                    "
     A

         V O L U M E   X X I X   -b                         NOVEMBER   15,- 1952  - GRAND  RAPIDS,-   MICHIGAN                  NUMBER   4

                                                                                     menschen hebben immers geen behoefte aan de groote
     : -4ME D I T.A T I O- N                                                         ontferming? Zij zijn geheel en al tevreden met hun
                                                                                     staat en toestand. Zij vragen zichzelf -nooit af : Hoe
                                                                                     zult  -gij  rechtvaardig  verschijnen voor God! Neen,
                         Gods-  Ecuwige   Ontferming                                 mijn tekst is voor -menschen  die met alleen zondaars
                                                                                     en ongerechtigen zijn, doch zij kennen zichzelf als zpo-
                         "Hij zal  zich  onzer   we,der   ontfermen, hij  ml onze    danig.                       -                     J
                     ongerechtighedem   dempen,  ja gij  zult  allie  hunne
                     zonden in de diepten der ze_e werpen."                           L$at ons die twee vreeselijke-namen eens van na-
                                                                  -Micha  `7 : 19    bij bezien: Een zondaar, naar de oorspronkelijke be-
         Micha profeteerde ten tijde van de koningen Jo- teekenis  van h,et woord,  is een mensch, die het groote
     tham, Achaz en Hiskia, en ten tijde van groote afvtil                           hoofddoel  van zijn.leven mist. Zulk  een'mensch  mist
     -van  ,Gods  verbondsvolk.  Zijn profetie is daarom  ge-                        God ! Ziet ge : God stelde den mensch Zichzelf ten doe1
      lijk aan .die van Jesaja. E.r was groote zonde, en dat                         bij de. schepping. Alleen dan ZOLI de mensch aan~ zijn
      we1 onder  alle  rangen en  standen van het  volk;  -En                        doe1 beantwoorden en gelukkig zijn, als hij, namelijk,
      daarom spreek*t  hij van de straf Gods ,die aan `t komen                       alles deed ter  eere van God. Deed hij  dat niet, dan
      is : Assur komt ! is de noodkreet doch tevens de waar-                         werd, hij zondaar, dan miste hij het groote doe1 des
      schuwende stem van den  .profeet  Gods. Die straf lcvens. En -0ngerechtigheid  is zich losscheuren, los-
      wordt geschetst is  schrille  kleuren: En  tech, er is                         rukken~van  ,God en goddelijke zaken. H,et is rebellie,
      steeds  bet overblijfsel der genade, en daarom is er                           opstanh,   revolutie;  Nu  is dit van toepassing op alle
      ook vermelding van Gods groote ontferming over  bet, mensijhen.in  alle'tijden; We hebben ons in Adam van
      volk, dat altijd-in de hand-palmen van den Verbonds-                           *God losgerukt en zijn tegen Hem opgestaan. We heb-
     ,God gegraveerd is.                Groote ontf erming want Jezus                ben den.  krijg aangebonden  -met  (God. En na Adam
      Christus; de Me&as `Gods  en de Messias Israels zal                            keuren wij dat allen goed," en bij onze geboorte.vechten
      zeker komen. `Groote ontferming, want de zonden zul-                           we direct mee tegen God en Zijnen Gezalfde.  Nn
      len vergeven warden. IGod is een God die de zonden                             wordt dit van nature nooit zoo toegestemd.
                                                                                                                          -.
-     voorbijgaat. ,God kan Zichzelf niet verloochenen:  Hij                             De mensch heeft vele vonden gezocht. En als hij
      is de `Getrouwe  van eeuwigheid en tot in eeuwigheid.                          zich- a$ ,.opstandeling-  tegen God in- namelooze ellende
      En zoo houdt Hij Zijn  toorn  niet in ,eeuwigheid.   Hij- ziet, dan  geef:t hij ook God nog de  schuld. En dan
      heeft lust  aan goedertierenheid,  aan  het overblijfsel                       vldekt   m.en- God. Ziet het uiteindelijk-in de  Openba-
      Zijner erfenis.                                                        ._      ring van Johannes. Als `God met Zijn rechtvaardige
                                                                                     ooideelen   ko'mt, dan vloeken  :en  lasteren zij  recht-
                                        f?  *  Q  4`                                 streeks' den `God -des liemels en der .aarde.    Evenwel,
                              -cc--i
                                .i.                                                  sommigen onder die opstandelingen ontvangen het
         Laat -ens` eens zien. 1 De voorwerpen  van de won-.                         licht van `Gods ceeuwige  genade in hun diepste hart.
      clere ontferming  <Gods Zijn de zondaars en'de  onge- En die' genade verlicht hen door- en door. En de eer-
      rechtigen.  :Leest  het  maar in den tekst. Mijn  tekst                        ste vrucht is wel, dat zij zichzelven zondaren en on-
      heeft niets voor de  goeden en  rechtvaar.digen.  Het                          rechtvaardigen- noemen. En dat  volk wordt hier  be-
      is een echo van Jezus' woorden: "Ik hen-met  gekomen                           dbeld. En dan beginnen zij .te treuren over- hunnen
      om te roepen rechtvaardigen, maar zondaren tot-be-                             staat en toestand. Zie  vers' 9 :  "11~  zal des Heeren
      keering." Lucqs  5 :32; -IHoe zou het ook? - Dat soort gramschaIYdragen,  want ik heb tegen Hem gezondigd;
                                                                                                          _-


74.             r                                T H E   ST8NDAR.D   B E A R E R
                                                  :.* .,.
                                   -7                                                                                            -.*
totdat Hij mijnen fwist twiste en mijn recht uitvoere :                 in hunne  harten is  ,uitgestort.  Die liefde geeft hun
Hij zal mij uitbrengen aan het licht, ik zal mijhen lust                de begeerte om volmaakt voor God te &en. Dat nu
zien aan Zijne gerechtigheid."                                          kunnen zij  niet. Zij zondigen  elken dag, en daarom
    :De.  ,tekst  ,zeg$  verder  :  1 Hij  z.al  zich  ongeT ontfer-    is er een gedurige ervaring van smart en droefheid.
                                            .
men !,,.X%ize  tekst is zeer particuher..  Het ziet niet op             Ze gevoelen  zich ellendig. Als de  wereldlingen   spre-
al~e~-~~~~~~ehen;-~doch  op ons,  zegt Micha. Leest vers                ken van hun smarien vanwege allerlei ervaring in dit
18,:.6Wie;is  een God gelijk ,Gij, die de ongerechtigheid               leven,. dan zeggen zij : dat is niet de oorzaak van mijn
vergkeft%n  de overtreding van het overblijfsel Zijner                  tranen. Ik ween omdat ik zondaar ben voor God., Dat
erfenis voorbijgaat?" Het overbli$%el Zijner erfenis !                  maakt al het verschil.
Die -zijn de voorwerpen van dezentroostrijken tekst.                        En die ellende nu is de toestand die roept om ,Gods
 .' `En als ge blijft vragen naar de beteekenis-van die                 ontferming: Als de  werelcl'.ooli:  droefheid heeft,  doch
benaming, dan-zou ik U willen wijzen op Deut., 4 :20.                   een droefheid  die door Paulus genoemd  wordt.cle  droef-
en daar lezen we dit: "Maar ulieden heeft de Heere heid der wereld, dan werkt die droefheid  niet dan `de
aangenomen en uit ,den ijzeroven, uit Egypte, uitge-                    dood. Maar  als ge bedroefd zijt  v&wege de  zonde
voerd, opdat gij Hem tot een erfvolk,zoudt zijn, gelijk                 die ge bedreven hebt, danverkeert  ge in den toestand
het te dezen dage is." Daar hebt ge het. `(God verkoor                  die roept om Gods ontferming. En Gods volk weet
niet Egypte of Babel,  doch Hij verkoor Israel, Zijn                    dat. Want hun `vertegenwoordiger Micha zegt : God
bondsvolk.-  Ziet ge, God heeft een volk. En Hij heeft zal  Zich onzer ontfermen.
dat volk eeuwiglijk in Zijn hart. Nooit ver.geet Hij                       En als ge nu vraagt : maar wat is de ontferming
dat.volk. Schoon zwaar getergd door dat volk. in hun-                   Gods? Dan is ons antwoord: het is die deugd van den
ne zonden en ongerechtigheden, gedenkt Hij ten slotte                   DrieEenigen  God die Zich uitstrekt tot Zijn volk, dat
altijd  aan Zijn `genade, Zijn eeuwige  genade.8 En                     zoo weent in hunne zonde, met  bet Goddelijk verlangen
buigt Zich. tot dat volk neder als het in de slavernij                  om hen uit die vreeselijke toestand te verlossen. En,
van lret geestelijke Egypte verkeert, en verlost hen                    let wel, dat verlangen van God wordt steeds vervuld.
met. een sterke arm. En daarom zijn de voorwerpen                       Ziet het maar aan die ontelbare seahare van uitverko-
bier,. en  overal in de Heilige  Sehrift,  bet Israel  der.             renen die nu al in den hemel  zijn. Ze hebben erbar-
eeuwen. Ook vandaag gaat het om het ware' Israel.                       melijk geschreid  op  aarde.   Doch nu juichen ze voor
Zij zijn eenvoudig weg de uitverkorenen Gods.                           den troon. Van alle eeuwen werd dit verlangen Gods
 . En ge kunt -bet  oolk weten of ge tot die uitverko-                  vervuld. Beide in ,.het ;Oude en in het Nieuw.e  Testa-
renen behoort.  Als ge tot dat volk behoort, dan spreekt                menit. Al het erfvolk dat klaagde over de zonde en de
ge in Uw diepste hart als dat volk, Dan noemt ge U-                     ongeredhtigheid  is nu ,a1 in den hemel, of zal er zeker
zelf -de zondaar en de ongerechtige  man. En ik ver-                    aanlanden. Want hunne zonden en ongerechtigheden
zekerU, dat. dit almachtige genade neemt om dat toe                     verdwijnen. Dat zegt de.tekst  immers?  Onze  onge-
te  stemmen.         Welnu, .over dat volk gaat `bet in mijn            rechtigheden worden  door God gedempt.
tekst. Zij zijn de voorwerpen van een eeuwige  ont-                        Wat beteekent het? Dat beteekent`dit: als schuld
fern&g.                               s                                 worden  die ongerechtigheden  uitgewischt.   IGod heeft
                                                                        een  gedenkboek   voor Zijn aangezicht. En elke keer
                                                                        dat ge zondigt komt er een in.boeking  van die daad in
                            *  *  k  r?r                                dit boek ,Gods. En God slaat niets over. Het staat er
                                                                        van U beschreven van de wieg tot den laatsten snik.
   ,Er is .veel enende  in de wereld: Deze aarde wordt                  De eerste  post die ingeboekt is, is de-schuld  van Adams
terecht een `tranendal genoemd. Er is een onuitspre-                    zonde die U toegerekend wordt. En die post wordt ge-
kelijke smart die alle menschen doet iuchten. Er is                     volgd door de ontelbare posten van Uwe dadelijke zon-
een smart des lichaams en een smart der ziel. En de den. Maar God wischt ze allen uit als ge tot Zijn erf-
oorzaken zijn legio. Leest Uw couranten en  tijd- volk behoort.. Dat hebben we U immers voorgelezen
schriften, en zij zullen U vertellen van den weedom                     uit het  verband? Hij  gaat de zonde van Zijn  erf-
der wereld. Evenwel, voor `Gods  erfvolk is'de grootste volk voorbij. En de tekst zegt duidelijk, dat Hij de
oorzaak hunner ellende de zonde en de ongerechtig-                      ongerechtigheden dempt. Dus ze zijn weg. Die  ge-
heid. Zoo spoedig het licht van Gods genade in hun                      dachte- wordt ver.sterkt  door het tweede deel : alle bun;
hart nederdaalt schreien  ze tot IGod en roepen om Zijn                 ne zonden worden  in de diepten der zee geworpen !
ontferming.          Dat is de -droefheid tot God die een on-              Wat een onuitsprekelijke lieflijke gedaehte! Daar-
berouwelijke bekeering werkt tot zaligheid.  Paulus                     in ligt de idee van een eeuwige vergetelheid. De zon-
spreekt ervan tot de Corinth&s. En de bron van die                      den- van Gods volk zijn dan weg, .,weg voor eeuwig.
droefheid is de liefde Gods die door den Heiligen Geest                 Wie  zou  niet  zingen? De ongerechtigheden die ons


                                                                                 -.  _. .
                                        THE  STANDARD  B E A R E R                                                               75

zoo deden weenen werden gedempt. Hier schijnt het . Zijn leven en lijden, in Zijn kruisdood en begrafenis.
beeld van een gat dat volgemaakt wordt met aarde ten           En in Zijn nederdaling  -ter helle. Hij was  66n met
grondslag te liggen van het eeuwig Evangelie. En-de           het erfvolk van God; en Hij was ook hun Vertegen-
zond&n worden  door God .geworpen  in de diepten der           woordiger. En zoo komt Hij voor God te staan met
zee. Dus daar zien we  ze'nooit  me&.  Zij zijn voor           al, de ongerechtigheid.  en al de zonden van Gods volk
eeuwig weg. Wat verrukkelijke gedachte, want beide             op Zich geladen. En dan gaat God Hem verbrijzelen,
de ongerechtigheden en de zonden waren oorzaak van             Z>jt nu heel  s!til ! Want er geschiedden  vxeeselijke
eejn niet uit .te spreken smart. Doch ziet nu dat ,volk:      dingen da'ar op bet kruis van Golgotha. ,God is de on-
ze juichen ; ook zingen ze.                                   gerechtigheid van Zijn volk  aan het  dempen.   ,God'is
                                                              aan het wegwerpen, in de diepten van de zee, al de
                                                              zonden van Zijn ,volk. Maar o, wat wondere mira-
                        .*  a  *`It                           kelen (Gods! Jeztis,  onze Jezus wordt medegedempt.
                                                              Jezus word& weggeworpen in de diepten van de zee
         :                                                    van eeuwige Godsverlating. Terwijl God aan bet dem-
    Wat mag de. grond zijn voor zulk een ontzaglijk           pen `en wegwerpen is schreeuti  -de Borg in helsche
ontfermen? Hoe kan `een rechtvaardig God zoo han-                                                               .i:.
                                                              smarten van een eeuwigen donkeren  nacht  i Mijn
`delen met die  bergen  van ongereohtigheden en  zon-
den? Is Hij geen rechtvaardig God ,die straffen moet          God waarom hebt Gij Mij verlaten !? Ik moet hier
den zondaar ?                                                 vreeselijk  werken met hoofdletters.  Wanit het is al
                    Behoort het niet tot Zijn heilig Wezen
om steeds den zondaar te straffen? Staat er niet in            uit God, door ,God en tot God.
den Bijbel, dat de ziel die gezondigd  heeft sterven                 Let el; tech op: Jezus is met al Uwe zonden in de
moet ? 0 zeker, `dat is allemaal  .waar. En hier is het .diepten  van--eeuwiage  smarten  g&worp&n. Dat is het
diepe van het Evangelie: dat straffen van alle zonden         Evangelie. Dat is de gro,nd voor de ontfermingen van
is ook van toepassing  oi .het erfvolk. ,God maakt geen       Jehovah. Da* G6d de zonde niet aan U straffen Wilde,
uitzondering met hen. 0 neen. God kan zod maar niet           doch aan Uw Verlosser en Zaligmaker Jezus Christus.
de zonden wegwerpen in de di,epten  van de zee. Hij% Dai Hij een weg verkoor door het bloed en sterven en
moet alle zonden straffen. En alle zonden, ook van de         hellelijden   -van  Jezus, opdat gij  dp dien weg wande-
uitverkor.enen,  worden  ook daadkerkelijk gestraft. Als      lende aan mocht komen in Zijn hart. Verstaat genu
we den oordeelsdag achter ons hebben, dan zal de gan-         dien vreeselijken psalm; waar Jezus ..in de- profetie
sche wereld zien, dat alle' de zonden en .ongerechtig-        kernit:  Alle Uwe baren en alle Uwe golven zijn over
heden van de kerk gestraft zijn.                              Mij  heen gegaan? Het is Jezus die den grond aan `t
    Maar hier is het Evangelie van God: God straft al         leggen is vooi- het ,dempen  van Uwe ongerechtigheden.
die ongerechtigheid aan een ander.  En tech ook weer          en bet wegwerpen van Uwe zonden. Zingt nu blij
niet een ander. Ik heib het hier over Jesuz Chiistus, on-     te moe, God den lofzang toe! En doe heat eeuwiglijk!
Fen Heere en Verlosser. Hij is eigenlijk geen ander.                                                           G. Vos.
Want God heeft Hem 66n gemaakt-met Zijn volk. ,Ge-                                                                           f  i  2.
lijk Adam ons eerste verbondshoofd was, zoo is Jezus
het tweede of laatste Verbondshoofd.       Gelijk we allen                         -    - : - - :-
in Adam sterven, zoo worden  we allen, in ons tweede
verbondshoofd levend gemaakt.  .Jezus is onzer  &n
geworden: vleesch van ons vleesch,  en been van ens
been.                                                                      As pants the hart for cooling &reams,
    0 zekey, God heeft het schoon ui'tgedacht  en beslo-                     When heated in the chase;
ten in.Zijn  raad. Van eeuwigheid is Jezus onzer 66%.                      So longs my soul, 0 (God, for Thee
' Jezus heeft daarvan getuigd ii Zijn hoog$pries$erlijk                    And Thy refreshing grace.
gebed.        Daar zegt Hij immers:  Zij-  waren Uwe, en
Gij hebt Mii.dezelven  gegeven! Zoo stond en zoo staat                     Fdr Thee, my God, the living God,
het in Gods eeuwigen raad. Er zijn slechts  twee par-                     ,, My thirsty soul doth pine,                 '
tijen: God en  Zijli  ,volk. En wie is dan Jezus? Hij                      0 when shall I behold Thy face,
is beide partijen vereend `in  ~ den- persoon  van. den                      Thou Majesty Divine?
Zoon van God. De eenigheid van God en men&h  .in
Jezus is in den Persoon  van Jezus.  En zoo komt die                       Why restless, why .cast down, my soul ?
Jezus in de geschiedenis. Zap komt Hij Gods Raad uit                         Hope still, and thou !halt sing
om al Gods welbehagen te doe'i.- En dat welbehagen                         The praise of Hik Who is thy God,
Fomt itot openbaring in de kribbe van Bethlehem, in           . .            Thy health's e.ternal  spring.


      76                                                                     .   T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEAREk                                                -
       -                                                                                                                    -.
                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                                          - E D I T O R I A L S
               Semi-monthly, except monthly in July and August
        -Published by the Reformed Free Publishing  Association-
                   Box 124, Station C., Grand Rapids 6, Michigan                                                                                 The CLo&g OF Coneordia
                             EDITOR.  - Rev. Herman Hoeksema
            Communications relative to contents should be addressed                                                                     T.he article tha,t appears below, "Reply to the Rev.
            to Rev.  H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand                                                                 Kok", was written and sent before  ConcorcZia  &as
       -Rapids 7, Michigan.                                                                                                       closed.
       All matter relative to subscription should be addressed
            to Mr. J.  Bouwman,  1350 Giddings Ave., S. E., Grand                                                                       I -think it very strange, to put it mildly, that Con-
            Rapid; 6, Michigan. Announcements and Obituaries must                                                                 corc& first allows the Rev. Kok to attack me, permils
            be mailed to the above address and will be published at a
            fee of $1.00 for each  not&e.                                         "                                               him to announce to all our, people that he intends to
            Renewals:- Unless a definite request for discontinuance                                                               ask me some questions, and thereupon closes its col-
            is  reckived,  it is assumed that the subscriber  wi.shes  the                                                        &xx so that I cannot reply.
            -subscription  to  contjnuk   without the formality of a re-
            newal order.                                                                                                               This, as far as I can remember, happened to me
                                Sub,s&iption  price: $4.00 per year                                                               only once before.       That  was in 1923-24, when  `the
            Entered as Second Class mail at Grand Rapids, Michigan                                                                Christian -Reformed Church closed its papers to the
                                                                        .                                                         discussion of our part on the issue of "common grace."
                                                                                                                                        In. t&e meantime, it-will be evident that I cannot al-
                                                                                                                                  low Tlze ~StnnclarcL Bearer to be. filled with all sorts of
                                                                                                                                  coetroversial  articles on the question of conditions as
                                                                                                                                  long as  ConcorcZia remains closed. And as soon as
                                                                                                                                  I am allowed space in Concorcl&t  I will answer the Rev.
                                                                                                                                  Kok's   q u e s t i o n s .
                                                                                                                                        Here follows my  r&y to the Rev. Kok. It is an
                                              C O - N T E N T S                                                                   answer to the last article of his that appeared in Con-
      MEDITATION-                                                                                                                 cordial
               Gods Eeuwige Ontferming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
                  Rev. G. Vos                                                                                                                      REPLY  To  THE REV . K OK
      EDITORIALS-                                                                                                                 Esteemed- Editor :
               T h e   C l o s i n g   o f   Concordia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .     7 6    -
                  R e v .   H .   H o e k s e m a                                                                                       The Rev. Kok, at the close of his article in Con-
      THE  TFUPLE   KNOWLEDGE-   .                                                                                  _.            corclia of Sept. 25, 1952, p'romised  a 1isL of questions
               An Exposition of the Heidelberg Catechism . . . . . . . . . 79                                                     `to me, to be answered. publicly. This, of course, I am
                   Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                               willing to do: for I always like to answer questions.
      OUR   DOCTRINB-                                                                                                             The brother sent them to me, and I already took cog-
               God's.   P r o v i d e n c e . . .  :. .  ..L.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83                 nizance of them. But in ail accompanying letier he
                  R e v .   H .   Veldman
      7 -.  -                                                                                                                     asked me to answer his questions in  .Ihe  Sta&ard
      IN  HIS  FEAR-                                                                                                              Bearer. I ,re$ied  to him that I would be glad to an-           -
               Looking to the Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .             86     swer his questions, but in Concorclia,  and not in the
                  Rev. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                             Star&arc1  Bearer. You will realize, Mr. Editor, that
      TI-IB  DAY  OF  SHADOWS-                                                                                                    it wouldn't be fair to anBwer those questions in the
               T h e   Reconciliation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .        88
                   Rev. G. M. Ophoff                                                                                              Standa& Bearer, for the whole discussion concerning ,
                                                                                                                                  "conditions!' was started by the Rev. Kok not in the
      SION'S  ZANGEN-
               Gods Groote  Goedertierenheid . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . .                       92     Standard Bearer,  but in  Comordia  It was in  Con-
                   Rev. G. Vos                                                                                                    co&id,  that' he announced Bis  inteniion  to send me
.     PERISCOPE-                                                                                                                  certain questions. And therefore in  Concdrdia I must I
               T h e   U n i o n   Q u e s t i o n    . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..I 93    answer them. -Besides, I understand that not all the
               How the Old Country Knows History . . . . . . . . . . . .._........ 9 4                                            readers of  Concoda  read the  Standard Bearer,  al-.                -
                  Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                though they should, of course, because .the S~anclc&
      FROM  HOLY   WRIT-                                                                                                          Bearer is still the bearer of Protestant Reformed
               Exposition  of- I Peter  1:4,5 -........*...................... 9 5                                                truth. Pet, seeing that they do not, I am glad .to ac-
              Rev. G. C. Lubbers                                                                                                  commodate those brethreb,  so that they also *read our
                                                                                                                                  correspondence. Hence, Mr..~ Editor, I must ask you


                                                                                                    i
                                                                                %.
                                                                                                                     0
                                     THE               STANIjARD BEARER                                       :                77.
                         -1--_..--_--
 for a little space in your p.aper, and to publish my art- ches, that is, I dare say, certainly not P,rotestant l$e-
 icles, which I expect to make as brief as possible, un-      formed. Is it honest, then, to quote me now from art-
 til I am finished.                                           icles that I printed years ago, as if nothing had hap-
    The present article may serve, perhaps, as sort of. pened, and to pay no.attention  to what I have written
 general introduction.                                        on the term con&ion in recent years?
    And then I want. to say, in the first place, that I              I think not.
 find it rather strange, to say the least, that the Rev.             -In his last article the Rev. Kok writes i "It is not
 Kok so desperately attempted to ascribe to me condi-         I that have attacked the good-reputation of either the
 tional theology, to which,--as the whole church well         R&v. Ophoff,  or Hoeksema, but they have cast suspi-
 knows,-1 have never `been addicted, but which I al-          cions on me, and that because I am defending the very
 ways I have -principally oppdsed. By this I -do not          kruth which they have always defended, namely the
 mean an occasional use of the term condition  (and very      truth of a gen.eral pro&&&ion of a pa&icular or con-
 occasional, to say the least; in view of my voluminous       clitional promise."-And somewhat later the Rev. Kok
 writing in the past), but the conditional theology as        writes:  .`"I maintain that the Rev. H. Hoeksema is
 it is advocated in-recent years in our churches. This . speaking Reformed language here, and because of this
 attempt on the part of the Rev. Kok I find very strange. _ I must suffer shame as an evildoer. Let me add that by
With a fine comb, like a detective that scrapes a car-        the grace of God I gladly bear this repr0ac.h for the
 pet for a clew, he (Was itj perhaps, in collaboration        sake of the truth."
 with others in our churches 9) went through all my                  I ask: is this quite true? Is the Rev. Kok re-
 writings, to discover whether he could perhaps find          proached because -of the truth that the promise is par-
 a trace of conditional theolbgy in my writings.              titular, and therefore oqly for the elect? I hope to
    The result is indeed meage? enough.                       refer back to this statement somewhat later. But I
    C6nsider that by this time there are, perhaps, ap-        ask: was so much dust raised in our c,hurches because
 proximately twenty thousand pages of my writing in           the Rev. Kok did nothing els,e than proclaim. this truth?
 print, including, of course, my articles in the Standard     I am certainly glad that the Rev. Kok subscribes to
 Waa?*er. In all those pages the Rev. Kok found com-          this .truth,  provided he rightly understands what is
 paratively., very few instances in which I used the term     meant by the general proclamation of a particular or
concljtlion,  while in all my  wri.tings  I always empha- . conditional promise. This I will- explain later. But
 sized, and still emphasize, that the promise of `God is      once more I ask : why raise so much disturbance in the-
 unconditional and for the elect only. I dare say that        churches about nothing? Did we really so completely
 everybody kn.ows  that whatever use I made of the term m'sundergtand  one another? I, for one, would be glad-
 con&&ion in the past, I never advocated conditional          if this were the case. But in the light of the facts I
 theology'as it is advocated in our churches today.           cannot possibly believe this.                               _
    I ask: is this deliberate attempt on the part of the             Allow me, therefore, very briefly to relate the-his-
Rev.  Kok honkst and fair?                   1                tory of our Protestant Reformed  ,Churches in recent                    ,
                                                              years. I relate that history from memory. But I
    I fail to see it.                                         trust that as to the main facts it is without doubt cbr-
    Consider that the few times when I employ the             rect.
 term theologically  occured  in my writings  seyeral                And then I must undoubfedly begin with the vis-
years ago. Now in the ,first place, is it honest and fair     it of Dr. Schilder in 194'7. Dr. Schilder &sited our
to cite those few instances apart from the context oi' shores before, on an invitation of the Chr. Ref. Chtir-
 all my writi'ngs? But above all, is it fair to quote me      ches in 1933. Between i938 and 1947, or roughly
from my past writings as if in tlie meantime tiothing         speaking, during the war years, Dr. Schilder had rad-
has happehed ? Remember :&at in those ye&s'1 used             ically changed his views. As soon as we could have
 the term  condition  very  o&asionally,  without  .being     contact with the Netherlands, in 1945, I wrote him an
 required to-pay special attention to the term, or to ati-    emphatic letter, `in which I expressed my amazement
 tach any special significance to it. My use of the term      and grief that he had 80 radically turned about, par-
had nothing to do with ow present cbntro<ersy,  and           ticularly in regard to his view of the covenant. This
had nothing to do with conditional theology as it is          was evident `from his completely changed attitude to-
emphasized in our churches in some circles today. At ward the Chr. Ref. Churches of the Netherlands. Be-
t.h.hat time there was no cloud in the sky. But since         fore these years Dr. Schilder had always been opposed
then' things have changed. A strange new emphasis             to  the standpoint of those churches, and upbraided
is  beink laid on the  -term conclition.  And, in connec-     them because they walked in the way of disobedience
tion with that term, a new sound is heard in our &UP-         by going their separate way in 1892. However, in a
                                                                -         __

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

 -meeting in the Hague in 1944, where the Liberation          our synod what steps to take in ,regasd to correspen-
  was decided upon, Dr. Schilder made a pl.ea for ilnion      dence.
  with those same Chr. Ref. Churches. At the same              In the meantime, ,however, the Rev. J. de Jong and
  time, as had already been evident from the Reform-          B. Kok went to the Netherlands. They met with the
  tie, the Liberated, and .also Dr. Schilder, embraced the    committee of correspondece  of the Ref. Churches (Art.
  Heynsian view of the covenant, the essence of which         31) of the Netherlands in unofficial capacity, which,
  is that in baptism IGod promises salvation to all that      however, had the result that even  ,bhe most pronounced
  are baptized, head for head and soul -for soul. As I        opponents of the. Prot. Ref. truth, such as Van -Dijk,
  say, I wrote him a  Ititter, -in which I very  empha%-      Van Raalte, Holwerda, etc., were satisfied, .and were
  ically criticized him for this change in attitude. This     willing to have full correspondence with us. No fur-
  letter he never ariswered. Instead, he asked me whe-        ther,discussion  between their comjmittee  and ours was
  ther 1 would not make arrangements for him to come          evjdently deemed necessary. Nor was a meeting be-
  to these shores and to explain the Liberation to our        tlween their committee and ours ever held. Proof of
 churches.    This I did; and the result was that Dr.         the fact that no further discussion was considered nec-
  Schilder again visited LB. This time our chbrches, and      essary is that, on his return from the old country, the
  not the Chr. Ref. Churches, in 1947. I understand           Rev. de Jong had a letter in his pocket asking for full
  that especially in the West and in- different confer-       correspondence.
  ences he made a strong plea for his covenant concep-           Then came the letter of Prof. Holwerda to the Can-
  tion and for the conditional promise to all.                adian immigrants. And in that letter he reported that
     In the meantime, we must remember, the Lord had          the Revs. Kok and de Jong had told him personally
  put me down, so that I was quite helpless for a long        that in ou? chLrrches  the sympathy for the Liberated
 time. Nevertheless, when Dr. Schilder areturned  here        was great also in the matter of the doctrine of the cov-
  from the West, .I defended, in two conferences with         enant, and that for the conception of the -Liberated
 him, our own covenant view in 13 propositions,-this there is ample room in our churches. Remember that
  in spite of the fact that at the time it was far beyond     the doctrine of the Liberated i.s principally opposed
 my strength to do so ; nor was I as alert as I might to the doctrine of the covenant which had always been
 have, been at the time, and as, thanks to God, I niay        maintained ifi the Prot. Ref. Churches. Their doc-
 be again at the present time.                                trine is briefly that the promise -is conditional, for all.
     ISoon it became evident that the seed which Dr.          `Oar doctrine is that the promise is unconditional, for
  Schilder had sown, particularly in the West, had            the elect.
  struck root,  ,and began to  s$rou,t.    Cowordk began         Next cam& tl_e trouble in the church of Hamilton,
 to write about `(conditions" as indeed + very impor-         caused  ,by the fact  tha$ they wanted to  t.hrow  ,the
  tant element in our theology.  ,Only on the basis of        church doors wide- open for the Liberated and their
  conditions could `the responsibility of man be main-        view, while we demanded that they must first be in-
 tained. Only if we maintained conditions, could we           structed and promise not to agitate against the Prot.
 preach a  full-orbed gospel. This was the beginning Ref. conception.
  of ou? controversy. All of us-began to pay very sharp          The result of %he trouble with Canada was that the
 attention to the meaning of the term con&itions. The         Mission ICommittee asked for a synodical  declaration
 Rev. >Ophoff  -discussed the .term in the light of Scrip-    on the basis of which they. could organize churches.
 ture. ,And I, as it will be remembered, began a ser-         Again, the result was the Declaration of  Pricifiles,
  ies- of articles on the meaning and use of the term         which maintained, on the basis of the confessions, the
  cqrdition in our confessions.                               bru:th which had always been held dear in the Prot.
     At.the Synod of' 1948 it was decided very careful- R&f. Churches. 1. ask again,: why was so much dust
 ly, to take  gteps in the direction of correspondence        raised about the DeClaration,  if by the use of the term
 with the Reformed Churches of the Netherlands (Art.          con&!&on the Rev. Kok meant nothing else than the
  31). I say carefullzj, because in our letter addressed      general proclamation of .a particular promise?
 to ,the Synod of those churches in the Netherlands we           But even after in 1951 the Declaration-was adop-
  clearly expressed that we did nbt expect that their ,gy-    ted, the Rev. Kok did not cease to agitate against it,
 nod should immediately decide to establish the relation      but us!ed' the name of Dy. Schilder to oppose it. In
  of sister churches between them and us. Nor, we said,       Conco&ia  he translated and strongly recommended an
  must they expect this of us. However, we asked that         article by the late Dr. Schilder, in which the latter not
 their committee of correspondence would contact our          only attacked the Declaration, ,but also incorporated
. committee, that the matter could be discussed between       his erroneous view of the  prom;ise of  `God. And a-
  us, and that after such a discussion we could advise gain, he attacked the Declaration of Principles through


                                                     Tgg  STANDARD'   BEARaR                                                               79

     the means of. offering to our church public a brochure
     which Prof. Schilder wrote against the .Declaration.
         T.hose are, very briefly, `the facts.                                        .`I[`EHE -TRIPLE KNOWLEDGE
         I ask : is. it surprising that those who love the Pro!-
     e&ant Reformed truth received the impression that                           An Exposition Of The Heidelberg
     the Rev. Kok rather favors the Liberated view, and
     is at least in favor of throwing open our church doors                                      -. Catechism                        I           _
,    to the Liberated and theiT conception of the covenant?                                               l?ART  I I I
       The Rev. Kok complains that .he suffers reproach.
     But I claim that he is to blame himself. He and others                                      O F  T H A N K F U L N E S S
     have been raising the dust about conditions. He and
     others have been leaving the impression that they fa-                                              Lord's Day 39
     vor the Liberated view, and prefer it to our Protestant                                                   3
     Refopmed  conception. He and others have been at-                                         Mortification and Quickening
     tempting to throw open our church ,doors  to the Liber-
     ated and their conception of the covenant.                                       Conver.sion.  we defined as the work of God where-
         This is the history of. our churches in recent years.                   by the regenerated tiinner through the Spirit and Word
     And no one can deny the facts.                                              is efficaciously turned about from the way of sin to
                                                                       H.H.      the way of righteousness, from the service of the de-
                                                                                 @l to the sgrvice of God, the fruit of which is that the
                                                                                 converted sinner hates sin, eschews it atid flees from
                                                                                 it, and walks in the way of God's precepts with his
                                                                                 whole heart.
                                INS MEMORIAM                                          This definition we must bear in mind even when we
       The Ladies' Society  of the  j!Iudson;ville  Protestant Reformed          treat of the mortification of the old man and the quick-
     ,Church  hereby Jexpresses  its -sympathy with its fellow-member            en&g of the new.
     Mrs. James Miedema in the loss  of her mother,                                   According to this de,f@ition,  regeneration is first.
                          MRS. PETER BOONGTRA                                    It is true. that in our confessions no clear distinction
     whom the Lord took untb Him,self  at the age of 75 years!.                  is made between regeneration and conversion. l$lt
       May the God of all.comfort give grace td our bereaved sister,             this distinction is certainly Scriptural and proper;
     and may she be comforted in the thought  tlmt mother's  1Xe                 and in the development bf theology subsequent `to the
     was Christ and therefore  he'r   d&eath  gain.                              composition of our  confes&ons,  this distinction was
                            The  Huds,onville   Proi. Ref. Ladies' Society       maintained. A man must be born again before he can
                                         Rev. Gerrit Vos, Pres.                  even see the kingdom of `God. -And he must be born of
                                         Mrs. Peter Lubbers,  Seer.
                                    .                                            water and Spirit before he can enter It.
                                                                                 =    Besides it is evident from the definition that we as-
                                                                                 cribe the entire work of conversion to God. There *is
                                                                                 nothing of man in it.
                     0 Lord,  make haste to hear my cry,                              And finally, the defini'ti'on  also `maintains the truth
                       To Thee I call, on Thee rely ;                            that IGod in the work of conversion never treats man
                     ,lncline to me a gracious ear,                              as a stock and block, always deals with him as. a re-
                       And, when I call, in mercy hear.                          tional and moral creature. And therefore, God's
                     IGuard Thqu my thoughts, I Thee implore,                    work df conversion bears the fruit that we turn, that
                       And of my lips keep Thou the door;                        we eschew evil and flee from it, and that we love SGod's
                     Nor lkave my sinful heart to stFay                          precepts and keep them.
                     Where evil footsteps lead the way.                               This `work. of conversion is most beautifully and               _
                                                                                 accurately described in the Canons of Dordrecht, III,
                     0 righteous. God, Thy chastisement,                         IV 10-12, part of which we already quoted before.
                       Though sent through foes,. in love is sent;                    In Article 10 we read: "But that others who are
                     Though grievous, it will profit me,                         called by the gospel, obey the call, and are converted,
                -      A healing ointment it shall be.                           is not to be ascribed to the proper exercise of free wi!l,
                     Brought nigh to death and sore distressed,                  w,hegeby  one .diatinguishes himself above : others, e;
                      , .O Lord, my God, in Thee I rest;                       _ qually furnished with grace sufficient for faith and
                     Forsake me not, I look to Thee,                             conversions,. as the proud heresy of Pelagius main2
                       Let me Thy great salvation see.                           tains ; but it must .be wholly asbribed to God, who %s


236                                       `FHE        s&jJ)ARE                    BEARER .

he has chosen his  .own from eternity in Christ, so              rooted in-the work of regeneration. `The regenerated
he confers ufion them faith and repentance,-rescues              are called and converted. Here too, as will be evident
them from the power of darkne&and  translates them               to all, the whole work of conversion is ascribed to God.
into the kingdom of his own Son, that they may' show             Kan is passive, not active. In conversion God opens
forth the praises of htim, who hath called them out of           ihe closed, and softens the hardened  hea.&, infuses
darkness into his marvelous light; and may glory not             new qualities into the will and quickens it. That will
in themselbes,  but in the Lord, aicording to the testi-         is by nature evil, disobedient, and refractory; but God
mony ,of the apostles in various places."                        rend&s lthe will pliable, good, and obedient. He actu-
       We may note here that the article ascribes the            ates it and -strengthens it. But even this does not
whole of conversion to God. There is nothing of man              mean that conversion treats a  man as a stock and
in it. To say that conversion is the work Q`E man, or            block. On the  cdntiary, it renders him truly free,
partly the work of man, is Pelagianism. We may al-               and responsible in the highest sense `of the word, so
so note that while the article emphatically speaks of            that "like a good tree, it may bring forth *the fruits
conversion as the work of cod, it nevertheless also              of good actions."
speaks of the fruit of that work in us, the fruit being             In Article k2 it becomes especially very clear that,
the same as the purpose for which God works conver-              the Canons make no distinction between regeneration.
sion in His people, namely, that they may show forth             in the wider sense, and conversion. ,It teaches as fol-
the praises of Him who bath called them otit of dark-            lows: `"And ::his is the regeneration so highly celebra-
ness int.0 His marvelous ligh,t, and may glory not in            ted in Scripture, and denominated a new creation: a
themselves, but in the Lord. Further, it 4s also- evi-           resurrection from the dead, a making alive, which <God
dentofrom this article that this work of conve@sion  by works in us with&t our aid. But this is in no wise
God is roobed in, or based upon, eternal election. <God          eflected mefely by the external preaching of the gos-
chose them whom He converts, And none but the                    pel, by moral suasion, or snch a mode of operation, &hat
elect  are ever conver,ted:  It is the work of God's sov-        after God has performed his pa&, it still remains in
ereign grace, bestowed only upon thos'e  whom He has             the .pow&  of man to,be regenerated or not, to be con-
chosen in Christ. It consists in this, that *God bestows         verted, or 40 continue unconperted  ; but i.t is evidently
upon His elect both faith and repentance, and that He            a supernatural.work,  most powerful, and at the same
translates them from the power of darkness into the              time most delightful, astonishing, mysterious, and in-
kingdom -of His dear Son.                                        effable ; nd inferior in efficacy to creation, or the re-
       To Article 11 we already referred in a former con-        surrection from the dead, as the Scripture inspired
nectlion.   Nevertheluess, it may -be well to  q%ote it          by  the author of this work declares; so that all  in.
once more. It describes the manner of conversion by              whose heart God works in this marvelous manner,+are
Go.d as follows : "But when `God accomplishes his good           certainly, infallibly, and effectually regenerafed,  and
pleasure in the elect, or works in them true conversion,         do actually believe. Whereupon the will thus &en&wed,
he not only causes the gospel to be externally preached          is not only actu,ated  and influenced by God, but in co21-
to them, and powerfully illuminates their minds. by              seqtience  of this influence, becomes itself active.
his Holy SpiTit, that they may rightly understand and            Wherefore also, man is himself rightly said to believe
discern the .things of `the Spirit of God ; but by the ef-       and repent, by virtue of that grace received."
ficacy of the same regenerating iSpirit, pervades the               I:: is especially to the iast part ,of this article of
inmost recesses of the man ; he opens the closed, and            the Canons that we wish to direct your attention. By
softens  .the hardened heart, and circumcises  that which        the work of God's regenerating Spirit man is conver-
was uncircumcised,-infuses new, qualities into bhe w.ill,        ted. Nor is it in his.power or choice to remain uncon-
which though heretofore dead, he quickens; from be-              verted.    Nevertheless,  ,again it is emphasized that
ing evil, disobedient, and refractory, he renders  it            thr,ough the&work of conversion man does not become
good, obedibnt,  and pliable ; a&u&es  and strengthens           a stock and block, but by the continual influence of God
it; that like a good tree, it may bring forth the f,ruits        upon him becomes himself active, so (that he repents
of good a&ions."                                                 apd believes.
       Fr,om  Ithis arti,cle,  and also from the article that       This is emphasized o&e more in Article 16 of the
follows in the same chapter. of the Canons, it is very           same chapter of .the Canons: "But as man by the fall
evident that no distinction .is made between regenera-           did not cease t,o be a creti&fe,  endowed with under-
tion in the narrower sense and conversiofi.  In other            standing and will, nor did sin which pervaded the
words, if we make .the distinction which was ma;?de  in          whole race of mankind, deprive him of the <human na-
a later period between regeneration and conversion,              ture, but brought upon him depravity and spirftual
the article very plainly teaches that conversion is              death ; -so also this &ace-  of regeneration does not
                                   _                                                                           -.


                                        `Y!fiE  S T A N D A R D ' B E A R E R                                               81
                                   ._.----                                                    -.                            -
  treat:  men as senseless stocks and blocks, nor takes             this wonder of grace. In the Hebrew of the Old Tes-
  away their will and its properties, niether does vi-              tament a term is used that simply means "to turn".
 olence thereto; but. spiritually quickens, heals,  .cor-           sometimes  .it is translated thus, and ill other. pas-
  rects,  and at the same time sweetly and powerfully               s`ages it is translated by the- English term "convert".
  bends it; that where carnal rebellion and resistance              Thus in I%ahn 19 :7: "The lam of the Lord is perfect,
  formerly prevailed? a ready. and sincere spHil:ual o-             converting the soul." In Ps. 51:1.3~t.he  psalmist vows: ~
bedience   beg& to  `reign ;  in' which the true  .and spi-         "Then will I teach transgressors thy ways ; and sin-
  ritual restoration- `and freedom of our will consist.             ners shall be  conve~rted unto  th,ee." The `house  c~f
  Wh'erefore  unless the admirable author of .every good            Israel is called to turn themselves from idols and from
  work wrought in us, m"an could have no hope of recov-             all their abominations. Ezek. 14  :G. And in Ezek.
  eiing frolm his Sal1 by his own free will, by the abuse `33-:ll we re'ad the well-known words, also quoted by
  of which, in a state of innocence, he plunged himself             the Synod of 1924 of the Chr. Ref. Churches to sup-
  into ruin."                                                       port their theory of cotimon grace: ",Say unto them;
    I call attention to  ithis beautiful and thoroughly             As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in
  Reform&d description of the' work of conversion be- I%e death of the wicked ; but that the wicked turn from
  ctiuse it plainly  ,reve& how  absaiutoiy  ixnconditibnal         his way and live : `turn ye, turn ye frbm your evil ways ;
  the  appiication  of the promise  of God to the elect is.         f,or `why will ye die, 0 house of Israel?" The people
  Neither to stitain to the promise, ~cir to remain in the          of Israel .are exhorted to turn to thei;r God and to keep
  p&session of the b!e&ihgs of that promise, are there              mercy and judcgment. Hos. 12:6. They are called to
  Bny  pr^erequisit& or  CcWitioilB   whit%  Man  ii?Ust  .fUl-.    turn unto Him with all their heart, for He is gracious.
  fill. It is IGod that regener&% th$ sin&% by  the ef-             and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness.
  flicacious  and s&&reign.  grace, according as jife chose         Joel 2 :12,13. In all zthese  passages, and many more in '
  His people in  -Christ Jesus. It is God  !th.at  conv&s           the SOlId Testament, the same word is used in the orig-
  the sinner principally, so that he is transiated from the         inal  fear the idea of conversion. The New Testament
  power of darkness into the kingdom of ,God's  dear Son,           employs two different terms, with slightly differ.ent
  so that he is turned from darkness into light, from the connotation.             The first  w&d means approximately             _
  way of iniquity ufito lthe way of righteousness; And              ih`e same as OUT English word "conv&sion" or "con-
  there are no prerequisites and no conditions which man            vert", and denotes a complftte turning about;' The se-
  must perform in order to receive this grace. of con-. cond tern? signifies a ch&ge of the mind, that is, of the
  version. But even after he has so been convkrted, he              whole inner man, and is  tr.anslated "repentance".
does not of himself tuin, repent, mortify the  de.eds               Thus, the .Liord says .to His disciples: "Except ye be
  of the body, and walk in #a new and `holy life. It is cjnverted, <arid become as ,little children, ye shall not                      .'
  nolt so that *the continued conversion of the regenerated         enter into the kingdom of heoven.".  Mati. 18 :3. John
  and converted sinner is the woik of man. Still less is preached the  baptislm of  repenten&  that is, of  8n
  it thus, t,hat his striving is a prerequisite for him to          inner change  in the sinner. Mark  1:4; Luke 3  :3.
  sontinue in the kingdom of `God. Also this is Armin-              The apostles come to the people with the exhorDation :
  ian : for they teach indeed .that our act of perseverance         "Repent ye ttherefore,  and be converted." Acts 3 :19.
  is  s  `condiiion for  .God's  grace of  preseryation.    But     And they preached that God hath exalted Christ -to
  ,this is quite contrary to the teaching of-the Canons             be  a Prince  atid Savior, "for to give repentance  to,
  in this chapter. Even .after the will is renewed, it              Israel,  ,and  fQrgiveness of sins." Acts  5:31.  ,The
  must be actuated and influeticed  by God. And only in church in Jezusalem glorifies God, acknowledging that
  consequence of this continuous influence does the will            He ."also to the Gentiles granted repent,ance  and life."
  i!!self become active.  Never is our activity a  condi-           Acts  11:X And Paul was sent to the  .*Gentiles  "to
tion of a prerequisite for the reception of God's grace.            open their eyes, and to turn them from dlarkness  to
  The very opposite is true. For according to the Can- lihght, and from the power of Satan  unto  `Gbd," and
  oils, "m.an   is himself rightly said  t.0. believe and  re-      that "they should repent and turn to `God, and do works
  pen.& by virtue of that grace received.".  #Our  active           meet for repentance?       Acts 26  :1.8,2@.  Moreovef,
  turning is never a prerequisite,  but always the fruit            conversion in the broad.er sense of the word is called
  of God% grace of conversion.          ,     -             _       "sanctifi&ion,  cleansing, purification,' the pbtting off
     This mtist be plainly understood in order to obtain            of the- old msan, and the Putting oiz of the new man,
  the right',conception .of what is meant by the morti-             the mortification of the geeds of the body, etc." Cf.
  fication of the old man atid the q&ckening of the new.            II Cor. 7:l'; I John 3:4;-Eph..4:22-24;  Rom.  8:13.
     The word of God frequently speaks of the conver-                  From all these different passages of Scripture, and
  sion of  :man.    It. employs  dif?%rent  terms to denote         from many others, we..inay  -readily gather what is -the


         82                                      T H E   STANDARD  B E A R E R

         Scriptural teaching concerning true conversion. It              the sinner is motivated by enmity against ,God, and
         is a cotiplete  and radical turning about in the spiri-         as a result his whole lif,e is directed in the way of dark-
         tual, ethical sense of the word. It is a turning from           riess and sin. He loves the darkness rather than <the
         Satan to God, from &anding  in enmity against `God              light, and can do nothing else. His heart and mind and
         to the love of God in Christ, from darknesi  ,to light,         will,  and all his desires and inclinations turn away
       .  f,rom sin to righteousness, from corruption to holi-           from God, and are enslaved to the will of the devil.
         ness. By nature we are in the power of darkness.                Hence, also his outw.ard life and walk is .turned into
         And what this means is clear from Scripture .and from           the direction of unrighteousness. He walks away from
         all our Reformed confessions. It means,  ,as our (God <and contrary eta His precepts. But when God con-
         Heidelberg Catechism Iteaches us, that we are so cor-           verts  hifm, he is  turnecl away `from all this, in order
         rupt .that we are incapable 6f doing any good and. in-          to  turil unto the.  living.`God.   - His hatred of God is
-.      - clined to all evil, unless w,e are regenerated by the Spi-     changed into love. His darkness .is turned into light.
         rit of God. It means that we are by nature carnally             His love of iniquity is turned into love of God's  pre-
         mind.ed,  and stand in enmity against G6d.z "For they           cepts. And his members, which he yielded as instru-
         that. ,are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh,     ments of  uqrighteousness,.Ihe  now yields  `as instru,
         . . For to be-carnally minded is death . . Because the          ments of  rightedusness u&o God.                _
                                                                                                  .
         carnal mind is en.mity  against God: f.or it is not s`ub-          This conversion, this. spiritual turning about, is
         ject to the law of ,God, neither indeed can .b&" Rom.           radical and complete.  It is a turning about of the
-        i :5-7. It means that we hate God, and tliat we hake            entire man, with his internal life as well as with his
      I one another: "For- w,e ourselves also were sometimes             external walk. It is by no means the same as a moral,
         foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers h&S and          external reformation, by virtue of which a man for
         pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hat-         some reason changes his external d,eporttien&  so that
         ing one another." But it means still more : f,or we             he who once was a drunkerd now lives soberly, or one
        are not only in darkness, but, according. #to Scripture,         t!hat lived in sexual abandonment. now walks in c-has-
       we are in the power of darkness.           Col.  1:13, This       tity. But it is a turning about of the enbire man,
         implies that we are `slaves of sin, t.hat .we ire in. bon- -inward and outward. Or, if you wish, it is such a
         dage to sin. It means that we have no right in our-             turning about of our outward w,alk that is rooked in
         selves t,o .be delivered from sin. And it implies that          and `a manifestation of, an inward change of the heart
         we are so in the power of darkness that. we can never           and mind, of the will, and of all  #our affections. It
         de$er  c&selves from  siti. We  must sin  not -by any           is not a superficial change, but a radical turning about.
         outward compulsion, `but' by the iilward impulse of our         It is a break wi,tS sin as sin, and turning to {God for
         wicked heart and mind. We are chained to sin from ,God's sake, a 1oGe of righteousness for righteousness'
         within. As the Carions express it in III, IV, 1, 3,. the        sake. Hen&, it cannot be a turning away from some
         sinner is ,one that "became involved in blindness of            sins, and the keeping of some pf God's precepts. It
         m&nd, horrible darkness, vanity, and perverseness of            is a hatred of all sin, and a -fundamental delight in all
         judgm.ent  ; became wicked, rebellious, and obdurate            tihe precepts of the Lord our aGod. This complete and
         in heart and will,. and impure in his &ection's." And           radical turning about of the sinner is conversion.
         again, "Therefore all men are conceived in sin, and                                                                  H.H.
         are by nature children of wrath, incapable of sav-                                                                            0J
         ing good, prone ,to evil, dead in sin, and in bondage                                         ,,
      Mereto; and without the regenerating grace of  the-                                      El El El El  q   -
         Holy Spirit, they are neither able nor willing to return
         to ,God, to ref,orm  the depravity o? their nature, or to
         dispose thems`elves to r,eformation." And as the Scrip-
         tures have it ii1 Eph. 2 :l-3 : "And you hath he quick-
         ened, who `were dead in trespasses 2nd sins; wherein                  _     Trust not in man who soon must die,
         in time past ye walked according to the course of this                        But on th,e living ,God rely ;
         world, according to the prince of <the power  of the air,                   Most blest the man whose help- is He
         the spirit that now worketh  in the children of diso-                         That made the heaven and earth and sea.
         bedience: Among whom also w.e all had our conversa-
         t.ioli in times east, in' the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling               .,-Thy God shall reign for evermore,
         the desires df the flesh and of the mind ; and were by                         Praise H;m, 0 Zion, and adore ;.
         nature the children of wrath, even as others." Such                         The ILord is heaven's eternal King,
         we are by nature,. in 0v.r unconverted state. By nature                     `To  Y&a!1 praise and honor bring.


                                          fHE  STANDARfi  BEARER                            * .                        83'
                                 - - -                                                      A-3_-.
                                                               sikple expedient of denying ma,l-i's  responsibility. Ac-
   .O U R D  0.C.T R I  I\j  E.                                cording. to this view man is merely a machine. He is
                                                               moved `by the hand of the Lord without any action on
                                                               hiss part. He is merely a pawn upon the chess-board
                         God's Provideice                      of .the Lord. This i>peration of the Lord simply takes
                                                               place through. the will and mind of man. j Man is whol-
                                                               ly passive, is simply "pushed about,' by the Lord. <Such
            :       ,          (4)                             is the deterministic conception of things: Also this
                  Go& PROVIDENCE  AND SIN                      presentation  iye must and do wholly reject, although
                                                               it is true that our church& have been falsely accused
 The Lord's  sov,ereign  golvernmint  and control' over        of this heresy by the enemies of `God's sovereignty.
   all things a "bone  of  contention" throughout the          This deterministic conception has no place for the truth
   ages.                                                       that man is a tinoral-rational,  responsible being.
    The pelagian and detel"minist  do not face the prob-          In Reformed circles we are confronted, in conn,ec-
 lem but evade it. The pelagian would "solve" the prob- tion with this problem of the Lord's providence and
 lem simply by denying the absolute sovereignty of the         sin, first of all, with the weak infralapsarian cpncep-
 Lord and maintaining th.e will of man as wholly inde- tion bf sin. The word, "infr&lapsal^ian," derived from
 pendent of .the living God. He prides himself in the          the word, "infra-lxapsis," means literally: under the
 fact tihat he gives due place to the responsibility of fall. The exponents of this conception- place election
 man and accuses the man Qf ref,ormed  persuasion that         and reprobation, in  Go.cl's counsel, as  hollowing up-
 he hegleds to stress the importance of the truth ,of          on the fall of man, prefer .to speak of sin as taking
 man's responsibility. It is well that we bear this in place with .the .Lord's permissian, and ther,efore  be-
 mind;also in- our present day. However, the pe!agian          lieve that.,God  has elected .and reprobated'out of a fal-
 confuses man's freedom with  sov.ereignty.  . According       len humanity. It is well to bear in mind thaL the in-
td the pelagian conception of things, the wi!l of man is       frabpsarian-supralapsarian controversy is applicable
 inherently good, is gobd as far as its rotit is concerned.    and refers only to the counsel of `God.  R:eprobation,  ac-
 He is able to do the good. Moreover, a!i things are           cording to the infralapsarian, is .therefore  merely the
 dependent upon this will of mzn, and .it is man, not Lord's` decree- to leave people in their sin and cieath.
 God, who determines his salvatioc.  Of COL~SC, main-          The motive and purpose prompting this.conceptign7.is
 taining this conception of things we simply lose God          t,o  refraiq from making God the author of  sin:  Re-
 as the Sovereign R*uler over all things, and have no eye coiling from `making the Lord the author -of, sin (in-
 for the stern reality that all men sin, are all alike as      cidentally, the supralapsarian also recoils from pre-
 far as their spiritual condition is concerned, but only       senting God as *the author of sin), infralapsarianism
 fe.w  mare saved. Why is it, if all men are inherently        would, rather proceed, in the counsel df ,God,` from man-
 good, that all become corrupt and that only a few are         kind `as fallen and makes no effort to explain the phe-
 saved? ! The pelagian is sur:ely at a. complete loss to       nomenon o-f sin in the counsel of' the Lord. This in-
 expl.ain this phenomenon. He cannot account for the           fralapsarian view of sin and' &a&e, however, is sure-
 universal corruption of the human race. The pelagian,         ly quite' unsatisfactrory.  First of all, it does not  ex-
 we understand, denies original pollution, that the cor-       plain the strong expressions which occur in Holy Writ
 ruption, of Adam ,is transmitted to the entire human          whlich touch upori this matter. We will have more' to
race, and teaches that all men are born  inherent;ly           say about this presently. However, we may safely re-
 good: One might conceivably understand, upon the mark at this time that this objection of the supra-
 basis of pelagianism, that some of the children of men        lapsarian against the infralapsarian conception of sin.
 would choose the way of sin and corruption but., that         and grace is readily granted by the expon&s of the
 the vast majority of men would walk in the way of: latter view who- readily admit that they fail to do jus-
 the Lord's commandments. But, how can  *th,&  pela- tice to these strong Scriptural ,exp?essions.  !Secondly;.
 gian possibly explain the tremendous phenomenon that it fails to answer to its purpose. The. infpalapsarian
 all are conceived and bdrn in sin, change the glory of        purposes to avoid making the L&d the author of sin.
 the uncorrupti,ble  God, land seek, without a single ex-      But, I. pray, what is more cruel : a God Who causes man
 ception, the. things that, are, belov?  ., &deed, the pel-    to fall, or a God Who can prevent the fall but neverthet`;
 agian has po- explanation for the universal phenome-          less permits it to happen and then. leave's the sinner-
 non of sin.                          -,:                      in his sin and ,death whom he % able- t6 save? Do n&:
   The  determYn?&ic  coticgption of  hatters  goes to         niisunderstand me. Neithe?  th@ infralapsarian. nor the.
the other  extreme  aW"explains" this problem by the           supralapsarian ascribes cruelty -to the. Lord. " God' .iz?


           s4                                 - PHE  STA-NDAekD  B E A R E R
                                    - - -
           never cruel, not even when He plunges the wicked in-           purpose to call attention to this prob1e.m in connection
            to hell. This may tiever be confused wi+h Divine`cru-         with our-present -series of articles on .the providence
            el.ty. But, the question is whether the infralapsarian        o f   G o d .   .
           succeeds in avoiding the error of making the Lord the                      _
           author of sin- by the simple expedient of declaring that       A statement of the issue as such.
           the Zord permitted sin and `then leaves'men in their               First, we need not call attention at this time to t.he
            common misery. And the answ& is an unmistakable               concept: Providence of God. We have  alr,eady  car-
           No. Thirdly, infralapsariani~m,  according to our con-         led attention to the truth that .God's.Providence  is His
            viction, is fundamentally dualistic. Dualism, as well         almighty and omnipresent power whereby He sustains
           ai the antithetical conceptioii  of things, speaks of light    and governs all things `so that everything must work
            and darkness, life and death, as contrasted with one          together unto the realization of that eternal goal and
           anoth.er.  But the antithetical conception of things           purpose  which  ,God has-sovereignly  willecl from be-
           explains this contrast as originating in the one source,       fore the fiundation. of .the world.
            the only true God, whereas Dualism presents <them as
          . having a two-fold origin, always opposing one another             ,Seconclly,  we are confronted with the.reality  of sin..
           and with the outcome in doubt. When we say that in-            This fact as such-we surely cannot deny. Even the
.         fralapsarianism-is fundamentally .dualistic  we reglize         most optimistic of human beings must' acknowledge
           that the infralapsarian does not ascribe sin to ano:her        the fact of sin. One may refuse to glorify God  ancl
           source. He simply does not explain its origin, proceeds        have no consciousness of sin in the spiritual` and Scrip-
           from the reality of sin in the counsel of God. How-            ,:ural sense of the word. But who would have the cour-
           ever, infralapsarianism is dualistic in the sense that         age, the brazen effrontery today to lay claim to per!-
           it places sin in God's counsel without explaining its          f ection ? Such an on& might conceivably be con&d-
           origin and therefore as independently of the Lord. Far         ered beside himself. The daily murders,`the ever in-
           b,etter,  to be `sure, is the supralapsarian  conception of    creasing rumors of war, the constant violations and
           siti and grace. This view places, in  G&L's  couns&            tiisclemean6rs speak only too emphatically of the jeal-
           the decree of election and reprobation as prior to the         ousy and hatred which governs &he children of mei.
           -fall of  man. Creation and the fall  qf man are but           BsBide&, anyone who is somewhat acquainted with the
           God's sovereign means to realize His sovereign de-             Holy S&iptur,es,  yea, who has learlned  by t-he power of
           cree with respect to the eternal salvation and perdi-          the grace of God what it medns to be, a sinner surely
           tion of men. The Lqrd has sovereignly willed to re-            understands the fact of sin and iniquity. Hence, what
           veal .His amazing love and grace antithetically, in the        tremendous phenomenon is  this.r&ity  of evil.  .At
           eternal condemnation of the sinner (whom.He has wil-           the dawn' of creation, when all .the handiwork of the-
           led eternally) and in the salvation of His own through         Cord united in singing praises  un.to the living God,
           sin and death .into heavenly and everlasting glory. :          when not a single defect marred the- whole creation,
                                                                          sin elitered  ,this world .and caused all. things to become
             We are, confronted  hetie with a  ,diflicult problem.        subject to the curse of the almighty and f,earful God.
           The ,difficuity of this problem, as we see it, does not        Death and ,destruction  it left.in its wake. Sickness and
           lie. in the proposition-as such: God's sovereignty and- misery, c&e and sorrows are our lot. Moreover; there
           man's responsibility.     Both propositions  are clearly       is the fatit of sin itself. We are all conceived and born
           set forth and emphasized in the Word of God. God is            in sin. What an iniqui.ty abounds upon the face of the
           sovereign and man is a responsible being. We must              eUth !  .Scripture  and  alsd our own experience  impr&r;
           not, confuse these propositions or in any sense of the         upon us the reality that the powers of hell and dark-
           word detract from them. We must never explain the&             ness are ever attempting to subject this earth unto
           at the cost of one another 2nd may,therefore never ex-         themselv,es. And, what is more, it Seems  that they
           pJain them-as parallel to each other. This surely im-          ar,e permitted to continue immolested, mocking at God
           plies that we must never explain the responsibility of         and His Christ, inaking of His Church the plaything
           man st the c&t of the sovereignty of the Loyd. Man's           of the ages. Indeed, whoever underslands  the terrible
           responsibility' must be viewed in the light of'.God's          Scriptural truth that there is none that doeth good, no .
     -     sovereignty and may therefore never be identifi,ed  or         not one, that all- have ,departed from the living God,
           confused with sovereign, determining freedom. The- that all.` mkn, without a single exception, are dead in
           difficulty, however, lies here: ,how can the holy God-         sin and trespasses, understands very clearly, in all
           direct the actions of men, of evil ,men, so that we do         its horror, the fearful phenomenon of sin and its ac-
           no injustice to man's responsibility and still maintain        companying curse of the living God. Is it. not a fe&r-
           that God is holy and righteous. Sin may be  sover-             ful thing that, following upon-the sin of Adam and
           e&&y of the  Lor$ but man does the sin. We-now                 Ev6 in Paradise, every person entering this vale of


                                                                                                                              *
                                        q313  STANDARD  BEARER                                                         ss
                                                                                              :
 tears has been conceived and born in sin and death            fulfill all its wicked desires upon it? `To answer that
 wgthout  a single exception? An,d is it not an equally. the Lord simply permits these things tb happen does
 fearful thing that the entire creation lies underneath        not satisfy. It <does  not satisfy fior the-simple reason
 the curse of ,God and that all things have been. stib-        that *he Lord does no.t simply permit things to happen..
 jetted to the power of death and corruption?                  He surely Works all things according to His alone iov-
    Having now the providence of the Lord and the r&           ereign will and the counsel of His will. Or, to an-
 ality of sin with, all it.s accompanying results clearly      swer that the Lord  dloes  iniquit.y `would be in con-
 before us, we face the question : What<s the connection       flict with His  adorible holiness  arid  perf,ection.  Can
 as such between them, according to Holy Writ, with-           our hope `be stayed upon Him. Who delights in sin and
 out as yet discussing the question bow they are ac-           evil? IOn the other hand, to give sin a place indepen-
 tually related to one another. In  ,due time we will          dent- of the Lord would be a denial of His sovereign
 attempt to offer an, interpretation, an explanation of        ty. And because my soul thirsts-  after the living God,
 th.is ,relation. Now we are merely concerned with. the        because I desire that God. remain ,God, I must have an
 issue as such. `What does Scriptur&tell us concerning         answer. to the quesitidn concerning the rtiality of sin
 th@+elation  of sin to the provid,ence  of the Lord?          in connection  wi.th the truth of God's providence.
                                                               Remans 11:36 : "For of Him, and through .Him, and
    In connection with-this question, we `.wish to state       to Him are all things: to Whom  be glory for ever.
 at the very outset that the child of .God ,certainly  de-     Amen," must surely also be applied to the reality of
 mands a iscriptural explanation of God's Providence           iniquity. In other words: also the fact of sin must
 and sin. I must have- an explanation, first'of all, be-       impart comfort to the child, the Church of the living
 cause of the fact of the power of sin: We must  in-           God.
 dyed cope with this power of sin and the acoompany-
 ing curse sf `the livipg ,God in our lives.. @in and sick-       In answer to this urgent ,question it must be main-
 ness and ,death are realities in our lives and our hearts     tained, first of all, that God. is really and truly ,God in
 surely cry for an explanation. But, we must also deal- all the operation of. His providence.              We certainly
w&h the power of sin in the world about us. That               canno.t  emphasize too .strongly that this must be under-
 wicked world hates God and His Christ and His                 stood in the absolute sense', of the word. The il(ord
 Church. Seemingly they may proceed unmolested in              does not .merely  supporit and sustain all  ithings, but
 their wickedness. It is for the child of God of the           He is also absolute and sovereign in His government
 greatest significance to know whether God is God or           of all things.  There is `simply no exception to this
 whether that world rages against the Lord and His             rule. We may. and must- surely maintain that there
 Anointed as having power in itself, and that there-           is nothing more certain than the word which proceeds
 fore the  cause `of  ,God's  righteousness must suffer        from the mouth of the Lord. When He speaks it is
 hurt and  r&main  in  ,doubt   evti until the end. Will       and when He  o&nmands it. stands. All things take
 the  (Church of the living God gain the triumph ul- .place through that almighty word of the Lord. `Gen-
 timately and at a tremendous cost? Will the Cause             erally speaking, this truth is accepted by all:. I mean
 of the living God be compelled to pay' deaply for its         that this truth is accepted by all in ,a general sense df
 victory? Will we be saved but never be able to for-           the word. Do riot the Script,ures  declare it ,so plainly
 get the scars which were inflicted upon us? Secondly,         so ai $0 tolerate no discussion, that even all the hairs -
 however, and this is indeed far more important than           of our heads are `numbered and that a sparrow does
 what we have just mentioned, my soul cries for an ex-         not fall off the housetop without  the will of our heaven-
 planation b&a&e of God. The `Name of, God and the             ly Father? We all underst.and, and this truth is  dis-
 glory- of the Lord are surely at stake. This, we say,         puted by very few, that the  Lord clothes every lily
 is of much greater importance. For He is my. God,             of the field and grants unto every living creature its
 is He not? Him I love, that etern.al,  only. true SGod.       daily sustenance. Indeed, there is little disagreement
 My soul must have an explanation of the fact of sin           on this point. H'owever,  jn the second-place, we must
 because of my- God. Do& the Lord actually delight             also understand that the reality of sin occurs by and
 in sin and iniquity?  .But,  is  H.e not good? Or, if         through the Providence of the, Lord. And, also con-
 $0~ -will, does sin .exi& independently of .the eternal       cerning this truth the Divine Scriptures do not leave
 Jehovah? But, is not the-Lord t&e living God and God          us in doubt. The Word ,of the Lord speaks very plain-
 alone ? #Or, if God .be sovereign, the only Ruler of          ly to this effect. Do not we read in the Scriptures that
^ heaven and ,earth,  how must we explain that the world' God forms the light and creates the darkness, yea,
 may continue in  its mad iniquity? The- Lord  loves           ,tha$ He makes peace and creates the evil? Joseph is
 His Church with an everlasting .love, ,does He not?           brought into Egypt through the. abominations of his
 Ahd-  He should  siniply permit the wicked World  lx          brothers;  but when these brothers  ,finally appear  be-


Be                                   THE  S'r'ANb,Adb   ..i.&J@eEj;R

fore him in the land of Egypt he declares unto them           now can it be harmonized with our God, Who doth not
very plainly that the L'ord has turned `all their evil        behold iniquity, that nevertheless sin is not to be e"x-
thoughts unto good. R,epeatedly  we read in the holy          plained as independent of Jehovah, Who has formed
Scriptures that the Lord hardens the hearts of men.           the wicked, note well, the wicked unto the day of evil?
He hardens Pharoah's  heart and even proclaims unto           To this thought we will, the Lord willing,.call attention
Moses that He will work in the heart of .the Egyptian         in. -our follo@g article.
monarch  unto that' end-in fact, the Word of the Lord                        :.          .c -,                           H. Veldman
uses a language here in this connection which we would
otherwise ,not darie to take upon our lips. The king's
heart, we read in the b,ook of Proverbs, is in the hand                                                       @I                 .,
of the li0r.d as rivers of water ; He turneth it withecso-
ever He wills.  W,as it not of the Lord that  caused
Shimei to curse David when he fled from before the
face  of his son, Absalom? Does not David himself                                  I N -   H I S   F E A R
declare that this cutising by Shimei was of the Lord?
Again, was it not of the Lord `chat David counted the
people?    Moreover, the greatest Scriptural example                                         I&king, To The Future
of this truth occurs in connection with the appearance                                                 C
of the living God in `our ,flesh and blood and at the time                                                  HAPTER  3
of His suffering and deat.h upon the accursed cross.             We conclude our, r@marks_on.  the subject of teacher
Godless hands nailed the Lord Sesus Christ upon the           training with 2 few pbservations as to the execution
-accursed tree; nevertheless He was delivered by the          of- a plan to establish our own facilities for the train,
determinate counsel and foreknowlledge ,of the Lord.          ing of Protestant Reformed teachers.  A.gain we re-
Upori the question whether sin is independent of God,         mind you that we have only some tiuggestionti to make,
or whether this power ,of evil occurs alone through ?ather than a full-blown plan. In fact., just because
the Providence of God, so that the'living God is real-        w,e have no actual blue-print, eithkr literally, for a
izing His counsel from moment to moment, there can            building, or figuratively, for thk school itself, with its
be but one answer without a single moment's hesi-             teacher's and curriculum, we can only make a few sug-
tation : There is no evil in the city which the. Lord does    gestions,-suggest.ions  which may be borne in mind
noIt perform. He, He alone, alsq now, is the supreme          when it comes to the actual formation of plans and the
and sovereign `cause of the  exist,ence of all  .things.      execution thereof. Our purpose is simply to point to
Every curse, every ,evil thought, every rebellion of a        the problems to be faced, to acquaint o&selves with
sinful man is of the Lord alone, not only from eternity,      then-i, and to avoig, if possible, any hasty, ill-timed,
but He alone works it from mom&t unto moment.                 and `ill-planned action. Because the suggestions we
      However, confessing this truth of the Word of           make here are all connected more or less directly with
,God, this  ?onnection  between God's Providence and          th,e actual tistablishment  of our own teacher training
sin, we are engaged, thus it may seem, in an irrecon-         facilities, we will include Ohem all under the topic :
cilable conflict with the, holiness and righteousness of
the Lord. We cannot escape the tiord of ,God in Job           EXECUTION :  -
                                                                       :           `.             .
34 :lO : "Therefore hearken unto ,me, ye men of ,under-           I suppose that friom a practical point of view the
standing: far be i.t from God, that He should ,do wick-       very first thing, that most of us think about in cdnnec-
edness; and from the Almighty, that He should com-            tion with the. establishment of & normal school is the
mit iniquity." IOT, turning to Habakkuk  1:13, we             C0.d.
read : "Thou art of  pure?! eyes than to behold evil,             It .is to <be adlmitted,  of course, that practically this
and  canst not look on iniquity : wherefore lookest Thou.     is one of the major elements in the execution of any
upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest. Thy           project now days. And I think that in this connection
tougue when the wicked devoureth the man that is              that is esp&ally true, since the project is entirely new -
more righteous than he?" And the apostle, John,               for us : we start from scr,atch. We-face the full weight
writes so uncofipromisingly  in his epistle that God is       of the initial cost-burden, for the mere establishment
a light in Whom there is no darkness. Hence, .the Lorcl       of any normal school. facilities will cost money. And
(God and sin must certainly be viewed as ,excluding one       besides, as far, as maint&anc.e  costs are concerned, we '
another. There is in God nothing that even faintly            must realize that we. face an added burden,-if bur-
resembles iniquity. The Lord is truly a Light: He             den it may be called,-for we have not ever before
is Light,  the overflowing fountain of all good. How          faced the necessity of firiancially maintaining oui own.


                                                                           -.


                                               "
                                       T H E   STA.NDARD   BEARER..                                                    87
                                  -
institution for higher education, with the exception . and that discipleship of Him comprehends our whole
of our Seminary, which is supported through the reg- life, our all. Indeed, then, if we have not the money
ular ecclesiastical channels of assessment and .bud-           to forge ahead in any kingdom-cause, let us not lay
get. And because this financial aspect is usually' View-       even the foundation of a school-building. But then let
ed as the foremost problem in the execution of any us remember that we cannot lay claim to being di,sci-
pMject,--and I would say quite naturally so; .perhaps          ples. For the Lord says: "Whosoever he be of you
quite carnally so,-1 wish to make what I believe to be         that forsaketh not all that -he .hath, he cannot be my
some per.tinent observations on this score. In fact, it        disciple." In other words, if you lay claim to being
appears to me that one could quite profitably devote           a child of grace, you must n&essarily surrender your
more &tidy to :the tihole  subject of the fear of the Lord     all `to the grace.
`and .our material things in a materialistic age. How-             It follows, then, in the second place, that the rela-
ever, at. present we will make `only a few remarks, - tion is not .sueh, that our finances control the kingdom
wi.thout going into detail. I propose that, if-you ques-       of heaven, but `such, that the kingdolm of heaven con-
tion them; you seriously study what I here submit in           trols the finances of the child of the kingdom.
the light, of Scripture.                                           In the third place, we should learn as the people
    In the first place, tie should at all times bear in        of ,God that to give of our material things for the sake
mind that the cause of the kingdom of God is-not a             of the kingdom of God iS not a burden, but a prive-
matter of material things, but spiritual. .This is there- lege.  if  we were  mqre controlled by this attitude of
fore also true of. all the sub-causes of the kingdom of        heart and mind, we would not so readily complain and
heaven, which we often `call "kingdom-causes". -The            be fearful when it comes to giving for kingdom-causes.
                                                               And.1 believe, as a general rule, we would also be more
cause of God's kingdom is not dependent on material            generous. In fact; in the passage from Luke 14 it is
things whatsoever. It goes right on too, despitk any           obvious that the Lord speaks not merely of giving out
lack of material things, and despite any lack of fin-          of our abundance, but of sacr$f&~ng.
ancial sup-port on  .our  paxt. This  iImplies that we
should not, as we often ,do, first of all- look at the fin-        In the fourth place, we should approach these mat-
ancial aspect of any kingdom-cause. The q,uestion  is          ters in the childlike faith and trust wherewit.h we are'
not, "Do we have enougli money?" but much rather :             graced as the people of God. In that trust. we may be
"What $s our calling?" In this connection, lest there          con!fid.ent  that. the Lord will not put His people to
be any misunderstanding, we -may indeed apply ,the             shame, but will sustain them and prosper their pur-
passage from Luke 1425-35, al,fhough not in the sense . poses when they walk in His way, because then their
that it is often applied -when  the financial aspect of        purposes are Hi,s very own.
kingdom-causes is under discussion. Often we  arle              And finally, from the  pl-actical point of view,  jud-
&monished to be realistic and ,down-to-sarth when we           ging things @om ti purely materialistic point of view,
talk about constructing new schools and new church -we have no reason to complain, either aboLlt a lack of
buildings, etc. For, they say, "Which of you, inten- material things or about heavy financial burdens. This
ding to build a tower, &t&h nbt down first, and coun-          is s.o obvious to anyone'who views things honestly, that '
teth the cost; whether he haves sufficient to finish i`t?      I need not even substantiate it. And I will not.
Lest haply, after he bath laid the foundatioll,  and is            This has been a little ex,eursion into the subject ,of
not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock -the finances of the kingdom. But I think we can all
him, Saying, This man began to build, and Was llot             benefit -Itherefrom,  and perhaps .r&hink our personal
able to finish. ,Or what king, -going to make w& a-            position.which so easily slips into carnality and faith-
gainst another king, sitteth not ,down  first, and con-        lessnes.
sultetg whether he be able wi.th ten thousand tdimeet             And I believe that on the basis of such a position
him that cometh agaipst him with `twenty thousand?" as depicted above, both those who are charged even-
Now it is obvious here that our Lord indeed teaches us         tually with actually gathering the material means
to reckon well and car.efully  the cost. But the cost of necessary for starting our own normal school, but
what? The cost of being a disciple of Him. And ,He             also those- who are highly privileged to supply those
uses an example of a builder and of a king going to            means, may approach the matter with a healthy Chris-
war in order to illustrate His point.       What is that tian optimism and.,eonfidencef  a confidence not in
point? Daoes the Lord mean to instruct us that unl,ess         men! but Oin the ,God of His covenant. One more re-
we have enough ,dollars and cents to build the kingdom         mark in this connection, and then I will turn%0 other         -
of heaven, we had better not go ahead? Not at all.             matters. As I have remarked before `both publicly and
He teaches us basically that the kingdom of heaven is          privately, we as a Protestant Reformed people have a
spiritual, is the&fore a -matter -,of `grace, not money;       most precious heritage, ar,e a highly privileged people.           .


      88                                     THE  -STANDARD  B'~F;ARER

 In the light of that heritage. and the consciousness
      thereof, we ought not `to be lax and lethargic, but
      should be the most active, the most zealous, -and the            ;  TfiE DAY  OF,  SIdDOWS
      most generous people on the face of the. earth. - Are
      we?                                                                            ~;.The       ~Reconciliation         -
            Further, without going into detail, I wish to offer
      a few practical suggestions in this connection. First             Allowing himself  to be prevailed upon to recall
      of all, I think that w.e could explore-  the possibility of     Absalom, David instructed Joab to bring him again'.
      building  in  conjun&ion with  our theological school.          But the-king would not admi.t him into his bresence.
      It already has a building fund. And  al'though we               "Let him turn to his own house, and let him not see
      must insist. on  .a non-ecclesiastical normal school. mjr face." Such was t&e mandate. "So Absalom re-
      there is nevertheless room for cooperation between the          turned to his own house, and saw not the king's face.`:
      two institutions, especially in regard to physical. fac-        Let us understand this word of the king. -Let us grasp
      ilities. Secondly, we need not and must not set our             its implications for Absalom. Not alone that it shut
      sights too high. We must not look for a mighty insti-           him out of the king's presence, and excluded him from
      tution of learning. We shall have no need of a large            the palace, but it also'shut  him up, as a prisoner, in his
      educational plant. We are small, and &ri expect to              own house, that is, it took from him all freedom of
      remain relatively small, especially as we remain true.          movement outside the bounderies of his own priva'te
      And certainly we must be satis:fied  with a humble bk-          estate. `This is plain from the sequel.
      ginning. But also as faP  a.s our  eciucatiotial home is           Had David allowed hims&lf to be controlled solely
      concerned,. the saying applies : "Be it ever sol humble,        by his sense of justice, he would not have'recalled Ab-
      there's no place like, home." And yet, in the third             saloni.  IOn the other hand, had he followed the im-
      place, let u.s guard against anything amateurish, ei- pulses of $he father in him he certainly would have
      ther as far as physical facilities are concerned,  or as        admitted this worthless son into. his presence immedi-
      regards faculty and curriculum.                                 ately and pressed upon his brow the kiss of recon-
            But there are other problems, to my mind at least         ciliation. Moreover, there was  no agreement among
      as weightj,  as the financial prolblem.  W,e need teachmers.    the members of his household, to say nothing of .the
      We need studects. And we need a curriculum, well-               people at large, as to what should be done with Absa-
      organized and suited from the beginning to the needs            Join. Some, doubtless,' wanted his permanently ban-
      of our prospective grade school teachers. All this has          ished or put to death; others, ,like Joab, thought it
      `not even reached the planning~stage  as yet. And who-          right that he had been recalled and were glad.
      ever should come into a ,pdsition of authori*ty  and re-           David's whole action regarding Absalom.was  plain-
      sponsibility in regayd to the establishment df our own          ly a. compromise, a settlement by concessions, `a sort
      normal school should not give short weight  ;to these lat-      of partial reconciliation that could satisfy no one.
ii ter responsibilities. ICapable  men should be sought,              And to Absalom,  hims,elf, it must have been sorely
      whether they be products of our seminary OF whether             provoking. It was only calculated  t.o add new fuel
      they may be found among our present grade schOo1                to the fire of his deep resentment toward his father.
      teachers, who have the "St&?' and the ambition to               But had he only returned as a penitent and acknowl-
      build up a respectable  Pro,testant   Refofmed  normal          edged `nis guilt, -he woul,d  have been received tind:for-
      school. When we have reached our goal, I believe we             given. And he did -haye guilt. H.e had taken the law
      shoul,d from that time on exclude from ,the ranks of            in his own hands.
      our Protestant R.eformed  teachers, that is, as far. as            By way of introduction to th,e terrible bit of his-
      new teachers are concerned, any teacher whd has not             tory that he is now about to relate,. the sacred writer
      been trained in ou? own normal school.
_-                                                                    enters into some detail regarding Absalom's person
        .However;  these things belong to the future. I or& `and private life. -"But in all Israel there was none to
      desire that we go forward, and that we. do so wisely,           be so much praised as Absalom for his- beauty." This
      carefully, and in a humble dependence upon our cov-             is not the same as saying that on account, of his physi=
      enant Jehopah. And I know that in this way He will              cal endowments he already Was the darling of -the
      bless us in the efforts put forth.                              people.  Thcis far his countrymen had seen little of
                                             fi. C. Hoeksema          .him. The meaning is  simply that he was the most
                                                                      handsome nian in all Irsael, a perfect specimen of his
                                                                      kind. There was not a blemish on him "from the sole
                          -   :  -   :`
                                            --                        of his foot to the crown  of his head." It partially ex-
                                                                      plains his .ability at stealing men's hlarts. The charm


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                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E - A R E R                                       89
                                  -                                                                                        -
                                         v
       of his beauty was `hypnotic; Even his hair was some- manding  an explanation. "Wherefore have thy ser-
       thing to talk about: It was heavy and strong. Froin           vants set my field on  fire?' "Behold," is Absalom's
       time to time he had it cut, for "it was heavy  uljon          reply,  "1,  selit unto  +hee saying, come hither." But
       him," and the weight of the severed locks -"was 200           Joab would not come;. So the .fault is all Joab's. In
       shekels  ,according to the king's weight." (Perhaps           the same breath he goes on to state the purpose.of the
     four pounds. The "king's" shekel was doubtless a'dif-           sum~mons.      "I sent unto thee . . . that  `1 may send
      ferent weight from the sacred shekel). Bu.t his hair,          the& to the king to say; 1. whjT am I come from Ge-
       upon which according to custom he perhaps bestowed            shur," that is, `why did he send for me? to shut me up,
       sb much care, was to bebis undoing.                           as a prisoner, in my own house. The shame of it,'
          H%e was married and had three sons- and one daugh- 2. "It %ere better for'me were I still there," implying,
       ter, whom he had named Tamar probably after his               `for there I dwelt among friends, and came and went
       unfortunate sister. The names of his sons are not gi-         as I choose.' 3. "And now I will see the king's face,"
       ven. Perhaps the reason is`that they had died young.          meaning, `I am determined.' 4. "And if there be any
       This would explain his erecting  a monument ,to per-          iniquity in me, let him kill me,"-meaning, `I challenge
       petuate his memory (18 :18).                                  him. But he will not dare. For he knows that I am
                                                                     innocent. Was not the cruelty of Amnon great? And
          Two full years have now gone by. It is certain             did not the king wink at his atrocity? At least he
       tk;at  by this time Absalom's soul seeths with resent-        took no action. And this though the vile deed was
       ment toward his father, the king. For he is still shut        crying for vengeance.  What I did was but to heed
       up, as a prisoner, in hil; own house. And by whose            that cry as Tamar's nearest kin. That  was'not sin.
     _ authority if not by that of the king? If  .to this be         It'tias duty. This the king well knows. Why does he
       added the consideratiop  that in his own eyes he was in-      thus evilly treat--me? To please` whom?' Principally
       nocent of any crime, it will be seen that his hatred of       Bathsheba perhaps: For it can be expected that she
       his father must be fierce, and that, being a profligate,      is zealous for her son Solomon.
       he is plotting revenge. It may -be considered as cer-            There is all this in Absalom's words. And there
       tain that his resolve to seize his father's throne was        is point to his argument, as has before been explained.
       made &t thid time. He must have been toying with the According to Israel's law, &nnon .shou!d `have been
       idea ever since his return, but without having been           put to  rd,eath: We may quote the law  her,e: "The
       able to make up his mind. For he realized the danger          nakedness of thy father's wife's daughter, begotten of
       of such a venture. But his mind is now mad& up. .Aiid         thy father; she is thy sister (,that is, half sister) thou
       as consumed by ambition and blinded by rage he lays           shalt not uncover her  nakedliess." See also  20:1%;
       his plans. He may be counting. on the support of Joab,        Deut. 27:22. The sin is included in the class of abo-
       his friend and confident.. But how he is going to learn       mination for which the offender or offenders "shall
       to his own destruction that he misjudges Joab:        ,.      be !ut off from among their people." Lev. 18 :9,29.
          How to get himself straightene,d  out with the king,          The godless Absalom holds his god-fearing father
       whom he will des+roy, is his first problem. Feigning          in derision for his weaknesses. Without a question he
       p'eniitence, he could implore his forgiveness. But that has already convinced himself-that his father is not
       would be too humiliating. Besides, as was just stated,        fit to be king and for the good of the nation must be
       in$is own eyes he has no sin and accordingly has noth- cast down from his throne:
       ing to confess. It  is~ the king who should confess              Joab goes to the king and repeats Absalom's argu-
       to him and restore to him all his rights in full. This        ment in his audience `doubtless as careful not to re-
       precisely is what he now at,tempts  to get the king to do,    veal that Absalom is defient  but perhaps telling the
       namely remove from him every restriction, so that he          king that he has repented- and longs to be forgiven
       may again come and go as he pleases. How otherwise            and to receive from his father the kiss of a full re-
       could he  gd about the business of capturing the throne.      conciliation. In some such vein the unscrupulous Joab
          But he.is in the need of a mediator, one to argue his      may have spoken. For the king is  mov,ed,  judging
       innocense before the king.  H,e sends for Joab. For           from the `reaction. He calls for Absalom come. Ac-
_      who has more in'fiuence with the k>ing than he? But           cording to true oriental fashion of the day he `bows
       Joab for some reason refuses to bestir himself even af-       himself on his face to `the ground. And  t.he king
       ter the second summons. Absalom's anger burns. As             kisses him.
       he cannot go to Joab, seeing that he is forbidden to set
       foot off his own-premises, he takes recourse to .a dras-      STEALING THE HEARTY OF THE PEOPLE             _
       tic measur& In his ftiry he has his servants set fire,           AlbsaloVm  is once more on'good terms with the king.
       .to a field of barley belonging -t;!, Joah and lying con-     He has gained his first  objec$ve. He is again at
       tiguous to his own land. Soon Joab `is at his door de-        libekty to come and go as he pleases, He r&alizea that

                     ,.


       90                                TlI%      STANDARD                   BEARER

       if he is to succeed in his venture he must have the fol-      pretends). In sheer anguish he cries ; `50 that 1 wel"e
       lowing of the people, so that, when finall'y he has him-      r&de judge in the land..  ." Hebrew: "Oh who will
       self declared king, the people will rally to his banner.      make -me judge in the land, that. any man who hath
       So his next move is his attempt to turn the people            sui.t or cause,might  come unto me, and I would do him
       away from the king and attach them to his own per-            justice."
     _ son.- And in -this he succeeds remarkably well, It                it is certain that Absalom exagerates. But at the
       is not a wonder. He has youth, personal beauty and            same time neglect  and partiality may have crept in
       gre& charm. He is a master of the art of political in-        giving Absaiom  .a handle. David is growing old. His
       triguing. And the  peop1.e are fickle and ungrateful.         life has been strenuous. He-9s not the man he used
             Then also there is a class of men in Israel that        to be. `%ee, .thy matters are good.," Absalom hears
       hate the king for what he is-an essentially good man,         all the cases, and that is always his verdict, so that
       who fears God and loves His testimonies despite his           if thereupon the litigant loses his case in David's
       sins and weaknesses and faults of character. They are         court, he will return to his place as wishing that Ab-
       against the king because they are against Christ.             salom were, king indeed, and as determined to tell his
       That is the essential reason and not David's faults.          neighbors about it, and every one whom he may con-
      Didn't these same  m&n in their generations crucify            tact.
       the  .Son of God  %ben he was come into the  flesg?               ,So has Absalom established his own court by the
       And he was sinless. From, this people will \come the          side of the way to the court of the king. And. he
       leaders in the revolt.                                        rises early in .the morning to show his zeal and to be
             Let us no& see how Absalom operates.                    on hand when the people start coming. And he does
             His first step is to project himself before the pub-    not allow any man to do birn obeisance. If any man
       lic eye. `He prepares for, himself a chariot (English         tries it, he puts forth his hand, and takes him (Heb.,
       A.V. has  chakiots,  but not correct) and horses-the          siezes him) and kisses him. How remarkably con-
       horses are for drawing the chariot .-and besides fif-         descending ! And he a prince, the king's own son !
       ty men to run before him. He assumes the appear-              "On this. manner ,did Absalom to all Israel that came
       ance of a p?ince  .of non little importance in order to       to the king for judgment: so Absalom stole the hearts
       draw to himself the attention of the -people. "And            of the men of Israel."
       A;bsalom rose -early in the `morning," that is, the early         Either David does not observe. what is going on,
       mornings find him with his military adjunct by the            which would seem to be incredible, seeing that Ab-
       side of the way of the gate. The reference is to the          salom operates almost in the shadow of the palace,
       iate of the king's palace, where come all .those who          or if he does know what is going on, he thinks no evil.
       have need of his judgment in matters of law. He calls         It simply doesn't occur to him that Absalom might
       to every passing litigant on his way to the king's court.     be laying the groundwork for seizing his throne. For
       He asks-him where he is from.` Having received an-            looking ahead we see that the revolt overtakes him by
       swer he speaks to the man flattering words, hangs             surprise. He hadn't been able to imagine that his own
       before his eyes a disparaging pidture  of the judicial        son could do to him such a thing. Being himself `a
     practices `in his father's court and concludes with the         man of true nobility, he w.as too trusting of others,
       expressed wish that he tiere king. Let us quote the           particularly of this profligate son, whom he  ST) loved.
       text here: "And Absalom said unto him, See, thy mat-
       ters are good and right, but there is nd man disputed                      THE OUTBREAK OF THE REVOLT
     of the king to hear thee." Hebrew: "But  th,ere  isno               The notice in the sacred text: "And it came to pass
      .hearer for thee from the king." The "hearer" is the           at the end of forty years, that Absalom said unto the
       court official whose task- it` is to hear I and understand    king. :. ," (15  :7) can hardly be taken as supplying
       the.. people's ,matters and lay them before the king.         us with a cue for determining just. how long he was
       Douibtless  there are several such "hearers," assistants      &cupied in the manner described above. For this pro-
       to the king. The criticism that Absalom' levels at            cedure could have lasted at the most but three or four
       i;hese."hearers" is that th.ey are seldom on hand, or that years. The phrase in question "at the end of forty
       they lack the mental and spiritual qualifications for         years" must -refer to some previous event in David's
       their high office resulting in frequent miscarriage of        life  only:perhaps to his anointing by Samuel. His
       justice because the king was not properly enlight-            anointing was the only previous event in `his life that
       ened. Such is the sad state of affairs. in the royal          in the point of view of  iits  si&ificanee  ranked with
       c0ur.t.  And the king makes no effort to correct the          Absalom's  conspiracy. tOthers   prohounce  the chron-
       evil. What a crying  .shame! The thought of it cuts           ology here une,ertain-,due to an error of the copyist.
a      Absalom to the' quick and: stabs at his heart. `(So he        They read fozlr years instead of forty. .But it is dif-

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

ficult to conceive of the copyist as guilty of such care-    but it was ;thou, a man of my rank, my guide, and
lessness.                                                    mine aaquaintance. . We took sweet counsel together,
                                                                         ,.
 Absalom believes that he has succeeded in pe?sua-           and walked into the house of God-in company."
ding the people that what the land needs is a new               What may be activating  AhithophGl? Is it ambi-
kiing and that therefore the time is ripe for him to         tion? Or is he, tod, of the opinion that David has liv-
strike. And so his next  move,.is to get the king to         ,ed out his usefulness as king? He has a son, whose
give him permission to go to Hebron. The reason he           name is Eliam (23 :34). If Eliam of 11:3 is this son,
gives is calculated to make it appear that he is -. ac-      Bathsheba is Ahithophel's granddaughter, she being-
bivated by pious motives. He says to the king: "I            the daughter of  Eliam of  11:3, and then it may be
pray thee, let me go and pay my vow, which I have            that  he- is incensed against David for his abuse of
vowed unto the Lord, in Hebron. For thy servant              this woman now David's wife.
vowed a vow while I-abode in Geshur in Syria, say-
ing, If the Lord shall- bring me again indeed to ,Jer-          "Absalom sent for Ahi8thophel  . . . .while he offer-
usale& then I will serve the Lord." `<Go in peace," ed.`? It is not clear from the sentence whether the pro-
is the king's reply. The vow could just .as well have        noun "he" looks back to Absalom or to Ahithophel.
been -paid in Jerusalem. B,ut David is unsuspecting.         It must look back to Absalom. For why should Ahi-
More than one r,eason  can be ,advanced to explain Ab-       thophel at this time be sacrificing in his place?
salo[m's decision to set in operation the insurrection          It is Absalom who is doing  the sacrificing. His
in Hebron. Here he was born. Here he could count             sacrifice for the occasion is the burnt offering. It is
on a large following from the tribe of Judah. He al-         customary for the armies of Israel to bring this sac-
ready has sent out spies (Heb.-investigators) to             rifice when about to engage the enemy in battle. As
sound public opinion and to prepare in `every place          a symbolical-typical transaction it is .a prayer in which
the right number of men for the moment when over             the worshippers confess before the Lord that they are
the whole land th,e blast of the trumpets will be heard.     sinners, ill-deserving, lost and uridone in themselves
In that moment they shall shout: "Absalom reigneth           but yet forgiven of God on the ground of the sacri-
in Hebron." He has with him on his journey to Heb-           ficing  victim-,that  by its dying  &xpiated their sins.
ron two hundred men. In the texf they bear the name          Second, it is a prayer in which the worshippers de-
of "called," which revels that they are courtiers such       clare that by His grace they are wholly consecrated
as accompany king's sons dn their journeys. "And             to Him and His cause, and thus a prayer, finally, in
they went in their simplicity and knew not anything." which they implore the Lord for victory over His and
They have not been told what lies ahead, lest the king their enemies.
learn of it. But everywhere men will conclud,e that             Absalom offers sacfifices. He prays this wonderful
they are friends of Absalom in favor of the rebel-           prayer, with h.is lips or acts only, to be sure. For his
lion.  -                                                     heart is far `from.God. In sacrificing he simply goes
    "And Absalom  sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite,          through the motions of prayer. Let this be under-
David's counsellor, from his city, even from  IGiloh,        stood. As feigning contrition he humbles himself
while he offered sacrifices."                                befor,e ,God in the pretended or false confidence that
  `Giloh is a Z&n in the hill country of Judah near          he is received of God and *hat God will prosper and
.Hebron (Joshua  15:51,54).   Heie dwells the man.           bless his rebellion against David. again in answer -to
As the counsellor of David he has acquired fame. The         his prayer. And his sole purpose is to  .inspire his
whole pian of the conspiracy may thus have been of           followers with the confidence that his vile cause is
his contriving. For his talent for perceiving what           just and that he wars God's  warfare. And he wants
ough$ to be ,done in a given situation is remarkable.        Ahithophel-and Ahithophel by all means-to  sacyi-
Men ar,e saying that to -enquire of him is like enquir-      fide with him, to join him in his prayer. And there-
ing of an oracle of ,God. `( 16 :23). The two-David          fore he sends and brings him to the sacrifice.
and this coupsellor-have  been close. He has been               Absalom is wicked. He is a consumate hypocrite
the king's familiar friend, in whom he trusted, which        in his wickedness. IOr does he imagine that in his at-
did eat of his bread (Ps.  41:9). How his treachery          tempt to destroy his father, he is championing God's
`is going to grieve David, when he learns of it, is plain    cause. If so, he is willingly deceiving himself, nee.d-
from David's Psalm (54: 12-16) in which he projects          less to say. How the Lord must loathe the sacrifices-
himself .as saying to him: "For it was not an enemy          ihe prayers-of the ungodly however right these pray-
ithat reproached rrie ; then I could have borne it ; eeith- ers may be as to the form of their words.
er w,as it he that hated nie that did magnify himself                                                G.. M. Ophoff
against me ; then I would have hid myself from him :


   92        -                   I       T H E   STANDARY  B E A R E R                            __ c
                                        - -

                                                                     .,Nu stem ik toe, dat die oude  ov.erlevering  geen'
                  SIONS  SANGEN  -1                               voorwerp ,des geloofs kan ,zijn. Voorwerp des geloofs
                                                                  is  alleen het Woord van God. Maar het schijqt mij
                                                                  toe, ,dat dit zeer we1 mogelijk geweest is. ,Ge gevoelt,
                  Gods Groote Coedertieren  he&                   dalt er een historische werkelijkheid ten grondslag
                                                                  moet liggen aan dezen teks.t  in den 118den psalm.
                        PSALM 118; VIERDE DEEL                        .Hoe dit dan ook zij, de STEE'N is Jezus ,Christus.
                                                                  D& is overduidelijk.
          We beginnen bij het 22ste `vers: "De Steen, die de                              En het gebouw is het Huis Gods,
                                                                  dat God door d,e eeuwen heen aan het bouwen is. En
   bouwli,eden  verworpen  hadden,  is  .tot een  ho6fd des       de bouwlieden zijn de leiders van )Gods-volk.  En nu
   hoeks geworden ; dit is van den Heere geschied, en het         is het een feit der  historic dat alle bouwlieden van
   is wonderlijk in - onze oogen." `(IWe .ha&den ook het nature dien Steen niet willen, wilden en niet willen
   23ste vers  aan.)'                                             zullen in alle tijden. Jezus Christus staat ons steeds
          Ja, dat is een eigentiardige geschiedenis van dien      i'n den weg. -Wij willen. zelf den hoeksteen aanbrengen
   Steen, dien verworpen Steen. Het is niet zoo moeilijk          en leggen. Dat is  hgtzelfde als te zeggen, dat wij
   om dien STEEN te verklaren, want Jezus `en de Apos-            de basis willen leggen tot,, samenwoning met God in
   telen hebben ons heel veel commentaar over dien                BBn huis. Het is de werkheiligheid van de kerk, zoo-
S.teen  g e g e v e n . Hij is Jezus Christus. `0ok is het niet als zij van nature is.
   moeilijk om aan te toonen wie die bouwlieden zijn ge-             En zoo verwerpen wij den uitersten hdeksteen dien
   wee& Dat waren de goddelooze bouwers in het huis _. door ,God gegeven is tot fundament van de verwerke-
   Israels van alle eeuwen, die niets verstaan hebben van
   .Gods bouwen. Zij hebben zich gedurig gestooten aan            lijking van Zijn trouwverbond.
   dien Steen.          En  hebben"`Hem  verworpen. De  ver-          De  eesste verwerping was  `6en Kain  Abkl  dood-
   werping van ,dezen .Steen  is de kruisiging van Jezus          sloeg. En dat .verwerpen  is door alle eeuwen doorge-
   Christus.  Da't is ons  alles  verklaard  in Matt. 21:42;      gaan. Als God kwam met Zijn hoeksteen in  scha-
   Marcus 12:10, 11; Lucas 2O*:i7; Hand. 4;ll; `en I Pe-          duwen, typen, en het Woord dat vast is in profeten,
   t r u s   2   :7.                                              Koningen  en Priesters, dan verwierp Israel dien Steen.
          Evenwel is het moeilijk om de oorsprong, de his-           Het is te vernederend voor den trotschen mensch.
   torische oorsprong van deze beeldspraak op te sporen.          Die wil zijn eigen huis bouwen. Van genade, van de
   ET: zijn, allerlei verkl,aringen  van. Sommigen zeggen, vrije gave der genade willen we niet wet,en,  van na-
   dat het ziet op Bet weenen der ouden toen ze den her-          ture.
   bouwden Tempel Gods zagen in "de dagen van Ezra,                  Doch hier blinkt nu de aanbiddelijke wijsheid
   Nehemia,  Zerubbabel, Zacheria en  Jozl1.a. De jongen          Gods: juist door de verwerping van den uitersten
   juichten, doch de ouden, die den `Tempel  Gods van Sa-         Hoeksteen wordt het Huis ,Gods gebouwd. Als-Jezus
   lomo  gezi&  hadden,  weenden. Met andere  woordkn',           ni,et verworpeti  was geweest, zquden we nooit met God
   zij verwierpen den  T,empel   dieri God  tia de  Baby-         kunneti won&. Doch als -Hij geheel en al verworpen
   lonische ballingschap had doen bouwen, en die zooveel          is, dan `wordt het Huis opgetrokken  in den stijl der
   minder  schoon was. Doe-h  er zijn ook overleveringen          lieflijke genad&
   in. de geschriften der RabbiIs die ons een betere yer-            En zoo is het geschied.
   klaring ,bieden.        Die  overlevering&  zeggen ons, dat
   ten tijde van den bouw des Tempels ten %ij,de van Sa-             De Steen (Gods  kwam, zooals we zeiden, in schaduw,
   lomo, er .een Steen was die den boawers gedurig in den         type, en door belt Woord, dat vast is. Doch iri de vol-
   w!g lag. Die  Steen, die een  letterlijke  groote  Steen       heid des tijds kwam Hij Zelf. En .gedurig verklaarde
   was, werd van de eene plaats naar -d,e andere gewor-           Hij Zichzelf. Als de STEEN die moest dienen oti het
  pen, en steeds lag hij'in den weg. Men wist niet wat Huis Gods te bouwen. En hoe meer men dit ho&de
   men  er mee  doen moest. Totdat men toekwam  aan               en zag, hoe meer men Hem verwierp. En die verwer-
   he't leggen van den uitersten hoeksteen. En toen, o            ping, bereikte haar hoogtepunt toen men Hem nam
   wonder van God!  toen  zag men, dat hij juist paste            en `aan het Kruis van Golgotha hechtte. s
   voor dat doel.                 s                                  Daar werd dezen psalm toen vervuld. En vervuld
          En  nu moet ge- weten; dat de uiterste hoeksteen                                                                 -
                                                                  op vreeselijke wijz,e. Alles en allen verwierpen Hem.
   in de Joodsche bouwtrant de meest belangrijke Steen            En het scheen we1 alsof de vreeselijkste verwerping
   was van het geheele gebouw. Zonder dien hoeksteen              Hem van God Zelf aangedaan werd. Een groot menschc
   was het gebouw  eenvoudig een onding. Dft weten we,            heeft eens gezegd, dat Jezus toen door ,God weggedrukt
   al is het ook waar, dat men het er niet over eens is           is .iti de oneidige diepten van den eeuwigen ddod. En
   waar die hoe&teen aangebracht werd.                            dat veroorzaakte de_ diepste smarten v&n Messias. En


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARER                        `.       7             93

 veroorzaakte ,dien bangen schreeuw: Mijn ,God, Mijn               Doch plotseling, op den vroegen morgen van died
 `God, waarom hebt `Gij Mij verlaten !?                         eers.ten  dag der- week, omringt hem een glorie van
    `Maar, o  wonder  van  (God !  toen  Golgothti  tot zijn    liehi, -dat hemelsch is. En een lieflijke stem zegt:
 bitterste  einde vervuld was, bleek  het, dat  toen het        Petrus ! De Heere verseheen tian een der bouwlieden
 .Huis van God eeuwig  vast gefundeerd was. Dat. ver-. die Hem hielp te verwerpen.
 der de bouw door kon gaan, totdat alle steenen en ju-             We trekken een sluier, neen, God ,trekt een sluier
 welen  ingezet zouden zijn, en SGod en Zijn volk intrek, over dat tafereel. We behoeven niet te weten wat Je-
konden nemen om verder .te wonen, te wonen.                     zus tot Petrus gezegd heeft. Gods Woord zegt het
    Ziet ge dat nu door bet geloof, dan komt era een            n?et. En  tech.  weten  w,e het. We hebben  bet  allen
 echo van een mijner teksten op in Uw hant, en ,dan             immers met Petrus ervaren.
 zegt ge met dezen onbekend,en dichter : "dit is tin den           Jezus zegt tot hen die .Hem veiwerpen:  Kom aan
 Heere geschied, en het is wonderlijk in onze oogen !"          Mijn hart! H_et za.1 altoos kldppen van de liefde Gods
  - 0, geliefde  lezers,  laat die woorden in- Uw ziel in-      die in Mij geopenbaard werd.
 gebrand  worden,  om er nooit meer uit te gaan. En                En .Petrus woonde met God. Hij rus.t op bet- fun-
 dan heb ik het oog vooral  op .het eerste lid van di,en        dament  `Gods.,   '
 zin:  DIT  1,s VAN DEN HEERE  GESCHIED! En                        En wij  rusten met hem.  Hallelujah!           G. Vos
 dat houdt immers alles in: ook de verwerping van den
- STEiEN.  Hoort het uit den mond van Petrus op den
 eersten Nieuw Testmentischen  Pinksterdag : "Want in
 waarheid zijn vergad'erd tegen Uw heilig Kind Jezus,
 w,elken  Gij gezalfd hebt, beide H*ero&us en Pontius Pi-
latus, met de heidenen en de volken Israels, om tie .cZoen                PERI$COPE
 al wat  Uwe hand en  Uti  raad te  voren  bepaalcl  had
 dab geschisden xoude."
     Ja, stelt U gerust: gij allen die dit leest hebt deel      THE UNION QUESTION
 aan de legging van het eeuwig?  fundament van Gods               The  R'eformed  Jo~nul  recently. conducted a dis-
 gunstibewijzen,  waardoor het  paleis van  Zijn_ liefde        cussion -on the question of a believer's affiliation with
 eeuwiglijk zal rijzen.  Doch- huivert en beeft, want           a worldly union. The nature of  this discussion one
 Uw d,eel is dit : gij allen hebt dit deel : de verwerping      may ascertain  fu;om a  cep!y to Dr. George Stob by
 van den STEEN. Zachtkens ruischt  bet door mijn                Mr. Joseph (Gritters, the latter representing the C.L.A.
 ziel terwijl ik dit schrijf : "Ik  dacht er niet  aan dat      Perhaps it is expedient; for a correct evaluation of the
 ik zelf d'oor mijn schuld, Zijn krobn had gevlochten,          reply by Mr. Gritter, briefly to state the position of
 Zijn beker gevuld !"                                           Dr, Stob. It is pr'incipally the same as that of the late
     Het is wonderlijk in onze.oogen! -                         Rev. J. Groen. He advocated affiliation with the world-
     Dat zal waar zijn!                                         ly unions on the basis of common  grace, claimed that
  -~  IGod openbaarde, dat Hij een Huis  Wilde bouwen the Christian may not separate himself from the world
 waar we,"gezelliglijk" met Hem zouden mogen wonen.             locally, but be ;the salt of the earth even in the worldly
 Doch het zou gaan langs den diepen-  weg van zonde             unions. Hence, they must become member. The pas-
 en genade. En de grootste zond,e is-de verwerping van          ition of Dr. Stob is similar. A Christian must needs
 den Steen.                                                     live- in an evil wdrld. He cannot escape ilt. c He also
     En als we dan Jezus naar lGolg@ha zien gaan, na- must necessarily live within c'ertain or'ganizations that
 dat we  Herb verworpen hebben, clan komt God en                are pri`ncipally unchristian and are sometimes guilty
 opent ons de oogen voor eat we gedaan hebben, en of unchristian practices..
 dan  &an we den nacht in, bitterlijk weenende met                 Mr. Gritier's reply, with-which I principally agree,
  P&us.                                                         is, in part, as ,follows:
    En van verre  volgen we den joelenden stoet ; om              ' "1.  I;tis true that I am of the conviction that a
 het einde te zien, dwazen die we zijn. Het is benauwd          Christian ought not to be si member' of the A.F.L. or
 voor ons daar rondom de kruis,paal;                            the C.I.O. That is a conviction gained not from books
     En dan verdwijnt Jezus in de eeuwige verwerpihg            or hearsay but from 14 years of activity in the labor
  van den nacht van dien Vrijdag.                               field and through direct contact  with these drganiza-
  Van den Heere  geschied?                                      &ions and close observation of their activities. Dr.
     (Gaat  met me: we zullen Petrus op den vo& volgen.         Stob has no right to say that Synods of the Christian
 Hij schreit en hij w,eent.  Men kan het zien aan zijn          Reformed Churtihes refused to stistain me in that sim-
e roadbekreten oogen,  _                                        ply because they did not mentisn these organizations


     9     4                                 wn3  STAND~RIYBEA~ER

     by name. !Organizations that are hostile to true Chris-      cipline of the Word, admonition of those who in their
     tian testimony, that foment hostility against employ-        affiliation. with un+Christian  social and economic or-
     ers ,and hatred of unorganized workers or members            ganizations are in that part  of. their life not "for"
     of other unions, that will use violence to gain their        Christ. I `am persuaded that if the--discipline of the
     ends, that justify unwarranted strikes, that d.esecrate      Wdrd,  and admonition, are faithfully exercised ster-
lthe Sabbath continuously, to mention only some  of their         ner methods of discipline will prove not to be, neces-~
     unichristian activities, are the type of organizations       sary at all, in 99 out of 100 cases. Experience has
     that Synods had in mind when they said that member-          borne that out. It has borne out, ,too, that when Chris-
     ship I in them is not, compatible with membership in         tian .workers  really make up their`mind to be free from
     the Church of Christ. The C.I.O. and A.F.L. unions           an un$hristian  affiliation they will find a way, and live
     are guilty of all those sins; . . ."                         too,.,albeit  per'haps not as luxuriously as before. God
*         Further, Mr. Gritte? writes :                           takes care of those who obey Him in faith.
          "2. I agree with the official position of the Chris-       `15. In c&elusion I quote once again from Dr. Stab :
tian Reformed Church. But, Synod lef& it $0 (the Con-             "We are not living in an abstract world where abso-
sistories to investigate whether local so-called neutral          lutes may be spoken and consented to with ease. We
     unions could .meet the standards set by the Church.          are living in a r&al world, complex with the problem-
The Consiatories have failed, almost completely, to car-          atic, -where escape is not easy nor necessarily coun-
ry this out. The enormous task of investigating num-              seled, and where the Christian is called to exercise
erous local organizations, and the economic power of              loyalty to Christ while sharing the life and fask of a
such organizations, have  been'the  two factors that have         common humanity." No, we are" not living in an gb-
kept the Consistorie's from doing so. Dr. $tob's error            stract world, `but in a real and v'ery sinful world, in
is this: that he tries to conclude the official position          which adherence to the absolutes tauglit in the Scrip-
of the Church from the practice tolerated  by the lo-             tures, from Genesis t,o Rev.,+ is necessary above all!
cal  consistories.  1On the same b&is he would reason             That the absolute separation from all that dishonors
that since the Synod of 1951 did not in so many words             God is not easy I admit, that it is not "necessarily
say that theater attendance is in conflict with ,Church           counseled" I deny with, all the power of my conviction.
membership, alid since it is well known that in many              Dr. Stob is leading us on the road to removal of the
local churches  sUch attendance is tolerated, and that            antithesis,- and fin@ loss of the Church in the world.
therefore [the Church has given its blessing upon the-            What remains of the suffering and persecution which,
ater attendance."                                                 J&us said, His followers will have to endure as loyal
          Neveritheiess,  in my opinion, the position of the      citizens of His kingdom, if Dr:Stob's  direction is fol-
     Christian Reformed Church `in 1943 and 1945, was             lowed? Nothing at all."
halfhearted  -and ambiguous. Mr. Gritter concludes                 E,specially  with, this last paragraph we say Amen.
his article :
          ". .  .The Synods of 1943 and 1945  declarea that       How  THE OLD COUNTRY KNOWS HISTORY
members of unions that are guilty of  un;Christian                   A very curious example of a distortion of histor-
practices are corporately responsible, and that Chris-            ical facts I ?ound in D.e Reformatie  of Aug. 23, 1952.
tian conscience cannot condone membership in an or-               It concerns the history of the former congregation in
ganization that persists in jts &-Christian prac-                 Hamilton, Ont. and the article was written by Prof.
tices in spite of protests against them. If' Dr. Stob NC. Veenhof. It is introduced by .the sentence : "Men
does not agree with these  decisions let him overture             kent `de historic.`.' (tone knows tlie  histqry).
Synod to rescind them. But as a minister in lthe Chris-              Translated the article reads as follows :
tian Reformed Church he has no right to teach that                   "In Hamilton there was instituted, by those that
which is contrary to those decisions.                             had been members of the Reformed Churches in the
          "4. I am perhaps better aware than anyone .else         Netherlands, a Protestant Reformed Church. She u-
in our Church that `this problem offers great diffictil-          nited  with  the Prot. Ref. Churches of the U.S., the
ties, if we want to face it in accordance with Scrip-             Churches, -therefore of which the Rev. Hoeksema is
tural injunctions concerning separation from the e- the leading figure. When these churches adopted the
vil. The easiest way  out is, of  ,course, to surrender           notorious "Declaration of  l?rinciples" the Prot. Ref.
and thei to try to find some justification for it. But            Church of Hamilton came into great difficulty. _ It was
that is not the Biblical- way. "Let the Church  be                impossible for her to accept this Declaration.. Hence,
the Chur'ch" using one of .Dr. Stob's favorite expres-            she rejected this Declaration and so came to stand out-
sions. Indeed !, let the Church be the Church ! That              side  of.:.the  communion of the Prot. Ref. Churches.
includes unequivoqal preachin@ .of the Woyd, the dis-
                                               -                  Part of the church, although also  Qbjecting to the  ~


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEA.R`ER                                                           9 5
                              - - - - -                                                               -_
Declaration, remained faithful. to the Prot. Ref. Chur-                   thes.e negative terms,! The former things shall be no
ches, arid thus formed a small Prot. Ref. Church of                       more ! Hallelujah !
Hamilton. It is a ctiusti of great joy that both church-                     We also believe that these three negative terms al:e
es now have.found each other and ,are united."                            exhaustive of all the present woe that is ours in this.
  When I rkad this curious. illustration of ignorance                     present life. This means, that each' term should be,
of the fact& and sucking history out of qne's thumb,                      studied as to its scope and impiicat.ion.  Wg should do
I  iimmediately  wrote "Neef  Kees" `(Prof.  Veenhof)                     this not simply for the sake of "word-study", but that
a letter, In. which I told him: 1. That in this entire                    we-may  drink- richly from the cup of comfort,. and
paragraph there is not one word of truth; 2. That reach out in hope- and. expectation 26 that which will
there could not possibly be any  tru,th in it because be free from our present misery.
when the misepable  history of Hamilton occurred and                         Let us attend to *these  terms in order as they are
before they separated from our churches, .there was                       given in the text. .                         I  -
no Declaration of Principles, not even in. concept.
   And I asked him' whether the Reformed people                              First we call attention to *the term: incorm~tibbi
(Art. 31) in the Netherlands thus "knew the history." The `term corruption (phthartos) is indicative of cor-
   It is evident  that `they don't' reed. Even  Prof:                     ruption in the physical world of plan)ts, animals and            -
Veenhof does not read, as is evident of his gross ig-                     men.    Everywhere corruption reigns as king. All
norance of the matter.                                                    things are subject to the bondage of cortiuption. Rom.
   I wrote him. that he .might correct this error in                      8:21. Plarits grow in beauty according to their na-
De  Reformatie if he would, but that I was not  con-                      ture ; soon however they die and corrup.tion  and dis-
                                                                  _
cepned about the matter.                                                  integraation  sets in. Even while  *hey live we must
   Ups t-o date, I did not hear frQm him.                         H.H.    fight the corruption .o? blight, sickness and death in
                                                                          the plant world. It is subject to the bondage of eor-
                                                          *  -            rupttlion. So too. sickness and death reign in the an-
                    --:  -       -      :  -                              imal world  ; the  veternarian  has an abundance of
    I                                                                     works. Be he ever so learned in his field he cannot
                                                                          prevent the Tankage Company from the sad duty of
F R  0. M  g 0 L Y W R  1.7.. claiming the dead and corruptible carcasses of the very
                                                                          animals he attempted to save from death. And with
                                                                          man it is -not different. We too -are corruptible from
            E                                                             the cradle to the grave. A!lw&ys we must fight cor-
                 xposition  of  I P&m   1:4,,  5                          ruption.. The food we eat, the air we breathe is all
                     . .         (Qntinued)                :              contaminated with corruption,. _ This -life in its total-
   We now stand before the task' of inquiring into the                    iify is nothing but a continual death. Soon we too are
meaning of the threefold qualification of this inheri-                    ill; corruption and death waste our frame till we bow
                                           1        -.
tance in heaven.                                                          to the grave; >w`e give our l&t breath, and we are no
   Of his inheritance, kept in heaven, Peter  Mls                         more. If we are strong we live threescore years and
us; that it is:  incorr&fible;  wndefilable  and that it                  ten, and if very strong fourscore years, yet these years
fades not away.          !                                                are labor and sorrow ; under  IGod's wrath we are
   Concerning each of these elements just a word.                         troubled and flee &away; His heavy hand' h&s bowed us
   In general we shosld  notice, that this description                    to $he grdve.          -                                  -.
of the "inheritance" ia in negative terms. The des-                          The glad-tidings of *the resurrection stands in the
cription tells us what this inheritance is not. There midst of this reality and says: the inheritance that is
is a- good reason for this negative description. The ours hath  conqu.ered  corruption: It is  ,in its very
reason is that it is only by means `of this negative des- nature such ,that IGqd's heavy hand no longer bows us
cription that we can form a concrete conception of the                    to the grave. We lift up our weary lieads and exalt:
inheritance. The revelation of God comes  ,to us in                       0,  :death where  iS thy sting, 0, grave, where is thy
oul: present woe and  hopel,essness to  bi;ing us the victory? The sting of death is sin, and the' power of
glad-tidings concerning this heavenly inheritance. It, sin is the law, but thanks be to God who giveth us .the
appeals. to our present experience of corruption, de-                     victory through our Lord, Jesus Christ!              Death is
filement and that which fades away, and then points                       swallowed up in life !
toward the inheritance and says: be comforted, the                           Secondly, we `call attention to the term: w&$1-
inheritance has nothing of this iain and disappoint- able.  The  term in the  (Greek for "defilable" comes
ment of death and hell. Let your tears be wiped away. from the vetib meaning to stain, to dye with another
Presently this all shall be.no more. .Beautiful ferms.                    color. .Hence,  `it comes to mean to defile, pollute, sul-


                               ,                                                         i




-                                                              .~     .
                   ,.`
                                    .

      96                  ...,&                        I-             T  r1.E  ~S'T,;A  ND  A$$&  ,BE:A-E.R:T----  :--1-T  -T--Y-  :I                                    -:  -_
                                                        . - - - . - -               -          -          -        -
                  . . . .                                                                                                     I          _            :.         :  _
     ly,Y  ,+ontamin$e.                  In  the Old  Test8ment it' refers' to                wax faint and fill by the wayside, "ye would make  .a
     all` c@&no?@aI 2nd spiritual defilement ; the defilement                                 few-remarks.   : .  .._  _  :
     Yof the &isc~&&  by sin and guilt. `In Jude &we `read                                          Fir@ `of ali,. :`we wduld call attention to- the fact,
      of. those who d&l.& the fresh, turning the grace of God                                 that-what. Peter her&&&  very briefly and com]?act-
      into  l&civi@usness; while in Titus  1:15  we  see that                                 ly, he later,works. out in more detail. Fact is, that this
      .the `term "defiled" is contrasted with that which is                                   &tire &&l&is. the very Word:of truth through which
      .$upe"  and  "cl,ean". I@ the latter passage rriention is                               Gpd keeps ,His church, the Pi1ffrim.s and the Strangers,
     ,. m&de of `having a defiled con&ience  and mind ; io these                              ever reaching out in. hope for the .final blessedliess.
      latter nothing is pure. In j&oes 1::27  we. read about                                  Hence;-.we  must not treat this brief statement as an
      the pure  Afi13 undefiled  worship  &s this  iS  ejidenced -aphorism.  (a ;brief,  .incompl&e thought to be analyzed
      in visiting .$dows and brphans in their afflictions.                                    by itself) but we  mu&  rathe? treat it as .a  cornpact
       .It` is evident that this  "d&lement" -is  .ethicaZ  in                                statement, which. Peter himself interprets for us;and
      nature. It is the defilement of sin' and guilt. Also                                    is also -interpreted by many representative, classic
      this defilement of sin and guilt brings us to the grave                                 passages in Holy W.rit.
      under the wrath of <God.                                                                      ,P@er bells us here, that it is in God's power that
             In this .ili'heritance in IChrist in heavenly places this                        we are kept; that it is through faith that we are kept.
      is no more. For the glad-tidings is that "though your                                   The question is, therefore, what we are to understand
      sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow;                                      by *his powerful keeping of God, and how this is done
      though they be' red-like crimson they shall be as white by God through faith.
      as wool". There shall be tie sin nor  iniqui.ty on all                                  Let us try to understand this..
      God's holy mouritain. The pure shall dwell there; those                                       The t,erm "kept"-iii our ~t&xt is the translation of a
      who overcome in the bldod of the Lamb. -Jesus tias                                      beautiful Ford -in the Greek language. It is indeed a
      delivered for' ours offences,- and he was raised for our                                "word-pic;ture" ! The first  eletient  in this-word  pic-
      justifidation.. 10, death ! where is thy sting?                                         tpre is that the word in the Greek makes us think
             Then- too, -finally, there is the term: Fad&h not u-                             riot of keeping meat from spoiling in a..`rcdeep-freeze?`,
      way. This is the m,etaplior t.hat- shows that there ih . but- it is a-terii which portrays to'us solclier;s keeping
      this -`!inheritance" no one shall have a miserable end;                                 g  city.         "If is-a military term. It is the translation
      We shall not be like the rose- that is. beautiful in its                                (the etiglitih : kept) of .the present passive participle
      blooming but most $itiful when whithered. Ah, such                                      of the verb phourein-to garrison. : It .pictures us the
      is life. apart from `the resurrect& of Jesus Christ for                                 soldiers on the watch, standing as sentinels.                              This
      our'. justi&ationP                                                                      term is literally thus e?ployed by Pin11 in II Cor. 11:
             But we. have a life of hope that do& not bow` be-                                32; where he'speaks of'.the citf of DainaScus as having
      fore death and corruption, not -are tie defiled by siti,                                been. garrisoned shut against him. `The: king would
      but are ~virgins pure. Nor is ours a miTerable  end,                                    keep Paul in Damascus.
     !&t we shall sore upwards on eagle's wmgs -in the                                              Now thie- is- here. appli+ to God Almighty, as he
     -4&@&@  dur  ` G o d .                                                                   keeps us. -IX!' picturing us ;this keeping of God Al-
             Great  Sd  glOrious is  this inheritance of  Gdd  in                             mighty as the Warrior, ,l?eter employs the imagery of
      the saints! 1.t. only waits-the time. when it shall ^ful-                               Scripture.- For stirely <God. keeps a coristali$4gil over
      ly be undovered b&fore* the `wondious gaze of all the' Israel, His people dispersed abroad as :$&angers  and
      redeemed, when Jesus Christ the Son shall be- reveal-                                   Pi&&s.-  This watchful. care, this keeping of Israel
      id in glory;--                                                                          3s  .uninterrupted.   ~God   `nevei  ilumbers,   n& does He
             But that is not  the entire extent of God's  :woik                               sleep. Wherefore the Holy Spirit employs the present
      in -this great hope that is ours;                                                       participle. It -pictures- this sentinel activity as con-
             There is more.                                                                   tlinuous  .action.  '                .          -1.                -
        Not- only is this heavenly- inheritance awaiting us,                                        Of this faithful kgeping  G6d'&Xurch  always and
      and kept so for us, sb that no one can ever take it                                     again n-iakes a theEe .on their festal days and in the
      away from us, but it is also part of `God's- wondrous                                   battle-fray. In the most $cture&Ke` language Moses
      grace th,@ we peTsevere  in the living hope unto which                                  sings of this at ihe: R&d Sea -wheh .he.-stiys : "This is
      we have-been reborn !                      :               j                            my God 1. will praise Him, `My father% God and. I will'
             Says Peter "(ye) who are kept-kthe power of Go,d                                 exalt Him. Jehovah, is a Man of :war : Jehovah is l%s
      thwugh faith unto salvation~ready to be revealed. . . .I' liame ! Ex. 15 :l-3. Surely if such be our ,God, we do
                                                                                                                         s
             Concerning t&is Divine work and activity of keep- -well to try td understand this ser$in61  activity of God
     ing-us~-conzerning this certainty fhat ~4 shall never                                    a bit better.  D.V, the  ne$i time, then.  G.  Gubbers:
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