                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   ;BEARER                                         397a
           No Biased Presentation                          port the idea of common grace, would lhstve
                                                           Keen profitable.  After all, this question, as
                                                           well as all other fundamental questions, will
   In my report, in the last two numbers of our paper,     have to be decided upon the basis, chiefly, of
of the conference that was recently held of some Chris-    Holy Writ!  I say all this not in the spirit
tian .Reformed  and Protestant Reformed brethren, I        of rancor but of love!
(promised that I would write a few words about the           I  also,  object to the statement that the
objections  ti,hich were urged by the Rev. Mr. Hendrik-    Synod of Kalamazoo officially adopted the
sen against my essay, read at the conference.                                                                      .
                                                           views of Dr. A. Kuyper Sr. as expressed in his
   The reader will remember that I stated how that         work  De  Gemeene Gratie.
the  brotiher in the noon-hour had hastily written down      In conclusion, if there is ever to be another
some objections, read ithem in the afternoon session,      conference between the  t~wo groups I hope it
and when asked by undersigned to motivate them, re-        ,will  be of an officid character.
fused on the ground that he had to leave the meeting.
   Since then the  brother  explained himself in a per-
sonal letter w.hich in fairness to him and to myself I
here publish in full:                                        I twice stated that I would have to leave
    Dear Brother :                                         after reading the paper: the reason being an
                                                           urgent call to the hospital and a catechism
       For the sake of fairness I-enclose a  copy  of      class at  4 o'clock. You will recall that I re-
     "my reaction to your address." Here it is :           ferred to this already in the morning when
       With due respect for the excellent, system-         someone suggested my name as secretary.
     atic presentation of the tihealogical  views held     I stated  it again, more definitely, before read-
     by Rev. Hoeksema, for the clear manner in             ing "my reaction to your paper."         Hence,
     which these ideas were set forth, I am never-         I was not in a position to start a discussion
     theless of the opinion that, for the time being,      with you after reading my paper as you
     efforts. at reunion with the Protestant Re-           seemed to desire.  I had to leave.
     formed group  appeafdoomed  to failure                  Hence, I take this opportunity. to answer
       I base this opinion upon the fact that Rev.         your question with respect to what impressed
     Hoeksema has told us that we would either             me as the biased  charaoter  of your historical
     have to retract the three points and confess          review. In this connection there ,were several
     that we erred or would have to convince the           things that impressed me but I shall mention
     Protestant Reformed Church of its error in            only two, especially seeing that I do not have
     rejecting them.                                       a copy of your paper.
       I also demur to the statement made at the             Flirst of all, then, ,why did you present the
     close of the historical review of the common          common grace controversy as just an after-
     grace controversy, namely, that with this             math of the Janssen controversy? Is that a
     summary we can all agree. On the contrary,            true presentation of the case? Is it not true
     I regard that review as being a biased pre-           that some of the chief.opponents  of Dr. Jans-
     sentation of what happened during the years           sen also opposed your views in  writing? I re-
     preceding, let us say, 1926. I feel convinced         fer to such men as Prof. L. Berkhof,  Rev., H.
     that  the review of an impartial observer             J. Iluyper,  Dr. Y. P. De Jong, etc.
     would tell a somewhat different story.                   Secondly, in giving the statistics of your
       Again, noth,ing  in the paper of Rev. Hoek-         group, why did you not mention the manner
     sema  - with much of  <which we can, of               in which these congregations were estab-
     course, heartily agree - has in any way con-          lished : the way in which your group conducts
     vinced me that there is no common grace               its missionary activity within the churches
     (Point I of t!he Three Points) ._ Statements          of our denomination? See the article by Rev.
     of the character "wij meenen':  and "wij hou-         H. J. Kuiper in a `recent issue of Tibe Banner.
     den staande" mean little `to me unless the            -As long as this continues, how can we
     ideas to which they refer are based upon a            unite ?
     careful  analysis  and synthesis of pertinent            I do not care to enter into a lengthy con-
     Scr;ipture  passages.    A careful exegesis of        troversy.    Henlee,   l?his will be all. Let us
     Matt. 5:43 and following verses in connec-            from both sides seek a real, true reconcilia-
     tion with Luke 6 :27 and following verses             tion. Be assured of the fact that the doctrine
     (especially verses 35 and 36)) and of many            of God's sovereign grace in the salvation of
     similar Scripture-passages which clearly sup-         sinners unto His glory is dear to us all. Let


398                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R ,

        us quit calling each other names,  wh&her               I also stated in my paper before the conference, that
        Anabaptists  or  Artinians. Let us consider          before 1920 no one opposed my views on common
        one another as brethren in Christ, forgiving         grace.     Can brother Hendriksen gainsay this? He
        and forgetting past grievances and earnestly         cannot.
        endeavoring to seek each other's welfare. As            I  furt;`her  stated that opposition  broike loose in cdn-
        far as we xe personally concerned, come and          nection  wi;th the Janssen controversy. Can the brother
        see us at any time. You are welcome.                 deny this?  He,cannot.
               Most sincerely your brother in Christ,           I could have stated more. I could, ,without  f&r of
L                                                            contradiction and without distorting facts, have stated
                               Wm. Hendriksen:               that Dr. Janssen and his friends led the attack upon
       I reply as follows:                                   me. Brother Hendriksen .asks me: "Is it not true that
       Above this article I wrote: "No Biased Presenta- some of the chief tipponents  of Dr. Janssen also op-
tion", because this is the sole point in the objections      posed your views  irk  writing? I refer to such men as
of the Rev. Mr. Hendriksen to which-I wish to reply.         Prof. L. Berkhof, Rev. H. J.  Kuitper,  Dr. Y. P. De
       The  otiher  objections I consider of minor import- Jong, etc."
ance.  1:t would, for instance, have been quite out of          .I answer: Yes, -brother Hendriksen, that is true,
place to treat M&t. 5:45 in a Paper  that merely meant but 1. This does not in the least  detract from the truth
to be an introduction, to draw general lines, and in of my statement that the opposition against my views
which no texts were treated at all. Why I should have on "common grace", `though these were published long
treated the one text mentioned by the brother, I fail        before, did not break loose until the time of the  Jans-
to see.                                                      sen controversy and  w&s led merely  ,by Janssen-men.
       But t!he objection that I gave a biased presentation This was in- 1920. 2. The brother must not forget
of the historic $a& I must answer. In the first place, that while I was being attacked by these men I was
it was on this point tiat 11 asked the brother to state      co-editor of "T,he Witn&s"  of which Prof. L. Berkhof
his reasons at the conference and to which he refused        was editor-in-chief, and also such men as Dr. Volbeda,
Ito reply. In the second  iplace,  I consider the objection Dr. Y. P. De Jong and Rev: H. J. Kuiper were ediltors.
of a biased presentation of historic facts more or less I remained editor with them of the same publication
of an accusation, which I cannot allow to go unchal-         until after the synod of 1922,  *where  Dr. Janssen was
lenged. And in the third place,  I consider the accusa- deposed. 3. The brother must not forget that during
tion so far from. the truth, that I here &ate:  if the       those years Dr. Janssen accused not only the under-
presentation were biased,  irt certainly was in favor signed, but also the very men whom the brother men-
of the Christian Reformed brethren. Much of what tions as having written against me, of deviating, un-
I  migti have mentioned I purposely omitted, in order        reformed views on the matter of "common grace".
not to divert the attention  fpom the main issue at the      If he has need of refreshing his memory on This point,
conference. I assure the brother objector that  I can let him read the brochure: "Waar het in de zaak Jans-
Yvrite a very black page (black for the Christian Re-        sen om gaat", signed by the four professors, Berkhof, *
formed  Chunch  and  i$s leaders) about that history,        Heyns, Ten Hoor and Volbeda ,and by the four minis-
without being biased cin the sense that in any way I         ters, Danhof, De Jong, Kuiper and Hoeksema. 4. I
distort  ,the facts.                                         must remind  &he brother that in those days, the same
       I was very much surprised when  I heard the men wrote in the brochure mentioned above : "Dr. Jans-
brother's objections.                                        sen kan. het weten, dat al de mannen, die hij daar op
       And I am still more surprised now I know the          het oog heeft, staan op den bodem der confessie, oak
reasons for his objection on this point.                     degenen onder den, die vemchillen  van de gangbare
       The first objection is, that 1 present the common     opvattinig  der Gemeene  gmtie".        Thus wrote Prof.
grace  contiovery  as "just an aftermath of the Janssen      Berkhof, Prof. Volbeda, Dr. De Jong, the Rev. H. J.
controvery."                                                 Kuiper in 1922! At the conference Dr. De Jong stated
       This objection is not true at all. Fact is that  1 that ihe really intended to protest on the floor of the
plainly state in my essay, that I wrote about "common synod of 1924 against the statement that the brethren
grace" in connection with an increasing manifestation Danhof and Hoeksema were fundamentally reformed.
of the spirit of worldly mindedness in the churches,         Prof. Berkhof took a very active part in our condem-
long before  t!here was a Janssen controvery, or, at         nation.    Prof. Volbeda had no objection against it.
least, the  unders`igned  had any  part-in it. I took no But two years before, though the breQren  Danhof and
active interest in the Janssen controvery until after Hoeksema had not changed their views one whit in
the Synod of 1920. It was long before that time that those two years, these  Hame brethren wrote that  Dan-
I wrote about  "commqn  grace" and stated my  ob-            hof and Hoeksema stood on the very bottom of the
,jections  against the current  view.                        confession !


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                     399
         I could have mentioned these facts in my paper at
     the conference.                                                             Schrijven Van Dr. Schilder
         I could also, perhaps, have attempted to answer the           We ontvingen het volg&de  schrijven van Dr. Ii.
     question: why did.these brethren change their attitude Schilder :
     towards us after the Janssen-case  ,was settled?  It
     would not  (have looked very  nice,  I assure brother                                             Kampen, 5 Mei, 1939.
     Hendriksen                                                       Geachte Redactie,
.        But I did none of these things.
        ,And so 1 would advise the brother to regard my                        Nu ik wederom tot mijn gewonen arbeid
     review of the history of the "common grace" contro-                     heb mogen  terugtkeeren  is het mij een  be-
     versy as being very favorable to the Christian Reform-                  hoefte, langs dezen weg alsnog mijn groote
     ed brethren, and not to provoke me to tell everything                   dankbaarheid uit te spreken jegens  allen die
     I know.                                                           mij tijdens  mijn verblijf in de Vereenigde
         The second objection to my review of trhe history                   Staten van Amerika hun gastvrijheid  lhebben
     is that I did not describe the manner in which our                      willen bewijzen. Dit is op velerlei wijze ge-
     Protestant Reformed churches were established.                          .schied ; en steeds was daarbij opvallend  de
         In as far as this objection contains the insinuation                groote vriendelijkheid en ongekunstelde  een-
     that the manner in  wlxich  our congregations were                      voud.
     established cannot stand the light of day, I deny this                    Ret is mij onmogelijk,  allen  die mij als
     most emphatically. Let the brother but mention a                        gastheer (of gastvrouw) het verblijf in
     single fact in this connection,land  I will answer him.                 Amerika veraangenaamd hebben,  persoon-
         But as to the question itself  tihe answer is very                  lijk te danken. Daarom doe ik het langs de-
     plain: because such a detailed report would have no                     zen weg.
     place in an introductory paper as I delivered at the                      Het verblijf onder  u  allen  is, geloof ik, ook
     conference. Justly I would  ,have been accused of hav-                  voor mijn eigen leven van groote beteekenis
     ing no sense of proportion, had I attempted to give                     geweest, en heeft mij de oogen geopend voor
     a description of the history of the origin of each of                   veel verhoudingen die  1%  6f niet kende  6f
     our churdhes.                                                           slechts  vermoedde. Het zal mij een vreugde
         Finally, let the brother read my "History of the                    zijn, aan het eerste kwartaal van 1939 steeds
     Protestant Reformed Churches". He twill find all the                    terug te denken;  en ik Ihoop den dank jegens
     desired information.                                               God, Die mij deze reis geschonken heeft, ook
         Brother Hendriksen has, af course, the perfect right                concreet te  Iaten  bllijven in het gevoel van
     to space in our paper, if he should have further ob-                    erkentelijkheid jegens Zijn instrumenten.
     jections.                                                                   Met vriendelijken dank voor de plaatsing,
         For the present, let the above suffice.                                                                   K. Schilder.
                                                        H. H.          We verz&eren  Dr. Schilder, dat voorzoover als de
                                                                   groep, die door  ens. blad wordt vertegenwoordigd, iets
                                                                   mocht  doen,  om zijn verblijf in ons land te veraange-
                                 NOTICE                            namen,  het ons een genoegen was.
                                                                       Op zijn Engelsch zeggen we: "the pleasure was all
         The Sunday School mission Publishing  Socierty            ours."                                                     H. II.
     wishes to announce that the following paniphlets  w)rit-
     ten by Rev. H. Hoeksema are still available: Jesus
     Saviour, Biblical Grounds for Baptism of Infants,                                       IN MEMORIAM
     The Antichrist, The Prayers of all Saints.                     ~ The  Priscila Society  hereby  expresses its sympathy with
         In the past some of the orders received were not three oi! its members, Mrs. J. 4. &hut, Mrs. H. A. Schut and
     tiled promptly  ; this was due to the sudden change of Mrs. A. `I'aisma,  in the loss of their sister,
     address on the part of one of the committee  ,members.
     The Sunday School Mission Publishing Society wishes                         MRS. D. HOVINGA  - Martha De Iiraker
     to  arpobgize  in case your order was not received as soon. who passed away on April 28, 1939, at the age of fourty-three
     as you had expected  it.                                      years.
         Orders sent to                                                May the God of ail mercy comfort the bereaved.
           "The Sunday School. Mission. Pu,blishing  Society"                               The Prot.  Ref. Ladies -Aid of
                                  849 Oakhill  St., S. E.                                   Hudsonville,  Mich.
                                  *Grand Rapids, Michigan                                         Rev. John D. de Jong, Pres.
     will be  filled without delay,                                                               MIX John D. de Jong, Ass. Sec.


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        406
-
niet vertraagt, en dus niet uitstelt, ofschoon sommigen
het  we1  aldus beschouwen.  Doch,  inplaats van het                   Re The Proposed Reunion
alzoo te verklaren, dat de Heere nog niet komt om hen
te verlossen, moeten ze verstaan, dat de Heere lank-            Yes, there is also such a thing as denominational
moedig  is. Dat wil ook hier dus zeggen, dat God, naar ~&u!orn. (First italics mine ; second the Rev. G. Hoek-
Zijn groote liefde over Zijn volk, hen gaarne aanstonds sema's. See The Banner, April 27, 1939, page 391.)
zou  willen verlossen,  doch dat Hij Zijne liefde  uit-         And I would add the softly spoken wish : would that
rekt, tot den tijd, dat  alle uitverkorenen  zullen  zijn you promoted and followed it with a view to the matter
ingegaan in de zaligheid. Ge  Ihebt hier weer hetzelfde in question.
als in de gelijkenis van den onrechtvaardigen rechter.          Wisdom, Divine wisdom, is the choosing of the best
Gods volk moet veel lijden. En in zijn lijden verlangt means and the best ways to arrive at the most wonder-
het naar de toekomst des Heeren. Het bidt om  Chris- ful end, namely, the glorification of the Triune God
tus' haastige komst. En als dat gebed niet aanstonds Who is blessed forever!
wordt verhoord, ,klagen ze, dat de belofte door God ver-        This wisdom does not consist in returning to the
traagd wordt. Doch even als in de gelijkenis van den "precious calm" as the above mentioned minister of
onrechtvaardigen rechter, wordt de gemeente ook hier Christ puts it. That calm refers to the history of the
verzekerd, dat God haar  lhaastelijk  recht  doen zal, dat Christian Reformed Churches of 1924-1939. That
Hij de belofte  met vertraagd, ofschoon Hij lankmoedig "calm" is dangerous, inimically dangerous, for your
is over haar.                                               churches ; while on the contrary: the "disturbing a
     Doch voeg hier nu, in de  plaats  van het woord        church that was at rest on the matter", (i.e., Common
lankmoedig, weer in de omschrijving van Ds. Zwier,          Grace) is wisdom indeed, Reverend  !'
en ge zult zien, dat de tekst geen zin heeft. "De Heere        We have finally  arrived at a stage in the history
vertraagt de belofte niet, gelijk sommigen dat traag-       of the Reformed Churches where it can be easily
heid a&ten,  doch  neemt een houding aan van sparende proven to the constituency of the Christian Reformed
goedheid jegens ons, Zijn strafwaardige gemeente,           Churches that there is something radically wrong with
niet willende,  ,dat eenigen verloren gaan, maar dat ze both the declarations of the Synod of  I924 and the
allen  tot bekeering komen.                                 history of the deposition of the three ministers and
     Dat zou zin noch beteekenis !hebben.                   their consistories.
     Ook hier wordt de gemeente niet gezien als  straf-        This is clear on the very surface of things.
waardig en voorwerp van Gods rechtvaardigen toorn,             First : Prof Dr. K. Schilder's actions. These actions
maar als voorwerp  van de liefde Gods, en als in lijden     may he summarized as follows : 1) He has investigated
verkeerend in het  midden der wereld.                       the writings of our side. He, and quite a few other
     En God. zegt  niet tot die gemeente: "Ik moest u       leaders in the Netherlands Reformed Churches with
eigenlijrk straffen vanwege uwe zonden, maar Ik zal him, have carefully followed all that the Rev. H. Hoek-
u nog tijdelijk  sparen."                                   sema has wri,tten in the Standard Bearer on the Re-
     Maar Hij zegt tot haar : "Ik verlos u zoo spoedig formed truth generally and the truth with regard to
mogelijk en  vertraag  de belofte niet, maar ge moet        so-called Common Grace and our history of Protestant
nog een weinig-lijdzaamheid  betoonen, totdat de tijd Reformed Churches in particular. We know this  to be
voor uwe eindelijke verlossing rijp is."                    a fact. 2) He has reacted favorably in that hc gave
     Dezelfde gedachte vinden we ook uitgedrukt in the columns of t.he "Reformatie"  for the voice of the
Jak. 5 :`i': "Z,oo zijt dan lankmoedig,  broeders 1 tot de "Standard Bearer" also. And at more than one occa-
toekomst des Heeren. Ziet, de landman verwacht de sion he exegeted texts, used to bolster a so  .called
kostelijke vrucht des lands,  lankmoedig  zijnde over       Common Grace, in harmony with our view. I would
dezelve, totdat het den vroegen en spaden  regen zal like to recall one striking instance. And in this con-
hebben ontvangen. Wee&  gij ook lankmoedig,  ver- nection I would say that I am aware of the fact that
sterkt uwe  harten, want de toekomst des Heeren the matter I have in mind only concerned the exegesis
g e n a a k t " .                                           of one text (Isaiah 26  :10) ;  stih, the expression of the
     Hoe weinig hier de omschrijving van Zwier zou learned Doctor when also he exegeted  this text is strik-
passen,  behoeft  niet duidelijk gemaakt te  worden.        ing. He said, when speaking of the Rev. Hoeksema's
Ieder verstaat dit aanstonds.                               interpretation : "Ds. Hoeksema heeft gelijk". (That
     Zwier gaf dus de Schriftuurlijke gedachte van lank-    means in English: "Rev. Hoeksema is right"). You
moedigheid niet weer,  toen   $hij haar omschreef als know, when you have heard for 15 or more years noth-
sparende goedheid jegens strafwaardigen.                    ing else but: Rev. Hoeksema is wrong, it gives you a
                                                            profound shock when reading the very opposite. Re-
     Hij zal zijn  dogma&k zeker  moeten  wijzigen.         member also his exegesis of Rom. 2  :14, 15. 3) He was
     We hebben `hierover nog meer.                          willing to have a conference with Rev. Hoeksema and
                                              H. H.         all our ministers who could attend while the subject of

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

discussion was Common `Grace. I assure you that this Hoeksema's  lorochures,  there have appeared statements
is wonderful. You must remember that from the view- in the Netherlands religious, or rather, Reformed
point of the Christian Reformed Churches we lie in periodicals that hinted at such a conference as was
the gutter. Well, he was willing to join us there (?)         finally held. Remember in this connection the advice
and listen to  ou,r grievances. 4) He voiced the hope of Dr. Greydanus. He also proposed a rediscussion of  I
that we might again unite with the Christian Reformed the .whole  common grace matter, with a v.iew to L;DS-
Churches. And  v&s willing to be present at a confer-         Bible reunion of those  who belonged together.  -4nd
ence of  various  leaders of both church-groups in order very recently we read the ebullition of the Rev. Vreug-
to use his influence for such proposed reunion. And he denhil : "beauti-Eul  perspectives"! I would like to ask
did attend that conference.                                   the  Christian  Reformed leaders to please exegete that
       I ask you with a view to this first matter: Does all phrase and see if they can so explain these "beautiful
this action not show that  th~er.e is something radically persepctives" that we continue to walk around with
wrong with the Common Grace points and our deposi-            the inscription hung around our neck : Heretics! Schis-
,&ion? Remember, on the one  hanId, that Dr. Schilder is matics !
one of the foremost, if not the foremost, of Reformed            Therefore 1 wauld explain the attendance of the
theologians that are living today, so that he was ap- `%.ine",  first of all, to the influence that is broughlt to
pointed to the important chair of Dogmatics by a Re- bear upon them by Dr. S&ilder,  c-s.
formed Synod without  one dissenting vote ; and re-              Neither is that all. I still believe in love of these
member, on the other hand, that he would like to see "nine", as well as of all the ministers of the Christian
us returned in the bosom of the Reformed Churches.            Reformed Churches, c&at they are, children of God,
       Second: the action of the nine ministers of the that they are renewed men, that they have the testi-
Oh~ristian Reformed Chunches  who attended the con- mony of God's truth in their heart, that their con-
ference. And remember that they attended this con- sciences are enlightened by the Word of God and the
ference even though the Rev. H. J. Kuiper had written Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ. I hel.ieve  that of them,
his i.n%mous  article in The ,Banner of March 23. In even though t'hey have sinned against that truth as
that article he enumerated four reasons wh.y we should well as  agtinst  us. And, God, Who never leaves Him-
never unite. And yet they came. Also here I would self without witness, must have often witnessed re-
say that I am fully aware of the fact that some of garding His truth of marvellous  yrace  in the hearts of
them are sorry they attended and that perhaps all of the erring brethren. I cannot believe of them that
them still  think in terms of "Kalamazoo  1924",  but they not often have felt the sting of an  aocusing  voice
that is not the point here. I want to emphasize this:         of God in their conscience regarding their dealings
their coming to  this conference is an admission on their with the truth of grace  and with us: their brethren,
part, and.$hat  in spite of themselves, that all is not as    their Reformed brethren.
it s'hould be with regard to the common grace issue              And I would ask you to unite this second argument
and its history of 1924-1939. And men like the Revs. with  the  first: the voice of  conscien,ce  together with
H. J. Kuiper and G. Hoeksema have felt this. T:he one the voice of the Netherlands Reformed Churches  ; and
says: "The meeting of March  29 would also have been then it is not difficult to see that Rev. Van  Baalen
in order if our Church(es)  had not yet expressed itself writes  th.e letter and the other eight come to  tihe meet-
(themselves) on  tihe common grace issue. in such  a ing.
case an attempt `to see whether a formulation of cer-            Therefore I would say in all kindliness that Rev.
tain  points in dispute can be found which may satisfy G. Hoeksema must refrain from bitter sarcasm and
the leaders of both groups' would not have been out of        Rev. H. J. Kuiper must not place too severe a strain
place. Rut we have (t formulation of the points in dis- on his conscience. It would be well for the latter to
pute". (Rev. H. J. Kuiper italicizes). And the other grow calm and stare at `that famous quotation in the
(Rev. G. Hoeksema writes succinctly but with biting "Reformatie" where also  his  words are quoted, words
sarcasm  *. "There is also such a thing as denominational that have gathered the dust of sixteen long years. The
,wisdom".      (His italics). The biting sarcasm is to be same Kuiper who notw multiplies words to keep his
found in the word ,wisdom  as ,welil as in its italicized churches from confessing sin, the sin of the "Three
form.      He has judged that the action of the "nine" Points", once sent in substance the following testimony
of Mcarch 29 is crowned folly.                                to his churches: "Although the Revs. H. Danhof and
       Still, Rev. G. Hoeksema  is wrong. The attendance H. Hoeksema differ from the current view on common
of the nine ministers springs from better motives. grace they nevertheless stand squarely on the Reformed
There is the influence of Dr. Schilder first of  all. Xe      Confessions". You must consider this in the light of
has stressed reunion and denominated continued separ- the  faot   that the Rev. Hoeksema at that time already
ation as sinful. Also there are the voices in the Nether- deaelbped the line of the Biblical conception of grace
lands press. As far back as the thoughts of Dr. Impeta,       which we still hold to. And published it abroad in
and even before his kindly evaluation of the Rev. "`Uhe Banner".


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                             407
,               ..-~  -                  __-,_  - .._             _.-..--  -._                 ."....                    -.--.------- ._--
     You see, dear reader, that on the very surface of
things it has become clear that there is something very                                       Prophecy Ful'f illed
fundamentally wrrong  with {the Three Points and the
history of our  depo+sition.  Of course, I admit that                                                                 Acts 2 : I&18.
those who lived through  the history of the Common                                One of the most diflicult feasts to celebrate is the
Grace controversy have known this right along. But                       feast of Pentecost.             Difficult because of its unique
I write this with a view to those that either did not                    character. A wind is heard that does not blow, a fire
make the history with us or who simply accepted'thc                      that does not burn, and a speech that was never heard
declarations of the Christian Reformed ministers that before. It is the feast where all is so- extremely dificult
Hoeksema was wrong. This latter `attitude is almost to understand. Intangible are the signs, their mean-
universally expressed by the constituency of the Chris-                  ings and also their applications. For, after the signs
tian Reformed membership. Now they can see before are seen and heard the multitude asks: `What mean&h
their very eyes, even without the bothersome  ( ?) task                  this'? while others mocked. Mockecl, because Pentecost
of delving into the record of all that has been written, brings to light two spiritual powers. The power from
that after all the Protestant Reformed Churches are                      above, descending upon the Church here below and
not as completely heretical as they were  taug%t  to be- praising God for His mighty works, and the power
lieve.    Everyone can now clearly see  &hat: 1) the of dgankncss,  not being satisfied ,with the perfect revela-
Netherland Reformed Churches, even if not officially, tion of God. For the power of darkness, always being
still through representative leaders, take commendable centered around itself, denies  Ithe great works of God.
recognizan,ce  of us ; and 2) some of the very representa-               They may be stricken with fear  fo; a moment, but
tive leaders of the Christian Reformed Churches were when danger ~5s passed they will manifest their bold-
willing to come to a meeting whose  puppose  was to                      ness anew. What after all is a  soun& that cannot
talk reunion with the Protestant Reformed Churches.                      be explained and a fire that gives no- heat? And what
     This is seen by the laymen (thus the Rev. H. J.                     difference does iit make whether man makes use of his
Kuiper styles his members) ; and they remember that own tongue or speaks in a different language?                                        .-
the Protestant Reformed leaders were cast out on the                              The same is true of every-day life. The power that
basis of Article 80 of the Chup& Order.                                  is revealed, in the mighty works of God is minimized.
     Nothing positive in the matter of reunion may And  then whole race is divided in two groups; the ones
come of all these currents and cross-currents  ; I would who are for and those who are against God and His
be surprised if there would ; nevertheless I am glad anointed. When the revelation of Go& comes to man
all this `happened.                                                      the race is divided into two groups: the  children  of
     The reasons for my gladness are: 1) that much light and the children of darkness. Man is for or
heralded "rest" and period of "calm" in the Christian against. A third possibility is impossible.
Reformed Churches is disturbed. Glad, because  wc                                 On the day of Pentecost this is clearly revealed
are convinced that this calm and rest is the rest a9 when the Holy Spirit is poured out. The eleven sseak,
stagnation: 2) t!hat from this disturbance much good inspired by the Spitit,.  with different tongues. Thy
may come and under God's blessing much good will                         sneak concerning the wonderful works of God, which
come for the Christian Reformed Churches. It may He wrou,ght  through Christ.
lead to conviction of sin and a better insight into the                           T,he world also speaks, accusing the Church of
marvellous  grnce  of God;  3) and it has already  I'&d                  being filled with new wine. The well known weapons
to the enjoyment' by us of closer fellowship with those of mockery and slander are employed to ridicule the
w%o are Reformed, both in the Netherlands and here;                      events  of the great and powerful revel&ion of God.
~4) and, finally, our influence is extended in ever widen- Of course, there ,is nothing strange in this. Man by
ing circles among those who love Reformed  truth.                        nature w.ill deny God and His Christ. Man will always
     I know that we are bidden to be patient; that WC reveal who he is, because in such things he cannot be
must wait for that blessed time  Mnhen  all darkness and                 neutral. For it is either or; for or against. Peter,
error shall have been expelled and all God's children                    standing  wi& the eleven, shall answer the mockers and
shall walk in the light of God's countenance. I know refute their arguments. Yes. sometimes it is better
all that ; and still we would like to see more of it here ;              to remain silent, and as a rule it is a more eVectdve
we would like to see Ephraim and Judah united in their                   weapon, when man attacks us. We should not make
stand against Philistia and Edom. And on  the basis too much of it and rile back when mockery is the in-
of Truth. It is also our duty to seek such blessed union strument that intends to hurt us, but on this blessed
as much as in us lies.                                                   day it was not a question of man over aqainst  man. bllt
     Thcerefore  we wrote this. And we would consider the  vork of the Holy Spirit is the obje-t of ridicule
it kindness on the part of those who read this to  juge                  and t%erefore  an answer rn~t be given.
me in the light' of that motive,                                                  .From  a certain  pain% of view Peter is the leader
                                                         G. v.           who *shall answer the `enemies and he shall dp it with

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

  their own arguments.         His testimony shall be the they must be willfing to admit that they knew what
  testimony of the whole Church. We do well to take          it was all about. .It is not true when we say they did
 note that this fearless champion is ready to testify in not know, for they did know. Peter refers to the Old
such a way that the enemies will never try again,            Testament Scriptures. More particularly to Joel. Joel
  in his presence to mock again.                             spake about the things that happened at Jerusalem in
         How simple is his approach. Let us, for this is     no uncertain terms. That we must note first of all.
  the meaning, let us be reasonable about your accusa-       How important it is to maintain any given circum-
  tion. (I believe Peter had his eyes fixed on the scoffers stance, as far as. the basis is concerned, the Scripture.
  when he spoke) and examine your charges for just a Especially when our opponents are acquainted with  the
  moment. 0, how simple are tis words and at the same S c r i p t u r e s .
  time how accusing. Peter could have started out with           Peter refers boldly to the Scriptures because he
  all kinds of arguments, but  `he simply says let us  con- speaks to men of Jerusalem. And Jerusalem should
  aider your grievances. You say these men are drunk, know concerning the Scriptures. The world does not
  filled with wine? You mean to tell me that they are know, but Jerusalem does. And in referring to the
  perhaps used to drinking and now have forgotten them- Scriptures it will not be difficult to explain this great
  selves ? Peter realizes that they are far away from holiday of the pvuring out of $he Holy Spirit. Without
  the spiritual things. .Hence,  leaving the spiritual rest the lighlt of the Word the feasts of the Church loose
  for a moment, let us argue from your own point of their significance. And in the case of the Jews it proved
  view. So let this be known, no man is foolish enough how far away they lived from their own Scriptures.
  to start drinking at such an early hour.                   Had not Joel spoken concerning these things? He
         Moreover, granting their arguments, that it is prophesied  concern.ing the latter days  as to the end
  possible to be filled with wine at such an hour, Peter of the shadows. True it is, Joel's prophecy did not
  asks, do such people gather for the purpose of prayer? keep all the features of this great feast rigidly separate,
  Explain what is happening from your own point of for that is the case with every one of the prophets.
  view, but dare you or any one maintain, that ever man They received, so to speak the broad announcement,
  came together for the purpose of prayer in such a the whole and not every particular part. They them-
  condition?  Ganst  thou conceive of a better explana- selves did not understand their prophecy to the full
  tion? Let me prove to you, from your own point of as is plain from the  foIllowing  `Of which salvation the
  view that your arguments .cannot be maintained in prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who
  view of this early hour.                                   prophesied of the grace that &ould  come unto you:
         `Be this known unto you and hearken to my words'. Searching what, ar what manner of time the Spirit
         Peter means to say, the way you try to explain the of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testi-
  miracIes just seen and heard will -never do. But let fied beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory
  me inform you concerning all that has happened in this that should follow'. Thus it was concerning the  Sav-
  early morning hour.         ,.                             iour as the incarnated Word and the suffering to follow
         Remember, Peter does not speak to strangers but and the glory for the Church (Isaiah's prophecy). So
  to Jews and men of Jerusalem. His preaching is posi- iIt is `here. Joel spoke of the great day of the Lord to
  tive. He speaks to the seed of Abraham. Peter con- come and in that light of his prophecy an undeniable
  fines himself to the Scriptures. Thart is, to the revela- reality became manifest of the fulfillment of what was
  tion of God. Not in any wisdom of this world should said before. Men of Jerusalem cannot plead ignorance
  anyone find its foundation, but in the revelation of God. on this basis and they must confess : This is the day.
  Without it there cannot .be surety. We will fail in our       Of the last days it is spoken. It may mean, from'
  attempt to take the position that our enemies should be our point of view, the days immediately before  the
  met in their own territory. Never attempt to  pIace second coming of the Lord. And we know that also
  yourself on their basis. No. But always reserve the the last days are included. But as far as the feast is
  right to argue from the point of view of the Word concerned it refers first of all to the day of Pentecost.
  of your God. There is your foundation that will make Christ was crucified, raised from the dead and ascended
  the argument possible and convincing. If then you must into heaven. And to crucify the Lord, to mark Him
  seemingly 8100se before the enemy, which by the way, as a deceiver, makes it impossible to understand this
  never happens, all is lost w.hen one does not cling to great day of Pentecost. But  it does not change the
  the Scrtptures.                                            prophecy of Joel. And the important fact, prophesied
     Peter refers his audience to the Scriptures. He before, that the Spirit was to be poured out upon all
  may expect a common basis even from the side of the flesh  is to them of great importance.  In Joel's day
  scoffers.  I  .know  that they did not understand him the Spirit was not upon all, but upon some. Only a
  spiritually, but that does not make `any difference. few knew concerning the plan of salvation, And not  a,
  They most assuredly understood these things intel- great, but a small number of prophets instructed the
  lectually? Apart whether this is a question of favor, people of God. First of all, because the people were


                                       THEf.STANDARD   B E A R E R                                                      409
-
not of a mind to serve the Lord and consequently could       ture. Besides, in such cases all this bombast is un-
not understand the Word of the Lord with a view of                intelligent and never in harmony with the Scriptures.
the day that was to come. And secondly, because the                  But the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon all flesh
prophecy itself was clothed in such language that it              results in young men who do not desire to serve the
demanded spiritual effort to somewhat grasp its mean-             world. They understand spiritually the Word of God,
ing.                                                              love it and they live.
     Hence, God's people found no relief except that                 Daughters whose souls are not filled with the
the prophecy  comfarted  them:  Tt will come, it shall            pleasures of the world, clinging to the Word of their
not be th.is way forever. And it came to pass. Liter-             God.
ally Peter says, referring to Joel's prophecy, it is me-             Old men who are filled with the salvation of the
a&cd now! Now  it is realized that the Spirit is poured Lord.
out without measure. The power of the Holy Spirit                    And all of it in subjection to the Word of God.
descended upon all of them. The fire upon the congre- Visions not of false and vain ideals. But the visions
gation, the speaking with different tongues, are as               in perfeot harmony with that Word alone, visions re-
so many proofs of th,is great fulfilment. &Z received ceived through the Spirit `from the Lord.
instead of a few. All flesh was to be partaker. No                   They prophesy.         Being  filled with the Word of
Songer a seIect  few. No longer confined to one people.           their desire, holy desire :is fixed  upon the final corn-'
No longer confined to prophet and priest. But every               ing of their Lord, expecting the New Jerusalem that
one small and great shall partake of Christ's work.          shal1 descend from heaven,
The servant of the Old developed into the son of the                 Hence, servants and  haedmaidens.  Which does
New Dispensation on the day of Pentecost.                    not mean to distinguish between one and the other, but
        That is the excellency of Pentecost!                 serves as a distinction of equality. My servants and
        All received the Spirit, even as Moses prayed so my handmaidens. One who belongs to the company
many centuries before, 0, that they all were prophets        of the saints is first of all a servant and handmaid.
,i.s now fulfilled. This is clear from the text. It does          For although he is at the same time a friend of God,
no longer speak of the aged alone (certain  office-          nevertheless this is not at the expense of being a ser-
bearers) of rich and poor. No, it speaks of sons and              vant.
daughters, of servants and handmaidens and thus upon                 And  togethw they prophesy.
all flesh, according to character and talents, the Spirit            They speak in connection with present and future
shall make his abode with them. One people prophecy-         of  their.hope  and their ,peace, theirs through liberty in
ing and seeing the wonderful ward of God.                    Christ Jesus.
        The result of this outpouring shall be that "your            To the end, that He alone may be great in the
sons and daughters. shall prophesy,  a.nd your young men Church and through Him God shall be praised for
shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams'. ever and ever, when the day shall be fulfilled in H.is
Not&e how revelation was given in the Old Dispensa- return upon the clouds of heaven.
tion: Prophecy, Visions and Dreams were the ardinary                                                           w. v.
means employed by the Lord to make known unto His
people His eternal council. Being  fYled with the Word
of God, prophecy signified the rare and excellent gift
of understanding.        Every individual in the Church
of God, in connection with the whole of the Church                               The Image Of God
shall understand and thus know the Lord. The con-
gregation of Christ knows all things.  AI1 the  riches                           (Reply to Rev. D. Zwier)
are bestowed upon it, because all is prepared for them               Zwier does not favor the distinction "image of God
by their Christ and all that is necessary to be known             in the formal sense". "Image of God in the material
by them. The thoughts of the Lord, the whlole  of His             sense".    He prefers the old terminology, "Image of
revelation is given, through the Spirit, to her.                  God in the narrower sense". "Image of God in the
        Not as some would have it. Now as yet dreamed, ,broader  sense".
visions and prophecies. In the sense as it is practised      ;       What objection has the reverend to the new termin-
by certain sects, who separating themselves from  the             ology? We learn this from the following language
Word of God, claim new visions and dreams and pro- from his pen, "But the question is whether after the
phesies. This would mean that again the Church is                 fall man remained the image of God simply in the
placed under tutors and teachers,  wai,ting  for maturity. formal sense, so that absolutely nothing remained to
In other words, it means a return to the Old Dispensa- him of the image of God in the material sense. -.
tion. Which in turn is a denial of the wonk of the Holy              "As our readers will understand (Zwier continues)
Spirit and the pouring out of all the benefits of salva-          this conception is agreeable to the trend of  ,thought
tion; and  ,is also a denial of the completeness of Scrip- of those who deny common grace There is no room


410                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEAR&R
-
in their philosophical-theological system for the small        Let me quote again from the "referaat", "For a
remnants. According to them the vessel is still there spiritual-ethical breach was made in the relation of
but it is empty."                                          man to God. The life of his heart was subverted into
       So, then, from this language it appears that Zwier's its very opposite. The working of the image of God,
objection to the expression "imagge  of God in the formal whereby he with mind and will and all his strength
sense" is that it does not include or cover the small      went out to God in the state of rectitude, was turned
remnants. Let me now ask. a question : Whose con- about in its reverse. Upon all this emp'hesis  must be
tention is it that the expression "image of God in the laid. It is  nat sufficient to say that man through the
formal sense" does not cover the "small remnants"? fall lost the image of. God, far less correct is it to say
Is this the contention of  Zwier or of the opponents that he lost that image in part. If this last thought
of common grace? It is Zwier's  contemion.  The op- is the result of the distinction of the image of God
ponents of common grace maintain the very opposite. in the narrower and broader sense, it is better to aban-
They insist that the "image of God in the formal sense" don this distinction. But the image of God is turned
does indeed include the small remnants.                    about in its reverse. Man's light .becomes  darkness, his
     Yet what does Zwier give his readers to under- knowledge changed into the lie, his righteousness be-
stand? That it is also  our contention  that the expres- came unrighteousness and his holiness became impurity
sion  "image   of God in the formal sense"  does not and rebellion in. all ,his willing and inclination. His
cover the "small remnants".                                love changed into enmity against God. Sin is not
                                  This Zwier gives his
readers to understand by telling them that there is no merely a defect or lack, but a privatio aotuosa."
room in our philosophical-theological thoughk-structure       `Here the writer (Hoeksema) plainly states what
for the "small remnants", in other words, by telling man though his fall into sin lost, namely, his original
his readers that the opponents of common grace deny knowledge, righteousnes and holiness. These are gifts
the very existence of the "small remnants".                that form lthe material of the image of God, so that
     This then is what Zwier does: In the beginning of the term "image of God in the formal sense" signifies
his article, he raises the question, "Does the new term that which constitutes fallen man a  rartional moral be-
`of Rev. Hoeksema "image of God in the formal sense" ing. The term thus signifies mans mind and will, what
cover the "small remnants", And what is  Zlwier's          he thinks and wills, in a word, the light of reason,
answer? Virtually it is this, "According to the op- the remnants. In a word, the content which the op-
ponents of common grace, this new term of theirs does      ponents of common grace give to the new terms is
not, yea, cannot, signify the "small remnants". And        identical to the content which the Reformed fathers
this is precisely the reason they prefer this term. It gave  ,to  (the terms in use. Zwier knows this. He knew
cannot be used as a signification of the "small rem-       this when he penned his article.
nants". There is no room in their thought-structure           Having given his readers to understand that his
for these remnants. "You see therefore, my readers, opponents deny the existence of the remnants,  .Zwier
that the new term, as to the content that the opponents again  occupies  himself in his article with the new
of common grace give to it, and want it to have (they terminology. He writes, "These (the small remnants)
deny the existence of the small remnants) is in flag-      are, it shall have to be admitted, not merely formal
rant conflict with our Confession. For our Confession matters. Man has not simply a ,mind .( formal), but
teaches that man after the fall did retain the small rem- also knowledge (material). Man has not simply a will
nants. Our Confession speaks of the glimmerings of         (formal), but also discovers some regard for civic and
natural light, etc."                                       ethical good (material)..
     Here Zwier tells a miserable lie, What he tells          "The conception (Zwier continues) that fallen man
his readers, he  knows to be untrue.  I will prove         has retained something of the image of God in the
this statement. Rev. Hoeksema's "referaat" published formal sense, and that he is totally devoid of the image
in "The Standard Bearer" for April 15, contains these of Cdd in the material sense, is not in agreement with
words, "And, to be sure, fallen man became very limit- our Reformed Confession."
ed in his gifts and powers and natural light, so that         Also this reasoning of Zwier is  ma,rvellously  de-
he has ,retained  merely remnants of natural light. . . ." ceiving. What he actually tells his readers is this:
Mark you, the Rev. Zwier was present in the meeting "The contention (of Hoeksema  anId his colleagues) ,that
on which the writing that contains the above line was the "small remnants" belong to the image of God in
read; Zwier hea%rd this line read. It was read to him. the formal sense and thus do not constitute the material
Besides, he received a copy of "The Standard Bearer" of the image, - this contention is-not in agreement
in which the writing was published. And yet he tells with our confession."
his readers, "There is no room in their philosophical-        No~v  this again is an outrageous untruth. Let
theological thought-structure for the "small remnants". Zwier ,point to a single clause in our confession, which
How  `is it possible!                                      asserts that &he small remnants belong to the material


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         411

 of the image. Zwier himself admits that the terms he still something good in him. Now this cannot satisfy
 criticizes were  new.ly  coined by his opponents (by Rev. our thinking." So far Zwier.
 Noeksema)  . By admitting this, Zwier declares that the          This very last statement of his is significant. It
 terms were not used. by the authors of our creeds.            shows that the two clauses, "Fallen man is totally
 Haw then can `the assertion to the effect that man            depraved, yet there is still something good in `him"
- retained the image of God in  ,the formal sense but stand out in his mind as contradictory, which means
 not in the material sense  as such  be in conflict with our that the last of the two clauses is equivalent to the
 Confession? Whether'or  no the assertion is in conflict -statement, "yet man `is not totally depraved." Also
 with &he Confession depends upon the content that the conjunction yet tells us this. Finally, the fact that
 one gives to the terms in question. If one defines these Zwier could write, "This conception brings no unity
 terms as the opponents of common grace defines them,          in our theological system" again proves that in his
 then the assertion is in full harmony with our confes- thinking the image of God in the broader sense includes
 sion. For then the assertion is to the effect that man a remnant of man's original ,holiness. Therefore Zwier
 lost his original holiness and righteousness but retained also insists that the remnants form the material of the
 the remnants. Tell us Reverend Zwier, is one who              image.
 asserts this in conflict with our confession? Well, now,         Let us now go with Zwier's  criticism to Scripture.
 this is what your opponents declare when they assert To Timothy Paul wrote, "This know also that in the
 that man lost the image in the material sense but re- last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be
 tained it in the formal sense. And you know this lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters. . . . hav-
 reverend. Why do you persist in misrepresenting--your ing a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof"
 opponents? Only when one defines the terms as you             (II Tim.  3 :I@.. Meyer's comment reads, "it (form)
 define them, is one in conflict with the Confession when rather denotes the external form in general. But as
 he declares  th& man lost the image of God in the             Paul contrasts it here with power, it acquires the signi-
 material sense. Why did you not like an upright man fication of mere appearance in distinction from true
 tell your readers this? Are the tenets you are in duty nature."
 bound to  Idefend,  so palpably untrue that you must
 either admit defeat in the present controversy or re-            The comment is correct. All that the wicked have
 sort to lying Din order to give to your defence  a sem- is  foform They lack power, that which gives con-
 blance of strength? How is this?                              tend to the image. Take notice, once more, Rev. Zwier,
    ,Why does Zwier not concentrate on the real issue? according *to Paul; man did indeed lose the image of
 In my previous article under the above caption, I let God in the material sense. According  to Paul, the
 the Rev. H. J. Kuiper tell Zwier what the real question,      vessel is empty indeed. All that remained of the image
 issue, is, namely, "Is everything which the unregener- is the form of it. Man still worships {the idol) ; he
 ate do, sin and nothing but sin in the sight of God?" still prays (to the creature) ; he still walks outwardly
 We took notice of Reverend Kuiper's answer. It is in the rway  of the command, but through his very walk,
 this : "Everything the unregenerate do is not sin in and worship he denies the power of w,hat he apparently
 the sight of God." I remarked that if Kuiper is not still possesses, the image of God in the material sense.
 here tel.ling his readers that the works of the unre-         If words have meaning, then what the apostle here
 generate are relatively holy, words have no meaning. affrms is that the so-called good works of wicked men
 There is an element of `holiness in the so-called good are sin according to God's standard.
 works of reprobated men. T*his is indeed the teaching.           So you will observe, Rev. Zwier, that this  neiw
 It is the teaching of  Ziwier. I furnished some proof terminology, which you reject, is actually found in
 of this in the previous article. Let me add to this proof.    Scriptu're tith  a content identical to that given to it
    Wrote  Zwier, "The Old Reformed distinction be- by your opponents. Are the terms that you employ
 tween image of God dn the broader and narrower sense to be found in Scripture? If not, are these terms as
 is faulty; it is weighed down by objeotions. It is faulty to the construction that you place upon them, found in
 .because  it only partly solves the question that presents Soripture? They are not.
 itself bo us in connection with the image of God. On             It seems that the modernist doctrine to the eff&t
 the one hand we confess on the basis of Scripture, that that there remained to man after the fall a remnant of
 man through sin wholly lost the image of God ; on the his original holiness is being preached from the house-
 other hand we likewise confess on the basis of Scrip-         tops, so to say, in the Christian Reformed Church.
 ture that there remained to man  after  the fall "small          In the Banner for March 10, Rev. Lyzenga placed
 remnants" of the image.                                       an article that contains his exegesis on Rom. 2 : 14, "For
    "This conception (Zwier continues) brings no unity when the Gentiles, that have not the law, do by nature
 in our theological system. Plainly speaking it comes the things of the law, these, not having the law, are
 down to this that we confess the one as well as the           a law unto themselves; in that they shew the works
 other: Fallen man is totally depraved, and yet there is,s of the law written in their hearts, their conscience


412                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                                   ._
bearing witness therewith,, and their thoughts one with
another  accu,sing  or else excusing them".                                 The Most Holy Place
       What now does it mean that the Gentiles do by
nature the things of the law? Rev. Lyzenga strives to              Though the tabernacle as a whole was God's house,
prove that what Paul here teaches is that the heathen his proper dwelling place was the holiest - the seat
(,depraved  man) actually keep the law and this under and throne of His kingdom. Here therefore occured
the impulse of a true love or regard for the law. Let the highest and most distinct revelations of Himself
me q,uote him, "The objection to making an essential as Israel's redeemer-God.              And as these revelations
difference between a "law written in the heart" and were made through the things that were found in this
the "deed of the law written there" becomes even clear- place, it is to these things that regard must be had.
er, when we try to apply this canon to parallel expres-           The only furniture of the holiest place `was the ark.
sions." The reverend then tries to substantiate his ob- The instructions for its making are contained in Ex.
jection. The following language from his pen is sig- 25 :9-1.6, "And they shall make an ark of shittim wood :
nificant, "The works of the flesh are done by  hi'm who        two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a
is dominated by the flesh, and the works of the Lord cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and
by him who is spiritually akin to the Lord, and the            a half the height thereof. And thou shalt overlay it
works of darkness by one who loves darkness. How with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay
can we escape the conclusion that this same rule applies       it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about.
here? (namely, to the expression in the above quoted And thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it and put
text, `the heathen do by nature the works of the law.'         them in the four feet thereof; and two rings shall be
G. M. 0.) Why make an exception  - and so violent on the one side of it, and two rings on the other side
an exception  - of th,is one case? Why not, following of it. And thou shlalt make staves of shittim wood and
the analogy, confess that the works of the l'aw are done       overlay  &hem with gold. The staves shall be in the
by such as have some inner affinity to the law?"               rings by the sides of the ark, that the ark may be borne
                                                               with them. The staves shall be in the rings of the
       The Reverend's reasoning here is this, "As the ark: they shall not be taken from it."
works of the flesh are done by him who is dominated by            These instructions tell us the following. The ark
the flesh, and as the works of the Lord are done by him        was a chest, in length three and three-fourths feet and
who is spiritually akin to the Lord, and as the works having the same dimensions iin breadth and height,
of darkness are done by one who loves darkness, so are namely, two and one-fourth feet (providing a cubit
the works of the law done by one, in this ease the god- measured eighteen inches which in all likelihood it did).
less heathen, who loves the law, is spiritually akin to Its materials were boards of shittim wood and gold -
the law, is dominated by the law."                             the gold overlaying the boards. Around its top was
    Now if this is not modernist doctrine, then there          wrought an ornamental crown or border of gold. This
is no such doctrine. It is most significant that such it had in common [with the table of shew-bread and the
sentiments oan go unchallenged in the Christian Re- altar of incense. Above it and resting on its top was
formed Church. It shows to what hour the hands of what in our version is called the mercy-seat. The lat-
the clock are .pointing. But awhat we wish to bring out ter was made of solid gold and was of the same dimen-
is that the issue (at least one of the issues) upon which      sions in length and breadth as the ark. In the two
the present controversy turns' is not the small rem- ends of it were ordered to be made two cherubim of
nants, as Zwier tells his readers, but upon the issue          gold, one on the one end, with  wEngs stretching forth
whether unregenerated men love the Iaw of God and on high and covering it, &and with faces looking one to
as impelled by love keep the law; or, as Rev. Kuiper another toward it. (Ex. 25  :15-20).
,h,as stated the matter, whether all that the unregener-          In ascertaining the symbolical-typical import of the
ate do is sin and nothing but sin in the sight of God ; or,    ark, regard must be had to this that it was made for
as Zwier puts it, whether man has retained the image holding the testimony. Said the Lord to Moses, "And
of God in the material sense. Lyzenga says, "Yes, the thou shalt put into t,he ark the testimony which I shall
wicked, (devoid of the life of regeneration) do love give thee" (Ex. 25 :16). In obedience to this command,
the law". And  H. J. Kuiper says, "No indeed, all  t,hat Moses "took and put the testimony into the ark. . .  ."
the unregenerate do is. not sin in the sight of God."          (Ex. 40 :20). What is to be understood by the testi-
And Zwier says, "Yes, to be sure. Fallen man has re- mony, we learn from Ex. 31:17, "And He gave unto
tained the image of God in the material sense. He has Moses when He had made an end .of communing with
retained a remnant of his original hohness."  This is h&m upon Mt. Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of
We proposition that Zwier also defends in his article.         stone, written with the finger of God." The testimony,
But he does so under cover, so that his innocent readers it is evident, was the law of the ten commandments. It
realize not what they,.imbibe.                                 was on account of its containing this'law, that the ark
                                             G. M. 0.          was called "the ark of the testimony". It is not true,


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                            413

as some writers have averred, that afterwards the en- verb for atone is to cover. Thus to atone sin was to
tire book of  ithe law was lodged in the ark. Thqis mis- provide for it a covering for the holy-eye of God to
taken view sprang from  a wrong interpretation of rest upon. And the covering provided was the blood
Deut. 31:26,  "Take the book of the law, and put it in of the people's innocent substitute. But what now was
the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lrord your the distinctive significance of the mercy-seat? This
God. . .  ." That the  oniginal text should have been is suggested by its Hebrew name, which is not  ;mercg-
rendered by (and thus not in) the side of the ark" we           seat as in our version, ,but cupporeth  or covering. And
learn from this that at the time of the dedication of &he reason it bore this name is not that  .it covered the
Solomon's temple there was, according to I Kings 8  :9, ark but that, as  spinkled with the blood of the sacri-
"nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone, which         ficial victim, it covered the sins of the people. There
Moses put there at Horeb,  when the Lord made a cove- is no room to doubt this, as the word is never used for
nant with the chiildren  of Israel, when they came out of a covering in the ordinary sense, but  :alwotys  for a
the land of Egypt."                                             covering in the sense of atonement. The mercy-seat
    Why was this honor of being stored in the ark con-          was, of course, not a covering added to the blood. It
ferred upon the larw of the ten commandments? The               is to be regarded as forming with the blood the one
reason was the singular significance of this  law. It           c o v e r i n g .
reveals God's holy nature and denounces every  species              Being what it ~was, a covering for sin, tihe mercy-
of sin as inconsistent with His character. It sets forth seat was ordered to be  ,put upon and above the ark of
the great principles of religious and moral duties in the the testimony. As the expression "ark of the  test.i-
covenant. Hence, the despising of this law rendered mony" signifies, the reasvn that it was ordered to be
the entire symbolical-typical service a vain show. "To put upon the ark, is izhlat in the latier  .was deposited the
what purpose," asked the Lord of His people, of the testimony, that is, the two tables of the law. This is.
idolaters, the murderers and the thieves in Israel, thus        especially  ev.ident fi-vm the  follvwing  expressions, "be-
of those who, hating this law, walked and lived in fore the mercy-seat that is over the testimony, (Ex.
gross sins, "To what purpose is the multitude  of your 30 :6) ", "that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy-
sacrifices unto me? . . . . I am full of the burnt offer- seat  Ch:at is upon the testimony" (Lev. 16  :13). These
ings of rams, and the fat-of fed beasts; and I delight          Scriptures prove that  tihe mercy-seat had respect to the
not in the *blood  of bullocks,, or of rams, or of he goats.    law rather than to the ark upon which it rested. But
Your new mons and your appointed feasts my soul hat-            why to the law? The answer is contained in Deut.
ebb. . .  .: your hands are full of blood" (Isa. 1).            31:24-27,  "And it came to pass, w'hen Moses had made
   The meaning of the lodging of this law in the ark, an'end of writing the wotis vf this law in a book, until
must be  contempllated,  in order to be fully understood, they were finished,  tha+ Moses commanded the Levites,
in connection  -with  the mercy-seat. From the various which b&re the, ark of the covenant of the Lord saying,
passages in the Pentateuch it appears that this article Take the book of the  larw, and  `put it in tihe side of the
had a symbolical significance of its own apart from the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it  may
ark to which-it was attached as a lid. So in Lev. 16:2,         be there for a witness against thee. For I know thy
where Moses is commanded to caution Aaron against rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet
"coming at all times into the holy place within the vail alive with you tihis day, ye have been rebellious against
before the mercy-seat, which is upon the ark; that he           the Lord; and how much more alter  my death?
die not. . . ." According to this notice it is more par-            The book of the law and thus also the two tables
ticularly the mercy-seat that renders the holy place, if of the testimony lodged in the ark witnessed against
entered out of season,  Ia region of death. In I  Chron.        God's peo@e on aocount  of their,transgressing.the  l&w.
28 :2, the Holiest is simply designated "the place of the I;t witnessed against them: it accused them; declared
mercy-seat. There is more evidence that Otis article            them guilty, and thus  placed  them under the necessity
occupied a place of its own among the typical things            of suffering the punishment  of their sins. And to im-
of th.e law. It is never referred to as precisely the lid press upon the people  tihat God took  .judicial  notice of
of the ark ; and, finally, in all the  desc&ptions  and         bhe witnessing of the law and thus of their sins, Moses
enumerations of the holy things in the tabern.acle,  it was oi-dered  to put it by the side of the ark. But why
is always mentioned separately.                                 was this people not consumed? The reason is that the
   What was the symbolical import of the merzy-seat?            larw, covered as it was by an atonement-covering, could
This is knawn  from the action with the blood in respect ,lay nothing to the charge of th& people. But this cover-
to it on the great day of atonement and from the refer- ing was but shadow, designed to su'ggest  what was re-
ence to it in Ex. 30:6 as "the mercydseat  that is over quired. The true atonement-covering is Christ, the
the testimony." On theI great -day of atonement the human nature in whicih  eH expiated the sins of His
blood of the sacrificial animal was sprinkled  upon it.         people. Beholding Him, God sees the blood of recon-
Through this action atonement was made  for the whole ciliation, and therefore sees no sin in His ,people.
congregation in respect to all its  sins. Now the H@brew            On bo& ends of the mercy-seat were bwo cherubim,

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

made of beaten gold, w&h  wings "stretched forth on          Thus not  only the throne but the whole house of God
high and covering the mercy-seat", and with faces            was in their midst. And tihis creature, the redeemed
looking one to another and towards the mercy-seat.           church of God, looks and *will everlastingly look toward
The $u~llest description  of these creatures is given by     Christ the true atonement-covering with holy wonder
6he prophet Ezekiel. We first sees fvur living creatures and veneration; for Christ showeth forth bhe praises
with  4&e general appearance of a man, but each with of God, being, as He is, the sanctification and the justi-
four faces and four wings, and straight legs with the        ficakion, the wisdom and redemption of God's children,
feet of an ox. Under their wings are human hands; their atonement-covering and tihus their everlasting
and their wings are so joined that they never require expedation.  Toward Him therefore do and will they
to turn. The front $ace is that of a man; right and left everlastingly  dire&  their gaze.
of this are the faces of a lion and an ox, and, behind          But what may have been the design of these repre-
6hat of an eagle. The wings partly cover the body and sen%ative  creatures as connected  witih the mercy-seat?
are partly  ,used for flying, and when the creatures stand This has been correctly stated thus, "Placed as they
still,' they let their wings droop; out of the midst of were with their outstretched wings rising aloft and
,bhem gleam fire and lightnings  ; and connected with        overshadowing the mercy-seat, they gave to this the
tihem are four wheels that can turn in every direction, appearance of a  :lor;ious  seat or tihrone,  suited for the
called lvhirling wheels. Their whole body, and their occupation  or residence of God in tihe symbdic cloud
backs, and *heir hands ,and their wings and their wheels ac3 the King of Israel."
are  full of eyes round about, even the wheels  that the        Besides the articles now described, three other
four had. They are called  cherubim  and more often things were placed in the Holiest, before the face of
the living ones,  or  the  living  creatures.  The latter    God - the pot of manna, the rod of Aaron, and the en-
.name is expressive of that property of which these tire book of the law. All three were lodged in the im-
creatures were the possessvrs in a marked degree. They mediate presence of God as memorials of the past and
were  incessanltly  active, resting neither day nor night as signs and v&nesses  of Ithe future.
saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty, which was          As 2;o the manna, though it was not essentially a
and is and is to come" (Rev. 4 :8).                          new creature, it was nevertheless a food that had been
       The eyes of which these creatures were full before specially prepared by the Lord for His people during
and behind and within signify that the life which they the period of their wanderings in tihe desert. It was
so abundantly  possesed  was light, holy intelligence. thus indeed the product of His wonder-working power.
They were pre-eminently creatures of the light.              Irt testified  of God's power and faithfulness to care for
       The  cherubim  became the residents of God's sanc- His people in the most destitute circumstances and thus
tuary after man's expulsion from it. They appear in `was ready to witness against them in all the future, if
Scripture  gs the friends and allies of God, as  IHis minis- they should forsake Him and trust in the creature.
tering servants especially in the execution of His judg-        As ,to t;he budding trod of Aaron, the event that oc-
ment. As the accupants  of the garden of Eden, their sioned its appearing was the rebellion of Korah,
task is to keep the way of the tree of life. I,n Ps. 18 the Da&an and Abiram, with certain of the children of
statement occurs that C&d rode  upon a cherub and did        Isrexl, two hundred and fifty princes against Moses
fly. The cheruebim  seen by Ezekiel in the first vision and Aaron. Their grievance was, that the two took too
<were supporting the firmament with their wings. Above much upon them, seeing tih& all the congregation was
Dhe fiNname&  wm the likeness orf a Ithrone-the  throne holy. Why did they then lift up themselves above the
of Jehovah. From the chapter that follows it appears congregation.           It was  pIainly  a protest against  th.e
that the throne is one vf judgment. In the book of divine ordihance,  whereby the pevple  had access to God
the Revelations vf John, one of the four living creatures solely  through  the new priesthood and  tehus a demand
is seen giving unto the seven angels seven golden vials for the restoration of the old order of things. When
full of God's wrath. In theis same vision they also ap-      Moses heard of it, he fell on his face. The next day
pear in the midst and round about the-t,hrone,  giving would shew which side was  righJt in the sight of God.
honor and glory and thanks to Him that sat on the Let them p&sent themselves with lighted censers. The
throne, Who liveth forever and ever.                         man whom the Lord would choose would be holy. Dis-
       As trheir component pants indicate, the cherubim missing them for the time being, Moses summoned
`were the representatives of redeemed and glorified hu- Dathan and Abiram to appear bafvre him. Instead of
manity, and thus also of the whole redeemed creation obeying, they repelled the command with  reproaching
of which this humanity is the crown. The tihertibim,         Moses, "It is a small thing  t;lhat thou hast brought
then, had to do not with angels but with men on 6his         us up out of a land that flowed with milk and honey,
earth in need of redemption. And how God's heart to kill us in the wilderness, except thou make thyself
goes out to these ideal creatures ! With their forms altogether a prince over us? Moreover, thou hast not
He surrounded His  tihrone. The whole interior of the brought us  into a land that  flowetih  with milk and
tabernacle was throughout inwrought with  t,heir  forms. honey, vr given UB inherikance  of fields and vineyards;


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   '                                      415.
wilt  &ou  put out the eyes of these men? We will not fvr its idolatry. The serpent was the public and well-
come." Then the ground elave asunder and swallowed known Egyptian emblem. Offerings were presented to
them  LII~ and their houses, and all the men that apper-       animals held sacred; a priesthood maintained to their
taineth unto  Korah and all their goods. As to the one honor ; temples built for their reception ; festivals held
hundred and fifty men that offered incense, fire came in their praise, and lamentations made at their death.
ouit from the presence of the Lord and consumed them.          The Egyptian bent the knee before the host of heaven.
    But  tihe danger was not yet over. Those who sym- He said tie the Nile,;~to%he  frog, to the soil, to the fly, to
pathized with the mutineers, and their number was the ox and the cow, to evil, to  ,the elements  - "ye are
great, now accused Moses of having killed the ptioplc          my gods". Thus had Egypt changed the glory of the
of God. Then wrath went out from the Lord and a                incorruptible God into an image made like unto cor-
plague broke out in the camp, which was stayed only ruptible man and to tihe beast. Wherefore God also
by Aaron running in  hhe midst of  bhe congregation gave them up to uncleanness through their lusts. The
with his  tenser,  thus making atonement for the sins of Egyptians gave the reigns to the base passions, for why
the rebels. The crisis, however, was not permitted to should they be better than their gods? Unnatural vice
pass away without a memorial which should keep it              prev&Ied on every side. Universal and open corrup-
from being for,gotien.    The heads of the tribe, includ- tion marked fiheir  great yearly religious festivaIs.
ing Levi, carried a rod or sceptre of office. These                Directing now our gaze away from these debasing
were now ordered to be laid up in the tabernacle of `superstitions to the holiest place of the tabernacle  and
the congregation before the testimony  thak it might *what do we perceive? No creatures or figures of crea-
be shown by a miraculous sign in connection with tures of any kind to which one could? point and say,
them,  wchom the Lord had chosen to perform the                "That is God". The cherubim were not representatives
rpriestly service.    On the morrow Moses found the of God but of the creature. But did not the Lord go
rod of Aaron "for the house of Levi budding and brinq-         against His own command  when He ordered to be made
ing forth buds,,  and blossoms, and yieldihg almonds". the likenesses of these creatures?, - the command,
Then was Aaron's rod broughrt  again before the testi- "Thou shalt not make unto thyself any graven image
mony to be kept for a token against the sinners. By nor the likeness of anything that is in heaven above or
itself  lthis rod was dry and lifeless as the rods of in the earth beneath or in the water under the earth"?
the other tribes. This being true, it could bare fruit The sin that this prohibition strikes at is exactly the
only through the grace of God, so that its f,ruitfulness       rteification  of the cre&ure.    What is here forbidden is
testified of the appointment of Aaron to the priesthood to be expressed thus, "Thou shalt not make  unto thy-
- and of him alone. It therefore through the ages              self any likeness of the creature and, beholding that
speaks against all those who despise Christ - God's            likeness, say in thy heart that it  is the similitude of a
appointed channel cxf grace - to choose for themselves creature who is God." And this is what the idolater
other modes of access to God.                                  does. He says to the creature and its image, "Thou
  As to the book of the la~w, it contained all the statutes    art my God."
and ordinances, the precepts and judgments, the threat-           What was to be found in the holiest place were in-
ening-s and pl-omises,  delivered by the hand of. Moses, struments  *through  `which God revealed, showed forth,
and thus testifiedl  of God's care to provide His people       His perfections. The law, which is "holy, just and
with a full revelation of His will.                            good" was there, disclosing to the people of Israel their
                                                               relilgious  and moral duties toward God, - duties in the
    But these things  - the pot of manna, the budding iface of which God was to be seen as being worthy of tehe
rod, and the whole book of th.e law-were no essentiaI          Zrraise and adoration of His creatures. That this law,
*pants  of tjhe furniture of the Holiest place. The sacred. the whole book of the Iaw, was placed by the ark had
things for w,hich  this place was properly set apart were      a significance other than the one already deIineated
the ark of the covenant, with the tables of testimony          upon. The ark, now taken as  represenltative  of the
within, and the mercy-seat with the cherubim above. gwhole furniture and of all the articles in the tabernacle,
HOW  marvelously these things revealed to the Israelites       was but a symbol. Now the symbol is by itself mean-
the spir%ual and holy nature of God ! How they shew-           ingless.. It can serve as a vehicle of truth only when
ed forth His praises and  perfedions! How  immeasur-           contemplated in the light shed upon it by the spoken
able the chasm between the religion of  I&ael  and that word of God. To the  s.ymbol  therefore  must be added
of Egypt and the other nations of heathen antiquiiy ! the word, a revelation by word of mouth. The book
Looking into the innermost apartment of an Egyptian of the law was this revelation. Being what it was, it
temple, what do we see? A beast - a cat, a crocodile, wbas placed beside the ark. Hence it is to this book. to
a serpent, or some other `dangerous animal - tumblintg         the  Scriptures  of God, that regard must be had, if our
about on a carpet of purple. It is the god of the Egyp-        eves are to open to the thoughts of God of which the
tian. To  iit divine honors are paid. The land of Egynt things in the worldly tabernacle were; so to say, the
from w&h Israel had been broughrt  up was remarkable crystallization. In the light of the Scriptures, the things


-416                                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                                                   ^_- -
of the Holiest present views of God, of the fellowship
between God and His people, wonderfully elevating.                                               Contribution
The mercy-seat was God's throne. We learn this from
such Scriptures as, "The Lord  reigneth; let the people Rev. H. Hoeksema,
6rembIe  : he siltteth  between the cherubim ; let the earth Dearly beloved Editor :
be moved"- (Ps. 99 :l) . And the throne was placed
over and mn the testimony. Righteousness was thus !                             Will you be so kind as to publish the follo&ng  open
its foundation. How well God's believing people of letter to my Christian Reformed friend and brother
the Old Covenant understood this. The prophet, speak- because, 1 sincerely believe that there are many more
ing  orf the majesty of God's kingdom, declares, "right- Christian Reformed friends and brethren who should
eousness and judgment are the foundation of his throne stop to tihink and diligenbly  set themselves to answer
(Ps.  97:2). However, if there were nothing for the the questions contained in it, and any other questions
eye of God to rest upon but His law, no man could stand which, may arise. Accept my thanks and my continued
before Him and live. For "a fire goeth out before him, good wishes for the welfare of our "Standard Bearer".
and burneth up his enemies rdund about" (Ps. 9'7 ::33).                     To my Christian Reformed friend and brother:
But there are men who do live - live with Him in His
house as His sons. Men they are whom He forgives                                Do you think that the language used in 1 John 4 :20
and receives back into His favor, yet not without  law is fit to publish in the "Banner"? Permit me to quote
but wilth  law, in the way of right. Here we stand be- the first part of this text: "If a man say, 1 love God,
fore the mystery "which  `h&h been hid from ages and and hateth his brother, he is a liar." The apostle of
from generations, but now is made manifest to the                           love certainly uses strong language but one wouId  :hard-
saints: . . . . ,which is Christ in you, the hope of ly dare say it was unfit to publish. I quote again : "But
glory". The mystery is Christ, satisfying the demands he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh
of the law through His suffering and death.  IC, is                         in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, be-
C$rist entering in by His own blood once into the Holy cause that darkness bath blinded his eyes." I John 2 :ll.
place, entering in as the atonement-covering of His "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer; and ye
people. They therefore draw near to Hini and live.                          know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in
Thus thR throne of God is the dwelling-place alike of him." I John 3 :15. It is just that serious because did
righteousness  `and mercy  - righteousness upholding you not say that you hated one of our Protesitant  Re-
the claims of the law, and mercy bridging for God's formed ministers? Is he not your brother or is he
people  .&he immeasurable gulf between the sanctuary perhaps a "publican and a sinner"?
of God  ,and hell.  -                                                          Your churches Iove to emphasize texts like Luke
                   ">          (To be continued)                            6 :27 and 28, *`But I say unto you which hear, love your
                                                             G. M. 0.       enemies, do good to them that hate you, bless them that
                                                                            curse you, and pray for them that despitefully use you",
                                                                            for the pullpose  of creating and maintaining a dtitrine
                                    ,.                                      of  Common grace.     Pray, does not  chairity begin at
                                 IN .MEMORIAM                               home? How about loving the brother? A  Iittle com-
                                                                            mon decency would not be amiss. One of the first prin-
              On the 25th day of `April, 1939,  it pleased our heavenly     ciples of common decency is that an accused be per-
Father to, call unto His everlasting  mansions our dearly beloved           mitted to defend himself through the same medium, of
wife, mother and grandmother,                                               course, by which he was accused. However, where the
                         MRS. A. HIRDES  - Jennie  Eding                    office of believer is expected to function only through
at the age of 61 years.                                                     ,the pope and the priest one cannot expect such com-
              Although we deeply mourn our loss, we are con&&t that         mon decency. The sheep might not be able to read
she is with the Lord in glory. Having this comfort we can                   much Iess judge correctly.
say  with  the apostle, "0 death, where is thy sting? 0 grave,                 May I exhort you to study the Scriptures, all l&e
where is thy victory?"                                                      Scriptures, and, the Reformed Confessions as well ; in
                                          Mr. Adrian Hirdes Sr.             order that, I and others may not feel constrained to ask
                                          Mr. and Mrs. Wm. L. Hirdes        whether or not you really are Reformed and whether
                                                                            or not you really have any desire to be Reformed.
 i  *                                     Mr and Mrs. John Hirdes                                                                       Do
                                                                            we not all say that we love God,?
         ?                                Mr and `Mrs. John Boersma                                                 "And this command-
                                          Mr. and Mrs: Corn&us Hirdes       ment have we from Him; that-he who loveth God love
                                          Mr. and Mrs. Joel Hirdes          his brother also," I John  4:21.              i
                                          Mr. and Mrs. Adrian Hirdes Jr.
                                              and 15 grandchildren .                                           Yours in the Lord,
         R. R.  1,  Zeekmd,  Michigan                                                                                   A. De Borst.
                                                                                                  _.      '


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                                                                               And  that  knowing.   .  .  .
          M E D I T A T I O N                                                  AI1 the more urgent this calling becomes because
                                                                           they know that the night is far spent.
                                                                               The *day is near!
            The Calling Of The Dawn                                            The dawn  calls !
                       And that, knowing the time, that
                  naw  ,it is high time to awake out  of                       The day is at hand !
                  sleep; for  noul  is our  saEvation  nearer                  The figure of a sleeper is employed in the words
                  than  wheti  we believed. The night  is  of the text.
                  far spent, the day  W at hand; Eet  uz                      He is still slumbering, clad in his  :bed clothes. Al-
                  therefore cast off the works  of  dark- ready the gray glimmer of dawn begins to swallow up
                  ness and let us put on the armor of light. the darkness of the night. It beckons the sleeper to
                                                Rom. 13:11,  IL.           rouse himself from his  slumtbers,  cast away the night-
    l3awn is calling!                                                      garments and put on the clothes in which he may ap-
    The  ni!ght is far spent ! The day is at .hand !                       pear in the light of day.
    Awake out of sleep ! Put off your night-garments                          The night is far spent; the day is at hand !
and dress for the day!                                                        But what, pray, may the day be?
    Always there is the call to the saints in the world                       It is a day that is at hand. And it is fast approach-
to walk worthy of the Lord in every relationship of . ing, for even now it is nearer than when we first be-
life ; to present their bodies a living sacrifice, holy                    lieved. Too, it is a day of salvation, of eternal life and
acceptable unto God, for such is their reasonable ser- joy, of perfection and glory.
vice ; to be never conformed to this present evil world,                      But what is that day? And when is it to be ex-
but to be transformed by the renewal of their mind,                        pected? And show can the text say that, the night is
that they may prove, taste and approve the good and                        even now far spent, and that this glorious day of sal-
acceptable and perfect will of God; to walk in the midst                   vation is near, even nearer now than when we first
of the church in sober humility, each one employing believed?                           Is this day the eternal and perfect  sal-
his gifts in his own place according as God hath dealt ,vation  that is to be ushered in  w;hen "time shall  *be
to every man the measure of faith, to the edification                      no more", when fmally the Lord shall come again in
of the brethren ; to love oneanother without dissimula- all the glory and power which the Father hath given
tion, to abhor evil and cleave to the good, to distribute Him," the day of Christ? So say some, adding at once
to the necessity of the saints, to be of the same mind that the apostle had a wrong conception of the near-
one toward another; to avenge not themselves but to ness of that day. He could write here that the night
give place unto wrath ; to ,be in subjection unto the                      is far spent and that the day is at hand, because with
higher powers, and to resist them not, knowing that others he shared the expectation that was doomed to
the powers that be are ordained of God; to give unto                      disappointment, that the Lord  would  come  on  the
every man what in his position is due unto him, to `clouds of heaven even in His own lifetime ! However,
owe no man anything except the ever remaining debt this latter criticism cannot be allowed for one moment, _
of love. . . .                                                            were it only for the reason that in that case the whole
   Always it is the calling of the children of light to text, the e-xhortation  and its ground, would be false.
walk in the light. . . .                                                  And this cannot be, for it is not Paul but the Holy
                                                               - . .


418                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
 _^ -__.-- ^.^." "..-".-"..                       -.-^--"----                                                  -    -      -
 Spirit here exhorting the church. The day of which  mers even now through the darkness of the night.
 the Word of God here speaks is surely at hand.                  It shines in the face of Jesus Christ our Lord, reflected
       But what is, then, this day?                              to  usward  through  `6h.e gospel that is preached, the
       Is it, perhaps, some historical day of which the promise that was fulfilled. It shines, too, by grace,
 apostle is speaking, an event of great joy and deliver- through faith, in our hearts. And in it we have the
 ante for the church of Christ in the world, which at forgiveness of sin, perfect righteousness through Him
 that time was approaching? So say others, and they that loved us, the adoption unto'children and life  eter-
 mention the judgment of Christ over the.old  Jerusalem nal even now. . . .
 and the Jews. But there is not the slightest reference             No, we are not in darkness.
 to any such thing in the text. Hardly would the Word               We are all the children of light. . . .
 of God speak of such an event as the day in contrast               Yet, in comparison with that coming day, we are
 to  the night. Still less ,would it refer to ilt as salvation still in the night.
 that is approaohing.                                               For, there  we lie in the midst of death, even though
       Is it, perhaps, the day of the  ,believer's  death?       we already live ; then we shall have the crown of life.
       No doubt, that day is for him a day of salvation,            Here all is still mortal, corruptible, weak,  in-
 a day when he shall  ibe delivered from the old man glorious; then the  mental shall have put on  im-
 of sin and all that pertains to it, when the earthly mortality, the corruptible shall have put on  i.mmor-
 house of this tabernacle shall be dissolved, and he shall tality,  the weak shall be changed into eternal power,
 have a building of God, not made with hands, eternal the  dishonour  shall  Ibe changed into glory, death shall
 in the heavens. And, that day is not left out of view be swallowed up of life!
 when the text assures the believers that salvation is              Here we can only see in a glass, a dilemna ; there
 now nearer than when they first believed. Yet, hardly we shall see face to face!
 would Scripture speak of that glorious transition as               Glorious, blessed day !
 the day in distinction from  the  night. Usually the day, 3,
 the day of salvation, the day of the Lord, the day of
 Christ has a wider connotation.
       It is, no dou,bt, the day of final salvation, the day        The day is at hand!
 of Christ that is here meant. For, that day is  the                Already far spent is the night!
 day indeed. It marks the end of all the weary night                No, indeed, the nearness of this day is not an  illu-
 of sin and death, of suffering and shame, of sorrow sion in the mind of the apostle, a vain expectation that
 and crying; its light shall completely and forever dis- could only end in disappointment, an idle hope that
sipate the darkness, is the light of eternal joy and life would never be realized.
 in God's tabernacle, of perfect knowledge and right-               How could even the apostle live in the mistaken ex-
 eousness and holiness, in which we shall see, not as in peotation that the Lord would prevent the day of his
 a glass darkly but face to face ; in which we shall know, death? Had not the Lord Himself plainly warned His
 not in part, but even as we are known ; in .which we . people that no one knew of that day and hour?                    And
 shall always prove the good and acceptable and perfect does not the apostle frequently warn against  such vain
 will of God  ; in whioh we shall walk in liberty without expectations? Did he not know that the man of sin,
 fear of bonds, in eternal life without the shadow of the son of perdition must first come? . . . .
 death ; in which we shall drink the cup of joy without a           And is it not, after all, the Word of God that here
 drop of sorrow. It is the day that shall make us forget exhorts us even now to put away our night-clothes and
 the fears and sorrows of the night. The day when our be dressed in the garments of the day, knowing that
 bodies shall be changed into the glory of the incorrupt- the day is at hand and that the night is far spent?
 ible, the  i~mmortal,  the spiritual of the exalted body of And, therefore,  wchen that day is here presented as at
 the risen Lord, and when all things shall be made new. hand, it is because it is actually near and with the
 Then the tabernacle of God shall be with men. And impression of that nearness of the day in our inmost
 there shall be no night  &here!                                 heart, and with -the constant knowledge of it before
       The day!                                                  our consciousness we ought to walk as children of
       0, glorious hope!                                         the day!
       In comparison with that day the present is but the           Near it is, for the church as a whole, throughout
 night.                                                          this entire dispensation.
       The night that is, indeed, far spent, but that is            The day was, indeed, at hand when the apostle ex-
 night nevertheless.                                             horted the church of Rome by this epistle ; near, still
       0, it is true, even in our present night we are not nearer, always near it is in our own day. For, indeed,
 absolutely without light.                                       the night is far spent. Of the night it is now the
       Especially in the new dispensation the dawn has last hour. The darkness of  th& night fell upon us
 come! Some light, the light of that coming day  glim- long ago, when the Prince of darkness, who is a de-


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   ` B E A R E R                                     419
L                 - .______  -- .-......-                   I_               I_
ceiver and a murderer from the beginning, seduced would leave no effect upon your walk and conversation
us to turn away our hearts and minds from the Word in the midst of the world. It is dead, fruitless, barren.
of God in order to em'brace  the lie of the devil. Then But the spiritual knowledge of faith and hope is meant,
the night settled upon us, thick and dark, upon our that is the fruit of grace, that is rooted in the heart,
hearts, upon our minds, round about us upon creation, that  fills you with the joy of salvation, that causes
the night of sin and death. And in that night there you with longing to look for the cominlg of the Lord !
have been various hours, marked by distinct wonders                  And that knowing ! . . . .
of the grace of the God of our salvation, by which He                The dawn calls, `beckons, urges !
clearly signified that He was realizing His promise,                 Calls you to awake out of sleep, urges that it is
that He advanced through the night toward the  Tight             high time to rouse yourselves from your slumbers, to
`of the eternal day. And then struck "the  .hour",  the          rise from your bed of sin, to hate it, to fight it, to
hour of the fulness of time, when the Sun of righteous- ,abhor  it, to flee from it, and to have a living delight in
ness rose with healing in his wings, the hour of the the precepts and ways of the God of your salvation.
incarnation, of the awful cross, of the glorious resur- Urges you to cast off the works of darkness. These
rection and exaltation of the Lord. . . .                        are your spiritual night-garments that cannot be worn
      Since then it is the last hour.                            in the day, the works of sin, the operations of t;he flesh
      Far spent is the night.                                    that still remain in our oId nature, and that are moti-
       When the hour strikes again it. will be with the vated by hatred of God and of oneanother. . . .
sound of the last trump, to announce the end of the                 And to put on the arms of light!
night and the beginning of the never ending day !                    Notice, that au0rk.s of darkness must be cast off,
      And the hands on the world-clock move very fast!           but arms of lisht must be put on. Mere garments of
      Tremendous things must still come to pass and the light would not be eficient. For the attire of light you
end is not yet. But with astoundincg rapidity they are must wear while the day is not yet. You must walk
realized before our very eyes.                                   in it in the midst of t,he world that Iieth in darkness,
      The day is at hand !                                       and with the powerful operations of the flesh in this
      At hand, too, .for the individual believer, nearer, body of death.  ATWLS   of light, the whole  armour of
always nearer than when he fast  believed, is that day, God you must put on, the girdle of truth, the breast-
because in a sense it arrives when the earthly house of plate of righteousness, the sword of the Spirit, the
this tabernacle shall be dissolved.                              helmet of salvation and every weapon that is neces-
      Then, at least, he shall be much nearer to the final sary to fight the good fight, to walk in the light  ,while
day of Christ. From then it is but a little while.               the day is not fully come, to stand in the evil day. . . .
     For, then he shall be with Christ.                             And that knowing. . . .
      Then he shall have a building with God.                       It is the call of the dawn to him that looks for the
      Then  ,he shall be delivered, not only from the body day.
of this death and from the carnal operations of his
sinful nature, but also from all earthly relations and              For he that hath this hope in Him purilieth himself
limitations of earthly space and earthly time.                   even as He is pure !
      From the moment of our death and our entrance                 The call of the dawn that comes continually, that
into the  iheavenly  house a different time will undoubted- must be heard and heeded always, till the day  is
ly prevail.                                                      come !
      And from that moment to the day of Christ may                 For, do not say that once you were regenerated and
be but a very short time.                                        roused  ,from the sleep of dearth, that once you were
      The night is, indeed,. far spent.                          called out  sf darkness into the marvellous light of
      Very near is the day !                                     God, that once you were converted and did cast off the
                                                                 works of darkness and put on the garments of the day,
                                                                 and that, therefore, this exhortation has no silgnificance
                                                                 for you. For, though this all be true, the flesh and tehe
      And that knowing. . . .                                    world still remain. Always our night-garments must
      All the more because ye know! . . . .                      be put off till the very day of our death.
      The knowledge of the day and its nearness and of              And always we are inclined to sink back into the
the advanced hour of the night is an incentive to  #walk slucmbers  of sin !
as in that day !                                                    Hear, then, the constant call of the dawn!
      Ye know that the day is at hand! 0, not to a mere             l&e night is far spent; the day is at hand!
matter-of-fact knowledge the text refers, to a know-                Cast off the works of darkness !
ledge that is, perhaps, hardly ever before your mind,               Put on  the  armour of light!
of which you are hardly ever conscious, a knowledge                 Walk as in the day!
that leaves you cold and unconcerned. Such knowledge                                                            H. H.


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                     423
-
van Es spreekt, bij de Christelijke Gereformeerde  Ker-
ken gezocht worden.                                                            Banner Manners
     Bij  haar  a&en!
     Overigens verblijdt mij de laatste opmerking van           Recently we wrote an article on "Banner Ethics".
Dr. van Es.                                                  It was  :in connection *with "The Banner"  `s refusal of
     Ofschoon wij geen oflieieele  correspondentie hebben the reply of our home-missionary, the Rev. Kok, to in-
met de Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland (waarop sinuations which `the editor of that paper published
wij overigens  we1  recht  hebben),  meen  ik  tech in staat against our missionary.
te zijn welgegrond advies  te geven  aan de Synode, die         I now wish to call attention to Banner manners.
straks in Sneek staat gehouden te  worden,  d.w.z. inzake       Manners and ethics are more closely related than
de kwestie der "leergeschillen". Ik ben tot in bijzon-       many people would be willing to admit. Bad manners
derheden  met de kwesties bekend en weet, waarover           are often rooted in bad ethics.
het gaat. En dan is het mijn  advies  aan de Synode
van Sneek: doe tech vooral geen uitspraak nu, maak              Take, for example, the treatment  sclcorded  Dr.            ,,
inzake de kwesties der geschillen tech geen dogma's.         Schilder by "The Banner".
Ik ben overtuigd, dat men daarvoor  thans niet rijp             We all remember what was done before this dis-
kan zijn.                                                    tinguished theologian had left the old country to visit
     Met vrije en breede discussie zal men veel verder our shores.
komen.                                                          Here  ,was  a Reformed theologian, in good standing
     En ook veel beter de bewaring der eenheid dienen.
                         .                                   in the Reformed Churches of the Netherlands, profes-
                                                 H. H.       sor in <dogmatics at the seminary  of  those churches,
                                                             sister churches of those  that are represented by "The
                                                             Banner". But he is suspected by the editor of "The
                                                             Banner", as well as by others, of views on "common
                  UNDER AUTHORITY                            grace" that deviate from those set forth in the dearly
                                                             beloved "three points". And before the professor can
          Servant of all-No higher aim                       start on his journey "The Banner" publicly invites
          No skill, no gift, nor deed of fame,               hi,m to postpone his visit, and  su,ggests that no oppor-
          Is needed to enroll thy name                       tunities be g&en  him to speak.
                Under Authority.                                 Hardly courteous, one would say.
          Servant of all-Not with thy sword,                    But while the professor is there as a guest a ,minister
          Nor glance of flame, nor lightning word,           of the Christian Reformed Churches sends an article
          But humbly, following thy Lord  ;-                 to "The Banner" in which he  criticises  some of Dr.
                Under Authority.                             Schi$lder's  views.
          Servant of  all-Where?er thou art                      Tthese  views had been set forth, not in speech or lec-
          At every turn to play the part,                    ture while the professor was here, but in a supplement
          With ready hand and loyal heart;                   to "De Reformatie" in which the doctor offers an ex-
                Under Authority.                             planation of the Heidelberg Catechism. There was,
                                                             therefore, no occasion to putblish this criticism while
          Servant of all-To lift the load                    the professor was still our guest in this country.
          Of others stumbling on the road ;                     The  criti&d material was written in the Holland
          Love for thy strength and love thy goad ;          language. Dr. Schilder  naturally, cannot express him-
                Under  *4uthority.                           self readily in the English  lan,guage.  The critic was
          Servant of all. Thus yielding free                 well aware of this. He mlight  have used "De Wachter"
          Service to. Him who chooseth thee                  and publish his criticism in the Dutch language, thus
          His trusted warrior to be ;                        giving Dr. Schilder  fullest opportunity to reply and de-
                Under Authority.                             fend himself against the attack. However, he prefers
                                                             to use the English language and requests  "T/he Banner"
          Servant of all. With every nerve                   to receive his criticism.
          Servant of Him who came to serve;                     And "The Banner" has no scruples.
          Strong in a faith that shall not swerve;              however, this is not the worst.
                Under Authority.                                Dr. Schilder  sent a reply to "The Banner" while
          Servant of God. A soldier tried,                   he  ,was still in this country. And many of us who were
          Ready to face whate'er betide ;                    aware of this have asked why this answer of the pro-
          Yea, ready to die as He once died ;                fessor was never published.
                Under Authority.                                The editor in  a recent number of "The Banner"


424                                   THE,  S T A N D A R D   BEARER                                                 42
now  &plains.  Dr. Schilder did send his reply. But
this reply apeared in the form of a first installment.           Dat Gods Goedheid Partidier Is
It was to be followed by other articles. "The Banner"
now wrote to Dr. Schilder that it would have to have              XVII Over De Lankmoedigheid Gods (2)
all the material the professor intended to write, before       In ons vorig artikel toonden we  aan, hoe Ds. Zwier
they could publish the first article. The publication eerst een omschr-ijving  geeft van de lankmoedigheid
committee "would first have to see the article in its       Gods, daarna vaststelt, dat de lankmoedigheid Gods
totality and pass  judgemen on its contents and beide particulier en algemeen is, om eindelijk zijn
length."                                                    a priori  vastgestelde  dogmatische stellingen met de
       Its contents must be right in the eyes of "The       S&rift te trachten  te steunen.        .-
Banner".                                                       Dit is  juist de methode, die Zwier ons aanwrijven
       And it must "not be so long that it could not be     wil, maar die wij nimmer volgen.
placed in one issue".                                          Wet is ons ook gebleken, dat de omschrijving, die
   IHardly courteous? I say shameful.                       Ds. Zwier  ens biedt van de  Iankmoedigheid  Gods, niet
                                                            past dn die teksten, die we reeds bespraken, en waarin
       Cannot a theologian of a sister church in the hij meent te vinden zijne voorstelling van de "particu-
Netherlands be trusted to write a series of articles liere" lankmoedigheid Gods.
that are fit to be published in "The Banner". How              *Bespreken  we thans de teksten, waarin hij meent
did professor Schilder deserve to be thus insulted? de leer der "algemeene lankmoedigheid" te vinden, dat
And why could he not be permitted to publish a series is, de leer, dat God in Zijne"goedheid de goddeloozen
of articles in  consecutirve numbers of "The Banner"?       nog spaart.
The excuse offered,is  that the professor writes in the        In dit verband  \bespreekt  Zwier allereerst Rom. 2 :4.
Holland language. But is not "The Banner" to blame Deze tekst hebben we in. een vorig hoofdstuk reeds
for this, seeing it received critic+m against a man that besproken. We kunnen  thans volstaan met den lezer
,does not freely, express himself in the English lan-       daarnaar te v&&jzen.
guage, and of material the professor had published in          Een tweede  plaats, waarin Zwier de  "algemeene
Dutch?                                                      lankmoedigheid" Gods vindt, is I Pet. 3 :19,20.
   Must the doctor be treated like a little boy who            Het is jammer, dat hij meent "de moeilijkheden,
writes his first  essay?                                    die er aan de uitlegging verbonden zijn," te kunnen
   The editor of "The Banner" writes that he is- still      laten  r&ten, omdat ze het punt in kwestie niet raken".
waiting for the remainder of Dr. Schilder's  reply to       Eigenlijk kan men niet zeggen, dat de moeiljkheden
the criticism.`                                             van een t&t een zeker punt in kwestie niet raken,
   I hope that Dr. Sehilder considers it below his zoolang  men niet een poging waagt, om die moeilijk-
dignity  toanswer.                                          heden  te verklaren. Doet men dit laatste wel, dan gaat
   One more instance.                                       er met zelden een ander licht op over dat punt in ,Fwes-
   The reader will remember how the editor of "The          tie. Maar Zwier laat die moeilijkheden liggen. Hij
Banner" when he published his insinuations against aanvaart  blijkbaar  de verklaring, die door de  gerefor-
our missionary,  alleged'that  he possessed written evi- meerde uitleggers algemeen wordt aangenomen, "dat
dence for  *his statements.                                 we onder de geesten, die in de gevangenis zijn, hebben
       Well, these written evidences proved to be the te verstaan de goddelooze tijdgenooten van Noach, aan
testimony of one man, the Rev. A. Bratt, of Manhattan,      wie Christus  gepredikt heeft,  niet na Zijn opstanding,
Montana. There was only one witness, and he not zooals door de Roomschen en Lutherschen geleerd
an impartial one.                                           wordt, maar in de dagen v66r  den zondvloed, door mid-
       But now the editor of "The Banner" received an       de1 van Zijn profeet Noach,  den prediker der gerechtig-
apology of the Rev. Bratt, confessing that on one point,    heid. Ze worden  geesten in de gevangenis geheeten,
at least, he had misrepresented the Rev.  Kok. He omdat ze thans in de plaats der duisternis bewaard
ought to harve written an apology for all of the insinua- worden  tot het oordeel  des grooten dags".
tions, but let-that pass for the moment.                       En deze verklaring aanvaardend leert Zwier dan van
       The editor of "The Banner" cannot even allow this de lankmoedigheid Gods, waarvan in den tekst  sprake
apology to stand as it is.                                  is, dat deze "aan de goddelooze tijdgenooten van Noach
   In an editorial note he explains that the correction betoond werd, honderd en twintig jaren lang, terwijl
by the Rev. Bratt does not really alter the case.           de ark toebereid werd. De straf werd  lang uitgesteld.
       He enervates the apology.                            ,Gelegenheid  werd hun gegeven om zich te bekeeren".
       I ask: cannot a man who repents apologize without En dan luidt de conclusie:  "Duidelijk  blijkt ook hier
interference on the part of "The Banner"`?                  weer,  dat Gods lankmoedigheid aan goddeloozen be-
       And f say : bad manners !                            toond wordt".
                                              H. H.             Nu zijn er tegen de verklaring  door Zwier zonder
                                      .

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

is op zijn best boeronbedrog,  dat niemand zal slikken.              In de tweede plaats, wordt hier iets aan toegevoegd
       Dan  zal die Godsdienst als zuiver en  onbevlekkt  tot dat oogensohijnlijk niets met den eersten eisch heeft
openbaring komen. Hij krijsgt  dan pas de ware echte              te maken.  Ziohzelven onbesmet bewaren van de we-
vorm, die  aan den maatstaf beantwoard. Het gaat dan relmd. Beteekent het misscrhien;  dat we ons zullen  wach-
van het spreken tot  daden  over. Hij  wordt dan een              ten  vonr al hetgeen de wereld doet in haar woelen  tegen
openbaring der liefde naar hen henen,  die op ons pad             den Heere en in het ten openbarring  brengen van den
geplaatst  werden door den Heere.           '                     opstand, waarin zij Ieeft? Natuurlijk beteekent het
       En die  openlbaring  is weer  tweeerlei.  Allereerst       dat  we1  allereerst;  Maar het beteekent nog veel meer.
het bezoeken van weduwen en van wezen  in hunne ver-              Ook in haar genietingen  urorde het kind Gods niet
drukking en tegelijkertijd zichzelven onbesmet bewaren bevonden als met die wereld levende op voet van ge-
van de wereld. Het eerste is dan de positieve zijde               lijk,heid.-  Eigenlijk bestaat het genot der wereld juist
van den vorm en inhoud van den godsdienst hier ge-                daarin, dat het gaat ten .koste van al de geboden Gods.
eisoht.  De liefde openbarend  aan hen, die haar het              De wereld  vermaakt   zich met  zichzelve, zonder God
meeste van noode  hebben. En we zouden het ook met en Zijn gebod. En in dien  clienst der wereld, in het
anders kunnen verwnchten. De H,eere noemt Zichzelf                opgaan van allerlei vermakelijkheid en genot, het  zoo-
de Vader der weezen  en de Man der weduwen.. Hem genaamde  geoorloof,de,  zoowel ds dat der uitspatting,
kunnen wij niets toebrengen, want alles wat we aan                gaat men God en het verdrukte  voorbij.        Het zet het
den Heere wijden is het teruggeven van wat we eerst               arme en verdrukte in een  aparte   klas.       Zeker, het
uit Zijn  trouwe Vaderhand hebben  ontvangen.   Doch              bouwt mooie inrichtingen voor het ax-me,  geeft nog wat
Hij schenkt ons Zijn volk om daaraan te v&rengen,                 geld voor hen,  doch doet dit juist om de  ei,genlijke
lietgeen  we Hem nooit kunnen schenken. En het woord              ellende  niet te zien en ontkent ten allen  t,ijde de roe-
hier gebruikt ziet op het daadwerkelijk bezoeken, niet            ping op te treden voor hen, om Gods wille.  Doch nu
sle&ts  om  wat bij te  springen  met wat geld of iets            staat daar in het midden der werel,d  ook de Christen,
van stoffelijken aard. Het is werkelijk armoedig en de die niet van de wereld is.
gemeente in hare ambten onwaardig, wanneer het geId                . Hij  luistert naar Gods Woord.
alleen uitgedeeld  wordt aan den arme en daardoor  die               Hij spreekt naar dat Woond.
arme gaat gevoelen, dat hij van den mensch  (kerk-                   Hij beoefent de dingen des Woords  uit liefde tot
mensch) afhankelijk is. En het is zeker  af te keuren den Heere.
wanneer een ambtsdrager niet meer doet dat een gave                  En aldus  is hij vriend-knecht  des Aherhoogsten.
(geld) te geven en dan meent, dat hij  rich van  zijn                Daarom ook onbesmet en zuiver in belijdenis en
taak tenvolle  gekweten  heeft.                                   wandel.
       Neen, veeleer te midden der ellende er op uit en              B&den: God, de Vader bewaax-t  hen en uit genade
dan de gave of  hulp blijve steeds bijzaak, ook voor het bewaren zij zichzelven en openbaren de zuivere en
bewustzijn van het die  haar  ontvangen.                          onbevlekte  godsdienst te midden van een krom en ver-
   rHierbij  zij nog  opgemerkt,  dat  Jacobus   alleen   `we-    draaid geslacht  als  lichten in de wereld.
duwen en weezen  noemt, maar dat het ellendige  er bij                                                           w.  v.
inbegrepen  is. Een deel, en we1 het voornaamste  deel
van het geheel wordt genoemd, doch  dit sluit dan de
vanzelf  -d&n  in. Barmhartigheid  te bewijzen, om
Christus  wil is het hoogste en moeilijkste werk in de
gemeente van  oazen  Heere Jezus Christus. Het uit-
gaan van het hart naar  d,ezulken,  die  hulpeloos   zijn
en recht en steun, bun schild en wapen rnissen. Zij                             The Most Holy Place
zijn  zonder  verdedigers en staan bloot  aan allerlei
ellende. Wie springt er in de wereld voor hen in de                             (Continued from last issue)
bres en wie verdedigt hun zaak? Hier  ligt dan  oak                  The mercy-seat, it is plain, was a most complete
overvloedig  materiaal voor het werk der C$x-istelijke            revelation of the heart of God, of what He is by Him-
barmhartigheid.  En  wie zich daaraan geeft,  wordt  in self and for His people in Christ. It was to this, there-
de gelegenheid gesteld om te openbaren, wat hij  b&j&.            fore that the,symbd  of His presence - the cloud of
Zeker, dat is niet  alles wat godsdienst is.  Jacolbus            glory - attached itself. Here from out of this cloud
wlijst,  gelijk   alreeds  gezegd, op concrete zonden en God communicated His will to Moses, "And when Moses
zwakheden dergenen aan wien hij s&reef. Maar daar-                was gone into the tabernacle of the congregation to
om  te meer is het zijn bedoeling om  enkele   dingen aan         ,speak with him, then he heard the voice of one speak-
te tijzen, die men alleseerst en zoo gemakkelijk ver-             ing to him from off the mercy-seat that was upon the
geet. De  toetsteen   wo.rdt gegeven en  enkeIe  vruchten         ark of testimony, from between the two cherubims:
worden   aangewezen,  waarop de gemeente  dient te and he  ((the Lord) spake unto him" (Num.  7339).
letten. En moet  betrachten.                                      There was "the place of my throne, and the place of


      . .                                T E E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  483
                                                                                                                                       a
  the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of doom of the nation. But He could not refuse; for He
  the children of Israel" (Ezek.  43:7). It was called            had chosen Zion. He had sworn to abundantly ,bless
  `%$e glory of the Lord" (Ps.  78:6). Phineas' wife,             her provision, to satisfy her poor with bread, to `clothe
  hearing of the capture  of the ark, exclaimed in her dy-        her priests with salvation, to make the horn of David
  ing moments, "The glory is departed from Israel."               to bud, to ordain for His anointed, a lamp to clothe
  On their ;psssession  or `loss of the ark they felt that all    Ris enemies with shame, ,but to cause upon His anointed
  their glory depended. It was before the ark that the            His crown to flourish. (Ps. 132).                             :._
  people of Is,rael  came to worship. Before it they pros-                                                        G. M. 0.
trated themselves. They even came to think of Je-
  hovah's presence as  indissolulbly  connected with the ark,
  so that, no matter how they walked, they felt them-
  selves secure in its ,possession,  like men of today in the                                             . ..
  church who imagine that the possession of the truth                                                1
  and the mere assent to it is all that is needed to secure                              M O T H E R   ..  b
  for themselves a place in God's favor. As to the child
  ren of Israel of old, they `were made to understand once             Far away from home Jim windered,
  and again that the Lord walks with His people, is their                  Caring only for the thrill
  Sun and Shield, only when His people walk with Him                   He would get from being wayward,
  in the way of His covenant, and that thus, when they                     Heedless of his parents' will.
  refuse to hearken unto His voice, He leaves His throne
  empty, so thdrt  then it becomes a common thing. So                  Yes, he got away from homefolks,
  in the days of Samuel, when he heard of their high                       And the house he Ieft behind ;
  places "`He was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel:                 But the marks of his home teaching
  so that He forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent                    Were engraved upon his mind.
  which He placed among men ; and delivered His                       Mother seemed to haunt his conscience,
  strength into captivity, and His glory into the enemies                  She whose eyes were growing dim ;
  hand; He gave His people also over unto the sword"                  Yes, Jim had a praying mother
   (Ps. 78 :60-66).       *                                                Who meant all the world to him.                      "
      This exile of Jehovah lasted some twenty years.
  The punishment was commensurate with the people's
  sin. Jehovah it had rejected. They had asked for a                   Many lonely hours he struggled
  king to rule over them in the room of the Lord. The                      With conviction strong- and deep,
  desire had been granted. But Saul turned out to be                   For he felt his mother's praying  .I
  the scourge of God. His great sin was that he refused                    And he could not rest or sleep.
  to rule in the name of God. During his reign new                     Soon his mother's prayer was answered,
  calamities overtake the nation. The Lord continues to                    Jim surrendered life and all
  keep Himself in hiding. However though Israel  wss                   For the service of his Master
  worthy to be destroyed, the Lord in His sovereign                        Anywhere His Lord would call.                       pi
  mercy sware truth to David (to Christ), who in distinc-
  tion from Saul "wrote him a copy of the law in a book                Back toward home his footsteps wended,
  out of that which was before the priests, and who read                   Life was changed and real to Jim ;
  the law all the days of his life that he might learn to              For he had a praying mother
  serve the Lord his God and to keep all the words of                      Who meant all the world to him.
  His law and statutes to do them" (Dem. 17 :18, 19).                                                                                       1I
  The Lord therefore left His hiding and went to dwell                 `l'ho' today her lips are silent,
  rwith His righteous servant in Zion. Thus the breach                     And her hands are pale and still ;             ' ,,,
  was mended. It could therefore be expected that when                 Tho' her prayers no more are uttered  '
  the ark was brought up to Jerusalem, David's joy was                     And unuttered is her will.                   ,,.
  boundless.    He danced before the Lord with all his
  might. And Israel shouted and sounded the trumpet"                   Yet her prayers are being answered,
   (II Sam. 6 :14, 15). With the ark placed in the tent                    Jim's a minister to-day,
  that David had pitched for it on Mt. Zion, he offered                Preaching to the lost and dying,
  burnt-offerings and peace-offerings before the Lord.                     Showing them the narrow way.
  The believing people of God were overjoyed; The re-                  No more need folks fear and wonder
   fusal of Jehovah to take  up His  atbode  on Mt. Zion,                   What shall yet become of Jim;
  would have been equivalent to a refusal to reconcile                 For he had a praying mother
  His .people to Himself. This would have spelled the                      Who meant all the world to him.                                   '
                                                                                                                  w

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

                    Rev. Zwier `s Reply                       other exhibition of his undaunted courage by placing
                                                              the readers of "De Wachter" in a position to pass
                                                              judgment on the merits of "that reply" and of all our
       Rev. Zwier has taken notice of my accusing him of replies through his publishing them in his magazine !
horribly and deliberately misrepresenting his opponents          The reverend continues, `Why should we therefore
in his recent articles appearing in "De Wachter."             continue to engage in polemics  ?" The reverend means
       His reply reads as follows. (I translate) :            to say that nothing would be gained thereby. How-
       "In this article I wish to reflect with a few words    ever, I do not agree with him. The manner in which
upon the correspondence of a few brethren, who have           the reverend deals with his opponents being what it
voiced their agreement with what I wrote in recently is-thoroughly dishonest-such a  :prolongation  of the
appearing articles about the sectarian commotion  (sec-       debate would be productive of much gain (?) for him.
tarisch gedoe) of  .the Protestant Reformed Churches,         Eventually his readers would become  t,horoughly  con-
who, as I pointed out, are engaged in a kind of mission       vinced that we are exactly what he claims us to be,
work which is no mission work.                                namely, unredeemable heretics and schismatics,  a sect.
       "One of them made the remark that it has now be- So reverend, just continue!
come plain to him, that the group which separated it-            Now the reverend once more, "I know for certain
self from our church show all the marks of a sect.            that in general our readers do not like it. Therefore
       "Now this is strong language, which I did not use.     I am not going into that which in the last number of
The readers will recall that all I said is that I gladly the above-named magazine was sent to my address.
classify them with the churches, but that it in no            The honor was again mine, that two articles of nearly
wise can be said of them that they are not in some            seven pages were occupied with my writing in this
measure guilty of sectarian commotion.                        rubric."
       "But the answer that was given to this in The Stan-       That was no  ,honor to you, reverend. For what
dard Bearer, in which an attempt was made to sur- has been making our devoting so much space in our
round this sectarian commotion with the halo of a magazine to your articles necessary, is your pernicious
holy crusade, would pretty nearly bring me to the con- habit of distorting our views so shamefully.
clusion: My correspondent is right."                             And finally this, "Real typifying is the second
       Let us pause here. The expression of, agreement article, signed G. M. O., which again ascribes to me all
on the part of the "few brethren" with Zwier's ap-            kinds of things I did not mean. Do you wish an
praisal of our mission work seems to have pleased the example ? The writer attempts to make his readers
reverend. It would be better for him if he would pay believe that in my article of May 2, on "The Image of
less attention to what the "few brethren" say and more God' in the formal and material sense" I taught the
attention to the dictates of fair dealing-of a kind of        following, `Yet something remained to man  ..of his
dealing. that we have a right to expect from one who          original righteousness and holiness.' Of course, I re-
wants to be known among his fellows as a Christian            fuse to answer such a mean accusation. He who has
man.                                                          read my article knows better."
       That reply in The Standard Eearer came pretty             So the reverend tells his readers that the accusa-
close to bringing the reverend to the conclusion: My          tion was mean (boos) thus false  and, untrue. And
correspondent is right. But I feel certain that there his readers well know this. For they have read his
was a voice in the reverend's heart-the voice of con- article.            True  they have.    But Zwier is careful not
science-that said, "My correspondent is wrong and             to place under the eyes of his readers my proof of the
I likewise."        Yet the reverend wrote that he was charge. So the readers will have to take Zwier's word
nearly brought to the conclusion: My correspondent for it that it is so. And all his undiscerning readers,
is right. Does the reverend's writing this perhaps in-        many of whom are ignorant of the content of the Three
dicate that he was offended by the truth?                     Points and of what constitutes the real issue in the
       Let us continue with the reverend's article:           present controversy (this latter none of them know.
       "Let it be remarked further that I do not deem it      Even Zwier doesn't [?I) and unaware of what they
necessary to again go into the matter. What I have            imbibe when reading Zwier's articles, will, of course
written, that have I written. And it has not been stand amazed at what I accused him of in our magazine.
proven wrong by what has appeared in reply to it but They will stand amazed also on this account that in his
rather substantiated."                                        article Zwier causes his false doctrine to step forward
       "What I have written, I have written." Indeed! with the truth as its companion. With what emphasis
How brave, this man Zwier ! How unmovably firm ! Zwier asserts that the natural man is totally depraved !
What moral courage! What tremendous risks the man With these strong affirmations under their eye, and
takes by his refusal to alter his appraisal ! What might failing to apprehend the implications of those state-
not his steadfastness cost him ! His name and position ments in the article that set forth the wrong doctrine,
in his church. Perhaps the,. reverend will give us an- and not having been placed by Zwier in a position to
               c


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           436

pass judgment on the merits of my proof, Zwier's us exactly what they mean when they say that man
readers will say, "What may be ailing that G. M. 0. has retained some remnants of the image of God,
Oh that Zwier's regard for fair dealing were as strong namely that lman has retained some of his original
as his skill for penning articles designed to discredit holiness, and thus not that he has retained merely some
his apponents is great!                                      remnants of natural light.
    No reverend, the accusation is not false. It is true.       It seems as if Rev. Kuiper felt that when reading
The article to which you refer contained the necessary the statement in question many of his readers would
proof. And this proof was amplified by me in  .an            be struck by amazement; for he wrote, "Let us add
article appearing in the last number of The Standard that the Reformed fathers quoted by Synod were Re-
Bearer. (An article, it is true, you had not yet read,       formed theologians of the highest caliber and of un-
when you penned your article now under considera-            disputed soundness."
tion) .                                                         Indeed! But let me tell Kuiper and Zwier that the
    I will now offer still more proof that. the accusation doctrine set forth by the statement in question is a lie.
is true. In the last number of The Banner and under- If the brethren now admit this, they will so discredit
the caption "Translation of The Three Points of Com-         Mastricht as to make it impossibIe for themselves to '
mon Grace"  I read the following (from the pen of Rev.       continue marshalling Mastricht to the defense of their
H. J. Kuiper,) "Last week we repeated a former an-           second point. Point me to another father, famed as
nouncement of our intention to make some comments a Reformed theologian of undisputed soundness, in
on the decisions of the synod of Kalamazoo, 1924, re- whose works the statement in question is anywhere
garding the questions that had arisen in connection to be found. What the Synod did, it seems, is to comb
with the doctrine of Common Grace. Recent events in the entire field of reformed literature for just the
our circles and sentiments expressed in correspondence kind of a statement they wanted and thought they
which we have received have convinced us that it will had need of. And they found what they searched
be useful to offer some explanation of those decisions, for-in that work of Mastricht.
commonly called the Three Points. We deem it ad-                So it is indeed true that the issue in the present
visable to preface our comments with a translation of controversy is exactly whether man after the fall
those decisions, to which very few of our readers            retained a remnant of his original holiness and right-
have access. . . .                                           eousness through common grace.
   "Concerning the second point, touching the restraint         Let the reverend Zwier now say whether I falsely
of sin in the life of the individual and in society, the     accused him when I said of him that the view to which
Synod declares that according to Scripture and the he is addicted is that man after the fall retained
Confession, there is such a restraint of sin. This is through common grace a remnant of his original holi-
evident from the quoted Scripture passages and from ness. And this, I feel certain is also the reason he told
the Belgic Confession, article 13 and 36. . . .              his readers that his opponents deny the very existence
   "Note of the editor: The following Scripture pas- of small remnants. The reason is that his opponents
sages are referred to . . . .                                refuse to say  (with him that what man has retained is a
   "The same Reformed writers are quoted as under remnant of his original holiness and thus that they
the first point:                                             insist that all that man retained was a remnant of his
   Van Mastricht, II, p. 330: "God however moderates mtural light.
the severity of this spiritual death and bondage: (a) in-                                                G. &I, 0.
ternally by means of some remnants of the image of                             ,F
God and of original righteousness. . . . to which things
`is added an internal restraining grace. . . ."
   Mark this statement, "Internally by means of some
remnants. . . . of original righteousness. . . ."
   Now mind you, this line from Mastricht's pen                                      N o t i c e !
Synod quoted to give to its second point the weight
of the authority of Mastricht. Hence, the teaching              If you wish to follow the writings of Dr.  `K.
which this language sets forth Synod and thus also Schilder who recently visited this country, subscribe
Kuiper and Zwier made their own. This teaching
Zwier also adopted.      Never has this statement of to "De Reformatie". Send your money order for four
Mastricht been challenged by any of the brethren.            dollars and twenty five cents ($4.25) to  :-
This gives us all the right in the world to say that
also Zwier is addicted to the view that man after the                 R. Schaafsma
fall retained some of his original righteousness and
holiness. Through their having made this statement in                    524 Henry Ave., S. E.
question their own, the brethren, including Zwier, tell                      Grand Rapids,  Mich.  ~'

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

                  R i s e n   W i t h   C h r i s t                 with a heavenly life and of their leading in  principle
                                                                    a heavenly existence even while they still lie in the
                                                                    midst of death.
                      If ye then be risen with Christ, seek thox       It is to be observed that, according to the apostle,
                  things which are above. . . .                     they were raised with Christ. This implies (1) that
                                                   Cd.  3:l.        Christ was raised; (2) that He in a causal sense was
       The clause rendered in our version, "If ye be risen the first to be raised ; (3) that God's elect were raised
with Christ," should have been translated, "If ye then simultaneously; (4) that they  were'  raised as  being
were raised together. . .  ." The word "if" is not a united with Him and soleIy on this account.
doubtful hypothesis. The apostle does not mean to say,                 Christ was raised. Thus He was dead. This last
"Whether ye are raised with Christ is not certain. It statement concerns Christ's corporal death, the bruis-
may or may not be." The conjunction "if" sets forth ing of His body and the final separation of His body
the being raised with Christ as an undoubted fact. and soul on the cross. He died. So loving hands took
The conditional clause is thus equivalent in meaning His body down from that cross and laid it away in the
to the positive statement, "Ye were raised up with tomb. But God raised Him. He arose. This raising
Christ."      That the clause in question does not make Him was an act of God the importance of which was
the being raised problematical is evident from the immeasurably great. It was God's seal which He placed
language that follows, "Ye are dead and your life is upon. the work of Christ,-the work of bearing away
hid with Christ in God." This is the statement of a the sins' of God's people and of meriting `for Himself
fact. If so, then the same must be said of the clause and for them a heavenly existence  iq God's sanctuary.
in question. How could the apostle set forth as prob- This work He performed. As constrained by a pure
lematical the salvation of the people to whom he wrote love He laid down His life-for His sheep. He ran
if this people is-the church, the congregation of Christ, the way of God's commands as one consumed by the
a brotherhood of believing people.                                  zeal of God's house. He tasted death for His own
       It is thus God's people who are here being exhorted both in soul and body. When all was finished, He  coti-
to seek the things above, a people who have the saving mitted His spirit into His father's hands, and gave
grace to do as bidden. That the apostle had believing up the ghost. He died and was buried. Then the
people before his mind is plain from his entire reason- Father raised Him. The corruptible put on incorrup-
ing, which is this: "Ye are risen with Christ. Ye are               tion and the mortal immortality. Then that which
dead ; and your life is hid with Christ in God. When was sown in dishonour was raised in glory, and that
Christ will appear, ye will also appear with Him in which was sown in weakness was raised in power. The
`glory. This being true, seek the things above. Center natural body was raised a spiritual body.
your mind on these things.                                             So was he raised from the dead. And'the apostle
       They were raised. This refers to their regenerate tells the Colossians that they had been raised with
moral life. Previous to their being raised, they were Him. This, as was said, implies that (1) they had
not merely sick but dead in sin and thus wholly without been raised when He had been raised and that (2) they
strength. But God raised them. This does not mean                   had been raised in union with Him. But now it is to
that in being -raised they remained dead and limp in be considered that when Christ had been raised, the
His hands, so that His raising them was an act akin                 Colossians, at least several of them, it may be assumed,
to the act of a man who sets on its feet a corpse. His had not yet been born. How then could the apostle
raising them consisted in His quickening them through tell them that they had been raised when Christ had
His pouring in them new life-the life of Christ-so been raised ? To understand  this,.it  is necessary to dis-
that they came to life and rose and, having risen, began tinguish between the legal and tihe actual, st&ectkrq,
to walk in newness of life. So does this having healt               resurrection of God's people. All God's people were
,raised  signify that they who were  ,dead are now spirit- legally raised when Christ was raised and this on
ually alive, that they who were desperately sick are                account of their being legally united with Him and
now well, thus that they `who were blind and deaf thus on account of their possessing Him as their
and halt and mute now have sight and hearing and can legal head in His death and resurrection. This being
and do run the way of God's commands, praise and true, His resurrection together with all the benefits
bless His name, witness for  Hi: truth, and collaborate accruing from His atonement was and is legally theirs
with Him in His covenant. -Thus this being raised and therefore they, His people, and His people only,
implies that those who were raised underwent a change have a right to be saved, the right to serve God, to
so fundamental and radical that they are new creatures love Him and to walk in the  way of His commands. To
in Christ-new, not only in the sense of their being maintain that the reprobated ungodly also have this
freed from sin but also in the sense of their bearing right is to teach that the reprobated, too, were legally
potentially and in principle the image of the Lord from united with Christ in His death, resurrection, and
heaven, thus new in the sense of their being endowed ascension, is to teach, in other words, the doctrine of


                                             `t$IE  STANDARiD   BEARER                                                  437
                           -.z .       -.                                       --..---
 a general atonement, the doctrine that Christ died buried with Him by baptism into death. . .  ." This
 for all head for head.                                           passage sets  fortah baptism as the  means  through
    Because the people of God legally possess Christ's which the elect are translated into Christ. "Buried
 resurrection, God also actually saves them, that is, He *with  Him by baptism. . . ." It is not, to be sure, the
 quickens them and causes them to walk in newness sign but the thing signified-regeneration and faith-
 of life through His regenerating them bnd through to which the apostle in the final instance refers. Fur-
 His causing the life of regeneration to flower in con- ther, the implication of the sentence element, "buried
 version and sanctification. But as Chsist is the sanc-           with Him in baptism" is, must again be,: (1) Christ
 tification and the justification of His people, their resur- was buried ; (2) when Christ was buried the elect were
 rection and life, God cannot otherwise  savrl  them              buried; (3) they were buried in legal union with Him.
 than through His uniting them with Christ by a living The whole statement therefore is .to be paraphrased
 faith. The salvation of God as realized in the elect is          thus: "On account of your having been legally united
 negative and positive. It is on the one hand the morti- with Christ in His crucifixion, death, and burial (and
 fication of the old man, thus a sincere sorrow of heart resurrection) you, through your having been translated
 that we have provoked God by our sins and more and               in Him by a living faith, lived unto God and as living
 more to flee from sin; and, on the other hand, a sin-            ones walked and do walk in newness of life. So was
 cere joy of heart in God through Christ and with love            the crucifixion and death of Christ in their fruits
and delight to live according to the will of, God in all          realized and exhibited in you, which means that
 good works. This latter is the rising of the new man.            through baptism (faith) you were joined to Christ
    The statement, "If  y,e have been raised with Christ",        and thus to HiS death in its fruits as these fruits. dwell
 if the truth it contains is to be grasped in all its ful-        in Him." Now the benefit of Christ's death for the
 ness, must be viewed in the light of its surroundings,           believers  iS the death of sin in them or, as the apostle
 in the light of the verses 11 to 14 inclusive of the pre- expresses it, the destruction of the body of sin, which
 ceding chapter.                                                  was accomplished objectively through Christ's expiat-
   Vs. 11, In  1Hi.m also ye were circumcised with the cir- ing by His sufferings and death the guilt of His people.
 cumcision made without hands, in putting o@ Liie body            Through their being joined to Him by faith, this ac-
 of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.  . ."    complishment was exhibited in them. Then the mem-
 This verse is to be paraphrased thus, "In Him, that is,          bers which are upon the earth were mortified and the
 in legal anion with Him, ye were circumcised with the            new man put on-the new man which is renewed in
 circumcision made without hands (the outward eircum-             knowledge after the image of Him that created Him.
 cision of the Old Testament Dispensation was made                And so the purpose of their having been legally joined
`with hands) thus with the true circumcision that con- to Him in His death and burial was in principle realized :
 sists in regeneration flowering in conversion or that            "Like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory
 consists in the putting off the body of the sins of the          of the Father, even so they also now walk in newness
 fresh by the circumcision that belongs to Christ, that           of  life." Rom. 6:4.
 is, to the New Dispensation.                                        The apostle continues, "For if we have been planted
    Vs. 12,  "ZIaving  ,been  buried with  him (not, buried together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also
 as in our version but  having bean buried)  in baptism.          in the likeness of His resurrection." The implications
 wherein also ye were raised with Him (not, arc risen) ~of- this statement are: (1) Christ died ; (2) we, died ;
 through the faith of the worrking  of God who raised             (3) our death was similar to that of Christ, but not
 Him up from the dead."                                           identical, for then Christ  would  have been sinful.
     Here, let it be said in passing, the apostle so ex- Christ died corporally. He also suffered in His spirit,
 presses himself as to provide us with the undoubted              a mode of death wholly compatible with the sinlessness
 proof that circumcision and baptism as to the reality            of His nature. God's people die, too. Their old man
 signified by each (regeneration anid conversion are iden- is crucified. The body of sin is destroyed. This death
 tical and that thus the latter has indeed taken  the place       sinful men only die. In what respect is this  death
 of the former. For notice  what- the apostle writes,             similar to that of Christ? In this respect that it is a
 namely, "In whom also ye were circumcised. . . .hnv-             painful process. The truth set forth by the verse las!
 inrr hocn  buried with him in baptism. . . ." The par-           quoted is this, "If we have been mystically united with
 ticiple  having been buried  renders this language equiva- Christ in His death upon the cross through our dying
 lent in meaning to the statement, "In Whom ye were a death similar to His, a death consisting in the cruci-
 truly circumcised, that is, truly  >baptized."                   fixion of members which are upon the earth, we shall
     The phrase, "Having been buried with him in bap- also be united with Him in His resurrection in our
 tism," must, in order to be understood, be viewed in .vielding  ourselves unto God as those who are  alixTe
 the light of Rom. 6:3, "Know ye not, that so many of from the dead". This can also be expressed thus: "If
 YOU  as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized            t,hrough  our having become the recipients of the bene-
 into His death? Therefore were we (not, are we)                  fits of His death, we have died with Him, we shall a!so


433                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
           ..-                                                            -_ -
live with Him through our being quickened and through           vation,  as a spiritual quickening, as a raising from
our being made to walk in newness of life.                      spiritual death. -The explanation is, "having forgiven
       The heart of the message with which the apostle you all your trespasses ; having blotted out the hand-
in these verses comes to his readers is: "If our old            writing of ordinances that was against you. . . ." The
man has been crucified with Christ on account of His            forgiveness of which the apostle here speaks is not
having expiated our sins, then through our being united         the justification by faith, that act of the Spirit accord-
ivith Him by a living faith the benefits of His death           ing to which He testifies with the spirits of God's child-
are actually ours if so the body of death is destroyed          ren that they are vested with the satisfaction and
in us and we walk in newness of life."                          righteousness of Christ. It is a forgiveness that took
       Let us now return to the statement contained in          place when the handwriting of ordinance (the whole
the second chapter of the epistle to the Colossians,            law of God) that was against us was blotted out. This
"Buried with Him in baptism. . .  ." How this scrip-            handwriting was against us. It accused and cursed
ture is to be construed is now evident, "By baptism,            us on account of our transgression, declared us guilty,
that is to say, by a living faith ye have been united           and thus placed us under the obligation to suffer the
with Christ with the result that the benefits of His            penalty of our sins, which is eternal death. But this
death became actually yours, so that it can be truth-           handwriting was blotted out, was nailed to the cross
fully said of you that you died and were buried $th             by Christ through His satisfying by His suffering
Him." The statement to the effect that Christ's cruci- and death all the demands of the law, which He did as
fixion and death dwell in Him is wholly true in the             our legal head. His satisfaction and righteousness
sense that the fruits of His death dwell in Him. Hence,         therefore was also legally ours and  ,was also declared
to be baptized into Christ, that is, to be joined to Him to be ours by the justifying God. This is the forgive-
by a saving faith is to be united with His death, is ness to which the apostle here refers. Being forgiven,
thus to possess His crucifixion and  ,death  in its fruits.     God could quicken us, which He did. He quickened
He therefore who has been planted in Christ by faith us together with Christ, that is, in legal and mystical
may indeed be said to have been crucified, to have died,        union with Him. Herewith the question has been
and to have been buried with Him.                               answered how the suffering and death of Christ could
       "Buried with Him in baptism, "The apostle con- be exhibited in us as salvation. This death had aton-
tinues, "wherein ye also were raised with Him through ing value. And herewith has also been explained the
the faith of the working of God who raised Him from statement of Paul in Colossians (3 :l) , ",If ye have been
the dead."        Wherein, that is, in baptism (not, in raised with Christ." The thought set forth is, "Through
Christ). The meaning is : "Having been united to Him your being joined to Christ by faith, His resurrection
by or in baptism, that is, by a saving faith, and thus          (and death) has in its fruits become actually yours,
having obtained the benefits *of His  crucitition  and in that you have been raised in legal and mystical union
death (the life of regeneration blossoming in conversion with Him.           The body of death has therefore been
and sanctification) the body of sin in you was destroyed actually (subjectively) destroyed in you.              You are
and you were made to live unto God and thus were                therefore a new creature, alive to God and walking in
also raised with Him and this through your faith of newness of life.
the operation, that is, of the power, the ability, of .God         Being raised with Christ, God's believing people
to raise sinners from spiritual death,-of God, who              seek the things above, they being new creatures in
hath raised Him, -Christ, from the dead."                       Christ. (If ye then were raised with Christ, seek
       "And you,". so the next verse reads, "being dead those things which are above. . . .) or as the apostIe
in your sins and the circumcision of your flesh, hath expresses it (Col. 3:3), "Ye are dead and your life is
He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you hid with Christ in God." The believers are dead in
all your trespasses."                                           the legal sense in that their old man was crucified with
   This is no mere repetition. Here the apostle ans- Christ Rom.  6:6) and subjectively in that they possess
wers the question more in particular how it was pos- the death of Christ in its fruits in mystical union with
sible for God to save His people without denying Him- Him. Dead they are unto sin (Rom.  6:6). Sin has
self as righteous God. Be quickened them, who were lost its appeal, its allurement for and thus its dominion
dead in sin, implanted in the essence of their being over them. What now appeals to them is the things
a new life principle. As this life was the  fruitage            above.
of Christ's suffering and death, it follows that through           What is to be understood by these things? And
their being quickened they became the recipients of the answer: The things to which the believers, by
His sufferings and resurrection. Thus their receiving virtue of their being what they are, namely, new
this Iife was indeed on this account a being quickened creatures, feel themselves attracted and after which
with Him.'                                                     - they hunger and thirst. Thus by these things is to
   Hereupon the apostle explains why the crucifixion be understood all that believers possess in Christ, to
and death of Christ could be exhibited in them as  sal- wit, righteousness, sanctification, mercy, meekness,


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         439

love, the life that is hid in God, the heavenly, God           by the love of God, is and remains the seat and channel
Himself as revealed in the face of Christ. These are of the life with which He perpetually fills the members -
the things above-so-called on account of their being of His body; it is proper to say of this life that it is
heavenly and eternal. As like seeks like, these things with Christ in God.
believing people, being, as they are, like God by virtue          Herein the life of God's people differs from the life,
of their being raised with Christ, must and do seek.           from the sinful existence, of unbelieving men. Though
   From the above observation it is plain that -this these men, too, have their being not in the God and
seeking of God's people is of a unique character.              Father of C/W& but in God, their entire existence,
Ordinary seeking is an attempt to locate a thing that their thinking and willing and striving, their entire
is lost and gone. He,' the seeking one, seeks as not           way of life, springing, as, it does, from the principle
actually possessing. But God's believing people actual- of sin and issuing from hearts that are corrupt, being
ly possess that which they seek-the life in Christ. thus a life that is vitiated by sin, is from below. They
And it is just because they do possess that they seek. who are not raised with Christ seek therefore the
Hence, it was not the spiritually dead sinner with things on earth. Upon these things they have their
whom  tlhe apostle was mentally occupied when  ,he             mind and affections set. But the life of God's people
said,  "`Ye are dead." The dead seek not. It is the            is in God the Father of light. And the life in God is
living only that seek, those alive to God, those at once in them. They seek God therefore. And their
whose life-the life that is already possessed in prind         seeking Him.is the heavenly life in them reaching out
ciple-is hid with Christ.                                      for God and thus returning to its source. So does God's
   Further.     In ordinary seeking, the seeker knows          life, (the created life that Christ merited for His
not Iwhere  to lodk. Hence he looks here and there and people) become in them a well of water, springing up
everywhere. But at last the thing is found. However, unto life eternal.
often the seekin`g  is fruitless. But as to God's believing       But we must take notice of the statement, "And
people, they know where to find the things which they your life is hidden with Christ in God." The apostle
seek.    God has told them, "Seek the things above here has reference to the life of God in His people as
where Christ  is at  the right  hand  of  God."  That it to its appearing in heavenly glory. The  meaningt  is
is said that these things are at  God% right hand tells not that in the church on earth this life appears in no
us that we have here to do with things in which God            sense whatever. It does this. The people of God in
takes infinite pleasure and which He is willing and            this world, living, as they do, out of the principle of
ready to give and ,is now and everlastingly giving to regeneration, walk in the good works that Christ pre-
His people. But as of these things Christ is the merit-        pared for them through His suffering and death. (In
orial source and thus the seak and channel, it is at once these good works the life that is in them takes on
said of these things that they are where Christ is. He visibility. Seeing these works, men glorify God.  IHOW-
in whom these things dwell-all fulness dwells in Him ever,  the people of God in this world, though they
bodily-is, together with these things at God's right           walk with heaven in their soul and though their  con-
hand. He, too, therefore, seated as He is, at God's $versation  be in heaven, still bear the image of  the-
right hand, is the eternal delight of God and the power        earthy. Though they be kings and priests unto God
of God unto the salvation of His body, the church. For in Christ, they go about as clad in a poor, mean, and
He is the exalted Christ, full of grace and truth ; contemptible garment-in a garment  eartlhy  and soiled
the true vine is He, in whom His people everlastingly by sin. And this garment is their earthy, weak, sinful
abide and therefore live.                                      and inglorious nature. The life in them does not
   Finally, there is in one respect a certain formal yet appear in heavenly beauty, as it one day will
agreement between ordinary seeking and this seeking when this corruptible shall put on incorruption and
of the things above by God's  .people.  All seeking is this mortality immortality. Then their faces will shine
an action that consists in the seeker intently setting         as the sun and their garments mill be white as the
his mind (but not always his affection) upon the things light. And this  .brightness  will be the effulgence of
sought. God's people have their mind and their  effec-         the true goodness that is in them.
tions trained or closely fixed upon the things they seek          But as yet their faces do not shine. The life, as
-the things above. For their life is hid with Christ to its heavenly splendour, is hidden-hidden with
in God. This implies firstly that their life is in God,        Christ in God. But when Christ shall appear, they
which means that of this life-the heavenly existence shall appear with Him in glory, then this body that is
of the redeemed-He is now and everlastingly the sown in dishonour  and weakness will Ibe raised in glory
creative source. Hence  tshe eternal fountain of this and in power. And then  t,his life will no longer be
life is God.    In Him `does the church together with hidden.
Christ live and move and have its being. Now whereas              This is tthe promise given them, that they might
Christ, as to His human nature, has His being in God.          have a strong consolation. And of this consolation,
and whereas this nature, as everlastingly replenished they, God's people, have need. For, walking as child-


                                            T H E      STANbARb            B E A R E R

     en of the light,  ,they  a.re despised and shunned and
     buffeted by the, world of unprincipled men who know                                    Contribution
     not  God. and  tlherefore   ihate His people.     But they,    Rev.  I-I.  Hoeksema:-
     God's believing people, faint not. By tHis mercies, they
     steadfastly seek the things above ; for they know that             I cannot help thinking that you agree with the fol-
     their Redeemer liveth. They know that they shall               lowing. If so, could you find space in your Standard
     appear-with  Christ in glory.                                  Bearer to reproduce it for the good of everybody?.
       What now does this seeking the things above con-                        The 5 Points of Calvinism, and the
     sist in?    `How  `may God's people know that they                             3 Points of Synod of  1924.
     are seeking these things  ? They can know. Seeking                 No doubt, but your readers are acquainted with the
     these things, according to the context consist in their famous five points of Calvinism. They are:
     mortifying their memibers which are upon the earth ;               1. Total inability.
     "fornication, uncleanness inordinate affection, evil               2. Unconditional election.
     concupiscence, covetousness, w~hich is idolatry, it con-           3. Limited atonement.
     sists in putting off all these ;"~ anger, wrath, malice,           4.  Irresistsble  grace.
     blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.                 5. Perseverance of the saints.
     Positively it consists in putting on the new man, thus             The first letters of these points, T.U.L.I.P. form
     in putting on as  eIect of God, bowels of mercies, kind-       t h e   w o r d , - t u l i p .
     ness, meekness, longsuffering, love. In the degree that            The tulip is  a, beautiful flower expressive of grace
     believers do ,this, are they seeking the thing above. In and life in the realm of earthly glory. Reading care-
     the degree that they refrain from doing this, are they         fully these words headed by the five letters, we notice,
     seeking the things on earth.                                   that we are moving in the spiritual, its bloom, glory
         "Seek not the things on earth." What are we to             and life exhibited in the first letters T.U.L.I.P.
     understand by these things 1          Scripture designates         T~his T.U.L.I.P. token of life and glory was the
t    them Iby such terms and expressions as bread, mam-             symbol of the Clhr. Ref. Church in the United States
     mon, the arm of flesh, the pride of life, the lust of up to the year 1924: In that year its Synod detected
     the. flesh and of the eyes. Bread in itself is a good that yet two of its many pastors cared to unfold this
     creature of God. But when sought, when worked for, symbol, carrying the sweet T.U.L.I.P.
     it becomes man's god, his idol. Seeking the things                 This seemed to be evil in its sight and it destroyed
     rbelow rouses the beast in a man. When God's people the two pastors by forming a NEW DOGMA consist-
     seek these things they put off kindness and humbleness ing of 3 points. These points read:
     and love, and put on malice and anger and wrath. The               1. God is graciously inclined toward all men, and
     act of consistently seeking these things, turns the best               not alone toward the elect.
     of men into brutes. Why is there war? Why are the                  2. God restrained sin.
     nations of the earth ready to blast one another from               3. The unregenerated are able to perform civic
     the face of this earth? Because the men of this world                  good in the eyes of God.
     seek these things, work for the bread that perishes.               He who fearlessly cares to study these 2 points by
     But God's people are admonished to seek the things the words of Scripture cannot fail to notice that they
     above, the life that is with Christ in God. And seeking contra&&the five points of Calvinism or the T.U.L.I.P.
     these things they seek, the very things that they are ex-          The contradiction of the five poinlts  are expressed
     horted to put on, namely, love, the love that is in God,       in the following consequent words to wit:
     and that is at once shed abroad in their hearts. And               1. Ability.
     seeking love, they seek God in Christ; for God is love.            2. No election.
         God's people have great need of this admonition.               3. Unlimited atonement.
     For, they are as yet, seekers after God only in prin-              4. Resistability of grace.
     ciple. Sin still riots in their bosom. The sinful inclina-         5. No  perseverence  of elected saints.
     tion to seek the things on earth is still strong in them.          Arranging the first letters of these five words, we
     Ami how prone they are to yielfd  to this inclination ! find that we have  the letters: A.N.U.R.N. forming the
     Therefore the admonition, "Seek the things above. . . ."       words, An Urn,
                                                     G. M. 0.           An Urn, is a vessel containing the ashes of the dead.
                                                                        As for me, the undersigned, I am  positiveIy  con-
                            It's A Fact                             vinced that the Ghr. Ref. Church in America digged
     Striking an average, out of every 100 American citi-           its own grave by the adoption of the THREE  UN-
     zens, only eight attend church on Sunday morning, BIBLICAL and UNCALVINISTICAL POINTS. The
     and only two attend on Sunday night. Less than half hatred, malice  ,and unbrotherly carriage of its leading
     of the children of the nation receive, any religious clergy attesting to this undisputable fact.
     instruction.                                                                                       J. H. Hoekstrat


