      VOLUME XXX                                  MAY  15, 1954  -  GRAND  RAPIDS, MICHIGAN                                 NUMBER  16


                                                                               Say not that this calling cannot be intended for  you,
               IMEDiTATION                                                 0. Christian. For then have you never yet understood the
I'                                                                    `I gospel, you have not heard the calling, you have not really
                                                                           heard the voice of the Cod Who calls the things that are
      Rend Your Heart, And Mot. Your Garments                              not as though they are.
                 "Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even             For if you really hear the calling of Jehovah God, -the
               to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with
               weeping, and with mourning: And rend your heart,            very first thing that you will realize is that there is abundant
               and not your garments, and turn unto the  Lo,rd your        need of turning. You will realize that His calling presup-
               God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger,        poses that you have turned away, that you have forsaken
               and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.       Him, the Fountain of living waters, that  you  have violated
               Whc~   knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave      His covenant.
               a blessing behind him ; even a meat offering and a
               drink offering unto the Lord your God?"                         Thus it is with all sin: it is a transgression of His
                                                         Joel 2  :12-14    covenant. Originally we were so formed that we might be,
      Judgment is impending !                                              and also were God's covenant friends. In true righteousness
      It is -"the day of the Lord," the day of darkness and of             ancl holiness and knowledge of Him we were created. Called
gloominess, of clouds and thick darkness.                                  into being by His own almighty creative Word `in order
      And all of life stands in the sign always of that judgment.          that we  shoulcl know Him and love Him and serve Him, as
The key to the understanding of that day is that it is the day             His covenant friends in the earthly creation. And for a little
of the vindication of the Lord, the Righteous Judge, as He                 while it was bliss. But our first father and representative
has revealed Himself in the Son of His right hand, Jesus                   head! and we in him, turned away, and invoked the just
Christ. On the one hand, therefore the day of the Lord is                  wrath of God. To be sure, that fall was no accident. It
the clay of the destruction of all the wicked of the `earth.               took place strictly according to the all-wise and sovereign
And on the other hand, that clay of darkness is the bright                 counsel of the Most High. And it took place because our
day qf the promised salvation for all God's people in Christ.              Gocl had in m&l some better thing for us, the higher life
      Therefore . . . .                                                    of His everlasting tabernacle. But that does not change
      0, not  in the ;4rmi@an  sense of "before it is too late"            matters `ethically. Man is still obligated to love and serve
must this word of the prophet be understood. The Lorcl                     the Most High with all his heart  ancl mind and soul and
Jehovah does not scare His people into the kingdom: He                     strength. And it is his bounden  duty, therefore, to turn unto
draws them in His so\iereign  love. But nevertheless, it is                J e h o v a h .
"therefore." Seeing that this is so, seeing that the Word                      But what is true in general of all sin, is the more severely
of God concerning that "day of the Lord,"  - both the typical,             true of the sin of Israel, of God's people in the old and the
Old  `testament  day of the Lord, and the real day of the                  new dispensation. For by grace the Lord God took unto
Lord, which stretches from the dawn of the new dispensation                Himself a people in Christ Jesus, in order that they should
to the end of history, - seeing that Word is the gospel, the               be for the praise  of the glory of His graec. He redeemed
calling of Jehovah to His people is: "Turn ye even to me                   them. He delivered them out of the fearful bondage in which
with all your heart !"                                                     they were captive. He did that in the old dispensation by
      And with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourn-                  promise, in the types and shadows and ceremonies of the
ing . . . .                                                                law  bf Moses, when the law was imposed upon the promise,
      Rend your heart, and not your garments !                             when'He  brought them out of the land of Egypt and planted
      Turn unto Jehovah your God !                                         His vine in the earthly Canaan, and hedged it about, and
                             * $     :,: *                                 bestowed loving care upon it. And in the new dispensation


  362                                         -THti   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

   He realized this promise in His  Son Jesus Christ, blotting         before Him, and acknowledge that we are utterly  damn-
   out the handwriting of sin that was against us, and sending         worthy on account of our sins, and abhor ourselves before
   unto us the Sj$rit of sonship  to apply unto us all the bles-       His face. And it  &plies too a hearty striving-to live accord-
   sings of salvation. In the way of sin and grace, He established     ing to all His commandments.
   His covenant with us in Christ Jesus, revealing it peculiarly           In a word, this turning is a radical change of the whole
  as a covenant of  gracs. And in that  relatiotiship  all our         direction of our life. Such it is in its initial manifestation.
   sin is in a much stronger sense, much more emphatically,            And such it is as a `constant process which never ends until,
   a violation of the covenant relationship, a forsaking of            having laid down our head upon death's  -pillow,  we finally
  Jehovah. Sometimes the Scriptures refer to it as spiritual           awake in the glory of the resurrection.
  adultery. For God's people are His wife, and their Maker                 Turn! Turn always ! Constantly! Never cease turn-
  is their husband. Married they are to Jehovah by the won-            ing . . . .
  der of His grace. They have a communion of life, and a                   With fasting, and with weeping and with mourning . . . .
  communion of love. And what a horrible thing, then, when                 Yes, with fasting, in order that you may. soberly con-
  that wife of Jkhovah,  the bride of Christ, becomes unfaithful,      template your sins, number them, if you can, in all their
  goes awhoring, as she does every time she sins. For all sin          multitude, and come to an ever deeper insight into your own
  is principally a breach of that relationship,  for it is contrary                                                    a
                                                                       sinfulness and sinful nature.
 to the holy nature of that covenant union.                                And with weeping and with mourning, because in this
         Need it -even., be mentioned, then, that this calling ta      present existence the expression of sorrow over sin, the
  turn, to return unto Jehovah, constantly to. turn unto the           constant weeping of tears of repentance, is the chief char-
  Lord o& God, every day, every hour, every minute of our              acteristic of conversion.
  existence, is extremely necessary? When thus sin is viewed,              But, mark you, turn with your whole heart; and be
  there is abundant reason for such an admonition, is there            very certain that it is your heart, the very center of your
  not ?                                                                being from a spiritual viewpoint, that you rend, and not
                             + +  *  *                                 simply your garments. For conversion  does not  cons3
      Turn, then, to Jehovah your  dad!                                merely in the outward act of turning. It is not that alone.
      Do so with your whole heart!                                     And it is not that first of all. It is` a matter of the heart,
    Rend your heart, and not your garments !                           from whence are all the issues of a man's life. If it is not
      Highly necessary  it,is to understand what is really meant       of the heart, then it is no good ; it is not genuine ; it is not
  by this, what is the true nature of this turning to Jehovah.         a radical change. A mere rending of the garments will never
  For we  &st know whether  we~are  sudh converted and con- -do. That may be seen by men, and it may deceive men. But
  verting sinners. This is fundamental. In a certain sense,            before God it means nothing. If only you rend your heart,
  we remain sinners until we die. Our conversion is never              then the rest will come ; there is no danger, then, that the
  complete until the day of our death, when finally and com-           outward act of conversion will not also take place. But you
  pletely the old man of sin is laid aside. But we must know           can very well rend your garments, that which is external,
  whether the Lord "repents,. and leaves a blessing behind.". that which may be seen of men ; you may very well put on
  And we can only know that when we turn unto Him. And                 a show of conversion without ever really rending your heart
  therefore we must understand this mystery of conversion.             in an agony of sorrow and contrition over its foul contents.
     Turn unto Me with your whole heart, saith Jehovah!                   Rend `your heart, and not your garments !
     That means the mortification of the old man of sin. It               And turn with your whole heart! Be very certain that
  implies that we turn awa,y  from sin, that we forsake our            yd~l do not mean to leave it partly unexposed. Rend it, so
  evil ways. It means that we hate our own evil thoughts,              that it stands completely exposed in all its filth, that you
  desires, inclinations, and actions. It implies also that we          may properly abhor yourself before Him ! Do not attempt
  fight against them, are sorry for them, long to be delivered         to turn to Jehovah with a lie in your right hand. Do not
  from them, and that we actually forsake them. This is first- say that you are sorry, and at the same time cherish some
  and foremost in the experience of conversion. There is no            pet sin. You will never succeed anyway. For He is the
turning to Jehovah without a turning away from sin. For                Lord! Turn with your whole heart!
  He is too pure of eyes to behold iniquity ! .                                                     z+  `i:  ::c  *
     On the other hand, there is also the equally ihdispensable           Ah, how presumptuous to imagine that such a turning
  element of turning  to  Jehovah. If you do not turn to Jehovah,      can ever take place while we are still in the kingdom of
  you have not  turned  away  ~YOVZ  sin. There are only two           darkness, that it can be a prerequisite to enter into the king-
  possible directions to turn: And to turn to  Jkhovah  implies        dom of heaven. How contrary to the true abhorrence and
  that we love the Lord our God with all our heart and mind1           humbling of ourselves.
  and soul and strength. It means that we turn to Him in                  Nay, it is not merely a question of whether through the
  Christ  for forgiveness, for grace, for undeserved and  nn-          mouth of- the prophet Joel this calling was  proclaimed,  and
  merited favor. It means that we humble ourselves deeFly              must be proclaimed, to all without distinction. It must. But


                                                 T H E   S T A N   uaRD  BEARE.R                                                                                              363

  mark you,  JehovBh calls  His  people, His elect: He is the
  Lord their God, by His own sovereign election  is "the foun-                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
  tain of every  saving  good." Never can we turn, do we turn,                    Se&-mar-lthly,  except  nzonthly   dzckng   J&y  asd   Azqust
 except He turns us. And when He t&s us, we surely must                         Published by the  REFORMED  FREE  PUBLISH'ING   ASSOCIATION
  and shall and do turn. His- calling is effidacious  ! When He             P. 0. Box 881, Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
causes  us  to fast, we fast and learn our sins. When He                                         Editor  -  REV. HERMAN  HOEKSEMA
  causes us to be grief-stricken, we mourn and weep. Wheti                  Communications relative to contents should be addressed to Rev.
  He tears our hearts, we rend them. All this He does when                  H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
  He regenerates us, and then calls us by His Word and Spirit,              All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
                                                                            G. Pipe, 1163 Ardmore St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7, Michigan.
  operating (0, it is painful, but nevertheless sweet)  in our              Anuouncements  and Obituaries must be mailed to the above
  hearts powerfully, and turning our mind and will.                         address and will be published at a fee of $1.00 for each notice.
                              *  *  4:  *                                   RENEWALS  : Unless a definite request for `discontinuance is re-
                                                                            ceived, it is assumed that the subscriber  wis'hes  the subscription
      Can th&e  be any doubt theta, that when we turn, He will              to continue without the formality  bf a renewal order.
  also receive  us ?                                                                               Subscription price : $4.00 per year
      Nay ! For that conversion is alieacly, the clear token that              Ehvcd  as Second Class matter  at Grartd  Rapids, Michigarr
  He is gracious, that -is,, filled with favor, undeserved, for-
  feited favor toward us. It is the unmistakeable evidence that
  He is surely merciful, filled with tender affection ancl pity
  for us in our misery. He is slow to anger,  longsuff&ing,                                                  C O N T E N T S
  unchangeably willing our final perfection in Christ through
  the way of suffering and mi,$ery and death. And He is, of            MEDITATION  -
                                                                                 "Rend Your' Heart, And Not Your Garments". . . . . . . . . . . . .361
  great kindness, - otherwise He would surely never have                                Rev. H.  6. Hoeksema
  turned us, for that required infinite kindness, -according           E~I+ORIALS  -
  to which He will surely bless.                                                 Domineering, Who?                                                                             364
                                                                                                                  .,...................................\
      Do `not fear, then. H&ate  not to turn unto Hini. For                       Rev. H. Hoeksema
  that is the picture of your God !                                    As To  BOOKS-
      And He repents of the evil! Nay, He does not change.                       Commentaair  op het  Nieuwe  Testament:  Mattheus
  But it appears to  us  that He repents, because the eternal and                by Dr. I;. W. Grosheide..  , . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . , , . .366
  unchangeable God reveals Himself to                                                  Rev. H. Hoeksema
                                              us in a succession of
  moments. And then it seems that there is change in Him OUR DOGTRIKE  -
  from judgment to favor, from wrath to blessing.                                The Triple Knowledge (Part III  - Of Thankfulness) . . . . .  .367
                                                                                       Rev.  1% Hoeksema
                              * 8 >:: >::                        -     THE  DAY OF  SHADOWS-
      And in that way, you will experience that He returns                       The Prophecy of Isa&h.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36S
  from judgment and leaves instead a blessing behind Him.                              Rev. G. M. Ophoff
  Centrally He did that in Christ. And He reveals ,it in the           FROM  HOLY  WRIT  -
j outpouring of His Spirit. And the blessing is a meat offering                  Exposition of I Corinthians 16 :13, 14. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .371
  and a drink offering, a sacrifice of thankful  praise unto Him                       Rev. G. Lubbers
  for all the wonders of His grace revealed  unt?  us,  poor?          I N   H I S   F E A R -
  miserable sinners.                                                            Walking in Error (6) . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :. . . . . . . . . . . . . .373
                                                                                       Rev. J. A.  Hers
      Turn, then, unto Him!                                            C
     And                                                                 ONTENDING FOR THE FAITH -
             you shall know that blessedness of the converted !                 The Church and the Sacraments.. . . . . . .,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .375
                                                           H.C.H.                      Rev. H.  Veldman
                                                                       THE'VOICE   OF  OCR  FATHERS-                             .  '
                                                                                 The Canons of Dordrecht (Art. 9). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .378
                            I N   M E M O R I A M                                      Rev. H.  6. Hoeksema
     The  Coilsistory of the  Prote&nt  Reformed Church of Hull,
  Iowa,  hereby expresses heartfelt sympathy with Elder Peter          DECENCY AND  ORDER-
 Jansma in the loss of his father-in-law,                                       tie&&ion  of Ministers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*....... 380
                                                                                       Rev. G.  Vanden  Berg
                        WILLIAM VANDER  ROOI.                          ALL  AROTJND   Us-
     May the the God of grace Who performs all things according                  Biliy Graham Does It Again.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .381
  to His own good pleasure, but also in unchanging love to His                  The Way, The Trutih and The Life.. . . . . . . . . . , , . . . . . . . . .382
  people, comfort and sustain  hiin  in his sorrow.                                    Rev. M.  Schipper
                                   Nick Wm.  Kooiker,  Vice Pres.      CONTRIBUTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...383
                                   John Hoekstra, Vice Sec'y.

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

                                                                             In article 36 of said cross bill they testify as follows :
               E D-l T. 0 R  I'A  1  S                                        "Defendants further show that for the purpose of carry-
                                                                          ing out the conspiracy to get control of the properties of
                                                                          the various church congregations and to dictate the policies
                       Domineering.. Who?,                                of these churches, the said Herman Hoeksema has recently
         In his beautiful and very sober editorial in the last           made visits to locations where the churches of  classis West
  Standard Beamr,  the Rev. G. M. Ophoff proved to all who                are located and there has attempted to create and in some
  are interested in the truth that the Rev.. P. De Boer was              instances has created schism  ,in said churches, has attempted
   guilty of publishing a gross untruth when. he wrote that I            to split the congregations and organize a new congregation
  sought and worked in the direction  ,of a split in our churches.       over which he could have control, although these defendants
        It is, indeed, a sad sign that those that departed from allege that the congregations in Classis West have disagreed                -
  the Protestant Reformed truth constantly seek refuge in lies           with the said Herman Hoeksema and have disagreed with
  and slander, particularly addressed to the undersigned.                the position taken by these cross defendants in attempting
         A glaring example of this is the Cross Bill filed in            to depose the Rev. De Wolf and the other defendants herein,
  Superiour Court. of Grand Rapids, county of Kent, by the               and that the said Herman Hoeksema has in fact lost control
  Rev. De  WoIf   C.S.                                                   of the congregations of Classis West although he has suc-
        For in this cross bill they do not hesitate to testify,          ceeded in causing a split in some of the congregations of
  under oath,- to all  ~sorts of filthy lies and thus are guilty of      Classis West."
  perjury.                                                                   Do not the signers of this cross bill know what perjury
        They especially emphasize in that cross bill that I am           is ? It is defined as follows : "At common law, a willfully
  supposed to be a very domineering character, who can never             false statement in a .fact material to the issue, made by a
  tolerate any opposition against his own ideas and conclusions.         witness under oath in a competent judicial proceeding." In
        Thus, eg., in .article  15 of that cross bill, they testify :    the above testimony under oath there is not an item of truth.
        Defendants further show that said Herman Hoeksema,                   Further, in Article 41 they testify under oath as follows :
  commencing early in his life, has been a domineering char-                 "These defendants further show that the history of Her-
  acter whose word is law and who would not tolerate any                 man Hoeksema shows a disposition of intolerance and that
  opposition to his conclusions and pronouncements, and that             of absolute boss and a person whose mentality is such that
  in organizing the First Protestant Reformed `Church of                 he is incapable of tolerating  any. person or persons who
  Grand Rapids he assumed to be the' head. thereof and to                might disagree with his own  -ideas  ; that he is always right
dictate its policies, and would not tolerate any opposition. and the person who disagrees with him is always wrong,
  to his own ideas and wishes, became very intolerant, and as            and that he intends to rule or to ruin, and he and his fol-
  time went on created a feeling of dissention .(must  be dis-           lowers are following a course of conduct which is intended
  sension, H.H.) in his church."                                         to and does wreck this denomination, causing dissention
        They know, and I can prove that they know that this is           (must be-dissension, H.H.) in its churches, and that no court
  a lie under oath.                                                      should place its stamp of approval .upon  the actions of these
        Again, they testify under oath:                                  cross defendants."
        "Defendants further show that in the -First Protestant               Filthy? There are no words for it! And, mark you well,
  Reformed Church the governing body is the consistory  so-              that none of the signers of this cross bill have ever even as
  called and that from time to time persons are elected to               much admonished me for my evil conduct, either personally
  serve on said consistory who are called elders. That a large           or in consistory. I ask: is this Christian conduct and lan-
  majority of said church was not in harmony with the con-               guage  ?  LMay God give them repentance of this vile slander
  duct of said Herman Hoeksema who was the person known                  before they appear with me in judgment!
 ,-as the head or first pastor of said church, and `that as new              The above are only some of the items of this filthiest of           .
 members of the Consist&-y were elected' the congregation                all cross bills.
-. was electing persons who were more or less in opposition                  But it was not my purpose to call attention merely to
 to the said Herman Hoeksema. That by reason of the fact                 the vile slander of this cross bill. My chief purpose was to
 that said Herman Hoeksema could not control by his dom-                 show that the signers of this cross bill strongly emphasize
 ineering methods certain persons who were elected to the                that I am supposed to be a very domineering and intolerant
 Consistory of this church, the said Herman Hoeksema seized              character:
 upon a pretext, without merit, to cause a schism or split in                This I deny.
 said church with the purpose in view of securing the property               What is the meaning of "to domineer?'
 thereof as set forth in plaintiff's bill of complaint."                     It is "to rule with insolence or arbitrary sway ; to play
        What a foul lie! I can only pray that they may repent            the master ; to be overbearing ; to tyranize ; to bluster ; to
 in dust and ashes before God and men of this filthy piece of            swell with conscious superiority or haughtiness."
 slander !                                                                   Such an attitude I have never assumed either with regard

   -


                                                                                                                               ~
                                             T H E   S T A N D - A R D   B E A R E R                                                365

 to individuals, congregations, consistories, classes, or synods,    the full name when baptizin,.
                                                                                                    m This was now defeated. Motion
    I am deeply conscious of the fact that I am a sinful man.        was made to ask Rev. De Wolf to use only the first name in
 But by the grace of God I may say, calling on many wit-             baptizing.
 nesses that know me, that I have never attempted  to lord it            A substitute motion is made to table until Rev. be Wolf
over the churches, over any of my fellow ministers or fellow         is present. Substitute motion is carried."
 church members.                                                         Then, in the minutes of Sept. 10, 1945, art. 8, we read:'
    What I always did attempt to do is :                                 "A motion that was tabled at our last meeting to use only
    1. Maintain and defend the Reformed truth without any            the, first name in baptizing was now taken up and voted
 form of compromise, whatever might be the result for me or          upon. n/Iotion carried."
 for the churches I have served.                                         It is evident that the Rev. De Wolf could not produce
    2. Support my position with sound argument from                  reasonable grounds for his innovation to convince the  con-
 Scripture, the Confessions, and the Church Order.                   sistory.
    3. Give well motivated advice to my consistory, often,               Was this `the end  ?  4nd did De Wolf submit to the
 too, to other consistories that sought my advice,, and to the       decision of the consistory?
 churches in $eneral.                                                    Two and a half years later the matter was brought up
    4. Abide by the decisions of my consistory and of the            again. In the  mix&es  of March 9, 1945, Article 23 we read :
 major assemblies, wherever I could submit in harmony with               "It was moved to announce the last name, in addition tol
 the truth, whether or not I personally agreed.                      the given name, in the baptism of infants. A substitute
    I challenge anyone  to prove  tha; I did not always follow       motion to wait until after Rev. Hanko arrives in deciding
 this course of action.                                              this question was defeated and the original motion carried."
  Never have I even attempted to influence the decisions                 You  see, that is my idea of  clomineering,  for that is,
 of my consistory or of  classis or synod by some forni of           evidently playing politics. ,4ncl politics in the church I al-
 conspiracy, by talking in private to other ministers or             ways hate. Why I am convinced that this was a, political
elders  about  matters that would come  up  in these assemblies.     move ? For the following reasons :
    On the other hand, I have learned to know the Rev. De                1. First of all, because the clecision -by the cons&tory  of
Wolf, in the ten years that he was co-pastor with me in the          Sept. 10, 1945  was. evidently, never rescinded. This: should
 First Protestant Reformed Church of Grand Rapids, as a              have been clone, and that, too, by a two third major&y.
man that is jealous of power, that had a strong tendency to              2.  Secohdly,  judging by the date, March S, this was,
dominate, and that finally-showed that he would never abide          evidently a general consistory meeting, at which the deacons
by the decisions of ec&siastical~  assemblies.                       were present, and also voted. And this was none of their
    A curious instance of this, though in itself a minor matter, `business.
was the case of his arbitrarily using the last name of the              3. Thirdly, I. who certainly was vitally interested in the
child in baptism.                                                    matter, because the consistory was well aware that I was
    When the Rev. De Wolf first entered upon his ministry            opposed to the innovation, was still recuperating in California,.
in the First Protestant Reformed Church and administered             and they passed this decision shortly before I was coming
the sacrament of Holy Baptism,. he pronounced the family             home.
name together with the individual name of the child. This               4.  Foiu-thly,  they hurried the motion through before the
had never been done before in our congregation, nor, as far          Rev. Hanko would arrive, who probably had to conduct a.
as I knew in any Reformed church. It was, therefore, an              catechism class and would before long  haye  been present  &
innovation, although, I believe,  Kok had introduced before          the consistory meeting. Remember that, in 1945, when the,
him. He did this entirely on his own authority, without              same matter was before the consistory, they decided to table
consulting me or my consistory at the time. I doubt, too; the motion to baptize only with the given name until the
whether he had reason or ground for this innovation.                 Rev. De Wolf  coulc! be present.
    But I kept silent, in the meantime, of co&se, following             All this I `call politics, and politics, in the current sense
myself the  ageold custom of using only the individual name          of that term, is bossism and domineering.
or names of the child. I did not protest nor call the attention         Do not imagine that, with all this, I have in mind my
of the consistory to the matter.                                     present consistory, for in 1948 the consisfory was so con-
  But someone else did call attention to it.                         stituted that what is now the bad element was in the majority.
    In the minutes of  tie consistory meeting of Aug. 27,            Seven of those elders that were in `the consistory at that
1945, we read the following :                                        time riow signed the filthy cross bill. So, of course, did `the
    "Elder  Cammenga  brought  up  that in administering the         Rev. De Wolf who was the originator of this innovation to
sacrament of baptism to the children of the congregation one         have infants baptized with their last name, and who was the
of our pastors pronounces the full name of the child and the         only minister present at that meeting. Besides, a deacon at  /
other only the first name. He thought that there should  be          the time who now is elder is another signer of the cross-bill.
more unity on the matter. A motion was made to announce              All in all, eleven of the twenty one elders a:e now with De

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

Wolf, while the latter, of course, presided. Of the deacons,           a child is born out of $vedlock,  and the mother remains un-
if they, too, were present, seven  are now on the other` side,         inarried, while the father is either known or not known,
i.e. seven of the ten. Hence, it must not be blamed to my              it should not be baptized with the name of the mother but
present consistory that, at the time, they played politics and         with its own given name only. When a father cannot present
were guilty of `domineering and bossism.                               his child for baptism because, either he is no member .or is
       Then,  soon' after I returned from California, and the          excommunicated, the child should not be baptized with the
Lord had caused me to recover to a. remarkable extent so               name of such a father, nor with the name of the mother,
that. I could preach again (something for which, I am now              but only with its own given name. These are some of the
convinced, the opposition was very sorry), I had to baptize            reasons why it was the ancient custom in the church to
babies. Imagine my amazement, when in the consistory                   baptize only with the first or given name.
room, a few moments before the service, the clerk, now                     3.. Article 60 of the Churcli Order presupposes that `only
one of the signers of the filthy cross bill, came .up to rn& and       the first or given name shall be used in the administration of
whispered in my ear :  "you must baptize with the last name."          baptism. It reads as follows: "The names of those baptized,
   More domineering politics !                                       - together with the  names  of the parents, and likewise the
       There had been plenty of .time to aquaint  me with the          date of birth and baptism, shall be recorded."
decision of the consistory beforehand. Plenty of time even                 4. The administration of baptism is, to me, too sacred
to lodge a protest with the consistory if I so desired. But it         a'transaction  to be used as an occasion to satisfy the curiosity
had to be told me at a moment when all opportunity for                 and even vanity of some. And this is the only conceivable
protest was cut off !                                                  motive for the innovation.
    What should I do ?                                                     These are my reason; why we should never have de-
  ' I submitted to the consistorjr,  but before fhe service I          parted from the ancient, venerable and well grounded custom.
announced from the pulpit that I did not agree with the                of the church to baptize only with the given name.
decision ,of the consistory and that I protested against it.              But talk about domineering and politics?
And when I baptized the children, I so pronounced the first               Who is guilty ? Certainly not the undersigned.
nanie that it became  very  plain that the last name did not                                                                         sH.H.
belong in the ceremony.
    First, I considered the possibility to lodge a `formal pro-
test with the consistory and, if necessary to take it to classis.                               -u&e--
    But I refrained from it, and simply' let the other two
pastors baptize the children.
   You ask,, perhaps, whether I have weighty objections
against the use of the last name in baptism, or whether it                               AS TO BOOKS
is merely because of the dirty politics of the wiy in which
the innovation was introduced, that I was and am opposed                  Comwwntaa.~   op het  Nieuzve Testament:  Mattkeus,   by
t o   i t .                                                            Dr. F. W. Groshkide. Published by J. H. Kok, Kampen, the
   I have asked myself that question also. And my `con-                Netherlands. Price f 18.75.
clusion is that the former is the case. The following are my              As a commentator Dr. Grosheide is rather well known
objections :                                                          among those of us who still are interested in Dutch literature
    1. It is an age old custom in the church to baptize chil-         of this kind; He is characterized by thoroughness and sobriety
dren, an even adults only with the given name, not with .of interpretation. This is also true of this commentary on
the family name. These customs usually are founded upon               Matthew. In an introduction, in which Dr. Grosheide com-
good grounds. It was up to the innovators to furnish good             pares the four gospel narratives and especially the three
reasons why we should depart from that custom. This  they             synoptic gospels, he says that, while they all aim to set forth
never did.                                                           , that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living ,God,  the gospel
   2. These grounds for the ancient custom to baptize  only           according to Matthew is directed especially to the Jews and'
with the given name can easily be surmised. We baptiza                presents Him emphatically as the prophet. The commentary
individuals, not the father or mother of the child. Hence, t'he       proper is, on the whole, a sound interpretation of the original
name of the father, or of fhe mother does not belong in the           text and writ&n  in a very clear style.
administration of baptism. When a girl marries, she loses                 The brief synopsis which  the author gives at the end
her family name but not her baptismal name. `When such a              of his interpretation of various sections is often helpful.
girl is baptized after she is married, as is sometimes the                We gladly recommend this commentary to our Dutch
case, not the name of her parents, nor of her husband, but            readers and particularly to our students and ministers.
only her own given first  &me should be pronounced. When                                                                             H:H.


           `I


                                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  367

                                                                              ture, the husband that put away his wife because of adultery
                 0 U R D 0 C-T R I  N.-E                                II certainly does not make her an adulteress. And therefore,
                                                                              according to this same argument, the man that married that
                                                                              divorced woman does not commit adultery: for the guilty
                        THE  .TRIPLE  KNOWLEDGE                              party is no longer bound to her first husband. It is evident
         Ar;  ESPOSITION   OF  THE  HEIDELBERG  CATECEIISM                   that all this is based on the fundamental proposition that the
                        PART  III  -  OF  THANKFULNESS                       first marriage was dissolved, and dissolved for both parties,
                             L                                               so that both parties have the right to remari-y. That, how-
                                  ORD'S  DAY 41                              ever, this argument is pure sophistry is evident on the very
                                     Chapter 2                               surface. All that the Lorcl teaches in Matt. 5 :32 is emphatic-
                        Divorce and Remarriage (cont.)                       ally that the marriage tie can never be broken. Not even
        But the grace which might perfect that natural love,                 the cause of fornication or adultery breaks the marriage tie,
   and confirm that indissoluble union, and sanctify the                     although the husband may put away his adulterous wife.
   married, Christ Himself, the instituter and perfecter of the              The same overture argues that it cannot be maintained that
   venerable sacraments (according to the Roman Catholics,                   after a divorce only the innocent party can remarry, and not
   marriage is a sacrament, something with which I cannot                    the guilty party. Also this is based on the presupposition
   possibly agree, l%H.).  merited for us by his passion; as the             that marriage can be dissolved. Therefore, according to. the
apostle  Paul intimates, saying,  Husbands love  your-wives,                 overture, "As soon as it is recognized that the aclultery of
   as Christ  also loved  the  clzzwclz,  and delivered  himself  up  fof    th'e one party does not of itself free either party, that only
   it;  -add&g   &rtly after,  This is. a great  sawnwent   (the ori-        the breaking of the tie gives freedom, the whole fallacy: one
   ginal has "mystery," H.H.),  but I speak in  Clwist   a.nd in             party is free, but the other is bound, falls to the ground. For
   the  claz4.rch.~J                                                         if the  tic is broken, neither is married to the other, and there-
       And in Canon 7, attachecl  to this chapter, the Council               fore also can remarry." Such is the sophistry of the argument
   decreed as follows : "If anyone saith, that the church has                in the `Y )verture  Regarding Divorce."
   erred, in that she has taught, and doth teach, in accordance
   with the evangelical and apostolical doctrine, that the bond                  The only possible safeguard against all such corruption
   of matrimony cannot be dissolved on account of the adultery               is. what is to my mind, the Scriptural standpoint that mar-
   of one of the married parties; and that both, or even the                 riage can never be dissolved, and that therefore neither the
   innocent one who gave not' occasion to the adultery, cannot               guilty nor the innocent party can possibly remarry, although,
   contract another marriage during the lifetime of the other;               by a legal divorce, they can be separated for life.
   and, that he is.guifiy of adultery, who, having put away the                  The Scriptural basis for this stand I find in Matt. 5  :31.
   adulteress', shall take another wife, as also she, who, having            32 ; Matt. 19 : 3-9 ; Mark 10 :11-12 ; and Luke 16 :18. More-
   put away the adulterer, shall take another husband: let him               over, there is a passage in Rom. 7:1-3 that is worthy of
   be anathema."                                                             consideration in this respect.
       Except for the view that marriage is a sacram+  pro-                      In Matt. 5 : 31, 32 we read:. "It hath been said, Whoso-
   perly so called, I must agree with the Roman Catholic con-                ever shall put away his wife, let him give her a ivrifing  of
   ception  oi marriage, especially in regard to the truth `that             divorcement: But I say unto you,  That whosoever shall put
   the marriage bond is absolutely indissoluble,                             away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth
       The Christian Reformed Churches, supported even by                    her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that
   the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands, have gradually                  is divorced committeth adultery." The passage in Matt. 19
   moved in the very opposite direction, namely, in the direction            reads as follows : "The Pharisees also came unto him, tempt-
   of the stand that marriage is not indissoluble. In 1945 there             ing him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put
   was before the Synod of the Christian Reformed Church an                  away his wife for every cause ? And he answered and said
  "Overture Regarding Divorce." This overture takes the                      unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them
   stand throughout that the marriage bond may be dissolved;                 at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For
   and that after its dissolution both parties can be  remarriid.            this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall
   In this overture there is all kinds of subtle argument which              cleave to his wife : and they twain shall be one flesh ? Where-
   wo~~lcl  require a careful analization. to refute it, - something         fore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore
 which we will not here attempt to do in detail. Only one or                 God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. They say
two illustrations I will  here quote. There is an exegesis in                unto him. Why did Moses then command to give a writing
  this overture on Matthew 5  :32. The exegesis is as follows.               of divorcement, and to put her away? He saith unto them,
  A certain woman commits adultery with another man. "Her                    Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you
 husband divorced her. And still another man marries the                     to put away your wives : but from the beginning it was not
  divorced woman. This marriage is perfectly legal in the                    so.  -
  sight of God. For, according to the argument in this over-                                                                             H.H.

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

II                                                                       truly noble does differently.  He  devises things that are
             THE DAY OF SHADOWS                                   11 , noble ; and by such things he shall be establised (vss. 7, S).
                                                                          Thtl Lord's judgment  upon the proud  women.
                    The Prophecy  of- Isaiah                              Chapter  XXXII:9-20.
                                                                             They are the wives and the daughters of the princes in
      The positive  blessings  that  quill  operute in the  ethiml       Jerusalem, -women of rank therefore. They dwell in pala-
 lives of the  Israel  a.ccording  to  th.e election of grace  whepz     tial homes and spend their days in luxurious living. Their
 Christ will  Izave,  COMW   into His  kingdouut.
                                               Ckapter                   daily fare includes the choicest fruits of the ground. A sense
                                                            XXXII:J-8    of security pervades their mind. They have never known
        Behold, a king shall reign according to righteousness            any want and are without a care.
 (vs. la).
        The king is the promised Messiah, Christ Jesus. Right-               The prophet bids these women that live thus quietly,
 eousness shall be the girdle of &is loins and faithfulness the          these secure daughters, to rise up, i.e., to arouse their spirits
 girdle of His reins, Isa. 5 ~5.                                         and gttend  to his voice, hear&en to his speech (vs. 9). For
        The princes of His spiritual kingdom with which He               an indefinite length of &me  A days and a year-they shall
 will surround Himself and fill with His Spirit shall like-              tremble. For the wine-harvest shall be destroyed, and the
 wise rule according to judgment (vs. lb).                               fruit-harvest shall not come (vs. 10). The prophet com-
        The allusiqn is in the first instance to the faithful pastors    mands t'hem to tremble. He bids them to disrobe and re-
and teachers that -Christ will give to His church for the                place the garments previously worn by sackcloth. For there
edifying of His body..                                                   is going to be beating upon the breast for the desirable fields
        In glaring contrast to the apostate rulers in Israel, who        and fruitful vines surrounding the cities and villages `of
oppress and exploit the flock of God, each of them shall                 Judah, implying that these fields are going to be laid waist
be a protection to the afflicted, like a sheltering `place of            by invading armie's  of the enemy in the first instance the
hiding protects from wind and rain. They shall tender the                Assyrians (vss. 11, 12). In- the place of vines, thorns and
poor positive refreshments, like rivers of water and the                 briars will spring up over the land. Even the joyous houses,
deep shadow of a great rock do to the traveler in the desert             the gardens attached to the dwellings of the rich in the joy-
 (vs. 2).                                                                ous city (Jerusalem) will grow wild with such weeds (vs.
        God's people shall be purged of all their imperfections.         13). The palaces shall be forsaken and the multitude, by
The eyes of them that see -  are endowed with spiritual sight            which perhaps is to be understood the poor among the in-
because born from above - shall not be dim. But they shall               habitants, shall be left behind. The hills and watchowers
see with perfect vision and their ears shall hearken. The                of the cities of Judah shall be- dens forever, ,the joy of wild
heart of  -the hasty, the rash,  -shall understand knowledge.            asses and pastures for cattle (vs. 14).
The tongue of the stammerers shall be loosened and with                     The  fulfihnent  of this announcement of  d-aster  took
fluency of speech they  .&al! speak clearly  .(vs& 3, 4).                place by stages. Jerusalem was twice brought into a state of
        The promise here is plainly that of the advancement of .ruin, first by the  Chaldeans  under Nebuchadnezzar and
the church to spiritual maturity through the coming of the               lastly by the Remans  in the year of 66. At this time the
crucified, risen and glorified Christ in the Spirit when the             city was ploughed over as a field. Of the temple not one
day of Pentecost was fully come, and, lastly, of the appearing           stone was left upon the- other. The cities and villages of
of the church in glory.                                                  Judah were destroyed. Thirty thousand Jews perished.
       The fool shall then not any longer be called noble nor            Ninety thousand more were led into captivity and sold as
the miser bountiful, however deserving they may be accord-               slaves. Then Jerusalem fell, never again to-rise as God's own:
ing to human standards. Everyone shall be called by a name               city. Since that time it has been trodden down by the na-
that expr&ses  what he is in the sight of Christ. A fool shall           tions and the Jews are still Scattered among them all. That
be called a fool not because he is mentally. deficient-his               was the final  and complete fulfilment of this prophecy.
natural abilities may be transcendent-but because,' though               However a new day was to dawn for God's afflicted
knowing thet it goes evilly with the wicked in the end, he,              people, the Israel according to the election of grace. Their
being profligate, persists in `speaking foolishness, working             sorrows were to endure only for a season, -until the Spirit
iniquity with his heart, practicing ungodliness, uttering error          be `poured out upon them-from on high, and the desert be a
aganst the  .Lord, and making the soul of the hungry empty               fruitful plain and the fruitful plain a forest (vs. 15). Then
and causing the drink of the thirsty to fail, i.e., depriving the        judgment shall dwell in the desert, and righteousness re-
needy of their means of support-bread and drink (vss. 5,                 main in the fruitful plain. And the work of righteousness
6).                                                                      shall be peace ; and the service of righteousnes  quietness and
       The fool arms. himself with weapons of evil. He devises           security forever (vss. 16, 17). The people of the Lord shall
counsels that are calculated to bind the poor by deceitful               dwell then in habitations of peace, and in secure dwellings,
words even while the needy one pleads his cause. But the                 and in resting places of quietness (vs. IS), when it shall


                                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARER                                            369

 hail, coming down bn the forest, bJ which is to be under-              faithful in the land the thoughts of whose heart he thus
stood the godless world-power, and the city, this same                  voices.
 power, shall be abased (vs. 19). Blessed are they that sow                 He prays the Lord to be gracious unto them ; they are
 beside all waters, i.e., the waters of the whole earth- the            waiting for Him. Let Him  .be their  arm every morning,
 earth that, such is the idea, the blessed shall inherit as their       their salvation in the time of trouble (vs. 2). The prophet
 everlasting habitation, and into the fertile pastures of which,        is fully confident that the Lord will send deliverance in the
 they shall drive their cattle (vs. 20).                                present crisis as He has in every crisis of the past, now. by
      The preliminary fulfilment of this prophecy was the turri-        this kind of working then by that. The enemy would flee
 ing of Judah's captivity. ?<en was Jerusalem that the                  as terrified by a great  noice like that of the onset of an
 Chaldeans had depopulated again inhabited by the Lord's                army that the Lord woulcl cause them to hear. Or He would
 people. A new temple arose on the ruins of the old. The                scatter the enemy forces by hail and thunder, I Sam. 7  ; II
 city was rebuilt and its walls and gates repaired. And                 Kings 7 (vs. 3). The Lord will now deal similarly with tha
 the fields bf Judah that for seventy long years had rested             present enemy. And His people will plunder the camp, col-
 were again cultivated. And the moving principle of all these           lecting the spoil with a swiftness- like locust eating clean the
 mldertakings  was the Spirit of the Lord. For so it is writ-           field (vs. 4).
 ten, "Not by might, nor by power! but by my Spirit, saith                  So will He come now again to the rescue of His people,
 the Lord"  (Zech.  4:6).                                               but  not because of any goodness original with them, but
      However this all was still-but type and shadow. It did            because, dwelling, as He does, on high, He the Lord is
 not begin to meastire  up to the great good that the above             exalted and fills Zion with judgment and righteousness so
 prophecy and all similar prophecies hold forth. This good              that all their goodness `is of Him, the high God, who hath
 is the coming of Christ in the Spirit as climaxed by the               mercy on whom He will have mercy (vs. 5). And treasures
 appearing of the  netv heavens and the new earth at the end            of salvations and wisdom and knowledge are the stability of
 of time. It is the transcendent goodness ,of the new earth             his (.Israel's)  times. And the fear of the Lord -sjte is his
 and the blessedness of its redeemed and glorified inhabitants          treasure, gnd not such things as horses and chariots and
 that the prophet in the final instance here again describes            Egypt's strong men:
 under images supplied by the circumstances of this present
 time. And the blessedness of these inhabitants is the peace,           The  Lord's  ;-eadiness to  help in  groat need.
 the secure dwelling, the resting place of quietness that is                                                     Chapter  XXXIII:7-13
 theirs as the fruit of the work of righteousness of Christ.               The prophet beholds in his vision strong ones, might men,
 And their secure dwelling is their God in Christ forever.              crying without, i.e., in public, and ambassadors of peace weep-
 Therefore the hail does not come down on them. They are                ing bitterly (vs. 7). He' sees the highways of Judah desolate
 not harmed by God's plagues. They  per&h  not with the                 because the people do not dare to do any traveling. The
 world.                                                                 enemy has broken his agreement. He despises the cities.
                                                                        He has regard for no man (vs. S).                   f
 The  fifth  PVoe.  Chapter  XXXIII.                                       The land mourns and languishes. Lebanon  .is ashamed
     This woe, in contradistinction to the' four preceding ones         and withered away. Sharon, otherwise a fertile and luxuriant
 that were directed against `Israel, concerns the Assyrians,            plain, is a desert.  Bashan  and Carmal shake off their fruits
 ?t that time the possessor of the world-power and apparently           (vs. 9).
 invincible. In all its wars for world dominion ,it had thus               Indeed the hour is dark.
 far not  suqered  a single defeat. This power was again                   But the Lord now speaks.
 marching and its destination was now Jerusalem (see vs. 7).               Now He will rise.
 But the Lord will now bring to p&s the word that He has                   Now Will He be exalted.
 spoken that He would smite the Assyrians (XXX :lS sqq. ;                  Now will he lift up Himself (vs. 10).
 31 sqq. ; xxx1 :lS sq.).                                                  Now, exactly at this time, when from human standpoint
     To him-the Assyrian-that spoils the nations with-                  their plight is hopeless.
 out himself having been spoiled hitherto, and now deals                   Now will His people see what He will do to the enemy.
 treacherously with God's people, though they dealt not treach-         He will display His power in them, so that, as a result, it
 erously with him-woe. When presently he ceases to spoil                will be evident that in devising their counsels they were
 and makes an end to deal treacherously, because destroyed as           conceiving foolishness and bringing forth stubble in executing
a world-power, his former victims, the nations, shall spoil             them (vs. lla).
and deal treacherously with him (vs. 1).                                   In this imagery the chaff is the idea or devise as such ;
                                                                        the stubble would then be the execution of the plan, i.e.,
Tlw  prayer  o f   t h e   faithfzcl.   C h a p t e r   -XLXXII:2-6.    the evil deed or work.
     With the-enemy at hand, the prophet now pours out his                 And their breath or breathing will devour them as fire
heart to the Lord in prayer, doing so as the organ of all the           ( v s .   l l b ) .

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

    So this sentence reads in the Hebrew and not, "The fire        refused to return as he had agreed. Instead, he now de-
of their breath shall devour them."                                manded the surrender of the capital for plunder and tb lead ,
It is stated of Paul that before his conversion he was             into captivity its inhabitants (Isa. XXXVI :17). In a word,
breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the dis-          he broke the  covenent  (vs. S above). The text speaks of
ciples of the Lord (Acts IX :l ) . So the enemy. But their         ambassadors of peace weeping bitterly (see above vs. 7).
evil breathings shall return to them as divine punishment and      Doubtless the prophetic allusion is in the first instance to
so, in this point of view, they shall be devoured by their         the messengers that Hezekiah had sent to the Assyrian king.
tiwn breath. Into the pit that they dig for others they them-      In the vision they came back and reported his terrible
selves fall.                                                       treachery and the ruin that.  he had wrought in the land
    In the fire of the Lord's anger the enemy shall burn as        (vs. S above). Soon he was encamped with his army round
lime burns and as cut thorns burn in fire, meaning that            about Jerusalem. Then the Lord rose. The Angel of the
they shall be utterly consumed (vs. 12).                           Lord went out in the night and -smote of their number
    The Lord by the voice of the prophet calls to them thai:       155,000. What was left of the host now slunk-away, the
are far off to hear what He had done and to those that are         king going to Nineveh. Here ,he was slain by his own sons
near to acknowledge His might (vs. 13).                            as he was worshipping in the house of his God. The power
    "What he has done," perfect tense. So, too, the Hebrew.        of Assyria  was now broken. From then on the course of
Is this a coz+z9tion  or prophetic perfect? The prophets often     its history led downward.
used  the,  perfect  in the sense of futwe  perfect to indicate        In the vision the destruct& of the Assyrian host is im-
that an action -though future was finished, i.e., as good as-      plied rather than shown. By the- voice of the prophet the
finished. The Spirit would so vividly project before them          Lord then called to all the inhabitants of the earth, near and
the event or scene that He foretold that it apperead as            far, to hear what He had done. But this all took place first
realized. Yet, and of this the prophet was also aware, it &ill     in vision and with the prophet in the Spirit.               G.M.O.
had to be accomplished in history. This is the case here. The
gction of the Lord, the demonstration of His might indicated                                  CEGd
by the expression, "I have done," had still to  be-  accom-           The March session of the 1953 Synod of our churches
plished in time, and the might demonstrated by the action          designated Hudsonville Prot. Ref. Church as the calling
was. still waiting to be acknowledged.                             church for the 1954 Synod.  Therefore*we  hereby notify the
    This is always the case with the perfect as  occuring  in      churches that Synod will convene, D.V., Wednesday morn-
prophecy. For prophecy had its origin in vision, revelation,       ing, at 9 :00 o'clock, June 16, in the auditorium of our church
and it still had to be fulfilled at the time of its reception.     in Hudsonville, Michigan.
That is to say, prophecy is never historical narratvie.               `The pre-synodical prayer service will be held in our
   As has already been stated more than once, the prophecies       church, and will begin at 7 :45 P. M. of June 15, Tuesday
of the Old Testament Scriptures were progressively fulfilled,      evening  ; and the Rev. Richard Veldman, president of the
i.e., fulfilled by stages. The first stage in the fulfilment of    1953 Synod will lead us in this worship.
the prophecies of this Assyrian period was the deliverance            Requests for lodging will kindly be forwarded to the
of the church through the destruction of the world-power as undersigned :
possessed at the time by Assyria.                                     Consistory of the Hudsonville P. R. Church:
   The initial fulfilment  of the prophecy of the above sec-                                            Peter J. Lubbers, Clerk
tion (chap. XxX111:1-13) is the Assyrian menace in  ita                                                 142 Barnaby Road
final stages as climaxed by the fearful punishment that the                                            Hudsonville,  Mich.
Lord inflicted upon the Assyrian host encamped round
about Jerusalem and the resulting deliverance of the city.                                    I N   MEMORIAM
II Kings XVII; Isaiah XXXVI,  XxX11.                                  On the  morning  of the 16th April it pleased God to take unto
   The Assyrians invaded the land and took all the  fenced         His eternal home our beloved daughter and sister,
cities of Judah. Before long they would be storming the:                                         JENNIE,
                                                                   at the age of 41 years.
gates of Jerusalem. In his' desperation Hezekiah sent mes-           We are comforted in the knowledge that our loss was her
sengers to the king of Assyria resting at Lachish that he          gain, and that God doeth all things well.
had made his headquarters. The messengers were to pur-                "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and
chase his withdrawal. The tyrant agreed to stop the war and        there shalt be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither
go back to his own place. But the price he set on his retire-      shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed
                                                                   away," Rev. 211.4.
ment  was' prodigious. He demanded, besides subjugation,.                                            Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Van Harn
the sum of 300 talents in silver and 30 talents in gold. The                                         Mrs. Frances  Nouse
heavy ransom was paid. But it took all the silver in the                                             Mr. and Mrs. Peter  Schippers
tei-nple and in the king's palace. ,The gold had to come from                                        Mr., and Mrs. Stephen Van Harn
the pillars and the doors of the temple. But still the king                                          Miss  Johanna Van Harn


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D :   B E A R E R                                                  371

II                                                                       What a. touching example of approving the things that I
        F,;R, 0 M  ii 0 L Y W R I  T                            /I differ ; what spiritual sensjtivenesss  ! What an example of
                                                                     practical godliness which has lost none of its power and
                                                                     vitality! What glories of God in ministers. What  ati ex-
         Exposition of I Corinthians  16:13,  14                     hibition of walking in the rkquirements  of faith and love and
      For reasons connected with my schedule of many activities      of becoming like little children. Father of all mercies, make
I shall this time not call your attention to I Peter 2 :l-10,        all Thy servants such that are filled with this meekness of
but I will call your attefition  to a very significant admonition    wisdom which is gentle, easy to be entreated, full of good
to the Church at Corinth.                      .                     works, without partiality, sowing the fruit of righteousness
      It should be observed that these words of Paul are a           as those making peace. Amen !
part of the concluding admonitions of Paul at the end of a               Against this very  sehsitively   spi$tual  background Paul
great letter, full of fatherly advice, kind instruction and          writes '.  :`,Watck ye, stand fast in the  faith,  qwit you like men,
firm reproof. All these were v&y necessary in this church.           be  stiong. Let all that ye do be done  ,in love."
      The reason ?                                                       Words of life and beauty are these. And they teach us
      This .Corinthian  Church had in it reprehensible weak-         faith in its duty in this present  conflict  as pilgrims here
nesses both as to doctrine and walk. They were definitely not        below. And they are ,words of admonition through which
standing firmly in the `faith:  as this became evident in the        God confers grace to us His church so that we are actuated
denial, by some in their midst, of the resurrection. The very        urito this holy conduct and activity of standing vigilantly in,
core of the Gospel, its real marrow was being denied by              the faith.
some, and it evilly effected all. For evil communications                Concerning each of these elements in this admonition we
corrupt good manners. It could not be said of them that they         w&h to make a few expository remarks.
virere standing in the faith,' steadfast and unmoveable ! Then           First of all I would notice with you, dear reader, that.
too .fhey were reprehensible in their conduct at and attitude        Paul here admonishes the church at Corinth and us that we
toward the Lord's table.                                             are to be watchful. Says he "watch ye." The term means
      `But-there was Blso their attitude in morals. A man was        to be one who has been roused froni sleep and has come to
living with his father's wife ; a sin which was not even heard       his senses, one that is thoroughly awake. Such a person
of among nor condoned by the Gentiles. And what was                  clearly sees the finality of the issues in the church and under-
worse the Consistory was lax in disciplining .this man as was        stands thoroughly who the enemies are by whom he is sur-
the whole congregation. They were not watchful as the                rounded. For this term is. employed in Scripture in `con-
watchmen on the walls of Zion !                                      nection with the spiritual alertness that must be ours as
      Nor must it be overlooked that there was a very gi-cab         believers in Christ Jesus.
di.ssension  in the church of Corinth over the persons of Paul,          In general we must know that we have to deal with a
Apollos, Cephas. `There was party  strife.  This strife had not      cunning foe, who goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom
been caused  by anything that `Paul or Apollos had done. If?         he may d&our. He is an adversary at law against us. He
was simply that the Corinthians were walking in their evil           accuses the brethren. Is his name  not:. Accuser of the
desires. They were fleshly and not spiritually minded. They          brethrelll  ? ! Also we must be alert to the fact that not all
did not quit themselves like men and were not strdng. .              have the faith, and that we live in an evil world, where the
      It is a wonderful refreshing wind from heaven to read of       Word of God is denied, and where we are ridiculed and
the warm and sincere cooperation of these two co-workers             hated. Then too we must by all means be alert to the fact,
under God, Paul and- Apollos. They are not at all compe-             that in our flesh there dwells no `good thing at all ; that the
titors. Each has his own gift from God ; each is used by God         good that we would do we do not, but that the evil we would
in his own place. And both understand the Christian meek-            not do, that this we do. In view of this we must be very
ness in human relations between ministers in God's church.           alert.
Read these refreshing words carefully and let them sink                  Jesus, our Lord, Himself warned the disciples as follows :
deep i&o your soul: "But as  +ouching  Apollos, the brother,         "Watch  ,and pray, that ye enter not into temptation ; the spirit
I besought him much to come unto you with the brethren:              indeed is willing but the flesh is weak;" Matthew 26 :41. A
and it was not at all his will to come now; but he-will come         real watchfulness  is one of prayer according to the will of
when he shall have opportunity,"  I^Cor.   16:12.  Paul wishes       God. Watchfulness is living according to the Word of God.
Apoilos  to go to Corinth,. that it might be evident to the          True watchfulness means careful reading and confession of
brethren that he had no objections to Apollos' being in              the Scriptures in order to live according to them. Says Jesus
Corinth ; and Apollos thought this not wise. Gladly would            in Matthew 24:42 after having taught us in the prophetic
he have come to Corinth, but in view of the situation he             word "Watch therefore: for ye know not on what day your
would rather forego this  eSidently  wonderful  occassion  to        Lord  cometh.  But know this that if the master of the house
aeconipany the brethren, who are to be the bearers of this           had known in what watch the thief was coming, he would
.Epistl&  Fe will. come when he finds it convenient !                have watched, and would not have suffered his house to have


372                                            T H E   S T A N D ARD   B E A R E R

 been broken through." And' again in I Thessalonians 5 :2-8,           in the truth  .we are to persistently persevere in it. Such
 "For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord  SO           steadfast abiding in the truth, keeping of the ttuth in our
 cometh as a thief in the night. When they are saying Peace            hearts, is not at all to be confused with stubbornness. The
 and `safety, then" sudden destruction cometh upon them, as            The stubborn man cares not about the truth as it is in Jesus.
 travail upon a woman with child ; and they shall in no wise           For him it is of no concern whether we stand in the truth
 escape. But ye brethren are  not in darkness, that that day           and confess it accurately, but he is only interested in self.
 should overtake you as a thief: for ye are all sons of the            He does not put on the  hope of righteousness and stand in
 light and sons of the day ; we are not of -the` night nor of          the glorious prospect each day of the blessed resurrection
 darkness, so then let us not' sleep as do, the rest, but let us       from the dead.. But we must be steadfast. Nothing must
 be watchful and sober . . . ."                                        move us from the hope of the Gospel and from the entire
       Such a watchfulnes? is living according to the word of          faith once delivered to the saints. Let the congregation be
 God. We then live out in true conversion  what* we are "such that they desire accurate preaching. An accurate preach-
 by virtue of God's efficacious calling but of darkness into           er is a real  find.. He preaches the  logical  milk that does not
 God's marvelous light. Unto this walking in true godliness            deceive.
 and pure confession Paul had admoriished in this entire letter.           Thus Paul writes in Philippians  1:27-30,  "Only let your
 And now he calls them in conclusion to this necessary watch-          manner of life be worthy of the Gospel of Christ: that,
 fulness. T-rue watchfulness does not pray a whole year about          whether I come and see you or be absent, I may hear of
 a problem in life and then do the very obviously sinful thing         your state, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one soul
 and make wrong decisions in doctrine and life. Such wrong.            striving for the faith of the Gospel, and in nothing affrighted
and sinful decisions are not wachtfulness but simply  hypo-            by the adversaries, which is for them an evident token of
. cricy ! Let us not be deceived. God is not mocked. Such is           perdition, but of your salvation and that from Gsd ; because
 the evidence of being drunken with the stupor of. sin.                to you it hath been granted in behalf of Christ, not only
       That the thrust of this watchfulness, as here indicated by      to believe .on him, but also to suffer in his behalf : having the
Paul, is a watchfulness according to the Word, is evident              same conflict which ye saw in me and now hear to be in me."
from the next injunction in the text. It reads: "Stand fast               Hence, to stand in the faith also implies the reality in us
in the faith."                                                         that we "quit ourselves like men." The term in the greek
       The "faith" in which we must stand fast is cleal'ly  the        original--means : .to make a man of, to make brave, to make
bbjective  truth as this is in Jesus, as contained in all the          manly. Thus to become a man, come to manhood. And thus
Gospel, and as it is briefly summed up in the Twelve Articles          to show yourself every inch a man.
of Faith. Further,`it  is the entire content of the Gospel as             This means that we are to be strong. The chief char-
this is confessed in the Confessions of the Reformation and            acferistic  of a young man is his strength. I write you, young
and the Canons of Dort. This "faith" is, therefore, the faith.         men, for ye are strong and have overcome the Evil one. This
once delivered to the saints.                                          is not the strength of physical force, nor of proud over-
       True watchfulness knows that it is the Devil's.  lie that it    bearance. It  ii the strength of godly men, who  know  in
doesn't matter so much what one believes, as long as he is             whom they have believed and who say, when it comes to the
only sincere in what he believes. It is the lie of Satan ip his        "faith" : Here we stand, we cannot do ought else, so help
opposition to the church and operating the gates of hell when          .us God ! Such will then be the power that is wholly set on fire
men teach that the matters of doctrine are not important.              with the true zeal of God's house. Remember: not the
However, it is so important that it was necessary for Aquilla          strange fire of a zeal without knowledge of the accurate
and Priscilla to instruct Apollos more in the way. We read:            interpretation of faith. The zeal that boasts in what the
"But when Aquilla and Priscilla heard him, they took                   Lord has done- for us, in us and through us is  ihe zeal
him unto them, Bnd expounded unto him the Word of God                  here spoken of.
more accurately.," Acts 18  :26. Yes, they instructed him                 The evidence that we are truly standing in the faith is
"more accurately" than he already knew ! What a needed  atid           when we stand in that song of love as sung by Paul in I
delicate task it is to instruct gifted young  ministers. And           Corinthians 13.
how ought not every minister to study the Scriptures and                  It goes as follows: Though I speak with the tongues of
the Confessions that he may very accurately interpret the              men and of angels, but have not love, I am become sounding
faith once delivered to the saints. Such was the watchful-             brass or a clanging symbal. And if I have the gift of pro-
ness of Aquilla and Priscilla when they took Apollos aside phecy, and know all- mysteries and all knowledge ; and if
to instruct him. And what a gracious young person he was               I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not
tiot to resent this instruction. Here, was the love that re- love I am nothing. And if I bestow all my goods to feed the
joiced together in the truth. It is true watchfulness !                poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but have not love
    In this accurate understanding and confession of the               it profiteth me nothing.
faith  we are to staad fast!                                              Love is what is  -done out of faith,. living faith in the
    This means that  once having been instructed accurately Gospel. Stand fast in that faith. Be -motivated by the love


                                              T H E   S'TAND.ARD   B E A R E R                                                 373

 of God. In that love quit you like men and be strong ! Only               Meeting of Theol.  Schotil  Committee
 be courageous knowing that presently when all the weary
 night is o'er and when the battle has been fought, the crown          All young men desiring to study for the Ministry of the
 of eternal joy and .&ength  and gladness is the portion of         Word, kindly appear at  the meeting of the Theological
 those who were faithful even in a little.                          School Committee, May 28, at our  Creston Church or write
                                                           G.L;     the Secretary, Rev.  ,Geo. C. Lubbers, 1304 Maude Ave.,
                                                                    N. E., Grand Rapids, Michiian.
                                                                       The qualifications to be enrolled are the following.
         Report of Western Ladies League                               1. Must be a graduate from High School and preferably
     Again we have had the God-given opportunity of gather-         College.
 ,ing together as true Christian Mothers and wives of the
 Prot. Ref. Churches of the` Middle West. We met in the                2. Must have certificate from local Consistory as  to, up-
 Doon  Church auditorium, April 23, for an afternoon session.       rightness in walk and purity in doctrine.
 The meeting started by singing  a few Psalter numbers. Our            3. Must have certificate from a reputable Doctor of being
 president, Mrs. H. Veldman, read Psalm 89, then opened             in good health.
 with prayer, and also extended- a word of welcome to a well                                       G. C. Lubbers
 attended audience. Had a short business meeting after  .which                           Sec'y of the Theological School Committee
 the president introduced the speaker of the day, Rev. H.
 Veldman. He spoke very enthusiastically and inspiringly  on
the theme,  "The Child and the Ppomise."  He described very
 clearly how they are related and why this is significant. He
 showed us that the infant child occupies a tremendously im-                    ON GOD ALONE MY SOUL RELIES
 portant position in the promise and also that it is the most
 characteristic of Reformed doctrine. The child, as an in-.                     On God alone my soul relies,
 fant, is entirily passive. What is meant by "the promise ?"                      And He will sqon  relieve ;
 God o,r man 7 Man trying to detract from  the glory of God                     The Lord will hear my plaintive cries
 or God'  Asolutely? A general and conditional promise or                         At morning, noon and eve.
 divinely particular and an oath of God  ,and unconditional  7
 We know that the realization of the promise is dependent on               He has redeemed iny soul in peace,
 God and God alone ! Not an offer to all men, for Christ did
 not die for all men, as some would have us believe. God                          From conflict set me free  ;
 makes no effort to g&e  the promise of salvation to all men                    My mani  foes are made to cease,
 but it is a divine oath-for the elect. Rom&s 9 :6.                               And .strive no more with me.
    When must we baptize our child, in infancy or only the
ones that are elect? Through baptism God administers and j                      The living God in righteousness
 seals his promise, therefore we baptize babies, on the basis                     Will recompense with shame
 of this fact. This is significant because it means that God's                  "rhe men who, hardened by success,
 promise is unconditional, in infancy, when we have nothing                       -Forget to fear His Name.
 to do with the promise of salvation. This we find very.com-
 forting as wives and mothers, and we thank God that it is                      All treacherous friends who overreach
 not up to us'to change their hearts, but it is the act of God's                  And break their plighted troth,
 unconditional election.                                                        Who hide their hate with honeyed speech,
    Doon then gave a musical number, after which we sang                          With such the Lord is wroth.
 another Psalter number while the offering was taken for the
 Refcirmed Witness Hour. The president then introduced                          Upon the Lord thy burden cast,
`Rev.  H: C. Hoeksema, who had charge of the "Question                            To Him bring all thy care ;
 Hour." He very capably and explicitly answered a couple of                     He will sustain and hold thee fast,
 questions from the various societies. Edgerton  then present-                    And give thee strength to bear.
 ed a musical number.- The meeting was closed by singing
 and prayer by the vice president, Mrs. H. C. Hoeksema.
 Ltinch was served. by the Hull society after ,which we de-                     God will not let His saints be moved;
 parted for our individual homes with an uplifted spirit and                      Protected, they shall see
 a full and thankful heart to our gracious God for the true                     Their .foes cut off and sin reproved ;
 and  unmistakeably  pure Protestant Reformed Doctrine.                           0 God, I trust in Thee.
                               Mrs. Clarence Klein, Reporter.                                                             Psalm  55  .


  3 7 4                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

  II                                                                      June 1, 1953 the minority of the consistory tried to depose
                    I'N- H  IS F EAR  .-  1. and suspend the majority of the consistory. It simply is not
                                                                          true. Their action of waiting three whole weeks to inform
                                                                          the.majority whether they would apologize or not only shows
                        Wcdking  in Error                                 that they realized the weakness of their position. They knew
                                          (6)                             +hat they needed more votes. The best they could do was
                                                                          to make it a tie by waiting until after June 21 when a
   J u n e   1 .                                                          twelfth member wotild  be added to their group. But let'us
        That is the date!                                                 remember that ! By the unanimous vote of 11 to 0 it was
        June 1, 1953 is the date that Rev. De Wolf and his                decided on'June  1, 1953 that eleven vze+&prs, out of a con-
- follow.ers  like to forget and concerning which they are very           sistory at that time that consisted of twenty three ~nembevs,
  siltnt:  -They `would rather hold before you June 23, 1953.             should be placed under discipline.
  Even June 22 does n&t give them much comfort.  Actually                    As we wrote above the former Classis West is entirely
  it should give them no comf&-t.                                         silent about that matter. It is safe to assume that it did not
        June 1.                                                           investigate this point at all: In fact it is our contention that
        That is the date that the former  Classis West dbes not           the- former  Classis West investigated nothing. It had no
  like to talk about. In their schismatic decision to side with           right .to take a stand in the case, but if it desired to protest
  Rev. De Wolf after he left the Protestant Reformed Church-              the action after Classis East had taken a stand in it, it would
  es, they, too, are completely silent about June. 1, 1953. They          have to investigate all these things. The former Classis West
  had to be in order to write that the meeting of June 23 was             did' not investigate at all. It illegally treated matters that
  "illegal since many of the legal consistory members were not            were not on its agenda and which according to its own rules
  notified  ,of the meeting."                                             it might not treat. It took a document from the party in-
        June 1.                                                           volved without approaching the witnesses, the committee
        That is the date concerning which Rev. Blankespoor, Rev.          from Classis East, who were at all these meetings. It rushed
  Knott and Rev. Kok did not want to go to Synod but rather               to take a stand before the Classis that was still. busy with
  chose to ignore so that they too could leave the Protestant             the case could even make a judgment between the two fac-
  Reformed Churches in loyalty to Rev. De Wolf and his de-. tions in the consisiory.  Not orie church in Classis East had
  posed elders.                                                           taken a stand yet, and the former Classis  West as a body
        June 1.                                                           told Classis East what it intended to do and where it stood.
        Do you kno'w the actual situation that evening ? It is               It has been stated that the former Classis West had $0
  worth knowing, and we wonder how Rev. De Wolf and his -do something with the case since three overtures were on
  elders dare' to be cross-examined under oath as to the actual           its table. We already answered that in part. But document-
  situation that evenirig.                                                ary evidence can be produced to reveal more! There really
        Perhaps it is best that we'notify  you of the actual situa-       w&e no overtures there! The chairman, who is also their
  tion there in the consistory of the First Protestant Reformed           stated clerk and who knew very well their previous ruling
  Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan. We have been calling                  about procedure, should have called them illegaly there. But
  your attention, of late, to the fact that twelve men who con-           the trouble was that the chairman himself had one of those
  stituted  no  more than.  lmlf  of one consistory behaved as            illegal overtures presented to that  Classis. It was, undoubted-
  though they were themselves a clear cut majority.                       ly,  hard for him to  .call the work of his own consistory
        But listen! Did you knoiv that on June 1, 1953, the date          illegal, after all the work he put into it. And with a neigh-
  these men all like to forget, the De Wolf element was in  the           bouring consistory, and with one  from far removed they
  +knority?  The twelfth member was added very shortly be-                stuck to their violation of the decisions of their own  Classis
  fore June 23, the date they like to remember.' In fact the              taken only one year before.  These  are the men who talk
  twelfth member was installed Sunday, June 21, 1953. That                about an illegal consistory meeting because some of the
  addition, however,  $ no  way  :e@,ects the discipline initiated        "legal consistory members" were not .notified  of it. Yet they
  onJune1,1953.              "`     '       "     i                       treated three documents which were illegally before the
        Ignoring  June!l,  1953 the De Wolf element in that  con-         body ! THEIR work was illegal ! What will their represent-
  sistory pointed  ou,r attention in various writings to June 22          atives do when the court asks for their records which show
  and 23. And then they .tried to tell us that the minority ,of           that the documents were illegal ?
  the  consistore  tried to depose  !the majority. The facts being           But even if for the sake of argument-and for that
  such, undeniable` facts that Rev. De Wolf with only ten                 only  - we concede that such matters might be treated be-
  elders was in the minority -and we can quote the names                  cause of the situation in the churches, then we still maintain
  on each side, if you need them- when discipline was initi-              that the only treatment former Classis West could give tol
  ated, we fail to understand how they intend to make the                 these documents would have been to instruct these  consis-
  civil'cotirt  see, and that through cross-examination, that on          tories to cqme back in March with protests against the action


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D ;   B E A R E R                                           375

 of the group of the Rev. Hoeksema and the Rev. Hanko  IN             Synod, they notified us that they would not recogniie  anyi
 CASE CLASSIS EAST-which was to deal with the case                    thing  `we did because we wciuld recognize the votes of Rev.
 the very next month  - SUsTAINED  THE ACTION                         Hanko and elder  Bylsina.  Had they been consistent they
 against the group of Rev. De Wolf. THAT was not even                 would have left our meeting, since they could not work with
 a settled matter yet. And the former  dlassis West by its            us anymore because of their stand, Instead we had to ask
 hasty and schismatic action did give Classis East a very             them. whether they would recognize our work, `and this we
 clear picture of the situation before it met in October to           had to ask because of an ultimatum Rev. Kok gave us by
 sustain the suspension and deposition of these twelve men.           abusing a document his consistory gave him for the  Classis.
 They did our churches a great favour in revealing their hand         But more of this latter. We want  to return to the matter of
 prematurely. It put the schismatic action of Rev. De Wolf            the former  Classis West.
 and his elders in the right perspective. It drew the picture            Are we expected to believe that former Classis West last
 clearly for us, clearer than we dared or even  wanted  to            September had all those quotations from the authorities on        -
 believe it should be drawn. The undersigned, who presided            Church Order which are being published now as an attempt
 over all those hectic meetings when the De Wolf and Kok              to defend the illegal stand of the former Classis West, are
-cases were treated can testify in all honesty that although          we expected to believe that all the ministers and especially
 he, of necessity, followe'd  the De Wolf case very carefully         the elders, who voted in favour of that infamous decision of
 as chairman of these Classical sessions, he did not realize          last September, had these "proofs" from the "authorities"
 fully what it was wherewith we were dealing and to what              clearly before them ? When the documents. of the former
 a great danger the Protestant `Reformed Churches were ex-            Classis West contain no proof at all that it was an "illegal
 posed till the fortier  Classis Weit in September prematurely        consistory meeting," are tie to believe that such "proofs"
 revealed its hand. And the letter his ,consistory  sent to all       were actually produced and discussed there on the floor of
 the ministers of the former Classis West and which appeared          Classis?  Are we expected to believe that when former
 on these pages was  due to a desperate hope that things              Classis West coild rush the whole matter through in one
 were not really that bad. But they plainly. were.. And our           day, that there was investigation as to whether such a meet-
 letter remains unanswered.                                           ing was legal or illegal ? Is it not a more realistic approach
    And. we say again, do not let anyone tell you that formel-        to conclude that NOW, a desperate attempt is being made
 Classis West did not interfere with the work of  Classis             to dig up something that looks like proof? And do those
 East ! By recognizing the De Wolf faction of that consistory         men from the other side of the Mississippi, who intend to
 of First Church to be the legal consistory and the Hoeksema,         co&e to the court trial, think that under cross-examination
 Hanko faction to be schismatic they, in effect; told us that         they can maintain that these things presented as proof really
 if we would take another stand, ali our decisions from then          touch the case at hand ? You can satisfy the questions of a
 on would be ignored by them. In fact as Rev. Blankespoor,            few layman, who are soon confused by church political proce-
 ReG. Knott and Rev. Kok showed, us they would not even               dure, with a few quotations that talk about the necessity of
 recognize us anymore as Classis East, but would recognize us;        notifying consistory members, who aye not under discipline,
as `a schismatic Classis, a group outside the Protestant Re-          of a consistory meeting that is to tie held. But you canriot
 formed Churches. Is that not INTERFERNG with our                     come before men who know jurisprudence and throw around
 work ? Was it not making our work impossible, or rather              a few loose quotations about consistory meetings and double
 stipulating to us what our work must be in-order to be rec-          consistory meetings and expect them to fail to see that on
 ognized by them ?                                                    June 23 a meeting had to be called because these office
    Can you not see how much they interefered with the work           bearers who were under discipline refused to have anything
 of Classis East? They made it so that we could never enter-          to do with the office bearers who were advised by Classis
 tain a motion' made by the  Reir. Hanko or one made  or              to place them under discipline and because they likewise
 supported by elder G. Bylsma or by any other delegates               expressed their  r&.fusal to have anything to do with the
 from First Church in future Classical sessions. It means             Classis which had given this advice. Let the former Classis
 that any motion that passed  by one vote, they would call            West's defenders dig up a case like that! Let them show us
 a  defeated  motion if either Rkv. Hanko or elder Bylsma had         that under such circumstances notification must be given
 voted for it. Interfere with our work? These men who.                so that such can present their case before the double con-
 speak so freely of hierarchy tried to stipulate the whole course     sistory meeting.
 of action of a sister Classis fdr all the future. They talk about       Besides that meeting on June 23 had to be held because
 ultimattims.  What an ultimatum they gave Classis East in            these office bearers who had. been placed under discipline
 regard to its own case ! It was this : You decide like we did        had clearly, unequivocally and with finality given an answer
 OR ELSE  !!  1 ! Or else we will never recognize ANY-                in their case to both .the consistory and the Classis. Their
 THING you do!                                                        presence was not needed nor proper at the meeting that
    And that holds true also for Rev. Blankespoor, Rev.               deliberates on such a final and unequivocal answer.  .Even
 Rnott and Rev.  Kok.  By refusing to take the matter to                                  (Continued on page  376)

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

     II                                                                    occurred upon the first day of the. week (this text reads:
                Contending For The Faith                                II "And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples
                                                                           came. together to break bread, Paul preached unto them,
                                                                           ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech
                 The. Church and the Sacraments                            until midnight.") It is, of course, not difficult to  understancl
               EARLY  VIEWS  OF  THE  SACRAMENT  OF  Tm                    why the sac&lent  of Communion was celebrated daily in
                                LORD)S SUPPER                              the apostolic period with a simple meal of brotherly love, in
                                                                           which the Christians, in  comtiunion  with their  common
                                 (Continued)                               Redeemer (that He was their  Recleelner  they all enjoyed in
     -Introductory  remarks.                                               conmon) , forgot all distinctions of rank, wealth, and culture,
            Anyone acquainted with the time and setting of  the- in-       and felt themselves to be members of one family with the
     stitution of the Lord's Supper is surely aware of the fact            living  aGoc1.  A lovely communism of gifts, not imposed upon
     that the  sacram&t  of the holy Supper was instjtuted by              the. Church of God from the "top," by political heads of
     Christ under the  &ost solemn circumstances. The  Lord.               state, but as prompted from within, characterizecl  the Church
     instituted this New Testament feast when He was about to              of the Lord  during that early period. We  may read a
     sacrifice Himself as the "Lamb of ,God that taketh, away' the         description of this wonderful fellowship among those early
     sins of the world." Holy  Conmmniot~,  is the feast of the            Christians in the concluding words of Acts 3, verses 41-47.
     thankful remembrance of (in obedience to the injunction of            At these  gatheritigs,  when the Lord's Supper ancl these com-
     Christ to  remeniber  His death until He comes) and the               munity feasts occurred together, the first of these gatherings
     appropriation of His atoning death, and of the living union           consisted of the service of t'he Word, and it was attended by
     of believers with Him  and their conmunion  among them-               all. After the service of the Word only the believers  re-
     selves. As the Passover kept the people of God in the Old             mainecl.  First, then, a communion feast was- enjoyed of the
     Dispensation in lively remembrance of the miraculous deliver+         gifts which had been brought by various members ; secondly,
     ande from the land of bondage, and at the same time pointed           prayers and thanksgiving were offered  ; and finally the Lord's
     forward to the Lamb of God; thus the holy Supper repre-               Supper  was,celebrated.  Later, we know, .a change occurred
     sents, seals, and applies the now accomplished redemption             `within1   the Church of God. These love-feasts and the Lord's
     from sin and death upon the cross of Calvary until the end            Supper  were separated. Man's carnality began to assert it-
     of this present time. In this sacrament the deepest mystery           self. Some would be drunken at the time of the Lord's
     of Christianity is indeed embodied anew, namely, that the             Supper, and others would continue hungry. Paul mites of
     eternal Son of the living God, in the likeness of our si&l            these'things in his epistle to the Corinthians, admonishes the
     flesh, has becoine for us-the  living Bread unto life everlasting.    people of God to eat at home, and we quote (1 Cor. 11 :17-Z?,
     Here in this sacrament, as a certain writer expresses himself,        33-34) : "Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you
     the story of the cross is reproduced before  us  (Christ is not       not, that ye conic together not for the better, but for the
     of!fered anew, of course, as Rome would have us8 believe),            worse. For first of all, when ye  conle together in the church
     and the miraculous feeding of the five thousand is spiritually        I hear that there be divisions alnong you ; and I partly believe
     perpetrated. Here, in this sacrament of the Lord's Supper,            it' (what a tactful way of speaking on the part of the apostle ;
     Christ, Who sits at the right hand of God, and is yet truly           he knows that it is impossible to believe all the things one
     present in His Church until the end of the world, gives His           hears, but he fears that he  lnust "partly" believe these
     own body and blood, once sacrificed for us,  that is, His own         "rulmours"  j.  For there  imust be also heresies  anlong you,
     and very Self, His life and the virtue of His atoning death,          that they which are approvecl  nlay be tmade imanifest  anlong
     as spiritual food, as true bread from heaven, to those who            you. When ye cotne together therefole,  into one place, this
     hunger and thirst after righteousness and for the only living         is not to eat the Lord's Supper. For, in eating every one
     Bread. Concerning this sacrament four different views have            taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and
     developed and are being held at the present day. Before               another is drunken. What? have ye not houses to eat and
     proceeding, however, with our discussion of the history of            to drink in ? or despise ye the church of God, ancl shanie then1
     the development of this sacrament, we would, first of all?            that have not? What shall I say to  you? shall I praise  y6~1  in
     give an account of the love-feasts (the agape) which accom-           this  ? I praise you not. Wherefore,  nly brethren, when ye
     panied the celebratio'n  of the Lord's Supper during-the period       conic  together to eat, tarry one for another. And if any
\    of the Church's infancy in the New Dispensation. These                tman hunger, let hint eat at honle ; that ye colne not together
     love-feasts were gradually severed from the Lord's Supper             unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when
     and gradually clisappeared  in the second and third centuries.        I  conic."  - end of quote. These love-feasts or community
           In the beginning of the New Testament Church the                feasts  ancl the, Lord's Supper were therefore gradually
     Lord's Supper and these community feasts occured  together.           seperated front  each other. The people ate their imeals  at
     These love-feasts were `very common in the early days of              home, and Communion and the service of the Word were
     the Church of God. It is evident from Acts 20 :7 that this            united. At various times in the history of the Church of


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               377

 God communion and the Word were observed weekly, even               the Lord is one of their auditors. After the washing of
 daily, as especially, for example, in times of persecution.         hands and the bringing in of lights, each is asked to stand
    At first, as we have already observed, the holy Supper of        forth and sing, as he can, a hymn to God, either one from the
 our .Lord was joined with these lo>re-feasts,  and was then         holy Scriptures or one of his own composing L a proof of
 celebrated in the evening, in memory of the last supper of          the measure of our drinking. As the feast commenced with
 Jesus with His disciples. But las early as the beginning of         praye'r, so with prayer it closed. We go from it, not like
 the second century these two exercises were separated, and          troops of mischief-doers, nor bands of roamers, nor to break
 the communion was celebrated in the morning, the love-              out into licentious acts, but to have as much care of our
 feast in the evening, except on certain days of special ob- .modesty  and chastity as if we had been at a school of virtue
 servance. Tertullian gives a detsiled  description of the Agape     rather than a banquet" -end of quote. However, the fact
 when he refutes the slanderous and shameful accusations of          remains thtit, because of the increasing distances between
 the heathens.. But the growth of the churches, and the  rise        the various churches and the carnality of the members of
 of the- manifold abuses led to the gradual disuse, and in the       the churches, these love-feasts degenerated into orgies of
 fourth century even to the formal prohibition of the Agape          drunkenness and shame. Gradually these "agape" disap-
 (the love-feast), which belonged in fact only to the childhoocl     peared;  in fact, they were formally forbidden in the fourth
 and first love of the Church of God in the New Dispensation.        .century.  .
 It was, we  ai-e further informed, a family feast, where rich           -This concludes our review of the love-feasts in the Church
 and poor, masters and slaves met on the same footing,               of God during the time of its New Testament infancy. In
 partaking of a simple meal, hearing reports from distant            our following article we will continue our introductory re-
 congregations, in times of the greatest adversities~  and af-       marks on this important subject oY the sacrament of the
 flictions, contributing to the necessities of suffering brethren    Lord's Supper. We will notice that, although simplicity char-
 and encouraging each other in their daily duties and trials.        acterized the conception of the early Christian Church of this
 Augustine describes his mother,  Monica, as going to these          sacrament, the seeds were sown during this period for the
 feasts with a basket full-of provisions and distributing them.      development of all the various views of the Lord's Supper
 One cannot -doubt that the infancy of the Church of God as          that were to be developed in a later period.              H.V.
 in the New Dispensation and the character of the times
 which were surely characterized by the words of Christ : "In                                I N   H I S   F E A R
 the  tiorld ye shall have tribulations," contributed heavily to                       (Continued from  page 374)
 !hese  love-feasts of the early Christians. Their separation        the consistory that was called in failed to feel the need of
 from carnal Israel and common afflictions certainly drew            their presence. For (1) it did not insist that these disciplined
 them to one another. They were deeply and profoundly                office bearers still be called in for consultation or else that
 conscious of the "tie that binds." And this is surely easily        the meeting be postponed until they could- be there and (2)
 understandable if we bear in mind those peculiar and pkrilous       it considered the "apology" offered, together with the refusal
 times. Their enjoyment of the grace of God and spiritual            to do anything more, as sufficient for them to decide `that
 knowledge of the truth -was not yet characterized by a deep         these  pf5ice bearers who were under diScipline  had not done
and profound knowledge of the truth.                                 that which Classis advised and which the consistory had
    Permit  lme to conclude this description of these  love-         demanded. That is the only thing with which they had to
 feasts of  the early Christians with a quotation from Tertullian    deal, and that thing they had before them on the meeting.
 to which we have already referred in our preceding para-            And the very `fact that these office bearers even tried to vote
 graph. He describes these love-feasts as follows: "About AGAINST the `decision of their consistory and AGAINST
 the modest supper-room of the Christians alone a great ado          the advice of their  Classis  was all the evidence that the
 is made. Our feast explains itself by its name (Tertullian          neighbouring consistory needed for-this case. Had they not
 refers here to the. name "Agape" - H.V.) : The Greeks call          given a final answer it would  have been different. But by
.it love. Whatever it costs, our outlay-in the name of piety is their final answer, it became plain even to the neighbouring
 gain, since with the good things of the feast we benefit the        consistory that these  mei would no longer recognize either
 needy, not as it is with you, do `parasites aspire to the glory     Classis  or Consistory.. On- June 22 these men initiated an.
 of satisfying their licentious propensities, selling themselves     act of insubordination. Does any authority on Church Polity
 for a belly-feast to all disgraceful-but as it is with God          maintain that such must be notified of a meeting that will
 himself, a peculiar  ,respect is shown to the lowly. If the         decide what to do in light of their insubordination?
 object of our feast be good, in the light of that consider its          With words and quotations from other cases that are
 further regulations. As it is an- act of religious service, it      entirely different from this one, you can still the questions
 permits no vileness or immodesty. The participants, before          of sotie and make less doubtful in the minds of a few the
 reclining. taste first of prayer to God. Ai much is eaten as        illegality of the work of the former Classis West. But you
 satisfies the cravings of hunger; as much is drunk as befits        cannot change the facts that way, nor does that make legal
 the chaste. They say it is enough, as those who know that           the illegal actions of all these who walk in error.     J.A.H.

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

                                                                                  ex lWaevLsa  fide, fideique obedientia, sanctitate, a.ut alia alips
11 The Voice of Our Fathers                                                 11 bona qzalitate  et dispositione, tanquam  camsa, seu conditione
I'                                                                          `1    in  lzo,tGne  eGgend   praerepisita,  sed ad  jidem  fideiqzce   obe-
                                                                                  dientia,pls,   sanctitate+pt,   etc." One may see at a glance especial-
                    The Canops  of Dordrecht                                      ly two errors in our English translation. The first is that
                                  PART TWO                                        the clause, "on which it depended," does not appear in the
                                                                                  Latin at all. `And the second error is that the terms "cause,
                      EXPOSITION OF  TI-IE  CANONS                                condition. and prerequisite," do not stand in a coordinate
                        FIRST  &AD  OF  DOCTRINE                                  position in the Latin, as they do in the English rendition.
                      0; DIVINE PREDESTINATION                                    We would therefore offer' the following substitute, even
               Article  9. This election was not founded upon fore-               though it may be literal to the point of clumsiness : "This
                 seen faith, and the obedience of faith, holiness, or             same election was not accomplished out of foreseen faith,
                 any other gpod quality or disposition in man, as the             and the obeclience  of faith, holiness, or any other good quality
                 pre-requisite, cause or condition on which it depended  ;        or disposition, as the cause or condition required beforehand
                 but men are chosen to  faitl! and to the obedience of            (pme~episita.)  in the person to be elected, but is unto faith,
                 faith,  ho,liness,  etc., therefore election is the fquntain
                 of every saving good: from which proceed faith,.                 and the obedience of faith,, holiness, etc." For the rest, we
                 holiness, and the other gifts of salvation, and finally          propose that "proceed" is  harclly an accurate translation of
                 eternal life itself, as  its. fruits and effects, according      "p~~Ofll~lZflZf,"    and could better be  changecl to "flow forth,"
                 to the testimony of the apostle: "He  bath chosen us             which is more in harmony too with the term  "fon~,~'  or.
          .      (not because we were, but) that  te should be holy,              "fountain."
                and without blame. before. him in love." Eph. 1 : 4.                 As we said, the article is directed against the Arminians.
       From the point of view of the controversy against the                      They taught, as is evident from the language of this article,
 Arminians this article is one of the most crucial in all the                     not merely one condition of election and salvation, namely,
 Five Heads of Doctrine, for it strikes at what is undoubtedly                    faith, but several. There was not only faith,' but also the
 one of the most fundamental errors of the Arminians in a                         obedience of faith, holiness, or a walk in sanctification. And
 most fundamental. fashion, at the same time setting forth                        there was finally the good quality or disposition of persever-
 one of the main tenets of the Reformed and Scriptural                            ance unto the encl. Only he who believed and obeyed, and
 position. This does not mean, however, that there is any-                        walked in holiness, ancl then (for this must be added) per-
 thing  essentinlly new in this ninth paragraph ; there is not.                   serverecl unto the end, ancl thus fulfilled the conditions of
 Here- again we find a further development and articulation,                      election and salvation set forth by God, could count on
 of what has already been set forth in the seventh article on                     eternal life. But even then we have not mentioned all the
 the subject of election. The fathers, as  hit were, after they                   conditions which the Arminians taught. Just as they taught
 have developed the truth-of sovereign election in Article 7,                     several different  kincls of election, so they propounded a
 want to make .certain  that everyone, friend .ancl foe alike,                    veritable multitude of conditions unto election. The  Armini-
 understand clearly all the implications of what  they- there                     ans, you know, could, if need be, even speak of an election
 stated. And it must surely be admitted that they succeed                         unto faith. And they could insist that we are saved through
 in accomplishing this purpose to a remarkable degree in the                      faith, and that faith is a gift of God. They could do this by
 present article. This statement, as a succint. and unambiguous                   playing  lzo~trs  poczrs  with the truth: For you will readily
 espression of the Reformed position over against that of the                     understand that no Arminian could possibly take one step
 Arminians, could scarcely be improved upon. It mlmasks                           more on the path of the Reformed truth than this. He
 the Arminian error. It in a few words sets forth a very im-                      would not claim with the Reformed believer that God gives
 portant aspect of the Scriptural truth of election. And it                       this faith to whom  He  wills, unconditionally, and according
 clinches the entire argument by not only quoting Scripture,                      to free and sovereign and unconditional election. Not at all.
 but stressing with just a few words in parentheses the point                     There were more conditions behind which these heretics
 of the text which is quoted. This is indeed a masterpiece!                       could take refuge. The election unto faith was after all also
 It warms the very cockles of a Reformed man's heart to read                      conditional: man must use the light of nature aright, and be
 such an expression of the truth, especially in times like ours,                  humble? meek, pious, and thus worthy and fit for eternal
 when departure from ancl denial of this truth is the order                       life. Always, therefore, the Arminian, in order to shield
 of the clay.                                                                     himself and cover up his corrupt doctrine, seems very
       It is to be regretted that we do not have a very accurate                  cooperative and agreeable. He is willing, seemingly, to re-
 English translation of this article, even though the  transla-                   treat from his position. BUT . . . there is always a con-
tion given does not clestroy  the main sense of the original.                     dition ! And still another condition !
 At best, our translation is not very close to the literal                             The above theory this ninth article blasts in  unmistake-
 rendering. In order to bring this out, let me quote the first                    able language.
 part of the Latin test: "Endem   lmec  ebectio   facta  e s t   Fton                  And the reason is plain. For according to this heresy, the


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D B E ` A R E R                                                379
                                                                                                                                   ._.
decree of election is really not the work of God, but the work      their charge.  `All the more striking this fact becomes, tihin
of man ; and the decision of election is not really in eternity,    we consider that both before and after the Synod of Dord-
but in time.                                                        recht there have been Reformed men .who attempted to  -use
    There is always a condition. And the meaning of the             the term, and who used it freely. In fact, if they had been
term condition is very evident here. On the one hand, the           so minded, it would have been very easy for the fathers to
term is used coordinately with the term  caztse.  And on the.       employ the terms as their o&n at the Synod itself. They had
other hand, the fathers qualified both terms by the modifier        the opportunity, as a study of the written opinions concern-
jvue~episisita, "required before hand." Hence, according to         ing the Arminian theses of the various theologians, offered
the Canons, a condition is a prerequisite (something required       to the Synod, will show. But they stedfastly avoided it when
beforehand) which one must fulfill or comply with in order          it came to formulating the Canons,, even as the authors of our
to receive something or to have something done unto him.            Ca,kechism and of the Confession  Belgica refused to use such
Such a condition, according  .to the Arminians, is faith, the       language when they penned those creeds.
obedience of faith, holiness, perseverance, and also the proper         It may be objected by some to whom a conditional theo-
use of natural light, the proper humility, piety, and fitness       logy is nevertheless dear that in this article, and through-
for eternal life. These prerequisites must be met by man in         out the Canons, the fathers are not opposing a conditional
order to receive from God the blessing of election. Hence,          salvation, or a conditional promise, or a conditional gospel,
man's faith, man's obedience of faith, man's holiness, etc., -      but the heresy of conditional election. Now it may surely
all these are causes or conditions of election. Election is out     be granted that in this present article, at least, the subject is
of faith, out of the obedience of faith, out of holiness, out       election, and the non-conditional nature of election. But for
of the proper use of natural light. Such is literally the           that very reason it must be granted that this article per se
formulation of this article when it sets forth the Arminian)        condemns any theory of .a conditional salvation at the same
heresy : "This same election was not accomplished out of            time. So clear is this, that if there were no other expression
foreseen faith (ex  praevisa  fide), etc."                          on the subject in all our confessions, this one article would
   Now, not only do  the Arminians (who. so frequently              be quite sufficient. This is true because of the positive truth
claim, by the way, to have a very simple gospel) work con-          which the fathers maintain in the same article, as we shall
fusion and make the gospel a very involved thing by their           make plain. The peculiar expression (also employed in the
multiplication of the decrees of election and their multiplica-     well-known "Declaration of Principles of the Protestant Re-
tion of cqnditions,   bu$ they propound a most horrible lie.        formed Churches," and at one time criticized by the late Dr.
They put God in the position of the weatherman. He foresees.        I<. Schilder) that election is the "fountain of every saving
It may be that God is a very excellent forecaster, so that He       good, from which flow forth faith, holiness, and the remaining
never has things figured out incorrectly, and so that, for          gifts of salvation, and. finally eternal life itself, as its fruits
example, He sees infallibly who will believe, and who not,          and eff e&s," absolutely precludes any possibility of speaking
who will persevere, and who not. This makes no essential            of a conditional salvation, any more than one can speak of
difference. God foresees, and on the- basis of that foresight       a conditional election.
He elects or does not elect. He is not the Determiner of all,           And this plain consequence of the doctrine of sovereign
but He is Himself determined by the fulfillment or non-             election as set  fprth in the Canons any Reformed man
fulfillment of the conditions of election by the creatures of       should not only be willing, but eager to admit.
His ~hand,  men. He is not sovereignly free, but absolutely             For the question is always ultimately: is salvation deter-
dependent upon men.                                                 mined by God or by man? The consistently Reformed be-
   In a day when conditional theology is rampant even in            liever, who surely wants to answer, "By God," should not
Reformed circles, it is of the utmost importance that we un-        hesitate to say at the same time: "There are no conditions
derstand this matter clearly. This is the first time that the       which man must or can fulfill."
fathers make mention of any conditions and prerequisites in             And that is not a minor issue, and a fit subject for
the Canons, but it is not the last. And never do you find           academic debate. It is of the very marrow of the Reformed
this expression employed in any other fashion. `Always a            faith !
condition is a prerequisite which must be met by man before                                                                    H.C.H.
he can receive the blessings of salvation from God. It is
something that would indeed bind God. It is something for
which indeed God must wait, before He can go further: It
is indeed something which we must fulfill in order to merit                    I LOVE THE LORD, FOR MY REQUEST
something. This conclusion, if we would indeed desire to                          I love the Lord, for my request
speak confessionally, can never be escaped. It is for that;                         And humble plea He makes His care;
reason, therefore, that the Canons never employ the terms                         In Him through.life  my faith shall rest,
cond,ition   and prereq&site.  in any other way than to place                       For He both hears and answers prayer.
them in the mouths of the Arminians, and to lay them to                                                                 Psalm 116:l


I                                                i
      380                                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARE:R

                                                                           we as churches have had before us. If the latter, however,
                    DECENCY and ORDER                                      is true it would apply and these ministers would then be
      II                                                                I entitled to ali the rights of an honorable emeritation.
                       Emeritation Of Ministers                                It appears from our practices in the past that tie have
                                                                           interpreted this article according to the latter sense. This
             The thirteenth article of our church order reads as fol-      we believe is an error. This does not mean that we protest
      lows: `fMinisters,  who by reason of age, sickness, or other-        supporting ministers who, due to no fault of their own, come
       wise, are rendered incapable of performing the duties of their      into straits such as ours did in Canada. Neither is it our
      office, shall nevertheless retain the honor and title of a min-      belief that the churches are without obligation to help such
      ister, and the church which they have served shall provide           servants of Christ who were shamefully maltreated by the
      honorably for them in- their need  (likewise~  for the orphans       churches they served.  Our contention is, however, that this
      and widows of ministers) out of the common fund of the               does not warrant emeritation and that assistance should be
      churches, according to the general ecclesiastical ordinances         rendered through other channels. This would be both pos-
      in this matter."                                                     sible and proper. And this- support is to be "according to
                          A .   Rea,shs  F o r   Euzbrita.tion             the need" which is to be determined by the consistory of the
             In recent years the question, "What constitutes a valid       church where the minister without a fixed charge is a mem-
       emeritation for a minister of the gospel?' has aroused new          ber. Synod does wrong in fixing a flat sum- on an annual
       interest in our circles. Resulting from the sinful secession of     basis. This may perhaps be an easy way out of a" difficult
       our ertswhile Canadian churches, we were left with two              situation but it is not thk right way. The churches certainly
       ministers without a charge. These men, who had devoted              must help Fvhere there is need but this need ought to be
       years of service to the churches, needed  support which the         investigated and reported by  .the proper body. This cannot
       churches also provided for some time out of the emeritus            be done by a bbdy that sits in session once .a year. The
       fund. Always it remained  a question, however, whether'this         churches-are obligated to support the able-bodied only in as
       was proper and whether it would be necessary to make                far as there is real need when they themselves have realized
       some other provision in -this extraordinary case. It ap-            their duty to provide their own needs. Whether or not this
       peared doubtful whether Article 13 of the D.R.O. applied in         is being done ought to be under the surveillance of the local
       this instance. The result of this was that the matter was           consistory.
       again considered by the Synod of 1953. Whereas the Acts                 This implicitly follows also from the .fifteenth  and six-
       of that Synod have not yet been made available (we under-           teenth articles of the Constitution of the Emeritus Commit-
       stand that they have been confiscated by the former stated          tee. They read as follows : "Art. 15 - A minister who has
       clerk and the group that seeks to undermine our Protestant          been declared emeritus by reason of sickness or weakness,
       Reformed Churches j we will' have to rely upon our memory but later has regained his health shall no longer have claim                  .
       as to what the Synod did. Synod, as we recall it, put the           to support but is morally obliged to provide his own needs.-
       entire matter of emeritation in the hands of a study com-           Art. 16  - A minister ivho has regained his health shall de-
       mittee which is to report at a later date. .The findings of         clare himself eligible for a call or follow another pursuit of
       this c&mittee  will have no bearing upon the case in q&s-           life. The `church who has supported him shall then be free
       tion because since the time of the 1953 Synod one of these          f r o m   t h i s   q b l i g a t i o n . "
     ministers has become schismatic and the other has re-entered              If this is the rule for those who. were once incapacitated
       into the active ministry. However, a study of  %he question         by reason of sickness and are now restored to health, then
      is in itself worthwhile %nd a future Synod does well to ex-          it follows  thai the moral obligation to support ministers with-
       press itself clearly on this important  matter  so that hence-      out fised charges also rests firstly upon the minister himself.
       forth classifying all kinds of cases under emeritation may          He may be declared eligible for a call. In the meantime he
       be avoided.                                                         is duty bound in as much as possible to provide for himself. '
             What constitutes, a valid reason for emeritation? The         .If then there is still need the churches are obligated help
       article stipulates "age, sickness,  dr otherwise," that is, in such need. If after a certain stipulated time no call is
       reasons which render the ministers incapable of performing          forthcoming the able-bodied minister ought to consider this
       the duties .of their office. The problem arises in the inter-       as a Divine directive to turn to sot&e other persuit  of life.
       pretation of the words,  "or otherwise." Does this mean              Such is the course prescribed for emeritus ministers who
       other reasons beside age and sickness which incapacitate the        are restored to health and receive no call  and it is our
       minister? Or does it mean that although the minister is             opinion that these abnormal cases do not warrant greater
       capable of performing the duties of,,his office there are other     consideration than the others.
       reasons and circumstances over which he has no control                  That emeritation does not enter into the cases we cited
       which make his functioning in the office impossible, and,           is further evident from Article 13 of the church order itself.
       therefore, entitle him  t'o emeritation ? If the former of these    The article simply does not cover these cases. It speaks only
       is correct emeritation would not apply in the cases which           of various instances where ministers are incapacitated. They


                                             T H E   STA.NDARD   B E A R E R                                                     381     -

become personally unable to perform their work due to "old           this was not true of the professor a few years ago. He has
age, sickness or otherwise." In their commentary ori the             been and is still actively engaged in the ofice and, conse-
Church Order; Monsma and Van Dellen  explain this "other-            quently, the term "emeritus" applied here is a misnomer.
wise" as follows:                                                    He is today functioningin  a particular work of the office of
    `(After  mentioning age and. sickness, the Church Order          the ministry of the Word and is, therefore, not an emeritus
adds, `or otherwige.  This refers to co-$itions  pertaining to .minister  but an active minister. The time for his emeritation
the person of the minister, just as age and sickness do. For         is when it becomes necessary for reasons of disability to lay
the expressions are clearly kindred. The word `otherwise'            down his work and retire from duty. Now, if it is desired
simply refers to conditions which can be justly classified with      that then professor retain a definite  connection with some
ok1 ages  and sickness. For- example : nervous break-downs,          church it might be conceded that he be given a title such as
permanent bodily injury, etc."                                       `Associate Pastor of .__      ___,     _. congregation" but this
    This view substantiates the position that emeritation can        is not at all necessary. His connection with the congregation
be granted only in the case of personal disability. This             is in his membership &nd his title of minister ensues from
position we think is correct- and in harmony with the idea,          the office he holds. as professor which is the ofice of the
of emeritation which indicates that one's service-has come           ministry of the word though not of any particular or indivi-
to a termination.                                                    d u a l   c h u r c h .
   We have still another case in our  churdhes   which is                Next time, D.V., we will discuss other phases of emerita-
worthy of consideration. The Rev. Ophof, one of the profes-          tion.
sors in our Seminary, was granted an emeritation (without                                                                    G.v.d.B.
support) a few years ago. This we believe was neither
necessary nor according to the idea of  an.  eineritation.
Neither sickness, age, nor disability warrant this action.. It
has been argued that this was necessary in order that the
professor might retain the honor and title of a minister of                       A L L   A R O U N D   U S
the  .Word.  This, however, we claim is not true. He has
that honor and title by virtue of his being professor .in our
seminary. We -claim, as we wrote- in the Standard  Bearer                A friend gave us a copy of ,!Belijden  en Beleven,"  a Re-
of May 15, 1953, that the office of Professor of Theology and        formed Weekly of March 5, 1954, edited by  Prof. F. W.
that of the Ministry of. the Word -are inseparable. From             Grosheide of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. The paper
this issue `we  ,quote  the following excerpt and our readers        contains a rather large picture of Billy Graham, and under-
will have to refer to that issue to get the entire argument:         neath the picture we read the following : (I translate freely
   "Our conclusion is, therefore, that there are only three          -M.S.)               :
distinct offices in the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. This            "Amkrican  Evangelist Billy Graham conducts crusade
does not mean that the task of training men for the- ministry        throughout England.
of the gospel which is the labor' of the professors of theology          "The noted American preacher Billy Graham arrived
does not belong to the institute of the church. It certainly         last week Tuesday with the `United  States' in Southampton,
does. Our contention, based especially upon the passage of           England, where he will reside for three months in order to
II Timothy 2  :2, is that this work does not  belong  to a           shake- people spiritually `awake at the great meetings, mam-
separate office but is inherent in the office  of the mi&stry  of    moth gatherings, and to point them to Jesus Christ.
the gospel. And, whereas the work is 6f such magnitude                   "Billy Graham is coming to Amsterdam in July. On Sa-
that it requires the whole effort and time of  th& office bearer,    turday and Sunday, July 3 and 4, he is speaking, D.V., in
the minister  who functions as professor  df theology should         the  AIjollo  Hall. It is presumed that he will also appear
be relieved of  his congregational duties so that he may devote      in St. Paul's Church at Amstelveen.
himself entirely to that labor."                                         "When Graham came to the London Waterloo Station
   This is our position still and in the light of this it should     sacred hymns were sung by the masses. A portion of the
be  .evident  that an emeritation for the professor is unneces-      spectators broke through the line of police to see at close
sary. Suppose for a mdment  that the professor, who is al-           range the big blonde preacher, who called out to them: `God
ready emeritus-minister, should become ill or because of-age         bless j;ou,' It took twenty minutes before Graham and his
finds it necessary to lay down his work in the school. Must          wife and assistants could squeeze through the crowds to the
he then be made emeritus the second time ? Would he then             waiting auto.
also become emeritus-professor? Article 13 of our church                 "What is sympathetic is that Billy Graham in spite of all
order as we understand it does not allow his being made              the great gatherings-his audience is about  2% million a
emeritus at this time. The term "emeritus" (although it              year 1 remains unassuming. He is himself of the opinion
does not appear in the article itself) means "retired from           that these mighty gatherings do not tiean much. He is only
active service, one who. has served out his time." Certainly         interested in holding the attention of his listeners. Graham is

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

   an orthodox  pieacher,  and wants to evangelize  for the             Here is a quotation of what he wrote which I thought was
    Church, and to the Church.                                          nice. "We noted that every man could not have been the
          "His coming to the Netherlands is  Also prayerfully           recipient of the benefits of the atonement because of the
   awaited, for which the Netherlands Billy Graham Committee            NATURE OF CHRIST'S SATISFACTION:  lst, Christ
   is organizing prayer-meet&s, of which the first was already          was the Head and Representative of a certain group of
   held last week Saturday in the English Church on the                 people ; 2nd, He was the Substitute and bore the sins and
    Begijnhof in Amsterdam. More of these services-will  ftillow        guilt of those people whom He represented ; 3rd, He per-
    on the last Sat&days  of March, April, May and June." '             formed a Penal work so that EVERY command of the
          Yes,  Billy  does it  again. Wherever he goes the people      Law, as well as every punishment demanded by the Law was
    are gullible it seems. When he goes to the Halls of Congress,.      fulfilled for those same `many' whom He died to save  ;  4th,
    the legislators take of their hats and `suddenly become religi-     He performed a Priestly work -His sacrifice  was accepted
    ous. When he goes to the masses, they all but ride him on           by God the Father and so must merit the eternal acceptance
    their shoulders. When  he goes to the Reformed Churches             of His people, else we are still in our sins. The opponents
    of the Netherlands, they say : Come on, Billy ! we are praying      of election must in fact deny all these things, or else believe
f o r   y o u !                                                         things which destroy each other." A little farther down in
          How the  gpld has become dim!                                 the article he writes: "The EXTENT of the satisfaction of
          Quite a Billy !                                               Christ,  -is the' very same as the INTENT of the Great God
                                                                        who gave Him the work to do, and those for whom He was
                                                                        to perform the work." And still farther, we read this: "The
                                                                        ORDER in which Gocl chose to do these things which are
          This is the title of a little booklet of which I have re-     necessary to the salvation of a people for Himself appears
    ceived two issues so far. The editor is a certain Jay Green         to be as follows, according to the Scriptures: FIRST, God
    whose latest address is 219 James, S. E., Grand Rapids,             chose those whom He would  love, some from among men,
    Michigan, however, the booklet is post-marked Wilmore,              but not' all : `But we are bound to give thanks alway  to God
    Kentucky. I do not know how I happened to get  eon the              for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hntlz
    mailing list, but I hope they will continue to send me' this        f~;O~~~ the bec&&g chosen you to salvation through sanctifica-
    monthly periodical. I found it most interesting reading.            tion  df the Spirit and belief of the truth.' He chose the
    Though we  would  perhaps say things `a little  dieerently,  as,    people,, then the means of their salvation,  &rm~glz  sanctifica-
    for esample,  the idea of the so-called "Covenant of Peace,"        tion and belief. SECOND  .He gave those He had chosen to
    we agree in the main with  the general contents of these            Christ Jesus : `Behold I and the children which God hath
    booklets. There appears from the two issues I read a studied        given Me.' `I have manifested Thy name unto the men which
    attempt to emphasize the sovereignty of God in predestina-          Thou  gav&t  Me out of the world  ; Thine they were, and
    tion, -the. total depravity of man, the vicarious aton&ent of       Thou  gavest  them Me.' `This is His (the  F,ather's)
    Christ, the  unconditionality  of `faith, and other fundamental     will, that of ALL which He hath given Me I should
    truths in which the Protestant Reformed man rejoices when           lose (how many) NONE (not a single solitary one)'
    he reads them, and especially from one outside of our own           (See John 6  jnd 10). THIRD? then, Christ identified Him-
    c i r c l e s .                                                     self with these people, and He undertook the great work of
          The appearance of `these booklets is similar to those is-     bringing them to heaven for an eternity to enjoy God for-
    sued by the late Arthur  WI Pink which he entitled.: Scrip-         ever and- ever. In order to bring them, He had to satisfy
    ture Studies. Perhaps the publishers took their cue from            Justice, and all the work of satisfcation was wrought in
    Pink since I &iced  that they also quote quite freely from          order that God might be both just and the Justifier of them
    him. Other English writers are freely quoted, such as John          that come unto Him via Christ Jesus, their Saviour. How
    Owen, Thomas Brooks, Thomas Manton,  Isaac Watts' and               much, and how exclusively Christ identified Himself with
    otliers.  Some of these Puritav  writers could say profound         this particular group can be seen in the great intercessory
    things.                                                             prayer of John 17, `I pray for them: I pray NOT for the
       But allow me .to give you a few samples of the subjects          world, but for them which Thou hast given Me' and further
    these booklets treat of and some of the things said about           on, He mentioned me, `and others of His elect in this age:
    them. And. by  the way, most of the subjects are treated            `Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which
    se&atum,  -i.e., ihe articles treated are not complete in one       shall believe  on- Me through  theil: word.' FOURTH, the:
    issue but may be continued in succeeding issues. For ex-            names of these whom God had chosen were written in a
    ample, the subject:  Christ,  Our Beloved Mediator-has              book back yonder before the foundation of the world, see
    been under treatment for two-years, and the editor tells us         Rev. 13 : 8 and 17 : S. FIFTH, God predestinated and ordain-
    that he has hardly scratched the surface. In the issue I have       ed those chosen to be sanctified and to believe the truth
    before me the editor in .treatment  of this subject is writing      (Acts 13 :48, Rom. 8 :29, 30, Eph. 7 :4-13). SIXTH, Christ,
    under the theme.: The Extent of His Atoning Satisfaction.           when the fulness of time had come,  cliecl for MANY (not


                                             T&E  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              383

  all) but only for those who had  be& given Him, and               be used for men-is that not the most pathetic picture
  whose names had been written in the Book of Life. `All the        imaginable ?"
  Father giveth Me shall come to Me.' `Who gave His life               I say once more, that I enjoyed reading the two booklets ~
  a ransom for MANY! It is evident that the many, and the           sent to me. Though we would perhaps criticize some of their
  ones given,  ancl the ones written, and the ones elected, are     contents, and though we would no doubt say the same
  all the same."                                                    truths differently (because the editor is evidently under the
     Writing on the general subject  of. FAITH, and  more           influence of the English writers), we nevertheless enjoyed
  particularly on the &b-title: Faith Is An Operation of God,       seeing in print a studied `attempt to emphasize cardinal doc-
  A Free Gift, the editor, answering some objections to this        &nes of' the Reformed faith.  Naybe  such a man as Jay
  doctrine, declares among other &ings  : "It is indeed a hard      Green should be contacted (he is stationed right in Grand
  saying, and impossible for the natural mind to receive, that      Rapids). If he believes what  he writes, he is not far away
  `no man  CAN come unto me,  execept  it were given unto           from'the Protestant Reformed faith.
  him' of the Father. Any teacher who  affirvs this  t&h may                                                                M.S.
 expect some to go away and walk no more  with him. If
  that Paramount Teacher, that Man who spoke as no man
  ever spoke before or after, I say, if that Man could not                           CONTRIBUTIONS
  teach this doctrine in such a way as to hold all His followers
  to the truth- then who art thou, 0 man,  who schemeth                                                         March 31, 1954
  how you can present the truth and still hold all those who        Dear editor of the  Stundard Bearer:
  hear you  ?" And a little. farther down, he writes: ."This          The Hope School Board requests that you publish the
  doctrink,  that God works faith in man, and that man hath         following correction in the April's issue of the Standard
  nothing in him which encourages faith to arise, has always        Bearer.
  been a target of those who deny the everlasting and particular       Correction : ,In ?he Dec. 15 issue of the Standard ,Bearer
  love of God for His own."                                         under the topic "Doctrine and Life," it was revealed that
     And finally, to quote no more, here is an excerpt of what      Rev. Blankespoor received the following announcement for
  the editor wrote oh the subject: THE MERCIFUL LOVE                his bulletin in writing: "The Hope School Board must con-
  OF GOD TO HIS OWN, and the sub-title being: God's                 duct a financial drive which will be done the evening of
  Love to  His Vessels of Mercy is from Everlasting: "Our aim       Dec. 2, $1,000  or more must be paid on the money we
  is that THE EXCEEDING' GREATNESS OF  GOD'S'                       loaned. Also we have expensive bus repairs, which has
  LOVE TO  USWARD  shall become better known to us all.             sadly depleted our school operating fund. We trust you will
  `The great love wherewith He loved us,' is such that it `pas-     receive those who call on you Dec. 2 and help for this needy
  seth knowledge' (Eph. 3 :15-21). Many of today's popular          cause."
  sects, including the modernists who shave  taken over the old        We wish. to inform, the readers of the Standard Bearer
  denominations, make a very great effort to show they are\ that Rev. Blankespoor did not receive such a written an-
  worshipping  a God of love. The caricature which they wor-        nouncement. Therefore it is not true that Rev. Blankespoor
  ship as a god, however, has very little resemblance to the        mutilated and apocopated said written announcement, neither
  true God  - even in the so-called love which  they  claim for     was the announcement read to him  ; the secretary. simply
  him. This miserable little god of theirs loves every man With     informed him of the drive and its necessity by telephone.
  a white-hot love, but he (alas) cannot do anything for them       Consequently, Rev. Blankespoor used his own words on his
  except wish and hope that they will find some secret source       b u l l e t i n .
  of power to respond to His love and thus make it possible                      The Board of the Hope Prot.  Ref'd  Chr. School
  for Him to enjoy the consummation of His love. The God                                        John Kalsbeek, S+y.
  of the saints is a happy, satisfied God, Who needs nothing            P. S. It is not the editor's fault that, the announcement
  and no one to maintain His happiness-and this God that            was published in this form. It simply was handed to me in
  WE worship is a glorious God, an Almighty One .who al-            the. form in -which I published it.                    Ed.
  ways has been, is, and always will be the Master of His
  world, or worlds as the case may be ; this God is .Love,  and                              :jc  1:  *    *
  He loves people, and He is so powerful, so wise, so con-                                                          May 3, 1954
  trolling a God, that He is wise and able to bring them            Dear Editor of the  Startdard Bearer.,
  happily into heaven with Him for the rest of eternity. That        Although the article of D. Scheele. in the "Concordia"
  other god but exists in the imagination of the blind guides,      hardly merits an answer, it nevertheless has in it some ob-
  but if he did exist, how `miserable would he be, to love all      vious misrepresentations which for the sake of the Prot-
  men,, but to have his love unreturned, and to see the greater     estant Reformed Church in Lynden should be corrected. Two
part of those he loved cast into the lake. of fire, an inferno      of the brethren  .of Lynden  and the undersigned went to see
  He Himself prepared, but which He had hoped would not             Scheele thinking  that if his errors were pointed out to him
                                                                                                 \

                                      i


he  youlcl  be willing to correct. them. It has become obvious      `conditional' and such alike. Oftentimes by doing this they,
. that we were expecting too much.                                  the opposition, were accusing their `own men such as Rev.
    -Scheele  says, "The. very same man, whb today is broad-        Vos,  ReS. Heys, etc."
casting these things around, at one  time, when the Rev. A.            The statement is untrue in every sense of the word.
 Camllienga  laborkd in Lynden, did the opposite. In season            It would have been far better if Scheele had never written
 and out of season he praised the exc$lency  of Rev.  4. Cam-       this- `article. I say this  ~because  in the first place, Scheele
 i%nga.  Whomever he met he urged to come and he& our               makes use of half truths which are meant to deceive, and
inissionaiy.     30 one, ever  preacked  more beautifully and       which are therefore the worst form of lie. And secondly,
 richly, especially on the.Heidelberg  Catechism, as he claimed     Scheele has convinced many people that he has thrown over-
 at that time . . . . And yet today, this slandering. To say the    board. the stand he took in  Chatham  against conditional
 very least, I call this antagonism."                               theology. We ask in his own words, "What are we to think
  .,.-These  remarks in this connection.                            of this change ?"
     1) Whether these things are irue or hot I do not know.            And the people in Lynden have told me that now as
 It makes no difference.                                            far as the personal elelnent  of the whole history is concerned
     2)  The fact is that according to Scheele's own words          the matter is closed with them. A doctrinal debate is always
 these things happened at least one and one half to two years       welcome, but if the opposition insists on degenerating the
 ago. The condition debate was not heard yet  in these parts        issue to "a moral issue" the matter is closed.         H.  Ha&o
 of the country in all its details, and Rev. Cammenga was                                     -            -
 yet a minister in good standing in the Protestant Reformed
 Church. When it became known that Cammenga too sup-                       MY SONG FOREVER SHALL RECORD
 ported the conditional theology of the Liberated, our people                  My song forever shall record
 here would have  n&thing more to do with him.                                 The tender mercies of the Lord;
     3) I am convinced now more than ever that Rev. Cam-                       Thy. faithfulness will I proclaim,
 menga did the cause of the Protestant Reformed truth great                    Ancl every age shall know Thy Name.
 damage in his lab&s in, this field.                                            I sing of mercies that endure,
     4) It is obvious that our people did no slandering of                      Forever  builded  firm and sure.
 the name of Rev. Catimenga  but only became awake to the                       Of faithfulness that-never dies,
 fact that he was attempting to take from them the truth of                     Established changeless in the skies.
 God's sovereign unconditional promise and election.                            Behold God's truth and grace displayed,
     Scheele  goes. on and says, ". . . . the Rev. Hoeksema re-                 For He has faithful covenant made,
 ports that the congregation of Lynden again and again                          And He has sworn that David's son
 wanted Rev. H. Veldman  to be put on trio, but that he                         Shall ever sit upon his throne.
 was called a  `kerk verwoester  `. . . Now Rev. Hoeksema                       The heairens  shall join in glad accord
 knows as well as I that this accusation against Rev. H. Veld-                  To praise Thy wondrous works, 0 Lord
 man originated . . . in the consistory room of our former                      Thy faithfulness shall praise command
 Protestant Reformed Church in Chatham  . . . ."                                Where holy ones assembled stand.
     1) The stafenient  as such may be true, I don't know. But                  Who in the heavenly dwellings fair
 the impression is left that :th%t  was not a reason why .Rev.                  Can with the Lord Himself compare ?
 Veldmaq  was left off of the trio. However that is not true.                   Or who among the mighty shares
 The opposition did  give  that as one of their reasons, al-                    The likeness that Jehovah bears?
 though officially,  tihy  Rkv. Veldman was not placed on
 the trio whether the term originated ifi Chatham  or not.                      With fear and reverence at His feet
     2) The  .Consisto?y  would  neirer  give their reasons for                 God's holy ones in council meet;
 putting only "condition men" on trio. Undoubtedly If they                      Yea, more than all about His throne
 did, some of the politics of the Consistory would come to                      Must he be feared, and He alone.
 liiht.                                                                         0 Thou Jehovah, God of hosts,
     3) If the opposition usecl .the term "kerk v&woester"  in                  What mighty  one Thy likeness boasts ?
 the form of a quotation which Schcele  alleges, they' would                    In all Thy works and vast designs
 have- said, "Rev. Veldman was called a `kerk verwoester' in                    Thy faithfulness forever shines.
 Chatham;  but we can't believe that." But it was evidently                     The swelling sea obeys Thy will,
 said many times that Rev. Veldman certainly was a  "kerk                       Its angry waves Thy voice can still:
 verwoester."                                                                   Thy mighty enemies are slain,
     Scheele says, "Whenever we had a reading sermon, and                       Thy foes resist Thy power in vain.
 we had lots of them, the sermon was criticized as being                                                                Psalm S9 :l-8


