          VOLUME XXI                                     MARCH 15, 1945                                                    NUMBER 12


                                                                            ed the sad estate of the heritage of the people of God
                     MEDIT.AT1                                              at the time when the .Bridegroom  came to them; and
                                                                            when the promise was about. to be fulfilled.       Hence, he

                                                                            came .mourning.         The last. of the Nazarites was he.
                                                                            In the desert he established his pulpit, and  loc~~sfs  .and

                                                                            ,wild honey he ate., <Into literal separation from the

                                                                            world he cal1e.d  the people ,of  [God.    For he proclaimed

                                                                            that the axe was already--laid-to the root of the old
                                                     Lo&Z,
           I             And he snicl unto Jesus,              rem&ber      dispensational tree, and was about to be cut down to'
                       `me when thou corned into thv ~kGz&Cn.               the ground.       Yet, while ,he called them away from the
                                                     Lwke .23:421           old things that %vere  rea.dy  to vanish away, he pointed
                Lord, remember me !                                         them to the `new things that were about to come, the
           The cry of the violent!           '                              Lamb of !God that taketh away the sjn._of  the. world,.
                The prayer of the mighty that take the kingdom of
                                                                            and he preached that the kingdom of heaven had come
          heaven by force !                                                 near. 
                -For this evil-doer that had been crucified with our                             . . .
          Lord cwas  it not at His right hand?) is a spiritually                 : r,And ' tlley,, the miserable, had said that he had a.
                                                                            <devil
          strong man .who, at the moment when all things `are                          !
          against him and against the Bingdom of heaven, puts               L       They had piped before John :and  wanted him to
          up a tremendous struggle to enter into that apparently            dance, but John had refused.        He came neither #eating
          lost kingdom                                                      nor drinking.       And the result had been, that they had
                                     ! -                                    not' s,ought  to :enter  into the kingdom of heaven as it
                He was the last of those "violent" men of whom our
          Lord had spoken when-He_  upbraided the men of that               had c.ome  near in John!
                                                                                    And ZChrist had come eating and drinking 
          generation. Matt. 11:12  ff.                                                                                           !
                They stood in sharp antithlesi!,.  these mighty men,              ,,He  was no Nazarite, for He was the Bridegroom.
          to those spiritually weak and effeminate and miserable            He was not afraid of the world, for He came to over-
          creatures,that  had no interest in the kingdom and the            come it, and t,o establish thle  kingdom of heaven.       He
          things concerning it, that never' entered and never               was the !Lam,b  .of God that could take the sin of the
          sought to .,enter,  no. ma.tter  how favorable the circum-        world upon His mighty shoulders, and remove it, take
          sta$nces  might be, and no matter who preached the ap-            it away for ever.       He did not assume that ultimately
          proach of the kingdom of heaven.; and who for ever                impossible position t.hat one must go out of the world
          sought t,o justify `themselves by laying the  "blame  of          to be saved, but He came to vanquish the power  ,of
                                                                            darkness in the world, that He might save-the world,
     ~    their failure to seek and'to enter precisely on the cir-
                                                                            Go,d's own world.       And so, `H.e came eating and drink-
I         cumstances :and on the .preachers  of the ,. kingdom-
          gospel.                                                           ing.
                Like the children sitting in the marketplace they                   And they judged that He was a glutton and wine-

          were, who-called unto their fellows: "We have piped               b$bber !
          `unto you, and ye have not danced-; .we  have mourned                     And again they failed to enter into the kingdom
          unto you, and ye have not lamented."                              of heaven ! Thiey always assumed the wrong attitude :
                John the Baptist had come mourning.           For he was    `before John they piljed,  and he;coukl  not dance; before
          notthe Bridegroom, but only His friend, whose calling             Jesus they mourned, and He.wou1.d  not mourn !.
          it was to prepare the way before l-&q!                                   But ever since the ,days of John the "kingdom of
                                                      And  he lamnt-


  heaven" had suffered "violence, and  the violent" had             that John had a `devil, that Jesus was a glutton and

  taken "it by force."                                              winebibber, a deceiver, a friend of Beelzebub,  a blas-

      They wanted the kingdom.          Whether it was prea&ch-     .pEemer,  and that  the ,cross  is proof of all they have
  ed and ibrought  nigh unto them .by  one that could not           ,ever  said of this man !          Hear thlem  mock and jeer:
  dance, or by Him that could not mourn, all during that                 "If thou art the Christ., if thou art really the King of

 .period  from Joh:~  to the cross and exaltation of  @Christ,           Israel, if thou art the.Son  Of {God,  if ,God  will have the?,

  when the kinidom  was about to come but had not yet                    if thy cause is right and just, and we are wrong.  . . .
  appeared, they stormed the door of the kingdom of                      come dowln  from the cross, save thyself !"-

  heaven, and clamored for entrance. John had come,                         .Hark, even one of the evil-doers opens his mouth

  and they went out into the desert to hear him; and  tq            to join these miserable wretches of the marketplace:

  be baptized of him; Jesus ha,d comle,  and  they had ac-               "If thou be the Christ, save thyself and us!"

, knowledged that He had the words of eternal life. . . .                   All, scribes -and Pharisees, priests and people,  sol-
     ,Of these "violent" the ,penitent  thief is the la&!           .diers and passers-by, and now also His fellow-sufferer

      More adverse than ever were, at that moment, the              on His left, are unanitious  in condemning His cause,
  circumst~~~ces  with a .view  to the realization of the           in declaring that He is noi the SChrist,  and ,that there

  kingdom #of heaven.                                               (never  was a kingdom of heaven, nor ever will  #be,  such

      In desperate straits was he himself.                          as He proclaimed.          All join in t,he chorus. of these child-

      Yet, hear the cry of the violent: "when thou  come&           ren of the marketplace, singing  .a.nd  shouting that He

  into thy kingdom. . . .                                s               cannot save Himself and that, therefore, He surely
      Lord, remember me!                                            cannot save others. -He canot  come down, He cannot,

                                                                    He cannot, He canizot.  . . .
                                                                            The kingdom, His kilngdom  is a lost -cause !

                                                                            No sne  present there at the gruesome spectacle of
      Mighty cry !                                                  satanic fury dare open his mouth to the contrary!
      For, from the ,viewpoimt-  of things  that are seen,                  No one? . . . .
  literally everything. was against the prayer of this                      Ane the strong that t,ake  the kingdom of heaven by
  t h i e f !                                                       violence all dead or utterly discouraged?
      Or did it got appear as if the kingdom of heaven                      H.ark?
  was, at this moment, more remote t,han  ever,, if not                     ,The other evil-doer opens his mouth to speak. There
  &n utterly desperate caulse;  the kingdom, at least, as it        is a moment of silence, as a hush falls even upon the
  had ,been .preached  and represented by this Man of               furiously raving mob.           And in the stillness the prayer
  ,Sorrows  that was suspended from the middle- of the              of the "violent" is heard:
  three cros,ses  on (Golgotha?                                             "When thou comest into thy kingdom! . . . .
     Was not this cross His condemnation, His defeat?                       Lord, remember me!"                                       D
     Were, after all, the children that sat in the market

  place not justified in their attitudle  over against both

  John and Him? ,O,  they  were still prestint  here on

  Golgotha.    And they still piped and mourned  ! And +t                   Marvellous prayer !
 present it appeased as if they were the strong,  Tather                    Wonderful,. indeed, when viewed as the lonely cry
 than those others that had attempted to take the king-             of this evil-doer at that moment, and in distinction
  dom of heaven by violence.          For they had done mud1        from and opposition to the unanimous mockery and
  more than merely pipe and mourn.             They had carri'ed    jeering. of the "world,' at Golgotha.
  out their ,own  drogram.         They ha'd set out to demon-              Mgrvellous  all the more,  when compared with the
  strate thtit they were justified when  they  called Joh,n         railing of his fellow criminal hanging on the other
  a ,devil,  and ,Christ  a glutton and winebibber.    On Jesus     c r o s s .
  of Nazareth, who would not mourn to their lamenting;              .       The lattier,  too, utters a petition, the prayer of the
  they had laid hands. And they had led Him  t,o His                ungodl? : "If thou be the Christ, save thyself and us !"
  utter ruin. All the vials of their insatiable hatred              He, too, `%vould fain be saved, but from his suffering
 they had emptied over Hiis:  head.      And now, as He hung        and condemnation, not from his sin.              He, too, had his
 on the accursed tree it appeared that  thleir cause had the        Christ, but his Christ was the anti-Christ, that must
 vi&ory, and that they had actually {been  `successful in           have power to `oppose the living God a;nd Htis righteous:
 their attempt to prove that His program of the khg-                ness, (and that was able to `establish a world of prosper-
 dom was utterly impossible!              .                         ity and freedom from suffering in rebellion  against
     !And they are pEesefit_  on Golgotha, these miserable          God. He hated his cross,  but.  not his s,in.' He hated
 children of the Market  place!                                     his conderinnation,  but .did not humble himself.          He was

   : And still they pipe and mqurn, @ill they iqsiqt                fill@ with  sorrow!  but  & ww~ the sorrow of the world,


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                    263


not after IGdd.    And to be sure, he hated that silent suf-     crucified One is on the way  i&o  His kingdom !
ferer on the-  middle cross,"Who  apparently wa.s inno-              And upon the mercy of the dying Christ, th.at will

.ceat,  yet' uttered no complaint  ; who could even fitter a     live and inherit His kingdom, he casts himself!
prayer for those that nailed Him to th% cruel tree.      No,         Remember me, 0 Lord !
he did not pray in the  hopie  that his prayer would be             Wonderful prayer !
heard.    He did not believe that this man w'as the Christ.
Surely, He was not the Christ he needed, sought, want-                                         i
&d, to deliver him from the cross.       Nevertheless, even         Election on Golgotha!           1
in his railing and bitter hatreq  against that Christ, he           -For how &otherwise  would you explain this wonder!

revealed the thoughts of his own heart in his con-                 With man this `prayer of the penitent thief is  ab-

ditional pet,ition  : "If thou Qe th,e Christ, save thyself solutely impossiblb  aid inexplicable.
and us."                                                            All man's theories about the free will of man, choos-

   "`The prayer of the ungodly! .                                ing to aGoept  a well-meani.ng  offer of salvation, must
    And upon the dark backgrpund  of this wicked pe-             suffer shipwreck here.

tion, the prayer  of the penitent thief appears all the             For, first of all, there is no offer here whatever.

more marvellous: Remember me, 0 Lord, .when  thou                No preacher'there  is here that persuades both thieve3

comest  into thy kingdom !                                       to accept  the Christ, to repent of their sin, and to
    For -did it not signify, even ass; he clearly expressed      believe on the `dying Saviou?.          There is no other ,gospel

it in his rebuke  of his fellow in crime, that at this late      here thanthe spectacle itsdlf of the dying Christ, snf-

hour he had absolutely broken with the world out of              fering silently, and praying for the transgressors.

which he had come, and that "the world was crucified"               Besides, from a.ny  humaln  viewpoint there is 110

to him, and he unto the world'?                                  difference abetween  the two thieves.

    But wonderful this prayer is, too, and above all,'              Both were malefactors.          They were in the same

when we consider its contents!                                   condemnation, and that, too, justly.           Both were  in the

    0, i ram well aware that we are in danger of reading,        throes of death.    If the fear md .agony  of death are at

this petition in the light of our full'er understanding          all efficient  to bring men to repentance, Iboth wifi have

of the crucified and risen Lord, and to  :put into -it a         to humble themselves in ,dust and ashes before God.

meaning and clarity ,of comprehension which, b&fore              Both are breathing their last in the  imznediate  presence

the consciousness of the penitent edil-doer, it cannot           of the dyiiag  Christ.    Yet, the one takes sides with the

possibly have had.      And yet, it ,cannot  be ,denied  that    enemies of the Saviour, the other rebukes both them

in this petition of the malefactor there are all the ele-        and him.     The one takes his place with the miserable on

ments of t.rue repentance, and of a true knowledge  of           the marketpla.ce,  the other takes the kingdom of God

the Christ of IGod.    Yea, apart from the question jhst:        by force.    The tine is hardened, and in the bitterness of

how much this penitent thief_ understood of  ;his own            his re'bellious  spirit rails against the *Christ; the other

prayer, there is in his petition the manifestation of  a         receives mercy, aed  casts himself upon the dying Lord

light of understanding such as even the  di.sciples  did         for salvation.

not have at this moment!                                            How to explain?

   Does he nbt, in his rebuke of his fellow malefactor,             There is but one answer: sovereign grace  !
confegs  that he is justly Gin his present condemnation,            Sovereign :* for while even in the d,ark.ness  of the

and th.a.t, in this just judgment he fears IGod?                 hour of judgment on Golgotha election breaks through

   Does he not express his knowledge of the Christ as            the gloom to save the one'thief,  reprobation  becomes

the Righteous, when he declares that He has done noth-_          equally evident in the hardening .of the other.

ing amiss;?                                                         The one is taken, and the other is left!

   But above all, does he not somehow apprehend  th.e               For God is merciful to whom He will be merciful,

resurrection from the dea:&  when he implores the Christ         and whom He will He hardens!

to remember him when He shall have come into His                    !Grace,  for only divine grace ,distinguishes  the peni-
kiqgdom?  To be sure, he looks beyond the cross of               tent thief from the othver.  (Grace  that mightily took

this Sufferer on &he  central tree of ,a-gony.     When all      hold of his ilnmost  heart, there to *break  the power and
looks: hopeless, when all men loudly declare that this__         dominion of sin. aGrace  that  wonderfully enlightened
is not the Christ,, that His kingdom will never come,            his eyes, not only to see his own sin, but also' to behold
and that the cross is the demonstrat'ion  of the absolute        the dying Christ as the living Lord, as His Saviour and
hopelessness of His_cause,  this malefactor apears  to be        Deliverer even through the ,death of the cross!
unshaken in his conviction that throukh  this Man, yea,             The things that are impossible with men are pos-

even through His cross, the kingdom of God will come !           sible with God!
   When thou corniest into thy. kingdom!                            Glorious grace of God!

  "By faith, by hope against hope, $e know8  that  t.ha                                                              H .  XL


264 "                                                                              THE  ST`ANDARJJ  BE.ARER




                                                                                                                                                                                           .`e .EDITORIALS
           Semi-Monthly, except Monthly in July aid August                                                                                                                     "
                                                 P u b l i s h e d - b y  '
                    The Reform& Fne  Publishing As&ation

                                    946 Sigsbee Street, S. E.                                                                                                                                    The Text ,of -a ;Corhplaint
                        E D I T O R  L  R e v .   H .  Hoekaema

     Contributing editors-Revs. J. Blankespoor,  A. Cammenga,                                                                                                                              The Committee appointed ,by the presbytery of

     P. `De Boer, J. D. de Jong, H. De z Wolf, L. Doezema,                                                                                                                             Philadelphia to prepare an answer to "The Text of -%
     M. Grittiers,  C. Hanko, B. Kok, G. Lubbers, G. M. Ophoff,                                                                                                                        Complaint," has finished its, task, and through the
     A. Petter, M. Schipper,  J,. Vanden  Breggen,.  H, Veldman,                                                                                                                       kindness of one of the committee members I received,
     R. Veldman,  L. Vermeer, IP. Vis, G. Vos, W. Hofman,
     J. Heys,.  Mr. S. De Vries.                                                      5                                                                                                upon request, a copy of, the proposed answer. My
                                                                                                                                                                                       hearty,thanks  for this kindness.
     Communications relative to contents should be addressed
                                                                                                                                                                                           "The Answer"` is. a pamphlet consistirig of almpst
     to REV. H. `HOEKSEMA, 1139 .`Franklin  St., S. E., tiand
     Rapids, Michigan.                                                                                                                                                                 forty pages. Its form it neat.  Jts contents are lucid.
                                                                                                                                                                                       (One does not have to guess just what the committee
     ,Communications  relative to subscription should be ad-
     dressed to MR. GERRIT PIPE, 946 Sigsbee Street. S. E.,                                                                                                                            means.    As to its order, it naturally follows the  varioug
     Grand Rapids, Mich.  All Annowwements  and Obituaries                                                                                                                             points  advanced in the "Complaint)". The first pdint,
     myst be sent to the above address and will not be  placed-                                                                                                                        that concerning the incompr'ehensibility  of God re-
     unless the regular fek. of $1.00 accompanies the notice.                                                                                                             L            ceives the lion share of the attention of the committee.
                                   Subscription $2.60  per year                                                                                                                            Since I received this copy of "The Answer" while I
     Entered as second class mail at Grand  Ripids, Michigan                                                                                                                           was discussing the first point of the "Complaint", the
-                                                                                                                                                                                      former #arrived just in time for me to combine the two

                                                                                                                                                                                       is `my discussion.     By following this method we will

                                                                                                                                                                                       more readily obtain a clear concept& of the difference
                                                CONTENTS
                                                                                                                                                                                       between the position of the compltinants  and that of

MEDIB'ATION  -                                                                                                                                                                         the `respondents.

                                                                                                                                                                                           Let us learn, then, from "The {Answer" just what
      ELECTION AT .THE CRO&S                                               . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261       is Dr. Clark's view of the incomprehensiibility  of God.
            Rev.. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                                                                          We quot,e  :
                                                                                                                                                                                           "The view of the IComplaint  is that `God becazme  of
EDITORIALS. -                                                                                                                                                                          his,very  natwe tiust  remain ilncbniprehensible  to .man' ;
      `IlH.E TEXT O F A ~CQMPLAINIT                                                   . . . . . . . . . . :...:.d . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264          it is `not the doctrine that ~God can Ibe known *only if he
      THE EVANGXLICAL  &' THE REFORMED CHURCH......266                                                                                                                                 makes himself known and in so far .as he makes him-

      EXFOSITION OF THE- HcEIDELBERG  ,CATECHISM  . ...266                                                                                                                             self Bnown;'      Moreover all knowledge which ma.n  can
                                                             I
              R e v .   H .  Hoe&ema                                                                                                                                                   attain differs from the knowledge of God `in a  quali-

                                                                                                                                                                                       tat,ive  sense and not merely in degree.' Thus God's

     THE PHTLISTINES  OFFEND ANEti . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . r...270                                                                                      knowledge and man's knowledge do not `coincide at a
              Rev. ,G. M. Ophoff                                                                                                                                                       single point.'    A proposition does not `have the sa~me

                                                                                                                                                                                       meaning for man as for God.' Man's: knowledge is

     `MAAR MIJN VOLti WOU NIET! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . !..: . . . . . . . . . . . . 273                                                               `analogical to the knowledge (God possesses, but it can

             Rev. G. Vos '                                                                                                                                                             never be identified with the klnowledge'  which God `pos-
                                                                                                                                                                                       sesses. of the same proposition'.'         `The divine knowledge
                                                                                                                                                                                                                             '
     THE OUTWaAaRD                      MAN AND THE O,LD MAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  `.276                                                                                  as &vine  tranticends hum& hnowledge as human, even

             Rev. J: A.. Heys                                                                                                                         \                                when that human kncrwledge  is a knowledge com-
                                                                                                                                                                                       tiunicated  ,by   G o d . '
                                                                                                                                                                                                                ~Becmse  ,of ,his very p&we as
'    A NEED FOR A CALVINESTIiC  CONFERENlCE  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278                                                                                                           infinite ancl absolu;te  the knowledge which God pos-
             Rev. L. Doez'ema  .                                                                                                                                                       sesses of himself and of `a.11 things must remain a
                                                                                                                                                                                       mystery which the finite mind c&not  penetrate.'           This
     -RELATJON  BETWEEN FOUR HINDS  OF FAITH _..;.......280                                                                                                                            latter statement does not mean merely that man cannot
             Rev. H.. Veldmnn                                                                                                                                                          penetrate this mystery unaided by revelation  : it means
                                                                         :.                                                                                                            jchat even revelation by God could not make man under-
     THE AMAlB~ABTI.STS                         . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282    stand the mystery, for the preceding sentences assert
             Rev. P..De  Boer                                          : * . .: .,                                                                                                     that. it is the nature of ,God  that renders him ,incom-

                                                                                                                                                                                       prehensible,  not the lack of a revel&on  about it. `As
                                                                                                                                                                                                                       . -2. L.S.


                                                   THE   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 265


           the analysis proceeds, these quotations with th.e argu-         can .understand  that the complainants must maintain

          , ment from w-hich  they are taken will be seen to imply         the position: a prop(osition  &&s not have the same
           two chief points.    First, there is some truth that..God       meaning- for God as for man. The Compla.int  leaves
           cannot put into propositional form; this portion of             the impression that it was chiefly written by Christian
           truth .cannot be expressed conceptually. Second, the            Rxeformed.  men, that, are trying to defend the Christian
           portion of truth that ,God  can express in propositional        Reformed tradition in the Orthodox Presibyterian
           form never has the' .same meaning for man as it has             Church, anld to introduce into the latter the errors of
           *for God. Every proposition that man Bnows has a                1924.    In fact, this impression is so strong, that I make
           qualitatively different meaning for ~Golcl.  Man can            bold to conjecture that the Complaint was. written by
           grasp only an analogy of the truth, which,  ,because  it is     more than one author, and that I could point out the
           an analogy, is not the truth itself.                            writ.er  of the last part merely on the -basis of internal
               IOn the other hand Dr. Clark contends that the              evidence. I would consider it.deplorable  if the O'rtho-
           doctrine of the incomprehensibility of IGod  as set forth       .dox Presbyterian Church would yield to this tempta-
           in Scripture and in the Confession of Faith includes            tion.
           the following points : 1. The essence of God's being is             2. From `"The Answer" it is ,plain that the issue
z          incomprehensible to man except as God reveals truths            does not concern the truth of God's incomprehensibility
           concerning his own nature. 2. The manner of God's               as such, but an interpretation of that doctrine. And
           knowing, can eternal intnition,  is impossible for man.         -1 agree with "The Answer" when it states that the
           3. Man can never know exhaustively'aed  completely              complainants make a false `claim when they insist
           God's knowledge of any truth in all its relationships           "that throughout Christian theology this doctrine has
           and implications ; because every truth has an infinite          but one definite meaning," that theirs, the complain-
           number of relationships and implications and  smce              ants' view "is that one  definite  meaning, and that, .Dr.
           each' of these implications in turn has  ,other  infinite       Clark in disagreeing with them rejects this uniform
           implications, these must ever, #even  in heaven, remain         ,element  i.n :Christian  theology." pp. 8, 9.
           inexhaustible for man. 4. But, Dr. Clark maintains,                 3. To say that any proposition does not have the
           the doctrine of the incomprehensibility of God does             same meaning for ,God  as it has for man is, it appears
           not mean tha.t  a proposition, e.g., two times two are          to me, (1) A rationalistic contention; The complain-
           four, has one meaning for man and a tentatively dif-            ants do not Iderive  this proposition from Scripture, nor
           ferent meaning for God,. `or that some truth iis. con-          will they sever be able to find Scriptural ground for it.
           ceptual and other truth is mon-conceptual in nature."            (2) A statement which can only mean that we can
          .pp. 9, 19.                                                      never Lnow  ,the  truth about anything. Certain it is
              This, .laccordiing  to the committee, is "the crux of        that the meaning a proposition has for God is the
                          They have .a good deal more to say in
           the issue."                                                     only true meaning; if for us it has another meaning,
           .defense  "of Dr. Clark's `position, but we  .need not quote    we simply have not the truth.           (3) A denial ,of the
           more.    We rather make a few remarks  :                        truth of revelation. That our knowledge of God is
              1. It still seems to me that the question involved, con-     finite, and t,hat  ,even through revelation we can' never
           sidered by itself, ,would be a very interesting subject         ,comprehend  God, the infinite One, has alway&  been held
          for a theological conference, rather than a basis for            .by  all theologians.    `But if what Gorl  revealed to us has'
           complaint against-the lieensure  of a candidate for the         a different meaning for Him than for us> God is not
           ministry. Of course, if this first point of the com-            only incomprehensible, but also unknowaible.              Then
           plaint is introduced here as a basis for what follows,          revelation itself is not true and reliable.
           and if it was the  ~real  purpose of' the complainants to           4. And so, it still seems to me that the issue be-
           persuade the Orthodox Pr,esbyterian  Church to adopt            tween the complainants. and the presbytery of Phila-

' the Arminian doctrine of the Christian Reformed                          delphia is not the incomprehensibility of >God, but the
            Church as expressed by the Synod of Kalamazoo in               question whether revelation itself is intelligible to us.
            1924, particularly the view that  `God  is gracious to the     To deny the latter is to destroy the very foundationq.  of,
           reprobate, and that the preaching of. the gospel is a           theology.                                              H. H. -
           well-meaning offer of salvation on the part of God to

     '     all men, in other words, the doctrine that God sincerely                     . -            NOTICE
           seeks the salvation of those whom He will  lnot save,-

           this first point is quite important.     For this Christian         .Classis  East will meet in regular session Wednes-
           Reformed doctrine, itself a plain  ,contradiction,  is based    day, April 4 at 9:00 at the First Protestant Reformed
           on the contention that there are contradictions in              Church, at Gr&d R,apids, Michigan. The con&stories
            Scripture, and that it is possible for faith to accept         will please remember that this is the last -meeting of.
           contradictions, that is; you understand, contradictions         Classis before the next Synod meets.              .
           `for  man's mmd, not for God. And in that light one                                                     D. Jonker; S. C.


 266                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D '   B E A R E R
                                                                                                         /

                                                                and of his friend in Scotland.
                 The Evangelical                                .But  they are exoeptions.

                                                                    We advised the brethren, therefore 
                           a n d                                                                               : 1. Uncondition-
                                                                ally to sever their connection with the Evangelical and
             The Reformed Churkh                                Reformed Church. 2. To confer together as soon as
                                                      '
                                                                possible with a view to a possible reorganization on

    In closing this discussion for the present, ,I must         their own,. Reformed, basis. 3. To establish the re-

 refer once more to the conference of l:a.st  fall in South     lation of sister-churches with our churches, that we

Dakota.                                                         might continue to have contact with one another. 4. To

    The `occasion of this conference was, according to          send their young men, if they so desired, to our semin-

available .itnformation  at the time, the desire on the         ary, as long as they had no theological school of their,

 part of some .of the ibrethren  of the former Reformed         own.    5. In this way to -become prepared, if it ibe, the

`Church  in the United States, to find a new church             will of God, in some future time, to unite ,with us.

home.' \They could not agree and go along with the                  Our prayer is that <God may .bless  them in their

merger.      They, some of them, had come into contact          efforts,.                                            H. H.

with our churches. The question arose in their soul

whether they could not find the new home they sought

in our fellowship. To find an answer to this question               The Triple Knowled,ge
was the purpose of the conference..

    And our &discussion was entirely, directed toward

that end.    W;e had not come together with the purpose

in mind to accomplish or `even  to prepare for a union.         ' An Exposition Of The Heidel
The conference w.as,  wholly without official character.
,And the immediate purpose was to become acquainted                                     Catechism
with one another with a vieiw  to finding an answer to
the *question.  whether there would be a possibility of                                 _ Part Two. -
uniting, not on a new or common ,basis,  but on the                                 Of Man's Redemption
basis of our Protestant Reformed f.aith.'                                              Lord's Day XIV
    Hence, undersigned explained briefly the doctrinal

stand, as well as the history of our churches.  .Some                                           2.

of t,he (brethren of the Reformed IChurch  in the TJnited                    The Flesh And Blood Of The Children.
States explained to us -their stand. And interestmg
was the ,discussion that followed.                                  Concerning the human, nature which the Son of
    %In general, I may state that our meetings were             God assumed, the Heidelberg Catechism teaches us that
enjoyed by all the ,brethren.    Apart, from the question       He "took upon him the very nature of man, of the
of any possible concrete results, the fellowship we had         flesh and blood of the Virgin  Mary. . . . tha.t  he might
together, and our discussions on various subjects of            also ;be the true seed of Davilcl,  like unto his brethren
immediate doctrinal and church-political interest,. were        in all things sin excepted."          There are, in these words,
refreshing and edifymg.     A brotherly spirit prevailed.       esp!ecially  four elements that must always be .empha-
We shall not Soon forget that conference.       And it ought    sized in our confession concerning the human nature
to she repeated before long.                                    of Christ, and which we must briefly discuss in this
    But it also  *became  very clear that the time was not      connection, namely :.     1. That it is a real and complete
rip.e for a union on their part with                            human nature.        2. That it is an individual and  cent&
                                         Us.
    There are several reasons why this would be in-             -human  na.ture:     He was born in the very center of the
 advisable, at least for the time being, reasons of a.          line of the promise, the seed of David. 3. That it is
practical, as well as of a doctrmal  and chur,ch-political      a weakened human nature:. He came  ia the ,%ikene.ss  *-
n a t u r e .                                                   of sinful fllesh. 4. That it is: a sinless human nature:
    But the chief reason is, of  counse, that from ,a doc-      He was made like unto his brethren in all things, sin
trinal viewpomt  they are not ready to join our churches.       excepted.

    ,On this, I think, we were all agreed  at, the close          , The Confessio  B!elggica  emphasizes the same truths,
 of our conference;'                                            when it declares that He "took upon him the-form of a
    It is true, that there were some ministers who were         ,servant, and became like unto man, really assuming the
 very close to us in doctrine and spirit. -And this is          true human nature, with al1 its infirmities, sin excepted

 especially true of the pastor at whose friendly home I         . . . . and did not only assume the human nature as to
might maJke my stay during the days of the conference,          the body, but also a true human soul, that he might be
 and in whose church at Tassel our co!nference  was held,       a reta. man.      For since the soul was lost as well as the


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R - E R                                          267


 boldy,  it `was  necessary that he should take both upon        sin, and suffer d.eath  in our stead.    If this were to ,be

 him, t,o save both.    Therefore we confess (in opposition      done, the punishment of sin must be born in our

 to the heresy of the Analbaptists,  who deny that Christ        #nature.      The sa.me human nature that had sinned must

 assumed human flesh of his mother) that Christ is               bear the wrath of God to the end.          If Jesus: had not

 become a partaker of the flesh and  ,blood  of the child-       [been  ,of us, if His human nature  bed  been especially

 ren; thst  he is s fruit of the loins of David after the        created, He might have been similar to us, ,but  He.

 flesh ; made of the seed of David according to the flesh ;      would, nevertheless, have stood outside of us.           And
 a fruit of the womb of the virgin  M.ary,  made of a            even as He would have been extraneous. to  us, so His

 woman ; a branch of Davild  ;. a shoot of the root of           death would have been suffered entirely apart from us.
 Jesse; sprung from the tribe of  .Judah; descended from         It could not have been  OWT  death. In that case, Go,d

 the Jews according to the flesh ; of the seed of Abra-          `would really have left the human race in Adam in their
 ham, since'he took. on him the seed of Abraham, and             sin and condemnation, and created something entirely

 .became  like unto his brethren in all things, sin except-      new.        Then we did not die with Christ, neither were

 ed, so that in truth he is our Immanuel, that is to say,        we raised with Him, and our life cannot possibly be hid

$ God with us." Art. XVIII.                                      with <Christ in God.      The truth, therefore, that Christ

      That our Lord assumed a real human nature means,           really .assumed  the flesh and blood of the children, is,

 first of all, that ,He  was very really born, not created,      essential to the gospel of our redemption.

--and that, too, according to body and soul.     Even though        `But, i.n the second place, the truth that Christ as-
 He was conceived without th,e ,will  of man, and born of        sumed a true.and  real human nature also implies that

 `a Virgin, His was not a strange, or s,pecia,lly  created       this human nature is complete, that is, consists of body

 human nature, but' He took upon Him our flesh! and              and soul.      We must not iconceive  of the incarnation of

 blood. He was organically connected ,with  us. As to            the Son of IGod in such a way that by t.his  wonder of

 His human nature, He did not come from without, but             grace the <divine  nature came to'inhabit a human body,

 was,  Ibrought  forth'by us. He did not stand next  to          took the pl.ace of the human soul ; or even that the
 men, ,but among them, snd was of them.         He partook of    Person of the Son of God took upon Him a human body

 the flesh and blood of  t,he  children. He- was flesh           and a human soul, but that the divine nature took the

 of our flesh, ,blood  of our blood, Ibone of our bone.          place of the human mind or spirit.        The whole human

 This must be maintained, *because  it is the..plain teach-      nature He assumed in His incarnation.          He was corn?

 ing of Scripture.       According to the message of the         pletely human, even as He is truly divine.       That this is

 angel to Mary she would conceive in her womb, and               true is ,evident  from all we reacl  of the revelation of

 bring forth a son, Luke  1:31.  That which was con-             Jesus Christ in the days of His flesh.      And more than

 ceived in her developed in the womb of Mary  l&e the            once our Lor,d speaks of His soul expressly. Short.ly

 seed of any other human being, and its growth required          ,before  His death, He decla.res:  "Now is my soul
 the same length of time, for while Joseph and Mary              troubled." John 12:27.  And as He entered into the

 were in Bethlehem, "the days were accomplished that             garden of SGethsemane,  He complained: "My soul is

 she should be delivered. And she brought forth her              exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." Matt. 26:38.

 firstborn son." Luke 2:6,7.  When Mary visited her                  It would seem that the theory of creationism meets

 cousin Elizabeth, before the ,birth  of IChrist, th!e mother    with `a serious Idifficulty  here. Accordilng  to this theory,

 of John the Baptist, filled with the Holy Ghost, greeted        as you know, the soul, in the~case  of the, birth of every

 her in the following words: "Blessed art thou among             individual hum.an  being, is created ,by God, w!hile  the

 women,* and ,blessed  is the fruit of thy womb.  ,And           body only is' conceived and Ibonn  by and from the par-
 whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord                ents.     However, in the case of the incarnation, we con-

 shoul,d  come to me?' Luke 1:42,  43. Moreover, Scrip-          fess that the whole human nature, both body and soul,

 ture teaches us that "when the fulness  of time was             was assumed .by the Son of <Gold from the virgin Mary.

 come, God sent ,forth His ,Son,  made of (c womcun,  made       In His case, therefore, the soul <is also born, and not

 under the law, to redeem them that wcere under the              created. It would appear, then, that creationism is
 law, that w,e might receive the adoption of sons." Gal;         wrong, snd that we are bound to  !adopt  the view of
 4 :4,  5.    And "forasmuch then as the children are par-       traducianism, the theory that in all cases the whole

 takers of flesh and blood, he also likewise took part of        human nature is brought. forth through conception
 the same ; that through .death he might destroy  him            and birth by the human parents. And yet, we  ,are
 that had the power of death, that is, the devil ; and de- loath to accept that also the human spirit is propagated
 liver them who through fear of- death were all their            through generation and ibirth,  because it would seem

 lifetime subject to bondage." Heb. 2 :14,  15.                  th.at by adopting this view we would destroy the very
     From the above passages of Holy Writ-, it is also           spirituality ,of thle  soul, and change it into the flesh and

 evident that the organic unit,y  of ,Christ  with us was        blood.
 necessary unto our redemption.           He must bear our        91t seems to me, therefore, that we must seek to

                                    .-


             263`.  :, ..=                                     .THE.  S.T.ANDARD,   B E A R E R


            avoid both, cra.ss creationism and literal traducian-                       David."    According to the Belgic or  Netherland  Con-

            ism. Of course, let us admit it from the outset, when                       fession, .he' was "a~branch  of David, a shoot of the

            we ,d.eal  wit.h the questions concerning the human soul                    root of Jesse, sprung from the tribe.of  Judah, `descend-

            and body, we.are  facing deep prolblems,  problems that                     ed from the Jews accor,ding  to the flesh;`-of the seed of

            are, ultimately, impossible of solution.                  The relation      Abraham."

     5 between soul and body is a profound mystery. Yet,                                    To us this clea:rly  implia;  in the first place, that
            it may be possible,, on the basis of Scripture, to formu-                   He assumed a very' concrete and-  individual human

            late &ome conception that will cover a.nd  explam  all                      nature.    There are those who deny this and who insist

            the fa.cts,  especially that`of man's`creation,`and  that of                that Christ's humanity was gener%l.  He did not 8s-

            the incarnation of the Son of God+. It would seem                           ,sume a certain. (concrete form of the human nature,

            that the theory of creationism is guilty of completely                      but the human nature in general.          He was not a man,

            separ#ating  soul and body ; ,while,  on the other hand,                    but Man. Just as we speak of the general concept
            teaducianism must lose the  spiritual identity of `the                      the tyee,  in distinction from all specific trees, so we
          ,soul.  Another distinction, therefore, would appear` to                      must ,conceive  of the humanity of Christ as being

            be more to the. point here.                11 mean the distinction ,be-     the human nixtwre.
            tween perso?% and .na4ture.                Certain it is that it is this        Thus Dr. A. Kuyper dictate3 to "nis  students: _
            ,distinction  which we face in the incarnation' of the                         `"The  human nature which `Christ assumed was not

            Son of (God  . He was a.human  being without being .a                       concrete. With us it is. With each of%us the human
            human person. In His case ,the  divine Person of the                        nature bears a definite, concrete stamp, determined by

           Son ,of God took u'pon  Himself a human nature, but                          our individual ego.     The human nature in the abstract

            not a human person.                 H*ence;  it isI certainly correct to    sense is that which is connnon  to us all. The general
            say that i.n His case the Person came from  Go.d,  the                      human nature is, so to speak, the wax into which each

            nature from the. virgin Mary.                     But if this is true       man impresses his own' stamp.  ,Christ, however, as-

            of the incarnation, it must also be true of .the  birth                     sumed the abstract ,a:nd  unstamped human nature,

            of every human.indivBdual : the whole nature is born,                       while I+$ possessed the divine nature co.ncretely."  C2).
            the person comes into being by an act of God.                                   Again:  `. .'                            :-
                  And this w.ould  seem to be  iin harmony with what                        "The view thatChrist  was a man is Nestorian. . . .
            Scripture reveals to us concernmg  the Creation of man                      To be sure, Scripture teaches everywhere that Christ

            .in ,Gen.  2 :7.  (1).  God formed man, not-merely his body                 was man, ,a:nd  that He bore.the  human nature, ,but that

            but the whole nature  out of the dust ,of the ground; but                   He was an in,dividual,  that among the variations, of the

            He also breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.                      seed of Adam there was also the variation-Jesus- is

            An,d  thus, that is, by this one but twofolld  act'of  God                  absurd.    In the seed of Adam were .a11  the variations

            main became a living soul. He did not form. a body,                         of, human lifet'of nations, generations, and persons.
                                                                                                               . .
            in order then to breathe a ,soul  iinto it, but He formed                   And over ,a.gainst  this, the Scriptures witness and

            the whole man and made him ,a living soul.                    With His      say that Christ was the second Adam; He was out

          ,owzi fingers God formed man out of the d.ust of the                          of Adam m A,dam,  that is, as one who like Adam car-
            ground, and by His in-breathing He made him a ration-                       ried within Himself endless variations, namely, those

          ,al,  a pe?sonnl  Fbeing,  in distinction from the animgls                    of all the elect of God. `Because of this every child of

            who also .are living souls.                Now, in a similar way, -in       God knows that he is in Christ, that he died and is

            the conception and birth of a human being,  the`:@tiye,                     raised with Christ, that he draws his life out of  #Christ.

            the whole nature, all that God originally formed from                       even as the sinner out of Adam". . . . (3).
            the dust of the ground, comes from the parents'; while                          `The same view is set forth i.n De Gemeene Gratis
            by a. special act of God's providence, like unto- the                       by the sa:me  author, II, 133,139. .
            original in-breathing of ,God  in the creation of Adani,                        The ,Scriptural ground on which this  fonception  is
            that nature is formed into a personal being; The                            supposed to be based is especially threefold: 1. The
            nature comes from the parents, the person from Go.d.                        statement in I Cor. 15:45  that Christ is the second
                  At all events, thus w!e must conceive of the incarna-                 AZlam.     Let it be noted here at once that Christ is not
            `:tio!n.                                                         1'
                                                                                        called the second, but the  last Adam, and that He is
                  From the virgin Mary, the Son of God assumed,                         such, not in virtue of the fa.ct  that in the state of
            not .a human body merely, but the whole human nature,                       humiliation he bore a general human  nature  (even if
            ,both according to body and soul.                                           this cou1.d  be asserted of Adam, which it cannot, it

                   But. we said, and our confessions emphasize the                      does (not  apply to Christ in the flesh), but because He

     a      fact, that He assumed a sorbcrete  and.ir&v$&& though                       represents all .His own, and, as the quickening Spirit is
             a central human nature.                   He was the "true seed of         "Z `(2) Dictaten  Dogmatiek,  Locus de Christie, III, 33.
                   (1) (Cf.  Vol. I, pi                                                      (3) Op. Cit. p. `7.,
                                            100 ff.


L


                                             . THE SkCANDARjl  BEARER -" `.                                                              271

        ,a.ble  to impart Himself to all the elect.     2. The fact that     never be predicted of a general human nature. And

         Christ is called the Son of man. It is emphasized that              what is true of Jesus' body is equally applicable to His

        He is never called a Son  ,of .man; but always the Son               soul. `Even though the gospel. narratives are not at

        of man. AAnd thi,s is supposed to..teach  us that, while             a:11 interested in a "Life of Jesus," and although it 1~

        we are a.11 sons of man; He is the Son of man in the                 certainly true that one .looks in vain in them for a

        sense  that he assumed a general human nature. He                    Idescription  of His character, the conclusion is not war-

        was not a man among men, but the man in the ebst,ract                ranted that Jesus had no character, that He  hald a

        sense of the word. However, if the name Son of man is                "general" human soul.         That the gospel .narratives  are

        derived from Dan. 7:13,  as is generally accepted, it                not interested in a Lebm  Jest is du'e to the fa.ct that

         does! not refer to a supposed: general and abstract                 they mean to be the revelation of Jesus Christ, the

I       human nature in distinction from the specific forms of               incarnated Son of God, Who died for us and rose again,
        the human nature other men h.ave,  but to the Messiah                and is seated at the right hand of God.       But it certainly

        as He is destined to inherit the  gloryiof  His everlasting          must be mazintained  that, both according to soul and

        kingdom. And this is corroberated  by such passages                  `body,  our ILord  possessed a real, concrete, definite form

'       as the eighth Psalm in connection with Heb.  2:6-g.                  of the ,human  nature.    He was of the seed of David, the

        3. The fact that Scripture pre`sents  the Lor.d  as ,the             Son of Mary, and it is not at all presumptuous to say

        Head of the Church, Hisbody.  `This implies that, even               that He looked like His mother.

        as we partake of the nature of Adam, so we also really                  Rather than assuming that Jesus possessed an ab-

        partake of the nature of Christ.      But according to this          stract, general human anature,  we hold that the Son

        theory, this is possible only if Christ is  [not a mere              of God assumed the flesh and blood of the children,

       -individual, a'man  among men, but the Man, and thet                  that is, that He took holmd  of th'e  human nature in the

        He assumed a general human nature. But this argn-                    very center. This is in harmony with Scripture. He

        ment overlooks1  the fact that we are not partakers of               .a.ssumed  .Hi.s human naturej not from the Romans, or

        Christ according to the flesh,  .but  according to the               from the #Greeks,  not from the sons of Ham, or from

     Spirit, and that this union became possible, not in                     the, yellow race, but from the seed of the promise, in

        virtue' of a supposed general human nature, which He                 the line. of the covenant.     He is the seed of the woman,

        assumed- at `His incarnation, but in virtue of His exalt-            the son of Adam, but in the generations of Adam, He                ,
        ation, and through the Spirit that was `given  `Him.                 is the seed  of Seth, not of Cain.       He is of Noah, but
        According to the flesh, we are not of Him, but `He is                in the generations of Noah,  H;e is of the seed of Shem.

     o f   u s .                                                             .And again, in the generations `of Shem, He is of the

             The most serious objection to this theory of a                  line that culminates in Abraham ; in the generations
        general human nature in IChrist  .is, no doubt, that it              of Abraham,. He is of the seed of Isaac; and in the 3
        really implies a denial of the reality. of our Lord's'               latter's gene&ions,  He is-not of Esau, but of Jacob.

        humanity. What is a general human nature? - It is                    Gradually, in the generations of Jesus Christ the line
        something that ,doe,s  not concretely exist, a-n  abstraction        becomes narrower, and more defined. The line runs

        that ,exists  only in the form of a conception, but that             through Israel, but in Israel it is the tribe of Jadah

        has no real, no ta.ngible  existence. Thus I can speak               that bears the <Christ in its loins, and within the tribe

        of the tree as a- concept.     I' can probably  say that the         of Judah the house of D#avid  is pointed out as the

        tree has reality in the mind of  [God.         But in reality the    everlasting royal li.ne  that must culminate in the

        tree is nowhere. It exists only in various forms and                 Christ.    And this royal line of David culminates finally

        types of trees, oaks, maples, poplars, etc., land these              in the virgin Mary. Thus the generations of Jesus

        various classes again exist only in indivildual  forms.              Christ are like a pyr,a:mid,  with its base ,in the seed of

        The same is true of the human nature of our Lord.                    the woman and its apex in. the virgin Mary. And

        To say that it was general is tantamount to' saying                  in the fulness of time, the Son of  (God  took hol'd  of the

        that it did not, concretely, historically exist,- that it            very heart of the seed ,of the promise, and thus as-

        had no tangible reality . But this is, indeed, absurd.               sumed the flesh and `blood of the children.           A very
        It is evident that our Lord, acconding  to the flesh, had            definite and concr,ete;  but at the sa:me  time a central

        a very concrete form of the human nature. In the                     human nature ~Christ  took upon `Himself in assuming

        days of His flesh He certainly could have been photo-                our flesh and blood.

       `graphed: He had a concrete ,body.  He was of a certain,                                                                H. H.

        mea.surable  height, weighed a certain number of

        pounds, had `a ,certain  color of eyes, was white, not

        black or yellow, and possessed certain ,definite  features

        by which He was recognized in distinct,ion  from His                     Some present day form of Calvinism ana  fool's gold

        fellowmen.  It may seem absurd to mention all this,                  have this in common that both only glitter.

        but pthe  fact .is that these concrete statements could                                                                 H. H.


  270                                          jI' :H E    $ VT A `N `D A'R b       B k A R E .R .

                                                                .           son's thirty guests, being, as they were, wicked men,
          The PMistines  Offend Anew                                        ,defiers  of God and oppressors of His people. 2) The
                          .                                          :
                                                                            Lord had ordered them.destroyed.  3) The command
          In our previous essay we ,determined  the meaning,                had come to Samson. Hence, he warred the warfare
   necessity, and moral character                                           of God land this `by faith, according to the testimony
                                             `of Samson's seeking
  &easi.on  against the Philistines.          His seeking occasion          of the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews.         His war-
   against t,he Philistines indicates that the Philistnes,                  ring that warfare was a good work  performeti  from
  :as masters of the- people .of Israel&hey  had dominion                   the prin.eiple  of faith.
   over Israel-were not making themselves especially in-                        There is &ear  evidence in the narrative that, in
  su,fferabl,e  through atrocious rule.           As ,we saw, they          falling upon the Philistines Samson wlas not moved
  were not the fiercest- men among the adversaries that                     by sinful spite butacted under the constraint of faith.
  the people of Israel, in the past, ha!d known,. and whose                 Instead of slaying the thirty guests who had reviled
  ,.cruelty  they had !experien,$ed:  The rule of the Philis-               him in the matter of his riddle,-instead of slaying
  tines was reaT:oned  `in. ,comparison  ; and the men of                   these offenlders,  which he would have done-had he,been
   Judah apuiesced in their dominion and were tributary                     moved by Ia. carnal thirst for revenge, he slew thirty
  to them without, complaint.            Phil&tines and Israelites          Philistines in Ashkelon. When he discovered that,
   got along -well  together. The only one .who wanted                      during his absence, his father-in-law had given away
   war .was Samson.            I4.e was eager for war,  for the Lord        his wife to another, he went forth and set fire to the
  -had commanded him and the -Spirit of God was moving                      wheatfields of his father-in-law's Philistine neighbors.
  him.        But, as`was said, it would not,do  fo_r him sudden-           His anger bur.ned  la.gainst  the Philistine nation and not
 ~ lyto slay peace-loving Phili&iaes.  They must offend,                    merely against the few individual Philistines who tres-
   in some way, make _ themselves conspicuous through passed ,against him personally. His grief was the bond-
   cruel treatment- of their slaves- as the Pharaoh' of the                 age of his people and not merely his  0.~3.  personal
   Exodushad  ,done'ages  past and recently the M!idi,anites.               injuries.     It was for the slake of his :God  and hiis  people
   But the Philistines did sot  offend.         So what they failed         that he fought that war. That the conflict assumed
  to give him, <Samson sought-he sought occasion against                    the appearance of a private quarrel carried on by him
  them. -He threw himself into their company and pro-                       under the impulse of Ia private grudge for the purpose

' pounded his riddle., Being treacherous, proud and                         of satisfying personal grievances was unavoi,dable.
   lustful men, the riddle became unto the assembled                        The  men of Judah wer.e  not with him in that war.-
   guests  F snare. They ploughed with Samson's heifer.                     They declined to assist him, to fight at his side under
  .That was their offence; and it formed the occasion                       his leadership.        Thus he was the lone hero, fone
  that Samson wanted.             He now hald something tangible            Iagainst  the many.      And the many--the Philistines-
   on the ground of which he could  attsck  them, and he                    wanted no conflict, for the men of Judah were their
  went down to Ashkelon and slew thirty Philistines.                        willing slaves.      The only one th'ey were opposed to is
 i That was the signal that the conflict had begun.                  But    Samson, for the man would not behave.. `Hence, the
  there is this :question. Might Samson know,ingly  and                     whole conflict concemrated  itself on his person.           He

 I willingly occasion, through the expounding of that                       was the only one to attack and the only one attacked.
  riddle, the sinning of reprobated Phil&tines whom he                      And.  he had to seek occasion not once but continually.
  was commanded to destroy that God's peo,ple  might be                     And each new attack on his part occasioned a new  of-
  free? Sams,on's  ,doings  I+S such ,were  not wrong. Moses                fence on their part so that they continued to provide
  must have purposely occasioned t.he  rebellion of Phar-                   him with grounds for prolonging the conflict.           Indeed
  aoh in procla.mating  to him the command pf God that                      h.is.,exploits  are quite unlike anything else in the Scrip-
  he let'the  people of (Israel go.        For previously the Lord          tures. But these liberal commentators who in their
  had revealed to Moses that He wou1.d harden Pharaoh's                     folly hol,d this aga.inst  the man, should understand that
  h e a r t . ' The pro&unation  of Gqd's  will and of his                  it could cot well be otherwise.       The man himself, as a
  gospel always is .,a savor of .death  unto `death  unto                   warrior of God was `quite  unlike any other warrior in
  ,men  singled out by God  for destruction.               And every        Bcripture.     And the circumstance under which  he had
  preacher, disposed as he should  be, wills that his word                  to war his w,arfare  were quite unlike the  circumstra.nce.a
   .._
  have exactly that effect.           We beliey therefore that .th,e        under -which :each of the others warred his warfare.
  sacred: narrator justi~fies  the tactic of Samson ,a.nd  that
          ~___ I___                                                         No me wanted war but he.          Thus we should have noth-
  the justifying statement reads, "It was of the Lord                       ing but words. of censure for criticism of the man
  that he sought occasion agai-nst  the `Philistines.                And    such as we come upon in the following <excerpt.         "His-
  though the Philistines slain were not the.guests  who                     Samson'+--honor lay in being an open enemy to the
  h,ad  off,end,ed,  that slaying, as was saied, is to -be justi-           Philistines, his ,dishonour  in making underhand ex-
  fied on the following grounds. 1) All the Phi&tines                       cuses for attacking them.        It was (base to seek occasion
  deserved  to idie quite apart from the treachery of  Sam,                 against them when ;he married  the woman at Timnah,
                                                                                   .`. ~. .


                                              T H'E     S T A N_D  A R D-        B E A,R E R                                      269


       land from ,one act of baseness he went on to  0ther.s  be-       he knew what to expect befor'e  he married the- woman.

       cause of that first terror..  And chi,efly  Samson failed in     Ber treachery did not justify his leaving her. For

       his fid,elity  to God.    Scarc,ely  ever was the name- of       Christ says, that if Ia. man leaves hiu wife except for

       Jehovah dragged through the mire as it was by him.               adultery he commits fornication. Samson's doing easily

       The God of truth, the divine guandian'of  faithfulness,          can be explained . .His':  anger was kindled; aed it
       the God Who is light, in Whom is no darkness at `all,            ,burned  against the whole Philistine tribe including

       was made by Samson's deeds to appear as the, patron              of course his, wife. And it wlas the anger of hatred.

       of murder and trea.chery.        We can hardly allow that an     He was antagonistic to, that woman even before he

       Israelite was so ignorant of the ordinary laws.  oi              marri,ed  her. He was antagonistic to her people, he

       morality as to suppose that faith need not be  `kept  with       be .being  .a true Israelite as to the heart of his disposi-            .
       idolaters ; there were traditions of his people that             tion land they being Philistines.        Be <hated  them for
       prevented such la notion;" It is absur,d  to speak of            what they were-enemies of God and oppressors of his

       Samson as making underhanded excuses for attacking               people.      In the depth of his being, he hated their .way

       the Philistines. -To say that he was in the need of an           of life, their vanity and profanity. Being the kind of

       excuse is to deny that  .God  had commahcled  him ; it is        a man he essentially was, he could not be at home in
       thus to set forth his wtarfare  % murderfeast and the'           the society of such men.        Even apsrt  from the treach-
       man himself ,as ranking among the notorious outlaws              ery of his wife an'd guests, he loathed the whole  Philis-.

       of all history.    `Certainly it was sinful of him to form       tine brood.      The treachery had merely served to accen-

       a covenant of marital love with that woman at Timnah.            tuate in his mind the moral worthlessness of this people.

       That was a forbidden marriage.         For the woman was a       But he had married that woman, because he w~asa man

       Philistine.    Besides,' it wa.s wrong of him to marry that      of gross sensuality. `She pleased him well. This was
       woman in order to place himself in a position to seek            one reason, the .other  reason `being that he sought
      `an occasion against the Philistines.            And this was     occasion.      But having used her to satisfy his lust, and
       doubtless his purpae..     But marriage was not instituted       havi.ng  betrayed him in the matter of his riddle, he

       for such a purpose.       All this must be freely admitted.      ha,d enough of the woman.         iAnd  he forthwith left her
       Yet his Philistine guests had no reason to complain              and returned to his father's house.          But why did he,
     of him.      That he found occasion against them was due           `go back to the woman? Because his disposition was
       solely to their treachery, and lnot_to  any underhanded-         too noble to cherish [anger long? Because, as only
       ness on his part. The occasion that they had given               small souls bear grudges, he was not that kind of a
       him he uses not la.gainst  his wife toward who he had            soul?      Because being the noble soul that he was, he had
       assumed .the  obligations of husband, not, against the           forgotten the wrong that was done him and now
       men of Timnah with whom he had eaten and toward                  thought that the Philistines were no longer mindful
       whom he had .assumed  the obligations of (a host but             of the wrong th,ey ha,d done?        Thus because he. felt as
       he used that occasions  against the city of A,shkelon.    He     if nothing had happe'ned?        Did he visit his wife kindly
       couled thus not be accused of withdrawing himself from           disposed as ever? Aed did his conciliatory feeling
       obligations that he had assumed.        For ,between  himself    actually declare itself-in  the kid that he brought?        So
       land the Phihstine  nation no treaty existed.      What must     judge those well-meaning interpreters overly eager to'
       be censured'in him is not his seeking occasion against           discover a noble motive in all that the  ma.n does.       True'    .
       the Philistines and not certainly his wag-ing war against        it is that, as to the heart of his `disposition, Samson was'
       them, {but his seeking occasion. against them in a for-          a man ,of true aobility. He loved `God  ; and under the
       bidden wlay,  in the way of  a-f,orbidden  marriage.             constraint of his faith la.nd  as inspired by the Spirit
          Having. set'out  on that way, his first wrong'act7            of God, he battled the oppressor in order that his  dn--
       his marrying that woman in Timnah-led to another.                `grateful brethren might be freeThis brethren, who, 1
       Having recompensed the treachery of his Philistine               even while he was jeopardizing- his life for them, de-
       guests wit,h g?rments  snatched from the corpses of              creed that he should die . But that'he  went back to the
       their countrymen slain by his own hand; Samson,                  woman., as no longer cherishing  $anger  ; as having
       instead of returnibng to his wife, went up to his father's       forgotten the wrong that was done him,  aad'thus  for
       house. But in process of time, he went back to his               the purpose  of effecting a real reconciliation ibetween
       wife.    That his absence was long seems to  lbe indicated       himself and his `cast-off wif,e,  cannot be true. ZIc
       by his visiting his wife with, a kid;       That has all the     might not forgive and forget the wrong  thtat  they had
       appeana.nce  ,of an `apology.     What did he apologize for      ,done to him and was doing to his people, thus forget
       if not for his prolonged absence. Samson may have                that they were Philistines and as such the enemies-
       left his wife with his mind  fully made up not to return.        of God.       It was his calling- to remember, to set their
,      Judged by the, ethical standar,d  of Christ, his doing           sins`before  him, an,d to make war upon them for God's
       was wrong: True, she was a heathen. What is more,                sake.      lcraving  their friendship and in thlat  crave cast-

     ' she had betrayed.him  in the matt.er of his riddle. But          ing their sins behindhim; would .have  been equivalent


            268                                       ;THE,   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R


            to his denying his calling, repudiating God and turning          iWhat  was he .now  t.o -do? He ,dare  not restore his
            against his own people.         For the friendship of the        daughter to her lawful husband for fear of the Philis-
            world is enmity against God.       Holw  coul,d such an`atti-    tines. So he forbade Samson to `go in to his wife.
            tude and doing be reconciled with  hiti faith? It could          But what was he to do with Samson  ? He *dare  not
            not. Ther,e  is ,much to censure in this man, but to             onder him to be on his way without making up to him.
            charge him with such atrocious sins is,to  maintain that         $0 he entreated Samson to take to him the woman's
            he was reprobated. But he w!as not reprobated. De-               younger'sister. Behold the maiden. She was even
            spite his sinful tactics and sensuality, he was a true           more comely than the woman .he had married . What
            #believer. But how could so much that is censurable              more could a man. ,desine  in the way of a woman.         He
            and loathsome jdwell alongside of faith in the man?              still had the best of the bargain 
/                                                                                                                  . "And her father said,
            It didn't, at least not peaceably.  L,ike  every true be-        I verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her;
            liever, he must have loathed himself with growing  in            therefore I gave her to thy companion: is not her
            tensity  for all that moral  ,evil that [dwelt  in his f&h.      younger sister fairer than she?       Take her I pray thee,
            He must have repented of his sins.           The sacred nar-     instead of her."     But Samson declined. For he was
            rative, certainly, lends no support to the view. that he         again seeking occasion against j the Philistines.        "He
           spent the years of his life in riotous living in company          said t,o them, This time shall I <be blameless from the
          :":with  harlots.     Being a m!an of glowing health and un-       Philistines, if 11 da. them evil." So reads. the Hebrew

           ' common physical vigor, his besetting, sin was sexual            text.    "And he said to them. . . ." To whom? Doubt-
            immorality.        But according to the sacred narrative he      less, not to his f,ather-in-law-the use of the plural
            offended but three times during his judgeship that               pronoun them forbids this view-but to his own brethr-
            lasted twenty years . This must be mentioned not to              ren, whom he sought out and faced' after having gone
            minimize the man's guilt but to set forth the man in             forth from the preseilce  of his father-in-law. It was
            a true light.                                                    to them that these words were addreissed.          They had
                But why did he go back to his wife?         Undoubtedly      severely denounced, it must be supposed,` his previous
            he was seeking another occasion against the Philistinea          exploit, his slaying of the thirty Ashkelonites. In
            for prolonging his warfare w<th them.          He may have       their view that slaying wdis uncalled .for.      He himself,
            made it his busin,ess  to know what would be done with           they may have told him, had been to blame in the mat-
     s      his *wife  during his absence; for all the time he was           ter of the riddle. The Philistines were not hurting
            seeking occasion against th,e` adversary . Having heard th'em. Why then attack them, and thereby revive the
            that his father-in-law had given her to another, he              old antagonism between Philistines and Israelites?
            resolves to put that offence  to.use.     Soon he w!as on hid    FQhy  couldn't'he  be law-abiding as they were?       So did
            way t,o the woman with a kid.            The sacred narrator     they remonstrate with him. They refused to regard

            reports that, when Samson arrive din Timnah, he said,            hi.s prodigious strength as the token of his being t.he
            "I will go in to my wife in the chamber."          From the      outstretched arm'of God for their deliverance. They (
            sequence it appears that what the narrator here tells            .willed not to be delivered. They were satisfied  .with

            us is that Samson gave,  to the matter of his return to          their bondage. IIis saying to them, "This time shall

            his wife wide publicity. H'e wanted all Timnah to                I be blameless from the Philistines.  . . ." was his
            know, Philistines and Israelites alike, so that what he          reply to their unbelief and spiritual lethargy. Let

            is reported to have said, was uttered  .not  merely in the       them consiider,  he. would -say, the treachery he was  ,ex-

           ,audience  of his father-in-law but in the hearing of             periencing at the hands of those uncircumcised, and

            several others. L It need not be denied that his father-         with it let them consider their own disgraceful -bond-
            in-law was genuinely surprised and dismayed to see               age, and then let them lsay whether, in their view, the

            Samson.    "V$erily,"  he said to him, "I thought that thou      grounds were (wanting to justify his animosity toward

            had&  utterly hated her; therefore I gav.e  her to thy           those men.    H,e had just been wronged by them anew.

            companion," to ,one of the thirty guests who had form-           They had forced his wife and her father to take the

            ed ,Samson's  retinue on the marriage-feast and who had          step they took.     They did it because he was an Israel-

          , ploughad wit,h his heifer. There were indeed grounds             ite. Did that mean nothing to them?- But they could
            for including that Samson hated his wi,fe and had                throw' back into his teeth that he had played right into

            permanently left her.       Thus, being a Philistine, a man      their hands by marrying into that Phil&tine family.

            with little feeling for the  sacr,edness  of marriage as a       They could demand of him that he justify that  mar-

            diviee  institution, the father-in-lawlof  .Samon gave his       ria!ge  in the -light of definite (divine prohibition known

            married ,daughter  to another-to: one  of, those com-            to all . It is unquestionabiy true that he had weakened
            panions-in all likelihood as threatened ,by the Philis-          hi,s position among them, through that doing. What

           `tines. For the Philistines were spiteful men;  But now           influence could `he have with his brethren, as a  cham-

            that Samson had sn&denly  returned, his flather-in-law           pion  of the clause of his .God, as judge in Israel, after

            is afraid, afraid of Sarruson  a,nd  of the Philistines.         having `set them such an example? It is well that  .he




                                                                                                                                              J




 die elders ongeteekend staat van ,de  verworpenen.              In        Ziet gij: het niet, lezer, dat gij de organische be-
 Rom. 124, zegt ,God van de verworpenen: "Daarom                        schou*wing moet hebben van Isu?a2el,.  de Kerk, het volk
heeft ze ,God  ook overgegeven in de begeerlijkheden                    van God, om .den  Bijbel te kunnen verstaan?          Normaal
hunner harten tot onreinigheiid'.  . . ." Hoe kan God genomen, wordt de Kerk genoemd naar den verkoren
 hetzelfde zeggen aangaande Zijn volk, dat Hij van                      kern; en .ook  dan z.ijn  er moeilijkheden, zoo  moeilijk,
 euwigheid  bemint-;  het vol,k,  dat niet gerukt  kn uit             dat sommige ,onervaren  en domme menschen verlokt
#Jezus'  en Gods  hand? Mozes zegt van.  dt volk : "en                 worden om de Gereformeerde kringen te verlaten om
' van onderen' eewig armen;  . . . I"          War  zijn di`        rond te doolen  in Baptische  kringen, of te luisteren
 armen van God' in het moment van Psalm 81?                   Ziet,     naar  de verwarde klanken van mannen zooals Dr. De
mije`broeders,  dat is het hui,dige probl,em.                         Haan ,der  undenominational~  churches. En het eerste
        Oti cbze  schijnbare tegenstrijdighed  te verstaan,            struikelblok is dan de doop- van jonge kinderen. Er
moet men. voor de aandacht houden, dat niet alles wat.                  staat dan toch maar, zoo  zegt men, "Almachtige, barm-
 srael  het,  ook werkelijk Isral is.       Er zij veel ver-        hartige God en Vader, Wij danken en loven U, dat Gij
 worpene% onder het historische Israel.              En als het         ons en onze  &r&eren,  door  het bloed wan.  Uwen  lieven

 getal edr  verwrp in Israel-  onrustlxrend  toe-                 Zoorx  Je& C?w&&s,  al \otixe  xon&n  vergkven. . . .
 neemt; zo'dat de openbaring vn dt volk in d wereld                 hebt."      Hoe kan dlat  ooit gezegd en gebeden, zoo  vra-
[bijna  uitsluitend kwaad :en boos is, dan noemt God                    gen die arme zielen.       Wij weten toch wel beter? Alle
 Zijn;volk  naar den verworpen bolster:           Om een histo-         gedoopte kinderen gaan toch niet naar den hemel?
 risch voorbeeldt  noemen, ten Nebukadnezer kw!am                        Beziet men die zaak echter uit het organisch oog-
 om Israel weg- te voer&. nar  Babel.  werd Israel ge-                 punt, ,dan wordt- het zeer duidelijk; Eerst, er staat:
 noemd en behandld-naar  den verworpen bolster; De                     Wz'j  jdanken  U !     De verworpene. vader- en moeder, de
 uitverkoren ker was er nog wel, d.&  hun aantal wlaS_                naam Christen van alle eeuwen, die k vooraan in de
z.eer  gering, z gering,' dat men  ht  haast-  niet mer             kerk staat om zijn verworpen kind ter doop te houden,
 gewaar werd. En toen heeft God ook gezegd: Mijn                        ik zeg, die man en die vrouw bidden toch immers nooit?
 volk hoort Mijn'stem  niet; Mijn volk wil Mij niet lan-                Ook dan niet, als zij den mond daadwerkelijk opendoen
 ger. Dat was toch `wel diiidelijk?  Jeremi'ah  `sprak i5               en die Boven aangehaalde bede, meeprevelen? I$n als
 Gods  naam en d stakkerd werd vertrapt voor zijn                      zij zeggen : ons en onze kinderen alle onze zonden ver-
 moeite.      Men hoorde  GodS  stem in. di dagen niet meer,           ageven  hebt,  is het eenvoudig'een  leugen in hunne rech-
 want het grote  meerendel-  was verworpen en hard'                   terhand. Wanneer zal men- dan eens verstaan wat
 van. harte.      Toen g*f- <God  hen over in het geddunken-          Paulus zegt in-Romeinen 9 23.: f`. . . . maar de kinderen
 huns `harten  ,en zij wandelden in hunne raadslagen.                   der bel.oftenis  (wonderkinderen,' ,gelijk  Izak) worden'
(God  streed *niet meer voor'.hen, zoodat, toen de Baby-.               voor het zaad gerekend."
 lbnirs- .kwamen,:  werden .zij als" natie weggevoerd in
                                                                           Zoo  nu moet ge .die vreese&ke  verzen -van Psalm 8i
smarteli j-ke  slavernij.     En de verkoren kern, klein,
                                                                        verstaan. Israel wordt hier genoemd naar den ver-
 zwak, lij,dend,  moest meelijden met den verworpen Ibol-
                                                                        worpen bolster; Het ware volk Israel, jdat onder hen
 ster.
                                                                        was, wordt eenvoudig. voor tijd en  ,wij3e  verzwegen.
        Dezelfde  zaak vindt g in Jesaja 63 :lO.  Daar staat :         Zij gaan onder, met den .bolster  die groot en ,dik was
 "`Maar zij" (nl.  Israel) zijn wederqxmnig  `geworden
                                                                        in goddeloosheid,- in den -smeltkroes der- ellende.       Doch
 (nl. door de gesla&ten`hn;        Let 0.p dat : geworden), weet dit, dat God hen nooit vergat. Ook in Babel, in
en zij hebben Zijnen Heiligen Geest smarten- ange-
                                                                        Egypte; in de huidige verdoemde en hoerachtige tijiden
 dan: daarom is Hij hun in een vijand verkeerd, Hij
                                                                        zijn er de 7000 die altoos zullen weigeren om te  .buigen
 zlf heeft tegen hen gestreden."          Hier wordt- God een- voor de Ba&.
 voudig weg de Vijand van Zijn volk `genoemd;  En-
 het kan alleen verklaard, door te zien en te-zeggen, dat                  Let nu- es goed',op  en ik zal- een  vorbel,d  ,geveri,-
lisrael soms genoemd wordt naar den verworpen bol-                      hetwelke  de zak-zeer dnildelijk  maakt.       Dniel  en zijn
ster.      Zo kan men ook zien, Idat,  het verworpen Israel            drie vrienden zijn ook met Israel naar Bbel vetiban-
                                                                                                     ._. _~
 zelfs zijn heerlijken naam behoudt in de hel.             De rijke.    nen.      Dacht gij voor `een ,oogenblik;  dat- God ooit Daniel
mban  werd door Abraham- aangesproken met den naam-                     overgaf- in - het geddunken~  van Daniel's `oude hart?
 van kzniti!     En Jezus zegt`elders                                   Gij wet- wel beter.      ,Al moest hij naar .de  leeuwenkuil
                                          : Doch de l&n;deren  des
 Komitik~ij~ks  zullen- buitengeworpen worden                           en zijn drie vrienden naar  de vurige Oven,  God verliet
                                                      !    Niet an-
 tders is het in Psalm 90.        Daar' wordt smartelijk ge-            hen nooit:,  I het eerste geval zond God een Engel om
 zongen door Mozes: Wij vergaan- door Uwen toorn en-                    den muil der leeuwen toe te stoppen en in het andere
 ,wij  worden  dor:Uwe  grimmigheid verschrikt ! ,Geen                 geval ging Jezus met hen in het vuur wandelen.           En de
 wonder !`      In het meerndeel .-had : God geen welbehgn           koning `heeft gesidderd, want Gold kwam zeer -dicht bij
sen zij werden ter-neder gesmt.nin  lde woestijn! 1 Cor.'             hem. Hallelujah !
 10.                                                                        Doch het verworpen deel van Israel wandelde in het


                                                    T H E  STANDARD  B.EA.R%~R                                                                        275


 goeddunken huns  harten zoodat er velen geweest zijn                            ken, en heuvelen wankelen, mea.r  Mijne goedertieren-

  die lbogen voor de stomme afgoden.                                             heid zal van u nietwijken, en het verbond Mijns vredes
        Nu zal het gemakkelijker zijn om die klagende  stem                      zal niet wankelen, zegt de Heere uw Ontfermer.                       Gij
 .van Jehova te verklaren. God klaagt: Och dat Mijn                              verdrukte, door onweder voortgedrevene, ongetrooste,

 .vol,k  nar Mij .gehoord  had,,  dat Israel in Mijne wegen                     zie, Ik zal uwe steenen  gansch -sierlijk leggen, en' Ik

 gewandeld.had!                    In kort zoude  Ik hunne vijanden ge-          zal u op saffieren grondvesten ; en uwe. glasvensters zal
  dempt hebben, en Mijne hand gewend hebben tegen                                Ik kristallijnen. ma,ken,  .en uwe poorten van robijnen,

 hunne weclerpartijders. Die den Heere haten, zouden                             .en uwe gansche landpale van aangename steenen.                      En

 zich Hem geveinsdelijk onderworpen hebben, ma~ar                                alle uwe kinderen -zullen van den Heere geleerd zijn,

 -hunlieder  tijd zoude  eeuwig geweest zijn. En Hij                             en de vrede uwer kinderen zal.groot zijn." Jes. 54 :7-X3.

 zoude  .het gespijsd hebben met het vette der tarwe,                                Die idingen zijn vandaag nog net .zoo.

 ja Ik zoudku  verzadigd hebben met honig uit de rots-                               Israel wordt vandaag toegezongen : Looft God, zingt
 steenen.                                                                        Zijne sterkte! ,Speelt  op de luit :en ap de harp, want
            Eerst, ,we.et  ik wel, dat de vraag opkomt: Hoe  .kon                uw God is groot'in Sion!

 %od  zoo  klagen? Hij is toch de Almachtige? Hij  bs,u                              Vandaag. en tot de laatste snik  van -het laat&e  .kind

 toch alles Idoen wat Hem ,behaagt?                    Het hart van `elk         van God,  zal men gedenken, dat -God  Israel verloste ui!
                                                                                                                                                 *
 menschenkind is in -Zijn hand als waterbeeken;  .Hij                            Egypte der. dienstbaarheid.

 kan het leiden waarheen Hij wil?                                                    Ook nu nog roepen we onze .kindren  toe: O.pent
            Met een ,glimlach  zou ik willen antwoorden:  .God                   luwen mond ! God zal hem vervullen!
' .klaagt hier niet vanwege het feit, dat Hij machteloos                             Ten huidigen  dage is het ook w!s.ar,  dat Israel wou
 Is om mensch hof' duivel te temmen. Hij is  .de Al-                             niet naar Mijn stemme hooren.             Israel, wat Ide cbolster

 ,maehtige  en Hij kan alles wat H,em  behaagd.                      Die zoo     betreft, ligt te aanbidden voor de afgoden die het zich

  vraagt ziet het goede oogpunt niet. Dit is het ant-                            verkoor.    Denkthier ook eens aan de afgoden van  -het
 woord : Het gaat ,Gold aan Zijn hart, dat, het w~s~re  Israel                   afgodische Isme1  der drie punten : een god <die de god-
  lijden moet. Als Hij van uit de diepte van  ,den kuil                          deloozen bemint! `(Let er op, dat ik het woordje sd

 -Mieha  en Jeremia  hoort schreeuwen en klagen, dan                             met een kleine letter neerschreef.)
 zegt God: Och, dat Mijn volk naar -Mij geluisterd had,                             -En ook het trouwe Israel, de uitverkorenen, doen
 dan had Mijn lieve volk der verkiezing niet  .zoo  behoe-                       mee naar den ,ouiden mensch.
 ven te klagen.                   Deze wondere  .omlaagdaling  van Israel            Daarom .komt ,God met Zijn plagen, met :Zijn oor-
  (Elaagliederen  van Jeremia) dient Mijn  mad: het                              deelen.  Daarom stookt de Goddelijke Goudsmid het
 moet zoo,  om te komen tot het glorieuze einde.                       Even-     vuur Zijner wrake en gaan we !allen in den smeltkroes.
 `wel,  het gaat Mij aan Mijn hart, dat het ware Sion  zoo                       .klaagt  God: ,Och,  dat Israel. . . .
 l     i      j    d    t    .                                                       -Dan hoort ge de ,smartkreten  der ,getrouwen  ; en
            Om,dit  punt duidelijk te maken zou ik U willen  ver'-               klaagt God: Och, [dat Israel. . . .
  zoeken om mee te gaan naar het kruis.                     En ik vraag              Maar het einde, mijn broeder, is de hemel  voor

  U: :Hoe denkt gij allen die :dit  leest, dat het God t,e                       Gods kind.
 mo,ede  was bij het hooren  van die schreeuw, die bange                             Through pain and trouble Thou bast  led and hum-
 schreeuw van Messias? IGod is niet hand, doch teedel*                           bled al1 ,our pride:  But, in the end, to bberty  anrl
 `en zacht, zachter en teederder dan ik het ooit kan zeg-                        wealth Thy hand did guide !         Oh, 1 always wil1 love
 gen of bezingen.                  -Des Heeren  Geest werd smart aange-          this glorious song ! The end of it is : 0 let the Lord.
 daan toen Hij Israel overgaf.                  Om Zijns volks wil.              our gracieus  God, forever blessed  be.!            Dat is onze
        -Tweedens,  is h_et niet duidelijk, dat als Israel wan,                  hemel, Id'aarboven  bij ,God  !
 delt in Gods wegen hetzelfde Israel ook gezegend                                    En de kindertjes stxnelen  nog:                O.pent Uwen
 :svordt?  Denkt aan David's en Salomo's tijden. T.oen                           `mond. . . . '
 werd den vij!a.nd ,onderdrukt,  toen zag men ,de  vette                                                                                G. V.
 tarwe en dronk men honig uit [den rotssteen.

        Eindelijk, die smarten hebben ook een einde. Slechts

 "voor een kleinen ooge_nblik  heb Ik u verlaten, maar

 met ,groote  ontfermingen z_al I-k u vergaderen ; in een.                                     MINI~STERS'  QONFERENCE
 kleinen toorn heb Ik Mijn aangezicht van u een oogen-
 blik verborgen, maar met ~eeawige  goedertierenheid  zal                            The Protestant R.eformed  Ministers' Conference
      Ik Mij uwer ontfermen, zegt de..Heere                       -Verlosser.    wil1 m_eet  Tuesday, April 3 .at  -9 :30 A.M., in the First
                                                          LIW
  mant dat zal zijn als de wateren Noachs, toen Ik zwoer                         Protestant Reformed Church, Grand Rapids,  Michigan;
 dat ide. wateren Noachs niet meer :.over  de aarde .zouden                      Program :,`!The  Inherently Modernistic World View
 gaan: alzo  heb Ik gezworen dat Ik  ,niet meer op u                            of Common Graice"-J.  A. Heys. "The Id,ea  of Con-

 to.owen  noch  u schelden  zal; Want loergen  zullen wij-                       scinoe in the Epistles  of PaU+JI.  EEo_&s_em,


       276                                         T H E  ST'A&DARD  BEARZR


                                              ,                          .day. P.lainly  he has his physical' life in mind apart
       The Outward Mzin and The OHMan' from any moral element and is not speaking of the
                                                                         mortification or the putting to death .of his members

              To the world the title of this essay &signed to us         as he `did in ~Col.  3 :6 in coimection  With which he con-
      must indeed sound strange.         At the  very best it must       tin,ues  in verses 8 ,and 9, "But now. ye also put off all

      aljpear  to the world to be a "catchy" title  who'se puri          these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy com-
      pose is to attract attention and arouse in one the curi-           munication Out of your mouth.         bie  not one to a`nother,

       osity     necessary to induce a reading of this essajr.  He       seeing thlat ye have'put off the  old.man  with his deeds"
      who is not acquainted with Scripture must  i.ndeed  mis-           Thus th,e perishing of the .outward  man is not the
      understand the above title.                                 \,.    spirituca.1  act of putting off the old man.     This perish-
              The child of God who is well versed with the Scrip-        ing is not even an act of Paul but something that comes

      tures is well acquainted with these terms. Especially              over him or occurs to his body.       It is the physical per-
      .is the expression "old man" familiar to,  him.     He kanows,     ishing of the body as it is  in the process of returning
      at once that this expression refers' to the old man                to the dust, from whence it came, because  of these
      of sin &ad! is lthe opposite of the new man in Christ.             physical sufferings he was experiencing.               :
     Unless his Scriptural kn'owledge  is very small, he will               What then is the outward man?'  .It is man purely
      alsd  at once recall that Scripture speaks of an outward           from a physical, ,material  view,point,  man as he is
      man and of an inner or inward man.                                 form& from the `dust of the ground and is d,epen'dent
          UP&-I  reading the title, one feels an implied ques-           upon ,a11 the things `,of  this ear_th  for his physical life,
      tion. and that question is not merely: What is the out-            n& :a,part  from God ibut because God has made him
      ward man and the ol'd man?, but it is more specifically :          thus and through these things upholds his physical life;
      Are those two mlee  one and ,the same?        Does Paul mean       It is man as he through. his body and the sense organs
      the same thing by both ,expressions  ?                             in that body comes in contact with the tiorld  wherein
          A consilderation  of the passages of Scripture where           God placed him, as a  _physical  being ap!a.rt  from any
      Paul speaks of these two concepts will shop at once                ethical consideration. The inner man we would`theti
      that these two, are not one and the same.          In writing      say is man from the viewpoint of his soul life, man
      to the Corinithians in hi.s second epistle he speaks               fro?n  a spiritual viewpoint, or man as he with his
       directly of the outward man in chap. 4  :16. This is              soul and the innermost portion of -his being faces  noi
      the,only  p&sage  where he speaks literally of this  out-'         the world about him but his, God and creator.
      ward nian.       T'here are other passages' where he speaks          In the creation of man no doubt our starting point
      of the inwar:d  man literally.      Besides -speakiag  of this     should be found .to come to a correct understanding
      inwar,d  man in II. Cor. 4 :16, he also speaks of him liter-       ,of these different expressions of old man iand new man
      ally in Roman?  `7:22.  and Ephesiaas. 3:16.  Passages             and outward  man and &war,d  man.               For man was
      which literally speak ,of  the new man are II Cor. 5  117          created much ,differently  than the animals. He was
      and Ephesians,  4:24,  while the old man is  likerally             fovrnecZ  out of the ,dust  of the ground by Gold, and God
      spoken of in Romans 6 :6, Eph. 4:22,  Col. 3 :9 and II             breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.       Throu.gh
      Peter 1:9.                                                         this unique creation he became according to Gen. 2:7
         .This  passage in II Corinthians 4 which speaks of              and I Cor. 15 ~45 a l&&g so&.         This made him di`ffer
      the  outward man is very interesting for our discussion,           from la:11  the other creatures ,God has made on this
      for it not only speaks of this outward man. literally but          earth.    By virtue of this creation he possessed an inner

     , also sp.&aks  literally of the inward  man. Here we .find         man wherewith he .faced his God, loved Him and knew
      them both placed side by side. `The text reads, "For               Him, and an outward man or physical side. He was
      `which cause we faint not                                          so created tha:t he consisted in body an.d soul. This
I                                   ; ,but  though our outward man
      perish, yet the inward man  is renewed <da+ by day."               cannot be said of the, ariimals,  for according to Gen.
              In the context Pia.ul  has been speaking of the perse-     9 :4 their soul is in their blood. .-They have only an
     cution  and affliction he had suffered for Christ's sake.           outward life, faci.ng  this worll&,  and are not able to
       His treasure of the mini&y  he has in an, earthern.               know ,a.nd  love God.    There is no spiritual side  to their
      vessel-his body-and in this earthen Vessel he suffer-              ,existence,  and when their blood is shed, their soul
      ed much.       Here are a few of the expressions he penned         dies and'the  en,d of their existence is reached. Man,
      down : "troubled bn every side. . . . perplexeld. . . . however, being formed  by God aed having the breath
      perserzuted.  . . . cast down. . . . ialways bearing about         ,of life breathed into his nostrils by God, -became  a
      in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus.  . . . . for we           rational, moral creature created in God's image  . By
      which live are always deli$ered  unto death." Having               this unique creation IGod placed in man something not
      now thi.s physical suffering and this process of physical          to be found in the animals, something that continuea
      `death `in ni$d he says that his outward man pefishes,             after the body returns to the dust, something that in

       and ati the same time_ his new man is renewed day by              Gen, 2 :7 and I Car,  15 :45 is called the soul.     This soul

                                                                                                          .


wherewith^rna.n  ,communes  with Gold in his heart, loves         lbellion to God. He still continued to have an inward

Him and knows Him;or when speaking of the ungodly                 man-his soul-wherewith he faced God, that is lived

wherewith he hates Him, we would say in the inner                 a spiritual life, for he did bnot  become an animal through

man, as he faces his God and Creator; while the out-              his fall and he continued to have an outward &air:

ward m&r  is the body, apart from ra.ny  ethical consider-        Now however his spiritual lif,e becam,e  one of spiritual

ation, wherewith he comes in ,contact  with the world             darkness.    Thus all men areby  nature, born with>body

and faces it.     We hasten to add, of course, that this is       and soul yet with a soul that knows not God, loves

but a logical distinction a:nd not a physical <division           Him not and uses all .his physical life and contact with

of man.      Y,ou  cannot take a knife and separate the out-      this world in the way of sin.       The person of man as it

ward man from the inner, :as you would the outward                `uses  body and soul thus in the way of sin, we would
iapple-its  p,eeling-and the inner apple-its pulp. Nor            say is the old man of sin.       The adjective `i~ld" refers
mulst so conceive of it so t.hat they exist ar,ai-t from each     t,hen  to the `fact that he is first in us.    W,e are born

other.     The soul dwells in (the bocly,  aed uses the body,     with' our person using the  .whole  nature in this way of       -
so that without physical life the soul can  cdo nothing           sin. That is the first spiritual activity of man. .With

here `on earth, and our glorification is not complete             this activity he enters the world ,by his natural birth.
till the soul is reunited with a :glorified  body.    Thus al-        The new man in `Christ then is the same person as it
though the outwa.rd  man is man from the viewpoint                receives a new principle of life, a new will and ability
of. his physical life, his body, in distinction from the          to face :God once more with the soul in love and through

soul, yet that body,- or outward m.an  can and most as-           that soul to use the body with all its members in the
suredly is used lby the inner man, the soul in an ethical,        service of God.     This is something ad&cl to man as `he
spiritual way. Although the .outward  ma.n as such is             is born by nature land is the principle of the life of
a concept without any spiritual implication, yet it re-.          Chkst.  Silence it is called a new, man in Ch&t.          '
ceives  spiritual content in as far as it becomes the                 That it is the same person is `plain from such -a pas-
instrument of the inwar,d man, the soul. The whole                sage as Rom. 7 :15 where Paul declar,es,  "For' that
man becomes guilty before God, and'he  is cast accord-            which I do I allow not; for wha,t  I would do I not ;`but
ing to body and soul into eternal desolation, for he sins         what I hate, that do .I."       ,He admits that his ego or
against God with his whole being. Facing his, God                 person,. that which in him says ?I", performs both of
with the inward man, his calling is also to serve God             these ,deeds.    The person uses body and soul in sin and
with,the  body as it faces the'world wherein God places           in the way of Gold's precepts. As he behaves with
him. Yea;  so closely related. and so inseparable are             these according to his nature, he is the old man of sin,
these two that it is only as long as he really faces              but .as he behaves with these through the power of the
,God in love in the inward man that he can  -also serve           new life in him, he is the new man in Christ:,
Him as he faces the world with his outward man.                       Thus it is that Paul can say in II Cor. 4 :16. that
    Our first conclusion then is this: All men, the elect         while his outward man perishes, the inwar,d  man is
but also the reprobate, have both an  outwar,d  and an            ren'ewed  day by ,day.      Paul can say that because he has
inner man. This can not be said' of the old ma.n and been regenerated. His inward man-his $oul- can
the new man.       Only in the elect, and then only  ,in `the     be refreshed and renewed day .by day because he `has
regenerated elect can a new man be found. All men                 been regenerated by the grace of God. Although his
have an outward man; Ian  inward man and an old man.              physical life is slipping from him because of all these
But through the grace of God in regeneration a fourth             afflictions he is suffering, his spiritual lif,&the  in:
man-the new man in Christ+s  implanted in His                     ward man wherewith he faces God-is refreshed ox
children.                                                         renewed, that is, abecause  there is this new principle-of
   What then is the old.man  of sin?        If he' is not the     life in him which loves God and knows Bim, his com-
outward man, :nor  the inward or inner man, who is he?            munion and joy with God in the inward man becomes
First of all, we would answer thus: The old man is the            sweeter to him. These afflict.ions  in the outwar.dVman
person or ego,that  is, ,that within man which is the             hurt, and he does not deny it. -But as he. continuedin
subject of all he does, that which  ,controls  the son1           the next verse, his "light afflictions which are but for
                                                                                                                         ~.,_,
and through it controls the bo.dy  and is called in Scrip-        a moment" work for him "an exceeding and eternal
ture the "heart"+as  it uses both the,  inward man and            ,weight  of glory."       By the grace of God and because
the outward man in the way of sin.         As we remarked         there is a new man within him, these afflictions in the
above,man  was created in God's image so that accord-             outward man [drive  his inner man to closer fellowship
ing to the inner man `he f!aced God in love and `knew             with God, which is glory for him, for being  cr,eated  in
Him and consequently, facing the world' with the out-             `God's ima,ge  man's  glory is to have fellowship and
ward man, he served God with `211 his body and                    communion with his IGod and Father. ;And presently
strength. ,H:e  fell however and instead of facing-God            when the outward man has perished. completely, the
in love, his soul stood in a ~ relation of hatred andi re7 soul leaves and enters into a closer fellowship with God


                                                                                                *

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

  ,in heavenly glory. Thus it is t:hat while his outward           Reformed men would have agreed. to have speakers
  man perishes, the inward man is renewed, and his af-             other than. from t.heir  Ghu_Dizh  to a.voi,d  this.      It was

  @tions in the outward man  work for him an exceeding             my opinion that this could be avoi.ded.  I agreed to have
  and eternal weight of glory. Knowing that these af-              them choose the subj,ects  for the program and assig::
  flictions work this glory for him, the inward `man is            them to whichever speaker they saw fit and even

  renewed -day by I&Y.       Notice verse 18, "While we look       to eliminate the  period of discussion aft'er  the speeches, -
  not (at the things that are seen, but at the things which        but th,at  we ought to' have speakers from all  out

  are not seen." ' If Paul looks with the old man of sin,          churches.
  he shudders and complajns  of his misery, but, when                 Because of Id$fferences  of opinion it seemed advis-

  he looks with thee eye  of faith which belqrgs  to the           able to me to present my view in writing. This was read

  new man in Christ at these same afflictions and sees             by all except the minister from the Reformed Church.

, them in the light of that eternal ,gloryAthe  things             The minister from the Orthodox  Presbyterian  Church
  not seen-his in.wla,rd  man. rejoices and is refreshed           showe,d  this to his colleagues and to his presbytery,

  and strengthened to continue servirig  God.                      and replied by letier  that his presbytery felt that if

         We conclude then by, saying that the `outward man         they were going to have B public program we should

  and the ,inward  man are the two iides  ,of the natural          present a united program. However,  t.hat they also

  life of man, the .purely  physical, earthly, material side       were in favor ,of a conference of ministers. to  :discuss

  and the spiritual side.     The new man and the old man          doctrinaf  differences.

  are this spiritual silde from its ethical moral viewpoint.          At the last  meeting it was decided  t,o have a COG-

  According to the outward man we fia,ce  this world and           ference wliich  would not ladr our doctrinal ,differences

  according to the' inward man we stand-respon&ble  to             but which would present a united program.               A list of

 God Whom we face with that inward- man.             T.he  con-    speakers was suggested and included were speakers

  cepts ntew  man and old man have to  do with the way             from the Reformed Church, Orthqdox  Presbyterian,

  in which we face God, whether in. love or in hate, and           and Christian Reformed. There was nope  from the'

  with the way in which we employ both body  an,d soul.            Protestant Reformed.

                                                J. A. H.              It became !appar&nt  to me that further effort was
                                                                   in vain,  and so I informed them of my future absence

                                                                   from their, meetings,

                                                                       I had given the promise that should they have a

                                                                   speaker from our Church, he  would  not criticize the

                                                                   #Christian  Reformed  Church nor bring up any persona!
  A Need %or  a Calvinistic Conference history but would spea.k  his convictions as based upon
                                                                   the Word of God. '
         It was with th.is  conviction that I accepted  an ap-         T&his is probably of interest tp readers of the Stan-
  pointment to be ,on a committee to work out plans to             `dard Bearer. The following, is a copy of my view
  have a conference in southern California.       This invita-     presented to them. May.  other Calvinists express

  tion was extended last  August and since that time up            themselves.
  to the present there have been approximately five                    "This writing is occasioned by the problem which

  meetings held by this committee.       It was composed: of       appeared in our attempt to work out  B program for a
  mtnisters  of four ,dLenominations  of California.               ,Calvinistic  Conference.           W:e  are ministers of fouu"

         The p?oblem  that appeared was the problem to             denominations in .Southern  CaliforniaiChristian  Re-

  have speakers suitable to all for the program whitih             formed, Reformed, Orthodox Presbyterian, and Pro-

  was tentatively set for July 1945. The minister of               testant Reformedd'ppointed  out of an initial meeting

  the Orthodox Presbyterian Church objected to having              of more ministers of the same groups to work out  :L

  any ministers of the Presbyterian Church of the U.S.A.           program upon the basis which was subscribed to by all

  for the ,obvious  reason that they differed with them            present at the first ineeting.          As far as I re,member,

  doctrinally. It was my suggestion to have speakers               the original motion was to  stimort  I& Calvinis& Con-

  from each denomination. This, however, was strongly              ference which ,woul$d defend and propagate our Re-

  opposed by. thne  ministers of the Christian Reformed            formed Creeds.

  Church, although it was agreetible  to the men of the                The first move in Southern California to have such

  R,eformed  Church and the lOrtho!&ox  Presbyterian.              a Calvinistic *Conference came from the Ministers'

  The argument given was that such a conference at                 IConference  of the Christian Reformed Churches of

  wahich all Churches would be represented on the speak-           Southern Californb.               They followed the movement

  ing program would  ,only  result in a conference,,bring-         which appeared in, other parts of the country. Begin- '
  ing out doctrinal differences instead of presenting a            fiing.  with the first Calvinistic Conference in America

  pnited and positive front to the world.      The Christian       held in Paterson, N. J., in June 1939, the movement
    .


continued and the secon,d  Calvinistic Conference ~a':          taken.      There have been attempts at ,a conference

held in %rand  Rapids, Michigan, in June, 1942. And             among Christian Reformed and Protestant Reformed

recently a local Calvinistic Conference was held in             but theseOwere  not successful. There have been two

Jackson, Mississippi. The Minister-s' Conference of             American C!a.lvinistic  Conferences but these were not                         `~.

the Christian. Reformed Churches appointed a com-               representative of all groups who adhere to historic

mittee which sent out +nvitations  to all poss`ible  Re-        ,Calvinism.      If it is our desire to merely have several

form&`groups  to &tend  such a proposed meeting l-o             Calvinists speak and ,deliberately  refuse a voice to those

discuss the' degirability  and possibility of arranging         who desire to make tit contribution, it is no longer a

such a conference in Csalifornia.       This first meeting      conference.       We ma,y  speak of it as a series of lectures

was hel,d in Ahgust  of 1944. The problem of really             sponsored ,by some Calvinistic Churches. A true Cal- ,
getting together* as different denominations already            vinistic IConference  implies that all distinctive Calvin-

appetired  at this first meeting.    Nevertheless, a motion     istic groups, those who are committed to the defence

was made and subscribed to by all present to have  :L           and propagation of the historic Calvinistic creeds, con-

Calvinistic Conference which wo,uBd defend and Propa-           fer together about the distinctive issues of Calvin.ism.

gate the Reformed Creeds.                                       .Again it can be said', a conference of this type has

   The same  .probleti  appeared upon the different             never been attempted in America, that is, a conference
meetings of the committee appointed t& work out such            which plia.ced the issues of Calvinism squarely before

a Conference.     The problem is to &range subjects and         itself to see whether Calvinism could long endure.

speakers which will meet with .the approval of all th.e             Concerning this situat,ion  it has been the answer of

committee and which w-ill agree with the original               some that we do not wish to arouse denominational

,basis  :and aim of the Calvinistic (Conference.                wars, but we wish to present a united front:                   But it
   Because I am interested in' a Conference and con-            seems to me that it ought to be seen that it is impos-

cerned in the Idi&ussion  that has taken place I wish           sible to present `a united front when th&e are differ-

to set forth my i,deas  in writing.                             en:ces  which show lack of unity.                These differences are

    Fir&  of all it is necessary, that  wait!  consider the     not because of different fiellds  of labor, nor ibecause  of
situation.     It is this. We are from denominations            some minor misunderstanding. These diff,erences  are
with-differences of doctrine. Especially is there. the          confessional. Because they are confessional we can

differe'nce  between the *Christian Reformed Church             no longer speak of ignoring them when we seek to

and the Protestant Reformed Churches. While both                have a Calvinistic expression made to the world. Be-                                  t
subscribe to the three forms of unity, the three creeds         fore a united front can honestly be presented, to the

of the historic Reformed Church  of t,he Netherlan,ds,          world a united front has to  ,be made.               You may imagine

there is a very fundamential  .difference  at least, in the     that we can unite on aanainal  points and so be silent as'

interpretation of them as officially  `declared  by the to our ,differences.                But then you ,do not see the reality.
`Christian Reforme.d  Churches in their Three Point;.           If you mean by the cardinal. points,  the. expressions
It is maintained by the Protestant R,eformed  Churches          simply given of early Chr,istianity  as expressed in our
that these three points are not a6 interpretation but ::        Apostblic  Creed you have denied the spirit and truth of

departure from the Reformed truth as  ,expressed  in            Calvinism. You have ignored the cardinal points as

the three historic creeds.. There is also a  idifference        they are interpreted and maintained in the Calvinistic

between these churches on the one hand and the Re-              Confessions.        W,e  are a group suppo?edly  united to de-

formed Churches on the other.        The Reformsd  Church-      fend Me Calvinistic creeds and not to become vague or

es do not take as positive a  stnnd as t,o t7riese  three       soft in our endeavors.            To maintain such a position in

creeds and refuse to recognize the part of the Canons,          these days of differetice  among Calvinists, that is, to

of Dort which is called the rejection of ,errors.  The          say that we can  go back to primitive Christianity and

Orthodox Presbyterian `denomination *does  not have             present a unit,& front, is to show one of two things:

the same Dutch background as the three mentioned                either a 1a.ck of understanding, or a desire to dim the

above.     It, however, has adopted the historic Calvinistic    t o r c h   o f   t h e   R e f o r m e r s .

Creed, the Westminster Confession. It remains to be                 My position .is not that a conference is not desirable,

seen  in how .far they stand firm in! their defense of          nor that a conference is impossible.                 On the contrary,

historic Calvinism and in how fiar they agree with the          my position is that a conference is obligatory and pos-                   .
t,enets  of the R'eformei  Churches of the Dutch tradi-         sible. It is possible if we as ministers- of different

tion.     (This last is merely my personal opinion  ; I am      churches have the spirit and truth of (Calvinism and the
not thoroughly acquainted with the background of the            will and desire to have others see the light. If we

!Orthodox  Presbyterian Church and am open  to',correc-         make a basis of unity for the conference' and an aim

tion.)                                      I                   toward which we work, which is subscribed to by all,

    I;n the second pla:ce,  we must reaaize  that such a        we ought not to have any furt,her  suspicions or oibjec-

conference of these fbur gkoups  has never been under-          tions las to the question who participates. Further-


                               c


          280                                               TH'E   S T A N D A R D  B'EiRE
                                       P

          more, we ought to welcome and afford opportunity as                              the truths as contained in the Scriptures, also. with

          openminded, intelleictually  honest, firm believers in the                       r,egard to sin and grace.    Temporal faith refers to the

          `truth-of our own position, to all who differ with                               phenomenont that one is touched :in his emotion, or
                                                                                    LIS
          in the same avowed adherence to the historic Calvin-                             (and) in his mind and will, whereby that person ap-
"
          istic creeds. Such a natural implication of $a serious                           parently emlbraces  the Christ with spiritual fervor and

          attempt at .a conference -first of all implies that each.                        enthusiasm, tastes the gifts'of  the Holy Spirit, is en-

          of the churches  here represented at this committee' be                          lightened by the Spirit of the Word and of the Church

          welcomed wholeheartedly to the sp.eaking  and discus-                            of God, tastes the powers of the world to come, without

          sion program. It appears that these are all.that  had                            necessarily implying a change in the heart or in his

          the zeal to proceed with us.               However, if there are.yet             inner life. The word "t,emporal".  in the expression

          others, we should afford them opportunity la.lso.                                "temporal Ea.ith"  does not mean that this faith, in dis-
           _'    It appears to me that this is not the opinion of all                      tinction from the historical and miraculous faith, is
          of our committee and therefore I sincerely beg you all                           essentially temporal or temporary.     The other kinds of

          to consider this point, that'  this position about the                           faith are also temporary. This faith, however, refers

     _    nature of a conference is the only natural impliloation                          to a. faith whereby a person is affected in his emotion,
          of anmy conference.          It is the position of our basis al-                 mind, or'will.  It is called "temboral  faith" because it

          ready subscribed to.               It was the basis and aim of the               is. brief, temporary. It would tindoubtedly  be more

          first American Q&inistic  Conference in 1939. Allow                              proper -to speak of temporary faith rather than of

          me to.quote from the publication of their proceedings.                           temporal faith, inasmuch as "temporal" refers to time

          "The basis of fellowship is that of historic Calvinism                           ,but  "temporary" refers to that which is but for a

          as ,expressed  in its classic creeds." "The objective of                         moment, is clear from.the parable of the Sower upon
          this conference is to rally positive Calvinists to stat,e,                       which, among other portions of Holy Writ, it is  ha,sed.
          to defend, and to propagate historic .Calvinism  in this,                        The joy which characterizes this temporal faith, is
          our age."                                                            9           only for a moment in distinction from the real Chris-
           II                                                         L. D.                tian joy which is eternal. Miraculous faith we may
                                                                                           Idlefine  as the assurance or certainty that God will <per-

                                                                                           form a miracle either through me or another or in

                                               -                                           my ,behalf.  Whenever we think of miraculous faith
                                                                                           we divorce it from a true, saving faith.      We think of

                                                                                           it. as a. faith without a change of the heart, the mind,
          , Relation Between the Four Kinds                                                or the will.    As such it excludes the Christ and merely
                                  t                                                        refers to a persuasion that the Lord will perform a
                                       O f   F a i t h                                     miracle  either -through one or in my behalf.

                                                                                              The relation between these four kinds of faith is,
                 The four kinds of faith are well-known to                      W e
                                                                        us.                of course, determined by the relation in which saving
          ha,ve all heard. of saving faith, historical,faith,  temporal                    faith stands to the other three.    For the sake of clarity
          faith, and miraculous faith. It is OUT  purpose in this                          let us view these four kinds of faith as being present
          essay, not to discuss these four kinds of faith in detail,                       in one individual. If such, ati individual has saving
          but to emphasize the relation which exists between                               faith his temporal, historical, and miraculous faith
          them. And we expect to point out  that,  proceeding                              will necessarily ,be altogether different than if saving
          from saving faith, we can speak ,of a historical, tem-                           faith we& absent. However, whether a person has
          ,poral, and miraculous faith in a sound, Scriptural                              saving faith or not, a definite relation will exist be-
          sense of the wand;.               It is possible, we b.elieve,  to view          tween the four kinds of faith.
          these three kinds of faith as rooted in saving faith                                .Historjcal  faith, without saving faith, is, of course,
          and as having therefore a sound, spiritual content.                              nothing else than an objective acquiescence or agree-
                 First of all, however, what is meant as such by                           ment with the truths of the -Word of God.        However9
          these four different kinds of faith? ,Saving  faith I                            we must bear in mind that there is a definite relation
          am sure, in the light of  the. n4a.ture  of this essay, needs                    between this historical faith on the one ,hand  and the
          no further elucidation.              It is the living bond, essentiai-           unbelief of the -sinner.     .The . one vitally affects the
          ly, and also r,evealing  ,itself as such, uniting us with                        other. If it be true that one cannot' believe without
          the living Gold through .Jesus Christ, our Lord. His-                            having heand  and that saving faith cannot be exercised
          torical faith is an objective acquiescence or Iagreement                         therefore except in the sphere of the truth, it is equally
          ,with the truth as revealed in the Word of. God, with-                           true that the exercise of unbelief is impossible except
          out necessarily being rooted in the love of IGod.                    This        in the sphere of historical faith. And, according to
          historical faith does not merely imply agreement with                            Scripture, a person's unbelief will reveal itself ever
          the .historical :portions  of the Word of God, but -with
                            -.                                                             increasingly in the measure that his historical faith


                                         .THE   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                    281


%becomes fuller and richer. If therefore on the one                poral, historical, and miraculous faith in ia good  sense,
hand .a person's histori& faith renders his unbelief               as robted  in a true, saving faith ,and governed by-it:
inexcutiable,  his unbelief will come to amore cotiplete           I need not dwell at length on saving faith. It is the.
manifestation in the measure that he knows about the               spiritual ,bond uniting            with: God' in Christ, through
                                                                                               us
S c r i p t u r e s .                                              which the child of God receives and  `experiences the
    Temporal faith is a persuasion of the truths of. re-           blessed fulness and glories of, salvation, in Christ.
ligion which is wbcompanied with some promptings of                Jesus.
the conscience and a.stirring of the affections, of the               The relation between this saving faith and his;                    V_
mind and of the will.  Tetiporal  faith, in distinction            torical  faith is self-evident. The exercise of the one

from saving faith, is, of course, not rooted in a regener-         without the other is impossible.            It is true, of course,
ate heart.      It Idiffers  from historical faith in the  per-    that ,a mere external knowledge of the  Scriptupes
s0na.a  interest it shows in, the truth and in the reaction        ,does not necessarily guarantee a saving faith. This
of the feelings upori it. B,esides  the parable of the             we know and it speaks for itself.           But it is also a fact

sower of the Seed in Matt. 13 also Heb. .6:4-8  speaks             that a saving faith without the knowledge of the Scrip-

of this temporal faith.      ,Great  difficulty may be exper-      tures is quite impossible.          The Spirit, to be sure, works
ienced'in the att&mpt  Bo distinguish it from true sav-            irresistibly in. the hearts of the people of God. But

ing faith, .although  the child of <God  oan  certainly            He'works  in our hearts and operates in our conscious-

possess the personal assurance that his saving faith is            ness only through and in connection. with the  revealed

genuine.       It is possible, however, that they who possess      Word of ,Gold  in the Bible.         A mystical operation of the

this temporal faith may believe that they hlave the                Spirit as divorced from the Scriptures does not exist.

true,faith.      All temporal faith is hot necessarily hypo-       Wk cannot consciously believe and trust in One Whoni

critical.    We may safely  say;1 am sure,`thait  temporal         we do not know. However, this relation ,between  sav-                  '
faith, as divorce'd from the tr.ue  saving faith, is ground-       ing and historical  -flaith implies more.          It is not only

ed in the emotional life and,seeks  personal enjoyment             true that tie' can tastk the fulness of Christ  .only

rather than  the glory of the living God. He -who                  through the Scriptiures,  but it is also a  fa,ct  thsit  a

posse&es  this temporal faith is  selfqdentered.  Man,             continuous study of the Word of  ,God is n&essary  for

th,en,  from an intellectual point .of view,  is fascinated        our growth in saving faith. Through the Scriptures
by the glor.ies of the kingdoti of Heaven; IHe ac-                 we become ever greater sinners and the Christ mu&

cepts these facts of the Scriptures so that temporal               ever loom correspondingly l&rger and m&e  glorious.

. Eaith is posstble  only on the basis of an historical               We can also speak of a  tempor:al  faith as rooted in
acquiescence or agreement with the Word of God.           Ana      a true,  saving faith.      It is probably true that the Hbl-
is it not a fact that, from the viewpoint of misery and            land speaking peoples are not gen'erally  emotior&ly                        `
suffering and death, the House  with its many mansions             inclined. `And this undoubtedly has its advantage-s.
can fascinate man's natural intellect and emotidns!                Emotion can be a dangerous menace.               To Tcnow  whom
Gold's Kingdom promises relief, does it not, from  $1              we have believed must ,and indeed  does transcend the
sorrow and woes. It holds before us an eternal bliss               emotion.  Yet, on the other hand, eqotionalism  ii1 a
and happiness. However, this temporal fait&  seeks                 good sense can hardly be ,denied.  Does oyr salvation
not the glory of God biit merely the satisfaction of               not involve us in the possession of something which
n-&an.  It will therefore disappear when tested by the             far transcends  all human understanding?              How amaz-
fires of affliction and persecution.              i                ing it is to be Idelivered,  for God's own Name's sake,                          .
  Miraculous- faith may be either active or passive.               out of the- depths of eternal despair into the uns.peak-
In the former-sense it implies a  persuasi,on  wrought in          ably glorious liberty of the people of  God!.  Does it not
the mind of a person that God will perform a miracle               touch our deepest emotion to be able to say tha,t  "unto
by him. or thrbugh  him.         In the la.itter  s&se it is a     me, the chiefest of sinners, grace `has `been. showr?`,
persuasion that a miracle will be performed in our                 the grace of Fellowship  with the alone blessed' God? -
behalf. This miraculous faith, tis generally known                 The true, saving faith is certainly not a dead intel-
among us .(think  oft faith-hea1in.g for !example)  is ex-         l e c t u a l i s m .
clusively aa.snal,  earthly, man-centered. The miracles                Fi&lly, wh& is the.relation between a true, saving
performed are always to the advantage of the  "believ-             faith  and miraculous faith? It can hardly be  d&i@.:!
`ing", and that in the earthly sense  of the word.        And      that Scripture speak r,epeatedly  of a miraculous faith.
this 1Ses  in the nature-of the'case.     Divorced from sav-       The heroes of f,adth,  passirig`before  us in review in.
ing faith it, too, centers in man and trusts in a ,God             Hebrews Xl, certainly reveal,ed  their unwavering con-
                                                                   fidence in the "miraculous" power of God.  Through;
. who .will  wo$k miraculously to man's advantage.
                                                                   out that chapter we read of those Old Testament child-
  ' I believe, however, that we'can also view these four
k'inds  of faith as inseparably connected in B positive,           nen of God and  of their faith in that which humarl.  ear

spiritual sense of the word.        Wi:  can speak of's tem-       ;and `eye  could not revved unto i&em They held  fast to

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

       the Invisible and to that which is invisible.      It is this    #baptism.      Th,ey  baptized all who joined them and

       thought which receives the emphasis repeatedly in that           since the majority of converts had .b,een baptized be-

       beautiful chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews.  . The          fore in their infancy, this -in practise  meant "re-
       birth of Isaac out of the dead Sarah (and the s.ame  is          baptism".      Henlce  also the name, Anabaptists or "Re-

       recorded of Samson), the colla'pse of thne walls .of Jeri-       baptizers".

        cho through the faith of the children of Israel, etc.,                                 Their History. 
       spea.k  loudly of the faith of God's `peolple  in. the living                                                 > '
'      `God  who, through them, would perform the mirscu-                  Schaaf-Herzog's Encyclopedia of IiMigious  Know-
       lous.  Faith, God's gift unto His people, exactly be-            ledge treats the history of the `Anaba.ptists'  under two

       cause it' is trust and confidence in, the living God is,         separate headings.     First it speaks of the Sober Ana-

       throughout Hebrews 11, the mleans  through which God             ,baptists, whom the article largely clears of all blame

       repeatedly saves His own.        This does not mean, we          of .fanaticism,  and of whom it claims the present day
       understand, that God, through them, would perform                Baptists ar.e the worthy successors.    Then it ~discusaes.
       miraculously in their earthly and ca.rnal  behalf. It            the Fanatic Anabaptists, whom the article in ques-
       does mean, however, that rooted in their true, saving            tion :wholeheartedly  condemns. Though it is true
       faith, they revealed a steadfast confidence that God             that all the Anabaptists of the Reformation era; were
       would finish His work in them, fulfill His promise unto          not the out and out radicals that e.g. John of Leyden
     th.em, and miraculously lead them into His eternal                 was nevertheless. the movement as a whole was char-
       salvation, and that notwithstanding the apparently               acterized by radicalism and excesses from its very
       contradictory appearance of all things.          Moreover.       inception.     Luther had trouble with these radicals in
       how ca.n it be otherwise!    For the .grace  of God is that      Wittenberg, where with the help of Karlstadt they
       power of the love of God even as it leads us, through            bad  sulcceeded"  to gain a firm hold. After Luther's
       curse and death ,into  everlasting glory. Saving faith           intense labors these radicals were-  ca&  out, but they
       must necessarily be a miraculous faith. It is true               had done harm to the Lutheran cause, and surely help-
       that we are staved in principle.    But we are still in the      ed to precipitate the horrible Peasants' War that
       body of this death, surrounded on every hand by the              grieved `Luther so deeply and made him adhere to
       earthly, and the sinful.       Seemingly all things are          the state authoriti,es  for church reform even more
       against us. We are h(eirs of <eternal  life and, behold,         than before . After Anabaptism was uprooted in cen-
       we die.    We $se  citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven but         tral ,Germany by the Peasants' War, Anabaptism gain-
       to the dust we must return.     Saved by grace, the child        ed a hold in Zwinglian Zwitserland, which became for
       of God, because of his. true, saving faith, looks for-           `a time the nursery and hotbed of Anabaptism.        From
       ward to its eternal completion and ,believingly  embraces        there it spread to central Europe, though it was not
       the promise of God, that He will miraculously lead him           as radical in southern Europe as it, revealed itself a
       through all things into the eternal and glorious liberty         (bit later in northern Europe.      It was Netherlands,
       of the children, of God.                                         that later produced Arminianism, that now in John
                                                        H. V.           Leyden produced the most fanatic form of  lAnabaptism.

                                                                        "In A.D. 1534, John of Lepden  set up his Anabaptist.

                                                                        kingdom in Mtinster with endless `glitter and display,
                         e     -
                                                                        and sent-out messengers over all the world to gather

                                                                        the `people of God' together into the `new Zion'  "
                         The Anabaptists ,-                             (Kurz, Vol. II, page 391). John of Leyden caused

                                                                        himself to be proclaimed king, declared polygamy to
           Besides the Lutheran and the Reformed movements              be the law. Apostles were sent out to proclaim the
       of Protestantism, there was in the days of the  Re-              millenium.      The entire attempt ended in the most

     o formation a thind general movement, the Ana.baptist.             ia,bsurd  interpretation of Scripture, blasph.emous  as-
       Though the name Anab,alptist  is not t,oday  used with           sumption, and riotous indecency.        Mtinster  was be-
       reference to any existing church .denomination,  the             sieged with an army and the "millenial reign" came to
       movement has ,exerted  tremendous influen,ce  upon var-          a speedy and bloody en,d.
       ious denominations, even some of Lutheran and Re-                   This unfortunate affair had ;a sobering influence

       formed origin.                                                   upon the `excited ,enthusiasts,  so that- they resolved*

           The name Anabaptists, meaning literally "Rebap-              to abandon their revolutionary and socialistic  ten-

     ' tizers", was the nickname given to `the adherents of             ,dencies.  They continued, however, to regard Calvin
the movement by their opponents. This name was                          :and  Luther as half way reformers, and to denounce.

       appropriate because `their most evident distinguishing           them as still deeply rooted in the antichristian errors

       tenet was opposition to infant baptism which they                ,of the papacy. Hence, they were persecuted alike by

       all held ,to  be unscriptural and therefore not true             Lutherans, R,eformed  and Catholics, Not seldomlg


                                         THk   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 283 '

they were drowned, in mockery of their re-baptizing                to the rella,tion  of church and st,ate.     Thfese two must

views.                                                             not only be separate, ,but  believers ought to have noth-

   It was a Hollander who was the leader  <of Ana-                 ing to do with any sort of magisterial office or civic

baptism in its most fantastic and; excessive form, it              rank.    The secular powers which the civil magistrates

was a Fries who collected their scattered remnants,                exercise concerns only the unrighteous and evildoers.

and saved them from destruction by ;a. calm and &en-               T.he Christian must keep himself far from it, really

sible r?eformation.    -This was th,e work to which Menno          has no need of it, and may never take an oath or bear

Simons, set himself after 1536. "For twenty five                   arms. The stat,e  arises from sin and is evil.

years he`shepherded the scattered Anabaptist societies                 This tenet finds its source in "the a.bsolute  antithc-

in ,Germany  and t.he Netherlands.~~-  $He purified them of        sis of creation and re-creation, of nature and grace,

faaa.tical  errors, encouraged them in their sufferings,           of world and kingdom of God." Bavinck in his  Gere-

won large additions to their numbers *by his preaching,            form.ee&e  D'ogmatiek,  Volume IV, page 275 says, "Het

and drew them together into a great brotherhood.                   )Anabaptism  ging uit van de volstrekte tegenstelling
This took from him the name Mennonite."             In Russia      van schepping en herschepping, natuur en genade,

and in Germany there are Mennonite groups, and                     wereld en Godsrijk ,en Ibeschouwlde  de geloovigen  daar-

immigrants from there have brought Mennonite settle-               om als menschen, die in. de wedergeboorte iets gansch

ments to America.      Some of these are in Pennsylvania,          an.der,s geworden waren  en daarom gescheiden van

others in Ohio and Indiana. Not reformation but                    de wereld moesten leven.      Zijn program was niet re-

separation is their aim, and this sepana*tion  assumes             formatie, maar separatie  ; het Wilde een afgezonderde
the form of "world-flight" in a literal sense of the               kerk.    Eeuwen lang was er geene kerk geweest, maar
term.     Not iefrequently,  they wear a garb peculiar to          enkel Balbel, en Babel moest verlaten en gemeden

their group, some use only hooks and eyes on their                 worden.  I,n Mimster  zeide men, dat er in 1400 jaren

app:arel  (buttons are too worldly), etc.                          geen waar Christ.en  was geweest. De ware kerk was

                                                                   eene kerk van heiligen, die na persobnlijke belijdenis
                        Their Tenets.
                                                                   gedoopt waren  en door onthouding van eed, oorlog,
   The denial of infant baptism was the most evident               overheidsamb.t  en allerlei amlere,  wer,eldsche  practijken
distinguishing mark of -the early. Anabaptists. -They              in spijze `en drank jin kleeding ten verkeer van anderen
denied paedobaptism not only on the ground that they               zich  onderscheiden."    Fuildamental  to Anabaptism is
could find no dir#ect mandate for it in the New Testa-             the antithesis of `nature land  grace.      In reality, as the
ment, but also on the ground that. childr,en could, not            Reformed have always confessed, this is definitely
have faith and co,nversion,  at least, could not reveal it,        not the antithesis.      Nature is not inherently evil.
and therefore might not be baptized.        Habmaier ckim-         The natural is in itself gool&  may be used though
ed that according to the Scriptural test the proper                not abused, and is a creature of God. The antithesis
order of Christian development is, preaching the Word,             is not nature and grace, but sin and grace, as Augustine
hearing,. belief, baptism, works ( Wcclker,  A History             first put it.
of the Christian  Chwch,  pa.ge 367).      This is, ,of course,        The radical Anabaptists also entertained seriously_
the pietistic view dominant in Methodist and Baptist               erroneous views in regard to revelation.          "The Ana-
circles, that were historically influenced' by Anabapl             baptidts exalted the ,internal  word at the cost of the
tism.                                                              external.    Already in 1521 `the a.ntithesis of Scripture-
   In close conaection  with this tenet &stands also the           and Spirit was made and this antithesis became an
Anabaptistic vi,ew  of the church. The early  Anabap-              abiding characteristic of Anabptism. The Holy Scrip-
tists beli#eved  in the separation of church and state,            ture is not the true Word of God, but only s testimony,
and in this respect were closer to the Scriptural view             the true, real Word is that which the Holy Spirit
than Luther and Calvin who (both  still entertained the            speaks in our heart. The Bible is only a book of let-
ides of the state-church. However, the Anabaptists                 ters;  Bible is Babel, full of confusion ; it cannot work
en:deavoured  to make ;1 thorough distinction between              faith in the heart, ,only  the Spirit teaches us the true
the kingdom of nature and the kingdom of grace, the                Word. And if that Spirit instrufcts us, then we can
kingdom of God and the kingdom of the world, of the                miss the Scriptures, which are only a. temporary help
unconverted and the converted, so as to restore a vis-             which the spiritual man does not need. Hans Den&
ible kingdom of saints by gathering  togeth,er  all true           identified that internal Word with the natural reason
believers from all sections of the utterly corrupted               and pointed to many contradictions in Scripture.        Lud-
workl  into ,a new holy communio,n  of regenerated,                wig Hetzer deemed th,e Scripture entirely unnecessary.
The church consists only of regenerate believers,, their           Knilpperdolling  dema.nded  at Miinster that the Scrip-
seed have no place unless in the way of conscious faith            tures be entirely set aside that they might live by
and baptism.                                                       nature and spirit alone. Mysticism became rational- .
   True Anabaptists entertain definite views in regard             ism. . , _-. .it led to the entire rejection of revelation
                                                                                                        -


                               -                                                                                                                 _
i84                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                                                                                        _
and Scripture."      Bavinck, Vol.. I, pag6.437.                                        W E D D I N G  ANNIVDRSiRY

   Anaba.ptism's  antithesis of nature and.grace  natul:-
                                                                           On March 1, 1945, our beloved-parents,
ally lea&  also to peculiar views in regard to  regenera-

t.ion  and the chalslcter  of the new life.    Regeneration is                                    MR.. M. DE JAGER
something new, of a higher order, entirely other than                            * I                          and
the natura.1.  Menno  Simoas  consequently also t,aught                              .,, MRS.  M. DE JAGER (Sybersma)

that Christ took that other nature, not from Mary,
                                                                       colimemorated  their 40th wedding anniversary.
but from heav&i.        `Christ  came through M.ary  as A
                                                                           We, their  children and grandchildren, cxt&d to them our
channel.' Natukally,  so conceived, Christ did not  reIi.lly
                                                                       hearty congratulations. ___We  al'e  grateful to God fbr what He
assume the flesh and blood of the children.
                                                                       has given us in them: their example, their prayers, their
                        An Appraisal.
                                                                       patience and good `counsel. -May  we all take heed to walk in
: We'ought  to.colitinue  to be thankful that we belong                $he Way in which  thky  have instructed us and may the re-
to t&e  sons and daughtens of the Protestant Reforma-
                                                                       mainder of. their-days be filled with that Pe'ace  which is proti-
tion stemrnillg  from Calvin.
                                                                       i,sed  to them that fear God.
 For, first of all, Calvin emihasized  the true view
                                                                                             Their Grateful Children:
of revel&on. `Calvin  emphasized the need of the
                                                                                                             Mr. and Mrs. H. De Vos
Scriptures.      It is true that we need the enlightenment
                                                                                                             Mr. and Mrs:  S. Knnema
of the Spirit within, but `this is wrought &here  the                                                                                                 L.*.
                                                                                                             Mr. and.Mrs.  S. be Jlong
Word is.       The Spirit within leads tte Christian to the                                                                                                   *<_
                                                                                                             Coup.  Steve De Jager
Scriptures.      T,o the Word and to- the Testimony!     Ann-
                                                                                                             Pvt. and Mrs. Arthur Wassenaar
tbaptism  from its very ,beginnings  left this fi'rm gr,ound
                                                                                                             S. Sgt. and Mrs. Aibert J. Dykstra 
and slipped into the ,bog  of subjectivism z.nd  pietism.                                                                                                            ,
                                                                                                             -Jeanette   D e   J a g e r
Hence from its numbers arose some prophets who
                                                                           Orange City, Iowa.                and 12 grandchildren.
claimed &hey had direct revelations from heaven and

demaiided  otiedience  for their erroneous and often

carnal views . .Others  of ,course eventually landed in
t&`miTe of ra.t&malism,  !pure_ ana .Gmple. _ @lvi+m,__,_                                    ~       Y _
emphasis upon the Scriptures is the safeguard,  and-,  '
makes for a healthy, virile,  Chrilstianity.                                                      : IN MEMORIAM
   Secondly, Anabaptism errs in its antithesis of naturn                   The Consistory ,of the IioosevLlt  Park Protestant Reformed
and gr!ace.       This is, definitely, not an antithesis.              Church herewith expresses sincerest sympathy to brother and

Nature is not inherently kvil,  and something 50 be                    former elder, W. Koster and family in their bereavement in the
avoid,ed.    Neither is the state necessary because of sin             passing .of  their son,
 (neo-Calvinists `claim that it, is ; I would not hesitate                                                   DICX
tb maintain, is essentFa.lly  Anabaptistic  on this point)`;

it is ,the  sword-power that was k&n into the han:ds                       May our Covenant God supply them richly with His grace,

of $e state because of sin . The state itself is an out-               and comfort them with His Word and Spirit,  ,sanctifying  them
growth of the family, tribe and clan  ; a crestion or&n-               through this way of affliction.
ante. Ther,e  is nothing inherently wrong iii taking                                                                 The Cbnsistory:

gove&n&t  office.        iAnd all nature is in itself good,                                                                  M. Scbipper,  Pres.

tho.ugh  stibjected  to the cunse.  The antithesis to be                                                                     D. Ondersma ,Clerk.
maintained is that of sin and ,gra.ce.  In every sph&e

of the natural life that battle is to  be fought. No world-

flight bkt w&d-fight!

  , Again, Anabaptism .early  chara.cterized  itself by
apocalyptic excesses, millenial  dreams.  These are for-                                           IN MEM,ORIAM                             .
eign tb s&md Reformed truth. Th,oee  that go on with

\hese are the lineal descendants of the  Anabaptists.                   _ In memory of our brother and co-worker,

       Not_  t&e Pro&tant R,eformed  Church&  are guilty
                                                                                             RALPJ3  BGHAAFSMA
of Anabaptism.       But many of the American chunches,                                                                          :
                                                                                                                      .
B?pt,ist, Methodist, etc. with their individualism, their              the Board of the Reformed Free .Publishin&  Association wishes

inf+t  baptism, their Bibliclstic  teildencies,  their mil-            to extend its sympathy  .to the bereaved. May God give them

lenial,views,  are the outgrowth  of Anabaptism in nlo&                peace.       . Ti
`than  o& sense.                                                           II Cor.J@$Y"Blessed  bi God, even the Father of  Iour Lord

       I 3~ thankful for the Reformed heritage.                   z    Jesus `Christ,'  the' Father of mercies, and the ,God of all comfort."
                                                 P.-D, B.                                                                  Board of the R.F.P.A.


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