 .VOLUME  X X I I I                             April 15, 1947 - Grand Rapids, Michigan                            NUMBER 14

                                                                        h.ad not returned to' them -`to reestablish the ?ofmer
 ,-'  .eM,EH)I  T-AT1  ON  .'  ' mod? of communion in His earthly flesh. `Atid, edally,
                                                                        they must clearly understand that His resurrection did
                                                                        not mean that He. had alr6ady, ascended.            Glor.ious
                Riskn; Not' Uek
                                       .     `Ascended                  though  that resurrection was, it was  nc$  fin,a,Z:  He
                                                                        must still ascend.                  L                     .
                 ,Jesus~sa.ith unto her, Mary. She turned                    And various were the means through which. this
                       h.&self  and  saith unto him,  Rabbonij which    in11 and clear revelation .of the risen -Lor.dwas  accom-
                       is to say,  Masier. Jesus saith unto her, plished.                                              ~          _
                                                                                                                             _  .,_.:
 .                     Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to            There was the silent testimony of the empty..tomb;
                       my Father: but g-0 to my brethren,  and say that had been opened for inspection by the angel of-the
                       unto them, I ascend unto my  F!ather, and Lord who,.  very early on that wonderful first. day of
      -..              yowl Father; and to'my God, and ?;/our God       the week, had rcJlled away the stone from. the sepulchre,
                                                  John  20:16,17.       and ."sa$ on it." For that vacated tomb was witness
             Gary !                                                     not only of the  realjty of  J&us' resurrection,  seei.ng
             Rabboni ! ,  '                               -             that  ae had departed in the body, but also, by  the
      Touch me not!                                                     "place where the Lord lay," and the -mysterjr  of. the
- I have not yet ascended. . . .                                        linen clothes, plying still in ithe very position in which
m-. But I ascend!                                                       they had. been wrapped around the buried Lord, .of-its
 :                                                                      wonder and otherness.
                                  -                                          There was the vi&on.of angelsi waiting in the iamb
       `Also this, that the risen Lord tias not the ascend&d fbr the women who, iti the early morning after:$he
 One, the disciples must learn t6 recognize, and that, sabbath,. had `come, prepared with spices. and oint;
 too, before-anything else was revealed unta them con- metits, td-perform a final service of love upon the dead
 cerning the reality of t&e resurrection of their Lord: body of their  master. They, these heavenly  messen-
 reason, perhaps, why this manifest-ation to Mary gers, had prexched  to them the first resurrection gos-
 precedes all other appearances, and why Mary is en- Opel : "He is not here, for IHe is risen !" And the women
 joined to return to the brethren with the message:                     had left, utterly amazed, yet filled with great "joy be-
 "I ascend unto my Father, and your F&her; and to                       cause they that had come to seek the dead had found
my God, and your God."                                                  t.he  l i v i n g   ,Qne.
             Ever new, and ever more profoundly marvellous,                  And, finally, there were the manifestatjons  of the
is the revelation of the risen Christ.               -                  risen Lord in person, ten of .which are recorded.
      For, to disciples that did not anticipate His resur-              -    Nor w&e these appearances all the same. On the
rection, least .of all the. resurrection on'the third day,- contrary, each differs.from  the others, and reveals a
although :He had so-l@nly spoken to them about it,                      certain aspect of the resurrection of `our Lord. Ea&
the Lord  m&t  `reveal Himself.  IThb  reality of  His h.as its own peculiar meaning, teaches iti own h&son.                             .
resfirrectioti  must be. established in their minds and How different is His revelation to,Mary  from that of
hearts, that they may be iHis witnesses, and go forth Thomas ! To the former IHe says : "Touch me ndt !?'
into the world with the message of  .salvation.: "The                   The 1aOter He invited tb toucli .Him.                     /'
Lord is  risen indeed!" Yet,  the  "otherness" of `His                       All, though differing in  de&l,--carry the  double
resurrection must also be impresged upon them, atid                     messages: He is risen from the dead, yet He is not
they must recognize that, by rising fpom  the dead, H&e                 with us as before.             -


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314  _                                 T H E   STANDARD  B E A R E R .

    And they are all introduced by the manifestation She arrives in the garden after Peter and John had in-
to the Magdalene, warning them that, though He is spected the grave, an'd had departed. .Alone she was
risen in glory, He has not yet ascended.                     with thEsorrow  of her soul, and the anxious question
    Resurrec.tion and ascension are  ,inseparable  : .I that troubled her mind, concerning the whereabouts of
ascend !                                                     the body of her Master.
    The one must follow the `other.                               Little we know about Mary.
    Yet, they dare not be confused: I have not yet                The name Magdalene only informs us that she
a s c e n d e d !                                            was from Magdala. We do  know,..however,  that the
  ..Wo~d&ful revelation !                                    Lord had mightily delivered her out. of great misery:
                 ..I    -~                                   from the torment of seven devils IHe. had saved her.
 . Mary !               "               .                    And ever since, her lifse had been completely devoted
    Rabbolli  !  2  .-  ,--                                  to ,$er Saviour. To follow Him .as He traversed .the
    Touch me not!                                            `la&l, to serve Him in His earthly needs, had been her
    I bade not yet ascended!                                 delight. The service  of. love had been her very life. -
    But I ascend!                                            Without this service she was lost. To be with Him,
                        --.---                               to see Him and hear IHis voice, to prepare His foQd for
                                                             H&n  when He was hungry, and provide `a place of
    And who could have been better adapted to receive rest when H,e was weary, and thus to give expression
this particular aspect of the revelation of the  risen       to the gratitude that filled her heart,-that had been
Lord, or who was more in need of it, than the Mag-           the joy of her soul.
d a l e n e ?
She, more  than any  okher  of the disciples, was                 0, to be sure, deep in her soul she was interested
attached to her Lord, to His ,earthly  appearance. IHer      in the things concerning the  kinkdom  of God. No
soul<cried out for Ichat peculiar form of fellowship with    doubt, she had loved to listen to the Master, as the
Him to which she had become accustomed, and which words of eternal life flowed from  IHis lips. But she
She had now lost. She longed to be with Him, to touch had not understood niuch of His teaching. About any`
Him. . . .                                                   particular conception of the redemption of Israel she
    All her movements and actions, on that early morn-       was not deeply troubled. To what He had said about
ipg of the resurrection day, testify to this strong long-    His suffering and d.eath,  and His resurrection on the
ing of her soul.                                  *          third day, she had not paid too much attention. To
    With' the other women, she had left her home that        Jesus, in His earthly appearance, as she knew Hiti,
`niorning for. the tomb in Joseph's garden, to finish        she was attached, and if only she might be with lH!im,
the ..embalming  of the body "of her beloved Master,         her soul was satisfied;
though, unknown to her as well as to the other women,             Such was the form her love of  ithe Master  ha'd
this had been accomplished quite properly and thor-          assumed hitherto. .
oughly, by Joseph and Nicodemus, on that sad sabbath              This may explain her attitude on, that ~ memorable
eve of the burial. `On the way, they had become first day of the week.
anxious about the heavy &one that had been rolled                 For with the death of J&us, the object of her love
in front of the sepulchre to close its enhrance. But and interest had been taken away from her. All that
even from a distance they had noticed that the stone was left was His dead body. To perform one last act
had been removed, and that bhe grave was open!               of love upon that body was now her sole comfort.
    For& the Magdalene this had- been sufficient evi-        Hence,  her persistent search for that body. She speaks
dence  !                                                     of the body as if it were the Lord .in person. To Peter
    She  proceded  `no further with the other women,         and John she reports: "They have taken away the
but immediately drawing to the conclusion that th'ey         Lord out of the sepulchre." In answer to the question
had removed the' body: of. Jesus, she ran to the dis- of the angels: "Woman, why  weepest  thou?" she
ciples, and reported : "They have taken away-the Lord states : "Because they have taken away my Lord, and
out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have I know not where they have. laid him..? Her whole
Iaid him."                                                   niind is concentrated -on the  body of her Lord.  For
    Peter and John htd hastened to the grave to verify       nothing  ,else  she- has a thou&t. The appearance of
this report. They, too, must iGspect.t& empty tomb,          the two angels,-sitting  in the sepulchre, evid:ently does
and behold the wonder 6f the linen clothes, and the not strikes her as &range or extraordinary. And "the
false report of the Magdalene must be the means to           gardener,". too, she supposes to be well acquainted
draw them thither. They see, and believe.                    -with her trouble : "Sir, if thou have borne him hence,
    More slowly Mary had followed. `To the empty tell &e where thou hast laid him, and I will take him
tomb, to the body of her Lord.she  is irresistibly drawn.    away," <Nor does it seem absurd or improper to her

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                                                THl3     SrANi38,RD  BEARER'                  4     .^_ ____ .___.. - ..-. - %15
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that she will take the body of her Lord back to its.               "Woman, why weepest  Ithou?"
place in Joseph's tomb.                                            "Sir, if thou have borne Him hence, tell me where
    0, the other women, too, had been attached to their         thou hast laid him, and I will take h&n away."
Lord in~His earthly ,&ppearantie.  .They, too, had come            "Mary,!"
to perform a last service of love upon the dead body.              Already Mary had turned her attention  tq. the
    None of them .had. bee?. mindful .of the words of           grave once more, but at the sound of her name, there
their Mgster concerning iHis resurrection on the third          is instant recogniition,  and turning herself she is ready
day.  :.:.                                                      to fall down, ind clasp. His feet, exclaiming : `"Rab-
 _ But all this was especially true of. the Magdalene.          boni !"
    She must see and touch and serve Him once more!                Not by the sight bf the eye, but by the sound of His
    Though it be only in His body !                             Word, addressed personally to her, she found the risen
    Her Lord!                                                   Lord! .
                        --~                                        Thus it must needs be henceforth. The former
    Mary !                                                      fellowship was severed, never to return.           '           .
    Rabboni !                                                      To be  ~replaced by the higher fellowship of  `2&
    `Touch me not !                                             Spirit, through the Word.                                 1
    I have not yet ascended. . 1 .                              Glorious revelation !
    But I ascend!                   *
                                         - -                       ~.                                                               .
                                                                   Mary !
    Bless&d revelation !                                           R a b b o n i   !
    For a .re&ation of the risen Lord it was indeed.               Touch me. not !
    She did not know Him. Seeking the dead body                    I have not yet ascended
of h&r Master, she did not recognize her living Lord               .But I ascend !
when she met Him, face to face.
     Having replied to the question of the angels that
were in the tomb, she turned about, attracted, prob-               This, too, Mary must still learn.
ably, by some sound behind her, "and. saw Jesus stand-             Would she, the impulsive Mary, who had so readily
 ing, and knew `not that it was Jesus.`? She supposed           concluded from the distant sight of &he open. grave ,
fH(im to be the gardener.                                       `that they had taken away the body of  Jesu's, not
     Nor must this failure on her part to  recogniae            now at once infer that all was finished, that He had
 Jesus simply be explained from her sorrow, or from             already ascended, and that H,e had now come again
 the fact that her. exclusive concentration on the dead to take her to Himself, that she might also be where
 body of the Lord blinded her eyes. 0, she would have iHe is?
 known Him at once, no doubt,.had He appeared as she                Had he not spoken thus before His death?
 had always seen Him before His death.                              Was not this hope, the hope that, if she could no
     But the Lord had  riseh.  iHe was different. In longer enjoy the former fellowship, she might at once
 "the likeness  of sinful flesh." she had known Him.; in        stay with Him, with the glorified Lord, and return
 the glory of immortality `He had come fonth from the           with Him to the house of Fathe?, in her heart, as she
 grave. Instead of corruption there was now incorrup- was about to embrace IHim?
tion, instead of weakness power, insiead of dishonor                Touch me not!
 glory. The "psychical" body had been changed into                  Make no mistake, Mary ! It is not thus, that I
 the spiritual bddy.                                            6ave already ascended to the house of my Father, and
     And even this- does not explain Mary's failure to          that I have now- returned, in order to take thee with
 recognize Him; still less the fact that she supposed me ,into glory. `The former fellowship is severed. The
 Him to be the gardener. Evidently, she did -not see            final fellowship in glory is not yet come. I have not
 Him in His resurrection glory: for this she had no             yet ascended and returned.
 eyes. Nor did she behold !Bim as He appeared that                  But I do ascend !
 same evening in the company of the disciples, who                  Tell my brethren that I have risen, but must still
 thought that they saw a ghost. Purposely, He ap-               ascend. Tell them that I ascend unto my F%ther, and
 peared to Mary, as the "gardener" that she might not your Father ; and to my Gdd, and your God!
 recognize `Him at once; .-She must, indeed, know-that              In those words there is the promise of a new and
 He had risen from the dead, but from the outset  she           altogether glorious and blessed fellowship, that will be
 must learn, too, that IHe was "other", that His resur-         established through Hiti ascension, and before the final
 rectioti did not open tlie way to the same associtition return8in glory !
 and fellowship as before, and which she craved with                By His Spirit, ithrough His Word
all `her soul;               - ;                                    Mary !-Rabbont  !                                   H. H.


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            316                                       _                           .                 I                    T-HI4  STANDARD  Bj?,A&..E;2.

                                           `T.e Standard Bearer
                                   Semi:Monthly;except Monthly  in' July and August                                                                                                                        E D I T O R I A L 'S
                                                                    P,nblished   B                                                          y                           '
                ;             _        The-Reformed Free.  Phblishing  Association
                `L                                         1463  Axdmore' St.,  S. E.                                                      I_                                                                     Het Mvsterie
                                                                                                                                                                                                                               -  _
                           `_.  1                    EDI+OR:  - Rev,  I& Hoeksema.
                      .                                           -:.                                                                                                                         Under this title, the Rev. L. Doekes,  continues his
            Contribuking  Editors:  - Rev. G. M. Ophoff, Rev.  6.  Vos,. Rev.                                                                                                              discussion  ,of my "De  Gelodvigen en Hun Zaad," in
            R.  Veldman,  Rev. H.  Vddman,  Rev. H. De Wolf, Rev. B.  Kok,.                                                                                                                De Reform&e of March 8, 1947, as follows:
            Rev. J. D.  -De Jong, Rev.  A..  Aetter, Rev. C.  Ha&o;  Rev. L.
          Vermekr, Rev.  G; Lubbers, Rev. M.  Gritters, Rev. J. A.  Heys,                                                                                                                             "De  Geloovigen   eti Hun  Baad"-dat   thema   interes-
            Rev. W.  Hcofman.                                                                                                                                                                   seert ons buitengewoon vanwege  onzen strijd in de
                 .C.ommunications  relative to contents should be addressed to                                                                                                                  laatste jaren:  En wat Ds. H. Hoeksema in zijn onder
            REV. H. HOEKSEMA,  1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids,
            Michigan.                                                                                                                                                                           dien titel verschenen brochure  o.pmerkt, is de  moeite--
                      Communications relative to subscription should be addressed                                                                                                               waard. Afzonderlijk  .wIl ik  de nandacht vestigen op
           to MR. GE,RRIT  PIPE 1463 Ardmore St., S. E., Grand Rapids,                                                                                                                        enkele  punten  in  z,ijn-  bctoog, waarover  wij ons zeer
            Michigan. All Announoements, and Obituaries must be sent                                                                                                                            verblijden.
           to the above address and will not be placed unlees the regular
           fee of $1.00. aocompanies  the notice.                                                                                                                                                     Daar is alleererst het sterke verzet van Ds.  Hoek-
                                                                                                                                                                                                sema tegen een verbondstheorie,  .welke  zich baseert
                                                `(Subscription Price $2.50 per year)                                                                                                            op  `%wee lijnen", die de Sohrift  ens  zou `voorhouden`
           Entered as Second Class Mail  ,at Grand Rapids, Michigan.                                                                                                                            en die wij ,met on,s vex-stand  nooit zouden kunnen ver-
                                                                                                                                                                                               `eenigen: de iijn van Gods souvereiniteit en die van
                                                                                                                                                                                                onze verantwoosdelijkheid.         Uit  ,den treure is  ens in
                                                                                                                                                                                                de laatste  jaren  door onze  tegenstanders   voonge-
                                                                                                                                                                                                h&den,  dat wij tekort deden  aan het mysterie van
                                                                                                                                                                                                Gods verb&d. Wie in feite weigerde, het lijnenspel'
                                                                              -  CONTENITS-.                                                                                                    te aanvaarden,`stond  voor chun besef met de waarheid
                                                                                                                                                                                                der  Schrift  op gespannen  voet;
            M E D I T A T I O N : -                                                                                                                                                                    Een  geliefkoosde  term van  Prof. Hepp: "single-
           RISEN, NOT YET ASCENDED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . + . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  ;. . . . . . 313                                                track-theology"  (enkelspoor-theologiej  geeft uiting
                            Rev. H.  Boeksema.                                                                                                                                                  aan het verwijt,  zooals dat telkens aan ons bs geadres-
                                                                                                                                                                                                seerd.      De inleiding tot de  vervangingsformule.   om-
            EDITORIALS  +                                                                                                                                                                       schrijft het in dezen  .vdrm: "dat bij de belijdenis  .aan-
           .HET  MYSTERIE ..* . . . . . . . . . . . . *.* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .316                  gaande het genadeverbond aoowel de onveranderlijk-,                           f
D         -E%POSITION;  OF THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM . . . . . . . . . . . . 319                                                                                                                 heid van  .Gods raad als de  verantwoord$jkheid   des,
                            Rev. H. -Hoeksema.                                                                                                                                                  menschen tot  qaar   recht  dienen  te komen; dat  elke',
           .                                                                                                                                                                                    poging, het  hieriu  liggend mysterie te verklaren, nood-
           DR. .RIDDERBOS  AND ARTICLE 79 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322                                                                     zakelijk aan de eene of .aan de andere zijde der waar-
                            Rev. G. M. Ophoff.                                                                                                                                                  heid geweld zal aandoen; dat de kerk  zich.  sderhalve
                                                                                                                                                                                                tevreden  zal houden met een eenvoudige uitspraak
           JEHOVA REGEERT ..i . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  :.: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326                    des  geloofs" (2-4). In dienzelfden geest schreef  Ds.
`
     ,                      Rev. .G. Vos.                                                                                                                                                       H. J. Spier zijn brochure: "Het  Mysterie  van Gods
                                                                                                                                                                                                verbond".  (vgl. ook zijn artikel in no. 1 van  `SBtzin-  :
           IN HIS FEAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :..I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328         ning").                                                     .-       .
                           Rev. M. Grittens:                                                                                                                                                          Mysterie,  clat is tegenwoordig de krachtterm van
                                                                                                                                                                                                de  synodale  voorvechters:  det liep met dien  "mys                         ,:
           FROM H'OLY WRIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  ~ . . . . . . . . ,...;.330                             teriendienst" zoo ver, dat zelfs  Prof. Berkouwer  zich
                            Rev. G. Lubbers.                                            -                                                                                                       geroepen  voelde, een  waarschuwing  daartegen te laten
                                                                                               -                                                                                                hooren. -Maar ondertusschen is het verwijt blijven
           PERISCOPE . . . . . . . . . . . ..f.......................................................................  332                                                                      staan, dat wij :het mysterie van Gods yerbqnd zouden
                            Rev. W.                                        Hofman. ,                                                                                         .-                 hebben aangerand.
                             ._  `
                                      .                                                                                                                                                               Van  zoo'n.vldcht  in het  mysterie moet Ds. Hoeksema  :
           THE GRACE  C~HURC'H  OF  KALAMAiOO . . . . . . ..*................* .;335
                                                                                                                                                                 \                              echter   niets.  hebhen.     Hoor   h e m   u i t v a r e n   tegen-  #de
                            Rev. H. Veldman                                                               -                                                                                     Chr.   Gerefonmeerden  in  Amerika:  "En zegt nu niet,  1,
                                                                                                                                                                                                dat we thier .de -eene lijn hebben en dat de landere.,die' ,._


                                                     :T,H%            STANDARD                        i3%ARER.                 1     '---                             317
. .                                                                                                                                   _           _..  ..-..  -
        van -de eeuwige verkiezing en der ,onwederstandelijke                                       Hoeksema  is zijn besliste afwijzing van de  theologie
       `genade is. Want die twee lijnen  sluiten   elkaal   `een-                                   van Dr. A. Kuyper ten aanzien van den doop. Van
        voudig uit. De beide te willen  handihaven  is onmoge-                                      een  veronders,tell.ing  daarbij wil hij niets weten.  "Iets
        lijk.         Het is  <de  .goocheltoer,  die de Christelijke                               te veronderstellen,  waarvan  we zeker zijn,  dat het
        Gereformeerde Kerken .trachten te ,maken" (,pag.  73).                                      niet in  overeenstemming  is met de werkelijkheid,
        Of een  ander  citiaat: "En als men er dan op wijst, dat                                    zooals  i&e is geopenbaard in  ,Gods  Woord, en  zooals
        men op die wijze  tech Gods Woord metterdaad  Remon-                                        we die door de geschiedenis en door de dagelijksche  *
      strantsche taal laat  spreken,  voegt men  u toe,  -(dat)                                     ervaring  leeren  kennen, is ten eenenmale onmogelijk"
        dit de eene lijn van  (Gods W,o#ord is, terwijl de andere  '                                (33) (vgl. pag. 57).
      . die der vrijmachtige verkiezing en der souvereine                                             Minder  pos&tief  is zijn  houding ten aanzien  van
        genade `is! En als men dan blijft volhouden, dat die                                        1905.    Hij zegt  ,althans: `cook  d e   .Utrechtsohe   con-
        twee elkander tech volkomen uitsluiten, dat ,God niet                                       clusies laten  de eigenlijke zaak tamelijk onbeslist. . .
        welmeenend  -aan  kan bieden, wat Hij nimmer bedoelt                                        Veel hebben we  .aan deze uitspraken niet daar ze
        te schenken, dan komt men brutaalweg met den  dood-                                         negatief zijn en  tiamelijk onbelijnd.  Doch ze kunnen
                                                                                                                                      _
        doener  (!L.D.),  dat dit een rmysterie  i,s en dat we die                                  dienen om  aan te toonen, dat  na  alles wat er  ge-
        dingen   ock niet  moeten   willen  begrijpen!" (77).  Te-                                  schreven is, geen scherpe en belijnde voorste/lling  be;
        recht.  conclndeert Ds. Hoeksema:  "Zoo kunnen  we dke                                      staat in betrekking <tot bet `zaad  der geloovigen"  (32).
       . poging, om de Schrift te verstaan, we1 opgeven. -Zoo                                         Zoo zijn er nog meer dingen  te noemen, waarin wij
-_      kunnen  we de  Schrift  alles laten zeggen, onder het                                       met vreugde opmerken, dat Ds. Hoeksema met  .ons                         "
        vrome  ,opschrift,  dat de verborgene  dingen  voor den                                     van meening is, .dat Dr. Kuyper's  theorie over den
       ,Heere zijn.. Och zoo' mogen .we zeker met met Golds                                         doop  als  een  mislukk.ing  moet  worden  heschouwd,  en
        Woord handelen. Wij hebben  we1  terdege  de  roeping                          .'           dat ook 1905 geen  "klaarder   licht" heeft gebracht.
        om het Woord van onzen  God te bepeinzen tot dat we                                         Bij zoekt zijn kracht dan ook in  ,de taal van Schrift,             -
        het verstaan. En `ofschoon we volgaarne toestemmen,                                         Belijdems en Doopsformulier, en wijst slechts  terloops
       `dat er mysterien  zijn, dingen,  die voor ons eindig ver-                                   op de gegevens der vroegere Gereformeerde Dheologie.
        &and  nimmer te doorgronden zijn,  om'dat  onze God                                          Hoe hij zijn eigen opvatting ontwikkelt, en  daarbij
        ondoorgrondelijk is,  t&h houden we ook vol,  dat we                                     positie kiest tegenover anderen,  zullen  we nagaan in
        in de  Schrift  eene openbaring Gods vinden, die  zich                                      eeli  volgend artikel. Voor dezen keer besluiten we
       `bijions  denken en ons verstand aansluit, en die we we1                                     met dit  citaat  van den schrijver: "En  da.n  meet   bier
        kunnen verstaan.               Hondeu   w e   NOI,  d a t   d i e   Schrift                 aanstonds  worden opgemerkt, dat  err over  deze  zaak
        niet leert, niet  leeren  kan, dat zwart  oak wit is, dat                                   onder Gereformeerden zelf geen eenstemmigheid  ,l
      - God niet en ook we1 genade wil schenken aan  dezelfde                                       heerscht, en dat het metterdaad niet kan worden ge-
        personen, dat  H,ij  aanbiedt,  wat Hij niet wil schenken"                      _.,         zegd, dat er een verbondsbeschouwing is, die zioh uit-
        (        7      8    )    .                                                                 sluitend  den naam van.Gereformeerd  heeft verworven
             Over de kwestie, waarop Ds. Hoeksema bier doelt,                                       in onderscheiding van andere beschouwingen" (7) Zoo
        hopen  we nader in  te gaan. Maar we merken  .hier                                          denken wij er ook over... Maar onze bestrijders waren
        met yreugde op, dat hij, hoewkl het mysterie  van   -                                       van een andere meening.
        Gods . werken door hem (en  `door ons) volmondig                                              En dat kwam ons te staan op verlies van .ons ambt
        erkend wordt,. tech door en door afkeerig is van een                                        en  onzen   goeden  naam4enminste,  in hun oogen.
        gemakkelijke Slucht in het asyl van het mysterie.                                                                 -                  -
        Wij zeggen: met  recht.  De  t,heologie  van het  mys-
       "  terie, van den  .verborgeu  God en de verborgenheid                                     Here' follows the translation of the above article
      `- van Zijn we,rk,  heeft haar tienduizenden al verslagen, -                             of the Rev. L. Doekes  :.
        en is nog dagelijks-  bezig,  slachtoffers te  maken-in
        Hervormden kring en ook bij hen, die voor eenigen                                                              THE MYSTERY
        tij,d  .nog met ons  waren vereenigd. Het ergste is,                                          "De Geloovigen en Hun Zaad" (Believers and Their
       dat dit beroep op het  mysterie  dienst doet  als grof                                     Seed, H.H.) -in this  .theme  we take extraordinary
        verwijt tegen Gerefdrmeerden, die ten volle de  gering-                                     interest because of our struggle in the last years.
        heid van  bun  inzicht belijden, maar die bij  voorbaat                                     And that which, under  tis title, the Rev. H.  .Hoek-
       weigeren,  zich met den dooddoener van het  mysterie                                         sema observes is worth while. In this separate article
       `iiaar  huis' te laten  sturen.  De  Schrift  is nbg altijd                                  I  woukl like  to."cali   ,attention  to  .some points in  his
       doorzichtig-  in  zichzelf., En wie een  paging  om  haar                                    argumentation that caused us great joy.
        `te  irerstaan  wil `blokkeeren met het "mysterie",  be-                                      First of all there is' the strong opposition of the
        droeft den  Heiligen   Gee& en  .maakt  ruimte  voor                                       -Rev. .Hoeksema  .against  a covenant-theory that bases
        geestelijke          schizophrenic. .                                                       itself on "two  .lines'! which Scripture  .i,s supposed  ito
             `Een  tweede   bizonderheld   in. de opvatting van  `Ds.                               present,.$and  that `are supposed to be irreconcilable by


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEA-RER

 the human mind:  ,the line of God's sovereignty and              revelation of God. that is adapted  ,t.o our  m,ind and
 that of our responsibility. Again and again,  dt is              mqde of thinking, and .which  we can understand. We
 alleged ,by our opponents, during the last years, that           maintain that the Scriptures do not teach, a.nd cannot
 we fail to do justice .to the mystery ,of ,God's  covenant.      teach, that black is also white, that ,God  will and will
 One who, in fact, refused to join this double-track              not give grace to the same `persons, that He offers
 game <had, according to them, a quarrel with the truth           what He does not intend to give" (78).
                                                                                          . .
 of Scripture.                                                       The question itself, referred to here by the Rev.
   The charge repeatedly raised against us is well                Hoeksema, we hope to discuss later.        But we nofe .
 expressed i.n the term "single:track-:theology,".  deeply       .here with joy that,  althou'gh  he wholeheartedly ac-
 cherished by  Prof.   Hepp.     The introduction to  .the        knowledges the mystery of  God'.s  works (even as
 substitute-formula circumscribes it as follows: "that            we also do), the easy seeking of refuge in the asyhun
 in the confession concerning the covenant .of grace              of mystery is repulsive to him. The theology of the
 both, the. immutability. of God's counsel and the re-            mystery, with its  ,theory of the hidden God and the
 sponsibility of  nmn,  must be maintained; that every            hiddenness of His work, already has slain its ten
 attempt to explain the mystery  ,implied in  this must           thousand, and continues daily to. make its victim,s-
 necessarily force the truth one way or the other;               in  "Hervormdi" circles, but also  a'mong them that till
 that  the church,  theref.ore,   `mu&  be content with a         recently were united with us. The worst i,s ,that this
 simple  declaaration  of faith" (2-4). In the  ,same             a$ppeal to the mystery must serve as an indictment
 spiri,t,   ,the'Rev.  H. J. Spier also wrote his  broohure-:     against Reformed men that are fully conscious of the F
 "The Mystery ,of God's Covenant" (cf. also his article          humble  lim,its   ,of  their understanding,  but who refuse
 in No. 1 of "Bezinning").                                        to be frightened with the bogey of the mystery. Scrip-
   Mystery,-that is now-a-days the slogan of the                  ture is still in itself perspicuous. And he who would
 sjmodical   leadiing  fighters. This "mystery-worship"           block the attenrpt  to understand her with an appeal
 even  went-to extremes to  such an extent that  Prof.            to "mystery" grieves the Holy Spirit, and makes room
 Berkhower felt himself called to sound. a warning                for spiritual schizophrenics (brain splitting, frenzy,
 against it. Butt in the meantime, the charge that we             H.H.).
 violated the mystery of God's covenant still stands.
   Of  su?h `a flight into the sphere of mystery the
* Rev; Hoeksema must have nothing. Hear his sally                    Another detail in .the conception of the Rev. Hoek-
                                                                  sema concerns lhis determined' denial of the theology
 against `the Christian Reformed in America: "and do              of Dr. A. Kuyper in respect to baptism.
. not say now that  th.is is the one line, and that the                                                       He will have
 other is that ,of God's eternal electionand efficacious          nothing of a presumption here. "T o   presu,me   s o m e -
                                                                  thing of which  -we are certain that it is not in har-
 grace. For those two lines are simply mutually  ex-              mony- with reality as revealed in the Word of God,
elusive.  To maintain both is impossible. It is the               and as we learn  rto know  i.t from history and from
 lnagic trick the Christian Reformed Churches attempt             daily experience, is utterly impossible" (33) (cf. p.
 to perform" (p. 73). Or again: "And when one points              57).         - .
 out that, ia that case, the .Word  of7 God, is made to                                           n
 speak Arminian language, they retort that this is the           Less positive is his position with respect to -1905.
one line of Scripture, while the other is that of free            He says, at least: "also the Conclusions  ,of  Htrec,ht
 election aad sovereign .grace! And if ,one insists >that         leave the matter rather undecided. .  ..`. These declara-
 these two exclude each other completely, that God                tions do not offer us much since they are negative and
 cannot offer well-meaningly what He never  intend.s              rather vague. But they may  ,serve  to demonstrate
 to bestow, they impudently cut off all further argu-             that, after all that has been written, there is no
 ment by reminding you that this is a mystery, and                sharply defined conception of the seed of the cove-
 we must not  #try to understand things!" (77). Cor-              nant" (32).
rectly, the Rev. Hoeksema concludes: "In this way we                 More (things might be mentioned from which we
 may  a.s well abandon every attempt to understand                notice, with joy, that the Rev. Hoeksema is;with  us,
 Scripture.    Thus, under the pious  pretex,t  ,&hat the         of the opinion that the theory of Dr. Kuyper con-
 hidden ,th,ings  are for the Lord our God,we can make            cerning baptism  must be  con,sidered  .a failure, and
 Scripture  ,say anything we  plea.se. But thus we surely         that also 1905 did not shed  ,clearer  light. Hence, he
not  .deal' with the Word of God; We certainly have               seeks his streng,th in the language of Scripture, Con-
 the calling to meditate upon the Word of God  .till              fession, and-the Form for  IB'apti,sm,  and refers only
.we understand it.      And although we gladly admit              in passing to the data of Reformed theology in the
 that there are mysteries, things we can never fathom             p a s t .   _.
 with our finite .mind,.~because  our" God is unfathom-              How he develops :his' ,owri `conception, and hhereby  _
 able, yet we maintain that in Scripture we have a                takes position over agailist `others, we `hope to show


                                       !cHE.  S T A N D A R D   BEARER                                                    319
                                                                                                   _ _.-    -  ..__.
                                                       ( _
    in a following article.     For this time we' conclude        organism of our body. All kinds  of. tiny bacterial
    with a quotation from the author: "And then we must           organisms find their way into our lungs and blood-
    remark from the outset that. there is no  unammity            stream from without and disintegrate the body. And
     of opinion concerning this matter among Reformed             the'latter is subject to them., For the body is corrupt-
     people, and that, indeed, it cannot be said that .&here      ible.      It cannot successfully resist their destroying
    is one single covenant view that merited the name of          power. Even-the science of medicine, bent upon dis-
     Reformed in  distinotion  from other, views" (7). We         covering these disease germs and. upon counteracting
     are of the same mind.  But-our.  opponents were of a         their corrupting influence in the body, in- last analysis,
     different opinion.                                           stands helpless over against them.          It cannot. fight
       And  this cost  -us the lost of our office  an,d of our    death. This process of corruption has its inception at
     good  name&in  their eyes, at least.                         birth. For "in  .corruption" we are born.             It con-
                                                                  tinues during the whole of our earthly. life, so that
                            ----                                  "dying we die.". In many different diseases it reveals
   Thus far the Rev. Doekes.                                      itself in various ways. And it is finally completed
   The reader will notice that the brother calls at-              when the body gives up the struggle against these
tention, first, to those matters on which we agree.               forces of destruction, and is entrusted to the grave,
The "mist" is coming yet.                                         where the Word of God is fulfilled literally: dust
   However, especially what the Rev. Doekes  writes               thou art, to dust thou shalt return. Indeed, "it is
about the false  .application  of the term "mystery" sown in -corruption." In the sphere of corruption we
concerns an important prin&ple  of. interpretation of             are brought into-the world. "In corruption" we exist
Scripture. I, too, rejoice,, that ,he agrees with me in           as long as we live. Corruption we breathe, eat, and
this respect.                                                     drink. And "in corruption'! we are buried;               -
   For the rest, we will wait with our discussion until               But it is raised-in "incorruption." The body of the
we read more of what our brother has to- say.                     resurrection is subject to these powers of corruption
                                                       H. H.      no more. It is immune. It has the victory. Incor-
                                                                  ruptible it  is: Nor is there in the kingdom of God
                                                                  any `power of corruption from without. The inherit-
                                                                  ance that is preserved. in heaven for us is "incorrupt-
   TIk TRIPLE KNOWLEDGE                                           ible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away."-1 Pet.
                                                                  1:`4. `There will be no disease germs in the eternal
 An Eipbsition  Of The Heidelberg. kingdom. In the sphere of incorruption, in which no
                                                                  one shall ever say anymore "I am sick," the body will,
                           Catechism                              be raised. For it will be made like unto the glorious
                                                                  body of Christ. It is beyond the possibility of cor-
                            P a r t   T w o .                     ruption. In the resurrection death has no dominion.
                   Of Man's Redemption                            It can never enter there in any form. Hence, "there
                     Lord's Day XXII.             .               shali  be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying,
                                2.                                neither shall there be any. more pain : for the former
                                                                  things are passed away." Rev. 21~4.                              _)
        The Resurrection Of The Body. (cont.)                              But there is more.
    The same passage from the fifteenth chapter of                 . "It is sown in weakness." In part; this is already
First Corinthians to which we already referred above              implied in the corruptibility of our body. But it ex-
in proof of the identity of  thle resurrection body               presses this idea from a slightly different viewpoint.
and our present body, may also inform us with respect             It means that our bodies have but limited strength,
to the  clifference  between the two. It teaches us,              and that they must succumb to death even apart from
first of all, that through the resurrection our bodies            the forces of corruption that violently destroy them.
will be delivered from all the effects of sin and death:          The measure of that strength is "threescore and ten,"
"it is sown in corruption ;-it is raised in `incorruption :       or "fourscore years." Ps.  9O:lo. "As for man, his
It is sown in dishonour ; it is raised in glory : it is           days  .are  .as grass; as- a flower of the field, so it
sown in weakness; it is raised in power." vss. 42, 43.            flourisheth." Ps.  .103  :15. And, indeed, when the
   ,Our present bodies are  -"in corruption". In the blasting wind passeth over it, it is gone. But even
sphere of corruption they exist. By this we mean when the hot wind does not violently break its tender
that they ar'e corruptible from within, and that they .stem, it cannot last. For a while it blooms, but its
are subject to forces of corruption from without. In vitality is limited : soon it loses its beauty, and it
our present world that is under the curse,- there are -withers away. `Thus it is with man in his present
several forces of corruption that tend to destroy the state. The strength .of his physical organism is limit-


,320.                                T H E   ST-ANDAhD.   BEARE'R

 ed. And there is nothing to renew it. In the first           c.annot  hide the fact that it has l&t its original beauty
paradise  there was the tree of life from  which' he          and glory.
might eat and pekpetuate  his existence. But from it             Through the wonder of  th& resurrection, however,
he was skparated. And' in the present world there is it will attain to glory. All the effects of sin and death
neither "tree or life,`? nor "fountain of youth," by will be erased from its appearance, and it will be
means of which, he may renew his strength. He is like clothed with a peFfection of beauty 6hat is far greater
a candle that burns itsef out. For a while he may than the glory it  enj'oyed   ifi. the state of. original
.appear in.yo&hf@ strength, hut soon he begins to bend -righteousness. For it will be made like unto the most
under the burden of years, %nd lie inclines .toward  .the     glorious body of Christ. The  image of the heavenly
grave. The "evil days  conic," and "the years draw it will' reflect. As an everlasting instrument of right-
nigh" in which he says : "I have no pleasure in them." eousness and holiness, it will serve the manifestation
,The sun, and the light,. and the moon, land the stars        of the likeness of the 6on of God. It is raised in glory.
are darkenkd,  and the clouds return after the rain ;            But there is still another difference between our
the l&epers of the .house  tremble, rthe strong men bow       present body and that of the resurrection.
themselves, the grinders cease  because they are few,            To this the apostle refers when he writes: "It is
and those thak lpok out of ihe window are darkened ;          sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.
the doors are shut in the streets, the sound of the           There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body."
grinding is low; he rises up & the voice of the .bird,           Already we remarked &hat "spiritual body" must
and all the daughters of music are brought low, he is         not be understood as in opposition t.o "material bbdy."
afraid of that which is high, and fears are in the way ;      In the text, it stands over against "natural." --And the
th,e almond tree flourishes, the grasshopper is a bur-        literal rendering of the word that is translated %atur-
d~eri, and the desire fails. All this- reveals the weak-      al" is psychical. Our  present body is  psychi6a1,  %y
ness of the body, and leads to the day when the silver        which w@ understand that it is adapted to serve as the
cord is loosed, the golden bowl is broken, the pitcher        instrument of our present; earthly soul.        For "the
..is broken at the fountain, ;the wheel is broken at the      Lord  ,God formed man of the dust of the ground, and
cistern, and the dust returns to the earth. Eccl. 1.2 2-Y.    breathed into his nostrils the breath 6f life: and man
Our earthly hquse collapses over our head. For "it is became a living soul." Through his present body
sown in weakness."                                            man lives an, earthly life. He is strictly limited- to the
    IHowever; it is raised in power. The body of the          earthly sphere of existence. He has an :earthly eye,
resurrection shall never be wanting in  strength.  Iit and perceives earthly things; an earthly ear to catch
draws from a source of unlimited power and vitality.          cau'thly sounds. He is botind  to the earth, and craves
It will not gradually deteriorate, It  shall  renew its food and drink. Spiritual- realities he cannot perceive,
youth like the eagles. Always there. will be str&gth nor have direct comtiimion with them. The heavenly
for the task. .Just as in the resurrection no one' shall things are hid from him. Even in as far as he can
.evqy say : "I. am sick", so no one shall ever complain know about them and -apprehend them in hi? pl-esent
of being weary or exhausted. The source, of this ever         eatihly, psychical state, he can di, so only through the
renewed and ever youthful strength is the risen .Lord.        means of earthly symbols. Through the Word that is
With Him the risen saints  a?e united. From  Hiti,            heard with our physical ear we- have knowl,edge  of and
Who is the Son of  Go&. they draw their power. In             fellowship with God, and apprehend spiritual and
everlasting youth they shall stand in the house of God        heavenly things.    And that Word addresses us in
to serve Him,day and night.                                   earthly terms.. On the. earthly plane of our present
    Thirdly, "it  .-is sown in dishonor." The present "psychical" existence God- reveals IH!imself to us. In
body is  withbut its  origillal glory and beauty. No          anthropomorphistic  symbols He speaks to us concern-
longer is it  an'instrument  for the reflection of the        ing Himself. We cannot see Him face to face. Even
image of God. Sin and death, corruption and disease, ~@ie risen Lord, in His glorious body, must "appear"
have left their marks on its appearance. As an instru-        to  IHis disciples in order to convince them of the
menit of unrightedusness it is in dishonor. It is funda-      reality of His resurrection. Angels and heavenly
me&&jr ugly. The truth' of this  ,becomes  more and           things lie beyond the scope of our  .experience.  We
more apparent as old age appro&&es.  By.many arti- have an earthly soul, ,and in our "`psychical" body we
.ficial means men, and -especially women, attempt to` live an earthly life.             And with regard  tc things
give their bodies a .superficiai  beauty, And `even the spiritual and heavenly, which "eye hath not seen, nor
repulsiveness of the dead body in the coffin is covered,      ear heard," we walk by faith, which is the evidence
to an exterit,  by ithe undertaker's art. --But all these     of things not .seen,  the substance of things hoPed  for,
attempts are vain. We know and, by all these super- fiat by sight.                                     .
5cial attempts to beautify the body, .confess that "it is        "It  is sown a natdral body."
sown in dishonor." And 611 our. aprons of fig leaves             But  "it is raised a  spirittial body." The'fiody  of


                                            T H E   '  STAND.ARD             BE.ARER                                           321
                               L




  I&  resurre&ion,  will be wholly subservient to our expect, first, the coming of the Lord in the  mptzwe
  glorified spirit, and -to the indwelling spirit of Christ. together wit& the "first resurrection" ;' shortly after-
 By it we will be .able `t0 inherit the kiugdom  -of God,' ward, the coming of the Lord in the Revelation  and the
 which flesh and blood cannot inherit. In that new. resurrection of  .the  "trib$ation  saints" ; thereupon,
 z&d eternal kingdom we shall. see God face to face;                  the glorious reign of-the Lord upon the, earth in the
 we shall behold Christ and .always be with Him; and mil@&pm  ;. and. finally;the requrrection  of -the wicked,
 we shall have direct contact and fellowihip with the                 the last judgn?ent,`and the eternal state.
 things that are heavenly. With new eyes  we shall                       In. our ,explanation  of the' nineteenth Lord's Day,
 see the things that are now s&e&, and with spiritual we offered a partial  criticisms  of this view. In this
 ,ears we shall apprehend the things that now lie beyond connection, it may -not be superfluous to .make a re-
 the  slope of our hearing. For "there is a natural mark or two about the'expectation of a millennium, or
 body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is writ- a glorious reign of the Lord, with His saints, upon the
 ten, .The first man Adam was made a living soul ; the- eart.hh, for a thousand years.
, last  Adam was made a quickening spirit.  Howbeit                      .According to premillenniaiists,  this millennium is
 tha& was not first which is %piritilal, but that which to be a &ign of Christ upon the:ea,&h,  not on the new
 is natural  ;` and afterward that which  iS spiritual.               earth in the new creation, but ~upon this present old
 The fir& man is of the earth, earthy : the second man                earth. Christ is to return, after the great tribulation,
 is the Lord from heaven. As is'the earthy, `such are bind Satari and overthrow his power, destroy all un-
 they also that are earthy : and as is the- heavenly,                 godly government, and establish a kingdom of right-
 such are they also that are he'avenly. --And 9s we have              eDusness   and p&ace for all the nations of the earth.
 borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the                He shall reign in person, with the .Church, sitting on
 image of the heave&y. Now this I say, brethren,                      the throne of David, with Jerusalem, which shall be
 that flesh and blood  cannbt inherit the kingdom of                  restored to its former glory, as its capital, and in the
 God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.                   midst of His kingdom-people Israel, the Jews, that
 Behold, I- shew you a mystery; we shall not all sleep,               shall be converted and regathered in the land of kheir
 btit we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the fathers. And all the nations of the world shall enjoy
 twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet              a period of peace .and blessedness under tlie dominion
 shall sound, an& the dead shall be raised incorruptible, of the Kin& of kings.
 and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must                      In a work of this nature, we.cannot give space to a
 put on ;incorruption, and this  morttil  must put on detailed examination of all the Scriptural  pas&g&s
 immoytality. So when this corruptible shall have put uBon which this theory is supposed to be based.
 on incorruption, and.. this mo&al  shall have puk on                    Suffiice it to say, first of all, that we, too, believe in
 immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying a literal return of the Lord, when He shall destroy
that is written, Death. is  swallotied  up in victory." Satan and all the ~powers  of darkness, establish His
 I  car.  15:45-54.                                                   own dominion, and reign with His people over all the
         Such is the glorious resurrection.                           works of God's hands. Premillerinialists frequently
        `It is ithe reunion of the glorified spirits of the saints    assume the ,attitude that they only believe in the second
 with their glorified bodies, in the, heavenly sphere of              coming. This is absurd. But we believe in only one
 incoyruption,  power, glory, immortality, and spiritual              coming, at the end of the world. We believe that,`&
 things, to inherit, the kingdpm of God.                   _          that coming, the present world will be destroyed, its
                                                                      fashion shall pass away; new heavens and a new earth
                   i                            .     .               will be created,. and in that new creation Christ shall
  .           .                     3.     `
                                           .                          reign, and we will reign with -Him, on the new earth,
                                                                      under the new heayen; and that, too, not for a thousand
                        Vha  ?l%llenniu&`.                            years, but for ever ancl ever. We believe the coming
         In the Apostolicwm; there fdllows immediately upon           of the Lorcl, the  iesurrection of' $he body, and life
 the  articl,e concerning the resurrection  ..of the body             everlasting.
 that about eternal life: "And the life everlasting."                    Secondly, in general it may be remarked th& many
         The Catechism explains this article as follows:              of the passages in Scripture which, according to the
 "That since I now feel in my heart the beginning of premillennialists,  teach the millennium, simply have :
 eternal joy; after ,this life, I shall inherit perfect sal- *  ref,erence  to the everlasting kingdom- of glory that
 vatioh,.whi'ch  eye `hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither shall be ushered in at the second coming of our Lord.
 bath  it-  `entered into the heart of man to conceive,                  But it might be well & look a little more closely
 arid that; to -praise God therein forever."                          int.0, the Scriptural passage that, on the surface, ap-
        --No rbom is left here for the millennium theory.             pears to speak literally of the millennium. I have
        According to  the view of the Chiliasfs, we must reference, of course, to the passage- in the twentieth
                                                                                L         ._

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

   chapter of the book of R,evelation. This may b.e called
   the Zocu.s cZas_s&`of the millenialists. IThe very term                        -                 CHURCH POLITY
   millennium, i.e., `i;housand  year period, is derived from
   this passage. The question now is, whether this pas-
 sage actually ieach+ that Christ shall reign, with His
   saints, in their resurrection bodies, for the period' of a                          Dr. Ridderbos and Article 79
  .- thousand years, on this -018, unrenewed earth.
          Our .answer  is emphatigally,  that it does not.'                            Let us X~OW examine what remains of Dr. Ridder-
          For this answe'r we offer the folldwing grounds :                     bos's attempt to prove .with the Church `Order that
          1.. The highly apocalyptic character of the book of                   Classis  -(Synod)  rightfully deposes office-bearers. It
   Revelation  fokbids  us to read this passage as if it                        is the doctor's exegesis of Art. 79 of the Church Order
   simply  lit,erally recorded what shall take place.  ~~ It -to which we next have regard. The article reads,
                                                                                                                      I     :
   was in the vision that' John `saw an angel come down                                   "When Ministers of the Divine Woyd, Elders or
   from heayen,  having the key of the bottomless pit and                               Deacons, have'. committed any public, .gross sin,
   a great chain in his hand. *And he laid hold on the                                  which is a disgrace "to the Church, or worthy of
   dragon, that old serpent,  which'is the Deiril and Satan,                            punishment by the authorities, the Elders and
   and bound him a thousalld years. And cast him into                                   Deacons shall immediately by preceding sentence
   the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon                             of  the Consistory thereof and, of the nearest
   him, that he should deceive -the nations no morej till                               Church,  .be suspended or  .expelled  from their
   the thousand. years should be fulfilled ; and after that                             office, but the mini"sters shall only be suspended.
   he tiust be loosed a little season." No one, not even                                Whether these shall be' entirely deposed from
--  - the  premillenialist,  thinks.  oi applying a so-called                           office, shall- be subject `to the judgment of the
   method of `literal interpretation to `these words.  In                               Classis, with the advice of the Delegates, of the
   fact,  .a strictly literal interpretation would refute the                           (Par&ular)  Synod mentioned in Article `11."
   very theory which the Chiliast seeks to_ establish. If                              The doctor's interpretation of this article is con-
   this passage is to be read as history, it follows that the tained in the following excerpts from his pen,
   so-called millenium comtienced  at the tim.e.  when Johri
  saw the vision on Patmos,                                                              ~ "De- broehers (Schilder group)  meenen;  dat
                                     for  h.e saw an angel  come
   down and bind the devil at that very moment. No one                                  volgens Art. `79 de  s'chorsjng  en- afzetting niet
   irisists upon such a literal interpretation of the pas-                             anders mag geschieden dan door den kerkeraad
   sage. What  6 have here is a vision, a highly  ap&                                   met de  fiaastbijgelegen  kerk,  ,of (ingeval van
   calyptievision. And a vision dar,e not be interpreted                                afzetting:van Gen predikent) door de Classis ; bij.
   as if it were- a mere-foretelling of &en;ts as they shall                            de Synode  zou zulk een zaak alieen mdgen komen
   actually take place. It would not b6 interpreting the                                .in den weg `van app61 of hboger  -beroep;
   passage, but doing violence to Scripture, if we should                                 "Het  antwoorq hierop is, dat Art. 79 &et be-
   paraphrase this* passage as follows : "Then shall an                                 doelt te zeggen,' wie ambtsdragers  mag schorsen
   angel come down from heaven, having the key of the                                   en afzetten, maar .enkel.bedoelt,  dat de kerkeraad
   bottomless pit, and a great chain in h<s-hand, and he                                het niet mag dden zonder hulp van de naastbij-
   shall bind the devil a thousand years." Such a paral                                 gelegen  kerk  en dan bij predikanten nog  riiet
   phrasing of the text entirely disregards the fact that                               verder mag gaafi dan de schorsing."
   the passage is in the form of a,visio+                     :                 Translation :
                                                     `I-L          IH. .                  "The. brethren (Schilder group) /suppose that
                                                                                        accordiqg to Art. 79 this suspension and deposi-
                                                                                        t@ (of officebearers :  Miiiisters, Elders,' and
                                                                          ".            Deacons), may not take place otherwise than by
                         CALL TO SYNOD                                           ' the Consistorjr  with the neighboring church or in
                                                                                        the event of deposition of a Minister by the Clas-
          The Consistory  of the Protestant Reformed Church                             sis  ; a case of this kind may come to Synod only
 of South Holland, Illinois being designated as the -call-                        . in the way of appeal.                   .
   ing Church by the last Synod, herewith notifies our                                    "The answer to this is that Art. 79 does not
   Church that the Synod will meet in South il%olland on *                              purpose to  say who  may suspend and depose
   Wednesday, June 4, 1947.. The Pre-Syizodical  Prayer-                                office-bearers, but only means that the Consistory
   Service will be held on Tuesday evening at 7 :45, w&n                                may not do it without the help of the neighboring
   the Rev. G. Vos, president of the last .Sy%od will-deliver                           church and that, if the offender be a minister of
   the. sermon,                                                                        the word, it even may go no  .further than  sus-
            1                          L. Bruinsma, Clerk,                         ' pension."
                                           _,
                                                                                                          /    . .


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                                             T H E   Y'I`A`NDARD  B E A R E R                                  i           323

      `the doctor  continues :                                      who said what they meant and meant what they said,
               `-tir ziJn voorbeelden aangehaald uit de historic and communicated  the thoughts oI' Zheir heart in clear
           ten bewlJze, ciat dit van ouds de.opvatting in de and unaerstandable  language.. It means that we know,
           Cierelormeerde   herken hier te  lande is geweest.       can  know,  ~6 we so desire, as well as  tfiey what is
           Het meest  sprekentie  bewiJz hiervoor is we1 het        meant and What tney meant by tne articles of their
           Ieit, dat de Uordtsche  Dynode van 1618, die 6at         c/nurch wrder, thus Know in what sense the Church
           den ouden tijd betrezt het laatst de keykenorde-         .Uruer  is .to be taken. `1'0 adopt the opposite view is to
           ning  heett  vastgbsteld, zelf  ambtsdragers.  heeft say Mat the Church Order is a collection. of equivoc--
           a1gezet;  deie  synode zal  tech  we1  zelve het best    aDle and on this account dark deliv&ances.  at whose
          `hebben geweten, in welken zin de door haar vast-         meaning we must guess and of whose meaning ,there-
        - gestelde  Kerkenordening  (daarom de  Dordtsche           lore no one c&n be sure, thus a collection of rules in
           kierkenordening)   meet  worden   `verstaan."  Kerk- whlclx men may read Just what they please and with
           Bcheuring,  p. .23.                                      which they can go in any direction. II .th&`were true,
      5 ranslation :                                                the Church Order wer.e  a fraud and its.auth&s fraudu-
                                                                    .lent men. but the Church ,Order is not a fraud; it .iS
               "Examples have been quoted from history prov- a trustworthy production of honest and tr.ustworthy
           ing.$hat of old .this has been the conception of the     ecclesiastics.
           `X+ereformeerde" Churches h&e in this land. The              Dr. Kidderbos does not deny this, of course. Yet
           most telling proof of this is  the  fact, certainly, he reasons as though the Church' Order, definitely
           that  J&e  Uort Synod of  1618,  .who  as'far as the A&. 79, emits an. .uncertain sound. Taken by itself
         tmes of old are concerned, was the last to fix,            it may mean one thing as well as another. Hence, the
           render permanent, the Church  Order, itself de-          thing to do is to allow the Synod of  Dart to explain
           posed office-bearers ; this Synod certainly would        the article to us. This may be well said. But the
        ' know best,' in what sense  the by-itself-fixed diticulty is that the Synod of Dart gave 
           Church Order (therefore called the Church `Order                                                         us n'o hand-
                                                                    book on the Chu$Fh  ,Qrder, explaining its supposedly
           of Dort) must be understood."                            doubtful' articles.
         Let us reply40 this. As the doctor intimates, the              If so, to what purpose is it tq -say that we find
      Synod of Dort did .not originate the Church Order, but ourselves-sunder  the necessity pf allowing the Synod
      it fixed, rendered it permanent, by revising and ap-          of  .Dort  to tell  us  in what sense the Church Order
      proving' it as revised. In so far as the Church ,Order        must be taken? To no `purpose whatever. Besides,
      was corrected and amplified by the Synod of Dort, it          if the fathers of Dort had been spiritually and intel-
      is  Dortls ChuPch Order. -Let us now concentrate on lectually incapable of providing the churches with: a'
      the statement of the doctor to the effect that' the           Churc& Order by itself interpretable, on what ground
      Synod of Dort knew best in what sense its Church              could it. be  mAintained that they would have been
      Order must be understood.  Were  what  the doctor spiritually and intellectually capable of supplementing
      in this statement asserts true, we should be driven to their productiqn  with an interpretable handbook.
      the conclusion tliat we have no Church Order worthy               The thing is that the Church Order by itself is
      of the name and that the fathers of Dort were either most competently interpretable and that therefore we
      a. deceitful or a stuljid and. incompetent people. The        do have a- Church Order' worthy of the name. Now
      doctok's -statement there -must be pronounced untrue. this is what the doctor defiies by his assertion that the
      It- certainly must be maintained that we know-in what         Synod of Dort knows best.in what sense the Church
      sense the ,Church Order must be understood just as            Order must be taken. `*And though the Synod did not
      well as th6 Fathers of Dort did. But is this possible? provide the churches with a written handbook on the
      It is not  onty possible; it is a  f&t.- This  -1 repeat,     Church Order ,explaining its doubtful articles, it did
      must be maintained. I shall  `kxplain. Being on the nevertheless, according to the doctor, speak its mind
      street,  you  ask a fellow pedestrian for the time of on the Church (Order. It did so not by the written.
      day. He replies, "It is three o'clock." Certainly  you .word but by an action according to which it deposed
      know just as well as your infdrmer what is meant by a number of Arminian ministers. By this doing,
      that statemeiit.         For he expressed himself in clear the doctor has it,  the- Dort Synod revealed to the
      and  unmistakeable language. And being an honest ihurches just how' it wanted Art. `79 of the Church
      man, who is iti the habit of saying just what he means,       Order understood. It told us that it is not the pur-
      you, too,. know as well. 2s he, just what he meant by pose' of this article to say  who- may depose  office-
      that                statement.        %                       ljearers,  the Consistory or the  Classis (Synod), and
      Certainly the fathers  0-f  Qort were that kind of that  thgrefore as far as this article  is concerned,
      people. The? were honest and God-fearing men, and Classis, too;  -as well as the Consistory may depose
      competent theologically and linquistically,  thus' men
                        ; -                                         office-bearers. According  t? the doctor then the Synod


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 324       -                            T H E   STA-N0AR.D  B E A R E R

 of Dort after all did supply the churches with a               Church Order and its articles better. than the fathers
 handbook on the Church Order.                                  of Dort by. whom they were composed." Then the
     But the doctor's contention raises questions. How brother goes on `to relate that. shortly -after the ad-
 does he know that deposition of office-bearers by the jourmnent of  the. Synod of Dort several particular
 Dort Synod had that significance? He does not know, synods in the :Netherlando went to deposing ministers
 of course. The doctor is simply conjecturing, that is,         of the Word, in large numbers. Sixty ministers, he
 ~guessing at the thing. .Now certainly to be of service writes,  w.ere deposed by the particular synod of Leiden,
 to us a Dort handbook explaining the doubtful articles         eight by the North Holland Synod atid %everal more
.. of the Church #Order should be made of sterner stuff         by the Synod of Utrecht.  Artiinian ministers  they
 than conjectures. Somebody else has just as much were. It means that  aiter the  adjourntient of the
 right to conjecture that the Synod of Dort in deposing Synod of Dort, the Reformed Synods continued in that
 those Arminian ministers meant not at all to shed light way the work of ridding the churches of Arminian
 on its supposedly equivocable Church ,Order but even ministers. So the brother wants to know if I think
 knowingly went contrary to the Church Order all in that my understanding  of the Church Order excels
 `the  f,everish  haste to free the churches as speedily that of the fathers of Dort. In a previous article he
 ai possible of Arminian ministers.           This is not a asked me if I thought I had better imderstanding  of
 bad conjecture either, considering the treatment the the- Church Order than. then late Dr. H. Bouwman of
 fathers afforded those ministers after having deposed          the Nktherlands. (Also this doctor, it will be recalled,
.-them. They put them on wagons and conveyed them wrote a monumental work on Reformed Church Pol--
 cu't of the country. They wanted to free the churches ity) . But the brother  hasn't repeat'ed that question,
 of that pernicious influence just that bad. Assuredly,         the reason being, it must be, that it appeared that
 we ha+e not to do here with a baseless conjecture. It there are three doctor Bouwman's discoverable in that
 is just as good as that of the  doctor's.      Evenso, we work of the doctor on "Gereformeerd  Kerkreckit,"-=-
 must not make the grave mistake that the doctor 3 doctor Bouwman's, each at variance with the other
 makes.         Il!Ze reads his conjecture into the Church respecting the ,question whether Classis rightfully de-
 Order and thereby declares that by itself  it is not           poses office-bearers.      The brother understands, no
 interpretable. We must understand that a conjecture doubt, that one cannot very well build on an .authority
 is but a  guess and that therefore it may be wrong.            so violently in conflict with himself. But now he calls
 We may not allow it to rule over the exegesis of the my attention to the doing of those Synods. The brother
 Church Order.                                                  does not understand. He, too, forgets that the%hurch
    Let us consider that what is at stake here is the           Order bz~ itself is most competently interpretable and
`whole Church. Order.         The question  is whether we that, if not, we can have- no -Church Order. The
 have a "Church Order worthy of the name. We do, but brother, too, wrongly imagines that the Synod of
 then the Church Order by itself is cotipetently inter- Dort left US a handbook in which it explains-in what
 pretable. Hence, we have not nor do-we need a Dort sense the Church Order must be taken, and his charge
 handbook to explain its  eqiivocable articles; for its         is that I ignore the light that th,e .Sytiod  in that !book
 articles are not equivocable-dark, uncertain,  `enig-          shed on its doubtful sentences and thus behalf as
 matical:but  they are plain and honest statements of           though I  undeystand the Church Order better than
 honest men. To read our `own conjectures into the              its authors. I hope that when the brother reads this
 Church Order is to silence it. Silencing  t$e Church article he will see his mistake.
 Order is very wrong. The Church Order  Ynust be                   I repeat, the Synod of Dort gave us-no handbook
 allowed to speak and as its. interpreters we must be           ofi the Church Order.       Especially must we refrain
 willing to hear its voice, which is clear and under- from labelling "Dart's IBandbook  on the Church Order!'
 standable.                                                     what those Reforme'd Synods, about whom the brother
    Dr. Ridderbos silences the Church  Ordey;. For writ,es,   did after the Synod of Dort adjourned,-they
 he reads into it his own conjecture. And he accuses            deposed office-bearers  zind that is what Reformed
 those who rej,ect his conjecture for what it is-a con-         Synod are still  dding.     To give to these doings the
 jecture_of tinderminiqg  the authority of Class& and status of a "Dord's  hahdbook.on the Church Order'!
 Synod  and thus also of the Church Order by hair-              is ethically wrong.. For that these doings deserve to
 splitting arguments.                                           be thus labelled  is even more .of a baseless conj'ecture
    !The brother-in Sioux Center, Iowa, wrote me an- than the deposition of office-bearers by the Synod
 other letter in which, he, too, calls my attention to          of Dort. And we may not read oug guesses into the
 the  fact, that the fathers of Dort themselves deposed         Church Order. Why don't we' study the Chupch Order
 office-becrers,  minist,ers of the gospel.  Ancl. he  -lets    and in connection herewith the Confession and the
 me knoti that, quoting him, "I have come to the con-           Scriptures? Are we afraid of the -Church Order?
 clusion that you think you know the purpose of the             afraid that an exegesis of the Church  ,Order in


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         325

obedience to the laws of' exposition might turn out no  cl&bt the fathers would have worked into the article
disastrously for our theory?                                 some. such clause, could they have foreseen that divines '
I repeatedly have made the statement that  `the              would arise in the `churches who were. going to play
Church Order by itself is most competently interpret- hocus pocus' with the Church  SOrder. However, if
able. Let us see now how very true this is. We -go           churchmen are determined to read into the Church
back to  Art'; `79, cited above. This article. states        Order their own theorifts, that is precisely what they
l i t e r a l l y ,                                          would do,  though the articles of the Church Order
     1)  `I'hat the consistory shall suspend and expel w,ere written in language ever so pointed. The proof
(depose) _ office-bearers.                                   of. this is the  IHioly Scriptures. Holy Writ is plain.
     2) That the Consistory, shall not engage in' this Yet what' have ndt men been making of the Scrip-
action w'ithout  the advice of the neighboring Church, tures !
in the event the offending office-bearers be #elder  or         But even without that clause "the Consistory only
deacon. If the Minister of the Word offend, the se?i-        shall depose office-bearers " it will be seen th& Article
tence of deposi%on `must be subject to the judgment          79, if interpreted in the light of the Church Order
of the Classis with the advice of the Synod.                 (not in the light of that imaginary handbook) very
     The article in clear and  unmistakeable language .emphatically  declares that the Consistory only shall
posits the'right to depose office-bearers in the Consis-     dep6se  office-bearers and that the  Classis (Synod)
tory. It does not state that this is  al@ the task of        shall refrain. from this action. is ;lot .the statement
Classis (Synod). The only right with which it vests "Christ died for his elect" very actually equivalent to
the Classis. (Synod) is that of serving the Col)sistory      the statement, `"Christ died not for the ,reprobated?
with advice. The article plainly settles the question        It is, and why so? Because  reprobate  and  elect  are
who,  acco?dirig  to the Church Order, shall depose two terms mutually exclusive. Likewise the two terms
off ice-bearers. Its answer is that this shall be  the       Consistory  and  Classis (Synod). They stand for  clif-
task of the Consistory. But the doctor (Ridderbos)           ferent entities. As we saw in a previous article, a
will not have it so. He maintains that it is not the         Consistory, accoiding to the :Conf,ession and the Church
purpose of Art.  79_ to. say who may depose  office-         Order, is. an ecclesiastical council each and  .every
bearers, the- Consistory or th'e Classis (Synod), and member of which is chosen by lawful election of the
tl%t therefore, of course, it does not. . The sole pur- one local brotherhood subject,to it. A Classis, accord-
pose of this article of the Church Order, according          ing to the Confession  and the Church Order, is an
to the doctor, is to `say that .the Consistory shall not ecclesiastical  brganization  of delegates-ministers and
engage in this action without subj,ecting , its sentence     elders,$each of whom is chosen by lawful election not
of deposition to the judgment of. the neighboring by .the sum and total of churches that delegate to the
church and to that of the  Classis and  Synod in the         Classical assembly and that in their totality con-
event the offender is a minister of the Gospel. But stitute one congregation, but only by the one churcli
the article_ do& not purpose to say, the doctor tells us,    represented by ,each. Hence, the Church Order atid
that the  Xonsi&ory  only may depose  office-b'earers        the Confession sharply distinguish the two. And they
and that  Classis and Synod  mu& refrain from this           deposit all key-power-the right to  idminister the
action. There is this question. How does the doctor          word and the sacraments and to exercise Church disci-
know that it is not the purpose of Article `79 to say        pline @he three cannot be separated) in the consistory
who rntiy depose office-bearers? How does the doctor only. Who can, cite one article from the Confession
himself, say that he  kilows ? He admits that what and the Church Order, according to which  Classis
tells him is not the article itself but his Dort Handbook    (Synod) too, shall administer the word and the sacra-
on the Church Order-that doing of Dort Synod where- ments; and exercise Church Discipline (the three can-
by it deposed those Arminian ministers. This certain- not be separated). Nobody can. Thus  accordilig"to
ly is a confession on the part of the-doctor that if he      Church Order and the Confession, the Gonsistory'and
hacl not that handbook to consult and to go by it wocld      the  Classis (Synod) very actually are two radically
be but fair .ancl right for him to conclude-that Article     different entities. Th,erefore the statement of Art. 79,
79 aloes Very actually declare that the cohsistory~only      "the Consistory shall depose office-bearers;!" certainly
shall depose office-bearers.                                 is equivalent to the statement, "Classis (`Synod) shall
     We see now what happens to the Church  Order            vat d'epose  office-bearers."
when divines go by that handbook. The Church Order             . So it Fppeau's `that a proper exegesis of the Church
is very actually silenced. Of course, the fathers of         Order proves the conjecture of Dr. Ridderbos wrong
Dort so ,could  have worded  Art. 79 as to cut short all     and the other conjecture right,-proves that the Synod
argument as to just what it teaches. These fathers           of Dort in deposing Arminian  min$&rs must have
somehow could have worked in a clause reading, "The knowingly gone against its own Church Order. For.
Con&tory only shall depose office-bearers." And. Article 79, as interpreted in the light of the Chukh


       .326.                                     TH-E  STANDAR?  B E A R E R \
       Order, certainly forbids deposition of ioffice-be&rers        Er komen donker,e,  zeer donkere jaren.
       by  .Sjynod  (ClaSsis)  ; That the Fathers of Dort  yent            Do& de Heere regeert!
       againt their  oyn Church Order  can be  explaiined.  It             Last de aarde zicn verheugen  en de eilanden blijde
       has already been explained. Their haste to purge the zijn ! -Het is de Heere Zelf die ons dit toerdept door
       Churches and the land of qrniinian ministers was just AlJn  ;&eihgen   C;eest.  Het is eeuwig waar.
       that feverish. The Synod of Dort did wrong, of course,              En, o, ala we slBechts oog$n hebben om te zien en
       in deposing office-bearers. But what must be said to ha&en om op te merken, dan ktinnen we ook we1 zieh,
       the credit of the fathers of Dort is that they did n% dat het zoo is en @et anders. De Heere heeft .eeuwen
       flood the land with ~brochures  in which they attempted verleden gezegd : `*lk  tech heb  Mijn  Koning  -geialfd
. to argue the crooked thing straight. This is a  phe-               over*Sion, den berg Mijner hkiligheid !" Psalm Z. En
       nomenod of today. If there were in  .existence such toen die Koning van God kwam, zeide Hij : Mij is ge;
       brochures, Dr. Ridderbos would have made use of               geveq alle macltt  in den hemel en_ op de aarde ! G&
       them.  $40~. all he  c&n come with is a baseless  cqn-        mmt er van op aan. !Het is zoo.
                                                                      -
       jecture.  `.                                                        De-Heere r.egeert : ge kunt~ het zien in het zijn en
           There still remains something of Dr.  Ridderbos' het voortbestaan der dingen. De dwaas zelf moest het
       argument that we have not yet examined.. We will              tech zien? Als men-hem,zou zeggen, dat het schepsel
       do so in the next article. Thus far the doctor, has           zichzelf  continueert,  dan lacht hij U uit. Een horloge
       proved nothing. ,Fact is that already he has lost the         kan zichzelf- niet op gang gooien, noch -oak kan het
       whole argument. For I have proved that according steeds maar voortloopen, zonder de veer op te draaien!
       to Art. 79,  Classis (Synod) shall not depose  office-        En zie nu eens rondom U! Alles beweegt, rFert  xi&,
       bearers.                                                      haast zich en.dra&ft; alles beweegt zich en roept en
                                                     G. M. 0.        kreunt, zingt  en- schreeuwt, jubelt en  sdhaterlacht;
  -                          -h                                      alles beweegt' en de werelden rollen voort in het ont-
                                                                     zaglijke heelal, in groote duisternis -of temidden van
                                                                     duiielingwekkende  golven vafi licht : ik vraag U : is het
                       SION'S  ZANGE-N                               niet cluidelijk,  dat de Heere regeert?
                                                                           De Heere regeert': ge kunt bet ook zien in het was-
                                                                     sen van den` Anti-Christ. Het wordt steeds  god_de-
                         Jehova Regeert                              ,loozer,  vuiler, leelijker hier op aarde: Ook wordt men
                                                                     driester  i? zijn goddeloosheid. In -de  middeleeuw'en
                              (Psalm 97)                             randde men de Schrift en de getrouwen nog aan. Nu
                                                                     niet meer. Men'h&ft niet dan spot, hoon, trerachting
           $0 dat we.de les leerden uit dezen kostelijken psalm.     voqr wat nog spreekt van God.  SOf  ,erger nog: men
       Er is geen. titel boven dezen psalm geschreven,  doch .l-qeft Hem vergeten  ! Ja, ,ik kan zien, dat de Heere
       we mogeti hem gerust een kleinood heeten. Een gou- regeert. Hij ieide het ons op h-it laatste `blad van Zijn
den kleinood. En waarom?  Deze  psalm spreekt  ,pit-                 Woord: die  vuil. is moet  ndg vuiler  worden.  En ze
       sluitend van God en Zijn grootheid. Nauwkeuriger:             worden  erg vuil vandaag. De  eindelijke  openbaring
       van  Jehbva en Zijn  glorieuze  regeering. Hij is  echt       van den vuilen Anti-ch&t z&l niet lang meer op zich
       theo!ogisch: het  draait alles om God.  *                     laten wachten. Hij staat aan de deur van het wereld-
           Hoe geheel anders schijnt alles tech !                    gebeuren.
           lget eene ges!acht komt, en ziet het ander'e  geslacht          De  iH(eere regeert: ziet  &e het niet? Hebt ge'ner-
       gaan : en er schijnen duizende verschillende vorsten gens Zijn  volk gezien, op de  kn%en, in  bet stof, in
       en koningen, `czaren en keizers, sultans en sha's, presi-     tranen en berouw, doch ook met stralende oogen die
       denten  en dictatoren, en  allen regeeren ! Ze  geven         zijn brandende hart vertolken: hij  staat in vlam en
       hun s bevel ,en duizenden en nag. eens duizenden achten vuur vanwege de liefde Gods. 0 ja, de Heere regeert,
       zich gelulrkig of sterven in  smart en klachten.  .Elk want  ik zie nog het  wonde? der  wedergeboorte,  der
       geslachtkan het zien : er is een chaos en `verwarring.        bekeering, van  `bet geloof  eh de heiligmaking. Of
           D.e mensch, de-zonde, de duivelen schijnen te re-         denkt ge, dat er ooit <en mensch naar God zou vragen
  .geeren inplaats van de Heere.            '                        en Zijne  sterkte,   als  rHij  niet regeerde? Ge kent .het
           En- tech is het waar : De Heere regeert !.                atitwoord:
           Als we dat niet meer gelooven kunnen, dan is' ei                De Heere regeert: want ik zie Jezus, met eer en
       niets dan smart op deze wereld.                               heerlijkheid  gekrqond. En ik zie, dat Hij aan `t komen
            Ook wordt het al erger.    '                             is. Hij  kotit snellijk.  D.e  teekenen  van  Zijn komst
            Het. is oe `t hed.en  erger dan toen Mussolini snoefde vertienigvuldigen  zich. Hij blijft niet lang meer uit.
       ,en Hitler raasde. `We hebben den vrede diet gewon-             Verheug U dan, o aarde ! Verblijdt U, gij eilanden !
       nen na de bloedige  jaren die pas  achser   0n.s liggen. .Daar w&dt het volk van God mee bedoeld. Want dat


                                                                                                       Y



                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARER  -                                             327'
                                                                                    _
       is U woonplaats. Hij heeft Zich een volk geformeerd :           .Neen,  de mensch ziet Hem nog niet, zooals Hij
       die zullen Hem loven! Al werd hun getal kleiner bij straks zal regeeren met-Zijn vuur,. dat onuitblussche-
       bet voortschrijden d,er eeuwen:                               lijk is. Doch als d,e Heere ten finale zal komen met
       -  Random den  r,egeerenden   Heere.  zijn wolken en Zijti verteerend vu&, dan zullen zij IHiem~ zien en'luid-
       donkerheid, gerechtigheid en gericht zijn de vastigheid keels tot de, bergen  en  tdt de heuvelen schreeuwen.
       Zijns troons !             -                                  Doch dan is het te laat, voor eeuwig te laat. Dan zul-
              Het eerste verklaart bet laatste : die wolken en len ze allen in-brand gestoken worden,  zegt de tekst,
       donkerheid zijn  Zijn gerechtigheid en gericht. Zoo rondom in  brand.- Let op dat  ronclom.                    Ik moet er
       zult ge gelezen -hebben, dat Jezus, als Hij' straks komt      niet inkomen. De he1 is al vuur. Eli dat vuur zijn de
       om te oordeelen, oc de wolken komt.  !Htij brengt Zijn        vuurvlamtien des Heeren. *
       recht en gerechtigheid met Hem.,                                 En dat  vuyr heeft ook Zijn volk iets  te zeggen.
              cerechtigheid is vast. Zij is deugd die Zijn troon Evenwel,.het  `is een sprake die getuigt van groote zalig-
       vast doet zijn.                                               heid. Er was een gezicht van tongen  als van vuur op
        Ge  .kunt dat  a! op aarde zien. Als ge  slechts` een        den  Pinksterdag.   /Het was het zaligende,  louterende,
      `beginsel van die gerechtigheid hebt in het leven der vuur van Gods onbqg/rijpelijke  liefde.voor het kuddeke
       heiligmaking, dan zijt ge als de leeuw zoo  moedig.           Zijner discipelen.
       D,e martelaren hadden .de overwinning op hun beulen              Dat vuur is blijven  branden. Het zet nog  steeds
       en  Y;echters.     Er zijn er geweest die de oogen der        onze harten in brand.` De Emmausgangeis spranken
       martelaren `niet konden  verdragbn.  Als ge voor een ,er van zelfs v66r den Pinksterdag : Was olis hart niet
       eerlijk en oprecht  mensch sttiat  met leugen en bedrog       brandende in ons, als Hij tot ons sprak qp den .weg
       in de ziel, dan  komt de blos van schaamte  onwille-          en als H.ij ons de Schriften opende? Geliefden, kent
       keurig op Uw gelaat. De eerlijke  en oprechte  is. dan        ge die vutirvlammen  niet ?            .
       kalm en bezadigd, rustig. ,en stil, wat er oak met hem           En zoo was @et  altijd.. Wat voor' de goddeloqzen'
       gebeure,  doch zijn  belagers zijn  onrustig  en wi!d: ze eeuwige angst en kommer was, was voor Gods volk
       missen de gerechtigheid.                                      ongekende  zaligheid. 0, da4 roode Meer ! Het was de
              Gerechtigheid is die deugd, waardoor God in al         seheiding va.n het bange Egypte voqr Israel, dqch het
       Zijn aanbiddelijk leven in harmonie is met het hoogste        was de dood voor Farao's helden.
       goed. Als Uw gedachte, woord en daad in  overeen-                Zijne bliksemen verlichten de wereld,. het aardrijk
       stemming is  qet hetgeen waarlijk  goed is, dan zijt zikt ze en het beeft.
     ge recht.  En die maatstaf  van het hoogste  goed is               Ei1 nog bekeeren zij zich niet.,-        .
       God. Hij is dus in Zijn gerechtigheid in volmaakte               De wereld  heeft heel tiat van dat bliksemen gezien.
       overeenstemming met Zijn aanbiddelijk Wezen.           ,      Ik clink bier oak aan Israel bij Sinai. Daar bliksemde
              En die God is vreeselijk ,in Zijn regeering wanneer    God ook. Doch het was de'bliksem Zijner liefde voor
       ge lrwaad zijt, warqeer ge U zet.tegen  Hem. Luistert bet volk, dat Hij Zich verkoren had. Toen heeft men
       maar : "Een vuur gaat voor Zijn aangeiicht  henen,            g e b e e f d .
       en het  steekt  Zijne  wederpartipders.  rondom  aan             -Er is  tw,&egrlei  be-ven.
       brand !"                                        i                De eene becft als' de=slaaf onder de zweepslagen van
              Dat vuur van God : `hoe vreeselijk! Paulus  keqd,e     Zijn wreeden meester. Het is het be-iren der haat.
       God en Hij zegt van Hem, eerst : Want onze ,God is een           De andere beeft vanwege  de vrees des Heeren die
       verteerend vuur  i En dan ook: `Vreeselijk zal bet zijn rein  ?s. Het is het opblikken de?  liefde, vanuit de
       te vallen in de hauden des. levenden Gods !                   laagte tot den- Hoogsten,  den All$ioogsten God.
              En dit is hit smartelijke: dat vuur is de eeuwen          Ja, de wereld  heeft de bliksemen van Gods oorlogen
       door voor Zijn aangezicht henen gegaan, en men lette          gezien in de bange jaren van  1939-1945,  en miliioenen
      ,C er niet op. Het stuk Zijn wederpartijdqs rondom aan van harten hebben gebeefd, maar er was geen beven
       brand, en men achtte het niet. Men kan gerust de cl+ lief.de  tot .God. Men voelde de `slagen; doch men
       vreeselijke  beelden zien van Mussolini en zijn bijzit,       verhardde zich.
-      die  aan hun beenen opgehangen zijn, -en  to& voort-             Maar het volk van God heeft gebeefd voor God en
       varen in de goddeloosheid. De  wereld  kan de  mil-           zij stamelen tot  1Hem: Gij zijt mijn God, U zal ik
       lioenen van slachtoffers des Heeren  zien in dezen loven, verhogen Uwe majesteit! Ze zijn ter school
       laatsten krijg en  tech  -1uidkeels  roepen: Er is geen gegaan bij  Paulus : Werkt uws zelfs zaligheid met
       God! D,e heele wereld zal straks in brand vliegen, en         vrees en beven, want het is God die in U werkt!
       vlak voor het einde, als de menschen die.het godde-              We zullen nog &nmaal beven, maar dan zal het
       looze voorhoofd hebben, zullen lijden vanwege Gods voor eeuwig zijn: als we- het bliksemen van Gods
       vuur, dan zullen  zij  zich naar den  hemel  keer,en  en      eeuwige li.efde'zien  in cle nieuwe, dingen. En het zal
     Hem vloeken e$.lasteren,  <Die de blijdschap des hemels         een bFven zijn van puur genot, het popelen van niet
       is.                                                           in te houden wederliefde: en ze begonnen  yroolijk te


3 2 8                                    - T H E   STAND`ARD  B E A R E R

z i j n .                                                          Huis  wordt  dan tot in alle eeuwigheid  vervuld  met
    De bQgen. smelten  als was voor h.et aanschijn des             rook, met de rook van cles He&en heerlijkheid.
Heeren, voor het aanschijn d,es  IHeeren  der gansche               . Zij juichen, ook zingen zij ; want de Heere regeert !
garde!         *                           I                                                                           G. V.
    Het staat`er tweemaal. Het aanschijn des Heeren.                                                                  __
Wat mag het we1 zijn?               .
    remand's aanschijn is zijn gezicht,_ zijn zelf-open-                                                           .  .__
ba&ng.                                                                                                               -..
    Welnu, Gods aanschijn, dat is, Zijn  Zelf-open-                             HIV  HIS FEAR --
baring, is,eerst,  de schepping. Ge kunt .het zien aan- de
dingen die gemaakt zijn, dat God ze gemaakt heeft.
De llemelen  vertellen zijn lof en het uitspansel-vertelt
U, dat het Zijner handenwerk is. Ik weet, dat ge dat                 The! Gospel and Our Socialljfe
eerst leert zien, wanneer de  Heilige  Schrift U  ge-
schonken werd in `t diepe hart, maar dat was -t&h de                  The Gospel, &e have seep, touches on the whole of
scheppingsgedachte  Gods. De schepping leerde  Adam our social life, pot with the purpose of supplying the
en Eva, dat God er is en hoe en wat Hij is. De schep-              world with a social. science, but with the purpose of
ping is Zijn aanschijn.                                            supplying the redeemed with grace to reveal them-
    Ge moogt  zelfs we1 zeggen, dat de historie ook Gods           selves as God's party in this world. `The reason why
aangezicht is. Want de historie is de ontrolling van               Scripture touches on social things is not ill the, social
Zijn radend hart.                                                  things themselves, btlt lies in the purpose of sanctifica-
    Maar nooit heeft God Zich ~66 laten zie$, -als op de           tion  qf the redeemed. Hence the Gospel is socially
glooi'ing buiten Jeruzalem. Ik heb  h&L oog op  Gol-               spiritual, and spiritually social. That is, the Gospel
gotha. Jezus  Christus is het  aanschijn Gods bij  uit-            is ever spiritn?l and of spiritual content, also whe6 it
`lzemendheid. Is iemand eerlijk, dan kunt ge  bet op               speaks of social things.
zijn gehaat lezen. Welnu, `God is de eerlijkheid zelve:               l?of .that  very reason the social science of Scrip-
als ge op Jezus staart, dan ziet ge het binnenste hart             ture was written for <llc spiritual minded person, ancl
van God. Al Zijn goedheid, lieflijkheid,  gerechtig- only the  spiritually   @nded man can appreciate  a&l
lieid,  heerlijkheid,  wijsheid en almacht, ziet ge `in practice it.
Jezus Christus,  aan het kruis genageld. Zou het                      From. this follows two things :
daarom zijn, dat Paulus bij zichzeif  -voornam om niets
to  weten,  clan Jezus  Christus en Hem  gekruist? Of                            Wcd47i~~g  in  Scmctification.
oak, dat daarom de hemelen in bet  midden van den                   First ?f all the redeemecl  themselves must be care-
;roon tot in alle eeuwigheid een lam zullen zien, staande ful to walk in that sanctification in every phase of
als geslacht ?                                                     social life. The saints wills constantly experience that
    Ziet ge dat, clan smelt ge weg.                                proucl man has invented a `social science of his own,,
    Daar spreekt de tekst ook vari.                                or concocted one by mixing up part. of what God saith
    De bergen &elt&n als was'voor bet aanschijn des                ancl part of what man saith. The saint will fincl more-
Heeren, voor bet aanschijn des Heeren der gansche                  over that the natural man `is constantly  practising
a a r d e .                                                        hi,s  own. brand of social science. Whether this be in
    Vl'age: wie kan Jezus zien, zooals Hij voor ons the sphere of business, labor, `industry, politics, or`
cog ten voeten uit geschilderd is,' en ni,et wegsmelten?           marriage, man has a social science which is- of private
    Doch ook hier : er is altijd een tweegrlei uitwerking          interpretation. The saint must beware that-he cloes-
ran al Gods  openbaring.                                           not identify himself with or yoke himself to such as
    Er is een wegsmelten  in eeuwigi angst en smart in practise  these corrupt things...  Neither must the saint
de vlammen der hel. Toen God zag op de helden van. allow himself, to be. guided by_ the question as to what
Farao,  toen zijn zij  versmolte6  van grooten angst. produces the best results in a material way: Also in
Toen God's aanschijn blikte op Korach,  cathan en these things it will be true that the flesh lusteth against
Abiram? toen zijn zij weggesmolten in de vlammen die the Spirit and exalteth itself against the Word of God.
hen opslokten.                                                     The saint must not become a Pragmatist or a Material-
    Maar er is ook een wegsmelten in groote liefde en              ist. He must  be. spiritual. If his interest is purely
aanbidding. Dan smelten  de oogeri in tranen van innig material, or if his interest is what works the best, or
                                                              '
zielsgeluk. Dan smelten  de harten weg in aanbidding if his only. question is, what do the rest `do, he will
van dat  lieflijke  Wezen.         Dan roept `men  @ maar:         discover that the wicked prosper, at least temporally,
`H~alleluja !       (Halleluja!                                    and the social science of the wicked will seem to yield
En de dorpelen der deuren. bewogen  zich en het better results than that of the Word of God. No; the
                                                                                     .


                                                I

                                                TH%  S T A N D A R D   BEARER                                          32.9

saint must take to heart the Word of God, he must              others out of the principle of sin. There is no sphere
follow it arid obey it, and dare to practise it in spite       wherein the regenerate can drop a little .of his  regener-
 of whaf,  .&he multitudes do or in spite of what seems        ative. quality and the unregenerate can adopt a little
to- yield material reward, yea, in spite of the indict- of the regenerative quality and thus unite. Nay, the
ment of rn.odern man that the Bible doesn't work out two ever stand opposed.
in today?! world.                                                  Hence, in spite of our summons, the greater part of              -
    It does "work" . . . . if you think spiritually and        the world laughs at the  sdZology of Scripture. . . .
 if you desire sanctification.                                 simply because it lives out of the  prinCiple  of sin.
    Then  .it even "works" if servants obey their Many churches do not-want the sociology of .the Scrip-,
 masters,  &nd even then when the masters  are  fro-           ture except insofar as they can bend it to their liking.
ward.                                                          Colleges and- universities in general do not want its
    If you think carnally, Scripture's social science sociology, -our marr,iage  bureaus do not want it, our
 neirer works.      It -is fooli&ness  to, the carnal mind.    worktien do not want it, our masters do not want it,
 Every bit of it is foolishness.                               the Unions, to be sure, do not want it, neither has the
                                                               C.L.A. convinced me that it wants the sociology of
              Holding Forth our Social Science.                Scripture.
   iThe redeemed, hdwever, have the right and the
 calling to preach the`sociology of Scripture to &h&s,                          Danger and Difficulty.
 and not bnly acquaint them with it but alsd, in the               Instead `therefore of finding an eager market for
 Name of the Lord, demand that every one shall prac-           Scripture-and its highly spiritual brand of sociology,
 tice it.. The Word of God holds for all, all must bow we discover that we "are not of the world" and the
 before that Word. ,.I                                         world knows us'not. The danger is that we shall seek
    Therefore we sing:                    _.                   to adopt a sociology which the world knows, and which ~
           "How long ye earthly judges,- will ye pervert is of this world. This is what we do if `we treat the
            the right,                                         married state as men treat it today. -Rena thrives on a
           /How long shall wicked persons, have favor          sociology which not God but man has dictated. Our
            in your sight?"                                    prisons ar,e full of inmates brought up on the scheme
    And again:                 '     X                         .of sinful men. Whgt we see in the labor world today ;
           "Let  rul.ers fear their ruler, their Judge let     is the outgrowth ,of a social skience evolved by sinful
     judges         feat".                                     men. The danger is that we, saints, allow ourselves
                                                               to adopt this social science.
    Or:                                                            ,Our difficulty is this: the wicked reject the social
           Kiss the 3on, ,le& o'er .your way,                  science of ,Gdd's Worcl, the saints believe and practise
         083s consuming wrath should  break,
           But supremely blest are they,                       it, result: endless oppression, conflict, confusion.
           Who in Christ their re'fuge take".                      Just because others reject the Word of God we
                                                               shall not do it. If the husband rejects what the Word
    And:  '                                                     of God commands of him in HIS place, the wife may
           "Thy truth before the king `of earth, with holi- not reject the Word of God which applies to her in
            ness-1, will speak:"                                HER place. If the husband should -be cruel and fro-
    If now all men bowed before that Word of God,              ward; the  wife is  callecl to be in subjection to her
 if the masters, and the laborers, the husbands and the husband. . . . Scripture does not instruct her to take
 wives; the rul,ers and the subjects; they who represent the train to Reno. If the Master should be cruel- and
 capital as well as they who represent labor, if thejT frowa?d, the laborer-looks in vain in Scripture to find
 all  bswed before that Word,  the- Kingdom of Gdd              excuse to rise up against .his boss, take charge of the
 would appear.                                                 -factory with a strike and-beat the boss into the dust.
    But that would mean that all men-lived out..of the Just because the boss does not bow before the Word of
principle of regeneration. And this is  not the case.           God,  .the laborer may not invent some new way of
 Grace is not common. Neither is regeneration com- treating his boss. If the men in the high  placks be
 mon. In this perv&e and corrupt world we are far,             wickecl  m&n \fho refuse the Word of God, we,. the sub-
 yery far from the Kingdoti  of God. There is a vastly jects, are not excused frdm that Word of God which
 different. kingdom niaking its appearance,. it is `the         calls upon us to be subject to the higher powers.
' kingdom of man.         .                                        In spite of how others treat the Word of God, and
    In -this present world mankind falls apart into two         collssquently in spite -of- how they manage the social
camps : the regenerate and the unregenerate. These affairs, and. in spite of everything that others may do,                    .
 two live out of two vastly differerit  and entirely oppo- our sanctification consists. exactly herein that we con-
 site `principles. Some live oui of the principle of grace, `tinue in the Word of God and that our behaviour in


 330                                          THE  STANDARD.                                      BEARER. .                       .

 society be cont&lled entirely by what the Lord saith
 to us.'                                                                         FR&I  tiOLY  W R I T
        Let me explpin more fully.
        Because the government refuses to obey that song
 we sang to her on the other page, we are nevertheless
 called to obey them in all things legitimate.                       The              0. T. Quotations in the N. T.
 .moment we rise up agaitist t&e government, the mo-
 ment we adopt the polity of the French Revolution, in                         IThe. first 0. T. quotation to which we would call
1 spite of what success we may think we have, sanctifi-                     attention is `that recorded in Romans 10 :5-8.
 cation has ceased- and corruption. has ientered  into our                     This beautiful and instructive passage is a quota-;
 lives. Whether  our form of conduct improves our tion from two different passages and two different
 natural state. . . . Scripture is not interested. Scrip- books in the 0. ,T., namely, Lev. 18 :5 and Deut. 30:
 ture is interested in having you walk in sanctifica-                       12-14.
 tion, in newness and holiness of life. Because the rich.                      The passage in Romans'lO,  calling for our attention
lay up treasures where God's Word says they should reads as follows: "For Moses describeth the right-.
 not lay up treasures, and they oppress -the poor, that                     eousness which is of the law on this wise: That the
  does not give us license to jump up at the thrpats m&n  zu.hich  cloeth those things shall  live by them"
  of the rich. -The moment we do that sanctification has                    (Lev.  18,:5).
  ceased and we corrupt ourselves.                Then Scripture               "But the, righteousness which is of faith speaketh
would say it were better to let the wages which they on this wise : sazJ not in thine heart : Who shall ascend
 hold back, cry into the ears, of God Sabaoth, than that                    into  lzeaven? (that is  to bring Christ  down from
  wle should take things into our own hands and act as                      above) or, Who shall clescend  into the deep? (that is
  if we ivere to take vellgeance. If the matter of ven- to bring Christ up from the dead). But what saith it?
  geance corn& up, reinember  that ,God taketh vengeance,                   The Word is nigh thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart,
  not you.       Just because capital has the power, and that is, the Word of faith, which we preach." (Deut.
  labor was captured in its net, that does not give labdr 30 :X-14).
 -the right to fly upon capital and claw out its eyes.
  Just there sanctification ceased gnd corruption oper-                                                        *  *  *  *
  ates. No matter how much it inay seem that retalia-
  tory and so-called self-defense measures justifies your                      The general thrust of the passage in Romans 10
  social conduct, and your well being requires it Scrip- is berfectly clear. The apostle Paul is here substantiat-
  ture contradicts you! and tells us that it is not inter-                  ing the truth of the Word of God, that Christ is indeed
  ested first in .economics nor our economical well-being,                  the end, ,the_teZos  of && law. It had never been the
  but in sanctification.                '                                   purpose of God in giving the law, thus the  apo,stle
        Thus, then, Scripture p,ortrays  us the way of sancti-              would instruct his readers, that this law should be the
  fication through today's tangled social perversion and way to salvation and righteousness. Whoever, there-
  blessed is the man who has the stamina of faith to dare fore, seeks righteousness in the way of cloing the law
  apply the social science of Scripture to the social con-                  must needs-fail. Indeed, all, -who sought and still seek
 ditions of nineteen hundred and forty-seven.                               salvation thus, have not obtained what they sought'
                           (To be continued).                               after. For by the works of the law shall no flesh be
                                                          M. G.  k          justified before God. Romans 3  :20; Gal.  2:16 and
                                                                            P s a l m   143:2.
                                                                               Salvation is not and never has been by works of
                                                                            law, that mere man performs, be he Jew or .Gentile.
                            IN MEMORIAM .                                   It. always was and still is merely by faith in Christ
        The Mary-Martha Society of the Manhattan Protestant                 Jesus. There is no other way. None other name is
  Reformed ,Church  ,hereby wishes to express their heartfelt sym-          given under heaven. Jeius Christ is, the Sam&  yester-
  pathy  $0  `one   .of  *its members, Mrs. M. Vander Molen, in the         day, today and forever. -They, who are of faith, are
  loss of 3ier. mother;                                                     the children of Abraham, are the, heirs according to
                                                                            the promise !
                 MRS. FRANK WESSELS (Jonksma)                                   The law' came 430 years after the Promise. It did
        :May ,the <God of all grace comfort *he hearts of !tie bereaved     not and could not change the terms df ;the Promise,
  and bless  them  thrpugh  this way of suffering.                          the will of the Testator: The.Promise is not by works,
                            The  Mary-Mastha  Society,                      but solely by faith, that it might be of grace.
                                     Mrs..  H .   Leep,  Vice-Sec'y.            Such is the general thrust of this passage. Salva-
                                     Rev.  C.  Hanko,  Pres.    _            tion by faith alone is the underlying promise of the


                                                  I


                                       THE.      STANDARD'              B%AR.%R                                                    3 3 1
                                                                                                                                            <,z-
  apostle here. But that is not all the apostle would teach       this purpose is attained the law has served its intended
  .
  his readers in this passage.. The writer to the Romans          end and is made to be ineffective.
  also shpws conclusively in this passage, what this prin-           Now, foY him who believes, Christ is the end, the
  ciple of salvation-by faith &lone-  means for those, who. "telos" `of the law in both senses of the term.-. The'
  will not subject themselves to this great work of the           believer in the 0. T. Dispensation, who by fa&th  ob-
  Almighty God. Not subjecting  themselSes  to grace,             tained the promises, said : Christ is the end of t@e law.
  but Willing to establish their own  righteousness they Thus  IHe had  peace.  The law drove  him, as it were,
  oppose God. Always do they resist the Holy Spirit at into the arms of God's mercy. And this me&y is alone
  every turn of the way of lifme. Because of the blind- in Christ. And the believer in the N. T. Dispensation,
  ness of unbelief they are ignorant of God's righteous- be he Jew or Greek, says: for me, as believer, in my
  ness. IThey know not, neither do they seek the one and believing in Christ crucified, the law was abolished for
  only  righteou&ess of God set forth in the Cross of             me. .Christ is, for both the believers of the O.T. ?nd
  Christ,  tiho is the Ijrtipitiation   .of God for sin.          of the N. IT., the end of the law.
       What did they not  s&e? They failed to see, that              It is a great tragedy, yet, it is dreadful reality, that
  Christ is the en& the telos of the law. And so they             the unbelieving Jew, not submitting himself to the
  stumbled at the Rock of Stumbling, laid by God in Zion.         righteousness of God, perishes in his sins.  II-lie under-
       In passing we should note that when Paul here stands neither the Scriptures nor the power of God !
  tells us, that Christ is the end of the law, he employs
  in the Greek the- term "telos". Now "telos" in its                                     `$4    :i:     :::      *
  usage in the Bible has a twofold sense. It may refer
  to the end, `the purpose of-things. Iti this._case  it would       How the Sc&u~~s should be understood Paul tells
  tlien indicate that the sole purpose of the law was             us in this quotation. Earlierin this essay we remarked
  Christ. The law must lead man to be a pedagogue to              that %ve have here in Remans 10 :5-8 two quotations.
  Christ. Everything pointed to Him. And this usage                  In the one, Lev.  18  :5, the apostle tells us what
  of the term gives a very good `sense here. It would Moses  writes! In the other, Deut. 30:12-14,  the ap&-
  mean that all that the Bible tells us about the law in          tie  mlderscores:   What  .the righteousness out of faith
  all its demands unto salvation only has sense when says! The righteousness out of faith speaks, it  con-
  viewed in relationship to its divine purpose, namely,           feises out of the. heart ! Just what this twofold con-
  to lead to` Christ. When, therefore,  Isra.el seeks to          trast, clrawn.here  by the apostle, implies,  we hope to
  establish its own righteousness, being ignorant of point out presently. I-Iowever, before we do so, there
  God's righteousness, this is due to- their not knowing is another question that calls for an answer, which we
  the Scripture, neither the power of God's efficacious will here consicler. It is the questidn of quotation.
  Promise. Always Christ was the eizd of the Law. And                Does  Paul in quoting Deut: 30 :12-14 and setting it
  always Israel in `establishing their own righteousness here in the context ancl argument of Romans 10 give
  has a purely blind zeal. Zealous of ,God they are, but the real sense of the passage as intended by Moses,
  not according to the knowledge of those who though              when he spoke' these worcls to Israel in the plains of
  under law, sef: Christ as the end of the law.                   Moab? Or, does_  Paul in quoting this passage, very
       IOf course, the term "end of the law" can also refer handily give a slightly different rendering to the text,
  to  the  aboZishment  of the law. Christ has come. He           so as to permit him to prove his point in Romans lo?
  has died, was nailed to the accursed tree. When men                At first-flush one is inclined to conclude that the
  nail Him to the cross, ,He in obedience to the will of          latter df the two given alternatives is here the case.
  the Father; and taking all our curse upon Himself,              The question &ould then-in Rom. 10 not have the sense
1 nailed the law, as the`hand,writing  against us, to the         inten.clcd,  by Moses, but the one  given by Paul. And
  tree.- And so the comm&hnents `dontained in ordin-              there- are expositors tvho insist that such is the case.
 antes have been abolished iti Him. Thus the apostle They make the following observations :                                                  _
  writes to the church at Ephesus.                                   In the first place, attention is called to the alter-
       These two interpr.etations  of the term "and of the ations -given by Paul to the text. Moses writes in Deut.
  law" are not at odds  &ith one  a&her. They  are                30:13: "Who shall go over the sea for us, aricl bring it '
  the same reality of the &ork  of God's grace in Christ unto us, that we may hear it and do it? Paul `ivrites :
  considere,d   from  diff@!nt aspects.      The view that Who shall ,clescencl intd the deep-? And the latter acids : -
  makes "telos", end, to refer to IGod's saving purpose in that is to bring Christ up from the dead ! Two ele-
giving the law, to lead t'bX.hrist,` looks at God's work          ments  here, it is pointed out.                     1. A change of the
  from the viewpoint of thk contemplated end. The inter- wcrding. 2. Interpretation which the literal ser&e of
  pret@ion, insists that "@nd" means that Christ is the the passage in Deut. 30 :13 harclly allows.
  abolition of the law  vfews this same work of God                  Also it is pointed out, that the contrast of Romans
  from the piewpoint of the purpdse attained. _ When              10, between what "Moses writes" ancl what the "right-


            332' :                              THE          STA'r\TbARD               BEARER
       .                                                     -.
            dousness of faith confesses", as stressed by Paul is not
            evident in either Deut. 30:X&14, or in the entire ad-
            dress of Moses to the people. Fact is, that what is evi-                    P E R I S C O P E
            dent is, that Moses in these chapters (Deut. 29,. 36)
            exactly tells the people what they must clo- to live and
       not die: It is argued, that Deut. 30 gives much more Niemtiller  .   .   .   .   .
            of the principle of works, than it does of the righteous-'       The Rev. Martin Niemoller's  speech making tour of
            ness of faith. And, therefore, Romans 10:6-8 gives the U. S. officially ended in the latter part of March.
            us not Moses' sense of Deut. 30 :12-14 but `Paul's free Pastor  Niemijller spoke to capacity  audienies  in 53
_      rendering. At best it is conceded, that this passage in            cities in the U. S. under the auspices of the Federal
       Deut. 30 : 12-14 contains "an allegorically and typi"cally         Council of Churches. `Throughout his stay in;America
       prophetic description of this righteousness  .of faith,`. two questions have been raised time and again. The
               What are we to say of this argumentation? Is this first deals `with his relation to the Nazi regime under
       reasoning to the point and factual?                                Hitler. It. is well' known that in the early part of the
               First of all, we would point out, that, to play out War he had offered his services to Hitler as a'sub-
       Paul overagainst Moses in this particular quotation, marine captian'; in which' service he had distinguished
       hardly befits those who have reverence for the Scrip- himself in World War I. It is further established that
       tures. Rather than accuse the writer of a free render- Niemoller,  and the German Churches generally, did not
       ing of the text to suite the case here, it behooves us to          oppose /Hitler's rise to power but encouraged it; .in the
       make a careful study of the facts. .This we should do,             beginning at least. The second question concerns the
       especially here, since Paul is here proving from the Rev. Niemiiller's  affiliation with the liberal. Federal
       Scriptures, that Christ is indeed the encl, the telos of. Council. IHow is it to beGexplained that he, Niemiiller,
       the law to  evleryone that believeth. And surely this who desires  and. expresses himself as an orthodox
       He must also have been to Israel in the plains of Moab.            preacher can be friendly with the Council which is
       With this text the whole case stands or falls.                     liberal and `modern to extremes? Time and again in
             Secondly, it is quite evident, that the apostle deems his addresses Pastor  Niemoller  emphasized the great
       what Moses says as the end of all contradiction. Paul truths of the Sovereignty of God, the Divinity of
     appeals to Moses here to substantiate the truth, that ,Christ, the resurrection, Election, the importance- of
       also m the 0. T. Dispensation Christ was very really the Scriptures for the life of believers, etc.; practically
       present in His death and resurrection, be it then in the           all of which the Federal Council has discarded and
                                                                                                                          . .
     shadows, and that of these shadows Christ is the Tul- deny:
      fillment,  and, therefore, He is their encl. if this is not            .A fair and interesting answer to the first question
       the teaching of Moses, but merely the free rendering is given by ~Time magazine in its issue of March 24.
     of Paul, then Paul did not prove from the Scriptures                 We quote:
       directly, that, what Christ performed in his death and
       resurrection, is attested to by the law and the prophets.           "Since he first arrived in the U. S. in December,
               Rather than criticize Paul we do well to humbly Pastor Niemijller has been .quoted  and `misquoted by
      listen to the Word of God here. For the Spirit of truth his defenders and. detractors on almost every phase of
       is here telling us by the pen of Paul what He had in his relation with Naziism. The feeling against him
      mind when through Moses He spoke to Israel. in-Moab's has focused on the fact that his opposition to Hitler
       plain.                                       9                     was on religious, rather than on political grounds. Few
               It is true that there are here elements introduced by have understood that- for a traditional Lutheran, re-
      the apostle, which are not so evicleht  in Deut. 30;12-14.          ligious grounds are the only -valid ones for opposition
       However, this does not mean that Paul introduced to the, state.
      them. It merely means that these elements were very                    Martin Luther's troublesome teaching, on `the re-
       really and implicitly present. (Qnly they were not, be- lations between church and State is `largely based on
      cause of the manner of God's revelation and the nature              Paul's words in Romans 13: `For there is no power
       of the shadows, explicitly stated.                                 but of God:- the powers that be are ordained of God,
               Thus understood, we are in .a position to examine          Whosoever therefore resisteth the' powelp  resisteth the
       the implication of. the contrast not only as found ex-             ordinance of `God ; and they that, resist shall `receive
       plicitly stated in Romans IO of what "Moses writes" to themselves damnation. .For rullers are not a terror
            (describes) and the "righteousness of faith confesses" to good works, .but `to the evil.`. Civil authority; ,how-
       but- also, as this is very really implicitly present in            ever evil or foolish, said Luther, must be opposed only
       Deut. 30 :12-14, when compared with Lev. 18 :5.                    when it encroaches on the spiritual realm: And you
                                                         . G. L.          must know that from the beginning of the world there
                                                                                                     _
                                                                                             .


       .._,             c..
                               _-              T H E ;   STANDARD  B E A R E R   .   .                                         .333

  was rarely a prince who was wise and even more rare- whatever that may mean. The "grip of' sectariatiism";-
  ly one who. was pious. They are usually the biggest and "petty  denominatiopafism"  will be decried.  .and,
  fools and the worst  crminals upon earth. . . . It one  great Church in which unity and  numb&s  are'
  pleases  the divine' will that we. . . . be unto them stressed will be .held up `as the ideal, t@ which these
  IzGmble  subjects, as long as they do not overreach seminary students shall work.                                       `:
  t.hemselves  and wish to be shepherds instead oft Nexecu--        Shades of the  false prophet! But for  its.  t%gic
  tianers."                                                      results, one would pass ovkr such. plans as but anbth$?;              7
      The sec,ond question has been answered in various          of the many vagaries of  human  philcjsophy  not  con-
  ways. Many were  qtiick to label  Niemiiller `.`a wolf in  troll,ed   by  `the teaching  of  the  ~~1~ Spirit.
  sheep's- clothing";: since his association with the Fledera
  Council was his otin condelnnation. It was suggested             . The above information is .from an editorial in Ilhf!
  t:hat he was merely another prophet of modern ecumen- Southern Presbyterian Journal of  March  15:.  @he
  icity and church  .union: Calm reflection and  judg- writer, Dr. L.  Nelson Bell, comments. as follows:..
  ment, however, would seem to point out discrepancies           "As  desirable as ecumenicity Fay be; we beli&ei the
  in this explanation. Cel"tainlY,  -according to reports, history of the Christian Church  .proves  without  co&
  his public expressions rcVea1 him as maintaining. the. troversy that the things which make a Church'strohg
 fundamentals that the  Fed&al  Cbuncil has rejected.' and which makes it effective in its work in t& world
  This, undoubtedly, also explains the fact of *his cool         is what it. believes, preaches and lives. These found@-
  reception in America by many groups in the Federal tion doctrines of Christianity are fixed, not by d&&e
  C o u n c i l .                                                of nian but by the .Word of God itself." And in' &&
    As a suggestion and possible answer to the problem ing he makes this pertinent reniark : "It is our obse&a-i                       K
  we offer the following; which is in part, Niemiiller's         tion that the strongest advocates of `ec6m&cal'theolo-
  own. After the war the Germans and everything Ger- gy' do not find room in their ecumenical fold fo~~tll&&.
  man, including the Church, were considered outcasts who feel led by the Spikit to `earnestly contend for &&
  and held to be mutually responsible for the ,Germany           faith which was once deiivered unto the saints'. l?&e-
  of' Hitler. It is  certainly  true that the "Church" in `in lies food for thought."
  America and elsewhere "prayed'.' for the Allied cause                                  :g  :I: 3:  :  :k,
  and so doing actually condemnled and denied the "holy
   catholic church". as it was represented among our-  ~A  New  Plan. . . .
                                                    .-.
   eneniies, especially Germany. Aft& the war, therefore, _                                                              .'
                                                                    A few weeks ago we called attention to a plan for
   all of Germany lay in disgrace ; under the ban of, God
   and man.    In that situation  the. World Council of reunion of the Presbyterian Church in the `U.S.A.:
   Churches, of which the Federal Council is a subsidiary,       (North) with the Presbyterian church in the U.S.A.
   invited the' German Churches into their fellowship.           (South) and also pointed qut that  there w&s' much:
   The Germans, baturally,  responded like a drowning- objection to the merger. Recently a new plan of, LI~$$
                                                                 was drawn up which repla+s the. older form'atid  ~$1.
   m&n would  gr-qsp a life preserver, even though it
   might. turn, out .to be a.rock. Though this may not be be submitted to the general assemblies .of .both .hetic&-
   the.last  that can be said it does shed a bit of light and "inations in May. . The revised `plan supposedly ac&
   expresses a &ritable attitude. Perhaps, some of our           provisions relating to  orgallization  of synods  .`.$$i
                                                                 tenure of property which had caused differences l&i
   brethren across the sea can shed a bit more light!  tween  the  two  groups                                            `_^
   Let's hear from you !              -                                                                            :  -  ,.
                                                                     It is evident that the new plan will postpone the
                               :i:  *  *  Q                      final action _of merger for another pear, at least. Resolu;,
                                                                 tions will be redommended to transmit the revised  pian ._
   Equmenicity. . . .                                            .to the presbyteries. for a  year's.   studJI,,;_and  then  be
    Everywhere, in  o& day; one hears of it. The taken up by the general assemblies in 1.9.48.,.  `If *favored
   newest movement is to unite the theological seminaries by presbyter& the genkral assemblies' win a'pp~~& `it
   of' `our countiy.      Td accomplish this goal an  Ihter-     in 1949, and the first general assembly of the..reunitei              .'
   seminary  Mo_vement" has  been organized. At the  church  wi11  meet   in  lg5'. .
   present time four books are being circulated, among               According to the Southern Presbyteriafi-" Jo&al!
 p all seminaries which are to be the basis for discussion       the situation is not greatly. changed .by the reviiion.
   and teaching-among the students. Next Jun,e, at.Miami         Although the new plan will not be made- pu,bl.ic ur$il
University,  &fij;rd, Ohio, it. is expected, that 1,000 the meeting of ihe Generai  Pssembly in',l?!@&~~$!~e ,i$
   seminary students from 125 schools will meet to con-          still sufficient reason to oppose the `union, according td
 sider the -+crisis  iti which a divided Protestant&m  now Mr. Randolph B. Lee. In an open let&r in the Jotirnd
   stands in relation to the secular culture of. our time"; -of March
                                                                     _      15, he asks and answers the' following ques-


3 3 4                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
         . . . .    ,                                                                                         ...      -'
         . .  .
tions i `Xre we ready to liquidate the Southern Presby- America, which is generally regarded.as the land of
terian Church?" The implication is that any "union democracy, it is but.a step from democracy to dictator-
with a Church having five times the membership of ship.. .The trade-unions are under the control of one
our Church can mean only one thing: the absolute and                    man, and whatever he decrees; comes to pass. The
complete -destru&ion  o&-our  beloved Church." Two                      Americans do not think for themselves, and have no
questions follow' to which the Southern Churtih must guiding principle to lead them in thought and action.
-answer with an unqualified negation, according to the Essentially the American is like a herded animal who
writer. They are: "Do we see eye to eye in questions                    is lost in. the mass, and yet understands nothing of
of important Doctrines, and in the interpretation and the mass-psychology. The American democracy con-
application thereof?" and, "Are the interests, prob- sists merely of externalities ; they pride themselves
lems and the way of thinking of our people similar `to that all may have the same food on the table as the
those of the Northern Church?" His next two ques-                       capitalists ; .they glory in the fact that they do not have
tions and answers point out that the history of the                     to remove their hat in the presence of the boss, but
Northern Chur& reveals no regard for Churches with can speak to him and call him by his first name. As
whom it has previously united and only a desire to be                   a classic example of democracy in America, it is point-
large and strong in numbers, without regard for right .ed out that th.ere are no class-distinctions on the trains
or merit of united groups. The writer closes,by  main- and steamers.' In the same way they express what a
taining that it is his conviction that the preponderant great privilege is theirs, over other people's, since
desire of the membership of the Southern Church is to                   each home has its, own bath-room and every workman,
remain  separatfe.   "dpen your eyes, you Southern of average means, has his own automobile. Naturally'
Presbyterians, you with your glorious heritage. Get these are things which make. life pleasant and agree-
busy and help us defeat this movement, the only pos- able and reveal a radically different aspect than life in
sible result of which, will be the absolute destruction the countries of Europe ; superficially at least. What
of our beloved Southern Presbyterian Church."                           most Americans of Holland origin forget, however, is
                                                                        that in Western, Europe, and especially in the Nether-.
                         :i:     :I:    :::     Q                       lands, things have change a great deal in the last 30
                                                                        years But whenever anyone digs a bit deeper into the
v. S. Views U. S. . . .                                                 American psychology of life (volkspsyche) he finds
   Under this  captian we hope to write a series of                     that essentially American life is governed by a staid
articles . Mostly they will be a translation of what ap- uniformity ; a uniformity of which Dr. Kuyper -once
pears i-n De Reformatie under the title "Uit Amerika".                  said that it is ,the curse` of modern life. It is a uni-
Mr..Van Spronsen, the writer, with whom many of formity that' extends to weary, one, as he travels
our readers are familiar and, perhaps, have -heard through the various states; All the cities are built on
speak, has been in the U. S. for several months. He the same uniform plan. All hotels are of one. type,
has written a series of articles containing his impres- -both within and without. All houses are just alike.
sions of us  .and the U. S.  Much  of the material is All house-arrangements are in the same style. All
simply interesting, but much of it is also pertinent and x stores bear the same stamp. It is all very practical
contains valuable truth as, it teaches much needed les-                 and convenient but wearisome through uniformity.
soils. It's always interesting to know what others                      And this uniformity stigmatizes the American  ; it
think of LIS and especially so. when the ,commentator                   stifles his individuality and personality."
is of kindred faith. We expect to transcribe what                          Mr. Van Spronsen goes on to admit .,that it makes
Mr. Van Spronsen has written without comment but us a strong nation of boundless opportunities and
may slip in an observation. .and remark occasionally.                   gives 
Before we begin, it might be well to state that our                               us a standard of living higher than any other;
                                                                        But there are serious drawbacks on the, debit side, he
ability as translator is limited and if Mr. Van Spron-                  claims. He begins on these in his second article from
sen or any of our readers notice that we misquote him,                  which we quote in the following issue.
accept our apologies and feel free to point it out for
correction.                                                                                                            W. H.
   Mr. Van Spronsen begins'his series by stating that
at the time he first arrived in the U. .S. the campaign-                                                                               9
ing of `the' November elections was in full swing. He
speaks a bit about the Democrats and Republicans and                              My way in life which Thou shalt choose,
the attitude which we Americans assume toward `poli-                                   I know will be the best;
tics and then go@ on as follows :                                                 And- through the trust I have in Thee,
   "Of one thing I am firmly convinced  : that in                                     My heart will find its rest..


                                                                           BEARER
                                  THE  STANDARD                                                                           335
                                                                                       -  ,.
                                                                      read this official declaration of their own consistory.
   #The Grace Church Of Kalamazoo                                     We will not at this time inquir.e into the meaning of
                                                                      ihe word "normal" in the above statement to which
                                                                      we now refer. Did the congregation until now lead
    In an article which appears in the Banner of March an abnormal Christian  Re_formed life? This would                            .
21, 1947, the consistory of the Grace Christian Re- be  true. We -must remember that this congregation
formed Church (formerly the congregation `of the had always remained a Christian Reformecl Church.
-Rederend  H. Danhof) acquaints the readers of the The name. implies this, does it not, "The Protesting
Banner with the installation service of their pastor,                 Christian Reformecl Church." A protesting Christian
the: Rev. G. Gritter. We  wo~~lcl quote the following                 Reformed Church is surely a Christian Reformed
excerpts from._ that arti'cle which we believe' should                Church.    As such this congregation had certainly
not pass Lmnoticed :                        .  !.                     led an abnormal life. "Be this as it may, the cons@tory
    "On November 1, 1945, the Grace Christian Re-                     now declares that ,"the congregation now enjoys the
. formed congregation  `ivas officially united with the               normal activities of a well established Christian Re-
 Christian Reformed denomination. Measures were formed Church." A normal Christian Reformed Church
 soon taken to obtain a new pa&or so that the congre-                 is surely not a church which belongs to the Christian
 gation could enjoy. the normal activities of a well                  Refo&..ed  denomination but continues in her own
 established Christian Reformed Church. . . .              The        interpretation of the truth ancl that in opposition to
 sermon was delivered by the Rev. John Gritter, older the teachings of the Church whereof she is a member.
 brother of  the pastor.He spoke convincingly on                          My seconcl observation is basecl one the installation
Jeremiah  23:28: `What is the chaff to the  whist?' sermon which was delivered on the evening of Janu-
 He developed the theme that  Gbd communicates :His                   ary $3, 1947. I do not  wish to  critic&e   the sermon.
 word to His prophets, -and th.e faithful prophet must                To the contrary I woulcl  emphasize his remarks. How
 convey this word to the pedple without adulteration.                 important .it is that the preacher of the Word of God
 As the mixing of wheat with chaff spoils the wheat,                  convey the word of God to his hearers without adulter- .
 so God condenins the mixing of truth with error.                     ation ! The chaff must not be mixed with the wheat,
 The applic&ion is obvious. . . . We would be remiss                  the lie with  l&e. truth. Such is the calling of every
 if we did not express our sihcere appreciation also to               preacher of the gospel, also of the Reverend G. ,Grit-
 Rev. Henry Danhof, our emerited pastor, for his ser- ter. It seems to me that I can easily hear the Rever-
 vices in .the midst of the congregation'for  many years. * encl Danhof preach on this <topic, in 1924 and during
 It is our prayer that he and Mrs. Danhof may enjoy                   all the years which have' followed. IHow the former
 the evident fruits of their labors and God's manifold                shepherd of this flock would proclaim unto his hearers
 blessings in the sunset of their lives. We acknowledge that the chaff must not be mixed witiz wheat, the lie
 with thanks the many  frienclly messages and  ex- -with the truth ! And very boldly and clearly this
 pressiolis of good will which we received from faith-                minister would expose this chaff, this lie. IHe would
 ful friends within the denomination who felt that.the                 call attention to &he Three Points. of 1924. He would             _
 ideal of true Christian love is best developed in unity- denounce the $eachings that the gdspel is an offer of
 Lmity .in Christ !"                                                   salvation, grace to all that hear, that sin is checked
    This  oficial  stat.ement  of the consistory  shoulcl              within the life of the individual sinner, -that the
 certainly  dismiss any doubt which might exist as to                  natural man can do goocl before God without the re-
 the identity of this congregation. It is a normal                     generating operation of the Holy Spirit. I can hear
 Christian Reformecl Church. `To be surej it should be                 him say, as he said in 1924, that, before God and His
 superfluous to call attention to this  rather obvious                 Church, he cannot remain silent, but that he must
 fact. However, the undersigned knows of members                       expose the errors which the Synod had adopted in
 i-n that congregation who have maintained the im- that fateful year. And now? How the times have
 possible position that the reunion of this congregation               changed! The Rev. J. Gritter preaches on this text
 with the Christian Reformed Church has  oticurrecl                    in Jeremiah at the installation of his younger bpother.
 upon ih& pre-1924 basis. It has been  d&larecl  Xhai; 11~ declares that his younger brother must not mix
 this reunion has been effected on the condition that :,the chaff with the wheat.. But, when he speaks of the
 this congregation was to continue in that. `interpreta-               chaff and the whe&t  he surely means that the Three
 t.ion of  tile truth which  has characterized  her and                Pdints belong to the wheat. Has not this congrega-
 Trihich has 6een taught her since 1924 by the Rbev. I-1.              tion begun to enjoy  the- normal activities  of. a well .
 Danhof, yea, that the pastor which they called was not                established Christian Reformed Church? Does this
 at .a11 obliged to preach and to teach the official `dot-             not imply that the  Revere118  G.  Gritter will preach
 trine  ,of the Christian Reformed Church. Well  ,may                  and teach the congregation as a true servant of the
 these members- no% sit up and take notice when:$bey                   Chr?stian  Reformed Church and that' he will- thereby
                                                     :-     : i
                                                           . --
                                                            _,  .'


                    \     `
                           -
        fglfill his  pl,edge when, for example, he signed the the true expression of Christian love which is best de-
        Formul&  of. Subscription? The chaff has become. veloped. in unity. `. If this statement `of th'e .Grace.  Chris-
        %&eat.    The.  lie, has become  %he truth; The Three tian Reformed Church ineans anything the. Reverend
        Boints have become the. pure gospel of the Word of            H. Danhof should cover his face in shame, and the
        .God:-  How is it possible that .the entire congregation      entire cong$egat?on should ,confess h:er grievbtis &in of
        call?swallow-  this corruption of- the evening of Jan. 25,    having committed the sin` of schism `upon' wliicli, we-
                                                                                                                           :.
        1947?                                                         Eead, the wrath of God abideth.                            /
           -My third remark is based upon the joy Of+ the con-           My  f$al  comnient is  .based. upon the  con`sistory's
        s&tory because of the attainment of the ideal' of true        exp?edsion of appreciaiion `to the' Re+. H'. Danhof for
        Christian "love which is be& developed in unity, the his services in the midst of the congregatiog for t&se
        unity of .Ch'rist. `These are high-sounding but empty many years.  `I  ani sure  that the  Re'v.  .Da&of   .felt
       words indeed. It is quite evident from the rest of highly flattered when he received this  wor&  of  ai;-
        t.his ,article  of the consistory that the unity which has preciation.  `The  consistory  and the congregation cer-
      been  z&hi&ed  is the  .unity of the  .ChTistian  Reformed      tainly svowed  him thei?? app&ecia&il  sfor. the sertiic<e .
        Church. True' Unity, of course, is the unity whereof which he- rendered in the inidst of: that congr&&ion.
        the ,apostle  speaks in the fourth chapter of his Tpistle     I know of no more miserable -way to show appeeciation
        to .the Ephesians. The ,true unity in Christ is surely to a pastor than by repudiating whatever he  -hai
        a unity iig. the truth. A denial of the truth is certainly    t-aught.  .The consistory is very appreciative to Rev.
       .also  a_ denial of the Christ. Be this as it may, this        H. Danhof. For what? For his emphasis upon' the
        ur&y of the  ,Grace Christian Reformed Church is a tL'Uth which they now reject.. He has labored ,arnong
        :@ity of the  -Three  -Points. This congregation will them these many  years.               He preached again&. the
        h&cefbrt$ cooperate to the fullest extent (she intends,       Three Points. Fact is, 116 preached against, the. Thr&
        &es she not, to "enjoy. the normal activities of a well       Points even while the negotiations for-reunion were in
        established Christian. Reformed- Church"?) with. the          progress. He was deposed by the Chri'stian Reform$
        *C$ris,t@n  Ref6rmecl:Church  in the proclamation of the      Church because of the emphasis, which he laid upon
        gospel, -also as expressed in the official  teachings of      the truth. And what does the consistory do  no%?
        1924. And by cooperating in -that manner with the They thank him for his many labors and, at the'same
        $hristian Reformed Church she will more and more              time, politely tell him that .from now on they will be
        c.:;perience  that "blessed unity which is the requisite      instructed in the very things which the Rev. Da&of
        for  `t&e  developKent  of true Christian love.". This,. has condemned and exposed as the lie. ever since 1924.
        if you pleas& is the official statement of theconsistory.     We !ngy well be dumbfounded  because of this expres-
        But,. I pray, @at, then, have we here? This congrega-         sion of appreciation. Is it serious? A tree shall be
        iio:T could have had this &it9 twenty  three years ago.       known by -its fruit. 6 is mockery to thank a pastor
       ..Then the Christian Reformed Church gave birth to for all that he h&s done and at' the same time rej&t the-
       `the `ThTee  Points- and declared them to be the true ex- very things for which he stood.
        p:cssian  of .our Confession.' Then the un$y between'            God will not be mocked; The action of the Kala=
        .l;h~s: congregation and the Christian Reformed Church mazoo  Classis  whfch negotiated  ,this treaty of  peace
        was `destroyed. By whom?         By  the Christian  Re-       has been don& Her actions are know&to  the Living
        &rmed Church, upon the'basis of this article of the           God. The actions of this congregation with zits'. con-
        consistory? But, the unjty which has been achieved is         sistory  are also known to that Living God.  we,-the
        5:; unity of the  Three Points.  IHence, the  6ne who         noti existing Protestant Reformed ChUrches, 1&6d our
        wicl!edly  broke this "blessed  unity': is n&e other than     Mother Church in 1924, did not seek the schism, loved
        $+s, congregation withy her cqnsistory  and her pastor. the Church and the unity of`the Church, and therefore
        One  .may  well call  ,this statement of  t&e consistory      protested against the teachings of the Three Poiqts
        unbeljevable.     The Rev. H.  Dar&of  stands indicted which we believe must undermine the very foundation
        here by his own consistory of the sins of schism, and         upon'which this unity rests. The stand of the, Chris-
.,      we know<what  our Communion Form-declares of those tian Reformed Churches is ,again pIairily_ revealed in
        .~ilo raise discord in the church as well as in the state.    the same Banner of -March 21; page 380, ifi-the article
        In 1924 the Reverend Danhof, together with his con- of Martin  Lamaire-and.   th&..footnote  of the  ed-itor  of
        &story and congregation, declared ,that not he but the the Banner. We  w.ishz,and pray, that  many in the
      _  .`C'l@,s@n  ,Reformed  Cl!urch.  .was the  .cause of the     Grace Christian Reftirqed  Chupch may see the' e@or
        &ach,*that  not he bu$ the Christian Reformed Church of their ways, m+y continue in their struggle for the
        $z$ departed, from the truth `of the Scriptures, and truth for- which they suffered and sacrificed ins 1924-
        $h$ therefore not he but the Christian Reformed               1925, and stand shoclder .to shoulder with US unto the -
        ,C$urch had committed an act `of-schism. And nowthe glory of Christ, the King of. His Church, Who. loves
        con@story  expr&ses   .its joy upon  the- attainment; of the truth and hates all rejection of it.          _  *  -IH. V.
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