VOLUME XXVII                           November 15, 1950 - Grand Rapids, Michigan                             NUMBER 4

                                                                    w-aar staat : "Zaiig  .zijn ze  ;die Zijne  geboden  doen,
                EDIT'i$TION~                                        opdat hunne macht zij aan den boomdes levens, en zij
                                                                    door de  poorten  mogen ingaan in de stad." En dan
                                                 .                  moet ge  we1 verstaan, dat men ook mag vertalen:
                                                                    opdat zij recht mogen hebben om door de poorten  in
       Het  Rechtqaardige   Oordekl                                 `te gaan in de stad. Dus hier wordt geleerd in Gods
                                                                    Woord, dat niet liegen kan, dat ingang in de stad des
                "En de Koning zal antwoorden  en tot hen zeggen:    hemels afhangt van het doen der geboden Gods. Hoe
           Voorwaar  zeg Ik u, voor iooveel gij dit een van deze
           Mijne minste broeders gedaan hebt, zoo hebt gij dat      zit dat?
            Mij gedaan."                       -Matth.  25:40.         We hopen dat probleem te onder de oogen te zien
    Er `zijn vele 8 verkeerde beschouwingen over het in deze verhandeling, en we zullen trachten om het op
laatste oordeel, dat over het gansche menschelijke ge-              te lossen.
slacht komen zal.                                                      Dat we hetzelfde probleem in onzen tekst hebben,
   Aan de eene zijde, zijn er menschen die  denken,                 is duidelijk  aan  elken Bijbelkenner. Het gaat hier
dat IGods volk niet in het oocdeel komen zal. En, ter over de woorden van Jezus, die Zijne' discipelen ver-
anderer zijde, zijn  er die. zeggen en  leeren,  ,dat het           telde van het laatste oordeel. En de Heere had Zich-
oordeel over de Kerk, juist zoowel ds over de wereld,               zelf op het oog toen Hij zeide : En wanneer de Zoon des
zijn zal naar `de werken.. Nu iit in die laatste gedachte           menschen zal komen in Zijne heerlijkheid, en alle de
veel waarheid. We-lezen vaak in de Heilige Schrift,                 heilige Engelen met Hem, dan zal Hij zitten op den
dat de Heere ons oordeelen zal naar onze werken. Zegt troon Zijner heerlijkheid; `en v66r Hem zullen alle de
Paulus niet, dat wij `allen geopenbaard moeten worden               volkeren vergaderd worden,  en XIij zal ze van elkander
voor den rechterstoel van Christus, opdat een iegei'ijk             scheiden, gelijk de herder de schapen van .de bokken
wegdrage hetgeen door het lichaam geschiedt, naardat                scheidt;  en Hij zal de schapen tot Zijne rechterhand,
hij gedaan heeft, hetzij goed hetzij kwaad? Ge kunt                 zetten, maar de bokken tot Zijne'linkerhapd.  Alsdan
dien tekst vinden in II Cor. 5 :lO. Dit is we1 de duide-            zal de Koning zeggen tot degenen die tot Zijne r.echter-
lijkste tekst die zulks rleert.                         -           hand zijn: ,Komt  gij gezegenden~Mijns  Vaders,  begrft .
    En to&, men moet meer zeggen, dan net maar, dat                 het Koninkrijk hetwelk U beeid is van- de grondleg-
Gods volk, juist zoowel als' de wereld, door God geoor-             ging der wereld ;" en nu komt het probieem: "want Ik
deeld staat te worden  naar,hunne  we&en.. Anders zou               ben hongerig geweest en gij .hebt Mij te .eten  gegeven",
er geen plaats zijn voor het eeuwig Evangelie, dat we,              enz. En de Pelagiaan zegt triumfantelijk : ziet ge nu
namelijk, behouden worden  door het bloed van Chris-                wel? De kiiideren Gods worden  zalig, ze.begrven  het
tus, en dat niemand gerechtvaardigd zal wordenuit de                Koninkrijk omdat zij we1 ,gedaan  hebben ! Ergo : men ~
werken der  Wet:         De doorgaande leer der Heilige             wordt uit de werken der Wet gerechtvaardigd.
S&rift is immers, dat we uit genade zalig  worden,                              0
door het geloof? En dan we1 zoo, dat zelfs dat gefloof                                  .&c--t9
nog een gave Gods is, zoodat niemand kan roemen in                     Wel, Iaat. ens eens zien:
het vleeschl                                                           Als er staat in het verband,  dat de Zoon des Men-
   Maar hoe moeten we dan al die teksten verklaren                  schen alle de volkeren zal vergaderen ten oordeel, dan
die schijnen  te  leeren,  dat de mensch, hetzij  recht-            is het oogpunt de kerk. Dat is duidelijk, want het volk,
vaardig of goddeloos;  geoordeeld zal worden  naar zijn             dat geoordeeld werd kwam in aanraking met Jezus. De
werken? Neemt, b.v.? een tekst zooals Cpenb. 22 :14,                Heiland zegt: ,in zooverre ge dit een van deze Mi.jne


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- 74                             .`.          T H E   STANDAB-D  "-BEA$B

  minste broederen gedaan hebt, zoo. hebt- ge dat Mij             van  ,God.  Telt'  ,de eerste  tafel niet mee? En  ZCLI~ 
  gedaan.                                                         eerste  tafel der Wet niet allereerst moeten ,gelden in
        De Koning oordeelt iijn Koninkrijk. En de v+`**          het laatste oordeel? Is het dienen van God niet belang-
 -werpen  van dat oordeel zagen Jezus en dienden Jezus;` rijker dan het dienen van den mensch?
of  wilden Jezus  niet  dienen in de kerk. Dat is ook            I           En tech, het is een waar oordeel en het is een recht-
  duidelijk uit andere plaatsen van de Schrift.                  vaardig oordeel.
        Alle de volkeren zijn daarom de gekerstende volke-                  ILaat ons beginnen bij de eerste vraag : worden  de
  ren;. Het zijn de menschen die of kerkleden  waren,            kinderen Gods hier gerechtvaardigd uit hunne goede
  of die met de kerk, den Bijbel en den wandel der Chris-        werken ?
  tenen i<n aanraking kwamen. De ontelbare schare die                       `En dan willen we direkt zeggen, dat de goede wer- 
  nooit van Jezus Christy hoorden, worden  hier niet ge-          ken nooit als basis kunnen gelden in het oordeel. Wat .
  noemd. Van hen hooren op andere~plaatsen  in Gods               we hier hebben is dit : het levende g&of, hetwelk aan-
  Woord. En die zullen een veel lichter oordeel ontvan-           wezig was in de schapen, werd gedurende hun geheele
  gen. Fe hebben den weg niet geweten. .E'n zij zullen            leven' bewezen uit hunne werken. ,Ge ,hebt dezelfde
  opstaan in dien dag .en `allen oordeelen die den weg            zaak bij die geschiedenis van-de vrouw die een zon-
  geweten hebben. en niet .bewandeld.                                 dares `was. Jezus zegt van ha&: Daarom zeg Ik u,
        Maar hier gaat het over menschen die door het             hare `zonden zijn haar vergeven die vele-waren,  want
  Evangelic' verlicht zijn geworden. Het gaat -bier over          zij heeft veel liefgehad. Ik vraag U: was het feit, dat
  de historische kerk op aarde,, over alle geslachten die        zij veel liefhad de grond voor de vergeving der zonden?
  van den Christus hoorden..            `.                        Neen, maar het feit, dat vele ionden haar vergeven
        Die historische kerk nu, bestaat uit kern en bolster.    waren, bleek  <it de groote liefde `die zij  aan Jezus
  De kern .zijn de schapen, die straks aan de rechterhand,       betoonde.
  van Jezus gezet zullen worden. En de anderen, de bol-'                    Ziet nu eens weer op `den wandel dier schapen: ze`
  ster, zijn de bokken die straks aan de linkerhand van           bewezen, dat de zonden hun vergeven waren, want ze
  Jezus geschaard worden.  Er zijn ook andere namen' wandelden in de `liefde. De liefde is een bewijs, dat
  voor hen in de Schrift. De kern, de schapen, zijn de                God een goed werk in hen begonnen was.
  uitverkorenen, en de bokken zijn de verworpenen. Die                       Hoe  moeten we de zaak dan voorstellen? En'
  namen vindt ge keer op keer in de Schrift.                     hoe onderwijst ons de doorloopende leer .der Heilige
                                                                  Schrift?  <De schapen  waren van nature wolven. De
                                                                      Christenen zijn niet beter, van nature, dan de bokken
    En wat wordt nu geoordeeld ?                                  die aan de linkerhand van Jezds geschaard zullen wor-
        Bij den eersten oogopslag klinkt het vreemd. Zoo-         den. Maar God zoekt hen op, wederbaart hen door
  als we al eerder opmerkten: he& schijnt alsof de uit-          Woord en Geest. En de wedergeboorte is niet anders
  verkorenen behouden worden  door hunne werken. Er dan clit heuglijke feit: Jezus Christus gaat door Zijn
  staat immers : Be&rft het Koninkrijk, want . . . .en dan        Geest en Woord in hen wonen Hij krijgt hoe langer
  volgen alle goede werken die zij gedaan hebben aan             hoe meer een gestalte in hen. Hij geeft hen het levende
  Jezus, omdat ze die werken gedaan hebben aan Zijne             geloof, en door dat levende geloof gaan zij wandelen in
 .broeders.  De Heere Jezus beschrijft den wandel der            de goede werken. En let er nu op, dat die .goede  wer-
schapen ten voeten uit.  .Hij zegt : Ik was hongerig,            ken, voorbereid zijn, van voor de grondlegging der
  en ge hebt Mij te eten gegeven ; Ik ben dorstig geweest,       wereld, opdat de Christenen daarin zouden wandelen.
  en ge hebt Mij te drinken gegeven; Ik was een vreem-           Dat wordt immers letterlijk in de Schrift geleerd?
  deling en ge hebt Mij geherbergd ; Ik was naakt en ge          Leest Efeze 2:lO.
 hebt Mij gekleed; Ik ben krank geweest en ge Ii&t                          En er zijn ook we1 vingerwijzingen in het verband
Mij' bezocht; Ik was in de gevangenis en ge zijt tot             die ons deze verklaring  leeren.  Let eerst hierop: de
  Mij gekomen.                                                    Christenen worden door den R'echter  aangesproken als
        En,. let wel, alle deze werken worden  opgesomd,         Gezegenden Mi jns Vsders ! Dar zit reeds ailes in. Het
 nadat `de Heiland zeide: Beerft het Koninkrijk, want            is immers de zegen Gods die.ons  opzoekt, wederbaart,
  ge hebt alle die dingen aan Mijne broederen, en daac-          heiligt en zaligt ? Maar er is nog meer. In de tweede
  om aan Mij gedaan. En de- Pelagiaan vraagt trium- plaats, staat er: BeBrft het Koninkrijk, hetwelk u be-
 fantelijk: Wilt ge. het nog duidelijker- hooren? Men reid is van de grondlegging der tiereld.  Hoe ter wereld
 wordt immers uit zijn werken gerechtvaardigd !                  zouden de goede werken der menschen den hemel ope- 
        Bovendien, hoe komt het, dat .de goede werken de1        nen, waar die hemel hun bereid  was vooraleer zij ge-
 vromen de ze aan de naasten bewezen hebben, bier als            boren waren? 1001~ hierin zien w.e, dat het fundament
  een maatstaf .gebruikt wordt ? Het gaat hier immers            der zaligheid buiten den mensch ligt. En, ten slotte,
  over de tweede tafel der Wet? Er wordt niet  e&x               ler  er op, dat zij schapen genoemd  worden.  En de
 woor-d gezegd van den honger naar God of het dienen              Heere heeft ons duidelijk geopenbaard, dat Hij ons


                                             THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                75

       maakt tot Zijne schapen en niet wij. Dat staat letter- ' in den tijd de!den.      Wat de mensch zaait zal hij ook
                                                                                                                8
       lijk in Gods Woord. Psalm 100 :3 "Weet dat de Heere          maaien.
       `God is; Hij heeft ons gemaakt Cen niet wij) , zijn volk         En dan is het antwoord als volgt : Ze hebben Jezus
       en ade schapen zijner weide."                                gediend, in  Jezus'  kracht.
         Uit dit allesblijkt, dat Christen met gerechtvaardigd          Ziet ge, Christen wordt omringd `door hongerigen,
       wordt ujt de goede werken. Neen, maar. die gdede wer-        dorstigen, vreemdelingen,  naakten,  ziek,en en kranken,
       ken die Jezus opsomt zijn een bewijs, dat zij schapen        en gevangenen. En nu heeft Christen gedurende al 
       zijn, dat zij. gezegenden des Vaders zijn, dat zij het       zijn leven de Christenhand der erbarming uitgestoken
      ware,  1,evende  geloof in  zich  dragen en uitleven, dat     naar al  dat.  volk..  Hij heeft den hongerigen  te eten
       Jezus Christus in hen woont.                                 gegeven, den dorstigen heeft hij gelaafd.  De naakten
                                                                    kleedde hij, en de zieken en gevangenen heeft hij be-
                                                                    zocht en getroost. En hij heeft alle die dingen gedaan
           En de tweede vraag die we stelden was deze : waar-       in den naam eels discip.els. ,Hij heeft er voor gezorgd,
       om wordt de wandelnaar de tweede tafel der Wet aan-          dat men geen verkeerden indruk ~ ontving van zijne
       gegeven als een maatstaf; en niet hunne werken- die          goede werken.  Hij. gaf Gode de eer gedurende zijn
       naar de eerste tafel der Wet zijn. Waarom zien we de         goede leven op aarde.
       liefde tot den'naaste voorop inplaats van de liefde tot          En-daar kwam nog,dit bij : bij al zijn goede werk
       God voorop. En het antwoord ligt voor de hand. Wie `bekende hij, dat de zonde hem  parten speelde. Al zijn
       ter wereld zal de liefde tot God aanwijien? Als we dat       goede werken waren met zonde bevlekt. Zoudt ge daar-
 :     doen konden, zouden we ook bij machte zijn om de uit-         om aan een Christen vragen : kunnen Uwe. goede wer-
       verkorenen  aan te wijzen. Neen, de liefde tot God -ken de basis zijn qoor Uw ingang in het Koninkrijk
       woont in het verborgen hart en wordt door ,God alleen        mder hemelen? dan zou hij U `onmiddelijk antwoorden :
       onderkend. Maar in het oordeel van den laatsten- dag          Dat zij verre! Want ik ben met al mijn goede werken
       moet aangetoond worden  voor de oogen der goddeloc-           een ellendige zondaar. Ik bevlek mijn goede werken
       `Zen, dat Gods volk waarlijk den wandel des hemels           vaak door mijn verkeerde motieven, die steeds maar  op-
h..wandelden. `En daarom ging de wandel naar de tweed:!             komen in mijn hart. Neen, de basis voor mijn ingang
       tafel voorop. En die wandel bewijst, dat de liefde tot       in den hemel is Jezus en Zijn gerechtigheid die Hij
       ,God ten grondslag ligt aan alle liefde tot den naaste.      verwierf door Zijn bitter lijden en sterven. Trouwens,
       Want zoo staat de zaak. ~Liefde  tot den naaste is niCt -.de goede werken die ik. doe werden in mij gewrocht
       mogelijk zonder de liefde Gods in het hart te hebben.         door Zijn Woord en Heiligen Geest. Ik heb niets van
       Hebt ge liefde tot God, dan hebt ge ook den naaste lief.     mijzelf.-   ~Want  Hij leert mij, dat het  willen en het
       Hebt ge die liefde tot God niet, dan haat ge ook Uw          werken door IGod gewrocht wordt in mijn diepste hart.
       naaste.                                                       Langs den geheelen weg vanuit deze door de zonde ge-
           Wat zien we dus in dit laatste  oordeel?                  vloekte aarde tot in het Nieuwe Koninkrijk is het God,
           Dit: Jezus ziet en herkent  Zijn eigen werkin Zijn        geheel en al. Uit Hem, door Hem, en tot Hem zijn alle
       volk, en keurt het goed. Ja, ik stem toe dat dit ver-         dingen! Hem zij de glorie tot ,in eeuwigheid !
       nederend werkt op den trotschen-mensch, die door zijn
       eigen pogen naar den hemel wil. Maar het zal niet                                ticy--                          /
       gaan. Daar zal nimmer eenig vleesch iijn, dat, zal               En, ten slotte, zien we het gloren van een lieflijk
      : roemen voor God. ;God zal alle eer- ontvangen in de          licht in de verklaring der goede werken, zooals Jezus
       zaligheid`van menschen. .Zeg nu eens, dat de mensch           die verklaring geeft in den tekst. Hij zegt eenvoudig :
       werkelijk door zijp goede werken gerechtvaardigd zou voor zooverre ge het aan een Mijner minste broeders
       worden. Dan kunt ge tech we1 begrijpen, dat hij tegen I gedaan hebt, hebt ge het aan Mij gedaan.
       de goddeloozen zou zeggen in dien dag : Waarom waart             Dat is schoon. Wat een wonderlijk licht wordt hier
       gij niet goed,en lieflijk iooals ik en al die schare van      gestort op de ware philanthropie ! In den minsten
       godvruchtigen? En hij zou  eindigen om tot in alle            broeder woont Jezus. Als ik hem help en dien, dien ik
       eeuwigheid zijn eigen wijsheid en zijn eigen goedheid         waarlijk Jezus. Want Hij heeft Zijn waning gemaakt
       te zegenen: in plaats van .God die het alles gedaan heeft     in het hart en leven van alle mijne breeders  en zusters.
       in den Zoon Zijner eeuwige liefde.                               Ge ontvangt dan dit beeld:  Jezus woont in U en
          Daarom moeten we hier besluiten, dat `bet heil des         stort Zijn Heiligen Geest in U uit. Door dien Geest
_ Heeren is, en niet des menschen.                                   woont de liefde Gods in Uw hart. IGe moogt dan ook
                                                                    zeggen,  dat de Zoon Gods in U woont en'in U we&
                                                                     tot goede werken. Maar Hij _woont  ook in den arme --
           Nu rest. ons nog &Sne vraag: Waarom `worden  zij          en naakten broeder.  E$ nu  noopt  Hij mij tot Zijn
       zoo beloond? : Want het is we1 waar,. dat hunne toe-          dienst in het uitreiken van Christelijke hulp en erbar-
       stand tot in eeuwigheid in verbamd staat met wat .zij         men.                                            G:Vos.


7          6                                                                                       T H E   S.TANDARD  B E A R E R
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                       ' The Standard Bearer
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                      '  E D I T O R : - Rev. H. Hoeksema.
     Communications relative to contents should be addressed to                                                                                In`one of the Reformaties of the present volume,
REV. H.  HOEKSEMA;  1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids, pp. 341-342, there appeared a contribution by a certain
Michigan.                                                                                                                                  J. J. Bade, to which Dr. SchiPder added a post scripturn
`Communications relative to subscription should  bk addressed                                                                              `which to my mind is rather important from the view-
to Mr. J.  BOUWMAN,  1350 Giddings S.E., Grand Rapids 7,
Mich.  Announcements' and Obituaries must be. mailed to the                                                                                point of the question whether in the Liberated Church-
above address and will be published. at a feg of $1.00 for each                                                                            es anything is binding with .regard to the question of
                                                                                                                                                                              .
notice.                                                                                                                                    baptism.
Renewals  :-Unless a  --definite  request for discontinuance is re-                                                                           I will first translate.this  post'scriptum as literally
ceived, it is assumed that the &bscribe&  wishes his subscription                                                                          as possible. The translation is as follows:
to continue without the formality of a renewal order.                                                                                          "1. Also we have always" pointed out, that a `doc-
Entered  as Second Class' Mail  a?,  GSand  Rapids, Michigan.
                                       --.                                                                                                 trine' was never  &rectly imposed, and was in first
                                      i.     `:                                                                                            instance never brought into question by anybody. One
                                                                                                                                           can `make of a `doctrine' anything and everything ; and
                                                                                                                                           no one-has ever consistently taught a thoroughly con-
                                                                                                                                           sidered `doctrine' with all. its consequences during his
                                                                                                                                           whole, lifetime. BeGad the form&us of 1944 may lie
                                                                                                                                           all kinds of `doctrines' : the regeneration doctrine, the
                                                                                                                                           church doctrine, the doctrine of the sacraments, the
                                                                                                                                           cov;?nant doctrine. A thousand times we repeated:
                                             C O N T E N T S                                                                               we are'asked to report within two weeks, whether we
MEDITATION-                                                                                                                                promised to teach nothing  th&t was not in perfect
           Het Re,ehtvaardige  Oordeel _.........__.._.......~......~~~.~.~...  _.._____ _.__ -73                                          agreement with definite FORMULAS. Because of our
           " Rev.  Ge&t Vos                                                             ._                                                 no to THAT question we werk suspended-and deposed.
EDITORIALS-                                                                                   .                                            Any talk about  a `doctrine' is misleading. And this
           Nothing Binding ? _.__.._...._..._...............~..............................~ :  ____ 76 makes the separation between the synod&racy and
                Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                           those that are not stupid, and- who further consider
THE TRIPLE KNOWLEDGE-  `-                                                                                                                  that this demand  is wrong, greater. The `binding' con-
           An Exposition of the Heidelberg Catechism' ____________________ 82                                                              cerned therefore. among others that one FORMULA.
                 Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                          Is `it possible that we must'also seek all possible kinds
           Of Books . .._ . ..__.._.._...  . . . .._...__...._....____________  . . ..I . . . .._........ _ .,_____  _ _____.__ 53         of `doctrine' which ,lie behind the fifteen other formu-
                 Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                  .                                                       l&, and then assure that they are binding or not bind-
        - Contribution ____......-..._._.._...:  . . . . .._... :I.., _______....._._____.___________________  84                          -ing? Let us stay by the facts! When the contributol:
                Mr. H. De Jong                              "               Z.                           -s                                insists on this he is right.
                                                                                                                                              `r2. For the rest presumptive regeneratiod as ground
OURb,DOCTRINR-                                                    ~         '                      :           `-
           The Idea Of Ctieation  (6) ..:...: _____. ________..__._______________________  . ..i5                                          fdr baptism does indeed receive significance in con-
                Rev. H. Veldman                                                                                                            nection with the baptismal question. One that under-
                                                                                                                                           stands the phrase "sanctified  in Christ' according to
           Rev. Petter  On %ight Attitu&e  In Co&&e&y  __________ ,.88
                Rev. G. M. Ophoff                                                                                                           1905-1942-1944, and hears in that first baptismal ques-
                                                                                                                     "(        ._          tian the little word "therefore', comes to stand face to
IN'HIS'                  F&Ri                                                                                              `-,  _          face with that `doctrine'. The binding of of$icebearers
           Church, Membership In H.js Fear .._ ____________________~.~...  c ,________ 9i                                                  to present this `sanctified' accorc&y to syr~odicnl opin-
                 Rev.  HP C. Hoeksema                                                                                                      ions, as according to divine revelation, implied there-
F R O M   H O L Y .   W R I T -   "                                                                                                        fore ai the same time a b&ding of the parents to ac-
           Exposition of Hebrews.  10:19-25 ________ _.._. ~ . . ..__..___.______________  93                                               cept this doctrine also as, binding at the occasion of the
                Rev. Geo. C. Lubbers                                                                                                       `baptism of their child. The result is that whoever
PERISCOPE-                                                                                                                                  cotild not agree with this, could neither. present his
           In Good Company .-.-..-..._....-._.________  __ 
                                                                                        _______..._..  :. _______________ ____ _____ 95child to baptism, nor be a silent onlooker at such bap-
       R e v .   J .   H o w e r z y l                                                                                                      tism, nor openly join. in the. thanksgiving; everyone
                                                                                                                                            who sits in the pew knows that those words in the


                                          T H E   S`TANDARD~  B E A R E R                                              7 7

  mouth of that minister on  the. pulpit mean exactly this          tion of reunion is to .my mind not so much a question
  and that; and that he himself who sits in the pew de-             of binding, but rather a principal question concerning
  clares openly in the thanksgiving after baptism ("We              the cpvenant and baptism. 1905 was a miserable com-
  thank and praise Thee', etc;) that he agrees with it,             prbmise on the same question. And subsequent history
  sometbjng  that is. also clearly expressed.                       shows pery plainly,that  the compromise never worked.
      "5. For this reason the very first demand and the             And so it is not .surprising-that the main issue at the
  only way unto reunion is fellowship with all the affiee-          synod of 1939 to `44 after all was the .question con-
  bearers that have been cast out, and with those parents           cerning the covenant.
  that present their children to baptism who can answer                Nevertheless, from the above paragraphs it is evi-
. `yes' to a baptismal quedtion that is not bin$ng accord;          dent that in the abstract Dr. Scliilder c&cedes the pos-
  ing to the interpretation of l944. If all members who             sibility of reunion  with the  Synodicals,  if only the
  see that hierarchy may never be imposed upon the                  biqding is removed, and if confession is made of the
  chilclreh of God, had maintained `their simgle riglzts            hi,erarchical  action whereby `the synod deposed office-
 the reunion which took place in 1944 and following                 bea,reps.  For he writes that the first and main de-
 years would have been much moi-e extensive. It still               mand tmto reunion is fellowship with all the office-
  stands open every day and' is demanded every- day.                bearers that were cast out and with those parents that
  But tZiis.reuhion  they still call schism.,. a We call schism:    cannot reply affirmatively to the baptismal question'
 the imposition and acceptahce  and agreeing with and concerning the `"sanctified in Christ" according to `the
  co-impositon of norms not allowed by God with t&e                 interpretation of 1944.
  immediate effect of not, admitting those to office who               I\Jow  since we in the States have the very same
 watch oGer the ri&ts of the flock over against those               difficulty with the Liberated immigrants, I want to
 that are not shepherds, as a synod which is po super-              point out how impossible a keal reunion is on the basis
 qonsistory."                                                       to which Dr. Schildkr refers.
                                                                       Notice that -tinder "2" Dr. Schilder points out that
     Thus far Dr. Schilder.                                         according to the "binding" interpretation of the phrase
     The main thrust of this post scriptum is, of course,           `"sanctified in Christ" in the firstbaptism question this
 that no synodical decisions, such as were declared in              question. implies the theory of .presupposed .or pre-
 lSOb-1942-1944,  may be made binding upon the church- sumptive regeheration. And therefore, when thisques-
 es. In the abstract, at least, Dr. Schilder seems Aili tion is asked according to this binding interpretation,
 to co@nceive of the possibility that all that call them-           the parents and the `whole congregation are at the
 selves Reformed, regardless of their view of the cov&              same time bound by this interpretation. Hence, Dr.
 nant, of the promise, and of baptism, can live peace-              Sehilder  concludes that under this binding no parents
 fully.in the same church fellowship. Now-it seems to that cannot. agree with this interpretation can present
 me that the history of the Reformed Churches ,in the               their ihildren to baptism nor join in with the thanks-
 NetherIands ever- sihce 1892-1905 arid to the present              giving after baptism. Everyonkknows, he says, that
 day has revealed quite the cpntrary.. In 1892 the Dre-             such a minister that is bound by the interpretation 6f
 sent Christian Reformed Church (of the Netherlands)                1944 definitely refers to presumptive -regeneration
 refused to go along with the union of the Doleerenden              when he asks the first question in baptism, and that
 and the Afgescheidenen, mainly because of the ques-                the plural. of the first person, "`we", in the thanksgiv-
' tion of the covenant, baptism, and presumptive regen-             ing after baptism includes the whole congregation and.
 eration. In former years.Dr. Schilder always sharply               the parents that present their children for baptism.
 rebuked these churches, because according to his cbn-              And by doing so they openly declare that they agree
 vi&ion they walked in the.way of disobedience. Noti,               with this vie% of the ininister.
 however, ever since the meeting of the Vrijmaking in                  But can this be avoided?
 `the Hague, 1944, he pleads for union with them. But                  Suppose that a reunion took place on the basis that
 why? Is there no binding in these churches? There                  &thing was biriding regarding this question.
 certainly is.' They insist on their own view of bap-                  Arid suppose that as a result of this reu&on 8 cer-
 tism and regeneration. But the simple fact is that                 tain congregation tiould be, say 50% agreed with the
 -since the `days that he conceived of the Christian Re-            synodical view of baptism and 50% with the ,Liberated
 formed Churches as walking in the way of disobedience -view. And suppose, furth'er, that the minister in'such
 and demanded that they should return to the Gerefor-               a church agree4  tith the synodical view of the cove-
 meerde Kerken he has changed his view of baptism                   nant and that he explained from the pulpit that the
 and regeneration and the covenant. About this,. and                phrase in the first baptism question `"sanctified in
 also about his acceptance of Heynsianism I wrote Dr.               Christ" means real sanctification and therefqre that
 Schilder a long letter immediz$,ely  after the war, .to            `we must presuppose in baptism that the children are
 which he n;ver replied. Be that as it may, the lques-              regenerated and further that the words ip the,baptism  


-78 .                                  T H E   S.TANDARD  B E `A R E R

 thanksgiving, ("We thank and praise Thee, that Thou            synodical binding; ljind themselves to express agree-
 hast forgiven  L~S, and our children, all our sins, through    ment with that doctrine?
 the blood  ,of Thy beloved Son  ,Jesus Christ  an4 re-             I  insi&,that they do. And therefore I' claim that
 ceived us  through  Thy  Holy Spirit as  members  `of          you- can never avoid binding. Synodical  formulas are
 Thine only begotten Son, and adopted. us to be Thy             not necessary..
 ehild?en,  and spaled and confirmed the same unto us               And therefore, when we in Canada work among the
 by holy baptism"), mean just what they express and             Liberated immigrants, we first of all make very plain
 do not refer simply to the objective bequest or promise -to them, so that there could be no misunderstanding,
 to $11, but to the fact that the children that are baptized    that although vire did got fully agree with the synodical
 are real partakers of the forgiveness of `sins and of          view of. baptism and  presupbosed  regeneration, we
 the adoption unto children. And suppose, moreo;er,             certainly condemn the Heynsian view, and that our
 that the consistory of such a church agrees with &at           conception of baptism and the covenant and the prom-
 minister, and shakes hands with him at the end .of             ise differs radically from that of the Liberated.
 such a sermon.                                                                                                      And
                   Could in that case the Liberattid  ele-      only after they had been instructed in that differen&
 ment of such a congregation present their children to.         and agreed to be further instructed in our doctrine
 baptism only because the doctrine proclaimed by the            and promised not to make propaganda And t,o agitate
 minister and confirmed by the consistory is nbt synodi-        against the .doctrine  of the Protestafit  Reformed Chur-
 diy `binding?                                                  ches, did we organize them-into a church in our fellow-
    I claim that this  is nonserise and also impossible.        ship.              \
    Do not forget that after the first question is asked
:of the parents and confirmed by the consistory and              ISome of them, I .understand,  now claim that at the
 i&e whole congregation the second question still fol-          time of organization they never promised anything
 lows., And that second question reads as follows:              at all.
 "Whether you acknowledge the doctrine which is con-                But this is manifestly  dishotiest.  They certainly
 tained in the  ,01d and New' Testament,  and in the            knew the difference between th'eir view and ours. And
 articles of the Christian Faith, and which is taught           they  ceu'tainly understood very, well that we would
 here in?his ChrbticLiz. cjiarch,,  to be the true and per-     nlever organize them into  s  IProtestant Reformed
fect doctrine of salvation?"                                    Church unless they agreed with our doctrine. When
    Now Dr. Schjlder knows as well asKI do that in              Chatham:sent a request to our Mission Committee
the course of history there has been much ado about             to be qiganized on the basis of their own view 0-E bap-
the phrase in this question "taught here in this Chris-         tism and the covenant, that request was refused.
tian -church", and that vaiious attempts have been                 I was personally present at the organization of the
made to have this phrase eliminated frolc that ques-            congregation in Chatham.  On that occasion I preach-
tion. But our Reforged fathers insisted that it `should         et the sermon. And in that sermon I emphasized our
remain. It is also clear that that phrase certainly             conception of the promise and  df  .the  cov,enant  un--
refers to the local congregation. And therefore it can          ambiguously, so that there could be no misunde&tand-
#mean  only  the. doctrine  ,that is taught by the local        ing. ! And .I emphasized at least three times in my-
ininister and tionfirmed  by the local consi&ory.  And          sermon that if they opganized as a Prot. Ref. Church,
therefore we still `stand before the same. difficulty.          they must be able to reply affirmatively to the second
' That questioli is certainly binding. And -1 claim that        question in baptism, "Whether you acknowledge the
any parent who in such-a case answers the first ques-           doctrine . . . which is taught here in this Christian
+ion  -in baptism and joins in'with the well-known words        ehtirch, to be the true and perfect doctrine of salva-
of thanksgiving  .after   baptisti  certaitily expresses        tibn ?' And I told athem very plainly that that means
agreeme@ with the doctrine that is taught here in this          nothing else than the doctrine that is taught in the
Chr"istian  church, -which in this `case is. the doctrille      Protestant Reformed Churches. I emphasized that
of presumptive regeneration.                                    unless they could agree with this, they must never
 And`therefore I claim that the Liberated bind them-            organize as a congregation. How anyone .in that CM-
selves, regardless of any synodical decision.                   gregation san claim that they agreed to nothing, that
    The same thing is true regarding the occ&sion of            nothing was binding in our churches, and that they
confession of faith.' The first qu&tion that is asked           could maintain their own Liberated view of baptism
at the  &cason of public confession of' faith in the            and the covenant iz beyond my comprehension. - It is 
Reformed churches is literally the same .as the second          plainly dishonest. ,
question. in baptism., Is it-not plain, then, that those           But I claim that the reasoning in the above para-
that make confession of faith in any church that up-            graphs that reunion with the_ Synodicals is possible if
holds the doctrine of presimptiye  regeneration and - only the deposed  officebearers are received and re-
th6 synodical view of the, Coven.&, regardless of any           instated in their off&e and the binding decisions of
                                                                                                           c.


                                         T H E   STANDARfi.BEARER                                                          79

 1942-`44 are removed and no longer considered bind-- beloofden$  niets te, zullen leeren,  dat niet met bepaalde
 ing, is thoroughly mistaken.                                      FORULES volkomen overeenstemde. Om ons n&n op
  _ If Dr. Schilder tells his readers that in the confer-          DIE vraag zijn we geschorst en'afgezet. .Elk gesprek
 ences that were held in Grand Rapids he clearly ex;               over een "Ze.er" is misleidend. En nmaakt  de scheiding
 plained his view of the promise and of the coven,ant, I           tusschen de synodocratie en degenen die niet dom zijn,
 want to remind him that this.is -more emphatically true           en die voorts dien eisch verkeerd achten, grooter. De
 concerning our explanation to him of the Pr0testan.t              "binding" betrof dus oncler ar&Zere  die Q&e PORUMLE.
 Reformed`view. In no less than 13 propositions, which             Moeten we soms ook .nog zoeken naar de mogelijke 
 can still be read in the Star&& Bearer, I proposed                soorten van "leer" die achter de vijftien andere. for-
 and defended and maintained our conception. Dr.                   mules liggen kunnen, en dan  verxekeren, dat'daaraan.
 Schilder knows that. And he also knew this when in                al of niet gebonden is? Bij de  feiten  blijven ! In-
 the Netherlands he advised the Liberated people to                zender heeft gelijk, als hij dat verklaart.
 join the Protestant Reformed Churches. And if he                      "2) Overigens krijgt de onderstelde wedergeboorte.
 meant by that that the Liberated immigrants would                 als  grand voor den doop we'1 beteekenis bij de doop-
shave the liberty in our- churches to make propaganda              .vrac&g. Wie "in Christus geheiligd" opvat .naar 19$-
 for the Heynsian view of the covenant, which we- hate,. 1941-1944, en bij de doopvraag het woordje-"cLaarom"
 the error is his, not ours. Let me emphasize once                 hoort gebruiken, krijgt dus daar met die "leer" te doen.
 more that in our churches there is nothing binding                De binding  van de  ctmbtsdragers  om  dat `"geheilgd"
 but the Three Forms of Unity and, of course, in- the              `aan te dienen naur synodale inzichten, als naar godde- ,
 second place, the liturgical forms that must be read              lijke openbaring, werd dus meteen-.een  binding .van
 in  our`.churches.  But it is our conviction that the              de  otidera,  om  nu deze leer ook als  bindend te  aan-
 Heynsian view of the covenant and of baptism is not vaarden bij den doop van hun kind. Vandaar .dat wie
 according to those Three,Forms of Unity, but is essen-
                                                    9              het er niet mee eens kon zijn, noch zijn kind kon laten
 tially Arminian.                   0                              doopen, noch bij zoo'n  doop stilzwijgend mee kon toe-
    And therefore, if ever correspondence is estab-
                                                         .         zien, en openlijk mee kon danken;  ieder die in de bank
 lished between the Reformed Churches (maintainmg                  zit, weet, dat die woorden in den mond van dien' -de-
 Art. 31) and our churches (which to my mind is still              minee op den preekstoel die voor ons geen plaats heeft,
 not at all inconceivable), this question must be thor-             dat en dat beteekenen; en dat hij het "wij danken  T-7'
,oughly discussed. It is above all necessary for any                (uit het gebed na den doop),  +ijzeZf, die in de bank xit,
proper and brotherly correspondence that we are hon-                openlijk wordt verklaard ermee in te stemmen,  wat
 est with one another.                                        n    trouwens ook duidelijk gezegd is.
    Epi pansin aleetheia, "the truth above all."                       "3) Daarom blijft een samenleving met alle uitge-
                                                 kL H.              stooten ambtsdragers en met,die  doopouders, die alleen
                                                                    maar `&ja" kunnen zeggen op een nietpaar'de bindecde
                                                                    interpretatie van. 1944 gestelde doopvraag, de eerstg:
    Hier volgt de vertaling van-dit artikel:-                       eisch, en de eenige weg tot hereeniging. Als alle leden,
                 NmTs DAT '~INDT?                                   die zien, dat hierarchic aan Gods kinderen nimmer op-
                                                                    gelegd is; zich hadden gehouden aan hun eenvoudige
    In een der PZ'eformatie's van den huidigen jaargang,            r:echfen,  dan ware de hereeniging die er in 1944 e-v.
 pp. 341-342, komt een bijdrage voor van een zekeren geweest is, nog grooter van omvang geweest. Ze staat
 J. J. Bade, waarvan Dr. Schilder een postscriptum                  nog elken dag open, en is ook iederen dag eisch. Manr
 toevoegt, hetwelk naar mijn'opinie zeer belangrijk is,            :c&e hereeniging noemt men nog altijd scheurmaking.
 namelijk, vanuit het oogpunt der vraag of  er in de Wij noemen scheurmaking het opleggen  en bet. accep-
 Vrijgemaakte Kerken niets is dat bindt, ten aanzien                te.eren in mee-spre&?n  en mee-opleggen van door God
j der doopskwestie.                                                " niet toegestane normen, met onmiddelijk effect  vail
     Hier volgt dan het postscripturn van'Dr. Schilder :,           onthouding van ambtelijke toelating dergenen die
     "1) Ook wij hebben altijd crop gewezeri, dat een               waken voor de rechten van de kudde tegenover niet-
 "lee@" nooit  &rect is opgelegd, en door niemand in                eens-herders, zooals een synode. die geen opperkerke-
eerster instantie, is in geding gebracht. Men kan van               raad is.                                       K.  S . "
 een "leer" alles en nog wat maken ; en niemand hceft
 nog ooit consequent een in alles doorgedachte "leer"                  Tot dusver Dr. Schilder.         _ -
 met alle consequenties iijn leven lang "geleerd"; 2 &a?               De hoofdgedachte van dit postschriptum is natuur-
 de formules van !I944 kunnen immers allerlei `lee -in-             lijk, dat geen synodale besluiten, zooals men uitsprak
 gen" liggen : wedergeboorteleer,  . kerkleer, sacraments- -in 1905-1942-1944, den kerken binden gemaakt mogen
 leer, verbondsleer. Duizendmaal repeteerden wi j : wi j            word.en. .Dr. Schilder schijn.t nog steeds de mogelijk-
 zijn gevraagd, binnen 14 dagen te berichten, of wij
                          ~                                         heid te onderstellen, in het afgetrokkene ten minste,
                                                                                             I  -


 80  .,                         :i  (THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

dat allen die Rich gereformeerd  noemen, afgedacht van       En ,claarom,  wanneer  deze vraag gedaan wordt naar .
- hunne beschouwing van het verbond, van de beloftk,         deze bindende uitlegging, dan worden ter zelfd,er tijd
,en van den doop, vredig saam zouden kunnen wonen in         de ouders en de. geheele ge'meente gebonden aan deze
dezelfde kerkgemeenschap. Nu schijnt het mij toe,            uitlegging. Daarom concludeert Dr. Schilder dat onder
dat de geschiedenis der ,Gereformeerde  Kerken, in Ne-       deze binding geen ouders die met deze uitlegging niet
derland vanaf 1892-1905 tot op den huidigen dag toe          kunnen overeenstemmen hunne kinderen  kunnen laten
juist het' tegenovergestelde geopenbaard hebben. In          doopen,  noch ookkunnen meebidden in het dankgebed
1892 weigerde de tegenwoordige Christelijke Gerefor-         na den doop. Iedereen  weet,  zegt hij, dat zulk een
meerde Kerk (van Nederlancl) om mee te gaan met de           predikant, die aan de uitlegging van 1944 gebonden is,
vereeniging der Doleerenden ,-en  d,e Afgeseheidenen,        d,efinitief de veronderstelde wedergeboorte. bedoelt als
hoofdzakelijk om reden der kwestie van verbond, doop,        hij de eerste doopsvraag stelt in den doop,. en dat de
en veronderstelde wedergeboorte. In vroegere jaren           meervoudsvorm van den eersten persoon, "wij" in de
heeft Dr. Schilder altijd deze kerken berispt, omdat         dankzegging na den doop, de geheele. gemeente insluit,
zij, naar zijn  over,tuiging,  in den  w.eg van ongehoor-    zoowel als de ouders die hunne kinderen laten`doopen.
zaamheid wandelclen. Nu, evenwel, sinds de vergade-          En door zulk  doen verklaren zij openlijk, dat zij het
ring der Vrijmaking-van den Haag 1944, pleit hij voor        met deze beschouwing van den predikant `eens zijn.
vereeniging met hen, Maar waarom? Is er geen bin-               Maar kan dit vermeden worden?
ding in deze  kerk.en? Die is er inderdaad. Zij  s'iaan         Zeg nu eens, dat een hereeniging plaats vond op de
op hun eigen beschouwing van doop en wedergeboorte.          basis -dat er niets bindend zou zijn aangaande deze
Maar. het is eenvoudig een feit, dat sinds de dagen, dat     vraag.
hij de Christelijke 4Gereformeerde  Kerken opvatte als          En stelt U nu .voor, dat als een resultaat- dier her-
wandelende -in den weg der ongehoorzaamheid en van           eeniging een zekere gemeente, zeg, 50% samenstemde
hen eischte, dat zij zouden terugkeeren tot de Gerefor-      met de synodale beschouwing van den doop, en SO,%
meerde Kerken, hij zijn beschouwing aangaande den            met d,e Vrijgemaakte beschouwing. En stelt U verder
doop, wedergeboorte en bet. verbond heeft veranderd.         voor, dat de predikant in zulk ekn gemeente het met
Daarover,~ en ook ov,er zijn `omhelzing van het Hein-        de synodale b.eschouwing van het verbond eens was,
sianisme; s&reef ik Dr. Schilder een langen brief, vlak      en dat hij van de preekstoel verklaarde, dat de phrase
na den oorlog. Op  -dien brief heeft hij nooit  geant-       in de eerste  doopsvraag "in Christus geheiligd" werke-
woord. Laat dat nu zoo zijn: de vraag va.n hereemi-          lijke heiliging bedoelde, en dat we daarom in den doop
ging is naar mijn opinie niet zoozeer' een vraag van         moeten veronderstellen,  dat de kinderen  wedergeboren
wat bindend is, doch een principieele vraag aangaancle       zij(n, en verder, dat de woorden in .de dankzegging na
het verbond en den doop. 1905 was 8en ellendig COiIl-        den doop : "Wij danken  en loven U, dat Gij ons en onze
promis  over dezelfde vraag; En de latere geschiedenis       kinderen, door .het bloed van Uwen lieven Zoon Jezus
heeft duidelijk aangetoond, dat het compromis  nooit         Christus, al onze zonden vergeven, en ens door Uwen
succes had.`, En behoeft het ons niet te verwonderen,        Heiligen Geest tot lidmaten van Uwen eeniggeboren
dat de hoofdzaak ter Synode van I939 tot `44 to& de          Z.oon, en alzoo tot U-we `Kinderen aangenomen hebt,
vraag aangaande het verbond, was.                            en ons dit met den `kieiligen doop bezegelt en bekrach-
Niettegenstaande blijkt het uit  d,e bovenstaande            t&-t", precies bedoelen wat,zij zeggen, en dat zij niet
paragrafen dat ..in bet afgetrokkene -Dr. Schilder de        eenvoudig  doelen  op de  voorwerpelijk,e   toezegging of
mogelijkheid toegeeft van hereeniging met de Syno-           belofte aan allen, maar dat die woorden doelen  op het
dalen, mits men de, binding wegneemt, en indien men          feit,' dat de gedoopte kinderen werkelijk deelhebbers
belijdenis doet van de hierarchische  actie,  waarin de      zijn aan de vergeving der zonden en aan de aanname
Synode  ambtsdragers  afzette. Want hij schrijft, dat        tot kinderen  Gods. En stelt,  bovendien, U voor, dat de
de eerste en belangrijkste vraag.tot hereeniging, ge-        kerkeraad in zylk een kerk het met dien predikant eens
meenschap is met al de ambtsdragers die uitgeworpen          is en hem de hand schudt aanhet einde van zoo'n preek.
werden, alswel met die ouders die' niet bevestigend          Kon in zulk, een geval het vrijgemaakte element hunne
kunnen antwoorden op de doopsvraag aangaande het             kinderen ten doop brengen, net maar, omdat de leer
"in Christus geheiligd", naar de uitlegging van 1944.        door den leeraar verkondigd, en' bevestigd  door den
      Sindsdien we dezelfde moeilijkheid hebben hier in      kerkeraad,,  niet synodaal bindend is ?
Amerika met de Vrijgemaakte immigranten, wil ik                 Ik beweer, dat, zulks onzin is en 001~ onmogelijk.
aanduiden hoe onmogelijk hereeniging, is op de door             Vergeet niet, dat na  be eerste vraag die  aan de
Dr. Schilder aangegeven basis.                               ouders gevraagd en door den kerkeraad en de geheele
      Let er op, dat onder "2". Dr. Fxhilder er op wijst,    gemeente  bevestigd is,  d,e tweede  yraag nog volgen
dat naar  .de  "bind,ende"  ' uitlegging der phrase "in      meet. En die tweede vraag luidt als volgt : "of gij de
Christus geheiligd" in de eerste doopsvraag, deze yraag leer, die in bet Oude en Nieuwe Testament, en in de
de theorie der veronderstelde wedergeboorte insluit.         Artikelen des Christelijken Geloofs begrepen is, en
 I


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           81

 in de  Christ&ke  Kerk  slhier geleerd wordt  niet  lo&              Edoch, dit is kennelijk  oneerlijk.  Zij kenden'zeer
  kent, de waarachtige  en volkoinene #leer .der zaligheid        zekep  h& snderscheid  tusschen hunne'beschouwing en
  te wezen ?"                                                     de onze. En zij hebben zeer zeker. verstaan, dat wij
     .Nu weet Dr. Schilder juist zoo we1 als ik, dat er in        hen nooit in een Pr6testantsche  Gereformeerde Kerk
  d-en loop dei- historic  heel wat te dqen geweest is aan-       zouden organiseerevl  tenzij ze overeenstemden  met onze
gaallde de  ghrase in deze vraag "in de Christelijke              leer.  Toen  Chatham  aanvraag  deed bij ons  Zendings-
  Kerk alhier geleerd wordt", en dat  er  verscheidene            Co&t6 om georganiseerd t-e worden  op de basis vah
  pogingen gemaakt zijn om dkze phrase in de vraag te             hull eig&n begchouwing  van den doop en van het ver-
  schrappen. Maar onze Gereformeerde vaders stonden               bond, werd dit geweigerd. -
  er op; dat zij gehandhaafd  zou  worden. Het is  oak                Ik was persoonlijk aanwezig bij de organisatie  van
  duidelijk, dat dig phrase W&W de l&ale gen%xnte  be;            de g6meetite  ip Chatham Bij die gelegenheid mocht  <k
  duidt. Eti daarom kan het slechts zien op de leer die           h& fiii~drd bedienen. En in de preek legde ik nadruk
  door den lokalen pr.edikant geleerd, en door den lokalen        op onze beschouwing  der belofte en des verbonds op
 kerkeraad bevestigd wordt: En daarom staan we nog                ondubbelzimlige  wijze, zoodat er geen sprake kon zijn
  voor'dezelfde moeilijkheid. Die vraag is zekerlijk bin-         van tiisverstand. En ik legde er nadruk op tot drie
  dend. En ik beweer, dat eenige ouder die in zulk een. malen toe in mijn preek, dat indien zij zieh organiseer-
  geval de eerste doopsvraag bevestigend beantwoordt,             den in een Prot. Ger. Kerk, ze in staat zouden moeten
  en instemt met de bekende woorden der dankxegging zijri olri t@.%`cemmecnd te antwoorden .op de tweede vraag
  na d,en doop, zeer zeker  zijn instemming betuigt met           bij den doop: "of ge bekent de leer die in deze Christe-
  de leer die in deze Christelijke Kerk  alhier  geleerd,         iijke Kerk alhier geleerd wordt d,e volkoniene leer der
  wordt,, welke in dit geval de leer der veronderstelde           zaligheid te tiezen." En ik heb hen duidelijk gezegd, dat
  wedergeboorte is.                                               dit niets anders beteekent dan de leer die in de Protes-
          En daarom beweer ik, dat de Vrljgali?%ktefi zilch-      t&s~he~Gere%ormeerde~Kerken  geleerd wordt. Ik legde
  zelf binden, afgedacht v&n @nig synodaal besluit.               er nadr'uk oi, dat tenzij ze hiermee accord konderi g&an,
          Hetzelfde is. waar aangaande de gelegenheid  der        ze nooit als een Prot. `Ger.  gemeente moesten organisee-
  belijdenis des geloofs. De eerste vraag die gevraagd            ren. Hoe iemand in die gemeente kan bewereti,  dat zij
  wordt bij de gelegenheid der publieke belijdetiis des           met niets instemming betuigd hebben, dat in onze ker-
  geloofs in de  Gerkfofmeerde  Kerkeq is letterlijk  de- .ken niets bindend was, en dat zij hun eigen Vrijge-
  zelfe als de tweede doopsvraag. Is het dan ni,et duide-.        maakte beschouwing des .doops en des verbonds konden
  lijk, dat zij die belijdenis des geloofs afleggeti ia eenige    handhaven gaat boven mijn bevattingwermogen. Het
  kerk die de leer der veronderstclde trriedergeboorte  hul-      is e,envoudig-weg  oneerlijk.,
  digt, alswel de synodale bksihouwing van het verbond,              Doch ik beweer, dat de redeneering in bovenstaande
  tigedacht van eenige synddale'binding,  zi'chzelven bin- paragrafen, dat de hereeniging met de Synodalen moge-
  den door ovekeenstemming  te betuigen met die leer? '           lijk is, indien slechts de ,afgezette  ambtsdragers  weder
          Ik houd vol, dat zij dat doen. En ik beweer, daar-      opgenomen en in hun ambt hersteld.,zouden  worden,
  om, dat men nooit de binding kan vermijden. Syno-               en de bindende besluiien  van 194%$44 weggenomen en
  dale formules  heeft men niet van noode..                       niet langer voor bind.end gehouden zouden wordgn,  -door
          En, daarom, toen we in Capada onder de Vrijge-          en door foutief is.
  maakte immigraritep' werkten, maakten we het hen                   Indien D$. -.Schilder  zijn lezers vertelt, dat in de
  allereerst zeer duidelijk,  zoodat er van misverstand           conferentie's die in ,Grand .Rapids  gehouden werden,
  geen sprake-kon zijn, dat of,schoon  we het niet geheel         hij zijn beschouwing van de belofte en van het verbond
  en al eens waren met de synqdale beschouwing aan-               duidelijk verklaard  heeft, dan wil ik er hem aan herin-
  gaande het verbond en de, veronderstelde .wederg&               neren, dat dit met ndg meer nadruk geldt van onze
  boorte, we zekerlijk de H,eynsiaansche  conceptie ver-          verklaring  aan  heti van de Protestantsche  Gerefor-
  oordeelden, ,en dat onze beschouwing van den doop en            meerde beschouwing. In niet minder dan 13 propo-
  het verbond en de belofte radikaal verschilde van. de           sitie's, die nog in de Standa&  Bearer gelezen kunnen
  beschouwifig  der Vrijgemaakten-  En slechts nada3 ze           miorden,  stelde ik onze besehouwing- voor, verdedigde
  in dat verschil onderwezen waren, en toestemden om              en handhaafde haar. Dr. Schilder weet dat. *En hij
  verder onderwezen  te worden  in onze leer, en beloofden        wist dit ook to,en  hij in Nederland den Vrijgemaakten
  geen propaganda te maken en niet te ageeren tegen de            menschen aanraadde zich aan te sluiten bij de Protes-
  leer der Prbtestantsche  Gereformeerd,e  Kerken, hebben         tantsche Gereformeerde Kerken. En als hij daarmede
  we hen georganiseerd in een kerk van onze gemeen-               bedoelde, dat tie Vrijgemaakte im.&igr+nten de vrij-
  schap.                                                          heid zouden hebben in onze kerken om propaganda te
    En ik versta, dat nu sommigen van hen beweren,                maken voor de Heynsiaansche beschouwing van het
  dat zij ten tijde hunner organis&& njets beloofd heb-           verbond, die wij haten, dan is de dwaling de zijne, en
  hen,                                                            niet de onze. ILaat rqij nog eenmaal  met nadruk zeg-

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

 ien, dat in onze kerken niets bindend  is dan de Drie           oi all, in  physibal nourishment there  is. a physical
 Formulierkn  van Eenigheid en, natuurlijk, in de tweede         organism, the human body. It cannot sustain its own
 plaats, de liturgische formulieren die in onze kerken           life, but is dependent cm the outside world. Constantly
 gelezen moeten worden. Maar het is onze oiertuiging,            it must be supplied from without. Secondly, there is
 dat de Heynsiaans&e beschouwing v.an het verbond en             a physical substance, food arid drink, that must be
 rxn den doop niet naar die Drie Formulieren van                 assimilated by that body. Because the body is physical,
 Eenigheid zijn, maar dat zij wezenlijk Arminiaansch             it stands to reason that the food it assimilates and can
 zijn.                                                           assimilate must also be physical. You could not feed
        En. daarom, indien er ooit correspondentie zal be-       a physical body with spiritual nourishment. In the
 staan tusschen de Ger&f ormeerde Kerken (onderhou-              third place, there is the longing of that body for
 dende Art. 31) en onze  kerketi  (hetwelk  haar mijn            physical food and drink: it hungers and thirsts. In
 opinie nog steeds in `t geheel niet ondenkbaar is), dan         the fourth place, there is the eating and drinking by
 meet  d.eze vraag dqor en door besproken worden. Het            the physical mouth. ' And finally, there is the process
 is boven  alles noodzakelijk, voor eenige  correcte   eil       of assimilation, whereby the body changes the food'
 bpoederlijke  correspdndentie, dat we met elkander eer-         and drink into its own flesh and blood,' and thus is
 lijk omgaan.                                                    strengthened.  '
        Epi paasin dl"e&theia, "the truth above all".               All this can be applied spiritdally. In the first
                                                     H. H.  /    place, there is a spiritual entity that must be nourish-
                                                                 ed, the regenerated,-,inward  man, which is ckeated  in
                                                                 ..Christ  Jesus, but is not independent and cannot sus-
                                                                 tain its own life, but must be nourished from without.
    THE TRIPLE KNOWLEDGE                                         Now the proper nature  df that  regengrated  life is
                                                                 spiritual. It consists of a spiritual knowledge of #God
                                                                 in Christ, forgiveness of sin, righteousliess  before God,
 An Eiposition Of The Heidelberg adoption unto children, holiness, hatred and ablior-
                                                                 rence of sin, delight, in the law of  ,God.  ' And that
                          Catechism                              spiritual life must be nourished. It must be sustained,
                                                                 and it must grow and develop unto perfection.
                               P A R T   T W O                      Now even as the physical  organism   df our body
            O      f           Man's-Redempti.on   _             cannot be nourished by spiritual food, so the spiritual
                                                                 entity. of the regenerated Fna;.n can never be nourished
                        &ORD'S DAY XXIX. . .                     by material food, but rntlst have spiritual nourishment.
                                   3     .                  ,    There must therefore be a spiritual nourishment,  right-
                 Spiritual Eating  alld Drinking.                Gousness,  holiness, wisdom, light, knowledge,' which is
                                                                 outside of that regenerated man and which can be as-
    -All the Reformed confessions,`tberefore, emphasize          similated by him. That spiritual food and drink is
 that the eating and drinking which takes place at the           in one word: grace. And that grace is all in Christ.
 table of the Lord is purely spiritual.                          Christ is the food of that regenerated man, by which
        There is a spiritual food. Christ imparts Himself        he is fed unto eternal life. For ,"of his fulness have
 at the table of communion to believers as  thk true             we. all received, and grace for grace." John 1 :lO. And
 meat and drink unto eternal life.                               again : "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus; who of God
        There  is) secondly, a spiritual operation. It is        is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sancti-
 through the Spirit of Christ that He imparts Himself            fication, and redemption." Christ is the fountain of ,I
 to believers.                                                   the water of life. For: "Whosoever drinketh of this
        And thirdly, there is alsd a spritual mouth by which water shall thirst again: But whosoeveu: drinketh of
 we eat and drifik. And that spiritual mouth is faith.           the. water' that I shall give him shall never thirst; ,but
        But, this entire spiritual mode of operatipn, this       the water that I shall g&k him shall be in him a w&l
? spiritual eating and drinking of Christ, .takes  place         of water springing up into everlasting life." Christ
-through the means of the signs of ,the broken bread             is the bread of life that came down from heaven to
and the wine that .is poured out.                                give life unto the world: John 6  :33. Hence, Christ
        Let us elaborate a little on this idea of spirituai      could say: "I am the bread of life: he that cometh to
 eating and drinking.                                            me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me
        For the sake of clarity it may be well to compare        shall never thirst." John 6:35. And again: "I am that
 this spiritual eating and drinking with the process of          bread of life." John. 6 :48. And once more: "I am the
 physical nourishment, as is also done in the article on         living bread which came down from heaven: if any
 the Lord's Supper in our N.et&rland  Conf,ession.  First        man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the


       `                                     THE  ST.ANDARD  B E A R E R                                                         583

     bread that I will give is my flesh, which I wili give            thirst for Christ, so that by faith we eat and drink
     for the life of the world." John 6 :51. Christ therefore         Him unto ,life eteynal, even as He imparts Himself. to
     is. the spiritual nourishment which the regenerated              us at His table. And thus the supper of the Lord is
     man needs to sustain his life.                                   a means unto growth in grace.
            But also the process of assimilation'by w)lich this          It `stands to.. reason that a Gpiritual disposition is
     spiritual food and drink becomes my own, so that I               required in order to be truly partakers of the table
     become flesh of His flesh and bone of His bone, is               of the Lord. The unregenerated and unbeliever cannot
     purely spiritual. Christ must impart Himself to the              eat and drink Christ. He has no life that can be nour-
-    regenerated believer. And the believer must eat and-             ished. Like the gospel, the supper of the Lord .' is
     drink Him. And also this niode of operation cannot               strictly particular. Unbelievers can indeed receivk the.
     be physical, but must be  .purely spiritual., According          visibsle signs ; but they cannot partake of the essence
     to the Roman Catholics there is an action of Christ              of the supper. But there is more. Even believers are
     through the priest tin that physical food by which it            not always ready to'partake of the supper of the Lord.
     is changed into the body and blood of Christ. But this           Even as we may be sick in body, so T;be may also be
     woyld place ,the living Christ actually beyond my reach.         sick spiritually. We may nourish a certain' sin: of
     For that bread and wine`can be taken only physically ;           which we will nat repent. .There  may be hatred in our
     atid it can have nourishing effect. only on my body.             hearts agajnst the brother. We may fail to attend the
     And therefore the operati`on  in the Lord's :Supper is           preaching of the Word  df God. We may love the things
     spiritual. Christ is truly present in the signs of -the          of the world and seek them. And in such a disposition
     broken bread and the wine'that is potired  out, hut only         we cannot fruitfully partake of the supper of the Lord.
     in a spiritual ,sense. .By an operation, of His Spirit           We must be spiritually healthy. And spiritual health,
     He imparts Himself to the believer, and that not only' is characterized. in the first place by a sincere and
     mystic@ly, but also through the .coi~ciousness  of the           heatifklt sorrow over sin, by a fervent longing for
     regenerated man, so that he  constankly  is strengthened         forgiveness and for the grace of Christ, by an earnest
     in righteousness and holiness, in knowledge and wis-, desire to live in -sanctification, to crucify the flesh, .and
     dom, and grows in the grace of the Lord. And as                  to walk in `a new aizd holy life, and by the sincere love
     Christ imparts Himself by His Spirit to. the regener-            of the brethren. ,,Only in this true spiritual disposition
     ated man, the latter eats and drinks Him, and that,              of heart and mind can we expect to receive the spiritual
     too, not with his physical mo#+ but by the spiritual             food and drink that is presented to us in the table of
     mouth of faith. Faith is the spiritual power of the -the Lord.
     soul ,to eat and drink Christ. And this faith whereby                                                              H. H.
     I receive Christ. and assimilate Him  is< wrought and
     also strengthened chiefly by the Word of the gospel,
     but also through the signs and seals of the sacrament&
     .in this case particularly` through the signs of the                                   Of `Books
     broken bread and the wine ithat is poured out:
            And herein lies the special significance of the Lord's    Commen&ry on the Holy ScripCures,  by John Peter
     Supper. It is not thus, of course, that ifi the supper a             Lange: Zondervan  Publ, House,  Gland Rapids,
     grace is imparted to us that is not and cannot be re-                Mich. Ten Volumes: Price per volume $3.95.
     `ceived in any other way than by eating and drinking
     ,the signs of the broken bread and the wine that is                 From the Zondervan Publishing House I received
     poured out at the table of. the Lord. Christ, always             for review a beautiful set of Lange's Commentary on
     i&parts  Himself to the believer and feeds his soul              the New Testament, ten volumes. The volumes of the
     unto everlasting life. And the chief means whereby               same `commentary on the Old Testament are on the
     He .thus imparts Him&f is always the preaching of                press and will; the Lord willing, soon follow.
     the. gospel. The sacraments add pothing to the Word.                It would be worth while to write a`detailed  review
     But through the signs of the broken bread and-the                on this commentary volume by volume, but this,would
     wine poured out the Holy Spirit effects two things.' require far too much space in our paper. I must,
     In the first place, through these visible  -signs He             therefore, needs limit myself to a general description,
     strengthens the personal assurance and the personal              characterization, and evaluation of this important  pub-
     confidence of faith, "that not only to others, but to            1iGation  by the Zondervan Publishing House.
     me also, remission of sin, everlasting righteousness               For many years 1: have been acquainted with Lange's
     and salvation, are freely given by aGod, merely of grace,        Commentary. A .complete  set of his Bibelzuerk in the
     only for the sake of Christ's merits." Heid.' Cat. qu. 21.       origin&l German I have. in my library. But the Eng-
     And secondly, the same Spirit through these same vis-            lish set, now published again by Zondervan, far ex-
     ible signs. stimulates faith to a greater hunger and             ceeds the original, not only in size and number of
                                                      *


  84                \              : ! .y,THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

 pages, but especially iti riches of contents because of for you are a member of the Prot. Ref. Church of
 its many additional- notes by the translatoks.                  Chatham.
        What is known as Lange's Btibelwerk  or his com-             Thirdly, read page 56, beginning by "But there is
 mentary on the Holy Scriptures, was not written in more."
 its entirety by himself personally, but was co&pleted               Fourhhly,  Prof. Dr.  Schild& who until lately ad-
 with the colaboration  of other biblical scholars,. such as vised his people to join our churches, and Rev. V,an
 Van Oosterzee (Luke, I -and II Timothy, Titus, Phile-           Dyk who writes : "BEWARE".
 mon) , Kling (I and II Corinthians), Schtioller (,Gala-             Fifthly, we at least agree with th.e &nodicals that
 tians) , Braune `( Ephesians, Colossians' Philippians),         the ljromise of God is only to the elect. You ask: which
 Auberien and Riggenbach (I and II .Thessalonians)  ,            group is closer to me, they who teach "presupposed
 Moll (Hebrews).          The commentary was translated          regeneration" and the "common grace theorie" or they
 and `enriched with many notes by several translators            who probably only with regard to baptism -and the
 under tile chief editorship of Dr.`Philipp  Schaff.             covenant have a different viewpoint. Is this still a
   i The tidmmentary  proper is uniformly divided into           question in your mind? I will answer this also with
 three  parts: a critical and exegetical, a doctrinal and        a ,question : If it should be a question of degree in error,
 ethical, and"ti &omiletical  and practical part. As h~as        which is worse: "presupposed regeneration" or to say
 already been remarked, it is quite impossible to offer' that all children, born in the sp$.ere-of  the covenant
 a detailed criticsm  on a work like Lange's Bibelwerlc.         are really childrim of Go& partakers of the Holy Ghost,
 But in general `I'will say that, on the whole, I find Xhat      and heirs of all the blessings in Christ ; but are able to
 the exegesis in this commentary is quite thorough a.nd          make all this of none effed and void? Besides, is com-
t scholarly, that the doctrinal and et&al notes thcr:gh          mon grace also included in the sphere of the covenant?
 we cannot always agree with them, are of  thE  cc:n-            Or is- there probably also a certain grace outside of
servative type' and that the homiletical and $rar:tical          Christ's meritorious work? (Read Prof.  Veenhof's
 notes are helpful to the student. This does not imply           Appbl.)
that we dways agree with the exegesis in the commzn-                 I am not a theologian, but I believe I have ju& a
 tary. Dr. Lange and his colaborers were of the _evan-           small pair of Reformed Feelers (,Gereformeerde  Voel-
 gelical rather than of the Calvinistic type of  thco-           horens) . Asd I have heard a Synodical minister preach
 logians. The details must be left to the  discer;?`ng           on Lord's Day 26, and have not heard one sentence
 criticism of the individual -reader  and student of Holy        with which I could not &holeheartedly  agree.
 Writ. But with this provision, I am of the opinion that            Sixth&,- that there were four questions in the "Dutch
, the Zondervan Publishing Hotike rendered an impar-             Psalmboekjes", I did not know `(we have only three),
 tant service to all who are interested in the st?.dy of         but that that minister asked more than four I am quite
 Holy Scripture by republishing this commentary, and             certain. But I am sorry that I could not record them.
 we gladly recommend it to our readers.                              Another minister asked many questions when an
                                                  H. H.          adult was baptized, arnong them a question such as
                                                                 this : Whether you believe in oniy one baptism, and not
                         -  ocz-0  KS-0                          in two, in, a true and in a sham baptism. And of this
                                                                 I am certain.
                                                                     Finally, I think your hope will be realized regarding
                         Contribution                            "other -voices", in fact there have been such voices al-
                                                                 Peady, and very likely there will be more in the future.
             IN REPLY TO BReTHER  IJPSMA                             I suggest, however, that `you shout to other immi-
        I think I can be brief in answering your questions.      grants, BEWARE, but also tell them why, namely, that
        In the first place, I .could refer you almost entirely when they intend to join our churches we expect them
 to the article of our Editor, the Rev. H. Hoeksema, in          to become PROTESTANT REFORMED, and not LIB-
 the same issue of the, Standard Bearer, "$3iticism and          ERATED. Arid to,abide  by it.                .
 Its Answer".                                                                                             Hessel De Jong.
        As to what we have in- common, s&e page 52, the
 first part of' the article, where we see that having the                                     +:-
 E;ame Three Forms un Unity means very little.                                    CONSIS+ORIES   -  ALl!TENTtON!
        Secondly, regarding the charge that I generalize'
 read page 56, right column, lower half. Also concern-             The Assessment for %.he  Emeritus Fund. will be $1.00 for the
                                                                 co+ing  year.
 ing the "Januskop" read page 55, right column, lower              In the Acts  - 1950  - Article 108, page 82, a  `mis.take has
 half.                                                           a*ept  iri. ,The word `(discontinue" should be "continue". So that
                                                                 the article should read: "Moved and adopted to  cdntinue  the
        Atid tibotit your conception of leaders (by the way),    assessment for.the Emeritus Fund at $1.00 per family for the
 you should not  say, "your leaders",-but "our leaders",         c o m i n g   y e a r . "
                                                                                                       D. Jonker, stated clerk.


                                      T:HE,  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               85

                                                                  the eternal reality of all things before Himself in His
            OUR DOCTRINE'                                         eternal counsel. In this connection I would call the
                                                                  attention of the reader to the book of Rev. Hoeksema,
                                                                  "God's Way ,Out,`! the chapter which begins on page
 .,  :. .  The, Idea Of  ICreation.  (6)  -                       165. The Lord has eternally the whoie world in space
                                                                  and in time before His Divine mind. And, on the
                                                                  oth.er hand, the Lord seeks not the creature but Him-
                The Purpoee Of. Creation.                         self. through the creature.  #God is and  re:mains His
.Scripture,  proceedin,g  from. the  stunclpoint  .thut God       own purpose. If the world is hnt a reflection which
 is the living God, proclaims unto us t&at the, pwrpde            reflects the glory of God, sur,ely this mirror does not
 of creatioti is the glory of the living God.                     make <God  richer, even as a mirror does not make me
                                                                  richer simply because I behold myself reflected in it.
    All the works of the Lord's hands are a revelation            All the things that move and live and have being have
 of the Lord's virtues and proclaim His praises-see               but one purpose and that is, not to enrich- the living
 Psalm 19 :I, Romans 1:19, etc.  `God created man in              God, not to add unto Jehovah's glory and honour, not
 His image and unto His glory and praise. This we                 to give Him something~which -He otherwise would not
 read in Is. 43 :7 : "Even every one'that is called by My         possess, but simply to reveal that He is, in Hirnself,
 `Name: for 1. have created him for My glory, I have              the God of infinite perfection, the only, absolute, all-
 `formed him, yea, I have made`him." The Lord glori-              suficient, Good.
 fies :Himself in Pharaoh, Ex: 14 : 17, and in the one born
blind, John 9 :3. `He makes the wicked for the day of                Herewith we conclude our discussion of the IDEA
 evil, Prov.  16:4. and Romans  9:22. Christ came to              OF CREATION.
 glorify the Father, John 1'7 :4., All the benefits and                     .
 the blessings of grace He bestows upon us for-His                        .  _.          -::--
 Name's sake, redemption, forgiveness, sanctification,
 etc., Ps. -105 :8, 78 :9, Is. 43 :25,- -48:11, 60 :21, 61:3,      THE CREATION OF' THE SPIRIT WORLD. (1):
                                                                                   .
 Romans 9 :23; Eph. Z:6 f.f. He does not give His glory
 to another, Is. 42 :8. God is the First and- the Last,           A Discussion of this Subject is Pro{itab;le at This Time.
 the, Alpha and the Omega, Is. 44 :6, 48 :12, Rev. 1:8,              It may be considered profitable to devote a little j
 22.:13.' And, out of Him and through ,Him and unto               space in the Standard Bearer at this time to the crea-
 Him are all things Romans 11:36. Hence, because .of              tion and existence of the .spirit world i.e., the world
 this revelation and testimony of Holy Writ we may                of spirits, of angels. It is true that the creation ac-
 safely conclude that the glory of God is the purpose             count in Genesis i-2 is emphatically earthly' in its
 `of all the works of His hands. The Lord does all                point of view. Having set forth the truth that God
 things for His Name's sake. "                                    in the beginning created the heavens and the earth
    Against this glory of God as the Divine purpose .of           (Gen. 1 :l we regard as the statement of a fact and
 `the universe a two-fold objection  .has been lodged.            not merely as a summary of what follows in chapters
 First;  `God, then; is selfish, egoistic, `never seeking any-    1 and 2, to which Scripture we would call attention,
 one but Himself. This objection, of course, is ground-           the ILord willing, in a subsequent article), the infallible
 less. To be sure, `for a creature. to seek itself would' record thereupon concerns itself solely with the earthly '
 be the depth of selfishness and pride. But, we cannot            aspect of the creation of God. The fact is that al-
 speak thus of. the living  `God. God is the Absolute             ready in verse 2 the .emphasis is laid upon the :earth :
 Good, the only Good, the God of' infinite and eternal `having been informed that God created the heavens
goodness and perfection, in Whom the love of Self is              and the earth, our attention is immediately directed
 the life .of His infinitely perfect and glorious Being.          to the earth, and of that earth we are told in verse 2:
As the perfect Good He must love only Himself  and-               "And the earth was without form, and void ; and dark-
 therefore He must seek Himself in all'His work. This             ness was upon the face of then ,deep. And the Spirit
 is not selfishness but ,God's  own glory, His own infinite       of  LGod+moved upon the face of the waters." There-
 and eternal..perfection.                                         upon we are told of the creation of the light and the
   . Secondly, if God seeks His own glory in and through          darkness, and also this'is evidenltly described unto us
 the creature, is it then not true that He needs that             from the viewpoint of the earthly, as is evident from
 creature, that the world serves the Lord's Self-glorifi- the rest of the chapter. The infallible record speaks
  sation, that the Lord is. therefore richer with the             of the firmamentin the midst of the waters, the separ-
 universe than He would be without the universe? To `ating of the waters above from the watersbelow, of
 this we would answer, `first of all, that the universe           the creation of the dry land and-the calling into'exist-
 . did not enrich the Lord for the reason that God has            ence of all vegetation. Upon $he fourth day the sun,

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

 moon,.and stars are called into being, but it is clear         Athens, I perceive that in all things. ye are too super-
 from the verses  17-i8: ("and God set them in the              stitious." In Ps. 106  :37, 38, we read: "Yea, they
 -firmament of the heaven to give light upon the, earth.        sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils,
 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to            And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons
 divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that           and of their *daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the
 it was good.") that again the viewpoint is earthly.            idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood."
 And, finally, upon the fifth and sixth days all the            In I Cor. 10 :20 we read: "But I say, that the things
 animals and man are created.                                   which the #Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils,
       Neither need it surprise us that the Scriptural          and not to God : and I .would not that ye should have
 record in regard to the creation of -the world should          fellowship with devils." And in Deut. 32 :I7 we read :
 be preponderantly ,earthly. 0, it may be true that the         `"`They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom
  earth is not the only planet," yea, that it is not the        they knew not, to new gods that came newly up,. whom
 largest of all the bodies*  which the Lord called into         your fathers feared not."
existence.  ,It may even be true that the earth is not                                                                 1
 the center of the universe. However, that the earth            The belief in the existence of angels .not characterized
 is the center of the revelation of God and the most            b y   unanimitzj  o f   t h o u g h t .
 important planet is surely beyond every shadow of a                Although, according to the late Dr.. H. Bavinck, all
  doubt. It is a fact, first of all, that Scripture, in         religions have acknowledged the existence of a spiritual
  Genesis 1 and 2, concerns itself almost exclusively with      world,`the belief in the existence of angels has not been
the creation of the` earth. It is upon the earth that           characterized by unanimity of thought.
 the. night of sin and guilt was introduced, and the                The Scriptures inform us in Acts 23  :8 that the
earth was willed by the living God, to become the               Sadducees denied the.existence of spirits. There we
 sphere of the uncompromising conflict between the              read : "For the Sadducees say that there is no resur-
  Seed of the woman and that of the devil, of light and         rection, neither angel, nor spirit: but the Pharisees
  darkness, .life and death. It is upon this earth that         confess both." Others declared that Christ and His
  Christ assumes our flesh and blood, takes upon Him-           apostles spoke of angels only because they simply
  self the sin and guilt of the brethren, suffers and dies      adapted themselves to the superstitious notions of their
 ,and rises again, and is seated at the right hand of           contemporaries, without necessarily implying that they
 the power of God. And it is also upon the earth that           also shared these oponions. The eighteenth century
 the Son of God, by His Word and Spirit, gathers out            wiped out all distinction between men and angels, even
 of the whole human race; out of every, nation, land,           as the nineteenth century wiped out all distinction be-
 tribe, and tongue, His Church, His elect own given unto        tween men and animals. And finally, over against the
  Him by the Father from before the foundation of the           tendency of Materialism a reaction set in, known as
 world. Consequently, this earth is surely the center           Spiritism, which not only acknowledges the existence
  of the universe, the heart of the entire creation of God,     of deceased spirits, but also proclaims the possibility
  as far as the eternal counsel of the living God is con-       of fellowship `and ,communion between . them and the
  cerned. And it is therefore not strange.that the crea-        people who are left behind in the land .of the living,
  tion of the world should be revealed unto us from a           so that thereby the way is once more opened for thou-
p preponderantly earthly point of view.                         sands to believe somehow in a spiritual world.
       Nevertheless, we wish to devote a little space to the
  creation and existence of the world of angels, before         FCrwJly, how varied and strange havie been the- dpinions
  we set ourselves unto the task of describing the Scrip-       expressed in regard to the world of angels.
  tural record of creation as recorded for us in Genesis
  1 and 2. First, this is generally done. A discussion              Concerning the Roman Catholic doctrine in  re-
  bf the world of angels usually precedes the discussion        gard to the angelic world, we read on page 253 of
  of the earthly creation. And, secondly, it seems to me        Hodge's Outline of Theology the following, and tie
  that a little discussion of this subjectdould  be profit-     quote: "What is the Romish doctrine and practice with
  able to us.                                                   regard to the worship of angels? `Catechismus  Ro-
                                                                manus, III. 2, 9, lo-For the Holy Spirit Who says,'
         Many Strange Notions AbQut The Angels                  Honor and glory unto the only  SGod (I Tim.  1:17),
                          Or Spirits.                           commands us also to honor our parents and elders
                                                                (Lev. 19 :32 etc.) ; and the holy men who worshipped
  S&ipture itself furtiishes us evidence that the heathens
  worshipped  evil anbels, spirits or demons.                   one God only .are also said in the sacred Scriptures to
                                                                have adored (Gen. 23  :7, 12, etc.), that is, to have
       This is sur.ely  implied in Acts 17 :22 : "Then Paul     suppliantly venerated, kings. If then kings, by whose
  stood in the midst of Mars hill, and said, Ye men of          agency  ,God governs the world, are treated with so high


      `_                                 .THE  S T A N D A R D  B E A R E R                                             7

 an honor, shall we not give to the angelic spirits an        He came with ten thousands of saints: from His right
 honor greater in proportion as these blessed minds           hand went-a fiery law for them." In Ps. 68 :17 we are
 exceed kings in dignity; (to those angelic spirits)          told: `f'The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even
 whom ,God has been pleased to constitute his minis-          thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in
 ters; whose services he makes use of, not only in the        Sinai, in the holy place." In u&k 5:9, 15 we read:
 governm,ent  of the Church, but also of the rest of the      "And Ee asked him, What is thy name? And he ans-
universe; by whose aid, although we see them not, we          wered, saying, My name is Legion : for. we are -many.
 are daily delivered from the greatest dangers both of        And they eome'to Jesus, and see him that was pos-
 soul and body? Add to this the charity with which            sessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and
 they love us, through which, as Scripture informs us,        clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid."
 they pour out their prayers for those countries (Dan.        A Roman legion was not always of the same number,
 2 :13) over which they ar,e placed by Providence, and        but we do know that the size of a legion varied from
 for those too, no doubt, whose guardians they are, for       three to six thousand. And, in Matt; 26 :53 we read :
 they present our prayers and tears before the throne         `fThinkest  thou that I cannot now pray to My Father,
 of God (Job 3 :25, 12 :12, Rev. 8 :3). Hence, our Lord       and He shall presently give Me more than twelve
 has taught us in. the gospel not to scandalize the little    legions of angels?" And, finally,,  we r.ead in Rev. 5 :ll :
 ones, because in heaven their angels do always behold        "And I beheld, ,and I heard the voice of many angels
 the face of  His.  K&her which  is in  heaven. Their         round about the throne and the beasts and the elders:
 intercession, therefore, we must invoke, because they        and the number of them was ten thousand times ten
 always behold God, and receive ,from  Him the most           thousand, and thousands of thousands." ~
 willing advocacy of our salvation. To this, their invo-         We may also remark that the angels do not con-
 cation, the  sacr,ed  Scriptur.es  bear testimony.-Gen.      stitute an organism as does mankind. They do not
 48,:15,  1 6 . "                                             marry, are not born one of another. Their full number
     Augustine stressed the fact that the good angels         was created at the beginning of the world and it has
 were rewarded for their obedience by the gift of perse-      since not been increased.
 verance which carried with it the assurance that they
 -would never fall.                                                               TheC  Organizat~orz.             1
     Another opined that as many people would be saved
 as the number of the angels which had not fallen. And        Although the angels are not an organism, organically
, still another asserted, because of. Matt. 18 :12 ("How      constituted qs is the human race, they do constitute an 
 think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of         organization, are organi.zecl.
 them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety' and          This is evident from the names which Scripture
 nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that         assigns to them. The angelic host is characterized by
 which is gone astray?") that the proportion of the           ranks and order.
 number of the people to that of the angels was one
 to ninety nine. And still others declared that the num-         A rather common name in the Word of  G-od to
 ber of angels was to `be. fixed at one thousand times        designate these spiritual beings is that of "angel";
 one thousand million.                                        I'his word is not what we would call a "natural name"
                                                              for these heavenly creatures but an official name or
     And, finally, we -would remark that the church           title. The word "angel"; means: messenger, and it is
 fathers were mainly of the opinion that the angels did       also use.d to designate a man, either sent by God or by
 not differ from one another in essence and kind, es-         man, as in Job 1:14, I Sam. 11:3, Haggai 1:13,. Mal.
 sentia'and specie (Bavinck, II, 433).                        2 :7, 3 :l. In the last two passages we read : "For the
                                                        I.    priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should
                       T h e i r   N u m b e i .              seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger
     The Scriptures, as we all know, give us no definite      of the Lord of hosts. . . . Behold, I will send My
 information in regard to-the number of these created         messenger, and He shall prepare the way before Me:
 spirits or angels. Any attempt;therefore,  to estimate       and the Lord, Whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to
_ this number, must be regarded as idle speculation.          His temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom
     However, we may certainly declare that they con-         ye delight. in : behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of
 stitute, according to the Word of :God, a mighty,' in-       hosts."-the word, messenger, in these passages is
 numerable host. They are repeatedly designated as            "angel".    Thus `the word also appears in the New
1 the .host  of heaven or of God, and this already points     Testament, where the word frequently is used to desig-
 to a vast number. We read in Deut. 32 :2 :' "And -he nate men-Matt. ll.:lO, Mark, 1:2; Luke 7 :24, 27, 9 :52,
 said, The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir        Gal. 4:14, James 2:15.
 unto them ; He shined forth. from mount Paran, and              However, there is no general distinctive name for

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

all the spiritual beings in' Scripture. They are called
sons of God in Job 1:6, 2 :1, Ps. 29 :1, 89 :6, spirits -in        Rev. Petter On Right Attitwhi
Heb.  1 :X4, saints in Ps. 89 :5, 7, Zech. 14 :5, .Daniel                   Im                    ~cowtrsversy
8  :13, watchers in Daniel 4  :13, 17, 24. There are
several specific names, however, which point to differ-           As was stated,. in the "Concordia" for October. 12,
ent classes of angels.                                         Rev. Petter announced his intention to write a series
                                                               of articles on "The Declaration of Principles of the
Chekubims:                                                     Protesta.nt  Reformed Churches". `In this same issue
      ,The Scriptures speak of this class of angels in         appeared Rev. Petter's first instalment. It partook of
several passages. We read in Genesis 23 :24 : "So He           the nature of an introduction and consisted-exclusively
drove out the man ; and He placed at the *east of the          of admonitions to brotherly conduct in controversy.
garden of Eden Cherub&s,  and a flaming sword which            In the "Concordia" for October 26 is printed Rev. Pet-
turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life." ter's second instalment under his .section-heading-
IIere the cherubims are appointed by the living God            `"Among Our Treasures". `In this article Rev. Petter
to guard the entrance into the Garden of Eden in order         writes on the subject of right attitude in discussion.
that man should not eat of the tree of life and live for-      I don't want to hide that I am disappointed. I had
ever.  ,They gaze upon the mercy seat, according to            imagin,ed that Rev. Petter had done with admonition,
Ex. 25:18 f.f., 37:8, I Chron. 3:14, Heb. 9:5, and be-         and accordingly I was looking forward with consider-
tween them the .Lord dwelIeth,  according to Ps. 80 :l,        able eagerness to an article'from Rev. Petter's pen-
99 :I, Is. 37 :16. Quoting.Ex. 25 :18-22 we read : "And        the first of the series-dealing with the content of the
thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work          `-Declaration of Principles". Nevertheless I have read
shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy             this essay of Rev. Petter on "`Right Attitude in Dis-
seat. And make one cherub on the one end, and the              cussion", or controversy (Rev. Petter uses these terms
other cherub on the other end: even of the mercy seat          interchangeably). I have studied its paragraphs,.sen-
shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof.           tences, and words. And the result is that I.have `need
And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings              of making a few observations.
on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings' and            Rev. Petter writes: "Thus our attitude toward each
their faces shall look one to another  ; toward the mercy      other `(in discussion or controversy,-0) must certain-
seat shall the faces .of the cherubims be. And thou            ly be that true Christians in the measure that they are
shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark ; and in           Christians must find each other". Rev. Petter means 
the ark. thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give        this (he can't very well mean anything else) : If the
thee. And there I will meet with thee, and I will com-         two *parties to'a controversy are truly Christians, they
mune with thee from above the' mercy seat, from be-            must find each on the basis of the truth.
tween the two cherubims which are upon. the ark of                Let us bring this statement down to earth by apply-
the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in         ing it to our case. If we (R,evs. II. Hoeksema, H. Veld-
commandment  unto the  ,ehildren  of Israel." And in           man, and the undersigned) on the one hand, and Rev.
Hebrews 9 :2-5 we read : "For there was a tabernacle           Petter on the other hand are truly Christians, Rev;
made ; the ,first, wherein was the candlestick, and the        Petter and we must find each- on the `basis of the
table, and the shewbread ; which is called the sanctuary.      truth. This is Rev. Petter's.  reasoning. But it raises
And after the second veil, the tabernaele which is called      this question: what is truth here? According to Rev.
the Holiest of all ; Which had the golden tenser, and          Petter's conviction, faith is a condition. That for him
the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with              is truth. We affirm with just as much emphasis that
gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna,               faith is not a condition but solely an instrument,-a
and Aaron's-  rod that budded, and the tables of the           doctrine that Rev  .Petter  has condemned. Hence, what
covenant; And over it the Cherubims of glory shadow-           R.ev. Petter must mean is that he and we must or
ing the mercyseat; of which we cannot now speak                should find. each other' on the hasis of-his doctrine.
particularly." There are more passages in the Word             But this is impossible for.us. And as it is just as im-
of God which deal with these spiritual beings but              possible for him .to. find us on the basis of our doctrine,
space forbids us naw to call attention to them. The            each of us shall have to walk`alone.regarding the ques-
Lord willing, we will continue this discussion in the          tion whether .faith is a condition. For neither parties
foliowing number of the Standard Bearer.                       to a dispute may trample. their convictions, forsake,
                                         H. Veldman.           what they believe to be the truth of` God's Word, for
                                                               the sake of finding each other. Really to find each
                                                               other consistsin their being able to agree on what is
                                                               truth. All `other union is out of the.flesh:


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                        .,                 89

      Next Rev. Petter asks: "Why is there. such a great           Now this is what Rev. Petter  really is telling Us in
  difference among Christians?" He means: why is -his article. He does not, of course, focus his argu-ment
  there such a gre& difference as to dodrine among true         on his controversy with us. The ye&on I do so is to
  Christians? Why, in other words, does Rev. -Hoeksema          clarify the pbint that he  argu&s.   !
  and Rev. Veldrrian and the undersigned affirm that               Is R&v. Petter's corifession genuine? Is it &tually
  faith is not a c&di$ion but solely an instrement  and         the tioliviction  .of his heart that as a champion of con-
  in this conviction pronounce Rev. Petter's teaching           ditional theology he wars a carnal warfare of nnbeiief
. erroneous,; and why `do I, Rev. Petter, affirm that           as constrained by his carnal love  .of  self? Such, of
  faith is a condition and in this conviction condemn the       course,. is-not his stand at all. But. t&s : `that he de-
  teaching of Rev. Hoeksema?                         .  _       fends the truth in opposition to wh& he believes to be
      Let us attend to Rev. Petter's answ&r. fie writes: `our error, aa4 that therefore he fights t&e good fight,
  "Because of our sin, our different natures, our differ-       of faith. It is only a few weekk ago, isn't it? that he
  ent characters, our different relationships of life           was' telling us in the `"Concordia" that he would main-
  pushed into different directions by the power of sin.         tain everything that he had in essence written abotit
  For insofar as we are sinful we do not seek and find          conditions. And with what vehemenceZclid he not eon-
  unity in God as He comes' to us in the Word. We do `dem our pqsition. Certainly, Rev. Petter's stand' is
not find that focal, rallying point  fo? our thoughts           that he fights the good fight of faith.
  there, but on the contrary we find that point-of con-            Unless we atie reprobated, we, too, firmly believe
  trol in ourselves. We are lovers of self. We hate to          that we fight the good fight of faith.  It, is in that
  be subject to ,God and to one another. And so instead         conviction that we champion our doctrine and `oppose
  of the ,one word of `God to which we, are all. drawn in       it to what we believe to be Rev. Petter's error.. Hence,
  will and mind and understanding we all draw in our            Rev. Petter must not tell us that in order  .to take the
' own direction even when finally as a group we rally           ri$ght attiude in our dispute .with him we mu& take
around one subordinate  focus. That is the power of             the stand that we fight a earnal fight as motivated by
  sin with which we always have to reckon." ISO far             love of self. We believe that we rise to .the defense
  Reir; P,etter.                                    . .         of the truth as laid <down in the Scriptu&es and in our
      Now what  have we here?. A  %ruly amazing con-            Confessions.
  fessiop from Rev. Petter regarding his doing. If what            Certainly, the point that Rev. Petter is arguing is
  Rev. Petter writes is trtie, and if he actually means         not that he and we are actually defending the truth,
what he says, he accuses himself of and confesses to            be it as Christ'ian men, whose be&t works, including
 the following, namely that the reason I, Rev., Petter,         our good fight in this present controversy, are tainted
  defend the doctrine that faith is a condition and con-        with sin. How, seeing that .Rev. Petter has condemne_d
d,en& the teaching. that faith' is not a condition but          our position, could he seriously be taking the stahd
  solely an instrument is my, Rev. Petter's, sin ; the          that he-and we, and tie as well as he def,end the truth
 reason is my differing nature, character, and relation-        under the,impulse of the love of Christ.
  ships of life ; the reason is that by the power of sin           Npr must Reir. Petter say that" if the expression
  in me I push my relationships. of life into a direction       ` by nature" be inserted in..his reasoning, it `ceases to
  obposite  to that in which Revs. Hoeksema and H. Veld-        be offensive. That is not true. His reasoning is just
  man push their relationships of, life; the reason is that,    as offensive with the expression "by  nature?  inserted
  being sinful, I do not seek and find that unity in `God       in it. What #difference is there between his telling us
  as He comes to us in His Word ; the `reason is that I, ,that as Christian men he and w.e defend what each
1 Rev. Petter, do not fitid that focal, rallying pojnt for      of us believes to be truth because -we are sinful men
  my thoughts in .God's Word, but .on the contrary find         (this is the point to  Rev.  Petter's- article) and  `his
  fhat point, of control in*myself ; the reason is that I am    saying that he and we def,end  what each believes to
  loving myself; the reason is, `finally, that I hate to be     beg the truth hecause by nature we  are siriful men.?
  subject to God and to the brethren (Revs. H. Hoek-            No Difference whatsoever.
  sema, H ,.Veldman, arid the un.dersigned)  . Therefore         It ought to be clear that what,  ace&ding to  R&v.
  I teach that faith is a condition and condemn the oppo-       Petter's article, is the right attitude in controversy
  site doctrine.                                                is not at all the right attitude but a strictly. forbidden
      This is indeed an amazing confession. It all fcomes       attitude, an attitude that Rev. Petter himself 5s not
  down to this : My, Rev, Petter's, openly defending the        taking, at least in his dispute with us. -The only poSi-
  doctr'ine  that faith is a condition and my condemning tion he' condemns is our position, certainly`not his own.
 the teaching of th@ brethren, Revs. Hoeksema, Veld-            The attitude that Rev. Petter insists on can be taken
 `man and Ophoff, that faith is not a condition but solely      by the disputant only if he condemns in his'hea&:what
  an instrument, is a work of darkness in the workihg           he defends with his mouth and  igrees  with  Jiis op-
of which I am motivated solely by my sinful flesh.                                                  .
                                                                ponent


' 90                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

        Once more then, Rev. Petter's conception of what that Rev. Petter, with  sti&h vehemence and apparent
 constitutes the right attitude in controversy is wrong.- conviction has condemned our position. Rev. Petter's
 The church of the elect in order to be taking the right            art%le contains more  such  dubious  itatements,   &cl1
 attitude in her c6ntroversies  with darkness must cer-             as the following: "We certainly shall have to be mind-
 tainly not take-  the stalid that <in defending what she           fill of the fact that we have grown in America in close
 believes to be the truth of G&l's Word,. sh:g fights the           relation  tsiith the Christian  Reform%d  Church. . . .
 carnal fight of unbelief under the constraint of her               At the s&e time the Liberated have .had their own
 s i n f u l   f l e s h .                                          wholly different surrounding that influenced them.
        True it is&that,  as Rev. Peiter says, there' is a great       `"`khe  .relation  is sometimes chaiacterized this way :
 difference  a?ong Christians. But the reason is not                They are in danger of underemphasizing the Divine
 that, as Rev. Petter maintains, all Christgans are carnal' d,etermin&ion and eficacy, and that we are in danger
 and that no Christiall loves God and the S&iptures.                of slighting the tremendous fact of moral-ethical im-
 Were that true, where would be the true church? Some               plicatiqn,  &&tion and responsibility of the creature."
 Christians do Jove ~Gocl and His Scriptures, and are                 And.then in the sequel Rev. Petter goes on to state
 united on the Scriptures.,  All are not reprobated.                as a fact: "From our side that very easily appears in
 There is t&true church. And the true church con-                   an emphasis on the sovereignty of ,God that neglects
 troverts in the conviction that she fiihts the good fight          the intricacy of man's moral-@ical  place in the sover-
 an'd, thus not as passing se@ence of condem;lation  .on            eignty.- Then we no  lbnger have the real Biblical
 herself  fqr fighting that fight.                                  sovereignty. As an illustration i may'say that I be-
        Rev. Petter's conception of what constitutes right          lieve that the revelation of that sovereignty do& not
 &t&de. in controversy, as -applied to &he Protestant               crush out the .element  of the conditional relation, for
 Reformed in their dispute with the Liberated would _ the abundant use of it in the Bible proves that it exact-
 verily be this : that the Protestant Reformed pronounce . ly brings out the riches of that sovereignty."
 their defence  of Protestant Reformed doctrine a w&k                  If I understand English-and I do-then what Rev.
 `of the flesh ; that they confess that the reason they             Petter is here telling us is that the difference between
 defend this doctrine is their sin, their differing nature,         the Liberated and us is one of emphasis..
 character, relationships of life pushed into a different                               .-,                           G. M. Qphoff.
 direction by the'-power  of sin in them ; their not seek-
 ing and finding that unity in #God as it comes to them                                         IN MEMORIAM
 in His Word, their not finding the  &llying pain% c,f                On October 20, 1950 it pleased the Lord to take  unto himself
 their thoughts in  ,God's Word, but on the contrary their          our beloved father, grandfather, and great-grandfather,
 finding that point of control in themselves; and finally                                     Mr. William Plaisier
 tlieir `hating to be subject to .God. Iti a word, in ord?r         at the age of almost 91 years.
                                                                      Sorrow has. filled our hearts, but we mourn not as those who
 to be taking the right attitude in their dispute with              have no hope, for we live in the blessed assurance that he has
 the Liberated, the Protestant Reformed,' according to entered the eternal rest. Mr. and Mrs. Gerard  Pldsier
 Rev. Petter's coilception,  nmst repudiate their ,whqle                                           Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius Labryn
_ theology. Is this wllat Rev. Petter wants them to do?                                            Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Plaisier
                                                                                                   Mr. and Mrs. Gar?et Plaiaier
 If not;, why does he present to our people such an im-                                            Mr. and Mrs. Dick Hoogeboorh
 possible conception of what constitutes right attitude                                            Mr. and Mrs. Garret De Vries         ~
                                                                                                   Mr. and Mrs. Garret Geers
 in controversy?                                                                                   Mr. and Mrs. Willjam  Plaisier
        Rev. Petter's article on the right ,,conduct  in cqntro-                                   Mr. and Mrs. John Vander Breggen
                                                                                                     30 grandchildren
 irery is misleading. Therefore I felt it my  bounden               Grand Rapids,  Mich.             14 great-grandchildren.
 deity to make an attempt to expose the falacy of its
 argument.                                                                             W E D D I N G   ANNI-VERSARY  ,
        A remark or two in conclusion.                                On Thursday, November  16t& 1950, the Lord  willins;,  our'
        The following  seiltences  from Rev. Petter's pen           beloved parents
 strike me as strange. He writes: "In  parenth'esis   1~                               Mr. and Mrs. -J&n Hamstra
                                                                    will celebrate their 50th wedding anniv:ersary.
 want to remark that ~to characterize the Liberated as                We thank God with them for having kept them together
 teaching common grace, without at least sotie designa-             through the years and it is our prayer that the Lord may con-
                                                                    tiiue `to bless  them\ and grant t,hem His peace in their remain-
 tion of particular  .persons  is very  hisleading. , And           ing years.
 the same is true of the term H.eynsianism,  whi& can                                         Their grateful children:
 cause all manner of confu&on,  both by the saying that                                               Mr. arid Mrs. Martin Riekse
                                                                                        .3            Mr. and  Mrs. Harm Hamstra
we  leave  co?ulemnecl  it and by saying that they have                                               Mr. and Mrs. Peter Hamstra
 embraced it."                                                                                        Mr. and Mrs.  Orie  Hamstra
                                                                                                      Mr. and Mrs. Bernard J. Hamstra
        Especially the clause in itali.cs, which :are mine, sets                                       Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Ondersma
 me to woddering particularly in the light of the fact                                                 Mr. and Mrs. John Hamstra Jr.
                                                                     Grand Rapids,  Mich.  .           20 grandchildren.


,                                         Tl-iE  STAND'ARD  B E A R E R

                                                                    His church in the line of generatiolls. That this is true
              _  IN.  H I S   F,EAR  ;                              is beyond .a11 contradiction. This fait appears, in the
                                                                    very beginning of ,$he higtory  of the church, when in
                                                                    the period before the flood the antithesis between the
        Church Metibership In His Fair- "sons of `God'! and the "daughters of men" tool< form,
                                                                    and when it hollowed the. lines of the generations of
                                                                    Seth on the one hand, and Cain on the other.' A.ncl thus
                                 4.                                 it was that in the entire old dispensatioli Christ gathT
             The Church as a `Gathering on Ea-rth. A - .            ered His' church in the line of Seth, Noah, ~Shem, Abra-
                                                                    ham, Isaac, and Israel, even aciording  to His promise o
         In ovr last article we called attention to the work        in {Genesis 1'7 :7 which was in essence repeated man,y
     of the gathering of the church. Just to establish the          times afterwards. And while in the new dispensation
     connection we remind you that we. emphasized the               the  church,is  no longer natonally limited, the same rule
     following fuildamental truths concerning this gather-          liolds, and the promise is Lmto us and our children.
     ing of the church. In the first place,  this act of gather-    We  must beware, however, that we do not wrongly
     the Church is the great wonderwork of God in history,          conclude frbm this truth that membership in the body
     so that the church and its establishment is strictly a         of Christ is a"natura1 heritage, Which we acquire sim-
     divine work, not merely  a human-organization or so-           ply by virtue of birth from believing parents. 2&m-
     ciety or  .even a mere "religious' movement". In the           bership in th.e church of Jesus Christ is not a matter
     second place, we emphasized that the church is the             of  flesh and blood. Nor does the fact that God con-
     bathering of those who are cc&d to be saints, and that         tinues His church in .the generations of the saints`
     this calling is of God and is efficacious : God unerringly mean that He gathers every child of believers into the
     calls His church into existence. We called ittention,          body Of Jesus Christ or' that in any sense at all every
     in the third $ace, to the truth thtit this calling takes       child. has grace. For that  gather&g in the line of
     place through our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God            gene&ion&-and that iS the very striking fact to any-
     in human nature, and by His Word and Spirit. And               one who considers the revelation of this truth in Holy
     finally, we stressed the .fact that this calling through       Scripture,-is ex&tly anti'chetical, so, that Yhile there
.    our Lord Jesus Chiist goes forth $hrough the preach-           is a gathering there is at once a distinction made, the
     ing of the gospel throughout the ages, both of the old         result of which, to use the example of the old dispensa-
     and new dispensations, and that "also in this respect          tion once more, is that the church is gathered in the
     the gathering of the church i,s strictly a divine work.        line of a Shem, in distinction from a Japheth an< a
         The  reaber  must  bear..in  mind that we mention          Ham; `an Abraham, in distinction from his father's.  .d
     t$ese truths and emphasize, them only w&h a view to            house; an Isaac, in ,di&inction from an Ishmael (and (
     our main subject, "Church Membership in His Fear",             the sons of Keturah)  ; a Jacob, in distinction frop an
     and that while it is our purpose to discover to our-           Esau; a Judah, in distinction (generally) from the t&n
      selves the, meaning and  .spiritual requirements of           tribes.
     church membership in the fear of the Lord, we cali                 Yet `there is something different about those child-
     only do so beariig `in mind the nature of the church           ren of believers th& are not children of the promise,
     and the mode of her existend&  in the world. To that           that are not brought -into living -co&act with Christ,
     end we emphasized previously th& the church is the .in distinction from tither  keprobate children. And the
     holy catholic church, and that the believer in all his         `clifference is that they'are `born and- brought up in the
     relationship to the church in the world and in his entire      sphere of the manifestation -of the church. And in
     attitude m&t in holy fear be deeply conscious of the, that sphere they .have everything in common with the
     fact that it is the ho& catholic church which is,-so to        elect seed except the grace of God in Jesus Christ.
     speak,#at  stake in this question. And to that end we          `They share the preaching of the gospel; they share the
     call attention now to the truth of the gathering of the        sacram&s ; they> share the catechetical instruction ;
     .church with the purpose of emphasizing the practical          they share all that belongs to the life of the churcll in
     importance of this` truth as far as our church me&be>-         the midst of the world ;-excipt  the grace df God -that
     ship is concerned. . .                           `_            renews them and brings them into living spiritual con-
                                                                    tact with the bsdy of Christ and with Christ. Himself.
         There is, -however, one inore important element            IGod's promise is ndt for them, nor ever realized unto
     which we must notice in this connection. And that is           them. His promise .is for Us and our children organic- 
     the truth that in this world Christ gathers His church         ally, for us and for our elect seed, because it pleases
     ifi the midst of the- world, He does not in a-disorderly' Him  .to take His  s,eed, the children of `the  pro;lLzise,
     and discontinuous and random: fashion gather indi-             from among our off-spring.             '     _
     viduals ; but He gathers families, and He cbntinues                                  :I:  *  :x  *


            92                                    T H E   S T A N D A 'R D   BEARER

            C0,nclusion.s..     `-                                        true and the false church is cbnfused by this approach.
                                                                          This is not the time to propose the positive and cor-
     .            We may, in the light of the above discussion of the     rect  standaid in this matter  ; that must wait for a
            gathering of the church, draw the following coticlu-          later issue. We only want now to disavow. emphatic-
            sions with a view to our subject of church membership         ally that any church here on earth is ever pure from
            in His fear. In the first place, the church on earth is       tlie. viewpoint of its membership.
          ' the gathering of believers and their children., baptized         Furthertiore, we must remember that ii is altiays
            in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the         this carnal seed that corrupts the church on earth. It
          t Holy Ghost.` In the second place, the church on earth,        is f?om this carnal seed that the false church springs.
          D as a result of the faei that the Son of God gathers -it       It is from that same carnal seed .that the final great
            by His Word and Spirit, always exists as a gathering.         apostacy, that precedes the manifest&ion of the man
            YOLI  may,' perhaps, be tempted to say that this is a         of  sin,~  irises! It is from that carnal element that
            truism. Let it be, then, `but  let us  retieUmber it as       error and ungodliness and all kinds of trouble may
            a very important truism. In the third place, and in           be expected to arise also in our own churches. `And
            close connection with our sedorid conclusion, this gath-      I would add that as `Protestant Reformed people we
            ering `of, the church, or this gathered c&u&h is mani-        especially should be aware of that probability, exactly
            fested in gatherings, plural.             ~                   because of our view that Christ gathers `His church in
                  Now this whole truth concerning the gathering of        the line  pf generations.
            the church, as well as the conclusions which we have             And being aware`,of  it, we must never be discour-
.           just drawn, stands in connection naturally With the           aged when error arises. On the contrary, we must
           `truth of the institution of the church: and all that it       know that the mighty Christ is gathering His ehurcli
            means. Ne$ertheless, we may at this stage well call           and that even in this present time His gathering of
            attention to the practical significance of the.Gbove  con-    the churkh is a distinctive gathering which brings into
            elusions as far as our church membership is concerned,        being the very antithesis between the spiritual and th6
            provided  we remember that there is more tb follow and        carnal seed.
            th.aJ what ,we now say tiust be considered in that ,light        Therefore the church and its members is called also
            a!so of what follows.            :                            always to watch and to pray, to put on the whole armdr
                                                                          of ,God, to be girt about with the truth, in order that
            Believers and Their Childden.                  1  _           she may be able, to. stand, in the assurance that Christ
              The first fact  which  fofiows from our conclusion          will surely gather and pres,erve His Church to the end.
            that the church on earth is the gathering of believers           And that. calling is concrete too! It means that in
            and their children is .a negative one; A_nd  while it         ihe faith that the church is gathered in the line of
           d appears to be only another doctrinal collclusiollt~~hich     generations and consists here on earth in the gathering
            we Graw,  it is nevertheless from the viewpoint of the        of believers and their children, we are mindful of our
            matter of church membership a very importzat one.             calling to preserve the truth of the gospel. It veans
            It  is this: the church on earth is never pure from           that we are mindful of our calling to deliver that truth
            th.e viewpoi@ of its members. They are not dll Israel .to the next generation. It means  that  ldelievers are
            tl--at are of Israel. .The carnal seed is always present.     responsible that their children are 8cin catechism and
                  Now this may seem to`be a very commonplace fact.        prepared for their catechetieal work. It means that
            But every now and then `chat malicious story has a way        believers a%e responsible also outsilde of the spher6  of
            of arising that the Protestant Refbrmed  Churches and         the church institute that their children are "instructed
            people think that they are all 6lect and that all the         and brought up in the doctrine of this `Christian church
            elect are in the Protestalit Reformed Churches. I call        to the utmost of their power" in home and schodl.
            it a malicious story, because it is undoubtedly raised           This truth-  iinplies also that  fam%es  belong to
            by those who hate us and who hate the doctrine of             church and `go to church. It is undoubtedly because
            election which we are graced to teach, and who wish to        of this truth that our church niembership is r,eckoned
            influence unknowing and innocent children of God.             in, family units,-a system-which appears strange and
           `Let -it be gaid in concrete form and emphatically: the        illogical in other circles often; where membership is
            Protestant Reformed Churches  .are never `pure; in            reckoned in the number of souls. But our church at-
            them all, is not Israel that are of Israel; the carnal        teridantie   itseIf should very defiriitely evidence that
            seed is always present in them.                               faith that God gathers -His church in the line of gener-
             That means, too, that when we seek to join  our-             ations. .In the fear of the Lord believers should ttake
            selves to the church here on earth we must never, look        their children with them to church, take. them by the
            for a chUreh where till are without doubt elect people        hand,  an& that at as early an age as  feasible.  And
            of God. We will surely fail -in otir search; Often the when the children begin to grow.up a little, they should
          - matte: of church membership, and the question of the          not be allowed to go to church individually, Believing


            -                          T H E   S T A N D - A R D   B E A R E R                     I                   93

 parents should not allow their families to go to church       and  "bbdy" of Jesus. The `first instance of this, and
 separately or by instalments, and to sit scattered- all       to this we now call your attention; is recorded to us
 over tlie auditorium. From every aspect it is proper- in -John 2 :13-21. In this section of the well-known
 that children sit with their parents ii ehurch,:where         chapter of the ,Gospel  of John we have revsealed to us
 their parents may know without doubt that .they are           thesincident of Jesus' cleansing of the temple ; it refers
 present at the services, and where their parents may          to the first cleansing of the teniple of Jesus at -the very
 know that, the'y are behaving in an orderly and atten-        beginning of His mediatorial lab&s "in the days of His
 tive way during the preaching of the Word. And they hesh". We are told, that H.e drove out those who bought
 should insist  ,as long as their children are  children,      and sold cattle, sheep and doves, and overthrew the
 in the church that this sh$ll be the rule.                    tqbles of the money-changers. Furthermore, we are
     That is church membership in the fear of the Lord'!       informed that hereupon the temple authorities ( ?) come
                                       H. C. Hoeksema,         and demand a sign of Jesus whereby He should con-
                                                               vincingly prove to their satisfaction, $hat He is not
                                                               simply taking powers upon Himself, but that H,e is in-
                                                               deed appointed an Authority in the temple ; -He must
                                                               convincingly demonstrde  that He has the right to take
                                                               into His hand the affairs of the temple in the'face of
            I?ItOM~HOLY  W R I T   _ _ the temple-police and pridsts. And it is then that Jesus
                                                               gives these "`temple-authorities" tb.e sign of the death
                                                               of the Crqss and of His- resurrection from the `dead
   Exposition Of Webrews 10:19-25                              after three days. Says `He: "`Break (ye). down this
                                                               temple and in three days I shall build the same" (raise
                              V.                               it UP). At that moment in which Jesus speaks these
    In this article we shall continue our. discussion of       words the Jews refer this matter -of the Sanctuary to
. the Scriptural-Revelational meaning and implication of thb temple in which they are standing, they think of
the terms : "holy place", "the veil", and "his flesh". -the earthly  temple,  the building which at that very
 we will seek to understand what it implies `to have           moment is still in the hands of carpenters, masons and
"boldness" to enter into the Holy Place "through the           artists. They remind Jesus that this temple has been
 veil, that is, His flesh". Vs. 20.                            in the process of construction for forty-six years al-
    It has become evident in our former article, that          ready; does He think that He shall be able to build it
 the Holy Place is ,really the Throne of God as it is the      up again in three days? But they do not understand.
-Throne of Mercy to all who. approach it by a -living          And they shall not understand until that day when in
 faith by the way of the Altar in the Outer Court. The their blind fury and unbelief they shall see this "sign"
 symbolism of the Temple (Tabernacle) portrays unto            of Jesus fulfilled in His glorious death and resuqec-
 us the way that leads unto #God, the Father. As we            tion. For Jesus is here not speaking merely of this
 shall have occasion to point out presently, Christ is the     earthly temple made w&h hands; He is thinking of-the
`only Way unto `the Father, because He is the Truth temple `of the body of His flesh. In so speaking Jesus
 and the Life. (John 14 :6).                                   i&ntifies the body of His flesh with the Sanctuary.
    Let us try to understand this from .the text.              At the *moment of the breaking down of His body-shall
    We should be engaged in this pursuit  ,tith believing the temple be broken down in the rending of the "zx?~~".
 hearts enlightened by the Spirit of graie, so that we            In so speaking Jesus does not here identify the sub-
 may understand spiritual things spiritually. Then we          stance of the "Sanctuary? with the. substance of His /
' shall not have troubled and fearful. hearts, but we shall    "body"; He identifies them h their niealiing. And in
 draw nigh in the full assurance of faith, otir hearts we .their revelational intent and language they are related
 shall then have assured `before God. (Compare John            as the reality and the promise, as the body and the
' 14 :1-6 and John 3 :19).                                     shadow that is cast by the same. The Sanctuary is the
    The first matter that calls for our attention at this      shadow of whiih Christ is the body. The NSanctuary is
 time is the meaning of the "veil" in the tabernacle and       a picture in the izarthly form of the heavenly reality of
 its relationslljp  to the "flesh" of Jesus. For the text ,God on the Throne in the midst of His people, thus
 teaches us that we have boldness to enter into the Holy       dwelling in our midst, ever making His abode amongst
 PlacFthrough the blood of Jesus and thro,ugh'His f Zesh. us. It is the tabernacle of God with man.
    How are we to account for this?                               Thus it is understood by the disciples after the re-
    In answer to this we would call your attention to          surrection, then they are enlightened by the Spirit of
 two matters. The--first is the fact that elsewhere -in        Pentecost as He is the Spirit of truth leading into all
 Holy Writ the veil in the temple as well as the Sanc-         truth, the truth as it is in Jesus. And they th.en be-
tuary as a whole is directly associated with the "besh" lieved the Scriptures and what Jesus had said to them.


94                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                                           0
      Our point is estaplished  in this passage that the                Look then,. and perceive ! Look with a beholding
"flesh", the body,of  Jesus is closely associated with           and with's perceiving of faith in perfected assurance,
that of tee temple. In passing it may be remarked,, and ,draw near unto the throne df God's mercy in the
that it is true,' that in this passage in John mention is        H              o    l     y             Place.
made of Jesus' "body" and not of His flesh, as in Heb.                  Behold what, do you ask?
10 :20, and that the text-here also speaks of "Sanctuary                I answer that you must notice that when Jesus `had
-rather than of the "veil". But to our mind all this             passed through His own "`flesh' %n the Cross in the
makes  little or no difference. In either ease the con-          obedi&ce to the law of <God  in our stead, having been
nection between the two is clearly &aught. There is in-          cursed with our curse, from that moment we may pass
deed a distinction, a rather clear arid marked distinc-          through the veil of,,His flesh and draw near unto God
tion in fact, between the terms "flesh". and "`body".. the Father, who dwells in the `Holy Place.
For tthe time being, we pass this by ; we shall return                  But that is not all. Th.ere  is still another element
to this presently. Suffice it to say at this point, that         in the Gospel of Matthew that shows that God is main-
both Jesus' body and His flesh are always asspciated             tdining .the connection between the veil. of the Sane-,
in His mediatorial consciousness with the temple:                tuary and `the "`flesh' `of Christ. It is that -Christ in
      The second passage teaching this close association         His' whole suffering keeps this reality before His Nes-
between Jesus' "flesh" and the "`veil" is `Matt. 27 :51,          sianic consciousness: It is there always before His
wher@ we read : `"And, behold; the veil of the Sanctuary          priestly, prophetic &ad kingly heart. It is there con-
                                                                 ..-
was rent -in twain from top to bottom; and the earth              stently in the love wherewith He loves us even to the
quaked  and the rocks were rent."                                 bitter and shameful death of the Cross.
      In this passage too there- is a' close corinection  be-           This: becomes strongly  evident in the hearing of
tween the %eil" and Christ's "flesh',`. This is evident           Jesus befbre Caiaphas. There too the matter of Jesus'
from the connection of this ve.rse with the fo.r,egoing.          connection with the temple is mentioned. It is brought
It is there that Matt. places us at the very end of the           up by false witnesses to be sLir.e.  They even corrupt
sufferings of Jesus, of His sacrificial and mediatorial           the text. But even so the connection is there;  and Jesus' _
-work; the `end of the work, whi&h had been given to              wilfully maintains this connection of Himself with the
him to perform. This work He had just completed in .temple. Jesus is here intentionally silent, that these
the suffering of the anguish and torments of hell, bear-          men, who have His word once spoken, may by their
ing the wrath of God against the sin of His children.             w&ed hands do all the determinate counsel and fore-
There was nothing more to do ; His people  are redeem-            knowledge God had set them to perform. And through
ed frbm their sins by the ransom price, which H.e paid.           it all Jesus obedience reached for the cup from the
He need learn nd more obedience from that which He                Father's hand to empty it .to the bottom. They will,
suffered. The cup which He had taken from  His                    break .down the body of flesh and nail it to .the Cross,
Father's h&d He had emptied. It is  finished! It is               but He will r"aise it again the third day in glory.              -
finished before God and `men, before the angels about                   And all `this again shows beyond a shadow of a
God's throfie and before all the demons of hell. The               doubt, that Christ's flesh is to all intents the same as
latter have been stripped of all their power to accuse            the "veiY'. .It is the real veil that is/rent. And when
the saints, an open shame'they  have been made by God             this flesh is rent the veil in the temple must be rent too.
in Christ, who nails the hand-writing that was'against             The body has come and so the shadow must disappear.
us to the Cross. That is the context of Matt.hew 27 :51.
      And now there- is something at that very moment                   But now, the question in this conn.ectiqn still may
`when Jesus gives up the -Ghost that should claim bur             be raised at the term "flesh". Is this term "flesh" the
believing  a%tentibn. It is the' rending of the  veil in           same in scope and content as body? W,e think not.
the Sanctuary- and the striking way in which it hap-                    The  reason?  In the first place because the term
pened. "Behold" says Matthew, `"the veil -in the Sanc-             "body"' is a more comprehensive term than "flesh".
-tuary is rent from top to bottom in twain". A hand                This is evident from the fact that: presently we shall
which is not human had affected this. That is what                 indeed have our-own body again, but it shall then to be
we must see. It was the hand of Him whp mikes "His                 flesh and blood ; the latter cannot inherit the Kingdom
ibode in the temple-in the Holiest in the. temple. He              of heaven; (I Car: ,I5 :50). Also Christ Himself shall
has rent the veil. And He did this at the very moment              have a body in heaven. It will be the glorious body. .
that the work of Atonement on the Cross is perfectly               But it will not be flesh and blood. (Phil. 3 :21). In this
and forever finished in Christ Jesus our Lord on the               latter passage we could not possibly read `"His glorious
 Cross. And writing to us, the Church, Matthew says:               f legh". Flesh and body are not identical in Scripture
 Behold -this singular fact of the Cross ! It may by nb .as the above passage shows.                        ..-
means ,escape  our. attention.' For our soul'~ salvation                 Of this more in the next issue;D. V.
-sake we must see this-and believe!                                                                                Geo. C: Lubbers. '


                                                        :        _

                                      THi3      STANtiARD..BEARER                                                     95

                                                                      `"It ought further to me mentioned that Dr. Hoek-
           &RIsCoP.E                                            sema.  is an' ardent &millennialist,  who pours his vials
                                                                of contempt upon all .and sundry forms of premillen-
                                                                n i a l & "
 In' Go&l Compa~Ly?                                                   TX&e you have it!
     ",I(For the children' `being not yet born, neither                                 :g     *      :;:     :i:
 having done any good or evil, that ihe purpose of God                  /
                                                                Canudian Mission Activity~
 according to election might stand, not of works but of
 him that calleth ;) It was said unto her, The elder shall            `It is w&11-known to. most of us that the Reformed,
 serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob have ,I loved,      Christian Reformed and other groups as well as -dur-
 but Esau have I hated. What shall w,e say then? Is             selves are engaged in the spiritual care of the immi-
 there unrighteousness  with  God'? God forbid. For             grants from Holland.
 he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will                  .We were reminded of' another group that is active
 have mercy, and I will have compa&ion.oti  whom I will         there-the Netherlands Reformed  Congregatipns,  in
 have compassion. So then it is not- of him that willeth,       America (commonly known among us as Oud-Gerefor-
 nor of him that runneth, _ but .of ,God that showeth           q.eerd  OY Nederduitsch) . In their paper "The Banner
`mercy. . . Therefore hath he linercy on whom he &ll            of Truth" we are told. that they now have mission posts            _
6aie me&y, and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou                  at ,Otterville and Burlingt'on in ~Ontario and it seems 0
 wilt say then unto, me, Why doth he y&t find `fault?           an established church at Lethbridge : "In June we made
 For who hath resisted his will? Nay but, o'man, +ho            a trip of a few weeks to -Canada and the State  .of
 art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing            Washington . . . Then friend Bouma traveled with
 formed say to  hjrn that formed it, Why  h&t thou              us tq Alberta,, Canada . . . 0.n Sunday we preached
 made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the               for some friends about Letbridge (Lethbridge ?-J. H.) .      `,
                                                        -
5 clay . .  ." (Romans 9 :11-21) ;                              These friends now have a new church, , plain and
    `To this text and the age-old accusation which it           simple but very inviting. We also `enjoyed our visit
 contains ,our attention directed itself when we read a         there'aild  met with various friends." Another mission
 review of Rev;-I-loekiema's  book, "Abundant Mercy" staton' was established in Sardes, British Columbia.
 in the "Moody Monthly". This review by  `c.  N.  .B.                                   :,:    :k     :I:     :g
 (C. Norman Bartlett?) follows :
    "This is the fifth in a series of volumes by Dr.            l'In Everytl&ing  Give Thanks".
 (even though Rev. Hbeksema'does `not have a doctor;,s                _"In  everzbhing?   Cegainl$  . . . Thank God for
 degree we can  understand.,the  revieweY;`s  mistake If        health, and continue to praise Him in. ill-health ; for
we can cqmpare .&is writings with-much that is writ:            prosperity, and also in adversity ;when surrounded by
ten by "doctors'`---J. H.) Hoeksema constituting an             kind friends, and when despised and forsaken; when
 exhaustive and detailed interpretation of the  Heidel;         sheltered beneath a good roof, and when in *a hovel.
berg Confession. ,In the book under review we have a            Indeed,. it is not the material condition ihat evokes
masterly exposition, lighted up by many a penetrating           thanks, but the heart condition. No good thing will
flash of insight, of such doctrines as the nature of the        He withhold ; it is our privilege to realize in o& hearts
 Church, the future life, justification, and sanctification.    that all things work  -together  for good. And in no
   "But along with; the many excellent features of the          other place can we realize this great truth except in
book there is a fundametital flaw fortunately all too           the heart `. . . We do not give thanks  becausk  we
characteristic.. of Dr. .Hoeksema's  theological contribu-' realize only the present pain, but always because we
tions, namely, a hyper-Calvinism (?-J.H.) that Stig-            1rno.w that the end of it all is sweet companionship in
matizes as deadly heresy the assumption that man                the celestial city with Him. All that goes on in this
possesses freedom of will wherewith he n-&y either ac-          earth is part of the great divine plan that ushers in
kepti or reject salvation offered him in Christ. Surely         the ceaseless ages of ,God's and our etern?ty.  So, no
it is going altogether too far when a writer refers `co         matter what that part may be, because it enters into
evangelism in scornful terms as, `the hawking of Christ         the eternal plan, I will in everything give thanks to
in modern pr.eaching, and the attempts to persu'ade the         God." C. A. Kinder  in "Moody Monthly".
sinner to come to Christ.' The, doctrines of election                                   $6     *      *       $6
and predestinatiofi  are distorted into a fatalism which
if pressed to its- logical conClusi&i, would. relieve men       Reminiscent  of  the Janssen  Contrbvemy  but. Much
of all moral responsibility aild would make God' an             Worse..
arbitraiy  despot and the &u%or  of &vi&                              Recently we have pointed out some of the issues in


                                                  !                                         7_-

 96                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEATRSER

the `current struggle going on in the Southerlz~  Presby-        of the gospel account and of the testimony of Josc:~hus
terian Church. That some of the modernistic teach-               thei-e  would seem to .be little support for the modern
ings which threatened. to. invade  " the Christian Re-           conjecture that Jesus was started on his career.through
formed Churches in. 1918-22 and against. which Rev.              contact with the. Baptist, and that he repeated the la6
Hoeksema took such a leading part have invaded the               ter's message even after John's tragic death had sin-
tSouthern Presbyterian Church and have been carried              dered the bond of teacher and pupil. It would, accord-
much farther becomes `evident from a recent' article             ingly, appear, more probable that the paths of Jesus
in the "Southern Presbyterian Journal." '                        and John did not cross at all and  that our gospel
       &According   to the article in one of  the  South&n       accounts cpreserve little or nothing of the actual history
Presbyterian Colleges a certain book  `-Christi& Be-             of this enigmatic man.
ginnings': is required reading for those who take their             P. UZ-"Accordingly,  it appears not unlikely that
major in Bible. The author of the article quotes at              the incorporation of John into the Christian picture
some length from this book in order to show what is              was a deliberate and studied "attempt by early Chris-
beipg taught in church supported colleges and calls              tians to vanqui!h all embarrassing rival.
for an end to such teachings\. . Because this opposition            P.  340-"II Peter is a superficial highfalutin at-,
belongs to the fight of the conservative, wing of the            tempt to write elegantly by one who constantly dis-
Southern Presbyterian Church of which the Southern               plays a complete lack of even fundamehtal  honesty.
a Presbyterian Journal is the spokesman we- take over               `"Our objec$ion is not that such books are' included
some of the quotations-which show by .the way the                in courses given in Bible. It is only by knowing the
ultimate outcome of the modernistic teachings  con-              d.enials which are current and the reasons for our faith
deinned  in the "Janssen case.?'                                 that students can go out into the world properly pre-
       The author of this artic1.e  gives us the following:      p a r e d .
"The preface of Part II, `The Beginnings of the ,Gospel             "The thing to which we take strong exception is
Story,' begins as follows: `The claim for Christianity           the: method of giving students such books without at
is often made that it is the `faith once for all delivered       the, same time directing their thinking to combat
to the saints.' To the student of history such L claim           them. .  ._
is not only false ; it is positiveljr absurd.' ". To this the       "Brethren, this is called `Christian Education' but
answer is given:                                                 we do not believe it is either Christianinor is it educa-
       `6'. . . Eliminate the sup&natural and deny divine tion in the true sense."
inspiration and the Bible becomes a book of' folk lore,             With sueti opposition we c& certainly agree and
of pious frauds, unworthy of- the faith' and allegiance ,6nce again would spur this editor on in his fight for
of intelligent people." '                               -        the truth of God's inspir'ed  word;
       "Going on f.roti this premise, Dr. Enslin later says
in his preface,. `Today we' r&ognize that we cannot                                    -  :i: *  *  B     *
hope to `reconstruct thk 6arly days of the'. Christian           The Chwktian Ref ormecl `Churches +n the Netherlands.
beginnitigs .b'y an uncritidal reading of the four gospels
and the Book of Acts. T& authors, no one of whom                    From the "Banner" we icyuot@ the following:
was himself an eyewitness .bf the events he recorded, '             "The Christian Reformed Church in the Nether-
had to depend upon  ear&r  sOurces,  written  OP  ora!,          larids-decided, at its recent ISynod, to affiliate with the
and not upon telepithy for their information !'                  International Council of Christian Churches though a
   ' "Here, with one grandiose. sweep the author says            couple of delegates objected on the ground that `the
Matthew and John  were not eyewitnesses of that about            Council membership i&eluded Arminians, Baptists, and
which they wrote, but actually perjurers. Further-               Dispensationalists.  The same Synod declined to send
more, inspiration by the Holy Spirit is ruled out . . . .        delegates to the Reformed Ecumenical Synod to be held
       "We quote now at some length to show the absur& in Edinburgh iti 1953, because of the up-to-now uncer-
lengths to which `scholarship' will go when it casts             tain stand of that body with reference to the World
away the rudder of divine truth and embarks on the               Council.       The denomination will be represented at
endless sea of human spectilation :                              Edinburgh by official observer&
       P.  159,"A careful study of these four accounts              "With  ieference  to other denominations, in the
leaves but little room for doubt that John ihe Baljtist          Netherlands, the Christian Reformed Church will con-
was thus transformqd  by Christianity from an inde-              tinue ccmversations with the recently formed Reformed
pendept preacher `into the forerunner-of Jesus. Nor              group under the leadership of Dr. Schilder, and it is-
is it improbable that his message has been similarly             sued a call to .the Netherlsnds  Reformed- Church `to
edited.                                                          retprn  cOmplete!y  to the true worship of `God.' "
       9. XX-"On the basis, then, of this criti&l sifting                                                J .   Rowerzyl.


