaged in self-training. It
      De  heerlijkste commentaar  0-p  die  woord&  @en we would be  interesting to elaborate on this specific phase
  op Golgotha. Als wij dngen van des  Hee?en(  sterke of covenant training. However, for  th,e present  we.will
  rechterhand, dan  moeten we altijd  denken  aan Jezus, not enter into this  pa&icular subject.
  zooals Hij uit den eeuwigen dood werd opgehaald. De                    In this article, and` also in the sequence of- this


             l&J                                                T H E   S T . A N D A 'R D   - B E A R E R                        _

             article, we have in mind  first of all the Church and its is applicable to all God's children, without any excep-
             covenant seed, and the training, instruction and educa- tion whatsoever.
            tion. of the covenant youth  of the  .Church  Institute.                                 But  th.i&  `elect child of God  mlust be  redeemed;  be-
             In this connection we  .expect to touch upon a few mat- yeause by  nature he is one with the fallen race in Adam,
     -  >ers  w h i c h   a r e   o f   general  initerest   t o   a l l   o f   u s .   M y    totally depraved and lying in the  m_idst of death. And
            predecessor  awho, for' a few months,  had-Icharge  of this                         his  redemptioa,  objectively, is God's work through the
            particular rubric, emphasized especially  the. training                             atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, God's Son, the  Medi-
           and education  by?& Christian School,  and also brought                              ato(r,  of God and  Min. And because  reciemption is
            out what is meant by  iraining the child in the  fear of                            solely the work of God, the  elect sinner is also  -from the
            the Lord.  Henc.e, we thought it proper to also say viewpoint of redemption "the man of God." But  `even
             something about the task of  thhe  Church in  this.matter.                         that is not all, the  eiect sinner redeemed by Christ must
             For this reason matters like the following will be                                 be made  a.ctual partaker of that redemption. And also
            treated: Whom does the Church train,  in&r&t;  edti- this is solely the -work of God. God regenerates His
            cate ; What is meant by this ; How do we try to  accom-                             elect child, implants into him the  !ilew, heavenly life
         -  plish this ; Could we, perhaps,  ilmprove upon our                                  which is from above, a gift of God's grace. And after
            ,rnethod-?  etc. etc.                                                               God  regen'erates   -His elect  chill5 He also calls him out
                    In this article' five  w:ll deal first of all with. the ex-                 of the darkness  .of sin into the light of His grace, of
            pression "The Man of God."  Imediately questions                                    His Son, into the light of life and fellowship with
            like  t&ese arise: ?Vho is the  man-of God,  wherle can                             God.    The Lord  giv&  His. child faith  which  is.  the
            he be found, how must he be  t,re&ted?".,                                           living tie whereby he is united to his blessed Redeemer
                                                                                                and in Him a living member of the body of Christ, a
                    Nattirally,  in order to  bind an answer to these friend  and-.confidant of God. And, too,  ,God justifies
            questions we must  and' will resort to Scripture. The                               him in Christ, by faith,  in-the day of  finlal redemption.
            Bible often speaks of  "The man of God." Particularly                               God  also sanctifies  hiin,  ,and presently  - God  ilorifies
             in the Old. Testament we meet several  times with this                             him and makes him share in heavenly perfection in the
             expression. And as .a  rule this particular  designatioa-                          glory  of his  Rede&ner.  - That is really  "The  Man of
             is applied to prophets, 5 am thinking now.  e>g. of  +he                           GOCZ." He is  `,man of God' in every way, in every
            prophet Elijah who was addressed by  th)ree different                               respect, and from every  vi&point.  ,He is chosen,  rei
             captains of the army of the King  Ahaziah  as "Man of .deemed,  saved, glorified by God, and' God makes him
             God." (see  ?I Kings 1). And in that connection  f`M%n                             inherit the eternal perfection of  covenlant fellowship
             of God" means undoubtedly :  "4 man appointed by Gold,                             with Him.
             a man sent  by- God  and formed  .by God for a very  defi-                              Do you now fully  ,understand as to who is  `tThe Man
            ,n.ite and specific  task." God's  .own prophet, ordained                           of Gad?" Hue  i? the elect, the Christian,  the believe%
            and authorized to speak and act. in the name of God.                                And  its-is  this `man of  God'- that must be trained,  ,edu-
                    However,  jt is not in  that sense that I am  %riting cated by the Church. This  .is the holy, official calling
         .about  "The `man of  Gold." We also  ,meet with this                                  of the Church through the  ofrfice. Indeed, a glorious
             expression in the New Testament, I have  particularly                              task  but also a great  i-`esponsibility.
             in  mijnd now II Tim.  3.~1'7.. The entire text in its pro-                        -    But `if this is part of the  t,ask of the  .Church, and
             per  settilng  (reads : "AU scripture is given by  inspira-                        it is  by no  .means a task of minor importance,  th.e
            .tion of God, and is profitable for doctrine,  -fop  reproof,                       question may well. be raised : "Where  call this  man  0-E
             for  correctiqn,  fo?  instrvction  ifl righteousness  ; that                      God  be found?" The  ~Church  msust know this in order
           the -man  o$ God may be perfect, thoroughly  rf;urnisbed                             to be  abBe to train him and "Thoroughly  ful;nish him
             unto all good  w,orks."  - Whereas at present we plan .untd all good works," as it is  expressed in II Timothy
             to say something about "The man of God," this text                                 3  :1'7.  2t stands to reason if this man of  God-is found
             is for us  th,e point of procedure. In connection with everywhere  ifi general and nowhere in particular, the
             our subject and  in the light of II Tim. 3,  we first will                         Church cannot very well reach him and  train him and
             attempt to answer the question: "Who is  the man` of burnish him. It would become an impossible task.
             God?"                                                                              The Church would  not  kno'w  -where to find him, how
                    The "man of God" is the man whd is  excZus&eZ~ of to reach him and how to  ,go about his training. How-
             God.  .He is God's man in a  very unique sense  af the                             ever, Gdd has not placed the Church before such an
             word.       The  ian of `God  is he who from all eternity                          i-mpossibl,e  task. True, `the man of God' may be found
             is chosen by  Gold to be God's peculiar possession, to be                          everywhere in the sense that the elect are scattered
             redeemed by Him,  .io share in  Ifis own  sovenant  li$e,                          over the  face of  the earth and that out of every tribe,
.            and to live eternally to  t.he honor  and praise and glory                         nation- and  totigue  t,here are those that shall be saved.
             of  G6d Triune. In other words `the  man of God' is the                            But  i$  is not true that `the man  ,of  GOI$ is found every-
             elect child of God. Hence, the designation `man of God,                            where. in the sense that we never know where to look


                                                                                       3     _

                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEAliER                                                              IQ3

for him and that  w.e are never sure whether we  d'eal             ever keep in mind- in her  traini& of the',  covenant
with him. No, according to God's  o'wn Word "The                   youth. She may not treat the  coirenant   childreu as
man of God" is found in the generations'of God's people.           though they are heathens, or as  objeLts of  n&ion
And that of  course narrows down  thl&  circle con- work and  evang$ization. In her  preach_ing,   teachihg,
siderably. The man of God is found-in the Church.                  training, the Church  must  e&r be conscious of the
It has pleased God that the `generations of His people             $a+ that she is dealing with "The man of God."
should be saved  anjd that  H.is covenant`of  grase should And this man of God must be furnished unto all good
run through  i&e bedding of  t.he natural seed  -of His            works.  W,hat this implies  mor4 particularly we hope
people. And  .-the generations of God's  peqple bring              to explain  in a subsequent article.                  .
5orth the spiritual seed, the  elect, the  childrefi of God,                                                         J .   I).
the true  b&ever% That does not mean that none can
be brought in  %rorn the outside (if that were true there
would not be such  a.thing as mission work), but  wh'en-
lever this happens, through the irresistible operation
of  $he Spirit and the  preachi,ng of the Word, these
`outsiders' are  ,brought  `inside', within the sphere of                     FR6M HOLY  -WRIT
the  Church  and; the covenant. And- thus also they  ,and
their children, and  the&! generations, are brought
within  t.he sphere of the covenant  in! its historical mani-         A few remarks of an introductory nature may not.
f e s t a t i o n .   I                                            be considered out of  order. Remarks  per,taining to the
     &nce, the `man of God,' and  wle are thinking here            general set-up  &f  t h i s   rubriek.
f,irst of all of  the  !rue spiritual see& as  thei'have as           !Qur editor of the Standard  Beavler has requested,
yet not come  t`o years of discretion, is found in the             that those contributing to this  departnnent  coul& write
Church.                                                            exegetical studies. These should  be `of  `a:  conse?ur,;ve
    Does the foregoing now imply that we claim that all <nature. In'attempting  to  n@t with this  requiren?.ent
chilldr*en in the Church, born  ,out of the generations of         the  undersigned, has agreed with the `Rev. H. Velciman
God's people,' a#e true,  sp&%tual  seed? Or, to put it            to also  write on the first section of  the Epistle to the
somewhat differently, do we  presucpaose.   thhat  -al,1 child-    E'phesians. The Rev.  Veldinan would write on the first
ren of  6.tili.ev&rs `are regenerate<?  Not..at  all.  Both- 6 verses,  and I  &onld  c&%intie from thereon.
Scripture  and- experience clearly  tehch us that not all             Naturally, each  w:ould -then be free to write ac-
is Israel that is of Israel. Also reprobation is- found cording to his own mode of procedure and method.  -
among the children of believers:                                   Those who have followed  tile  ,article$  of Rev.  `Veldman
     How  then, you ask, must we approach this matter,             rather  ,closely will  hab,e noticed that he  :followc,d the.
must the Church select: `pick put' the elect, the spiritual        analyti,cal  method. . He has written an article  on, each
seed,, the man  o;f God,  -and train, instruct, furnish that       df the verses, and carefully  analyzeid  `each phrase  and
 man of God? This is impossible, and it would be                   concept. That  was his  privilege.
sheer presumption  o!n the part of the Church to thus,                 It  appeaes  I% us that with the analytical  metho&it
.arbitrarily,  select `the man of God' out of her own              is more  Idif!%ult  -to bring  $he unity of thought  t,?.  i&e
midst.' No,  but it is-the solemn duty  ,of the Church to foreground that underlies  eac!h element of thdught in
-treat, instruct, educate all her natural seed as though this  section. We  s&y this, not because -we wOti.ld  &ffirm
 every individual  chilld in  her midst were `a man  02            that it is an  Ieasy matter to bring this  utiity"6f  %he
 God.'                                                             apostle's thought,  .as presented in this epistle,  $0 the
     Perhaps you say: "But the  Church- will never be              foreground.     This will ever  reni%in a difficult task,
 able  td  Turnish the carnal seed unto all gobd works,  wil! whatever the method of  tieatmgnt.  `Yet we  fe&l con-
 never  ibe able to educate the reprobate into  becomipg fident that the synthetic treatment  df this passage will
 `a  inai  .?of God.' This is perfectly  cor;rect. Neither show us  more'of the  buildilig and less of  the  comporiellt
 Idoes: God  d'emand   .that  .of the Church. But God does         parts that are used in- the making and  strticture  04 the
 demand that the Church  treat, instruct, train every building, than is the case with mere careful analysis
 ;co+en&t  child as `the man  `of God.' In other words             ,of  leach verse and clause.
 the Church may not proceed from the exception! (which                 The Rev. H. Veldman has,  accordin'g to agreement,
 will come to manifestation in due time), the Church               calWed attention to the verses 1-6 of chapter 1 of
 may not have the negative  approach,., but she must pro-          Ephesians. Our interest in continuing the- discussion
 ceed from  th,e  #rule, and the organic conception, that          of this  Soripture passage is particularly. to the verses
 our covenant children. are God's  ,childylen, elect, re-          3~6. We need not enter into any details.  a& to what
 deemed. by  H&i  - That is the  ncsitive approach.                our esteemed  colabonk?  has written. His articles  .on
      This is an all  imljortant point the Church -must            these verses are `in our possession,,  and.  are. written in


        164                                              THE  .STA'NDARD   BEARER

      *  clear and concise language, speak for themselves and            pefience of the Church? To these  Andy similar  ques-
       are  n'ot in'need of  f,ur'ther   illuci,datioa.                  tions we hope to call  attentio:n  in this short series of
               In the course  `of  our discussion in this article and    articies.
.      those to follow, we will,  of;course, have -opportunity to            Let  ,LIS  begin with the former of the two questions
       refier to these verses and  to the explanations given by just enumerated.
     the  afore-mentioned  author. Indeed,  th.e proper  under-              The text that  w'e have in mind first of al.1 is  Gerse 7.
       standing of the verses 7-14, in no little  way, hinges an         It reads: "In whom tie have the redemption  throu'gh
       the correct  understandinlg and exegesis of the verse;            His blood, the forgiveness of  transgtiessions".  This
       3 - 6 .                                                           phrase  ,calls for rather careful analysis. It is pregnant
                                                                         #with theology.
                                  *  :  :i:  :i:    *                        The first question is: What is the meaning of:
                                                                         "The  redemition through His blood". `The term  "re-
               Permit  US  to  c&l your attention to  the fact  th$      demption" r-any means : That w&h has beea brought,
       `we wish to discuss the verses 7-14 `by dividing it  into  .about  .by paying  a "ransom" price,  release  by ransom.
       two  sectitins. The former of  these will be the verses           In olden times a slave could be set at liberty,  e_ither by
       7-10 ; the latter the verses  U-14.                               paying a great price of money to his owner himself, or
           We  .will first call attention to the verses 7-10. These      by another who paid the  prick for him. [Hence,  re-
       verses read as follows : "In. Whom -we have redemption            deniption  tou,ches the question of becoming a free man,  1
       through His blood, the  foregiveiness  of sins, according .a son in contradistinction from a  bondman, a slave.
       to the riches of His grace  ;  whertiin He hath abounded          This is  tery suggestive in  t.his connection in our text.
        (which, He hath made  to. abound) toward us `in all              For the "we" who have obtained this redemption, are,
       wisdom  and prudence ;, having made known. unto. us               according to chapter 2  :3,  chi.ldren  of wrath even as the.
       the Mystery of His will, according to His good-pleasure           others. All are fallen  .men, subject to the penalty of
       ,which He hath  purpos,ed in Himself : That in the- (unto         s%n and  deat!h, and therefore, to the wrath  of God.
       a) dispensation of the fulness of times He might  g;ather         We are  ~$1 in the moral and  spirit&l bondage of  car-`
       togethdr in one (sum  upj. all things in Christ, both             ruption and death. We have  not the right to serve God,
       which are in heaven, and which  are on earth ; even               to  love Him, to dwell before His  face'in holiness, to live
      in  Him (in Him, I say)  ".                          - .           the spotless  lifie of the sons of  God in His tabernacle
           The  .above quotation forcibly and clearly places             and in His communion. That is  %e slavery of sin.
       two  matte?s,  two benefits of grace on the foreground.           When the apostle here speaks of "redemption" he
       The on& benefit is : That the Chwrch-of the New Testa-            means therefore: that act of God's grace whereby He
       kent  Dispensatioq  as 6  &v&g, spiritual organism in has paid  the price, brought about the release by ran-
       Chris-( Jesus, hns in the Beloved :(Son of God) the Re- som, so that we  $re no longer slaves, but  freeiborn sons.
      demption  throu;gh His blood, the  forgivieneq  of sins. By virtue of this ransom by paying  t.he price  7Ne receive
       The other benefit is : That to this `Church, who  thus            the  iight to the  friendshipand  love of God.
       has been red,eemed, God. has caused to  abound all  wis-             "Redemption" is therefore a  legal act of God chang-
       $om and  prudence, by  revealiw  the Mystery  of  His ing our status in relationship to the law of God and to
       1~611 to them. The former of these propositions we find           "all  things". It is the cornerstone, the immoveable
       clearly stated in verse 7  ;-the latter in verse 8.               Rock upon which all God's dealings with the church
           In attempting to understand the implication of each           rest. This is something to ever bear in mind when be- . .
       of these benefits we wish to call attention to the  fbllow-       hold.ing the "blessings in heavenly places".
       i n g :                                                              This redemption is  designa&?  in the text as being
           l.-What each of these benefits  Imply. We  wil,!.ask,         the  red.emption.  It is singled out by  the writer as
       what it  means that "we have .the redemption through              standing in a class all by  itsekf.    That it stands thus
       tlie blood (of the Beloved) and the forgiveness of sins." by itself is due to three  reasofis.  The first  is,~thtit He
       ye will also investigate what the apostle understands             wtio brings  about the "redemption", who pays the
       by "all  w.isdom and prudence" and that it now has                price of  release is the "Beloved". He is God's own
       been "caused to abound to  us."                                   Son,  the Only Begotten Son in the flesh,  in Whom all
           2. What the relationship  is  betwleen these two              God's good-pleasure is. Secondly, bedause those who
       benefits.     Are they connected in any way  in the plan          He redeems are  ,under   the  debt of `guilt. They are
       and purpose of God? Does the one necessarily  have under the guilt of sin, are guilty before the living God!
       to become the possession of the  #church with the other?          And, lastly, this is  the  redemption because of the
       If, so, are they on a par with each other, in correlative         "ransom" that is brought. The ransom price in this
       position,  dr  .is, the one subservient to the other? .We         case is not the blood of  goats and  bull'ocks (Hebrews
       might ask, how  abe the  tw0 related in the  liiht of the         9  :12-14) nor corruptible things. as silver and gold
       justice of God, and, how are they related in the  `ex-            (I Peter  1:18) but by the "blood  qf Him, that is, of the


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                                                THE  STkNDARD  B E A R E R                                                                       165

1 Beloved". The  `,`blood" stands  fojr the  li%e of the "Soul".               have the following: "In whom we have the redemption
  Man becomes a living soul. As to the physical. side of through His blood, namely, the forgiveness  04 our
  man he lives a life' of flesh and blood. And  the life transgressions". However, it can hardly be  consid:ered
  is in the blood, but,not  i.n the  fllesh. Thus it is with the correct to thus construe `the sense. In the-first  place
  animals, and thus also with man. Anld whereas Christ                         it may  6e  ,remarked, that  ."redemption" is quite a  dif-
  took upon Himself our flesh and blood  (iH(ebrews 2  :14)                    $erent act than  "forgiv'eness".            The  f,ormer is brought
  He could in deep&t  obedien:oe of love give His life                         about by the blood' of Christ once and for all  oa. the
  as  a  .ransom  price for sin. The meritorious cause  of accursed tree. It is the laying of the  Corner$one of
  t.he freedom  t,hat we have is alone this "blood" of the                     the building of Salvation. This is  :ilot the case with
  Beloved, the "blood of the New  Covenailt'.`. The cross                      "forgiveness".        Forgiveness is a benefit of God's grace
  of our Lord Jesus Christ is thus the way  to the right                       that we daily receive. And in the text it is therefore
  to  sonship;  it is the establishment of the love of God not so. immediately connected with the "blood" of
  for us. Redemptiod is basic in the work of God  ; it                              Christ as is  oup "redemption". In close connection
  under1ie.s all God's dealings with us.                                       with the foregoing remarks, it should not escape our
       This  Ibrings  us.to the  second part  bf this text, "tha attention that the  iIdea of redemption and of forgive-  i
  forgiveness of transgressions".                In this connection            ness are not  ident.ical. Forgiveness is: not imputing
there are two matters that  me.rit our attention. The                          sins  ; not condemning  .on &count of actual  transgres-
  one is : What is the meaning of this' phrase ; the other : .sions. Redemption is the making possible this forgive-
  what  is, its  relati&nship  to  "the redemption in His                      ness-possible so that the justice  of+,God may stand
  blood".                                                                      `and  th,e just demand of the law met.. Forgiveness is
       "Transgressions" is the  <term the apostle employs therefore rooted  in  rddemption.
- in the original and not "sins", as in Colossians  1:14.                               We may, therefore, conclude  t,hat both the "redemp-
  Not that  the?,e is an essential difference between  the&                    tion in Christ's blood" and the  `Lfor&veness  of sins"
 two  terms, that each would designate a different reality                          are related  as follows:
  i.ri~fallizn and depraved man. Bot.h  <refer to man as he                             1.  Both are acts of God's love and grace for us.
  is a moral slave ;  .both refer to man in slavery as he                           Fact is that this is emphatically stated;  in"the latter
  stands in relationship to God and His holy law. They part of this verse. As such they are aspects of the
a differ  qnly in the imagery employed. The-term "sins" same love of God  for.us.
  looks at man's "missing the mark,' of living in perfect                               2.  "Redemljtion" is the love of God in `Christ's
  love toward  God-  and- the keeping of His command-                          work of obedience and death on the cross  for us ;  "for-~
  ments, while "transgression" refers to this  same  of-                            giveness" is the application of this work by the-same
  fence" as an overstepping" of the  -path marked out,                              love of God. through  t,he testimony of the gospel and
  by God. We should not overlook the  fact, that the -of the Holy Spirit  in  o& hearts,  ,giving us a good con-
  apostle in both Colossians  1:14 and here in Eph.  1:`7                           science toward God.'
  speaks in the plural. He says` "transgressions"?, not                                 3.  -/Henice it is alone in the forgiveness of sins, that
  transgression".         The implication being, that the we taste  and receive the work of  redeiption,  the right
  apostle has not only in mind sin viewed as  o.ne whole,                      to eternal life and glory,. to a life of sanctification and
b u t   r a t h e r   i n   i t s   m&ny  .otfemes.  T w o   matters  a r e         of a walk in the' good  wor.ks of  grat.titmdi.    Surely the
  thus brought to the foreground. Firstly, that each                                church  possesseB in Christ's redemptive labors also the
  individual sin is in`the sight of God the  transgyessiofi                         gift of  Qoliness of sanctification, but this is not here
  of His holy  will.5 Secondly, that in  our  life  each trans-                     mentioned; it is implied,  howei:er, in  th.e basic work
  gression' counts, it weighs heavy on the balances of                              of Christ on the cross, and in the forgiveness of
  God's  justice, cries for vengeance. They all' pbint, an sins.                                           1
  accusing finger at us, condemning us to death and                                     The legal element in the work of God is placed on
  hell! By them we are marked and branded as slaves                            the  fo.rground-; and that not without, good reason.
  of iniquity, sold under sin!                                                          But to this we hope to  call attention. in subsequent
                                                                                                                      0
       With this in mind we are in a position to ask:                               articles.                                           G. L.
  What is  forgiweness of transgression? The term for-
  giveness" literally means: To let go, to  per&t to -de-
  part. Xn connection with our transgressions it means :
  not to  impute  our transgressions to us.                                                           CLASSIS  E A S T
       Thus understood the question cannot be  suppreqsed,
  as to what the difference is between "redemption'`-and of the  I)rotestant Reformed  Churc.hes will meet in
  "forgiveness of transgressions". Grammatically it is regular session, D. V. Wednesday morning January 9,
  possible to view forgiveness as being identical  .with at  9':OO in the First Prot. Ref. Church.
  Yedempiion. Paraphrasing the thought we would then                                                                        D. Jonker, S. C.


                                                                                                                                --
       166   _~      --                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                   . .
                                                                        vision and facsimile. But  lodk  *at  the tremendous de-
                                                                        velopment wrought within 25 short  years. The  w&ole
                     -PERISCOPE                                         world and  all people in tha  worldlhave become neigh-
                                                                        bors, able to communicate with each other  through
                                                                        the ether waves which. God has created for us in the
                           F A S T   DEVELOmPMENT   _'                  air, A remarkably fast development. And how we be-
                                                                        come  a_ocustomed to these  *wonders of God's creation.
         - The fast development of all  things  towal*d, the- end       Only a few short years ago many good  men.cond&mled
      of time,  t-&us keeping pace with the prediction of  `our         having a radio set in the home,  fo& it was an instru-
~.    Lord : "Behold I come QUICKLY", is to be seen on                  ment of the  -devil.      Today it is  b,eing  .us@d -by those
      all  sides  iti our- fast living and fast developing age.         very men and it is being used to  sgood advantage to
      We have freshly  before us the fast development of the            propagate the.  t?uth and bring the gospel to those
      aeience of warfare.         Think of the  fast developing         shut in.
      science of  ~government,' where tlie very so-called demo-             But it is also used by the Devil and the world on
      cratic governments of yesteryear  .are already employ-            such a scale that `the world and its most ungodly
      ing the governing methods of  t.he so-called Dictator-            practices are  being brought right  within the home
      ships, of a  conquered enemy. Think also of the fast              also  .of God's elect.. With its next step of television it
      developmept in the line of industry and travelihg facili- will bring into  your home  th,e `words not only  &but the
      ties,  $ach as  the automobile and airplane. But we were very pictures and plays of  Holly%vood with all their
      very  quch impressed by the fast development of  com-             obscenity and  im$oralit,y and  ungoldliness. It brings
      mun.ication  and thus of  comn&on,  in-the field of               within your homes the things that formerly could only
      radi'o, when we read some interesting data about that             be  `seen- and heard in the theater and picture shows of
      invention.                                                        the  .world and from which you have taught your  child-
          Many  o:f  ,our youth will look up surprised to learn         re'n to stay. And because the world can' be brought
      that.  thse radio is celebrating its twenty -fifth anni-          right within your  hotie, a word of warning is  icertainly
      versary this month.  _ It was just 25 years ago `that the         in place that we use also  tahis  marvellous invention,
      first' radio broadcast `was made, and still it has  ld:e-         only in the' fear of the Lord and  ,with spiritual dis-
      veloped  in this period from the crystal set  a:n.d ear-          cretion.      The sinful world is developing very fast,
      phone type, `to the great 100 million  dbllar industry it         keeping tempo with the fast development of  sciknce  and
      is today, with  r&eivi8ng  sets in  ,over 90 percent of the       invention.     This fast development  t@lls us: "Behold I
      homes of America.                                                 (:Christ) come quickly  and my reward is with me".
          It seems but yesterday  that we. as school children,          Let  us be sober and-watch unto prayer.,
      were bitten by the  r&o "bug", which we assembled
      in  ,our  attics,  and breathlessly twisting a couple of                          C O R R U P T   TJNI~ON,   L A B O R          ~
      dials in the attempt to hear some distant station  ,call,'
      a& in great excitement erecting  antermas on the                     More than  & any  time before in the  l-+torx  #of the
      hous&op;                                                          United States, the labor  u(nions are restless  and.author-
          It was  at"Detroit, Michigan that the first broadcast         izin'g strikes which  puftien out of work by the hundred
      was made 25 -years ago over,  sthtion.  WWJ.           Shortly  _ thousands.. The corruption of the labor unions was
      aster  thhat station  KDKA'at Pittsburgh  mad9 the first          revealed a few years back at the time of the so-called
      broad:cast  of the election returns of the Harding-Cox            sit-down strikes,  when unionized labor-would not vacate
      `election. And at the end of  .the year 1922 there were the plant they  wene working in, but would stay in the
      over 600 stations throughout the United States  broad-            stop  thdugh refusing  .to work. They would literally
      casti.ng this and that, and radio Sets were selling in.           "take  o+er" the plants from the  owneri and would
      great  q.uantitie&.                                               not' allow anyone  (else to run  them  *either. That was
          It was not long  but, that nearly  everyone. possessed        plairi stealing  of course. . And all those being members
      the  olmd fashioned  simile crystal set, which was  -able- of such unions were robbers  plain and  simple.
      to pick -up broadcasts of  25  miles- away  ,and nearer.             Today the corruption of  lalbor  uni$ns is revealed
      Finally the two  anjd three-tube "loud speaker" set be-           again,  t,hough in a different  garb than in the days of
      came the latest and the head phones and house-top                 the  %it-down. strike.      iHowever  the principle is the.
      antenna became a  thirng. of the past.              When. rdio    same.       Again the union. is appropriating to itself
      &ions joined by  tel.ephone in  nati,onwid,e  network in          rights which it does  not' possess. I am  not discussing
      1926, the radio industry boomed.                                  their -30  perilcent  wage increase demands  n'ow.  .But
          This radio industry is still young therefore, and             the union wants  management to  open its books so
      we  abe just beginning to see  s.ome of the  ,future develop-     that Me union  cain and shall. determine how much
      ments along this line, such as the development of  tele-          profit -the  managemgnt  may make and  howOmuch  in


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                                          .T.--$$,I3   S T A N . D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   l-67

  wages can and must  be paid  OUC to labor. We  beiieqe              going,  `hbw can this country still talk about the "ter-
  this to be all wrong. Perhaps the books  ,of the company            rible oppression of the minorities" such as was prac-
  would show huge profits  anld. then again perhaps  they             ticed against the Jews?  ,O;r own government  u$holcla
  would not. But the right to open  aild examine the                  this terrible `oppression of the minority group- of
  books of another certainly is, no  busidess,  of the em-            Christians  -who for conscience sake  c&rmot and  will.
  ployee.                                                             ,not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers.
           But  there is greater  `evil -in  ;the uriion labor de-    There is but  ,one court of appeai for that minority
  mands.         In respect to the coming steel  stri.ke, the         group  <of  Christ,ians,  and  &at is as James tells us in
  urnion breaks its pledged contract. which runs until                his epistle,  chap+er 5 verse 4, the Lord Sabaoth.
  Octiber,  1946, merely upon the fact that conditions                 Even. "civic  ri.ghteousness" which is so carefully
  today do not  warrant. holding itself to  ,its contract.            u,pheld by the Christian Reformed brethren, is  trod-.
  We would ask the union: `-`Knowing -that  conditi&                  den `under foot. For. the minority group. of  Christiani
  change, why did you sign a contract  th,en until.  Octo-            wilnot take their case civilly to court, for' even  thhe
 ber  ?" Certainly this violates  %he principle given us              Supreme Court of the United States has upheld this
  i.n Psalm 15 where we read  ,of those who are  bblessed             oppression of the righteous.           It upholds "collective
  anld who  <will. dwell in the  tab'ernacle  of the  Lo,rd:          bargaining"  and the "closed shop". Where  then is the
  "Be that sweareth  to his own hurt  and.  changeth. not".           -second table of the  la.%, which teaches: "Love your
  It has been said that  on& must judge of any organiza-              neighbbr  as yourself  ?" La,bdr does not even allow its
  tion on- the basis of its  @Xcially adopted constitution.           fellow-laborer to have and hold a job. I s   t h a t   "`civ<c
  True. But  also on the basis of its joint -actions. And             righteousness" and love to the neighbor?  .Not. at all.
  t.he actions of the unions- are corrupt to the  cor,e- and          Labor hates labor also, when it comes to the issue of
  membership in such unions cannot be tolerated  .by`the              righteousness.        .Bnt Uncle Sam upholds  this  .all. 0
  members of the union of Christ and the believers,  n.1.             consistency, . thou art a  jew(el.        May our Christian
  the  chu&h.                                                         laborers  shun the  moder:;l labor  movement in the name
                                                 r                    of truth  aid righteousness.. And be spiritually isolated
               CONSISTENCY!  THQU ART A JEWEL                         frti&  a l l   the'world.
      .
           The  United States government has in the past                                "TOO  BADJf, SAYS UNION
  years upheld and supported the `rights of organized
  labor -to bargain collectively with  * management. It                   The following clipping from  the- Grand Rapids
  even protests by law, labor's  rtghts  i,n  `this.  ,4t the         Press may be of interest  td all our-people. It is a
  same time the  U,nited States government has repeatedly             netis item. from Holland, Michigan. "A union  qfficial
  stated its  stroilgest  opposition to the oppression by             Wednesday described the proposkd liquidation of  Hol-
f0rei.a. governments:  oi'  .minority  groups such as the la>nd Motor  Expiess, Inc., as "too bad" but added,
  Jews, and  &hers.           It speaks in horror  ,of "racial        "There's nothing  we.can do about it".
  disc$mination". It shouts  ifrom the housetops  `that it               The `comment was made by Jacob  Dertien,  busin&s
  believes- in the  equa.1 rights  ,of  all men, regardless -of       agent of local 406 of the AFL Teamsters  unio.n, which,
  color, race  01' creed. Just yesterday I read an article            he  said,`had  had frequent trouble with the local truck-
  by Mrs. Roosevelt in which she tries to  prove that the ing firm. Dertiea  .said  thae union had not been notified
  Jews in the past  have always  been the most loyal type             of the  cotitemplated shutdown as announced `Tuesday
  America.ns  and should. never be discriminated against.             by John Cooper, the-president of the fir-m.
  But note the  f,ollo*ing. Today we see  she American                   Cooper said his decision to go out of business fol-
  gove?nment  uphol,ding the labor unions in their  un-               lowed a  stri,ke by his  dri<ers in protest to  :zon-u.nion
  American practices of forbidding good American citi-                drivers of  Stand3r.d  Grazers  co.  In-. of Holland, Muske-
  zens to work. Wh.en the labor  r'union says : "Strike" !            gon and  &and Rapids, hauling their  olwn supplies  from-
  t&n everybne  in the  factdry, must lay down their job,             the motor express terminal here."
  regardless  wh*ether they want to work or  not. The                    Comment is  superfluo&. Labor union can see
  %ninority group" called  Christiatis,  are not allowed,             .plailnly that it is forcing itself  ,out of jabs, and the
  even  fqr  conscieiice  sake, to work. The are forbidden            longer it strikes the  pdorer it gets.
  to enter the factory  premises by the pickets. Yes,                                                                 :       .     -
  they are not even allowed to work,  w&n union- goes                     . . .    T H I N K I N G   A B O U T   MISS,IO&3
  back to  tiork,  unless they join the union  fir&..  That
  is  -the closed shop  .which. is upheld by our  own'  &+ern-           Yes,  we are  thinkiiig about  missid:] activity. Our
 ~TlT&i~ t.                                            -.             mission committee is  busy  thifiking -about mission
       ,Where then are  the equal rights of  a!1  men so  hi:Thly     activities for our Protestant Refornied Churches. The
-&toled  by our government? In the- light -of the fore- mission activities of  our Churches is at present about


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                                                             TH.ti  S T A N D A R D   B.EARER

  nil.  .Our radio  .work of  !ecurse is mostly in  the,hands                                                                            IN MEMORIAM                                   _
  of societies, except that  reoently in the East `it has  -.I
  been taken over by the  cbnsistory of the--Fuller Ave.                                              `1. The Ladies Aid Society of the First Prot. Ref.  Chnrch  of
8Chqrch.            But outside of. that, we  h&e no mission                                          Grand Rapids, Michigan, wishes to express their sincere sym-
 `work going  o;n at  all, as far as we know. This   is  not                                          pathy in the death of a faithful  member,
  a  hslthy situation. So  ,our mission committee is study-  --  :.
  ing the advisability  ,of recommending foreign mission                                               .i                              MRS. RENA ZUIDEMA
  -work. There are various possibilities  .in this line.  .Wte  -i`                                             .
  can support the efforts of the Christian-  Reformed- Gho  was `taken into her ,rest October 20, 1945.
  Churches in their China field or elsewhere. Or we  ?                                                       May the Lord comfort the bereaved in the knowledge that
 1 could help support the efforts of the Orthodox  Pres- >-she has entered into that rest which  Cl-&t has  prepared  for
  byterian `Churches in their foreign mission endeavors.                                              ,His own.
  Or  w.e  can  begizl. the  establishm'ent   of our own Foreign                                       "                                           Mrs. H. Hoeksema,  Pres.
  Mission field. This all is  commend?ble:                                                                                                         Mrs. A. Van Tuinen, Sec'y.
      We would like to present to our readers, however,  <  j                                                        -
  also the cause of our home mission work. We  are a  .t-
  bit afraid that this phase of mission  activity  has been  TV
  neglected. In the history  :of our churches  wle have had
  but one missionary in the- field. And his labors  wlere
  blessed. Attempts  h$ve. been made to get another
  man.. Thus far unsuccessfully. Yet there has not                                                                                *      IN MEMORIAM  :
 _  ~been much zeal in our midst for this cause. For many,
  many months now no attempt has been made to call a                                                         It has pleased the Lord  to take  I out of our midst,  ynto
                                                                                                                                                                                 1'
  mission8ry.            Nor did our Synod deem it necessary- to                                      Himself, our brother elder,
  send out  ti man to the camps during the war  ye'a_rs to                                                                                 C. N. KUNZ
  witness to the truth. It  iS perhaps  tim$ that  ,we look  .._.
  away from the field we have been  looki,ng  at, namely,                                             who pass:ed  away  su,ddenly-at the age of 60 years, December
  the Christian Reformed Church people,  ,and look be-  lo'  1g45*
  yonld. And  is- there not a large home field right in                                                      We express herewith our heartfelt sympathy with the
                                                                                                      `bereaved family, and may our  ,covenant  God give us courage
  our  own country? There is a vast unchurched group
 in our  count.ry; not to  speak of the field of churches                                             and stnength  to continue in the work of the Lord, which our
  that are apostating from the truth. Lest that field                                                 departed brother loved with all his heart.,
  be neglected. w.e would urge that not only our, mission                                                                                    The' Consistory of the
  committee be thinking about foreign mission endeavor,                                                                        Creston  Pflot. kef. Church, Grand Rapids, Mich.
  but that all our people' and our societies also join  iu                                                                                         John D. De `Jong, Pres.
  thinking and speaking- abbut and  discu;. Jng our  wholes::-                                                                                  P .      ,Vanden   Engel,  Clerk.
                                                                                                                                                                            ;
  mission setup. And let us hear about  the fruits of
- these discussions. Send them in. to us. Tell us what
  -you think about along these lines. And  i1n the  mean:  -  -
- time: "Pray. the Lord of the harvest, for laborers".
  For the  haryest is great but  t,he  lal?orers  are few. .                                                                                       .
                                                 .,,
            Q                            . -.                                  L. v.                                      i
                                    /                                                                                                    I N   M E M O R I A M

                                                                                                 _
                                                        c                                                    The  L$ies  Society of the  Hudsoniille  Protestant  Re-
                                                                         ."                           formed Church herewith  .wishes to express its  sepathy  with
                                                                         .~
                                                                   `_                                 one  ,of its members, Mrs. T. Miedema, in the loss of her
                   Changeless is Jehovah's mercy,                                                                                           MOTHER
                      Unto those` who fear His Name,                                       '
                 F r o m   e t e r n i t y   abilding         -                                       who  passed  away in the  Netherl&ls.
                       To eternity the same.                                     .                           May the  f&h that she has gone  be&e into thk Father's
                                                                                                      house with its many  maansions,  be of -comfort to her and all
                    411  the faithful to His covenant                                                 the relativks.
                       Shall behold  ;His righteousness ;                                                                      Ladies Society of Hudsonville, Michigan '
                   H&will be their  strength  and refuge,                                                                                          Rev. Bernard Kok, Pres.
                       And their children's (children bless.                                                                                       Mns. John B. Lubbers, Sec'y.


