  VOLUME  XXVII1                                .OCTOBER  15, 1951  - GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN  .3k~.-y~C-zT-    ._    =-,.         N U M B E R   2  `
                                                                                                                                                                _


                                                                             wonen, maar Ik ga  wonen in de  harten van Mijn vplk
                                                                             waar Ik Mij een  .plaats verover in den Zoon  Mijnel
                                                                              eeuwige liefde. En zoo  `hooken we het in den  ,tekst :
                                                                              niaar `op dezen zal ik  zie-n, op den arme en verslagene
  Hei Voorwerp Van Gods Welgevallen van geest en die voor Mijn Woord  beeft.
                                                                                   Dat. soort  -menschen zijn  -de  voorw&pen  van  Zijn
                  "Maar op dezen:  -zal Ik zien, op den  arme                 eeuwig welgevallen. E&r&  zulleri we vragen: Wat  hij
              en  vemlagene  van  gee&, en die  vex  mijn  woord              is; dan,  wat hij  ~doet;   en eindelijk, wat hij  ontvangt.
        _     beeft,"            -                     .
                                                            Jesaja 66:Zb

      Van alle eeuwen  zijqer menschen geweest  cl;@  Il-rf?t                                           .a  4  *It
                                                                                           ,
  de ware  godsdi%& in aanraking kwamen, en er niets
  van verstaan hebben.  De  eersti!  van dat soort men-,
  schon was  K&-i. Hij  da&$ det hij den Heere iets                                               I
 toe  ktill  brengen. Dat was zijn  fund&&%-it&&  f(3Ut4   E%                     Eerst  gall, wat hij is.                   .
 .  die fqut  maakte hij-  vanwege de  grootheifl des  i@tieiS                    Dit  `soort  %&s&hen   worden gekarakteriseerd als
 -Hij was een  Qotsch mensch.  Hij  verfoeide de  blcjed-                     axill&  en  verslagenen van geest. Wat dat mag  beduid-
  theologie  van Abel.  Want. hij heeft beseft, dat dit                       den? Wat is de geest des mensehen ? En  wat wil  bet
  bloedende  ~schaapje  hem te zeer vernederde.                  En het       zeggen, dat die geest  ,arm is?  .De geest des menschen
  getal van  d?$ soort menschen is  vermenigyuldigd. En                       is de  inblazing   ,Gods. God deed  tweegrlei  to& Hij  de:?
het  verband  spreekt van dat soort menschen in  8ion. -mensch schiep.  Hij-forrheerde zijn natuur uit de  aa?de,
Zij  wilden  d e n   Heire  e e n   H u i s   bouwen.  E n   tegen een  terzelfder tijd  blies Hij in  <Adam's  r&usgaten,  waar-                               %
 dat soort  menschen  -zegt God :  .?e  hemel is Mijn                         door  zij,n geest geformeerd werd. En daardoor  were!
 troon, en de  ~+arde is  d&  voetbank Mijner  voeten  I                      hij een  ltivende ziel.  Het"dier  werd door God geformeerd                 -
  w&&r  zoude dat  Huig  zij$ dat gijlieden Mij zoudt  bouw-                  uit de aarde, gelijk' de  natuur' des menschen,  doch  bet.                      _~
  @en, en  wbbr is de plaats Mijner rust? En; zoo                             `dier ontving niet  ?lie`Cbia%irig   des"Almachtigen.  Qaar
 ^ gaat de  -Heere voort : Mijne hand'heeft alle  -deze  dingen -is het fundamenteele  verschil  -tusschen   men&i en dier.
  gemaakt, en alle deze  dingen zijri  .gewe`est, spreekt                     En door diezelfde inblazing des Almachtigen werd de                               .
  de Heere. Wat  dw&ze gedachte dan, alsof  delmensch                         mensch beeld Gods. En dat  beeld Gods heeft den kos-
._ den- Heere iets zou kunnen toebrengen? Waneer  zul-' telijken inhoud van ware kennisse Gods, ware  gerech-
  len we nu e&s  ernstig  leeren, dat' alles van  ,God, door tigheid en ware heiligheid. De  geest des menschen is
  G o d   en  t o t   G o d   i s ?   Lijdelijkheid,  zegt  ge?.  Neen,       de zijde des menschen waardoor hij op  -God  aaqgelegd            -
  maar  wa.re  ,Godsvruclit.' Verlammend voor de  heilig-                     is.  Qaarom  kan`de mensch niet  rusten  tenzij  hi!. rust  in
  making?  .Nseti, maar juist de mensch  die deze  fund+                      God, En daardoor  -wordt het  pogelijk, dat  hlJ of  te>i
  menteele  waarheid gelooft en beleeft, zal van  Hc% .hemel  &art' in groote  zaligheid;  of ter helle  vaa& in
  Zijn wegen  leeren,  .en  .juist  Zulk een mensch wandelt in groote smarten. Dat zit vast  dp  den geest des  men-
  die wegen Gods. Dat soort  m&tschen  heeft ervaren, schen. Een boom of een  di& kan  noeh  teri  hemel  noch
  dat God de  kracht is van hunne  ..kracht.                                  ter  .htillk-Karen.  `Orn dat te  kunnen-   meet men zeer hoog
      tieen,  zegt de Heere, gij  bsuyt niet Mij een  huis, en  ieiheven geschapen.  zijnj  zooa@ de' mensch.
 -maar Ik bouw een huis voor Mijn volk.  .Ik ga  we1                           Wit mag het nu  beteeke&n dat men  a?nYian  gee&                      -
                          _ .         `a . .


2     6                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

 is? Een arme van geest is een mensch die  wel.geest is,                     eerste vrucht de droefheid naar God. En die  droef-
doch die de materieele, geestelijke, heerlijke inhoud                        heid naar  ,Gocl wordt  beschreven in mijn tekst.           .
 van het beeld Gods mist. En dat  is nog niet het  irreese-
lijkste. Het vreeselijkste is,  dat hij juist het  tegenover-
gestelde in  zich bevi-ndt. In plaats  .<an de kennis  Gods,                                         -it  *  *`*
de gerechtigheid en de heiligheicl  te bezitten, heeft de
arme van geest `de  dwaasheicl,  de  verkeerdheid en de
vuilheid, Een arme van geest is een mensch die de                               . En wat  doeli die menschen? Dit: ze beven  voc)r
formeele zijde van het beeld  Gods,behield,   doch die  `het.                Gods Woord. Wat  is dat Woord Gods? Er is  allereersi
tegenovergestelde van dit beeld bezit. Het  koningskind                      een algemeen Woord Gods, en  dat  we1 in de  natuur
vind,en we in het vuil van de goot. Dat nu zijin  alle                       rondom ons. Ge leest daarvan in Psalm 19 en  Romei-
menschen: ze zijn  .alle geesten en  formeel blijft. het                     nen  .l. Voor bijna-6000  jaren heeft God luide  gespro-
beeld  #Gods  hen tot in alle eeuwigheid bij, want het  be-                  ken,  maar de mensch is  doof van nature. Hij wil niet
hoort bij hun  wezen.   ~~Doeh  ze,  .@je,  alle  dood-=arme                 luisteren  naar  de.  schoone  sprake Gods in de  dingen die
geesten. De geestelijke  ziel die op  ,God aangelegd is                      Hij  gemaakt heeft.  Leest, Romeinen 1 tot het einde toe
kleeft  aan `t stof en maakt van  .dat stof zijn god.                        en beeft. Dan is daar het Woord Gods zooals het tot
Verder verderft hij zijn weg op  aarde-en is op  weg~                        Israel kwam door engelen  `Gods  van Horeb. En dan  is
naa"r de hel. Hij is arm van'geest en arm  aan God van                       er het Woord Gods zooals dat  eexst kwam door de  pro-
nituur,  nadat hij in de  zonde viel.                                        f,eten en later vleesch werd in Bethlehem.- Als nu de
     En  tech  worden  alle  me&chen heir niet bedoeld. Dat                  arme van geest  en de  verslagene van hart dat  drie-
zou strijden met de geheele  Schrift. Die Heilige  Schrift                   voudige Woord Gods hoort begint hij te beven. Dat is
spreekt  duidelijke  taal en vertelt ons,  ,dat God niet  alle               een der schonste kenmerken der genade. Die Woorden
menschen liefheeft, ofschoon  alle menschen  We1 arm                         ,Gods vertellen hem, dat God  de groote Schepper is van
van  ge&st zijn. De  Schrift zegt, dat  ,God  Ezau haatte                    het  heelal.  Dqn ook, dat Hij de rechtvaardige  Rechter
en Jakob liefhad. En die waarheid kunt ge op duizencl                        is die  zekeriijk  .recht  zal.doen en vergelden  alles wat in
pjaatsen  van `Gods  Woord.  vind,en. Wat  dan? Wat mag                      het  lichaam  geschiedde, hetzij  goed, hetzij kwaad.  Dst
de verklaring zijn ? De verklaring is zeer eenvoudig.                        doet hem beven en  sidderen. Hij beseft, `dat  hij den
Het wil zeggen, dat  alleen zij die  weten en erkennen                       Heere niets kan antwoorden op  duizend `vragen die  in
dat  zij arm van geest zijn door God  bemind  -worden.                       gerechtigheid tot  hem gericht  worden. En dan is  daax
--Let op het tweede. lid van den tekst: die voor  Mijn                       Bet Woord `Gods, het lieflijkste Woord van  alles : en  dat
Woord beeft. De zaligheid wordt  beschreien vanuit het                       is het Woord hetwelk Hij spreekt door Zijn  geliefdcn
oogpunt des menschen. Het zijn die menschen die  ze$ -Zoon. De man van mijn  tekst staat  als `t ware voor
,gen,  zingen en belijden: Hoe kleeft mijn ziel  aan `t                      het  kruis,van  Golgotha  en beeft voor God. Hier  zulle!:
stof,  ai ! zie mijn nood. ! Wend, wend-mijn oog van cl' we wat  moeten zeggen van dat bevkn en sidderen. We
ijdelheden af ! Ik ben vleeschelijk, verkocht onder  ie                      moeten  we1 verstaan, dat dit niet beteekent het  bevel1
zonden ! Het zijn die  menschen die  weten en  erkennen,                     zooals een slaaf beeft voor zijn harden  meester, want
dat zij van nature "ellendig, en  jammerlijk en arm en                       dat beven is een uiting van  haat. Maar het is  bevcn
bli,nd en naakt  zijn.`?                                                     dat  opkomt.uit de pure liefde Gods. Het is de  gewaas-
     Dit volk wordt verder  gekarairte&eerd   als  "ver-                     wording van diep ontzag voor .-zoo  vreeselijken-  en
slagenen van geest" Letterlijk beteekent  bet, menschen                      lieflijken God. Des Heeren vrees is rein en opent  ee;.i
wier geest "geslagen, verbrijzeld, en doorpriemd"  zij.Q.                    fontein van heil dat nooit vergaat. En dat beven  van
Daarom is de gedachte  we1 duidelijk. Vooral  als we  ey                     dit  soort menschen vindt  tien vooral bij de  aarischou-
op  letten, dat dit  volg% op het arm van geest te  zij&.                    wing van het  k&s van Christus. Want daar  open-
Dat zij arm van geest zijn doet  bun- leed. `Omdat ze                        baarde Gdd  Zich  op het grootst en het lieflijkst.  Eu
                                                                             zoo zal er een trilling zijn van de reine vreeze  `Gods  tot
-ZOO  ver van huis zijn gevoelen ze  zich met vele smarten                   in  alle  &uwigheid  als de groote  schare het Lam zai
doorstokep,  ,doorpriemd  en  verbrijzeld. Ver  ,van  den zien in het  midden'van den troon, staande  als  geslacllr.
hem61   staat  ,dit  soort  v o l k   t e   schreieg  e n   z e g g e n :       En zoo zijn er altijd twee soorten van menschen  als
Hoevele huurligen mijns Vaders  hebbeil  overvloed van                       het Woord Gods gepredikt  wbrdt. Dan zijn er  men-
brood en ik  veiga van honger ! Hoe komt  het_,dat dit                       schen die den  Heere  seen huis gaan bouwen,  doch  dal;
volk zoo  handelt? Waarom erkennen zij hun  toestand                         zegt God:  waar is het Huis  ,GQds   dat gij Mij  zuh
                                                                             bouwen? Het is juist  andersom: de Heere bouwt  otib
en  staat?-Dat   kotit voort uit de  reine  bran der liefde                  een Huis.  *Het is het  .Huis des Heeren in  clen Geest.  En
Gods. Dit volk zijn de  wedergeborenen  en  bekeerder!. God  neemt ons  eri  tiaakt ons tot levende  steenen  in.daL
Dat maakt  .h@t groote verschil. En het' groote werk                         Huis, waarvan  Zijn Zoon de uiterste  hoeksteen.is. E n
Gods  ,der wedergeboorte en  bekeefing heeft altijd tot                      het  tweede soort menschen beeft  als zij het Woord


                                          -`THE  STANDARD   B.%A~ER                                                                              27

Gods hooren verkondigen.  -Zij staan  daa? als ze God               hunne  ionden  a l s   schuld.              En nu  moest die Zoon
hooren  vertellen van het Huis des Heeren in den Geest.             arbeiden om  al die zonden als  schuld te verdelgen,
En  zingen: ze:  Hier-weidt  l;nijn  ziel niet een  verwol;-        opdat de  Heel*e God tot in eeuwigheid met welgevallen
derend oog! Zij beven  gedur.iglijk vdor het  Woo+ van              mocht neerzien op  bet,- volk, dat Hij liefhad van
God. Van dat volk  wo?dt gezegd: Welzalig is den                    eeuwigheid,tot eeuwigheid. Want God is te heilig, dan
mensch die geduriglijk  `vreest!                                    dat Hij kan zien  -op de zonde en boosheid der  men-
                                                                    schen.  AlS men zingt : Jezus neemt de zondaars  aan !
                                                                    dan moet men  .er altijd om  denken, dat dit op  zichzelf
                         *  * a  *                                  onmogelijk is. God  haat de zonde. En daarom moet
                                                                    fle zonde vernietigd  worden, opdat de Heere tot in der
    En,`eindelijk,  moeten we nog  wit zeggen van he@-              eeuwigheid op Zijn volk kan neerzien met dit zien der
gene dat dit volk ontvangt.  Daarvari  zegt mijn  teksl; :          liefde. En in  de.stille  eeuwigheid  he&ft God Zijn  volk
maar op dezen zal  ik  zieti . . .                    \             gezien met het zien der liefde, omdat zij  toen al  yeilig
    Wat  rntig dat  beteekenen?                ,                    waren' in den  Ch.ristus  die in de volheid des  tijds
                                                                    k o m e n   z o u .
    Ge  ge.voelt- direct dat dit meer beteekent  clan  -he(;
bloote zien.  #God ziet  alles en  allen ten  allen tijde.  &Iij        *En in den tijd ziet God op  iijn  iolk met een oog
ziet ook de goddeloozen en Satan met zijne  tratianten.             van genade en  ontf,erming. Dat  kan want Jezus  tioont
Niets is verborgen voor  Z.ijne majesteit.  l$er  meet              in het volk Gods. Jezus heeft alle gerechtigheid  ver-
meer bedoeld  worden. Het woord zien is zeer rijk. Er               vuld. Hij  .he&ft een  gehoorzaamheid geopenbaard in
zijn vijftien  verschill,ende  woorden in het  Hebreeuw-            Zijn lijden en sterven die  tintelde van liefde. Tot  01~
sch voor de  idee van zien, en ook vijftien woorden  vonr           den  bodem  der  he1 heeft  Jeztis  Zijn God  gehoorzaamd
het iien in het  Grieksch. En het woord dat hier  g&                in liefde. En zoo ziet  *God ter neder  .op Zijn Zoon met
bruikt wordt beteekent zien, met een  hanger. om  zich              het oog  .des welgevallens. En naarclien Jezus in Zijn
te vereenigen met het voorwerp.  Hetzelfde woord                    volk woont zijn de kinder&  #Gods  ook het voorwerp
vinden we in Job 39  :32  wa%r we lezen: "Van  daap                 van dat welgevallen Gods.
speurt hi-j de  spijs  op, zijne oogen zien van  verre af."             Die gedachte is het Evangelie, mijne  vriende:l  I
Dit wordt daar gezegd van den  arend. En we vinden                  ,Gedenkt daaraan als `t bang wordt  en er  groote vreeze
hetzelfde woord ook in' Jesaja 20  :6, `waar het woord              komt.  ,Gedenkt daaraan als ge  Uwe  zonden en  onger-
gebruikt wordt om de ervaring te vertolken van  hei                 echtigheden ziet, en de gedachte opkomt : Hoe kan de
volk Gods, dat hongerend uitzag naar hulp. De  ge-                  rechtvaardige  Gocl,met  mij te  doen hebben? Hij ziet
dachte is daarom  dufdelijk: het is een  hongerend,                 in gunst op die Hem vreezen.
verlangend zien naar  bet voorwerp van  ,Gods liefde.                   En zoo zal het zijn tot in alle  eetiwigheid; Al  :Gods
                                                                    volks zal  uiteindelijk aankomen in den  hemel  daar-
                         *  a  f?  r?r                              boven bij God. En dan  .z.al- juist dit de  hemel  zijn;
                                                                    men zal in het oog van  Gbd  mogen- zien. En in  dat oog
                                                                    ,van God zal men een eeuwige liefde lezen. Het is de
    I& zit veel in deze  gedachte van den tekst. Er zit             e e u w i g e   l i e f d e   aGods  i n   Z i j n   Zoon.  D a a r v a n   z e g t
een wereld van liefde in deze  eenvoudige woorden: Op               Paulus  triumfantelijk : Wie zal ons scheiden  yan  di:
dezen zal Ik zien! Als dit ons mag gebeuren dan is  he'i            liefdk  v&n  Christus   ?
goed,  goed voor den tijd  en  goed voor de  eeuwigheid.                                                                         G. Vos.
                                                                                                    "     ~.

    Dat beteekent allereerst, dat  ,God op  ens- ziet  va!i
eeuwigheid. Daarvan zegt  Jeremia : Ik heb  u iiefgehad
met een eeuwige liefde. En Jesaja: Zie, Ik  h&b U in
de beide  handpalmeri gegraveerd, uwe niuren zijn
steeds voor Mij. En dit zien van eeuwigheid met het
zien der liefde zit  geheel en al vast op den  Christus
Gods. Ziet ge,  ,God  heeft ons als  kinderen Gods                               Yea, I will  tel! the mighty acts
eeuwiglijk gezien in den Zoon Zijner liefde. Het                                     Performed by God the  Lord ;
uitgedrukte  Beeld' van Gods zelfstandigheid is  centyaal                         Thy righteousness, and Thine alone,
in die  ,handpalmen  *Gods. En de liefde van God tot                                 With praise I will record.
Zijn volk  .bit vast op dien  zoon.  Jezus'heeft daar  Zelf
van gezegd in  bet  Hoogepriesterli.jk gebed: Zij w&en                            For from my early youth, 0  #God,
Uwe; en  ,Gij hebt Mij dezelven gegeven ! En met  .die                               By Thee have I been taught,
gave~Gods  aan  JezUs, waarin Hij al de uitverkorenen                             And faithfully  have I declared
Gods als  Zijn eigendom ontving, ontving Hij ook alle                                The wonders Thou  hast' wrought.                       ,
                                                                                                     -


 28 _                                                 4                            THE  S T A N D A R D ,   BEARER  `-.


                            THESTANDARD BEAR&X                                                                                                   EDITQRIALS
             Semi-monthly, except monthly in July and August
     Published. by the Reformed Free' Publishing Association
               Box 124, Station C., Grand R.apids  6, Michigan                                                                            The Legality of thiz Declaration
                          EDITOR  - Rev. Herman Hoeksema
     Communications relative to colitents  should be addressed                                                                           At our last synod-I mean the synod that was  he?cl
     to  Rev.. H. Hoeksema,  1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand
     Rapids 7, Michigan.                                                                                                             last  .June-it was decided that the decision of Synod,
    -L411  matter  relative to subscription should be addressed                                                                      1950, concerning `the Declaration was certainly legally
     to Mr. J.  Bouwman,  1350 Giddings Ave., S. E., Grand                                                                           adopted.
     Rapids 7, Michigan. Announcements and Obituaries must
     be~mailed  to the &ove  address and will be published at a                                                                          Against this decision all the delegates from  Clas-
     feesof $1.00 for each notice.                                                                                                   sis West, except one of them registered a negative
     Renewals:- Unless a definite request for discontinuance                                                                         vote.  &nd six of them were so strongly opposed to
     is received, it is .assumed'that  the subscriber wishes the                                                                     declaring that the action of Synod, 1950, in regard 
    subscription to continue without the formality of  & re-                                                                                                                                 CO
     newal order.                                                                                                                    the Declaration was perfectly legal, that they asked
                          Subscription Price: $3.00 per  -year                                                                       to have their vote recorded in, the  minut&.
     Entered as Second Class mail at Grand Rapids, Michigan                                                                              It is impossible for me to understand on what
                                                                                                                                     ground these brethren could take such a stand. It
                                                                                                                                     seems  td me that it implies a  .rejection of the Church
                                                                                                                                     Order.      This Church `Order, in Article  3q, plainly
                                                                                                                                     states :    "In these assemblies ecclesiastical matters
                                                                                                                                     only shall  be transacted, and that in an ecclesiastical
                                                                                                                                     manner. In major assemblies only such matters shall
                                                                                                                                     be dealt with as could not be  finished  in minor as-
                                                                                                                                     semblies, or such  a& pertain to the churches of the
                                                                                                                                     major assembly- in common."          I am referring, of
                                                                                                                                     course, especially to the last clause of this article.
                                                                                                                                     Matters that pertain to the churches of the major. as-
                                                                                                                                     sembly  ill. common may be dealt with the major  as-.
                                           C O N T E N T S                                                                           sembly, in this case, of course, the synod. Now cer-
MEDATION-                                                                                                                            tainly the mission work of the church belongs to the
      Het_ Voorwerp  Van Gods Welgevallen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25                                         churches of the major assembly in common without
              Rev. G. Vos                                                                                                            any doubt. Article  .51 of the Church  IOrder state:
                                                                                                                                     plainly : `"The missionary work of the church is reg-
      The Legality of the Declaration .  .: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
    Vragen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                                        29     ulated by  the general synod in a mission order." For
              Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                       this  mis`sion work  and the regulation of it the synod
-THE  TRIPLE  KNOWLEDGE-                                                                                                             appoints a mission committee. *his committee, there-
      An Exposition of the Heidelberg  Cate&sm . . . .  .`. . . . . . . . . .  30                                                    fore, is a  synodical committee,  wh&h cannot and may
              Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                             __.                                       nqt with its matters go the way of the consistory,  clas-
A s   T o   B O O K S -                                                                                                              sis, and synod, but directly turns to the  .@dest or
      Oneness With Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                     34
              Rev.-H. Hoeksema                                                                                                       largest  assemb1.y of the church, that is, to synod,  At;
                                     .~                                                                                              the Synod of 1950 there was a request of the Mission
O UR   DOCTRINE-
      The  Hexaemer'on or Creation-Week (7)                                   . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . 34                     Comniittee for a form for the organization of churches,
              R e v .   H .   V e l d m a n                                                                                          which request, therefore, the synod had to treat. And
THROUGH  THE AGES-                                                                                                                   the  Eynod acceded to this request in the Declaration
      The  Arm&an or Remonstrant Struggle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38                                         of Principles.
              R e v .   G .   M .   O p h o f f .   '                                                                                    It has been  alleged,  in. opposition  t-0 the Declara-
FROM HOLY  WRIT-                                                                                                                     tion of Principles, that it is a new `confession. But
      Exposition of Acts  13:32, 33ff'. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
              Rev. G. C. Lubbers                                                                                                     nothing could be farther from the truth. That this is
I N   H                                                                                                                              not true is plain on the very face of it. `The  DeFlara-
           I S   FEAR-
      Back to School (5)                   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    4 4    tion is meant as a form for the Mission Committee,,
              Rev. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                                    for the purpose of showing to all that desire to become
      De Komst Des  Konings~ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                        4 6    organized as churches within our fellowship the stand
              Rev. G.  Vos                                                                                                           of our churches in `regard to certain fundamental
                                                                                                                              -      points of doctrine.    Now,  certainly, a form for  th,e


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   -BEARER                                                                  29

Mission.. Committee and for the organization of                            The above editorial was written before synod met
churches. can never be- a confession let  <alone a                  again `in adjourned session  on_  Sept.  26.
new confession. A confession is binding upon the                           These sessions lasted till  ,Oct. 3.
churches. and  cat be -judged in the light of Scripture              '  -Now it  ;is  detiitely adjourned.                  0'
only. But that the Declaration is not such a binding                       It is too early to give my impressions about  this
confes@on, imposed upon the churches, is very evident               important- (Synod. I hope  tom write about in the near
from  $he fact that at any time that Declaration may                future.                                                                   0
be judged and criticized in the `light of the  Cbnfes-                     Only  qne thing I wish to state now: it is a sign of
sions. One does not have to turn to Scripture in order              health that our churches are still strong enough to
to prove that the Declaration is not Reformed. But it               fight about and for the, Reformed truth, and that, in
is sufficient' for him, if he can show that it is not in            them, the truth still prevails.
.l$rmony with the  Confessio!.s.                                           And a truly brotherly spirit dominated.
   Besides, as far  as the legality is  concerni?d, for the                                                                       H. H.
opposition to which the brethren that voted against                                          ,.    +J.  q   pJ 0 pJ
that legality on our last session of Synod not only have
no ground to stand  on as far as the Church Order is                                                   Vragen  .'
concerned, But also every historical  -pTecedent con-               Geachte Ds. Hoeksema :
demns them.                                                          -.
    Did  -the Synod of  Dordrecht,   1618-19,  which-  com-                Als  E&or van de Standard Bearer, kom ik met
`pond  ,w&  an  &&a&o  interpretation of the Con-                   een  tweetal  viagen tot U. wilt U die in de Standard
fessions, $,s cont&@d iii -I& ~Cmom,  aommit an iilegal             Bearer beantwoorden.
act when they adopted the  CBnofis.  and  %mpo&d them               Vraag 1:  Vloeit_  hit  +htbaar optreden der Kerk ook
upon the  ReformGd Churches of The  Netherlands?                     voort.  u i t   h e t   karakter,   w a a r   d o o r   zich  genade
Yet, mark  you,  &is action  of. the Synod of  Dordrecht                    van zonde  onderscheidt  ?
certainly was  not justified by the fact `that the mat-             Vraag 2:           Vanwaar heeft Pro. Ophoff het  recht om
ter in question had come from consistory to  classis to                     als afgevaardigde naar de  Classis  en Synode te
sjrkiod,  btit  otily`  by  the  fast that the  ConfeSsions per-            gaan?  ~Orf heeft Prot. Ref. Church met de kerk-.
tain to the churches of the  major  %!~@~blies in  corn-                    enorde afgedaan? Die leert  tech  geheel-iets'  an-
man. Were the Reformed Churches of The  .N&h&-.                             ders ?
lands not- justified when they adopted the Five  Coli-                                                                  Wm. Pelskamp
elusions   of. Utredht in  ~1905? Yet also these were                                                      .e    Sioux Center, Iowa.
composed by the Synod directly. Was not  the* Synod                 Antwoord           :      '
of the Christian Reformed  Church& justified when it                       1. Ik heb  lang. op de  eerste vraag van  breeder  Pels-
decided  on  .the matter concerning Prof. Dr.. Jansen?              kamp gestaard, maar het is me niet  gelukt haar te
Yet also this matter  bertainly.  had not  passed from              verstaan. Om een vraag te  .beantwoorden is het  na-
cbnsistory to  clqsis  to synod,  but. was handled direct-          tuurlijk  za.ak  htiar eerst  goed te  Gerstaan. Daarom
ly by-synod. Just.  ati matters  pepttiining to the missiou         vraag ik den broeder vriendelijk of hij zijn  &aag niet
committee belong  tb the churches of the  -major as-                ietwat kan toelichten.
sembly `in common, so also the matters concerning the                      2. Ds. Ophoff is, als ik  h&t  we1 heb (ik was op de
theological  s&o01 belong directly to synod, and  can  .be          vergadering der  classis,  waar  voor afgewaardigden
and  shotild- be treated by that  assetibly `even without           naar de synode gestemd werd, niet tegenwoordig),
consulting the' churches. Nor, mark you well, did we                voor  afgewaardigde gestemd in capaciteit van emeri-
ever `deny the right  -of  `synod to' interpret their con-          tus  prehikant van de Eerst. Prot.  ,Geref. Kerk te Grand
fessions in the Three Points of  i924  as such.;  But  we           Rapids.  IX ben me niet  bewust, dat dit in strijd is
always based our criticism certainly not on the fact                m e t             de.  K/O.                                      H.H.
that the matters of the Confession  !o not belong to the
synod or to the churches of the major assembly in com-
mon, but on the fact that  wha;t the  s$nod  called inter-                                           ERRATUM
pretations of the  Confessionsyvere  additions and  COF-             Ik schrijf in het enkelvoud, niet omdat er  niet
ruptions of `our Three Forms of  .`Unit$.            +.             meer drukfouten in de  S.B;  czijn, maar omdat ik deze
    knd  thel'efore, I  &ate once, more that the opposi-            &!ne fout zoo, zal ik zeggen "koddig", vindt, dat ik er
tion  to the  mo.tion concerning the' legality of  the De-          we1 even de aandacht op  mtiet vestigen. In  &jn revue
claration is simply inexplicable to me. I cannot under-             van Dr.  Schilder's boek  i-n de laatste S.B.,  wordt'ge-
stand if, and I maintain. that the brethren that op-                zegd, dat mij een  "openbaring': van het hart moet.
pose that decision have no  legal ground  to`  stand on             De lezer gelieve te lezen "opmerking". Openbaringen
whatsoever.               .                       H. H.             des  h&ten heb it gelukkig niet.                                 H.H,


     30                                   !          T H E   `S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                 :      n

                                                                                 `Word of God. This, at least, is always the chief  clistin-
           THE TRIPL-E KNOWLEDGE                                                 guishing mark of the church. Where the Word of God
                                                                                 is purely preached and heard, there undubtedly you
                                                                                 have the church. There is Christ:  an?l where Christ is,
     An Exposition Of The Heidelberg there is the church. In this you cannot make a mis-
                                                                                 take. Where the Word of God is not preached, there
                               Catbchism . .
'                     . .                                                        the church cannot be. There is only one sphere where
                                                                                 the Word  ,of  #God is heard in this world  ;  ,and nowhere
                                     PAR.T  TWO  :  `.'  `:  _,                  else is it heard. And that sphere is the church. It
                  0 f M  +.n'  s R e d e m p`t i o  n                            stands to reason that where the Word of God is pure-
                         LORD'S DAY  XXX1  -                 -                   ly preached, you surely have the  prop.er administration .
                                                                                 of the sacraments. Besides, the preaching of `the  Word
                               ./         1     .                                is the chief key of the kingdom  pf heaven, and. the
             ~ The Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven                                 main means of Christian discipline. All these stand
                                                                                 and fall with the preaching of the Word, so that in a
                   Qu. 83. What are the keys of the kingdom  if
                 heaven ?                                                        way you can safely say that the distinguishing mark
                   A. The preaching of the holy gospel,  .and  chris-            of the church  is- the pure preaching of the Word.
                 tian discipline, o r   excommuni6ation   o u t   o f   .the'
                 Christian church;  ,by these two, the  kingdom of                   This does not alter the fact that we can and must
                 heaven is opened to believers, and shut against un-             treat of the keys of  the kingdom  of  heaven.separately.
                 believers.                                                      And this subject is indeed of grave importance for
                   Qu. 84. How is the kingdom of heaven opened
                 iand shut by the preaching of the. holy gospel ?                the church of Christ  in- the  wprld, both  fr'om a  dot;
                   A. `Thus: when according to the command of                    trinal viewpoint  and from a practical aspect. There
                 Christ, it;.& declared and p,ublicly testfied to all and        are indeed- many questions that  mtst be answered in
                 every~ believer, that, whenever they receive the
                 promise of the gospel by a true faith;`.all their sins          this  connectiop..   .What is meant by the keys of  the
                 a?e really forgiven them of God, for the sake of                kingdom of heaven? `That it is the power. and author-
                 Christ's merits; and on the contrary,  when -it is de-
                 claned  and, testified to all unbelievers, and such. as         ity to open and to shut that kingdom is very evident.
                 do not s.incerely  repent, that they stand exposed to           But what is the-idea and the character of this power?
                 the wrath of God, and eternal csndemnation,  so long
                 as they are unconverted:  .according   to, which testi-         Is not Christ's alone the power to open and shut the
                 mony of the  gospe1,   ,God will judge them, both  ia-          kingdom of heaven? In what sense, then, can that
                 this, and in the life  to  .come.                               power be said to be conferred upon  ,men? And  upor
                   Qu.  85, How is the kingdom of heaven shut and
                 opened by Christian  d.iscipline?   i                           what men is it conferred? Is `it, perhaps, delegated to
                   A. Thus: when according to the-  command' of                  Peter alone, as the proper successor of Christ in the
                 Christ, those, who under the name of Christians,
                 mainattain doctrines,  or practices inconsistent  theye-        world?  ,Or was it bestowed  ,upon the apostles, so that
                 with, and &Knot, .after having been often brotherly             after the' termination of the apostolic period there is
                 admonished! renounce their errors and wicked
                 course of  hfe,  are complained  ,of to the  church,  or        no more power of the keys? Or does that key  power
                 to those, who are thereuntd appointed by the church;            continue to be exercised properly by the church ; and,
                 and if they despise their admonition, are by them
                 forbidden1 the use of the sacraments; whereby they              if by the church, is it exercised only by the  officebear-
                 are excluded from the chr.istian  church, and by God            ers or by the  whole church? Further, the question is :
                 himself from the kingdom of Christ; and when they
                 proniise  and show real  a.mendment,  are again re-             how is that. power exercised, and how can it; be ef-
                 ceived as  n!embers  of Christ and his church.                  ficient in such a way, that what is bound on earth is
           Usually  thklee distinguishing marks are mentioned                    at the same time bound in heaven,  a+nd what is loosed
by  %vhich the church- may be known in the' midst of                             on earth is at the same time loosed in. heaven? 1Anc1
the world  aqd may be distinguished from what  calls                             finally, we may ask: what is the purpose of Christian
itself church, but is not.. These marks are :  I the  preach&                    discipline, exercised by the key power?
ing of  the Word of God, the proper administration of                               So much as far  as the doctrinal questions involved
the sacraments, and the right exercise of Christian                              are concerned.
discipline,~ or the use of the keys of the kingdom of                               But also from  a practical aspect the subject of the
heaven. By some- these marks of the true church are                              keys of  t&e kingdom of heaven is very important. In
reduced to two, namely, to the preaching of the gospel                           general,, we may certainly assert that the church, or
and the proper administration of the  s;Ccraments,  see-                         what calls itself  .church, in the world has long  fi>rgot-
ing that after  ,a11  christ?an  discipline or  &e use of  th.e                  ten to employ these; keys. Of this' we need not be  &r-
keys of the kingdom of heaven  only can serve the  pur-                          prised.    For. especially in our  American world the
paae to stand as a sentinel, watching over the preach-                           church is no longer  2  strong  fortress\ but an open
ing and the proper administration of the. sacraments.                            city, where every one  &an enter or from which anyone
In a way you can  safeiy limit  the, distinguishing mark                         can make his exit, according to his  otin good pleasure.
of the `church in the world-,,  ta, the preaching  `.of the                      The result is; of course, that  th.e preaching of the Word
                                                                   *

                                                                                  * .


                                                                                        I


                                        T H E   - S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         31

is corrupted, and the holy sacraments are -profaned.            to rejected, and Jesus Christ acknowledged as only
But even in our own churches it is certainly necessary          head  .of the church. Hereby the true church may cer-
to emphasize ever and again  the. practical import of           tainly be known, from which no man has a right to
the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Is it not true that          separate himself."
many among us do not' realize the tremendous import-                The Scotch Confession of. Faith mentions the
ance of the exercise of the keys of the kingdom of              same distinguishing marks of the true church: "The
heaven? Is it not true that many assume an utterly              notes  theref,ore of the true church of  <God  we believe,
erroneous attitude over against this key power by the           confess; and avow to be, first, the true preaching of
church? When we make confession of our faith in the             the Word of  aGod, into the which God has reveaied him-
midst of the- church, we promise before  .God and the           self unto us, as the writings of the prophets and the
congregation that we will submit to Christian disci-            apostles to, declare. Secondly, the right administration
pline. Yet, how often this solemn vow is broken: how            of the sacraments of Christ Jesus, which must be an-
often those that profess to be the people of  ,God show         nexed unto the Word and promise of God, to seal`and
a  sad~ ignorance, when they carelessly and profanely           confirm the same in our hearts. Last, ecclesiastical
withdraw themselves from that  ,discipline  when it is          discipline uprightly administered, as God's Word -pre-
exercised. And how many fail to understand that it is           scribes; whereby vice is repressed, and virtue nourish-
not left up to them, whether or not they will visit the         ed. Wheresoever then these former notes are seen and
brother that sins against them, `but that it is their           of any time continue (be the number ever so few,
sacred calling and obligation of love to the brother to         about two or three), there, without all doubt, is the
admonish him, according to Matthew 18. Moreover,                true church of Christ: who according unto his
how many of us fail to understand the true,  spiritua,l         promise, is in the midst of them."
character of Christian discipline. Hence, from every                And to quote no more, the Westminster. Confes-
viewpoint it is certainly important to treat the subject        sion speaks of Christian discipline or the keys of the
of the keys of the kingdom of heaven.                           kingdom of heaven separately, as follows: "The Lord.
    Lord's Day 31, which speaks particularly of the             Jesus, as king and head of his church, hath therein ap-
keys of the kingdom of heaven and Christian disci-              pointed a government in the hand of the church offices,
pline, stands intimately connected with the  preceding          distinct from the civil magistrates.  -
question and answer. There the question of open or                  "To these' offices the keys of the kingdom of  .heaven
closed communion was broached  ; and it. was asked              are committed, by virtue whereof they have power
whether they also are to be admitted to the supper of           respectively to retain and remit sins,  `or to shut that
the Lord, who by confession and life declare them-              kingdom against the impenitent, both by the Word `and
selves to be ungodly. And the answer was negative:              censures ; and to open it unto penitent sinners, by the
the ungodly may not be  ,admitted to holy communion,            administration of the gospel, and by absolution from
because the church must watch over the sacredness of            censures, as occasion shall require.
the covenant of  .God, and if they would open the com-              "Church censures are necessary for' the reclaim-
munion table  ,to all, including the ungodly, the covenant      ing and gaining of offending brethren ; for  deterrihg
`of God would be profaned, and His wrath kindled                of others from the like offenses  ; for purging out of
against the whole congregation. And therefore it was            that leaven which might infect the whole lump ; for
stated that "it is  the- duty of the  ,Christian church; ac-    vindicating the honor of Christ, and the holy  profes.-
cording to the appointment of Christ and  .His apostles,. sion of  .the gospel  ; and for preventing the wrath  of*
to exclude such persons, by the keys of the kingdom             #God, which might justly fall upon the church, if they
of heaven, till they show amendment  of. life." It is           should suffer his covenant, and the seals thereof, to be
evident, therefore, -that according to- the Catechism           profaned by notorious and obstinate offenders.
the exclusion from the  Lord% Supper is principally the             "For the better attaining of these ends, the offices
same as the being cast out of the kingdom of heaven.            of the church:  ;are. to proceed by admonition, suspen-  ~
    Most of the Reformed confessions make mention' of sion from  the. sacrament of the' Lord's Supper for a
`this key power of the church. Article 29 of the Belgic         season, and by excommunication from the church, ac-
Confession, which speaks of the marks of the true               cording to the nature of the crime and demerit of the
church, wherein she differs from the false church,              person.`?         -.         ,
states the following : "The marks,  by.which the true            As `to the Holy Scriptures, the keys of the kingdom
church is known, are these: If the pure doctrine of             of heaven are literaily mentioned. First of ail, we find
the gospel. is preached therein ; if she maintains the          mention of them in Matthew 16. It was on the oc-
pure administration of the sacraments as instituted             casion when Jesus, coming into the coast of  Caesarea         .
by Christ; if church discipline is exercised in punish-         Philippi, asked His disciples: "Whom do men say that
ing of sin: in short, if  ,a11 things are managed accord-       I, the Son of  man;. am?" and when, after having re-
ing to the pure Word of  ,God, all things contrary  there-      ceived various answers, He confronts them with the


                                                                           _-  --
     32                       t!           TH-E  ST'Al\iDARD  BEA&EB

     direct question : "But whom say ye  that I am?"  ,and            authopity, and He is  become'the quickening Spirit, so
     Peter, as the spokesman of the apostles  repl,ied :  "Tbo:,~     that He has not  on1.y authority, but also the power to
     art the Christ, the Son of the living  jGod,Y;   .that--Jesus    include in and to exclude from the  kingd.om of heaven.
     first mentions these keys of the kingdom:  -ipf.  heaven :          The  next question  is,. however : what is included in
     "And Jesus  .an,swered and said unto him, Blessed art            that ppwer ? Or,  iti other words, what is meant when.
     thou, Simpn Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not re-            the text in Matt. -16 and 18 speaks of loosing and bind-
     vealed it  ;unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.         ing? Does this expression merely refer to legislative
     And I  sgy. also unto thee, That thou art Peter  ;.  and         powe'r and authority, so that He determines merely
     up&  this rock I will build my church ; and the gates            what is right and wrong, what is true or false, in the
     of hell. shall not prevail against it. And  I.  will give        kingdom of heaven? Or does it imply also judicial au-
     unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and                 thority, authority over persons, so  that ultimately  Re
     whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in           determines not only.  what,  but also  who  shall be in-
     heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose  -on earth, shall        cluded in or excluded  fr.om the kingdom of  heaveil.
     be loosed  in heaven." Matt. 16  :17-l?,-  ,The same key         According to our conviction, both are included.  Sure!y,
     power is  evidenty referred to  in.-  vatt. 18  :15-N  :         if we proceed from the correct idea that it is Christ'
     "Moreover,  if.  thy brother shall  t&pass  against thee,        that principally holds the keys of the kingdom  o-f'
     go  and tell him his  :fault between thee and him alone:         heaven, it stands  $0 reason that He does not only have
     if he shall  he% thee, thou hast  .gaiqed   thy- brother.        all the legislative, but  ,also all the judicial authority  ani!
     But if he will  not.hear. thee,: then  takejwith thee one or     power in that kingdom. His is surely the power and
     two more,  that.in the mouth  of  two or three witnesses         authority to declare with determination the spiritual,
     every word may be established. And if he shall neglect           ethical character of what shall be valid in the kingdom
     to  hegr  them, tell it unto the churcli: but if he neglect  - of heaven. But  Hi+ is also the spiritual power, as well
     to hear the church, let him be unto thee  as an heathen          as the authority, to bestow this spiritual character  a.nd
.    man and a publican.  Verily I say unto you, Whatso-              to determine on whom it shall be bestowed, and  thus
     ever ye shall bind on earth,  -shall be bound in heaven ;        to.determine who shall and who shall not have a place
     and whatsoever ye shall loose  oti earth,  shall be loosed       in His everiasting kingdom. Hence, to open and  shu'i
     in heaven." Indirectly the same power is evidently               the kingdom of heaven is the power  pf Christ to open
     deleg@ed  to the apostles at the time when  Hi3 appeared land shut that kingdom  legis!atively, but also judicially.
     -unto them after the  resurrecti-on. For we read in  Joh.n       It is the power to open the gates of the kingdom of
     20:21-23 : "Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be.             heaven for those that are still without and  belocg
     unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I              within  ; for those that. are within and belong without  ;
     you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them,             to keep within those that are in  %he kingdom; and to
     and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy  ,Ghost:                keep outside of the kingdom those  .that have no  place
     Whose  soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto              therein.
     them:  and whose  soever sins ye retain, they are re-                Further, these passages teach  us  that Christ  es-
     tained.`: Finally, we may refer also to Rev. 3  :7,              ercises this power on earth and in  the church in  the
     where the key power is attributed to Christ  alone.- world, first of all, through the apostles. We may, of,
     There  we read: "And to the angel of the church in               course, also state this truth in this way, that  Chrisz
     Philadelphia write: These things saith he that is  ho!y,         conferred the authority and power  .to open and  shut
     he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that          the  kingdom  df heaven on His apostles. But although
     openeth and no man shutteth  j and shutteth, and no              this is expressing the same thing, it seems to us that it
     man' openeth."                                 i                 is  bettep to maintain that it is Christ Himself, the
           `Taking these several Scripture passages  togethcir,       Head of  His church, both organically and judicially,
     we may note that they teach  the followihg  tiuths.              that exercises the key power through the apostles. In
           First of all, it is emphasied  th&t Christ alone holds     Matt.  -16  :X3 the church is considered from the view-
     the key of David, that is, the key of the kingdom of             point of a building, a fortress, or a city, with its gates.
     heaven. He alone holds those keys and employs them.              That city, or fortress; of  the.church is built upon a
     For it is emphasized in  Rev. 3  :7 that no  man. opens or       rock. That rock, according to the text, is Peter.  .Btit
     shuts that kingdom of heaven, and that when He                   certainly not Peter as a person, nor Peter from the
     openeth, no man can  pqssibly  shut, and when  I-fe viewpoint of his subjective faith, but rather that apos-
     shutteth, no man can possibly  -,open.  Christ's, there-         tle as he manifested himself in his confession, "Thou
     fore is the key power. The exalted Christ, Who  wa.s             ,art the Christ,  the! Son of the living  ,God." That foun-
     crucified and raised from the dead, and unto Whom is             dation is to be laid through the  ipstrumentality  of the
     given all power in heaven and on earth,  is the, only  One- apostles. And upon that foundation Christ will build
     that holds the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Christ             His church. For the church is built upon the  founda-
'    alone is set over the whole house of God,  His  .is all the      t&n of the apostles  and- prophets, Jesus Christ.  Him-


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             33          -.

self being the chief cornerstone. Eph.  2:20.   This                The purpose of the exercise of discipline is three-
church, however, this  strong fortress, is conceived of          fold. In the first  clace, the chief purpose is  ,always the
as being built in the midst  `of `the world, as is evident       glory of  `God in Christ. For the church in the  worlcl
froni  Matt. 16  :18, where it is said that the gates  bf        is a manifestation of  ,ti;od in Christ. It must show
hell shall not prevail against that church.  E.-take it          forth His glorious virtues.  And therefore it has the
that by the  some&& figurative expression "the  gates            calling to be holy, even as He is holy. The church,
of hell" is meant that which issues forth from these             therefore, may not be mixed  with,the elements of dark-
gates, the power of death, of sin  s,nd of darkness, the         ness. This does not imply, of course, that there is no
very power of hell. And Christ assures His church                si-n and that there are no sinners in the church visible
that those powers will never  ,overwhelm  or overcome            in the world. But it certainly  mesins  that.all that  aYe
or, prevail against His church, that is built upon  thae         members of the church are characterized by a manifest
sure foundation. The gates  of the church are  secur.ely         sorrow after *God, repent of their sin,  crucify the flesh,
closed, as becomes a  strong fortress. And as such it,           and  &rive to walk after sanctification of life. And it
.is impregnable, and no powers of darkness can possibly          is for the glory of  ,God that all those who are not dis-
overwhelm it. Now, the keys of those gates, hence,               posed to lead such a life of repentance  and  sanctifica-
the authority and power to open and shut, to include  or         tion are  exclud.ed from the kingdom of heaven. Sec-
exclude- from that church, or from. the kingdom of               ondly, it is to the  welll-being  of the church that Chris-      ,
heaven, are first of  ,a11 bestowed upon the apostles.           tian discipline is diligently exercised. If not, the cove-
That' it is not on Peter  al.one that this power is con-         nant of God is profaned, the wrath of God is kindled
ferred, .but on him as spokesman of the apostles, is             against the church  ; and soon, if the workers of  in-
plain  froth  Matt. 18, where the same power is evident-         quity and the power of evil is left in the church visible
ly bestowed upon all the apostles. And, as this key              in the world, it will become subject to thode powers
 power is conferred on them, it implies that in a special        .and soon be corrupted. And finally, the purpose of the
manner they will be infallibly taught the truth as it is         exercise of Christian discipline is also the salvation  0:'
in Christ  Jestis by the Spirit of promise; and that             its members. When they walk in sin, of which they
thus;  -infallibly inspired, they will be able in the name       do not rep&t, it is certainly not to their salvation `that
of Christ to declare and to  defermine what will hare            they are left  undisturb@.d,  without rebuke and  admoni-
a place in the kingdom of heaven, as well as who shall           ion. And the positive purpose of the exercise of
and who shall not have a place in that kingdom. Their            Christian discipline, as far  `as the members of the
infallible inspiration as apostles is the necessary re-          church are concerned, is certainly their salvation.
quisite for their authority and power.                                                                          H . H.
    Finally, however, it is also evident  .from these
passages that Christ exercises this key power not  only
through the apostles, but also through the church  and
ol the basis of their  inf,allible  `Word. This is evident
from Matt.  18:17, 18. For the final  injunctidn, "Tell                             aoanp~ana  '
                                                                                                           _
 it to  the church," cannot  possibly refer to the apostles :
for they are not the church. Neither can it refer to
their "successors" : for the apostles had no successors.
But it must niean the whole church, as headed by and
founded on  the doctrine  ,of the apostles. Hence,  afte?                         ANNUAL MEETING
the apostles' death, Christ  exercis'es His key  powel
tlirough the church as i.t hears the Word  `of and is i-n            The annual meeting of the  -R&%rmed  Free Pub.
that sense obedient to the apostles, and through them            As&n., was held on  ,Sept.  $7.
to Christ. It is the church, as locally it is manifest in            Newly elected board  members are Wm.  -Kamps,
the instituted congregation, and as . it functions               Charles Kregel and Richard Teitsma. Retiring mem-
through its officebearers,  par&icularly  through its  miti-     bers are Otto  Van+r Woude, Gerrit Bylsma. and Dick
isters and elders.  Helice, also the church has the call-
 ing, the sacred obligation, and by the Word of the              Vander Wal.
:$ostles and the Holy  Bcriptures,  as well  ,as, through            Rev.  E, Emanul gave a very interesting talk on the
 the indwelling Spirit, the power to employ the  k,e$s  ,o$      essential need of a  paper.such  3s the Standard Bearer
 the kingdom of heaven: We conclude, therefore,  th&             in this age of spiritual indifference.
the key power is the power conferred  dn the  church;                Reports  were given by the secretary and treasurer
or the power which `Christ Himself exercises  thrbugh            and  ,were accepted by the society.
the  churchj to determine what- shall have a place and
who shall have a place in the kingdom of  he&en.  "-                                                    T H E   B O A R D   9


     34                                       ,THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             -
                        .._

                        "  A s   To  B;oks                                 O.UR  DOCTRlNE
     ONENESS. WITH CHRIST by W. R.  .Nichdlson,  D. D.
       Published by Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids,  M,ich.
       Price $3.00.                                                    The Hexaemeron or Creation-Week
           This book is commentary on the epistle to the
     Colossians. As a book for the general public it  makev                                       (7)
     very good reading. It is spiritual  and devotional.                         THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION
     Moreover, the  author  maint,ains all the  fundamentgl
     truths of  the. Christian faith as they concentrate               What it is.
     around the atonement of our  Saviotir. As sinners, ac-
     cording to the author, we may not come to God and                    We may as well discuss the theory of Evolution at
     enter into His blessed fellowship, except on the basis            this time. We have, until  now, called attention to the
     of God's  righ$eousness in Christ; and we cannot and              Divine work  ,of creation and have finished our  discus-*
     Iwill not come to God because we are  ,dead in sins, and,         sion of this mighty work of the Lord with the excep-
     therefore, we  are. in need of the efficacious grace of           tion of the creation of man, who, of course, is the
     God in Christ.             '                                      highest and noblest of all the creatures of  .God and
                                                                       will therefore demand a major share of-  dur attention.
           As a  cqmmentary, however, it is not very complete          The theory of Evolution, however, discusses not only
     or thorough.  .For instance, I cannot conceive of  ,a com-        the origin  ,of man but also the beginning of all other
     plete commentary on the epistle to the  Colossians                living creatures. We thought it, therefore, not amiss  1
     without a thorough exposition of the section in 1  .I5            to call attention to this conception at this time, before
     20, especially of the concept: "the firstborn of  every-          our discussion of man and after our treatment of the
     creature." This concept is fundamental for the  correzt           creation of the animal-world.
     miderstanding of the whole epistle. Yet, the author                  The Divine origin of man has  neve? been doubted
     simply passes over it.                                            in the Christian Church and in Christian theology.
           But I `Bay again, the book offers very good reading         The  W,ord of  ,God does'not leave this matter in  doub'c.
     and I `heartily recommend it to  thC Christian. reader.           Outside God's revelation, however, many conjectures
                .i                                       H. H.         have been made and many theories advanced concern-
                                                                       ing this origin of man. Many wise men among the
                                                                       heathens, it is true, ascribed the creation of man to
                                                                       gods or semi-gods.  ,Others recognized in man who had
                                      Ia                               been formed out of the dust of  _the earth a higher, ra-
                                                                       tional principle which was derived from the gods. But
                                                                       it cannot be  denied that also totally different ideas con-
                                                                       cerning the origin of man have been advanced in reli-
                GOD THE PORTION OF THE SOUL                            gion and in philosophy. Some have declared that  il6
                                                                       came forth from an animal, and others advanced the
                      Thou art my portion,  Lor'd;                     theory that he was the fruit of some tree.
                        Thy words I ever heed;                            A theory which today is generally known and
                      With  a!! my heart Thy grace I seek,             taught is the theory of Evolution. This` theory ex-
                       ' Thy promises I plead.                         pounds the ideas that man descended from -a lower
                                                                       animal, body and soul, through a perfectly  naturtil
                      J thought upon my ways,                          process, controlled entirely by inherent forces, and
                        Thy testimonies learned ;                      therefore not by any  eliternal (as a Divine) power.
-                     With earnest haste, and waiting not,                It  is true, as is generally known, that there are
                       To Thy commands I turned.                       varying theories of Evolution. Some evolutionists do
                                                                  0
                      While snares beset my path,                      not deny the evidence which order and adaptation,
                        `Thy law I keep in view;                       which may. be observed in nature, attest unto the ex-
                      At midnight I will give Thee praise              istence of  rGod and His  immanence in and providential
           -            For all Thy judgments true.                    control  ,of His works. `These profess to believe in the
                                                                       possibility of harmonizing an evolutionistic conception
                      Ali those who fear Thy Name                      of -the development and existence of things with the
                        Shall my companions be;                        thought of an eternal and ever working God. Other
                      Thy mercy fills the earth, 0  .Lord ;            evolutionists would recognize God as the original
                 -Thy statutes teach  Thou me,                         source in the far and remote -past to which, then, the


                                            .  -                                                                         .,
                                       ` T H E   STANDARD.  BtiAREit                                                     35

 origination and the primary adjustments of the  utii-           development  .is such that' each "wife" seeks the best
verse  .ar& to be referred, but they deny His immanence          "man." It is simply a struggle of the survival of the
-and constant providential activity in all the works of          fittest, and the fittest, the best survive.'
                                                                                 .
 His hands. This means that the origin and- continued               Thirdly, in this struggle  of the survival of the
 existence of the world can be likened to an alarm               fittest, the favorable characteristics of  the parents  arz
 clock. After such a  ,clock has been wound it. runs of          passed over to the  childr.en, and in this process the
 itself. God, then, is the origin of the world. For the          organisms become better and better.              _
reit, however, the Lord holds Himself aloof from its
 continued existence and  developm&t. A third class                 Ifi addition to this the following phenomena are
 of evolutionists consists of those who either obscure or        also cited.    Attention is called. to the likeness and
 deny the evidence afforded by the order and  adapta-            similarity which exists between organic  ,beings, and
tion in the  ufiiverse for the existence and activity of         which also exist in physical and psychical `(according
 God alike as  ICreator  and as  Provi$ential Ruler.             to  the soul) between man  and the animal.  They also
                                                                 note changes and hereditary transmission of attributes
    We are primarily interested in the third class,  31          and characteristics which  on6 may  continua]& observe
 the conception which is  commonly known today as the            in the world of men and animals.  Moreover, attention
 theory of Evolution. We  may safely say that this               is also called to the rudimentary `(first, embryonic,
 theory expounds the theory that all things evolve  fro.m        elenientary) organs which have remained in man since
 an original cell, that all things exist and have de-            his descension from the animal world and which man
 veloped by a force residing in the  wqrld itself. Some          derived from his association with the animal world.
 say that man is a descendant of one of the species of
 anthropoid (resembling a  human being) apes now in                 Later other arguments  were brought forth in sup-
 existence, and others assert that man and the higher            port  6f this theory of Evolution. The attempt to prove
 apes  h.ave a common ancestor now .no longer in ex-             the similarity between and a common ancestry of man
 istence. Be this as it may, all things have developed           and animal was made by means of blood tests. The
 out of an original cell, the  #animate  out of the in-          palaeontological argument was also called into being.
 animate, the organic out of the inorganic, man from             Bones  have been unearthed of beings which lived long,
 an ape, etc. Long  ~before Darwin (X309-1882) the               long-ago. And from these remains ancient men have
 philosophy of  ihe  world had taught that the animal            been reconstructed for us by modern scientists. And
 w&s man's ancestor. Darwin was certainly not the                in our present day museums we may now enjoy our-
 first whose name must be associated with the theory             selves- by looking at these ancient men, these forefath-
 of Evolution. What Darwin, did was to conduct  a                ers of our present human race, such as the Java man,
 series of observations which were related to the life of        the Heidelberg man, the Neanderthal man, the  Cro-
 man and of the animal in order  t,o reveal this  connec-        Magnon man, the  Pilf;down man, and others. And one
 tibn and association. Darwin, who must have stated              can hardly dispute the fact that these reconstructed
 that the earthworm was the most helpful of all  ani-            men look very  much,like apes. And so the attempt is
mals, developed the theory which treats the evolution            made to seek a common ancestry for man and the ape.
 of  all forms of living organisms from a few forms of           and  tian has therefore descended from `a lower type of
 primitive life or  f:pm one such form, the keynote or' living-being. Indeed, the wise  and the prudent of this
 the theory being natural selection or the survival of           world have spared neither time nor  exp&se  to estab-
the fittest. He knew how to combine these various ob-            lish the perfectly natural origin of the human race and
 servations or phenomena and to serve an hypothesis,             to  d@y man's Divine origin. And although it is true
 a supposition which already existed in his-mind,  ancl          that Darwinism, the phase of Evolution associated
 thereby showed  then way in which man% descension               with'Darwin, is  cominQnly  h&d today in disrepute, one
 from the animal appeared possible.                 -            canl)o$ deny that the` theory of -Evolution, which
                                                                 teac@qs  that all things evolve from an original  dell `and
 The so-called basis or proof for this theory.           .-.     that"&11 things exist  ,and have developed by a force re-
                                                                 siding in the world itself, is advanced as the only true
    Darwin called attention, fist,  to'  &he struggle: of        explqhation  of the origin of `the human race and all
 and for life everywhere present in nature round about           living creatures.
 us. In this struggle of life  every  ,liying creature                .:
takes part. Every living creature is simply compelled            This `view, of course, utterly fallacious.
 to fight and  itruggle for survival ; if it fails  .to do so       First,  the blood tests proved completely untrust-
 it will perish.                                                 worthy and fallacious.  iLater tests, in which the en-
    Secondly, out of countless plants and animals and            tire blood was examined, and not  merely*certain parts
 men, nature selects only those for continuous existence         of it, showed conclusively that there, is an essential
 and development which are the best, and this natural            difference between, the blood  -of animals -and  the%lood

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

             of men. This means, we understand, that this parti-         the inanimate to the animate, from the lifeless to the
             cular "proof" for the theory of Evolution falls away: living, from stones to plants, from plants to animals,
             although we hasten to add at this moment that  the          from animals to man. They  speak'glibly of thousands
            important thing is not the similarity  bew,een man  anti     and millions of years and cannot produce a single date
            the animal world (Scripture  has indeed an explanation       (of course not) which goes back farther than those
            for this phenomenon), but the distinction between            recorded in Holy Writ. They call themselves scientists,
            man and- the rest of the animals (that man alone is a        boast that all they want is facts,-believe in things  the)
            moral-rational being).                                       can prove and establish, and produce the Darwinian
                  Secondly, the palaeontological argument is equally     theory, concerning which a certain eminent man once
            false. Only a few bones were found of each, and in           wrote : "The Darwinian theory has not a single fact  to.
            some  cases.even these bones were widely scattered. It       support it  .' . . it is purely the product of the imagina-
            was not  &en certain that they belonged  to the same         tion." Indeed, wicked man believes-what he wishes to
            creature or being.      Their+ reconstruction, therefore,    believe.                         \
           .  ..does not testify of, the validity and truthfulness of        Fifthly, the theory of Evolution not only fails  corn-
            these reconstructed beings which we have mentioned           pletely to explain .the origin of life, but it also com-
            in the foregoing, but only of the skill but also of the      pletely fails to explain the  diff'erence between man and
            shameless boldness of these so-balled "scientists" who       the animal. On the one hand, if man  derscended from
            reconstructed them. One may well marvel because of           an ape, would it not be logical to assume that certain
            the skill  .of these wise and prudent of this world, but     "missing links"  .between man  And the ape-world were
            one must also be amazed because of their shameless           in existence? During the last thousands of year (six
            wickedness and folly. A certain professor of the Uni-        thousaid years) man  aid the monkey have been wholly
            versity of London declared once that he knows of  113        different, and not a single ape can be found or has
             occupation which is less worthy of the  nanie of An-        been found which  lesembles  man more than another,
             thropology (the science of man) than the occupation         or  V.V. Besides, this transmission from  apgs to people
             of modelling, painting, or drawing of these nightmare' nowhere occurs anymore. Why not? In addition to
            pictures of the imagination, and lending them in the         this, present day science frankly admits that they have
;            process as. an utterly false value of apparent realty.      no explanation for the difference between man and the
             And another scientist of our present day hasdeclared        animal. Apes cannot think or will. `They have no in-
             that it is simply impossible to produce as an ancestor      telligence. Man is a moral-rational being. How did
             of modern man from fossils which are found. And,            this happen?  `Why  the complete difference between
             concerning the origin of man another has declared:          man and the animal? The' Word of the Lord explains
             "I know nothing about the origin of man, except what this  phenol%enon when it informs us that God breathed
             I am told in the Scriptures, that the Lord has created      into man's nostrils the breath of life. And if Science
             him; I do not know anything more than that, and I do        cannot account for  -nian's moral-rational nature,  had
             not know of anyone else who does."                          no explanation for it, what "scientific" right does ii;
                  Thirdly, the argument which is advanced in  sug-       have to deny Scripture's account? Evolution, as a
             port of the theory of Evolution because of the similar-     theory to explain the origin of man, falls because  of-
             ity between men arid certain  snimals is surely no ar-      its own weakness and utter lack of proof. However,
             gument. It- is certainly not  "scienti.fic" when the at-    this is  nof. all, especially  for the child and Church  oi"
             tempt is made to show that man and the animal have          the living God. Even so, of course, our weightiest ob-
             things in  tiommon. In fact, it is hardly to be regarded    jections against this theory have not yet been ad-
             as something new that man, too, is.an animal, be it in      vanced.
           i&e highest sense of the word. Fact is, already in the            In the  -sixt`h place, the Church of the living God
             Book of  ,Genesis we are told that man is an animal.        lifts up its voice of protest against this godless pre-
             Man and the  animal. are both called "living `souls."       sentation of the origin of man for other reasons. First,
            IAnd that there is some similarity between man and  the      it denies the testimony of Holy Writ. The Bible could
             aninial  need not in any sense surprise us, inasmuch  as    hardly be more explicit and teach more clearly than  -ii.
             both living creatures were created out of the dust of
     ,-                                                                  does that man is the direct product of the creative act
             the earth. Hence, to show that man and the rest  olt        of the almighty  #God. We read in Gen. 2  :7 : "And the
             the animals have things in common is surely ndthing         Lord  ,God formed man of the dust of the ground, and
             new. Already the man, Moses, led by the infallible          breathed into his nostrils the breath of life  ;  and man
             Spirit, informed us to this effect ages ago:                became  a living soul." To be. sure, some theologians, in
                  Fourthly,  the theory of Evolution utterly fails to    their eagerness to harmonize Scripture with the "de-
             prove the phenomenon of life and the transmission           vastating" evidence of Evolution, suggest  that this text
             from one  stake to another. People speak glibly of the      may be interpreted to mean that man has descended
             transmission  frbm the inorganic to the organic, from       from  the animal!  Do.we not read that the Lord formed


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E B                                                 37

 him "out of the dust  of the ground?" Is not also the                 We do not need any "foreign" persdn or power to come
 animal out of the dust of the ground  ? Hence,  #God, then,           into our  ' life  -to save us and to help us. We can very
 formed man out of the body  oI' the animals  which,  a&;-             well take care of ourselves. In the sixth place, Evolu-
 er all, are also dust.  1.X course, this is nonesense,  This          tion denies the reality of the fall. Man does not fall
 is plain from Gen. 3  :19 : "In the sweat of thy  face                from the higher to the lower plane, but is  gradtially
 shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground,:              climbing from the lower to the higher. What a differ-
 5or dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."                  ence between Lord's Day 3 and Evolution ! Here indeed
 `l'his text certainly `does not mean, does it, that mar:              we have the principal difference  betw`een education as
 shall  Yeturn to his' former animal state  ?  lVloreover, we          based upon Scripture and as taught in and by the
 would  also  refer the reader to Job  33:4;   *Gen.  1  :i%,          world. According to the presentation of Holy Writ the
 2'7,  XL ; 2  :19,  2Q ; Psalm  8  :5-8.  ;L'hese various passages    line goes down, and according to the world the line
 surely emphasiie the truth-that man is the direct pro-                goes up. Scripture informs us that man was created
 duct of the living  ,God, and also that man is highly                 by God `in His image and that he therefore stood upon
 exalted above the rest of the animal-world. Secondly, `a very high plane. The wise of this  world would have
 it denies God.  This is surely a truth that speaks for it-            us believe that man-originally stood upon a very low
 self. Evolution speaks of energy as eternal and or' plane and is gradually reaching the heights. What a
 force which resides in the creature and in the world                  tremensous difference this must make ! According to
 itself. It does not know the Lord and denies that God,                the one  cbnception we can and are' developing of our-
 m the  .beginning, made the heavens and the earth.                    selves, are constantly developing in sin and iniquity,
 Also  fo; this reason, and alone for this reason, the                 and can attain unto  salva%ion only through the ir-
 Christian cannot believe  in the evolutionistic concep-               resistible grace of the  livihg  ;God. Finally, Evolution
 tion of things, inasmuch as he has been united  with                  destroys all religion, morality, consciousness  \f sin.
 that living  ,God through faith in Jesus Christ.  `n'hirdly,          There  iS really no sin inasmuch as the present  defecrs
 the theory of Evolution surely degrades man.1  lnsteacl               of the human race are to be `ascribed to lack of de-
'  oY having been created by the living  ,God and in His               velopment. Man sins, not because he is inherently evil,
 image, we have descended from apes. What a dirt'&-                    but only because he is the victim as yet of  circ.um;
 ence! Scripture presents man as having been formcci                   stances over which he has no control. These defects,
 in  the image of  *God, as being a son of  ,God, whereas              however, he is gradually overcoming. Besides, there is
 Evolution would  leave us believe that we are the chil-               no  ,God. If there be no God, there can be no sin, for
 dren  ,of apes. Is there any logical reason why we                    there is none against whom we  can sin.          This also
 should be so vastly superior to our ancestors from                    make all prayer life impossible. Hence, Evolution is
 whom we have sprung.  Then  there is no essential dif-                the destruction of all religion and morality.
 ference  between man and the monkey. Fourthly,  iS                       Evolution is the ridiculous, absurd, but also des-
 denies the Bible as the inspired Word of the living God.              perately wicked attempt of man to escape the living.
 This,  too, lies in the very nature of the case. Inasmuch             `God. He would rather descend from an ape than be
 as there is no living God who created all things and                  the product of the living God ! Of course ! He hates
sustain all things by the continuous word of  His al-                  the living God and Will therefore spare neither time
 mighty, and  omnippesent power, there cannot be a                     nor expense to read the Lord  out of the universe. God,
 Word of  ,God. Hence, we have no Divine Scripture, no                 however, is in the heavens, laughs at him, and holds
 infallible rule  or-n&m for life and conduct. What this               him in derision.  The Lord will do all His good pleas-
 implies  9ne  .can easily conjecture.  To deprive man of              ure, and all eternity will witness that He is and al-
 the Scriptures as the rule or norm for life and conduct               ways was the only true God.            -
 surely means that there is simply no norm for human                                                                     H. V.
 conduct. In the fifth place,  Evqlution denies the Lord
 Jesus Christ. The birth of Christ, we understand of
`course,  is'the Wonder of the ages. Christ is Immanuel,                            -            El
 God with  us;the eveqlasting Father, even as the living
 God, in the  second  Person  ,of the Son, assumes  our flesh
 and blood. Christ is God as He enters into our human                                Subscribers : Please Note.
 race to save us from sin and death  and lead us into                     Will you kindly refer to the subscription date op-
 everlasting glory. But the theory  6f Evolution needs
 not this Wonder of the ages. According to this godless                posite your name on this issue. If past due please  for-
 conception of the origin of mankind, salvation and de-                w+fd the subscription price as soon as possible. We
 liverance through  Divine grace is wholly unnecessary.
 This must be self-evident. Fact  is: the world is de-                 wil 1 appreciate your co-operation.
 veloping unto perfection by a force inherent in itself.                                                      THE BOARD


             3.8                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEABIZR

                                                                                difficulties that he failed to provide with
            T H
                     . R O U G H   T H E   A G E S                              grounds. Their subscribing the Confessions
                                                                               was done on that supposition.          Otherwise
                                                                            . Art. VII would be overturned' and a new
                     `The Am&an or Rizmonstrant                                ground laid for papalism, which would be un-
                                                                                endurable. If for  the sake of the quietude
                                       fjtruggle                                of the churches, their noble lords- should ap-
                                                                               prove a postponement of revision of the Con-
                    As was stated, Wtenbogaert well realized what fate         fessions until a time more opportune, that
             awaited him as his party should the struggle between              then a Formula  of Subscription be prepared
             Arminians  and Calvinists end in a Calvinist triumph.             in which  .ju&ice is done to the  Word of God
             Wtenbogaert therefore called  also his party to arms.             and  ho one pricked  iti his conscience beyond
             As we have seen,  &is first move was to arrange a meet-           what is proper."
             ing of the leading spirits of his party-a party  thz           . As ought to be clear from this rendering from my
             members of which. came to be known as  `-The  Re-             pen, the original  HollOand  text forms a bit of composi-
             monstra&." As was seen, too, it was decided to  g&e           tion rather involved  ,and therefore not easily under-
             to the Concept-Act that Wtenbogaert had. prepared             stood and correctly translated. I therefore present
             and with which he had come to the meeting, the form           also this original text. .It reads as follows:
             of a  "remonstration," and to place this  document-                  Ondergeschrevenen hebben  we1 eenige  con-
             The Five Articles of tlie Remonstrants-in  the hands              sideraties op de belijdenisschriften en ze zijn
             of  theecounsel of the States of  Hol.land.                       bereid, die bekend te  maken,  doch ze stellen op
                    In the last part of my previous article we were oc-                                                              -
                                                                               den voorgrond, dat ze ganschelijk geen  ver-
             cupied with the introduction of this famous writing.              andering in de  -religie zoeken. Revisie of  re-
           We  too& notice of the complaint of the subscribers that'           sumtie begeeren ze  doch indien Hunne  Edel-
           it voices, namely that they were being  fnlseLzJ   accused.         Mogenden oordeelen, dat een Synode Natio-.
             We appraised  this complaint in the light of the facts            nal nog niet gehouden  kan  worden of om
             and found it to be groundless.                                    andere oorzaken,  di`e Revisie of resumtie  wen-
                    Regard may now be had to the second part of the            schen op te  schorten, dat dan  tech krachtens
             introductioti:      It- reads, and I translate :                  die Resolutie, die voor christelijk,  loffelijk en
                       "The undersigned do have a few  considera-              conform  aGods Woord gehouden worde, de
  . . ,              tions bearing on the Confessions, which they              belijdenisschriften verklaard zullen zijn voor
.I .-                are also prepared to reveal, but they have                zoodanige, waarin- iets kan  bevondeti  worden,
                     need of stating first of all that they seek no            dat verbetering noodig heeft, die daarom ook
                     change in religion  (,of this they were accused           altoos examinabel zijn en censurabel zijn door
                     -0). They do desire revision or  summariza-               ,de kerken, zoodat `t elk harer  leden vrijstaat,
   :b:; .            tion (of  -*he Confessions-O), but if  accqrd-            bedenkingen in te dienen om naar  `Gods  Woord
  ..       .,- ing to the judgment of their noble lords                        te  worden onderzocht, zonder dat iemand,
                      (meaning the government-o) a national                    die zelfs een ongegronde bedenking voorstelt
                     synod at this time cannot be held  ,or if for             daarom ook maar de minste censure zal  on-
                     other reasons they desire  & postponement of              derworpen zijn.  Als zij  ,de Confessie hebben
                     revision or  suinmarization,  that then by virtue         onder,steekend,  dan is het geweest in deze  on-
                     of that resolution (to postpone revision-a                derstelling. Anders  tech zou Art. VII zijn
                     resolution) that is Christian, praiseworthy               omvergestooten en opvieuw  `een Pauselijken
                     and agreeable to the Word of  .God, and ought             grond zijn gelegd, `t welk zij achten  onver-
                     so to be regarded-the Confessions be de-                  dragelik  te zijn ! Indien hunne  Edel-Mogen-
                     clared to be a  kind of -writing wherein  spme-           den `t om de rust der kerken  goedviriden, om
                     thing can be found that  `is in the need of              ,. de Revisie tot bekwamer  gelegenhei,d  uit te
                     betterment, thus writings that therefore also             stellen, dan worde een forniulier van  onder-
                    .are always examinable and censurable by the               teegening beraamd, waarin  aan Gods Woord
                     churches so that every one of her members is              niet te kort gedaan,  noch iemand in zijn  con-
                     at liberty to submit difficulties (respecting             scientie buiten behooren  gepord worde."
                     %he doctrine of the Confessions) that must  be-          The clause modifying the word, "Resolutie," and
                     examined by  the Word of God; without anyone          reading, "die  voor Christelijk, loffelijk en conform
                    in the  least becoming censurable (on that             Gods Woord gehouden  worde," is subjunctive. The
                     acbount)  even though that one should present         thought conveyed  3herefore is. "The Resolution (to


                                         TBE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                            39

 postpone revision) is Christian and praiseworthy etc.           the need of correction, thus writings at all times cen-
 Let the government therefore so regard it  qncl resolve         surable and that therefore it be made permissable  to.
 so to do. Such is our petition."                                charge them with error without the accusers being
     ks to this statement on a whole it  b_rings  clearly        comp&led to prove with the Scriptures that' the
 into view the striving of  Wtenbogae%t and his party. It        charges are true. This verily was Wtenbogaert's  peti-
 reveals that what they-  wanted is  l&following.                tion. What it  Game down to is this: that any and ev-
    A~ational synod in full sympathy with their hereti-          eryone  in.the churches receive permission to repudiate
 cal beliefs and accordingly willing  and ready to  changa       the Confessions at will  withoust being compelled to
 the confessions into statements of these beliefs and            prove with the Scriptures that they are in error. But
 thus so to revise them that thereafter they could be            on what ground could it be right to allow anyone so to
quoted in condemnation of the hated doctrines of the             deal with the Confessions? Precisely  ori the ground
 Calvinists. .                                                   that they belong to a category of credal writings the
     This explains their now asking not merely for a             doctrines of which  are- per  se heretical. And that the
 "summarization"`of  confessions but for the "revision"          Confessions are writings of such a character is as  1%
 of these. documents.                                            tle in need of proof as the axiom that the shortest dis-
                         That precisely  is what they all
 along had desired, namely "revision" of the Confes-             tance between two points is a line. It is simply a  un.!-
 sions. It shows that  Oldenbarnevelt  was not speaking          verally admitted fact.
 the truth when previously he assured  the  Calvin.ists              Such was here the  subtle reasoning. But its fal-
 that the purpose was  noi; "revision" at all but merely         lacy is apparent. Certainly the Confessions are  fa!-
 "summarization" of the Confessions; in other words,             lible  ;  .that is, in  contradictinction to the Scriptures,
 that the purpose was not to change the Confessions,             they  maybe  as to some of their statements in error. Of
 but simply to read them through once more and there-            this the Christian church is fully  awsre  and in the
 upon affirm that they were not in need of "revision."           abstract also concedes.      I t   i s   a   t h i n g   o f   w h i c h   sh.e
 In this secret "remonstration" directed to his gov-             .tskes full account  aS  is--clear from the  la.nguage  con-
 ernment, his petition is that the  Confessio-ns  `be "rev-      tained in  thk Formula of  :Subscription  tb the effect
 ised,`) that is, changed.                                       that "if hereafter any difficulties or different senti-
    That  wiat the Remonstrants wanted is a  natiolial           ments respecting the aforesaid  doctriner should  arise
 synod ready and willing to revise, that is, change the          in  our  minds, we promise etc."
 Confessions also explains their petitioning the govern-          * However to concede wholly in the abstract that
 ment in this secret  "Remonstration"~ to. postpone  the         the Confessions may be in error is  one thing. But to af-
 calling  ,of a national synod for the revision of  &he  Con-    firm in the concrete  that they are  actxcdly  in  er?or is
 fessibns.  As' the Calvinists were still in power, their        quite another. Wtenbogaert did the latter.  He_ was
 influeiice,  it was feared, would be dominant on the            therefore in duty bound also -to prove with the Scrip-
 synod, if immediately called.  AAll that they could  ex-        tures that the Confessions are actually  in error:`; But
pect from such a synod is the condemnation of their              of this he Seems to have been willingly  ignoyant. And
 own heresies and the  re-iteratioli of the doctrines of         in this ignorance he committed the-folly of  p$$ioning
 the Calvinists. Hence, their petition that the govern-          his governinent to declare it permissible for any and
 ment wait with  .the calling of the synod  nationa!  until      all to -prefer  chargks against the Confessions, with-
 they could be certain that  they could obtain from synod        out being compelled to provide any proof. The Con-
 what was desired.                                               fessions being what they are-from  the  natuYe of
    But supposing now that the kind of synod that they           matt$rs  erroneous and on this `account always censur-
 wanted could not be held until after several years.             able' writings-this, that is, proving the charges, is
 (In fact it was not held until 9 years after the occur-         wholly unnecessary.  such was the reasoning. Such
 rence  df the events with which we are now occupied).           was the idea underlying the second part of the intro-
 Would during all these years the  Remonstrants-                 duction of the "Remonstration." It was the point to
 Wtenbogaeit and his  party:have to endure being                 the petition.
 legally bound in there preaching and teaching by the               The introduction goes  ~11 to say that such  was the
 hated Confessions of the Calvinists?' That would be             supposition on which the  Fdrmula of Subscription  wais
 insuffefable. Wtenbogaert had thought  a1s.o of this.           subscribed-the supposition,  mar& you well, that this
 In this part of his "Remonstration," it will be                 very Formula allowed its signatories  the freedom to
noticed, he had also taken care to include a petition            charge the Confession with error without being  cdm-
to the effect that his government, in case it should             pelled to  prove their charges,  8nd this on the ground
 decide  .to postpone the calling of a national synod, im-       t.hat the Confessions are  actually from the nature of
mediately declare  the Confessions to be a species of            matters always in  <error and that there can be so little
writings in which something can be -found that is it-1           doubt  about this that no one, repudiating the  Confes-

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

 sions need go to the trouble of proving it. Such is                 necessity hated also the Scriptures. But, of course,  t;j
 verily the thrust of Wtenbogaert's agreement. It is                 tie the teaching ministry to the Scriptures alone  w&s
the very thought underlying the two statements, "The                 to free it from the binding power of  -the Confessions
 Confessions be declared  to. be a species of writings in            and thus allow it to interpret the Scriptures  exactly
 which something can be found that is in need of  cor-               as it pleased. That this' was the, motive behind this
rection, thus. writing always examinable and censur-                 petitioll  and behind the whole striving  .of.  Wtenbogaeri;
 able." "No one preferring charges against tlie Confes-              and his party is plain from the new Church Order that
 sion, shall incur the censure of the church, even though            the  StatesLGeneral  had prepared in 1591. As has al-
 he  fail, to provide his charges with grounds." On this             ready been pointed out, by its elimination, of the
 supposition, according  _ to Wtenbogaert, `the Formula              phrase, "and in the articles of the Christian Faith,."
 was subscribed.                                                     the government had made  the'second baptismal ques-
       But with what a strange perversion of fact  .we               tion to read, "Whether you acknowledge the  doctrin?
 here deal.is clear from the  protiise  that the Formula             which is contained in the Old and New Testament,  and
 of Subscription elicits from those subscribing it.  111.            which is taught here in this Christian church, to be
 case they  have- any differences regarding the doctrine             the true and perfect doctrine of salvation." As  w&s
 of the  ConfesSions, these signatories promise that they            stated, not" a  w&d is here said of the Confessions.
 will reveal their differences to consistory,  classis  and                 Having revealed to. the government their senti-
 Synod. They promise moreover that, regarding their                  ments regarding the worth of the Confession as a
 difficulties, they will submit to the judgment of the               limiting instrument in the interpretation of the Scrip-
 aforesa;id  assemblies under the penalty in case of re-             tures, the "Remonstration" in its  introducion proceeds
 fusal to be, by that very act, suspended from their of-             to argue the point that the Remonstrants adhere  tc,
 fice. How can the Formula elicit. from those signing it             the  Confessionr,:more than do their opponents. The
 such' g. promise and at the same  time allow them such              a r g u m e n t   reads:
 liberties regarding the Confessions? This is not well
 possible. Yet,  accordipg to Wtenbogaert,. to challenge,                      Opd& vdorts,.  noch hunne Edel  Mogenden
 his contentions is to lay a new foundation for papalism,'                 noch,  iemand anders meene, dat er onder de
 that is, hierarchy. Thus,' according to  Wtenbbgaert:                       consideraties,  die ze hebben wat bijzonders
 to insist on the integrity of the Confession& if and  as             :      schuilt,  willen ze openbaren,  welke leerpunten
 long as it  camlot be shown that they are .in error, is              hen `t `meest in  `t. gemoed persen en  waa.r-
 hierarchy  ;  `&d likewise it is hierarchy to insist that                   over ze de meeste zwarigheid hebben. Ze
 charges  pr'Bfe&ed against the Confession must  Le                          kunnen niet toestaan, dat ze in Confessie  .of
 proved. A  stranger conception of hierarchy is not  weji                    Catechismus begrepen zijn, hoewel  and&en
 conceivable. Didn't Wtenbogaert realize that what he                        ze hen als  zoodanig  willen- opdringen` en hen.  "
 was  -asking  hiS` government to do is to  snake an end  OF                 op poene van  Kerkelijke  censuur  willen per- .:  .:.
 the  bin'ding power of the Cbnfessions and  th,ereby au-                    sen, ze te  leeren.  Zij  echter houden die leer-
 thorize the teaching ministry in the church to  iPter-,                     punten strijdig met God's Woord. Ze zijn de
 prei the scriptures as it pleased? The man  knew,what                       volgende :
 he  w&`doing. He was fully aware of the import of this                        Dat God-zoo eenigen zeggen (reference
 section of his  "Remoilstration." And he also knew  hi.s'                   here is  to Gomarus and the  supralapsarians)
 government, knew that it was just as eager as he Co                         -door een eeuwig besluit uit de menschen
 rid the churches of the hated Confessions of the Cal-                       sommigen ten  ee&&gen leven,  &deren  tel
 vinists.                                                                    eeuwigen verdoemenis heeft verordend, alleen
       `The concluding statement in this part of the "Re-                    omdat het  Hem.  alzoo geliefd heeft,  zonder
 monstration" is significant. The  stateliient is a petition                 eenige aanmerking van gerechtigheid of
 to the effect that the government  pr&id@  the churches                    ongehoorzaamheid. Dat  voorts krachtens een
 with a Formula of Subscription that gives more                              tweede besluit de uitverkoronen  noodzakelijk
 thought to the Holy Scriptures. But here, too,  Wtec-                       en onvermijdelijk  moeten  z&l&  worden en
'  bogaert was not speaking  glainly. What he  really                        niet  kunnn verloren gaan, en de verworpenen
 wanted is that his  .government draw up for the                             -zijnde  ver'het  me'esI&deel-noodzakelijk  en
 churches  .a Formula of subscription eliciting f  ram the                   onvermijdelijk  lkloeten  verdoetid  worden;
 teaching ministry a promise that  would bind it in its                        And&en  `leeren,  d&t-  .God het menschelijke.
 preaching and writings to the Holy  Sqriptures  alone                       geslacht  `we1  aangezien heeft als  ge&len in
 and, thus not to the Scriptures as interpreted in  the                      Adani en  mis'dien `de  vermaldedij.inge  weer-
 Confessions  qf the Calvinists. Not-that  it.must be sup-                   dig,`. en  besloten sommigen te verlossen en
 posed that this man's heart was aglow  ,with love  cf                       te zaligen  tot  betiijs zijner barmhartigheid,
 the Holy Scriptures.     Hating the Confessions, he  of:                    doch ook anderen zoowel jong als oud, ja                il
                                                                                 ,-


                                    T H E   STA'bD,ARD  BEARER                                                           41

 zelfs eenige gedoopte  kinderen der  bondgenob-               whose number exceeds that of the  `elect-
 ten, die in hun  kindsheid,  sterven onder den                neceasa@y and inevitably are damned.
                                                                    <I
 vloek, te laten  blijven, welk besluit genomen                "  Othe;s" teach that  ,God did indeed regard                   .
 is zonder aanmerking van  bekeering en geloof                 the human`race as fallen in Adam and in con-
 in den eene en van ongeloof en  oribekeerlijk-                .  sequence thereof  ai ill-deserving, and decreed
 heid bij .de anderen.  Diensvolgens is-volgens         .~ -. to save  soin& but`also to allow others to abide
deze leeraars--Jesus  Christus  niet  gesto?`ven               under the curse, ybung as well as old,' even
 voor  alle menschen,  kaay  alleen  voor'.de  uit-            children of covenant members, who die in
 v&korenen; werkte de Heilige  `Geest met  on-                 their infancy-and so decreed without  any
 verstaanbare  kracht in hen,  zoodai ze  zich                 respect to repentance  and- faith in the some
 moeten bekeeren en  gelooven  en zoo  nood-                   and to unbelief and impenitence in the others.
 zakelijkerwijze zalig  worden, terwijl de  ver-               In consequence thereof-according to  these
 worpenen deze genade niet ontvangen. Deze                     teachers-Jesus  Christ did not  die.for all  meii,
 worden door den geopenbaarden wille Gods                      but for the elect alone. In the latter,  accorcl-
 we1 `geroepen, genoodigd en gesmeekt tot  be-                 ing to these same teachers, the Holy Spirit is
 keering en geloof, maar de innerlijke kracht,                  operative with a power that cannot  be  re-                         .*
 daartoe noodig, wordt hun niet medegedeeld                    sist%d,`so  that they must repent and believe
 -door den  heitielijken wille Gods. Die door                   and necessarily be saved, while  :the repro-..  _
 .die onweerstaanbare kracht het waarachtig                     bated  dd not. receive this grace. By  the.  re;
 geloof  &bben ontvangen,  kunnen dit, wat                     -vealed will of  God, they are indeed called,  in-.
 grove zonden ze ook mogen  doen, niet meer                    vited and implored unto repentance and faith,
 geheel  en veer  goed verliezen,  doch ze  worden             but the necessary inward power is not  im-
 door die  onweerstaanbare kracht bewaard.                     pa&ted unto them-by God's secret will. They
    De  ondergeschrevenen kunnen niet  toes-                    who by this irresistable power have become
 taan, dat deze  punten of ook maar een enkel                   the recipients of `the  true  flaith cannot wholly
 er uit, in Confessie en Catechismus zijn                       and permanently again-lose this. gift, no mat-
 uitgedrukt, in  tegendeel-tien  vindt er  plaat-               ter how grossly  ;they may  $p, but they are
 sen in, die er tegen strijden.  Doch hoe dit zij              kept by this irresistable  ppwer.
 ze kunnen deze  puniten in geen geval houden                     The undersigned cannot grant` that  ihese
 voor conform  *God's  Woord en achten ze                       points or even some  of' them receive expres-
 onstichtelijk  en.  schadelijk.                                sion in the Confession and Catechism. On the.
                                                                contrary, passages are found in them that
As freely translated this reads:                             militate against  ,these. views. kowever this
                                                                may be, they cannot in any case hold these
    In order further that neither -their noble                  points to be -in agreement with the Word of
 lords  nor anyone else may imagine that there                  God. To  *heir  mind, they`are unedifying and
 is something strange about their considera-                    harmful. .
 tions that  cannot bear the light, they  shall re-                                                    G. M. Ophoff
 veal which points of doctrine grieve  and
 burden them most.  They cannot concede that
 these  dactrines are included in'the Confession
 an'4  Catetihism,  though others insist on  find-                                El El  El  El  El
  ing'  .them there, and  under  the, penalty of
 church discipline want to compel them to
 teach the same. They, however, hold them
 to be in conflict with the Word of God. These                                    IN MEMORIAM
 points of doctrine are the following: That            The  j Ladies Society of the  Creston.   -Protestant   Refoymed
  God-as some teach-by an eternal and un-              Church hereby expresses its heartfelt sympathy to our fellow
 changeable degree predestined from the                member, Mrs. W.  Kuiper in  .the loss of her infant daughter,
 human race  some unto everlasting life, and                         I,
                                                       ~.                       Shatina   L y n n
 others unto everlasting damnation, solely be-               May the Lord comfort her in her bereavement ,and may she
cause He so willed,  and  .without and respect         know that `He Who bath. control of .a11 things, doeth all things
 to righteousness  +nd-  disobediende.  Further        w e l l .
 that by virtue  @. a  se,cond degree the elect
 necessarily and  i-nevitably  must be saved  and                                            Rev. Lubbers, Pres.
  cannot perish,, . .  and  that the  reprobated-                                            Mrs.  J?,  Hoole,   Sec.
                                                                           `
                                                                            -.


   .42                                      THE  S T A N D A R D .   BEARER

                                                                     stated by' the angel to the Shepherds in the fields of
   F R O M   HO.LY  W R I T Ephratha ! Luke 2 : 10.
                                                                        Our second observation is, that in consequence of
                                                                     this fact it is also true  th5t Paul is not to be viewed
          Exposition of Acts 13:32,33ff                              as preaching in heathendom here, but that he stands
                                                                     and preaches to the people that knoweth the joyful
                            7 IV                                     sound! Paul stands here amongst those whom he ad-
          Lest we forget the exact text of Acts  13:32, 33 it        dresses  as, "Men and brethren, children of. the stock
   is proper, that we once more write it out in full. It             of Abraham and ye that fear  ,God."
   reads as follows:  And we  .declare unto you glad-tid-              -It is  .well`that we notice this point of departure in
   ings, how that -the promise which ZUCGS made unto the -the actual, concrete historical situation here in Antioch
   fathers, Gdd ,hath fulfilled the same unto us theb chil-          of Pisidia. It is Paul's point of departure, that he is
   d&n, in that I!e hath yaisad up Jesus again."                     not standing in the midst of the world, the -nations
          The elements in the text to which we have called           (ethnai) but that he is standing on the Sabbathday in
   atteption thus far are:                                           the midst of the people (laos) the congregation, those
                                                                     who have been shut  in' in the  ,O. T. Dispensation by the
          1. The meaning of the "Promise made-unto the               "law" unto Christ, and to whom" now the glad tidings
f a t h e r s . " ,,It was no less than the great oath-bound         of the great liberation comes.
   Promise of  `God  to- all the heirs of the Promise in
   Christ Jesus our Lord, in.  W.hom all  ,God's promises               Since this departure is lost sight of as  often as this.
   are yea and in Him Amen ! It is the Promise which                 departupe is real, it  can do no harm to notice the con-
   God fulfills and is, therefore, immutably certain.                crete historical approach of Paul here. .
          2. `The truth that God has fulfilled this Promise?            `This approach to the audience in Antioch is not at
   unto us  th.e  children of  the fathers, through raising          all one of a speaker addressing his "geachte  toe-
  .Jesus from the dead. It is  emtihatically in the resur-           hoorders !" Paul never calls his  audien& "esteemed
   rection thus we pointed -out, that God has made His               hearers  !" This audience in the Synagogue in entirely
   own Wdrd to stand and to come true. Jesus was de-                 unique.. Say Paul: And to you evangelize . . . ! It is
   livered for our offenses and was  raised for our                  exactly like the distinction made by the angel at the
   justification.                                                    open grave on the  rtisurrection morn when he says to
          3. We also called attention to the truth, that  ,God       the fearful `and amazed women at the open grave:
   has fulfilled the Promise exactly according to His                "Fear not ye . . . ! Others have reason to  f.ear, but not.
   eternal  Decrge! Thus it  was written in Psalm 2  :7 and          ye! Ye are those seeking Jesus the crucified one. And
   thus is has come to pass.  The  Dkcree stands ; God               Ye  aye those seeking Jesus the crucified one. And
   triumphs gloriously.                                              so also here  in this sermon Paul says: You are the
                                                                     singled out people to whom this glad-tidings comes.
          Such was the line in our former articles, three in         Ye are the "people,"
   number, on' this  ,Scripture passage.                                                     the laos to whom God wills that
                                                                     we bring the Word of Comfort, that  ue have received
          There remains, however,  ai important part yet in          from the  h&d of the Lord doubly for all your sins!
   the text, that we have not touched. upon in our discus-           We are Ambassadors from  Christ the  Kihg to you. It
   sion. This element too should be set forth in bold                is a particular- message  6 a particular people !
  relief.                                                               Such is the concrete approach in. the historical
          Let us attend to this element in the `text.                situation on the particular sabbath morning in  An-
          It reads: `&And   we unto  you.  gospelize -(declare       tioch of Pisidia!             -
  glad-tidings)  -that God hath fulfilled the Promise to  ZLS,
   the children."                                                       That  such is the case is evident not only from the
          It is important to notice, first of all, that- there is    "we to you evangelize. . .  ." but is corroborated, by all
  a definite and  consc_ioua  point  of  depa&uye  in the text       that Paul says in this sermon. It is the very warp  and
   in connection with this preaching of the glad-tidings.            woof of the sermon. This is so clear, on the very  stir-
   T:his point of departure is that of  eiection  as it is           fice, that it stares one in the face.
   worked out in the  elect people.  The  glad-tidings,`in  the         First of all this is clear from the invitation of the
   historical  &xt.tion,   comes to the  elect people. In other      rulers of the Synagoue to Paul and Barnabas. They
   words to express it  negatiirely : the preaching is  not          are deeply conscious, these rulers; that they are the
   Addressed to simply a people` considered as "lost                 children of the fathers. They are like the people in
   humanity," as a certain number of individuals in the              the temple to whom Anna spake of the redemption of
   whole human race  as such a gross whole, but the  glad-           Israel; the people who were awaiting with  holjr im-
   tidings is ,here to "a11 the people" as was so beautifbally       patience for the Redemption spoken of' by all the law

                                                                                                                                    .


                                           TtiE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                         4 3

     and the prophets and foreshadowed in the sacrifices                in the midst of the same people of God, the same  elect
     and ceremonies  .of the law. Thus it is also here. The             people as John, be it than in a different part of the
     leaders say: if ye have any word `of consolation  .(ex-            world. `For John preached to Israel, to the people.
     hortation) to the people  (laos)- say  on. This term               That was John's point of departure. He speaks in the
     "people" has a very definite denotation in this passage.          midst of the people  sf Israel to whom Christ must be
     It  m@ans the "people" of whom Scripture always says :            manifested publicly from heaven at His baptism!
     I will be  untd thee a God and ye shall be my people!             John       1:31.        `.
     II'  Car. 6  :16-l% It means that  (God will dwell in their            In verse 26 Paul says to the audience: Ye are  thii;
     hearts with His Spirit and grace, make His permanent              people of God. For says  .he "unto  you- is this word of
     abode in their midst, never to  leave  t.hem nor forsake          salvation sent" namely, this word of comfort and  glad-
     them, but to' live with them in Covenant faithfulness             titlings. `This tidings is not sent to all ; it is sent to
     forever. And  the request of these believing leader is:            Israel and is  preaced within the tents of Shem as it;
     have  you% word of consolation from  ,God  to this  +eople        shall also become the abiding dwelling place of the
     of  God! See verse 15. When Paul responds to this re-             sons of  .Japhet! For the Japhet of election  &all dwell
     quest to speak  to the  people, surely he will speak to           in the tents of `the  Shem of elective grace!
     them from the "law and the prophets," the  10. T.
     Scriptures that had just  b&en read in the hearing of                  Thus also we read that the  ilisciples  are the  wit-
     the  `.`.people." See Verse 15. Unto the last jot  ancl           nesse$ of Jesus to all the people.  !Says Paul in verse
     tittle Paul answers  $0 this request, only he gives far           30, 31. "But  *God raised Him from the dead. And He
more consolation than these rulers of. the Synagogue                   was seen many days of them `which come up with Him
     expected on this particular Sabbath morning. But,                 from Galilee  to Jerusalem who are His witnesses unto
     and this is our point, in so doing,  Pz$ maintains this           the people."
     point of departure  of the  ru$r: of-the Synagogue. In                 Such is the  tenOr in all of these passages.
     fact he gives a historical-survey `of the birth and  mean-             ,And Paul brings that tenor to bear in our  texl`
     iilg of the people of God ! He  shows  how the "people"           when he says: "And  we unto  you evangel&e that God
became  such a people with whom -God deals as with                     bath fulfilled the promise to you!
none other under heaven.                                                   S u c h   i s   the  p o i n t   o f   d e p a r t u r e   h e r e   i n ,   A c t s   1~3,
        And what is this?                                              which records to us Paul's sermon.
        It is simple and clearly stated by Paul: "The  `God                 To  theni: is brought the glad tidings  !.
     of-this people Israel  .elected   our fathers . .  ." Paul is
addressing  Israel here  .in the Synagoue -at Antioch of                    But why  -do they need this glad-tidings? What is
     Pisidia. They are the  peopl8.   Now they are not simply          the historical situation  ill which they find themselves?
     viezu.ed as the people. They are the people. God  iS their        Is it  liot this that  >hey  are by nature children of wrath,,
     God and they are His people ! In this solid rock-bottom           that they are in the'bondage of sin, guilt, death?  Is  ib
     of God's elective purpose  Paufs preaching  is here               not to this. guilt and death, that Paul ailudes in  whdz
achored. `Let the winds of error blow; the purpose of                  is  recordecl  in verse 38, 39 where we read  "Be it
     God  accoi*ding to  ~electi& stands. It stands in the             knotin unto  you"men and brethren, that  througll. this
conrete  historical~a~proacli  of Paul too. Let this  be               man is preached unto  you the forgiveness of sins; and
-clearly seen  ; let this be clearly seen  each Sunday  moan-,         by Him all that believe are justified from all things,
ing that the minister proclaims God's benediction  upon                from which ye  cbuld not be justified by the  law:  01
His people, the  -congregatiop of believers !                          Mgses  ?" Of course  !-
        And this same tenor is maintained throughout this                   This element of the bringing of the &ad-tidings  t.:)
passage  he?e.                                                         the people, to all the people we must understand. We
                                                                       should take careful notice of the  apbroach   to the  peo-
        I shall simply -quote them literally.                         . ple in this sermon. The  chukch is  here  addr,essed   ace
        In verse  17 we read: "God . . .  eiralted  the people,        cording to the elect remnant. She is not  addressed-
being strangers in the land of Egypt . .  ." Yes,  ,Gocl according to the unbelieving seed, but according to
exalted His elect people, a holy nation, a royal people,               the Seed. Thus she is viewed and thus she  -is  ad-
called out of  darkn&s. For this people is in Christ.                  dressed! Hence we do not read in verse 39 "if you  be-
God called His First-born Son out of Egypt!  Hosea                     lieve this is for. you," but we read "and by Him  a!l
11:l;  Matt.  2:15.
.                                                                      that believe are justified.  (en toutoipas  opisteuoon                                             -.
        In verse. 24 we read : "When John had  firs;  preach-          dikaisutai) Literally it reads: In this One  every  on12
                                                                                                                     . .
ccl before. His coming the-baptism of  repentailce   tdil              Z'ezz:eving   is  justifief  !
the people  of.Israel." John stood-in Israel, and  baptized*`- Why is the  .believing one justified, and why can
with water unto the forgiveness -of  sin?.  .P,aul stands                                '
                                 -/                                    and.  "yet  this be  announcedli


 44                                         T H E   STA-NDA'RD  B E A R E R '

       It is because  ,Gocl hath fulfilled the Promise to such      that education must itself  be- covenant instruction,
 in raising Jesus from the dead.  ifod delivered Him for            m&t itself. be rooted in the fear of the  Lord.
 our  offences and  raised Him because we were  ju&ified!              You confess that you are a Christian?
 That is the glad-tidings. God hath fulfilled the
 promise to  you. And to you children of Abraham, heirs                Then you cannot possibly deny, the necessity  df
 of. the Promise  isthis  glad-tidings.                             Christian education. You confess that your calling is
                                                                    to walk as a, separate people? Then you certainly do
       Is  thhre then no warning for the rest; For the              not consider it a  question  whether your children shall
 "rest'? that are hardened?                                         receive Christian instruction, separate  instructio!?.
       Of this we hope to say more in a following and last          You claim to be covenant parents? Then you certain-
  instalment., D. V.                                                ly acknowledge that this  matter of  -covenant  education
            ,             : . .                G. Lubbers           is not a matter for  ZJOZC to decide, but a matter that  hns
                                     :                              &en  .clecicL& for you by the living God Who  called  YOU.
                                                                       And mark you well: this is a matter of confession.
                                                                    That is far different than a matter of logic or a purely
                                   --El                "I           formal matter of the right understanding of certain
                                                                    Scriptural passages. We are not interested now in a
                                                                    mere academic discussion of the necessity of Christian
                                                  .                 education. This is the very crucial matter of our  co,r~-
                                                                    f ession as Christians.
           IN.  HIt$  F E A R                                          `And we shouid understand well that confession al-
                                                                    ways includes walk. You  cannot?of that I am cer-
                                                                    tain-with any  sound reason deny what has been said
                   Back To School                                   concerning the necessity of Ch-ristian instruction. That
                                                                    stands. It cannot be assailed. And any Reformed man
                                     (5)                            must say  Linen to it. Furthermore, what we have said
                                                                    on this score is a matter  of.  pr&tiple too. And it is a
       Frbm the  geiieral and  all-cotiprehensive  princigle        matter of fundamental  pri.ncipl&one  of the most
  of the Christian's spiritual isolation we have `arrived,          fundamental principles of the. Reformed world and
  by way of  applica$iol;,,,at  the confession of  the neces-       life view. But still  it  happens  only too  often,-and   1
  sity of Christian  educ&i&. It is the very nature  .of            speak from experience now-that a man' z$reeswi&
  God's people, through the wonder of divine grace,  that,          this principle,  grant% the  necessity of coven&it `educa-
  they  are-a covenant people, that they are of  .God's  paY'ty     tion for covenant children, yea, even enthusiastically
  in the midst of the world,  thai they  stand antithetical-        acclaims this principle, and gives expression  to his
  ly in the midst of the world that lies in darkness,  witin        wholehearted agreement, and yet turns around and  ~~
  tlie calling to  .be holy as the  h&y  *God that called  theni    opposes that  Sery principle in his walk. Mind you I
  and to proclaim the  virtues of Him Who called them               am  nc? now speaking of the  questioq of -Protestant.  Re-
  out of- darkness into His  marvellous light; and since            formed education versus the-education of the existing
' their calling is exactly that they live in the midst of           Christian Schools  ; that too, `I am convinced, is gov-
  the world, in every sphere of life, out of the  princip!e         erned by this same rule. But I have seen it,  that.thi.s
  oi regeneration, so that their entire life is ruled by  t&e       principle' is maintained and  ,that  `parents  still  d.are to
  spiritual principle of the new life; and since the  sph$%         send their children to the public  schodl. And how sad
  of education is one  department.of  theill!li$e  :. it follows    .asightthatis!                 ..:
  that  also this sphere of education must  be;  ruled by
  this principle of spiritual separation, and must there-               0, you know' the'excuses. The  Christian School  is
  fore be in harmony with God's Work.  We..found,  how-             too distant. The  .Christian  School is to6 expensive.
  ever, also that this same conclusion  td  the necessity of        The difference isn't worthwhile  ip view of the cost.
  Christian education follows from this principle of                   But understand this matter well.  Alid I include
  spiritual isolation from another viewpoint, namely,               myself and all present supporters of Christian educa-
  that of the preparation of the educand for a  cbvenant            tion, as well as those who walk  cont&aiy  to  this  ,rule.
  life in the midst of the -world. Education must pre-              `This principle of the fear of the Lord runs roughshod
  pare for life.. And, in the case of covenant children,            -as the principles of `the fear of the Lord  da' always .
  it must prepare them for a life out of the principle of           -oSer any practical objection which you may raise.
  God's calling. Hence, it lies  iti the very nature of the         You have  no money ? The rule stands: covenant in-
  case that if the education of our  children.is to achieve         struction for covenant children. You live to far away?
  its  purpos&preparation  for  tie `life of the  covenant--        Gc$ls truth stands: covenant instruction  or nothing.


                                         T H E -   STA.NDARlx  B E A R E R                                                45

 You are dissatisfied with- the' `existing  Clhristian          tian, and also in that same sense  Refdrmed. In the
 Schools? The Word still echoes and resounds: be ye             third place, when the actual product of the existing
 separate ! To be sure, it  may take time  an`d  effort to      schools is compared with the fruit of the  pitblic school,
 implement this decision. Christian Schools do  ilot            one cannot choose in favor of the latter.  it is for  th&e
 simply mushroom out of the' ground. But to assent to           reasons especially that as long as  any group of Pro-.
 this principle, and at  the same time to sit  lethargicaliy    testant Reformed parents has not established its  ow11
 and inactively by, or rather to actively oppose it by -scho&they may not countenance the practice of pass-
 supporting arid making use of the public school, is            ing by the existing Christian schools in favor of the
 wrong. This is sin! Sin against `the  living-God ! And         public school.  And  we.submit that our parents should
 we may not walk in. sin!                                       be very careful in this matter, lest not only they them-
         Hence, to the extent  that this evil is prevalent      selves but also and especially their children grow  t6 be
 among us, it  -must be put away. To the extent that            historically disconnected from the Christian education
 this principle is  n6t practiced among us,  l&t us be          movement. It is not at all inconceivable that a  g.enera-.
 admonished to conform our practice to the principles           tion grows up that has no heart at all for Christian
 of. God's Word. To the extent that our  ppactice of sup-       education, if  we.are careless in this respect.
 porting Christian instruction is nof governed really               Nevertheless, our aim should be Protestant. Re-
 and truly by this principle of  covenant education for         formed education for Protestant Reformed children..
 covenant children, let us  eiramine our principles and         Vqrious arguments have been adduced for this position
 learn spiritually to understand this divine necessity of' in. past years. Many and various faults have been
 Christian education. And let us for  *God's  sake learn        fopnd in the existing Christian schools. They have
 to give our all in the cause of His covenant.                  been protested by individuals as well as consistories.
                                                                Cooperation has been long and frequently attempted.
 B;zLt  h o w ?                                                 But certain facts remain-facts which  cc priori doom
         The above, as we have intimated already, is  ,the      all such cooperation to failure, granted that both (or
 only question you and I may ever ask. How shall we             all)  gioups in these cooperative Christian schools
 go about fulfilling our  cal,ling?  How shall we put into      stand their doctrinal ground.
 practice what we confess, namely, that a Christian                 In the first place, it cannot be  gainsaid that Chris-
 education is a divine necessity for our  child.&?  How         tian Reformed parents, by virtue of their holding the
 shall we provide our children with the proper spirit&l         majority, have control of the existing  -scho&  We have
 and mental food?                                               no  Iquarrel with them about this matter, for the simple
         In terms of the  queston which we asked some. time     reason that we  h&e no quarrel  .on the score of  decisiim
 %go, as to the three theoretical possibilities in the edu-     by majority vote. We merely state a fact.
 cation of our children, we must. now choose between                In the second. place, these Christian  Reform(td. par-
 the second and third possibilities,  i.e:,  the.  existing     ents who -control the existing' schools are committed
 Christan School and the Protestant Reformed Chris-             to the doctrine of common  grace as expressed in the
 tian  School. The first, the public school, has been           Thr& Points of 1924, as well  as to the error of general
 ruled out. It cannot provide our children with the             grace expressed in the same doctrinal utterances of
 right food. And the attempt to Christianize the public         1924.
 school not only is practically impossible as well as in            In the third place,  it is the position of-Protestant
 many places contrary to the law of the land, but it is         Rsformed  parents that as soon as you make grace com-
 at the same time contrary  td our calling  as  <God's peo-     mon in any-sense of the word, you have done violence
 ple.                                                           to  the.very basis of the principle of Christian isola-
         Hence, it remains to determine in the sphere of        tion. Make divine grace  .common, and you necessarily
 Christian education generally, what our calling is as          replace  .the antithesis by synthesis, isolation by
 Protestant Reformed Christians. Is  it our calling be-         amalgamation.
 fore God to establish and maintain our own schools?              Because of these facts-and we need not resort to
 That is  after all the'question. Answer it, and  you.have      the sophistry-that these doctrinal differences are con-
the whole matter solved fundamentally.                          fined  to  the-cL&ches as institutes- we differ  radical!y
         Now, however, the application of the principle of      and  principally as to. the very basis of Christian edu-
 Christian. isolation assumes a somewhat different              cation. And because -of this radical.  and principal dif-
 aspect. For it-cannot be denied;  in the first place, that     ference, any cooperation  must needs be but very super-
 the existing Christian schools stand historically and, ficial or it involves a sacrifice of principles by one or
 formally in the line of the Christian school movement.         both parties.
 Secondly, we would not attempt to  deny that in the gen- .        To  sta$e  $he matter positively, when the principle
c  era1 -sense of the term the  exia@g schools  are Chris-      of the antithesis is  tipplied  strictly and properly to the


        4     6                                   T H E   ST'ANDAR~D   - B E A R E R .

        sphere of  `educ&ion,  we, as Protestant Reformed peo-
        ple, who claim that  .we have adhered to that principle                     De  Komst Des  Konin&  "  "
        while others have departed therefrom, necessarily  ar-
        rive at the conclusion that the only way in which we                           Ik zeg  U, in dien  nacht  zullen  twee op  eel?. bed
        can ever have schools purely based upon this rule of                         zijn: de een zal  aangen,omen  en de ander zal  vel-
        Christian isolation is to have our own schools. And,                         laten worden.  Twee vrouwen zullen tezamen malen:
        by "our own" schools we understand not simply  sep-                          de eene zal aangenomen, en de andere zal verlaten
        arate schools. We may not and should not separate                            worden.   Timee  zullen op den akker iijn: de een zal
        merely for the sake of  .separation or merely in order  _                    aangenomen en de ander  zal.  verlaten   worden.  En
                                                                                     zij  antwoordden  en zeiden tot Hem: Waar Heere?
        to put the name Protes@nt Refomned Chris&m School                            En Hij zeide tot hen:  Wa&r het lichaam is, aldaar
        over'the entrance  pf a building. But the education                         zullen de arenden vergaderd worden".
        given in those schools must be such that it applies  the.                                                          Lucas 17 :34-37
        principle which we have  ,delineated  in these articles  to         Het  v&band van onze  tekstwoord& begint bij het
        the entire curriculum. On any other basis the name               twintigste vers. In het verhandelde hebben we  eigen-
        Protestant Reformed School is a hollow sound.                    lijk twee  gesprckken  van Jezus, het  eene met de  Fari-
                                                       *-                zegrs en het  aandere- met de discipelen. En onze tekst
        Cai to action.                                                  . is de praktische toepassing van Jezus' woorden tot
       .. And once more, when we view ourselves in the                   Zijne discipelen. Het groote  `thema van beide  gesprek-
        light of these facts; there is much to, be done. True,           ken is de komst van het Koninkrijk  ,Gods. Jezus
(/      a beginning has at long last been made. In our eastern beantwoordt  `een vraag der  FarizeGrs: Wanneer komt
       ~ churches, the movement for Protestant Reformed  edn-            dat Koninkrijk? Maar zij bedoelen het uitwendiglijk.
        cation appears to be on solid  footing now. And there  Jezus' antwoord tot hen komt hier op neer: Her;
      Y  ire outposts of the movement in the  -midwest  (Edger-          Koninkrijk Gods is onzichtbaar en geestelijk. Dan
        ton) and the far west (Redlands).  B@ it is  ,to me an           keert Jezus  Zich tot Zijne  discipelen en verklaart hen
       amazing thing that a Protestant Reformed  congrega-               de eindelijke komst en  ,openbaring des Koninkrijks.
        tion can exist for twenty or twenty-five years without           Ze zullen  v66r  dikn tijd verlangen  naar hun Koning
        the slighest spark of zeal for truly Christian  educa- en Hem niet zien. Velen zullen hen  willen verleiden:
        tion. In spite of every practical. consideration that can        Past op! Als de Koning komt zullen ze niet behoeven
 1      be rallied  in opposition, our Protestant Reformed  peo-         te twijfelen : hier ? of daar ? Maar  als een bliksemflits
        ple should all, without exception, be on fire With zeal          in  .den  h&me1 zal Hij komen en ze zullen het  otimidde-
        for this principle of distinctive covenant education.            lijk  weten.  Doch eerst moet de Zoon des menschen
        And sad to say, one can only too often, conclude that            lijden en verworpen  worden door de menschen.  Doch
        this  .zeal is absent, for real principle will surely            de  toestand  der wereld zal zijn. gelijk  als in de dagen
        triumph at all  co&s.  We are stricken with a terrible           van  Noach en de  dagen van Lot. Daarom:  gedenkt
        lethargy in regard to this matter of education. We  bf           aan de vrouw van Lot;. en: zoowie  zijn  leven zal  lief-
        all people  have a heritage in which  we may rejoice,  c,f       hebben zal  -bet verliezen,  doch zo wie zijn leven  zal
        which  by  God's  grace  we may  glory.  We  may  and  do        .verliezen, die zal `t in het leven  behouden. De wet des
        Say: Here is the true Reformed line ; this is Reformed Koninkrijks.
        principle ; this is Calvinism ; this is truth, the pure              Nu dan, de  pqrsoonlijke toepassing voor de  dis-
        truth of  the"~Word of  `God!                                    cipelen,  en, ook voor ons, hebben we in de woorden van
             And yet we are inactive., be it said to our shame.          onzen tekst. We  willen wat zeggen over de komst des
             And let  him that reads take  warning,ivarning,             Konings. Eerst, hoe Hij de menschheid  zal vinden  ;
        lest indeed a generation arise which can no  mdre be             dan, hoe Hij de menschheid  ial schiften; en, eindelijk,
        roused by a love of this  printiiple  of the fear of the         in welk  teeken de menschheid zal  staan.
       Lord, and in which no warm hearts can be found for                    Eerst  -dan hoe Hij de  -.menschheid  zal vinden.  0~
        the cause of  cotienant education! It is high time for           het bed, in den molen en op de akker. Daar hebben we
       - action!                                                         drie terreinen  des  levens : het intieme huiselijke leven,
                                                 H .   C .   Hi>eksetia het fabriekswezen, en het boerenbedrijf. Het volle
                                                                         leven der aarde wordt ons hier geschetst. Het ziet  op
                                El  .la  El  El  El                      alleg dat in  verband  staat  met deze drie gegevens.
                                                                         Alle activiteit,  alle werk en pleizier en rust  d&s levens
                                                                         .des menschen wordt  ons hier  vorgesteld.<  Eh let er  nu
              Here perfect  bliss can  ne'er-be  found ;                 op, dat  alles zijn gewonen gang zal gaan. Men zal
                    The honey's mixed with gall;                         eten,  drinken, ten huwelijk geven en nemen, koopen,
              `Midst changing scenes and dying friends,                  v e r k o o p e n ,   planten  e n   bouwen  e n   werken  t o t d a t
                    Be thou my all in all,                               J,ezus zal komen op de wolken des hemels.  Er zal pen
                        ._                                         _
                                  D


                                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARBB                                   _                      47

  wanorde zijn.  `Dit is dikwijls de gedachte bij sommige                    tekst `heeft  seen ernstige vermaning voor `de kerk van .
  Bijbelverklaarders aangaande de  oucle wereld en de                        bet  heden. 0 zeker, het  kleine beginsel der  gehoorzaarn-
  wereld van Sodom en Gomorrah; en ook hun  ver-                             heid is  ,er, en  bet zal  er blijven tot op  clen laatsten
  wachting van het  doen en laten der menschheid bij het                     dag. Maar  bet is niet meer de bloeitijd  cler  kerk  vau
  komen van Jezus. Maar zoo schildert het de  Schrift                        Christus. Er is  -verslapping en achteruitgang en  meer
  met. Het zal alles  ordelijk zijn gang gaan onder de                       ep meer  is'er het pogen om cle lijnen te verdoezelen, de
 menschen. Zoo was het ten  .tijde van Noach- en van                         lijnen die door God zelf  getrokken werclen, en die
 . Lot, en zoo zal  bet  -oak zijn ten  tijde van den  jongsten              scheicling  maken tusschen  kerk en werelcl. Geve God
  dag;  Er  z a l   e e n   verschrikkelijke  o r d e   zijn  i n   h e t    genade tot  bezinning en terugkeer.
  gewone wereldgebeuren. Verschrikkelijk, want de                                Maar  er zal  clan  tech een einde komen  aan al die
  bovengenoemde arbeid zal dan ook alles zijn wat de                         eenheid van streven. De Koning zal komen, en Hij
  mensch  doen zal. En  tot- op een zekere hoogte zal de                     zal de  menschheicl  schiften. Die' eerdere eenheid zal
  kerk meedoen. Daarom zeiden we  dat het een  ver-                          plotseling een  einde namen. En zal weer terugvallen
  schrikkelijke orde zal zijn. Twee op  e&r bed.; twee in                    in een tweeheid.  !Aan het eerste begin der historie
  een molen;  ,en twee op  e&z  akker. Vanuit een zeker                      heeft God gezegd tegen de duivel:  Ik zal  vijandschap
  oogpunt kan. het niet anders. Wij zijn in.de wereld en                     zetten tusschen  u en tusschen deze vrouw, en tusschen
  tot op zekere hoogte  moeten we met de wereld mee.                         uw zaad en haar zaad ! Welnu, die verdeeling zal een
  We zijn niet  voor het kloosterleven der middeleeuwen.                     vrucht hebben En we zullen het verdeelen der mensch-
  Dsat was verkeerd.  Paulus zeide immers, dat we  011s                      heid duidelijk zien  aan het einde der eeuwen. God zal
 .niet geheel en al kunnen afzonderen van de wereld: .aan  bet einde der eeuwen de  harten der aard-beweners
  anders zouden we uit de wereld  moeten gaan.' En dat zien en doorzien. En Hij ziet de twee geheel  verschil-
  kan niet en  mag  niet., Maar we  moeten niet  vergeten lende`beginsels des  harten der menschen. En naar  clie
  de woorden die Jezus eens  vragend uitsprak: Als de                        twee beginselen zal Hij het menschdom schiften en in
  Zoon des Menschen zal komen,  zal. Hij geloof vinden                       tweeen  doen uitgaan. En Hij zal dat feilloos  cloen op
  op de aarde?  D,aarom is er iets  verschrikkelijks in                      bet bed, in, den molen en op den  ,akker. We spraken
  den tekst. Het zal schijnen alsof de gansche mensch-                       van twee beginselen des  harten. Bij den een is het `t
  heid, verkorenen en verworpenen, zal leven uit slechts                     beginsel van de  haat Gods, en  bij. den ander is het de
  een beginsel. En dat is  verschrikkelijk. Ik denk, dat                     Iiefde Gods. Men mag  spreken en  discussieeren  zooveel
aan het einde der wereld het kleine beginsel  cler men  .wilt, dit blijft vast staan als een rots: er  iiju
  nieuwe gehoorzaamheid uitermate klein zal zijn. .  Ik                      slechts twee beginselen in de menschheid, en die twee
  denk, dat bet slordige leven van Lot iets te zeggen                        beginselen zijn de  haat Gods en de liefde  Gods.vEn gij
  heeft aangaande den  geestel'ijken   toestand der Kerk                     wordt  beheerscht door het eene beginsel of door het
  aan het einde der eeuwen. We  kunnen  bet reeds zien in                    andere. Een middenweg is er niet En is er nooit
  onze dagen. De groote zonde van onze eeuw is wereld-                       geweest. Ge zijt binnen of buiten het  Koninkrijk Gods.
  gelijkvormigheid.         Van voorlang heeft God gezegd:                   Er bestaan  geen  halfslachtige menschen. Er is  ab-
' lsrael dan  zal. zeker  n&en  wonen. En  Paulus  roept `soluut geen neutraliteit tegenover  `God. Ge behoort bij
  de Kerk van het Nieuwe Testament toe :  `Trekt  niet een                   de slagorde Israels  ,of ge behoort bij de slagorde  vau
  ander juk  aan met de ongeloovigen! En  leest ook de                       Satan. En  daarom: de  schifting gaat dwars door de
  verdere verzen daar in  I1 Cor. 6  :i4-16. En na bijna                     wereld  heen, en door middel van die  schifting zal hec
  twee duizend  jaren is het er  niet op vooruit gegaan.                     uiteindelijk  oak openbaar  worden of ge ter  rechter-
  Meer. en meer  aapt de kerk de wereld na. En  ,doet men                    dan ter linkerzijde van den troon komt te staan.
  zijn werk te zamen. En we herhalen het: tot op                                 D,at wordt openbaar in den tekst. Sommige  zullen
  zekere hoogte moet dat, en kan men  zich niet geheel                       aangenomen  worden. Voor  .het woord : aangenomen,
  en al afscheiden van de wereld. Maar  clat is  bet punt                    heeft het Grieksch een samengesteld werkwoord. Het
  met. Er is een samengaan met de wereld dat door                            bestaat uit een woord, dat zeer dichte nabijheicl
  Gods Woord  gebsandmerkt wordt als groote zoncle.                          beduidt, en het andere woord beteekent nemen. God zal
  Daar speelt men met de `wereld en danst met de wereld.                     sommige  mensch.en als `t ware opnemen in Zijn  armen
  Men gaat naar de theaters met de wereld en verbindt                        en  aan Zijn borst  drukken. De Koning zal sommige
  zich met haar `op allerlei gebied. En dat wordt  clan                      men&hen zeer dicht naar  Zich toenemen.                 Aan  d e
  goedgepraat door de dwaze philosophie van een  alge-                       andere zijde wordt ook een samengesteld werkwoorcl
  meen terrein waar het kind van God en het kind  Satans                     gebruikt, en het beteekent  juist het tegenovergestelde :
  arm en arm wandelen. Maar  al. zulk  doen wordt door                       God zal sommige menschen beetnemen en van  Zich
  Go-d gevloekt en vervloekt. Er is immers geen  samen-                      wegdoen. Hij zal andere menschen verstooten.  Nu
  st.emming  tusscen  Christus  en  .Belial? En  .wordt de                   moeten  w e   we1  ~verstaan,   d a t   d e z e   schifting  cler .
  kerk van  Christus  oorzaak, dat  haar, reine  kleeding                    menscheid niet naar  willekeur is. De diepste grond is
  bevuild wordt met den modder van Sodom. 0, onze                            het welbehagen Gods. Hij past  ens om hier zeer  voor-


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           48  ;                     -___           T      H     E             STA-NDARD   BEAR-ER~P~   -_  -
                                                                                           .
           zichtig te zijn. En  tech we mogen  er  we1 wat van                          Sommiged  zeggen, dat dit . beeld,  cloor Jezus
 ~- zeggen, want  ,God heeft het  -ens immers geopenbaard.                           gebruikt, ziet op Jezus' -lichaam, en  dair  bet  c100c1~
           En  zoo-spreekt Gods  -W,oord van Zijn eeuwigen  raacl;                   lichaam van Jezus als lokaas  cler geestelijke arenden
           Vooral Efeze 1 spreekt van  dienraacl. En  oak  Romei-                    die  zich alsdan  zullen vergasten op dat  lichaam  i-n.
           nen 8 en 9 spreken van dien Raad des  welbehagens;.                       ,geestelijken zin  genomen Dit is geheel en al verkeerd.
           `In dien  raad heeft God  alles. besloten wat in den, tijd E n   bij  .het  l e z e n   e r v a n   gruwt  m e n .   I n   d e   eerste
     geschieden  ZOLI,  niets  ,buitengesloten. En in  bet hart                      plaats  beteekent  het  `woord, dat  voor lichaam  gebruilif:
           van dien raacl  staat het beelcl van  Zijn-Zpon-  den                     wordt,  een  rottend, stank  verspreidend lichaam,  c1.w.z.
      oudsten broeder  cler uitverkorenen.  ,Ge moogt  zelfs                         als' het  gebruikt wordt met het woord dat  hiervertaald
           zeggen, dat Jezus de Uitverkorene is bij uitnemendheid.                   wordt door arenden. Evenwel de vertaling  arend  is
           De Raad Gods. spreekt van verkiezing  coijrdinaat                         niet juist hier.  ~ Het zijn geen arenden die tot het
e            n            -van
                            verwerping.     En die twee  - grootheden,               lichaam vergaderd  worden, maar het woord  beteekent,
           geopenbaarde grootheden,  zijn niet  coord-inaat   maar                   de  gieren  die,zich vergasten  -op het  .doode  aas. En zoo
           subordinaat. Het is onze  -bedoeling..niet  om hierop in                  is het beeld zeer duidelijk. De Heere karakteriseert de
           .te gaan tot de kleinste  bizonderheden.             Maar  tvat           .wereld van den laatsten dag. Die .wereld zal gelijk
     moesten we  tech  zeggen- van den achtergrond der                               zijn  aan een  rottend lichaam, dat de eindelijke  vrucht.
           schifting,  der menschheid.  Nn  dan die  aangenomen- der vuile zonde  zal. openbaren. En zoo zal het zijn in
           worden zijn de verkorenen  -en die verlaten  worden                       de laatste dagen. De zondaar  .zal dan in Anti-Christ
           zijn de verworpenen. En in de menschheid  worden cle                      in den tempel Gods zitten en zeggen, dat hij  ,G.od  is"en
,-verkiezing en de verwerping duidelijk openbaar. Dat                                niemand meer. En het  .geheele menschdom zal  uitge-
.  `.! zit zoo. Van nature openbaart de menschheid  niet  dan                        broken zijn in allerlei openbaring van zonde on
           de.  haat  ,Gods.  Dat  i s   bet. grondbeginsel van elk                  boosheid.   l&-i vanuit `die rottende wereld zal God Zija
           menschenkind. De. menschen zijn  God-hatend en                            volk nemen en brengen in ongekende zaligheid. En
           ,elkander  -liatend.  En tezamen zijn  ze op., weg naar cle               dan zal Hij`zijn Engelen gebieden  om dat lokaas der
           verdoemenis.  Doch  ,God  grijpt de uitverkorenen  aa-n in                rottende wereld te nemen en weg te werpen in  eeuwi-
           bet hart, en  wederbaart  hen.. Dat is puur en  $simvJel                  ge yerdoemenis.
           het  werk Gods, en  .;de  mensch is daarin  geheel en al                      Ernstige  w.oorden, mijne  geliefde`.vrienden !
     . passief.  Doch  -de Heilige  Geest.  biijft  bij zulk een -                       Ze behoeven bijkans  .geen  toepassing.   ' Ik denk ge'
           mensch wien het  .mag gebeuren. En- dan  .zorgt God                       hebt de toepassing zelf gemaakt. De  .eindelijke dag is
           dat  die  verkorene menschen bij het Woord komen.  E;i                    er nog niet. Hoe lang de Heere zal  toeven  weten we
           door  ,Geest en Woord  wordt  mhet  .openbaar dat zij  dooi               niet.  Maar die eenigzins  `op de  hoogte is met Gods
           God  opgezocht  zijn.  Zij ontvingen de `gave van het                     Woord ter eener  zij.de, en; ter  anderer  zijd,e, ziet op cle
           geloof van Jezus, en dat maakt al het  verschil  tusschen                 ontwikkeling der zonde rondom  ens; die zal  toestem-
           menschen en  menschen. Welnu,  als God komt  aan  hei;. .men, dat we in het laatste der dagen  -zijn. En  daarom
           einde der eeuwen, dan zal Hij bet menschdom  schiften                     komt de vermaning-met te grooter nadruk tot ons  OIL
           naar Zijn Eigen  we& in hen. Al die gelobf  hebben wien de laatste der  eeuw,en gekomen is: Gaat uit het
            worden  .aangenomen en die  zonder geloof zijn zullen                    midden van  haar, mijn volk, opdat-gij  aan hare  zondcn
           verstoten  worden. En  daf  .voor eeuwig.                                 geen.  gemeenschan hebt, en opdat gij van hare  plagen
                  Nu rest ons nog  66ne vraag: in welk  teeken zal. de               niet ontvangt. Of luistert naar  .Jezus eigen woorden
           wereld staan  aan het- einde der eeuwen?                   E n   h e t    in  bet verband'van mijn tekst: Gedenkt  aan  d'e  vrouw
           antwoord  wordt in den tekst gegeven.                 Waar  bet           v a n   L o t !
           hchaam is, aldaar  zullen  ,de arenden vergaderd  worden.                     Laat ons onze kleederen  `-rein houden van de  be-
            Dat  .is het antwoord op de vraag.  ,Ge -gevoelt *direct                 zoedeling der zonde, en wandelen in de heiligmaking
           dat we hier te-  doen hebbenmet beeldspraak:                              zonder dewelke niemand den-  H,eere zien zal ! Hij-  geve.
                  Ziet ge, de vraag. is : is h-et  teeken,  van de komst             het door Zijne genade  aan U en  aan  mij.-
           van  Christus  een  teeken van aanneming  ,of van  ver-                                                                        G   V o s
      - werping?  Watzal het  kenmerkende zijn  aan het  -einde
           der tijden? En dan  merken.we direct op uit de beelcl-                                    /
           spraak, dat de wereld zal staan in een vreeslijk  teeken.                                       ~-m-e  .t.
           Net eender  `als  ,het  teeken  .waarin- de  eerste wereld
           stond, en ook  hetteeken van Sodom. De oude wereld                                                                  _
     stond in het  teeken  van. verdrinking. Sodom stond in                                     My sins and faults of  yo.uth,
           bet  teeken.van  verbranding. En  onze-wereld  zal,  staan                           Let them forgotten be,
            in het  teekeen van verderving,  vkr,slinding,  eooals de                           And for Thy tender mercies' sake,
            roofvogels  bet- rottende  lichasm verslindem.
                                     .  _ .                                                     0 Lord, remember me.
                                     _  _. . .
                                    .~.-                                                                                                         r
                                                                                                                                    _-


