                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R ' E R                                               485
                                              ,_._...            - -" ___ ^^.^__-^_                          .-_."  ..." .._ I___
het beneden hunne waardigheid achten de waarheid te protest misapprehends the declarations of the synod
onderzoeken !                                                 of 1924. We give illustrations.
                                                   H. 1-I.       a. The protest misinterprets Synod's conception of
   P. S. Zou het ook niet eerlijker geweest zijn van the scope of the offer of salvation as embracing all
dien kerkeraad, om ons de boeken, die immers geld ge-         human individuals since Adam. In proof we submit
kost hebben, terug te  zenden,  inplaats van ze naar de the following quotation from the introductory para-
prullemand te verwijzen? - H. H.                              graphs: `No one, we say, will ever be able to teach,
                                                              preach and prove, that God elects out of all Mankind
                                                              some to everlasting glory, and at the same time offers
                                                              this heavenly bliss to all men, head for head, who lived
                                                              since Adam, lives today and yet shall live in the future'.
       A Protest And Its Answer                               Synod nowhere stated that every human being since
                                                              Adam received the offer of salvation, but  ,merely
   Several items of interest appeared on the program afllrmed that all hear the Gospel receive an unfeigned
of the Synod of the Christian Reformed Churches, that invitation to accept it.
was held this year in the Theological School of those            b. The protest misinterprets Point I of the decla-
churches in Grand Rapids, Mich.                               rations of the Synod of 1924 as nullifying election, in
   I mean, items of interest also to us.                      the following passage: "This point, as is indicated by
   One of these is a protest against the Three Points,        the texts quoted by Synod, speaks of a favorable in-
filed with synod by Jacob J. Hoekstra, known also as clination of God toward  all  mcm, unregenerate as  well
Hans Hansen, member of the Third Christian Re- `as elect. This statement, according to our understand-
formed Church of Roseland; Chicago, Ill.                      ing attempts to nullify the doctrine of electionl  . . . .
   It is not often that we have an opportunity to hear This claim is a flat contradiction of the express words
from the Christian Reformed Churches how they un- with which Synod designated the subject of the First
derstand and interpret the well-known declarations of Point, and which the protest reproduces as follows:
doctrine they formulated in 1924 and on the basis of `This First Point reads: De Gunstige Gezindheid Gods
which they deposed three consistories and their min- jegens die menschen  en niet alleen de Uitverkorenen.'
isters and expelled from their fellowship  spproxi-              c. The protest denies what is taught in the Canons
mately three thousand members.                                of Dordt, II, 5, in the following passage, quoted from
   Often we wrote about the Three Points:                     2, B.: `We deny that Grace or Salvation is an offer to
   We spoke on them everywhere and in public.                 any one, but we accept as Scriptural, that Grace or
   But the Christian Reformed Churches and their salvation is the Glad Tiding of Promise given and de-
leaders paid no attention. Apparently they acted on livered to God's own elect and to them only'. Your
the basis of the principle that in silence is their           committee draws particular attention to the positive
strength.                                                     definition of grace or salvation given in the last clause,
   For once, however,. the silence was broken. The            according to which the Glad Tiding or Promise is
sphynx spoke !                                                given and delivered to God's own elect and to them
   The occasion was the above mentioned protest. The only. But the Canons state:  ` . . . which promise
protest could not be denied. It was legally before ought to be declared and published to all nations and
synod. Yet, even so, I confess that I was surprised           to all persons promiscuously and without distinction,
that it received an answer. My expectation was, that to whom God out of his good pleasure sends the Gos-
Synod would answer: "we, respectfully refer the pro- pel (II Art.  5').
testant to the decisions of synod  irr  re the material of        d. The protest wrongly accuses Synod of having
this protest published in the  Acta of 1924 and 1926".        resurrected the Pelagian error of Free Will. We quote
   But it did no such thing. It somewhat entered into the opening words of C. on p. 2: `The, by the Synod
the material of the protest.                                  resurrected, Free Will is, in our understanding, ex-
   I have before me the report of the committee in traordinarily humanistic in tendencies'. Synod, how-
this case, which as far as I know was adopted by synod.       ever, plainly maintained the impotence of the unregen-
    Here it follows in full:                                  erate man, as appears by way of example, on p. 146 of
                                                              the Acts of 1924, in the following passage: `C. Aan-
    "Protest by Mr. Jacob J. Hoekstra against Common gaande het derde punt, rakende het doen  van zooge-
Grace as expressed in the Three Points.                       naamde burgerlijke gerechtigheid door de  onwederge-
    "1. Your committee advises Synod to declare that borenen, verklaart de Synode dat volgens Schrift  en
this protest is legally before Synod.                         Belijdenis onwedergeborenen, hoewel onbekwaam tot
    "2. The content of the document argues or aims eenig zaligmakend  goed (Dordtsche Leerregels, III,
to argue against the doctrinal position on Common IV, 3) zulk burgerlijk goed kunnen  doen'. `Tt is plain
Grace formulated by Synod in 1924. Throughout, the that Synod, while asserting that the unregenerate are


486                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                .^ ^--_I--     .--.._-_ll --.-.-                 -." _.... _---^---                           __I_.-
capable of civic righteousness, also asserted or re- the Three Points. The committee that formulated the
asserted man's incapability of performing any `zalig-          above answer and the synod that adopted it were well
makend  goed' without regeneration.                            aware of the fact and, I dare say, were well
       e. The protest wrongly charges Synod of drawing acquainted with the contents of these publications.
`in Point One no line between the unregenerate and the         Were these also misrepresentations of the declarations
elect'. Cf. p. 3, D. This is in direct conflict with the of  1924? It has never been shown.
words of Point I, `dat er,  behalve  de zaligmakende  ge-          These publications were sent to the theologians of
nade Gods bewezen alleen  aan de uitverkorenen  ten the Netherlands. And they, many of them, declared
eeuwigen leven, ook een zekere gunst of genade Gods on the basis of them, that undersigned is Reformed.
is, die Hij betoont  aan Zijn schepselen in het algemeen'.     Did all this suggest nothing to the committee and to
Here, the difference between the elect and the rest is         synod? Was the protest of Mr. Hoekstra not even an
plainly indicated as consisting in this, that the elect occasion for them to investigate whether, perhaps, their
receive saving grace over and above common grace,              might be something seriously wrong with the formula-
while the rest receive only common grace which does            tion of the Three Points?
not save nor impart eternal life.                                  I maintain that it should have been.
       *`We deem the above a sufhcient  exhibition of the          But let us call attention to the details of synod's
character and content of this Protest.                         answer to the protest.
       "3. Advice to Synod:                                        The protest objected to the First Point that it could
       "It can not be the duty of Synod, at this late date     not be proven that "God elects out of all mankind some
to expose in detail such misrepresentations of the to everlasting glory, and at the same time offers this
declarations of 1924, much less, on their basis, to re- heavenly bliss to all men, head for head, who lived
consider the declarations which the Protest attacks.           since Adam, lives today and shall live in the future".
       "Your committee advises Synod so to inform the              The committee eagerly took hold of the very last
brother".                                                      part of this objection and concluded: a misrepresenta-
                                                               tion ! "Synod nowhere stated that every human being
       So far the answer to the protest.                       since Adam receives the offer of salvation" . . . .
       Let us consider this answer somewhat in detail.             But the essence of the objection the committee con-
       One receives the general impression that the com- veniently overlooked.
mittee that composed this answer and synod that                     For,' synod did say that God "offers this heavenly
adopted it did not conceive of their task in this respect      bliss to all men, head for head".
as  a very serious one. They called attention to a few             And synod did maintain that this "offer of heavenly
"misrepresentations" of the Three Points ; evidently bliss" is grace to all, to elect and reprobate in common !
considered it rather a "late date" to show the brother              Does it not look like an attempt to avoid the issue,
protestant why they are misrepresentations  ; and ruled when synod overlooks this real point of the objection,
out the idea, as not even a remote possibility, to recon- which was rather clearly stated, in order merely to call
sider -the declarations of 1924.                               attention to the "misrepresentation"  which.it found in
       They did not treat the protest very seriously !         the last clause?
       They forgot, that they have forfeited their right to         Besides, is there no room for the question at all:
appeal to "this late date" at all as an additional con- how can anyone thus misrepresent the meaning of the
sideration why a detailed and well motivated answer First Point? I think there is. For, what is the main
should not be given the protestant. For, is there not, contention of the First Point? Literally it is: "that
somewhere in the archives of synod, a `protest against there is a favorable attitude of God towards the human
the Three Points that was delivered to the very synod race or mankind in general and not only to the elect,
that formulated them? And is it not a fact, that synod that there is a certain grace or favor of God, which He
never answered it? And I dare say, that synod would shows to His creatures in general". And this grace to
find itself quite incapable of formulating an answer to all creatures, to the human race in general is proven
this latter protest that would justify its declarations of from "the general offer of the Gospel". Did not, then,
1924. Or was it, perhaps, at that time "this early date" the synod of 1924 literally state that the "general offer
that induced synod to refrain from answering it?               of the Gospel is grace of God to all mankind, yea, to all
       Besides, conceded for the moment that the parts creatures"?
quoted by the committee from the protest contain                    Granted now, that synod did not mean this.
nothing but misrepresentations of the Three Points, is              Granted, that the situation in 1924 was such, that
there no room for the question: what is wrong with synode desired to prove that there is a grace of God
these declarations of 1924 that they cause a member of to all men, common grace ; that it must needs prove
the church so wrongly to interpret them that he wholly this from the confession; that there is nothing in the
misrepresents their real meaning?                              confessions to prove it; and that thus it happened that
       Undersigned also published his objections against synod, insistent in its determination to prove the  doc-


                                             T H E   STANDA
              -.--.----I_-____                           .._ -"..- i R D   B E A R E R                                   487
                                                                     .-                                           -         -
       trine of common grace from' the confessions, unfor-
       tunately hit- upon the "general  olFer  of the Gospel".               Calvinism and Republicanism
           Does not the fact remain, that the First Point sus-             In my previous writing I made plain that when
       tains the statement concerning a grace of G&d to ali          Boettner wrote that final chapter of his book --  a
       mankind by an appeal to the general offer of the              chapter that bears the title, Calvinism in History,  -
       Gospel?                                                       he had not before his eye reality but roved in a dream
          If, then, members of the church "misrepresent"             worid of his own creation, in a world that with the
       the meaning of the declarations of synod, whose fault light.of truth focused upon it evaporates into thin air
       is it? The fault lies, I say, with the formulation of the     and disappears except in the mind of the dreamer. The
       Three Points. And the committee that answered the view encountered in that last section of Boettner's
       protest and the synod that adopted this answer, should        book is that "democracy was born of Christianity"
       have admitted this and were in duty bound, not loftily that the successful striving of nations to set up repub-
       to speak of misrepresentations, but to re-formulate the       lican forms of government was as to motive, aim and
       Three Points.                                                 guiding principle out of God and that the men in
          But there is more.                                         whom this movement and this striving took on flesh
          The committee 5n me this protest and the synod it          and blood, so to say, acted upon imp&es of a genuine
       served surely became guilty of "misrepresentation"            reverence and true love for God Whose sovereignty
       with respect to the meaning of the First Point. For,          was being trampled upon by the tyrant. It was shown
       it offers that synod (of 1924) "merely reaffirmed that that this appraisal of the republican movement is in
       all who hear the Gospel receive an unfeigned invitation violent conflict with facts. It appeared that the light
       to accept it".                                                of historical investigation shows that this movement
          Now, this is an untruth in every respect.                  was an action that consisted precisely in reducing kings
          It is not true, that synod merely affirmed this. It        to puppets by wrenching the tiontrol  of the affairs of
       affirmed much more than this.                                 the state from their hands and by depositing this con-
          It is not true, that synod 6af??irmed  this, for it did    trol in the people, and in naming the people the
       not affirm this at all.' It declared something quite  dif- supreme and sole authority in the state, an authority
     f e r e n t .                                                   underivative, responsible to self only and thus not to
          And it is not true, that even if synod should have         God, subject to no will but its own, an authority by
       affirmed this, it would have been a ra-affirmation, for whose will kings rule and that is the source of all
       it is nowhere stated in our confessions that all who delegated power, an authority therefore that seats it-
       hear the Gospel receive an unfeigned. invitation to self in God's throne, apposeth and exalteth itself above
       accept it. The committee and the synod were well a11 that is called God, and that sheweth himself that he
       acquainted with the fact, that even the passage in the        is God.
       Canons that appears to affirm what the synod of 1924                Let us now examine the path of reasoning along
       is supposed to have reaffirmed is a corruption of the         which Boettner arrived at the conclusion that Calvin's
      original.    It should read: "that they that are called real monument is every republican government on
       should come to him". (Canons II, B, 8).                       earth. The point of procedure of this reasoning is
          Where did synod a&m or merely  i-e-affirm, that            Calvin's Church Polity and the principles from which
       all who hear the Gospel receive an unfeigned invitation this polity is supposed to spring. The following ex-
       to accept it? Surely not in the First Point? Yet, this        cerpts reflect perfectly Boettner's mental processes
       is what the synod of 1934 boldly states!        Is 1934       respecting the matter under consideration: "We may
       ashamed of  1924?                                             say that the spiritual republic (Boettner refers here
          One can hardly believe that synod of 1934 had for- to the church) which was founded by Calvin rests upon
       gotten what was declared in  1924.                            four basic principles. These principles were,  firstly
          Yet, 1924 declared,  "that   the general  ofSer of the that the will of the people was the one legitimate source
       Gospel  is grace on the part of God to all that hear it       of the power of the rulers ; secondly, that the power
       and not only to the elect'.                                   was most properly delegated by the people to their
          And yet the synod of 1934 declares that 1924               rulers, by means of elections . . . . " "`The striking
       me&y re-afirmed  that all that hear the gospel receive similarity between the principles set forth in the Form
       un unfeigned invitation to accept it!                         of Government of the Presbyterian Church and those
          Compare the two statements.                                set forth in the Constitution of the United States has
          And draw your own conclusion as to the question caused much comment. When the fathers of the Re-
       who is guilty of ?nisrepresentation",~  the protestant or public sat down to frame a system of representative and  I
       they that answered the protest.                               popular government their task was not so difficult as
          My answer is : the latter!                                 some have imagined. They had a model to work by."
                            (To be continued)
I                                                                    "Politically, Calvinism has been the chief source of
                                                       H. H.         modern Republican government. Calvinism and  re-


4 8 8                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
__l-l____-                                                                                              l_l "_l.- -... -
publicanism are related to each other as cause and             administer their office continually."
effect ; and where a people are possessed of the former,          Calvin also raises and answers the question whether
the latter will soon be developed. Calvin himself held         the minister of the gospel must be chosen by the whole
that the church under Cod, was a spiritual republic ;          congregation or by the consistory alone. His answer
and certainly he was a republican in theory." "The             reads : "We perceive that it was the custom of Paul
system (Calvinism) not only imbued its converts with           (the apostle) to choose the bishops through the voice
the Spirit of liberty; but it gave them practical train-       of the people" (Bk. IV, p. 71).
ing in the rights and duties as freemen. Each con-                Expressions occur in the above excerpts that I
gregation was left to elect its own officers and to con-       mark.    These : "He (Christ)  bus vested  them  (the
duct its own affairs . . . . "                                 oi??icebearers  in the church)  with power." `LFor  when
         Boettner has it then that the principles pervading Christ  bestowed upon them (the apostles) power to
the Presbyterian (Calvinistic) form of church govern- forgive sin."
ment meet one again in the Constitution of the United             These expressions from Calvin's pen literally assert
States of `America, that it thus was with hearts in that in his (Calvin's) so-called spiritual republic (the
which these principles had taken root that the fathers church) officebearers receive their power not from the
of our country sat down to frame their system of gov-          people who elect them to the office but solely from
ernment, so that it may in truth be said that Calvin-          Christ. From Him they obtain their  office. By Him
ism is the chief source of modern republican govern-           are they endowed with grace for the execution of the
ment.                                                          duties belonging to the office. Thus the officebearers
         We have here to do with a contention that is as are His gifts unto His church - gifts through whose
untrue as can be. Fact is that as to the principles            mouth He preaches His word and executes His work.
pervading both, the church polity of Calvin and the            Such was Calvin's conception.
state polity of the framers of the Constitution of our            As to the modern republican state, Boettner him-
country have nothing in common. In Calvin's so-called self insists and openly declares that in this state the
spiritual republic (the church) Christ is King will of the people is the  one legitimate source of the
Supreme, the Institutor of the offices in the church and pnwcr of the rulers, and that the power is delegated
the sole source of the rule exercised by its officebearers.    by the people to the rulers. I showed in my previous
So Calvin taught. I quote from his Institutes: "He             article that of the atheistic principle here expressed,
(Christ) has instituted the office of pastor and teacher republicanism here in North America and the world
(Eph. 4  :3) to teach His own (people) through their           over is the crystallization. The document known as
mouth. He has vested them with power" (Institutes,             the Declaration of Independence contains a clause that
bk. 4, p. 4). And this also from Calvin's pen (bk. 4,          reads : "That to secure these rights, governments are
p. 55) : "We must now consider the order according to          instituted among men deriving  their  just powers from
which the Lord has willed that His church should be            the conseM of the governed." `And Boettner  was quot-
ruled. For, though He alone governs and rules in His           ing the English statesman and jurist, Sir James
church and in the same must preside and have the               Stephen, when he asserted in that  fmal chapter of his
highest power and though this rule must be exercised           work that the will of the. p%ople is the one legztamate
and administered solely,through  his word, yet we main-        source of the poww of the rulers.
tain that ,He uses thereto the services of men, con-              Let us now describe that spiritual republic, the
stituting them His representatives, not to vest them church, as Calvin conceived of it. In the church the
with His right and honor, but merely to execute His            offices are institutions of Christ and so defined by
own work through their mouth, as a craftsman avails            clergy and laity alike. These offices consists of duties
himself of an instrument for the performance of his            prescribed by Christ and of a delegated power of
work." Further (p. 57 of bk. 4) : "Christ ascended in          which Christ and not the people is the source so that
the highest in order that He might  6ll all things. The the members do not delegate power to the officebearers
manner of this filling consists herein that He, through but merely elect as the instruments of Christ to the
His servants to whom He entrusts this office and gives         office. The officebearers possess governing power solely
grace to execute it, bestows upon the church His gifts         by virtue of their being vested with the office so that
and is thus in a sense present in His church through           they rule by the right not of the members of the con-
the manifestation of the power of His Spirit in this           gregation but of Christ alone. The officebearers are
His institution." Consider also this statement (bk. 4,         and will to be agents of Christ and will to so function.
p. 32) : "In order to make us partakers of this benefit,       The sole, supreme and infallible law in the church is
keys have been given to the church. For when Christ the will and mind of Christ as revealed in His word
commanded His apostles and bestowed upon them and as formulated in the creed. The members of the
power to forgive sins (Mat. 16  :19 and 18) He not only        congregation by choosing them officebearers willingly
willed that they should absolve those who turned from          place themselves under the yoke of Christ's law. BY
their wickedness to, faith in Christ but that they should      His law also they vested with the office will to be


I     ."__        .~.                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                      489
      -_                       -...-._ ..-  ".-,    -              -_1                                     _" __..
      bound.             The word of God is taken as the sole infallible stractly  viewed but of Republicanism as we have it, of
      standard of legality of all thought and action. Office- existing Republicanism. The question here being con-
      bearers. and laymen alike are and will to be God's sidered is not whether Republicanism us .&h, whether
      workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, a republican state or form of government  coztld be the
      which God hath before ordained that they should walk fruitage  of Calvinism, but whether the  m%sting Re-
      in them. Such were the principles pervading the polity' publican states as to the principles of state polity set
     . of Calvin's church. But as to the modern republican forth in their constitutions, whether the Republican
     state, the atheistic principle pervading its polity is, as movement in history as to motive, aim and guiding
      WLS shown, that the will of the people is the sole                  principles is out of God, is born of Christianity. Only
     .mme of the power of the rulers, so that between this                the light of historical investigation is needed to show
     state as defined by its founders and Calvin's spiritual              that existing Republicanism is of the lie. At first
      republic (the church as he conceived of it) there is no glance that final chapter of Boettner's work has the
      more real agreement than between-righteousness and appearance of being the fruit of such an investigation.
      unrighteousness, light and darkness, Christ and Belial, But fact is that this chapter is nothing more than a
     he that believeth and an infidel, God and idols. Calvin's series of quotations, sweeping statements and majestic
      spiritual republic turns on God, your modern repub- sounding phrases that when examined in the light of
      lican state turns on man ; the former is theocentric,               truth betoken a mind that has lost its regard for
     the latter homocentric. The conception of the former plain facts. Many are the so-called authorities that
     springs from the mind' of God, the latter as to the Boettner `marshals to the defense of his main propo-
      idea of which it is the embodiment was conceived of sition that Calvinism is the creator of the modern
      by man. This has now been conclusively proven. It world, that Republicanism is born of Christianity, that
      means that Boettner's contention to the  effect that the modern republican state is as to the principles of
      there is a striking similarity between the principles set which it is the crystallization, the exact replica of
     `forth in the form of government of the church as  eon-              Calvin's spiritual republic. However, among the names.
     ceived  of by Calvin and the principles set forth in the of the authorities quoted the name of Calvin does not
      Constitution of the  IJnited States, tllat politically' Cal- appear. Not once does Boettner cite Calvin. Yet he
      vinism has been the chief source of modern republic- was in a position to do so as he possesses Calvin's In-
      anism, that Calvinism and republicanism are related to stitutes and that collection of Calvin's treatises that
     each other as cause and effect, is thoroughly untrue. bears the name of Calvin's Calvinism. This is strange
     `How anyone in the possession of Calvin's institutes and indeed if it be considered that from the point of view
      of such documents as the "Declaration of Independ- of principle there is absolutely no agreement between
      ence" of the American colonies and'the "Constitution" the modern republican state and that spiritual republic
      of the United States of America, how anyone conver-                 (the church) that Calvin sets before our eye in his
     sant with Calvin's Church Polity (the principles of Institutes. But what amazes most of all is that Boett-
     which he set forth in his Institutes) and with the prin- ner even ascribes to Calvin principIes  of`church  govern-
      ciples pervading the  t.wo  aforesaid documents, can ment that stand diametrically opposed to the prin-
      make such a statement is hard to understand. Is Boett- ciples of church government that Calvin voiced in his
      ner ignorant of what Calvin wrote on the matter of I n s t i t u t e s .
      the offices in the church? Are the two documents                       Such are the tactics employed in the endeavor to
     above-named not in his possession? Does Boettner not make it appear that the modern republican state is
      know that it was with hearts set on fire by the philo- born of Calvinism.
     sophy of the rationalist Thomas Paine that the colon-                   There is, to be sure, a certain formal agreement
      ists cast off the yoke of their sovereign across between Calvin's spiritual republic and the modern
     the sea, that the American revolution was a ,plant that republican state. In both the officers are chosen
     had first thrived on French soil and that the leaders                through the voice of the people. But here the agree-
     of the revolution in France aimed at nothing less than ment stops. Rightly considered Calvin's spiritual re-
     the abolition of Christianity, that Republicanism in public is no republic or democracy at all but an abso-
      England began to make its appearance centuries before lute monarchy and this monarch is Christ Who rules
      Calvin saw the light of day?                                        His church through His Spirit and His Word in con-
               Fact is that true Calvinism, Calvin's Calvinism and nection with the special office. Here Christ is the sole
     that phenomenon in history known as Republicanism, lawgiver. Not the common members in the church but
     the Republican movement, have absolutely nothing in they only vested with the special office rule, not as
     common, that in Calvinism and Republicanism we have lords but as servants of Christ bent on bringing the
     to do with two distinct and disparate streams of in- flock und&  His yoke. But the modern republican state
     fluence. And these two streams do not merge, never on the other hand is a democracy indeed as in this
     have and never will ; for each has its own origin, bed               state the will of the demos, of the people, is defined as
     and mouth. I speak now not of Republicanism  ab-                     being supreme and the government as being of the


 people,  by  the people and for the people.         Fact     untruth, that it is so deceiving.      Unless one reads
 is then that it is the state not with the democratic but cautiously and thoroughly, one imagines after the first
 with a  monarchial form of government that from  :a          reading that he has to do with a treatise on the Re-
 formal point of view agrees with Calvin's spiritual re- formed doctrine of Predestination that is  actuallly   Rc-
 public. For in this state as in the church there is a formed.
 king who is the sole legislator and judge. And the king         Much of the reasoning in Boettner's book and espe-
 of the church, Christ Jesus, is the vicegerent of God.       cially in that final section of his book is so superficial
 It appears then that even from a purely formal point and at once untrue. This has been shown. One more
 of view there is no agreement between the Democratic example of this. One of the propositions that Boettner
 states of our Modern era and Calvin's so-called spiritual    holds to is that the war of the American Revolution
 republic.                                                    was sponsored and fought mainly by Presbyterians,
     Perusing the pages of that fmal chapter of Boett-        that is, by Calvinists, that thus American democracy is
 ner's work, one receives the impression that in quoting      born of Calvinism. I will not gainsay that it was
 others, Boettner chose his selection often with little re- mainly Calvinists who fought the war of the American
 gard to the thought conveyed. Thus on page 393 we            Rebellion. Whether or no this be true matters little
 read : "We may say that the spiritual republic which when it comes to proving or disproving the proposition
 was founded by Calvin rests upon four basic principles.      that American democracy is born of Calvinism. But
 These have been summed up by the eminent English what does matter here is whether or no it was with
 statesman and jurist, Sir James Stephen, as follows:         hearts set on fire by Calvin's (I say Calvin's) Calvin-
 `These principles were, firstly that the will of the peo- ism that Presbyterians `fought this war, whether the
 ple was the one legitimate source  .of the power of the      Principles of the Republic of the United States can be
 rulers ; secondly, that the power was most properly traced back to Crtlvin's  Calvinism. Let Boettner prove
 delegated by the people, to their rulers, by means of        this if he `can by quoting from Calvin's works, from
* elections . . , .  "                                        his Institutes and from his Commentary of which there
     On the following page one comes upon an excerpt are in existence many volumes. Let Boettner give us
 from the work of J. C. Monsma that reads: "Govern-           Calvin. Should Boettner do so, it would appear that
 ments are instituted by God through the instrument- Calvin's soul was filled with a holy horror for these
 ality of the people. No kaiser or president has any very principles. I have proven this by lengthy quota-
 power inherent in himself; whatever power he pos- tions from Calvin's Institutes. It will avail Boettner
 sesses, whatever sovereignty he exercises, is power and nothing to appeal to Calvin's spiritual republic as I
 sovereignty derived from the great source above. No have proven, again by quotation from the Institutes,
 might but right, and right springing from the eternal that this republic has absolutely nothing in common
 Fountain of justice. If the government were nothing with your modern democratic state. So then, the ques-
 but a group of men, bound to carry out the wishes of tion to be answered is whether those Calvinists who
 the majority, his freedom loving soul would rebel. But fought the Revolutionary war were truly Calvinists.
 now, to his mind, and according to his tied belief, -           The fundamental error of Boettner's reasoning in
 back of the government stands God, and before Him he that final section of his book.is that it identifies on the
 kneels in deepest reverence."                                one hand democracy and liberty and on the other hand
     This is well said. But mark that the first of these monarchy and slavery or despotism. Our own age
 quotation literally asserts that "the will of the people ought to have opened his eyes to the fact that true
 is the one legitimate source of the power of the rulers liberty either political or religious has really nothing
 and that this power is delegated by the people to the        to do with either a democratic or with a monarchial
 rulers." On the other hand, the second quotation de- form of government, that in a democratic state life can
 clares just as emphatically that "the sole source of the     become fully as insufferable as in a state with a  mon-
 power of the rulers is God." There are several more          archial  form of government, that a commonwealth is
 such contradictory pairs of statements to be found in truly free if it be delivered from the power of sin and
 Boettner's work. In fact, the whole book turns out to the devil, that the citizens of a state, subjects and
 be a veritable medly, a confused mass, of Arminianism,       rulers alike, enjoy liberty if they do righteousness and
 Calvinism, Post-millennialism and out and out Mod- walk in the light. We therefore look for new heavens
 ernism, so that when the book has been read, questions       and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.
arise such as these, What is the author? Where does              Calvinism did not give to the world liberty for the
 fie stand? What is his belief? Why this trifling with        reason that the  .liberty  that Calvinism stands for and
the truth? Why this attempt to pacify both the Armin-         genders, the world will not have. Consider that the
 ian and the man of Reformed persuasion,  to speak ac- liberty of true Calvinism is at bottom truth, justice,
 cording to the hearts of the children of the world and       holiness, love for God, the fear of the Lord and re-
according to the hearts of the people of God? It is           quires that a man choose the truth, Christ, God, a~ the
because  $he book is what it is, a mixture of truth and       sole element in which he wills to live and move and


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                     491
  -     -      ..---...
                   -.--~._-- .__I____."..            -..                          ----...-.-.-                         .._.._-      -
  have his being. And this is the only liberty that true
  Calvinism knows of.                                                                 Eigen School
       That other religious liberty to which Boettner in
  common with many refers to as our priceless heritage             Het is bijna weer tijd, dat onze `kinderen naar
  and unrightly refers to as the offspring of Calvinism school  moeten.
  is rightly considered not worthy of the name., Tell me,          En nu is het laatste nieuws, dat onze kinderen  bier
  are the men of this generation free because they suc- in Redlands  naar eigen school hopen te gaan. En dan
  ceeded in reducing kings to puppets by wrenching the         bedoel ik met "eigen school", een school die  opgericht
  control of the affairs of the state from their hands and werd door  leden  onzer Protestantsche Gereformeerde
  by depositing this control in the people? Are the men Iierk en dat uitsluitend.
  of this generation free because they may serve God as            We hebben hier een strijd gehad op het gebied van
  they please or serve whatever god' they please or no         het Christelijke Onderwijs. En ik  zal  U er  iem van
  god at all if this pleases them?                             laten weten. lk doe dat niet omdat het onderwerp mij
       But aside from this, do the children of darkness        zoo aantrekt. Dat zou we1 het geval wezen als ik uit-
  actually say to the children of the light, Serve your        sluitend mocht schrijven over de idee van eigen school.
  God and serve Him as you please unmolested? Not so.          Gij alleh  weet, dat het ook mijn ideaal is om als Pro-
  The world hates, persecutes, mocks, jeers, scoffs and testantsche Gereformeerden eigen school te hebben.
  ridicules today as well as at any time in the past. Every Schier  alles is daarvoor. Doch als ik over onze eigen
  national crisis brings to light that the anti-Christian school zal schrijven (en dat zal  we1  moeten;  dat wordt
  power in the world, coming to a head in the godless          van mij verwacht) dan zal ik ook bet ontstaan van die
  state, is today as intollerent of the faithful, of the       school moeten aanstippen. En dat kan niet zonder oak
  people of right principle, as it ever has been.              de onverkwikkelijke gebeurtenissen ten ontzent te  ver-
       Another question is whether the people of God may       halen.  Doch  ik zal mijn best  doen   .om zoo objectief
  insist that the magistrate allow the Atheist, let us say,    mogelijk te zijn. Ik denk niet, dat ik klaar zal komen
  to wallow in his atheism with impunity as well as he         in Ben artikel.
  allows the believer to serve his God unrestrained. Is           Ge moet dan weten,  dat toen ik voor de eerste maal
  the task of the magistrate limited to maintaining the        hier kwam (Juni, 1932) alle samenwerking ongeveer
  second table of the law only. Prove this from Scrip- op het  doode punt stond.  Ik woonde toenmaals de
  ture. May the magistrate whose task is to punish evil- groote jaarvergadering bij, waar mij adviseerende
 -doers allow the atheist to openly taunt God? This was stem geschonken werd. Ik verzeker U dat de `snaren
  not the stand of the Calvinists of the sixteenth century strak gespannen stonden. De hoofddisch voor  dien,
  as I have proven. But, some may say, only a principled       avond was het  stemmen voor bestuursleden. Ik meen
  magistracy would strike at atheism. A godless magis- wel, dat twee van de  zeven bestuursleden aftraden en  '
  trate, vested with the power to silence the voice of dat er twee nieuwe voor hen in de  plaats  gestemd
  blasphemy, would be sure to define the worship and           moesten  worden.  En  als mijn geheugen mij niet  be-
  praise of the true God as a crime and persecute the          driegt  (en dat gebeurt nog al eens) dan  waren  die
 faithful. So in order to escape persecution we insist twee aftredende leden  beide van onze gemeente. Ik                                --
  that the magistrate be permanently relieved of the           meen  dat er slechts Ben der onzen  zitting behield. Ik
  right to silence the man who openly declares:                adviseerde toen de vergadering om twee der onzen te
 there is no god. Religious liberty is a fruit that grows kiezen, zoodat er een evenredige vertegenwoordiging
 on the tree of Modernism, of religious indifference,          zou zijn. Ik meende dat dit wijs was. Een ieder zal
of a fearful and flably Christianity that under the im-        toestemmen die der iaken kundig is, dat de beide  par-
  pulse of a love for this life chooses to keep silence        tijen ongeveer even sterk  waren. Dus als er drie van
 when it should speak, and to praise flatter and condone       ons en vier van de overzijde zitting hadden,  dan had
 when it should censure and denounce, and because the' niemand veel te klagen.                      Ik werd stillekens aange-
 world always persecutes the people of God actually            hoord en men stemde.               En de uitslag was, dat alle
 walking, in the light, religious liberty for the latter is Christelijke Gereformeerden, met een niet te. tellen
 rightly considered a figment of the imagination. It           uitzondering van een of twee, op twee leden  stemden
 does not exist.                                               van eigen kerk. Let wel,  .op slechts  twee   personen
       Herewith I bring my review of Boettner's work to        vielen alle  stemmen.        Het was tamelijk doorzichtig,
 a close.                                                      dat er politiek gespeeld was. Dat het van te voren al
                                               G. "M. 0.       klaar gemaakt was. Dit is ook later van verschillende
                                                               zijden toegestemd. De uitslag was dan, dat er van de
                                                               zeven bestuursleden slechts 66% van de onzen zitting
                                                               had. En dat zette kwaad bloed en terecht.
       Gods Woord alleen blijft  eeuwiglijk;  maar de  dwa-       To& trachtten wij om samenwerking  te behouden.
 ling gaat altoos naast hetzelve op, en ook weer  on&r.        En we werden daarin ook gezegend. Het was  we1 niet


 492                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
             e.          -" _. _- .._               -..I_ _ -lll_ ..-. -_" _ -                         ----1  -I__...__
 100 procent,  doch samenwerking was er en het werd                    Na zes maanden was er wondere samenwerking op
 allengskens beter. Daar  h-warn  nog bij, dnt een der nlle gebied. Financieel gingen we bij de maand voor-
 zes  leden  der Chr. Ger. Kerk tot ons overhwam, zoodat           uit. Meer en meer kwam er harmonie en de toekom&
 we  toen  twee der onzen in de Board hadden.                      beloofde  veel.
        Net volgende jaar was er weer stemming on  bet                 We mochten het vertrouwen zoo compleet winnen
 stond ~66, dat juist die twee broeders van onze zijde             van die vijf Chr. Ger. Board members, dat zij mij in
 aftraden en zij waren  ook niet herkiesbaar. De ge,-              bet voorjaar  van dit jaar eenstemmig benoemden om
 heele vergadering was het er over eens, dat er nu twee            de Graduation address te houden en dat nog we1 in
 van ons gestemd dienden te worden.             Ik was toen in onze Kcrk. Ik kon mijn ooren haast niet gelooven.
 Michigan. En  toen  hebben de  onzen ook politiek  ge-                En  jawel,  daar  kwam  een slag uit een heldere
 speeld. Ten minste sommigen. Want  alle  stemmen,                hemel:  Die mooie samenwerking werd met leede oogen
 met weinig uitzondering, vielen op ondergeteekende aangezien in zekere kringen. Geheel  in het geheim kwa-
 en een onzer ouderlingen, broeder Gnastra. Nu was men  5% der Chr. Ger. broeders tezamen,  leden van de
 er  we1  verschil.~  Het vorige jaar had men naar alle schoolvereeniging. En de vijf bestuursleden moesten
 billijkheid de  onzen   er in  moeten   stemmen, hetwelk bet ontgelden. Zij  waren  zoo droef te moede, dat zij
 men door politiek niet deed en dit jaar was het meer             het bijltje er bij neer wilden leggen. Or, de volgende
 dan billijk, want er bleef niet een van ons in het Be-           Board meeting kwam de zaak voor den dag. Wat zul-
 stuur. Dus er moesten twee van ons ingestemd wor-                len we  doen,  broeders? Zoo vroegen ze br. Gaastra en
 den, zou het eerlijk zijn. Doch mijn volkje wilde mij mij. Wel, ik trok mij terug, hen verzekerende, dat als
 er in hebben en verscheidenen spraken  het onder elkaar          het welzijn van de school tegenover mijn spreken
 af.                                                              stond,  ik mij gaarne terugtrok.
        En  jawel,  daar was Leiden in last!                          De Board besloot om dit jaar geen Graduation pro-
        Op de eerste bestuursvergadering werd ik dringend gram te `hebben.
 verzocht door vijf Chr. Ger. leden om te bedanken. Er                Toen verscheen er een petition op de Board van
 waren  vele redenen.  Ik had het vorige jaar gezegd. onze  leden  om dan Ds. Schans  te laten spreken in zijn
 dat als ik door U.&X  politiek er in gestemd was, ik be-          eigen kerk. De Board keurde dit af en besloot om
 danken zou. We1  hier was mijn kans. Ook had ik lee- Ds. Cammenga te verzoeken om te spreken in de Chr.
lijke dingen  gezegd van de Chr. Ger. Kerk en leiders.             Ger. Kerk. Als een soort compromis:
 Een Dominee woest niet in de Board. De Chr. Ger.                      Zoo stonden de zaken  aan den vooravond van een
 leden  zouden hun steun  nu onthouden, enz. Wel,  ik te houden Society meeting op den 9den  Mei, 1934. Dat
 antwoordde zoo  goed  ik kon alle argumenten, een voor            was  Woensdagavond.   Doch  we  waren  te  weten  geko-
 een. Ik hield staande, dat er verschil was tusschen de men, dat  er  weer een geheime vergadering gehouden
 politiek van 1932 en 1933, zooals  ik hierboven schreef. was in de Chr. Ger. Kerk onder aanvoering van Ds.
 ,Ik verzekerde de broeders, dat ik  nict in de Board              Schans. Allerlei geruchten deden den omloop.
 kwam om te debatteeren over de  theologischc vcrschil-                Op die bewuste vergadering der vereeniging  kwam
 len onzer kerken. En zoodoende pressie  op hen  uit-              het al spoedig uit wat er in het geheim besloten was
 oefenen; dat ik gereedelijk verstond, dat om  samen te om op de vereeniging te brengen. Di;.  Schans kwam
 werken er gegeven en genomen moest worden. Ik ver- met een  voorstel;  het luidt aldus:
 klaarde ook mijn schrijven in de Standard Bearer en
 toonde aan, dat mij uitdrukkingcn bedoeld waren  op                   "1. That the Board of the Christian School shall
 de Leiders die verleiders zijn. En dat de Board nict              be composed of four members belonging to the group
 van mij  mocht vergen, dat ik niet zou strijden voor of the Chr. Ref. Church and three members belonging
 mijn overtuiging in de Standard Bearer. Ilr vroeg hen to the group of the Prot. Ref. Church.
 waar de minste plaats was in de Board en dat ik ge-                . "2. That the Board shall henceforth be elected as
 willig was om daar te gaan zitten,  dat hct mij te doen follows: Previous to the annual business meeting, to be
 was om de zaak van het Chr. Onderwijs te dienen.                  held in June of each year, each of the two groups shall
 Dat ik zelfs gewillig was om "humble pie" te eten om meet separately, and shall designate by ballot those of
 de znak die ons dierbaar was. En bovendien, dat als their group who shall, serve as Board members ; then,
 ik nu bedankte, hetwelk ik persoonlijk  we1  Wilde  doen,         at the annual business meeting, the President shall in-
 mijn volkje zeker niet hun steun zou blijven geven.               struct the Secretary of the Society to cast his ballot
 Kortom,  ik overtuigde die broeders, dat mijn aanwezig-           for the men appointed by each group by which act the
 heid in de Board onder den zegen des Heeren zou kun-              various appointees shall be officially elected."
 nen werken tot meer samenwerking. Met een grap be-                    Den Hollander ten gerieve zullen we even in bet
 sloot ik mijn "defense" door hun te verzekeren, dat na algemeen zeggen  wat dit voorstel inhield. In de eerste
 een jaar of zoo zij uit zouden vindcn, dat er we1 met plaats  stelde  Ds. Schans aan de vereeniging voor, dat
 mij te werken was.                                                van nu voortaan de Board zou bestaan uit vier leden
        En de uitslag bevestigde dit.                              der  Chr. Ger. en drie van onze kerk. Ge  meet  we1


494                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
.--                                       ""-."----- --..                                            - - - - - -
                                                             literally our course of movement through this world.
       Covenant Youth's Chief Question                       Centrally it is our whole manifestation of life, from
                                                            the cradle to the grave, and as such it includes our be-
       If we should be asked, young man or young woman,     .haviour  in the various phases of life, our re-action to
"What is the one question which is uppermost in your things round about, our conduct in words and deeds;
minds ?" What would you say? If we were asked as yes, the "way" includes absolutely all that belongs to
to what is our main concern in life, and what is our        this present life. Since our dealing is always with
prime interest, what would the answer be? Youth is          God, and our walk is always before His face we must
the time of q,uestions, it is the time of high aspirations, see that above all our conduct towards God constitutes
restless  ambitions, ceaseless strivings. Let us listen our `Lway)f. Do we love Him and His commandments
to some of the questions which the modern youth is          or do we hate Him and despise His precepts; do we
engaged in asking. Here is a young man whose chief seek Him and His fellowship or do we ignore Him and
question is, "How can I make a man of myself, how can       live thoughtless of Him ; do we obey Him and enjoy
I get an education and afterwards get a good, paying serving Him or do we disobey and attempt to reject
position?" Another young man inquires as to how he          IIim? Whatever your answer, that is your "way".
can enjoy the "good times" and the amusements of the        And everyone of us is making a "way", for none of us
world to the full. Still another is planning how he can can escape God. And with this our conduct toward
best fool his parents and the church, how he can make God determines also our conduct toward the world
them believe he is faithful but still in his heart be round about. Do I love God and consequently hate the
faithless. Countless others are asking how much they        world or do I despise God and cling to the world and
can enjoy the flesh, but still go to heaven after-while.    its things? I shall have to do either, and whatever I
       But the question of the covenant youth is of a dif- do, that is my "way". What is our conduct toward our
ferent nature.                                              parents? Do we abuse and despise, ignore and  .disobey
       Young people, when we have come to this age of them; (as do the ungodly youth) or do we diligently
discretion we seek answer to the question: "Where- seek in love to obey and serve them? Whatever my an-
withal shall a young man cleanse his way?" Ah, there's swer, that is my "way". Our conduct toward our par-
the question of the covenant youth, his chief concern is    ents therefore makes up our "way". Our "way" is
about the cleansing of his way. Indeed he has other finally constituted of our conduct toward the church to
questions, questions which life endlessly presents and which we belong. What is our conduct toward its serv-
which must be answered, but this chief question is cer- ices, catechism, etc.? Do you take interest or do you
tainly this one. The youth of the world are not con- play the part of the wretched truant? Whatever your
cerned about so spiritual a thing, they ask carnal ques- answer, that is your "way".
tions, but covenant youth asks, "Wherewithal shall I            When the covenant youth now asks about the
cleanse my way?" The inquirer is one who carries the cleansing of that way he does not ask to merely have
sign of baptism upon his forehead, one who even at          his life somewhat improved morally or socially. But
that early age can. say with the psalmist, "With my         he asks this question first in penitence of heart; con-
whole heart I have sought Thee"; the questioner is a fessing that his way in the p<a& has been sinful. In-
young man, who,, though he feels himself to be sinful,       deed, that, is the confession of all of us. For `it you
is penitent, and withal is interested in the covenant, and I seek pardon. But primarily his question is : "How
the questioner is a young woman who has come to love        may I, standing in the midst of a sinful world and sur-
God and to hate the world, whose desire it is to walk rounded with temptations, in sinful flesh, walk the
worthy of the Covenant God.                                 straight and narrow way of, the covenant, right thru
       Covenant youth ask that question, not because the midst of this world?" "Cleanse" means litterally
they are better than the others . . . we know our-           to shine or to glitter. How then may my way shine,
selves too we1 to think that . . . . but because of the how may it be pure, how may it be acceptable to God?
grace of God. This question is but the first manifesta- Round about us we see the way of careless and godless
tion of covenant grace in our hearts, for God's grace youth, their way is filthy and corrupt. But wherewithal
has moved us to ask that question. Well therefore may shall I cleanse my way, so that my life respective God
the young man or the young woman who has never yet and the world, my life respective my parents and the
asked himself or herself this question have concern,        church may be a reflection of the holiness of Christ in
thankful let them be who have asked this, it is a sign me? Our desire is then to live holy before God, obey-
that God's grace has begun to operate in your hearts.        ing His commands from the heart and serving Him as
       Wherewithal shall I cleanse my way. Is that your friend-servants; our desire is that respective the par-
question?                                                    ents the Lord has given us we may conduct ourselves
       When you speak of a "way" you speak of a passage unblameable and becomingly, that respective the church
or path from one place to another. Thus the word             we may live as young folks who take interest in her
points to action and to motion. And the "way" is doctrine, instruction and reproof. Cur desire is like-


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                   49.j
__-........--   ^    ----. I_-__...-I                                                -_. .._          .._" .-
wise that our course  thrqugh life may be of such a
nature that our whole manifestation is a constant                 1834 En  1924, Een `Vergelijking
testimony of protest against the world and the youth of                                 II
the world, and a perpetual witness of the fact that  WC
exercise covenant fellowship with the perfectly holy            Ret is een eigenaardig feit, dat,  wie de  officieele
God.                                                         documenten inzake de afzetting van ds. de Cock  raad-
     That is covenant youth's chief question.                pleegt, den indruk krijgt,  dat het in 183$ tech eigen-
     But, indeed, if you go to the world with that ques- lijk ging om zeer ondergeschikte belangen. Er waren
tion it will not understand you. The world's advisors schijnbaar geen  beginseien  in de zaak  betrokken.  Er
don't and can't reckon with so deep a question. The          stonden geen hoogere belangen, waarheid en  recht be-
world's  scl~ools  can oller*you no solution, for no man of treffende, op het spel. Het ging om de kwestie van het
the world can think himself into your problem. More- zingen van gezangen in den openbaren eeredienst. De
over if you should be persistent ,in asking the world        Cock was niet  slechts tegen het  zingen van gezangen,
that question, it would soon call you silly and beg of       maar hij beval ook een boekje aan van zekeren Jako-
you to cease being narrow-minded.                            bus  Klok, dat in min kuische taal tegen de evangelische
     But your question, if indeed you ask it spiritually, gezangen te velde trok. Ook was er door de Cock min-
can and will be answered. And only God Himself can der gepaste taal gebezigd in een boekje, waarin hij
and-will answer that question. He can answer it be- aanviel  op twee broeders in de bediening in de  Neder-
cause He is the All-wise God, and as the All-wise God landsche Hervormde  Kerk.  In  dat geschrift  liep bet
He has given us the Scriptures. He will answer it be- dan ook de spuigaten uit! Hij ,noemde de door hem
cause He Himself is interested in covenant youth. Not aangevallene broeders, Reddingius en Brouwer, wolven
for our sakes, but for the sake of His covenant. God's       en lasteraars, dieven, moordenaars, farize&, huiche-
answer to our inquiry is that we can cleanse our way laars en meineedigen ! Was het dan wonder, dat men
only by taking heed to that way according to His Word.       hem niet met rust liet, van hem eischte, dat hij van
God alone knows the way and He sets it forth in Scrip- zulke grove taal belijdenis zou doen? En de Cock was
ture. That Word knows your problems, for it first een stijfhoofd! Eenmaal den voet op het verkeerde
brought them to your attention. That Word sheds              pad gezet hebbende, keerde hij niet gemakkelijk terug.
light on our whole path of life, its light falls upon our Ook toen hij we1 zag, dat het verkeerd liep, hield hij
way respective every phase of our life. That Word is het hoofd er voor, en iiever dan een knieval te doen  en
God's speech to us. Shall we cleanse our way we must de minste te worden,  waagde hij de kerk er ann, liet
think on our way in the light of God's Word unto us.         het uitloopen op eene scheuring in de Iierk van Chris-
Indeed, the heart is cleansed only by regeneration, but tus! Maar is het  we1 te verantwoorden, dat om zulke
we can live regenerate only when we give heed to that nietige en persoonlijke kwesties de  Kerk van  Christus
way according to God's Word.                                 wordt uiteen  gescheurd? Moet de, van  Gereformeer-
      Therefore, youth, let us study God's Word. You,        de zijde zoo hoog geprezen, actie van 1834 tech feite-
yourself learn to read it, set yourself to peruse its lijk niet worden beoordeeld als een daad van scheur-
pages. Read a small portion daily and begin to read          makerij  ?
it, not as a piece of literature, but as God's Word, read       Ik schrijf dit, omdat er in dit opzicht veel  overeen-
it thoughtfully and prayerfully. Please don't say ,you       stemming is tusschen de geschiedenis van  :I834 en die
haven't the time for you frequently read other books, van 1924.
xlld you take the time. Not only read but make work             Loopen  we  echter  de geschiedenis  niet vooruit.
also of your catechism, so that you may the better              Hendrik de Cock werd in  l.801 geboren. In zijn
grasp the truth. B Give heed to the services. Besides ouderlijk huis ontving hij geen Gereformeerde  opvoe-
that you have covenant parents to instruct you in that ding. Daar en in zijne omgeving heerschte het libera-
Word, ask them to assist you, they will certainly do so lisme dier dagen. Alleen van zijn catechiseermeester
for they have no greater calling upon this earth.            ontving hij,  zooals hij later zelf opmerkt, onderwijs
      Through God's grace that answer to your question       van beter gehalte.  Niemand wist tenmir?ste nog nndruk
is aiso sanctified unto your heart, through the opera- te leggen  op de noodzakelijkheid van wedergeboorte en
tion of the Holy Spirit. And pray God that He may bekeering. Dat de studie aan de Hoogeachool  te Gro-
give you grace to walk according ??o His Word. Your ningen hem niet heeft voorbereid  voor en geleid in de
way shall be in principle cleansed, God is glorified, and    richting, die hij later insloeg, behoeft niet te worden
you yourself have peace with God, through Jesus gezegd. Daar heerschte destijds het supranaturalisme.
Christ.                                                      Schitterende studiegaven schijnt de Cock niet te  heb-
                                                  M. G.      ben bezeten. We1 moet hij ijverig hebben gewerkt en
                                                             de hoogleeraar Hofstede  de Groot, destijds een zijner
                                                             studiemakkers,  getuigt van hem, dat zijne mede-stu-
      Der .jongelingen  sieraad iS hun km&t.                 denten  gaarne met hem omgingen, daar hij zich ken-


500                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                   -_..-  _.. -.                              _"..-...---.-
en van het goede voorbeeld, wordt deze,  inzake Judas
geschiedenis gelogenstraft.                                                                          Misrepresentation
   Judas, Iscarioth. Verschrikkelijke naam, met  weer-                              The Leader for July 18, 1934, contains an article .
zin genoemd door het  Cb.ristendom  van  alle  eeuwen.                         that calls for a reply. The writer is Rev. Jean A. Vis
Hoe heeft men hem niet trachten uit te schilderen,  met of Sheldon, Iowa. Under  the caption, Protestant Re-
een gezicht vol harde, afstootende  trekken,  met  ruste- formed he wrote: "The recent organization of a church
looze oogen waaruit den verradersblik den toeschouwer by the above name in our Reformed communities, re-
tegenblonk. Alles te zamen om tech dien verschrikke-                           news the interest in a separatist movement that dates
lijken man van alle anderen te onderscheiden. Judas                            its origin back only a dozen of years. At that time it
staat  ens  als een eenling in de wereldgeschiedenis  ge-                      was being ridiculed, and it was expected to die in its
teekend en zijns gelijken treft ge nergens  aan.                               infancy, but in some sections of our denomination at
   Maar wat al te dikwijls wordt  vergeten  is, dat least, this prediction proved premature."
cludas  was een uit 012s en een met ons en bij nauwkeu-                            Let us pause here and offer our comment. The
rige Schriftlezing is er tusschen hem en ons niet ccllecn                      seventh paragraph of Vis' article reads: "Yet we be-
verschil, maar ook veel overeenkomst.                                          lieve that the Protestant Reformed have some com-
                                                               w. v.           mendable contributions to make to our present day
                                                                               religion."      I' believe this too.  S.o indeed it is. The
                                                                               discovery therefore that "this movement" was being
                                                                               ridiculed should have grieved Rev. Vis ; and that the
   We  hadden  het voorrecht den  Z&ten   JuIi, 1934, met onze                 prediction that the movement would die in its infancy
geliefde Ouders                                                                proved premature should have been to the reverend a
                            WM. ,KOOIENGA                                      cause for rejoicing. Yet he was neither grieved nor
                                      en
                   ANNA KOOIENGA-Visser,                                       does he rejoice. This is evident from the following
                                                                               from his pen: "A two-fold warning is in order: First
hunne 35-jarige Echtvereeniging te gedenken.
 We brengen den. Heere dank voor Zijne genadige  bescher-                      for the average, uninformed but truth seeking mem-
ming over hen, en voor de rijke zegeningen hnn geschonken.                     ber, who withdraws (from his Vis' church, G. M. 0.) '
   Onze  wensch en bede is, dat  ze in `s Heeren gnnst nog  ge-                because of certain imperfections and dissatisfactions
spaard mogen blijven voor elkander en voor ons tot in lengte                   in his own church. May he be warned that if he joins
van dagen.                                                                     this organization under the banner of two great his-
                     Hnnne  dankbare kinderen,
                                     Mr. en Mrs. Jake Kooienga                 torical names, Protestant and Reformed, that he has
                                     Mr. en Mrs. Henry Kooienga                landed in a fellowship which in Spirit is neither Pro-
                                                   Grand Rapids, Mich.         testant nor Reformed.
                                     Mr. en Mrs. Dick Kooienga                     "Then to the well-informed member, who is logical
                                                   Byron Center, Mich.         as well as theological. May he be warned that, just as
                                     Mr. en Mrs. Edward Kooiengn
                                                   Grand Rapids,  Mich.        the Pre-Millennial views when carried out logically lead
                                     Mr. en Mrs. Arie  Ponstein                to misconception of the Church, the Law and the Sacra-
                                     Mr. en Mrs. Martin Wustman                ments, so the atiove views, if carried out consistently
                                     Hattie Kooienga                           by the person who is logically minded and theologically
                                     Wilbur Kooienga                           inclined, will lead him to Hyper-Calvinism that bor-
                                       En 13 kleinkinderen
   Byron Center, Mich.                                                         ders on Fatalism, and a Supralapsarianism that doubts
                                                                               the reality and the universality of the Gospel invita-
                                                                               tion. And that is neither Protestant, nor Reformed,
                                                                               n o r   B i b l i c a l .
                                    NOTICE                                         "May our Reformed people take heed !
   The Annual meeting of the Reformed Free Publish-                                "Sheldon, Iowa."
ing Association, Division I, (The Standard Bearer) will                            Mark you, Vis assures his readers that "the move-
be held on Monday, September 24, in the First Pro- ment" is neither Protestant nor Reformed nor Biblical.
testant Reformed Church.                                                       Question. Will Vis show how a group of churches that
   New board members must be chosen from the fol- are neither Reformed nor Protestant nor Biblical can
lowing nomination: Vice President, J. Cammenga and possibly have some commendable contribution to make
S. Schaafsma ; Assistant Secretary-Treasurer, S. De to our present  day religion? Was Vis so  t,horoughly
Vries and B. Woudenberg.                                                       vexed and perturbed by the consideration that some of
   The new concept constitution will come before the his members had left his church to join themselves to
meeting to be voted upon, and other important matters                          Protestant Reformed congregations that for the mo-
will be discussed.                     *                                       ment or two his reason left him? It would seem so.
   Opportunity will be given to pay the annual mem-                                Vis :
bership or subscription fee.                                                       "Although this controversy, like a  ,few  others,


                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           501
-.. --I____ -..... -"- ..^.........  "..".""                   .-_.. ---."-_  --.----...-_."  -_..... - ..-         --...-  "-.- .-..-
originated in the Christian Reformed Church, some of testant,  but say, Roman Catholic, which is not true.
our members are asking questions too ; some have pref- TO give a child such a name will prove embarrassing
erence because of friendships and family-ties more when it grows up, and begins to ask questions.
than because of conviction on the subject; some con-                       "TQ remain fair in this well-meant criticism, we ad-
sider it popular to follow anybody and anything that mit that there is a distinction with a difference in the
is in opposition to existing conditions; others ask in Dutch original : `Protesteerende' and "Protestant'. But
sincerity about the why and the wherefore. To any this distinction was lost in the translation, which
or all of these, a brief statement might be acceptable." should have been `PROTESTING', and as such we
     Reply: Mark this statement: "others ask in sin- could bear with it. We suggest that this name be
cerity about the why and the wherefore." The reverend adopted."
speaks here not of the members of the Protestant Re-                       The above reasoning, at least in so far as it turns
formed churches but of the members of his very own                    on the Protestant Reformed churches, is thoroughly
flock. Question : Has the reverend serious-minded mem- faulty. The reverend maintains that the name "Pro-
bers in his church asking questions? This certainly re-               testant Reformed" as borne by our churches is a mis-
iiects most unfavorably upon the reverend as a preacher nomer. This cannot possibly be. Consider that the
of the truth. Members do not ask questions in the sense name Protestant stands for the Reformation of the
in which the reverend's members must be doing this                    sixteenth century, that work of God-consisting in His
if a pastor feeds his flock. Such inquiring always liberating His church from the bondage of Roman
betokens a hunger that is not being appeased.                         Catholic corruption and idolatry, priestcraft and de-
     Consider also this statement: "Some of our mem- ceit. The name Reformed is the signification of that
bers are asking questions too; some have preference branch of the Protestant Reformation that acknowl-
because of friendships and family-ties more than be- edged the leadership of John Calvin. Consider that we
cause of conviction of the subject; some consider it as churches stand on the basis of the Reformation and
popular to follow anybody and anything that is in  op:                claim John Calvin as our leader. How then can the
position to existing conditions . . . . " Consider once               name Protestant Reformed as borne by our churches
more that Vis is here delineating on the character of be a mis-nomer. To maintain this is as unreasonable
members of his very own flock. Question : Is that flock as to maintain that the nam: tree as borne by a plant
of his comprised of people so unprincipled that they that is actually a tree is a mis-nomer. It is not true
would follow anybody to satisfy a crave for popularity? further that by adopting this name we meant to and
What a pity. Will Vis please do all he can to enduce                  did declare that the Reformed churches not bearing
these persons to keep to his flock? We certainly have this name'do not stand historically  ou the basis of the
no need of them. But as for those inquiring serious-                  Reformation. A declaration of this kind would have
minded members of his, let them come and their ques- involved us in a denial of a fact. We are not wont to
tions will be answered.                                               deny facts. Consider that the name was not being
    Vis :                                                             borne by any Reformed churches, and therefore could
    "The name Protestant Reformed is a misnomer in serve as a name by which we could be known and
its un-Christian implication. We have here  tanother                  called. This was our secondary purpose in adopting
example of the difficulty of stating clearly and appro- this name. There is certainly no danger that the result
priately the distinguishing features of a new move- of our action will be that eventually men will cease
ment. Out of the anguish of ecclesiastical controversy to think of other Reformed churches as historically
a new faction is readily born, but the naming of the                  sustaining no relation to the Reformation. There was
child remains a difficult proposition. It is like the name therefore absolutely nothing un-Christian in our act
Christian Reformed, or the at-one-time-known as of adopting this name. The trouble with the reverend
`TRUE' Reformed -- names that imply by contrast. was that he sat down to write his article bent on say-
that others are not Christian or are not true. This is ing unpleasant things about us.
assuming more than can be proved, savors too much                         Vis :
of the `Holier than Thou' attitude, and should not be
adopted nor continued among fellow-believers.                             "Well, then, what are they protesting about?  In
    "So with the name Protestant Reformed. The word our experience it is more Proselyting than Protesting.
PROTESTANT. has a well-defined, historical origin,                    The average enthusiast is not so able to give an ac-
meaning and implication. The name REFORMED can curate account of theological ideas, as he is able to
stand a similar analysis. All Reformed Churches are make propaganda for a certain leader or LOUD. 11s  in
Protestant, in fact the Reformed Churches were the the past, religious controversy and religious practice
first Protestants. Then to call yourself Protestant Re- seldom harmonize : theology and Christianity are more
formed would indicate that the originators are wholly at variance than they should be. This being the case.
ignorant of the Reformation, which we cannot believe;                 it would seem beneficial to make the religious con-
or that there are Reformed Churches that are not Pro-                 troversy as brief as possible.


502                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   R E A R E R

   "And that is in our opinion applicable to the case
in point. The main consideration of the issue was soon        De Nederlandsche Geloof sbeli jdenis
ignored, but the resulting animosities remained. We                                  Artikel 34
mean this: they deny COMMON GRACE, God's good-
ness to All his creatures. Now if their practice would             HET  SACRAMENT DES  HEILIGEN  DOOPS
show that they had a larger measure of God's PAR-               Wij gelooven en belijden, dat Jezus Christus, die `het
TICULAR Grace, God's goodness for the salvation of            einde der wet is, door zijn vergoten bloed een einde ge-
sinners, not many would seriously object. However,            meakt heeft  aan  alle andere bloedstortingen, die men
we  hnd that the sum and the substance' of their `pro-        zoude km-men  of  willen   doen  tot verzoening en voIdoe-
testing' does not indicate ANY grace whatsoever: it           ning der zonden; en dat Hij, afgedaan hebbende de be-
                                                              snijding, die met bloed geschiedde, in de plaats daarvan
has run to seed in fault-finding; dissatisfaction with a      heeft  verordend het Sacrament des Doops, door welke
minister or objection to church custom; opposition to         wij  in de Kerke Gods ontvangen en van alle andere vol-
present leadership ; dislike of conditions in general. If     ken en vreemde  religi& afgezonderd  worden,  om  ge-
that grace was in their hearts which Jesus mentions,          heellijk Hem  toegeggend te zijn, zijn merk- en  veld-
`Judge not, lest ye be judged', the famous THREE              teeken  dragende; en het dient ons tot een getuigenis,
POINTS would vanish in a smoke of insiped critic-             dat Hij in eeuwigheid once God zal zijn,  ons zijnde een
                                                              genadige Vader. Zoo heeft Hij dan bevolen te doopen
ism."                                                         alle degenen die de Zijne zijn, in den naam des Vaders
   Reply. Mark the question: "Well, then, what are            en des Zoons en des H. Gee&es,  alleen met rem water;
they protesting about?" Well may the reverend ask             aus  daarmede te verstaan gevende, dat  gelijk  het water
                                                              de vuiligheid des lichaams  afwascht, wanneer wij daar-
this. From the sequence of his article it appears that        mede  begoten   worden,  hetwelk op het lichaam desgenen
he has not the remotest idea what they are protesting         die den doop ontvangt gezien wordt, en hem besprengt,
about. He even labors under the impression that we,           alzoo  het bloed van Christus  hetzelfde van binnen in de
Protestant Reformed, are the authors of the Three             ziele do&,  door den Heiligen Geest, haar besprengende
Points, that these points are so many negative (mark          en zuiverende van hare zonden, en ons wederbarende uit
                                                              kinderen  des  toorns tot  kinderen  Gods. Niet dat zulks
you, negative) propositions of which not the Christian        door het uiterlijke water geschiedt, maar door de  be-
Reformed Synod of 1924 but we are the authors and             sprenging des dierbaren bloeds des Zoons Gods; die
which we for some twelve years now have been un-              onze  Roode Zee is, door welke wij moeten  doorgaan, om
successfully defending. Attend to this from his pen:          te ontgaan de tirann.iEn  van Pharao, welke is de duivel,
"In fact their (the Protestant Reformed) Three Points         en in  te gaan in het geestelijke land Kanaan.  Alzoo
                                                              geven ons de Dienaars van hmine  zijde het Sacrament,
are three Denials, and there they give us stones for          en hetgeen dat zichtbaar is; maar onze Heere geeft  het-
bread." So  much*Vis  knows of what he writes about.          gene door het Sacrament beduid wordt, te  weten,  de
   Vis : "The average enthusiast is not so able to give       gaven en onzienlijke genaden, wasschende,  zuiverende
                                                              en reinigende onze zielen van alle vuiligheid en onge-
an accurate account of theological ideas, as he is able       rechtigheden, en onze harten  vernieuwende en die ver-
to make propaganda for a certain leader or group."            vullende  met alle vertroosting, ons gevende eene ware
   Reply. If Vis should put this statement of his to          verzekerdheid zijner  vaderlijke goedheid, ons den nieu-
a test, something which he of course has never yet            wen mensch aandoende, en den ouden uittrekkendc met
                                                              al  zijnc  werken. Hierom gclooven wij dat, zoo wiens
done, he might be surprised.                                  voornemen het is in het eeuwige leven te komen, die
   Vis : "They deny common grace, God's goodness to           moet maar eens gedoopt worden  met den eenigen doop,
all His creatures." Here again Vis shows that he is           zonder dien inmermeer te hcrhalen; want wij kunnen
                                                              ook niet tweemaal geboren  worden.       Doch  deze doop
thoroughly unconversant with the real issues. He              is met alleen nut, zoolang  het water op ons is, en dat
should know that the Christian Reformed Churches              wij het water ontvangen, maar ook al den tijd onzes .
teaeh (point 1) that God assumes an attitude of favor         levens.  Hierom verwerpen we de dwaling der  Weder-
also toward the reprobate wicked. This we deny and            dooperen, die niet tevreden zijn met een eenig doopsel,
not that God is good to all His creatures.                    dat zij eens ontvangen hebben; en daarboven verdoe-
                                                              men den doop der kinderen  der geloovigen; dewelke wij
   According to Vis, further, the  a$' of protesting          gelooven dat men behoort te doopen en met het merk-
does not indicate any grace if the protestant finds fault,    teeken  des verbonds te verzegelen,  gelijk  de kinderkens
is dissatisfied with a minister, objects to church            van Israel besneden werden, op dezelfde beloften die
custom, is opposed to leadership, dislikes conditions in      onze kinderengedaan  zijn.  En'voorwaar, Christus  heeft
                                                              zijn bloed met minder vergoten om de kinderkens der
general. What, we wonder, may a Christian protest             geloovigen  te;  wasschen,  dan Hij gedaan heeft om de
against. Here with one stroke of his mighty pen,  Vis         volwassenen. En daarom behooren zij het  teeken  te
denounces Calvin and Luther and all the Reformers.            ontvangen en het Sacrament van hetgene dat Christus
For all found fault . . . .                                   voor hen gedaan heeft; gelijk de Heere in de wet beval,
   Vis also  has.something  good to say about us. This        hun mede te deelen  het Sacrament des lijdens en ster-
                                                              vens van Christus, kort nadat zij geboren waren,  offe-
will be considered in a following article.                    rende voor hen een lammeken, hetwelk was een Sacra-
                                              G. M. 0.        ment van Jezus Christus. Daarenboven hetgene de be-
                                                              snijdenis deed aan het Joodsche votk, hetzelfde doet de


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Vol. x. No. 23                                                                            SEPTEMBER 15, 1984                                       Subscription Price, $2.50
,~~                                                                                                                   And the peace of God which passeth all understand-
                                                                                                                ing shall safely keep you.
                                                                                                                     Keep you in Christ Jesus !        .
_-.... _l_l_. -" ----.I __........" .._ - _.^_._ _" __--...._._....-.-..  -
                           Kept In Christ Jesus                                                                      A safe retreat, indeed !
                                           And the peace of God, which passeth xl1                                   Your hearts and mind kept in Christ Jesus!
                                      understanding, shall keep your hearts and                                      Especially the original, which uses a military term
                                     minds through Christ Jesus.                                                for our word "keep", emphasizes that the Christian is
                                                                                          Phil. 4-7
                                                                                                      I  .      safely kept, kept as in a citadel or strong fortress, only
      Safely kept in Christ Jesus.                                                                              when his heart and mind are in Christ.
      Such is the blessed result of hearing and doing the                                                            Round about him there are dangers. There is the
Word of God as it addresses us in the immediately pre- enemy's land. There are the forces of evil. There is
ceding verse.                                                                                                   the devil going about as a roaring lion, seeking whom
      It is the infallible promise for him that is careful                                                      he may devour; there is the world with its iust and
in nothing, but in every thing by prayer and supplica-                                                          pride, there are the forces of unrighteousness bent
tion with thanksgiving makes his requests known unto                                                            upon the destruction of the child of God.
God.                                                                                                                 k-et, in Christ Jesus he is safe and secure. Only
      The peace of God, which  passeth all understanding, there.
shall keep his heart and mind through, or, as the Dutch                                                              `I'he Christian is in Christ. He is in Him, according
renders the text more accurately,  ~YZ Christ Jesus. Care,                                                      to the eternal good  pieasure  of God wherewith He loved
anxiety, worry about the things that are and appear to                                                         him and chose him in Christ before the foundation of
be impending are in their deepest root dissatisfaction the world. In Christ he is legally, so that the Lord
with the  ways'of the Almighty. They are unbelief,                                                             Jesus Christ represents him before God. He belongs
fear that the Most High will fail in His government of                                                          to the legal corporation of which Christ is the Head
ail things, that there is no knowledge with Him, critic- and whose righteousness is determined by the death
ism of His dealings with us. And in that state of heart and resurrection of the Lord. As member of that cor-
and mind there is no peace, no agreement with the will                                                         poration he enjoys the unspeakably rich and glorious
of God, no tranquii submission and waiting for God:                                                            grace of the forgiveness of sins, the adoption unto  son-
there is unrest and rebellion . . . .                                                                           ship. the assurance of eternal life. And he is also in
      And in our rebellious state of mind we are inclined Christ organically, as the branch is in the vine, so that
to choose our own way, to walk in a direction which is he is a living member of the Body of Christ, has .`be-
not of the Lord, especially if our care and worry ap- come one plant with Him, lives out of Him through the
pear to be caused by the fact, that we are in Christ.                                                           Spirit of life.  `He is free by virtue of his relation  to
      The temptation for our hearts and minds to leave the Lord. Free legally, free spiritually ; free from the
Christ and seek deliverance from anxiety and care in law of sin and death; free from the curse ; free from the
the ways of the world, will take hold of us. Our feet bonds of corruption, that the righteousness of the law
well nigh slip!  = . . .                                                                                        might be fulfilled in him as he walks not after the flesh
      But be careful in nothing; be rid of your baseless                                                        but after the Spirit. Christ dwells in him and he in
worry in the way of letting God know your requests in                                                           Christ and the life of Christ is the life of his life!
everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanks-                                                                 And he is in Christ forever!
giving.                                                                                                              The bond between him and his Lord can never be


  cm                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
  _,._--         .-                                          _ l__l--.                                                        ..-
  severed. For it is a divinely ordained and a divinely                   Our hearts and minds defended, protected, securely
  established union, which is also divinely maintained.              garrisoned in Him !
     No one can pluck him out of Christ's hand. The                       The idea suggested is twofold. First, that without
Father Who gave him to his Lord is greater than all.                 there are perils that threaten and foes that are bent
  No one can pluck him out of the Father's hand.                     upon our destruction. Secondly, that they cannot harm
        And by virtue of that union with Christ, that inner us neither attack successfully, as long as our hearts
  spiritual bond, his heart and mind are in Christ Jesus.            and minds are kept within the sphere of Christ Jesus.
        The heart is the center of man's life from a spirit-              Then, also there is the underlying thought that our
  ual-ethical viewpoint. From the heart are the issues               hearts and minds are, in themselves, always inclined
  of life. Out of it proceed all our desires and aspira-             to leave that sphere of Christ and venture out into the
  tions, all our willing and thinking as fas as their spirit-        camp of the enemy.
  ual-ethical direction is concerned. And by nature that                  And, finally,  the promise, that if we be careful in
  heart is an evil fountain of many evil thoughts and                nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication,
d.esires.  It is deceitful more than anything. It also               with thanksgiving make our request known unto God,
  deceives the mind, so that our spiritual judgment and              the peace of God that passeth all understanding shall
  evaluation of things are warped and distorted. And                 keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, so that we
  thus it causes us to believe the lie rather than the               do not foolishly leave that strong fortress and sally
  truth, to follow after the vanities of the world rather            forth into the enemy's country.
  than after the eternal realities of the kingdom of                      And, o, how real are all these elements in the life
  heaven, to do our own sinful will rather than the will of the child of God in the midst of the world !
  of God. Of that heart and mind, that center of man's                    There are the enemies from without, the world and
  spiritual life and his spiritual judgment and concep- its prince, the forces of darkness.  lhere are the
  tion, the text is speaking. But it speaks of it as being pleasures and treasures, the joys and glories of this
  kept in Christ Jesus ! . . . .                                     world, its lust of the flesh and lust of the eyes and
            The peace of God shall keep your hearts and minds        pride of life, its honor of men, its power and name and
  in Christ Jesus !                                                  positions.     He, whose heart and mind are in Christ
            There, in Christ, they are safely kept.                  Jesus, comes into contact with them, is surrounded by
            If our `hearts are in Christ the spiritual character     them day by day, wherever he turns. He beholds them.
  of  our entire inner life, of all our willing and thinking,        He is called to pass judgment on them, to evaluate
  of all our longing and desires, is determined by Him.              them every moment, to take them or refuse them, to
  In Him our hearts are free from bondage of sin and                 love them or to detest them, to  purpsue after them or
  death, liberated from the deceitfulness of darkness and to flee far from them. For, the world offers them or
  sanctified in principle unto the living God. Then we               withholds them ; offers them lavishly to her own chil-
  are separated from the world, do not and cannot think              dren, withholds them from the children of God. And
  and will and lust as the world, but seek the things that thus the powers of the world tempt them to leave the
  are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of            sphere of Christ Jesus and step over into the camp of
  God, as citizens of heaven.                                        the enemy !
            If our hearts are in Christ, then are also our minds.         How real is the peril from without!
            And if our minds are in Christ, so that our spiritual         How true it is, that only then, when our hearts and
  judgment, our evaluation of things we see and hear and             minds are in Christ Jesus, controlled by Him, con-
   experience in this present world is no longer distorted,          stantly sanctified by His Spirit, enlightened by Him, we
   we behold all things in a new and different light.                are safe to walk in the midst of all these temptations,
            Then we consider as precious above all things, not       able to judge them at their real value, so that we do
   the things of the world, but the things of the Kingdom not pursue after them, but constantly seek the things
   of heaven.                                                        that are above !
            We prize highly, not the things that are seen, but            Yet, how real is the danger from within !
  the things that are not seen.                                           Oh, it is true, essentially the Christian is safe in
            The things earthly we behold as valuable only in the hand of his Lord. There is no falling away of
   as far as they are subservient to the things heavenly.            saints. The union between Christ and the regenerated
            The temporal in the light of the eternal.                heart can never be finally broken.
            The way that appeared all wrong we see as leading             Yet, it is .equally  true, that this perseverance of the
   to our eternal salvation.                                          saints is not due to any faithfulness on our part, de-
            And the burden of our cares is lifted.                   pends not on our own will, must not be credited to our
            Our hearts and minds are kept in Christ Jesus !           own heart and mind. We are not perfect as yet. The
            Safe retreat!                                             old man of sin is constantly near and is a dangerous
                                                                      enemy. He watches over the issues of our heart to
            Kept in Christ! ,                                         distort them if possible. He would warp our spiritual


I                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         507
      --~ -............-             _--.__-.----                                       ".^_- -._.-.___  - -.-.._ ^_P -
     judgment to love. the things of the world. And fre-           will and in all His good pleasure.. And He is three in
     quently he succeeds. And because of that power  of Persons, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, a threeness
     sin and of the flesh within us, the enemy from without which  hnds its perfect fellowship and harmony in the
     meets with a strong ally `from within. And thus it            oneness of the Being and the distinction of the per-
     happens that with us there is a strong tendency to sonal properties of the three divine Persons.  There  is
     leave the sphere of Christ and to let the issues of our no essential difference, yet, there is no personal duplica-
     hearts and minds be controlled by the spirit of the tion. And in this personally differentiated unity there
     world. And often we would wrest ourselves from the            is only sweet accord, profound rest, infinitely beautiful
      powerful hand of Christ, in order to be at liberty to        harmony. It is the peace of covenant fellowship. The
     pursue our own ways and to seek the things of the             peace of God! . . . .
     world.                                                           The peace of God in God, with Himself!
          Thus it is especially if cur hearts are  filled with        But He is also the God of peace with respect to all
     worry and care concerning the things of the present           things.
     time.                                                            Never is He disturbed about things that are and
          For, such is the thought of the text in its'"connec-     happen as we are. For, all that is and occurs is or-
      tion.                                                        dained by Him from before the foundation of the world.
          There is in your heart anxiety about the ways of He assigned to every creature its time and place and
      God. You ask: what shall we eat and what shall we            purpose with infinite wisdom, so that His purpose must
     drink and wherewithal shall we be clothed? You are            be reached and His good pleasure must be realized.
     full of care. You criticize God's dealings. You note          And never anything is or moves contrary to His eternal
     that, if only you leave the sphere of Christ Jesus, the       good pleasure. For, He holds all things in His almighty
     way of righteousness, you may easily solve your own hands and governs them without fail according to His
      problems and rid yourselves of your anxious care. It purpose. Never is He disturbed about things. He
      is because you are in Christ Jesus that the  wurld  does sitteth in the heavens and doeth whatsoever hath
      not offer you her pleasures and treasures. Join the          pleased Him.
     world, walk in her ways, become associated with lodge            His peace shall keep our hearts and minds in Christ
      or union or whatever worldly association may offer you Jesus !
      help, be friend of the world, do business as she does           For, the God of peace has made peace in the blood
      business, learn from her wisdom . . . .                      of the cross.
          And you will be relieved of your troubles !                 In Christ He blotted out the handwriting of our
          Already your wistful heart is deceived. Already sins, making peace with us, reconciling us with Him-
      its issues have left the sphere of Jesus Christ.             self, nevermore imputing our trespasses to. us. And
          Your mind is distorted in its spiritual evaluation of through the Spirit of grace He instills into our hearts
      the things about you.                                        the marvelous peace that results from the faith of the
          In the wrong direction you turned with your  cares       gospel, in the knowledge that our sins are forgiven and
      and worries.                                                 we may enter into His tabernacle and taste the joy of
          There is another way.                                    His covenant-fellowship. The unspeakable joy of know-
          Make your requests known unto God in everything,         ing that He loves us with an everlasting love and or-
      by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.                dained us unto eternal glory, unto the glory of being
          And the peace of God shall keep your hearts and          made like unto the image of His Son he bestows on us
      mind in Christ Jesus.                                        in His abundant mercy. The very peace  .of God reigns
          Safely guarded in Him !                                  in our hearts.
                                                                       And having peace with God we have peace with all
           The peace of God!                                       things.
           Mighty power to keep your hearts and minds in               For, we know that He loves us and that He will
      Christ !                                                     certainly cause all things to work together for our
           And sure promise to him, that makes all his re- good, no matter how dark and gloomy may be our way,
      quests known unto God by prayer and supplication with        yea, though all things that are seen would appear to
      thanksgiving. A promise that never fails !                   develop `unto our destruction.
           God is a God of peace.                                      That peace shall keep our hearts and minds in Christ
         Peace is the very opposite of disturbance and un- Jesus.
      rest of conflict and war,.  of discord and disharmony. It        It passeth all understanding. It is wholly contrary
      is the state of sublime tranquility, of the most perfect to the things that are seen.
      equilibrium and harmony.                                         It is the promise to him that meets God with
           And God is a God of peace both in Himself and with      prayer and supplication in every thing !
      respect to all things outside of Him. For, He is one in        Blessed peace !
      Being, one in divine nature and life, one in mind and                                                        H. H.


 5&3                                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
      =x=2-.-  ..___...  ^ ^II__ _-- - -   ^_-."  .-_...   "..."  ..__.._..."   _......   "".-.l"-""-~.."                                ---. -..-_
                     .
                                                                           -- .._..-._.._ ^..----_-    in bondage and that bondage results in misery. And
 I                                                                                                     now the supernatural grace of God has entered the
                                                                                                       world as a redeeming, a liberating force. It seeks the
 i                                                                                                     redemption of man both body and soul: the removal of
                                                                                                       sin and its dire consequences  ; the sanctification of Iife
                    A  Protest And  Its Answer                                                         in all its relations; the restoration of the world to its
                                                                                                       pristine beauty.  This grace is both general and  pur-
           When the last synod of the Christian Reformed CI&&~~. (I underscore, H. I~.) The  Chur&,  cc& So&al
      Churcht?~  simply (or was it boldly?) answers a pro-  f+oblpms,   p.  16.
 testant  against the Three Points, that synod "merely
 re-at'firmecl  that all who hear the gospel receive an un-                                                  Without doubt here the professor asserts that  the
      feigned invitation to accept it", we begin to wonder.                                            supernatural grace that entered the world as a redeem-
           Are the Christian Reformed brethren trying to ing force, that seeks the redemption of man, the re-
 change the First Point without retracting it, without moval of sin and misery and the sanctification of life
 making it known  to the entire church, that they erred in all its' relations, that, in one word, saving grace is
 <iTi  1'924?                                                                                          both general and particular.
           I.30 they really see that it is an untenable position                                             One is not surprised, then, to learn that the same
 to hold that even the reprobate receive grace from God                                                professor became one of the fathers, if not the father
 in the preaching of the gospel ?                                                                      of the First Point, which states that the preaching of
           Repeatedly we asked the question: what is, then,                                            the gospel is grace to all that hear, even to the  repro-
 that common grace of which you speak so highly ?                                                      bates. Nor does one wonder, that the professor  main-
           Pointedly we asked: what grace do the reprobate tained and re-asserted this doctrine in his booklet de-
. receive in the preaching of the gospel ?                                                             fending the Three Points.
           But  never did we receive an answer.                                                              But he failed. He could never give a satisfactory
           Now they send a protestant home with the remark:                                            answer to the question: what is that grace?
                                                                                                             And, perhaps, the Christian Reformed brethren
 "synod merely re-afiirmed that all who hear the gospel
 receive an unfeigned invitation to accept it".                                                        have by this time seen the impossibility of ever an-
           1s this merely  a11  attempt slowly and unnoticeably swering that question. So they would like to have us
 to crawl out of a difficult situation? One would receive believe that the First Point merely re-affirms that all
 just that impression. For, surely we cannot believe                                                   who hear the gospel receive  an,unfeigned invitation to
 that the learned advisory committee in this case was so accept it!
 little acquainted with the contents of the First Point,                                                     We could rejoice over this their retreat in the direc-
 that it could make such a statement about in sincerity' tion of Reformed truth, though even so they have not
 and  thouglitfully.                   Every one knows that the state-  reached   the  goal*
 tnent is not true, that the First Point does not merely                                                     Only we would condemn the stealthy way in which
 reva&m this, but clearly affirms that the preaching of the retreat is made. They blame a protestant that he
 the gospel is grace to all.                                                                           misrepresents the meaning of the First Point, which
           We begin to wonder, then, whether the Christian essentiaily  he surely did not do ; and they simply offer
      Reformed brethren begin to understand that they  can-                                            a paraphrase of the First Point, which leaves out the
 not maintain the First Point and are unable to define                                                 very essence of it, that the preaching of the gospel is
 common  grace.                                                                                        grace of God to all that hear.
           A brother called my attention some time ago to a                                                  Not so, brethren!
 statement of prof. L. Berkhof in his "The Church and                                                        If you have learned to see that the declaration of
 Social Problems", in which he tries to circumscribe com-                                              the First Point is not in harmony with Scripture and
 man grace. At the time the professor wrote the  pass- the Reformed Confession, we shall be thankful for that
 age the controversy about common grace was still un- fact*
      known. But when  one  reads that statement it becomes                                                  But, please, do not retreat under cover.
 clear, how the author, ten years ago, could boldly enter                                                    Rather confess openly that you have erred in 1924
      the arena in defense of the Three Points. If we may and publicly retract what you then declared to be the
      take the professor at his word he maintains that re-                                             truth-
 deeming, saving grace is both particular and general.                                                                            ~I
      Let us quote the passage:
                                                                                                             But let us return to the protest.
           "There is no dualism between nature and grace, the                                                The protestant had raised the objection against the
      natural and the spiritual, a man's body and his soul.                                            First Point, that it was an attempt to nullify the  doe-
 The  naturai   as a  @ft of God is just as good as the                                                trine of election.
 supernatural. Only it has become subject to sin, it is                                                      This, according to the answer of synod, is also a


                                       T H E   STBNDARD  B E A R E R                                                           SC $1
-                        -                              _"-.-  .---.-"  -...--  - -I_I_-I-- ._-__l_ll__..._"  .._.."  I._I,.._...."
misrepresentation of the meaning of the First Point.
And to                                                                        Reply To Rev.  Jam  Yis
           support  this contention the answer points to
the fact, that the First Point expressly mentioned the                Rev. Vis. as I wrote, also has something good to
elect when it speaks of the "Favorable attitude of God            say about us:
toward all men and not only toward the elect". .How  is
it possible, the conrmittee  and the synod argue if we                "Yet we believe that the Protestant Reformed have
understand them correctIy,  that the First Point can some commendable contributions to make to our  pt-es-
speak of the .elect and yet attempt to nullify the doc- ent day religion. But even the= contributions are less
trine of election ?                              ,                in demand in our Reformed  circles  than in other  Pno-
      This is a very poor argument.                               testant bodies.
      Let us leave alone the question as to whether the               "We have in mind their EMPHASIS on 'Particular
protestant or the synod is right in interpreting the              Grace. For Christianity today over-emphasizes the op-
First Point, the fact remains that the argument of the posite: man's innate ability as evident in the advance-
synod to prove that the First Point does not tend to              ment of science and art; man's power and progress
nullify  eIection,  is very poor.                                 and  self-sulilciency  ; education of the mind regardless
      Is the mere fact, that the First Point speaks of the of morals and manners and soul-values. Over against
elect, speaks of a grace of God toward all men and                all these modernistic tendencies a renewed emphasis on
not only to the elect, sufficient to establish the point          God's Sovereignty is needed. If a vague conception of
that the first of the three declarations of 1924 does not God's goodness and a certain eloquence about man's
attempt to nullify election ?                                     progress is all we believe, we are building on sinking
      The synod ought to have known better.                       sand. Yes, the EMPHASIS should be on Righteous-
      The five points of the Remonstrants begin with an ness, Redemption, Regeneration : - Particular Grace.
entire article on the eternal and unchangeable election               "And this same EMPHASIS is needed to counter-
of God, yet they certainly nullified the doctrine of elec-        act the  humanistic,tendencies  which are perverted in-
tion.                                                             terpretations of Jesus' teaching. This form of Human-
      The question involved must not be answered by a ism becomes  Chris&nity's substitute: religion without
simple appeal to a mere phrase in which the elect are revelation ; morality in its popular setting of a barn-
mentioned, but by a careful determination of the con- yard philosophy ; psychology without theology  ; inter-
tents of the First Point itself.                                  nationalism without patriotism; Church Union regard-
      And, then, the question must be put in this way:            less of issues involved ; Peace at any Price - in short,
does the statement, that the preaching of the gospel is because there are so many variations : the individual's
grace to all that hear, attempt and tend to nullify the           insistence to determine his own mental course, and to
doctrine of election or not?                .                     frame his own moral code. I do not  wish to  hztve il;
      And to this question my answer is: it does.                 inferred that the Protestant Reformed are  protesting
                                                                  against ail these, but they exert a wholesome intf'uence
                       (To be continued)                          by their EMPHASIS of our supreme need of  &nd's
                                                      H. H.       Saving  grace,"
                                                                      Reply: Notice the statement: "I do not wish to .have
                                                                  it inferred that the Protestant Reformed are protest-
                                                                 ing against all of these." The Reverend will say then
                                                                 that we are protesting against some of these But he
                                                                  at once maintains that our "Protesting" amounts to
            NOTICE TO ALL SUBSCRIBERS                             nothing more than "faultfinding" an unGhristian  emill-
                                                                  ing about non-essentials. May action that rrrmsists  in
                                                                  combating Humanism and Modernism be deiined  as
      Please look at your expiration date on your address "Fauh,f&ing"  as a caviling about  ~OJMWXXI~~&I'?
label. If that date is not correct, please, remit im- There is glaring conflict between the reverend's with-
mediately. We are in need of money.                               ering criticism of us and the words of commendation
                                                                  to which this criticism in the above paragraph gives
                                                                  way. The statement that we are neither Protestant.
                                 RALPH SCHAAFSMA                  nor Reformed nor Biblical and the statement that  we
                                                                  have some commendable contributions to make toward
524 Henry Ave., S. `E.                                            present day religion, also dash. Both cannot be true.
                                                                  Such  strange  clashes show that when the  revwend
     Grand Rapids, Mich.                                          penned down his article he was not in the proper  mood,
                                                                  that his pen was alternately being controlled by passion
                                                                  and conscience.


 550                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          +!+`d
 ---.--.-  .                                                                           --.- __ ..-......._          _I
    The reverend ends with informing his readers real issues upon which our controversy with the breth-
 what the three negative points are that we hold to,         ren in the Christian Reformed churches turns. What
 what we deny:                                               we deny is the idea embodied in the first point of the
                                                             afore-said synod.    This points reads: "Relative the
    "They DENY Common Grace. That is contrary to first point which concerns the favorable attitude of
 human experience and to God's revelation. The sun- God toward humanity in general and not only towards
 shine and the rain ; the season's change and the starry the elect, synod declares it to be established according
 heavens are all in harmony with the Psalmist: `The to Scripture and the Confession that, apart from the
earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof'. Much of saving grace of God shown only to those that are the
the Psalms testify to God's general goodness in nature.     elect unto eternal life, there is also a certain favor or
    "The DENY the Restraint of Sin. But it is our           grace of God which he shows to his creatures in gen-
Christian comfort to believe that there are restaining eral. This is evident from the Scriptural  p,assages
powers so that evil is not and will never be triumphant. quoted and from the Canons of Dordrecht, II, 5 and
The Fourth Commandment speaks of the ,third  and            III, IV, 8, 9, which deal with the general offer o.f the
fourth generation but God's restraining power is plain Gospel, while it also appears from, the citations made
from the omission of the fifth; the Psalmist knows that from Reformed writers of the most flourishing period
the wicked, though prosperous, stand on slippery of Reformed Theology that our Reformed writers
places; and the New Testament tells us of the Man of favored this view."
Sin, the Son of Perdition who is to be revealed: `And
now ye know what WITHHOLDETH, that he might                    The passages from the Confession read:
be revealed in time'. Every Church has a restraining            "Moreover the promise of the Gospel is that who-
influence. It is the brake on the wheel. Every Chris-       soever believeth in Christ crucified, shall not perish but
tian home does that. Every Christian does that. God have everlasting life. This promise together with the
does that. If not, we would have been like Sodom.           command to repent and believe, ought to be declared
How can one read the book of Job in any other way?          and published to all nations and to all persons pro-
To deny it, leads to an abject surrender to the powers      miscuously and without distinction, to whom God out
of hell.                                                    of His good pleasure sends the gospel" (Canon II, 5).
    "They DENY that the unconverted can do any good.           "As many as are called by the Gospel are un-
The parable of the Good Samaritan ought to be a suf-        feignedly called. For God hath most earnestly and
ficient answer. The unconverted cannot do any saving truly declared in His Word, what will be acceptable to
good, but they can still do moral and civil good. In        Him ; namely, that they who are called should come
our relation with our fellow-man ; in the sphere of unto Him" (Canons III :3) .
morality, responsibility, respect for law and authority,       Canons III :9 `: "It is not the fault of the Gospel, nor
acts of kindness and benevolence are demanded also of of Christ, presented therein, nor of God, who calls by
the unconverted. Sometimes the unconverted are more the Gospel, and confers upon them various gifts, that
ready to do them than many Christian people. To deny those who are called by the ministry do not come."
the possibility of `doing good' leads to the despair of The last half of this article (9) Classis omitted.
our reasoning power, and to the abandonment of our
appeal to human feeling and fellowship.                        The scriptures that synod quoted in support of its
   "A two-fold warning is in order: First for the first point are the following:
average, un-informed but truth-seeking member, who             Ps. 145 :9: the Lord is good to all: and his tender
withdraws because of certain imperfections and dis-         mercies are over all his works.
satisfactions in his own church. May he be warned              Matt. 5:44, 45 : But I say unto you, Love your ene-
that if he joins this organization under the banner of mies, bless them that curse  you, do good to them that
two great historical names, Protestant and Reformed,        hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use
that he has landed in a fellowship which in spirit is       you. That ye may be the children of your Father
neither Protestant nor Reformed."                           which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on
                                                            the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just
   In replying to this, let me set out by once more and on the unjust.
informing the reverend that what he terms the                  Luke 6 :35, 36: But Iove ye your enemies, and do
"Famous Three Points" are so many declarations of good and lend, hoping for nothing again ; and your
the Christian Reformed synod of 1924 and not our            reward shall be great and ye shall be the children of
refutations of them. The Protestant Reformed have           the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and
no Three Points.                                            evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is
   It is to be noticed that the reverend informs his merciful.
readers that the Protestant Reformed deny the gen-             Acts 14 : 16, 17 : Who in times past suffered all na-
eral goodness of God in nature. We do not deny this.        tions to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless he let
The reverend, plainly, lives in total ignorance of the      not himself without witness, in that he did good and


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          51-i

gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling Christ Jesus unto eternal life but the reprobated sin-
our hearts with food and gladness.                           ners as well. In His love He bestows upon them the
   I Tim. 4 : 10 : For therefore we both labor and sufYer    things of this life (rain, sunshine, health, talent and
reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is         the like) and offers them through the preaching of
the Saviour of all men, especially of those that believe.    His word, the Gospel, salvation, Christ,. the fulness that
   Ram.  2:4: Or despisest  thou the riches of his good- dwells bodily in Him.
ness and forbearance and longsuffering ; not knowing            This became the official doctrine of the Christian
that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?         Reformed churches. This doctrine the Protestant Re-
   Ezek.  33:ll: Say unto them, As I live saith the formed deny. They maintain that God loves all His
Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the tyorks indeed, angels, man, the irrational animate and
wicked ; but that the wicked turn from his way and           inanimate creation, in a word, the cosmos exclusive of
live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why          the fallen angels and the reprobated, that thus God is
will ye. die 0 house of Israel ?                             good to all and that His tender mercies are over all His
   Ezek. 18:25:  Have I any pleasure at all that the works, that He preserveth all that love Him (His
wicked should die? Saith the Lord God ; and not that people, the elect) but that all the wicked (the repro-
he should return from his ways and live?                     bated) He will destroy (Ps.  145:9,  20). They, the
   Let the reverend lay hold with me on the doctrine Protestant Reformed, maintain further that, according
that comes to the surface in this first point (of the        to Scripture, God loves not but hates Esau, that the
Christian Reformed Synod of 1924). It is to be               Edomites (the reprobated) are a people against whom
noticed that in this point the term "creatures" stand        He hath indignation forever (Mal. 1:3, 4), that it is
in juxtaposition to the term "elect". I again quote, not in His love but in His wrath that He bestows upon
`6 . . . synod declares it to be established . . . that them the good things of this life (rain and sunshine
apart from the saving grace of God shown  only* to           and the like), that thus He plaees them (mark you, He
those that are the elect unto eternal life, there is also    places them) upon slippery places (temporal pros-
a certain favor or grace of God whieh He shows to His        perity) and castedst them down into destruction  {Ps.
creatures in general . . . " If it be considered that in 73:18), that not in His love but in His wrath He pre-
this point also the expressions "offer of salvation" is      sents (not offers) to them the Gospel, salvation, that
found, it will be plain that the term "creatures" signi- thus, whereas He wills not to save them but raises
fies not the animate and inanimate creation (animals         them up that in them He might shew His wrath and
and stones and the like. To this creature certainly          make His power known (Rom. 9:17-32),  He does all
the Gospel is not offered) but the reprobated sinners, these things unto them in parables that seeing they
the non-elect. If this will not be conceded, it shall at may see and not perceive ; and hearing, they may hear
least have to be admitted that the group signified by and not understand ; lest at any time they should be
the term "creatures" includes the non-elect. But it is       converted, and their sins should be forgiven them
plain that to include in the group "creatures" animals       (Mark 4 :ll-12) so that unto them the word is a savour
and stones and such things, is to reduce point I to  ab-     of death unto death (II Cor. 2 :16).
j ect nonsense. So, out of consideration for this point,        Rev. Vis, if he is of a mind to deal righteously with
we must define the group creatures as a class of men the Protestant Reformed, will inform his readers
comprised only of the non-elect. One naturally asks through "The Leader" that there is an essential differ-
why the framers of point I avoided the proper term.          ence between what they, the Protestant Reformed,
,A plausible explanation of their action is that they actually deny and what he in his article asserted they
were equivocating.     These framers were careful to         deny, to wit, God's goodness in nature, that he had
leave for themselves a Ioophole through which they not the remotest idea of what our controversy with
might fly back if hard pressed. For consider that the the brethren in the Christian Reformed churches turns
term "creature" may be made to signify (1) the non-          upon. And I wonder now whether he will still want to
elect only ; (2) the rational creature (elect and non-       maintain that we do not deny what God in His word
elect, the fallen and the good angels) the irrational an- denies and that our positive teachings are not ex-
imate and inanimate creation; (3) the elect, the good tracted from Scripture. If so, I suggest that he debate
angels, the irrational animate and the inanimate crea- the matter with us, preferably in "The Leader". This
tion, in a word, the cosmos exclusive of the non-elect.      will also afford us opportunity to thoroughly examine
Consider also that the statement to the effect that God the scriptures that synod adduced in support of its
is gracious to the reprobated sinner would have been three points. Such an examination would bring out
more or less shocking to the sensibilities of the man of whether the doctrine incorporated in these scriptures
true Reformed persuasion. It is plain that there was is what synod said it is. Vis asserted in his article that
a reason for the choice of the term "creatures".             we follow a man. I reply, What of this, if the man
    Attend now to the doctrine contained in the first leads us on the right track, which, we feel convinced,
point: God loves not merely the elect, them chosen in        he does. Are there no lights in history whom Vis


 512                                              _  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
 ______-.-           -- .II__.._,_.  _ _._...._. _ -._..,. ___ ---. - ____    ^.__          -II.^._                 -.-._  - - - -   ,.._.  ""
 claims as his leaders ? Does Vis mean to tell us that                                 He aiso controls and restrains the wicked indirectly
 he is so absolutely original that he need not stand on                                and mediately. The ungodly are dependent on and
 the shoulders of his spiritual forbears ? Vis, of course,                             limited by time and occasion and circumstances ; by
 meant to label us all blir;d followers, which we are not. their place and position in life ; by their talents and
 That he may be convinced of this, I suggest that he                                   power and means ; by their own ambitions and fears
 discuss wiih our most inexperienced minister, one Geo.                                and by the powers that be; yea, they are limited by
 Lubbers, a young man who was graduated from our                                       their own character and disposition."
seminary last spring and who  ret:ently accepted a call                                   What then do we deny? This (again quoting from
 tendered him by the Protestant Reformed church of the aforesaid work) : "Tint there is an outwardly re-
Doon, Iowa. I suggest further that the debate be car- straining operatioa  of the Holy Spirit upon the heart
ried on publicly in Sheldon, iowa {the place of resi-                                 of the natural man, which is not regenerating, where-
dence of Rev. Vis) and that a written  recoG of  the                                  by the progress of the corruption of sin in the human
argument and counter-argument be placed in "The nature is being checked and restrained in such. a way,
Leader."                                                                              that a remnant of the original goodness in the state of
                                                                                      righteousness is constantly preserved in it and also
                                                                                      brought to bear fruit in many good works in this pres-
    According to Vis, the Protestant Reformed have                                    ent life."
three denials. Let us now direct our attention to the                                     This is actually the doctrine contained in the
second of these : "They deny," wrote Vis, "the restraint second  ,point  of synod (1924) according to the con-
of sin. But it is our Christian comfort to believe that                               struction placed upon this point by one of its origin-
there are restraining powers so that evil is not and                                  ators, frof. L. Berkhof  of Calvin Seminar.y. This point
will never be triumphant . . . .  "                           It is plain that reads : `Relative to the second point, which is con-
what the reverend here had before his mind is that                                    cerned with the restraint of sin in the life of the in-
action of God that consists in His  out~cu&ly  con- dividua1  man and in the community, the synod declares
trolling sin. This restraint we indeed do not deny.                                   that there is such a restraint of sin according to Scrip-
Here the reverend holds us up before the eyes of his ture and the Confession, Artt. 13 and 36, which teach
readers as veritable Deists, as a people addicted to the that God by the general operations of His Spirit, .with-
damnable error of the Epicureans. It is hard for me out renewing the heart of man, restrains the  un-
to believe that when the reverend wrote this, it did not                              impeced  breaking out of sin, by which human life in
occur to him that what he here penned down must  be society remains possible; while it is also evident from
an outrageous untruth. The proof that this did OCCUI                                  the quotations from Reformed writers of the most
to him is that he also informed his readers that we                                   flourishing period of Reformed theology, that from
have some commendable contributions to make to ancient times our Reformed fathers were of the same
present day religion.           This were impossible if we                            opinion."
actually taught that evil and not God is and will be                                     Synod referred to the following passages from the
triumphant.                                                                           Confession : " (Art. 18) in whom we do entirely trust;
   We indeed do believe that God rules and governs all                                being persuaded that he so restrains the devil and all
things according to His holy will, so that nothing hap-                               our enemies, that without his will and permission they
pens in this world without His appointment, that noth-                                cannot hurt us" and "(Art. 36) willing that the world
ing can therefore befall us by chance but by the direc-                               should be governed by certain laws and policies ; to the
tion of our most gracious and heavenly Father. We dc end that the dissoluteness of men might be restrained."
believe and teach that He watches over us with a                                         The scriptures that synode adduced in support of
paternal care, keeping all creatures so under His power,                              point 2 are: Gen. 6:3; Ps. 81:11,  12; Acts 7:42; Rom.
that not a hair of our head, nor a sparrow, can fall to                               1:24 ; Rom. I :26 ; Rom. 1:28 ; II Thess. 2 :7.
the ground, without the will of our Father, that He                                      The doctrine contained in the second point is
so restrains the devil and all our enemies that without stocked to overflowing with grave errors. As Rev. H.
His will they cannot hurt us (Confession, Art. 13). To                                Hoeksema points out in his "A Catechism," etc., this
quote from "A Catechism On the History of the Pro- doctrine infringes upon the righteousness and sove-
testant Reformed Churches" by  Rex. H. Hoeksema:                                      reignty of God, is a denial of the total depravity of
"We all understand and heartily confess, that God                                     man and springs from a dualistic conception of sin in
holds in His power and perfectly controls by  His prov- its relation to God.                                   I advise that also this second
idence all the deeds of the wicked, both devils and men,                              point be included in the suggested debate, and further
so that they cannot accomplish ought against His will.                                that .Vis supply himself with Rev. Hoeksema's "A Cate-
He does this directly by His power, frequently frus-                                  chism," etc., and absorb its contents. Doing so, his
trating the counsels of the ungodly in a way which is eyes will open to many things to which his eyes `are
even beyond our comprehension, for their very thought now manifestly closed. I feel fairly certain of this as
and desires are in his hand and under His control. But Vis' article also left the impression upon me that he


                                                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   R E A R E R                                                 813
                   .-_.............  ~-- ____...................."                    .---                                        -.---  .___.  __I_-..^"  ___._....
is a man who wants the truth and has the courage to                                      from the following exce?pt  found on page 32 of H. J.
defend it.                                                                               Kuiper's "The Three Points  0-f Common Grace" : "Those
                                                                                         who deny Common Grace freely admit that there is
              .                                                                          civic righteousness. But they deny that it is righteous-
    Vis finally informs his readers that the Protestant                                  ness in God's sight. In God's sight, they say, it is sin
Reformed  deny that the unconverted can do any good.                                     and nothing but sin (true, we do say this, G. &I. 0.).
He is of .Lhe conviction that, though the unconverted                                    Now that cannot be true if God enables the sinner, by
`can do lie saving good, they can still do moral and civil the general operation of His Spirit, to perform such
good. :?ometimes,  wrote he, the unconverted are more righteousness. Whatever God works cannot be sinful.
ready to do them than many Christian people. To deny                                          "This then is the question: Is everything which the
th? possibility of doing good leads to despair of our                                    unregenerated does sin and nothing but sin in the sight
reasoning power, and to the abandonment of our ap- of God ? Or can we say that the sinner still performs
peal to human feeling and fellowship.                                                    works which are relatively good - as a result of the
    So, it is this bad. I sincerely wish that some men general operation of God's grace? Is it thus that man
of purported Reformed persuasion would despair of                                        calls them good while God calls them sin and nothing
their reasoning power and return to the word of God.                                     but sin? . . . .  "
   It is as Vis says, we do deny that the natural man,                                        Kuiper has it then, that the natural man performs
devoid of the life of regeneration can do any good.                                      works that are relatively good, works that God does
What  Vis informs his readers we deny, agrees with                                       rrzot call nothing but sin. Everything which the unre-
the pernicious doctrine contained in the third point of                                  generate does is, according to Kuiper, not sin in the
synod. This point reads: "Relative to the third point,                                   sight of God.
which is concerned with the question of civil righteous-                                      The doctrine contained in point three we, the Pro-
ness as performed by the unregenerate, synod declares testant Reformed, deny. We maintain, that the works
that according to Scripture and the Confessions the                                      of the natural man, devoid of the Iife of regeneration,
unregenerate, though incapable of doing any, can do                                      are sin and nothing but sin, that whatever is not of
civil good. This is evident from the quotations from                                     faith is sin (Ram. 14:23),  that the tender mercies of
Scripture and from the Canons of Dordrecht, III, IV, 4,                                  the wicked are cruel (Prov. 12 :lO), that all men are
and from the Netherland Confession, Art. 36, which                                       gone out of the way, that they are altogether become
teach that God, without renewing the heart so influ-                                     unprofitable; that there is none that doeth good, no not
ences man that he is able to perform civil good ; while one (Rom. 3:12), that a corrupt tree bringeth forth
it also appears from the citations of Reformed writers evil fruit, that no more than a. good tree can bring
of the most flourishing period of Reformed theology,                                     forth evil fruit, no more can a  b,ad tree bring
that our Reformed Fathers from ancient times were of forth good fruit (Mat. 7 :X7,18),  that a fountain cannot
the same opinion."                                                                       yield both fresh and salt water (James 3 :12), that the
   The passages from the Confessions quoted by synod                                     very best works the ungodly perform, such works as
read: (Canons, III, IV, 4) : "There remain however in                                    sacrificing unto God, appearing before God's face,
man since the fall the glimmerings of natural light,                                     treading His courts, making many prayers, bringing
whereby he retains some knowledge of God, of natural                                     oblations, observing the Sabbath,  - God calls iniquity,
things, and of the difference between good and evil,                                     an abomination (Isa.  l:lO-15),  that though a man
and discovers some regard for virtue, good order in speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have
society, and for maintaining an orderly external de- not love (the love that apringeth from the life of regen-
portment." `%?herefore  we detest . . . all those . . .                                  eration) he is become 85 sounding brass or a tinkling
who confound that decency and good order which God                                       cymbal  ; that though he have the gift of prophesy and
establishes among -men" (Netherland Confesison, Art.                                     understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and
36). The scriptures that synod adduced in support of though he have all faith, so that he could remove moun-
this third point are: II Kings 10:29,  30 ; II Kings 12:2;                               tains, and have not love, he is nothing; that though a
II Kings 14:3; Luke 6:33; Rom. 2:14; Rom. 10:5; Gal.                                     man bestow all his goods to feed the poor, and though
3:12.                                                                                    he give his body to be burned, and have not love, it
   What now is the doctrine contained in this third proiiteth  him nothing (I Cor.  13:1-3).  And because
point ? From the writings of the leaders in the Chris- we, with our eye upon the page of Holy Writ (Consider
tian Reformed churches (Prof. L. Berkhof, Rev. H. J.                                     that the above assertions are taken literally from
Kuiper and others) it is evident that this third point                                   Scripture) maintain this, and in addition that God is
is meant to be a formulation of the erroneous doctrine absolutely sovereign in the disposition of His love and
that the natural man, destitute of the life of regenera- fawlessly  righteousness in His mercy in that He
tion performs works that are positively good, works                                      blesses only such who with Christ were crucified,
essent&xZZ~  sinless, in the realm of the natural. That                                  buried, raised up and set in heaven, men say of us that
this is what synod actually meant to  decIare  is evident we are neither Reformed nor Protestant nor Biblical


  514                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
               l_-_"~-.---  ._.. _- ..._." _. .^  .._......_.                .._._  -_______-..- ~_...-"---______        ..-__- - ___ ___.........._ ..--
  and brand us Anabaptists, fanatics, extremists,  hyper-
  Calvinists and what not. 0 the folly of it! 0 the                                     1834 En 1924, Een Vergelijking
  wickedness of it ! That our slanderers may consider that
  there approacheth the judgment day, that Vis may de-                                In de werkelijkheid ging het in 1834 niet om per-
  spair of his reasoning power, that he may make amends soonlijke, maar om veei hoogere belangen. Het ging
  in "The Leader" for the harm he did us, that "The                                om de vrijheid der Kerk en om de waarheid, die in
  Leader" may allow him' to do this,  that he, Vis,  may                           1618-`19  door de  Nationale  Synode van  Dordt   gehand-
  approve the suggested debate, that "The Leader" may                              haafd was. Dit blijkt wei uit den inhoud der geschrift-
  consent to publish the argument and the eounter-argu-                            jes tegen de heeren Reddingius en Brouwer en tegen de
  ment, that he may absorb the content of Rev. H. Hoek-                            Gezangen.     Dit blijkt uit heel de geschiedenis. Het
* sema's "A Catechism," etc., that he and all his people blijkt afdoende uit de  "Acte  van afscheiding of  weder-
  may become readers of "The Standard Bearer." Then                                keering", eindelijk door de Cock en de zijnen  opgestel"d
  he will perceive that SO far from the truth it is that                           en  onderteekend   op  den  14den   October,  1934.   Die  J&c
  the passages from the Confession and the scriptures                              luidt in haar geheel als volgt :
  synod adduced in support of its points teach what
  synod maintains they teach, that they teach the very                                "Wij ondergeteekenden, Opzienderen en Ledematen
  opposite.                                                                        der Gereformeerde gemeente van Jezus Christus te
                                                                 G. M. 0.          Ulrum,  sedert geruimen tijd opgemerkt hebbende het
                                                                                   bederf in de Nederlandsche Hervormde Kerk, zoowel
                                                                                   in de verminking of verloochening  van de leer onzer
                                                                                   vaderen, gegrond op Gods Woord, als in de verbaste-
                                                                                   ring van de bediening der Heilige Sacramenten,  naar de
                       ROMEINEN 7:l.S EN 19                                        verordening van Christus en zijn woord, en in het bijna
                                                                                   volstrekte verzuim der kerkelijke tucht ; welke stukken
                         Wie ben ik, Heer ?                                        ollen  naar onze Gereformeerde belijdenis, Artikel 29,
                   Met zonden overlaan                                             kenmerken zijn der ware Kerk; door Gods genade een
                   Dat ik tot U durf gaan,                                         Herder en Leeraar ontvangen hebbende, die ons  naar
                      Die steeds  Uw toorn verdiende . . . .                       den woorde Gods de zuivere leer onzer vaderen  voor-
                         Ik kus Uw roe steeds weer,
                      Hoe bloedend zij ook striemde,                               stelde, dezelve zoowel  in het bijzonder als in het alge-
                         Z' is  billijk,  Heer!                                    meen  toepaste ; werd de gemeente daardoor meer en
                                                                                   meer opgewekt, om zich in belijdenis en wandel  te rich-
                         Wie  hen ik, Heer ?                                       ten  naar den regelmaat des geloofs en van Gods heilig
                   Dat ik Uw Iiefde tart,                                          woord : Galaten VI :16; Phil. III:16  ; en ook afstand tc
                   Met een  kerdorven  hart,                                       daen van het dienen van God  naar menschelijke  gebo-
                      Altijd tot opstand vaardig,
                         Door snocd en boos begcer,                                den, omdat  Gods Woord ons zegt, dat dit te vergeefs
                      Uw hoogste strafFen  waardig,                                is : Matth. XV :9 ; en tevens te doen  waken voor de ont-
                         Naar  rxht.,  o Heer!                                     heiliging van de teekenen en zegelen van Gods eeuwig
                                                                                   genadeverbond. Hierdoor leefde de gemeente in rust
                         Wie ben ik, Heer ?                                        en vrede ; doch die rust en vrede werd gestoord door de
                   Een zondaar, gansch onrein.                                     hoogst onrechtmatige en ongoddelijke schorsing van
                   Mijn hart is een fontein
                      Van  vuil   vergiftig  water.                                onzen  algemeen geliefden en geachten Herder en Leer-
                         Een  vuile  bron steeds meer.                             aar, ten gevolge van zijn openbaar getuigenis tegen de
                      In wezen  ben `k Uw hater,                                   valsche leer en verontreinigde openbare  godsdienstoefe-
                         Uw vijand, Heer!                                          ningen. Stil  .en kalm heeft de gemeente zich met haren
                                                                                   Herder en Leeraar  tot hiertoe gedragen; onderschei-
                         Wie ben ik, Hesr?                                         dene allerbillijkste  voorstellen  werden gedaan  Bn door
                   Afzichtlijk voor Uw oogen,
                    Die zonden nooit gedoogen.                                     ,onzen Herder en Leeraar  Bn door de overige Opziende-
                      En `t beste, dat ik immer deed                               ren der  iemeente,  meermalen werd onderzoek en  oor-
                         - Hetzij in  leven,  of in leer,  -                       deel, op grond en naar Gods woord gevraagd,  doch alles
                      Beschouw als een wegwerplijk  klecd,                         te vergeefs. Classicale, Provinciale  en Synodale  kerk-
                         VoI  onrein,  Heer!                                       besturen hebben dit allerbillijkste verzoek geweigerd en
                                                                                   integendeel gevorderd, berouw en leedwezen zonder
                         Wie ben ik, Heer?
                    Mag ik nog op U hopen?                                         aanwijzing van misdrijf uit Gods Heilig Woord, en  on-
                    Ach! wat  tech zou U  nopen                                    bepaalde onderwerping aan Synodale  reglementen en
                      Naar mij zoo'n zondaar om te zicn ?                          voorschriften zonder aanwijzing, dat die op Gods
                         Ik zondig immer weer.                                     Woord in alles gegrond zijn ; daardoor heeft nu dit Ne-
                         (Vervolg op bladzijde  523)                               derlandsche  kerkbestuur  zich gelijkgesteld  aan de door


                                                         `lL'Hl?l  S T A N D A R D  BBARBR                                                                 51.7
      -  ..-.-----........__-   - ^ .^ _.. "".." ..._" .__...-111.._...  "" ^_.."l^"-..."  ,._....." I ^ .._ "-~_.-                            --..-.--_I__L
tech hebben die kerken al worstelend overwonnen  en
een tijdlang de barrier  der waarheid hoog mogen hou-                                                                    Eigen School                 '
den. Niet alleen in Ulrum, ook op andere plaatsen in
Nederland, scheidde men zich af van de Nederlandsche                                                                             II
Hervormde  Kerk. In Brabant werd spoedig Scholte  af-                                                     De lezer zal zich herinneren, dat we de vorige maal
gezet, in Drogeham Van Velzen. In Hattem kwam                                                       onderbraken  bij de poging tot arbitrage van de andere
.Brummelkamp  buiten de vaderlandsche kerk te staan,                                                zijde.
nadat hij  zich nog eens, doeh tevergeefs, met een pro-                                                   Dinsdagnamiddag, 15  Mei, kwamen dan een drie of
test tot de synode had gewend. En overal  gingen  de                                                viertal broeders van de Chr. Ger. zijde om te zien of er
gemeenten grootendeels mede. Dan, de Cock reisde het geen pogingen in het werk gesteld konden worden om *
land door, getuigend van de waarheid? en arbeidde met                                               bij elkaar te blijven. Van te voren was ik verzocht om
alle kracht, temidden van haat en nijd en hoon en spot de grieven die wij hadden te formuleeren en ter be-
dikwijls kwalijk gehandeld wordend  met zelden zijn                                                 spreking over te leggen op een nader te houden verga-
dagen in de gevangenis doorbrengend. En zij, die met dering.
hem de waarheid beleden, werden ook met hem ver-                                                          Toen  de broeders bij mij aan huis kwamen had ik al
volgd. Doch de zaak des Heeren kon niet worden  ge-                                                 eon ctuk opgesteld, hetwelk  ik voor wilde lezen in het
stuit. Op vele plaatsen kwamen gemeenten tot stand.                                                 Engelsch en het Hollandsch op de vergadering van ons
En vijf en twintig jaren  nadat de Acte van.Afscheiding                                             eigen volk, dat op dienzelfden avond tezamen zou  ko-
of Wederkeering te Ulrum geteekend was, bedroeg het men.
getal der afgescheidene gemeenten reeds twee honderd                                                      Ik dacht, dat het niet verkeerd was om dit stuk
zes en twintig met een zielental  van ongeveer vijftig voor te lezen aan de broeders der andere zijde, zoodat
duizend.                                                                                            ze van meet aan zouden weten, hoe wij over de  dingen
   Van zulk een snellen uitwendigen groei  kunnen wij                                               dachten, die geschiedenis geworden  waren.   Ik deed
niet spreken.` Ook is dat niet te veiwachten. De tij-                                               dat dan. En na afloop daarvan las ik hun onze grieven
den en omstandigheden ten onzent zijn anders dan die voor die ik kortelijks in drie punten opgesteld had. Ze
in Nederland in de vorige eeuw. In de eerste plaats volgen hier :
moet niet  worden  vergeten, dat de Gereformeerden in
ons land lang niet zoo groot in aantal zijn als in Neder-                                                 "Basis for continued co-operation between the Chr.
land. In de tweede plaats mag worden  opgemerkt, dat                                                Ref. and Prot. Ref. brethren with regard to Christian
de geest des lands waarin wij  wonen, uit godsdienstig                                              Instruction;
oogpunt beschouwd, zeker niet gereformeerd is. En                                                         1. Retract the proposal of Rev.  Schans which was
eindelijk is ook de tijdgeest niet zoo, dat wij een be-                                             adopted contrary to the Constitution of the Society for
sliste terugkeer tot de gereformeerde waarheid. zouden Christian Instruction at the last meeting held May  9th,
mogen verwachten. Zij, die met beslistheid de gere-                                                 1934. This retraction must be made by two-thirds
formeerde beginselen  willen  handhaven  en van harts majority vote,
liefhebben, vormen een kleine groep en zullen  een moei-                                                  2. Adopt the following amendment to the Consti-
lijken strijd te strijden hebben om te staan.                                                       tution, after having submitted same to the Board of
   Tech is er  redem tot  blijdschap  en  dankbaarheidl                                             Directors for  th%ir approval: Representation in the
Want op  onzen tienden velddag mogen we constateeren,                                               Board of Directors shall be in the same ratio as there
dat we thans negentien gemeenten  tellen met een  zie-                                              are children of both groups (Chr. Ref. and  Prot. Ref.)
lental  van ongeveer vijf duizend. We hebben nog steeds in school. These Board members to be elected at the
ons eigen orgaan. En we hebben onze eigene  Theolo-                                                 yearly business meeting in June from nominations
gische School, waar reeds onderscheidene broeders                                                   offered by both groups, each group meeting separately
mochten worden  opgeleid tot den dienst des Woords.                                                 for the purpose of nominating them.
En bovenal mochten we tot hiertoe getrouw blijven                                                         3. Passage of the following motion: The leaders of
aan de beginselen der waarheid, die ons door Gods  ge- both groups shall give the yearly graduation address
nade dierbaar zijn. En zonder invloed naar buiten ble- and do so alternately, year after year, I in their own
ven we zeker  niet. Op dat alles lettend,  mogen we zeker churches."
dankbaar erkennen,  dat de Heere groote dingen bij ons                                                    Ik.beloofde  de broeders dat ik al mijn invloed zou
gedaan heeft en dies zijn wij verblijd! Make Hij ons gebruiken op dien avond om ons volk te bewegen niet
verder getrouw en doe  Hij ons strijden den  goeden                                                 door te gaan tot het organiseeren van eigen school,
strijd ten einde toe, opdat niemand onze kroon neme !                                               doch te trachten om door arbitrage tot een goede op-
                                                                               H. H.                lossing te komen van de geschillen. Zoo scheidden we
                                                                                                    van elkaar.
                                                                                                          Dien Dinsdagavond, den 15deh  Mei, kwam ons volk
                Gods Woord houdt eeuwig stand,                                                      dan te zamen ; en met uitzondering van een of twee
                En zal geen duimbreed wijken.                                                       der onzen  wist niemand iets van het feit, dat er van.


                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           519
                                          - -   ---.-  ---.."...              -l__".l-l--"^^^ _..- ".          -.I_=
gaan met de organisatie van eigen school, doch ,om te       aantal  kinderen als basis genomen werd, we een einde
trachten bij elkaar te blijven. Ook deelde ik ons  ~01k mochten zien van een onheilig streven tot i'mastery'y.
mede, dat we  onze  grieven maar moesten opstellen en Ook versta men wel, dat het heel wat voeten in de
dat er dan een samenkomst  getrotTen  zou  worden   tus-    aarde had voordat mijn persoon  even gelijke rechten
schen sommigen van hen en sommigen van ons, welke           zou  ontvangen om  te spreken op de verschillende  ver-
vergadering gevolgd zou worden  met een vergaderimg gaderingen,  even zoowel als Ds. Schans. Men had zich
van beide groepen afzonderlijk om, indien de pogingen. er aan gestoota,  dat we in de Standard Bearer krasse
tot arbitrage geen schipbreuk  leden,  weer tezamen de ding-en  gezegd   hadden.  Evenwel,  we konden weer  sa-
schouders te  z&ten  onder de zaak van Chr. Onderwijs mengaan  en we keerden weer huiswaarts. Ik wil we1
te Redlands.                                                toestemmen, dat ik liever eigen school had gehad, doch
   We mochten ons  volk overtuigen, dat het onder de we gevoelden, dat we de hand ons toegestoken niet
gegeven omstandigheden niet recht zou zijn om door mochten weigeren.
te gaan en de uitgestoken hand niet aan- te grijpen.           Hier volgt dan het besluit van deze commissie die
En mij werd autoriteit gegeven om de onderhandelin-         zichzelf aangesteld had. Ds. Schans heeft het zelf op-
gen  aan te knoopen.                                        gesteld, dus het is authentiek.
   Zoo keerde de vergadering huiswaarts in afwach-                    CHRISTIAN SCHOOL AGREEMENT
ting van de dingen die komen zouden.                                              between the
   L.>en volgenden nvond, Woensdag, den  16den Mei,
vergaderde het Bestuur in de school, met 6 Chr. Ger.        Group of the Christian Reformed Church and the
broeders en 4 Prot. Ger. broeders. Er waren dus 17                  Group of the Protestant Reformed Church
personen  tezamen: 11 Chr. Ger. en 6 Prot. Ger.                Each group is in agreement with the decision of  I
   De basis van samenspreking zou zijn de drie punten       May 9, 1934, with respect to the representation of both
die wij opgesteld  hadden.                                  groups on the Schoolboard, and the method of electing
   Het eerste punt leed schipbreuk. Wij eischten daar, the Board members - with the following understand-,
dat het voorstel van ,Ds. Schans verworpen of herroe-       ing:-
pen zou worden  omdat bet tegen de constitutie  inging.        I. The decision that the Chr. Ref. group is to have
Maar neen, hoor! Dat ging niet. Keer op keer toon- four Boardmembers, and the Prot. Ref. Church three,
den de onzen  aan, dat zoo als het aangenomen was, het is to be in force for one year.
een onrechtvaardige zaak was en woordelijk door de             II. At the Society meeting of April,  $935, and
Constitutie veroordeeld werd: `t  hieip  allemaal  niet.    thereafter annually at the April meetings, the Board
Wat dan? Men wilde we1 uitspreken,  dat we bet alle- shall announce to the Society which of the two groups
maal  eens waren met het voorstel van Ds. Schans,  doch     shall be entitled to four Boardmembers for the follow-
dat het dan zoo verstaan moest worden,  dat het besluit ing year. The Board shall decide this issue on the fol-
om vier Chr. Ger. en drie Prot. Ger. in de Board te 1owing basis: The group that exceeds the other group
hebben slechts van kracht zou zijn voor e&i  jaar. Ten in the number of children attending our school shall
tweede, dat van nu voortaan  bet  getal  kinderen van  have  four  Boardmembers.
beide groepen uit zou maken wie de meerderheid in de           II. as speakers for propaganda meetings and at
Board zou. hebben. Ten derde, dat beide leeraren  even-     other occasions the pastors of both the churches  men-
gelijke rechten zouden hebben om op allerlei vergade- t.loned above shall have equal rights, and each of them
ring te spreken.                                            in turn shall have opportunity to speak. The Board-
   Met andere woorden: het geheele voorstel van Ds. members of one group shall alternate with those of the
Schans  werd ontzenuwd, omvergeworpen en onze voor- other group in appointing the speakers for various
stellen werden in zijn geheel aangenomen, doch . . . .      meetings
we  waren het  allen eens met het voorstel van  Ds;
Schans ! Die nu zeer diep van verstand is rekene het
maar uit. Waarom nu niet ridderlijk toegestemd, dat
het ding glad verkeerd was?                                    Den volgenden morgen kwam Ds. Schans mij een
   Evenwel, laat ons doorgaan. We  waren  allen ver-  copie brengen van het bovenstaande. Dat was Don-
blijd, dat we tot zulk een schoon  einde  gekomen waren.    derdagmorgen.     Den volgenden dag, Vri j dagavond,
Intusschen denke men niet, dat het z&5 maar ging. 0, zouden we een ieder vergaderen in zijn eigen kerk en
neen. We kwamen  samen  om  9:30 en gingen  huis-           de bovenstaande besluiten bespreken en indien immer
waarts om 1 :OO des nachts. Het nam heel wat om den mogelijk aannemen.             En indien een der beide verga-
broeders te overtuigen, dat wanneer we de  gelden die deringen tot een besluit gekomen was zou zij een bode
geofferd werden of bet ledental dat de beide zijden kon-    zenden  naar de andere vergadering, en vice versa.
den werven tot basis stelden de ellende van  weder-            En, let wel, een ieder der 17 van de "gentlemen
zijdsch politiek spelen niet te overzien was. Keer op agreement" had  zich verplicht, bij woorde of door  stil-
keer moesten we het bewijzen, dat alleen  wanneer  het zwijgen, om voor die "gentlemen agreement" te  strij-


522                                THE  S T A N D ' A R D   B E A R E R
                      - -                - - 1 1                       - - - -                                 ..-  "-
den Christus  en den Drieeenigen  stelt. Bier mag niets were so bright and our expectations knew no bounds  -
vergoelijkt  worden. Judas is  zich ten volle bewust, dat and now?
Jezus Christus  de Gezondene des Vaders is en hij, zoon         Should a complete picture be painted of our people's
des verderfs, dien Jezus volkomen  haat.                    reactions to these discouraging events, considerable
                                              w. v.         space would be required. But let. it suffice to record
                                                            that instead of `(moaning in a corner", instead of gloom
                                                            and dismay, there was an intense searching of the
                                                            heart.
                                                               In these trying circumstances the more mature
            LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA                         members, the aged and the battle-worn were a source
   Considering the time elapsed since our previous con- of confidence and strength in the congregation. They
tribution of local news, combined with the scarcity of never doubted but that the work which the Lord had
news presented from other congregations, we offer for begun here would also be continued and eventually
your careful perusal of a brief review of the events completed.
which have occupied the attention of our congregation          In all humility we may say that these trying cir-
since our last writing.                                     cumstances have yielded great spiritual riches.
   A little more than a year ago the congregation was          Under these conditions the congregation continued
eagerly looking forward to obtaining their own min- its activities, mindful of their own minister, and co-
ister. Those three weeks of waiting seemed, so long.        operating with the brother who responded to our re-
But our waiting was not entirely in vain, although the quest to serve the congregation till the definite status
time elapsed between the favorable answer and the of things could be ascertained.
actual arrival in our midst proved quite a strain on the       While thus engaged our hearts were again glad-
patience of our members.                                    dened by the blessings upon the work which was done.
   On August 18, 1933, the installation service was For, instead of becoming smaller  - we were growing.
held in the storebuilding used for our church services. Whereas for some time the numerical position of the
The service was impressive.                                 congregation remained unchanged, and the attendance
   Rev. G. Vos of Redlands, delivered a splendid ser- at the services varied but little from the usual, now a
mon and in his prayer commended the new pastor to steadily growing interest was  noticable.
the care and protection of God, urged the congregation         Besides this we learned that our pastor was regain-
to always support their minister before the throne of ing his health and that he expected to return to his
grace, and to work with him in the interest of the congregation at the earliest opportunity.
congregation.                                                  In those days the well known Scripture passage,
   Our hopes were realized ; our prayers had been "All things work together for good . . . " often passed
answered  ; we were happy. But even in these moments our lips. It' appeared to have special significance for
of intense happiness and joy at the blessing the con- the congregation of Los Angeles;
gregation had received, the atmosphere was somewhat            Just at the time Brother Kuiper's period of service
tense. Tense with apprehension of the future. Amidst was expiring our pastor and family returned. It was
the happiness there was gloom.                              a glorious re-union.
  `The excessive strain placed upon him in the past            That first Sunday morning the congregation could
made itself felt practically immediately upon his truly sing: "With joy and gladness in my soul, I heed
arrival in his new congregation. Indications of a com- the call to prayer, Come, let us go up to God's own
plete physical breakdown were increasing. We were h,ouse, and bow before Him there."
face to face with a perplexing problem. For the con-           Three months have since elapsed. Months filled
gregation  I the immediate outlook was very dark.           with spiritual riches. Families have been added to our
   After much prayer and consultations with friends, numbers; a young man made public confession of faith,
physicians and consistory it was decided to let our and the Sacrament of Baptism was administered in our
pastor return to the surroundings of his previous midst.
charge. With the words of parting based upon II Cor.           The congregation moved to larger and more con-
4:1'7,18,  his work for the congregation was apparently venient place of worship. The schedule of services has
ended.                                                      been changed to two English services per Sunday. The
   .The sadness of the parting was considerably light- present average attendance at both services is about
ened by the hearty, spontaneous support of the breth- 55 persons. The different Societies have closed a very
ren in Redlands. Without their timely  financial  assist- instructive season and are eager to commence work
ance the journey of our pastor and family would have a-new.
been practically impossible. But what a change for the         All indications point to a very busy, a very pleasant
congregation !                                              and very instructive series of meetings during the com-
   Six weeks before everything Iooked so rosy, hopes ing season.


                                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                523
                               ___-..__-._.- -                            - - .                                           -              -
   Our mission work carried on in Bellflower is main-
taining a steady interest and the attendance is encour-                                  Over Catechisatie Boeken
aging.                                                                             Zooals de belangstellende lezer van ons blad zal
   This summer the congregation co-operated with hebben opgemerkt  uit het rapport van den classikalen
others for the operation and maintenance of a Summer stated clerk, besloot de laatstgehouden classis om de
Bible School. The results of this course of studies were redactie van ons blad te verzoeken het rapport der com-
quite satisfactory and were duly reflected in a program missie, door de classis benoemd om haar met advies te
rendered at the close of the school period.                                 dienen inzake catechisatie boekjes, in zijn geheel in de
   Now, as we approach the close of the second year S. B. op te nemen.
as congregation we may say, "Hitherto hath the Lord                                Nu heeft de redactie dat verzoek nog  we1 niet  ont-
helped us."                                                                 vangen. Maar de bedoeling zal zeker zijn, dat het  be-
   As to the future we but turn our eyes unto the hills sluit om zulk een verzoek tot de redactie te richten
from whence  cometh  our aid and say with the Psalm-                        voor het verzoek zelf door de redactie wordt  aange-
ist: "Let thy work appear unto thy servants . . . and merkt. Daarom zullen we dan ook maar niet langer
establish thou the work of our hands upon us ; yea, the wachten op het verzoek, maar in dit nummer een begin
work of our hands establish thou it."                                       maken  met het publiceeren van genoemd rapport.
                           The Consistory,                                         Ik zal daarbij de vrijheid nemen, om hier en daar
                                         James Zoetewey, Clerk              een kleine verandering  aan te brengen in den vorm. In
                                                                            de eerste. plaats wordt het daardoor een beetje aan-
                                                                            trekkelijker voor ons lezend publiek in het algemeen.
                                                                            En in de tweede plaats is het niet opgesteld met het
                                                                            oog op mogelijke publicatie. En dat maakt altijd een
                                                                            beetje verschil uit het  oogpunt  van nauwkeurigheid in
                     ROMEINEN 7:18 EN 19                                    den vorm.
                                                                                   Natuurlijk beloof ik daarbij, dat er wezenlijk niets
                      (Vervolg van bladzijde 514)                           zal  worden  veranderd  aan het rapport.
                     En `k kan het kwaad geen wecrstand bien                       Mocht  men oordeelen, dat `t niet gerekend kan wor-
                       `k Ben boos, o Heer!                                 den te behooren tot de vrijheid van den redakteur, ox-11
                                                                            een classikaal rapport naar den vorm te veranderen,
                       Wie ben ik, Fleer?                                   nadat het door de  classis werd aangenomen, dan stem
               Die zonde doet, - en zonde haat                              ik dat toe, maar beroep mij er op, dat ik mede tot de
               Die `t goede mint; bedrijft het kwaad,                       opstellers er van behoor en,"nu het dan tech in het licht
                     Die fel geslagen,' altijd strijd
                       In wanhoopstegenweer.                                zal gegeven worden,  het liefst zoo netjes en aantrek-
                     Ai, zie mij worst'len `t  allen  tijd                  kelijk mogelijk  voor den dag breng. En  mocht  men
                       Gena, o Heer!                                        ook dit beroep  niet geldig  achten, welnu, men zegge h'et
                                                                            slechts en ik zal  oak-het  oorspronkelijke rapport naar
                       Wie ben ik, Heer ?                                   zijn letterlijken vorm in het licht geven.
                   Dat ik trots al dit  kwaad'                                     Afgesproken?  Goed.  Hier  volgt het dan.
               U naschrei, aankleef, smeek om raad.
                     Mijn  ziel niet van U  heen  kan gaan.                 Aan de  Classis der Protestantsche Gereformeerde  Ker-
                       Maar smeekend immer weer.
                     -  Alsof Uw liefde haar zou ontgaan -                         ken vergaderd  te Oskaloosa, Iowa, 6 Juni, 1934.      `
                       U aanklemt, Heer!                                              Eerwaarde broeders :
                       Gij kent mij, Heer!                                         Uwe commissie werd door de  Classis, gehouden te
                   Doorgrond mijn klagend hart,                             Grand Rapids, 10 Jan., 1934, opgedragen om de classis
                   Gij peilt mijn zondensmart,                              op hare eerstvolgende vergadering met  advies te dienen
                     Voor U is niets verborgen.
                       Schenk mij gena! en" leer                            inzake catechisatie-boeken. Deze zaak is door uwe  com-
                     M' in droefheid, smart en zorgen                       missie overwogen en zij komt tot u met het volgende
                       Op  U vertrouwen, Heer?                              rapport.
                                                                                   Alhoewel haar niet opgedragen werd dit rapport
                       Leidt Gij mij, Heer!                                 door te  zenden aan de kerkeraden ter inzage en bestu-
                   Op `t glibbrig levenspad.                                deering,  meende uwe commissie de noodzakelijkheid
                   Richt Gij mijn voet; hou Gij mijn hand omvat
                     O! doe mij bij U schuilen.                             hiervan in te  zien,  vooral daar  bet een zaak geldt, die
                       Dan vreest mijn ziel niet meer.                      van groote beteekenis is voor de kerkeraden. Vandaar,
                     Maar zal ik eeuwig juichen                             dat een afschrift van haar rapport aan alle kerkeraden
                       En jub'len tot Uw eer!                               verzonden werd.
    L. A., Cal.                                               S. de B.             De commissie gevoelt de groote belangrijkheid van


                                        a      T H E   S T A N D A R D B E A R E R                                                         527
            -- -..._..._-.  - __ _ I                                                          _..........I____.  --.. - ._. -...--  _""
 ;         voile borst meezingen, maar op een propaganda meet- we de waardc van het Chr. onderwijs voor de verbonds-
      ;    ing als de onze, te beginnen met de lof op Amerika, ons kinderen mogen zien. 3. Als verootmoediging des  har-
 :         dunkt dat  loopt de spuigaten uit. 0, ik geloof het wel,      ten en de waarde van het Chr. onderwijs, ons  zelfver-
 '1 `t was zoo erg niet bedoeld, maar niettemin toont het loochening  leert. 4. Als we door Gods genade versterkt
      s    helaas  maar al te zeer, de slapheid van geest die in mogen worden in het geloof. Nogmaals, een rede die
 !         onze dagen de kerk bezield.                                   er in  vie1 bij  allen  die  uie  beginsel  voorstanders van
 L              We merkten verder op, dat de regelings committee         Chr. onderwijs zijn. En dat niet alleen, `t was ook
 i         moeite  noch  kosten had ontzien, om de dag een succes        tevens een tijdwoord  die het volk des Heeren een hart
 '         te  maken.  Geen bankeri  op den grond in de heete zon, `onder den riem stak.
 i         zooals verleden jaar, maar bleechers,  zooveel  mogelijk       De avondvergadering konden we niet bijwonen,
           in de schaduw van het geboomte. Waren verleden jaar doch in dien namiddag mochten we er opmerkzaam op
 1         de "loud speakers" een failure, thans  waren ze helder worden dat vooral op het gebied van Chr. onderwijs, we
 /         en duidelij k, zoodat men geen woord behoefde te  mis-        schouder aan schouder moeten staan. Dat is een plicht,
           sen.                                                          een dure  plicht ons door den Heere zelve opgelegd.
 1              Ik zeide, "zoodat  men geen woord behoefde te  mis-                                                 J. Cammenga Sr.
 i         sen," maar verreweg het grootste gedeelte der saamge-
 i         komenen hadden scbijnbaar geen behoefte om de woor-
 1         den die gesproken werden te hooren. Men was  overal
 !         in het park behalve  op de bleechers en alles toonde dat
,i                                                                               The Achievement Of Mighty
 1j men meer om een "to have a good time" was opgeko-
           men, dan  we1 uit  belangstelling.  En niet  alleen  dat                              T h i n k e r s
 1         men zelf niet hoorde, maar hun lachen en praten hin-
           derde en ergerde degenen die zaten te luisteren.                 In  The Banner  for September 7, one comes upon an i
 1  ,           Tevens merkten `we op, dat onze Field day voor article (from the pen of Prof.  Vanden  Bosch, I pre-
           Chr. onderwijs ook druk gebruikt werd om stemmen              sume) that reads in part:
 /         te winnen voor candidaten  voor de a.s. primary elec-            "It is to our Dutch heritage that we owe the educa-
           tion. Onder spreken, ja zelfs onder zingen en bidden,         tional ideal which is implicit in Calvinism. True, the
 1         prezen ze hunne mannen aan. Hadden  de  bijeengeko-           New England Puritans believed in the Christian col-
 j         menen  geweest, waar ze volgens beginsel en fatsoen lege, as the founding of Harvard, Yale, and other col-
           behoorden te wezen,  n.l., op de bleechers, dan hadden        leges abundantly shows ; so did the Presbyterians and
 1         die politieke vrijbuiters geen gelegenheid gehad.             other Christian groups. And when these migrated
 i.            De sprekers  ? 0. i. had men in Prof. J. B. School-       westward they were prisoners also in the noble sense
 1 land geen gelukkige keuze gedaan. Ten eersten, de of establishing Christian colleges as well as churches
           Prof. is geen spreker of redenaar, en ten tweede, bleek and lower schools. To them our civilization owes a
 1         het uit zijn spreken maar al te goed, dat door zijn lang-     debt so large that it simply cannot be calculated. All
 :         durig verkeer in het Presbyteriaansch kerkverband, de of these, however, were motivated in their educational
      / verbondsgedachte  we1 al was verloren geraakt. We activities chiefly by practical considerations.
 !         kregen van spreker wat ervaringen te hooren uit zijn             "Ignorance would aid the devil. in his evil opera-
           omgaan met de jeugd in bovengenoemd kerkverband en tions, and there must be leaders of the right kind. But
 1; ten slotte prees hij Chr. Onderwijs aan op grond dat the fundamental problem of what is the proper rela-
 !         de Chr. school beide godsdienst en wetenschap  onder-         tion between nature and grace, between Christianity
 i         wijst.
      I                                                                  and culture, none of these groups had ever thought
 i              De tweede spreker van dien namiddag was Prof.            through. Had our leaders in the field of higher educa-
 i         Berkhof. Zeker een oud bekende en vurig strijder voor         tion but paid more attention to this problem and come
 1 Chr. onderwijs. Wel,  allen die  ZijnEerw.`s   weldoor-               to clarity in regard to it, there would not have been
      i    wrochte rede gehoord hebben, zijn zeker met  teleurge-        the easy surrender on the part of the Christian col-
           steld; Prof. Berkhof had er ook ongetwijfeld mee ge-          leges to all manner of forces that sapped their very
 ii. rekend dat hij een gemengd gehoor,  kreeg, d. w. z., foundations. We believe that we remain within the
 i         hoorders  uit de Chr. Geref. en Prot. Geref. kerken.          bounds of truth and modesty when we venture the
 1         Geen enkel woord werd gehoord waaraan iemand  zich statement that Dutch Calvinism through such mighty
 1         zou  kunnen  stooten. Zuivere lijnen werden er  getrok-       thinkers as Bavinck and Kuyper have attacked the
 I         ken. Met kracht, vu'ur en bezieling werden we bepaald         problem of what is the proper relationship between
 :         bi j de vraag : "Hoe kunnen onze Chr. Scholen voordeel Christianity and culture with such seriousness and in-
      I    trekken uit de z.g. depressie  ?" welke vraag beantwoord sight as resulted in a solution that satisfies. This is
           werd in de, zoo we ze ons. goed  herinneren, volgende         one of its .glories. And in this aspect of our cultural
      6    vier punten,  n.l., 1. Wanneer  de depressie ons, als volk    inheritance we take a just and lasting pride."
 :         Gods niet de we&d, tot verootmoediging leidt. 2. Als             Mark the sentence, "But the fundamental problem

 i


 528                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
 - - --.-..  -l__l- ..____           - - . -         - - . - - .                                -.__-_-.I-             -
of what is the proper relation between nature and            signify the children of darkness. And the term grace
 grace, between Christianity and culture, none of these      must stand for nature with grace and denote the chil-
 groups had ever thought through." The author mani-          dren of God, the elect unto eternal life.
 festly conceives of nature and grace as separated en-              The author insists that there is a relation between
 tities. For he speaks of nature and grace and of the        the two. So there is. The wicked (nature without
 relation between the two. Now it must needs be that         grace) are of the things that work together for good
 nature separated from grace is nature without grace.        to them that love God. Nature is thus the servant of
    What is nature? And the answer: The earth and            grace, as Scripture teaches. This therefore is the
 its fulness,  all that God hath made, the earthly, with     proper and only relation, as the mighty' thinker and
 its complex of relations, institutions and fields of en- the thinker of little might knows if he reads scripture
 deavor. What now is graceless nature? And the an-           with an unbiased mind. But it is doubtful whether the
 swer, It must needs be a world without God, a human-        author had this proper relation before his eye. Mani-
 ity f&en, man dead through trespasses and sin and           festly not; for he speaks of this relation as a funda-
 thus a child of the devil,. What then is nature with        mental prcblem which the Puritans had never thought
grace ? A world with God, humanity (elect) redeemed,         through but which in recent times was attacked by the
 man delivered from the power of sin and the devil, a        two mighty thinkers, Kuyper and Bavinck. And their
 child of light declaring the glories of God. But nature attack was made with such seriousness and insight that
 without grace is the children of darkness together with     a solution resulted that satisfies. Satisfies who? God,
 the earthy in which they establish themselves. It need      Scripture? Surely, no.
 not be emphasized that the wicked establish themselves         So then, after much mental exertion the relation
 in the earthy. We see it before our eyes. The child of between nature and grace, darkness and light, Christ'
 darkness sets up a home, takes to himself a wife, be-       and  Belial, righteousness and unrighteousness was
 gets children, rears a family, sets up a business, opens solved.' What may thet solution be? This we learn
 a bank, hold office in church and state, cultivates the from the professor's comment on Dr. Stob's address:
 sciences and arts. There is no department of life were `*With  conviction Dr. Stob reiterated the Calvinistic
 he is not found; no institution that is not seen to take    position that religion and. culture (and thug nature
 on form in him. He works his way into every nook            and grace} light and darkness, righteousnegs  and un-
 and corner of this complex of the earthy., He sehemes       righteouspess,  G. M. 0.) must live together peacefully
 and strives and bends every e.gort  in his vile ambition in holy wedlock, a union which can be achieved only in
 to  g&n the earth; and in this he is altogether success-    Christ through divine grace."
 ful. The earth is his. The resources of the earth arc'         So then, the fundamental problem was, What rela-
 his. Power is his. influence, honor and fame are his.       tion must, should, culture (without religion) and reli-
 Bl;t the sad fact is that the earthy - the family, the      gion, nature and grace, that is, darkness and light, the
 church,  the state, industry, science, art, commerce  - wicked and the saint, hell and heaven, sustain to each
 as it takes on form in him? is as debased and vile as he other? And the solution: They must not be separated
 and exhibits all the wanton corruption that is lurking but must marry and be one in Christ. This then is the
 in his bosom. The earthy as the children of darkness solution that is the  fruitage of mighty thinking. This
 establish themselves in it, is also nature without grace. solution however contains in itself another problem.
    The earthy, nature, by itself is not sin. How can it Righteousness, says the apostle, has no fellowship with
 be, if it be God's creature. In opposition to the  Ana-     unrighteousness.     Light has noI communion with dark-
 haptist, we must maintain that sin and nature as also       ness.     How will they then live peaceably together?
 grace and nature is a false contrast, that the ethical         For this problem these mighty thinkers (and
 opposite of grace is not nature but sin  ; that therefore mighty thinkers they were. I would be the last to deny
 the earthy, nature, need not, yea, may not be forsaken.     this) also had a solution. They insisted that the chil-
 Rightly considered, it cannot be  f&s&en. The duty dren of darkness, devoid of the life of regeneration,
 of the believer in respect to the earthy is to think, will, are relatively or partially light. This is the theory of
 desire, live and act from the principle of regeneration common grace, a theory that spells the destruction of
 in whatever place of the earthy the Lord stations him the antithesis and wipes out the spiritual-moral differ-
 in oyder that the earthy in so far as he has established    ence between the church and then world, saint and sin-
 himself in it, may exhibit the glory of God. The earthy ner, light and darkness, Athens, Babylon and Jerusa-
 as laid hold.on by the believer is also the natural with    lem. Having made over Athens into Jerusalem, the
 grace.                                                      theory (common grace) can recommend that the two
    As was said, the author with whose article we here marry and insist and assure that a peaceable life in
 have to do, set nature and grace before his eye as          (holy) wedlock will ensue. Such are the solutions the
 separated. .For he speaks of nature and grace and the professor defines as the glories  of  Dutch Calvinism in
 relation between the two.     In his writing, the term which he takes a just and lasting pride. 0, the folly
 nature must therefore stand for graceless nature and of it.                                              G. M. 0.

                                                                                                                  c


