                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                     483

   0 ! Jezus ! Gij die ons licht zijt !                     sinner is brought, this sinner as to the issues of his
   Schijn  tech in onze harten,  want de duisternis heeft heart is not totally depraved but at least partially
ons nog zoo vaak bevangen. En dan wordt het weer            good. Don't interpolate now that I misrepresent. At-
hang en angstig daarbinnen. Dan ga ik zuchtende mijn        tend to this from the pen of a certain writer: "The
weg bewandelen en dan struikel en val ik keer op keer.      second contention, worthy of special note, is that it is
Dan bespringt de vijand mij, dan grijnslacht de duivel      God who exercises these influences upon the sinner
over mij, dan grijpt hij naar mij als een verscheurende     which enables him to perform civic righteousness. This
leeuw. Dan wordt het al donkerder en dan moet ik in particular is the bone of contention in the present
klaaglijk weenen.                                           discussion. Those who deny common grace freely admit
   Doch  zoo spoedig ik dan wederom Uw aangezicht           that there is civic righteousness. But they deny that
mag zien door Woord en Geest, zoo spoedig grijp ik          it is righteousness in God's sight. In God's sight, they
weer moed. En hoe het ook moog' tegen  loopen,  dit say, it is si7~ and nothing but sin. Now that cannot be
weet  ik'. dat al  moeten wij dan ook door het da1 der       true if God enables the sinner, by the general opera-
schaduw des doods gaan, zoo  zullen we  tech geen kwaad      tion of his Spirit, to perform such righteousness. What-
vreezen. Want wij weten, dat Gij met ons gaat door ever God works cannot be sinful" (H. J. Kuiper,  The
de valleien des doods heen,  naar de zalen waar het          Three Points of Common Grace, p. 32).
Licht, eeuwig Licht zal zijn. Vlak bij het hart van             Here it is plainly affirmed that the depraved sinner
God.                                                         can do good in the sight of God. Esau, it is said, is
   Licht, eeuwig Licht !                                    a case in point. At the first opportunity he would make
   O! Daar te zijn!                                         away with a brother who had wronged him. Yet, when
                                                  G. V.     this opportunity finally presented itself, he not only
                                                            passed it by but clasped his brother to his bosom and
                       -     -      -                       took him to his heart. What a grand and touching
                                                            display of generous good-will and nobility of char-
                                                            acter  ! One of two: Esau was not totally depraved, or,
          THE MEETING OF JACOB AND ESAU                     if totally depraved, acted under impulses, which,
   Having passed over Penuel to where his caravan though the properties of the man, issued from the
was encamped, Jacob "lifted up his eyes, and looked,        Spirit of God. So then, the doctrine of common grace
and, behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred            is indispensible to the doctrine of man's total depravity.
men. And he divided the children unto Leah, and unto To deny the former is to make it impossible for self
Rachel, and unto the two handmaids. And he put the to maintain the latter; for if the good that sinners do
handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and is not the product of the Spirit, it springs up from a
her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindermost.       nature that is not altogether vile. Such is the rea-
And he passed over before them and bowed himself to soning, a reasoning that sets out with the postulation
the ground seven times, until he came near to his            that depraved men do good; that the affectionate greet-
brother. And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced              ing of Esau, to return to him, had real worth.
him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they             Consider, however, that Esau was- a profane man.
wept."                                                       In agreement with the divine prediction he dwelt in
   The spectacle of Esau weeping on his brother's            the land of Seir. Not interested in the city that  bath
neck may gender great surprise. Some twenty years            foundations and whose Maker and Builder is God, he
ago he had resolved to kill Jacob. His four hundred          could not possibly live out his life in Canaan, a stranger
men with which he now has advanced against Jacob,            and pilgrim in the earth. Looking for an earthly king-
show that his disposition and attitude have not              dom with himself as chief potentate, he had established
changed. Yet instead of showing himself up in agree- himself by his sword in the mountains of Seir to live
ment with the grudge he all along had been nourish- henceforth by his sword. The wild, lawless and thus
ing, he carries on as if a long-lost friend has returned heaven-defiant, life of the bedouin chieftain, living by
to him. The question is whether Esau's behavior per- plunder and with the mountains as his stronghold, was
mits of a rational explanation. It does. However, the his delight. Esau had openly joined the ranks of the
current view that Esau was at heart a big-minded and mighty of the earth who trust in the arm of flesh. As
generous personage, easily pacified, and quick to for- these mighty, Esau was a proud, vain personage, with a
give and to forget a personal injury; that it was this heart that craved earthly power, with affections wholly
native nobility of the man that triumphed over malice,       set upon things  b.>low,  with an imagination that could
- this view must be set aside as too  superficial for        be fired only by the prospect of worldly pomp and
serious consideration. It is  espebially the exponents glory, and with a sword that already had been  un-
of common grace who insist that Esau's conduct at this       sheated in the interest of earthly gain. How he had
juncture constitutes the unmistakable evidence that carried on when he was told that the things he prized
by reason of a common grace under the benign in-             were to go to Jacob as a result of the latter having
fluence of which the totally depraved and reprobate supplanted him. As often as the words of his aged

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

 father, "Behold, I have made him (Jacob) thy lord,           rise in his soul. A keen desire to see his brother's face
 and all his brethren have I given to him for servants;       takes possession of him as he presses on. Blood tender-
 and with corn and wine have I sustained him ; and            ness is about to triumph over malice and carnal vin-
 what shall I do now unto thee my son?" as often as           dictiviness, now that the brute is being appeased.
 these words would flash upon his memory, his breast             Whereas the drivers have said that their master is
 would heave, his eyes would flash, and with clinched         behind them, Esau scans the stretch of plain before
 fists, we may imagine, he would mutter, `It shall not him .and sights what he takes to be his brother's en-
 be.' His whole being revolted against the thought that campment. Eager to know its constituency, he takes
 he would have to serve. He would not serve. To rule,         on speed as he progresses, and perhaps orders his four
 to lord over his brethren, was his ambition.                hundred to be on their guard, for he is still distrustful.
    When the messengers of Jacob came to Esau, it can        However, all the misgivings that lurk in his bosom take
 easily be conjectured what the thoughts were that           Aight as he discovers that he advances against a de-
arose in his soul: `That brother of mine returns with        fenseless caravan, headed by women and children, at-
a large retinue. What may his purpose be? Is he a            tended by a company of unarmed slaves. He spies the
soldier? Does he come to conquer? Is he advancing            leader of the train and iixes his gaze upon him. He
in quest of the kingdom promised him? Is he prepared sees it is Jacob. Jacob comes forward ; and his manner
to force his claims by a body of retainers heavily           of coming is that of a servant approaching his master.
armed? Has he a sword to unsheath against me?                He bows himself to the ground, as he advances, once
Has he come to vie with me for the fatness of the            and again, yea, seven times, until he is come near his
earth, for corn and wine, for the lordship, for earthly      brother. Esau marks Jacob's bearing and says in his
power and glory and for a place in the sun ? True, he        heart, `Forsooth there is no cause for alarm. He re-
would have me think of him as an inoffensive monad ;         turns a harmless, humbled nomad. See how he begs
for he sends me word that he has no need of my sub-          my grace.' A feeling akin to pity creeps over the
stance.    He even begs my grace But he is crafty.           strong man's soul. Overpowered by a natural affec-
Let me not be thrown off my guard by his show of             tion, he rushes forward and in the next instance is
humility that may be feigned. I will advance against weeping on his brother's neck.
him with my four hundred men and discover the pur-               Once more, what a glorious display of nobility of
pose of his coming.'                                         character ! Can depraved man do good ? Who with
    Esau sets out. Arriving in the vicinity of Jacob's       the spectacle of Esau, taking a brother, who has twice
camp, he meets a collection of cattle, sheep, and camels.    double-crossed him, to his bosom, - who with this
To the questions: `Whose art thou? Whither goest             spectacle before his eye will want to deny it, deny that
thou? Whose are these before thee?" questions  put           depraved man can do good ? Bear in mind, however,
to the drivers, he receives the following reply: "They that, as Esau understood it, this brother declares, by
be thy servant Jacob's; it is a present sent unto my his manner of approach, that he repents of his past
lord Esau. Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind  us.          ways and craves the pardon of the victim of his guile ;
For he said, I will appease him with the present that        that, further, he is of a mind to waive his claims to
goeth before me, and afterward  I will see his face;         the rights he has gained by his fraud, is of a mind to
peradventure he will accept of me."                          receive him, Esau, as the elder brother, as the first-
   Esau proceeds. In the distance he sees approach-          born in the house of his father and thus as the ruler,
ing him another drove. He repeats his questions to           protector, and benefactor of the clan. Satisfied that
which he receives a reply like unto the first. The           Jacob had returned as a man of peace, instead of as a
strong man is visibly effected. His features soften.         contender for the priority; assured that this man is of
More to himself than to his comrades, he said, `He calls a mind to pass under his wing; highly flattered by the
me his lord. Can it be that the babblings of my mother       obeisance he made him, Esau, as to his spite, lapses
about me serving him, now rise before his mind as the into a state of physical coma, so that his natural affec-
foolish prating of an enfeebled mind? Has he come            tion, no longer fettered by this spite, can now assent
to realize that the fatness of the earth, power and the      itself and operate. Esau's feet do not lose their swift-
lordship are indeed mine, that I am master of all  I         ness for shedding innocent blood, his mouth is not
survey  ?' By the time Esau has met the last drove and       cleansed of its dreadful curses ; what happens is that,
conversed with its drivers, he feels pretty certain, it      whereas the pretext for cursing and spilling blood has
may be assumed, that Jacob bears him no ill-will, and        been removed, these feet now carry him into the arms
that he has put far from him the thought of contending       of a brother who has fed his pride, and flattered his
for tist place. Time and again he has heard himself          vanity by crouching at his feet.
saluted as lord. His vanity has been fed almost to the          Esau loves - his brother. Who will deny it? The
point of satiation. He is delighted - with his brother.      truth is that sin has not destroyed, but totally GW-
The flame of his mean spite burns low now; for the           mc.pted the natural affections of man. This is evident
flattering speech of the drivers in his ear; and before      enough. Esau's affection is now the overruling passion
his eye is the obeisance they made him. Other feelings of his soul because Esau, the subject of this affection,


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   BE.ARER                                            ;(185

feels certain that the brother against whom he all              Esau asks what the drove he met may mean. Jacob's
along has been nourishing a powerful grudge, is of a answer is that they are to find grace in the sight of his
mind to do him well by respecting, and swinging him-         lord. -And Esau said: "I have enough, my brother;
self in line with, his carnal ambitions. It is plain keep that thou hast unto thyself." Jacob, however, is
enough then that in taking Jacob to his heart, Esau          persistent: "Nay I pray thee, if I have found grace in
merely displays a capability of loving one of whom he        thy sight, then receive my present at my hand: for
thinks is about to love him and to do him well. A love       therefore I have seen thy face, as though I had seen
that can be aroused and stirred to action only by flat-      the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me. Take,
tery and praise and by tle prospect of some personal         I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee ; be-
gain or advantage, Christ denounces a sin, when He           cause God hath dealt graciously with me, and because
said, "For if ye love them which love you, what re-          I have enough. And he urged him, and he took it."
ward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?               Attending to this dialogue, one immediately feels
And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more         that these brothers fail to put into words the real
than others? do not even the publicans so?" It is the motives that lie at the root of their respective replies.
love that reaches out for, and lays hold on, the enemy,      Esay says he has enough and therefqre  refuses to take
the hateful one, to bless, to pray for, and to do him        the present. Jacob, too, has enough and is therefore
well, that is the mirror of the love of God. Said Christ,    insistent that Esau receive from his hand the proffered
"Love your enemies, bless them that curse you . . . .        drove.
that ye may be children of your father which is in              Esau then looks askance at the present. He is in-
heaven . . . .  " The plain implication is that those        flexible in his refusal of what is proffered him. It is
who do not so love have not the heart akin to that of        only after considerable begging and coaxing on the
the Father, and are therefore destitute of those             part of Jacob, that he consents to take the gift. If it
hallowed dispositions worked in a man by the Holy be considered that he was precisely the kind of a man
Spirit. How say ye then that through the natural love        that would cry for more, though the earth and its  ful-
of a depraved man runs a pure vein? Rightly con-             ness were his, it cannot be that he so stubbornly re-
sidered, this love is selfish and self-centered; it seeks fuses to add to his substance because he has enough.
itself and was therefore denounced as sin by One who         What man has enough?
knows what `is in man.                                          What then may have been the real reason for
   On page 113 of that book of his bearing the title         Esau's reluctance to be enriched ? And the answer is
As To LZeiny Reformed, the Rev. R. B. Ruiper wrote:          ready: his regard for self. Fact is, that Esau thinks
"But now observe to what erroneous views of man the          of himself as the first-born, as the ruler, benefactor,
denial of common grace must lead. If we discard com-         and protector of his clan and in particular of Jacob and
mon grace, we are driven inevitably to one of two con- his household. He is delighted that Jacob has waived
clusions: either man is not totally depraved, he can do      his claims to the rights he gained by fraud, and that he
good of himself; or the good which he does is not really     returns ready to take him, Esau, as his shield. His
good at all . . . .  "                                       prerogatives, so he thinks, do not allow him to descend
   So then, the good which sinners do, is really good.       for the moment to a plain where he becomes the object  -
Esau's affection for his brother was of real worth in        of Jacob's benevolence. Not Jacob but he is the bene-
the sight of God. Consider, however, that the pres- factor of Isaac's offspring. To receive the present
ence of those soldiers constitute the evidence that he would be to deny his rights, and to concede that he has
is of a mind to lay his brother low, should the latter       been displaced by his brother.
refuse to crawl for him. Jacob is aware of this and             But this brother is resolved that he take the pres-
therefore treats Esau throughout with the utmost pre-        ent. "Take, I pray thee, my blessing . . . Because I
caution. His approach is premeditated. He weighs his have enough. And he urged him." What may the
words. He keeps silence respecting his rights. His           motive be that reinforces this resolve? Surely, the
entire speech is devoid of any reference to the patri-       size and well-being of his flocks have not become a
archal blessing. Of what real worth is love that at          matter of indifference to him. This is evident enough;
any moment will step aside to make room for a carnal         for instead of keeping his vow by setting out for
wrath stirred to action by the slightest prod?               Bethel, he settles in SuCcoth that his flocks may graze
   After the prolonged greeting, Esau "lifted up his         in luxuriant pastures. Here at Succoth he builds him
eyes, and saw the women and the children ; and said,         a house, and makes booths for his cattle.
Who are those with thee?" Jacob replies, Yihe chil-             What then may it be th.at moves Jacob to pass ofI
dren which God hath gracious given thy servant."             on his brother this drove? And the answer is ready:
"Then the handmaidens came near, they and their chil- Esau's vacillating mind. Jacob is fully aware what con-
dren, and they bowed themselves. And Leah also with          struction Esau has placed upon his manner of ap-
her children came near, and bowed themselves: and            proach. As was said, Esau feels certain that Jacob is
after came Joseph near and Rachel and they bowed             ready to recognize and to receive him as lord of the
themselves."                                                 clan. However, all that Jacob meant to express by

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

his gift and his bowing is that he regrets his past         with young are with me: and if men should overdrive
ways with his brother and therefore begs his forgive-       them one day all the flock will die. Let my lord,  I
ness. He is not of a mind to renounce the rights of the     pray thee, pass over before his servant: and I will lead
first-born ; to do so would be equal to despise the         on softly, according as the cattle that goeth before me
blessing of Heaven.                                         and the children be able to endure, until I come unto
   All he meant to express by his obeisance is that         my lord in Seir."
he came not to contend with Esau for `earthly power             Jacob's reason for rejecting Esau's guidance, seems
and riches.    The thing for him to do, then, is            plausible enough to Esau. So he again yields. It is to
to set the mind of his brother straight respecting the      be noticed that fear drives Jacob to tell an untruth.
true import of his manner of approach. But he fears         He promises to come to Esau in Seir. Yet in his heart
that having done so Esau's feelings will change, that he is resolved to press on to Canaan. He may not do
the truth may again incite to action the spite that         otherwise. His calling is to live out his life a pilgrim
lurks in his bosom, and that this spite may again be-       and stranger in the earth as an distinct and disparate
come the overruling passion.     He therefore prevails      social unit. If he takes up his residence in Seir under
upon Esau to take the present so that if at any time        the cover of Esau's wing, he unites himself with the
the latter contemplates revenge, the gift may arise         power of godliness, inhumanity, and desperation that
before his eye as a reminder that, whereas he took his      trusts in the arm of flesh. Of this power Esau with
brother to his heart, he may not molest him.                his four hundred soldiers is the nucleus and repre-
   In a degree it is Jacob's fault that Esau misinter-      sentative. If Jacob allies himself wit,h  this power, he
preted his contrition. Instead of coming out with the       denies his God and repudiates the covenant. The one
full truth, instead of declaring his intentions in plain    thing for him to do therefore is to send this violent
words, he veils the thoughts and intents of his heart       man with his soldiers on his way and progress alone.
in equivocal speech and conduct. Time and again he          This he does and thus shows himself up as the divine
begs Esau's grace without once laying his finger on stability of the heart of Christ against whom all the
those dark spots of his past career that are so painful     powers of the world and of hell will break and go to
to Esau's eyes. Not once does he mention by name            pieces. It is this resolution to live alone, made at this
the wrong he would have his brother forgive him, so         time ; this rejection of the carnal advantages that
that the latter is left in the dark respecting the range    would come to him should he receive this brother as
of Jacob's contrition.                                      his lord, that helps to secure for Jacob a place in that
   The last night, it is true, Jacob met the Lord and       cloud of witnesses by which we are encompassed about.
learned the lesson of his life. He left Peniel a humbled Jacob has his faults  - faults that cleave unto him all
and broken-hearted saint. If it be remembered, how- his life. But the spectacle of this defenseless monad,
ever, that the saintliest of men have but a small be-       despising the succor of those skilled in the use of the
ginning of the true obedience, Jacob's lack of candor       sword, and setting out for the land of promise alone,
in his dealings with Esau on the bank of the Jabbok constitutes the evidence that Jacob has laid hoId on
will not take one by surprise. Yet for Jacob to have        the Lord as his shield and reward. It is scenes like
come-out- with the full truth, would have been most         this that  makeitso=sy  to love the man. --                  -
unwise perhaps.    The best he could do, considering           Esau agrees to let Jacob progress alone but still
Esau's temper, was to set his profane and violent           insists that he take for his protection "some of the folk
brother to thinking by following the peaceful pursuit       that are with him." This Jacob cannot allow as he
of a shepherd in the land of Canaan.                        would then be either compelled to permit himself to
   There is something unpleasant about Jacob's show         be led to  Seir; or disclose to Esau the intent of his
of meekness. It is to profuse. His calling his brother      heart. He can do neither. So he replies, "What
lord together with his repeated reference to himself        needeth it? Let me find grace in the sight of my
as servant, strikes one as being somewhat feigned, and      Lord."
to much mixed with motives that the eye of the shallow          Esau yields and returns on his way to Seir. And
Esau could not detect. Yet great allowance must be          Jacob journeyed to Succoth. Thus the Lord, in whose
made him for the oriental custom and temper.                hands the heart of Esau was, has again made all things
   Having agreed to take the' present, Esau suggests        well.                                         G. M. 0.
that they take their journey and go. Esau will go
before Jacob's caravan and lead it, such was his inten-                In armoe rijk, met zorgen blij,
tion, to Seir. From this it is plain how firmly the                       Cmzichtig in `t begeeren,
thought has taken root in his soul that Jacob is now                   Net ruim vertrouwen  zullen  wij
of a mind to attach himself to Esau as his lord and                       Den Grooten Gastheer eeren.
guardian. It is a critical moment. Shall Jacob now                     Den Christen is Godzaligheid
tell his brother just how matters stand between them?                     Gewin met vergenoegen  ;
This he dare not do. So he replies: "My lord knoweth                   Zij leert, gerust op Gods beleid,
that the children are tender, and the flocks and herds                    Den akker  zingend  ploegen.


490                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
---.

dat zij den uitwendigen bloei bevorderen, althans voor            VOOR ONZE PREDIKANTEN VERGADERINGEN
tijd en wijle.
       Dat was het verloop van vele kerken rondom ons.                De commissie, benoemd voor het opstellen van een
De kerk werd voor een tijdlang groot,  ma&r  ging  tege-         rooster van werkzaamheden, kwam met haren arbeid
lijkertijd dood.                                                 gereed en brengt het volgende ter uwer kennis, dat de
       Dat begint eerst oogenschijnlijk met iets zeer on-        onderwerpen voor bespreking zijn als volgt :
schuldigs ( ? ) . Eerst een kwartiertje zingen  voor den          1. De Antithese in onderscheiding van het
dienst, terwille van het jonge volk. Dan een kwartier                     Dualisme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ds. H. Hoeksema
van den dienst zoodat de ouderen ook wat voorbereid               2. Is er een Christelijke Philosofie, indien ja, wat
worden. Eindelijk duurt het niet zoo heel lang of men                     is zij ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ds.G. M. Ophoff
zing-t geheel den dienst, en is het karakter van den              3. Diaconie Versus Philanthropie . . . . . . . . . . Ds. D. Jonker
dienst des Woords is geheel verloren gegaan, en de kerk           4. De Zoogenaamde Natuurwet en het
zangvereeniging geworden.          266 kunt ge voor een                   Wonder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..Ds.A. Cammenga
zekere tijdslengte nog  we1 wat groei en bloei  verwach-          5. Karaktervorming of  Karakterontwik-
ten.                                                                      keling . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*...........................Ds. J. D. De Jong
        Dat er voor zooiets altijd gevaar bestaat, en we dus      6. .De Onsterfelijkheid der Ziel.............. Ds. C. Hanko
maar niet een zwarte bril op hebben, behoeft, met de              7. De Demonologie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ds. B. Kok
werkelijkheid voor oogen, geen verder betoog. En dat              8. Analogie en Definieering van de Gelijkenis, de
het niet alleen voor anderen, maar ook voor ons  plicht                   Allegorie en de Fabel....................,.  Ds. R. Veldman
is toe  te blijven zien, spreekt  we1 haast vanzelf. Niet,        9. Christus, de Logos en het Vleeschgeworden
alsof wij dat gevaar nu al duchten, zoover is het, Gode                   Woord . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ds.W. Verhil
zij dank, nog niet. Daarvoor is de geschiedenis onzer 10. Het Christelijk Huwelijk in onderscheiding van
kerken van te jongen datum, en is die geschiedenis te                     het Huwelijk van den Goddelooze. (Is een bloot
diep in ons geheugen gegrift. In de tweede plaats,                        natuurlijk huwelijk bestialiteit?) Ds. L. Vermeer
ontbreekt het ons nog niet  aan vaste en goede leiding.          11. De Plaats der Muziek in het Koninkrijk
We zouden voor zulke "fratsen" nogniet te vinden zijn.                    Gods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Dat komt later. De oogen er echter  voor gesloten hou-                                                                                                                                           Ds. G. Vos
                                                                      Deze onderwerpen zullen in de hierboven  aangege-
den, is gebiedend noodzakelijk. Al dat soort  dingen             ven volgorde geleverd worden.
zijn niet in een nacht  geboren, maar zijn het product
van langzame en gestadige afwijking. En wat men                                                            Namens de Commissie,
eerst niet wilde  noch zag, werd wreede werkelijkheid.                                                                                                                                                w. v.
        De uitkomst van dit alles is, dat er een klaagtoon
gehoord wordt over geestelijke inzinking, geesteloos-
heid.  De algemeene klacht is, dat de kerk de wereld
gelijkvormig werd, dat er velen ter kerk gaan van wien                                                        I N G E Z O N D E N
men weet dat `s I-Ieeren  dienst hen koud laat. Voor                          The Christian School and Its Relation to
het behaalde succes wordt nu geboet.                                                                                         the Church
        Misschien zegt ge, na het lezen van bovenstaande,
dan  moeten  wij maar klein blijven, want dan kan het                                                                                       V
tech nooit zoo'n vaart loopen.
        Daarom moeten  we, terwille van "onze groei," ook                                                                  (Conclusion)
daar even op letten.  Dat we klein willen blijven,. dus               This contention of the Editor of  The Banner  is
geen  verdcre uitbreiding zoeken. Ook daarover  ecu certainly as unsound as it is unreformed. That the
enkel woord. Ret zou kunnen zijn dat we klein wilden             Church is the divinely custodian of the truth is not to
blijven om het kleine zelf. Er ziet iets in het kleine dat be denied. If you only consider just what is meant by
aantrekt.       Xets dat daarom tech evengoed verkeerd the term (truth). The truth here meant is Scriptural
kan zijn als de groei waarover we met een enkel woord truth and that only. To say that the Church is the
ons onderwerp inleidden.                                         custodian of all truth is contrary to the truth of the
       Daarover, D. V., een volgende keer.                       matter itself. The Church certainly has no monopoly
                                                        w. v.    on the truth. She could not know  ull the truth, in as
                                                                 much as she has to concentrate on Scriptural truth
                                                   .
                        -I-                                      only.         The Church could certainly not appropriate,
                                                                 comprehend and penetrate into every sphere of life,
                                                                 hence she cannot have the monopoly on  all the truth.
           Neen, klaag niet als het kruis u drukt,               To contend as the Editor of  The Banner does, that be-
             Als ge onder smart en rouw                          cause the Church is the custodian of revealed truth
           Gebogen gaat, geloof juist dan                        (Scriptural truth), it therefore must control every
             ,4an `s Heilands liefde  en trouw.                  conception of truth in every sphere of life is too un-


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          491

scholarls  to even allow ourselves to a-further discus-      all other institutions of Christian benevolence and
sion. Besides, the exegesis of this part of Scripture is charity, which are receiving financial aid. Then, too, the
erroneous, forced and unscholarly. That this is an           church has the right to make demands to institutions
error on the part of the Editor of The Bmner, let us         such as the C. P. H., Denver Hospital, and others. Be-
quote the following of Dr. Rutgers' Kerkelijlce  Advie-      sides, the principle involved is certainly far from ideal.
zen, p. 12'7. Says he: "Uit het feit, dat de kerk de         The strength of the material would be the basis upon
pilaar en vastigheid is, lean zeker niet  (Italics mine,     which the spiritual is amended.         It, too, is true
A. C. B.) volgen, dat zij op elk gebied dat met de waar-     that this notion is very often agitated, and present
heid Gods te doen  heeft (`t geen natuurlijk geldt van       in the motives of Reformed people, and even in
ieder gebied waarop het menschelijk leven  zich  be-         our church life. The material is the controlling factor,
weegt, niet alleen kerkelijk, maar ook maatschappelijk,      but such is not compatable  with the reformed world
politiek, wetenschappelijk, enz., enz.) , door middel van and life view. It is obvious that we should rid our-
haar kerkelijke  organen  moet vaststellen mat op ieder      selves of this notion, because it is the cause of much
gebied de waarheid is, of het recht  heeft een opperst       contention, strife,  maliscious  acts, and  perniscious
toezicht van  controle  te houden en voor  zich op te        agitation.
eischen, niet alleen over hare leden,  die zich op eenig        Let us note another evil of this contention. Upon
gebied een Geref. beginsel tot een vereeniging  consti-      reading the editorial of The Banmzr we would ask our-.
tueeren, maar ook over die vereeniging zelve."               selves, now just which of the consistories and which
   As you have noticed from the discussion thus far          denomination is going to make demands and follow out
that the Church is sovereign in her domain, but this         the stipulations of the Editor of  The  Banner. If such
means that the Christian school is also sovereign in were carried out there would be  a  hopeless confusion,
its domain. It is not and cannot be the interpretation and an conglamaration of demands which possibly no
of article 21 that the Church should control the Chris-      school board would be able to cope with. A consistory
tian schools, just because she is the custodian of re-       of a certain Christian Reformed church may make
vealed truth (Scriptural truth). The responsibility of       some demands towards which the consistory of a Re-
the consistory as advised by Article 21, undoubtedly formed or Protestant Reformed church might object
is such, that of guardian of the children of the Ring-       to. Pray, where would the end be of all such con-
dom, to watch over the children of the covenant. Know- fusion. And this situation would end in chaos. More-
ing the condition of the public schools, the consistories    over this contention of the Editor of The Banner cer-
are to hold before the members of the Church, the cove-      tainly cannot be in harmony with the content of Article
nant vow made, which implied a training of the child         21. The Church has in no wise the right to make de-
in the fear of the Lord. Wherever necessary they             mands, for then the school would deteriorate into a
should  .foster  and stimulate the idea and the necessity    denominational or parochial institution, and this is
of a Christian school training. But the consistories         not in harmony with the reformed conception.
cannot be the originators of the Free Christian school.         But I hear someone say: Article 21 does speak
The moment the Church establishes a Ghristian school,        about the fact that the consistory shall see to it that- -
she has trodden upon the rights of the parents, and has      there are good Christian schools. Very well, but does
gone outside her sphere, and has established a pa-           not and cannot mean that he (the consistory) ) shall
rochial, denominational school.     Moreover, that the       sponsor, authorize and supervise such institutions. To
Church gives financial support to the school society,        state that the consistory has the right to sponsor and
this does not give the church the right to make de-          authorize a Christian school is to step outside the
mands, or to control the school as contended by the          sphere of the Church. The implication of the Article
Editor of The Burner. Says  he: "The Church has the          undoubtedly is this that the supervision of the con-
right to make certain demands of our Christian school,       sistory can only be of a formal character. If the con-
. . . . also on the very practical consideration that our sistory is aware that  the Christian school is a source
Churches of Reformed persuasion, especially the Chris- where doctrines are taught contrary to the teachings
tian Reformed Churches, lend a strong and an ever            of Scripture, he should raise a voice of protest, first of
increasing financial support to these schools." Finan-       all to the board, and if no satisfaction is found there,
cial support does not, and never gives the Church the        then to the association itself, and no doubt there will
right to make demands. upon the Christian school.            be a response either for reform or for a continuation
Article 21 demands financial support of the Church to-       of the evil. It is in this light that the consistory should
ward the school. If the school is in need of  consis-        advice their Church members, to discontinue to send
torial  supc?&sion  the church herself must be in a de- their children to such an institution. If no reform is
plorable state.    Moreover, if the contention of the        made, and if the parents refuse to heed the advice to
Editor of The Banner is correct that because of the          so follow it up with discipline, for the church cannot
financial support given the school by the Church, that       allow the covenant children to be led astray by strange
the church has therefore a right to demand and dictate teachings. We do not fear, however, that such a con-
to the school, then, too, the church has a duty toward dition will be the case, because if the school is a source


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     Vol. VII, No. 22                                                         AUGUST 15, 1931                                                   Subscription Price, $2.50

                                                                                                     The delights of Omnipotent Wisdom were ever with
                  M E D I T A T I O N                                                          the sons of men.
                                                                                                     Ere the mountains sank down on their foundations,
                                                                                               ere the valleys and hills and dales came forth, ere
                                                                                               fountains and rivers and seas were pregnant with
                           THE LOVING EMBRACE                                                  living water, ere all things were made - God loved
                                    .  * . . and underneath (are) the everlast-                His own babe, His Israel-Jacob-Jeshurun: His chosen
                                  ing arms . . . .                 -Deut. 33 :27b.             Church !
                                                                                                     And with everlasting arms He clasps him. Safely
         Encircling arms !                                                                     he rests in the arms of Almighty God !
         Arms that clasp underneath!                                                                From everlasting to everlasting: brightly beams
         Suggestive of but one picture: the mother and her                                     our Father's mercy !
     babe . . . .                                                                                    Never was a babe so safe as the babe of God!
         That helpless babe ! Oh, but for these arms, where                                          Encircling Love . . . .
     would it be? It is so weak, frail, helpless, not even
     conscious of all the depths of threatening danger.
         But the arms of mother are underneath and thus                                              Harken!
     around, clasping, owning, protecting, loving . . . .                                            Time is ushered in ; the heavens roll into view and
     lovingly embracing !                                                                      the earth sets on her pillars. And Jeshurun appears
         And the mother croons her song of love ; looks                                        in a garden of delight. Eden is its name.
     down upon her darling, her suckling child, with eyes                                            Delight is written in the heart of men and his glad-
     that grew moist, interpreting depths of untold com-                                       song reverberates an atmosphere that is filled with
     passion and tenderness  ?                                                                 exotic rapture. The eyes of this precious babe are
         The helpless babe is safe - safe in the arms of                                       pools of innocence. And those eyes seek God. And
     mother . . . .                                                                            God beholds His own beautiful image. And all is joy
         Encircling love !                                                                     unspeakable.
                                                                                                     But hark !
                                                                                                     What means that slithering rustle ?
                                                                                                     The hideous serpent with subtle tongue vomits
         Oh, Jeshurun !                                                                        forth its deadly venom.
         Thou art that Babe !                                                                        The babe is stung and bitten ! The wounds redden,
         Thy mother: "There~ is none like unto the God of                                      swell and fester! A shadow out of hell falls like an
.    Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help,                                         enveloping cloak over the erstwhile sunny glades of
     and in His excellency on the sky."                                                        Eden. And a gloom of death, eternal death, settles and
         Jeshurun is God's own darling. It is His name of                                      broods on and in Jeshurun and Jeshurun's habitation.
     loving remembrance, the name of a pleasant child,                                               The sky looms darkly ; Divine thunder threatens.
     made pleasant by beams of love-light shooting forth in                                    It  strikes and roars with incessant peal and detonation !
     luminous radiance from the face of Covenant Jehovah.                                      The awful curse of God !
         That child is begotten in the loving thoughts of the                                        Woe! Woe! Woe!
     Triune Divinity. From all eternity He saw His babe,
     for He knew it in everlasting foreknowledge of inde-
     scribable love  i                                                                               Qh, Jeshurun !


494                                     T H E   S T A N D
                                                       - A R D   B E A R E R

    Where is thy former splendour ? !                         thy name was born in the luminous thoughts of the
    Angels hide their faces. The heavens weep !               light of Love in all eternity !
    The spectacle is indeed gruesome.                                 Thou art safe, beloved child!
    Oh, Jeshurun ! When we saw thee, close upon this                  Embracing Love !
awful catastrophe, without the gates of Paradise: Thy
navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water
to supple thee: thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled             Everlasting arms !
at all. None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto                 How expressive of a love that is eternal!
thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast                     They speak of the Seed to come, the Shiloh, the
cast out in the open field, to the loathing of thy person,    Lion of Judah's tribe, the King of Zion - they speak
in the day thou wast born. We saw thee polluted in            of the coming of the lowly Jesus of Nazareth !
thine own blood!                                                      Underneath are the everlasting arms !
    And thou hast grown !                                             Underneath! But I, Jeshurun, am embedded in sin
    Come to maturity within the encircling gloom of           and guilt and death and untold misery!
deep darkness we measure thy stature and sigh, for:                   Still underneath !
from the sole of thy foot even unto the head there is                 Jehovah Himself, breaking through the utter dark-
no soundness in it; but wounds and bruises, and putri-        ness of sin and guilt and death draws near us, and He
fying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound         reaches with everlasting arms.
up, neither mollified with ointment.                                  It is Jesus. Jehovah saves ! He is the strong arm
    And when Eternal God sends the first shaft of             of Jehovah! To banish sin, He was made sin for us.
light into his dark soul, Jeshurun beholds his plight         To take that awful curse of God away, He becomes a
and - hear his groaning: Save me, 0 God; for the              curse for us. To deliver from death, He swallows death
waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire,         in victory.
where there is no standing: I am come into deep                       And He arose Triumfator !
waters, where the  floods overflow me. I am weary of                  And still He clasps Jeshurun.  It is an embrace
my crying; my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I from everlasting to everlasting.                         i
wait for my God.                                                      The arms arise and bear up a lovely babe, reborn
    There is a haunting memory of all Thy waves and           unto glory such as the world never saw. He lives and
all Thy billows, rolling one after another, with sicken- we shall live.
ing thuds over my soul !                                              Be forever silent thou weeping Golgotha !
    Oh, where are the encircling arms of Love?                        Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for
                                                              great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee !
                                                                      Safe in the arms of Jesus!
    But Jeshurun !
   Thou art safe in the everlasting arms!                     /  t
   It is true, the threatening depths are there: they                 And now?
are awfully-real. But thou art safe.                                  Life around me seems vain.            ..~         .~
    Why sayest thou, 0 Jacob, and speakest, 0 Israel,                 Even the strongest pass away as in a dream. It
My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is               seems as if the very foundations of the world are
passed over from my God ?                                     shaken. Nothing is stable. All falters and fails. Shall
   When, spewn out of Paradise, thou wast cast out in         I have bread for the morrow?
the open field and when thine own blood was polluting                 When I so meditate and the care of Jehovah is re-
thee  - Jehovah saw thee. He came by thee where               vealed unto me ; when I fear for everything, but His
thou was polluted in thine own blood, and He said:            loving providence over the sheep of His pasture sings
Live !    And by the Infinite power of His speaking           me to rest - then I feel the arms of my God encir-
thou hast risen and thou art living and shalt live for        cling me and a strange calm steals over me. Then I
evermore.                                                     slumber and sleep. And when I wake, the Lord is still
   When thou hadst grown to the stature of a man and          near me. His bounties are new every morning. All
even thine own righteousnesses  were like unto filthy         is well. Why say ye then to my soul: Flee as a bird to
rags, the Lord God saved thee by His own righteous-           your mountain? The arms of God cause me to say:
ness, and He left unto thee a small remnant. Which            In the Lord put I my trust.
did return.                                                           I feel the misery and the pangs of death. My body
   When thy plaintive cry arose out of the deep, when         crumbles and falls apart. My knees shake ; I bow down
thy feet stuck into the mire, when all His waves and          and am inclined toward the dust. Weeping endureth
all His billows seemed to pass over thee - He lifted          for a night.
thee up and made thee to stand upon the Rock.                         There is oh, so much pain and distress of body and
   Oh, those arms, Jeshurun, are ~?verZnsting  arms !         soul within the ramparts of Zion.
The Lord shall  alway  remember His covenant. And                     But in the midst of it there comes to me the sweet


                                          THE  S T A N D A R D   BEARER                                                    495

voice of my Saviour: In all thy affliction, I was afflicted.                            SAPIENTI  SAT!
Bear thy cross and follow Me. It is for thine own good.
Boast in tribulation. For tribulation engenders long-                  We zijn thans in  staat, door de vriendelijkheid der
suffering and experience and blessed hope.                          uitgevers van de Rottcrdamsche  Kcrkbode,  om ook het
   And I take courage. And I am comforted by His slotartikel van Dr. A.  Kuyper over de kwestie van het
Word and Spirit.                                                    Algemeen Aanbod  te plaatsen. We doen  dit, niet om-
   They are the arms of embracing love.                             dat het ons iets nieuws biedt, of eindelijk eens op de          ,.
    When enemies threaten ; when the world spews kwestie ingaat, maar om den indruk te voorkomen, dat
forth its filth and the hosts of hell encamp round about we ook maar iets van hetgeen de broeders in Nederland
my soul, so that I find horror and fright in deepest                schreven, zouden  willen  verzwijgen.
night, there awakens within me the strength of faith.                  Hier volgt het artikel in zijn geheel.
I find myself in the midst of the battle clinging to                                ALGEMEEN AANBOD
Jesus - and the enemy must fall back when my battle
cry resounds: We are more than conquerors through                                          I I I .   (Slot)
Jesus who loved us !
    Is not the gift of faith the encircling arm of our                 "Wij hebben gezien dat Ds.  Hoeksema,  eenzijdig
Covenant God ?                                                      redeneerende van uit de waarheid der eeuwige  verkie-
    When sin abounds within me, so that the movements               zing en verwerping, leert dat in de prediking dus geen
of sin war against, my noble, regenerated soul ; when algemeen aanbod van genade mag zijn, overmits de
heartfelt sorrow unto God cries out: 0, wretched man                genade alleen en uitsluitend voor de uitverkorenen is,
that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this en niet voor de verworpenen. Volgens Ds. Hoeksema
death ? ! Then Jehovah's arms in Jesus encircle me in kan niet aangeboden worden,  wat niet gegeven en niet
an eternal embrace and He gives me power and strength aangenomen kan  worden,  zulk een aanbod is niet ernstig
to walk on the road of the sanctification of life. For gemeend en dus onwaarachtig.
Jesus and the Spirit of Jesus cleanses me from the                     "Als Ds. Hoeksema zegt dat zulk een prediking niet
pollution of sin.                                                   bijbelsch en onschriftuurlijk- is, dan wijzen wij  iop
    And when all the weary night is past He shall still Jesaja 55:l;:  Matth. 11225, 29, en ook nog op Job. 6 :
draw me, ever upward in those everlasting arms, close 37: "die tot Mij komt zal Ik geenszins uitwerpen," en
to the bosom of the Father; .and looking upward into houden ens aan het bevel: zaait aan alle wateren,  pre-
His glorious face I shall be satisfied with His blessed dikt het evangelie aan alle creaturen,  onderwijst alle
image. Then, then I shall be satisfied.                             volkeren. Het aanbod is algemeen, maar met conditie
    Everlasting, encircling arms of Love !                          van geloof en bekeering.                   .
    Even so, Amen !                                                    "Als Ds. Hoeksema zegt zulk een prediking is in
                                                      G. V.         strijd met de Gereformeerde Belijdenisschriften, die in
                                                                    de leer der eeuwige verkiezing hun karakteristiek
                                                                    element bezitten, dan geven we dit laatste hem volko- ",
                                                                    men toe, maar betwisten zijn conclusie want de Dordt- `"  :.  0, ::
                                                                    sche Leerregels  leeren  uitdrukkelijk dat de belofte des
                       IN MEMORIAM                                  evangelies  allen aolkeren en  personen xonder  onder-
   Zaterdagmorgen,                                                  seheid  moet worden  verkondigd en voorgesteld, met
                          den Ssten Augustus, ontsliep zacht  en    bevel tot geloof en bekeering, en zij spreken  het duide-
kalm in haren Heere en HeiIand,  onze geliefde Moeder, Groot-       lijk uit dat God allen  alzoo ernstig  en waarachtig  roept,
moeder en Overgrootmoeder,                                          al is het ook dat alleen de uitverkorenen tot geloof en
               ANSKJE DOEZEMA-Hofstee,                              bekeering komen. Het algemeen aanbod van genade
in den hoogen ouderdom van 90 jaren  en 4 maanden.                  is daarom waarachtig en ernstig omdat als de  mensclt
                                                                    niet tot geloof en bekeering komt het zijn eigen
   De hope op een z+alig  wederzien troost ons in onze rouw.        schuld is.
                        Mr. en Mrs. William Doezema                    "Zoo hebben we dus gezien dat de H. S&rift en de
                        Mr. en Mrs. Frank Doezema,  V. D. M.        Gereformeerde Belijdeniaschriften ons anders leeren
                        Mr. en Mrs. Cornelius Doezema               dan Ds. Hoeksema, wiens hoofdfout het is te veel te
                        Mr. en Mrs. Cornelius Pastoor               redeneeren uit den verborgen Raad Gods. We willen
                        Mr. en Mrs. John Doezema                    in dit slotartikel nog zeggen wat de Gereformeerde
                        Mr. en Mrs. Riner Doezema                   Dogmatiek dienaangaande ons leert. Prof. Bavinck
                        Albert Doezema                              heeft in deel III, pag. 528 van zijn Dogmatiek. er dit
                        En 42 kleinkinderen, en 45 achterklein-     van geschreven  : `Zij (de volentas signi, d. i., de  ge-
                          kinderen.                                 openbaarde wil des bevels) geeft ons het  recht en legt
                                                                    ons de plicht op, om het evangelie te brengen tot alle
   Grand Rapids, Mich.                                              mensckien zonder uitzondering. Een andere grond dan


hoogte, dat geheel zijn schrijven- kenmerkte :  sapienti    Bosma's work, I inserted in my articles circulate a view
sat !                                                       of infant baptism that is positively God-dishonoring.
   ' Ja, ja, sdpienti sat! Maar arme wijzen (ik moest       Attend once more to the following: "We have every
schrijven: dwazen) , die genoeg meenen te hebben  aan       reason to expect and to hope that the child will grow
hetgeen hun leiders schreven in de  Rotterdumsche           up a believer, for it has the promise of God's grace,
Kerkbode  en in  De Wachtw?                                 which promise God usually fulfils  through a faithful
    Intusschen leze men, als mijn antwoord op dit  slot-    covenant training" (Italics mine).
nrtikel van Kuyper, wat ik schreef,  in antwoord op de         The implication is, so we wrote, that God some-
laatste artikelen van Rietberg.                             times does not  fullil the promise, namely, in the event
    Hetzelfde antwoord past voor beider schrijven.          the child baptized is a non-elect.
    En:  sapienti  sat!    ".                                 `But what saith the apostle? -~ "Not as though the
                                               H. H.        word of.God had taken  ,none effect . . . . "
                                                               I am very glad to have learned from Dr. Beets
                                                            himself that he as well as we will have nothing of a
                                                            view of `baptism that defines God as a God who fails
                                                            to keep trust, who says one thing and does another.
                    A CORRECTION                               However, I should not  concea1 that although today
     Dr. Henry Beets sent me the following notice:          Dr. Beets repudiates Bosma's teachings on the matter
    "I was much interested in the article you placed        at hand, there was a time when he was at one with
in the Standard Bearer, page 478, `Why not come out         these teachings. Turning to the preface of Bosma's
with the truth.' Therein you quote in detail from the work one may read:
Exposition of Reformed Doctrine  and you hold me               "The author wishes to acknowledge his heartiest
responsible for the various statements quoted from          thanks to Revs. J. W. Brink and H. Beets for their
that book.                                                  readiness to read his manuscript and for their valuable
     "But may I call your attention to it that The Ex-      suggestions offered to him."
position of Reformed Doctrine is the book of the Rev.          It may be, of course, that the phrase in question
31. J. Bosma? No doubt, you are willing to make the         escaped the attention' of Dr. Beets. It is also possible
necessary correction in the forthcoming number of that but  haif of the manuscript was submitted to him
The Standard Bearer. If, on the issue brought up,           for review. If neither is the case, Bosma's testimony
you wish to quote me, you are welcome to it. The Re-        is equal to the statement that the reviewers `(Beets
formed Confession Explained, as  well as  The  Com-         and Brink) subscribed to the teachings' of his boolr.
pendiwz  Explained,  third edition, will furnish you        Pea, it is even possibIe that Bosma derived his view
with material on the subject."                              on infant baptism from Beets. Does  ,not the Reverend
     With pleasure we do as requested. My confusion         assert in his preface that the doctor offered him
is permissive of explanation.      Dr. Beets `and the       valuable suggestions? Perhaps brother Beets will tell
Rev. Bosma have jointly published works identical as        us what is what.
to kind to the one from which I quoted. This, together         FinaIly, though it may be true that Dr. Beets never
with the fact that the Exposition of Bosma is, as to        was at one with Bosma's teachings on the matter of
content and appearance, similar to the  Compendium of Baptism and the Covenant, fact is that the brother as
Dr. Beets, is responsible for it that, when quoting the     well as his colleagues in general neglects to come out
former, Dr. Beets arose before my eyes as its author.       with the full truth. The nucleus of the full truth is
I proffer this not as an excuse but as an explanation,      this: Only in the event the individual child baptized is
and trust that the doctor will pardon my carelessness       an elect, may it be said that it has the promise, that
for which there is no excuse.                               God claims it as its gracious Father, and that it will
     The readers will recall that in the previous number    receive all that is necessary to live a Christian life.
of the Standard Bearer I placed an article bearing the Whether the child is an elect can only be known from
title, "Why not come out with the truth," the first         the fruit it bears in the season of discretion. The
paragraph of which reads: "Good Reformed theo-              Canons of Dordt, so we wrote, do assert that "godly
logians do indeed deny baptismal regeneration, both parents have no reason to doubt the election and salva-
theoretically and practically. Though they do deny it,      tion of their children whom it pleases God to call out
some Reformed ( ?) theologians teach a view `of bap-        of this life in their infancy." But this assurance is
tism equally as undesirable. In Dr. Beets' Exposition       purely subjective in that there is no word of God of
of Reformed Doctrine, one may happen `upon state- which it can catch hold. It cannot be established on
ments such as these . . . . "                               objective ground whether the child that dies in its
     This last sentence should read: "In Rev. Bosma's       infancy is .one of God's elect. The assertion that the
Exposition of Reformed Doctrine  one may happen, child is saved because it was born in the covenant, was
letc."                                                      baptized and is the offspring  of believing parents, is
    Let me again say that through the selections from       untrue. Wrote the apostle: "Neither because they are


4?8                                    THEN  S,T.ANPARP  ..B.EARER

the seed of Abraham, are they  all children  ;  `but in
Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is they which are                             ON%             GROEi
the children of the flesh, these are not the children of         We schreven den vorigeh keer over de noodiake-
God: but the children of the promise are counted for          lijkheid van groei. Beschouwden het uit verschillende
the seed" (Ram. 9 37, 8).                                     oogpunten. We zagen  onder anderen;  dat alle vooruit-
   No more than Rev. Bosma in his  Exposition of gang nog geen  teeken van groei is. Als het er enkel
Reformed Doctrine nor more has Dr. Beets anything en alleen om gaat groot te worden  naar de maatstaf
to say in his Compendium Explained respecting this            dezer wereld, groot dus, zoodat enkel bet aantal toe;
phase of the matter under consideration; ConseQuentIy         neemt, dan gaat dat meestal gepaard met het prijs-
his exposition, as well as that of Bosma will without geven der waarheid. Dat. ligt trouwens we1 voor de
fail induce the catechumen to conclude that baptism hand. Het is nu juist niet zoo maeilijk om de wereld
signifies to every child head for head the great cove- in de kerk te haIen. Een ieder wil nog we1 als een net
nant  promise+  that therefore the whole of the offspring mensch bekend staan. En het  lid zijn van een kerk
of believing parents is to be regarded as constituted         brengt nu juist geen  nadeel   aan.  AIs ge man van
of saved individuals, or of individuals whom the Lord zaken zijt dient ge Qn tot de "lodge" en tot de kerk te
would very much like to save but cannot.                      behooren.    Het geheime genootschap om vooruit te
   A single selection. from the Compendium of  Dr.            komen in de wereld, de kerk om straks bij de begrafenis
Beets : "Of course, it follows from what has already          iemand te hebben die in geuren en  kleureii in den
been said about the Covenant of Grace and Baptism             breede uitmeet hoe deugdelijk  tech  we1 de overledene
that this sacrament signifies and seals to the  cb.iIdren     geleefd heeft. Ge staat er verbaasd van, hoeveel van
of believers the great covenant promise of Gen. 173,          die brave menschen er tegenwoordig sterven. AlIeen
that the Lord is a God unto the seed of faithful Abra-        de slechten blijven in het leven;
ham, even as PauI puts it in II Cor. 6 : 1'7, 18 : `I will       Daarom is het altijd  taak en roePing  6m steeds ge;
receive you and be a Father unto you, and ye shall be         trouw te blijven als kerk van onzen  Heere Jezus  Chris;
my sons and daughters saith the Almighty.' That in- tus, opdat we terwihe  van de groote hoop de waarheid
cludes complete saIvation  in the way of faith. It en- minder scherp zouden gaan verkondigen. De wereld
titles the children of believers to look upon God as their blijft er we1 buiten als we haar er maar niet inhale&
God, and to expect the fulflment of the covenant prom-        ook ten koste van dien uitwendigen groei; We eindig-
ises . . . .  "                                               den dan ook met te zeggen, d&t velen onzer liever klein
       It is to be noticed that in this excerpt the term      blijven - en dat niet zonder reden..
election does not at all appear. No distinction is made          Maar ook hier kan die wensdh voortkomen  uit de
between the children of the promise and the children          zucht doordat we in  bet  Meine iets aantrekkelijks  vin-
of the flesh, the reprobate and the elect seed. This          den, dat ons bij gestadigen gruel dhtvalt:  Er zit iets
reticense  respecting election is peculiar to the entire      in dat Meine dat aantrekt, dat  me& ge iederen keer
exposition of the doctrine of Infant Baptism. How weer, wanneer  ge in onze Meine gemeenten verkeert.
deplorable - this failure to come out with the truth,         Die  kleine  gemeenten'  mogen van  elkander verschillen
this silence respecting matters so very weighty;              in meer dan &n opzicht, dit hebben ze met efkander ge;
       so then, when  I wrote in  a previous articIe  that    meen,  dat ze.aIlen op. &n-groote -f&miIie gehjken. En
what Dr. Beets faired to teII his readers is that this        dat laat  zich gemakkelijk vei-klaren. Men begon  sbms
assurance (the assurance that a child that dies in its        met  vier, vijf of  zes families. En  toen men  tot  get
infancy is saved) is purely subjective in that there is       meente werd georganiseerd, vormden de Helft  der voile
no word of God of which it can catch hold; that the           manslidmaten  de kerkeraad. Bij het uittreden Ieerde
doctor even expostuIates  upon the matter at hand as if men elkaar van nabij kennen, zooals dat nooit eerder
there was such a word, - when I wrote this, it now geschied was. Men heeft tezamen de lasted gedragen,
turns out that  I wrote the truth,                            de  pIannen  beraamd om een vergaderplaats te vinden,
       Another remark of mine was that the dire resuIts       etc. Er was behoefte om over de zaak te spreken, niet
of keeping silence respecting the truth is seen on every      alleen na kerktijd, maar men zocht elkander op in de
hand. It is easy for preachers like Dr. M. R. De Haan         weekdagen en met  verIoop  van tijd werden er  banden
to prove that the promise pertaineth to the elect seed        gelegd die onbreekbaar schijnen. Ed&h, die eerste
only and thus to shake men's faith in the Reforme-d           tijd bleef niet, want zoo ongemerkt werd het hoopje
Confession. It is among these doubting ones that he           wat grooter, de gemeente breidde uit, de financieele
counts his converts by the scores.                            lasten  werden  lichter en waar anderen  zich bij ons
       One more thing.  Dr. Beets wrote me that I may         voegden, vroegen ook die onze aandacht. Voeg  bier
freelv quote the third edition of his Compendium. My nog bij, ,dat het eerste vuur was doofde, en zoo lang-
quotation was taken from the second edition. Whether          zamerhand er ook al eens iets voorviel waar vroeger
the third edition gives what is wanting in the second         zelfs niet aan gedacht werd, meesta1  van die dingen die
edition? It is possible but not likely.                       weinig beteekenen, en we wenschten wel dat de "goede
                                              G. M. 0.        oude tijd" maar weer terug kwam . . . .  waren we


                                          THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                503

                                                                        Thirst genders restlessness, deprives a man of his
                     LIVING WATER                                   peace of mind. Hunger produces faintness.
                      Jesus answered and said unto her, Who-            Thirst is a crave and is accompanied by a feeling
                    soever drinketh of this water shall  thirst     of dryness. Hunger is keenness of appetite.
                    again :                                             Physical peace and calm return when thirst is
                      But whosoever drinketh of the water that
                    I shall give him shall never thirst; but the    quenched. Having taken food the hungry man again
                    water that I shall give him shall be in him     feels fit and strong.
                    a well of water springing up into everlast-        Water sets the thirsty one at ease. Food nourishes,
                    ing life.                                       genders  power,  and is needful for growth. Wine glad-
                                             -John  453,  14.       dens the heart and worketh joy.
   Water that satisfies permanently, everlastingly, so                  So then, water is for those who are restless and
that the drinker never again thirsts.                               parched; food for those who are faint; and wine for
   Small wonder that the woman said to Christ in her                those who are sad.
ignorance and confusion, "Sir, give me this water that                 Christ is our living water, our true bread and wine.
,I thirst not, neither come hither to draw."                        Drinking Him, the void in our life is iilled and we have
   She seems not to have understood that it is no                   peace. Eating Him we have in ourselves life and power.
ordinary water of which He spake, but a priceless,                  Appropriating Him as our true wine, we have
transcending good of which water, such as we mortals                heavenly joy.
drink to quench our physical thirst, is but the emblem.                In His conversation with the Samaritan woman
   A priceless good,  - this water that He gives.                   Christ concentrated upon cur thirst quenched by living
What else can it be than the grace, yea, the fulhess                water He gives.
that dwelleth in Him, salvation in all its parts as a                  There is a void in the iife of depraved man ; hence
thing promised and described in the written word of                 he thirsts, but not for the living water, for he is vile.
God, and appropriated by a living faith, truth - the                He craves the world and the things in the world: the
truth that makes free and that genders a peace and                  lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and the pride of
joy unspeakable.                                                    life - water that is not living. Of this man drinks ;
   To this salvation Christ sustains a most vital rela-             but he soon thirsts again. The old torturing crave
tion. He merited it; He is its workman and dispenser.               returns as the unmistakable sign that the void that
It dwells in Him as refreshment dwells in water,                    was thought filled is still there. The pleasures of sin
nourishment in bread, and stimulus in wine. He                      do not appease ; things earthy, though they satiate,
therefore is the living water, the true bread and wine,             bring no permanent relief to the thirsting soul. Such
so that no more than the refreshing properties of water             is indeed the speech of the water with which the
and the nourishing properties of bread can be had, if               woman at the well has filled her joy. `Drink of me,
water be not drunken and bread eaten, no more can                   drink of things earthy of which I am the emblem, and
salvation - life, power, peace, joy - be ours if Christ             you thirst again.' How well we know it: it is the
bc not appropriated as the living water and the true                experience of  eve+ man. Yet, because the fool  will
bread of life.       -mm.
                  "Verily,  verily, I  %y unto you," said           not learn, he sets out in quest-of- new fountains ; hews
He, "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and                 him out another cistern, a broken cistern that can hold
drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso  eateth              no water. In the words of the preacher, he makes him
my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life ; and             great works ; builds him houses  ; plants him vineyards  ;
T will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is                makes him gardens and orchards, plants trees in them
meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that                  of all kinds of fruits. He makes him pools of water.
eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me,             He gets him servants and maidens. He gathers him
and I in him."                                                      siiver  and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings. Tie
  Whereas He is the propitiation for our sins  ; whereas            gets him singers, and  the.delights  of the sons of men,
He was born, suffered and died, was raised from the                 musical instruments and that of all sorts. So he is
dead, and set at His own right hand in the heavenly                 great and increased. And whatever his eyes desire
places ; whereas He died as one Who had power to lay                he keeps, not frofi them.  IIe withholds not his heart
down His life of himself and to take it again, His                  from any joy. Yet he is  athirst. He still craves. As
career, His face, all He said and accomplished, pro-                to all the works of his hands, he can look upon them
cured and reflects our redemption in all its phases,                only in vexation of spirit.' Things earthy satiate but
mirrors the blessings of the kingdom and thus the                   do not satisfy. The quest for new springs of joy,
glories of God, so that to eat and to drink Christ is to            peace, and contentment is continued; but the water
lay hold on these blessings and thus to be refreshed                that truly satisfies is not found, so that, unless the
and nourished by the effulgence of His countenance.                 seeker is set to thirsting for the water that Christ
   "Shall  tlZrst again . . . .  "                                  gives he cannot come to rest. He is like chaff that the
   Thirst and hunger,  - two sensations that betoken wind driveth away. With a troubled spirit, with a
a lack, and emptiness in man.                                       disquieted soul, with an empty heart and with a thirst


504                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                            .._ _ --._

that is intense, he, the ungodly one, arrives at the end       withdraw that you by yourself may drink. He gives,
of his career to disappear in the abyss of eternal night       and His giving is your drinking, and your drinking
where he will thirst forever more because in this life         is Ris giving.' It is a drinking of which you are the
he thirsted not for God.                                       subject and He the workman. Your drinking, there-
       This carnal thirst for a water that does not per-       fore, is not a matter dependent upon you, upon your
manently satisfy - is it not the fever of spiritual            own free choice, but a matter dependent upon Him. '
death, the wages of sin, the operation of the curse of         And He wills that you shall drink forever that you may
the Almighty? The fire of hell that burns forever - never again thirst.
what is it but a thirst for which there is no relief,             How comfortless, then, how God-dishonoring the
a pain that will never be eased. Blessed the man, de-          view that defines Christ's giving as a mere offer of
livered from this thirst, death's crave for water that         grace, a proffering of the cup that the sinner by him-
but feeds the flame of carnal lusts.                           self must take.
                                                                  Christ gives - this water, to His people, to those `-
                                                               given Him by the Father; gives as a free gift of grace
                                                               to those who have been set to thirsting for the living
       "Whosoever shall drink of the water that I shall        God.
give . . . .  "                                                   And they shall never again thirst. For they drink
       There is then a water that Christ gives to those        not intermittingly, at intervals, but without interrup-
who thirst - for the living water.                             tion, eternally.     Common water satiates ; a few
       Do not confuse this thirst with the fever of death.     draughts and we have enough and turn away from the
       The former betokens life ; the latter, death.           spring at which we quench our thirst.
       The former is a keen desire for life, for righteous-       The water that Christ gives, the living God, though
ness, for Christ, yea, for God. The latter is a lust for       it  satisiles,  does not satiate.    Never will you have
things below.                                                  enough o-t' Him, so that full to the point of nauseation, '
       The subject of the former is a broken-hearted           you set the cup of grace aside for a season to take it '
sinner indeed, who knows he is conceived in sin, and           up again  whn the old thirst revives.
by nature a child of wrath, incapable of saving good,             Nay, you will never thirst again. Yet your desire
prone to evil, dead in sin, and in bondage thereto . .  .,     for the  living water, the water that Christ gives, will
a sinner, therefore who dare not raise his eyes, who           abide. Satisfying eternally uninteruptingly, the desire
stands afar off as he pleads for the grace, the living         for lIim, - this is eternal life.
water, his soul craves.                                           "Springing up unto eternal life . . . . " this water
       The subject of the latter is a vain sinner, obdurate    that Christ gives, and thus it shall be in him a well of
in heart, and blind to his plight.                             water.    So then, the thirsty one shall be a living
       To him who knows the thirst of life Christ gives        spring ; rivers of living water, rivers of praise, of
the living water, and thus satisfies the crave of the          adorations shall eternally "f-low forth out of him." The
new man that appeared because the Father spake. And            saint made perfect is no stagnant pool, but a living
the-thirsting one drinks, appropriates by a living.faith,      spring. And what a spring! The course of his water-
the grace that is in Christ - the pardon of all his sins       is not downward, as with an ordinary spring, but up-
and life eternal. To drink of the living water then is         ward; it springs up unto heaven, unto God from
to believe that He our God lifts us up out of the mire         whence it comes, springs up unto life everlasting, life .
of sin and takes us to His bosom to be unto us a close         without end and heavenly.
companion forever; it is to see and adore in the face                                                       G. M. 0.
of Christ the heart of God and to know that this heart
beats for us. And when we shall walk by sight, in the
Father's house, we shall with heavenly sense organs                         MORE, MY GOD, OF THEE
drink Him, drink in the glory of His likeness and be                       Less, less of self each day,
satisfied forever.                                                            And more, my God of Thee ;
       "Of the water that I shall give him . . . . "                       Oh keep me in Thy way
       Christ gives this water,  - to the thirsting one.                      However rough it be.
But know well that His giving is but the other side of
your receiving and your drinking. If a friend gives                        Less of the flesh each day,
you to drink, he merely proffers you the cup that you                         Less of the world and sin
take and by yourself do empty. If you are enfeebled                        More of Thy love, I pray,
by a wasting disease, he puts the cup to your lips.                           More of Thyself within.
Note well, however, that his giving ceases at that point                   Riper and riper now,
where your receiving and drinking begins,                                     Each hour let me' become ;
       Christ's gracious giving is but the other side of                   Less fond of things below,
your drinking. He offers not the cup to thereupon                             More fit for such a home


                                          -


               608                                    T H E   STAXDARD   B E A R E R

                                                                             ters, adia,phora  if you understand this last term better.
                            EDITORIALS                                          Neither . . . . nor.
                                                                                If these people had had their way, the Rev. H.
                                                                             Bultema would never have been refused a place in the
                                                                             Christian Reformed Churches. And when, insisting
                        NEITHER-NOR; EITHER-OR; WHICH?                       emphatically that the PRE-view stands directly op-
                  A contribution appearing elsewhere in this number posed to the Reformed view of the Church, the organic-
               with a pointed reply by Rev. G. Vos, reminded me of a         historical conception of the covenant, we maintained
               certain class of people one meets not infrequently.           persistently that the Rev. Bultema could not be allowed
                  They allege to assume a peculiar attitude with             to introduce the leaven of Pre-millennialism into the
               respect to the doctrinal and church-political controversy Reformed Churches, some of these neither-nor  peace-
               that resulted in the separate existence of the Protest- seekers could not exercise sufficient tolerance of spirit
               ant Reformed Churches.                                        to maintain their neither nor attitude toward us and
                  One may briefly characterize their attitude by the         called us, not without spite:  heresy-hunters.
               negative  correlatives:  neither . . . . nor.                    Neither . . . . nor.
                  They do not approve, they say, of the deposition              Dr. Janssen, too, many of these neither-nor peace-
               from their offices in the Christian Reformed Churches         makers (it will be self-evident that I am not now
               of those office-bearers that refused to sign the "Three       speaking of persons, least of all having in mind our
               Points," as they actually were deposed and for that           contributor personally, but a class) should have been
.  ...,  .:    very reason by those Churches in Dec. 1924 and Jan.           tolerated, left in peace to propagate his views and
               1925.                                                         instill them into the future leaders of the Christian
                  Neither do they reject the declarations contained in Reformed Churches. And when we agitated against
               the "Three Points" and they do not condemn their              this attitude, and, finally, convinced the Churches in
               own Churches (for they belong to the Christian Re-            1922, that Dr. Janssen's teaching was not Reformed
               formed Churches), for having formulated them.                 (the neither-nor Synod of 1920 had reached the con-
                  They cannot agree with the action of their own             clusion and was not ashamed to publish it: it has not
               Churches, whereby the opponents of the "Three                 become evident that Dr. Janssen is unreformed) all the
               Points" were cast out from the fellowship of the Chris-       neither-nor latitudinarians at once forgot all about
               tian Reformed Churches; neither do they voice their their tolerant peace-making spirit and cried : away with
               protest against this action on the part of their              them !
               Churches.                                                        But: Rev. Bultema was deposed. And his history
                  Neither . . . . nor.                                       is justifying us and our attitude against him in 1918.
                  It is very remote from the purpose of this present         The Rev. Bultema himself amply shows that we were
               article to be hard on these brethren. We gladly leave         right at that time. .Dc Wmhter,  official Church-paper
               them their own opinion. They have a right to it. And          of the Christian Reformed Churches, is writing series
               they mean well, they think. And usually they harvest          after series of ably composed articles, showing that we
               a good deal of praise, approbation and commendation,          were right. Even Dr. Beets almost appears to think,
               for as they feel themselves that they belong to the           I think, that we were right, even though he big-
               well-meaning people, earnestly intend to be, strive to        heartedly would like to prepare a nice vacation-trip to
               be, so the rank and file of well-meaning people in this       the U. S., for a quite superfluous and impossible jury
               world will gladly receive them and hail them as peace-        of. Netherland-brethren to decide what was decided
               makers. 0, if only the Church in general could imbibe         and make clear to us what is perfectly evident.
               a little more of this spirit of ,neither-nor,  would there       And the Janssen-question is settled. Or is not
               not be more unity and would there not be a closer             settled, which? At any rate, one does not hear of it
               approximation of the realization of Jesus' prayer:            anymore. Even the warmest "friends" and staunchest
               "that they may all be one!"?                                  supporters of Dr. Janssen did not and do not venture
                  Neither . . . . nor.                                       to defend him and his views, after 1922. It is perfectly
                  The implication is: the office-bearers that refused        safe to say (and it would have been considerably safer
               to sign the "Three Points" could be allowed a place in        to say, if the four p's czcm ~ocii had not so miserably
               the Christian Reformed Churches very well; yet, the           signed an armistice in the hour of victory) that in the
               "Three Points" declare nothing offensive to the Re-           general consciousness of the Christian Reformed
               formed consciousness.                                         Churches we have also been justified with respect to
                  The implication is: the "Three Points" are not our attitude and stand in the Janssen-controversy.
               worth all the uproar and trouble, the controversy and            Then approached the Synod of 1924, the Synod of
               debates, the separation they have caused. They are            the "boiling pot."
               true,  no  doubt; but concern no fundamentals. The               It may be called the  "bot.h-and-but-yet"  Synod,
               implication is that in 1924 and . . . . even now, we          which is but another, a more ambiguous and, there-
               were and are fighting about accidentals, minor mat-           fore, less peaceful and more dangerous att.itude  than


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               509

that of the neither-nor people. The neither-nors and                 You mean well, I accept; but you do nothing but
Ootl~tr.?l.d-but-ycts  are very closely akin, so closely, that    harm.
in the course of development you can distinguish them                For, brethren, it is emphatically not neither-nor,
no more. The Synod of 1924 decided:  boi/& the "three             but either-or.
points"  ofid the accused pastors are fundamentally                  The "three points" are Reformed ; or we are ; it is
Reformecl; but  yet the pastors disagree with the three           impossible that we and they are Reformed.
points and depart from them.                                         And, brethren, it is just as emphatically: not-bzfl,
   That is very nicely and peacefully put, said  the              in our favor.
neither-nors. It reveals the loving and tolerant spirit             * The three points are not Reformed.  Tl~ey  rare
of the Synod of the "boiling pot."                                funslamentally   unreformed. For it militates against
    But the two pastors said: not both-and; not                   the very fundamentals of all that has ever been known
neither-nor; but either-or. They said : cithcr the three          as Reformed truth, to declare that  Gocl's grace  i,~  COIIIZ-
points are Reformed and, then, we are not; or we are man and that the unregenerated man is e>nctbled to do
Reformed and, then, the three points are not. And the good in the sight of God.
classes of Grand Rapids East and West, bolder and                     These declarations clearly stab at the very heart of
.  * . . more hostile than the Synod, both agreed with            Reformed truth. And they are the declarations of the
the two pastors and said:  either  or.                            "three points."
    Nor did the two pastors stop at this correlative                  Over against this we maintain sharply, clearly,
way of putting the matter. Not satisfied with neither-            openly, emphatically, that God's gruce %c; particular;
nor  ; or with both-and-but-yet; nor with their own and           and that  the  ~unregenerated   ,man  is  ,wholly   kncapabk
the classes' either-or, they set their face like a flint          of doing any good.
and said : not-but! Not the three points but we are                   Is the matter not clear? Is the irreconcilable con-
Reformed and we are prepared the show the whole                   flict of the "three points" with fundamentally Re-
Church the truth of this statement!                               formed truth not very lucid?
    At this determined stand the classes stood aghast;                And is the case not a very, very serious one? If
then said : sign the three points you must! The pastors           we so differ in respect to fundamentals, must we, then,
said : "not-but". Classes, weakening, said: promise to            not live in separation?
keep still you shall. The pastors replied: "not-but."                 We must. I for myself shall never desire to unite
Not keep still,  but  write and speak we shall before all         with the Christian Reformed Churches again, as long
the Church.                                                       as they stand on the basis of 1924.
    And for this unheard of refusal to bow before duly                And, therefore, brethren of the neither-nor school,
constituted ecclesiastical authority, the pastors were            please, count yourselves our opponents. At any rate,
deposed. Or were they not deposed? At all events,                 count us your opponents.
ecclesiastical authority said they were.                              It hurts.
    In this the classes were wholly wrong, as history                 But it is healthier. And healthfuller too.
will surely show; is already showing.                                 For, though you may repeat your neither-nors ever
                                                                                             - - -
    But let me return to our neither-nor brethren.                so often and never so lovably, in reality you become
                                                                  revealed as our opponents anyway. And an opponent
                                                                  in disguise I do not like.
    There are, and their number seems to be i&easing,                 Don't say : neither-nor ; but : either-or.
many who  say.with  this common grace controversy in                  And we will maintain our  not-but!
mind : neither-nor. Neither the three points are wrong,                                                               H. H.
nor the deposed pastors!
    And, though I am loath to hurt these brethren,
neither purpose in this article to do so, yet I must
openly request them, that they do not consider them-                               FOUNDED IN THE TRUTH
selves to be, nor leave with others the impression that
they are, our friends; I mean, of course, doctrinally,                The Scriptures emphasize the necessity of the
spiritually, with respect to the faith. Or, please, accept        Christian's being founded in the truth of the Word of
of me, that I do not count you among our friends, in              God.
that same sense, of course. I <am afraid of you! I am                 The very fact that the Lord gave us, not a little
so afraid of these lovable and  peacable neither-nor              gospel or statement of the truth one can write on his
brethren, who attempt to minimize the actually exist-             thumbnail, .but the full revelation of Himself as the
ing breach between the Protestant and the Christian               God of  our' salvation in Christ Jesus, the whole Bible,
Reformed Churches, that if there should be any of                 is in itself sufficient evidence that He would have His
them in our own camp, I must needs kindly but                     people filled with all knowledge and wisdom and under-
urgently and very earnestly ask them to change or to              standing. For the Bible is given God's people, not to
leave us !                                                        be put on the shelf, neither as a kind of reference book


                                       .-.
510                                    T H E   S+ANhAkb   ki?ARtiti
-.

or dictionary to be consulted on special occasions, but        To the `Philippians he writes: "And this I pray,
to be studied, to be searched diligently, to be under-      that your love may abound yet more and more in
stood and appropriated in  all its riches and fulness of    knowledge and in all judgment, that ye may approve
spiritual treasures.                                        things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and
      But the Scriptures are also full of passages that     without  offense  till the day of Christ"  (1:9, 10).
remind the people of God directly of this necessity of         And to the Colossians: "For this cause we also,
being filled with all knowledge.                            since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you,
      Of Abraham the Lord declares: "For I know  him.       and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowl-
that he will command his children and his household edge of his will in a11 wisdom and spiritual understand-
after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord to       ing"  (1:9).
do justice and judgment that the Lord may bring upon           These are but a few passages out of hundreds.
Abraham that which he hath spoken of him (Gen. 18:             Sufficient to show, however, that the Bible em-
19) * Upon Israel Jehovah enjoins: "Hear, 0 Israel;         phasizes it as a matter of great importance, that the
the Lord our God is one Lord ; and thou shalt love the      Christian in the world, that the people of God, that the
Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy Church be founded in the knowledge of the truth.
soul and with all thy might. And these words, which
I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart; and
thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children and
shalt talk of them when thou  sittest  in thine house          Mark you well, it is the  Ch~i.stin~  that must be
and when thou walkest by the way and when thou Iiest tilled with this knowledge of the truth.
down and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind              He only is capable of receiving the knowledge to
them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as       which the Scriptures always refer.' For they refer to
frontlets between thine eyes" (Deut. 6:4-8). The            spiritual  knowledge.
psalmist sings: "We will not hide them from their chil-        The natural man is carnal and earthy. He is from
dren, shewing the generation to come the praises of below and in darkness. He cannot discern the things
the Lord and his strength, and his wonderful works          of the Spirit. It is impossible for him to see the king-
that he hath done. For he established a testimony in        dom of God. Only when a man is regenerated, born
Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he com-         for the second time, born from above, born of water
manded our fathers that they should make them known         and spirit, can he attain to this spiritual knowledge of
unto their children.     That the generation to come        spiritual things.
might know them, even the children, which should be            The natural man may have natural knowIedge  of
born; who should arise and declare them to their chil-      the things revealed in Scripture, for the light shineth
dren. That they might set their hope in God and not in the darkness, and the true Light enlighteneth every
forget the works of God, but keep his commandments"         man that  cometh into the world. But the darkness
(Ps. `78 :4-7). And he eulogizes the knowledge of that comprehendeth it not.
Word: "0 how love I thy law ! it is my meditation all          There is a great difference between the knowledge----~-
the  daY, Thou through thy commandments hast made of a healthful and nourishing meal, acquired by care-
me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with ful analyzation of its ingredients in the laboratory by a
me. I have more understanding than all my teachers,         scientist, who himself is suffering from cancer of the
for thy testimonies are my meditation. How sweet are stomach, and that of the hungry man; who eats and is
thy words unto my taste! yea sweeter than honey to          actually nourished by the food that is set before him.
my mouth! Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a             And so there is a wide difference between the knowl-
light unto my path" (Ps. 119 :97-99  ; 103 ; 105).          edge about  God in Christ and the knowledge of Him.
      In the New Testament this is no different.            Theology is not necessarily the same as being taught
      The apostle writes to the Ephesians: "wherefore of God.
I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus          But, although this is true, although it must be
and love to all the saints, cease not to give thanks for    emphasized that mere natural head-knowledge does not
you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the          make a Christian; it must no less be understood that
God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,          spiritual knowledge is impossible without the Word
may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation of God and its appropriation by the spiritual man in
in the knowledge of him ; the eyes of your understand-      Christ Jesus.
ing being enlightened ; that ye may know what is the           Growth in Christ is growth in the knowledge of
hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of    Him.
his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding       And growth in the knowledge of Him is impossible
greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, accord- for us except through the revelation we have of Him
ing to the working of his mighty power, which he            in the Word of God.
wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead"            All other things being equal, that is the better,
(Eph. 1:15-20).                                             the stronger, the richer, the more conscious Christian,


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          511
"L-e__-.-__-..---                                 - -                         -                                ._l____l___
who is the better founded in the truth, for he has con-            of the "three points," be able to point out their error,
sciously appropriated more of the riches of the Lord               defend the truth over against them.
Jesus Christ.                                                         And, therefore, we must know the truth, be filled
     And this is the positive reason why the Christian             with all spiritual wisdom and understanding.
must be founded in the truth. He must grow in Christ.                 Hold fast that which thou hast !
     Eut this is not the whole reason.                                Let no one take thy crown !
     The Christian lives and must walk in a world that                                                              Ii. H.
lieth in darkness, that loves the lie and makes propa-
ganda for it.
     As a result, there are many vain philosophies, that
easily creep into the Church and lead us astray.                                   A SERIOUS CALLING                  .
     Many winds of doctrine always are blowing, causing
the ship of the Christian's faith and walk to be tossed               If the matter stands thus with the necessity of em-
to and fro, forcing it from its proper course,  unIess he          phasizing the knowledge of the truth, the Church has
knows how to make use of the true compass of the                   a high and serious calling, a noble and also difficult
Scriptures.                                                        task to perform.
     Especially in our own time this  `is emphatically                It is not sufficient  .that we merely emphasize and
true. What an  "isms"  of false doctrine!                          assert that it is important that the Christian be
     Think of Arminianism, Pelagianism, Premillennial- founded in the truth, and, at `the same time bewail the
ism, Russelism, Adventism, the winds of doctrine of a              lamentable conditions that  elcist in the churches of
Christ for all, free will, the goodness of natural man,            today. This is done often enough, indeed. If we keep
common grace, second probation and other creatures of              on pointing to the sad laxity in doctrine and ignorance
the natural mind of sinful `man.                                   with respect to the truth that exists in the American
     And a11 these winds of doctrine emphasize the more            churches all about us, without doing more, we will be
the necessity of being founded in the truth. The girdle wholly like them before we are aware of it.
of the truth must be firmly clasped about the whole                   We must know our calling and faithfully perform it.
armor of God, that we be able to stand in the evil day,               And that calling is to hTow, to maintain, to wit-
fight the good fight, walk in the way everlasting, with-           ness of the truth, to instruct in the truth the coming
out being seduced by the vain philosophies of the                  generation, to defend it, to develop it.
world.                                                                The Church must do  so as an imtitution.
     And the closer we live, as a Church, to the heart of             For the institute of the Church exists exactly for
the truth, the more this emphasis upon the knowledge               this purpose. For : "he gave some, apostIes  ; and some,
of the truth by all the Church members becomes neces-              prophets ; and some, evangelists ; and some, pastors
sary. We may not be satisfied with the assurance and               and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the
the confession that our "church" possesses and main-               work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of
tains the truth in its purest and strictest form and ex-           Christ, till .we all come in the unity of the faith, and
pression.            In itself this is but idle boasting. It is    of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto the perfect
Roman Catholicism. `It leads us back to the pope in                man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of
a straight line. It is a condition that loudly cries for           Christ" (Eph.  4:11, 12).
the old priesthood, seeing it denies the priesthood of all            The Church institute must be minister of the
believers. But we must all know the truth. We must                 Word !
be able to give account of it, to maintain it, to defend              I have in mind now the ministry of the Word in OUT
it over against the enemy.                                         worship on the sabbath, and the ministry of the Word
     As Reformed believers, for instance, we must  a11 be          to the children and youth in our catechetical classes.
acquainted with the Reformed Confessions.                             Let us jealously watch over these two God-given
      They are  ours.                                              means to realize our calling !
      They do not belong to a certain institution we call             As to the first, let the minister beware that he be
"the church," chiefly consisting of a few ministers and            all that is implied in his title: V. D. M., Verbi  Divini
professors, priests, whose calling it is to make and               Minister; that he be nothing Iess and nothing more,
defend such things as confessions.                                 nothing else than just that, a .servant  of the divine
      But they are the expression of the faith of the              Word. He must be this and only this all the time ; he
cahurch which is ours&es.                                          must be this and nothing but this, especially when he
      We must, therefore, know them.                               stands in the pulpit on Sunday and addresses the
      More particularly still, as Protestant Reformed              Church of Christ. That Word of God is his only theme.
Churches we must know what distinguishes us and                    He must not be tempted to speak on a topic of his
why we live in separation from the Christian Reformed              own choice and develop it according to his own philoso-
Churches.                                                          phy, for this is offering the flock of the great
   We must be acquainted with the doctrinal contents Shepherd stones for bread. Neither must he be  in-

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

duced by anything whatsoever, by what he sees and             ing to the covenant-idea, our sons and our daughters,
hears about him, by the demand of some that have              belong in church, must be present whenever the Lord
become ticklish of hearing, by opposition of the enemy,       calls us to congregate !
by a sinful craving for popularity, by the temptation             The same may be said about cstechetical  instruc-
of a crowded church or by a diminishing audience, in          tion.
short by nothing at all to speak about  that Word of              Let the minister feel the heavy obligation that rests
God. He must not preach about the Word, he must               upon his shoulders, when he is called to instruct the
preach the Word. He must be a minister Verbi Dei by           youth of the covenant, to be a minister of the Word of'
carefully listening to that Word and receiving it in his      God unto them! He is called "to feed the lambs"!
own mind and heart. Diligently he must search the             A poor minister is he who is inclined to neglect this
Scriptures, that he may know the fulness of the riches        important part of his calling, who is tired (lazy, I
of Christ; and these riches he must display before the        should say), when the time is there to meet his classes.
congregation. Let him strive, therefore, with all his         who makes as little as possible of this work and dis-
might, to be and evermore fully to become a minister          misses his classes as soon as he possibly dares to save
of the Word of God!                                           his face before the congregation. He is unfaithful to
        Let the consistory beware that the service on the     his high calling, a betrayer of the Church of Christ to
sabbath is chiefly a ministry of the Word.                    the devil, unworthy of his title: V. D. M.
        To this end they must watch over their minister.         Let the consistory labor to create and maintain in
They must provide for him the time and the oppor-             the congregation the proper conviction that  catechism-
tunity to search the Scriptures ; but they must also          attendance  is  both a sacred obligation and a great
watch that he make use of this time properly. They            privilege and blessing.
must oppose him, when he would attempt to preach                 And let the members of the Church feel this obliga-
anything but that Word; but they must also sustain            tion and act accordingly. There is a tendency, always,
him and stand with him over against all opposition            but especially in our day, to consider the hour that is
from within and from without, when he does proclaim           set aside for catechetical instruction as an hour that
that Word in all his fulness. They must encourage             may easily be set aside for other activities. There are
him, admonish him, spur him on, rebuke him, pray for          so many different activities of societies and clubs, so
him and with him, struggle with him. He needs it.             many programs, games, meetings, entertainments,
For the faithful ministry of the Word of God is an            socials, that it seems almost impossible to attend cate-
arduous task, - humanly an impossibility !                    chism regularly. But the trouble is that catechumens
        But they must also watch over the service on the      begin to consider the catechism-hour as theirs. They
sabbath. As they must provide time and opportunity            can do with it as they please. But this is an erroneous
for the minister to study, that he may know the Word notion. Catechism-attendance, for those that have not
of God, so they must also provide time and opportunity        as yet confessed their faith is an obligation. Not to
for  him to proclaim that Word. It is true, that the          attend is sin. And as a people, as parents and chil-
worship on the sabbath is more than preaching. It is          dren and young people, we ought to take care that we
equally true, that the preaching of the Word must have        do not lose this proper conception of-`catechetical  in-
the chief place in that worship. Let the sermon not be struction.
crowded out, or pushed into the background by other              Let us, as the season opens again when this in-
matters, whether they be properly elements of worship struction will be given by the Church, remember these
or not. A long form of worship leaves no room for the         things and labor together as a people of God, that the
sermon.       Song services, music, choirs, cantata's are     generation to come may know the praises of the Lord.
the order of the day, but they crowd out the ministry            For, we must be founded in the knowledge of the
of the Word.                                                  truth !
        And let the church beware that she is present when
the Word is  ,preached!  We must feel it as a sacred
obligation to be present when the Church of Jesus
Christ gathers for worship. And we must receive it               Neither is this all.
as a blessing of Christ, when the Word is ministered             The Church is more than an institute. It is the
unto us. For we must be founded in the truth and              body of Christ. It is an organism, and the organic life
grow in the knowledge and grace of Christ. And in of the Church comes to manifestation and expression
this sense of our obligation and feeling of being blessed     in the life and walk of the members.
we must form the good church-going habit. When the                It comes to manifestation in the confession and
Church is assembled we must not think of staying              walk of the members individually, in the midst of the
home, or visiting, or taking a ride, of doing anything        world. The life of the body of Christ comes to ex-
else. Let us not attempt to find flimsy and good-for-         pression in that institution which lies at the basis of
nothing excuses (too hot, too cold, too wet or too dry,       all society, the family, the home.      But from that
etc.) for such behaviour. We and our children, accord-        organic life of the Church there also develop different


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              513

societies, organized for various purposes. The mem-              Our paper is not a Church publication, and, let me
bers of the Church, united in oneness of spirit, of           add, never should become a Church paper.
faith, of doctrine, in the fellowship of the Lord Jesus          Neither does it just drop out of the sky, as some
Christ, spontaneously exercise that fellowship, seek it,      might possibly imagine.
love to develop it and seek, at the same time, to develop        There is a good deal of work connected with the
more power and to sustain one another in the battle of publication of our Standard Bearer. Not only are the
faith in the midst of the world.                              editors called to be ready with their material every two
    These societies, though in the congregation they weeks, which is after all a minor matter and is rather
are under the supervision of the Church as an insti-          a pleasure-task than a burden. But the paper must
tute, do not belong to the institute proper. They are also be published, must be managed, must be paid for.
voluntary expressions of the organic life of the Church.      This is the work and the responsibility of the Reformed
    I am thinking of our Men's Societies, Ladies' Aid Free Publishing Association, which functions through
Societies, Young Men's Societies and Young Ladies'            a board. And these board members bear the burden
Societies, our Choruses, our Teachers Meetings for the of the work, especially the business manager.
Sunday School, our Boys' and Girl's Societies, and,              What is your share in this work, reader? What
though more remote from the congregational life of            do you do for our Standard Bearer?                                     '  :,'  '
any particular church, of our Societies for Christian            Probably you ask: what can I do?
Instruction.                                                     First of all, let it be emphasized that alZ our people '
    All these different bodies may be a power for good        ought to be readers of the Standard Bearer. For we
in the Church of Christ in the world. It is, indeed, a must be founded in the truth, and the Standard Bearer
pleasant sight, when in winter time young and old is one of the means, and an important one, to that
make the Church building also their social, their Chris-      end.
tian-social center, rather than seek pleasure in the vain        Secondly, the emphasis may be shifted a little, and
amusements of the world.                                      we may say, that all our people ought to be renders.
    Much might be said about the life and the proper          You must not put the paper on the shelf or in your
place and functions of all these different  organizations.    magazine stand.    Neither must you select certain
    But I will emphasize just this one and main point:        articles that, perhaps, strike your ,fancy.  You ought                     . .
they all ought to exist to the edifying of one another to be a reader of the whole Standard Bearer.
in love.                                                         Thirdly, you ought to make propaganda and gain
    Directly or more remotely, they must all serve that new readers in your commuunity. Do not be satisfied
same purpose, that we may be founded in the truth,            when you receive your paper regularly and enjoy it.
may grow in the  hnowledge  and grace of the Lord             The Standard Bearer must also do "mission" work. If
Jesus Christ and may become strong in the battle of           you make up your mind and put forth effort, it ought
faith in the midst of the world.                              not to be difficult to send in the name of a new reader
    Let us, also with application to these different occasionally.
groups in the Church, not forsake the assembling of              Fourthly, you ought to be a member of our Re-
ourselves together, but let us consider one, another to       formed Free Publishing Association if at all possible.
provoke unto love and good works.                             You may not be able to attend all its meetings, you  :  i'.  ::
                                                              may not be able to attend any meetings at all. But
    Do not imagine that I was forgetting our Standard you are nevertheless responsible to put your shoulder
Bearer Society, or Reformed Free Publishing Associa- to the wheel.
tion.                                                            Finally, you ought to support the paper financially
    It deserves special mention.                              to the best of your ability, yourself being the judge,
    Certainly, one of the chief means we possess for          of course, of that ability, but judging of it with a free
the edification of one another, bet also for the propa-       conscience before God.
gation of the truth, is our Standard Bearer.                     Brethren, let us labor together in the calling where-
    It may be admitted that it is far from the goal of        with God hath called us !
perfection.     It cannot be denied that there is room                                                         H. H.
for improvement. Gladly we receive all kinds of
suggestions for increasing the efficiency of our publica-                         -      -    -    -
tion. The more nearly our magazine answers to its                      Mijn God, gelijk ik in uw Woord
original purpose, the better we all like it.                             M'uw beeld gegeven vind,
    But let us not be oblivious of the fact, that our                  Zoo zijt gij juist een God voor mij,
paper has also-been a power for good in the cause the                    Uw arm, behoeftig kind.
Lord our God called us to represent.                                   Hoe dank ik daag'lijks U, mijn God,
    But it is not so much about the paper as such that                   Dat Gij geen ander zijt,
I wished to make a few suggestions. I was mentioning                   En dat mijn hart U kennen mag,                   `-
the society that supports, that publishes it.                            Daar `t zicb in U verblijdt.          , k

                                                                                                                               i.

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

ontvangen,  om te verlangen en te streven naar het             THE BIBLICAL GROUND FOR THE BAPTISM
Koninkrijk Gods. Ze stonden in de oude bedeeling
voor de deur van het Koninkrijk. En op die deur waren                                OF INFANTS
allerlei afbeeldingen en schilderingen van de vervul-
ling der belofte. En bij die deur stond ook een  pro-           The  reader will remember that in a  rezent  issue of
feet en een priester, die hun iets verklaarde van het-       the Standard Bearer the Rev. H. Hoeksema wrote an
geen  achter  die deur, in den tijd der vervulling hun       article under the caption: "Ignorance rushing into
wachtte. En nu, toen Johannes de Dooper kwam en              print."
wees  bp "het Lam Gods, dat de zonde der wereld  weg-           This article was occasioned by a free pamphlet,
neemt" ging die deur op een kier. Nog een  oogen-            issued by Dr. M. R. De H`aan, pastor of the Calvary
blik, nog het kruis en de opstanding en de hemelvaart        Undenominational Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan,
en de uitstorting des Geestes en de deur ging wijd           wherein the Doctor meant to refute entirely the doc-
open. En nu drongen deze geweldigen des geloofs en trine of infant baptism.
der hope, die niet langer konden wachten, met geweld            At the time the Rev.  IX Hoeksema proved con-
binnen. Ze bestormden die deur, zetten de voet er            clusively (by the Doctor's own statements) that only a
tusschen en zeiden: als zij straks geheel opengaat, dan      profound ignorance could have inspired the writing of
gaan wij zeker binnen ! De geweldigen namen het              this little treatise, promising at the same time to set
Koninkrijk der hemelen `met geweld!                          forth at a convenient time in the future the Biblical
       Wat was dat een  schoone  tijd van tegenstelling!     ground for the Baptism of Infants.
Hoe kwam de armzalige, geestelijk-bloedarmoedige,               This promise has now been fulfilled. Our Editor-
goddelooze toestand  van die kindertjes op de markten        in-Chief has in his turn written a free pamphlet en-
aan het licht, tegenover de geweldigen, die het Konink-      titled: The Biblical Ground for the Baptism of Infants.
ri j k Gods bestormden !                           H. H.     It is issued and distributed by the Sunday School of
                                                             the First Protestant Reformed Church of Fuller Ave.,
                 C H R I S T I A N   C O M F O R T S         Grand Rapids,  Mich.
            How sweet the promises of God                       The undersigned has been requested to review this
              To a believer's ear;                           little pamphlet for our readers of the Standard Bearer,
            He giveth grace for every trial,                 since its contents will not be published other than in
              He casteth out all fear,                       pamphlet form. We gladly accepted this invitation.
            He comforts every aching heart                   Hence, this article.
              Bowed down with grief and pain ;                  From various points of view it is a very interesting
            We cast our burdens on the Lord                  treatise indeed. These points I will briefly trace under
              And He doth e'er sustain.                      four heads. All four combine to make it one of the
                                                             most instructive little booklets ever published in our
            `Tis sweet to feel His presence when             group.
              Our trials are multiplied ;                       Firstly, it struck me as being very positive thruout.
            `Tis sweet to have a friend just then            A long and, to the average mind, tiresome line of
              In whom one can confide.                       argumentation was conspicuous by its absence. Rev.
            We tell Him all our cares and woes,              H. Hoeksema did not enter into a controversy when he
              He  gui.des  us to the light                   set out to prove the validity of znfant  Baptism. There
            Of His blest Word which shows to us              is no lengthy setting forth of the arguments of Dr.
              The wonders of His might.                      De Haan for the simple reason that the writer found
            He giveth peace within our hearts                nothing to refute. Dr. De  Haan's book was entirely
              Which no one else can give,                    negative  ; this is entirely positive. The stream of
            His Spirit working mightily                      Biblical thought, relativs Infant Baptism, rolls on
              He giveth grace to live,                       calmly and serenely throughout the little book, as if
            To trust Him for our every need,                 no rock and boulder of the opposition made cruel in-
              Though dark may seem the day,                  roads on its limpid current. Turbulent waterfalls of
            He sends His light within our hearts             impassionate debate or roaring cateracts  oft incessant
              And drives all doubts away.                    warfare do not mar this stream of thought, but unto
            Oh, trust Him then, believe His Word,            the very end we are gently led along quiet waters.
              Wherever you may be ;                          Small wonder it leaves us refreshed, quickened, con-
            Remember that He's always near                   tented.
              On land or on the sea.                            This leads us naturally to the second point of in-
            He always hears the pleading cry                 terest:  its Scriptural tone.
              Rise to the throne above                          Throughout the treatise, the writer has  takeu
            And sends His answers graciously                 minute care to cover each step with the testimony of
              As tokens of His love.                         the Word of God. This trait of the book is indeed rjut-


                                    T~ti  STANDARD   BI~ARER                                                      523

standing. All the other points of interest radiate from         2. Though differing in form, circumcision and
this common center. The Chiliast, Baptist and  Z;n-          baptism are essentially the same in meaning.       (This
clenominationalist is thus robbed of one of his -most        proposition must naturally follow from the first. If
frequent weapons of attack. They delight in the fact         the people of God both from the old and the new dis-
that  no  fetters( ?) of the faith of our fathers bind       pensation are alike, circumcision and baptism must be
them.    They have cast off this  yoke(  ?) of doc-          alike in essence.)
trine. Their watchword is ever and anon: Prove it by            3. It is the clearly revealed will of God that the
the Word of God. We care not for your creed !                generations of His people, whether they be among Jew
   Well,  *here it is!                                       or Gentile shall receive the sign of the Covenant, cir-
   It is as if the Rev. Hoeksema chose his path cumcision as long as these generations of His people
throughout in the verdant valleys of Divinely inspired are among the Jews, baptism when these generations
truth. He reasons and speaks, he pauses and breathes         are among all nations, Jew and Gentile both.       (This
- but even our opponents will have to admit: we hear         third proposition clinches the issue and forcibly, con-
the ever recurring chant : Thus saith the Lord ! Nay,        vincingly proves that we are held by the Word of the
it is not one of our contemporaries ; they are the very Lord to baptize the infants that are born in the
prophets of Jehovah with meek Moses at their head,           Church, just as the children born in the 0. T. Church
together with the apostles of the Cross, gathering           were to be circumcised.)
around the Lamb of God Himself, who, with blow upon             Now, reader, this rare treat is yours for the asking.
blow, raze the tottering  bulwarks(   ?) of Chiliastic       The book is an ideal gift for all young people. Con-
and Baptist heresies to the very foundations thereof!        sistories and Sunday School Superintendents please
   Therefore it is also a very simple book. Human            take note of it. Read it and distribute it among the
philosophy with its intricate and ofttimes  befuddling       covenant youth. It will not fail to bear blessed.fruits,
reasoning found no place here. And therefore it is           by the Lord's grace. Send your request for one or
the third point of interest. Just because the treatise       more free copies to Mr. C.  Haveman,   104.5 Niagara
is positive and Scriptural it needs must be lucid and        Ave., Grand Rapids, Mich., and be profitable instructed
clear. And that it is. The most simpleminded and             in one of the fundamental truths of Scripture.
untutored can easily grasp the argument and follow it                                                       G. V.
to its convincing close. It is ever brief and utterly
logical. The whole book comprises but 24 pages and
measures only  6M by  31,~ inches. Yet it treats the
proposition it promised to clarify comprehensively and         A CATECHISM ON THE HISTORY OF THE
thoroughly. Because of its brief, clear and popular                PROTESTANT REFORMED CHURCHES
style one can retain it easily, so that when closing it
upon perusal to the end, the mind goes on  - joyfully                    XI. EXUENT THE  `LN~~~~~-~~~~"
meditating on the Scriptural bounty of the Baptism
of Infants.                                                     1. What did the-Consistory of Eastern Ave. do ---
   And, finally, the book is incontrovertible. Under         during the classical recess from Nov. 24 to Dec. 9 ?
this head I must grope for terms. And necessarily so.           It first of all decided upon a matter of discipline in
One must read it to experience the rock-like convic-         the congregation that urgently required attention.
tion it inspires and engenders. The testimony of the            2. What matter do you have in mind ?
Holy Spirit shall bind it on your heart, reader.                The case of the ninety-two protestants that had sent
   Therefore, it finds a ready echo in my heart when a protest to  Classis without the knowledge of the  Con-
the Rev. Hoeksema, concluding his argument, states:          sistory.
"Even Dr. De Haan will now understand the truth of              3. But how could the Consistory act upon a pro-
infant baptism and retract his former statements, I test that was properly before Classis  and not before
feel perfectly confident."                                   the Consistory?
   Concluding, I will give you the division of the              In the first place, because a copy of this protest was
proposition: The Baptism of Infants is thoroughly            presented to the Consistory at its meeting of Nov. 25.
Scriptural :                                                 And secondly, because it could never be properly and
  1. There is only one  peopie of God, thruout the           legally before  Classis  until the Consistory had first
ages, both in the old and the new dispensation : the true    received a copy and had had opportunity to act upon
Israel, the seed of Abraham. (This part of the argu-         the matter. Hence, the protest of the "ninety-two"
ment is especially fundamental. If this first point is       was legally before the Consistory meeting of Nov. 25.
brought home to the Chiliast, he will have to throw              4. What action did the Consistory take with re-
away his pseudo-Scriptural heresy and follow in the          spect to this document?
other two points. Under this head I was struck by                It passed the following resolution:
especially one argument, printed in bold type: The               "Considering that there has been brought to the
Jews never were the seed of Abraham.)                        attention of this, the Consistory of Eastern Ave.


52c1                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
l_"__""".-.-  -_-_..-- ^ ..--..-- ^-                               -".-._

Christian Reformed Church of Grand Rapids, a cer-                 fusal on their part to abide by the decisions or findings
tain printed communication or pamphlet, signed by                 of such larger or broader assemblies;
several members of said Eastern Ave. Christian Re-                    "Therefore,  bc it resolved by said consistory of said
formed Church, said to be ninety-two in number and                Eastern Ave. Christian Reformed Church that the said
whose names are set forth below, and are hereinafter              signers and subscribers of said pamphlet or communi-
referred to as the subscribers ;                                  cation be, and they are hereby, suspended or  rctmovcd
        "Considering, that said communication, addressed          from further membership or communion with said
to the  Classis Grand Rapids East of the Christian  Re-           church or congregation (subject, however, to  any pro-
foqmed  Churches, assembled the 19th of Nov.  1924,               visions of the Church Order). Provided, and, be it
and purported to be a protest or remonstrance on the                  "Further resolved by said consistory, that a copy
part of the subscribers against the pastor and the  con-          of this resolution shall be mailed to each of said sub-
sistory of said church or congregation;                           scribers at his or her last known place of address by
        "Considering, that among other things contained           United States Registered Mail; and that a notice
and set forth in said communication the following                 attached thereto shall provide that said subscriber
                                                             .
statements appear, namely :                                       shall either in person or by writing appear before said
        "It has become impossible for us to listen any            consistory at its usual place of meeting at said Eastern
longer to the preaching,of Rev. I-I. Hoeksema as our              Ave. Christian Reformed Church in said city of Grand
pastor. Many of us refuse to send their children to               Rapids at a special meeting to be held Thursday, De-
the catechism because we do not entrust them to the               cember 4th, at 7:45 P. M., and then and there answer
teaching of our pastor. Some of us refuse to present              the following question :
their children to baptism and we all refuse to cele-                  "Do you or do you not acknowledge yourself to be
brate the Lord's Supper with pastor and consistory.               in full membership and communion with the Eastern
In one word we have practically broken with both Ave. Christian Reformed Church, as now constituted?
consistory and pastor, and that because of their refusal              "And be it further resolved that the effect and force
to submit to synodical  and classical decisions.                  of this resolution shall not apply to any of said sub-
                                                                  scribers who shall before said consistory-meeting
        " `One more thing before we inform you about the          affirmatively subscribe or assent to said question, ex-
history we made in Eastern Ave. since the last Classis.           cept as to members already under censure."
From what appears before Classis  it is evident that i                5. What is evident from the language of this docu-
certain measure of co-operation has taken place on the ment ?
part of those who sign this paunphlet. We do not                      That like the  Classis  the Consistory had invoked the
care to conceal this. We are of the opinion that we               aid of the worldly lawyer.
not only have the right to this but that duty calls us to             6. How is to be judged of the contents of  t,his
such action. This action is entirely in harmony with              document?
our standpoint, and we are of the opinion that the                   That the resolution coatained  in it was perfectly
Consistory has, in fact, broken church-connections.               proper and, from a practical viewpoint, the only course
Now, against such a consistory-we cannot sin by pro;- the Consistory could take.
testing together. By virtue of the office of believers,              7. How can you justify this action of the  Con-
we had broken our co-operation with that consistory.'             sistory ?
       "Considering that said declaration on the part of             In the first place by pointing to the fact, that the
said subscribers constitutes and is, in effect, an open ninety-two subscribers had very emphatically severed
renunciation of the part of said subscribers of their             their connection with the Eastern Ave. Christian Re-
respective membership in said church or congregation, formed Church. They clearly .&ate that they have
and a refusal on their part to partake in the rights,             broken with the Consistory. Besides, they had stated
benefits and privileges belonging or appertaining to              repeatedly, that they considered themselves the con-
such members ;                                                    gregation proper.     They surely had resigned their
  "Considering, that be reason of said signing of membership of the congregation as it was then con-
aforesaid pamphlet on the part of said subscribers, the           stituted.    The consistory simply acted on their own
said consistory is bound to take notice thereof, and              statements and accepted their resignation.         In the
to act accordingly;                                               second place, it is sound Reformed Church polity to
       "Considering, further; that said consistory and            accept the resignation of a member that gives official
pastor are willing at all times to abide by the decisions         notice to the Consistory of such resignation. When
of any larger or broader assemblies of said church in             any single member appears before the Consistory to
respect to any matters of discipline, doctrine or gov-            resign for his membership, the Consistory will, for a
ernment that may be properly brought before such                  time, labor with such a member and attempt to per-
bodies ;                                                          suade him of his wrong, but if he insists the Consistory
       "Considering, that said subscribers have by sign-          will have to accept his resignation.       And this had
ing of said pamphlet or communication, asserted a  re-            always been the practice of the Consistory of Eastern


                                        THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                            5 2 5

Ave. Thirdly, it must be remembered, that the Con-                 10. Was the resolution of the Consistory carried
sistory was compelled to choose between two alterna-           out?
tives : permit the revolutionary movement of the                   It was. Each of the ninety-two signers of the
ninety-two, who boldly proclaimed that they were the           pamphlet received a copy of the resolution, together
congregation proper and that they had virtually de-            with the request to appear before the Consistory on
posed the Consistory, and admit that they really were          Dec. 4th. But no  one  appeared, so that their resigna-
the congregation ; or simply treat them as rebellious          tion was definitely accepted. Besides, the Consistory
members that had officially resigned for their member-         decided to serve the  Classis  with a copy of this resolu-
ship of the Eastern Ave. Church.           The Consistory,     tion.
naturally, followed the latter course, and considered it
simply as a case of resignation on the part of ninety-
two members.
    8. But should not the Consistory have labored                       XII. 
with these members before it accepted their resigna-                             CONSISTORY'S  ANSWER  TO  CLASSIS
t.ion?                                                             1. What else did the Consistory decide at its meet-
    Under ordinary circumstances this should certainly         ing of Nov. 25 ?
have been done. But under the existing circumstances               It appointed the pastor and the clerk of the Con-
this was a practical impossibility. The ninety-two had         sistory to prepare an elaborately motivated answer to
taken the matter to  Classis  with the request that this       the last communication of Classis.
broader gathering join them in their declaration that             2. When was the answer prepared and proposed
the Consistory was deposed. And this body had acted            by this committee idopted  by the Consistory?
upon their request, though the matter had not been                At its meeting of Dec. 3, where both a Holland and
decided.     Classis, therefore, had really approved of        an English copy of the proposed answer were read and
and become a party to the revolutionary movement of            approved.
the ninety-two. These circumstances made it necessary             3. How did the Consistory reply to the demands
for the Consistory to act before the Classis should meet of Classis ?
again, i. e., before Dec. 9. It was, therefore, because           Its complete answer here follows:
of the very action of the ninety-two and of the  Classis,         "Classis  Grand Rapids East, assembled in special
impossible for the Consistory to labor with all of the                  session on Dec. 9th  iri  the  Oakdale  Christian
signers of the above named pamphlet individually.                       Reformed Church, Grand Rapids, Mich.
Besides, it must not be forgotten that the  Con&tory.                       "Dear Brethren  :-
by offering the signers an opportunity to retract their           "The Consistory of the Eastern Ave. Christian Re-
resignation before the proposed Consistory-meeting of formed Church received and took notice of the contents
Dec. 4th, left the entire matter to their own choice and       of a communication of  Classis  Grand Rapids East.
decision.                                                      dated Nov. 24, 1924, in which  Classis  requires of COL-
    9. But does not this resolution contain an untruth         sistory that it ask the pastor, Rev. H. Hoeksema,
when the Consistory declares that it is at all times           whether he is in full agreement  witKf;he  Three  PoZiF-
willing to abide by the decisions of the larger ass&-          as expressed by Synod, cf. Acts of Synod 3.924, Art.
blies, seeing it refused to sign the three points?             132, p. 145,  ff., and secondly, whether he will submit
    Not at all. It was perfectly true that the Con-            with the right of appeal to the Confessional Standards
&tory was satisfied with the decisions of the Synod            of the Church as interpreted by Synod 1924.
of 1924, even though it could not agree with the con-             "The Consistory of said Eastern Ave. Christian
tents of the Three Points  a,nd maintained the right to Reformed Church respectfully submits to your atten-
criticise  them publicly. And it was equally true, that        tion the following answer.
the opponents were not  satisiied  with these decisions.          "I. Consistory calls attention of  Classis to the
It must be remembered, that in the way of appeal the           fact that in placing the Consistory before the double
matter of the "common grace controversy" had finally           requirement mentioned above,  Classis  interferes with
been brought to the attention of the Synod and that,           matters that are not legally, according to Church
therefore, the decision of Synod was final. That de-           Order, brought to the attention of Classis:
cision was briefly: that the pwtors Dnnhof and Hoek-               " (1)     Because Classis  enters in upon these mat-
scma  uxre  fundumentnlly   Eefo~rmed with.  regard  to        ters upon the basis of two overtures, one ,Erom  the
nzntters  of the Confession, though they depnrtcd  from Consistory of the Dennis Ave. Christian Reformed
Chc? Three Points. Besides, Synod  /tad rcfuscd  CL emotion    Church ; and one from the Consistory of the Creston
to disc@lline  the two pccstors.    (See  Acta, 1924). With    Christian Reformed Church, both of Grand Rapids.
these decisions the Consistory was satisfied. Howcver,         These overtures are not Iegally,  in accordance with the
the opponents could not abide by these decisions. They         Church Order, before the  Classis  ;
could not rest till the pastor was deposed or forced to            "(2)      Because not  Classis Grand Rapids East, but
submit to the three points.                                    the Consistory of said Eastern Ave. Christian  Re-

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

formed Church is the proper body to receive such                regarding a matter of discipline to be executed by the
overtures in the first place.  ,4rt.  30 of the Church local consistory.
Order states: `In major assemblies only such matters                " `The accusing party did not make a single attempt
shall be dealt with as could not be finished in minor to deal with the accused according to Matthew 18.
assemblies.'      And according to the communication of             " `The accusing party did not apply to the  Con-
Classis Grand Rapids East herein referred to, in Re-            sistory  .of the accused. This is an unheard of dis-
formed Church Government the rule is that disciplinary regard for the authority and rights of the Consistory.'
procedure must be exercised by the Church judica-                   "(As a matter of mere curiosity and interest in
tories in the order of Consistory, Classis .and Synod the case before Classis at present, it may be added that
and not vice versa. Communication, p. 1.                        the Iast ground of Consistory against the overture of
       " (3)  Eecause,  even if the Consistories of the         Oakdale  Park reads as follows:
Dennis Ave. Christian Reformed Church and of the
Creston  Christian Reformed Church did possess the                  " `The case is a social, political question and is not
right to apply immediately to  Classis  without acknowl-        properly decided by an ecclesiastical assembly. For
edging the Consistory of the Eastern Ave. Christian             what belongs to the sphere of the Church?
Reformed Church, which they certainly did not pos-                  " `1. The domain of special grace.
sess, they should have served copies of said overtures              " `2. Matters pertaining to the offices in the
upon the Consistory of the Eastern Ave. Christian               Church, for outside of these the Church has no exec-
Reformed Church. The Eastern Ave. Consistory is                 utive organs.
not aware of the contents of t.hese  overtures to this              " `3. That which concerns fundamental truths in
day.                                                            connection with the way of salvation.)
       "  (4) Because not even a Classical Agendum or               "And lastly we quote from the Minutes of said
Program was received by which the Consistory of                 Consistory of the Eastern Ave. Christian Reformed
Eastern Ave. might be duly notified of these overtures          Church, Sept. 26, 1913 the following:
to  Classis from the consistaries of Dennis Ave. and                " `The delegates to  Classis assembled Sept.  17 give
of `Creston. The Consistory of Eastern Ave. was held            a report. From the report it appears, that  Classis  did
in complete ignorance with respect to said overtures.           not enter in upon the request of the Oakdale  P,ark Con-
       " (5)    Because in the past Classis Grand Rapids        sistory, namely, to express disapproval of the stand
East ruled that similar overtures presented by con-             taken by the Rev. J. Groen in re Woman Suffrage.'
sistories to  Classis in  a similar manner were not                 "On the basis of all these grounds the Consistory
acceptable. Cf. Minutes of Classis  Grand Rapids East,          of the Eastern Ave. Christian Reformed Church con-
Sept. 1913. An overture appeared at that time on the            tends that Classis did not act in conformity with Re-
agendum of Classis from the Con&tory  of the Oakdale            formed Church Polity and Government when it entered
Park Christian Reformed Church, requesting the                  upon the discussion of the overtures of the Consistories
Classis to express its disapproval of the stand taken of the Dennis Ave. and the  Creston  Christian Re-
by Rev. J. Groen with regard to woman suffrage. The             formed Churches, declared these overtures legal and
Consistory of the Eastern Ave. Christian Reformed               acted upon the requests contained therein.
Church of which at that time the Rev. Groen was                 . "The Consistory, therefore, protests against  t,his
pastor, decided to place the following resolution on            action of the Ciassis Grand Rapids East, and hereby
the letter of credentials for its delegates to Classis:         serves notice upon Classis  that in due time and in the
       " `The Consistory requests  Classis  not to deal with    proper way it will appeal the case to Synod.
the overture from the Oakdale  Park Consistory in re                "In the meantime, the Consistory respectfully but
the pastor of Eastern Ave. since this would be in direct        urgently requests that  Classis  interfere no further
opposition to our Reformed Church Polity and would              with what is so clearIy none of her business until such
imply not  only an insult against the pastor, but also a time as Synod shall have expressed itself in the mat-
total disregard of the Consistory. The Consistory,              ter..
therefore, feels obliged to protest against such action.'           "11. Submitting, however, under protest, the  Con-
(Minutes of the Consistory of Eastern Ave., Sept. 10,           sistory of the Eastern Ave. Christian Reformed
1913.)                                                          Church considered the contents of the communication
       "Among the grounds upon which the above resolu-          received from Classis Grand Rapids East and dated
tion was to be defended by the delegates to  Classis,  the      Nov. 3, 1924. To it the Consistory respectfully sub-
minutes of said Consistory contain the following:               mits the answer following hereinafter.
       " `It is disciplinary action applied by a major              "A. There is, evidently, a difference of opinion
assembly upon the pastor of a congregation and pro-             between Classis Grand Rapids East and the Consistory
ceeds upon the assumption that  Classis may exercise a of the Eastern Ave. Christian Reformed Church with
sort of supreme authority and guardianship over the             regard to the proper interpretation of the decisions
churches.        This is worse than collegialistic, this is     and acts of the Synod of 1924 with respect to the teach-
popish.  Classis has power  only to serve with advice           ings of the pastor of the Eastern Ave. Christian Re-


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                527

formed Church, the Rev. H. Hoeksema. The difference decided be not again proposed unless a revision be
concisely stated appears to be as follows:                   deemed necessary.'
   "1.  Classis contends :                                      "f. It is not the Consistory of the Eastern Ave.
   "a. That the only matters that were properly  bc-         Christian Reformed Church, but  Classis that is not
fore Synod 1924 are the `doctrinal issues involved in        satisfied with the decisions of Synod in re the tcach-
the Common Grace Controversy.'         (Communication,       ings of the Rev. H. Hoeksema.          And, therefore, if
                                                             Classis  desires a revision of said decisions of said
page  1.)                                                    Synod, Classis must appeal and send an overture re-
   "b. That disciplinary procedure could not be fol- garding this matter to Synod."
lowed and disciplinary action could not be taken by                            (To be continued)
Synod, since this was not properly before Synod, see-                                                        H.  I-1.
ing that disciplinary action must be exercised by the
Church judicatories in the order of consistory,  classis
and synod and not vice versa. (Communication, p. 1.)
    `Lc. That Synod fully `sustained the protests
against the teachings of the Rev. H. Hoeksema in re                                   NOTICE
the three points' (Communication, p. 1.)                        The Eoard of the Reformed Free Publishing Asso-
    "d. That `Synod left it to the Consistory to en-         ciation hereby gives notice to its membership that the
force the doctrinal decrees of Synod,' (Communica-           annual meeting of the association wilI be held Septem-
tion, p. 1.)                                                 ber 8th at 7:45 P. M., in the basement of the Fuller
    "2. The  Cons&tory  of Eastern Ave. contends:            Ave. Prot. Ref. Church.
    "a. That the matters that were properly before              A program has been arranged. An opportunity
Synod of 1924 and upon which said Synod was in duty          will be given to pay membership fees.
bound to act and did act were not only the doctrinal            The association must elect five board members from
issues involved in the Common Grace Controversy, but         the following list of ten brethren nominated by the
also definite complaints lodged against the teachings board :
of the Rev. H. Hoeksema, requests that he be required                              Sidney Bylsma
to retract his teachings and that he should be disci-                              G. De Jong
plined even to suspension from  oftice  and deposition in                          Peter Dekker
case he should refuse to submit.                                                   R. Doezema
    "b. That Synod was very we11 aware of the fact                                 E. EIhart
that these matters regarding disciplinary procedure                                J. Hoffman
in the case against Rev. I-I. Hoeksema were properly                               D. Swieter
before its body, since they had been appealed from                                 F. Sytsema
the Consistory to Classis and Classis  to Synod, and,                              Rine Timmer
therefore, could be dealt with by Synod in full con-                        ~  K  N.  Vander  Wall
formity with Art. 30 of the Church Order.                                                               The Board. --
    "c. That Synod did not fully sustain the protests
against the teachings of Rev. H. Hoeksema in re the
three points, neither with regard to the material and
doctrinal contents of these protests, nor with regard
to the demand for disciplinary procedure contained in                    GOD'S GRACE SUFFICIENT
them.                                                               Thy grace, 0 God ! is sufficient
    "d. That there is not a single item of proof in the               To carry us through the dark day.
Acts of Synod, 1924, for the contention that  Synod                 Thy face, 0 Lord ! looking on us
intended to leave the enforcement of disciplinary rules               WilI drive  aII the storm clouds away.
to the minor assemblies. On the contrary, there is an               Thy grace, with our trust in thy promise,
abundance of evidence that Synod did not intend disci-                Will make our load easy to bear.
plinary action whatsoever.                                          Then smile on us, Lord! in thy mercy
    "e. That, therefore, the entire case having been                  That we these great blessings may share.
appealed to Synod, 1924, and said Synod having ruled                Thy grace, 0 God! is sufficient
in the matter, the case is a closed one, and no minor                 Bravely to weather the storm.
assembly possesses the right to lodge the same`com-                 And though the dark clouds gather round us ;
plaints anew. This is in conformity with Art.  46 of                  We'11 see the bright rays of the morn.
the Church Order: `instructions concerning matters                  Though death casts its shadows about us,
to be considered by major assemblies shall not be writ-               And threats our frail bark to destroy,
ten until the decision of previous synods touching these            Our eyes will look steadily upward
matters have been read, in order t:hat what was once                  And beam with thy heavenly joy.


528                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                       --.---            _--_l^

                                                                  answers to questions we may raise, but upon the clear
                          QUESTIONS                               testimony of the Word of God from beginning to end.
       A. P. of G. R., Mich., writes us:                          This must be accepted first. If, then, some matters
       "Undersigned, although not a member of a  Prot.            are not clear to us and raise questions to our mind, we
Ref. Church, being affiliated with the Chr. Reformed may try to answer them.                     But whether we can or
                                                                  cannot answer these questions of our own mind, the
Church, is nevertheless interested in the solution of
the so-called "common grace" problem, which, to my truth stands: grace is for God's people only.
mind, is still a problem.                                            And now the answers to Mr.  P.`s questions:
                               Of all the articles I have read
and of all the speeches I have heard on it, I have never             a. God's  dennand  of conversion and faith is the
                                                                  same as His unchangeable demand that all men must
heard a treatment of the following points:                        serve and glorify Him.
       "a. God demands  of all men that hear His Word                                       This God demands of all men.
                                                                  And, of course, God is sincere in this demand, for He
conversion and faith; does God sincerely mean this de- is always sincere. He means this in the sense that He
mand? If so, how does he mean it?                                 maintains His sovereign will of righteousness and
       "b. Does every human being owe to God thanks holiness over against the sinner. He cannot deny
and appreciation for health and strength and other                Himself. And it would be denying Himself, His very
natural gifts received? If so, why?
       "C.    Is it God's will, that we obey Him at all times?    Godhead, if He could permit the sinner to depart from
                                                                  His ways with impunity.
If it is, does this not conflict with the fact that every-                                     But He does not mean this
thing happens according to the will of God?                       in the sense that He will give to all sinners grace to
       It seems to me that a clear explanation of the             comply with this demand.
above points would give me a better understanding of                 b. Every human being certainly owes to God
the issue than what I have attained thus far. Would               thanks and praise, not only for natural things and
                                                                  health and strength, but for all that he is and has, for
you be so kind as to write me a brief reply explaining
the above three points ?                                          his very being and existence. And this because God
                                  If this is not asking too       is God, He is worthy to be praised and extolled in all
`much I look forward to an elucidating answer."                   His glorious virtues, and all existence finds its pur-
       Answer :                                                   pose only in the glorification of the Most High. That
       1. I do not know how many articles Mr. P. has              the ungodly does not do this, that by sin he turns this
read on the question of "common grace," which to his              purpose of all existence into its very opposite, that is
mind is still a problem. And I do not know how many his sin.
speeches he heard on the subject. But surely, the                    c. The ethical will of God's righteousness and
material presented in these questions has been treated            holiness that all obey and glorify Him, does not con-
repeatedly in the Standard Bearer, and if Mr.  P. read            flict with the will of His counsel, according to which
all that was written on it in the past, I have little hope        God works all things Himself. For, it is the clearly
that even an elucidating answer to his questions will             revealed will of God's counsel that also that should be
be of much avail to him.                                          which God hates, in order that He might the more
       2.  If, after his own church solved the "common            gloriously reveal, that He is a Iight and there is no
grace problem" in the declarations of the "three                  darkness in Him.
points," it remains still a problem to the mind of                                                                H. H.
Mr. P., and he is still a member of the Chr. Ref.
Church, why does he not turn to the editor of  The
I%mner  or of Da  Wachter   with his questions.  Is it
not more natural to seek  right with one's own leaders
first, rather than with those that have been cast out                                 AAN DE LEZERS
by them `as heretics and this because of the very                  Met dit nummer verschijnt ons blad weer in zijn vol
"problem" on which Mr. P. seeks light? I for one
would be very much interested to know how his own                 formaat van vier en twintig bladzijden. Dat de vorige
pastors would answer these questions in the light of              twee nummers in half formaat verschenen, had zijn
the three points of 1924.                                         oorzaak in niets anders dan in de begecrte van de
       3. If the answer we give to the above questions            redacteurs Dss. Ophoff en Hoeksema, om enkele dagen
is, indeed, elucidating will it create within the heart           vacantie te hebben en dan ook ontslagen te zijn van
and mind of Mr. P. a sincere resolution to cease con-             hun geregelden persarbeid. Op eene vergadering van
sidering "common grace" a problem, to uphold the de redactie werd daarom besloten, om  twee nummers
truth that grace is at all times only for God's people,
even if he should have to break with the Christian                in half formaat uit te geven. Dit is oak de  reden,  waar-
Reformed Church because of his conviction and stand?              om Ds. H. Hoeksema voor dit nummer dubbel schreef
   4. The truth, that grace is never common, but                  en Ds. Ophoff niets.
always particular, does not depend upon elucidating                                                        De Redactie.


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                                                                                                         increases,  her desire for the things of the kingdom of
                  M E D I T A T I O N                                                                    God grows weaker, till at last she appears to be hope-
                                                                                                         lessly swallowed up of darkness ! . . . .
                                                                                                              Brethren. it must not be so in the Church of Christ!
                                                                                                         Quicker to discern we must grow, spiritually more
          G'ROWTH  IN SPIRITUAL SENSITIVENESS                                                            acute, keener to detect the difference between the light
                                    And  this  I pray, that your love may                                and the darkness, readier to abhor that which is evil
                                  abound yet more and more in knowiedge                                  and to cling with all our heart to that which is good . . .
                                  and in all judgment; that ye may approve                                    We must increase in spiritual sensitiveness !
                                  things that are excellent; that ye may be                                   And this I pray !
                                  sincere and without offense till the day of                                 Oh, the apostle might pray for many things in be-
                                  Christ.  - Phil. 13, 10.                                               half of the Church at Philippi, that to us would prob-
        Spiritually keen-edged ought the Christian to be in abIy appear to be more proper, more directly to the
this world.                                                                                              point, more in keeping with the immediate needs of the
        Acutely sensitive ought to be his soul, cyuick to dis-                                           congregation ! Was not the congregation small and
cern light and darkness, the truth and the lie, right-                                                   weak in numbers? Would it, then, not have been more
eousness and unrighteousness, that which is of Christ proper for the apostle to beseech the Lord earnestly
and that which is of Belial, always ready spontaneously that He might add to the number of the faithful and
to love the former and abhor the latter.                                                                 that the Church might increase in membership? But
         And in this spiritual keenness of mind and sen-
                                          --  *--                                                        it seems that this is remote from the apostle's mind.
sitiveness of soul to embrace that which is good and                                                     Not one word of it he mentions. Did not-the Church
react against all the allurements of evil, he must in- have to suffer reproach and persecution in the midst
crease.                                                                                                  of the world? And would it not have been becoming,
         It is a sure sign of sanctification, of growth in the                                           if the apostle had approached the throne of grace with
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.                                                                          a petition for relief and peace in the world? But no
         How sad a phenomenon it is, when the spiritual                                                  such prayer is in his heart.                 On the contrary, he
development of the Church appears to be in a  direct+ reminds them, that it is given them of grace in the
opposite direction! When they, that profess to be of cause of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also
Christ, that bear the testimony that they are washed                                                     to suffer with Him!
in the blood of Jesus and sanctified by His Spirit, that                                                      But this he does pray, that they may grow in spirit-
are delivered from the law of sin and death by that of ual discernment and sensitiveness.
the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, appear to grow more                                                       This is uppermost in his mind and heart and be-
obtuse gradually, slower to react against the tempta- comes the subject of his ardent prayer, that their love
tions of the world, gradually revealing a keener appetite may more and more abound in all knowledge and judg-
for the things that are carnal and less desire for the                                                   ment, in order that they may be abIe to approve the
things of the spirit! What was formerly condemned                                                        things that are excellent!
as being of darkness now meets with approval ; what                                                           They must increase in knowledge and all judgment.
was formerly repulsive to the soul of God's child now Not in natural knowledge of natural things, for the
is eagerly sought; more and more the Church becomes                                                      apostle is not thinking of the knowledge of worldly
accustomed to carnal speech and carnal fashions and                                                      matters but of the knowledge of spiritual things, of
carnal habits and carnal pleasures. And in proportion                                                    God in Christ Jesus, His grace, His salvation, the riches
as her love of the world and the things that are therein                                                 of His manifold mercies and lovingkindness, His will

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

and purpose, His precepts and ways, the purpose where-            But by grace we received a new taste. In principle
unto they have been called out of darkness into His            the things of sin are now repuIsive to our taste and the
marvelous light. In the knowledge of those spiritual-          things of righteousness and holiness we relish.
ethical things, of the things of the Kingdom, they must           In that spiritual taste  ,for the things that are
grow. Neither is the apostle thinking of and praying excellent we must grow.
for a natural knowledge of these spiritual riches. This,          The keen sentiveness of the love of God must more
too, is possible. One can have a head full of learning, and more abound in all knowledge and spiritual discern-
so that he is intellectually founded in the things of the ment.
Word. He is able to speak of the things of God and                Will we approve only that which is excellent
His eternal purpose even to the instruction of others.            This I pray !
Yet, his heart is far from the Lord. He does not taste
that the Lord is gracious. He is a stranger to the
abundant mercies of salvation. He knows all about
the Lord Jesus Christ, yet he does not know Him.                  That ye may be sincere!
That the apostle does not pray for this natural knowl-            And without offense till the day of Christ!
edge of spiritual things is evident. For, he speaks of            Such is the ultimate purpose of the apostle's prayer
a knowledge of love. He prays that their love may for the Church. To be acutely sensitive and spiritually
more and more abound, overflow in knowledge. He                keen-edged must and will reveal itself in a life of sanc-
desires for the congregation a spiritual knowledge, the        tification, in a walk as children of light in the midst of
knowledge of a reborn heart, in which the love of God the world.
in Christ Jesus has been poured forth and spread                  And this is the purpose of grace, for He hath called
abroad, and that now knows no greater delight than to          us out of darkness into His marvelous light, in order
keep His commandments, to respond to that marvelous            that we might shew forth His praises!
love that has been revealed unto it. And to this growth           If we are spiritually dull and obtuse, if we do not
in knowledge is very closely related that spiritual judg- grow in all spiritual knowledge and judgment, so that
ment of which the apostle speaks. For he does not we are quick to discern between light and darkness,
refer to a judgment of logic, a mere discernment of the        ready to approve the former and abhor the latter, we
reason, but to a spiritual power of immediate recogni- v411 not be sincere and without offense. For in this
tion, the recognition and discernment of love to know          world we are surrounded by many dangers and tempta-
at all times what is pleasing to the God of our salva-         tions. The devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh
tion. He prays for them, that their love may more              oiler a thousand things to our taste that are not excel-
and more so abound, that they may be acutely sensi-            lent but corrupt. And frequently they are daintily
tive to the horror of sin and to the joy of doing what         prepared. The arch-liar is a cunning deceiver and
is pleasing to %Iim, Who called them out of darkness           knows how to give to his corrupt things the odor of
into His marvelous light!                                      an enticing deliciousness that appeals to the pride of
       Thus increasing in all knowledge and judgment, in       hfe,  the lust of the flesh, the desires of our sinful
the .power  .of spiritual discernment, they will more and      heart. And  unless-,our  love  <abounds in all knowledge
more approve that which is excellent.                          and ready discernment, we will enter Folly's temple and
       Things that are excellent are those that differ from    feast with her guests at the banquet she prepared! . . . .
all other things by their goodness. They are distinct             But the keener we grow, the better we are armed
because of their taste of truth and love, of righteous-        against all these surrounding temptations.
ness and holiness, of purity and mercy, of meekness               And the more we will be sincere and without offense
and lowliness, of humility and kindness.         And they      in the midst of the world till the day of Christ.
have this taste in distinction from all the things of             Sincere, that is, according to the signification of
darkness, of the lie, of corruption and iniquity, of prid:     the English word, unmixed, pure in all your walk. And
and self-exaltation, of hatred and enmity and malice           in the origina a word is used, that points to a walk
and strife and envy, things that taste of death. They          that can stand the true and severe judgment of the
are excellent, because they are of the Spirit, and `the        light, of the will of God, of God Himself! And to be
Spirit is of God, and God is the Excellent One, because        without offense implies that the direction of your whole
IIe is a light and there is no darkness in Him !               life is such that no one strikes against you and stumbles
       These excellent things, these things of the light, of over you, because you are never found in ways you
God, the people of God must approve. Their spiritua1           were not expected to walk as a child of light. Pure,
taste must be so  deveIoped,  that they desire them,           unmixed, without offense in the work of your mouth,
relish them, yearn for them only and abhor all the vile        in the look of your eye, in the inclination of your ear,
things of darkness and corruption.                             in the movement of your hand, in the direction of your
       By nature we are different. For we are darkness         feet. Sincere and without offense, wholly consecrated
and love the things of darkness, have a taste for the          to the will of Him that called you, in your personal and
things that are corrupt,                                       individual walk and life and in all the many and mani-


                                     T H E   STAXDARD   B E A R E R                                                     531

fold relationships of life in the midst of the world. In         It is the indispensible requisite, it is that, the
your joys and pleasures, your sorrows and griefs ; in existence of which is before all things presupposed,
your friendships and fellowships, your associations and without which neither knowledge nor judgment,
confederations ; in your private and in your public life ;    neither the tasting nor the approving of the  Xngs
before the Church and before the world; whether you that are excellent, neither sincerity nor inoffensiveness
sit in the house or walk by the way ; in the home and is possible or conceivable. Without that principle of
in the shop, always and everywhere let your conversa-         love knowledge is mere intellectualism, judgment a
tion and walk be such, that you may be sincere and            mere natural keenness, approval of the things that are
without offense in the midst of the world . . . .             excellent nothing but a signing of our own condemna-
   For God's people must dwell alone !                        tion, for we do not perform the things we approve, and
   And they must be to the praise of the glory of             all our attempted sincerity is horrible  hypocricy.
God's grace in the midst of the world !                          Love is the ultimate principle.
   Sincere and without offense! Oh, how far we are               For love is of God. It is the bond of perfectness,
from the goal of perfection! How we must confess in           the divine virtue that unites the three Persons of the
shame and humiliation, that in our life and walk there        Holy Trinity, in which they know One Another in the
is a large admixture of darkness. a:ld of the corruption      infinite glory of inaccessible light, in perfect holiness  :
of sin! . . . .                                               and righteousness and goodness. It is the life of God,
   How necessary the prayer of the apostle: that your         that has been revealed in Christ Jesus, the only Begot-
love may abound more and more in all  knowIedge  and          ten, that is in the bosom of the Father; that has been
judgment, that ye may approve the things that are             glorified in the cross, the participation in which has
excellent, that ye may be sincere and without                 been merited by His blood and the realization of which
offense . . . .                                               has been accomplished within us through the Spirit of
   Till the day of Christ!                                    grace. For He poured out His love in our hearts and
    The day is coming that is all Christ's day, the day       it is the throbbing of His love in us, that causes us to
of His full revelation, the day of His complete victory,      love Him . . . .
when all that is of darkness, of sin and death shall be          And to love Him is to love the light.
put down and abolished forever ; when only the things            The love of God in Christ Jesus, poured forth,
that are of Him, the things of light and righteousness,       spread abroad in our hearts is the fountain and spirit-
the things of God and His eternal glory, the things of ual principle of all knowledge and discernment and
His covenant and His everlasting kingdom, shall remain acute sensitiveness to approve the things that are
only and abide forever . . . .                                excellent.
    Till that day, we must be in the world.                      That love, then, must abound.
    Till that day we.must be in the midst of the fight,          It must overflow, as a living fountain it must spring
we must wage the warfare of God, and it is given us of        up into our heart and mind, control our thinking and
grace, not only to believe in Christ but also to suffer       willing, our inmost desires and  al1 our aspirations !
with Him.                                                        .More  and more ! Till the day of Christ! Then love
    Till that day we must be sincere and without              shall be perfected.
offense !                                                       ' And we shall know as we are known !                          .' --
                                                                                                                                "
    But that day may also spur us on in the battle. For          Face to face!
when that day arrives we shall be sincere, pure, even                                                               H. H.
as He is pure, forever and ever.
    This hope we have in Him. That day is the object
of our deepest longing and yearning.
    Let us, therefore, from the principle and power of                                   M&TN GOD
that hope make the prayer of the apostle our own !                          Ik ben vol schuld, Gij vol gena,
    That we may be without offense, sincere!                                  Ik arm, Gij zijt zoo rijk,
    Till the day of Christ!                                                 Ik raad- en hulploos, Gij met raad
                                                                              En daad mij steeds nabij.

                                                                            Zie `k rondom mij, zie `k boven mij,
    That your love may abound more and more  ?                                `k Hervind U steeds, den Heer,
    That love, therefore, is the deepest spiritual source,                  En daal ik stil in `t eigen hart,
from which al1 the rest must spring as from a fountain.                       Ook daar vind ik U weer.
    It is the spiritual principle and root, from which the
knowledge and judgment, the spiritual discernment and                       Mijn een'ge troost is `t, al mijn heil,
keen sensitiveness to approve the things that are                             Dat Gij zijt, die Ge zijt,
excellent so that we may be sincere and without offense                     En dat mijn hart, al wat `t behoeft,
till  the.day  of Christ, must grow and develop.                              Bij U vindt `t aller tijd.


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D B E A R E R                                           535

                                                            The capital of the kingdom of heaven is now above so
                    JACOB AT SHECHEM                        that the time now is when the true worshippers wor-
   Esau having departed, Jacob journeyed to Succoth, ship the Father neither in this mountain nor yet at
a place lying in all likelihood czt of the Jordan. The      Jerusalem but in spirit and in truth. Now the one
name Succoth is expressive of Jacob's engagements at specific place were God dwells is not on earth but in
the place so named. Here he built "him a house, and         heaven.    The saints therefore pray and walk with
made booths for his cattle." At this place then Jacob, faces lifted toward heaven where their conversation is,
it appears, fixed himself down, so to say, for a con-       and where their life is hidden with Christ in God.
tinued residence of some years. As Dinah was some              The vow that Jacob vowed at Bethel was equal to
six years old at the time of Jacob's departure from the promise that in the event he returned he would
Haran,  it is necessary to supl;ose that this residence     take up his abode at this place and walk before the
at Succoth and Shechem embraced a period of some            face of the Lord. Jacob has returned. He is in the
thirteen  years.                                            possession of an abundance of evidence that the Lord
   What is to be our appraisal of this tarrying on the      is indeed his Friend and Benefactor, his shield and
part of Jacob at this place. Some twenty years ago at great reward.          The Lord had transferred to him
Bethel he had vowed, as a fugitive from the results of Laban's  substance, while the latter had stood helpless
his sin, that if God would be with him, and would keep      by unable to do anything about it. At the discovery
him in the way that he go, and would give him bread         that his nephew had stolen away, Laban had set out in
to eat, and raiment to put on, so that he came again        persuit  with evil intent. Once in his presence, how he
to his father"s  house in peace, the Lord should be his     had fretted and raved and threatened! How violent
God, and the stone which he set up for a pillar should      the motion- of his fierce rage had been. How evident
be God's house and that of all the Lord would give          that, had he been permitted to follow the vile impulses
him, he would surely give the tenth. It is evident          of his nature, he would have destroyed the helpless
from the wording of this vow that Jacob had pressed         fugitive against whom he railed and whom for some
on with the fixed idea that of all places, Bethel was the twenty years he had in vain attempted to enslave. Yet
house of God, the one spot on earth where he could          he could do Jacob no harm as he had been held at bay
dwell in the very presence of Jehovah, so that what         by the Lord. Yea, the very reason that he had been
Jerusalem was to the Israel of a latter day, the city of    permitted to continue his chase, after having been
God, Bethel was to Jacob.                                   warned not to speak to Jacob either good or bad, was
   This view of Bethel was not a mere notion that           that it might appear to Jacob and to us all that, though
Jacob could as well have put out of his mind and for- the enemy rages, we need have no fear as our Father
gotten. It was a view that was at once a conclusion         in whom we do entirely trust so restrains the devil and
the Lord had led him to draw and partook therefore of       all our enemies that without His will and permission,
the character of  a revelation. At Bethel the vision        they cannot hurt  us.. Of this  Laban is the  one striking
of the heavenly stairway peopled -with angels had come      example. He had come to do Jacob hurt; but before he
to him. At Bethel for the first time the Lord had           had departed, he had blessed him whom before he had
re-assured his troubled soul by blessing him, and by. -cursed in his soul.           ----
vouchsaving him that goodness and mercy should fol-            No sooner had  Laban disappeared beyond the sum-
low him all the days of his life. And so Jacob had          mit of distant hills, then Jacob had received intelligence
correctly concluded, "This is none other than the house     that Esau with his four hundred was advancing. Jacob
of God, and this is the gate of heaven."                    had been afraid and had prayed as he perhaps had
    Here at Bethel, then, the Lord began to train his       never prayed before. But the issue of the meeting of
people to think of Him as a God who dwells at a specific    the two brothers had again showed that there had been
place so that he who would dwell with Him and possess       no cause for fear. Wonderful to say, at. the sight of
Him as a close companion must take up his abode in          that brother who had twice double-crossed him, and
this place. In the words of the king, God is infinite.      whom he therefore had resolved to slay, this fierce
The heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain Him.        strong man had become as harmless as a child. Weep-
Where  ivould the  ,saint go to be with Him, in what        ing, he had fallen on his brother's neck ; and he would
direction would he turn his face to be facing Him,          have placed at his disposal the very sword he before
if there were no place of which the Infinite One says,      had contemplated unsheating against him. Such had
My name shall be there.                                     been the Lord's doings. To His word, then, He has
    The first man in his perfect state, knew such a kept Himself; it means that Jacob has been kept in the
place: the garden of Eden where flourished the tree of      way that he has gone.
life. After the fall the altar was the meeting place            Yet instead of pressing on to Bethel, the house of
between God and His people. And at Jerusalem the            God, he tarries at Succoth where he builds booths for
Lord dwelt in His holy temple. And we of the new dis-       his cattle and a house for himself. And at this place
pensation "are come unto mount Zion, and unto the he remains for some two years. Looking at the doleful
city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem . . . . " event that creeps into his life at Shechem, the  convic-


5%                                    THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

tion cannot very well be escaped that he stands not in        him. Yet by tarrying at Succoth and Shechem he un-
kis faith as he ought, that he follows the promptings         necessarily exposed himself and family to temptation.
of the flesh. Jacob's spiritual sluggishness permits,         What befalls him at this place proves well enough that
of course, of an easy explanation. Mitigating factors         his failure to immediately  press on to `Bethel meets
enter in which should not be overlooked. He has be- with the Lord's disapproval.
hind him a twenty year's sesvitude  and oppression, a            Having related Jacob's change of residence from
hurried flight of seven days, spiritual conflicts. He is      Succoth to Shechem, the sacred narrator proceeds to
bodily lame, old and worn, and weary. A feeling of            give the details of Dinah's abduction and defilement.
fatigue has crept over him. He feels the need of quiet        Dinah was the daughter of  Leah which she bare unto.
and repose, and would fain come to rest. So he tarries        Jacob in the fourteenth year of the latter's  exilement
at Succoth,  iirmly resolved to press on to Bethel, after     in  Haran.  She was thus about six years old at the
a few years af respite. The spirit is willing, but the        time of the arrival of the family at Sue&h. She must
flesh is weak.                                                have been about fifteen years old at the time of the
      .Jacob  the weary pilgrim, the exhausted warrior of     violation of her womanhood. If so, Jacob spent two
God, resting at Succoth, at Shechem! What saint is            years at Succoth and at least ten years at Shechem.
without his Succoth. Is not this name the significa-          This computation fully agrees with such data in the
tion of those periods in his career, periods of longer or     sacred record that clearly indicate a  confidentiai   inier-
shorter duration, when, his hunted heart, weared  by          course with the Shechemites. Dinah went out to see
spiritual struggle, and wounded by the machinations           the daughters of the land. It was scarcely the first
of the Labans and the Esaus, is sunk to the ground?           time that she went forth. Moreover, her going was for
Then the prudent and watchful one is likely to be-            a friendly visit to these daughters. Unescorted she
come careless as the priest in his family, and too            was wont, without any interference on the part  of
indulgent as a father. He may permit and do things            Jacob, to freely mingle with ungodly people, and to
t.hat he ought not to permit and do.                          idle away her time in the homes of her  worldy
      There is sufficient evidence in the sacred narrative    acquaintances in Shechem. Did Jacob fail to realize
in support of the view that at this juncture Jacob was `that the Shechemites with their easy morals, their
lacking in the necessary spiritual stamina. There were        lose and frivolous conversations, their godless slant on
strange gods with him that members of his household           life, were no fit companions for his daughter? What
were worshipping. As yet the command to put away              ailed this parent?     Besides, what was he doing at
these gods had not been given. Jacob's sons were              Shechem when he should have been on his way to
wicked men. I-Iis daughters, at least one of them,            Bethel? Perhaps he unconsciously reasoned as do the
needed constant watching.        Forsooth, the state of       exponents of the theory of common grace. This rea-
affairs in Jacob's family was far from ideal.                 soning is well known to all: `True these Hevites are
                                                              without God in the world, frivolous, worldly, depraved.
      When Jacob once more break's up camp, it is with        Yet it cannot be gainsayed that from a natural point
the purpose of pressing on not to Bethel but to               of view they are representative of humanity at its best.
Shechem, a-center  of-idolatry, and situated in the land      A splendid race- of men, ifiXC!e3 ! Not  once durilig Zl'12
of Canaan. Here he buys a parcel of land at the hand          these years of my residence in their land have they
of the children of  Hamor,  Shechem's father, for a           molested me and mine. How friendly they are, how
hundred pieces of money. Here he spreads  h.is  ten.t         thoughtful, how generous, how docile, how dependable,
and institutes the true worship of God by the building        how upright. It is indeed a pleasure to be a neighbor
of an altar, which he called God, the God of Israel.          to them. What noble men as compared with my uncle
      In his buying of the parcel of land and in his erec-    Laban. It will not do to &znounce  their virtues as so
tion of the altar, Jacob again shows himself up as one        many glittering sins. I can see  nb  harm in the .
of Cod's saints who lives by a promise and has the            acquaintance Dinah struck up with their daughters.
courage to confess the name of his God in the presence        Dinah is still a young and pleasure-loving maiden, in
of worldly men. Further, though all the land was his          need of some diversion and recreation. Discipline, if
by promise, it was in  tine actual possession of the          too severe and too unrelentlesly applied, is positively
Canaanites.       He had not as much as a parcel of a         injurious.    One can be too strict, too exacting. To
field for his tents. This he must buy and so he does.         curtail a child in all its movements is unwise. Free-
As Abraham and Isaac, he is one of God's meek.                dom of movement is necessary to development of char-
Rather than gain what has been promised by violence,          acter. Let the parent tell the son and the daughter
he is prepared to abide God's time and thus to con-           that his faith in them is implicit, and the danger that
tinue a pilgrim and stranger in the earth. Faithful           they will go wrong is remote. She is quite safe with
unto death, he, "too, gained for himself a place in that      these Shechemites. Reaaly,  they would not harm a hair
cloud of &tnesses  by which we are compassed about.           of her head. Resides, to break up the friendship be-
      The name Jacob gave to the altar is expressive          tween Dinah and these daughters would arouse the
of his firm belief that hitherto the Lord has helped          suspicion of this people and perhaps provoke it to


.                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         537

       anger. I must be careful. Of what use is it to need-         nothing. What he could have answered  Hamor  is:
       lessly antagonize these men.'                                `Know well Hamor,  that your proposal that we blend
          How much of this reasoning was Jacob's is, of             ourselves with you, must be turned down by us; for
       course, a matter of conjecture. The fact is that he          should we do as you propose, we would deny  onr call-
       permitted his daughter to move in the society of these       ing. The most high God, whom we serve, and Whose
       `Hevites.    It is unthinkable that she did so without       chosen people we are, wills that we be separate, and as
       his knowledge. For, as was said, the particular visit        a  distinct and separate people, dwell in tents, and, as
       recorded was, it is certain, but one of several. There       expecting a city that hath foundations, whose Maker
       are indeed definite signs of a confidential intercourse      and Builder is God, acquiesce in the status of a pil-
       with the Shechemites. In all likelihood Jacob fostered grim and stranger in the earth. We are the nucleus of
       this intercourse. That the footing upon which he lived the city of God. Our calling is to radiate in this dark
       with this people  was  most friendly is evident from the     and sin-stricken world the light that He kindled within
       circumstance that the father of Shechem petitions him        us. Should we do as you propose, we would cease to
       that he give his daughter to Shechem to wife. He even        be a commonwealth holy unto our God ; we would  fix
       comes with the proposal that the two families combine        ourselves down in the earth to become the citizens of
       so as to form one people. Surely such a proposal pre- your earthly kingdom, the inhabitants of an earthly
       supposes a lively and friendly acquaintance of long ci&y without foundations and therefore destined to dis-
       standing. This acquaintance Jacob prized. For the            appear.
       pastures surrounding Shechem had charmed his eye.               `As for thy son Shechem, he hath wrought folly in
       To the evil influences of this pagan center, he exposed      Israel. The thing he did ought not to be done. How-
       his family and in particular his, daughter, that his         ever, if his soul cleaveth unto my daughter, if he would
       flocks might graze in these pastures. The old vows           have her to wife, let him get him from thee his kindred,
       that were uttered with such ferver, were neglected,          and from his false gods, and receive my God as his
       now that the danger was past.                                God and my people as his people. So doing, he may
           Dinah, being the daughter of a pastoral prince,          have my daughter to wife. And as for thee and thy
       moved and was at home it may be in the best and most         people, if ye confess your iniquities, and the iniquities
       exclusive social circle at Shechem. This may account         of your fathers, with their trespasses, which they tres-
       for it that the prince of the land saw her,  aAd not         passed against the most high Go'd ; if your uncircum-
       against her own wishes, it seems, led her to his own         cized heart be humbled, receive in your flesh the sign
       house. Here disaster overtook her.  That'she  had been of circumcision, and we will be friends indeed. But
       found in  the street, a lone wanderer in Shechem; and        blend ourselves with you with a view of becoming with
       carried away forcibly, is a view that is plainly at vari-    you one people, we cannot.'
       ance with the record. It is more likely that her abduc-         This should have been Jacob's reply. It seems,
       tion was the climax of a friendship that had been in         however, that he had not the courage to direct to
       the making for some time. This seems to agree with           Hamor  a speech of this kind. He was afraid of these
       Dinah's willingness to abide with her prince at his          Shechemites; afraid to grieve them by laying before
       house to listen to his kirX%rds, directed'to  her heart.                                    -  _-  .."..
                                                                    them the truth. `-~For several years now he has- been
       Evidently the two were lovers, so that she was as            leading his flocks in their pastures, traded and gotten
       reluctant to leave as he was reluctant to give her up.       him possessions in their land. Too many favors have
       So Shechem spake to his father Hamor,  Get me this           been given and received by him. He has gone in and
       damsel to wife.                                              out with them as with friends, and the footing on which
           Jacob soon heard what had befallen his daughter.         he has been living with them is much too intimate. In
       He perhaps notified his sons who were in the field with all likelihood the thought has taken root in their souls
       the cattle and held his peace until they were come.          that he regarded them as a most desirable people.
     * Before their arrival,  Hamor  the father of Shechem          Hence, when the crisis finally came, Jacob lacked the
       went out unto Jacob to commune with him. What                courage to take a stand, and insist that the proper
       these communications were is not stated. It is cer-          course be followed. &stead  of speaking up, he keeps
       tain, however, that they  ccnsisted  of the very petition    silence, waits for his sons to come in from the field,
       and proposal that was afterward made and proffered           places the matter entirely in their hands, retreats to
       to Jacob's sons, "The soul of my son," said Hamor  to        the background; and permits his young, unexperienced
       Jacob, "longeth for your daughter: I pray you give           and wicked children to effect a settlement.
       her him to wife. And make ye marriages with us, and             And this they do. Hamor  repeats his petition and
       give your daughters unto us, and take our daughters          his proposal to these sons. These sons were grieved
       unto you. And ye shall dwell with us: and the land           and  wrath.  However, the root of their indignation
       shall be before you: dwell and trade ye therein, and get     was not true religious  ferver, genuine concern for the
       you possessions therein."                                    covenant of God, but family pride ; for these sons were
           What Jacob's reply was, is not stated. Whereas he wicked men. Shechem had humbled their sister, hence
       was in a straight betwixt two he in all likelihood said      they were angry, and their anger was fierce. So in-


!
     5x3                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

     stead of sketching out a proper course of action, they         thereupon by sending the holy seed on to Bethel.
     hatch out a scheme for revenge.           They answered             The words of Jacob's sons please  Hamor  and
     Shechem and his father deceitiully and made them-              Shechem. They agree to comply with  t.he condition set.
     selves believe that the folly of the young prince could        It is now up to them to win the men of their city for
     serve as an excuse for the crime they contemplated.            the contemplated merger. With their brethren they
            Shechem had said, Let me find grace in your eyes,       commune saying, "These men are peaceable with us;
     and what ye shall say unto me I will give. Ask me              therefore let them dwell in the land, and trade therein;
     never so much dowry and gift, and I will give accord-          for the land, behold, it is large enough for them; let us
     ing as ye shall say, unto me: but give me the damsel           take their daughters to us for wives, and let us give
     to wife. The lust of this young prince was in him a            them our daughters. Only herein will the men con-
     consuming fire. On the altar of this lust he stood             sent to us for to dwell with us, to be one people, if every
     ready to sacrifice all: wealth, position, religion, yea        male among us be circumcised. Shall not their cattle
     even his racial identity. For it is to be noticed that         and their substance and every beast of theirs be ours?
     he agrees to receive in his flesh the sign of circum-          Only let us consent unto them and they will dwell with
     cision. What were these things to him if the prize             us."
     he coveted be lost to him. He will have the maiden or               According to Shechem there was every reason why
     die. Of course, when the flame of his lust again burns         the merger should go through. The men were peace-
     low, he will return to his gods to serve them with all         ful. Their cattle and their substance would become
     the power that is his.                                         common property.       Still other advantages could be
            There are many Shechems with us today, - young          mentioned. The addition of so goodly a number of
     people who marry outside of that particular religious          able-bodied men to their ranks, rendered them in-
     brotherhood where they have been born and bred. To             vincible in time of war.      The consolidation would
     gain and appease their mate they join themselves to            therefore be a source of great gain to them. The young
     that brotherhood were the  ,mate was found, even               prince, being a man of great influence, a person who
     though the step involves them in the adoption of a             enjoyed the confidence of his brethren - he was more
     different creed. However, again normal they become             honourable than all the house of his father- experi-
     restless and soon return to the old gods that when             enced no difficulty in gaining the consent  or the men
     overruled by the lust of the flesh., they had cast off.        of his city for his project. All that went out of the
     They are the Shechems of our day, people who take              gate of the city hearkened unto him. And the devil
     as their standard of action the overruling passion of          perhaps again  thought that he was about to make a
     the moment. Fools they are whose highest good is not           master stroke, providing he was ignorant of the secret
     God but the appeasing of the carnal desires of the             plans  of Jacob's sons; for he knows that every alliance
     flesh.                                                         between the church and the world spells ruin for the
            The sons of Jacob reply to Hamor,  "We cannot do        church. With all their culture, dignity, and retie-
     this thing, to give our sister to one that is uncircum-        ment, the men of Shechem belonged to the brood of the
     cised;  for that were a reproach unto us: if ye will be        serpent. And here this brood, by an outward show of
                                                                                                                       - _ _ .*-."    -
     as we be, that every male of you be  circumcis'ed ; then       generosity and good-will, sought to lure this seed away
     we will give our daughters unto ybu, and we will take          from God and attach it to itself. And to get its way
     your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and          with this seed, this brood will even consent to carry in
     we will become one people. But if ye will not hearken          its flesh the sign of the holy covenant of God.
     unto us, to be circumcised ; then we will take our                  Having hearkened unto  Hamor,  every male of
     daughter and we will be gone."                                 Shechem was circumcised, "all that went out of the
            Apparently, then, these sons agree to the consolida-    gate of the city." On the third day, Simeon and Levi
     tion of the two families, on the condition that the men        think it time to strike. So each man took his sword,
     of Shechem be circumcised. As far as Jacob knows,              and came upon the city boldly, and slew all the males.  *
     they mean what they have said. Yet he holds                    And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the
     his peace. Instead of pointing out to them how im-             edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem's
     possible of acceptation the proposal of Shechem was,           house and went out. They thereupon spoiled the city.
     he stands idly by while the contract is clinched. Fact         They took all that was in the city and in the field:
     is that Jacob by his prolonged residence at Shechem            sheep, oxen, and asses, all the wealth, and all the little
     had put the cause of God in jeopardy. Jacob's people           ones and their wives. They spoiled even all that was
     had become much too friendly with these neighbors.             in the house. Thus the Lord delivered Jacob out of
     Had Shechem sued for the hand of his daughter before           the hand of Shechem for the sake of His covenant.
     giving vent to his lust, he might have found a ready           '    As coming from the Lord, the judgment that over-
     audience. Jacob's silence in this crucial moment simply        took these men was deserved. Consider that in their
     shows that it was again time for the Lord to interfere         attempt to induce the Israelites to blend themselves
     and save His covenant. He did so by availing Himself with them and become one people, they were plotting
     of Jacob's wicked sons to destroy the  Shechemites  and        against the Lord. As Ruth of a latter period, they say


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             iTi99

      not to Jacob, `Thy God is our God, and thy people is         ber, they shall gather themselves against me, and slay
      our people.' Their intention was not to turn away            me ; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house."
      from their idols to serve the living God. They had              This of course, was the language of unbelief,
      undergone no such change of heart. Their motives             Jacob's conscience is  athy. He therefore could not
      then were not religious but purely mercenary. They           stand in his faith. His negligence now looms up be-
      wanted to enrich themselves at the expense of Jehovah        fore his eye as a grievous sin. He has no peace. So
      by laying hold on His people. And the whole move-            the Lord appears unto him and tells him how he may
      ment had been set on foot by the carnal lust of one          assure his heart before God, namely, by walking in
      man.                                                         the way of obedience. So the Lord said to him, "Arise,
          Consider further their impudence. After having go up to Bethel and dwell there: and make, there an
e     gained the confidence of the Israelites even to the          altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou
      extent that Jacob permits his maiden daughter to move        fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother."
      unescorted in their society, the ruler of the city lures        This admonition Jacob is now prepared to take
      this daughter to his house, and, after defiling her,         home to his heart. So he said unto his household, and
      holds her captive. In his capacity of a kidnapper, and to all that were with him, "Put away the strange gods
      with his prey locked in his house, he says to Jacob,. that are among you, and be clean and change your
      Give me thy daughter to wife. `Had Jacob and his             garments : Let us arise and go up to Bethel ; and I will
      sons turned .down his request, who knows but what he         make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the
      might have resorted to violence in the attempt to re-        day of my distress, and was with me in the way which
      tain his hold on the maiden. As to the men of the            I went." "And they gave unto Jacob all the strange
      city, they condone the deed of their prince and thereby      gods that were in their hand, and all their earrings
      become co-responsible.    The wrath of Jacob's sons          which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under
      can at least be explained. Forsooth, the men of Shechem      the oak which was by Shechem. And they journeyed:
      are wicked men.                                              and the terror of God was upon the cities that were
          But the wrath of Jacob's sons, and the slaughter to      round about them, and they did not pursue after the
      which it led, was equally as wicked. To begin with,          sons of Jacob. So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the
      they were actuated not ~by love for God's covenant, but      land of Canaan, that is Bethel, he and all the people
      by family pride. Repeatedly do they say, Shall he            that were with him. And he built there an altar, and
      deal with our sister as with a harlot? What weighed          called the place El-bethel: because there God appeared
      heavily on their minds is that this prince had brought       unto him, when he `fled from the face of his brother."
      disgrace on their family by defiling their sister. Hence,                                                  G. M. 0.
      their wrath was thoroughly carnal and therefore un-
      reasonable and as cruel as the grave. They should
      have considered that they and their father were at                                 ONZEGOD
      fault. Knowing that these neighbors of theirs were
      unprincipled people, should they not have kept their                  Ja, onze God alleen is groot;
      sister at home? What is more, Jacob should have                         Geweldig in vermogen.
      been on his way to Bethel long ago. What befalls him                  Zijn macht gaat over he1 en dood;
      here he may regard as the rod of God. Before striking,                Wie Hem weerstreefde of weerstand bood
      they should have come in the dust before the Lord and                   Treft de opslag Zijner oogen.
      confessed their sins, and thereupon inquired of the
       Lord as to what should be done. Instead, they take                   Hij is alwijsheid, sterkte, raad.
      matters in their own hand, and inaugurate a whole-                      Uit Hem is al wat kracht  heeft;
      sale slaughter in their carnal and unbridled zeal to                  Hij spreekt, en - wat niet was, bestaat;
     - avenge themselves.    On his deathbed, and in his                    Hij werkt en - al wat is, vergaat.
      capacity of prophet of the Lord, Jacob condemns their                   Uit Hem is al wat macht heeft.
       wrath. Said he, "Simeon and Levi are brethren ; in-
       struments of cruelty are in their habitations. 0  my                 Uit Hem de  lelie, die er bloeit,
      soul. come not thou into their secret; into their as-                   De voog'len, die er zingen ;
      semble, mine hinor, be not thou united ; for in their                 `t Woestijnzand, door de zon geschroeid,
      anger they slew a man, and in their  selfwill they                    De orkaanstorm, die door `t luchtruim  loeit,
      digged down a wall. Cursed be their anger, for it was                   AI `t heir der stervelingen.
      fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide
      them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel."                           Kneel  aan Zijn heil'ge voeten neer
          When Jacob hears of the slaughter of the Shechem-                   Met vreeze en heilig beven,
      ites, he is very much perturbed. Said he to his sons,                 0 mensch ! Bij is een eenig Heer !
      "Ye have troubled me, to make me to stink among the                   Stel in Zijn wil en wet uw eer,
      inhabitants of the land . . . and I being few in num-                   Doe dat, en gij zult leven !


 548                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   -,

 zondigen  tnbernakel   ;  verl:lngers  nuar de  hemelsche      He wants one to either put his stamp of approval on
 woonstede ; hunkerenden  naar de overkleeding  Gods ;          all the C. R. Church does or join whole-heartedly  with
 bezitters van het onderpand des Geestes, waardoor ze           some  Prot. Ref. Church. That such a policy is not
 willen inwonen bij den  Iieere  en  uitwonen  van het          always followed by Rev. .Hoeksema  himself is easily
 lichaam, enz.                                                  proven. Some years ago Rev. Bultema wrote about the
        Maar - buiten zullen zijn de honden, en de toove-       Jansen-controversy that one must either become pre-
 naars,  en.de  hoereerders, en de doodslagers, en de  afgo-    millennial or be a Jansen-man. With respect to such
 dendienaars, en een iegelijk die de leugen  liefheeft  en      a view Rev. Hoeksema would say "neither-nor." I am
 doet . . . .                                                   neither one.
        Zoudt  gij die een aanbod van genade  durven predi-        Respecting the common grace controversy I think
 ken ?                                                          our Church should have accepted the advise of Rev.
                                                   G. V.        Manni who suggested  that the Revs. Danhof and Hoek-
                                                                sema also be appointed in the committee of study.
                                                                   As to  th,e Arminianism of the three points, I've
                                                                never been able to see the fundamental difference be-
                                                                tween what Calvin taught concerning common grace .  ,'
                    C O N T R I B U T I O N                     and the Synod of 1921. However I have the following
                                          Sept. 2, 1931.        suggestion: When Rev. Hoeksema writes his brochure
           Dear Editor :--                                      on the three points, I for one wish he would follow up
                                                                Prof. Berkhof's brochure on the same subject point for
        Very  contrary to your usual  "t,o the point" method    point and prove to us that Calvin did not believe in
 used in writing to those of contrary opinion,  I noticed       common grace.
 from your recent editorial about the  "neither-nors"              Whether the alleged il%reconcilable  conflict of the
 that sarcasm and personal insinuations are resorted to         "three points" with fundamentally Ref. truth is not
 as a means of defense. This I had least of all expected        very lucid? Not unless you maintain that even Calvin
 of the editor whose policy has been to  t.reat his mate-       by believing in common grace contradicts Ref. truth.
 rial to the point.                                                May I see the above published to remove misunder-
        Without mentioning my name it is evident from the standing?
 first paragraph :ts well as from the remainder  of the            Thanking you in advance.
 article that undersigned is here classified with those                                                     Al  Piersma
 whom the editor describes as persons who attempt to                                 *    ;iz  qc  Q  $L
 minimize the actually existing breach between the
 Prot. and C. R. Churches. Also as those who consider Postswiptum  by Editor.
 themselves to be, and leave with others the impression            When I had perused the above expression of resent-
 that they nse your friends, while in reality they are          ment, I naturally reviewed the editorial from my pen
.opponents  in disguise.                                        that occasioned it to discover whether an apology were        '
        Those who have known me for some years do not           due on my part.                                               .:  1
 consider me to be of compromising sort, but some have             My conclusion is negative. I do not apologize and
 thought me to be altogether too technical and too in-          I do not have to.
 sisting. This does not harmonize with  the  "neither-             For the following reasons:
 nor" type the editor describes.                                   1.. In the first place, it is not true, that I wrote an
        Also your colleague Rev. Vos is of a different          editorial about Mr. J3ersma. I was writing about a
 opinion. Wrote he: "Door zijn schrijven  leerden we            class of persons. I state this emphatically in the first
 den schrijver beter kennen,  en daar verblijden  we ons        paragraph of my editorial. And I state this once
 in. Open vizier en een klare atmosfeer zijn onontbeer-         again in a later paragraph, even adding, that it must
 lijk voor goeden  strijd." This is quite different.            be self-evident, that I did not have in mind any ger-
        Personally I refute these charges most emphatically sons, not even our contributor. The only connection
 because I write exactly as I think, I do not try to min-       between my editorial and Mr. Piersma  can be found in
 imize the existing breach, neither do I attempt to max- the statement, that his contribution reminded me of
 imize it; never has it been a point of particular in-          the class of people  I was discussing. It is, therefore,
 terest to me whether Rev. Hoeksema or others wish to entirely left to the choice of Mr. Piersma exactly how
consider me a friend or ot,herwise;  neither do I come          much of the contents of the resented editorial he con-
 in disguise;  I despise conceit and simply write my            siders applicable to himself.
 candid opinion avoiding as much as possible to hurt               2. In the second plaee, it is entirely true, that his
 anyone unnecessarily.                                          own contribution, also appearing in, the last Standard
        The editor seems to consider it impossible to dis-      Bearer, reminded me of esactly  the class of persons
 agree with certain actions of one's own churc.h and also       that I described as  neithovwrs.  The only question
 disagree with actions and attitudes of those deposed.          that remains is, whether I received a mistaken impres-


                                      THEE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             549
             -

sion, whether the article by Mr. Piersma  did or did not        DE NEDERLANDSCHE  GELOOFSBELIJDENIS
contain that particular element that could justly re-
wind me of this class of persons. Hence, I also perused                                INLEIDING
once more his contribution to refresh my memory or
correct my impressions. But the conclusion is that the            Overeenkomstig ons voorgenomen doel, beginnen
article itself very clearly gives one the impression of       we hier een min of meer lrort overzicht te geven van
which I was speaking. Mr. Piersma  may refute "these          de  37 artikelen der Nederlandsche Geloofsbelijdenis.
charges" ever so emphatically, the fact remains that          Het zou een al te moeilijke taak worden,  indien we een
he classified himself with the neither-nors I was de- volledige, breedvoerige verklaring zouden mocten  ge-
scribing. The brother wrote: "Hoewel  ik me nooit heh \-en van deze artikelen en alles wat er in voorkomt.
kunnen vereenigen met de afzetting van hen, die dc            Ook  zouden we daarmee ons  doe1 niet bereiken. Want
drie punten  niet aanvaarden, evenmin kan ik me vcr clan zouden we de geheele Christelijke leer moeteu uit-
eenigen met uw bovengenoemd standpunt . . . .  "              eanzettcn,  want de Geloofsbelijdcnis neemt  ter lJ,espre-
(Although I could never agree with the deposition of          king al de verschillende  leerstukken  van de  kerk. En
those that refuse to accept the three points, yet I can       de verschillende leerstukken der kerk worden  theolo-
neither agree with your above-mentioned standpoint.)          gisch door  onzen  hoofdredakteur  verk!aard.        Necn.
And he also wrote : "Deze en andere uitdrukkingen  van        Ons doe1 is gansch  anders. Ons doe1 met deze artikelen-
de man der scherpe antithese  doen  ons zien, dat onzc        reeks is,  om met een  kort overzicht, ons voik meer op
kerk feitelijk  niets nieuws bracht in de drie punten"        de lioo.@e te stellen met de Geloofsbelijdenis, uit een
(this and other expressions of the man of sharp anti-         formeel  oogpunt. Wij  moeten  zcetw  wat we belijden,
thesis show us that our Church actually introduced            en niet  doen   gelijk  zoovelen, die eenvoudig zeggen : Wat
nothing new in the three points). Mr.  Piersma  will          de kerk (dominee, classes of synode) zegt is goed  en
admit that X wrote about persons that assumed the             daaraan zullen wij ons houden. Een woord ter inlei-
attitude expressed in the words: "neither the pastors         ding is dus oak niet buiten zijn plaats.
ought to have been deposed . . . . nor are the three             De Nederlandsche Geloofsbelijdenis was  oorspron-
points wrong." And I wrote that the article of Mr.            kelijk opgesteld door Guido de  B&s, die in 1523 te
P. reminded me of such persons. Did I not express             Mons, Frankrijk, geboren werd, en die zijn eerste  op-
myself rather mildly?                                         voeding ontving in de  Roomsche  kerk. Door  inten-
    I owe no apology. My editorial of the last number sieve studie van de  `Heilige  Schrift werd  hij  echter
remains as it is.                                             van de Roomsche bijgeloovigheden  bekeerd.  De vrucht
    The rest oft Mr. P.`s expression of resentment I          van zijne bekeering, namelijk, een wandel naar de
will not criticise.  He loves to speak of Calvin. I will      godzaligheid, was als bittere gal voor zijn vroegere
accept that he is able to  sy?eak of him, that is, that he    vrienden en familieleden. Dit veroorzaakte een bit-
actually reti Calvin, even though this is contrary to         tere vervolging tegen hem, zoodat hij moest viuchten
my experience, which teaches me that there are many           naar Engeland, waar  hij  zich voorbereidde voor het
who speak of Calvin and seem to know all about hiLq- leeraarsambt.              Na de troonsbestijging van Maria
and his doctrine, that have never perused his In&i-           keerde hij naar zijn'vaderland  t&%ig, waar hij reizeK&
tutes,  never read  Cnlvin's   CUvinisnz,   never seen his    predikant was voor een periode van zoow?t vier jaren.
Comnzenta;ries.   But Mr. P. certainly finds in Calvin,       Doch  nauwelijks had De Br&s een gemcente gesticht
what I am not able to find: the three points.                 in Lille, of die kleine  kudde  werd verstrooid en De
    And it certainly testifies against Mr. P.`s alleged       B&s vluchtte naar Gengve,  alwaar  hij een ijverig dis-
eagerness to know the truth about the three points,           cipel van Calvijn werd. Na den dood van Calvijn
t,hat I never' see him at any of my lectures on the sub-      (1564) keerde hij weer terug naar de  streken  waar
ject.                                                         hij vroeger als reizend predikant arbeidde en stichtte
    The reader may now judge. I assure Mr. P. that            gemeenten in Sedan en Valenciennes. In de laatstge-
the editor will' not deem it proper to publish another        noemde stad s&reef hij wat wij noemen de Nederland-
word of this personal controversy in the Standard             sche Geloofsbelijdenis. Nauwelijks  had hij die klaar,
Bearer.                                                       of de stad werd door vijandige  machten ingenomen en
                                                 H. H.        om zijne belijdenis werd Guido de BrBs gehangen, en
                                                              stierf hij alzoo den marteldood in 1567,
                                                                  Wat nu de  zakelijke  inhoud betreft van de  Geloofs-
    Vergeet niet om uwe Standard `Bearers te laten            belijdenis, mogen we het volgende opmerken: In on-
inbinden.                                                     derscheiding van onze Catechismus is de Nederland-
    Met dit  nummer  is de zevende jaargang compleet.         sche Geloofsbelijdenis meer alomvattend en objectief.
    Slechts $2.00 per jaargang in zwarten band met            De Catechismus is meer praktisch en bestemd om in
vergulde letters in den rug.                                  de kerken te  worden  onderwezen. Hij is  oak in den
    C. J.  .Doorn,  306 Dallas Ave., S. E., Grand Rapids,     gezonden zin des woords  zeer onderwerpelijk. Hij
Mich.                                                         geeft een uiteenzetting van de waarheid, zooals die


c    550                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
/

     levend ervaren wordt door den geloovige. Doch  eenigs-
     zins anders is dit met de Geloofsbelijdenis. Zij geeft                  THE STATUS OF THE DEACON
     een uiteenzetting van de waarheid zooals die  voorwer-           A consistory of one of our Protestant Reformed
     pelijk in Gods Woord geopenbaard wordt. Doch ook              churches sent me the following question: "Wat is de
     hier  moeten wij voorzichtig zijn, dat wij niet de 37         positie van een diaken in verband met de kerkeraad?"
     artikelen gaan beschouwen als zoovele voorwerpelijke          Translated the question reads: "What is the position
     waarheden, die zonder meer zijn opgediept uit de of the deacon in relation to the consistory?"
     Schrift. Ze zijn niet menschelijke gedachten of theo-            Let us see. In Scripture each office had its own
     rien, zooals de Undenominationalisten ons trachten name. Scripture speaks of the office of deacon and
     diets  te  maken.  Doch  de 37 artikelen zijn het  getui-     of the office of elder. From this it follows that each
     genis des  geloofs.  Ze zijn de vrucht van het werk           office is constituted of specific tasks. As  t,he name
     Gods in de Rerk des Heeren van vroegere eeuwen !               episcopate, "opziener," (the name the Holy Spirit
     Niet bloot intellectueele, voorwerpelijke beschouwin-         selected as a designation of the office of elder) signifies,
     gen. Immers het eerste  artikel begint reeds met de           it. is the office of the elder to take oversight of the
     getuigenis : "Wij gelooven met het  ho&' en belijden          church, which is committed to them, and diligently to
     met den mond . . . . enz." Doch in tegenstelling met          look, whether every one properly deports himself in
     den Catechismus, zet de Nederlandsche  Geloofsbeiijde-        his confession and conversation; to admonish those
     nis de waarheid van Gods Woord systematisch en dog-           who behave themselves disorderly, and to prevent as
     matisch uiteen. Zij is de formuleering  van wat opge-         much as possible, the sacraments from being, pro-
     sloten ligt in de Heilige Schrift. Daarom vinden we           faned ;. also to act (according to the Christian disci-
     in de Geloofsbelijdenis de volgende orde van  onder-          pline) against the impenitent, and to receive the peni-
     werpen :                                                      tent again into the bosom of the church, as doth not
            a. De leer der Heilige Schrift, Artikelen 2 tot 7.     only appear from the above mentioned saying of
            b. De leer van God (Theologie).  ArtikeIen  1, 8       Christ, but also from many other places in Holy Writ,
     tot 11.                                                       as I Cor., chap. 5, and II Cor., chap. 2, that these things
            c. De leer van den mensch (Anthropologie) . Ar-        are not alone intrusted to one or two persons, but to
     tikelen 12 tot 17.                                            many who are ordained thereto" (Form of ordination
            d. De leer van  Christus  (Christologie).  Artike-     of Elders and Deacons). The exhortatory section of
     len 18 tot 21.                                                this Form reads: "Therefore, ye elders, be diligent in
            e. De leer van den weg  der zaligheid  (Soteriolo-     the government of the church, which is committed to
     gie). Artikelen 22 tot 26.                                    you, and the ministers of the Word. Be also as watch-
            f. De leer der  Kerk (Ecclessiologie) . Artikelen      men over the house and city of God, faithful to ad-
     27 tot 36.                                                    monish and to caution  every  one against his ruin.
            g. De leer der laatste dingen  (Eschatologie) . Ar-    Take heed that purity of doctrine and godliness of
     tikel 37.                                                     life be maintained in the Church of God . . . . "
            Vangen we den volgenden keer  aan met een korte            On the other _har@tte  office of deacon is "to make-
     bespreking van het eerste artikel.                            the service of the poor their peculiar business . . . .
                                             L. VERMEER            to collect and preserve with the greatest fidelity and
                                                                   diligence, the alms and goods which are given to the
                                                                   poor; yea, to do their utmost endeavors, that many
                                                                   good means be procured for the relief of the poor. The
                                                                   second part of their office consists in distribution,
                     HE  GIVETH  MORE GRACE                        wherein are not only required discretion and prudence
                                                                   to bestow the alms only to objects of charity, but also
     He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater;           cheerfulness and simplicity to assist the poor with
     He sendeth more strength when the labors increase ;           compassion and hearty affection . . . . "
     To added affliction He addeth His mercies,                        So then, the one office is constituted of tasks differ-
     To multiplied trials His multiplied peace.                    ing and wholly distinct from those of the other. There-
                                                                   fore the question, "What is the position of the deacon
     When we have exhausted our store of endurance,                in relation to the consistory," if equal to the question,
     When our strength has failed ere the day is half done.        "May the deacon function as an elder" demands the
     When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,               answer : Whereas each office is constituted of tasks
     Our Father's full giving is only begun.                       distinct and differing from those of the other, it fol-
                                                                   lows from the very nature of things, that the deacon
     His love has no limit, His grace has no measure!              shall not function as an elder, and the elder as deacon,
     His power no boundary known unto men ;                        in the Church of Christ.
     For out of His infinite riches in Jesus                           The view which we here state is in full agreement
     He giveth and giveth and giveth again,                        with our Church Order.          Art. 3'7 reads: "In ail


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          551

Churches shall be a consistory composed of the min-               However, the question whether the deacons enter
isters of the Word and the Elders, who at least in into the make-up of the council defined as .a body of
larger congregations shall as a rule, meet once a week."      elders convened for the regulation of matters of doc-
According to this article, the deacons do not properly        trine and discipline, ~nazcst  he answered in the negative,
belong to that "rand"  cou?tciZ of the Church constituted     as has already been done. It follows from the  ve,ry
of the eiders. This is the same as saying that the            nature of things that if the deacon as well as the elder
deacon shall not function as, or perform the duties of,       and the minister constitutes the body that convenes
an elder. For when the elders meet, it is to attent to        for the regulation of discipline, the deacon is an elder,
their specific tasks.                                         and therefore functions as one. The deacon, however,
    However, this view of the position of the deacon is no elder. The minister, however, is an elder, as is
in relation to the consistory seems to be (but need not evident enough from Scripture. To quote the Form,
necessarily be) in conflict with Art.  30 of our Con-         "Of the elders is to be observed, that the word elder
fession. This article reads in part: "We believe, that        or eldest . . . . is applied to two sorts of persons who
this true Church must be governed by that spiritual           minister in the church of Jesus Christ: for the apostle
policy which our Lord has taught us in `His Word ;            saith, `the elders that rule well, shall be counted worthy
namely, that there must be ministers or pastors to            of double honor, especially they who labor in the Word
preach the Word of God, and to administer the sacra-          and doctrine. Hence it is evident that there were two
ments; also elders and deacons, who, together with            sorts of elders in the apostolic church, the  ,former
the pastors, form the council of the Church . . . . "         whereof did labor in the Word and doctrine, and the
    Whether this article is in conflict with Article 37       latter did not. The first were the ministers of  the-
of the Church Order, depends upon the construction            Word and pastors, who preached the gospel and admin-
placed upon the term council as used by the coinposer         istered the `sacraments ; but the others, who did not
of the Confession. The term or name council may be            labor in the Word, and still did serve in the church,
used in a narrow and in a broad sense.  ' Used in a           bore a particular office, namely, they had oversight of
broad sense it signifies the office-bearers in the church the church . . .  .="
(deacons, elders, ministers) who, by virtue of the
special office with which each is vested, assemble to            So then Scripture never applies the word elder to
                                                              persons vested with the ofl?ce of deacons; but Scripture
jointly attend to the duties belonging to their respective
offices. If the name  cozmcil  be used in this sense, the     does apply the word elder to the minister.
                                                                 Our Church Order, therefore, defines the council
deacons as well as elders and ministers enter into the        of the church as a body constituted exclusively of min-
make-up of the council of the Church.                         isters and elders.
   The term Council then may be used in the broad
and narrow sense. When used in this brpad sense, it              It should be noticed that the Church Order applies
signifies a body of men convened for regulating mat-          the word council to the body of elders only. The body
ters. An assembly of deacons is such a body. It is a          of deacons convened for the regulation of matters of
body convened for regulating matters of Christian             Christian pbilanthrpy is, according to our Church
philanthropy.    An  assembIy -of elders is also `such a      Order, properly no council. At least, in no article of our
body. However, in distinction from an assembly of             Church Order is the body of deacons called a council,
deacons, it is a body convened for the regulation of          raad. True, the second half of Art. 37 reads, "Wher-
matters of doctrine and discipline in the church. In a        ever t,he number of elders is small, the deacons may
broad sense, then, a congregation has but one council,        be added to the consistory by local regulation ; this
consistory. In a narrow sense, it has two councils.           shall be invariably the rule where t.he number is less
   According to this view of the matter, then, the            then three."
body of deacons when defined as an assembly convened             It is evident, however, that when this rule is fol-
for the regulation of matters of Christian philanthropy       lowed, it is the desire of tee Church Order, that the
is in the narrow sense, a council; and the body of elders     deacons be regarded, not as entering into the make-up
defined as an assembly convened for the regulation of of the very structure of the council of the church, but
matters of doctrine and discipline, is likewise a coun-       merely as an addition to this council. Even with this
cil, so that, taking the above view of the matter, the        addition the body of elders remains the council proper.
answer to the question, "What is the position of the             As has been said, whereas Art. 30 of the Confession
deacon in relation to the council," will be: the deacon defines the council as constituted of deacons, elders and
enters into the very make-up of the structure of the          minister, there is conflict between our Church Order
council, if by council is meant the body of deacons, or       and our Confession.
if the council be defined in this broad sense, namely, as        Rutgers, in his  Kerhxlijke   Adviezcn,  denies that
the body of deacons, elders and ministers having the          this conflict is there. The question; "Maken  de diake-
task OF regulating matters pertaining to that partic-         nen deel uit van den kerkeraad,"  is answered by him as
ular division of the kingdom of God where these  office-      follows: "Art.. 30 van de Confessie schijnt in classe 3
bearers function.                                             we1 wat oppervlakkig te zijn ter sprake gebracht. Im-


                                                                                                                    `.
I                                                                    -_
I    552                                     THE  ST.AADDRD  -BEARER

     mers, aldaar staat  met, dat de  `drie soorten van kerke-                    KINDERBEDE TOT GOD
     dienaren tezamen den  kerkeraad  uitmaken, of de kerke-
     raad zijn, maar dat zij zijn  als raad der kerk; welk                 0 heilig en drieeenig  God,
     woordje `als' in het Hollandsch nog eenigszins op twee                  Ik ben in uwen naam  geteekend,-
     manieren kan worden  uitgelegd, maar niet in den even                 In mijnen doop; Iaat mij dan tot
     authentieken tekst . . . .                                              Uw kind en erve zijn gerekend.
            "Het is geen art. eener  I<. O., dat kerkelijke be-
     voegdheden formeel  wil regelen ; maar een artikel eener              `t Gedichtsel van mijn hart is boos;
     Confessie, dat in het algemeen uitspreekt, wie in de                    In zonden ben ik reeds geboren ;
     kerk ex officio iets te  doen  en te regelen hebben, op de            Tot kwaad genegen, zorgeloos ;
     manier als in het burgerlijke ook een raad (senatus)                    Van natuur een kind van toorn.
     is;"terwijl  dan voorts volgt,  wnt er voor die dienaren
     te doen  is, zonder dat de bedoeling is, formeel  te rege-            Mijn lust is steeds in ijdelheid,
     len, wie nu "het een en wie het ander voor zijne reke-                  Ik dwale  heen  op kwade wegen ;
     ning heeft. Wet is nader in de IX. 0. te bepalen . . ih.              Tot ondeugd ben ik ras verleid ;
            "Volgens   alle die bepalingen (bepalingen van de                Maar tot het goede ongenegen.
     Synode te  Emden,  etc., G. M. 0.) is de zaak eenvoudig,
     dat de kerkeraad bestaat uit predikanten en  ouderlin-                Helaas, ik geef mijn teere jeugd
     gen ; maar dat in kleine gemeenten de diakenen oak als                  Tot beuzeling en kwade zeden.
     het ware hulpdiensten doen  als ouderlingen, en weder-                Hoe zwaar valt mij de ware deugd ;
     keerig de predikant  en de ouderlingen hulpdienst als                   Ik ben gewend tot  ijdelheden.
     diakenen, zoodat  cr.lsdcro~ de kerkeraad  aItijd uit die
     drie bestaat (dus in verre de meeste gemeenten) ; en
     dat in groote gemeenten de diakenen  vodr sommige                     Wasch mij, o God, door Jezus' bloed ;
     zaken (die der dienst der barmhartigheid raken, en                      Vergeef genadig al mijn zonden ;
     ook naar usantie, zaken  van beroeping en benoeming                   Maak rein mijn harte en gemoed
                                                                              Door Christus' Geest en dure  wonden.
     van kerkedienaren, enz.) bij den kerkeraad  komen,
     zoodat men alsdan heeft: een  `gewonen  kerkeraad' en:
     `een kerkeraad met diakenen' (soms   we1  genoemd                     Wie ooit den hemel in zal gaan,
     groote of breede kerkeraad), en dus  bet woord `kerke-                  Moet door uw Geest zijn weergeboren;
     raad' een ruimeren en engeren zin heeft al naar gelang                Och, werk dit in mij, neem  mij aan
     de zaak, die er te behanclelen is."                                      Tot eenen van U uitverkoren.
            A careful analysis of what is here presented will
     convince one that Dr. Rutgers did not succeed in re-                  0 Zone Gods, o Menschenkind,
     moving the above-mentioned conflict. The substance                       Geef aan mij, zondig kind, uw zegen ;
     of his reasoning is after all that, according to  0111                Mij teere, zwakke, tech  bemind:
      Church OrderTthc  body Xdeacons is not the consistory                   Wets met mij; leid mij in uw wegen.
      proper, but merely an addition to the consistory. This
      surely is not the view coming to the surface in the                  Leer  mij den weg der zaligheid
     aforesaid Art. of our Confession.                                        Te rechte  en van harte kennen  ;
            For reasons we hope to advance in a following                  Tot goed  en deugd maak mij bereid ;
      article we agree with the Confession  t.hat the term                    Dat ik mij aan uw dienst gewenne.
      council is to be applied to the body of deacons  ai well
      as to the body'of elders. However, we are at one with                Behoed  mij tegen `t dwalend pad,
      the Church Order insofar as it maintains that the body                  Daar wereld,  satan,   `t vleesch mij leiden
      of deacons do not enter into the make-up of the body                  Uit d' enge weg van `s hemels stad,
      of elders. The deacon is no elder. The office of deacon                 Om mij van `t goed'  en God te scheiden.
      is constituted of specific duties to which  t,he deacon
      should confine himself. This we believe is demanded                   Bewaar mij in mijn vroege jeugd,
      of him by the Word of God.                                              0 Heer, voor al wat mij kan schaden ;
             This does not mean, of course, that the elders when            Geef dat ik in gena en deugd
      met in a body, may not avail themselves of the  ndviccz                 Opwas, en ga uw heil'ge paden.
      of  thei:deacons.  They may. boing so, they are given
      an advisory vote.                                                     Of haalt Ge mij hier vroeg van daan,
             The'%eaching  of our Confession is not at variance               Wil mij de vreugd des hemels geven.              '
      with this, though there is conflict.                                  Doe dan mijn ziel in vrede gaan,              .
             More of this in a following article.       G.  M. 0.             Door dezen  dood in `t eeuwig leven.


