  .   .VOLUME  X X I X           -          _- -JANUARY  1, 1953  - GRAND RAPIDS,  MICHIGAN                               N U M B E R   7

                                                                                and rest.  ' After 6000 years of misery she gave us
                                                                                            .:  -
    ~a       E       D     I          T     A     T      i-0              N        -. worldwarNo.2. .

                                                                                                          ,f?  *  a  a                  -.
                     -Light for the  Ft.&,                          -.
                                                                                   The first thing we must attend to is the question:
                "There be many that. say: Who will show us any                  what is meant by good? Who will show us any good?
             good ? Lord, lift Thou up the light of `Thy coun-                  But. what do-you mean by good! The.answer  need not
             ,tenance  upon us. Thou  has& put gladness in  my
             heart, more than in the time that their corn and                   disturb us. if .we are willing to- listen- to God's Word.
             their wine increased. I &ill both lay me down in                   There are many .places in the Bible that tell us what
             beace and  sleep:  .for Thou, Lord, only  maketh  me is  gqod, but I  -wills point  you to  Micah 6  :6. "He bath
             dweli  in safety."                      -Psalm  4%8 shewed thee, `Q man, what is good ; and what does the
     If there is one question which= is asked in our day                   Lord requires  of thee but to do ,justly, to love mercy
 it certainly is this : Who will show us any good? We and to walk humbly with thy God?" There you have
 hear it in many forms and in many languages by un-                             a -definition of -good that is really good. If you have
 told millions of poor-anxious souls. And no wonder.                       that,  ypu are happy for time and for eternity.
 If at any time, the world at present surely is wrapped                    mu      But I.-hear a .thousand voices telling me : But-who
 up,  in trouble, evil and misery. Cartoonists picture                          can ,do that? .Who `is there that did justly and loved
                                                                                                                                              .--
 to  US the old world as a woebegone figure, -bleeding                     mercy- i-n all his thoughts and words and.. deeds ? -- And
 from  .many wo.unds.       On every side we see and hear                       who walked humbly with his God? And the answer
 of unrest, suspicion, distrust, malignity and every o-                         is : ~.T'he>~ is no one.. Ever since our first father and
 ther kind of evil..                                                            mother`fell into sin, we do just the reverse: we act
     And in the' midst of all this chaotic, thoroughly                          mljustly;  we `hate mercy and we walk proudly before
 miserable world we hear the oft-repeated cry: Who                         the very face of  ,God.           That is a matter of history.
                                                                                The history of the world is a commentary to the truth
will show us any good?                .                                    of that terrible indictment:
     And the answers are not slow in  coming, If there                             But~how then shall we arrive at that-which is real-
 be many that ask,  therecare  also many that make. an-  ly  gobdV                                   -
 swer and say : Come to me ; follow my example ; ac-
 cept this or. that form of government, belief or the- .                           The ,answer  you: find in the text which I selected
 dry of thought and action-and you surely will find- for  oui meditation. `:It comes to LIS in  the form of a
 good, abiding good for your every-hunger and thirst. prayer;  .Lord,  lift Thou up the light of Thy counten-
                                                                           an& `upon- us'!".
    hit seems to me, dear reader, that the tegt referred                           You see, when I said that there was no one who e:
 to lends itself to a New Year's meditation.                  ,I           ver did justly,.  loved mercy and_ walked humbly. with
     It is clear to' all my readers- that the question will -his God; I failed to tell you that there is just one ex-
 not be answered satisfactorily. by the world. The  `eption:`And that one is Jesus of Nazareth. -Yes,  He -
 world has forfeited the right to lead us, itself, the gen-' is God to be praised-forever; but He is -also man, true
 erations of miserable humanity. To put it rather _ man, just -as you &cl I.' . And in' ISis perfect manhood,                                        _
 crudely: The world has made a mess of things. It is                       Be -fulfilled all the things that God requires of `man.
 advisable to close our `ears to her promises of peace                     From,  babyhood in Bethlehem to` manhood  on the aW-
               ._
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  146                                 THY-E  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

  ful CL'OSS of Golgotha, He did justly, He never wavered,        the justice, love and mercy of God is in Jesus. If you
  He fulfilled all righteousness,, even though it brought         receive Him, you receive the Father that sent Him..
Him to lowest hell, He ~loved_.mercy,  0 yes,' He certain-                  The light of God is the embodiment of all His good-
  ly loved mercy. Ask that. .of His sheep. 5 They will            nesses, praises, wonders, virtues. And  they  ali  COII-
  tell you that He. is so wo$drously merciful, that He
              Ti'                                                 verge in our.Saviour .Jesus Christ.
  brought,themup`out  of tlhe-pit of despair and set their                  And when the inspired poet asks God: Lift Thou
  feet up.on the R&k of .Ag.es:. "He is so merciful that He       up upon us the light of Thy countenance, he asks for
  saved'all His sheep to the uttermost and set them in            two things. First he wants to see the light of God.
  hekvenly places ,with--Himself: Ask it of the murder-           And that light shines in Golgotha most of all, and the
  ,er& th.e cross. IAnd he %l tell you of the mercy of            record of it is in the Word of God, the -Bible. He .
  Jesus. When there was no hope anywhere, when the wants the Word to be shown to him-. And, second,
  world and the church combined in their just condem-             he wants that light to penetrate his heart. The Bi-
  nation, this murderer found grace in His sight. And ble is not enough. Millions have read th.e Bible who
  when he asked for Jesus' remembrance, he heard the              are irretrievably lost. You must,have  Jesus, the light
merciful and glorious answer: Verily, verily, I say               of Gods' Face, in the heart. And that is the op.eration
  unto thee : this day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise !        of the Holy Ghost. When that happens you will be
  Was Jesus not merciful?, He loved mercy so much a happy man or woman or child. Then' you will ex-
that He, in order to be able to show mercy, endured               perience what we hear further on in the text : you will
 the cross, despised the shame and descended into .hell.          sweetly sleep and rest. For God will make you to
     ,And he walked humbly with His God. When God                 dwell, in safety. You may be. in Russia under the dic-
  said to Him: My Son, you must fulfill the law for all tator, in prison or concentration camp, you may be
  My sheep and You must pay-for all  the'sins of the              forsaken of man and hated by him, but when you have
  sake sheep; so that You must taste and empty and                the light of God shining in your heart, you will sw,eet-
  swallow up  eternal`death for those which I gave to ly sleep. A little while of suffering and you will be
 Your charge, He said : Speak, Lord, Thy Servant hear-            ushered into the palaces of the heavenly King by the
  eth. And H.e heard and He did and He suffer,ed ever-            Angels of `God. And you will see.the  light of the Eter-
 lasting agony. We have heard His, pitiful crying:                nel Sun `who will never set. There shall be no night
  0 My  ,God; why  hast Thou forsaken `Me?.:.  *                  there.

                        *  72 a  h            . .  ;'    . . .                                * *-a  a
                                                                       -
     Yes, .- Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled all the require-                   Dear reader, if that happens you will say with the
 ments of goodness. And for that reason the Lord <God             apostle Paul: For God who commanded the light to
 has highly exalted Him. He is at rest in heaven.                 shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to
  He has seen the reward of .a11 His terrible labors of           give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in
  the cross. And he sings the song of the Lamb of                 the Face of Jesus Christ. Is it not wonderful? I
 IGod. And  th,e angels listen in rapture.                        would ask you in all sincerity: what can the world of-
    . And that story of ,Jesus and His love is the good           fer in the face of all this beauty? Well, I will tell.you
 which my text refers to'. The inspired psalmist knows            or, rather,`the text will tell you.
 this. And therefore he asks God: Lord, lift up the                         The best that the world.will give is corn and wine.
 light of Thy countenance upon us!       ,                        They may even increase the measure to you. Corn and
     I will try and explain it. You see, the light of God's       wine are the staples of almost luxurious living. Yes,
 countenance is Jesus. The countenance, -the Face of              there is that in the world that will fill your stomach.
  God is His dear Son. And that Face beams with the               You may even smile after your hearty meal and the .
 light of the eternal God. When we-saw J.esus walking,            cup of wine may flow over, making glad the heart of
  so-journing in Galilee and Judea, we saw ,God the Fa-           man.
 ther, the Triune Covenant God in all His yirtu.es.  When              - But I would warn you. Do not build anything
Jesus' disciple Philip asked Him and.,  sai.d: Jesus,             on that gladness. In it are the very seeds of .eternal
  please, show us the Father ! Jesus answered : Philip,           misery and suffering of hell. If you have no more
  am I so long time with you and do you now ask Me: than the increase of corn and wine, you are poor in-
  show us the Father? Know you not that I. am in, the             deed. The poet says : Thou hast put gladness `in my
  Father and that the Father is in `Me? He who has heart, more than in the time that their corn and their
seen Me has seen the Father. 0 yes, the ,Gift of Jesus wine increased. And no wonder. When ,God lifts up
  is the gift. of the very Face and Heart of  ,God. All           over your weary heart the light, of the Gospel of Je-. .

                                                                  .


          --._                                           TB~.$T+A,~\~DA.R]D                    BEARER                    I                  I.47
                    .,-  i                                                                                    -    -
                  sus Christ, you have a gladness that is eternal, heav-          Yes, it is the reason why the poet concludes: I will
                  enly, glorious. It will fill all your real  needs. That      both lay me down in pea?!.. and sleep : for Thou, Lord,
                  heart of yours needs that li.ghf, -no matter who y&          only makest me dwell in safety.
                  may be. Without it, you are miserable even in the                You see, when, all your. needs are fuifilled, when no
                  midst of overflowing bins of corn and vats of wine.          danger threatens, you are at peace. Peace, wonderful
                  YOU  are created in the image of God and ne.ed to lie        state ! What is peace? Peace is that state of your
                  in -His a?ms, looking up. into the eyes of God, in order izeart and your soul and your mind where you love God,
                  to be really happy. Safe in the arms of Jesus, we sing,      His laws and works. It is that-state of man where all
                  and well we may. There is safety and plenty and joy          rebellion against God is rooted out of him and where
     _            unspeakable in the flock and the fol!,of Christ.             he lives the life of  G@,  Hinislelf. You may say that
                      Corn and wine and gladness. Yes, thafG is'your por-      peace is that-statti  where the heartbe& of ,God and of
                  tion if you are. a simple mortal, of the earth earth?.       His child beat `in .unison;
                  But if you have no more' than that, you will even taste          Is it a wonder then.that,.this man will lay himself
                  sorrow in the midst of your laughing and mirth. That         down and sleep? l!f -1 may >know that God is for me,
                  is one o$ Soiomon's wise proverbs. There: will be a          who then  could  ever be  ag&nst me? If He did not
                  gnawing and clawing grief in the depths of you. Be-          spare His only begotten Son but gave Him up for me,
                  cause you will miss the only real good- there is: and        what then ca&`$e @&r&t me? <Oh no, 211 things .work
                  that is the Triune Covenant Jehovah in- the Face of          together for good  unto those that love  iGod.  T&e-
                  J&us of Nazareth.                                            fore,. he will lay Kim down and sleep. He is safe, ev-
                      The poet, however;  boasts of a better, an exceeding ,erlastingly safe.
                  gladness. It is the gladness when you have found                 Have no fear, ,God will make him to dwell in safe-
                  your God. In  l&m is light, heavenly light.  `Of that        ty. That does not mean that:yo.u will- have n'o troubles
                  light we often sing. Listen: jehovah is my light, arid       and trials, pains and miseries. No, I could make out
                  my salvation `near; who shall my  so&l  affright, or         a case f,or the theme that :God's people have even more
                  cause my heart to fear? While God my strength, my troubles than the worldlings. No, but it means this:
                  life `sustains,,secure  from fear my soul remains. Up-       ,God will turn: all things to his profit. It is the portion
                  lifted on a rock, above my foe&  around, amid the .b%t-      of those who have the light of God in their heart. They
                  tle shock, my song. shall still r&sound ; then joyful of-    will sing the psalms of David in the depths of the
                  feriligs I will bring ; Jehovah's praise my heart shall      dungeons. Take  .away  .everything  this man has in
                  sing! Yes, it is a  little  bit of heaven.                   this sorry earth. Bring him to the stake and burn
                                                                               him with fire. He is safe in the  arems of Jesus. If
                                        *  a  *  sr                            you will, please, step a little closer to that burn.ing
                                                                               stake, you will hear hini sing. Listen: .In God's love
                      And I would have you note, dear reader,< that this       abiding I have joy and peace. More than $1 the .wic-
                  wondrous gladne`ss and trust is given, it is put into        ked, though their wealth increase. In His care confid-.
                  my heart, sajis the polet. No `man can give it to you,       ing, I will sweetly sleep, for the Lord my' Saviou'r,
                  be he ever so persuasive. -`No, it is God who does it.       will in .safety  keep.!
,                                                                                 Say not that this is fiction ! The. pages of your his-
           And He does it by His Word arid Holy  ,Ghost.  And I                tory book will testify that this saint sang on the burn-
                  assure you that this happens right around you in these       ing pyre. A little more suffering and the angels came
                  days of the latter ages. And He shall continue to do         to bring his soul to heaven. And there he will  con-
                  so, until all <God's elect are saf6 and time ended. Atid     tinue, his song. But there its melody is sweeter. H,ere
                  then they shall continue their gladness in heaven for        on earth he saw a little bit, but there he can see pei'-
            evermore. Here on earth we were glad, it is true and               fectly that which makes glad the heart of man. It
                  we also sang. But our`voice would sometimes byeak:           is the light of God's f&e in Jesus! Amen.
                  there is the light affliction which is but for a moment.                                                      G. Vos.
                  But it is real, nevertheless. The children o-f God, the
                  Christian Church of all the ages, are sometimes given                             -::::
                  over into the hand of evil-doers who hate God and
                  therefore also hate the church. And then it is that
                  our voice will sometimes break.                                          MEETING OF ,CLASSIS EAST                   ,.
                                                     But never fear. Those
     -            glad souls who have the light of God's face lifted up           CLASSIS EA,ST will- meet in Pegular session on
                  upon their hearts will cdntinue to sing: the warbling        Wednesdayi  January 7th at First Church.
                  of their song is surpassing sweet. For they love God          ' M@ters for Synod should be brought to this meet-
                  and follow Jesus.                                            ing.            -                        -D. Jonker,  8.C;


 ,148                                                           (I                T H E   S T A N D A R D ,   BEARE.R"                                   _-


                              THE STANDARD  BE'ARER                                                                       ..  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: Promise            -
                                                                                                                                            Accordins to the Confessions
                            EDITOR - Rev. Herman Hoeksema
         Communicati&s  relative  to  contents  should be addressed                                                          There is still niore in the Baptism Form cdncerning
         to Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S.  E., Grand-                                                          the promise to children- of believers.
        Rapids 7, Michigan.
         All matter relative to subscription should be addressed                                                             We refer to the texts that-are quoted in this part
         to Mr. J.  Bouwman,  1350 Giddings Ave., S. E., Grand                                                           in proof of infant baptism, the one from the Old and
         Rapid; 6, Michigan; Annomlcements   aiid  Obituaries must                                                       the other from the New Testam&,  besides the conclu-
         be mailed to the above address an: tiill be published at a
         fee of $1.00 for each notice.                                            ~.                                     ding reference to the fact that Christ embraced the
         Renewals:- Unless a definite request  foi discontinuance                                                        little children, laid His hands upon them, and blessed
         is received, it is assumed that the subscriber  wi.shes  the                                                    t h e m .
         subscription `co continue  withotit  the formality  of. a re-                                                       This part reads as follows: "As God speaketh unto
         newal order.                                                                                                    Abraham, the father-of all the faithful, and therefore
                              Subscription price: $4.00 per year                                      -                  unto us and our children (Gen. 17:7), saying, `I'will
         Entered as Second Class mail at Grand Rapids, Michigan                                                          establish. my covenant between me and thee, and thy
                                                                             *                                           seed after thee, -in their generations, for an everlast-
                                         __ zs....-- :---                                                                ing covenant; to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed -
                                                                                                                         after-thee.' This also the Apostle Peter testifieth,`with
                                                                                                                         these words (Acts 2 :39), (For the promise is unto you
                                                                                                                         and: to your children, a&d to all that are;afaf ofE, even
                                              CONTF,NTS                                                                  as many as the Lord our God shall  -&all.:  Therefore
 MEDITATION-                                                                                                             God formerly commanded them to be circumcised,
             Light For the Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145            vfh'ch was a seal of the covenant and of the right@,o;zs-
                Rev. G. Vos                                                                                              ness of faith; and therefore  Christ also embraced
 EDITORIALS -
             The Promise According to the Confessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                                    them, laid `his hands upon them -and blessed them
                                                                                                                  148
                Rev. H.. Hoeksema                    ,'                                                                  (Mark 10) ."          :
O                                                                                                                          Let us notice the connection between this part and
        F  B O O K S -
             Het  Hooglied  2  by Dr. G.  Ch.  Add&s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150                         the immediately preceding part. For that is  impor-  -
            Deuteronomium  Part II  -  by Dr.  1.  Ridderbk   1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150                            tant. The conilection  is in the words "as God speaketh
             Dosier333-6yB.Nijmhuir  .: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150                          unto Abraham, the father of all the faithful, and
             The  Typology of Scripture  7  by Patrick F&bairn . . . . . .  :. .  151                                    therefore, unto us and our  child&." .This refers to
           Rev., H. Hoeksema                               f
                                                                                                                         what immediately precedes,. that is, to the statement
THE TRIPLE   KNOWLEDGE-                                                                                                  that our young children, who do, not understand these
            An Exposition of the Heidelberg Catechism . .  ;. . . . . . . . . . . . . .  151
                Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                         things as yet, "as they ar.c without their knowledge
                                                                                                                         cartakers  of the condemnation in Adam, so are they
TVE  D                                                                                                                                                                                     s
             AY OF  SHADOWS-
            The Rite of Expiatory Sacrifice  .`. . . . . . . .< . ...' . . . . . . . . . . . 155                         again `received unto grace in Christ." That this can-
                Rev. G. M. Ophoff                                                                                        not possibly mean all the can181 se$d-of Abr&am  or
OUR  DOCTRINE-                                                                                                           all the carnal seed .qf believers, we have already shown.
            .God's  Providence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    159 - The promise is only for the elect. .And the Baptism
                R e v .   H .   V&man .                                                                                  Form throughout -speaks- of the church and its elect
                                                                                   . .
IN HIS  FEAR -                           '                                                                               seed.  This is  evident.  also from the quotation itself,
            Looking to -the Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .        162    especially if we view this quotation `in the light of
              `Rev.   H .   C .   H o e k s e m a                                                                        Rofians 9. It is evident that in Gen.  17:7 we have
FROM  HOLY  W RIT -                                                                                                      mention of' the promise. The promise is that God will
            Exposition of I  John  2:15-17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164               establish His covenant with Abraham and his seed,
               Rev. G. C. Lubbers                                                                                        and that in that covenant He will be a God unto them..
P E R I S C O P E -
           _ Discipline . . . . . . . . . . ,                                                                            The question is. whether this promise is for all *the
                                                 *....*.***....*....................  166
            Dutch Sentiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .`. . , . . .      167    children that are *born from Abraham, head for head          -
            Theological Dialecticism  vs. The Three Points . . , , . . . , . .-. . . . , , 167                           and soul for soul, as the Liberated have it, and there-
          R e v .   H .   H o e k s e m a                             _                                                  fore also for all the seed of believers in the new dis-
i  -                                                                                                                     pensation ; or whether this promise is particular and


                                                T H E   STAN.DAR'D  -BEARER                                                   149
                                    ----_---
         is meatit only for the spiritual seed, and therefore on-         tains, that are heirs of the blessed promis;  of God"?-
         ly for the elect. -In-- the light of Romans 9 there can          To be sure, the  children of  ihe promise were also
         be but one answer to this question. And that is:                 promised children, and the promised blessing was for
         the $romise to Abraham was meant only for the elect,             them. But the expression "children of the promise"
         and not for all the carnal seed of Abraham. In Rom.              has a deeper significance. Frequently ,Scripture  speaks
         9 :6-8 we read : "Not as thotigh the word of `God bath` of the promise. -. Sometimes it uses the singular, pro-
         t,aken none effect. For they are not all, Israel which           ,fiise, and in other passages it uses the plural, pro-
         are of Israel: Neither, because they are the seed of             rmises. Essentially the expression always refers to the
         Abraham,  are they all children: but, In Isaac shall             same truth. Tl?_e promise is God's revealed and pled-
         thy seed be called. That is, -They which are the chil-           ged, yea, sworn  pu&ose of salvation for His  people
         dr& of the flesh, `these are not the children of ,God :          through Jesus Christ our Lord. It implies redemption
         but the. children of the promise are counted for the             and deliverance from sin, and the inherittince of eter-
     s e e d . "                                                          nal .glory in the kingdom of heaven. Now, children
         - To this  .important  passage we must call close  ai-           of the promise -are children that are brought forth
       tenljion.                                                          through the promise.     The promise is, as, it were,
             The` passag'e is an answer to the question whether,          their mother. `God brings.them  forth through the pow- .:
         seeing that so many of the seed of Abraham according             er of the promise by realizing His Word of promise
         to the' flesh are lost, the Word of God has fallen out,          in them. Hence; they are those in whom the promise
         the promise has beesme of none effect. To this ques-             of redemption.has  been realized in principle, spiritual
       tion the text is an answer, And the -answer `is: ilo,              children, born tiot of the flesh but of the Spirit, That
         the Word of God has not fallen- out,- has not failed to          this is the real mkaning. of the expression may be gath-
       realize itself; but we inust remember that this Word               ered.not  only from the expression itself, and from the
         of God pertains only~ to. the children of the promise.           fact that Isaac was the typical child of the promise,
        `These children of. the promise are designated in a four-         but also from a comparison with the expression as it
        fold way. They are called.Is?:ael,  .the seed, children           occurs in Gal. 4 :23, 28 : "But he who was of the bond-
                                                                    of
         the promise., and chi.ldren                                      woman,wsis  born after the flesh; but he of the  free
                                         of God.-                         woman was born'by  promise." The phrase "by pro-
            They are called Israel. And it is evident frqm the            mise". in vs. 23 literally reads in the original "through
.        text that only the spiritual Israel is meant, not the            the promise"! Isaac was born through the means of,
         Jews, and not all the carnal children ~of Abraham.               by the power of the promise. So we are also children
         For .the apostle whites  : "`For they are not all  Iskael,       of the promise as Isaac was. And that this refers
        which are of Israel." Not all the descendents of Jac              indeed to their spiritual birth is evident if we compare
         cob  are people of God. Not all are true Israelites,             vs. 29 of the'same chapter of Galatians; "But as then
        to whom pertained-the promises, and who must be ta-               he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that
        ken into account when the question is asked whether               was born after the Spirit, even so it  is. now." By
        the Word of God has fallen out. The children of the               nature, apart `from the power, of the promise of. God,
        promise, therefore, are the true children of `God, Is-            we are born afte; the flesh. That which is born of.the
      rael in the spiritual sense of the Word.        _                   flesh is flesh. But by the promise of God we'are born .
            :Secondly,.  they are called the seed. In verse `7 we ~of the Spirit and after the Spirit: for that which is
        read : "In Isaac shall thy seed' be called." And in               born of the Spirit is spirit. And therefore, children
      vs.  8 the apdstle writes: "The children of the pro-                of the promise are spiritual  childken  in whom God
        mise are counted for the se.ed." This seed, according             w&ght and realized the power of His promise of
        to Galatians -3 :16 is principally and centrally Christ.          salvation.
        FroE which it follows that Christ and those that are                 Lastly, in connection with the term children of the
        in Him are coun$ed fbr ,the seed of Abraham. Belie-               promise stands the name childsek of God. The ehil-
        vers in Clirist are therefore the true seed of Abraham.           dren of the promise are children of ,God. For the a-
        A.nd once more, if the question is asked whether the              postle writes in vs. 8 of Rom. 9 : "That is, they which
       I Word of God has taken none -effect, we inust not for-            are the children of the flesh, these are not the child-
        get that Qnly they are counted for`the seed.                      ren of God, but the children6  of the promise are coun-
            Thirdly, they are called the children of the promise.         ted for the seed." The implication is evidently that
        What is meant by this expression? Does the term sim-              the children of the promise are. ind$ed ,God's children.
        ply mean the same- as if the apostle had wxittel?  "the. `I'hey are those whom ,God adopted as His children in
        promised children" ?. Or is the meaning, as others                Christ before the foundation of the world, for *horn.
        would interpret, "`children to whom the promise per-              Christ .died and rose. again, that they might have the


       150                                          T H E   S T A N D A R - D   B E A R E R
                                                                                e
       right of sonship, anh- ill- tihom ,Gocl realizes this adop-
       t i o n   b y   t h e ' S$y'itj  if  grace.  .~                                      0  f  B.0 0  Ji S
         If iiow we con&t& th& different terms designa-
       ting th6"ciiild'r&~' of the promise in their relation with HET  HOOGLEID by Dr. G. Ch.  Aalders. J. H.  Kok,   :N.  Vi
      one another, we conclude the following. In the  61~1                 Kampen, The Netherlands.  Parice f. 6.90.
       dispensation the children of Gocl, God's people, were ' This comtientary on the Song of Solomon we glad-
     the natural descendants of Abrahain and of Israel.                  ly recommencl  to our Dutch reading public, especially
       Th.at is the reason why they could be callecl the seecl           to ministers and students.
       of Abraham and Israelites. This .does not mean that                   In an introduction the author treats the author-
       all the descendents of Abraham were also children of              ship of the book: Solomon is not the author but ra-
       God, or children of the promise. But in general it                ther the object depicted -in the book. As to the time
       may be said that for many centuries all the children              of its composition the author places it shortly after
       of God were natural descendants of Abraham. They' the schism of the ten tribes and before Samaria was
       were of Israel. They were  .Jews. But these descen-               raised to the capitol of the northern Kingdom. Song
       dants of Abraham and of Israel became children of                 of Solomon lbelqligs to the poetical books of Holy Writ. ,
     _: God only through the power of the promise. The                   It sings, first of all of the pure and sanctifiecl love of
       seed of Abraham according to the flesh is carnal, for             a bride to her bridegrooni,  but it points typologically
       Abraham could of himself  never bring forth spiritual             to the love of Christ to his Church and especially. of
       children of  IGod. That which is born of Abraham is               the love of the ,Church to Christ.
       born of the flesh, and is flesh.- And therefore the a-                The exegesis is thorough and scholarly. The style
       postle can write : "Neither because they are of the seed          is- clear.          _
       df Abraham, are they all children." In fact, if  tl..at               This is not meant to be a popular commentary, but
.    - had been all that could be said of these children; that           is freely based on the Hebrew text.
       they were born of Abrahain as their father, none of                   As such we recommend it without reserve.
       them would ever have been a child of God. No `mo:c                                                                       H.H.
       thall Afiraham  of himself could bring forth the Christ,                                   -:-::
     no more could he give bei.ng to a single child of God.
       But  ,God made cllildren after the Spirit, children of            DEUTZRONOMIUM,  Part II by Dr.  2. Ridddrbos. J. H. Kok,
       God; out  _  ofLAbpaham's  descendents. He gave the                 N. V. Kampen, The Netiherlands.    Price f. 3 90.
       tirue seed to Abraham by His grace, by realizing His                  In distinct& from. the commentary reviewed a-
       promise to Abraham. And thus the children of the                  bove; Deuterono:lium bf Dr. Ridderbos is a popular
      promise are children of God, .the true.seed  of Abraham,           comnientary.     It belongs to the  series  "Korte  .Yer-
       the Israel of God.                                                klaring". We heartily recommend it to all our read-
          This is still the case. Believers in the new dispen-           ers who can still read the Holland language. Dr.
       sation are &ill the seed of Abraham. And God real-                Riddeibos writes a very  lucid style. His exposition
       izes His covenant with them in their generatio&, as               of the text, `though somewhat brief as might be expec-
     .  He did with Abraham. But grace is never inherited.               ted in this series  -(Korte  verklaring) , is neverthe-
       Believers of themselves can never bring forth a sin-              less quite thorough and sound. Besides, Dr. Ridder-
       gle child of God. By `nature they can only Ibring forth- bos is .a Reformed- exegete who does not give an Ar-
       children of the flesh. But God gives unto them child:             minian application to the text, e.g. ch. 29  :29.  Nor-  -
       ren of th& promise. `Out of their seed God takes His              does he accept the standpoint of the higher critics,
       own children. `Of their flesh it pleases Him to make              e.g. in re the Song .of Moses, ch. 32.
       spiritual seed. In that hope bf God's marpelous grace                I would like to have seen an explanation of the
       the  chuTch brings forth children.  <God  wjll trans-             statement that, in 30 :14, that the term "heart" means
       form their carnal children into spiritual children of             "memory" in that passage. --
       God by the `power of His promise. But it is very ev-                 Heartily r&commended. .
       vident from this passage that the promise tom Abraham                                          c                         H.H.
       and the promise of. the  covehant to believers: does                                 d:---:
       not include all their seed, but only the seed according
       to election.                                                      DSOSSIER  333, by B. Nijenhuis.  Kok,  N. V. Kampen, The
          That this is  t<ue will be plain if we answer the               Netherlands.- Price. f. 5.40.
     question  :' who are. the  cllild.ren of the  -promino, and           In. an accompanying f older the -reader is inf armed
      -where are they?                                                   that &is is the first and very successful attempt at
         But about this next time;  ,:                         H.H,      writingU a novel by the  author-. The book is highly

                                1


                                         rgti               STAND.ARlXBEARER                                                                       151

evaluated as a literary product, that is capable of cap-
tivating the hearts -of the readers. After this praise,
with which I can only partly agree, I` liave it to the                                   THE TfiIPLEm KNOWLEDGE
reader to judge for himself. At the same time, I would
like to ask him whether he would not agree with the                                     An Exposition Of The Heidelberg
following points of criticism :
    1; The book is a mixture. Two stories are inter-                                                      Catechism
woven : a -novel concentrating around the life of a                                                          P A R T   I I I
young minister and his wife, and a detective or mys-                                              O F  T H A N K F U L N E S S
tery story of. post-war times.
   `2. I would say that the book is characterized b$                                                       L o r d 's   D a y   3 4
multn, many, too many. There are too many of `every-                                            Q. 92. What is the law of God?'
thiag : too many characters, too many details, too ma-                                          A.' God  `s&ke all these words,  Exodus 20,  Deat.
ny character' descri&ions,  all bn the same plane.                                            5, saying: I am the Lord thy God,  wht::ch hath
    3. The Christian character qf the novel is superfi-                                      brought thee out of the land of Egypt,  out of the
cial.  _  J  .'                                                                              house of bondage.
                                                                   H.H.                         I:  Th& shalt have no  %th&  g-`ods  before me.
                                                                                                II.  The;  shalt not make unto thyself any graven
                                                                                              image, nor the  l!ikeness  of  anylkhing  that  is in hea-
            ,            -  :-:---
                                          ,                                                  ven above, or in the earth beneath, or'in  the w,ater
                                                            -                                 under the earth. Thou' sh.alt, pot  ,bow  `down  thy-
THE  TYP'OLOGY OF HOLY SCRIPTURE by  P&rick  Fair-                                            self to  ;:hem nor serve them;. for I, the Lord thy
  bairn.    Zondervan Publishing  House,  Grand Rapids,  Mich.                                God, am a jealous God, visiting' the iniquity of the
  P&e $6.95.                     r                                                           fathers upon the children, unto the fihird and fourth
                                                                                             generation of  !ihem  that hate me, and  showtlng  mercy
  It is several years ago that I made study of the                                           unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my
Typology of Fairbairn, and I enjoyed  peru,$ng it                                             commandments.
once again. In  m$ library I have the work in two                                               III. Thou shalt not take  the name of the Lord
separate volumes. Zonderv%D has now published it                                             ,thy God in vain; for the Lond will not -hold him
                                         -_
in. one volume.                                                                               guilt&s that taketh- his name in vain.
                                                                                                #IV. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy; .
    The work consists of three books. The first book                                         six days shalt thou  .labor  and do all thy work; but
deals with the principles of typical interpretation and                                       the seven.th  day is the sabbath pf the Lord thy God;
the extent to which types entered into the earlier dis-                                       in it thou shalt do no manner of work,  :%ou, nor
pensations; the second deals with the  patrarchal                                             thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man servant, nor
times ; the third with the dispensation under the law.                                        thy maid  servant,;-,$qr   :thy  caDtIe,  nor  thy stranger
                                                                                              that is  withIn  thy gates: For in six days  t%e Lord
Besides, the work contains several important ;appen-                                          made heaven .and earth, the sea, arid all :fhat in t,hem
dices.                                                                                        is, and rested &e seventh day: wherefore the Lord
    In niy opinion it is very difficult to find a work of-                                    blessed the Sabbath  day,  afid  hallowed it.:  '
this nature that is so profound and scholarly, yet so                                           V. Honor thy father  ahd thy  mdthm that thy
clearly w$tten; that is so sound and sober; and is so                                         days may be long in the  -land which the Lord thy
                                                                                              Gad giveth thee.
thoroughly biblical as this Typology of Faipbairn.                                              VI,.  T.hou  Shalt  not kill.
    Heartily recomm&ded.,                                                                       VII. Thou shalt not  commit   `aJdulte,ry.
                                                                 . H.H.                         VIII. Thou  shalrt not steal.
                                                                                                IX. Thou :shalt  no% bear false witness against thy
                                pJ--.  ,                                                      nqghbor.
                                                                   -:                           -:X. Thou shalt no:: covet thy neighbor's house;
                                                                         . . :__,  :          thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his
                                                      .-
                          IN MEMORIAM                                                         r&an servant, nor xh;:Is maid servant, nor his ox, nor
                                                                                              his .ass, nor anything that is :thy neighbor's.
  The  Con&tory  of the  First  Protestant Reformed Church
of Grand Rapids. Michigan hereby expresses its heartfelt sym-                                   Q.  93. How  .are these commandments divided ?
pat,hy  with our brother  Consistory  member, Elder A. Dykstra                                  A. Into two tables; the first of  wlvich  teaches  US
in the loss of his brother.                                                                   how we mud: behave,towards  God; the second, what
                         W I L L I A M   DY,I(STRA                                          duties we owe to our neighbor.
  May our God  ab&danty  comfo?t   the  berelaved  by His Word                                  Q. 94. What doth God enjoin in the first  command-
and Spirit and powerfully strengthen them in the hope of the                                 .ment ?
saints.     '                                                                                   A.  T,hat I, sincerely as  1  .desire the salvation
                               The Consistory,                                                of  ~rny own  sopl, avoid and  flee from  ,a11 idolatry,
                    \                 Rev. C. Hanko, Pres.                                    sorcery, sod:hsaying,   &per&tion,  invocation of
                                      Mr. J.  %olnvman,  Clerk  `.                            saints,  ,~r any other  cretittires;  and  letirn rightly


 152                                          TTT`E  STANDARfi.  B E A R E R '

              to know the only  true God; trust in  h& alone,             the sabbath day is brought in connection with thk rest
              with `humility and  paCicnce submit to him; expect          of the-Lord +fter creation ; but in Deut. 5 it is added : .
              all good things from him only; love, fear, and glo-         "That thy mall servant and maid servant may rest as
              rify  him. with my whole heart; so that I' renounce
              and forsake all creatures, rather than commit even          w&l1 as thou." In Deut. 5 it is added to the fifth com-
            r-he least  th'ng   contrary'to  his will.                    mandment  \ "that it may go well with thee,"-words
                Q. 95. What  iis idolatry?                     :          : which do not appear in the text in Exodus 20. In Ex-
                A. Idolatry is, instead of, or besides that one           odus 20 the sin of coveting the neighbor's house is ex-'
              true God, who has manifest.ed  himself in `his word,        pre&ed  first, while in Deut. 5 the sin of lusting after
              to  contri+e,  or have any other  objecl?,  in which men    the neighbor's wife precedes, and while in the latter.
              place their trust.                                          text it is added : "his field." These minor differences,
                                    1                                     hbwever, have no effect on the %ontents  of the law of
                                                                          God.     -     _
                 The Law and the Christian                                    As to the record of the law-giving, we  find it in
        !Once again in our discussion of the Heidelberg                   Exodus 19 and 20, 24 and 34.  In Exodus  19  :19ff.,
 -Catechism we meet with the subject 0% the law of ,God.                  the, Lord commands Moses that the people must be .
 The firsti time was in the second Lord's Day, where-  the                sanctified and that they-must wash their clothes, "`and
 law was mentioned as the source of the knowledge of                      be ready against the third day, for the third day the
 our misery. .This time the law of God is presented                       Lord will come down in the sight of all the people`
 as a rule fbr our life of gratitude in the midst of the                  upon Mt. Sinai. And thou shalt set boundi unto the
 world in  every  -department of life. In- the second                     people  round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves,
 Lord's Day the law was briefly presented in the light                    that' ye go not up into the mount, or tc&ch the border
 of its inmost spiritual principle of love: "Thou shalt                   of it; whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely
 love the aord thy God with all thy heark,  with all thy                  put to death; There shall not an hand touch it, but he
 soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.                  shall surely (be stoned, or shot through ; whether it be
 This  is the first and great commandment; and the                        beast br man, it shall not live ; wheri the trumpet soun- '
 secopd is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as                  deth long, they shall come up to-the mount." On the
 .thyself ." And in the light of that principle of love,                  third day there appeared a thick cloud upon the,moun.t,
 we found that man is pzone to hate God and his neigh-                    accompanied by thunders and lightnings and the sound
 bor. But in this Lord's Day and those-that follsw, up                    of a trumpet, "exceeding loud,". so that the people that
 to Lord's Day 44 inclusive, the law is discussed and                     were .in the camp at the fbot of' the mount trembled.
 expounded in all the details of its. ten words. This                     Then Moses byought forth the people out of the camp,
 must not be understood is such a way as if in the' se-                   to stand at the foot of the mount; "and mount Sinai
 cond Lord's Day the natural man- is confronted with                      was altogether on smoke, because the Lord descerded
 the law of God. For it certainly is  not the natural                     upo$ i't in fire: and the smoke  thereof asctinded as the
 man, but the regenerated  mati of God that is  eveti                     smoke of a furnace,  ;and  .the whole mount. quaked
 able to learn to know his misery from the law of                         greatly.` And when the voice:{f the trumpet sounded
God. Nor, on `the other hand, must the discussion` of                     long, atid waxed louder and loucler, Moses spake, and
 the law of God iq the present connection be understood *God answered him by voice. And the Lord came down
 as being addressed to t.he perfect Christian: for the                    upon mount Sinai, oh the top of the mount: and the
 Christian has but a small beginning of the new obed-                     Lord called Moses up to the top of the mount; and
 ience, and continuously the law, besides being a rule                    Moses w&t up;" This was the first time that Moses
 of life for the believer in the midst of the present                     went up on the mountain. And the Lord told him to
 world, also serves- the purpose of causing him to in-                    charge the people; lest they .break through unto the
- crease in the knowledge of sin ahd of the need of re-                   Lord to gaze. And at the same time he must charge
 demption.  Neverthelees,  the Catechism in this con-                     the priests to sanctify themselves. Thereupon Moses
 nection emphasizes the expositiqn  of'the law of ,God                    went dqwn again to speak unto tlie people. It is after
 as a rule for a life of gratitude to God.                                this that in Ex. 20 :l, ff., we read that the Eord Him-
        The law o$ the ten words is recorded in Scripture                 self spoke the teti words unto the people, introducing
 in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. Thefe are minor them by the well-known~sentence.:  "I am the Lord thy
 differences between these two versions of the law. in God, which hath brought thee out of t&.land of Egypt,
 Exodus 20 the commandment concerning the sabbith                         oilt of the house of bondage." All these  phenjjmena
 reads as follows: "Remember the sabbath day,, to keep                    accompanying-the giving of the law on Mt. Sinai &&
 it holy;" tihile in .Deut. 5 the text reads: "Keep the                   idently  emphasize the holiness of the Lord,  thtt fsel;
 sabbath Zlay to sanctify it." In Exodus 20 the rest `of that the Lord dwelleth in a light that no many can ap-


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B-EARER                                        . 153
                              _._---
proach unto, striking fear into the hearts of the peo-       commandments into one; In this they follow Augus-
ple.  _                                                      tine, and that too on the-basis that the threat and pro-
    111, Exodus 24 we read of Moses ascending the mise which are connected with  the second command-,
mount for the second -time and `of the two stone ta-         ment- undoubtedly belong to the first. In order, ne-
bles which the Lord Himself gives unto the man of            vertheless, to retain. the number ten, Augustine, and
God: "And the Lord said unto Moses, Come up to               following-him, the Roman Catholics, divide the tenth
me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee        commandment into two, so that the ninth command-
tables -of stone, and a law, and commandme&s  which ment reads : "Th,ou shalt not covet thy neighbor's
I have written: that thou mayest teach' them"." vs.          house," while the tenth commandment begins with the
12. And in vss. 15-18: "And Moses went up into the           words, "Thou shalt not covet thy  neighbqr's  wife."
njount, and a cloud covered the mount. And the glo-          This division of the ten commandments was also ado;`-
ry of the Lord abode upon mount .Sinai, and the cloud        ted  :by the Lutherans. However, it seems rather arbi-
covered it six days: and the seventh day he called un-       trary thus to divide the tenth commandment. And
to Moses out of the mid& of Zhe cloud. And the sight therefore the first mentio+d  division of the ten words
of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on          undoubtedly has the preference.
the top of the  mou& in the eyes of the children of             We-may  also notice, regarding the form of the law,
Israel. &nd Moses went into the midst of the cloud,          that it suggests completeness. This is suggested al-
aild gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the         ready bi the fact that the law was engraven  upon two
mount forty days and forty nights." 10-E these two ta- tables of stone, so that none of the ten wo;ds could e-
bles of stone we read in Exodus 32:' 15, 16: "The ta-        ver be erased, while at the same time the tables were
bles were mitten  on ,both their sides ; on the one side     completely covered-on bath sides, so that no command-
and on the other were they written. And the tables           itient could be,added  unto it. This is also indi-cated by
were the work of God, and the writing was the wri-           the symbolic number, ten. For everywhere in Scrip-
ting of  ,God, graven  -upon the tables." However, in        ture the number ten indicates a completeness or ful-
the same chapter tie read of the worship of the golden       ness of measure determined by God pimself. The law
calf which Aaron formed `at the request of the people,       of God is perfect. -It is the full expression of the will
and of the fact that Moses, when he had come down            of God concerning 0u.r whole life in the present world,
from the mount, cast the two iables of- stone out of his     and that too in every department of it.
hz.nds  and broke them. Then in .chapter  34 we read            Moreoder,  that there are two tajbles of four and six
once more that Moses a$cended  the mount at the com-         commandments respe.ctively  indicates, as the Catechism
mandment of the Lord, after he himself had hewn              t-aches IIS in Question and Answer 93, that `.the law
two tables of stone on which the Lord promised .13           zovers our `relation both to God and to the neighlbor.
write the same commandments which were upon  -Ilze           And the'reltition between these two tables is such that
first`two tables. This, then, is thea history of the ten .the love of ,God is thi predominating arid- contrdlling
words which the  Lord  delivered unto Moses, and             principle of the w'hole  law. This is very plain from the
through him to the people of Israel. .It reveals very        words of the Lord in Matthew 22 :3'7-44  : "Thou shalt
clearly that the people ,as such could never keep the        love the Lord thy (God with all thy heart, with all thy
law, in fact,.would always violate the covenant of ,God,     soul, and with all-thy mind, and with all thy strength.
and that the true spiritual seed must look forward to        This is the first and great commandment; and the se;
Him Who is the end of the law, Jesus Christ our Lord.        cond is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as
    As to the form of the law, we may probably re- thyself .`T          There are, therefore, .not two command-
mark, in the first place, that the `tables were of stone,    ments, the one greater-than the other. There` is only
anti%hat,th& law was engraven upon them by the fin- one. great commandment, which controls the whole
ger of God. This was probably a Sytibblic indication         law: and that is the love-of God. Without that love
that the law could never be wiped out, th& the moral         of God `there is no love, ahd without it we cannot tru-
law is everlastingly valid. As to the question how ma- ly love the neighbor. We must therefore love the
ny  cbmmandmenj%  were written on each table, this           neighbor for God's sake.
&mot be ascertained with any certainty.. And as to              Finally, we must call attention to the fact that' the
the division of the ten words, there is, and always has      conin-&ndments  are predominately prohibitive : they
been, difference of opinion. The oldest division is such     tell us not what we must do, but what we may not do.
that it connects vss. 2 and `3, and the?. presents the       The only exceptions to this general rule are the fifth
words "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" as           commandment, concerning our honoring father and
the- first domn?andment.    Howe.ver, the Roman. Cath- mother, and the fourth commandment, that concern-
olicti combine what for us are  the- first  Andy second      &g the  sabbath,.:in part. This negative, or  prohib-


 1 5 4        - -                     T H E   S T A N D A R D ` B E A R E R
                          ~-_---."--
 itive, character of the law clearly points to our sinful      the man will be good. Leave the heart corrupt, and
nature, in virtue of -which we are `always inclined to         all its issues will be evil. The heart, however, cannot
transgress the commandlnents of God.                           be made good bjr instructing a sinnek.  in the law. It
    Dr. Geesink  -distinguishes three different uses of        can ,be changed only by regenerating grace. And that
the law. Gereformeede  Eth.iek, Vol. I, Page 234. The          is the work of God. The preaching of the law, there-
first is the usus pol&us, that is, such a use of the law fo.re,  must `strictly .be directed to the church, that is,
that-causes man as citizen of the state to "discover           to the- believers in Christ, redeemed by the blood of
some regard for virtue, good order in society, and for         the cross, regenerated by the Spirit of God, sancti-
maintaining an orderly external  depo.rtment."   Gan-          fied and in principle transformed into a new man, but
ons III, IV, 4. The second is the usus p,nedagogicus,          that at the same time still has the motions of sin in
an expression which he derived from Gal. 3':24, that           his mem.bers.    And therefore,  it? is  not,,the   usus  pal-
speaks of the law as a schoolmas,ter  to bring us unto         iticus,  but only the usus  paedagogicus  and especially
,Christ,  and is especially designed as a source of the        the z@zis ~orwzatiwus  that must be applied in the church
knowledge of sin. The thiid use is the usus normati-           of Jesus` Christ. ,AAad that law is spiritual, as we have
ZUS, .which means that the law is a norm or rule for           indiicated:  the love of God is its principal. demand.
the life of the- Ch&tian in the world.                         This central and basic demand of the law is its heart,
    It is only the second, and especially the third use of     that throbs in every one of its precepts. It is love of
the law wit-h which we are concerned here. It is to ,God that. the law requires. The love of God must be
be feared that many a preacher of the law in the               our motive iti serving God alone, in worshipping Him
church reveals the tendency so to proclaim the law of          according to His Word, in reverencing His holy Name,
God `as an external code of precepts, that the usus' pol-      in keeping the sabbath, in hono,ring the neighbor in
it&us is at least also implied, and that it can be ap-         his position of authority, in his person, in his mar-
plied- to the whole wo.rlh  and to all men. By some this riage relation, in. his possessions, in his name,. and
is even done intentionally, proceeding from the assum- that must fill our hearts w?th that quiet contentment
ption that the preaching of the law may have a sali            that makes- us refrain from covetousness. The law of
utary effect on the world. Is after all the world not          ,God is therefore not a mere code of precepts that is
badly in need of hearing and being instructed in the           designed to regulate our external conduct. It demands
law of God? Is not &me increasing at an alarming               our heart; our. existence, our mind, our .will, and all
rate? Are riot all the evils of this world, social, pol-       our desires and inclinations. Before a human bar of
itical, national, and international,. due to the fact that     justice, we are-without culpability as long as our ex-
the law of .God is trampled under foot? Is it thereforg        ternal conduct is not in violation of any, human- sta-
not profitable with a view to the reformation of sot;          tute, whatever our internal attitude over against such
iety and the renewal of the world to preach th'e law to        a. statute may be. As long as we do not- kill or hurt
the world  in general, rather than apply it only to the        the neighbor, we are free, though we hate him with
Christian? But this is a serious err&, and certainly all our heart. God, however, traces our every action
not the intention of the instructor iti our Heidelberg to its deep root in the heart. And whatever our ex-
Catechism. The preacher is not a philosopher. He               ternal deportment may be, if it does not rise from true
i%iiqt a `social reformer. But he is a preacher of the         love of God. in the heart, we stand c&demned before
gospel. `To that gospel he must be faithful, regard-           the Judge of heaven and earth. All that is not of the
less .of what the wisdom of the world may think of it. -love of .God is sin.
That gospel insists that man, the Tirhole world of men,           The question may still be faced: is it not a mistake
lies in' sin .and under the wrath of ,God, which is re'-       to preach the law to the church and. to the believer in
vealed  from heaven. upon all ungodliness and umight-          Christ Jesus? This question is frequently answesed
eousness of men. That gospel proclaims that there in the affirmative, and that too by especislly  two clas-
is nb hdpe for that w&d and f,or that. natural -man,           ses of the people, and from different considerations.
except in Christ and through the cross of Calvary, ili,           F&t of all, there are those who insist that it is in
the way of redemption and regeneration. The attempt            conflict' with the freedom of the Christian, that lt is
to reform the world and to suggest solutiolls .for its         contrary to the nature of grace, to confront the Chris-
renewal by calling its attention to `the moral law is          tian with  the law once more. The -New Testament
like trying to. heal ti corrupt fruit. tree by painting the    Christian is the believer in whom the' prqphecy  of Jer-
trunk ; or `to use another figure, which it seems to me        emiah 31 is realized, as quoted in Heb. 8:8-12: "Be-
I read somewhe?e, is like the attempt to cure. the wa-         hold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make
ter in a well by washing the pump handle.. .From  the          a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the
heart are the-issues of life. Make .the heart good, and,- house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that


                                      I ' H E   S-TANIDARD  BE*AiE,hZ                                                       155
                             -___                                                    _               -    -     -
                                                     -
  I made with their fathers in the day when I took them                                      .-_.
  by the -hand to lead them out df `the land of Egypt;
  because they continued not in my covenant, and I re-                     THE  J-JAY  *`OF  ~~fJ&J)(-JWfj :  .'
  garded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the cov-
  enant that I will make with the house of Israel after                       The  Rite of  E+atq Sacrifice                       _ ::
  those days, saith the Lord  ; I will put my .laws into         :                                                         ,.
  their mind, and write them in their hearts; and I will               THE"YANIMA~  SACRIFICE- OF ?`HE OLD DEPENSATIO~
  be to them. a God, and they shall be to me a people : And
 . they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every                Having set forth what we believe $0 be the right
  man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for al! shall          conception, let ,us now attend to a view of the animal
know me, from the  lbast to the greatest. For I will             sacrifice that, to our mind, must be- set aside as in-
  be merciful to theis unrighteousness, and their sins and correct. We have reference  tp the view of Patrick
  their iniquities will I remember no more." The ful-            Fairbairn. It may be known from the  ,following  ex-
  ness of time has come, and -we are no longer under the cerpts from his pen ( (The Typology of the Script&es
  tutorship of the law, as .the apostle writes in Gal. ,4:       page 54, Vol. I) .: "That this  `(;the  pite of expiatory
  1-7: "Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child,           sacrifice) was typically or prophetically symbolical of
  differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of         the death of Christ, is testified with much plainness
  all ; But is under tutors and governors until the time and frequency in the Neti Testament Scriptures. -Yet,
  appointed of the father.' Even so we,- when we were                 independevt  of this connection- with the  death of
  children, were in -bondage under the' elements of the               Christ, it had a meaning all of its own."`,          ,_.
  world : But when the fulness of the time was come, God                 Our author's .vieti is plain. The rite, ,of expiato,ry
  sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the            sacrifice, in addition to its typifying the death of                     ~
  law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we                Christ, had a meaning of its own. In other words, the
  might receive the-adoption of- iins. And because ye animal `sacrifice. symbolized an idea other than the
  are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son in-             one it typified. In addition to its typifying the idea
  to your hearts, crying Abba, Father. Wherefore thou of the death of Christ, it symbolized still an&her  idea.
  art no more a servant, but a son ; but if a son, then an               The question is, what idea? The answer is i!he faol-
  heir of God through Christ." And in the sixth chap- lowing statement from our author's pen: "It (the ani-
  ter of the epistle to the Romans, vs. 14, the apostle          ma1 sacrifice-o) was in its own  natu3re a  symboli'cal
  writes  plainly : "For sin shall. not have dominion o- transaction, embodying a threefold idea: first, that <the
  ver you: for ye are not under the law,.  but=under                  worshipper having been guilty of sin, had iorefeited
  grace." The believer in Christ, therefore, has reached his. lifk- to `God ; then that the life so forfeited must b'e
  the age of  maj,ority. He is no longer a little child surrendered to divine justice,; and' finally that b6ing
  that must be told how to dir&t his every step. He is surrendered in the way,`.appointed,  it was given back
  a fullgrown son, no longer under tutors and governors. to him by God, or he became re-established,:as  a justi-
  Christ has redeemed, him from the curse of the law,                 fied person, in the divine favor and fellowship."
  and .through grace he has the law ,of God written in
  his heart. Hence, these objectors to  the preaching                    But this, certainly, could not have been the mean-
  of the law in the church insist that the Christian has              ing of the animal sacrifics, the additional idea it sym-
                                                                      bolized.  F,or what the -conception comes down to is -
no need of a code of precepts and of the warning,
  "Thou shalt not . .  ," of the law. To confront the                 this: that .the guilty worshipper himself expiated his
  Christian with the law of the ten words is to insult                own sin and that of this action on his par$ the animal
  him and to deny the freedom of grace.                               sacrifice was the' symbol. Spch is indeed the view we
                                                    H.H.              here encounter. Our author says, does he not, that
                                                                      the rite in question (the animal sacrifice) enbodied,
                .                                                     thus symbolized, first that the worshipper,  guilty and
                                                                      thus condemnable, deserved to die ; then that he 
                       -:-                                                                                                 must
                                                                      die- (surrender his life to divine justice) ; and finally
                                                                      that, having died (surrendered his life in the way ap-
                                                                      pointed), he again lived (it, this life, was given back
          Forever praise and bless His Name,                          to him by  ,God) and he became re-established as a
          And in the Church His praise procl.aim                      justified person in the favor of God.
          In Zion is His dwelling-place ;                                Now this, certainly, is stating as plainly as words
          Praise ye the Lord, show forth His grace.         -         can that the guilty worshipper hi?nseZf atoned.his  own


       1%                                  p'HF        ,$TA-N~.ARD            B~JA$E:#
                              __--_-
       sin by his dying and that this precisely is the addi-       all his reasonings on the point .under  cdnsideration.
       tional idea symbolized by the rite .in question. Now        It is plain from the following sentences from his peli':
       there would be-no-faqlt  to find with this vi&v--if only    "The matter stood thus: a certain visible relationship
       that worshipper `were  Ch$rist. But in  .the reasoning was established under the old economy between Israel
       of our author that worshiper is one other than Christ.      and ,God-admitting of being re-established as. often
       For,. as we have just seen, his conception is that the      as it was interrupted by sin, through's system of ani-
       animal sacrifice had a meaning of its own independent mal sacrifices and corporal ablutions. But it was,
       of its connection with Christ.  But, how impossible         from the nature of the case imperfect. The sanctuary
       this view. For certainly the guilty  worshpper` did itself, in connection with which the relationship .was'
       not aci?uaZZy die there ,at the altar an.d- by his death maintained,. was a wordly one-the mere image of ,the
       expjate  his sins; How then could the rite in question      heavenly creature. And even that was in its inner
       symbolize the worshipper's death and his expiating          glory veiled. to the worshipper; God hid at the Gery
       his sins by his death? Impbssible.                          time .He revealed Himseif-kept Himself at sdme. dis-
             Now, certainly, our author, too, was well aware tance, ,even when He. came nearest so that manifestly
       of  this: It raises the question just what he meant to. the  root of  the evil was not yet reached  ; the con-
       be telling us by `the above-cited sentences.                science was n,ot in such a sense `purged' as to `be made
          ,Th& answer is contained in the following excerptt8      perfect, or ca)?abl@ of` feeling thoroughly at its ease in
       from his work. H,e writes (Typology Vol. II, p. 290,        the presence of the Holy One; for that' another and
       291) : "Certain, passages in the New Testament . .'         higher medium of purification was  necessaiy,  and
       appear to deny to these ancient sacrifices any validity     sh+ld be looked for. At the  same. time  ther,e  pas
       as to the purifying of the soul.  I Thus it is said by such a purification administered as secured for  those
       Paul `that by Christ all who believe are justified froth    who experienced it a certain measure  .df access to
       all things from which they could not be justified bjr       God'S fellowship and experience of His favor;it sancti-
       the law of Moses.' And still more strongly and ex-          fied their flesh (and to a  ceptain- extent, their con-
       pressly in Hebrews it is declal;ed  that the "gifts and     science; our author should have  added.  For such is
       s+rifices 6f the law `could not make him that did the       his view), so as td admit of theiti personal approaCh
       service perfect as pertaining to the conscience'; that      to the place where God recorded His name, ancl met
       `it was not possible that the blood of bulls and go&        with His' people to bless them . . . ancl wEle atone-
       could have taken away sins ;' and that such blood as ment (that is, the animal sacrifice, our author means)
       the ashes of .the heife,r sprinkling the unclean, could     mediated between the two, (that is, between the Lord
       not avail30 the purifying of the flesh, while the blood     and His people-o) removing from time to  .time the
bf Christ,  ,and this alone, can purge the conscience -barrier which sin was ever tending to raise, yet it
  from dead  works to serve `the living God.  If' such was by so imperfect a .m&dium, and with results so
  passages were to be t~ake?a~absolutely, they would cer-          transitory, that the conscience of the.wo.rshipper  could
tainly deny any spiritual  be?zefits   whatevtir to the Old        not feel as if the proper and efficient remedy had yet
       Testament worshipper from his &al sacrifices. That been. found. We read in the Scripture of the dif-
  they could not be so taken ii evid,ent alone from this,          ference between the Old-and the New in God's dis-
  that even when viewed as offerings for such oflenses             pensation, &at the `law came by Moses, but grace and
- as affectsd the outward and t.heoc@kal position of an            truth by J&us Christ' or, `the darkness is past, the
  Israelite, and satisfying -for these, they did not &and          clear 1igh.t now shin&h'--not as if there had been no
  altogether apart from his conscience.; to a certain ex-          light, nq grace and truth before, but merely`none wor-
  tent, at lea&, conscience had been aggrieved by what             thy to be compared with  w,hat now appeared. And
  was done, and must have been purged by-the atone-                in like manner in the passages under consideration
 men t presented." Thus far our author.  I@lics  sup-              (the passages in the Hebrews alreacly~ quoted-+-O)
  .plied. . .                                                      the measure of relief and purification to guilty con-
  .       But: cer&nly all "such passages" must klee,d be          sciences which was afforded by the p?ovisional  insti-
  taken absolutely. To deny this,. as does our author,             tut;ons of the tabernacle (particularly by the animal
  is to involve ourselves in the view, that to a certain ex-       sacri.fices+O) because of their inadequate character,
  tent the blood of bulls and of goats could and actually          and the .imperfect  means employed in their accom-
  did take away sin, that, in other words, sin to an ex-           plishments, are for the occasion overlooked  or placed
  tent was truly being expiated by the animal sacrifices           out  ,of sight, in order to bring prominently out the
  of the first covenant,  and as a result the consciences real, the uitimate, and perfect salvation that has been
  of the believers purged.                                         at length brought out by Christ." Typology, Vol. II,
          That this was our author's conception is-plain from p. 241;. 292.


     The view that comes tb the surface in the total of        Jewish worshipper to understafid how, from time to
 the above-cited excerpts is verily this: 1')  that as         time, he stood relate'd  to a visible sanctuary and an
 often as the relationship between the Lord and His            earthy inheritance, or to go through the process of an
 people was interrupted by sin, it was r,estored  by a         appointed purification: by means of water and the
 system of animal sacrifices ; 2) that by these sacri-         blood of slain victims  applied externally to- the body,
 fices also the conscierices of the ancient worshipper         -much more easy than for  the -Christian to appre-
 was to an extent purged; 3)  t&t accordingly the              hend distinctly his relation` to the heavenly sanctuary,
 blood of bulls and of goats did to an extent take away        and realize the cleansing of his-conscience from guilt
 sin ; 4) and that therefore all such statements as' ."i! by the inward application of. the sacrifice of Christ
 was not .possible that the blood of bulls and of go&          and-  the regenerating grace of the Holy Spirit. But
 could take away sin?, and "the  ashes of the heifer           for the-Jewish worshipper to do both liis own and the
 sirinkling the unclean could but avail as' to the puri- .Christian  part,-both to read ibe meaning of the sym-
 fying of the flesh, while. the blbod of Christ, and this      bol as expressive of what was already laid open to his
 alone, can purge the conscience from dead works",- t view, and to disctiy its co&ealed reference to'the yet
 .that all such statements cannot be taken absolutely.         undiscovered realities `of a  tbette,r   dispensation,-
 W.hat is this but saiing .that in a sense and to an ex-       would have required a reach of discernment and a
 tetit  sin was indeed truly expiated by the animal sac-       strength of fa%h far beyond what is now needed in
 rifices of the first covenant. This was Fairbairns            the Christian. For this would have been not like him
 view. It is wholly in agreetie&  with that ,other  state-     to discern the heavenly, when the heavenly had come,
 M&t of his (already quoted) that the animal sacri-            but to do it amid.the obscurities and imperfections of
 fices had a meaning all of their own independent of           the earthy ; not simply to look with open eye into the
 kheir.:reference  to- Christ, which, 2s had already been      deeper mysteries of God's kingdom, when these mys-
 `tiade plain, is impossible.                         -.'      teries are, fully disclosed; but to do so while they were
     But the thing for us to do is to hold fast th,e teach-    still buried amid the.  lthick folds of a cumlbrous and
 ings of the Hebrews on this point. Certainly, the             overshadowing  drappery."
 :bldod of bulls and of goats did not to an extent. take          Our  author is  entirely  correct, of course, if what
.`away sin.. Sin was not to an extent expiated by the          he means is that the Old Testament believers were riot
 animal  sacjrifices. By these sacrifices conscience was       able, with the aid of the expiatory sacrifices, to E&-
 Got in a measure purged;  ,These  were the accom-             visage the Christ  as the  New Testament  ,Scriptures
 plishments of Christ's blood, and of His blood pnly.          reveal Him to zis. Who would maintain such a, thing?
 And the animal sacrifices had" meaning only with re-          Mot we certainly. But that is neither the question.
 f&ence  to Him and not independeht of Him. And for The question is whether the Old Testament believers
 `these reasons and these ,re$sons alone did the animal        were actually allowed to imagirie  that at least to a
 sacrifices `have meaning a,nd great meaning for the           certain: extent their sins were aetuially  expiated and
 .believers  of the first dovenant..  As has already been      thereby blotted out by  th$r animal sacrifices, whether,
 fully explained, they symbolized prophetically, and           in other words, they  w,ere not  .made  to realize that
thtis. proclaimed unto the ancient worshippers, the            those sacrifices were but symbols and types, and whe-
 work of Christ's redeeming His people from all their          ther, accordingly, they we?e not -pinning their hope
 sins.  ,by His suffering and death on the cross. And          upon the'true sacrifice that the Lord in His good time
`. in addition'they-served the believers of the first cove-    would bring in. This is a question that our author
 ,nant as the means for the expression of .their faith answered in the negative. He says, does he not, "But
 in God through Christ and thus begot for them God's for the Jewish worshipper both to read the meaning
 testimony in -their hearts, that they -were righteous.        of tlie symbol as expressive of what -was already laid
 .These -were the meanings of the aanimal sacrifices f,or      open to his view, atid to cliscry  its concealed reference
 the Old Testament believers. Other meaning they               tie the yet  undiscovered  flea&es of a better  clispensa-
 had not. But .a11 these matters have already been             ticin wouki have require&a  reach of discernment and
 fully explained. We need .the.refore  take no further         a strength of faith far beyond what is now needed in
 notice of them;                                               the Christian."  *  -.
     But the `question iswhat  it was that brought Fair-          Such being the view, he found it necess&y to take
 bairn to the above conceptions. The answer is this:           the po,sition that for the Old Testament believers the
 -his `view that the Old Tes`tament  believers were not        animal sacrifice in  particular  had a  meaning  of its'
 able to discry  what he calls the "concealed referen&" own apart from the death of. Christ.  ,, __
of the animal' sa&ifiCes to the sacrifice of Christ.. He       Yet our author was  cert&inly  mistaken. `And he
 `w&es : "It was compa-sitively  an easy thing !or the         himself ,also really admits that he was mistaken. For


  158                                 T H E   .STANDARD,BEARER
                                                                       ,
  he conltinues on that same page (Typology Vol. I, page        few believers `with sufficient intelligence and endowed
  58) as follows:                                               with special gifts of grace and sufficiently spiritual to
         "Yet `let us not be mistaken. We speak merely of       be dissatisfied with the imperfect and accordingly
  what was strictly required, and what might obdinar-           seeking and longing for the perfect. But may this in-
  ily be expected of the ancient worshippers in connec-         sight be thus limited? True, one believer is more in-
  tion with the institutions and services of his symbol-        telligent than another, and one believer is more ,spir-
ical religion, taken simply- by themselves. We do not           i~tual than anothe?. And accordingly one believer has
  say that there never was (italics-F), m&h less chat           more  insight  than another. And so it is also true that
  there could not be (italics-F), any proper insight ob-        the desire to be with Christ is stronger in one believer
  tained by the children.of  the Old Testament into the         than-in  anothek. But is it so that only the most in-
  future mysteries  of the  ,Gospel.  There were special        telligent of the.believers  and the most holy of the be-
  gifts of grace then,. ad well as now, occasionally im-        lievers have insight? Why should the Lord have be-
  parted unto the more` spiritual members of the cov-           stowed this gift only upon some of his saints-and I
  enant, which enabled them to rise to unusual degrees          speak of saints and not of carnal, unlbelieving  Jews-
' of knowledge; and it is a distinctive property of  the        and not upon all of them? Why should the Lord have
  spiritual mind  gem&ally to  tie dissatisfied with the        lifted up the hearts only of semi: of His saints to the
  imperfect, to seek  ,and long for the perfect. Even           heavenly Christ of whom their animal sacrifice  was
  now, when the comparatively perfect has come. What            the-prophetic symbol and allowed the  pest of His saints
  spiritual mind is not often conscious to itself of a feel-    to go on imagining th%t their sins were actually being
  ing akin -to tielancholy,  when he thinks of the yet a-       expiated by those animal sacrifices? Why should &hose
  biding darkness and disorders of the present, or d:oes        animal sacrifices have proclaimed only to the most in-
  not  f,ondly cling to every. hopeful indication of a          telligent worshippers the necessity of- a  m.o)re adequate
  brighter fuqture?  But even the best things of the Ndld       alqnement for human guilt?  :Certainly, what those
  Covenant bore on them the. stamp of imperfection.             sacrifices proclaimed to one it proclaimed to all. So
  The temple itself, which was the peculiar glory and           it always is. What God through the teaching minis-
  ornament of Israel, still in a very pa.rtial and defec-       try proclaiqs on the meetings for public worship to
  tive manner realized its own grand idea of a people           one hearer, he procltiims to all, namely that Christ
  dwelling with ,God, and God dwelling with them: and           died for His people only and tliat th'e man who believes
  hence, because of that inherent imperfection, it w&s          is saved. But is it so that only some of the believers
  distinctly intimated, a higher and better mode of ac- hear this proclamation; have under&&ding of it, and
  complish,ing  the object should one day take its place.       receive it by faith and that thus the Lord does not
  So, too, the palable disproportion already noticed  `in       speak His `Gospel in the hearts of all the beli,evers ?
  the right of expiatory sacrifice between the rational         Why should Abraham  and only a few more  hcghly
  life forfeited' through sin, and the merkly animal life       gifted saints have been seeking a heavenly country
  substituted in its room, seemed to proclaim the nec-          and not all the saints .of that dispensation?        Why
  essity of a more ada,quate  atonement f,or human guilt,       s'hould only .Abraham and a felw more highly -gifted
  and could not but dispose intelligent `worshippers  to        believers, have seen the day of Christ and rejoiced
  give more  earn,est  heed to the  anouncements of  pro-       and not all the .@elievers  of that day?
 phecy regarding the coming  purpo.se of Heaven.?                  This reasoning of  -Fairbairn simply won't do. It
     Let it be' repeated, here our author really  pro-          is  not correct.  Y,et  such was  his view.  <Only some
  nbunces his whole view wrong, ,the view that iOld Tes-        believers were thus favored but not all. That is his
  tament believers rested in the shadows of the Old Cov-        conclusion. He writes : "But yet when we have ad-
  enant and failed t-o realize as enlightened by the Spi-       mitted., all this, it by no' means follows that the people
  rit .of #God and by prophecy that those shadows w:ere         of `God .genefally,  under the Old Covenant, could at-
  but prophetic, symbols of heavenly realities.                 itain to very definite views of the realities of the Gos-
     Let us take i?otice  of some of the statements con-        pel; nor does it furnieh us with any reason for asser-
  tained in the above excerpts. First, this statement:          ting that such views must ever of necessity have min-
  "We do not say that there never was, much less that           gled with the service of an acceptable worshipper.
  there could not be, any proper insight obtained by the          The  *Typology of Fairbairn has one defect. It
  children of the `Old Covenant into the future myster-         attaches for Old Testament believers a wrong signi-
' ies of the Gospel." Here our author admits that there         ficance to the animal sacrifices, which is but an&her
  dould be and actually was proper insight obtained by way of saying that it fails to explain just how these
  the children of the Old ,Covenant into the future mys-        sa&ifices.served  the saints of that day. But aside f,rom
  teries of the Gospel, - But he limits this insiGht to a       this,:a production of no small merit.       ,G. M. Ophoff


                                    Q    .-THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        159

                                                               ted the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ) but sin came
    0 U &- .D'O C'T R I N E- -- for the sake  -of Christ. Christ, we understand, is
                                                               first in the counsel of God. The *miracle,  in common
                                                               with the parable, besides being a sign and symbol of
                                                               the grace of God, is based upon the Scriptural truth
                 God's  .Providence               '            that the Lord, when He call,ed heaven and earth and
                             (7)                               all things they contain -into being, created a high sym-
                                                               bol of the heavenly and the heavenly realization of His
    GOD'S PROVIDENCE AND THE MIRACLE.                          kingdom in Christ Jesus. This earthy is the sovereign-
                                                               ly willed plane upon which the Lord realizes the an-
        WHY  WE  TREAT THIS SUBJECT  Now                 .-
                       -.                                      tithetical development of His covenant .and kingdom
It is logical to treat this subject now.                       through sin and grace. Hence, we shall discuss the
 _ We have defined the Providence of God as &he all-           miracle at this time and prior to our discussion of the
compreheqsive  and almighty power -of God tihereby             coming of sin into the w&d in order to call attention
He sustains and governs all things with a view to the          to the truth that the grace'of the Lord supersedes sin
rcalizati,on  of that purpose which the Lord has sover-        and. that sin simply serves the manifestation of the
eignly willed and set before Himself from before the           wonderful grace of ,God. .
foundation of the world. This power of the Lord, we            Hence, .the matf;`er  must be presented correctly.
have noted, is strictly Divine and ali-comprehensive              ,On the one hand, we must not deviate from the cor-
in the absolute sense of the w~ord. It affects and con-        rect Scriptural view relative the providence of God.
trols the life of every living creature and every phase        `Government, we have noted, constitutes _a vital ele-
of life of each creature throughout the universe;        I     ment of this'mighty Scriptural truth. ,God knows but
   It is therefore not difficult  to understand why we         one purpose and has eternally willed but one goal. The
should discuss the Scriptural truth selative the mira-         Lord always' moves forward. We: must -not conceive
cle while treating the truth of the Providence of the          of the Lord's Providehce  in &ny dualistic sense of the
Lord. The miracles are, certainly works -of God. It is         word. The theory  "Common ,G.race" must necessarily
true, as one may readily surmise $0 .the surprise of           lead us into this error. God, then, created the world
none, that also this truth of Scripture is being held in       and presented Adam with the mandate to dress and
disrepute and treated by many with scorn and disdain.. keep the garden.  The Lord entertained an original
We will come back to this in due time. Among                   creation idea, namely, this world's earthly develop-
us, however,  and in confessedly Reformed circles, the         ment. This, then,  iS what people mean  ghen they  _
miracle. is acknowledged in all i$s :Scriptural implica-       speak of culture. This culture, this  worl,d's  earthly
tions as far as its being a work of God is concerned.          development, the maintaining of the original creation
This does not mean, of course, that all are agreed with        idea, so that the world can "live up" to its original
respeot to the Scriptural significance of these works          purpose, is attributed to Common Grace. Fact is,
of the `Lord. Discussing the works of God in general           so they reason, the devil made a breach in the works
one need not be surprised, therefore, when particular          of God when he introduced sin into the world. This
attention is directed to the miracles of Holy Writ.            in itself is true. The devil, we surely understand, ne-
   Finally, to treat, the miracle at this time has also        ver intended to make a breach, this breach; he `did
another advantage: The subject to be..discussed  after         not purpos'e  to destroy the world ; he only intended to
we conclude our discussion on the miracles of Holy             tear the world away from the *living :God and subject
Writ is that of Sin. The -miracle, as we shall see-in          it unto himself. Except  f,or the intervention of Com-
due time, can only be understood in the light and in           mon Grace, the world would have perished or become
the sphere of God's redemptive grace. They are, pro-           a chaos, and the world's original creation idea would
perly speaki.ng, signs and.symbols  of the grabe of God.       have  ,been sendered  impossible. However, .God's Com-
rlo discuss the miracle before we turn our attention           mon  ZGrace intervenes. Man does not become fully
to the entrance of siti, into the world has also this ad-      corrupt. He is rendered able in the things that are
vankage-  that we give it and the grace of God its pro-.       civil to lead a life which is pleasing and acceptable- to
per place in our attempt to understand the works *of.          God. And- throughout the ages God and man are al-
*God.. ,Grace and the redemption of the people of God          lied against th,e devil to maintain this outwardly good
supersede  sifi also in the counsel  bf the Lord. Sin          civil life.  <Of course,  $he day is coming when the
serves Christ and the manifest&ion of the grace of             world will be wholly given over to unrighteousness
IGod. Christ did not merely come because of sin (al-           and. evil, as in the  d,ays of the  anti-Christ.  But just
though it remains- true, of course, that sin necessita-        when this operation of Common. Grace will cease and


  w.                                  T 'H E   S&A-N   D A R 'D   Bti-ARER

  man will become wholly wicked, or how th& tremen-            that the purpose of %he miracle was to remind rntin
  dous change will occur we have as yet not been tol,d.        forcibly aid emphati?all$  of the fact that G.od is Gbd.
  The theorists of the theory of Common ,Grace  have not       Man, then, -had tiecome  accustomed to God's "general"
  yet informed us how or why this restraining grace of         revelation. And now the Lord avails Himself of the`
  evil and wickedness will no longer operate and check         miracle ti, .call man's attention to the fact that He is
  the -advance, of sin and corruption. This conception ,G6d alone. However, the. miracles have another and
  of things must, of course, not be tolerated. Any con- higher purpose in Holy W&t. .The fact remains that
  ception which conceives of the Lord as frustrating the even-the miracle will not lead men to the acknowledg-
  work of `the devil is,. of Course, dualistic. Besides,       ment of the living God. .The Jews beheld all the mir-
  the Lord never retraces His steps: He does not mere-         acles of the Lord Jesus and declared that He perform-
  ly maintain al! original creation idea and attempt to        ed them through Beelzebub. .  ..God's Providence in-
  preserve  what once was. Jehovah God always modes            cludes the heavenly r,estoration  of all things. Sin en-
 forward.    Sin occurred according to the sovereign tered according to the determinate foreknowledge of
 good pleasure of the Lord.. The world has no signi-           the Lord. And the miracles, as signs `of  ,God's al-
  ficance in itself. `God would eternally and sovereignly      mighty grace whereby He realizes this heavenly re-
 gather together all trhings in- Christ Jesus, as we ,read     storation, occupies therefore a fundamental ljlace ih
 in Eph. 1:9-10, and we quote: "Having made known              the truth of the Providence of *God.
 unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good
 pleasure-which He hath purposed in Himself : -That in         MANY AND VARIED ARE THE MIRACLES OF HOLY. WRIT
 the. dispensation of the .fulness. of times He might ga-
 ther<together  in one all things in Christ, bobh which In the Old  Testktment.
 are in heaven, and which are on earth ; even in Him."            Miracles  &cupy a prominent place in the Holy
 And how beautifully this truth of the one' purpose of         Scripttires already-in the Old Testament, whether they
 God throughout  th.e ages in held before us in  +hat          are performed directly by the Lord or by the Lord
 marvelous pa&age  in Col. 1: 15-203  and we ,again quote :    through the instrumentality of His servants, the pro-
 "Who is the image of the invisible ,God, the firstborn        phets.
 of every creature : For by Him were all things created,          A striking feature of these piracies in the Old Dis-
 that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visi$ble and       pensation is their antithetical character. We do &t
 invi-si*ble, whether they be  thr,ones,  or dominions,  br    merely read of miracles of salvation and mercy for
' principalities, or powers : all things were created .by      the people of the Lord, but also of miracles of judg-
 Him, and for Him: And He is, before all things, and           me@ and  destructioh  of the wicked.  6ometimes,  as
--by Him ali things consist. And He is the -head of the        in the-land of Egypt, these miracles of the Lord are
 body, the church: Who is the beginning, %he first.born        eharacteriied  by this double aspect : salvation and con-
 from the ,dead; that- in all things' He *might have the       demnation and destruction. This also, we understand,
 preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him applies to the flood.
 should all fulness dwell  ; and, having made peace               Many miracles are recorded in the Old Testament.
 through the blood of His. cross, .by Him to reconcile         The flood is a mighty work of the Lord to destroy the
 all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, -whether  they        go.dless  geheration of that day, and also to save Noah
 be things in earth, or things in heaven." _                   and his family by water in the ark. Noah, we read,
  <Consequently, it is well, on the other hand, to un-         was  saved  .by water inasmuch as it was  the, water.
 derstand that God's Providence and the miracle are            which separated him from the wicked world. And
 inseparably related and connected. `Too often these           he was saved in the ark which, tie also understand, 4s
 two have been separated from each other. Men have             a striking symbol of the Christ. `The flood, of course,
 been at a loss to give unto the miracle its due and pro-      is of the Lord. The ark, too, is of the Lord inasmuch
 per place in the Divine  scheme  of things: It is cer-        as the Lord told Noah exactly how he should proceed
 tainly a fact that miracles .occ;py a prominent place         in the building  -of  it; And we also read  ,that,  -after
 in Holy Writ. And yet  the Providence of the Lord             Noah and his family had entered the ark, the Lord
 and the miracle have been virtually divorced from each        shut  .the door, so .that,  how furious and violent the
 other.. ,God's Providence, then, was treated immedi-          de!uge tiay have be&n, they were securely shut in ihe
 ately after the discussion of the creation of the world:      ark by the ,&erlasting God Himself, another symbol
 It `is explained merely as the almighty and omnipres-         of the fact that the Lord has "shut up" His people
 ent power of ,God whereby He sustains and preserves           securely in `Christ,- so -that, when the deluge of God's
 what He once had.made. And men failed to include in wrath ,descends upon Him upon the czpss of Calvary,
 this discussion of God's Providence the heavenly and          we are saved and delivered because we are in Him.
 eternal restoration of all things.  .Some simply said         The same thing (salvation and destruction) applies


                                       THE  STANbAl%b  ,BEARER                                                      `161
                                                                                                                    -
  to the group of miracles which revolve about the per-        then follows the mikhty  revelation `of the living God
  sons of Moses and Joshua. We are all familiar with upon MQunt  Carmel. Who is not acquainted with the
' the ten plagues in the land of Egypt, the passage            stupid but also wicked- attempts, of the godless priests
  through the Red Sea, the giving of the law at Sinai,         of Baa1 to have their god rain fire down upon the al-
the conquest of the land of Canaan and the passage             tar which &hey h&d erected, with Elijah as he pours
  through the Jordan. These miracles purpose to con-           water upon' and around his altar and his prayer to the
,demn and destroy the enemies of the living -God stid          God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the subsequent
  His people, and also to provide for Israel a dwelling-       fire which came down from heaven and consumed the
  place in the jand of prom$e. Another group of mir-           sacrifice and wa!ter also? ) And then we read of that
  acles occurs in the  wildereess  as,  .for example, the      wonderful running of Elijah.before the chariot of A-
  swallowing up alive of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram,            hab all the way to Jezreel. The miracles of Elijah's
  and their comtiany,  as well as the fiery .serpents. For success&, Elisha, exceed in numlber those of the Old
  tle serpent of brass which Moses' made and put upon          Testament, type ,of John the Baptist. We cannbt dis-
a pole (see Numbers 21) `is not .only a symbol of Dhe          cuss t&m at this time. They were miracles of mercy
  Christ but also of the fiery serpents which had beeti        and, also of judgment-think of the two she-bears
  sent by the- Lord among the people of Israel. These that killed forty and two mocking. children.
  serpenlts  were the visitation of the wrath of God upon
 ~ the sins of His people. .`Hence, this history holds be- Iri the New Testament.
  fore u,s +he beautiful truth that the wrath of God sure-.       It is not surprising, of course, that the perfor-
,ly rests upon our sins but that we are saved because          mance of  mirades should reach a climax  vvihen the
  the `God of our salvation has visited that wrath upon        Lord visits and. redeems His people in the coming of
  our iniquity  up6n His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.           ,J&us Christ into our flesh and blood. In fact, we can-
  ,This explains why `.the ,Old Testament symbol of the -not escape the conclusion that -an unusual number of
  Christ in this Scriptural naFrative  assumes the form sicknesses must have prevailed at the time -when the
  of a serpent. Still another group of miracles is group-      Lord was among us in .t,his valley of the shadow of
  ed about the persons of Elijah and Elisha. T'hese  mir-      death. It seems as though the devil conoentrated  all
  acles occur in the, kingdom of the Ten Tribes for also       his evil forces to combat the Anointed of the Lord.
  in that kingdom the Lord continued to have His peo-          And what a wide variety of miracles characterized
  ple. They' occur in the days of Ahab and Jezebel, and        the works of our Saviour ! `.There are miracles, for.
  siib$eqti*ent  days, when heathendom threatened to des-      example, whereby He reveals His power of the "for-
  troy the entire service of the Lord. We are acquain-         ces of nature," such as:  bhe changing of water into
ted  w&h these mighty works of the Lord. Who does              wTne, the wonderful feeding of the multitudes, first
  noit know of the. drought which the Lord visited upon the multitude of five thousand and then th! multitude
  the'land of Israel-upon the word -of the fearless Eli-       of- four  ihousand, not counting the women and the
 ;`ah *the Tis'hbite, which he spoke `in the palace of the     children in each instance, the stilling of the. tempest,
  wicked  Ahab, and which would be lifted by the Lord          His walking upon `ohe sea, etc. - A second group of mir-
  upon the word of the same fearless prophet three and         acles reveals His power over the results of sin, all the
  one half years later? And how striking is the miracle sicknesses and ills, even death itself. And the nature
  Which is wrought by Eaijah in the city of Zarephath of these var.&us sicknesses mu& never escape our at-
  wh*eti-he  called back to life the only son of a widow tention.        These are not ordinary sicknesses  whic'h
  there? The man of God had left the land of Israel to         ar.e recorded in the :Scriptures.    We read of the sick-
  take up his abode in that heathen country while, in the      nesses of deafness, blindness, dumbness, lameness,
  meantime, his life was being sought by his mortal en-        and all  these  illnesses are symbols of the spiritual
  emy, the wicked king of Israel. There, in the heathen power of sin whereby we  are unable to hear; see,
  city of Zarephath, the Lord  perfops  a miracle              speak, and walk in bhe spiritual sense of the word.
  through' His servant, -Elijah,. and reveals to the hea-      The striking character of these diseases is that they
  then  widoti the wonder of grace.  Tfhis miracle is a        a& -absolu.te. k cleaf person cannot hear, a blind -per-
  symbol of the truth which would be realized in the ion cannot see, and a lame person cannot walk. And,
  New Testament, that the Lord would manifest His              finally, we read of miracles  wlhereby Christ reveals
  grace to the ,Gentiles  according to election- after its     His power over sin itself, its guilt and corruption, and
  rejection by the Jews (we understand, of course, that        the dominion of the devil, as revealed in the pitiful
the Jew's rejection of the gospel-does not necessarily victims of demon-p&session. Every conceivable kind
 mean that the grace and salvation of God was offered          of miracle is performed by the Ldrd. He raises the
to them ; to. reject something dfoes not necessarily im-       dead, gives sight to the blind, causes the deaf to hear
  ply that.it is offered to the one who rejects it.) AAnd an&  ;the lame to walk, heals the maimed apd the  lep-


162                                 T H E -   STANDARD  B.EARER

rous, etc. Except for a few exceptions- (as, for exam-
ple, th,e cursing of the barren fig tree), all our Lord's
miracles are positive works of healing and restora-           "
                                                              `
                                                               -:`
                                                                      ._. JN         H I S   F E A R
tion.                -
   \                                                                                 ..-
   After our'Lord Jesus Christ has ascended `into the                         Looking To The future
heavens these miracles a're continued by Him through
the apostles as long as the Lord deems it necessary                                         CHAPTER 4
fo? the establishment of His Church in the midst of                   r.             CONCERNING  TEXTEOOKS
the world. I need not enter into a discussion of these
`wonders as performed by the apostles. With the death              In this concluding article we will make a few re-
of the apostles these miracles come to an elid, and will     marks ,about the actual realization of this goal of hav-
not again appear until the final appearance of our           ing our own textbooks in our own school. Is it pos-
L&d upon the clouds- of -heaven when all things shall        sible? How large a task is it? Whose work is it?
have been accomplished. ,Or, if you will, &he miracles       How must we go about this work? Where  m&t we
of our Lord have now entered upon their spiritual            begin? All these qtiestions  we face, and a multitude
and antitypical significance. This is expressed by the       of others. But again, we undoubtedly are a long way
Saviour in John 14 :12, and I quote : "Verily, verily,       toward a solution if we but first understand the pro-
I say unto you, He that .believeth on me, the works          blem and its rainifications well. Let us see.                d
,that I do shall  he do also; and greater works than
these shall h,e do; because I go unto my Father." With-
out entering into a detailed exposition of these words,      The Size of th.e Task
we should bear in mind that. the Lord here is refer-               We should not deeeive ourselves as to the size of
ring to the spiritual,  antitypictil fulfillment of His this undertaking. A little serious thought will soon
miracles while He was among us in our flesh and              convince us. that the task is staggering in its scope,
blood.  ,Christ's miracles are signs of the power of         first of all.  '  ..
His grace whlereby $he spiritually deaf and blind and
,dumib and lame sinner is enabled to hear atid see ancl            For what do we need? Consider, in the first place,
speak and walk. The spiritujal wonder of grac,e  is @-       that there are many, many subjects taught in a school1 :
-feeted  by the risen and exalted Lord (this  efpl&s         Bible, Church History, Secular History, Geography,
why this text mentions Christ's going'to His Father)- Arithmetic, Grammar, Reading, Spelling, Penman-
through the apostles, and these spiritual miracles of        ship, Music, Art, Science, to mention, I believe, the
grace are surely greater than Christs miracles while         more  Common subjects of the primary school. In all
He was among us even as` the body is always greater          these various subjects our goal is the achievement of
than its shadow.                                             our bwn properly written textbooks. This in itself is
                                                             a large task. But we must remember in the second
   This wide and varied character  of the miracles of place, that in regard to most of these subjects at
Holy Writ need not surprise  u_s. We need certainly          least, we also need textbooks that are adapted to the
nof be amazed because of their antithetical character.       several grades and age-groups. You cannot teach
Everything is antithetic. The  .gospel is a savour of Bible, of course, to a first-grader in the same. way as
life ,unto life, ,but also a savour of death unto death.     to a ninth-grader. And this is true of all the sub-
God loves and ,saves  His own, hates and destroys the        jects. This means alreidy that we must multiply the
world.  It-is for this reason that God's revelation of       number of subjects taught by the number qf gy:nties
Himself should bear the same two-fold character  which which require a new textbook in. any given sl!bject.
also characterizes His miracles. Neither should., it         But this is still not a full picture of the scope of tl:e
surprise us that our Lord Jesus Christ performed so          problem.       For, in the  thir,d place, we must bear in
many miracl~es, and t,hat they are so widely divergent.      mind that the textbooks-must be kept up-to-date        In
Sin itself is characterized by this saee widely diver-       a subject such as history, for example, this is ali im-
gent characteristic. Sin has laid hold upon ,every `as- portant element. To the facts an4 .events  of history
pect and phase of our life. Sin exercises its dominion new facts and events are constantly being added.
over our entire existence. Hence, the widely diver-          This means, therefore, that textbooks will have to be
gent character of these miracles of Holy Writ sim-           revised and rewritten often. The same is true of
ply emphasizes the total and  comblete dominion of           such subjects as civics and science. Certainly no one
sin over us, and, of course, the marvellous character        but a fool would ever rush into such an undertaking
and scope of the grace of the God of our salvation.          without  careful planning  and preparation. These
                                    H .       Veldrn&n' facts alone are enough to make us extremely cautious.


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   .BEARER                                                        1 6 3 `

     But there is more. If we are to have' textbooks, .duction  of the textbooks lie far in$he future not only,
 we must have authors. And I do not say that we can-               but also are comparatively. minor difficulties.
 not find such men and women in our circles who Would                       To sum up, then, with only these<few observations
 be able to produce a tolerably good textbook in a gi-             we can very readily say in this regard: "Easier said
 ven field. But here again, we must realistically face             than done."
 the facts. What are some of the most pertinent ones?                      -_                      --w-L.-

  -Ia the first place, the writing of a textbook is not                 WheTe to  Beg&a
 everyone's work. We  tiay certainly grant the fact                         All of this does'not mean, however, in my opinion,
 that we may have to be satisfied at first with some-              that we mgy Cot and must not take the long range
 thing less than the -be& We have only a limited num-              vi&v of ,things,  and make a beginning.  .Iti fact, what
 ber of personnel  uppn which to draw in this work,                we habe said <C&her  points to the very opposite: we
for the simple reason that we are small to begin. with.                 definitely should make a beginning, and as soon as pos-
 As always, the men of intellectual stature, of wisdom,            sible take certain steps toward the achievement of this
 of might and renown,  are not found in the church                 long range goal.. It may even surprise us what can
 _but in the world. And  the world -has  +  large field            be done, if we only begin.                      '
 from which to take its men, its expert -writers,  its                      A .pertinent  question in ths connection' is : where
 capable educators. W,e have not. And however spir-                should we begin? At what point must we start, first
 itually consecrated a person may be, or how doctrin-              of all, as far as achieving the most profit in the shor-
 ally sound, these things do not ai such and alone quali- t&t  amqunt of time? And where must be our start--
 fy anyone for the task of writing a fit textbook. And             ing-point, in the second place, as far as achieving a
 ther.efore,  let us face this fact first. It does not require     well-or,ganized,   .rather than a helter-skelter,' system
 a mere teacher, but what I would call a real educator,            of'textbooks? Thirdly, where must be our  starting-
 an expert in his field, a master, to write a &xtbook.             point as far as giving direction, drive, and  assis-
 Besides, be must be a man who is. able to `write, to              tance to the entire movement for our own textbooks
 compose,-something which anyone  wh?"takes up a                   is concerned?
 pen will soon admit is also not everyone's -work. This,           ,        My conviction is that the -answer is: not at the
 then, should also serve as a finger of ,caution,  lest we         bottom, but at the top of our educational system. Let
 underestimate the task,' and  lest we should rashly               me explain.,
 hail any "Tom, Dick, or Harry" who glibly claims that                      It would be pbssible,  once'this work is organized,
 he can at  ,randoni  pr.c$ce  textibool+ for use `in our          to-set as our first goal the production of textbooks for
 schools,                                              -  _ . .    the primary grades, then for the intermediate grades,
   In  ~10s; connection with the  $rece&ng is another                   and so on  ulj. This,  bf course, would give a certain
 factor, namely, that the number of writers required                    amount of direction to our efforts, and in. a way would
 is about equal to, the number of textbooks needed.                be a "plan" for the production of textbooks. But it
 Just as the same textbook cannot b,e used in the nintii                would be very arbitrary. Is it the easiest task to pro-
 grade as is used in-the first grad?, so the same author ' duce textbooks for tlie , primary grades? This may
 most likely cannot write books for much more .than                w&l1 be questioned. Are the primary grades in the
 one grade. As far as teaching itself is concerned this            greatest need .of textbooks that are w.ritten ,from a
 is true already: one may be a very capable teacher of                  distinctively Reformed viewpoint?  This too may be
 junior high school pupils, while he would be. .a dis-                  questioned. Proceeding in this way, could not some-              -
 mal failure if he were transferred to the first grade,                 one as cogently argue that the intermediate or junior
 or vice versa. How much more would this be the                         high grades should'have first attention?
 case in the composition of textbooks! Besides, each                             It appears to me that at the top, that is, beginning
 different subject will, again require a different author.              with the teachers themselves our own textbooks are
 He who m'ight be able to write an excellent textbook                   needed. This is logical, is it not. The tea_chers must
 for- the arithmetic class would not very likely be ex-                 instruct.       And if the teachers are to instruct  pro-
 pert in the writing of a history book: it is a rare per-          perly, they must themselves be properly instruc-
 son who is expert in more than one field.                         ted.            If we wish to purify. the water in our ed-
     .And if more need be said, we have not even men- ucational stream,-l&t  us purify the source o!f the in-
 tioned such practical problems as the `financing and                   struction.       l&el~tually,  then, the whole stream will
 publication of these proposed textbooks. When we                       flow with pure water. Let, therefore, our  teacher-
  cdnsider all the other problems, it may be seen` at- a                training institution first of all have its own, distinc-
 glance that these problems concerning the actual pro-                  tively Reformed textbooks; and from that point down


164                                                   T H E   STANDARP   B E A R E R
                                         -
to the level of the grade  school let -us work. In fact,
I dare say.that if we begin at that point, the produe-
tion of a-complete system of textbooks would be a na-                                    F R 0  M II 0  I,  Y.-  ,W R  1~  T'
tural and spontaneous dutgrowth.
       However, there are also certain practical. advan-                                             &mitioi  of.  !  John, 
tanges which may be mentioned in favor .of this me-                                                                                2:1547
thod.. In. the first place, the quantity of  textbdoks                                                               (I)      -
needed at this point is the smallest. -`In -the- second                                     We int&&upt  our seiies of articles on I Peter 1 :l
place, the teachers will in this way be -furnished with f.f. to call attentidn to the meaning of I John 2 : 15-17.
some -of the fuiidamentals,  both a,+ to content and as
to method, which will need to `be incorporated into                                         In the first place we do so because we feel that a
textbooks & any-level. They will even be furnished                                      little diversion of subject matter might be welcome
.with a pattern, to a degree at least. And not to be                                    to the reader; w'e might be mistaken in this matter.
slihted is this. third. advantage, namely, that even                                    of  d.esired   dive&ion  w<th every reader; however, on
without the immediate production of textbooks fo,r the                                  general principles I believe that we are right.
other levels of-education, the instruction will to a large                                  In the second place, we believe it appropriate to
extent ,be. immediately purified and given its proper                                   &nsidey  in a cotiple  of articles some passage of the
Reformed  direc.ion. And even  from the practical Word of God to give direction to our thoughts and
point of view of finance and publication, it would be                                   life in the passing away of the "old ye&" and in the
very :easy, for example, to begin with mimeographed                                     matter of God's ushering in the "new year".
material at this $0~ level, as we did and still do in our                                   `Such a fitking passage, we believe, to have at hand
T h e o l o g i c a l   S c h o o l .                                                   in the well-known words of I John 2 : 15.17. The
                                                                                        text reads  a$ follows: "Love not the world, neither
                                                                       Y                the things that are in the world.. If a!ny man love the
                           T
                                                                                        wodd, the love of the F&her is not in him. For all
   .One more matter remains to be mentioned, namely :                                   that is in the world, the lust of the fEesh abul the lust
how must we actually go about the writing of a whole                                    of the eyes and the vain glory of life, is no.t of the Fa-
system of textibooks.?  These remarks must be reserv-                                   ther, but is of  -&he world. And  tihe world  pas&h a-
ed until the next issue, however.                                                 __    way and 8h.e lust thereof: but he that doeth the will
                                                                                        of God  abideth forever".
                           `
                           .                         H. C. Hoeksema                         This passage from the Word of God will aff0r.d  ps
                                                                                        ample food for thought, so that our hearts need not
                                                                                        be troubled, but that as the righteous we may place
                                 p&J                 .          -:          :-          our confidence obedient.ly  in the'Lord.
                                                                                            In general we nitiy reniark concerning this Scrip-
                                                                                        tur'e, passage, that its point of departure is such, that
                                                                  c                     it speaks to  the redeemed saints, God's "little children"
                          IN  MJGMORIAM                                                 in Christ -Jesus. It speaks to Dhe -church militant in
  On Friday, December 19, it pleased  ow  heavenly  Father to                           this world as she must triumph over this evil world,
take suddenly unto Himself the infant -son, of our'pastor  and                          waxing valiant and strong in faith. In this present
his wife                                                   -                            world Of time, in contradistinction from the "ages to
                 FREDERICK -MARTIN -I(NOTT                                              .come't, the church and the world have all things in
  The  con&tory  expresses heartfelt sympathy with Rev. and                             common, except grace ! Hence, the church lives, and
Mrs. Knott in their sorroq. May- the God of all grace sustain                           must; live out of -God," the Father; and thus live the
and. comfort them: The following societies join us in this  ex-
pression of  sympa$hy:                                                                  life of the antithesis!
                                                _
                            M e n 's   S o c i e t y                                      . Such is always the 1o.t of  ,God's people ; such! is
                            Ladies' Aid                                            .    emphatiLal.ly the comfort of God's people,' with the
                          Y o k e f e l l o w s   _                                     passing of time, in her pilgrimage to the abiding
                            Eunice Ci'rcle                                              city of God.
                            Young People's Society                                       As to- the various elements in the text we would
                          Choral Society  _
                            Sunday School                       -e_                     -call attention to the following:
                                                                                            In the first Ijlace, we' must notice the strong pro-
                                The  Consistory:
            .                                                                           hi'bition  in this passage of Scripture. It is: love not
                                   L. J. De  Koekkoek,-  Vice-Pres.
                                   D. F. Langeland, Clerk                               th@ world,- (kosmos) neither the things that are in
Kalamazoo, Michigan.            .. ,       ;                                -:          the world," ,  _.  _  `.     .   .          -:L


                                       k&E  S-TANDdRD;  BEARE'R                                                      165

  Shall we understand just what this prohibition;             know, that I love the Father, and even as He gave MFe
that we love not "the world" implies, then it is im-          a commandment, thus I do". And finally of this world,
perative that we first. understand, the meaning of the        in ,an evil sense, `Jesus speaks in John 16 :33, when
concept "world" in our text. Looking at the very sur-         he says "These things I have spoken unto you, that
face of our text, we count six differem,  instances of its    ye may have my peace in you. In the wor6cZ  (kosmos)
usage.. And each time this concept "world" refers             ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have
to something that we are not to love at all, but is in-       (even up to .this very present moment) .overcome  the
dicative of that which we are to flee, as much as we          world (kosmos). And, to quote but one more passage
love our soul's salvation.                                    of this term in an evil sense, we call attention. to I
    The term employed here by John for "world" in             John 5:3-5, where we read "For this is the love of
the original Greek is "kosmos". As was said the               God, that we keep His commandments ;.:and  His com-
term "kosmos" as employed in our text refers to some-         mandments are not grievous, because every one that
thing ethically evil. There is in this "world" as referred    is born out of  ,Gqd overcomes the world (kosmos).
to in our text nothing that a child of ,God can or may        And this is the victory that overcomes the world (kos-
love  ; it is either-or in our text. Love this world          mos), even our faith. W,ho is he that overcometh the
and one is an enemy of the heavenly Father, or love           w!orZcZ (kosmos) but .he that believeth that Jesus is the
the Father and one is an enemy of this world. . The Christ."
two are mutually exclusive1                                      From the foregoing it is abundantly evident, that
    But someone interrupts us and reminds us that             the term "world" is employed by John, both in his
this term "kosmos" is,also emljloyed by John in a good        `Gospel account and in his Epistle, in a twofold sense.
sense, as the "kosmos" for which Christ became `the              Once more --the question. forces itself to the fore-
propitiation, so that he is .th,e Advocate with God the       ground : how do we account for it?
%ather for. the wlhole "kosmos",, that is, the world !           It. ought to be kept clearly in mind, first of all,
Fact is, that John thus speaks of this  f`kosmos" in          that the term "kosmos" in the Greek writings of the
this very chapter. In verse 2 of .this chapter we read :      .Classics refers to an "apt an harmonious arrangement
`land he is. the propi.tiation.  of our sins ; and not for    or constitution, order". When this definition is applied
ours ~only, but .also for the whole world". ~                 to the universe of God, heaven and earth. and all that
   How to account for this, you ask?                          it contains, the term "kosmos" is indicative of the or-
   That is a good  .question and calls for an an-             derly arrangemem of the.entire world of heaven and
swer. Especially since there are many other instances         earth, angels and men, and animals as taught in the
and passages in the Word of God where the  ter.m              Scriptures in Genesis i .and elsewhere.- It refers to
"kosmos" is used both in a good sense and in an evil :God's beautiful and well-arranged creaturehood, con-
sense.                                                        cerning which we read: And God saw all that He had
   The ter.m "kosmos"' is employed in a good sense in         made, and, behold, it. was very good !
such passages as John 3 : 16-1'7 and John 4 :42, not to          Such is the idea of the "kosmos,' in Scripture.
mention others. In John 3  :16-17 we have the  well              That notion of the "kosmos'.' we need .to explain
known passage "For God so loved the. world.  that He          why Scripture spe,aks of this "world" both in an ethi-
gave' His Only-Begotten -Son, that whosoever believeth        cally evil and in a good sense.
on Him' should not perish but have .everlasting life.          For, mark you well, both the powers of darkness
For God sent not His Son into the world to. condemn           with Satan at its head, and the Kingdom of God in
the worZcZ, but that the worZd might be. saved through        Christ-both, I say, claim this entire. kosmos as its
Him." The Samaritan people, after hearing Jesus               own. The latter ,claims  this world in righteousness.
preach, exclaim : "for we have heard Him ourselves,           liberating it from sin's dominion, and the former as
and we know that this is truly the Savior of  the             an evil usurping power and dominion. Listen to Sa-
worZd!"                .                                      tan say to Jesus, in the temptation in the wilderness
   Such is the usage of the term in a gqod sense.             when he show$ed- Him all the kingdoms of this world
   There are also other passages whi&h clearly show           (.kosmos in Mtatthew  3 :8) : "to thee will I give all this
that in a certain sense the world, the kosmos, .is evil       authority, and the glory of them: f,or it hath been de-
and wholly under the dominion and power of sin. Says          livered unto me ; and to whomsoever I will I give it."
John in chapter 5 :19 "and .we know that. we--are out         These kingdoms of the world are very really the en-
of AGod, and that the world lieth-in darkness." Again tire world in its cosmological; development throughout
in John 14 :30, 31 Jesus acknowledg.es  that the worZd        all of time apart from God. They' are the nations
is evil. Says He "I will not speak much. more with            that imagine vain things against the Lord and against
you, for the Chief IOne of this kosmos (world). cometh        Ris Anointed Son.
and. he has nothing., iti. Me, .but that .the we&3 may           But Christ does not listen to Satan. And,.what is


  166                                       TT-IE  STANDARD  B%ARBB

  more, He gives the-lie to Satan's bold assertion. Christ
  ,will receive this entire "world,, from the Father, Who;
  bringing His Son into the world, says: let all ,the an-                         P E R I S C O P E
  gels of ,God' worship Him. Yea, at this very moment
.the  a,ngels come to minister unto Christ's needs in                DISCIPLINE
  the desert. And presently they sing: Worthy is the                        The  P&byteKan  Gua&cm of  N&.  15, 1952 has
  Lamb !                                                             an editorial in which, in conne&ion  with the last na-
         Behold, then,. the antithesis !             :          tional election, .the calling of the Church in respect to
         How wholly different this is from all speculation           sounding forth a clear testimony "on the subject of
  of the Greeks about the duality of good and evil. Ac-         righteousness in personal conduct" is discusssed.
  cording to this theory, part of the world was good and
  part of it was bad ; both of these * were such in their                   Writes the editor:
  very nature and, therefore, this state of affairs was                         There were undoubtedly many factors
  eternal. The worl,d  of man's, soul; the spirit `world                      which entered into the presidential election,
  was good and immortal (had an endless existence)                          L .by which one administration was swept out
  while the world of the material and tangible was e-                         of office and another swept .in. -But certain-
  vil. Such was the  ,evil teaching that was creeping                         ly at least one of those factors was the is-
  into the church in John's day in the name of sound                          sue of morality, or more simply of plain old-
  doctrine.                                                                   fashioned righteousness.
         Such is the dualism.                                                  .&The revelations of corruption in high
     But John maintains the antithesis.  -                                  `. places in the administration personnel had
     The "whole world" lies in darkness. All is under                         convinced many people that there could be
  sin. Man's  soul  and body are both corrupted with                          no effective clean-up without a thorough  '
  sin. And all sin  his iniquity. But Christ has come                         change.
  to destroy the works of the Devil, and the trne light                         Now there are many matters of national
  already  shineth; the darkness is past, the day has                         administration on which it may be difficult
  dawned in Christ -Jesus. His are all things. Satan                          of not impossible for the Christian Church
  is cast out ,because  he has nothing in Christ.                             to take a unified stand. But on the subject of
     And these two domains we cannot bring together                   `.      righteousness in personal conduct, there
  in spiritual unison. The table of Christ and of the                         ought to be no hesitancy. Here the church
  Devil have nothing in common. Light and darkness                            should speak with courage and authority.
  cannot go hand in hand. God is light and there is                         However, the writer of this article is convinced
  no darkness in Him at all. And the Children of God            that, if the Church is ever to live up to its high call-
  and the children of the Devil will surely come to mani-       ing, it is itself in sore need bf a housecleaning. Not
  festation antith%etically in t.his evil world ; they shall    only has it emphasized man's relation to man and
  do so very concretely.                                        failed to give the chief emphasis to Man's relation to
     To bring to light the children of God in an evil <God,  but it has also become lax in discipline. Writes
  world John admonishes the children no.t to love this          he :-
  world, as it wholly lies in sin -and subjects all things                      For the church is"the primary agency on
  under the power and dominion .of sin. Nothing is                           earth for  deilaring the Law of God. And
  sanctified by the world and set in the service of God.                     the, Law of God is the only true standard by
  Its very religiousness in theory and in practice (dual-                    which good and evil may be measured. It is
  ism and self-improvement) is godlessness.                                  right at this point that the church must face
     In this world we live as people of God on "old                          its responsi,bility i&he -present situation..
  year's eve" ; into this world. w,e will continue to move                   The church has in large measure failed to
in the year before us.                                                       declare unflinchingly the Law of God. And
     But He that sitteth on the throne is greet in power                     it .has failed to proclaim with certainty the
  and excellent in judgment. He keeps us by His Word                         cardinal doctrines it professes to believe, the
  and power in the faith that conquers the world. He                         facts of final judgment and eternal punish-
  says to His beloved children: Little children, keep                        ment. It has failed to confront men with the
  yourselves unpolluted from this evil world. Simply            c            reality of the living %od,. and the fact that
  say in obedience : it is written  .in the Book of  tehe                    every individual lives his  life' in the pre-
  Testimony of God concerning His Son that I shall not                       sence of God, who knows the life and heart
  love the world!                             Geo. Lubbers             .of man through and through.


  :
                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D  B E A R E R                                      167
                                  -    -                                                -~
         It is not strange that men brought up in            be called a sound judgment. In the meantime, I am
       churches where the talk is all of man's rela- ,..-    afraid that the writer himself was hardly motivated
       tion to man, and not at all of man's relation         by sound obje&ive judgment, but rather by the "sen-
       to. God, have yielded under pressure to con- ;        timent" that," per,haps,  under a democratic govern-
       duct contrary to God's standard of righteous-         ment Europe would more likely receive sufficient help
    ~ness                                                    from our country, both financially and otherwise, than
         But the church. has also failed in another          when the republican party occupies the seat of  go-
    -clirection,  in the administration of discipline        vernment in Washington. Writes he (I translate) :
    ,within its own ranks. The idea of church
   .' discipline has declined to the point where it                  In Western Europe, Fr. Roosevelt is great-
                                                                  ly honored, just as formerly was the ease
       is largely confined to removing from the                   with Wilson. And this is but natural, for it
       rolls of a church .persons .who never attend.
   But so o little do church. members think:: of              -  .must be attributed to both of the American
       ecclesiastical discipline and church member-.              interventions that Western Europe still lives
                                                                in freedom. No criticism of American er-
       ship, that at the first inkling of such a thing            rors, however necessary and justified, may
       the accused is liable to walk out ond join an-             cause us to forget this cardinal fact even
       other church body.                                         for a moment, nor may `we forget the ma-
         There must be a return to discipline in lo-              terial help of the last years. But in Ameri-
       cal churches, and in denominations, before                ,ca, where the large mass of people is as
       the voice of the church .calling for reform in             peace-loving as anywhere in the world . . .
       national affairs will be heard very clearly.               lives't,he recollection that it was the "peace
   Withy the contention that the Church on the whole          ` loving Democrats" which for the second time
is lax in discipline we can /agree. And, of course, we            now have caused America to participate in
also subscribe to the statement that "there must be a             the war; and therefore it is probably after
return to discipline in local churches, and in denomin-           all safer to have a Republican at the helm of
ations,' I si&ere$ `hoije "that the editor has also in            State.  _I __                             _ .__*.     _
                                                              . .
mind the need of a return to discipline iii-the local                Unjust asmay be this sentiment-a judg-
churches of his own denomination. In fact, it would               ment it can hardly be called-it  neverthe-
have been more salutary' had he written. specifically             l,ess seems to have influenced the election.
on this subject,' rather than write in,`.general  .on the         For many Eisenhower is the peace-general.
necessity of discipline in the churqh.' '       '  .,           The.writer seems- to forget that other factors must
   Moreover, the first and main.key  `of the kingdom of be taken into account that have at least just as much
heaven is always the preaching of the Word. It must          weight if not more. I  ref.er to`the well-known cor-
open and shut- the kingdom of heaven. Where such ruption, in Washington, and to the power of the la-
preaching, is lacking, it is virtually impossible to ap- bor unions. (At any rate, it seems to me that he was
ply Christian discipline.                                    motivated by sentiment at least as much as the A-
   Nor must the motive be that "the voice of the             merican people, only his sentiment was- ,exactly the
church calling for reform in national affairs" may be        opposite- from theirs. -H.H.
heard. The motive is the glory of Christ, the- preser-
vation of the church, as well as the salvation of the                              -::::
sinner. that repents.iH.H.

                    -::::-                                   THEOLOGICAL  DIALECTICEM vs. THE THREE POINTS
                                                                The R.efow&xZ  Journal, Dec. lg5?, has an interest-
DUTCH SENTIMENTS                                             ing article'by the Rev. James ~Daane on "Theological
   Polemios,. a Dutch paper devoted to general Cal-          Dialecticism,,. He introduces his article with the re-
vinistic principles, writes about .the recent national mark- that  "a, thology which acknowledges the  so-
elections in OLW country in such a way that one can' called  `a$barently contradictory,, but which always
almost read betw,een the lines that' the writer, Prof.       insists that apparent contradictions are not real con-
C. Gerretson, would have preferred to have seen Gov.         tradictions, is confronted with the delicate task of
Stevenson. elected and' the Democratic party continued preventing the apparently Ocontradictory  from becom-
in power. He writ+ `that the election of Gen. Eisen-         ing the really contradictory in actual r;eligjous thought
hower was largely motivated. by the desire of peace.         and  practice.  Only a measure of theological sensiti-
He calls this a "sentiment" and writes .that .it cannot. vity can prevent the apparent from becoming real.


168                                    T H E   - S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                           . __-.__-._- -                   -          -
Where the sensitivity is lacking, the insinuation of             plain what is the  .right interpretation of the  first
the dialectical method (the. method of :the `paradox,            poind. Is it that of Berkhof or Kuiper ? Does the
the Yes and No of Barthian theology, %K.) into re-               Rev. Daane have an interpretation. of his own which
ligious though. and practice% is inevitable."               2    is not really contradictory and which is in harmony
   He' then cites a .few illustrations of this tendency          with the Confessions? Again, the Rev. Daane writes
to employ the di.dlectical m'ethod in "common religious          that the "first point" is an error if it be interpreted
practice". `One sample. centers around the questions to mean that `God wills the salvation of all men in the
whether Reformed preaching is )God-centered  or Christ           game sense in which He wills the salvation of the e-
-oentered,  another around the attempt to be Calvin-             lect. I do not understand. Is there, then, any sense
istic and Arminian at the same time, a third &round              in which God tiills the salvation of the reprobate?
the question of supra and infra, a fourth around the                 Besides,, the Rev. Daane must not forget that the
relationship between prayer and work, a fifth around well-meant offer of salvation was adduced by the Sy-
the question of the general well-meant offer of salva-- nod of Kalamazoo to prove the contention that God is
tion. `On this be writes as follows i                            gracious to all men, -elect and reprobate. Hence, I
          In .the "Three Points" our Church stated               would put to the Rev. Daane the, old question that
        its belief in the general well-m,eant  offer of          has never been answered: what grace do the repro-
        salvation. Rightly interpreted, this point of            bate receive.`in the preaching of the gospel? -H.H.
        doctrine is completely acceptable. But if .it
       is interpreted to mean that God wills the sal-                                             El
        vavtioil of all men in the same sense in which`
        he wills the saivation of the elect, it has been                                IN MEMORIAM.                    d
        misinterpreted.- Such an interpretation would
        involve the necessity of accepting the truly             On Wednesday `afternoon, November 12. 1952, it pleased our
                                                                 Covenant God to .take from our side our beloved-husband and
        contradictory. Since the truly contradictory             father,                                        -  _
        dan be handled only-by a dialectical method,                                                                             0.
                                                                                      JOHNS  ~BRUMMEL
        the acceptance of the-truly contradictory in-            who passed away in Rochester, Minn,.at  the age of 38 years.
       terpretation of the general offer would not-                We are deeply grieved at this great loss, but we believe that
        clear the way for, but demand the accep-                 he is now at home with the Lord. We further trust that our
       tance of, t.he dialectical method. '                      heavenly Father Who  sustaine.d  us during the trying days of
                                                                 his brief illness will  .be our Refuge and our Fortress in the
          As everyone knows, the position that holds             fut.ure.-Psalm   91:1;2,.
       that #God equally and in the same manner                                                         The bereaved family :
       wills -the salvation of ,both elect and repro-                                                       Mrs. John Brummel  -
 ' bate is strictly an Arminian position. Is it                                                             Andrew Duane
       perhaps  signi-ficant that, with the exception                                                       Jane Audrey
                                                                                                            ICornie   LeRoy
  of the  "infra-supra," all the above cited in-                 Hull, Iowa
  stances  .of dialecticism in our practical reli-
       gious thinking constitute a movement away                                       -::::-
       from. the Reformed toward the Arminian  doc-
   trine  of. salvation? Pleas for a  Christ-cen-
       teredness as against a ,God-centeredness,  for                                 I N   M E M O R I A M
       a tempering of  .Calvihism  by  Arminianism;               -1On the evening of the 12th of December it pleased God to
       for a dialectical relationship between prayer             take unto His eternal home our beloved daughter and sister
       and work in' which prayer itself becomes a                                   CATHERINE VAN HARN
       human work on which salvation depends, are                at the age of 44 years._
       all of them pleas, however unwittingly voic-                We are comforted in. the knowledge  that our loss was her
                                                                 gain, and that God doeth all things well.
       ed, for the displacement of the Reformed  ' . .             "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are
       conception of salvation by grace `alone by                not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be re-
       the Arminian conception, in which  aGod e-                vealed in  us7Romans  8:lS.
       qually wills the salvation of all men, and in                                            Mr. .and Mrs. -Herbert Van Harn
       which everything does indeed `depend on the                                             Mrs. Frances  Nouse
                                                                               /                Mr. and Mrs. Peter  Schippers
       prayers and work of the individual sineer,                                               Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Van H&n
       be he elect or reprobate.                                                                Miss Jean Van Harn
1 It is deplorable-that the -Rev. Daane does not ex-                                          Miss  Johanna  Van Harn
                                                                 Gran.d Rapids, Michigan

                                                  ,
                .                                                      -I


