t 
 
 ^ FEB 16 1934 
 
 BX 9428 
 
 .S3 
 
 1920 
 
 
 
 Schenck, 
 
 Ferdinand 
 
 
 
 Schureman, 
 
 1845-1925. 
 
 
 Expository sermons 
 
 on 
 
 the 
 
 Heidelb 
 
 erg 
 
 catechism 
 
 
Expository Sermons 
 on the Heidelberg Catechism 
 
Catechism Sermons 
 
 By DR. SCHENCK 
 
 EXPOSITORY SERMONS ON THE 
 HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 213 Pages. 
 
 Previously issued 
 
 THE APOSTLES CREED IN THE 
 TWENTIETH CENTURY 
 
 212 Pages 
 
 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS 
 AND THE LORD'S PRAYER 
 
 24s Pages 
 
y ( . FEB 16 1934 
 
 Expository Serm<Mis # 
 
 on the 
 
 Heidelberg Catechism 
 
 By 
 Rev. Ferdinand S. Schenck, D.D., LL.D. 
 
 Professor of Preaching and Sociology in 
 
 The Iheological Seminary of the Reformed Church in America 
 
 at Neiv Brunsivici, N. J. 
 
 New York 
 
 Board of Publication and Bible School Work 
 
 of the Reformed Church in America 
 
 25 East Twenty-second Street 
 
 1920 
 
Copyright, 1920 
 Board of Publication and Bible School Work 
 
 THE ABBOTT PRESS, NEW YORK 
 
EXPLANATIONS 
 
 My Expository Sermons on the 34th to the 
 52nd Lord's Day of the Catechism were pub- 
 lished in 1902 in n volume entitled " The Ten 
 Commandments and the Lord's Prayer." 
 
 My sermons in Exposition of the 7th to the 
 22nd Lord's Day of the Catechism were pub- 
 lished in 1918 in a volume entitled "The Apostle's 
 Creed in the Twentieth Century." 
 
 To reprint these two volumes with this book 
 would be too expensive and would make a volume 
 too bulky to handle easily. 
 
 This volume contains my expository sermons 
 on the first six Lord's Days of the Catechism and 
 on the 23rd to the 34th Lord's Days. These 
 Lord's Days cover what may be described as the 
 distinctive truths of the Catechism. 
 
 The former volumes may be obtained separately. 
 
 F. S. SCHENCK. 
 
 July 15, 1920. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2009 with funding from 
 
 Princeton Theological Seminary Library 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/expositorysermonOOsche 
 
PREFACE 
 
 IN 1563 A. D., the Heidelberg Catechism was 
 published. In 1576 the first Synod of Dort 
 declared it the Symbol of Doctrine for the 
 Reformed Church of Holland and required its 
 ministers to preach upon it at one service of 
 every Lord's Day. 
 
 With certain changes of form, that require- 
 ment has had a continuous existence until this 
 day, and to facilitate it the Catechism has been 
 divided into 52 Lord's Days. 
 
 The present constitution of our Reformed 
 Church in America requires "every minister to 
 explain to his congregation at an ordinary serv- 
 ice on the Lord's Day the points of doctrine 
 contained in the Heidelberg Catechism, so that 
 the exposition may be completed within the term 
 of four years." 
 
 It also requires the minister to secure the 
 catechetical instructions of the youth. It also 
 directs these requirements to be made in every 
 call made by a church to a minister to become 
 its pastor. When accepted, it then becomes an 
 essential part of the contract entered into by 
 both church and pastor, which neither party 
 has any right to change or ignore. 
 
8 PREFACE 
 
 The constitution also provides that each Classis 
 once each year shall make an inquiry of each 
 church whether these requirements have been 
 fully complied with, and shall report the results 
 to the Synod. 
 
 We discern in these constitutional require- 
 ments two strong and distinguishing character- 
 istics of our Reformed Church in America. The 
 one is the spiritual oversight of the individual 
 churches by the Classes and Synod. 
 
 We have no Bishops, as do our sister churches, 
 the Episcopal and the Methodist. Our individual 
 churches are not independent of each other, as 
 are the Congregational and Baptist Churches. 
 We are Presbyterian, but each Classis excels each 
 Presbytery in our constitution describing the 
 special subjects and the particular manner of 
 its spiritual oversight of its churches. 
 
 We regard this well defined oversight as far 
 better than that of a Bishop, far better than no 
 oversight at all — and far better than only an 
 undefined oversight. 
 
 The second distinguished characteristic of our 
 Church is the required expository preaching upon 
 the Heidelberg Catechism. This usage of our 
 Church has been in existence now for nearly 
 three hundred and fifty years. These two 
 features distinguish our Church from all other 
 denominations. They depend for pulpit preach- 
 ing entirely upon the peculiarity of the preacher's 
 mind. Some truths may be unduly magnified by 
 
PREFACE 9 
 
 him, some may be slighted and some may be 
 virtually ignored. Our Church gives free scope 
 to the individuality of the preacher in the choice 
 of his subjects, and in addition, requires him to 
 give regular instruction on the great articles of 
 the Christian faith in order to preserve the truth 
 and to promote the prosperity of the Church. 
 
 When our Church became indep.^ndent of the 
 Mother Church in Holland, and formed its own 
 constitution in 1792, this requirement of usage 
 was adopted without change. There have been 
 several revisions of the constitution since, in 
 1833, in 1874 and the last, after long considera- 
 tion by the whole Church, in 1916. In all these 
 the required expository preaching upon the 
 Heidelberg Catechism has been retained. Quite 
 a large number of our churches and pastors in 
 the course of the years have become slack in 
 allegiance to this special requirement, and some 
 even opposed to it. In 1910 a committee was 
 appointed by the General Synod to ascertain the 
 general usage in the whole Church, and so the 
 mind of the Church in this important matter. 
 We examined the records of every Classis but 
 one, a small Classis in the Far West — and found 
 that at least two-thirds of the churches faith- 
 fully observed the constitutional required to the 
 letter, and that all ministers and churches claimed 
 to observe it in spirit. In comparing the record 
 with that of five years before, we found that 
 the number of churches observing the letter of 
 
10 PREFACE 
 
 the requirement was increasing, particularly in 
 the Eastern part of the Church. The Heidelberg 
 Catechism is finely adapted for preaching, as it 
 is not a mere intellectual statement of the truths 
 of our religion, but it describes the experience of 
 these truths in the hearts and lives of the 
 believers. To expound it in the successive Lord's 
 Days gives to both preacher and people the highest 
 ideal of Christian preaching and Christian liv- 
 ing. The Catechism not merely describes the 
 Christian life as one might do who observes it 
 from the outside, it gives the inward principles, 
 feelings and spirit of that life by one who 
 lives it. It tells not merely about the Christ one 
 has heard of, but it describes the Christ one 
 trusts — loves and serves. To promote such 
 preaching of Christ and such living of Christ is 
 the highest ideal of both pulpit and pew. 
 
 A course of progressive preaching on the great 
 truths of our religion will be attractive and 
 profitable to the people. I once became pastor 
 of a church where the Heidelberg Catechism had 
 not been preached in twenty years, and where 
 the evening services were very much run down. 
 I built up the evening service by preaching upon 
 the successive Lord's Days of the Catechism. 
 Many of our pastors have catechetical classes, 
 many encourage the teaching of the catechism 
 in the Sunday Schools. This preaching in exposi- 
 tion of the catechism commends it in the instruc- 
 tions of the youth, and this is a fine way of 
 
PREFACE 11 
 
 "teaching teachers to teach" the essential truths 
 of the Holy Scriptures, as experimentally re- 
 ceived. This progressive and proportioned preach- 
 ing and teaching of the truths of the Christian 
 religion from the experience of the soul, must 
 lead souls to feel the need of a Savior, to trust 
 Him as their personal Savior, and to become 
 devoted followers of Christ in the various activi- 
 ties of His Church. 
 
 I am sending forth this book of sermons with 
 the aim of stimulating this kind of preaching 
 and teaching, and to quicken and increase a 
 craving of the people for a full experience of 
 Christian truth as set forth in our excellent 
 catechism. 
 
 It may be proper for me, in doing so, to speak 
 of my own experience in such preaching and of 
 the aid I have recently received. 
 
 In my four pastorates, two in the country and 
 two in the city, I have preached five entire 
 courses of sermons on the Catechism, making 
 such improvements in each course, as circum- 
 stances permitted. I may say they were received 
 by all my congregations with as much fervor 
 as my other sermons. For the past twenty 
 years, I have as part of the course on preaching 
 in this Seminary, directed and heard the students 
 preach upon the Catechism. Many of these 
 sermons have been very fine, and much of the 
 criticism of the students of each other has been 
 very suggestive and helpful. I have been an 
 
12 PREFACE 
 
 enthusiastic teacher and many students have been 
 enthusiastic scholars of this kind of preaching. 
 These sermons are the outcome of my preaching 
 improved by the criticisms and suggestions of 
 the student's preaching. 
 
 F. S. S. 
 Neiv Brunsivick, N. J. 
 1920. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 1st Lord's Day 
 
 "Christian Experience" 15 
 
 2nd Lord's Day 
 
 "Nature Of Sin" 28 
 
 3rd Lord's Day 
 
 "Origin And Extent Of Sin" 39 
 
 4th Lord's Day 
 
 "Desert Of Sin" 5I 
 
 5th Lord's Day 
 
 "Helplessness Of The Sinner" 62 
 
 6th Lord's Day 
 
 "The Divine Saviour" 75 
 
 23rd Lord's Day 
 
 "Righteousness By Faith" 88 
 
 24th Lord's Day 
 
 "Justification By And Of Faith" 103 
 
 25th Lord's Day 
 
 "Source Of Faith" 117 
 
 25th, 26th, 27th Lord's Days 
 
 "Sacrament Of Baptism" 130 
 
 28th, 29th, 30th Lord's Days 
 
 "Sacrament Of The Lord's Supper" .... 140 
 31sT Lord's Day 
 
 "Organization Of The Church" 151 
 
 25th to 31st Lord's Days 
 
 "The Ideal Life Of The Church" 164 
 
 32nd Lord's Day 
 
 "Good Works" I77 
 
 33rd Lord's Day 
 
 "Conversion" Igg 
 
 34th Lord's Day 
 
 "The End Designed By God" 200 
 
I. 
 
 FIRST LORD'S DAY OF THE 
 HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 "CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE" 
 Ye are Christ's. — I CoR. 3 :23. 
 
 ONE of the finest descriptions of life is 
 that it is the adjustment of forces within 
 to forces without; this is not a definition 
 of life, — no one can give that, — it only says what 
 it does. The living being is dependent upon its 
 environment— it has the power of adapting itself 
 to its surroundings. One of the finest descrip- 
 tions of the use of the mind gives the same 
 thought. Its use is to enable the man to come 
 into harmony with his environment. This may 
 be physical — the earth where he dwells — or social 
 — the relations with his fellows — or spiritual — 
 the God, "in Whom he lives, and moves and has 
 his being." Now it is quite evident that knowl- 
 edge of the surroundings is the condition of 
 coming into harmony with them: the bird must 
 know where to find water, and food and the 
 place for its nest; the man must know where to 
 find God and how to come into harmony with 
 Him. Still it is just as evident that knowledge 
 alone is not enough: the bird may be caught in 
 a snare and so be utterly unable to find water 
 or food or nest; the man may know where and 
 
 IS 
 
16 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 how to come into harmony with God, and yet 
 he may utterly refuse to act upon his knowledge ; 
 he, to, may be caught in the snare of worldliness 
 and so fail to attain the noblest life — harmony 
 with his God. 
 
 A catechism is a clear, concise and full state- 
 ment of the truths of religion ; it gives us knowl- 
 edge of utmost importance to our well being ; but 
 knowledge is not enough. If the catechism can 
 give us this knowledge with the experience of 
 one who has acted upon these truths, then it 
 guides the example and the incentive to like 
 action on our part, then it commends the truths 
 it teaches to the acceptance of the mind, to the 
 approval of conscience and to the action of the 
 will, by the experience of one who has fully tested 
 them and who tells us the blessedness of coming 
 into harmony with God. 
 
 This feature of experience is the striking 
 characteristic of our Heidelberg Catechism. The 
 first question: 
 
 "What is the only comfort in life and death?" 
 gives the keynote of the whole catechism. It 
 requires in its answer more than an intellectual 
 statement of truth, however correct and full that 
 may be, it must be experimental, it must give 
 the personal experience of one coming into har- 
 mony with the person, God, by accepting and 
 obeying the truth. This is clearly seen if we 
 contrast it with the first question of another 
 great catechism: 
 
 "What is the chief end of man?" 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 17 
 
 The answer is : 
 
 "To glorify God and enjoy Him forever." 
 The maker of anything, a watch for example, 
 is glorified when the thing made fulfills the ideal 
 of the maker, and the watch is only a good one 
 as it keeps time. So the question with its answer 
 of that catechism is only a matter of pure 
 intellect. An irreligious man may give it — a 
 desperately wicked man of great mental power 
 may see and state this truth— even Satan himself 
 may give the answer full and clear. But Satan 
 is dumb before our question: 
 
 "What is your only comfort in life and death?" 
 He may know all the truths of religion but 
 he has no comfort from them. 
 
 Comfort is relief from past pain or distress 
 and from all fear of its return, or it is opposing 
 to a still existent evil a present good the enjoy- 
 ment of which lessens the trial or strengthens 
 one to bear it. Our whole Catechism then is 
 more than an intellectual statement of the truths 
 of religion. It states these truths as they result 
 in the experience of the one who accepts and 
 obeys them, who trusts in God. 
 
 The Catechism is experience throughout. We 
 now confine our attention to the first question. 
 It clearly can be answered affirmatively only by 
 experience. There may of course be many nega- 
 tive answers. We may readily think of three 
 large classes of people of whom we may ask this 
 question and who will give widely diff'erent 
 answers to it. 
 
18 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 Let me ask this question first of that large class 
 who are careless about religion. There are many- 
 grades in the class — a wide diversity both of 
 character and condition. This is a Church Audi- 
 ence, but there are doubtless many of this class 
 present now. They are here from various 
 motives but in their hearts they are conscious 
 they are careless of religion. Take the very 
 best of this class of people, morally upright, suc- 
 cessful in life, having good social standing, living 
 in happy homes, but conscious that they are care- 
 less about God, that they are worldly minded. Let 
 me ask the best representative of this class our 
 question : 
 
 "What is your only comfort in life?" 
 
 "Comfort," he answers, "I have no need of 
 comfort. I have the good things of life, its 
 worthy employments, pleasures and friends. Do 
 not disturb me; take comfort to someone who 
 needs it, I do not." 
 
 I ask still further: 
 
 "What is your only comfort in death?" 
 
 "Death," he answers, "I do not allow myself 
 to think about death. When it comes I suppose 
 I will die as others do. I do not think of what 
 may be beyond. I only hope that as I have 
 lived a fairly good life here, and had a fairly 
 good time I may have the same experience after 
 death." 
 
 Poor voyager on life's mysterious sea — your 
 ship is strong, the sea is smooth, the wind is 
 fair, the sky is clear. But you are simply 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 19 
 
 drifting, you know not how near a rocky coast, 
 how near a roaring storm — you have no knowl- 
 edge of the stars — no chart on board — no com- 
 pass — no pilot — no captain, — you are bound for 
 no harbor, — you are simply drifting on life's 
 wide ocean. 
 
 This is a very earnest question I am asking 
 you — it arises from a consideration of many im- 
 portant truths you ignore. Are you living with- 
 out a thought of responsibility to God for the 
 use of the powers He gives you, of the time He 
 grants you, without any gratitude to Him, — with- 
 out even consulting Him? You say you have no 
 need of comfort; but rather is it not possible 
 that you are in great need, but that your con- 
 science is asleep, that you are drugged with 
 worldliness, that you simply do not recognize your 
 need? 
 
 The second large class of people of whom this 
 question may be asked is also of many grades 
 and conditions ; some may be living wicked lives ; 
 some may be living upright lives as their neigh- 
 bors recognize; but as a class they have an 
 aroused and condemning conscience — they may 
 be said to be convicted of sin. There are also 
 grades of this conviction; in some it is very 
 deep and harassing; they sometimes plunge into 
 sin to drown it, or they harden themselves to 
 bear it; in others it is more shallow and less 
 disturbing, but still a disagreeable companion 
 whenever it demands a hearing. 
 
 Let me ask our question of all the grades of 
 
20 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 this large class. There may be many here in 
 this Church Audience. 
 
 "What is your only comfort in life and death?" 
 
 The answer is prompt and clear: 
 
 "We have no comfort at all, either in life or 
 in view of death. Our religion has thus far 
 brought us only unrest and distress. Tell us 
 where we may secure comfort and you will con- 
 fer the greatest favor upon us." 
 
 And now I will ask our question of the third 
 class of people — those who are really Christians, 
 those who believe in Christ as their Saviour. 
 
 "What is your only comfort in life and death?" 
 
 The answer comes clear and strong from 
 each one: 
 
 "That I belong to my faithful Saviour, Jesus 
 Christ." 
 
 Doubtless there are many grades of character 
 and conditions also in this class. Doubtless also 
 the large proportion of this Church Audience is 
 made up of the many grades of this large class. 
 
 The answer given toi this question in our 
 Catechism may be of great service to us all: 
 to the careless to arouse a sense of need and its 
 supply; to the convicted of sin in their trouble, 
 to give them full relief; and to believers to make 
 more clear and full their trust in Christ, as they 
 define and describe it, and to show them a way 
 in which they may serve Christ by telling others 
 of Him. 
 
 The answer covers the past, the present, and 
 the future. In the past the believer came to 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 21 
 
 recognize his need of the forgiveness of his sins 
 and of strength to resist sinfulness. He had 
 tried to live as his own governor, as belonging 
 to himself, as his own, but he had learned to 
 recognize that his own will had gone far astray 
 from God's law of his life, — that he was under 
 the condemnation of that law and under the 
 power of his own deceived, ignorant and stubborn 
 will. Then he learned of Jesus Christ as the 
 lover of mankind, as the lover of his guilty and 
 sinful soul, and he began to trust Him as his 
 Saviour. Now he belongs to Christ for he says: 
 
 "Christ with His precious blood hath fully 
 satisfied for all my sins." 
 
 We know something in our business life of 
 ransom, — one's home has been sold for unpaid 
 taxes, — he may ransom it under certain condi- 
 tions; also in history of man, a prisoner is 
 ransomed by an exchange. So Christ says He 
 gave His life a "ransom for many"; so Paul 
 says : 
 
 "While we were yet sinners Christ died for us." 
 
 We can never fully realize the price He paid, 
 — He gave His life to redeem us from our sins. 
 He has ransomed us. 
 
 More than this the answer says : 
 
 "Christ has delivered me from all the power 
 of the devil." 
 
 The believer had thought he was his own, was 
 guiding his own life, but in reality he was de- 
 ceived by Satan; he was yielding him service, 
 following his devices, yielding to his temptations. 
 
22 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 But at length he recognized there was a sinful 
 nature within him which held him a willing 
 prisoner; call it by whatever name you will, rec- 
 ognizing its source and its power, it is the enemy 
 of God in the world and in our souls. Christ 
 called it the "Prince of this world," and said He 
 would by His death strip him of all his disguises, 
 judge him, and cast him out. John, the beloved 
 disciple of Christ said : 
 
 "For this purpose the Son of God was mani- 
 fested that He might destroy the works of the 
 devil." 
 
 So the believer trusting Christ says: 
 
 "He hath delivered me from all the power of 
 the devil." 
 
 We may not fully recognize the power of evil 
 over us or the dreadful battle Christ fought with 
 the Prince of this world, even unto death, but 
 He has stripped him of his disguises, broken his 
 power, and aroused our manhood to fight against 
 him as our enemy. We belong to Christ, — He 
 hath redeemed us from the penalty and the 
 power of our sins. We are His by ransom, by 
 deliverance. 
 
 The comfort of the believer is that he has been 
 delivered from a dreadful condition, that he 
 belongs now (in his gratitude and devotion), to 
 the one who had delivered him and that he has 
 a growing appreciation of his deliverer's power, 
 love and faithfulness as he contemplates his 
 acts of deliverance. Christ has ransomed us, 
 has satisfied fully for all our sins. The business 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 23 
 
 man has become involved in debt, slowly, stead- 
 ily, for years. At the close of a period of anxiety 
 his creditors are about to sell him out, and so 
 notify him. He goes home at the close of that 
 day, and all the world is dark to him, — he has 
 failed — he must tell his wife and children, their 
 home must be given up, — his friends will soon 
 know it, — the whole community will know it, — 
 his helpless failure shrouds his whole world in 
 gloom. Now his greatest creditor comes to him, 
 — he has not seen him in years, — he proves to 
 be the friend of his youth. He says: 
 
 "I cannot see you fail. I will satisfy your 
 other lesser creditors. I, your chief creditor, will 
 sacrifice myself for you. I will even go in busi- 
 ness with you as your partner. We will renew 
 companionship, the friendship of our boyhood 
 days." Who can tell how the gloom of failure 
 passes away before such sacrifice, before such 
 ransom, and how the renewed friendship will 
 incite to effort and success. But any business 
 affair of modern life can throw but little light 
 upon the great mystery of Christ's sacrifice for 
 us in His infinite love, of His paying our debts 
 even to Himself, to divine justice, of His satis- 
 fying for all our sins. Before God we are hope- 
 lessly in debt, complete and absolute failures, our 
 future filled with gloom, and Christ, the Son of 
 God, takes our place, pays our debts, satisfies 
 completely for us, — yes, even becomes our surety, 
 our partner for all the future. And all out of 
 love for us. Surely in gratitude and devotion, 
 
24 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 we will not try any longer to live for ourselves. 
 We belong to Him, we will live with Him and 
 for Him. 
 
 So also He has delivered me from all the power 
 of the devil. We can easily in these dreadful 
 days of warfare imagine the hard lot of one 
 taken captive by the enemy and held fast in 
 prison, — day and night the hardship, the gloom of 
 his captivity oppresses him. Then one dark night 
 his old Captain holding him in high esteem risks 
 his life, fights his way through the guards, comes 
 to the prison door, forces it open, awakens the 
 sleeping prisoner, gives him a sword, and now 
 together, his Captain and he fight their way 
 back through their foes to their own army and 
 freedom again. Think you that rescued soldier 
 can ever forget the gloom of prison, and that 
 he owes his freedom to the love and sacrifice 
 of his Captain, surely he will be loyal to the 
 Captain his whole life long. But any deliverance 
 from a bodily prison can throw little light upon 
 Christ's deliverance from our spiritual bondage. 
 
 This seems to be only in the past, but it is 
 not altogether so. It is true the saving acts of 
 ransom and deliverance were wrought by Christ 
 while He lived upon the earth centuries ago. 
 He loved us then with the wonderful love which 
 led Him to die the shameful death of the Cross 
 for us. But He lives. Who once was dead, the 
 triumphant and glorious Savior, and He loves us 
 now with the same wonderful love. He forgives 
 and He renews us in His spirit today. So we 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 25 
 
 think of our past when we first became conscious 
 of our sins and sought His forgiveness, when 
 we first saw the hideous nature and malignant 
 designs of sin, the Prince of the world, and 
 sought Christ's deliverance. Christ was our 
 Savior when we first trusted Him; just as truly 
 He is our Savior today. He is enthroned in 
 power and glory. He lives and He loves and He 
 saves us today, He ransoms and He delivers. 
 
 The answer of the Catechism describes now 
 the comfort of belonging to Christ in all the 
 varied experiences of the present life. Christ 
 owns me. He will take care of His own. Christ 
 says: 
 
 "No one shall pluck them out of My hand." 
 
 Paul says: 
 
 "All things work together for good to them 
 that love God." 
 
 Christ says: 
 
 "Abide in Me and I in you." 
 
 Paul says: 
 
 "If when we were enemies we were reconciled 
 to God by the death of His Son much more being 
 reconciled we shall be saved by His life." 
 
 He Who loved us so He died for us now loves 
 us as He lives for us. This does not mean the 
 believer will have only an easy time in this life. 
 He may have hard battles to fight with the evil 
 within him and without him, — battles calling for 
 all his courage and strength, but his great Cap- 
 tain is leading and watching him. He may have 
 great duties to do calling for all his devotion 
 
26 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 and care, but God's grace is sufficient for him. 
 He may have heavy trials to bear heavy and 
 long continuing, but Christ assures him, "I am 
 with thee, I will not leave thee nor forsake thee." 
 The believer too is sailing on the mysterious sea 
 of life — it may be very dark and tempestuous, 
 the winds and the waves seek his destruction, but 
 in the roar of the storm he may shout "All's 
 Well," for his Captain is on board and in full 
 command. Also if the sea is smooth, the sky 
 clear and the wind fair this voyager on life's 
 ocean is not drifting, he is sailing to a fair 
 harbor. 
 
 The answer of the Catechism now speaks of 
 the future. I belong unto Christ and "he assures 
 me of eternal life." Christ says to his disciples, 
 "Where I am there ye shall be also." Paul says : 
 "I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ 
 which is far better." 
 
 Eternal life begins now. Christ says: "This 
 is life eternal to know God and Jesus Christ 
 whom he has sent." To know Christ, to trust 
 Him, to adore Him, to love Him is to be led by 
 His Holy Spirit and to be sincerely willing to live 
 unto Him — an ever growing appreciation, friend- 
 ship, and intermingling of life with Christ — a life 
 growing in his likeness. Here amid the many 
 blessings, the great service of this life, here amid 
 the many duties and temptations of this life, 
 here amid the growth and discipline of this life. 
 What of the life beyond ? 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 27 
 
 We know but little of the circumstances, of 
 the eternal life beyond earth's varied scenes. It 
 is so glorious that it cannot be fully described in 
 our language arising only out of an earthly 
 experience. Let it suffice, we will be with Christ 
 where He is. What is good enough for Him will 
 be good enough for us. We belong to Him and 
 He loves us so He wills to have us with Him in 
 eternity. 
 
 So let the worldling seek something richer far 
 than all he now possesses. Let the troubled in 
 conscience find relief in trusting Christ. Let 
 the believer learn more and more in his deep 
 experience of the comfort of belonging to his 
 faithful savior Jesus Christ. 
 
 Let us all having spiritual life come into full 
 harmony with our highest and all inclusive en- 
 vironment, with our God, our Father revealed in 
 His Son, by the Holy Spirit! 
 
II. 
 
 SECOND LORD'S DAY OF THE 
 HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 "NATURE OF SIN" 
 
 By the works of the law shall no flesh 
 be justified in His sight for by the law is 
 the knowledge of sin. — ROM. 3:20. 
 
 THE Epistie to the Romans is divided into 
 three parts. The first part shows that all 
 men are sinners under the law, Jew and 
 Gentile alike and it ends with our text. The 
 second part shows there is full and free salva- 
 tion for all by faith in Jesus Christ and it 
 ends with the 11th Chapter. The remainder of 
 the Epistle is an exhortation to believers in 
 Christ to lead a holy life. 
 
 Our Catechism is constructed upon the plan of 
 the Epistle to the Romans. The second question 
 concisely sets forth this plan. Our text says the 
 law of God brings us to a knowledge of our sin. 
 
 The Catechism says that our knowledge of our 
 misery is a necessary step to securing comfort. 
 One may be in danger and not know it — he may 
 be sound asleep in a burning house, — he may 
 have a deadly disease and not feel it. He is a 
 true friend who will wake him up in time to 
 escape, who will make him conscious of his 
 disease in time to apply sufficient remedy to it. 
 
 28 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 29 
 
 A wise and brave man desires to know his true 
 condition with reference to physical dangers that 
 he may properly treat them. With regard to 
 spiritual diseases and dangers it behooves each 
 one of us to face the truth however miserable it 
 may make us, for there may be a remedy, there 
 may be an escape. In ignorance there is death, 
 in knowledge there is life. 
 
 Let us now therefore frankly, fully, and 
 courageously compare ourselves with the law of 
 God. How do we measure up to the standard of 
 the law of our being? Christ teaches us this 
 law briefly: 
 
 "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all 
 thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind 
 and with all thy strength. This is the first and 
 great commandment, and the second is like unto 
 it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." 
 
 As soon as the law is declared there is some- 
 thing within us that instantly responds "The law 
 is right." God has given us all our powers and 
 preserves us in their enjoyment, they should 
 turn to Him as naturally as flowers turn to the 
 sun. Each one is a creature of God, — he should 
 love himself as such a creature. Every other 
 man is likewise a creature of God. Each one 
 should love each other as he loves himself. The 
 proper love of one's self is the standard of the 
 love for one's neighbor. Each one should love 
 one's self to make the most possible out of him- 
 self according to the ideal of God. Call this, if 
 you please, to make himself the super-man. Then 
 
30 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 he should love every other man as he loves him- 
 self, to make him too a super-man, — far above 
 man's present ideals to reach God's ideal. In- 
 stead of one's self struggling in seeking from 
 another or even oppressing that other, true self 
 seeking becomes seeking the best for every other 
 man also. 
 
 There are three striking particulars in vi^hich 
 this law diifers from laws made by man. 
 
 First, — It is Universal. The fact that it 
 awakens this instant response shows it is already 
 written in our nature. It is not for a single 
 nation but for the race. True there are some 
 portions of the race who know it clearly — the 
 Christian portions. There are others who know 
 it dimly or not at all, — the heathen portions. 
 The law is written upon their nature but it is 
 so blurred they do not read it. 
 
 Let us not think about them, — how they will 
 be judged. Let us leave that to God, — surely the 
 Judge of all the earth will do right. 
 
 Let us look steadily at our own case as we 
 face this universal law of our being, for there 
 is not a single one of us exempt from it. 
 
 In the second place this law is spiritual. The 
 laws made by man command outward obedience. 
 Keeping the letter satisfies such laws. But in 
 this law there is no letter, it is all spirit. Not 
 an outward act is commanded but an inward: 
 the mind, the heart, the soul, to love with all 
 one's strength; the outward acts follow as pure 
 water flows from a pure spring. 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 31 
 
 There are several features of love we are very- 
 familiar with among ourselves. Love delights in 
 the one loved, to be in his presence, or to think 
 about him gives pleasure. Then also love strives 
 to please the one loved, consults him and acts in 
 harmony with his tastes and desires. Then also 
 love seeks a return love, and strives in constant 
 and strong feeling and action to awaken and 
 strengthen such return love. When we thus 
 analyze love we see the kind of acts that will 
 flow from it; they will not be irksome, not from 
 fear, but from delight — striving to please God 
 and rejoicing in His love for us. 
 
 In the third place this law is distinguished 
 from all man made laws in that God made it. 
 Man makes laws for his own government as he 
 discovers his needs. Man is by nature a social 
 being and his relation to his fellows forms the 
 basis of many of his laws. He has an ideal of 
 God, often very high, as also a social being and 
 forms rules of action based on his relation to 
 Him. But no enactment of man, however lofty, 
 has attained to this perfect law. Besides in the 
 supernatural revelation of God culminating in 
 Jesus Christ we find this law described as com- 
 ing direct from God. He is the great law giver 
 of this perfect law. 
 
 Two truths are thus clearly brought to our 
 attention. God had a plan in making man, — a 
 plan in His eternal, all-wise, and all-powerful 
 mind before man was created. This law there- 
 fore is the exact description of that plan; it 
 
32 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 shows the purpose of God in creating man and 
 so it defines and describes all man's powers. 
 Man is the intelligent maker of many things. 
 The plan exists in his mind before the thing is 
 made; for example, a clock, — the plan is a law 
 for the clock, it is constructed to measure time; 
 to set it to do any other kind of work degrades 
 it and dishonors its maker. 
 
 Since God is infinitely good and has at infinite 
 pains through all ages created man ; the highest 
 honor and highest good for man is to fulfill 
 God's plan in accomplishing the object for which 
 he was made. To live any other kind of life 
 degrades man and dishonors God. Man's high- 
 est happiness can only be found in attaining 
 God's plan, in keeping His perfect law of love. 
 
 The other truth clearly seen is that the author- 
 ity of the law giver cannot be questioned and so 
 the law is the expression of His nature. Some- 
 times it may be a question of a man made law 
 whether it does not exceed its authority and so 
 condemn itself. Here the authority is clear. It 
 cannot be exceeded and thus only the character 
 of God is seen in it. How much God cares for 
 man's obedience may be seen in the value He 
 places upon a man as he gives this law describ- 
 ing him. God is infinitely good and the law is 
 the expression of His goodness. The right of 
 the good God to govern His creatures is un- 
 questioned. The law therefore flows from the 
 goodness of God and so expresses it as truly 
 as it describes man's powers. 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 33 
 
 We are now ready to consider the next question 
 of the Catechism, it is intensely personal and it 
 requires our faithful consideration and so enters 
 into the deep experience of each one of us. 
 
 Can you keep all these things perfectly? In 
 no wise, is the answer given. In no wise for I 
 am prone by nature to hate God and my neigh- 
 bor. If the question was: Have you kept this 
 law perfectly? I suppose each one of us would 
 answer, if we thought seriously at all, — No, I 
 have not. If the question was : Do you keep this 
 law perfectly? I suppose each one of us would 
 be compelled to answer, — No, I do not. But the 
 question is deeper: Can you keep it perfectly? 
 It covers the other two by asking the reason: 
 Why have you not kept it ? Why do you not keep 
 it? It goes still deeper: Why have you come — 
 why do you come so far short of it? It goes 
 still deeper: Is your disobedience merely a nega- 
 tive — a failure to keep it — or is it a positive one 
 — a transgression — a doing the reverse, a hat- 
 ing? I suppose each one of us would hesitate 
 about using that strong word hate still the 
 Apostle Paul uses a word like it. He says the 
 carnal, that is, *'The natural mind, is enmity 
 against God, is not subject to the law of God, 
 neither indeed can be." The Catechism softens 
 the harsh hard word, enmity, a little by saying: 
 I am prone to hate — . 
 
 But is even that so? Can I truthfully say it 
 describes me? I am indifferent to God. I ignore 
 Him and His law. I neglect my fellowman. I 
 
34 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 do not care for him, but I go no further. I do 
 not hate either one. But consider a little. Sup- 
 pose you have set your heart upon some object, 
 made it the one thing you live for, and God 
 forbids it and opposes you, or man sets himself 
 across your path and tries to defeat you. You 
 are, as you say, careless and indifferent about 
 God and man, if all goes v^ell, but if they are 
 strongly and persistently against you, if they 
 stand across your cherished life effort and you 
 still press on, is there not something resembling 
 hate aw^akened in your strong and losing fight? 
 A proneness may not be open and extreme at all 
 times but it arouses itself against God's holiness 
 and justice, it arouses itself against man when 
 he becomes disagreeable to us, v^hen he dislikes 
 and hates and fights us; it lies in the depths of 
 our nature, and as by a flash it sometimes gives 
 us a hideous sight of ourselves. Call it what 
 you will, there is something in our nature op- 
 posed to God and man, that violates the law of 
 love, does not keep it, is prone to break it. In 
 proportion as this is true of each one of us, or 
 rather in proportion as we are conscious of its 
 truth, we must recognize it as a condition f rought 
 with danger, a miserable condition. We may be 
 loath to look at it steadily and in detail, but 
 surely it is our interest to know the whole truth, 
 and we should bravely and frankly seek this 
 knowledge. 
 
 There are clearly three elements of misery in 
 disobeying this law of love: 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 35 
 
 The first is the absence of the noble character 
 and high happiness of which man is capable in 
 this law of his being. It is the law of his being, 
 of his whole nature so designed by his creator. 
 Man tries to find happiness in power, honor, 
 riches, friends, in various ways, by great efforts ; 
 he attains some happiness through the fragments 
 of love he cherishes, also through the activity 
 of his powers, but he misses the full happiness 
 that can only come from the full love of God 
 and man. He has great powers given him for a 
 noble purpose; ignoring the purpose or oppos- 
 ing it, the powers however great can never be 
 satisfied; they wear themselves out in fruitless 
 effort ; their greatness makes their failure pitiful. 
 Happiness above us, beyond us, out of our reach, 
 and yet we know we were made for it, that we 
 could have it if we would try for it in the right 
 way, — this surely is an element of misery. 
 
 The second element of misery in disobeying 
 the law of our being is in the existence and the 
 possible raging of evil passions. To name them 
 is to see their hideous nature, Avarice, Lust, 
 Pride, Envy, Jealousy, and that thing we are 
 prone to. Hatred. Who would welcome such 
 powers? But they are within us in the place 
 where full love of God and man should be. We 
 would not have the angel of light and love dwell- 
 ing in us so the serpents of darkness and hate 
 are there. And while we try to keep them quiet 
 generally, there arise provocations and tempta- 
 tions when they rage within us and torment us 
 
36 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 with their spite. And how they often rage in 
 this world that refuses to love God, how they 
 rage in the social relations of man, in social life, 
 business life, political life, — how they sometimes 
 break forth in cruel war among nations. Over 
 all the tumult and strife, over all the cruelty 
 and conflict, over all the oppression and want, 
 there speaks the law of God — Love — Love. If 
 men would only listen and obey, the tumult would 
 hush, the conflict cease, the oppression and want 
 pass away forever. But let us not think of the 
 race, of the mass of men except as we are a 
 part of it. Let us look steadily at our own 
 nature. Each one of us must see the misery of 
 having such hideous passions within us. 
 
 The third element of misery in our disobeying 
 the law of our being is the awakening of an 
 accusing conscience. Here also let us be faithful 
 with ourselves. Do not let us say too hard 
 things about ourselves, nor too soft things, let 
 us clearly look at the truth. Law grows upon 
 us as we consider its nature in its source. The 
 law of a township may be a small matter. One 
 breaks it and pays the fine. The conscience is 
 quiet. The law of a nation is a much greater 
 matter. The element of this disloyalty, of treason 
 may enter it and the whole nation arises to 
 punish. Here conscience is disturbed. Go a step 
 higher. One breaks a law of humanity. There 
 are extradition laws among civilized nations. All 
 humanity now arises to punish. The man is the 
 outcast, abhorred by all. His conscience now is 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 37 
 
 terrible. One step higher. One breaks a law 
 of God. One breaks the law of His own being. 
 Where will he fly now, beyond township lines, 
 beyond the nation's boundary, beyond the reach 
 of humanity to some Island of the Sea? What 
 difference does it make? He cannot fly from 
 himself, from his aroused conscience. He can- 
 not fly from God. 
 
 The law grows upon us as we consider the 
 rights invaded. In this case it is not the rights 
 of a child, perhaps we could make that right 
 again. It includes the rights of many children; 
 it is not merely the rights of a man, of a nation, 
 or of humanity; it includes all these, but it is 
 far greater, — we have invaded the rights of God. 
 
 There are many words in use among ourselves 
 and they are hideous enough when so used. They 
 become terrible when used in reference to God. 
 One steals, takes something from another, usual- 
 ly it is small compared to the other's possessions. 
 Here one steals from God and he takes all God's 
 possessions he can lay his hands on, for all his 
 powers belong to God. One commits a breach 
 of trust. In this case man is God's steward 
 and here he has taken all God has intrusted to his 
 care. We abhor injustice, ingratitude, disloyalty 
 among men. These are far worse in reference 
 to God. 
 
 What shall we do? We are not satisfied, have 
 not the happiness God longs to give us. We 
 have sinful passions within us, which bring onlj?- 
 evil in their exercise. We have an accusing 
 
38 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 conscience. We have broken the law of our 
 being. Our conscience cannot say too hard things 
 against us. 
 
 Oh my soul! Unsatisfied, sinful, conscience- 
 stricken, — where will you go? Will you go to 
 sleep ; only to awaken to the same condition. Will 
 you plunge into worldly business and pleasure 
 when you know they cannot satisfy you? 
 
 Where will you go? Why not go to Jesus 
 Christ? Can you live without Him? In His 
 life this law shines in perfect obedience. He 
 loved God, His Father, supremely. He loved 
 Himself, was the perfect Man fulfilling God's 
 ideal of manhood. He loved His fellow-men as 
 Himself to lift them to the ideal of God. He 
 loved each one of us more than Himself, loved us 
 so He died for us, to redeem us from our sins. 
 He is seeking you and seeking you to save you, 
 to bless you with His saving love. He is even 
 now using your present thoughtfulness, perhaps 
 distress to win you to himself. Commit your 
 soul's salvation to Jesus Christ! Trust Him! 
 
III. 
 
 THIRD LORD'S DAY OF THE 
 HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 "ORIGIN AND EXTENT OF SIN" 
 
 For as through the one man's disobedi- 
 ence the many were made sinners even so 
 through the obedience of the one shall the 
 many be made righteous. — RoM. 5:19. 
 
 THE Second Lord's Day of our Catechism 
 held before us the law of God as the 
 standard of character. 
 
 When we examined ourselves by this law we 
 were compelled to confess that we did not love 
 God supremely, that we did not even love our 
 neighbor as ourselves — on the contrary that there 
 was a nature within us prone to hate both God 
 and our neighbor. 
 
 Several questions now arise in the thoughtful 
 mind of vast importance to us and this Lord's 
 Day of the Catechism gives frank answers to 
 them — questions concerning the extent, the de- 
 gree and the source of our sinfulness under this 
 law of our being. 
 
 Concerning the extent of sinfulness we can 
 readily see that it is universal. We may be 
 better than some of our fellow-men, or we may 
 be worse than some, but none of us will claim 
 that we are different from them. We belong to 
 
 39 
 
40 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 the race of mankind. We are like our fellow- 
 men as far as we have observed ourselves and 
 them, in our views and feelings, in our appe- 
 tites and passions, in our plans and actions — we 
 belong to a race that is sinful. 
 
 We look back over history and from the time 
 the first ranks of men emerge from the mist of 
 the remote past until the present day is reached 
 — among savages, among barbarians, among the 
 civilized, while there has been great advance — 
 many noble lives, many ideals and many great 
 attainments, the race as a race has not kept and 
 does not keep the law of love. Whatever we 
 may think of some of the theories of science, 
 there is manifest reason to speak of the "strug- 
 gle for existence" and of "the survival of the 
 fittest." Whatever attainment there has been 
 made by the strong over the weak, whatever of 
 advance in great classes of men has been reached, 
 still no race of mankind and no individual of 
 any race has attained to anything near perfec- 
 tion according to this law of our being. What- 
 ever sympathy there may have been awakened for 
 the fallen, and helpfulness for the weak, there has 
 been and there is now a proneness to hate both 
 God and Man. Often a peaceful and prosperous 
 civilization has been but the surface under which 
 jealousies and hatreds of nations were burning, 
 and just now in our day these seething passions 
 have exploded in Europe in the greatest and 
 most cruel war of the history of the race. Then, 
 too, when we examine the Scriptures their super- 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 41 
 
 natural revelation of God is evidently made to a 
 sinful race, it culminates in Jesus Christ who 
 came into the world to save sinners. 
 
 Now, let us look at the degree of our sinful- 
 ness. Is it a mere surface matter not controlling 
 the depths of our being, is it a kind of disease 
 which has fastened itself upon an otherwise 
 healthy person and which may be perhaps easily 
 cast off? 
 
 It is very important that we should have clear 
 views of the true case — that we should be sternly 
 faithful to ourselves in this matter. 
 
 It is quite evident it has not been cast off by 
 any considerable portion of the race; it has not 
 even been cast entirely off by a single individual. 
 
 There have been many deeds of heroism and 
 self-sacrifice, our human nature is capable of 
 great things, but still it is under sin — it has not 
 cast it off — not become free from it. 
 
 Then besides we ourselves whatever great efforts 
 we have made have found it impossible to cast 
 it off. We may have sudued this or that evil 
 propensity, but certainly not all such propensi- 
 ties. If anyone should claim "I am free from 
 sin," "I am perfect," our neighbors would ridi- 
 cule us. But none of us makes such a claim. 
 The danger is our being satisfied with a low 
 attainment, of being contented to be sinful, of 
 satisfying ourselves that we have certain good 
 traits, that we are generally pretty good, at any 
 rate not as bad as some others. 
 
 This experience personal and of the race is 
 
42 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 confirmed by the Scriptures. Christ said "Ex- 
 cept one be born anew he cannot see the Kingdom 
 of God." The Apostle Paul said "Ye were dead 
 through your trespasses and sins." 
 
 The Catechism states the degree of our sin- 
 fulness in very strong terms — it says, "we are 
 so corrupt that we are wholly incapable of doing 
 any good and are inclined to all wickedness." 
 
 Before we can accept this statement, we must 
 try to understand it. 
 
 We judge men by their motives. We look at 
 the character back of the action. Is the supreme 
 love of God and the proper love of man the 
 motive? The character? Yes. Then the action 
 is absolutely good. No. Then the action may be 
 relatively good by other standards, but it is 
 not wholly good by this standard. There is much 
 relative good in the world — here is a good fam- 
 ily — a good husband and father, a good mother 
 and children. Good brothers and sisters. Good 
 certainly, and blessed therein. So in our sight. 
 So in God's sight as far as it goes; and God 
 rejoices therein and approves to that extent. 
 But it is quite possible he may see in each 
 family an entire absence of any thought of God 
 or love for Him, and also a great lack of love 
 for their fellow-men. There is relative good in 
 such a case — and there may be many such cases 
 — but no absolute good. 
 
 So a man may be a good citizen, giving him- 
 self to the welfare of his country on the battle- 
 field, in legislative hall, in official station, in 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 43 
 
 private life. He is relatively good in our sight, 
 and of course in God's sight. Yet God may see 
 in him no affection for God, no gratitude to Him, 
 no desire even to obey His law, and the man 
 sees it himself and acknowledges it. There is no 
 absolute good in him. 
 
 We may imagine that this earth sweeps out of 
 its orbit at a slight angle, or at a greater one; 
 it would carry its hills and mountains, its valleys 
 and plains, its rivers and oceans with it and for 
 a while they would be lighted in btciuty and 
 warmed in life by the sun it was leaving. Still 
 leaving the Sun it would be slowly perhaps but 
 surely going out into the chill and darkness of 
 death. Man has noble powers that may result 
 in many noble actions; he carries these with 
 him; they are a part of himself when he sweeps 
 out of his orbit; but his sole, absolute good is 
 to revolve about God, to love him supremely; 
 and of this he is wholly incapable ; the only hope 
 for him is that the Sun — his God will again 
 draw him from his wandering out in darkness 
 back into the orbit of true life and light. 
 
 This corruption permeates our whole being, 
 there is no part of our nature free from it, evil 
 clings to our imagination, our memory, our 
 reasoning, our will, the whole earth, the whole 
 man is out of his orbit, the slightest introspection 
 shows the corruption not only of our physical 
 nature, appetites and passions, but of our spiri- 
 tual as well, as our thoughts, our feelings, our 
 desires. 
 
44 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 The opposite of good now faces us — wicked- 
 ness. What one of us but recognizes that we 
 need restraint — we need the relative good within 
 us and about us. Above all we need the grace 
 of our God to keep us from going out into the 
 chill and darkness of wickedness and death. 
 
 Some may call this the doctrine of total de- 
 pravity. That is an unfortunate combination of 
 strong words — and gives us the terrible indict- 
 ment that we are as bad as we can be. This is 
 not held by anyone; it is far from true — and is 
 carefully avoided by our Catechism. But we are 
 depraved, corrupt, and this corruption is total 
 in the sense that it extends to our whole nature 
 and inclines us to all wickedness. We are in- 
 clined that way, we are sweeping in that direc- 
 tion, but we have not reached that extreme. 
 
 It is very important we should have right 
 views of our sinfulness. Wrong conceptions of 
 sin lead to wrong conceptions of salvation from 
 sin. None can see the glorious light of the cross 
 of Christ until he beholds it rising upon and dis- 
 pelling the black darkness of sin. 
 
 But here an awful thought assails us. We 
 are corrupt. We cannot deny it, but we are not 
 to blame for it; it is not our fault. God made 
 us so. 
 
 If this is true it shrouds us in absolute despair. 
 If our corruption comes from God then He must 
 be corrupt since He is the source of it; then He 
 neither can nor will lift us out of our corruption 
 nor rescue us from black wickedness and despair. 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 45 
 
 Sometimes we are repelled by the thought of 
 the absolute holiness of God — we think that he 
 should be something as we are, but when we 
 reflect we recognize that the only hope of us 
 sinful men is in an absolutely holy God. 
 
 This brings us to consider the source of our 
 sinfulness. The Catechism questions whence pro- 
 ceeds the depravity of human nature. 
 
 Here our own experience and the history of 
 the race give little answer. 
 
 When each of us became conscious of our own 
 existence we became conscious of being sinful, 
 of belonging to a sinful race. 
 
 When we go back as far as possible in history 
 beyond written history, with traditions and 
 legends we see plain evidence that mankind was 
 even then a sinful race. As far as we can trace 
 the stream back it is a corrupt stream; but we 
 cannot reach the source. 
 
 Some learned men have held the theory that 
 the race of men came from several heads or 
 sources, was evolved in different climes. But the 
 difference everywhere found between the lowest 
 man and the highest animal, in the sense of right 
 and wrong in the aspirations and motives above 
 the intellectual seems to confute such theories. 
 The theory arising from such origins of the ad- 
 vance secured by effort and education is also con- 
 futed by the failure to attain in any single 
 instance, to this perfection as described by the 
 ideal of God's law. 
 
46 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 Here the Bible gives us our only light. In- 
 fidelity ridicules the story of Adam, but even 
 here it manifests its destructive evidence, for 
 it has nothing to take its place, and destroying 
 that it destroys the hope for mankind wrapped 
 up in it. The seriousness of the subject lifts 
 us above the ridicule of infidelity. We simply 
 seek the truth; what is the source of man's 
 sinfulness — a truth of vast importance to us. 
 
 The Catechism declares that the disobedience 
 of Adam is the source of man's sinfulness. 
 
 Let us try to understand the fall of Adam into 
 sin, the results in the race; and the hopes of 
 mankind involved in it; for we must remember 
 that it is not a single incident, isolated by itself 
 as told in the Bible, that it runs through the 
 whole Scripture, and is linked with the salvation 
 wrought by Christ. We find it so in the text of 
 this morning, let us recall it. "For as by one 
 man's disobedience many were made sinners so 
 by the obedience of one shall many be made 
 righteous." 
 
 Three things are clearly seen in the Bible 
 teaching. The first is that God created Adam 
 as the head of the race of mankind. How he 
 created him is not stated, but it is stated that 
 though made of the earth, he was made in the 
 likeness of God and later texts of Scripture show 
 this likeness was in knowledge, righteousness and 
 true holiness, that he had a spiritual nature capa- 
 ble of and prone through likeness of God to 
 eternal righteousness. 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 47 
 
 Some think God created man by a command 
 instantaneously fulfilled; but there is no sign in 
 all the universe of like creation; others think it 
 was by a long process of evolution. We should 
 always remember that evolution does not account 
 for origins — only for development of that already 
 existing. There is all the place for it in the 
 first chapter of Genesis that man by his research 
 has found for it in nature; in both there is need 
 of God as the origin. Evolution unfolds in 
 multitude forms the material universe, but God 
 is its origin. It unfolds in multiple forms vege- 
 table life — but God is its origin. It unfolds in 
 multiple forms animal life, but God is its origin. 
 Man may have come from the highest animal by 
 evolution, but there is a life in him and distinct 
 from animal life. God is its origin. Evolution 
 unfolds in multitude forms and associations this 
 man life, but God is its origin. The successive 
 generations in mankind are from Adam, the 
 head of the race — in all ages, in all climes, in 
 vast variety, the one race of mankind. 
 
 The one strong fact stated in the Scripture is 
 that God created Adam in his own likeness, a 
 spiritual being prone to righteousness. God is 
 not the source of man's sinfulness. He made 
 man upright. 
 
 But we have already been forced to the con- 
 clusion that the race is sinful. Whence then is 
 this sinfulness. 
 
 The second thing clearly seen in the Bible is 
 that Adam was placed under the law of our 
 
48 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 being by God, that he was tempted and that he 
 broke the law by wilful disobedience and so be- 
 came sinful. A moral being is one free to act 
 not being in any way coerced by outward force. 
 Being so free he may choose either the right or 
 the wrong. Adam could have chosen to love 
 God supremely, he would have then obeyed the 
 command given him and have been confirmed in 
 the spirit of obedience, but being a free moral 
 being, he could choose what seemed of advantage 
 to him, could cease to love God supremely and so 
 disobey his command. 
 
 The fruit of the tree of good and evil seems 
 a little thing, still it was the symbol of God's 
 authority. In our Civil War, General Dix at 
 New Orleans said, "If any man hauls down the 
 American Flag, shoot him on the spot." It was 
 a little thing — a flag — but it was the symbol of 
 the nation's authority. 
 
 As far as we know — as far as we are able to 
 think, a finite moral being must have this free- 
 dom. It may be confirmed in character by re- 
 peated acts either of obedience or of disobedience. 
 Adam was such a moral being — yielded into 
 temptation and fell into sin. 
 
 Our own temptations are pictured to us in 
 those of Adam. We fall in the same way. We 
 choose what seems for our good and find it 
 evil, because we transgress God's good law and 
 disobey Him. 
 
 The third thing clearly seen in the Bible is 
 that Adam is regarded and treated as the Head. 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 49 
 
 the Representative of the race — and as giving 
 his character to the race. Both of Representa- 
 tion and of Heredity we find a great deal in the 
 experience of the race. As representative we 
 find those represented share the results of the 
 actions of the one who represents them, and 
 generally they confirm by their approval his 
 acts. So the head of a nation to the world, so 
 the ambassador of a nation to another nation — 
 so the representative of a district in the State 
 Legislature or the Congress, so the father of a 
 group of children, so a husband of a wife — so in 
 the varied relations of life. And so in our varied 
 relation to Adam. He represented us; we share 
 in the results of his acts, especially as we gener- 
 ally approve of his acts by our own like action. 
 
 Heredity also prevails in human life — and in 
 many cases shows us how the traits of a repre- 
 sentative are handed down in his descendants. 
 
 Let us remember also that not only is the 
 sinfulness of our nature traced to Adam's fall — 
 but also the nobility comes from him. The many 
 good traits and the discontent with our evil 
 propensities we have this morning been consider- 
 ing are descended from him. The likeness of 
 God in Adam has not been effaced, only blurred. 
 We have it in our nature from him. 
 
 Let us also remember that the law of repre- 
 sentation and inheritance is a good law coming 
 from the good God, its law giver. 
 
 Whatever of injury has come upon us has been 
 from disobedience to God. What untold blessings 
 
50 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 have come from even its partial obedience can be 
 traced in the blessings of our advancing Chris- 
 tian civilization. 
 
 Let us also remember that this law of repre- 
 sentation carries in its bosom the wonderful love 
 of God in the great salvation wrought for us by 
 his son, our Savior Jesus Christ. 
 
 He becomes our great representative and we 
 can by faith receive his great salvation and grow 
 like him. 
 
 There was a great nobility in Adam created in 
 the likeness of God and representing the race but 
 he fell by yielding to temptation and ceasing to 
 love God supremely. 
 
 There is infinite nobility and dignity in Jesus 
 Christ, the son of God and representing the 
 race — He resisted all temptation — He loved God 
 supremely — He loved man so He died for him; 
 and He freely calls upon us all to share His re- 
 demption and fullness of life. 
 
 Now behold the greatness of His redemptive 
 law and redeeming love. If a single one of us 
 is finally lost, is swept away from God into 
 wickedness and death it will not be because we 
 are in Adam but because we refuse to be in 
 Christ. 
 
 Christ has followed us in His yearning love; 
 He calls us to himself in full and free salvation 
 from all sin. Let us yield ourselves to His 
 attraction and come back into the orbit of light 
 and life, the supreme love of God. 
 
IV. 
 
 FOURTH LORD'S DAY OF THE 
 HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 "DESERT OF SIN" 
 
 Fo7' the ivrath of God is revealed from 
 heaven against all ungodliness and unright- 
 eousness of men who hinder the truth in 
 unrighteousness. — RoM. 1 :18. 
 
 OUR Catechism now holds before our seri- 
 ous attention the justice of God in the 
 punishment of sin. We have looked upon 
 ourselves as breaking the law of our being and 
 as members of a sinful race. Now we ask our 
 hushed and trembling hearts, How does God 
 look upon us? Is there such a thing as wrath 
 in God? Surely not the causeless flying into 
 anger we so often find in ourselves. But we 
 sometimes have righteous indignation against 
 wrong doing; we expect that and admire it often 
 in a Judge in Court as he sentences a hardened 
 criminal. Is there such a thing in God, and is it 
 ever aroused against man, against us! Is there 
 a constant and steadfast opposition to sin in 
 the very nature of God. And is it aroused 
 against us? Is there such a thing as justice in 
 God? Does he ever punish sin in this life. Does 
 sin now under the government of a just God ever 
 bring suffering upon us sinners. Will sin under 
 
 51 
 
52 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 the government of a just God have anything to 
 do with the final destiny of us sinners. 
 
 These are questions that must arise in thought- 
 ful minds. If the justice of God punishes sin in 
 time and in eternity it is far from wise for us to 
 blind our eyes to it. On the contrary it is the 
 part of manliness to find the truth, and to look 
 at it clearly now while we may do it calmly and 
 thoroughly, while we have health of body and 
 vigor of mind and time given us to take the 
 action prudence may demand. 
 
 That we may consider this all important sub- 
 ject solely in its bearing upon ourselves, we 
 should now exercise a proper sympathy for our 
 fellow-men; think of others for a while that we 
 at length may think only of ourselves. That a 
 multitude of our fellows should be in danger of 
 present and endless woe must fill every sensitive 
 mind with deep sorrow. This serious distress of 
 our minds is not sinful but good, it allies us with 
 our Savior who wept over Jerusalem. We think 
 of three great classes of our fellow-men. Those 
 dying in infancy. They have a sinful nature. 
 Are they lost? No. No. They are saved in 
 Christ. The whole tenor of the Scriptures 
 emphasizes Christ's words, "Suffer the little 
 children to come unto me, of such is the king- 
 dom of heaven." Not the will of your Father in 
 heaven that one of these little ones should perish. 
 They are lost in Adam. True! But they are 
 saved in Christ. 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 53 
 
 The heathen who have never heard of a Savior. 
 Punishment by a just God will be graded accord- 
 ing to knowledge of the law. Those who know 
 not this law and still demand stripes, Christ 
 said, "would be beaten with few stripes." The 
 Apostle Paul says they will be judged according 
 to their deeds under the law they knew. Our 
 sympathy for the heathen should lead us to send 
 the Gospel of Christ to them. 
 
 The third great class embraces these who in 
 our own Christian land have been shut out by 
 vicious surroundings from all Christian influ- 
 ences. There are hells we know, here in our 
 land, dens of iniquity, vice and misery, from 
 whence those who once enter seldom return. 
 You would not see one dear to you enter to 
 abide there. Our sympathy for those in such 
 hells should lead us to every effort to rescue 
 them and to close such hells. This was in 
 Christ's mission and should be in ours. Of all 
 these classes we may be sure whatever the Great 
 Father, whatever the blessed Savior can do to 
 save men from endless woe will be done for 
 them as is being done for us. We may therefore 
 leave them in God's hands. 
 
 Now let us be sure our sympathy for others 
 has only this wholesome influence upon us — to 
 lead us to help them. Let us guard against its 
 withdrawing our attention in the smallest degree 
 from our own condition in the sight of the justice 
 of God. It is so natural for us to judge others 
 and excuse ourselves, to hide ourselves behind 
 
54 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 others, that there is special need for us now to 
 think only of ourselves as standing before the 
 bar of the Just God. Let us however much pain 
 and anxiety it may cause find out how we stand 
 in reference to the punishment of sin. If we 
 are in danger of it we ought to know it. 
 
 A very fair and difficult question now arises. 
 In what sense and to what degree are we account- 
 able for a sinful nature which we have without 
 any choice of our own ; for we are prone to 
 disobey the law of love. This is the original sin 
 spoken of in the Catechism. We are personally 
 not guilty of Adam's sin ; but we have his nature 
 inherited from our representative, our head. How 
 are we responsible for such sinful nature? Let 
 us consider a case we frequently meet, upon 
 which the moral judgment of mankind is very 
 clear and which though special throws such light 
 upon our general condition. 
 
 A man inherits from a long line of ancestry 
 a fiery temper. He is easily thrown into a hot 
 rage in which he speaks and acts disgracefully. 
 
 What does his own and the moral sense of 
 mankind say of him. Three things — 
 
 FIRST: No mode of reasoning can lead him 
 or his fellows to pronounce that that fiery nature 
 is right and should be approved. It must be 
 condemned. 
 
 SECOND: HE should restrain and as far as 
 persistent and steady effort may go he should so 
 control it that he is the complete master of it. He 
 should embrace all agencies to secure this control. 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 55 
 
 THIRD : If he pursues the reverse course, and 
 his fiery temper issues in some outrageous act, 
 his moral sense and that of mankind hold him 
 responsible both for the temper and the act. 
 
 Do not all these things hold true of us all in 
 our general condition, a nature prone to disobey 
 the law of God, the law of our being. 
 
 No mode of reasoning can approve of our sin- 
 ful nature. We should embrace all agencies at 
 hand to restrain our sinfulness. Failing in this 
 when we commit acts of sin does not our con- 
 science condemn us both for the nature and 
 the act. 
 
 Surely we cannot even desire that God would 
 lower his law to our condition, would require us 
 to love Him only after we had loved ourselves 
 supremely, with the poor little remnant of our 
 power to love. That would give up forever the 
 noble purpose for which He made us. Besides, 
 as long as God is good, worthy of highest love — 
 and as long as man is his creature having power 
 to love, as long as God is God and man is man 
 created in His image, so long the only right thing 
 conceivable is for man to love God. 
 
 The law is the transcript of the Divine Nature, 
 it defines man's nature and is calculated to pro- 
 mote his highest welfare, to change it to meet 
 man's sinfulness would be unjust both to God 
 and man. 
 
 Our Catechism is evidently right in saying 
 that God does no injustice to man in requiring 
 him to keep the law, since he has lost his power 
 
56 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 of keeping it by his own act. The most unjust 
 thing to man would be to encourage him in 
 his sin. 
 
 The race of men universally and constantly 
 breaks the law of our being, you and I con- 
 stantly break this law. Still it remains true 
 that God is infinitely worthy of our love and the 
 obligation rests upon us to love Him with all 
 our heart. 
 
 Our sinfulness is our unjustifiable refusal to 
 do what we ought to do. We are not coerced to 
 sin. No force outside us controls us. Alas all 
 is within us! it is our nature. It approves and 
 indulges itself. 
 
 We now face the justice of God in the punish- 
 ment of sin. 
 
 If a man approves and indulges this sinful 
 nature and neglects or rejects the means provided 
 by God to restrain and overcome it, will God 
 punish him in this life? If a man leaves this 
 world in such antagonism with God and reject- 
 ing His Grace, will God punish him in the world 
 to come? And will the punishment continue as 
 long as the sin continues? Let us each one make 
 the question personal. Will God punish me? 
 
 We may think of punishment as suffering 
 brought upon one for disobedience to law inflicted 
 by one who has the right to enforce the law. 
 The law has a penalty which is inflicted upon 
 the violator of law by the Judge appointed by 
 the law. Justice is aimed at it in every case but 
 it may be very difficult in human laws to secure 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 57 
 
 it and often the penalty is absurdly different 
 from the offence. Still man in society tries self- 
 government, and recognizes that the penalty is 
 an essential in law; that society to be at all 
 secure must frown upon those who violate the 
 laws of its well being. 
 
 Is there such a thing as penalty for the viola- 
 tion of God's law, have we incurred it? Will He 
 inflict it? If so, we may be sure He is not 
 limited as we are, the penalty will be something 
 suitable to the offence and the infliction of it 
 will be sure. 
 
 We should now look fearlessly upon the fact 
 that God punishes disobedience to law. In the 
 first place nature shows it very plainly. We are 
 living our earthly life under the reign of law, 
 every instant of our life, and every part of one's 
 life is under law. Now, these laws of nature 
 have penalties and these are self -inflicting. We 
 are under physical law, the law of gravitation, 
 for instance, holds us lovingly to the bosom of 
 the earth for our well-being. But if one breaks 
 this law, if he falls from the top of a skyscraper 
 to the street, he is broken to pieces. Sternly, 
 relentlessly but never malignantly nature visits 
 disobedience with punishment. We are under 
 laws of health, proper food taken in proper ways 
 ministers to our strength; but poison in large 
 enough quantities, just as surely kills. Sternly, 
 relentlessly, but never malignantly nature visits 
 disobedience with punishment. 
 
58 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 We are under mental laws. To pay careful 
 attention to our daily work gives strength of 
 mind for that work, gives knowledge and suc- 
 cess; to be careless and thoughtless brings igno- 
 rance, inefficiency and failure. Sternly, relent- 
 lessly, but never malignantly, nature visits pun- 
 ishment upon disobedience. 
 
 So we are under moral laws. To give our 
 hearty allegiance to the truth, to be true to our 
 word, to our promise, makes strong character 
 and secures the confidence of our fellows. To 
 be false, to speak falsehood, to break promises 
 makes weak character and forfeits the confidence 
 of our fellows. Sternly, relentlessly but never 
 malignantly nature visits disobedience with pun- 
 ishment. 
 
 So we are under social laws. If one thinks 
 of others, considers their interests, promotes 
 their happiness, acknowledges their rights, he 
 develops a social nature, has the happiness of 
 pleasant associations and the satisfaction of 
 ministering to their welfare. But if he holds 
 himself aloof from his fellows — or selfishly preys 
 upon them, if he seeks only selfish aims, he 
 becomes hard and cold hearted and his fellows 
 turn upon him the cold shoulder. The one has 
 positive happiness in the family, making it a 
 happy family, and so in all the relations of life. 
 The other has only misery and makes misery. 
 Here also sternly, relentlessly but never malig- 
 nantly nature visits disobedience with punish- 
 ment. These are a few of nature's many voices 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 59 
 
 and they all tell us that God's laws have rewards 
 for obedience and punishment for disobedience. 
 
 Thus nature confirms what our reason has 
 already made clear. The distinction between 
 right and wrong is unchangeable. Our conscience 
 cannot approve this wrong; cannot approve our 
 own sinful nature and acts; our violation of the 
 law of our being. God, the perfect Being, must 
 from His very nature now and to ail eternity 
 approve the right and oppose the wrong. He 
 will reward obedience to His good law. The law 
 involving all others, the law of our being; just 
 as truly He will punish disobedience to this law, 
 and the punishment will exactly suit the offence. 
 
 Now when we look at the Scripture the truth 
 is made still more plain. 
 
 There is such a thing as not entering, not 
 even seeing the Kingdom of God. There is such 
 a thing as losing one's soul. The Gospel tells 
 us. "He that believeth not the son shall not see 
 life, but the wrath of God abideth on him." The 
 Apostle Paul writes our text. "The righteous in- 
 dignation of God is revealed from Heaven against 
 all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men." 
 
 Is there punishment beyond death? We know 
 sinfulness tends to fixedness, to confirm itself; 
 we know that sinfulness tends to separate itself 
 from the good and ally itself with the evil. There 
 is a terrible possibility of turning away deliber- 
 ately from repentance and trust in Christ for 
 new life and going out of this stage of existence 
 into the next with fixedness of sinful character. 
 
60 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 to separate from all good and to endless sin — 
 and to endless punishment. 
 
 We are not to think of everlasting punishment 
 as inflicted for a single — or for a few sinful acts, 
 or for all such committed in this life. Rather it 
 is inflicted upon our sinful nature as confirmed 
 by long indulgence and sinful acts here and now, 
 and issuing in continued acts of sin in the changed 
 circumstances of another life. As long as the 
 sin lasts, it deserves punishment. If one is 
 everlasting, the other is also. Everlasting sin 
 and everlasting punishment. Everlasting sin 
 enduring everlasting punishment, restrained by 
 such punishment from further growth and held 
 by such punishment as deserving condemnation 
 in the judgment of all who may know of it. 
 
 Neither are we to consider the nature and 
 severity of such punishment in the future life as 
 depicted to us by the morbid imagination of some 
 of our fellow-men, men of great genius, great 
 poets though they may be. 
 
 We are to remember that both heaven and hell 
 cannot be clearly described to us. Our language 
 is based solely upon our experiences. Gold and 
 jewels are admired by us here in this life. But 
 we are not to think of the heavenly city as hav- 
 ing walls and streets of literal jewels and gold. 
 Only the circumstances of the blessed life will 
 be wonderfully rich and attractive. So we are 
 not to think of the literal undying worm and 
 unquenched fire of hell — though Dante and Mil- 
 ton have let their imaginations dwell on such 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 61 
 
 horrors. We will do well to remember that our 
 Savior in his love and faithfulness to us took 
 experiences we loathe here to warn us that the 
 everlasting punishment of sin was terrible in its 
 nature — not the literal fire and worm — but the 
 outward circumstances, the penalty, will be in 
 keeping with sinfulness confirmed, unrepented of 
 and active still against God and one's fellows. 
 
 Surely the only lesson our clear-eyed reason 
 can see is that we should restrain our sinfulness 
 now and should seek new life from God our 
 Savior instantly and earnestly. 
 
 Surely he who rejects such restraint — who in- 
 dulges his sinfulness can expect from the justice 
 of God only suitable suffering both in this life 
 and in the life to come. 
 
V. 
 
 FIFTH LORD'S DAY OF THE 
 HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 "HELPLESSNESS OF THE SINNER" 
 
 This is the message which we have 
 heard from Him and announce unto you 
 that God is light and in Him is no dark- 
 ness at all. — I John 1 :5. 
 
 WHEN one is in great bodily danger the 
 instinct of self preservation seeks at 
 once to escape. He is a good and wise 
 friend who warns him against false ways — ways 
 that perhaps involve him in greater danger, and 
 shows him the true way to reach safety. 
 
 Our Catechism in the last question of the 4th 
 Lord's Day and in this Lord's Day seeks to act 
 the part of such a good friend. We have been 
 awakened to a sense of our sinfulness and its 
 punishment. We are in danger — and we seek to 
 escape. 
 
 Our first instinctive impulse is to cast our- 
 selves upon the mercy of God. 
 
 Now the Catechism startles us by saying — 
 There is mercy with God — but his mercy is al- 
 ways in full harmony with the justice that 
 requires the punishment of sin. Our reason at 
 once confirms this view. Mercy can never set 
 law aside, the law of God's nature and of our 
 
 62 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 63 
 
 own being. To be real mercy it must re-establish 
 the law. We try to apply this in our state laws, 
 and extend mercy to the condemned only where 
 there seems to be good hope of renewed obedience 
 to law. Nature also teaches this to the attentive 
 mind. We are under physical, mental and moral 
 laws, and nature sternly inflicts punishment for 
 the violation of these laws. Just as truly while 
 life lasts, in the lasting of life itself and in the 
 restorative agencies nature sets at work there is 
 mercy. A man has broken the laws of health. 
 He falls short of the buoyancy of health; he 
 suffers sickness. But there are restorative agen- 
 cies in nature ready for his immediate and wise 
 application. So in mental laws. He has been 
 thoughtless and indifferent and suffers the con- 
 sequence in ignorance and mental weakness; but 
 still there are stimulating and helpful agencies 
 all about him to arouse him. 
 
 So with moral laws — coming close to our pres- 
 ent thought. There are two opposite principles 
 — the love of God and the love of self. We break 
 the law of our being and love self instead of 
 God. Where love of God and our fellow-men 
 would bring joy and gladness, love of self brings 
 grasping and misery. Take it for instance, in 
 the family. The selfish man becomes exacting, 
 faultfinding, scolding, cold and hard ; but he lives 
 on and his family lives on and other families 
 live on in their varied experiences. He may at 
 length feel all these many influences of God's 
 mercy around him and respond to them. Spared 
 
64 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 life and the restorative agencies of nature are 
 the mercy of God in this life. Oh, how great, 
 how varied, how strong. They are restorative, 
 do you see. They do not set aside law; they 
 are in harmony with justice. Supposing one 
 rejects them; fails to apply them. What then! 
 He remains sick, he remains ignorant, he remains 
 selfish. Also he becomes confirmed in all these 
 — and then he dies. 
 
 It is the height of improbability that all this 
 will be reversed in the world to come. Nature 
 shows both justice and mercy in this life; visits 
 punishment upon disobedience; starts many re- 
 storative forces to the end of life, and nature 
 intimates that the life beyond will not be differ- 
 ent either in justice or mercy. God does not 
 change when we die — nor do we. Only the 
 terrible truth faces us. Our disobedience becomes 
 confirmed in our character. So does our rejec- 
 tion of mercy to the end of this life. Death 
 does not change us; only takes us away as he 
 finds us. 
 
 When we turn now from our reason and ob- 
 servation of nature to the Scriptures, we find 
 from the time of Moses through all the sacred 
 record the mercy of God is set forth as in full 
 harmony with His justice. He is indeed merci- 
 ful and gracious but He will in no wise clear the 
 guilty. As in nature, God never interposes a 
 barrier between sin and evil, between cause and 
 effect, and shows mercy only to bring back to 
 full obedience. So in the Scripture His mercy 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 65 
 
 never exempts from responsibility, never en- 
 courages man to imagine he can escape the 
 evil consequences of his sin. God's mercy does 
 not seek to make men comfortable in sin, but 
 morally sound and strong in coming out of sin. 
 It is in full harmony with His justice. 
 
 There are great generalizations in the Scrip- 
 tures — concise, all-embracing descriptions of 
 God's nature. One text says "God is light" ; but 
 light is the very opposite of darkness. They 
 are not in harmony — do not and cannot exist 
 together. So God is love. But love always seeks 
 the welfare of its object. It would not be love 
 but hatred to encourage the sinner in his sin; 
 to make light of disobedience to the law of our 
 being. The only true love must run in full 
 harmony with justice. The indulgent love of 
 parents often encourages children in evil ways, 
 to their great injury. It is unwise, not wise, 
 love; cannot be called true love. There can be 
 nothing like this in the true love of God for 
 man. His love always seeks man's restoration 
 to obedience. Here also man may so confirm 
 himself in sin that he resists the love of God 
 seeking to win him from his sin. So man may 
 go out of this life into the world to come still 
 resisting God's love. 
 
 When we are thus forced to think of endless 
 sin and endless punishment of sin, we are apt 
 to regard it as a blot on God's fair creation. 
 This is a great mystery, no doubt, and far be- 
 yond our solving; but it is only the continuation 
 
66 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 of the mystery of the presence of sin now in the 
 universe of God. We have a glimpse of its 
 solution. Man is a moral being, free to choose 
 the right or the wrong. This is his nature. God 
 will not coerce him at all. He will do all He can 
 to influence him, but to force him in his choice 
 is not conceivable. It would not be man's choice 
 at all. So it is possible that man may so confirm 
 himself in sin that he will harden himself against 
 all influence God brings to him — against all 
 justice — against all mercy and love. 
 
 We are forced then to ask what is the use of 
 punishment if it does not reform the sinner? 
 We can see, perhaps, three uses — First, it may 
 and does check the sinner's growth in sin. 
 Reason tells us man may develop his powers 
 greatly; but it is only by obedience to the laws 
 of his being. Nature tells us the same story, 
 physical, intellectual, moral development follow 
 the right use of our powers according to the 
 law of our being. The reverse is just as true. 
 And often witnessed in sad cases. A man of 
 fine physical and moral powers, a born leader 
 of men, throws himself into courses of sin and 
 becomes so weak in all his powers that he has 
 to be cared for by his friends. Often the process 
 is long and one of great distress. And it cer- 
 tainly gives an intimation that in the world to 
 come the lengthened and distressful process may 
 end in annihilation; a terrible suggestion that 
 throws little light but only luridness upon the 
 subject. 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 67 
 
 The second use of punishment is that it checks 
 the contaminating powers of sin. Many are de- 
 terred from courses of sin by the fearful fate of 
 those who pursue them. Future punishment is 
 foreseen, and becomes at length real, checks in 
 thoughtful beings the seductive powers of sin. 
 
 The third use of punishment is to manifest 
 this inherent evil in disobedience of law to all 
 beings in the wide universe of God who may 
 witness it. Our little earth is a small ball re- 
 volving about a small sun — and it teems with 
 life and carries our race of moral beings upon 
 its bosom. There are myriad such suns and 
 larger ones — there may be myriad such earths — 
 there may be myriad races of moral beings. Our 
 sad experience may manifest God's displeasure 
 against sin, the inherent evil in sin, and thus 
 be a terrible and needed warning to untold races 
 of moral beings. 
 
 These reasons throw little light, only lurid- 
 ness, upon the subject. I have mentioned them 
 since they enter so widely into recent discussions. 
 
 We should keep in mind the great personal 
 interest we have in the subject. Not be dis- 
 tracted by questions of general interest from 
 those of intense, personal interest. Justice may 
 ask, and does ask, "What will be the effect of 
 punishment upon the sinner and upon others?" 
 And we may properly consider it. After all, 
 the question for each one of us of supreme 
 importance to each one, is, what has justice 
 against me? what do I deserve for the violation 
 
68 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 of the law of my being? We find terrible de- 
 scriptions in the Scriptures of the damnation 
 and severity of the punishment of sin. The 
 remarkable thing is that some of the most severe 
 teachings of the Scripture come from the lips of 
 Jesus Christ, the friend of sinners, the Savior. 
 They are the warnings of divine and infinite love 
 — the love that seeks to save from sin. His mis- 
 sion to the earth is a convincing proof of the 
 hideous nature of sin and of its awful conse- 
 quences. The cross glowing with the saving love 
 is raised against the dark background of human 
 sin and misery. 
 
 The punishment of sin is therefore not a ques- 
 tion of expediency, the good it may do; not a 
 question of choice, of the will of God, as an 
 arbitrary Ruler who might have willed the re- 
 verse. It is an outcome of the divine nature as 
 opposed to sin. The enormity of man's sin de- 
 serves God's frown. The infinitely good God 
 cannot look upon it with the least degree of 
 allowance — in time or in eternity. 
 
 The difficulty we have in recognizing the hid- 
 eous nature of our sin arises from two sources. 
 They are both easily recognized. The first is, 
 that we are the beings involved, and it is natural 
 for us to think the best of ourselves. But in 
 our own Courts of Justice, we take but little 
 account of what the culprit thinks of his offence 
 and its desert. The second is, that we judge 
 ourselves by human standards and compare our- 
 selves with each other. There is such a thing 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 69 
 
 as original sin, not that we are at all guilty of 
 Adam's sin, but we have inherited from the head 
 of the race, a sinful nature. Just as truly there 
 is original goodness. We have inherited from 
 the head of the race fragments of his original 
 nature, in the likeness of God. Men are neither 
 wholly good nor wholly bad. Temperament, race, 
 education, the accidents of life modify both and 
 lead to social standards and a vast variety of 
 character. Soon there come comparisons. Each 
 may say, I am not so bad by such a standard, 
 not as bad as someone else. There is none so 
 bad but there is some good in him ; the image of 
 God is not entirely destroyed. So there is none 
 so good but there is some bad in him, which may 
 flame out to the astonishment of all. 
 
 But it behooves us to frankly and fully judge 
 ourselves not by human standards, but by the 
 divine — not by social laws, but by the divine law 
 of our being. Not by comparison with other 
 sinners, but by comparison with what we ought 
 to be in God's sight. When we thus look upon 
 ourselves, our virtues, as we may be pleased to 
 call them, are deformed and darkened, and we 
 draw back instinctively from vices of which we 
 recognize we are capable. 
 
 We are sinful both by nature and by practice, 
 and we see that God in His nature cannot do 
 less or otherwise than condemn us. Whatever 
 good remains in us from the great head of the 
 race created in the likeness of God, whatever 
 good we find in our present experience and in 
 
70 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 our aspirations and ideals, should be held by us 
 open to the appeals and influences of the mercy 
 of God, open to the warnings and the pleadings 
 of the Savior of sinners. The Scriptures ever 
 hold before us the enormity of sin, its distrust of 
 God, its disobedience of God, its dislike of God. 
 its selfishness against our fellow-men — ever hold 
 before us its hideous nature, and the awful pun- 
 ishment it deserves in time and eternity, and so 
 urge upon our acceptance the Savior of sinners. 
 
 Now we ask again the question with which we 
 began our morning's meditation. How shall we 
 escape this punishment in time and in eternity? 
 More, how shall we escape that which deserves 
 punishment, present sin and its hideous off- 
 spring — endless sin? 
 
 The Catechism gives a curt reply to the sug- 
 gestion : that we may make satisfaction our- 
 selves. It says, "By no means, but on the 
 contrary we daily increase our debt." Still men 
 in all ages have tried to save themselves, and 
 it is certainly wisdom for us to have clear views 
 of the futility of such efforts, lest we think we 
 may be successful in making them. Of course we 
 see the fatuity of thinking of bearing our punish- 
 ment fully until it is exhausted and we go free. 
 We do not know what a particular act of sin, 
 one single act deserves. Besides, we keep our 
 sinful nature and continue particular acts in- 
 definitely. 
 
 The curt answer of the Catechism is clearly 
 the truth. But men in all ages have tried 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 71 
 
 penance. They have withdrawn from the world 
 in deserts and cells — have starved themselves — 
 have inflicted stripes and tortures upon them- 
 selves. But we recognize clearly that no one has 
 the right to withdraw from the world. His 
 duty is to help his fellow-men — no one has the 
 right to inflict suffering upon himself, he is not 
 the judge of what he deserves; he cannot please 
 the loving Father by self-inflicted pains and 
 torture. 
 
 But men have always relied upon repentance 
 — sorrow for sin and turning from that parti- 
 cular sin. This truly is an unquestionable duty, 
 in every soul awakened to a sense of sin. But 
 each one recognizes its futility in any particular 
 case. It does not restore to the original condi- 
 tion — it does not mete out the exact justice — it 
 only is the conscience seeking relief, and finding 
 none. The sensualist repents of the disgrace 
 and ruin he has brought upon a lovely family, 
 but it does not restore peace and honor to the 
 family, nor give peace to his conscience. An 
 honored banker died suddenly at his desk the 
 other day. He had had time to take a curl of hair 
 from a secret drawer in his desk and he held it 
 to his lips — the curl of the girl he had ruined 
 in his youth and who had killed herself long 
 ago. Besides repentance is not only sorrow and 
 restitution, it is turning from the sin. It is easy 
 to see how difficult it is in some particular cases 
 — and how utterly impossible it is in the case of 
 our sinful nature. This may seem weak and 
 
72 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 dormant, but it is still there and strong. Let 
 God check some cherished plan or man try to 
 defeat our earnest purpose, and it flames up in 
 hatred of God and man. No man has rid him- 
 self of it. 
 
 Then men in all ages have relied upon doing 
 what may be called extra good works — but we 
 easily see the futility of such an idea. It is not 
 a question of outward acts, but of inward nature. 
 The law requires such an inward nature that it 
 will control all outward acts. There can be no 
 extra good works. All good works are already 
 embraced in the law of our being. All self- 
 sacrifice or self-devotion is embraced already in 
 the law. "Though I bestow all my goods to feed 
 the poor," says the Apostle Paul, "and though I 
 give my body to be burned and have not love, 
 it profiteth me nothing." It is possible for a 
 very bad man morally, a sensualist, an infidel, 
 to be a patriot, even to die on the field of 
 battle for his country in this just cause, but even 
 this supreme sacrifice is embraced in his general 
 duty, and certainly cannot atone for his depraved 
 nature and dreadful sinful acts. In our day, 
 as well as in the past, much thought, much effort 
 and vast fortunes have been given for religious 
 and philanthropic work. Much credit is to be 
 bestowed upon the givers, as they have sincerely 
 desired to serve mankind, and much good has 
 been accomplished ; but if the givers have thought 
 by such gifts to free themselves from the pun- 
 ishment of sin in acquiring or using fortunes 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 73 
 
 or of any other sin — or of sin itself, if they have 
 thought of thus bribing God, the Just Judge, to 
 cleanse them from punishment, it is impossible to 
 think of greater folly. 
 
 One more hope of escape may arise in some 
 minds. If we cannot save ourselves, will not 
 someone save us? It is a quite natural hope 
 when we think of a single sin — or a single 
 course of sin — and of the wonderful depth and 
 strength of self-sacrificing love. Many a mother 
 would give herself to save her son from ruin — 
 many a loving wife would sacrifice herself for 
 her husband's welfare. There may be some 
 worldly men who have lurking thoughts that it 
 will be better for them in the future life as it 
 undoubtedly is in this life, because of the Chris- 
 tian virtues of good women in close relations 
 with them. But it surely cannot be a serious 
 hope in any thoughtful soul. 
 
 The Catechism is frank, faithful and evidently 
 right in its answer. It is a question of a sinful 
 nature, of a whole sinful life, of a breaking the 
 law of our being. No single one of the human 
 race, the most consecrated, saintly mother — the 
 most devoted true wife, the truest best friend, 
 is so exempt or above the claims of the law as 
 to be able to bear the punishment of or for 
 another. And if he or she could be found, God 
 would not inflict on such an one the punishment 
 due to another. 
 
 Let us face the conclusion of the matter. We 
 deserve punishment of our sin in breaking the 
 
74 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 law of our being. An awful offence, a terrible 
 punishment. 
 
 We cannot save ourselves. The various avenues 
 of escape we have thought of, are all closed 
 against us. 
 
 We cannot hope for anyone of all the human 
 race to save us. However great the love, how- 
 ever great the virtue, however close the tie, that 
 escape is closed to us. There is only the hope 
 that the human love willing to save by great 
 self-sacrifices which we find in our hearts as a 
 fragment of God's image inherited from Adam, 
 the head of the race, may indicate that such 
 love exists in God in such purity and to such 
 extent that he may sacrifice Himself to save us. 
 
 Should there be such love in Him, surely it 
 would be light indeed, it would dispel our dark- 
 ness. 
 
 There is such love in Him. He has given his 
 own well beloved Son to save us — and Jesus 
 Christ has died for us — the Son of God and the 
 Son of man. And the infinite nature of His 
 atoning death and the infinite grace and power 
 of his holy life are sufficient to supply all our 
 need and are freely offered and urged upon us 
 in the Gospel. 
 
 It is for us to commit ourselves fully and 
 unreservedly to Him in faith. "Believe in the 
 Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be Saved." 
 
VI. 
 
 SIXTH LORD'S DAY OF THE 
 HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 "THE DIVINE SAVIOUR" 
 
 For there is one God and one mediator 
 between God and. men, the man Christ 
 Jesus. — I Tim. 2:5. 
 
 AT the close of our last Meditation on the 
 5th Lord's Day of the Catechism, we 
 saw a glimmer of light. There is that in 
 human hearts which leads to self-sacrifice for 
 others; if this is a dulled fragment of our 
 nature as God created us in His likeness, then 
 it exists in God's nature in infinite degree and 
 in exercising it with His infinite wisdom He may 
 devise and execute our deliverance from both sin 
 and from its punishment. It was but a glimmer 
 but in this Lord's Day of the Catechism it is 
 seen to be the first ray of the rising sun — the 
 dawn of the full day of our salvation. 
 
 It rises upon our darkness. There is no hope 
 in ourselves. We have broken the law of our 
 being. We are so corrupt in our sinfulness that 
 we cannot cast it off. Left to ourselves there 
 can only be everlasting sinfulness — we have so 
 incurred guilt in our sinfulness that we deserve 
 punishment — as long as sin lasts tbis must last 
 — left to ourselves there can be only the dreadful 
 destiny of everlasting sin and punishment of sin. 
 
 75 
 
76 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 Let us now expel from our minds and hearts 
 forever the faintest hope of ever saving ourselves, 
 — and let us look to God to save us. 
 
 God's plan of saving man. It is a great sub- 
 ject, the outcome of God's infinite love and wis- 
 dom. We will never exhaust it. Never fully 
 comprehend it. May it be the subject of our 
 adoring contemplation throughout the eternity 
 of blessedness and praise. 
 
 But we can understand enough of it now to 
 cast ourselves wholly and unreservedly upon God 
 our Savior. All the teaching of the Scripture is 
 to lead us to do this, and the more we grow in 
 our understanding of it, the more we will grow 
 in our appreciation of God's grace to us, grow in 
 our sense of obligation and gratitude to Him. 
 And so his law will be re-established in us. 
 
 This Lord's Day of the Catechism tries to set 
 God's salvation before us in concise and clear 
 outline, but not to in any way exhaust it. 
 Rather it leads on to the whole remaining part 
 of the Catechism. It is a text to be enlarged 
 upon and made clear in the text of the Catechism 
 — in the truths of the Apostles Creed, in the 
 Sacraments of our religion, in the duties of the 
 Ten Commandments and in the privileges of the 
 Lord's Prayer. 
 
 There is a striking characteristic of human 
 nature with which we are so familiar in daily 
 experience that we seldom pause to think of its 
 wonderful influence upon our welfare. The human 
 race exists in successive generations. Each 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 77 
 
 generation starts out on an experience entirely- 
 new to it, it must mould its own life, depend 
 upon itself largely for its welfare. But just 
 as truly each new generation inherits from the 
 last generation its character, its energy and its 
 attainments, and so largely from all prior genera- 
 tions. When we descend from generals to in- 
 dividuals this characteristic of humanity has vast 
 influences. The child will have to depend largely 
 upon its growing powers for its adult welfare; 
 just as truly the child inherits from parents the 
 prominence of chin, the shape of nose, the color 
 of eye, the character and initiative ; and also much 
 of the circumstances of life. There is such a 
 thing as heredity, we cannot tell how strong, 
 and also such a thing as inheritance of property, 
 not only but of standing in society. We have 
 already had a glimpse of how much a mother 
 will do to save a boy — how much a wife will do 
 to help a husband, individual instances of self- 
 sacrificing love awaken often the greatest ad- 
 miration ; but no one has ever estimated, or ever 
 can estimate the amount of self-sacrifice the love 
 of parents makes for children, the amount of 
 effort and thought one generation makes for the 
 coming generation. This is in the very constitu- 
 tion of our nature as social beings, and comes 
 directly from the hand of our creator, is a part 
 of our likeness to Him — the image in which He 
 created us. We speak of Adam as the head of 
 the race of mankind, as such father he repre- 
 sented the race. So in a true sense every father 
 
78 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 represents his children, their future depends 
 largely upon his character and acts. So in a 
 true sense every generation represents the next 
 generation, moulds its character by heredity, and 
 makes its welfare largely by inheritance of attain- 
 ments and conditions. How much would the race 
 advance were not this characteristic shadowed 
 and warped by sin the strongest imagination can 
 but faintly see. How fearfully sin has de- 
 graded this characteristic in many a family, and 
 in many a nation until ruin has supplanted wel- 
 fare we alas know too well. But this character- 
 istic remains and affords our only hope for the 
 welfare of the race. 
 
 As we look more closely into the varied rela- 
 tions of human society this characteristic of 
 representation becomes very prominent. It can 
 be traced in wide influence in all stages of ad- 
 vance from savagery through barbarism to 
 civilization. It is very prominent in our own 
 freedom-loving country. 
 
 Our district elects a representative to the State 
 Legislature or the National Congress. Our state 
 elects a Governor. Our nation elects a President. 
 The President appoints an Ambassador from our 
 nation to another nation. Now there is one 
 certain principle running through the whole com- 
 plicated system. The man elected must be a 
 citizen of the district or state. The President 
 must be a citizen of the nation. So the ambassa- 
 dor. It is not only essential he should be a 
 citizen, but very desirable that he should be able 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 79 
 
 and good. A strong personality for he is to 
 represent a district, a state, a nation. He should 
 be a worthy representative. 
 
 For it is further a principle that the act of 
 the representative is to be credited to the repre- 
 sented, in effect they act through him. What 
 kind of laws do we of any district or state 
 want made for our government, let us select 
 wisely our law maker for we will be bound 
 by his act. He acts for us. What kind of 
 relation to other nations, to the world do we 
 want. Let us select wisely our president, for he 
 will represent our great nation of 100,000,000 
 people — freedom-loving people, prosperous, virtu- 
 ous people — to the world, and we will be bound 
 by his actions. If we want to be credited with 
 lofty actions, let us select a lofty personality for 
 our representative, for we must be credited with 
 the act of our representative. Thus a person 
 may have vast dignity in himself, be a wise 
 patriot and statesman; we add vast dignity to 
 him when we elect him the President. 
 
 Now it is this characteristic of human nature 
 that the Catechism sets before us as it begins 
 to teach us of God's salvation from sin and its 
 terrible punishment. 
 
 What does God need toward man? A repre- 
 sentative. What does man need toward God? 
 A representative. The Catechism uses a word 
 embracing both truths. There is great need of 
 a mediator, one who will stand between two 
 estranged parties and bring them into accord. 
 
80 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 Wonderful parties these, the infinite God and the 
 whole race of mankind ; so he must be a wonder- 
 ful person this mediator. 
 
 We have seen how God is estranged from us; 
 how his righteous indignation is aroused against 
 our sinful nature and sinful acts — how this in- 
 finite justice must ever inflict punishment while 
 sinful nature and sinful acts last, and that there 
 is no hope in ourselves, or in any of our fellows 
 of passing from under this just indignation. 
 
 What kind of a representative do we need to 
 deliver us from this just indignation? The Cate- 
 chism answers. First: he must be a true man 
 and perfectly righteous. But we have already 
 looked for such a one, and have not been able 
 to find him. Now let us look to God to provide 
 him. He must be a true man. We have broken 
 the law of our being, and have come under the 
 penalty of that law. A representative must not 
 be of another order of being — however great and 
 noble. He could not represent the nation, he 
 must share it with us, must be a fellow-citizen. 
 
 He must be perfectly righteous. Must obey this 
 law of our being perfectly. If he should have 
 broken it, he has already dishonored it, and 
 come under its penalty himself. He might as 
 such represent us, but alas too well, he could not 
 do anything beyond what we could do, he could 
 not deliver us, he must then bear the punishment 
 for himself, besides he then could no longer keep 
 the law for he would be corrupt as we are. 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 81 
 
 Now, supposing such a one could be found a 
 true man who was perfectly righteous, what 
 could he do for us. He is a mere man as we 
 are — a person of great dignity and worth, but 
 he stands only for himself. There is nothing 
 he can do extra to keeping the law — the law 
 requires his whole manhood. If he offered to 
 sacrifice himself for us, he would have no right 
 to do so — all his being belongs to God already, 
 and his suffering punishment for us would be 
 unjust in itself, and not accepted by God. 
 
 It requires a greater person than a mere man 
 however noble and great to represent the whole 
 race of mankind, to act for them as a representa- 
 tive in such vast concerns that the race repre- 
 sented may be fully credited with the worth and 
 effect of his acts. 
 
 There are two prominent things we need done 
 for us by our representative, and so done that 
 we may be assured that God receives them as 
 if they were done by ourselves — for that is the 
 essence of representation. The first is that the 
 punishment due to our sins should be borne by 
 our representative that there is nothing left for 
 us to bear, that justice is entirely satisfied. The 
 second is that a righteousness under the law of 
 our being complete and perfect in the sight of 
 the great law giver should be secured for us and 
 applied to us — so that the law of our being is 
 fully re-established in our lives with all its 
 blessed effects. 
 
82 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 So the next answer of the Catechism clearly 
 sets forth that our mediator — our representa- 
 tive to act fully for us in such a way as to supply 
 all needs must be the very God. In one person 
 he must be a true man perfectly righteous and 
 just as truly he must be God, a personality 
 worthy to represent not a family, not a nation- 
 ality, but the race of mankind ; to represent such 
 a race in such a way as to save both from the 
 punishment and the corruption of sin and to 
 restore to us righteousness and life. 
 
 Thus we are brought to the astounding con- 
 clusion that no creature of God, no creation of 
 His infinite power can ever represent us — that 
 only God Himself can represent us by assuming 
 our nature, by becoming man, the God-man. 
 
 Should such a one be found he will not only 
 represent man to God, but he will just as fully 
 represent God to man. That which is the cry- 
 ing need of our nature a worthy representative 
 meets a response in God's nature for we are 
 created in His likeness. In our feeble way we 
 are searchers for truth, but we so often unduly 
 magnify portions of truth that the whole is 
 distorted. 
 
 We sometimes hear the love of God spoken 
 of as if there was no righteous indignation in 
 Him against sin — as if He was only indulgent 
 good nature as we sometimes find in ourselves. 
 But we know there is such a thing as wrath in 
 God, a righteous indignation becoming steadily 
 and flaming forth terribly against sin. 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 83 
 
 Then we sometimes hear the wrath of God 
 spoken of as if there was no love in Him for the 
 creature He made in His own likeness, as if He 
 was only exacting sternness such as we some- 
 times find in ourselves. But we know God is 
 love. He always seeks man's welfare. So He 
 cannot indulge him in the sin that would ruin 
 him. God, although He loves man, created in 
 His likeness, is at variance with us because by 
 our sin, we have arrayed His justice against us. 
 How much does He love us. With such a great 
 astonishing love, beyond comprehension, that He 
 provides a representative for us who will satisfy 
 His justice — He becomes our representative Him- 
 self — He takes on our nature, suffers our punish- 
 ment for us — becomes the God-man, our Savior. 
 
 Man, although created in the likeness of God, 
 is at variance with Him, is restive under His con- 
 trol, disobeys His law, has more or less enmity 
 in his heart against God. God comes closer to 
 man — takes our nature upon Him — suffers for us 
 the penalty we deserve. He so reveals His love 
 for us to save that He does all possible to remove 
 our distrust and dislike and win back our hearts 
 to Him. 
 
 When God becomes man to represent man in 
 all his needs to secure a full supply of blessing 
 for him He in that very act provides a repre- 
 sentative of Himself to man to draw him into 
 full allegiance with Himself. 
 
 The representative of both parties, having this 
 relationship with both parties becomes a real 
 
84 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 mediator, removing estrangement and replacing 
 it with love. The estrangement of God to man 
 exists solely in His just condemnation of man's 
 sin; it is removed by having this justice satisfied. 
 The estrangement of man to God consists solely 
 in his dislike of God, the spirit of disobedience; 
 it is removed by being replaced by the love of 
 God awakened in him by God's love in the 
 mediator. 
 
 All we have to do is to trust our representa- 
 tive, to acknowledge him as our representative 
 so that we are in him and his acts are credited 
 to us. 
 
 The culmination of God's revelation of Him- 
 self to man both in nature and in the Scriptures 
 is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. In all nature 
 and especially in man's nature we see the great 
 power of representation and the principles in- 
 volved in it and the great results flowing from 
 it. In the Scriptures we see from the first 
 promise of God to fallen man in the Garden of 
 Eden — through the giving of the Law of God on 
 Sinai — through the long history of God's people, 
 through the worship of priests and sacrifices, 
 through their need as voiced in Poetry and 
 Oratory by psalmist and prophet, the culmination 
 reached at length in the fulness of time in Him 
 who is the son of man and the son of God, the 
 Savior of mankind. 
 
 The angel Gabriel said to the Virgin Mary, 
 "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the 
 power of the Most High shall overshadow thee. 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 85 
 
 wherefore also that which is to be born shall be 
 called holy, the son of God." From Mary he 
 took his human nature, a man born of a woman 
 — but he was without sin since he was born of 
 God — a divine being. As God created man at 
 first in His own likeness — so this likeness is 
 fully restored in the new man — Jesus Christ. He 
 was tempted in all points like as we are but 
 without sin. Through His whole life, the revela- 
 tion of God in the sinless man — through His 
 suffering and death on the Cross, His ressurec- 
 tion from the dead and His ascension into heaven, 
 we see His saving love and redeeming power. Our 
 Lord Jesus Christ satisfies the claims of man's 
 reason and the hopes of his heart and his 
 highest possible thought of the nature of God. 
 He is the great mediator. The law of man's 
 being is fully realized in Christ. The King, 
 Lawgiver, the Priest, the Prophet are all ful- 
 filled in Him. As He comes from the great white 
 throne to this dark earth of sin, beams of light 
 from his glorious person break through our 
 gloom with promise, with law written upon our 
 hearts, with ceremony of Temple worship, with 
 song of praise, with exhortation of holy life, 
 with divine help, with aspiration of hope, with 
 loving sacrifice on the cross, with power of the 
 broken tomb, with full acceptance and glorious 
 triumph in the return to the throne in heaven. 
 
 If a citizen of our state should take the place 
 of another citizen in suffering the penalty of 
 violated law, we would be astonished at his love 
 
86 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 and call it a noble act. If the President of the 
 nation should take the place of a citizen and 
 suffer the penalty of violated law, the whole 
 nation would be astonished at the love and con- 
 descension of the splendid act. If a Saint from 
 heaven should do this, the race itself would be 
 filled with wonder. 
 
 But none would have the right or power to 
 substitute himself thus to save another. 
 
 But the Infinite God takes the place of man 
 His creature, and suffers the just penalty of his 
 sin — as He has the right and the power to do. 
 But who can conceive of the infinite condescen- 
 sion — and the infinite love of this redeeming 
 sacrifice. Let it appeal to our heart's love — 
 break down all opposition to God our Father our 
 Redeemer and bring us to Himself, to the Savior. 
 
 The remaining Lord's Days of our Catechism 
 set forth this truth of salvation in Christ fully. 
 
 As we close this introduction portion of the 
 Catechism, we have impressed upon us that its 
 faithful consideration should result in a revival 
 of religion. It presents so fully, so clearly, so 
 impressively man's need as a sinner of a Divine 
 Savior that all of us are at once thrown into 
 two classes, and each class may well ask con- 
 science a personal question of vast import. 
 
 Those who have not yet sought personal salva- 
 tion in Christ may each one ask. Do I need Him? 
 You are a sinner in nature and by practice. 
 There is no hope in yourself. You need Christ. 
 There is no hope outside of Him. He is given 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 87 
 
 you by the love of God, urged upon you by the 
 love of God. Do not resist this appeal. Trust in 
 Him, believe in the Savior. 
 
 Those v^ho are saved in Christ should be so 
 impressed by the consideration of the lost con- 
 dition of man that we should feel the deepest 
 sense of obligation to Christ that He took com- 
 passion upon us. And the deepest gratitude to 
 Him for His salvation. He saved us from endless 
 sin, from endless misery. He has given us 
 eternal life in harmony with God, our obligation, 
 our gratitude to Him should fill each soul, should 
 be the spring of all conduct. 
 
 The impulse of each saved soul should be to 
 bring that salvation to all needy souls, to show 
 Christ to others, an impulse to persuade all to 
 believe in the Savior. 
 
 A revival of religion, holiness, living close to 
 Christ — showing Christ to all needy souls about 
 them — those not yet believers seeing their need 
 and coming to Christ fo^ salvation — may such 
 results follow our consideration of this part of 
 the Catechism. 
 
VII. 
 
 TWENTY-THIRD LORD'S DAY OF THE 
 HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 "RIGHTEOUSNESS BY FAITH" 
 
 For the showing of his righteousness at 
 this present season that he might himself 
 be just and the justifler of him that hath 
 faith in Jesus. — Rom. 3 :26. 
 
 THERE are some Lord's Days of our Cate- 
 chism that seem to stand out more strong- 
 ly and distinctly than their fellows; that 
 may be called red-letter days; this is one of 
 them. It is the summing up of the Apostle's 
 Creed. What is the result of your believing the 
 creed is the question. The answer is astounding. 
 That I am righteous before God. How can this 
 be possible, when all men are sinners by nature 
 and practice? The answer is as distinct and 
 strong — I am righteous in Christ. 
 
 Now we turn to our text — and it is a red-letter 
 text in the Epistle to the Romans. It has just 
 been said after a stern indictment of human 
 nature of both Romans and Jews, that no man 
 can be declared righteous before God on his own 
 record and nature, for all have sin. The text 
 then follows with the astounding statement that 
 the righteousness of God is revealed, that He 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 89 
 
 might be just and the justifier of him that hath 
 faith in Jesus; that is that God might be right- 
 eous and account as righteous the one who hath 
 faith in Jesus, God reveals his righteousness in 
 Christ, that he may account as righteous the 
 one believing in Christ. 
 
 The answer of the Catechism gives us the 
 experience of the believer, and it is in harmony 
 with our text. 
 
 In the next answer of the Catechism the be- 
 liever tells us his condition by nature— describes 
 clearly and fully the righteousness he possesses 
 by the Grace of God, and then he describes the 
 faith by which he becomes righteous before God. 
 Now if any of us have this experience of the 
 believer it will be well for us to review the 
 grounds upon which it is based that it may be 
 strengthened ; for it is not only a present posses- 
 sion but one we may expect to carry with us 
 through all the changing scenes of this life and 
 to find fully realized when we enter the presence 
 of Christ at the right hand of God in Heaven. 
 Surely if any of us are conscious that we do not 
 have this experience of the believer it will be 
 well for us to consider its richness and fullness 
 — its desirableness for us — and how we may 
 obtain it. 
 
 The believer frankly confesses that his con- 
 science accuses him of having grossly trans- 
 gressed all the commands of God, that he has 
 kept none of them and that he is still inclined 
 to all evil. Surely the righteous God can never 
 
90 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 account as righteous any one on his own record 
 and nature who has such an accusing conscience, 
 provided the accusation is at all true. How is 
 it with ourselves? We know the law of God — 
 the law of our being. Love God with all your 
 mind, and heart, and soul, and strength. Have 
 we never transgressed this law — have we always 
 kept it — are we inclined to keep it? What says 
 the conscience? The law of God says also: love 
 your neighbor as yourself. This is love your- 
 self, as the highly gifted responsible and de- 
 pendent creature of God — as He would have you 
 love yourself. Then love your neighbor always 
 and in all respects in the same way and to the 
 same extent as you love yourself. Have we 
 never transgressed this law? Have we always 
 kept it, are we inclined to keep it now? What 
 says the conscience? 
 
 I am free to confess to you my conscience 
 accuses me. I cannot look it fairly in the face; 
 it frowns upon me. It is well for us to face 
 conscience frankly and fully on this question. 
 We creatures of God on this little ball of the 
 earth are under the reign of law — we cannot 
 even conceive how such creatures can exist under 
 any other condition. The earth itself has obeyed 
 the law of its being — has turned us toward the 
 sun and it is day. We have obeyed the law of 
 our physical being — ^have slept during the night ; 
 have breathed the air, have taken food, have 
 exercised our powers and have gathered in this 
 place of worship. We thinking beings are now 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 91 
 
 obeying the laws of our mental nature, and are 
 considering the subject of vast importance. We 
 moral beings have exercised our moral sense 
 and have discerned the law of our moral being — 
 love God supremely and thy neighbor as thyself. 
 And now we are asking our conscience the judg- 
 ing power of our moral nature to give its verdict 
 upon the whole of our past life and upon our 
 present character under this law. What says 
 each conscience? Does our conscience commend 
 us as righteous, or condemn us as unrighteous? 
 Let us hold that single question before conscience 
 — are we righteous — or unrighteous? What is 
 the verdict? 
 
 Let us avoid the various refuges guilty beings 
 are prone to devise. Let us not try to excuse 
 ourselves or to indulge the hope of bettering 
 ourselves, or to think we can sacrifice ourselves 
 or our possessions in any way or degree to right 
 the wrongs of our record or of our present con- 
 dition. Does conscience commend us as keeping 
 the law of God, the highest and final law of 
 our nature as moral beings? Does conscience 
 condemn us as having transgressed this law and 
 as prone to transgress it? What is its verdict? 
 Clear, distinct, final it says, you are unrighteous. 
 Having listened to conscience we may now take 
 the case to a higher court. We may appeal to 
 the bar of God, to the Judge of all the earth, 
 to the great white Throne of Righteousness. 
 
 We are liable at any moment to be called to 
 the Bar of God, we have no claim upon a single 
 
92 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 hour of our life. It is surely the most important 
 object man can desire, to be pronounced right- 
 eous by God — and it is the most terrible thing 
 man can dread, to be pronounced unrighteous by 
 God. Let us in our thought anticipate our 
 standing in the light streaming from the great 
 white throne of righteousness. That light 
 searches all our record — that light searches all 
 our character. If conscience condemns us as 
 unrighteous, surely God sees more clearly and 
 fully than conscience and is more righteous than 
 ever the most aroused and quickened conscience 
 can possibly be — surely God condemns us as 
 unrighteous. We may regard our conscience as 
 having awakened to a clear and stern view of 
 our record and character — to have condemned 
 us as unrighteous — to have arrested us and to 
 have brought us before the bar of the righteous 
 God that we may know our true condition in 
 His sight. And the result is terrible — we are con- 
 demned as unrighteous. Looking upon our real 
 condition, upon our record and character, it is 
 absolutely impossible that the conscience, that 
 God himself can pronounce any other verdict. 
 It is absolutely true. We, all of us, are in 
 ourselves unrighteous, and there is absolutely 
 no hope, no prospect in ourselves of our ever 
 becoming righteous. No hope that we can ever 
 change the record of our past; no hope that we 
 can reverse our present character; no hope that 
 God can ever say of any single one of us — he 
 has obeyed fully the law of his being — he now 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 93 
 
 obeys fully the law of his being — no hope that a 
 single one of us can ever say that of himself — or 
 of herself. No hope that any one can ever say 
 I always love God supremely and I love always 
 my neighbor as myself — that is my record, that 
 is my character, that is my assured status. No 
 hope of pronouncing ourselves righteous, no hope 
 of God pronouncing us righteous. It is well for 
 us to clearly and fully face this truth. 
 
 Now it is possible that facing it may seem to 
 some to drive us to recklessness and despair. 
 That surely would be the height of folly. We 
 all recognize that while we seek absolute good, 
 we are not as bad as we can be, that there is 
 a large element of relative good still in us, for 
 our moral sense can discern the perfection of the 
 law of our being, can approve it and can desire 
 to keep it. To become reckless would be to 
 cast away all good in ourselves. Besides it is 
 quite evident God has not cast us away — He still 
 holds the law of our being before us. He has not 
 lowered it to our conditions; He does not thus 
 indulge us in sin. True there is much distress 
 and misery in our present condition — and much 
 of it we can easily trace to our breaking the law 
 of love to God and man — we may regard it as 
 the penalty of violated law, the frown of the 
 law giver. There is also much good and happi- 
 ness in our lot — much of it we can trace to the 
 partial keeping of the law of love — and we may 
 regard it as mercy of God. Surely God has not 
 banished us from his presence. 
 
94 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 While there is no hope in our record and 
 character, that we or God can regard us as 
 righteous, there is still hope that God may so 
 reveal His righteousness greater than our highest 
 thought, that He may make us righteous. He has 
 not lowered the law of our being — He has not 
 removed his goodness from us. Nature within 
 us and nature without us bid us not to be reck- 
 less, not to despair. There is much in nature 
 to lead us to fear that God may at length banish 
 us from Himself, the source of all good, but there 
 is also much in nature to lead us to hope that 
 God will save us from our hopeless condition 
 through His great righteousness. 
 
 Let us listen to this teaching of nature con- 
 cerning God the revelation of Himself in nature. 
 There are three great truths of nature we all 
 accept but whose importance in all their bearings 
 it is hard for us to realize — First, we are reason- 
 ing beings — this is one of our distinguishing 
 characteristics. It is a wise couplet 
 
 "The one who will not reason is a bigot 
 "The one who dares not reason is a slave." 
 
 God always honors man as a reasoning being. 
 It is the general trend and calling of the Scrip- 
 tures. He says to us all, "Come let us reason 
 together" — and He says it on this very subject 
 we are considering — "Though your sins be as 
 scarlet they shall be as white as snow." 
 
 Let us seek to be brave, fair reasoners on this 
 most important subject — even reasoners with 
 God. 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 95 
 
 The second great truth of nature is we are 
 responsible beings. As reasoning, responsible 
 beings we make laws — the conventions of society 
 for the easy, safe and pleasant living of its mem- 
 bers — and the laws of cities, states, and nations ; 
 but we recognize that from insufficient knowl- 
 edge and wrong ideals and motives, some of our 
 laws may be defective. As we thus reason with 
 God we can conceive that His laws are perfect, 
 from His full knowledge and pure motives. 
 
 Now we not only make laws, we administer 
 them. We have public opinions of societies, we 
 have mayors, governors, presidents. But here 
 also from defective knowledge, wrong ideals, and 
 wrong motives one administering law often is 
 unequal and unjust. As we reason with God we 
 conceive that His administering His laws from 
 His full knowledge and pure motives is beyond 
 our highest ideals — is absolutely perfect. 
 
 Now we not only make and administer law 
 but we have Judges and Juries — a judicial ele- 
 ment to pronounce upon facts as to violations of 
 our laws and to pronounce suitable penalties. 
 Here also we recognize that from insufficient 
 knowledge and wrong feelings, it is difficult for 
 us to get at the facts and more difficult still to 
 award just penalties. As we are reasoning with 
 God we see from our defects how far short we 
 fall of His perfectness, that as Judge He knows 
 fully and feels rightly and judges justly. 
 
 The third great truth of nature throws great 
 light on our subject. In all our doings as reason- 
 
96 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 able, responsible beings with reference to mak- 
 ing and enforcing law there is a principle in- 
 volved which seems necessary and whose bearings 
 in all directions it is hard for us to realize. It 
 is hard to cover it with a single word for the 
 word we use is so common that it has lost some 
 of its greatness — the principle itself is so familiar 
 that we do not recognize at once its great- 
 ness, it is Representation. In making laws we 
 have our representatives in the legislature; in 
 administering laws our representative is governor 
 or president. In the courts of law our repre- 
 sentatives are jurors and judges. The people act 
 by our representatives. They act in our stead. 
 We are honored by their action. This seems 
 essential in human nature. It runs through 
 many of our most familiar and important rela- 
 tions of life — family — business — social as well as 
 legal. In this principle of representation there 
 are two elements difficult to name because of 
 their greatness and familiarity in our lives — 
 these are Substitution and Suretyship. The presi- 
 dent is in a deep real sense our Substitute. We 
 are in a deep real sense his Sureties. Our presi- 
 dent acts in our stead. We are sureties for him 
 that his acts will be effective. So our legislative 
 and judicial representatives act in our stead and 
 we are sureties to make their act effective — so 
 in the family — parents and children — in busi- 
 ness, in contracts, in employment, in society, rich 
 and poor, learned and unlearned, high and low; 
 as well as in legal relations, representation 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 97 
 
 prevails with its two elements, substitution and 
 suretj^ship. So we, reasoning, responsible beings, 
 are reasoning with our God as He calls us to do, 
 our nature itself begins to give us a glimmer 
 of hope, that suretyship and substitution so 
 prominent in our nature may be a faint reflec- 
 tion of the perfect character of God. That repre- 
 sentation so prominent in our lives but so hamp- 
 ered by our lack of knowledge and by our impure 
 ideals and motives may live more prominent even 
 in the nature of our God and find an exercise 
 toward us made perfect by the infinite knowl- 
 edge, wisdom, resources and purity of God. 
 
 Of course suretyship and substitution have dif- 
 ferent degrees and values among us. Some- 
 times they affect only property and reputation. 
 Sometimes they affect life itself. A father pays 
 the debts of a wayward son and gives him a 
 new start; a mother nurses her boy diseased by 
 sinful ways back to health and virtue, wearing 
 out her own life. There have been cases where 
 substitution has been allowed in war. A man 
 was drafted ; he must leave his wife and children 
 and go into the army. But a friend takes his 
 place and dies in battle in his stead. Napoleon 
 is said to have visited the tent of a favorite 
 officer and he found him in a troubled sleep, 
 while on his table was a list of his debts so over- 
 whelming that he had written under it the 
 words: "Whoever can, whoever will, pay these 
 debts." The Emperor simply wrote under these 
 words his name: "Napoleon." When the officer 
 
98 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 awoke and saw that name his troubles all 
 vanished away — and the loyalty to the Emperor 
 was doubled. 
 
 Charles Dickens often strikes deep chords in 
 human nature. In the "Tale of Two Cities." 
 The English lawyer Carlton strongly resembled 
 the French Aristocrat Darney — he takes his place 
 in prison in Paris — Darney with his wife and 
 children escape to London. Carlton dies in his 
 stead upon the guillotine. The story is true to 
 nature in that ever after in the saved London 
 home the memory of Carlton is sacred and 
 precious. The story is also true to nature in 
 that Carlton in riding to the guillotine cheers 
 the heart of a young girl riding with him to 
 her death. And so cheers his own heart also 
 by repeating the words of the Great Substitute: 
 "I am the resurrection and the life. He that 
 liveth in Me, though he dies yet shall he live 
 and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall 
 never die." So the whispers of our nature lead 
 to the plain clear words of Scripture. The 
 revelation of God in nature is to the revelation 
 of God in the Gospel as the dawn is to the full 
 shining of the sun at noon-day. Our text says 
 the righteousness of God is revealed in the Gos- 
 pel that he might be righteous and account as 
 righteous the one believing in Jesus. Our studies 
 of the Apostle's Creed have taught us something 
 of the glory of the Person and Work of Christ. 
 He reveals God to us, represents God to us as 
 His well beloved Son. So revealing God He takes 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 99 
 
 upon Himself our nature, becomes a man under 
 the law of our being. As such He represents us 
 to God. He keeps the law of our being per- 
 fectly. He deserves all the results of such abso- 
 lute righteousness ; and He is more than man the 
 infinite son of God; there is infinite worth in 
 His absolute sinlessness, His perfect obedience, 
 and He is our representative. 
 
 So He suffers for sin, not that He deserves such 
 suffering in the faintest degree. He even dies 
 for sinners, not that He in Himself deserves death 
 at all — He dies as our representative — our sub- 
 stitute — and His suffering and death are of in- 
 finite worth since He is the infinite Son of God, 
 Christ Himself says : "The Son of Man came to 
 give His life a ransom for many." — and again 
 He says : "My body is broken for you — My blood 
 shed for you for the remission of sins." Christ 
 Himself says both of His representation of God 
 and of His representation of man in that wonder- 
 ful saying containing the whole Gospel: "God 
 so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten 
 Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not 
 perish but have eternal life." So the believer 
 says in our Lord's Day of the Catechism, "In 
 myself I deserve to perish I deserve to perish, 
 but believing in Christ I have eternal life. In 
 myself, my record, my character I am pronounced 
 by my conscience — my God the Judge — unright- 
 eous — I perish — but in Christ, in the perfect 
 satisfaction righteousness and holiness of Christ 
 I am accounted righteous even as if I never had 
 
100 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 any sin. Even as if I had fully accomplished 
 all righteousness I am an heir of eternal life 
 God gives me all this not for any merit of my 
 own, but of His pure grace." 
 
 He maintains His holy law, the law of my 
 being — in that He keeps it Himself in the person 
 of His Son and He deserves all the benefits that 
 come from perfect obedience and these He be- 
 stowes on me. He inflicts also all the penalty 
 of broken law and bears it all Himself in the 
 person of His Son — that which I deserve He bears 
 for me. Now He accounts me as righteous, freed 
 from all penalty, entitled to all blessedness 
 because I am in my representative. I trust in 
 Christ, I receive by faith the gift of God's grace, 
 Christ is my surety, Christ is my substitute, 
 Christ is my representative — . All that He is, 
 all that He has borne, all that He deserves is 
 mine. I could never claim my title to heaven 
 in myself. But I have a complete and full title 
 to heaven in my representative, the glorious son 
 of God and son of man, my Lord and Savior 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 The believer having this blessed experience 
 that he is righteous in Christ, freed from all 
 penalty, entitled to rewards in Christ is careful 
 to disclaim all merit of his own, the merit all 
 belongs to Christ. There is no merit even in the 
 faith that rests in Christ. He simply believes in 
 Christ as revealed in the record of His life on 
 earth and as He now reigns in Heaven — he has 
 some insight into His nature from his own nature 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 101 
 
 that is capable of considering and acting for 
 others. He has a full trust in Christ acting for 
 him, representing him — and so he is impelled 
 to live in and for Christ — he has all these ele- 
 ments of a saving faith. But there is no merit 
 in faith itself. Its' the hand that receives God's 
 grace, the faith does not merit the salvation. 
 Christ alone saves and He saves all together. We 
 see the north star in the clear heavens and learn 
 a little about it — a blazing sun so distant that 
 light in its rapid flight takes many years to 
 reach us. But our seeing the star is no part of 
 the star, if the clouds hide it, if we shut our 
 eyes, or if we refuse to look toward it the 
 star would still be the same. We look and we 
 simply see it shining upon us. So Christ is the 
 infinite Savior. We look and He shines upon us, 
 we trust and he saves us. The next Lord's Day 
 of the Catechism will tell us about the source and 
 value of our own good works, the renovation of 
 our nature following from Christ redeeming life 
 and death. We will leave that to be considered 
 later. 
 
 Now as in thought we anticipate again our 
 standing before the great white throne of the 
 righteous God our conscience is fully satisfied 
 since we do not stand in our own character and 
 record, but in our representative alone. We 
 know God will declare us righteous in Christ, 
 freed from all penalty since He has borne it for 
 us, entitled even to the eternal life in Heaven 
 since He has deserved it for us, righteous in 
 
102 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 Christ since we believe in Him. Among the many- 
 things the future contains for us of which we 
 can only conjecture there is one thing certain. 
 We shall all stand at last before the great white 
 throne. Whatever courses our lives may take 
 we are all moving steadily toward that throne. 
 Shall we stand there condemned or justified? 
 Condemned surely if we stand in ourselves. 
 Justified surely if we stand in our representative, 
 Christ. Each one of us must stand before that 
 throne someday, we know not how soon. Shall 
 it be only in our own merit, our record, our 
 character, or in Christ? Believe in the Lord 
 Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. 
 
VIII. 
 
 TWENTY-FOURTH LORD'S DAY OF THE 
 HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 "JUSTIFICATION BY AND OF FAITH" 
 
 Ye see that by works a man is justified 
 and not only by faith. — James 2:24. 
 
 IT is one of the marvels of language how the 
 change of a little word between two great 
 words brings our thought under a different 
 horizon — almost into a different universe. What 
 little words are by and of — what widely different 
 truths are justification by faith and justification 
 of faith. The Epistle to the Romans is held by 
 many to set forth this first, that of James to set 
 forth the second; but in reality both truths are 
 in all the Epistles as realizing together the whole 
 Gospel. 
 
 In the Last Lord's Day of our Catechism we 
 considered justification by faith; in this Lord's 
 Day we are to consider justification of faith. 
 
 It is well for us to seek a clear and concise 
 description of both in order to illumine the soul 
 in all the varied experiences of life — and to be 
 fixed in the memory forever. Justification by 
 faith we remember is our being pronounced 
 righteous by God the Judge on account of the 
 righteousness of Christ in whom we have faith. 
 
 103 
 
104 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 If we are righteous, then the law of our being 
 has nothing against us. More than that we are 
 entitled to all the rewards of obedience to that 
 law. We saw that this was absolutely impossible 
 on our own record and character. It could only 
 be conceived of as secured to us by a representa- 
 tive of such glorious majesty and such absolute 
 righteousness that the results of His substitution 
 and suretyship could be made ours by the right- 
 eous Judge. Character we know cannot be trans- 
 ferred from one person to another, but the 
 results of character and life can be and are so 
 transferred in all the relationships of our lives. 
 Children have the results of the reputation and 
 standing of parents. Citizens are bound by the 
 characteristics and acts of their representatives. 
 From such experiences we can see how the right- 
 eous Judge can say of the one having faith in 
 Christ, he is righteous in Christ; he is entitled to 
 all the results of Christ's righteousness. 
 
 In himself, he deserves death, the penalty of 
 sin — but Christ has suffered and died for him, 
 has fully satisfied all claims of the law against 
 him, and through His perfect keeping of the law 
 Christ has merited all the rewards of such obedi- 
 ence for him, even of eternal life. When we 
 consider who Christ is, the Son of God given to 
 us of the Father's love — who for love of us 
 became man and lived for us — and suffered and 
 died for us, we begin to see the greatness of our 
 representative, and the infinite worth of His life 
 and death, and that it is of infinite Grace of 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 105 
 
 God that we have the results of His substitution 
 and suretyship, that nothing of our own can in 
 any way enter into our being pronounced right- 
 eous by God the Judge — it is only and solely 
 because we are in Christ our representative and 
 we are in Him only by faith ; there is no value 
 in our faith; it is simply receiving Him as our 
 representative. He alone has borne our curse — 
 and has merited our eternal life. Nothing of ours 
 can possibly become a part of our justification. 
 Christ is the representative. His work is com- 
 plete. He has borne the curse due us. He has 
 given us the title to heaven. We are as if we 
 never sinned, as if we had always been righteous 
 — as if we were now entirely righteous. 
 
 God the Judge declares the believer righteous 
 in Christ: 
 
 If any one of us seeks to in any way contribute 
 to his own justification he is sure to fail. He 
 will not be able to satisfy his own conscience 
 much less the righteous God. The only righteous- 
 ness that can stand before the righteous Judge 
 must be perfect — and this alone is in Christ. 
 He is our representative. If any one of us will 
 simply accept God's gracious gift, will simply 
 receive Christ as our representative, then we 
 have the promise of God "Whosoever will may 
 come — and whosoever believeth on Him shall not 
 perish but have everlasting life." 
 
 This is justification by faith. God the Judge 
 declares the believer in Christ righteous in Him. 
 
106 THE HlLiDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 Entitled to all the results of Christ atoning death 
 and perfect life. 
 
 Now let us turn to the justification of faith. 
 There is such a thing as a dead faith contrasted 
 with a living faith. James says Faith without 
 works is dead. Faith is justified by works. 
 Years ago one believed the Island of Cuba existed, 
 was rich and beautiful and was struggling for 
 its freedom. The faith enlarged knowledge but 
 worked no change in living, in character. Another 
 believed in the existence of the Island, in all its 
 richness and beauty and became so interested in 
 its struggle for freedom that he left his own 
 land and enlisted in that struggle — that faith 
 worked a change in his manner of life and 
 character. So many believe in God, in Christ the 
 Son of God, in His atoning work even, have an 
 orthodox faith enlarging their knowledge, but it 
 has no effect upon their character — it is without 
 works, it is a dead faith. Others have not only 
 this intellectual faith — may indeed have far less 
 knowledge — but they trust Christ the Savior 
 and follow Him in loving obedience; they have a 
 living faith; their life, their work form a 
 justification of their faith. As they grow in 
 appreciation of Christ they grow in His likeness. 
 Now as the Island of Cuba was the same Island 
 for both kinds of faith so Christ is the same 
 Christ for both kinds. His life and His death are 
 unchanged in their value of our faith. 
 
 It is evident that the living faith is no part of 
 the righteousness of Christ, it simply receives 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 107 
 
 the gift of Christ, trusts Him as our substitute, 
 our representative. 
 
 In our human nature there are two things 
 involved in any offered gift — it may be very 
 valuable in itself, but we may even when we 
 recognize its value reject it — or we may accept 
 it. So in our nature there are two things in- 
 volved in accepting a gift — we despise a man 
 who does not have some little at any rate of 
 both. One is some appreciation of the gift — 
 some desire for it, the other is some gratitude 
 to the giver. 
 
 It is so with the gracious gift of Jesus Christ. 
 We may reject Him, even when we see something 
 of His value — or we may accept Him. 
 
 When we accept Him as our representative, 
 we must have some little appreciation of Him, 
 some desire for Him. This may be very strong 
 or of less degree — but it must exist. We recog- 
 nize our need of Him, that we cannot be justified 
 in ourselves, that we are guilty sinners under 
 the condemnation of the law — that only in Him 
 can we be justified. The sense of sin, its power, 
 its guilt varies in degrees and clearness, but is 
 always enough to lead the believer to value 
 Christ as atoning for sin, and as bestowing life. 
 So with gratitude to God, for the gift of Christ, 
 to Christ for His love that led Him to die that 
 we might live, it may vary in degree, but surely 
 we cannot conceive of receiving Christ and hav- 
 ing no gratitude to Him. 
 
108 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 The more we recognize the glorious gift of 
 God, the more we recognize the glory of our 
 representative, the son of God, the son of Man, 
 become there in the representative of God and 
 of man, revealing God to us, and representing a 
 sinful race to God, the more we recognize the 
 glory of our representative in living for us, in 
 dying for us, the more we must appreciate the 
 gift of righteousness in Him — the more we must 
 have gratitude to Him. The Apostle Paul says, 
 "God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ," and adds, "by whom 
 the world is crucified to me and I unto the 
 world." 
 
 The glory of God shines in creation — the 
 heavens declare His glory. He makes men in His 
 own likeness, but the glory of the Cross excels 
 all else, reveals His holiness and His love for a 
 sinful race to redeem from sin by the sacrifice 
 of Himself. In the Cross His righteousness is 
 revealed and His justice manifested — His holiness 
 shines forth. His love conquers; He takes the 
 sinner's place, living for him, dying for him — 
 the Glorious Representative. 
 
 The Cross becomes the only ground of our 
 justification and so also effectually separates the 
 believer from the power of sin, "the world is 
 crucified unto Him and He unto the world." 
 
 We cannot compare justification by faith and 
 justification of faith, one is a change of condi- 
 tion, the other is a change of character. They 
 always co-exist. We separate the two in our 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 109 
 
 limited thought; they do not separate in God's 
 thought, they are not separate in reality. Justi- 
 fication by faith is a change of condition, it is 
 instantaneous, it is complete, it is like crossing 
 a line — one instant on this side, the next on the 
 other side. 
 
 One instant the man is in himself condemned 
 as a sinner, in his own conscience and in God's 
 sight. The next instant he is justified in Christ 
 in his own conscience, in God's sight. The one 
 instant he stands before conscience, before God 
 in himself, relying on his own record and 
 character. The next instant he stands before 
 conscience, before God, in his representative, 
 relying on Christ's record and character. God 
 the Judge pronounces him in himself unright- 
 eous, and conscience says it is true. God the 
 Judge pronounces him righteous in Christ and 
 conscience says, "by thy grace it is true. I 
 trust in Christ alone. I renounce all other con- 
 fidence. I trust in my representative." 
 
 By this trust by the Grace of God — through 
 the life of Christ a change in character is begun, 
 to grow in various ways throughout this life and 
 to culminate in the life to come — a turning from 
 sin — the worldly principle of living, unto Christ 
 living and likeness. Graciously Christ himself 
 says — "Behold I stand at the door and knock, if 
 any man hear my voice and open the door I will 
 come unto him and will sup with him and he 
 with me." Christ does not dwell in a condemned 
 soul — He dwells in a soul He has already re- 
 
110 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 deemed, giving the new life of fellowship with 
 Him. The man was condemned to death in him- 
 self, in Christ he is awarded eternal life — and 
 Christ dwells within him, the hope of glory. 
 Christ dwells within the believer pronounced 
 righteous before the law — the condition of justi- 
 fication by faith is at once complete. The in- 
 dwelling Christ purifies from corruption and 
 establishes holiness. His indwelling thus working 
 through the faith accepting Him and grateful to 
 Him a change of character to be completed in His 
 own good way and time. 
 
 The Apostle John in his first Epistle shows 
 the relation of Christ to the believer in both 
 respects. He says Christ the sinless one was 
 manifested to take away sin — to take away its 
 guilt, its desert of punishment, to take away its 
 power, its corruption of our nature. He goes 
 on to say particularly of this last relation — "he 
 that sees Christ, that knows Him, that abides in 
 Him, sinneth not." Through all degrees of these 
 three acts of course, but the one who has all 
 three has the direction of his life externally 
 changed, he is turning from sin toward right- 
 eousness, toward Christ likeness. It is the last 
 abiding in Christ — that shares his life. We may 
 see Christ as revealed in the Gospels — may even 
 believe in His living today and His presence 
 everywhere — it enlarges our knowledge and stops 
 there. We may even know Christ as so revealed 
 and so present — may have some quality in us 
 that appreciates qualities in Him — as His good- 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 111 
 
 ness, His self-sacrifices — for it is only in this 
 way that one person knows another — this in 
 highest degree leads to abiding in Him, but if 
 it does not reach such degree it simply adds to 
 our knowledge, and stops there. 
 
 If we still are controlled by sin — we show we 
 have only this dead faith. It may be near life, 
 have some promise of life, as John says — "but 
 it is dead, whosoever sinneth hath not seen 
 Christ, neither knoweth Him." But if the seeing 
 Christ, if the knowing Christ goeth on into 
 abiding in Him — as the branch abideth in the 
 vine, it shares His life. We see Christ, we know 
 Christ personal appreciation of Him, we do more, 
 we trust Him as our Savior, we live in Him. 
 
 Christ enters and dwells in the soul — and the 
 soul enters and dwells in Christ. It is a living 
 faith — a vital relationship. Christ by His spirit 
 dwells in us. We by our faith dwell in Him. 
 
 Such a vital relation has a large element of 
 mystery in it. Who can understand life in its 
 lowest form? How can we understand it — in its 
 highest form. 
 
 Perhaps electricity may afford a vague illus- 
 tration. Have you ever watched the process of 
 electro-plating? There is a large tank of what 
 seems pure water — it is an acid liquid. In one 
 end of the tank hanging from a wire is a pitcher 
 of dull metal — in the other end hanging also 
 by a wire is a bar of solid silver. Now, these 
 two wires are attached to the opposite poles of 
 an electric battery. 
 
112 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 We look at the acid water in the tank — there 
 is no motion — no disturbance. Now look at the 
 dull metal pitcher — it begins to shine more and 
 more until it is a silver pitcher. A mystery of 
 electricity is going on. But after all it does not 
 change the dull metal pitcher, only coats it with 
 silver. The mystery of life is greater, it changes 
 the very nature within ; it is no longer controlled 
 by sin but by righteousness. 
 
 The only question now is, does it work, or is 
 this only a theory. We know it works. Take 
 the disciples. They were fallible men — made 
 mistakes, were tempted by sin. But at once when 
 these sins were recognized they repented and 
 never again walked in that direction. John, 
 Peter, Paul — would it have been possible to have 
 led either into a known way of sin and to have 
 kept him in that way. We know it would not 
 have been possible. The old principle of living 
 has been replaced by a new one — the Christ life 
 in them. They would live in Christ by faith 
 and so more and more like Christ. It is said of 
 Chrysostom, the golden mouthed orator that an 
 Emperor desired to injure him and called together 
 his wise counsellors to devise a way. One said 
 confiscate his property. No, said the emperor, 
 that will not injure him, but it will injure the 
 poor he is constantly helping. Another said, 
 banish him. No, said the emperor, that will not 
 injure him — for he will make friends wherever 
 he goes and God will be with him. Another 
 wise counsellor said, kill him. No, said the 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 113 
 
 emperor — that will not injure him — that will 
 send him direct to heaven. Then the wisest of 
 all said, Lead him into a course of sin. Yes, 
 said the emperor, that will injure him. But 
 here they failed, for with all their wisdom they 
 could not devise a way to lead Chrysostom into 
 a course of sin. 
 
 It is so today with the true believer in Christ. 
 To the degree in which he abides in Christ he 
 will live like Christ, in the family, in all business 
 relations, in all social relations, in the Church, 
 he will abound in good works. Good works are 
 those prompted and described by God's law, love 
 of God supremely, for one's self as the creature 
 of God and love for our fellow-man of the same 
 kind and degree as love for ourselves. The whole 
 tenor of life is changed, it was against the law, 
 it is now for the law. 
 
 Still we cannot think of these good works 
 receiving a reward of their own worth in each 
 believer for two reasons — first, they are not per- 
 fect — our sinful nature is being dethroned, but 
 it tinges our best works with imperfection. And 
 in the second place, the credit for our good works 
 belongs solely to Him our Savior who by His Holy 
 Spirit implants His life in us. There are many 
 temptations and trials incident to the life of a 
 believer in Christ and one is sometimes be- 
 wildered by their greatness — and that the heavi- 
 est may come from belonging to Christ, as Paul 
 in Prison — and at length beheaded. 
 
 Where one is jutified by faith, pronounced 
 
114 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 righteous by the Judge — when one's faith is 
 justified, receiving the new life in Christ, why do 
 not trial and temptation cease, why not be taken 
 out of this sinful world at once to the heaven 
 of blessedness. Two answers at once arise. For 
 the sake of the sinful world. So that Christ's 
 Gospel may be preached by the believer in Christ 
 by the words of persuasion and by the life of 
 commendation. 
 
 Another may be dimly seen in the evident fact 
 that many virtues found in highest degree in 
 heaven could never have been formed or cultivated 
 there. It is so even with many virtues and graces 
 of our blessed Lord Himself. Well may the angels 
 desire to look upon the mysteries of His redeem- 
 ing love for sinners. So with those He has re- 
 deemed and gathered around His throne of glory. 
 In heaven there can be no virtue formed by 
 resisting temptation for temptation cannot exist 
 there; there can be no patience in trial for trial 
 cannot enter there — so faith in darkness, long 
 suffering from evil conditions, endurance in 
 adversity. What a host of virtues when we 
 come to think of it can be cultivated only in 
 this sinful world. Let us not murmur at our lot, 
 but rejoice that we are honored with commend- 
 ing the Gospel to a sinful world and that Christ 
 our Lord is faithful to our best interests in the 
 trials He is leading us through to the heavenly 
 life. They may be very severe even to the last, 
 but He loves us too wisely to make them shorter 
 or less trying. 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 115 
 
 It is said that the Emperor Moth is the most 
 beautiful of all the butterfly family; it has long 
 wings most brilliantly colored. Now the Emperor 
 Moth has a great struggle when it breaks forth 
 from the cocoon stage. You watch it in the 
 struggle and touched with pity you try to help 
 it, with a sharp knife you cut the strong threads 
 — and it comes forth quickly and easily, and flies 
 away. But I thought you said it had large 
 wings — they are small. You said the wings were 
 brilliantly colored — these are dull. Yes, there is 
 the trouble; the wings were to be developed in 
 size and their fine colors were to be brought out 
 by the great struggle in breaking forth from 
 the cocoon. You were not wise for by your 
 pity in freeing the poor worm from the struggle, 
 you have spoiled the whole life of the butterfly. 
 We may pray in all our struggles for strength, 
 even for relief if you will but it should be in 
 the faith of Christ. "Thy Will be done"— as 
 He prayed in His great trial — and so became the 
 triumphant Savior. 
 
 Christ's sympathy for us will we are sure be 
 wise as well as kind. He designs the very best 
 for each one of us in the heavenly and eternal 
 life. 
 
 When we reach heaven at last, when we awake 
 in His likeness, we will ascribe to Him all the 
 praise. He died for us. He lived for us. He 
 lived in us — He brought us to heaven. All the 
 praise — all the glory belongs to Him. Not with 
 
116 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 us. Not unto us. Not unto us, but unto the 
 God of our salvation be all the praise. 
 
 Trial and temptation do not cease, it is through 
 meeting these in the spirit of Christ that the 
 Christian virtues are developed — grow not only 
 for the Heavenly life and service as well for the 
 advancing the kingdom of heaven on the earth. 
 To be a Christian is not only to be justified by 
 God as in Christ but being in Christ as the 
 source of new life to live like Christ. The justi- 
 fication by faith results in the justification of 
 faith — in God's sight — in the sight of conscience, 
 in man's sight. The Christian to the degree of 
 his faith in Christ lives in his home as Christ 
 would live. If he is an employer of labor he 
 treats the laborer as Christ would treat him. If 
 he is an employee, he treats his work as Christ 
 would do. If he is a member of the Board of 
 Directors of a great corporation, his influence is 
 Christlike, to the degree of his faith in Christ. 
 If he is in political office or management — he to 
 the degree of his faith is Christlike. So at 
 large the Christian Church to the degree of its 
 faith is like Christ in doing good to the commu- 
 nity and to the world. So civilization is Chris- 
 tian only to the extent of its living like Christ, 
 that virtually is the extent of the influence on 
 public opinion of true believers who live like 
 Christ. 
 
IX. 
 
 TWENTY-FIFTH LORD'S DAY OF THE 
 HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 "SOURCE OF FAITH" 
 
 By grace have ye been saved through 
 faith, and that not of yourselves. It's the 
 gift of God not of works that no man 
 should glory. — Eph. 2 :8, 9. 
 
 IN our studies of the Apostle's Creed, we have 
 already paid some attention to the articles 
 concerning the Church and the Communion 
 of Saints. This, and several following Lord's 
 Days of our Catechism treat with greater elabo- 
 ration of the life, the methods and the aims of 
 the Christian Church. When Christ said : "Upon 
 this rock I will build my Church," we understand 
 He referred to the confession of faith in Him, as 
 the Christ, the Son of God. It is quite true to 
 our human nature that those having such a faith 
 should group themselves together in a special 
 organization. Christ, the object of this faith, 
 who thus groups believers together and is their 
 head, has given His Church two significant rites : 
 Baptism, the rite of entrance — and The Lord's 
 Supper, the rite of maintenance. He has also 
 prescribed certain principles for the government 
 of the Church and has given His Church a 
 
 117 
 
118 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 special work to do in the world. It is of these 
 subjects, these few Lord's Days of the Catechism 
 treat with some elaboration. Of Faith in its 
 source — of the nature and use of the Sacraments 
 — of the government of the Church and of the 
 spirit of grateful life service. 
 
 The Epistle to the Ephesians may well be 
 called the Epistle of the glory of the Church of 
 Christ. It shows that God has exalted Christ 
 to be the Head of the Church — and the Ephesians 
 who were without God in the world are now of 
 the household of God and are growing into a 
 holy temple for the habitation of God by the 
 Spirit. They were dead in trespasses and thus 
 they were afar off and had no hope. Now they 
 are made nigh in the blood of Christ. God hath 
 raised them up and made them sit in Heavenly 
 places in Christ Jesus. God shows in the years 
 to come the exceeding riches of His grace in 
 kindness toward Paul, the writer, toward the 
 Ephesians, towards us in this far off land and 
 age, in Christ Jesus. 
 
 Paul speaks to his and to their experience and 
 to our's as well when he uses the text, "By grace 
 have ye been saved through faith — and that not 
 of yourselves, the Gift of God." We thus can easily 
 see the glory of the Church is being saved hy 
 grace and showing this grace to all the ages — 
 saved by grace and proclaiming to the world 
 salvation by the grace of God in Christ. 
 
 Our Lord's Day of the Catechism has taught 
 the spirit of the text. Whence is the faith that 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 119 
 
 makes us partakers of Christ's salvation, it asks 
 — and this answer is prompt and clear: "The 
 Holy Ghost works faith in our hearts by the 
 preaching of the Gospel and confirms it by the 
 use of the Sacraments." The text says salvation 
 is by grace through faith, the gift of God — and 
 the Catechism shows how the Holy Ghost works 
 faith in our hearts. 
 
 Our natural pride of heart is apt to exaggerate 
 and misconstrue the statement of the Scripture, 
 "that faith is the gift of God" into the conclusion 
 that faith is a new power of the soul that 
 others do not have and that this new power 
 separating a few from the whole race of man- 
 kind, is given to the selected few by the sovereign 
 choice of God. 
 
 The Catechism guards us against this spiritual 
 pride by showing how the Holy Ghost works 
 faith in us by the preaching of the Gospel and 
 the use of the Sacraments. The nature and use 
 of the Sacraments are so fully treated in the next 
 Lord's Days that we need only to glance at them 
 now. Christ, the head of the Church, instituted 
 them. He selected the most simple things known 
 among men — washing with water and eating 
 bread. He made these significant of washing the 
 spiritual nature, the soul, and feeding the soul 
 with Himself. He associated with these simple 
 acts His promise of full salvation. As the Cate- 
 chism teaches, "by the use of these He more fully 
 declares and seals to us the promise of the Gos- 
 pel." The whole idea of Christ seems to make 
 
120 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 clear and sure by the most simply acts His 
 saving grace as received and applied to the needy 
 soul. Again the natural pride of the human 
 heart has clustered around these simple rites 
 of initiation into the Christian Church and es- 
 pecially of the maintenance of the Christian life 
 a number of mysteries and even magical influ- 
 ences calculated to centre faith in them as 
 channels of the sovereign choice and powers of 
 God. Even the word "Sacrament" we use con- 
 cerning them is of our own selection and has 
 some meanings evidently foreign to the simple 
 teachings of our Lord. 
 
 Leaving the further consideration of the Sacra- 
 ments to the coming Lord's Days, let us now 
 consider "Faith as the gift of God," and how 
 the Holy Ghost works faith in our hearts — how 
 we are saved by grace, and what is the purpose 
 of the Christian Church; the mission Christ has 
 given His Church to do in the world. 
 
 If you ask, "How did these Ephesians become 
 Christians?" the answer is, "The Gospel was 
 preached to them." Christ had lived and died 
 in Judea. He rose from the dead and was living 
 at the right hand of God, His work of salvation 
 fully accepted. Men believing this Gospel had 
 traveled as far as Ephesus and there preached 
 it to all whom they could reach, and they lived 
 it before men. Some who heard had been so 
 impressed by the message and the life of the 
 believers, that they, too, believed, and these be- 
 lievers formed the Church at Ephesus — they 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 121 
 
 were grouped together by this belief, and they 
 used the Sacraments to make more clear and 
 more sure their belief in Christ. 
 
 But there were some in Ephesus who did not 
 hear the preaching of the gospel, and there were 
 some who heard so carelessly or with such oppo- 
 sition that they did not believe in Christ. With 
 reference to the first class, the fact that they did 
 not hear is to be attributed to the providence of 
 God in the use of means, that is it is due to the 
 small number comparatively of the believers 
 preaching the Gospel and to their inability or 
 inefficiency to preach to all the Ephesians. With 
 reference to the second class, those who hearing 
 and from carelessness or opposition did not be- 
 lieve, was that to be attributed to the sovereignty 
 of God in not bestowing upon these the gift of 
 faith — was it because they could not believe — 
 were destitute of the power of faith? Did those 
 who believed have a new power given them by 
 the sovereign choice of God, and did they believe 
 from that reason that they could, had the power 
 to believe, while the others had no such power 
 and so could not believe? 
 
 The asking of this question of those living in 
 that far off place and age makes the question 
 itself very clear; but the conditions are exactly 
 the same today with us in this Christian land — 
 and in heathen lands. Only with reference to the 
 answer to be given to it, we have a more full 
 understanding of the nature and character of 
 God and of the special work of the Holy Ghost 
 
122 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 from the whole Bible and from the history of 
 the Church and of the world from Bible times — 
 and also we have a large and more intimate 
 knowledge of nature itself and especially of our 
 own spiritual nature. As we ask the question of 
 the Ephesians, they give no answer. As we ask 
 the question of the Bible and of ourselves, the 
 answer becomes quite clear. 
 
 Man as man, the creature of God, has the 
 power of faith. However weak or depraved the 
 living man may be, he has the power of faith 
 in its four essential elements — he believes in the 
 existence of anything on sufficient evidence ; he 
 has an insight in qualities found in persons and 
 so believes in them ; he has the power of trusting 
 his interests in the hands of persons and so has 
 faith in them — he has the power of directing his 
 life to persons and causes by his faith in them. 
 We have already in this Lord's Day, treating of 
 the "I believe in" of the Apostle's Creed, con- 
 sidered these powers of faith. Whenever a being 
 in the form of man is found without this power 
 of faith, in any single one of its four elements, 
 we count him as demented ; as mentally and 
 morally deficient. 
 
 If we ask further, is there essential difference 
 in this faith, as it is directed toward man or 
 toward God, we must recognize that it is only 
 in the matter of direction and that this is only in 
 the matter of degree. There may be aversion to 
 believe, to insight, to trust, to a principle of 
 action toward man, and this may exist also 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 123 
 
 toward God. But a man's aversion to a thing 
 or a person does not destroy his freedom of 
 choice. A patient may be horribly averse to a 
 physician and to the medicines he prescribes, 
 yet he may trust him and take it or not, as he 
 pleases, and his life may depend on his choice. 
 Faith is always the act of a man. Of its essence 
 it must be voluntary. God does not believe for 
 us. The Holy Ghost does not force us to 
 believe : that would not be our act at all, it would 
 be His alone. 
 
 The text says, "Faith is the gift of God." The 
 Catechism says the Holy Ghost works faith in 
 our hearts. When we ask the question, "How 
 does God work?" we recognize the question is 
 essential to our mental life; that we would not 
 be thinking beings if we did not ask it. And 
 we also recognize that we are learners under 
 the Great Teacher, children at school, and that 
 He is pleased when we learn of Him. Surely we 
 are being taught by God himself when we look 
 out upon nature about us — when we look into 
 our own natures, and when we try to read aright 
 the teachings of Prophets and Apostles, and 
 especially when we listen to the teachings of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 We live in a day when science has discovered 
 many truths in nature and when it is now in- 
 tently studying the powers of the soul of man. 
 It asks this question of origin. It has studied 
 the material universe — the mineral kingdom, and 
 it goes back through the various phenomenal 
 
124 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 elements to the atom — farther back still to the 
 constituents of the atom of each element, the 
 positive electron of its nucleus around which 
 revolves the negative electrons. These various 
 electrons resist and attract, repel and combine, 
 they have the power we call force, which rules 
 in the sweep of the constellations of blazing suns 
 and in the formation of our earth and its move- 
 ments about our little sun. Whence the atom 
 and its wonderful powers and laws? We ask, 
 and science can only answer — God. We look out 
 upon the earth covered with vegetation and teem- 
 ing with life in waters, and air and on land. 
 Whence this life, of lov/est order, of ascending 
 grades? We ask and science can only answer — 
 God. We have investigated thoroughly. We find 
 it does not come from dead matter — plant life 
 only comes from a seed — animal life only comes 
 from animal life. We go back and back and 
 back. Life only comes from the Life Giver — the 
 God who made the atom — He also made the plant 
 and the animal. 
 
 Now we come to ourselves : beings who have 
 intellect, who can read the thoughts of God in 
 nature, beings who have personality with all its 
 wonderful powers and kinships, who can think 
 and feel and choose — who are moral persons 
 knowing the distinctions of right and wrong, and 
 having a choice of one or the other. Whence this 
 being? We ask — science answers from God, the 
 Person, not from the Material Atom, not from 
 the senseless vegetations, not from the imper- 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 125 
 
 sonal, unmoral animal — Man can only come from 
 God. So this highly gifted being, the being hav- 
 ing faith, believing on evidence, having insight 
 of personal qualities, trusting persons, control- 
 ling himself by faith, thinking with all his 
 powers, is the creature of God. 
 
 Wonderful powers of faith, but man should 
 not be proud — he has not made it by his own 
 action. Faith itself is the gift of God. Still 
 the question arises — this faith in its highest 
 reach, which distinguishes the spiritual from 
 the material man, which is not limited to the 
 present order of persons and things, of sense 
 and times, which reaches into the high sphere of 
 persons and things unseen and eternal. Whence 
 this faith? Again science can only answer — 
 God. But now we see a wonderful law of God's 
 working, the answer nature gives to the question 
 of the mind, of how God gives faith. In all 
 the wonderful process of creative powers from 
 the original atom to the loftiest man, each grade 
 of the upward process is based upon the lower. 
 The vegetable seed of life comes from the Life 
 Giver, not from the dead matter; but it draws 
 into its new power the properties of the matter. 
 It is not independent of or separated from the 
 electron and its force, but takes it up into new 
 combinations. So animal life is based upon 
 the material creation and the vegetable life. It 
 breathes the air, treads the earth and lives upon 
 its growth. So man while having powers above 
 the animal, while he is from the Great Person, 
 
126 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 God, and having powers of personality, in like- 
 ness of God, still he is based upon and dependent 
 upon the animal, up grade after grade upon the 
 atom. We see that God gives life, and also we 
 have a glimpse of how He gives it. He does not 
 throw away his prior rights, but adds to them. 
 He gives life in all its grades; but this gift in 
 its application is related to and takes up into 
 itself the nature upon which it is based and with 
 which it grows. 
 
 So in His greatest gift of Eternal Life, God 
 is the Life Giver — He gives His life in His Son, 
 who takes upon Himself our nature — lives for 
 us, dies for us, appeals to us, lives in us. When 
 we ask, "How does God work faith in us" — the 
 answer nature and the Bible both give is that 
 God ever works constructively. He begins, car- 
 ries on, and completes His work. Not by casting 
 aside, by destroying, but by keeping and adding. 
 That much abused and much misunderstood and 
 opposed word "evolution" becomes of large sig- 
 nificance when we can describe it not as mater- 
 ialistic, but as Christian. God is the Author of 
 the great plan — and presides over every step of 
 its unfolding. He created the star dust, the 
 wonderful electron atom — He formed the universe 
 of blazing suns and this beautiful earth upon 
 which we dwell. He gives the life in all its 
 forms which makes this earth its home, even 
 the high mental and moral life of mankind, 
 and He gives the eternal life in His Son, our 
 Savior. "To know God and Jesus Christ whom 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 127 
 
 He hath sent is Eternal Life." He always gives 
 by using that already given and adding to it. 
 It gives new direction to old powers, new appli- 
 cation to such powers in the new life. 
 
 God does not contradict Himself in His works, 
 so that His conduct at any single point is in- 
 dependent of and separate from the rest. What- 
 ever control he exercises over man and in man, 
 is consistent with the free agency He originally 
 gave man. God never coerces man. As a free 
 agent, man fell into sin — as a free agent he 
 remains in sin — so as a free agent he has faith 
 in Christ and is saved from sin. Faith is not a 
 new power given to a special few, but the power 
 possessed toward men, now taking the direction 
 toward God, and the change of direction is worked 
 by God in the natural way by presenting Christ 
 as the incentive and object of faith. God works 
 by laws, a regular procedure — Man discovers and 
 obeys laws. In nature obedience to law may be 
 without conscious dependence upon God, and se- 
 cures the natural results — the harvest from sow- 
 ing the seed, but loses ever in this, the highest 
 realm of the harvest, as a gift of God. But in 
 salvation, obedience to God includes conscious 
 dependence upon God — the surrender of the soul 
 to God in the use of and obedience to the truth 
 and in trust and obedience to God in Christ. 
 
 The idea of a capricious God is not found in 
 nature, nor yet in the Bible. God is sovereign, 
 both nature and Bible agree, but capriciousness 
 belongs to earthly kings, not to the Heavenly 
 
128 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 King. He saves according to the pleasure of His 
 own will. But we know His character, we know 
 His will is good to the children of men. Listen 
 to Christ: "God so loved the world that He gave 
 His only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth 
 in Him might be saved." The Apostle John 
 says the gospel "was written that we might 
 believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, 
 and so have life in Him." The Apostle James 
 says, "Of His own will begat He with the word 
 of truth." The Apostle Peter says: "Ye are 
 born again by the word of God." The Apostle 
 Paul says — he who wrote our text — "So their 
 faith Cometh by hearing and hearing by the word 
 of God." Our Lord's Day of the Catechism has 
 caught the spirit of the Scriptures, and tells 
 us the Holy Ghost worketh faith by the use of 
 means, the preaching of the Word, and the use 
 of the Sacraments. 
 
 With reference to the Church, there are evi- 
 dently but two classes. Members, grouped to- 
 gether by faith in Christ — and not members. 
 We can hardly say that those not members have 
 no faith in Christ. There are many, doubtless, 
 who are careless and indifferent to the claims of 
 Christ. Still, even these know of Christ and so 
 have that element of faith — belief on sufficient 
 evidence. Surely you should not be indifferent 
 to the claims of Christ upon you. His great 
 interest in you should show you the importance 
 of learning more of Him — by trusting Him — of 
 living in and for Him. If you do not give Him 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 129 
 
 your heart and life, you withhold from Him 
 His due; and you can never be right while you 
 are doing Him so great a wrong. 
 
 Others have faith in Christ, they think and 
 claim, but do not unite with His Church for 
 various reasons, as, they are not worthy, they 
 are not clear on various points of doctrine. They 
 are better now than many church members, and 
 a host of other reasons. Granting that you have 
 faith in Christ, is your course right? Christ 
 has founded His Church and given it a great 
 work to do in this world. The Church is distinct 
 from the world by organization and ordinance— 
 and as such has a large and beneficient work to 
 do in the world, to represent and preach the 
 Word and Life of the Savior to the race of man- 
 kind. Now, if all should follow your example 
 and influence, the church would cease, would 
 come to an end in the world. Christ's plan of 
 saving the world would fail. You may say, my 
 
 life is small — but it is large enough for that 
 
 it sets that example— it puts forth that influence. 
 It is well to be humble, but we are carrying our 
 humility too far when we make it an excuse for 
 not obeying Christ. 
 
 The class of church members should recall 
 that like the Ephesians, they are by God's grace 
 of the household of God— having duties and 
 privileges high and glorious. Of these the follow- 
 ing Lord's Days of our Catechism more fully 
 treat. 
 
X. 
 
 TWENTY-FIFTH, TWENTY-SIXTH AND 
 
 TWENTY-SEVENTH LORD'S DAYS OF 
 
 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 "SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM" 
 
 Go ye therefore and make disciples of 
 all the nations baptizing them into the 
 name of the Father and of the Son and of 
 the Holy Ghost.— Matt. 28:19. 
 
 IT is said of John the Baptist, the herald of 
 the King, that he preached "The Kingdom 
 of Heaven is at hand" and "Baptized in the 
 wilderness." 
 
 Christ himself was baptized by John in the 
 Jordan when the Holy Spirit descended upon 
 Him as a dove, and a voice out of the Heaven 
 said: "This is my beloved Son in whom I am 
 well pleased," 
 
 During the ministry of Christ the disciples of 
 Christ baptized large numbers of those who be- 
 lieved on him. 
 
 Our text gives the last command of Christ to 
 His disciples as He was about to ascend to heaven. 
 They were to make disciples of all the nations — 
 were to baptize all such disciples, were to teach 
 them to follow Christ by obeying his commands 
 — and in so doing they had His promise that He 
 would be with them through all ages to the end 
 of the world. 
 
 130 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 131 
 
 The history of the Christian Church in the 
 early days after the ascension of Christ, is de- 
 scribed in the book of the Acts— on the day of 
 Pentacost Peter declares to all the people that 
 the Jesus they had crucified was the Christ Who 
 had been exhalted, had received of the Father 
 the promise of the Holy Spirit and "He had 
 poured forth that which ye see and hear." 
 Many receive this word, about 3,000 souls— and 
 they were baptized. In the following statements 
 of the book of the Acts frequent mention is made 
 
 of baptism. Men and women were baptized 
 
 households were baptized— "he and all his 
 were baptized"— the early disciples evidently 
 obeyed the last command of their Lord. From 
 that day to this through the long ages and the 
 varied experiences and the many races of man- 
 kind the simple ceremony of baptism has been 
 and now is the rite of initiation of the Christian 
 Church. 
 
 It varies in the mode of administration. In 
 the wonderful Baptistry of the Roman Catholic 
 Church in Florence it is by pouring. In the 
 Churches of the Baptists in our and in other 
 lands it is by immersion. In our own church, 
 as in most Protestant Churches it is by sprink- 
 ling. In some places all three methods are em- 
 ployed at the same time. A stream of water 
 deep enough is used — the one representing the 
 Church stands in this river and baptizes those 
 coming down to him. Some bend the head and 
 he sprinkles them from the hand full of water 
 
132 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 he takes from the river — others bend still lower 
 and he pours the water from a pitcher on their 
 heads — still others he immerses in the river — 
 very likely such was the scene when John the 
 Baptist baptized in the River Jordan. In any 
 case it is the application of water to the believer, 
 and he is "Baptized into the name of the Father, 
 and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost" — by the 
 command of Christ. 
 
 Our church acknowledges the validity of either 
 mode, pouring, immersion, or sprinkling, though 
 for sufficient reasons, as we shall see, it prefers 
 the mode of sprinkling. 
 
 Now should an intelligent observer, one who 
 had never heard of Christ or of Christianity, 
 witness for the first time the rite of Baptism — 
 he would be very apt to ask three questions — 
 how did this practice begin — what is its history 
 — who are these who are baptized — what peculiar 
 society do they form, and what does it mean to 
 them, and to all others, and to me? 
 
 We who are so familiar with the custom will 
 do well to ask the same questions. 
 
 What is its history — when did it begin — how 
 has it continued — how did the variety of modes 
 arise? 
 
 Records of great events in the olden times 
 were written on stone — as the obelisks of Egypt 
 — or in brick as the cuneform. records of Baby- 
 lon or in written histories as by Heroditus, or 
 in their effect on mankind — as the battle of Issus 
 was followed by the extending of the Greek 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 133 
 
 Kingdom and language and influence in Asia. 
 One of the most enduring records of a great 
 event, more clear it may be and even lasting than 
 that on stone, or brick, or printed page or its 
 influence in the history of Greece is that found 
 in a significant ceremony observed by a human 
 society whose existence is linked with it. 
 
 One of the strong evidences that Christ lived 
 and taught, died on the Cross, arose from the 
 dead, ascended into heaven, as recorded in the 
 Gospels is the existence of the Christian Church 
 today and its observance of this simple ceremony 
 of initiation into its membership. We go back 
 through the ages until we come to the time when 
 Christ gave the command to the disciples to 
 baptize all nations. 
 
 We can easily see how the variety in mode 
 arose when we recognize the tendency of human 
 nature to elaborations of ceremony and to the 
 love of mystery. Pouring is more elaborate 
 than sprinkling — and associated with it is hav- 
 ing elaborate baptismal founts in our Churches, 
 found in the early history of the church and 
 growing again in our day. Immersion arose in 
 later ages of the church in finding in the Greek 
 word we translate Baptism, a depth of meaning 
 impossible to apply to the ceremony itself. The 
 word has two forms, one means to dip, as to dye 
 a garment in some colored liquid. The other 
 means to immerse, but there is no idea in it of 
 the immersed ever coming out of the water. 
 It remains there. The ship sinks into the sea 
 
134 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 and is soaked with the water — is immersed. This 
 deep and mystic meaning may apply to the 
 thing signified, but not to the ceremony of bap- 
 tism with water. The one baptized in water is 
 neither dyed with water, nor does he remain 
 immersed in it. 
 
 The infinite wisdom and grace of our Lord and 
 Savior led Him to select such a simple rite that 
 all the love in our nature of elaboration and of 
 mystery, as it finds its exercise in all races and 
 through the long ages, could not obscure nor 
 greatly change the simplicity of the ceremony. 
 
 The second question of the intelligent observer 
 is who are these who are baptized, what society 
 do they form? The command of Christ gives 
 the satisfactory answer. Those who were taught 
 of Christ, who thus became His disciples, and 
 were led thus to do His commands — those who 
 acknowledged Him as their Lord were to be 
 baptized. The three thousand who were bap- 
 tized at Pentacost were added to the Apostles 
 and continued in the teaching and fellowship — so 
 it is said in the narrative of the next few days 
 that the number of those who hearing the word 
 believed came to be about five thousand. 
 
 Christ in His earthly ministry has said that a 
 confession of faith in Him as the Lord was the 
 rock upon which He would build His church. 
 
 In the Acts, which recounts the continued work 
 of Christ, the Holy Spirit sent by the ascended 
 Christ blesses the proclaiming of Christ as the 
 Lord by the disciples, in adding to their number 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 135 
 
 a multitude of believers, who upon believing were 
 baptized and so became members of the Church. 
 
 Now as we look through the long centuries 
 back to the time of Christ and over the many- 
 races of men dwelling in the many lands and 
 climes, many people of varied gifts and stages 
 of development we are amazed at the simplicity 
 of the rite of initiation into the Christian Church. 
 There is the entire absence of the occult — it re- 
 quires no long instruction into many mysterious 
 features — there is nothing difficult in it. It re- 
 quires no hard training, nor strong effort, — there 
 is nothing costly in it. It requires no accumula- 
 tion of wealth, it is for the poor, the weak, the 
 ignorant, as well as for the rich, the strong and 
 the learned. Is it not like the Christ? He 
 would shut no believer out of His Church. He 
 is infinitely gracious to all. And still it is like 
 the great teacher Himself — He makes plain the 
 most important truths — it is vastly significant, 
 the simple rite of baptism. 
 
 The baptism of infant children is also in 
 harmony with Christ's teaching. "Suffer the little 
 children to come unto me and forbid them not, 
 for to such belongeth the Kingdom of heaven" 
 — it is in harmony with the promises of the Old 
 Testament to the people, "To you and to your 
 seed after you" — and it is in harmony with the 
 practice of the early church in the baptism of 
 households. 
 
 We now turn to a third earnest question — what 
 does baptism mean to those baptized, and to all 
 
136 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 others? Our Catechism in the former Lord's 
 Day gives the answer — "The Holy Ghost works 
 faith in our hearts by the preaching of the 
 Gospel and confirms it by the use of the Sacra- 
 ments," and further, "The Sacraments are visible 
 signs and seals appointed by God to declare and 
 seal to us the promise of the Gospel." The 
 command of Christ makes baptism follow faith; 
 the preaching awakens faith in Christ, baptism 
 signifies and confirms the faith. Water is used 
 for reviving — particularly for cleansing — water 
 withheld, the earth grows dusty, parched and 
 dead. Water given, the desert blooms with 
 flowers and fruit. Water withheld, man becomes 
 soiled and parched — water applied, he becomes 
 fresh and clean. The application of water to 
 the head of disciples, the sprinkling with water 
 in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy 
 Ghost signifies that the God we worship renews 
 and cleanses us from sin, the sin that defiles and 
 deadens. The command of Christ, the Great Head 
 of the Church to baptize the disciples into the 
 church membership makes the rite not only 
 significant but is given to us as a seal of His 
 promise to confirm our faith. We use a seal 
 to authenticate a deliberate act or promise. So 
 Christ promises to save the one believing in Him 
 and adds the baptism as a seal of His promise. 
 So the Apostle Paul in describing his own conver- 
 sion from unbelief in Christ to believing in Him 
 as his Lord, says that Ananias representing the 
 Church exhorted him "To be baptized and wash 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 137 
 
 away his sins calling on the name of Christ." 
 We see therefore that baptism welcomes one 
 into the society of believers, the Church; that it 
 signifies what Christ does to the believer, cleanses 
 and renews him; and that it is graciously given 
 to the believer to quicken his faith — it is the 
 seal of Christ's promise to save him from sin. 
 
 While the significant rite of entering into the 
 church coming from Christ Himself is to be 
 greatly valued by us we are to be careful not. to 
 allow our inherent love of mystery to attribute 
 such meaning to it as to obscure rather than to 
 reveal Christ, and there is great danger of this 
 as the history of the church clearly proves. 
 There is no such thing as baptismal regenera- 
 tion. Baptism does not regenerate but signifies 
 that Christ regenerates. It is obvious that 
 baptism itself does not save — Christ saves. 
 Baptism does not wash away sins — Christ 
 cleanses — baptism does not renew the soul — 
 Christ renews — so membership in the church 
 does not save — the church does not save, — Christ 
 saves. Having been baptized in infancy does 
 not save the adult, it should lead such to a 
 personal faith in Christ the Savior. Neither does 
 baptism save the child dying in infancy. We 
 have abundant reason for believing that all 
 children dying in infancy are saved by the 
 atoning death of Christ, as Christ says, "To such 
 belongeth the kingdom of heaven" — Christ wel- 
 comes them to His blood bought salvation. 
 
138 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 It certainly is a sad mistake for anyone to 
 think that he can be saved by any formal act, 
 by being baptized — by becoming a member of 
 the church — salvation can only be by becoming 
 by faith a member of Christ. 
 
 By the very simplicity of the rite Christ warns 
 us against bringing into it our own wild fancies 
 and false hopes — we are to see Him in His 
 gracious work and plain teaching — we are to 
 look through it to Christ alone. 
 
 On the other hand we are not to be content 
 with simply believing in Christ without being 
 baptized. We may think we have some reasons 
 for this, and for not uniting with Christ's 
 Church, but we should question every reason 
 which leads one to disobey the clear command of 
 the Christ he believes in, of the Savior he trusts. 
 
 He has commanded us to confess Him before 
 men. The life is the true confession of course, 
 but here is a significant act for such confession 
 which Christ Himself has selected and com- 
 manded; here is also the church to whom He 
 has given the proclamation of His truth to the 
 world by word and life. We should observe the 
 act, should unite with His church. 
 
 Through all the ages this rite, and the entrance 
 to His church have existed. They exist today for 
 His gracious purpose. We are to use them now 
 and to hand them down to the coming time by 
 His direction. 
 
 These then are the meanings of baptism to 
 those who are baptized, and to all others. 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 139 
 
 One enters His church by Christ's appointed 
 way as a believer in Him, thus confessing Him 
 before men as his Lord and allying himself with 
 His followers. One thereby not only confesses 
 his faith and thus honors his Lord and Savior 
 but also strengthens his faith as he recognizes 
 the significance of the rite in Christ's teaching — 
 and receives it as Christ's own seal to His promise. 
 It becomes of vast meaning to him in strengthen- 
 ing his faith. 
 
 Those who witness the rite but do not them- 
 selves believe in Christ are taught and should be 
 deeply impressed — that Christ washes away sins 
 and renews the soul. 
 
 This simple and clear teaching of the Great 
 Teacher and wondrous Savior should lead them 
 to see their need of Him and to trust in Him 
 as their own personal Savior. 
 
XL 
 
 TWENTY-EIGHTH, TWENTY-NINTH AND 
 
 THIRTIETH LORD'S DAYS OF THE 
 
 HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 "SACRAMENT OF THE LORD'S SUPPER" 
 And he took bread and when he had 
 given thanks he broke it and gave it to 
 them saying this is my body which is 
 given for you; this do in remembrance of 
 me — And the cup in like manner after 
 supper saying, This cup is the new cove- 
 nant in my blood which is poured out for 
 Tjou.—LvKE 22:19-20. 
 
 IN certain portions of Africa and South 
 America a white stone is found which is 
 beautiful even in its rough state. But the 
 whiteness is an accumulation of the dust of ages. 
 When this dull outside covering has been taken 
 off, when diamond has cut diamond into many 
 bright sufaces, then the stone flashes with light 
 as a spark of the sun and readily takes rank as 
 the most precious of gems. So in order to dis- 
 cern the clear meaning of the Lord's Supper we 
 must carefully cut off the errors and supersti- 
 tions of the elaborate ceremonies which have 
 accumulated upon it as it has come down to us 
 through the ages until we have nothing left but 
 the simple ceremony instituted by Christ Himself, 
 a gem of purest ray serene, flashing its bright 
 light upon our believing souls. 
 
 140 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 141 
 
 The tendency in human nature to elaborate the 
 ceremonies of religion and to associate mysterious 
 power with them could find but little scope for 
 its exercise in baptism as we have already con- 
 sidered — it was a rite of initiation, the one thing 
 being the application of water to the one enter- 
 ing the Christian Church to be but once applied 
 and only to a single or to only a few individuals 
 at one time. But the Lord's Supper was to be 
 frequently observed by all members of the Chris- 
 tian Church as a society, an act of worship more 
 elaborate in itself and of great significancy in 
 its frequency and general observance. 
 
 The growth of ceremony probably began very 
 early in the history of the Christian Church and 
 we can easily account for it. The simple religion 
 of Jesus Christ was planted in the midst of the 
 splendid and magnificent ceremonials of the 
 Jewish religion in the Temple at Jerusalem, and 
 spreading thence to the great pagan cities of 
 Egypt, Greece and Rome it met everywhere the 
 elaborate and mysterious ceremonies of the great 
 heathen Temples. Worshippers of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ largely came out from these re- 
 ligions — they brought with them of course the 
 educated taste received from such elaborate cere- 
 monies and desiring to win others from these 
 religions as well as satisfy their own tastes they 
 would quite naturally begin to make the religion 
 of Christ more attractive in ceremonial. In so 
 doing from such good motives they would not 
 intend to in any way change the religion they 
 
142 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 confessed, and still ^s ceremonies have their deep 
 meaning as the elaboration grew the change in 
 beliefs would naturally follow. The simplicity of 
 the ceremony as Christ instituted it, as it came 
 from the Great Teacher, taught simple truths — 
 elaboration would do away with the simplicity 
 both of the ceremony and its teaching. 
 
 The Roman Catholic Church today-^as when 
 our fathers came out from it and our Heidelberg 
 Catechism was made, holds views of the Sacra- 
 ment widely different from ours and makes it 
 the centre of their elaborate worship. It is no 
 stretch of Christian charity for us to believe 
 that in the Roman Catholic Church there are 
 many true disciples of Christ who have an 
 humble faith in Him alone for their salvation, 
 who sincerely obey His precepts and live their 
 lives in His spirit and after His example. As 
 we examine the errors of that Church with 
 regard to the Lord's Supper, we should avoid 
 any harsh, unchristian spirit and simply try to 
 keep our faith free from them, and to bring 
 others out from such errors as we have an oppor- 
 tunity. I think I state the matter fairly — at 
 least, I mean to, from all the information I can 
 gather. 
 
 The Roman Catholic Church holds that the 
 bread and wine used in the Lord's Supper are 
 changed in the act of consecration by the al- 
 mighty power of God into the body and blood of 
 Christ and as the divinity of Christ is insepara- 
 bly connected with the body and blood, they 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 143 
 
 believe the whole Christ is present in each parti- 
 cle of the consecrated bread and wine. 
 
 The elements are therefore no longer bread 
 and wine but the body and blood of Christ, they 
 have become Christ Himself — the sacrifice — the 
 host. The elaborate ceremonies of the church 
 therefore have this as the centre. 
 
 The host is worshipped. The most impressive 
 scene in the worship of that church is near the 
 close of the service when the priest takes from 
 the Tabernacle the consecrated host and turning 
 slowly lifts it over the congregation ; a little bell 
 gives warning, and the whole congregation bend 
 the head in worship, the host is too holy to be 
 looked upon — again the bell rings, the host is 
 replaced by the priest in the Tabernacle of the 
 Altar. 
 
 Those who have witnessed the elevation of the 
 host must be impressed by the evident devotion 
 of both priests and people. Longfellow in the 
 Golden Legend says: 
 
 "Melodious bells among the spires 
 
 "O'er all the house tops, and through heaven 
 above 
 
 "Proclaim the elevation of the Host." 
 
 The host is offered in sacrifice for sin. The 
 Sacrifice of the Mass is the same as the sacrifice 
 of Christ upon the Cross, is its constant repeti- 
 tion. As the sacrifice is the same so also is the 
 Priest. Christ offers Himself. The officiating 
 priest is carefully instructed not to say this is 
 the body of Christ, but "This is my body." This 
 
144 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 sacrifice is offered not only for the sins of all 
 the people, but for individual sins and for sins 
 after death as well. 
 
 In order to partake of this sacrifice therefore 
 there must be individual confession of sins to 
 the priest, penance directed by him and absolu- 
 tion given by him; these are necessary prepara- 
 tions for partaking of the Lord's Supper. 
 
 In partaking of the Lord's Supper, one par- 
 takes of Christ Himself. The consecrated wafer 
 is given by the priest to the communicant — but 
 not the blood of Christ since there is the danger 
 of a drop falling on the ground which would be 
 desecration. But the belief is that each one 
 partaking of the Supper partakes in that act of 
 Christ Himself and therefore that the consecrated 
 wafer conveys the inherent strength of Christ 
 Himself to the communicant. Also it follows that 
 if one does not partake of the wafer he has no 
 part in Christ. 
 
 If the claim is made that the change of the 
 bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ 
 is the miracle worked by God to authenticate His 
 Son and His Church v/e can only say that it is 
 contrary to all the nature of miracles in the 
 Scriptures. They appeal to the senses as 
 beyond the ordinary laws and forces of nature; 
 this is contradicted by the senses. The form, 
 color, taste, properties of the bread and wine re- 
 main, these cannot belong to the body and blood 
 of Christ, they must therefore exist without be- 
 longing to any substance — a test of faith con- 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 145 
 
 trary to all the tests of Scripture or experience. 
 
 But if the bread and wine still remain such 
 then to worship them borders on idolatry and 
 their sacrifice is derogatory to the sacrifice of 
 Christ. 
 
 We think of Christ as saying this bread 
 broken by me represents my body soon to be 
 broken on the Cross for you; this wine poured 
 out by me represents my blood soon to be poured 
 out on the cross for the remission of your sins. 
 
 But though we Protestants thus cast aside the 
 elaborate addition of ceremony and errors found 
 in the Roman Catholic Church, and strive to go 
 back to the simplicity of the Lord's Supper as 
 instituted by our Lord, there is grave danger 
 we may unintentionally and unconsciously have 
 our views tinged by their's to some extent. This 
 is quite natural, almost inevitable, when we con- 
 sider that our fathers were Romanists and broke 
 away from their life long association and culti- 
 vated taste and views, and that we live today 
 side by side with that church, and more and 
 more recognize the greatness of her history and 
 her life and her work in the world. 
 
 One such danger is to regard the Lord's Sup- 
 per as a great mystery — this is a shadow of 
 transubstantiation. Rather it is a simple rite to 
 ;nake plain a great truth of our religion, the 
 bread broken, the wine poured out to show that 
 Christ died for us — our eating and drinking to 
 show our trust in him. 
 
 The truth is stupendous — but the sign is so 
 
146 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 simple in order to help the most learned and 
 the most ignorant believer to grasp that truth. 
 
 Another danger we are to guard against is 
 that the Lord's Supper is a peculiar channel 
 of grace, that Christ is specially present in His 
 supper in what is called the Real presence of 
 the Ritualists; this is more even than a shadow 
 of Roman transubstantiation — it may be called 
 consubstantiation. Christ is indeed present in 
 His Supper but only in the same sense He is 
 present in the Scriptures, in the word He 
 preached; in fact the Lord's Supper is His own 
 preaching of the word — making plain and show- 
 ing forth His own teaching of the meaning of 
 His death to quicken our faith. 
 
 A third danger arising from these two is to 
 regard the Lord's Supper as requiring great 
 holiness to partake of it. This too is a shadow 
 of transubstantiation which requires freedom 
 from sin, the confession to the priest and his 
 absolution to become a communicant. 
 
 But our form for the administration of the 
 Lord's Supper says: "We do not come to this 
 supper to testify that we are perfect and right- 
 eous in ourselves ; but on the contrary consider- 
 ing that we seek our life out of ourselves in 
 Jesus Christ we acknowledge that we lie in the 
 midst of death." 
 
 It is indeed a rite of awe inspiring solemnity 
 and requires due preparation on the part of the 
 communicant — but the preparation is a sense of 
 our sinfulness and of our faith in our Savior. 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 147 
 
 The Apostle Paul's exhortation to examine our- 
 selves lest we eat and drink condemnation to 
 ourselves guards against making it a feast of 
 self indulgence. 
 
 It seems that in the church at Corinth each 
 family brought its own provisions, the rich 
 feasted on more than the poor could bring, 
 hence division rather than communion, hence 
 also the danger of over gratification of appetite 
 — the tendency to diversion and drunkenness — 
 to profane the supper and the Lord of the supper 
 before the heathen was the danger Paul warned 
 against. 
 
 Now we go back through the ages to the night 
 of the betrayal and denial and desertion — when 
 Christ went alone to the cross, when they had 
 not learned fully the teaching of His death — they 
 have kept the passover, the old testament sacra- 
 ment now fulfilled in Christ. And now He breaks 
 the bread and pours the wine and gives to His 
 disciples and they eat and drink with Him, and 
 He institutes the Lord's Supper for all future 
 ages. We see at once it is a communion — the 
 intimate fellowship of the Supper. Christ is 
 their acknowledged Lord. They have various 
 degrees of knowledge of Him — of faith in Him 
 and of character resembling Him; but they are 
 equals among themselves in that they are be- 
 lievers in Him — they commune with Him. 
 
 His acts and words teach the disciples the 
 meaning of His coming death. He could have 
 avoided the cross, ascending with the "Twelve 
 
148 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 Legions of Angels." He could have overthrown 
 the power of Rome as easily as the soldiers 
 were thrown to the ground when He said "I am" 
 in the garden. But He taught them that He died 
 for them — that He gave up His own life upon 
 the cross for them. This broken bread repre- 
 sents my body which is given to you — so I break 
 it, and give it to you — so I give my life for you 
 as He gave the cup, "It is the New Testament in 
 my blood which is poured out for you" — "For 
 the remission of sins." All of you drink of it — 
 and they all drank of it. You do not fully 
 understand my mission, my death but I show 
 you now — that I die for you — this is a sign to 
 you — and this is my pledge to you. 
 
 We see at once the gracious tenderness of 
 Christ in giving to His ignorant and weak dis- 
 ciples in the hour of their need such a clear 
 and simple teaching of the meaning of His death 
 and such a plain and strong pledge to confirm 
 their faith that He died for them — and so would 
 secure the remission of their sins and would 
 sustain and cheer their life in Him. There is 
 nothing to repel the weak faith, its whole design 
 is to feed and strengthen the weak faith. This 
 is no mystery, its whole design is to explain the 
 mystery of His death. This gracious tenderness 
 of Christ comes down to us in our need — a sign 
 and seal of His dying for us and giving His life 
 to us. There is the utmost graciousness there- 
 fore in the command of Christ, to those disciples 
 and through them to the disciples of all succeed- 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 149 
 
 ing ages. "This do in remembrance of me." He 
 shows them they have a duty to Him as well as 
 a great privilege in communing with Him. Re- 
 member me — I have taught you the way of 
 holiness. Remember me — I have died for you. 
 Remember me — I live for you and in you. This 
 is the clear teaching and the loving appeal of 
 the Supper — soundness of faith must result — 
 the central truth of Christ's atoning death is 
 clearly and constantly to be kept in mind. Fervor 
 of heart must result as we think of His wonderful 
 love in dying for us — in securing freedom from 
 the penalties and pollution of sin for us, by His 
 loving self sacrifice. Holiness of life must result 
 as we recognize that we no longer should live 
 to ourselves, but to Him who died for us and 
 rose again who is our ever living Lord and 
 Savior. In describing the institution of the 
 Lord's Supper, the Apostle Paul adds as is 
 clearly intended in this remembrance of Christ, 
 "that as often as we thus eat this bread and 
 drink this cup we proclaim the Lord's death till 
 He come." Thus each member of Christ's church 
 — and the whole church throughout the ages 
 preaches and proclaims to all the world the death 
 of Christ for the sins of the world — and thus 
 calls upon all to believe in Him for salvation. 
 This is to continue until Christ comes again — the 
 hope held before each believer — before the whole 
 church — before the whole world — that He who so 
 loved us that He died for us — who lives now in 
 believing souls, and who yearns over all souls 
 to save them, that He will come again. 
 
150 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 Thus the Supper becomes a divinely appointed 
 way of confessing Christ before the world, of 
 preaching Him to the world and thus of con- 
 firming our faith and quickening our love and 
 devotion for Him. The two must ever be united 
 as clearly intended by Christ. 
 
 The Lord's Supper has not mystic power ; it in 
 no sense saves from sin, but it constantly directs 
 the attention of the believer and of the world 
 to the central vital truth of Christianity that 
 Christ died for sinners. 
 
 Examine ourselves in the light of this truth, 
 in our personal relation to this Christ. Christ 
 went from the Supper to the Cross. He died for 
 our sins — to the resurrection — He rose for our 
 justification — to the throne on high — He lives in 
 us by His spirit; He will come again to complete 
 His blood bought salvation. We need Him. Let 
 us trust Him. He commands us to confess Him. 
 Let us obey Him. He promises to save us. Let 
 us take the seal of His promise as given to us 
 by Him. He calls us to proclaim His death till 
 He comes. Let us with ever quickened faith, 
 with ever increasing love, with ever growing 
 likeness to Him as fostered by our frequent 
 observing His Supper in remembrance of Him, 
 commend Him to the world as our Lord and our 
 Redeemer. We trust in the person Jesus Christ 
 — love Him — serve Him — preach Him to the 
 world in observing the Supper He instituted in 
 remembrance of Him. 
 
XII. 
 
 THIRTY-FIRST LORD'S DAY OF THE 
 HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 "ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH" 
 
 And I will give unto thee the keys of 
 the Kingdom of Heaven: and whatsoever 
 thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound 
 in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose 
 on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 
 
 —Matt. 16:19. 
 
 GIBBON, in his history of Rome, alleges 
 there were five causes for the early and 
 extensive spread of Christianity in the 
 Roman Empire. First, the zeal of the disciples 
 of Christ. Second, the belief in the rewards of 
 a future life. Third, their claiming the power 
 to cure diseases. Fourth, their pure, even 
 austere morals; and fifth, their churches were 
 republics in which equality, brotherly love and 
 pure discipline prevailed. 
 
 There had been so-called republics in early 
 Greece and Rome, but in both cases it v/as only 
 of free citizens, and often these were a very 
 small proportion of the population. In Greece, 
 at one time, it is alleged that four-fifths of the 
 people were slaves; and Gibbon says that at 
 least one-half of the population of the Roman 
 Empire were slaves. These, and the multitude 
 of citizens of conquered lands, and with them a 
 multitude of the poor were excluded from all 
 power in the government. Even early republics 
 
 151 
 
152 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 were autocracies and in the time of Christ, the 
 government of the empire was in the hands of 
 a very few autocrats — the mass of the people 
 were not even citizens of Rome — they were the 
 ignoble, the poor, the slaves, and the subject 
 people of conquered nations. 
 
 When a church was established in any city of 
 the great empire by the preaching of the gospel, 
 the admission to the church and the government 
 of the church were placed in its own hands by 
 the words of Christ in our text — under the 
 questioning of Christ, Peter speaking for the 
 disciples, had just confessed their belief that 
 Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God. Christ 
 then said to him, upon this confession of faith, 
 upon this rock, I will build my church. And unto 
 thee, thus voicing the faith and so representing 
 the disciples — that is, unto my church I give the 
 keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, that is the 
 power of admission and exclusion to its own 
 membership. 
 
 The preaching of the gospel by an apostle in 
 any city of the empire or the preaching of 
 travelers, gathered a few disciples of Christ — 
 these confessed their faith in him to each other 
 and before men, and so the nucleus of the church 
 was formed. The sole ground of admission was 
 the confession of faith — the applicant might be 
 a nobleman, even a member of Caesar's house- 
 hold — or a rich business man of the city — or the 
 poor citizen — or the slave — all were admitted 
 as equals solely upon confession of faith. 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 153 
 
 Now as we watch the growth of the church 
 as recorded in the Acts, we see a church becom- 
 ing so large in numbers that it needed organiza- 
 tion — such a church elected from its own mem- 
 bers. Deacons, whose ministry of alms was 
 needed, and further on the Apostles appointed 
 Elders elected by the people in each separate 
 church. Some of these elected ruling Elders were 
 preaching Elders as well. And in bidding fare- 
 well to the church at Ephesus, the Apostle Paul 
 calls upon these Elders to watch over the flock 
 as the Holy Ghost had made them Bishops to 
 feed the Church of God. 
 
 Thus in the prevailing, autocratic, civil govern- 
 ment there was established a society having for 
 the admission and government of its member- 
 ship, the equality, brotherly love and self-control 
 of a religious republic. We can easily see, with 
 Gibbon, the great historian, that this would be 
 an element greatly fostering the spread of Chris- 
 tianity. 
 
 In this day of great conflict between autocracy 
 and democracy among the nations of the earth, 
 when our own great republic has entered the con- 
 flict that democracy may have freedom of de- 
 velopment in the world, it is well for us to 
 recognize that the government Christ established 
 in His church was a republic. God's plans do 
 not change. This had been God's plan for the 
 government of His ancient people of Israel — 
 Moses had brought the people of Israel out from 
 slavery, under Pharaoh, King of Egypt, and had 
 
154 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 formed a government for them in their new 
 land. This too, was a republic — the tribes were 
 to govern themselves — ^they were to elect their 
 rulers — "Able men, such as fear God, men of 
 truth, hating unjust gain, to be rulers of the 
 divisions of the people." Moses not only de- 
 livered from the bondage of Egypt, but provided, 
 by God's direction, a government opposite in 
 spirit from that of Egypt: that afterwards 
 autocracy, the grasping of power by the ambi- 
 tion and ability of a few led to the Kingdom, 
 was the act of man — overruled by God at length 
 in Christ's government of the spiritual Kingdom, 
 that of the Church. 
 
 That in the government of the church, the 
 ambitions and ability of a few should within a 
 few centuries have brought in the spirit of 
 autocracy — the rule of a few over God's people, 
 was the act of man in conflict with the design 
 of Christ. 
 
 We of the Reformed Church in America may 
 well rejoice, both for the government of our 
 great nation and for our church that we can 
 trace back through our Holland ancestry in the 
 Dutch Republic, the teaching of Christ and the 
 New Testament Church these four great princi- 
 ples — First, The Source of Authority, the people 
 of the individual church. Second, the people 
 ruled by their chosen representatives. Third, 
 individual churches combine with each other by 
 their representatives — so the states in our nation, 
 so the churches in our denomination. Fourth, 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 155 
 
 the band of this combination, both in our nation 
 and in our church is a written constitution. 
 
 So the name of our church itself is not derived 
 from government simply as is the Episcopal, the 
 Presbyterian, or the Congregational churches; 
 or from rites of worship as is the Baptist, or 
 from method of life as is the Methodist, but in 
 government worship and in life, we go back of 
 all the errors of our Mother Rome and of all 
 the peculiarities of our Protestant sister churches 
 and as clearly as we can learn and as earnestly 
 as we can strive we seek to deserve the name 
 Reformed, to be the New Testament church 
 formed again in our modern day. 
 
 Now as we ask our Heidelberg Catechism 
 what are the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven ^-^i 
 given to the church by the Lord, the answer is 
 clear and reasonable, "The preaching of the 
 Holy Gospel and Christian Discipline." Without 
 the gospel there is sin in our hearts and lives — 
 sin in the world but no remedy. Preaching the 
 gospel is the proclaiming by anyone having ex- 
 perienced it of the God-given remedy for sin. 
 The Apostle Paul says, "We are ambassadors for 
 Christ, as tho' God did beseech you by us, we 
 pray you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled to 
 God." Herein is the open door — the key that 
 unlocks and welcomes into the church — the be- 
 liever confesses his faith in Christ. The church 
 is thus the society of believers as Christ taught 
 when his disciples confessed him as their Lord. 
 Whosoever therefore, believes in Christ as the 
 
156 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 Lord and Savior, is to be admitted into the 
 Christian Church on confession of this faith. He 
 may be poor or rich, learned or unlearned, low 
 in social standing or high, having had a good 
 record in morals or a bad one — he is to be ad- 
 mitted to the equality of a confession of Christ, 
 All that can be required of his confession is that 
 it should be credible. The officers of the church, 
 the church itself, may be deceived. A confession 
 may be false and hidden by a fair life. It 
 should be fairly judged at the time of making 
 it and throughout the continued membership. 
 Christ gives the church both the power of admis- 
 sion and of expulsion. Both powers are to be 
 exercised in His spirit and under His direction, 
 and are so confirmed by Him. Even sincere 
 believers are not perfect — among them offences 
 may arise. Church discipline is therefore to be 
 carried out according to the direction and in the 
 spirit of Christ. This, too, our Catechism says 
 is the power of the Keys, the opening and the 
 shutting of the doors of the visible church that 
 it may be like the invisible church seen and 
 approved by Christ in Heaven. Immediately 
 after the confession of the faith of the disciples 
 in our text — and the gift of the Keys to them, 
 Christ, with a chosen few, went up into the 
 mountain of Transfiguration, where he talked 
 with Moses and Elias, representing the Old 
 Testament Church of His coming death at Jeru- 
 salem. 
 
 Soon after this, as it is recorded in the 18th 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 157 
 
 Chapter of the Gospel by St. Matthew, he gave 
 the disciples clear directions for their self-gov- 
 ernment as His church. We may glance at the 
 general scope of these directions. The greatest 
 in the membership of the church is to be the 
 most teachable and only controlled by Christ. 
 The offender is to be treated with largest con- 
 sideration — great faithfulness and utmost love. 
 The object is to win him back to consistent life. 
 Even if he must be expelled, he is to be as a 
 publican and sinner — so not to be rejected, ostra- 
 cized, contemned — but with loving desire to win 
 them all to Christ. Each one also is to express 
 the utmost forgiving spirit to a brother who 
 offends, as he recognizes his own great need of 
 the forgiveness of God. We see at once discipline 
 is to be exercised by each member over himself 
 — by each member over his nearby brother, by 
 the whole church in love to Christ and love to 
 all the members. It is not a matter of discretion 
 to be left undone if one chooses, but to be faith- 
 fully exercised in the spirit and under the 
 direction of Christ. Then are repeated the words 
 of our text: ''Whatsoever ye bind on earth shall 
 be bound in Heaven, and whatsoever ye shall 
 loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven." This 
 is a terrible power given in these words if be- 
 stowed upon any class of men to be exercised 
 according to their own will. Arbitrary govern- 
 ments in the affairs of this life only, have always 
 involved for the one put to death, an appeal to 
 God in the future life — and even against such 
 
158 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 limited power men rise in their manhood to fight 
 for freedom. 
 
 But there is no arbitrary power given here. 
 Even God Himself exercises no arbitrary power. 
 He always rules in righteousness. With Him 
 there is no respect of persons. Surely He would 
 not give such power to any class of men. It is 
 only when the disciples to whom Christ spoke — 
 and in our day the church succeeding the disci- 
 ples — act in the spirit of Christ, the spirit of 
 love seeking to save, giving himself to save, that 
 the power of the Keys exists. Thus, the power 
 of the Keys is to be exercised in welcoming to 
 full membership in the church upon the con- 
 fession of faith and in insisting upon a life in 
 obedience to Christ in harmony with such con- 
 fession of faith. 
 
 The Apostle Paul spent a year and a half in 
 Corinth and gathered a church there of perhaps 
 500 members — gathered them in a city of per- 
 haps 500,000 heathen, from heathen immorality 
 in which they had spent their lives and amid 
 which they were to live in this church organiza- 
 tion. Corinth, the commercial capital of Greece 
 was celebrated for Grecian culture, "Corinthian 
 speech" being a synonym for polish and elo- 
 quence, and notorious also for profligacy, "Cor- 
 inthian life" being a synonym for licentiousness 
 — a license fostered by the worship of licentious 
 gods. It was to be expected that into a church 
 so situated some pride of intellect should enter 
 to question about the reasonableness of Paul's 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 159 
 
 teaching and some licentiousness should enter 
 to contaminate the purity of the Christian life. 
 So in the First Epistle Paul wrote to the 
 Corinthians, he directs the church to keep both 
 its faith and its life pure. The licentious mem- 
 ber is not to be encouraged in his licentiousness 
 by the silence of the church. He is to be faith- 
 fully rebuked for his own sake — and to keep the 
 church to the purity of the life in Christ. If 
 he persists, he is to be expelled from the church, 
 sent back to the world, but this is to be in love 
 to him as well as to save his soul by urging 
 him to repentance. The divisions in the church 
 of different teachings, and the rejection of some 
 great truths of Christianity as the resurrection 
 of the body, Paul meets with an eloquence more 
 fine, even, than the Corinthian eloquence in the 
 chapter on love and the chapter on the resurrec- 
 tion. So we have Christ's own teaching on con- 
 fession of faith and the life of faith in His 
 church, and we have an example by the Apostle 
 to the Gentiles of the way in which the preach- 
 ing of the gospel and Christian discipline should 
 be administered. The object and spirit of dis- 
 cipline are thus clearly taught by our Savior and 
 illustrated by the Apostle Paul. The honor of 
 our Lord, the purity of His church and the wel- 
 fare of the offender. Private grudge is pro- 
 hibited, popular prejudice is to be avoided, arbi- 
 trary power is forbidden. The spirit is only 
 love — love for Christ, love for His church, love 
 for the offender. The brother is to be restored. 
 
160 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 Should he prove stubborn and impenitent, he 
 is to be removed from the membership to be 
 as a publican and sinner. But the whole spirit 
 of the church and experience through the ages 
 is to persuade publicans and sinners to trust 
 Christ as their Savior. So he is to be persuaded 
 to become a Christian. Alas, the church has 
 often, especially through the Middle Ages, lost 
 the spirit of Christ in her discipline, has ostra- 
 cized, imprisoned — even killed the offenders. 
 
 The Catechism clearly declares that both ad- 
 mission to the church by the preaching of the 
 gospel and exclusion from the church by disci- 
 pline should be "according to this command of 
 Christ." Surely it is clear that the church 
 should admit to its membership all those who 
 are really members of Christ by a true faith. 
 There should be, of course, an intelligent accep- 
 tance of Christ, a trust in Him for salvation from 
 sin, and a purpose to live in obedience to Him. 
 All these the disciples had when they confessed 
 their Lord. But they had a great deal yet to 
 learn about Christ and His redeeming work. He 
 had as yet taught them little about the meaning 
 of His death. Not a single one of them could, 
 at that time, have accepted any of the great 
 creeds the church has formulated since the New 
 Testament times — creeds based largely upon the 
 after-teachings of these same and other disciples. 
 While it is very desirable to have creeds as we 
 have seen, and to have a membership well 
 informed upon them, it is certainly not according 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 161 
 
 to the command of Christ to have acceptance 
 of such creeds a condition of admission to the 
 church. One may be a sincere confessor of 
 Christ as his Lord and Savior and yet be igno- 
 rant of many doctrines of the church. He should 
 not be deprived of the duty and privilege of 
 confessing Christ and of the membership of the 
 church. 
 
 The church has no right to make any condi- 
 tions of membership other than Christ has made. 
 On the other hand, all those who do not acknowl- 
 edge Christ as their Lord, do not trust Him as 
 their Savior and do not purpose to live in 
 obedience to Him should not be admitted to the 
 membership — though they be the Kings of the 
 earth, the leaders in learning, in wealth and in 
 social life. The humblest disciple is to be ad- 
 mitted — the loftiest disbeliever is to be excluded 
 according to the command of Christ. So with 
 discipline. If any member of the church, how- 
 ever, great, however small, in worldly rank or 
 standing, falls into an offence, clearly seems to 
 be an offender, as taught by God in His Word, 
 each one is to be reproved in love by the church 
 of which he is a member in order that he may 
 repent and turn from the offense to live the 
 Christ life — and if he becomes impenitent and 
 continues his sinful practices, he is to be expelled 
 from the church. So if one rejects a doctrine of 
 the church, the question arises, is it a primary or 
 a secondary doctrine. Some may question, what 
 is the primary doctrine? The spirit of the creed 
 
162 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 certainly should be, "Come believe in the Lord 
 Jesus Christ with me: let us trust Him as our 
 Savior, and so learn more of Him." A greater 
 question still arises. What is the spirit of the 
 rejection? Is it rejected because one thinks 
 Christ does not teach it, or is the objection a 
 rejection of Christ as a teacher? Any real rejec- 
 tion of Christ in one's conscience is his own 
 withdrawing from the church, and one's fellow- 
 members. The church itself, should make that 
 plain to the rejecter. Again, such expulsion from 
 the church should be exercised in love in such 
 a way to bring the loving loyalty to Christ of 
 one's fellow-members, to lead to the same loyalty. 
 
 The humblest believer in Christ has the right 
 to be admitted into the Christian church. Thus 
 he fulfills Christ's command to confess Him 
 before men — thus he strengthens his faith by 
 the fellowship with believer and cultures the 
 Christ life in himself and in them, and thus he 
 keeps up the organization of believers Christ 
 Himself formed and of which Christ is Himself 
 the Living Head, to carry on His work in the 
 earth through all the ages to come. His own 
 sense of unworthiness, his own ignorance, his 
 own weakness should lead him to Christ, and 
 these should lead him to obey Christ in uniting 
 with His church. 
 
 The church should also welcome all Christ 
 welcomes, and should treat all her members as 
 Christ would treat them in love. In this way, 
 each individual member and the whole church 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 163 
 
 by the preaching of the gospel and by Christian 
 discipline, according to the command of Christ, 
 seeks the welfare of all its members — sets forth 
 the purity of Christ — and proclaims to the world 
 the salvation from sin wrought by the loving 
 Savior of the lost. 
 
 The influence of the church in thus following 
 her Lord's directions will have a large influence 
 on public opinions. Christian civilization in its 
 laws and judgments has wandered far from 
 this spirit of Christ, as the church itself in past 
 ages has done and is doing to some extent and 
 in some cases, now. Penal laws are to guard the 
 best interests of society, to discourage crime. 
 Oftentimes vengeance and harshness have ruled. 
 Christ brings to our consideration that the best 
 interests of society is the restoration of the 
 criminal to good citizenship.. It commends such 
 treatment as shall show the love of society for 
 all its members. Prisons should be controlled by 
 love not by vengeance — should reform criminals 
 not make and foster them. The church in but 
 following her Lord's directions and spirit should 
 thus reform the criminal laws of society. The 
 church should be pure and strong in her Lord — 
 the church discipline should never be neglected 
 but should be faithfully enforced and always in 
 the spirit of love, to save the offender, and to 
 keep the church pure in doctrine and life, so 
 preaching Christ to the world. 
 
XIII. 
 
 TWENTY-FIFTH— THIRTY-FIRST LORD'S 
 DAYS OF THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 ''THE IDEAL LIFE OF THE CHURCH" 
 
 This is my commandment, that ye love 
 one another as I have loved you. 
 
 —John 15:12. 
 
 IT was the night before the crucifixion — the 
 last time before His death that our Savior 
 was with His disciples to counsel and direct 
 them. His farewell to them is found alone in 
 this Gospel, and we have divided it here into 
 four chapters. Each chapter has been given a 
 single name fairly describing its substance. The 
 Comfort Chapter describes Christ's presence with 
 them in their duties and trials — the Abiding 
 Chapter describes their life of faith in Him — the 
 Holy Ghost Chapter describes their spiritual mes- 
 sage and power — the Prayer Chapter commends 
 them and their life work to the Father in 
 Heaven. It sums up all the past teaching and 
 it opens up all the future life as illumined by 
 the Cross and the Resurrection. Our text sums 
 up the whole teaching and work of our Lord in 
 His last commandment — "that ye love one another 
 as I have loved you — ." In His prayer to the 
 Father, He says He sends them into the world 
 as His Father sent Him. He prays they may 
 
 164 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 165 
 
 be one, as He and His Father are One — One in 
 mission — One in love. "God so loved the world 
 that He gave His only Begotten Son that whoso- 
 ever believeth on Him should not perish but 
 have everlasting life — .*' Christ describes His 
 love in the words following the text — "Greater 
 love hath no man than this, that a man lay 
 down his life for his friends." The disciples 
 are to so believe and trust and adore and obey 
 Him that they shall be like Him and like His 
 Father; they shall so carry on His work in the 
 world in His spirit of love. That they so fulfilled 
 His commandment is seen in the life and work 
 of the early church. The heathen world acknowl- 
 edged and commended them in its familiar say- 
 ing — "Behold how these Christians love one 
 another." The New Testament describes the 
 early church as a company having the spirit of 
 love in their single belief — their simple worship 
 — their pure government — their devotion in car- 
 rying on the work of Christ. In our studies we 
 have seen the Apostle's Creed was an early sum- 
 ming up of the fundamental truths taught by 
 Christ. We have seen the simple worship in the 
 plain sacraments of baptism and the Lord's 
 supper; we have seen the government of the 
 church arising as a pure democracy. As we 
 look again, we see at a glance that an undue 
 proportion of our Heidelberg Catechism is de- 
 voted to the Sacraments. And as we consider 
 these Lord's Days we see great stress is laid 
 upon freeing our worship from errors and super- 
 
166 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 stitions. We also recall that much of the ex- 
 planations of the Apostle's Creed defends them 
 from wrong views and interpretations. As we 
 look at the constitution of our church, we see it 
 embraces not only the Heidelberg Catechism and 
 our Liturgy, but the Belgic Confession of Faith 
 and the Canons of the Synod of Dort. As we 
 glance at this Confession and these Canons, we 
 see they defend various views of many important 
 and of some comparatively unimportant truths 
 from views held by other classes of Christians 
 and denominations of the church. This glance 
 at our own undue elaborations of creeds leads 
 us to glance at the many creeds of the whole 
 church as they have arisen in various ages and 
 places, and we see that they too, frequently 
 magnify unessential truths, peculiar features of 
 worship and special forms of government to the 
 distraction of earnest seekers for the truth; to 
 repelling the careless, and to the dissension of 
 sincere believers into many conflicting and con- 
 testing groups. We call our church THE RE- 
 FORMED CHURCH, meaning that it is the New 
 Testament church formed again. In so doing, 
 we recognize there are many divisions and de- 
 nominations of the Church Universal existing 
 today as the outgrowth of the past, and that 
 these differ from our church in creed, in worship 
 and in government in various degrees, while all 
 acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Head of the 
 universal church. How shall we regard and 
 treat these denominations and divisions? Shall 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 167 
 
 we hold ourselves aloof in proud distain? Shall 
 we magnify the points of differences and antago- 
 nize them? Or shall we recognize the good in 
 them and respect and love them? The disciples 
 of Christ to whom He addressed this command 
 had strong peculiarities. They were individuals 
 of widely different attainments and tempera- 
 ments; but they were disciples of Christ; they 
 were to regard their allegiance to Him and their 
 growing likeness to Him as controlling, and so 
 were to love one another as He loved them. 
 
 In regard to Creed, Worship, Government, we 
 of the Reformed Church are to be very strict 
 with ourselves; to learn of and estimate our 
 peculiarities at their full value. Christ did not 
 destroy the individuality of His disciples ; rather 
 He cultivated it; but each one recognizing the 
 value of His own personality, was to recognize 
 and love every other disciple. Christ was the 
 ideal, and He inspired the spirit of love among 
 the disciples to love as He loved. So with the 
 Reformed Church and all the other denomina- 
 tions of the Church Universal: we are to value 
 ourselves, our view of Christ, our relation to 
 Him — to have it grow more and more in our 
 experience. And then we are to love all denomi- 
 nations in their relation to Christ. We are to 
 be strict in judging ourselves and we are to 
 have charity in judging others. Christians, in- 
 dividuals, groups, denominations are to love one- 
 another. And again as we now listen for the 
 opinions of the world in what may be called 
 
168 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 Christian lands and so also in heathen lands we 
 never hear the ancient tribute, it was silenced 
 long ago. There is, alas, no voice of the populace 
 in any portion of the world that says today, "Be- 
 hold how these Christians love one another." And 
 alas, also, the more intelligent the voice, the 
 greater the denial of such oneness of spirit in 
 the great divisions and many denominations of 
 the Christian Church. Also, alas, we cannot 
 claim that our denomination is exempt from the 
 great fault. There seems to be some ground 
 for this fear that Christians today are so using 
 their various creeds, modes of worship and forms 
 of government that this last command of Christ 
 is neglected. Surely the right use of creed, 
 liturgy and government should foster and deepen 
 love for one another, and so devotion to Christ 
 in carrying on His mission in the world. Surely 
 also this deep and widespread love Christ com- 
 manded if in general exercise in the whole 
 church, would have large influence among the 
 populace generally in fostering love of man for 
 man. If this had been the prevailing spirit among 
 Christians through the ages — and if this pre- 
 vailed today among all Christians in Christian 
 lands, there would surely be a better spirit — 
 more love for humanity in what we call Chris- 
 tian civilization — and so Christian lands and 
 nations would be in strong contrast with heathen 
 lands. Alas, the contrast today seems to be 
 almost the reverse. The nations of Northern 
 Europe where the Christian religion has been 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 169 
 
 , established for twelve hundred years and the 
 nations of Southern Europe where Christianity 
 has been proclaimed for nineteen hundred years, 
 and our own nation a Christian nation from its 
 birth, are just emerging from a Christian world 
 war more fierce and cruel and destructive than 
 any war ever waged by heathen nations in the 
 history of the race. There has been splendid 
 devotion of all our powers, lofty self-sacrifice 
 to defend righteousness against cruel wickedness. 
 The Allies have, at awful cost, saved the world 
 from the arrogance of sinful ambition. But still 
 the question arises. How is it possible that 
 Christian public opinion in all these lands should 
 have permitted such selfish ambition to seek 
 world dominion, should have been forced to call 
 for such heroic self-sacrifice to save from na- 
 tional slavery? Why did not these many Chris- 
 tian nations love each other so much that each 
 sought the other's welfare as it sought its own? 
 But this is only part of the vision. Now the 
 war is over, what conflict arises in trying to 
 form a peace based on righteousness and a 
 League of Nations to prevent future war. It 
 seems hard to find a ruling spirit of love. These 
 many nations large and small— of different races, 
 are all brothers in theory, in the view of Christ ; 
 but Christ seems to be seldom mentioned and to 
 have but little influence in the Council of Nations 
 in Paris or in our own Senate at Washington. 
 But still this is only part of the vision. Now 
 the war is over, what seething passions under 
 
170 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 the fair surface of Christian civilization on the 
 other side of the ocean and on this side, too, 
 threaten to break forth with destructive force. 
 Not only in torn Russia, but in law-abiding 
 America, class arises against class, growing 
 rapidly and ready to spring upon each other in 
 fierce warfare, even to the overthrow of the 
 government. The neighboring nations not only, 
 but neighboring classes do not seem to love each 
 other as themselves. Also in the industrial 
 world, employees and employers. Capital and 
 Labor are struggling with each other, each for its 
 own selfish ends, instead of trying each to give 
 the other fair treatment and both to benefit man- 
 kind. Alas! look at the church still divided in 
 great divisions and in many denominations. Can 
 any one say each division, each denomination 
 loves all others as it loves itself. After nineteen 
 centuries, do Christians love one another as 
 Christ loves them? There may be some of this 
 kind of love existing in mild exercise, in small 
 neighborhoods and in small individual churches, 
 but there is little sign of it between the sections 
 of the church, at any rate, not in large controll- 
 ing power. When a noble and energetic man 
 is severely criticized as to the results of his life 
 work by admiring friends, is assaulted by his 
 foes and is only mildly defended by his own 
 mature judgment, it will be natural for him 
 to review the wisdom of his action. Has he 
 had the right object in view, has he chosen the 
 best means to accomplish this object, has he 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 171 
 
 devoted sufficient time and power to his life 
 work? These will be some of the lines of his 
 thoughts as he reviews his past and plans for 
 his future. That which commends itself as a 
 wise course for an individual is especially wise 
 for a class — for the church of Christ. What is 
 Christianity, anyway? What is taught in our 
 theological seminaries ? What do preachers preach 
 about? What do church-going people demand 
 of their preachers? For here, as in other 
 matters, the demand has something to do with 
 the supply. Does Christianity include love, love 
 for God, love for the brotherhood of believers, 
 love for all mankind to bring them to God the 
 Father through Christ the Savior. Is not Chris- 
 tianity in itself love, in its method love, in its 
 object love. Then the church in forming its 
 creeds forms them as a means of cultivating this 
 character and accomplishing this end; of draw- 
 ing men together and drawing men to God. The 
 creed should appeal — Come, let us love the Lord 
 Jesus Christ and grow like Him. Whence, then, 
 the divisions existing in the church? Because 
 the reverse spirit in forming and using creeds 
 has found exercise. Pride of opinion has grown 
 into selfish intollerance of all other opinion. Var- 
 ious descriptions and shadings of truths have 
 awakened and been confirmed by controversy, 
 the unimportant shadow has hid the truth itself 
 and divided and repelled believers from each 
 other so that sects in the church have often 
 arisen and antagonized each other in a spirit 
 
172 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 bordering on the warlike. Sometimes God has 
 been presented as far from attractive, as having 
 such favoritism and partiality, as verges on injus- 
 tice, and there is nothing so repellant to human 
 nature as injustice. That creed must be wrong 
 in itself or wrongly preached which repels from 
 God and divides man from man. It certainly 
 cannot be in harmony with Christ's creed. He 
 calls us to love God our Father because He is 
 infinitely lovely in all His character and actions, 
 because He loves us with a greater love than any 
 earthly father ever had for his children; and 
 when we love Him as our Father, we will love 
 each other as brethren — and will live and preach 
 the love of Christ for all mankind. 
 
 Likewise the church has paid great attention 
 to worship through the ages. Who shall con- 
 duct it, where shall it be conducted and under 
 what forms? We see priests and preachers, 
 altars and pulpits, magnificent cathedrals and 
 modest meeting-houses, elaborate forms and 
 simple ones. All these have so drawn attention 
 to themselves and have so divided worshippers 
 into classes often contending vigorously that each 
 has the only true worship, that the mass of the 
 people and the leaders themselves have lost sight 
 of what true worship is. If worship is the 
 pleasing of God by a man becoming in shape 
 worthy of God, then the only question about 
 the form of worship is, does it bring a man 
 into a shape worthy of God, or does it repel man 
 from man and man from God? God is love — 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 173 
 
 worship of God, true worship whatever its forms, 
 is loving God and loving man as he loves and 
 seeks to save. 
 
 Any group of people to prosper in the present 
 and be succeeded in the coming years, must have 
 some rules of order, some leadership, some 
 common purpose and common life. So govern- 
 ment has arisen in the church. It is a bewilder- 
 ing maze, the history of church government, 
 from pure democracy to absolute monarchy, 
 from great liberty to vast tyranny, and between 
 these extremes many degrees and grades until 
 the object of government has been lost sight of 
 — the union and welfare of the governed — until 
 the church itself is divided into often contending 
 and sometimes fighting factions, while the world 
 looks on in amazement. When Christian preachers 
 and peoples, the whole church, recognizes the 
 failure as well as the success of Christianity, 
 and that the success is largely a surface matter, 
 and the failure a leaving unchanged the deep 
 nature of man; the success a matter of intellec- 
 tual belief, creeds, a matter of religious observ- 
 ance, formal worship — a matter of fellowship, 
 a government ; the failure the losing sight of and 
 effort for the object of a simple creed, a pure 
 worship and a just government, that is a life 
 of devotion to Christ in keeping the law of 
 God; when the failure is recognized as it exists 
 in the whole world and especially in Christian 
 nations, a lack of love among Christians and of 
 the influence in planting and fostering love as 
 
174 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 the spirit of Christianity among classes, nations 
 and races of mankind; when the church thus 
 reflects upon its life and work for the past 
 nineteen centuries in the whole world, it must 
 surely cease from fostering complacency, if such 
 has been its feeling, and now earnestly resolve 
 to turn over a new leaf, to hereafter seek the 
 object of Christianity — love — and to use all its 
 means and methods to secure that end. There 
 is still time for the church to do her great work 
 in this earth. The sun is not dying out, the earth 
 is not exhausted, the race of man is still young, 
 the gospel has not lost its power. There are 
 twenty centuries behind us; there may be, 
 probably are, two hundred and more centuries 
 ahead of us. God is never in a hurry, never 
 impatient. In His gracious plans there is still 
 an opportunity given His church to spread His 
 kingdom in all the earth. There is still a vast 
 call for the gospel of love. 
 
 What nation shall have the dominant influence 
 in the League of Nations, should it be formed, 
 is a question of little importance compared with 
 the kind of influence it and all the nations shall 
 have — influence of self-aggrandizement or influ- 
 ence of loving service. Whether the Bolshevik, the 
 Bourgeois or the Aristocrat group shall rule in 
 Russia or anywhere else is of little consequence 
 beside the question — How shall any class rule 
 for itself or for the good of society? If our own 
 government of which we are so proud, "the gov- 
 ernment of the people, by the people, for the 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 175 
 
 people," amounts to anything worth while, it 
 must realize this ideal by the growth of the 
 Christian spirit of love. Public opinion must put 
 in office those only who regard their office as a 
 public trust to be administered not for their own 
 power or glory, but for the good of all the people. 
 If the great power of man over nature acquired 
 today becomes a blessing and not a curse to the 
 race, man himself must become Christian. The 
 great forces of industry, the inventors, the 
 owners, the managers and the employees of 
 producing, manufacturing, transporting and 
 marketing agencies must each seek the other's 
 welfare and all must combine for the good of 
 society. 
 
 What a glad day it will be for the earth when 
 all these things shall be brought about by Chris- 
 tian love. Then will be realized the many 
 prophetic visions of the Kingdom of God in this 
 earth. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, should 
 He return to the earth tomorrow, could not 
 establish His kingdom by force, the old Roman 
 way. Even He must establish the Kingdom of 
 Heaven on earth by leading mankind to keep 
 the law of love. This work He now gives His 
 Church to do in His service. 
 
 So we easily recognize that the church must 
 see and realize that the object of creed, worship 
 and government is to live in Him and carry on 
 His work. To do this the church must obey the 
 last command of her Lord, "That ye love one 
 another as I have loved you"; must so yield to 
 
176 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 the Holy Spirit as to have His spiritual message 
 and power, and so must realize the prayer of our 
 Lord by becoming one in mission and one in 
 love with the Father in Heaven. 
 
 The incidents recorded soon after our text of 
 the Garden of Gethsemane and the Court of the 
 High Priest, afford an incident to the church of 
 today as she reflects upon her past and plans 
 for her future. 
 
 Peter was a man of bravery and enthusiasm. 
 In the Garden he defended his Master with the 
 sword. Peter alas, sometimes distrusted himself 
 and quailed before great opposition. He sought 
 his own comfort and safety as he sat by the 
 fire and warmed himself in the High Priest's 
 palace. Peter's strong allegiance to Christ was 
 aroused again as Christ looked upon him — and 
 he went out and wept bitterly. From this time 
 on his bravery and enthusiasm increased until 
 his martyr death. It was but a short hour he 
 spent by the fire warming himself. Ever after 
 he was true to his Lord and did a vast service 
 for mankind. 
 
 The nineteen centuries of the church's history 
 are but as that short hour. The church has still 
 to do a vast work for her Master in the coming 
 centuries. 
 
XIV. 
 
 THIRTY-SECOND LORD'S DAY OF THE 
 HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 "GOOD WORKS" 
 
 Who gave himself for us that he might 
 redeem us from all iniquity and purify 
 unto himself a peculiar people zealous of 
 good works. — Titus 2:14. 
 
 IT is astonishing how much truth is condensed 
 in and clearly expressed by this text; here 
 is stated man's condition in nature "in 
 iniquity"— Christ's work to "redeem us" and the 
 result man, "zealous of good works." 
 
 This is the truth elaborated, illustrated and 
 enforced in the whole Bible. This is the truth 
 experienced in the heart and life of each Chris- 
 tian. This is the truth set forth in our Heidel- 
 berg Catechism. Our Catechism has three divi- 
 sions: L Man's Misery; II. Man's Disobedience; 
 III. Thankfulness. 
 
 We now enter upon the third division, Man's 
 Thankfulness to God for delivering him from 
 his misery. The text says Christ purifies to 
 Himself a people for his own possession zealous 
 of good works— He describes Salvation as being 
 "zealous of good works." 
 
 There are two truths very important for all 
 177 
 
178 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 to realize about good works — the first is that 
 such good works are in no sense necessary to 
 salvation ; the second is that they are the essence 
 of salvation. 
 
 These seemingly contradictory truths are of 
 the utmost importance to us. I do not know 
 which is the more important of the two. We 
 may consider them separately. 
 
 First: Good works are in no sense necessary 
 to our salvation; they do not form any part of 
 it — they do not in any way contribute to it; 
 they do not in any way minister to it. In truth 
 what we call good works may stand in the way 
 of our salvation. May hinder us from accepting 
 Christ who alone saves from sin both from its 
 guilt and from its power. 
 
 We must recognize that we are sinners in need 
 of salvation and that Christ is the complete 
 Savior. If anyone is inclined to rely upon his 
 own righteousness for his salvation he should 
 carefully examine it in the light of the law of 
 his being — God's law — it may meet with the 
 approval of his fellow-men — does it meet with 
 the approval of God; it may satisfy very high 
 human standards — does it satisfy God's stand- 
 ards? Have you from the first moment of 
 consciousness spontaneously, naturally, constant- 
 ly loved God supremely. Have you loved yourself 
 as a creature of God, to make the most of your- 
 self as God would have you in His sight. Have 
 you in that way and to that degree loved your 
 neighbor as yourself. Is this your nature now? 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 179 
 
 Or has there been the reverse record and is 
 there a reverse tendency now? You may not 
 approve of your record and tendency — you may 
 even try to atone for it and to overcome it 
 but you consciously fail both in love of God and 
 in love of man. Your soul is like a bird in a 
 cage. It was made to fly, to soar with exalting 
 wing in the sunlight of the broad heavens but 
 try as it will, it strikes the strong wires of 
 the cage, becomes discouraged, dispirited — a will- 
 ing captive contented with fluttering from perch to 
 perch in its cage — only in our case we have con- 
 structed our own cage with the vices of in- 
 gratitude, indifference and disobedience to God 
 and self indulgence of our lower nature — and 
 selfish struggles with our fellow-men. Still we 
 were made to fly in the broad heavens of God's 
 love — and our very fluttering is a remnant of 
 our original nature as God designed us. 
 
 Only do not be deceived that our fluttering 
 commends us to God. Our righteousness — our 
 good works in the sight of men, and in our own 
 sight are nothing more than the fluttering of 
 our better nature and are utterly powerless to 
 break the wires of our worse nature. Such 
 righteousness if it satisfies us will only keep us 
 from Christ — Who alone can let the prisoner 
 free. Such righteousness can be no part of our 
 salvation. May keep us from salvation. Christ 
 saves sinners — He does not wait for them to 
 become righteous, to come half way out of sin, 
 its penalty, its power, or any distance. Christ 
 
180 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 comes all the way to the sinner — and saves him 
 altogether. 
 
 The Gospel of Christ is not "Do the best you 
 can and Christ will do the rest." 
 
 He is not a part Savior, but a whole Savior. 
 Our good works of whatever amount or degree 
 are no part of our salvation. We do not escape 
 the curse of the law or receive the favor of God 
 because we are good — because of our good works, 
 but solely because Christ is our Savior and we 
 trust in Him. Our Catechism says Christ has 
 redeemed and delivered us by His blood and 
 revives us by His Holy Spirit. We have in former 
 Lord's Days seen how Christ by His death and 
 life takes away our death in sin and renews our 
 life in Him. We recognize our misery and rely 
 entirely by our faith in Christ for our salvation. 
 Our text says Christ redeemed us from all ini- 
 quity and purifies unto himself a peculiar people 
 zealous of good work. The zeal for good works 
 does not save in any sense but they show that we 
 are saved. Christ saves and He alone. The man 
 in the ark was safe not because of his character 
 — not even because he was of the family of Noah 
 — but because he was in the ark. The man 
 behind the door post sprinkled with the blood 
 of the lamb was safe not because of his charac- 
 ter, not because he was of the family of Abra- 
 ham, but because "he was sheltered by the 
 blood." In both cases they believed the threaten- 
 ing and the promises of God, and in both cases 
 they must have been thankful to God for His 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 181 
 
 salvation. The zeal for good works does not 
 secure the favor of God in Christ but flows from 
 it. And zeal for good works does not merit 
 eternal life but this manifests itself in good 
 works. The source of the Mississippi River is 
 in a large spring in the north of our land. The 
 great river does not flow into the spring but 
 from it and grows as it flows. 
 
 We shall more fully consider the nature of 
 good works in succeeding Lord's Days, we need 
 only state generally now that they are good in 
 God's sight, both in spirit and in expression they 
 are in obedience to the law "love God supremely 
 and love your neighbor as yourself." This is 
 the high standard, the lofty ideal to which we 
 aspire and strive. The Holy Spirit renews us 
 after the image of Christ— He was perfect and 
 we are to be constantly aspiring and striving 
 after this perfection. The text uses the word 
 zealous, the idea is that of boiling up, not merely 
 bubbling up as a fountain but the ardor of heat 
 boiling up, the idea of enthusiasm to be enthused 
 by the spirit of God in Christ in the new and 
 eternal life. 
 
 There are certain results to be attained by 
 good works and the Holy Spirit used these as 
 motives to stir us up to zeal. All human life 
 needs motives to action — and through exercise 
 life grows in strength — becomes more zealous — 
 more enthusiastic. 
 
 Our Catechism presents three strong incentives 
 to such zealous living — to constant good works. 
 
182 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 — ^ First, they show our gratitude to God — and so 
 praise Him. Good works are not for reward, 
 but for thanksgiving. They spring spontaneous- 
 ly in praise of God. A man is sick of a danger- 
 ous and contagious disease and a skilled physician 
 risks his own life and devotes his time and 
 ability to secure his recovery. Surely such a 
 man whose life is saved will have gratitude to 
 his friend. Shall we not express our gratitude 
 to the Great Physician of our souls. A man is 
 poor and in despair and a friend relieves his 
 poverty and puts him on his feet again and 
 sets him on the way of prosperity, will he not 
 be grateful? Shall we not be grateful to God 
 who relieves our poverty — gives us new courage 
 and opportunity and holds before us the riches 
 of heaven? A soldier is captured by the enemy 
 and suffers all hardship of the prison — and his 
 captain risks his life, breaks open the prison 
 door and leads him back to freedom. Will he 
 not be thankful for the rescue? Shall we not 
 be grateful to the Lord Jesus Christ who shed 
 His blood to open our prison doors and to lead 
 us out to freedom in His service. Good works 
 are the only possible expression of our thankful- 
 ness to God. We should be zealous in them. 
 
 ' — ^ The second incentive our Catechism mentions 
 is good works are the fruit of faith and so assure 
 us of the sincerity and strength of our faith. If 
 I was sick and a good physician promised me 
 restored health, my greatest satisfaction would 
 be to feel the coming of health. If I was poor 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 183 
 
 and cast down and a rich and wise friend offered 
 me help and a new courage and start to pros- 
 perity my greatest comfort and courage would 
 be to feel the start and growth of the offered 
 prosperity. If I was a soldier and my captain 
 promised me his help to freedom, my greatest 
 courage would be to hear his step— to see the 
 prison door open — and to walk with him to 
 freedom. So I, sick, poor, in prison receive the 
 gracious offer of Christ's deliverance if I trust 
 Him. My greatest comfort is to feel His deliver- 
 ance, to know my faith is in Him — that He saves 
 me. Faith works by love— purifies the heart — 
 so faith evidences its presence and power in 
 good works. 
 
 The third incentive is that by good works we 
 may bring others to share the salvation in 
 Christ. Those who believe in Christ — those who 
 are saved in Him earnestly desire that their 
 fellows also shall experience His salvation. How 
 can this desire of the heart be brought about. 
 If your face shines with thankfulness to God, if 
 your faith evidences itself by good works your 
 fellows will see the Christ life in you. Then 
 when you speak to them of your Savior, and 
 their need of Him, they will listen, for your life 
 as well as your tongue proclaim the blessedness 
 of salvation in Christ, and they will want to 
 possess that blessedness. 
 
 If we delight in religious observances, if in 
 the family and social life, we are loving and 
 generous — if in business and political life we are 
 
184 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 just and true — if in all our lives we show love 
 to God and love to our fellow-men — if we are 
 zealous of good works, we are trying to live the 
 Christ life. Our lot may be hard — have many 
 struggles for daily bread and sufficient clothing 
 — or it may be prosperous — we may be ignorant 
 or learned — high in social standing or lowly — 
 healthy or sickly — happy or afflicted, whatever 
 the particulars, this will be the blessed outcome 
 — others may be gained to Christ. We grow 
 more and more zealous of good works in thanks- 
 giving to God, in experiencing the blessed salva- 
 tion and in commending Christ to our fellow- 
 men. Surely this is a noble life worth living. 
 
 We have in former Lord's Days of our Cate- 
 chism considered the Church of Christ as an 
 organization of His followers. It is a divine 
 organization of which He is the head, the condi- 
 tions of membership, the ordinances, the govern- 
 ment are all of His ordaining. Hence also the 
 design of the church must be divine. Our text 
 is from the Epistle of Paul to Titus. The Epistle 
 itself may be called. Directions for the organiz- 
 ing of churches. The text says Christ purifies 
 unto Himself a people for His own possession 
 zealous of good works. This of course as we 
 have thus far considered includes each individual 
 believer in Christ it manifestly also sets forth 
 the design of the organization of the church — a 
 peculiar people — a people for his own possession. 
 The condition of membership — the ordinances — 
 the discipline, the whole organization to promote 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 185 
 
 "zealousness for good works." The communion 
 of the saints is an article of the Apostle's Creed. 
 They are to encourage, stimulate and help one 
 another in their zeal for good works. The church 
 is commissioned to observe the worship of its 
 Lord — the observance of the Sabbath — the cher- 
 ishing and proclaiming the word of God. Its 
 fellowship is to promote the wholesome lives 
 of its members, lives of righteousness and love 
 in all the relations of the social life. Christ's 
 redemption of the individual from his iniquity 
 is of necessity the basis of the redemption of 
 the church — the organization of believers, and 
 He purifies them together as His peculiar people 
 zealous of good works. Man is a social being 
 in his nature. Love of man must flow from 
 the love of God. 
 
 The Bible has as distinct a conception of 
 society as it has of God — God the Father, man 
 the brother. There is as much Biblical sociology 
 as there is Biblical theology. The church must 
 live and proclaim and advance the Kingdom of 
 God. The Kingdom of Heaven on earth. The 
 immediate aim of Christ is to save the individual. 
 The mediate aim of Christ is a saved society, 
 the church. The ultimate aim of Christ is a saved 
 race — the Kingdom of Heaven on the earth. The 
 church then in every community is to live the 
 Christ life in that community — to live as Christ 
 would live there — to discover the needs of the 
 community, to consider the best way of minister- 
 ing to them, and to bring the combined life of 
 
186 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 the organization into zealousness of good works. 
 The world then has caught a glimpse of Christ's 
 great design when it demands of the church that 
 it not only should show the world what to 
 believe but how to live — and thus the world is 
 right in judging the sincerity of the faith of 
 the church by the earnestness of its life, the 
 sincerity of its love for Christ by its ministry 
 to the needs of mankind. 
 
 The church is to do good works — as the 
 individual is — not to save itself nor to increase 
 its membership, nor to advance its social standing, 
 nor for anything short of the love for Christ — 
 out of likeness to Him as He loved to serve and 
 to save and to so commend Him to the world; 
 to do good works for the love of doing them ; in 
 a zeal constantly exercised and growing. In our 
 own city there are large numbers from foreign 
 lands, what can the church do for them? There 
 are great numbers of operatives in our factories, 
 what can the church do for them? Surely we 
 should show the brotherly spirit and do our best 
 to secure them just wages — good living condi- 
 tions — the education they need — all this and 
 much more from love of Christ and loving them 
 as He loves them and so to recommend Christ to 
 them. Many young women are on our streets at 
 night or in dance halls. What can the church 
 do for them. Many of our men are in saloons 
 these cold winter nights. Where else can they 
 go? What can the church do for them? Our 
 church and other churches of our city have large 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 187 
 
 rooms for worship and social life. Can these 
 be used in any way to minister to the needs of 
 others beside our own members? There are 
 many needs of the community where we live. 
 We have a large, harmonious church organiza- 
 tion. Surely we may discover many possible 
 ways to meet the needs of our community if 
 we are zealous of good works, zealous to see the 
 needs, zealous to discover ways of meeting, zeal- 
 ous in ministering out of love for Christ — in the 
 exercise of Christ's likeness loving our fellows as 
 Christ loved them, and so to commend Christ to 
 all classes and conditions of our fellow-men. 
 
 We should cultivate the noble life like unto our 
 Lord's — should have the enthusiasm He had as 
 His life on earth is described in the scriptures. 
 "He went about doing good." This zealousness 
 of good works of the church extends beyond the 
 individual church to the denomination of which 
 it is a part. The many agencies of our Reformed 
 Church in America are to be heartily sustained 
 and zealously exercised. 
 
 The Domestic Missionary work in our own 
 land, the Foreign Missionary work in Japan, 
 China, India and Arabia. Our missionaries 
 should feel the thrill of enthusiasm in the great 
 work of preaching Christ to the world as they 
 recognize not only that Christ has so commanded 
 them and is with them to bless, and their church 
 has great zeal in sustaining them and is working 
 through them. So also the agencies of publish- 
 ing all needed papers, tracts and books for the 
 
188 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 spread of the Gospel in our own lands and in 
 heathen lands afford a channel for the strong 
 flow of our zeal for good works. 
 
 So also the agencies of many stages in prepar- 
 ing men for the ministry of the Gospel of Christ, 
 selecting devoted, able men and giving them the 
 best culture and training form a very important 
 division of good works in which we should all 
 be zealous. 
 
 Two things are to be remembered. We should 
 not confine our zeal to organized agencies of our 
 denomination but should as members of the in- 
 dividual church find a large outlet of our zeal in 
 individual work among our fellow members and 
 among our acquaintances. Also we should not 
 confine our zeal to our own denomination, but 
 should love and encourage our sister churches in 
 their good works, an incentive of zeal from one 
 denomination to all others to help the good work. 
 The whole church will thus become more and 
 more one church, the Holy Catholic Church — a 
 peculiar people zealous of good works. 
 
XV. 
 
 THIRTY-THIRD LORD'S DAY OF THE 
 HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 "CONVERSION" 
 
 Be Ye Renewed in the Spirit of Your 
 Mmd.— Eph. 4:23. 
 
 YOU cannot draw fresh water from the 
 ocean. You cannot pour honey from a 
 cup full of vinegar. You cannot gather 
 good fruit from an evil tree. Our Savior asks : 
 
 "Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of 
 thistles?" 
 
 So you cannot produce holy living from a sin- 
 ful character, or good works from an evil heart. 
 So this Lord's Day of our Catechism teaches 
 Bible truth, truth confirmed by common sense, 
 truth of which each one of us must have ex- 
 perience when it says a man cannot be saved 
 except by being converted. It also makes very 
 clear what conversion is, a sincere sorrow of 
 heart on account of our sins, and sincere joy of 
 heart in God through Christ. We will also see 
 how this conversion may be secured, and what 
 are its results — good works — . 
 
 This then is the important truth our Cate- 
 chism calls us to consider. The need of conver- 
 sion, its nature, the means of attaining it, and 
 the results. 
 
 189 
 
190 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 Concerning the necessity of conversion it is 
 seen at once that it is only necessary for salva- 
 tion. Many live and die without giving any 
 evidence to their fellows of being converted. It 
 is not absolutely necessary for even what passes 
 among men for a faithful good life. But if man 
 is by nature a sinner, he is alienated from God, 
 it is self evident he must be converted and re- 
 newed in the spirit of his mind to be reconciled 
 to God to be saved. 
 
 People differ in character as in faces. There 
 are various degrees of alienation from God. 
 There may be enmity or only indifference to 
 Him as seen in daily life. Here is one rushing 
 down the road of life with all the impetuosity of 
 an already long descent — rushing with eager 
 madness away from God, the source of all good. 
 Here is another walking upon the serene uplands 
 of morality yet his back is turned toward God. 
 He is conscious that his morality does not arise 
 from any desire to please God, that he is utterly 
 indifferent to God the source of all good, that he 
 is alienated from Him. 
 
 We may ask what shall become of these 
 in the future life supposing they die uncon- 
 verted. They will enter the future as they leave 
 the present life with such varied records and 
 characters for there is no reason to believe that 
 death works conversion by itself. But this is 
 something foreign to our present subject — for 
 we are considering salvation here and now, in 
 this present life. Salvation is being renewed in 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 191 
 
 the spirit of the mind, is being reconciled to God. 
 The one rushing down in vice hears the voice of 
 God to him, "turn and live." He pauses on the 
 brink of despair — and turns to God. The one 
 walking away from God in his proud morality- 
 hears the same voice, he should hear it sooner 
 and more distinctly since his faculties ought to 
 be keener — and he too turns to God. 
 
 Now it is easy to see there will be a great 
 difference in the experience of these two men. 
 The one at the bottom of the hill will have a 
 hard climb — his natural inclinations, his acquired 
 propensities, his habits and companions — his 
 reputation are all against him; but there is one 
 thing — he has turned — he is facing and climbing 
 upward — he no longer halts — he now loves God, 
 his Savior in Christ. The other on the serene 
 uplands of morality may have very little change 
 in outward life, he already is a good husband 
 and father, neighbor, business man and friend. 
 But there is one thing that fills the old life with 
 a new life, he is no longer indifferent, he now 
 loves God, his Savior in Christ. Both are re- 
 newed in the spirit of the mind, the intensity 
 of the feelings will vary with the natural powers 
 of the mind and with the nature of the past 
 record of the life — the one as he recognizes — the 
 hideous nature of his wayward life — the other 
 as he recognizes the meanness of his having left 
 God out of his life. 
 
 Our Catechism fully describes conversion in 
 what it turns from and in what it turns to — in 
 
192 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 the change of mind in this double action. In this 
 it follows closely the action described in the 
 verse preceding our text — and in that which 
 follows it — 
 
 Conversion in the putting off the old man is 
 according to the Catechism a sincere sorrow of 
 heart that we have provoked God by our sins 
 and more and more to hate and flee from them. 
 The man of vice and the man of mere worldly 
 morality now in conversion agrees in seeing that 
 the law of their being "love God supremely and 
 your neighbor as yourself" was the expression 
 of the goodness of God for them and in breaking 
 it they have sinned against God; that God has 
 blessed them wath innumerable blessings and 
 been patient with them — and still they sinned 
 against Him — that God so loved them that He 
 gave His Son to save them, that Christ so loved 
 them that He died for them, and still they sinned 
 against Him — that God granted them many op- 
 portunities for repentance and pleaded with them 
 in many ways by His Holy Spirit, and still they 
 sinned. Each one feels — according to the quality 
 of his nature, that he has offended the holiness 
 of God, abused His goodness — rejected His love; 
 and now that God forgives him through Christ 
 deeply increases his sorrow, that he has so 
 shamefully treated the infinite and gracious God 
 — his Father and Savior. His sorrow is on 
 account of his sin, not on account of its effect 
 present or threatened, but that it deserved all 
 these and more. The prisoner's sorrow is that 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 193 
 
 he has been found out. The slave's sorrow is 
 that he is punished. Such sorrow still cleaves 
 to the sin — "the sorrow of the world works 
 death." 
 
 This however is a son's sorrow, a son, "who 
 has come to himself" as the Savior says in the 
 parable — a sorrow that he has sinned against 
 a good and loving Father, This sorrow leads him 
 to hate and flee from sin. He may still have 
 the old propensities to his own peculiar sins — 
 but he struggles against them. He will not give 
 any quarter, any welcome to that which wrongs 
 and offends his good Father, to that which would 
 crucify afresh his loving Savior. 
 
 "If I believed I was saved, as you do," said 
 an infidel to a Christian, "I would take my fill 
 of sin." The answer was prompt and fit. "How 
 much sin would it take to satisfy a Christian 
 when the more Christian he is the more he hates 
 sin," 
 
 But conversion is not only turning from it, 
 it is turning to. Conversion is not all sorrow 
 clouding our life in gloom, there is joy in it 
 filling our life with light — it is not all struggle 
 with the old nature, it is the aspiration of the 
 new nature — it is not only putting off the old 
 man, it is putting on the new man. There is 
 such a thing as joy even in the sorrow — joy that 
 one sorrows. The poor man joys that he can 
 put off the coat of rags for he can put on far 
 better clothing; the prisoner that he can put off 
 his prison garb, for he can then have the 
 
194 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 citizen's dress; the slave that he can cast aside 
 his slave covering and be clothed a free man. 
 So our Catechism gives the positive side of con- 
 version, that to which one turns with eagerness. 
 It is a sincere joy of heart in God, through Christ 
 and with love and delight to live according to 
 the will of God in all good works. 
 
 These are very strong words joy and delight, 
 and between them love. How much joy and 
 delight if we consider carefully the experience of 
 our lives flow from and are depending upon 
 love — the love of parents and children — the love 
 of husband and wife — of brothers and sisters 
 and friends. How much joy and delight there 
 is in growth toward an ideal — the growth of a 
 rose to its perfect beauty — of a child to full 
 manhood or womanhood — of a life to full mental 
 and spiritual development — of an enterprise or 
 cause to success. Our Catechism strikes the 
 truth when it associates joy and delight with 
 love and with living according to the will of 
 God. Thus the love we have in the noblest 
 relations of our earthly life is but a faint reflec- 
 tion of the perfect love of God. The growth, 
 the aspiration, the endeavor of the noblest life 
 of mankind is toward the loftiest ideal, the 
 ideal of God Himself is His will for us. The 
 suffering of this life flows largely from lack 
 of love — from selfishness and strife — from lack 
 of aspiration and endeavor to attain the high 
 ideal of our Creator and Father. Conversion is 
 the process he has provided for the recovery of 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 195 
 
 the ideal, for the restoration of the love — and 
 it brings joy and delight, the present, the 
 highest, th^ best to those renewed in the spirit 
 of their minds. 
 
 Here also nature forms in man differently as 
 the surface of the earth differs in form — so will 
 the amount and intensity of both the sorrow 
 and the joy of conversion vary with man's 
 nature. There are on the earth's surface great 
 mountains and high hills — also broad valleys and 
 wide plains, mountain streams are often rushing 
 torrents, sometimes shallow, sometimes deep, 
 while the valley streams are gentle or strong 
 and may be large rivers. But the water flowing 
 in torrent or river is the same in essence — the 
 gathered rain from the clouds of heaven. So 
 the feelings of sorrow and joy differ in amount 
 and intensity according to the natural gift of 
 man, but they are the same in essence — sorrow 
 for sin against God — joy in God in Christ. 
 
 There is one feature of effect we may notice 
 in passing. The one converted from an excess 
 of sin rioting in vice may become very earnest in 
 Christian work and largely successful in bring- 
 ing many souls to Christ, and some may infer 
 that an outrageous, sinful, life is therefore a 
 preparation for great usefulness in Christ's 
 service — while the one converted from worldly 
 morality does not have such marked influence. 
 But this is to be considered — the mountain tor- 
 rent makes the great appearance of power, so 
 the fiery, impulsive nature of the one converted 
 
196 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 from vice may be greatly blessed in converting 
 his fellows and in impressing the community; 
 but after all we know that the well-watered 
 valleys and plains produce the world's harvest 
 of grain and fruits, so the strong deep nature 
 of one who has lived in worldly morality, now 
 converted to God, may be so steady and constant 
 in the service of his Savior that in the long run 
 he may be the most useful in bringing souls to 
 Christ and in thus upbuilding in Christ's like- 
 ness. 
 
 We should be careful not to measure ourselves 
 by one another but according to the description 
 of God's word, not according to the amount and 
 intensity of feelings as shown in others, but 
 according to the essence or kind of the feelings. 
 Conversion is a continuous work; we should seek 
 to grow in amount and intensity of feelings and 
 in their resultant living, but first of all to be 
 sure that we sorrow for sinning against God — 
 and that we joy in God in Christ, in loving and 
 serving Him. You who are thus converted are 
 to be congratulated upon the renewing in the 
 spirit of your minds — you who are not conscious 
 of such a blessed state and still desire it may 
 well consider carefully the teaching of God in 
 His word of the way in which conversion may 
 be secured. 
 
 There are four classes of texts in the Scrip- 
 tures that give us four distinct teachings of the 
 way conversion may be secured. 
 
 In the first place man is called to convert 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 197 
 
 himself — "Repent ye, for the Kingdom of Heaven 
 is at hand" is the call of Christ Himself — as 
 describing His whole ministry. "Repent ye, and 
 be baptized" is the call of Peter at the day of 
 Pentacost — and again to the people in the Temple 
 — and again in our text Paul says "put off the 
 old man, be renewed in the spirit of your mind 
 and put on the new man." Everywhere in the 
 Scripture the call is Turn ye — Turn ye, The clear 
 duty of every man is to repent and believe the 
 Gospel. 
 
 In the second class of texts the truth is said 
 to convert man. In the Old Testament it is 
 said: "The law of God, that is the word of God, 
 is perfect converting the soul." In the Epistle 
 of Peter it is said, "Being born again, not of 
 corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word 
 of God." In the third class of texts the one 
 converted is said to convert others. In the 
 penitential 51st Psalm, the converted sinner 
 promises, "Then will I teach transgressors thy 
 ways and sinners shall be converted to thee." 
 "He who converteth the sinner from the error 
 of his ways shall save a soul from death." In 
 the fourth class of texts God is said to convert a 
 man, Ezekiel represents God as saying to sinful 
 men, "A new heart will I give you and a new 
 spirit will I put within you, I will put my spirit 
 within you and cause you to walk in my statutes." 
 The Apostle Paul says to the Colossians, of 
 Christ, the Lord, "You that were sometimes 
 alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked 
 
198 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 works yet now hath he reconciled in the body of 
 his flesh through death to present you holy and 
 unblamable in thy sight." 
 
 The conversion of Paul is an instance of these 
 four truths fully described. He believed Christ 
 was an impostor and so persecuted His followers. 
 The vision he saw on his way to Damascus 
 convinced him that Christ was the Son of God. 
 The vision did not convert him, it simply showed 
 him the truth. God so showed him the truth. 
 The lives of Christ's followers whom he had 
 persecuted as he remembered them confirmed 
 this new truth. Paul seeing the truth that 
 Christ was the Son of God became His follower. 
 Paul turned. God turned him, the truth turned 
 him. Believers turned him. 
 
 We see at a glance these truths are not con- 
 tradictory but cumulative. God is our all and 
 in all. We have not made ourselves any laws 
 of our being. He created us with all our powers 
 and He made the laws under which all our 
 powers work. When we use our powers in 
 obedience to His laws He works in and through 
 us. We according to these gifts of God and 
 the laws of our social being have large influence 
 over each other. Again, truth itself has large 
 influence over each one of us; we may resist 
 or evade it, but even this abuse of truth testifies 
 to its power. So to come to the first class of 
 texts or truths. We recognize the power of our 
 own will in any matter involving the question of 
 duty, the power of choosing — of deciding for or 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 199 
 
 against, the strong saying of the soul, the "I 
 ought" of a soul. In this matter of conversion 
 each one knows he ought to turn to God — that 
 the repentance of sin and the trust in Christ 
 must be his own act. He knows it is the truth 
 that thus calls upon him to act. He knows also 
 that I who am preaching am speaking of my own 
 experience when I urge him to turn to God and 
 he . knows also that his converted friends 
 plead with him to turn to God and live, and 
 he knows also that in all these ways God in 
 His providence and by His grace — God his creator, 
 his bountiful benefactor, his loving Savior is 
 pleading with him to turn, and believe and love 
 Him in time and through eternity. You who 
 are not converted may and should recognize that 
 fact — you must know that conversion is neces- 
 sary to reconciliation with God — to your salva- 
 tion from sin — that you should turn now to 
 Him — that the truth calls you — that your friends 
 call you, that God calls you. He will renew the 
 spirit of your mind. He will bless you with His 
 blood bought salvation. Turn to Him ! 
 
 The results of conversion are good works; 
 these our Catechism says proceed from a true 
 faith, are performed according to the law of 
 God and to His glory — and are to be distinguished 
 from the so-called good works founded on the 
 imaginations and institutions of men. The full 
 description of these good works will be the 
 subject for future consideration. 
 
XVI. 
 
 THIRTY-FOURTH LORD'S DAY OF THE 
 HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 "THE END DESIGNED BY GOD" 
 
 The End of the Commayidment is Char- 
 ity Out of a Pure Heart and a Good 
 Conscience and Faith Unfeigned. 
 
 I Timothy 1 :5. 
 
 THE meaning of the word end in the text is 
 obviously not the terminus or limit as the 
 end of this platform, but the design or 
 purpose as the purpose of this platform is to 
 lift the speaker so he can be seen and heard by 
 those in the farthest seats. The End of the Com- 
 mandment or as the revised version says of the 
 charge is love. Paul, the aged and experienced 
 preacher writes his charge to the young preacher 
 that the aim or design of Christian preaching 
 and living is to produce love. These men, Paul 
 and Timothy, were among the early founders of 
 the Christian Church, with its proclaiming the 
 truth and its fellowship of believers, so the 
 design or end of the church is to produce love. 
 
 Where did Paul get this charge? Did he de- 
 vise it? And are we listening only to his charge, 
 to a young preacher? We recognize at once 
 that Christ, the Great Head of the Church, gave 
 the charge. Christ says : 
 
 200 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 201 
 
 "This is my commandment that ye love one 
 another as I have loved you." We know also as 
 he says that Christ came not to destroy the law 
 but to fulfill it, and that the summary of the 
 Ten Commandments is love— as He has taught 
 us. Love God supremely, love your neighbor as 
 yourself. So God in Christ says the end or 
 design of all His law and His gospel, of His church 
 as carrying out His teaching and His life, is love. 
 There are several questions that one will in- 
 stinctively ask about any great institution. What 
 is its origin and history? What is its nature? 
 What is it for? And how is it adapted to secure 
 this end? We have already considered some of 
 these questions about the Christian church. Now, 
 this question arises what is its end? What 
 does God give it to do in this world. Its end is 
 love. A larger question, a wider view arises. 
 What is the end, the design of the earth itself 
 as it sails through space, with the race of man 
 upon it? We know that the law given on Sinai 
 and the Cross on Calvary and the triumphal 
 ascension of Christ from the Mount of Olives, 
 that all the supernatural revelation of God in 
 the Scriptures is not in conflict but in full 
 harmony with His revelation of Himself in nature. 
 It is simply supernatural— that is, it is above 
 nature— more full than nature— not in conflict or 
 in opposition to nature. 
 
 What then is the purpose or design of the 
 great universe? We begin to catch a glimpse 
 of the lofty end, it is love— a being who can 
 
202 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 love, who has the capability of loving. As the 
 various stages of creation pass before us as 
 God in His two books has revealed them to us, 
 we recognize that each is good in itself — as God 
 saw it was good, but also good as a stage 
 leading on to the next. At each stage, there is 
 a commandment, "God said," and there is God's 
 judgment pronounced "it is good" — light — the 
 globe of the earth — now the gift of life in myriad 
 forms of vegetation — and now from the earth 
 can be seen the moon, and sun and stars. Now 
 that the earth is prepared for it God creates 
 animal life in myriad forms grade after grade 
 advancing through countless ages and all is 
 good. What is the design? What is yet to 
 come? At last, God brings forth man gifted by 
 the great Creator with likeness to Himself; and 
 "all is good." 
 
 Now, we ask what is likeness to Himself? 
 Man has intellect, power to know the truth. Man 
 has a moral sense, power to see the right. Man 
 has will, power to choose the right; anything 
 more in man? Yes, vastly more. He not only 
 can see the truth and the right — he can love the 
 truth and love the right and can choose as he 
 loves. And so he can love the Being in whom 
 truth and right and love have their loftiest ex- 
 pression. He can love God who is truth and 
 right, but higher yet, who is love. 
 
 God, who is love, has created on this little 
 earth a being who can love, who is capable of 
 loving. The many stages of creation through 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 203 
 
 the countless ages have at last attained the 
 designed end — a being who can love God supreme- 
 ly, who can love himself properly as a creature 
 of God and who can love every other man as 
 he loves himself. And now when this being, 
 the culmination of God's creative power, fails 
 to exercise his nature according to the great law 
 of his being, God's infinite love seeks to restore 
 him to His original design, and in so doing 
 shows the attractiveness of lovliness in Himself 
 in rnore fullness than was possible in mere crea- 
 tion, in all the wonderful self sacrifice of re- 
 demption. 
 
 The value of anything may be inferred from 
 who makes it, how much pains he takes in mak- 
 ing it, how great resources he uses, how much 
 patience and persistence and time he spends in 
 making it. 
 
 Who can estimate the value of love in God's 
 sight — the end designed in all God's work of 
 creation and redemption. The philosopher Kant 
 says there are two perpetual inexplicable wonders 
 — the starry heavens over our heads — and the 
 moral law within us — the categorical, imperative. 
 Here we have the design, the end of both of the 
 heavens and of the law — it is love. God from 
 the beginning had the great purpose or design 
 in mind as He moulded the material creation, 
 and then formed a being uniting in himself the 
 material and the spiritual creations, the end is 
 love, a being capable of loving. What the end of 
 
204 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 the universe with its millions of suns? What the 
 end of the spiritual beings about His throne? 
 A being joining the two natures, material and 
 spiritual — a being who can and will love. 
 Jehovah describes to Job some of the glory of 
 creation — 
 
 "When the morning stars sang together, 
 "And all the sons of God shouted for joy." 
 
 Surely we should appreciate somewhat the 
 grandeur of our nature and may well cultivate an 
 enthusiasm for humanity as God designs it, and 
 God with patience and self-sacrificing love seeks 
 to carry out His great design. What is the 
 highest possible life man can attain? To know 
 the truth? Yes — and especially to love it, to 
 choose the right? Yes. Not simply because he 
 ought, but because, he loves it. How shall man 
 make the most out of life here and now? By 
 cultivating his God like powers of love — by ful- 
 filling God's design. The end of the command- 
 ment is love. As the spiritual beings about His 
 throne, the sons of God, saw His great design 
 unfolding through the various stages of creation, 
 they shouted for joy. Surely we, as we recog- 
 nize God's design in creating us should shout 
 for joy. 
 
 Alas, how the race of man has missed the 
 lofty end of its creation — and thus has filled 
 the earth with the groans of sorrow instead of 
 the shouts of joy. Again, we ask the question. 
 What is the end of the Christian Church? What 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 205 
 
 is its purpose? What does God call it to do in 
 the world? The end is love. It is to live love, 
 to preach love, to advance love in mankind. God 
 has not given up His great design. He not only 
 holds before the church the great end, but shows 
 how it may be brought about in its own experi- 
 ence and as it proclaims the Gospel of Christ to 
 all mankind — God's end and the means of accom- 
 plishing this end are all found in our text. 
 
 Love out of a pure heart and a good conscience 
 and faith unfeigned. The church must itself 
 see Christ the Savior and trust Him fully — have 
 a sincere faith ; and she must so proclaim and 
 commend Christ to mankind that they will have 
 this sincere faith. This will result in a good 
 conscience, one forgiven of past sin and en- 
 lightened to see and approve the right as God 
 reveals it. This will result in a pure heart, a 
 heart cleansed from sin — from the lust of selfish- 
 ness that ignores God, that ignores man as the 
 creature of God — a heart now renewed in the 
 likeness of Christ to love God supremely and to 
 love one's self properly as a creature of God, 
 and to love his fellow-man as he loves himself. 
 
 This is the experience of the Christian church ; 
 this the result of her proclaiming and living the 
 Gospel of Christ, a strong, clear faith, seeing 
 and trusting Christ, a good conscience, forgiven, 
 renewed and made controlling by the power of 
 Christ, a pure heart cleansed from all dislike 
 and hatred and filled with love of God and of 
 humanity. 
 
206 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 The Christian church is thus to have Christ's 
 spirit and to carry on Christ's life and mission 
 in the world. The church is to live and labor in 
 the highest sphere of human life and with the 
 fullest means to secure the end of God's com- 
 mandment, to do away with all human hatred 
 and misery, and to bring about all human love 
 and joy — to establish the Kingdom of God on 
 the earth. The glorious end of God in creation 
 and in redemption becomes the end of the Chris- 
 tian church as it catches a vision of her God- 
 given mission. Our Catechism has brought us 
 through the teaching and appeal of the truths 
 of the Christian religion to the experience of 
 the Spirit's power in them, through the organi- 
 zation of the church to its mission to live a life 
 of thanksgiving — a joyous, beautiful life in 
 the service of God — and it now instructs us that 
 good works of this praiseful life can only be 
 performed according to the law of God. The 
 truths we believe, the person we trust, the for- 
 giveness and acceptance with God, we possess; 
 all these lead to salvation — and salvation is love 
 — the restoration of man to God's great design to 
 love, to obedience to the law of God. This law 
 is found in the Ten Commandments — one table 
 on duties to God, the second table on duties to 
 man, and as summarized by Christ, love God 
 with all your powers and love your fellow-man 
 as yourself, and so live Christ-like lives. 
 -■-4 The Catechism in future Lord's Days holds 
 
 before us the Ten Commandments and the Lord's 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 207 
 
 Prayer, the law or word of God, and man's 
 response to that word in aspiration. 
 
 Two questions force themselves upon our care- 
 ful attention — 
 
 First: How shall the church regard its mis- 
 sion. 
 
 Second: How successful has it been in carry- 
 ing it out ? How shall the church regard the Ten 
 Commandments. In what sense have they been 
 set aside? As the means of attaining life — the 
 life of forgiveness and acceptance with God can 
 never be attained by our keeping the Ten Com- 
 mandments, by our own righteousness. Christ 
 is our Savior; He, by His perfect obedience and 
 His atoning death merits for us salvation. 
 
 Whatever unbelievers may say that the Ten 
 Commandments are impractical, whatever wrong 
 views some believers in Christ may have that 
 the Ten Commandments are no longer the rule 
 of life we clearly see as we study human nature 
 and as we learn of God that the Ten Command- 
 ments are still in full force. The commands or 
 laws of God in the material universe enforce 
 themselves, they have power in them to inflict 
 penalties for disobedience and to bestow well 
 being for obedience ; it is the same with the laws 
 of the mind and of the soul. The mental and 
 moral laws of God have the power of enforcing 
 themselves. The man who obeys the laws of 
 gravitation has welfare — if he jumps from a 
 skyscraper, he is broken to pieces. The man who 
 
208 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 eats healthy food in proper times and amounts 
 and ways has welfare — the one who drinks poison 
 dies. The youth who studies wisely becomes 
 learned — the one who idles away his time re- 
 mains ignorant. 
 
 It is the same with the moral law, the Com- 
 mandments of God. They are in force both 
 East and West of the Mississippi River, in the 
 old world and in the new, wherever man lives 
 on this round earth; they enforce themselves 
 with penalties for disobedience or welfare for 
 obedience. Take, for example, family life wher- 
 ever found. Where love rules, and to the extent 
 in which it rules there is welfare; when parents 
 love children and the children love parents and 
 brothers and sisters love each other there dwells 
 happiness. If it is simply natural love, God so 
 made human hearts — if it is this natural love 
 refined and enforced by spiritual love in Christ 
 the happiness is purer and higher. Christian 
 love makes the Christian home the happiest place 
 on earth, blessed with the happiness of heaven. 
 
 On the contrary, when parents are selfish, 
 always seeking their own way — when children 
 towards parents and to each other are selfish, 
 always seeking their own way, where envy, 
 jealousy, strife and conflict hold sway — the law 
 of God, the Ten Commandments are in force — 
 they work their penalty of themselves, and the 
 home is the abode of misery and woe. It is the 
 same way with friends; when they appreciate, 
 trust and love each other, there is the happiness 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 209 
 
 of friendship; if they fall apart in distrust and 
 suspicion and coldness, the happiness vanishes 
 away of its own motion. 
 
 It is the same in the wider ranges of social 
 life. In society as we find it today there are 
 many classes — the rich and the poor, the learned 
 and the unlearned, the capitalist and the labor 
 classes. Paul speaks of himself as having a 
 great possession in the Gospel of Christ but it 
 was for others — he says he is thereby a debtor 
 to the bond and free, to the Jew and Gentile. 
 The more one has the more one can serve one's 
 fellows, and the more real satisfaction he has in 
 the services of love — the love of humanity brings 
 welfare. In proportion as that spirit prevails 
 there is happiness. Even where classes exist. 
 In our day there is much conflict between labor 
 and capital — as each seeks its own, to grasp and 
 to hold and from such conflict much suffering 
 and unhappiness results. When the Christian 
 spirit of love prevails, and in proportion as it 
 prevails, when capital seeks the welfare of labor 
 and labor seeks the welfare of capital, where 
 they are brothers laboring together for the 
 common good, there happiness abounds. Capital 
 if acquired by well directed efforts to promote 
 the good of mankind, if acquired by the service 
 of love — love of doing good — of advancing 
 humanity brings a satisfaction in itself; and so 
 labor in high or low position for the good of 
 humanity has the satisfaction of achievement 
 and of love. 
 
210 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 But capital trying to get the better of man- 
 kind, and labor trying to get the better of 
 mankind, these bring only the distress of selfish- 
 ness however successful they may be in securing 
 their selfish aims. 
 
 So take the wider classification in the race of 
 mankind, that of race and specially of national 
 life. A nation in proportion that it lives for 
 its own self is apt to have the jealousy of its 
 neighbors — and dislike and grasping arise — and 
 ambition to get the advantage follows. Now as 
 these flame forth in wide action, they result in 
 war, and today we have the distress and suffer- 
 ing that war brings. We look forward to the 
 peace that shall be brought about by the victory 
 in war and hope it will be the victory of the 
 right of democracy to rule in national life, for 
 which our own free land entered the struggle. 
 
 When peace comes it will be by agreement 
 among the nations in treaties made with each 
 other. But we all recognize there can be no 
 lasting or world wide peace until nations obey 
 the Ten Commandments, until each nation loves 
 its neighbor as itself. Our own country cannot 
 be happy if it loves itself alone; it must love 
 all other nations as it loves itself — and so seek 
 the good of all. 
 
 When all the nations seek the welfare of the 
 race — of humanity. This will be the Kingdom 
 of God on earth for which we labor and pray. 
 The reign of Christ will be the reign not of 
 power but of love. 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 211 
 
 The second question the church is forced to 
 consider is. How successful has it been by its 
 preaching and its life in producing love? How 
 has it attained the end of the commandment, 
 and of its own existence and mission? It is 
 quite evident there has been much success, and 
 very large failure; it is impossible to rightly 
 estimate the amount and character of the one 
 or the other. It is quite evident that its failure 
 as seen in the fearful war of nations — as seen 
 in the social conflicts in Christian lands, as seen 
 in the multitude of individual lives still en- 
 grossed in self seeking, ignoring God and human- 
 ity, that its failure is due largely to the church 
 having had an imperfect view of its mission — to 
 its having in some degree and in many instances 
 contented itself with enforcing the means and 
 not sufficiently valuing the end. It has spent 
 great effort in having a pure creed — has had 
 much controversy within itself over important 
 articles, often awaking feelings the reverse of 
 love for some of its own members and for those 
 outside its fold — and so also with its government, 
 often using it as a club for heretics rather than 
 as an olive branch to welcome believers — and so 
 also with its worship — often magnifying the 
 forms above the spirit — creed — government, 
 worship. What would a church be without them 
 — but they are only means to an end — the end 
 is love. 
 
 We must know God as revealed in Jesus Christ 
 in order to love Him. Come know Him, said the 
 
212 THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 
 
 church, know Him with me, believe Him, worship 
 Him, obey Him — all in order that you and I 
 together may love Him — the end is love — the love 
 that delights in Him — the love that values the 
 return love and ever seeks it as the most price- 
 less possession, the love that seeks to serve Him. 
 
 We must know the truth about ourselves and 
 our fellow-men. We must know humanity in 
 order to love all men. Who is this being man? 
 He is the being at the end of God's creative 
 work, a being made in His own likeness, a being 
 who can love. He has gone astray from the 
 design of God in making him, but God has not 
 given him up to his wandering, but follows him 
 to save him, to bring him back to his original 
 design — to love. How much does God love him? 
 Hear what Christ says, "God so loved the world 
 that He gave His only Begotten Son that whom- 
 soever believeth on Him should not perish but 
 have eternal life." So God's church is to love all 
 mankind. 
 
 In our land during the great war many homes 
 had hanging in the front window a service flag 
 — there is one star on it — or there may be others 
 — the star indicates that one son is in the army, 
 he may be in some training camp, or he may be 
 in France on the battlefield. One son of the 
 family has given himself to the service of his 
 country in the cause of democracy for all nations. 
 In the early evening on these clear days you 
 may see a bright star shining alone in the blue 
 sky. Let it remind you of God's service flag. 
 
THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 213 
 
 He gave His only Begotten Son for the salvation 
 of humanity, and let it quicken our loyalty to 
 Him and to His cause, to the love of our fellow- 
 man, to serve Him, and so to awaken His love 
 for Christ and humanity until the whole heaven 
 is filled with the multitude of stars like Him. 
 

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