NOTES OUT OF THE CATECHISM CLASSES Of Rev. J. Fraanje Using The Catechism Book SPECIMENS OF DIVINE TRUTHS

On Justification

Lesson 32 Part I

Our next lesson deals with Justification. We saw last week in our lesson on the church that Christ is its sole head, just as a body can have but one head.

As long as the head is intact there is no danger for the body. Just as when you see a man swimming, there is no concern about the body if you can see his head. It is the same in the case of the church, too. Even if the body with all its members (the church upon earth) is beneath the waters of oppression, it will not drown. This is because its Head, Christ, cannot be separated from that body and it is impossible that Christ be submerged beneath the waves of oppression.

That is why Paul said, “For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body.”

Do you understand this now? Paul would say: the whole body of the church is kept from harm by its Head and the Head will never be separated from the body of the church. What are your thoughts about this; does the world exist for the sake of the church or the church for the sake of the world?

I would say this is an easy question. It is certain that the whole world with all its wickedness is preserved in and through the long-suffering of God. This is to the end that the elect, which is dispersed among the inhabitants of the world, shall be gathered in.

That is why the world exists. The elect are the “buoys” by which worldlings are kept afloat. The day that God gathers in all the “buoys”, the others will sink irretrievably away.

It is not the government with its military power that carries and shelters the nation, O no, it is the fact that there are still children of God living in our country that have been converted or are to be brought in that God upholds our nation even until now.

This pitiful world ought to realize that it still exists because there is a poor and despised group of people in its midst. The Lord will soon gather them to Himself but, until then, they stand as a bulwark round about the world.

The Lord referred to this in a parable. He said, “The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.” This is the shortest parable of the whole Bible, consisting of but one text. What was the Lord saying with this parable?

The three measures of meal are the three generations from which the whole world is populated, namely; Shem, Ham and Japheth. When the Word of God has been preached to all those generations and all the elect have been gathered in, it is as the leaven (yeast) which the woman hid in three measures of meal and waited until the whole was leavened. It is in that way the Lord waits until the appointed time, until all, who have been called according to His eternal purpose, are called with His internal call and gathered in.

When a house is being built here, you see all sorts of piles, planks and scaffolds. The scaffolds rise so high you can hardly see the house. But when all is completed, the scaffolding and all other such things are removed from the site, leaving the finished home.

That is the way it is with the visible church on earth, too. All the so-called confessing members are merely used as scaffolding for the building of a house. God uses them for various purposes but ultimately it is the finished building that remains standing. Hellenbroek closes his lesson on the church very appropriately with the question: Is it enough to be an outward member of the church? And the answer: No, we must examine ourselves whether we are a living member thereof.

We have strayed completely from our lesson. We must not continue with the lesson on the church, but speak on justification.

The first question is: Are the internally called also justified?

Answer: Yes, Romans 8:30, “Whom He called, them He also justified.”

What is it to be justified?

Answer: It is to be acquitted from guilt and punishment and to be entitled to eternal life. The benefit succeeding election is the calling and one succeeding the calling is justification.

What is the opposite of righteous? Unrighteous or wicked, of course. Now you enumerate who and what are justified. Do it slowly and with thought.

1. The Divine Essence is justified.

2. Each person of the Divine Essence in particular is justified.

3. All the fore-ordained angels are justified.

4. The complete creation as it was created by God is justified. And do you know who was justified in particular?

5. Adam in the state of righteousness. He was the first to receive an innate righteousness from God. But in addition he also had a righteousness in respect to the law. God had bestowed upon him the law of love to which he could be obedient by virtue of the righteousness created within him.

Can we still obtain eternal life through keeping the law?

No, that has been terminated. Why?

The law is still the same and the Lord is still the same; what then has changed?

Adam lost, not only his innate, inherent righteousness (and ours in him), but also the will and the power to keep the law. So it is impossible to become righteous now through keeping the law. That is why the apostle teaches in Romans 8:3, “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak, (why?) through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, etc.”

Through sin, then, two things became impossible:

1. That man can satisfy any demands made upon him, and 2. that man can become righteous through keeping the law.

But even if this is so, are not the same demands made of us that had been made of Adam?

Yes, the demands have not been lessened.

One thing more though, and be sure to express the feeling of your heart in this: Is it the perfect right of a righteous God to demand from someone, something which is impossible to accomplish?

Answer: Yes, God is always righteous.

Yes, this is easily said, but how can I explain it?

Let us just suppose that there is a man to whom I owe one thousand dollars. I am fully aware that I have this debt and acknowledge that this man is just in his demand. Time slips by and I have not been able to obtain money for paying off or even diminishing that debt. How long can these two situations exist, namely, my indebtedness and this man’s demand to pay?

Well, if I never pay, it would last forever. Nothing can help this situation.

If I come with excuses and say, “It is impossible to pay, I am totally unable, so would you nullify the fact you have a just demand on me? Anyone with a sound mind would refuse to do this, especially when it is the debtor’s own fault he cannot pay.

Mankind, therefore, shall remain in the state into which he has fallen; eternally guilty while the Lord requires His just demands. Not one creature born from fallen mankind could conceive of a way that the law can make him righteous again and he can be released from the demands upon him.

What men and angels could not conceive of, the Lord could, with the result that Christ from eternity with His whole heart became surety and satisfied the demands perfectly;

1st., for the church universal, but also,

2nd., for each elect in particular.

What has been made possible by this? We can be pronounced justified by a righteous God and acquitted from sin. What is this justification: Answer: Receiving freedom from guilt and punishment, and being entitled to eternal life.

JAMES ARMINIUS OR FALSE TO HIS TRUST

George Sayles Bishop

Part I

“The lip of truth shall be established for ever; but a lying tongue is but for a moment” [Prov. 12:19].

Men stand behind opinions and make opinions, there is no system which is not built on a man behind it, which is not the incarnation of a man. Find out what the man is and you find out, at once, the animus of his system; even if it bewilders and mystifies you, you may know what will be its outcome. Crookedness can only come from a schemer. Nonsense from an idiot. Heresy from a dissembler. Straightness from honesty. Falsehood from one who is false, and truth from one who is true.

Importance of Character

Character, in other words, stands back of everything, and character alone endures. Genius flashes, talent looms and shrinks, but character is of a stellar and an undiminishable greatness. Why? Because truth is the summit of all things, and justice is truth borne out in affairs, and character is this moral order in concrete and in expression. “It is the rectitude which is perpetual victory and cannot be displaced or overthrown.”

Character prevails no matter how the voice may falter, or be drowned in cries, for it is the calm privilege of truth to make itself believed.

A man of downright sincerity is credited however he may blunder. A man of cunning is suspected even when his words are excellent and to the point. The devil quoting Scripture is a devil, and is recognized a devil, however he may look and be robed like an angel of light.

Character cannot be simulated, and it cannot be disguised. It breaks through everything. It is a light which shines through the lantern, however battered its shape or smoky the glass.

This fact is written out in individual lives. Take Abelard, at one time reckoned with Dun Scotus, and Anselm and Thomas Aquinas, among the foremost doctors of the church. He was guilty of an immorality, and that ruined all his works. No one quotes Abelard, not because he is not masterly, profound, but simply on account of a defect of character which nothing can repair.

The same thing re-appears in later instances. Over the graves, alas! of many a splendid modern career has been written the epitaph: “How art thou fallen, O Lucifer, Son of the morning!”

Character stands behind everything, It is that, that abides. It is not what a man knows, or acquires, or achieves, but what a man is that outlives the centuries. Moses and Paul and John stand on their moveless pedestals untouched by the fingers of time. What they were, they are: and what they are, they will be through the unmeasured and unmeasu-rable ages.

The Divine Legation of Moses is and remains Mosaic; the Divine Doctrine of Paul, Pauline; the Divine Apocalypse of John, Johannean. The reason is that truth was in these men. They spoke the truth.

Not so Judas — not so Hymenaeus and Philetus — not so Pelagius — not so Servetus — not so Laelius Socinus. The words of these men — false as themselves — ate like a canker and died in corruption.

Their works, their writings, perished — their opinions only live in books which write them down. Pelagius is known from Augustine — Servetus from Calvin — Socinus from Turettin. They survive as dead flies, worthless in themselves, embalmed in precious amber. They furnish most impressive illustrations of the Scripture statement, “The lip of truth shall be established for ever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment.”

Another illustration is Van Harmin — James Arminius — a man known only from those who opposed him. Arminians themselves never speak of Arminius, No one quotes him but to confute him. He lives but a target — a foil. No man, however like him, or however in harmony with his sentiments, is willing to own him. His opinions stand but as theses to be condemned.

Fas est ab hoste doceri. You can learn as much from the foes of a system as you can from its friends. Foes draw attention to points, which friends must defend, and in the defence truth takes its proportions and outlines, and looms up brighter and brighter. Had it not been for Arminius there would have been no Synod of Dort — no five points of grace made distinctive, no Calvinism as a system, and no Westminister.

To this one man then — to his life, his sentiments, his influence — we owe our Creed — just as we owe the Crucifixion to Judas.

Arminius put the same things in his day which men are putting now. He put them more shrewdly — with far greater sagacity, with finer tact, and, as he was a profounder man than any of our 19th century errorists, he put them less defiantly, less coarsely and more as insinuations; subtleties, suggestions — tropes of rhetoric — differences of mere words. The course of heresy, however, is so uniformly the same that if you know Arminius you know every man of his class. Just as having seen one serpent you know for ever, after that, what is the serpentine twist.

James Arminius Arminius, or as the Dutch called him, Harmen-sen, was born at Oudewater — a quaint old town of South Holland, lying on the Yssel, and about half way from Rotterdam to Utrecht. This was in the year 1560 — fourteen years after the death of Luther and four years previous to that of Calvin.

The parents of Arminius were peasants, and while he was a child their humble home was burned by Spanish soldiers — his parents murdered, and he left an orphan.

For some time the young boy was employed as a servant in the village herberg or inn, but having attracted the attention of several well-to-do people by his deftness and cleverness, he was kindly taken under the care of a clergyman, who superintended his education until he was fitted to enter the University of Utrecht. During his course at the University this benefactor died, but another came to his rescue, who transferred him to the University of Marburg. From thence he was removed again to Leyden, and thus enjoyed superior advantages for acquiring what of learning and culture the Dutch, then the first scholars in Europe, had to confer.

At length, at the age of 22, to round out his studies, he was sent to Geneva, where he had the high privilege of studying under Beza, the successor of Calvin, in whose arms the great Reformer died.

Already, in Geneva, the spirit of Arminius began to show itself. To great activity of mind and ardour of inquiry, he added a self-sufficiency and self-assertion, which soon expressed itself in whispered criticisms upon the professors, and in an artful sowing of the seeds of discord, chiefly by means of private conversations, which resulted in drawing together a party of young malcontents, and led to his dismissal.

This circumstance impaired to no small degree the confidence hitherto placed in Arminius — but, regarding his vagaries as the crudities and unintentional irregularities of youth, which larger and matured experience would overcome, his friends resolved to overlook them, and projected for him an extended tour through Italy, including Rome. Here again, however, the unhappy youth proved false to principle. In Rome he adopted the maxim: “Do as Romans do.” At least he is accused of kissing the Pope’s toe, and of a secret understanding with Bellarmine, the chief antagonist of Protestantism.

His cleverness, however, still blinded his Nether-land friends to his inward dishonesty. In spite of strange hints, now and then, of that which was not loyal, Arminius was elected one of the pastors of Amsterdam.

Here, while posing as most orthodox among the orthodox, he surreptiously promulgated opinions, the inevitable tendency of which was to undermine and overthrow the doctrine professed and to stir distrust and dissension. He was soon accused of not loving the Doctrines of Grace, and many of his brethren began to look upon him and upon his expressions with deep apprehension.

Made Professor at Leyden

At length, in 1602, the illustrious Francis Junius, Professor of Divinity in Leyden, died, and the friends of Arminius conspired to place him in the vacant seat.

Notwithstanding the most strenuous efforts of the staunch orthodox, the thing was accomplished, and Arminius became the professor — the Classis, however, in setting him apart, exacted from him a solemn and particular promise and pledge that if it should be found that he held any notions other than those of the Belgic Confession, he would confess this in private to his ecclesiastical peers and conscientiously refrain from disseminating them broadcast.

Arminius agreed to this, and on entering upon his professorship, he seemed to take much pains to clear himself from all suspicion by publicly proclaiming the received doctrines — doctrines which he afterward as publicly contradicted and which his intimate friends acknowledge were against his convictions at the very time.

This course of things went on a year or two, when it was all at once discovered that Arminius was in the constant practice of maintaining one set of opinions in the professor’s chair, and another and opposing set by means of private manuscripts and talks among the students. He was also accustomed while publicly commending the characters and sentiments of the Reformed divines, to artfully insinuate such things as were adapted indirectly to bring them in discredit — lower their influence and weaken their hold on the popular mind.

It was observed along with this, that those who associated with Arminius became disaffected — fell off in their warmth of attachment to principle, and were often dropping words and hints which could not but do damage to the faith and the peace of the Church.

“In this posture of affairs,” says Dr. Samuel Miller, to whose valuable essay upon the Synod of Dort I am indebted for assistance in regard to these facts, “In this posture of affairs the magistrates of Leyden, alarmed by the evils which were at work, besought Arminius to hold a conference with his colleagues of the University, before the Classis, respecting those doctrines to which he objected, that the extent of his objections might be ascertained and made known. But this Arminius declined. In the same manner he treated one proposal after another — declining all explanation — either before a committee or before a Church Court. Now and then in Synod and Classis, and even by secular men, the attempt was made to move in the case, but Arminius was never ready, and had always insurmountable objections to every method proposed. It was evident that he wished to gain time in which his leaven might work — to put off all decisive action until he should have such an opportunity of influencing leading minds in the country as eventually to prepare them to side with himself. Thus he went on, evading, postponing, concealing, shrinking from investigation and endeavouring in secret to throw odium upon the doctrines and their adherents, hoping thus gradually to diminish their power and ultimately to gain a majority in whatever Synod then might be called.

“It is a painful narrative,” says Dr. Miller, “but may truly be affirmed to be the history of every heresy which has ever arisen in the Christian Church.

“When heresy arises in an Evangelical body it is never open and frank. It always begins by skulking and assuming a disguise. Its advocates, when together, boast of ‘advanced thoughts’, of vast improvements, and congratulate one another on having gone greatly beyond the ‘old dead orthodoxy’ and the antiquated errors of our fathers; but when charged with deviations from the accepted faith they complain of the injustice of the accusation as they differ from it only in certain expressions, and indeed only in words. This has been the standing course of errorists ever since the apostolic age. They are almost never honest and candid as a party, in the avowal of their sentiments, until they gain strength enough to feel sure of some degree of popular support. Thus it was with Arius in the 4th century, with Pelagius in the 5th century, with Arminius and his companions in the 17th, with Amyraut, the father of modern New-Schoolism, who ruined the orthodoxy of the Huguenots of France, with Channing and the Unitarians of Massachusetts when the last century came in. These men denied their real tenets, evaded examination or inquiry, declaimed against their accusers as merciless bigots and heresy-hunters, and strove, as long as they could, to agree with their orthodox neighbours, until the time came, when, partly from inability to hold in any longer and partly because they felt strong enough to come out, they avowed their real opinions.”

Dort and Death

Finally, in the case of Arminius, there was a universal desire that a Council should settle it. From the Provinces of Holland there went up to the States General a petition that a National Synod should meet “for the purpose of revising the Belgic Confession and the Catechisms of the Church”. The Synod of South Holland took alarm at this and begged the substitution of less radical word in the place of “revising”.

This attempt to call a National Synod, through the influence of Arminius, failed, but he could not stave off the issue. Finally the nerve of the Church was aroused. Men like Gomarus, Voetius, Bogeman and others threw off their cowardice, and a Synod embracing representatives from the whole Protestant world was convened in the city of Dort, for the purpose of helping the Synod of Holland to cope with an evil now grown so formidable that it threatened, like the North Sea, to break in all her dykes.

Before that Synod, made up of Commissioners of the Church of Scotland, of Bishops of the Church of England, then Calvinistic, and of Delegates from Germany, the Palatinate, Switzerland and France, Arminius was summoned. (The French delegates were prevented from attending by their Roman Catholic king.)

A greater summons, however, awaited him. Agitation and horror of mind siezed on the unhappy man in his 49th year. To it he succumbed. “In his last sickness,” says his friend and apologist, Bertius, “he was sometimes heard to groan and sigh, and cry out, ‘Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and of contention to the whole earth. I have lent to no man on usury, nor have men lent to me on usury, yet every man doth curse me!’.”

Such is the report of his friend. Those who opposed him did not hesitate, however, to apply to him those words of Zech. 11:17 and 14:12: “Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! The sword shall be put upon his arm and upon his right eye; his arm shall be clean dried up and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.” “And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem: their flesh shall consume away, while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.” The death of Arminius is like many another interposition where enmity to the truth and to its supporters has been artful, concealed, wilful and virulent. God has a way of reaching the case which is beyond the circle of man’s ken or action. His providence all down the ages sets its solemn seal to this unalterable fiat: “The lip of truth shall be established for ever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment.”

To be Continued

Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

John 15:14,15

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If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

John 15:10–13

THE GOLDEN RULE

Children, whatever you say in a whisper or clear,

Say nothing you would not like God to hear.

Whatever you read though the page may allure,

Read NOTHING of which you are not quite sure,

Consternation at once would be seen in your look,

If God should say solemnly “Show Me that book:”

Whatever you write with haste or with heed,

Write nothing that you would not like God to read.

Wherever you go, NEVER go where you fear

God’s question being asked you, “What doest thou here?”

Whatever the pastime in which you engage,

For the cheering of youth, or the solace of age,

Turn away from each pleasure you’d shrink from pursuing

If God should look down and say “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?’

God says in the Bible:

“Abstain from ALL appearance of evil;” (II Thess. 5:22).

“Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it Holy;” (Ex. 20:8).

“Children, obey your parents in all things; for this is well pleasing unto the Lord;” (Col. 3:20).

“Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee;” (Ex. 20:12), and

“Them that honour Me, I will honour,” (I Sam. 2:30).

MASS MEDIA

We should be increasingly aware of the power for good or for evil that the modern means of communication wield in the Church and Nation. In the light of the history and the trends of the past year, we cannot but express the view that this power is used mostly for evil and to the moral detriment of the country. Without doubt the television media exercises the greatest influence on our society today, bringing its message into the vast majority of homes in the land, frequently portraying scenes of violence and depraved sexuality, often accompanied by blasphemy and obscene language. Modern radio broadcasting presents a more complicated scene now, owing to the greater variety of stations and programs available. The radio programs often reflect the baser tastes of the people in speech, song and music, and tend to accelerate the moral and spiritual declension in our midst.

Theatre and cinema productions must be the subject of similar comment to radio and television, and frequently go beyond the measure of evil met with on these media. Daily newspapers tend to become more sensational as the years pass. Periodicals in weekly and monthly form continue to meet a popular demand, and the general tendency is to a lowering of the standards to cater for the taste of the people, which seems to become more degraded with every year that passes.

We also refer to public advertising which employs all the media already mentioned in one way or another. Television, radio, theatre, cinema, daily newspapers and periodicals nearly all carry commercial advertisements, and very often scantily clad female forms are used to catch the eye, and alcoholic drink and other vices are glamorized to an inordinate degree.

It is not possible in a brief report of this nature to enter into detail, but speaking in general terms, the mass media once agian indicates the religious and moral state of the age and generation to be one of backsliding and declension from the Word of God. How great then is our need of the blessing of the Holy Spirit upon the Word of God so that multitudes would be brought to the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Again we feel it our duty to exhort the people of the Church and especially those responsible for the upbringing of children to exercise great care regarding the use of all forms of the mass media in the home and outside. We live in perilous times and many subtle evil influences are abroad in the land. May the Lord in His mercy hasten the days spoken of in His Word when, “They shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for they shall all know Me from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord.” (A report from the Synodical minutes of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland).

FOUNTAIN OF MERCY

Fountain of mercy, God of love,
How rich thy bounties are;
The rolling seasons, as they move,
Proclaim thy constant care.

When in the bosom of the earth
The sower hid the grain;
Thy goodness marked its secret birth,
And sent the early rain.

The spring’s sweet influence, Lord, was thine;
The plants in beauty grew;
Thou gav’st the summer sun to shine,
The mild refreshing dew.

These various mercies from above
Matured the swelling grain;
A kindly harvest crowns thy love,
And plenty fills the plain.

We own and bless thy gracious sway;
Thy hand all nature hails;
Seed-time, nor harvest, night nor day,
Summer nor winter fails.

A PRAYER FOR HUMILIATION AND THANKSGIVING

“WHAT SHALL I RENDER UNTO THE LORD FOR ALL HIS BENEFITS TO ME?” PS. 116:12.

We find in the contents of these words, two thoughts. First a serious question which must be answered, and second the gratitude expressed. In Ex. 20:5 we find a Divine attribute ascribed to God: “For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God.” It is an undivided service required by the Lord that He is jealous as to His honor. Man’s jealousy is despised by the Lord. That which is honorable in God, is a wickedness in man. God cannot forego His honor or — He would cease to be God. The dishonor done unto His Holy name, we find clearly visited upon the children of Israel, in the latter days of the first dispensation written by the prophet Malachi, where God placed before them His Filial honor: “A son honoreth his father, and a servant his master: if I then be a Father, where is mine honor? and if I be a master, where is My fear?” Mal. 1:6.

A son honors his father, because he is his father. Happy is that father who receives this due respect from his children. Generally we see little of this being practised, as we are living in the latter days whereof we read in God’s Holy word: “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” Matt. 24:12. The Lord had greatly blessed Israel with temporal and spiritual blessings, but they had not regarded the author of these blessings, and became wanton, despising God’s name. The Lord still speaks also to us as He did to Israel: “If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto My name, saith the Lord of Hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart” Mal. 2:2. May we lay this warning to heart as we briefly consider the Lord’s blessings manifested unto us and our children, also in this Bicentennial year 1976 and return with thanksgiving, with David the man after God’s own heart, with these words: “What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits towards me?”

This is a thanksgiving text, and speaks of the personal exercise in the life of the author. His life had been a life of trials and temptations. He had been nigh unto death, illness and bodily pains had been his portion, the sorrows of death had compassed him, and the terrors of conscience, arising from the sense of guilt, gave him no rest. He had experienced that the wages of sin worketh death. He knew that cares and toils of this world, and the forsaking of God’s law and ordinances had brought these sorrows upon him. He was brought low, and the great distress and danger he was in, almost drove him to despair. The spiritual separation he had brought upon himself, caused him to call upon his God: “O Lord, I beseech Thee, deliver my soul.” Ps. 116:4. David was a favored child of the Lord, being but a lad he sang praises unto his God while attending the sheep of his father. In his youth he defied the philistine giant, Goliath, with a sling; with fervent zeal to his God saying: “But I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.” I Sam. 17:45. The Lord had chosen him to be king over His people Israel, had delivered him from all his enemies, and had blessed him with this promise: “Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations.” Ps. 89:4. Thus the Lord confirmed unto him that Christ was his Lord and his redeemer.” I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord.” Ps. 116:13.

Thinking upon God’s past mercies in his distress, he finds himself beyond words to express the loving kindness of his Lord, who rendered him not according to his manifold transgressions. He needed by renewal the restoration and manifestation of God’s tender mercies. It was here where David has to be brought, losing his own righteousness, he had no other ground to plead his cause upon, but only upon what God was for him: “I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord.” Ps. 116:17. David had been brought in the spirit of deep humiliation before he received access to the throne of grace, as we likewise find in Ps. 51:1 “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender merices blot out my transgression.” David’s prayer: “What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits to Me?” was answered, as he through faith viewed the vicarious and atoning work of Christ, who humbled Himself, when He pleaded as the surety for His people in His deep submission: “And He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” Matt. 26:39. It is thus evident, that the whole work of salvation, justification, sanctification, and eternal redemption is the work of the Triune God. The redeemed in eternity will enjoy an eternal thanksgiving when they shall sing; “The song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.” Rev. 15:3.

My dear fellow travelers to eternity, is it not fitting that we ask ourselves personally: “What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits to me?” Should we not stand in admiration as we pause for a few moments and consider the manifold mercies God has bestowed upon us personally, as families, and as a Nation. We have been celebrating our Bicentennial year; have we considered the spiritual and temporal blessings we have received at the beginning of our National birth? There has not been a people or Nation upon whom the Lord bestowed greater blessings than upon America, and what have we done with the least of these blessings? God has given us His Word, He has sent His servants unto us. His Word has been sent out of this Nation over the length and breath of the world, He has blessed us with prosperity unknown to any other Nation in the world, we have been able to help and assist the less fortunate countries, and now after two hundred years we have turned our back unto God. Should we not weep tears of bitter sorrow, having offended the high Majesty in heaven in not giving Him the honor due unto His Holy name? Is not His hot displeasure clearly made manifest as He beholds how we have despised His blessings and are become wanton, rejecting His ordinances which He has placed before us? He has spoken unto His servant Moses, saying: “Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place where thou standest is Holy ground.” Ex. 3:15. And should we not be filled with self abasement before whom Abraham confessed: “Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord which am but dust and ashes.” Gen. 18:27. What has become of the reverence we once had as a Nation for His Word? Are we not guilty of rejecting it, forbidding prayer and Bible reading within our schools, and are now given over to permissiveness, reaping that which we have sowed. Many of the schools and colleges have become a place of immorality, crime and riot, and filthy T.V. programs have become the generations general dessert. Strikes, and anarchy, killing and raping has become a common offence in our land. Inflation has hit our country, devaluating our national wealth, while a subtle surrender has been planned. Once we were the topmost as a world power, now we have failed our friends, and have made friends with the enemies of God who deny freedom of religion. Shall God not visit such a people as we are, if we continue to live in pride and worldly pleasures? Shall He not soon visit us with great disaster as we hear of earthquakes in diverse places, wars and rumors of war. Is not our Nation and church guilty of departing from God, as the Idolatry of sports has occupied our lives, while the bleachers of Sports are attended by the ten thousands, and the Rock and Roll festivities have become a permissive enjoyment while drug abuses are sending many of its victims to the asylum. All this while church attendance has greatly been diminished, and the teachings of the pure Word of God are seldom heard. O, where are the Daniels of old; who fear not to declare the whole council of God?

Still the Lord has blessed our land also this year with fertile fields, flourishing with crops for man and beast. He has not devastated our land with the atomic bomb or by earthquakes, by drought and pestilence. Have we not reason to enter into our inner chamber with deep humiliation before the high Majesty of heaven, and cry with David: “What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits to me?” Is it not a wonder to you and me that He has not swept us away with the besom of destruction?

Where is our thankfulness? Had we the God of David for our portion, the Lord might then refrain from bringing upon us what He spoke unto Israel:”If ye will not hear, and if you will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto My name, saith the Lord of Hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart.” Mal. 2:2.

“O earth, earth, earth, (AMERICA, AMERICA) hear the Word of the Lord. Jer. 22:29. For God’s people there is still a hope with David the servant of God.

Be still and know that I am God,
O’er all exalted high;
The subject nations of the earth
My Name shall magnify.
The Lord of Hosts is on our side,
Our safety to secure;
The God of Jacob is for us
A refuge strong and sure.

C.F. Boerkoel, Sr.

At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungered, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day. But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungered, and they that were with him; How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests? Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priest in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless? But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple. But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.

Matt. 12:1–8

THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE

When Mahound, the conqueror of India, had captured the city of Gujarat, he proceeded as was his custom to destroy the idols of the city. There was one that was fifteen feet high, which its priests and devotees begged him to spare. However, he was deaf to their entreaties, and, seizing a large hammer, he struck it a heavy blow. To his amazement there rained down at his feet from the shattered image a shower of gems, pearls and diamonds - a treasure of fabulous wealth. This had been hidden within it, and had he spared the idol, he would have lost all this wealth.

This is an instructive example for all of us. If we have a certain idol which we love so much that we want to keep it even against the will of the Lord, it will do damage to our soul, and the Pearl of great price, the Lord Jesus, will remain hidden for us. May the Lord open our eyes to see our idols, teaching us to pray, “Lord, keep my eyes from vanity and give me a heart to worship Thee only.” The psalmist said, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all they that do his commandments.”

-The late Rev. Romeyn

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