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

                            The Standard Bearer
           Semi-Monthly, except Monthly in July and August                                                                                                                     E D I T O R I A L S
                                     ,.  P n b l i s h e d   B y
                   Thi Reformed Free Publishing Association
                          Box 124, Sta. C., Grand Rapids,  Mick                                                                                                                   As To Conditions
                                  EDITOR:  - Rev. H. Hoeksema.
Contributing Editors: - Rev. G. M. Ophoff, Rev. G.  Vos,  Rev.                                                                                                         At the close of our last article we were discussing
R. Veldman, Rev. H. Veldman, Rev. H. De Wolf, Rev. B.  Kok,                                                                                                         Canons, chapter I, Rejection of Errors, V.
Rev. J. D. De Jong, Rev. A. Petter, Rev. C. Hanko, Rev. L.                                                                                                             The Arminians, as is plain from that article, pre-
Vermeer, Rev.  I;. Lubbers, Rev. M.  Gritters,  Rev. J. A. Heys,                                                                                                    sented the entire way of salvation as conditional, and,
Rev. W. Hofman.
  Communications relative to contents should be addressed to                                                                                                        therefore, as depending on something man must do, on
REV. H. HOEKSEMA, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids,                                                                                                           conditions which he must fulfill in order to be saved.
Michigan.                                                                                                                                                              They were afraid that the doctrine of unconditional
  Communications relative to subscription should be addressed                                                                                                       election and unconditional salvation would lead to a
to MR. J. BOUWMAN, 1131 Sigsbee St., S.E., Grand Rapids 6,                                                                                                          denial of the responsibility of man. And the latter
Mich. Announcements and Obituaries must be mailed to the
above address and will be published ata fee of $1.00 for each                                                                                                       they wanted to maintain at all cost, even at the expense
notice.                                                                                                                                                             of the truth of sovereign and unconditional  elec:ion
Renewals:-Unless a  definite  request for discontinuance is re-                                                                                                     and reprobation.
ceived, it is assumed that the subscriber wishes his subscription                                                                                                      Hence, they spoke of a conditional election, and,
to continue without the formality of a renewal order.                                                                                        '                      therefore, of a conditional salvation.
Entered as Second Class Mail at Grand Rapids, Michigan.
                             (Subscription Price 92.60 per year)                                                                                                       For, let it be plainly understood, these two belong
                                                                                                                                                                    together. Either salvation is conditional because elec-
                                                                                                                                                                    tion is conditional ; or both are unconditional. For  the
                                                                                                                                                                    application of salvation flows from the counsel of
                                                                                                                                                                    election. Hence, he that teaches that faith is a con-
                                                                                                                                                                    dition unto salvation, must necessarily teach that it is
                                                                                                                                                                    also a condition unto salvation.
                                                                                                                                                                       And this the Arminians did, indeed, teach.
                                                                                                                                                                       Already from Art. II, of ch. I, Rejection of Errors,
                                                  C O N T E N T S                                                                                                   we learn that they taught "that there are various kinds
                                                                                                                                                                    of election of God unto eternal life: the one general
MEDITATION-                                                                                                                                                         and indefinite, the other particular and definite; and
       Het  Teeken   Christi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121    that the  latter'in  turn is either incomplete, revocable,
                Rev. G. Vos                                                                                                                                         non-decisive and conditional, or complete, irrevocable,
EDITORIALS-                                                                                                                                                         decisive and absolute."
       As To Conditions ..,.......................................................,.........  124                                                                      And in the article .we are now discussing, I, B, V,
       Prof. Veenhof's Letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  128 we read further about this incomplete or complete,  non-
       Translation of Prof. Veenhof's.Letter  and Comment . . . ...128                                                                                              decisive and complete election of particular persons.
       Historisch Of Waar Geloof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .%33 And .this is further explained by saying that in God's
                Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                                                    election of particular persons unto eternal life not only
O U R   D O C T R I N E -                                                                                                                                           fait.h,  but also the obedience of faith, holiness, godli-
       The Counsel Of God (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134                       ness and perseverance are conditions and causes of the
                Rev. H. Veldman                                                                                                                                     unchangeable election unto glory.
                                                                                                                                                                       You understand what this means, reader?
           The Glory Of .Christ the Heavenly ..* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..+.........  137
                Rev. G. M. Ophoff                                                                                                                                       Briefly, it means that for the Arminian the whole
                                                                                                                                                                    way  of~salvation is strewn with conditions!
SION'S  ZANGEN-                                                                                                                                                       . And conditions means that, ultimately, everything
       Van Ganscher  Harte . . . . . . . . . . ..I. * . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*.......................... .140                                      depends on man's free will.
                Rev. G. Vos                                                                                                                                            We have all learned in catechism that the Arminians
           Correspondence With the Liberated Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141                                                                       teach an election on the basis of foreseen faith. God
                Rev.  J.  D. de Jong                                                                                                                                chose those of whom He foresaw that they would be-
                             L                                                                                                                                      lieve in Christ. In other words the election of God
           Exposition Of Ephesians  2 :l-4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*....... 142                                       unto salvation is conditioned by man's faith.
                Rev. Gee. C. Lubbers                                                                                                                                    But, true though this is, it is by no means all of the
                                                                                                                                                                    Arminian doctrine. They cannot possibly stop there.


                                           T H E S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           125

       When a man is chosen on condition of faith, his whether, in our Reformed Standards, faith is ever pre-
 election is not yet sure, it is not yet complete and de- senter as a condition unto salvation.
 cisive: May he not lose his faith and become an un-             For this purpose I want to quote just one article
 believer ?                                                   from the second chapter of the Canons, viz., II, A. 8.
       Hence, there is a further condition, which man            In the preceding articles under this head the Canons
 must fulfill in order to have a `place in God's election spoke of the atoning death of Christ and its infinite
 unto eternal life and be saved. That further condition value, of the promiscuous preaching of the gospel unto
 is the obedience of faith, which includes, of course, all unto whom  `God sends it in His good pleasure, of the
 holiness and a godly walk.                                   responsibility of ~ those who reject the gospel, and of'
       But even this is not sufficient.                       the truth that those that are saved are indebted for
       A man may be chosen on condition of his foreseen this benefit solely to the grace of God. And then it
 faith, and his foreseen obedience of faith, holiness and continues in Art. 8:
 godliness, and still `his election unto eternal life may        "For this was the sovereign counsel, and most
 be incomplete and non-decisive. May he not fall away, gracious will and purpose of God the Father, that the
 apostatize from the faith? And if he does, is not his quickening and saving efficacy of the most precious
 election changed into reprobation? Hence, a final con- death of his Son should extend to all the elect, for be-
 dition must be attached to  ,God's  election of man unto. stowing upon them alone the gift of justifying faith,
eternal life. And that final condition is perseverance. thereby to bring them infallibly unto salvation : that is,
 Only the man whom God foresaw as persevering unto it was the will of God, that Christ by the blood of the
 the end is elect. And only when man fulfills all the cross, whereby he confirmed the new covenant, should
 conditions can he be saved.                                  effectually redeem out of every people, ,tribs, nation,
       Do you not see, reader, that this road of conditions and language, all those, and those only, who were from
 is a very slippery path, and that there is abundant eternity chosen to salvation and given him by the
 reason to be "vuurbang" for this Pelagian and  :Armin- Father; that he should confer upon them faith, which
 ian term?                                                    together with all the other saving gifts, of the Holy
       Once you say that you are saved on Condition of Spirit, he purchased for them by his death ; should
 faith, you must continue and maintain that you are purge them from all sin, both original and actual,
 saved on condition of obedience, on condition of holi- whether committed before or after believing; and hav-
 ness, on condition of godliness, on condition of perse- ing faithfully preserved them even to the end, should
 verance.                                                     at last bring them free from every spot and blemish
       And always a condition is something, some require- to  the. enjoyment of glory to his own presence for-
 ment man must fulfill.                                       ever."
 `.    That means that the entire way of salvation, from         Notice that in this beautiful. article, the entire truth
 beginning to end is, ultimately, dependent  on* the will of salvation, from election to eternal glory, is complete-
 of man.                                                      ly covered. And I quote it here in order to show, not
       Let us, therefore, reject this Pelegian heresy, to- only that it does not speak of conditions, but that there
 gether with the term that is used to express it.             is absolutely no room for the notion in the entire
       But, you say, how then about the responsibility of article.
 man? Do we not need the term condition to denote                 You cannot even make room in this quite compre-
 that man is a responsible creature? Do we not make hensive statement of the truth of salvation for the idea
 man "a stock and block" by laying all emphasis on the that faith is a condition of our entering the covenant
 truth of election and sovereign grace?                       of God, or of our obtaining salvation.
       My answer is decidedly : No !                              Just let us check up on this by following the various
       I must say more about this in the future. I am not clauses and phrases of the article.
 yet through with my discussion of conditions.                    The article states, first of- all, that it was sover-
       But let me suggest that instead of the Pelagian term eignly  determined in the counsel of God, that the quick-
 "condition" we use the term "in the ,way of".                ening and saving efficacy of the most precious death of
       We are saved in the way of faith, in the way of the Son of God should extend to all the elect and to
 sanctification, in the way of perseverance unto the end. them only. This is surely unconditional. It is an
       This term is capable of maintaining both: the ab- absolutely sovereign determination of  `God with respect
 solute sovereignty of God in the work of salvation and to the exact scope of the power of the cross: it is
 the responsibility of man.                                   limited to the elect, and it will surely save them all.
       But7 as I say, about this I must write more in the         There is no' room'here, therefore, for the idea that
 future.                                                      faith is a condition of salvation..
                                                                  Secondly, the article continues,, by stating: ""for be-
       I must now continue my discussion of the question      stowing upon them alone the gift of justifying faith,

            .


126                                      T~HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

thereby to bring them infallibly unto salvation." Here, "als" is mij niet .ontgaan ! Maar daarin schuilt nu
too, it is impossible to speak of faith as a condition, in juist  mijn hoofdbezwaar 4 Ds.:Ophoff had over deze
any sense of the word. God bestows the justifying zaak m.i.,  geen   le.tter',op   *papier   MO,GEN  zetten,  eer
faith. It belongs, therefore,  to.saIvation  itself. How hij over deze zaak met zijn medebroeders De Jong en
then can a gift of ,salvation be a condition unto that Kok, die daarin rechtstreeks betrokken  waren, had
gift? This  .is, evidently, absurd. Moreover, by this gesproken. Zoolang  hij nietsmeer  kon zeggen dan als,
gift of justifying faith, bestowed `upon us  uncondi:ion- als,  als, . . . was alle schrijven over de kwestie prin-
ally by God, He leads us infallibly unto salvation.          cipieel  fout! Indien .een predikant in een gemeente of
  ' It is, therefore, all determined by God, faith and een redacteur van een krant, op  grand  van ontvangen
salvation, and there can be no conditions. There sim,ply     mededeelingen of brieven,  op deze wijze te werk zou
is no room for anything that man must fulfill before gaan en maar vast zou gaan zeggen als, als, &a,,  . . .
he can atkain to salvation.                                  dan zouden zij hun gerdeente  of hun lezerskring in een
       There is more in this article.                        oogenbhk tijd in verwarring gebracht en uit  elkaar
       But the discussion of the rest must wait until the hebben geslagen. Bovendien, en dat is veel belang-
next issue; D. V.                               H .   H:     rijker ; wij moeten  naar den wil Gods de eer en het
                                                             gped gerucht van onze naasten niet alleen  niet, aan-
                                                             tasten, maar ook en dat met  alle kracht  voorstaan  en
                                                             -5evordkrefq.,
            Prof.  Veenhof's.  Letter  t                         Stelt .U zieh  eens voor, dat Ds. Ophoff, nadat hij den
                                                             brief van collega Holwerda las, dien bewaard en, nadat
                                                             zijn collega's van hun reis naar Nederland thuis waren
  Mag ik U vriendelijk vragen het volgende in Uw gekomen, met'hen daarover gesproken had en hij daar-
+$xnda,rd Bearer op  te nemen? Sij voorbaat mijn na, indien dat nog noodig bleek, Prof. Holwerda toe-
hartelijken dank !                                           stemming had gevraagd  ,om zijn brief te publiceeren,
       Zeer  tegen mijn zin werd ik, zooals uit het juist zou dan deze  geheele kwestie niet een totaal ander  `aan-
door mij ontvangen.nummer  van de Stundard  Bearer zien hebben gekregen ? En  zal niet ieder Christen,'
bleek, in de polemiek gewikkeld welke op het oogenblik als hij  vergelijkt.wat   Ds. Ophoff gedaan heeft, met
de Protestant Reformed Churches  beroe@,.  Had ik wat hij had kunnen en moeten;  doen,  met nadruk be-
geweten, dat zooiets het gevolg zou. kunnen zijn van .tuigen,-.dat  dat laatste  veel meer;  ja, all&n,  naar den
het opnemen van mijn brief in Uw blad, dan zou ik Geest van Christus is?
mij-of liever, in dit geval-dan zou mijn vrouw  zich             Voorts blijf ik van `oordeel  dat het een eerste eisch *
we1 driemaal -hebben bedacht, eer zij toestemming zou van waarlijk Christelijke wellevendheid is, dat  meneen
hebben gegeven voor de publicatie van mijn  snel en brief, welken de afzender zelf niet uitdrukkelijk voor
uit het hart geschreven epistel: Niet, dit ik polemiek publicatie prijsgaf, en die bovendien voor derden be-
zou schuwen.  Als ze noodzakehjk was, heb ik mij             stemd is, nooit zonder de toestemming van den schrij-
daaraan nooit -onttrokken. Maar ik ben er ,wel bang ver mag publiceeren.
voor mij in te laten  met een polemiek, welke, onder             Dat wilde ik in de eerste plaats zeggen.
broeders in een ver land en een mij vreemde situatie                                * ,*  "`t  *      .
wordt gevoerd.
       Omdat ik nu evenwel, tegen wil en dank, tech in de        En. dan heb ik nog iets wat mij nog meer tot spre-
polemiek, welke  zich om de broeders De Jong en  ko!<        ken dringt.
heeft ontketend, werd betrokken, wil ik  graag  om der           Ik zou namelijk aan Ds. Ophoff willen toeroepen:
wille van de zaak nog een enkel woordje zeggen..  Het Staak  om der wille ,Gods Uw vernietigende critiek op
zou mij innig verheugen, indien de gerezen kwestie in de vrijgemaakten. Want ik zeg U met  allen ernst:
den stijl der kerk en overeenkomstig de norm voor de wat U bestrijdt, waar U Uw knotsslagen op doet  neer-
gemeenschap der  heiligen  werd opgelost.                    komen  is niets anders dan een caricatuurvoorstelling
       Eerst-  wil ik nog iets zeggen over het pubhceeren van wat de vrijgemaakten Ieeren ! De eenige (`zegen",
.van den brief.van cohega  Holwerda door Ds. Ophoff. `welken U op dezen arbeid kunt verwachten is een ver-
Ik moet, ook na xijn artikel, al mijn bezwaren tegen giftigen van den gee&. en. de harten van Uw ameri-
de plaatsing van ,dat stuk onverzwakt handhaven. Ik kaansche breeders.  ten opzichte van hun medebroeders
kan mijn bezwaar, met weglating van  alle  bijkomstig-       in Nederland, een  verwijdering  tusschen Uw kerken en
heden, misschien bet, best als volgt omschrijven : Ds.       de "vrijgemaakte" en zoo een schitterende overwinning
Ophoff betoogt dat hij de broeders Kok en De Jong .van Satan.
niet beschuldigd en veroordeeld heeft, maar dat hij `tot       Laat mij met alien nadruk mogen verzekeren, dat
drie maal toe gezegd heeft : ALS de beweringen van slag op slag blijkt, dat men in Amerika onzen  strijd
Prof.  Holwerda  waar zijn, D&V; . . . Inderdaad, dit niet verstaat ! Ik. zeg dat niet in hoogmoed, alsof wij

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   128                                     T.H-E  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
  ~-1__11
  voor beide groepen vast, dat de belofte gesproken wordt belofte "equally" voor alle gedoopten?; over de noties en
  tot het geloof en dat men pas door het geloof daarvan tendenties van het "gives" in den zin: God "gives" de
   zeker is en daarih rusten kan. Natuurlijk aanvaard ik belofte aan allen ; over het "seriously" en het "right"
   de gedachte, dat men alleen door het geloof in de be- in de woorden: God zegt "seriously" tegen alle kin-
  lofte kan rusten en daarvan zeker is, ten voile.  Maur deren, dat Hij ze een "right" geeft op alle zegeningen
  daarover gaat de zaak niet!  Het verschil betreft niet van het verbond? Enz. enz. Indien dit niet heel voor-
  den weg waarin, het mtidel  waardoor, de wijze waarop zichtig en nauwkeqrig geschiedt, komen er vast en
  men op de belofte rust en uit de belofte leeft! Neen zeker misverstanden met alle narigheid van dien. ^
  het gaat hierover : hoe komt de belofte naclr o?zs toe ;                       ( Wordt Ver-volgd)
  welken inhoud  heeft ze vri& en onufhunkelijk vun het
  geloof; hoe Get ze er tilt en wat bevat ze en wien  getdt
  se, opdat ,~e geloofd worde! Het punt van geding ligt
  dus in wat  achter  het gelooven van de belofte ligt, of,       Translation of Prof. Veenhof's
  anders gezegd, wat daaraan  vooraf  gaat. Is de belofte,
  zooals ze naar de geloovigen en hun zaad toekomt naar                   Letter and Comment
  haar aard-om met Calvijn te spreken-altijd  "zalig-          "Esteemed Rev. Hoeksema :
  heid bevattend" en "krachtdadig". Of anders gezegd :
  wordt ze altijd door den Heiligen Geest gesproken?              May I kindly request you to receive the following
  Zoodat ze ook onafhankelijk van het geloof van den article in the  Standard  Bearer? My hearty thanks.
  daardoor aangesprokene vol,  echt, betrouwbaar,  kracht-        "Much against my wish I was implicated in the
  dadig, geldend  is ?                                         polemics which at the present moment disturbs the
          En wanneer Ds. Petter daarna betoogt, dat het Protestant Reformed Churches, as was evident from
  nadruk leggen op de vastheid, rijkdom, kracht van de the issue of the Standard Bearer which I just received.
  belofte IN ZICHZELF dus onafhankelijk van het ge- If I had known that something like this would have
  loof, opdat ze waarlijk een vaste  grand van het geloof, been the result of the reception of my letter in your
  en onwrikbaar fumlament van de hoop zou kunnen zijn, paper, then I certainly would have bethought myself
  voortvloeit uit een "humanitarian comfort motive", thrice, or rather, in this case my wife would have be-
  dan zou ik willen vragen : spruit de ontzaglijke, `harts- thought herself three times before she would have
  tochtelijke worsteling van alle reformatoren  ,om de given consent for the publication of my hastily com-
  verwarde en verdoolde schapen van Jezus  Christus            posed epistle, which was written from my heart.-Not
  weer tot de zekerheid des geloofs te leiden werkelijk that I would be afraid of polemics: when this  .was
  uit een "humanitarian comfort motive" voort? Is de necessary, I have never withdrawn myself .from  it.
   Catechismus, die de gansche boodschap Gods  aan zijn But I am indeed afraid to allow myself to become
 kerk onder het troost-motief beziet en bespreekt, . . . . involved in a polemics which is being carried on among
  is Jesaja 40  :1  V.V. soms ook humanitarian?                brethren in a far country and in a situation which is
          En zoo zou ik voort kunnen gaan. Als Ds. Ophoff strange to me.
  met zware knotsslagen een  bepaalde.  opvatting van de          "However, now I became implicated nolens vo2ens
   "voorwaarde" des verbonds verplettert, dan ben ik in the polemics which broke loose about the brethren
  geneigd uit te roepen; Domine,  domine, houd tech op,        De Jong and Kok, I will gladly speak a word in the
  houd tech op! Maakt U zich niet zoo moe ! Meent U interest of the matter. I certainly would very much
  werkelijk, dat Ben enkele vrijgemaakte ook maar &en          rejoice if the question that is raised were solved in the
   klein ziertje gelooft van de dwaasheden, die U  be-         style of the church and according to the standard for
  strijdt?                                                     the communion of saints.
          Inderdaad : misverstand op misverstand.                 "First of all, I will say something yet about the
          Het komt er op aan hier voorzichtig, geduldig en publication of the letter of colleague Holwerda by the
   vooral liefdevol elkaar te benaderen en te,pogen elkaar Rev. Ophoff. Even after reading his article, I must
te verstaan.                                                   still maintain in all their force my objections against
          Laat mij even precies ' mogen aanduiden wat ik the publication of that piece. Omitting all incidentals,
  bedoel.                             I                        I can express my objection in the ..best  way perhaps
    U, hooggeachte Ds.  Hoeksema,  .,steIt in het laatste      as' follows: the Rev. Ophoff argues .that he did not
   nummer van ds Standard B,earer  een aantal vragen. accuse and condemn the brethren Kok and De Jong,
   aan de vrijgemaakten. Zie pag. `7. Maar om die vra- but that he repeated three times, IF the allegations of
  gen te kunnen beantwoorden, zouden U en wij eerst Prof. Holwerda are true, THEN. . . . Indeed, this
   zeer zorgvuldig moeten  spreken over bet, "establish" "if" did not escape my attention. But in this consists
  van het verbond en het "equally"  establish daarvan ; exactly my main objection. In my opinion the Rev.
  over den inhoud van "is equally" in de vraag "is" de Ophoff was not allowed to put one letter on paper about


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       129

  this case before he had spoken about this matter with           Now, no matter how you may look at the question,
  his fellow brethren, De Jong and Kok, who were direct- and regardless of the question who is to blame, fact
  ly implicated in it. As long as he could say no more is that the letter of Prof. Holwerda contained slander
  than if, if, if, . . . all writing about this case was pri- and backbiting about the Rev. Ophoff and myself,
  marily  a mistake. If a minister in a congregation or about some of our other ministers, and about all our
  an editor of a paper would go to work in this way, on churches. Moreover, if Prof. Holwerda did not write
  the basis of informations or letters received, and would the truth, it also contained slander about the Revs.
  to begin with say if, if, if, . . . they would have created De Jong and Kok at .the same time.
  in a moment confusion in their congregation or in the           But the matter is more serious still.
  circle of their readers, and would have torn them apart.        The. letter of Prof. Holwerda was an evident' at-
  Besides, and this is much more important, we must, tempt to drive a wedge into the ranks of our small
  according to the will of God not only refrain from at- denomination, to set one against the other, and thus to
  tacking the honor and the good character of the neigh-       cause a split. Mark you, I do not say that Prof. Hol-
  bour, but we must also defend and promote them as werda or the Revs.. De Jong and Kok made such a
  much as in us is.                                            deliberate attempt, but I do maintain that the letter
     "Just imagine that the Rev. Ophoff, after he had itself had that tendency. Just consider what he wrote:
  read the letter of colleague Holwerda, had saved it, and the conception of the  Rev.* Hoeksema regarding elec-
after his colleagues had returned from their trip to tion, etc, is not the church doctrine; some are emitting
  the Netherlands had talked with them about it, and a totally different sound; most of the Prot. Ref. people
  thereupon if it had appeared necessary, had asked do not think as the Rev. Hoeksema and Ophoff; sym-
_ Prof. Holwerda.for  consent to publish his letter. Would pathy for the Liberated was great `also in the matter
  in that case not the entire question have come to appear     of their doctrine of the covenant. And Prof. >,HoI-
  in a totally different light? And must not every Chris- werda's advice to the immigrants in Canada,:was:  `if
  tian, when he compares what the.Rev.  Ophoff has done Rev. Hoeksema's doctrine were binding, never join.
  with what he had been able and obliged to do, emphatic-         Now, esteemed brother, you say that the present
  ally admit that the latter is much more, yea, only ac- controversy is an attempt of Satan to. separate youS
  cording to the Spirit of Christ?                             churches from ours. But I think that it is much more
     "Further, I remain of the opinion that it is the de- devilish to attempt to drive a wedge into our small
  mand of truly Christian courtesy that a letter which churches, as is the evident tendency of Prof. Holwerda's
  the sender himself did not emphatically offer for publi- letter. And not only is this the tendency of that letter;
  cation, and which besi.des,  was meant. for third parties, but already it began to be the actual  effect. ' Sonie of
  may never be published without the consent of the us began to count noses, to estimate who were on the
  writer. ,                                                    right side and who were on the wrong side of the fence.
      "This is what I meant to say in the first place.         Such  is,-1 say once more,-not the attempt of Prof.
                                                               Holwerda, nor the attempt of the Revs. De Jong and
      Comment  :                                               Kok, but it is certainly the devilish tendency of the
      You know by this time, esteemed brother, my own letter.
  opinion about the publication of the letter of Prof.            You may notice, esteemed. brother, that I am not
  Holwerda. I do not have to repeat this.                      now writing about either Prof. Holwerda or about the
      But I wish,.brother, instead of for evermore harp- Revs. De Song and Kok.               ";
  ing on this aspect of the question, you. would attempt          That means also that I leave it, as yet, an open
  at least to see my viewpoint of the matter, and go into      question whether Prof. Holwerda  wrote the truth in
  the thing itself.                               I            his letter, or whether he reported falsely about the
      This, to me, is far more important and far more Revs. De Jong and Kok. . . It is a well-known fact that             .
  serious than all the talk about the question of the publi- as early as last August the Rev. Kok had a letter read
  cation of the letter, which  after all was certainly not a from his pulpit in which he denies most of the state-
  private letter after its contents had been discussed by ments attributed to him by Prof. Holwerda and claimed
  the immigrants in Canada and copies were made of it `that they were only conclusions drawn by the latter
  for the brethren there.  Nor,-1 say it again,-did from what they, the Revs. De Jong and Kok, had said.
  Prof. Holwerda intend the contents  of  the letter to re- I wrote about this to Prof. Holwerda several weeks
  main private and secret: for it was an advice to the ago, but he never answered me as yet. I am still ex-
  immigrants.                                                  pecting an answer from him.
     But let that be. And let us look at the matter itself,       And therefore, brother, I still insist that we must
  squarely. And let me ask you, brother, please, to make have a public statement, signed by all concerned, ex-
  an attempt to see and understand my view of the plaining just what was said, whether in conference or
  matter.           _                                          in private conversation with Prof. Holwerda.


130                                   THE,  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

   The conferences held in the Netherlands between proof of God's love, but that I `practically forget to
your Committee of Correspondence and others with remind that it also implies its correlate, namely, de-
the Revs. De Jong and Kok concerned important church mand'.
matters. They may not remain secret. We are entitled           "With great amazement I read these words. One
to know all about it.                                       must know- that already for many years- I have argued
    Except for the letter of Prof. Holwerda, however, with all my power that a promise without an inherent
we would never have known that such conferences were calling or demand is simply a fiction, `an abstraction,
held, still less, what was said there. And although it an absurdity ; yea, that the promise of God, just be-
is certainly unfortunate that we must learn about mat- cause it appeals as the Word of the Lord to faith and I
ters that concern all our churches from what is pur- must be accepted in faith, even always  yua, t&s shows
ported to be (but is not) a private letter of Prof. Hol-    the character of demand or calling. Does not the
werda, I am very glad that the matter was brought to Compendium ask the question : `What is the sum of that
light.                                                      which lGod.has  prom&ed  in the gospel and commanded
    That is my view of the matter. And I wish you us to believe?' And vice versa : Every command of the
would discuss it with me openly in the  Standard Bearer. Lord which He directs in His covenant to His people
                                                            always implies a promise. Does not God promise to
    Professor Veenhof continues as follows :                give what He demands?
    "Then I have something else that urges me to speak.        "To let you hear with how much seriousness and
    "I would, namely, call to the Rev. Ophoff : Stop, for power I always taught the inseparable connection of
aGod's  sake, your annihilating criticism .of the Liber- promise and demand I may quote from my little book,
ated. For I tell you in all seriousness: What you at- `In den Chaos', which appeared already in 1945. There
tack, that on which you allow your sledge-hammer one reads on page 39  s(of the third edition) : `And now
blows to come down upon, is nothing else than a carica- we will place full emphasis on the truth that God mer
ture presentation of what the Liberated teach. The speaks this covenant. promise without letting us hear
only "blessing" which you may expect on this labor in inseparable connection therewith His demand to
is a poisoning of the spirit and the hearts of your faith, conversion, and obedience. Never does one come
American brethren with regard to their fellow brethren into contact with that covenant promise without im-
in the Netherlands, an alienation between your church- mediately  and  at the'  same  time  also coming into con-
es and the `Liberated churches, and thus a glorious tact with the demand of God. It is even so that the
victory of Satan.                                           promise of the covenant implies the demand. The one
    Let me assure you with all emphasis that again and is completely grown together with the other. When
again it appears that in America our struggle is not I place two apples on the table, I can remove one, and
understood. I do not say this in pride, as if we propa- what is left is nevertheless a real apple. But when I
gated something so high and so deep that the Ameri- tear apart or peel out the demand from the covenant
cans cannot reach it. No, but I simply state this be- promise, the latter ceases to be the covenant promise.
cause I notice this repeatedly. I also say this because For thus says Calvin: Seeing that the promise is con-
I know from my own experience how easy it is that nected with the demand, I say that .it is so implied
some such misunderstanding can lodge in the heart. therein that when it is separated therefrom, it is en-
Only after more than twenty years after the struggle tirely destroyed. (Institutes, IV, 14, 14)  ."- Only in
of 1924, we began to understand a little of what hap- this connection do we hear the promise. Hence, also
pened in America and how there the different fronts in this connection only do we know it. We also receive
were aligned.                                               it only in this inseparable growing together. Where,
    "To prove to you that matters indeed stand thus therefore, one separates this promise from the  above-
I will mention a clear  exampIe, which I choose at mentioned connection and places it by itself and views
random.                                                     it is a promise only to.the  elect, which is fulfilled in
    "For this purpose I point to the last article of the    principle .already  at the moment that it is given, we
Rev. Petter, concerning the covenant, that  came to reject this construction because it is :a pure abstraction
my attention. I mention him, because I have great of thought. Such a promise we do not  know.  Even
respect for the faithful and patient manner in which as from a song sung by four voices we can probably
he attempts by serious study to live into our world of separate one voice out of the whole that is sung, so we
thought. If by anyone, then it is by the Rev. Petter may probably also separate in thought a promise as
that there is the will to understand,                       one that already is principally fulfilled and applies only
       "`But what does the Rev. Petter write now? He to the elect from the inseparable whole of the life of the
treats in the above-mentioned article my opinions, And covenant which God lives with His people. But that is
against them he has serious objections. The first is a pure abstraction of thought. We therefore express
this, that I see in the promise of God indeed a special it here emphatically that we reject entirely the theory


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          131

of the "toelichti~g" (elucidation), which speaks of an          `<And when thereupon the Rev. Petter argues that
unconditional promise of salvation for the elect, which the emphasis on the surety, riches, and power of the
is supposed to form the specific content of covenant and promise as it is in itself, and therefore independent of
sacrament. Such a promise does  not.exist  in the con- faith, in order that it may be truly a sure ground of the
creteness of God's speaking, as He establishes and faith, an unshakeable foundation of hope flows forth
maintains His covenant. And therefore we throw it out of the `humanitarian comfort motive', then I would
overboard as a pure thing of thought.'                       like to ask: does the amazing, impassioned struggle
    `LThus I wrote already four years ago. And now of all reformers to bring the confused and erring sheep
I would like to ask whether one can reach the connec- of Jesus Christ again to the assurance of faith really
tion of promise and demand more strongly. To be flow forth from a humanitarian comfort motive? Is it
sure, in the &p&Z  I did not emphasize this unity so possible that the Catechism, which views the entire
strongly; but that is merely the result of the.circum-       message of God to His church from the viewpoint of
stance that this little book was written for the  Synodi- the comfort motive, and is Isaiah 40  :l, ff. also humani-
cals, and that I discussed in it more especially what tarian ?
must be brought to their attention. And to this did             "And thus I would continue. When the Rev. Ophoff
not belong that I never separated promise and demand ; demolishes a certain opinion of the `condition' of the
that was already known there very well.                      covenant with heavy sledge-hammer blows, then I am
    "I wrote about this mistake of the Rev. Petter  some-    inclined to call out: Reverend, reverend, please stop,
.what elaborately to make clear to you how quickly please stop ; don't make yourself so weary. Do you
misunderstanding can arise and of what character really imagine that one single Liberated believes one
such misunderstanding is.                                    tittle or iota of the foolishness which you attack?
    "And the case which I here described may be multi-          "Indeed : misunderstanding on misunderstanding.
p l i e d   m a n i f o l d .  *I                               "It certainly is necessary to approach one another
    "Thus in the same article of the Rev. Petter he here carefully, patiently, and above all, in the spirit of
says, for instance, aiso that my defense, over against love, and to attempt to understand one another.
the. Synodicals on a certain point does not hold water.         "Let me for a moment point out exactly what I
I emphasized, namely, over against the Synodicals the mean.
riches of the promise as it is being taught by the Liber-       "You, highly esteemed Rev. Hoeksema, propose
ated. But, thus the Rev. Petter, that argument of Prof. in the last number of the Standard  Bearer a number of
Veenhof is not valid. For no matter how Liberated questions to the Liberated. But to answer those ques-
and Synodicals think about the promise, for both tions you and we would first have to speak very care-
groups it is an established fact that the promise is fully about the `establish' of the covenant and about
being spoken to faith, and that one can be assured the `equally' establishing of it, over the content of `is I
of it and rest in it only through faith. And of course, equally' in the question: Is the promise equally for all
I fully accept the thought that only through faith one baptized? About the notions and tendencies of the
can rest in and be assured of the promiser But that  is `gives' in the sentence: God `gives' the promise to all.
not the question.  The difference does not concern About the words `seriously' and `right' in the words:
the way in which, the means through which, and the God says seriously to all the children that He gives
manner in which one can rest in and live out of the them a right to all the blessings of the covenant, etc.,
promise. No, the question concerns this, how does the etc. If this is not done carefully and painstakingly,
promise approach  usi which contents  has it  before and it is certain that misunderstandings will arise with all
5ruhependent of faith; how does it appear, and what their miseries."
does it contain, and for whom is it valid, in order that                 I
it  may  be believed?  The point of dispute, therefore,         Comment :
concerns what lies behind the faith in the promise? or,         As to your criticism, esteemed brother, of the Rev.
to express it differently, what  precedes  it? Is the Petter's articles, Brother Petter better reply to that
promise as it approaches the believers and their seed himself in Concordia. And as to your comment on the
according to its nature,-to speak with  Calvin,-al- term `condition' which the Rev. Ophoff demolishes with
ways `containing salvation' and `efficacious'? Or, to heavy sledge-hammer blows, you will have noticed that
say it differently, is it always being spoken by the I am writing on that term myself. And I find it very
Holy Spirit, so that also independently of the faith striking that in all our Confessions the term is never
of him that, is addressed it is full, genuine, reliable, used, except to put it in the mouth of the Pelagians
efhcacious'? Or, to say it differently, is it always and Arminians.
being spoken by the Holy Spirit, so that also indepen-          But I find the way in which you answer my ques-
dently of the faith of him that is addressed it is full,     tions, published in the  Standard  Bearer of Oct.  1, some-
genuine, reliable, efficacious, and valid?                   what strange, and also unsatisfactory.

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

        `Let me repeat those questions here. They were as Heynsian view of the covenant rather thoroughly for
     follows :                                                     the last 35 years; and according to all that the Liber-
             1: Is it true, or is it not true, that according to your ated wrote the view of Prof. Heyns was hailed as thor-
     theology God establishes His covenant equally with all oughly Reformed. And, in the second place, I have
     the children that are born of believing parents, head studied almost all that was written by the Liberated
     for head and soul for soul?                                   on the covenant question ever since after the war we
        2. Is it true, or is it not true, that according to the had access to their literature.. And therefore, I cannot
     theology of the Liberated the promise of God is equally believe that I fail to understand the principal tenets
     for all that are born in the historical line of the cove- of their covenant conception.           But I am willing to
     nant, elect and reprobate alike?                              learn. And that is the reason why I asked those rather
         3. Is it true, or is it not true, that according to the specific questions which I now reprint, with the request
     theology of the Liberated God gives that promise to all, that you, or anyone else of the Liberated theologians,
     elect and reprobate, in His grace and in His love?            will reply to them. If there are any terms that need
        4. Is it true, or is it not true, that God seriously definition, define them according to the meaning which
     says to all the children that are born in the historical you attach to them.  ,Or if there is any term in my
     line of the covenant that He gives them a right to all questions you want me to define, just ask me, and I
     the blessings of the covenant?                                 will be glad to comply with your request. But I think
             5. Is it true, or is it not true, that according to the that on the whole the questions which I asked are
     covenant theology of the Liberated God assures all the rather clear and very specific ; and they certainly are
     children that are born of believing parents in the his- to the point. And I would like to have a very clear
     torical line of the covenant that He washes them in and definite answer to them.
     the blood of Christ?                                              I can also put my questions in a  little different
             6. Is it true, or is it not true, that according to the form, and base them on statements which you have
     covenant theology of the Liberated God assures all the made in your "kApp&l".
     children of believers that He will give them His Holy             In that case they would run as follows:
     Spirit to dwell in them and to make them partakers of             1. What do you mean when you write that God in
     all the blessings of salvation in Christ Jesus?                baptism seals unto all the children born of believing
             7. Is it true, or is it not true, that in answer to the parents, head for head, that He establishes His cove-
     -question why many of the baptized children are not nant with them? You can define your own terms.
     saved you say that their corrupt nature prevents the              2. What do you mean when you write that God in
     grace of God from operating in their hearts?                   baptism gives to all the children born of believing
             8. Is it true, or is it not true, that in the case of parents, head for head, the glorious promise  (toe-
     those baptized children that are lost you teach that it zegging) that He washes them all in the blood of
     is their, unbelief that bars the way of God's grace?           Jesus Christ?
             Now, in your article you write that in order to be        3. What do you mean when you write that God
     able to answer these questions we must very carefully gives to all the children born under the covenant, head
     define the terms' and mutually agree what we mean for head, the glorious assurance (promise,  toezegging)
     by them. With this I can agree. It is always essential that God will give them His Holy Spirit to dwell in
     that we understand from one another just exactly what them?
     we mean by certain terms. Thus you write that we                  4. What do you mean when you write that to all the
     must define the term "establish", and again that we children born of believing parents, head for head, God
     must mutually understand what we mean when we gives the glorious assurance of the forgiveness of sins
     speak of God's "equally" establishing Ris covenant and all the. riches of His salvation?
     with all the children that are born of believing parents,       5. What do you mean when you write that God in
     etc.                                                           grace approaches all the baptized children with the
             But, esteemed brethren, would it not be beneficial promise given them in baptism? Is there a gracious
     ,for a good understanding of one another's conception attitude of Gad to the reprobate in the covenant?                 6
     that you would make a start with defining these terms.            6. What do you mean when you write that in bap-
     You must remember that I wrote these questions in tism God means to engrave into the hearts of all the
*    connection with the remark,. of Prof. Holwerda that baptized children, head for head, the assurance, "I am
     the Rev. Ophoff had not understood even the ABC' of your God, and ye are my children?"
     the covenant theology of the Liberated. And I added             -7. What do you mean when you teach that when
     that that means that principally I have failed to under- many baptized children are not saved, it is because they
     stand the same covenant theology also. Of course, bar the way to the grace of God? Is grace not effi-
     YOU understand that it is very difficult for me to believe     cacious, and is it not irresistible, as far as God's opera-
     this. For, in the first place, I have understood the tion is concerned? Besides, do not by nature also the


                                     T H E '   S T A N D A R D B E A R E R                                                   133

elect "bar the way to God's grace"? And will you oversten in Hem geloofden. En in het oorspronkelijke
please give me the reference to Calvin to which you lezen we een zeer sterke uitdrukking voor "in Hem",
refer?                                                       of in het Engelsch into Him. Zooals de uitdrukking in
    I have more questions ; but this may s&ce.               de  Schrift  : "doopende in den Naam" in `t oorspronke-
    These questions, esteemed brother, are all based on lijke letterlijk luidt: "tot in den Naam", i.e., tot in de
your own writing. You can therefore define your own gemeenschap van den Naam, zoo beteekent in Joh. 12:
terms. And they all refer rather sharply to the differ- 42 de uitdrukking "geloofden. . . . in Hem" geloofden
ences between  `us. For according to our convictions         tot  &n Hem, of tot in Zijne gemeenschap.
these teachings are not Reformed, neither Scriptural.         % 2. Er is waarheid in het argument v%r deze ver-
    In conclusion, however, I would like to ask one more klaring, dat n.1. dit vers in scherp contrast staat met
question. It is this: Do you by your teaching con- de, voorafgaande verzen. De schare  in het algemeen
cerning baptism as a seal of the promise not assign geloofde niet in Hem. . . . nochtans gelodfden velen
more power and a wider scope to baptism than to the van de oversten we1 in Hem.
preaching of the Word?                                           3. Het is zeker waar,  dat dit geloof van de oversten
    Please answer these questions. I certainly will nog zeer zwak was, zoodat  ze, bevreesd voor den  haat
publish your answer together with my discussion of der  Farize&r,  het niet openlijk durfden  te belijden.
it in the Standard Bearer.                      H. H. -      Maar vergeet niet, dat de haat der Farizeen  zeer fel
                                                             was en dat het een groote schande was om uit de syna-
                                                             goge geworpen  te  worden.   Ik weet wel, dat dit die
                                                             oversten niet verontschuldigt, maar het verklaart hun
          Historisch of Waar Geloof?                         weifelende houding wel, vooral v66r het kruis en de
                                                             verheerlijking van  Christus  en de uitstorting des
    Van de  Hollandsche   Mannen Vereeniging van de Geestes,   toen  ze den  Christus  nog niet  zagen in het
Eerste Protestants&e  Gereformeerde Kerk in Grand volle  licht der  nieuwe bedeeling.
Rapids, Michigan ontvingen wij de volgende vraag `(in            Ik hoop, dat ik een beetje licht over de vraag heb
mijn eigen woorden weer gegeven) :                           mogen verspreiden.                                     H. H.
                                                                                     *  * *  `*
    Ziet Joh. 12:42 op historisch of op waar geloof?
Antwoord:                                                                          IN MEMORIAM
    In boven genoemden tekst lezen we: "Nochtans                On Friday, October 28, our beloved mother, grandmother and
"geloofden  zelfs velen uit de oversten in Hem; maar om great-grandmother
der Farizeen  wil beleden zij het niet, opdat zij uit de                          Mrs. Ruth  Veldhuis
synagogue niet zouden geworpen  worden."                     was taken away from us by the Lord at the age of 89 years.
   Net is geen wonder, dat er verschil van meening            Her  delight  to walk in the ways of the  Lord with the
was over dit vers, en ik weet niet of mijn antwoord we1 assurance that her Redeemer liveth, sustains us in our sorrow.
volkomen bevrediging zal geven.         Er schijnen  aan                                   Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Bylsma
beide zijden gewichtige argumenten te bestaan. Aan                                         Mr. and Mrs. Seymour  Bylsma
de B&e zijde is daar het argument, dat een waar geloof                                     John  Bylsma
beleden wil worden,  en dat deden deze oversten niet.                                      Ruth Bylsma
Daar komt nog bij, dat we in vers 43 lezen van dezelfde Grand Rapids, Michigan.              and 2 great-grandchildren.
oversten: "Want zij hadden de eer der menschen lief,                                 *  *  *  *
meer dan de eer van  aGod".       Hoe kunnen dan deze
oversten gezegd  worden  het ware geloof te bezitten?                              IN  MEMORIAM
Leert de S&rift niet, dat belijden met den mond met             On Monday, the fourteenth day of November, our dear
gelooven met het hart gepaard moet gaan om zalig te husband, father and grandfather
worden? Aan den anderen kant echter wordt gewezen                                Nicolas  G. Wierenga.
op.het  scherp contrast, dat dit vers vormt met de on-       passed away in the Lord.
middelijk voorafgaande verzen, waar gesproken wordt             Our great comfort and rich assurance in our loss is this:
van degenen, die niet in Jezus konden gelooven, omdat that he now beholds His face in righteousness.
God hunne oogen verblind en hunne harten  verhard                                        Mrs. Rena Wierenga
had.                                                                                     Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Wierenga
   Wat zullen we hiervan nu zeggen?                                                      Mr. and Mrs. Martin Nymeyer
   Ik ben geneigd om deze oversten "the benefit of the                                   Mr. and Mrs. George Wierenga
doubt" te geven, en dat om de volgende redenen :                                         Mrs. Gertrude Vander Veen
   1. De tekst  zelf. We lezen nadrukkelijk, dat de                                        and 15 grandchildren.

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

                                                          work. He performs all his work with all His being
             OUR DOCTRINE                                 eternally. Thirdly, our work is limited by laws of time
                                                          and space and change and development. We ourselves
                                                          are creatures of time, subject to change and develop-
          The Counsel Of God. (3)                         ment. The things round about us limit and influence
                                                          us. Our activity is determined and influenced by ex-
Our Knowledge of God's Counsel Important Also From ternal conditions and circumstances, and over these
          the Viewpoint of 0u.r Knowledge of God.         conditions and circumstances we have no control. The
                                                          question whether we shall be able to begin and finish a
       A correct conception of the counsel of *God is also certain task is, for example, determined by a matter
important from the viewpoint of our knowledge of the such as our health. This, we understand, does not
living God: It aids us in our conception of the Lord.     apply to the living God. The Lord is never determined
God is an eternally active God. This is applicable, first by anything outside Himself. He is the sovereign God
of all, to the living God Himself, His own inner Divine and all His activity is sovereign and unconditional.
life., Thus the Scriptures reveal Him, do they not? There is nothing outside Himself. It is therefore im-
We read in Deut. 32:4: "He is the Rock, His work ia possible for the Lord to be determined by anything out-
perfect : for all His ways are judgment : a God of truth side Himself. Strictly speaking, this conception is
and without iniquity,  ,just and right is He." And in dualistic, renders the Lord dependent upon external
John 5 :17 we read : "But Jesus answered them, My matters and conditions and circumstances.                   Time,
Father worketh hitherto, and I work."                     space, etc., are all creatures of the living God ; they do
       God is not an idle Being, Who began to work six not influence Him but He is completely and sovereignly
thousand years ago but was idle before that time. The in control of them. Fourthly, our works are, of course,
Lord is in Himself purest action. His work and Being incomplete.         They are characterized by a process.
are eternally one, as God is one, and characterized by They are performed piecemeal, are finished gradual-
oneness and simplicity. Only, God works, does not ly. We begin a certain task today, continue with it
labor. The Lord never struggles to attain unto any- tomorrow, and finally finish it sometime in the future.
thing. Fact is, His work or works is or are eternally The work of the Lord, however, is complete. God
perfect. We read of the Lord that He is the Rock and works  all His works eternally. This is an amazing
that His work is perfect. It is for this reason that the truth. All the history of this world, from the begin-
Lord is also characterized by a state of perfect rest. ning even unto the end, in all its details and phases,
Rest is the enjoyment of a perfect work. The Lord is is known unto the Lord, lies eternally before Him as a
perpect in all His work ; hence, eternally He enjoys "blueprint", the reality of all things as existing in the
this perfect work and is therefore the God of eternal Lord's eternal thoughts. This, I say, is an amazing
and perfect rest.                                         thing, far transcending all human understanding. This
       That the Lord is perfect in all His work does not implies that God, for example, sees all things as they
merely apply to the work of His own life and being, are occurring today. His eye is upon every activity
but is also applicable to all' the works as they appear throughout the universe ; He sees not only the so-called
and occur in time. To be sure, in time this counsel great events but also the small, such as the worm
unfolds itself and gradually attains unto realization ; which crawls in the dust of the earth. Every move-
but in the eternal thoughts of the Lord all these works ment throughout the world, in the heavens above and
appear eternally complete and perfect. Fact is, accord- upon the earth beneath and in the waters under the
ing to Acts 15 : 18 : "Known unto God are all His works earth, in every living creature, in the heart and mind
from the beginning of the world." It is well that we and soul of angel and demon, godly and ungodly `is
distinguish between  <God's work and our work. Our constantly known unto and by the Lord. But this is
works have a beginning. We begin with a certain task not all. To this blueprint must be added that in the
and this task is brought to a conclusion. We ourselves same sense the Lord has an all-comprehensive  "bird's-
are characterized by a beginning and an end ; this also eye view" of all the history of the world, not only there-
applies to all the things we do. But this does not apply fore at a certain given point in history, but as covering
to, Jehovah. His works are without beginning and all the history from the beginning unto the end of time.
without end. Secondly, the work of man is character- And even this is not all. The picture becomes complete
ized by division. We are not active with all our being when we bear in mind that this Divine "blueprint"
simultaneously.      Sometimes our. work is mainly physi- also includes the humanly incomprehensible fact that
cal ; at other times the mental aspect of our activity, the Lord thus beholds all things also as they are related
appears upon the foreground. Now we work with our unto each other, as they serve each other and are used
hand, then with our mind. Hence, our work is char- by the Lord unto the realization of the purpose which
acterized by division. God. however, is one in all His He has purposed within Himself from before the


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARER                                              135

foundation of the world. Eternally the Lord sees all Lord, of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are char-
things in their proper place. Surely, the work of the acterized by eternal completeness and perfection.
Lord is eternally perfect; known unto Him are all His             But we also speak of the essential works of God.
works from the beginning of the world.                         These works, too, we understand, occur within the
   This also enables us somewhat to understand that living God Himself. When we speak of the essential
the Lord did not enrich Himself when He created the works of the Lord we refer, on the one hand, to those
heavens and the earth. That the Lord did not enrich works which characterize the Being of the Lord, His
Himself lies in the nature of the case. He is in Him- essence, all that activity which causes the three Persons
self the All-Blessed One, the  All-Suflicient  One, the in to be one, the Divine life of the knowledge and love of
Himself eternally and  perfebtly  active  ,God and there- Himself, the Lord's Self-enjoyment of His own eternal
fore the eternally resting God. That the Lord did not virtues and perfections.             These essential works of
enrich Himself when He created the heavens and the ,God belong  -also the counsel of the Lord. To be sure,
earth follows, first of all, from the fact that God is the counsel of .God is realized in time. However, as
the Absolute Reality and that the creature is the re- counsel, it constitutes a work of God within the ever-
flection of His own life and glory. The original crea- lasting God Himself. God is no architect who drew
tion, as brought forth by the living God at the dawn of up a dead blueprint and enriches himself with the
history and existing in the state of rectitude, reflected actual erection of the building. God's plan or counsel,
in a creaturely way the goodness and perfection of the as we have seen, is the eternal wisdom of the `Lord, is
Lord. And the new heavens and new earth will like- God as He eternally willed all things and eternally re-
wise reveal, in a creaturely sense, that goodness and joices in, the reality of all things which He has con-
perfection of the Lord . Of course, the new heavens and stantly before Him.
the new earth will be the eternal and heavenly. re-
flection of the glory of  ,God,  the highest possible mani-            Various Names of the Cmnsel & God.
festation of the alone blessed God. But then we also              Let us, first of all, call attention to various names
understand that the Lord did not enrich Himself when of the counsel of the Lord in the general sense. WC
He created this reflection of Himself. Do we enrich also speak of God's counsel in a specific sense, as rc.-
ourselves when we obtain a mirror in which we behold ferring to Divine predestination, election and reproba-
our own reflection and image? Besides, that the Lord tion. In the Old Testament we have various names
did not enrich Himself when He created the heavens used to denote this concept. The first word is "cou-:-
and the earth is also obvious from the fact that the sel", also translated "purpose" in Holy Writ. The
history of the world is nothing but the unfolding of the Hebrew word in this instance is "etsah". This word
eternal counsel of the Lord, the Divine, eternal "blue- emphasizes the idea of counsel or a plan. It occurs, e.g.
print," reality of all things as they exist eternally in in Job 38: "Who is this that darkeneth counsel by
the thoughts of the living God.                                words without knowledge. ,
                                                                                         7" also in Isaiah 46  :lO-11:     '
   It is because of this truth, that the Lord Himself "Declaring the end from the beginning, and from
is the God of purest action, and activity, that the ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying,
Fathers have always distinguished the works of God My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure:
as "opera  Dei immanentia" and "opera Dei exeunta",            Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that
the immanent and outgoing works of God. To be sure, executeth My counsel from a far country: yea, I have
there are the "opera Dei exeunta," the outgoing works spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed
of God, the works of the Lord as we see them and as it, I will also do it.", and in Isaiah 14  :26: "This is the
they unfold before our eyes. But the Lord Himself is the       purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth, and this
God of purest action ; hence, we also speak of the "opera is the hand that is stretched stretched out upon all the
Dei immanentia," the immanent works of the Lord. And nations." Hence, this word, "etsah", although it also
these immanent works of God we again distinguish as occurs in Scripture in the sense of counsel, advice (see
the personal and the essential works of God. The per- II Samuel 16:20), refers to the counsel or purpose of
sonal works of God, occurring, we understand, within Jehovah, that which He has purposed within Himself,
the living ,God Himself, are the works which character- and according to which He acts and does all things.
ize the three Divine Persons, the Father, Son, and Holy           Another word which occurs in the Old Testament is
Spirit. We need not enter into a detailed discussion "decree". The Hebrew word is "Chok". This word
of these works at this time, inasmuch as we discussed appears, e.g., in Psalm 2 :9 : "I will declare the decree :
them when we treated the Scriptural truth of the the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art My Son ; this
Trinity.    These are the works of God whereby the day have I begotten thee." This word, "chok",  means
Father generates the Son, the Son is generated by the properly that which is established or definite. It also
Father, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father appears in the sense of: a defined limit, a bound, an
and the- Son. And also these personal works of the appointed time or law, statute, The word, "decree",


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refers to the counsel of the Lord as having established words to which we would call attention are the Greek
that which shall be.                                      words: Boulee and Theleema. These words occur to-
   A third word in the Old Testament is "sod". This gether in Eph. 1 :I1 : "In Whom also we have obtained
Hebrew word is derived from "yatsad", which means: an inheritance,, being predestinated according to the
to deliberate and consult together, hence, to take coun- purpose of Him Who worketh all things after the coun-
sel together. This word is translated "counsel" in Jer. sel (Boulee) of His own will (Theleema) ." The form-
23:18,  22: "For who hath stood in the counsel of the er word seems to emphasize the counsel, the will of
Lord, and hath perceived and heard His word? who God as resting upon Divine deliberation and as calling
hath marked His word, and heard it? . . . . But if they attention to the content, that which was willed. The
had stood in My counsel, and had caused My people to word, "theleema", on the other hand, in distinction
hear My words, then they should have turned them from "Boulee," emphasize the will of God as such, the
from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings." fact that God willed it. We hasten to add, however,
It is translated "assembly" in Jer. 6 :11 and 15 :17 :     that these words appear often in Holy Writ, and that
"Therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord; I am they also appear to be used indiscriminately.
weary with holding in: I will pour it out upon the            Another prominent word which appears in the New
children abroad, and upon the assembly of young men Testament is the Greek word: Eudokia. This word is
together:  for  even the husband with the wife shall be translated: pleasure, good pleasure. We read, e.g., in
taken, the aged with him that is full of days. . . . I sat Matt. 11:36 : "At that time Jesus answered and said,
not in the  assembly  of the mockers, nor rejoiced ; I sat I thank Thee, 0 Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
alone because of thy hand : for thou hast filled me with because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and
indignation."     This word, "sod", when used of men, prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so,
refers to an assembly of young men or judges, etc. as Father: for so it seemed good in Thy sight." This text
they sit together and take counsel. Hence, the word is repeated in Luke  10  :21. In Luke  2:14 occur the
means  :. deliberation, counsel.    With respect .to the well-known words : "Glory to God in the highest, and
Lord, the word implies that the Lord eternally  de- on earth peace, good will toward men." And in Eph.
Iiberated, took counsel within Himself.                    1:5, 9 (this entire portion of Holy Writ is a grand
       Another word which is used to ,denote  the eternal eulogy on the eternal good pleasure of the Lord) we
thoughts of Jehovah is: purpose. As such it occurs in read : "Having predestinated us unto the adoption of
Jer. 4 :23 : "For this shall the earth mourn, and the chiIdren by Jesus Christ to HimseIf, according to the
heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, good  pleasure  of His will. . . . Having made known.
I hcGve purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I unto us the mystery of His will; according to His good
turn back from it." The Hebrew word is : "mezimmah." pleasure  which He hath purposed in Himself." In
This word is derived from a word which means : to          Phil. 2 : 12-13 we read : "Wherefore, my beloved, as ye
meditate, have in mind, to purpose. As a word which have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but
is used to denote the counsel of the Lord, it refers to now much more in my absence, work out your own
the eternal thoughts of the Lord upon which He has salvation with fear and trembling.              For, it is God
meditated and proposed to Himself.                         Which worketh in you both to will and to do of .His
       Finally, we have the Hebrew words, "Chaphets" good pleasure."          And in II Thess. 1  :ll we read :
and "Ratsoon". The former word, which means: de- "Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our
light, desire, will, occurs in Is: 53  :lO : "Yet it pleased God w.ould  count you worthy of this calling, and ful-
the Lord to bruise Him: He hath put Him to grief: fill all the good pleasure of His goodness, and the work
when Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, of faith with power." The word "eudokia", is derived
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and from a word which means: to think well, to think good.
the pleasure  of the Lord shall prosper in His hand." It refers to the Lord's eternal counsel from the view-
The latter word, "ratsoon", occurs in Psalm 51:18,  Is. point that God has eternally decided that which seemed
49 :8: "Do good in Thy good pleasure unto Zion: build good to Him, emphasizes the Divine sovereignty and
Thou. the walls of Jerusalem. . . . Thus saith the good pleasure of His decrees: This is abundantly clear
Lord, In an  acceptable time have I heard thee, and from a passage such as Matt. 11:25-26,  where Christ
in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will pre- thanks the Father that He has hid the things of His
serve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, eternal Kingdom from the wise and the prudent and
to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate has revealed them unto babes, and that this occurred
heritages." These wordsemphasize that the Lord does according to the Father's eternal good pleasure.
as He pleases, and He does as He pleuses.  He deter-          A third word to which we would call attention is
mines all things  ,and He executeth all  His delight.      the Greek word: Horidzoo. This word occurs in Acts
       In the New Testament, too, we have several words 17 :26 : "And hath made of one biood  all nations of men
to denote the concept, "counsel of God." The first for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath deter-


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                     137

mined (horidzoo) the times before appointed, and the us, the prophet avails himself of a figure, when he says,
bounds (fundamentally the same word as "horidzoo")         "For he, the Christ, shall grow up before him, namely,
of their habitation." This word reminds us of the God, as a tender plant, as a root out of a dry ground."
Hebrew "chok'`-Ps.  2 :7. The word means literally: The same figure occurs in the first verse of the eleventh
to mark out a boundary or limit. Thus it means: to chapter of Isaiah's discourse. Here the text reads,
determine, appoint. It emphasizes the truth that the "And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of
Lord has sovereignly determined, appointed all things, Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots." it is
Divinely set a bound for all things, and thereby sover- the figure of a little branch, a shoot or sucker that
eignly determined their existence.                         comes forth out of a sightless tree-stump, rooted in the
   A fourth word which appears in the New Testa- dry ground of a  desert  land. This shoot or rod is
ment is "Prothesis." The word is often translated:         Christ. The stump out of which He comes forth is the
purpose. It occurs, e.g., in Rom. 8 :28, 9 :ll : "And we Virgin, Christ's mother. The stump of Jesse is again
know that all things work together for good to them the virgin. The implied relation is that of stump and
that love  ,God, to them who are the called according to tree  ,in which the virgin is the stump, and Jesse and
His purpose. . . . For the children being not yet born, his royal descendants, definitely David and Solomon,
neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose the tree.
of God according to election might stand, not of works,       Let us lay hold on the meaning of this figure. It
but of Him that calleth." In Eph. l:ll, 3:ll we read:      is plainly suggested here in our text. Dropping the
"In Whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being figure, the prophet.asserts,  "He, the Christ, hath no
predestinated according to the purpose of Him Who form nor splendour." The people of Israel once upon a
worketh all things after the counsel of His own will. . . time did have a king who had form, splendour, glory.
According to the eternal purpose which He purposed This king was Solomon, the son of David and the
in Christ Jesus our Lord." And in II Tim.  19 we grandson of Jesse. And what a glorious king he was,
read: *`Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy was Solomon.  .He sat on a throne of ivory overlaid
calling, not according to our works, but according to with gold. No king so rich, no king so powerful, no
His own purpose and grace, which was given us in king so wise as Solomn.
Christ Jesus before the world began." The word,               However, Solomon's glory was not true heavenly
"prothesis," means literally: to set before. The word glory, beauty, splendour of the exalted and heavenly
can merely mean: the setting forth of a thing, place it Christ now at the right hand of God in the highest
before something. However, the word can also signify heavens. The glory of Solomon's kingdom was not
that which God before decided to do, which He placed the true beauty of Christ's heavenly kingdom, when
before Himself. In the latter sense the word is used this kingdom-the kingdom of Christ-shall once have
in the passages we have quoted.                            appeared in glory on the new earth. The glory of
                                         H. Veldman.       Solomon was but earthy, typical. It was but a shadow,
                                                           a pre-indication, a picture, of the glory of the heavenly
                                                           Christ.    Being but a shadow, a picture, devoid of
                                                           reality, it faded, did this glory of king Solomon. The
                                                           light of this glory grew more and more dim and was
 The Glory .of Christ the Heavenly finally extinguished. This dimming process of the
                                                           glory of Jesse's royal house began even before Solo-
   The Scripture on which we concentrate is the second mon's death. It was accelerated by the breaking away
verse of Isaiah 53. Let us begin reading at verse 1.       of the ten tribes from the house of David. It was com-
   "Who hath believed our report? And to whom was pleted by the exile of Judah. The end came in 587 B.C.
the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up In that year Nebuchadnezzar once more and for the
before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a last time marched against Judah and laid seige to Jeru-
dry ground: he hath no form nor splendour, that we salem. City and temple were destroyed. King  Zede-
should look upon him,                                      kiah, the last member of the royal family of Jesse to
   The word "report" denotes the  ,Gospel  of Christ occupy the typical throne of David was taken captive
that the prophet had received from God by an infallible and carried to ,the king of Babylon in Riblah. After
revelation. The utterance, "Who hath received our seeing his sons slain before his very eyes, his own eyes
report,`! namely, our gospel, is an exclamation expres- were put out, and he ended his life in a Babylonian
sive of amazement mingled with grief at the reception prison. The holy line was continued in the generations
that men gave the prophet's gospel. They did not be- of Jehoiada, the brother of Zedekiah, and the son of
lieve it. In our text the prophet reveals what men held king Josiah. But never again did a descendant of David
against the Christ of God on account of which they the son of Jesse occupy the typical Davidic throne.
despised and rejected Him. In making this plain to The light of the typical glory of Jesse's house had been


138                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R .
-~                                          -
extinguished, never again to be rekindled. Nary, the ger.          His mother had nothing but some swaddling
last female descendant of this house and the mother of clothes to wrap Him in when He was born. For she
Jesus was a poor and obscure virgin of the despised was a poor woman. As soon as He was able, He had to
city of Nazareth. She was all that remained of what go to work, which He did, working with His hands
once had been a glorious tree-a splendrous royal as a carpenter under Joseph all the rest of the years of
house, the house of Jesse. The tree had been felled ; His life with the exception of the last three.
all its foliage and branches, in a word, all its glory,         A shoot growing from a sightless stump, that was
had been clean cut away. All that was permitted to Christ. ,And mark you, the stump was rooted in a
stand of it was that sightless stump in a dry ground- dry ground of a desert land. It was thus a root and
Mary the virgin. The royal house of  .David had been stump from which it was not even possible for a shoot
humbled to the very ground. What can this indicale           to come forth at all. For it had no moisture. The
but that the Lord was about to make a new beginning application of the figure is plain. According to the
of things. And so He did. From that sightless stump will of God, as prophecy had revealed it, Christ had
He brought forth the Christ, Israel's true king. But, to be of the seed of David. But the virgin was the only
as born from this poor and obscure female descendant living descendant of David so that there was for her
of the royal house of Jesse, Christ was indeed in his no man by which she might conceive. Then the Holy
beginnings a shoot out of a sightless stump-the stump ,Ghost  performed a great wonder. He came upon the
of Jesse. As that stump, as that virgin, so the Christ, virgin and the power of the Highest overshadowed her
He was without form, without splendour, typical glory, by reason of which she was with child and brought
beauty, appearance.                                          forth a son,, the Christ of God, the Son of God in-
       We perceive now how this language is to be under- carnate.
stood. It can scarcely have any reference to the struc-         The text states further that He grew up before Him,
ture of Christ's physical frame, as though perhaps namely, God. He increased, did the Christ, though a
he was deformed of body ; or to the mould of the             shoot in a dry ground. But His increase was not from
features of His countenance, as though He was a man below but from above. The Spirit of the Lord rested
with a plain, expressionless, or even ugly, repulsive-       upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
looking face, so that seeing Him, men looked away. It and of counsel and of might, and of the fear of the
need not even be assumed that He was small and frail. Lord ; wherefore He was quick of understanding in the
He was as well built and stalwart as  *any normal man, fear of the Lord, Isaiah 11:2, 3. So did He grow up
as His working alongside His supposed father, Joseph, before the Lord, mark you, before the Lord. The Lord
as a carpenter, would seem to indicate. And His coun- He served. The Lord He sought. Before the face of
tenance was beautiful, must have been, as upon it was the Lord He stood and walked;fought the good fight,
reflected-the heaven that filled His pure soul. `But and bore witness to the truth. In the Lord He trusted.
what He lacked is form, splendour, appearance, posi- By the zeal of the Lord's house He was consumed. Into
tion, prestige. He wore no crown of gold as did Solo- the work that the Lord had given Him to do, He threw
mon. He sat not on a throne of ivory as had Solomon.         Himself with all His will and mind and heart and soul
He was not clothed with royal purple as Solomon had and strength, and thereby procured for us an eternal
been. He drank not from vessels of gold. He had no redemption.
horses and chariots. As to glory, appearance, honour            But He was without earthy form, glory, appearance.
and prestige, He, the Christ, .was as far removed from This was right and proper. So *God willed it. For an
Solomon, as it was possible for any man in Israel to be.     earthly glory would have ill become the Christ, He
He was not a priest, was Christ. He was not a scribe ; being a heavenly King, who had come to establish by
He was not an elder; He was not a Pharisee, as was His suffering and death, a heavenly kingdom, formed
Paul. He was not a member of the Sanhedrin. He had of citizens who are heavenly in contra-distinction to
no doctor's degree. For the seminary attached to the earthy, sinfully earthy. The only glory that becomes
synagogue He never attended. Anyway, what could such a King, such a kingdom and such citizens is
that institution have contributed to His .spiritual  de- heavenly. It was upon such a glory-the  heavenly-
velopment? It was dry ground . It was  .reading its that Christ has His affection set. By the promise of
own theories into the Bible.                                 this glory He lived and suffered and died and was
       A shoot, a branch, a rod,-that was Christ. And        raised and appeared in glory with His people.
a shoot that came forth not out of the trunk of a stately       Christ loved the glory of the heavenly ; for what is
tree still standing in all its glory; but a shoot growing this glory but. Zion's righteousness going forth as
from a sightless stump in the dry ground of a desert brightness and her salvation burning as a lamp. Hence,
land at that. His estate was as low as it was possible Christ's love of the glory of the heavenly was love of
for the estate of any man to be low. He was born in a righteousness and the salvation of His people ; it was
smelly stable, wasn't He? His first cradle was a  man-       thus love of God, the triune Jehovah.


                                    T H E   S.TAiD`ARD   B E A R E R                                             139

   Where a man's treasure is, there is his heart. the cross. But they refused to understand, did the
Christ's treasure was the glory of the heavenly . There men with whom He walked. With the evidence of His
was His heart. To be clothed with that glory-the wonder-working power filling the land, and as willingly
glory of the heavenly-was His sole desire. "And now ignorant of the true purpose of His-mission, they re-
0 Father," so He prayed, "glorify thou me with thine marked to one another what a wonderful earthy king
own self with the glory which I had with thee before He would make them, to judge them and to go out.
the world was." Reference here, of course, is to the before them and to fight their earthly battles. With
glory of Christ in His office of Mediator which He such a king they would not only again be like all the
already had with His Father in His counsel before the nations, but they would be the head and not the tail
foundation of the world. It is this glory after which of the nations as they now were, seeing that they groan-
He thirsted ; for His heart thirsted after God ,and after ed under'the yoke of the Romans. And when on a day
the salvation of His people of which God His Father is He fed five thousand of them with five loaves of. bread
the fountain and He the channel. How true it is that and  two fishes, they were wildly enthusiastic; and
it was after this glory that He thirsted. Attend to the they came to take Him by force to make Him king.
following : His thirtieth birthday anniversary came Of course, the devil was back of-all this. He was deter-
round . As prompted by the Spirit, He came into the mined that Christ consent to His being seated on an
desert. The devil was there, too. And the devil taketh earthly throne. Thus the opportunity again presents
Him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth itself to Christ to be crowned a king of earlhly glory,
Him  all his kingdoms-the kingdoms of the  world- appearance, and magnificence. Will He this time yield
man's world-and their earthly glory. Said the devil to the wiles of the devil? He will not. He cannot.
to Him, "All these things-these kingdoms of mine- For He is the incarnate Son of God ; and thus the man .
will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me." Jesus can only will to stand firm, which He also does.'
It is plain what the devil wanted. He wanted Christ to He departs out of their midst. And the next day He '
consent to His  .being exalted by him, the devil, to the returns to them and tells them the truth about Himself
devil's own right hand far above all the kings `and and themselves in language that pointed that they can-
potentates that reign on this earth. If Christ consents, not but conclude that it is utterly useless to try to get
He will be Christ the magnificent indeed ; but He  prill Him seated on an earthly throne. Bitterly disappoint-,
no longer be the Christ of God but the Christ, the ed, and also cut to-the quick by what He had said to '
anointed, of the devil, the devil's vicar and viceregent them, they looked at Him again. Then they looked at
on earth, in the devil's service and thus in the service one another and said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of
of sin, and of the lie and of darkness and qf all iniquity    Joseph, whose father and mother we know? The man
and unrighteousness.     How could the Christ of God is a plebe, a pariah ; they meant to say He hath no form
consent to. such a thing? He could not. The devil's nor splendour. Indeed, and it troubles them especially
offer had'absolutely no appeal for Him. He had His now since they perceive that He is determined in His
heart set on being exalted at the Father's right hand opposition to .a11 attempts on their part to give Him
with the Father's countenance lifted upon Him in eter- form and splendour and appearance by seating Him
nal love. He had His heart set on the glory of a heaven- on an earthly throne. In the words of our ,.text, they
ly kingship. Though obtainable only in the way of saw him-and saw that there was no beauty that they
suffering and death on the cross ,it is well ; it is that should desire  @n. And  they  walked with Him no
glory that He will have for Himself and His own and more, it is stated. They forsook Him to a man. From
none other. For ,God's favor to Him is better than life. that day on they were His avowed enemies. And not
"Octet thee hence," is therefore His reply to the tempter, so long thereafter, as inflamed by their leaders, they
"For it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God,      nailed Him to a cross. And on that cross He died.
and Him only shalt thou serve."                               Then the Lord  <God  again performed a great.  mirakle.    -
   Then He came, did Christ, among His people. And He raised Him up from the dead ; and low, ,! he sight-
they brought to Him their devil-possessed, and their less shoot or sprout becomes a beautiful tree ; it acquires
sick and their blind,. and deaf, and halt, and maim. a crown of foliage and fruit-the church of the re-
And He  cast out the evil spirits. by His Word. He deemed in heaven clothed with the heavenly perfection
healed all that were sick and even raised some of their and glory of her Head, the resurrected and exalted
dead ; .but all this only `in confirmation of His preach- Christ, the. King of true glory at the right hand of                I
ing-His preaching of the heavenly kingdom that He God in the highest `heavens. ,And the tree filleth the
had come to establish by His suffering and death ; the whoIe earth, the new earth. What a wonderful tree it
preaching of Himself as its  heavemy  king; the preach- is. So do God's people now see this sightless shoot or
ing of Himself as the Great Physician, as the good sprout by faith.in the Scriptures, definitely in the pro-
shepherd who would lay down His life for His sheep phetic discourse of Ezekiel.
that they might be reconciled. to His father through                                                 G. M. Ophoff.


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         141

    En hoe zal ik daar van beginnen te schrijven. . . . zij zijn 66k mooi  en lieftallig.
en ophouden? Er ligt ook hier weer een eeuwigheid               Alsdie schepping ondergaat in zonde en vuilheid;  en
van gedachten.                                               het tegenovergestelde vertoont van genade, en leelijk
    Genadig is de Heere. . . . Dat vinden we overal  in wordt, dan openbaart God Zijn genade weer, doch dan
den Bijbel.                                                  nog veel heerlijker dan in het Paradijs. Dat doet God
    Ik*denk hier direkt aan Hem die op aarde Godde- door Zijn Eigen schoonheid te  doen zien gelijk nooit  te
lijke antwoorden gaf;  aan Hem die den Vader  ver-           voren: en dat is Jezus! Jezus is de Genadige bij uit-
klaarde. Van Hem getuigde men, dat Hij  genudige             nemendheid. Hij is zoo gracieus  en lieftallig, dat de
woorden sprak. Eerder lazen we, dat Hij toenam in Kerk van alle eeuwen, Hem ziende, uitgeroepen heeft:
yenade  bij God en de menschen. En in de  psalmen            alles aan Hem is zeer begeerijk ! Ziet ge nu niet, dat
staren we in verruking op Zijn schoone beeld, waar het Hooglied van Salomo juist -die schoonheid van  beide.
men zingende van Hem profeteerde: genude  is uitge-          den Bruidegom en de Bruid bezingt? Gij zoudt boven                ,
stort op Uwe  lippen !                                       het Hooglied kunnen schrijven : Een lied der Genade !
    IGenade  is schoonheid, lieflijkheid,  aantrekkelijk-       En in de vierde plaats buigt God Zich" in keuwige
heid.  Genade is datgene wat welluidt. Zoo is ,God  de liefde tot Zijn  volk in Jezus Christus,  richt hen op,
genadige God in Zichzelf, afgedacht van U en mij. wascht hen van alle  hunne zonde, en maakt hen `allen
Genade is een deugd Gods. En ,God is altijd en eeuwig-       weer  schoon en lieflijk. Leest, neen,. zingt  nu dien
lijk aangetrokken tot Zijn Eigen Wezen,  dat sehoon en psalm die spreekt van "gelijk een duif .in `t zilverwit
lieflijk is. Daarom looft  God Zichzelf.                     en `t goud dat op haar vederen zit", enz. .Komt daar         .
    En zoo is Hij ook schoon tot Zijn schepsel, dat naar ook niet in voor : weer met, Uw schoonheid pralen?
Zijn beeld gescbapen is. Hij  start die  iieflijkheid  in Welnu, dat is de genade Gods over u!
hem uit en maakt hem ook  mooi  en  schoon. Ja, in              0 ja, Vader, we zijn klaar  om er van te zingen,  te
zekere mate deed God dat ook. over de werken Zijner zingen.
handen. Toen Hij de mooie, grucieuze  schepselen zag                                                    G. vos.
die Hij  gemaakt  had, zeide Hij immers: het is  .zeer
goed  !
    En zelfs nu nog, nadat de zonde, schuld en  vloek
kwamen, zelfs nu verwonderen  wij ' ons over het vele
schoone, dat er gevonden wordt hier op aarde. Alles                   '  I'  Corresponcience
predikt, dat God nog genadig is. Ik zie `het in de              With  The Liberated Churches
schoone tafereelen van het uitspansel in  diepen   nacht,
in de bruisende golven  op bet strand ; ik sta in vervoe-
ring bij het zien van duizende schakeeringen van green                 An Explanation and An `Apology.
en  geel, en bruin in de Meederen des aardrijks, het            The undersigned feels that he owes. a word of ex-
groene tapijt van gras en plant en heester. Ik kan we1       planation to the readers of the Stadard  Bearer, the
zingen  als ik de schoone geluiden hoor van wind en Deputies for Correspondence in the Netherlands, and.
water, van storm en onweer, van alle de elementen die an apology to two members of the Committee of Cor-
dan stil en vredig, dan wild en onstuimiglijk hun stem- respondence with foreign churches, appointed by our
men laten hooren. Ik droom er van in zoele  zomer-           Synod. The two committee members are the' brethren
nachten, en ontwaak in een bad van het  licht der zon: Rev. H. Hoeksema and Rev. G.  M. Ophoff.
de morgen, de schoone morgen is weer gekomen ! 0,               This past'summer when I was in the Netherlands
alles verkondigt de genade van God.                          I received a letter from the Deputies for Correspond-
    Denkt daaraan, als men het  schier   automat&h ence with foreign churchesfrom the Liberated church-
elkander nazegt : genade is verbeurde  gun.&!                es. That was some time in July. The purpose of
    Och arme ! Heeft Jezus soms ook verbeurde gunst course was that I take this letter along to the-States
van  ,God ontvangen? Hij sprak genadige woorden in and that as Committee of our Churches we would dis-
Fazareth'  synagoge; Hij nam toe in genade bij God cuss this letter and reply to it.
en menschen ; de profeten zagen Zijn genadige lippen !          Naturally, if I had known then what I discovered
    En wat de deur toedoet: God is tech een genadig later, I would have sent that letter to the States im-
God in Zichzelven? Hoe kan dan de genade wezenlijk mediately. Or else if I had known everything before-
verbeurde gunst zijn?                                        hand I would have placed that letter in the hands of
    Neen, maar  266  loopt  de lijn: genade is schoonheid the Committee very shortly after I arrived back in the
en pracht, aantrekkelijkheid en lieftalligheid. Het is :States,  which was in the middle of August. And after
datgene wat  gracieus is.                                    all it was not my letter but the property of the Com-
    God is dat in Zijn eeuwig-  Wezen. God is gracieus!      mittee. However, the facts in the case are that I did
    God tooit Zijn schepping en s6hepsel  met genade, en not open that letter (although I was acquainted with
                                                       I


3.42                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
its contents) till several days after I arrived home.                                                      .
                                                                                        _.I___ .___ -_~_________
Then at a meeting with the Consistory of First Church,
an August 29, I read said letter to the Consistory and                     FROM HOLY WRIT
several other brethren that were present. There was
nothing se&et about the letter as such and, ,hence, I "And you (did He make alive) when ye were dead through your
could see no harm in reading the letter at that time.          trespasses and sins, wherein ye once walked according .to the
                                                               course of this world, according  to the prince of the powers of
But at that particular meeting the two brethren, Com- the air,  uf the spirit that now worketh in the sons of dis-
mittee members mentioned, were not present, and, obedience; among whom we also all once lived in the lusts .of
hence, they were not acquainted with the contents of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and
this letter nor even knew about its existence, while the were by nature children of wrath, even as the  rest."-Eph.  2:1-4.
fact remains of course that they first of all were en-            The attentive reader, who lives by faith in  ,Christ
titled to know the contents of the letter because it was Jesus, having read the quotation here from the pen of
a letter for our Committee.                                    Paul, must have observed both to his joy and blessed
        At the time I thought it was a matter of wisdom comfort, that for him all the old things of sin, guilt and
to keep that letter for a while, (besides, I expected an- death are gone forever, and that by faith all things are
other letter very shortly) and I hoped that we could new, not only for the present age, but also into the
meet as Committee in the near future to discuss said endless ages to come.
letter. As matters turned out it was not till November           Such is the rich and glorious import of this Scripture
18 that I sent the letter to the brethren. As I said passage.
before, if I had to do it over again I would do it differ-        For by faith the redeemed child of God stands in'
ently, but that can not be done now. I readily admit the new state of justification and adoption to sons
that it was wrong of me to hold on to the letter till          through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
such a late date.         ~---  t                              And in this faith in Christ he has free entrance into the
        However, there is still another element that enters hoIy place of God, and receives all the spiritual bless-
here. Not being aware of the existence of said letter ings in heavenly places, to wit, the blessings of sanctifi-
things were written in the Standard  Bearer in re the cation and the hope of everlasting glory. Prior to and
question of Correspondence (I noticed even in the last apart from faith we are without. the possession of
issue of the  Standard Bearer),  and also  in re the God's blessing and favor, but in this faith in Christ
Deputies for Correspondence in the Netherlands, which crucified we are assured of the possession of  saIvation
would not and could not have been written had I for- to the end.
warded the letter immediately to our Committee.                   And what a change this is ! It is the change from
        I can assure the brethren involved that there was no "what we were once" to what "we are now". It is a
evil intent on'my part, but I am certainly willing to          complete change from the darkness of sin and death to
take the blame for what I neglected to do. And I hereby the brightness of the Light of God shining in our hearts
apologize for this neglect which resulted in a serious in the face of Jesus Christ. A greater change is un-
misunderstanding, and in turn led to wrong conclusions         thinkable. It is the work, of God in His redeeming
`and observations which were not true. And I certainly grace. God brings us up out of the deepest depths of
hope that herewith the readers of the dtandard Bearer sin and guilt to the highest pinnacle of life and liberty
will understand the situation, that my apology is ac- in Christ. For He has claimed us from death and hell
cepted by the brethren involved, and that this incident and has set us in the heavens in Christ Jesus.
is closed.                                                        And all the way it is His work alone.
        Gladly would I write about the matter of correspon-       For it is a work so great in magnitude that it is the
dence as such, the letter and its proposals, etc., (there very work of "creation", the calling of things that are
is nothing secret about it), but that is not the purpose not as though they  were;  the illustriousness of it is so
now and that does not lie within the framework of this exceedingly great, that it will require the entire span
short article.       Besides, it is also natural and  self- of ages to come to display the riches of God's goodness
evident that as Committee we first meet and discuss in us the saints !
the letter.                                                       All things will then sing and rejoice, saying: Be-
        I do want to say in conclusion that I appreciate it hold, what God hath wrought !
very much that I have the opportunity to write about              There is nothing of the work of proud man in this.
this matter and thus avoid the possibility of all personal God alone is the Builder and the Architect. And for
reflections, and that also in this way all misunder- this very reason every mouth must be stopped, and the
standing may be removed and that the readers may whole world stand condemnable before God. This
receive a clear and truthful picture of the whole thing change here wrought in us, who believe, has nothing in
as such.                                                       common with the false claim of the moralist that it is
                                          J. D. de Jong.       a change from being morahy bad to becoming less evil


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                     143

in a moral sense. Salvation is not a matter of morality,         That such is indeed the case is not merely suggested
of man's lifting himself up out of the miry clay by by the very natural law that the important and central
inches, but it is the work of God whereby in Christ He matter is stated first, but in this case is proven from
completely justifies and sanctifies the godless!              the very striking fact, that Paul in verse 5 briefly re-
   For this is the glad tidings of the Gospel, which the peats the entire content of the former ver,ses,  and that,
Ambassadors of Christ, the King, bring, namely, "that too, for the sake of the special emphasis that this.truth
God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, needed, in verse 5, where we read in abreviated form
not reckoning unto them their trespasses"! (II Cor. "and ye being dead by the trespass".
5:19).                                                           This repetition of this thought shows clearly that
   This reconciliation of God brings a complete change the essense of the death from which we have been
about in the relation of man, of redeemed man, to God.        saved by grace is our "being dead by reason of our
Oh, the change is so very complete; so very radical it is.    trespasses and sins".
   To this complete change, this complete translation            Now, what does this latter really imply?
out of the authority of the power of darkness into the           It is salutary to prayerfully and believingly con-
kingdom of God's Son, Paul calls the attention of his sider this.
readers, and through this letter to them he also speaks          And then we would remark, first of all, that to him
to us. And since Paul prefaces this part of His letter who is thoroughly Reformed, to him who believes that
with the prayer to God, the Father of glory, that He our whole nature became vitiated by the fall, our under-
give the readers, the saints in Ephesus the Spirit of standing darkened, our will hard and obdurate and
revelation and wisdom that thereby the eyes of their wholly estranged from the life of God-to, him, I say,
heart may be enlightened and since this letter is also ad- the question arises why Paul does not say: Because ye
dressed to us, it follows, that the content of this prayer were dead by reason o;f the one trespess in Adam ye sin
must be realized by God through the Holy Spirit shall and trespass. It is rather remarkable that Paul does
we have a spiritual understanding of this wonderful not explain our actual sins and transgressions out of
work of `God's salvation by grace alone. It is indeed our original guilt and pollution here. At least that is
only by the Soly Spirit that we also have a believing not the way it is  stated.
understanding of what God's hope unto which He has               Now by way of warning against a false assumption
called us in Christ means, and what the riches of the it may be well to state that we are also convinced tha';
glory of God in Christ in the saints implies, not to Paul here does not deny that death came upon all by
forget the exceeding greatness of God's power in sav- the one transgression of Adam.
ing us through the resurrection and glorious, trium-             Paul does here deny in Eph. 2  :I-4 what he had
phant ascension of Christ to the Father's right hand.         taught in Romans 5 :12-21.
   This receiving of enlightenment of the heart from             But what then?
,God is not merely necessary in the sense of the first           To be sure the'truth  of Romans 5 ;12-21 stands in
impartation of the new life of faith in Christ by the         all its awful reality. We all died in the one transgres-
Spirit, but it is a constant necessity, a gift given upon sion of Adam. On the other hand it also remains true
prayer to those who "have faith in Christ Jesus and           that we  are dead by reason of our trespasses and sins!
have love to all the saints". (Ephesians 1: 15-23)               There are two basic considerations that here come
   And to this our prayerful and believing attention to the foreground. The one is that we should bear in
Paul pictures, describes to us in these verses (2  :l-10)     mind the nature of the guilt of Adam and his relation
the greatness of salvation alone on the background of to the whole human race both as representative head
the awful depth of sin and death in which we ujere            and as father, or the "root" of the human race. The
by nature.                                                    other is, that we have and keep a rather clear concep-
   The contrast is as sharply stated by Paul in verse 5 :     tion of the moral, rational nature of the sinner, upon
Ye were dead in your trespasses and sins-but now yi whom death has come, as this sinner concretely per-
h&e been made alive with Christ Jesus!          .             forms moral-rational sinful acts !
   Now it is quite certain that the main description,            In the first place we may point out that while Paul
the very heart of the awfulness and hopelessness of in Rom. 5:12-21 speaks of "death came  through to all
our former state and condition, of our state and con- men", and says "that the trespass of one many died";
dition, of our state and condition by nature,  apart          "for the judgment came by one to condemnation!`;
from God's salvation in Christ, our Lord, is stated by "by the trespass of one death reigned through that
Paul in verse 1 by the phrase "ye being dead by reason        one", and "so then, through one trespass the judgment
of the sins and trespasses of you." The remaining came unto all men to condemnation ; for through the
clauses of the verses 2-4, which deal with this same          one man's disobedience the many were made sin-
question are evidently meant as a somewhat broader ners".
description of this awful depravity.                             How is this to be accounted for? How could this


144                                   T-tiE-`STANDAR,D   B E A R E R

awful guilt of Adam come upon all of us?                     verdict of God upon each added trespass and sin.
       To this' Paul answers in Rom. 5  :12 "Because that Hence, they were dead by reason of their trespasses
all had sinned" in Adam. This does mean that every and sins. This is also the experience of the godly,
one in the human race was very really in Adam, con- when the eyes of their heart have been enlightened,
sciously sinning. It surely means that legally Adam and they have died unto the very sin and trespass
represented the whole human race before God. When which has very exceedingly revided in them, that they
Adam sinned his transgression was imputed to all of experience "that their conscience accuses them for
us. And very really the death-sentence, which was each transgression and sin. And the confession is : I
before already threatened to Adam, is immediately find in me, that is, in my flesh, no good ; I am carnal,
executed by God. And ,Adam and Eve very really died, sold under sin. 0, wretched man that I am. And with
as is attested by their whole conduct subsequent to the David the godly confess it is not only because of'these
fall and prior to the gracious giving of the Protevangel trespasses and sins that I am dead, ever dead in my
in Genesis  3:15. They were guilty, the sentence of conscience and, therefore, further by nature do nothing
guilt was written by God in their conscience, and they but sin, but this reaches back to my having been con-
could not love each other anymore. For they accuse ceived in sin by my mother, and her having given birth
each other, and do not humbly confess their sins. They to me in unrighteousness !
could not confess their sins, but could only admit their         That such is the awful state and condition where
sin and guilt and that, too, while they accused each his the rich mercy of *God finds us, is evident from the
own respective temptor.  They thus became "children further description of Paul of the state and condition
of wrath".                                                   of the believers as they, as we were by nature.
   Now this <verdict of guilt was passed on to the whole         But this must wait till the next issue, D. V.
human race. Gain was a child of wrath, but so was                                                           G. Lubbers.
Abel by nature!                                                                       * * *  *
   Since we have mentioned Abel it being convenient
to us, we will demonstrate the point of "being dead by                          TEACHERS WANTED!
reason of trespasses and sin" in his case.
   That Abel was "dead by means of trespasses and               The Free Christian School Society of Edgerton, Minnesota,
sins" does not mean that there was an endless number expects to open the doors of its.awn  Protestant Reformed School
of "falls" in him and in all who like him are "children for the  Reformed instruction of the children  of the covenant,
of wrath". We ,do not experience, do not pass through Sept. 1950. Instruction will be offered in the grades one through
the "fall". There is only one fall, the one trespass eight. We expect an enrollment of approximately fifty pupils.
of Adam. And so, to return to Abel, Abel was born               We will need teachers, Protestant Reformed teachers, two of
and conceived in the guilt of Adam, with the law of sin them. One to serve as principal and to teach grades five through
in his members. Be was by nature "inclined to all evil, `eight, the other to teach grades one through four.
incapable of doing any good." His whole nature was              The Roard hereby invites teachers,  and prospective teachers,
corrupt,  his will perverse, and his mind darkened. to make application for these positions. Full co-operation of the
That was due to the one transgression of hisimmediate parents and of the Board is assured. Attractive  salaries will be
father, Adam! And in this he was just like the "rest" offered. A new school building, with up to date class rooms,
by  nature, that is, he was us such just like Cain !         furnished with new educational  materials, will provide pleasant
   But, and here we come to our second consideration, working conditions.
which ,we have stated earlier in this essay, Abel sinned        Anyone qualified, and interested in more information, is in-
as a moral-rational being under the same law of God vited to correspond with the secretary. We invite you to send
under which  Adam had been placed. The original com- a Ietter  of application for one of these positions. Please include
mand to love God perfectly and to obey Him did not in this letter a statement of educational background and attain-
change ! By  nature  ,Abel  was under the perfect law. ments,  and.indicate  the position for which you apply. Kindly
And the law Abel could only transgress ! For by nature indicate previous experience, if any.
he was a child of wrath. And in this wrath he was in            This is an opportunity for anyone eager to teach in one of our
the vicious-circle, the perpetual motions of sin. Sin Prot. Ref. schools, `under pleasant conditions, at a good salary.
bears more sins. It is endless! Each new transgres- It is an opportunity to help lay the groundwork of a new Prot.
sion and sin is written indelibly by God in the con- Ref. school, in order that the school may get off to a good &art,
science the verdict of guilt. The conscience becomes doc';rinally  and educationally. We earnestly solicit your applica-
ever more defiled and the mind more reprobate unto tion, teachers and prospective teachers!
every good work !                                               Applications should be mailed to the Secretary:
   And so as Abel lived concretely, by nature he with                                          Mr. Wm.  Hnisken
Cain, was dead and ever more dead by reason of the                                             Edgerton, Minnesota.


VOLUME  XXVI                         January 1, 1950 - Grand Rapids, Michigan                                NUMBER  `7
                                                                  all things without limitation, they refer to the entire
      MEXHTATION                                                  present, visible world, the heavens and earth, and all
                                                                  they contain, as they were originally created, as they
                                                                  fell under the power of the curse, death and misery,
                                                                  through man's sin, as well as through the rebellion
       The Nearness Of The End                                    of Satan and his angels, and as it became the scene,
                                                                  the stage for the realization of -God's counsel of sal-
            Hut the end of all things is at hand; be ye there-    vation and His eternal covenant in Christ Jesus our
          fore sober and watch unto prayer.                       Lord.
                                               I Peter  43.          All things !
   To pilgrims this word is addressed.                               It means the end of time as we know it and ex-
   And from the viewpoint, of a stranger, in the con- perience it, with its succession of time, of moments,
sciousness of your being a sojourner in the world you of hours, of days and months and years, of seasons,
must hear it.                                                     of summer and winter, spring and autumn. One last
   Failure to receive this Word of God in a pilgrim's moment will come, never to be succeeded by another
consciousness would result in finding nothing but rea- moment just like it.                  The clock of this world will
sons for sadness and lamentation in these words.                  stop forever; it  can never be rewound or repaired: It
   ,The end of all things is near, at hand!                       signifies all that exists in time and is characterized
   What if that signifies the end of all you love and by the measure of time ; the sun and. the moon and the
cherish, of all the things on which you did set your starts, the mountains and the hills and the valleys,
heart, for the which you strove to possess them, to the oceans and seas and lakes and rivers, the woods
which you cling, in which are bound up all your hopes and the fields, the trees and flowers, the beasts of the
and expectation ; the things that are below, earthly field, the flying birds and the creeping things ; man,
things, things you now see and hear and taste and the crown of the earthly creation ; the earth itself, and
touch; your home and possessions, your name and all its creatures,-the moment will come which will be
position,*`your  ties of friendship and love-relations, their last. It implies all that takes place in time, all
your earthly pleasures and joy, your very life; `the the movement and development of all the creatures  ;
earth and all it contains ; the whole present world? . . . man's life and thoughts in terms and forms of this
   The end of them all?. . . .                                    world, his work and strife, his peace and war, his
   To be sure, the text means nothing less when it power and glory ; and all that is ever produced by
speaks of the end of all things.        Hardly could the man's ingenuity and power. The moment will come.
apostle refer to-the entire and final end of the Jewish that will sweep it all away !
economy, marked by the destruction of the temple,                    Things have an end !
the city of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the Jewish               They do not merely come to an end, haphazardly,
nation over the whole earth. The `words stand there arbitrarily, perchance, without having accomplished
without limitation: the end of all things. Nor is there any definite purpose whatsoever. But there is an end,
anything in the context that could possibly persuade a very definite end fixed for them, for the things of
us to conclude that the words refer to the end of the" this world, for nil things. And towards that end they
Jewish. nation. A very strange way of expressing move, they hasten, they rush, simultaneously ; and all
such a thought it would be, indeed, to speak of the               things will reach the end that is fixed for them at the
end of all things. And when the  Scripl;ures speaks of same time, the final moment!

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

            That purpose is God's eternal covenant!                    It does not appear so !
     God is building His house in Christ! That is the                  Ah, how is it to be- explained, if nineteen hundred
     essential "thing". All the rest is the scaffolding. Bnd years ago the end of all things were near, it still is
     even as the scaffolding is necessary as long as the build- not yet? Or, how can, what is separated from us by
     ing is in the process of construction, but must be re- a period of nineteen centuries, be called "at hand"?
     moved as soon as `the building is finished; so "all               Many explain that this expression and similar utter-
     things"  ,must exist, move, develop, act,  .live,.  labor, ances in the New Testament merely indicate a mis-
     toil, strive, suffer, groan, until God has. realized His taken view on the part  of  the  apostles.  They ex-
     eternal purpose of salvation and the moment is there,          pected the end of all things soon. They labored under
     when the new heavens and the new earth may be mani- the impression that the Lord would return before
     fested in all their eternal glory; then they may, then long, in fact, in their own time. And to this mis-
     t.hey must be removed !                                        taken hope expressions of this kind must be attri-
     Then the former things shall be no more !                      buted.
            Nay, they shall even be remembered no more !               But how could the Word of God be mistaken?
            At the last trump ! The moment! The twinkling
     of an eye ! Then "all things" shall be burned with                That the inspired apostles did not always under-
     fire. The very elements shall melt. The earthly ciock          stand the exact implications of their. own writings
     shall stop forever; the heavenly clock shall run on a may easily be true, may readily be granted.                  The
     new schedule never to stop again !                             prophets of the old dispensation certainly did  .not
            But what if you love "all things"?                      always full comprehend the contents of their own
            What if you belong to the scaffolding of God's predictions of things  aoncerning  the kingdom  ,of God.
     building, seek the things which are below and have And when they spoke of the "day of the Lord", they
     your heart sold to the `things that are on the earth, the undoubtedly conceived of that day as even then ap-
~    things which you now see and hear?                             proaching. Nor did they perceive in their prophetic
            How sad!                                                vision the long period that separates the first Advent
            For, the end of all things is at hand !                 from the Second. And thus the apostles, inspired by
            But the word is addressed to pilgrims and sojourn- the Spirit of Christ to write the deep things of God,
     ers in the midst of all these things.                          did not always fully fathom the depth of their own
     From this viewpoint the apostle Peter considers writings. There is nothing objectionable in the view
     and addresses the Church of Christ of all ages.                t.hat they conceived of the return of their `Lord as
            They are "elect strangers". Even in God's eternal to be expected in the near future, although even this
     counsel they have been set apart as strangers in the is not always true.
     world. And in time they become strangers. For, they               But the fact is, that here we have, not the word
     are begotten again unto a lively hope through the              of man, but the Word of God.
     resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.            They       And the Word of God cannot fail.
     have a new life. `Resurrection life. They are born                And even though the apostle might have under-
     from above. They are strangers. No longer do they stood his own words as signifying that the end of all
     live according to the flesh. And their walk and citizen- things was only a few years in the future; .we know
     ship is in heaven. . . .                                       that this certainly cannot have the meaning of the
            For the city which hath foundations they look, the Spirit that inspired him.                          *
     city of their citizenship.                                        Yet the end is at hand, very near!
            ,And they confess that they are sojourners in the
     earth !                                                           It is next !
            Their heart is set. on the House ; not on, the scaf-       Does not the Word of ,God  emphasize that this is
     folding!                                                       the last hour? Does it not teach us that the end  of
            To them the end of all things is the end of the the "ages" is come upon us? Various hours there
     journey !                                                      were in the past on God's world-clock. There was the
            ,4nd that end is at hand!                               hour, perhaps very brief, that found its end in the fall
            Blessed comfort !                                       of man ; the hour that struck when the first world was
                                                                    destroyed by *he waters of the deluge ; the hour that
                                                                    was marked by the Babylonian confusion  of  tongues ;
                                                                    the- hour of Abraham's separation; the hour of Israel's
            The end is at hand!                                     economy; the hour of the captivity; the hour of the
            It was near then, when first the apostle wrote these "fulness  of time", beginning with the coming of the
     words; it is near, still nearer, now nineteen centuries Son of God in the flesh, and to be culminated in His
     later; it is always at hand !                                  reappearance in glory. And this is the last hour! . . .


                                     T H E   -STANDARD-  B E A R E R                                                   147

    Or, if you please, on the pilgrim's way of the church       The end of all things is at- hand !
through the ages of time there were different stations.         Pilgrims and sojourners in the world, the end is
                                                                                          ,e
The next station is the terminal. And the conductor near !
already passes through the train and shouts: "Next              The next stop!
stop as far as we go  !" The end of all things is at                                -m
hand !                                         -
    The next stop!                                              What then?
    We cannot expect another great event before the             What, if the .end of all things .is near, should be
                                                             our attitude toward "all things'.`?.
Kingdom of God shall have fully come!                           By all means do not mistake the scaffolding for the
    Besides, we are living in the hour of the end. The house ; set not your heart and hope upon the scaffold-
idea of the end is in all things in this final dispensa- ing instead of upon the house. Be sober and watch
tion. For, the end does not just come without reason unto prayer !                                                      .
or preparation.       Christ is even now coming ! He            Yea, the attitude of prayer should be ours.
hastens to come. He is coming in all things that take           This the apostle emphasizes. Unto this we must
place in the history of this last dispensation, in peace be sober and watch. For, thus the text should- be
and war, in earthquakes and upheavals, in famine read. It should not be separated so that we read:
and pestilence, in life and in death, in the preaching "Be sober! And watch unto prayer!" But rather
of the gospel to earth's remotest ends. And all the should we read: "Be sober and watch. . . . unto
events of this "last hour" testify with one accord : the prayer !"
Lord is coming ! The end of all things is near; is at           Unto prayer !
hand, is upon us !                                              No, not indeed, unto a so-called prayer that pro-
    We are living in the end!                                ceeds from a heart filled with the love of this world
    And how fast the end is coming. If you are travel- and with-`care and anxiety concerning the things of
ing toward the terminal of a long journey,. and the          the world. These cares you may cast upon the Lord.
final station is, say, still one hundred miles distant, These things shall be added unto you. Seek ye first
your conception of the nearness of that final station the Kingdom of God! But prayer that proceeds from
depends to a large extent upon the speed at which you the pilgrim's heart ; prayer that is a sigh of longing
are traveling. Not so near the end would seem if you for the soul-satisfying grace of God ; prayer that is the
make your journey afoot. But very near is the end of expression of hunger and thirst after righteousness,
your way, though it be one hundred miles distant, if of the new life in Christ, of hope, of a yearning for the
you travel by express or airplane. And the Lord is deliverance from the body of this death, for the final
not slack concerning His promise. He travels fast! perfection of the Kingdom of God, for the end of ,a11
He comes quickly ! He hastens the day ! Tremendous things, for the coming of the Lord in all the glory the
things must still come to pass before the end of all         Father gave Him ! _ . . .
things is at hand ! And His time is not yours. A                The, prayer of the Spirit and the Bride !
thousand years are with Him as one day and one day              Come, Lord Jesus ! Yea, come quickly !
is as a thousand years. . . .                                   The attitude of that prayer is in harmony with the
    But He is coming!                                        reality that the end of all things is near!
    Behold,  I come quickly, and My reward is with              Be ye therefore sober and watch !
Me!                                                             For how shall you be able to pray, to assume the
    He does not delay ! He tarries not in the way ! only proper attitude over against the nearness of the
He crowds all that can possibly be crowded into time, end, if you are not sober, if you are drunk, if you are
in order that He meet His bride and present her to the intoxicated with the things the end of which is near?
Father without spot or blemish !                             The drunken man reels. He is confused. He does not
                                                             judge correctly. He cannot evaluate reality properly.
    Faster and faster He is coming!                          And if you are spiritually drunk you. will cling to the
    Do you not see it in the hurry and bustle of our things that are on the earth. Be sober ! . . . .
present day?                                                    And how shall you remain sober, if you fail to
   And we know not the hour!                                 watch?
   What else, then, can be said, seeing that the next           Your flesh is carnal. `The world seduces ! It will
station is the end of all things, that all things move make you drunk with its dainties !
thither in our dispensation, that the Lord is coming            Watch, therefore, that you may be sober !
quickly and that we know not the hour, than what the            And that you may be instant in prayer!
Word of God addresses in our text to the Church of              The end is at hand!
the new dispensation :                                                                                       H.  I-L  :  r
                                                                                                       L

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

                             The StandardBearer
           Semi-Monthly, except Monthly in July and August                                                                                                                E D I T O R I A L S
                                              P u b l i s h e d   B y
                    The Reformed Free Publishing Association
                          Box 124, Sta. C., Grand Rapids, Mich                                                                                                 An Open Letter To The Liberated
                                 EDITOR:  - Rev. H. Hoeksema.
Contributing Editors: - Rev. G.  M. Ophoff, Rev. G.  VOS, Rev,                                                                                                    I write this open letter to the Liberated in the
R. Veldman, Rev. H.  Veidman,  Rev. H. De Wolf, Rev. B.  Kok,                                                                                                  Netherlands in .order,  if at all possible, to counteract
Rev. J. D. De  Jong,  Rev. A. Petter, Rev. C.  Hanlso,  Rev. L.                                                                                                the influence of the very evil and slanderous letter
Vermeer, Rev. G. Lubbers, Rev. M. Gritters, Rev. J. A. Heys,                                                                                                   signed by the "familie Klaver" of Hudsonville, a letter
Rev. W.  Hofman.
  Communications relative to contents should be addressed to                                                                                                  which was written, however, as is evident from the
*REV.  H. HOEKSEMA, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids,                                                                                                    contents, by Mrs. Klaver, who evidently is prophet,
Michigan.                                                                                                                                                      priest, and king in that family,-a letter which was
  Communications relative to subscription should be addressed                                                                                                 mimeographed and distributed by the hundreds, among
to MR. J. BOUWMAN, 1131 Sigsbee St., SE., Grand Rapids 6,                                                                                                      the Liberated people in the old country.
Mich. Announcements and Obituaries must be mailed to the
above address and will, be published at a fee of $1.00 for each                                                                                                   Not only  this, but the Reverend Van Raalte quotes
notice.                                                                                                                                                       from a similar letter, evidently written by the same
Renewals:-Unless a definite request for discontinuance is re-                                                                                                 woman, who appears to `be a very busy gossiper, in the
ceived, it is assumed that the subscriber wishes his subscription                                                                                              Gereformeerd Kedcblud voor Overijssel  en Gelderlund
to continue without the formality of a renewal order.
En'tcred  as Second Class Mail at Grand Rapids, Michigan.                                                                                                      From that letter he quote the following:
                             (Subscription Price $2.50 per year)                                                                                                  "Weleerwaarde Ds. Een noodkreet! Dat zet ik
                                                                                                                                                              hier.boven,  want het is het inderdaad. Wij zijn hier
                                                                                                                                                              dit voorjaar gekomen, en behooren bij de Prot. Geref.
                                                                 -                                                                                             Kerk. . . . Maar au beginnen ze ons het kerkgaan
                                                                                                                                                              naar de Prot. Geref. Kerk ook moeilijk te  maken."
                                                                                                                                                                  That is in  EngIish: "Esteemed Rev.: A distress
                                                                                                                                                               signal ! That's what I put above this, because it is
                   1'                                                                                                                                         that indeed. We have come here this spring and belong
                                                 C O N T E N T S                                                                                              to the Protestant Reformed" Church. . . . But now
                                                                                                                                                              they make it difficult for us to attend the Prot. Ref.
MEDITATION-                                                                                                                                                    Church also."
       The Nearness of the End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145                        Following this the Rev. Van Raalte writes in the
               Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                                               above mentioned paper that the woman continues to
EDITORIALS-                                                                                                                                                   write about the covenant question. Of this she men-
       An Open Letter to the Liberated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*............ 148 tions more  t.han one example, but he, the Rev. Van
       Prof. Veer&of's Letter . ..* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151               Raalte, wants to point to just one of them. That
       Translation and Comment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152                    example is the following, written, of course, by the
       Is Faith an Attribute of God ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157                                     same woman : "Des Zaterdags zeide hij (the reference
               Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                                               is to the Rev. Vos of Hudsonville) tegen onze  PauI, die
OUR  DOCTRINE-                                                                                                                                                twaalf jaar is, op de catechisatie: Wie krijgen de echte
       The Counsel of God (4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158             doop? Nu, Paul bleef hem het antwoord schuldig en
               Rev. H. Veldman                                                                                                                                toen  moest hij Ds. nazeggen : the elect (dat is : de  uit-
                                                                                                                                                              verkorenen) . Daarvoor heb je je niet vrijgemaakt wel,
SION'S  ZANGEN-                                                                                                                                               om nu door voor de tweede keer onze kinderen  in de
       Van Ganscher Harte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162     synodale  leer te  laten- onderwijzen, wel?" That is, as
               Rev. G. Vos                                                                                                                                    I translate it: "On a Saturday he said to our Paul,
FROM HOLY WRIT-                                                                                                                                               who is twelve years old, in catechism: Who receive the
       Exposition o f Ephesians 2:1-3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164                                 genuine baptism?. Well, Paul failed to answer him and
               Rev. Geo. C. Lubbers                                                                                                                           after that he must repeat it after the minister : the
                                                                                                                                                              elect. Now we certainly did not become liberated in
IN HIS  FEAR-                                                                                                                                                i order for the second time to have our children educated
       Galled to His Praise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  167 in the synodical doctrine, did we?"
              Rev.  J'. A. Heys                                                                                                                                   The Rev. Van Raalte adds in an explanatory para-
                                                                                                                                                               graph : "Die dominee.  was Ophoff niet, en Hoeksema


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                     149          1

ook niet, maar een ander. Dat is, op een enkele uit-        of such "rotten heretics". That, too, is a downright
zondering na, de leer van alle predikanten daar (Ds. and very evident lie. If anything is "rotten", it is the
Petter uitgezonderd, en die wordt door de Standard gossipy, slanderous letter written by her to the Nether-
Bearer voor een ketter uitgekreten). De beide  predi- lands. She further writes in her letter to the  Nether-
kanten,  die in Nederland geweest zijn, behooren tot de ,lands that we always send a certain class of ministers
gematigden, maar denken principieel ook zoo." That to Canada (that must be ministers like Hoeksema and
isj and I translate: "That minister was not the Rev. Ophoff, I suppose), and avoid or pass by the others.
Ophoff, nor the Rev. Hoeksema, but another one. That That too is a downright lie, and nothing else. That
is, with one single exception, the doctrine of all the certain ministers are sent to Canada and others are not
ministers there (the exception is the Rev. Petter, and is simply a question of language. Some of our minis-
he is being described as a heretic in the  Standard ters cannot very well handle the Dutch. For the rest,
Bearer).    Both the ministers that were here in the all our ministers are appointed in order by the  Classis.
Netherlands belong to the. moderate, but principally And I myself have been to ,Canada, to Hamilton, only
they entertain the same view."                              once. And let me say in parentheses that I enjoyed
   `Well, I'm glad that according to Rev. Van Raalte myself very much there and consider the people in
there is unanimity of opinion among the ministers here, Canada a very spiritual class of people, who are deeply
with, according to him, the single exception of the Rev. interested in the Reformed truth. That, therefore, is
Petter. Nor do I think ,that the Rev. Petter was ever another lie of Mrs. Klaver. ,She writes too that in the
described in the  StandcGrd  Beurer  as a heretic. But Men's society of Hudsonville her husband has been
whether he wants to be classified with the Liberated,       in debate with the Rev. Vos three successive meetings,
as the Rev. Van Raalte evidently classifies him, is up and that he, the Rev. Vos, always avoided the issue
to him. He is well able to explain himself.                 and beat about the bush. That too is a plain lie. I do
   But I am somewhat off on a tangent, and I want to not doubt that the Rev. Vos has been in debate with
return to that letter of Mrs. Klaver that was distributed Mr. Klaver on the Men's Society, but he certainly would         .
and quoted in the Netherlands, not in order to criticize not be afraid to tackle the problem, and he would  cer-
the letter as such (it is below my dignity to do so), %tainly not avoid the issue. That lie was evidently re-
but rather to call attention to the thoroughly unethical ported by Mr. Klaver himself to his wife when he came
method of distributing such a letter and of quoting i.t home from the Men's Society. Another lie is that the
as a trustworthy testimony against us in the papers.        Rev. Vos preaches very  onesided sermons. Now I
   Against such tactics, brethren, I must protest most know better. Of course, the Rev. Vos would not preach
vehemently, and that on the following grounds:              the Protestant Reformed view of the covenant and that
                                                            of the Liberated ; if she means that by onesided  ser-
   1. Mrs: K.laver (and in her name the whole family mons, I can admit. But for the rest, the Rev. Vos
Klaver) is backbiting and slandering too. And, you preaches the whole Word of God. Of that I am sure.
might have concluded from the letter itself that she is That too is slander. Further she writes that the Rev.
a very untrustworthy witness. Do you take the word Vos in his sermons denies the responsibility of man.
of one single woman for gospel truth, without even Again, I can very well understand that the Rev. Vos
informing us or investigating whether that particular probably has a different conception of that responsi-
woman is speaking the truth or slandering right and bility from that of Mrs. Klaver ; but that he denies
left as she does? Immediately upon the receipt of that the responsibility of man is again a downright lie.
letter, which was sent to me by airmail, I went to the      Finally, she writes that the Rev. Vos always aims at
Rev. Vos in Hudsonville and asked him whether he her husband and has it in for him. Now, I can under-
really treated his members and. catechumens in the          stand that members. like the Klaver family are not
fashion described by Mrs. Klaver and spread by her special friends of the Rev. Vos, for he is not a friend
upon the report, at least as far as the incident in the     of gossipers and probably is inclined to stay away from
catechism class is concerned, of a boy of twelve years %them. But the fault is certainly not with the Rev. Vos,
aid. And the Rev. Vos assured me that the woman but with the Klaver family, and, I dare say, especially
lied. He never treated the boy that way in his class.       with Mrs. Klaver, whom I consider a dangerous woman
Nor did Mrs. Klaver ever inquire of the Rev. Vos            in any congregation, as is evident -from her letter to
whether he did treat him in that fashion. And cer- the Netherlands.
tainly it is not Protestant Reformed language to speak         2. Apart even from the very unethical method of
of "genuine baptism". None of our Protestant Re- basing your judgment of our churches and of the Rev.
formed ministers would use that term. It is very Vos personally, on the testimony of one single woman,
evident that Mrs. Klaver herself, put the term into the you might have drawn the conclusion from the letter
mouth of her boy.  ?che same gossipy woman writes           itself that she is a very untrustworthy witness. In the
that the Rev. Vos will be very glad that he will be rid
                             ,  .3&i                        first place, can you not see that she intentionally avoids


        150                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   BE;ARER

       the proper ecclesiastical way of voicing her grievances? migrate to this country are as dissatisfied as the
        If the Klaver family were so maltreated by the Rev. Klavers. We, too, in our own congregation of the First
       Vos, should they not have lodged their protest with Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids have
       the consistory, and  if necessary, turned to the  Classis,    members that came from the Liberated Churches of
       and from the Classis to the Synod? Do you not agree the Netherlands. I find them to be very nice people,
       with me that  su,ch is the only proper way  for a  Chris-. and I assure you that they can testify that they were
       tian, and that it certainly must be condemned to go the well received and were royally treated by our people.
       way of public slander and insinuations ? Secondly,               5. And therefore, brethren, I cannot but be amazed
       did you not notice that she herself testifies that she
       does not even attend the church where she belongs and at your methods. I think them very unethical. Why
                                                                     not, instead of judging us on  the basis of such a slan-
       that at the time when she wrote her letter she had not
       been in church for seven successive weeks? To this derous letter as Mrs. Klaver wrote and which you dis-
        I may add that the Klavers have not been in church tributed in the.Netherlands  and quoted in your papers,
       and  (that their children have not been in catechism for turn to a source like the'congregation  in Hamilton?
       the last four or four and a half months. Would you They can tell you how we labored among them and
       justify such behaviour? We do not. And therefore, what we aaught.                 Let them testify whether we are
       let me inform you here that they are under censure, the true church or not, here in America. And let them
       not for any disagreemen$sn  the covenant question, but witness how they were received by us and how they
       simply for continued and tatal neglect, of the .means were treated.  I am sure that they will testify that
       of grace.                                                     they are glad that they joined the Protestant Reformed
                                                                     Churches. And I hope that the Consistory of Hamilton
           3. They evidently belong to a class of immigrants will send a testimony tothe papers in the Netherlands
        with which we are well acquainted, that can se,e,noth-       and that that testimony will be received.
        ing good in  cilmerica  and boast of everything in the          Brethren, you knew the stand of our churches on
        Netherlands. Just listen to the following quotation:         the covenant question before you advised your people
        "How often do we now think of that privileged Nether- to join our churches here in America and before your
        lands, which the Lord has blessed so signally above Synod of Amersfoort decided to seek correspondence
        many other countries ; then it is different here, nothing with us and to open your pulpits for `our ministers.
        but spiritual poverty, in school and in church." Or Dr. Schilder knew all about it. Mr. Van Spronsen
        listen to this: "Fortunately we still have- the Word of has visited all our churches and attended our Synod.
        God and our own sermons and the sermons of the Rev.          He can testify how we preach and what we teach.
        Tunderman, which certainly are fine. But how rich And both Dr. Schilder and Mr. Van Spronsen can also
        you people are still in the Netherlands now with your tell you how they were received by our people in spite
        reformation." It is eviden.t  that the family Klaver con- of our differences. In the conferences which we had
        stitute a veiy dissatisfied class of immigrants. And with Dr. Schilder we, on our part, plainly and clearly
        the sooner they go back to the Netherlands the better expounded our view on the covenant and defended it.
        for them, and, for us.                                       I prepared several propositions for that purpose, and
           4. Now, t.hey were well aware of the differences they too were published in the  Starulard   Becwer. Be-
        between the Liberated churches and ours. They knew sides, even before Dr. Schilder visited us, our Mission
        that before they ever joined our churches; at least,         Committee published and distributed several hundred
        they could have and should have known it. But they copies of my "De  ~Geloovigen  en Hun Zaad" in the
        were received in our congregation in Hudsonville in Netherlands. On your part, therefore, there can be
        spite of their views; nor did we ever trouble  .them.        no doubt about the stand of our churches on the cove-
        But they were the ones that were not satisfied with our nant question. We never camouflaged the truth at all.
        view. They did not-want to hear the preaching of the            I have still a little more to write about this matter,
        Rev. Vos. And they did not want their children edu- but that may wait until the next issue.
        cated in the doctrine of the Protestant  ReFormed
        Churches.    They want to make propoganda for the               But, brethren, I think it is high time that instead
        view of the Liberated. And they want to make trouble of all this wrangling in the papers back and forth, your
        about that. Now, I ask you: who is to blame in this committee of correspondence visit us, or our committee
        case? Are we as churches, who have never changed be sent to the old country and meet you face to face.
        our stand on the covenant question?                          Then we can talk, and perhaps come to a better under-
                                                     Or are' the
        Klavers, who were well aware even before they brought standing.                                            H. H.
      . their papers to us of the stand of our churches, but
        who afterwards were evidently very much dissatisfied?                              * %c  $  *
        Let me assure you that not all the Liberated that  im-
.-


                                                                                                                   "
152                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

toedoen ben ik voor eeuwig verIoren  !-is ook voor ons 22,:9) of  vernietigen  (Lev.  26:15, 44; Jes. 33  :8; Jer.
een vertolking van het geloof des harten.                       31:31) ; dat zij dus niet als Ezau hun eerstgeboorte-
    U kunt nooit zoo ernstig en somber de verdorven- recht  zullen  verkoopen (Hebr.  12:16), maar dat zij
heid, de walgelijkheid,  den  onwil en de onmacht van zullen  vreezen voor de wraak, de vloek des verbonds
den natuurlijken mensch teekenen of wij vallen u a1tij.d        (Lev. 26 :25, Deut. 29 :21).
en van ganscher harte bij:                                            Kortom wij  willen aanvaarden, en leven uit, het
    En als U predikt, dat het verbond ; en het komen in voile,  waarachtige, oordeelende, vrijsprekende,  l'even-
het verbond ; en het leven en volharden daarin ; en het gevende Woord Gods. Wij  willen ieder moment in
ontvangen ,van alle weldaden daarvan a&en en u&&~i-             dat spreken tot zijn  recht   laten  komen. En terwijl
tmd het werk des HEEREN zijn, dan beamen  wij dat wij volmondig erkennen  den plicht  om de diepere een-
geheel en al !                                                  heid  van'al  wat God spreekt te zoeken, belijden we tege-
                                                                lijkertijd dat wij die hier nooit zullen kunnen  bnt-
    Maar tegeli jk-of neen, zoo. zeg ik het niet goed, ik dekken ten einde toe ! We kunnen we1 van allerlei
moet zeggen :  En  tegelijk-of, nog beter : En  dua.rom-        kant met onze gedachten inboren in het machtig berg-
gelooven en belijden en prediken we &k het woord des massief van Gods openbaring, .maar onze tunneltjes
HEEREN, dat spreekt van een werken van de eigene dringen nooit zoo h&l erg diep het ingewand van dien
zaligheid  met vreezen en beven, omdat God in ons werkt berg. binnen !'
het  willen en het werken  naar zijn  weIbehagen  (Fil.
2:11,  12) ; van een niet  willen komen tot Christus, on-        .     Wij komen nooit, nooit verder dan een "open"
danks Diens roepen (Matth. 23 :37) ; van een weder-             systeem! Maar-we treuren daarom  tech niet. Want
staan van den Heiligen Ceest  (Hand. 7:51) ; van een het gelooven in den levenden God, het wandelen voor
tot eigen verderf verwerped van den raad Gods (Luc. zijn aangezicht, het  rusten in het volbrachte werk van
7:30).                                                          Christus en de strijd des geloofs behoeven op zoo'n
                   . .                                          sluitend systeem niet te wachten!
   Wij  willen ook volledig recht  doen  aan Gods Woord                                                Ze zijn er voor hun
                                                                kracht en bloei niet afhankelijk van !
en er ons onder buigen, als het ons verzekert, dat een                                                      Die worden  ge-
                                                                boren uit het geloovige leven uit de guns&e  Schrift,
mensch uit de  ,werken gerechtvaardigd wordt en niet met volledige erkenning van  al haar deelen en  mo-
alleenlijk uit het geloof (Jak.  2:24) ; dat het Gods menten in hun eigen beteekenis en kracht.
gebod is, dat wij gelooven in den naam van Gods Zoon,                                                             En iedere
                                                                te vroeg gegrepen theologische glorie, iedere te snel
Jezus Christus  (1 Joh. 3 :23) ; dat Chriskus ons krach- tot stand gebrachte,`en  dus allerlei belangrijke open-
tig en permanent oproept ons te bekeeren (Openb. baringsmomenten verwaarloozende, verwerking der
2 :5, 16).                                                      Schriftgegevens tot een afgeronde, einheitliche,  be-
   Wij  willen ook nadrukkelijk, zonder  eenige reserve schouwing, om daarbij te leven, is de dood voor de
den Heiligen  ,Geest naspreken, als Deze ons  waar- kerk en voor het geloof.
schuwend voorhoudt, dat er goddeloozen zijn, die eens                               ( Wordt Vervolgd)
verlicht zijn geweest, van de hemelsche gave genoten,
deel gekregen hebben aan den Heiligen #Geest  ,en het
goede woord Gods, zoo de krachten der toekomende                                         *  * * *
eeuw hebben gesmaakt en tech verloren gaan (Hebr.
6 :4-6) ; dat degene, die den Zoon Gods met voeten heeft
getreden, het bloed des verbonds, waardoor hij  gehei-                   Translation and Comment
ligd was, onrein  heeft geacht en den Geest der genade
gesmaad heeft, te zwaarder zal gestraft  worden  (Hebr.               Prof. Veenhof continues :
10:2'9),  dat er gevaar bestaat dat wij broeders en
zusters ten val brengen voor wien Chrislus  gestorven                 "Inevitably the question urges itself upon us, how
is (Rom.  14:15, 1 Cor.  8:ll) en dat er valsche  pro-          is it to be explained that it is so dil-licult  to understand
feten en leeraars geweest zijn en ook zullen komen, exactly one another's opinions and views ?
die verderfelijke. ketterijen  zullen   doen  binnensluipen,          "With much hesitation,-for, Oh, those  misunder-
zelfs den Heere, die hen gekocht heeft, verIoochenen            standings,-1  will attempt to say something about this.
en een schielijk verderf over zichzelven brengen (2                   "What  always strikes me in the publications which
Petr. 2:l).                                                     come from the circles of the Prot. Ref. Churches con-
   Wij willen ook met allen  ernst, onzen  hemelschen cerning doctrine is the strict, logical conclusiveness
Vader nasprekend, de geloovigen, de leden  der kerk, thereof. Under the controlling principle of God's sover-
blijven vermanen dat zij het verbond des HEEREN, eignty in election and reprobation the entire truth of
waarin Hij hen opnam. niet  zullen   verbreken   (Gen. Scripture is construed into an imposing, straight-lined
17:14; Ez; 16 :59; 17:16, 18, 19; 44 ;7), verlaten  (Jer.       edifice. And this naturally leads to the result that


                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           153

whoever' lives in that theological edifice finds that he has become clear to us again that one can have a
cannot adapt himself, and even becomes somewhat beautiful orthodoxy and yet be as dead as a doornail.
peeved when he notices that others do not arrange the And further we have learned in the last years through
different moments and data of the Scriptural truth in a series of terrible experiences that the apostacy of the
the same way as he did himself. Over against this church is not in the first place an aberration in respect
closely logical presentation of  th*e Scriptural truth we to a dogmatical question, but rather consists in a
as Liberated stand rather reserved. We have seen failure to fear the Lord and to practice real piety,
with amazement and experience it more and more purity, and truth. And further, the Lord showed us
every day that theological thought may form baauti- again that the life of the church does not consist in a
fully lined and glitteringly lucid icicles, while withal living out of and according to doctrines and dogmatical
life itself flows away. We are but too well acquainted constructions, but in living out of, in walking accord-
with the figure of the heavily ortthodox ungodly, ing to, in being judged and justified, in being broken
clothed with the armor of a well-developed, dogmatic, down and built up through the ever living, ever ver-
theological system. IAnd we see too how in many acious Word of God, which is according to its very
children of God the life of faith, joy and peace, and nature always a power  ,of God unto salvation. Spas-
also the struggle against sin is weakened and pines modic conservation of doctrinal constructions is often
under, the cover of dogmatic constructions. And what already  a'symptom  of incipient apostacy. A doctrinal
is worse, is that they in this way cannot find the cor- construction does not condemn you ! It does not break
rect positions and the -proper weapons in the battle you in pieces, neither does it redeem you. On the con-
against the spirit of the age, that they allow .them-     trary, you can handle it beautifully, and .with it you
selves to be imposed upon by false presentations of become strong and big. But in the grip of the Word
problems, or raise problems themselves, the result of God, of the Word that is always spoken through the
of which is that they cannot develop .any power. The Spirit, you go under. In it disappears all self-exalta-
pious and learned Voetius in his struggle against tion and pride. In that Word we can only be fools,
the Cartesians is of this truth a pitiable and warning poor, impotent ones  of Christ.
example.                                                      "And thus we struggle for, out of, according to,
   "Of course, we know quite well that dogmatical through the living Word of our heavenly Father, the
studies are imperative. How could it be different in Word which the Holy Spirit through the means of the
the neighborhood of Prof. Schilder? But .I want to Holy Scriptures speaks, unto us daily, and which we
point out emphatically that exactly in his neighborhood confess joyfully in the words of our Confession that we
one learns to know the awful burden of dogmatical live and battle in the midst of a perishing world.
labor. Exactly in his neighborhood one learns to be           "Never can you sing so powerfully and so joyfully
deathly afraid of hasty conclusions, formulas, expres- the son of God's sovereignty in election and reproba-
sions, instructions. It is in my opinion one of Schilder's tion that our heart does not agree with it entirely.
great merits ,that by the treatment of every dogma,
yea, of every subdivision of it,- he considers so many        "Never can you preach so strongly and sharply
aspects, dimensions, and connections, that one becomes a redemption of pure, sovereign grace, that we do not
dizzy of it. In his instruction you learn to know a *listen to it with complete consent. The word of the
little of, the living truth of the word of the psalmist, farm-hand from Ulrum with which. he attacked De
"I have seen an end of all perfection: but thy com- Cock : `If I have to cooperate unto' my salvation even
mandment is exceeding broad." Especially with re- with one sigh, I am lost forever'-also correctly ex-
spect to the covenant construction of the synodicals presses for us the faith of our hearts.
he showed in an annihilating way how by them all              "Never can you picture in such serious and somber
kinds of moments, aspects, relations, depths, were colors the corruption, the abomination, the perversity,
overlooked or distorted, and how this resulted not in and the powerlessness of the natural man, that we do
the construction of a solid dogmatic edifice, but in car- not agree, with you wholeheartedly.
pentering together of a little house that speaks and          "And when you preach that the covenant and the
creaks in all its joints and is drafty all over. You entrance into the covenant and the life and persever-
must have noticed yourself at the conference which you ance in the covenant and the reception of all the bene-
held with him a couple of years ago how Schilder. fits of it are only and exclusively the work of the Lord,
brought various things concerning the covenant, the then we say, "Amen", with.all our heart.
promise, and baptism in the line of your vision, of           "But at the same time-or no, in that way I do not
which formerly they had no, or almost no, notion.          express myself correctly ; .I must say : and at the same'
   "In this reserved attitude in respect to dogmatical time--or still better: and for that reason-we believe
constructions we live and think. Before all things it and confess and preach too the Word of the Lord that

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

speaks of a working out of our own salvation with an `open' system! But-this for us is no reason  foi
fear and trembling because God works in us to will sorrow, for we believe in `the living God, in walking
and to do of His good pleasure (Phil. 2 : 11, 12) ; that before His face, in resting in the finished work of
speaks of a not willing to come to Christ in spite of Christ. And all this together with the battle of faith
His calling (Matt. 23 :37) ; of a resisting of the Holy do not need to wait for such a logical system. They
Spirit (Acts  7:51) ; of a rejection of the counsel of are not dependent on it for their power and growth.
God against themselves (Luke 7  :30).                         Rather are they being born out of a believing living
   "We also want to do full justice to the Word of from the entire scripture, with complete acknowledge-
                                                              ment of all its parts and moments in their proper sig-
God and bow under it when it assures us that a man nificance and power. And every theological glory pre-
is justified out of the works and not only out of faith
(Jas. 2  :24)  ; that it is the commandment of God that maturely grasped, and every hastily. construed model-
                                                              ing of the data of Scripture into a closed, einheitliche
we believe in the name of the Son of God, Jesus Christ conception, which nevertheless ignores several impor-
(I John 3 :25) ; that, Christ calls us powerfully and
permanently unto conversion (Rev.  2:5, 16).                  tant elements of revelation, in order to live thereby is
                                                              the death for the church and for our faith."
   "We also want to repeat after the Holy Spirit                             ,
emphatically and without any reservation when that
Spirit holds before us as a warning example that there Comment  :                    1.
are ungodly that have been once enlightened, that have           You write, dear brother, that you stand rather re-
tasted the heavenly gift, that have partaken of the served or hesitant over against any logical system of
Holy Spirit, and tasted the good Word of God, and (the truth, and you seem to be afraid thatsuch  a system
the powers of the age to come and perish nevertheless is harmful to the true life of the church. The lift of
(Heb. 6 :4-6) ; that they shall receive the sorer punish- faith, of joy and peace, of the children of God and the
ment who have trodden under foot the Son of God and battle against sin, according to you, suffer under the
have counted the blood of the covenant wherewith they cover of dogmatic constructions.
were sanctified an unholy thing and have done despite
unto the Spirit of grace `(Heb. 10 :29) ; that there is          But I think, esteemed brother, that underlying your
danger that we cause brethren and sisters to perish for argument there is a false contrast between doc+rin.e
whom Christ died (Rom. 14 :15 ; I Cor. 8 : 11) ; and that and life; and of this I am very much afraid. I would
                                                              therefore Iodge the following objections agains! your
there have been false prophets and teachers and will
be in the future, who privily shall bring in damnable line of reasoning:
heresies, even denying the Lord that brought them and            1. In the first place, unless we want a certain
bring upon themselves swift destruction (II Pet. 2  :I).      "Biblical theology" or an "open Bible church". we need
       "We also want to repeat after our heavenly Father sound dogmatical exposition of the truth. And even
in admonishing in a11 seriousness the believers, the the open Bible church cannot avoid it. Its claim of
members of the church, that they shall not break the an open Bible is usualiy nothing but a pretense, camou-
covenant of, the Lord in which He receives them (Gen. flaging the propogation of all kinds of false doctrine,
17:13; Ezek. 16  :59;  17:16, 18, 19;  44:7)  f that they' usually Arminian and premillenial in our country. A
shall not forsake it (Jeremiah 22 :9) or destroy it (Lev.     system of doctrine everybody has,  nolens  vo1en.a. And
26 :15, 44; Is. 33 :8; Jeremiah 31:31)  ; that therefore      usually the true system of doctrine has developed under
they shall not as, Esau sell their birthright (Hebrews the influence of and through reaction against all kinds
12:16)  but that they shall fear for the vengeance, the of heresies. ' Such a true system simply sets forth in
curse of the covenant (Lev. 26 :25 ; Deut. 29 :21).           systematic order the truth of the Bible. Even in our
                                                              Reformed confessions, the Heidelberg Catechism the
       "In brief we will receive and live out of the full,    Confessio   Belgica,  and the Canons of Dordrecht. we
veracious, condemning justifying, life-giving Word of have such a dogmatic system of the truth. Now,,  a
God. In that speach we will do justice to every part system of truth is either logical, or it is neither a
of it. And while we acknowledge wholeheartedly the system nor the truth. It is true, of course, that Scrip-
calling to seek the deeper unity' of all that ,God speaks, ture itself offers no finished system of doctrine. ' But
we confess at the same time that here we shall never the Bible is certainly not illogical; nor does it ever
be able LO discover this to the end! We may indeed teach logical contradictions. It does not teach that
from every side drill into the powerful mountain mass black is white; that righteousness is unrighteousness;
of God's revelation, but our little tunnels can never that the truth is the lie ; that God wills that all men
penetrate so very deeply in the bowels of that moun- shall be saved, and that He does not will it. And be-
tain.                                                         cause Scripture itself is logical, and because God has
       "We can never, never advance farther than to created our minds so as to be logical, any system of


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       155

 truth based on the Word of God must needs. be strictly salvation is unconditionally of Him alone. For that is
 logical. Another question is whether we can always the COT  ecclesiue,  the very heart of the church.
 fully understand and explain and harmonize all the             I cannot take time and space to enter into all the
 elements of Scripture, so that they fit into the Scrip- texts to which you refer in your article. In general
 tural system of the truth. But in that case we pro- let me say that there is hardly a'text among them all
 ceed, as all the Reformed fathers always did, from the on which I have not preached some time or other. I
 current teaching of Holy Writ and try to explain doubt- have the habit of always preaching series.  1 have
 ful or dark passages in the light of that current teach- preached through many books of Holy Writ in my
 ing. #And I am very much afraid of what you call an ministry; and I can assure you that I am not conscious
 "open" system.                                              of ever corrupting the Word of God. 1 am glad that
    2. In spite of all you write against such a strictly in your article that you believe and confess and preach
 logical system, esteemed brother, you have one of your the Word of the Lord also in the texts to which you
 own and defend it against the synodicals. Your system refer, because you believe that salvation is, exclusively
 revolves around the dogmatic principle that the promise the work of the Lord. To me, at least, that means that
 of the gospel is, as far as God is concerned, objectively there is no conflict between one and the other part of
I for all the children of the covenant. You maintain, of Holy Writ.
 course, that this is Scriptural. But it is nevertheless        But let me take a few of those passages as illustra-
 a dogmatical construction.     Over against this dog- tions of my exegesis of them, to see if you agree with
 matical construction we maintain the organic idea of me. I will not enter into a detailed explanation, but
 the covenant, which implies that the promise is only just suggest in a general way what is the meaning of
 for the elect. That is our system of the truth in regard those texts.
 to the covenant of God. And I hope you understand
 that we also do not want anything else than the Word           First of all, I refer to Heb. 6 :4-8, a text on which
 of God, contained in the Holy Scriptures. `We main- I preached in my own congregation not so very long
 tain that the proposition that the promise is for all the ago.
 children of the covenant, for all that are born under             In the immediate context the author had exhorted
 the covenant,  for. all the children of believing parents, the believers to carry on to perfection, that is, not in.
 is unscriptural. Ultimately, therefore, it is not a ques- the ethical sense, but to strive for perfection in the
 tion of our own abstract system of dogmatics, but of knowledge of the truth. In vss. 4-8 he continues to
 the correct interpretation of Holy Writ.                    give a warning example of those that do not heed this
    3. If the spiritual life of the church suffers, it sure- admonition. Although the text itself is negative, there-
 ly cannot be the fault OF the correct and logical system fore, it has certainly a positive purpose.
 of  &the truth. But on the one hand, this must be attri-       Now, esteemed brother, when you preach on this
 buted to the presence and influence of the carnal seed text, you certainly must avoid the Arminian error of a
 in the church, and on the other hand, to laxity and falling away from grace permanently. It is true that
 deadness in the preaching of the Word. Especially the believers can fall away temporarily ; the, Spirit of
 latter is an important factor in explaining the laxity Christ permits them sometimes to fall into sin, so that
 and deadness and negligence in the life and walk of for a time they have no conscious part with Christ.
 any church. Do not forget that there is a vast differ- And for this there are many examples in Holy Writ.
 ence between a correct and logical system of the truth But they can never fall away absolutely and perman-
 and the lively preaching of the Word of God. Such a ently. The saints in Christ are preserved by Him.
 logical system is necessary, but it is not by any means Their calling and election is without repentance. No
 the same  as  the living preaching of the living Word of one can ever pluck them out of Christ's hand. And
 God. It is not through a system of dogmatics, but therefore they will certainly be preserved and perse-
 through the preaching of, the Word of God that it vere even unto the end. Yet it seems that here in Heb.
 pleases the Holy Spirit to work faith in the hearts of 6:4-8 there is mention of those that absolutely fall
the people of God and to strengthen it. Hence, in my away, even so that they can never come to repentance
 class in homiletics I always try to impress upon my again. Hence, when you preach on a text of t!lis na-
students that their sermons must not be pieces of cold ture, you certainly will have to make the attempt to
dogmatics, but must be the living ministry of the Word explain it in the light of your own system of the truth,
of God. But the poverty of spiritual life in any church according to which there is no falling away* of-the
must certainly not be attributed to the fact that we saints. ,
have a logicai system of doctrine. And least of all           Nor is this interpretation so very difhcult.
must a system be blamed that is dominated and con-              I, at least, explain the text as referring to t-hose
trolled by the true principle that God is God, and that in :the church that have a natural apprehension and

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

 a natural taste of spiritual things, without grace. are hopeless, and all the attempts to bring them back
 They were once enlightened, that is, they have re- to Christ are fruitless. But I say it is also impossible
 ceived  t.he light of the gospel intellectually, so that for God to bring them back to repentance. True, of
they clearly understood its import. They have tasted course, in the absolute sense all things are possible
 of the heavenly gift. The heavenly gift is no doubt for God. But in reality it is impossible to renew these
 the fulness of grace, bestowed from heaven through men again to repentance because it is not His will.
 the Spirit of Christ, including forgiveness, right- These men have become openly manifest as reprobate;
 eousness, peace, joy, and all the benefits of salva- and that is the deepest reason why they can never be
 tion. However, of it they have  tasted.  They have brought to repentance again. God never lets His elect
 apprehended its preciousness with a purely natural come so near the kingdom of heaven as did these men,
 taste, which is indeed very well possible. But yet they in order then to let them fall away so deeply. That is
 have no grace. They have become partakers of the only true of the reprobate. And they become manifest
 Holy *Ghost, by which I understand both the general as antichristian. They crucify Christ afresh. They
 and special gifts of the Spirit of Christ bestowed upon hate Him. They despise Him. And they treat Him
 the church, such, for instance, as healing, tongues, as a criminal. They crucify Him afresh, that is, their
 prophesying, comfort, exhortation, and other gifts. crucifixion  was much worse than the first crucifixion
;elnd again, they tasted with a purely natural taste on Golgotha. These men understand that it is the blood s
 the good Word of God, good because of the blessed' of atonement which they shed ; and they crucify Him
 promise of eternal life. And they have tasted the unto themselves, so that they want no part in it and
 powers of the world to come. The world to come is, His atoning blood at all. They put Him to an open
 of course, the glorious kingdom in which  ,Christ is shame. They mock Him and condemn Him openly.
 Lord and His people reign with `Him over all things And the terribleness of their sin and of their  anti-
 in the heavenly tabernacle of God. And the victorious Christian attitude is emphasized by the phrase  the Son
 powers of that age to come are experienced by be- of God:
 lievers in this present time. Of these powers these         And notice the illustration with which the author
 men have tasted. For a time they see the wonderful concludes this passage. There is a field with the rain
 effect and the marvellous beauty of this age to come. coming oft upon it. Under the influence of that rain,
But they have only had a taste of these powers, so that and of course, of the sunshine too, presently a two-fold
 after all they have no living part in them. Indeed, crop appears : on the one hand, a crop of thorns and
 the natural man can appear to be very close to the thistles ; on the other hand, a good crop.of grain.
 kingdom of God.
        Yet, according to the text these men fall away.      In that figure the author explains how it is possible
 And they fall `away hopelessly, so that it is impossible that some can fall away so hopelessly from the truth.
 to renew them again unto repentance. But were they They are the reprobate ; the seed of sin is in their
 after all converted once? When the text says that hearts, even as the seed of thorns and thistles was
 it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance, originally in that field. And the rain of the gospel
 does it mean to say that they were once regenerated coming oft upon those reprobate serves to bring to
 and called and converted? In that case there would light the seed of corruption that was in their heart.
 after all be a falling away of saints. But the author And so the gospel is to them a savour of death unto
has in mind their former state as they appeared to the death. But when the seed of regeneration is implanted
 church and to the rest of the believers. They were in the heart of anyone, the rain of the gospel brings
 baptized and went through the outward show of repent- the fruit of repentance, righteousness, and eternal life.
 ance, and they walked in that outward show for a time,      Such would be my interpretation of this apparently
 and tasted the heavenly gift and the powers of the age difllcult text.
to come ; but in reality they never partook of saving        But of course, we must explain it in the light of the
 grace. And so the text pictures them as those that current teaching of Scripture that there is no falling
 have hopelessly fallen away from the church of Christ. away of saints, and therefore, from the viewpoint of
 For it says that it is impossible to bring them again our system of doctrine,
 unto repentance. The question arises, of course, im-
 possible for whom? For God or for men ? I answer :          In regard to the rest of the passages to which I
 in a sense it is impossible for both. It is of course want to refer I can be brief.
 impossible for men in the first place because they can      Let us look at the text that is so often quoted, it
 never renew; the power of renewal is not in them, but seems, especially by the Liberated, and that was quoted
 in God alone. But they can preach and they can ad- also by Prof. Schilder in our conference. I refer, of
 monish to repent. And when they do so, they find that course, to Heb. 10:29.
 the men that are mentioned in the words of Heb. 6 :4-g      Now again, I want to emphasize that you and I


                                      T H E   .STANDARD   B E A R E R                                                    157.

agree that Scripture never teaches a falling away of              It is possible to explain the text in II Peter 2 :l in
saints. How then can the text use such strong lan- the same way.
guage, and speak of those that have trodden under                 To my mind, it is  possibIe to explain the participial
foot the Son of Cod and that have counted the blood            phrase  fiai ton agorasanta  auto&   despoteen   amou-
of the covenant wherewith they were sanctified an ,menoi,  "denying the Lord that bought them'", in a
unholy thing?                                                  different sense, so that the phrase means "denying that
    Commentaries, of course, as is very often the the Lord bought them", or in other words, denying
case in respect to difficult passages, leave us in the the blood of atonement. But it certainly is also pos-
lurch. Lange, of course, does not  hesitake  to write:         sible to interpret the words as meaning that they
"Dasz  hier nicht an  vors%tzliche  und schwere siinden        formerly professed to believe in the Christ that bought
iiberhaupt  sondern an den abfall von Christentum nach them with.His own precious blood, although they never
voraufgegangener wiedergebort gedacht ist zeigen  alle had a part with Him and with His atoning sacrifice.
Ausdriicke."       This is, of course, no explanation ; nor       For the rest, esteemed  .brother,  it is certainly true
can we subscribe to what he writes. Meyer does not that the ungodly are often a warning example for the
write anything about the expression "wherewith he godly not to walk in their way, but to fulfill their .part
was sanctified'. Calvin only writes: `*He calls it the         {not parties) of the covenant of God and to love Him
blood of the covenant, because then only were the with all their heart and mind and soul and strength,
promises made sure to us when this pledge was added.           to forsake the world, crucify their old nature, and
But he points out the manner of this confirmation by walk in a new and holy life. We certainly have  ncth-
saying that we are sanctified; for the blood shed would ing against the preaching of conversion and of our
avail us nothing except we were sprinkled with it by calling to flee from sin and corruption and to walk as
the Holy Spirit; and hence come our expiation and of the party of the living God in the midst of the
sanctification." ,41so this, of course, does not explain world.
how one that has been sanctified by the blood of the              But never ,do I want to explain any part of Scrip-
covenant counts that blood an unholy thing.  Gros- ture in the ~Arminian sense. And I want to explain the
heide, to quote no more, explains : "Dat we dit geheiligd whole of Scripture according to its own system .not
bier z&en moeten  opvatten in een voorloopigen zin, according to mine.
aanvankelijk tot heiligheid gekomen,  noch niet tot het                                                       12. H.
hoogtepunt."       But it is very  difficult to understand
just exactly what this means, and it certainly does no
justice to the text. Schilder and the Liberated seem
to think that we may understand by this sanctified a
certain sanctification in an outward sense, in the same
sense in which they understand the expression "sancti-            Is Faith An Attribute Of God?
fied in Christ" in the Baptism Form. But the trouble                                                                     _ 8
is not only that the text does not speak of such an out-          The Men's Society of Redlands, California, sent to
ward sanctification, but that in the whole New Testa- me the following question:
ment, at least, there is no mention of such a sanctifica-
tion in that outward sense of the word. But prhat ob-             "Dear Rev. Hoeksema e_ 
                                                                                           `.`$- 7.: *'
jection would there be to the expIanation  that these             We had an essay on `F&h Overcometh the World'
apostates from the faith in reality never have grace, in our Men's Society. And the statement ,was made
never belong to Christ, but that they were sanctified that faith is an attribute of God. We did not agree;
by the blood of the covenant only according to their so we like to have you answer this question in -the
own former confession and according to their sppear-           Standard  Beawr: `Is faith an attribute of God?'
ante as they belonged to the church of Christ in the              "Please answer this, if possible, in the next issue
world.    Some such explanation seems to have been of the Sttindurd Bearer.                     "
in the mind of the editor of Calvin's commentary,                                        John De Koekkoek,  Sec'y.".
when he writes : "He who professes the Christian faith,
professes to believe in the atoning sacrifice of Christ,          I find this a rather interesting question. Much
that Christ has shed His blood for many for the re-            could be written about it, but I will try to be brief.
mission of sins." One may belong outwardly to the                 In an explanatory note the secretary writes: "We
church and may profess his faith and therefore by are all agreed that faith is a gift of God, but not, an
the church be considered a believer for a time and be attribute of  God." `6f hourse,  that is true. Faith as a
considered as one who was sanctified in the blood of gift of God is as such not in God but in the believer.
Christ without ever being a partaker of that same              We all know the definition of the Heidelberg Catechism
sanctification.                                                that fai$th is a certain.knowledge  of all that God *has

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

revealed in His Word, and a hearty confidence that all
my sins are forgiven me for Christ's sake. It is very
evident that this is not an attribute of God, but a                         OUR DOCTRINE
spiritual power bestowed on man, whereby he is in-
graf,ted into Christ Jesus. The same is true, of course,
of the text which teaches that faith overcometh the                       The Counsel Of God. (4)
world. There too it is not an attribute of `God, but cer-
tainly a power which God bestows on the believer to                     Various  Names Of The Counsel Of God.
overcome the world.                                                  In our previous article we were busy with a dis-
       But this is not all that `can be said. I would have cussion of the various names which are employed in
liked to hear the essay that the member of the Men's Holy Writ to denote the concept: Counsel of God.
Society of  Redlands  delivered in the meeting. The Treating the various words which occur in the New
question is whether all the gifts that are bestowed Testament, we had concluded with the word,  "pro-
upon the believers are not ultimately a reflection of the thesis".         Finally, we also read of the word,  "prog-
virtues of God. Thus, for instance, grace is bestowed noosis". The word is translated: foreknowledge. It
upon the believer as a gift of God ; but that grace is            occurs in Rom. 8:29 and in 11:2: "For whom He did
nevertheless a reflection of one of the attributes in God forelmow,  He also did predestinate to be conformed
Himself. God is gracious. Is this not also the case to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn
with faith, perhaps. Can we not say that faith in the among many brethren. . . , God hath not cast away
believer is a reflection of the attribute or virtue of His people which He foreknew. Wot ye not what the
faith in God, and that the virtue of faith in God reveals scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession
itself as faithfulness? Off hand, I find at least one to God against Israel, saying." And in 1 Peter I:% we.
text in Scripture,-and perhaps there are more,-in read : "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God
which faith is presented as an attribute of God. I am the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto
referring to Rom. 3 :3. There faith in our English obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ:
Bible is translated by faithfulness, but in the original Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied." We will
you simply read of "the faith of God"  (ptitin tou have opportunity to return to this word later in this
Theou)  . The Dutch translates this text literally : "Want series of articles on the Counsel of God.
wat is het, al zijn sommigen ongeloovig geweest? Zal                 As we stated in our previous article we can also
hunne ongeloovigheid het geloof Gods teniet  doen   ?"            speak of the counsel of the Lord in a. specific sense.
       If, therefore, the reasoning of the brother that de- We refer to that  ,aspect  of God's counsel'which is com-
livered the essay in the Men's Society of Redlands  was monly known as Predestination. The word, "predes-
as indicated above, I can answer the question in the tination", occurs in various passages of Holy Writ.
positive. But I would like to know more about the We will quote a few. We read in Acts 4 :27-28:  "For
essay, to ascertain whether that was really the way in of a truth against Thy holy Child Jesus, Whom  .Thou
which he argued.                                                  hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, "with
                                                   H. H.          the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered
                                                                  together, For to do whatsoever Thy hand and Thy
                                                                  counsel  determined before  to be done." In Rom. 8:29
                       I N   MEMQRIAM                             we read' "For whom He did foreknow, He, also did
                                                                  predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son,
  The Consistory of the First Protestant Reformed Church          that He might be <the firstborn among many brethren.`:
of Grand Rapids, Michigan, hereby expresses its sincere and       In 1 Gor. 2:7 we read: "But we speak the wisdom of
heartfelt sympathy to its fellow-elder, James Kok, in the loss    God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God
of his brother,                                                   ordained  before  the world unto our glory." And to
                        Dr. Harry Kok                             quote once more the words of the apostle in Eph.
  We commend him to the God of all comfort and grace in this      15, 11: "Having  predestinated  us unto the adoption
hour of sorrow.                  Rev. C.  Hanko, Pres.            of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to
                                  Sidney  De Young, Clerk.        the good pleasure of His will. . . . In Whom also we
                         *  *  *  *                               have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated ac-
                                                                  cording to the purpose of Him Who worketh all things
                      CLASSIS EAST                                after the counsel of His own will." The word, "pre-
will meet in regular session Wednesday, January 4, destinate", is a compound word of "before" and "horid-
1950, at the First Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan. zoo"-see previous article. It means: to determine,
Matters for the next Synod should be brought to this decide, appoint beforehand. The word refers to God's
meeting.                                 D. Jonker, S. C.         eternal appointment and determining of all things.


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       159

This is particularly clear from passages such as Acts            Besides these passages, which speak literally of the
4 :28 and 1 Cor. 2:7.                                         doctrine of Election (and these passages do not exhaust
   The word, predestination, as such can refer, of Scripture's references to this tremendous truth), the
course, to the Divine appointment and determining of Word of God also exhorts us to make this truth sure.
all things.     Generally, however, it refers to God's The doctrine of election is not, therefore, a cold, ob-
counsel with respect to the eternal destiny of His  moral- jective truth which, in a formal sense, may be the ob-
rational creatures. This eternal counsel of the Lord ject of our faith and belief. To the contrary, it is a
consists in the first place of Election. The doctrine of truth which must live in our consciousness, must con-
Divine election is everywhere taught in Holy Writ. stitute the content of all our trust and confidence.
Often the word itself occurs. We read in Isaiah 45 :4: Fact is, acording  to 2 Pet. 1 :lO : "Therefore the rather,
"For Jacob My servant's sake, and Israel Mine elect, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and
I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed election  sure: for if you do these things, ye shall never
thee, though thou hast not hnown  Me." In Is. 65 :9: fall." Instead of retiring this great truth, placing it
"And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of upon the shelf of retirement, we must make it sure,
Judah an inheritor of My mountains: and Mine elect make it live in our consciousness, enjoy the assurance
shall inherit it, and My servants shall dwell there." that God has elected us from before the beginning of
And in verse 22: "They shall not build, and an- the world.
other inhabit; they shall not plant, and .another  eat:          Besides the word, "election", other words occur in
for as the days of a tree are !the days of My people, and Holy Writ to denote the truth of God's eternal and
Mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands."- sovereign choice of His own people. So, for example,
Matt. 24 :22 : "And except those days be shortened, we read the word, "love", in the Scriptures. "Jacob
there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake have I loved, and Esau have I hated."-Ram.  9:13.
those days shall be shortened."-verses 24,. 31: "For And in Is. 43 :4 : "Since thou wast precious in My sight,
there shall arise false Christ's, and false prophets, and thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee:
shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if therefore will, I give men for thee, and people for thy
it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. . . .    life." Or, how often do  wenot read the personal pro-
And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a noun, "I", when the Lord speaks of the relationship
trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from between Himself and His people. How often the Lord
,the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." speaks of the elect as "My people". And this personal
-Luke 18 :7 : `<And shall not God avenge His own elect,       pronoun, "I", expresses the thought of personal, sover-
which cry day and night unto Him, though He bear eign choice. Another word which expresses the thought
long with  them?"-Ram.  8  ~33: "Who shall lay any- of Election in Holy Writ is the word "know". That
thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justi-     this word occurs in Scripture not merely in an intel-
fieth."-Cal. 3 : 12 : "Put on therefore, as *the elect of lectual sense of the word is evident from those many
God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, passages which declare that Israel did not know the
humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering."-  Tim. Lord. Surely they knew of Him, had been instructed
5  :21 and 2 Tim. 2  :lO: "I charge thee before God, and      in His knowledge from their infancy. on.       Yet the
the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou Word tells us so often that they did not know Him.
observe these things without preferring one before an- The implication of the expression is that they did not
other, doing nothing by  partiali?y.  . .  e Therefore I know Him in love, did not recognize Him and acknow-
endure all things for the elect's sake, that they may ledge Him in all their works and ways. This word
also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with also appears in Scripture to denote the relation of the
eternal glory."-1 Pet. 1:2, 2 :6, 5 :I3 : "Elect according Lord to the children of men. Ps. 1:6 informs us that
to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sancti- the "Lord knoweth ahe way of the righteous: but the
fication of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of way of the ungodly shall perish." This, to be sure, is
the blood of Jesus Christ: ,Grace unto you, and peace, a Divine knowledge of love and mercy. The implication
be multiplied. . . . Wherefore also it is contained. in of the text is surely that the Lord does not know the
the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone,    way of the ungodly. Yet, He certainly knows the
elect, precious: and he that believeth on Him shall not way of the-ungodly in an intellectual sense of the word
be confounded. . . . The church that is at Babylon, -fact is, He Himself eternally and sovereignly de-
elected together with you, saluteth you ; and so doth signed, willed this way of the ungodly. That He does
Marcus my son."-2 John  I:13 : "The elder unto the not know their way must be understood in an exper-
elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth ; iential sense of the word. And so we could continue.
and not I only, but also all they that have known the         We would mention one more thought in connection
truth. . . .    The children of thy elect sister greet with the Scriptural presentation of the doctrine of
thee.  Amen,"                                                 Election. The fact that the Lord sovereignly softens

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

the hearts of some and hardens the hearts of others, therefore, the other are Divinely barred from salvation
that He draws some through the gospel by the irresist: because of the particular character of the atoning suf-
ible power of His grace and blinds, just as sovereignly, fering and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Besides,
the hearts of others through the same gospel, surely . the fact that the Lord softens some but also hardens
indicates that some are saved and others not accord- others, that He enlightens some but also blinds others,
ing to the eternal and sovereign will and counsel of is a clear and undeniable confirmation of the truth
Jehovah.                                                    that such occurs according to the will and sovereign
       On the other hand, however, the Divine counsel of good pleasure of Jehovah. And in John  10:24-30  we
Predestination also consists of Reprobation. This lies are told by the Saviour that the unbelief of the obstin-
in the nature of the case. To maintain the doctrine ate Jews is to be ascribed to the fact that they are
of Election one must surely also maintain the doctrine not of His sheep, hence, to the fact of Reprobation,
of Reprobation. To say that the Lord has elected some and we quote this passage: "Then came the Jews
certainly implies that He did not elect others. If He round about Him, and said unto Him, How long dost
has willed to save only the elect, the sheep which the Thou make us doubt? If Thou be the Christ, tell us
Father has given unto the Christ, then it surely must plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye
follow that He does not will to save the others, the believed not : the works that I do in My Father's Name,
reprobates.                                                 they bear wi*tness  of Me. But ye believe not, because
                                                            ye are not My  sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep
 ' However, the Scriptures not only teach the doctrine hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me:
of Reprobation by implication, but also in the very And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never
literal sense of the word. In Rom. 8 :13 we are told perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of MY
that "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." And hand. My Father, Which gave them Me, is greater
in this same chapter, verses 21-23, we'read: "Hath not than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My
the potter .power  over the clay, of the same lump to       Father's hand. I and My Father are one." It is un-
make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dis- deniably clear that the Scriptures teach the doctrine of
honour? What if God, willing to shew His wrath, and Reprobation.
to make His power known, endured with much long-
suffering the  vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:                 The Attributes Of God's Counsel.
And that He might make known the riches of His
glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had afore  pre-        It lies in the nature of the case that all the attri-
pared unto glory." In I Peter 2  :8 we read; "And a butes of the living God also characterize His counsel.
stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence,  even to them Hence, the counsel of the Lord is, first of all, sovereign.
which stumble at the word, being disobedient :  .whxre-     When we say that the counsel of the Lord is sover-
unto  also they were appointed". In Jude, perse 4, this eign we mean that this counsel is strictly and absolutely
word occurs : "For there are certain men crept in un- independent, that it rules over al1 things, and that it is
awares, who were hefo,re of old ordained to this con- in no sense of the word dependent. upon anything out-
demnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God side the living God. This is the teaching of Holy Writ
into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, throughout.           The prophet, Isaiah, declares in that
and our Lord Jesus Christ." And in Rev.  13:8  we memorable passage of Is. 46 :lO : "Declaring the end
read : "And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship from the beginning, and from ancient times the things
him, whose names are not ,written  in the book of life *that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand,
of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." and I will do all My pleasure." We should note the
And is not Judas called the "son of, perdition" concern-    emphasis in this passage: My counsel  shall  stand,
`ing whom we are told, by inference, in John 13 :i8 that and 1 will do all My pleasure. The same truth is held
he was not chosen and therefore reprobated: "I speak before us in Romans 9, from which we have already
 not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that abundantly quoted in this series of articles. But notice,
 the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread among other things in this tremendous chapter, what
 with Me hath lifted up His heel against Me."?              we read in verses 14-16, 19-20: "What shall we say
       In addition to these Scriptural passages which liter- then? Is there unrighteousness with  #God? God forbid.
ally teach us the doctrine of Reprobation, this doctrine For He saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I
 of God's sovereign rejection of men must necessarily will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom
 follow from the very character of the Divine work of I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that
 redemption and salvation. It is simply a fact that the willeth, nor of him that runneth, bu.t of God that shew-
 Lord Jesus Christ did not die for all men, that He died eth mercy. . , . Thou wilt say then unto me, Why
 only for the sheep whom the Father had given Him doth He yet find fault? For who hath resisted His
 from before the foundation of the world, and that, &ill?; Nay, but, 0 man, who art thou that repliest


                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                     163.

against God ? Shall the thing formed say to Him that emphasizes the el&acious  character of God's decrees: I
formed it, Why hast Thou made me thus?" Why does "Then He took unto Him the twelve, and said `unto
the apostle intercept in this passage the objection by them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things
man that there is unrighteousness with God, and also that are written by the prophets .concerning the Son
that the Lord still finds fault? This objection  .would of Man shall be accomplished. For He shall be  de-
not be raised, would it, if God simply  h&es those who Iivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and
hate Him and rejects those who reject Him; It is spitefully entreated, and spitted oni And they shall
surely righteous, is it not, for the Lord to hate those scourge Him,`and  put Him to death : and the third. day
who hate Him .and to reject `those who reject Him. He shall rise ,again."       `.
But, this objection, which, originates in the heart of       Thirdly, the counsel of the Lord is immutable, un-
the sinful and obstinate ungodly and is intercepted by changeable. That the Lord is unchangeable is literally
the apostle, can only be e.xplained  in the light of the taught us in James 1:17 : "Every good gift and every
truth that God's hatred and rejection of the sinner is perfect gift is from above, and cometh  down from the.
wholly sovereign and that it originated exclusively in Father of lights, with Whom is no variableness, neither
the eternal and sovereign good pleasure of the living shadow of turning." God is unchangeable ; hence, His
God. Also in Romans  11:33-36  this sovereign char- counsel is also immutable. This the psalmist declares
acter of Jehovah's counsel is emphatically set forth:     in Ps. 33 :ll : "The counsel of the Lord standeth for
"0 the depth of the riches both of the wisdom, and ever,  ,the thoughts of His heart to all generations."
knowledge of God ! how unsearchable are *His judg- And in Hebrews 6  ~17-18, a passage  `in which the Lord
ments, and His ways past finding out! For who hath would comfort His peeople in the midst of affliotion
known the mind of .the Lord? or who hath been His by calling their attention to the certainty of the prom-
counsellor? Or who hath first given to Him, and it ise so that they may be able to lay hold of the  zhope of
shall be recompensed unto him again? For of `Him, eternal  .life &id glory which is set before us, we read,:
and through Him, and to Him, are all things : to whom "Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto
be glory for ever. Amen." It is exactly this sovereign the heirs of the promise the immutability of His coun-
character of the will of the Lord which is repeatedly sel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable
emphasized in Holy Writ by the use of the expression, things, in whichit was impossible for God to lie, we
"good pleasure of the Lord", as in Matt. 11:25-26 and might have a strong consolation, who have fled for
Eph.  l:9: "At that time Jesus answered and. said, refuge to lay hold upon the' hope set- before us." And
I thank Thee, 0 Father, Lord. of. heaven and earth, again, also in cormection with the immutability of God's
because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and counsel, we may call attention to Is.  49:9-10: "Re-
prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, member the former things of old: for I am God, and
Father : for so it-seemed good in Thy sight. . . . Hav- there is none else; I amGod, and there is none like Me,
ing made' known unto us the mystery of His will, ac- Declaring the end from  #the beginning, and from ancient
cording to His good pleasure which He hath purposed times the things that are not yet done, saying, My
in Himself."                                              counsel shall stand, and I will  `do all My pleasure."
   Secondly, the counsel of .the, Lord is efficacious, all- That the counsel of the Lord is unchangeable lies in
potent, irresistible. First, I would again refer the the very nature of the case. For, in the first place, the
reader to Is. 46:X0,  which we quoted in the previous     Lord is God alone and there is none like Him. ,who
paragraph. This we read, for example, in  Is; 14127:      can resist His will? Is. He -not the living God, the
"For the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall Almighty One, Jehovah, out of Whom and through
disannul it? and His hand is stretched out, and who Whom and unto Whom all things are? Surely, His is
shall turn it back?." In Is. 115 :3 we read:` "But our' all the power and the kingdom and the glory even for-
God is in the heavens: He bath done whatsoever He ever. Besides, the counsel of the Lord is immutable
hath pleased." Approximately  #the same thought is because that counsel of God includes all things. There
expressed by the psalmist in Ps. 135:6: `Whatsoever is no power that stands over against  <God: All that
the Lord pleased, that did He- in heaven, and in earth, moves, lives and has being owes its life and continuous
in the seas, and all deep places." And the efficacious, existence alone to Him.  No,thing,  therefore, can ap-
irresistible character of the counsel and will of  the, pear upon the scene to contend with the Almighty, to
Lord is also e-xpressed  by the apostle in Rom. 9 :19 in offer Him existence, to dispute with Him the realiza-
the text we have already quoted: "Thou wilt say then $ion of His counsel, inasmuch as the counsel includes
unto Me, Why doth He yet find fault? For who hath ,all things and every living `creature, including the devil .
resisted His will?" And in Luke.18:31-33,  in connec- and all his host. Surely, the counsel of the Lord is im-
tion `with the suffering and death of our Lord, we are mutable, unchangeable.
told that all things  shall happen and be accomplished
;hat are written by the prophets, and this certainly                                            H. Veldman.

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

zien.     Die  dingen   worden  geestelijk  omderscheidm,        Ze zijn niet co-ordinaat maar sub-ordinaat, en dan zoo,
en dat beteekent  &en.                                           dat de verkiezing gediend wordt door de  verwer-
   Maar  `Gods volk heeft het gehoord en gezien.                 Ping.
   Want God gaf hun de erve der heidenen.                           Er moet het  gruwehjke  Babel zijn om het  Jeru-
                                                                 zalem .Gods door groote smart te zuiveren. Er moet
   Dat beteekent in Oud-Testamentische  taal het Ka-             een Judas, Kajafas, Herodus en Pilatus  zijn om Jezus
naan der ruste.                                                  .aan het kruis te nagelen; dan om Hem  te trijteren
       En dat beteekent in Nieuw-Testamentische taal:            met duivelsche trijtering. Gods volk moet de smelt-
de  hemel  der hemelen, het nieuwe paradijs daarboven kroes der  ellende in. Duivel en goddeloozen dienen
bij God.                                                         Gods volk.
       Hier hebben we weer  he: Hebreeuwsche  paral-                Maar het volk ontvangt de erve der heidenen.
lelisme. De bekendmaking der kracht Zijner werken                   `Goddeloozen, dit hoorende, hebben altijd de tanden
is eigenlijk hetzelfde  als het hemelsche Kanaan te  ont- geknarst  tegen die vreeselijke openbaringen van een
vangen.                                                          God die Jeruzalem  .verkiest,  maar, gij weet het, het
       Ge zult dan `zeggen: maar ik ben tech nog niet .in volk gaat zingen  van de eeuwige goedertierenheden
den hemel der hemelen? Ja, in beginsel zijt ge er wel. Gods !
Daarom kan Paulus U toeroepen, dat Uw wandeling                     En dat is de  hemel in voorsmaak.
nu al in de hemelen is, en ook, dat Uw leven nu, op
dit oogenblik, met Christus verborgen is in God.. Uw                                .                       G. vos.
eigenlijke leven is in God. In beginsel hebt ge nu al,
wat ge in de volle  ontplooing zuLL ontvangen in den
dag van Christus.                             '
       Want wat is de hemel?
   De hemel is het-nabij-God-te-zijn!
       En God is nabij  allen  die Hem vreezen.  `Zij  ge-                    FROM HOLY WRIT'
denken Hem op Zijne wegen; en Hij gedenkt  aan hen
in gena, om Zijn goedheid eer te geven.
       Hoe zalig, geliefde  lezer, is het vo,lk dat naar Zijn             Exposition of Ephesians 2:1=3
klanken hoort !                                                                          (continue`d  )                     I
       Zij  wandlen,  Heere, in  `t  licht van Uw goddelijk
Aangezicht voort !                                                   It can do no harm to briefly restate the aim of
       Zij verblijden  zich  alle dagen in Uw Naam! En the apostle in these verses. Thus doing we can pick
zi j zingen  en jubeIen  op die heerlij ke wegen, want' Uw up the thread of thought of our former article, which
goedheid straalt hun toe, en Uw macht schraagt hen will facilitate understanding the thought as here de-
in `t lijden. Gods onbezweken trouw (en dat is het veloped by Paul in this letter.
verbond) zal nooit hun val gedoogen. Maar Uw  ge-                    The point Paul here has in mind in this entire sec-
rechtigheid zal hen op Uw tijd verhoogen naar  Urn tion from chapter 1: 15 through 2 : 10 is, to make clear
woord !                                                          to the believing and enlightened saints, what the ex-
       Zegt. het mij : kent ge, wilt ge een ander lot dat .ceeding  greatness of goodness, love and grace of God
better is hier op aarde?                                         is to them in Christ Jesus. Only when they see the
       Neen, ge stemt het mij toe : we  hebben   bet' erfdeel    exceeding `greatness of this love of God in Christ to
ontvangen in beginsel.                                           them will their hearts be filled with abundant thanks-
       En hier zit een vreeselijke gedachte  aan  vast.          giving and shall their mouth overflow with His
       Het is het erfdeel  der heidenen. k           -           praises.
       Elders sprak een grijze profeet,  dat God de he.ide-         `It must then stand out perfectly clear that God
nen zelf gegeven heeft voor Zijn,volk. Er is verband has saved them, the Ephesian church, and also us
tusschen de verwerping en de verkiezing.                         with them, from out of the depths of sin and death.
                                                                 We must, therefore, see that formerly we were "dead
       De  valsche  profetie heeft van ons,  al lasterende, in trespasses and sins"; that as far as we were "by
gezegd, dat wij de verwerping  .en de verkiezing  co- nature" there is not one wit of difference `between
ordineeren, dat we die ,twee vreeselijke en aanbidde-            us and the world that perishes in their sins; that we,
lijke waarheden als naast elkander staande  leeren.              too, are by nature "children of wrath even as the
       0.  neen.;                                                o t h e r s " .
       Maar -bet is zoo : de verwerping die& de verkiezing.          The picture that Paul here sketches of our former


                                         T H E   STANDAR D   B E A R E R                                                165
                                                                                                                          -
     state  and walk is not at all flattering to the flesh. we are .now  IZO more! We have the forgiveness of sins
     Here Paul deals the death-blow to all of our self- in Christ Jesus, and, since we are accounted righ.teous
     righteousness, to all our pretended goodness and virtue, before God in Christ by faith, we are no longer dead
     to all hypocricy  and phariseeism. We were a11 harlots, by reason of our trespasses and sins. And this blessed
     murderers and thieves before the grace of God in Christ faith and assurance too is a matter of the whole church,
     delivered us.                                                but it is that only as the sum-total of .the believers or-
        So it was with the saints in Ephesus before they dained to life in Christ, and, therefore, ingrafted into
     heard the gospel and believed it ; before they were Christ by faith, and so receiving and appropriating
     sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise to that day, the        personally all the riches in Christ together with all
     day of the final deliverance from sin and the revelation the saints.
     of the Son of God.                                              God does not overlook me as I am by nature in
         Since we are so slow to learn it cannot be counted the human race. But, thanks be to God, neither does
     superfluous to call.  atten%tion to the fact, that we must He in His saving love in Christ. For in faith I do
     not here think of "fallen man" in a rather abstract not merely believe that Christ died for others, but I
     way. It is so very easy to face this description of have a hearty confidence that he also died for me!
     fallen man when we think of this fallen man in a hazy           We shall have opportunity to point this out in our
     way.    We then say: that's right, the human race further study of this passage from Holy Writ.
     fell ; mankind surely is in a terrible plight. But let us       Now I look once more at .this word of God which
     not forget, when we speak of the human race, to re- pictures me as I was by nature, and in faith and
     member, yea, to be deeply convicted in our own soul, obedience to the gospel I say: that is not how I look
     that we are a part of that human race-by nature ! now, but that is the way I was by nature ; I was "dead
     As that natural man walks, thinks and acts, so we were by reason of my trespasses and sins". Now I am alive
     once, we the believers in Christ. Paul is not speaking in the Lord and with Him in His saving love !
     here of the human race without having reference to              But let us then look once more at what we once
     the individual man and woman as they actually were. were, children of wrath even as the others, as we
     Oh, to be sure, there is such a reality as the solidarity were "dead by reason of our trespasses and sins."
     of the human race, a common responsibility and guilt.           We need not enter into a detailed discussion of the
     But this solidarity must not so be conceived of, must implication of this statement. If the reader wishes to
     not so be  abstract'ed  and rationalized that the indi- see our interpretation of this we refer him to the
     vidual sinner is lost in the whole of the race. I can former article from our hand . It is sufficient here to
     speak of the human race, but in my life I meet that say, that it is the awful guilt of our original sin as
     human race as individual men and women and child- well as of our actual sins and transgressions that con-
ren. And in this human race I too live as an  indi- stitutes the essense of .this our being dead. Because
~ vidual man.                                                     we are guilty in Adam we are perverse in will and
        Thus it is here. in this Scripture passage. Paul is darkened in understanding! For this same reason of
     here very really speaking of individual men as they our perversity, due to the just judgment of God, we
     lived,. moved, thought and acted in their own place increase our guilt by our sins. Under the just judg-
     in life; as their own individual life was again inter- ment of God we can, by nature only work ourselves
     twined with that of their neighbor. Paul here no deeper into *the abyss of eternal enstrangement  from
~ more speaks of a mere abstract "man-kind" than what the life of God, and, thus, into the everlasting misery
i he speaks of the abstract idea of God, but, on the of hell!
     con,trary, even as he is speaking of the `living God            Such is the general statement of Paul concerning
     before the eyes of Whom all things are naked and the depths of our sinful fallen state and condition.
     open, so he also speaks here of man as he concretely
, lives. The Dutch language has a saying, which is                   To this Paul adds a few particulars to complete
     here applicable: de mensch zooals hij reilt and zeilt. the portrait of our former state and condition. And
     .Hence,  the whole of actual men, mankind, as the  sum- what is the actual condition of not merely fallen man-
     total of men is here pictured to us as they actually  are kind, but also of us the believers as we "were by
     bebore  God by nature, as they move, live and act and nature" ?
     make history.                                                   It is ,this : Willing slaves we were of sin!
        But if Paul is here speaking of the individual man           "Willing slaves", you probably ask? Yes, that is it,
     when speaking of all men, so he too is speaking of the dear brother and sister. We were willing slaves of
     individual saint when speaking of the Church. If such sin, willing doers of sin, as Jesus says: "he that doeth
     is the case then I too say with all the saints in Christ: sin is a slave of sin". (John 8 :34)
     Once we were such as Paul here describes, we "were              That this was really the case with. the Ephesian
     dead by reason of our trespasses and sins". `But such believers prior to their faith in Christ and their love
I

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

to all the saints, Paul states when he says: "In  which              1. What is the "age of this world", and what does
(sins and trespasses) ye walked according to the age it mean to "walk according to it"?
of  this  u~orld, according to the prince  of  the  paper            2. Who is the "prince of the power (authority) of
(autho&y)  of the air, of the spirit that now worketh the air", and how is it that he is thus designated, and
(energizes)  ,in the sons  of  disobedience".                     how are we to concretely conceive of our walking ac-
       Now what is the first thing that strikes our  a:- cording to him?
tention here in this bondage-walk, this death-walk,
that is, of this walking in death toward death?                      3. What are we to understand by this "spirit that
       It is this : Paul sketches this former life as walrcing    now works (energizes) in ,the sons of disobedience?"
in trespasses and sins.                                           Is this merely an indirect or direct influence of this
       He who has become a little bit familiar with the prince, or is here spoken of created demon-beings?
language of the church, of the saints in Christ in the Where and how are we to recognize this "spirit"?
bosom of t.he Reformed churches, will know the dif-                  As to question number  1 we would remark that
ference between "walking in sin" and "falling into it is  ,quite  evident from the letter of Paul to the
sin from weakness". Now Paul says not: in which Ephesians that there are two ages, to wit, the present
ye formerly sometimes fell, but in which ye formerly age and the future (coming) age; the  .present  age
walked! The picture is not that of an unwilling slave extends from Paradise to the return of Christ, while
doomed to serfdom, of one, who is a helpless victim the future age is the eternal state after the renewal
and is being forced to do what he is not willing to do; of all things. In so speaking of the two ages the Bible
one, who, if only it were in his power, would cease presents us the works of God under the aspect of
sinning and never do so again ! It is here nat the God's eternal counsel as it unfolds itself in time, in
picture of the child of God who longs to be -delivered the things that must speedily come to pass.
from the body of this death ; the believer who is "taken             But the matter is not so simple as to merely be a
captive" against his will by sin and lusts.                       distincttion  of time. It is not so that we merely have
       No, the picture is far more humiliating. It is not a present and a future age, without saying more, In
that of a free-man in his soul, tugging at the chain's this present age we must distinguish between the two-
of sin's serfdom, but it is that of one who is a slave            fold seed, the Seed of the woman and the.seed  of the
at heart, a slave of sin, and  (0, horror !) who loves it ! serpent; the children of grace, and the children of
It is a walking in sin with delight, with sinful delight. wrath.           There is a twofold people, due to the fact,
The picture is that of men and women who enjoy t.he that the Son of God gathers to Himself a church out
pleasures of sin, not merely in  .the more sensuous form, of this present evil world, elect unto eternal  life-
but even in the more spiritual form of hatred; ,back- gathers this church by His Word and Spirit and so
biting, etc.-the pleasure of sin for a season. The forms for Himself a new communion, the communion
term "walking" gives us the picture of the sinner as of saints. Overagainst this there is the world of
he walks in all sin in dapper self-indulgence, one who unbelief and sin, the world reprobate in mind and
gaily strolls under the lights of sin's pleasures, imagin- heart, left to "lie in sin", and that world in Scripture
ing that he is happy, saying : this is the life ! But ail is called "this  world", and also "this present evil
the while not knowing that he, the sinner, is wretched, world".             .A comparison of such Scripture passages
pitiable, poor, naked and blind ! For the darkness of as Galatians 19 and John X2:31  and other passages
sin has blinded his eyes and he knows not whither he will bear this out.
goes. Such is the picture suggested to us by the term                When the Word of God speaks of "this world" it
"walking". It is the enstrangement from the life of has in mind the evil world of men. Thus we  re,td
God under the wrath of  `God !                                    the fine distinction between the church and the world,
       Such is the death-walk of the sin-slave !                  given in I John  5:18: "We know that we are out of
                                                                  God", and "the whole world lies in the Evil one", that
       That such is, indeed, the picture of our former is,, lies under the dominion and inspired control of
&ate,  as it was of the former state of the Ephesian Satan, the Prince of this world. This is the "present
saints, and that this interpretation of the term "walk- evil world" from which we have been "plucked out by
ing" is not overdone, is evident from the addition "ac- the will of God, our Father". Gal. 1:4.
cording to the age of this world, according to the                   And so we have: "this world' `and "we who are
prince of #the power of the air, of the spirit that now born out of God", we who have the forgiveness of sins.
works in the sons of disobedience."                               Only the latter enter into the ages to come to see God's
       Let us try to understand what this latter quota- great love in Jesus. We enter into the ages to come.
tion implies.                                                     Unto this age we have been sealed by the Holy Spirit
       In so doing we would consider three questions of of promise.
an exegetical nature. They are :                                                                          G. Lubbers.


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       167
 -               -                                                                                - -
                                                              Heidelberg Catechism, "But why art thou called a
            I N   H I S   F E A R                             Christian?" For the answer as given by the authors
                                                              of the Catechism is as follows, "Because 1 am a mem-
                                                              ber ,of Christ by faith, and thus am partaker of His
            CUPed To His Praise                               anointing; so that I may confess His name, and prc-
                                                              sent myself a living sacrifice of thankfulness to Him:
                                                              and also that with a free and good conscience I may
Ghm'stiuns - Are We ?                                         fight against sin and Satan in this life: and after-
   One of the most practical questions raised by the wards reign with Him eternally, over all creatures."
Heidelberg Catechism-and for that matter one of                  Christians - Are we? The Christian is called to
the most practical questions anyone in the church of His praise.             The Christian does praise Him ! God
God can raise today--is that question presented in forms us `for Himself, bu.t also eaUs us to His praise.
Lord's Day Twelve, "But why art thou called a chris- And only those have the right to be called Christians
t i a n   ?"                                                  whom God has called to His praise. It is not simply
   We may take that question as it is presented by enough to be called by the name christitan.                    THE
the Catechism and ask ourselves what it means and question is whether God has called us to BE chris-
should mean to us that we are Christians. And we tians. When John says in John 1:12 that "as many
will then be reminded of a host of things that are            as received Him, .to them He gave the power to be-
our duty and calling.      If we are then earnest and come the sons of God" it is evident that this is far
sincere in .our presentation of this question to ours&-es,    more than that  they are simply called  Bans of God
the answer will have practical value for us. It will by men. John speaks of their becoming sons of God.
show us how Christianity is and must be practiced. Thus, here, the important thing is not really whether
It will assure us that the word "Christian" is not simply we are called Christians  buS whether we have become
a name that is appended to certain individuals, but Christians.
that the name "Christian" is to be applied  on!y to              The Christian praises God. Christians  - Are we?
those upon whom the Spirit of Christ has performed            Let us consider this matter and honestly  place our-
a most important and wonderful operation. The chris- selves before what the Scriptures teach us of our call-
tian is a man who `has had something performpd  in ing as Christians to praise God.
the innermost recesses of his being.                             This week we would like to pen down a few pre-
   Of practical value is the  question  also if we ask liminary yet tremtindously imfiortant  facts concerning
it from a slightly different viewpoint than  that used this matter of  being  Christians. If we ignore them,
by the Catechism. We may ask it thus, "And  `.sVhy our consideration of this practical subject will fail
art  thou  called a Christian?" Then proceeding in the miserably. And our forefathers in the Catechism show
light of the answer to our first ques.5on  and knowir:x       that they grasped the truth and therefore were able
just what a Christian  truly is, we ask why  this  or to give us such a rich answer to the <question, "Why art
that individual, why you and I are called christians.         thou called a Christian?" Notice that the Catechism
Then the question becomes, "and what is there in me says ". . . .that so I may confess his name. . . .present
that I can dare to allow myself to be called by that' myself a living sacrifice. . . .fight against Satan. . . .
name ?"                                                       and. . . .reign  wi.th him eternally over all creatures."
   Christians - Are we? Men call us that,  huf: are Confess ! Present, a sacrifice ! Fight! Reign etern-
we? What is God's judgment of us? Does Christ ally ! Those are powerful words !
after whose name we -are named by men say also of                And powerfully these words condemn all that super-
us that we are ehristians?                                    ficial thinking whereby  .any man who is not a bar-
   It is to this matter that we would  devote a few barian or a heathen is called a christian. Confess
pages in this department. We do so under the gen- Christ! Present ourselves a living sacrifice to Christ!
eral theme: "Called To His Praise". For that is Fight  for. Christ's  cause ! Reign eternally with Christ!
indeed the calling of the Christian. Through Isaiah Many  whom men call Christians  do none of these and
the Lord  HimseIf  declared, "This people have I formed are not interested in them.
for Myself; They shall show forth My praise." The                A civilized man is not necessarily a Christian, nor
apostle Pe:er  declares, to the Christians in his first is a nation that is civilized and highly cultured a chris-
epistle, "Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priest- tian nation. When Israel was in Egypt, Israel was the
hood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should people called to `God's praise, but Egypt was far ahead
show forth the praises of him who hath `called you of Israel and many other nations of that time in culture
out of darkness into his marvelous light." That is and civilization-whatever that last word means when
also the gist of the answer to  ,that question in the the  inhabitan,%  of civilized countries run as naked


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     ..-  .:"",f,  Tb%      5,....:
                                    ..,.     %/,"_   "--.-               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                              -----.
               and as painted as the heathen and use and invent                               priest and the king, The prophet teaches by the spoken
               weapons of brutality and destruction more terrible and written word. The priest teaches by example, by
               than the wildest tribes in the jungles, and live .more                         his a&ions, and the king teaches by the rod. The
               immorally than the most depraved pagans. And was prophet surely serves Gods with his heart as well as
               not highly cultured Greece the seat of immorality as the priest.  For  if he does not love  ,God with  tha:
               well as the seat of culture at the same period of its heart, how will he teach men with his words?  The
               history?. We need clear thinking today, and we will priest is not dumb but speaks to the people and declares
               need it even more in the fuure. Antichristianity must the mercy and forgiveness of God.                                    The king must
               not be confused with Christianity. As long as we hold know  God with his mind, and love Him with his heart
               to this answer in the Heidelberg Catechism we are or else he will not be God's king.                                            ^
               ,&fe. because it is based on God's Word. And let us                                   And the point we wish to make here is that every.
               remember that the Antichrist is a false, deceptive man is born with these faculties so that in every human
               Christ. And he likes to have you call him a Christian. being you find that which makes him a prophet, a
               He  wil1 feel insulted if you do not. It is also  neces- priest and a king. In the' Old Testament there were
               sary for his program of deception that his followers be several men who functioned in two offices. Moses was
               called Christians even while they perform very  un- king (leader)  aswell as prophet (teacher). Samuel
               Christian deeds.
*                                                                                             functioned as priest as well as prophet. Melchizedek
                       Let us therefore notice those. words again : con- was king and priest. Abraham was all three to his
               fess, present and reign.                           The Christian is called to family, exclusive of any other prophet,' priest or king
               praise God in his confession. He is called to live to above him. But so it is also today.  &We all have a
               His praise by  preseming  his body a living sacrifice. mind, a heart and strength.- And so we are born as
               All his soul and body and possessions is employed to prophets, priests and kings.
                God's praise when he as a faithful king rules over                                   But the question remains; are we prophets, priests
               them and fights the good fight of faith.                                       and kings of God or of the devil? Are we called out
                            You see, the Catechism has rightly observed that of darkness to His praise, or are we still in the dark-
               man was created in the image of God to be His pro- ness of sin using our mind, heart and strength in
                phet, His priest and His king. Created as a rational, the service of the devil and of sin? Are we called
                moral being he was created with a mind and a heart  `. to be Christians, or  I are we simply called Christians?
               as well as strength. By virtue of this he can be and It is to these matters that we would devote a few pages
             " is prophet, priest and king. For it is with the mind of this department. Let us consider what the human
                chiefly that the prophet served God among Israel. His mind, and our "mind does. Let us listen to the  throb-
                mind God filled with knowledge which he in turn  trans- bing of the human heart to determine for what it beats.
                mitted to God's people. With the heart it was chiefly Then we will also be able to evaluate the strength
                that the priest served in the temple, for he lifted up spent on projects whether it reveals the man as a
                his heart in prayer to God for the people and offered Christian or an antichristian.                                 It is either. . .  .or.
                up their sacrifices when their hearts smote them be- Christ said, `rHe that is not with me is against Me."
                cause of sin. Besides, of course, the whole life of the
                priest was dedicated up to God in service. His life was                                                                        J. A. Heys.
                a consecrated one. And consecration is a matter of the
                heart. This does not mean that every priest actually
                consecrated his life to  `God, but the very office was
                such that the man lived a separate life, and the whole
                tribe of Levi was set aside by God for the purpose of
                serving Him in His Temple. The king as is plain,                                                         BOUND COPIES
                served  wi,th his strength as he went out to battle and                         '                   of the `Standard Bearer
                at home wielded the sceptre.                                                          Will those who have received their bound copy
                            We cannot, however, narrowly define the work of                    (Volume 25) of the Standard Bearer, and have not
                prophet, priest and king so that exclusively the one as yet returned their copies, please return them to
                serves with this faculty and the other with another J. Bouwman as soon as possible. Anyone desiring
                faculty. We can only say that of the one this faculty to have Volume 25, or any other volume bound, please
                 is on the foreground, while in the other it is a/different notify us and send us your copies.
                nower which God has created in man which occupies                                                                         R. F. P. A.
                 the chief place. We may say, for example that the 1131 Sigsbee St., S.E.
                 prophet is the teacher, Good and well, but so is the Grand Rapids 6, Michigan


