    VOLUME   X      X V I I 1                   APRIL   1,  1952   -  GRAND   RAPIDS,  MICHIGAN                    NUMBER   13

                                                                       glo?ious  coming unto salvation. `They saw i,t all as a
            `&I E D I T A-T  I[' 0  N,                                 single moment, without realizing that some ttio thou-
                                                                       sand years would elapse before that, coming was com-
                                                                  4 pleted.  -We might compare them to a  traveller ap-
              Appeahlg  unto Salvation                                 proaching a mountain  range that looms up in the
                                                                       distance b?fore him. He sees the various snow-capped
                  "And unto them that look  fo? Him shall He ap-       peaks, one towering ab.ove the other, but they all seem
             pear the second time without sin unto salvation."         to make up -one solid'formation, without a break any-.
                                                -Hebrews 9  :28b.      where. c He may wonder liow anyone ever scaled that
    "Yet a little while, and He that shall come will                   range, qr managed to find a pass through it. Yet as
 come, and will not tarry." `That Word of God comes to he proceeds on his way, the pass opens up before him
 us with greater. emphasis  to&y than ever before.                     and he `soon firids himself `in a series of mountains
    The end of all things is at hand.                                  with canyons and broad expanses of valleys separating
    It' is the last hour.                                              them. He travels many miles before he has left be-
   All the signs point to the fact that it has already hind that last towering -peak that  skemed so  neal
 grown very late in thiB last hour. The voice of Jesus, when he first saw it. So also the prophets of old saw
 declares louder than eve?;...`,ehold,  I come quickly." the whole new dispensation as one gyeat event in the
 He is hastening to come.'                                             unfolding of the counsel of IGod. They saw the com-
                                                                       ing of Christ as one great work of salvation, beginning
    "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." And                     wit4 the incarnation and reaclfing  its culmination in
 lie that has eyes to see, let him regard the signs of the             the day of judgment.
Ximes. .
    We are accustomed to speak of a twofold con&g                                                  *  32  a A
 of Christ, a first and a second coming. Scripture alsd
 refers to the birth, of Christ and. His dwelling among
 us, with its accompanying suffering and death, as a                        This places us, as church, of the new dispensation:
 first coming. And it refers to  .His r&urn with the -in a very peculiar position. We are living right in th6
 clouds of the heavens as. a see& coming.                              midst of the coming of -the Son of Man. IOn the one
    It is interesting to note that the prophets of the                 hand, we look back and see the fulfillment of prophecy
                                                                       in the birth of Jesus Christ from the virgin. On the
 Old Dispensation spoke of but one coming of Christ.                   other hand, we look ahead into the not too distant
,They  i&luded in that coming  -His incarnation, His                   future, awaiting His final coming with the " clouds.
 death on the cross, hilt also His final coming in judg-               Ours are the last days.
ment. `However, this does not mean  thtit they were
 mistaken on that &ore. It cannot possibly mean that                       Upon us has come the end of  the ages. And the
 the Holy Spirit, Who spoke to them of the sufferings                  time is short.                                             <I
 of Christ and thlk glories that would follow,~ had de-                     Christ came once.
 ceived them. God is not a man that He should lie.                         He is coming again.
 When the Spirit spoke to the prophets of the com-                       He  shail appear a second time to those  iwho wait  -
 ing of the Son of Man, He displayed before their won-                 for Him unto salvatioil.
 dering gaze the broad panorama of. the future as one                       The text speaks of Christ coming as-an appearance.


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 We saw Him for a period of some thirty-three years          assured by the angel that stood among them at that
while He fulfilled His ministry among us, and then we        moment, that this same Jesus that was taken ufi from
 saw Him no Tore. He is no more among us. But He             them into heaven, "shall so come in like manner".
will return, and we `shall see Him again, never to be           We saw Him once, and we see Him noymore  among
 s e p a r a t e d   from  H i n i .   '  -                  us. Yet we shall see Him again, for He is coming a
     Emphasis must necessarily' fall on the fact, that       second time.
 it is Christ Whose appearance we anticipate. He is              The next major event we expect on God's calendar
 the Son of God, Who took on our flesh from the virgin       is that the Son of Man is coming with the clouds OS
Mary.  ,Of Him the Scriptures say that "the Word the heavens.
 became flesh and dwelt-  amolig us, and we beheld His           Behold, I come quickly.
glory, the glory .of the `Only begotten of the Father,                                                   m
full of grace and truth." It is true, that not all who                             *  *  a  a
saw the man Jesus saw Him as the Sori of `God. But              Appearing unto salvation.
neither could they ignore Him, or fail to pass judg-            `Christ will appkar a second time unto salvation.
ment upon Him. Many heard Him speak, and .mar-                  This could not possibly be taken to mean that .this
 velled at. His words, yet soon turned away in scorl;.       is the specific purpose of His coming in  distinction
Many saw His miracles and were impressed, but +t #from His first, implying that His first coming was
the s&me time they hated Him in the blindness of un-         not unto salvation. That cannot be -the c&se, for all
belief. Even His own,brothers did not believe on Him         that Jesus ever is and does is unto salvation. His very
for some time. The Scribes and Pharisees called Him          name Jesus implies this. Jesus means Jehovah sal-
a glutton and wine-bibber. They branded Him as a             vation or Savior. He is Jesus-Savior when He comes
blasphemer, because He called Himself the  :Son of           into our flesh, and lies in the manger. He is Jesus in
God. They condemned Him to death as a criminal un-           His public ministry, Jesus in His suffering and death,
fit for human society. They cast their resentment #Jestis in His resurrection alid ascension, Jesus as our
in His teeth, even while He hung, on the cross. But          exalted Lord at the right .hand of power and glory.
there were others &ho sziw Him with ali eye of faith         He is Jesus when He comes to judge the living and the
and confessed that He was the <Christ, the Son of the        dead. In all that He does He is, always carrying Out
Living God. By special revelation, the wise men knew the' divine program of salvation. He saved His .peopie
Him, alsd the shepherds, and Simeon and Anna, they from their  silis.
all  tiorshipped before Him. Peter confessed as the          The contrast between His  first and second com-
spokesma;n for the other disciples: "Thou hast the ing is brdught out in the-ph&se  `without sin.' The
words  of eternal  life." `And after the resurrection text states ihat He will .appear airithout sin unto Sal.-
Thomas addresses Him as, "My Lord and my ,God."             vation.    This implies fhat His first coming was `with
                          *,*  *  *                          sin. He appeared the first time with sin unto salva-
                                                             tion. When we see Him again, it will be without sin.
    He appeared once.                                           To say that Jesus appeared with sin  does not mean,
    Concerning this appearance the apostle John writes       of course, that Jesus was a sinner, even as we are.
in his epistle, that He is the word of life, "which we       That would be coat&y to all the Scriptures, which
have hea:d, which we have seen with our eyes, which          teach the every opposite. .He knew no sin. He was
we have looked upon, and our hands have handled." `like unto us in all things, sin excluded. All His life
He. revealed Himself as the Son of God  iin mighty He walked among sinful men without  pkrticipating
words and works. He did even more. He wilfully               with them in their sins. Repeatedly He was tempter1
took upon Himself the wrath `of God against sin, and         of  Satan,~ yet He  nevei`fell  into temptation. At the
gave Kilnself unto the accursed death of the cross. He `close of His life He could challenge the whole world
committed His body to death and the grave. And He            with the demand: "W-ho of you accuses Me of sin?"
arose again on the third day as complete Victor over And the whole world certainly joined together as one
s$z and death. For a period-of forty days He made man in a last sicious; yet futile attempt to accuse Him.
His appearances unto Him disciples to reveal to them         How dil!gently.  Annas sought to find some charge a-
the glory of His resurrection. And then He did not           gainst Him. How vainly the Sanhedrin wrestled to
-merely  disappear from view, leaving theln in the dark      build up a case against Him. How reluctantly Pilate        `-
as to whel:e He had gone, but He ascended to heaven          admitted over and over again, "I` tell you, I find no
before their eyes. They saw the heavens receive Him fault in this man."
as He wax hidden from their sight, And `they .were              When the text says that He came the first time
                                                                             -.


                                         THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          291

  with sin it means that He bore the sins of many; He         of antichrist that must still appear before Christ re-
  was made sin for us. He, had taken upon Himself             turns.     In  the meantime, this world of sin has dis-
  the form of a servant, and humbled Himself to death,~ covered the power of the atom, but only begins to real-
  even the shameful death  of the cross  ;  and all this      ize what  this harnessed power can do toward her
  because of pur Sin.                                         own destruction. As the first world mocked at the
     We more commbnly refer to Christ's second coming         idea of a fiood with water all around her, so this pre-
  as a coming in judgment. This is also  entirely ac-         sent world scorns the thought of  a- judgment  tiith
  cording to  tiie Scriptures, which speak of the great;      fire,  even while the consuming power of fire is im-
' and  ter%ible day of the  (L,ord,  &hen the sun shall be    pressed upon her every day:
  darkened, and the moon shall not, give her light, and             He who cometh will come, and will not tarry.
                                                              -
  the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the          `But for the church of Jesus Christ that spells
  heavens shall be shaken. Then will the Son af Man           victory. The Lord saves His church through judg-
  come in His glory, and all His holy angels with Him,        ment. As Noah was saved by the waters of the flood;
  and He will sit upon the throne of His glory, and be-       and as Lot was delivered from Sodom before the fire
  fore Him will be gatheied all nations, and He shall         rained from heaven, so the Lord delivers His people
separate them one from another, as a shepherd  di-            out of the midst of His judgments unto their eternal
  videth the sheep from the goats. (Matth. 25:31,32).         s a l v a t i o n .
  Already there are many forebodings of  ,that  day of              Unto those who wait for Him: He shall appear.
  His coming. Scripture speaks of wars and rumors
  of wars, famines, pestilences and earthquakes in di-                               *  *  *  *
  vers places. But Scripture alsb points to many other
  signs.    Think of the amazing changes and develop-              They are those who.wait patiently and assiduously        ,
  ments that have taken place during the past fifty           for His  coming.  You can recognize yourself as be-
 years. IOnly a few decades ago people crept along by         longing to these saved, if you bear this earmark.
  horse and buggy, or by the slow chugging automobile.             Their whole attitude is that of expectation. When
  Today we race along the highways at a speed of sixty        visitors are expected in the home, we  s'oon notice an air
  or seventy miles an houy, we fly through the air at         of expectancy about the house.       When, for example,
  hundreds of miles per hour, and we hear of speeds           a sbn returns home on a furlough, there is a hustle
  that far exceed the speed of souhd.     Consider all the    atid bustle everywhere. Mother is making the pre-
  inventions of the past few years that are supposed to       parations for supper. Father is getting regdy to go
  serve to ,make our life easier and simpler. Has this to the train.' Restlessly every one watches the clock.
  all served to give us -more @me for study and quiet         Likewise the believer prepares himself spiritually
  reflection? Has it made our lives simpler'? The very waiting and watching in prayer.
 -opposite  is true, for we are busier now than ever. We           Moieover, those who wait for Him grow increas-
  experience more in a lifetime than Methuselah could         ingly eager for His coming. They long to see His day.
  eSer dream of experiencing in his nine hundred and          They do not become sallowed up in the affairs of this
  sixty nine years. Think of the inroads that radio and       life. They do not seek their -treasure here, byt they
  television have made upon our home life, often help-        seek their treasure in `heaven. They do not try to
  ing  al&g to destroy. whatever family life is left in       gain all this, and heaven besides. But they are pil-
 the homes. Think of the rapid development of sin.            grims, strange& in the yorld, ever striving to attain
  Excess drinking, gambling,  vices of every sort are         to the things that are above.-They guard their souls'
opynly condoned.         Divb-rces have become almost. as     from the snares an,d temptations of sin. k/
  common as marriages. A. pleasure mad world is tak-                They wait with patience.
  ing her last fling, dashing headlong to destruction,             The night often seems long and dark, the enemy
  even as she glories in her shame. Consider the apos-        presses sorely, the sufferings of this present time bur-
  tacy in the church. For much that calls itself church       den them. But they bear all these things for Christ'&
  today has become nothing more than a social centei;         sake. They knew Whom they have believed, and are
 which still has the form of godliness, but has lost th.e     persuaded that He is able to keep that tihich- they
  power thereof.                                              have committed to Him unto that day !
     Our world is striving for unification to every                To such the promise is sure: He shall appear!
  sphere of life; Nations seek unity, corporations ex-             He will find them ready, waiting and watching.
  pand, the churches. amalgamate together. All are                 Watch ye, therfore. Yea,. watch unto prayer.
 preparing for the coming of -the man of sin, th& power                                                  C. Hanko.  _.


                292                                                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
     0                                                                                                                                                        -    -
                                                                                                                         -

                                        THE  STANDARD  BEARER                                                                        - E D I T O R I A L
                         Semi-monthly, except monthly in July and August
                 Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association
                            Box 124, Station C., Grand Rapids 6, Michigan                                                                    Pm&s and  Prediciions~
                                     EDIT-OR  - Rev. Herman Hoeksema'
                 Communicatiotis  relative IX contents should be .addressed                                                       We  .will now turn to our Reformed Confessions,
                 to Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand                                                         in order to examine them with a view to the, question
                 Rapids 7, Michigan.                                                                                          whether they, perhaps, make the distinction between
                 al-1  matter relative to subscription should be addressed
                 to Mr. J.  Bouwman,  1350 Giddings Ave., S. E., Grand                                                        predictions and promises such as Dr. Schilder makes,
                 Rapids 7, Michigan. Announcements and Obituajries  must                                                      and whether promises, in distinction from predict&s,
                 be mailed to the above address and will be published at a
                 fee of $1.00 for each notice.  .'                                                                            are indeed for NJ?., for Tom, Dick, and Harry.
                 Renewals:- Unless a definite request for discontinuance                                                          I am afraid that many of' the Reformed people,
                 is received,% is assumed that the subscriber wishes the                                                      and this certainly includes a@o the Liberated, are not
                 subscription to continue without the formality of a re-
                 newal order.                                                                                                 very well acquainted with their own Confession& ex-
                                      Subscription Price: $3.00 per year                                                      cept, perhaps, the  Heidel)berg  Catechism. And even
                 `Entered as Second Class'mail  at Grand  Rapids, Michigan                                                    the leaders of the. Liberated, with their contention
                                                                                                                              that the' promise is for all the children that are born
                                                                                                                              under the dispensation of the covenant and that it is
                                                                                                                              conditional, do not preferably quote the Confessions
                                                     -:-                                                                      in' support of their view. In all his criticism on .the
                                                                                                                              Declaration of Principles Dr. Schilder did not once
                                                                                                                              refer to the Confessions. He -did indeed allege that
                                                                                                                              the Declaration of Principles represented the supra-
                                                   C O N T E N T S                                                            lapsarian view of the counsel of  .God, although the
                                                                                                                              basic contention of that Declaration, namely, that the
                        Appearing unto Salvation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .`. . . . 289                       promise-of God is unconditiqnal  and for the elect only,
                           Rev. C. Hanko                                                                                      has nothing whatever to do with the question of supra
           EDITORIALS-                                                                                                        and infra, but is deduced directly from the infralap-
                        Promises and Predictions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
                         Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                     sariaIl Confessions. He also &icized the contention
                                                                            -.                                                of the Declaration that election is the sole cause and
           THE  TRIPLE   K'NOWLEDGE-
                        An Exposition of the Heidelberg Catechism. . . . . . . . . . . 295                                    fountain of all our salvation, instead of which he sug-
                          Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                    gested that .elkction  is not the cause or fountain, but
                       Vragen--Mr:   J . J .   wn  R .   Calif. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298       the ground of our salvation, `. In this he made an error,
                           Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                   for the `Confessions literally speak of cause and foun-
           As `To BOOKS-                                                                                                      tain. But for the r&t, I do not remember that in all
                       So You want To  Speak+I&irk   W.  Lee . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  299                                 his crjticism Dr. Schilder referred to the Confessions
                       Tusschen  Sterven  en Qpstanding-Prof. Dr, K. Dijk . . . . . . . . 299
                       Calvinisme  en  Existentie-Philosophie-Ds.   J. M.  Spier . . . . . . . . 299                          whatsoever. And this, of course, is at the same time
                           Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                   a fulldamental  weakness of his criticism: for the De-
           O UR  DOCTRINB-                                                                                                    claration means to be nothing but an expression
                       The Hexaemeron  or Creation-Week . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300                           of the truth as it is  found in our Reformed- sym-
                          Rev. H. Veldm.+n                                                                                    bols.  `
           I                                                                                                                                                                               ,
            N HIS FRIAR-
                       Looking to the-Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302                      But this in parentheses.
                          Rev. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                    We will now turn to the Confessions themselves,
           FROM  HOLY   WFUT-
                       Exposition of Matthew  5:43-48 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304                       to discover whether they really support the view of
                          Rev. G. C. Lubbers                                                                                  a conditional promise for all the children that are
          THE  DAY  OF  SHADOWS-                                                                                              born iti the dispensation of the covenant.
                       The Covenant of Sinai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ;. . . . . . . . . . . . 306
                       The Manna of the                                                                                           I will begin with the well-known and often quoted
                                                 Desert Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :. . . . . . . . . 309
3                           Rev. G. M. Ophoff                       II                                                        part of the ,Canons of Dordrecht that speaks of the
                       .De  Kloppende  Christus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .           promise of everlasting life. I refer to Canons II, 5,
                                                                                                                       310
                          Rev. G. Vos                                                                                         * The readers will kindly understand -that this editorial was
                                                                                                                              written and set-up, before I heard of brother Schilder's passing.
                                                                                                                                                                                        I&H.


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         293

 a part of the Confessions to which also Dr. Schilder          ise in this form: "Whosoever . . . shall not go tb hell,
 pref&ably  refers as defining th.e real promise of the        but shtill.go to heaven."
 g o s p e l .                                                    But note now, in the second place, that this promise`
     We read there: "Moreover, the promise of the gos-         in the form of a prediction is not given as a condi-
 pel is, that whosoever believeth in Christ .crucified,        tional promise to N.N. God does not issue checks on
  shall not perish, but have everlasting life. This prom-      which it is written: "I, Jehovah  ,God, promise  you,
  ise, together with the command to repent and believe,        Tom, Dick, and Harry, eternal life," a promise that
  ought to be declared and publishez'to all nations, and       for its realization depends on th,e willingness of him
 to all persons promiscuously and without distinction          who received it to go to the bank and cash the check.
  to whom God out of His good pleasure sends the gos-          The promise is not to N.N., but to the believers. For :
  pel."                                                        "The promise of the gospel is, that whosoever  be-
                                                               lieveth in Christ crucified,. shall not perish, but have .
     It `is striking indeed that also the Synod of the         everlasting life." And this brings us to  tli6 ques-
  Christian Reformed Churches, 1924, appealed to this          tion: who are the believers? This question must of
  same part of the Conf&sions to maintain their "puntje        course be answered in the light of all our Reformed
  van het eerste punt" (the heart  of the first point),        Confessions.    I insist that no one has the right to
 .that,  namely, the preaching of the gospel is grace for      isolate this part of the Confessions and  separtite   it
  all that hear. Not being able to find any Kuyperian          from the whole.      Then indeed you can make the
  common grace in the Confessions, they made the error         Confessions speak Arminian language. Also the Ar-
  of presenting the gospel as a well-meaning offer of          minian has no objection to the definiticm of the promise
  grace and salvation, well-meaning on the part of #God,       as contained in <Canons  II, 5, provided you separate
  to all the hearers. -In other words, by the v&y force        this part from the. rest of the Reformed symbols.
  of circumstances they were deflected into Arminian           They also state that he that believeth shall surely be
  waters.                                                      saved. And they even have no objection. to maintain
     But how about this part of the Confessions? Does          that faith is a gift of (God, and that it is all of grace.
  it indeed teach the distinction between predictions and      And therefore we must certainly read this part of.
  promises, so that there are no predictions for N.N.,         the Confessions in the light of the rest. I will not
 -for Tom, Dick, and Harry,`but  there are promises for Lake space at this time to quote the ,Confessions  on this
  them? In other words, is the promise of the gospel           score at length. I will only refer to the same chapter
  here presented as for all, and as a conditional prom-        of the Canons, A.rticles  7 and 8. In Article 7 we read :
 -ise?                                                         "But as many as truly believe, and are delivered and
     To be sure, this article does sustain the contention      saved from sin and destr&tion through the death of
  of  Schiider that. there are no  p&dictions for N.N.         Christ, are indebted for this benefit solely to the grace
  And we may just as well state at once that such a            of God, given-them in Christ from everlasting, and not
  doctrine is not and could not possibly  ibe found in         to any merit of their own." And in Article 8: "For
  any of our Confessions, no more than it is ,ever met this was the sovereign counsel, and most gracious
  with in Holy Writ. The article  certainly  does not          will and purpose of God the Father, that the quicken-
  state that N.N. shall have eternal life, or that N.N.        ing and saving efficacy of the most precious death of
  shall perish.                                                His Soli should extend to all the elect, for bestowing
          However, note.' too that there nevertheless is in    upon them alqne the gift of justifying faith, thereby
  this article a prediction in the form of a promise,          to bring them infallibly to salvation: that iti, it wa's
  or, if you wish, a promise in the form of a  predib-         the will of God, that ,Christ by the blood of the cross,
  tion. That prediction and that promise is contained          whereby He confirmed the new covenant, should ef-
  in the clause, "whosoever . . . shall not perish, but        fectually redeem out of every people, tribe, nation,
  have everlasting life." This is a promise, for it is         and language, all those, and those only, who were
  stated in the very same article that this is the prom-       from eternity chosen to salvation, and given to Him by
  ise of the gospel. But at the same time it is a .pre-        the- Father ; that He should confer upon them faith
  diction, as the future form of the verb plainly indi-        which together with all the other saving gifts of the
  cates.      One can also say on the basis of Scripture       Holy' Spirit, He purchased for them by -His death ;
that one that believes in Christ bath eternal life; and        should purge them. from all sin, both original and
  in that case it is a statement of a present fact. But        a\ctual,  whether committed before or after believing;
  here the promise of the gospel is given in the form `of      and having faithfully preserved them even to the end,
  a prediction, .of a good that is to ,be attained and ex-     should at last, bring them free from every spot and
  pected in the fixture. We may certainly put this prom-       blen$sh to the  enj,oyment  of glory in His own  pre-


294 _                               T H E S T A N D A R D .   B E A R E R

sence  forever." Here, then, you have the answer to           ly and without distinction, to whom God out ~of His
the question: who are the believers? In  one word,            good pleasure sends the gospel."
they are the elect. Hence, the promise here is not- to           Does not this last. part make the promise of the
N.N.,, it is not for Tom, I Dick, and Harry. But it is gospel conditional, conditional, that is, upon faith and
only for those that are ingrafted into Christ, that em-       repentance? And may we not say that in this sense
brace all His benefits by a saving faith, the believers.      the. promise of the gospel is to N.N. ?
And therefore, the promise according to Canons II, 5,            My answer is : positively not! Mark you well, this
in the light of all the Reformed symbols, is only for         part of the article does not speak of the promise of God
t h e   e l e c t .                                           to N.N., to Tom, Dick, and Harry. But it speaks of
    And just as you cannot possibly make the promise          the general  preaching  of the promise to all nations and
of the gospel according to Canons II, 5 a general             to all men promiscuously, that is, without distinction.
promise for all, 0~ at least a promise for all the chil-      And according to the article, this preaching must be
dren that are born under the covenant, sb you cannot          accomplished by the command to repent and believe.
.by any stretch of the imagination make t&is promise          And, mark you well, the scope of this preaching is not
a conditional promise, which after all is the same            determined--by  man, but by God, Who sends this gospel
as a well-meaning offer of salvation, and which, by the       to whomsoever He wills.
way, would place the promise -exactly out of reach               But.what is the meaning of this last part?
of every sinner. For no- sinner can possibly fulfill           In answer I will remind you, first. of all, of the
any conditions in order to receive or attain to  the          trqth that there is no preaching of the gospel, except
promise of eternal. life. But it is not presented as          as it stands in the service of the &Xicacious  Word of
conditidnal in this part of. the Canons. Even the             God through Christ. Man cannot preach, unless it
form of the langua.ge is not conditional. `The f6rm is .pleases  ,Goh through Christ to speak His  yard ef-
rather that of general relative clause: "Whosoever be-        ficaciously through him. His word is powerless. Only
lieveth in Christ crucified," (ut  quisquis  ' credit  in,    the Word of IGod is quick and powerful and efficacious.
Christurn crucij?xum) . And, quisquiii does not intro-        Even though a mere man announces the gospel, and
duce a conditional sentence, but a general relative even though that word which he announces is based
clause. It denotes therefore that there is no excep-          upon the Holy Scri$ur&, it will have no effect upon
tion but that all who are included in thbse who be-           the.hearers,  either &to hardening or unto salvation.
lieve in Christ iyill surely have eternal life. Besides,        In the second place, the call to repent and believe
l,et me remind you thtit faith, in our Confessions, is        must go forth to all men and to all nations prom-
never, presented as a condition, not even unto the full       iscuously for the simple reason that the hearers are
and final realization of the cromise. It is always pre-       all moral and rational and respotisible creatures. They
sented as an instrument or means, and that too a              have not the right to assume and keep on assuming
God-given instrument, whereby we are ingrafted into           an attitude of unbelief over -against the Word of God.
Christ and whereby we receive all l&s benefits of mere        All men are obligated to repent.
grace.                                                          In the third piace,  do not forget that only~ where
    We maintain, therefore, that in Canons II, 5 :'           this announcement. of the gospel, together with the
    1. `There is certainly no mention of a prediction         command to repent and believe, stands in the ser-
to N. N.                                                      vice of ,the &fficacious  Word of God that announcement
    2. That is the same article there is' mention of a        can have effect. And the effect is-always two-fold:
prediction of eternal life, but not to N.N., but to' be- -it serves as a savor of death unto death, as well as
lievers.                                                      a savor of life unto life. And thus, by the command
   `3. That this prediction  is at the same time the          to repent and believe, in the service of the efficacious
promise of the gospel, and that also the promise of           Word of God, the reprobate sinner is hardened, his
the gospel is not tg N.N., but to the same believers.         judgment is aggravated, and God is justified when-He
    4. That in the light of all the Reformed symbols          judges. On the otheP  hand, through this same preach-
the believers are thti elect, and none other.          _      ing of  the promise, together with the command to
    5. That the. promise to them is not- conditidnal, but repent and believe, and standing in the service of the
is an oath of God accor@ng to which He leads the elect        efficacious Word of ,God, the elect are brought to re-
infallibly to salvation.                                      pentance and to a conscious; lively faith in Christ
    But you say: what about the last part of this sanie       J&us, and thus they have the right to embrace the
article. This last part reads : "This promise, together       promise that whosoever believeth in Christ shall not
.with the command to repent and believe, ought -to be         perish,` but have everlasting life.
declared tc, ~~11 n&ions, and to all peysons  promiscuous-                                                    H.H.


                                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       295

                                                                             to the Christian by the .Holy Spirit, and experienced
      THE TRIPLE KNOWLEDGE                                                   and confessed by the believer. And in that case yen
                                                                       - naturally' bbtain the order of sin and misery, of re-
                                                                             demption and deliverance, and of gratitude to, God for
 An Exposition Of The Heidelberg the redemption that is in Christ Jesus otir Lord. Nor
                                                                             must we conceive .of this .order  as `merely chronologi-
                              Catechism                                      Cal. It is not simply  the order of time, as if the Chris-
                                                                             tian were first of all a mari in sin and misery, then
                                     P.AR T  I`1 I                           that same m&n as he is redeemed and delivered, and
                     O F   THANKULNESS                                       now finally again that same man as he' offers the sacri-
                                                                             fice of thanksgiving' to  IGod. Rather must we con-
                             ' Lord's Day 32                                 ceive of this order as being that of a constant ex-           .
                Q. 86. Since then we are delivered from our misery,          perience. As long as he is in this life, the Christian
                merely of grace,-through Christ, without any merit           .experiences his sin and misery, his redemption and de-
                oaf ours; why must we still do aood works?                   liverance, as well as his thankfulness to ,God, all at
      .         A. Because Christ, having redeemed and delivered
                us by `his blood, also renews us bs his. Holy Snirit.        the same time. Always. he is the sinful, redeemed,
                after his own image; that ,s,o we gay testify, by thk        t h a n k f u l   C h r i s t i a n .
                whole of our  co'nduct, our gratitude .to God for his
                blessings, and that he may be praised by us; also,              In this third part. we meet i9 Lordls Days 32 and
                that every one may be assured in himself of his              33 first of all with a discussion of the conversion of
                fa.ith,  by the fruits thereof; and that, by our  godly
                conversation, others ma,y be gained to Christ.               the Christian to God, the necessity of good works,
           Q. 87. Cannot they then be  Baved, who, continuing                the idea of good works, and the fruits of those good
                in their wicked and ungrateful lives, are not con-           works. Next, we find in Lord's Days 34 to 44 a de-
                verted to God ?                                              tailed discussion of the Decalogue as the standard
                A.  iBy no means; for the holy scripture declares
                that  np unchaste person, idolator, adulterer, thief,        and criterion of all good works. And all this is con-
                covetous  mnaa, drunkard,  zslanderer,  robber, or any       cluded in Lord's Days 45 to 52. with a discussion of
                such like, shall inherit the kingdom of God.                 prayer: the necessity of it,, the requisites of true
                                          1.                                 prayer, and a discussion of the contents of prayer
                                                                             as briefly represented iti the prayer which the Lo&j
                   The Idea of This Third Part                               Himself has taught us.
      In this Lord's Day the Heidelberger begins the                            It may be well to begin otir discussion of this third
 third part. of its instruction in the truth of the Word                     part of the Catechism with a word of introduction-con-
 o         f                IGod.                                            cerning  .the  relition between this third part, which
      The'order of the Heidelberg Catech`ism,  we remem- speaks of gratitude to God, for the great deliverance
 ber,@ is experiental .and practical;                                        an4 redemption He has .wrought for us. and in us, to
      This does not mean that our little book, of instruc-                   the former two parts, which speak of sin and misery
 tion is mystical in the morbid sense of. the word, do                       and of redemption and deliverance. We must not con-
 that it iS a description of the experiences of the Chris-                   ceive of the relation between these parts as if it were
 tian. For throughout it is based on the Word of God                         such, that now in the part' of thankfulhess we finally _
 as  we.have it in the :Scriptur,es.                  But it differs from    become a party over against the living .God. This im-
 such symbols as, for instance, the Corifessio  Belgicn,                     pression  is not infrequently left by preachers on the
 -in that it does not merely objectively set forth and                       Heidelberg `Catechism. In the first part of our little
 systematically develop the truth in a dogmatic order.                       book of instruction the sinner `was presented as hope-
 In that case the order would have been entirely dif- slessly lost, as prone  by.nature to hate  [God and the
 ferent. Then the Catechism could not have begun its                         neighbor, as being conceived and born in sin, and as
instruction with the  p&t concerning the `knowledge                          wholly corrupt, incapable of doing any good, and in-
 of sin and misery,: but would have introduced it with                       clined to all wickedness. He is, therefore, in such a  -
 a setting forth of the knowledge of `God, in order then                     state that it is impossible for him to be God's party
 to develop the truth concernirig creation and man,                          in the midst of the world. Rather he is the devil's
 concerning Christ (His natures, names, offices; and                         party., Nor are we the party of, Go! in the work of
 states), +cerning the application of salvation to the                       redemption and deliverance.        For that work is en-
 elect <by the Holy Spirit, concerning the church and                        tirely of God, and the sinner cannot add one tittle or
 the means .of grace, and finally the truth concerning                       iota to his own salvation.. But now, in the third part,
 the doctrine of  fhe last things. But now the .Catechism we begin to work, and therefore become, an active
 presents the truth of the Word of God as it is applied                      party  over against  the  <God of our salvation. Here

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

  finally the Heidelberg Catechism begins to emphasize         our gratitude by saying, "If ever I can do something
  our responsibility. In the preceding two parts this         for you, let me know; I'will be glad to do it anytime,
  was lacking, and naturally so. How is it possible that in return for what you have done for me." And so,
  one that always was corrupt, that never,was anything. the expression of gratitude on the part of the Chris-
 else than incapable of doing any good, can be held           tian naturally implies that he now will do something
 responsilble for any good works which he can never           for God or for Christ, Who `has done so much for him.
 perform ? It is true that in Qu. 9 the Heidelberg            He will at least try to save souls and gain others for
 Catechism had maintained that responsibility by ap-          Christ, as also the Heidelberg Catechism expresses it
 pealing to the organic and forensic relationship of the      in Qu. and A. 86.
 whole human race to Adam. It stated that #God made               Thus, on the basis of the third part of the Heidel-
 man capable of performing the law, but that he by            berg Catechism we can-develop real, practical Chris-
 the instigation of the devil and his own wilful disobe-      tendom, that gives the. proper place to man as a re-
 dience :deprived himself and all his posterity of those      sponsible creature in the economy of salvation ; that
 divine gifts; Nevertheless, so it is often objected, the.    makes of Christendom a real power in the world; and
 doctrine of total depravity must leave the individual        that demands the whole world, in every department
 without responsibility before. ,God. Also in the second      and sphere, for Christ.
 part of the Heidelberg Catechism, the part-concern-.             And thus, they say, the true Reformed world-and
 ing deliverance and redemption, the responsibility of        -life view comes to its own.
 man was samewhat obscured.                                                                      .
                                  Man is object, not sub:
 jeet, in the entire work of salvation. It is admitted            It used to be different, also in Reformed circles.
 that in Lord's Day 24 in connection with the doctrine        Many there were that emphasized the Reformed truth
 of justification by mere grace the Heidelberg Catech-        of predestination, with its doctrine of election and
 ism stresses the truth that man can never become             reprobation, at the expense of a proper emphasis on
 careless and profane, seeing that it is impossible that the responsibility of man. Many there were too that
 those who are implanted into Christ by a true faith          delighted to-emphasize the'total depravity of man and
 should not bring forth fruits of thankfulness. But the doctrine that he is incapable by nature of doing  `-
after all, these fruits of thankfulness are wholly im-        any good and inclined to evil in such a way `that there
 puted unto Christ. And again, the responsibility of          is nothing left of man but a stock and a block. And
 man is somewhat obscured. But now, in the third again, there were always in Reformed circles those
 part,-thus it is alleged,- the Catechism begins to           that emphasized the grace of free justification at the
 strike a different note. It asks the question: Why,          expense of the grace of sanctification and good works.
 mast we still do good works?" It is, therefore, a ques- This was not only the case with the followers of Kohl-
 tion of our obligation. Here theresponsibility of man brugge, that are often designated as Antinomians, but
 begins to be emphasized. Here man becomes a party            also in the Reformed,churches in the past. Preachers
 over against God. It- is even said in Qu. `87 that those .delighted to dwell at length `on the first part of the
 who are not converted to God and who continue 31             Heidelberg Catechism, and emphasize the fact that
 their wicked lives cannot be saved,. because the Scrip-      the sinner is totally incapable of doing any good. They
 ture declares that no unchaste. person, idolater, a-         also dwelt at great length- on salvation by sovereign
 dulter,  thief, covetous man, drunkard, slanderer, rob-      grace alone. But when they reached the third part
 ber, or any such like shall inherit the kingdom of God.      of the Heidelberg Catechism, they rather superficially
 We must therefore do good. works. We must flee               skimmed over the .material  presented there, especially
 from sin, and be converted, and convert ourselves, in        over ,the part that treats of the law of IGod. But today
 order to be saved. Conversion is an indispensable con-       Reformed people have turned .away from this sickly
 dition unto salvation.    Here indeed, they say, re-         Antinomianism.  They see that -there is work to do
 sponsibility is no longer denied, but properly empha-        for the Christian. They- must bring America back to
 sized.                                                       God. They must do good works. , And man is a re-
     Besides, this `entire last part of the Heidelberg        sponsible creature, not a stock and a block. He can-
 Catechism is treated under the caption, `Gratitude           not inherit "the kingdom of aGod .if he continues in his
 to God". It speaks of a gratitude that must be ex-           wicked and unconverted life. In return for what (God
 pressed in the whole of our conduct. And the idea            in Christ has done for him, he now must do something
 of gratitude always implies a certain measure of re-         f o r   G o d .
muneration.    This is often expressed in our relation           In the light of all this it will be seen that it is by
to one another. When someone bestows a certain gift           no means superfluous to ask and to try to answer the
upon us or does something for -us, we often express           jquestion  : <what  is the exact and proper relation be-


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                     297  '

  tween the third part of the Heidelberg Catechism and        withstood His counsel, or ever shall be able to. thwart
  th,e first two parts?        '                              it. Every drop of rain surely falls according to that
     In this connection it may be well to face the ques-      counsel., Every sunbeam shoots its golden shaft into
  tion: `what is meant by the responsibility of man?          the wide expanse of space `in harmony with ,God's  de:
  What -is it? And what is its relation to the economy        tree. Every tree grows, every flower blooms, every
  of salvation, and particularly to the sovereign grace of    heart beats, every child is born, and every being
 God?' And what is its relation to the all coniprehen-        breathes its last, every mind thinks and every man
  sive and unchangeable counsel of the Most High?             moves, yea, every angel .sings and every devil rages,
     And then I want to emphasize, in the first place,        according to the determinate will of ,God. It  is irre-
  that responsibility can never ~ presuppose sovereign        sistably executed in all the wide world. And lastly,
  freedom.  ,Only  .God is sovereignly free. And man is       I want to mention the immutability, the unehange-
  dependent, even as a rational, moral creature. He is        ableness. of the counsel of the Most High: What is de-
  limited on all sides by the counselmof  -God.               termined from eternity is fixed forev.er. And nothing
      It is`not necessary at this point to dwell at length    can induce the Lord, Whose name is I Am, to alter
  upon the significance of the counsel of God, and to         His will or to changes His mind. With absolute cer-
 .enter into as detailed discussion of the Biblical repre-    tainty and unchangeableness the entire course of the
  sentation of (God's eternal decree.- I just want to make    whole mliverse  and of every last creature in detail 1s
  a few remarks concerning that counsel. It is no mere        fixed from before the beginning of all things.
  dead plan, even as an architect draws a plan -with             In the whole of that divine, eternal, and unchange-
  detailed specification of a proposed structure. But it      able scheme of the universe and its destiny there are
  is the living and eternal will and mind of ,God with re-    intellectual, moral, rational beings, beings that are re-
 .gard to all things in time and eternity. The counsel        sponsible, accountable to God, and are treated as such.
  of the Most High according to our fathers, is the liv-      What is a rational, moral being? It is a being with a
  ing, .counselling  God Himself. As far as  de.finition      will, a `rational will of his own, a being who is not
  and circumscription is concerned, this must s~~ffice.       simply determined, but who in -a sense, in some way,
  But we must call attention to certain attributes of         also determines himself. He is a being that not simply
  that counsel of the eternal  ,God that have a  ,direct      develops and grows like a tree, whose movements .are ,
  bearing upon its relation to the accountability of the      not simply determined from` without, like that of `a
moral creature. First of all, we must note that this          stone rolling down the mountain-side, but who per-
  counsel is all-comprehensive. It does not only imply        forms deeds of his own, determinately, consciously,
  the things that are made as they are created in the         willingly, and rationally. It is a being that stands
  beginning. Such is the nature of an architectural           in a certain- relation to the law of God, who;knows
  plan. The architect can probably determine in detail        God and His will, and who determines from within
  how the structure that is to be raised shall be. But his own attitude to that will of the Most High. He ,is,
  he cannot determine what shall become of the build-         therefore, in this respect like ,God, though not sove-
ing : its history and destiny lie beyond his control.. reignly but in a creaturely  way and measure: for he
  But such is not the case with the. counsel of (God. When wills and thinks and acts, and thus. becomes the
  Scripture teaches us that it is all-comprehensive, it       author of certain deeds for the which he is account-
  signifies that #God from eternity counselled how things     able'to God because he is a creature and God is his
  should be created at the beginning, how they should         Sovereign. And he is so accountable and responsible
  develop in time, and what should be their eternal des-      that he will be brought into judgment for all he
  t.iny. And this must be understood  in.* the strictest      thought and willed and did, and will receive from God
  sense of the word: It implies that every creature,          according to what he did, whether it be good or evil.
  great and small, had its shape and history in this eter-    The question arises, therefore:. how is all this possible
  nal, divine decree'; that therefore nothing happens in      if we maintain the all-comprehensiveness and effica-
  earth or in heaven, in the light or in`darkness, with       ciousness and immutable character of the counsel of
  respect to brute creation or to God's moral creatures,      God? If all things are determined by the Most High
  but it has all been determined from before the world        from eternity, then the deeds of these moral creatures        .
 was.' Secondly, I call attention to the attribute of are by God determined, unchangeably determined, and
  God's counsel which, negatively expressed, we call its - efficaciously determined. And if his inmost thoughts
  irresistibility, and positively denoted, is the absolute    and deepest desires as well as his external acts are so I
  efficaciousness of God's decree. God is in the heavens.`. fixed from eternity, how can that moral creature still
 And He performs all His good pleasure; Nothing ever be free, and being free also be accountable for'his own


1  29f3-,                              THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

  deeds? .-How can :God judge the creature for what He          And man is always a dependent creature, also in his
  fixed Himself? .                                              moral life. And therefore, whether we can solve.the
     - But this is not all that mtist be said about the sub-    problem or not, the fact remains  th& according to
  ject. There is still another:&ement  that must be taken       Scripture man's rational and moral life and his re-
  into account if we `are to see the seriousness of the         sponsibility must always be thus presented, that it- is
  question Of man's responsibility. For  `God did not           enclosed, that it is hemtied in on every side by .God's
  only freely and with absolute sovereignty determine           sovereign will and counsel.
  all things in His eternal counsel, but He Himself also                                                               H.H.
  executes that counsel and does all His `good pleasure.
  He rules and directs all things to their destiny by His                                              El
  providence. And this providence, of God is His omtii-
present and otinipotent power..  He is with and around
  and in every creature, of whatever form or nature it
  may be, brute or rational, moral. or otherwise. This                                   VRAGEN                         _
  omnipresent power of  ,God is the all-controlling force
  of the whole universe, so directing all things that            Mr.  J: J. van R.  Calif. vraagt :           -  ,j
  they mdst cooperate to the realization of the end the                 Ik heb het boekje van Dr. Kuyper "Zijn `Uitgang
  Lord has in view. IGod guides the sun in its course te Jeruzalem" gelezen. En nu heb ik een paar &agen
  through the heavens. He brings the rain and  th.e             daarover.
  sunshine. He4s the continual cause of all things. He                  1. Op pag. 118 handelt de schrijver over het kruis-
  alBo directs and controls  tl+ mind and will of man           woord -van Jezus- tot den kwaaddoener:  "Voorwaar,
  in their deli,berations  and decisions. And nothing can       voorwaar zeg ik u, .heden  zult gij. met Mij in het para-
  ever resist or escape the guidance of [God's providence.      dijs  zijn." Kujper zegt daarvan : "Nog' niet in `bet
       Such is the' problem concerning God's eternal de- rijk der heerlijkheid. Dat kan eerst na het oordeel
  cree and His all-controlling providence, on the one           uitbreken. Maar in het paradijs, d.w.z., in den voor-
  hand, and man's responsibility on the other. And I            loopigen gelukstaat, waarin de afgescheiden zielen den
  certainly do not flatter myself that- a complete and          dag ian Jezus' glorie ver,beiden."
  ultimate solution of this problem may possibly be at-                 Ik had altijd ged&lit, dat de zielen van Gods'kili-
  tained,-a solution in the sense that all mysteries con-       deren te?stond  naar' den hemel gaan.
  nected with it have been cleared away, and our eager
  intellectual eye can penetrate to the bottom of  the          Antwood:
  matter.    It stands to reason,-and we  aught never              Zeker, de zielen van (Gods kinderen gaan terstond
  hesitate frankly to confEss,-that  when we deal with          na het sterven naar den hemel. Daarvoor is genoeg-
  the infinite God, while `we may probably, by faithful         zaam  beivijs in de Heilige$chrift.  Maar dat bedoelt
  and prayerful kffort,  in the light'of His own revelation     Kuyper ook als hij van het paradijs spreekt als "den
  to us, succeed to make the veil recede that divides the       voorloopigen gelukstaat."
  incomprehensible from the realm of things compre-                     Dat is echter iets .anders dan de eindelijke &e&r-
  hended by our intellect, it will only be to make us see       lijkheid. Deze is niet bereikt:
  that there are always deeper d@ths in. the Most High;                 (1). Totdat  ook het lichaam verheerlijkt ii in de
  and that unto all eternity we shall not fathom Him            z a l i g e   o p s t a n d i n g .
  Who& name is Infinite. Nevertheless, in the light of                  (2).  .Heel het  lichaam van  Christus (alle  uitver-
  Scripture tie may and we must properly, define and            korenea)  verheerlijkt zal zijn.
  circumscribe the limits of our problem. ,On the one                   (3). De nieuwe hem:1 en aarde' geformeerd zullen
  hand, we m&t be careful that we do not attempt to             zijn, waarin .de tabernakel .Gods bij de menschen zijn
  solve the problem by destroying one of its main ele-          zal.
  mtints,  eithe? the soyereignty of `God or the responsi-
  bility of man. Neither must we present the matter                     2. De tweede vraag  betreft de  wijze van Jezus'
  of God's decree  and man's responsibility as if they          kruisiging.
  were two parallel lines that never meet :- man is save:               In het boven aangehaalde boek (p. 101) stelt Dr.
  r.eignly free as well as #God, and the decree of (God and     Kuyper het voor alsof het kruis eerst in den grbnd ge-
  His providence cert&nly- cam& encroach upon this              plant werd en dat daarna Jezus er aan genageld werd.
  sovereigq freedom of  ,man. For this  ceu'tainly  is not      Ik herinner  me een preek, waarin het zoo werd voor-
  the teaching of Holy Writ. God  alolie is sovereign.          gesteld, dat men Jezus  aan het kruis nagelde, toen


                                /
                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                          299
                                     -                                                                      -p--
       het ndi op den grond lag en dat daarna de soldaten              eeuwigen staat.-,  In dit eerste deel gaat het hoofdzake-
       het opnamen en het in den grond plantten. '                     lijk oven den z.g.9. tusschentoestand.
       Antwoord:                                                           .Dr. Dijk  bedoelt  in dit boek geen  wetenschap-
          ,Beide is waarschijnlijk waar.  .De  toedr.acht  was         ljelijk werk te  leveren.           Het is voor ieder, die  Hoi-
       waarschijnlijk  zoo, dat de soldateti  eerst den rechtop lansch kan lezen. onder ons, begrijpelijk.
       staanden paal in den grorid  staken, dat ze daarna Jezus            We bevelen het bij al onze lezers.hart'elijk.aan.                           .
       nagelden  aan den dwarspaal van het kruis, terwijl                                                                             H.H.
       deze op den grond lag, en dat ze toen Jezus met dien
       dwarsbalk, met  lddders of touwen hebben opgeheven
       en aan den rechtop staanden `paal bevestigd, terwijl            CALVINI,SME  JZN  EXISTENT.IE-PHIL6SOPHIE  door Ds.  5.
       ze daarna voeten nagelden op een stuk hout, dat voor              M. Spier. Uitgeyer  J. H. Kok, n.v., Kampen, Nederland,
       dat doe1 aan het kruis was bevestigd.                               Dit boek Rag aangediend w&den  als een beknopte
          Hiermee hoop ik eenig licht te hebben verspreid              geschiedenis van de existentie-philosophie met een
     pver de vragen van broeder J.J.                                   kritiek  in het licht van de wijsbegeerte der wetsidee.
                                                        H.R            De schrijver behandelt de beschouwingen van  ver-
                                                                       schillende  bxistentie-philosophen  zooals Jaspers, Hei-
                                                                       degger, Marcel, Lavelle en  ,Sartre, om daarna een
                                                                       tamelijk breede bespreking te wijden aan de beschou-
                                                                       wing van `A. E. [Loen.
                            As To Books                                    In een inleidend woord zegt de schrijver, dat de
                                                                       existentie-philosophie zich mag verheugen in een toe-
       SO YOU  WANT  730.  SPEAiK,  by Mark W. Lee. Zondervan          nemende mate van *populariteit,  een feit, dat hij zoo
         Publishing House, Grand Rapids,  Mich.                        verklaart, dat deze philophosie "een beroep doet op
          This book  pr;sents  the:basic principles of public en aansluitihg zoekt bij het levensgevoel van de tegen-
       speaking in an interesting way, *and offers many help-          woordige mens, dat veelszins door vertwijf@ing, wan-
       ful suggestions to anyone who wants to prepare and hoop, uitzichtloosheid en nihilisme gekenmerkt is."
       deliver a speech.             ,,                                Dit zal ook de  reden zijn  waaron+ ofschoon deze
          I find especially interesting what the, author has to phiiosophie in Europa misschien popular mag zijn,
      say in chapter on "Let Them See You Speak". He zij bij de breede lagen van het Amerikaansche yolk
       properly.stresses  that necessity of "eye-contact" which niet bekend is.
      ,is indispensable for any public speaker, while, at the              Wie belang heeft om zich eenigszins te orienteeren
       same time, it is my experience, in teaching public op het  -gebied van de  existentie-philosophic,  zal  we1
      ,&eech  (homiletics), that when once a speaker develops doen zich dit boek van Ds. Spieq, aan te schaffen.
       the habit of looking over instead of at the audience,                                                                  ?:    H. H.
       it is almost impossible to break him of it.                                   I
          A helpful book! Price $1.50.                                                                     pJ                  _,' ,
                                                           H.H.
                                                                                                    ANNIVERSARY  ,.

I                                                                        On April 4, 1952, our beloved parents,  ,.grand-parents, and
       TUSBCHEN STERVEN EN  OPSTANDINtG  door Prof. Dr. K.             great-:grand-pacents,                            .b
         Diik.  UitPever J. H. Kok,  n.v., Kampen, Nederland. Prijs
        fkc90.      -                                                               M R .   a n d   n&S.  JAKE  BclHtiT
          Wat mij vooral bevalt in dit boek van Dr. Dijk is            hbpe to celebrate their fortieth  >vedding anniversary.
      de sobere, geestelijke, Scriftuurlijke toon, die heel het          It is with profound  thank@&@  to our heavenly Father
      boek doorademt. Aan allerlei Wilde specql$ties, waar-            that we wish to celebrate this day with them,  aid pray Him
       voor natuurlijk bij het behandelen van een. onderwerp,          Who has  so graciously spared, them for us this far, may be
      31s hier besproken wordt, overvloediglijk  ruimte- .is, with them, and bountifully bless them for the future.                      A.-  -;:.:
      geeft de schrijver geen oogenblik plaats. De toon blijSt                            `r;he grateful  .children:
      geestelijk-bezadigd.                                                                       Mr. and MT?-,Gerrit B. Lubbers-Schut           .
          Dit boek wordt aangekbndigd als het eerste deel                                        ,Mr. and Mrs. Henry John  Holstege-Schut
      van een trilogie onder d&n algemeenen titel :-`pv&r -de                              12 grandchildren, among whom:
      Laatste Dingen." Het tweede deel zal beharidelen  de                                       Mi. and  Mrs.,  B'ernard Lubbers,
      voorteekenen voor. Jezus' komst en het duizenajtiri$                                : and 1 great-grandchild.
     b rijk, en `bet derde deel de komst des'. Heereh en` .den         Hudsonville, Michigan.
                                                                                           -,


 300                                         T H E   S.TANDARD  B E A R E R

                                                              First, the conception of a covenant of  v&rks is
        OUR<  D O C T R I N E                                 not Confessional. In. connection with this we do wall
                                                              to,remember,  and this lends added significance to the
                                                              fact that this conception is not confessional, that the
: The Hexaemmm or CreationAWe& idea. of a covenant of works was known at the time
                                                              of our S$nod bf Dordrecht df 1618-1619. This appears
                              ._  ( 1 2 )                     from the Introduction in the "Staten Bijbel" to the
              THE  CtiEATIlON OF MAN (5)                      New Testament where we read, and I quote and trans-
                (,Continued  from page  210)                  late: "The word, covenant, is a Latin word, whereby
                                                              the ,Greek  word, a?iathel%e, has been translated, which
        From this quotatiqn of Prof. Berkhof we may cer-      the Greek translators use to &,xpress the Hebrew word
 tainly conclude that the doctrine of .a covenant of          berith, which is, covenant. Thereby actually the cove-
 works includes the following elements. First, when nant itself is understood which aGod has made with men
 God created man He, by that very act, established a          to give them eternal life under ceetain conditions. `The
 a natural relationship between Himself and man.. This       covenant is two-fold,  the Old and the New.           Th;
was a relationship like that between. the potter and          Old is that which God made with the first man before
 the clay. ,God is `God and man is His creature. Hence,       the fall,. in which eternal life is promised under condi-
 this is a n&turaZ relationship, simply follows from tne     tion of a completely perfect obedience and keeping of
 act of creation. In this relationship Adam must serve        the law, and is therefore called the covenant of the
 `God and could never  havk merited anything. Had            law which ,God has again herd before Israel in order
 nothing more  occured  Adam  wopld  never have  b&n          thab they should learn therefrom, whereas this condi-
 able to attain unto the eternal and heavenly. From           tion has. been violated by all men and now cannot `be
 the fact of creation it simply followed naturally and       fulfilled by no man, that they must sgek their salvatiozl
 automatically that man, ,being a creature  and God's         in another covenant, which is known as the New, etc."
 creature, must simply ~serve  the Lord and could never      Apart from the meaning which the word "condition"
 do anything which-would entitle him to anything ex-         may have in this quota&F, it. is a fact that the idea
 tra, such as eternal, heavenly life. Secondly, God          of a covenant of works (called here : the covenant of
 establishes with man a covenant of works. This is the law) appears here; inasmuch-as we read that [God
 something added to the natural relationship, some-          promised Adam, before the fall, eternal life under the
 thing extra. In addition to what Adam must do as            condition of a completely perfect obedience. Of course,
 God's creature'the Lord now gives him an extra in-          we know that the "Introduction" has never been re-
 junction.     And, by a gracious enactment, the Lord        garded as constituting a part of our &Confessions. The
 promises Adam eternal, heavenly life if he will also be     fact remains, however, that it does show that the ex-
 obedient as far as this new commandment is con-             pression or term was known in those days.  Nevei-
 cerned. Adam was given the promise of' eternal life         theless,  the idea of a Covenant of Works does not ap-
 in the way of obedience, and thus, by the gracious          pear, in our Confessions. 0, indeed, our Confessions
 disposition of the Lord, he acquired certain conditionai    do speak of the creatioli of man, of his state and con- *
 rights. We understand, of course, that all this must        dition before the fall of Adam. _ Art. 14 of otir Con-
 be understood as a gracious disposition on the part "fession of -Faith, speaking oft the creation and fall of
 of the  Lo&d.     He graciously gave  Adam this extra. man and of his incapacity to perform what is truly
 command, and He graciously aJl&ed to this-extra com-        good reads thus: "We believe that God created man
 mand the extra  rewartd  of eternal, heavenly life.         out of the dust of the earth, and made and formed him
 And so the covenant of works contains the three ele-        after his own image and likeness, good, righteous,
 ments of the probationary command, the promise of           and holy, capable in all things to will, agreeably to the
`eternal, heavenly life, and the threat  6f death as         will of God. But  .being in honor, he understood it
 punishment.                                                 not, neither knew his excellency, but willfully  sub-
                         I                                   jected himself to sin, and consequently to death, and
    As Protestant Reformed Ghurches `we have grave           the curse, giving ear to the words of the  d&l. .For
 and serious objections' against this  conceptioc of a       the commandment of `life,, which he had received, h.e
 covenant of works and we reject it in its entirety. I       traisgressed  ; and by sin separated himself from God,
 say that we have grave and serious objections against
 this view as Protestant Reformed Churches, inasmuch         who was his true  life; having corrupted his whole
 as we have set ourselves against this  conceptio:l          nature; whereby he. made himself liable to corporal
 throughout our existence.              _          .'        and spiritual death. And being thus become wicked;


                                           T H E   STAhDARD  B E A R E ' R                                                     301
                        `_            -
   perverse, and corrupt in all his ways, he hath lost all     ing. We must, for example, so `they say, co+u'de the
  his excellent gifts, which he had received from God,         promise of .eternal,  heavenly life from the penalty o:f
   and only retained a few remains thereof, which, how-        death upon Adam's disobedience, although it is grant-
   ever; are sufficient to leave man without excuse ; for      ed that Genesis does not speak literally of  such a
  all the light which is in us .is changed into darknes,s,     promise of eternal life. But why should the Scrip-
  as the Scriptures teach us, saying: The light shineth        tures not have spoken of su'ch a promise -of eternal
  in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not:          life if  it had actually been given to Adam? Could
   where St John calleth men darkness. (Therefore we           Adam, who had been created out of the dust -of the
  reject all that is taught repugant to' this, concerning      earth. and therefore earthy, in whose heart and soul
   the free will of man, since man is but a slave to sin;      the things of the eternal and heavenly could suiely
   and has nothing of himself, unless it is given from         never have arisen, have concluded from the I%vine an-
  heaven. For who may presume to boast, that he of             announcement of the penalty of death that this penalty
  himself can do any good since. Christ saith, No man          included a promise  of eternal and heavenly life? How
 can come to Me, except the Father, which hath sent            could Adam ever have been able to conclude this, or
   me, draw him? Who will glory in his own will, who           how could he ever have understood this unless the
   understands, that to be. carnally minded is enmity          promise of the heavenly had actually been given him?
   against God.? Who can speak of his knowledge, since         Besides, Scripture speaks late+ of the promise of eter-
  the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit       nal life in Jesus Christ, our Lord ! Indeed, one must
   of God? In short, who dare suggest any thought,             certainly grant  tha`t if Adam had received such a
  since he knows that we are not sufficient of ourselves       promise of eternal life, that promise would certainly
   to  think anything as-of ourselves, but that OUT suf-       have constituted a very important and essential part
   ficiency is of  !God? And therefore what the apostle        of his existence. before the fall. And, inasmuch as
  saith ought justly to be held sure and firm, that God        Adam was created earthy out of the dust of the earth,
   worketh in us both to. will and -to do of His good          it lies in the very nature of the case thsit he, to un-
   pleasure. For there is no will nor understandin&  con-      derstand the penalty of death, must have been in-
  formable to the divine  will and understanding, but          formed with respect to this promise of heavenly life:
  what Christ h&h wrought in man ; which He teaches            Nevertheless, nowhere does Scripture speak literally
  us, when H.e saith, "Without Me ye can do nothing". aid positively of such a covenant of work:. And no-
  And the  ,Canons of Dordrecht refer also to this in          where does the Word of God inform us that this cove-
  krt. 1, III, IV, and we quote: "Man was originally           nant  of, works was something extra added to the na-
  formed after the image of  #God: His understanding           tural relationship which had been established with
  was adorned with a true and saving knowledge of his          Adam's creation, so that the command not to eat of
  Creator, and of spiritual things; his heart and will         the forbidden tree was something extra which would
  were upright; all his affections were pure; an.d the         bestow upon Adam something extra, namely, ever-
  whole man 6s holy ; but revolting from ;God by the           lasting life in heavenly glory.
  instigation of the `devil, an'd abusing the freedom of           However, .we have more objections to the theory
  his own will, h6 forfeited these excellent gifts ; and       of a covenant `of works. But, this  discusgion must
- on the contrary entailed on himself blindness of mind,       wait until another issue.
  horrible darkness, vanity and perverseness of ju!g-                                                            H. Veldman
  ment, became wicked, rebellious,  .and  obdurate  in                               -  :.-:  -
  heart  a@  ,will, and impure in his affections." It is
  obvious that the idea of a covenant of works does- not                                IN  MEMGRIAM
  appear in these articles, and therefore has not been           The  Co&story  of the  First  Protestant Reformed  Chdrch  of
 incorporated in  OUT Confessions.                             Grand Rapids, Michigan, hereby  wis?les  to, express its heart-
      isecondly, the idea- of a covenant of works is not       felt sympathy to elder John Flikkema in the sudden  loss   of
  Scriptural, i.e., is not taught literally in the Word of     his daughter,  _
                                                                                     HARRIET FLIKKEMA
  God. Even the advocates of this conception admit               May our gracious Covenant God comfort the bereaved fa'mily
  that the idea, as such, qf a covenant of works, is not       in the assurance that He, in His ovln  time and manner, reached.
  -1iterhlly  taught in Scripture, although they claim that    out  His hand to take her  &to Himself. For a time she  WZLS
 _, it does occur in Holy Wrjt by implication. The very        entrusted to their love and fellowship now to ,be with the Lord.
I  f.act, however, that this conception does  not appear                           `The Consistory of the First P&t Ref. Church
  in the Scriptures, and that we must conclude it from                                     Rev. C. Hanko, Pres.
                                                                                           J .   Bouwman,   C l e r k .
  passages in the Word of God, is in itself surely strik-      Grand Rapids, Michigan


   302                                *HE  -STANDARD   B E A R E R

                                                               one, -do not want to be classed with those who can
           I N   HIS.  F E A R                                 lightly dismiss the whole thing ,witb a wave of the
                                                               hand, and who think that somehow, by the waving of
                                                               some magic wand, a Protestant Reformed School can
                Looking  To  The  future            `;         be established. That attitude is both unrealistic and
                                                               dangerous. And furthermore, it Will never contribute
                         Chapter 2                             toward the establishment or `maintenance of a school.
                                                               I have seen enough of the troubles and trials, the ap-
               T H E   TEACHER   P R O B L E M                 parently insurmountable difficulties  -and the heart
          ' _ (S&GE~TIO~%S TOWARDS SOLUTION)                   -breaking disappointments of our school societies and
                                                               boards, in order to vouch for the fact of that fact.
     Having now called attention to what we believe to-be      But on the other hand, much as I oppose that attitude
  the' salient aspects of this. teacher-problem, it remains    of light-hearted and. flippant optimism, so much  ,I
   yet to point the way toward a solution thereof. And         loath the attitude of cowardly and pessimistic defeat-
   toward a solution we offer some suggestions in the          ism. Jt is not by cowardice and defeatism that a
   present article. However, I feel that two remarks are       Protestant Reformed School is established, but by con-
   in order before the `suggestions. themselves are pre-       fidehce, determination, and the courage of our Pro-
   sented. In the first place, and this can bear the re-       testant Reformed contiictions. Nor is `it by flippance
   petition it is being given, the understanding of a prob-    and foolh&dy ,optimism  that our schools stand today;
   lem is perhaps the -most important part of its solu-        they stand as monuments to the hard work, the sacri-
   tion. Our parents, boaY;ds,  and teachers should make       fice, and the supplications of a people called by the
   it their task to delve into this teacher-problem and to- grace of God into the fellowship of His covenant. And
   do so thoroughly. Especially the last element, namely       let the generations of those who fear His Name never
   that of procuring teachers qualified to teach  speci-       forget it.
   ficaly in a Protestant Ref,orm&d  School, must receive
  much attention from  our school boards; and a con-              And the same .is true of the.many problems which
  stant watch must be kept by all concerned, that' our         face us, and which shall continue to face us, once we
  schopls  be --maintained in all the power and beauty of      have established our own schools. Once we have
   their distinctive principles. And I am convinced that       crossed the Rubicon,  and set f,or ourselves the course
   the more effort that is put forth to see apd understand     of separate and distinctive education, we must ex-
  the various problems connected with our own schools,         pect problems, always problems. It may seem at a
   the more readily the solutions of those` problems will      given time that once we have over&me the problems
  present themselves. And in the second place, yqu will        of the moment then the ideal shall have been reached
   find, as these suggestions are presented, that some         and we will have the perfect educational system. And
   of them constitute in themselves an&her of the prob-        I suppose those who are most involved in this work
  lems cogneoted  with,the future of our own educational       of our own schools often harbor that hope, that some-
  system. For that reason,  an.d because we expect to          time in the future they will have. no more problems
   treat these `other problems in the future, some of          to cope with. But we must not look for that,-not on
   these suggestions will be indeed bare suggestions,          this side of perfection. "If' the time. should come that -
  without much elaboration at this time. Bearing this          the present problems are overcome, there will be other
  in mind, let us ask the question : what &n we do a-          ones,-and perhaps more perplexing.
  bout this teacher-problem?  '             .                     But the point is that we must not lie down under
                                                               the burden.
About     Otir Attitude .              -                          We must face up to'the situation at all times, with
      The attitude which one assumes toward ariy dif-          determination.
  ficult problem is of the utmost importance. There is            And our determination mu& be the determination
  much more hope f,or the person who,' faced by a prob-        of a steady, unwavering, imperturbable, unflinching,
  lem, doggedly and determinedly keeps attacking the           and undying  faith. A faith that we have, a calling.
  -difficulty, than for a person p;ho easily gives up and      A faith that we have a precious heritage. A faith
  exclaims that the problem is far beypnd his ability or       that our G"od has given us a place, a peculiar `place iti
   that it is hopeless %o attempt a. solution. Thus it is      the midst of the world and. .above  all other churches..
  also with. most of the problems concerned with our           And a faith that ours is  .a God Who is enthroned  n
  own  ~schools.  They are big ones. In fact, this whole       above us and our schools and all the problems which
  matter of our own schools is a  big problem. I, for we may face, Who is  the. Author of us and the cove-


                                .I      `Ti-I&  STANDARD  B E A R E R                                                 30::

 nant into which  ,He has called us, of our covenant           and teachers experience that they  .are working  to-
`children and covenant schools, and Who directs both           gether in a common spiritual endeavor, the more the
 our problems and their solution, Who will give us the         probl.em of' teacher-procurement and of, the main-
 final solution of all problems in the day of our Lord         tenance of a permanent,tea&ing  staff will fade away.          '
 Jes&  C h r i s t !                                           In such an organizatign  there will be an incentive for
    For let us never forget that our venture is a spi-         teach&s  to seek a place, as well as a deterrent for                     -
 ritual one. We establish +chools, not as world-citizens,      teachers to leave.
 but as citizens of the kingdom of heaven aizd strangers          But I think that`especially our teachers must be-
 in this world. And united as a band' of pilgrims `in          ware that they do not assume a mundane and carnal
 this world, with a common Lord, a common heritage,            attitude t,oward their calling. To do the latter is very
 a common truth, a common language, a cqmmon bond              easy in our materialistic age. T h e n   y o u r   p o s i t i o n
 of faith, only can we labor at the solution of any prob-      becomes a job instead of a calling. You !ook only for
 lem. No matter' how mundane and this-worldly our              the school which offers the best salary and the most
 problems may seem at times, let us always remember 4 ideal ,working conditions. And if you follow that
that their  solution is essentially spiritual, and that        course to its extreme, you will, of course, teach event-
 apart from that spiritual essential *they are impos-          ually in a public school, because the world can usually
 sible of solution really.                                     outdo us when it comes to material means, high sal-
    And,thus  we shall succeed,. No, we shall not be big.      aries and magnificent structures and the.best  of work-
 We must nnt look for bigness either. In the eyes of           ing conditions. Besides, with such an attitudk there
 the world our efforts will always seeti amateurish.           will be no real bon-d between you and your- pupils ;
 And in the eyes of the church we shall seem narrow,           your school will be no more than  ti factory  ,.to you.
 bigoted, intolerant, and  un-ecumenical.  But never           There will be no consciousness that the particular
 mind. We shall succeed most assuredly. We may be              school in which you teach, the particular grade, the
 small and insignificant. We may have despised schools         particular children, with ail the circumstances of sal-
and despised children graduating therefrom.  But we            ary, ekuipment,  location, etc., are given you of `God.
 shall succeed ! We sh3ll have covenant generations            And therc~  will, of course, be no awareness of a deep
 with covenant training for a covenant life in the fear        -seated responsibility in your particular position.
 of His Name. .And we shall rejoice in this, th& the           There,will be no real and fundamental incentive for
 Lord hath donk great .things for us! And with that            you come to a schoO1 in the first place ;, and there will
 hope controlling us, and that goal set bef,ore us, where      be ?IO inner. spiritual, deterrent to leaving at any time
 is the pi:oblem  that is insoluble?                           when you think you can better yourself. Such an at-
    But by all means, let your attitude be spiritual !         titude must therefore be carefully avoided by anyone
 As to Teac~~zer-~rocurem'eriernt uynd Pervy,anence            who teaihes or prepares to teach. It is death-dealing               "
                                                               for both teacher and school.
    As we-mentioned in outlining these  afpects  of the
 teacher-problem, they are in a sense common to the               In the. second place, there is the perennial salary
 whole educational world today.          Nevertheless, this    -question. In this regard we must be careful of two
 seethingly formal aspect of. our problem takes on a pi-       extremes. I do not mean the extremes of too high or
 culiar hue for us  Also.     [Granted ! both parents and      too low a salary. I mean rather the extreme, .on the
teachers who are deeply imbued with the principles             one hand of an over-pious attitude on the part of thqse-
 of Protestant Reformed education, and especially tea-         who must pay the teachers, which results-.in expect:
 chers who are convinced of their calling in this regard       ing a teacher to labor for a mere pittance just be-
 and who very consciously proceed from the conviction          cause l& or she is a Christian school t&cher.          ,One
 `of  .`this calling, the problem will be automatically        sometimes. discovers the attitude: there seem to be
 solved. ISuch par.ents we must have and be, because           some who think that just because a  -work has the
 our teachers must be made to feel that they have a' nature of so-called "kingdom-work" it must be gratis,
 place in our schools, a  ,God-g'iven place; not merely  : or almost so. And the othe? extreme is that of a gross '
 a job. And I believe that the bonds must be knit              materialism, which, regardless of ability or inability
 very closely  in this  respeci.      Perhaps this is more     on the part of the employer, selfishly insists on  a
 easily done in a small school;where  there are relative-      royal living. The proper attitude $11 lead to mutual
 ly few parents and children and relatively_ few, t&a-         sacrifice whenever necessary, and a cheerful sharing
 chers. A larger school always seems to be more im-            whenever possible.
 personal and distant. But everi in a larger institution          But more .on this next time, D.V.             8
 this is not impossible. And the more both parents                                                    H. C. Hoeksema

                                                                         i

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

                                                                , enemies? For such seems to be the natural sequence
F - R O M   HOLY  W.RIT of thought.  I?or the text speaks of  "go.od  .and evil
                                                                  and righteous and tifirighteous."' Two classes of men.
                                                                  The wicked and the righte'ous,  the reprobate and the
             E.x,&ition  of Matthew 5:43-4s                       e l e c t .
                                                       .             Such seems to be the problem here.
                       2.- (Conclusion)                              ,On the one hand there are the exponents of. tha
       In this essay we will try ,to say something construc-      theory of "Common [Grace", who clinging to the dis-
tive about -the seemingly knotty  exegetical question of          tinction of `Wie good and the evil, and the just and the
what is meant by Jesus, when He says "becaus& He                  unjust", maintain with might and main that here we
 causes His Sun to rise on &vi1 and good and. rainsdpon           have a  cotim&  love, grace,-"a certain attitude of
j?.kt  oml unjust".          - .                                  favor" over the non-elect; Here, so it is said, we have.
                                                                  the perfect proo&  an explicit statement of Jesus tihich
  - It' should be kept very sharply before our minds both in the-light of .the context and of the words them-
that the  subject  that Jesus is here bringing to the             selves, cannot be interpreted in any other sense than
foreground is these verses is not IGod's- provide&al              that `of a "Common  )Grace",  without doing violence
acts in creation and nature, but that He is most em-              to the text!
phatically speaking of the ribhtao,usness  of the King-
dom of  heaven,  as this must  c0rn.e' to  full fruition             On the other hand there are those who deny this
`in our livks as' subjects of the Kingdoti.                       theory of "common grace". These maintain that there
                                                                  is no common grace here at all. The righteous here
    `To lose -sight of this question of what is' really the       and .the unrighteous, good and evil are both the elect;
subject  Iwill. make it impossible to understand the              of God. It is true, that ,God causes His Sun to shine
teaching of .Jesus here and what its meaning is con- upon the non-ele&also, the rains also desend upon the
cretely in .our lives. We must be more than theologi-             fields of the wicked, but that is nolt what Jesus is here
cal scholars ; we must here be very quiet and obedient            point&g  too. He is pointing to the  Fatherly provi-
children, sons of IGod !                                          dential  ckalings with His own  people. Thus the text
       Yes, that is it. We must be fully sons of God. We          can stand in its power. The. pattern of our dealings
must become this.  IOur whole mind, soul,  strengL.h,             .with our enemies is thus a full pattern; it is not sim-
our whole heart and life must be ryled by Christ's                ply an int.ern.al copying of God's externally manifested
 Word and  Spir'it. The precept of the  IGospel must              deeds in Providence, but it is loving.as God loyes,  and
more and more be part  and parcel of  outi life. We               seeking to make the neighbor perfect as `God does too
must more and inoTe live Christ. That is the thrust - in His longsuffering.
of Jesus' teaching us, that the law and the prophets
must be fulfilled to the last iota Andy tittle. '                    Hence, I then  love my  enin$es  &s  *God loves His
    That is the sdbject `here.                                    enemies.
    Now what has God's  providential dealings  with                ' This is, I am certain, the point Jesus would have us
men to do with Jesus' su,bj:ect  that we become more              see and emulate in our lives.
perfect sons of God?                                               In the first  &ace,  we should notice that "evil  tind
    In general we may say, and that, too, without fear            good, righteous abd unrighteous'< do not represent
of contradiction, that  ,God's  dealings with evil and            two  ab.solut.ely   clifferent groups of  people. For the
good, righteous and unrighteous must be the p&es%                 tern& used by Jesus, as well as the order in which
of our dealings with our enemies. To put it more                  they- are a?ranged,  suggest sdmething quite different.
sharply: ,God's fnthedy  providential dealings in crea- In the original  `Greek, it should.  be observed, the
tion, with evil and good, righteous and unrighteous,. artide  is lacking. We simply read  `!evil and good,
as this is exhibited  before my very eyes each day of             righteous and unrighteous". No, the text does not
the year, must be the pattern of tiy dealings with my             say : the evil and good, the righteous and unrighteous !
enemies as I meet them day by day. As God deals                   This indicates that the nature of man is being referred
without discrimination so too I must deal without dis-            to in relationship+ to the perfected love, rather then
crimjnation for bne a_nd against the other.                       the  clccss of me-n to whicli they belong is distinctioa
    Such is - the thrust of this passage. I must not' from other .men.  It is important to notice this. Then
love my neighbor and hate my enemy. I must love                   too, this  is underscored by the chiatic  drder of the
and' pray for those who hate me.                                  words.  we do not read:  evil  arid good,  zcnrigh6eou.s
       But now there is a seeming difficulty in the text.         and `righteous, but we read : evil and good, righteous
It is this: I must love my enemies as ;God loves His              and  knrigh,teous.  The order  is inverted. Why?  Be-


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R '                                      mi

  cause evidently, no classes of men are meant, but sim-         Here we hate-  khose who hate  ,God with a perfect
  ply the spiritual ethical nature of one group of men           hatred. And we do this in the same measure that
  is meant, as they live and move and have their being           we love the brother, our neighbor through sunshine
 as neighbors. Not two classes, but tw.o kinds in ,one           and storm ; as long as we practice love toward such
  class. The distinction is very relative, but not absolute.     a brother we walk  the* more excellent way. Well,
     In t-he second place, we should notice, that evil that is what Jesus has in mind here by warning a-
 and good men, righteous nad unrighteous men are                gainst doing toward oar neighbor, as the Gentiles do
 here viewed in their capacity of being very concretely ,to their neighbors, and as the Publicans do to their
 our neig&bors. They are evil and good, righteous and           fellow publicans. The men of this world may be wise
 unrighteous as we evaluate them; we judge of them              in their generation with practical wisdom, but they
 in our limited judgment (and sometimes faulty)  iu             are never just in their generation. `Them we must
 the light of the law of aGod, and their treatment of us.       not emulate. We may not be conformed to this world,
 But then too conversely it is true, that we ourselves          but must be transformed.in the renewal of our minds.
 are amongst these evil and good, since we too are                  Two matters wehave thus established as being the`
 neighbor of another. . These neigh,bors  are, therefore,       clear teaching of the text. Firstly, the text, while
 not the absolutely righteous and unrighteous. For an speaking of righteous and unrighteous, is not speaking
 absolutely unrighteous man, who hates  [God and- re-           of two absolutely different classes of men, such as,
 jects Christ, denying that Jesus is the Son of God,            sons of the Kingdom and the (Gentiles, but speaks of
 is not a neighbor in Israel, but he is a `Gentile and a        two ethically-morally different qualifications withh
 Publican. (Compare Matt. 18  :17). Such ,a man is              the scope of the -kingdom of Israel, "thy neighbor".
 called .the ,Gentile and the Publican. Hence, the scope Secondly, that this- makes  ""thy neighbor"-the neigh-
 of neighbor here is within the domain of Israel, where         bor whom I -am to love, even tho he be rnz~ emeny.
 God says: ,I am the Lord, thy God who hath delivered              Now we can proceed.
 thee from Egypt, .from the house of bondage. Hence,               How must I conceive of iGod, the Father's' dealing
 the righteous and the unrighteous, the good and the            with these evil and good? -That is nothard. It simply
 evil are such as I see and evalute  `them in their im- means that God in loving-kindness gives us to taste
 perfect life of faith and godliness, in their "not yet" His goodness (Chreestos) `in the causing of His sun
 completely perfected life of love,. that casts out all to rise .on us and our neighbors as we are in principle
fear. For Christ is here not promulgating the law               renewed children of the King. We must take  ;God's
 of the kingdoms of the world, but He is teaching the           dealing with these very evil and good, just and un-
 heirs of the Kingdom and of, the Promise, the poor just as the daily pattern of my dealings with them.
 in spirit and those who mourn, the meek and those                 My neighbor .does not do me good, it is true. He
 hungering and thirsting after righteousness, the pure          sins also against God. Y.es, he is a brother actual or
 in heart and the peace makers, those who are blessed - potential .(as I see it) but he sins against me. Must
 in being persecuted for righteousness' sake, how love          I now cause the light of my countenance to fall upon
 must be without dissimulation, and be perfected to the him and give him to drink?  Our  Father in heaven
 perfect standard of love as manifested in our heavenly         surely does not dim the sun upon him, refusing him
 Father's loving dealings. For by all ,means, this pas- `the light of .day, does He? Our Father did not com-
 sage must be left to stand in its great and strategic mand the clouds to withhold their rain from him, did
 place in Jesus' teaching of the last iota and tit& of          He? Over these very' evil and good, among which I
 the law, in-the life of grace and righteousness !     '        too am, God causes His face to shine in the sunshine
    Thirdly, this is corroborated by the contrast which         and rain in Fatherly care for our needs. He cares for
 Jesus Himself draws between the Gentile and his ac-            us, more than for the sparrows and the lilies of the
 cepted code of conduct and the sons of God and their           field. Shall we do less to this brother, neighbor?
 conformation to- the life and image of *God. Two-fold             Here is the great alternative.
people we have here. And  that- absolutely too.  ,The              I can wish my brother (enemy) the light of day
 Gentiles are a people with .whom we cannot live ex-            and love him returning blessing for cursing, good for
 cept with the very peril of our lives. Thus it became evil, or I can curse him, wishing ,God to withhold from
clear in the entire `history of Israel in relationship to       him the very light of day. But if I wish my neighbor,
 the Canaanite and the surrounding -nations. And                enemy, the light of day, I shall not withhold from him
thus it is given today. We cannot adopt the morals              the very things, which God puts in my hands for him
 of the life  of. the teachings of man in his denial of by this sunshine and rain. If I see this brother-enemy
God and of Christ.  TEkt  is an  absglute distinction.          (that is the viewpoint of the text) suffer hunger and


,3oc;                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

`God has put many things in my hands by means of
 His sunshine and rain, than I must not withhold these
very gifts from this brother but as a faithful steward                   THE DAY OF
I mustrgive  these to this brother in love. I-may not
stand m the sunlight so that its rays cannot fall upon
him, and that the cheering rain does not'become his                                The Covenant of Sinai
portion-for whom they were meant !                                     We must now take notice more in particular of the
         Yes, it is the last iota and tittle. Let our love be      strictly sovereign character of- this first  covenans
perfect toward the brother whom we see.. Then shall                of Sinai. The question is `this: was this covenant a
all fear and tensions be out of our lives. Then we                 contract or agreement between Israel and the 5ord4
shall be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect,               Did it thus emanate from Israel and from the Lord
and  under  Him  we shall seek the perfection of  OUY              as from two parties ? dr was it strictly onesided and
neighbor.                                                          -did it thus emanate from God alone? We must allow
                                               `G. C. Lubbers      the Scriptures to answer also this question for  us.
                                                                   We turn again to that passage. in Hebrews 8 :6-13.
                                                                       In this scripture passage the Greek word used for
                               I N   M E M O R I A M               covenant is not `suntheekee' but  `diat,heekee'.    How
                                                                   is this IGreek word to be rendered? Let us hear Lem-
                         PROF; DR. KLAM SCHILDER                   ski on this matter. I quote him as follows:
                  Early this morning, March 24, I received              "Monographs have been written on the term "dia-
              a telegram from my friend, Arnold Schilder           theekee" and its connection with the Hebrew `berith'
              at The Hague, informing me that his brother          `covenant'. IOur versions waver between the transla-
         ' Klaas, the well-known .Dr. K. Schilder had,             tions "covenant", land "testament,,. `We give the sum
              on the previous day,- Sunday March  .23,             of the matter.     The Old Testament dealt with the
              passed into his  eternal.rest:   -                   promises of God to`the chosen people. Thereby God
                  I was deeply shocked.                            placed himself  in. "covenant" relation to Israel  (be-
                  For although I certainly did' not agree          rith) . This relation, like the promises and the gifts
              with him in regard to the question of the            of God to Israel, is always onesided. It is always
              covenant and the gromise,  I nevertheless es-        God's covenant, not Israel's, and not a mutual agree-
              .teemed  him for his work's sake, esteemed           ment, not a `suntheekee' (but a diatheekee-0.). This
              him, too, as a highly gifted scholar, and,           promise and covenant indeed obligates Israel, and' Is-
              above all; as a brother in Christ.                   rael assumes these, obligations, but the covenant em-
                                                                   anates entirely from God. The LXX translated, "be-
                  And now-Dr.`,Schilder is no more.                rith", "covenant' in this sense, with diatheekee, "test-
                  It would'seem to LIS that his work was           ament", since this term has the same onesided connota-
              not finished.                                        tion; a will or testament emanates only from the test-
                  Certainly, he himself cannot have been'          ator. What is more important is that the Holy Spirit
   0 aware of the fact that his end was so near.                   Himself translated in this passage in the Hebrews
              -At least, if we consider the very elaborate         "berith", "covenant" in this sense, that is, in the sense
              set-up of his work on the Heidelberg Catech-         of "diatheekee", "testament'`-Christ brought about
              ism (he was writing  ,on the tenth Lord's            the fulfillment of the Old Testament promises. The
              Day), he must have felt that he still had            result is that now God's people have the inheritance
              many years of labor before him.                      and are God's heirs: "If children then heirs: heirs
                  But the Lord took him out of his busy            of God and joint heirs of Christ"-Rom. 18 :17,.
              sphere of labor and pronounced it finished,             Lemski goes on to say: "Riggenbach defines  "dia-
              nevertheless.                                        theekee" as the divine, institution of grace whi,ch has
                  May the Lord comfort the bereaved fami-          these features in common. with the: human testament :
              ly, with whom we express our heartfelt sym-           ' 1) It rests solely on the determination of its author.
              `pathy.                                                 2) It aims to bestow a treasure. *         *
                ; And may He teach us so to number our                3) It connects the bestowal with certain conditions
              days that we apply our, hearts unto wisdom.          in the, recipients".
                                                        H . H .
         e                                                            But regarding this last point, Lemski correctly re-
                                                                   marks : "This last point is not well worded ; it should


                                        I'tiE  S T A N D A R D   .BE.ARER                                           307

 be : designates certain persons as the recipients." Lem-       Priest of this covenant; its salvation, its inheritance
 ski is entirely correct here. I would express myself           and also its heirs. He chose them in Christ in whom
 even stronger. I would say: the'statement of Riggen-           He also created them unto good works which He pre-
 bath "it connects the bestowal with certain conditions         pared for them in` Christ. Truly, this covenant and
 in the recipients" is sheer Arminianism.                       testament is IGod's alone. The sole duty of these heirs
     Let us now get the above indicated passage (Heb.           is to receive it, which they do and also choose to do
 8:6-13) before us. Here follows the literal transla-           by- His mercy. Where then is boasting? Where is
 tion of the original Greek text :                              the free will of man?  -Where  are conditions? They
     "But now a more excellent ministry He has ob-              are excluded, absolutely so,.
 tained by so much as also of a better testament (dia-             Thus it is plain that this covenant and testament
 theekee) He is Mediator, one of a kind that has been           does not make of its heirs stocks and stones. How
 given legal force on the score of better promises.            can it, if. in fulfillment of the promises of this testa-
     For if the first one (that is, testament) was fault-       ment God brings them. into being as new creatures in
 less, a place would not be sought for a second one.            Christ, who love their redeemer-God, and cry out His
 For faulting them He says:                                     praises and. walk in newness of life? It will not do,
    Lo the days are coming, says the iL.ord, and I will         will it, to call such creatures stocks and stones?' A
 consumate a new testament as' regards the house' of            stock and a stone are dead things, incapable of any
 Israel, and as regards the house of Judah.                     kind of action.
    Not like the testament which I made for their                  And so it is also evident that this testament of
 fathers in the day of my taking them by their hand            Sinai and the ,testament  and covenant of which this
 to lead them out of the land of Egypt.                 -'     testament was the symbol and prophetic pre-indica-
    Seeing that they themselves did not remain in my tion-the true covenant of grace-is not destructive
 testament and I disregarded them, said the Lord, so           of human responsibility. This is the fault that the
 that this is the testament which I will draw up for the       Arminian has to find with this testament at Sinai
 house of Israel after .those days, says the Lord ; I will     also. The Arminian lodges two charges against this
 give my laws upon their mind and on their heart will          testament.
 I inscribe them; and I will be their God, and they shall          He says (charge I) that this covenant makes
 be my people. And they shall not each one teach his           stocks and stones of its heirs., We have already re-
 neighbor, and each one his brother saying: know the,          plied to this charge and therefore need take no further
 Lord. Because I will be merciful to their unrighteous-        notice of it. The Arminian also says of this testament
 ness, and their sins will I not remember any longer.          that it is destructive of human responsibility. Let
 In saying :A new one; He has declared the first one           LZS examine this charge. It verily comes down to this :
 old. Now .the thing declared old and becoming aged            that this covenant at Sinai (covenant of grace es-
 is near to vanishing away.`*                                  sentially) frees its he&s from the obligation to love
    We see then that the covenant of ,Sinai was a "test-       and serve their `redeemer God and t.hus allows them
 ament", not an agreement, a contract.                         to sin with impunity. The absurdity of this charge.
    It emanated from <God  alone. It was drawn up by           Consider that the Testator in His testament says to
 Him alone. He alone was the author of its typical             the heirs named' in it. He says to them not only `"I
 salvation-deliverance from the bondage of Egypt  ;. am the Lord your God, the God of your salvation in
 of its atoning sacrifices ; of its heir, the typically re-    Christ Jesus," but He also says to them "As new born
 deemed .people of Israel ; of its inheritance-the typi-       babes, as my regenerated people, love me your God,
 cal rest of the earthy Canaan ; and of all its promises       be holy as I am holy, believe in me t,hrough Christ,
 by which these typical things .of the' law were held          etc. And in His love He  chastizes these heirs for
 forth. The heirs of this testament had nothing`to do their sins in order that they may become more and
 but to receive it, which they did and could only do by        more partakers of His righteousness.
/ His mercy.                                                       How preposterously untrue, then, that this testa-
    If this- was true of the testament of Sinai, it is         ment is destructive of human responsibility. .
 just as true, certainly of the testament of which this            Let us get at the real reason why the Arminian
 first testament and covenant was the figure-the true          says of this testament that it, makes stocks and stones
 covenant of` grace. It, too, `emanates from God alone.        of its heirs and is destructive of th$r human-respon-
 It was drawn up by Him alone. All the things of               sibility.
 this covenant and testament are solely of Him and                 According to this testament, that, according"to the
 through.Him and unto Him-the Mediator and Great               Arminian, of course, is not at all taught in the Scrip-


       308                                  T H E   ST.ANDARD  B E A R E R

       tures but is simply the figmant of the imagination of         His ~people  instead of from` `God alone? In the light
       so'me Calvinists, the  me.cessity of the heirs  c.hoosing     of above observations it is as plain as the day what
       to believe and to be saved, is the sovereign and deter-       this would mean. It would mean that man's salvation
       minate will .of God. Such a conception, says the Ar-          originates partly in ,God and partly in man. This is
       minian, reduces the heirs to stocks and stones and is         precisely the contention of the Arminians. According
       destructive of their human responsibility. For,. says to the Arminian view, man's good choice and will to
       the Arminian; if these heirs are necessitated to believe believe is ozLt of man and is thus supplied by man. !Gocl
       by the sovereign will of the Testator it `follows that        supplies the grace but merely to aid man in making
       they are not free in their willing and choosing'; it          the good choice.  ,If man on his part agrees  out of
       thus follows that they are bound in their willing and         himself to persevere to the end in this good choice,
       choosing, bound by the sovereign determinate will of          God on his part agrees to take the man up into His
,      <God.  (This makes of these heirs stocks and stones and       heaven finally. Thus God promises to save man on the
       is destructive of their human responsibility. So rea-         concl&on  that he persevere in his .good  choice to be
       son the Arminians.                                            saved. This is the Arminian view in contradicton to
              According to the Arminian then, to make it right the view of the Scriptures, the truly reformed view.
       for ourselves to say of these heirs of salvation, that        A third view this is not. We are addicted to one of
       they are truly free in their choosing and responsible,        these two views.
       and thus not stocks and stones, we must allow that               In the Arminian conception the. testament of God
       their good will to believe and be saved is not neces-         is verily a contract emanating from God and man.
       sitated by the sovereign will of ,God. But why then do          According to the Scriptures the Testament eman-
     they believe? on the Arminian position the answer               ated from God alone ; it is truly and absolutely a Testa-
       must be: the believer believes, chooses to be saved,          ment. It is a kind of testament that God alone can
       simply because he wills. And so, too, the unbeliever.         make, He being God.        All human testaments are
       He chooses not  ,to believe simply because  he wills. But     that only in a human, creatural `sense. For man is
       this certainly, is equivalent to saying that man sove-        a creature ; he is not God.
       reignly determines his own destiny.                              There are stiil some question to be answered.
              But is this true? Of course it is not true. Fact          1. If the carnal, reprobated Israel was neither in
       is this: The sovereign will of God is indeed the neces-       the first nor in the new covenant, how could and can it
       sity of these heirs' choosing to believe and to be saved.     despise ,God's covenant? There is no problem here at
       Yet these heirs for this reason are not stocks and            all. Let us ask: Is it necessary for God to love the
       stones. And why not  `2 For the simple reason that            reprobated in order to .make it possible for them to
       God brings these heirs, by nature dead in sin, into           hate Him? No indeed. Did Christ have to suffer and
       being as new creatures with a-new nature and heart,           die for the reprobated in order to make it possible for
       `and that thus the choice and the good will of these          them to reject Him, despise His atoning blood  and
       heirs to believe and to be saved is the free and neces-       crucify Him afresh? Indeed not.  -No more. did ,Gocl
       sary expression of the holy disposition and inclinations      have to include the reprobated in the covenant in or-
       and desires of this new nature and heart. In choos-           der to make it possible for them to reject, despise and
       ing to be saved, therefore, they. are anything but            trample it. To say that it was necessary for God to
       stocks and stones. They are freed children of God             include the reprobated in the covenant in order to
       whose delight is in the law of God whom they serve as         make it possible for them to despise and reject it, is
       activated by the love of their new heart and as con-          certainly equivalent to saying that Christ had to suf-
       strained'by their living faith and as standing in the fer and die for the reprobated in order to make it pos-
       liberty where with Christ has made them free.                 sible for them to reject and despise Him. Consider
              Let us not be confused by this argument of the Ar-     the covenant of grace.     Its author is the God and
       minians. Let us not pick it LIP and hurl it as an ob-         Father of Christ; its great Priest and Mediator is
       jection at God's testament at Sinai. For then we              Christ. Its promise is the promise of everlasting life
       with the Arminians also "are" guilty of denying sove-         in Christ. Subtract from the covenant God and Christ
       reign election and reprobation.                               and the promise and the promised life, and you have
              In fine. It is as plain as the day, is it not, that    certainly no covenant left. Well now, if the' repro-
       this covenant at Sinai was 1) a Testament emanating           bated are not loved of God how can they be in His
       from ,God alone ; and 2) a Testament of .grace.               covenant?. And if the reprobated are not included
              Let us understand what it would mean, were this        in Christ its Mediator and its great Priest Christ, how
       Testament a contract emanating from the Lord and              can they be included in the covenant of which He is


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   8                                      `309

the Mediator? And.if the life that Christ merited was        its typical mediator and typical great priest; and typi-
 not merited for them, how can the covenant promise cal salvation and typical rest and with its law over
 them this life? How, in a word; can they be included        the church but not put in the hearts of the elect, that
 in the promise and thus in the covenant? IThis is im- is, not put in their hearts on account of their being iit
 possible in the light of the Scriptures.                    ,his typical covenant? . What was the purpose of it
    II. As was explained, the believers of the Old Testa-    all? In the words of Paul, its purpose' was to lead, '
 Dispensation did not. continue in the first covenant,       the drive, the elect of ,God to Christ, to the true Christ
 the typical covenant of Sinai, except in principle. Bu: of the new covenant. Its purpose.was to serve Christ
 it may be asked whether the true Israel today does          and He people in this way. And, certainly, it did also
 more than keep the true covenant of grace in princi-        actually serve this purpose. By this first covenant
 ple?  No? to be sure they do not. According to their `with its .typical- things, and with its law that curses the
 sinful flesh they are always forsaking God's covenant.      true believers were indeed driven to Christ even all
 What then may be the difference between the state of        through the  `Old Testament dispensation. In connection
 the true church than and now? In this respect of            with this first covenant and its typical things, definite-
 course their is no difference. As long as the believers ly the symbolical-typical sacrifices by blood, all point-
 are in this life they forsake the covenant according to     ing to Christ, they, as Abel, received testimony in
 their sinful flesh though in principle they keep it.        their hearts that they were righteous in Christ, the
 They will not perfectly abide in God's covenant until, true mediator of the new covenant, the Holy Spirit
 they are in heaven. Once in heaven they will perfect-       testifying with their spirits that they were God's re-
 ly abide in it. This is what the church triumphant deemed people and with David, the Psalmist, they  jabi-
 is now doing. It is abiding in ,God's covenant perfect- lantly exclaimed : "Blessed is he whose transgressions
 ly. And consider that the church triumphant is formecl      are forgiven whose sin, is covered.            Blessed is the
 of a vast number of saints. The church triumphant man unto whom God imputeth not iniquity, and in
 includes the departed saints of .the Old Dispensation       whose spirit there is no guile."-Ps. 32 :l, 2.
 and all the departed saints of the New Dispensation.                                                   G. M. Ophoff
 Together they form a vast number. In comparison
 with that multitude the true church on earth at any                              -:-:-
 one time is exceedingly small, a small remnant. The
 church in heaven is the object of our faith. When
 we speak of the church, it is of that vast multitude                The Manna of  tke  Des&  Period                     1.
 that we must be thinking. And that multitude, as was
 said, abides in `God's covenant perfectly. For the                    "And the children of Israel also wept again, and
 cov,enunt is everlasting. But if that first covenant had              said, `W.h6 shall give us flesh to eat.' "
                                                                                                           -Numbers  11 Ab.
 not been superceded by the new covenant, there would
 not be that redeemed multitude, the church, abiding            Having brought His people-the people of Israel
 in (God's covenant, and abiding in it perfectly. For,       -out of the land of Egypt, the, Lord led them into the
 as;,has been explained, the Mediator and great Priest       wilderness of Sinai. It was, to be sure, a terrible wil-
 of that first covenant was but a shadow.                    derness, wherein were firey .serpents, and scorpions,
                                                             and drought, and where there was no water, Deut.
    It is that vast multitude of saints in heavell-the 7  :X5. But the Lord did a new thing. In the words
 church-in whom that prophecy of Jeremiah has                of the sacred writer -at Deut. 32 :lO, He made a way
 reached its, perfect fulfillment, namely the prophecy :     for His people through the wilderness. He led them
 "And they shall not teach every man his neighbor,           about, kept them as the apple of His eye, spread a-
 and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord:           broad over them His wings,, took them, bore them
for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest." upon His wings. This imagery sets forth the Lord's
 "All shall know me," this is only true in princ<$e of       special and tender care over His people on their
 God's people as long as they are in this life.              marches through that wilderness. There was the pil-
    So we must look at these matters. if we want to          lar of cloud-the Lord's wings-that shielded them
feel the full force of the fact and truth that this first from the burning heat of the sun. The beams of the
covenant has been supercede'd by the new and ever-           sun therefore did not blind their eyes, blister their
lasting covenant of  <Grace, by the true covenant of         skin, and parch their mouth.           They toiled not on,
grace.                                                       half senseless of the heat, They were miraculously  _
    III. What now was the purpose of. that first cove- kept-in sound health on the way. Their foot did not
nant with its `typical institutions and ordinances, with
                .                                            swell and their raiment waxed, not old upon them,


310                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARE.R

       Deut.  8:4.    The Lord fed them with manna from
 :- heaven and quenched their thirst with water fetched                               De  KL+ppmde  Chtistus
       them from the rocks of the desert. The Lord knew
       their frame ; He remeltibered  that they were dust. He                        "Zie, ik sta aan de de& en ik klop: indien iemand
                                                                                mijne stem  zal hooren en de deur  .opendoen,  ik  zal
       pitied them as a father.  Going-before them, He Sent                     tot hem  inkomen,  en ik zal met hem avondmaal
  a them plentiful rain, and thus confirmed His inherit-                        houden, en hij met mij."-Ogenb.  3:20.      ~
       ance, when it was weary, Ps. 68. What a beautiful                Nadat  Jezus Christus  Zich aan  Johannes- had  ge-
       picture of the Lord's spiritual care of His church in        openbaard in 2%jh. Messiaansche glorie, ontvangt  Jo-
       this world.                                                  ha&es last en opdracht om zeveiz brieven te schrijven
          `The people of Israei were not thankful. Continu- %  aan de zeven gemeenten die in Klein-Azi&  zijn. En
       ally .did they provoke the Lord by their murmurings1        mijn tekst is genomen uit den laatsten brief, den brief
       On one occasion, not so long after the heparture from       aan die van Laodicea.
       Egypt, the mixed multitude among them went to                    Dat dit zevental gemeenten symbolis&e beteekenis
       lusting after flesh. They wept aloud, and as they heeft wordt van alle zijden grif  toegestemd.  Dat
       wept they said, "Who shall give us flesh to eat? We         blijkt vooral ook uit bet getal zeven. Zeven.is het ver-
       remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely ;       bondsgetal, en in dit zevental gemeenten zien we de
       the  cucumbe,rs, and the melons, and the leeks, and         volheid en voltooiing van het lichaam vail Christus,
       the onions, apd the garlic; but now our soul is dried       zooals dat lichaam op aarde tot bpenbaring komt, te
       `away: there is nothing at all ,besides  this manna be- midden van zonde, verzoeking en vijanden, maar ook
       fore our eyes." Their disease of impatience was zooals die gemeenten schitteren van de schoonheid des
       conta&otis.' Ere. long the whole camp gave way to           VerbondsGods..  Er waren meer` dan zeven gemee-nten
       weeping.              d                                     in  Klein-Azig,  doch dit  ,zevental is  verkoren  om de
          So did they despise the manna and cry for the            kerk van Christus te schetsen zooals die kerk in alle
       fleshpots of Egypt. In doirig so, those Israelites com-     eeuwen. tot openbaring komt.              En d&n zal blijken,
       mitted a heinous sin. If we are to have understand,-        dat de eene gemeent`e deze eeuw kenmerkt, en de an-
       ing of this, we must have. regard to the manna that         dere een andere eeuw, enz. Hoewel het  tech onze
       was despised and loathed. , First;_ the purpose of its      overtuiging is, dat ge dit zevental terugvindt in eenige
       being sent, This is set forth in Deut. 8:3, in*the  fol-    eeuw  4er kerkgeschiedenis.  IGe moogt zelfs zeggen,
       lowing words. "And he fed thee with the manna which         dtit in elke openbaring van het li&aam van Christus
       thou knewe&  not, neither did thy fathers know; that        tot op zekere -hoogte alle zeven gemeenten gezien wor-
       he might m&e thee to know that man does not live            den. Alle karaktertrekken van deze zeven gemeenten
       by bread alone, but bi every word that proceedeth           vindt ge terug in elke plaatselijke kerk.
       out bf the mouth of ,God does man: live." The teaeh-            De brieven zijn allereerst gericht aan de engelen
       ing here set fbrth is that man's true life is not natur$    of sterren der gemeenten,  e-n dat zijn de leeraars.
       bread but every word or out going of God's :mou&;           Doch in hen worden die' brieven ook gericht aan de
  which is Christ. It was with a view to preparing                 individueele leden. En dan niet alleen aan die zeven
       the church for the revelation and reception of this         historische gekeenten. .doch aan de kerk van Christus
  truth that the Lord fed the people of Israel ,with man- . van alle e&wen. Ze zijn ook tot U en mij gericht"
  na-the bread from heaven- during the period of                       Welnu,  .we verkozen een tekst uit de laatste van het
  their residence in the wilderness. This doing of Gpd,            zevental. Vooral ook, omdat veel geschermd wordt
  ,His suffering the people of .Israel  to hunger and His          met Openb.  320 in sommige kringen. Deze tekst
  feeding them with manna-demonstyates,  wonderful- wordt veel verknbeid, verkeerd  uitgelegd en toegepast.
  ly well, that man lives not' by bread but .by `every             En de oorzaak is dat men hem uit het verband  rukt,
 outgoing of  IGod's mouth, thus lives by God's  -word, waarin we hem vinden. En dat mag niet. Al Gods
  which is Christ.                                                 Woord moet verklaard  in zijn verband.  Ik denk, dat
                                              G. M. Ophoff ge dit mij zult toegeven. &aat ons dat nu trachten
                                                                   `te  doen.  -'
                                                                       Eerst dan Christus en de de&*.  De algemeene op-
                                                                   vatting van die deur is, dat dit het hart. van den
                                                                   mensch moet voorstellen, en dan liefst het hart van
  GLAS~S,IS EA&T will -meet, D.V., Wednesday `April 2,             een  onwedergebqren   mensch. En dat hart zit  ditiht.
  at 9 A.M. .at the First Protestant Reformed- Church -Die deur is gelijk aan een he&hte eikenhouten deur,
  of .tGrand Rapids.                                               die op slot zit en de grendel er voor. Want, zoo rede-
               a                      D. JQnlw, statesi  Clerk neert, men, Christus staat er XXX. Hij is er nog niet


                                 "  T H E   STA'NDARD  B E A R E R                                                311

in. Dus heeft  zulk  een mensch  nag  geen deel  aan          nend, met vlammende oogen tegenover de dooden do&
den Christus. Hij kwam nog nooit over den drempil             met liefde in  Zijn hart, oog en stem voor `de nog
van zulk een hart. Voorts wordt Jezus .dan' voorgc-           levende lauwen. Luistert sleetits n$ar het vers dat aaa
steld als staande bij dat hart met een droevige trek mijn tekstvers onmiddelijk voorafgaat : "Zoo ,wie Ik
op Zijn gelaat.     Hij hunkert om binnengelaten  & ' liefheb, die bestraf en kastijd Ik;  wees  din ijverig
worden.    Maar Hij is machteloos. Meer. dan Zijn en bekeer u !" Het heft de hand op om te kloppen.
stem heeft Hij niet. Hebt ge nooit deversjes gehoord             En dat brengt ons tot de tweede gedachte: Chris-
die op dezen tekst gemaakt zijn`? fOch,.zend Hem to&          tus en het kloppen. De algemeene opvatting,  vraagt
niet weigerend heen !                                         ge. Dat weet ge evengoed  als ik. Men kan het  dui-
  NY is al zulk toepassen van den tekst verregaande           zendmaal hooren  en lezen. De redeneering en de zoo-
dwaasheid. Van waar zoo plotseling dat hart, en- dan genatimde  verklaring van den kloppenden  Christus
van ,dat onwedergeboren hart? Dat klopt niet  mei is,  ongeveer  als volgt. De  zachtmoedige  Jezus staat
het  verband. Er staat :  deuq*.  Eri  deuy doet ons  den-    te smeeken aan dat harde hart van den zondaar; Hij
ken aan een gebouw, aan een huis. En van,waar dat             tracht te overtuigen dien hardeli..zondaar.  Hij. hoort
onwedergeboren  ha&?  ,Christus schrijf  t immers deze het gedartel der  .zonde  daar binnen, en` Zij.n stem
woorden aan Zijn gemeente, een gemeente die Hij nog weerklinkt : Och, laat mij tech binnen ! 11~ Zelf kan
erkent als een levende gemeente. Een gemeente die,            de deur niet opendben. Zoo stelt men het dan voor.
alhoewel de  toestand in die gemeente vreeselijk is,          En. op naam van den Christus ,Godq staat men dan te
tech nog deel uitmaakt van het volmaakt zevefital  ?          smeeken en te lokken om toeh maar zieltjes te mogen
Mijn tekst is een bood&hap van Jequs-  aan Zijn volk.         ontvangen die eindeiijk  zullen zeggen : -We1 aan dan,
En het is een boodschap van kastijding en van troost,;        kom bi.nnen,  Jezus Christus. Ik,stem toe oin gezaligd.
van  straf en belofte. ,Ook staat het vers niet in het te wol-d.en.
teeken  van weigering: ' Christus staat niet te treuren          Door dat  kloppen wordt  bet geraas- daarbinnen
aan deze deur, doch Hij staat daar als de machtige, de        dan  meestal  erger: --Men spot met dien smeekenden'
almachtige Koning  van het  heelal,  zooals Johannes          Heiland. En het e?nde js bij het meerendeel  van hen
Hem in het vorige hoofdstuk zag. En  zoo.  indruk-            die Hij  be&ekt,  dat Hij droevig  heengaat, En de
wekkend  was de  gestalte-`van  dien  Koning,  dat  Jo-       Zoon van God heeft Bet verloren. En zegt nu niet,
hannes als dood aan Zijn voeten viel. Neen, de tekst dat wij het te eig maken,  dat we het te bont vb;orstel-
staat niet in het. teeken  van weigering,  doch .in het ,len, want ik \hcb `het zelf vaak-zoo, en erger, gehoord.
teeken  van hooring.      Bovendien iijn deze woorden         Een van die predikers zeide eens tot mij, dat er vele
geschreven   aan  &5n van de  sterfen  ,die Hij in Zijn menschen `in de he1 zijn; die Jezus o zoo gaarne in den
rechterhand  houdt.                                           hemel gehad zou hebben. 266 wofdt het voorgesteld
   Wat dan? Wat.mag de verklaring zijn van Chris-             alom : Jezus verliest het tegenover die hechte deur,
tus bij de deur? Die deur, mijne vrienden, is de deur         tegen dat harde hart van den zond.aar.
van de kerk, de deur van `de gemeente te Laodicea,               Nu moet gij we1 verstaan, dat h`et afschuwelijk is
van bet gebouw, dat Hij -Zelf daar bouwde. ,Die deur          om het zoo voor'te stellen. De Heiland wordt geheel
is de deur van een levende gemeente, die &!n van de           anders Ideschr,even bij de opdraging van dit getuigenis
zeven gouden kandelaren is, in welks midden Jezus             aan Johannes. Leest slechts  vers 14 van het eerste
Christus wandelt door Zijn  Woord  en Geest.  Maar            hoofdstuk der Openbaring: Zijn oogen zijn als  een,
het is de deur van die gemeente zooals zij nog  on-           vlamme vutirs. Hij is de Koning der koningen en' de
zuiver op aarde tot openbaring komt. Er is  vreese- `Heere  der heeren. En ik mag U op Gods Woord ge-
lijke afval  ili Laodicea's gemeente. Daar zijn  meni-        grond tiededeelen,  dat als Jezus naar een onwederge-
gen ingeslopen die dood waren.       En door. aanraking boren hart gaat; Hij niet klopt, en voorts wacht om
van de dooden en door -invloed van de dooden is de opengedaan   t&  worden,   doch dan slaat Hij dat hart
hitte  de? heeten lauw geworden, en: zijn de kouden           aan  gruzelementen. ' Hij verbreekt, verbrijzelt  .`he-l
en he&en vermengd in een afschuwelijk lauw mengsel.           hart dat hard is. Hij neemt bet steenen,  hart weg en
Dit is een lauwe gemeente. De heete waarheid is very          geeft een vleeschen hart er voor in de plaats als het
koeld. Allerlei valsche, leugenachtige elementen kwa-         Hem belieft om `ingang te hebben in het hart der ge-
men er in en er bij. En dat mengsel-maakte ook Gods           kenden.    En dat is immers altemaal beeldspraak in
ware volk lauw.        Deze  .gemeente  was dor, doodig ,Gods Woord om ons te leeren,  dat als Jezus in iemand
en lauw, in belijdenis en leven. En Jezus staat bij           wil  wonen Hij hem eenvoudig wederbaart door den
die gemeente welbewust van Zijn kracht : kalm en              Gee&  van Zijn  genade.    De bovengenoemde verkla-
koninklijk. Niet treurend staat Hij daar, doch toor-          ring is geen verklaring,  doch verminking van Gods


  312                                       T B E' S T A N B AX-DY-Em-AXER
                             - - L e . -                                                       - .       -
  Woord, en Gode onwaardig. Vergeet `geen oogenblik :           rriench zit dan op den  t&on en  Christus  aan zijn
  `Jezus is God, te @ijzen *tot in dei eeuwigheid. . EI~        voeten.
  daarom,. wat Jezus wil, gebeurt. Niets is er zoo hard?          _ Laat mij het onomwonden  mogen schrijven: deze
' ,dat  bet  .Hem buiten  kan sluiten. De eerder  gegeven       voorstelling is vreeselijk goddeloos. De  onwederge-
  zoogenaamde verklaring van Jezus en Zijn- klsppen             bxene kan niets wat op hooren van .Christus' stem,
  maakt den mensch tot God boven Christus. *                    en het dpendoen van zijn hart betreft. De  natuur-
    - Wat is dan de juiste v@~laring? Ze is deze: deze          lijke menech is zwaar van oor om te hooren, en on-
  brief werd verzonden  j  a-an  den  engel der gemeente        machtig cm te  doen wat  IGod en  Christus van hem
  te Laodicea, en dab was de leeraar van die gemeente,          eisehen.  Juist  bet tegenovergestelde is waar : hij
  En toen is de.brief voorgelezen  `in de ,gemeente,  en die    wordt door het uitwendig hooren van Jezus' stem
  brief werkte  reformato?isch. Christus' Woord  .kwam          harder van hart, goddeloozer in zijn verzet,' en hij
  weer in al zijn zuiverheid op den  kansel.        En die      vertrapt het bloed van het Nieuwe Testament, het-
  brief werkte bestraffen$ en kastijdend. Hij  ontkleed-        zelve onrein achtende.     Dat is eenvbudig  ,de  waar-
  de den zondaar, ontnam hem zijn gewraanden.  rijkdom,         heid, en een iegelijk Bijbelsch (Christen weet het. Op
  bestrafte zijn lauwheid, en raadde hem aan terug te -duizend bladzijden van Gods Woord wordt dit  ver-
 keeren tot de  paden die hij eerder bewandelde in              kondigd.  11~ noem slechts 66n enkelen tekst, doch het
  betere dagen. In  6%  woord:   Christus raadde Zijn           getuigenis van -dien tekst -is dan ook overweldigend.
  gemeente aan terug'.te  keqen tot hun oorsprong, tot          Leest het in I ,cor.  1 :I8 : Daar wordt geleerd, dat bet
_ den roststeen  waar&t ze gehouwen  waren,  en. die            Woord des  kkuises  dwaasheid is dengenen die  ver-
  Rotssteen was Christus.' En de zaak staat zoo, omdat          loren gaan.  En in den  ttieeden  brief  aan de  Corin-
er levenden  waren in die gemeente, want  zo@ls  ik             thiBrs zegt Paulus, dat bet. Evangelie een reuke des
  zooeven aanhaalde  uit het  onmiddelijke   verband,  er       doods ten .doode  is voor degenen die yerloren gaan.
  waren in die gemeente nog zielen waarvan jezus zeide :        Ze ruiken  er zieh den eeuwigen dood  aan. Er moet
  zoo wie Ik liefheb die bestraf en kastijd Ik. En wat          een Goddelijk wonder met ons geschieden zullen We
  de .deur toedoet, er waren daar in die gemeente nog           hooren; gehoorzamen en gezaligd  worden.
  menschen waarvan we lezen: "Die ooren heeft om te                De sleutel van de goede verklaring van Christus en
  hooreq-die  hoore  wat `de Geest tot de gemeexiten  zegt." het opendoen ligt in het telkens herhaalde: "Die ooren
  En in de predikatie van de heete waarheid ,staat Chris-       heeft die hoore  wat de Geest tot de gemeenten zegt."'
  tus te rogpen en te kloppen aan de deur van Zijn le-          En, in de woorden: "Zoo wie Ik liefhkb, die bestraf en
  vende gemeente, de gemeente die leeft in haar levende         kastijd Ik." Wanneer  het harde woord van Jezus
  leden. En het doe1 van den Heiland is oin Zijn afge-          voorgelezen `wordt, gaat de, Geest van Christus van
  dwaalde schapen te kastijden, en dan terug .te leiden         oor tot oor en  ven hart tot hart. Dan hoort  (Gods
  tot Zijn kudde. En Hij staat,  te roepen  en te kloppen,      volk en  veroatmoedigt   zich, omdat zij hoorende  ge-
  .welbewust  dat Hij gehoord en gehoorzaamd  zal wor-          maakt zijn. En dan ontvangen, ze kracht om de deur
                                             .
  den.                                                          open te doen. En zoo bekrachtigd komen ze ter kerke
                                                                uit. Ze openen de deur die hen verbond aan de doode
     Nu nog de. laatste gedachte : Christus en bet open-        lauwen, en- treden reformatorisch op. In mijn tekst
 doen. De algemeene  opvatcing  wordt al erger. Men vindt ge de roeping tot reformatie en die stem $ot re-
  moet nu  we1 verder op het eerder ingeslagen pad:             formatie is keer op keer gehoord, en men ging over
  Men moet nu we1 den onwedergeboren mensch kracht              tot de formatie van zuiverder  kerkgemeenschap, naar
  toeschrijven om te. hooren en open te doen; Dus zal           den stijl van het Woord van God;
  nu hier en daar een enkele  harde zondaar zijn die               En dan komt het Avondmaal. Nu moet ge we1 ver--
  zich -zal laten verteederen door de lokkende :stem van        staan, dat &t xiiet ziet op het -teeken en het zegel van
  Jezus. De  doode   zonda$r staat  uit  `iijn' geestelijke     het Verbond Gods. Dat is  we1 ingesloten,  doch het
  graf op. De. onmacht van den  natuurlijkcn mensch ziet op intieme verbondsgemeenschap met God door
  wordt geloochend. En  nu moet men  tiog verder op             Christus Jezus. Alleen in den weg der bekeering is
  dit heilloos spoor, of men wil of niet..' Als. straks die     er gemeenschap met God mogelijk.  Hie? is  sprake.
  enkeling die zich bekeeren liet tiet christus `aan het        van den aangenamen omgang van den Herder en Zijn
  avondmaal zit, mag Ch$stus we1 dankbaar zijn." In kudde.
  elk geval mag deze bekeerde zondaar zichzelf  we1                Dat is de verklaring van dezen tekst, naar onze
  danken, dat hij ZOO verstandig was om de .deur van `t         heiligste overtuiging, en zij is ook naar de Heilige
  slot  te  doen, en Jezus er in  ,te  laten.  En wat  id in Schrift. AGeve-de Heere ons het geestelijk gehoor om te
  deze voorstelling het  venijnigste vergif? Dit: de hooren wat de ,Geest tot de gemeenten zegt.                  G. Vos
                                                                                 &


