                  T         h           e
        STANDARD
c                BEARER
                   A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE


     .  .  .    We too have enemies that. threaten our
     spiritual life and well-being; and therefore we
     too need the guidance and counsel of the
     Word o-f God to lead us and guide us in the
     way everlasting. But the Word does not speak
     through its covers ! And as a light, it cannot
     shine unopened upon the shelf! The Word of
     God cannot be our counselor in  the,fmidst of
     life's difficulties and trials except we make it
     our trusted companion and friend as we
     traverse this pilgrim's journey. -`The point is
     that unless we continually, from  .day to day,
     consult the road map of the Scriptures, we
     become hop'elessly lost as we try to make our
     way through this life.

                        See "Summer Months" -' page 399
                                                       Volume LIV, No. 17, June I,1978    -
                                                                 ISSN 0362-4692


                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER




                                                                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                               Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                          CONTENTS:                                                Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
                                                                                        Second Class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids, Mich.
                                                                          Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
                                                                          Department Editors:  Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rev. David J. Engelsma,
Meditation  -                                                             Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman Hanko, Rev. Robert C. Harbach,
                                                                          Rev. John A.  Heys, Rev. Mark H. Hoeksema, Rev. Meindert  Joostens,
   Dwelling in the Secret Place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .386          Rev. Jay  Kortering.  Rev. George C. Lubbers. Rev. Rodney  Miersma.
                                                                          Rev. Marihus  Schipper, Rev. James  Slopsema,~ Rev. Gise J.  -Van  Baren;
                                                                          Rev. Ronald Van  Overloop:  Rev. Herman  Veldman,  Mr. Kenneth G.
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MEDITA TIO N

                              Dwelling in the Secret Place
                                                              Rev. M. Shipper

                "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of
            the Almighty.
                I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in Him will I trust. "
                                                                                                                        Psalm 91:  1,2.

   Make no mistake!                                                        mansions which He is now preparing for us? Shall the
                                                                            prayer of Jesus fail to get its answer? "Father, I will
   The psalmist is not speaking here of the future                          that they also, whom Thou hast given me, be with me
estate of the redeemed in eternal glory. He is not                          where I am, that they may behold my glory. . .  ."
telling us what shall be, but what is true right now.                       Shall the prophecy of Revelation fail to materialize?
   0, indeed, it is  true'that the redeemed of the Lord                     "And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying,
look forward to abiding forever in the dwelling place                       Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he
of the most High. For does not the Lord Jesus inform                        shall dwell with them, and they shall be his people,
us of the place in Father's house with its many                             and God himself shall be with them, and be their


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                387


God." The answers to all these questions imply, and          serve me from trouble, thou shalt compass me about
the testimony of all Scripture declares, that we shall       with songs of deliverance. Selah." (Ps.  32:7)
dwell with God in the new creation where righteous-             So it is here in our text.
ness shall prevail.                                            He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most
  But this is not the viewpoint of the text. If the text     High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
was to be understood futuristically, it would not say,'
"He that dwelleth . . . " but, "He shall dwell. . .  ."        But what does that mean?
Nor would the text speak of "my refuge and my                  What is, first of all, the secret place?
fortress," for in the new creation no refuge and               Implied in this expression are the facts that it is
fortress are necessary. All threatening dangers, and all     known only to the most High and to those who dwell
enemies of God's people will have been disposed of.          there; and, that only the most High and those who
There the gates are open, and the redeemed abide in          dwell there have access to it. Undoubtedly the psalm-
eternal peace. Rather, the text puts everything in the       ist had in mind the shekinah glory of the Holy of
present perspective. It speaks of the here and now,          Holies in the sanctuary, which for him could be
when the children of God need a refuge and fortress          attained only in the way of atonement  - the place
to shelter them, while they are beset on every side by       where Jehovah dwelt in the midst of His people Israel
the powers of darkness. The Holland version of the           between the cherubim above the mercy seat. Prophet-
text has grasped the meaning which we translate as           ically the psalmist is looking to the realization and
follows: "He that has sat down in the hiding place of        perfection of the secret place whereby now through
the most High, shall stay overnight in the shadow of         Christ we have ready access into the covenant com-
the Almighty. . .  ." The key words in this translation      munion with the living God. That it is the secret place
are : "shall stay overnight," which suggest a tempo-         of the most High means that it is the place where the
rary stay. Altogether the text means to say this:            exalted God dwells.
While we live in this present evil world, and the night
of this present dispensation is still with us, while we        God is not common, that is, He is not your next
experience the common evils that come to us in the           door neighbor into whose house everyone is free to
providence of God and especially the evils brought           enter. He is exclusively the most High. He is the high
upon us by the wicked in the world, we have a secret         and holy God. No sinful and corrupt creature may
place, the shadow of the Almighty, in which we find          dwell with Him. It was this truth that God taught the
refuge.                                                      psalmist and all Israel when He separated Himself in
                                                             the Holy of  Holies. No one might enter, except the
  Wonderful fact!                                            great high priest once a year and that with blood.
  It should be noted that the text is indeed a               And no different is it now, though the shadows are
statement of fact. There is no  exhortation,.no appeal,      passed. Though through the rending of the flesh of
that we should seek the secret place of the most High.       Christ the vail of the temple is rent from top to
The situation is not such that we are beset by all kinds     bottom, and our Great High Priest has entered the
of evils, and are now urged by the Word of God to flee       Holy Place to stay, and thus opened the way for us
to the hiding place. Nor is there here an offer or in-       into the secret place, God is not common. He is still
vitation, as though God were saying, Since you, my           the High and Holy God, Who dwells in the high and
people, are troubled with all kinds of evils, I proffer      holy place. No one may come into His presence who
you a place of refuge. No  - the text simply states a        is unrighteous and unholy, lest he be consumed. The
matter of fact, a wonderful truth. He that dwelleth in       password into the secret place is BLOOD, the blood
the secret place of the most High shall abide under          of atonement. Only they who are clothed with
the shadow of the Almighty.                                  garments of righteousness may come into the secret
  By no means is this an isolated statement. On the          place., of the most High. That the most High dwells in
contrary, we find comparable statements in the Scrip-        the secret place implies that He is lifted up above all
tures, particularly in the Psalms. "One thing have I         the threatening powers of darkness, unaffected.
desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may         Secondly, the psalmist identifies the secret place of
dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,      the most High with the shadow of the Almighty. He
to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in           who dwells in the secret place of the most High
his temple. For in the time of trouble he shall hide         dwells in the shadow of the Almighty. This is, of
me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall    course, figurative language. A shadow, we know, is
he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock," (Ps.            cast by the reality of light falling on a substantial
27:4,5) "Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy           object. When I face the light of the sun, behind me a
presence from the pride of man; thou shalt keep them         shadow is cast which marks out on the ground behind
secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues." (Ps.     me my shape. Infinitely brighter than the sun is God,
31:20) "Thou art my hiding, place: thou shalt  pre-          Who is light. That God is light means that He is full of


388                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


infinite perfections. In the radiance of these perfec-        him who dwells in the secret place; not simply to say
tions is His glory. The effulgence of His own perfec-         something about his God, but spoken directly to
tions He is pleased to let fall on His Son, the express       Him.
image of the Godhead. That Son is now  .our Lord                 I will say to Jehovah:
Jesus Christ in the flesh exalted. He on Whom the
light of God descends casts the shadow. To dwell in              My refuge and my fortress! My God! In Thee will I
the shadow, therefore, means to dwell in close prox-          trust!
imity to Christ, Who stands in the presence of the               Confession is always to say precisely what God has
invisible God Who is light. One, therefore, who dwells        revealed to us by His grace in His Word. This
in the shadow of the Almighty is near to Christ, and          confession is made by the  psalmist,only because he is
consequently near to God. He is as close to Him as            prompted by the Spirit of Christ which was in him.
His shadow.                                                   We must not, forget that Christ is principally the
   Note, in the third place, that the psalmist speaks of      Confessor. It is He Who speaks in the Psalms. Even the
dwelling there. This, we already pointed out, is the          Devil was aware of this when in the temptation of
hope of all God's saints. Forever to abide in the secret      Christ in the wilderness he quoted from our Psalm:
place of the most High in the shadow of the Almighty          "If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself down: for
is the perfection of our eternal state. Yet, as we also       it is written, He shall give His angels charge concern-
called to your attention, the text looks at this              ing Thee, and with their hands they shall bear Thee
dwelling as being of a temporary nature.  Providential-       up, lest at any time Thou dash Thy foot against a
`ly He allows us to find refuge there and find shelter in     stone." (Matt.  4:6  - Ps.  91:11,12).  So it is Christ
the time of storm. He makes it possible for us to stay        Who confesses here as prophetically He would come
there overnight until the storm is past.                      to dwell in the flesh, be caught in the net of the
                                                              fowler, and be caught up into the secret place and
   Indeed, this is not only a wonderful fact, but a           cast the shadow of the Almighty. He speaks as the
marvelous wonder of grace!                                    Representative of His people, and that before the face
   It. is apparent that not all may dwell there. Surely       of God: Thou art My refuge, My fortress, My God, in
this is not for the wicked, and that for two reasons.         Thee will I trust.
In the first place, God, the most High and therefore            Through His Spirit the psalmist speaks and all
the Holy One, will not allow that which is wicked and         God's people. Indeed, the psalmist, whoever he was,
corrupt to dwell with Him. They-would be consumed             also experienced this dwelling with Jehovah. But with
by Him Who is a consuming fire. And secondly,-                him, and out of that same Spirit of Christ, all God's
neither will the ungodly seek the secret place of the         covenant people are moved to speak. They all, stand-
Almighty. They will seek their refuge, if they sense'         ing in the shadow of the Almighty, lifted up above
they need one, in an arm of flesh.                            the storms of life, say, Thou art my refuge and
   Only God's covenant people may and do dwell                fortress; Thou art my God, in Thee will I trust:
with Him. It is God's prerogative to decide who shall           Blessed comfort!
dwell with Him; and to dwell with Him is a covenant
idea. It is God Who chooses His people, and that with           Forget not, the believing church says this while still
a view to filling the house of His covenant. And their        in the evil world, and surrounded by threatening
dwelling with Him is therefore a fruit of election and        dangers. Not only do the children of God experience
sovereign,grace.  Of themselves they are no better than       there the common vicissitudes of life that so often
the wicked who are banished from His presence. That           overwhelm them, but there are also the evils imposed
they dwell with Him is a matter of pure grace. And            upon them by the wicked. The accuser of our
the fact that they do dwell with Him is a wonder of           brethren who was cast out of heaven, is come to earth
grace.                                                        having great wrath, because he knows his time is
                                                              short. (Rev. 12: 12). He seeks whom he may devour.
   It was not we who sought and found the secret              The saints of the most High need a shelter, a safe
place, but the power of the Almighty drawing us into          retreat, a strong fortress.
His shadow. Such is the tenor of the entire Psalm. He
shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler . . . He        And such is provided for them.
shall cover thee with His feathers . . . He shall give His      Hidden in the shadow of the Almighty, which  is
angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy' ways.        Christ, they are perfectly safe.
That we make the Lord our refuge, set our love upon             And presently, when the storm has ceased, and the
Him, call upon Him, are not conditions we fulfill, but        enemy is completely vanquished, they shall be lifted
the result of the work of His grace in our hearts.            still higher, into the house of God's everlasting
   G l o r i o u s   c o n f e s s i o n !                    covenant, where they shall abide forever.
   Prompted by the Spirit of Christ in the heart of             Amen!


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  389



EDITORIAL

        The Organic Conception, the Antithesis,
                                  and Common Grace

                                                   ProJ: H. C. Hoeksema



  In 1939, at the time of the first visit of Dr. K.             in general, predestination with election and repro-
Schilder to this country, there was a conference of             bation, the realization of God's eternal covenant,
Protestant Reformed and some Christian Reformed                 grace and sin, favor and wrath, nature and grace,
ministers, with Dr. Schilder present, on the subject of         creation and redemption, Adam and Christ, and it
"The Reunion of the Christian Reformed and Protes-              inquires into the place and calling of God's people in
tant Reformed Churches."- At that conference Rev.               and over against the present world. Viewed thus it is a
Herman Hoeksema presented a position-paper on the               question of great importance with respect to both,
subject which was later published in both the Dutch             doctrine and life.
language and an English translation (prepared by Rev.
H. Veldman). This little booklet is now out of print              And then we proceed from the Scriptural idea,
and hard to obtain.                                             that all creatures are one. God did not create
  However, there is in this booklet a rather clear             in the beginning an aggregate of creatures, loose,
presentation of the organic conception of things  - a          independent of one another, but a world, a cos-
subject which Rev. Hoeksema also treated elsewhere             mos, a harmonic, organic whole. God is  o?ze. The
in his writings  - along with a treatment of the               world is also one. In the midst of the earthy
antithesis and, as might be expected at such a con-            creation stood man. God had formed him after
ference, of common grace. This whole matter goes               His own image, so that in a creaturely sense he
back to our Protestant Reformed roots. For already              resembled God, in true knowledge, righteousness, and
in the early 1920s Hoeksema and H. Danhof ex-                   holiness. This man stood at the head of creation, as
pounded this organic conception in  Van  Zonde en               king over the earthly world. And he stood in God's
Genade (Concerning Sin and  Grace) in the chapter               covenant of friendship from the beginning. And in
entitled "Our View." That was when the common                   that covenant-relation God would be his sovereign
grace controversy was brewing.                                  Friend, cause him to taste the blessedness of the
                                                                communion of His friendship, in which is life; and in
  I am reproducing that presentation of the organic             that covenant-relation man stood as friend-servant of
conception in this editorial for three reasons:                 the Most High, to represent Him in the earthly
1. It is pertinent to the question and reply which              creation, take up in his own heart the praise and
appear in this issue's Question Box.                           honor of all creatures, to interpret and express that
2. It is pertinent to the current discussion of the             praise and honor before the face of God, love the
antithesis.  There are, I fear, many who think they             Lord his God with all his heart, and in the name of
say "antithesis" when they loudly say "dualism."                and according to the will of God rule over all
3. Not infrequently I am asked, "Just what do you               creatures. He was office-bearer, prophet, priest and
mean by the organic conception of things?" Here is             king, with the commission, the command and also the
the view in a nutshell.                                        right, the power but also the authority to subject
                                                                creation unto himself and to cultivate it. In his heart
  What follows is quoted from the above-mentioned              lay the spiritual-ethical center of God's creation. And
booklet.                                                        through that central point the entire creation was
  The problem of so-called common grace concerns               united in love with God Himself. Also the creatures,
the question of God's attitude over against and                 each according to its nature, were taken up in God's
influence upon the whole of created things in their             covenant of friendship and shared in the good favor
mutual connection and their development in time, in             of the Lord. And also those creatures, sustained by
connection with and in  harmoriy with God's counsel            God's omnipresent power, stood, through man and


390                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


each in its own place and according to its own nature,        about, then the final result of history will be that the
in the service of God. And also now, according to our         completed spiritual-ethical fruit of the life of creation
confession, the Lord God sustains and governs all             is the opposite of that which it should be according
creatures, that they may serve man in order that man          to God's creation ordinance.
may serve His God. (Art. 12, Confession of Faith).              All this, although effected through the wilful dis-
  In this harmonious relation of all things to God a          obedience of the first man, took place, however,
breach was struck by sin. Only, we must immediately           according to the counsel and the will of God. Acci-
emphasize that the breach was struck in the  spiritual-       dents, from the viewpoint of God, never occur. God
ethical center of the earthy cosmos, in the heart of          is God. He is in heaven and does all His good pleasure,
man. Man violated God's covenant. The break is,               not merely in spite of the attempts of Satan and sin,
therefore, spiritual-ethical in character. An  essential      but also through those attempts. At all times He
change in the relation of things was not brought              proceeds directly to His goal. Never is He hindered by
about by sin. Sin can never have as its result that           the creature. There is with Him no change or shadow
creation would be annihilated, neither that the               of turning. Also the fall is wholly according to the
mutual relation between the creatures and the rela-           counsel of His will and it serves Him in the realization
tion of the creatures to man would be essentially             of His purpose. And He had provided something
changed, so that e.g. the creation would have been            better for us. His objective was not attained with the
turned into a chaos, if common grace had not                  rest of the seventh day. That rest was but a figure of
intervened. To be sure, the creature bears temporally         the eternal rest in the eternal and heavenly taber-
in connection with man the curse, is subject to               nacle, in the eternal kingdom, in which all things will
vanity, but the unity of creation was not broken, the         be united in Christ as their Head, when all things in
natural, organic affinity  (saamhoorigheid)   continued       heaven and upon earth will eternally be concentrated
undisturbed. And, to be sure, fallen man became very          in the heart of Christ. For, He is the Image of the
limited in his gifts and powers and natural light, so         invisible God, the First-born of all creatures, and that,
that he has retained merely remnants of natural light,        to be sure, as the First-born from the dead, the Head
but even in his fallen state he retained his position at      of the body, the Beginning, in order that He in all
the head of creation. And although it cannot be said          things should be the First. And through Him all
that he is still office-bearer of God, and that he            things were created, that are in heaven and that  .are in
therefore has the right to serve in God's House, he           earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones,
certainly continues to stand before the demand, in his        or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things
position in creation and with all his gifts and means         were created by Him and for Him. For it pleased the
to serve his God in love. However, he cannot, will            Father that in Him all fulness should dwell. Col.
not, and cannot will to serve his God in love. For a          1: 15-19. Thus it is according to God's eternal decree.
spiritual-ethical breach was made in the relation of          The eternal Covenant of friendship of God must be
man to God. The life of his heart was subverted into          established in Christ and be realized by Him unto its
its very opposite. The working of the image of God,           final eternal and heavenly destiny, when the taber-
whereby he with mind and will and all his strength            nacle of God shall be with man. Therefore, God,
went out to God in the state of rectitude, was turned         immediately at the fall of man, maintains His cove-
about into its reverse. Upon this all emphasis must be        nant, in spite of Satan and sin, but that covenant now
laid. It is not sufficient to say that man through the        as eternally firmly established in Christ. Through the
fall lost the image of God; far less correct is it to say     realization of that Covenant immediately at the fall
that he lost that image only in part. If this last thought    the friendship with Satan in the heart of man is
is the result of the distinction of the image of God in       brought to nought, and through the operation of
narrower and broader sense, it is better to abandon           grace enmity is wrought in the heart of man against
this distinction. But the image of  -God turned about         Satan. Here, however, we face the decree of predesti-
into its reverse. His light became darkness, his knowl-       nation. For not all the children of Adam have been
edge changed into the lie, his righteousness became           predestined to enter into the eternal covenant of
unrighteousness and his holiness became impurity and          God's friendship. Grace follows the line of election.
rebellion in all his willing and inclinations. His love       Only the kernel is affected by grace, the shell or
changed into enmity against God. Sin is not merely a          bolster is rejected. It is exactly through this that the
defect or lack, but  privatio actuosa.  And the servant       antithesis is realized in the midst of the world. Fact
and covenant-friend  of. the Lord became a friend and         is, also now the creatures in the natural sense contin-
covenant-ally of the devil. Also thus, however, the           ue to exist in organic connection. Also grace, even as
Lord continues to sustain and govern creation by His          sin, does not bring about an essential change in the
providential power. And the entire organic existence          temporal existence of things. Out of one blood God
of things remained essentially unaffected. If now in          created the entire human race. From a mere natural
this state of things no further change is brought             viewpoint all men are one. And man ever continues to


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 391



stand in organic connection with the cosmos, in the             that creature then in Christ is from eternity beheld,
midst whereof he moves and develops. There is,                  elected, foreordained by God's sovereign grace to
therefore, no dualism. Nature and grace are no con-             become conformed unto the image of the Son,
trasts. And even now we may remark that grace can               justified and glorified, found precious in His eyes and
never become the cause for man, who becomes                     engraved in both the palms of God's hands; and when
partaker of it, to go out of the world. To be sure, the         then that eternal grace goes out to the creature, that
antithesis of sin and grace is called into being by the         grace is, first of all, forteited favor and it stands
breach of sin and the entrance of grace, the latter             wholly in contrast with work and merit. That grace
developing along the line of election. All things               blots out all our transgressions, justifies us in the
continue to exist and develop according to their own            blood of the cross, grants us the adoption unto
nature, sustained by God's almighty power, in natural           children, the right to eternal life. But, secondly, that
affinity. But amidst this temporal existence of things          grace is also a power and operation within us, where-
there arises and develops the spiritual-ethical anti-           by we are redeemed from the repulsiveness and
thesis of sin and grace, of light and darkness, of the          domination of sin, become conformed unto the  image
love of God and enmity against Him, of life and death,          of the Son, become pleasing to God, formed accord-
of heaven and hell. And through all this God does all           ing to the image which He has engraved of us in the
His good pleasure and He leads all things to their              palms of His hands. And then, finally, God once more
eternal destiny, the eternal separation of chaff and            becomes for that sinner redeemed by grace, in his
wheat, the eternal realization of the Covenant of His           consciousness and experience, the only Good, the
friendship.                                                     attractive and charming God, Whose loving kindness is
  Grace is, therefore, never common.                            better than life and Who is alone worthy to receive all
                                                                praise and adoration and thanksgiving. In adoration
  The word grace has a variety of meaning in Holy               He falls down before God and gives Him  charis.
Writ. We lack time to enter into these details. But               Thus in general we would draw the lines.
allow me to present to you the line which we believe
to find in Scripture relative to this concept. The word            We, therefore, are convinced that there is essen-
then  has in Scripture the meaning of bending, inclin-          tially no distinction between such concepts as grace,
ing, attraction, beauty, charm, favor; the derivation of        love, goodness, mercy, and whatever related concepts
the word  charis  is less certain, although it is plain that    may otherwise appear in Scripture. Some have thought
also in the New Testament the word has a great                  that they came closer to the truth when the last word
variety of meaning. It signifies pleasantness, favor,           in the expression "common grace" would be replaced
forfeited favor, operation of grace and benefits of             by another, such as favorable inclination, goodness or
grace, thankfulness. In the epistles of the apostle Paul        mercy, but essentially this makes no difference.
the word is often used in contrast with merit and               Fundamentally all these concepts have the same
work. A comparison of many Scriptural passages                  meaning, and are one.
where the Word grace appears teaches us the follow-                It can readily be understood that, in the light of
ing. God is in absolute sense the Gracious One. He is           the above definition, we can never speak of common
gracious irrespective of any relation to the creature.          grace. The sinful and corrupt creature can qua talis
Grace is a virtue of God. He is in Himself gracious.            never be pleasing to God, but is object of His dislike,
For He is the absolute and infinite good and glorious           wrath and indignation, hatred and curse. Only as the
God, the implication of all perfection. Therefore He            creature has been incorporated into and is eternally
is also the charming, the attractive, the gracious God.         beheld in Christ can it be pleasing to God and object
At His right hand there are pleasures for evermore.             of His sovereign favour. Only from that eternal
And as the Triune God He beholds and knows                      counsel of election can the grace of God in Christ go
Himself perfectly, He is attracted to Himself, loves            out to him. And this is indeed the case. There
Himself, has pleasure in Himself. But God also has              proceeds out of the eternal good pleasure of God in
pleasure in the creature. That creature, especially             Christ an operation of grace upon the elect kernel of
man, who is formed after His image, and in the                  our race in connection with the organic whole of all
highest sense of the word His Church in Christ, He              creatures. And by that wonder of grace that elect
has willed as beautiful. Therefore He also has pleasure         kernel in Christ, always in connection with the whole
in the creature, for His Name's sake, and it finds grace        of things, is redeemed, saved, liberated, glorifie'd,
in His eyes; He lavishes upon that creature the                 lifted up out of darkness and guilt and sin and death
evidence of His favor and draws it unto Himself with            and curse and vanity into the state of the heavenly
chords of love into His eternal covenant of friendship.         glory of God's covenant of friendship. But likewise
When that creature lies in guilt and sin, so that in            the wrath of God abides upon the reprobate shell
itself it cannot be object of God's pleasure and favor,         outside of Christ, and an operation proceeds from
but on the contrary, of His wrath and aversion; and if          God's aversion and wrath, indignation and repulsion


392                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


and hardening, whereby this reprobate shell becomes          common grace, along which God realizes His original
ripe for destruction. In all this God proceeds directly      creation-idea. We, however, include all creatures in
to His goal. He never takes a detour. He never retraces      mutual connection within the circle of the organic
His steps. His work is never frustrated. His purpose is      conception, and make the distinction between the
never thwarted at any moment in history. This                elect kernel and the reprobate shell. And we maintain
development and operation of God's grace and aver-           that upon the whole of created things, in organic
sion, drawing and casting off, blessing and curse,           connection with each other, an operation of God's
softening and hardening, continues constantly, ac-           grace but also of His aversion, of His favour but also
cording to His eternal good pleasure and in connec-          of His wrath, of election but also of reprobation
tion with the operation of His providence and the            proceeds, according to the counsel of His will and
organic development of our race. In the actual sense         according to the nature of the creatures, each in its
of the word one can, therefore, never speak of a             own place in the whole.
checking of this process. To be sure the end does not
appear immediately at the beginning. The develop-               In that sense we understand that God loves the
ment or, if you will, the process of grace and sin is        world, in its elect kernel, so that whosoever believeth
according to God's good pleasure and connected by            shall be saved, but the wrath of God abideth upon
His providential management with the organic exis-           whosoever believeth not. Thus we understand that
tence of all things. But that process is not restrained.     Christ is the Head of the church, but also the
It proceeds as rapidly as it possibly can. For Christ        Beginning of the creation of God and therefore also
comes quickly and His reward is with Him to give             the End, the First-born of all creatures and the
unto every man according as His work shall be.               First-born from the dead, in Whom all the fulness
                                                             should dwell, and by Whom' and for Whom all things
  This is our conception of the attitude and opera-          were created, In that sense we understand that God
tion of God with respect to the organic whole of             purposed by Himself to gather together in one in
temporal things, in connection with the counsel and          Christ all things, both which are in heaven and which
the good pleasure of God, the covenant of His                are on earth. Then we can also understand the
friendship, sin and grace, creation and redemption,          covenant with Noah, which certainly is no separate
Adam and Christ, the natural and the spiritual. We           covenant with the world outside of Christ, but God's
have therefore, this will be understood, indeed no           eternal covenant of friendship, revealed to the church
individualistic, particularistic `conception' of the tre-    as recently delivered by the flood, with the elect
mendous work of redemption by the grace of God.              kernel in Christ in connection with the whole of
Neither do we involve merely the Church as the body          eternal created things. Noah becomes heir of the
of Christ, as the new mankind, in the organic concep-        world by the grace of God. The sign thereof we have
tion. This latter is done by D.  Kuyper. He does,            in the all-embracing rainbow, painted by the sunlight
indeed, have an eye for the fact that God did not            upon the dark clouds. Thus we also understand that
elect a number of individuals, to redeem them as the         an operation of God's grace issued through the
severed branches of the tree of our race, but that the       preaching of Jonah upon Nineveh, figure of the
organism, as body of Christ, as the actual mankind, is       world, in which the resurrected Christ will presently
saved and glorified by God. But he does not further          celebrate His triumphs, and that Nineveh repented
apply this thought to the organic whole of all crea-         upon the preaching of Jonah. Fact is, there were also
tures. Therefore he speaks of an original  creation-         thousands of children, who could not discern be-
idea. It is because of this that he always presents the      tween their right and left hands, and, besides, much
matter as if a breach, an essential breach was made by       cattle!
satan in the work of God, and that sin and death
would actually hinder God in the realization of His            In the light of the preceding it will be understood
original creation-idea, were it not for the fact that at     that we have nothing in common with the anabaptists
this juncture common grace intervened restrainingly.         who would avoid the world. To be sure, we would
Unto this end he presents God as concluding a                not be of the world. We know of no synthesis
covenant of friendship with the godless world outside        whatever. We do not join Athens in wedlock with
of Christ, in order that sinful man may choose God's         Jerusalem. We do not cultivate culture in the name of
side against  satan. And thus he has man living a            common grace in cooperation with the godless world.
relatively good world-life, from the principle of a          We recognize the antithesis. We do acknowledge the
certain righteousness which was left him by common           natural affinity of our entire race in connection with
grace, and he has made possible a conception of sinful       all things. We would not go out of the world. We have
man, who by the grace of God practices culture. All          all things in common. We work with the same means,
of history actually thereby becomes an interim. God          gifts, talents and powers as the world. We must deal
carries out the covenant of His election, and saves the      with and make use of the same institutions, of the
new mankind; but parallel runs a certain line of             home, society, church and state. Neither can it be the


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  393


calling of the Christian to improve the world as such,        country as the Netherlands, with a relatively strong
which is impossible. But it surely is his calling to live,    Christian population, e. g. to maintain Christian poli-
throughout his life, in connection with all things and        tics and speak of a Christian government, but in our
with all possible means, out of the new life-principle        country this is well-nigh impossible. Some periods in
of regeneration, and over against that life which             history are thereunto more conducive and favorable
comes up out of the principle of sin. And it is surely        than others. God does, indeed, at times give unto His
also his calling to represent in the midst of the world       people the power and the means to assume control in
the cause of Christ, the cause of the Son of God, in          various phases of life. Then again almost everything is
word and walk. To that purpose he subjects as much            denied them. Nevertheless, whether we  have,power or
as possible all things, and unto the realization of that      not, never may we become of the world and affiliate
purpose he uses all means and institutions which may          ourselves with that world. If we do adopt this
be in His service. We would be in the world but not of        procedure to exercise power we are lost. At all times
the world. We desire the Christian home, the Chris-           we must represent the cause of Christ, even if we do
tian society, the Christian government and state,             so only by witnessing of the Word. And if then we
Christian school, Christian science and Christian cul-        must suffer, we will remember the Word of Scripture,
ture in general. It lies in the nature of the case that       that it is given us of grace, in the behalf of Christ, not
the realization of these things  in  concrete  does not       only to believe in Him, but also with Him to suffer!
always and everywhere succeed. The world is power-            And the victory is always ours. We have therefore
ful and often deprives us of our means and position.          good courage, knowing that Christ has overcome the
It may be possible to a certain extent in a small             world!



QUESTION BOX




            About Infra  - And Supralapsarianism

                                                  Prof H. C. Hoehxema



Question                                                      Reply
   From a West Coast reader I received a question               First of all, I am glad to hear that there are. still
about infra- and supralapsarianism. My questioner             people who are interested in subjects of this kind.
makes reference to a comment of Herman Bavinck                There are too many today  - even among professional
about the failure of either infra- or supra- to offer a       theologians and ministers  - who have little or no
satisfactory answer to the questions concerning the           interest in such subjects as election and reprobation,
relation of the various decrees of God, citing the first      not to say supra- and infra-. Such interest is, I think, a
part of a quotation of Bavinck by Danhof and                  good sign.
Hoeksema in  Van  Zonde en Genade  ("Concerning Sin             In the the second place, let me remind our readers
and Grace"). He then asks whether there is a relation         that the question of supra- and infra- is a question
between the idea of God's covenant and the question           concerning the logical (not temporal) order of God's
of the infralapsarian or supralapsarian view of God's         decrees. Briefly, it is the question whether the decree
decrees, and whether perhaps the failure of both              of predestination precedes (supra-) or follows (infra-)
supra- and infra- to offer a satisfactory conception is       the decree of the fall. For a more detailed expla-
due to a failure to take into account the truth of            nation, I refer you to H. Hoeksema,  Reformed
God's covenant.                                               Dogmatics, pp. 161-165.


394                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


  In the third place, I would answer the above               escape the impression that there is arbitrariness in
question by saying that in my opinion the failure of         God. The reprobate are evidently not necessary to
both traditional supralapsarianism and of  infralap-         reveal God's power and wrath and righteousness; for
sarianism is due to two closely related mistakes. The        these virtues certainly never came to a clearer, more
first is a failure to construe the doctrine of God's         definite revelation than at the cross of Jesus Christ.
decrees in harmony with an organic conception of             He certainly satisfied the justice and the righteousness
things. Danhof and Hoeksema suggest this in the              of God and bore all His wrath.
chapter of  `Van Zonde en Genade  to which my                  We, therefore, would like to present the matter of
questioner refers. In fact, in that chapter they devel-      God's counsel of predestination as follows. God
oped their organic view. The second mistake, closely         conceived and willed all things in His eternal decree
related, is the failure to construe the doctrine of          for His own name's sake, that is, to the glory of His
God's decrees in connection with and in harmony              name and the reflection of His divine, infinite virtues
with a proper view of the whole idea of God's                and life. And as the highest in God is His own
covenant. I would not say that in the past. Reformed         covenant life, He willed to establish and to reveal His
theology has not at all connected the truth of God's         covenant in Christ; and all other things in the counsel
covenant with that of God's decrees and with the             of God are related to that main purpose of God as
question of supra- and infra-. Anyone who is                 means. Hence, we obtain the following order:
acquainted with the old  supra+nfra- controversy as it
also involved the question of the "counsel of peace"         1) God wants to reveal His own eternal glory in the
(raad des  vredes)  will also know that these matters are    establishment of His covenant.
deeply intertwined. However, there was a failure, I          2) For the realization of this purpose the Son be-
believe, to construe the doctrine of God's decrees in        comes the Christ, the image of the invisible God, the
connection with a  proper  conception of God's cove-         firstborn of every creature, that in Him as the first
nant. For those interested in delving into this subject,     begotten of the dead all the fulness of God might
there is an interesting and thorough treatment of it in      dwell.
H. Hoeksema,  Reformed Dogmatics,  pp. 285-336.              3) For that Christ and the revelation of all His fulness
  A briefer, positive presentation of what I have            the church is decreed and all the elect. In the decree
often called Hoeksema's "modified supralapsarian             of God Christ is not designed for the church, but the
view" and which at least touches on both the points          church for Christ. The church is His body, and serves
mentioned above here follows  (Reformed Dog-                 the purpose to reveal the fulness there is in Him.
matics,) pp. 164-165.                                        4) For the purpose of realizing this church of Christ,
                                                             and, therefore, the glory of Christ, the reprobate are
   We therefore place ourselves without reservation          determined as vessels of wrath. Reprobation serves
on the standpoint of supralapsarianism, and maintain         the purpose of election as the chaff serves the
that it is the Scriptural and. the only consistent           ripening of the wheat. This is in harmony with the
presentation of the decree of God's predestination.          current thought of Scripture; and we find it expressed
But we would like to modify this supralapsarian view         literally in Isaiah 43  :3, 4: "For I am the Lord thy
in such a way that it is in harmony with our organic         God, the Holy One of Israel, thy saviour: I gave
conception of things. We must emphasize not so               Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.
much what is first or last in the decree of God, but         Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been
much rather place ourselves before the question:             honourable, and I have loved thee; therefore will I
what in those decrees is conceived as purpose, and           give men for thee, and people for thy life."
what as means? What is the main object in those              5) Finally, in the counsel of God all other things in
decrees, and what is subordinate and subservient to
that main object? In this way we first of all escape         heaven and on earth are designed as means to the
the danger to leave the impression that there after all      realization of both election and reprobation, and
is a temporal order in the decrees of God. And, in the       therefore, of the glory of Christ and His church.
second place, according to our way of presenting the         And because in the decree of God all things are
doctrine of predestination we may open the way to            conceived in this manner, therefore all things must
find an answer to the question: why is there a               work together for good to them that love God, to
reprobation? It is true that supralapsarians give a          them that are the called according to His purpose.
partial answer to this question when they assert that        And in this light we can also understand Scripture
God also has willed the ungodly for His own name's           when it teaches us, as in I Corinthians  3:21-23, that
sake and to the manifestation of His righteousness,          "all things are yours; Whether Paul, or Apollos, or
justice, power, and wrath. But this is by no means the       Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things
final answer that may be given to this question; nor         present, or things to come; all are yours; And ye are
does it satisfy us. For in this way we still cannot          Christ's; and Christ is God's."


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   395



FROM HOLY WRIT
                Exposition of Galatians 4: 6  & 7
                                                  Rev. G. Lubbers


                                                             this were not true they would be none of Christ's
THE SPIRIT CRYING "ABBA, FATHER" IN OUR                      (Rom.  8:9, 10) He is the Spirit of God and also the
HEARTS  (Galatians  4:6)                                     Spirit of Christ. (Rom.  8:9) He is the Spirit of God as
  Here we now come to Paul's placing the final and           He is the Spirit of Christ, Who -is the head of the
triumphant arch-stone in his superb apology and              church. This Spirit is the life-giving Spirit as the Spirit
argument that righteousness is alone by faith and not        of Christ. By this indwelling Spirit also our mortal
by works of law which we perform! It clinches the            bodies shall be raised with Christ. (Rom. 8: 11) By
entire argument and returns to the beginning of this         this indwelling Spirit we mortify the practices of the
entire argument begun in  Chapter'3:2,  where he asks        body, the indwelling sins, the workings of sin in our
the questions: this only would I learn of you:               members. In this Spirit we are the temple of God, His
Received ye (Galatians) the Spirit by works of the           dwelling-place in the Spirit. (I Cor. 6: 19, 20; Eph.
law or by the hearing of faith? This Spirit by which         2:21, 22) In this Spirit we grow into a holy temple in
ye cry Abba, Father, and which works in your hearts,         the Lord.
by the preaching of the Gospel and by the use of the           This is the Spirit of God which God sends into our
Sacraments, a living faith? Surely your receiving of         hearts. The verb "sends" is the same verb in the
this Spirit was all a gift of grace, gifts of grace as to    Greek text which is used in verse 4 where we read
sons and daughters of adoption by sovereign grace.           that he  "sent  His Son in the fulness of time." The
  Thus is the argument of Paul. Christ has redeemed          verb is "exapesteilen." It is a form which means not a
you from the curse of the law. This is the Christ,           repeated sending but refers to a one time action.
Who, in the preaching, was evidently set forth before        There was a time when God sent His Son. It was in
you as the crucified One. He was sent in the fulness         the fulness of time. There is also a time when God
of time by God, made of a woman and made under               sent His Spirit into our hearts, crying Abba, Father.
law to redeem us, in order that we might receive the         That was closely connected with this fulness of time;
adoption of sons, and legally have the right to be           it was at the time appointed of God when the Spirit
called the children of God, heirs of God, righteous          was sent forth from heaven on that day when "Pente-
before God in Christ. We have the right to stand             cost was fully come." (Acts 2: 1) Then there came
before God justified as those who were ungodly. Thus         from heaven the sound as of a mighty rushing wind
was Abraham justified. (Rom.  4:5) The righteousness         and cloven tongues like as of fire and  sat  upon each
of God in Christ was imputed to Abraham and to His           of them. It was the arrival of the abiding presence of
seed by faith!! And thus were all nations blessed in         the Spirit in the hearts of the believers of the New
Abraham, justified by faith.                                 Testament Church, Jew and Greek. Everyone heard in
  So now we are Sons of God!                                 his own tongue the wonderful works of God. (Acts
                                                             2: 11) And this Spirit of God received a commission, a
  We are sons and not slave-servants. Such is our legal      task to perform. He has a mandate from the throne of
status before God in His statute books of His judg-          God and of the Lamb from which the living waters
ment-seat and throne! And this is the  point-of-             flow. (Rev.  22:1-5)  He must dwell in the hearts of
departure here in our text: "And because ye are              those who were redeemed by the blood of the Lamb,
sons. . . ." We should notice that Paul speaks here in       and dwell in their hearts and take the fulness of
the second person: ye are sons. He is speaking               Christ and give it unto the church, each according to
directly to the Galatians and making an assertion            the measure of the gift of Christ. (Eph.  4:7) And He
concerning their legal status before God. He does not        has a mission in these "hearts" of the saints; hearts
merely say: since the elect and all the children of God      from which all the life of these children springs forth
are sons, No, he says, "because ye are sons." In that        as a fountain (John 4: 14;  7:37-39)  and there he must
capacity you have received the Spirit of God in              cry in their hearts. The term to  cry in  the Greek is
Christ. Calvary is the basis and reason for Pentecost!       "krazon"  and is a participle, and refers to a present,
This truth Paul drives home here with great cogency          ever activity of the Spirit in the hearts of the sons of
and force of argument.                                       adoption. Lexicons tell us that the verb refers to an
  Let us not forget that the "Spirit" here is the            inarticulate cry, to cry out harshly. It refers to a very
indwelling Spirit in the hearts of these Galatians. If       strong cry, a great cry of a child to his Father in


396                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


heaven. It is a cry which only a child can cry for his          TRULY SONS, AND NOT SERVANTS (Galatians
loving Father. It is Spirit-wrought.                            4:  )
  Viewed superficially, one might gain the impres-
sion from the text that we have here some mysticism               Sons of God who are free-born must not ever let
in which the Spirit is the only subject of the crying in        any would-be preacher tell them that they must
us, and that there is not the subject of the person of          return to where they have the "spirit of bondage
the children of God also crying: Abba, Father! Paul's           again unto fear." All their lifetime they must not be
purpose in our text is not, to teach everything con-            in fear of death and of Satan's bondage. Christ came
cerning this mystery of godliness in the sons of                to destroy the power of the devil. (Heb. 2: 14-16) He
adoption. He is merely clinching his argument that              made an open shame of principality and powers. He
they are sons because the Spirit cries in them so               nailed the handwriting which was against us to the
loudly. What comes from their lips is fruit of the              Cross. He triumphed over every foe which would hold
Spirit. (I Cor.  12:3)  It is really the perpetual sacrifice    his people into bondage. (Col. 2: 14-16)
of praise from the lips, confessing His name. (Heb.
13 : 15, 16) However, Paul teaches more explicitly on             The ironclad test that we are no longer servants of
this mystery in Rom. 8: 15, 16, 17. There he speaks             sin, but that we are sons of God by adoption is in the
of the Spirit as the Spirit of  adoption.  Formerly the         fact that God has sent His Spirit into our hearts
church in the Old Testament had a Spirit of bondage             crying: Abba, Father. That is the final confirmation
to fear. Such we have not received now. We are                  that we are heirs of the promise by faith alone. It
adopted sons. And we need the Spirit of the Son of              stops the mouth of all contradiction. If we have the
God, as the "Spirit of adoption." And this Spirit of            Spirit we are sons of God. Hence, the finality of
adoption cries in our hearts "Abba, Father."  HOE               Paul's brief "and if a son, then an heir through God."
ever, the mode of operation of the  Spirit  is that He            There are two different readings here in the Greek
works in such a mysterious way in our hearts that He            text. We prefer the shorter and more striking reading
"testifies with our spirit." Hence, there are two               over the longer and more commonplace reading,
subjects crying in the redeemed Christian. The spirit           which is given us in the KJV text of our Bible. This
of the Christian whereby in his soul and mind he is             text in our Bible reads, "then an heir  of God through
adapted to God, and the Holy Spirit Who dwells in               Christ. " The shorter and more striking reading is
him as in His temple. The Holy Spirit testifies with            "then an heir through God. "
our spirit in such an assuring way that we stand                  The great truth is that we are "heirs" of eternal
before the God of. heaven and earth and "cry" Abba,             life. We receive it merely as a free gift of grace. It is
Father. It is a child's cry which comes forth from our          not merited. We are elected to be sons of adoption.
lips! It is not the cry of a servant, a slave in the house      To these the Spirit is given; and in the receiving of the
of his master. But it is the cry of the prodigal, who           Spirit we receive the inheritance. The promise is then
comes to himself, and says, "I will arise and go to my          realized, and that unconditionally in sovereign grace
father, and I will say: father, I have sinned against           and mercy.
heaven and against thee, I am no more worthy to be                For we are heirs through God. It is His sovereign
called thy son; make me as one of thy hirelings,                will and good-pleasure that we are heirs. It is not of
servants. . .  ." (Luke 15: 18, 19) It is. the Spirit Who       him that willeth, nor of Him that runneth, but of
so applies the words of Jesus, when He teaches us to            God Who giveth mercy. In this will of God the
say, "Our Father,. Who art in heaven," that we have a           purpose of election stands!
childlike trust and confidence that He is our God and             Paul has a very great way of bringing this point
Father for Christ's sake.  (Heid.  Cate. Lord's  oay 41,        home to the Galatians. In verse 5 he says that  " we
Question 120). And the Spirit of adoption so testifies          might receive the adoption of sons." Here he evident-
in our hearts that we from out of the depths of our             ly refers to the entire church: Old and New Testa-
heart cry: Abba, Father! And therefore we both cry.             ment, Jew and Greek might receive the adoption.
The Spirit works in us both the willing and the doing           There is no difference here between Jew and Greek.
of this cry of our lips.                                        In verse 6 he refers to the entire church at Galatia. Ye
  Now this is the fruit from which the tree is known.           have received the Spirit which cries, Abba, Father.
A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit. A good and           However, here he makes this very personal. He says,
well-born son of the Spirit cannot but say: Father.             "wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son."
That is his great privilege of election of grace. For this      Each believer is here assured and admonished by this
purpose was the church formed that she might sing               admonition of the Gospel that we are not to reckon
the Father's praises in many sonnets and hymns and              ourselves to be mere servants, but to stand in the
spiritual songs, making melody in her heart. Of these           liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and glory
Isaiah says, "This people have I formed for myself;             in our  sonship  of adoption, crying in the Spirit:
they shall shew forth my praise." (Isaiah  43:21)               Abba, Father.


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     397


THE VOICE OF OUR FATHERS


                                    Church Discipline (1)

                                                  ProJ: Robert D. Decker
                                      :.

           "In the meantime we believe, though it is useful and beneficial, that those, who are rulers of the Church,
           institute ,and establish certain ordinances among themselves for maintaining the body of the Church; yet.
           they ought studiously to take care that they do not depart from those things which Christ, our only Master,
           bath instituted. And therefore, we reject all human inventions, and all laws, which man would introduce
           into the worship of God, thereby to bind and compel the conscience in any manner whatever. Therefore we
           admit only of that which tends to nourish and preserve concord, and unity, and to keep all men in
           obedience to God. For this purpose, ex-communication or church discipline is requisite, with the several
           circumstances belonging to it, according to the Word of God."
                                                                                Article XXXII, The Belgic Confession

  The brevitv of this article on so significant a                  and the last section, articles seventy-one through
subject is to-be explained from the fact that the                  eighty-six, covers Christian discipline.
churches of the reformation in the lowlands were in                   A brief sketch of the history of the formation of
their early, formative years when de Bres wrote the                this  Church Order  is offered by Prof. Herman Hanko
Confession.  A Church Order on the basis of the Word               in a syllabus available from the Protestant Reformed
of  G&d had not yet been developed. As brief as it                 Seminary Bookstore, entitled,  Notes On The Church
may be, however, the Article does state the principles             Order.  Writes Prof. Hanko: "John Calvin began the
of proper order and discipline in the Church. The                  work of enunciating the principles of Reformed
Confession  speaks of the rulers or officebearers whom             Church' polity in his reformation in Geneva. Many of
Christ ordains in His Church and through whom                      these principles are to be found in  his monumental
Christ rules and disciplines His Church. These rulers              and continuously influential. `Institutes of the Chris-
must institute and establish certain ordinances for                tian Religion.' These  ,principles  were put into prac-
maintaining the body of the Church. These ordi-                    tical use in the new church order which was prepared
nances must be only those which Christ, our only                   for the church in Geneva. These were taught in the
Master, has instituted, which is to say, they must be              University of Geneva where students from all over
based on the Word of God. All human inventions and                 Europe learned them  and carried them into lands
laws which bind and compel the conscience are to be                where: the Calvin reformation had spread. Such men
rejected. Only that which promotes concord and                     as Beza, a Lasco, John Knox, Andrew Melville,
unity and keeps men in obedience to the Word of                    Olevianus carried the Reformed and Presbyterian
God. may be admitted. Finally for this purpose                     system of church government into the far comers of
excommunication is requisite. Thus the principles of               Europe.
church order and discipline are clearly set forth. And
these principles are either directly taught in the                    "If we turn now to the Netherlands where our own
Scriptures or clearly implied therein. But in either               church order has its origin, we find that here too men
case the principles set forth in this little Article of our        developed the Reformed system of church govern-
Confession  are thoroughly grounded in  the Word of                ment under the influence of Calvin. Such men as
God. And  the  chief among them is that Jesus Christ,              Acronius, Walaeus, Trigland, and Voetius were leaders
"our only Master," governs His Body, the  (Church.                 in this field.
  These principles are articulated in detail in the                   "The  Church Order  did not arise mechanically in
Church Order Of The Pro testpz t- Reformed Churches                the churches  - the churches coming together and, in
in America.  This  Church  Order,  which consists of               an abstract manner, formulating the principles which
some eighty-six articles, is  div.ided into four main              are embodied in our  Church Order.  Rather the rules
sections: articles two through twenty-eight deal with              which we now possess arose organically out of the life
the 0  ffices in the Church; articles twenty-nine                  of the churches. The organization of the Reformed
through fifty-two deal with the Assemblies of the                  Churches in. the Netherlands is, to a considerable
Church (consistory,  classis, and synod); Public Wor-              extent, the work of John a Lasco.  ye assisted in the
ship is treated in Articles fifty-three through seventy;           organization of the Dutch Church of the refugees


398                                           THE STAND ARD BEARER


from London and laid down the main lines of church          God's Word, which preserved the autonomy of each
polity and liturgy in  his Forma ac Ratio.  Soon after      congregation.
Calvinism came to the Lowlands, in the middle of the
16th Century, the first steps were taken towards the          "While the regulations adopted at  Emden remained
organization of Reformed congregations. The                 in force, other Synods met which made additions and
churches under the cross in the Southern Lowlands           revisions. The following is a list of the important
repeatedly assembled in ecclesiastical gatherings from      Synods:
1563 on. There were no less than ten Synods held in           1) Dordrecht  - 1574 and 1578
the years 1563  - 1566. Here the problems of the new          2) Middleburg - 158 1
church were discussed and the rules stipulated by             3) Den Haag  - 1586
which the Church would be governed. Directions                4) Dordrecht  - 1618-1619. This Synod adopted
were taken from the  Church Orders  of Geneva and           the Church Order which is substantially the one we
France but adapted to the peculiar circumstances of         have today.
the Churches in the Netherlands.                              "The greatest difficulty arose in the Netherlands
   "Further organization was soon necessary. Many           over the question of the State Church. The fact that
refugees from the fierce persecutions in Spain and          the Reformed Church in the Netherlands was a state
France were flooding the Lowlands and the need for          church arose out of the peculiar history of the
a strong national church federation grew. It was in         Reformation in that country. But the Churches often
1568 that a number of refugees came together at             conceded too much authority to the civil government
Wezel in the autumn of that year to confer together         and leaned too much on the government for support.
in the interests of the Dutch Church. At this meeting       This continued after the Synod of Dordrecht and led
were such men as Datheen,  Marnix,  Willem van              to all sorts of trouble. While in various provincial
Zuylen. The meeting was not strictly a Synod because        Synods the  Chum& Order  was maintained, neverthe-
the men were not delegated by Churches. But general         less the end of a long and bitter struggle was that the
ordinances for the ecclesiastical life of the Churches      Church Order  was discarded in 18 16 and replaced by
were drawn up which might be adopted in more                a collegialistic set of' ecclesiastical regulations.
peaceable times in a legal assembly. The hope and           (defines the church as a loosely knit society of
prayer of these men was that the persecution which          voluntary members, R.D.D.)
now raged would give way to a period of peace when            "The Afscheiding in 1834 was a return to the
a Synod could be convened to organize more fully            Church Order  of Dordrecht. This came about only
the life of the Church.                                     after considerable struggle and suffering. Again in
  "The first Synod was held at  Emden (across the           1886 a group of people under the leadership of Dr. A.
border) in 1571. (In Germany because of the fierce          Kuyper, known as the `Doleantie,' left the State
persecution which raged in the Lowlands. -R.D.D.)           Church to return to the old  Church Order.  These
This Synod adopted Article 84  (". . . no church shall      two groups of churches were brought together into
lord it over other churches, etc." R.D.D.) first of all,    one denomination in 1892 under the  Church Order  of
deeply conscious of the horror of Romish hierarchy          Dordrecht. This situation continues till the present.
and determined to avoid it at all costs. This Synod           "Since that time various revisions have been made
clearly guided the Church along the principles which        in the  Church Order.  This was done in the Nether-
later came to full expression in our  Church Order.         lands in 1905 at Utrecht and in this country in 1914.
They maintained that it belonged to the life and            But these changes were not essential. Recently the
order of each individual congregation to regulate its       Gereformeerde Kerken made an extensive revision of
own matters. But they were also conscious of the            the  Church Order  which is quite different from the
common heritage and life of the Churches as a whole.        original: and the Christian Reformed Church has done
And they wanted a  Church Order  which was based on         the-same  after more than twelve years of study."



       Know the standard and follow it.
       Read the STANDARD BEARER!


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 399


IN HIS FEAR

                                         Summer Months
                                                    Rev. M. Joostens


  Seemingly, this is a welcome topic after the passing        catechism come to an end. For many of us, with the
of the harsh winter months and after being spoiled by         exception of our family devotions, have little or no
the signs of spring. But, before you bring to your            occasion to study the Word of God except for society
mind's eye the fanciful visions of summer and all the         preparation or catechism studies. This ought not to
activities it affords, let me explain my purpose in           be so. Part of the feeling of concern in my soul at the
choosing this topic. I do not care to engage in a             end of the season is always a wondering how often
discussion of the weather or the recreation that              these Bibles, through which we page diligently to find
summer affords us. Rather, I want to approach this            answers in society, will see the light of day. It is this
topic from a different point of view. I choose this           concern that usually prompts me to address a few
subject out of concern. It is not that I am concerned         words to my catechumens to the effect that they
whether we will utilize these months of summer to             ought not to forget their Bibles or neglect their
our advantage and delight. I know we will do this.            personal devotions and prayer time with God!
But my concern is a spiritual one. We often have a              I am reminded of Psalm 119: "0 how love I thy
combined society get-together at the beginning of the         law! it is my meditation all the day." (verse 97) This
season. Then we are admonished with regard to our             is the theme of the entire 119th Psalm. Not only does
duties to attend society and faithfully prepare from          he meditate upon the Law, in the narrow sense of the
the Word of God. Sometimes I am afraid that the               decalogue of the ten commandments, but his delight
admonition comes at the wrong end of the society              is in God's Word as he everywhere testifies. This Word
and catechism season. The months of fall and winter           of God is a light upon his pathway and a lamp unto
are conducive to study and spiritual meditation. The          his feet. This is also the place that the Word of God
weather is not conducive to the outdoors. We almost           must hold in our life. Our path is no different from
naturally turn to the reading of a book, learning of a        that of the Poet of old. We too are pilgrims and
lesson, or meditating quietly upon spiritual things.          strangers. We too have enemies that threaten our
Summer months are different.                                  spiritual life and well-being; and therefore we too
  It is with delight that we bring the society and            need the guidance and counsel of the Word of God to
catechism season to a close and welcome the reprieve          lead us and guide us in the way everlasting. But the
of the weekly or biweekly grind that the summer               Word does not speak through its covers! And as a
gives us. This is not only the feeling and anticipation       light, it cannot shine unopened upon the shelf! The
of our children who eagerly ask the preacher from             Word of God cannot be our counselor in the midst of
time to time how many lessons are remaining. But              life's difficulties and trials except we make it our
this is the feeling for all of us, including preachers, as    trusted companion and friend as we traverse this
I must confess. Yet, there is always something rather         pilgrim's journey. The point is that unless we con-
bothersome and restless in my soul at the last of             tinually, from day to day, consult the road map of
these meetings. I suppose it is that a minister (and I        the Scriptures, we become hopelessly lost as we try to
am sure that the people feel much the same) has this          make our way through this life. For it is the com-
feeling because he knows that the communion of                mandments of God that make us wiser than our
these will be missed. But, back to my concern. It is          enemies and give us more understanding than all
more than this. Society and catechism meetings force          our teachers. Such wisdom and understanding in the
us to have some kind of a systematic study and                way of searching the Scriptures and taking time to
instruction in the Scriptures. We then habitually pick        read them and study them.
up the Bible and study those things that will be
discussed in class or society. And knowing our own              During the season that societies are meeting we
nature, it is good for us to have such a schedule to          systematically study and discuss the Word of God. In
encourage us in the way of study and meditation. For          this way we commune with God's Word on a regular
we and our children often take the way of least               basis. But at this time of year societies and catechisms
resistance. To our shame, we do this even when we             discontinue meeting, and I am afraid that more often
know we ought to prepare for our lesson. But I am             than not this means that we retire our personal Bible
afraid this happens much more when societies and              for the months of vacation. We ought to know that


400                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



the Devil and the world gives us no reprieve during        meanings various words in Scripture have. Maybe
these months. In fact, one could make a case for the       meditation upon a passage, with the aid of a good
fact that the carnal temptations of the flesh are          commentary to deepen and enrich our thoughts, is
stepped up and increased for the child of God. The         of benefit. There is a wealth of reading material that
tendency is for our spiritual life to become relaxed       we ourselves publish in addition to the  Standard
and drowsy. It is good for us to be aware of this and      Bearer  and  Beacon Lights.  These meditations have
attempt to combat it.                                      chapters that are ideal for short intervals of study
  How shall we do this? When the leisure months of         early in the morning or before bedtime at night. The
summer give time for everything we must also let it        important thing is simply to make time in the
give time for being alone with the Scriptures. We          business of our schedule for communion and  fellow-
might enjoy some systematic reading through the            ship with our God. We must seek the instruction of
Psalms or the practical wisdom of the preacher.  Often-    His Word and precepts that they may shed light upon
times we do not understand what we read. It helps to       our path and guide our feet. Then we shall walk in
reflect with a good concordance Bible, seeing what         His fear!

MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE

                                   Letter to Timothy
                                         June 1, 1978
D e a r   T i m o t h y ,                                  iest. And so on. . . . And so on. . . . Even in the
  In our discussion of the offices in the Church, we       eating of food, one must be careful. One must not eat
had, in our last letter, turned our attention to the       his food too rapidly. One must not spoil his appetite
particular office of the ministry of the Word. I want      before meals. One must chew his food a proper
to continue that discussion with you now.                  number of times to aid digestive processes. One must
                                                           not allow fighting, discord, unhappiness, etc. to
  We have talked about the fact that the Word of           intrude at the table while eating, for this upsets the
God which the minister preaches is the true and only       digestive organs. So it goes.
food of the soul which alone is able to nourish God's
people unto life everlasting. It is perhaps important,       I do not really have any doubts about the worth of
for your own benefit, to emphasize this once again for     many of these ideas. And one who considers his body
a moment. The reason, I think, why this needs              to be the temple of the Holy Spirit will surely take
emphasis so much is that there is a certain careless-      care of it. But the thought passed my mind that it
ness present among the clergy when it comes to             would be well for people and ministers to give at least
preaching; and the result is that sermons are not          equal care to the food which nourishes their souls.
carefully prepared, the content is not always Scrip-       After all, no matter how carefully we provide for the
tural, and preaching in the true sense of the word is      body, our bodies die anyway and go to the grave.
neglected.                                                 And, whether we, through proper diet, live to be
                                                           eighty or ninety, if our souls go to hell, there is no
  This thought came to me once again when I was            profit in such care of the body. The soul is the
reading a long discussion in some news magazine            important thing. And because the soul is the im-
about the whole problem of nutrition. The article was      portant thing, the nourishment of the soul ought to
at great pains to emphasize the importance of proper       concern us very much.
nutrition for our physical well-being. It talked at
great length about what constituted good nutrition,          It is in this light that it is so difficult to explain
about the importance of teaching people the rules of       what is happening on today's pulpits.  A minister is a
good nutrition, and about the care which people            spiritual nutritionist. But he has one great advantage
should exercise in preparing and eating wholesome          over scientific nutritionists: the latter are always
meals. You know all the talk as well as I do. One          experimenting with what is best for the body, and are
must eat a balanced diet so that all the vitamins and      forever changing their minds on these questions. The
minerals which the body needs are obtained each day.       minister never has to do this, for he has God's own
One must watch out for preservatives, additives,           prescription for exactly what the soul needs. That is
artificial colorings and flavors, as well as  over-        the Bible.
processed sugar, flour, and such like things. Organic        Yet this is not done. You do not have to visit many
fertilizers are best and organic foods are the health-     churches nor listen to many radio broadcasts of a


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                             401


religious sort to discover that most of what comes             are even hearing many things while they seem to be
from the pulpit is drivel. There is emphatically a             miles away. I recall that but a few weeks ago, as the
demise of preaching. Sermons are very short, lasting,          minister was about to make his transition from his
at best, thirty minutes. What is preached is often not         second to his third point, I was about ready to give
worth listening to. Sometimes downright heresy is              my small son a good poke because he seemed to me
preached. Sometimes, although there is no heresy, the          to be inattentive. At the moment that I was about to
sermon is so mild and weak that it best resembles              do this, he turned and asked whether the minister was
watery soup with two or three pieces of grease                 now on his third point.
floating on the top of some greyish liquid. Sometimes
everything is preached but the Scriptures as ministers           At any rate, the point that needs to be emphasized
think themselves competent to solve all the problems           is that the minister has an awesome responsibility to
which afflict mankind whether in the arena of                  see to it that the people of God have the right food
national and international politics or in the social           for their souls. He is literally entrusted with the
relationships among men. Ministers consider them-              responsibility for the spiritual welfare of their souls.
selves marriage counselors, youth directors, sports            He can poison them with heresy, make them anemic
coordinators, foreign policy experts, specialists in the       with watered down drivel and sap their spiritual
fields of economics, race relations, and urban hous-           strength with preaching that does not feed. Or he can
ing. But of true preaching there is very little.               provide them with food which is able to feed and
                                                               nourish their souls to life everlasting. In that sense he
  If we would search for an explanation of all this, it        has the power of life and death in his hands.
is probably impossible to find a simple answer. It is,           No wonder then that the prophets have such
of course, true that this demise in the preaching is           terrible things to say about shepherds who are un-
part of the general picture of apostasy which prevails         faithful and who give the people stones for bread.
in the Church. And, within the context of apostasy,            Reading these passages ought to make the most
strange things happen. Ministers no longer preach the          hardened unfaithful minister quiver. It is a dreadful
truth, and such interest as there may be in the                thing to have to stand before Christ with the blood of
preaching withers and dies and the people become               unfed thousands on one's hands.
anemic and spiritually weak. But weak and anemic
people also cannot tolerate the preaching of the                 The pulpit is central to the minister's work.
Word, and so they themselves clamor for shorter                  There is something very mysterious and un-
sermons, for different forms of worship, for enter-            fathomable about a worship service. I suppose, from
tainment instead of sound preaching, and become                the outside, it would look like any meeting where
co-responsible for the decline of the pulpit. And so           some people come together to hear what someone or
the Churches empty and all kinds of novelties are              other has to say. But the worship service is not like
tried in vain efforts to revive the dead corpse of the         that. It is unique. A congregation of people are
Church.                                                        together singing and praying and putting their money
                                                               in collection plates and listening to a man talk. But
  There are many different kinds of experimenting,             here in a worship service, God is meeting with His.
and it would be purposeless to list them. New ideas            people through Christ. Christ is speaking to His
are constantly being tried and old ones discarded as           people, calling them by name and feeding them with
each novelty becomes stale. One particularly disquiet-         His own body and blood. And the people who are
ing development, however, is the idea of having first          gathered together to worship are eating Christ's body
of all a brief and rather informal "children's service,"       and drinking His blood, conscious that their souls are
after which the children are dismissed from the                being fed with the only food in all the world which is
auditorium to find play elsewhere while the regular            able to nourish them unto life eternal.
service goes on without the children. This is a truly
deplorable innovation. There is no doubt about it                Nothing like this happens anywhere else in the
that it arises out of a misconception and/or denial of         world. It is the unique manifestation of the wonder-
the covenant and a  faihu-e to understand that the             ful grace of God which He shows to His people.
Church is the gathering of believers  and their seed.            The central work of the minister is therefore
But it is also an insult to the intelligence and spiritual     the preaching of the Word, and this preaching oc-
receptivity of the children of the covenant. And, in           cupies the central place in the worship service. It is,
that sense, it is an insult to the Holy Spirit Who can         no doubt, because of this that, ever since the Ref-
apply the preaching to children too as well as adults. I       ormation, the pulpit Bible has always occupied a
am often amazed at what children are able to learn in          central place in the Church building. The pulpit, in a
Church on Sunday and how closely they can follow               Reformation Church, is in the center of the platform;
the preaching and understand what is being said, even          the Bible lies open upon the pulpit; and it lies open in
though our sermons are rather doctrinal. And they              the sight of all. I know that these things are only


402                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



really symbols; that they are, therefore, not of the         the sick, the widows, the aged, the bereaved, the
essence of the worship service. But they do point to         tempted and tried, the burdened and sorrowful. He
the fact that ever since the Reformation the Churches        brings that Word when he enters the homes. of his
of the Reformation have considered the Word of God           sheep on family visitation. Always he functions as
itself to be central in the worship service. Not the         God's prophet who makes known the Word of God to
altar; not the wafer of bread; not images; not a             God's people.
podium with a human book on it; A Bible  - the                 We need not go into all these special aspects of His
Word of God itself. There, before that Bible, the            calling in this letter. What needs to be stressed is that
minister of the gospel takes his central place in all His    this  is his work, nothing else. This is his calling,
work.                                                        nothing else. This is his office.
  All his other work radiates, as it were, from that           May your prayer be that God will continue to
central work. He is God's prophet. And as God's              provide His Church with faithful ministers of the
prophet He brings that Word of God in all the work
he is called to do. He brings that work when he              Word as He has done in the past.
spends time teaching the children of the Church in                                                Fraternally in Christ,
Catechism classes. He brings that work when he visits                                             H. Hanko

ALL AROUND US

                                         Southern Exposure

                                                 Rev. G. Van Buren


  In a fairly new paper,  Herald of the Covenant,            own Prof. H. Hanko. These relate the background and
published by Covenant Presbytery in Mississippi, of          history as well as the doctrinal position of our
the new Presbyterian Church in America, appears a            churches. We would express our appreciation and
short series on the history of the Protestant                thanks to the paper and its editors for this "southern
Reformed Churches. The articles are written by our           exposure."


                         And Now: an Attack on Election?

  In two recent issues of the  Banner,  April 7 and 14,         But Daane goes one logical step `further. He ex-
Dr. James Daane, professor of theology at Fuller             presses his own personal agreement with Boer's posi-
Theological Seminary, writes on the "Logic of Elec-          tion against reprobation. He agrees with Boer that the
tion." The articles comprise, in effect, an attack on        texts quoted in the Canons do not support the
the confessional stand on the Reformed doctrine of           doctrine of reprobation. But then he takes off from
election. When, in the past few years, Dr. Harry Boer        that position and denies the Reformed doctrine of
brought a gravamen against the confessional position         election as presented in the Canons. To my way of
of "reprobation" as presented in the Canons of Dort,         thinking, there is simply no way he can properly do
the C.R.C. Synod of last summer acknowledged this            that, and this too in the official church magazine of
gravamen and declared "open season" on the                   the Christian Reformed Church, without openly and
Reformed view of "reprobation." This was, of course,         publicly violating his vow when he signed the formula
a very foolish decision of the Synod. It opens the way       of subscription. The C.R.C. Synod, in declaring-an
for anyone within the church, despite their signature        "open season" against reprobation, improper though
on the formula of subscription, to attack and refute         this was, in no way declared a similar "open season"
the confessional stand of the church on reprobation.         against the confessional position of "election." Daane
That has never been the intent of a gravamen. The            has violated his vows in which he had declared, "And if
Synod must face the issue squarely and make a                hereafter any difficulties or different sentiments respect-
decision. Certainly it can not properly allow all kinds      ing the aforesaid doctrines should arise in our minds,
of attacks and refutations on a confessional position        we promise that we will neither publicly nor privately
simply because a gravamen is brought.                        propose, teach, or defend the same, either by  preach-


                                                                          THE  Sl-ANDARD  BEARER                                                             403


ing or writing, until we have first revealed such                                              the Bible presents election as something corporate; it
sentiments to the consistory,  Classis and Synod, that                                         is an election of persons in conjunction with other
the same may there be examined, being ready always                                             persons, never an election of unrelated, isolated in-
cheerfully to submit to the judgment of the  con-                                              dividuals, the former, it should be noted, in contrast
sistory,   Classis and Synod, under the penalty in case                                        to the latter cannot be reduced to number and
                                                                                               defined in terms of number.
of refusal to be, by that very fact, suspended from
our office."                                                                                       It is this corporate feature of Biblical election that
    Daane wants an "election" without "numbers"-                                               we wholly ignore in our doctrine of individual elec-
                                                                                               tion. This makes it possible for Berkhof to claim that
that is, without a specific number of people eternally                                         "the doctrine of reprobation follows from the logic
chosen in Christ. He attacks the revered dogmatician                                           of election". . . . But we should also notice that when
of the C.R.C., Berkhof. In attacking Berkhof, he also                                          Berkhof presents his The Biblical Doctrine of Elec-
o p e n l y   a t t a c k s   t h e   p o s i t i o n   o f   t h e   l a t e   H e r m a n    tion  he gives attention only to individual election.
Hoeksema. He says:                                                                             Berkhof gives only a one sentence mention of the
                                                                                               election of Israel. He does not even mention the
          Berkhofs argument is clear. If of all men some                                       election of Christ or the election of the church, nor
      are elected, then the remainder are reprobated.                                          does he mention that our election occurs "in Christ."
      Let it be admitted that this logic is good, not                                          (If he did, he would have to face the question
      bad logic.        It is a simple matter of arithmetic, the                               whether reprobation as the logical implication of
      logic of number.              But is this, as  Be&of claims,                             election does not also occur in Christ.) In a different
      "the logic of election"?                                                                 context, Berkhof says that "Christ Himself is, in a
          Does the Bible ever suggest that the nature of                                       sense, the object of election" Cp. 114). In what sense?
      election is such that it demands reprobation? Could                                      Berkhof does not even attempt to indicate. He appar-
      there be no election without reprobation? Must some                                      ently either could not handle the subject, or thought it
      men be damned if some are to be saved? Herman                                            not sufficiently significant. But it is obviously a
      Hoeksema's answer is Yes. If so, the salvation of the                                    failure on the part of one who says he gives us "the
      elect is grounded no less in the damnation of the                                        Biblical idea of election."
      reprobate than in the death of Christ. But does a                                           Berkhof here reflects the Canons' restricted view
      populated heaven depend on a populated hell? Does                                        of election. They too are concerned only with
      reprobation belong to the  esserzce of election so that                                  individual election, but their restricted concern is
      reprobation, as  Be&of says, "follows naturally from                                     understandable because they are concerned, over
      the logic of election"? To put the same question in                                      against Arminianism, with the question of the rela-
      different words: Is the nature of election such that it                                  tionship of the individual's faith and his election.
      necessitates reprobation? Would the  ,nature  of elec-                                   What I would want the reader of these lines to
      tion and would the grace of election be any different                                    recognize is this: creedally, and even theologically, we
      than it is, if all men were elect? Even more to the                                      have only a very partial, fragmentary doctrine of
      point: Would the nature of Jesus, of His death and                                       individual election, one that is neither set in nor
      resurrection, be any different than they in fact are, if                                 shaped by the whole Biblical doctrine of election.
      all men were elect?                                                                      And it is on the basis of this Biblically deprived and
          The answer to all of these questions is No. The                                      impoverished view of election that we, via the logic of
      number of the elect has nothing to do with the nature                                    numbers, so largely based the doctrine of reproba-
      of election, with the nature of Jesus, to with (sic) the                                 tion. . . .
      nature of  His death and resurrection. Therefore there                                      The understanding of election in terms of number
      is no numerical quality of election which provides the                                   is also strangely entwined in the argument of the
      basis for the argument that election logically implies                                   Canons that the 
      reprobation, reprobation, that if "some are, some are                                                        gracious  character of election is
      not.". . . .                                                                             especially apparent in the fact that some men are
                                                                                               reprobates. The Canons declare, "What peculiarly
    Daane continues by explaining his own position                                             tends to illustrate and recommend to us the eternal
o n "election" and how that differs from the tradi-                                            and unmerited grace of election is the express tes-
tionally Reformed, confessional position.                                                      timony of sacred Scripture that not all but some only
          Thus the Bible confronts us with the election of                                     are elected, while others are passed by (that is,
      the nation of Israel, of the Jewish people, of  ,an                                      reprobated) in the eternal decree" (Head  1, 16). Does
      Abraham, not as an individual, but of an Abraham                                         this reflect Biblical teaching? Is the gracious character
      with his seed after him. It confronts us with the                                        of my, or your, election recommended to us and
      election of the Body of Christ, the church. It further                                   peculiarly illustrated by the fact that God has repro-
      confronts us with the election of Jesus Christ, whose                                    bated some men to eternal damnation? Is God's grace
      election is intimately and integrally related to the                                     to me distinctively enhanced and illustrated by the
      election of Israel and the election of the church.                                       fact that God excludes some from His grace so that
      Finally, the Bible confronts us with our personal                                        they are damned forever?
      election, but it declares that our personal election                                        I can understand the force of this argument in
      occurs "in Christ," and not apart from Him. In short,                                    terms of the logic of numbers. If some are reprobated


404                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER



       then some must in grace be elected.  But is reproba-              logic of number, that the ground of reprobation does
       tion the mirror that reflects the truth and beauty of             not lie in election, that it is not true that none can be
       God's gracious election? Think in terms of numbers                saved unless some are damned, that there can be no
       and the argument makes some sense.  But think in                  people in heaven unless there are also people in hell.
       terms of the real nature of God's grace and God's                 Herman Hoeksema endorsed all that I am here reject-
       election, that is, without the ingredients of numbers             ing, but he has the perception to accept the con-
       (limitation), and it does not make sense. Not Biblical            sequence  - which he freely admitted  - that God
       sense.                                                            could not save some without damning others. This
  So there you have an attack  on the Canons and their                   view is the  final consequence of a theology which
presentation of election. Contrary to his ordination                     thinks that the logic of  numbers  is the logic of
                                                                         election. Think of election in terms of numbers, and
vows, contrary to any position of his own Synod,                         Hoeksema's position is where you finally land.
Daane challenges the Canons on the subject of elec-
tion. His attack must surely put the C.R.C. "on the                     It might be of value to examine the presentation by
spot." If they do what the ordination vows prescribe,                 Daane of Hoeksema's view on election. Daane does
they would loose Daane and perhaps some of his                        not entirely and accurately present his position. It
followers. If they do not maintain those requirements                 might be of interest too to examine Daane's own
of the vow, they proceed one more step toward                         reasoning concerning the Scriptural position of elec-
eventual destruction of their confessional position as                tion. Perhaps there are some, yet, in the C.R.C. who
a Reformed church.                                                    are willing and ready to defend their historical (and
                                                                      confessional) stand on election. I would hope and
  Daane also puts the C.R.C. "on the spot" in                         pray so. At the same time I can imagine that Daane's
reminding them that either they have to adopt his                     articles caused a bit of squirming in the C.R.C. when
own view of election, or they ultimately must adopt                   he demands that either they agree with his position
the view of the late Herman Hoeksema. He writes:                      - or they ultimately end up in Hoeksema's camp.
          . . . I am arguing that the logic of election is not the    What a dilemma!





                                When, with the throng assembled round the throne,
                                I join in hallelujahs to the Lamb,
                                I'll vie with all the ransomed multitude.
                                My soul anticipates the rapt'rous scene,
                                Ten thousand times ten thousand ransomed souls
                                All glorious, like their ever-glorious Lord,
                               Nor spot, nor blemish seen in all the throng.
                 ----mm---



Book Reviews

CALVIN'S DOCTRINE OF PREDESTINATION                                   can do is to go directly to Calvin and make a
(Second Edition),  Fred H.  Klooster; Baker Book                      thorough study of his doctrine of predestination at
House, Grand Rapids,  Mich.; 98 pp., $3.95 (paper).                   the sources  - and I refer especially to the  Institutes
(Reviewed by Prof. H. C. Hoeksema)                                    and to  Calvin's Calvinism.  This will also have the
  This little monograph accurately presents in sum-                   advantage of enabling one to see the crucial im-
mary form and with the use of many quotations and                     portance of Calvin's doctrine in relation to other
                                                                      doctrines in his system. This remark is not a criticism
references Calvin's doctrine of predestination. As                    of Klooster's book, however. Perhaps a little book
such, it is a helpful and instructive volume.                         such as this will even serve the purpose of stimulating
  A summary of this kind-, even though replete with                   some to make a more thorough study. There are
references and quotations, is, however, second best.                  plenty of ministers and students who could profit
The best that any theologian or budding theologian                    from such a study.


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                405


  This reviewer appreciated the author's correct  in-       such detractors as James Daane and G.C. Berkouwer.
sistence on the fact that Calvin taught the equal             Recommended.
ultimacy of election and reprobation, contrary to


SUFFER LITTLE CHILDREN,  Book One, by                       drawn to the significance of events, and to their
Gertrude Hoeksema; Reformed Free Publishing                 application to the student's own experiences. The
Association, Grand Rapids, Michigan; 339 pages,             "Points to Remember," and the "Memory Work,"
$8.95 (Kivar binding). Reviewed by Don Doezema.             which are part of every lesson, serve particularly well
  As is immediately apparent from the book itself,          in that regard.
Suffer Little Children was intended first of all for use      Book  One,  intended of course for grade one, covers
by teachers. It's very evident, too, that the author is     Bible history from creation to the death of Saul. The
herself a teacher. Gertrude Hoeksema draws from             125 lessons were meant to provide four lesson plans
extensive experience as an instructor of children at        for a five-day week. The author suggests, by the way,
the primary level when, for example, she offers, in         that the plans "are not intended as a rigid schedule."
her introduction to the teachers' guide for grade one,      A teacher ought to be able very easily to adapt the
a number of very practical tips concerning the art of       lessons to fit her own preferred method of teaching,
story-telling, of asking questions, and of using visual     treating the various subjects in more or less detail,
aids. Her pedagogical insights are evident further in       depending on individual preference and special cir-
her insistence that the teacher of the young child          cumstances. In any event, the lesson outline, along
stress facts, but "from the viewpoint of  undeu-            with the other features of each lesson, and the sup-
stand&g   those facts." To illustrate her contention,       plementary pages of guide questions, true and false
she points out that one ought not to teach the history      statements, and maps and diagrams, should serve the
of the Judges as a "series of wars with sundry              teacher well in preparing herself for effective Bible
victories and losses of battles." Rather must the           instruction.
teacher make clear to the students how that, in this
particular period in Israel's history, God was                 The  2%page general introduction was written to
"teaching His people that they  might not  and  could       serve as a foundation for the entire series (the second
not  be comfortable living side by side with their          book of which is already available from the R.F.P.A.).
heathen neighbors." She suggests that "the elements         This introduction deals with the  "basis  for teaching
of total depravity, the antithesis, forgiveness only in     Bible, (and) our  approach  to Scripture and the im-
the blood of the cross and in the way of repentance,        plications of this approach for teaching Bible in the
and a calling to a holy life enter into all of this         classroom." In it Mrs. Hoeksema outlines a
history." And, she adds, "they apply, not only to           "philosophy" of the Scriptures which can be read
Israel, but to us, the true Israel of modern times." To     with profit by other than first grade teachers. The
give to a Bible story, or to a series of Bible stories,     entire book, for that matter, can be helpful as well to
that kind of meaning for a young child is no simple         Sunday School teachers, and perhaps even to parents
task. And the beauty of  Suffer Little Children  is that    who make a serious attempt to give systematic Bible
in each of the 125 two-page lessons attention is            instruction to their young children.





I BELIEVE IN THE HISTORICAL JESUS,  by                      therefore, because it is refreshing to read a book
Howard Marshall; Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Com-            which "ringingly affirms" belief in the historical Jesus
pany, 1977; 253 pp., $2.95 (paper). (Reviewed by            in these days when higher criticism all but destroys
Prof. H. Hanko)                                             such faith. But the book was a bitter and frustrating
  This book, written by the Senior Lecturer in New          experience, and the quote on the back of the book is
Testament Exegesis at the University. of Aberdeen,          not true in any sense of the word. The book is rather
Scotland, is part of the "I Believe . .  ." series pub-     a hesitant, equivocating, and extremely weak sug-
lished by Eerdmans.                                         gestion that faith in some aspects of Christ's life is
                                                            probably possible for the child of God.
  When I first picked up the book, I noticed that on
the back cover appeared the words: "The result of             The approach of the author is not the approach of
this study is a ringing affirmation of belief in the        faith in the truth of infallible inspiration. In fact,
historical Jesus." I was eager to read the book             there is no single place in the entire book where


4'06                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



the truth of inspiration is so much as mentioned. The          The big question is, of course, the miracles of
general impression is left that the author does not          Jesus. The author equivocates badly on this subject,
believe at all in the truth of inspiration. In fact, he      but finally comes to the conclusion that it was
considers the New Testament Scriptures from a                probably true that Jesus practiced exorcism, that he
purely literary and historical point of view, and asks       performed some psycho-somatic healings; but beyond
the question whether there is sufficient evidence in         this we are unable to go. (p. 224) In his very last
these "documents" to support the faith of a child of         chapter he admits that the historian need not neces-
God in a historical Jesus. His answer is in the affirma-     sarily rule out the supernatural, but it is also obvious
tive, but with strong limitations.                           that he really does not know what to do with all this.
   The main problem in the book is that, denying the           However, the conclusion is that there is sufficient
infallibility of the Scriptures, the author approaches       historical evidence to support the Christ of faith.
the Scriptures as historical documents. They are on a          There are several remarks which ought to be made.
par with any historical document, no different from          In the first place, about the only value of a book like
them essentially, and therefore to be treated as such.       this is that it brings one up to date on all that is being
It is true that he also discusses faith. But he has three    done in the field of higher criticism. The book is
points to make in this connection. 1) It is possible         clearly written, closely argued, and can serve as a
that faith in the believer is the same as faith in the       handbook on the history and recent developments in
unbeliever and is belief, trust, commitment. 2) It is        this field to those who are interested in this subject.
also possible that faith is a subjective experience            In the second place, it struck me as I was reading
which adds a dimension to faith which the unbeliever         this book that here we have indeed what the end
does not have. 3) He is himself not certain whether          result is of every effort to approach the Scriptures
faith precedes historical investigation of Scripture or      apart from faith in the truth of infallible inspiration.
whether historical investigation precedes faith. What-       We ought to be clear on this point. Any time one
ever the case may be, he forgets that faith is in the        abandons the approach of faith and attempts to
Scriptures as the infallible Word of  ,God, and that         investigate the Scriptures apart from faith, the result
faith in God as revealed through Christ can only be          is disaster. There are "conservative" scholars who
by means of faith in the Scriptures as the Word of           firmly believe that one ought to come to Scripture to
God.                                                         judge whether Scripture is indeed what it claims to
  But the point that needs emphasis here is the fact         be. Faith follows such an investigation therefore. But
that the author, proceeding from an erroneous idea of        the result is always that part of the Scripture is lost.
faith, treats the Scriptures as historical documents. In     Whether one finds only a few discrepancies and
doing this, the author adopts all the tools of higher        contradictions, a few historical inaccuracies while
criticism in his investigation of Scripture. He accepts      accepting the greater share of Scripture, or whether
the multiple document theory of the synoptic gos-            one comes to the conclusion of one modern critic
pels. He believes in the validity of redaction               that all we can be assured of is that once there lived a
criticism, i.e., that the gospel writers were editors of     man by the name of Jesus  - it makes no essential
other documents and of tradition which was handed            difference. The differences are mere matters of
down by the New Testament saints, and that their             degree. But this will always be the case of such an
product was the Scriptural books which we have in            investigation. The approach which Scripture itself
our Bible. He accepts form criticism, i.e., that the         demands is faith: faith in the Scriptures as the
editors adopted various forms in which they wove the         infallible Word of God prior to any investigation of
stories of tradition in order to express their faith in      Scripture itself. Then we bow in faith before the
Christ. He believes that the gospels in particular were      Word of God and receive in faith all that God Himself
more expressions of the faith of the early Church            says to us on the pages of Holy Writ,
than sober recitations of what actually happened.              I have no doubt about it that the higher critics
And the result is that he finds innumerable errors,          must be answered. And we certainly have also the
inconsistencies, contradictions, legends, myths, etc. in     obligation to show the higher critics that their own
the gospel records.                                          views are contradictory, self-defeating, inadequate in
  The result of this is that he engages in the task of       the extreme, and wholly unsatisfactory. But, basical-
higher criticism which devotes itself to stripping away      ly, we must insist that the approach of faith is the
all  thatisnolhistorical  so as to get at the historical     only approach. We stand on the foundation of faith;
kernel of fact. There is not a great deal left when he       all else is essentially unbelief. And anyone who will
gets all done. It is true that he finds more history         not take the position of faith, will not come to
than such radical higher critics as Bultmann, et. al.,       Scripture in the right way, and Scripture will not
but it is a matter of degree only.                           speak to him.


                                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                 407


   In the third place, one cannot help but be  im-                            Christ in humble submission to Christ's will and to
pressed with the fact that a book of this sort (and all                       walk as  -a' citizen of the kingdom which Christ came
similar efforts) expends so much time and energy in                           to establish. There is no  religion  left, no godliness, no
searching for the historical Jesus that there is no time                      Christian life.
and energy left to hear what the Scriptures  them-                               This book therefore belongs to those books which
selves say. The author has no time to listen to Christ                        are at warfare with the faith of the child of God.
speak because he is so wrapped up in -trying to find
Christ. And so there is no time left to bow before

                     WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                         CHANGE OF ADDRESS
   On June 6, 1978, the Lord willing, our parents Mr.  & Mrs. Henry              Rev. George C. Lubbers' new address is: 7501 Terrace Lane,
Meulenberg will celebrate their 55th wedding anniversary.                     Jenison, Michigan 49428. His telephone number is 616457-3439.

   We, with'them, express our thankfulness to God for showing us his
covenant faithfulness these many years. Psalm 128

                                   Mr.  81 Mrs. Gerrit Bol
                                   Mrs. David Meulenberg
                                   Mr.  & Mrs. Ronald Meulenberg
                                   Mr.  & Mrs. Gerald De Vries
                                   Mr.  & Mrs. Henry P. Meulenberg                             WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
                                   Mr.  & Mrs. Dan Meulenberg
                                   Mr.  & Mrs. Jack Feenstra                      On June 8, 1978 our beloved parents, Rev. and Mrs. M. Schipper,
                                   29 Grandchildren                           will celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary. We, their grateful
                                   17 Great-Grandchildren                     children and grandchildren thank the Lord for sparing them these many
                                                                              years and for the training and instruction received from their hand. Our
                                                                              prayer is that our Covenant God may continue to bless them and keep
                                                                              them in every way.

                                                                                                                Mr. and Mrs. Jim Schipper
                         IN MEMORIAM                                                                                Gord, Lindy, Julie and Jill
                                                                                                                Mr. and Mrs. Paul Schipper
   On January 24, 1978, it pleased our heavenly Father to take unto                                                 Tammy, Todd, Barbara,
Himself our beloved Husband, Father, and Grandfather, JAMES HEYS,                                                   Tim, Paula and Brett
at the age of 65.                                                                                               Mr. and Mrs. Ken Schipper
   One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I                                             Randy, Debra and Ronald
may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold                                           Mr. and Mrs. Ed Langerak
the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. Ps.  27:4                                                     Matthew and Emily

                                   Mrs. James Heys                               We also take this opportunity to invite as many as you can to come
                                   Jane Anne Lee (daughter)                   to an open house in their honor to be held in S.E. Protestant Reformed
                                      Stephanie Anne Lee                      Church, 1535 Cambridge Ave. S.E. on June 14,  1'978  -  7:00-IO:00
                                      Christopher Lee                         P.M.


                                                                                                                                              .-
                                                                         NOTICE!!!
                                               The Loveland Protestant Reformed School is in need of a lower
                                            room teacher, 1st through 4th grades, for the 1978-1979 school year.
                                            Application can be made to: Gary Griess, 612 East  41st  Street,
                                            Loveland, CO 80537. Phone  -  (303) 669-1816.




                                                 Report of  Classis East

                                                                      May  10, 1978
                                                              Holland Prot. Ret Church


   Classis East met in regular session on May  10, 1978                       Iowa upon his retirement from serving our congrega-
at Holland, Michigan. All churches were represented                           tion there. The  classis will miss the  wisdom and
by two delegates. Of particular note is that for two of                       counsel of these men. They were thanked for the
the ministers in attendance, Rev. Schipper and Rev.                           countless hours spent on behalf of the churches and
Veldman, this meeting marked the last time that they                          were assured that the reward of grace awaits them.
would attend as delegates of the congregations they                              The  classis was led in opening devotions by Rev.
noti serve. Both will retire in June. Also present was                        den Hartog after which Rev. Heys took the chair for
Rev. Lubbers who has recently moved from Pella,                               this session.


THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                    !-$%iJq
       P.O. Box 6064                    ------.                                                               , .
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506





408                                            THE STANDARD BEARER
   The congregations of Faith, Hope, and Southwest               Three men from Skowhegan, Maine requested that
requested classical appointments.  The' following             a church be organized there. In a subsequent letter,
 schedule was adopted for these churches: FAITH:              these men requested that a committee be sent there
May 21  - Veldman, May 28  - Van  Baren, June 11  -           to investigate before such a decision is made.  Classis
Schipper, June 18 - den Hartog, July 9  - Heys, July          decided to refer both letters to a committee (Rev.
30  - Joostens, August 13  - Woudenberg, September 3          Joostens, Rev: Woudenberg, Elder J. Dykstra) giving
- Van  Baren, September 10  - den Hartog; HOPE: May           this committee authority to investigate the history
 21  - Schipper, June 4  - Woudenberg, June 11  -             and present situation in Maine. This committee will
Joostens, June' 18  - Heys, July 23  - Woudenberg,            report at the September  classis.
August 13  - Van  Baren, August 27  - Joostens;                 In other business, Hope brought a document via
SOUTHWEST: June  25'- Schipper, July 9  - Joostens,           question 4 of Article 41 of the Church Order which
July 30  - Van  Baren, August 13  - Heys, September 3  -      requested the advice of  classis on how to proceed
Woudenberg.                                                   with the membership papers of children of divorced
   The Classical Committee reported that since Rev.           parents. This matter was also referred to committee
Joostens accepted the call to First, the classical            (Rev. Schipper, Rev. Veldman, Elder D. Van Der
appointments of First were transferred to Faith. In           Schaaf, Elder F. Ondersma). This committee was
 other action, the Classical Committee appointed Rev;         instructed by  classis to give advice at the September
Joostens as moderator of Faith.                               meeting.
   The  classis heard the report of the church visitors.      Classis appointed Rev. Veldman as moderator of
All the churches have been visited and the visitors           Southwest.
report that the churches are experiencing the blessing          Expenses for this session, including the expenses of
and favor of God since in their visits they found             the church visitors, amounted to $752.08.  Classis
peace and harmony.                                            adjourned at approximately  1:30 P.M. Rev. Schipper
   The council of Southeast requested the approval of         closed the session with prayer.  Classis will meet next
the emeritation of their pastor, Rev. M. Schipper.            in Hope Church on September 13, 1978.
This request was granted and forwarded to Synod for                                           Respectfully submitted,
approval.  In addition,  classis approved the request of                                      Jon Huisken,
,Southeast  for payment of a sum of money for Rev.                                            Stated Clerk
Schipper from the Emeritus Fund.

                                News From Our Churches

   Rev. George Lubbers preached his farewell sermon           from a trio of Rev. David Engelsma, Rev. James
in Pella, Iowa, on April 30 and has since moved to            Slopsema, and Rev. Ronald Van Overloop. The
Jenison, Michigan, to begin his retirement. Pella             council is planning a farewell program for. Rev. and
called Rev. Rodney Miersma of Isabel, South Dakota,           Mrs. Veldman the evening of June 22.
who has accepted his call and plans to move to Pella            The Spring Mr.  & Mrs. Society League meeting was
and take  up,his labors there by the end of May. Isabel       held on May 9 in Southeast Church. Rev. Van  Baren
has extended a call to Rev. Arie den Hartog of                spoke on the topic, "The Last Days and the Theories
Covenant Protestant Reformed Church in Prospect               About Them." The  .Sunday School teachers plan a
Park, New Jersey.                                             Spring Mass Meeting On May 23 in Hope Church.
   Due to the fact that their pastor is also retiring, the    Prof. H. Hanko plans to speak on "How to Teach
council of our Southwest Church has scheduled a               Parables."
congregational meeting on May 16 to call a pastor                                                             K.G.V.


