     VoLUMs   XXIX                       FEBRUARY   1,  1953.   -  GRAND   RAPIDS,   MICHIGAN     7                    NUMBER   9


                                                                       did not kfibw the glorious conclusion. We read: Now
         M.EDI'TATION                                                  Jesus  love'd Martha, and  -her sister, and Lazarus.
                                                                       wen He had heard therefore that he was sick, He
                                                                       abode two days still in the same pla&' where He was!
                The-  Raising  of  LazH,s~                --           It is the very opposite of what we expect Jesus to do.
                                                 .                     He loves them and therefore He will not hurry to the
              "And w&en he thus had spoken, he  mied  with  a          sickbed of His beloved friend.
            loud voice, Lazarus, come forts."         -John  11:43          But when we .re&ember  who Jesus ,is, all difficul-
     The, scene is laid at  Bethany, that small  village               ties are solved. Jesus is God- and knows all- things.
where three of the most beloved of Christ's disciples                  He knew what He would do. Lazarus must die first,
liyed: Lazarus, Mary and Martha. What wondrous-                        indeed, the messenger found him d&d when he re-
ly blessed ~mortals  ! -even the, commqn crowd knew                    turned.       Moreover
that Jesus loved them. He would often resort to that                                             .' Lazarus must not only die first,
                                                                       he must-be in the grave four days so that decomposi-
quiet home, and while the Saviour-talked  Mary would                   tion may -set in.. This is going to be- the greatest of
sit down at, His feet and drink in the words of life                   the  Savibu?s miracles,  if we except His own  resur-
as they fell from the Redeemer's lips. Martha might l'c.ctitin from the dead. Therefore He abode two more'
be busy .with much serving, Mary had chosen `the best                  days in the place where He was.
part.: she wbuld Constantly, drink from the Fquntain
of living water. . . (Of Lazarus we know little, but that              When the two days are spent, He says to His  dis-
little is `as precious as the diamond: Jesus calls him                 ciples: -Come, let us gd to Judea again.
His f&en& and He loved him more than. others.                               Aid those simple souls; tilio saw so little of the
     While Jesus is about a -day's journey from Beth-                  heavenly vision at this stgge of their life with Jesus,
any, a mess&ger'.appears  who brings the sad tidings                   are filled with evil  forebbditigs: L&d; the Jews will
that Lazarus is sick. Notice Ahe sweet diplomacy of                    kill you ! They had interpreted the Lord's stay, even
the messenger.; .he `does not `say : Lord, Lazarus `is                 after He  knew  thtit  Lazarus  wtis` sick, to  -beefeaT of
sick ! No, he says : Lord, behold, he. tihom Thou lov-                 the Jews. How little they knew Jesus or the plan-and
est is sick ! Surely, Jesus will hurry to the side of                  counsel of- God ! Jesus knew that, although His hour
that sick-bed, speak words of that wonderful, heaven-                  was approaching when He would be crucified and die,
:ly, Divine power-and Lazarus will arise from his                      at tI&stage  He.still  had work.to do.~ The J,ews could
sic'k-bed. Did He not heal thousands? And now His                      not take Him until all His work  was- finished. And
own particular friend is `sick ! No doubt, the Lord                    even then .Jes,S would fortie  the is&e contl"ary to the
will  hasten. to  Bethany. Let us hurry, John,  Pkter,                 plans of the Jews. In the night %h@n Judas betray-
James, all of you, my friends: Lazarus is sick!                        ,ed Hini, He' would force the issue a;nd says to. Judas :
     But no, the L&d turns Himself to the messenger                    Judas;now is'the time: that which thou .doest,  do it
an<. speaks words that `are intendgd for a. messige to                 quickly,. Atid Judas went out. into the night to do. his
the anxious sisters: Tl@ sickness is not unto death,                   devili&h  work. IAlway&;remember,   Jestis is  <God,  and
but for the glory 03 Go& that;the Sop of .God might be                 God is not hurried! E$en when the Divine Christ is
glorified thereby ! And with  th:ese  words  -the. man                 going to hell and damnation for His sheep He will not
may return to  Bethany.                                                be hurried. Al! things happen according to plan. De-
     What follows -now would be pukzling to us if we                   vils, wieken ineti`and angels, yes, and also His wav-
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   194                             T    H    E                     STANDAR.D   -BEAR'ER

   ering` and offended disciples all have their work to do                acle of the raising of  .Lizarus.       How divinely cor-
  in. this drama of the Son of God.               .                :,
                                                         .
                                                       ~ i .,>            rect! Physical death, such as Martha had seen in
          Therefore, Christ is in no hurry now.  He  B&w                  Lazarus, her brother,- was but a meager manifestation
  what He was aGout  to do. i                                             of that other, that greater death which is called spiri,
    They arrive in Bethany and learn that Lazarus is                     tual death, later destined  to be called the second death
  dead. The disciples knew it already. Before-star&g                     or eternal death, is the full name of the monster which
  on their journey the Lord spoke openly  and,  sai&:                    holds th$ human race in its jaws from the cradle to
  Lazarus is dead. And Jesus. was glad  foi the sake                     the grave: Of that monster. we see a little in the
  of His. people. He. said as much: "And I am  .glad                     manifestation of physical death.
  for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent that                         Death is conflict, a fight between Gocl and His im-
 ye may believe : neverthelgss let `us go unto him ! Je-                 age bearer. Hence, spiritual death is hatred against
  sus is the Godman  who gives Divine answers on earth.                  ,God, and, conversely, .it is the wrath of God ag5inst
  H a l l e l u j a h   !                                                and pver man. That fight is fought also in the body
      Y,es, Lazarus is dead. F&r days dead alid buried.                  of man. When you see  `a man, first youthful and
      Well, that is the end, is it not? The end of all hu-               strong, in the vigor of his  ear1.y years, it is not so
  man action and earthly endeavor! As long  .as our                      very evident. But come with me to the sick-chamber,
  loved ones live, doctors, medicine (and of the best!),                 to the clinic  and the  .hospital. There you see  mare
  sympathy, self-discipline, even prayers of a kind. But                 clearly: there is a fight on.         God says incessantly
  death is the end of all. A few tears, a few. spades of                 from the heavens : Return to destruction, 0 man ! And
  dirt, a hole in the ground, a sigh that rends the heart                he fades away and dies ! A story which is  repeated-
  and on we go. A few more-wrinkles in our fac'es and                    a million, million times. Returned to destruction we
  perhaps  the same in our hearts,, but the riddles of                   are and returned to the earth whence we came.
  life increase. Even the mourners that wail in the                          But that is only the smallest part of death. To
  house of the dead have an ai? of finality.                             our natural hatred against God, the Lord- sayeth:
     And the thoughts of the heart' may sometimes                        Return, ye chil.dren of men! And they die the second,
  think on the cold -grave, the earth, the horrible after-               the eternal death in a grave that is called hell, the
  math  ,of malodorous effluvium. In a moment we will                    place prepared for the devil and his angels.
  hear something of that out of the mouth of -Martha.                        That' is the reason why the Lord will instruct His
  Ever careful Martha !                                                  &vn, even Martha -and Mary : I am the -Resurrection
     But Lazarus' is dead, Lord.. 10,. Master! Why did                   and the Life! Believe on Me and you will rise from
  we not stay away, this day's journey? Haye-we  -need                   your grave, be it earthly and physical, or spiritual
  to hear lamenting for the dead?                                        and eternal. I am He who will save you all, my chil-
    .. And Martha hastened to the Lord. Mary was in                      dren, from hell and the grave, frdm the devil and the
 the inner room, crying. She is the meditative kind: curse, from horror and, eternal desolation. Believest
  She had not heard of the Saviour's  approach. L&titer                  thou, Martha?
  she hears and also quickly runs to .Jesus. And' both                     Y,es, Lord, but let us hurry to tell Mary.  <And
  have ,the same- heart-rending story to tell, so brief, so              Martha will return with her sister. Jesus has told
  poignant: Lord, if Thou ha&t been here, our brothel                    them that He will see the last resting place of His
  had not died.                                                          friend.
     For both sisters there i.s a wonderful message, ev-
  en though they did not understand the full import of                     The company of wailing friends and relatives will
  it. That message .is the most important pa& in this                    follow in  their steps.
I whole plan of salvation: "I am the Resurrection and                       It is not far, the rocky sepulchr.es are nearing to
  the Life ; he that believeth in -Me, though he were                    the eye of-friend and `foe.
  dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever Jiveth and be-                     But while Jesus and His company of friends with
  lieveth in Me shall never die !" Now, Martha, Mary:                    the Jews near the sepulcbre, a curious thing happens.
  believest thou this?  well, Martha, to whom  it was                    It has given rise to many and ingenious explanations.
  dire-ctly addressed, did. not grasp the full import of                 It is this: when  J&us saw Mary weeping, and the
 this word, but she knew enough of Jesus and His                         Jews'also weeping, which came with her, He was an-
 wonderful essence to say: Yes, Lord, I believe that                     gered in the spirit and troubled Himself. For so you
  Thou art the `Christ, the Son of God, which should                     must read the text. In passing I may testify to ;J'ou
  come into the world.                                                   that practically all agree to that. I may even point
                                                                         you to the only`other times that this word is used in
                          a  *  *  *                                     the New Testamept. It is used in three other places,
     And this' conver.sation  takes place-before the mir-                nb more,.           Twice the word is used when Jesus
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   "straightly charged" men to. say nothing of the mir-          But Jesus-  insists.~ The stone is removed and the
 acle-`He  had performed on them, and once it is used         Lord lifts up His eyes to heaven. He will audibly'
   to indicate `6mulmuring" when people meant it as a         thank His #God and Father who alone doeth wondrous
   rebuke against the use of costly ointment in the an- things. I thank Thee Father! And, Father, I thank.
ointing of Jesus. And you will find in the margin of          Thee openly and .audibly  so that all may hear and
   the revised version the word translated: `He was niov-     know that it is Thou who givest Me the answer 60 my
   ed with indignation. The three other places referred lirimost prayers.
   to are: Matt. 9 :30; Mark 1:43,; and Mark 14:5.                And then with a loud voice : "Lazarus, come
      The question is: what moved .Jesus to indignation       forth !"
  : so  tha't  He troubled Himself? In verse 38 we find           And  he- that was dead arose. He struggles to a
  .the same expr,es&on. `The answer is easy if we take        sitting, a standing position  %nd walking cumbrously,
   into account the simple reading of the text: He is         with halting steps because of the raimer$ of the dead,
   angered, says the text, because of the wailing or weep-    there stands Lazarus.      The  odour of the dead has
   ing of the Jews who wept with Mary. The Jews were          disappeared. He lives and breathes. I fondly think
   those persons who. did not believe on Him. And con-        that his eyes rested first of all on Jesus. Take away
   stantly John us& that term to'denote the enemies .of       those wrappings of the dead and let him go. He
   .Jesus. Well, when Jesus- saw the horrible  mixturi!       knows his dwelling`!
   of Mary's heartbroken grief on the one hand, and the       *. There is the simple story. But the .whole plan of
   hypocritical. wailing of the J.ews on the other hand,      salvation is hidden, in t.he'history  of this raising of
   He was angered and shuddered, as it were, from such        t h e   d e a d .
   evil. The anger and the shuddering was directed at
   those Jews who presently will be tale-bearers to the                               *  *  *  *
   Sanhedrin so that they can canspire to slay Jesus.                                                        _'
       But toward Mary and Martha in  th+r terrible              Honestly,  Frankly now, is it not foolish to stand
  grief He has nothing but sweet compassion. For now near the dead, reeking body .and say : Come forth ! ?
   follows that wonderful verse which is as short as it       Would  any map ever attempt it? He is  &a-cl.  We
 . is dear to the *heart of God's children: "J.es& wept." would be inclined to say to Jesus: Stop such foolish
   There is a tender difference in the two- words that        crying as though the dead would hear!
   are used. `Of Mary and the multitude there is a word           -Ah! But this is Jesus, that is, Jehovah Salvation!
   used which means : to lament, that is, audible weeping.    Therein you have  the answer. And so this Jesus
   But in verse 35 we read: Jesus burst into tears. He        stands near our dead souls in our natural state where
   wept- silently.. 0, you may be sure that angels flew       we alw.ays  and continually say to God: Depart from
   to gather those precious tears of  J.esus.  It shows       me : I have no. pleasure in Thy ways, 10 God ! There
 how He is filled with real human, pure and  loveable         stands Jesus and by the almighty power of His ISpirit
   compassion for the objeot  of His love in misery.          He says to the dead souls of His own, elect sheep:
      _ But the de&l will have his due. Listen to -some  - Come forth, My friend! ..Come fort&,  out of the sleep
   of these Jews: ."Could not this man, which opened          of hateful, reeking death!  Cotie forth, my beloved!
   the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man      You are a sinner as were your fathers, and yet belov-
  should not have died?" ,That speech reeks. of sulphur       ed still ! Come forth out of ,the arms of the monster
  .and hell. Imagine such speech after the three years' that has the power of death, &hose name is Satan,
   sojourn with ali the manifestations of His Divinity !      and the Light of My blessed countenance shall beam
   It shows the hardness of our natural hearts. There-        upon you. The Voice of Jesus has the quickening
   for.e,  again the Lord is angered within His innermost     power of life!
   soul.                                                          And the result? Such people stir in their r'eeking
                                                              death and stand and live forever!
                        *  a  a  *-
             `-                                                   Never, ,O never be so.foolish as to say, that man can
                                                              raise himself. No, never an inch upon the way to the
      We have arrived at the grave.                           heart of God., You all will bear me witness that in
       Jesus gives the  comtiand to  remove  the' stone       this miracle the wonder is Ohat almighty calling voice
   which covered the opening bf the grave. But Martha         of Jesus! I assure you that if you hear the voice of
   recoils from the idea that  her brother's corpse, al-      Jesus say : ComcPunto Me and rest! that you will come
  ready partly decomposed and reeking with the re-            and coming you will believe and believing you will
   sult of malodorous putrifactidn, will be' exposed to       have life, everlasting life in His name! To Him be
                                                                                                                   0
   the view of all. this crowd: No, Lord, he is ,dead four    glory forever ! Amen !
   days !                                                                                           --    G. vos.


     196                                                                       T'HE  S T A N D A R D ' B E A R E R


                                 THE STANDARD BEARER  -                                                                   1'                      ED'ITORIAL
                                                                                                                                                                 -.
               Semi-monthly, except ,monthly  in July and August . .                                                       ,
      Published by the Reformed Free Publishing -Association
                  Box 124, Station C., Grand Rapids 6, Michigan                                                                            The Promise According  to  tile Confessions
                                EDITOR  - `Rev. Herman Hoeksema                                                      ..-,
      Communications relative to contents should be addressed '                                                                            We must still answer the question : who are the
      to Rev. H.. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St, S. E., Grand                                                                            children of the promise?
      Rapids 7, Michigan.                                                                                                                   _.
      All matter relative to subscription should be addressed                                                                              And also the question: where are they found?
      to Mr., J. Bouwman,  1359.  Giddings Ave., S.  -E., Grand                                                                            These questions are very important, especially
      Rapids 6, Michigan. Announcements and`obituaries  must
      be mailed to the above address and-will be published at a                                                                  with a view to our controversy with the Heynsian con-.
      fee of $1.00 for each notice.                                                                                              ception and with the Liberated.
      Renewals:- Unless a definite-request for discontinuance                                                                              The question is : are all the. descendents of the fa-
      is received, it is assumed that the subscriber wi.shks  the                                                                ther of believers also children of-  IGod? Are all the
      subscri@ion  to continue without the formality of a re-
      newal order..                                                                                                              seed of .Abraham. spiritual seed by the grace of God?
                                 Subscription price: $4.00 per year                                                                   .    This is the question with which Rom. 9 :6-8 plainly
      Entered as Second Class mail at Grand Rapids, Michigan                                                                     deals; Is the conclusion warranted that because some.
                                                                                                                                 one is a Jew, therefore he must be a child of the pro-
                                                                                                              .'           1     mise? In the old dispensation all ,the children of the
                                                                                                                                 promise were Jews. Were then all the J,ews also chil-
                                                                                      `_
                                           -  :  ----~I
                                                                       ---                                                       dren of God? In the new dispensation God estab-
                                                                                                                                 lishes His covenant with believers and their ,-children.
                                                                                                                                 Does this imply that all the children of believers are
I
                                                                                                                           )!    heirs according to the promise?                              - .
                                           C O N T E N T - S                                                                               When the term .promtie is superficially considered
.MEDITATION-                                                                                                                     that is, in .the sense that-it is a proclamation of a con-
             The Raising of  La&us . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  : . . . . . . . . .                                 193    ditibnai assurance, it seems as if an affirmative ans-
                 Rev. G. Vos                                                                                                     wer would b,e justifiable.
EDITORIALS-                        -                                                                        .i                             And superficially considered, it would appear as if
             The Promise According to the Confessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196                                the promise to Abraham actually included all the
                 R e v .   H .   H o e k s e m a                                                              `.                 .Jews. Was not the Word of JGod to Abraham-quite
O F   BOOKS-                                                                                                                     `without limitation : "I will establish my covenant be-
             The First Epistle of John  by  Rob&  S.  Cmdlish . . . . . . . . . . . .  19:                                       tween me and thee, and thy seed after thee, in their
             Het  Evangelic Naar Mattheus  by  Dr.  D.  Jacobs  . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
             Kentering in-de  Vrijzinnigheid  by Dr. G.  B&nburg   Wurth  . . . .  I-99                                          generatiqns, `to be a God unto thee and to thy seed af-
                 Rev. H.  Hoeksema                                                                                               ter thee"? `- Does not the Apostle Peter sound forth
THE  TRIPLE   KNOWLEDGE-   '                                                                                                     the same general promise when he proclaims in the
             An Exposition of the Heidelberg Catechism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19'9                                  text that is also quoted in our Baptism Form: "For
                 Rev.  H .   H o e k s e m a                                                                                     unto yap is ,t-he promh?se, and to your children, and to
OUR   DOCTRINE-                               '                                                        ,;'                       all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our
             God's Providence. . . :. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  ::-. . . . . . . . . . ,208               ,God shall call?"
                 R e v .   H .   Veldman                                                                                         I         But then the question arises: has the Word of God
IN  HIS  FEAR-                                                                                                                   taken. none effect? For the fact is that many, that
             Looking  in.  the Future . . . . . . . . ..a......................... 207                                           the large majority, of the descendents of Abraham
                 Rev. H.  C., Hoeksema                                         . .                                               never received the promise, that thousands upon thou-
TFIE   DAY  OF  SHADOWS-                                                                                                         sands of the seed of Abraham in the old dispensation
      D a v i d 's   F l i g h t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (................,... 209                             perished, that at the very moment when the promise
                 Rev. G. M. Ophoff                     .'
                                                                        : .                                                      of ,God enters upon its realization, the nation of Israel
CONTRIBUTION-                                        ,..r.           .ir..                  .     .                  I           is definitely rejected, and that the hearts of many in-
             "Chil~en's Retreat" Et Alia . . . ..:......  ~  :. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
                 Rev. G. C. Lubbers                                                                                              dividual Jews are so hardened that they are closed to
                                                                                                                                 the influence of the gospel of Christ. The same may
PERISCOPE-                                                                                                                       be said of the children of believers in the new dlispen-
             Ignorance?          . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..-........................
                                                                                                                      214
             %.The New Bible . . . : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . 215           sation. Many of them receive the seal of God's cove-
                                                                                                  _
                 Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                nant `in infancy, are instructed in the way of $God's
                                                                                                                                 covenant from their very youth, but nevertheless des-
      .(         "      ..,      -,. ,        `i             ._


                                         .   T H E   STANDARD`
                                                                          BEARE.R                                         157
                                  _-     .._
pise the  promises  of  God and  choose the way of de-              (Consider that all the cliildren of Abraham by na-
struction even tinto tiza fr~ry bitter end.                       ture are alike. They are all dead in trespasses and
  This therefore, is a very serious question : has' the           sins.. No one is by nature able to enter into the c&e-
Word of God taken none effect?*                                   nant of IGod,' t,o believe and hbpe in the promise, un-
       There are many who., as,`they  face this question,         less God first rea%es His -promise unto them. How
take -refuge  in the explanation. that the promise of             shall the seed of Abraham, and how shall children of
God is contingent upon the consent and acceptance believers ever become childr.en of the promise unless
of the promise by the seed of Abraham, by the chil-               God takes the #initiative and realizes His promise. If,
dren of believers. The promise, in other  woyds, is               then, God's promise is for all the seed of Abraham,
conditional. It .lis indeed for all the children of Abra- and if by nature all .the children of Abraham accord-
ham and for all the children of. believers. They are              ing to the flesh are .alike, `unable to render themselves
ail, without exception, comprehended in the covenant              worthy & receptive for the promise of Gqd, it follows
of God. From ,God's  side the covenant is established that the Word, of God has fallen out, Fas become of
with .a11 of them. On God's part the promise to'them none efjSe$, has utterly failed in the case 02 those chil-
211, head for  &ad,  %-qYl  ssui for  saul, is  ,"Uea and         dren of .Abraham  that' never re'ceive  the promise.
Amen." This, they claim, is the priviiege of all &hat                Bit the text emphatically states the very opposite.
are born of believers iA the chil~ch of (Christ,  that IGod       The Word of God has not fallen out. The Word of
sincerely holds out His promise  to  i&em,  promises              <God  is the Word of  ,GO,D! Therefore it cannot pos-
tham the blessings of s&&on. But tihen they COME                  sibly be conditional or contingent. It cannot depend
to years of discr&onj they must accept their covenant             on the .creature for its realization. Its realization de:
obligation. T-hey must belie& and walk in the way                 pends on God alone. And His Word of promise fail-
bf' obedience. `The Dromise  is conditional. And if the           eth never. Neither did it fail in the case of the unbe-
promise is not accepted, &hey simply cannoi?yedeiv.e it'. lieving Jews. All, to whomsoever  the promise was
Thus it was in the old .dispensa%ion.           The promise to    given, and to .whom it pertained, were surely saved:
Abraliam and his seed includes indeed all the chihildren          not one of, them ever perished. But froni this it fol-
of Abraham, all his natural seed. But thousands for lows that the Word of God's promise, as far as its
whom the promise was intended failed to accept the of-            co&ents wsls concerned, was limited in scope, and that
f.er of salvation which was well-meaning on the part of           the promise did hot pertain to all the seed of AbTa-
God to them all. And therefore, many of the children ham. This is the answer of the apostle, &he explana-
of the promlise were'lost. And the same failure to ac- tion of .Scripture of the fact that thousands of Israel-
cept the promise explains why's0  many' children of               it-s a&or.ding to the flesh fail to become heirs of the
believers in the new dispensation for whom the pro-               kingdoG-  of heaven. They are not all Israel that are
mise is intended are cast. out and rejected.                      out of Israel, that are the descendents of Jacob. N,ei-
       The question is, howevei: is this interpretation in        ther'are they all children, that is, true children of God
harmony with the Word of IGod in Romans 9 :6-8?                   and children of thti promlise, because. they are the car-
       Th? answer to this question is undoubtedly nega-           nal seed of Abraham. The children' of. the flesh are
t i v e .                                                         not. the: children of God, but the children of the pro-
       Phe apostle Bxactly emphasizes that the Word,  of          $~se,$a~ &,%&.e  children of Ab,raham  in whom God
God in the promise has not become of none effect. EV-             freely &d so<ereignly  realizes .His promise,. that are
en the atiul phenom&non that  colintless  numbers of              therefore spiritually born through the power of the
Jews are rejected does not warrant the conclusion that            promise, these are accounted for the true seed of Ab-
the Word of *God lis fallen out.                                  raham, and these are meant by the` Word of God, "I
       Yet, according to the explanation just mentioned%          wlill establish my, `coveriant between me and thee and
this is exactly what happened. God's promise was for thy seed after  U&e."  `.
all. Yet,, in the case of thousands upon thousands,                -And this is still  of  &tie. Also today the promise
this promise failed- of its realization. Why? Do not              is` unto us and. to our children. God $stablishes His
answer that the promise failed Iin the case of carnal cdvenant in the line-of continued generations of belie-
Jews because of their unwillingness to accept the                 ve&s. ,Does  this mean that all are children of the pro-
promise and honor God's covenant. For although I                  mise? Does it.  give  p&rents with, say,  f,our or five
fully understand and admit that in the way of their               cliild~en  a ground, a G&-given  ground, to plead that
unbelief and iniquity they were lost, I nevertheless              allytheir children be saved ? Can they say to <God  in
deny that ,this can serve as an explanation of the fact           tlieir intercession for their children: "& the basis of
that God did not fulfill `His promise in them.                    Thine own promise to me I am bold-to  ask that Thou
       Such an interpretation is absolutely impossible.           trknsforin all my-children into  Thine?`? And if the
             `
  .


                                          . . .




 `1 9 8                               T:.H.E-  %TANDARR-D.  B E A R E R

 Lord does not hear this petition, and one .ti morti df                                There are always the children of the promise, the true
 ,the children should evidently be lost, will they hi:e                                spiritual seed; but there also develops always again
 reason to complain that the `Word of God .has taken                                   the carnal seed, that live:iri close proximity and out-
 none effect?. `God forbid-! They are not all Israel that                              ward fellowship with the spiritual seed, dwell in the
 are of Israel. And not -all the se&d of believers aqe                                 same. house with the latter, are subject to the same in-
 children of God. But the children of the promise shall                                fluences as these, but are not` chlildren of the promise,
 be counted for- the seed. God sovereignly-4akes  out                                  alld receive not the gra?e of God in their hearts.
 02 `our children -His own, and- realizes all:.His Word                                   `Such is the evident' meaning of Romans `9 :6-8.
without fail and unconditiontilly.                                                         The children of the promise are found in th,e line
    Thus also the question ,is .aliswer&d  : where are the of. `the generations of believers. But : all the children
 children of the promise?                                                        .,    of believers are not children of the promlise.
    And the answer is : they aTe 3; the line of the gen-
                                !.                 _..  _'                                 All- is mot Israel that is of Israel.
 erations of believers.                            . .  6.:"
                                                              T,`?.;..  -.,,.                                           .                    H.H.
    But in.the line of the generabions of believers there                                         .
 are two kinds of seed: the carnal seed and the seed 6f
 the promise.                                                   .'                                         -:::--
    `Outwardly and for a time they are one people. 1~
the strictest sense this was the case in the oid dispen:
 .tion, when the line of the covenaht w&s confined with-
 in the limits of the nation of Israel. They for& a na-                                                  O f   B O O K S
 tion. `They were all calied  Israel. They all lived un-
 der God's dealings with His own. They were all de;                                    !l!HE_F,IWT EPISTLE OF JOHN, by Robert  S. Candlish. Pub-
 livered with a mighty arm from the house of bondage.                                   `lished  by Zonde,rvan Publishing House, Grand Rapid-s, Mich.
 They were all witnesses of God's terrible signs and                                     Price $5.95.
wond,ers. They all passed through the-Red Sea. Thejr                                       This book is a commentary on the First Epistle of
were all baptized Iinto Moses. They all ate of the spi;                                John, yet it iS much more than a commentary. Being
ritual bread. They all drank of the spiritual rock that                                divided into four pa&s, `it oeers several lectures on
followed them, and that -rock was Christ. They were                                    John's first epistle. -In a biographical sketch of  Dr..
the .nation that received the law, to whdrri the Wqrg                                  Candlish, by  Wilbur  ,Smi.th  .of Pasadena,  Galif., the
of God was entrusted, whose were the prophets, the                                     latter  writes  -U-at he is "grateful to the Zondervan
priests, the kings, the .service  of the temple, altar and                             Publishing House for making available  again' this
sacrifices. Yet; with  the majority of them  `God was                                  epochal work, as near to an inspired volume as any-
liot well-pleased. Ther,e  were'always two seeds. There                                thing can be ,outside  of the Holy Scriptures. I have
were within the nation of Israel the true children `of                                 noct seen a cdpy advertised now for thir.ty years, nor
the promise  and. the  carnal-.children  that despised                                 have I  known-  of anyone who has bought a copy in
God's covenant and  traFpled under foot the' holi                                      that time. I, have loaned mine so frequently that it
`things of the covenant of God, His Word'and precepts,                                 had to be rebound, and-more than one person ha; said
In other words, there were always in the generatio&                                    to me,-,`1 have read much of this on my knees, which
of Abraham the remnant according `to the eiection of                                   is not said concerning many books that fall into our
grace, and the carnal reprobate. And,tlie latter -w&e                                  hands these days. I commend this volume to all who
generally in th,e. majority.                                                           love the Lord Jesus, wha.have longed for a deeper exl
    In the new dispensation it is no different.                                        perience through the Holy Spirit of  ,God, and to all
    The church in the world is the gathering of coni                                   seeking a richer  undertitanding of the fathomless
"fessing believers and their children.. And they form words. of the beloved apostle."
one people, even though the co&se of God's covenant                                       Although this praise is, perhaps, somewhat ex-
is 11.0 longer confined to one natioli; .And to this people                            cessive, yet, in general, I can agree with `it. This .is,
God reveals His covenant. `They are called' after His                                  indeed, a. beautiful work. It faithfully  attempts, not
Name. Outwardly all that belong to them~are subject                                    only to explain the  sacr$d.' text, but enters into its
to the same dealings. They are all  bapbized in the                                    spiritual meaning, not in the morbid, but in the sound
name of ,God Triune. ,320 all the Word is.proclaimed.                                  sense of the word.          '
All, young and old, are instructed in the knowledge                                     : This does not mean that we always agree with the
of God and of our Savior Jesus  ,Christ. Yet also in                                   author. $$tead_of  finding then main thought of the
the church Of God. of the new di.spensation  the Word                                  epistle in the triad "light, love,' righteousn&s", I ra-
of God applies I "All is not Israel that is out of Israel" ther fitid it in. the terms "light, love, life." In the ex-


                                               pHG  S&j)ABi=;   &iREa                                                           I.99

       position of I- John 4 :`7-10 I. certainly would have ex- I
       pected Dr. Candlish as a Calvinist to have explained                      THE TRIPLE  KNOWLElkE
      .the "first love" of  `God.  from His eternal counsel of                                                                          -
     * election.                         -
           But apart from these and other points of cr.ilticism,          An Exposition Of The Heidelberg
       I  tiertainly  recommend this book wholeheartedly to               1.7
       o u r   r e a d e r s .   - H . H .                                                       Catechism
                                 -:-::                                                              P A R T   I I I
                                                                                           O F   THA'NKFULNEBS
       HET EVANlGE,LIE  NAAR MATTHEU8  by Dr. D. Jacobs. Pub-
         lished by J. H. Kok, Kampen,.Th.e  Netherlands. Price f.3.50.                              Lord's  Dai 34  -
           This  volu-me  ocdurs  in the series "DE BIJBEL,                                                2      '
       tqegelicht-voor  het Nederlandsche volk." It can hard-                               /
      ly be called a comm+tary. It cotisists  of brief notes                                     The One ,God (cont.)
       of the text itself. This perhaps has the advantage                        This implies furtier  $haE IGod alone is  the Lord:
       for one that has not much time to Btudy and yet wants              "Hear, 0 Israel, the Lord  iour  (God is one  L&d."
       to prepari himself in a measure for B.ible discussion              That He is Lord, and one Lord, implies ithat He is the
       on the text, sometimes hardly more than-a paraphrase               sole and &bsolu.te Proprietor ,of all things: "The earth
       in a society, that he may quickly look up an explana-              is the, Lord's and the ftilness thereof ." He is the Crea-
       tion of a certain passage. The book could also be                  tor of the heavens and. of the earth and of all things
       used for collateral reading of the Bibl'e in .family tidr-         they contain. He is their only Possessor, Ito do with
       ship.                        ,                                     them according to His good pleasure. This signifies
            NevertheSe%,  the brevity of- the book also has khe           too  %hat He alone has all authority, that His is the
       serious disadvantage that it ddes not always explain               sole firer`ogstive  to determine what lthe creature shall
       the text adequately. For an illustration of this .weak- .do and what purpose he shall serve. He is the only
       ness of-the book I refer to the notes on ch.  23  :37,             Lawgiver, Whose will is the criterion for the whole
       where the chief problem is left entirely unanswered.               universe' and for every creature. Besides, it means
           But to those that wish to use the book for the pur-            that He- is the sol,e Judge, that judges all the world
       poses above indicated and that can r,ead the Holland with equity. -Moreover, it implies that His is all the
      _ language, I recommend this work. -H.H.                            pow.er,  and that He governs all  things according to
                                                                          His eternal good pleasure. No  creatu're   .is exempt
                                 -::::                                    from  His control. Nothing betides in heaven or in
       KETTERING IN DE VRIJZINNIGHEID, by Dr G. -Brillenburg              garth, but by I%s will. For mark you well, He is not
         Wwth, published by J. H.  K:ok, Kampen,  The Netherlands.        a Lord;, but the..Lord. He is not merely supreme Lord,
         PxCce  f . 2 . 9 5 .                              :      _       btit simply Lord, Lord over all, and Lord alone.. Even
            In  *his book the author discusses and criticizes             as you  cannot divide: God's virtues, so you cannot
       certain apparent changes in attitudes and teadencies               @lit SIis lordship. Lord is He, not only over the good
       of the modernistic and liberal theologians of the Neth-            things, but also over the eGi1; tiot only of the right-
       erlands. In eight chapters and an introduction he                  eous, but .also of th? wicked; not only of life, but also
       discusses  the course of development of modernism, of death; not only of. pr@@erity, but also of' adver-
       in %he Netherlands, its altered mentality, liberal dog-            sity ; -not only. of pe.@e;lbut  -also of war. All things
=      matics, the question whether, after al!, the-moderns               are -absolutely under  Hi&-. Lordship, and und.er  His
       are still modernistic, our attitude over against them,. alone.? "Thou .shalt. have no other gods before me."
       the question whether liberalism has really changed,                ,This He can: say because He is God alone, and God i.s
       the Lyp,ically  modern principle ,of autonomy, and our t h e   L o r d .                             i
     : attitude over against liberalism. The general conclu-                     Such,. then,`, are the implications of the first com-
       sion of the book is that, although modernism has as-               ma ndment.  .-A..'  '                        0
       sumed a different attitude over against many pheno- _  iGod is ,One, and there is no  God beside Him..
       mena in  the. modern world, principally it has not'
       changed.                                                                  Now;- when we are saved by grace, redeemed by
            Anyone that desires to become a little more in-               the blood of Christ, and, in principle delivered from
     - timately acquainted with the d.evelopment  and recent              the power of sin and detith., SQ. that we stand in the
       changes of modernism in the Netherlands will do well               liberty wherewith `Christ has mad,e us free, we em-
       to read this clesrly written little.iook. -H.H.                    brace.this-tr.uth  of God and confess it from the heart.


                    -

                                                                                              -.
  200 .:                               Ta.jj)..   dOTA.Nf;.ARD   :B$jAR%JA

   -Then indeed we respond to this language. .of the` law :      In the light of- this truth, it can readily be under-
  "Yea, &hovah, Thou'.art my God, and Thou art ,God             stood that the first commandment in its prohibitive
  alone., There is none beside Thee. Thou art Lord. And         form puts its finger on a very sore spot in our nature.
  I know and confess Thee as ,my Lord, .my Soverelign,          ,O, as long- as we have an eye only for that coarser
  my King forever. And Thou hast redeemed me; deliv-            form of `idolatry f,ound among the nations of heathen-
  ered me out of thepower  of sin and death:&  clothe           dom, who -bow themselves before the powers of na-
- me with righteousness and life." And then the prayer          ture, the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, and
  `kises from our heart and from :our lips: "Lord, what         creeping things, we may imagine that the. law in its
  wilt Thou have me do?' And the answer comes from              negative  for-m does not apply to us. Surely, we are
the first,  commandmetit : %Phou shalt have no -other           inclined to say, we are- no idolaters, and the first com-
  gods before me." And this commandment we love,                mandment in its prohibitive form has lost its signifi-
  even as it Comes to us in its negative, or prohibitive,       cance. Its positive implication may still be of value.-
  form. For, on the one hand, we deeply feel that the           It may Berve to remind us that we must always and
  motions of sin are, still in our members, and that            with all our heart and soul and' strength serve the
  therefore we are always-inclined to seek ,,and to -serve      living and true ,God. But we certainly cannot be cal-
  other gods. And, on the other hand, we understand             led idolaters. (Of this sin we are not guilty. But the
  that the positive meaning of this commandment  ds that        case becomes altogether different, the moment we un-
  we shall know and.acknowledge  and worship the one;           derstand the definition which the Heidelberg Cate-
  only true IGod, and Him alone.                                chism offers in this 95th Question and Answer. Idola-
                                                                try is to contrive or to have any other object besides
                             `    3     .                       the true and living God, or instead of Him, in which
             Worshipping  The One God                      :    we put our trust. Then we certainly begin to under-
                                                                stand that in as far as we are not delivered from the
      The first commandment forbids all idolatry, and           power of sin, as far as the motions of sin still rule in
  ,warns the believer in Christ against it.                     my members, the inclination of my sinful heart is al-
      What <is meant by idolatry?                               ways exactly to idolatry. `Always we are inclined to
      The Catechism defines it in Question and. Answ.er         rule out the true and living ,God, and to place some-
  95 as follows: "Idolatry is, instead of, or besides that thing next to Him or instead of Him.
  `one true God, who has manifested himself in his word,        No, we do not bow ourselves  bef,ore wood and
  to contrive,-or have any other object, in which men           stone, before idols of gold and silver. Nevertheless;
  place their trust."                                           how easily we are inclined to put our trust into some
     -Thlis implies that by nature, apart from the grace        ,object  of our own contrivance. In prosperity we are.
  of iGod in Christ, we are all idolaters. / In-the .preced-    inclined to put our trust in our own strength and in-
  ing chapter I  ,stated  that man cannot live without          genuity;,, in &ditions and circumstances next to the
  some god. Now we may add that the god .which the              livi.ng,,God or instead of Him: and we do not glorify
- sinner by nature serves, and in whom  he. puts his .Him. and give IEn thanks. On the other hand, in ad-
  trust, is always an idol. H,e cannot `put his trust in        versityj in trouble and `difficulty, in sickness and suf-
  the true  :God. For trust, or  confideriCe,  presupposes      fering, in war and rumors of war in the midst of the
  the love-relation. To trust lin God implies, on the one       world, we often put our confidence in men, and our
  hand, the consciousness that God lovesus, and, on -the        hearts are ifilled with fear, simply because we do not
  other hand, the consciousness that we love God, .-be-         put our confidence in _the Lord of life .and death. All
  cause He loved us first. Neither is possible. for the         this:is.  simply idolatry. Next to the Lord there is no-
  natural man. He stands in enmity against God. And             thing. All, things and- every creature are but means
  in the "consciousness of that -enmity, he `can- only feel     in ,His hand. And to place any trust in things, or in
  that God is his enemy, and that apart from Christ -the        men, `is to rob the living .God of His glory, and is no-
  -wrath of  `God  abideth on him. Hence, he can never          thing but idolatry.
  trust in God. And, seeing that it is impossible for him        In the 94th Question and Answer  --the Catechism
  to live without some object in which he may put his           mentions .under the subject- of idolatry also "sorcery,
  trust, he contrives an idol, He may probably imagine;         soothsaying, superstition, invocation of saints, or any
_ as does the modern civilized pagan, and as `even the          other creatures." Sorcery is magic. It is really divi--
  Christian according to his old man does, that besides         nation with the supposed help of evil spirits. It is
  his idol he can also put his confidence in the true )God.     the power to command such evil spirits ,and to press
  But this is impossible;. For- God is .One; and-we. must them .into our ,service. The Word of God, -especially
  put either all our confidence in Him, or none. at: all;. '    in the ,Old Testament, strongly. warns- against this


                                      T H E   STAW.DARD`BEARER                                                    201

 form of idolatry, as, for instance, in Lev. 19 :31: "Re-    conviction infringing upon God's sovereignty concer-
 gard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek ning the causal relation between supers,ensuous  pow-
 after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord         ers and sensuous operations.       That' superstition is
 your God." And in  Deut. 18  :9-U we  read: "When still rampant in' the form-of a dread or f,ear  of such
 thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God          relationship between the supersensuous and the sensu-
 giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abomi- .ous is evident from many phenomena in the modern
 nation of those nations. Th$ere shall not be found a- world, as, for instance, the fe3r of a howling dog,. and
 mong you any one that maketh his son or his daughter        the w,ell-known  fear of the number thirteen. All these
 to pass through the fire, or that us&h divination, or       manifestations. of idolatry are, of course, rooted in the
 an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or       denial of, the true `God as He has manifested Himself
 a charmer, or a consuiter with familiar spirits, ,or a      in His Word. Finally, under the head of idolatry the
 w,izard,  or a necromancer." From Ex. 7 we learn that       Catechism also mentions "the invocation of saints or
 at first the sorcerers of Egypt performed the same          any other creatures." This is undoubtedly directed
 signs which the Lord had commanded Moses and Aar-           against the Roman Catholic `Church with its Mario-
 on to perform before Pharaoh:  `:Then Pharaoh called        latry, its invocation of saints and of angels, to-which
 the wise men and the sorcerers; now the magicians           may be added also the worship of the host, which the
 of Egypt they also did in like manner with their en-        Heidelberg Catechism calls an aCcursed idolatry.
 chantments. For they cast downOevery man his rod and              Over against all these forms of idolatry the Heid-
 they became serpents: but Aaron's rod swallowed up          elberg Catechism interprets the positive meaning of
their rods." .And again, when upon the  ~command-            the first commandment as follows: "And learn right-
 ment of the Lord Moses lifted up his rod and smote          ly to know the only true God ;trust in him `alone,.with
 the waters of Egypt, turning them into blood, we            humility and patience, submit to him; expect all good
 read : "And the magicians of Egypt did so with their things from him only; love, fear and glorify him with
 enchantments." vs. 22. From these passages it is al-        my whole heart; so that I renounce and forsake all
 so evident.- that there is no principal difference be-      creatures, rather than commit even the least thing
 tween sorcerers and soothsayers. -A soothsayer is one       contrary to his will." -
 that prognosticates, that foretells the future or pre-
 tends to foretell it by some signs, .whether it be. by            At the head of all these ennumerations of the im-
 looking at the stars, as the astrologers, or by observ;     plications of then positive ,meaning of the first com-
 ing. the entrails of animals or other signs. `Of sooth-     mandment stands that we must rightly know the only
 sayers we read in Isa. 2 :6 : "Therefore thou hast for-     tr:-e God. This implies that we learn to know Him
 saken thy people, the house of .Jacob,  because they be     only from His revelation.. It is fundamentally char-
 replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the. acteristic of idolatry that it creates a figment of its
 Philistines, and they pleas'e themselves in the children    own imagination and calls it god. It implies .that  man
 of strangers." And again, in Dan. 2:27: "And Dani:          says who and what (God is, instead of diligently listen-
 el answered in the presence of the king, and said, The      ing .to the Word of God Himself. Idolatry rejects His
 secret which the king hath-demanded cannot the wise         revelation; in.. order then to invent its own vanities.
 men, the -astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers,      And this is  dharacteristic,  not only of the cultured
 show unto. the king." And again, in Dan. 4 :7 :' "Then      pagan, but also of all mere human philosophy,- of an-
 came in the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans,      cient and modern times both. #God alone-can reveal
 and the soothsayers : and I told the dream  ,before         to us who He is, and what He is, and how He must be
 them ; but they did not make known unto me the in-          worshipped and glorified. The first commandment in
 terpretation thereof  ." And in' Acts 16 :16 we read of     its positive meaning, therefore; certainly teaches us
 a certain damsel which followed the apostle Paul, and       that we must be silent and let `God speak, that we dili-
 who was "possessed with a spirit of divination.  .1         gently search His Word, as revealed in the  Scrip-
 which brought her masters much `gain by soothsay-           ,turesj and attend to the preaching of His Word, that
 ing,!' Magicians, astrologers, sorcerers, and soothsay- we may be instrudeg  in the tru.e kno,wledge  of God.
 ers are therefore.in the same class.' They-are all false    The first commandment, therefore, `means that we
 prophets, the term  so&c&e~s probably emphasizing           must reject all mere human philosophy about God:
 the idea that as false prophets they could perform          for when man speaks. about God from his own mind
 signs and wond.ers, while the term soothsazjers  rather     and heart,' -he always lies ; and that, on the contrary,
 suggests the idea of prognostication. All these are of      we turn diligently to God's revelation in Jesus Christ
 course at the same time superstition. $Thle idea of         our  L<ord, and thus rightly know Him and acknow-
superstition is defined by Dr.  Geesink  in his `(Gere-      ledge .Him as God. alone.
formeerde Ethiek," I, p. 251, as the erring subjective             Secondly, the positive  d.emand  of the first  com-
                                                             (1


         20-2                                ..THE  ST-ANDAf;iD   BEAR&R

        mandment also implies that I love this one `God as' I          the first commandment demands that we shall re-
        know Him from His own Word,  .with -all- my heart              nounce every creature; and-put our confidence in God
        and with all my- mind and with all my soul and with            alone,  .in order also to fear Him only, in reverence
        all my. strength. But what does it mean- that I love           and child-like love. This, w.e understand, is possible
      ' the only true God? Is this love of God merely a cer-           only in Christ Jesus our Lord. The sinner in himself,
        tain sentiment or sweet feeling or mystical emotion?           apar.t from Christ; cannot possibly put his trust in
        0;if is that too, to be sure. But it is above all that         the living God. For as we remarked before, confi-
        grace, that response to God's love to  LIS  in Jesus Christ    dence implies and is based upon the assurance that
        that causes us to seek His glory;to.do His will, to keep this only God and Lord, this mighty Potentate of po-
        His Word. It is this, that knowing the true, God, we           tentates, this Sovereign of heaven. and earth, loves us.
        now prostrate ourselves before Him, and `exclaim in            ,And this assurance is possible only when the Spiri.t
        adoration : "My Lord and my God !" It means that               of God in Christ Jesus has shed abroad the love of
        we reject all and every form of lordship that is con-          God in our hearts. Outside of Christ the sinner can
        trary to His sovereign Word. God is the Lord! And              not have this assurance, for he is an enemy of -G-oh,
        to have no other gods before Him means that we ac-             and God looks down upon him inwrath. The know-
        knowledge no other lor'ds,  that He is our Lord alone.         ledge that God is One makes even the very devils
        We acknowledge and earnestly des.ire to live in har-. tremble. But in Christ Jesus this migh,ty ,God has re-
        mony with the acknowledgement that He is the Lord              vealed His love. And> the cross of Christ is the cen-
        over our body and over our soul, over our heart and            tral revelation. of this love of God toward us. Look-
--      over our mind, over our will and over all our desires,         ing at our God in the face of Jesus Christ, w.e know
        that therefore we submit ourselves -and -all things to         that He loves LX, that He forgives all our iniquities,
        Him,' and pr'ess  them into His service unconditionally.       that He d,elivers  us from sin and death, and that He
        We acknowledge that He is Lord over all our relation"-         will cause all things to turn to our advantage and
        ships in the world:  the. relationships of the home,           salvation. Then indeed we can patiently submi.t  our-
        `the marriage relationship, the parental relationship,         selves to Him in all circumstances of life. Then we
        th.e relationship of brother and sister ;. and that in all     are assured that all things work together for good to
        tliose relationships we shall ask,  `%ord, what wilt           them that love  `God. Then we trust in Him, and in
        Thou have us do?" mW,e acknowledge that He is Lord             Him alone. Then we fear Him, and Him only. Th,en
        over all our relationsips' in society, in church and           we rather renounce -all creatures, than to walk con-
        state; that He is-Lord over -our life in shop or in of-        trary to His will. And whatever men or devils may
        fice, in school, college, or university; that He is Lord       do to us, we  fearlessly and with a good conscience
        over the relation between employees and employers,             keep His testimonies and fight the good fight of faith
        over our goods and possessions. He is Lord, and we             in the midst of the world.
        acknowledge Him as such; over all our-relationships               For let-us not overlook the fact that we must thus
        in the church, the relation between ministers, elders,         know the true ,God, love and fear and worship Him
        anzi deacons, between officebearers and members, and
        between the members mutually. And He is the sole               alone in the midst of this present world `of sin and
        Lord, and we acknowledge Him as such, over all the             darkness. The first commandment, like all the other-
        relationships in the sta.te, between those that are in         pr.ecepts of the decalogue, is antithetical : you cannot
        a position -of authority and those that are called to. serve God and Mammon. Neither can you in the pre-
        obey.  .""
                 .Thou shalt have no other gods before  me:,' sent world serve God with a total disregard of Mam-
        implies that we shall acknowledge God as the only              mon. -We are called to serve .God antithetically, that
        Lord, with rejection `of all others.                     .:. is,  wi.th.rejlect,ion of Mammon. In the midst of the
                                                                       world we must live from the principle of regenera-
           In the third place, it also means that we shall put         tion and according to the Word of God. We must be
        all our confidence in Him alone, and that we renounce          His witnesses. In walk and confession we must re-
        every -creature as the ground of our trust. For, that          nounce all things that are against the precepts of the
        in which we put our confidence`& surely our god. If            God of our  salva.tion. And standing as  of. the party
      I in time of war we put our trust in chariots and hor-           of the living God in the midst of the world of dark-
        ses, these are our god. If we .put .our confidence in          ness, the first commandment demands that we fight
        princes, in powers, in great men, th#e:se ar,e our gods.       the good fight against the devil and his host, against
        If we trust in our ingenuity,, goodness, work, we are          the antichristian powers in the world, and against the
        our own god. If we put our .trust in money, business,          sin that still is in our members, so that we cleanse our-
        possessions, these are our gods. ,And according as we          selves from all the defilement of the flesh and of-the
        put our trust in these idols, we fear them too. But            spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.        .`>


                                        ,   l!HE  STANDAl%?   B E A R E R                                                          203
                               _-___
   Thus the preaching of the first commandment will-
prove ..to be a-means of our continGed  conversation. IA                    .OUR  IXOCTR-INE-.
will lead us to a deeper knpwledge of sin and to a
more complete confidence  & the cross of  our Lord
.Jesus Christ as the revelation of the God of our sal-                                         G o d 's   Providence
vation. The- preaching .of the first commandment will                `;-
exhort Lis to pray more earnestly: "Gdd, be merciful,                                                  (    9     )          .-
for my s,ins are very great." It will be Lo us an ex-                       GOD3 PROVIDENCE AND THE MIRACLE
hortation to crucify the flesh and to f,orsake  the world
tind to walk in a n'ew and holy life. And at the same                 A  COMMON INTERPRETATION OF THE SIGNIFICANCE
time the believer in Christ will be comforted with the                                            OF MIRACLES
only comfor,t  in i&and death, that he belongs to Him
Who has delivered us from all the power of sin and                   R': C. Trench
the devil. And though the handwriting of sin, also                          In  .our previous article we called attention to a
with respeot  to the fist commandment, is against us,                Common interpretation of the significance of the mir-
,over the entrance of this first department of the law               ,acles of Holy Writ. We quoted from three authors.
of God we read the sentence of God's boundless grace:                In- this article we would conclude our discussion of
"Atoned and forgiven."                                               the common interpret&ion of $he miracle by offeri5g
                                                        H.H.         to our  readers   .a  .somewhtit  lengthy quotation of
                                                                     Trench, who wrote a book on miracles. We quote as
                                                                     folltiws,   p a g e s   9-14:
                        -::::                                               "Wherein, it may be asked, does the miracle diffter
                                                                     from any event in the o&nary course of nature? For
                                                                     that too is, wondekful; the f,act that it is a marvel of
               Thou, 0 Lord, art God alone                           continual recmrence may rob it, subjectively, of our
               Everlasting. is Thy throne ;                          admiration ; we may be content to look at it with' a
               Through the ages men shall sing .                     dull incurious eye, and to think we `find an explana-
                                                                     tion df it in its' constant r,epetition,  even as we often
               Praise to heaven's eternal king.                      find -in this repetition sufficient reason for excusing
               Thou, enthroned above the skies,          -           ourselves altogether from wonder and reverent ad-
               Wilt for Zion's help arise;                           miration ; yet it does not remain the less a marvel
               k'et Thy grace to her appe,ar,                        s t i l l .
               For the promised time is n&r.                         *: "To  $his  qtiestion  some  haye  answe;ed,  that since
                                                                     a.11 is thus marvellous, since the grass growing, the
                                                                     seed sprouting, the sun rising, are as much the result
               If with love  .compassionate                          bf power,s which w.e cannot trace or measure, as the
               We, Thy servants, mourn her state                     water  tarned  into wine, or the sick healed by a word,
        -. Wilt not Thou, 0 gracious Lord,                           62. the blind restored to  vision by a  %ouch, there is
               Help in Zion's nekd afford?         '                 therefore no such  thing as a miracle, eminently so
               Lord, Thy glory shall appear,                         called.        We  .have no' right,  they say,  iti the-mighty
               Kings and nations then shall fear;                    and complex mir.acle of nature which encotipa&es us
                                                                     on every side; to separate off in an arbitrary manner
               And Thy Name shall be ,adored                         some certain facts, and-to affirm of %his and &he dther
               When Thy Zion is restored.                            that they are wonders, and all the rest ordinairy  pro-
                                                                     cesses of nature ; but rather we must confine ourselves
               This all ages shall record                            to one language or the &her, and count all miracle,
               For the glory of the Lord ;                           or nothing.
               Thou- dost -hear the humble prayer,                          "Bu:t this, however at first sight it may seem very
               Fqr the -helpless Thou dost care.                _    deep and true, is indeed most shallow and fallacious.
       ~- .                                                          There is quite enough in itself and in its purposes to
               Thou eternal art, and great,                          distinguish that  whi&  we call by this. name, from
               .Heaven  and `earth Thou didst create,                all with which it is thus`sought to be confound.ed,' and
               Heaven and earth shall pass away,  -                  -in which to .be- lost. The distinction icdged which is
                                                                                          ,
               Changeless Thou  shalt  live for aye,                 yometimes  drawn, that in the miracle, God is immedi-


     204                                 THli  STANDARti  B E A R E R   ,

     ately working, and in o:ther events is leaving it to the     wrought in the sight of some certain men, and claim-
     laws -which He has establiihed  to work, cannot at all       ing their sbecial .attention,  there is a speaking to them
     be allowed: for it rests on a dead mechanical view of        in pacticular: There <is then a voice in nature which
     the universe, altogether remote from the truth. The          addresses itself directly to them, a singling of them
     ,clockmaker  makes his clock, and leaves it; the ship-       out from the multitude. It is plain that !God has now
     builder builds and  latinches his ship, which others; a particular word which they are'to give heed to, a
     navigate; but the world is no curious piece of mechan-       message to -which He is bidding 6hem to listen.
     ism which its' Maker condbructs, and then dismisses             "An extraordinary divine causality, and not that
     from his hands, only from &ne to time reviewing and          ordinary which we acknowledge everywhere and in
     repairing it, but, as our Lord says, "My Father work-        everything, belongs, then, to the essence of the mir-
     eth hitherto, and I work" (I John 5 :17) ; He uphold- acle ; powers .of *God other than those which have al-
     eth all things by the word of His power" (Heb. 1:3).         ways been working; such, indeed, as most seldom or
     And to speak of "laws of `God," "laws of nature," may        never `have been working before. The unresting ac-
     become  ito us a language  altog&her  deceptive, and         tivity of God, which at other times  hid,es and  con-
     hiding the deeper r.eality from our eyes; Lc~z0.s  of God    teals itself behind the veil of what we term natural
     exist only for us. It is a will  of God for Himself.         laws,  do& in the miracle unveil itself; it steps out
     That will indeed, being the will of highest wisdom from its concealment, and the hand which works is`
     and love,. excludes all wilfulness ; it is a will upon       laid bare. Beside and beyond the ordinary operations
     which we can securely count; ~from  the past expres:         of nature, higher powers (higher,  no.t as coming from
     sions of it we can presume -its future, and so we right-     a higher source, but as working .toward higher ends)
     fully call it a law. But still froin moment to moment intrude and make themselves felt even at the very
     it is a will: each law, as we term it, of nature is only     springs and sources of her power.
     that  w,hich we have learned concerning this will in            "While ,it is of the very essence of the miracle that
     that particular region of its activity. To say then          it should be thus "a -new thing", -it is not herewith 
     that there is more of the will of God in a miracle tlian .X denied that the natural itself may become miraculous
     in any other work of His, is insufficient.                   to  -us by the way in which it is timed, .by the ends
         "Yet whi1.e we deny the conclusion, that since all       which <it -is made to serve. It is indeed true that aught
     is-.wonder,  therefore the miracle, commonly $6 called,      which is perfectly explicable f+om the course of na-
     is only in the. same way as the ordinary processes of        ture and history is assuredly no miracle ,iri the most
     nature a manife&ation  of the presence and power of proper sense of the word. At the same time the fn-
     God, we must nbt with this deny the truth which lies         ger of God may be so plainly discernible in it, there
     in this statement. All is TiTotider ; to make a man is at    may be in it so remaikAbl,e  a convergence of many un-
     lmeast as great `a marvel as to raise a man from the         connected causes to a single end, it may so meet a
     dead. The seed .that multiplies in- the furrow is as         crisis in the lives of men, or in. the onward  march of
     marvellous as :+he bread that multiplied in Christ's         the kingdom of God, may stand in such noticeable re-
     hands. The miracle is not a greaier manifestation of         lation with God's great work of redemption, that ev-
     God's power  thati those ordinary and  .ever-repeated        en while it is plainly explicable by natural causes,
     processes; but it. is a different manifestation. By          while there are such, perfectly adequate to produce
     those other `God is speaking at .a!1 times and to all khe the effects, we yet may be entirely justified in terming
     world ; they are a vast unbroken revelation of Him.          it a miracl.e, a providential, although not an absolute,
     "The invisible things of Him from the creation  of the       miracle. .Absolute  it cannot (be called, since there were
     world are clearly seen, being understood by the things       known causes perfectly capable of -bringing it about,
     that arte made, even His eternal power and Godhead." and, th&e existing, it wpuld be sup.erstition  -to betake
      (Romans 1 verse 20). Yet from the very circum-              ourselves to others, or to seek to disconnect it from
     stances that nature is thus speaking evermore to all,
s                                                                 these. Yet the natural may in a manner lift.itself up
     that this speaking is diffused over all time,  ad-           ifito the miraculous, by the moment :at which dt falls
     `dressed unto all. men, that its sound has gone              out, by the purposes which it is made to fulfil. It is
     out into all  lands, from the very constancy and a subjective wonder, a wonder for us, though not an
     universality of this language, it may fail to make objective, not a wonder in itself."
     itself heard. It cannot be Said to s&rid in nearer re-          In connection with this lengthy quotation we would
     lation to one man than ,another, $0 confirm one man's make the following observations1 In the .Frst place,
     word more than that- of others, to address one man's         Trench d.efines  the miracle, and w.e again quote: "An
     conscience more than that of every other man. How- extraordinary Divine causality, .and not that ordin-
     ever, it may sometimes have, it must often lack, a pe-`. ary which we acknowledge everywhere and in every-
     culiar and personal significance; But in th,e miracle,       thing, belongs, then, Co the essence of the miracle;


                                            T H E   S T A N D - A R D   B E A R E R                                               205
                                                                   .-
                                                                                              r.
       powers of God other than those which have always                  -absolute, miracle. Absoluke  it cannot be called. since
                                                                              . .
       been working, such, indeed, as most seldom or never, there wiere known causes perfectly capable of bring-
       have been working before."-. Hence, in these wor.ds               ing it about, and, these existing, it would be saper-
       *he writer declares -emphaticall+ that the extraordi-             stition to betake  ourselves to others, or to seek to dis-
       naiy  be!ongs  indeed to the essence of the miracle.              connect it from these. Yet the natural may in a man-
       Secondly, Trench rejects the distinction between med-             ner-lift itself up into the miraculous, by the moment
       iate and #immediate (with or without. means, H. V.).              at'"which it falls out, by the purposes  which it is made
     It is  interesting  to  noit.e  how the author disposes of          to fulfill. Ilt is a subjective wonder, a wonder for us,
       this distinction. This distinction, petween the medi-             although not an objeetiv.e,  not a wonder in itself."
       ate and the immediate, the author declares, rests upon              According to Trench, the essence of the miracle
     a -dead mechanical view of the universe, altogether re-             lies in its extraordinary Divine causality. Hence, a
       mote from the truth. The clockmaker makes his clock               miracle is essentially supernatural, al.though ahis rejec-
       and leaves it; the .ship-builder builds and launches his          tion of the distinction between mediate and immediate
       ship and others navigate it; but the world is no curi-            tiay  ind.eed be called refreshing.
       ous piece of mechanism which its Maker constructs,                    From all these quotations it appears that the, es-
       and then dismisfes  .from His hands, only from time               sence of the mir.acle has been sough* in its supernat&
       to  .time revi.ewing and repairing it. IOne can hardly,           ral character. And, although it is  true that these
       therefore, define the miracle as an immediate work                aQthors have also attempted to view the. miracle in
     . of the Lord, for the simple reasdn  thaJt all things are          connection with IGod's plan of redemption and salvaT
       worked  directly and immediately by the Lord. The                 tion, it can hardly be said that they have viewed the
       world is not .a clock which runs by itself. The Lord              miracle as essentially belonging to the sphere of God%
     is in constant and immediate charge. To separate-the                redeeming grace. Clarity of thought and expression
       L&d from the continuous existence of the world is                 does not  charaeter,ize  these quotations..
       Deism. `Thirdly, `Trench distinguishes between mir-
       acles in the- absolute and in the providential sense,                              -ITS SCRIPTURAL NAMES
       although the latter are miracles only in the sense that
       they ar.e- miracles to us: a subjective wonder, a won-            The Scriptural  wand  r'wonderl'
       der `for us, although not an objective miracle, a mir-                This is the same word as "miracle." The word
       acle in itself. .The author, distinguishing between               "miracle" is .derived  farom  a word which means liter-
       absolute and providential miracles,-  means the follow-           ally: to wonder at. Miracles are wonders from the
       ing. An absolute miracle,  t@en, is a  work of  ,God              viewpoint of their effect upon the people. They cause
       w.hich simply cannot be ,attributed  to any natural cau-          people Do wonder, be filled with amazement.
       ses. It is simply impossible, from a human and natu-                  We consider the following quotation from Trench
       ral viewpoint, to account  f,or  *them. They were not             of more khan passing interest, and w,e quote from his
       caused by any causes or forces inherent in nature, or,            book on pages 2-3: "In  t&e name "wonder," the  a&
       if you will, in the works-of God's ,hands. Providential tonishment which the work Broduces upon the'.behold-
      ,miracles,   on  the other hand,  wer.e brought about by           ers, an astonishment often graphically portrayed by
       known causes. These miracles can be traced and e%-                the- Evangelists when relating our Lord's miracles
       plained.    However, the timing is so  w&derful, the              (Mar&  2:12;  4:41;  6:51;-  7:37; Acts  3:10,11),  `is
       subsequent order of events so striking that the entire            transferred -to the work it&f. This word, as. will at
      .sequence of causes and events strikes uSas very won-              once be felt, does but touch the outside of the matter.
       derful,  and therefore as a miracle in the providential <The ethical meaning of the  mirac1.e would be wholly
       sense of the word-i-t is called providential because              lost, weIre  blank astonishment or mere timazement  all
       of the providential order of events. Let us listen once which' it aroused ; since the same effect might be pro-
      more to the author in this connection: "At the same                duced by a thousand meatier -causes. Indeed it is not
      time the finger of Gbd may be so- plainly discernible              a little `remarkable, rather is it profoundly character-
      in it, there mayabe in it so remarkable a convePgence              istic of the miracles of the New Testament, as Origen
       of many uriconnected  causes to a-single end, it may              noted long ago, that this name "wonders" is never ap-
      so meet a crisis in the lives of men, or in the onward             plied to them but in connection with some other name.
.     march of the kingdom of God, may stand in -such no-                Th.ey are "signs and wonders" (Acts 14  :3 ; R,omans
      ticeable relation with -God's great work pf redkmption,            15 :lS ; Matt.24 :24 ; Heb.2 :4) ; or "signs" alone (John
      that even while it is.plainly explicable by, natural cau-          2 :ll ; A&s 8 :6 ;. Rev. 13 : 13) ; or "powXers" alone" (Mk.
      ses, while there. are such, perfectly adequate-to pro-             6 :13 ; Acts 19 :,l.l) ; but never "wonders". alone. Not
      duce the effects, .we yet may be entirely justified .in that the miracle, considered simply as a wonder, as
      terming -it a miracle a providential, although not an an astonishing event which the beholders can reduce


 206                                    T H % -S T AI-N b A R-6 'B E:A R E R

 to no law with which we are acquainted, is even -ss                 kens or symbols of another reality which is.invisible.
 sqch without its meaning and its purposes ; that p'ir-              Scripture is full of signs. All miracles are signs ,but
 pose being forcibly to startle men 5rom the dull dresm              all signs in Holy Writ, are not necessarily miracles.
 of a sense-bound existence, and, however. it may, &t                Whenever the Lord performs a Miracle He gives us
 be i.tself .an appeal to the sp,iritual in man, ye.t to act         a sign. .But .&here are many signs in Scripture which
 as a summons to him that he. now: open his eyes to- the are not miracle signs, a&"for  example, the temple and
 spiritual appeal which is about to be addressed to him              all its details (furniture; spoons, forks, :etq.) , the vari-
  (#Acts 14 :8-18).                                                  ous high-priestly, kingly, prophetic types, etc. The
        We` instinctively feel that .this word merely touch-         types also symbolize invisible realities. We need not
 es the outside of the matte?. It is true that miracles              at this time call attention in. detail-to  many .types  of
 are special acts or works of .God which draw the at-                the IOld Dispensation. Types refer to peps~ns . (typi-
 tention df the people and cause them to stare in -a-                cal kings, prophets and priests) or events (the flood,
 inaiement.  Even' so, however, the word "wonder" does               passage of Israel through the Red Sea or the Jordan)
 not define the essence pf. that particular work of G.od             in the (Old Testament which refer- to future realities
_ which causes this amazement. Indeed, it- is-not a little that are as yet invisible but will be revealed in due
 remarkable but rather profoundly a verification of                  time, and, when they are revealed, these types fall
the truth that-the word "wonder:" merely touches the                 away.    Then they are no longer  n&essary.  Signs,
 outside of the matter, that this word  t`wonde?' or                 however, represent the invisible power of the grace
 miracle is never used in the New Testament with ,re-                of ;God which is essen.tially invisible.
 spect to the miracles of Holy Writ except in connec-                   It is surely the word "sign" which expresses the
 ti& with other words or names. We read of "signs                    essence of the miracle of  Holy Writ. If it be true
 ifid wonders," or "sings" alone, or "powers" alone,                 that these wonders  are wonders because they' work
but never of "wonders" alone.                                        and evoke amazement and wonderment, and also that
                                                                     &hey are mighty works because they are wrought by
 The  Scriptwal  word  "powem))              -                       the mighty power of the- everlasting Gdd, the word
        This word probably-emphasizes that these miracles            "signs" undoubtedly expresses the essence of these
 of Holy Writ, are not "tricks" which are played upon                works of God because this word gives us the purpose
 the people, as, for example, the tricks of a magician.              of the miracle, and, therefore, tells us more ,definitel$
        They are powers, and as such this word empha-                and exactly what  they are. It is true that miracles
 siies the tru.th that they are wonderful works which                also verify the Divine mission of the Ch-rist,' confirm
 are w?oug@  by the power of the Lord ,God.                          and establish the fact that He has been sent by the
        However, it-is ev.id.ent that also this word does not        Father-see  John  10:37,38.  But, although they es-
 infdrm us with respect to the essential significance tablish the fact that Christ has`been sent of the Fa-
 of these parti_cular  works of God. `It tells us that they          ther, yet in the word "sign" the- purpose of Christ's
 are works of the- Lord. But it  does-not inform us                  coming and of the hiracles is expressed, the why of
 what kin.d of works  of the LoYd  they are.                 r       His coming is  held before us.  These  mi?acles  reveal
                                                                     #Christ   Himself; in them our  Saviour stands before
 The  S~ctriptbwal  word  "sigfi"                          i`1` p    us ; they declare unto us not only that Christ- has been
        Al, sign is a visible token, a visible symbol r taken        sent, but also why He .was `sent. Miracles  constitute
 otit of...the  earthy life of our existence, -which is a sym-
          . ..i                                                      an essential element in the Divine revelation of Him-
 bol 0~ representation of- something invisible. Natural              self -as the God of our salvation.
 life aF?nnd pus is full of signs, visible representations                                                         3.       Veldman
 of something invisible. The sign of the flag is the vfs-
 ible token of ihe nationality of that particular ship;
 the uniform of the  sol`clier reveals the  couptry to                                     -z-:-
                                                                                           -
 which he owes, `allegiance ;' the badge. of .the policeman
 is.`the' visible- sign. of his authority; ,insignia and but-
 t&s are signs,  &tward `and external representations                           Sons of men, awake to praise
 of -the particular organization of which on& is a mem-
 bes,.                                                                             God the Lor.d  ,Who reigns `above,            ".
   - Also this word is used to designate the &miracles                         ' Gracious in His works and ways,
 which -are recorded in Holy Writ. When Scripture,                             j Wondrous in  redeemipg  love;
 therefore, speaks of miracles ,as- signs it emphasizes                         Praise Him where the people meet,
 the  .fact &hat  ,these. works of -the  Lyyd are  visib!e &-                 Pra,isa   Him  in  t h e   elders:  peat..         ..:


                                                  THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                207
                   --.. _- __  -          --.-
                                                                       too busy in the early &ages of their growth to concern
                 1-N.  H  1  S  Jj'  E  A  R                     `. themselves with this subject, or whether they `have
                                                                       hesitated -because' of sn innate Sear of big centlal or-
                                                                       ganizatiqns, or whether it i-g a plain case of lethargy,
                                                                       only they can tell.                                    *;
                         Looking   T o   l-he  f&w
         ,..                                                           `.-,, I Nevertheless, I believe that whatever may be the
                               CHAPTER  5                              reason o:r lack of a reason foi the failure to form such
                           NATIONAL  ORGANIZATION                      an organization. hepetofore,  some very cogent reasons
                About the above subject-we wish -to-make a few         may be presented for taking immediate steps to cor-
       remarks in this concluding chapter of our series' &on-          rect this failure, and that both as far as school boards
       cerning the future of our movement `for Protestant              and teachers are conc.erned.
       Reformed  educat,ion. It  will be noticed at once-that              It  iail  sca,rc&ly  be denied that our schools have
       the present subject is somewhat different in nature             common <interests and aims. .This is so true on the
a      than those matters which we hav= previo:ts!>- treated.          very surface t.hat is not necessary to prove it. They
       `The matter of national ojrganization in. itself consti-        have a common spieitual principle, a common basis,
       tutes. no problem, in .the first place. It is -simply a         and a  cbmmon goal. They have, besides,  cdmmon
       matter of desirab.ility  or non-desirability. And in the        problems, several of which we have discussed in prey
       second place, it is ndt a matter that inherently con-           vious articles of this  series.   Nhw,,it is evident that
       cerns either the education of our children as such or           to a large extent each school societp;"school  board, and
       the Protestant Reformed  :cha::acter   OC  snch  organi-        teaching staff must  ,function  ~~.,`it`&lf.  The local
       zation, as do, for example, such matters as teachers,           school is, as to its establishme@, its oper&i&$nd its
     teacher-training, and  textibooks.   `3 is simply a  for-         qu&lity,  the concern solely of $he local school so,Ciety.
       ma1 matter, -pne which concerns the method,, the tech- iAnd this certainly implies too that,' whate'ver  nat?&a!
       nique, of achieving our ideals of Protestant Reformed           organization may be formed,. it must keep hands ofi
       education. The question `is therefore : shou1.d we, or          the affairs of  -the'local  s'chools.  1.t must have abso-
       -should we not have any form of natic;r@  organixa:ion          lutely no authority to -rule in the affairs of the local
       to- espouse and further the ideals of Protestant Re-            schools. To use a simple example, it must notibe able
       formed education? Should our answer be in the af-               to dictate to any local school board. as' to how many
       fiymative,  other, connected; questions will arise: who         .teachers it should hire, who  it must  hiare, and how
       should be organized, the boards, the teachers, or both?         much it must pay the teachers.. It is very ~611 con-
       -What should be the powers of such an organization,             ceivable, however, that even in `such matters .a natibn-
       judicatory or advisory?          What should be  the aims `al -organization' could have a very beneficial place, not
                                                                                                                    _...
       and the scope?                                                  in a legislative and judicial capacity+ but in ati G&dvil
                As far as the history is tioncerned, I am not aware    sory~ position. It can -never do any,`harm, in fact it
       of any concerted action, either on the part of teachers         can do much goqd  `fo? those who  are charged with
       or sch6ol boards, in the full-fledged sense of the term,        the operation of auf schools to cofisult with on4  tin-
       that htis taken place. in the past.. It is true, as we          other concerning all the problems and difficulties
       might notice in our historical review of the efforts            which face them. Our churches do this, in classis and
     _. toward the establishment of our own teacher-training           synod. Why should not our local .schools  follow suit?
       facilities,  that all the school-boards were contacted          Besides, it seems to me that the very fact that we dre
       -at one time for their reactions on that subject: And,          small and that  at the same time  .we are pioneering
       if I am not mistaken, there once arose a b?oposal  from .as yet in a- relatively new field, seeking to attain not
       the Redlands, California, school for .some form of ia-          merely the ideal of o&`o~?~ educational facilities, but
       tionai.  brganization, which met with little or no  Bp-         seeking to establish clistinctiv&ly ProtestaM  Ref ormeld
       proval, though I am not- aaquainted with either tile            ,ec~cational'rfacil~tities,  should draw us together, in or-
       proposal or the details in yegard to its rejection. It          der that we may mutually kindle one another's zeal
     may also be possible -that there have been scattered- and enthusiasm for the cause, as-`:well as assist each
      . instances 6f cooQeration  and consultation between lo-         other with our advice. / It  map:be-that  our largest
       cal schodl  boards. But, .thus far there certainly  has         school," the Adams Street  Schobl in Grand  RApids,
     -_ been no `permanent nati6nal organization formed, nor           m&y feel the least need of such fellowship, just be-
      _ has there been any notewotikhy  instance of cooperation        cause of its size. The  larger  atid stronger we are,
       or concerted action on `a national  idale among our             the more self-sufficient and  independ&C we  aye in-
       schools that has been publiciz&% TM reason for this             clined to feel. `But I would stiggest  that for thst very
       I do.not-`kriow.  Whether .the local schools have been          reason those in ,Grand Rapids should tin$elfi&hly take


. . 208        *                            T H E .   STANDAR-D   B E A R E R   *

  the- lead in this matter, and show their willingness to             national organization, serving .as a central propagan-
  assist our smaller school societies as- much as pos-                da and information agency throughout our denomina-
  sible in this cotimon cause.                                 1.     tion.
            But f<om a practical viewpoint there are several              In unity there is strength ! Let us unite !
  advantages to forming  & national organization. If                     *Also as far as our t&&hers  are concerned, I would
  we are  ev.er to establish our own  teacher-trairiibg               strongly recommend a national organization. Our Pro-
  facilities, and if we are ever to  achiev'e the goal of. testant Reformed teachers are few in number. Many
  our own textbooks, it will not be thro.ugh the medium               of them labor in small schools, sharing the problems
  of scattered,: weak, local efforts.          Such matters as        and difficulties of their profession as Protestant Re-
  these are the concern of all our schools in common.                 formeld  teachers with one or two others. Besides, our
  And here exactly there is a wide open field for the                 teachers too, and perhaps `more than any others as-
  labor of a central organization to give leadership &iid             so"ciated  with our schools, face a tiellnigh completely
  .direction. To be sdre,  such an organization must *not             new field. They must, more than parents and school
  .`&erate  independently of th.e local societies even here.          boards, concretely face the task of making our schools
  We must be careful too that it does not trample on                  Protestant Reformed in fact as well as in name. If
  the rights of the local societies and disregard their               it were but fbr the benefit  of the inspiration to be de-
  needs or their financial power. But this may  very                  rived  @om such an organization alone, I believe it
  weli be avoided by democratic processes. As long `as                would  be `worth the benefit. But especially as long as
  the organization is formed-by the school boards them-               we have  .no  teacher-tr-aining facilities of our own, I
  selves, with fair representation of the "various soci- .think- it w,ould be highly beneficial for our teachers
   eties, this danger of a .strong  and dictatorial central           to meet in an extended  an&.@ convention. Surely,
  power in our school system need not be feared. &id                  such a meeting would involve a financial outlay, and
   I `submit that as long as various schools continue to              teachers- are far from millionaires. .But let our school
  *jghore one another and to exist and operate in com-                boards pay for it. The cost is nothing, if such a con-
   plete independence, we shall never as Protestant Re-               vention may be means toward obtaining a dedicated
  .fo&ed lje6ple achieve the -goal of a complete system               band of thoroughly Protestant Reformed teachers.
  $?;+F.testant  Reformed education, and we shall fail                Such a convention, if it is to be wo"thwhile,  should in
   m achieving the goal  of a thoroughly Protestant  Re-
     .,.                                                              my op.inioh not be held during the school term, when
  forme,d*`system  of &l%cati6n.
                                  -.                                  the time can hardly be spared, but during the summer
            In addition to all this, it seems to me that it cannot    vacation, when an, extended convention of. one or two
  be-denied tha.t--we hav'e an obligation- in all our chur-           weeks' duration could `be held. Let a thorough pro-
  ches with respect to the idkal of Protestant Reformed-              gram of subjects dealing not simply with the formal
   education. To be sure, it is primarily, the calling `of            aspects of education, but with our specific goal of
  the parents in each locality to strive toward this goal.            ProtestaM  Rejormed  e.ducation be prepared. Let some
   Atid it is the calling of consistories to see to it that           of our leiders`be invited to speak and instruct. And
  there are good Christian schools to:which the parents               let our teachers then&elves get together and tackle
   s&d. their `children (and for us this can mean but&e               the problems .in group discussions. And you will see
  thing: wherever possible  our own schools). But `if                 what inspiration, what instruction, and what fellow- 
  we who are convinced of this cause and who in sev-                  ship can be packed. into one convention !
   eral instances have established our own sqhools al-
  ready: have any concern for our Protestant Reformed                                         -:-
  brethqn .and for our Protestant Reformed truth .and
  for P@estant Reformed education in particular, -as                     This closes  our discussion- on this subject, Per-
  we should have,-we should not keep silence. We may                  sonally this 1itiJe study has convinced me more than
  not be satisfied, selfishly satisfied, when we have some            ever of the need of thorough-going -Protestant Reform-
  thing  f& ourselves. We should  make propaganda.                    ed education. I hope that the goal may be reached
  We should be ready to .iend assistance and informa-                 more than it has $ready been reached, and that these
tion to others who desire to establish,.their  own school.            articles may be of value, under the blessing of our cov-
  We should show others that it is both possible and                  enant God, to convince our people of this high ideal.
  feasible even for our smaller churches to attain the                and calling, to bring up our children according to our
  goal of their own schools. ' And what better hc;lp and              specific Protestant Reformed truth, and that at the
   advice and encouragement can be, given than- by those              same time these w(ritings  may inspiqe us not to slack-
   who have experience in the field? This  .purpp~e,,,.I              en our efforts until the reality confornis to the ideal.
   bglieve;  could be admirably achieved by means 6f ;a                                    ._..     _.           H. C. Hoeksema
                                                                                                          _ I
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                                          THE  S.`TAN'D:ARfj   $J~`ARE#                                                209
                                                                                                                       -
                                                              presence, if He was near to save such only in whom He
     THE DAY `OF' SfWDOVb$                                    took delight? So the king said to Zadok: "Carry back
                                                              the ark of God untb the city." definitely Jerusalem,
                                                              Mt.  Zion. Why to this mount? The  ,Lord had cho-
                                                              sen Zion. He had desired. it for- His habitation; Zion
                 D a v i d 's   flisht                        waa.XIis rest forever. Here being His altars, from out
                    Continued`                                &-Zion He blest. Here were His.beauties  seen. Here
                  II Sam. 15 :13-X :14                        the saints rejoiced. To be exiled from Zion perman-
   As we saw, on his flight the king halted at "the           ently was to be doomed to everlasting darkness and
.house afar @"-probably the last  ho%e  ino the  city-        de&h. David well understood.  `:If I find favor in
to allow the sorrowful procession to pass by in review        the eyes- of `the Lord," he said, `the will bring me a-
before him.    The servants  wel;t'. first, then all the      gain"-to Zion," and  -show me itj"  the aqlc, "and its
,Ch@ethites and the  P.eleth'ites,   next the Six  hundfed    -habitation," that is, shew me, His face; shine upon me
`Gittites and, lastly, Ittai and his company, 15 :18-22.      with- the light of His countenance, tell me  that He
   Then follows the notice: "And  all the land wept -loves me, despite al! my sins, clothe me with salvation,
with a loud voice" `(ver. 23). ",A11 the  land!' is all       satisfy me with His beauties, :and give me to walk .+nd
the inhabitants of the open counl$y  that had come out        talk -with Him in his habitation." "But if he say thus,
with the procession. Thgy stood by'the wayside, weap-         I lave no delight in thee ; behold, here, am I, l&t him
ing, as David and his faithful followers were passing. do unto me as seemeth good unto Him;" "And I will
by before them. The plight of the kirig touched their         be silent. Nay, I will yet praise Him, and Bay that
hearts. It must indicat,e that the bulk of the people         He is good. For what am I but, a vile and undone
remained loyal to David. and that the rebellion' was not      sinner."'
                                                               - .
the success that it had appeared to be to- the "servant',             There is all this in the words of. this penit&t.  His
who had reported to David "that the heart of all Is-          conviction of sin, is that deep, his consciousness .of his
rael was after~.Absalom."                                     gtiilt and his awareness of his vileness bef,o.re ,God. is
   .Having  been marshalled; the. refugee  pkticession        that lively that he. can't bring over his -lips, a prayer
went on down into the valley and across the Kidron            for pardon. All he can manage to say in this moment
toward the way of the wilderness of Judah. It being           is that the Lord do to him what seemeth good to .Him.
summer, the Kidron was  not filled with water.. Its           Y.et ,in his heart he knows that in the end it `till be
course ran east of Jerusalem and. not at a great' dis-        well with him. The Lord  hacl said that in Zion he
tance from it. A little to the east of this brqok rose        would make the horii of David to bud and would make
Mt. Olivet. Ver. 24 .a. "And, lo also Zadok was there the crown upon him to florish, Ps. ,132 :1'7. .That this
and all the Levites were'with  him, bearing the ark of        penitent well knows. By the pybmise. he jives in this
the covenant of God. And they set. down the ark of            crisis. It is not unbelief that -brought these words
God." Zadok was of the branch of Eleazar. IIe and over  his  iips but the belief that in the way of  huti-
the priests, too, had fled the city. Arriving with the        biing himseX?.the;*Lord  would regtpre  him to His hab-
others on the oiher side of the Kidron,  they set down        it$ion. His saying, f'and let $Iim::$o unto me what
the ark that they had taken with them.                        seemeth'good  unto Him," was. ,his way of telling. i&e
   Vers. 24 b. "And Abiathar went up; until all the           Lord  .how utterly vile he  felf,y.himsel!f to be  iti', the
people had done  $&sing out of the city." The text &crd's sight.
is diffi&.ilt.  here. Perhaps the meaning .is that Abia- ' Ve&  .,..  27'28. But his faith was .equalled  only by
thar,' who was of the line  of. Eli  ..an& thus of the &is- prudence,  as' is clear. from his counsel -&I Tadok.
bfanch of Ithamar, had not left the :cit$ until the p&d- ."Art thou a seer? Return untq the city,in peace, and
ple had all padsed `over from the city. .:                    yiou*r two sons with you, -Ahimaaz thy son, `and. Jon-
   V:ers.   25  sqq;  ' .  '  I:              ,_              athan  the: son of Abiathar. See, I will tarry in the
   But why shoulcl they have brought out to him the           plain. of .the' wilderness, -until there come word from
A,rk? Shall he commit the folly and the  wick&dti%            you to cetitify me.`!
of putting his confidence in the ark, now that the hand               iThe English A.V. inserts a negative here and tr+s-
of the Lord is upon him? Can the ark `save him? It lates : "Art thou not a seer?" But this is unwarrant-
is but a txhing of  inetal and wood.  It is God that he       able. Perhaps the best .rendering is : ,Thou seer,. thou
needed, and His favdr and pardoning love. As to the           prophet." It would not be amiss to call  the.  high-
ark; unless he had. th8 assurance of being the object         priest a prophet, seeing that he received divine revel-
of the Lord's favor, .what comfort could he derive from       ations through the Urim and the.  Thummlm.  :  But
the consideration that it was the symbol of the Lotid's       -David's reason for so :namitig him, w& :nOt. Ithat-.,&he


       210                                           fp&fiE  STANDARD  ,Bjji~RgR

       .might learn through him whether the Lord would a- instrument for counteracting the influence of  that
       gain take him into His favor and .restore  him to `Jeru-          traitor. Hence  .he said to  liim;  t!If thou passest on
       salem. He could  Bavi! no' doubt about that. His purpose          witjh me, then tho&`shal-t  be a burden unto me: but
      . was different. Zadok must observe the state- of'af-              if  to. the city thou rettim and say to Absalom, Thy
       $airs in Jerusalenf. He must learn of Absalom's plans% `servabt am I, ,O- king ; as I have been a servant of thy
       .and- tell t,he king. in order  that he niight know on what       father, so from now.op I a& thy servant, even I, then
       ,course  to embark, whether to--abide  in the  plaini `or mayest thou frustrate for `me the counsel of Ahitho-
       to, flee across the Jordan. And his incentive was `his            phel." So reads this discourse literally.
       knowing that however ill-deserving he might be, the                  But this was not honest. That through this for-
      Lord had  forgiyeri  him and, accordingly, would  deli-            bidden st@agem, the L'ord defeats the counsel of A-
       +er.:hie>out  o f   his  t r o u b l e s .                        hithophel, does not'make it .honest for David. Though
         . "Zadok therefore and  Abiathar carried  back, the             God makes. also wickedness, ihcluding the.~&.s <Ff His
                                                                              .     :
       :ark of &od to Jerusalem: and they tarried there."                own people, $6; work for good% &h&m that love Him,
       `.  Vkr.,  3 0 . "And David went  up by  the  .ascent of          He loathes wickedness nevertheless, .a& de&o&  the
       M-bunt ,Olivet, going up and wee]?ing. And he had his- impenitent. It'-is not true that i lie tol$ `!&r> a `good
       jh&ad covered, and he went barefoot; and all the peo-             end. is equivalent to the truth. We are pot  cai'ied to 
       ple- that were with him covered every Oman his head,              vindicate,D&id's  c&duct. : The Scriptures sim&i re-
       and they went up, weeping as they went up."                       cord it: and we are not to suppose that everything- is
              It is. well that he weeps. For the Lord lay's His          here approved, which is not.-dirkctly,  and in so many
                                                                                                                                           .(, .,
       strokes upon him. Should he then not weep ? The words condemned.                                                      .;- . . .\
       -only question is -whether he thanks the Lord  for his               Why Hushai would have been a burden to the king,
       pain  by confessing that it  -is  .deserved.       He doei $0.    should he have passed on with him, is not said. It
       He covers his head. He goes barefoot. He is thus a                Gay have been on account of his age 0; because he
       pekitent:  The essence of -his sorrow is love of  Gpd.            was not a warrior.
       H&shall~ther.efore  be comforted And so he, is blessed.              David encourages Hushai by saying that he will
        Ver.31.        David' now, for the first. time learns i a-       have with him there,in  Jerusalem Zadok and Abiathar
       bout the treachery of Ahithophel. "And one told Da- and their two sons. By them he shall tell David all
       vid, saying,  A.hithophel  -is among the  conspi?ators            the, things that he hears in the palace of the king. The
     with Absalom." The yiew that he had known before,                   ref,eren,ce.  here is again to Absalom who now reigns
       and had kept silence out of consideration for his                 in Jerusalem.  :,                            .,'
       fr%& cannot tie11 beg harmoniz:d with the conster-                   XVI :l-4. When they reach the tip of the hill, and
     n&ion of soul that the prayer, brought over  hiS lips had commenced the descent  $n the -opposite side, Ziba,
       `b$"the evil tidings, bespeaks. This is his  pray&: "0            the servant of Mep+ibosheth,  met them, bringing Sup-
       -Zord,  I pray thee, turn -the counsel of Ahithophel in- `plies, two hundred loaves of bread, and a hundred bun-
       to foolishness.".                                       `. .      ches of raisens, and a hunderd fruits, and -a bottle of
         Well might he thus pray., Ahithophel had gcicquired' wine. He came to meet David;: approached him from
       fanie `as a counselor in the employ of David. It .yas             the opposite direction, mu% theref'oie.  have gone on
       being said that his counsel was, "as if a m&had en-               in advance before the army. In answer to .the::king's
       `@ired at the oracle bf God. .~                                   question, "What meanest thou by these," he replies,
              Vers. 32-37. A little whil&-later, when David cake         "The asses be for the' king's household ts ride on; and
       .to the +op of"the mount (,Olivet) ,. where men`mere pront        the bread and sumger fruit fQr the young men to eat,
       ,to':worship  `God (Eng. A.V.- where he:David-worship-            and the wine that Bnch that be faint in the wilderness
       -tied *G&Y:- Biit not so good), Hushai the Archite,  from         may drink." As his purpose was to .jngratiate himself
       `the  cit;:jr  df Erek in Ephraim, made his appearance .with the king, he must have .been  .shrewd  enough to
     .with his Coat rent, and earth upon his  head As one ,perceive that the  r&volt of Absalom was  doonied to
       `of Eb,$$id's counselors, he had won the complete con-            failure. -`But he lodges a false accusation against his
       fidence of -the`king. This is plain from the task, as- master. In  repjy to the king's  &&&on,  "Gh'ere is
       signed him (ver.  .34: sq.) . Repeatedly he is called             the son  (Mephibosheth)  of thy master (Jonathan),
\      "David'&. j%end,"~ ver. 3'7 ; xvi : 16 ; I Chron. xxvii :33.      he replies; "Behold, he abideth at Jerusalem: for he
       !Hushai came to meet David, -had cons&quently preced-             said, Today ,shall the house of Israel restore me .the
       ed -him in the flight or else had been out of the city.           kingdom of my father." He had ref,erence  to Jona-
       KIis .coming .at this. -particular moment, immediately than, who,. if he had lived, would have been king.
       `&tier t,Uking'had  learned of Ahithoph@`s treachery,                But.  &Iephibosheth  was a cripple.  Was  It likely
       `seetis~`ts'hav~  `suggested :to .him, that he was a fitting that he $hsuld  have- de%lgns on, j&e throne?- .Ev;id,e~~ly
                                                                                                            I


                                        T H E ,   L3:TANDAK.D  B E A R E R                                     2 1 1

it was a lie. But David was too excited to see the trap      fro% his instructions to Solomon regarding this man
that was `laid for him,  and  unsuSpiCi&ly  fell  in&        later on. But he felt that at this moment it was not
it, alld gave to Ziba as a gif&,all the land that he had     his,$&ness td ass&f his -rights, but only to humble
been  f&mini for  Mephibosh&h:   .!`Behold,  `thine are      himself under God's hand,-- And therefore turning
ali `that pertiineth unto Mephibosheth.`" These were         once more to Abishai and to all his servants he-said:
his words. He believed  Zeba without investigation.          `:Behold, my son, which came forth. of my bowels,
And the swindler replies," I humbly beseech thee that        seeketh my life ; how much more now may this Ben-
. I may find grace in thy sight, 0. my Lord." David          jamite do it? let him alone, let him curse, for the
had acted with undue haste. It was another example           Lord hath ,bidden  him. It may be that the Lord will
of his credulity.          '                                 look upon my affliction, and that the Lord will requite
   Vers. 5-14. Meanwhile the sorrowful company  niov-        me good for his cursing this day," that is, he means,
&d on. The path w-as along a ridge which had-a deep ra-      ."if I kiss his rod in humble recognition of my vile-
vine beneath it, and another ridge of a similar sort ris-    ness, and of His righteous  chasEsing   provid&ce."
ing on the 6pposite  side. As they went forward  on the        Shimei's rage increased by David's quiet  behav-
other `side,. a wicked m&n of the house of Saul, whose       i0u.r. For he threw stones at him and cast dust.
name was Shimei, made his appearance on the other
side. Keeping &breast the while, he heaped curses on            The. king and his people &me Weary and `refresh-
the head of David. He cried, "Come out, come out thou        ed: themselv.es there. No -place `is named, but it muit
bloody  nian, and  thtiu man of  B,elial: the Lord hath      have been riear the Jordan.
retuined upon, thee all the blood of the house of Saul,        The collection of psalms of the  ,Old Testament
in whose stead thou hast reigned ; and the Lord hath         Bible includes one that bears the superscription: "IA
delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy           psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son."
son: and. behold, thou art taken in thy sins, because        Thus if we want to know what went on in David's
thou art x,bloody man."                                      soul in this dark hour, how he was disposed toward
   What an amazing p_erversion  `of histogy. His stand       t;he :Lord- and how he reacted toward God's strokes,
was that' David had comk to power as wading through          we must poui over this psalm. For in it the penitent
the blood of Saul's house, and that therefore the re:        lays bare his heart.
bellion..of  Absalom was a calamitF,
                                    .A `that had befallen     It reads:
him by the, direction of God on account of his blood-            "Lor$, how are. they increased that trouble me !
guiltiness regarding that house. Nor was he content          many ape they that rise up against me.
with uttering maledictions ;- but cast stones at. David         "Many there be which say of my soul, There is n6
and his. servants across the gorge, and made every           help for him in  `God.  Seiah.
manifestation of  ,implacability  and malignity. It all          "But thou, `0. Lord, art a shield. for me ; my glory,
shows how David's elevation' to the throne had em-           and the lifter up 6f mine head;
bittered Saul's kingTed.                                         "I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard
   Abishai, the brother of Joab, &as greatly, incen-         me out of His holy hill. Selah.
sed  bjr his procedure, and  asked permission to slay          - "I laid me down and suept ; I awaked ; for the Lord
him. ~ He `said : "Why should this dead .dog curse my        su&&ned  me. I will not be afraid of  Q+ll thousands
Lord the `king? Let me go over, I pray thee, `and take       of people, that have set themselves around me, round
off his head." But David restrained him with tin ex-         a b o u t .
pression that shows how keen!y he felt the ascendency           "Arise, ,O Lord, save me, 0 my God ; for thou hast
which Joab and his brother had obtained qver him.            smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek- bone; thou
This was his reply : "What have I to do.with you, ye         hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.
sons of Zeruiah?" `What fellowship have I with you?             "Salvation belongeth unto the Lord: thy blessing
We are persons' of a different spirit.' And continu-         is upon thy people. Ps. 3.
ing, "So .let him curse, because the. Lord hath said            There was an element `in Israel that troubled Da-
unto him, ,,,Curse,David. Who shall then say, Where-         vid before the Absalom-  rebellion. This was because
fore,.ha,st  t h o u   done.so?"                             of his public confessions of sin and his being occupied
   N.ot. that %his wicked man h&d received from the          with matter's of religion after his deep fall into sin.
Lord  the charge:  ",Curse David." Yet it was by the         As one expressed it, had he be'en a worthless rake,
providential direction of %od that he' cursed. Pavid         making  no pretention to religion, they~would  not have
und&stands,   ,and he patiently bows his head to re-         objected to- hiti; or-had he been a devout man, with
ceive from the Lord also-this stroke. Yet he did not         a blaineless  reputation,`they &ould l&be been compel-
exonerate the reviler but .held' him guilty as is evident led to respect him. But ,knowing. h! *sin, and seeing
                     _.


                                                                                                                                                           `
      2                              1                   2                       T H E   STA-NDAR?  B E A R E R
                                                                            -
      his devotion, they branded him a hypocrite and des-
  -pised him. `That this is true is `clear from  certain                                                                 t'Children's .I+&'  Et:  Alia
      expressions in the 69th Psalm. They read,: "When- I
      wept and chastened my .soul with. fasting, that was                                                       The reader will,  nd%oubt, bear  vC;ith us, that in
      to my reproach. I made sackcloth also my, garment i                                                   this issue no article appears from our hand under the
      and I became a proverb to them. They that sit in&he heading "From Holy Writ".
      gate speak -against me; and I was the song of the                                                        The reason?
      d r u n k a r d s . "                                                                                    It is simply this: a rather urgent request came to
                                                                                                            the undersigned, whether we would not be willing to
                 Then he received, tidings of Abstilom's rebellion.                                         write a f.ew thoughts in conneCtion  with the ilow r&-
      HiS being told that the heart of all Israel was after                                                 ther well-known "Children's Retreat". After  ,having
      Absalom, caused him t,o exclaim in amazement i "`Lord                                                 consulted, the Editor-in4hief  of the Standard  Be&e?
      how are they  inc;eased  Uiat trouble me." His life                                                   I consented., However, it should be remembered by
      w&S in danger. That many  were saying that there the seader of these lines, that the Standard `Bearer
      was no help for him in God implies that they- had                                                     does not open its colu.mns  for propaganda purposes
      taken position that God was against him -because-of                                                   for drives for this and for that. The purpose of the
      his,sins.  arid that as a" result he now> faced -certain Standard Bearer is to attempt to .give principal or-
  ruin.  Zt:`added  immensely to his suffering. But his                                                     ientation ; that and none other is the aim of these few
      faith did not' cease because Christ prayed for him.                                                   lines. Let each then do as he sees his  duty-and as
      And so he continues to cleave to God as his shield.                                                   the- Lord -has-prospered him let him .give.
      And in that confidence he laid him down and slept
      and -awakened.                                                                                           First of all, we would call attention to what, in
                 Ye see, in this psalm a wonderful thing, nam$y                                             our conviction, must be considered the fundamental
      a `penitent. saint crawlitig  always closer to God, as                                                principles for our conduct in regard tb the establish-
  ,Goh laid' on him His strokes.                                                                            ment, maintainence and use of an institution such as
                                                                                                            Chuldren's -Retreat `et A&u.
            ,                                                   . .                    G. M. -Ophof+'
                                                                                                              There is certainly no one in whom the love of .God
                                                                                                            dwells, and who .lives by the precepts of the Gospel,
                                                                                                            *ho &ill ddubt that the perfo'rmance  of Christian mer-
           ,I                 -:                              El-                             .--,          cy is' not `obligatory for the children of God in this
                                                                                                            world of  thickness,  pain,  soTrow  and death.  ISuch life
                                                                                                  ._'       `and condu'ct simply belhngs to the very rudiments of
                                                                                                            6ur Christian life. Does not James say, speaking of
                         Fjord, hear my prayer, and let my cry                                              the life of those, who are-some first-fruits of the New
                                    Have ready access unto Thee  ;-                                         Creation, that their pure religion and undefiled before
                         : `When in distress. to Thee`1 fly,                                                God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and
                                                                                                    ,A      widows in their affliction, and (thus) to keep them-
                         _          `0 .+ide not Thou Thy face from me. _
                                          .-                                                                selves unspotted from the world? (James 1:27) And
                                                                                                  :_V-
                  . .                                                                                       does not Jesus point out very clearly to. the Jews of
                         .,., Attend,., 0. Lor,d, to my ,desire,                                            His .day, that the question in our Christian life is not
                                    0  haste to answer when I pray, `.                                      so much, who is my neighbor; -but that thk question
                         -  Fti?  @ief  con&unes  my  str&th like fire,                                     is rather: whose neighbor am I? Now, certainly, the
                                    My days as smoke pass swift away.                               ,,--    manifestation of..niercy is r& the whole of the pure re-
                                                                                                            ligion, but it certainly is the very clear  proof that
                                                                                                            our faith is not dead, but. very much% alive, since we
                                                                                                            have not shut up the bowels of our affkction from the
                                                                                                            brethren.
                                                      -I----:--
 ..         -                                                          .
:          _~                                                                        . .                       Su'ch is the chief motive ; it is principal. This is
                                                .                                                           more than mere pract.ical  consideration: i or my fam-
                                                                                                            ily  might  sometime need the aid of this institution.
                                                     _  CLASSIS WEST                                        Such is th.e wisdom of 45i.s .world  in their generations.
            `Classis West will meet in the Protestant Reformed                                              O,urs should be. that of making fr.iends  out of the un-
                                                                                                            righteous mammon' in the all-together other sense of
 Church at Sioux Center,  Iowa,. on Wednesday, March                                                        the pure love. of aiding the helpless, the widows and
 4,                                        1953.                            -       M. Gritters, S.C.       orphans in their affliction. Then we live from prin-


                                  ,     ,     T H E   STANDARD  BEARER                                                          218
                                                                               .
      ciple, that can-stand the test of .God's judgment, as He        er true. W,e are to work out our salvation ; with fear
     tries the hearts and reins. Worldly philanthropy and             and trembling we are to work it out. That is-true
     Christian mercy are as far apart as the poles; as far            when we fac.e the question of establishing an institu-
      as east from west, and as different as Christ and the           tion such as "Children's Retreat". But let us not for-
      Devil. This truth should be our guiding star in all' of         get  ,that this is no  .less true of the `Christian Day
     our life ; only thus do we keep our conscience pure be-          School. Yes, we must work out our salvation when
     fore the all-seeing eye of <God..                                we'send our children to our Christian Day School,
        IOur second observation is, that this responsibility but also when we have children, who must be, cared for
     fow.ard' our "neighbolr" must not be assumed in a hap-           in Children's Retreat. In both cases-this must be done
     hazard and arbitrary manner. God is' a God of or-                in holy fear, trembling before God in the beauty of
      der. Things must be done orderly in the church of               holiness. Both must go through the Holy Place of
      God, which is the pillar and ground of the truth.               IGod.
         To' what do we refer?                                          When we are deeply conscious, that we are worh%ng
                                                                      ouz? our salvation, then the. two principles, referred
         That it is an inexorable law of God, that the nat-           to earlier in this essay, will stand clearly before our
      ural is first and then the spiritual. That is'true in a minds..                        .,
     general, sense ; God first mad.e the ,earthly creation and
     man as a "living soul" and afterwards, through the                1  1. We will be deeply conscious that ours is a cal-
     recreation in IChrist Jesus, we have the heavenly, and           ling to. mercy; to love our neighbor as ourselves.
     man as the life-giving  Spkit. Such it is in general,                2. We  will. also see, that such mercy begins at
     we say. But such is also true in the details of life,            home.         He, who works out "his salvation, will ask
     particularly in our exercise of mercy. Mercy begins              God for grace to che.erfully  bear his cross; to care for
      at home. From out of the very center of the first in-           the weak in his home. He will .desire to Zear& the spir-
     stitution by `God all mercy must begin. Unless this              itual art of caring for his kith and kin ; and the spir-
      is seen our mercy is blind, unreal, pretentious, and            itual harvest of the faithful he will now claim in hope,
      does not meet with God's approval. ,God is not mocked.          and presently ,he will receive the reward of the faith-
     Did Paul vainly wri.te  : "Honor widows that are wid- ful. I am thinking of a mother, who had eight child-
      ows indeed. But if any widow have children or neph- hen of her own; $11 of whom were in need of her care;
      ews, let them learn jirst to show pi&y .at home, and to         and who cared for her aged father and mother for
,     requite their parents: for that is good and acceptable          nearly fourteen. years. Finally her mother  .was to-
     befo,re God."? And, again,, does not Paul write: "But            tally blind for 5 yea&. When this young busy mo-
      if any provide not for. his .,own, (kin,) -.and especially ther died, she had* great `peace. She had learned the
     those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and            joy of showing mercy at home. The righteous are
     is worse than an infidel"? Forsooth, these are words             glorious in their death. This spiritual art must not
      of instruction, precepts of the Gospel, which we should be lost sight of because of the mere existence of a nec-
     have as frontlets between our eyes, and. which we                essary institution; that an institution is necessary
      should bind about our neck !                                    does not mean that it is, therefore, necessary for me.
         Mercy begins at home!                                        Each case must be decided. upon its own merits, and,
         This we must keep in mind.               '                   what must not be forgotten, it must be working ou.t
                                                                      of our salvation. Life is not a Pullman Train,. but it
         This truth of Scriptme should also be brought in-            is the trying ground, where, by `God's grace.;  we may
      to full relevancy when we establish, maintain and use           be found faithful in little to presently be placed over
      such an institution as "Children's Retreat Et Alia".
      We must not be swayed by mere-emotional addresses ;             much in the Kingdom above.                         _..
     we live by faith in the Scriptures:and our mercy must                It is well to bear in mind, that, also in the .matter
     be well-motivated. Mercy is more than sentimental,               of the evaluation the merits of-an institution such as
      uncontrolled action. It is anchored-.in  the ;will `of <God.    `Qildren's Retreat", all the misuse of it, is no argu,
      We must follow the blue-print. of God as H,e has `de-           ment against the proper LEE of it.. But this i.strhe,:of
     signed life "from the beginning".                                everything in this world. "Children's Retreat Et Al-
         In the Old Testament Dispensation'this was work-             ia" is no exception. One cannot legislate Christianity.
      ed out for us in the minutest detail ; there the people         Evil men-will be evil also in the Chmch. Those who
      of God could turn to page!so and so, and read exactly           have not salvation to work out,.  will certainly work.
     what to do in the given case& They were told exactly             out their .damnation,  even in `Children's Retreat Et
     what institutions they might `have. They were `as                Alia". The Lord is not mocked.
     children in a state of minority. . Today this is'no long-            You give to this cake, a worthy-  `on2 in  `itsdf?


  Bi4                                    if`Hj$  $ifiA,r\iDA~~-   &E:-ARB#

  Well and good. Only work out your salvation ; let it                   It is true, the-problems here must not.be over-sim-
  be::the  pure religion and undefiled before God and the         plified.. Much needs to: be explored. But the  God-
  F a t h e r . !                                                 given guide-post -mustGnot be moved.                 Then all is
   `. There `are, it seems to me, some very important             lost, the foundations are destroyed.  Then'what can
  considerations, which must not be overlooked, when we t-he  r i g h t e o u s   d o ?   i
  work out our salvation in the given case of `Children's               It is .with this reserved note, that we close these ob-
  Retreat Et Alia". _                                             servations.                                .
                                                                        Remember:  .eternal vigilance is the price of free-
         The first consideration is, that we must not forget      dom. This is also true.in the Lord. It is an important
  our former and earlier mo.ral and financial commit-             factor in working out our salvation, and in our sow-
  ments. We have the Ministry of the Word and the                 ing mercy!
  Schools to maintain. As Protestant Reformed Chur-                                                       ,G. C. Lubbers
  ches we have also a Theological School building pres-
  ently to erect or to purchase. That is an earlier re-
  sponsibility. We should not be like the- little lad, who                                      El                -
  starts very vigorously to build a wagon, but who soon
 tires of it, and leaves `it unfinished because of .a new
  object of interest. We must not be children but men
  and women of purpose true. This latter too is work-                        ' P E  R I S C  O-`P E
  ing out our salvation with fear and trembling. It is
  the order of the day. Let us not forget that we have            IGNORANCE?
  our Adam's' Street School, our Hope School, not to
  forget Edgerton, Redlands. Having put our `hand to               -c In Signs  of  the Times,  Jan. 6,  1953,  there occurs
  the plow we must not look back. Sapienti sat !             .    an article under the title "Congress, on Prophecy" in
                                                                  which the following paragraph especially drew our
         The second consideration is, that we must not too        attention :
  easily say: if we give a gift for "Children's Retreat                     There was a time when Seventh-day Ad-
  Et  .Alia" then we cannot meet out earlier  commit-                     ventists were almost the only exponents of
  m.ents. God is not mocked. We must not tell the                         this doct&m---to  the amusement and scorn
  Lord, that He has not given `sufficient into our hands,
  when, ,indeed, He has. First things must be first. It           :       of their fellow Christians.- But they are not
                                                                          -alone any more.     The conviction that the
  is good to r'emember  the wonderful promise given to                    world may soon end with Christ's return in
  those who remember the poor ; the Lord will remember                   glory is spreading like wildfire around the
  .-Him. in the time of trouble : He will preserve him and                globe. It is penetrating the most orthodox
  keep him alive, and he will be blessed upon earth. Yes,
  the Lord will strengthen such upon the bed of lan-               d      communions. Even high-ranking theologians
                                                                          have boldly confessed their acceptance of
  guishing; God will make his bed in His sickness.                        this view of  ,eschatology. If `there should
         Finally, we wish to close this article with a remark             be anyone who, like Elijah, is saying to him-
  concerning the nature and extent of our cooperation                     self, "I, even I only, .am left" to herald the
  with `Children's Retreat Et Alia".                                      Savior's'return, he will soon learn that there
         It has been the observation of this writer, that the             are "seven thousand" others,. and many more
  error of the "common grace" theory, as this concurs                     besides, in whose hearts the blessed hope is
  with- the modern empirical theories of Psychology,                      burrming.
  has not left itself unfelt in the Institution that we                  I mean, of course, to call special attention to the
  are `tonsidering. The danger, of proceeding from the            sentence : "There was a time when Seventh Day Ad-
  .em-pirical  principles of Freudian behaviorism, is more        ventists were almost the only exponents of this doc-
  than imagery for an institution as Pine Rest Chris- trine-to the amusement and scorn of their fellow
  tian Association. In the actual psychiatric advice this         Christians." I know not whether this reveals ignor-
  is' not seldom the case. - The Scriptural psychology            ance or conceit or both: Certain it is that it is not
_ concerning the soul of man can so easily be substitu-           true. The entire Church of Christ in the world, from
  ted for the rather undefined conception of the "soul" its earliest times, has always believed and -confessed
 of modern psychology.  .Rather than speaking of the the second comingof  our Lord Jesus Christ. From the
  -deeper spiritual attitudes of the heart and mind, men-         time that the "Apostolicum" was written, and even be-
  tion is made of the "emotions" and the "waves" of               fore that, the ,Church confessed : "I believe . . . . In
  thought-pattwn~,                  -              .. . .         Jesus Christ . , .,.. He ascended tip to heaven, and sit-


     . .                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                215

            teth at the right hand of God the Father aimighty.                              .terpreted  in Matthew  1:23 by the Apostle
            From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the                            Matthew as meaning virgin.' The remove1 of
            dead.". And everyone of the igreat  confessions of the                          the word "virgin" from.Isaiah eliminates the
            church since-the time of the Reformation has an art-                            miraculous element. which the context ex-
            icle confessing faith in the second coming of the L'ord.                        plains God ,was giving. to the house of Da-
            It may be true that not always -equal emphasis was                            .-_vid as a sign.                               Y
            placed upon this doctrine, .but. the faith in the second                           2. Numerous passages throughout `t h e
            coming of the Lord was always the hope of the                                   translation teaching the deity of Christ have
-           Church. And if the Seventh Day Adventists ever ad-                            been removed and others have been toned
            ded any new element to the exposition of this doc-                              .down. Psalm 2 :ll and. 12, which declares,
            trine, we confess that we are not aware..of  it.                                "Kiss the Son, lest he be angry," has drop-
                                                          ` .                               ped all reference `to the Son. Psalm  45:6,
                                   -                                                        which, in the. King James Version, reads,
                                                                                            "Thy throne, 0 God, is for ever and ever,"
            THE NEW BIBLE.                                                                  and is declared to apply to the Son in Heb-
               Much is being written about the "New ~Bible" or                  '           rews 1:8, in the new version eliminates all
            the Revised Stan&& Vwsiow of the Holy Scriptures,                        -; reference to  ,God and the Son.  The.  trans-
            both pro and con. The pro's are usually in the camp                             lators tell usthat they use "thee" and "thou"
            of liberal  theolo.gians, the con's  .belong to the  ortho-                     to denote deity, and "you" and "yours" other-
            dox, conservative type.. Recently we received a "man-                           wise. Therefore, Peter's great confession in
            festo" in the form of a "United Protestant Declaration              M a t t h e w   16~16'"Thou art  t,he Christ, the
            and Testimony in Defense of the Scriptures of the Old               , Son of the living God"' is now a denial of
      -and New- Testament as the Word of God." We pub-                                      Christ's deity by the Revised Standard'Ver-
            lish it here in its entirety:                                                   sion rendering, "Y,ou are the Christ."
                   BE IT  KNtOWN TO ALL:                                                      3. The translators in numerous places
                   In this year of our Lord, 1952, in order                               __ ._ substitute their own conjecture for render-
                 that a historic record may be attested in be-                              ings which they are themselves unable to un-
                .half of the Holy. Scriptures, -we, the under-                              derstand. These have been indicated  --by
                 signed Protestant ministers, ordained and                 _                "~Cn" and in some instances not indicated at
                 called by the Lord Jesus Christ to preach                                  all. .                                  .:
                 His holy Word, and living within the United                                  4. The translators are themselves men of
                 States of America, do hereby testify and de-                               liberal or modernist views in the present
               clare the Scriptures of the Old and New Tes-                                 day ecclesiastical struggle. Therefore, the                             .
                 taments to be the Word of God, the only in-                                Bible may properly be called. the "modernist
                 fallible rule .of faith and practice.                                      Bible" because it reflects in so many ways                    '
                   We declare that the -Revised Standard Ver-                               thei.r liberal theological position.               -'              '
                 sion of the Bible, published September 30,                               2 ; r 5:. The new version indicates in no way the
                 1952, and copyrighted by the National Coun-                                words. supplied by the translators,~and  not
                 cil of the Churches of Christ in the United                                found in the original language. The italics
                 States of America, is unworthy of the name                                 as found in the King James Version  .indicate   -
                 "Holy Bible."' It is the Bible of Modernism                              s u c h   w o r d s .                                . .  :.
                 and higher criticism. ,                                                      6. The preface to the book makes it clear
                   Therefore, we do faithfully warn the Eng-                                that the translators did not consider the'Bi:
                lish-speaking `C h r i s t i a n s throughout the                           ble to be the Word of God. r-e_         -
                 world against the use of this book in their                                  7. The effort. of the National Council- of
                                                                                     .
                 private devotions, and we call-  up011  the                                Churches to set itself up as a competent au;
                 ,Christian churches to  .refuse to accept it in  f                         thorizing agency  fo.r the new Bible is  prel
                 their public worship. We specify  *the fol-                               `sumptuous. Neither the National Council nor
      c          owing :                                                                    any other Protestant body has the right or
                   1. The, new translation removes the teach-                               authority to assume. such a prerogative a-
                 ing of the virgin birth of  our. Lord Jesus                         mong Protestants. Only the Spirit of God
                 Christ from the dld Testament. InIsaiah  7:                               has authorized, the Bible which belongs to all
                 14 "a young woman" is substituted for the                                  the people `of God.
                 word "virgin," which has been infallibly in-                                 8. The securing of royalties from the sale                  -


                                            .-____
   216                                      T H E             ST&N.DARD  B ` E A R E R                                         ~~  `.-.
                                 ~---.--A.-                        -          -               .
                                -"
      `. qf the book by the National C.ouncil of Chur:.                  z           though  .the King  James'  Versio;n is, in some  ~.
          ches represents- a cohmercializing, and profit'::`_ :                       respeds antiquated and even .coiztains errors,.
          enterprise on the part of the Co'uncil f4r the> ,t                          it is nev&thele&s  a model  -of English prose
      promotion of .its own particular liberal! and ,G                                which has endeared itself to the hearts of the
          lmodernistic ideas and- programs, which im- ;I 12                           vast majority -in English speaking Christen-
          plicates every  pu,rchaser  of the Bible.           ?'                      doti. The reasons `f,or discarding this time-
             9. The widespread propaganda and fan- .'                                 honored version lof the-Bible must be-very co-
          fare in behalf of the Bible, with=the holding i                             gent. Any Version' Which would seek  to take
          `df 3000 rallies across the United -Stat& all ,! . .                .       its. place. must be of unusu&ly fine quality.
          in-advance. of the rejease  atid introduction of :                                 The R&is& Standard Version has made
          the Bible, involved a procedtire  which h& led :-                        .- its appearance, as we %have'said, in the midst
          many to purchase and commend the book                                       of great fanfare. At  &he same time, it has
          `sight unseen.                                .                             been the-object of severe criticism, and this
          10. The use  pf such a  Bible by the church                                 criticism  lias come for the most part  from
          of Christ will bring untold harm not only to                                thqse who believe the Bible to be the Word
          the ministry of the  c.hurch-but also to the                                of God.  ;This is surely significant. At the
          sotils of men. . .                                        .'                same time, we prefei to make an investiga-
            We, the undersigned, desiize it to be a mat-                              tion and examination of this new version for
          ter of pubilic record that we stand opposed. to :                           ourselves. In this  present  article, we shall
          the entire pr&gkam represented'by this. Bible L _                           merely set forth~the results of a preliminary
          and we call on our fellow Christians to con- 1                              survey.       What, then, is the first opinion
          tinde to use the time-honored King' James .                                 which  .a preliminary survey of this new -work
      Version, with due recognition. of English                          .            leaves- with one who believes that the Bible
          words which have changed their meaning, :-                                  is the inspired and infallible Word of God.
          and we `Await tke day. when, in Dhe'gracious
          providence of the -Almighty `God, a faithful -(                            l+:continues to expiess his opinion .as what, above
          translation may be produced by Bible-believ-                        all -else, should. char$cterize  a..new translation of the
          ing and Bible-honoring scholars.                         _/         Holy Scriptures:  -  `. .  _
            In support of this testimony and declara- "                                      To the presen't writer it seems that there
          tion we hereby affix OUT  signitures  with the- "'                          is one thing above all else which should char-
          earnest prayer that God may be pleased tom ;                                `acterize  a good translation, and that is its
          use this witness evtirjrwhere.       _                                      fait@fulness  to the original. A translation
     What strikes us in this declaration is that the sign-                            may be in beautiful and up-to-date language.
  ers recommend the King James Versidn in distinc<io?                                 If, however, it does not accurately-reflect the
  from other versions. This recommendation I heart-                                   original, it is .not & good .translation. It is,
  ily  elidorse,  in spite of the fact that some  imprqve-                            therefo.re,  just that point which we must
  me'nts  occur in Revised Versions.                         Ti                       keep in mind as we examine the Revised
     We agree with Edward J. Youhg bvho, writing'on                                   Standard Version of the `Old Testament. Is
-the subject of the "New Bible" in  The Presbyterian                                  this translation an accurate rendering of the
  Guardian, Dec. 22, 1952, has the following to say:                                  original, or is it not? That is the question
                                                                                      which we must seek to decide in this present
            For our part we welcome every  serious at-                                article..
          tempt to get at the Eeaning of the original                                                           *
          languages of the Bible. Every effort that is                               Thereupon `the :subj,ects  the new translation to a
          made to make the Word df God understand-                            caieful critic~l.scrutjny'and d.raws  the c&lusion that
          able to the- world is surely to be commended.                       it must be found &nting in many ,&s$ects.
          No, translation of the Bible is sacrosanct and                           It is not probable ;th& our people will fall for this
          f.ree  from error, and there can surely be no                       new attempt of modernism to attack the Holy Scrip-
          objection to attempts to render the original                        tures; Nevertheless, it is a good thing to call atten-
          more accurately.                                                    tion to this attempt. Even the attempt to popularize
           .There are many  w:ho feel that the  ,King                         the language of Scripture we would condemn. The
          Jam&`. Version of the Bible is antiquated,                          Bible as. the Word of Go&is uniqqe and must remain
          and that a new version should be produced                           stanlling  a l o n e .
          to supplant. its use. On the other hand, al-                                                                                H.H.


