 .- VOLUME  XXIX                               JANUARS   15, 1953  -  GRAND   RAPIDS,   MICHIGAN                                 NUMBER   8  a
                                                                                                                                           ,

                                                                             den ons  -vreemd  aan. En zijn  tie geneigd om  ve&vonI.
         M-EDITATI6N  .:. derend  te vragen: in wat  i.oestand en  voor  vdat  vtilk
                                                                             hebben  deze woorden hun  beteekenis? Toeh zeker  r&t
                                                                             in ons  wereldje? Want  he;t tegenovergestelde schijnt
      De  Belofte Van  Zekere  Bevrecliging  _                               meer  waarheid  te bevatten.          Bidt,- en  ge zult  zek&
                                                                             nief  ontvangeti  ; zoekt,  en ge zult het  ,gezochte   tech
               "Bidt en  u  zai  gageven  worden;   zoek#t   .en gij zult    niet vinden  ;  ~l@pt, en men werpt de deur  voo,r Uw  aan-
           vinden; klopt, en  u zal opengedaan  w&den.  Want                 gezicht- toe.  "De: orde in deze wereld schijnt te zijn:
          :een~iegelijk  die bidt, die ontvangt; en die  zo,ekt, die
           vin,dt;  en die -klopt,  dien zal opengedaan worden.       Of     Neerqt,   indi&ti*ge  iet$  ,i;venscht te bezitten  ;. steelt,  in-
           Teat  m&s&is  er onder U, zo:o  zijn zoon hem zoude               dien ge' rijkdommen-  tienseht  ;  breekt'  tipen de  dcuren
           bidden om brood, die heni eenen :$een zal geve'n.,  en
           ZOO  hij hem om  #e&en   visch  zoude   bidden,  die hem          die U  buiten&..Cten van het  bege&de. De algemeene
           ekne slang  zal geven? Ilndien  dan gij, die  boos  zijt,         ondervinding des levens zijn bittere teleurstellingen,
           weet  .uwen   kinderen  goede gaven  .te  geven?   hoeveel
           te  m.eer  zal.  uw Vader  Die in de  hemelen   IS, goede         geweigerde  smeekbeden,..  en een.. gedurig zoeken naar
           gaven  g&n  dengenen die ze van Hem bidden.                       schimmen die ons  .ontvlieden.  En alle zulke  worste-
                                                      -Matth.  7:7-11        lingen en pogingen  maken ons oud yoor  onzen  tijd en
    Ik heb  al .vaak  tienschen  hoor& zeggen:  IB bad                       stemmen tot,  groote droefheid. En de avond van ons
den  Beere,  do&Hij.  heeft mijne bede niet verhoord.                        lcven  vindt ons ledig en  ijdel. Deze tekst past zeker
Ik heb het  oak' vaak  gelezen.   Ai  zuik zeggen,  echter,                  niet in de wereld van den  natuu&jken,mensch.                Door
gaat  lijnrecht  in-tegen  IGods Woord. Het is  eetivoudig I  alle  eeuw.en  hken hoort ge het schreeuwend vragen:
niet  was?, dat er-onverhobrde  gebedeli  zijn. Die  idee                    Geeft, o  -geeft.  ,:ons  tech ! E r   i s   &5n  groote  toestem-
druischt ieker in tegen, wat in mijn  teksi geleerd                          mirtg : we  missen  zooieel, zoo ontzaglijk  .veel! ,On!ze
wordt. Tot  tweetiaal toe wordt de  sei-ie van  gezeg-                       harten zijn verlangend en hunkerend naar allerlei
deny dienaangaande herhaald.  .Met nadruk  lee& de                           schatten,  doch wij  $eilen en wij kunnen onze  ideal?6
Heere hier, dat de  gebedeli,   d&t alle gebeden  vtirvuld                   niet  ,verwerkelijken.  ,Ge kunt  dqarom boven de  his?
worden en verhoord. Jezus  zegt'  eenvoudig: Want een                        torie der wereld  schrijveq:  XJdelheid  der  ijdelhedeh
iegelijk die  biclt, die  otitv&$. Kan het  s6ms  `nog`posi-                 het is al ijdelheid.  : Het  sehijlit ook al' niet  tti  passen
tiever- geiegd  tiorden dan dit? Hoi komt het  dall dat                      bij de wereld  der,  G>&r@tenen:. Lazarus  ligt  aan den
vele'  Ga-I1 Gods  Kinderen  spreken van  bnverhoorde  ge-                   pboyt, des rijken  vol  zweereq. De rechtvaardigen zijn
bed&i?  Om'  bet  anttioord  lx2  iriliden  op `die  Vraa$ moet              vaak~ gesteenigd geworden, in stukken gezaagd,  ver-
ge  luisteren naar  `J$kobus. 1~  .zijn brief verklaart  h$j                 zocht, door het zwaard ter dood gebracht, hebben  ge-
deze'kwestie.       Hij zegt  inimers:  ,Gij bidt,  &n.gij  Gnt-             wandeld in schaapsyellen en geitenvellen, verlaten,
vangt niet, omdat gij  kwalijk, bidt,  opdat gij het -in                     verdrukt, kwalijk behandeld  iijnde . . .  hebben in  woes-
uwe wellusten doorbrengen zoudt. Daar  wringt hem .tijnen  gedoold  en op  bergen en in spelonken en in de,
de* schoen.      Als men  onverhoorde gebeden  ervaart                       bole?, der  aarde:   In  mijn gedachten  hoor  ik het  sp@-
komt het enkel en  alleen van het  feilt, dat men kwalijk,                   ten  :der goddeloozen:  Komaan dan, gij-  Christenen,'
dat is, verkeerd bidt.` Alle  ware bidden  word& `altijd                     bier  hebt ge  .-ixv kans :  `vraagt   sl&hts   es zoekt, klopt
verhoord,  zegt Jezus  in.mijn  tekst.
                             L                                               -aan de  deur van God.  E.r  schijnen geen  &enzen te
                            *  *- a  *                                       zijri voor  :uw bevrediging. Jezus zegt het  immers.?
                                                       :i  -._         .     .E;enwel;  T;rie  zienrd&t   hei  een~ schertsen van God en
   `Bij  h&  -e,erstc lezen van  inijn tekst  doen deze  woor-               van  Jezus is  ,o$ `zoo te  spr&ken  tot  U..  I&et` is  .een


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 70.                                   T H E   &ANDAIID  BEARER

schimmenbeeld, dat voor  `Uy  al;me oogen opgehangen              deren  :Gods  gerekend  worden. En wat beduidt nu die
wordt, want ge hebt niet en ge vergaat hier op aarde.             term:  kinderen der  belof_tenis?  Het  a&woord  op die
Voor eeuwen lang  zijt  ge  vertrapt door ons, en `er is          vraag beluisteren we  in.  `Gal.  4-:23.  -Daar staat dit:
geen helper. Zoo  hoor ik het  spotten   d&r, goddeloozen.        "Maar gene die uit de  di,enstmaagd  was, is naar het
En  &s bedenken des  vleesches, het  woelen van de  be;           vlecsch  geboreli, geweest  ;  doch deze die uit de vrije
wegingen der  zond&.+dig nog in ons overig zijn,  iijn            was; door de  beloftenis." Dus de beloftenis is de  moe-
gerieigd: om het  de&e spotters toe te  stemmen. D&kt
        . ;:                                                      dor der ware  kinderen Gods. En dat is  geheel en al
hier&.aan Asaf die in psalm 73 zoo klaagde. Hij  zag              haar wat  de doorloopende lijn is der Heilige  Schrift.
de  voo?spoed  der  goddelcizen en  d,e armoede en smart          Overal  wor,dt geleerd, dat de ware  kinderen  ,Gods  ge-
der  .rechtvaardigep. En hij riep eindelijk in  vertwij-          boren  worden `door het almachtige Woord van God.
feling uit: Zou  &.;wel:  wetenschap  zijn bij den  Alier-        Het is de  onwedeixtandelijke genade die elk kind Gods
hoogste? Tevergeefs heb it mijn  handen in onschuld               zijn twcede,  zijn  gcestelijke geboorte schenkt. En tot
gewas$len.  Ja, ons  vleesch zou het toe  willen  stem-           hen  richt Jezus Zijn belofte van mijn tekst. Dat is
men-: l$n de woorden van Jezus  l&ken heel vreemd.                overduidelijk uit het huidige  ve.rband.  .Immers, mijn
Di,e  bi'dt ontvangt? Altijd? `Ja, Jezus zegt het.  l\jIen        tekst is  genomen uit  ,de bergrede. En die  bergrede
kan, men mag daar niet niede knoeien.  -Een  iegelijk             is- de wet van: het  KoqinkTijl;  #Gods. En de  Heere  Je-
die bidt, die  ontvtingt;  en die zoekt, die  vindt; en die       zus heeft tot in  bizofiderheden de burgers van dat  he:
klopt, dien zal opengedaan  worden. Dat  zqllen we  lat-          melsche, geestelijke Koninkrijk beschreven, en dat  we1
en staan, want die het sprak heeft den naam van                   bij het begin van de bergrede. Die deze belofte  ontvan-
Waarheid. Maar we  stemmen toe : het schijnt vreemd.              gen van zekere bevrediging zijn de  arm&z van geest,
Het doet ons vreemd  aan om het te  hoor,en betuigen:             degenen die treuren met de  d?oefheid naar God, de
een iegelijk gebed wordt verhoord ! (Orn het goede  ant-          za'chtmoedigen  van harte, die hongeren en dorsten  ntiar
woord te zoeken op  de vragen die  zich  aan ons  opdrin-         de gerechtigheid,. de barmhartigen, de  reinen van hart
gen  zullen we nu  letten op het feit, dat dit  `een  bijzon-     en de vredemakers. Di.e  worden hier  toegegproken, en
dere  belofte is.                                                 niemand meer. Het Evangelie  tiordt tot  allen  gepre-
                                                                  dikt,  insluitendf ook vele verworpenen,  doch de  in-
                         *  *`*  *                                houd `van het Evangelie is. altijd  particulier,  d.w.?., het
                                                                  betreft  alleen de  uitverko&enen.  Let er maar  .op, dat
                                                                  overal die uitverkorenen beschreven  worden : het komt
    En dan is het  "overduidelijk,  dat dit een  bijzondere       tot die  ,wiZZen, en dan weet gij  allen die den geheelen
belofte is vanuit het oogpunt der  voorw,erpen  -der  be-         -Bijbel  gelobven, dat die wil, die gewilligheid  geschon-
lofte. En nu weet ge  allen, dat er veel  contrabande   $s        ken wordt  ~aap Gods  volk,  aan  d,e dorstigen, de  geloov-
op het Gereformeerde erf  dienaangaande.   Er zijn er             vigen, de treurenden over hunne zonden,  ,enz. En zoo
die deze belofte algemeen  maken. Dan is de gedachte,             is het immers hier ook in  *bet verb&d? Noemde  .ik
dat Jezus  deze  ~belofte deed  aan  all,e menschen, hoofd        U niet  $e lijst op  uit de zeven zaligsprekingen? Is
voor hoofd.  ,Of ook, dat Jezus deze belofte geeft  aan           er iemand  .oqder U die zou durven beweren, dat in die
alle mensehen die onder het Verbond der genade  ,gebo-            zaligsprekingen ook  I de verworpenen  ingesloten  wor-
ren en getogen iijn,  a$n beide de verworpenen en  ver-           den die  ond,er het verbond geboren en getogen zijn?
korenen.        Het geheele  gedoopt,e Christendom  wordt         We1 neen  tech.? Maar ook de tekst zelfs geeft  duide-
dan toegeroepen : De  Heere is Zijn.  Wobzd  aall. U              lijk  b,ewijs  ,dat dit een particuliere belofte is.  .Staat
kwijt: Hij  heeft, het  aan U  alleil beloofd: Die. bidt,         & niet in  vers 11: "hoeveel te meer zal uw  Yader die
ontvangt ! Het wordt  brutaal weg gezegd: alle  ge-               in de hemelen is, goede gaven  &even dengenen die ze
doopte  kinderen zijn-  kinderen der  belofte. En men
vergeet, dat  ,de  kinderen der  belofte.d&  kinderen  ,Gods      van  Hem bidden?" Is- het nu niet duidelijk,  d$t de
                                                                  voorwerpen van deze  belofte uitsluitend de  kinder.en
zijn, de uitverkorenen en niemand meer. Let op Rom.
9 :6-8. Daar.  staat   `dit :  `Doch ik zeg dit niet alsof het    Gods zijn ? Er is  tech geen Gereformeerd mensch  on-
W&d Gods ware uitgevallen. Want die zijn niet  al-                der U die gelooft  aan  een algemeen  Vaclerschap Gqds ?
len Israel die uit Israel zijn ; noch omdat  zia Abrahams         Want dat is de vuile leuze der Modernen. Neen, deze
zaad zijn,  ,zijn zij  allen  kinde,ren,  maar : In Isaak zal     belofte is een-bizondere belofte, en raakt alleen Gbds
U het zaad  genoemd  worden:  flat is,  niet de  kinderen         ware,volk. Bovendien is deze  bqlofte  bijzonder ook uit
des vleesches, die zijn  kinderen Gods  ; maar de  kinder-        nog een andes opzicht.  .Het  gaat in deze belofte van
en der  beloftenig  wordeti voor het  `zaad gerekend."            zekere bevrediging niet over alle soort  dingen; maar
Hicr wordt  tech immers duidelijk geleerd, dat de  kin-           alleen over goede gaven, Straks daar meer over. Ik
deren die  wij kweeken  geeI;  kinderen  ~Gods  zijn,  doch       mil alleen hier maar duidelijk  maken, dat men  als  kin-
dat de  kipderen  der  beloftenis   voor  het.zaad, voor  kin-    decen Gods niet maar bidden kan  om  allerleiPdingen,


                                            fj.J--f:   .,.pp*N.j)*~b   Bjj*QGR                                                              i71

 wat'dan ook.  `0  neen; En Gods kind weet dat ook.                    zal -de  hemelsbhe  Vader den Heiligen  ,Geest geven  den-
 Ze hebben  geleeyd, dat het  warle bidden de hoogste en               genen die Hem bidden ! .Daar ziet ge duidelijk  waar-
 de lieflijkste openbaring van dankbaarheid is. En  ,dat               om het is dat deze ware  bid.de.rs altijd verhoord  wor-
 bidden het  moeilij'kste  werk is voor  ,een  -#Christen.             den. De goede gaven van mijn tekst zitten vast  aan
 Want, en hier valt  allen nadruk op: men moet steeds                  den  Heiligen  i;eest. Bidt gerust om  genade`en deugd,
 bidden naar  %ods wil, overeenkomstig  (Gods  wil. En een             vergeving van zonden" en goedheid. Bidt om de  ju-
 rechtgeaard Christen wil niet  anders. bidden.                 Hij    welen van Gods trouwverbond, om wijsheid en  ver-
 heeft immers Zijn Vader lief boven  all,es? En de Cekst               stand, en  `God zal Uw bede altijd  verhooren; Zegt  Ja-
*zel$?brengt hem op weg. Want hij spreekt van goede                    kobus daf ook niet? Indien iemand wijsheid-ontbreke,                                 -
 gaven. En als we dan niet  weten  wat'  goed voor ons                 dat hij ze van  ,God begeere die mildelijk geeft en niet
 is, en dat  geschiedt vaak, dan zeggen we  aan het ein-de             verwijt !     En Jezus. zeide elders: Zijt  niet bezorgd
 van onze bede: Heere, wij  weten niet wat wij bidden                  voor uw leven, wat gij eten en wat gij  drinken zult,
 zullen gelijk het behoort, en  daarom,  ni& mijn wil,                 noch voor  uw  lichaam waarmede gij u kleeden  zult,
 doch Uwe wil  -geschiede.   41s ik gebeden heb, He&e,                 enz. Neen, ook  daar.`tijn het de goede gaven die  ver-
 om  dingen die niet  goed voor mij zijn, onthoud ze'dan               band houden met den  Keiligen Geest, waar we om  moe-
van mij,  ,doch geef mij wat  ,Gij  Heerg, weet dat  goed              ten vragen  en waarnaar'we  moeten hongeren. "En dat
voor mij is. Zi5daar, het  duidelijlfst bewijs voor de                 is rijk. En de belofte is rijk. Hebt ge die goede ga-
D stelling, dat we hier een bijzondere belofte hebben.                 ven, dan behoeft  age eigenlijk niets anders.  Dan zijt
                                                                       ge gelukkig hier op aarde, en zult ge eeuwig gelukkig
                                                                       zijn daarboven bij  God:
                     *,*       *       *                  ,-                                                                    -G. Vos.               _

    Doch die belofte is ook rijk.  _  we ontvangen goede
 gaven op ons gebed. Zoo  zegt het Jezus.  Doch nu                                               -1-I:
 komt deze  vraag ons tegen: wie zal  be_slissen  wat  goe-
 de gaven zijn ? Wie zal  daarover beslissen?  Datgene
 mat ons  goed toelijkt? Datgene  tiat  goed lijkt  van-                                  WEDDING  ANNIVERSARY
 uit ons aardsche oogpunt? 10, de  ver'zoeking zal er  we1               C$ Monday, January 19 our dear  patents,
 altijd blijven om zoo te bidden. Maar wie zijn  Bij-                                 MR. AND MRS. HENRY BRANDS
 be1  kent, en zoo God heeft  leeren kennen weet dat  m.en             hope to celebrate  t.heir   301th Wedding  Annversaiy.
 dan  alzoo niet meer  aan  bet bidden is. Dan  wordt ons                We are indeed thankful to our God for `having  spa<ed"them
 gebed ijdel. Zeg, dat Uw lieve vrouw doodziek ter                     for eachother and us.
                                                                         Our .prayer  is that God may bless thkm in the way thart lies
 neder  .ligt. En ge hebt haar zoo hartstochtelijk  lie!.              ahead. And that in all' their experiences they may enjoy the
 Ge kunt  -haar niet  missen.        0 God, maak  tech- mijn           peace which alone  oan be found in Him.
 vrouw beter ! Zoo krijt Uw  bloedende hart. Maar is                                                Their Grateful Children: .
 dat bidden? Ge  weet' beter.  Als ge zoo bidt, dan is                                                    Mr.  and Mrs.  `Aathur   Sehuiteman
 Uw bede goddeloos.       Ste&  .het U voor  :. God is een                                                Mr. and Mrs. Henry Brands
 `plaats  klaarmaken voor Uw vrouw. Haar tijd is naar                                                     Mr. and  Mrs; Peter  Vande,  Tfkg;te
 Zijn wijs  `Goddelijk  best61 klaar.       En  `God  `komt tot                                             and 4  grandchildrein
 U en haar, en Hij zegt tpt U beiden van haar :  Bereid                2146 Kalamazoo Ave., SE.
                                                                       Grand Rapids, Michigan
 Uw huis, mijn kind, want gij  meet sterven. Uw
 plaats- hier bij Mij is gereed gemaakt. Ik  w,eet- wel,
 dat God zoo niet  .letterlijk  spreekt,  zooals tot  HiSkia.                                    -:-::
 Maar  feitelijk  maakt dat  .geen  verschil. God zegt: die
 woorden, b.v., door Uw vrouw een ongeneeslijke kwaal                                            IN  MEMORIAM
 te  geven.  Zqlt gij dsn  d&n Heere  smeek,en  en zeggen:               De Hollandsche Mannenvereeniging van de First Prot. Ref.
 Heere, ik kan haar niet  missen? Neen  tech. In dit                   Church betreuit  het verlies van een zeer geliefd en getrouw  lid,
 geval zegt ge: Heere, ik dank U, dat ik haar  zoolang haar vice-president, broecler,                          2                                  r
 mocht hebben, en  nu  IGij haar van mij  weg neemt, bid                                           G. KOSTER
 ik-U: open wijd Uwe drmen van liefde, en  n.eem haar                  en betuigt _ bij dezen hare innige deelneming  aan  de beclroefde
 tot U. Uw wil geschiede. En: des Heeren naam zij                      we&we   ten familie.
 geloofd.  `Goede gaven. Leest deze zelfde rede van  Je-                 Wij zijn  verzekerd,  d.at hij  inix boven  Salle   &ijd verheven  uit
                                                                       de strijdende kerk verlost  is.
 zus in  Lucas; en dan  zult ge  zi,en, dat Lucas een  corn-             ,Moge de Heere  rijkelijkbo$sem   giFten  iti de  geslagene  wonde.
 mentaar  gegeven heeft over deze goede gaven. Want                                        .-                       N.  Dijkstla,  Pres.
 hij zegt in. zijn editie van de  Bergrede  <hdeyeel  te meer                                                       G.  Bo%hin,   mSec'y.   I.


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 172                                                                                                         THjE',                         ,c$II'ANj-,ARD                       .BB,,&RER'


                                          T           H    E                            iTANDARD   BEARER  `*  ~'                                                           E  D I  `I.0  R I  A`L S
                  ,Semi-monthly,   exce$   nio&y in July and  `August
               Published by the Reformed  Fr& Publishing  A&ociation
          *            `. Box 124, Station C., Grand. Rapids 6, Michigan
                 t I,
                 _.                                                                                                                                                     The Deposition of  An  Off~cebearer
                               FDITOR   - Rev. Herman Hoeksema
               CbmLunications  relative to contents should be addressed.                                                                                           The way  iti which an officebearer, whether he be
               to -Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 `Franklin St., S. E.,-Grand                                                                                          minister,  ,elder, or deacon, may be and must be sus-
  ,Rapids  7,  M i c h i g a n .   I
  1  .`A11 matter relative to. subscription  should  be addressed                                                                                              pended, and ultimately deposed, horn his office, is in"
               to Mr.  J.-  Bouwman,   .1350 Giddings Ave., S. E., Grand                                                                                       itself perfectly plain from the Church Order, as also
          `Rapids 6,  Micl~gan,   ktinounizem&nts  and Obituaries must                                                                                         frbm. the  F.ormula  of Subscription.
   be mailed to the a.bove  address and will be published at a
  -8 fee of  ,$il.Ofl for each notice.                                                                                                                              The articles of the  ,Church   `Order that are applic-
   . . Renewals:- UQss  a definite request for discontinuance                                                                                                  able to this matte? are  Articles 79 and  80. They read
          is received, it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the                                                                                           as follows:
    "`subscl:ip+ion   tb continue  without'tiie formality of a re-
          newal  prder.                                                                                                                                             "When  mir@ters of the Divine Word, elders or
                                          Sub.scription   $icei  $4.00  per year                                                                               deacons, have  comiinitted  any  public,gross sin,  w&h
          Entered as Second Class  &ail -at `Grand Rapids, Michigan                                                                                            is a disgrace to the church, or worthy of punishment  j
  .;-.                               ..-'
                                                 `I  >`.,  .;                                                                                     .            by the  .$uthorities,  the elders and deacons shall im-
                                                                                                        __                  :             C...                 mediately by preceding sentence of the consistory
                                                                                                                                                               thereof and of the nearest church, be suspended or ex-
                                                                                                                                                               pelled  from their  of&e, but the ministers  shali only be
                                                                                                 e-w                                                          suspended. Whether these shall be  enti,rely deposed
                                                      -   .:  ~
                                                 u                                                                                                             from office, shall be  subject to the judgment of the
                                                                                                                                                               classis,  with the advice  .of the delegates of the synod
                                                                                                       _  :                                                    mentioned in article 11.
                                                                                                                                                                    "Furthermore, among the gross sins, which are
                                                                                                                                                               worthy of being  pdnished with suspension or  depos-
                                                      .c:ONTE'NTS                                                      ^                                       ~ition from office, these are the principal ones: false
- MHDITATION-
   __I                                                                                                                            .                            doctrine  or heresy, public schism, public blasphemy,
                 De` Belofte  van Zekere &&diging . . . . . . . . . . .._........... 169
                                                                                                                            I"                                 simony, faithless desertion of office  01' intrusion upon
   _                   Ry  G .   v?s                        . . .                : . . .         `_                 .  <*.  /L.  :.                            that of another, perjury, adultery, fornication, theft,
 EDITORIALS-                                                                                                        I,,.?.   "
                                                                           i-                                                                                  Bets of violence, habitual drunkenness, brawling, fil-
                 The Deposition of  An Officebearer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..L.... 172
                 Rev.  .H.  Hoeksema                                                                                                                           thy lucre ; in short, all sins and gross offenses, as ren-
                                                                                            .                                                                  der  the  perpet.ra'tors  infamous  b,efore the world, and
 THE  TRIPL$   KNOWLEDGE-                                                                                                                                      which in  .any private member of the  chtirch would be
               An Exposition of the Heidelberg catechism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175                                                               considered worthy of excommunication."
                         Rev.  H.  tideksema                                                                                                                        However, it must not be forgotten. that this is not
 OUR   DOCTRINB-
          - God's Providence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ . . . . . . . . * . . L,. . . . . . . . .- 179                                            the only way in which a minister, elder, or deacon,
                         Rev. H.  Veldman                            '                                                                                         may at least be  suspend.ed from office. He certainly
                                                                                                        ,                                                      may also be suspended  de  facto,  without the advice
 IN  HIS  FEAR-
                 Looking to, the Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ;. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183                                                   of the consistory of the nearest church, when` he vio-
                         Rev. H. C.  .Hoeksema                                                                                                                 lates the oath of office as it  is. recorded in the Formula
 FROM   HOLY   W                                                                                                                                               of.  Subscripti&,  which we here quote :
                                          R I T -
                 Exposition of I John 2:15-l?,  . . . . :. . :. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185                                                       "We, the undersigned,. professors of the Protes-
                         Rev. G. C. Lubbers                                                                                            .,  *-                  tant Reform&l Churches, ministers of the Gospel, `el-
 2%~  DAY  OF  SHADOWS-                                              _'                                                                                        ders and deacons of the  Pl"otestant.Refdrmed   congre-
                 David's Flight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187                                                          gation"of . . . . . . . . . . . :, of Classis .;..,. . . . . . . . do hereby  sinc_erel
                 G o d 's   L o v e   o f   Z i o n   ,. . .. . ~~~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~........~                                                         189     ly and in good conscience before the Lord, declare- by
                         Rev.  G. M. Ophoff
 PERISCOPE-                                 '                                    /._                                                                          this, our subscription, that we heartily believe and are
                 The Off-scouring of `All Things -. .-. . . . . . . . . . . . :. . . . . .`. 191 persuaded that all the articles and points of  dbctrine
                `Chc&ing  the Right Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :. . 19i                                                          contained in the Confession and Catechism of the  Re-
                         Rev. H. Hqeksema                                                                                                                      formed-  IChurches, together with the explanation of
                         .           4                                                                                                                         some  points of  the aforesaid doctrine, made  by the  Na-

                                                                                                              -.


                                .


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                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                            173

      tional Synod of Dordrecht,  16U-`19,  do fully agree           .is, therefore, the deputies that must be present at the
      with the Word  ,of- God           _                            ,examination of a candidate.
         "We promise therefore diligently  Ito teach and                About this no more need be said. It is plain in  it-
      faithfully to defend  th,e aforesaid doctrine, without self.
      either directly or -indirectly contradicting the same,            However, we would like to add-a few words about
      by our public preaching or  writing.                           the last clauses of  drticle 80:  "in short, all sins and
         "We declare, moreover, that we  not only reject all         gross' offenses,  .as render the perpetrators infamous
      errors&hat  mi!itate against this doctrine and  partic-        bef,ore  the world, and which in any private member of
      ularly those which were condemned  by  the above  men-         the church would  be.`considered  worthy of  excommun-
      tioned synod, but that we are disposed to  refute and  ication*"            -
      contradict these, and to exert ourselves in keeping the           It  isj therefore, a very pertinent question:  when is
      church free from such errors. And if hereafter any             a common member of the church considered worthy of
      difficulties of different sentiments respecting the a-  excomgunication?
      foresaid doctrines should arise in our minds, we  pro-            The  question- is often, asked: when may an  office-
      mise that we will neither publicly nor privately  pro-         bearer, and especially a minister of the gospel, be
      pose, teach, or defend the same, either by preaching           d,eemed worthy of deposition? -And the answer, ac-
      or writing, until we have first revealed such sentiments       cor.ding to Art; 80 of the Church Order, is evidently:
      to the  con&tory,   classis   atid synod, that the same may    only `when he committed a sin that is worthy of excom-
      be there examined, being ready always cheerfully to            munication in any common member.
      submit to th.e judgment of the consistory,  hiassis  ancl
      `synod, under the penalty  in4case of refusal to be, by           Suppose, then, that a  minister makes one or two
      that very  fact, suspended from  `our office.             . false statements from the pulpit,  ihat are evidently
                                                                     not in harmony with our confessions. Must he then
         "And further, if at any time the  c&sistory,  clas-         immediately be suspended or deposed?
      sis or synod, upon sufficient grounds of suspicion and            Of course not.
      to  pr&erbe the uniformity and purity of doctrine,  may
      deem it proper to  require of us a further explanation            If his attention is called to it, or if protests are lod-
      of our sentiments respecting any particular article of         ged against such statements,  the minister, if he real-
      the Confession of Faith, the Catechism, or the explan-         ly loves  the truth,  iyill be glad to apologize and re-
      ation of the National  Synod, we, do hereby promise to         tract such false statements, wherever they have been
      be always willing and ready to comply with such  re-           &de, whether from the pulpit or in another public
      quisition, under the  penalty. above mentioned, reserv-        meeting, or even in private conversation.        I f   t h i s   i s
      ing for ours-elves, however, the right of an appeal,           done, no further action need be taken.
      whenever we shall believe ourselves  aggr.ieved  by the        But suppose that a minister repeatedly reveals
      sentence of the consistory, the  classis or the synod, and     ,Arminian tendencies, `or preaches Arminian doctrines.
      until a decision is made upon such  an- appeal,  we will       Suppose, moreover, that his attention is repeatedly
      acqtiiesce  in the determination and judgment  alkeady         called -to the errors in  -his preaching, and that he does              .
      passed."                                                       not voluntarily retract or apologize.. Suppose that the.
.~
         From the articles of the Church  Order quoted a-            consistory officially condemns such error's  an4 de-
      bove, it is evident that an officebearer cannot be  SUS-       mands a public apology. Then, if the minister does
      pended or deposed on the basis of any  min.or  offense.        not repent and  stu.bbornly  refuses to retract and apol-
      The suspension or deposition must take place upon the          dgize;  .is he not-worthy of deposition, and at the same
      basis of "any public, gross sin, which is a disgrace to -time of  excqmmunication?                        :
                                                                                        0
      -the church,  .or worthy of punishment by the auth-             . He certainly is.
      orities." And  som.e of  *he gross sins that are worthy           When is a common member finally excommunica-
      of suspension or deposition, or both, are ennumerated          ted? Is~it because of the fact itself, that he commit-
      in Article 80. Moreover, it is  cle$r from Art.- 79 that       ted  `a `gross sin, whether it be false doctrine, theft,
      a distinction is made between ministers, on the one            fornication, adultery, or even murder?
      hand, and  elders and deacons, on the other.  T.he  lat-
      teG  mai be deposed immediately by the consistory and             Be never is.
      that of the nearest church. The former may only be                The church does not have  the.sword power, but the
      suspended, while their deposition rests  wilth the judg-       key power. And that key power implies that no mat-
      ment of the  classis and the advice of the delegates of        ter how heinous the offense may be, if the  sinner re-            -
      synod mentioned in Art.  11 of the Church Order, that          pents,  ,the church forgives in the name of Jesus Christ


             174                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                              _.

              and declares him to be a free citizen of the kingdom              It is very  evident;therefore, that  our  fathers con-
              of heaven.                                                       sidered the "heart of- the church", that is, the doctrine
                     Ultimately, therefore, it is the sin of impenitence       of election, extremely important, and that they  w,ese
             which is worthy of excommunication.                               dreadfully afraid of the Arminian errors.
                     The same is true  df a minister.                             And no wonder !  For,not only had they discovered
                                                                               by experience how easily the church is corrupted and
                     It is not because of one or  t&o or even several  ,er-    in what  su,btle ways Arminianism creeps into  the-
            roneous statements which a minister may make from                  church of Christ, but they also understood quite cor-
             the pulpit that he is either deposed or excommunica-              rectly that it is exactly this error by which the church
             ted.                                                              is most readily and easily deceived.
                     But if he refuses to  apolbgize  and repent, and              Therefore the Formula continues, to exact from
             therefore leaves the  inipressioti that he insists on con-        the  offlcebearers  the pledge  that they will "neither pub-
             tinuing to preach erroneous doctrine,  he no doubt is             licly nor privately propose, teach, or defend the same,
             worthy not only of deposition from  of&e;  -but- for the          either by preaching or writing," until they first have
             same reason also of excommunication from the church               revealed their deviating sentiments by way of  grava-
             of Christ.                              -
                                                                               men to consistory,  classis  And synod.
                     But as  I remarked above,  -  thepe is still another         But there is still more.
           cause and another way of suspension of a minister,
             elder, or  ,deacon.                                                  The officebearers, and  esl&ially the ministers, al-
                                                                               so promise that they will be always ready and will-
                     That is the way of the Formula of Subscription,           ing to submit to an examination, or to the require-
             which  tiay be called the oath of office.                         ment of a further explanation respecting any partic-
                     Notice how  c'arefully  and forcefully this' Formula      ular article of the confessions above named. Such a
             is worded.                                                        requirement can be made upon the officebearer "upon
                     In this formula "We promise therefore  diligently         sufficient grounds of suspicion and to preserve the un-
             to teach  and-faithfully to  defend  the aforesaid doc-           iformity  and  purity of doctrine." And if the  office-
             trine, without  eithec  directly  or  +nd+ectly  contmdic-        bearer, minister, elder, or deacon,. should ever refuse
             ting  the  same, by our public preaching and writing." to submit to such an examipation upon the grounds
             .(Un~derscoring  is mine,  H.H..)                                 `of  suspi&dn,  he would by that very act  (cle  facto)
                     Wle would probably  de&m this pledge quite suffic-        be  -suspended  from  hi? office.
             ient. But our fathers thought differently. To the a-                 ;Of course, he may appeal to the broader gathering:
             bove they add:                                                    But in the meantime he will  1:emain suspended.
                                                                                                                              :.
                     "We,declare, moreover, that we not only reject all         This, therefore, is another way in  tihich a minis-
            errors that militate against this doctrine and  partic-            ter, elder, or deacon may be  suspended from  his "office,
             ularly those which were condemned by the above men-                  And it is a  very important  w%ay, because it  coti-
-.         _ tioned synod, but that we are disposed to refute and              terns purely  th&matter of doctrine.
             contradict these, and to exert ourselves  iii keeping the                                                               H.H.
             Church free from such errors.".                                                      -:-:---
                 How dreadfully afraid our fathers were of false
             doctrine, and especially of the  erroi of  Arminianism.
             The ministers promise. that they shall diligently- teach                    -.        .CLAS;SIS  WE:ST
             and faithfully defend the  .doctrine -expressed in the
             confessions, the Heidelberg Catechism, the  Nether-                 `Classis West meets in the Protestant Reformed at
             land Confession; -and the Canons of  Dordrecht.  They             Sioux Center, Iowa, on Wednesday, March 1, 1953.
             .promise that they will never contradict these, either                                                 M.  Gritter,s,  S.C.
             directly or indirectly. But even this is not  sufficiept;
             We  `also promise not only that we reject the  Arminian                              -:::---
             errors which are referred to in  th.e clause "particular-
             ly those which were condemned by the above mention-
             ed synod," but also that we are disposed; positively,                   Let children learn God's righteousways
             to refute and contradict these  errors, and that we do                     And on Him stay their heart,
      -      all that is possible to keep the church pure  `from such                 what they may not forget His works
             errors,                                                                  Nor from His ways  d&part.


             t
                                                  flm  STANDARC  BEARER                                                               .I75

                                                                     or discovers, as  ize does, that he cannot  keep- the  la&
THE TRIPLE KNOWLEDGE                                                 of God perfectly, it cannot curse him.                If the law
                                                                - should begin to curse him, he takes it by faith to Cal-
                                                                     vary, always again to find redemption in the  blood of
An -Exposition Of The Heidelberg ,Chri+.. Secondly, from this it also follows that the
                          C a t e c h i s m                          believer is free in the sense that the law can never be
                                                                     a  way of salvation to him. He is saved. All  th.e work
                             PART'111                                necessary to clothe him  wiih perfect righteousness,
                  O                                                  and to make him heir of eternal life, is perfectly
                       F  THANKFULNE'SS
                                         .,~ :                       finished.    To this perfect  w&k of -Christ  unto his
                           Lord's Day 34                             salvation he need not, and cannot possibly add even
                                                                     a tittle or iota by his keeping of-the law and by walk-
                                  i .                                ing in all good works. Finally, he is also free in the
           T h e   +aw  a n d   t h e .   ,Ch&tian  (con%.)          sens'e that in principle he has the law written in his
    Secqndly, there are those who in general are known               heart, so that he does not need the law as a code of
                                                                     precepts to direct his external deportment. He is not.
as Antinomians, who would lay  al! emphasis on justi-                under the -law, but under grace.
fication in  ,Christ. They are afraid that the preach-                   From all this, however, it does not follow that he is
ing of the  law- may have the effect of inducing the                 free to trample the law of God under foot. Nor is it
Christian to seek his salvation in the  way of fulfilling            true that the law cannot be and is not a safe and neces-
the law of God. The only effect of the preaching of                  sary guide to direct his way according to the  will'df-
the law as a rule of life, they say, is and must be that             (God.    On the contrary, his freedom means that
we become pharisees, that once more we seek our sal-                 exactly  ai a  r,edeem&d  Christian, who does not have
vation in the way of our own righteousness, the right-               to work for his salvation, whd has eternal-righteous-
eousness. of good works, and that thus we deny the a-                ness and life to begin with, he is in a position freely.
toning blood and the perfect obedience of Christ. And                to walk according to the will of  #God from loving grati-
seeing that it is quite impossible that we keep the law              tude. His freedom means, in the second  place, that
of God perfectly, it can never be a ground, or part of               he has been liberated from the law of sin and  de&th,
the ground, of our salvation. Christ fulfilled the whole             and that now it is his inmost desire to know the  will,
law in our stead, and in Him alone we have a perfect                 of God and to kkep His testimonies and His- statutes-
righteousness and eternal life. Let us, therefore, not               for the whole  of his life in the world. It is  exactly  be-
attempt to add to the work of Christ, Who fulfilled                  bause he is free that he exclaims with,  the psalmist:
the law, but trust in His perfect work alone;                        `$0, how  loye I thy law; it is my meditatipn  all:  $@e
    What shall we say to this ?                                      day." And to this I would add, finally, `that the  Chris-
    In the first-place, I would reply by admitting every             ,tion is still in  the- flesh, that he has but a small  ybegin-
one of the arguments advanced. The  Fhrisiian   oer-                 ning of the new obedience, -and that the motions of  s$
tianly stands  in relation of freedom to the  lath. And              are still in his members. Well may he daily take the
he certainly has all his righteousness in  IChrist only,             law -for his companion, to instruct him, enlighten him,
Who redeemed him from the curse of the law.                          and warn him from the way of sin.
    Nevertheless, I would also answer that I cannot                     `Nevek dare the law lord  gt over  .him : for he is free
agree with the conclusion that is supposed to be de-                 indeed.  Never may the law curse him: for Christ has
duced from these arguments, namely, that  it-is a mis-               redeemed him from the curse of the law'. Never can
take or unprofitable for the believer to be instructed               tlze law be to him a way to merit  righteousness&d,
in the  -law of  #God.                                               life: he has it all in the Lord Jesus Christ. But as a
    To be sure, the believer is not under the law, but               loving companion and infallible guide the believer
under grace. He is free. His position is not at Mt.                  takes the law to his bosom, with the prayer in his
Sinai, the mount that might be touched, and that                     heart : "Tea&h me the  way that I should go."             .
burned with  fLre; but on Mt. Zion, and in the city of                 Thus the instruction of the law,  sapctified to the
the living God, the. heavenly Jerusalem. He is in                    believing heart, will ever have a three-fold effect, and
Christ.    And in Christ  he is a new creature. He- cer-             bear a three-fold fruit upon the believing Christian.
tainly must stand in  the liberty- wherewith Christ                  This three-fold effect of the law upon the Christian we
`bath made him free.  "rhis means, first of all, that he             must further  ,treat when we  ,discuss Lord's Day 45.
is free  frdm the curse of the law, because Christ is                But  briefly we must mention this  $`%ct even. now.
become a curse for him., The law can never curse                     First of all, it will discover to the eyes of the Chris-
him anymore.           Even if  -the , Christian falls  i@q.-sin,    tian an eper deeper horror of  Fiti in his old  nature.
                                                                                                                  _  ,.             .,>.-  _  -


      i78                                      TBE  STANDARD  BEA'IZER

      In the light of the law,  as a  -teach,ei of  siti, he ever           ceive them into His fellowship, and give them eternal
      gains a clearer and more  profound~knowledge of the                   life. And, on the other  -hand, they  ar.e His servants,
      nature  of'sin and of the corruption of his sinful flesh.             called  to  loye Hini with  *all their heart and `mind and
     And thus the law  kill lead him to daily and ever more                 soul-  and strength,  .and  .to  show forth the praises of
     hearty repentance. Secondly, through the instruction                   Hiq that, called  .them out  .of darkness into His mar-
      of the law  he'will come to a deeper and ever clearer                 velous light. It is  the covenant-relation as it is re-
      knowledge of the preciousness of Christ, of his need                  ferred to in  Hosea 2  :16ff. : "And it shall be at that
      of His atoning blood and of the forgiveness of sin.                   day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me  Ishi ; and
      And to the  .cross of  Cqhrist he will  fl,ee for refuge.             shalt call me  no more Baali . .  ~ And in that  ,day will I
     And filially,  thfough the instruction of the law of his               make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field,
      God  he  will increase in the knowledge of His will, in               and  with the fowls `of heaven,  an'd with the  creeping
     the desire  to walk worthy of God, and in the earnest                  things of  th@ ground : and `I will break the bow and
     endeavor to put off the  old.man and  to'pu-t on the new,              the  SwQrd and the battle out of the earth, and will.
     to the glory of God his Redeemer.              -          1            make them  to`lie down safely. And I will betroth thee
                                                                            unto  tie for  ,ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in
                              `      2                                      righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness
                              God Is One                                    and in- `mercies. I will  even betroth thee unto me in
                                                                            faithfulness: and thou shalt know the Lord . . . And
             Befoye   we. enter upon the discussion of the Ten              I will sow her unto me in the earth ; and I will have
      Commandments, a word may be said about the  sig-                      mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and
     niflcance of the introductory sentence' by which  t&                   I will say to them which were not my people, Thou
      Lord made Himself -known to His people from Mt.                       art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God."
      Sinai : "I am the Lord thy  ,Godj which  have brought                    Thirdly, and in close connection with the forego-
      thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of                    ing, the intrpductory.words reveal God as the Redeem-
     bondage."                                                              er of His people. He brought them out -of the land of
       j `By  these words  .Jehovah  introduces Himself to His              Egypt, out of the house of bondage with a mighty
      people Israel. They are a Self-revelation of God to                   arm.  - The Lord that is speaking to them  from the
      His covenant people.         The people  Miere encamped at            smoking and quaking mount is the same that became
     Mt. Sinai.  The  mountsiin was altogether on smoke.                    known to them in the wonders of salvation,  acetim-
      Th.ere were lightnings and thunders and  a-thick  clbud,              plished in the land of their  oppre'ssion.    It is therefore
      and' the whole mountain quaked greatly. And from;                     the God of our salvation in Christ, Who  r,edeemed  and
     the mount, out of the darkness, the people heard a                     delivered  -us from the bondage of  sin and death,. to
     mighty.voice of a trumpet. Whose voice was it? From                    lead  us into the Canaan of His everlasting rest, that
.     the introductory sentence it became known that it was                 is  addFessing us in the law of the ten words.           His
     Jehovah, their God. Just as the radio  speaketi,  invis-               promise to us is that He will enrich us with all the
     iiile to his audience, introduces himself by announ-                   blessings of salvation. And only thus, as our Redeem-
     cing his name, or by-having his name announced, so                     er and Deliverer from sin  and death, does He approach
     the Lord introduced  Him'self to His  peop1.e by  -the                 us with His law, in order that it may be a rule for us
     words : "I am Jehovah  thy God,  ,which have brought                   in working out our  sdlvation, and in order to exhort
     thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of                     us to keep  .our part of the covenant, that is, to love
     bondage." The words, therefore, are a  Seli-revelation                 <he Lord our God with all our heart  alid. mind  atid
     of the living  IGod, Jehovah, the God of the  cov&ant,                 soul and strength, to put all our confidence in Him
     to His people Israel.                                                  only,  to forsake the world, crucify our old nature, and
         Secondly, in these words Jehovah reveals His pe-                   walk in a new and holy life.
     culiar covenant relation to His people Israel, to the                       `...
                                                                              .  The flrst commandment-  is.  .evidently basic for  al!
     church. He is Jehovah,  their  God. It is true:  He, is
     the  ,God of heaven and earth,  0: all nations and all                 the rest.
     men. For He is their Creator and their Lord. But                          We may perhaps compare the law of God to a
     He is the  SGod' of His people in  an. altogether  unique              beautiful, holy temple, with a hall, or vestibule, above
     sense of the word.       He is their covenant God. He                  the entrance to  ehich we find the inscription, "I am
     stands revealed  td them in the promise:            "I will be         the Lord thy  &God,  which brought thee out of the land
     your. God, and  ye shall be my people." He owns them                   of Egypt, out of the house of bondage."  It is through
     in His love,  ai His peculiar treasure. And thus they                  that vestibule, and therefore, as God's redeemed, cove-  _
      are His property.  .He will bless them in His favor,                  nant people, that. we now enter into this holy temple
      reveal Himself  to  the-m, take  +hem to- His bosom,  re-             of  OU-T  ,God.  ..  This  tkmple has ten apartments.  Over

                                                                       -


              ~                               T H E      ,STA.N.DARD  BEAR"ER                                               G 177
                                  -.-__                                                                                        -
  the entrance of each of these apartments we  .find the         derit from the first commandment.  hit leaves room
  inscripti'on  of  each of the ten  cqmmandments. And           for only two alternatives.  .We either worship God, or
  if we would dnderstand the beauty and the rich sig-            we serve other Gods. A third possibility, that  mah
  nificance of the law as a guide for the life of the be-        should be altogether. without God, is inconceivable and
  liever in  th,e world, we certainly must not be satisfied      impossible. For. it the first commandment leaves no
  with merely reading the inscription  over the entrance         room. In deepest reality there are, no atheists. This
  of each apartment. But we must enter and  contem- does not mean that, sinful  mavl cannot philosophize
  plate the interior of every room. To abandon the fig-          until~ he imagines that from his life he ruled out the
  ure  f,or a moment, we must  study,every one of the com-       last trace of any belief in a -god.  .ISurely, the fool
  mandments in the light of the whole of Scripture with          saith in his heart, "There is no god."  B.ut in this he
  relation  t-o all of our life as believers in the midst of     only reveals the wilful attempt  to rid himself of God.
  the world that lieth in darkness.                              And in this attempt he, will never succeed. AlthOu&h
      To this, however, must be added that the first com-        for a  time.he may suppress the consciousness which
  mandment of the ten is fundamental with relation to            is indelibly written upon his heart that God is, in ac-
 `the rest. Turning to the figure of the temple once             tual. life. every man serves his god.           He who turns
  more, the ten apartments of this temple of the law are         away from the living God surely puts his confidence
  not to be conceived as -all of equal- size. and  -withobt      in vanities and becomes  ari idolater.           This may not
  mutual relation to one  another:   Rat& must we im-            Be  the worship of sun  and moon and stars or  four:
  agine that in this first room into  &hi& we enter  iye         foot&d beasts  and creeping things, of wood and stone.
  find the entrances to all  -the other apartments of this       It may be the superstitious worship  of-~ fate.  ,Or it
  temple. The first  commandmelnt  is basic. Keep it,            may  bme the  wor,ship of and trust in money and posses-
  and you keep the entire law, for the simple reason             sions,  in his own strength; or in man or humanity.
  that our relation to God  iS the fundamental relation          But whatever his god may be, every man seeks some
  of all our life.                                               object, some being, some power, in whom he puts his
     Let us ask, -first of  all, what  t&s commandment           trust, which he adores and worships. The man that
  teaches us concerning God. The law, you understand,            turns away from the  true! God is necessarily an idola-
  is not arbitrary, but is based  tipon  ~the truth about        ter.
  `God and `His virtues. Hence, it is expedient and  fruit:              Hence, the first commandment is antithetical. The
  ful to attempt from each commandment to learn some-            positive significance of this commandment is, of
  thing about our God, and to discover the basic prin-           course : Thou shalt serve the. Lord thy  ,God, and Him
  ciple upon which it is founded.                                a&e.- -Nevertheless, this is  expiessed  in the negative
      That fundamental principle in the first  command- way: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." The
  m&t  is evidently that God is one. He is God alone,            implication is, naturally:. if you do not serve  oiher
  and there is no God `beside Him.                               gods, you serve the true God; and if you  refuse to
     We must remember that, this first commandment               serve the true  *God, and Him alone, you necessarily
  leaves roqm for but two alternatives: we either wor-           must serve idols. A third possibility there is not. .
  ship  `God, or we serve idols. We are inclined to  ima-                The  reasbn  f,or this is not difficult to  discoyer. I n
  gin.e three possibilities. The  one--is that man  serves       <he first place, it must be remembered that man  ori--.
  the true  ,God, worships and adores Him, puts all his          ginally  wa.s created after the image of  cod. In his
  confidence in  Hi&  and consecrates  liimself and all          very nature he was  adapied to God. And on his con-
  things to Him. Such is  ,evidently the demand of the           sciousness it is indelibly inscribed that he needs God,
  .first commandment.      Th,e second possibility is that       It is true that the image of God was not  only lost,
  man serves false gods, or idols. Perhaps to this class         thr,o@h  sin, but that it  was subverted into its very  op-
  we relegate all the heathen nations, that-worship the          posite. His knowledge  .of  God was -changed into the
powers of nature, the beasts of the field, the birds of          lie. His' righteousness was changed into iniquity. And
  the `air; graven images, and live in the darkness of pa-       His holiness became  impu?ity in all' his inclinations
  ganism.    But perhaps we also imagine a third pos-            and desires. But sin did not change his being. He
  sibility, and that is that we serve no god at all. There       still needs a god,  ,bot-h  objectively and subjectively1
  is a  large  cl&ss of men that do not serve the true  ,Gdd,    Without  a,god he cannot be. .And when he  Y'ejects the
  neither are idolaters, but are strictly godless. They          true God. he-will seek after some other object of  WOT-
  serve no god at all.  ,God,  they imagine,  leaves.them        ship and adoration. Secondly, this. also implies that
  alone  ; and `so they leave  -God alone.                       man is a servant. In the covenant-relation he. was
     We may note, however, that this is a  fund&ental            ,God's. friend-servant.        Also this was radically sub-
: error, and is not in harmony with reality. `This is  evi-      verted by sin, so that he refuses to serve the true  God,


       1 7 8                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                 -__

     But essentially he is still a servant. The sinner is a             ways serve some god. Hence, in as far as -we are not
     slave of sin. In sinful imagination he may exalt him-              delivered  .from  sin, from the  .inclination of  oilr sinful
     self as  ,God  ; but the fact remains that his being a ser-        nature, we  are exactly inclined to  -idolatry  ; that is, we
     vant, and no god, is indelibly impressed upon his con-             are inclined to rule out the true  `God and to  -place
     sciousness. And by virtue of his very nature he will               something next to Him`in which we  ti-ust and on which
     seek some god to serve, and  in whom he can put his                we rely. Nor is it difficult- to discover this tendency
     trust, and upon whom he may  rely. Besides, in  .the               to idolatry in our practical life as believers in the
     taird place, all things proclaim to him that he is de-             world. How often. in prosperity do we  not  place our                 I
     pendent. He  h&s no -existence in himself. For the                 own strength and ingenuity, conditions and circum-
     very origin of his being he is dependent. He did not               stances, next to the living God, or. instead of Him. Or,
     create the world. Nor does he sustain it. He does                  how frequently in distress or difficulty, in trouble or
     ndt  bring the rain and the sunshine, the fruit-of the             adversity, in sickness and suffering, do we fix our eye
     trees and the herb of the field.  '  IOn'literally  all things,    ,on men, on things, on means, next  t,o the Lord of life'
     over which he has no control,  .man is dependent. De-              and death. All this,- according to the Catechism, is
     pendent he is  one the very air which he  breathe,i,  OIJ          idolatry. Next to the Lord there is nothing. He  is-
     the water he drinks, on the food  he  e&s. Everything              *God, and God alone. Beside Him there is no Saviour.
._ proclaims his dependence. All things loudly preach to All things and every creature are but means in His
     him that there is a power outside  ,of  hiti. And there-           hand. And therefore; to  ljlace  our trust in things or
fore he seeks a god on whom he can rely, and in whom                    creatures is to  %b the living God of His glory and is
     he can trust.  _ Finally, we must not forget that he lives         to serve idols.  '  '
     iti a world upon which  `God has placed the curse, and                 We may notice. too that emphatically the first corn-
     that testifies to him that all things are vanity.         God      mandment  r"eveals  .God  to:us as a personal. Being. He
     put the curse of death upon the  world in which man. is. a Being with intellect  and will. He confronts us
     lives. In that world the very powers  oyer which man               -not  as. a vague, impersonal power, but as a Person,
     .has no control turn themselves against the sinner. In             that speaks to  yqu, that reveals His will to you,  that
     fire and water, in the wild beasts of the field, in the            demands that you shall love Him. `And in relation to
destructive powers  ,of nature, in  sickne& and death                   Him you stand as a  Irational  and moral being, Whose
     and famine and pestilence, things turn against man.                Word you hear,  whose will you are obliged to obey, to
     And when he turns himself away from- the true  #God,               Whom you must devote yourselves with all your  hea?t
     he even  &eks  to pacify  and overcome this  evii power            and mind and  srul and strength. He `is a God @horn
     that turns against him for  destru&ion.  Man that                  you may know, to Whom you may speak, to Whom
     originally was made  after the image of  ,God, man  that           you may make your needs known, before Whom  you.
     is and remains a  sertrant in his very nature, man that            may pour out your hearts, in Whom you may trust;
     is dependent on everything round  abmout him and who               and with Whom you  rriay have fellowship. He speaks
     stands in a cursed domain,  .when he  turns away  from             of thou andme : "Thou shalt have no other gods before
     the true God; must of necessity serve some god in                  me:" He is, therefore, not a  value, impersonal power,
     whom- he may trust.           He becomes inevitably an             such as the wind, or the power of  electr&ty.  Nor
     idolater.                                                          should you ever  speak of Him as "a kind Providence,"
-       The practical implications of this are `very impor-             or in similar terms. Neither should we confuse or
     tant. On the surface we may  prmobably imagine that                identify Him with the  wsrld,  .as Pantheism does, and
     this negative form of  the commandment, "Thou shalt                say that  *God is all; and. the  wo+d is God.     He is an
     have no other gods  be5ore me," does not apply to us.              Ego, a Person? a distinct -Being. He is the Lord your            .
     As long as we have an eye only for that coarser-form               `God.
     of idolatry found among the nation's of heathendom,
     bowing themselves before  idols of gold and  @per, of                  But the basic principle of the  firsit  cammandment,
     wood and stone, worshipping  the powers of nature,                 in distinction from all the others, is that it reveals to
     the beasts of the field and creeping things, we may                us that God is One, arid that He is God alone. There
     say that we are no idolaters. The  first  commandnient             is no god beside Him. And this means, in the first
     in its negative  foTm has lost its significance for us.            place,-that God is a simple Being: He is not composed
     Its positive implication-may perhaps be still of value.            of parts. You cannot divide  Him All His virtues
     It may serve  to remind us.  that we must always and               are essentially one in Him. In fact, He is His virtues.
%vith all our  hea& and mind  2nd soul  and strength                    God  .is infinite in virtues and perfections,  -such as
     serve the living  ,God. But idolaters, servers of other            bower and wisdom, righteousness and mercy, justice
     gods; we surely are  .not. About this, however, we  will           and grace, love and truth. But all  ,these  .perfections
     change our  mind as soon as we understand that we al-              are in God essentially the same. You cannot present


                                       I'HE  S T A - N D A R D   B E A R E R   -                                                I79

them as being in conflict one with another. You-dare                          "
not say,  f,or instance, that God is just,  but  that He is                   O U R                     DO.CTRINfi
also merciful.  (On the contrary, you  should- say that
IGod's  mercy is always a just mercy, and His justice is
ever a merciful justice. You may not  say  that God is                                       God's Providence
filled with wrath against  tile wicked,  but  that He is
also a God of love. -You should say:  #God.  is love:  _                                               (8)
theref,ore,  He is filled with holy wrath `against all the                   ,G;D'B  PRlOVIDENCl$  AND T'HE  MIBACLE
workers of iniquity. Nor is it possible to divide and
sepalrate  the virtues of God. If you should argue thus : A.COMMO&  INTERPRETATION OF THE SIGNIFICANCE
"I  iike a  (God of love and mercy, but I must have  not&                                       OF MIRACLES
`ing of a God that is righteous and just, that damns
sinners into everlasting perdition,`? you do not love                        Discussing the  miTucle as sevealed to  hs in  H,oly
.God at all.  .Y'ou make your  own-god and worship an                     Writ; we  colicluded  our preceding article by calling at-
idol. God is one. His love is also His wrath. His                         tention to the wide and  varied  ehar,acter of `the mir-
grace is also His righteousness.  `His mercy is in-                       acles of Holy Writ. This varied character of the  ,rnir-
separable from His justice.                                               acles need not surprise us. Sin is  &iar&berized by this
                                                                          same widely divergent characteristic.         Hence, the
   But that  `God is  `One also signifies -that He is  God                widely divergent character of these miracles simply
alone. There is  no God beside Him.  ,God does not be-                    emphasizes the total and complete dominion- of sin
long to  3 class  ,or a  categdry of beings. There  are no                over'us and, of  course, the marvellous character and
gods.  IGod is not  a god; He. is God. We say that a                      scope of the  gra.ce of the living  ,Gdd. Before  procetid-
rose is a flower. There are many flowers, and the rose                    ing to the true significance of the miracle we would
is on of them. We say that Mr. Jones is a man-. There                     first  call attention to the common interpretation of
are many  me& and Mr. Jones is one of them. But                           this Scriptural phenomenon.
you  capnot say : the Lord is a god  ; there are many
gods, and  .Jehovah  is one  ,of  the&: This is the impli-                B'e+hof.   `L,.
catiori  of the first commandment, "Thou shalt have no                       We -quote the following from  this  "Refoimed, Dog-
other gods before me." This  cdmmandment cannot                           matics," pages 176-178, under the heading:  :.`Extra-
mean that there are indeed other  gods, but that you                      ordinary  Providences  or Miracles."
sh,+l not  off,er them worship or put your  c,~nfid~ence                   -1. The Nature of  Miracles. A distinction  is us-
in  them. It does not even  mean that  gmong all gods                     ually made between  pro&&&a  orcl&aria and  pro&-
the Lord is supreme, that He  is the highest above all                    ,denti  extmordulnc;cria.    In the' former  ,God works
gods. Such indeed was and still is the philosophy of                      through second causes in strict accordance with the
the heathen, whether  .cultured or uncivilized. They `laws of nature,  though  I-(e may  valry the results by
say indeed : "We all  have our gods. . You have your                      different combinations.      But in the latter He works
god, and so have we.  &And we prefer  ou'r own." This                     immediately or without the mediation of second causes
iS not the language of Scripture. `Nor will the believ-                   in their ordinary operation. Says McPherson: "A
ing Christian ever speak-thus. The believer is intol-                     miracle  i$  somethitig done without recourse to the or-
erant. He claims: "God is GOD. He is God alone.                           dinary means of production, a result called  forth  di-
There is nothing beside, above, or next to  Him, or                       reetly by the first cause without  ,the mediation, at least
even under Him, that can be called or may be  wor-                        in the usual way,  ,of second causes." The distinctive
shipped as God. The idol is  nc$ling. It is a figment                     thing in the miraculous deed is that it  results.from$he
of man's own evil imagination.`.' Such  i!- the impli-                    exercise of the supernatural power of God. And this
cati,on of the first  commandmen&.           -      ..                    means, of course, that it is not brought about by sec-
                                                              H.H.        ondary causes that operate according to the laws of
                                                                \ .       nature. If it  were,"3 would not be supernatural (a-
                  -:-::                                                   bove nature)  ; that: is; it would not be a miracle. I f
                                                   .'                     IGod in the performance of a miracle did soinetimes  u-
                                    ,_`.                 (                tiliie forces that were present in nature, He used them
                                                                          in a way that was out of the ordinary, to produce  un-
                0 Lord,  pur  Saviour, help, .                  . . `.    expected results, and it was  ,exaetly this that consti-
                 And glorify Thy Name.;                                   tuted the miracle. Every miracle is above the estab-
               Deliver,  .us from all  our sins                           lished order of nature, but we may  distiliguish differ;
                 And- take away  oui shame..                    `? .      ent kinds, though not degrees, of  miracls. There are


       18i)     -                            pfi&  pjQHD*Rfi   jBABBR

       miracles which are  ahogether above nature, so that             teracted at a particular point by  `a force superior to
       they are in' no way connected  .with any means. .But            the powers of nature.
       there  are'also miracles which are  contact  me&a, in               3: The Purpose of the Miracles  of  i%ri@ure. It
       which means are employed, but in such  .a way that              be assumed that the miracles of Scripture were not
     something results. which is quite different from the              performed arbitrarily, but with a definite purpose.
       usual result of those means.                                    They are not mere wonders, exhibitions of power, des-
           2.  The Possibility  of  Miracles. Miracles are  ob-        tined to excite amazement, but have revelational sig-
       jetted to  ,especially  on the ground that they imply a         nificance. The entrance of sin into the world makes
       violation of the laws of nature. Some seek to escape. the supernatural `intervention  ,of  ,God in the course of'
     s the difficulty by assuming with Augustine that  ,they           events necessary for the" destruction of sin and for the
       are merely exception to nature as we  know it,  imply-          renewal of creation. It was by a miracle that  IGod
       ing that, if we. had a fuller knowledge of nature, we           gave us both, His special verbal revelation in Scrip-
       would be able to account for them in a perfectly nat-           ture, and His supreme factual revelation in Jesus
       ural way. But this is an untenable position, since it           Christ. The miracles are connected with the economy
       assumes two  ,orders of nature, which are contrary to           of redemption,. a redemption which they often prefig-
       each other. According to the one the oil in the  cruse          ure -and symbolize. They  .do not aim at a violation,
       would decrease, but according to the other it did not           but rather at -a restoration of  ,God's creative work.
       diminish  ; according to the one the loaves  w,ould grad-       Hence we find cycles of miracles during the time of
       ually be consumed, but  accoirding  to the other they           IChrist's public ministry `and of the founding of the
       multiplied. It must further suppose that the one sys-           Church. These miracles did not yet result in the res-
       tem is superior to the other, for if it were not, there         toration- of the physical universe. But at the end of
       would merely  ;be a collision and nothing would result;         time another series of miracles will follow, which will
       but if it were, it would seem that the inferior order           result in the renewal  .of nature to the glory of  <God,-
       would gradually be overcome and disappear. More-                the final establishment of the Kingdom of God in a
       over, it robs the miracle of its exceptional character,         new heaven and on a new earth.":end of quote.
       w.hile yet miracles stand out as  exceptionai events               We would note the following in connection with
       on  ,the pages of  Scri-pture.                                  the above' quotation of' Prof. L. Berkhof. It is plain
           There is undoubtedly a  certa.in  uniformity in na-         from this quotation that Prof. Berkhof identifies the
       ture ; there are laws controlling the  e  opelration  of se-    miracle with something supernatural, i.e., something
       cond causes in the physical world. But let us remem-            above nature.     Some miracles are altogether above
       ber that these-merely represent God's  usual  method of         nature whereas other occur contra media, but that.
       working in nature. `It is His good.  p1easur.e to work          which constitutes a miracle  .is its supernatural char:
       in an orderly way, and through secondary  causes.& acter. .* It is true that the professor, when discussing
       But this  -do.es not mean that He cannot depart from            the purpose of the miracle, declares that they  "are
       the established order, and cannot produce an  extra-            connected with the economy  ,of redemption, a redemp-
      ~ ordinary effect, which does not result from. natural           tion which they often prefigure and symbolize," but
       causes, `by a single volition- if He deems it desirable         it must be granted that this hardly receives the  em-.
       -for the end in view. When God works miracles, He               phasis in his discussion of the miracle in `Holy Writ.
       produces extraordinary effects in a supernatural way.           He seeks the essence of the miracle in its supernatur-
       This means that miracles are above  natme. Shall we             al character.
-      also say that they are contrary  t.o nature?  (Older Re-           Another thing to. which we would call attention in
       formed theologians did not hesitate to speak `of them           connection with this quotation from Prof. Berkhof is
       as a breach or a violation of the laws of nature. Some-         the following, and we quote again: "Miracles are ob-
       times they said that in the case of a miracle the order         jected to especially on the ground that they imply a
     . of nature was temporarily suspended. , Dr.  .Bruin              violation of the laws of nature. Some seek to escape
     maintains that this view is correct in his  Het  Chris-           the difficulty by assuming with Augustine that they
       telijke  Geloof en de  Beoefewing  kder  i'?atuur-weterz- were merely exceptions to nature  a.3  we know it,  im-
       schap,  and-takes exception to the views of Woljer,  Den-       plying that, if we had a fuller knowledge of nature,
       nert, and  Ravinck. But the correctness of that- ol-            we would be able to account for them in a `perfectly
       der terminology may well be `doubted. When a  mira;-            natural way. But this is an untenable position, since
       cle is performed the laws of nature are not violated,           it assumes- two orders of nature, which are contrary
       but superseded at a particular -point by a higher man-          to each  .other."-end  of quote. Here the professor
       ifestation of the will of God. The forces of nature             declares that the position of Augustine is untenable
       are not annihilated  `or- suspended,  ,but' are only  coun-     because  it  assum,es  two  orders of nature which are  con-


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D .   BE.ARER                                            181

       trary to each other. Augustine had taught that mira-            tions of all of nature are established, according to
       cles merely imply a violation of the laws of nature,            Scripture, in the nature-covenant of God. with Noah,
       us  -we know  natire, but not in  the. real, actual sense       `Gen. 8  :22. But, even as man subjects the earth and
       of the word. And now Prof. Berkhof asserts  that                governs nature through his culture with his mind and
       this position of the renowned Church Father is unten-           will, thus God has the power to render this created
       able because it assumes two orders of nature which              world subordinate to the realization of `His counsel.
       are contrary to each other. Does not the professor              The miracles prove that the Lord, and not the world,
       recall his teaching in regard to the  gospelas  an offer        is God.
       of salvation, and the love of God to all sinners? Does              This argumentation, now,. would not be necessary
       he not recall that  we. object to this presentation be-         for man if he had not fallen.      Then he would. have
       cause it would maintain two lines of thought contrary           known and acknowledged God out of all the works  of-
       to each other? And does he not recall that when we              His.. hands . . . .
       complain that it  ,is impossible to teach that  ,God loves          In the Old Testament the miracles go hand in hand
       and hates  ,the same sinner at the same time, etc., we          with judgment and redemption. The flood is a means
       received the answer that this contradiction is only             to destroy the godless generation of that  day and to
       apparent, appears  merely" as such to us? May he,               save Noah and his own in the ark.          The miracles
       then, reject Augustine's conception of the miracle sim-         which are grouped about the. persons of  ,Moses" and
       ply because the Church Father assumed. two orders of            Joshua  :'  ,the plagues in Egypt, the passage through
       nature which are contrary .to each other? Did not               the Red Sea, the lawgiving on Sinai, the entering in-
       Augustine speak of "nature as we know it"?                      to and conquest of Canaan, purpose to judge  .the en-
          Be this as it may, Prof.  Berkhof's.   deifinition of the    emies of  ,God and His people and to  provid,e for His
       miracle is clear. Althou.gh  it is true that  h,e also calls    own people a safe dwelling-place of promise . . . .
       attention to their symbolic significance, nevertheless
       the essence of the miracle lies in its supernatural char-           All the miracles of the Old Testament have this in
                                                                       common that, negatively,  ,they accomplish a judgment
       acter.                                                          over the peoples and, positively, they create and pre-
       H .       %avinak                            :                  serve among the people  .of Israel a sphere for the  con:
          The late Prof. H. Bavinck also speaks  ,of the mir-          tinuous revelation of God . .  i  :`And  wh.en this pur-
       acles as we might expect. In his book, "Magnalia Dei"           pose has been reached, then the full revelation is a-
       (IGreat Works of God) he writes the following (pages            bout to break forth in the person of  <Christ.
       65-69)) and we quote and translate: "If we agree with -             This person `of Christ is itself a miracle, in His
     . the Holy Scriptures in these fundamental thoughts               origin, in His essence, in His words and works,  %e
       and therefore stand upon the basis of Theism, every             wonder of world-history. Hence, the miracles which
       gr,ound disappears to militate against or doubt the             He performs are miracles of a peculiar nature. First,
       possibility of miracles. For whatever occurs in na-             He performs many miracles during His earthly life,
       ture or in history is then an act, a work of  ,God, and         namely : miracles whereby He demonstrates His power
       in that sense a wonder. And that  socalled  miracles            over nature (the change of water into wine,. wonder-
       are. nothing but a special manifestation of the same            ful feeding, stilling of the storm,' walking upon the
       Godly power which works in all things. It works in              sea etc.)  ; thereupon miracles whereby He  demon-
       those things in various ways, through various  .means           His power over the results of sin, the sicknesses and
       (second causes), according to various laws and there-           illnesses, the miseries of life and, finally, miracles
       fore also with various results. It has not been said            whereby  ,He proves His power over sin itself,. its guilt
       unjustly that it is a wonder for the stone that the             and pollution and  th.e dominion of Satan (forgiveness
       plant grows, for. the plant a wonder that the animal            of sins, dispelling of Satan and the evil spirits). These
       moves about, for the animal a wonder that man thinks,           three. kinds of miracles reveal the peculiarity of the
       and that it is therefore for man a wonder that God              person of Christ . . . .
,      raises the dead. If  `God works with His -omnipresent               The person of Christ approaches us more clearly
       and ahnighty power through all creatures as His                 in the miracles which were performed not by Him
     means, why should He not be able to `work with the                but in Him and  -with  Him. These miracles especially
       same power in a -different way and through other                reveal-to us who and what He is.  H.is supernatural
       means than those which we know from the  ,ordinary              conception, His wonderful living and dying, His res-
       course of nature and of history? Miracles are there-            urrection, ascension, and sitting at the right hand of
       fore no violation of the laws of nature. For these are          ,God are miracles of redemption preeminently. They
       fully~acknowledged by Holy Writ although not sum-               demonstrate, much more than the works which were
       med up and formulated -therein; fact  is3 the  regula-          performed-by Jesus, His complete power, over sin and


 182                                      T.HE  STA.N'DARD   B - E A R E R
                                   - -

 its results, over Satan and his entire dominion. And          to the consciousness of man. Unto that end He-does
 they, likewise reveal more clearly than those works           not merely speak immediately to man, through the
 that this power is a redeeming, a saving power, which.        inspiration, of the heart or with audible voice, but He
 will not gain a complete victory until the new heaven         also uses many different means. Thus the Lord re-
 and  .the new earth.       1                                  vealed Himself in the  IOld Dispensation through
        The miracles, which were performed in the apostol-     dreams. and  vlaluns
                                                                                        `-`----, tlnrough which He even presented
 ic age by the first witnesses, are to be viewed as works      Himself to heathens as Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar
 of the exalted Christ, Acts' 3  :6, 4  :lO. They were nec-          . . .But God also reveals Hims~elf  -through and in
 essary to demonstrate  .that Jesus, Who `had been re-         His works, through all His works. The, heavens de-
 jected by the world, nailed to-the cross and now  re-         clare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth His
-garded as dead,  liveid and had all power not only  in- handiwork. There is no speech nor language,  where
 heaven but also upon the earth. The miracles in the           their voice is not heard . . . . But we must  disting.uish
 03d Testament reveal that Jehovah is  ,God and there          between the order. which  .God ordinarily follows also
 is none beside Him. The miracles of the New Testa-            in the preservation and governing of all things, and
 ment show that Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, `Who was           the extraordinary deeds of might whereby  #God sov-
 crucified by the  Jews,-w.as raised from the dead' by         ereignly departs from this ordinary order.               This we
 God  iand exalted at His right hand to be a Prince, and       call, then the miracles in the narrow sense: the read-
 Saviour, Acts  4:10,  5  :30,31.  When this purpose has       ily  disc,ernible  manifestations of His power and maj-
 been reached, a congregation having been planted in           esty. We therefore would define the miracles as those
 the world which believes and confesses this revelation        phenomena whose connection and inner operation man
 of the Father in the Son through the communion of             cannot fathom, and which are called into existence
 the Holy Spirit, then the externally visible miracles,        only by God's omnipotence, outside the common or-
 cease, but the spiritual miracles of. regeneration and        der of nature."-end of quote.
conversion continue in  .the `church until the  fulness of            It is true that this author later makes -the observa-
 the Gentiles have entered and all Israel have been sav-       tion that miracles are also signs, of His work of a-
 ed: At the end of time the miracles of the future will        tonement and the `Godly blessings which He bestows
 appear, according to  the. testimony of Holy Writ, the        upon His people, remarking in this connection that
 appearing of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, the        it was not merely the purpose of the Lord to heal a
 judgment and the new heaven and  ,earth.                      few people or to raise from the dead. It is evident,
     All of revelation  and; in that revelation, all the       however, from this quotation that this author also
 miracles also will reach their objective and  cul,min-        views the miracle as a supernatural work of God
 ate  in- the restoration of the fallen human race, the        through which the Lord reveals that He alone is God
 kecreation of the world, the acknowledging  .of  `God as      and that He alone works and rules.
 God. They are therefore not a strange element, not                                                              H. Veldman
 an arbitrary addition to the revelation of God. But                               .
 they constitute a necessary, an indispensable part of
 it. They are themselves revelation. In word and in                                         -:::-
 deed  :God makes Himself known in all His virtues and
 perfections."-end   o f   q u o t e .
     It appears from this lengthy quotation that the                                                   :
 late Prof. Bavinck sees more in the miracle than a                      0 God, regard my humble plea
 supernatural work of` God. And although the late                        I cannot be so far from Thee
 professor emphasizes the thought that in the miracle
 the Lord gives an undeniable testimony unto man that                      But Thou wilt hear my cry  ;
 He alone is God and that` He alone rules, yet he dis-                   -When I by trouble am distressed,,
 cusses the miracle in connection with God's `plan of                    .Then lead me on the Rock  to- rest
 salvation; though we would have preferred that he                         That higher is than I.
 had sought exactly in this plan of salvation the es-
 sential significance of the miracle.                                 Before Thy face shall I abide ;
            i.     .. .                   #
 G.  Wielenga.  -  i .                               .  _             .  ,O  `God, Thy truth and grace provide
                                                                             .*                                            E
                                                                           To guard me in the way ;                -
 :-. Our quotation from this author's book; "The Mir-
 acles of the  Saviour," will be brief. It is as follows :               So I will make Thy praises known,
 "The miracles: are,. generally  ; speaking, instruments                 And, humbly bending at Thy throne,  _
_ of  Divinerevelation. God  wo,uld. transfer His thoughts     _.           lWy vows-will daily pay.
                                               _.


                            I


                                           THE..S"TANDARD   B E A R E R                                                 183
                                                                                               .-
                                                                Cons of-the individual mind, individual research, in-
          I N   H - I S   FEAR                                  dividual development and experience-in the education-
                                                                al field, and individual talent for `composition  are
                                                                denied their proper activity. And on the other hand,
               EoFking  l-6  The  f-u&+,                        to navigate too much within the polar  fi&ld of individ-
                                                                ualism will very  bbViously produce chaos. Let me ex-
                          CHAPTER`~                    1
                   . .                                          plain.
                  CONCERNINGTEXTBOOKS  _                           It  is evident, for many reasons, that this project. is
                           (Conclusion)    ,                    not one for a single,  br  ev_en a  f,ew, -individuals. Even
    We  %a& not quite finished  with this matter-  of  text- Mppbsing  that one of' our teachers  suceeds in produc-
,books. Although we made some  ob.servations  last time         ing an acceptable. textbook, the problem of the pub-
as to the method, especially the point of beginning, in         lishing of his manuscript and of the financing and dis-
the production of our own Protestant  Refo+med  text-           tribution thereof still remain: Bearing in mind that
books, there nevertheless remain certain practical as- .these books will in all probability have  v&y limited
pects of the matter on which we must touch. And                 use, since they are designed for  Pl'otestant  Reformed
.although  we, once more sound the  warniqg that we             schoolCs, and that too  fo? `only one or two grades in our
have no panacea for all  the ills connected with this           schools,  it- is, to say the least, highly doubtful whe-
problem, and that  we have no intention with  these re-         ther any independent publisher.  wbuld undertake at
marks to submit  a master-plan for  thk production of           his own risk to publish such books. There is a good
our own system of text-books,  w.e nevertheless will            deal of money involved in such an undertaking, and
comprehend all our remarks on, these matters under              publishers are  not usually in the business to spend
the perhaps-too-bold heading :                    .             money, but  to earn. profits.  &nd there will be very
                                                                little profit in publishing a book that has  such a lim-
H&u  T o   D o   I t .                                          ited potential readership. Hence, most likely we shall
    The "it" in this case includes the whole range- of          havento  finance the publication of textbooks  ogrselves.
problems connected with the actual writing arid pub-            The financial risk is ours, even as the-spiritual gain is
lication of textbooks. And it does not take, as we              ours. And certainly; the latter is not for the individ-
have indicated previously, a too thorough insight in-           ual author to undertake, and we must not expect such
to this  "it':, in order to understand. that such a pro-        either.  We shall have to establish some sort of or-
ject as this is of terrifying proportions, and to-under- ganization which shall make it their business to see
stand that any  dne- individual would be rather  re-            to  &that textbooks are  writt.eti and  p>lblished.
luctant to claim the ability to have a master-plan for              And the financial dne `is not the only reason. As
such a project, especially at this stage. The "it" must         Tire have intimated, we  n6ed not only textbooks, but
certainly be done. And it includes the writing of text-         a  system  of) textbooks. There will only be wasted ef-
books, the production of  ,a  unified  system  of textbooks,    fort, for example, if  five or six of our teachers, work-
the actual publication of the textbooks-a large task            ing independently, should  all busy themselves with
by itself, and the financing of this whole project.  The - writing a history  book for -junior high school pupils,
"it" includes too, we must not forget, the fact that we         while.no one attempts to write a general science text-
are small, and therefore  hav.e but a limited supply            book for the same pupils, or a history book for  fourth-
of all the resources,  humail as well as material, which        and' fifth-graders. And this is  but one way in which
are necessary. In that light the "how" looms  infeed            all  .kinds `of chaos will result -from unorganized and
as an ogre upon our ideal  scerie.                              uncontrolled individual effort.  _ Besides, who is going
   However, it seems to me,  ~withdut attempting to             tq  .pass on- the acceptability of an author's efforts and
lay a  deta'iled plan,  -that  there are certain main out-      tb  d-&de  whethtir or not a proposed textbook. is worth
lines- of such a plan which present  themselves.almost          pu.blishing?s And  tiho is going to guarantee that once
spontaneously. Or, to phrase it  adifferently, this "how"       a textbook is published, it will  al&o be used  -6 the
lies between two  poles, midway between them. These             schools? Even for the various sehdols to attempt such
poles are 1) enough central organization and control  ;         an undertaking indep'endently of one  a)zother will not
and  ,2)  to70 much of the same.  ,Or, if you will, call        suffice. It might be possible for a large school,  .such
them the poles of totalitarian control and dictation and        as Adams Street School in Grand' Rapids, to do such
of freedom of initiative. To move too much into the             a-thing; but it  would be well-nigh impossible for our
polar field of  central organization. and control will be       smaller schools to even make a beginning all by them-
fatal because it will produce an artificial, forced  pro-       selves.
duet, in`  which the spontaneous and natural  prodilc-            We must  *have some kind of national-organization  :
                                                                           .     --.


184                                   T H E       ST.ANDAR-ti   B E A R E R

to take charge of this  matt,er. Such an  .organization           chine, and the job will be done. `But no  m&e than you
would have as its duties the following :                          can tell  .any Tom, Dick, or  Hardy to paint a picture
1.  Td plan an entire  sy&em  of textbooks for use in             or compose a cantata, no  more can you  tell anyone or
our schools, and that in the light of the needs of the            everyone to write a book.. You cannot even tell every
schdols in common and the needs of the various grades             teacher  to  writ% a book. And therefore  w.e must be
and levels of instruction.                                        very careful in this respect. It is simply impractic-
                                                                  able to call  a group of teachers together  and give
2. To determine a priority in regard to the various               them their  as_signments and set a  dai;e when they must
subjects and grades  foT which  teirtbooks  are needed,           have textbooks ready.
scheduling the writing and publication. of textbooks
according to this priority.                                           ,Ori the other hand, certain  pl"ocedures  can be fol-
                                                                  lowed. First of all, our teachers should as much as
3. To  encburage and, as much  as,p&sible,  actually ar-          possible supplemerit and gradually replace the pre-
range for the writing of such textbooks.                          sent texbooks with their own work, presented to the
4,: To finance and publish the textbooks written,  hav--          pupils in the -form of mimeographed notes and work-
ing first, with full- authority. passed  ori the  acceptab- -books. They must, both individually and in  coopeya-
ility of such textbooks,                                          tion with one another, diligently work at this project,
5. To promote and enforce the use of such  textbaoks `seriously studying and thus too develop&g in the ad-
in the schdols which  by~commoll consent constitute the           justment of all the  instrtiction-  along the lines of our
organization.                                                .    Protestant Reformed principles. And  .I believe' that
                                                                  in this way at least  Some of our Protestant Reformed
       S&h is,' in general, the first  main aspect  .of the       teachers  will see their way clear, nay, even see that
"how to do it", which must not be overlooked.  -                  _ they have the balling, to attempt writing  OUT own text-
   .However,  tihe.matter-is  not so simple as this.    -         books.
       When we speak of textbooks, we are dealing with                And in the second place, parents and school boards
a matter which involves, in the first place, a large de-          and school principals should observe the work pro-
gree of what is often called "creative work", and                 duced by our teachers very carefully, encourage the
which involves too, for that  very  r,eason, a large de-          teacher  who really  p?oduces  something as far as  dis-
gree of inborn ability,  tale&. Besides, the writing of           stinctively Protestant Reformed instruction is con-
                                                                                  ,
textbooks  inv$ves, in the second place,. a large de-             cerned, and when they find instances of such work en-
gree of study and  l"esearch, as well as intellectual ma-         courage and assist the production and- publication
turity, ripeness, which is achieved only in the way of            thereof eventually in permanent form.
much experience.        Because of this, we must leave                In the third place,  tie should not overlook the pos-
plenty of room in this project for individuality. With            sibility of -making use of  th,e  woYik of others. I am
all our organization, we certainly must not put those             not thoroughly acquainted with the work of Dutch
who are to  %ite our textbooks in a straitjacket. The             educators. But I have frequently heard it said that
assignment of subject and grade level, we might per-              the Christian School movement in the Netherlands
haps concede, belongs partly to the organization which            was much more virile and-fruitful as far as attempting
tie suggested. But the actual planning and writing                to stand  on its own'feet, educationally speaking, is con-
of the book must certainly be left to the individual,             cerned. If that is the ease, perhaps we can even find
even though the organization passes on the accept-                help and examples there as far as textbooks are con-
ability of the books. We cannot say: "You sit down,               cerned. It. is  wqrthwhile investigating, at  l,east.
and write such and such a book, on such  and  such a
subject, according to such  and such a plan and method,               In conclusion,  therefdre, I would urge upon all
for such and such a grade level." That would kill all             our people once more the  ,sore need of  obt,aining  our
indiyidual initiative and originality.                            own textbooks. I am convinced that it `is only in this
                                                                  way, no matter what -may be the difficulties and  prob-
       In fact, to a large extent all the writing of text-        lems involved, can we hope to survive as distinctively
books must be voluntary: teachers, educators, must                Protestant Reformed in  the  `fibld of  educatiqn.
offer their services for this project.  : It may be all                                                  H. C. Hoeksema
right for the board to encourage  the+ work ;  buk the
authors themselves must be left as free as the  ,b+t
interests of the project will allow.  W;riting  textbooks
is not everyone's work. It is not like working in a                                    --: v--.w:-
factory. There you may show anyone of normal men-
tality and physical strength how to run a given  ma-


                                                 THE  STANDAR-ID-  -BEAkER                                                         18%
                                                                .  :    kosmos.` In this world (kosmos)  &he  childTen  of God
_  FR0.M  HO,LY  WR-17. live.  And here we are  to  -be of the party of the liv-
                                                                        ing God. We are to live in covenant fellowship  with
                                                                        G@d. And the only guarantee of such fellowship is
                     exposition of- 1 John                              that  we walk in the light,  even as He is in  .the light.
                                                 2:15-17                   It is not a relative matter, whether we walk in the
                              II (conclusion)                           light: it is  mqst absolute.
         That our calling, in this present evil world is a                 The standard, the norm of life is absolute;
      very serious one, we have pointed  out3n our first arti-             We are so to conduct ourselves in this world, in
      cle on this passage.                                              Christ, our Lord; that we sin not! No, John  Is not
        We noticed, that our calling is, to live the life of            interested in our sinning less; that we improve our
      the  antiehesis  ; we are to claim all things as  oufs in the     habits, that we touch not, taste not, handle not. John
      Name of Jesus by faith; liberating it in faith and hope           does not want  a- little religiousness, a tear, a sigh.
      in  ,Christ and placing- all things in  the service  of  {God.    John writes : "I write you little children, that ye sin
      Not dualism of good and evil in  thk  cr,eature is to be          not." I John  2:l. And,  again, he writes: "If anyone
      the principle of our life, but we are to live the life of         truly keeps His word, in him is the love of God per-
      grace in this  *wbrld of- sin, having  the. &tire created         fected".
      ."kosmos" in common with the world, grace excepted !                We must not sin ; love  m&t be "perfected" in us !
         Such, we saw, was our holy calling.                              `Hence, love not the world, for that is "sin" and is
         Unto this John admonishes-us in this passage from              not "the love of God perfected".
- Holy Writ.                                                               John  is not writing this admonition to the "world':.
         ,However, in thus admonishing us, he also assigns              In the context he' addresses the church; he calls the
      the spiritual motive and reason for our not loving the            church the "little children whose sins are  .forgiven";
      w o r l d .                                                       th.e` "fathers  who have known  *God" in the knowledge
        In a word it is: it is impossible for those, who are            of the forgiveness of sins ; the "young men", who are
      ingr,afted by a true faith into Christ  and all. His bene-        strong by virtue of, the word of  #God in their hearts,
      fits, to live any longer in this world as`being of  ,her.         and who overcome the Evil One !
        Wh'eref0r.e John writes  :  "If  any man  love-the world,           To these he writes..
      the lov,e of the Father is not in him, ..Because all that           And the  point  of  departure  is not the law as law, as
      is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lustis of the         a mere `confrontation of  man&i@ in  gen_ernl,  but it
      eyes, aknd the vain-glory of life, is not out of the Father       is most definitely that which is proclaimed to the
      but is out of the world,,.                                        churcli concerning the  WOWZ.!  of life.  John's introduc-
         There are two pivotal truths from which John pro-              tory sentence, sounding the key-note is -"that which
      ceeds in His polemic with those who believe that truth            was from the  beginning? that which`  we have  heal:,
      and  errbr, light and darkness, righteousness and sin             that which we have seen with our eyes, that which  WG
      can  go hand in hand.                                             beheld, and our hands handled, concerning the Word
_.        The first is, that God is a light and that there is' of life-and the life was manifested, and `we  have
      ~no darkness in Him at all. Dogmaticians may argue                seen, and bear witness, and declare unto' you the life,
      about the  e$ct meaning and scope of the term "light"             the eternal life, and was manifested unto us ; tha ,
      in  the phrase "God is light", but the truth  h.ere ex-           which we have seen  atid heard declare we unto you
      pressed has a very practical-principal import over a-             also, and that ye also may have fellowship  with us;
      gainst all dualism. The truth is that God is not both             yea, and our fellowship is with the  Fither,  2nd with
      light and darkness.. God is one. He is all His virtues.           His Son, Jesus Christ : and these  thingsiwe write,  thz .
      And in this perfection he is simple as the light. Evil            your joy may  be  full". I John  1.3-4;
      cannot be  "6x@ained" out of  .,God's being; we need  to              The point of departure is not in the law `of Moses,
      bow down  ifi worship and confess the Testimony that              but in  .the  Word  of life,  the crucified, and risen  ,Chris$
      came  ~to us from the very beginning. It is the a-b-c             who was delivered for our  off&ses, and  tias raised  foi,
      of all Christian living. God is Light;  darkness~  is not         our justification. In'Him old things have-passed  awn,;
      in Him at all. God is not an excuse for &in. That God             for us ;-the-darkness is past and the true light  alread  ;
      is "light" is the death-blow to all Manichean,  Anabap-           shineth. What is true in Jesus should also be true  I:t
      tistic-Antinomian reveling in sin-.           -                   us. Love must be perfected in us;  `God's  love for  z  :
         The second axiomatic truth of John is, that God                titist fully come to fruition.  '
      always,demands that we confess Him  to.be light,  ahd                 Hence, we  haive here a word of  .admonition to  :`a
      that  wi? thus approach Him; in  worships in the whole            tihufch,  that we shall not  l&e the world,  neithir   i-i.2


  things. that- are in the world. For, let it be noticed,          synecdoche, a  .part  f'or the whole. It refers to the
  when such love for  the world is present then there is           sum-total of all man's ability to apprehend the world,
  no  ldve of  <God in our hearts.                                 the kosmos, and to set it in the service of sin. `The
     It simply is a dreadful fact that love for the world          light  of- the body is the eye. And this eye  .is evil;
  and love of God do not do hand in hand, and it is cer-           and so the  en&e life-is'wholly polluted. All things
  tainly  spiri&ally impossible for the saints to. attempt         are in the service  of sin.
  both.                                                                Thirdly, the vain-glory of life. "Life" must here
      That John says: for all that is in the world . . . .         be taken in the sense of the things of this tangible
  is not out of the Father, but out of  tile world, is. not        life, of the purely earthly. And "vain-glory" is here
  a mere truism. It is not simply: what is out of  tile            the glorying in  earthy riches and temporal success in
  tiorld. is out  -of the world. These words are, in  the          life. The highest  glorying in this sense we hear from
  contrar`yj  full of `dread meaning for the wicked, and           Satan himself,- when he says to Jesus, having shown
  are warning sufficient  f6; those, who d&ire `to obey            him all  the- kingdom of the world, and the glory of
  the precepts of the Gospel.                                      them, "all these  things will I give thee, if thou wilt
      This word of warning is an appeal to the spiritual           worship- me". And possibly the greatest glorying re-
  sensitiveness of the church, which can discern the               corded in Scripture is  `the proud boast of Nebuchad-
  things that differ !                                             nezzar; when he say: Is this  @t the Babylon, that I
      The little children of God, the fathers in the faith,        have built? !
  the young men, who are vigilant in the battle, are                   In  thi,s threefold evil life of the world there is
  deeply concerned with  doicg only that which is out              nothing that fits in the life of the saints, who are told
  of the Father! It is true we still a-ye in the body of           "not to sin". We, who daily seek our Advocate with
  this death; `we still must contend daily with sin and            the Father,  Jesus  Christ, the righteousness, cannot
  all the weaknesses and corruption of the flesh. But              will to walk  with this evil world ; here our love will
  principally we  aie.new creatures, and we know God,              never be' perfected in the doing of the will of God all
  as our God.                                                      along the line.
     Hence, we know also that, `which is out of  God.                  Nay, this is the  _"world that passeth- away  tind the
     Now there is in the while world, that  li.es in dark-         lust thereof"!          :
  ness, nothing that is out of the Father. All that is in              The wdrld of Nebuchadnezzar passes away. Pre-
  the world is evil.                                               sently it is swallowed up by the kingdoms of the Medes
     In the first place, there are the lusts of the flesh;         and Persians. The latter is again destroyed by  th,e
  Lusts are the characteristic of  the world of Satan              kingdom of the Macedonian, Alexander the `Great, who
  and his hosts, and also of all evil men. "Lusts" are             in turn is again destroyed by the legions of the Roman
 - simply sinful desires. Satan desired to be as  ,God, to         Empire. Constantly the  kingdqm of this world  pas-
  dethrone Him. That is lust. Lust is the quintessence             seth away under the wrath of  <God.
  of sin. Thus it was with  Ev6.  She believed the word                And hot  only this kingdom passes away. Also the
  of Satan, that God was keeping something from them.              f`lusts" pass away. Its glory fades and vanishes. Their
  She lusted after  the forbidden  tree.. Now  l.ust of the        lusts do not satisfy and can to their own extremity.
  "flesh" are lusts that have their origin in- "flesh".            It is said of  !Alexander,  who died an old man at the
  These lusts are  not merely the lusts in the sense of            age of thirty years, that, when he had conquered the
  sensual -immorality, but  th,ey are lusts in the  sense that     world, he wept. When asked the reason for his weep-
  man's  .evil. nature will not subject itself to the will of      ing, he is said to have replied, "because their are no
  <God. None of the commandments are kept by the                   more worlds to conquer". The blood of the conquered
  flesh. It will not subject itself to God. In the. whole          could not satisfy.
  "kosmoS" there is nothing that the  %esh" can set in               And this  is written  for our comfort, that our joy
  the  seTvice  bf  ,God. It is simply flesh, enmity. against      may be full. A full cup of bliss must be ours. Shall
 God.  It sets the whole creation apart from God. .It              this be the case with us, who love the Father's will,
  makes man the center of all things, the one and all.             then we must see what our heavenly Father is doing
b God is not in all their thoughts. Him it does not                with the very  iYorkers  of iniquity, with His and our
  know. It is not at all concerned with the  iyill of God          enemies.    He leads them to the slaughter.  : Theirs is
  in  Christ;  the Savior of the kosmos!           The flesh is    a  .dismal  end.                    1.:
God-less !                                                           And we? We  are shown a new  scense.,Zt   is  *he New
    Secondly, there is the lust of the eyes. The eyes are          Jerusalem in the new Kosmos,  +ere righteousness
  the medium of drinking in the whole of the kosmos.               dwells. The just shall dwell there.
  I take it, that John is- here  uqing the term  eyes as                                                  `9. C.  &tibbe&  _
                                              _


                                      `- T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                       187

                                                                    given  %s  six  hun&ed. The question is whether they
   TIE@ DAY OF SHADOWS
                                            ._     ._               :were foreigners, that is, Philistines or Israelites.
                                                                    Some hold that  ,they were  Ithe same six  hindred men
                                                                    that collected' about David during Saul's persecution
                     David's flight                                 (I Sam. xxii:2  ; xxiii  :13 ; xxv  :13), followed him to
                                                                    ,Gath (I Sam. xxvii  :2, sq.) dwelt with him in  Zikiag
  As was stated, the conspiracy was making headway                  (I Sam. xvii : 8 ; xxix :2  ;-  xxx:1,9)   Andy thence removed
at a rapid rate. Many were with Absalom. In every                   with him to Hebron  (ii:3) and Jerusalem (v. 6). If
section of the land the  peopl,e were streaming to his              this view  (.which is only a  conje&re) is correct, they
banner in droves. To the  hystdnder it seemed that the              were Israelites. But how is this to be squared with
rebellion had the support of the whole nation to a man.             the clear statement of our text (see above) that they
At  ieast such was the impression of the messenger.                 were  Gititites? Some meet this difficulty  by- reading
For his report to David was that the "heart of each                 gibborin?,  (Heb.  ?or  Dati.d's "mighty  menu of valor,"
of Israel is  af,ter Absalom..`?                                    all of whom were supposed to  h.ave been Israelites)
                                                                    instead of Gittites. But the objection to this is that
   To avoid disaster there was need for  instant  ac-               all the  Versions have  Giti+it&. To meet this difficulty,
tion. So David gave his orders. "Arise," he says to                 some hold  ~that  ' "they are here called  G&&es  simply
his servants, "and let us flee, for there is else  nd  e,s-         because they were so called by the people, as having
cape to us  fr.om the face of Absalom. Let us hasten                followed David `from Gath on' ". But this is not ac-
to go, lest he  hasten and overtake us, and bring down              ceptable. Are tie then to hold to the view that they
upon us the evil, arid smite the city with the edge of              w*ere  !Gittites, that  is, men from  Gath, Philistines by
the sword."                                                         birth and blood? But `this view raises questions as
T h e   e x p r e s s i o n "the evil" appears in fhe  .original    well.    First, there is no account of such a body of
with the definite article and the sign of the accusative;           Philistines having entered  David's' service  when he                      -
What is therefore  qeant is the greatest  Ijossible  -evil,         lived in Gath.  S&oncl, if  the  Gittites  were Philistines
which would have consisted in their being  .oTzer-                  then David had two body guards with him there in
whelmed  ,and. slain- to a man. The words of the `king              Jerusalem, one formed of the six  hun,dred men that
bespeak no little agitation of soul. .But why  athese or-           had gathered about him during the persecution  `,f
ders.? Perhaps David's standing  army' in Jerusalem                 Saul, and the other this Philistine body?  But if so,
was not `large enough at the time to defend the city                why is no mention made of the former in the present
against a seige. SOr. it may be  that he was tod doubt-             crisis? Due to  th,e reticence of the Scriptures regard-
ful whether the inhabitants would remain loyal to                   ing these points, we  siniply do  not- know.* Hence,- the
him. Different reasons can be conjectured. He. may                  only thing to do is to hold with -our Sext that they
have wanted to spare the city the  h&rors of a  s,eige.             were  IGittites, that is, foreign&s.
Emvidently he expected that Absalom would advance
against the'city immediately and with an overwhelm-                     The  piocession included  a.lso all the Cherethites
ing force.                                          .               and the Pelethites. -It may be `regarded -as certain
                                                                    ,$hat  thky,`too,  w e r e   Gentiles  a n d   n o t   Israelit,es.  In
  The servants were ready to follow his counsel, It                 I Sam.  xxx:14  the word  Chereithites   (HGb:  kret%)
must have seemed to them the wisest thing to do. F o r              signifies a  Gentile  tribe dwelling'near Philistia.  The
Ithey came with no counter. suggestion. They said,                  text'herk  tells of the young Egyptian reporting to Da-
"According  to-all that my lord the  l+g shall  choose-             vid that the  Amalekites  had made an evasion upon
b,ehold thy servants." Their confidence in the wisdom               .the south of the Cherethites. Ezekiel (25  :16) introdu-
of  his counsel seems to have been implicit. Besides,               ces the Lord as saying that He  ,will cut off the  Chere-
their words reveal devotion to his person.                          thim.  - Zephariiah (2  :5) pronounces woe against  this
    Now follows the account of his departure. It is                 .people. ,
*old with a deep pathos.  ' "And went forth the king
and  a&l his house after  .him," literally, "at his  feet,"             Now  &he  Cherethit&s  of which these passages make
thus not at a -distance but as pressing close to him.               mention were  Gentil,es certainly. The only question
He left ten of his  con?ubines  after him to keep the               is whether the `Cherethites of II Sam. xv came frbm
house.                                                              this people. It may be taken as certain that they  did;
    The procession halted at a  %ouse afar  ,off'f,   pro:          As to the Pelethites, the fact of their being mentioned                    .
bably the last house in the city. The company inclu-                always in connection with the Cherethites warrants
ded `besides the servants "all the Cherethites, and all             the conclusion that they, too, were  ,Gentiles. That  the-
the Pelethites, and all the  GitZites,  who had followed            procession included Cherethites  and  Pel,ethites  can
him from. Gath."' The number of these Gittites is                   have but one explanation. Several of the two peoples


188                                                      T H E   STANDARF   B E A R E R

by these names had settled in Canaan  and, as con-                                ;But. the Scriptures reveal that there were also
verts to the religion of Israel, had entered the service                      others like this Ittai and the Pelethites and  Chere-
of  David  ai a separate division in  his standing army.                      tliites.    Heathen they were, drawn `by the light that
In Israel they were known by the names  of.$he peoples
                                                   .~                         petietrated the darkness also of their night into God's
from which they came.                                                         kingdom.
       As the sorrowful procession was being  marshalled,                         <The law of Moses is  much occupied with these Gen-
that is,  wasmade to pass on before David, he perceiv-                        tiles "strangers that would come out of a far country
ed that it included  *also Ittai.                        The text surnames    for the sake of the Lord's name." If a stranger, sojour-
him "the  Gittite",  which tells us that he was  a  Phil&                     ner with the people of Israel desired to keep the  passo-
stirie from Gath. Thus Ittai, too, was a Gentile. He                          very his males (and himself)  wepe  circumcized, and
ha.d come only a short while ago (xv  :20) . According                        then. he was permitted to come near and keep it; and
to ver. 22, his wife and children  ~were with him, and                        he was to be as one born in the land (Ex. 12  :48 ; Nu.
besides, a. number of Philistine warriors. He must                            9 :14). He was allowed to offer an offering made by
have been an able general, for David gave  him.  com-                         fire, of a sweet savor to the Lord  ,(.Nu.  .15:14).  He .
mand'of one third of his army (xvii  :2).                                     had to be loved  ; food and raiment had to be given him,
       But why had he left his native land and gone over                      were he in need ; and his  cause'had to be judged right-
to.~David? Had he come-in quest of  position.and  glory?                      eously (Lev. 19  :34; Dt. 10  :18,19;  1:6).
If so, he must not come after David, a refugee  .king,                             Certainly the position that  du?ing the centuries
fleeing  frdti the wrath  ,of his own  spn. To test him                       inclosed by the calling of `Abraham and. the ascen-
out, David counsels him thus, "Wherefore goest thou                           sion of Christ, God- was limiting salvation to the Jews
also with us? Return and abide with the king, for                             so absolutely that not a heathen was saved or that
thou  art a stranger and also an exile with respect to                        the number of heathen saved were too few to  have
thy place. (So reads the sentence of the Heb. text).                          any meaning or to  deserye mention even, is seen to be
Whereas thou  earnest but yesterday, should I this day                        untenable in the light of  the- above data. Moreover,
make thee go up and down  with us?                             seeing I go    the position  -is not to be harmonized with the prophetic
whither I go (that is,` go  whither Providence leads                          range of the Psalms and of the discourses of the later
me)`. Return thou, and take back thy brethren: mer-                           prophets. They foretell that the heathen shall fear
cy and truth be  .with thee."                                                 the name of the  Lsrd, `and al.1 the kings of the earth
       Let us take notice, "Return and abide with the                         His glory (Psalm  yO2  :5)  ; and that the Gentiles shall
king,"       This must have reference  ,to Absalom, the                       seek the root. of Jesse, that shall stand  a,s an ensign
usurp& of the  throee, whom David calls king in sub-                          for the people (Is.  11:lO)`.
mission to the will of  ,God.  :                                                  H,ere we listen to. the prophets of the 8th century
       The words of D&id remind of the advice of                              before `Christ. What we behold in their words  .is a, mar-  o
Christ `to a certain scribe who would  follbw Him                             velous thing, namely, the eternal God taking to  His
`Fwhithersoever  Thou goest." )Said Jesus to this man,                        bosom in Christ all the nations of the earth.
"The  foxes have holes, and the  birds of the air have                             It raises the question  whethe? the prophets were
nests  ;  bLlt the Son of man hath not where to lay his                       in any way-prepared for the reception of this mighty
head" ( M a t t .   8   :19,20).                                              thiilg. Must we not conclude that such was indeed the
       Ittai's reply is'-touching. "And Ittai  tinsTjirered the               case-conclude that they were speaking of  a thing
king and said, As the Lord liveth and my lord the king                        that through the  centuri,es  and especially in David's
liveth,  sur,ely in what  place my Lord the king shall be                     time, had been  going on right along in their own limi-
whether in death or life, even there also will thy  ser-                      ted world, to wit: the coming of "the strangers" out
`vant be."                                                                    of a far country for the sake of  -the- Lord's name.'
       What devotion and fidelity  for life  ' and  death to                       Is it not rather remarkable that in the hour when
David! Is it supposing too much to say  that what                             David was despised and rejected by his own-his own
had activated Ittai is love of David and of David%                            people-he was surrounded by Gentile men prepared
God?                                                                          td defend him to the death with their lives! Did it not
       Truly, God was known to the heathen of Israel's                        indicate  th,e experience of Christ as stated by John.:
world. They had knowledge of the revelation of His                            "He.came unto his  o*n, but his own received him not;
mercy to His people. It raises the question of their                          .but as many as received him he gave power to be cal-
reaction. `The great bulk of the heathen, following-in led the sons of  .God."'
the footsteps of the Egyptians and the  Canaqn.ites,
h a r d e n e d   t h e i r   h e a r t s .   -                                                                .    G .   M .   O p h o f f


                                            ~~~       sTAHbARb                  BEABeR                                        is9

                  God's Love of Zion  `.                         and is joined in marriage to  the.wom& of his choice.
                                       "                             But the suckling child, the babe.. in the mother's
                                                                 arms, the child on -her `breast,-can a woman forsake
     Turning to the prophetic discourse of Isaiah; the           that child? She- cannot. She yearns  &f.ter  ,her child.
  49th chapter, the. 14th and the 15th  v'erses, we come         The thought of her forsaking it fills her with horror-
  upon  this complaint of Zion, the church, "Zion saith,         and pain. She can't find, it within her so to do. The
 the Lord hath forsaken me, and my  L.ord  bath, forgot-         child is so utterly helpless and  n,eedy. What would
  ten me." As if this were possible! Tq this complaint           become of it were she to forsake it!
  of His people,  the Lord replies. Says He to Zion, "Can
  .a woman forget her  spckling child, that she  should not         (Can the Lord forsake Zion? Can  He, forget His
  have compassion  tipon  the son of `her womb? Yes,             pedple? He cannot. They are His  own people. He
  they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.  * Behold,        chose them in  ,Christ   befmore- the foundation  of" the
  I have  engraven thee in the  pa_lms-  of my hand.  Thy        world that they should be blameless and `holy before
  walls are continually  bef,ore me."          .                 Him in love. He predestinated them unto the adop-
                                                                 tion of children by Christ Jesus to Himself, accord-
     Zion's  comp&int,  tl$ugh it cannot  be excused, is         ing to the good  pl,&asure   `of His will, to the praise of
  capable  -of explanation nevertheless.. The people of          the glory of His grace. i-Ie delivered up for them all
  God were in  exile  in Babylon. For Israel had sinned          the  ,Chtiist-His  only begotten-unto the ignominious
and filled his measure of iniquity. And the Lord had             death of the cross:  .And they were with Him on that
  come with His judgments.  -Jerusalem  was in ruins             cross and raised with Him and set with Him in hea-
  and the temple was a heap. The  trtie people' of God           venly places and there blessed with all spiritual  bles-
were heart-broken.- It seemed to  th'e" that the Lord            sipgs in Him. And  H,e their redeemer-God  realizes
i, had forsaken them;                                            in them, His people, the virtues of  ,Christ's cross and.
     So it may seem  td his people even now.         For let     thereby conforms them according to His image, so
  us consider that the setting of the Sun of  righteous-         that it may be truly said  -of them, as the Scriptures
  ness in paradise was the commencement of a terrible            do  ind!eed say  `of  them, that they are born of God, and
  night-the night  ,of sin and the revelation of the wrath       par`take of His very  natuie.                   -
  of  :God over all unrighteousness of  `men  .in a sea of           Indeed the church of the  .rkdeellned is the son of
  judgmenti that flood the earth. And the  .flood runs           God's womb, that womb being His almighty creative
  exceptionally high in these recent times. There `is a          will, whereby He through Christ in His Spirit brings
 suffering -of f`this present time" in which also the true       them into being as His children.
 people of God participate. `Consider further that  .the-
  tribulations of  ,God's people-those which  they have              Can a woman forsake her suckling child?
  in common with all mankind-are greatly augmented                  ;Can the Lord forsake Zion? His people, His suck-
  by the ill-treatment afforded them by the wicked  for          ling  .dhild? Zion needs  ,God. In Christ through the
 `Christ's sake. The enemy without and within  -still            ISpirit He is `her very  life.- By His Spirit he sustains
  defile God's sanctuary, break down- His temple, the            her and preserves her and  nou.rishes  her by His word.
  true church  bti earth, the saints  ,of  God,. who by His      He is her Sun and shield in this dreary night so that
 `mercy war His warfare. And in this warfare and in              the gates of hell do not. prevail  agtiinst her. Where-
  its attending sufferings, God's people stand alone and         fore her faith in God  .thr,ough Christ is indestructible;
  forsaken. And  often it may'seem that they.  are for-          because Christ prays for her, and so, in a hope that .
  saken even  df  th*eir God. And then their  dompltiint  is,    is living, she also reaches out for the things that are
  "The Lord hath forsaken me and the Lord hath for-              of  ,Christ's Spirit, the things heavenly and  eternal,--
  gotten me."                                                    reaching out for these things  under the constraint of  *
     But the Lord saith,  `?2an a woman forget her               a love that will never, that can  inever,.  lose its ardour
  suckling child, that she should not have compassion on         bec&use it  is: the love of  ,God,that He sheds abroad in
                                                                                                          ,-
  the son of her womb?"                                          her heart.                       _     .`._          --.,
                                                                                                                      a.*.
    --No earthly tie so strong as that of.  .the love of a          Zion is. God's now and everlastingly. His suckling
  woman for her child ! For the child is her very own.           child.
  It is the son of  her  woinb, flesh of her flesh and bone       -You as a mother  were indispensible to  you+ child
  of  her bone. Second, it is the woman's suckling child         when it was the babe in your arms.             But the  dlild
  of  .which the Lord here speaks, and not bf her mature         grew. It became a man  &nd needed you no more. But
  son or daughter. The matured son is a  -grown  man,  _ Zion is God's suckling child now and forever. Never
 I  sta1war.t  &d strong and capable,  self-s@Kcient  and        will He cease to be her life in Christ through the  $$irit.
                                                                    How  Zion  needs  `God, Christ's God.  How sl%needs
 . q&supporting. He' has  for:saken  father  and  ,niother `:


 -gj(j                                  #pijr&   pp#ND*AR   .BhARjE.ii,


 Hiti  now in this night of sin and death  and'  df judg-        where it is. always before you. And how often during
 ment and trial arid suffering and tribulation; How              the day, as you go `about your duties, you pause to
 she needs His grace to sustain her; His  Sp+t-the               Jook upon that  likedess of your child.
 Spirit of Christ-to comfqrther, His power to  ke?p her               The  fiord so loved Zion, His people, that He graved
- and His love to assure her  constantly that- all things        them, their image, in the palms of His`hands, so `that,
 work together for her good, and that the victory is             as the text declares, His people are always before Him,
 hers in Christ, who loved her and gave  Him&f for               befdre. His very eyes. Not once in all eternity does
 her.       How Zion  neehs  Gdd!                                He take His eyes  of? them.  .They are  .before Him  ev-
          Can a woman forget her suckling child that she         ei as chosen, called, justifled and glorified in Christ.
  should not have compassion on the son of her womb,             And the beauty of their likeness is His eternal joy
 that is, love the child, and in her love, care for the          and refreshment.
  child, mother the child, protect-the child, comfort  -the           In-the, palms of His hands, in the tablet of His
  child in its distress, and joy with  the child in its          heart and mind,.  t5ey are graved indelibly. It may
 mirlth? She  may  forget;says  the  proph.et. It is  p&-        seem that yon-have the image of your child grayed in-
  sible. It happens. But God cannot forget. For He               delibly in  -yo&  -he&t, so that, though you became a
  i s   G o d :                                                  thousand years old you could never forget. But be as-
          Thus, though  God in this Scripture sets fdrth His     sured that as  titile went on your memory of your child
  love of Zion against the background of a mother's              would grow  m&e nd more dim and eventually fade
 love of her suckling child, it must not be supposed             from your mind  .altogether. But  ,God will not forget
 that  whit the Lord means  to be telling us  here is that       Zion in all  etern'lty. Everlastingly Zion is before Him
 no more than a mother can forsake her  sutikling  chil~d;       -beautiful Zion.
XI~ more  cari the Lord find it within Himself to for-                In herself Zion is not  beautiful,.  she being in her-  =
 sake  Zion~ that, in other words,  H,e means to  ,be'plac-      self dead in trespasses and sins. It is not this Zion
  ing His' own love as -to its power and enduring quali-         that is the object of God's eternal delight. For cer-
 ties and the natural Jove  `6f a mother for her suckling        tainly the Lord, whose eyes are` too pure  to  .behdld
 child in the same category. `If this were the point to          sin, can  takb  nb pleasure in ugly pictures;' -It is Zion
 the  Qrophet's argument his message would contain               eternally beautifully in Christ that He loved, so loved
 little comfort for  Zi,on. For "they may forget.`! Nay,         that taking' compassion on  unlovely.~ Zion  in her sin
 but the purpose. of  the prophet `is to exalt God's  love       and  miseri,es,  aiid pitying her in her wde, He gave up
 for Zion, His chosen people. His  purpose is  ,to set           for her His Son-thk  Christ of God-to redeem her
 forth this -love in all its infinite power  an8 beauty and `from all her sins `and to conform her  atcording to the
 divine working. The  Noman's  love of  her'*suckling image of Zion that He grayed in the palms of His
 cliild is but an imperfect creatural image of this  love.       hands.
 "They may forget." But God's love of Zion is  urique%-               In pitying His people in their woe, in  keeeing them
  chable.      For it is a love self-motivated.' "While we       in His power, in delivering them from all their
 were sinner&  `Christ  died for us."                            troubles, in raisihg them up in the last  -day unto life
          How the Lord loves Zion! And the proof? "Be-           ever!astir_g, He is always activated by His great love
 hold, I have  engr&en thee in the palms of my hands."           of the Zion engraved in the palm:: of His hands, the
     `Why dih the Lord engrave, Zion in `the  palms of           Zion of His counsel, the Zion chosen in Christ before
. His hands ?                                                    the foundation of the world, the Zion beautiful.
          You are  parent  with a son in military se&ice. He                                                G. M. Ophoff
                                                                                                _..
-`is far from you in some distant land. Btefore he pass-
  ed  out of your life, but not out of your heart, you had
  h.im provide ydu with a  lik,eness of his person, in a
  word, with a photograph- of himself. You insisted.
  Why? Was there danger that you might forget  hym,
  so that you had to provide yourdelf with this means
 for keeping alive in your  SOLO  his memory? No, that
  was not the reason.  Yen cannot forget. What con-
  strained  you. is your love of the lad. He is your  .child,              L$et children learn God's  r.ighteous ways
  flesh of your flesh and bone `of  your bone. Loving
  him as ypu do, you wanted in his absence his likeness                     A@ on Him stay their heart,
  always before you. And therefdre'his picture is seen           j         That they may not forget His works
  in  $e `most conspicuous place of  you-r,  hbme, there                   Ifor  from  His ways depart.        _     :'     _._    .
                    _                               "


                                                                   .-  *_

                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B'EARER                                              191

                                                                  tened  to  my  pr,eaching. I am, however, absolutely posi-
                      PERISCOJ?E                                  tive'. that if it is true what the Rev.  vati  Dooren
                                                                  writes, that particular person never discussed that  par-
.                                                                 ticular~ sermon he heard  ,of, me with  me  Ipersonally. I
     THE OFF-SCOURING OF ALL THINGS                               can, however, assure the Rev., van  Dooren that I am
             Und& this title ("Aller Afschrapsel") the Rev.       quite sure that my preaching will-find no grace in the
     ,G. van  Dooren writes in  Gesefomne&d  Kerkblad,  a         eyes of- the Liberated. The  Prot. Ref. Church never
     Liberated paper in the old country, about his fellow         believed in the Heynsian conception of the covenant
     Liberated in the  U.S; The Rev. van  Dooren recently         and of the promise, as do the,  .Liberated. According
     spent one  we,ek in the United States. But of.  course,      to  our  convictiofi,  this conception is not Reformed, but
     like many Dutchmen, he knows-all about us, and es-           principally Arminian. The truth as it is expressed in
     pecially about the different churches here, although he      the Declaration of Principles. is,  a!ld  z$tiays  was, the
     bases his  opi?ion entirely on hearsay. Those poor           doctrine expressed in  thee  Th@"i(&ms   -df  .Unity,  ancl
     Liberated people, according  tb him, are the  offscour-      therefor; the doctrine of  t& Prot. Ref.. churches.
     itig  df  a!l. He met a few families of  .his fellow Liber- _That doctrine the  Prot. Ref. Churches  z~lousiy main:
     ated immigrants,  and- on their report of their  experi-     tains and defends. And it certainly closes the door to
     ence in this country he bases what he writes about           anyone who does not subscribe to that doctrine. And
                                                                  I am very glad  that  the Rev. van  Dooren, and others
     us  as well as about other churches.
             About our Protestant Reformed Churches he has        with him, at last have discovered that this is the truth,
     the  f,ollowipg to say':                                     and that it certainly is not true, what the late Prof.
                                                                  Holwerda- reported as the convictions of the Revs. de
                 `<One of them (one of the Liberated) thor-       .Jong and Kok, that, there was  rriuch: sympathy and
               oughly studied and investigated the  eccletii-     plenty of room in the.  Prot. Ref.  Church& for the Li-
               astical map while his  fa:mily was still in the    berated  docfrine. And why, pray, should we not close
              `Netherlands. He  went searching hither and         tine door to the Liberated? Do they not close the door
               thither. He searched for the living proclam-       to  LB?`  Do they not pretend  to.be the only true church,
               ation of the Word of God. He  persoeally           while all the rest are false  chul"ch,es? They certainly
              met. the Rev. Hoeksema of -the  Pr&. Ref.           must have nothing of our  Prot. Ref. truth, which  th_ey
               Church, and  listened to the preaching in that     call worse than  synod&l. It stands  to reason, there-
               church. This he found `worse than  synodi-         fore, that even  if we did not officially  ~close our church
             Cal".    &id no wonder. Most  of your readers        doors to the Liberated  and their  doctrin_e, they would
               of the Reformatie will remember.  uihat  the       never join our church  commuion.
              former Prof. Dr. K. Schilder  wr,ote about the          That Liberated brother mentioned above, when he
               `Declaration' of the  Prot'. Ref. Church, which    found  thaf,he -could not join our church, also investi-
              had to be signed by our people, because- it         gated the Christian Reformed Church, to  see.whether
              was composed especially with a view to the          perhaps he could be member there.  IAccording  to the
              many Liberated  peopie  wlii@lLcrossed  the big     Rev. van  Dooren, he talked hours and many evenings
              pond. These  might not'enter the church door        with a certain local minister of the Christian Re-
            except  thejr expressed complete agreement            formed Church. This minister finally confronted the
              with that Declaration. The Savior  said.:. I        brother  wit6 a certain list of points that had to be ac-
               am the door. The Prot.  Ref. Church says:          cepted before he could  bk member of the Christian Re-
              we make our own little church-door. Worse           formed Church.  Accordihg to  the-Rev. van  Dooren,
              than synodical . . , -1  am. afraid that that       the list of points with which the Liberated brother
              Brother was not far from the truth. This            was confronted were the following  (IIe mentions the
       e       also concerns the preaching, in which  ,every-     points  together with his  owti  cotiment.) :        '
              thing is viewed from the viewpoint of  ,elec:
              tion, so that no justice is being done to the                  "1.  Election.  Y,ou will say: that is right.
              promise and the  copenant."                               But do you still say thjs if  it means that; the
             To this the Rev. van Ddoren adds:                        - power of the covenant promise is being made
                                                                        dependent upon this, that (as Prof. K. Dijk             .
                 "Thus this church door of which Prof.  '               pnce said) `God never  pror$ses  anything un-  L
               Schilder` once had so much expectation for               to the non-elect'? Then indeed `it becomes
              -the Liberated people was tightly closed:"                q u i t e   d i f f e r e n t .
             I know not  to- whom the above paragraph  .refers               "2. The implanting of the power of faith.
     and  tiho is the man Who personally met me  -and lis-              You know  -that Kuyperian proposition. Faith


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           ~---                     .
1g2        .      -      -%)             ~.       -.          _-         .-T-H E S T  P-N D AR D BE  A ' R   E  ti---`.-m
                                                              _-_-_-L                                        -                     -                                                          -

  .- ,is preceded by the power of faith  as a kind                                                                     Unity. Mdr@ an-d  n@re-it  bieconies  ,e'vid@nt  that  the Li-
_  o f   s e e d .   :                           ". ,                                                                  berated must  really  have nothing  of  ~the doctrine of
            "3.  Imm&lia&.&e~~eration.  That is some- .                                                                .eleetion, which is  the very  he,art of the gospel, and that .
         thing  .too., .  Ih 1905 half and half protected,                                                             they certainly,  are afraid of the doctrine of  reproba-
         but  n6w abandoned  b$  our  ,chtirches,   because                                                            tion;              --                                                       I
         acco@itig  ti, Scripture the" Word of God is
         the  -bath   .df r&generation, which therefore is                                                                                      `_             -
         not  reaiizkd"`immediately,  t h a t   is, without
   .                                                                                                                                                                                                      .
         means.                                                                               *  -
            "4.  Exterlial and  intkrnal calling.,  This is .                                                          CHOO`SING THE' RIGHT CHURCH                                            _
         a `scholastic distinction which endangers the
         power of  th.e Word of God as the sword of                                                                           Under this title  the  `Rbv. Lawrence  R. Eyres has
  Y  t h e   S p i r i t ,   w h i c h   i s   two-edged  a n d   v e r y                                              a rather interesting  article. in the  Prisbyteriati   "Guac
         sharp.                                                                                                   c    dian. He has several  don't%  and several  clo's by which
                                                                                                                       one must be guided- to choose the- true  bhurch. One
            "5.  Recon&liation through Christ.                                                        ,bf              must not choose the church of his own choice.                                                 Nor
         course, a church  mer$$ei- must  helie& this.                                                                 must qne simply go  b,y the label, such  ati "evangeli-
         But the case  b&om& quite different when.                                                                     cal" or "conservative". One must rather look beneath
         through a certain doctrine of  recbnciliation                                                                 the name for a church's doctrine  -and practice. So,
         (and that was the question in the connec-                                                                     one must not choose a church which claims to have'
         tion) the gospel as glad tidings  is. reserved                                                                some  rite or practice which is necessary to salvation.
         only for- the elect, just as at point 1 the-cove-                                                             Nor must one choose  a church which sets aside the
         nant           pl^omise."                      -           +               a                                  law of God,  oy a church which does not proclaim the
        Rather important points indeed. And I give that                                                                whole counsel of God. It' is from one of these  -don't's
Chr. Ref. minister credit. `for  confr6nting.  that Li-                                                                `that we quote the following:
berated brotlier with these points, To say that the
power of the  cov,enaiit. promise is not dependent on,                                                                                  "Don't choose a church which teaches that
does nqt flow forth from, election,. and to maintain                                                                         you have some part  iri your salvation.  ' We
that  ,God promises something to  the non-elect is cer-                                                                            hear of `faith and evangelical obedience'" as
tainly not Reformed, but  downri&t Arminian. And                                                                                   the ground, or necessary condition, to  salva-
the  :distinctioh  bet%&e)l the' `faculty or power of faith                                                                        tion. These  people believe that the' faith that
and  the. act of believing has  always been held in Re-                                                                       saves is the work of man, not the `gift of
formed circles, and, by  the way;. is  literally  based on                                                                         `God' (Eph.  2.:8,9), and that works (that's
the confessions., But of course,  the Liberated- with                                                                              what evangelical obedience  .is) are necessary
their  ddktrine that  ,regenel*.ation is effected only thru                                                                        to salvation.              Of course,.  _ this. rule excludes
the preaching-of. the Word and that therefore, strict-                                                                             afi modernistic or liberal churches as  well as
ly speaking, little  childyen cannot be  regenerkted and                                                                           many which  z&e commonly known  -$I%  `evan-
sanctified in Christ, deny this precious  Reformed                                                                           .-  gelical' or `fundamental'."
truth, just as  .is the case with immediate regeneration.                                                                     With this, of  courS,: we can entirely agree. No
And, I like- to know  where `the Word of God teaches                                                                   works whatsoever, not even the works of faith, not
t&at the preaching of the.  Word is the bath of re-                                                                    even evangelical obedience, can possibly  be' a  ,condi-
generation. And how `the truth of the distinction be-                                                                  tion or prerequisite hnto  salvation.                            To teach  this is
tween  externaje and internal  Callipg endangers the                                                                   certainly Arminian, and not according to the  holy
power  .of the Word of God is a mystery  $0 me. And                                                                    Scriptures.
the Rev. van  Dooren,   gf  course,-  does' noi explain.  hi&                                                          j&I,,  1, ,                                           --         _                 KH:
self.- In the fifth point the Rev.  van  Dooren seems to                                                                                                                                                               ,.
deny. that the satisfaction of  Chr&  is riot  g'eneral, but                                                           -.
particular, and meant only for the elect. At any rate,                                                                        .                                             pj-
it is very evident that he means  tb present  th,e gos-
pel as glad tidings for all that hear, without distinc-                                                                                    I          &&&$~                   WEST
tion, head for head  ahd soul for soul.  .In short, it is
very evident from' the' Rey.  v&.  Dobren'ls comment on                                                                       Classis West will meet  ,i.n  th.e'Protestant Reformed  :.'
these five points: that he  ii  f&'  froin  the. historically                                                           Church `at Sioux.  CFnter, Iowa,  orr:Wednesday, March
Reformed  -truth;   as expressed. in our  Y&Tee Forms of                                                               4, 1953.            `;  :..:  -I,               .       1        &t.  Gritters,  S,C.
                                                                         .-              .                                                            .,            ._..
                                                - -                                                                                                            - . .                  :  `.        ,.          -       :
                                                                                                                                                             . .                                               -.


