     VOLUME' xxx11                                OCTOBEX  1, 1955  -  GRAND  RAPIDS~  MICHIGAN                           NUMBER 1

                                                                         fear that all their evil will be exposed. They hug all their
             M E D I T A T I O N                                         rottenness in their bosom and hide and hide and hide. That
                                                                         is the life of the world. That's the reason they much rather
                                                                         go to the show than to the church of God. There in the
                    Divine Examination                                   church the Word of God shines upon them and reveals unto
                                                                         their intellect that they are corrupt sons and daughters of
             "Search me, 0 God,. and know my heart; try me,
             and know my thoughts: and see if there be any               Adam. And they spontaneously shrink from such examining
             wicked way in me, and lead me  in. the way ever-            light. Moreover, even if they do go to church and have a
             lasting." Psalm  139:23,.  24                               momentary look into the law of liberty, they go away im-

    It seems to me that it takes quite
    It seems to me that it takes quite 'a bit of courage to go
                                              'a bit o                   mediately and have forgotten what manner of man they are.
to a psychoanalyst to have your soul examin
to a psychoanalyst to have your soul examined. First of all,                 They dare not approach the Almighty God who is Omnis-
because they ask you all manner of soul-sear
because they ask you all manner of soul-searching questions.             cient  and Omnipresent and terrible in all His virtues. For
We naturally shrink from such an examin:
We naturally shrink from such an examination. One has                    they are corrupt and love it.
to be very brazen and hard in order to be ,able to endure                                          +  *  :jc  *
such thoroughgoing analysis. In the second place, we in-                     It will now be clear when we say that to go to the
stinctively feel that these analysts are very apt to misjudge            Living God with a prayer for a complete psycho-analysis is a
the mass of data which they might gather from us. Finally,               tremendous prayer.
the subject matter they go after is very corrupt. We like to                 It is tremendous for He need not ask any soul-searching
hide this corruption. No one likes to have all the corruptness           questions of you. He knows it all.
of his heart bared for the eye of anyone.                                    Tremendous, for He will surely see all your and my
    Still, many people go to be psychoanalyzed. They seem corruption.
to have overcome all these objections. Perhaps- they reason                  Terrible, for He is the Holy and Righteous One.
that they themselves after all are providing the data to `be               -Still, some men and women were found of all the ages
examined. In other words, they reason that they will tell                that came unto the terrible God`for a complete examination.
just as much as they please. And that is true. No soul can                   David was one of them. Listen to him: "Search me, o
really be thoroughly examined by mere man.                               God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thought:
    If that is true with regard to an examination conducted              and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in
by man, how will man find the courage to go to the Living                the way everlasting."
God to be psycho-analyzed ?                                                  Permit me to say right here that David never would have
    We can assure you that no natural man ever dares to                  had the courage either if it had not been for the Spirit of
(do this.                                                                God that dwelled in him. No natural man will ever do this,
    Emphasis is placed- on the scriptural dogma that no                  unless God brings him to it by His Spirit.
natural man will come to God. That he is unwilling to be,                    That prayer is tremendous. Search me, means literally:
psycho-analzed by God. He hates Him too much to be will-                 Dig- into my heart, o God 1
ing to come unto Him.                                                        From the ethical point of view the heart in man is the
    Equal emphasis is laid on the dogma that natural man                 very core of his being. It fathers all his desires and affec-
is  zsnable  to come unto God. And that also is true. The                tions; his will and longing and yearning; his thoughts and
dead cannot rise by their own volition.                                  meditations; and all his imaginations. It is that mysterious
- But we may freely add also this, that natural man does                 centre in you from which spring all the issues of your life.
never dare to come unto Him to be thoroughly examined.                   Deeper than the heart you cannot go in man. Hence, as
They that are called darkness do not come to the Light for . your.heart  is, so you are..

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

     Therefore it is so trell?endous  a prayer when you ask tha        For the Lord might hear your prayer, Have you ever
Lord to search and to know that heart. For that heart              considered this ?
harbors all our innate wickedness. The heart is deceitful              Suppose you are a pleasure-mad Christian ? Suppose
above all things and desperately wicked ; who can know it?         that the besetting sin of your life is the love of pleasure.
lame&s the prophet !. And to invite God to examine that            And suppose further that God arrests you on this way of
heart is a tremendous prayer. For note that David does             pleasure on ivhich  your feet are traveling ? If He does, you
not ask simply for the Lord to know it all and then depart         will suffer. For then you will have to deny yourself all the
from him. That is not necessary at all. For God knows              pleasure you love.
all the hearts and the secrets within. No, he asks the Lord            Suppose you are a miser, my brother. I mean a Christiarv
to know and search him with the implied request to acquaint        miser, shameful term. I have in .mind a regenerated and
him, that is, David, with God's appraisal of all the corrup-       converted man whose besetting sin is miserliness. It is pery
tion He may find. And such knowledge will prove to be              difficult for him to give toward the church budget, the poor
terrible' indeed.                                                  and needy and all causes that are manifestations of the
     It takes tremeridous  courage to pray thus.                   coming Kingdom of God. And suppose you pray as David:
                             *.  *  *  *                           Search me, o God and -know my thoughts : and see if there
                                                                   be any wicked way in me! Then you must expect that
     Moreover, David says: Try me and know my thoughts.            God will, through His Word and Spirit, reveal to you that
The heart is the workshop ; the) thoughts are the products that    you are a miser. And that will hurt.
are produced there.                                                    Practically it means that through the Spirit of Christ
     And the second member of this tremendous petition is a        and the wisdom of God's Word you will mortify the mem-
request that God throw all the issues of David's naturally         bers of the body of your death. And again: that hurts.
corrupt heart in the crucible of His holy and all-knowing                                    *  *  +  8
Eye in order to try them in the fire of His holiness. And to
let him know the outcome.                                              Still, after all is said and done it is also sweet to forego
     This is terrible, for then we become acquainted with all      sin and the devil.
our corruption, such as our miserliness, our worldly-minded-           It is wonderful to say "no" to the devil a&l to the world,
ness, our pleasure-madness, our selfishness, our coldness and      and to your own sinful heart. It is good to sanctify your-
Indifference to God and Godly things; our hatred and our           selves.
malice ; all the malignity- of our heart and mind will be laid         There is no pleasure in wickedness. Wicked ways are
bare together with God's appraisal of them and it.                 very sorrowful ways. There is a bitter after-taste to the
     Ye$, how needful to pray thus. For who in the whole           fruits of hell and the devil. He, that is, the devil, promises
wide world will be able to diagnose me and my heart and            you roses, but when you assent to him he brings you only
my thoughts except the God of all the heavens and of the           thorns and briars.
earth. He knows all our  hea.rts.and  the secrets within. And          Pray then your sanctifying prayers to your God: Lord,
He alone can judge of  them-  aright.  For only He is the          if Thou see me walking on ways that lead to hell: hold me,
Holy One. Who can undeistand  his errors? Hence, cleanse           arrest me ; arrest me, even though it will hurt my inborn
Thou me from secret faults !                                       pride of life ; arrest me, lest I insult Thy holiness and right-
     Moreover it is a sanctifying prayer.                          eousness and become a shameful  cause of the slandering of
     For the  PsaAmist says: If Thou, 0 Lord, would behold         Thy glorious Name.
a way of wickedness in me: make me to see it, Arrest me             And this prayer is also glorious.
on that way of wickedness. Note that David proceeds from               It ends thus : And lead me in the way everlasting !
the heart to the thoughts of the heart and from both to                The way everlasting! The way from of old! What
his way.                                                           glorious reality !
                                                                       It is the way on which the saints of all the ages have
     The way of man is the life of man from the heart.             trod. It is the way that is lighted with the light of God's
     And that way of man has_ direction in it and therefore        everlasting love. Listen to Solomon's characterization of it:
leads to some goal, some end.                                      "The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth
     Now this' is the scriptural teaching that the way of          more and more unto the perfect day."
wickedness is directed towards sin and the devil so that               It is the highway that leads to heaven. The angels of
properly its end is hell.                                          God accompany you on that way. The  &ye of God's love
     So David prays the Lord to behold his way from the            beams upon you when you travel there.
heart and if the Lord diagnoses that he is walking on a way            It is the way from of old, that is, the way which God
of sin to arrest him on that way come what may.                    thought out from all eternity. It is the realization of His
     That is a very sanctifying prayer and hence may bringl        everlasting covenant that man should be to the praise of His
you no end of sorrow.                                              glory. He delighted in that way from everlasting.

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

   Moreover, it is the Christ of God. That way is founded
in the blood and tears, in the suffering and death of His                                         THE  iTANDARD   BEARER
beloved Son, so that the Covenant of God might stand, might                 Semi-monthly,  en-refit   monthly   du&l,g  Jme,  kcly and  August
be maintained, might be exalted. So that we hear that Son                         Published by the  REFO~EXJ   FRIZE  PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION
call Himself : I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.                        P. 0. Box 881, Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
   Finally, it is the everlasting way, for it leads to life eternal                              Editor-&v.   H E R M A N   HOEKSEMA
with God in the heavens.                                                    Communications rdative to contents should be addressed to Rev.
   It is true that walking on that way will bring men much'                 H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
suffering, nay, moreover bonds and imprisonment. Nevei                      All matters relative -to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
                                                                            G. Pipe, 1463 Ardmore St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7, Michigan.
fear: the end of the way is life eternal in perfection.                     Announcements and Obituaries  mu&  be mailed to the above
   If you walk on that way everlasting you will shout in                    address and will be published at a fee of $1.00 for  each  notice.
the teeth of devils and ungodly men. Even if I go through                   RENEWALS:  Unless a definite request for discontinuance is re-
the valley `of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil : Thy               ceived, it is assumed &at thee  subscriber wishes the subscription
                                                                            to  continue  without the formality of a renewal order.
rod and Thy staff they comfort me!                                                                     Subscription price : $4.00 per year
                            * * *  *                                             Entered  as Second  Class matter at  GrcnuE   Ra@s,  Michigan
   Pray then this tremendous prayer.
   Do not hesitate to pour out your hearts before His Om-
niscient and Omnipresent Eye. And say: Search me, o God,                                                           C O N T E N T S
and know my heart. I do not know it myself, for by nature                                                                                                                                      8
                                                                         MEDITATION  -
it is deceitful more than anything. I cannot kndw it. But                          Divine Examination . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._...................... 1
know Thou it. And know it.. so that Thou let me know Thy                    ~             Rev. G. Vos
appraisal  bf it. Let me also know all the sores and bruises
and putrifying sores of the which Isaiah speaks. So that I               EDI~RIALS  -
                                                                                   Based on Untruths............... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
may come for the cure and balm to my Christ of God. Know'                                 Rev. H. Hoeksema
my thoughts and imaginations, o God. Throw them into the                                                                                                                                            ,  :
crucible of Thy holiness so that I may know them. Teach me               OUR  DOCYTRINE   -
                                                                                   The Triple Knowledge (Part III  -Of Thankfulness) . . . . . . 6
to kill, to mortify all the members of my old man of sin. And                             Rev. H.  Hocksema
arrest me if these issues have led me to walk on a way that
leads to hell.                                                           FROM  HOLY  WRIT -'
                                                                                   Exposition of I  Corinbhians  l-4..  .-
   And set my feet on that wondrous way that leads to Thy                                Rev. G. Lubbers
heart. Cause me to walk in Christ, Who is the Way to the
Father.                                                                 FEATURE   ARTICL.E-
   For I yearn to. see Thy glorious Face !                      G.V.               Choosing A Vocation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._............ `..12
                                                                                          Rev. G.  Lanting

                      Announcement                                       CONTENDING  FOR  TEE FAITH -
   The Office Bearers Conference will be held October 4  ati                       The Church and +he Sacraments.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
                                                                                          Rev.  I%  Veld,man
8 o'clock at the Hope Protestant Reformed Church. Topic:
"The Duties of the Deaconite in Regard to the Distribution               THE VOICE  OF OUR  FATHERS-
of Alms." '                                                                        The Canons o.f Dordrecht  (Rej,ection  ojf Errors). . . . . . . . . . .16
                                                                                          Rev. H. C. Hoeksema
   At the congregational meeting of Creston Protestant Re-
formed Church, held September 19, a call was extended to                 DECENCY AND  ORDF,R-
the Rev. G. Vos of Hudsonville.                                                    T h e   E l e c t i o n   o f   E l d e r s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 8
                                                                                          Rev. G.  Vanden  Berg

                        IN MEMORIAM                                      ALL AROUND  us-
                                                                                   Early Lost, Etily Saved?. . . . . . . . . _. ._. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20
   The Board of the Free Christian School of Edgerton, Minn.,                      One Year After Billy Graham.. . . . _. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
extends its sincere sympathy to our former Secretary, Ray                                 Rev. M.  Schipper
Brunsting, in the loss of his mother,
                     MRS. R. BRUNSTING                                   COXTRIBUTIONS  -
   May our Triune God give him comfort and strength, for He                       Anniversary  -4ddress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._.................. 22
alone knows of our true sorrows.                                                          Rev. G. M. Ophoff                                  -'
  As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you                         Missionary Notes . . . . . ..A................................ 24
and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem. Is.  66:13.                                     Rev. G. Lubbers
                                    John  Dotter,  President
                                    Henry Miersma, Secretary

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

     I                                                                       "If anyone complains that he has been wronged by the
                 E'D `I T  0  R I A  I;  S
.                                                                        decision of a minor assembly, he shall have the right to ap-
                                                                         peal to a major ecclesiastical assembly, and whatever may
                                                                         be agreed upon by a majority vote shall be considered settled-
                         Based On Untruths                               Qnd binding, unless it be proved to conflict with the Word
           We have a few more remarks about the arti'cle in Gene-        of God or with the Articles of the Church Order, as long as
     forwzewd Kerkblcrd  to which we referred in the last number         they are not changed by a General Synod."
     of  Tlzs  Startdayd  Beavw.                                             It was the wild rambling of the opposition about this
          Meyering, quoted by  Visee, writes that, at first, I was       prticle  in court which caused the judge to wonder whether
     very favorably inclined to the movement of the liberated or         they stood for any law and order in the church or wanted
     to the "liberation."                                                every one to walk his own sweet way as his conscience
           This is not true, at least not in respect to their concep-    dictated.
     tion of the truth of the covenant. I never did agree with               This was especially true of Kok, but also of some of the
     them and never will. To agree with them ,in dogwzaticis,  in        others.
     doctrine, as do De Wolf, Kok, De Jong, e.a. would be to                 I will quote a few instances from the Court Record.
     deny all the fundamental truths the Protestant Reformed                 First of all a quotation  in which Kok tries to explain
     Churches ever since 1924 maintained.                                what is nieant by a majority vote in the clause "and what-
                                                                         ever may be agreed upon by a majority vote shall be con-
           As soon as I heard about their views, even before I read      sidered settled and binding." In court rambled on as follows :
     the many brochures that were written PYO and con on the                 "Yes, your Honor, (he is addressing the Court here, who
     controversy, I wrote Dr. Schilder a very strong cdndemnatory        asked him a question) Article 31, when it says by a majority
     letter, which the Rev. Ophoff also read, in which I expressed       vote, we read in Article 30 that `In major assemblies only
     my utter amazement at the fact that he `could have so               such matters shall be dealt with as could not be finished in
     changed that, at the first meeting of the "liberation" in The       minor assemblies, or such as pertain to the major assemblies
     Hague he could plead with the gathering for .organic  union         in common. No, wait a minute, the first sentence- (Read-
     with the Christian Reformed Churches in the Netherlands.            ing) `In these assemblies ecclesiastical matters only shall be
          Afterwards, all I wrote in  The Stanhrd Bearer about           transacted-and that in an ecclesiastical mancer,' and then
     the doctrinal stand of the liberated, as Meyering may well          in Article 31, `a majority vote. `It has always been our
     know, shows very clearly that I condemn their view as               contention that in ecclesiastical assemblies it is not a ques-
     Heynsian and, therefore, as Arminian.  They simply agree            tion of a mkre bare majority like you would have in a politi-
     with the First Point of 1924.                                       cal gathering. It has always been our position that in eccle-
          Again, when Schilder was here, I defended seven proposi-       siastical assemblies, when there are differences of opinion,
     tions concerning the covenant which -were  .directly  opposed we say we are not going to call this matter to a vote.
     to his view and to that of the liberated. These, too, were          We are going to discuss it. We are going to try to
     published in our paper at the time.                                 come to unanimous decision.  It- is dangerous in church
           Meyering may know all this.                                   questions to get decisions by a mere majority. Therefore, it
          When, therefore, he makes the general statement that, , has always been, let's make it very clear, and also in the
     at first, I was favoring the movement of the liberated and          cases in the question of heresy, it must not be a matter that
     the liberation, he writes an untruth.                               is nip and truck. It should be a matter that is the over-
          What is true is that, at first, I was favorably inclined       whelming conviction of the  -whole  assembly that that is
     to the liberated from a church political viewpoint. But again,      heresy, and of the whole consistory. It shouldn't be a matter
     this does not concern all their views, not eten their inter-        of gaining a vote one way or the other. If it is still so
     pretation of article 31 of the Church Order, but only the           precarious, the question of heresy, the consistory should say
     principle that a classis or synod may not depose officebearers      then this matter is not clear to us, and we are not going
     as was done, at the time, by the synodicals. This has always        to vote on this matter. That isn't an ecclesiastical manner."
     been my conviction, especially since 1924, and this I still             This is Kok's interpretation of "by a majority vote" in
     maintain. Nor did I ever deny this in Superior Court of             Article 3 1.
     Grand Rapids.                                                           Now, in the first place, in Classis East the matter was
          There was no need to deny this for the simple reason           freely discussed for days on end, and secondly, when it was
     that, .not Classis Grand Rapids East, but the consistory of         voted upon, it was not "nip and tuck" but carried by a large
     the First Protestant Reformed Church of Grand Rapids sus-           majority as every one knows.
     pended a minister and d&po$ed  elders.                                  But this is not the question. Fact is that it would have
          It was not article 36 but article 31 which was the chief       been perfectly legal and in harmony with the Church Order
     bone of contention in court. That article, as most readers          that the motion that the statements of De  wolf were
     know by this time, reads as follows_:                               heretical had been carried by a single vote.


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 5

    According to the rambling of  Kok in the above question            "Would you, if your consistory determines that your
it is not the majority but the minority that decides matters.      preaching was heretical, subscribe to that?"
For the majority submits to the minority. And this is cer-             "If my consistory would determine that?"
tainly not the meaning of Article 31.                                  "Yes 7'
    But do you wonder that the judge received the impression-          "If I could conscientiously subscribe to it, yes, but if
that, with the opposition, there was no law and order. Do          my conscience would say my consistory was wrong, I would
you wonder that he smiled at this interpretation of "by a          have to tell my consistory : `I am very sorry, I can't agre`e
tiajority  vote" in Art. 31? I am sure that he never heard         with you. We have come to the parting of the ways,' and
of such an explanation of a majority vote at all.                  the consistory has the right to give me a release, or if my
    But there is much more in the Court Record on this.            heresy is -"
same matter.                                                           "And you would then be released from the Protestant
    Here is another quotation :                                    Reformed Churches.?"
    From cross examination by Mr. Tubbs :                              "If my consistory would do that, that is, the overwhelm-
    "Heresy is a matter of ecclesiastical determination, is it     ing majority of my consistory.  `I don't think would even
not? You can, answer that by yes or no."                    `-i    be determined by one vote."
    "Heresy is a matter of ecclesiastical interpretation ? No,         "Church Order provides that in ecclesiastical .bodies, the
all ecclesiastical interpretation- I don't know what you           majority decision shall be binding, doesn't it?'
mean, Mr. Tubbs. I would like to have you be a little more             "Church Order also provides' that all ecclesiastical mat-
specific. What one considers a heresy the other may con-           ters sh$ll be- treated in an ecclesiastical manner, and a bare
sider a truth - but I -"                                           majority is-not in an ecclesiastical manner.
    "Under the Formula of Subscription >as found on page               "Heresy is not an ecclesiastical matter?'
62, you and the elders and the members of the church, prom-            "I say a bare majority is not in an ecclesiastical manner."
ise to teach faithfully and to defend the aforseaid doctrine,          "Oh, that is just a matter for your conscience to de-
which is the Confession and Catechism of the Reformed              termine ?,'
Churches, together with the explanation of some -points of             "It is my understanding of Article 31 of the Church
the aforesaid doctrine made by the National Synod of Dord-         Order, that if at all possible, decisions should be made by
recht,  1618-19. You also agree further on (Reading) : `If         unanimous decision."
any difficulties or different sentiments respecting the afore-         Here you have it again: Kok understands by majority
said doctrines sbnould arise in our minds,  we promise that        unanimity. That is, in court he said that such is the mean-
we will neither publicly nor  ,privately  propose, teach, or       ing of Article 31 of the Church Order. According to him,
defend the same, either by preaching or writing, until we          if the majority of the consistory votes in favor of a motion,
have first revealed such sentiments to the consistory, classis     the motion is defeated.
and synod, that the same may be there examined, being al-              You understand, do you not, why Kok made this-absurd
ways ready cheerfully to submit to the judgment of the con-        contention ?
sistory, classis and synod, under penalty in case of refusal           He did .&o, .because  he wanted to maintain that Classis
to be, by that very fact, suspended from our office."'             East might not have declared by a large majority that the
   "I subscribe to that with all my heart."                        Statements of De Wolf were heretical, because the majority
   "That subscription means that the decision as to whether        sentiment of the other ministers and members of the church
your speech was heresy must be made by one or perhaps all (particularly Classis West !) did not agree with this declara-
of the three bodies mentioned ; is that right ?'                   tion of Classis East. Hence, the decision had to be unanim-
   "No, sir."                                                      ous, which would mean that Blankespoor, Knot and Kok
   "You mean that your consistory cannot determine wheth-          would have ruled the  Classis.
er your preaching is heretical ?`I '                                   Hence, according to Kok in court, niajority means
   "Only my consistory can determine that."                        unanimity !
   "But in this paragraph it also mentions  classis and `synod,        The trouble was that the judge could not understand it
does it not?'                                                      thus !
   "It only mentions classis and synod, if at any-time I dis-          More next time.
agree,with  the Heidelberg Catechism, that if I disagree with                                                                H.H.
the Confession of Faith, with the Canons of Dordrecht, or
with the Church Order, I promise I will' never reveal'that
or speak of it, not even to my wife, or to my children, unless
I first brought it to my consistory and  class& and to the             Saints are not so much afraid of suffering, as they are of
synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches. That is what            sinning ; in suffering, the offence  is done to us ; but in sin-
it means, but I subscribe to the Forms of Unity with all my        ning, -the offence  is done to God,
heart, but I don't subscribe to all classical decisions.                                                     - Thomas Goodwin

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

      I                                                                 no room for those that refuse' to worship the beast and his
                    O U R   DQCTRINE                                    image, and to receive the mark of the beast in their right
                                                                     II hand or forehead. Then they will not be able either to buy
                                                                        or sell. In all this they fight and suffer with a good con-
                                                                        science, knowing that in the end they shall have the perfect
                      THE TRIPLE KNOWLEDGE                              victory.
            A                                                               For the kingdom of God is still coming. It will come
                 N EXPOSITION  OF  THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM             from heaven once again, when the glorified Christ shall ap-
                       PART  III  - OF THANKFULNESS                     pear in all the splendo? o_f His power, destroy forever all the
                               L                                        powers of darkness, justify His cause and His people in the
                                    ORD'S  DAY 48                       revelation of the righteous judgment of God, and establish
                                     Chapter 2                          His throne forever in the new heavens  and the new earth,
                                                                        wherein righteous shall dwell and the tabernacle of God
                       The Realization of the Kingdom                   shall be with men. Then the kingdom of God shall have
                                                                        come. God shall be all in all. Our Lord Jesus Christ shall
           All the shadows of the old dispensation are now become       be the Servant-King forever. And we shall reign with Him
      reality and truth. Jerusalem, Mt. Zion, the throne of David,      in glory over all the works of God's hands. And in the
      as well as the temple, the altar, and the perfect sacrifice,      final sense it is for this kingdom of heaven that we pray
      `the King-Priest forever according to the order of  Melchi-       in the second petition: "Thy kingdom come."
      sedec,-  all are now in heaven, and all ihings. are' subject
      unto our Lord, Who is -the King of kings.                                                    Chapter 3
           However, this is not the end.                                                 The Prayer for the Kingdom
           First of all, the kingdom of God is also realized in the
      spiritual sense in the hearts of all the elect in the world by        If we have understood the foregoing exposition of the
      the Spirit of Christ and the Word of God. When Christ was         second petition of the Lord's Prayer, we will also be in a
      exalted in the highest heavens at the right hand of God, He       position to pray for the coming of the kingdom of God in-
      received the promise of the Spirit. And the Spirit He poured      telligently.
      out into His church on the day of Pentecost, Acts 2 :33 :             This is, of course, also the purpose of the brief exposition
      "Therefore being by the.right  hand of ,God  exalted, and hav-    of the Heidelberg Catechism in Lord's Day 45. According
      ing received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost,         to the Catechism, the second petition of the Lord's Prayer
-.    he hath shed forth this, which ye,now  see and hear." This        implies, first of all, a prayer for the rule of the Spirit of
      Spirit of the exalted Christ is a royal -Spirit. It is the        Christ in our hearts. If explains : "Thy kingdom come ; that
      Spirit of the kingdom of God. And when in the new dis-            is, rule us so by thy word and Spirit, that we may submit
      pensation God's people are regenerated, they receive the          ourselves more  2nd more to thee." Secondly, this Lord's
      resurrection life of Christ, their exalted Lord. And when         Day explains that the second petition implies a prayer for
      they are efficaciously called out of darkness into the marvel-    the church and for the destruction of all the powers of dark-
      lous light of God, they enter into the kingdom of heaven          ness : "preserve and increase thy church ; destroy the works
      and become a royal priesthood. They share by faith in the         of the devil, and all violence which would exalt itself against
      victory of Christ. And in the consciousness of that victory       thee ; and also, all wicked counsels devised against thy holy
      they fight the good fight of faith, not indeed in the hope        word." And finally, this Lord's Day explains that this
      that they can make a kingdom of God out of this present           petition implies a prayer for the coming of the Lord in
      world ; but living the kingdom life in every sphere of the        glory : "till the full perfection of thy kingdom take place,
      present world, and representing the cause of the Son of           wherein thou shalt be all in all."
      God in the midst of the world that lieth in darkness, they            Understanding this, we can pray intelligently, without
      fight a spiritual battle. They put on the whole armor of God,     being confused by the tiany false philosophies concerning
      considering it grace that in the cause of Christ they may not     the kingdom of God that corrupt the truth in our day.
      only believe in Him, but also suffer with Him. For they               According to the interpretation of the Heidelberg
      know that as citizens of the kingdom of heaven they are still     Catechism, this-second petition is, -,first of all, a request for
      in Babylon. And in the Babylon of this world they do not          something very specifically personal. We pray here for God's
      expect an outward victory. They know that in the world            gracious rule in our hearts, through the Spirit of Christ and
      they shall have tribulation. For as they hated their King,        by His infallible Word.. We understand, of course, that only
      so they will hate them, if they are faithful. They know,          the citizen of the kingdom of God, and none other, is in a
      moreover, that they must expect  wars  and rumors of wars,        position to send this request to the throne of grace: That
      earthquakes and famines, an increase in the might of the          citizen of the kingdom of heaven is reborn. He has a new
      forces of darknes5,  and the final manifestation of the Man       life, the life of Christ, in his heart. That life is not from
      of Sin in the kingdom of Antichrist, in which there will be       below, but from above. It is the life of the kingdom of

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

heaven. Christ redeemed him by His blood, but He also              without. He.`knows  that he is saved by grace, and that it is
delivered him by His Spirit, and snatched him~ from the            only by grace that he can overcome the seducing and cor-
dominion of the devil, establishing His. throne in his heart.' rupting powers of the world about him. He is deeply con-
Principally he submits himself willingly and obediently, in        scious of the fact that only in as far as God rules over hiti
the love of God, to the rule of His Spirit and Word. For he        by His grace and Spirit and through His Word, can he
is not under the* law, but under grace. And therefore, sin         remain stedfast in the midst of the world of darkness and
has no more dominion over him. In his inmost heart the law         manifest himself as a citizen of the kingdom of God. And
of God has been inscribed, and he has delight in all the           knowing all this, and understanding too that God surely
good commandments of his God.                                      gives His grace and Spirit to them that ask Him, he prays:
    However, the regenerated child of God deeply realizes          "`Our Father Who Brt in heaven, more ?nd more rule over
.that he lives the  new. life of the kingdom of heaven only        (me by Thy Spirit and Word. Rule over my heart and mind.
in principle. He has indeed only a small beginning of the          Rule over all my thoughts and desires, in order that I may
new obedience. He finds within himself in his old nature,          not become conformed to this  world, but be transformed by
in his old body and  in his old soul, the ruts of sin. And         the renewal of my mind. Thy kingdom come within me."
that sin always lusts against the Spirit of God and against            But `this petition `also implies a prayer for the church,
the new principle of life within him. The motions of sin are
still in his members. There is ever so much within him that        and, negatively, for the destruction of the powers of dark-
rebels against the dominion -of God's gracious rule in his         ness that exalt themselves against the Holy Word of God.
heart and life. He thoroughly understands with application         In this petition we pray : "`Preserve and increase thy church."
to himself the words of the apostle Paul in Romans 7: "For         For it is the church of Christ that represents the kingdom of
we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold           God in the world, and through which the cause of the king-
under sin. For that which I do, I allow not: for what I            dom is preserved and extended. By that church the gospel
would, that do. I not : but what I hate, that do I. If then I      of the kingdom `is proclaimed even unto the uttermost parts
do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it          of the world. By the church the truth of the kingdom is
is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that         preserved and taught. Within that church the children of
dtielleth in me. For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh,      the kingdom are born and nurtured. And through that
dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me: but        church Christ calls and gathers His elect out of the entire
how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good         world. And therefore the prayer for the kingdom of God
that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that        includes a prayer for the church. In it we ask that the
I do. Now if I do that I iyould not, it is no more I that do       Spiiit of Christ may so rule in the church that she may be
it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that when      preserved in the midst of the world. In it we pray that the
I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in         church may be founded and established in the truth, that she
the law of God after the inward mati: But I see another law        may not be seduced by all kinds of false doctrines and by
in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and             he false philosophy of men, but, on the contrary, that she
bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my        may grow in the knowledge and grace of her Lord Jesus
members. 0 wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me            Christ. In this petition we ask that the preaching of the
from the body of this death ? I thank God through Jesus            Word may be kept pure and unadulterated, in order that
Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself  ,serve            believers may stand even unto the end. This petition im-
the law of God ; but with the flesh the law of sin." Such          plies that the church may remain faithful in the midst of all
indeed is the experience of every child of God. And there-         forms of persecution and temptation, and that she may re-
fore the Heidelberg Catechism explains this second petition        present the cause of the Son of God in the midst of a world
of the Lord's Prayer that it means not only that God may           of darkness. We pray in this second petition that the cov-
rule us by His Word and Spirit, but that He may so rule            enant of God may be continued in the line of the gellerations
over us and in us "that we may submit ourselves more and           of believers, and that she may instruct the children of the
more to thee." -For an increase of sanctification of life this     covenant faithfully ,in the truth of the Word of God. And
second ptitition prays.                                            by this petition we implore our Father Who is in heaven
   But there is more. Not only does the Christian have but         that through the preaching of the gospel even in heathen
a small beginning of the new obedience, while the .old man         lands all the elect out of the whole world may be translated
of sin -is always with him ; but he also lives in the midst of     out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's
a world that lies in darkness, and that by its vain philosophy,    dear Son. All this implies, antithetically, that we pray in
by its treasures and pleasures, by the lust of the flesh and       the words of the Heidelberg Catechism: "Destroy the works
the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, would seduce him       of the devil, and all violence which would exalt itself against
to subject himself once more to the slavery of sin. And in         thee ; and also, all wicked counsels devised against thy holy
himself he is weak. In fact, he feels that in himself he. is       word."
powerless to fight against those forces of darkness within and        Of course, all this presupposes a spiritual disposition of

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

the heart in him that sends this petition to the throne of                                          Chapter One
grace, according to which the church, the true church, where
the Word of God is maintained in all its fulness and purity,                                     The Will of God
the sacraments are administered in harmony with the Word                      The third petition is concerned with the will of`God, and
of God, and true Christian disciplirie is exercised, is above              particularly with that will as it concerns us. The first peti-
all things in the world dear to us. It means that we diligently            tion concerned the name of God, and  asked that that name'
seek the fellowship of that church, and that for no carnal                 might be hallowed, sanctified and glorified by us and in all
reasons we will ever separate ourselves from its communion,                the works of God's hands. It asked, therefore, for the highest
SO  that we can truly sing with the church of the old dis-                 realization of the purpose of God in all the works of creation,
pensation: "If I forget thee, 0 Jerusalem, let my right hand               in heaven and on earth, which is the glorification of His name.
forget-her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue               The second petition is closely related to this,  -and prays
cleave to the roar of my mouth ; if I prefer not Jerusalem                 for the coming of the kingdom of God. That kingdom is a
above my chief joy." Ps. 1375, 6. Perserve  and extend Thy                 spiritual rule of God. And the final coming of that kingdom
church, 0 God of our salvation, and destroy all her enemies.               implies that- that rule of God shall be perfect, so that  -God
Thy kingdom come.                 ,                                        ,will be all in all. Hence, in that second-petitiop the believer
     And finally, this  prayer means that we ask and long                  prays that all the works of darkness may be destroyed, and
for the coming of the day tif Christ, when all the elect shall             that the perfect state of things  .in the new-creation may be
have been gathered, when Christ shall appear in glory, the                 inaugurated. Again, the .third  petition is related to the first
dead shall be raised in incorruption, the present world shall              two: for, surely, it is only in the perfected kingdom of God
pass away, all the forces of darkness shall be destroyed for-              that the glory of His name will be revealed in the highest
ever, new heavens and a new earth shall be created, and                    eense of the word in Christ Jesus our Lord, and that His
the kingdom of heaven shall be established in everlasting                  will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven. For this,
perfection. "Thy kingdom come," means ultimately that we                   therefore, the believer is taught to pray in the .petition ta
pray for the coming of Christ and for all that it implies. We              which we must now call your attention.
know that He will come through wars and pestilences and                       God is a willing Being. He is not an &personal  power,
famines and earthquakes. We know that the hastening of                     like the wind, dr a blind force, which we call "fate." On the
His day will mean that the measure of iniquity must be                     contrary, He is an intelligent and volitional, personal Being.
filled, that Anti-Christ must be revealed, that we shall have              The will of God is the power of all-wise and intelligent
to suffer for His name's sake. We know that praying. for                   determination in regard to every creature. It determines
the coming of the Lord means that we must condemn the                      what that creature shall be in relatidn to Himself, as well aS
idealism of a sinful world, as if lasting peace can ever be                in relation to every other creature in the entire world. It
established before His coming. All this is implied in the                  also determines what that creature shall becbme, and decides
second petition, "Thy kingdom come."                                       upon the whole course of. its development. And finally, it
 We may well ask: arti we prepared to pray this petition                   also determines what purpose that creature shall serve, and
in all its implications ?                                                  what it shall do. In the last sense of the word, the reference
                                                                           is more especially to the moral creature, that has a mind and
     No doubt, as we begin to understand the real implications             .will of its own, though other creatures are by no means ex-
of this second petition, we will confess that also in this                 cluded. And for that moral creature the will of God is ex-
respect we have but a small beginning of the new obedience.                pressed in the very heart of the law, "Thou shalt love me
Often we are too earthly minded and too much engrossed                     with all thy heart and mind and soul and strength ; and thou
in seeking the things that are below to send this petition                 shalt love thy neighbor for my sake."
to the throne of grace in spirit and truth. And therefore,                    As to the will of God, we must emphasize that it is en-
well may we, even before we take this prayer on our lips,                  tirely in harmony with His own Being. And therefore, God's
earnestly beseech the Lord to teach us to pray, and say:                   .will is sovereignly free: all He does He wills to do, and all
"Our Father Who art in heaven, give us'grace to pray, `Thy                 He wills He sovereignly performs. There is the most perfect
kingdom come.' Come, Lord Jesus.  Amen."                                   harmony between God's Being and His will. He never does
                                                                           anything involuntarily, still less by compulsion or contrary
                             Lam's  DAY 49                                 to His own will. With us this is quite different. Our ac-
                                                                           tions may  ,be distinguished into voluntary and involuntary
            Q. 124. Which is the third petition?                           actions. When I speak or sing or pray, I p&form voluntary
          > A;  `"IXy  will be done on earth as it is in heaven;"          actions, But when I breathe, or when someone unexpectedly
            that is, grant that we and all men may renounce                stabs a knife into my flesh, and I cry out, I perform actions
            our own will, and without murmuring obey thy will,             that are quite involuntary. They are not determined by the
            which is only good; that so every one may attend
            to, and perform the duties of his station and calling,         choice of our will. Besides, we frequently do things which
            as willingly  ,and faithfully  as. the angels do in heaven.    we would not like to do if the choice of them were left en-


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B-EARER                                                              9

tirely to the decision of our will, but which we decide to          not .the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to
do nevertheless because necessity is upon us.  Perhap; I do         make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?
not feel like.stepping  out of bed in the morning, but rather       What if God, willing to, shew his wrath, and to make his
would continue my slumbers for a while. But the alarm               power known, endured with much  longsuffering'the vessels
clock rings, and tells me that it is time to arise and to get       of wrath fitted unto destruction: And that he might make
ready to go to work. There is, therefore, a conflict between        known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which
the desire and the final determination of my will., I may           he had  afore prepared unto  -glory." But even when it is
hate to go to war and to leave my country and my home, in           His sovereign will and counsel that evil shall exist, His will
order to fight on a foreign battle field ; but I am drafted         is always righteous and holy and good. For always He wills
into the army by the government, and I really have no               it unto the realization of the highest purpose, the glory of
choice in the matter. I may dislike very much to lie on my          His own name. Even when in His eternal counsel He gives
sick-bed ; and if it was up to my will, I would be up and           a place to sin and evil, it is always the object of His divine
doing. But God's will is different; and in His will I have          hatred, and never can it be said that God has delight in evil.
to abide. Hence, there is often a conflict between our cle-         The will of God is always good.                                H. H.
sires and the ultimate choice of our will. But this is not true
of the will of God: in Him there are no involuntary actions            Schedule of -Feature Articles for  S. B. and
or conflicts. His Being and His will and all His acts are                             Weplace~ments  for 1956
always in perfect harmony with one another. God is a will-          Date:       Feature Article  &  Aqthor     Rubric  6c Author Replaced
ing God in the absolute sense of the word. Andy His will is
perfectly free: "He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased."          Jan.  I- Should Art. 31 of the  D.K.0   .___-__  Voice  06 our Fathers
Psalm 115 :3.                                                                be Revised and/or Clarified
                                                                             C. Hanks                                    H. C. Hoeksema
    Because of the perfect harmony between the will and
the Being of God, His will is always good. For God is good.         Feb. 1  - Common Or Individual Cup  in----.,-Decency  and Order
His Being is the implication of all infinite perfections. For He             Communion, H. Hanko                         G.  Vanden  Berg
is a light, and there is no darkness in `Him at all. In God
there is no evil. He is-truth, righteousness, holiness, wisdom,     Mar. 1 -The Concept Faith In The  --,.-Contending  for the Faith
love. And, because His will is always in harmony with His                    Old Testament, R. Veldman                       H. Veldman
Being, and because there are never any conflicts in God at
all, nor any involuntary actions, it follows that His will is       April 1 -Should Elders Be Permanently ____________ In His Fear
                                                                             In Office, G. Lanting                             J. A. Heys
always characterized by absolute perfection. Thus we read
in Rom.  12:1, 2: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the        May  1 -The Sign Of The Son Of Man  In..~~~--..~All  Around Us
mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living'sacrifice,              Heaven, Matt. 24  :.3Cl, J.  .McCollam          M. Schipper
holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
And be ye not conformed to this world: but be ye trans-             June 1 -The Civic Responsibility Of  The------From  Holy Writ
formed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove                       Christian, E. Emmanuel                           G. Lubbers
what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God."
God can never will anything sinfully. His will is good, all-        July l-Lay Workers In  Evangelism----------Day  of Shadows
                                                                             R. Harbach            '                        G. M. Ophoff
wise, intelligent, just, and holy. It is eternally opposed to
all evil. God abhors all iniquity. For He is a light. He            Aug. l-The Proper .Use of the  Term--........Decency  and Order
dwells in the light. And He wills and has eternal delight                    `Condition", C. Hanko                       G.  Vanden  Berg
in the light. This does not imply that sin and evil exist in
the world without His will, as if they were powers in them-         Sept. --The Difference  Between--......-Contending  For The Faith
                                                                             The  Po,unds  And The Talents In The
selves, which He could not prevent, and over whose entrance                  Parables, R. Veldman                            H. Veldman
into the &orld He -had no control. For the will of God is
also absolutely sovereign. And that God is absolutely sover-        Oct. l-The Relation Between  The---.,----Voice  of Our Fathers
eign, also with respect to sin and evil and all the powers of                Christian School and Catechism in Re
darkness Scripture teaches us very plainly. It declares in                   Bible Instruction, G. Lanting              H. C. Hoeksema
Isaiah 45 :7 : "I form the light, and create darkness : I make
peace, and create evil : I the Lord do all these `things." And      Nov. l-Devil Possession ________________________ All Around Us
                                                                             J.  McCollam                                    M. Schipper
if because of this sinful man would answer against God, and
say, "Why doth he yet find fault?- For who hath resisted            Dec.  l-  T,he Significance  ,of Numbers  in--.,---From  Holy Writ
his will ?" there is ultimately only one answer ; and that is                Scripture, E. Emmanuel                           G. Lubbers
expressed in Romans 9 :20, ff. : "Nay but, 0 man, who art                                The Committee for Feature Articles
thou that repliest against God ? Shall the thing formed say                                                            H. C. Hoeksema
to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus ? Hath                                                               G.  Vanden  Berg

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

                                                                        in the light. of the Word which shines more and more unto
               F R O M   HOLY WRIT                                      the perfect day.
                                                                  /(        All that Paul writes about the Word of the Cross, being
                                                                        a power and wisdom of God unto salvation, is written against
                Exposition of I Corinthians 1-4                         the background of this party-strife in the church. Let us not
                                                                        overlook this fact, lest we loose sight of the practical, the
                                   1.                                   reproving  thrust of Paul's letter. Paul thus leads the "spirit-
          It is our plan to write an exposition of the first four       ual man" to higher ground, to the lofty heights of the unity
  Chapters of Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians. In this          of the Spirit in the bond of the peace of Christ.
  issue we place our first installment. The reason for beginning           Bearing the foregoing observations in mind we will follow
  this series of articles in this issue of the Standard Bearer          the argument and reasoning of the Apostle step by step.
  is that we are now beginning with a new volumn of our                                            * *  *  *
paper, Volume 32.
         We will only write on the first four Chapters of this             Let us then first of all take notice of the verses 1-3 of
  great letter of Paul, written evidently from the city of              Chapter 1. We read the following in these verses : "Pa.ul
  Ephesus, to the brethren and sisters in the city of Corinth.          called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will
  These four Chapters are really one section in which Paul              of God which `is a,t Coyintk,  to them that are samtijied  irt
  deals with the very great evil of  schkm and party-strife             Christ Jesus, called (to be) saints,  zwith all that in  ev&y
  that had taken a foot-hold in this church of the living God.          place call ,upon the name of Jems Christ ozzy Lwd, both tkeirs
  Each one chose his own party. Some said that they were                and oun: grace unto you and pea.ce, from God our Father,
  followers of Paul, others of Apollos, others again of Cephas          and from the Lord Jesus Christ."
   (Peter)  and finally there were also those who said they                Thus far the text.
  were of the party of Christ. The church of God in Corinth                Concerning these words from the Apostle's pen we would
  was a sorry spectacle torn and rent into various pieces by            notice the following particulars :
  the influence of the "flesh" as it wars against the Spirit.              1. That Paul here evidently places a healthy and truth-
         Now there is exceeding much and great instruction by           ful emphasis upon the fact that he is an Apostle, one who is
  Paul in these first Chapters whereby he does not only show            sent forth by Jesus Christ himself, separated unto the Gospel.
  in words, but in very deed how to seek and keep the unity             And this separation unto the Gospel was not at all the
  of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Such instruction there            doing of Paul. He did not separate himself unto this work.
  was here fdr the brethren and sisters in the city of Corinth.         He did not choose this task. Rather the necessity was placed
  But, thanks be to God, such instruction these Chapters alsa           upon him by Jesus Christ. In the original Greek we read:
  contain for us. Every Scripture is inspired of God and is             Paul, a c&lled apostle of Jesus Christ. In that consciousness
  profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction in right-        of his calling Paul writes and in this calling lies his strength.
  eousness, that the man of God be thoroughly furnished unto               2. Often Paul reminds his hearers of this great calling
  every good work. I Tim. 3 :16, 17. The Scriptures are more            whereby he was separated unto the Gospel-ministry.  .How
  than dogmatics which draws the lines of the truth. They               clearly and unforgettably his calling stands forth before his
  always speak these lines of the truth of God in Jesus as this         mind's eye. Repeatedly he related to his hearers, especially
  pertains to the actual and concrete situation at the timer            to those who oppbsed him in Jewry, of the calling that befell
  in the congregation. And thus they serve as the royal law' him at Damascus. In Acts 9 :3-6 we read the following from
  of liberty before which we can stand, and should stand,               Luke's pen concerning this calling of Paul: "And as he
  so that vr+ may behold our natural face in the mirror of the          journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there
  law.                                                                  shined round about him a light from heaven: and he fell to,
         Let us, in the study of these four Chapters from the pen       the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why
  of Paul to the church of God in Corinth, be swift to hear and         persecutest thou me ? And he said, Who are thoh, Lord ?
  heed, slow to speak and slow to wrath. Let none of us ever            And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest; it
  think that we are already perfect, but let us forget that             is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling
  which lies behind, look and press forward toward the mark             and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do.
  of the upward calling in Christ Jesus, our Lord. For Paul is          And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into. the dity, and
  here not at all becoming involved in this brawl over person-          it shall be told thee what thou must do . . . ." Here we see
  alities, of likes and dislikes for preachers, nor in the pretense     minutely how Paul was powerfully, efficaciously called into
  of the Judaizers, who falsely claim Peter as their leader;            the service of Christ and into the ministry of the Gospel, tcj
  he is not engaged in a battle of words (woorden-strijd) but           preach the Word of the Cross, which had been foolishness
  he is placing the spiritual man in Christ under the nurture           and an offence  to him.     ^
  and admonitions of the Lord! By willingly placing our neck               Yes, it had been none other, than "Jesus" who had ap-
  under this Word of Christ will we see the more excellent way          peared unto him. The one whom God had exalted esceedingly


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  11

high at His own right hand. It was Jesus, Jehovah saves.              /church of God in Corinth from the very beginning of his
For He it is that had principly  saved all His people from            letter.
their sins, both from the Jews and the Gentiles. He                       4. And it is, therefore, of importance to notice how this
had also saved Paul from His sins and here comes                      church is here addressed not in its present imperfect and
to prepare him, a "chosen vessel" to proclaim the                     schismatic manifestation revealing itself in party-strife, but
Gospel of salvation  ; And this Jesus is the Christ, the              rather as this ch~rclz of God really is constituted of those
Anointed Son of God in Zion, upon the hill of God's holiness.         who are "sanctified in Christ" and are "called saints" and
And unto this hill would all the nations flow. He is the one          are put in one class with all the saints in the world, called
of whom Psalm 2 speaks, and upon the coming of this Christ,           those "who call upon the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, in
Messiah, the eyes of all Israel waited. He it is that would           every place." Paul thus lifts this church out of its selfish
comfort his people. And He it is that separated Paul untd             seclusiveness and addresses her as a part of the great Holy
the Gospel. That glorious and important reality of Paul's             Catholic Church in the world as she is being gathered out
calliiig is here placed by him on the foreground and it is the        of every tongue, people and nation. And in this Church
corner-stone of this letter, giving it authenticity.                  none is master, except our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of
    3. And since this calling came to Paul from Christ him-           glory. He is one Lord, and has one faith in the church, one
self, as the Lord of glory, it was also most emphatically a           love, one hope and one baptism. All in the church can and
calling that came by "the will of God." The term till here            do claim him as their precious Savior. In this consciousness
evidently refers to the will of God's decree of which God             of believing an Holy Catholic Church the sanctified in Christ
speaks in Psalm 2, where he says, "I will declare the decree:         must live. As such a communion of saints they are addsessed.
the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son ; this day                Such is the concrete addressableness of the Gospel. Not a
ha?e I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the            Gospel addressed to all @on condition of-faith, but a Gospel
heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the         message which is addressed to the "church of  Goa" in
earth for thy possession . . . .I<iss-the  Son, lest -he be angry,    Corinth,  jull of instruction, reproof, correction in righteous-
and ye perish in the way, when his wrath is kindled but a             ness, that the sanctified man of God may be made wholly
little. Blessed are they that put their trust in him." It is          ready unto every good work.
this will of the decree of God that is the means by which                 !&ch is Paul's method of addressing the Gospel to the
Paul's calling of Christ is realized. In this will of the decree      church.
Paul is a chosen vessel. Acts 9 :15. According to this word               Such is Paul's "pedagogical approach !" He that readeth
of Psalm 2, Paul kisses the Son upon the way, saying: What            this epistle let him take note. A.gospel  which is proclaimed
wouldst thou have me do Lord. And in this kissing of the              to all, yet is so addresed to all that it is directed to the
Son, lest He be angry by a little against Paul and the entire         "sanctified in Christ," the "called saints."
congregation of Corinth, Paul writes. Such is the  deep and               To such is also addressed the "grace and peace" which is
solid background in the soul of the great Apostle when he             from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ. Not
takes up the pen in the city, where he had fought against             grace is to all, if they believe, but grace is to "you" the
the beasts in the name of God's Anointed. Through Paul                "called saints" here in the mouth of Paul. Let men, who
Christ was claiming ihe heathen for His inheritance. Be-              find fault with this presentation, know that they are not
hold, then, the Apostle by the decree of God in His Son.              contending with a Protestant Reformed position, which is
    Such was the strength of Paul, who is empowe`red  with            then "played up" to be more than being "Reformed," but
great strength from God. He is an apostle indeed having' that they are contending with the Holy Spirit, who thus
seen Christ upon the way!                                             caused Paul to write.
                                                                          The Spirit  has His own pedagogical approach.
   This Apostle writing in this consciousness of his calling,             When we should be foolish enough to concoct "another"
which befell to him, who was less than the least of all the           pedagogical approach, which is not an other, then we do- not
saints, rightly called the church at Corinth: the &ctrch of           do honor and justice to the church of God. And under the
God! She is in no sense the church of man. No man in                  banner of seeking the "gathering of the Holy Catholic
Corinth can call her : nzy church ! She has been bought and           Church" we deny the very "church" we purport to gather.
cleansed with the precious blood of the Son of God. And               Then we seek to gather where Christ does not gather, and
thus she is, indeed, the church of the living God. It is im-          we seek to do this by "means" which are not the Means of
portant to notice that Paul thus addresses the church in              Grace of Christ !
spite of the fact that there were factions in the church.                 Only where this "approach" of Paul is maintained and
A factitious spirit is not deeply conscious that the church, is       emulated shall truly the schism be banished from God's
God's..  It seeks the human interest of proud and contentious         church, and shall brethren dwell together in unity with all the
`man. But this is cut off in one stroke by Paul in this "church       saints in every place. Let us kiss the Son, lest He be angry
of God at Corinth !"                                                  with us for not honoring His Means of Grace.
   Paul writes against the schismatic background in the                                        (to be continued)                 G.L.

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

                 CHOOSING  A VOCATION                                   to some degree by choosing a vocation which best suits our
                                                                        abilities, temperaments, likings, and that best affords us  a~
       Ilappiness in this life is the chief goal- of all men.           degree of happiness, security, peace of mind, and comfort.
       And happiness means peace and comfort, security, and             And, in order that society as a whole may thus develope
 freedom from all poverty and want. It means, then, the                 and progress in its striving for the greatest degree of hap-
 possession of material goods, a substantial bank account or            piness possible, our young men and women aye advised and
 adequate returns from investments, and a settled and guar-             guided in making the wisest choice from among the many
 anteed employment or occupation or profession, which in                and various vocations. Books are written, clinics are set up,
 turn gives security with a view to material possession and             and specialists are hired with a view to guiding our youth in
 the freedom from want.                                                 making its choice for a life's calling. All possible efforts are
       Moreover, in order to attain to the happiness he desires,        being put forth in order to help the individual, as well as
 it is said that man has certain obligations and duties to ful-         mankind in general in reaching out for an earthly heaven.
 fill in his social relationships, family, community, and to all           The purpose of this article is also to give  advici and
 men. One's own happiness is determined by and conditioned              guidance to young men and women. The title of this article
 upon the happiness of all round about him. Hence, the hap-             implies that we have something to say on the matter. How-
 piness of others is essential to our happiness.                        ever, let it be understood that we are not endeavoring to
       The question is, and always has been, how can we best            enter into the field of vocational guidance as it is related to
 attain to this highest of goals ; complete happiness ? And             any specific vocation. We will set forth some points  thati
 there are as many answers given to this question as there              will be of help to those choosing a vocation, but these will
 are philosophies in the world. And at one time or another              only give the general direction in which our choice should
, we have met with these philosophies, whether they be philo-           be made. And, these points are those generally accepted
 sophies in their own right or have their source behind a well-         by those who specialize in this field.
 used *and aromatic pipe.                                                  Nevertheless, we have- something to say in the matter of
       There is, however, a generally accepted way `in which            choosing one's life work. For we have in mind, not youth
 happiness, to some degree at least, can be reached. And that           in general, nor even part of the group know as youth, but
 is: to work. With few exceptions, no  .one attains to' any             very particularly the youth of the church. Our concern is
 degree of liappiness, of peace, security and  cornfor?  without        the Christian young man and young woman. What we have
 working. Fact is, there is no other way. One must work,                written above concerns man in general and by nature as he
 have  an occupation, be employed, or enter some profession             lies in-the sphere of darkness and in the bondage of slavery.
 in order to acquire material possession, financial security, etc.      That man, as he is-by  nature is a slave. He is a slave to his
 And to. say that this is the accepted way is to glamoriie an           own desires and lust. And, because he is a slave to his own
 ugly fact. For, to the natural man, to work is a necessary             desires and lust, he must work. He is in bondage and is forced
 evil from which he is always seeking to escape.  Ai  little            to work. Though he may hate it ever so much, he must work
 knowledge of human nature and our present day will suffice             nevertheless. And, by attempting an escape from the drudg-
 to substantiate this fact. The determination to  achikve  a            ery of work through choosing his own vocation, he finds that:
 shorter working day, higher and guaranteed wages is but                also this attempt is and always will be a degree of slavery.
 an attempt to escape from that which man hates, and- which             He can never escape work, hence, he always remains a slave.
 always hinders his reaching complete happiness, namely,                And to guide and advise in the sphere of this slavery in
 work. He hates work. But, and he cannot escape it, work                which he must always work is futile. Never, regardless of
 he must. There is simply no other way in which he can                  guidance or advice, can he be anything but a slave to sin
 attain to even a measure of happiness. And, in a measure               and death.
 at least, he accepts the fact that he must work. Moreover,                Not so, however, for Christian youth. For, first of all,
 as long as our happiness and that of mankind in general can            the Christian young man and woman is free. That is, he no
 be  ieached  only through work, man will, by `his very desire          longer seeks his happiness in the material and earthly things.
 for happiness, be driven and forced to labor under the sun.            To him the happiness of the world is no happiness at all, but
       With this in mind, every man and ~woman  will, sooner            death, both temporally and eternally. It is vanity, and to seek
 or later in life stand before the reality that he must work.           it is to sin against God.
 And this means that in one way or another one will' have                  And to sin against God is but to add to our bondage and
 to choose a vocation, whether in the field of employment, a            slavery and to end in eternal unhappiness. But the freedom
 definite occupatibn, or in some profession. He is driven to            of the child of God is in his being able to serve and love
 Ithis.  For, to be a beggar is to be an outcast of society. To re-     his God, and that with heart, mind, Soul and strength. That
 sort to a life of crime "does  not pay." And to be a.sluggard          is to the Christian youth both freedom and happiness. And
 is, perhaps,  the worst of all. Work is the only way out,              to attain to that is the highest good, both in this life and in
 therefore, be it that which we hate.                                   the life to come.
       There is, however, a possibility to escape this evil oE woric       Then, too, the Christian youth is not forced against his


                                             T H E   STANDAKL)   &EAAER                                                            -:13

 will to work, and therefore, to choose a vocation. Fact is,         job as a necessary evil. Here, even the church may be guilty
 he wants and desires to work, and of his own will chooses a         of failure to instruct the youth in its Godgiven  freedom and
 vocation in life. He knows that God has given him gifts and         calling. And our youth must bear the fruits of these mis-
 talents, and with these, opportunities, with and in which he        takes and failures, and sins.
 may work. And .knowing  too,, that true and eternal hap-               Youth, the springtime of strength and vigor, and even
 piness lies in using all the gifts, talents and opportunities to    determination, but also  ,of inexperience and therefore often
 the glory of his God, and in His service, the Christian young       of foolishness, is left with the idea in its mind that it must
 man or woman `chooses that  vocaton  for which God has              work or else. And only through its own mistakes can it
 equipped and qualified him. Moreover, knowing that only in          find its place, God-given place, in the world.
 the sphere or vocation for which he is fit he can serve God             In conclusion, then, parents and school should seek to
 to his utmost, he uses every possible means to find that            give the necessary guidance in helping the young man or
 specific vocation. He wants it, desires and wills to work in        woman in choosing his or her specific calling and vocation.
 that vocation and in nd other. By the same power of God's           This does not mean that our youth must take a Calling which
 grace that-has set him free from bondage and slavery, he            the parents deem best. The youth must choose, and is free
 labors, even in the sweat of brow, freely and willingly, in         to choose. And having brbught up the youth in the hnowl-
 the sure hope that it leads to a complete and heavenly rest,        edge of his true freedom, a little wisdom added will go B
 and eternal happiness.                                              long way.
    Hence, material possession, financial security, freedom             And you, young men and women, Christian youth, seek
 from want and poverty are not the things which first of all         to choose that vocation which harmonizes with YOU. It
 decide our choice of vocation. Though they are to be con-           means that you will choose. It means that you will know
 sidered, it is only with a view to enabling one to further          yourself, physically, mentally and above all spiritually. It fur-
 serve in the vocation chosen. Regardless of what kind of            ther means, that you will seek a knowledge of the vocational
 work, or vocation one finds himself equipped for, or what           world, employments, occupations, professions. It means that
 men in the world may think of him, or even how his fellow           you will, in harmony with your freedom, your spiritual life,
- brethren in the church may classify him, he that finds a           your abilities and capabilities, put aside all and every voca-
 vocation in harmony with his qualifications given of God,           ton that will not allow you to exercise and enjoy your free-
 and labors diligently and faithfully therein, his bread and         dom to serve Him in love, with all your heart, and mind,
 sleep shall be sweet, and he shall be happy for he is at peace      and soul, and strength.
 with his God. And that peace, which passeth all understand-            And we add, seek competent advice and guidance, for, as
 ing, shall give him rest, heavenly rest even while he labors.       one authority on the subject stated it : not only is the variety
    The choice `of a vocation is therefore, important. Our           of present day occupations bewildering, but the occupational
 young people may not haphazardly fall into any vocation             changes themselves are sufficient to render intelligent deci-
 that comes their way. In fact, it is possible that God has          sion impossible without help.                        G. Lanting
 equipped us for something that we, by nature, do not like.
 In  Hi? infinite wisdom and ever governing providence our                            Announiement
 talents and gifts may qualify us for something which offhand,          Classis East of the Protestant Reformed Churches will
 we would not consider. ~Though this is not often the case,          meet, the Lord willing, October 5, 1955, in the Fourth Prot.
 the fact that God has equipped us, and given opportunities          Ref. Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan. kt this meeting
 in which we may serve Him, means that we must intelligently         Candidate Herman Hanko, who has accepted the di to the
inquire into these things and ihus also ascertain `His will          Hope Prot. Ref. Church, will be examined.
concerning us. And only in this way can we have the ,as-                                          Rev. M. Schipper, Stated Clerk
 surance that we shall be able to live in our Godgiven  free-
dom, and'be happy. Lust, covetousness, and discontentment               The c1assica.l  committee has arranged the following sched-
are no longer'with us, and we learn to be content.                   ule for the examination of Candidate Herman Hanko at the
    To be sure, and to our shame and discredit, there is             next session of Classis East, October 5, 1955 :
 room for improvement in these things among our present                 Dogmatics, Loci 1 and 2, Rev. G. Vos.
 day youth. We find men who cannot find "it," the position                           Loci 3 and 4, Rev. C. Hanko.
 or vocation suitable to and harmonious with their qualifica-                        Loci 5 and 6, Rev. M. Schipper.
tions. Others are known to take the first job that comes                Knowledge of Confessions, Rev. J. MC Collam.
along, or leaving one vocation enter into another because it            Knowledge of Scripture, Rev. R. Veldman.
pays more. And though time may rectify some of these                    Controversy, Rev. G. Lanting.
.tl-iings,  it is unhealthy and even sinful for the people of           Practica, Rev. G. M. Ophoff.
 God. Much of the fault, however, may be placed at the door             Sermon Critics, Revs. MC Collam and Lanting.
of parents and our school.. Little, or no guidance and advice                             -The Classical Committee,
is given. Then too, our youth, in many cases at least, see a                                             Rev. C. Hanko,  Set,  t  .?

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

                                                                     congregations, which were not supplied with presbyters from
           Contending For The Faith                                  neighboring cities. In North Africa,  with its multitude of
                                                         !           small dioceses, these country bishops were very numerous,
                                                                     and stood on an equal footing with the others. But in the
           The Church and the Sacraments                             East they became more and more subordinate to the neigh-
      VIEWS   DURING THE SECOND PERIOD  (.300~750  A.D.)             boring city bishops ; until at last, partly on account of their
                                                                     own incompetence, chiefly for  the sake of the rising hierarchy,
                THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH                           they where wholly extinguished. Often they were utterly
                T                                                    unfit for their office ; at least Basil of Caesarea, who had
                     HE PAPACY  (by Philip  Schaff) .                fifty country bishops in his metropolitan district, reproached
      The episcopate, notwithstanding the unity of the office        them with frequently receiving men totally unworthy into
and its rights, admitted the different grades of country             the clerical ranks. And moreover, they stood in the way of
bishop, ordinary city bishop, metropolitan, and patriarch.           the aspirations of the city bishops; for the greater the num-
Such a distinction had already established itself  on the basis      ber of bishops, the smaller the diocese and the power of
of free religious sentiment- in t&e church ; so that the in-         each, though probably the better the collective influence of
cumbents of the apostolic sees, like Jerusalem, Antioch,             all upon the church. The council of Sardica, in 343, doubt-
Ephesus, Corinth, and Rome, stood at the head of the                 les had both considerations in view, when, on motion of
hierarchy. But this gradation now assumed a political char-          Hosius, the president, it decreed: "It is not permitted, that,
acter, and became both modified and confirmed by attach-             in a village or small town, for which a single priest is suf-
ment to the municipal division of the Roman empire.                  ficient, a bishop should be stationed, lest the episcopal dignity
      Constantine the Great divided the whole empire into four       and authority suffer scandal ; but the bishops of the eparchy
praefectures (the Oriental, the Illyrian, the Italian, and the       (province) shall appoint bishops only for those places where
Gallic) ; the praefectures into vicariates, dioceses, or pro-        bishops have already been, or where the town is so populous
consulates, fourteen or fifteen in all ; and each diocese again      that it is considered worthy to be a bishopric." The place of
into several provinces. The praefectures were governed by            these chorepiscopi was thenceforth supplied either by visit-.
P,raefecti PmetoAo, the dioceses by T/icarii, the provinces by       ators, who in the name of the bishop visited the country con-
Rectors, with various titles - commonly Pmesides.                    gregations from time to time, and performed the necessary
      It was natural that, after the union of church and state,      functions, or by resident presbyters, under the immediate
the ecclesiastical organization and the political should, so far     supervision of the city bishop.
as seemed proper, and hence of course with manifold excep-              Among the city bishops towered the bishops of the
tions,  accommbdate  themselves to one another. In the East          capital cities of the various provinces. They were styled in
this principle of conformity was more palpably and rigidly           the East  metropolita.ns,   in the West usually  mdzbishops.
carried out than in the West. The council of Nice in the             They had the oversight of the other bishops of the province ;
fourth century proceeds upon it,  .and the second and fourth         ordained them, in connection with two or three assistants;
ecumenical councils confirm it. The political influence made         summoned provincial synods, which, according to the fifth
itself most distinctly felt in the- elevation of Constantinople      canon of the council of Nice and the direction of other coun-
to a patriarchal see. The  Roman  bishop Leo, however,               cils, were to be held twice a  year; and presided in such
protested against the reference of his own power to political        synods. They promoted union among the different churches
considerations, and planted it exclusively upon the primacy          by the reciprocal  com&nication of  synodal  acts, and con-
of  .Peter  ; though evidently the Roman see owed its im-            firmed the organism of the hierarchy.
portance to the favorable  cooperation,of  both these influences.       This metropolitan constitution, which had gradually
The power of the patriarchs extended over one or more                arisen out of the necessities of the church, became legally
municipal dioceses  ; while the metropolitans presided over          established in the East in the fourth century, and passed
single provinces. The word diocese passed from the political         thence to the Graeco-Russian church. The council of Nice,
into the ecclesiastical terminology, and denoted at first a          at that early day, prdered in the fourth canon, that every
patriarchal district, comprising several provinces (thus the         new bishop should Be ordained by all, or at least bg three,
expression occurs continually in the Greek acts of councils),        of the bishops of the eparchy (the municipal province), un-
but afterward came to be applied in the West to each                 der the direction and with the sanction of the metropolitan.
episcopal district. The circuit of a metropolitan was called         Still clearer is the ninth canon of the council of Antioch, in
in the East an epar&y, in the West prowincia. An ordinary            431: "The bishops of each eparchy (province) should know,
bishopric was called in the East a parish, while in the Latin        that upon the bishop of the metropolis (the municipal
church the term (parochia)  was usually applied to a mere            capital) also devolves a care for the whole eparchy, because
pastoral charge.                                                     in the metropolis all, who have business, gather together
      The lowest rank in the episcopal hierarchy was  occuied        from all quarters. Hence it has been found good, that he
by the  country  bz&o#,  the presiding officers of those rural       should also have a precedence in honor, and that the other


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                15

bishops should do nothing without him - excepk that whicfi          the fourth century this order was modified by the insertion
pertains to the supervision and jurisdiction of their parishes      of Constantinople as the second capital, bktween Rome and
(i.e. dioceses in the modern terminology), and the provinces        Alexandria, and the addition of Jerusalem as the fifth and
belonging to them ; as in fact they ordain presbyters and           smallest patriarchate.
deacons, and decide all  judical matters. Otherwise they                The patriarch of Jerusalem presided only over the three
ought to do nothing without the bishop of the metropolis,           meagre  provinces of Palestine ; the patriarch of Antioch over
and he nothing without the consent of the other bishops." the greater part of the political diocese of the Orient, which
This council, in the nineteenth canon, forbade a bishop being       comprised fifteen provinces, Syria. Phenicia, Cilicia, Arabia,
ordained without the presence of the metropolitan and the           Mesopotamia, etc. ; the patriarch of Alexandria over the
presence or concurrence of the majority of the bishops of           whole diocese of Egypt with its nine rich provinces, Egyptus
the province.                                                       prima and secunda, the lower and upper ?"hebaid,  lower and
   In Africa a similar system had existed from the time of          upper Libya, etc. ; the patriarch of Constantinople over there
Cyprian, before the church and the state were united. Every         dioceses, Pontus, Asia Minor, and Thrace,  with eight and
province had a  Primas  ; the oldest bishop being usually           twenty provinces, and at the same time over the bishoprics
chosen to this  office.  The bishop of Carthage, however, was       among the barbarians; the patriarch of Rome gradually ex-
not only primate of Africa proconsularis, but at the same           tended his influence over the entire West,  two prefectures,
time, corresponding to the proconsul of Carthage, the ec-           the Italian and the  Gallic,  with all their dioceses and
clesiastical head of Numidia and Mauretania, and had power          provinces.
to summon a general council of Africa.                                  The patriarchal system had reference primarily only to
   Still above the metropolitan stood the five Patriarchs           the imperial church, but indirectly affected also the bar-
(having discussed in the foregoing the organization of the          barians, who received Christianity from the. empire. Yet
hierarchy : country bishops, city bishops, and metropolitans,       even within the empire, several metropdlitans, especially the
Philip  Schaff  now proceeds to discuss the rise of the patri-      bishop of Cyprus in the Eastern church, and the  bis&ps  of
archs -  H.V.), the oligarchical summit, so to speak, the           Milan, Aquileia, and Ravenna in the Western, during this
five towers in the edifice of the Catholic hierarchy of the         period maintained their autocracy with reference to the pa-
Graeco-Roman empire.                                                triarchs to whose dioceses they geologically belonged. In
   These patriarchs, in the official sense of the word as al-       the fifth century the patriarchs of Antioch attempted to sub-
ready fixed at the time of the fourth ecumenical council,           ject the island of Cyprus, where Paul first had preached the
were the bishops of the four great capitals of the empire,          gospel, to their jurisdiction  ; but the ecumenical council of
Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, and Constantinople  ; to whom            Ephesus, in 431, confirmed to the church. of Cyprus its
was added, by way of honorary distinction, the bishop of            ,ancient  right to ordain its own bishops. The North African
Jerusalem, as president of the oidest Christian congregation,       bishops also, with all respect for the Roman see, long main-
though the proper continuity of that office had been broken         tained Cyprian's spirit of independence, and in a council at
by the destruction of the holy city. They had oversight of          Hippo Regius, in 393, protested against such titles as  p&z-
one or more dioceses; at least of two or more provinces or          ceps   sacerdotztm,  SUIWWUS  sacerdos, assumed by the patri-
eparchies. They ordained. the metropolitans  ; rendered the         archs, and were willing only to allow the title of py&a se&s
final decision .in church controversies  ; conducted the ecu-       episcop~us.
menical councilS  ; published the decrees of the councils and           When, in consequence of the Christological controversies,
the church laws of the emperors; and united in themselves           the Nestorians and Monophysites split off from the orthodos
the supreme legislative and executive power of the hierarchy.       church, they established independent s'chismatic patriarch-
They bore the same relation to the metropolitans of single          ates, which continue to this day, showing that the patriarchal
provinces, as the ecumenical councjls to the provincial. They       constitution answers most  neai-ly  to the oriental type of
did not, however, form a college; each acted for himself. Yet       Christianity. The orthodox Greek church, as well as the
In important matters they consulted with one another, and           schismatic sects of the East, has substantially- remained true
had the right also to keep resident legates at the imperial         to the patriarchal system down to the presept time  ; while
court at Constantinople (this is .a far cry, is it not, from the    the Latin church endeavored to establish the principle of
Roman Catholic claim of today that the pope at Rome is              monarchical centralization so early as Leo the Great, and in
the successor of the Apostle Peter: notice that each of these       the course of the middle age produced the absolute papacy.
patriarchs acted for himself  - H.V.) .                                                                                     H. V.
   In prerogative they were equal, but in the extent of their
dioceses and in influence they differed, and had a system of            "Therefore every one who in his preaching has kindly
rank among themselves. Before the founding of Constanti-            extolled the excellence of human nature, has received great
nople, and down to the Nicene council, Rome maintained the          applause from almost all ages."
first ecclesiastical and political importance. After the end of                                Calvin's Inst., Book II, Chapter I

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

I!                                                                        particular and definite brand of election. At the same time
            The Vdice of Our Fathers                                 II we must bear in mind their distinction between an election
                                                                          unto faith and an election unto salvation, the latter being,
                                                                          again, `either decisive or non-decisive. In the first place, ac-
               - The Canons of Dordrecht                                  cording to the Arminians, there is a particular and definite
                                 PART TWO                                 election which is "incomplete and non-decisive." This is an
                    E                                                     election : a) Unto salvation  ; and, b) occurring because of a
                         XPOSITION .  OF  THE  CANONS                     foreseen faith. conversion, holiness, godliness. And in the
                      FIRST  HEAD  OF  DOCTRINE                           second place, there is, according to the Arminians, a
                    OF DIVINE  PREDESTINATION                             particular and definite election which is "complete and
                   REJECTION OF ERRORS                                    decisive." This election occurs because of foreseen persever-
                                                                          ance unto the end. And this foreseen perseverance is "the
               Article V. Who teach: That the incomplete and non-         gracious and evangelical worthiness" which distinguishes the
               decisive election of particular persons to salvation       chosen as more worthy that the unchosen. Hence, the
               occurred because of a foreseen faith, conversion,
               holiness, godliness,  which  either began or  coatinued    Arminian rejects the idea that faith, the obedience of faith,
               for some time; but that the complete and decisive          holiness, godliness, and perseverance are fruits of the un-
               election occurred because of foreseen perseverance         changeable election to glory, and substitutes the notion that
               unto the end in faith, conversion, holiness and god-       they are conditions and causes of the unchangeable election
               liness; and that this is  the gracious and evangelical     to glory.
               worthiness, for the sake of which he who is chosen,
               is more worthy than he who is not chosen; and that             It is to be noted that the Synod does not present a&y
               therefore faith, the obedience of faith, holiness, god-    argumentation against this view, but merely presents the
               liness and perseverance are not fruits of the un-          vjew itself in order then to quote Scripture against it. There
               changeable election unto glory, but are conditions,        is not even any exegesis of the Scriptural passages offered ;
               which, being required  befomrehand,  were foreseen as      Scripture is simply quoted. Evidently the Synod felt that
               being met by  those' who will be fully elected, and
               are causes without which the unchangeable election         a factual presentation of the Arminian view would so ev-
               to glory does not occur.                                   idently expose its faults that a simple literal quotation of
                  This is repugnant to the entire Scripture, which        Scripture would be quite sufficient to contradict this error
               constantly inculcates this and similar declarations :      and to condemn it in the  ey,es of all. And it must be ad-
               Election is not out of works, but of him that- calleth.
               Rom. 9  ~11.    "And as many as were ordained to           mitted that in this the fathers were quite correct, and that
               eternal life believed." Acts  13:48. "He chose us in       their choice of Scripture for such literal contradiction  of,
               him before the foundation of  the world, that  we          the  ,Arminian  error could not have been happier.
               should be holy," Eph.  1  :4. "Ye did not choose me,          Nevertheless, it is not amiss in this connection to call
               but I chose you," John  15:16. "But if  it be of grace,    attention to some of the salient points of  this erroneous
               it is no more of works," Rom.  116 "Herein is love,        presentation,. as well as to the co?nection between it and the
               not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent
               his Son," I John  4:lO.                                    preceding presentation in Article IV. We may note  the.
                                                                          following :
      Quite correctly  did Rev  .T.  Bos in his "The Canons of               1  j Whereas in Article IV the Arminian is presented as
Dordrecht, Explained," observe in connection with this                    speaking of an election  mto  faith, conditioned by the right
article (translation from the Dutch mine, H.C.H.) : "The                  use of the light of nature, etc. here he speaks of faith itself
divine order is turned about by the Remonstrants. That                    as a condition of election. God foresees, sees ahead of time,
order is that according to the Scriptures all is of God. Ac-              who will believe, who will convert himself, be holy, and be
cording to the Remonstrants God waits in His doings upon                  godly ; and these He chooses unto salvation.
that which man does. Logically reasoned through, they must                   2) However, this election unto salvation is not decisive
come to this, that the glory of heaven shall one day consist              and complete. It implies that those chosen unto salvation.
in the glorification of man."                                             have salvation, but do not necessarily have it permanently.
       In this fifth article of the Rejection the fathers expose          They have it, but do not have it. And hence, after all they
completely the diabolical scheme of the Arminians whereby                 have nothing. It is entirely possible that though they be-
they seek to overturn any idea of a "particular and definite              lieve, convert, are holy and godly, they will nevertheless be
.election" while, deceitfully clinging to  the expression as              among the damned in hell.
such. For an analysis of this fifth article certainly brings                 3) Notice the very limited and materialistic conception
to light the fact that the Arminian election is neither                   of salvation that is implied in this view. Salvation merely
"particular and definite," nor, in any real sense, election.              means going to heaven instead of- to hell. It is overlooked
       This article treats the distinctions in election mentioned         or deliberately ignored that faith, conversion, holiness,  and-
in Article I of the Rejection. And it deals specifically with             godliness are integral elements of salvation, and that he who
the .twofold  distinction which the Remonstrants made in the. possesses them actually possesses Salvation itself.


                                          T 'H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   17
                -
    4) There is also an election unto salvation that is decisive      so intimately connected, yea, identified, as the fountain and
and complete. This is conditioned by foreseen perseverance            the stream, the cause and the effect, that if the one is un-
unto the end. God foresees not only who will believe, but             conditional, the other must needs be.
also  who. will keep on believing; not only who will convert,            Finally, we call brief attention to the Scripture passages
but who will persevere in conversion ; not only who will for          cited in this article. Rom. 9 :ll, in its connection, teaches
a time be holy and godly, but also who will be holy and               literally that the divine purpose of election stands not of
godly to the very end. And these latter he chose completely           works, but of Him that calleth. This is therefore in literal
and decisively unto salvation. They are the only ones ulti-           contradiction of the. Arminian idea of foreseen faith,, con-
mately who will be saved. Thus the way of salvation is                version, holiness, godliness, and the perseverance in these
literally strewn with conditions until the moment of our              as the basis of election. The Arminian says : election stands
death. For, mark you, the condition of persevearnce im-               of works, not of Him that calleth. Acts 13 :48 teaches plainly
plies that one persists in faith, conversion, holiness, and god-      that faith is the fruit of election unto eternal life, not the
liness until he has breathed his last. If his dying sigh is one       condition. Eph. 1 :4 teaches the.same of holiness. John 15 :16
of unbelief, he still goes lost. And if God foresaw from              emphasizes that the choice of election is not man's, but Gods.
eternity that that dying sigh would be one of unbelief, that          Rom. 11 :6 emphasizes the mutual exclusiveness of the prin-
man would not be included in the complete and decisive                ciples of grace and works, in contradiction of the Arminian,
election unto salvation. He would be elect, but still  non-           who confuses grace and works. And I John 4:lO teaches
elect; he would have salvation, but still not have it. Tho            that the love of the God of our Salvation is first, sovereign,
matter is in doubt all the way, and the decision is not God's         independent, and free, while the Arminian, even though he
but man's. Nor must we be confused by the adjective "ab-              puts these conditions in God's foresight, nevertheless makes
solute" as applied in Article II to this complete and decisive        man first in all the process of election and salvation. Plainly.
election. It does not mean that this election is unconditional,       this Arminian view is repugnant to Scripture.
for the condition is perseverance. It merely means that this
is the last of that series of elections, and that after this there               Article VI. Who teach: That not every election
are no more conditions. Hence, the least that can be said                        unto salvation is unchangeable, but that some of the
is that the Arminian realized the folly of imposing condi-                       elect, any decree of God notwithstanding, can yet
                                                                                 perish and do indeed perish. By which gross error
tions on a corpse, even though he does not hesitate to im-                       they make God to be changeable, and destroy the
pose them on those dead in trespasses and sins.                                  comfort which the. godly obtain out of the firmness
    5) This foreseen perseverance unto the end is the "graci-                    of their election, and contradict the Holy Scripture,
ous and evangelical worthiness" of the elect. This expression                    which teaches, that the elect can not be led astray.
refers again to the supposed grace that lies in the fact that                     Matt.  24%; that Christ does not lose those whom
                                                                                 the Father gave him. John  6:39; and that God  hath-
the act of faith and its incomplete obedience is accepted as                     also glorified those whom he foreordained, called
of as much value as complete obedience. And it is called                         and justified. Rom.  S:30.
"evangelical" by the Arminians, that is, "gospel worthiness,"            This error that is here rejected is simply a consequence
in distinction from law-worthiness, or work-worthiness.               of the errors that have already been rejected, and the rejec-
Cunning distinctions these are, which enable the Arminian             tion of it is likewise a consequence of the rejection of the c
still to speak of grace and of the gospel, though he actually         preceding errors. We can, therefore, be very brief in our
denies both.                                                          treatment of this sixth rejection.
    6) Furthermore, it is to be noted that the Arminian, ac-             Principally the error rejected here is the error of change-
cording to the fathers, posits conditions rather than fruits          able election, or the error of the denial of unchangeable
of election, and that these conditions are both prerequisites         election. We have already seen that the.Arminians had many
 (required before hand), and indispensable causes of election.        kinds of election. And of these many kinds of election there
 In the view of the fathers,. therefore, the concepts condithn,       was only one election which was unchangeable. And the one
 prerequisite, and caztse are identical, and stand over against       unchangeable election was that which was conditioned by
the concept fmits.                                                    perseverance unto the end. Hence, there was no certainty,
    Once more we cannot refrain from calling attention to             no decisiveness, and no completeness in the decree of election
 the very obvious consequence of the Synod's teachings in             unto salvation until that condition of perseverance unto the
 this article, namely, that the condemnation of the error of          ,end, that is, unto and including a man's dying breath, was
 conditional election requires the condemnation of the error          foreseen as fulfilled. All other election is changeable. And
 of conditional salvation. No more than election, which is the        the change is the only one conceivable: the change of election
 divine thoughts of our salvation, is dependent upon .what            into reprobation. Hence, in the Arminian view,.- and note
 God foresees of human thoughts about salvation, no more is           the pointed criticism implied in the. phrase already, - "any
 salvation, which is the realization of those divine thoughts,        decree of God notwithstanding," some of the elect both can
 dependent upon those human thoughts and desires. In all of           and do perish.
 Scripture and in all of the Canons election and salvation are                             (Codwed   ow page  19)


 18                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
 II                                                                    must always be subjected to-the will of Christ and those who
              DECENCY and ORDER                                        have such a desire-must, therefore, patiently await the call
                                                                       of Christ through the church. It is conceivable that the
                                                                       desire for the office is motivated by carnal and fleshly reasons
                    The Election of Elders                             and then the above saying is no longer true.
                                                                           The twenty-second article of the church order does not
                           B.  Procedure                               delegate to the consistory more authority than it should
       We have already pointed out that the congregation must          exercise in this matter, nor does it nullify the rights of the
  be given an actvie  part in the choosing of her office bearers.      congregation. It speaks of the duties of both in the correct
  The consistory, too, has an important duty to perform in             relation to each other. It proceeds from the Scriptural prin-
  regard to the election. Only when these two are combined             ciple that the consistory is the ruling body of the church,
  and cooperatively executed does this matter take place ac-           vested with authority by Christ, and, therefore, in the matter
  cording to the institution of Christ. That the whole proce-          of elections is called to exercise sound jud,ment  in selecting
  dure must be under the control, guidance and supervision of          prospective candidates for the offices; to exercise proper
  the consistory is clearly stipulated in Article 22 of the Church     control and give good guidance so that the elections may be
  Order: "The elders shall be chosen by the judgment of the            conducted in decency and good order. For the welfare of
  consistory (body of elders) and the deacons . .  ." This             the church this supervision is of paramount importance. And
. statement does not abrogate the rights and duties of the             there is wisdom in such an arrangement. Generally speaking
  congregation in the matter which might be the case if it             the office-bearers of the congregation know better than the
  were interpreted to mean that the consistory and deacons             individual members the needs of the church and the qualifica-
  do this exclusively. That, however, is not the case.                 tions of those who are best able to serve those needs. There
       If it were so, Article 22 would violate a sound principle `is less liklihood of one being placed on nomination simply
  of Reformed Church government  ; would deny what Scripture           because he is a blood relative. Although consistories are not
  teaches concerning the appointment of office-bearers in the -above reproach and they, too, frequently err, there is less
  church ; and, would agree with the heretical Romish con-             danger of unqualified men being nominated for the offices
  ception of the offices and its teaching concerning the minor-        when these nominations are made by a smaller group of
  ity of the believers. But fortunately this is not so. No in-         select men than if they were made by the broader gathering
  dividual, be he the pope, or consistory has the inherent             of the entire- congregation. And, it eliminates the possibility
  authority to appoint men to the offices in Christ church. Men        of one who is under silent censure being, placed on the
  are called thereunto by God through the church itself and,           nomination. It is properly the consistory's function which
  therefore,' this authority to appoint belo.ngs  strictly speaking    they must always exercise with much prayer, extreme care-
  to Christ alone and He.is pleased, according to His revealed         fulness, greatest diligence, seeking undividedly the welfare
  ordinance, to exercise it through the church. And when we            of the church and not that of the individual.
  speak here of the church, we do not refer exclusively to the            For this reason, what is known as Free, Election, or in
  offices, nor simply, to the general office of believers, but to      the Dutch, Vrije Stemming, is (with the exception of in-
  both. Through both Christ calls and appoints men to serve            stances where a congregation is first organized and there
  Him as elders and deacons of the church. To properly carry           is as yet no consistory) always to be condemned. According
  out the election of office-bearers there must be a mutual            to this method the congregation is called together and, with-
 relation of cooperation between consistory and congregation.          out a limited nomination of approved men, the members vote
  Each must perform their respective parts and the absence of          freely until the desired number of office bearers are chosen
  either makes the election void by virtue of its having been          from out of the entire congregation. This method is wrong
- done contrary to the institution of Christ. Where both are           on especially two counts : (1) It invalidates the authority of
 properly performed, those chosen are the true appointees              the consistory to govern the election, and (2) it vests in the
  of Christ, under whom the church is duty bound to submit             congregation more than its proper right. Its dangers are
 itself.                                                               many. It is very possible that a member under silent censure
       If this sacred .principle  were borne in mind always, there     is chosen to the office under this procedure. It is quite likely
 would be less danger of the flesh projecting itself into these        that  ,the unqualified froward member who exerts personal
 matters. Jealousies, envies, and evil strivings which are             influence will more readily be chosen than'the modest, spirit-
 frequently evident would be reduced. Some men with ex-                ually qualified member under this arangement. It should,
 cellent capabilities are modest and shun from the calling.            therefore, never be used.
 Others, oft times with less capabilities, are openly bold and            The question may be asked ,as to what system then is
 seek to impose themselves upon the church by using external           to be regarded as proper ? In answering this it may be
 influences to gain the desired position. This is not as it should     pointed out that more than one procedure is possible. We do
 be.  It. is certainly a true saying that, "If a man desires the       not have to abide here by a hard and fast method. Article
  office of a bishop, he desireth a good work," but that desire        22 of the church order presents two possibilities and it is


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   19
.*-
quite conceivable that both of them could be modified in              mentary,"  Monsma  and  Ivan  Dellen offer a suggested list
various ways without destroying their principle correctness           of such rules. Most of these rules concern simple parlimentary
so as to make still more possible procedures feasible. In             procedure. We will not quote them here but offer the fol-
general tie may say that any method is correct  and,. there-          lowing suggestions to those consistories that may desire to
fore, usable that includes the proper supervision and labor           formulate a set of written regulations:
of the consistory and extends to the congregation its rightful            (1) These rules should be as concise as possible. In-
duties. We mention here the following :                               volved and complicated rules lead to more confusion than
    (1) The consistory gives the congregation opportunity             no rules at all.
to direct attention to suitable per-Sons.  This is the equivalent         (2) They should include matters of procedure which are
of making a general nomination. To this the consistory re-            not directly stipulated in our church order or in the decisions
serves the right to add other names if desired. From this             of our churches pertinent to the various articles. For example
nomination the consist.ory then proceeds to choose the number         the rules need not include the stipulation that "Nominations
of elders and deacons needed and presents their names to the          be announced on two successive Sundays" as that is already
congregation for approval. If. there are no valid objections,         a decision of our churches under Art. 22.
the ordination of those chosen by the consistory can take                 (3) These rules should cover every forseeable difficulty
place.                                                                that may arise in the voting process. For example, what
    (2) The second method is quite similar to the first ex-           constitutes a majority vote ; what to do in the event of a tie
cept that instead of choosing the exact  numbers of office            vote ; how to treat proxy ballots ; etc.
bearers needed, the consistory selects from a previously made             (4) These rules may also stipulate the procedure to bc.
nomination by the congregation, double the number needed              followed in making nominations in the consistory.
and from these the congregation proceeds to elect one half.                                                                     G.V.D.B.
Also here approbation is required before installation can take
place.
                                                                                          (Coui.ti?kiicd   frhk   jag&?  17)
    (3) The third method is that which is customarily fol-
lowed in our churches and, I believe, also in other Reformed                        THE VOICE  ,OF OUR FATHERS
Churches both here and in the Netherlands. It consists in                 Imagine! A decree of God, Who is really God, who is
this. The original nomination, consisting of twice the num-           eternal, unchangeable, Whose counsel shall stand, and Who
ber needed for each office, is made by the consistory. This           performs all His good pleasure,-such a decree is not of
nomination is presented to the congregation for approbation.          enough power to prevent the elect from perishing! Such
If there are no objections the congregation is called to              is the caricature of God and His decrees which the Arminian
choose one half of those nominated and they in turn are               invented when he manufactured the myth of a changeable
then ordained in their respective offices.                            election !
    There is much to be said in favor of this last mentioned            This error is rejected on two grounds: 1) It makes God
method. Although all three methods are principally correct,           changeable, -a charge which is so obvious that it needs
the last-named has the decided advantage of being more                no elucidation. 2 j It destroys the comfort which the godly
systematic and orderly. It is a very workable arrangement.            obtain out of the firmness of their election . Also this is plain.
Further it places the whole matter under the control of the           Since the only unchangeable election is that conditioned by
co&story and at the same time gives the congregation the              perseverance unto the end, and since all other kinds of
right to exercise its proper part. If desired the provision of        election are changeable, all the assurances of Scripture, such
method No. 1, "that the congregation be given opportunity             as those quoted in this very article, are absolutely valueless.
to direct attention to suitable persons," may also be incor-          The Arminian must take his Bible and insert after all such
porated into this method and then it is as complete as it             passages the words: "But this is -changeable." None of the
could possibly be.                                                    elect in this life are ever able to say: my election is firm,
                                                                      because God's decree is unchangeable.
                      C. Regulations                                      The Scripture passages also need no elucidation ; they
                                                                      speak for themselves. And it is clear without any exegesis
    Article 22 stipulates that the election of office .bearers        that all these passages contradict the Arminian error of
 shall take place "according to the regulations for that purpose      changeable election.
 established by the consistory." Many consistories do not                                                                         H.C.H.
 have such regulations but are simply governed in this matter
 by the customs of the past. This might involve them in some
 technical difficulties and, therefore, it is better to have a set        It was a choice saying of Austin, "Every saint is God's
 of written rules which may be amended or revised from time           temple, and he who carries his temple about him, may go
 to time as necessity dictates. In their, "Church Order Com-          to prayer when he pleaseth."


 29                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
 I/                                                                  a child of believing parents dies. Then the minister has
              ALL AROUND US                                          every right to impart comfort on the basis of the promises
                                                                     contained in the Word of God."
 Early Lost,  Em@  Saved?                                                Rev. Erffmeyer maintains that the Scriptures are silent
                                                                     respecting the salvation of children outside of the covenant
       Such is the title of an article written by the Rev. Henry     of grace. Writes he: "It need hardly be stated that we find
 N. Erffmeyer appearing in The Banner of September 9,                no direct or indirect answer in Scripture concerning the
 `55. This title he borrowed from a little book he read which        salvation of children outside -the covenant of grace. Upon
 was written by George W. Bethune and published in 1846.             other doctrines which must be considered in respect to salva-
 Rev. Erffmeyer remarks that the only difference between his         tion Scripture speaks very plainly. We think of election,
 title and that of the~little book is that he places a question      total depravity, and the necessity of regeneration. Every
 mark( ?) behind it, while Bethune uses a colon ( :) and in-         time an infant is baptized in one of our churches we are
 tends that his little book offers "an argument for the salvation    reminded: `That we with our children are conceived and
 of  infants."~                                                      born in sin, and therefore are children of wrath, so that we
       Though Rev. Erffmeyer does not want the conclusions of        cannot enter into the kingdom of God, except we are born
 the little book, namely, that all infants who die in infancy        again.' " When I read this paragraph the thought came to-
 are saved, he nevertheless leaves the impression that he            me: I wonder what Rev. Erffmeyer would say about the
 does believe that all infants of believers who die in their         passage found in I Kings 14 where we read of the death of
 infancy are saved. If this is his conception, a conception held     the son of Jeroboam and especially verse  13 "And all Israel
 by others of his colleagues, we emphatically disagree. We           shall mourn for him, and bury him: for he only of Jeroboam
 have had members of the Christian Reformed Church, one              shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some
 of whom I remember distinctly as a Sunday School teacher,           good thing toward the Lord God of Israel in the house, of
 who came to us with the question concerning the salvation           Jeroboam." Perhaps if Rev. Erflmeyer considered this, pas-
 of infants, and informed us how she was in disagreement             sage he placed Jeroboam inside of the covenant of grace, or
 with her pastor who taught the Sunday School teachers that          !he does not consider the word of the Lord in verse 13 to have
 all children of believers who die in infancy are saved, on the      reference to the child's salvation but only to a decent burial.
 ground of Canons I, 17. And who has not heard others                But in the light of the above paragraph I would like to know.
 of their ministers preach funeral sermons that definitely as-                                                                  .
                                                                     his explanation of this passage.
 sured bereaved parents of the salvation of their children ?
 Though we agree with Rev. Erffmeyer that there is no                   I pass over two parts-of his article in which the Reverend
 basis for believing that all children who die in infancy are        calls attention to the Roman Catholic and Lutheran views
 saved, we wonder whether or not he believes that all children       on this question, as well as to the cautiousness of Reformed
 of believing parents who die in infancy are saved. His article      men to give an answer to this question. Rather I would
 seems to leave that impression. According to Erffmeyer the          quote his own observations on this question.
covenant is a way to salvation, and believing parents may be            "Although I believe that the question cannot be settled
comforted' in the death of their infants with the promises           definitely on the basis of Scripture, nevertheless we should
contained in the Word of God. But Rev. Erffmeyer does.               not lose sight of several important teachings of the Word of
not say wherein this comfort consists. Is it that these be-          God. Salvation is always of pure grace, sovereignly origin-
lieving parents may believe that their infants are saved?            ated and sovereignly bestowed. The only way God directs
With this we could never agree.                                      his grace and works it sovereignly in the heart, according
       We have not the space for placing his entire article, nor- to Scripture, is the covenantal way. If there is the wide
is this necessary. Here is the gist of his article. Rev. Erff-       exception in the salvation of all infants dying in infancy,
meyer claims that the question: Are all children who die in          then there must be this  a.dditiovbal way  of unrestricted
infancy saved ? is more academic than practical. "A child            mercy.
dies,:, A minister is called to conduct the funeral or officiate        "There is also the matter of the indispensability of the
at the committal service. Shall he offer comfort? I believe          Word. In no place in -Scripture  are we led to believe that
the matter of imparting consolation depends. not first of all        the Holy Spirit works salvation effectually in those areas
upon the answer to the question whether the child is saved           where the gospel has not been preached, or is not about to
or not, but whether the parents are believers or not. For            be preached. Now, to say all infants dying in infancy are
really what comfort is there for an unbelieving parent to            saved, regardless of where or  ..when, surely goes counter to
know that his or her child is saved ? Salvation really means         this established rule. Then the Hindu mother does a good
very little for such a person ; if it did, his attitude would be     work- we could almost say a priestly work -when she
..greatly  different. All that a minister can do in such a case      throws her infant into the Ganges River; for she really
is to present a clear witness of the gospel and leave the ques-      throws him into the arms of God and into life eternal!
tion of the salvation of the child alone. On the other hand,         Would then that all heathen babies were sacrificed!


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                21

   "Moreover, faith is necessary unto salvation. Even              selves and the ministers of the churches to which these con-
though infants cannot believe, yet the children of believers       verts have come, the results appeared much more impressive.
can be said to be in the line of faith as covenant childrein.      Mr. High found that sales personnel interested only in find-
In respect to others : they are not planted in the soil of the     ing at Harringay some conversation material for a sales trip,
covenant where faith is present. The Word is not nigh them         or communists who went to Harringay only out of curiosity,
 (Romans 10 :5-15).                                                iyere  completely swept, off their feet, made decisions for
   "To regard all infants dying in infancy as saved leads to       `Christ that lasted, and their lives now' are filled with testi-
an atomistic conception of salvation. The organic unity of the     mony for Christ.
redeemed Church is disrupted ; a great sector of the re-               According to Mr. High "The  British Weekly  poll re-
deemed then would be individual infants who would bear             vealed the remarkable fact that in the months after the 1954
no covenantal relationship with others.                            Crusade the number of converts continued to increase. Many
   "In view `of these various considerations I believe we          people, exposed to Billy Graham's message but undecided at
should continue to speak with hesitancy regarding the salva-       the time, `moved slowly and thoughtfully to the Christian
tion of all infants until the day we shall know with certainty.    faith over a period of months . . . .  ' `Before Harringay',
And in the meantime it is for us to bring the gospel out tq        says Sir Frank Medlicott, prominent London lawyer and
the ends of the earth in order that the covenant may be            Member of Parliament, `if you wanted to avoid embarrass-
established with many and salvation may come to numerous           ment, you didn't talk about religion save, occasionally in an
households- all to the glory of our great covenant God !"          abstract way about an abstract God. Now, thanks to Billy
                                                                   Graham, the average layman, like me, can talk without em-
                                                                   barrassment to other laymen about the personal reality of
                                                                   Jesus Christ. A more remarkable fact is that so many lay-
One 17ea.fp After Billy Gmhaw                                      men are doing just that."
   In the September, 1955 issue of Reader's Digest appears             What shall we say about all this ? People ask us oc-
an interesting article entitled : "Do Billy Graham's `Crusades' casionally : What do you think of Billy Graham ? Are not
Have Lasting Effect?" written by Staniey High. This writer         the results of his campaigns greatly exaggerated  ?
traveled to England expressly to find an answer to this
question.                                                              We repeat what we have often said and still say to those
                                                                   who ask us these questions: It is not for us to judge Billy
   He tells us that "a year .had elapsed since the three           Graham's  personal sincerity or integrity. Nor would we
months' Crusade at London's Harringay Arena in 1954                say that the Lord will not use a man like Billy Graham to
which, with associated meetings, resulted in 38,000 decisions      reveal to some of His people, walking in %in and error, His
for Christ. In scores of interviews with churchmen of many         Word. But we deny that he is God's evangelist. And his
denominations, with church editors, laymen, converts, I            work cannot be called mission-work. Our reason for saying
sought the answer to these questions: What has happened            this is the fact that Billy does not represent the Church, but
to the Crusade's converts ? What remains of. the dedication        the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. In other words,
and zeal which were stirred among so many preachers and            his work does not go out from the church. And according
churches ? Was it all a passing show? These are the answers        to Scripture Christ sends out His ambassadors through the
I got, supported by a mass of facts and firsthand testimony:       :church, not an independent business association. When I
A surprisingly large number of the Crusade's converts are          read an article such as the one in Reader's Digest, I am
carrying on ; the dedication and zeal aroused at Harringay,        more convinced than ever that Billy's work and its results
far. from  waning after a year, are on the increase  ; Billy       are an effective agency for realizing and strengthening the
Graham, in the words of one of England's most widely               apostate church. When the Federal Council of Churches can
`known religious leaders, `has aroused an appetite for religion    find in the Billy Graham movement an object of praise, I
which puts before us an opportunity such as we have not'had        have enough.
in this century to claim the soul of the nation for God."'                                                                    M.S.
    Mr.-High's investigation and inquiry among the converts
in every station of life resulted in conclusions quite contrary                                 --
to the prediction of Billy Graham's critics. In the words of
one of these critics "a tiny majority are genuinely  con-                           Eastern Ladies League
verted . . . . No great harm, no great good, mostly just               The Eastern Ladies League meeting will be held in our
another show." And, "A London newspaper columnist, after            Hudsonville Prot.  Ref; Church on Thursday, Oct. 20, 1955,
telephone inquiries to 20 Anglican vicars, estimated that `of      at 8 p. m. Rev. H. H. Hoeksema will be our speaker for the
outsiders, that is, genuine converts' not more than ten per-       evening. -Ladies make your plans to join us in an evening of
cent were still in the church."                                     Christian fellowship.
    However, when Mr. High contacted the converts them-                                         Mrs. Gerrit Pipe, Vice-Secretary.

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

                                                                         It was while I was in the seminary that the Jansen
                CONTRlBUTlONS                                        controversy ran its course. Prof. Jansen gave instruction in
I                                                              II    the Old Testament branches. The trouble with his instruc-
                                                                     tion was that it was characterized by rationalistic tendencies.
                 Anniversary Address*                                Our brother, Rev. H. Hoeksema, was the only one who was
      Beloved in the Lord, wi: are assembled here in joyful _ capable of making this plain to the churches. Others had
                                                                     tried it but had failed. And by others, I mean the four
<mood  to commemorate the fact that our brother, Rev. Herman
Hoeksema, has completed forty years of service in the min-           `professors in the seminary, the la$e professors Volberda,
istry of the Gospel. In the name of all our people, I heartily Heyns, and-TenHoor, and Prof. Berkhof, and some ministers
congratulate our brother, and our ardent desire is, that, the        including Rev. 1% J. Kuiper,  the editor of the Christian Re-
 Lord willing, several more years may go by before the Lord          formed Banner. As a result of our brother's exposures, Prof.
takes him home. This is our prayer. And I feel certain that          Jansen was deposed from his office of professor of theology.
it is a permissible prayer, seeing that I subordinate it to the          During all the time of this controversy, I made no per-
 Lord's will.' A permissible prayer, I say. This would not be        sonal contacts with Rev. Hoeksema. I was esteeming him-at
the case if the physical condition of our brother were such          a distance. His good fight for the truth in the Jansen con-
as to compel us to conclude that he has only a few more days         troversy had endeared him to my heart. His singular abilities
to live. My impression is, that, though he is sixty-nine years       as a theologian and controversalist  - abilities that had been
old, he is still a rather young person in the point of view          called into action- especially by the Jansen controversy-
of his physical and mental vitality. He can still do a lot of        won for him my admiration, respect, gratitude and trust. It
walking and swimming. And in the pulpit he is still sur-             caused him to stand out in my mind as the only able cham-
prisingly vigorous. His mental powers have not diminished            pion of the truth in the churches, as the only one of all the
noticeably. His sermons are still characterized by that ex-          ministers including the professors, who really had right
cellency that has always made it a joy to listen to them. He         understanding of things. From that day on he was my man,
still writes as clearly and logically and forcibly and as edify-     although as yet he knew nothing about it, as I not once had
ingly as always. This is the more remarkable in view of his          set my foot on his doorstep.
severe illness of recent years. For a while he was  com-                By his exposures of the wrongness of Prof. Jansen's
pletkly paralyzed. He could not read, he could not talk, he          instruction- exposures that, as was said, had resulted in his
could not think. He ceuld hardly utter a sound. He could             deposition - our brother, Rev. Hoeksema, had rendered the
not move a muscle. But the Lord had mercy upon him and               churches an incalculable  service. Yet, what happened. Let
upon us all. He gave him a most remarkable recovery. And             us see what happened. The friends and supporters of Jansen,
therefore I repeat, the prayer that the Lord may prolong             of which there were several in the churches, were furious
his life for several years is a permissible one. For it seems        with Hoeksema, as could be expected. And it became re-
that this is the Lord's will. At least it does not appear that       vealed that they actually vowed to `rid the churches of him.
.it is not the Lord's will. And these final years of our             And they also succeeded with their three points -the famous
brother's life may turn out to be as productive as any of            "Three Points" of the synod of 1924. And what was so
his previous years in the ministry of the Gospel.                    startling is, that, in achieving their aim, in realizing their
                                                                     purpose, they sought and secured the cooperation of those
      The committee did not limit me by indicating what I            very persons -ministers and professors - who had stood
should speak on in connection with this occasion. So I am            shoulder to shoulder with Rev. Hoeksema during the Jansen
free to choose. Let me delve a little in the past and make           controversy, and who all along had run his doorstep flat, so
some appropriate remarks as I proceed.                               to say, urging him to keep up the good fight by all means.
      I first came to know about Rev. Hoeksema when I be-               This, I say is startling, amazing. For the "Three Points"
came a student in Calvin. He, too, at that time was a student        are Arminian. The doctrine  contained in them runs contrary
in Calvin. But he was five years ahead of me, so that we             to the truth of the Scriptures as formulared in our Reformed
were in school together for about this length of time. During        Confessions. The first "point" teaches a favorable attitude
these years we had no ~contact  with each other, except for          of God also toward the reprobated. As taken in connection
one year during which he was my teacher in English liter-            with the ground upon which it was made to repose, it
ature. I also recall that, when I was in the seminary, he was        teaches,  does this "point" that the preaching of the Gospel is
asked by the students to lecture before them on the subject          grace also for the reprobated. The idea of the second and
of con?mon  grace, which he did. At the time he was residing         the third "Points" is, that through the operation of God's
in Grand Rapids as pastor of his present charge then the             grace in him, the reprobated can and does perform works
Christian Reformed church of Eastern Ave.                            that ha+e  true ethical, spiritual value in the sight of God.
                                                                     This is a plain denial of the Scriptural doctrine of man's
"Address delivered on the occasion of the  comfiemoration  of        total depravity. Fact is, that in adopting the "Three Points"
 Rev. Herman Hoeksema's completion of 40 years in the Gospel
 Ministry.                                                           the Christian Reformed churches through their represent-


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                                                                                                                               ;.*p-            -      _     . ._.
                                                                                  -3'  ;. ,;..,; . z*: ,:    I         _  <  I  _  _..          .--
                                                                                                                               . . . .    -     .
                                                                                                                              -  .  ..~ J...-^,.   _
                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                    23

atives as assembled in Synod officially subscribed and intro-        big things, but it walks in a vain show. And the motive of
duced into their churches the entire conditional theology of         all its doings-can be none other than the desire to become big
the Arminians. This is what their doing amounts to. And              in the eyes of the world, to gain recognition, to acquire for
what is also so astounding is, that the articles of the "Con-        itself name and fame with men.
fession" that were quoted in support of these "Points" teach             But to return to our brother, the -Rev. Hoeksema. How
the very opposite from what is taught in these "Points."             true it is that most of the years of his ministerial career
They teach our doctrine, do these articles. What it comes            have been years of storm and strife for him, a fight for the
down to is , that we were deposed from office for the very           truth. But the Lord was with him and sustained him through
reason that in our teaching and preaching we were adhering           all these years. Take our most recent fight for the truth in
strictly to the Scriptures and the Confession.                       the bosom of our own churches. How wonderfully -the Lord
   Rev. Hoeksema was expelled from the communion of                  raised him up from a bed of illness that he might lead us
Christian Reformed churches, because he refused to do what           also in this fight. God is God and none else. This was again
before God he might not do, namely subscribe, preach and             the issue, as it was in 1924. It is always the issue essentially.
defend the doctrine of the "Three Points." His consistory            How wdnderfully the Lord has wrought through our brother
was similarly dealt with for its refusal to place their pastor       through all the years of his ministry. I think now of his
before these points. The late Rev. Danhof and his  con-              labors as a pastor of a large congregation, of his labors as
sistory and the undersigned with his consistory were deposed         professor in our school, of his labors as writer and lecturer.
by Classis West for the same reason. For conscience sake             We have a copious Protestant Reformed literature, the bulk
it was also impossible for Danhof and for me to subscribe,           of which came  from his pen. Indeed, we are grateful to God
preach and defend the doctrine of "The Three Points." And            for what He gave us in the person of our brother.
it was impossible for our consistories to place us before                Fifteen years ago we were commemorating the fact of his
these points.                                                        having completed 25 years in the ministry of the  eospel
   But I must not get, into this any deeper. Allow me but            He then joined in our prayer that it might please the Lord
one remark. The Christian Reformed churches seem to be               to allow him to labor still another twenty-five years in our
going places. They have a school with a large enrollment,            midst. If the Lord answers that prayer, he will still be with
staffed with a faculty that numbers as many as fifty members,        us, laboring in our midst, for another ten years. May it in-
I believe. And they are always at it, adding school-building         deed please the Lord to prolong his life for that many years
to school-building because of the continual influx of new            `and even for more than that many years.
students coming from everywhere. They have missionaries                  A final word about ourselves as a denomination of Prot-
in the foreign field, and a goodly number of so-called gospel        estant Reformed churches. It is twenty-nine years ago, I
chapels. The voice of their radio minister is carried over           believe, that as a denomination of Protestant Reformed
the air to almost every nook and corner of our land. For it          churches we were brought into being. Our beginning was
is heard on I don't know how many radio stations. They               small. We numbered but three churches. Through the years
have extended themselves as a denomination deep into                 other Protestant Reformed churches were organized, but
Canada, where among the immigrants many churches have                not so many. Certainly our growth was not phenomenal:
been organized bearing the name Christian Reformed. But              As a result of our most `recent fight for the truth, we are
in the sight of God their whole huge program must be devoid          again nearly as small as we were in the beginning. But if
of real use and meaning. For in 1924 they corrupted and              only we are spiritual and love the truth, our smallness will
forsook the truth and replaced it by the carnal and false            not disturb and trouble us at all, seeing that the cause of our
imaginings of  Arminius,  and `thereby they became just an-          smallness is that we abided in the truth by God's mercy.
other denomination of Arminian churches. Certainly, they             More must be said. If we are spiritual, we will even rejoice
still have the truth but only on the books: it is no longer          because of our smallness, seeing that it betokens that we
being heard in their pulpits-the truth of God's sovereign            have kept the faith and that therefore the favor of Goa'is
grace and of His sovereign election and reprobation. And             upon us.
unless they repent of their abomination and return to the                And let us not imagine that we have no significance
truth, they have no future. The day will dawn but not for            just because we are small. It is Iye, Protestant `Reformed,
them as a denomination. The Christian Reformed churches              that hold and confess the truth in its purest form, that is,
are not to be envied but to be pitied only.                          as uncorrupted by Arminian leaven. And therefore our in-
    The sole calling of the church is to proclaim the Gospel         fluence is bound to be felt particularly by all that calls itself
of Christ as constrained by love, in order that Christ through       Reformed.
that proclamation may gather out of the world His people.                As to our smallness, let us consider that the matter of
When the church, a church, corrupts the Gospel of Christ,            our numerical growth is God's business only. and not ours,
it tramples its calling and then like salt that has lost its savor - that our calling is to abide in the truth as it is in Christ Jesus.
it is good for nothing but to bi: cast on the dunghill to be         Let our prayer constantly be for grace to walk worthy of
trodden under foot by mkn. And then it may still be doing            this calling- the calling wherewith the saints are called.


                                                       i.
                                              1


                                 _  ---__
     2          4                                  .THE-  STAmD  B E A R E R

     For unless we abide in the truth, we, too shall have no            6-13 years. They all learn the Heidelberg Catechism. And
     future as churches.                                                they  are' always present. And not only are the children
          And let us not boast in ourselves but walk humbly before      present, but the parents and grandparents, and uncles and
     His sight as always considering that apart from His redeem-        aunts too. The number present are about forty to fifty souls
     ing grace, God's believing people are but vile, ill-deserving      in catechism.    ,>
     and condemnable men, that even as saints of God they still             The same is true on Sunday morning when we conduct
     are continually polluting their way before Him by their sins,      "Sunday School." Then too these same fifteen children are
     seeing that in this life they have but-a small principle of the    present, but the entire congregation is present also. The
     true obedience in them, and that therefore the reason that         undersigned makes ample use of the blackboard back of the
     "the sons of Jacob," whoever these sons may be, however            pulpit in our "church," which is a Lutheran church' school-
     faithful in this life by His mercy, are not consumed, lies not     building. These brethren and sisters enjoy this "Sunday
     in them certainly but in God only : He is Jehovah, He changes      school" very much. We are studying the book of Genesis.
     not, Mal. 3 :6. This is but one of the sides of the truth that     And the children memorize one stanza from the Psalter
     we hold. Let us hold it and hold it dear, believe it with all      each week. The entire congregation is learning to sing from
     our heart and confess it before God continually without ceas-      the Presbyterian Psalter which is ours. They affirm that
     ing also with respect to ourselves by all means, lest in           they find these  songs'rrsehr  Schriftmassig," very Scriptural.
     judging others, we ourselves be judged and condemned of            It is a joy of heart for me to hear the eldest elder, who is
     God.                                                               eighty years young, sing "The  .Lord's my Shepherd I'll not
                                                             G.M.O.     want . . .  ." So young and old are learning to sing the
                                                                        Psalters and they soon find their beautiful, German melodies
                                                                        among the collection of Psalms in our Psalter.
                             Missionary Notes                               So all in all the undersigned enjoys a rather busy life
                                                                        here in Loveland. He may meet with the entire congrega-
          Once more the undersigned is back in Loveland, Colorado,      tion the equivalent of four times per week.
     where he is laboring, and is ministering unto the spiritual
     needs of the Protestant Reformed Hope Church of Loveland,              Often these brethren and sisters voice the sentiment that
     Colorado. Yesterday, Sunday, September 18, I might again           they wish that those who cast them forth from their own
     teach Sunday School, and preach twice in their midst. And          church-building here in Loveland might hear the sermons
-    it was a real joy to preach the Word in their midst. And it        preached by the (5) ministers, ex-students of the. Revs.
     was also received, as it truly is, the Word of God, by this        Hoeksema and Ophoff. These five ministers are the Rev.
     congregation.                                                      Herman Mensch, Leola, South Dakota, Rev. C. Hankd of
          Since the last Sunday in May of this year, the under-         First Church, Grand Rapids, Mich.,  Rev. G. Lubbers, Grand
     signed has constantly been with this congregation personally,      Rapids, Mich., Rev. H. H. Kuiper, Redlands, California, and
     or in close contact with them. And it has been a great joy         Candidate-elect Herman Hanko of Grand Rapids,  Mich;
     of heart for the undersigned to be with these brethren and         What strikes them is that these men all are Reformed and
     sisters in the Lord.                                               `they all alike hew to the line of Scripture and the Heidelberg
          The reason ?                                                  Catechism. It is the same joyful sound in all of this preach-
          Because they are fundamentally Reformed in faith, and         ing. Then too they have never met Rev. H. Hoeksema and
     desire to be such also in their walk and life.                     Rev. G.  nlr. Ophoff, yet they feel that they know these
          When I say that they are "Reformed" I mean that they          teachers from their hearing these ex-students preach. They
     are such who hold to the teachings of Calvin and Ursinus,          have heard Rev. H. Hoeksema four different times from tape
     as .this is laid down in the Heidelberg Catechism. And the         recordings taken in First Church. One brother remarked.&
     truth of the Gospel concerning our only comfort in life and        me that the preaching of Rev. H. Hoeksema was clear and
     death is very precious to these brethren and sisters. Fact is,     lucid, and that one certainly understood the text when this
     that they are very conversant with the content of the Cate-        minister was finished with his sermon.
     chism, and that, especially the older members, can recite the          I believe that it will be a service to the congregation here
     Catechism verbatim in the German language. And, what is            in Loveland. to hear more of our ministers and become ac-
     very heartening, is that they insist that their children also      quainted with them.
     memorize the Heidelberg Catechism. This is done in the                 Next time we shall try and tell something about the dif-
     English language. And these children- do not come to their         ficulties these brethren and sisters have been experiencing
     Catechism Class unprepared to recite.                              during the past year because they could not do ought else
          Let me tell you, dear reader, something about this Cate-      but cling to the faith of the fathers as they had learned- to
     chism Class.                                                       love it.
          There are about fifteen catechumens in this class, ages                                                                  G.L-.


