VOLUME XXI                                         NOVEMBER 1, 1944                                                         NUMBER 3


                                                                            In the meantime, there is in hi!-,  heart a ,deep  reali-

                                                                         zation of the justice of Jehovah's ways, and of His

                                                                         faithfulness to His people !even .in the midst of and

                                                                         through the affli.ction  of this p.resent time.

                                                                            He !tasted  that the Land; is good!

                                                                            Therme  is ,a firm conviction that the proud shall
    Confident Of A Glad Reception                                        be ashamed, and' thait  his enemies shall be ,destroyed.
                                                                         He commits his cauise  to Him that j,udges  righteously.
             They that fsar thee will be gkid when they
                                                                           And he carries the joyous testimony in his soul,
           see me; because  I ikav~ hoped in thy ,wor:d.
                                                                         that he belongs to the people of  JGod,  It-o them that fear
                                           P&  119.74.
                                                                         His name.
    Tribulation worketh expkri&ce!                                        Them he loves!
    And that t,hrozcgh  patiewca!                                           Their Fellowship  he seeks!
    For thus the apostle Paul Iwrites  in R,oti.  5 :3, 4 :                  `(Let those ithat  fear thee turn ulnio me, and. those
"knowing that tribulation worketh  patience,  `and pat-
                                                                         thit hav& known thy testSmonies."  vs. 79.
ience experience," or r&her, more in accord with t.he
meaning  of the original:       "patience the gexperientied                  An~di  he knoiws  *that  ithis  love ,and  fellowship is
state."                                                                  mqtu'al:  they, too, give him testimony that he is one
                                                                         of them 
    Perhaps, we may isay that. the relation, b&wleen                                  !
the preceding s!edtion  d Ps. 119 &nd the one from                          They will be `glad to see hi;`rn  !
which-we  selected the basis for the present meditation,                    He is conficdeti,  that ,Itt  all `times he will find a glad
is somewhat like th,at betw$een  patieilce  al;l;d experi-               and hearty reception in thkir  midst.!.

ence.                  I II> ; i .,'              ! : _~~, . `$2            Becabse  he has hoped in Jehovah's `word  !
    In the former the poet had written about `his  eaf-                     BLessed  experience                                0
                                                                                                   !
fliction,  and had even there emphatically  testified1  that
through it all the.lLord  hadl `dealt well with him, and                     .I
that it `was  good for .hi?n to have b:een afflicted, for in
                                                                            W o n d e r f u l  aissurance!
the way of affliction he had learned to know the                                                               .
statutes ,of Jehovah.     Here,` however, he rather speaks                  They, the people of Gold,,  those &at fear the  Iname
+hroughout  as one that has been proved and approved,                    of the Lord, will *be glad to bee- me 
                                                                    '                                                !
and now rejoices in ,hope,  whi.le.at  the same time he                     The statement is unlimited and unqualified !
,deeply  feels the need; of and longs and p,rSys  for                       The meaning  is not that on a certain  pafiticular  .
Jehovah's mercy, in ordec that he may sit.eadfastly                      occasjon,  or unde? cetitain  circumstances, such ,as those
continue in the way ,of His statutes. ,                                  that were present  with the psalmist at that particular
   He prays for understanding, that he may  learn the time, they,would  be glad it,o see him. The reference
Lord's commandments. " SHe-  beseeches Jehovah for                       is not to the fact that $he  poet had been afflicted, that
the conlt;inual comfort  elf his merciful. lovingkindness,               hiis ,enemies  haId; persecuted him, that he, perhaps,
and for the realization unto him of ,God's tendier                       llad been in prison, ,or nigh unto .death,  .and tha!t, now

me&es,  for ,of ithose  he will have need as he walks                    he had been delivered, and that f olr o this reason, they
in the way sf                                                                                                       him at it:h&  time, to. 
                  God's precepts  is &$ midst  of this world,            wsuZd  be especially glad'to see                                       _

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


  haire  him retunn  unto them--in safety. .                              those that rejoice @his fellowship de-termilied  by here
  -3 The implication of his st.atemen!t,  is~,$($~;limited  to            char.acter .or sodiar'ijosition  in the world.     The matter
  &$ speci,al  occasion.                        .~_ ` /                   goes mu@ Ideeper.  The distinction is spiritual. They
  z. On the contrary, he states  ,a gene&  .&et.                          that, fear the Lor& !t.hey  only, will be glad to see  hii? !
  ' I.. Always, unldier  any ~zircumstances; ithe?  that fear                    Their fear of the  Lord is the sole reaso,!:  for tkei_r
  %l?e  Lord will rejoice  when they meet him.  i:;.There  is a           joyous receptioci  of him!

  &$d .of fellows&p  between them .and himself:  There                           Ais a spiritual p&ciple,  thle fear of the Lord  is the

  I$; ?n a,ctive  operation ,of love on liis part to:  them, buf,        disposition and spiritual .attitnde  toward Gdd of `the re-

  %&6  on their part toward him.           In their  hearts there         geeeratetd;  heant.  th&  is rooted, on the one hand, in a

  is:.;  ,deeply root,e$d  and consciously aat.iv6::dffection  for        profound acknowledgement. of the infinite glory and

  him, so that thky like $0 meet  him, to `&lk and talk                   majesty of the living ,God,  and,. oln the other hand, iln a

  with him,' it,o  have him in their midst, to receive him                childlike love of and co:zfidence  in Him as the God of
  in their company, to open their he,frts  to him, to dis;                our salvation i@ Christ, fro&  .which springs the heart-

  CUSS,  vri5t:h him the things concerning the statutes  0:               felt Id&ire  to be pleasing to Him, to keep His precepis,
  the Land;  and concerning the kingdom of God.                   They A. and an abhorrence of  ,511  that. is contrary .to .His will
  give him their confidence, they give him  te&imony                      and displeasing to Him.        It is not the fear of "bondage
  that he is one Iof them, `they recognize him as one of                  again to fear," the fear of thle slave, but the fear of
  their own, as being of the- same Spirit, and,  of the                   the Lord tha% is wrought by the Spirit of adoption,
  same-min'd;  :as striving with them for the sam? cause.                 crying : Abba, Father !
        .Glad they will be ito see him!                                          Yet ithe  psalmist does tiot refer to the m&e  prin-
        Of this th,e pde%  is confident! For he `does not                 eciple of t"his'fear  of the Lord, but to its manifestatio:n,
  .speak  of the fact that ,God's peopl'e  g,av;e him'  D -hearty         to the fear of the Lord in  a&ion!
  reception, or that they assured him of their gladness                          They that fear Thee ! . . `. .
  .t6 see him, but of his own, persolnal, spontaneous as-                        Not to those that profess  !t:o have the fear of the
 `sufatice  of !t%his fact. He kz~ows,  he is assured, he                `Lord in their hearts, that say: Lortd1, Lord! without
  feels perfectly confildk,nt  ithat they will be glad to see             any!!thing  further, does the poet refer.           Not even
  him.                                                                   -to  them thalt.,  perhaps, actually are of God's people,
        We all know what it  mean.s  to feel  that with certaia           but to a large extent fail to reveal it, walk  in isin,. and
  people, in a certain company, we are welcome.                           in, their actual convtirsation  in the world are com-

        With some we lie+er  have that  feeling.  Even                    panions of them that :kknow  not God, is ithe reference.
  though they be ever !so profus'e  and exuberafiit  in their             But !t.o those $hat  ~ct&t~zj  fear th'e  Lord the psalmist
  &ssurar&es  that ith& are gl.ad to see you ; though they speaks.
! welcome you'  in their home, and do all in their power                         They that have their-delight in  l&s $recepts,  t&t
  to make you comfortabl,e,  still you do inot f,eel  at home.            w.alk in His way, shall be glad to see him  !
        With others you. spontaneously feel, that. you are               --      They that are strangers in the world, enemies of
 `%velcome,  #although.  they never mention that ithey are                the'enemies ,of Jehovah, shall rejoice in his fellowship !
  glzid to .see you, `$nd  put fo&  no spkci.al  `effort to                    .,Of this the psalmist is confidlent.

= makle  yod  feel at ,home  with them.'                                         Spontaneous assurance !                '
        Y,ou  know they are your friends!
        Thus at. is with the poet in  ,relation  ito them that                                       ---
  fear the Lord'.    H.e  knows that they will ,be glad to set                   Well founded confidence !           % "
 him, and; that they .are  always  and everywhere ready                         ,The psalmisit is quite co:nscious  of ,th'e ground in

  to welcome him in their company! Tho!se of whose                       .which  this testimony, this confidence  that the com-

  love he is confident, and of whose hearty  receptioz  he               Tessing  believers sha!l_,, welcome;.  him with joy, is root-
  is assured, ,are  they ithat  fear the Lord.            And therein    e d . .

lies *the -blessedness of It:his assurance.` Even in a                           I&e h,as hop@  in the $Vori of Jehovah; therefore,
 natural  sense it makes a world ,of ,difference  who, what              Ithey  tha't  fear ,$be  Lord shall always prepare him  a

 kind of people, ar,e  glad to see you. .Their  joy in your              hearty reception in itheir  midst.
 .fellowship  .reflects  uppn your own character. T@$                            The wond of it.he  Lord is &e of the main coacept's
 is truth in the adiage: "Tell me who your friends ai-.e,                _ in this entire psalm.      It is considered from various
 snd I .will  tell. you who  you are."       Here, h6wever,  thi?        &spects.  And lienc;e,  it is <denoted  lay different terms.
 guestio:n.  is not @oncerning  a natural, but concerning                `E'undamentally,  it is z+lways'  the same: the Word of
 spiritual joy, and spiri%ual  affinity. Nc$  all men will               %he.,God  of salvation #to ,His' people, revealed i(n Christ
 ,be glad to see him.     In fact, there  ar,e those that hat6           Jesus our Lo&. Yet, tha6  one Word is rich in' coil-
  and persecute th&  poet. He has his <bitter  enemies.                  It&t  an,d  meaning. It .is `the same as the "151~" o-F

 Nor is the d:lnti&px;~  ;b&ween  i$&ose thdt,  hate 3-d~ y~ci
                                           ..A_  ,-a..                   the (Lord,  the ",$@.&$'  `df Jehovah, tlie "precept@:
                                                           * .

                                                                                           .


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D  B-EARER                                  -`.._                                 51


 of the vast  High, "Vhe W.ord"  in -whi,ch  God tiauses                   ,by furious enemies, that persecu!t,ed  him, the psalmist

        hope.      Here, it is.simply  denoted as "thy $V&d."              hsdi remained faithful, and walked constantly in the
 us to 
 But it i,s evident from the coa:`ext that also here the                   way of Jehovah's pkecepts,  waiting for the Lord's sal-
 poet looks at this ,Word  of the Lord from a specific                     vation, and hoping in His Word.
 viewpoint,, For in this Wand;  he has hoped! Hence,                          Hope and a sandtified  walk  and' conversation are.
 he consfders  the W,ocd  of {God als -&he  promise. Always                i,n.separably  connected.        The relation is reciprocal.
 the Word of- the ,God  of our salvation is a promise.                     For, ,on the one hand, only in the way of sanctification
 From the very dawn of revelation in Paradise, even.  to                   is it possible.ito  hope for the salvaiion  of the Lord.
the fulfillmenrt.  of the gospel in our Lord_  Jesus Christ,               When we follow the way of the  world,' seek the things
 that Word is a promise. It is the gospel. And even                        that ,are` below,  are companions of the ungodly, shun
 still, though the Wondi of promise iI3 centrally realized                 the reproach of it*he  wicked and the sufferings of this
 in the incarnation, the death, resurrection, and exal-                    present time with Christ, and for His sake, we will
tation of our $rd Jesus Christ, and the outpouring                         be accounted enemies of God, and there  is no conscious
-of it-he  Spirit in the Church of thle  neti dispensation,                hope in the Word of Jehovah. On  !the other hand,
 the Word is .a promise diredt&ng,  the longing eyes OT                    true hope is a strong incentive to purify ourselves, and
the heirs of the promise to the ultimate salvation -and to fight the gooldl fight.                        For, our hope is that  we  shall
 glory at the appearing ,of Jesus Christ from heaven !                     be like Him, for we shall see  Hini as `He is: And
     The promise it is .of final redemption; .but  also of                 every one that haih  t.his hope in him purifieth himself,
 present hlelp and l&eliverance.                                           even -as He is pure. I John 3% 3.                .

     I am with thee : fear noit!                                              Of this the pigalmist  speaks.
     In that, Word the psalmist had hoped!                                    Eenemies had risen againat, him, affliction had been
     The .H,ebrew  uses ,a term that denotes, first of all,                his lot, but he had not forsaken: the  precepits of
 to wmit  $0~; To hope is to wait for, to look forward
                                                                           Jehovah.
to, to expect in a waiit.ing  attitude. The tim6 may
                                                                              He bhad hoped .iln His Word!
seem long, but, he tihat  hopes waits patientl,lfi.  The
                                                                              And thus he' had become matiifest  as a companion
 waiting may be hard, may demand  self+d;enial:  yet,
                                                                           of those that fear the `Lord.
he that hopes ccxntinues  to ,wait.         To hope in the Word
                                                                              Anld in his heart had been born the  confidence'tbat
 of the Lord, therefoq  implies a hear.&  confidence in
                                                                           -they  would be glad to see him.
 that Word, the assurance, not merely that the Word
                                                                              The fruit .of a;n actual hope!
 of the Lord is. faithful and'true',  but .also that its prom-

 is:e  is meant f6r him. that hopes and; w@ta.  It is to                               :, .,                                                                   i
 expect the fulfilhnent  of the Word' of promise  with                                                                           . .
 certainty, to long for it, with all our .hea&  and :bo per-                   Blessed assurance!
 severe in wai!ting  f,or its r&alization,  no mai&er  how.                    For as a cause of ,grea+t,  joy !t.he psalmist speaks :>f

long and difficult the waiti,ng may -become.                               this confidence.
     I have hope'd in thy Word!                                              -Not as an. object of boasting, or as a cause for
*Evidently,   t h e   r e f e r e n c e  is to a d'e!finite   m a n i -    pride, does he speak of this assurance that the chill
festation of this hope on the part  of the psalmist.                       dren  of ,God will bie glad to see him: He knows that

   The fast  that he had hoped in Jehovah's  Won31 of                      all boasti,ng  is excl,udedi,  and that it is all of  grac.e.,

promise had become plain in his actual walk and con-                       Only in the Word of the Lord does he hope.. But  Ithe
 versation in the world.                                                   conf%ence  ithat he has a place .among  them that fea?
     It had been put to the test, and it had aot failed.                   the Lord  is to him a cause of great joy.                          `_          I
He *had  bee,n. proved;, and approved!                                        Noi  when the world welcomes us as ,belonging  to
     This .is evident from the very form of the  ,expres-                  its company,  .but  when those that fear it,he Lord are
 sion.:  I have hope'd ip +hy word. This appears, too.                     glad to see          there is reason to  ,rejoice.
                                                                                        us,
 from. the fact that this very fact, that he has hqped in                     Joy, too, there- is in.this confidence, because  thus
*he Word of the Lord, is for  thae  poet. a grounld of th&                 `the chibdjren of ,God bear us testimony that we, too,
 confidfence  that they that fear the Load will be  gl.ad  to              are of those it.hat fear the  Lord.         For, if we are .in fe!-

see him.         This would be impossible if the poet's hope               lowship  with  thti  children, of darkness, we receive

had remaililaed  a matter of the heart alone, had been hid,                &.&in-ro,ny  from -them, that we are children of  dark-

from the view of others. They that f,ear  the L-ord                        nes,s.. But'.3  we walk in -the  light, we have f&low-

had been wi!tnesses  of `his hoties.         It had come to defi-          ship with one another. . . .

nite manifestation.                                                           And  the  joy of God's children to see us confirms

     Now it is &ffie:ult to surmise how this hope had                      our assura;noe  `that, we are the children of God.

been, revealed. .                                                             Blessed confidence !                                        H,
     .Zn  the midst  of. -minifold  te_qta$ls,ns,  surrounded                                                 ,                         H,


562  _' -- _                                                                                                                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R .



                                              The Standard Bearer
                    z.
                    Se&-Monthly, except Monthly in July and August                                                                                                                                                                                          EDITORIALS I
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      -
                                                                                            Published  ,.by

    `, 7:.                        Tlie Reform&  F&e Publishing Association

         .:`. F'.'                                                .946.  Sigsbee.  Stree, S. E.                                                                                                                                                                  T h e   C o n f e r e n c e
                  .;; t. :. "' `. c El%TOR  - Rev. `H.' Hoeksema
                            I ;a
         Contribu,$iig  editors-_$evs.  J. Blankespoor, k. Cammenga,                                                                                                                                                                              The inserted photo, is in ,a sense, a picture of &he
         p: rje  .Bo&,  J. D. d& Jong, H. De Wolf, L:  D o k z e m a ,                                                                                                                                                                        conference thlat was held daring ;t;he  lalter  part of Sep-
         i?& Gritt&`~&  Hanko, B. Kok,  G. Ltibbers,  G. M. Ophoff,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              tember in Kassel, South D&koba,  and the mem,b-ership
  A. P!etterj:  M. S'chipper,  J. Vanden  Breggen, H. Veldman,
         R. Veldman, L. Vermeer, ,P: Vis, 6. Vos, W. Hofman,                                                                                                                                                                                  of which consisted of some ministers and elldlers of the
         J. Heys, M./I~.  S. De Vries.                                                                                                                                                                                                        Ev:angelical  and ReFol-meid  Church, and some of our

         Communications relative to contents should be  addresse,d                                                                                                                                                                            own .ministers.

..- %o REV;&.  HOEKSEMA, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand                                                                                                                                                                                          I say, "in a sense," because it' is somewhat diffi-
         Rapids, yjchigan.
                                         ,                                                                                                                                                                                                    cult, to d&ermine the exact limits of this conference
         Communicationsi  relative to subs&iption  should be ad-                                                                                                                                                                              as far as its membership is concerned.
.: @.essed  to: MR.!.GERRIT  PIPE, 946 Sigsbee  Street..S. E., ,,                                                                                                                                                                                 Strictly speaking, it was a conference of some
         Grand Rapids, Mich.  All Announcements and Obituaries
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              brethren of the above metitioned  church, the synod-
         must be sent tb the sibove  address and will  not be placed
         unless the regular fee of ,$l.OO  accompanies the notice.                                                                                                                                                                            ical committ,ee  of our Own churches; and undersigned,,
  `,>                      1.                                                                                                                                                                                                                 who had been invited by the synodical  committee, to
                                                              Subscription $2.50 per year
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              attend am3 it.0 speak 6n this 0ccasio.n.
         EntebBd"`Bs  second class mail at Grand Rapids, Michigan
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  However, one can speak of  Ithe conference in :I.
-
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              broader,.  an,d a broadest sense.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 `-Several of ,our  ministers from `Iowa,  as well as the
              " i:'              y'.`                     _'                                    CONTEN;rS                                                                                                                                     Revs. G. `Lubber~s  and A. Petter, also ,attended  the

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              meetings of `the conference. Moreover, three of 
M E D I T A T I O N -                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      our
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              students showed their tnterest in It-he matter by com-
          CONFIDENT OF' A GLAD RECEPTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*........ 49                                                                                                                                                     ing from Grand Rapi&.           It, stands to reason that these

                    Rev." H. HoeLsema                                                                                                                                                                                                         b&hren  were all interestkd  in a matter that con-
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              cerned all our churches. And since the conference
EDITORIALS,:-
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              had no at.rictly  official character, but was rather in-
          TH.E              CONFEREP;CE                                                       .i . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52            formal, there was,  of course, no objection to &heir par-

          THE REFORMED  CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES..53                                                                                                                                                                                       ti,cipation  in !t,he disc&ions. This, then, might be
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              called the conference in !the broader sense.             It is
          EXPO_SITION  OF THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM.;......54                                                                                                                                                                                  shown in the photo.

                    R&.  H .  koesk&ma                                                                                                                                                                                                           Besides, there were present some elders of the
' ;..                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Evangelical ,cunrd  Beformed  Church, and, on Wednesday
,i, JEPH+HAg
                                                         . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .     57
           . . .     -
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              of the coiference  week there were *also sev.eril  eldkrs
   .r. R&v.   G .   M .   O p h o f f   ;                                                                                                                                                                                                     of our own churches in Iova an.d Minnesota.               This
        . `) :
         `hA%?JRAL  THEOLOGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*........... . . . . . 61                                                                                                    whole gathering I refer to when I speak of ithe con-
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              ference in its. broadest sense.        Of. this, too, there is
                          $ev. A; `Petter                                                                                                                                                                                                     a photo, which `I may, perhaps, exhibit in another
.' ,,TH$"TERM LAW'IN THE EPISTLE ,TQ THE GAL . . . . . . . . . 63 issue ,of our paper.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  As it.0  the historical facts. an.d the proceedings of
!.' : !Rff?~,  L; Doezetia                                                                                                                                                                                                                    this conferende,  I may ref,er  the reader to the  edi-
`?%LVINISM  ACCORDING   T O  KUYPER'S  STONE  LEC-                                                                                                                                                                                            flt,orials in Colncordia.    I need not repeat them here.
  .`&REs`.7'  -I
                                    . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65                      Rather would I discus&  this rather uniqde  confer-
 ti'.  ".@q `%.._
   .                                                                - ' `. r_ 6,
           . ,F_ RT~~`,G. Lubb&s                                                                                                                                                                                                              ence from the viewpoint of its significance and  pas,-
                    ?, x                                   8.i                       . .                                                                                                                                                      sibl,e  results., What was the occasion, what `was  the
          G%!%$iN+NGS  FR0.M:  ,20  YEARS                                                                                                       . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i . . . . . . . . . . . . 69    cause of it.his  meeting?       What ,brought  us together?
                          pev. W. Hofman                                                                                                                                                                                                      What .are  the pres,ent  results of it, if any? What
" `yly$
         >CO~T.R&T;~;N  ,, ; "'                                                                                                                                                                                                               may be God's purpose in bringing  US  into contict  with
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  72
                          ._A                         _ `~ .,., $ ,,,..................................,,"*,. o . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              the brethren of a denomination with which we had
                          Mr. Jacob H, Hoekstra
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              ngver  had any contact ,beEore?       An$ what, if anything,

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              should lqe dope in $he fu@re?             . '


                   + _
                                         T H E  STA.NDARD   B E A R E R                                                                                 .53

                                                                                                        strutted  Zacharius Ursin.us,..&n$'

                                                                                                         Caspar Olevianus,_  professorfi  .in

                                                                                                         the university: of -Meidsalberg,  to

                                                                                                        prepare a C&e$i~, fw the pur"-

                                                                                                         pose of s.etting.&&b,  preserving,

                                                                                                         and `inculcating into .t,he , young s
                                                                                                        the true doctrine, and that these

                                                                                                        two professors compose& what is

                                                                                                         so well ku.own  among us+as:$he

                                                                                                         Heidelberg Gatechism.                      `BJiU. -
                                                                                                          .This Catechism was adopted by

                                                                                                        t;he  `German Reformed Chw~ck  as

                                                                                                        it,s. .only  s+mbol.
                                                                                                           . .D.:  ..v "                 .3&j  "
                                                                                                          As.! ez~-y  as the lattep  par.1:  of

                                                                                                        &$sev;enteenth  century,  =@nd sinc.e

                                                                                                         ti.hen  at regular .interval&.  .a .con-

                                                                                                        siderable  number of Germ:a-  emi -

                                                                                                        ,grantis,  hailing from $he-Gepgnan

      In order, to accomplish- this purpose, the readers                Reformed  Church in Europe settled in. America; and
: should .b&  made a,cquain!t,ed  with  the brethren with               in course of time, they established ,the  (Germ,a,n)  Re-
  whom we conferred, nqt,  of course, as to their persons,              formed. Church in the Uw&t~d  States. ,. One of- their first
  but with a view to their ecclesiastical position, and                 ministers that settle@  among. ;them.  was.:  one o Philip
  their Idfoc;t.rinal  stand.                                           Boehm, who came  to this country in 1720.. .:Others 1sQon
      To do this, `1. will have to explain the stand of                 followkd.              . As early as 1747 they, organized and held
  w,hat  `,is known as Ithe Evangelioal  a,n~d   R e f o r m e d        tlieir first Synod.            At that time $h,ey  number.ed.forty-

 Church, to which. the `brethren with' whom we  con;                    six ,churches, served by five ordained,  ministers. . Since
  ferred belonged, though some of them disavowed  any                   then the IChurch  enjoy,ed  3 very rap:d,  growth, .and. be-
  connection with that &nominatiom,  and .claimcd  to `*be              came a numerically powerful denomination, organized
  independent, even to the extent  that, their churches b,e-            under a ge;leral  synod, with several `!particular:`;  i?.yn-
  longed to an independent classis.                                     o&,  each comprisi.ng several Vclais,ses..  :
      But lsince  the -present  E~v:angelical  and Reformed             : Like:. their mother church in the old countxg  the
Chuwh is the result of a  m,erger  of ;t"wo churches,                   brethren. `of .:the Ref;ormed  Ghu&h  in the United StiGtea
  the (IGerman)  Rejormed  Chtirch  im'the United Stat&,                ,adopted  the HeicMberg  Catechism as their sol@.  con-
  ,aad the Evangelical Lu;thwan  Church,  and the breth-                fessional symbol and doctrinal sta,n,dard.
  ren we met at the conference originally. belonged to                       This means, of co.vTse,,Jt$  they embrace the I&-
  the former, I shill,  first of all, have to make a few                form& Faith, and `are officially churches of the Cal-
  remarks about !&his Reformed Church.                                                 _...               ._.. __L
                                                                                                          _i__               _                  _ -. __G_
                                                                        vinisti`c  type.                                                   _          a,i..
                                                                                                         m _*a-*_ .%.             . 7               ,= :
                                                           H. H.             It al!so  means t&at  -their  Reformed vie,ws,~%re,  less

                                                                        sharply defined. :&Sm those of some othe$.  Ref&med
                                 .-                                     Churches; &pecia.tiy  with respect to.::the  doctrti:.f

                                                                        predestina$.ion,  ,&?l,  more  particularly, with  ref$&&
              The Rtifsragled  Church                                   to. the- truth of' reprob&tioh.                             :,. E, _ .&
               in the United States                                          In distinction from them, wi ha&  `also $e I?&:-
                                                      .                 erland or BelgSc  Co&%&ion;  and the Canons of Dour;i-

                                                                        secht.    And especially the latter expresse.3  itself rathe:*
      The origin of-this ,church  lies in Europe.          It is, in
                                                                        fully  oti  ith.e doctrine of doubi$: pyed.esti,iKtion  .and  re-
  part, to .be traced to the Zwinglian  Reformation in                  lated ,doctrines. But t.he Heidelberg .Cate:hism  is less
  ,Switzerland,  in the beginning of, lthe  sixteenth ceri-             explicit o,n @is truth, h&pdJy meptions the doctrine of
  tury, <and partly also to some of the followem  of the                election, and does not at all directly refer to the !truth
  Reformait.ion  `in .Geimany,  `who could not fully agree              o         f               reprob&on.
  `~i;th  all the Lu$@eran  views', but were qf a rather

  Calvinist&  type. These instituted the German ,Re-                    ' However, the l&fo;rmed  Church i& the United_
  f o r m e d  Church.                                                  States used to attach great value to. its. doo&inal  stand-
                           -
      Becaiise the ,Heidelberg  Catechism is part of                    ar.d. It was requ&ed  ,of the ministry to ins$ruc&,!&e
                                                               OUT
  Golnfessions,  we. are, of course, ,acquainted!  with the             young faithfully in the Heidelberg Catechism $0 .pr+
                                                                        pare them for. "confirmation," which usually  takes
  fact that. Frederick III; elector of th,e Palatinate, in-


`54,'           .),_,                                THEWE~DAIZD  B E AR E                            R
                                   .

place whed  the #children  reach  the'age of thirteen or                       them: I I pray not for the world, but for. them which
fourteen years.                                                 -              !t.hou hast given me; for they are thi,ne."           It is true,
  * I may add to &is that the brethren we met in ;I&                           that in. the narrowest sensge  and in.`the  first instance
Confer&ce,  ,&nd  the people .of  the community ifi- which                     these words have reference to the disciples. But this
wk  met, generally belonged to a class of later immi-                          does not alter the fact that, accordiqg  to Jesus' own
grants that had come from' ,Germany  in more recent word,s  "it.he world" is exclu,ded from His prayer. This
years.                                                                         is evident, .not bnly from verse 9, but, allso from the
         One result of !$his is that most of them spoke Ger-                   wholIe  chapter.      In the entii-e chapt.er,  the term
man fluently ,and  preferred it_ t6 the American lan-                          "world" stands i.n sharp aatithesis to those whom the
guage in teaching .and pr&ching.                                               Father has given tb the Saviour, and must,  therefore,
         Another result ,of this is that the doctrinal influence               be in&erpreted  as re.f,erring  to the reprobate ungodly.
of the Rev. Kohlbriigge,  a theologiati  whose name is                         To His own Christ gave His word, and the world hated
not strange to ttiose ,of  who hail from the Netherlanlds,                     them, becaus?  they are not of the world, even as He
and whose name is usually. connected (rightly or                               is not of the world, vs. 14.     Besides, He does  not limit
wrongly with a tendency to Antinomiapis'm,  is more 07;                        His prayer $0 those that.were with Him in the world at
less clearly noticeable with many of them;                                     that monient, but extends it to all that will believe on
         However, ,otir  conf.erence  Eyould, humanly speaking.                Him through their word, vs. 20.          Y:eti,  even  so, all ithat

in all probability never have been held, if something                          will ever believe, are those whom the Father gave
had not occurred  that upset the spir&ual equilibrium                          Him, the elect, and fbr !&em He prays : "Father, I will,
of some of the brethreli  in the IZe$orm,&  Chum%,  in the                     that they also, whom thou hast given-me, be with me
IJtitd  S&Weir,  ,even`  to the extent $hat they could at                      where I am It.hat they may behol'd  my glory which thou
least cbnsider  the possi,bility  of having td seek another                    hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the  fou.n-
church connection.                                                             ,dation  ,of the world." .vs.  244.    For the cleat  then, the
         This important occurrence was the .union of ithe                      Saviour `prays, and that, too, for them in distinction
`(`German)  Rjeforrned  Church zin the U&ted  States with                      from the world for whom He does not pray. But
the Evamgekal  Lutheran Church,  a merger which was                            since thii3 sacerdotal intercessory prayer is based on
proposed and agreed upon in 1934, and accomplished                             I%s redemptive work oin the cross, on His perfect
in 1936.                                                                       sacrifice `of atonemenit.,  it follows that the latter is as
         The result  of this merger is known as the  Ewamgel-                  limited as .the,  former, and that, He shed His. life-
ical  and Rpformdd  Chu&h.                                                     blood for the elect alqne.

  - About this Church ,and its basis we must necrls                                B.esides,  the d'octririne  of limited ,$Mnement is in har--
write more in order & under&and  the positfon'  of the                         mcmy with the whole Word of  ,God.           It is thase  whom
brethren that sought contact with us. .                                        He hath for,eknown;  and predestined. to be conformed
                                                                H. H.          according to !t.he  image of His Son, that He might be

                                                                               the firstborn ,among  many ,brethren,  whom He bath

                                                                               also called, and justified; and glorified. Rom. 8:29,  30.`
                                                      .                        Butt sur,ely,  .this  imp&s thait  it was also for :them  th.at
         The Ikiple Knowled.$e                                                 IChrist  -offered  Himself on the cross, for their calling
                                                                               and justification and glorificaition  rests in the atone-

                                                                               nient. Accordingly, He hath blessed us with all  spir-

                                                                               ,itual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, and these'

 An Exposition Of The Heidelberg                                               blessings all have their ground in the perfect sacri-
                                                                               fice and obedien,ce  of Christ, `accor&ng  nts He hath
                                cateihism                                      &osen ti before the foundation of il& world. Eph. 1:
                                                 ' " a                         3, 4.    If the elect alone rec.eive  the spir&ual  blessings,
                                 PART TWO
                   -                                                           it is because they alone are in Christ from before the
                                                           :
                         0F                                                    ,foundation  of the world, they alo,ne .were  in Him on
                         .      aim53  $EDE~IPTION
                                                                               `th& cross, and for them alone Christ atoned.             He pre-
          :                     Lord's  .Day  XII                              destinated th.e elect unto `it.he  adoption of chil&en  by
         `.                                  7. ~'                             Jest  Christ to Himself, accordi1n.g  to the good pleas-
                                                                               ure of His will, to the praise of +he glory of' His grace.`
                    Atoned For The Elect (cont.):  . . .             .    *
                                        F                                      whereby He has made LIS .a&eptable  in the beloved:
   I$, is for the klect,  too, that :t.he Lord pray; in His                    `and; therefore, these `elect  have the redemption in His

`bacerdoal  intercesSion.  Very clear this is from the                         blood, it& forgiveness of Bins. Eph. 1:5-7.  The bless-

Lord's high priestly prayer'& <t is preserved for us in                        ing of for,giveness;  though appropriated by faith, does
,$ohn  17. Expressly Hte declares there: "`J.-pray  for                        not rest, on faith, but solely  .6n the atoning sacrifice of


                                       T H E  ST.ANDA.;RD   B E A R E R                                                             553


 Christ. And while this spiritual blessing flows from                   :exami.a,e  all these passagesin  detail.    Nor is this neces-
 the eternal `goold pleasure of God ito (the elect, it follower         sary. Rather do we point the reader to some,  fundl-
 that. also' the atonement was accomplished for them-                   mental errors in exegesis that must be,  a.nd are actual-
 alone. Hence these also have become  an inherita&,?                    ly committed by those who elicit from !!hem the doc-
 being predestfna&ed  accordi,ilg to the purpose of Him.                trine of universal atonement.
 Who worketh all things *according  to the counsel o-f.                     The first., ,and most important, of these is the.viola-
 His own will, Eph. 1  :Yl. Many more passages of                       tion of the rule ,that words may not be lifted  out of
 Shripture  might be added to these,  to prove that the                 their context, but must  `be .interpreted  as `defined by
 Word of God d'oes,  indee.d,  clearly `tea:& the truth' of             the cointext  in which they occur.
 limited atonement, the ,doctrine  that Christ died,,  as.                T h u s    with respeot  It.0 the term "world", it should

 far as His intention and the  purpolse  of the Father                  be plain from a comparison of a few passages of Holy
-are concerned, (not for all men, but for the elect only.               Writ: (1) That it does  n,ot  denote the same concept

     And even though this truth is bitterly opposed by                  wherever it occurs i.n Scripture, and (2) That it never
 many, and, es&ally  in our day, the preaching runs                     means the same as all men.           Compare, for instance,

 generally alo!ng  boldly Arminian lin,es,  the opponenis               John, 3 :16 with John 17:9,  and with I John 2 :15-17,.

 cannot successfully ,appeal  to Scripture for their view               and you will 8,ee  this ,at once.    God-so loved iLlhe.  world,
 that (Christ Idied  for .a11  men.                     II              ,t.o be sure ; but Jesus prays not for the world ; and in
     This ,does' not mean, that they do not make the                    I John 2 : 15-1'7 we are told that we must not love the
 attempt to .support  ,their theory of universal atonernext             world., neither the things that-are i.a the worlld;  that

 by passages from Holy Writ.              On ,the  contrary, they       all that is. in the world is the lust of ,t.he flesh, and the

 point to many texts that,. considered  *apart from their               lust of the eyes, &d the pride of life; that `this  is not

 context,. and -without  application to &hem of the re.gulo             of the Father, but of the world; and that the world

 Scripture, seem to teach that Jesus died for all.                      pass&h  away, and the 1u1s;t  thereof.       Who does not see:

     They reveal special preference fo$ passage,: that                  that in ithese passages the same term refers to two'

 contain the term "worhl",  or the word "all", in con-                  entirely different concepts, *and! that, therefore, you

 nection with ,God's  purpose of salvation.            God so loved     cannot explain the word zuorlcl at rand,om as simply

 the wiorld  that He gave His  only,  begotten So.n, that               meaning all men?       Who, moreover, cannot for himself

 whosoever believeth. in Him should no,t perish, but                    draw the conclusion, that, since both these "worlds"

 have everlasting. life. God was in Christ, reconciling                 are i.n our pras#ent  world as we see. it, so Ithat each

 the ~ao~bd  unto Himself, not imputing their  !t.respasses             is but ,a part of it, neither ca.n  possibly refer to tall

 unto them: And He is a propitiation, not  o.nly for our                men, but in one instanie  it refers to the world of the.

 sins, -but also for ,the sins of the whole world. John                 ungodly, in the other instance  to the world of  th@

 3 :`16; II Cor. 5 :19.; I John 2:2.  And the contention,               godly according [to God's election? John 3 :16 refers

 is that the wo&Z  denat,es  all men and  ,every  man.         And      to God's world, to the world as it  is-the  object of. His

 so, they point ,out,  Scripture frequently speaks of a&?               everlasting' Iove  ; and the world for the which Christ
 %en, .or simply of all.       As ,by  the offence  of one judg-        refuses to pray is excluded from `this world of `God's

 ment came to all men to condemnation, s,o by the                       love.    For the latter God sent His Son,  an& for the

 righteousness .of one 4he. free gift came upon. all me,z               latter He died.

 to justificaItio.il  of 1if.e. Rome 5 :18. Sound ex,egesis,                The same is !true of the term nZZ m.en,  or a&  or ,even

 they cl,aim,  demands that, seeing that-  the term`aZ2  mera           every. .~These  Oerms dare not be interpr,eted  as refer-

 occurs twice in this passage, they must be interpreted                 ring to all men that ever lived, and shall live, or even

 as having the same  implication. And seein.g  .that tthere             to tall men that lived in the  wholeworld  a#!, a certain

 can .be no-doubt about'the  fact that the first a.11 men               period of time;      Their Icontent  and scope must be Idie:-

 refers  to&veryrnember ,of t.he human race, the same                   termined from the context in which they occur. A

 term must &aVe  the same comprehensive meaning in'                     few examples .ought  to make this plain.        In I Tim; 4 :4
 the secoml  pant  of this passage.             And ithere  are many    the apostl,e  writes : "For every creetdre  of God its. good,
 similar?passages.        God will that all me?% shall be sav,ed,       &rd nothmg  to be refused, if it be received with  thd&

 ,and  come to the knowledge of the truth, I Tim. 2  :4.                giving."     T:he context, as well as the text, plainly

 The grace of (Gad that. bringeth salvation hath ap-                    shows It.hat the meaning is: `(every creature of God is

 peared to `all men, Tit. 2 :4.        And he irs not `willing that     `good to eat."       But who womd  be so foolish -as to

`_ any shoulld  perish; but th:at ,aZZ  should come to repent-          insist that the apostle here teaches that  every'eSisting

 ance. II Pet.~  3 :9.     On the  basis of these and similar           thing, stone anrdr  wood, iron and steel, rats:  and  mice,

 passages they attempt to `gainsay the ,doct,rine  of limit_            etc.; is good for m,an's  consumption? No one has any

 ed atonement, and to maintain ,that  Ch'rist died for                  objest.io,n  to limit the term `,$every  creature" to e@eQ

 every man.         ;'                                                  eata,bZe  @redwe;     In I Tim. 5 :20 we read: "Themthat

     It would require too  much space, were we to                       sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear." .Y Is
                                           .

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


 there anyone.that  ,has any objection to limit the word               understandIs  very well that this would prove too milch,

 abl in this text ;to, a very limited group?         Dqei.3, anyone    for as a matter of fact .a11 men are not saved-.       And so
 insisit  that the apostle means all men head for head?.               he is compelled to weaken the  m'eaning of reconcilia-

 Or woul,d  anyone und,erstapd  the words of the ,apostle              tion, a;n,d  to *explain  the text as teaching #t.ha:. in the

 ,$s meaning that the Church ought to call  & meeting                  cross of Christ there is a way, a chance, an opportunity

 of the whole itown  and  all the citizens on the public               of reconcili.ation,  which is to be realized through man's
 marketplstie,  in onder there to rebuke the offending                 consent to be reconciled.          That this is a corruption

 church member ?           Of `course noit! We understand              of' Itih#e ;text  is evident.    For in the croIss  of Christ,

 without difficulty that at most the whole chunch  is                  God actually di$ blot out the sin of "the world," He
 nieant, or, perhaps, all that are involved in the offense             actually di.d reconcile"`the world!" unto Himself, and

 c`ommiltted.    IOr consider the tex.t in II Tim. 1:15:               He nevermore imputes the sins unto that world. It
 "This  thou knowest, ithat all th,ey  which a,re  ii1 Asia            should be eviden;t,  *hen,  that by "world" in ,t.his  Itext.

 b&turned away from me." Does the ,apostle refer to                    is meant the same as by that term in Johp 3 :16 : God's
 all the inhabitants- df Asia? Or has he in mind, per-                 el,e;ct  ,world.

 haps, all the sai,nts in Asia? No one understands- the                    The same applies to_ Rom. 5 : 18 : `(`Therefore as by
 words in that senrsie.         He refers to a very limit&d  group     the offense of one judgment came  tb all men to con-

 of men, of cowbrker.s,  perhaps.          But why, then, should       .demnation  ;" even lsto by the righteousness of one ?he

we insis!t  that when the matter of salvation `is the                  free gift came upon all men. to justification of life."

 su'bject aill,  or livery,  or s&l rn~~,  must needs refer tp         As we already mentioned;, those who find the doctrine

 every individual, in the wdrld?           Is it not  very evident     of universal atonement in this' passage insist that the

 that this icannot  possibly be the meaning in Tit. 2 : 11:            term ,aZZ ~KM, mu@  be given the same content and scope
 "For the grace ,of ,God that bringeth Isalvation  hath                in both members of the text. Stippos,e  we give t&at

 ,appeared  it.0 pall men.?"      Mark you well, that the apostle      meaning t9 this term in both instances, and see what
 here asserts that saving grace had at that time, at the               is the result.       The second part of the passage would,

 time he w?ote  his `epistle to Titus, already tippear&  to-           in-that case, `signify,ithat  the gif,t of grace uet.o justifi-

 ~11  men, which cent.ainly  implies that the gospel of                cation is actually bestowed up04 every man that ever

 salvaiti,on  had already been preached to all.         But            lived and will live, which mea;ns  that all men are
                                                             could
 the ,apostle-  possibly mean that in his own day  therz               a,ctually  saved.     Now again, $thihis would prove it.00  mu&

 was not a lsingle  living man that had inot heard  the                even,  for the Arminian, Feeing  that ,a11 men are no!

 gospel? W:e know better. Thousands upon thousands                     asved.  Hence, the atiemplt.  is tiad:e  to explain the

 had never been reached by +e `preaching as yet.                And    text as meaning that, ai far as ,God's  intention is con-
 we have no diff+ulty  to understan,d  the words of ?he                ,cerned, the gift of grace came up0.n  all men, but tha,!
 apo.stle,  considered in <tie  light of the context, as mean-         the actual reception  of this gift of grace  drepends.  upoa

 ing that the grace of `God  that brlngeth  salvation had              lthe  free will of men.     Even, if this interpretation wele

 appeared to ,a11 classes of men, to aged men and women,               possible, the concept "all men" woul,d  `still have to
 * well as Ito young men and -youln.g women, to servants               be limited, unless it may ,be supposed that there will

 as well as to masters. And thus the context must  de-                 be `an opportunity to &c@pt  this gift aster  death, for,
 termiee  the meaning of ~~11, or all men,  wher:ever  it              in the fi&;;t  place, ithe  knowledge of this gift in the old
 occurs.                                                               rdispensatibn was limited to very few, and, in the
       But insi#stence  upon  finding proof for the doctrine           second place, even  ifi Ilie new  dispensation millions die
 of universal atonement in such passages that c0ntai.n                 without ever coming into contact with the gospel.          But

 lUze word wor~bc8,  or the terms ,all' rn,Tn, or all, implies         apar,t  from this consid&atioq,  it.he  text d*oes  not allow

 . another exegeti'cal  !error, the error, namely, that. jus-          such an interpretation. We must not,  ,ov&rlook  that
  tice is not and cannot be done to the nest of the texts              there is a lcomparison  here : %s by the offence  of one
 *in which such words  occur.                                          judgmenf  came unto all men to condemnation,  eve:n so

       Take, for' ,example,  the teit in ,I1 Cor. 5 :19 : "To          by tihe righteousness of one the free gift came upon

  wit, that  God  was in Christ, reconciling the  world                all men to justification of life." The question, there-

 unto himsel,f,  not imputing their trespasses unto them."             fore, must be asked: how, in  ,what  way, di.d by the

  Suppose that we understand the term "world" in this                  offence  of one judgment unto condcemnation  come to

 `paelsiage  as mean&g  "all men" in the strict sense of               all men?.  With their consent? `By their own free

 &halt word. T,heri what does the text teach? Evident-                 will? Not .a$ all; but only by God's imputation of
 ly this, that all men are saved.           If all men ape recon-      the sin of Adam t:o all.         No choice of their free will

tiled  to `God,  so that- God .does not impute their tres-             can undo this fact.        But then must the same truth be
  passes unto t&m, it follows that all me.2 are saved.                 applied to the second member of. the passage: the
  Their sins were atoned for nineteen hundred years ago.               fact it~hat  the free gist unto ju'stification  of life comes

 and'ihey  are blo!tted  ,out  for ;ever.  .B.ut  the Armjnian         upon men does .not depend upon their o&  choice,


                                           THG STANI%RlY'BEARE-R`                                                                           59


  but is an obj.ective  fact: those for whoin  the gift is             impreezion  that they can serve as a basis for the doc-
  intended a& surely saved!,  and that, too, by an .act of             trine of. universal atonement. However, when they
 God alo,a~e. If ,this  is true, however, the term  nil me.3           are studi,ed  somewh%t  .niore  closely, an3  in the .ligh!
  in both tietibers of ithe text ..can only mean : all men             of their context, it soon .be,comes  evident t!lat this
  in Adam. . , , all men in Chriist. And the passage                   superficial impression ik &roneous.             Scripture teaches
  cannot be (quoted in support of the doctrine of un-                  plainly that our Saviour.,  brought-the sacrifice of atone.
  l i m i t e d  aiofiement.  '                                        ment for the elect alone, and there are no paesages in
      W,e will examine one m,or&l  pagsagi`e  that is ~requeat~~       Holy Writ that contradiclt  this truth.
  ly quoted ,by thsne  who,  l$~~~B that  Q&E::t.  diad fok'  ~11                                                             H. H.
                                                                         a__! -
  m e n ,  .a&~ that ~God intmds ali me11 to be saved.  It
  is the dl-kh0w~  text fro& Ii. P.& 8 :9 : Yt%e Lord  `is
  not  siack  concerning his promise, as so-me  men csiinl;
  slackneiss;  but he is longsuffering to  usward,.`not  will-
                                                                                                                                       -
  ing !t.hat any should perish, but t.hat  all should come to                      L .
                                                                                                 Jephthah
  repentance."    The general meaning of the text is  plai.11.
  God's people had to endure ,rn&h  suffering for Christ's               ' As iYe have seen, after the death of Jair, the people
  sake.. And in their suffering they looked forward to                 of Israel again forsook Jehovah and -serv,ed  the -gods

  the realization of the promise, i.e. to the speedy rc-               o f  it.he  surro,unding  .net.ions.     When the new tide of

  turn of Christ #their Londl  in glory. Hdwever,  it ap- apostacy,  that engulfed the land, was at 3s height,
  peared  t;o it.hem  that he delayed  Hi,s csming,  that God          Jehovah again came with His judgment, and the dis-

  wa;s;  eiack in the fulfillment of His `promise. He is              tress was 150 great that the very existence of the  nation

  longsuffering over His' people in tribulation, that is,              was threa;t:ened.  The people cried tinto the Lord and

  He langi to ,delider them, and, no doubt, will d,eliver              a new.  spirit was manifest in Israel1           There was con-

  thkm as soon as possible, but, speaking from  a buma.n               fessions of' sins.       The strange gods were put away

  viewpoint,, He waits until the time is ripe.          And when      #and  ihe nation returned  to the Lord. Discon and
  is`;the  time ripe for :t.he final coming of the Saviour             weakness, despondency -and self-seeking, gave way to

  from, heaven and the perfect pedemption?  This is                    concord and confidence in #God, that lead to victory.

  itidicated  in the laislt  part'of-the  text: IGod,will not that     Thus when the chili&en  of Ammon made a new `ex-

  any should perish, ,but  that, all come to repentance.               cursion  intq  Gilead, the children of Israel likewise

" The meaning of the text is, therefore, that  God's io,n.g-           assembled the&selves :toget.her,  and encamped in ..Miz-
 sufferilng  must and will endure i.&il  this condition is            pah.    But the host of the Lord was wiithout a human
  fulfilled, until no one shall have  perished, and all shal!          leader to lead  it into battle,.        The princes of the people
  have come to repentance.         For this the realizdtion  of        agreed among themselva3  that the man that.  ,wotild
  the promise-and Ithe coming Lf Christ `must wait.           But      begin ito fight against the Ammonites.  would be:head
  if this ii-,$ understood, is there any possibility left of           over them;     And t;heir thonghts  ,t.urned  to Jephthah.
  interpretiii?,g  the ,nlZ  in the ~:ext as referring to ,every           The narra,tor  sets out with a statement that bears
  individud man.? There is not, for that would mean                    on Jephthah',s  charatiter.         He was a mighty man of
  that the final salv&ion  would never be reveale'd,  `that            valour, a valiant hero. An identical language is used
  the promise     would never be. fulfilled, that Christ               of Gideo,n  (ch. 4 :12).        The reference is not to un-
  would never  return. - Always there are many `ihat:                  sanctified. natural courage and darin.g,  but to spiritual
  perish. All men- never come to repentance.. That.                    power and invincibility that proceed on the one .han:l
  therefore, cannot be the will of God, nor the meanillg               from thse,  &irilt.uak  perception thtit man by hirms:elf  is
  of the `text.  But the text is perfectly plain if to  nil            nothilig,  and on. the other hand from implicit: trust
  is given the meaYni.ng of'all %he elect, the whole Church,           in Jehovah.        Jephihah,  as ,Gideon,  was a hero of faith.
  the fulness of the Body of Christ.        Th&  the m,eaning          It majr well be, as some interpreters co,njecture,  that,
  is: .God is longsuffering to uls,ward,  i.e. to His chosen           previous  It.6 his being recalled from the land of  `Fob
  Church in the world, for He is not willing that any of              by the elders of `Gilead, he had made successful tex-
  us, that is, of His elect Church, shall perish;  the $gd&ion  against the Atimonites,  but if so, hia, Victory
  coming of ChrisIt,,  aad the realization of the promise             ,$vas  his faith.     Always in- the estimation of the sacred
  m&t. wait until the l,ast one of the elect shall have               `writers of the ,Scriptures,  unsanctified physical and
  Come to repentance.                                                 m.&tital  power is the ,arm  of flesh in which the wicked
     These mexa&$es  may snffice  to tach  us that we                 `place  their confi,dence  and on this account; pesi,sh.         All
 must be on. our gua& wehen  the Arminian quotes texts                t&t  Jephthah acays a.nd does b&peaks  faith, a right
  at random in suppoat.  ,of his contention that, Christ              attitude toward .God.           Td the elders of Gilead he
  die.d for all men, a&cording to His  and  God's in%ention.           s&d, "If ye bring me home again, to fight against
 Superficially co;nsid&ed  such. passage?  nay `leave $he Ithe children  of Amnion,  and the Lord. deliver them
                                                 . .


                                                                                                                 .~ -. .j * - _,._ _--
  58          - -'                    .`r;HE STA.N'DA.Rp  BEAR& -


  hefore  me, shall I be your head." Mark the expres-               lawful wife of the man. Further, when the. sons of
  sion, "And the Lord rdeliver the.m before me. . . ."              &he  lawful wife grew up, they  .drove  out Jephthah, and
 .That  Israel's help corn&h  from the sanctuary was a              sai,d to him, "Thou shalt not inherit in our father's
  principle of faith with this man.       Then, after he had        house; for the son of another woman art thou." So
  done transacting with the elders, he "uttered all his             reads the .original  text.         The word' another in this
  words before the Lord in Mizp_ah."        Plainly, Jephthah       connection, has the meaning of strange and thus this
  walked with God.        The Lord `was in all his thoughts.        assertion projects the woman not as an estranged
  As can, therefore bk exp,eoted,  he was. thoughtly fam-           [lawful  wife but  as a harlot;     Had she been a Xconcubi;ie
  iliar with the glorious history of, His people and thus            these sons could have taken no such action against
  also with the, great principles of' truth which this              J%ephthah as that ind.icatecl  above. For his expulsion
 .history  so clearly dem.opst.rated,  the truth that Israel        also .-had been the work of the ,elders  in -Gilead,  as
  was the product of God's `wonder-working grace, and               appears from verse 7 of the 11th chapter. The case
  wa.s  therefore in duty bound  to be consecrated `unto            was evidently `tried before the public tribunal of elders,
  Jehovah his redeemerGod.         That he knew the history         .and these brethren had been set in the right.          But the
  of his people comes out so plainly in his negotiations            text doe,s not allow us to speak with certainty here.
  w5t.h the king of Ammon.  Then finally there is his               Jephthah still may have been Gilead's lawful ison.  either
  vow; of which we shall speak in the sequence. This                by a woman who formerly  wti a harlot or who became

  vow, which, in `a sense, is the principal incident in the         one after her marriage to Gilead. One thing is cer-
  history of Jepthah, .has from earliest times given rise           tain.    She lvas a defiled woman. This rests upon
  to, singular explanations-explanations that do violence           purely historical `evidence contained in the narra,:ivc.

to the faith of the man, mi1itat.e  against ,t,he assertion         and is not a false charge advanced by Jephthah's

  of his being a mighty hero.       Besi,des,  that the keepi.ag    hateful brethren.
  of the vow cunsii&ed  in his offering a sacrifice by                  It is possible but again not certain tha! in the

  blood with his .daughter  as the victim is a view con-            statement : "&lead begat Jephthah ;" and also when
  tradicted by `the  `sitatements  occurring in the *narrative      we read of "t-he  "wife of Gilead ;" the !term  "Gilead,"

  that bear on . her case.       Such a sacrifice was con-          as tribe name, takes the place of the unknown personal
 demned by Israel's law as being an abomination in the              name of Jephthah's father. If in this case, "Gilead"
 sight of Jehovah.       The practice was abhorant  to every        were a personal: name Jephthah would have been de-
 right-minded Israelite.      That Jepthah should have com-         signated as "son of Gilead," and not as a "Gileadite,"
 mitted this outrage is inconceivable in  ithe 1igh:t.  of          without ny paternal surname. It must be admitted
 what we know of him from the sacred narrative.            And      that this conclusion hais in its favor a comparison with
 that, had he done so, the sacred writer would  hav!:               the names of other heroes, for instance with that of
 reframed from inserting in his nar-native  one. word  of           Jephthah's predecessor Gideon, who  is constantly call-
condemnation is likewise inconceivable.                             ed the son. of Joash.
        Among all the judges, Jephthah stands -out as &he               Irrespective of what the status or the character of
 itragic  figure. The recorded #events of his life, taken           Jephthah's mother might have been,. hils expulsion was
 collectively, make a sad story.         A Gileadite had b,a-       a base act. The text leaves the impression that he
 gotten him by a woman ~who was a harlot.. The original             was #the oldest son, born to Gilead before the latter's
 text here ready+,  "`And  Jephthah the Gileadite  was a            marriage to his lawful wife, and further that he was
 ,hero  of power or might (a mighty hero)  : And he was             older than his brothers by several years.           The order
 the son of a won&n  (who was) a harlot. And begat                  of events in the text ie this.        Gilead begat Jephthah
 Gilead Jephthah."        As the Hebrew word translated             by the strange  woman.        His wife bare him sons who,

 by .zuo'pyuanl  also has the meaning of wife, there are            when gratin  up, thrust out Jephthah.          A base act. it
 these possibilities.      1. The wuman  :was married to            was. For Gilead had owned and loved his firstborn
 Gilead; and, aftter  `giving birth to'Jephthah,  beaamn            child, whq  had grown up to be a worthy son, fearing
 unfaithful to, her husban,d  and is ,therefore  called .a          God ; and ,Gilead,  it must be. assumed, hlad therefore the
 harlot by the sacred writer. 2. The woman was a                    more intended that he should inherit with his other
public~prosti%ute  ,by whom Gilead begat Jephthah with-             sons in his house. But Gilead died.  AnId! these sons,,  con-

 o\ut ever marrying the woman.          3. The woman was a          trary to the ,expressed  determination ,of their deceased
 prostitute and as such married Gilead and remained                 father and as driven by lust of gain, collectively turned

 true to her lawful husband for the, rest of, her days.             -against Jephthah and, with ;the `approval and coopera-:
 Undoubtedly, the interpretation under 2 is the one                 tion of the elders, violently expelled him from their
 to be adopted.       For the narra:t.ive  goes on to say that      community. That, after serving him notice that he
 the' "wife of Gilead bore him sons,  , . ." so that ithe would not <be allowed to inherit with them, they even
 antithesis seemrs  to be between the woman who  tias  n            threatened to kill him, should he delay for a moment

 harlot and to bhom'  Gilead  was not married and the               `in betaking  himself out  of their midst, is evident from
                                     c _


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D  j3.EARER                                                 59


   the notice that "Jephthah fled from before the face of           treatment he hard received at their hands nor aboa:
   his brethren." The laed  in which he took up residence           their failure to invite <him back before thi,s.  Not a

   was `the land of Tob, mea,ning  "good land".       Where it      word of confession falls from their lips.    Let him fo!*'
   bed  `cannot be determined, but it must have been an             .get the past and be grateful that they wanted him even
   excellent place of refuge, per.haps  outside of Canaan's         ,110~  and consider the honor that they bestow  upon
   borders.     Here the man .dwelt-this  man, a true Israel-       him in asking him to be their leader in the war that

   ite, one `of the few who served .God,  yet disowned and          they contemplated waging. It was not his desire `to  (
   disinheri$ed'by  hateful kin, an exile from his people           `humiliate them, by directi-ng their attention to thei]

   and from the Lord's ,sanctuary.      And here, in this land      past brutal conduct, now that he had them at a dis-

   he must have spent most of the years that  remain.ed             advantage, that caused him to reply, "Did not ye hate

   to him af$er  his exljulsion  from his father's house.           me, and expel me out of my father's house?      And w?ly

   For after his recall he lived but six years. He was              are ye come unto me now in your distress?"      Jephthah
   married and had but one daughter (11:34),  who was               plainly distrusted these men, their motive.         Thei!

   still young at the :t.ime  when the war with the Ammon-          brazen a,ffrontery  amazed him. In the light of all

   itse was fought, so that he may not yet have been an             that had taken place in the past, how had  ithey now the

   old man when death ,t,ook  him: With great vigor did,            courage to solicit his help, without first acknowledging

 ' he prosecute the war with the Ammonite,s.  This                  that they had grievously wron.ged  him and,  on the
  strengt.hens  the conclusioil'  that he was still in his          ground of their confession, seeking his pardon. But

   prime ' when, six years .afterward,  he died.          Thus      that is the kind of men they were. And even now,
   most of the years of his `manhood were spent in exile.           `after hearing *themselves rebuked, they persist in ig-

   But his faith in God, however severely it was being              noring their past sins and say t.o him, "Therefore we

   tried, did n'ot cease nor did the love that .he bone his         `turn  again to thee `now, that thou mayest .go with us,
  -people  turn cold.     In his asylum,. a growing number          and fi,ght again,&  the children of Ammon, and be our
   of what the narrative calls vain men joined  them.-              head over the inhabitants of ~Gilead~"  By offering him
   selves to him; and- he became itheir  leader.          From      the headship of their tribe, they make their proposal_

   his regioil of safety he was thus able to make success-          as enticing as they know how. They go all the way

   ful warlike expeditions against the enemies  I of his            with the man, except to acknowledge `to him their sin.

   people. And  there are good grounds for concluding               It is indeed doubtful  therefore whether, on the part of

   that he also did so; for it must have been on' account           the majority of these men, it i,s the sig+ of ne.w  life:

 of his deeds of valour, .&he report of. which would .go            that ,they  do not shun the humiliation of going to

   o&to  all ithe tribes, that the elders of Gilead `implored       Jephthah. They needed the man: And, in order to

   him to be their captain in the war against the Ammon-            induce him to yielld: they ,offer  him the headship. BL~!

   ites, who had'just entered.upon  a new ,expedition  of           Jephthah is not a man who will lead them at any cost.

   pillage and  plunder.       It is doubtless again& this          Though born for rule, he was yet without lust for rule.

   enemy that. Jephthah had directed his expeditions                He will be their head, certainly, but only on the con-

   Thus he had projected' himself as a mighty hero.                 dition that !t.hey  evince that they .have  become othei

   Hearing of his achievements, their choice fell on him.           tha,n  they were, prove to him that they have truly

   The Lor.d  was with the man, thes plainly perceived,             repented of their sins and returned to the Lord; for

   because he trusted in God and  had  committed his. case          only then are they such people as will insure the bless-

   to him.     During *the  time of his banishment in the  1an.d    ing of God i.n victory  over their enemies.      And the

   of Tob, he had! acquired fame, house and possessions.            proof he demands is that they bring him home again

      ,Despite  .the ill-treatment that they, had .afforded         to fight against the children of Ammon.        And. if the
   him in the past, and though they had failed to make              Lord will .deliver  the Ammonites before ,him  and ,there-
   amends for eighteen long years-his expulsion had                 by declare that He has forgivei  His people and accept-
   occurred probably sometime previous to the beginning             ed the face of. Jephthah, then and  ,not  otherwise can

   of ahis  oppression,-the ,elders  of Gilead, now that            he consent to be their. head.    "And1 Jephthah -said unto
   they were in ,distress, turned to Jephthah, as a last            the elders of Gilsead,  If ye bring me home again to
   resort. -They  now. had use for the man, `as they now            fight -against  th.e children  of Ammon, and the Lord
   also had use' for God. In their extremity, both  Go:3            deliver them before me, I shall be your head." This

   and his servant could render them some `good service.            last clause has been taken as a question. So it appears
   They now needed the man. Brave, courageou&  and                  in the En$glish  versions, where it reads, "Shall I be

   Godfearing;  with a proved capacity for. leadership,.            your head ?" as if Jephthah were afraid, lest, after

   he would make them an excellem  general. So ,t.hey               viatory  `was  woine,  they would no longer want Bin1 as
   searched him out in his hiding place and said to him,            head, an.d again expel him from their midst, and wish-

   "Be our captain that w.e may fight with the children             ed to assure himself on- %.his point beforehand. But

-  o f  gammon."    Not a word did they say about the hard          Jephthaih  was not. that kind of a man.  .The clause in


60                                         T ' H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R


question is therefore affirmative. ~SO  taken there is              Though  the people had #put  away their i,dols  and re-
no trace of personal ambition in it.         His chief con&era      turned to the Lo%d!,  ithough  they ha.d bewailed thej?
is not ,even whether they will bring him home again                 sins `before Him and, implored His help, and therefore
but whether, having brought  him home, :they have the               on $he gr,ound  ~of His promise, made to rthe  natioil  in
courage, born of trust  in God, to face  their enemy in             .the past, could expect that He would again send de-
battle. Let them say that they have. That will satis-               liverance, the Lord, on His part, had! .as ye't  not let
fy him that now they are  !the kind of men tq whom                  it ble known :to His people that H,e forgave them and
,God  can grant victory ..and  over whom he can allow               would deliver them from their present itroubles.  His
himself  to be,.set  `as jutdig,. The elder13 say to him,           last word to them had been, "Wherefore I will deliver
"The Lord be witness between us, if we do  nc$  so                  you no more.      `Go  cry unto the_ gods which we have
according to thy words." It `was enough. He .would                  chosen ; let them deliver you in the time  qf your tribu-
obey their summons~;  for he' perceived that .they,  were           lation."    And as to Jephthah, though he was eager and
sincere.        And the cause of God lay ,close :t,o  his heart.    &ool&  ready to war God's warfaIr!@,  he was still without

And ,he 1,oved  `God's  people, the seven thousa.nd  who had        the un'ction  .of the Spirit. He had uttered his words
not w:orshipped  in Baal's  temple. T.hey,  too, were in.           before, the Lond, ,bti.t_as  yet had  received no reply.    It
dist.res.s.     F.or  their sakes  h& -went with the elders of      meant tihat  he was still without a calling. The mere
Gilead. The people kept their word with him.  The;7                 presenlce of the Ammo&es  in Canaan's borders could
made him head and captain over them with ithe  under-               not serve as a ground for :t.he  right td this war. Though
standing that they would do right by him for the  rrest             the Ammonites on their part sinned grievously in
of his days. And he uttered all his words `including                harnassin,g  the Israelites, ZGod  ,hadg  sent them and was
their ,wonds,  it mu&  be, befor,e  the Lor:d  in. Mizpah..         using them to chastise His people for their sins. There
This act had significance as an  indicatio'a  ,of  the frame        was then &his question. Was the hour  of.  $eliukranc2

of his. heart and mind; of his right att+l,de  toward               at hand or was God  determined to afflict His people
`God.  `It meant that he 4.o6k  IGod in.to his confidence,          a w,hile  1,onger  and must they ther,efore  acquiesce i3

was conscious of `his integrity and :the  rightness of ,hi.s        their tribul'ations instead of striking ,a blow for free-

cau'se,  was .acting  under the'impulise  of a living faith         dom at this time? Jebhthah  did not know. Th& right
in the poker and the willing!ness  of Jehovah ito grant             lt,o  wa.ge  t,hh war was implicik only in his Idivine  call-

victory to His penitent people, according 40 His prom-              ing.    And as yet. the Lord ha'd not let Himself be heard

ise to them and for the sake of  H,is name.         But it also     from. Jephthah therefore must wai't with drawing
meanit  that-he. took Jehovah .as his witness .with `re-            his sword.     Besides, he could do nothing until God
spect to .-the  transaation  between himself and the                raised him up, ,qualifX  him by the Spirit, i;lstill,ed  in
.el,ders  and that he wanted God to judge between, him              his soul courage :and daring-the courage of faith.

and them, should they,  go `back ,on their word.,         .,        And Jephthah ,did w_ait  for the unction of  t.he  Spirit.
      In this frame of milntdl  and in the  confide&e  that         but in !&he meantime he could .reques*t  the Ammonites
,God  was for him and could not. fail  ,him  in th'e crucial        to justify, ,if they webe  able, their inira;sions  of God's
moment, he ytransacted  with ~the Ammonites through                 country. He did so. The question he.put  to the king
the mess,engers  which'he. sent to the Ammbnite king,               of Moab was .pertineat..     "What hast thou to do with
who was again making war against Israel. Jephthah                   me, that `t.hou art come against me to fight in my
put..,to  the king this question: "Whab  hast thou to do            Ian&?"  It wlas a most embarrassing questi,on  that
with_:me,  tha$  thou art come against me to fight in my            Jephthah put to that A.mm~nite  king.        I:t,  is about as
lar$?"         So, before he proceeds to war, Jephthah enters       embarrass.ing  a question as coul,d  be put to any govern-
.i&o  peaceable negotiations witAh the Ammonites, not               nient of :t.his  day an'd age,  embarked, as they all are,
because he iis, afraid  of them, on account of their                on policies of imperialism.      For i$ is a question of
being a strong people (cf. Num. 22  :l; Deut. 2:20,  21)            right-right before GBd-  and for such a question the
but .,because,  mindful as he is of their being  the                Ammonite king was ill .prepared.  Had he been dis-.
descendants of'-lot,  andI rememberiti$g  that, by reaso?n          posed :t,o speak the truth,  he would have saild<  instantly,
therepf,  Israel, on their jqurney  .to Canaan,. ,had not           without one moment's #delay, "I a? come against  thee

been p,Frmitted  to assail &hem,  ,he .wanted  to be blame-         $0 fight in thy land because I am, fired by the vile
less before Go,d `of their blood. .BeEo~e  he w.ould                ambitioli?,  to remove  the bounds of bhe people, rob
(draw ,tie. sword, he wanted .a @ear right, to this war.            their treasures, fi.nd ,as a nest their riches, and gather
He would therefore try to, dissuade  them,f.rom  their              all the eaapth, in order that the control and dominion

hostile purposes by peaceful negotiatiosns.  1 If .:he. failed      of my ,nation  may be ex+e&ed.       And the v&y special
in this, the blaie  for the eDsuing sbloodshed  would be            reason that. `I fight against thee is that I hate thy  Ged."
whc$y ,theirs without question. Victory could be his                But speaking the truth, the king  woul,d have projected
,only  through &he righteousness of,his cause.        But there     himself .before  :the eyes  of the world in, all his vile
was .still another `consideaation  that entered in here.            ir&en&  and purposes. &ne would be his power tQ


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D  BEARE,R                                                           61


command respect and admiration, to hypnotize men                   know His ete-rnal power by its causative r.elation  to
by fine sounding slogans, and to sell h.imself  to the             the created things, and thepce  also know His Divinity.
world as `the hop,e of all mankind. -T,hus  the answer             And even if ,the most we dared to maintain on the

that was eeedfed  and wanted was one that justifies,               [basis of Rom. 1 were ,that providing the spiritual

thievery and  murder, in a word, &he  vile ambitions of            activity continuis  properly, man can know God from

a ld#epraved  m&n.    Marvelqus to' say, the king had an           creation (.Greijdanus) , even this would refute the
answer, for he .Was a resourceful kiir'g.                          Kantian  criticism for its power aies  not in an appeal

    .                                           G. M. 0.           to mans sinful darkness but to his finiteness.          ~
                                                                      Van Til's me$thod,  I mean in this connection only,

                                                                   r@min,ds one somewh.at  of the method of those phil-

            ,                                                      osophers whose systems have already fallen by their
                                                                   own weight, while the Scriptures co&inue  ,to teach

                                                                   that God ma`intains  the proof of Himself in  the mfz.ds

                                                                   of men and the classic `Lproofs"  continue Zo make their

                                                                   appeal to the intellect bf man and to the heart of the
                        ( c o n t i n u e d )
                                                                   Christian.
    A clearer passage we- have in Rom. 1:19-20  teach-                 Thus far we have seen .th:at  we must be on 0~1.r
ing that which is knowabl'e  of God is manifest in                 guard against denying or impoverishing the natural

`them,.  for God has showed it, unto them: His  invis-             knowledge of Gqd, either by, 1. conceding that. logic
ibl,e khings.  . . .are clearly seen, ,being understood by         could ever lead to the &elusion  that  God is unk!ilow-
the things that are made, namely his eternal power                 able, or, 2, by teaching that the finite cannot know the
and divinity. Now it is atr+nge  that Dr. Schilder                 Infinite.
woul'd deny even this passage its probative force on                   We shall have .t.o  cling very clos&y  to Scripture
the ground that Prof. Gr&j,danus  woul'd interpret                 here and with it mair8lain:
 conditionally "if ;t:he unseen things are grasped with
the spirit, the mind, they are seen                                    1. That tl-& highest  purpose of God with man is
                                             ! ~ The  spiritual
activity must continue, otherwise the seein*g  stops."                   _ th,at man shall know  Him.
                                                                      2. Th&-man  has been construed precisely for that
I canhot  see any thing that suppdrts  %this  coadiltional
                                                                          purpose. 
interpretation unless it be the somewhat spirit@  im-                                  *
                                                                       3: ,That  mala has become spiritually pervert,ed  in
plication of the word "understood" (nooumena) , and                       p&cisely  that relationship.
it were strange to use a per se  grammet-ically  color-
                                                                       4. That by his spiri:tnal  perversion all and every
less pa&i,ciple  to express such a condition which  sud-
                                                                          om,e of his faculties, !to his very inmost ,being  have
denly, breaks in on the thought, whereas means can
                                                                          becomle  perverted.
very ,well,  be expressed thus as lying #directly  `on the             5. That by his fall also the creation itself  .has been 
line of the thought. Therefore we have here a  ,defin-                                                                                .
                                                                          subjected to vanity and canpot  clearly reflect
 ife c.ontent  given to #Lhe  natural knowledke  of God,
                                                                          the Creator.
 and a very great content especially in His Divinity

which cefitainly  implies- a group of several virtu$s  that            In .the  light of, this we shall have .t:o  conclude &at
 distinguish Hifi wholly from the creature.                        even the so,`e$led  proofs are ,only  .the  crude expres-
    Therefore I cannot s&e how Van Til ean say (Pro-               sions of a few phases out of an almo,st  unlimitkd ,con-
 ceedings ,Calv.  Phil. Club, 1941 p. 85) that the neutral         tact which Go.d has established with mzi?  through all
 Theist&  proofs cry day and night that God does not               the creation and his own `deep  inner self.       `.

 exist, because, as he says, they prove that a finite                  Also in the light of this we must. maintain that  the

IGod exists. I!t woukl  ,seem  that Rom. 1 would #direct-          ration.alistic  criticisms ,of these proof,s  are of course
 ly deny such a position.     And w,e  -mu.st  undoubtedly         very cru,de  fumblings with spiritual things.

 bear in mind that also th,e  Kantian  criticisms of ;the              T.heologi~ans  (Chas. Hedge,  Orr, Kuyper, Bavinck)

 Proofs ,involves  a false use of the word Absolute                have ahown  that the ingenious. attack in  &he line of'

 and of Ultimate Cause. For although it is perhaps                 Kant, Hamilton an'd Spencer have not ,at all convinced

true, as Van Til maintains, thtit the insepera,ble  gap            them and Kant himself concedes by his do)ctrine  of

between #finite  an'd infinite, rel&tive  and Absolute,            Practical R,eason  and his unqualified "Thou shalt"

particular and Unive`rsal  is closed in the Tri-unity of           which speaks in the conscience of every man, that all

;Go,d,  which can .only  be known from the Scriptures,             $he facts have  not at all been taken account of in his

nevertheless-: the solution obtai,ns.  whether we have             criticism of th.e  pr,oofs.

leafned  it and are aware of  i:t or uot.     And so God is            And it. is<ui+e  evldent  in the light of Rom. 1:19-21,
not separated from His creatures, bu;t is so related to            that the w'ords  cause, final cause, infinite, absolute, a         r    e

,it;  that the heavens .declare  His glory, and the Gentiles       very arbitrarily used by the critics.     And  we may Ull-

                                                                                                    ,


doubtedly note width pr?fit the words of Dr. Chas.                     But now on tlie  other hand if we say that this

Hodge who states-  that "the Ggord infinit,y  comes very           knowliedge  of God only .comes  by special reveiation,  the

near the word incomprehensibility". For, indeed, the               question immZ&iately  arises, when exactly does this

strict meaning' of the wol:d "infinity'.'  may never be            knowledge of .tl!e Triune. Redeemer break through? .
known ~by  us.     But this does n'ot  at all imply that also      It would indeed be difficult to say from Scripture

the meaning of su,ch  wands as "cause" an,d "being"                exa&ly  who was uilsder Ithen special revelation the

and ."purpose"-  cannot, be, known from the `created               first man to concltide  that God is Triune and  R&eem-

things.    Why should they ,n,ot' be given in and ,wit!l           er. Am1  then without  seeking ,to indicate anj,  point

the creaited things themselves which have been  created            we may immediately observe that the revelation of

to reveal &he Creaitor?  And again? I may yepeat,                  God is progressive. The Infinitely glorious one is in-

I `believe thai Rom. l-:19-21  teaches this very thing.            deed mar?  and mope  rev,ealecl  to man. The `Incarna-

    Now, undoubtedly many good_ men have turned                    tion may be con8idered  the greatest step, but also

away from the logical methad  of proof for the exist-              :standing  on what was revealed in Christ the Word

en& of God,  because of a certain cold detached mechan-            Incarnate we still,  continue to `appropriate that, know-

i,cal appearance in this method.  which suggests irrever-          l,edge  through the New Dispensation. And in that

ante. Bowever  this need not at all follow from the                aen,se we may undoubtedly speak of .approximations.

logical method, whic'h though it i:s more deliberate               Not in the sense that the knowledge of the church is

than @he intuitive approach, is often also quite un-               still possibly erroneeous;  either to the right dr `to the,

consciously pepformed.                                             left, but surely in the, sense  .that ,the.  church is still

    For in the first piace,  the `pro0f.s  :do not a:t. all at-    reachin8g  up along the line that leads to ever fulle?

tempt to bring (God  under a higher class of being,                knowledge, and the incom,pl,elte  knowledge will cont.inue

by fitting Him into a certain frame of logic, but they             until  we see f&ce  to face and will continue even then

conclude from the things that; are made to a Divine                y&h  perfect method and progress..          And this by all

person of eternal powier  and wisdom.                              the sanctified powers whereby the word-revelation and

   But in $he second ,place, if it must indeed be taken            the experience of ..love  in its redemptive operation,

as obvious that the finite- logic cannot prove the In-             brings  man ,ever  nearer to God.      Read that marvelous

finite, then how dare w,e assert, `as a matker of very             testimony of the Apostle Paul  .in Phil. 3 concerning

obvious fact, that the finite  .ca;n .experienoe  the Infinite     his Ftriving  to experience even now the knowledge of

aed  does have a. sense sf Divinity?                               God through Christ in all his livi.ng way.

   .Howeyer  t:he more general `answer given to all of                At this point we, may :now  introduce the  great

this, usually in a sense of finality, is that man cannot           turning point or hinge upon which  ;&he true knowl,edgcr

really know God without His speci,al  revelation, niean-           of God ,dep.enlds.

ing that he cannot k!now  God as Triune and bas'.a  God             That' hinge is sin .or righteous,ness.

of, grace .without  this.                                             And now we must emphasize with equal insistence

   But also  here w.e .must again speak with certain               tha$  sinful. man does not know -God.'  And  that means

limitations. For is .i;t  indeed true that creation re-            no -atter  `how nmch  revelation he, has. John 8 :55 ;
veals nothing of the `trinity  o# God?      For if the  work       16:3; 17 :25; .I John  3 :6.     The .question  is not at all

of creating was performed by the three persons it                  one of the creaturliness or finiteness of man, nor of

must necessarily follow that this Triun,i.ty  be also re-          the n&ure  of his faculties, whether logical or intuition-

flected in the prolduc). Dr. Bavinck points out thai               al, b\$ it is a question of t:he holilnless  of God ,and

even the Greek philosophy shows a feeling for <the fact            the ethical corruptioa  of man.      T.hat  ethical corruption

that the th&gs  that ar,e made were formed by the                  begins with $thle day of Aldam's  perversion. and ex-

Word. We can under&and  how this groping where                     plains the cor,ruption  of the "natural" knowledge in

thevle  is no special revel,ation  would become very in-           heathendom, it continues &nder the fullest li.ght  of

tense w.hen  we consider how a person deprived of his              special revelation, reveals itself in  `the modern exact

eyes&M  dmevelopes  his remaining senses.         How much         scie:~,ces,  in the ethical sciences,. `and i.n "r-eligion".

n&e ithen could not man in the state of rectitude with             Blitnd,  ignorant, deceived; dead-such are ;&he char-

the desire to love know his God from the things that               acterizations           by Scripture and they must `be  I,eft
                                                                                  used
are. made, `as this is ila,deed  suggested by the fact .that       unchanged.     And witah our minds illumined by the

Adam imr+diately-  knew the animals :that were sub-                Spirit bnd Special revelation we must strive to under-

mitt& to him ;to name. -                                           stand th.iis  evaluation which the Scriptures make.      And.
   In lilt&  manner we may also believe that since this            it is the failur,e  to understand this that makes. room

world was made to become the stage  aed  the object                for ,the ,theory  of common grace with its efftaci!n,g  of

of redemptive grace, it also reflected -that purpose,              lines in doctrine and  life.

for Adam himself is called :the  image of Him that,was                Tsherefore  we must not  introduce a dualism be-

t o   c o m e .              .                                     tween the natural and the spiritual, the general ar8


        -__                                               T H E  STAND.ARD   B E A R E R  *'                                                      63


   the speci&  as does the Anabaptist,  the Lutheran and                             ThCI'erm Law in the Epistle to Gal.
   the Roman Catholic.                                             :

         Nor must we as Bath does in his eailier  teach-
   ings make man's creaturlilaess  such an undesirable                                   The, Epistle of Paul i&o the Galations stands out i:'
   limitation that he can only SeeI  God's .greatness  a3                            all otir  milids  as the epistle which especially treats the
   distance aad! darkness and crushing wrath, until he is                            subject of Christian Liberty. In the major portion
   lifted from time into eternity `through tlle'resurrection                         of %his letter, up to chapter .5, Paul carefully explains
   of Christ.                                                                        *the  aChris:tian's  relation to the law and so establishes
               An,d above all ,we must, not resort to the synthesis                  the doctrine of Christi,an  Liberty. In the chapters
   of Common Grace where gifts are -coa,sidered  grace                               5 and 6 the subject  is applied to our actual life. A
   intellectual powers as spiritual yir!tuas  and action 3s                          study of the epistle is therefore very profitable for
  life, and ihus. lose the deep .antithesis  -between sin and                        pra,ctical  Chlristian  living.
   righteousness.                                                                      . Of fundamental importance to a correct under-
                                 .
               But we,must  maintain the unity of the  reteltition,                  ,sta?`dinlg  of the subject of liberty in relation to law,
    sleeking more and more to integiate  the general an$                             which is assigned to ine for another articl.e,  is a:!
   the special, as o:il,e testimony of the <eternal  and! Infinite                   understanding of the term la$w as used by Paul in Gal. .                  ,
    God in ,a11 His ,glorious  viritues  so that, all men are                        This article is ,con,cerned  with that  subject.
   without excuse and the righteous can know Him  no.w                                   There is a problem.          The ques,tion  is no.t  what is
   and unto all eternity in the superabundance of revela-                            the meaning ,of th'e term law as such. The meaning
   tion., And with this the antithvesis  of the sanctified                           "of the word itself is clear:      It Means rule, canon, or,di-
   mind and the perverted min:d  must.  be fully mai&ained~                          nance, tha.t which has beeiLl<  established!.    But the prob-
               By this spirtiual restoration we can also under-                      l,em is, to what particular rule ol law cloes  Paul -refer
   stand the speech that comes to us `from creation.                                 ;to in his use of the  t&-m.        We Ihave  the l,aws of `the
   .           1. We can take account of  iti distortion by the                      Old Testament I the moral,  civil, and ceremonial laws.
                         ,
c u r s e .                                                                          In some passages in this epistle to the .Galations  where
               2. We can read ;the  mear&g  of the dist.ortion  as an                Paul speaks of "the Jaw" it is `explained as referring
   .expression  oF Gbd's pleasure.                                                   to tl?e ceremonial law. Others object and explain  that,
               3. We .ca+n see underneath and through the distor-                    it refers to the entire  Mosai,c l,eg&lation.       Tlhe differ-
   tion the wisdom and righteousness of God.                                         ence is vit,al.    For the ordinary Bible reader it is diffi-
               4. Far from saying that by the curse all legibility                   cult to determine.
   .has been efface&  from the created things, w!e shall                             Paul ia, some instances. in this- epistle &es the
  read its language of redemption as `the creature  wil:h                            w&d "law" without :the definite article. Thjs point

   unlifted  head awaits (the manifestation of the sons of ' is lost in our English tranlations which use the definite
   God  in order to en& into the liberty of the &glory of                            articl,e  throughout the epistle. In other places Paul
   the so& of God.                                                                   does use fhe definite article. We have ;the  expression
                                                                        A .   P .    several times of "the law".         Once in' chapter 5 :3 there

                                                                                     is the ,expression  "the whole law".           In 5 :14 we find
                                                                                     the expression "all the law".        The explanation df some

                                                                                     commentators is ithat  with the definite ar&icle  attached.

                                                                                     to the :term'  "law" the apostle has Fefereace  to the
  8 t                         WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                    c&e.monial,  law. Other commentators disregard the

                                                                                     di&inction'  made by the definite article, but nevepthe-

         On Ocfob,elr  18, 1944 with grateful hearts we celebrated the               less distinguish on the one hand, a reference of `Paul

   30th wedding anniversary of our parents,                                          to the &tire Mosaic legislation  and on the  other hand

                                                                                     a particular reference to the `,ceremonial  laws only.
                   Mr. and Mrs. DIRK MONSMA (nee Bylsma)
                                                                                     T*hey dIetermine  this from :their ~explaoation  of the
         We are deeply thankful to God for .liaving  spared us bur
                                                                                     context.    A few expositors maintain that there is only
   pare+ and it is our sincere hope and  hr'ajrer  that He will con-
                                                                                     one refer,ence made by the apostle .when he refers to
   tinue to bless them and keep them  fior each other and us.
                                                                                     thie Mosaic legislation, and that is, the entire code
                                      The ,Children:                                 with the moral ais;  well as civil and `ceremon.ial  law&

                                            ii&.  and Mrs. Lambert  Mulder               My conclusion is that nowhere in. the epistle does               -
                                            Mr. and Mrs. Orrie  Vanden  Berg         the apostle direct our attention to t.he ceremonial law

                                            Cpl. and Mrs. Albert Heemstra            as such i!il, distinction from'  the decalogue, when he

                                            Gladys joan                              uses the term "law".       This will change our conception

                                            D w i g h t   J a y                      of libetity  in relation to law to be sure.      An easy inter- '
   Grand  Rapids, Mi&                         snd 5 grandphjldren
                    :                                                                pretativn haa itlways  presentecl,  itelf tv me with>  $he


           64          .-                           T H E  STANDA'RD   B E A R E R  :_

           explanation that the ,apostle  refers to the ceremonial           in the main uses the term with `the  <article.        The first

           law in Galations and shows how that the Gal.atians  and           p&sage  where this ap.pears  is verse 10, where it also

           :t.he Christians of the New Testament .a,r.e  free from           seems that he refers to the oeremonial law.          We read ti

           those Old `Testament ond?niances.       That has never been       quotat.ion  fr,om D'enteron,omy  2'7 :?6  : `Cursed is every
           e,atisfectory,`however.  Especially because it is super-          one that con5tinueth  not in all things wflhich  are written

           ficial and does not show exegetical proof is it not :satis-       in the .b.oolk of the law to do them."       Turning to Deut.
           factory.                                                  _       27 -we find that the curses wh'ich the childrefi  of Israel
                 Let us examine the main passages  w.here, it is con-        .asisumed  from Mount Ebal were for transgressions of

           tended, that :&he apostle ref,ers to `the ceremonial law          l&e  mo8ral  law, judicial law and ceremonial law. It

           exclusively and see that this is not tru,e.                       cannot be limited in this case either to just one in

                 The fin&  passage to which we Twish  to call your           particular.     The "book of th,e  law" is the book of the

           attention is f,ound in 2 :16 where Paul 8xplains  that a          e n t i r e  la,w.

     .     man is no't justified by the "works of law". This ex-                 -In verse 19 we have the important question, "where-
           pression is used several ;t.imes  in folI,ow~ii~g  passages       fore then serveth lthe law?"       H,ere  i't is used with the

           and is t>herefore  important.                                     definite article.     The answer that Paul gives to his

                 The ,occaeion  for the attack of Peter by Paul, which       question in verse I9 is foun,d  in the following versies  of

           is the context :of this passage, 2 :16,  is the question of       chapter 3 and therefore the, references to the law in

           observanoe `of the ceremonial law. . This account of his          this entire section are all the  ,sarne.  My conclusion
           attack of Peter, Paul uses by way of irit,rodua:ion  `cc)         here-P00  is nega&ive  first of all.     It cannot re.fer  to the

           his subject of lalw andI .freedom  in relation to law.            ceremonial law  as suc:h. Th$e first reason is again

           The main differen'ce  ihowever,  between Pan1 and Peter_          because there  is n,o special indication made by  the

           here is not the superficial questio,n,  whether tholse  Old       apostle in the use .of the term nor in3 the context to

           Testamlent  ordinances are to be observed by Peter in             warrant suc;h  an interpretation. In the second  place

           the presence of ;t,he GenUes.       That is the occasi,on  for    this mention *of "`Me law" is in connection with his
z          Paul's reminder to Peter of the' deeper matter, the               previous mention of th'e  fact that it came four hunldsed
           vital ,question  of the way of `salv,ation.    In verse 16 of     and thirty years after the' promise.            Certainly that

          .chapter 2 Paul touches that deeper matter and reminds             refers to &he  historical giving of the law at Mount

           Peter !tha;t a man iis> justified by faith anl not `by            Sinai.     The important event of the giving of the law

           "works of law".        It is a matter of works versus faith,      is not remembered as-the giving of the ceremonial law,
           The expression "works of law" includes the Old Testa-             It is the Decalogue  which takes first place and the
           ment ceremo!nial  observances  but srrely  is not'limited         other laws are secondary, of impo,rt.anoe  ,only  in re-

           to them.      It also includes other works,-the pretention        lation to the ten words. These laws are inseparably
           of ;t,he rich young ruler, who maintained he observed             connected.      The secondary laws are without s,ignifi-
           the law of loving his neighbor.         That is not the way       cailfce  apa,rt  from the moral law.        Jesus reminds us
           of salvation, w,orking  it out by ourselves in  c,onform-         that on the essence of the moral law hang all the law
           ity to law. .And  Jesus did not prescribe more and                and the prophets,.      In the third place, $he reason given
           different laws for the young ruler.' Neither must                 for the revelation of law, was "fo,r  the sake of trans-
           Peter and Paul build. ,my more. upon such a basis                 gressions".     Particularly the moral law brings out our

           which  they, destroyed when they followed Christ: In              `transgressions.  The ceremonial law contains presarip-
           this explanation we h.ave-  a powerful word of God                tions  for keeping the types which are promises of bet-
           against all prleeent  day attempts to observe works of            ter things !to come.     The very answer of Paul as to the
           law as a way unto salvation.         So we have a ,grasp  of      reasojn  fo.r the intro&i&ion  of ;the law into history does

          the real issue at .stake  in the subject of ceremonial             not ;h.armonize  at all `therefore wit,h  the answer ,of some
           observance which remainis  for ,a11 time an is&e.  __It  is       that he refers to the ceremonial  law,  exclusively.           It
           the issue `of hlumanism  versus God's salvation in Christ         follows necessarily thait  the reference to thte law in
           Jesus. If it is only a matter of the outward keeping              veme 24 must also be the entire revelation of law at
           of the ceremonial law that is the  co:;lcern  of Pa-u1 in         Sinai.     The law in its entirety was a schoolmaster to
          writing this epi&le,  we. almost feel that it i's now a            drive the Church to Ch.rist.

           dIead issue. That was ,decided  soon in the course of                  The third context. which we must `show  does not
           transition from the Old .into the New Testament dis-              contain the term law as; a refer.ence  to the ceremonial

           pensation.        In all the uses in this context of the term     IZ3.W.    Tha*t  is the section  of chapter  4. The passage
           "law", that is, in-th'e verses 16, `x9,  and 21 Paul uses         whitih brings out the real issue of the whole context

           the term without ithe tarticle  and does` not refer to A          of chapter 4 ie verse 4: "But when the fulness of the
           particular ceremonial law,.  but to the concepit  law.            time w,as  come, God sent forth his Son, made of a

            In c,hapter three we have another context in which               woman, made  under the law."            Although the able exe-
           the term l'aw                                                     gete Meyer explains the preceding expressions of'  ithe
                              ,appears,  . In this connection the apostle


                                        --


                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D  BEARER;&.;!                                                         .65


      term law as not referring it.0  the ceremonial law, he                     that use. of the law of  ,God  by ithe apostle Paul.     First,

      nevertheless ,does  so in this .passage.         He explains the           wihen he speaks of law without the article he refers to

      immediately* preceding expressi.on  "~el~emeiits  of the                   the cone,@ law, to the will ob God as it cormems  the

      .world" as referring to the "rudiments of r.itual"  of                     creature  according to His creation in Paradise.             I     n

      both Jews,  and ,Gentiles.  And so also he says Christ                the second place,, when P,aul becomes more particular,

      was  born of a woman and under  ithe Jewish rudiments                      he uses !t.he article and refers to the historical revela-
      of ritual, that is, circumcision and all connected with               $tion ,of His l~aw  at Sinai, !n+amely,  "the law". In ch.ap-           ~
       it.     T.hat is his undetrstanding  of the expression iln                ter 3 :22 he even speaks of that historical revelation

      the fourth verse, `<under law". I bave not the spaze                       as written when he speaks of, "the scripture".          In the

      ,here  to give the very good exposition of Dr.  Greij-                     t,hird  place there is the indefinite use, "a law", also

      danus  of the expression "el,emenDs,  of the world". Prob-                 without it:he  article and in this case 1d.efini.tel.y  in.

      ably I shall have .oppontunity  in the next article.        How-           definite.     That is a reference to law in the abstrac:,

      ever, let me state that it can be clearly shownthat the                    if ,I1 may so define myself.      I find one use of that i.r:

       expression, `(elements of the world" Idoes' not r,efe.r              3 :21, "for if there had been a law given, which  could
      speci&ally  to the Levitical rites.       1. wish 50 give so&me            have given life. `. . ." Paul means, if there `had been
      arguments here to show that  the exprerTsion "u!n&=g                       any law given.                                     L. D.
       law':  in this fourth verse does not ref,er  to the. cere-

      ,mon#ial law as such.        In the first place the expression

       certainly refers to $hNe  incarnation of the Son of God.

/      He ,was  born of a woman. and by virtue of su& a tbirth,
      becoming like us in `every  respect, be w'as under law,                     Calvinism According To Kuyper's
      the law .of  God regard.ing  ithe  creature. It ils, alto-                           Stone-Lectures -,A #Critique
      gether superficial to .explain  ceremo!niaid  law only,

      whioh  it Js true he took as a Jew.        In the second  `place

      it becomes still more evident that the-concept "l.aw  of              i        The Stone-lectures of Dr. A. Kuyper on Calvinism

      IGod"  is meant here for'thle f,ollowing  verse gives the                  are well known in Reformed circles; it may be rtakea

      `,purpose,  "to red:eem  them bhat  were under law".         That          for grant&  tha?, at least the title of this work is known

      .cannot  refer to Jew's  `only.        It refers to Jews and               by many of the readers. For the sake of those who

     Gentiles, the whole body of  [elect of Old and New                          may be imerested  in this subject and who are acquaint-

       dispensations,.      This is plain from Yhe use ,of the                   ed with Ithis  work a few remarks of an introductory

       personal pronou!n,  "we" w&h concludes verse 5, "that                     nature will not be a,uperfluous.

       we might receive the ,adoptibn  of sons."            In the third           `, Dr. Kuyper delivered thes,e  Stone-lectures in ;the
       piace,  nowhere are .!t.he  ceremonial rites referred to                  month of October, 1398  at Princeton,, N. J.       They were

       as the "elements of the world".         This is not true even             delivered in the English language.  Hoviever,  they

       in Colossians  2:20.  If in that passage it is a refer-                   are also obtainable now in the Holland language.

       ence ito the ceremonial rites, then we would have such a                  The question might be asked; as to which oopy  is the

       strange explanation that Chr.ist  Himself Idied to these                  original one. Personally we found *the  Holland copy

       rudiments. HOIW  could such_ .be tme,  if these rites                     the easier of the two ?o read, and again and again,  could

      themselves wer,e  types; of Christ, and of Hi.s own death.                 not avoid the impression that the Holland was the

       He would not have to die to free himself of the rudi-                     qriginal and that the Englis,h  was translation. However

       ments, if. that is what k meant,-his own shadows.                         thie may have been our quotations will be from the
       The shadows foretell of H6m and fall away when He                         English copy.
      .appears.      They were types of His dying to the  r&i-                       In six le&ures'  It.he late Dr. Kuyper treats the
       ments.       And in both `Coloesians  and ~Galatians  the                 theme : Calvinism. The method followed in present-
       expressQon  refers to the fundam,ental  laws of creation                  ing the subject -matter is rather unif,orm  throughout.

      an,der  which *we all are born.                                            At the outset we are told  iin nearly eaeh lecture the
       My first conclusion, therefore, is negative. The                          course of argument ;td'-be  followed and a brief resump-
       term law cannot apply speci,fically  to the ceremonial                    tion is given of itbe groun'd  covered up: to that certain
      law.       If w-e see .that, we have arriv:ed  at a richer and             point.       The speaker (-iYriter)  traces a ,definite  line
       deeper un,derstan,ding  of Paul's subject of liberty in                   of thought containing an all-embracing life-and-world-
       rel.&ion   t o   l a w .                                                  view.     With bold strokes this.. is Id,one in the fi:rst Iec-
                                        _
              My positive cunclu'sion  is ve,ry  simple.    The apostle          %ure.     It is especially in this first lecture that, the
       has essentially. only :one  referenoe with his use of the                 speaker gives us his interpretation of history. In the
      term law in Galatiame.  That reference is to the law                       last and concluding lecture which speaks of "Calvinism
       ,of God.     There really is nlo other law.     Gad!  is the only         and the Future" we again see the tspeaker's view of

      _ law-giver; We can stiXll make three distinctions of
                                                 ~.                              h i s t o r y .


            66                                          ! ,TH.E   ` S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R


                  `TheDe  is indeed very much in tkese lectures  :to~                 tional use of the name  "Calvin:ist",  it serves moreover,
            which we gratefully and heartily subscribe.                Dr. Kuy-       in the fiou;rth  place, as a s&n&%  name e&her  in an
            per was no scholar in the common sense of the word ; historical, philosophical or political sense. Historically
            he was a piloneer hack&g  his way through &he forest,                     the name of Calvinism indicgtes  the channel in which
            a man of broad an6  -penetratiitig  vision overlooking                    the Reformation moved, Eo far as it was neither
            the entire ,domain  of life. I+verthelesu  we cannot                      Lutheran, nor Anabap':.ist  nor Socinian. In the philo-
            agree with the departed brother's underlying  Thesis                      sophic sense,__  we understand by it  ;t,hat  system of con-
\           in his interpr&ation  of the history of this failZen.,  sinful            ceptions which, under  the' idfluence of the master-
            world.     We believe th%t the, lines must ,be dramil; differ-            mind; of Calvin raised itself to  .dominance  in the several
            ently riot only  in the m&ter  of Ithe relationship of                    spheres of life. And as a political name, Calvinilsm

            rubtwe  and Qr@ce,              most emphatically also in regal?:1        i:l:dicates  that political movement whi.ch has guaranit.eed
                                   b~zt
            to .&a and grace.                                                         the liberty of nations in  const.itutional  statesmanship ;
                                                                                      first in Holland, then~in  England, and since the cl.ose

                                                                                      of the last century in ithe United States."
                  Plermit us to sketch folr you Ktiyper's,  view o.f sJ                   From. the rather &ghty  quotation jus$ made, it
            Calvinism and its place in the development of mantitid.                   is quite evident that Kuyper conc.eives  of Calvinism nob
            It is well to be;ar inO mind that thus the mabter  is ,con-               as a m0vemen.t  borli from the principle of regeneration
            strutted  -by the learned speaker.                                        in the hear%  of the elect ~only  and enld;in,g  in the new
                  "Calyinism"  according to Kuyper is n.ot to be de-                  cre&ioa  of all thiaags  (Matt.  1:28) put that he would
          finid to the ecclesiastical, dogmatical domain. That                        draw the line of Calvinism to the life of m~r&%z4cZ,. the
            this is his contention iB, evident first of all from his                  ,humcc;n *race.    Calvinism is the m`ovemen;t  in &&VY
           ,defini%ion  and circumscription of Calvinism. By  thp                     when conside.red  X"its  deepest logic" (p. 35) from .
            logical process of elimina;t.ion  Kuyper shows us exactly                 the lower to .the higher forms of life in the ,de'velopment

            how he would have  us conceive of Calvmism. He                            of mankind.

            catalogues the following senses in which we can and                           .To show  that we are not yet criticizing but that
            m v$ich aho historically we d,o speak bf Calvinism.                       we are merely attempting to sketch  for you Kuyper';

            First of all as it is employed by Roman Catholicism as                    view, attend to the f,ollowing  &om his leo:,ures. In
            a stigmatization lof Protestantism.                This use of the        the first pla,ce  Kuyper sketches for us four all-embrac-

           term is both historically and factually beside  ithe point.                ing life-an&world-views-which each in their iturn

            S e c o n d l y  thlere  are the ~cleu~*omtititional  Calvilnishs.        have  dominated all lifie.      These are as follows: Firstly,

          _ These a`re  *hose  who possibly in .church  government                    Paganism which may be considered `to cover every-

            are presbyterian as Calvin advocated, but deny the                        thing from' Animism to Budhism.            Secondly, Islamism-

           tdoctrine  of pred!esit,ination.           Then "Calvinism" also           M,ohammeddanism  ,tih.ich  r(y.:,e in the 12th century and

            serves as a ,Confessional  name.           In this sense, a Calvin-       ,domiln:ateld  all life.    a. In relatiofnship  :to God. b. /In

            ist is represented exclusively as the .outspoken  sub-                    relationship of ou,r fellow-man. c. `In relationship to

            scriber to ;the dogma of foreordination.                  They who        the world. Next in line co&es  .the  Roman Catholic

            disapprove of thics strong attachment to the doctrine                     hierarchy as ali all-embracing life-and-world-view, ,:.hat

            of predestination coopera'tre  with the Romish polemists,                 is, the -:conception  of man's  relationship to 1. God ;
            in that by.  calling `you "Calvinists", they, represent                   2. to fellowman; 3. to the world round about us.

            you as a victim of dogm&tic  narrowness; and what is                      Calvinism is the la& iin. line h&to&a&.               Also Calvinr

            worse still, as b,eing  dangerous to the real seriousness                 ism has ,developed  a life and worlid view from its own

            of moral' life". p. 6.         Kuyper <does !ilOt  idieny that attach-    deepest principlle  and religious convictions. Centrally

            ment' %o the doctrine of foreordina;tlion  is Calvinism,                  in its co&eption  of man's relationship to God ; .&en of
            .but  to this he would not limit it.         We quote : "The chief his relationship to his felltiwman,  and finially, of his
     '      purpose of my lecturing in this country w.a& to eradi-                    relatiomhip  ta .the  world of God's creation.          Calvinism
            cate the wrong idea, that Calvinism  represenikled  an                    is the highest budidiing out of the human race. The

            Iexclusively  dogmatical and ecclesiastical  movemen%.".                  human race needed %o pass through the stages of

            p. 231. Thils last quotatiqn  is sufficient_ commenkary                   Ptigatiism-Islamism-Romanism  to come *to Calvinism.

            on these usages of the term "Calvinism".                                  ' Thus is the movement in history as conceived of
                  There is, accor,ding  to these lectures, also a  .$ourth            bi Kuyper. The endeavons of ,nations  apart from
            sense in which we can speak of Calvinism.                  This last      Israel-J*erusalem  had a positive ec@ribution ta make

            interpretation of the `term  `",Calvinism"  iIs to t&e  it in             to history. That we are not misinterpreting the de-

            a scientific-philosophic sense.           And  it is the contention       ceased brother  may be evidenit 5rom.  ,&e following

            of thee esteetisd,  lecturer that in this sense of .;t.he                 /quotation : "But even this is not all. The fact that
            term Calvinism must be championed.                 Writes Kuyper :'       in a given circle Calvinism has formed an interpre-

            "Buit  beyond.this  sectarian, confqsiontil and denomina-                 tation of life quite its own,. from -which both  in the I

                                                                                                                                       ,


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D ' B E A R E R                                                                67


 spiritual anId; secular domain a special s&em arose                       the line of Egypt Syria, Babylon, Athens, Rome, ithe

 for domestic  and social life, jusibfies  its' claim to                   civilization of western Europe and the United State?.

 assert itself as an independent format&  ; but .does                          If `this has not be'en made clear in the above quota-
.not  yet credit it tith the honor of having led  hummity                  tion then may ;the following serve to assure  us t$.at

 .(underscoring-  of me, G.L.) an such,                 to a               ithis line in the development of Calvinism is not at all
                                                 up              higher

 stage in its development, and thelrefore  this life-sys;:,km              the`portion  of the line of the Holy Promise.              Kuyper

 has no& so far as we have consii$ered  it, attained that                  no doubt felt `the diffictiity  of maintaining the position

 position which alone  cou1.d  give it the right to claim                  `he hat? taken in explaining :the history of`the world in

 sor itself the energy and  ,devotion  of our heari1.s.. In                its development of the  human  race in the light, of both

China it can be asserted with equal `right that Con-                       of Scr,ipture  and of historic considerations.              Consa-

 fucianism has produced a f,orm  of its own for life i!n                   quently  he proceeds  further in his lecture  a3 follow;;:

 aa given cir,cle,  and th'e  Mongolian race that form 6-f                 "The succession of these four phases of development

 life rests  upon !a theory of its own. But what has                       did not take pIace mechanically, with sharply outlinEd

 ,China  done folr htimanity  in general, aad for ithe steady              ,divisions  and par&s.         This icl,evelopment  of lif'e  is 0~;    .
 idievelopment of our race? E,ven so far as the waters                     ganic, and therefore e&h new period roots in the past.

 wene  clear they f,ormed  nothing but an.isolated  lake,                  In it's deepest logi%  (in xzijn diepste gedachte) Calvin;

 Almost the same `remark applies to the high develtdp-                     ism had already been apprehended; by Augustine; had,

 ment which was once the boast of India and to the                         1o.n.g before Augustine been proclaimed to the Cit3;  of

 &ate of things in Mexico and Eeru in the day!3  of                        the S!even Hills by the Apostle in his  Epist.ie to the

 Montezuma ,snd the Incas.  In all_ these regions th.e                     Romans; and from Paul goes back ;to Israel and its

 people aktained  %o a high degree of idkvelopment,  but                   prophets, yea `td the tents of the patriarchs.             Xoman-

 stopped there, and, remained isolated, in no way                          ism li,kewtie  does ndt make its .appearancz  suddenly

 proved a benefit to humanity at large. *This applies                      but is the joint product.of  Israel's priesthoo&  the cross

 more strongly sitill to ;t.he life of the cololred  razes on              of Calvary and the world-orga.nization  of the Roman

 the coast snd  interior of Africa-a far lower form of                     Empire.     Islam in the same  way joilis  i:f'self  to Israel's

 existence, reminding us not even of a lake but rather                     Monism (belief in 0:n.e  God) to the Prophet of Nazar-

 of pools anid manshes.     There is but one world-stl+eam,                eth aed  ito thfe  tradition of the Koraic$tes.          And even

 broad and fresh, which from the beginnin,g  bore the                      the Paganiism  of Babylon and Egypt on the one hand

 bromise  of the future. This stream had its rise in                       and of Greece and  Rome upon the other, stand organic-                       I
-MiddFe-Asia  and the Levaflt.,  and has steadily con-                     ally related to what. lay behind these  natio.ns,  preced-

tinued its course from East to West. From Western                          ing the prosperity of their lives.

 Europe  it has p&sed  on to your Eastern  States and                          From this last qudtation Kuyper mu&  prove that

from thence to California."                                                Calvinisti  means to be and is the developmemnt  of tlw

    "The sdurces of this. de<el.opment  are found in                       hwmmn  mxcle. It is his contention  :t.hat  the source of

.Babylon  aa,d  in the' valley  of l!he Nile.     From thence              t h i s  d!&velopment   i s      Egypt-Syria-Babylon-Athens-

 It flowed on to Greece. From  Greece it flowed ,on to                     Rome-Western European Civilizaition-United  States.

rtihe  Roman Empire.        From ,the Romanic  nations it                  Does the above paragraph demo:nstrate  this.             If words

 continued .its way to the Northdwestern,  parts of                        have meaning all that Kuyper shows is tha2. the Line

Europe `an,d `from Holland and England: it reached at                      of C?lvinism  is Calvin-Augustine-Paul (Letter to

.length  your continent.     At. presen$  ithat stream  is at              Rome) Prophets, Abraham; that both Romanism anI&

a standstill.    Its western course through Japan. ils                     I&amism  borrowed elementi  from `this holy work of

impeded ; meanwhile no one &an tell what forces for ,God in Christ, corrupted these with elements of pagan-                                                  .
the future m&y `lie slum.bering  in th:? Slavic  races                     ism.    And thaX  the Pagan line is Egypt-Babylon-

which have thus far failed of progress.                  But while         Greece, Rome and with what lies back of each.               Hence

.lthe  secret  of khe future is still veiled in mystery, the               two parralel lilnles  i:n history, at least as far as the

counse  of this world-stream from East to  Wlest  can be                   chronology is concerned. `Yet both having  itheir  own

 denied:  by none. And therefore I am justified ii1 say-                   spiritual impetus. This is Kuyper'u Analysis. p. 35.

ing: that Paganism, Islamism and R,omanism  are                                Yet this is not at all the conclusion of Kuyper in

the $hree  successive formations which this develop-                       these Bt:or_e-lectures.  Atten,d  to the following: "But

ment had reached, when its further direction passed                        even so (notioe the concession, G.L.)  It, is as clear

over itit.  thle  hands of Calvinism". pp. 33, 34.                         as day that' the supreme force in the  cen;tral.  develop-

    From ithe foregoing it ip v&y evident that accord-                     mant of the human race moveidi  along successively

ing to Kuyper Calvinism must not  be u(nlSerstobd  as                      from Babylon to EgyPt  to Greece and Rome, then to

having its course of ,development  through the line of                     the chief regions of the Papal dominion, and filially to
Adam,, S!eth, No?h,  Abraham, David, Christ, the                           ;the Calvinistic n&ions  of the western Europe. If

-church  in the world but most,  emphz6tbcally  thfough                    Israel flourished in the days of Babylon and  E,gypt,


                                                            ,
                                                                                                                          .
68                                           T - H - E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R


however high its stan,dard,  the directiori of the human                highlights of the other lectures. These lectures trea.t,
race was not in the han&  of the sons ,of Abraham,                      of the folloiwing  subjects: Lecture fI-Calvinism  and
but in ihose  of the Belshae3ars  aqd th!e Pharaohs.                    Religion. CectuDe  III-Ca1vinils.m  and.;  Politics. Lec-

Again this`leadership  does not pass from Babylon and                   ture IV-Calvinism and Scieil.ce.  Lecture V-Calvin-

Egypt on `t,o Israel, but :t.o  Greece and R,ome.         However       ism and Art.        To the Lectures I and VI we have
high, the*  stream of.  Christianity had risen when Islam               virtually called attefltion  in the foregoing. Our evalu-
tiade  its ,appearance  in the 8th  and 9th centuries                   ation  of these Lectures will also have to-wait until the
the. followers of Mahornet  were dur $eache+,  and                      following issues of the Staindard  Bearer.
with them nes`ta$ the issues of :the world. .And  though                    The following is a synopsis of the content of these
ithe hegemony of Roma&sm  still maintaine.d  itself a                   1,ectures.
                     c                                                                 ~
short time after the peace of Munster, no one qties.                        In Lecture  II, which treals  .of Calvinism  and Re-

fions  the fact, that the, high& developmen;:.,  which me               ligio:;l,,  the author calls atkention  the following ques-
`are now enjoyieg,  we oive  neither to Spain nor to                    tions. 1. Is, religion for man's sake or is it for God

Austria, nor even to the  ,Germany  of that, time, but                  according ito Calvinism?      2. Is it mediate through the
to the Calvi:n.istic  counZ:ries  of th,e Netherlands and               church institution as was the case .wi!t.h  Rome, or is it

to Elngland  of the 1.6th  century. ,,Under  Louis XIV,                 immediiate and placing us directly before the face
Romanism arrested the higher development in France,                     and maje&y  of' God a,nd His law.        3. Is religion total

but only t,hait in th& Fren.ch  Revolution it might-exhibit             `or partial ; does it include the entire man, or is it
a ghastly carrica;t.tire  df Calvinism, which in its sad                merely  a matter of ithe will and feeling? 4. Is re-
consequeeces  broke the inner strength of France is                     ligion now since the fall. normal or is it? abnormal and
a nation, and' weakened its internatiorial significance."               soteriologi:cal?  In passing we wish to remark, that
      We are no-t; now -criticizing  Kuyper's present&ion               we do not intend to call attention to every detail of
of Galvimism,  but ape merely attempiting  to make                      this lecture. ~ In the netit. issues we wish to call at&en-
clear the position :t.aken  by the author of the Stone-                 tion to elements of Kuyper's conception of  man'ls  per-
lecture:  `In another article `we will give our criticism               sonality which stand; i:n direct relation to his concep-
of ,Kuyper's  con'ception,  his life and world view.             And    tion of the progres's  of mankind an,d the presupposition

so we inotice  that with might, and main Kuyper -main-                  of common grace.
tains that the Calvinistic line runs Egypt-Babylon-                         In ithe third lecture we  receive an insight,  into

,Greece-  Rome- Islam- Romanism-:Calvidstic               We&tern       Kuyper's conception of a Calvinistic State. To quote

Europe.                                                                 Kuyper's own words: "In order that t.he  influence of

      There is one mor!k  element that Kuyper brings into               Calvinism on our own political. development may be

the picture. This is the elemefit,  of the comw&g%ng                    .felt, it mu$t  be,  shown  for what fundamental political

,of bZo,o:d.  The stand of the author is that in `thooe                 con'cepitions  Galvilnisin has opened the door, and how

Icountries  where the one  .type  of man is prominetit,                 these polZca1  conceptions sprang from its `root prin-

there is less l'evelopment  then where ther:e  `is a ming-              ciple:"

ling of :nations.  On the co&rary where there is an                         And: again we quotei       " This dominating principle

intermingling ai in the cases of the sons of Shem                       Iw,as  not soteriologically, justification by faith, but,

and Japhet.       These groups by comm&glinq  have                      in *he widest sense cosmologicall$,  1,he sovereignty of

crossed  -their traits with :t.hose  of other tribes anil               the Triune God over  the whole Cosmos, iri all its

thus have attained; a higher perfection.             *                  spheres and ki#ngdoms,  visible and invisible. A prim-

      Now what, according to Xuyper, has ithis all to do                or&al  Sovereignty which eradicates in mankind in a

with Calvinism?           Calvinism has as its purpose th"              threefold deduced  supremacy, viz., 1. Thle  S0vereiglzt.y

d,evelopmenct  of mc~r&%d.  This &s a fundamen,tal  thesis              in the St&e; 2.. The Sovereignty in Society; 3. The  '
with *he  writer.    Attend furbher  to the following from              Sover,e,ignty  in the Chwch."

his pen: "To this shoul,d  be added that `the  history of                   In thse  fourth lecture Kuyp&  developes what to his

our race Idoes not aim -at the improvement of any                       mind i!s the relaitionship  of CalGinism  to Science.

single tribe, but at the development of m,nn.FGind taken                (Wetenschap) We quote : "Four points .of i!t. only do
`as a whole, and -therefore needs this commingling of                   I submit to your thoughtful consideration ; first, that
blood in order to at.tain  its end.         Now in facit,  history      Calvinism fostered and could not.b$  foster love for

shows that the nati,ons  among whom Calvinism flour-                    stience;  secondly, that ijt restoreidi  it~o scieece  its. do-

.ished  most widely, exhibit in every way this same                     main ; thirdly, that it deliversd science from unnatural
mingling of races."                                                     bonds ; and fourthly, in what  manner it sought and
                           -    -      -                                found a solution for the* unavoidable scienttific  coil-
                                                                        ftict."
      ,Our criticism of the f,oregoing  tie will reserve for                The fifth lecture of &his  series tretits  of Calvinism

a following issue..- We now pass on to some of the                      and  `Art. Here we zenter  upon a Idiscussion  of the


                                                                                      P


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   69


 ,beautiful,  the field of aestethics.    The  esteeied  speak-       years; as an approximation it could be  se% at 60. Cer-

 -er considered the f:ollowing  points : 1. Why ,C&lvinism            tainly,.  these facts speak for themselves !
was not allowed to develop an ,art&yle  of its own ;                      Finally, there are facts -relajtive  to policy which are
 2. Wha;t,  flows from its principle for Qe aatuu?e  of Art ;         revealing.         It is pos!sible  td make a sharp distinction
 3. What it has actual.ly  done,for  its advancement."                here between editorial policy and business policy,

      A hasty perusal of this august list of subjects  will `which is in itself a fact, as we show presently.
 conviqce  us that that subject m,atter  is very broad                    ,Editorial  pojicy  is determined by the purpose of
 antJ lies in par;t.  otitside  of ithe range of the regular i publication of a paper.                  This purpose in respect to
 study of a minister.       It will not be possible for us to         the `Standard Bearer has,  been variously stated. The

 enter into the fiel of aesthetics in our .discussion.                original purpose was : "to publish the views of` the
 Neither will we be able to enter  into the detailed ques-            Revs:  H. Danhof' and H. Hoeksema relative to the

 tions of poli;tics.  and  sleienoe  which are provoked by            commqn  grace codt.roversy."  From thence it became,

 thes,e  lect.ures.                                                   accordin$g  to the Editor, "a semi-scientific theological

      We gratefully acknowledge our indebtedness to                   paper."       The purpose as stated in `t.he  constitution of

. Dr. Kuyper for having taught                                        the R.F.P.A. is as follows 
                                       LIS  much -in these lec-                                        : "to propagate the Reformed
 tures.      Especially `is this true of the  l&tures  on             principl,es  applying them to every phase of life, along

 Politics and Art. `This ldioes  not imply that we sub-               Zhe fundamental lines_of  sin and grace and opposing
scribe ,t.o  all. It is especially on  rthe  points  touching         all views Fepugnant  thereto."

 the place of Science and Politics in Kuyper's'  concep-                  With respect to Kheee  purposes the fodlowililsg  is
 tio.n of- history as the ,development  of mankbnd  that              clear.      The original purpose has long ago been ac-

 we take exception to.       Bnt of this we will write more           complished and has been,  to a great extent, abolished.
 l,-,ter.                                                             For the past twelzty  years, aad under the able direc-
                                                      G. L.           tion of ;the  Rev. Hoeksema,'  the second purpose has

                                                                      been met and fulfilled.         The pul;pose  as s'tated  in the

                                                                      constitution of the R.F.P.A. has been partly `accom-

                                                                      p l i s h e d .

                                                                          We make bold to .express an opinion regarding this 
      Gleanings Frpm  Twenty Years *                                                                                                      *
                                                                      po1ic.y.    If we bear iln mind all the facks thus far pre-

                                                                      sented we believe that the Standard BeaTer  could
      At the close of the_fir.st  installment of :t.his  ar'ticle,    serve a mu+ greaber  purpose ithan  it does or has-
  `; waz,  co&uded  from the fadts present&d,  that the               and can do so *ithin  the limits of the stated purpose
 cause of the Standard B,earer%  is losing suppqrters  and            of this Society.        The facts show that our Young Peo-
 that ;tF_e papei`  is no longer read and received as it              ple are no% reading, that many families in our own de-
 should be.     If you would not .wish  to grant that',on  the        nomination are' not even subscribers; and  @at ,the  in-
 facts thus far reveiled,  certainly the Annual meriting              terest, of those who do subscribe and read is  weaken-
 itself testifies loudly to thalt conclusion.      On the night       iiyg through the years.         It is true, of cdurse,  that the
 bhis paper was,  dmelivered  there  were 31 individuals pre-         fault ,does not lie en?.irely  with the Standard Bearer
 sent at the Annual meeting of the Reformed Free Pu.b:                or its contents, but ~`8. feel that it does somewhat.

1 lishing Soci&y,  publishers of the Standard Beares.                 The material is often written in a dtyle  that is way
 Oae  of these individuals was not a member of our  de-               above ;&he  comprehensioin  .of even an intellikent  adult.

 nomination.-c  8 were  members bf &he Board. 5 were                  This is due, perhaps, to the specidl training or bril-

 nominees f,or the Board (one liomilnee  was no;:  pre-               liant mind of the writer; but a man% greatness ,does

 sent).      7 were not. members of the Society, while 4              not lie in 9he fact of being able to speak or write so

 jfoined that night; exclu+e  of the 7 who  `did ,not join.           that no one can understand .hi&.  True genius is to

 Actually, theyefore,  there were only 7 members (ex-                 .be able to impart one's great learniing  so that even a

 cluding Board and nominees, wlho ,a.lmoet  had to b,e                child can understand. Though we are not all genii

 ithere) present a;t the meeting. There were 24 votes                 we might strive for that ideal. To my mind, it is

 cast and 7 visitors. The Churches were represented                   one of ithe  great assets and. virtues of the Rev. Hoek-

 as follows: 1 ,outsider,  1 from Roosevelt Park, 4 from              sema that? he has the ability to presetit.  the deepest

 Hollanld  and the remainder from Fuller Ave. The                     and most profound truth with ,lucidity  and clarity.

 other Churches were not even. represented. _None  of                 One can always follow a distinct and  defilnite  line in

 the staff `nor any of the ministers, with the exoe&ion               his ma!t,erial.  There, lc&tainly,  is a lesson for us all;
 of the speaker, were presetit..          The speaker was the         in all writing and speaking.

 young&t  individual-prezent  ; beside him there was only                 Anoither  fact is that some of the articlces  read as
 one other young man present-beloiv  35 years of age.                 though they were shaken out of the author's sltieve

 The average age of the  aud@nce  was easily above  55                in dead-line date (as perhaps they were).' Cexytainly


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                                                                                                                                     -.. -,
  70                                       T H E  sTANDAnD   B E A R E R

  the result is no% &vidence  of a conscious effort to put          now much of the material is intelligible to a 14 year

  forth one's blest wprk  of which he `may be justly                 old e.g;  the Meditations. At ;t.he same time,  tiach is
  proud.                                                            also beyond th,e c6mpre;bension  of a high-school gradu-

        Bult to get back to the Goint-the paper is not being        ate ; which is more ;Man the majority of the readers
  read as it should. The  question  therefore arises : should       boast. Especially is that true of articles with quota-
  the Sit,andard Bearer serve the people or should the              lt.ions  in several languages,  and whose Elnglish  is o:l

  people serve the Standard Bearer? Should we have                  the level of Ph. D. thesis.                   At times one receives the

  :a paper. without readers or a paper with readers?                ' impression that the ma%erial  is written for the min-
  The answer is that we should listen to the  pop~&r                isters in our midst and fbr the 12 outside subscribers'

  appeal and Xhe voice of our Youn$g  People. And, cer-              (wlioever  they may be) ra$her  than for the 800 faith-

  tainly, we should have enough cdnfTdence  in those                ful supporters of the paper. Even a semi-scientific

  whom we have in&ructed  f,or  20 years to linow  `ihat            theologicd  subject, if i;t has intrinsic worth, can bz

  the popular appeal does not mean a forsaking of prin-             a p p l i e d   p r a c t i c a l l y .
  ,ciple.                                                                It is understood that the readers of a magazine
        The time has come to make _"our  doctrine a way             should be spiritual enough to apply  w'ha;t. has been

  o!f life.? The particubr times in which  we- live ,de-            written to themselves.                     The facts have shown that

  mand, and -will continue to demand, an emphasis on                they evidently are not.                     (Certainly, they cannot be
  practical Chris?.ian  living.    The true Church today, as        blamed if they could not possibly have undersibood

  will become increasingly evidemt,  faces a crisis!        She     and followed what Wats,  writX,en  in the first place. But

  mus%  be able  to stand, not on, theory, but on practice          even assuming that they could read and follow (aer-

  and alive in this worl'd.  Our Standard Bearer can                tainly this is true ,of a great majority of the  maXeria1

  and should lead  the way.                                         and' what has been. said previously is Me exception;

        Tht does not mean we. have to compromise, or                usually only.,an  excuse or a matter of It.he  mind of those

  even depart from the expaessed purpose or policy:                 not interested) and are,, therefore,  Zo b!e blamed, can

  "Zhe  propagation of the Rreformed  principles applying           we, ,evell  then, simply wash our hands of the matter

  them to every phase of life, along the fundamental                by saying that they are not Ispiritual enough? That

  lines, of sin. and grace and opposing `all views repug-           a% the same time is a reflecltion  on the training they

  nant ther&o."          For twenty years we have had that          have' received and upon those who have given if.

  propagation! F'or twenty yers we.have  had the fun-               Wohldn't it be much better, for them  and  for the

  damental lines of sin and grace !         For. twenlby  `years .Church  genekally,  to reach out to them and lead them
  we have had .the  opposing of all views repugnant                 back to ;t.he spiritual- level upon which they should

  thereto !     Now let's have  the APPlLICATION  OF                &and  ?

  THEM TO EVERY PHASE OF  L'IF,!  Let's digest                          The business policy or financial facts present the

  wliaX  we have ,cb!ewed.for  twenty years.     The taste has      great&t contrasts of the hei,ghts_  and depths of thz

  been so sweet  in our mouths-le?`s fill the body with             past twenty  years. Before we statited  gathering ma-

  this nourishment! We repeat, this does not mean a                 lt,erial  we bed  expected to find the financial situa-

  lowering of the standard but rather the opening of a              tion of the Standard Bearer, the darkest chaplter  of a!1

  great. new .Tield  of development of ?he practical as-            We were overjoyed, therefore, to find i;t exception-

  pects of our preciouls heriitage.  It means the making            ally bright at present.                    `That it is so bright, is due

  of "our ddctrine  a way of life," and let's, really bring         greatly 4,o th@ faithful, persistent, and untiring efforts

  it ,down  to earth.                                               of Mr. R. Schaafisma; who for the  pa& 11 years  has
        A `iau!s$e  for great joy, is th&t the policy is already    been the business manager. Wo man, without excep-

  shifting to ithat temphasis.     The recent discussions:-of       Con,  has given so willingly of his time &nd efforts,

  la?cor  problems, social questions, education &c. indi-           to keep the Standard Bearer a going proposition.                      The

 sate the beginning. Let's keep it                                  beautiful part of it all is  tha% he ascribes all i;he  suc-
                                          up and emphasize

  it and include our Young People.         Show, for example,       cess Ito the blessing of God  upon the project. That,

s that the pleasures of this world-movies, <dancing,                i!s a vivid example of true love for God's cause.                   With
  drilllking, card-playing, etc.-are incompatible with  ou:         one accdrd  we' should express sorrow that his health

  Reformed itxuth. That `?he way of peace for  young                dem.ands  his resignation at this ;time.                We f,eel  assured

  and old, also in this life, is to acknowledge and love            that he shall be amply rewarded  by his Father in
  a Soverei,gn  God.        T:his should be done, of course,        heaven Whom he so faithfully, served and acknow-

  in language &nd form that they can understand  ; that ledged.
  all shall be left without excuse.                                     The facts are ais folloys.                 For the.first  time in iits
        Once again this does not mean,-thaX..  the Standard         history. the Standard Bearer can boast a balance on

  Bearer mu&  be fuJ1 of .milk+sops.      W,e  have more con-       hand at %he.  end of the  year;                Practically all subscrip-

  fidence ill the training we have given  than that!      Evelz     tions, -excepting gifts, are being paid for; 8~ unprece-


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D .   B E A R E R                                              71


 d,ented  achievement. Many of It.he arrearages, accu-                only one exception. According to the financial report

 mulated through the years, have been collected. This                 our figure  of $3300 represedting  t.he  cost of publish-

 has been accomplished ~-through  the  agents and even                ing the `paper was' actually $400 higher than co& for
 more so by the contiinual reminders and introdudtion                 the past pear. It is also higher than the figures

 of an envelope system to facilitate colle&ions.  These               given in t&e Treasu&r's.  report for July 1943 ; cf. Stan-
 are the bright spots.                                                dard Bearer, Volume 20, number 1,  ,page  20. Item
         The  sad fa$`,too,  are numerous. There are only             two in column of receip;tns. was the o&y  figure that

 800, subsgibers  to -our Standard Bearer.             There are      was It-00  high here, but inasmych  as it is negligible it

 ody, about a `dozen subscribers outside of our, own                  can be ommitted  altogether ~with the same general
 deaominaition.  x Abput  qne third of our own people are             result.    Items' 4 and 5 were determined as follows.

 not g&ting  the ,paper.  Though the financial end of                 From ithe  published financial Deports of our  Fulle;

 the paper is running smoothly now, there is no indi-                 Ave.' congregation of the last. 7 years, we  f,ound that

 cation that it will continue to do  .IS,O for it is usually          the ;total  of all collections for .the Standard Bearer

 in financial straits.           The only way Ithat it .has stood     amounted to about $3000 or $425 per year. This  .is
 in It.&  past is through the immense and continual sup-              an average of about 75 centts  per famili per year.
 port of the Churches in the way of special collections.              This figure per family compared favlo,rably  with ;the.

 The usual situation is, that while 1,200 lcopi,es.  of the           average per family, for the samle- number of years, of

 paper are printed and senit,  out, about 950, and often              our H,olland ccln.gregation.  aed we used it as` our base.

 many less, are paid. for ; or about 250 and .often many _We, estimated the number of families in our .denom-
 more are not *paid  for.             `Another sad faot,  though      ination,  outside of Fuller Ave., to be abou;t  500 aand

 not d&+g directly with the Standard Bearer,  yet a                   hence arrived at $375 collected yearly from our Church-

 matter of concern to.  the R.F.P.A., is Zhat  there are              ,es,  (excepting. Fuller Ave.) for which exact figures

 about 3,300 books and pamphlets  belonging to It-his                 were not  available; a toital of $800 from all our Church-

 organization colletcin,g  dust and.mouIding  in the tower            es (items 4 & 5).       It was -irery encouraging, there-

room of .Fuller  Ave.            Finally, the point about the  CO+    fore, to note from the financial report ,delivered  alt
 pl.&,e  skparation  of Editorial and Business ,d&art-                the meeting that  the sum of $800 collected from our

 merits,  belongs Zo`the  category of sad facts.                      Churches was only a few dollars less thati ;t.hey  ac-

       To advance a bit of proof for some of  :+he  state-            tually received. According to the same financial re-

 ments mad:e, we sheould  lilke to present thje  following:           port our items numbered 6 and 7 were bolth  way too

                                                                      low. `In our repol"t  these total $175 while in the re-
          CQST OF PUBLISHING AND MAILING                              port as given at thle .meeting  Lthe  total was about
                    THE STANDARD BEARER                               $525; a difference of $350 in favor of the Stand&d

                                                                      Bearer. Ilt is also a known fact, that in the early
        $120 per issue or $3,300 per yelar.       ($130 for print-    pears of _our  Sta&$ard  Bearer receipts from special
 ing each il$stie  plus $20 for mailing etc).                 -       collections, Field Day, Gifts, programs, etc. were

 RECEIPTS FOR A TYPICAL YEAR:                                         much higher than Yhey  are at present, also, that  mem-

                                                                      benship  dues `of the R.F.P.A. have, in past years,
 1. $2750-Subscription  dues-1160 at $2.50 per year                   amounted to $1,000 alnd more. The purpose of this
        jordinarily if 1200 are sent out 1100 Ishould  be pay-
                                                                      lengthy explana%ion  is to make clear that the situation
        ing `subscrib.ers)  .                                         is much-less brig,ht  than we have presented i:t, and fur-
 2.         50-Obituary,  dnniversary  etc. notices-- (an av-
                                                                      ther that our Idieductions,  therefore, are certainly valid
        erage of 2 per issue).                                                                                                           .._
                                                                      and warranted.
 3. r 50-Profit from Field' Day (held each 4th of                                                                        W. H.
        July).
                                                                                            (To be continued)
 4.       425-Special collections frdm  Fuller Ave.
 5.       375-Special collejions from all either Churches.            *Speech delivered at the AnnGal,  qeeting  of the R.F.P.A. on
 6.       lOO-Gifts *from  societies, individuals, program            Thursday evening, September ~14, 1944 in Fuller Ave.  Corn-.
        collections, &c.                                              ments and criticisms concerr  jng any of the material her; pre-
                                                                      sented is invited.
 7;,        75-Dues from members of the R.F.P.A.  (in
        ,excess  of subsciiption  fee).
                                                                                              p__
 8. $3825-Total receipts for ti typical year.
                                                                                                NOTICE
 Remarks : Many of the above figures were estimates
`used as a basis for colnclusions.          We were very happy             Communications relative to renewal .of subscrip-
to hear from the  `financial r&port delivered at the                  tions and membership fees or gifts should. now be

 meeting that our cosit figures were tbo ldw .while  our              sent1 to Mr. Gerrit P,ipe, 846 Sigisbe'e St., IGrand  Rapids

 `receipt figures were. very accurate or too high with                6, Michigan,
                                                                                                 >


                                                                                                                                      - .
 72                                        THE SYMIUARD  GEARER  _-


                                                                     vE;ns of our all illuminating Christianity.
                                                `-
                     `CcDntribution                                      See perishing individuality melting and dissolving
                                          7                          into th,e  horrid, wicked, c.haotic atmosphere of a God-
                                               \

                  MUSINGS ,ON  M'CTIVES                              ,dethroning  collectivism.  This collectivi,sm  is the or-
                                                                     iginal doctrine -of Karl Marx, clarified by Nietzsche.
       A motive is- that within ,the,  ~a~diviiilual  which in-         .And behold award  termble, for the entire  #world  of
 `cites him to action. `(Webster Dictionary).                        our day, ilncmsive  of glorious Arkierica,  is .bending  over
       Theref,ore  any la&ion' of any individual has. its            to a super-go+ernm~ent  headed  and controlled by a
 origin. in an idea translated into a motive and trans-              Superman, casting away God bestowed nad~owdism,
 ported into .action.                                                and falling into the putrid abyss of International
       If a man is of a pure mind his motives as well as             Political Economy, in which splenldid,  manly Indi-
 his act+ will be pure, and,  co&rary; if a man is                   vidualism with its gobden vehicles of motives and
 impure in mind, his motives and  a,ctions will be im-                                                         D,,
                                                                     actions musk  perish.
 pure.                                                                                                        Jacob. H. Hoekstra.
       If an individual is religious, naturally his motives

 and actions will have ..a religious contour.                                               :
       iIf a <human being is financial  minded ; his thoughts,                                   NOTICE
 idleas,  mo;t.ives  and activities will .be centered in m(Y;?,e-                                                ,
 tary. I                                                                 To those who wish an index for the last  10 volumes
       Zf a man loves God, he will love his  Ineighbor,  and         of the Stadard Bearer, please place your order now so
 his motives and actions d.o  * `expr,ess  love, excluding.          ways,  and means may be found -to have thid done in
 self love. -                                                        a way most reasonable for all those interested.
       If a chaplain carries his solldliers  upon his heart,                                        B. Woudenberg, Sec'y.
--he will teach and preach to ,them  in canteen, in the                                             339 Watkins St.
 field `when marching, at the soldiers' bunk, in the                                                Grand Rapids `7, Michigan.
 dilning  room, not always in words, yet.:always  in deed

 and activities, and with his ,hand upon :t,he  sword, will
 speak or work to and: for them when engaged in actual                                                 . .

 warfare, for his, motives will express themselves in                                       1N MEMORIAM
~sach  pastoral activities.         '
       If a soldi.er is patriotic in a Scriptural sense;-and             De Mannen  Vereeniging van Bellflower  wens&t  langs

 the most are without knowing it-; his weapons will                  dienen weg _hun  deelneming te betuigen met een van haar

 function as expressions of true motives producing                   members, Mr. H. Pieksma, in het verlies van  zijn  beide oudew,

 sound battle adtivitieis,.
                                                                                      MR. en MRS. W. PIEKSMA
    ' All of these motives are pertailn,ing  to the indi-                                                             -
 vidual.                                                             `die in Redlands  woonden, en plotseling weg genomen werden,

       Although how sweet; pure  and loyeable the motives            slechts  eenige dagen na elkander.

of' any individual may. appear and be; yet, notwith-                     .Moge,  de Heere die  alle  dingen  doet in Zijn wijsheid de

 standing, they .ar(e objects it.0 the total depravity  of           bed,rdefde  familie vertroosten met Zijn genade en Geest.
 `mdxnkhd. 3                                                                                                     John Bekendam, Seer.
       yet, after, all ; and in fact there are  .but two kinds                                                   Ds. L. Doezema, Pres.
 of motives.     The one is heavenly, springing from the

fountain Iof .everlasting  life, as founded in the Throne

 of God. The othler  is from below, darting from the

 well of evil;  founded in everl~asting  death coming from                                  IN MEMORIAM
 Lucifer, king of Id1eat.h  and despairing darkness.

       These two motives represent the. Everlasting Life               The Consistory of the Kalamazoo Arotestant  Reformed Church

 and Everlasting D,eath,  being the parents of all other             hereby wishes to express its sympathy with one of its mem-

 motives coursing boundless through human life.                      bers, Mr. Samuel Dykstra,  in the loss of his

       Every individual is endowed with -ideas and                                                 MCTHlER
 thoughts, etc. representing motives  and acitidies.

       But, behold the, change.                                        May our Lord comfort-the bereaved and may they always be
                                     . . . Mark the uncontrol-
 able tendencies openly and1  secertly *developing  in our           ready to say, `that what the Lord does  i,s well; for He is Good

 National Political Economy, which darken. the heavens               and infinite in' wisdom, '
 horizo!nq of our ,erstwhil,e  glorious individuality, which                                                  Rev. H. `Veldman,  Pres.

 shone so brilliantly ,and  a.lluringlly  in $hg bright hea-                                                  Mr. P. Alphonnitar,  Clerk,


