   "  `~%xUME   XXIX.                                           JUNE  1,  1953  -  GRAND   RAPIDS,   MICHIGAN                                       NUM%R  17.  -'  .'

                                                                                               But about two th+s&d  years ago, this litt&*cofi-                                                    .
  1~  M  E'D  I.:T A T IO N                                                             1 pariy of piain ordinary  pkople  were all  with one ac-~
                                                                                           cord in one place. No, I ao -r&t knoti: wh&e~th$ tias;
                                                                                           I  ,haye vacillated  with respect to the  .ques&on  fro&~                                                     -
         _..     I-            ,_                                                          the house of John Mark `to &he temple. B%t .at present
                                      filled with the  Spirit                              I am inclined to thilik that they were in a large upper
  .I.

                               ~"Bnd suddenly tEe;e came a sound from heaven as `room in the temple, and for then same reason that they
                          of .a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house           had to g9 to JerJlsalem to receive the gift of the~Hol;y~
                          xyhere  they were sitting. And there appeared  untd              Spiiit.  `God  ..was going to connect the  ,Old -with the
                          them cloven tonguks like  as of fire, and it set upon            New. And sinde  the New  Te&ament   dhurch is  the
                          each them.  An,d they were all filled with the Holy              spiritual comit&part of the city pf God,. and. that there-
                         Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as
                          the Spirit gave  ,them   u$ter&ce.                               fore. they might. not go to Galilee.tp  receive the:.Spirit,-
                                . . . . we db heal: them speak in our tongues the          so the temple at &%rusaleril  is the type of the temple of
                         wonder&i  works of God." -Acts  2:2-4,  l-lb                    God which 4s fulfilled in the ehuroh of the New  Tes;                                                 e
           Filled. with the Holy  .Spirit  !  -  -                                 .       tam.ent., Which is the very re&on that Paul' addresses i
           (Oh, that makes all the  diffexTence.  If you  are the                          the church `of his day, `saying, ye are the temple of-the
-happy  recipi,ent  of that Holy  .Spirit,  ytil  are filled                               living God ! God Fill. cqnnlec;t the hallpwecl : temple. of
  with' the love of <God  ; you are being purged of your                                   old w$lz the spiritual counterpart;  `the Church df `the -
  sins ; you are filled with the Boiy zeal ,of God ; you, are                              New Testament. T'he temple always said: `God dwells'                                           _
united to those that with you  receivled like bounty  ;                                    with men! Well, this day, this hallowed dtiy of Pente-
  you are filled with rejoicing unto all eterriityl                                        cost, the. speeroh .of the Temple  pf :God will i=esou$d so                               1
           If not, you will mock. at- the holiest of all::                                 that all hear it.     -
                                                                             you will
  say, they are full of s.weet wine'!'                                  .                    I And there they are:. -the one hundred and twenty.
           Listen to Paul: Now if any .man have. not  the                                  T-hey  are still- waiting  for the promise, for the  Hqly  s
 Spirit of, Christ, he is-none  of His! How'utterly ter-                                   Ghost,. and at Jerusalem, atid in t&e temple of G+.
 ri,ble ! If you have 6ot that Spirit, you call Jesus a                                                                                                            .
  curse. If yo$have &fit .S$?it, you cry out j Jesus the                                                              $??I**,                          .`
                                                                                                                                                             .-
 Lord                   !~           ,.~_ .     .'     _                                                                                                                      \.-
          Jliey !                                                            --             And suddenly;  m&&ulotisly  they  a,;.' being. filled
    _ Who are they?                                                                       with'& Holy Spirit.                               -:i        :`-.
          They are the one hundred-and twenty whb stood 9                                   Oh,  that was an' event of far  re&hjng.consequen-
 gazing at the heavens, after the cloud `took tllb Lover                                  ces. They were all filled bc;ith-the'Holy Ghost. ~-
 of -their soul away from them:  They  are the-same _                                            .-Whatdoesitmean?             :           -           `                .,
 coinpany 6% common fis.herfolk  ?roi Galilee vriho-%ad                                       No, it was not a limited and individual. event of.
 followed Jesus from-Galilee to Jerusalem. They are                                       the day and on those one hundred and twenty persons.
 the  --witrxsses of His resurrection; They are the                                       It would have a  broader  significance  -than that. It
 c&&h- of. the New Tektament  at its inception. `They would mean that .the Holy Ghost was ,come. to stay in
 are all in:heaven now where-they continued their song                                    the Church! .                              ,.
 of great rejoicing.                                                                      He came  ,upon the promise- of Jesus: I will  send-
         &id they- are waiting there for you.                                             you another Comforter, and Be shall abide with you!


386                                   T H E   STANDABD  B E A R E R
                                                   I
                                                                                                 0
It  is the fulfillment of J&us' promise.: And lo I am          not' fire but looked- Ilike a' great column of -fire, darting
with you alway, even to the end of the world.                  downward in fiery tongues and resting upon the.heads-
       Who is this Holy Ghost? . .       .._  -         .      of each -of them.
       0, He is the Same Holy Ghost that visited God's                 And then they began to speak, all bf them.~ That
people in. the Old Testament, but thene yas a differ-          too is significant. And watch the multitude: they are
ence. The difference is so great that t,he' Holy Spirit        in a flt7x, a strange flux. They mill around, they sepa-
-Himself  said in john 7: "for the  Hoi? Spirit'was not. rate themselves in definite groups', surrounding. a cer-
yet since Jesus `was not yet glorified."                       tain speaker for each of these groups.  ,One says:
  It is  the Third Person of the Holy: Trinity, there          what? I hear my bwn dialect.  Ancl all those of the
can be no question of that. But He was more  now.              country of Elan? gr&@d themselves about Peter, or
I$e brings with Him the very flavor of Jesus Christ.           Thomas, or some other *Sherman.
I%"w$s the  T,hird  Person as given to  .Je&s at His                   All of a sudclen  the people that knew not how to
glorification at the right hand of God.                        speak in those strange languages are fully conversant
       When He was poured out on this. glorious Pente-         in those several tongues with the proper  pronuncia-
costal day he brought with Him Jesus Christ in all             tion, syntax, vocabulary, etc. `kou may safely believe
His accomplished mfork up-to and including His sitting that all these one hundred &d twenty spoke fluently
at the right hand of God, filled wi"h all the blessings        and easily, and with burning hearts, themselves won-
of salvation.                                                  dering what was happening to them.             '
       Then too, He came also ai far as the quantity is                >Oh yes, the Holy Spirit of Jesus was poured out.
concerned to this first New Testament ,Church; It was          Thene is no doubt about that.
an outpoul'ing  upon them, instead bf a trickling as in                They were all filled with the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
the Old Testament. Drops of that Spirit were upon
Moses and David and Isaiah, and all the prophets -and
Kings of God. But now it was as a  .floo%  And it
touched the whole church, person for person and head
for head ; that is the difference.                                     Buii what was .the meaning of these signs?
       And therefore, He is the Holy  `Ghost of  God as                First, they all are from heaven. Make no mistake
given to Jesus, and.  therefone  called: the Spirit of         on that score. There is a humbling lesson in that.
C h r i s t .                                                  Learn that lesson and you are fortified against all her-
- !And He brought with Him reconciliation, forgive-            esy. It means t.Fnt everything good and comely, every-
ness, adoption, resurrection-life, access within the in-       thing holy and' righteous, everything salutary (pick
ner `sanctuary, knowledge and wisdom of the myster-. that word apart: the root of it means salvation) is
ies of God's Kingdom; in short : the law written in our        from heaven. From that time until this evil day all
hearts. He was the entire realization of the great             salvation from the beginning to the end is wrapped
promise of God!                                                up in  thfe given Spirit of Christ.
       Study the signs  whiloh accompanied His coming                  Second, the sound of that tornado is the ru@hing
and you will see the difference.                                    God who is in a hurry to embrace His Chunchl The  "
                                                               fulness of time had come when He would give Himself
                       ~a  *  4  *                             to His own people as. never before. And then  Gocl
                                                               is in  a hurry. You see that same hurry  whbn  Jes.us
       They suddenly hear a sound from  hbaven, and                 is taken back into heaven. Read it in that strange
what a sound. It sounded like a mighty rushing wind.. sign in heaven of the woman that gave birth to a man
       I think that the people in Iowa that read this. will         child. The devil stood ready to devour Him. But `God
have a bietter  idea of this than we here in Michigan.              snatched Him to heaven. ,God was in a hurry.
The- sound  oB the rushing mighty  .-wind is  over-            +       Why in a hurry? He loves you and me. Wind is
potiering.                                                          irresistiible:  so is He.
       But how strange that must- have been- the sound                 A screaming and bleeding child is lying on the
of a tornado, but not a thing stirred. I think that `God            sidewalk: it is grievously hurt in great  &.gony. The
so directed the weather that on that morning all was                mother spies her crying and miserable child from afar.
still. There tias not a breeze stirring. And that tier-             I ask you: is she gong to saunter down to that dread-
rible sound concentrated itself in the house where they ful spectacle? No, she will rush, she will run as fast,
sat. Thkrefore %,he mighty multitude unerringly goes no, faster than she should run: she will overstrain
to the upper room.                                                  herself.
       And then- that phenomena of the thing that was                   (God is in a hurry to enfold the church in arms of


                                                                                                           -.
                        .                                                                                                                                       _
                                                          .  .a  -.
       ..^  .-  _,                                        I!HE  STANDA-RD   BEARER                                                                                                                                      fygi  ~-

      love, even the love which the Spirit brings. Read Ro-
      mans 5:5.                                                                 .-
                                                             . .                                                 a'
                                                                          _.
           The spectacle of fire?                                                              r                          THE STANDARD BEARER
          It is the fire that burns'and burns in the heart .of                                               Semi-monthly,   except   monthly   during  1  July  and   August
      ,God. He is going to give the church the zeal of `His                                          Published by the  REFORMED   FREE   PUBLISHING   ASSOCIATION
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      own love.                                                                                                                  Editor   1  REV.  HERMAN  HOEKSEMA'
           Henceforth you will .note  that zeal, that burning                                  Communications relative to contents should be  addiessed  to Rev. H.
      zeal of God.                                                                             Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin  SF, S.E.  Grand Rapids 7, Michigan.
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       derstand the Gospel. God will  accomodate  Himself.
     .He will heal the confusion you created while Nimrod
       spewed forth his pride of life.
           (Oh `those tongues, those tongues. They sing the                                                                                               -
       swktet  son,g to rnle that the Promise of God is to all
      the elect in all nations.
                                                                                             ,-orllrcr-ernn,-,,-,,-i,-,,-`
                                                                                                                                                      ,-~,-~,~~,-,,-,,-,,-,~-,,-~,-,-


                              *     *          *     *                                                                                   C O N T E N T S

                                                                                             MEDITATION-
            No, I have little more to say to  YOLK  My  story  is                                    F i l l e d   w i t h   t h e   S p i r i t
                                                                                                                                             . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .     385
                                                                                                                                                                     . .
       almost ended.                                                                                       _ Rev. G. Vos
            They all speak, the whole New Testament speaks.                                  EDITORIALS-
     - And w.hat a speech!                -                                                          Classis West versus the Declaration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                                 388
                                                                                                      -  R e v .   H .   H o e k s e m a
       They all speak the wonderful works of God.                                                                          `3
            My dear reader: ,Do you want to know whether -or                                 OUR  DOCTRINE-
       not the Pentecostal blessings found you?                                                      The Triple Knowledge .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . .                    390
            Attend to this: if and when                                                                          Rev. H. Hoeksema
                                                     you are touched by the
       Pentecostal Spirit of ,Christ,  you conclude the whole THE  DAY  OF  SHADOWS-
       story ,by saying : How wonderful is my God !                                                  David's Return . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                  393
                                                                                                                 R e v .   G .   M .   O p h o f f
          I .know it, I know it :. you will be interrupted and
       you will interrupt yourself in that musing. But                                       FROM  HOLY   WRIT-
                                                                                      you            Exposition of Matthew  7:21-23 .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . .                            395
       will say it repe,atedly, and when you die you will say it                                                 Rev. G. Lubbers
       again in heaven. I(t is set on melodious music there.                                 IN  I&s  FEAR-
           David had a foretaste of Pentecost. Listen to h.im :                                      Green Eyes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                  397
       `6h~ that man would praise the Lord for His goodness,                                                     Rev. J. A.  Heys
       and for His wonderful works to the children of men !" THE  VOICE   OF  06~  FATHERS-
                                                                       -+G. Vos                      The  Canons   of Dordrecht  -. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  :                       399
                                                                                                                 Rev.  H.. C. Hoeksema

                             -:::-                                                           CONTENDING   FOR   T~li  FAITH-
                                                                                                     The Church and the Sacraments . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .~. . . .  :. . . . . .                                  401
                                                                                                                 R e v .   H .   Veldman
            All the disputes between us and the Arminians,                                           The Promise of the  Holy  Spirif .   .   .   .   .   . . * . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                      403
       may be reduced to these two questions: 1. Is God de-                                              R e v .   H .   Veldman
       pendent on man, or is man dependent on #God?' 2. Is                                   DECENCY   AND  ORDER-
       man a debtor to `God, or God a debtor to man?                                   :             The Order of Assemblies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . .                             405
                                                                                                                 Rev. G.  Vanden Berg

                             A:::-                                                           ALL   AROUND  Us-
                                                                                                     O u r   Gmrts  o n   t h e   S p o t .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . .              407
                                                                                                                 Rev. M.  Schipper
            Wherever there is a Paul, to preach, there will be
       a Tertullus, to-find fault -from Toplady.                                             -`
                                                                                               -LI-`
                                                                                                            IOI-IML--,-,-,,-,-~,-~,-"
                                                                                                                                                                                  ~t>~,>~#-cllm~cJ~
_
                                                                                                                                                                                                    -.


                                                                                          --.       ._ __
-.                                                            THg.  -s&NDA-gf)  ~.B-EARd]GR
       388                                               -

                                                                                            action is not only-inconsistent and contradicto&  `but
 1.                   E D --I --T 0 Ii I i L S                                              also contrary to all RefoTmed Church Polity.
                                                                                                    "Finally, the Declar&ion was adopted directly con-
       . . 
       ..-.11,-`,-`,-,-,-`,-,,-~,-`,-~,-~,-~,-~,-~-`,~~,-~-`,-,,~.~
       i                   .                                                         f      trary-to a ldecision  of ,Synod of 1950. See Acts of 19~50,
               -      1                                                                     Article ,117, page 90, and arabi!: 2 immediately above.
                     Class+JVest  versus the  DeJwation                                     this article on the same page."
                                                                                                    There is very little new in these  groinds, and I
              The last grounds which ,Cl&sis  Wesi. adduced to                              will not repeat-myself. Ail the alleged grounds in this
       sustain its decision under `.`I," -are taken from the .pro-                          pro'test are evidently adduced to sustain the contention
       test by  i&e Rev. W. Hofman,  u&r "B", 1-6. I will                                   that the action of Synod-1951 was hierarchical. It was
       quote -them here in full :                                                           not adopted in- an ecclesiastical manner, but in a mari-
              "`B. The action of the Synod. of 195i- in adopting                            ner  t&at, is contrary to all  Refbrmed  church:  polity.
       the Decbration  of Principles & likewise -i*evealing  a                              The Rev. Hofman refers to Article 84 of the Church
       hierarchical spirit contrary to that of our .entire  Re-                             O:rder, which reads as follows:  "              ~_
       f&med  ,Church Polity  and. as specifically militating                                     *  "`I% church- shall in any  gay lord it over  other*
       against and violating. Art. 29, 30 and 84 of our adopt-                              churches, no' minister over. other minibters, nO' elder
       ed Church Order. This is again evident from: 1.) The                                 or deacon over other elders or deacons."
       disregard of Cpnsistory  and  Classis, c&trgry  to Art                                         I am ahaid that the Rev. Hofman thinks' that when
       29; 2) the failurrk to treat this material in the -proper; a decision-by the mlajor assembly is passed by a ma-
       ecclesiastical `manner, contrary to Art. 39; 5) the &vi-                             jority vote, it means that the m`ajority-  lords it bV+
       dent Iattempt  `of some to lord it over others, contrary the minority. That this is his n&ion is `e'videlit. from
       to  ,Art.  84.                _  I    I.                                             all the grounds' which are adduced. Yet this is evi-
              "Grounds  :                                                                   clently an' error.       In. fact, the entire Church Order
               "1. T&e Declaration was adopted by, a-small major-                           is based on the principle $hat a strict majority. shall
       .ity of  Synodical  votes:                                                           rule in thi churches; and that the minority must sub-
            "a. Over the protest of  olie of  our two  Claase                               riiit to the majority.
       without even answering that protest ;                                                 Nevertheless, I will briefly  clisduss the grounds
            ' "b.  #Over  the protest. of at least two  consistoriF!T,                      which the.  Rev.  Hof.man offers.               .      -,.
       `again without answering them ;                                 -I  '                          i; The Declaration was adopted ~by a' small ma-
                                                                                            joT%iy of Synodical votes. This, of course, as I have
               "c. In spite of, and contrary to the .advice  hot to                         already remarked,. is,. perfectly legal, ancl according to
       adopt, of an  overwbeltiing  majprity of  oul  Consis-                               tliem Church ~Order$JVhether   a. majority is large or
       tories to whom it had been submitted for advice. . .                                 small, it is a majoiity nevertheiegs.  Under this iround
       "2. The Declaration  tias adopted by a simple                                         the Rev. Hofman. mentions three sub-grounds, %a, b,
       majority of ISynod without giving ally grourids  for its                              ancl  C.  1 All I can say about these  .is that  .they are
       adoption, or answering the question as to its,,,necessity,                            simply not true. It is not true that the protest  of
       even though both were repeatedly asked of Synod.- Clas,sis W-est was not answered. T,he fact is that- it
               "3. The Declaration tias adoptkd  without Synod's                            was-very &labor&ely  &itie?ecl,  ,& the detailed rep&t
       expressing itself .positively  on its legality though this                            of Synod-1951 that appeared in the Stanu&wil B'earer
       was questioned. In fact, Synod never decided that it wili certainly prove. ~The same is `true of-  "b" und&
       was a legal document, though this fact %vas protested.                                "  1,
                                                                                                  1 . All the protests were answerecl  and answered
       Synod simply presumed this_ legality- while it refused                                even in detail. And that the Declaration  of Principles
       to produce grounds or declare it to be -so ; though it was adppted  -by Synod "contrary to the advice not $0
       was asked to do so.  '                                                                adopt of an overwhelming majority of our Consistor-
               "4. The Declaration was addpted  .over protests of                            ies, to whom it had been submitted -for advice," is cer-
       its, legality. and necessity even though Synod refused                                tainly-not true, unless the Rev. Hofman means by `tour
       `Lo'eirpress that it was through with these aspects. See                              Con&stories;' only the consistories of  Classis  West:
       Acts of 1951: Art. 210, page 184  ,a.gd Arts.  ,254                                   As soon &$-he has the grace' also to include the coniis-
       through 257, page 190.                      -           1.'         :                 tories of' Classis East, he will .di&over that "d" utide~
               "5.' T,he arbitrariness of  ,li;`:era?chical  action is                       "1" is not true at  all.~
       clearly evident ins the expression-by Synod to limit the                                       Grounds 2-5, I already answered iti my previous
       foic@ and scopti of. this Declaration so that it, is `to` be                          editdrials on this matter. The Synod only had to ans-
       used only by the -Mission Committee and Missionaries                                  wer  prot&ts of  Classis West against the  legality  of
       for, the organization of prbspective  churches . . . `. Such Declaration of ,.Prineipleti.;  .  Aftek .-it had `-anstiered
                                                                                <
                                4


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B-EARER                                            389

 those protests, `which it certainly did, it did not have     valid and weighty endugh to reject the Declaration of
 to establish the fact that its action was legal. The         Principles, it would not be adopted. But this w&s not
Synod of 1951 certainly proceeded from the assump- the .case at the Synod of 1951. There were indeed ob-
 tion that it acted entirely according to the Church jections. And they were propetrly weighkd, ancl found
 Order, and did-not have to establish the legality of its     wanting. And therefore,  the Synod of 1951 did not
 own action, except in so far as Classis West pro&ted         act contr1ar.y  to the decision of Synod-1950.
 against it. Nor, as- I have said before, was it illegal          The St&dard Bearer advises the coming Synod in
 of Synod to adopt the DeclarTation  -of Principles, only re the protests of Classis West against the Declaration
                                                                                                                       -
 fdr the Mission Committee and for the organization           of Principles as follows:
 of churches. But in view of all the action against the           1. It adiises Synod carefnlly to sift all the grounds
 Declaration. of Principles by  ,Classis  West, I would       offered by  Classis `West against the legality of the
 not be opposed in the proper  .ecclesiastical  way to        adoption  of the Declaration of Prillciples  in 1951, in
 &d,opt the oeclaiation of.,Principles  as a document that    order to discover' and id determine whether Classis
 is binding also for our churches. There is  certaiply        West actually brings- up any new g?ounds,  that have
 nothing against such an action, seeing that the Dec-         not been. discussed and decided upon by the Synod of
 laration is only .an -expre&ion  of what is taught in our .1951.  I doubt very much whether this has been <done
 Cqnf essions.                                                by Classis West, as certiainly it- should have been d&e.
     The logic of the sixth. ground I fail to understand.     For,*  according to Art. 46 of the  Chnrch  Oirder, "In-
 In this ground the .Rev. Hofman states that the Dec-         structions concerning matters to be consicler;ed  in ma-
 laration was adppted directly conbraiy to a decision jor assemblies. shall not be written until the decision
 of  &nod 1950. .He refers' ts Art. 117 of the Acts of        of previo77s synods touching these matters have been
 ISynod on page 90. There we read:                            read, in order that what was once decidkd  be not again
     "Motion `is made tom accept the document as drawn        proposed, unless a .revision  be deemed  necessary."
 up by the committee, `arid to act according to the three        2. It ,advises  Synod also to enter into the contents
propositions found at the conclusion of the ,docuqent.        of' the` protests by the several consistories of Classis
 T,his motion carries.`?                                      West, concerning which Classis W,est oRerg no advice.
     Now the three propositions `ireferred  to, that ap-, Also in pegard to these contents it advises Synod care-
peared at the  bo&lusion of the Declaration of Prin- fully to sift the arguments and grounds that are pro-
 ciples as drawn up? by the Synod of 1950 are as fol- c+ced by these cdnsistories of Classis West, in order
 lows :                                                       not to enter again into matters that have *already elab-
     "If Synod adopts the above propositiqq  we advise,       6-at.ely been discussed and decided by Synod-1951:
   "1. That Synod _subject this entire document to the           I am convinced that if this .advice of the Stancla7.d
 approval oP the churshes.                                    Bearer is followed, ii will not have to take a long time
     "2; If no objection is offered, to adopt this at our     to I dispose of the matter in the propel ~ecclesiastical
 next Synod.                                                  way.
    "3. To' adbpt  this.fin the  Imeantime   9s a working                                                         H.H.
.-hypothesis for  our  Missioti  Com8mittee  and for our
 Missionaries in the .organiz&ion, of churches."
    Now the Rev. Hof,man argues that the adoption of
 the Declaration by the Synod of. 1951 is contrary to
.th&e ,decisibns -of the .Synod of 1950. For this he ap-                       ANNOUNCEMENT,
 peals especially to arabic 2 of the three propositions
 that appear at the end of the Declaration of Principles         ,On Tuesday evening,, June 9, 1953 the graduation
.in the Acts of Synod, 1950; Evidently he understands         exercises Will be held of -candidates: E. Emanuel, R.
 this proposition as meaning that if any objection at Harbach, M. Koerner,  G. Lanting and J. iMoCollum, in
 $11 is of&red  by any individual or by any consistory        F i r s t   Chtiytih.               `.
`in our churches, the Declarsation could not be adopted `The  Rtev. H Hoeksema, Rector of the Seminary,
 by the Synod of 1951. However, if this had been the will speak on the  s7tbject : "Responsibility". T.here
 meaning of the Synod of 195.0, it would certainly have       will also $e an address by Candidate G. Lanting.
 opened the door for a minority, and even,a very small           The exercises begin  at,. 8 o'clock, the public is
 minority, to rule over the majority. In: that case you       cordially invited.
 could never adopt anything whatsoevler. But this cer-
tainly is not `what the Synod meant. What it meant                                         Theological School Comm.
was oqly that if no objections were offered that were                                      G.  Lnbbmerg,  Secretary


390                                                        TH.E  S&hDAR.ti  B E A R E R
 -                                -              -    -         -                                            ~    -    -
                                                                                       as much as in them lies, to prevent and forbid such
                                                                                       cursing and swearing ?
                                                                                         A. It undoubtedly is, for there is no sin greater
                                                                                       or  more. provoking to ..God, than the  prof.aning  of
                                                                                       his name; a%d therefore he has commanded this sin
                                                                                       to be punished with death.
                                                                             Th.e  third  &n?m$ndment  reads: "Thou  shalt not
             T H E   T R I P L E / K N O W L E D G E                      take the naie of the Lord thy God in vain ;.- fo; the
  `AN  EXPOSITION   OF THE.  HEIDELBERG  CATECHISM                        /Lord will not .hold him. guiltless that taketh his name
             P                                                            in vain."
                  ART  III--- OF THANKFULNESS                                The first commandment has reference to  ,Gocl's
                           L                                              Being, and iS .based on then principle that God is `One.
                                ORD'S  DAY 35                             He is #One iri sll His virtues and attributes, and there
               4. God is, a.  Jeal&s God (cont.)                          is  nb  (Gdd beside Him. The second  comjtiandnent  is
                                                                          founded on the truth that God is invisible, infinite in
      . Thus ive understand that the inercy of the Lord is                all  $is glorious virtues, and that therefore we can
indeed .only upon them that love Him and that fear                        never of ourselves make an image or form a cone&p-
His name. His mercy is not common. It -is not gen-                        tion of the Most High, but must know Him flrom `l&s
t?ld.       It is strictly particular, limited to them that               own revelation and worship according to that revela-
iear Him and' do His commandments. Not as if our tion. The third commandment speaks of the name of
fear of the Lord was first and the cause of His me&y.                     God, and is based upon the truth that He is holy, and
T&e opposite is true. It is only because the mercy of                     therefore His name is holy, and demands that we shall
the Lord is from  eTierlasting  tinto everlasting, and always use His name with reverence and holy fear, to
because that everlasting mercy revealed itself in the                     adore and glorify Hini in His name.
`death and resurrection of our L&:d Jesus Christ, be-                        That God is holy implies, in the first place, that He
cause that mercy drew us out of sin into righteousness,                   is infinitely and incomparably good, that therefore He
out of death into li%e, out of dai~kness into His mar-                    is necessarily Self-centered, seeks Himself as the only
velous light, that we fear Him and ldve Him and keep                      good, is consecrated to Himself, and as such is dis-
His commandments. But this does not alter the fact tinct and separated from-all sin and sinners, but even
that His mercy is only upon them that fear His name,                      from the  creatnre as such. He is good in the sense
that love Him and do His commandments. Not in the that, He is the implication of all infinite perfections.
way of the flesh, not in the way of the world, can-we                        It is in this s~se that the Lord Jesus uses the term
taste this marvelous mercy of Jehovah. Not in the                         in answer to the rich young (ruler. We are all acquaint-
way of trampling under foot the glory of His name, ed, of conyse, with the incident in Jesus' sojourn of the
and the truth-of His revelation in Christ Jesus can we rich young ruler approaching the Lord in quest of an
taste its blessed assurance. For  i;t is  oily for them                   answer to his anxious .query : `(Good Master, what good.
that keep His covenant and that do His command-                           thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" The
ments. For them, to be sure, that are still beset with                    question  was not an uncommon one. It was thor-
sin and often stumble, but that rievertheless have ari                    oughly  .discussed  in the  ~iheological  schools of those
inner `and strong and hkartfelt desire to be delivered                    days. No doubt the young man had received an ans-.
from all iniquity and t,o be pleasing to the Lord,' the `wer to his question more than once. And since with
light of this everlasting mercy shines.                                   him. it was more than a scholastic question, was' tibt
                                                                          an abstract  p8roblem at all but a matter of life and
                           LORD'S  D,AY  36
                     /                                                    death, he hlad endeavored to realize the answers he
                                            i              .              had received from the schools of his day. But when
                             `God is Holy                                 he did so, he found that they did not bring the desired
                                                                          result. He did not obtain the assurance that he was
                   Q. 99 What is required in the third command-           worthy of, and still less that he possessed, eternal fife.
               ment ?
                   A. That we, not only by cursing or- perjury, but       His conscience still accused him. His heart was still
               also by rash swearing, must not profane. or abuse          restless with anxiety in the `face of implacable and un-
               the name of God; nor by silence or connivance be'
               partakers.  of these horrible  sims in others; and,        avoidable death, and in the presence of IGod as Judge.
             briefly, that we use the holy name of God no other-          And thus it happened that he- still walked about -with
               wise than with fear and reverence; so that he mi,y
               be rightly confessed and worshipped by us, and be          his life-question, that he sought new answers, and that
               glorified in all our words and works.                      he- came to the Rabbi of Nazareth bne day, jealous,
                   Q. 100 Is then the profaning of God's name, by         perhaps, of the children whom he had seen Jesus bless ;
               swearing and cursing,  .so heinous a sin, that his
      .*       wrath is kindled aga'mst  those who do not endeavor,       and falling down before. Him, presented to Him his
                                  `
                                       -


                                      Tga  .JfjiANjjARj=,   BEA-j,Ej)                                                 ski

  problem, `$Good  Master, what  go04 thing shall I do         in the sense ifi which the.Savior used the term in His
  that I  inay have eternal life?" Aed before  the  Lord       reply `icy ~the rich young ruler. He is the ilmplication
  even enters into the' matter of the questipn that was        of all ethical goodness, of all perfections. It is high;
  presented to him; He replies with another question:          ly important that this be emphasized, and clearly ap-
  "Why tallest thou Me good? No one is good but one,           prehended before we  s@eak of the benevolence; the
  that is ,God."                                               mercy, the lovingki.ndness  and grace of (God, lest we
     It is eyident that t_he Lord here uses the term good      refer to an idol rather' than to the living- God when
  in the absolute sense of the word. The words of the          we say, "God, is goodO" For we are all  iticlined  to
  Savior must be taken literally, -and in their full sig-      set up our own stan,dard of- goodness, and to say to
  nificance. Their meaning must not be &tiouflaged  ;          one another, "Good"brethren,  what good things shall
  their force must not be weakened. Their absoluteness wle do in addition to all the good.we. have already ac-
  must not be made relative, No one is -good but one,          complished, in order that we may become tiorthy of
  that is, #God. This does not mean, no6 did Jesus mean        eternal life?" `We are therefore sorely in need of hear-
  to assert so commohplace  .and self-evident a thing as       ing the severe, the exclusive and mlcompromising  word :
  that no sinful man o:r fallen spirit is good. It means       of Jesus: "`rhere is none good; but one, that is :God."
  just what it' Says: no one, no creature, no man, no Unless we clearly- gr$sp this truth first of all, we ar&
  angel, nor even Christ as the young man conceived of         bound to have a subverted notion of ,God's benevolefice,
  Him, as the Rabbi of Nazareth, is good. (God alone,          df our own goodness, and even> of such things as joy
  most emphatically. alone, is good. "Why- callest  -thou      and peace and blessing.
  me good? No one is good but one, that is  ,God." It             IGod is good. This means that He is the perfect
  is evident that Jesus employs the word goo'c.3 here in a     One, the implication of .a11 virtues.. This we know of
  sense quite- different from that which it was meant to       Him through His own revelation. For the apostle
  convey in the question of the young ruler. He u.sed          testified. of  that  "w&h was  frbm the -beginning,"
the  tenm  pather easily, just as. we often do it in our       which they heard and looked upon with the eyes, and '
  flay. He had been rather lavish with the use of the          handled with  theB hands of the  Wor,d of life., For
  tiord. : "Good Master, what good thing must I do to          the life was manifested, and they saw it, and became
  have eternal life?" But the Lord takes the word seri-        witnesses of it. And they declared it unto us as the
 .ously. #Good  to Him means moral, ethical perfection.        instruments of (God's  Self-revelation, in order that tie
  He uses the word. absolutely. Reflections of goodness,       might also have the fellowship they have, and their
  gr&iously  bestowed upon him by IGod, there may be in        fellowship is.with the Father, and with His Son `Jesus
  the creature. But. ultimately land absolutely God alone      Christ, and that oulr joy -may be, full. But if we are
  is good; The young man must understand this. He              to partake of this fellowship and rejoice with this joy,
  purposed to do some good thing, that he might have           we must hear the message they bring unto us. For
  eternal life.. `The impossibility of meriting anything       "this is the message which we heard of him; and de-
  with (God, of obtaining eterlial life in the way of doing    clare unto you, that  (God is' light,. and in him  iS no
  some good thing, he did not ,see at all. And the reason      darkness at all." I John 1  ii-5.  IGod is  light. There
 was that he had ,an erroneous cbnception  of what iS          is no darkness in Him. And light in the Bible is the
  really good. And therefore Jesus rebukes him at once         direct opposite, the v&y antithesis, of darkness.' The
 for his easy use of the word go&, and insists that he         darkness is of the {evil, the ruler of the darkness of
 must speak of (God, and emphatically of IGod as ,God,         this worl,d. It is the lie in all its implications, deceit,
 when he employs.-the term goodmess:                           malice,  hatrec,  iniquity, corruption, unfaithfulness,
     ,God is ,good. That is, He is the implication of all      unholiness, unrighteousness, and the like. But th'ese-
  infinite perfections. We may grant, .of. course, that        are not in `God. He is a light, and there is no darkness.
 the term good with application to `God may be employ-         in Him at all. He is life, and in Him there is no death.
 ed with a ,different  connotation. To be sure, God is         He is love, and there is in Him- no hatred, no ,malice,
 good. in the sense that He is benevolent, charitable,         no envy. He is the truth, and the lie is never in Him:
 loving, filled with loving kindness and tender mercies.       Rightedusness .and hdliness is He, and, unrighteousness
 He, is rich in, good things in Himself and for the.crea-      is not found in Him at all.. Justice, bruth, faithfulness
 ture. Pleasures forevermore  there are at His right           are His habit&ion.-  They are. the foundation of His
 hand. He is the overflowing fountain of :a11 good. .Joy throne. <God is good; He is the implication df all per-
 and peace are found ifi Hiti alone. fill blessings flow fections.
 from Him; It is unspeakably good to dwell in His                 Everywhere this truth is emphasized in Holy Writ. -
 house, to enjoy His fellowship. To know Him is life God as goodness'. He is light. Perfection is His very
 eternal. But all this He is only as the one that. is good Being. Goodness is the divine Essence. f Of the crea-


         392' -                                THE  s'$&$DARC  ..*:&RglR   ..

       .  ture-it may be said that he po~esses goodness as a            the truth of God's goodness. It puts Him in a class.,
        r,eflection of the .perfections  .of God. But of the crea-      It denotes His goodness as the greatest of all; as to
        ture it call never be said that it is perfection or good-       be `found only at the top of an ascending scale, the
        ness. Even as,-to use a figure,-it might be said of             end of all our conce$tions.  But nevertheless, it com-
        the sun that it is a light, seeing that it has light in         pares Him; it makes Him part df a series.. And God's
        itself, in comparison with other heavenly :bodies,: but goodness is absolute, and therefore also His holiness.
        that- the moon merely bears or possesses light as .it           It is incomparable, it -starids  alone; not only in  dis-
       .reflects the- light of the sun, so it must be said of ,God      ti&ion from perfection found  kl&@wbere, but in the
        that He ,is goodness in His very Essence, awhile  the           sense that -He is the -only good. And as .God is the
        creature can `never have any perfection in Himself.             sole good, it follows that. He is consecrated to Him-
        God's very Being is virtue. He is a light. He is love.          self: He loves Himself. He seeks Himself and His
        He is righteousness and truth. He is justice arid               own glory. Hg seeks and loves Himself in Himself,
        faithfulness, wisdom and  kndwledge;  This  imp1ie.s            b$ also in all creation. That is God's holiness. With
      too that. He is good in ad His thinking and willing;              us it .is our highest call&&o love and seek and be con-
        that all H-is .works, within the divine Essence and with-       secrated to the Lord our CGdd. To love and seek self is
        out, are -done in truth and righteousness.. This im-            sin. With <God, however, it is exactly the reverse. He
        plies too that sin is the' very. antithesis of God. He          seeks Hims'elf,  .and will give His glory to none other.
        hates sin, and- abhors utirighteousness. He is' a light,        And the  Feaeon  for both lies in the  .fact  that God
     an,d there is no darkness in  HiIn- at all. For  IGod              is good, and, that He is the sole good, that there is-no
        "is the-rock, his work is perfect i for all his ways are        goodness apart  from  ,God.  --Fe is the Holy One of
        judgment: a God of trtith and without iniquity,' just           Israel.  ,Giory be to  H.is holy  namle!
        and right is he."- Deut.  32:4..  :An$  again: "Far be it           This holiness of  ,God is emphasized throughout
        from (God that he should do wickedness ;. and from the Scripture. !God, according to Scripture, is the- Holy
        Almighty, that he should commit `iniquity." Job 34:             One  pun excellence. It is especially in His holiness
        IO. He Qis "not a .God that hath pleasure `in wicked- that the incomparable character  of God's Being -ap-
        ness, neither shall evil dvi;ell with him." Psalm 5 :4.         pears, and that He is distinct from all creatures.
        "Good and upright is the Lord: therefore will he teach          Hefice,  we read in, Isaiah 40 :25. : "To whom then will
        sinners in the way." Ps. 25 :8. And "the word. of the
        Lord is right; `and all his Works are done in truth." ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy Otiei"'
        Ps. 33  :4, `.`He loveth righteousness and judgment :           In thi.s oratorical question it is emphasized that `God--
        the  earth:is full of the  god?lness of the  Lor,d." Ps.        is the  I&omparabBe One.  He stands alone. He can-
        33 :5.. -In Him is the fountain of life, and in His light       not be classified. He is by and of Himself. Never can
        only do we see light." Ps. 36 :9. "His right hand is full       the comparison of Him be. so made that He stands on
        of righteousness." Ps. 48  :lO. "His goodness endureth          the basis of equality with the creature. This incom-
        continually.`! Ps. 52  :l. "His  woy'1E is  honourable  atid    parability of God, according to this text,, is espeCially
        glorious, and His rightequsness endureth forever.`: Ps.         revealed  ?n His  hol.iness.  `It is in `and through His
        1X1:3. -"He is -righteous in all His ways, -and holy in         holin& that He is the Incomparable One, that He is
                                                                        absolutely distinct fr;m ail creatures. We niust'ilote
        till His works." Ps. 145 :17. !`And-He is purer of eyes
.                                                                       too that the term holiizess h&e is- used- absolut&y~%
       than to behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity." a name of God. He is the Holy One.  T.his concep-
        Hab. 1:13.                                                      tion of the holiness. of `God as His divine ethi'cal Vii;-
           This goodness of -God is the bdsis of His hdliness.          t!!e  pa,.r  ixcellence is strongly emphasized  -in Isaiah
       For as'the  only good He must be and is consecrated to           6:1-5: "In the y&ar that king Uzziah died I saw .also
       Himself.       l$e seeks Himself in Himself  and in all          the Lord sitting upon a thyone,  high and lifted up, and
       creatures. For in His goodness; and therefore also               his train filled thb temple.. Above it stood the sera-
       in i1i.s holiness, God is the Incomparable One. The              phims : each one. had six wings ; with twain he cdvered
       holiness if God does not merely indicate that He is              his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with
      separate from sinners and from sin. It signifies no               twain he did fly. And-one  cried unto another, and said,
       less that in His iniinite goodness and the glory-of' His         Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of -hosts': the wholae earth
       perfections He  *is distinct from all creatures.  Be is          is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at
       different, fu&am&tally,  a+solutely diffepent  from              the voice of him that cried, 2nd the house was filled
                                                                US,
       not only as-sinners but' also as creatures regardless bf' &th smoke.. Then said I, Woe is tie ! for I am undone ;
       sin. Nib one is good but one, that is God. We must               because I & a man of unclean- lips, and I dwell :in
       liot say that He is the highest good. `For this term             the midst of a pebple  of unclean lips : for, ,mine eyes '
       however good- its intention may be, -does not express            have seen the king, the L'ord of hosts.`! Let-..us  notice'..

                                                                                    -


                                       TfiE           sTAND*kD               BEAREii
                                                                                                                               $gJ

                                  -                                                                                              -


that : the seraphims here give expression to :wh&;:&               .I*,~-,co~`
                                                                              ~~l,~cl~~~~ll~ll~ll~~l~~~~~~~~~~~~-,~,~,~,~:.
evidently their main and combined.impressio<  of the
revelation of <God  as they stand in His presence. He              1..  &i DAY OF  SHADOW@  .I  _
                                                                   ?
 emphatically reveals Himself here as the Holy One., *~:.)-1-`-~-(-I-(-I~`~,lo,~`-,-`,-~,-~,-`-,-,-,,-,,-,~.
 The seraphims express this impression emphatically
by there, threefold repetition, "Holy, holy, holy," and                                David's   R    e    t    u    r    n
they reflect it in this attitude, as tlley cover their feet                           II Eamuel  19 :9-14
and their faces. with their wings. Tlhis also implies
that God is glopious in His holiness. The divine holi-                  Absalom was dead, slain in battle.- The iaemnant
ness and glory are inseparably connected. His holi-                of his army, called "Israel" in the text, fled every mall.
ness is His glory.  ,And so they add to their praise:              to his tent. The king tarried in Mahanaim, the sight
"The whole earth is full of. his glory."              From this    of his encampment during the final--stages of the re-'
we concludie  that God's holiness is His infinite, divine, &llion. He could  haye returned and reoccupied his
ethical perfection, &concentrated in and. consecrated to           throne by force and:.:even reeked terrible vengeance
Himself. It $ that d&vine virtue according to which                upon all the leaders of the revolt. But he was nbt just
He,eternally  wills and seeks and is consecrated to Him-           another oriental  ~despot  but a true  shepherd:king  of
self as the bnly good. This is further corrolborated  by. IGod's people, humble, compassionate and forgiving.
the attitude of the prophet who receives this ,vision- For much had `been forgiven him. ISO he w&s decided
of the majesty and  ,glory of the Holy One.. `In the               to wait until recalled by the people. If they still de-
presence tind in. the sight of the holiness of the Zov-            sired him as their king, they must- bring. him-back
ereign of heaven and earth, he is wholly perplexed                 again.
and `amazed, realiiing that he is but a sinful man.                     Soon there was a strong movement among  the
    Significant, from  thfg viewpoint, is also Isaiah              "people" of all the tlribes toward his restoration. "`The
10 :17 : "And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and         People" were asking for him, especially all such who
:his Holy One for a flame; and it shall burn and dJ%our            had continued loyal and had taken no part in the pub-
his thorns and his  briars in one  dai." God is  both              lic demonstrations for Absaloin. T.hroughout  the nar-
the  li.ght  and the Holy One of Israel. Light, as we              rative of the revolt they are called the "people" in con-
have mentioned before, is a figure denoting the impli-             tradistinction to all -such who had flocked. to..Absalom's
cation of all ethical perfection in -God. It is here used          banner, apd always indicated in the text by the name-
as a synonym with holiness. The Holy One of Israel                 "Israel". $6 in- chapter 18 :. "And David number&l
is Israel's light. As.the Holy One Fe is a light, and              the people that were with him . . . and the king said
there is no darkness in Him at all. And the destruc-               unto the people, I  will  surely go forth . . . But  :  tlie
tion which, according to this prophecy, God  .as the               people `(always the followers of David) answered, .
Holy One shall cause by fire`and flame is to be wrought Thou shalt not go. . . So the people went out- against
among the Assyrians, who, according to the context,                Israel (Absaloin's troops) 1 . . And the people of Israel
had denied that the God. of Israel i.s truly sovereign,            were slain before the servants of David. So in chap-
and had boasted in their pwn strength and work, al-                ter 19: "And the victory that day was  turned into
though they were but the ax in the hand of Israel's                mourning for all the' people : fos the people heard say,
God. The Holy One, therefore, and that  to% in the                 . . . how the king `was grieved. And the: people got
capacity of being holy, maititains  Himself in His glory them .by stealth that day Pinto the city. . . And all the
and sovereignty- in divine perfection, over against the            people came  before the  king : for  Is&e1 (Absalom's
enemy of His name. What is emphasized here once                    army) fled every man'to his tent."
more is not only that God's holiness is ethical perfec-                 When the land was again  qui'et, the "people" in
tion, but that exactly in His divine perfection He                 eve?y  c6mmunity, loyal followers of David, let' their
stands al&e, and is incomparable. For while in all                 voices be heard. They wanted the kini brought back
the creature its -goodness ,consists in its being con-             again. They pointed one another to the king's past
secrated to God and His. glory, God's holiness is His              deeds of valour in behalf of the nation, reminding one
absolute Self-consecration. He-seeks Himself as the                another of how he had saved them out of the hands of
only good, and all creatunes  for His own name's sake.             their enemies. They-decried the fact that he was now
For this reason it is, according to Isaiah- 29 :l-9, the           fled out of the larid fzrom Absalom. And A,bsalom %&orn
meek that shall inscrease their joy in the Loyd, and the           they had anointed over them had died in battle and
poor of men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israh.                his cause had perishe! .with him. #And they reproach-
                                                      -,H.H.       ed one another, doubt&s their leaders-the elders, of
                                          -                        the people-for not recalling the king. --                     `.

                  I
        Y                                        :


              c

                                      TgEE'  Brki\iDA.&.D   .jfi~Af&R
,394  \

    It is not probable that this speech originated with         time of the conquest were forbidden to peddle with
 the sworn enem& of Davi'd who had flocked to Absa-             them ; for the Lord had expressly stated that He wpuld
 lom's Ibanner  .and_enlisted in his army. It m&t have          not give his people of their land, no, not as much as a
 come from the str&t& sympathizers of the king. And             foot breadth. Meat and water they had to -buy of
 soon the large  majolrity of the  peoble who had not           them with money, Dept. 2 :5, 6.
 wanted the revolt but who perhaps had silently looked              A man must love his brother according to the flesh
 on while it was in progress were talking ~much the             and do well by him all the days of his -life. ,For he is,.
 same way.                                                      his brother, his bone afid flesh. The reference heYe is
    `And. Israel fled every man to his tent. And were           to natural affection. Characteristic of men whom' God 1
 all the people a$ strif~e throughout all the tribes of Is-     gives over to a reprobate mind is'that they are without
 rael, saying, The kiwg save&d us out of the hands of our       natural affection, Rom. 1;31. So the men of Judah,
 enemiels;  he delivered  ,us out of the hands of the Phili-    David being their brother, they were under a special
 stines; and now he is fled out from the. land. fov Ab-         obligation to him.  -
 salom. And. Absalom !ohom we -anointSed o,ver us is                `Thbre was of course -still another  reason and a
 dead% battle. Now why i&r-e yJe &lent wi.th- regard to         highes one why they mu& recall him whom they had
 bringing the king back. 9, 10.                                 despised and -rejected- as their king. Despite his great
    The rep_ort  of these procedures reached the king.          signs of tlie past of which long ago he-had repented,
 It can -be imagined that he was grateful. But he was he was the Lord's anointed  as king. And he was a
 not hearing anything from his own tribe (Judah). It            god-fearing ruler, a great man of God. Besides,' the
 can be explained. In Judah the lrebell?on  had struck -promise  ~8s his, so that to slay him, ab they had cal-
,deepest  root. It had been  launched in Hebron and             culated to do, was like slaying the promise. And so,
 most of Albsalom's  troops as well as all the leaders of       being much closer related  to him than the men of the
 the revolt had been recruited from this tribe. Not             oth& tribes, they must repent  of their great sin and '
 that they did not want the- king recalled. But they had        must want to,be the first to bring him back again.
 need of some encouragement, some  assurapce from                   BlTt in his message to them he made no mention
him that he was bearing them no ill-will but had for.-          of this higher reason ; nor did he upbraid them for
 givefi them in his heart and was again capable of tak-         the wrong that they h8d done him. He simply dtrec-
 ing them all back to his bosom. ,                              ted them to their duty arising from their being his
  The king was not  slbw  ifi giving them  this  assuTr-        brothers,, his bohe and his flesh.
ante. He sent this message:                I  -                     That was his message to them, at least the first
    And king David sent unto Zadok and unto AbiaS-              part of it. These words of his alone must have made
 thar the priests saying, Speak unto the elders                 a deep impression. -on them. It told them that their
                                                   of Judah     `aloofness was painful to him, and they understood
saying, why are yBe the last to brkg back the king un.-
to his house., and the wo&                                      that this in tern must needs imply that, despite all
                               of all Israel is come to the     that had happened, he counted them his brothers still..
.king and to his house?                                         It `again shows plainly that his hatred of wicked men
    My brethren are ye, nay bone and my flesh are y,e.          was not sinful malice but essentially love of God. ,How
And why (then)  axe  y,e the last. to bring back' the
                                      I                         otherwise could his natural tiffection  have thus asser-.
king?  11, 12.                                                  -ted itself ?, Nor did he allow his sinful pride to deter
    He an,d they belonged to the same tribe so that the         him. How true to form of sinful flesh would it have
ties of natural kinship were closer between him and- been had he cursed them all iri his "heart or ai least
the people of this tribe than between him and the               vowed that that he had done with them forever unless
members of the other tribes. It was  especialjy true            of their own accord  and without any prompting on .
of them that "my bones are ye and my flesh are ye." his. part they implore his forgiveness and beseech him
    That .th& rebellion should have taken such hold on          on the? knees that he again own them as his people.           :
his owti tribbesmen  ! And that they .should now be the But he pursued with them an opposite course. .Laying
last. to recall him. That duty devolved especially on           aside all malice and lust for revenge, he made the first
them and they shoul,d be the first to perform it. Ties approach,`a course that;lrightly considered, came down
of blood must be respected. Such indeed is the will             to this: that he was beseeching them to be reconciled
of (God. X)ne illustration. An Israelite was forbidden          with him.  I  _,
to abhor xn Egyptian, seeing that at one time he was               What it also shows is that he was ending with the
`a stranger in his' land. But the reason he might not           Absalom  revolt not in man but in <God. The Lord had
abhor an Edomite is that he was his brother, Deut.              clone it all  as activated by the gracious purpose to
23 :`. And- therefore also the people. of Israel at the
                                                       s        sanctify his servant through suffering. The adversary

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                                               l!HE  STANDARfj   B E A R E R                                                     395

- -Absalom and his-supporters-had entered- in simply
       as  agents of the Almighty but of  course on this  ac-
       couilt none the less accountable. It is easy for a man           1 FEO'M   H.OLy  WRIT  '  1
       to be patient. with his enemies, if these be the prin- .:.l-1 l-l,-l1 QIlë,-,,-,,-,,~,-ë,-,,-ë,-~,-~,-,,-~~-,,-,,-~~-,,-,-, l z.
       ciples of truth from which he  lives  atid  the faith in
       which he stands immovably.                                                 &qmsition  of Matthew  7:21-23                  .
r         How plain that from that Icrucible of- &liction  he                                     ,                  .
       had .cqme forth a chastened `man, that the sufferings                This wellknown and sobeiing and yet comforting
       to which he had been subjected had "yielded the peace-' word.-of   <God   ,reads as follows:  "Not everyone that
able fruits of righteousness? unto him who was ex- saith unto me, Lord, Lorci skall `enter into the King$om
       ercised thereby.                                                 of heaven; but he that doeth the will of  rky Father
          Also in this  @is posture with regard to his  ill- which is in .heaven. Many twill say unto me `in that
       deserving brethryn, as' well -as in his sufferings, he day, Lord, Lord, did w.e not prophesy in thy -`name,
       stands before us as  {ypifying  Christ. For  was  this- and .by thy name cast o:ut demons, and by thy nixme
       not the glory of `Christ, namely His undying love of, do many wonderful works? And  th!en will I profess
       His  ill-d,eserving  people, and His always taking the unto them, I never knew you, depart from me, ye that
       initiative in leading to glory the many sons. Where work iniquity."
     -- would His people be, were He not always first?                     -In this word  of *God Jesus very clearly speaks of
          But in inducing them to return to him, he went a two kinds-of .,peoplce,  both in their heart and minifes-
       bit further than .to remind them that they were his tation in life.
       bone and his flesh., He besides instructed the high                 In the first place he  sp-eaks here of people, who
       priests, Zadok and Abiathar,  ,to tell Amasa, the gener-         simply are evil trees, which bring forth evil fruit. It
       al of the slain Absalom, that, whereas he, too, was              is  impossi.ble for `them to do ought but sin.          Their
       his bone and his flesh, he was `swearing by ,God that very religiousness is sin. Even their saying: Lord,
       he would make him captain of the host in the place of            L&d .have we not prophesied in Thy name does not
       Joab.                                                            change- this matter one iota. Their inward thoughts
           It may be doubted whether this was the right thing and worl& are evil continually. There is only evil
       for him to do.  It.is true that Joab was  not alone fruit in their life.
       worthy of this. demotion but he should have been put
       to death for his murder of Abner. But David in his                   The deepest reason? It is because  th;y are not
       weakness had permitted him to live. Why should he Powin of  ,God. That is the deepest reason for their
       now want to rid himself of Joab? Doubtless he was                being banished from the sight of God, as God reveals
       grieved with hi,m for dispegarding- his entreaty that            Himself in the one man Christ to who,m  all  judgment
       Absalom  be spared. But'should he have issued such an            is given. Jesus will nbt simply say to the evil-doers
       order? Doubtless if there was one man in the king- in that day: I do not know you. He will say: I never
      .dom that David could scarcely endure, it was Joab.               knew you; depart from me ye workers of iniquity,
       And this is not a wonder. For he was thoroughly un-.                 Overagainst these my text clearly speaks of those
       scrupulous. `In the past he had~ always kept his own who "do the will of my Father in heaven".                           T h e s e
       counsel and had been doing much as he pleased. But               are  certainly  the foreknown of  *God in sovereign  e-
      `for whatever reason he was lpyal to ihe king.                    Jective love and grace, and efficaciously called in Christ
          But David's published intention regarding Joab Jesus. This is here not explicitly stated in the text,
       pleased the men of Judah well as coul,d beiexpected. but it is implied in the contrast and it is the  clear
       They immediately sent word unto .the king that he teaching of Holy Writ. God made them good trees
       should return. ~For it was the best evidence th.at he in sovereign love and grace through the operation
       bore. them no ill-will and that they still enjoyed his of His. Holy Spirit, working faith in their hearts by
       full confidence.                                                 the  preaching  :  ,ofc the  .Gospel  and strengthening it
                                                                        through the use ,of the Sacraments.
        . An,d To Amasa sixy ye, Art thoui not nay bone and
       my flesh? Thus d.o to me God, and more also, if the                 `These are good trees which cannot bring forth
       captain of the host thou  shc$t  ble  befor:e me all  th,e evil fruit; They cannot really sin, for in their inward
       days instead of Joab.                                            man they have been made alive in Christ Jesus.
        - And he  baked the heart  of  all the men  of  Juclah              Now,  b&h of these groups say: Lord,  L&d! But                   _
       as  c&e  man. AnId they sent  imto the king,  Xeturn             not all who say Lo@ Lord shall.enter.into the Kilig-
       thou and all thy~servks, 13, 14.                                 dom of heaven. -Some, however, bf those who say
                                                -G.  iit.  ,Ophoff      Lord, Lord shall enter intci thee Kingdom df heaven.


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                                                                     -:                          L  -
3 9 6                                          r%IE  -sTA~kDAR~--:BEARER
                             __-_--_- --
    Now certainly those who are the "doers ,of the will                        Are these "workers of iniquity" in any way like
of My Father in heaven" are the very people who are the stumbling saints,' or like the saints in th&r mel-
the poor in spirit, whose is the Kingdom of heaven.                        ancholy falls, or in their greatest temptations?
They are regenerated by the Holy Spirit and have                               NO, they are simply men who delight in evil. They
_ been translated into the Kingdom of God's beloved                        have no delight, according to the inward'man, in the
S o n .                                                                    law of God. T*hey cannot rest save-that they perform
    And by  vixrtue of this translation the righteous                      evil. _ They delight in perforiming iniquity, in. perse-
are not workers of iniquity, but those doing the will                      cuting-  God's   s$nts, who  as  muc$   as  they  love  their
of my Father which is in heaven.                                           SOUYS   salvation, would rather forsake all creatures
    What does this ,doing:the  will of the Father imply?                   than commit the- least thing contrary to God% will.
                                                                           And standing before the face of God, they say: For
    This certainly does not mean: working works of
law, in order to establish a righteousness with God.                       thou art not a ,God that hath pieasure in wickedness:
                                                                           evil will not sojourn with thee. And while the right-
It is not sanctification in order to be justified. Then                    eous tell the Lord, `their God all this, these workers of
grace would not be grace, and works'would- "no long- . iniquity have no faithfulness in their mouth, their in-
er be works.` That is the righteousness of Pharisees
and Scribes who never enter into the Kingdom of                            ward part is very wickedness, their throat is an open
                                                                           sepulchre and they flatter with their tongue. "In mul-
heaven.                                                                    titude of transgressions they rebel against God.
    What then?                                       i                         They are evil trees which o&not bring forth good
    Doing the-will of the Father in heaven is funda-                       fruit.                                             .  _
mentally, that we trust aGod alone in Christ, rightly                           `-I
learn .to know Him as the only true God, love, fear                          `. They are in no sense like David even at his worst.
                                                                           It is not true that wle can ever speak of the good that
and glorify Him with all our heart, with humility and
patience submit to Him, so that we renounce and for-                       sinners do; we can never say that the wicked unbeliev-
sake all creatures, rather thank commit even the least                     ers often put the righteous to shame. They never put
thing contrary to his will. To do the will of the Fa-                      the righteous to shame.            Even their very religious
ther implies that I have a- sincere resolution in my deeds are  .so many shining sins, A David sins and
heart to walk in gratitude, that I ever learn to see how                   has his bones wax old in him because. of the roaring
little I yet possess. of this in my actual life, and that                  and disquietness of' his heart. A Peter goes out and
as much as I love the salvation of my soul I will avoid                    weeps bitterly: .But workers of iniquity have a delight
and flee. all sin, and will never share in the deeds                       in lawlesseness.  ;^-`uch a worker of iniquity David could
of the workers of iniquity but that I shall hate them                      not be though he fell deeply in the sin of adultery
with a perfect hatred. It means that I pray: Search                        and murder. And it took the stern word of the pro.-
me,  ,O God, and try me, and see if their be  ,an evil phet Nathan to bring David to the humility of a lit-
way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting !                            tle child, so that He cried for me@ and wrote the
    For mark y%u well, Jesus is here speaking of the                       beautiful Psalm, the fifty first. Hear how he cries:
`will of "My Father in heaven".                 When Jesus thus            create in me a clean heart, `0 God; and renew a right
speaks he is speaking of the will of the Triune `God                       spirit within me, cast me not away fro,m Thy, pres-
as;`this will `comes before us in Jesus. Jesus here                        ence, and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. -Restore
speaks as the Mediator in our flesh. He is, indeed,                        unto me the joy of Thy salvation, and uphold .me with
very (God of IGod, yet he is at the same time also truly                   a willing spirit . . : ."
man. And He came to perform the will of ,God, that                             How ,David wrestles with mighty wrestling before
is, to deliver all whom He had received from the Fa-                       the Lord.
`ther and, therefore, those whom he ever knew. He-is                           What an exhibition of the struggling saint to en-
`speaking of the Lord, our God, who has principally de-                    ter with all His soul into the joys of the Kingdom of
livered us from Egypt out of the ' house of. bondage. heaven once more !                                 _
And as such we trust Him, love Him, ,obey Him in                              Such a praying saint, .that has ceased to see the
Jesus Christ, our IL.ord.                                                  mote in his brother's eye and only sees the beam in
    This will is expressed in the Law of Sinai.' It is                     his own eye ent,ers in through the -straight gate that
the same law which the law of the Spirit of life in -1eadeth unto life ; he certainly belongs to the few
Christ works in our hearts. It is the expression of that find it. He no longer thanks God that he is not
. the will of. `-`my Father in heaven".                                    like other people, but-cries saying with the publican in
    And what a contrast  these form with the "work-
                                    _                                      the temple : 0, `God, be merciful to me the sinner ! :
a3 of igiguity" !       _                                 .-
                                         IS                                    Andy thus  .he surely  pexperiences  the true joy in

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                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              397

God through Jesus Christ, to with love and. delight
live according to all the commandments of the -King of
Kings in the Father's Kingdom. And he prays: rule                1'  18  H I S -   F E A R
me so by Thy Wbrd and Spirit, .&hat I may sulbmit
myself more and more unto Thee. May thy Kingdom
come in my heart, and may I enter into the life of                                     G reql       -*~
                                                                                                  Eyes            ,.
-Thy Kingdom in thus subjecting myself, Father ! May
I crucify my old nature and thus enter into life and                Blue eyes.
into joy of thee; my God in Jesus Christ!                           They are ,usually considered. to symbolize loyalty,
    To such- confessors of the Lord Jesus the assur-             honesty and integrity. Even as the expression "true
ing word is,here given.: you shall surely enter into the         blue" means to emphasize purity.
Kingdom of  *heaven.   1                                            Brown eyes.
   You sh@ surel?j enter into the Kingdom.                          A romantic significance is attached to- them as a
    You shall enter it now by faith, and hope. In+ this          rule.  Thky seem to have attributed to them  more
faith and hope we enter into the Kingdom in- j_oyful             depth of expression and feeling or emotion.
anticipation, we enter into the Kingdom joys,. into all             IGreen  ,ey&.
the fruits of the! Spirit, justification, sanctification, the       Well,. now, that is something different. And we
certainty of persevering~even to the very end, that no           do not mean "green eyes"- in the literal sense. They
one take our crown. ,.                                           are synonymous with jealousy. They are  the- color
   When I thus with David humble myself as a regen-              of the eyes of that beast, the Green Eyed Monster, ac- -
erated child of God -through the power of the Holy               cording to which jealousy, greed; covetousness and
`Spirit then I have the requisite of God. in me which -,envy are personified. You may physically have green
makes it possible and a reality to enter into the joy            eyes,-and  you are not condemned because of it. .You
of forgiveness; and to say : 0, the blessedness of the may have blue eyes and be very dishonest.                         YoLlr
man whose sins  are forgiven and whose iniquities                eyes may naturally be brown, and yet spiritually they
are-pardoned. And we enter into the Kingdom through may be green. We would like to call your .attention
the opened door of the preaching of pardon to every              in these lines to that vicious evil of having green eyes
one humbligg himself in contrite confession by faith.            in thk spiritual sense.
    Yes, the doers of the will of God in humble trust             .  T.hat the sin  .of jealousy is widespread is to put  _'
shall ,surely enter into the Kingdom and its joys, ,&ver         it-very mildly.-- We can .better  say that it is universal.
anew.                                                            Wherever you find man, you- find these green eyes.
    But finally, too, they shall enter.                          For all are born by nature with .green eyes. When a
    It will be a great day.. Not only will it be said:           child is born the iquestion is often asked, does it have
now you may enter the Kingdom: you may now enter blue eyes? Does it have brown eyes.? Does it -have
the glorious realization of  the Kingdom of heaven,              eyes like its father or like its mother? Spiritually it.
since Jerusalem has not come downy  from heaven as -has eyes like both its father and its mother, for both
the beautiful city, and Zion has put on herbeautiful of them, always, by nature have, from the spiritual
garments, but it will be said: you now can enter into            viewpoint, green eyes, the eyes of jealousy, envy, greed
it.  Enter  hto  the perfect&l joy of Thy Lord, the              and covetousness.                                 ~-
Bride-groom, as the beautiful Bride.                                Now it is true that jealousy does not always man-
    ,O, the joy of the Lord, the Great Bride-groom at            ifest itself the same way. It assumes quite a different
the sight of the hundred and forty four thousand out             form- when it is to be `seen in .the lives of little chil-
of every tdngue and people and tribe and nation.                 dren trying to outboast each other as to .what their
What a joy of the King in His strength in the City daddies, their mommies,*their  brothers or sisters can
Four-square. How the. King in His strength will be               do,- than when it is practiced by more mature and
glorious in joy; so will the King desire thy beauty.             sinfully ent;eYpr,ising  ,business men. That childish prat-
And as the heavenly Bride we shall f&ever `enter -in- tle may cause you to -smile `(though you should not,
to the Joy of our Lord,  our Maker, our Husband.                 for it is sin) and to take steps to bring this "green
                                           -G. Lubbers           eyed"' contest to an end, but most likely you will find
                                                                 a word  for th.e "green eyed'-' deeds of the adult, pro-
                                                                 gressive businessman which will take away the'sting
                                                                 out of sin. We- often call that the spirit of competition
    Christ is still crucified' between two -thieves : An-        and laud to the skies the opportunity in our land for
 tinomianism and  Pharisee`ism.   -from  Toplndy.                all or most of us  td  have our "green eyes" satisfitid


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 398  -                              T H E   -S!tAN&lARD  B E A R E R

 to a very great degree,  because we can make a good         bove -also, strikes and revolutions, world wars ancl
 bargain, since two businessmen or business concerns         "policing duties".
. are "slugging it out" (pardon the expression, but sin         It is interesting also in this connection to note
  is awful) to see who is going to get the trade in a        what the Apostle Paul writes to the churches at Ephe-
  certain district,' to see who is going to cause whom       sus and ,at Colosse.    To the church at Ephesus he
 to move out of the district and leave the, whole area writes, "For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor-
 for a noncompetitive business, where prices may once        unclean person. nor coveteous man, who is-an idolator,
 again be raised. A large, attractively arranged super-      hath any inheritance  .in the kingdom of Christ
 market is built, and people in the area and perhaps         and of  IGod",  Eph.  5:5. Note the words  ". .  .cove-
 from far and wide make.it  their store. It does a mil-      teous man who is an idolator . . ." By this statement
 lion dollar business. This does not go by unobserved-       he does not single out certain coveteous men and say
 Oh, no! "Grelen  eyes" see it. They also see a large        that -only those coveteous men w,ho are also idolators
  open field very near by. where another super market        are barred from the  .kingdom of God. He exactly
  can be `built within plain view of this store that does    means that .a11 men by virtue of their coveteousness
 the million dollar business. So it happens that soon        are  idolaters.  Coveteousness is idolatry. This last
 we have two super markets in competition with each he states also when he writes to the Colossians. We
  other. No, wait! A third one is also going up!             read "Mortify therefore your members which are upon
     Now we call these men enterprising business men,        the earth-; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate aff ec-
 men with vision, men who have their eyes open. In-          tion, evil  eoncupisence,  and covetedusness, which is
  deed, but then they are "green  eyes"! What would          idolatry, for which things' sake the wrath of God
 the Apostle Paul have said had he Ibeen taken on a tour     comet11  on the children of disobedience," ;Col. 3 :5, 6.
  of one of our modern cities instead of walking the         How,could it be otherwise? Coveteousness by its very
  streets of Corinth, Ephesus and Athens? `Would .he         nature must be idolatry. For the coveteous man makes
  have said, not in vain did I write to the church at        the thing which he covets his idol. He puts it above
  Philippi, "look not every man on ,his -own things, but everything else. He puts his wishes, his ambitions
  every man also on the-things of others"? And he did        above God and all that He made.          The coveteous,
 not mean look on .the things of others with those green     "green-eyed" man is `rebellious against the living God,
  eyes of jealousy but with eyes of love.-                   Who has kept him- from having these things He has
   `And do we not like those  `tgreen eyed" tactics          given to the neighbor.      And that thing, or those
 `ourselves because our eyeshare also spiritually green?     things; are the idol at whose feet he will fall. It he
  We, like to "keep up with the Joneses". The  neigh:        will seek with all his heart, mind, soul. and strength.
 bour gets a new car, we must have one too. The                 Plain it also is that the' coveteous man ignores and
 neigh,bour's, wifse gets an automatic washing machine,      deliberately rejects the Scriptural principle of Chris-
 an automatic drier, a new fur coat, yea perhaps noth-       tian stewardship. He goes out from the viewpoint
ing more than a new hat. But "I got to get one now           that all the things on this earth exist for' his carnal
 too ! ! !" And how glad I am. that"those two stores are     lust, that he has no higher calling than to use the
 fighting it out and competing with each other for my. things of this world for himself and that his joy,
 trade: for what I  `save on my groceries because of         his pleasure and his prosperity are the most important
 their "green eyes" I can use to satisfy my own "green       things in his life. He simply cannot rejoice to see
  eyes".- And so the world goes around.                      that his neighbour has* something and has joy and
     James, as taught by the very Spirit of God, tells       pleasure. No, he must be above that neighbour. His
 us that these "green eyes" are the root and cause of        neighbour must always be inferior to him. #Covetous-
 all the grief and bloodshed we are now experiencing ness is pride. So proud is the coveteous man that he
 in war-torn `Korea where our boys are. suffering and        da.res to set, God aside! He dares to call  IGod un-
 dying. He states in chapter 4 :l-5 : "From whence           just when `He distributes His Own goods as He sove-
 come wars and fighting among you? come they not reignly pleases. And the only god he wants is' one
 hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?. that will exalt him above his neighbours.
 Ye lust and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and         Back of it all is the lie of Paradise. By means of
 camzot obtain : ye fight ancl war, yet ye `have not, be-    it the devil succeeded in bringing envy, greed, cove-
 cause' ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye      teousness and jealousy into the heart of the human
 ask amiss that ye may consume it upon your lusts. . .       race. By the lie he succeeded in causing that crea-
Do ye think that the Scripture saith in vain, The spirit     ture that was created in the image of God to be jeal-
 that dwelleth in  LX. lusteth to envy?" There is the        ous of the Gods in Whose image he was created. He
 reason for all wars, price wars as we mentioned a-          succeeded in -chasing man to greedily reach out for

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                         -c              T1j-k          SfjiAj,jbARD                    .jjBA&j?$R                _          899
                                                                             -.

what he might not have and could never have. Yea,              .> I-l)-,-,-o-(,-,,-,,-,,-~,-,,-`,-~,-,,-,,-,,-,,-,,-,,-`,-,,-,,:.
he- succeeded in seducing man to desire that his. eyes
of "blue" be changed to a greedy "green".                      I         -The Voice of Our Fathers f
   But there is hope for the  afficted. There is the
possibility of- normal .sight being restored' according                            The-Canons  of  Dordrecht
to which we shall see God and %ur calling towards
Him with what we do not have as well as with what                       PART I - HISTORICAIL BACKtGROUND
we do have. That hope is in the cross and Spirit                    Chapter 3-The Confessional Status of the Canons
of Him-Who in our flesh was not at all tainted with
these "green eyes". Listen, if you please what the                    It is well, .before  we discuss in-detail the contents
Apostle says of His pure eyes, ". . .Who being in the          of our Canons, to devote a few words to the subject
form of  `God thought it not robbery to be equal               of the position of the Canons as a creed, and especially
with God," Phil. 2 :6. The very thought of being like          as the third of our Three Forms of Unity.
God in His human nature never entered the holy,mind                 ,<  The.subjectof  creeds in general is an important
of Him Who according%0  His Divine nature is (God.             one, and-,a. right understanding thereof is essential to
In His cross there is redemption for those afflicted           the understanding and appreciation  .of any given creed,
with this spiritually repulsive coloring of the eyes.          of course. And it may be. added, without much fear
By His Spirit in the way of regeneration and the con;          of contradicti,on,  that the age in- which we live is not
tinued process of, sanctification our eyes may be and          marked by an appreciation of and loyaity to the creeds
are changed. Except a man be- born again he cannot             of the church. This is due undoubtedly to the fact
see the kingdom of (God. With his (`green eyes", which that our age his little or no understanding and love of
he has by natural birth, he cannot see a kingdom in            distinct  -and clearly defined doctrine. Sad to say,
which .God is all in ali.- But being born again by the         even those churches which call. themselves Reformed
Spirit of Christ on the basis of Calvary a man receives        are by no means innocent on this count. `However this
those cleansed eyes whereby He does see God as ,God            may be, it is well that we be able to give account of
and His kingdom as a realm which exists for His
                                           "                   just what a creed is, and of exactly what we  ha:e
g l o r y   a l o n e .                                        when we. have as one. of our creeds, our official stan-
    And in the way of continual sanctification by the          dards, that Canons of Domlvecht. Do we, in this creed,
power of that same Spirit we will fight and overcome           in any creed, acknowledge a second authority, beside.
our lust, our greed, our envy; our' jealousy and our           the authority of Holy Scripture? Do we become guilty,
coveteousness.  (And we will live with our little or           w.hen we adopt and maintain a creed, of causing
with our much, with what ,God has given us and with            schism and sinful division in the church of Christ?
what He has given to others to the glory of His name.          Or, on the other hand, is a creed something which, may
For we shall live "in His fear".                               be acknowledged or ignored at will, as though it is of.
    And we.shall by the same power of sanctification           no real authority in the church? Is a creed, perhaps,
make our song.                                                 something for the cler.gy alone, rather than f,or the
                                                               laity? Are the official standards of the church so
           .    Help me Thy will  to.do,                       many  ,dead letters,  .divorced,  as far as the reality of
                  Thy truth I will.pursue,                     life is concerned, from the faith, the assurance, and
                  Teach me to-fear;  -                         the conversation of the church and the individual be-
                  Give me the singie eye
                  Thy name to glorify,                         liever? Are creeds the cause of what is often refer-
                -- 0 L'ord, my God Most High,                  red to as dead orthodoxy in the church? And must we,
                                                        ,
                  With heart sincere.                          in the light of all this, abandon our creeds, or at least
                                                               broaden them, and forsake the narrow doctrinal trails
                                                -J: A. Heys    along which they lead us ? What is really our calling
                                                               "with respect to these matters?
                                                                      It is evident, therefore, that much might be writ-
                         --:-m-:--1.                           ten on this subject. We shall confine ourselves, how-
                                                               ever, to drawing a few fundamental lines in this re-
                                                               gard, and briefly -pointing out the value of creeds.
                               -NOTICE-                        -And for the rest, we refer the reader to more exten-
                                                               sive discussions of this subject.1
  `There will be no' Standard Bearer issue on June -
 15th July 15th am1 August 15th.                                     Wf.,. e.g., H. Hoeksema, "The Triple Knowledge," I,  9, ff;;
                                                                ati.d  Schaff,  -Wreeds of Christendom",                             .I
                 .I^       '        .


                                    T_gE,         SfAtiD*&            &-:fiARaii
  46C

      As  a comprehensive definition of standards, or
              -  .-                                                  The use and benefit of having creeds lies chiefly
  creeds, the f,ollowing will suffice : A standard,-or creed,    in the. fact that they serve as a means_whereby  the
  is an official ecclesiastical stateGent of bhat a church       church, by the .grace of God and the guidance of the
  believes to be th$e truth of Holy Scriptures, or the true      Boly .Spirit, may keep itself strong and pure and well-
  doctrine concerning  salmtion.  The terms  standam&            equipped to fight the good fight of faith unto which it
  creecl,  and confessiqn arie synonyms,. each depicting the     it called. Because our creeds serve to define and de-
  same thing from a slightly different aspect. `The name lineate what we believe to be the truth of the Word of
  standard looks at a' creed from the viewpoint .of the          God, they serve as a basis of unity and a bond of union
  fact that it serves as a banner, or ensign, identifying        for .a given group of churches.' There can be no real
  and distinguishing the church w,hich  formulated and           uni-ty, except upon the basis of the truth. Any union
  adopted a given creed for both friend and foe. The             on any other ,basis is false, and will never survive.
  term creed is derived from the Latin credfeye, %o be-          But our confessions, instead of causing strife and
  lieve". It therefore views a church's official statement       schism, engender a genuine unity. By our confes-
  of the truth as at the' same time. an object of faith, as.. sions we say, as it were : "Thisis the truth. This we
  a statement of the truth of Holy Scripture not merely          believe- And with any who believe as we do, and
  in a cold, dogmatic, purely intellectual sense, but as an      who will rally to the maintenance and defense of this
  statement of that truth as it lives in the hearts of. the      truth, we. are agreed, we are one ; with such we will
  people of  ,God. And when we employ the term con-              actually unite and have communion and fellowship..
fession; we do not refer to something new, but to that           And together, in obedience to our caliing to shine as
  same declaration of the truth and object of the faith lights -in the midst of a crooked and perverse genera-
  ,of the church' as it his openly professed in word and         tion, we will--then declare this truth abroad--to all the
  walk -by the church and by the individual believer.            world, and in distinction from the world and from
  From this it will be evident .at once that the for'ma-         others who'claim to have the truth? Moreover; our
  tion and maintenance of creeds is, also from a p&tic-. creeds serve the purpose of preserving the transmit-
  al viewpoint, an important matter. It'will also be clear ting the truth from generation to generation. That
  that creeds, rightly understood and maintained, do not truth, as, under the promised guidance of the Holy
  lead to dead orthodoxy, nor engender, an evil -brand of        Spirit, it has been elicited from Scriptures, formu-
  intellectualism  or  "b!rain-theology".  The very. con- lated, and systematized, and that too, over against ev-
  trary is true.. If only we remember for ourselves,~and         ery form of the lie, which also appeals to Scripture,
  thus-cause the opponents of our creeds and the oppon-          though falsely,-that truth need not be- and may not
  ents of all creeds to realize, that our standards are _ be discovered anew by .each generation. It need not
  not something to be relegated to the dust-covered ar-          be, because God establishes and calls His church in
  chives of the church or to the appendix of our books           the line oft continued generations, so that each gener-
_ of praise,. perhaps, but that  they-are indeed our creeds,     ation grows up and becomes heir to the heritage of
  that which we believe with the heart, and: our confes-         the preceding one. And it may not be, because to do
  sions, that which we profess with the mouth,_and let:' so would not only be a waste of effort but"also a fla-
  me add that the ,:living church and the earnest (be-. grant denial of the operation of the Holy Spirit in
  liever. certainly does remember this,-then there is            the church of the-past. And f,or the transmission of
  no danger whatsoever of dead orthodoxy and doctrin-            this heritage of the- truth our confessions serve
  al indifference, with their consequent rationalism and         as a means. Twos further benefits of creeds #may. be
apostacy. And let the church, therefore,. be warned              mentioned-in connection with the immediately pre-
  to take its confessions seriously and with deadly ear-         ceding. In the first place, our creeds serve as a strong
  nestness, as though it were a matte@  <of life or death,       bulwark against the repeated assault of the enemy,
  to maintain and defend- its creeds, appreciate, them,          both from within and from without, as he comes with
 and thereunto strive to understand -and to know them !          the lie as his .weapon to destroy the church. With its
- Especially with regard to the. Canons may Reformed             creeds the church, profiting from the experience of the
people take this warning to heart. For I fear greatly            church in the past `(for the lie is not new, though it
  that though there is none of our standards which is            often comes- in a new garb, and many of our creeds
  so peculiarly Reformed, so specifically our .own, yet          have become necessary and have been occasioned  ex-
  there is none oft our creeds which is so little apprec-        actly by .the appearance .of the lie), is well-equipped
  iated, so weakly maintained, so very little studied, so        to cope with these onslaughts of those who would lead.
  stedfastly ignored, land so flagrantly contr,adicted  and      the, church to exchange the truth as it is in .Jesus for
  trampled under foot by those who still presume to              the lie of the devil. `Our Canons, as a defense against
  call themselves Reformed.               .-.      ~.            the Arminian error, are .a clear example of this. And


                                           I`HE  STANbAk.b  M3AkE.k                                                                     ill
                                                                                                      - - -
                    .
 in the second place, the various creeds serve as--a ready                                                                                  .*
                                                                .~,~-1,.-1,-`1-1,-,,-,,-,,-,-~,-,,-,-,,-~,-,,-,,-,-`,-,,-~,-,~-,.~.
 vehicle for the instruction of the church, and especial-       [
 ly of the youth of the church. Certainly, if the church        ic          .-CM&ding.  For The Faith  1."
 is to preserve its heritage, its children and young            *~*l-e-llrs-`
                                                                                   ,-~,-,,-,,-,,-`
                                                                                                ,-,,--,,-,,-,,-,,-,,-,,-,,-~,-,,~`
                                                                                                                                 ,-!i~~*

 people must be taught to know and to understand the                         ,'                       .                    .1
 truth. And what sounder means can.be found to in-                            T h e - C h u r c h   a n d   t h e   Sacramer;ts~  .
 struct the covenant youth in the truth of the Word                    5
 of ,God thoroughly and systematically, and to equip                                EARLY VIEWS OF  THE  CHURCH                       . . . .zi
 them to cope with the multitudinous winds of doc-
 trine of our day, than our confessions. Let us there-          Introducing this material.
 fore appreciate the heritage preserved for- us in our           ,m Confronted with the task of writing on  the; his-
 confessions, and give good heed to the voice of our            tory of doctrine, a rich field, we understand, lies .be-
 fa.thers. For in that voice of our fathers is easily de-       fore us. `Bitter struggles have been fought by' the '
 tected the voice of the Lord ,our God Himself, as by the       Church of the-living aGod in defence of such fumlanieii~-:
 Spirit of Christ and through the Holy Scriptures,:&e           tal doctrines as : the Divine Person of theSon, the two"
 speaks to us.                                                  natures of the Saviour in unity of Divine Person and
    From all this it will be. evident that in our creeds        their relation to each other, the utter. depravity of
 we do not at all acknowledge an authority. next to             man, God's absolute sovereignty`and the unconditional
 that of Holy Scripture, but that in them we exactly character of `election, particular atonement, the efficacy
 acknowledge the authority"bf  the only rule of faith           of Divine ,grrace,  the certain perseverance of the saints,
 and practice, the- infallible Word ,of SGod.  For this rea-    etc. The attacks by the prince .of the powers of the
 son we do not acknowledge any standard which cannot            air upon the truth of Roly Writ hav beeen  constant
 meet the test of Scripture. For this same-reason we            and unrelenting. The Church of, the Lord has surely
 stand  Iready `at all times to subject our confessions         been called upon to exercise unceasing vigilance in
 unconditionally to the final authority of Scripture.           its defence of the Wor,d of God.
 And for this reason, in the def.ense  of our standards,              The Lord willing, wee will begin our articles-on the
 we go armed with the' Word of God:                             history of dogma proper by calling attention to the.
                                                                doctrine of the  `%hurch and the Sacraments." . In
    Well, therefore, with respect to our creeds may             this series of articles we willldiscuss the history of
 we apply the words of the psalmist': "Walk about Zi- the `Church; as such, and also the history of the re-
 on-and go round about her : tell the towers thereof.           lated -doctrine of the Sacraments : Holy Baptism and
 Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces ; that         the Lord's Supper. We will begin by. calling attention
 ye may tell. it to the generation following. For this          first to the history of the Church during the first
 God is our God for ever and ever : he will be our guide        three centuries of  t,he New Dispensation, and con-
 even unto death."                                              tinue- with the views of .the sacraments which were
        :*                            -H.  C. Hoeksema -        prevalent during that early period. We will conclude
                                                                these articles by calling attention to the views of the
                                                                Church and the Sacraments at the time of the Re-
                      -:L:--                                    formation and as embodied in our :Refbrmed  Symbols
                                                                or Confessions, our Three Forms of Unity.
                                       ,I  .  .



    If, therefore, the good we are enabled to do is done        This material-is of great  intere-st.
 in the strength of divine grace ; it follows, not that the           .Of great interest, on the one hand, is the doctrine
 Deity is indebted to us, but that we are unspeakably           of the Church. Although it must be conceded that
 indebted to him, for working in LIS both to will and to        the early views- of the  `Church, especially as enter-
 do the things that are well pleasing in his sight;' ."Are      tained immediately after the age of the apostles,- was
 good works, then, and moral. obedience, unnecessary?" char.acterized  by simplicity, it cannot be denied that
 Quite the reverse. They are of  indi.spensablte  neces-        this simple conception of the Church underwent a.
 sity. They ~must and -will be wrought, by all who are          tremendous change. The matter, of course, would
 born from above. They are the evidences of faith, and          be quite simple if there were but one church and one
 the necessary `consequences of justification., Believe         people in the midst of the world. Such, however, is
 in Christ for justification, and lead a bad life if you        hardly .the case. It is true that, nominally speaking,.
-can.  -It is impossible.' They-that are of God will  do' there was but one true church in the world until the.
 the works of God.-from  Toplady.                               middle of the eleventh century when the famous schism.


                                        -  ,fHE   QTikDAgc-:   BgARER   _
   4di           -

   between the East and the West occurred. But it is             not established until the New Dispensation had been.
   especially since the Reformation that- the Protestant ,well under way. -Neither was there any specific%eed
   IChurch  has been split up into -innumerable parts and        of creeds as long as the apostles lived and directed the
   fr,agments.  And it is surely an interesting question         affairs of the Church of God. The people of the. Lord
   which concerns the nature and identity of the true            naturally looked to the apostles for leadership.. They
   Church. Must we `make the absolute distinction be-            were infallibly inspired and led by the Spirit of God,
   tween one true ,Church and all other churches as be-          and ,their word"was  therefore accepted with finality.'
   ing false? Or, is it better to speak of -degrees  of pur-     Besides, it lies in the very natureof the case that the
   ity so that we distinguish between pure churches, less Church's  conception.of the truth should be character-
   .pure churches, and least pure churches? Besides, who         ized by simplicity. in the days of its New Testament
   belong to the Church of God -as constituted in the            infancy.  -The doctrines concerning Christ and the
   midst of  the. world? There are -those (as e.g. the           Kingdom.cof  Heaven were not understood in their prn-
   L'iberated  ichurches)  who frown upon the distinction fundity as they are- today. The position of the Church
   between the visible and invisible church, outward and         of ;God in .the OId Dispensation was naturally much
   external covenant. More t.questions  could be--asked at       simpler than it is today.' Then it was limited to mere-
   this time. Enough, however, has been said to war-             ly one people, whereas, beginning with the New-Dis-
   rant the conclusion that .a .discussion of the history        pensation, the Church embarked upon a universal
   of the Church: is indeed of great importance.            .    course. It lies, therefore, in the very nature of the
           (6n the other hand, it is equally true that a dis-    case that the truth of the Holy Scriptures, also as
   cussion of the history of the Sacraments could -be of         pertaining to the views of the Church, should be mark-
   great significance in our present day. We do not he,+         ed by simplicity.
   itate to say that it is especially one's views on the            Speaking of -the Apostolic Fathers in distinction
   Sacrament of Baptism which reveals a person's re-             from the Church Fathers, we refer to those leaders in
   formed or unreformed tendencies. The ground for the- Church who assumed leadership immediately up-
   the baptism of infants is of fundamental significance.        on the `era of the apostles. Among them appear such
   Do we ,baptize our children because we assume their famous names as Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp of
   regenerations?  ,Or,. do we baptize them because they         Smyrna, Hermas and Clement of Rome, Barnabas,
   are all equally in the covenant and because they are          probably of Alexandria, and others. The name, `Ap-
   all equal .partakers of, the promise? This question is        ostolic Father.s," is derived from the assumption that
   a fundamental question ,especially  today. It can hard- they were personally taught by the apostles. We need
   ly be denied that the history #of this doctrine should be     not dwell at length upon these early leaders of the
   of great interest  .especially  in our present day. In-       Church in its New Testament infancy, especially be-
   cidentally, we have mentioned only the sacrament of           cause we do not know too much about them. I am
   Baptism. The history iyhich concerns the Eucharist            sure, however, that our-readers will not be adverse to
   or Lord's Supper should also be of great interest. We         a little information concerning these men, several of
   know, for example,  .that three Lord's  .Days of our          whom suffered martyrdom because of their faith in
._ Heidelberg  ICatechism are devoted to this doctrine.          the living lGod,and of Christ Jesus Whom He did send,
   We should, therefore, also be interested in the his-             Little is known of the life of Ignatius of Antioch,
 tory which concerns the development of our doctrine             except what may be gathered from the letters which
   as it concerns the Lord's Supper;                             bear -his, name. Iraneus,-a later Church Father, quot-
                                                                 ed- him as a martyr who was condemned to be thrown
   The Apostolic Fathers.                                        to the wild beasts. Origin speaks of him as the suc-
           As we consider the views of the Church as  ,ex-       cessor of  Pleter in the bishopric of Antioch, giving
   pressed by the Church Fathers we must bear in mind            the same account of his death as Iraneus. Purely
   that the conception of the Church itself was not. clear-      legendary `are the', assertions that Ignatius was the
   ly defined by them. This is true of this entire period,       child which Jesus placed in. the midst of His apostles
   and especially of the Apostolic Fathers. Their views          -see Matt. 18  :i4-and also that he was a  disciple-
   were generally characterized by indefiniteness. This          of either John or Peter. ~Ignatius, who .suffered mar-
   need not surprise us. T,heir conception of Ghristian-         tyrdom shortly after the turn of the second century,
   ity in general was certainly characterized by simplic-        was bishop of the church at Antioch. His letters, and
   ity.      And this also applies tom their conception and this is true of all the-letters of the Apostolic Fathers,
   views of  the_Church. This, we believe, is easily un-         are admonitions and exhortations in tone and content.
   derstood. There were no creeds or confessions.  .In           He views the Church.of &God as the people of God and
   fact, the' New Testament Scriptures or Canon was. believers in Christ Jesus,  .possessors  of the. life of


                                                    .._          ...                   -              -_
                                                    ~I          -.                .
                                                                      -     ,.
I

                                           T H E   STANDASD  B E A R E R -   '                                                                   403,  \
                                         - - - -                                                                         - -
           Christ, called by the Spirit and through `the preach-
           .ing of the Word unto salvation of God in Christ Je-                                     ,  TL  &mise  of the  Holy   Spirit
           sus, and called to walk in all unity and humility, faith.                           The exp$&sion  : "The promise of the Holy Spirit,"
     -and love, confessing ,Christ and revealing themselveh                                 occu& in A&s 2 :33, and we <quote : "Therefore, being
           as a people saved by the blood and grace of Jesus'
           Christ, our Lord. A sharp distinction was not made                               by `the right h&d of God exalted, and having reccired
     -between the lChurch visible and invisible, the Church                                 of the Father the prolmise of the Holy Spirit, He bath
           as an organism and an institute, etc. There was but shed forth this,- which ye now see. and hear." It is not
           one <Church of IGod in the days of Ignatius. The on- our purpose, in this :brief article, to call attention to
           ly  disiinction  which existed was between the Jews,                             this entire passage. We are merely interested now in
           the heathens,  and the -Christians. And the  ,Church                             the expression: the. promise of the Holy Spirit.
           was constituted of those who by the grace and Spirit                                The express&n  is unique. Two interpretations are
           of God  belie,ved  in Jesus, had` be_eG purchased and                            grammatically possible,. So&e would interpret it as
     washed by His blood, and confessed Hi?, Name `in the                                   signifying  : the promised Holy  Spirit.     The  expres-
           midst of the world.  `i                                                          siori, then, .would simply.;.- mean that the Holy Spirit is
              Another of the Apostolic Fathers Contieining whom                             the content of the promise. The Spirit is He Who was
     little is known is Clement of Rome. `He-was  probably                                  promised; hence, t.he apostle would emphasize tliat             .
           a Gentile and a Roman. He seems to have been at                                  Christ received of the Father the promised Holy Spirit.
           Phiiippi  with Paul when that first-born of the -W,est-                          Others  woul,$  .interpret  this_ expression. in the sense
           ern churches was passing through great tribulatic-ns                             that the ~Holy Spirit is Himself the promise. The es-
           and trials of faith. There, with  .holy women and                                sence and, therefore, the fulfilment of God's promise -
           others, he ministered to the apostle and to the saints.                          is the Holy Spirit. This explanation would,not  merely
           As this city was a Roman colony, we need not inquire                             declare ,th& the Holy Spirit was promised, but also
           how a Roman happened to be there. He was possib-                                 that He,,Himself  is the promise, its essence and ful-
           ly in some public service, and it is not improbable that                         filment.  .-
           he had visited ,Corinth in those days. A co-presbyter                              The first of these interpretations is-commonly adopt-
           with Linus and Cletns, he succeeded -them in the gov-                            ed. The Spirit- is the promised Spirit. He has -been
           ernpent of the church at Rome. In  an epistle writ-- promised , throughout. the Old Testament, particularly
           ten by him to the ,&rinthians we n&e the same ad-                                in such prophecies as that of Joel which is quoted. in
           monitory and exhortative  tone and content which char- this second chapter of Acts. And now Jesus receives
           acterized th`e writings of Ignatius. From the apostle,                           that promised Spirit of *God.
           Paul, and his companioti,  Luke, he had no doubt learn-                            However, we prefer the second interpretation. It
           ed the use' of the,8eptuagint,  in which his knowledge                           is simply a fact that, had the apostle meant to refe,? to
           of the ,Greek  tongue span rendered him as adept. It                             the promised Holy Spirit, he could l'iave stated it in
           is believed .that he survived the fiery persecution un-                          Biinpler language by' eriting, not "the promise of the
           der Nero in which Linus and ,Cletus  are believed to                             Holy Spirit," but "Thi: Holy Spirit of promise." Thus
           have perished.. He fell asleep in the Lord, probably                             stated, the expression ctiuld inean only one thipg : the
      .soon after he had dispatched a letter to the Philip-                                 Spirit'. characterized by the promise, the Spirit Who
           pians. He certainly shares with' others what the a-                              was promised. But now we read: the promise of the
           postle, Paul, has written .in Phil. 4:3: "His n$me is                            Holy Spirit. We conclude, therefore, that he does not
           in the Book of Life."
                                                    -H. Veldman                             mean what could have been expressed in simpler
                                                                                            speech which would  allOw no other interpretation,
                                            I
                               -z---z-'                                                     but. that, speaking of the promise of the Holy- Spirit,
                                                                                            he means to'say that Jesus received the promise,  naine-
     .-                         -NlOTICE-                                                   ly the Holy Spirit. The -Holy ISpi& is s Himself cen-
                                          ~.                                                trally the promise of God and, therefore, centrally its
             There will be no Standard Bearer issue on June fulfilment. For God to fulfil His promise or to give
           15th, July 15th and August 15th.                                                 th: Holy Spirit is %he same thing.
                                                          _.                                   We understand, .of course, that when we speak of
                            L:::-                                                           the Spirit as. the fulfilment -of the promise of God we
                                                                                            express durselv&-  thus because we. realize that Christ,
              Zome  people can &more help cavil!ing at the doc-                             too, is called in Holy Writ the promise of the Lord. In
           trines of grace, than some dogs can help howling at                              Him God's word of salvation is realized for all  `the
           the.s?un,d of a  tfumpet.                                                        elect given Him of the Father. The Spirit, however,


                                                ;
404

is called &he promise of the Lord because .He alone is be; presented. as a condition for the promise, because
its realization and fulfilment- in the hearts of God's -the Holly Ghost is the Sole Worker of all our salvation.
people.                                                         Unless  tie would defend the theory that the Holy
       This implies, in the- S&t piace,  that the promise of    Spirit_ will .operate  within us if we will believe. This,
the Lord is His Wo?d relative to salvation. To speak            however, is inconceivable'for anyone who clings to the
df the  pro&e of the Holy Spirit implies -that the              Reformed concepton of the  ,Holy Scriptures,
promise is identified with the work of the Holy Spirit.                Finally, another thought which emphasizes  the
And the Holy Spirit works salvation. It is brue that            Scriptural and Confessional conception of the promise
Acts 2 :33 refers to t&e Spirit of Pentecost. We know,          is expressed  in Acts  2:39. Nothing reveals this  un-
however, that the outpouring of the Spirit upon Petite-         ctinditional  realization of ,God's promise more than the
co$ does not mean that He now'began to work in His              be+tiful  tri7th   that the Holy Spirit realizes  <God's
Church for the first time, bnt- that the operation of the       promise of salvation in the hearts of God's peopIe  gen-
Holy Spirit within the Church would how  occu1'  in             erally in their infa'ticy. I do not knovir of a truth more
connection with the' histo!rically  risen  aiid  .-glorified    clearlptaught' in our ,Confessions  than this truth con-
Christ.-  Even so, the Holy Spirit, be it in`connection         cerning the place of the elect child in ,God's  covenant.
with the -Christ, works salvation in us, calls us out of        It is surely Reformed to t?ach that aclults and children
darkness .and death into light and life, and conginues          share equally in God's  salvatioil, not only from the
!o operate in us until we shall .appear as the perfected        viewpoint of election and the atonement of Jesus upon
Church in everlasting and heavenly glory. Hence, the            the cross, but also from the viewpoint of the operation
promise of the Holy Spirit is the promise .of the Lord          of the 8pirit within our hearts. The truth that the
relative to 077jr salvation.                                    Spirit qf- promise generally bggins' His work of sal-
  This implies; .secondly,  that the promise df the Lorcl       vation in' His -people  durng their very early infancy
is not an offer:.df salvation. To say that the promise          surely emphasizes that the Lord realizes His bromise
of the Lord is an offer m?ans that the will and clesire         unconditionally in whom  He wills,  ancl this means
of IGod is.to save us depends upon the free will `of man. that Hi& promise is intended for and realized only in
An offer presuppostis  that God would bestow salvation          the elect. This  proniiSe  of the Lord is  sover:eignly
upon 77s and that it is man who accepts this-D-ivine  of-       unconditional because of Divine election. It is cer-
fer and, therefore, determines whether olr not he shall         tainly unconditionally realized by  ,Christ upon  the
be' saved. Hence, if the promise of the'Holy Spirit be          cross 6f Calvary. It is tinconditionally bestowed upon
an offer, the implication must be that the work of.,sal-        His people  because they are generally saved in their
vation by the Holy Spirit depends upon the free will            infancy; For,  nd flesh may boast,  n&w and forever.
of man, This  his contrary to all of Holy Writ which                                                    L  - H .   V e l d m a n
teaches ps that. the Holy SGhost is as the wind which
bloweth whithersoever it listeth. Besrdes, to -identify
the Holy ,Spirit  with the promise of #God surely em-                                 -:-::
phasizes that the promise of the Lord is n6-t merely an          .^
oeer addres_sed or proposed to man, but an irresistible
work of the li& God which Ije works through His
Spirit in our hearts.                                                              CALL TO SYNOD                 ,.
       This implies, in thk third place, that the promise              The Consistory of the First Protestant `tiefofmei
of  the Lord is wliolly unconditional. A, conditional -Church of GranG Rapids; Michigan, the calling church
pronlise'is a promise which depends for its-fulflment by decision of the last Synod, hereby notifies our chur-
upon man, particularly the ' act of faith. T@ teach a - ches that the 1953 Synod will hold its opening session
conditional promise means that there is something out- on  ViTednesdlay, June 3, D.V., beginning at 9 A.M.  iti
side of the proniise which determines its fulfilment.           the aforemkntioned  church.
We fail to understand how anyone can deny this. This.                  The -pre-sytiodical service will -be held on Tuesday
simply  means.that  the Lord declares His love to' the evening, June 2. at 8 o'clock in Fourth Church. Rev.
sinner and His desire to have him, but that that sinner         C. Hanko will lead us in this worship service.
will~.actually  receive;saliration  if and when he  believes      Delegates to this Synod, needing assistance  ..for
on the Lord Jesus ,Christ. This, we know, is indeed the lodging arrangements,  pl&se  inforE the Clerk of
Liberated conception of &he general--promise fog all First Church: sG. H. Stadt, 754 Prince -St., Grand R$-
those who are baptized. If, however, the Holy Spirit            pids 7, Michigan;             '
Himself is the promise, then the promise cannot ,be
anything else than 77nconditional. Nothing, then, `can                    I .                Con&story of the
                                                                                            First  PI-at. Ref. Church:


                                                                                                .-

                                   _,                    THE  STANDARD  BEARER                                                     405

                                                                             and monks who had seceeded- from the Roman Catholic
           DECEia and "ORDER -. "-.:i Chu+ and joined the Reforlnation began to perform
                                                                             the.dUties of:the  Ministry. Some were qualified, others
T                                                                      I
.:*lrr,,-i,-,,-~,ro-,,-,,-,,-`
                                   ,-`
                                         ,-,,-,,-,,-`
                                                   ,-,,-,,-`
                                                           ,-~,~~,-~,-,~.. not.    In other places men without previous theological
                                                                             training simply began preaching wherever and when-
             T h e   O r d e r   if  ~Assembl;es                             ever they could get a- hearing. 1 Altho77gh some did,
                                                                             yet, there were also a good number who reftised.to  sub-
                        THE OFFICES  (&mt'd.)                   .            mit to an examination and did not care to place them-
     "No one, though he be a professor of theology; elder                    selves under the supervision of any~consistory.  ,Some-
or deacon, shall be perriiitted  to enter-  up& the' minis-                  times meti of questionable character and purposes, bx
try -of the .Word and the sacraments without having                          eloquent and fair speech would create a follotiing~for
been lawfully called thereunto. And  when anyone                             themselves, to the disruption of chprches and nltimate
acts contrary thereto, and after .being frequently ad- _ spiritual damage to many. `The Hdly Office of the
monished does not desist, -the.  classis shall judge';m~he- -Ministyy  !of the Gospel was imposed up017 ancl mi,susecl
,ther he-is to be declared a schismatic .or -is to be pun-                   by these ."loopers,  indringers,  scheurmalrers" (tra1nps,
ished in some other way." (Art. 3, D.K.O.).                                  intruders and schismatics)  .
     The office of the ministry of the Word of God is                           f8he Churches had to, act to .safegu&d the sacred
a  -sa&%d trust of Christ in  which He  has  privil@ged                      trJ7s$. In  1563 the Churches of Flanders went i&o
men of His ow-ti choice `to serve. The faithful church                       action by declaring : "None shall be permitted to acl-
has always regarded this office as such and, therefore,` niinister : the Word of `God withput `a lawful call, -and
has also in as far as it  w&s in her power  taken the                        such as boldly intrude themselves shall be punished."
necessary steps to see to it that no one, other than                         Five years later the Weselian Conve,ntion.decided  that
those iawfully called' thereunto, be permitted to enter-                     "withou$ a lawful- calling, election, approbation, pro-
upon the duties of that  bffice.  We  write, "in as far                      pe?  examin&ion and observance of that lawful or-
as it was in her power?' because the imperfect church                        der none shall be admitted to the Ministry." Likewise
has not alway@ met with complete success in barring later [Synods of 1571, 1574, 1578 took definite action
t     h      e          intrtic$ers.                                         against these self seeking freeboot&s. In 1581. at the
     However, the Reformed Churches since the days                           Synod of` Middelburg the sign that now appears in
of the Reformation have made a serious attempt to                            Article  3 of our Church  Oli-der was adopted. Since
safeguard this holy office. During the hunting season                        that tinie the position expressed in that Article has
as you ride out into the -country you often see signs                        been maintain&d by preformed  Churches.            . --
which are posted by the farmers who do not want the                             This -does note mean, however, that the sacred of-
hunters on their property. These signs are unmis- fice of the Ministry of the Word is now safe and ~1%
takably clear as to their intention. They usually teeted  against all intrusion. No more. than the far-
state : "No Trespassing i                  Private  Property ! Keep          mers' posting a sign on his land, fb'rbidding the h7.inier
.Out !?' Although these warnings are not always heed- entrance, protected his property. from the trespass&,
.ed, their evident purpose is to keep out intruders                          will the pQ&ing of a sign. in the Church Order guar-
and when some nevertheless will venture into t-he for-                       antee that there-.will  be no more `!indringers" to the
biclden' regions, they make themtielves guilty and war-                      Holy Office._ %7ch a sign is a necessity fotr good order
thjr of punishment.                                                          as .it. does prevent anyone `from entering the sacred
     So too, Reformed Churches have posted signs in                          field in any other than the legal-way in the organized
the. .field of the ministry of the Word of God. These. church but it is not a complete prdtective.
signs may be found in the Order of the Churches and                             T.hat this is so follows from the fact that we have
read as follows:                                                             intruders unto- the present day.        These "loopers"
                            "No Trespassing .,                         ._    are' se&n tramping across-the land without any author-
       This is  the Private  I%operty. of Our  L,ord                         ity of Christ or His Church preaching (as they call
                                                                             it) the gospel and functioning as  `tiinisters.   ' Their
      ent& only upon the  Lahful  Call  .of Christ"' "                       notorious revival meetings have become famous. Most
     These signs, .too,  h&e not always been properly                        of them don't know the simplest A - B - ,C's of the Gbs-
observed.         There have been a11d still are intruders.                  pel and if they would submit to an examination they
Coping with these violators was an acute problem to                          would fail miserably. .`Jesus' words to the Pharisees
the Churches of the Reformation especially `in their                         are fitting : "Ye compass seas and land to make one
formative years. The Churches were ~tiot aS yet well                         proselyte and when he -is made ye make `him twofold
&*ganized and w'ell .`oraer&d.                 Many itinerant .priests       more the child of hell thati~ yourselves." (-Mat%; 23'i15)


                                           ~`H~  s.T.-;NDA&.-D:   ;sARsk.
   406

   These, however, remain outside the established church to the ministry. Inas-much as our present professors
   and do not intrude into the office there and do. not,          are also.ordained  in the ministry, this article does not
   therefore, become a serious menace except in so far            affect them.' Where, however, this was not the case it
   that they do sometimes lead some who are in the
                                                -                 meaht that they, as well as elders and deacons, who are
   church astray.                                                 not ministers might not function in ministerial duties.
    .- Intrudeps are also. found within the church$  in -spite    TQ do so is intrusion. Likewise, those who are legally
   of the fact `that the signs'forbidding their entrarice.are     in the. office may never intrude upon the lawful func-
  clearly posted. An intruder is one who enters the of-           tion of that holy trust. To do so is gross sin!
   fice of the ministry of the Word by force, bribe, de-              W,hen such intrusion occurs the guilty one must
  Feption,  or in any way other than that of the iamful           be admonished. The article states "frequently admon-
  calling by IChrist an.d His Church. He seeks the of-            ished". and'if he does not desist from such intruding
   fice for reasons of personal ambition rather than out          practices he-is to be punished as an evildoer being de-
  of the desire-to #be a seivant and spokeman of Christ.          clared a schismatic by the churches or punished in
  He has no right nor-authority to preach the7 word and some  .ot;her way.  Classis shall judge the  case. This
_ to administer the sacraments. `In fact, he really'can-          does not mean,. of course, that Classis .shall execute
  not do so either. for Christ, Who does not call him,            the punishment.. The autonomy of the church is not`
  also' does not deliver `unto him His revelation enabling        destroyed here for the-article implies that the admon-
  him to speak the truth "to the edifying of the body of          itions and all other treatment of the intruder shall be
   Christ". (Eph. 4:12) Consequently, when he speaks              done .by.the local church and at the proper time the
  he brings forth his own word which is always contrary ClassisYghall `also judge the case and serve -the local
  to the Word of Christ. He produces f5ls.e doctrines.            church with .:proper  advice. This matter will come
  He declares unto the church the-lie. He emits sounds            under  consideratibn   in connection with Article `79.
  which are strange to the ears of the sheep and in               Here it must be pointed out that each church must
  which  they cannot recognize the vciice of the True             guard the office of the ministry of the Word -against
  :Shepherd.  ~They give stones for bread. They are in-           all intruders. and when. they appear admonitions `and
  t r u d e r s .                    _,                           punishments must be enacted for where these are ne-
     Against these the church is warned Tepeatedly  in            glected the intruder's' conduct left undisciplined will
  the word of ,God. She must be on her guard. The a-              lead to schism.
  postle Peter tells us: "But there were false prophets            The,  intrude'r  is also a schismatic ! And schism
also among the people, even as there shall-  beg false            is a gross sin.    (Art. 80  D:K:O.)  Schism means to
  teachers among you, who privily shall bring in datin-           make -separation. It is the -offense of seeking. to pro-
  able heresies, `even denying the Lord that bought them          duce division in the church of Jesus Christ. `This is
  and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And                what the intruder  always does. He does not &are a-
  many shall follow their pernicious ways ; by reason of          bout the flock of Christ. He ,is not concerned about
  whom. the way of truth shall, be evil spoken of." (II           JesUs' sheep. He is self-willed and self-seeking. He
  Peter 2:1, 2)      The apostle Paul warns against those         scatters the flock. Wbe unto him fdr God shall punish.
  "who have turned aside unto vain jangling; desiring             In this h& may- be known from the lawfully called atid
  to tbe teachers of the law; understanding neither what          faithful  atibassador of Jesus Christ who "endures
  they say, nor-whereof they affirm." (I `Tim. 1:7) And           a!1 things for the elect's `sakes, that they may also ob-
  again in I Tim. 6 :3 "If any. man teach otherwise, and          tain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal
  consent not t6 wholesome words, even the words of               g!ory". `(II Tim. 2 :lO) . They seek not their own but
  our Lord .Jesus Christ and to the doctrine which is ac-         rather the things that are of Christ-Jesus. And seek-
  cording to godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but ing the true welfare of Zion in all their ministry, they
  doting about questions and strife of words, whereof             are never the cause of schism.
cometh envy, strife, railings . .  .etc." So we might                N,ext time then, D.V., we will consider what con-
  add many passages.                                              stitutes th& lawful calling. of `the Minister Verbi Deum
                                                                  which. is the exclusive protective for any,man from the'
      No one has the right to intrude upon- the office of         sin- of intrusion -and schism !
  the Ministry of. the Word in any way. Irregardless of                                                       G.  Vanden Berg
  who or what one may be, whether a professor of theo-
  logy or elder or $eacon or anyone else, he may not en-                             -::::
  ter upon the duties of that office except in the lawfully                                               ,/  "
  appointed way.       Professors are mentioned here be-
  cause it must be remembered that years ago men were                :To a true believer, death is bkt going, to church :
  professors of 3heology  who had never be& ordained              firom:the  church belo% to the church above. ,TopZadz~
                                                                                                     :


                                                                                                                                      -_




                                            T H E ..S T-A-N D A R D -. B E A--R E R                                                         407
                                        ---_                                 .
                                                                                  right.`.. Last week the Justice Department in Wash-
  .3 ,11)-11-111(1-0-~,-~,-,,-,,-~,-,,-`
                                         ,-,,-,-,,-,,-,,-~,-`
                                                           ,-,,-~,~
  i
  1           ALL AROUND  US.-  `1 ington told its office in Honolulu to `confess error,' in-
                                                                                  dicating that it would not-support Judge McLaughlin's
                                                                        I         fuling in the appeals court. But Immigration Ser-
  Our Coqrts On The Spot.         `,                                              vice lawyers have so far been unable to find a single
                                                                                  direct precedent for a case like Plywacki's, and there
       In the May 4th issue of Time Magazine, in the` remains the possibility that the court will be required
  department of Religion,  we came across an interesting                          to make a historic decision. -
  article entitled : `qGod's Co.untry" Bhich we here quote                           Judge MaLaughlin, meanwhile, is sticking to his
  in full.                                                       -,.              spiritual guns. `I appreciate the right of a person to
       "Wladyslaw Plywacki,  24, had passed all his tests .be.an atheist,' he says. `But if you join an organiza-
  for  US. citizenship with flying colors.  Impriso&d                             tion that has. principles based on the existence of a
  for five years by the Nazis in his native Poland be-                            Supreme Being, from the. Declaration. of Independence
  fore he escaped tb the U.S., he had served a hitch in                           on down to the latest pronouncements by President
  Japan for his adoptedcountry. He &as an Air- Force                              Eisenhower on the importance of religion-you must
  corporal  stationed at Hickam Field, Honolulu. wh& he                           abide by the rules of that organization'."
  came up before Federal .Judge  J. Frank MC `Laughlin                               The article, of cotirse,  leaves the case of Corporal
  to- take the official oath and became an American:                              Plywacki pending. We would like to know what the
       ~`1 hereby de,cl?re; on `oath, that I absolutely and. courts will decide. As we see it, Judge McLaughlin
  entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidel-                     has a point in his argument which cannot be-gain-
  ity to any foreign prince,  potetitate,  state or sover-
                                                 . .                              said. It is always true that when you join any organ-
  eignty . . . that=1  will support and defend the Consti-                        ization that has a constitution stipulating certain prin-
  tution and laws of the United States of A&&i&. . :                         ciples, you are obliged to abide by the rules of that or-
  and that' I take this obligation  &eely without any                             ganization. He also assumes responsibility for all
  mental reservation or purpose of evasion . . . ' But tha,t. that organization stands for and does.
 here ,Corporal  Plywicki boggl'ed. The next words were                              But we think ,Plywacki  also has an argument. H e
  `So help me God.' Wladyilaw Plywicki explained that insists that a native-born citizen is entitled to fyee-.
 he was an atheist, therefore could not in honesty use                       dom of ;religion,  which right, as far as this country
 t h o s e   w o r d s .                                                     is concerned, entitles him not to believe in `God if he
       Judge McLaughlin directed Plywicki to take a coin                     so. chooses. Hence one petitioning for his natnraliza-
  out  -of his pocket. `What does it. say on the b&k?' he tion should have the same right.
  demanded. `W.hen Plywicki had read the legend, `In                                 Now we do not mean by this that we believe any
  God We Trust,' Judge  MaLaughlin made  1 a little man has the right not to believe in  Go-d.  .No man
- speech.                                                                    has that right: Every man by virtue of his being a
       `Our Government is founded on a belief in God.                        a creature is obliged to not only believe in Him, but
 You are asking for the privilege of being part of the to serve Him with thanksgiving. And. in a certain
  Government, but you are apparently seeking admis-                          sense, we may say every man does  .believe  in  ,God.
 sion on your own terms. If you are not -wil!ing-to take                     Strictly speaking there are no atheists. <God  does not
 the  oath in good faith, the  p&h  -pTescribed  by the                      leave- ,Himself without witness. He testifies in every.
 Congress of the United States, I `cannot grant you.r                        man that He is. But. as far as the  laws. of the land
 petition.'                                                                  are concerned, the constitutional right- of all our cit-
       The comt immigration officei, surprised that the                      izens is freedom of religion, and I bmelieve our found-
 judge  .had not merely  .substituted  an affirmation of ing fathers meant by this that one could worship ,God
 allegiance  permitted  for those who object-. to  oath-                     if he pleased, an! `he could desist if he was so pleased.
 taking, suggested that, since Plywicki was about to                                 The fact that the Declaration of Independence men-
 leave for the States, the whole matter could be set- , tions the name of `God does not change this. The op-
" tied on the mainland. But Judge McL,aughlin, a Rom-                        ening paragraph of the Declaration reads as fqllows:
 an Catholic, had his principles, too. He ruled. Ply-                        "When, in the course of human events. it becomes
 wacki ineligible for citizenship.                                           necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds
       Plywacki appealed to the ninth circuit court of' which have connected them with another, and to as-
 appeals in San Francisco. His argument: `If a.  na-                         sume, among the- power.s of the earth, the sep&ate
 tive-lborn  citizen is entitled to freedom of religion,                     and equal  st&iog to which the laws of nature and.
 which would include the-bright not to believe in God,                       nature's God. entitle them, a -decent respect to the o-'
 then a petitioner for naturalization has the same                           pinions of mankind requires that they should declare


                                      i .:-                 II                                                                                                                                             :                                                .
                                      I.  -  :.i
                                      /  ..:.  -; j                                                                                                                                                        L ,
                                      j .  -  ._  k:                                                                                                                                                                                   _  -
                        -,       /                                _~~_-____?_I___
              1 do8            1 . ___- `-i _. r _ : T H-E- S.TAN:DA:R"D.--.B~E  i &E;R -~ : ; 1..
                                               _iL..- ____ 
                                                                  d                                                                                                                                                                     ~-,  :  ):'  -  "
              .                          ..  .~ -...._.  -`A-  .i
                                                                                                                            -_ ._, i - . . . . >.;.-~ ~. .-  -`-- . .                                                                                              _.. .-,
                                                                                                                                                                                     _-  :-                            _-~--.__                                    6.          -
              the cau+ wl& iri2fiel,?hem_to  this sep@Xion." And of thP*m belieyers.  in the .G?d of' $cripture. T h e   free:  :
            - the opening  s&&?e  -of  ,the  next'-par&graph.   -is  `!We  ,d&i  of&&~  fi>@@S$a~~   theJ$r<&lom   from  J&n  &&.,
              hold these.  truthfs to .bk self., evident,  th& all &n are th@ freedorn'-~~.-`th~;French .R&olution;  of ydltaire ,?id,
            -.  cretieecl-   equal  ;  thai.  they-  aiT&  er$owed-   b;.their   C;re-.  ~~  Ro&sea$   &hi&.&&  nothing.  k&e  ,than  ihe  &eedom
              a%r -with &ert& inalienable -rights ; that ~$@g.t&ese %f humanis$%he ~freedom- .o-f-t&  .deist &&I puts .&cl
            are_ life,  ~liberty; and  the pursuit  ofh8li]ni$$&.`~'                                   : -= out of -His~~w@ld,  and- boldly ioes ,hi$. own .&ay TTcith-
                   Wheii I  consider   th<f'-a.  &an'  ljl&  @V&L&  Paine,' -out so m&h as- ?er&$Zg.v&&~  Him; _ ' .:                                                                                                                                -:
              a. naturalist aild avdwed deist, 6s' gre&l$. .pespon+                                          I: "LQn. then baKs of'the D&&ration'. of Indep&J.e&e
              ble for- the p&icalc and religious thihking& the -days:. a n d   &e  Oo&titut$on  3  our.-land,'  lJudge  McT:augl-&
              immediately- prec.ediiig  the for&i& bf the.-Qe.<l$.r~%i& : ha{ nd right to deny: the, Corporal- his ciMz6nship:, ;itid
              of  Ind~ependenc6,`~3hen  I  ..  a&  in&iFd  iti' he&&.  that t3e  Co&% should give  tli&  correct.   @er$ret-ation-`to   i
              the "CrestbY-'mentioi%d in the `Declaration i.$ "ndiie                                         t&&e  dqctimetits by -saying  :._"In this  coimtry,  every
             -other, ;than the $c@ .o!f the d$st. And  1  believe--I  .arn
                                                                               ,..,                          .c$e h@.-% right to..believe  as he pleases, `and the -Go+
              suppogted  ia. this  c&vi&idii by the  fact  th&Pai-fi&`s ernm&t  .l%s no. right to-coerce its citizeps or pr?,spec-
              contemporarie_s   and  friends  were   -i+$ like  B&ja& tive citizens into -&en a for'mal  confession of- `God."                                                                                                                                                                 ~-
                                                                                                                              ,.
            I$nlrli~  and-.Thomtis   J.effel;son,  both. of  .whoin  -WE&  Ed  _  ~'  .-  -_  :                                                                                                                             '  LM.  @chipper:
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   /.               _
              a v o w e d -   deists,-and   me%  wh6iftirmed   `t&e  Declartition.  `,~  _
              Hence it -is  qu&tionabl*e  wh&liier  "Natuvre's  ,God', men-  J  ]                                                        '                       - -              :-
                                                                                                                                                                          *  F  :  -;
             tion'ed-  iii the  ~~~l~ration, is the God. of  Scfiptuie mat                                                                                                                                                  -.
                                                                                                                  1  _  "  :,                        I.~                                                                                              `-
             ail.  _     t-       ,`.  :,  1;  -1                                                                                                                  I N   ?VIEM~RI-AM-                                             .
                    And  &en' I  prefer'  to the  Constitu&i of  tlie  `Urii-  : On May 2,  19$3,   `ice  p&sed  -our Heavenly  @ither to  takti,~
                                                                                                                                                                                                                      -_
       .      ted States  .I. find no  meqtiofi of  God  at- all.  The.`first  _unto: Himsell-  our belayed  -.Mot&er-  and grandmqther
              tinieiz&ent t6. the Cc&itu@m reads like this: `(Con-                                                     :                 `MR$.,,-PmJ3R   VANIjER-- SGHAAF
              gress shall $&ke nb  iaw respecti&ai  e&abiishme%t                                            -at the age of :$4_  years. Our  lo&~.  is great  but.&- comfort is
            of  reliion,   ~1"  prdhibiting  .the :  free exercise  thel"eof  ;                              that  she; has entered into  the. rest.  ?vhich  remaineth for  .His
                                                                                                                                                                                               -.
              or abridging `the.. f?eeddm  of speech, or -of the pre'ss ; ' Owl!.
            _  or the -Tight of .the people  peaceably,to assemble,  -&id . .                                                                                    .  :~  Thr bereaved children'
                                                                                                                                    _
              to  peti:$ion  tlie Government  f6r. a  redress   : of  griev-'                                          .:.                                                .. Mr.  : and  Mrs Fred Van  -Engen-
            aiices.`.;  Her6 -it  .is  &ideiit;~  as  far  a$, religion,-is: Con-~  .,                                                                                                                                                                                                         ~'
                                                                                                                                                            -                Mr. and Mrs. Dowie Van&r.  &haaf
                                                                                                                       `_  -....I
              c&e&  th,&t  our,  Constitu?,i&  alloks one-to do  &-he                                                                                                      ---Mr; and .Mrs. To&i Van I&an&                                                                     '
              pleases..  N[o one.,  chili tell  $0~;  as;:f&  was: the  @?ern-                                                                                   -:  a n d - f i v e   g r a n d   chil,dren.   :-
            - n$ent is c&ic@rned,.~that ,$ou -have to belieiie. `in Goti,                                    Hull,.Iowa.                       .' .                       .~.             >..I                  _-           m-s               -            ~-.
             .& .$hat you `may not disb&ve l&n.                         ,*             ._      *            -        - .                              _            ;.-                                                                                                                   .-
              : Now -whether  .y@i  -a% a  d&t  _?r  ai atheist, it  -  `i  1~. . .                                                                                -                                 .Y                                                                   _
             .;mdkes  pFact&lly  no  _  diff&e&e.   .Neither   o n e   .Lirants  _-                                                           -I                   '                    :`-                      -
            - God.  Bbth~a$e   allowed  b~.ourX~nstituti.&  to  -be--Am-                                            If; then, we are justified Ipy. the- alone-iniputation .
              erica&  cit;izens.  .-.@eilee Plytiacki,: in our' opinioli has                                 of Christ's  righteousfiess, it more evidkntly follows;
              a  case. An& it. is -alsb our opinion. thaf the courts .-that  goody wdrks, oi du? papt, ar&in no sense, m&$or-
             ay:e' certai.nly on the spdt. .They  will cei%ainQ  have to                                     idus -of heaveti  : lieither' as causes ii& conditibns ; for;
             define or. interpret  our `Con&ii&on  and declare wheth- -however  plausible-and. innocent the word condition may
              er  or  `Ilot  prospective   &Fens  iti  ~th$;..oath  -of `al&-                                sound ; a condition idno more than ti. softer natie-for
             &lee  shall; recognize God.                          -     _               :I           .:. cause; ai being something on -account-of  which sbme-
               :- ; As' a' .`final: o serval$n,
                                  b                    j we conclude 00 the basis                           thing_ e&e-is-  given `or ddne. And that works c&n .be
             &hist&%~  data:.that-the  gemark-which%  oft&n .heard                                           neither lea&es, nor (which-amounts.to  t&e s&ie thing)
             in" our day,. namely : -"Our coun$ry is a Christ&n n& ' conditions .of justifiCat$ofi. is clear ; because the perfor:
             tion because it was fomided  on t%e faith of our found- manoe  bf ti  coriditioti  ne&s&~ily  $receh& the  recep- `~
            ing fa&el~s:w,ho beli$ed in G&a'! is. one, iri our opinion,                                     tion of a benefit suspended on that condition; -&here-
             you  can take with  a-  grain of  -salt. We  ,d`s not deny                                     as;good works do not g0 .bcfore, but follow. after jtis-
            that many. emi@%nts- $th&~beginni@  of our history : tification . . .
                                               .`i                                                                                            TheF&fo~&& put good works `befor'e jus-
             &me $ti. this -dountFy  -for :rel!gipus freedom, - and that _ tification, is. making--the $&t ir,ior  to .the cause ;7 and
             .niany of-@eni' no .g&bt.  belieyed  in the God `of Scrip- -r@reeenting ttie! fountain Z$ flowing from the- stream, :
            tu&  but  we`  den?  thldt  .-the  for&rs of  -OU*  De&laYa- instead- of  d&&g  the  streai  f?om the fountain:  ;
            _tion  bf  &&pendence   a n d   of.  d u r   Constit~~~ii-~~ere.all  :  .~  :  '  .~  _ ..                                                                                               1.                     ffTO?n  Toplc&  `,
                                                                                       _
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